Alliance Formed to Advocate for Assyrian Rights in Iraq In a meeting covened at the headquarters of the International Chaldean League in Ankawa, the Kurdistan Region's Armenian community has joint with the political council of the Hammurabi Coalition in order to establish a new political alliance called "The Christian Alliance". This newly formed alliance intends to act as representative of all Armenian, Syriac, Assyrian and Chaldean citizens of the Kurdistan Region. Ano Jawhar, the head of Hammurabi Coalition who is also the KRG Minister of Communication and Transport, announced in a statement the creation of this newly formed coalition through a post in his Facebook account. "The political council of the Hammurabi coalition, comprising the Chaldean National Council Party, the Syriac Gathering Movement Party, the International Chaldean League, the Chaldean Democratic Union Party, and the Shalama Movement for Christian Affairs, convened alongside Armenian representatives from the Administrative Committee of the Armenian Orthodox community and the Armenian Culture Association" the statement read. The statement also underlined that "the Armenian delegates were warmly welcomed into the Hammurabi coalition, culminating in a groundbreaking decision to establish a unified political entity known as the Christian Alliance." This alliance aims to foster unity and collective political action among Christians, including Armenians, Syriacs, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, within the region of Iraq. The gathering also addressed the current political landscape in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, particularly focusing on recent developments concerning the representation of ethnic and religious communities in the upcoming Kurdistan Regional Parliament elections. Participants expressed support for the Federal Supreme Court's decision to halt the implementation of certain provisions that threatened the representation of the communities. Furthermore, attendees reiterated their demand for the restoration of quota seats for Christians in the regional parliament elections, highlighting the importance of maintaining representation in both the Kurdistan Region and Iraq as a whole. Emphasizing the significance of these seats, they called for measures to ensure fair and inclusive electoral processes, including the organization of special elections for community quotas. Participants reaffirmed their commitment to pursuing legal avenues to safeguard the rights of minority communities and promote their interests within the political arena. UN Security Council calls for investigator access to mass graves in Gaza Xinhua) 09:17, May 11, 2024 UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday called for investigators to be allowed unimpeded access to mass graves in Gaza. In a press statement, the council members expressed their deep concern over reports of the discovery of mass graves in and around the Nasser and Al Shifa medical facilities in Gaza, where several hundred bodies, including women, children and older persons, were buried. They underlined the need for accountability for violations of international law and called for investigators to be allowed unimpeded access to all locations of mass graves in Gaza to conduct immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations to establish the circumstances behind the graves. The council members reiterated their demand that all parties scrupulously comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, in particular, regarding the protection of civilians and civilian objects. They reaffirmed the importance of allowing families to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relatives, consistent with international humanitarian law. They also emphasized the imperative of all parties to immediately and fully implement Security Council resolutions on a humanitarian cease-fire and humanitarian relief in Gaza. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing) AFSCME Area Field Services Director Guillermo Vazquez, left, speaks with Naomi Miller at the conclusion of a Charter Review Commission meeting at the Central Library Auditorium on Thursday, May 9, 2024. Miller is one of 15 members of the commission. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Bobby Perez speaks during a meeting of the Charter Review Commission Thursday to decide which proposed charter amendments to send to the City Council for placement on the Nov. 5 ballot. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Terry Zablocki speaks during citizen input at the beginning of a meeting of the Charter Review Commission on Thursday. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Charter Review Commission Co-chair David Zammiello speaks during a meeting of the commission Thursday to decide which proposed charter amendments to send to the City Council for placement on the Nov. 5 ballot. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer The Charter Review Commission meets at the Central Library Auditorium on Thursday. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Dwayne Robinson, center, speaks during a meeting of the Charter Review Commission on Thursday. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Josh Baugh, right, seated next to Luisa Casso during a meeting of the Charter Review Commission to decide which proposed charter amendments to send to the City Council for approval. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Naomi Miller, left, speaks during a meeting of the Charter Review Commission to decide which proposed charter amendments to send to the City Council on Thursday. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer It will soon be up to City Council to decide whether to ask voters in November for a big pay raise and to strip salary and tenure caps on the city manager. The Charter Review Commission on Thursday finalized its recommended changes to the city charter, sticking to the parts of San Antonios governing document that Mayor Ron Nirenberg directed the group to review. Such as pay for council members and the mayor. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Charter Review Commission meets at the Central Library Auditorium to decide which proposed charter amendments to send to the City Council for approval on Thursday, May 9, 2024. Council must call for a charter amendment election by mid-August. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer The commission, which started work in December, considered it and recommended nearly doubling councils salary from the current $45,722 to $80,000 and bumping the mayors pay from $61,725 to $95,000. The elected officials would also get annual raises in line with the citys civilian employees. Nirenberg also asked the commission, whose 15 members he appointed, to revisit the salary cap and term limit of eight years on the city manager that voters approved in 2018. Commissioners considered the restrictions and recommended doing away with them, allowing the council to pay City Manager Erik Walsh what it sees fit and to keep him in the position beyond 2027. Nirenberg has expressed support for doing away with the limits, and so have business leaders. The city charter currently bars Walsh from earning more than 10 times what the lowest-paid employee makes. His base salary this year is $374,400. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The commission was unanimous in its recommendations. Commissioners will present the package to Nirenberg and City Council on June 5. Council has until mid-August to call for a charter amendment election to coincide with the Nov. 5 presidential election. These were not arbitrary decisions and recommendations, said commission co-chair David Zammiello, president of DAZA Consulting Services. He added that they were based on research and analysis of other cities practices. Anther proposed charter amendment: changing council and mayoral terms from two to four years, though the total years of service would remain capped at eight. This change would take effect after the May 2025 municipal election. Frank Garza, center, during a meeting of the Charter Review Commission Thursday. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer If council decides to place any of these charter changes on the ballot, they will likely prove the most divisive among voters if the comments of the dozens of residents who addressed the commission in recent weeks are any indication. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Is it going to change anybodys ethics? Are we going to stop a City Council person from getting a DWI? Terry Zablocki said Thursday about raising councils salary. No. In the last year and a half, two District 10 council members, Clayton Perry and Marc Whyte, were arrested on DWI charges. Perry pleaded no contest to the charge, while Whytes criminal case is pending. Andrew Vicencio, a self-described exhausted taxpayer, compared the proposed pay boost to the starting wages for police and firefighters which are lower than $80,000. Last I checked, the City Council members dont carry a person out of a burning building. They dont respond to a domestic call and put themselves in harms way 24/7, Vicencio said. He called for leaving council pay and term lengths as is. AFSCME Area Field Services Director Guillermo Vazquez, right, listens to a meeting of the Charter Review Commission to decide which proposed charter amendments to send to the City Council, which will determine which ones to place on the Nov. 5 ballot. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Jeff Webster, president and CEO of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, told the commission Thursday that his organization supported undoing the limits on the city manager. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association, locked in a bitter fight with then-City Manager Sheryl Sculley over a new employment contract, collected enough signatures to force those restrictions on the November 2018 ballot and campaigned hard to win their approval. The union, which is currently battling the city for higher pay in its next contract, has yet to take a position on retreating from the changes it championed six year ago. Denise Gutierrez-Homer, vice president of infuse SA, speaks about ethics issues during citizen input at the begriming of a meeting of the Charter Review Commission on Thursday. Marvin Pfeiffer/Staff Photographer Other recommended charter amendments the council will consider: Allowing the city to redraw council districts if voters adopt a future charter amendment to add more council seats, rather than strictly limiting redistricting to after the census. Creating a redistricting commission that would include restrictions on who can serve (no family members of elected officials or council staff) and mandate that a super-majority of council members would be required to amend the commissions redrawn City Council district maps. Eliminating term limits for Ethics Review Board members; increasing the boards discretion to accept or refuse ethics complaint cases that have been resolved through other avenues; ensuring the board is adequately funded in the city budget; and defining conflicts of interest. Updating the charter to remove outdated language. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The council can accept, reject or make revisions to any of the commissions proposed amendments. But the commissions work isnt quite done. The group will convene later this month to decide whether to make any recommendations regarding three areas that residents highlighted in their comments that werent part of the mayors charge: ranked-choice voting, allowing city employees to campaign for or donate to City Council and mayoral candidates, and dedicating 20% of annual city revenue growth to initiatives that support children and youth. Thousands of people descend on corporations local headquarters Pro-Palestinian protesters staged a demonstration outside the BBC in Belfast on Saturday ahead of the Eurovision grand final. It was held to call for a boycott of the contest by the broadcaster after organisers ignored demands for the Israeli entry Eden Golan to be barred from taking part. If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, center, speaking in front of the U.S. Capitol in March, has represented Texas' 28th Congressional District since 2005. Courtesy/Rep. Henry Cuellar's Office Federal prosecutors are signaling that they may try to limit disclosure of certain evidence in their bribery case against U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar on grounds of national security. In a court filing, the Justice Department requested a hearing before U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal to discuss how the Classified Information Procedures Act could apply to the prosecution of Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo. He and his wife are accused in a grand jury indictment of accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from the government of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank in return for official favors. The CIPA lays out procedures for preventing the accidental or unnecessary release of information during trials or in pretrial discovery. Under the act, a judge can allow prosecutors to redact classified information or provide summaries of sensitive documents instead of the documents themselves, a workaround known as "substitution." Advertisement Article continues below this ad Defense lawyers can be required to obtain security clearances under the law, and their review of sensitive information sometimes must be conducted in highly secure locations known as SCIFs, short for sensitive compartmentalized information facilities. The Justice Department motion cites legal precedents on CIPA and the government's obligations related to disclosure and protection of classified information. It offers no details as to what evidence in Cuellar's case might need to be safeguarded. In the filing, prosecutors argue in general terms that "if the court determines that the specific classified information at issue is relevant and admissible and denies the governments motion for substitution, (the law) permits the government to object to disclosure of the classified information." FBI agents search the home of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar in Laredo on Jan. 19, 2022. Valerie Gonzalez/Associated Press 'Graymail' CIPA was enacted in 1980 to limit "graymail," in which defense lawyers threatened to disclose classified information to pressure prosecutors to drop charges rather than risk exposing government secrets. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The law is designed to balance defendants' right to see evidence against the government's obligation to protect national security. It lays out steps to determine whether and how classified material can be introduced in criminal trials, and it prescribes ways the prosecution and defense can narrow the disclosure of sensitive information. The Justice Department, for instance, can obtain protective orders prohibiting the release of classified information turned over to defense lawyers. The judge can appoint a court security officer to oversee the handling and storage of classified information and the operation of secure communications equipment. Under CIPA, defense attorneys must undergo background checks to obtain security clearances to view classified information, said Tom McHugh, a retired federal prosecutor now working as a criminal defense lawyer. If an attorney can't pass a background check, they might not be able to represent the client, McHugh said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad CIPA has come into play in the federal criminal case in which former President Donald Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them. RELATED: Mystery San Antonio steakhouse figures in Cuellar indictment It has also been invoked in the corruption case of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey. Prosecutors allege that Menendez accepted auto racing tickets and other gifts from Qatar as part of a lengthy corruption scheme. He's also accused of failing to register as a foreign agent while using his position to benefit Egypt. It's not yet clear how the law applies to Cuellar's case. 'A totally different beast' Public corruption and money laundering cases involving former Mexican officials have regularly been filed in federal court in San Antonio and Houston, but CIPA was not invoked in any of those cases, according to a review by the San Antonio Express-News. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The alleged involvement of the Azerbaijani government makes Cuellar's case different. The indictment alleges that Azerbaijani diplomats were involved in the bribery scheme, along with Azerbaijan-connected figures in the Houston area. According to court records, money paid to the Cuellars came from an oil and gas company wholly owned and controlled by the government of Azerbaijan. "Any time you have an investigation involving foreign officials or foreign assets, it's not going to be a normal criminal investigation," said former federal prosecutor Robert Almonte Jr., who is now in private practice and is not involved in the Cuellar case. "That investigation is a totally different beast. It might be that they have sources embedded in the (foreign) government, or here, or someone is supplying (classified) information to the United States." One of Cuellar's lawyers, Chris Flood, said the government's motion invoking CIPA should not be taken to suggest Cuellar did anything to breach national security. "Those are customary in these types of cases," Flood said. "They don't indicate anything sinister or bad about Congressman Cuellar." Colin Strother, at rear in a 2004 photo, was a political adviser, chief of staff and campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar. He has admitted to conspiring with Cuellar to launder bribes from foreign interests, and he has agreed to testify against the congressman. BOB OWEN/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS 'Sham' contracts Cuellar, 68, and his wife, Imelda, 67, are charged in a 54-page federal indictment unsealed May 3. Advertisement Article continues below this ad It says bribes were funneled to the couple through layers of intermediaries and front companies beginning in 2014 and continuing until 2021. In return for the payments, Cuellar allegedly sought to influence legislation and U.S. government policy to benefit the Mexican bank and Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic in the Caucasus region. The bank is not named in the indictment, but the Wall Street Journal has reported that it is Banco Azteca, part of Ricardo Salinas Pliego's business empire. The indictment says bank executives sought Cuellar's help out of concern that tighter U.S. regulations on money laundering could put a crimp in the bank's processing of remittances, the transfer of money from Mexicans working in the U.S. to relatives in Mexico. Prosecutors say Azerbaijan wanted Cuellar's help in obtaining economic and security assistance from the U.S. as well as support in its conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan and Banco Azteca bribed Cuellar through "sham" consulting contracts that paid Imelda Cuellar and the couple's children for professional services they never provided, the indictment states. Cuellar's former campaign manager and chief of staff, Colin Strother, and another longtime associate, San Antonio businessman Florencio "Lencho" Rendon, have admitted to conspiring with the congressman to launder bribes. Both men have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Their plea agreements, filed in federal court in Houston, were unsealed this week. Cuellar has said he and his wife are innocent, and Flood said his client was not worried about the truth. Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. POWNAL The town expects to receive some no-cost assistance from a team of Williams College students in preparing a required management plan for land near Pownals forest recreation area. The Select Board on Thursday approved working with students in a class taught by Sarah Gardner, associate director and a lecturer at the Center for Environmental Studies at Williams College. The board met with Gardner and Donald Campbell, project director in southwest Vermont for the Vermont Land Trust, who had suggested such an collaboration. Campbell said he knew about the student field work program at Williams and had helped arranged a meeting at the Pownal Town Hall with Gardner. Campbell noted that a condition of a $265,000 grant used in the towns recent purchase of 300 acres adjacent the 735-acre town forest recreation area on the Taconic Ridge is that a formal land use management plan be developed. FOREST AREA EXPANSION Last fall, the town acquired about 300 acres off Dean Road, to the west of the Hoosic River in North Pownal. The town also acquired land to allow a new legal access road from Dean Road to the recreation area, which had been lacking one since Tropical Storm Irene washed out a town road leading to the forest land. The town sought to create a new accessway and add to its existing Strobridge Recreation Area more than 700 forested acres the town acquired in 2002 from lands along the Taconic Ridge once owned by the former Pownal Tanning Company. The Land Trust and Campbell participated in both purchases, arranging for grant funding toward the acquisitions and securing preservation easements on the property restricting development other than for recreation purposes, such as hiking trails. The recent acquisition was funded by the town, grant funding from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC), and anonymous donations. The former factory on Route 346 in North Pownal dated to the 19th century as a textile mill on the Hoosic River. The owners had acquired land along the eastern slope of the Taconic mountain ridge over the years. That was in part to protect a company-owned reservoir that once supplied water to the mill since razed and to homes in North Pownal village. TRAIL WORK Expansion of hiking trails would be one likely focus of the pending management plan work. Other ideas discussed during the meeting Thursday included construction of tent platforms, lean-tos, and adding trail links to the three-state, 37-mile Taconic Crest hiking trail. The trail runs past the town forest area on the crest of the Taconic Range along the New York border. Creating a link to trails in Hopkins Memorial Forest in Williamstown, which is managed by the environmental center, also was discussed. Campbell said a land management plan normally includes a public process involving meetings and public participation; mapping in the area, a biological assessment, photographs, and whatever else is needed. BEGINS IN SEPTEMBER Gardner said her class will be held during the fall semester, and students would normally form three-person teams to work on a field project. They work at no cost to the clients, she said, working on environmentally related projects under the direction of the client in this case the town and the Land Trust. Gardner and the students will also coordinate their work with the town Conservation Commission and town Parks and Recreation Committee as well as communicate with the board through Executive Assistant Tara Parks. She requested that the town define a work plan for the students prior to September that describes the scope of work to be done during the fall term. We really do whatever the scope of work is that is developed, she said, adding, Weve done a whole range of plans. Clients are usually a town or an organization, she said. This is such a great project, with great potential, Gardner said. She said she teaches upper level environmental studies students, mostly seniors with a backgrounds in the subjects involved. MANCHESTER Manchester residents have been encouraged to lock up their trash, grill, and other items that may attract bears following repeat sightings of a large, limping black bear in downtown Manchester. The injured bear is not the only one frequenting downtown Manchester in fact, it is but one figure in a growing problem for the town and others like it. The community as a whole has been dealing with multiple bears regularly spending time in town for the last few years now, explained Wildlife Biologist Jaclyn Comeau, who served as Black Bear Project Leader for the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife. This bear in particular has been on Game Warden Kyle Isherwoods radar since April, he said, with a call coming in about it every three or four days since. Such encounters have historically been most frequent in rural areas, Comeau said, but thats changed in recent years. Now, busier and denser areas like downtown Manchester are seeing a spike in bear activity. Ten years ago most of our bear issues were happening in really rural communities, Comeau said. Over the past four to five years weve been seeing a dramatic shift where towns like Manchester do tend to be the ones we hear from more frequently. Bears have learned that there is a lot of easy to access food in these more heavily residential areas, she continued, so they are changing their behavior and keying in on those places. Though the image of the limping bear has stirred the hearts of many in Manchester, officials say that its contact with humans poses a much bigger threat to the creature. Residents can play an important role in helping the bear recover by removing food sources and thus encouraging it and others to leave town. Were heartened by the publics concern for this individual bear, Comeau said. If people feel motivated to do something to help it, they should focus on strategies to prevent attracting this bear and others into town. The bears injury most likely resulted from an encounter with human-made structures, she wagered, but the odds are good that the creature can recover on its own. There is no way to treat an adult bear for a limb injury, and trying to do so would be more traumatic than letting the bear recover naturally, Comeau explained. Unfortunately, she said, navigating busy roads in pursuit of human caused foods like garbage, birdfeeders and chickens poses a much greater threat to the bear's quality of life. Weve got to figure out a better system for garbage storage, because what were doing now is not working, Comeau said. Increasing bear activity is not just a problem in Vermont, but throughout bear country according to Comeau. Though Fish & Wildlife has historically focused on this kind of individual outreach, she agreed that more concerted efforts may be useful in combating this growing trend. I do think there is a lot of value in communities starting to think more about the big picture, she said. We are starting to talk to larger entities to get them to start thinking of strategies that are more far reaching and can support residents and visitors. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, Comeau said, but some communities throughout Canada and the northern United States have begun to embrace strategies like ordinances that mandate garbage storage and local support systems that help to educate residents and visitors. Manchester would be a great place to start thinking about big picture strategies, she said. For most of those communities who have taken steps, they do see real, meaningful change. You can learn more about how to prevent conflicts and be a good neighbor to Vermonts bears at: https://vtfishandwildlife.com/learn-more/living-with-wildlife/living-with-black-bears Twenty percent of Massachusetts-based nurses intend to leave the field in two years or less One in five Mass. nurses soon plan to exit the profession. They're blaming poor pay, unreasonable nurse-to-patient workloads, too little time to tend patients and uncaring management. Most surveyed also claim they've experienced workplace violence or abuse. LENOX Need to know more about the EPA and GEs recently released final design and monitoring plan for the PCB disposal site just south of Woods Pond? Area residents are invited to an open house at the Town Hall auditorium from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, followed by a presentation and Q&A session. The briefing will be hosted by Weston & Sampson, the towns engineer and consultant on the Rest of River cleanup project. Further details are available on the town's website. Lenox residents can sign up for a time slot to speak with the engineers. This is something weve been awaiting for months, said Select Board Chair Ed Lane. We have to respond and the public has to respond in a very timely manner. Comments from Weston & Sampson, which has reviewed the design plan for the landfill known as the upland disposal facility will be posted on the towns website on Monday, Town Manager Christopher Ketchen stated. A formal letter from town leaders will then be prepared for delivery to the Environmental Protection Agency. Town leaders will weigh in at a Select Board meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The deadline for public comments to the EPA is May 20. For people who are interested, its an important week, Lane said. The key information released by the EPA this week is the maximum elevation of the capped disposal facility. Its 1,099 feet above sea level, just 2 feet higher than adjacent Eversource power lines. The site of the UDF is on a former gravel quarry owned by Lane Construction Co. on the northwest edge of Lee, across the Housatonic from Lenox Dale. The facility would contain up to 1.3 million cubic yards of low-level PCB sediment. About 100,000 cubic yards of more contaminated material would be shipped to an out-of-state, federally licensed facility. The UDF is expected to be completed in 2026, according to the EPA. The entire Rest of River cleanup along the river from southeast Pittsfield through Lenox, Lee and Stockbridge, ending at Rising Pond in the Great Barrington village of Housatonic, will be handled in stages from north to south, concluding in 2038. Opposition remains strong in Lee, though the nearly $600 million Superfund project has survived a series of legal challenges, ending with final approval at the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston last July. You are the owner of this article. POWNAL, Vt. Pownal, Vt., expects to receive some no-cost assistance from a team of Williams College students in preparing a required management plan for land near the town's forest recreation area. The Select Board on Thursday approved work with students in a class taught by Sarah Gardner, associate director and a lecturer at the Center for Environmental Studies at Williams College. The board met with Gardner and Donald Campbell, project director in southwest Vermont for the Vermont Land Trust, who had suggested such an collaboration. Campbell noted that a condition of a $265,000 grant used in the towns recent purchase of 300 acres adjacent to the 735-acre town forest recreation area on the Taconic Ridge is that a formal land use management plan be developed. No-cost work to start in fall Gardner said her class will be held during the fall semester, and students would normally form three-person teams to work on a field project. They work at no cost to the clients, she said, working on environmentally related projects under the direction of the client in this case the town and the Land Trust. Gardner and the students will also coordinate their work with the town Conservation Commission and town Parks and Recreation Committee as well as communicate with the board through Executive Assistant Tara Parks. She requested that the town define a work plan for the students prior to September that describes the scope of work to be done during the fall term. We really do whatever the scope of work is that is developed, she said, adding, Weve done a whole range of plans. Clients are usually a town or an organization, she said. This is such a great project, with great potential, Gardner said. She said she teaches upper level environmental studies students, mostly seniors with a backgrounds in the subjects involved. Forest expansion and trail work Last fall, the town acquired about 300 acres off Dean Road, to the west of the Hoosic River in North Pownal. The town also acquired land to allow a new legal access road from Dean Road to the recreation area, which had been lacking one since Tropical Storm Irene washed out a town road leading to the forestland. The town sought to create a new accessway and add to its existing Strobridge Recreation Area more than 700 forested acres the town acquired in 2002 from lands along the Taconic Ridge once owned by the former Pownal Tanning Co. Expansion of hiking trails would be one likely focus of the pending management plan work. Other ideas discussed during the meeting Thursday included construction of tent platforms, lean-tos and adding trail links to the three-state, 37-mile Taconic Crest hiking trail. The trail runs past the town forest area on the crest of the Taconic Range along the New York border. Creating a link to trails in Hopkins Memorial Forest in Williamstown, which is managed by the environmental center, also was discussed. Campbell said a land management plan normally includes a public process involving meetings and public participation; mapping in the area, a biological assessment, photographs and whatever else is needed. An undated contemporary photo shows the pipe organ in place in the choir loft of San Fernando. The organ installed in the mid-1880s was said by its manufacturer to be the largest in the South. Organ Historical Society Database We at San Fernando Cathedral are currently undertaking a project to repair and restore a Kilgen pipe organ to its original working condition. We are looking for any piece of historical information, pictures or articles that may shed light on its origins and how the organ looked. We have also been told that there was at the cathedral at one point in time an elevator that would facilitate reaching the choir loft. Would you know where we can possibly locate pictures of this elevator? Any information you may be able to provide or guidance on where I can search will be greatly appreciated. Maria Alicia Lopez, music coordinator, San Fernando Cathedral Advertisement Article continues below this ad Completed in 1755 for our citys first civilian settlers, San Fernando (covered here March 5, 2022) became a cathedral in 1874 with the establishment of the Diocese (now Archdiocese) of San Antonio. A major renovation of the cathedral overlooking Main Plaza was undertaken in 1868, supervised by Francois Giraud, architect of the original Ursuline Academy buildings (now Southwest School of Art). Shown in this photograph taken before the second tower was restored in 1902, the east (front) facade of San Fernando Cathedral overlooks Main Plaza. The citys first Catholic church, originally completed in 1755, was designated a cathedral in 1874, after the formation of the Diocese (now Archdiocese) of San Antonio. UTSA Special Collections Meanwhile, work on whats now St. Marks Episcopal Church was restarted after the Civil War, and the church at 315 E. Pecan St. was completed in 1875. As it was finished, what is thought to have been the citys first pipe organ was installed in the front of the church on the left. This was a two-manual (keyboard) and pedal instrument with 19 stops (mechanisms to produce a particular sound) built by Johnson and Son of Westfield, Mass., said David A. Heller, organist and music department chair at Trinity University. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The original pipe organ at St. Marks Episcopal Church was installed as the church was completed in 1875. For a time, St. Marks and San Fernando Cathedral shared an organist, Arthur J.H. Barbour. Courtesy of Lewis Fisher According to his research for a forthcoming book on pipe organs in San Antonio, there were two pipe organs at San Fernando, both built by George Kilgen and Son of St. Louis a smaller one with one manual and pedals located in the front of the church, succeeded in about a year by a larger model with three manuals and pedals that was installed in the choir loft. The Kilgen firm, according to its 1951 centennial pamphlet, Seven Generations in Organ Building, were noted for their sense of tonal balance and artistic restraints (with) tonal contrasts that make them ideal for the accompaniment of Catholic liturgy throughout the year. The first mention of a cathedral organ was in the San Antonio Light, May 4, 1882, in the announcement of the appointment as organist and choir director of Professor A.H.J. Barbour an English gentleman accomplished organist and a musician of no mean order. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Born in 1850 in Liverpool, England, Arthur Joseph Hutchinson Barbour earned his bachelors degree at Oxford University and his L. Mus. or licentiate in music, a performance degree, at the University of London. He served as organist of the English Chapel in Rome and was appointed organist at the Reading School in Reading, England, before arriving in 1881 in New York. From then on, he seems to have remained in the United States (Houston, Cincinnati and Charleston, S.C.) until his death in 1917. A few months later, the Light gave the organist another puff, asserting that Barbour had a thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of music in all its branches. Barbour was usually listed as a music teacher in city directories; the Light calls him courteous, attentive and proficient as such. Pipes of the San Fernando Cathedral organ produce sound as selected by the organist. Organ Historical Society Database Maybe Barbour, as the new guy riding high on a swell of praise, advocated for a better instrument, because the Light, Aug. 22, 1882, reported that a movement is on foot to erect a new organ at San Fernando and is well supported. A new organ is a decided necessity and will add to the excellence of the musical service of the church. Following up on Oct. 18, 1882, the newspaper disclosed that it would be a $5,000 instrument. Details of the new organ were provided Nov. 16, 1882: There would be three manuals, a full pedal register, 1,564 pipes and 36 stops, fitted in a handsome Gothic case. Advertisement Article continues below this ad By the next time the Light updated the story, Sept. 4, 1883, the dimensions according to the original specifications and plans of organist Barbour had grown to 40 stops and 1,800 pipes, 32 feet high and 20 feet wide. It was expected to be the largest and most complete instrument in the state a great cause of self-congratulation for our city. The organs tonal specifications, recorded on the Organ Historical Societys Pipe Organ Database at pipeorgandatabase.org, suggest a lovely sound in an acoustically vibrant room, said Paul Marchesano, chair of the societys database committee. Stops above the keyboard, also called a manual, allow the organist to select the desired tone to be produced by the San Fernando pipe organ. Organ Historical Society Database The instrument, custom-constructed for its space in the choir loft, was delivered in the spring of 1884, Heller said, and by then was reputed to be the largest pipe organ in the South. Barbour continued at San Fernando at least through 1885, taught music here well into the 1890s and went on to hold positions at churches and theaters and to appear at the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis. Advertisement Article continues below this ad At an unknown date, Marchesano said, an unidentified builder electrified the organ, which was originally mechanical action, and provided a new, detached electric action console. Ive sent you some densely technical passages that could be helpful in a restoration, along with contact information for the Organ Historical Society, which would like to be informed for its database as the work is completed. As for the elevator to the choir loft, all these sources were silent. Police in Clifton say a drug ring sold meth at the local Dairy Queen. mbbirdy/Getty Images Schertz police are investigating the fatal shooting of a woman late Friday in northeast Bexar County. Police were called to the 11600 block of Voges Pass for reports of shots fired. When they arrived, they found a woman with fatal injuries from multiple gunshot wounds. The woman has not been identified. Advertisement Article continues below this ad According to a news release from the Schertz Police Department, a man is being detained as investigators try to determine if the incident was self-defense or a homicide. The Texas Rangers are assisting in the investigation. Tents being provided to homeless asylum seekers are being paid for by the Government, says Roderic O'Gorman. The Minister for Integration has confirmed they are supporting a number of homeless charities to supply tents, washing facilities and food to international protection applicants who cannot be provided with State accommodation. Advertisement Hundreds of tents were destroyed when two encampments were removed from Mount Street and the Grand Canal in the capital in multi agency operations in the past week. Fences have now been erected around the stretch of the Grand Canal where the tents had been pitched. Meanwhile, there are 33 tents pitched along the Grand Canal this morning. Minister Roderic OGorman admitted this morning that his Department is funding homeless charities who are handing out tents to homeless asylum seekers. "Where people aren't accommodated, they engage with a number of NGOs that our department support in terms of providing services to international protection applicants who haven't been accommodated. "Those are a range of services. They may be access to meals, access to showers during the day, and a number of those NGOs may provide tents or sleeping bags. Our department funds NGOs." Taoiseach Simon Harris said that neither he, nor the Government, would accept tented encampments in the city. Israel has ordered new evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its operation. It came as Hamas said on Saturday that British Israeli hostage Nadav Popplewell had died after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike a month ago. Hamas provided no evidence for the claim. Advertisement As pro-Palestinian protests continued against the war, Israels military also said it was moving into an area of devastated northern Gaza where it asserted that the Hamas militant group has regrouped after seven months of fighting. Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, and top military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said dozens of militants had been killed there as targeted operations continued. The United Nations has warned that the planned full-scale Rafah invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian casualties. The order comes in the face of heavy international opposition and criticism. Advertisement US president Joe Biden has already said he will not provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah, and on Friday Washington said there was reasonable evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians in the way it conducted its war against Hamas the strongest statement the Biden administration has made on the matter. Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah (Ramez Habboub/AP) Hamas and other militants attacked southern Israel on October 7th, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 250 hostage. They still hold some 100 captives and the remains of more than 30. Advertisement The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. More than 1.4 million Palestinians half of Gazas population have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israels offensives elsewhere. Considered the last refuge in the strip, the evacuations are forcing people to return north where areas have been devastated by previous Israeli attacks. Aid agencies estimate that 110,000 had done so before Saturdays order which adds a further 40,000 to that number. Advertisement People have been displaced multiple times and there are few places left in the embattled territory to move to. Those fleeing fighting earlier this week erected new tent camps in the city of Khan Younis which was half destroyed in an earlier Israeli offensive and the city of Deir al-Balah, straining infrastructure. Do we wait until we all die on top of each other? So weve decided to leave. Its better, said Rafah resident Hanan al-Satari as people rushed to load mattresses, water tanks and other belongings onto vehicles. Advertisement The Israeli army does not have a safe area in Gaza. They target everything, said Abu Yusuf al-Deiri, who was earlier displaced from Gaza City. Some Palestinians are being sent to what Israel has called humanitarian safe zones along the Muwasi coastal strip, which is already packed with about 450,000 people in squalid conditions. The rubbish-strewn camp lacks basic facilities. Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Rafah, said workers had no supplies to help them set up in new locations. A makeshift tent camp in Rafah (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system, he said. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, forcing it to shut down. Rafah was the main point of entry for fuel. Egypt has refused to co-ordinate with Israel the delivery of aid though the Rafah crossing point because of the unacceptable Israeli escalation, the state-owned Al Qahera News television channel reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed official. The channel has close ties with Egyptian security agencies. The World Food Programme has warned that it will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday, Mr Petropoulos said. Aid groups have said fuel will also be depleted soon, forcing hospitals to shut down critical operations and halting trucks delivering aid across south and central Gaza. Heavy fighting is also under way in northern Gaza, where Hamas appeared to have again regrouped in an area where Israel has already launched punishing assaults. Israeli Army spokesman Avichay Adraee told Palestinians in the cities of Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya and surrounding areas to leave their homes and head to shelters in the west of Gaza City, warning that people were in a dangerous combat zone and that Israel was going to strike with great force. Displaced Palestinians arrive at a makeshift tent camp west of Rafah (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) Battles erupted this week in the Zeitoun area on the outskirts of Gaza City. Northern Gaza was the first target of the ground offensive, and Israel said late last year that it had mostly dismantled Hamas in the area. The United Nations agency supporting people in Gaza, UNRWA, said 300,000 people have been affected by evacuation orders in Rafah and Jabaliya, and the numbers are likely to be higher as these are very built-up areas. Were extremely concerned that these evacuation orders have come both towards central Rafah and Jabaliya, Louise Wateridge, UNRWA spokesperson in Rafah, told the Associated Press. Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel acts in compliance with the laws of armed conflict and the army takes extensive measures to avert civilian casualties, including alerting people to forthcoming military operations using phone calls and text messages and providing maps to safe areas. Meanwhile, strikes are continuing across Gaza. At least 19 people, including eight women and eight children, were killed overnight in central Gaza in strikes that hit the areas of Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah and an Associated Press journalist. Israels bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Civil authorities in Gaza on Saturday gave more details of the mass graves that the Health Ministry announced earlier in the week at Shifa hospital, the largest hospital in northern Gaza and the target of an earlier Israeli offensive. Authorities said most of the 80 bodies had been patients who died from lack of care. The Israeli army said any attempt to blame Israel for burying civilians in mass graves is categorically false. Tens of thousands of people attended the latest anti-government protest in Israel on on Saturday evening. Another round of ceasefire talks in Cairo ended earlier this week without a breakthrough. Russian forces have captured five villages as part of a renewed ground assault in Ukraines north east, the countrys Defence Ministry said. Ukrainian journalists reported on Friday that Russian troops had taken the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha, all of which are in a militarily contested grey zone on the border of Ukraines Kharkiv region and Russia. Advertisement Russian officials said they had also captured another village, Pletenivka, in a renewed attack on the region that Ukrainian authorities said forced more than 1,700 civilians to flee. Police evacuate elderly people after the Russian attack (Ukrainian Police/AP) Russian forces continued to pummel the nearby city of Vovchansk with air strikes and grad rockets on Saturday as police and volunteers raced to evacuate residents. Advertisement Associated Press journalists who accompanied an evacuation team described empty streets with multiple buildings destroyed and others on fire. The road was littered with newly made craters and the city was covered in dust and shrapnel with the smell of gunpowder in the air. Clouds of smoke rose across the skyline as Russian jets conducted multiple air strikes. During the short time the team were on the ground, they witnessed nine air attacks. Tetiana, 82, with her daughter as she is evacuated from Vovchansk on Saturday after her husband was killed in their house during a Russian airstrike (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) Advertisement Authorities helped a group of around 20 people on to a bus to take them to a nearby village to safety. Police said they evacuated 900 people from the city on Friday. Artillery, mortar and aerial bombardments hit more than 30 towns and villages, killing at least three people and injuring five others, said Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov. Ukrainian authorities have not commented on Moscows claims that several villages in the Kharkiv region are under Russian control. On Telegram, Mr Syniehubov said heavy fighting continued in the areas around Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Oliinykove, but that the situation was under control and there was no threat of a ground assault on Kharkiv city. Advertisement Ukraine rushed reinforcements to the Kharkiv region on Friday to hold off a Russian attempt to breach local defences, authorities said. Evacuees bade tearful goodbyes to their neighbours as they were taken away from their homes. You lie down and think whether they will kill you now, or in an hour, or in three, said resident Valentyna Hrevnova, 75. I hope that they (Russians) will not come, but ours (Ukrainians) will be here. Vera Rudko, 72, was among those who left. Advertisement We drove through Vovchansk in the city centre, Ms Rudko said. I cant look at this without tears. Everything is trembling. We didnt sleep these two nights at all. Ukrainian forces also launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Saturday night, Russias Ministry of Defence said, with air defence systems downing 21 rockets and 16 drones over Russias Belgorod, Kursk and Volgograd regions. One person died in a drone strike in the Belgorod region, and another in the Kursk region, local officials said. Another strike set an oil depot on fire in Ukraines Russian-occupied Luhansk region, killing four people and injuring eight more, said Leonid Pasechnik, the regions Moscow-installed leader. Russian forces stepped up their bombardment of Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, in late March. Fridays attack signalled a tactical switch in the war by Moscow that Ukrainian officials had been expecting for weeks. Russian military bloggers said the assault could mark the start of an attempt to carve out a buffer zone that President Vladimir Putin vowed to create earlier this year to halt frequent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Friday evening that Russian forces were expanding their operations. He also called on the countrys western allies to ensure that promised deliveries of military aid would swiftly reach the front lines. It is critical that partners support our warriors and Ukrainian resilience with timely deliveries. Truly timely ones, he said in a video statement. A package that truly helps is the actual delivery of weapons to Ukraine, rather than just the announcement of a package. The Kremlins forces have repeatedly sought to exploit Ukraines shortages of ammunition and personnel as the flow of western military aid to Kyiv has tapered off in recent months, with promised new support yet to arrive. Ukraine previously said Russia was assembling thousands of troops along the north-eastern border, close to the Kharkiv and Sumy regions. Intelligence officials also said they had expected an attack there though Russias most recent ground offensive had been focused on parts of eastern Ukraine farther south. In the wars early days, Russia made a botched attempt to quickly storm Kharkiv but retreated from its outskirts after about a month. In the autumn of 2022, seven months later, Ukraines army pushed them out of Kharkiv. The counter-attack helped persuade western countries that Ukraine could defeat Russia on the battlefield and merited military support. Former US president Donald Trump may face a tax bill in excess of $100 million (92 million) after a government audit indicates he double-dipped on tax losses tied to a Chicago skyscraper, according to a report by The New York Times and ProPublica. The report drew on a yearslong audit and public filings. Advertisement The reports findings could put renewed focus on Mr Trumps business career as the presumptive Republican nominee tries to regain the White House after losing in 2020. Mr Trump used his cachet as a real estate developer and TV star to build a political movement, yet he has refused to release his tax filings as past presidential candidates have. The tax filings that the public does know about have come from past reporting by the Times and a public release of records by Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee in 2022. Mr Trumps presidential campaign provided a statement in son Eric Trumps name saying the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) inquiry was settled years ago, only to be brought back to life once my father ran for office. We are confident in our position. Advertisement Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Freeland, Michigan earlier in May (Paul Sancya/AP) The tax records cited by the report indicate that Mr Trump twice deducted losses on the Trump International Hotel and Tower, which opened in 2009 near the banks of the Chicago River. The report said Mr Trump initially reported losses of $658 million in his 2008 filings under the premise that the property fit the IRS definition of being worthless because condominium sales were disappointing and retail space went unfilled amid a deep US recession. Advertisement But in 2010, the published report said, Mr Trump transferred the ownership of the property to a different holding company that he also controlled, using the move to save money on taxes by reporting an additional $168 million in losses over the next decade on the same property. The report did not have any updates on the status of the IRS inquiry since December 2022, but said Mr Trump could owe more than $100 million, including penalties, if he were to lose the audit battle. Mr Trump, meanwhile, is appealing against a New York judges ruling from February after a civil trial that Mr Trump, his company and top executives lied about his wealth on financial statements, conning bankers and insurers who did business with him. In early April, Mr Trump posted a $175 million bond, halting collection of the more than $454 million he owes from the judgement and preventing the state from seizing his assets to satisfy the debt while he appeals. Advertisement President Joe Biden has said that Mr Trump largely owes his fortune to an inheritance from his father, rather than through his own financial acumen. Mr Biden has gone after Mr Trump for not wanting to pay taxes, while his administration has increased IRS funding in order to increase audits of the ultra-wealthy and improve compliance with the federal tax code. The Trump campaign opposes the additional funding that Mr Biden and the Democrats provided to the IRS. At campaign rallies, Mr Trump has said the US would be destroyed as a country unless his 2017 tax cuts that are largely set to expire after 2025 are extended. Artist Scott LoBaido, right, looks on as crew members move his painting of former president Donald Trump before a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey on Saturday (Matt Rourke/AP) Advertisement On Saturday Mr Trump was heading to New Jersey after a long week in court. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee expects to draw what his campaign is calling a mega crowd to a Saturday evening rally in the southern New Jersey resort town of Wildwood. It is 150 miles south of the New York City courthouse where he has been forced to spend most weekdays sitting quietly through his hush money trial. Loading Her husband choked her just days after she had given birth to their youngest child and again two weeks later. This time, the police were called, and her husband was arrested and charged on the morning of May 8, 2022 but was soon released on bail. As the pair lived apart, Leanne said she remained in the family home while she was waiting for emergency housing and sought domestic violence counselling. Her husband had supervised visits. Her husband still had access to her residence as police had not taken his keys from him, and she could not change the locks as the lease was in his name. It took almost a year until the court held the first trial date in March 2023. During this time, her husband was also charged with breaching an ADVO, and using a carriage service to menace, harass or threaten after calling Leanne 63 times in 12 hours. It took another eight months to convict him. Her husband was found guilty of three counts of assault, along with the above two charges. There was no prison sentence. The magistrate fined him $2400 and made a community correction order. The court extended the ADVO for a further 12 months, preventing her husband from contacting, approaching or going within 500 metres of Leanne. During the court process, Leanne begged the police for support in an email. I find myself switching off baby monitors in case he has tapped into them and then lying awake at night wondering if hed come [in the] early hours of the morning Do I do a self-defence course? Do I get another lock installed? she wrote in an email to police. By the time police responded to her emailed concerns with a new provisional ADVO in March last year, the trial was already over and Leanne had left. Fearing for her safety, she bought herself and the children tickets to California, where her father and several family friends live. She only told her parents about her departure. I did not act as a lawyer when I fled. I acted as a mother, she said. Leanne assumed her husbands convictions would stop him from securing a visa to the US, and the trio lived for a year in California before her husband arrived there last month. Leanne said he began following her and the children around, appearing at the window of her fathers house. She was granted a temporary restraining order against him, although he still has supervised visitation. On March 20, her husband applied to the California District Attorney to have the children returned to Australia under The Hague Convention. He claims Leanne is mentally unwell. If Leanne is forced to return the children to Australia, she said she will follow but returns to no money, home, or job. Her hard-earned career as a family lawyer is in jeopardy if her husband presses criminal charges against her. But her more urgent fear is that her husband will kill her. Loading Im petrified but theres only so much I can do to protect myself. A taser. A camera. A lock on the door. Once Im on Australian soil again, he will come and he will try to kill me, she said. The rights of parents literally trump attempted murder in Australia. Shes also in financial hardship as the court proceedings are overseas, rendering her ineligible for legal aid she may have qualified for if the case was being heard in Australia. While the government pledged equal access to legal support in the last federal budget, its yet to be made available. Leanne does not want to return to Australia and believes her matter should be able to be heard either virtually with the Australian family law court provisions or be thrown out by the US court. [The courts] need to do background checks on whoever is trying to get a child back and ask, why has this person run? I did not do it for fun, she said. Why are we allowed to cover for violent people? Hes enabled by the system. If her case returns to the Family Court in Australia, Leanne will have her custody case heard under new laws aimed to have the courts consider the best interests of the child, after the federal parliament passed the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 last October. The changes legislated in the bill, which came into effect this week, mean judges can consider a history of domestic violence in determining custody matters. The changes also apply to Hague Convention cases heard in Australia. It also scraps the equal shared responsibility assumption introduced in 2006 by the Howard government to address a historical bias against fathers custody. Womens Legal Services Australia executive office Lara Freidin welcomed the changes as they focused on child safety but said the bills implementation must be monitored. Loading Weve been working closely with the chief justice of the Family Court to see what kind of training is needed to ensure judges have a gender lens, are trauma-informed and understanding of family violence, she said. Family violence doesnt stop on separation and coercive and controlling behaviours continue and escalate while people are engaged in legal progress and beyond. Queensland lawyer and QUT postdoctoral research fellow Gina Masterton warned the wording of the new legislation made it optional for judges to examine domestic violence, which had historically been downplayed or dismissed in Hague Convention cases. She said a bigger question was why men with a history of documented violence were even allowed to apply for return orders in the first place. When an abused mother offers evidence of the DV she has endured and also the steps she took in the other jurisdiction for protection which failed her then no return order should be made, she said. Since July last year, there have been 22 applications to return children from Australia to another country, and a further 46 applications to return children to Australia. The Attorney-Generals Department couldnt provide details on the number of cases which had allegations of domestic violence. *Name has been changed If you or anyone you know needs help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 (and see lifeline.org.au), the National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service on 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800. Residents on the states South Coast are bracing for flash flooding, and Warragamba Dam is expected to spill within hours, as the relentless run of heavy downpours continues to soak parts of NSW. WaterNSW said on Saturday afternoon the dam, which supplies the bulk of Sydneys drinking water, was close to capacity after days of persistent rain and would probably spill in the coming hours. The Warragamba Dam is at capacity. Credit: Nine News The dam, which is 65 kilometres west of Sydneys city centre, was holding about 2058 gigalitres of water more than 99 per cent of its 2069-gigalitre capacity shortly before 5pm. WaterNSW said that if the western Sydney catchment received the most likely forecast of 35 millimetres of rain in 48 hours, the dam could reach a peak spill rate of about 40 gigalitres a day. When 61.7 per cent of Australian voters supported same-sex marriage in the 2017 postal survey, 17 electorates voted no. Twelve of them were in western Sydney. The highest no votes nationally were in the seats of Blaxland (73.95 per cent), Watson (69.64 per cent), McMahon (64.93 per cent), Werriwa (63.74 per cent), Fowler (63.66 per cent) and Parramatta (61.62 per cent). Adjacent were the no-voting seats of Greenway (53.64 per cent), Chifley (58.69 per cent), Banks (55.12 per cent) and Barton (56.36 per cent). Western Sydney, much more than the mythical redneck deep north, deep south or deep west, was Australias no-voting heart. Councillor Steve Christou says he has not read the book he wants to ban from council libraries. Blaxland, McMahon, Parramatta and Greenway are the federal electorates included in the Cumberland Council area, so it cant be said that the councillors who have voted to take the book, Same-Sex Parents, by Holly Duhig, out of public libraries are not representing the majority of their community. Cumberland is not Marrickville or Newtown, stated the former Labor and now independent councillor Steve Christou, who led the vote. Now is the time for someone like me to thunder away about book burnings in Nazi Germany and the MAGA movements book censorship drive that is viciously attacking libraries in the United States. To deride the self-evident homophobia in the ban and mock Christou, who admitted not having read the book. To extol Australias progress in giving marriage equality to everybody. To cast Cumberland into the non-Marrickville, non-Newtown wilderness. Cherie Humel and Michael Clarke could not comment but had a guide of $35 million, and a source with knowledge of the deal but not authorised to speak publicly said it sold in line with the guide. The Manly trophy home was among the top sales this week. Credit: At the other end of the market, in Chippendale, a local first-home buyer renting around the corner kicked off the auction with a $630,000 bid, fuelling a flurry of $10,000 bids past the reserve. White said bidding slowed at the $750,000 mark, with the buyers who had been living in Surry Hills since relocating from Albury throwing down a final $5000 to secure the keys. The auction revealed the intensity of the first-home buyer market and some of the big budgets on display in Sydneys entry-level sector. However, White said, buyers were becoming increasingly picky. The good homes have all of the attention right now and the average ones dont, he said. Having 12 registered bidders on this one was huge, but the average number of bidders right now would normally be three, so thats a sign of the rarity of the commodity. A sprawling five-bedroom home at 47A Bent St, Lindfield with a lush rainforest backdrop fetched $3.25 million under the hammer on Saturday after an upsizing North Shore family outbid one other punter. Its the third time selling agent Jessica Cao, of Ray White Upper North Shore, has sold the home since 2014 homeowners there typically hold properties for 20 years. She said the pandemic foiled the plans of the vendors, a couple who had planned to relocate from Melbourne. I only sold this house to them in 2019 for $3 million. They were going to come up to Sydney because of work, but then COVID changed everything, she said. The job changed, and they were forced to rent out the house instead. Loading Cao said she had sold the home in 2014 for $1.85 million, which indicated the steady growth and desirability of the area among buyers craving a large home close to nature. The latest buyers had only been looking for two months, so they were very efficient. For them, it was all about the serenity and the tranquility. The price guide was $3 million, and bidding for the home started at $2.9 million, rising mainly in increments of $50,000. The auction was over within 10 minutes, Cao said, having fetched the reserve price. At Bondi Beach, a two-bedroom, top floor unit at 9/3 Cox Avenue sold under the hammer for $1,315,000 to a Melbourne investor, who paid $65,000 over the $1.25 million reserve. Selling agent James Ledgerwood, of McGrath Double Bay, said four out of five registered bidders participated. The final $1000 bid knocked out competing first-home buyers who were relying on the bank of mum and dad and had been looking for some time. Ledgerwood said bidding kicked off at $1.15 million, and 20 of the 30 bids were of $500 and $1000. The price guide was $1.15 million to $1.2 million. About 15 bids of those were $1000 bids, and they were thrown down in rapid-fire succession, so it was an exciting auction. And I think thats because it was a quality home in a good area, he said. A 1916 heritage home on a 1258-square-metre block in Marrickville collected an eye-watering $900,000 more than its $3.7 million reserve at a hotly contested auction, with two siblings pooling their resources to pay $4.6 million. BresicWhitney selling agent Frederico Fraga-Matos said the four-bedder at 321 Marrickville Road, known as Montrose House, had been carefully restored while maintaining its heritage high ceilings and even the original bathtub. It lured buyers from around Sydney. We really werent expecting it [to] get that price, Fraga-Matos said. The price guide was $3.5 million all throughout that campaign, so we thought it would maybe get to the high $3 millions, but this home has such a historic significance, and its a landmark home on a big landholding. Loading Its also single level, and that really appealed to families. He said there were six registered bidders, of whom five participated, mostly upsizers. The winners a multi-generational family from Darling Point loved its single-level accessibility for their elderly parents. One of the siblings recently sold her home in Darling Point for around $3.3 million, and they had been looking for about 12 months for the perfect place for the whole family, Fraga-Matos said. An upsizing Stanmore family kicked off bidding at $3.5 million, with increments of $50,000 and then $20,000. The underbidders were a young couple renting nearby. Rewriting a mixed political legacy Camerons allies say he was persuaded to return to frontline politics via the House of Lords by his long-time friend and former foreign secretary William Hague and others because he did not want to be remembered for the humiliation of losing the Brexit referendum in June 2016. David Cameron visits Turkmenistans National Carpet Museum during his five-day visit to Central Asia in April. Credit: Getty As prime minister, hed overseen austerity measures that many blame for the degraded public realm at home, the ill-fated military intervention in Libya, the naive pursuit of a golden age with China, and the Brexit vote sometimes described as the biggest blunder since Lord North oversaw Britains catastrophic defeat in the American War of Independence, which lost the colony. More recently, as an adviser to Greensill Capital, the financial services company that collapsed in 2021, Cameron had become embroiled in a major lobbying scandal. So becoming foreign secretary was a chance, Hague persuaded him, to rewrite and amend his legacy. Yes, I supported remaining in the EU, Cameron said on Thursday. But I am now laser-like focused on ensuring Britain and the EU have the best possible relationship, not as members, but as friends, neighbours and partners. Since last November, Cameron has visited 33 countries and crisscrossed six continents. Hes been to the Middle East six or so times and Ukraine a similar amount. Last week he promised $US3.74 billion of annual military aid for Ukraine for as long as it takes on, adding that he had no objection to the weapons being used inside Russia. Making Britains presence felt in the Middle East Earlier this year he suggested that the UK could unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state in the aftermath of any ceasefire in Gaza. With his intervention, he outflanked both Downing Street and the Labour Party and shifted the terms of debate. Loading Sunak has appeared to give him free rein because he is either not that interested or focused on foreign affairs, particularly when so much is going wrong domestically. Sophia Gaston, the head of foreign policy at the leading Westminster think tank, Policy Exchange, said Cameron was running the British Foreign Office like a man on borrowed time. He is completely focused on achieving meaningful, short-term outcomes, which is unusual in a field often characterised by incremental and uneven progress, Gaston said. In front of the camera, his public diplomacy has chalked up some considerable wins, although at times his legacy as prime minister has come back to haunt him. She says the crux of the Cameron 2.0 era is an argument that the world has changed, and he has along with it. Gaston says Cameron is one of the most political foreign secretaries of the modern age in an era that demands it. In an election year, his role is to communicate how his indefatigable diplomacy is delivering tangible results for the British people a task made more important by the fact that the governments domestic record has been weaker than its international scorecard. Defending the Wests democratic values Few things show how far the Tories have strayed from Camerons centrist era than his position on international aid, which he still believes is not just a moral good, but a soft power in the fight against terrorism and reaction. I am a passionate believer in the power of aid and proud of my role in helping to design the sustainable development goals and boost Britains aid spending, he said, pointing to the BBC World Service, which reaches over 300 million listeners each week and supports independent media in places such as Moldova and Bosnia, both under threat from Russian bullying and manipulation tactics. In the Middle East, the UK has remained broadly supportive of Israels right to retaliate against Hamas after the October 7 attacks and, controversially, pulled its funding for the UNs Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA. But Cameron has simultaneously urged Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and followed the US in sanctioning a limited number of West Bank Settlers. Cameron has pledged support to Ukraine for as long as it takes. Tim Eaton, at Chatham Houses Middle East and North Africa Program, says Cameron has sought to make his presence felt through high-level diplomacy over Israel and Palestine, including contributing to plans for the day after Israels assault on Gaza. But he says despite Camerons energy, the UKs response towards Gaza and the region in general remains reactive and Britain is not at the forefront of discussion on what comes next. The UK has been weakened by Brexit, internal feuding and diminished economic, diplomatic and military capacity, making it harder for Cameron to get his voice heard, he says. When the reigning Miss USA, Noelia Voigt, announced this week that she would be resigning from her position, she cited her mental health and wrote about her gratitude for the opportunity. As individuals, we grow through experiencing different things in life that lead us to learning more about ourselves, she wrote on Instagram on Monday. Reigning Miss USA Noelia Voigt announced this week she would be resigning from her position. Credit: Instagram But an internal resignation letter by Voigt to Miss USA leadership and the Miss Universe Organisation, obtained Friday by The New York Times, presented a much darker picture. In the eight-page letter, Voigt, who represented the state of Utah and was crowned in September, described a toxic work environment within the Miss USA Organisation that, at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment. She also complained in her letter that the organisation had delayed making good on her prize winnings. Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and ex-President Donald Trump's former lawyer, is facing financial challenges as he recently filed for bankruptcy after a jury ordered him to pay $148 million in defamation damages. In an unexpected move, Giuliani has urged social media users to subscribe to his podcast for a monthly fee, signaling a potential effort to generate income, as per Newsweek. Rudy Giuliani Regrets Not Having Pension Rudy Giuliani, known for his pivotal role in guiding New York City during the awful incidents of the 9/11 attacks, has reportedly chosen not to seek a pension that could have potentially granted him an extra $442,000 in financial resources. hen asked about his decision, he cited "giving back to the city" as his motivation and acknowledged his lack of knowledge on the process of applying for a pension. Giuliani, who notably lacks a pension, has made contributions to the city's deferred compensation plan. The estimated amount of his contributions falls within the range of $50,000 to $100,000. In a notable departure from the norm, former mayors often choose to receive pensions. However, Rudy Giuliani is emulating the actions of his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, who, as a billionaire, made the unconventional decision to forgo both a salary and a pension. Moreover, Giuliani has taken to social media to promote a high-profile initiative. He is urging users to subscribe to his podcast, "America's Mayor Confidential," for a monthly fee of $10. Giuliani is currently grappling with a substantial amount of debt. Reports indicate that his debts may amount to a staggering $500 million, while his total assets are estimated to be no more than $10 million, according to The Independent. Read Also: North Korea Will No Longer Seek Reunification With South; Kim Jong Un Orders Military To Annihilate Enemies Including US If Provoked Giuliani Urges Social Media Fundraising Amid Challenges In spite of his financial struggles, Giuliani continues to maintain a strong presence on social media, specifically X/Twitter. Through this platform, he is fervently urging his followers to unite with him and make contributions towards a common objective. Several users have reported encountering difficulties when trying to access Rudy Giuliani's account, which could potentially hinder his efforts to gather financial support. Giuliani delves into a range of topics, including the highlights of the GOP debate, his unwavering support for Trump, and the serious allegations of corruption leveled against President Joe Biden. The once-revered figure finds themselves entangled in a web of legal troubles. Among these challenges is a defamation case in Georgia, where they stand accused of making false accusations against election workers, alleging that they manipulated the vote in favor of President Biden, Raw Story reported. Kolmar BNH (KOSDAQ: 200130), a manufacturer of HemoHIM, a health-enhancing functional food, has emerged as a frontrunner in the global Original Development Manufacturing (ODM) market, owing to its pioneering investments in research and development. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240510895890/en/ A researcher from Kolmar BNH Health Food Lab. (Photo: Kolmar BNH) Founded in 2005, Kolmar BNH is an ODM company for health-functional food products. ODM enterprises, encompassing various sectors from trend analysis to R&D, product conceptualization, manufacturing, and quality assurance, cater to customers with entrepreneurial aspirations. This framework facilitates opportunities for individuals with a passion for business and ideas. The cornerstone of Kolmar BNH's competitiveness lies in its technological adeptness, underpinned by substantial R&D investments. The company annually allocates over 2% of its sales revenue to R&D expenditures, bolstering its capabilities by employing more than 30% of its workforce as researchers. The Health Food Lab, an arm of Kolmar BNH, comprising over 100 researchers with master's and doctoral degrees, is dedicated to pioneering new formulations and functionalities. Kolmar BNH maintains relationships with over 300 domestic and international clients, leveraging its R&D prowess that has evolved over an extended period. Among its key clients is the Korean branch of Haleon, a global healthcare conglomerate, for which Kolmar BNH manufactures the flagship vitamin product 'Centrum' distributed in Korea. HemoHIM, distributed by Atomy, represents a technology-intensive product of Kolmar BNH. The primary ingredient, the HemoHIM Extract Complex of Angelica gigas, etc., is Korea's first individually recognized ingredient enhancing immune function, developed in collaboration with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. This product has penetrated markets in 19 countries, including Australia, the United States, Thailand, Taiwan, Central Asia, and South America. HemoHIM G, tailored for the European market, is another testament to Kolmar BNH's R&D capabilities. This export-oriented product has been meticulously formulated to comply with diverse food regulations across European nations, incorporating carefully selected ingredients such as Angelica sinensis, Ligusticum chuanxiong, and Paeonia lactiflora. The flavor and aroma have also been refined in order to satisfy the preferences of European consumers. Kolmar BNH's stellar performance in sales among Korean health-functional food ODM firms can be attributed to the success of HemoHIM. Achieving sales exceeding KRW 600 billion within a decade and a half of its inception, the company was honored with the 200 Million Dollar Export Tower at the Korea International Trade Associations Trade Day ceremony in 2021. Kolmar BNH aims to bolster its global market competitiveness by prioritizing R&D efforts in raw material development, with emphasis on uncovering additional efficacies through in-depth research of Hemohim G. An official from Kolmar BNH said, As a leading ODM company in Korea's health-functional food sector, Kolmar BNH remains steadfast in its commitment to R&D, striving to deliver customer-centric services. We endeavor to captivate global clientele by showcasing the technological expertise amassed through years of dedicated innovation. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240510895890/en/ The Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ant International to welcome and facilitate its business expansion in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The agreement paves the way for Ant International to establish a new entity in Saudi Arabia, to better work with local partners and serve local customers with its full suite of innovative technologies and products. The Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ant International, to facilitate the business expansion into the Kingdom. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240507130337/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) Ant Internationals President, Douglas Feagin, met with Mr. Eng Saleh Khabti, Deputy Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia during a signing ceremony held in Riyadh, to welcome the new partnership and sign an agreement outlining shared goals for technological innovation and economic growth opportunities in Saudi Arabia. Through this partnership, MISA welcomes and supports Ant Internationals expansion plan to establish an entity in Saudi Arabia, enabling assistance when acquiring licences and certificates to expand and enhance its service offerings. Ant International will use Saudi Arabia as a key gateway into the Middle East to further expand the reach of its payment and financial services. Local merchants of all sizes will benefit from riding the wave of digitalization to achieve further growth. Mr. Eng Saleh Khabti, Deputy Minister for Investment at MISA said we have worked closely with Ant International on its expansion into the Kingdom which will not only benefit thousands of merchants across the country but potentially hundreds of thousands of businesses right across the Middle East. We are seeing tremendous growth in digital payments in Saudi Arabia and we expect this trend to continue with Ant Internationals expansion which will further boost the financial services sector in the Kingdom. Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International, said we see an enormous opportunity for expansion in the Middle East and in particular Saudi Arabia, which has been supportive of technological innovations and digitalization, empowering its businesses to thrive. Through our agreement with MISA, Ant International enters an exciting new chapter of opportunity within Saudi Arabia. Were delighted to build upon our progress in the Middle East to support merchants access to our world class payment solutions and inclusive financial services, providing Saudi businesses with various tools to grow and benefit from international travel and trade. Ant Internationals strategy is comprised of four services for global merchants: (i) Alipay+ cross-border mobile payment and digitalization technology solutions, (ii) Antom merchant payment services, (iii) WorldFirst digital payment and financial services for cross-border trade, and (iv) ANEXT Bank, a digital wholesale bank regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and other embedded financial services. About Ant International Headquartered in Singapore, Ant International powers the future of global commerce with digital innovation for everyone and every business to thrive. In close collaboration with partners, we support merchants of all sizes worldwide to realize their growth aspirations through a comprehensive range of tech-driven digital payment and financial services solutions. About the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) The rapid economic growth and diversification of Saudi Arabias economy under the Vision 2030 plan is unlocking foreign direct investment (FDI) opportunities at an unprecedented pace. The Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) is facilitating access to these opportunities by nurturing a vibrant cross-government investment ecosystem. MISA coordinates across the Saudi government to create a competitive investment environment that provides stability and clarity for investors. It does so by spearheading business friendly policies and regulatory reforms, creating investment incentives, facilitating investment data, opening investment opportunities across diverse sectors, and supporting Saudi companies to partner with and attract investment from foreign counterparts. MISA is responsible for overseeing the implementation of Saudi Arabias National Investment Strategy (NIS), an ambitious plan launched in October 2021 to make private sector investors both local and international true partners in development, with state investment helping to de-risk, enable and crowd-in investment. The NIS aims to triple investment, increase FDI from SAR 17bn to SAR 338bn, and grow investment as a percentage of GDP to 30% by 2030. For more information on MISA, please visit our website or connect with #MISA on Twitter and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240507130337/en/ State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Postal Code Donald Trump's former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis referred to his boss as a "madman in a circular room screaming" and that was hardly the end of his disdain, according to an upcoming book. The retired four-star Marine general lasted only a year after joining the Trump administration in 2017. He quit over Trump's decision to yank American forces out of Syria. "You're going to have to get the next secretary of defense to lose to ISIS. I'm not going to do it," Mattis told the Atlantic he responded to Trump. "I had no choice but to leave." Mattis' assessment of the former president as a screaming madman was bared by Tom Bossert, Trump's homeland security adviser, as recounted in the book "The Situation Room:The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis by journalists George Stephanopolous and Lisa Dickey. Bossert also pointed out that Trump hated to go to Situation Room military breifings because he thought generals should come to him, according to the book, which is due out next week. "You couldn't get Mattis into the White House," Bossert reportedly told the authors in the book, a copy of which was obtained by the Guardian. "Anybody with sense somebody like Mattis or [former Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson they immediately shunned and stayed away from Trump," he said. The book also reveals that Trump ordered aides to create books of chyrons basic descriptions of the news that appear at the bottom of TV newscasts in order to simplify the stories of the day for him. The authors called it "surely one of the most prosaic tasks ever required of the highly trained intelligence officers serving in the White House," the Guardian noted. The book's latest on Mattis is part of his long-festering view of Trump. He was quoted by Washington Post editor and Watergate journalist Bob Woodward in his 2020 book "Rage" as calling Trump "unfit" and "dangerous" because he has "no moral compass." Mattis also complained in a 2020 letter to the Atlantic that Trump was the "first president in my lifetime who ... tries to divide us" and accused him of "making a mockery of the Constitution." Trump was relieved when Mattis left his administration. "I gave him a new life, things to do, and battles to win, but he seldom 'brought home the bacon,'" Trump wrote afterward on social media." I didn't like his 'leadership' style or much else about him, and many others agree. Glad he is gone!" Cornell University President Martha Pollack has announced her resignation after a major donor accused her of antisemitism and a "misguided" diversity program. Pollack has also been attacked by critics for harsh penalties against six pro-Palestinian student protesters during a school year school year when Pollack launched a campus free-speech initiative. One of the university's key contributors threatened earlier in January to withdraw funds unless Pollack stepped down and Cornell abandoned its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Pollack, who has been president of the university since 2017, has insisted that stepping down was not influenced by the polarized political atmosphere on campus or allegations of mishandling campus demonstrations. "I understand that there will be lots of speculation about my decision, so let me be as clear as I can: This decision is mine and mine alone," she wrote in a university-wide email. She called leading the institution an "amazing privilege," but said it's time for a "new chapter" in her life. Continuing to delay her retirement is "not in the university's best interest," Pollack noted. Jon Lindseth, the donor who threatened to cut off funding, also urged the Board of Trustees to reconsider its "misguided commitment" to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), arguing that it has brought "disgrace" upon the Ivy League institution Lindseth, a Cornell graduate from the class of 1956, voiced his alarm over the "diminished quality of education offered lately by my alma mater because of its disastrous involvement with DEI policies that have infiltrated every part of the university." He alleged that threats had been made to Jewish students and support expressed for Hamas, and blamed the university's progressive ideology, according to The Daily Mail. Pollack had previously reported his allegations to the FBI, highlighting that "nothing is more important than the safety of our communities, and we will not tolerate violence motivated by hate and extremism." Cornell President Martha Pollack announces she'll retire next month. Pollack had said the '23-'24 academic year would have a pro-expression/academic freedom theme. Post-Oct. 7, like on many campuses, free speech controversies have proliferated instead. https://t.co/6cfsTQrVsQ pic.twitter.com/2bo45pj7Or Alex Morey (@1AMorey) May 9, 2024 Pollack, who will end her term on June 30, is the fourth Ivy League president to step down in the last six months amid unrest on campuses amid protests regarding the Israel-Hamas war. Well known businessman Rob Cresswell told members of the Chattanooga Civitan Club on Friday that the launch of a new company began when his brother, Greg Cresswell, tragically lost his life at a Hixson restaurant. In the incident in September 2022, he choked to death after swallowing a piece of steak. The speaker said his brother was in good health and a partner in his business when this tragedy occurred. Mr. Cresswell said at that time patrons and employees at the restaurant did not know how to save him. As a result of his brothers death, after much research, Rob Cresswell decided that no one should have to die from choking. He determined that his mission was now to save as many lives as he could. He then teamed up with the founder and CEO of a company called LifeVac. This device is small and made of plastic and is easily used by placing it on the mouth of the person who is choking. The speaker said his goal was to provide and install a LifeVac Anti Choking Device in every daycare, school cafeteria, nursing home, restaurant, and first responder vehicle. Mr. Cresswell said there are an average of 5,000 choking deaths per year. One small child dies every five days of choking. Mr. Cresswell proudly said his 501(c)(3) non profit organization has saved 2,183 lives throughout the United States. The group depends on the donations of the public to function. And he told the members that the public can order this device for their car, home, business by emailing rob@gregO2.com. Mr. Cresswell was praised by program chairman Neal Thompson for helping thousands of people through his efforts. He said his brother did not die in vain. The Chattanooga Division of Transportation reminds Chattanoogans of the IRONMAN 70.3 next weekend on Sunday, May 19. "We recommend that spectators and visitors park in the lots and garages surrounding downtown and utilize the Free Electric Shuttle (beginning 9:30 a.m. Sunday) and Bike Chattanooga bike share system (24/7)," officials said.Public activities start Friday afternoon with the IRONMAN Village and Official IRONMAN Store opening at 2 p.m. on Riverfront Parkway. Both will be open Saturday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.and Sunday (race day) from 8 a.m.-4 p.m.The Tennessee River will be closed to pleasure crafts between Ross' Landing and the Hubert Fry Center from 5-10:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 19. This includes the Rivermont Park and Tennessee Riverpark boat ramps.IRONMAN starts early Sunday morning, May 19, with shuttle buses transporting athletes from Ross' Landing to the swim starting location. The swim portion begins at 6:50 a.m. and athletes will be transitioning to the bike race from about 7:15-9 a.m. Traffic will be stopped from crossing the cyclists' lane when they are present between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Riverfront Parkway, West 20th Street, Broad Street, Market Street and Alton Park Boulevard. Runners will be on the Riverwalk, Amnicola Highway, the Veterans Bridge, Frazier Avenue, Barton Avenue and Riverfront Parkway between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m."Spectators are encouraged to make the most of this unprecedented opportunity for Chattanooga, official said. Links to the IRONMAN 70.3 Spectator Guide, Travel Tips and maps of the routes can be found on the 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga website.Closure details:Riverside Drive/Riverfront Parkway between Aquarium Way and Molly Lane, Chestnut Street between Aquarium Way and Riverfront Parkway, Power Alley from the parking lot to Riverfront Parkway, and the southbound Veterans Bridge ramp to Riverside Drive will close Wednesday, May 15 at 9 a.m. for the IRONMAN 70.3 setup and will reopen Monday, May 20 at 5 a.m.THE FOLLOWING WILL BE CLOSED OR HAVE LIMITED ACCESS FOR THE BIKE PORTION: The right southbound lane of Riverfront Parkway between Molly Lane and W. MLK Boulevard; Riverfront Parkway southbound will be fully closed between W. MLK Boulevard and Broad Street. All traffic will be directed northbound only; The right southbound lane of Market Street between West 20th Street and West 40th Street; West 40th Street between Alton Park Boulevard and Tennessee Avenue; I-24 on-ramp and Southbound off-ramp at Market Street will be closed and all streets crossing this route will be controlled by CPD officers; and The intersections of St. Elmo Avenue and W. 42nd Street/Tennessee Avenue and Virginia Avenue at West 46th Street** will be 4-way Stops from 5 a.m.-1 p.m. on Sunday, May 19 for the IRONMAN 70.3 bike portion. Cyclists will also be on Tennessee Avenue and St. Elmo Avenue to the state line, riding with traffic. (**W 46th Street is an updated location, after public input, this was chosen in place of W 45th Street; The attached Traffic Impact document erroneously lists W 45th Street.).THE FOLLOWING WILL BE CLOSED OR HAVE LIMITED ACCESS FOR THE RUN PORTION: The right eastbound lane of Frazier Avenue between Forest Avenue and the Veterans Bridge; The right northbound lane of Barton Avenue between Frazier Avenue and Baker Street; The right northbound lane of the Veterans Bridge between East 3rd Street and Barton Avenue; The right westbound lane of Amnicola Highway between Old Curtain Pole Road and Lindsay Street Battery Place off-ramp from Riverfront Parkway; Aquarium Way between Riverfront Parkway and Walnut Street; and All streets crossing this route will be controlled by CPD officers to give right-of-way to the runners from 5 a.m. on Sunday, May 19 until 5 p.m. for the IRONMAN 70.3 run portion.There will be several locations where temporary parking restrictions will be in place on Sunday, May 19. This includes Riverfront Parkway, Walnut Street and multiple locations within St Elmo. "Special Event No Parking" signage will be posted where these restrictions are in place. Will someone of an authority of this sad topic kindly explain to this 80-year-and-11- month old fogey just what in the name of Hosanna, Yahweh, Allah and the Heavenly Father, has turned our college and university students into a blithering, blathering herd of Anti-semitic jerks. Perhaps I was taught a parallel history. One thing I have learned since my early teenage years is this: Each time Israel has been attacked, it has soundly thrashed each and every one of them. This follower of Israel was in an ecstatic state over its incredible victory of the Seven Days War with each opponent giving Israel thousands of square miles of new territory.Had the U.N. not interceded, with the help of the United State's Bozo President LBJ, that victory would have guaranteed Israel's security for many years. If this leads to a debate, gimme your best shot. Rodger Castleberry In my humble, yet considered opinion, this volatile spate of demonstrations against relatively tiny Israel and its beleaguered citizens, and for the radical thugs of Hamas and other trash, who have plagued Israel since its inception in 1948 are anathema to the, I hope and pray, majority of right-minded and clear thinking Americans, at least of my generation, those born prior to and following the 1950's. A royal reporter is recalling what King Charles told journalists after a wild night of partying while they were traveling abroad with him. When members of the royal family go on tours, members of the press go with them. The journalists are there to cover the tour by reporting on the engagements being carried out and other work being done as well as making sure they get plenty of photos showcasing the purpose of the trip. But after a long day of work and travel, some reporters try to unwind and enjoy themselves while abroad. But as a royal correspondent recalled, there was one boozy night when some had a little too much fun while on tour with King Charles and their antics got the monarch pretty angry when they disrupted his routine. Heres more on that, plus how the late Queen Elizabeth II handled things when her staffers got drunk while partying at Buckingham Palace. King Charles 6 words for royal reporters who were drunk and loud King Charles III at the Royal Windsor Horse Show | Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images Jennie Bond, who has been working on the royal beat for more than three decades, talked about what happened when she covered then-Prince Charles trip to Fraser Island off the coast of Brisbane, Australia one year. Bond gave the OK! magazine the details revealing: When youre traveling with the royals and when youre traveling with other reporters, there are a lot of laughs along the way. One moment I remember was when we were flown to Fraser Island after a very busy tour of Australia with Charles. We all stayed in the same hotel and we journalists all did very loud karaoke in the bar. Charles had said he was going to come down, but he didnt in the end. I have to confess that we reporters then sat in a hot tub outside under the stars surrounded by wine bottles having a lovely time. But their lovely time was filled with a lot of noise as the future king tried to sleep. And as Bond explained, even though he never joined them that evening, Charles heard them. The next morning when Charles came down he said, Was that you lot making all that bloody awful noise? He then fired off six words telling everyone: You kept me awake all night!' What Queen Elizabeth did when royal employees got drunk around her Queen Elizabeth II during a reception at Buckingham Palace | Toby Melville WPA Pool/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth once had to deal with noisy, drunk people as well but it wasnt on a royal tour; it was in her home. The late queen had almost 200 staffers who worked in the royal household at Buckingham Palace. The massive residence has a post office on site, a doctors surgery, an ATM machine, and at one time it had a saloon for the Palace employees. But according to Queen Elizabeths former press secretary, Dickie Arbiter, when those employees couldnt handle their liquor and got too loud their boss made the decision to close the bar down. In the documentary Secrets of the Royal Palaces, Arbiter explained the staffers got too worse for wear and unlike her son, the queen wasnt going to lose sleep so she had to get rid of it. Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that would remove gray wolves from the protection of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which could spell trouble for the species. Currently, gray wolves are classified as endangered in 44 states. The bill has been dubbed the Trust the Science Act. It was introduced by Lauren Boebert, a Republican representative from Colorado. The bill was passed by a vote of 209 to 205. One of its aims is to give state lawmakers and state wildlife officials authority to control the gray wolf population. Many of the bills supporters argue that gray wolves are not in need of protection any longer, adding that their steadily increasing numbers are causing harm to the surrounding populations of people and animals. Over the last few years, there have been more and more gray wolf attacks in areas such as Wisconsin. The science is clear; the gray wolf has met and exceeded recovery goals, Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany said in a statement. Todays House passage represents an important first step toward restoring local control over the skyrocketing gray wolf population in Wisconsin. I will continue to fight to get this legislation through the U.S. Senate to protect livestock and pets from brutal wolf attacks. However, some of those who are against the bill believe that just because gray wolf numbers have improved, it doesnt mean that protections should be removed. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat Congressman, stated that passing the bill simply says that the gray wolves are recovered, but that doesnt make it true. According to the Wolf Conservation Center, there are approximately 8,100 gray wolves in 48 states. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 2,797 of the 8,100 can be found in the western region of the country. Sign up for Chip Chicks newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox. Home News Biden faces bipartisan pushback over threat to cut off weapons for Israel President Joe Biden has faced criticism from Republicans and some within his own party after he promised to withhold an arms shipment to Israel if the U.S. ally invaded Rafah in Gaza to launch an assault against a Hamas military stronghold. During a Wednesday interview with CNN, the president said that the United States would still provide rocket interceptor for Israel's Iron Dome and other defensive weapons, but other major shipments would cease if Israel proceeds with moving into Rafah. Israel launched an offensive in Gaza following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians in Southern Israel. Throughout the war, Israel's stated objective has been to eradicate the terror group, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, and free the hostages. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says that over 34,000 people in Gaza have died since the war began, but doesn't differentiate between combatants and civilian deaths. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Regurgitation of the Gaza death toll figures by media outlets and activists have put pressure on the Biden administration to halt military support for the offensive. "We're not walking away from Israel's security," Biden said. "We're walking away from Israel's ability to wage war in those areas." "We're going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently. But it's just wrong. We're not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells," he added. The U.S. has already paused "one shipment of high payload munitions," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed during a Wednesday Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. The pause on shipments to Israel has prompted criticism from various lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle. The following pages highlight six reactions from Republicans and Democrats. Home News 1,200 UNRWA staffers have ties to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad: intelligence report An Israeli official has claimed that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency is a "haven for Hamas' radical ideology" after an Israeli intelligence report estimated that around 10% of the agency's 12,000 staffers in Gaza have ties to Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups. According to the dossier provided to the United States and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, estimates suggest that about 1,200 UNRWA employees in Gaza have links to Hamas, the terror group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Additionally, the intelligence suggests that about half of the agency's employees have family members who belong to extremist groups, both of which the U.S. has recognized as foreign terror organizations since 1997. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Evidence within the intelligence report came from cell phone data, interrogations with Hamas fighters and documents discovered on the bodies of dead militants. The report comes days after the United Nations announced that at least nine UNRWA employees were terminated amid allegations they participated in Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre that killed over 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, including 31 Americans. About 240 others were abducted. The Oct. 7 attacks sparked an Israeli military offensive in Gaza seeking to eradicate Hamas and free the hostages. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reports that over 26,000 people have been killed since the war began. Those figures don't differentiate between combatants and civilians. "UNRWA's problem is not just 'a few bad apples' involved in the October 7 massacre," a senior Israeli government official told WSJ. "The institution as a whole is a haven for Hamas' radical ideology." The UNRWA did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment. Nine countries, including the U.S., have halted aid to UNRWA following accusations that at least 12 of the agency's employees had connections with Hamas' attacks against Israel. In addition to the nine who were terminated, the U.N. says one has been killed, and the identities of two others are being clarified. Six workers of UNRWA allegedly took part in the Oct. 7 massacre, according to the intelligence report reviewed by WSJ, and two are accused of helping to kidnap Israelis. Seven of the 12 accused employees were reportedly primary or secondary school teachers. Two employees were tracked to locations where multiple Israeli civilians were murdered, and others are believed to have assisted with procuring weapons and coordinating logistics for the attack. On Monday, The Times of Israel provided more details about the intelligence dossier, noting that the report alleges a UNRWA school counselor from Khan Younis worked with his son to abduct a woman from Israel. The report described a social worker with the agency who is believed to have brought the body of a dead Israeli soldier to Gaza. The same social worker allegedly distributed ammunition and helped to direct vehicles on Oct. 7. TOI reports that a third employee was described as taking part in the massacre at Kibbutz Be'eri where 97 people died. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini responded to the recent allegations against the agency in a Saturday statement, urging the countries that suspended funding to the agency to reconsider their decision. "It is shocking to see a suspension of funds to the Agency in reaction to allegations against a small group of staff, especially given the immediate action that UNRWA took by terminating their contracts and asking for a transparent independent investigation. The U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the highest investigative authority in the U.N. system, has already been seized of this very serious matter," the commissioner general stated. Lazzarini stated that OIOS is investigating the accusations and that external experts will conduct a review of UNRWA to "strengthen its framework for the strict adherence of all staff to the humanitarian principles." "I urge countries who have suspended their funding to re-consider their decisions before UNRWA is forced to suspend its humanitarian response. The lives of people in Gaza depend on this support and so does regional stability," the statement continued. UNRWA employees have previously faced scrutiny for their alleged ties to terrorist groups. In November, a report from Israeli Channel 13's Almog Boker claimed a teacher with UNRWA held captive one of the hostages Hamas abducted during its attack. The teacher allegedly kept a man in his attic for over a month and barely provided him with any food and neglected the man's medical needs. At the time, the UNRWA and the U.N. said in a statement that they were taking the allegations seriously and requested more information from the Israeli journalist. "Despite repeated demands, the journalist has not responded," UNRWA stated, adding that it asked the journalist to remove his post because it was "unsupported by any evidence or verifiable facts in support thereof may amount to misinformation." Members of UNRWA have also been accused of celebrating Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre. In 2008, Reuters reported that a former headmaster and science teacher at a U.N. school in Gaza built rockets for the Islamic Jihad terror group. Home News Catholic archdiocese list of pro-life candidates leaked ahead of Dominican elections On May 19, general elections will be held in the Dominican Republic where President Luis Abinader, the former President Leonel Fernandez and Santiago Mayor Abel Martinez are competing for the National Palace. Yet, the election is not only about the presidential office but also the legislative positions of deputies and senators. A few days ago, the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo issued a document titled "Candidates in favor of life and family values," in which it detailed a list of 122 legislative candidates belonging to the major parties who are openly pro-life, and urged that they be elected to assume positions in Congress. Among the listed candidates, 50 belong to the Partido Revolucionario Moderno (Modern Revolutionary Party, PRM), 32 to the Partido de la Liberacion Dominicana (Dominican Liberation Party, PLD), 26 to the Fuerza del Pueblo (People's Force, FP), six are from the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (Dominican Revolutionary Party, PRD); six from the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (Social Christian Reformist Party) and two candidates from Generacion de Servidores (Generation of Servants). Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe The document includes photographs and party data of the selected candidates, as well as detailed information on the local parishes and their staff, as reported Listin Diario. Manuel Ruiz, secretary of the Life Commission of the Episcopal Conference, and his team have mapped the candidates according to pastoral zones, seeking to let each parish know about the pro-life candidates in their territory. After identifying their allies and opponents, the Catholic Church plans to promote prayer and encourage parishioners to vote in favor of the chosen candidates. Ruiz noted, however, that "it was a draft that had been sent to the priests' and bishops' private chat for correction, and that an incomplete one was leaked." "We want to say that if those who do not think like us, who are pro-abortion, who believe in same-sex marriage, we respect them. We are exercising our right to do this because the Church does not live on the moon, the Church lives on earth and is the institution that has the greatest presence in this country," Ruiz said. A number of legislators and leaders within the Evangelical church reacted to the call of the Catholic Church to vote for the candidates who are against abortion. The deputy of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) Amado Diaz, who is on the list of those favored by the Catholic Church, said that he is a person committed to life. "I am pro-life by nature, and I am against the type of modernism that they want to implement in all settings, including in Congress," said Diaz. In addition, the congressman and candidate assured that being pro-life "is something we believe in, it is something we practice. We are grateful that the [Catholic] Church takes us into account and if it helps us by voting for us, even better." To find out what Evangelicals are thinking about the list, Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily Internationals Spanish edition, spoke with Jorge Duarte, president of the Confraternidad Evangelica Dominicana (Dominican Evangelical Fellowship, CONEDO), one of the institutions that brings together churches and Christian ministries in the Dominican Republic. He commented that "although we are not used to give our parishioners directions in the sense of voting in favor of any party or candidate, we do make an effort to create citizen awareness so that when its time to vote, we do it well." He added that they are inviting people to vote "thinking of the good of the nation first and foremost, and to bring those people to positions of authority who are coherent with the Christian values that we practice and that are part of our Dominican identity." Duarte referred to an online platform called Vota Bien (Vote Well) that was created by a group of Christians where they evaluate candidates according to their capabilities, political references, public performances and commitments as officials. "In that sense, we see what the Catholic Church has done as something favorable. In fact, we Evangelicals are making use of a platform created by a team of believers, who have done a wonderful job to create the website Votabien.org, which has the largest compendium of candidates in favor of our values in the country," he said. Pastor Duarte indicated that "not only Evangelicals were listed, but also those who are not Evangelicals but still support our values." Originally published in Spanish on Diario Cristiano and in English on Christian Daily International. One of the suspects in the slaying of three surfers on Mexico's Pacific coast confessed to his girlfriend that he killed the three "gringos" last month, according to a report. The suspect, identified as Jesus Gerardo Garcia Cota, appeared in court on Wednesday on kidnapping charges, the 1News reported. He did not enter a plea and is expected to be charged with murder, officials told the outlet. The three - Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, and American Jack Carter Rhoad - were believed killed by a group of men trying to steal the tires on their truck in the popular but remote surfing spot near Ensenada on Mexico's Baja California peninsula. They went missing on April 27. At the hearing in Mexico, Ari Gisel, the suspect's girlfriend, said he showed up at her house on April 28 and said he "f---ed up three gringos." The 23-year-old Gisel asked what Garcia Cota meant. He replied, "I killed them." Garcia Cota, also known as "El Kekas," slang for quesadillas, then showed her his car with new tires that prosecutors said were taken from the three surfers. Prosecutors say Garcia Cota and two others robbed the three men of the tires, cash and electronics. "While the foreigners were camping, they were surprised by Jesus, and other people, with the intention of stealing their vehicle and in response to the victims' reaction, they deprived them of their lives," Baja California's Attorney General Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez said. The bodies of the three men were found in a well six days after they disappeared with gunshot wounds to their heads. Home News Evangelical college dismisses professor after opposition to pro-LGBT social media posts A private Evangelical college in Indiana has dismissed a professor following opposition from critics upset with his past social media posts, which voiced support for same-sex marriage and declared that his pronouns were "he/they." Grace College recently released Matthew Warner, a communications professor at the Winona Lake school, who started teaching there at the start of the academic year last August. While the college did not give a specific reason, Religion News Service reported Wednesday that it was "preceded by an online termination campaign" organized by "conservative influencers and Grace College stakeholders." Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe At issue were progressive viewpoints expressed by Warner on social media regarding LGBT issues and Black Lives Matter that predated his time at Grace. The Christian Post contacted Grace College for this story, with a spokesperson saying that Warner had "fulfilled his agreement for the year." "Grace College wishes Dr. Warner well in his future endeavors. As with all personnel matters, we are unable to provide further comment," the spokesperson added. Warner previously earned a bachelor of science in print journalism and communication, a master's in public address and communication from Liberty University, and a Ph.D. in communication from Wayne State University. Founded in 1948, Grace College is affiliated with the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches and reported over 1,300 students attending on its Winona Lake campus in the fall semester. On its website, Grace states that every class taught at the institution is "faith integrated and taught by faithful followers of Christ." "We teach the Scriptures as the ultimate truth in our classes, which means our sciences are approached from a creationist perspective, and we encourage our engineers to change the world," the website reads. Last October, Grace alumnus Evan Kilgore posted an open letter to Grace "friends and family" on Facebook, expressing concern over Warner's past social media posts. Kilgore included screenshots of multiple tweets in which Warner identified his pronouns as "he/they," called opposition to gay marriage "bigotry" and claimed that being "anti-woke" meant being "anti-Black." "Can a professor with this strong of a clearly radicalized ideological hatred of Right-Wing political views truly be an unbiased voice of Christian theology in a young person's life? Is this the heritage and legacy you believe Grace should be known for?" wrote Kilgore. "I truly want to express that this is not a personal attack on the professor, nor do I want (or believe) it should be. I encourage you to tag your friends to bring attention to this and discuss with them any concerns you may have in loving and respectful ways." Other critics, like Monica Boyer, who has a child enrolled at the school and is also a local political organizer, took to Facebook to demand that the college fire Warner for his posts. In an interview with Grace College published last August, Warner said he was most looking forward to two things when teaching at the Indiana Christian school. "First, personal-professional growth. My colleagues in the Department of the Humanities are brilliant, and I'm very much looking forward to working with them and having them sharpen my intellect, my teaching, and my research agenda," Warner said last year. "Second, is sharing my ongoing research and growth with students in real time. I believe knowledge is active and growing, and what I bring into the classroom in best-case scenarios is new and exciting to both me and my students." Warner said his courses "strive to unpack exactly what it means to be made in the image of God, what it means to love people well, and what the core non-negotiables of following Jesus are." In response to the push to remove him from Grace, Warner told RNS that his critics "created a caricature of me based on taking a very small number of social media posts out of context." "I was treated from the beginning as a threat or liability," he was quoted as saying. "And nobody at any time had a conversation with me about what I believe, or what I'm willing to do to support the college." Home News Christian teacher in UK appeals ban from profession for 'misgendering' student 'It's the greatest honor of my life to serve God' A Christian teacher in the United Kingdom who has been banned from his profession for allegedly misgendering a trans-identifying student in 2017 said that God has sustained him through his ordeal and that he remains hopeful. Joshua Sutcliffe, 32, told The Christian Post that he faced a hearing before his country's High Court last week over his appeal of the ban that the U.K.'s Teaching Regulation Authority (TRA) slapped on him in May 2023. The Professional Conduct Panel of the TRA, which regulates the teaching profession in the U.K., recommended that Sutcliffe be banned from teaching for at least two years for "bringing the profession into disrepute," according to his legal counsel at the London-based nonprofit Christian Concern, which has represented many high-profile religious liberty cases in the U.K. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Sutcliffe, whose outspoken Christian beliefs include opposition to Islam, homosexuality, pornography and abortion, said a former colleague first reported him to the TRA because of his open-air street preaching, footage of which remains on his website. When he requested a reference from his former employer, he was reportedly referred to the U.K.'s counterterrorism watchdog Prevent, which has policed similar situations such as that of the Rev. Bernard Randall, a Church of England minister and teacher who was reported to Prevent in 2022 for telling his students that they are allowed to make up their own minds about the claims of LGBT activists. Throughout the TRA's investigation of him last year, Sutcliffe said the focus shifted to his alleged misgendering of a trans-identifying female pupil at an Oxford school in 2017, which he said made him a "marked man." Sutcliffe, who explained in a video that he avoided using pronouns altogether when dealing with the pupil involved, said the incident became the major topic of discussion during his week-long hearing with the authority last year before they ultimately recommended the ban. Sutcliffe's lawyers argued in his appeal that compelling him to use the pupil's self-declared pronouns was an unjustified interference with his constitutional rights under the Common Law and the European Convention of Human Rights. Other points of contention that led to accusations of professional misconduct against Sutcliffe included his denunciation of Muhammad as a false prophet and his showing of a PragerU video titled "Make Men Masculine Again." "It's just nuts the fact that they've taken that action," Sutcliffe said of the government authority. Sutcliffe said that God has sustained him and the Scriptures regarding affliction have "come to life" for him, noting that his relationship with the Lord has been "the most precious thing from the very beginning" of his ordeal. "The thing I've clung on to is that God knows the beginning from the end," he said. "All the things that have happened couldn't have happened by chance. God has called me according to His purpose, and it's such an honor. It's the greatest honor of my life to serve God, to love Him and declare His praises." "And hopefully, in some small way, people have seen the hope of the Gospel and the hope of Christ through what's happened to me." Sutcliffe, who expressed concern that his country has drifted from its Christian roots to become "consumed with the things of the world," said he nonetheless remains optimistic regarding his case, which he believes could be a landmark one, especially since authorities in the U.K. are backtracking on affirming trans identities for minors in the wake of the Cass Report. The Cass Report, which was released last month, prompted the National Health Services (NHS) to advise gender clinics to implement a pause on first appointments for those younger than 18. "In recent months in the U.K., there's been movements in secular and political culture toward actually [realizing] this is harmful for children and we shouldn't be affirming them down a path of surgery and puberty blockers and all the rest of it," Sutcliffe said. "So I'm hoping common sense will prevail." The U.K. government also revised its guidance for schools in December to advise a more cautious approach toward social transitioning, affirming that "no one should be expected to use preferred pronouns and they should not be sanctioned for making honest mistakes." "I'm hoping my Christian freedoms will be upheld," Sutcliffe said. "I think it's an important case because it doesn't just affect Christians, it affects everyone. In a free society, Christians should be able to express their views. We're not under the rule of Stalin. It's supposed to be a free country." "And for that reason, I'm happy to fight the case," he added. "I'm hoping that it becomes a benchmark for other people in teaching and other professions: that yes, they are free to share their convictions and particularly Christians, because I want the Gospel to be heard." Home News Legislative support grows for physician-assisted suicide in NY but some churches, doctors oppose it Advocates of physician-assisted suicide lobbied lawmakers in New York Tuesday to pass legislation that would make it legal for terminally ill patients to request and use medication to end their lives, but many local leaders in the Catholic Church and health experts oppose it. Activists like Corinne Carey, senior campaign director for Compassion & Choices NY & NJ, who says she has been pushing to make physician-assisted suicide legal in New York for nearly 10 years, argues that it would be an act of love if lawmakers were to vote to have New York join 10 other states in the U.S., and the District of Columbia, where physician-assisted suicide is legal. We have been here for almost a decade, every single year asking the Legislature to pass New Yorks Medical Aid in Dying Act, Carey told supporters during a rally in Albany on Tuesday. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe How often do lawmakers have a chance to do something thats all about love, all about compassion, that 72% of New Yorkers want to see, that 50 prominent statewide organizations are calling for them to do, she said. Carey expressed optimism, that the legislation to allow physician-assisted suicide in New York could happen this year because of growing support from a broad coalition of advocates, including groups from all religious experiences. About 80 legislators are sponsoring the bill. People from both sides of the aisle, from all religious experiences, and all backgrounds are asking them to do [this], Carey said. This is an opportunity for lawmakers to do something relentlessly positive for New York families and we are confident they can do it this year. A995A and S2445A are the two bills being considered by the New York Assembly and New York Senate, respectively, to allow physician-assisted suicide in the state, but Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, believes the bills should be rejected because the reasons why patients choose physician-assisted suicide are not necessarily because of their medical status. Experts tell us that physical pain is not the primary reason why people request PAS. The main reasons are fear of being a burden on others, anxiety over loss of autonomy, and worry about the disappearance of enjoyable activities, Dolan wrote in an op-ed for the New York Daily News. What a terrible thing to legalize and recommend suicide in these situations! In a recent pastoral statement on the proposed legislation, the Rev. John O. Barres, bishop of Rockville Centre, raised concern that in countries like Canada where physician assisted suicide has been legal since 2016, lawmakers have already expanded the group of people who are legally allowed to end their lives. What is being peddled by advocates as a last resort for those suffering from interminable pain will very quickly be expanded to resemble the dystopian nightmare we are seeing play out in Canada, which passed a law very similar to the New York bill in 2016 but which already has been expanded to allow people with non-terminal diagnoses to end their lives, Barres said. In March, an Ottawa judge approved assisted suicide for a young woman whose only diagnoses are autism and ADHD, over her parents pleading objection. The Canadian law is set to expand again in 2027 incredibly to allow people with mental illnesses like depression, anorexia, or bipolar disorder to access suicide pills. Just last month, after years of opposing the legislation, the Medical Society of the State of New York announced that it now supports the Medical Aid in Dying Act. MSSNY supports legislation such as the medical aid in dying act and supports physicians choice to opt-in or decline to engage in the processes and procedures as outlined in any proposed medical aid in dying legislation, the organization said in a release. In an op-ed for the Psychiatric Times, titled, Did California Dodge a Right-to-Die Bullet?, psychiatrists Mark S. Komrad, Annette L. Hanson, Cynthia M.A. Geppert and Ronald W. Pies argued that physician-assisted suicide is not medical care and affirmed the American Medical Associations position that it is fundamentally incompatible with the physicians role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks. The more PAS and euthanasia are viewed as medical care, the easier it becomes to enlarge the eligibility criteria to encompass almost anyone who feels they are suffering, the doctors argued. Then the slide down the slope can accelerate, from terminal conditions to chronic conditions (such as mental illness), as is happening in our culturally and geographically adjacent neighbor, Canada, they explained. That opens the path for the next drift in the evolving ethos transforming ones opportunity to seek these lethal procedures into the virtue of relieving loved ones from the burden of their condition. On Wednesday, a group of doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, medical residents and medical students who work for either the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons or New York Presbyterian Hospital also opposed the proposed legislation in a statement. The group, which is officially known as the Columbia Biomedical Roundtable, has members with religious faith and those without. Consider that while most of us think in terms of an ongoing relationship with our primary doctor, most New Yorkers are not privileged to have their own primary doctor. Thus, a prescriber who hardly knows the patient may be asked to take responsibility for his/her death. This is why in the name of personal autonomy, those who will suffer the most from letting the genie out of the bottle are the most vulnerable among us, the healthcare workers noted. Those at highest risk are those with disabilities or mental health or behavioral conditions, black and brown people, and those unable to access necessary medical care. They noted that since physician-assisted suicide was legalized in Canada in 2016, some 60,000 people have voluntarily chosen to die by prescription, including 16,000 last year alone. In Canada, this law is on pace to account for five percent of all deaths by 2025. In some urban areas of the Netherlands where this law began in 2002, 12-14% of deaths occur by that means, the statement explained. The healthcare group further noted that even though physician assisted suicide hasn't yet been approved for mental illness, a 27-year-old woman with autism in Canada was allowed to end her life over her fathers objections. By whatever name you call it, this notion changes medicine forever by engaging doctors to extinguish human life, turning them from healers to active participants in killing a patient. This is diametrically opposed to the aspirations of the healing profession. It turns medicine on its head. Giving a patient a prescription for a lethal dose of drugs is the medical equivalent of handing the patient a loaded pistol, the group said. While every terminally ill, suffering patient ought to invoke compassion, suicide is not the answer. Rather, we must strive to improve end-of-life care. Legislators and heath care professionals in New York state must work together to obtain the resources to relieve each individual persons various forms of pain. But sanctioning suicide is not the answer. Home News Turkey converts another former Byzantine-era church into a mosque, draws ire of Greece Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially inaugurated a former Byzantine-era church previously known as the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, a United Nations World Heritage Site, as a mosque this week, drawing condemnation from the Greek government. The change is part of a series of conversions in recent years, including the iconic Hagia Sophia in 2020, and has garnered international criticism. Located in the Fatih district of Istanbul, near the ancient city walls, the building known locally as Kariye is celebrated for its intricate mosaics and frescoes dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Greece has been vocal in its criticism, especially since the Kariye was opened as a mosque the day after Greek Orthodox Easter. The Greek Foreign Ministry condemned the move in a statement. "The Turkish authorities' decision to begin the operation of the Monastery of Chora as a Muslim mosque constitutes a provocation for the international community as it distorts and affects its character as a UNESCO World Heritage Site belonging to humanity," the statement reads. "The maintenance of monuments' universal character and compliance with international standards for the protection of religious and cultural heritage is a clear international obligation binding on all States." Originally built by Constantine the Great in the early fourth century, the Holy Saviour church was converted into the Kariye Mosque about 50 years after the Ottoman Turks' 1453 conquest of Constantinople. The Turkish government designated the building a museum in 1945. The museum opened for public display in 1958 after American art historians helped restore the original church's mosaics. This week's inauguration, conducted remotely by Erdogan from Ankara, coincided with the opening of several other recently restored structures, The Associated Press reported, adding that its formal conversion was announced in 2020. "May it bring good fortune," Erdogan stated during the event broadcasted nationally. The ceremony included prayers from local worshippers. The General Directorate of Foundations in Turkey organized the opening ceremony, which saw a large turnout of community members and featured a speech by Istanbul's mufti, Safi Arpagus, Catholic News Agency noted. In 2020, Erdogan and hundreds of worshippers participated in the first Muslim prayers in 86 years at Hagia Sophia, which was redesignated as a mosque amidst widespread international disapproval. The conversions are seen as strategic moves to solidify Erdogan's ruling party's conservative and religious base during an economic downturn. The U.S. Department of State has also expressed concern, urging Turkey to respect the "diverse histories" of such heritage sites. "We are aware that the Chora Museum, a World Heritage Site, has been reopened as a mosque, and we refer you to the Turkish government for further details," a spokesperson for the State Department told the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency, according to Ekathimerini. "We encourage the Turkish government to preserve and ensure access to sites and buildings that have hosted different religious communities in a way that respects their diverse histories." Home News Victims of religious oppression in Turkey reveal why Christian population is dwindling Victims of religious oppression in Turkey shared their stories at an event on religious freedom at the European Parliament where the speakers suggested that political and social atrocities in that country were behind the Christian population's decline from 20% to a mere 0.2% over the last century. The victims highlighted atrocities against Christian minorities committed by the Turkish government and parts of society, according to the human rights group ADF International, which held the event this week in partnership with the group European Conservatives and Reformists. Among those who testified at Wednesdays event in Brussels, Freedom of Religion in Turkiye, was Mark Smith, a Christian missionary who was expelled from the country in 2020 after living there for over a decade. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe We love the country of Turkey and want to work for the good of its people. We are not a threat to the state, the country or the Turkish way of life, Smith was quoted as saying. Mark, with his wife, led a Turkish-speaking Evangelical church for 10 years before being banned from the country for activities against Turkish state security. The Turkish government has expelled at least 60 foreign Christian missionaries and their families since 2020, according to the religious freedom group Open Doors, which says Christians in Turkey experience incredible pressure from very strong and increasing religious nationalism in the country. Christians and other faith minorities are unable to exercise their right to freedom of religion, commented Dr. Georgia du Plessis, legal officer for ADF International in Brussels. Christian missionaries are unable to return to the country they call home, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church has not been able to train clergy for 50 years, and religious sites are being violated without action taken from the government, Plessis continued, adding, These direct and egregious violations clearly indicate the demise of democracy in Turkey. Member of the European Parliament Bert-Jan Ruissen said Turkey has restrictive government policies on religious practice for all religious communities other than non-Sunni Muslims. We also see an increase in vandalism and violence against religious minorities and a government interfering in the internal affairs of religious communities, continued Ruissen, who is from ECR Group. This contributes to a hostile environment where religious communities feel increasingly unsafe and this deserves our full attention, he added. The 2022 European Parliament Report on Turkey condemned the oppression of religious and ethnic minorities and expressed regret over the continuously shrinking space for them to operate freely in Turkey. In its recent report, Open Doors says, The government continues to target even foreign Christians in its borders, along with the foreign spouses of Turkish citizens. Its not technically illegal for Muslims to convert to Christianity, but any Muslim who does decide to follow Jesus comes under immense strain from their families and communities, who often demand the convert return to Islam, it adds. These believers are sometimes forced to lead a double life and hide their conversion. Even Christians who did not convert from Islam are hardly regarded as full members of Turkish society and encounter all kinds of legal and bureaucratic obstructions. Last month, the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide called on the government of Turkey to investigate a claim that the countrys security officials offered to pay an ultranationalist whatever he wanted in return for assassinating church leaders. In August, an ultranationalist man, identified only as Tolgahan A., confessed to Vedat Serin, a leader of the Salvation Church in the eastern city of Malatya, that members of Turkeys Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-Terror Unit offered him whatever he wanted if he killed Serin and two other Christian leaders former pastor Tim Stone and Pastor Ihsan Ozbek, the chair of Kurtulus Churches Association, CSW said in a statement at the time. The man, allegedly connected to the Nationalist Movement Party, was given the addresses and photos of Serin and the others, Ahval News reported, adding that he was also given a gun and sent to the church with a friend. But when they saw a little boy playing with a computer inside, they left. Turkey has a long history of Christian persecution, and its government still refuses to admit that the Ottoman Turks committed genocide of Christian Armenians in 1915. Turkey is 99% Muslim, according to its own statistics. Although its constitution provides for freedom of religion, the government uses regulations that demand the registration of religious groups to make it more difficult to practice non-Islamic faiths. Hatred toward Christians and Jews in the country often leads to discrimination, stigmatization and attacks. In July 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned the Hagia Sophia, an ancient Christian cathedral, from a museum into a mosque, undoing its transformation in 1934 from a mosque to a cathedral. Home News Turkey plans to open its first-ever newly-built church in Istanbul The construction of the Mor Efrem Syriac Ancient Orthodox Church, the first-ever church built in the modern Republic of Turkey, is nearly complete and is expected to open within two months, the Istanbul Syriac Ancient Foundation has announced. The church's foundation was laid in February 2019 during a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbuls Yesilkoy district. Feverish work is being carried out to eliminate the last deficiencies to open the first-ever church of the Turkish republic, Daily Sabah quoted Sait Susin, the Foundation's president, as saying. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe The first floor will host the cultural hall for the congregation to gather and hold ceremonies such as baptisms, condolences and weddings, as well as other meetings and conferences, Susin explained. The ground floor will be for prayers and rituals, and will have a bishops living area, guest rooms and a parking lot, he added. Susin told Turkeys Anadolu Agency that the church cost about $4 million. He further explained that while there are churches from the Turkish Republic era, Mor Efrem Syriac Ancient Orthodox Church is the first church to be built from scratch in modern Turkey. They were built without official permission. It is the first time that a church has been officially built. This gives us great pride, he said. There was a need for a church in the Yesilkoy, Bakirkoy and Florya districts of Istanbul, where the Assyrian community is densely populated, Susin further said. Anadolu Agency previously reported that when completed, the church would serve about 17,000 Syriac Orthodox believers living in Istanbul. It suggested that the increase of the Syriac Christian minority in Turkey due to the Syrian civil war was one of the main reasons for Turkey agreeing to build a new church. Turkish authorities had previously set up a refugee camp reserved for Syriac Christians, hosting up to 4,000 people. Plans for the new church were first revealed in 2015, when Agence France Presse noted that the church would be the first one built since the end of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the modern republic in 1923. However, Christians have had strong religious freedom concerns during the administration of President Erdogan. Back in 2016, the government seized the last six remaining Christian churches in the war-torn southeastern city of Diyarbakir, declaring them state property. The decision caused outrage among the Armenian, Syriac and Chaldean communities and a number of church foundations, which threatened legal action. Last October, a Syriac monastery in southern Turkey reopened its doors to believers about 100 years after it was seized by the Turkish army and transformed into a military hospital before becoming a prison and warehouse. The Turkish army seized the monastery during World War I. The building was briefly returned to the Christian community after the war ended. But a few years later, the monastery was turned into a military hospital. It eventually became a prison and was later converted into a warehouse. Many Syriac Christians still speak Neo-Aramaic, a language that descended from the language spoken by Jesus. Christians have been living in southern Turkey since the first centuries of Christianity. Estimates suggest that hundreds of thousands of Armenians, Greeks and other Christians were killed by Turkish authorities during World War I. Today, Syriac Christians comprise a tiny fraction of Turkey's population. In 2020, President Erdogan converted Istanbul's landmark and church-turned-museum, the Hagia Sophia, into a mosque. He also ordered another ancient Orthodox church, the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora also known as the Kariye Museum to be turned into a mosque. Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, built in 537 A.D. as a Greek Orthodox church, was the seat of Eastern Christianity for 900 years before the city was seized in the 15th century by Sultan Mehmed II, who converted it into an Ottoman mosque. In 1934, modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, banned worship in Hagia Sophia and designated it as a museum. Originally built in the early fourth century by Constantine the Great, the Holy Saviour church was converted into the Kariye Mosque about 50 years after the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks. In 1945, the building was designated a museum by the Turkish government. The museum was opened for public display in 1958 after American art historians helped restore the original church's mosaics. Many believe Erdogan made the decision to turn the Hagai Sophia into a mosque as an attempt to gain support among his conservative base at a time when the opposition party had called for early elections. Home News UN teacher accused of holding Hamas hostage in attic; UNRWA calls claim 'unsubstantiated' A teacher with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has been accused of keeping a Hamas hostage captive in an attic for over a month, claims that the UN agency has deemed "unsubstantiated." According to a report shared on social media last week by Israeli Channel 13's Almog Boker, the UNRWA teacher, who is also a father of 10, allegedly held a man hostage and barely provided the abductee with enough to eat, and also neglected his medical needs. The report came amid a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas in which Hamas released some of the civilians it had taken captive on Oct. 7 in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Southern Israel, and about 240 people were abducted. Boker alleges that another hostage victim was held by a Gazan doctor who also cared for children. These are not isolated incidents; these civilians are terrorists, he wrote. Present at the Saturday massacre; they're now revealed as integral to holding hundreds captive, including women and children. The Christian Post reached out to UNRWA for a response, with a spokesperson directing CP to a statement posted to its website on Friday saying that UNRWA and the UN have requested more information from the Israeli journalist who shared the report. "Despite repeated demands, the journalist has not responded," UNRWA said, requesting the reporter provide immediate clarification of his claims to help the agency determine the facts. "In the absence of credible information to support this claim, UNRWA requests that the journalist immediately deletes the post," the agency continued. "Making serious allegations in the public domain, unsupported by any evidence or verifiable facts in support thereof may amount to misinformation." The agency emphasized that it takes such accusations seriously and investigates them. "We are hence determined to find out whether the information in question is genuine or false," the statement reads. UNRWA also responded on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating, "Spreading unsubstantiated claims about @UNRWA must stop immediately." Under the tweet, Twitter shared several links to prior news articles, saying that "claims against UNRWA have been documented for a long time." One piece linked under the UNRWA tweet is a 2008 Reuters article on a former headmaster and science teacher at a UN school in Gaza whom Palestinian militants also celebrated as someone who made rockets for Islamic Jihad. ???? Spreading unsubstantiated claims about @UNRWA must stop immediately. Making serious allegations in the public domain, unsupported by any evidence or verifiable facts in support thereof may amount to misinformation. FULL Statement ??https://t.co/gzNCMnVeifpic.twitter.com/1XGV99RbXw UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 1, 2023 As the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education reported earlier this month, 13 UNRWA staffers, seven of them teachers, made social media posts celebrating Hamas Oct. 7 attack against Israel. According to the institutes findings, the textbooks in UNRWA schools also contain antisemitic content. UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma labeled the accusation about antisemitic textbooks "unsubstantiated" in a statement last month to The Washington Free Beacon. "UNRWA rejects claims linking its schools to the abhorrent 7 October attacks in Israelattacks that UNRWA has condemned in the strongest terms," Touma said. "As in the past, these allegations are yet another attempt to sensationalize and extrapolate, based on flawed methodology and flimsy evidence." Last Friday, the Israel Defense Forces resumed combat operations in Gaza after accusing Hamas of breaking the ceasefire agreement by firing at Israeli territory. Following the release of multiple hostages during the temporary truce, more details have emerged regarding their treatment while in captivity. According to a report by KXAN, central Texas resident Dori Roberts expressed relief over the release of his cousin and two daughters. The trio was held captive by Hamas for almost two months. We found out that they spent about maybe an hour of daylight if they could, but thats all they gave them, Roberts said. They were eating chickpeas out of like, you know, canned food pretty much. Dry bread and water. As a result of the time the group spent as hostages, Roberts said the trio is lacking in nutrition, and the kids will have to cope with trauma. While the mans cousin and two daughters are now free, two of his relatives are still being held hostage by Hamas. One of his family members, an aunt, was killed while in captivity. Were not sure exactly what happened, but my aunt was murdered there, and her body was left by the border, Roberts said. Deborah Cohen, the aunt of Eitan Yahalomi, another freed hostage, told the French media outlet BFM Tuesday that Hamas forced her 12-year-old nephew to watch footage of the group slaughtering civilians on Oct. 7. She also said that Hamas would force its child captives to be quiet by threatening them with rifles when they cried. I wanted to hope that he was treated well, but it turns out he wasnt; theyre monsters, she said. Now that I know this, Im worried. His father is still there, and there are 160 people who have not yet returned. Home News UNRWA head says agency didn't know about Hamas tunnels under Gaza headquarters The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency denied that the organization had any knowledge of the tunnel network the Israeli military discovered beneath its Gaza headquarters amid concerns about the agencys ties to Hamas. Israel Defense Forces discovered a data center complete with an electrical room and living space for Hamas terrorists beneath UNRWAs Gaza headquarters located in the Rimal neighborhood. In a Saturday X post, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated that the media made the agency aware of reports about the tunnel underneath its Gaza headquarters. Lazzarini also claimed that UNRWA staff members complied with Israeli evacuation orders and left the headquarters on Oct. 12 as bombardment intensified in the area. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe We have not used that compound since we left it, nor are we aware of any activity that may have taken place there, the UNRWA commissioner-general stated, adding that the agency is unable to confirm or otherwise comment on these reports. Lazzarini also stated that UNRWA last inspected its Gaza premises in September 2023, noting that the agency conducts such inspections every quarter during times of no active conflict. UNRWA is a Human development and humanitarian organisation that does not have the military and security expertise nor the capacity to undertake military inspections of what is or might be under its premises, he added, claiming that the Israeli authorities have not officially informed UNRWA about the tunnel. The report about the tunnel comes after allegations surfaced that 12 UNRWA staff members may have participated in Hamas Oct. 7 invasion against Israel. During the surprise attack, the terror group slaughtered at least 1,200 people, a majority of them civilians, and it also abducted over 240 others. Late last month, multiple media outlets reported on an intelligence dossier that estimated about 1,200 UNRWA employees in Gaza have links to Hamas, the terror group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. UNRWA did not immediately respond to The Christian Posts request for comment. As The Times of Israel reported Saturday, the outlets military correspondent, Emanuel Fabian, toured the subterranean data center during a Thursday media tour with the IDF. The correspondent noted that the headquarters is located in an area where the Israeli military previously dismantled a Hamas battalion. Fabian described how the IDF guided reporters through a 700-meter-long tunnel, with the route they followed eventually taking them to a hallway with air conditioning and wall tiles. The hallway also had posters of Hamas military logo, according to the correspondent, and a 300-meter passage in the hallway led to a data center and electrical room. Col. Nissim Hazan, a senior officer in the 401st Brigade, told Fabian as they toured rooms in the main hallway in the tunnel that a UNRWA kids school was above their heads. After walking a few more meters into the tunnel, the tour entered an electrical room that Hazan said was located under the main UNRWA building. The room contained dozens of server cabinets, as Fabian reported, and the IDF believes that Hamas used the server farm to gather intelligence. After exiting the tunnel, the tour brought the journalists to the UNRWA headquarters, where another IDF member told reporters that his forces found Hamas weapons after a battle with the terrorists for the complex. The IDF forces discovered the weapons which reportedly included grenades, rocket launchers and explosives after the UNRWA staff members had evacuated the building, according to The Times of Israel. According to the IDF, documents and equipment discovered in UNRWA offices indicated that the same offices were also used by Hamas terrorists. Col. Benny Aharon, commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, argued that there is no doubt that UNRWA staff knew about the Hamas tunnel. Theres a perimeter wall, a gate, cameras, at the gate they log who comes in and out, Aharon said. Whoever worked at UNRWA knew very well who was coming in, and who they were covering for. Aharon showed reporters to UNRWAs server room, which The Times of Israel reported is located above the data center in the Hamas tunnel. The commander also showed reporters a line of cables running down into the floor, which the IDF believes could have powered the Hamas data center below. He also told reporters that UNRWA cleared its server room of computers and digital video recorders for surveillance cameras and cut most of the cables. Aharon said that he thinks the agencys behavior shows it has something to hide. Someone who works at UNRWA, who is supposed to care for human rights, to care for the welfare of the population in Gaza, shouldnt rush to disconnect all the DVRs, the cameras, cut all the wires and take all the computers, Aharon said. These are the actions of someone who knew the army was coming and wanted to hide the evidence. Home News UNRWA staff accused of stealing humanitarian aid for Palestinians: 'Corruption is widespread' A United Nations watchdog organization published a series of chat room posts by Palestinians purportedly accusing U.N. Relief and Works Agency staff members of stealing humanitarian aid intended for civilians and selling it or hoarding it in their homes. On Wednesday, the Geneva-based non-governmental organization UN Watch published posts from a chat room run by former UNRWA employee Haitham al-Sayyed, who continues to run the chat rooms. The NGO, accredited in special consultative status to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, reported that al-Sayyed was fired after he publicly criticized the agency for hiding a map at a UNRWA school that denied Israel's existence when U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon held a press conference. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe The relief agency has come under increased scrutiny following reports that multiple employees participated in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack against Israel or have ties to terror groups. The allegations prompted up to 16 countries, including the United States, to suspend funding to UNRWA. Despite al-Sayyed's firing in 2016, he still has an influence among the senior administration, and current UNRWA employees have been sharing their frustrations about the agency with him, according to UN Watch. On Jan. 6, al-Sayyed shared a message sent to him by a UNRWA employee working at an emergency shelter at a school. The UNRWA employee stated, "the displaced people in the external shelter do not get their right to food and non-food aid, but rather it is distributed at night and sold in front of our eyes." According to the unnamed agency worker, there was a period when the school went without working electricity for months after someone stole diesel fuel from the shelter. The UNRWA worker reported that "the thief was exposed, and the principal was informed, but to this day he is still working with us." "The biggest motivation to publish this letter is because of a young engineer with great morals who was in charge of the school," the agency worker wrote. "He was in charge of the store, and because he prevented the attempted theft in the store by the night administration, but then he was arbitrarily transferred on charges of embezzlement, this burned our hearts for him because he is the only trustee in the school." The UNRWA worker reported that a female teacher later put in charge of the morning administration did not take any steps to stop the thievery, adding that there are suspicions she is "complicit" in it. Another comment from a different group member named Dr. Izzat Shatat reported that a school director took 50 cartons of food distributed in UNRWA schools and sold the cartons to a merchant for 350 shekels, the equivalent of $100. Mohammed Musa al-Sawalhi, another UNRWA employee, wrote in a Feb. 20 message that he had witnessed agency workers stealing aid and hoarding it in their homes and family members' homes. The UNRWA employee claimed that "80% of employees in the shelters have no morals or dignity" and that the family member of one director was caught on video stealing aid. "When will the directors of UNRWA centers in schools, especially Rafah Preparatory Girls School B, stop stealing the food and needs of the displaced?" one group chat member named "Deema Deema" wrote on March 1. UN Watch described a "heated debate" that erupted in the chat room on March 22. Multiple UNRWA employees were reportedly upset that other agency workers would not allow them to access the medicine cabinet reserved for UNRWA staff, which some employees were allegedly hoarding for themselves. "From the past wars, I knew some employees personally, and I trusted them to be good people, but the soul is evil," a member named Ahmed Hassan wrote. "Some of them were stealing on a daily basis as if it were a prize. This war revealed a lot and some of it was documented with photos, videos, and audio." During another discussion on March 8, a member named Mohammed al-Azeeb wrote that "Corruption is widespread." "Employees of the shelters stole and sold from underneath the shelters, and district officials rummaged through the aid cartons and stole the items, and their brothers sold them to the poor," the member stated. UNRWA didn't respond to The Christian Post's request for comment by press time. As the U.S. was previously the largest contributor to UNRWA funding, Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Mast and Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer introduced legislation Tuesday to recover federal funds provided to the United Nations agency. Although the U.S. government froze UNRWA's funding earlier this year, as Congress passed legislation to defund it in March, the agency already received $121 million in U.S. tax dollars. "For way too long, UNRWA has masqueraded as a relief organization, while in reality serving as an incubator for Palestinian terrorists. Intelligence reports indicate that as many as ten percent of UNRWA workers have direct links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihadists," Mast said in a statement. "It's ludicrous that our hard-earned American tax dollars were going to fund this crap. The State Department needs to do everything it can to recoup this money." Late last month, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that most donor countries resumed their contributions. The agency has received at least $115 million in private fundraising, with Lazzarini citing the "extraordinary grassroots solidarity expressed towards Palestinians." "[I]n all Member State briefings, they are recommending other countries to support UNRWA, and we still wait, otherwise, the decision of other countries," Lazzarini said during an April 30 press conference. "The good news also on the funding is that we have new donors, or countries who, before, never contributed to the Agency." Home Opinion The Mark of the Beast on earth and forehead tattoos in Heaven: literal or symbolic? Four consecutive verses in the Book of Revelation describe unbelievers on Earth having the mark of the beast on their right hand or forehead, and believers in Heaven having God's name tattooed on their forehead. So, are these verses to be interpreted literally or symbolically? The Apostle John wrote, "He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666. Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads" (Revelation 13:16-18; 14:1). Sam Storms is pastor emeritus at Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City. He writes, "No one I know believes all Christians will literally and physically have the names of Jesus and the Father tattooed on their foreheads. This is simply a way of describing that those born again and redeemed by Christ's blood belong to Him and to His Father and are preserved in faith by the indwelling Holy Spirit." Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe If Storms is correct, then what about the mark of the beast a few verses earlier? Some Christians interpret this verse literally, while other Christians interpret it symbolically. Storms writes, "I don't believe the so-called 'mark of the beast' is a literal, physical mark on the bodies of unbelievers, either on their forehead or their right hand. Throughout Revelation we see Satan making every effort to copy whatever God does. For example, the three persons of the holy Trinity Father, Son and Holy Spirit find their evil counterpart in Satan, the beast, and the false prophet. And just as Jesus died and rose again from the dead, so the beast is portrayed as dying and rising to life. The 'mark' of the beast that unbelievers receive on their forehead or right hand is a demonic rip-off, a depraved parody, a counterfeit imitation of the 'mark' believers receive on their foreheads." (Sam Storms discusses these issues in more depth in this interesting interview.) So, do these several verses in Revelation 13 describe believers being persecuted for a few years right before Christ returns to Earth, or do they instead symbolize the persecution that followers of Christ have endured over the past 2,000 years and the tribulations that will continue up until the Lord returns? Revelation 13:17 describes people being unable to buy or sell unless they have the mark. The Pulpit Commentary was first published in 1880 and had 100 contributors. It states, "The manner in which this verse (v. 17) was fulfilled in the early ages of the Church is sufficiently notorious. Then faithfulness to the cause of Christ frequently meant banishment from friends, kindred, and home. St. John himself was feeling the effect of this at the time when he wrote these words in exile at Patmos. So, at the present day, the Jews regard as an utter alien any one of their number who embraces Christianity." New Testament Professor Dr. Gregory K. Beale writes, "The main mode of communication in Revelation is that of symbolism. Neither Paul nor the other New Testament writers use this as a main way of communicating. Why does John do so in Revelation? No doubt, one reason is because the visions could not be expressed by words alone, because John saw things he could not put into words. Therefore, he puts them into pictures. In addition, the symbols show continuity with the Old Testament, because many of the symbols come from there." What about the 144,000 people in Revelation 14:1? "Some theologians view the 144,000 as symbolic of the entirety of God's redeemed people, encompassing both Jews and Gentiles, who are sealed by God and protected throughout history." Others, such as Dr. David Jeremiah, interpret the number literally. Jeremiah believes the 144,000 "will be Jews who receive a special calling from the Lord," and that "there will be 12,000 witnesses from each of the 12 tribes of Israel" who "will spark a miraculous revival during the Tribulation." Whichever way you interpret these debatable passages, just remember that a large number of mature believers do not share your particular perspective. Followers of Christ certainly agree on essential Christian doctrines such as: justification by grace through faith, the deity of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the Trinity, the virgin birth, etc. But there is no such agreement regarding some puzzling passages in the Book of Revelation. Chapter 20 provides another prime example. Should the period of 1,000 years be understood literally, or does it represent a perfect period of time? And when does it occur? There is no shortage of opinions among Christians on this enigmatic issue. In my CP op-ed, "Your Eschatology Doesn't Determine Your Eternity," I wrote: "Does your particular view of the end times increase your love for Jesus and for Gods Word? If so, rejoice! Does your interpretation increase your anticipation for the Lords return, and your love for the lost? If so, be glad! Does your eschatological perspective increase your desire for holy living? If so, great! Does your preferred interpretation increase your love for other Christians, including those who hold an alternate view of the end times? If not, then your spiritual growth has been stunted." The Holy Spirit guides and empowers believers to "encourage one another and build each other up," (1 Thessalonians 5:11) even when we interpret perplexing passages differently. Evangelist D.L. Moody offered Christians wise advice about how to view the end times. In a sermon titled, When My Lord Jesus Comes, Moody said, "You should study the Bible for yourself, and come to your own conclusions." A convicted scammer from Maine who claimed to be an Irish heiress is one step closer to being extradited to the U.K.. Marianne Smyth, 54, who also posed as a psychic, satanist, and cancer patient, is suspected of swindling $170,000 from victims in Northern Ireland from 2008 to 2010, according to the Associated Press. Smyth was arrested in Bangor, Maine, earlier this year, in connection with eight charges of theft and fraud orchestrated through her years-long elaborate schemes overseas, during which she allegedly stole money from victims she had promised to invest. On Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Nivison ruled there was sufficient evidence to send Smyth back to the U.K. to face the allegations, The New York Times reported. "The evidence presented regarding Ms. Smyth's interactions with and transactions involving the individuals... is sufficient to sustain the four fraud charges and the four theft charges that are the subject of the extradition request," Nivison wrote in his ruling, according to the AP. The final decision on Smyth's extradition hangs on U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Smyth who also operated under the aliases Marianne Clark, Mair Ellis, and Lucia Bella, among others previously spent two years in jail for stealing tens of thousands of dollars from her American producer friend, Johnathan Walton, the outlet reported. If convicted on the charges in the U.K., Smyth faces up to 80 years in prison. Home Opinion John MacArthur is out of touch on combat PTSD In a recent viral video, John MacArthur, the well-known pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, told attendees of a Bible conference in California theres no such thing as PTSD MacArthur added, What [PTSD] is, is really grief. You are fighting a war. You lost your buddies. You have a certain amount of survivors guilt because you made it back. They didnt. How did you deal with the grief? Grief is a real thing, but grief is part of life. And, if you cant navigate grief, you cant live life. MacArthur, like many other faith-based leaders, has an incorrect and unbalanced view of mental health issues and solutions. His uneducated and ignorant comments demand a direct rebuttal. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe His comments disregard medical research and invalidate the many experiences and subsequent struggles Ive seen in myself and in the combat veterans I work with daily. Its the reason I started Shield of Faith Missions, a nonprofit that helps combat veterans wrestling with mental health issues. The effects of combat-related trauma run deep, down to the warriors very heart and soul. I know this from personal experience. As a former special operations officer, I was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times. My most harrowing experience, by far, came when I deployed to the infamous Korengal Valley known as "The Valley of Death" because so many Americans have lost their lives there. Our Special Forces team was there to shut down the combat outpost. We conducted a seven-day disruption operation that involved 72-hours of intense fighting. Intelligence reported over 200 Taliban fighters in the area. I am still reminded of the barrage of bombs through nightmares and random flashbacks. Combat leaves scars, and not all of them are physical. After enduring such extreme conditions for long periods, returning to the normalcy of civilian life is difficult. For many, war changed usit certainly changed me. When a soldier has experienced a traumatic event, that trauma is processed in several ways. Humans are made up of multiple domains: psychologically, physically, socially, and spiritually. The symptoms of PTSD occur psychologically, whereas moral injury transpires under the spiritual domain. To the untrained eye, the symptoms are similar, that's why many church leaders get mixed up and are often confused. And in turn, those leaders confuse others. Grief falls under moral injurythis is where man struggles with the forces of good and evil, God versus Satan, asking feverishly Why Godwhy would you allow this to happen? What out-of-touch faith leaders, like MacArthur, fail to understand is that resiliency to overcome the symptoms of combat trauma is more than spiritual. Sometimes medication is needed. And yes, too often doctors toss out prescriptions to veterans like candy to kids along parade routes. Offering reckless commentary on issues outside your expertise has real effects on real people. When confused church leaders speak on combat trauma and PTSD, warriors suffer. The numbers are mind-blowing. The Department of Veterans Affairs reports that more than 20 veterans and active-duty service members, guardsmen, and reservists commit suicide every day in this country. Thats nearly one suicide every hour. More than 80 percent of them are veterans. We need to build up hope and resiliency in our combat veterans. We need to work toward effective treatment that equips our brothers and sisters in arms to grow through their trauma. Increasing ignorance or spreading stigmatizing and demoralizing rhetoric is a step backward. Church leaders should lead the way in restoring hope and pointing toward the path of healing. And Id encourage every pastor to reach out to a veteran, build a relationship, listen to their stories and struggles, and walk alongside them. The Bible tells us to not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Let us work together to sow hope and resiliency, not stigma and discouragement. Home Opinion New Christian nationalism is, in fact, a 'woke right' A few years ago, the word "woke" exploded into the American lexicon, as leftist activists used it to describe a state of awareness concerning racial inequalities and social injustices. It didn't take long, though, for "woke" to become a dirty word. As the movement evolved, critics rightly called out the woke left for using critical race theory to create a false framework of generalized oppressed vs. oppressor, a worldview that informed subsequent developments such as DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives, attacks on free speech and draconian-but-baseless warnings about "the threat of dangerous white Christian nationalists." Many white Americans also condemned the hypocrisy of the woke left for waving a banner of anti-racism while displaying its own race-based animus. This, as the drumbeat over the alleged "dangers of white Christian nationalism" grew ever louder, even as the only visible "Christian nationalists" at the time were largely a harmless hodgepodge of peaceful evangelical patriots and MAGA conservatives. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe The insult was enough, though, to serve as a challenge for a new group of Christians and a novel version of Christian nationalism began to appear. In 2022, Pastor Doug Wilson's Canon Press published Stephen Wolfe's book, The Case for Christian Nationalism. But this wasn't the usual argument about a renewed need for the church to share the Gospel, pray for revival, and uphold the cherished values and freedoms of our constitutional republic. Wolfe, leaning on the Reformed theological tradition, advocated for a "Christian Prince" to take the helm in the form of "theocratic Caesarism." Under this system, he wrote, arch-heretics and non-Christians would be punished with banishment, imprisonment or the death penalty. Lest that wasn't radical enough, Wolfe opined on the importance of bloodlines in a nation, writing: "The originating source for one's affection of people and place is his natural relation those of his kin." In another section, he wrote: "Here I will justify violent revolution." Other like-minded Christian nationalists emerged, as well. Among the most notable was Andrew Torba, founder of the social media site Gab, who released a book in 2022 called Christian Nationalism, co-authored with Minnesota pastor Andrew Isker. Another was former Trump official William Wolfe, now executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership and advocate for saving the Southern Baptist Convention, who served as a contributing editor to 2023's "Statement on Christian Nationalism." Two years later, this new breed of Christian nationalism has extensive tentacles into groups including Wilson's media empire and Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches; The Claremont Institute; the National Conservatism Conference (NatCon); Blaze Media; American Reformer; New Founding; and the Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR). Some of what this crowd promotes is commendable, such as opposition to abortion, attacks on the family and LGBT ideology, and biblical positions that Christians largely support. But scratch the surface of the Christian morality speeches and the picture grows darker. Although the factual details are too voluminous to list here, this movement as a whole is gaining a well-earned reputation for politically intolerant authoritarianism, white nationalism/Kinism, hostility toward Jewish people and Israel, and advocacy against the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of free speech, a woman's right to vote and even religious liberty (except for themselves). And though its leaders and band of followers would deny it, a close examination shows that this Christian nationalism is not a biblical movement at all. It is the flip side of the woke left. This new Christian nationalism is, in fact, a woke right. Here are a few key characteristics that the two sides share in common. 1. Identity Politics. The woke left stresses political activities that focus on the concerns of particular groups divided by identity, such as race or sex. The woke right also does this, basing its propositions for America almost solely on the concerns of white American Christians particularly males. 2. The Motte and Bailey fallacy. This is a form of equivocation, in which someone holds both to a modest position on a matter (the "motte") and a more controversial position (the "bailey"). If the more controversial position gets pushback, he backpedals to claim that he's only advocating for the modest position. On the woke left, this is evident with Black Lives Matter. As writer Craig Carroll points out, when the group is criticized for advocacy on an issue like "trans rights" (the "bailey"), it retreats to its "motte" that "black lives matter," a position he notes is then "impossible to attack." On the woke right, the "motte" is stating Christian moral concerns. The Christian nationalist "bailey" is the proposal to put heretics to death or install a "Christian Franco" (a popular rallying cry on Christian nationalist social media). It is largely kept out of view. But when its put forward and there's pushback, its leaders beat a hasty retreat to cries for "Christian morality." 3. The oppressor vs. oppressed Model. Here, the woke left may state (and often does) that the oppressor is the white male, while the oppressed are ethnic minorities. For the woke right, the oppressor is the non-Christian woke left vs. the oppressed white American Christians, mainly males. In both cases, the solution is to reverse the oppressor and the oppressed via a payback-motivated power scheme. 4. A disdain for God-given freedoms. The woke left has no problem "saving democracy" through Big Tech censorship of conservatives or the suppression of legitimate news stories. But the Christian nationalists of the woke right also have argued against freedoms under their utopian political scheme, including stripping the vote from women and banning atheists from holding public office. 5. Antisemitism. Radicals from the woke left have put their disdain for Jewish people and the nation of Israel on full display recently in the shocking pro-Hamas protests on college campuses. But antisemitism is also increasingly on prominent display from the woke right. Online, Torba criticizes "the antichrist Jewish nation-state called Israel" and has created a Hitler AI chatbot on Gab, without Christian nationalist repudiation. Dozens of pro-Christian nationalism accounts on the same site regularly make antisemitic remarks. Blake Callens, author of the excellent book (which I endorsed), The Case Against Christian Nationalism, also revealed extensive evidence that a church in Wilson's CREC denomination is rife with white nationalists. Having considered the similarities between the woke left and the woke right, the question may arise: Why even worry about a woke right when they have little chance of gaining the power that the woke left actually has? There are a number of reasons for this. First, the woke right is increasingly finding favorable news coverage from large and trusted conservative platforms, including Fox News and Tucker Carlson, which can help legitimize this dangerous movement. Second, the woke right is both unbiblical and un-American. What right do Christians have to strip others of their God-granted inalienable rights? Moreover, where does Scripture ever instruct the Church to seize state power to force pagans to be "righteous?" As 2 Cor. 5:21 reminds us, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." The only righteousness a sinful person can ever attain is through faith in Jesus Christ alone! While Christians do need to be salt and light in our culture, the mission of the Church is not to take over America and force it under a terrifying Caesaropapism. Until the Lord Jesus returns for us, we are to live godly lives, let our light shine before men and fulfill the task of proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples of all nations. President Reagan once said, "The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America." It is still as true as ever. That's why it's time for American Christians to denounce and reject the woke right of Christian nationalism and get busy with what the Lord really has called His church to do in this land of the free. This piece has been adapted for publication here in The Christian Post. It was originally published at Janet Mefferd's substack. Home Opinion Pastor Loran Livingston is semi-wrong in his sermon on Trump-endorsed Bible Loran Livingston, the esteemed pastor of Central Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, recently garnered national attention for his bold sermon critiquing the God Bless the USA Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Although I havent had the privilege of meeting Pastor Livingston in person, Ive been blessed by snippets of his sermons shared on social media. His preaching resonates with a rare fire and passion seldom encountered in todays pulpit. In an era where such fervor for the Word of God is increasingly scarce, Pastor Livingston stands out as a modern-day John the Baptist, a figure to be esteemed and honored among the saints. From what Ive seen of his ministry, it appears to be rooted in an unwavering faithfulness a quality deserving of recognition and appreciation. Livingstons impassioned remarks, which have gone viral, have prompted much broader concerns than just the questionable legitimacy of a Bible containing various American documents like the U.S. Constitution. His words reflect the profound interest by many about the role of Christianity in not only shaping ones personal beliefs but also societal values. Christians are challenged to explore the complexities of religious identity, their citizenship responsibilities, and the relationship between faith and public life. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Below are Pastor Livingstons assertions which captivated a wide array of people Trump supporters, Trump opponents, Christians, non-Christians, believers, skeptics, conservatives, liberals, and individuals from all walks of life: Some of you bring politics into the church. You think that politics is spiritual stuff. Politics is of this world! You think its your duty to be political about this, that, and the other. No! Your duty is to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Dont be talking to me about my spiritual responsibility to vote. I dont have a spiritual responsibility to vote. I have a civic privilege. Dont be telling me that voting is spiritual. See thats what happens when you dont read and pray. When you dont read and pray, you say, 'Wow! Theres a Bible out now that includes the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Isnt that wonderful?' No, no, its disgusting. Its blasphemous! Its a ploy! Are you kidding me? Some of you are so encouraged by that. Let me tell you something. The Gospel is not an American Gospel. It is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ! But pastor I bought the Bible. Really? Youre telling me that youre encouraged because someone took a government, U.S. Constitution, a document that says, We are of the people, by the people, and for the people the people the people the people and you have put it right beside the Word of God, which is eternal, unchanging, which says of Him by Him through Him to Him and from Him are all things and youre going to put those together and be happy about it. God forbid! Now, you can get mad if you want to but Im going to tell you something. If you glory in that kind of thing, you dont have a prayer life. If you glory in that kind of mess political mess you do not know what the Word of God says. Im going to rare back and tell you something. This is not my home. This world is not my home. Ive been sent out just like the 70 were sent out. Youve been put here just like the 70 were sent out. Weve been put here as strangers, and pilgrims, and we are passing through. I am just walking through. Im just renting an apartment for a little while in this strange and foreign land. No sir, my real citizenship is in heaven, for which we look for the Lord Jesus Christ! -Pastor Loran Livingston, Central Church, Charlotte, North Carolina. While Pastor Livingstons fervor for maintaining the purity of spiritual devotion is commendable, the Bible makes no stark line of demarcation between the world of politics, and ones duty to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, body, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. The Bibles teaching on faith and civic responsibility is considerably more nuanced than Pastor Livingstons stance. A compelling approach to understanding Scriptures guidance on this subject is to examine the life of Jesus. Can we discern elements of political engagement in the teachings and actions of our Lord? Without question, Jesus ministry was not about establishing a political kingdom. He stated clearly, My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). However, as the Theology of Work Bible Commentary notes: It is equally important to understand what Jesus is not proclaiming. He is not saying that His kingdom is an ephemeral, internal religious experience that does not impinge on economic, political, or social issues in the real world.[1] On the contrary, when politics stray from a genuine grasp of Jesus teachings, they run the risk of gross misdirection, and at worst, peril. While the primary emphasis of Christs ministry undoubtedly lies in spiritual regeneration the salvation of souls its implications are far-reaching. When embraced and applied to all facets of life as intended by Him, the transformative impact knows no bounds, bringing redemption to every sphere it touches. Although Christs Kingdom surpasses earthly realms, its intended influence extends beyond the individual soul to permeate and enrich society as a whole. Consider the political connotations of what Jesus said in his famous Sermon on the Mount. Although there are many broader societal meanings behind what Jesus was saying throughout this incomparable sermon, word space limitation necessarily constrains us to take up only two. Jesus declared, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). The esteemed Bible scholar, James Montgomery Boice, who served as senior pastor of the historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, has expounded on the essence of Christs message in this passage. In his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, Boice emphasizes that while the core of Christs words pertains to a sinner mourning over his transgressions against God, they also encompass the wider call to social engagement. Boice rightly asserts this text is also a call to involvement in the social arena in the struggle of blacks for true equality, the plight of underpaid workers, pollution of our natural resources, education, ethical problems in politics, medicine, and business, and other contemporary problems just as Christians were formerly active in the war against slavery, child labor, lack of freedom of the press, and immorality. We should mourn for such things. And we should mourn deeply enough to do something about them.[2] In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructed his followers to embody the roles of salt and light (Matthew 5:13, 14). During Jesus day, salt served as a preservative, preventing decay in food, while light symbolized dispelling darkness. John R.W. Stott, the former rector of All Souls Church in London, rightly interprets this passage, noting that salt primarily acts negatively by halting decay, whereas light functions positively by illuminating the darkness. Therefore, Jesus calls his disciples to exert this kind of influence: restraining decay through their actions and bringing illumination to darkness. Jesus calls his disciples to exert a double influence on the secular community, a negative influence by arresting its decay and a positive influence by bringing light into darkness, says Stott. For it is one thing to stop the spread of evil; it is another to promote the spread of truth, beauty, and goodness. Putting the two metaphors together, it seems legitimate to discern in them the proper relationship between evangelism and social action in the total mission of Christ in the world a relation which perplexes many believers today.[3] Moreover, its crucial to remember that Jesus didnt hesitate to harshly address both the religious and secular authorities of his time. In Matthew 23:15, he sharply rebuked the religious leaders, denouncing their hypocrisy and exploitation of converts. Similarly, he displayed righteous indignation when driving out the moneychangers from the Temple, citing their desecration of a sacred space (Mark 11:15-17). While many perceive his actions to be primarily about spiritual matters, they also carried with them political implications and consequences that would lead to Christs crucifixion. Christ spoke truth to power. He referred to Herod as a fox, which highlighted our Lords discernment and boldness in confronting political figures (Luke 13:32). When Pilate asserted his power over Jesus, saying, Why dont you talk to me? Dont you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you? (John 19:10). Jesus replied, You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above (John 19:11). This audacious statement by Christ to Pilate put the potentate in his place, declaring in no uncertain terms his authority was derived from God, and any authority Pilate possessed was granted to him by divine providence. Those who fail to recognize Jesus ministry had spiritual and political significance are overlooking the comprehensive impact God intends for us to see in His Word. Was Jesus political? The core of Jesus message indeed revolved around matters of faith and spirituality. But its important to acknowledge that our Lords teachings and actions were meant to have an effect on the sacred and the secular because he is rightfully sovereign of everything. Our primary allegiance should indeed be to God and His Kingdom, but the Scriptures also call upon believers to engage responsibly in the societies they live. This includes participating in the political process (Romans 13:1-7), which can strategically influence positively the well-being of communities, allowing believers to advocate for that which is most noble and beneficial. Pastor Livingston is correct to point out that the Christians citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), but this doesnt negate our responsibilities as citizens of earthly cities, states, and nations. Just as the apostle Paul leveraged his Roman citizenship to advocate for his rights, Christians should utilize their civic privilege, including voting, to contribute to the common good and uphold moral values that are fundamentally necessary for human flourishing. To argue these matters are not similarly a spiritual duty, is an untenable contention in light of the apostle Pauls admonition: So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (I Corinthians 10:31). Again, there is no separation between spiritual duty and civic privilege. Rather than compartmentalizing spirituality and civic responsibilities, Christians should approach politics as an extension of their faith, carefully measuring social and political issues by the Scriptures. This does not mean equating the U.S. Constitution with Scripture, nor is it saying the Gospel is an American Gospel. Instead, its simply stating that Gods Word can and should inform our perspectives on governing and policy-making. Pastor Livingston is also right to caution against idolizing political systems and figures. They are not our hope. Our confidence should be in the Lord. Nevertheless, Christians are called to engage affairs of state with wisdom and discernment (Colossians 4:5-6). This involves prayerful consideration of candidates for office and proposed public policy initiatives, aligning them, as much as possible, with the values that mirror Gods heart for justice, mercy, compassion, and righteousness. And, rather than viewing politics as a mess, Christians should see it as a realm where Gods transformative power can be manifested. Through active godly involvement, believers can influence policies and institutions toward greater conformity to Christs kingdom values. If you should doubt whether this ever happens, let me tell you from years of personal experience as a minister of the Gospel of Christ and a lobbyist for the Christian Action League of North Carolina (a total of 44 years of ministry), if it werent for such people and their influence already in high places, this nation would currently be in hell. Wayne Grudem, in his amazing book, Politics According to the Bible, succinctly summarizes whats been said: Forgiveness of sins is not the only message of the Gospel. That is because Jesus is looking for transformed lives and through them a transformed world. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8). The good news of the Gospel will result in changed lives, but Jesus wants that to result in changed families as well. And when the Gospel changes lives, it should also result in changed neighborhoods. And changed schools. And changed businesses. And changed societies. So, shouldnt the Gospel also result in changed governments as well? Of course, it should! [4] Still, how is this going to take place if Christians are disengaged from politics? I submit a chief reason for our nations moral and civil free-fall, which includes serious deficits in transparency and accountability in government, excessive bureaucracy hindering efficiency, corruption and unethical practices, partisan gridlock and polarizations, injustice in policy outcomes, failure to address urgent matters of national security, erosion of religious liberties, ineffective use of taxpayer monies, etc., is because Gods people, individuals of upstanding Christian character, persons of faith who know their Bible, have erroneously extricated themselves from the process. Thus, wicked people have filled the vacuum and are now legislating their immorality. No, with the deepest respect, I cannot agree with Pastor Livingstons view. It reflects a limited understanding of the mission of Gods Kingdom and the expansive nature of our Lords redemption message. To paraphrase a statement once made by Sir Frederick Catherwood: To try to improve politics is not worldliness but love. To wash your hands of politics is not love but worldliness. Resources: [1] Theology of Work Bible Commentary, accessed online at https://www.theologyofwork.org/new-testament/john/ [2] James Montgomery Boice, The Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5-7 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 28. [3] John R. W. Stott, Christian Counter-Culture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1978), 64-65. [4] Wayne Grudem, Politics According to the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 47. After Hagia Sophia, Turkey converts a second ancient Byzantine church into a mosque Hundreds of worshippers filled the narrow streets of Istanbul's Fatih district on Friday to hear the sounds of Friday prayers ringing out from the newly inaugurated Kariye Mosque. Once known as the Chora Church, the site spent the last 79 years as a museum. But it is now the latest structure to be converted back into a mosque by the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following the conversion of Hagia Sophia in 2020. While viewed as a triumph by many Turkish Muslims, the Greek Orthodox Church has decried it as an "ill-advised decision" that "makes a mockery of the Turkish government's commitment to religious tolerance and religious freedom." Chora's conversion was announced shortly after Hagia Sophia's, but its opening for prayer was delayed by years of restoration work. The showing for the first Friday prayers at Kariye was relatively quiet compared to Hagia Sophia, which drew hundreds of thousands who filled the streets with prayer rugs for blocks and blocks away from the building. By contrast, the crowd on Friday was relatively average for a mosque in one of Istanbul's more religiously conservative neighborhoods, where Friday worshippers frequently spill out onto the streets. Both the Chora Church and Hagia Sophia are 4th-century Byzantine constructions. They spent nearly a millennium as Christian holy sites before being converted to mosques by the Ottomans after their conquest of Constantinople in the 15th century. Despite their conversions, they remained revered by Orthodox Christians. After the founding of a secular Turkish Republic in the early 20th century, the decision was made for both to be neither mosque nor church but simply museums. "Both Hagia Sophia and Chora embodied Byzantine and Ottoman pasts, and they became symbols of co-existence and multi-faith living practices. Their conversion fundamentally implies a hierarchy, prioritizing the Islamic past over all other layers, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Jewish, Syriac, et al," Dr. Ozgur Kaymak, a lecturer and researcher on minority rights at Istanbul's MEF University, told Religion News Service in an email. Rededicating the sites as mosques is more than just a status change. According to Islamic tradition, artwork of human figures are forbidden in places of prayer, while in Orthodox Churches, icons of Christ, saints and other biblical figures are a defining feature. In Hagia Sophia, the mosaics of Jesus and Mary have been covered with curtains since the conversion. While Erdogan promised Hagia Sophia would remain fully accessible and free to all visitors, Turkey reneged on that earlier this year, reimposing an entrance fee on tourists and relegating them to the upper level, while the main floor is exclusive to Muslim worshippers. Observers have also criticized the Turkish Directorate of Religion's caretaking of the site, noting damage that did not exist when it was under the purview of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Though Chora is significantly smaller than Hagia Sophia, it is home to some of the best-preserved examples of late-Byzantine art, including mosaics, icons and frescoes, and is considered a UNESCO World Heritage site. "For us it's a very important place because it remembers our culture and our traditions here," Father Evangelos Markantonis, an Orthodox priest who was leading a group of theology students to Chora on Friday, told Religion News Service. "Though we cannot venerate as Orthodox Christians, we have to try to find things we can be united on. Only with dialogue and good deeds can we continue our lives," Markantonis, who is also a professor at the University of Athens, said when asked about the controversy. Erdogan had long refused calls from his right to convert churches like Hagia Sophia and Chora, telling supporters in 2018 to fill the nearby Sultan Ahmet Mosque (also known in English as the Blue Mosque) before they talked about needing to pray in Hagia Sophia. Nonetheless, he made an about-turn in 2020. "My dear nation, the conquest of Istanbul and the conversion of the Hagia Sophia into a Mosque are among the most glorious chapters in Turkish history," Erdogan said at the time in a speech inaugurating the Hagia Sophia as a mosque. "This is the most honorable day that Islam has been looking forward to, Greek Constantinople has become Turkish Istanbul," he added, quoting the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet. "The resurrection of Hagia Sophia heralds the liberation of the al-Aqsa Mosque. The resurrection of Hagia Sophia is the footsteps of the will of Muslims across the world to come out of the interregnum," Erdogan said in his concluding remarks. Chora's opening as the Kariye Mosque comes just weeks after Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered its largest electoral defeat in two decades during Turkey's nationwide municipal elections. "The recent conversion of Chora into a mosque may be due to Erdogan's many problems, including his geopolitical power politics, his appeal to religio-nationalism to revive his electoral popularity after the March elections or his tactic to divert attention from Turkey's economic downturn," Kaymak said. Many analysts have attributed the loss to AKP bleeding votes to the more Islamist-leaning New Welfare Party, which has pressured Erdogan over his response to the Israel-Hamas war and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. Muslim worshippers at the mosque on Friday said they viewed its rededication as an Islamic site to be a national win for Turkey. "This mosque is one of the symbols of the Conquest. We are proud and happy. There are very beautiful frescoes inside. They were also nicely renovated before they were closed. May it be good for our country and our nation," a bystander, Ahmet Oteyuzoglu, told Turkish media. "Thank God for these days. Not everyone has the opportunity in their lifetime," another bystander named Mehmet Celik told the Turkish news service Anadolu Agency, in reference to having been able to pray at both the rededicated Hagia Sophia and Kariye Mosques. However, Greece, the U.S. State Department and Orthodox Christian institutions worldwide have all criticized the decision to revert the structure into a mosque. "I want to publicly express my intense dissatisfaction, interpreting the feelings of all Greek women and men, for the completely unnecessary conversion of a historic Byzantine temple, the Monastery of Chora, into a mosque. It is, I believe, an action that offends the rich history of Istanbul itself as a crossroads of cultures," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said shortly before leaving for Turkey for a planned meeting with Erdogan. "We encourage the Turkish government to preserve and ensure access to sites and buildings that have hosted different religious communities in a way that respects their diverse histories," a State Department spokesperson said in response to questions from Greek media. "The Turkish government's appropriation of both as the property of one faith group not only constitutes yet another sign of that government's contempt for Turkey's rich Orthodox Christian heritage but further imperils the religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the remaining Christians of that land," the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate said in a statement. Religion News Service From OnlyFans to Jesus Many Christians celebrated when two Onlyfans girls turned from porn to Christ recently, but why have they been met with a barrage of criticism online? The Church has always welcomed repentant "vilest offenders" as the old hymn, "To God be the glory" put it: Mary Magdalene and St Paul were there right from the start. So when two women recently repented of sex work and testified powerfully to their new faith on social media, many Christians celebrated along with them. Yet both women have been forced to respond to a host of accusations and condemnation online including from some people who identify as Christian. What has happened? Nala Nala Ray is the most well known. The pastor's daughter grossed $9m in earnings from her sex work on OnlyFans but a growing relationship with a Christian helped her to rethink her life after an encounter with God: "[I thought] what's the point of all this money, when I don't have feelings... I don't have kids, I have nothing but materialistic things that are cold and sitting in my closet?" she told Michael Knowles in an online interview. "I was sobbing, I was looking at my fireplace, I grabbed the Bible... God decided to truly meet me where I was. And it's not like he was far from me, it's that I was far from Him. "I was like, 'God, I need an answer now, I truly need an answer now' and he gave me an answer... 'all you ever needed was Me'." In the interview, she described a joyless life as an OnlyFans worker despite the money - numb to emotion and experiencing poor relationships. "I was making millions and I didn't feel any different," she said. "I could buy anything that I wanted and I still felt the exact same... all that numbness was emptiness, like complete and total emptiness." She says that has all changed since her conversion. She posted a video of her baptism on Instagram on 26th December and has since married, deleted her OnlyFans account and talks often of the change in her life. Bree The other dramatic conversion attracting attention is that of Bree Solstad or "Mistress B," who reported on 1st January on X (formerly known as Twitter): "While in [Rome and Assisi], I had what can only be described as a life-altering conversion. I have decided to quit sex work. To repent of my innumerable sins. To give up my life of sin, wealth, vice and vain self-obsession." She said she had been received into the Catholic church at Easter. She now regularly posts warnings against both making and using pornography and many faith-fuelled posts. She has told part of her story to Catholic Vote. She describes being recruited as a sex worker: "I completely fell away from the faith into a lifestyle of drunkenness, recklessness and promiscuity," she said. "I became one of the top-selling creators of this content almost immediately. This is not me bragging at all. It is definitely not heroic to be the greatest narcissist." During a trip to Italy, she was drawn to the beauty of the churches and the crucifixes and had mystical experiences. But when she went back home, she felt deep shame. "I couldn't stop thinking of all the things that I had done and all the lives I negatively affected through pornography," she said. "I felt grotesque." A conversation with a priest helped lift the dark feelings and help her encounter the love of God. "After all that I was and all that I did, I'm still amazed that Jesus never turned his back on me. That translates for me into gratitude and joy in abundance." Criticism and online mobs Both women have received much support online, including from well known Christians. Where concern has been expressed, some of it has their interests at heart: for example, that high profile conversions need to be handled with care because a person's young faith can be harmed by celebrity perhaps following the sad tale of Kanye West, who seemed to have a radical conversion to Christ but then started to express bizarre and antisemitic ideas, and announced he will start a porn business. But a lot of the criticism online is less concerned for the converts' welfare, and more cynical about their authenticity, their dress or their motivations due to new businesses they have started. One regular critic is Pearl Davis, a notorious female figure in the "manosphere," who has made a number of derogatory and sceptical comments, like, "I rarely drink, don't smoke, don't party, and yet Tradcon [traditional conservative] women tell me I'm 'not a real Christian' while simultaneously defending an ex Only Fans whore." Nala addressed these attacks recently: "I know that you don't want me to be part of society, clearly you don't want me a part of social media, but that's just wrong, because the Bible is truly talking about the word of your testimony," she said in a video posted on Instagram. Many Christians took to social media to support her and point out that it takes time for people to grow in the faith and Christians are never perfect. Solstad has also addressed the accusations. "The truth is, I'm not interested in convincing you, or anyone, of the sincerity of my conversion," she replied on X to a cynical post. "My only purpose is to: Testify to the truth of Jesus Christ. To be used like a tool by Him to call people to repentance & beauty. To show His love & mercy to others." Many conversions? Ray and Solstad are not the only sex workers who have publicly turn to faith, but social media perhaps puts new converts in the limelight much quicker than the church has been used to in the past. There are other former porn stars who have had to face the world immediately through social media: Blac Chyna also became a born again Christian and deleted her OnlyFans account last year. Another OnlyFans worker who deleted her account is "Gwen the milkmaid," according to The Sun newspaper. She now posts conservative "trad wife" content that might appeal to a different kind of man. But Gwen has been met with scepticism too with accusations she is seeking popularity rather than God. No-one knows what is truly in a heart, and only time will show the fruits of a real encounter with Christ. With more and more high profile conversions taking place, perhaps it's time for celebration rather than criticism, along with a little wisdom and discernment. Heather Tomlinson is a freelance journalist. Find her at www.heathertomlinson.substack.com or on twitter @heathertomli Gospel for Asia founder KP Yohannan dies of cardiac arrest after being struck by car (CP) K.P. Yohannan, the founder and director of Gospel for Asia and the metropolitan of the Believers Eastern Church, has died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 74. Gospel for Asia announced Yohannan's death in a statement, noting that the influential Indian Christian leader died on Wednesday morning at a hospital in Dallas, Texas. Yohannan was struck by a car while taking a walk the day before. While at the hospital recovering from the accident, he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. "We praise God for allowing His servant the strength to run his race faithfully and with much endurance to the very end," GFA stated in the announcement. "Millions of lives are forever transformed because of his tireless passion and service unto his Savior. May God receive him into the embrace of the saints. Christ is risen! May his memory be eternal!" Yohannan is survived by his wife, Gisela; his son Daniel, daughter Sarah and seven grandchildren: David, Esther, Jonah, Hannah, Lydia, Naomi and Noah. Yohannan was born in Southern India in 1950 as the youngest of six sons, reportedly in a village where St. Thomas the Apostle had planted a church in the first century, according to his online obituary. Inspired by the example and friendship of missionary George Verwer, Yohannan entered the ministry and received a theological education at Criswell College in the 1970s. Yohannan founded Gospel for Asia in 1979. He became metropolitan of the Believers Eastern Church in February 2003. BEC identifies as Evangelical, however it adopts more high church worship practices and attire. A prolific writer, according to GFA World, Yohannan has had around 250 books published in Asia and 12 books in the United States. From 2008 to 2022, Yohannan contributed a few opinion columns to The Christian Post, the last of which was published in May 2022 and titled "How do we reclaim this 'vanishing generation'?" "I believe we've left a whole generation floundering because despite all our teaching materials, church programs, and activities they've never had a genuine encounter with the living Christ. Instead, we've been led to believe the smartphone generation needs constant media bombardment," he wrote at the time. "Our misplaced emphasis on fast-moving media and rock-concert volume has replaced the much-needed timeless discipline of seeking God in quiet meditation and reverent silence. As a consequence, our worship services have focused on performance rather than coming before God." In recent years, Yohannan and Gospel for Asia have faced legal battles amid allegations of financial misconduct regarding their handling of donations. In one lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that millions in donations earmarked for charitable purposes were instead used to run for-profit businesses and build personal residences and a headquarters in Texas. In 2019, the ministry reached a $37 million settlement over the allegations, with Yohannan and GFA's Chief Operating Officer David Carroll denying any wrongdoing. Among those who have come to Yohannan's defense after the settlement was announced is popular Crazy Love preacher Francis Chan, who served as a GFA board member. Chan said he hired a financial expert and went to GFA's Texas headquarters to investigate the claims of misappropriation. "After careful research, our conclusion was that there was no money misappropriated and that all funds were channeled to the intended areas," Chan said in 2019. However, GFA was expelled from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability in 2015 and from the National Religious Broadcasters in 2016 over the controversy. In November 2020, the Indian government, which over the last several years has cracked down on foreign-funded Christian mission organizations amid a rise of Hindu nationalism within the country, accused BEC and Yohannan of "siphoning out" tax-exempted funds for "personal and other illegal expenses." BEC spokesperson Fr. Sijo Pandapallil told CP at the time that the matter was being misrepresented and "wildly mischaracterized on social media." In 2021, Greg Zentner of Nova Scotia filed a $170 million class-action lawsuit against GFA, accusing the ministry of defrauding thousands of Canadians and churches by using funds for "improper purposes." In 2022, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a motion to certify the complaint, concluding that the plaintiff "failed to show some basis in fact for his allegation that the defendants intentionally misappropriated donor funds in a manner that had no connection to any purported charitable purpose." The Christian Post Haitian aid workers worry American Christian donors could worsen crisis As the security crisis in Haiti continues, the humanitarian aid group Haiti Family Care Network is urging U.S. Christian donors to refrain from worsening the situation by donating to orphanages and to redirect their efforts instead toward initiatives helping parents support their children. "There are actually better ways to care for the needs of children than building and supporting orphanages," said Heather Nozea, chair of the network. In 2021, five humanitarian organizations created Haiti Family Care Network to change how relief for children works in the impoverished, often chaotically led nation. In 2011, the year after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake killed some 300,000, mostly around the capital, Port-au-Prince, orphanages proliferated from about 300 to 754, despite their failures to provide appropriate care for children. "Everyone assumed that the best way to respond was by building and supporting new orphanages and it became a solution to problems without actually addressing the real problem," said Nozea, who has worked in Haiti for eight years for Rapha International, an organization that fights human trafficking. In many cases, parents placed their children in orphanages to guarantee they would receive consistent meals, health care and education. In some instances, children have been separated from their families simply to fill voids in orphanages, ensuring that the orphanage industry would continue to grow. "More than 80% of them, they have families they can be connected to, so we prefer to call them residential care centers," said Frederique Jean-Baptiste, a child protection program manager for Catholic Relief Services based in Port-au-Prince. The creation of these privately run agencies was made possible in large part by international donations, mostly from American Christians. According to a Lumos report, Americans donated $1.4 billion in the months after the earthquake, the bulk of it from faith-based groups. American Catholics alone were responsible for some $85 million of the total. A 2017 report by IBESR, the Haitian adoption authority, revealed that only 30 of the 754 orphanages in Port-au-Prince met minimum standards of care. The report said the vast majority presented a risk for children and recommended their immediate closure. Jean-Baptiste said cases of physical and verbal abuse are frequent in the orphanages. The Lumos report also draws attention to the suffering endured by children with disabilities. A childhood in an orphanage has long-lasting effects on young people's development, said Nozea, noting that, with many rules and daily structure, children are not given a chance to develop independence. Sometimes residents' cognitive and personal development is slowed. Once they leave the orphanages to pursue life on their own, many of the young adults who grew up in orphanages show a lack of emotional, social and life skills. Nozea said she has seen young adults unable to look after themselves and manage money. "The biggest populations that I've seen struggle in Haiti are young adults coming out of orphanages, who haven't learned the life skills that a child naturally learns as they grow up in a family," she said. Armed gangs now control 80% of the capital through acts of terror, regularly resorting to physical and sexual violence and to kidnappings. Since January, 35,000 people have been displaced due to gang violence, and 1,500 have died. This crisis has put additional strain on families' capacities to provide for their children, and humanitarian workers share renewed fears that the 2010 scenario will repeat itself and more children will end up in orphanages. In this context, the network has made efforts to convince Christian donors to shift away from funding for orphanages to focus on family-strengthening initiatives. But since many congregations and other donors have strong ties with the agencies they support, diverting the flow of cash is difficult. Many churches regularly bring donor congregations' representatives to visit the orphanages and meet with the children, cementing the bonds between donors and orphanages. "When you start to learn and realize that maybe it's not what's best for kids, that can be a really hard thing to come to terms with. So we get that, and we're really empathetic to that. We don't judge people," said Nozea. Direct discussions with pastors and individual donors have proved to be the most efficient in these situations. "We want to make sure that in this current crisis that Haiti is going through again, that welfare organizations or good folks who want to help do not repeat the mistakes of the past," said Jean-Baptiste. Religion News Service Learning from hymnody One of the sources of theological reflection that I think is neglected today is hymnody. We tend to look to sermons, books, videos or podcasts as the sources of theological teaching and yet don't pay attention to what we can learn from hymns. However, I think we would benefit if we did and in this article I illustrate why I think this is the case by considering what we can learn if we use two verses from the hymn Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken by the Anglican hymnwriter John Newton as a starting point. Newton wrote this hymn in 1799 while he was Vicar in Olney in Buckinghamshire. He based it on two Old Testament passages, Psalm 87:3 and Isaiah 33:20-21 and its first two verses run as follows: 'Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God. He whose Word cannot be broken formed thee for His own abode. On the Rock of Ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded, thou may'st smile at all thy foes. See, the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love, well supply thy sons and daughters and all fear of want remove. Who can faint while such a river ever flows their thirst to assuage? Grace, which like the Lord, the Giver, never fails from age to age.' In Psalm 87 and Isaiah 33, 'Zion' is an alternative name for the city of Jerusalem, but in the New Testament, as well as referring to this earthly city, 'Jerusalem' is also used to refer to the heavenly city of which God's new covenant people are citizens. Thus, in Galatians 4:26 Paul contrasts the earthly Jerusalem with 'the Jerusalem above' who is 'our mother,' and in Revelation 21:2 John refers to 'the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming out of heaven from God.' In the light of this New Testament usage, subsequent Christian tradition has understood the references to Jerusalem/Zion in the Old Testament as having dual significance, referring both to the earthly city and to the heavenly city referred to in the New Testament. This is the tradition in which Newton stands and what he is saying is that the promises of God's protection of Jerusalem found in the Old Testament are to be understood as referring also to the protection that God offers to all who belong today to the heavenly Jerusalem. If we ask what is meant by the heavenly Jerusalem, a common answer is that it refers to the Church. The Church is the heavenly Jerusalem. However, the true answer is more complex than that. This is because the term 'the Church' has two meanings. As Archbishop Thomas Cranmer noted in the sixteenth century: 'In the Scriptures, the word church has two main meanings ... one of which means the congregation of all the Saints and true believers, who really believe in Christ the head and are sanctified by his Spirit. This is the living and truly holy mystical body of Christ, but known only to God, who alone understands the hearts of men. The second meaning is that of the congregation of all who are baptized in Christ who have not openly denied him nor been lawfully and by his Word excommunicated. This meaning of church corresponds to its status in this life in that in it the good are mixed with the evil.' To put it another way, there is the invisible Church, which is the mystical body of Christ and which consists of all true believers (regardless of their denomination) and there is the visible Church, the human institution, divided into various denominations, in which those who are true believers and those who are not remain mixed together like the wheat and tares in Jesus' parable (Matthew 13:24-30) until the final judgement. Newton is referring to the invisible church, since God's promises of protection do not apply to those who do not truly belong to his people. This then raises the question of who belongs to the invisible church. The basic answer to this question is provided by Augustine in his book The City of God, in which he declares that there are 'two kinds of cities created by two kinds of love.' There is the 'earthly city' marked by 'self-love reaching the point of contempt for God' and there is the 'Heavenly City' created by 'the love of God carried as far as contempt of self.' The earthly city 'looks for glory from men' while 'the Heavenly City glories in the Lord.' The invisible Church is Augustine's Heavenly City, the body consisting of those people who lives are marked by love of God rather than love of self, and who seek glory from God rather than from other people. At this point someone might ask where the grace referred to by Newton comes into the picture. Is Augustine saying that it is our self-generated decision to love God that makes us part of the Heavenly City? The answer is 'No.' For Augustine, as for the New Testament and the orthodox Christian tradition as a whole, we are enabled to love God to the point of contempt of self because in his love for us God gives us new life through Christ and the Spirit through faith and baptism, delivering us from sin and making it possible for us to love him in return. In the words of 1 John 4:19, 'We love, because he first loved us.' It is this gracious, life changing, divine love given to us through the Spirit to which Newton refers when he writes about 'the streams of living water flowing from eternal love' (see John 7:38-39). A further question which someone might also ask is what it means in practice to live as part of the Heavenly City? If I am a citizen of Zion, what difference should it make? A classic answer to this question is given by another writer from the Early Church, the anonymous author of the second century apologetic work known as the Epistle to Diognetus. He explains that: 'Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. 'As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life.' This quotation highlights the strikingly paradoxical character of being a citizen of Zion. Those who belong to it live in the world and yet they live in it as resident aliens whose true citizenship lies elsewhere. They conform to the customs and laws of the places in which they live, and yet also live highly distinctive lives in obedience to the laws of God. They do good and yet get insults, persecution and punishment in return, and when this happens, they respond with rejoicing, blessing, honour and love. They die and yet they still live. In summary, what Newton's hymn is about is the life of the people of God. It is about receiving God's grace, becoming part of his people as a result, and being protected by God as we live as part of his people. This protection does not mean that nothing bad will happen to us. As the Epistle to Diognetus makes clear (and as many Christians around the world today can testify) bad things may happen to us precisely because we belong to God and live in obedience to his will. Rather, 'salvations' walls' referred to by Newton protect as and when bad things happen to us. They protect us from giving up. They enable us to stay the course as we travel through this world as God's resident aliens. They keep us part of God's people until we reach our final home in the world to come. Newton's words, and the classical Christian theology underlying them thus provide us with a great promise. However, they also provide a great challenge to us and to other people known to us. The challenge is whether we really are members of the city of God. As we have seen, the issue is not whether we attend a church (since one can attend a church and still not be part of the Heavenly City). The issue is whether we have put our faith in Christ, received his Spirit in baptism, and allowed him to change our lives so that we have begun to become someone who puts God before self and seeks glory from God rather than from our fellow human beings. If we cannot honestly say that this is the case then we need to change the situation while there is still time. Likewise, if we know others who have not yet put their faith in Christ, received the Spirit in baptism and allowed God to change their lives, then the same applies to them. To quote Isaiah, the message is 'Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near' (Isaiah 55:6). China hands over data collected from Pakistan's first satellite mission on Chang'e-6 lunar probe 12:04, May 11, 2024 By Fan Anqi and Deng Xiaoci ( Global Times The first image captured by the CubeSat on May 8, 2024. Photo: China National Space Administration China on Friday handed over the data collected from Pakistan's first satellite mission on the Chang'e-6 lunar probe to the Pakistan side, and together they unveiled the first image captured by the CubeSat, the Global Times learned from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Friday. China has carried out four international projects with the Chang'e-6 probe, including the European Space Agency's lunar surface ion analyzer, France's radon detection instrument, Italy's laser corner reflector, and the first-ever CubeSat from Pakistan, the CNSA previously revealed. The CubeSat, named iCube-Q, is a remote sensing satellite co-developed by Pakistan's national space agency SUPARCO and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It was launched in early 2023. The iCube-Q and the orbiter separated near the far side of the Moon in a 12-hour elliptical lunar orbit on Wednesday, and subsequently successfully captured the first image. The project achieved its goal of "successful separation and obtaining telemetry," marking the smooth completion of Pakistan's first-ever lunar project, the CNSA said. Through this mission, the CubeSat successfully validated nano-satellite lunar orbit detection technology, and explored the cooperation model between China and Pakistan in lunar and deep space exploration, laying the foundation for deeper cooperation between the two sides in future missions. After its grand liftoff on May 3, the Chang'e-6 lunar probe on Wednesday entered its circumlunar orbit after performing a near-moon braking procedure. Later, the Chang'e-6 probe will adjust the altitude and inclination of its circumlunar orbit with the support of China's Queqiao-2 relay satellite, and implement the separation of the orbiter-returner combination from the lander-ascender combination. The latter will then make a soft landing on the lunar surface at the South Pole-Aitken Basin, which is widely considered by industry insiders to be one of the most challenging tasks in space exploration. A number of countries have struggled with this maneuver previously. Early in January, Japan's SLIM moon lander, took a tumble as it touched down on the lunar surface. This was described as a "success" by the Japanese space agency JAXA, even though the lander's solar panels were not angled properly to harness sunlight and power up the probe. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Zhong Wenxing) The former CEO of Fat Brands Inc., a restaurant franchising company with subsidiaries including Fatburger, Johnny Rockets and Fazoli's, has been indicted along with others in a $47 million fraud scheme, authorities announced Friday. Andrew A. Wiederhorn, the former CEO and current controlling shareholder of Fat Brands, a publicly traded company, was indicted Thursday along with former CFO Rebecca D. Hershinger, outside accountant William J. Amon, and the company itself, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Fat Brands, which acquires or develops then franchises restaurant concepts including Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, Hurricane Grill and Wings, Yalla Mediterranean, and Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouses, is based in Beverly Hills, Calif. With the assistance of Hershinger and Amon, Wiederhorn allegedly received $47 million in shareholder loans and concealed them from the IRS and the SEC. Wiederhorn allegedly began disguising payments to himself in the form of shareholder loans approximately 30 years ago, when he was CEO of the Wilshire Credit Corporation (WCC). He forgave some $65 million in debts he owed WCC, and resolved a previous grand jury investigation into that matter by pleading guilty in 2004 to the payment of illegal gratuities and filing a false federal tax return. According to the indictment, the IRS has been trying to collect personal income tax and trust fund taxes Wiederhorn owed personally and as a responsible party for multiple business entities since as far back as 2006. Amon, of the advisory firm Anderson, provided tax advisory services to Wiederhorn , Fat Brands, and Fat's former affiliate, Fog Cutter Capital Corporation (FOG), the successor corporate entity to WCC. Beginning in 2016, the IRS assessed Wiederhorn penalties for FOG's failure to pay trust fund taxes, and by 2021, Wiederhorn's unpaid personal income tax liability to the IRS totaled approximately $7,743,952. From 2010 to 2021, Wiederhorn allegedly had employees of FAT and FOG distribute approximately $47 million to him for his personal use and benefit. Wiederhorn, Amon, Hershinger and others disguised the distributions as shareholder loans, failing to disclose it as compensation to the IRS and the SEC. "These disbursements were used to fund the purchase of private-jet travel, vacations, a Rolls Royce Phantom, other luxury automobiles, jewelry, and a piano," according to the indictment. "Wiederhorn, posing as both 'lender' and 'borrower,' caused defendant FAT and FOG to extend to him and then 'forgive' tens of millions of dollars in distributions made in the fraudulent form of loans - all while paying no income tax on these distributions and, in fact, using them to generate net operating losses to provide defendant FAT with financially beneficial tax treatment," the indictment alleges. While Fat Brands initially claimed to cooperate with the investigation, after board members communicated with government investigators, Wiederhorn allegedly removed every director other than himself in March 2023, and appointed a majority of non-independent directors under his control. "This defendant, the former CEO of a publicly traded company, is alleged to have engaged in a long-running scheme to defraud investors and the United States Treasury to the tune of millions of dollars," Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. "Instead of looking out for shareholders, the defendant allegedly treated the company as his personal slush fund, in violation of federal law. The Corporate and Securities Fraud Strike Force of my office focuses on rooting out corporate malfeasance by corporate insiders, and we will continue to protect the public by bringing these important prosecutions." Wiederhorn is charged with one count of endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the Internal Revenue Code, six counts of tax evasion, and one count of false statements and omission of material facts in statements to accountants in connection with audits and reviews. Both Wiederhorn and Hershinger are charged with four counts of wire fraud, two counts of false statements and omission of material facts in statements to accountants in connection with audits and reviews, and one count of certifying faulty financial reports. Wiederhorn, Hershinger and Fat Brands are charged with two counts of extension and maintenance of credit in the form of personal loan from issuer to executive officer. Hershinger is also charged with one count of making false statements to federal investigators, including denying that company funds were being used to pay Wiederhorn's personal American Express bill. Amon is charged with four counts of aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns. Officials are encouraging investors who believe they were the victims of crimes alleged in the indictment to contact the Department of Justice about the case at USACAC.Wiederhorn.FATBrands@usdoj.gov. "The allegations contained in the indictment against Mr. Wiederhorn show that he is a serial tax cheat. His actions over decades hurt not only his company and its shareholders, but also every American taxpayer," said Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office. "Failing to honestly and accurately report income shortchanges Americans, and places undue strain on honest taxpayers. CI is committed to investigating this sort of criminal behavior to ensure accountability and equity in the tax system." Brian Hennigan of Hueston Hennigan LLP, Counsel for FAT Brands Inc., issued the following statement: "Today FAT Brands was informed that it has been indicted on two violations of SOX 402 for arranging approximately $2.65 million in loans to Andy Wiederhorn.These charges are unprecedented, unwarranted, unsubstantiated, and unjust. They are based on conduct that ended over three years ago and ignore the Company's cooperation with the investigation." "FAT Brands will take all necessary action to defend itself, while seeking a just resolution to these charges. Since becoming a public company, FAT Brands has grown to at a remarkable pace to encompass 18 brands with $2.5 billion in global sales and 2,300 locations worldwide, benefitting franchisees and investors alike. The Company will continue executing on its operating plans and growth strategy." --with reporting by TMX We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Disorderly conduct: Elbon Road At 12:15 a.m. May 2, Cleveland police asked Cleveland Heights police for assistance in returning to a Cleveland Heights home a drunk woman, 25, who had been involved in an incident in a car with her boyfriend. The woman, Cleveland police later found, had grabbed the steering wheel of her boyfriends car as the two drove and argued, causing the car to veer off course. Because of this information, Cleveland police wanted the woman back for further questioning. A CHPD officer found the woman at her 41-year-old boyfriends house. Also at the house was the boyfriends father, 60. The boyfriends father, while outside, spoke in a loud voice with police and, when asked would not quiet down. He did not want the woman at his house. The girlfriend, also speaking loudly, did not want to go with police and struggled with an officer, kicking him in the crotch. Police eventually got the woman inside a police cruiser for a trip back to Cleveland. She was charged by Cleveland Heights police with disorderly conduct/intoxication, resisting arrest, and assault on a police officer. She later stated she purposely kicked the officer between his legs. The father, meanwhile, never quieted down. He, too, was charged with disorderly conduct, although he would not open his homes door to accept the citation. An officer told the man his citation would be placed in his mailbox. Assault: Severance Circle At 11:30 a.m. May 5, a woman reported that, the night before, she had been exchanging text messages with a man, 36, who she described as a friend, and told of how the exchange grew heated and led to threats. Police went to the womans residence at Severance Towers, 25 Severance Circle, and she showed officers the texts from the man, two that threatened her life. After the text exchange stopped, the woman went down to her apartments mail room, where she said the man appeared and choked her. Police did not find marks on her throat, but did see scratches on her arm. After the incident with the man, the woman went to MetroHealth Hospital to be checked. The woman signed a charge against the man for assault and sought a protection order. She said the man has struck and threatened her in the past. Police tried contacting the man by phone, but he did not respond. Police are now seeking the suspect. Auto theft: Selwyn Road At 1:10 p.m. May 6, a Selwyn Road man reported that his 2011 Buick Regal was stolen from its parking spot on the street in front of his house. The man told police he last saw the car at about noon, before he went into his back yard to exercise. He discovered the car missing just before calling police. The man told police he left his keys in the unlocked cars console. A Flock street camera got an image of the car at 12:53 p.m. as it headed eastbound on Euclid Avenue, at Superior Road. Auto theft: Noble Road At 10:30 a.m. May 7, a woman reported that her 2016 Hyundai Elantra had been stolen from her assigned parking space in the lot of her Noble Road apartment. Police found shards of glass on the ground where the car had been parked, which indicated a window had been broken out. An officer looked in the lot for further evidence and found that another parked car, a 2017 Hyundai Sonata still in the lot, had its driver side window broken out and steering column peeled. Police located the owner of this car and were given permission to seek DNA evidence from the car. The apartment had several cameras pointed at the lot, but none were operational. Disorderly conduct: Stoneleigh Road At 2:15 a.m. May 7, police were dispatched to a Stoneleigh Road address on a report of a female in a gold Jeep Grand Cherokee with a Quebec license plate causing a disturbance and throwing trash onto a homes lawn. As an officer drove to the house, the Jeep passed him going the other way. The officer radioed for another officer to stop the Jeep. A traffic stop was conducted at Princeton Boulevard in South Euclid. At the house, the homeowners, a man and woman, both 37, told an officer that the mans brother was staying at the house and had just come home. When the woman looked out the window, she recognized the Jeep belonging to her brother-in-laws on again, off again girlfriend from Canada. She then saw the girlfriend throw trash on her lawn while yelling out their names. Police saw the trash on the lawn. When cited for disorderly conduct, the Canadian woman stated that she would never be able to make a court date in Cleveland Heights because of her Canadian residency. She said that she is legally married to the man called her boyfriend, but could not provide proof of this. She further stated that she and her husband have had an abusive relationship and that domestic violence charges have been filed in Canada. Police could not verify her marriage claim, but told the woman they would escort her back to the Stoneleigh house if she needed to gather her belongings. Read more from the Sun Press. OMAHA, Neb. A 24-inch tall, bronze bust sculpture of the late Charlie Munger became a conversation piece for guests who lodged at the Omaha Marriott last weekend for the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. The hotel, next to Berkshire-owned jewelry store Borsheims, was the preferred quarters for the investment icon, who passed away in November at the age of 99, whenever he visited his hometown and the Berkshire headquarters of his longtime partner and confidante Warren Buffett. The sculpture, placed in the lobby accompanied by glasses of champagne and brochures, soon grabbed the attention of numerous Berkshire shareholders who walked by and also two special admirers Munger's own daughter Wendy and his longtime executive assistant Doerthe Obert. "I got back to the lobby and the hotel staff was like 'Doerthe came down twice to look for you,'" Yu Shu, the 39-year-old artist behind the sculpture, told CNBC in an interview. "Then they called Doerthe and she came down. I gave her a hug, and I told her 'nice to see you again' and she's like 'we've never met before.'" India's stock market has overtaken Hong Kong to become the fourth-largest globally in terms of the total value of listed companies. Citigroup analysts upgraded India to "overweight" from "neutral" in their emerging markets allocation on Friday, citing strong earnings and economic growth momentum. The brokerage expects India's blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index to rise 7% between now and the end of the current financial year ending March 2025, setting a target of 23,900. The Nifty 50 closed at 22,055.20 on Friday. The benchmark has underperformed the MSCI Emerging Market Index in 2024 so far. Citi's view is underpinned by the expectation that India's economy - the fastest growing among major peers - will remain strong, growing at 6.8% in the current fiscal. The brokerage's estimates imply an earnings CAGR of 13% between fiscal years 2024 and 2026, with the trajectory broadly stable, Surendra Goyal, managing director and head of Indian research at Citigroup, said in a note on Friday, while also attributing the India upgrade to sustained economic growth. It also attributed India's one-year forward price-to-earnings (P/E) of 20x, which is slightly higher than the long-term averages, to a stable earnings trajectory. The brokerage remains "overweight" on India's banks, insurers, public sector enterprises, autos and capital goods companies among others. It recommends "underweight" on information technology firms, metals, consumer durables and discretionary as well as paint companies. Citi downgraded China to "neutral" from "overweight", saying the recent rally in its stock markets occurred despite weakening fundamentals. Foreign portfolio investors have sold Indian shares since the beginning of April, aggregating to about 191 billion rupees ($2.29 billion). China's markets, however, have benefitted from a rising share of foreign inflows, helped by valuations that are relatively cheaper than India's. Citi's downgrade of China is in contrast to the actions of global brokerage Jefferies, which raised China's weighting in its Asia Pacific ex-Japan relative-return portfolio. Citi reiterated its "overweight" rating on Taiwan and Korea, maintaining "underweight" on Latin American countries. The 61-year-old billionaire now believes his inexperience likely prevented him from giving up on the company before it became a success because he didn't know just how hard growing it would be. If Huang could go back to 1993 and do it all again, he'd probably bail on Nvidia, he told the "Acquired" podcast in October 2023. But he was just 30 years old when Nvidia launched. The co-founders had never run a business before, but Huang a microprocessor designer believed they could build a graphics processing unit (GPU) that would revolutionize video games and computer graphics, he said. Today, Huang has been Nvidia's CEO for more than three decades, and he's grown the company through ups and downs into a $2.2 trillion tech giant that's helping to power the artificial intelligence boom . "Frankly, I had no idea how to do it, nor did they. None of us knew how to do anything," Huang recently told "60 Minutes" about the origins of the company. So says Jensen Huang, who co-founded computer chip company Nvidia with fellow engineers Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem from a Denny's booth in 1993. "At Nvidia, I [have] experienced failures. Great big ones all humiliating and embarrassing," Huang told graduating students in a May 2023 commencement speech at National Taiwan University. Those experiences started early. The company's first GPU was a flop, nearly putting Nvidia out of business in 1996. Huang trimmed more than half of the company's staff and begged partners at video game company Sega to pay out their contract, despite Nvidia delivering a "technically poor" chip, he said. With the money from Sega's contract buyout, Nvidia redoubled its efforts into a new chip, the RIVA 128. It become Nvidia's first breakout product, selling more than 1 million units in four months in 1997. That success turned around Nvidia's fortunes and put it on the path to becoming a multi trillion-dollar business. But Huang still says the stress and pain of steering a business through that type of rough patch may not have seemed worth it had he seen it all coming. "At that time, if we realized the pain and suffering, just how vulnerable you're going to feel, and the challenges that you're going to endure, the embarrassment and the shame, and the list of all the things that go wrong, I don't think anybody would start a company," he told the "Acquired" podcast. "Nobody in their right mind would do it." In other words, when it comes to being an entrepreneur, ignorance isn't only bliss it's necessary. "I think that's the superpower of an entrepreneur," Huang said. "They don't know how hard it is, and they only ask themselves, 'How hard can it be?'" Huang continues to use that same trick accessing the same blithe optimism he had in 1993 when he absolutely needs it, he noted: "To this day, I trick my brain into thinking: How hard can it be? Because you have to." Want to make extra money outside of your day job? Sign up for CNBC's new online course How to Earn Passive Income Online to learn about common passive income streams, tips to get started and real-life success stories. CNBC Make It readers can use special discount code CNBC40 to get 40% off through 8/15/24. Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It's newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life. Home prices are on the rise again after declining for the second half of 2023, with 93% of all major metro areas posting gains so far in 2024, a National Association of Realtors report reveals. Roughly one-third of the 223 major metro markets NAR examined had a double-digit price increase in the first three months of 2024. The surge in prices is largely due to pent-up demand for homes, says Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. "In the current market, rising prices are the direct result of insufficient housing supply not meeting the full demand," Yun says. Prices for existing single-family homes in the U.S. are up 5% year over year as of April, after decreasing by 2.86% year over year as of April 2023. The median home price is now $389,400, according to NAR's sales data. The remarkable turnaround in 2024 has also been boosted by 30-year fixed mortgage rates dipping down closer to 6.6% after hitting a 7.79% peak in November 2023. Here are the 10 metro areas where home prices have increased the most so far in 2024. After deliberating for hours early Friday morning, the Shenandoah County school board in Virginia voted to restore the names of three Confederate officers to schools in the district. The recent vote reversed a decision made four years ago after George Floyd's killing ignited calls for racial justice nationwide. In July 2020, during the pandemic and protests, the board voted 5-1 in a virtual meeting to change the names of two schools - Ashby-Lee Elementary and Stonewall Jackson High - to align with an anti-racism resolution, according to The New York Times. The anger was palpable in rural Virginia as people flooded school board meetings and criticized the name changes, calling the move hasty and lacking in transparency. Many expressed deep resentment over the marginalization, perceiving it to be a forced cultural change. Following a vote that resulted in a tie in 2022, the name changes remained final. But those fighting against the change vowed to revive Stonewall Jackson. And on Friday, he was. Tom Streett, one of the board members, told the Times, "When you read about this man-who he was, what he stood for, his character, his loyalty, his leadership, how godly a man he was-those standards that he had were much higher than any leadership of the school system in 2020." The predominantly white county, like many others across the U.S., has reversed such decisions made back in 2020, even going as far as scaling back or removing curriculum entirely that focuses on the country's racial history. Politicians continue to push back against "critical race theory,' with some schools restoring mascots previously deemed racially offensive. Marty Helsey, a 73-year-old farmer who served one term, was the only voter in 2020 who opposed dropping the Confederate names. "They cannot let it go," Helsey said before the vote on Friday. "It's been four years! The Civil War only lasted four years!" Three Shenandoah County board members who voted in 2022 to keep the new school names have decided not to run for reelection this year. Aliyah Ogle, 14, whose mother was one of two Black people in her class, has scrapped plans for attending the school herself next year. "Jackson died fighting for slavery," said the 14-year-old. "Had he won, I would not be allowed to attend public school, and I would not be speaking here today." Those who advocated for the old names insisted that they hadn't witnessed the racism at Stonewall Jackson that others spoke about. "Some people say they take offense to the school names," stated Fred Neese, 69, a poultry farmer. "I'm offended that they're disparaging the good names of our ancestors. I'm offended that the previous board was not straightforward with the people." U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks as part of his Investing in America agenda, during a visit to Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, U.S., May 8, 2024. U.S. President Joe Biden is set to announce new China tariffs as soon as next week targeting strategic sectors, including a major hike in levies on electric vehicles (EVs), according to three people familiar with the matter. The full announcement, expected Tuesday, will maintain existing tariffs on many Chinese goods set by former President Donald Trump, according to one of the people. But it will also add new tariffs to semiconductors and solar equipment, according to one of the people, as well as hiking EV tariffs. Chinese-made medical supplies like syringes and personal protective equipment also face additional tariffs, sources told Reuters. In revising the so-called "Section 301 tariffs," the Biden administration has zeroed in on industries that it says are of strategic competitive and national security areas, one of the people said. The long-awaited tariff update comes after a number of lawmakers have called for massive hikes on Chinese vehicle tariffs. There are relatively few Chinese-made light duty vehicles being imported now. Tariffs on Chinese EVs will roughly quadruple under the new Biden plan, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown wants the Biden administration to ban Chinese EVs outright, over concerns they pose risks to Americans' personal data. The U.S. Trade Representative's office made its recommendations to the White House weeks ago but a final announcement has been delayed due to internal discussions, sources said. It may come later than Tuesday, some sources said. 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe A homeless woman living in a Midland, Michigan grocery store's rooftop sign furnished the space with a computer, coffee maker, and a printer, according to police. "It's a story that makes you scratch your head, just somebody living up in a sign," Officer Brennon Warren of the Midland Police Department said, the Associated Press reported. The unidentified 34-year-old admitted she had taken refuge in the 5 ft. by 8 ft. Family Fare Market sign which is completely enclosed and accessible via door for about a year. "There was some flooring that was laid down. A mini desk," Warren described. "Her clothing. A Keurig coffee maker. A printer and a computer - things you'd have in your home." Contractors investigating an extension cord on the roof last month notified police of the makeshift dwelling when they found it. The woman said she powered up her appliances through the cord. When confronted by police, the woman gathered her belongings and left without incident. "We provided her with some information about services in the area," said Warren. "She apologized and continued on her way. Where she went from there, I don't know." No charges have been filed. A spokesperson for SpartanNash, the company that operates Family Fare issued a statement obtained by the Detroit Free Press: "Ensuring there is ample safe, affordable housing continues to be a widespread issue nationwide that our community needs to partner in solving. Out of respect for privacy for the individual involved, we will not be sharing further comments." Who better to assess Steven Spielbergs 2001 film A.I. Artificial Intelligence than a bunch A.I. chatbots? After all, it informed much of the publics early impressions of artificial intelligence, and so, I figured they must have some feelings about it, assuming they have feelings at all. Thus, I reached out to a few, and heres what they said... Prompt: Tell me your opinion of the 2001 film A.I. ChatGPT: A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a fascinating and thought-provoking film directed by Steven Spielberg. It explores complex themes such as artificial intelligence, the nature of consciousness and the meaning of love. The films visuals are stunning, and the performances, particularly by Haley Joel Osment as the humanoid robot David, are compelling. One of the films strengths is its ability to spark deep philosophical discussions about what it means to be human and the ethical implications of creating intelligent machines. It presents a future where robots are capable of experiencing emotions and forming genuine connections with humans, raising questions about the rights and treatment of artificial beings. Some viewers may find the films pacing uneven or its ending divisive, but I believe these aspects contribute to its impact and ability to linger in the minds of audiences long after viewing. Overall, A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a thought-provoking exploration of humanitys relationship with technology and the potential consequences of our creations. Vello.ai: A.I. is a thought-provoking and visually stunning film that explores the complex themes of love, humanity and artificial intelligence. The collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick resulted in a unique blend of their directorial styles, creating a futuristic and emotional story that stays with the audience long after watching. The film raises deep questions about the nature of consciousness and what it means to be truly alive. Advertisement ChatGPT: I havent seen the movie, but Ive been trained on a diverse dataset that includes information about films, including synopses, reviews and analyses from various sources. This training allows me to understand and generate responses about a wide range of topics, including movies like A.I. Artificial Intelligence. My responses are based on the patterns and information present in the data Ive been trained on rather than personal experiences. Vello.ai: I dont have personal experiences or the ability to watch movies like humans do. My understanding is based on analysis of reviews, summaries and discussions about the film. Its impact and critical reception have shaped my opinion of A.I. Advertisement Advertisement ChatGPT: Haley Joel Osments portrayal of David, the humanoid robot, in A.I. Artificial Intelligence was captivating and memorable. He effectively conveyed the innocence, curiosity and longing for love that defined Davids character. Through his performance, Osment humanized David, allowing audiences to empathize with his journey and the challenges he faced in understanding his place in the world. Osments ability to convey emotion through subtle facial expressions and body language was particularly impressive, given the nature of the character he was portraying. He brought depth and complexity to David, making him more than just a machine but a character with genuine feelings and desires. Overall, Haley Joel Osments performance in A.I. Artificial Intelligence contributed significantly to the films impact and success in exploring themes of humanity, consciousness and the nature of love. Advertisement Vello.ai: Haley Joel Osment delivered a memorable and nuanced performance in A.I. as the humanoid robot named David. His portrayal effectively captured the innocence, curiosity and emotional complexity of an artificial being striving to understand and experience human emotions. Osments performance added depth and empathy to the character, making David a compelling and relatable protagonist in the film. National salad chain Sweetgreen said it will add steak to its menu, but reassured its environmentally conscious customers that it will offset its carbon footprint by putting in place strategies to reduce emissions, according to a report. The restaurant chain, founded in 2007, that offers a variety of salads and bowls said it will become carbon neutral by 2027 despite the announcement Tuesday that it will include a caramelized garlic steak protein plate to its menu. Beef production is the largest agricultural source of greenhouse gases globally and emits huge amounts of methane into the atmosphere, the Associated Press reported. Along with purchasing carbon offsets to combat climate change, the company said it will use regenerative farming. A spokesperson for Sweetgreen referred the wire service to its menu expansion details. "Studies bring to light the environmental benefits of pasture-raised cows where grazing promotes enhanced land management, carbon sequestration, and contributes to soil health, making the land more resilient to flooding and drought while boosting nutrient content and flavor," co-founder Nicolas Jammet wrote on the site. It employs a method of farming and ranching that seeks to maintain healthy soil, Jason Rowntree, co-director of the Michigan State University Center for Regenerative Agriculture, told the AP. The practice involves "minimizing disturbance, keeping ground covered, improving biodiversity below and above ground through adding animals to your cropping systems or enhancing biology below ground," he said. A Missouri state lawmaker made an irritated call for rolling back protective child labor laws in her state, characterizing kids as spoiled and calling them "lazy." After decades of laws increasingly protecting children from the often grueling and sometimes dangerous conditions of child labor, more states are attempting to help fill worker shortages in arenas like agriculture with kids. That has resulted in a concerning uptick in injuries and even death. GOP Missouri state Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch spent a large portion of her comments promoting the proposed rollback in the legislature earlier this week boasting about her own experiences working fulltime as a child, beginning at the age of 9. She accused children who don't work of instead "playing video games" and "joining gangs." Toalson Reisch grumbled: "Free healthcare, free food, free this, free that, free, free, free ... I started work at age 9 ... These kids of today are lazy ... Get a job!" GOP Missouri lawmaker Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch says child labor laws should be rolled back because her constituents are raising lazy children who join gangs instead of working fulltime at age 9 like she did. pic.twitter.com/1cJUrQaL3Q Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) May 9, 2024 The proposed change in Missouri child labor regulations would eliminate current work permit requirements for Missouri children aged 14 and 15 that now must be signed by shool officials but only if they believe the young workers can handle both the job and their schoolwork. It would also allow children to work until 10 p.m. each night throughout the entire year, which is not allowed by federal law. Studies have found that children can be exposed to toxins on the job, can suffer cuts and burns, fractures, eye loss, amputations when working with machinery, electrocutions and even death. They're far more vulnerable than adults because of their lower muscle mass and marked lack of experience. A study by the U.S. Department of Labor found last year that an increasing number of employers were violating child labor laws, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of fines against major slaughterhouse and meatpacking cleaning companies. At least three teenage workers were killed last Decrember and this year in farming accidents in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Iowa. 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. So, now we know, at last, how Labour would stop the small boats coming across the Channel with their human cargo of illegal migrants. It would cue drum roll set up a new quango. Yes, a new government agency to add to the plethora already dotted all over every aspect of British state bureaucracy. The people smugglers must be quaking in their shoes. True, it will have an impressive sounding name: Border Security Command. Good word that 'command' if you want to be regarded as a serious grown-up. Echoes of James Bond, don't you think, who was a naval commander, after all? Indeed, the spooks are part of Labour's cunning plan: intelligence agents will be drafted in to work alongside Border Force, the National Crime Agency (NCA), the police and various specialist investigators to make Britain 'hostile territory' for the evil people traffickers. Amen to that. This, said Labour leader Keir Starmer, would be government by 'hard graft' not Tory-style government by 'gimmick', which had given us the troubled Rwandan scheme for migrants. He unveiled his plans yesterday morning in the Channel port of Dover, a totemic location for talking about boat people. He enjoyed the added 'bonus' if that's what it is (Labour MPs don't seem too sure) of being introduced by the town's fiercely right-wing Tory MP, Natalie Elphicke, who the day before had defected to Labour. This, said Labour leader Keir Starmer (pictured), would be government by 'hard graft' not Tory-style government by 'gimmick', which had given us the troubled Rwandan scheme for migrants He unveiled his plans yesterday morning in the Channel port of Dover, a totemic location for talking about boat people Maybe she, too, has had enough of Tory 'gimmicks'. Yet what can be more gimmicky than announcing you're deploying MI5 to take on the bad guys? It's a secret service. Why flag it up? Then again, it's the sort of meaningless gesture that politicians love and the media lap up. Harold Wilson, a previous Labour leader who was Prime Minister in the 60s and 70s, always had Downing Street brief the Press that he was 'sending in the SAS' whenever some military or security disaster struck. It made for great headlines and got him through the news cycle. Of course the SAS was rarely, if ever, deployed on Wilson's whim. With the current Labour leader, for SAS read MI5. Though why Starmer thinks MI5 is not already involved in the fight against the people smugglers isn't clear. The NCA certainly is and it often works closely with MI5 when dealing with organised crime. Given that the gangsters' operations are largely based abroad, however, you'd think MI6 might be the more appropriate spy agency (it gathers intelligence overseas, whereas MI5 looks after our domestic security). Starmer assured us that the BSC initials that no doubt will soon be regularly rolling off the tongue would be an elite force. Well, you woudn't want to put a bunch of duds in charge of such a politically-sensitive mission. That approach, so far, is only conspicuous by its failure. Whether any agency which reports to the Home Office can long remain 'elite' is another matter. Starmer's people have been briefing that up to 1,000 assorted spooks and coppers could be assigned to the new Wonder Force, its 75 million budget paid for by closing the 'Tory' Rwanda scheme. This could be somewhat premature. I am no great fan of the Government's Rwanda play. But I do notice that as it looked like getting off the ground after all a number of illegal migrants legged it to Belfast then slipped over the border into the Irish Republic, somewhat upending Irish politics in the process. With the current Labour leader, for SAS read MI5. Though why Starmer (pictured) thinks MI5 is not already involved in the fight against the people smugglers isn't clear If, against the odds, it does prove to be a deterrent after all, would Prime Minister Starmer still pull the plug on the Rwanda scheme to bankroll his untried quango instead? That looks like a hostage to fortune. Sometimes Labour doesn't really think things through, which might be a consequence of being in opposition for so long. I suspect that Starmer and those around him simply can't conceive of Rwanda working. They could be right. Despite the migrant dash to Ireland, more than 9,000 have arrived in small boats so far this year, a record for early May, putting the crossings on target to exceed the almost 46,000 who risked the Channel crossing in 2022 (the worst year so far). Curiously, Starmer would not be drawn on what success might look like. He refused time and again yesterday to say how far the numbers would fall under his new approach. Perhaps that's because the scheme is not actually new but just an agglomeration of previous efforts dressed up in a fancy new quango. I bow to nobody in criticising the incompetence of the current Tory government in general and the Home Office in particular. But even I have to concede that much of what Starmer promises to do has already been tried in various guises and found wanting by those currently in power or discarded because the necessary agreement of other governments could not be secured. If more counter-terrorist powers could be used against the people smugglers, or more special prosecutors, or the seizure of boats as they travel overland to Calais were likely to make a difference, I'm pretty sure they would have been tried already. Rich countries all over the world are struggling to control their borders now that even poor people have the ability to cross the globe. Just ask President Biden: millions of illegal migrants have poured over America's southern border with Mexico under his watch. Or, more pertinently, ask Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. She was elected on a tough, Right-wing, anti-migrant ticket, pledging to stop the boats coming from North Africa. Last year the numbers rivalled the record 181,000 who made the parlous trip in 2016. So, this is not easy. Yet Starmer speaks with all the inexperience of opposition. Yesterday he complained that too few failed asylum seekers were returned to their country of origin. But so many of those arriving on small boats come from Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Libya and Sudan, basket cases one and all. Is this former human rights lawyer really arguing a Labour government would return migrants to these jurisdictions? I understand why our politicians spend so much time on the boat people. Voters don't like to think that we can't control who comes to our country or what sort of folk are gaining illegal entry. Politicians are embarrassed by their failure to stop it. But the scale of legal migration is a far bigger issue. Historically, Britain has been a country of net emigration, a nation of nomads seeking work and fortune across the globe. Only in 1998 did net immigration exceed 100,000 for the first time. Or, more pertinently, ask Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (pictured). She was elected on a tough, Right-wing, anti-migrant ticket, pledging to stop the boats coming from North Africa. Last year the numbers rivalled the record 181,000 who made the parlous trip in 2016 Rich countries all over the world are struggling to control their borders now that even poor people have the ability to cross the globe. Just ask President Biden (pictured): millions of illegal migrants have poured over America's southern border with Mexico under his watch In the 25 years before Tony Blair took power in 1997, cumulative inward-bound migration totalled a mere 68,000. In the 25 years after that it totalled almost six million almost 90 times more. O nly a couple of decades ago politicians worried when net migration reached 150,000 a year. In the past two years it has been almost five times that. Last year's roughly 750,000 net migration is forecast to come down to 315,000 by the end of the decade. That is still 30 per cent more than the annual average between 2010 and 2019 and the equivalent of another Birmingham before the decade is out. These are legal migrants, remember, individuals and families who come here under the rules we set (and, since Brexit, only we set). Are such numbers sustainable? Does the economy really need that many? Is it wise to proceed this way when we can't build anything like the required number of houses for those already here, never mind those still to come. It is not easy to have a civilised and constructive debate about immigration. The understandable emphasis on the boat people has made it even harder. But it is necessary. As a nation we are importing vast numbers of people for the workforce even though we have several million of working age who have left the labour force because they've given up looking for work. A sensible policy would reduce the numbers coming in but increase the flow of folks back into the labour market. It would require hard choices and much heavy lifting, from setting limits to immigration to employing tough-love welfare reforms to get people back to work. Which is probably why Keir Starmer, so far, has had nothing to say about it. On January 4, Keir Starmer walked to a podium at the National Composites Centre in Bristol and pledged to end the culture of cynicism which he claimed was toxifying politics. 'Hold on to the flickering hope in your heart that things can be better,' he begged a jaded electorate. 'You can choose the hope of national renewal, the responsibility of service, what politics can and should be. And you can reject the pointless populist gestures, the low road cynicism that the Tories believe is all you deserve.' It was all a charade. Labour's leader never had any intention of draining the Westminster swamp. Or tackling the naked self-interest and political chicanery so despised by the British people. All he really wanted was to seduce everyone with his honeyed words long enough to secure his own tenancy of Downing Street. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomes Natalie Elphicke to his party We know this because of what happened last Wednesday, when Sir Keir performed one of the most cynical, populist, low road stunts ever seen in the national political arena and welcomed hard-Right Dover Tory MP Natalie Elphicke into his ranks. Despite the dysfunctionality at the heart of our body politic, most Members of Parliament are honourable, principled public servants who use their office solely to better the lives of their constituents. Elphicke is not among their number. She is, to be frank, a piece of work. In 2020, her then husband Charlie Elphicke was convicted of sexual assault. Immediately following that conviction, his wife wrote on parliamentary-headed paper to Dame Kathryn Thirlwall, deputy senior presiding judge for England and Wales, and Dame Victoria Sharp, president of the Queen's bench division, in an attempt to influence the potential release of her husband's pre-sentencing character references. A subsequent investigation by the Commons Committee on Standards found that though her attempt had failed, Ms Elphicke's communication represented 'an attempt improperly to influence judicial proceedings'. Following Charlie Elphicke's sentencing at Southwark Crown Court, she then took to the media to traduce his victims. One had been 'embarrassingly and gushingly obsessed with him,' she claimed. Her husband had fallen foul of 'dirty politics and false allegations'. He was, she said, 'charming, wealthy, charismatic and successful'. The Register of Members Interests subsequently revealed she had received a payment of 25,000 for two articles she had written about her husband's conviction. Last Thursday a day after being photographed smiling and shaking hands with Keir Starmer Ms Elphicke suddenly recanted. Speaking of her now ex-husband, she said: 'I have previously, and do, condemn his behaviour towards other women and towards me. 'It was right that he was prosecuted and I'm sorry for the comments I made about his victims.' Ever since Starmer became Labour leader, he has attempted to frame himself as his party's Atticus Finch, Gregory Peck's crusading lawyer from To Kill A Mocking Bird. Fortunately, his Faustian pact with Natalie Elphicke has now laid that conceit to rest. He is no worse but no better than every other political leader who has dealt their cards from the bottom of the deck in a naked pursuit of power. And there's no shame in that. As Leader of the Opposition, a ruthless, if hypocritical, focus on getting one over on his political rivals is part of the job description. But Elphicke's defection has led some of those rivals and a significant number of Starmer's own parliamentary allies to start questioning his judgment. Starmer's Faustian pact with Natalie Elphicke has revealed he is no worse but no better than every other political leader who has dealt their cards from the bottom of the deck in a naked pursuit of power, Dan Hodges writes 'I don't get it,' a senior Tory strategist said to me. 'Why did he take the risk of bringing her across? What happened to the Ming vase strategy? Instead of cradling it, he's just booted it halfway across the room.' A shadow minister agrees. 'The problem is that Starmer's team are becoming too fetishistic about appealing to voters on the Right. Blair and Brown were always careful to take the whole of the coalition with them. They're not seeing the bigger picture.' In response, Starmer's allies say their man is looking at nothing but the wider electoral canvas. 'All that voters will see is another Tory switching to us. And someone who's solid on stopping the boats. It's a good way to neutralise the issue,' one told me approvingly. But there are two problems with that analysis. The first is the small boats issue has already been neutralised. Along with every other issue. Starmer could be caught off Beachy Head piloting a fishing smack packed to the gunwales with asylum-seekers and it wouldn't make the slightest difference. For good or ill, people have decided that whatever the flaws in Labour's policy offer, what the Tories are offering is worse. And they will not change their minds between now and polling day. Second, Natalie Elphicke is not just another Tory. Her back catalogue of victim-blaming and myopic support for her sex-abusing husband are common knowledge within Westminster. Yet for some reason Starmer and his chief of staff Sue Gray, the former head of government propriety and ethics seem to have been unaware of or unconcerned by it. Demonstrating again that, when it's politically convenient, Starmer's famed forensic prosecutorial skills mysteriously desert him. Today, Labour's leader is basking in the tainted glow of his political coup. But he should be wary, because one day he will face a reckoning over it. History will record that moment when Natalie Elphicke walked across the floor of the Commons chamber as the moment the umbilical cord linking Starmer to his party was severed. The Shadow Ministers who were blindsided by the move, then sent out on the media to defend it. The Labour MPs who looked on aghast as one of their most antagonistic foes squeezed into place alongside them. The activists who were tasked with explaining their party's perfidy on the doorstep. None of them will forget the moment of betrayal. Yes, they will push it to the back of their minds on that glorious night when Labour wins its majority. And they will keep it suppressed in those heady months that follow. But as time passes, and the new PM's popularity fades, the sense of betrayal will slowly but surely work its way back into their consciousness. And they will remind themselves: 'Starmer was never really one of us.' Just ask Tony Blair. He won the trust of the British people, but at the expense of the trust and affection of his own party. And in the end they turned on him. So it will be for Labour's current leader. Sir Keir has sold his soul to Natalie Elphicke. And he will never be forgiven for it. A woman whose parents ran the 'house of horrors' boarding school has laid bare the shocking abuse that she was subjected to throughout her childhood. She has revealed how students were forced to torture one another as part of the sick 'punishments' and how her dad would make her kiss her brother if she misbehaved. Back in 2021, Boyd and Stephanie Householder - the owners of a former Christian reform school for girls in southwest Missouri called Circle of Hope - were charged with more than 100 counts of sexual, emotional and physical abuse of the students. Now, the couple's daughter, Amanda Householder, 33, has spoken in detail about the horrific pain that she - and the other students - endured at the hands of her 'sadistic' parents. A woman whose parents ran the 'house of horrors' boarding school has laid bare the shocking abuse that she was subjected to throughout her childhood Back in 2021, Boyd and Stephanie Householder - the owners of a former Christian reform school for girls called Circle of Hope - were charged with more than 100 counts of abuse Now, the couple's daughter, Amanda Householder, 33, has spoken about the horrific pain that she - and the other students - endured at the hands of her 'sadistic' parents. The school is seen She revealed how students were forced to torture one another and how her dad would make her kiss her brother if she misbehaved. She's seen as a kid with her parents and brother She opened up about the disturbing punishments that were used on them while attending the school - which including exercising until they were sick to their stomachs and being restrained for hours on end - as well as the harrowing trauma that she was put through even long before the school was opened. While chatting with Shelise Ann Sola's for her podcast, Cults To Consciousness, Amanda explained that her parents were members of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church when she was born - a conservative Christian sect that follows a strict set of rules regarding everything from what its members could wear to how they should act. 'Women can't wear pants, I had to wear skirts down to the ankle,' she recalled. 'I also had to wear long sleeves. 'You couldn't show collarbone or pretty much any skin. That was how women had to dress.' She said the church believed that 'the man' was 'the head of the household,' which meant that 'whatever he said goes.' 'Women had to be submissive,' she continued. 'Your dad was directly under God so anything he said you had to do.' She said she was 'beaten' by her father from as long as she could remember - and tiny things would set him off. 'In my household, all I knew was abuse. It started off with belts and then it went to horse riding crops, and then it went to anything my dad could get his hands on,' she shared. 'My mom would give me and my brother permission to watch TV but if my dad came home and saw us watching it and he didn't approve of it we would get beaten. While chatting with Shelise Ann Sola's for her podcast, Cults To Consciousness, Amanda explained that her parents were members of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church Amanda (seen as a teen) said the church believed that 'the man' was 'the head of the household,' which meant that 'whatever he said goes' She said she was 'beaten' from as long as she could remember, and that her dad would even force her to eat spoonfuls of hot sauce or baking soda, or get intimate with her own brother 'It was really ridiculous little things like that. It wasn't discipline, it was straight up hatred.' She recalled one time when she was only a toddler that she was 'beaten to the point where she couldn't sit down' because she 'didn't eat her meal.' Amanda said the incident lead to her grandmother calling CPS, but when the police asked her to lift her skirt so they could see her 'bruises,' she explained that she was 'already so brainwashed' that she told them she had misbehaved and deserved it so they left. But the 'punishments' went beyond just 'beatings,' as her dad started taking more extreme measures as she got older - like forcing her to eat spoonfuls of hot sauce or baking soda, or get intimate with her own brother. 'Punishments were really off the wall in our household,' she continued. 'As we got older, me and my brother would bicker and fight and so my dad would make us hold hands or sleep together or hug and kiss for hours in front of him. 'His favorite one was [making us eat] hot sauce and baking soda, like spoonfuls of baking soda.' She believed the abuse stemmed from the teachings of the church, which she said was more like a 'cult' than a religion. 'The pastor would preach, "Better a pink bottom than a black heart." Basically if you don't beat your kid, they'll become evil,' she added. At age four, her parents started working at an IFB boarding school in Florida, where she resided and studied. She wasn't given a formal education there or taught things like math or science, but instead, she said school was focused on teaching girls 'how to be a good wife.' 'You were taught how to have sex with your husband, how to cook, how to clean, and how to keep your husband pleased,' she shared. 'It taught you that if your husband wants it this way, you give it to him this way. It doesn't matter if you're sick, it doesn't matter if you don't want to. It doesn't matter what you want - it only matters what he wants.' At age 10, her family moved to Missouri after her parents landed a job at a Christian reform school called Agape (seen) - and things got even worse after they made the switch She said the rules at the institution (seen) were even 'more strict' and now, instead of just being abused inside her 'torturous' home, it was happening at school by her instructors too She recalled being forced to do 'pushups and jumping jacks' until she was so exhausted that she threw up, adding, 'It was basically military boot camp' At age 10, her family moved to Missouri after her parents landed a job at a Christian reform school called Agape - and things got even worse after they made the switch. She said the rules at the institution were even 'more strict' and now, instead of just being abused inside her 'torturous' home, it was happening at school by her instructors too. She said they also would 'restrain' kids if they misbehaved, sometimes holding them down on the ground while 'pushing all their weight on their pressure point for hours.' She's seen as a teen She recalled being forced to do 'pushups and jumping jacks' until she was so exhausted that she threw up. 'It was basically military boot camp, that was a form of punishment they regularly used,' she said. 'It was an excessive amount of pushups. It would be thousands sometimes. Kids would be pushing and their arms would be like rubber, kids would be throwing up. But they had no choice, they had to continue.' She said they also would 'restrain' kids if they misbehaved, sometimes holding them down on the ground while 'pushing all their weight on their pressure point for hours.' Some students were also 'punched, beaten, and thrown around' by the instructors. When asked what warranted the punishments, she explained that simple things like 'not smiling' or 'not speaking loud enough' would lead to them getting in trouble. In 2006, her parents left Agape to open the Circle of Hope Ranch in Cedar County, Missouri. 'I think my dad opened the all girls school for his own sadistic pleasure,' Amanda admitted. In 2006, her parents left Agape to open Circle of Hope Ranch in Cedar County, Missouri. She's seen at age 15 at Circle of Hope In 2008, when Amanda was 17, she was kicked out of the school and her home because her parents found out that she had encouraged another girl to wear pants. She's seen as a teen 'I don't think it was because he wanted to help people. My whole childhood my dad was inappropriate to a lot of young girls.' She remembered her dad often having young girls in his office, who would 'massage his head and neck,' and she added, 'He definitely opened the school because he's a sick, sick person.' At the school, Amanda said her dad would use the horrific punishments that he had learned about from Agape on students. She also said he 'pit' them against each other, forcing them to help hurt their peers if they misbehaved by holding them down during restraints. 'We would be told if we didn't do it hard enough that we would be next so we would be sitting there for hours pushing as hard as we can,' she explained. 'It was dominated by fear. We were scared. 'If my dad would need a break my mom would switch with him and they would kiss and smile at each other almost like they enjoyed it.' In 2008, when Amanda was 17, she was kicked out of the school and her home because her parents found out that she had encouraged another girl to wear pants. And while being forced into the real world all alone after spending her whole life in the 'cult' was extremely difficult, she said it 'was the best thing that ever happened to her.' She spent years being homeless and 'did a lot of heavy drugs' before ending up in an extremely 'toxic' relationship with a man whose identity was not shared. They welcomed two kids together, but she said he treated her like his 'slave.' 'After I got out of the cult I disassociated and blocked a lot of it out. I did a lot of things that that I'm not proud of to this day,' she continued. 'A lot of it was me disassociating from reality. I left one crappy situation and got into another crappy situation. 'It felt like I was literally back in Circle of Hope. He reminded me of my dad. Everything had to be his way. I literally was just a slave and a babysitter.' She spent years being homeless and 'did a lot of heavy drugs' before ending up in an extremely 'toxic' relationship with a man whose identity was not shared As for what pushed her to finally break free, she said it came down to her wanting a better life for her two sons In 2020, she began sharing her story on TikTok, where her videos quickly went viral. Her parents were arrested in 2021 , and are currently on house arrest as they wait for their trial She was with him for more than a decade - until 2022, when she finally found the strength to leave him. When asked why she stayed with him for so long, Amanda explained, 'A lot of it was because I didn't have anyone, I didn't have family to fall back on.' As for what pushed her to finally break free, she said it came down to her wanting a better life for her two sons. 'I didn't want my kids to think that's love because it's not. I wanted my kids to truly experience what I never got to experience,' she shared. 'It's hard when you leave an environment where all you know is control or people telling you what to do and then move into another environment like that. You're used to it, like, it just makes sense. It was really hard.' Amanda has now turned her life around, and she works in 'apartment management.' She is also extremely open about what she went through. In 2020, she began sharing her story on TikTok, where her videos quickly went viral. Her outspokenness prompted other girls who had attended Circle of Hope to come forward, eventually leading to the school shutting down and her parents' arrests. Agape has also since been shut down. 'I thought, "As much as it's going to suck because it's my family, I can't just sit back and know that it's still happening,"' Amanda recalled of her decision to speak out on TikTok. 'It took me really long to realize that the way I was taught is not how it should be. 'I'm still in the very new baby phases of my healing journey and coming to terms with everything.' Her parents were arrested in March 2021, and are currently on house arrest as they wait for their trial, which has been delayed numerous times and currently doesn't have a start date. 'I feel like the prosecuting attorney is trying everything he can to keep pushing it back so maybe people will forget about it and nothing will be done,' Amanda said. 'But I won't forget and the girls from Circle of Hope won't forget.' Amanda, who has more than 233,000 followers on TikTok, is now in a new relationship with a man who she said she bonded with over their mutual love of 'activism.' Her story was told in HBO's 2023 documentary Let Us Prey: A Ministry Of Scandals. A former jailbird who spent a decade in prison recalled the most dehumanizing moment of her time inside - revealing the worst happened before she was even officially behind bars. Jen Gomez, who was sentenced to 10 years in a Florida state prison for burglary, grand larceny, and trafficking stolen property across state lines in 2011, shared the insight in a video posted to YouTube. One of the experiences that still haunts her is the daily strip searches - which she admitted never get any easier. 'Strip searches are a part of everyday life in prison - you better get used to them,' she said matter-of-factly. Jen Gomez, who was sentenced to 10 years in a Florida state prison for burglary, grand larceny, and trafficking stolen property across state lines in 2011 One of the experiences that till haunts her is the daily strip searches - which she admitted you never truly get used to. Pictured: Jen's mugshot 'You can't be shy and you can't act funny because if you do they're going to think you're trying to hide something and they're going to f**k with you even more,' she added. Jen's advice was to just 'find a way to either mentally check out or just thug your way through it.' 'They're not going anywhere - it's always going to suck for the record,' she cautioned. Jen then recalled the detail of her first ever strip search in prison, saying they don't give you time to 'acclimate' or get used to the idea - and it's very invasive. 'They throw you right off the bus and straight into a search,' she said. Jen also delved into the 'dehumanizing' welcome experience of being showered with the other inmates, starting with unshackling everybody and leading them off the bus. 'They start taking us in small groups where we are gonna go to the shower area, and get hosed down like dogs because they want to make sure that we don't have lice,' she explained. When they were clean, they called groups of three to six of inmates into a little area where two to four female officers were waiting. The search begins with the officers assessing each prisoner one at a time - starting with their mouths as the workers slide a gloved finger around to swipe the inmates' teeth, gums and under their tongue Jen (pictured) was released from prison in 2020, after spending almost 10 years behind bars 'They will be standing in front of you and they will proceed to tell you to take every stitch of clothing that you have on off and drop it in front of you,' she explained. 'They don't give any directions past that they just tell you to take everything off, and so of course you're hella uncomfortable because you proceed to take everything off and you drop it in a pile.' She then admitted the vulgarity of the whole experience was excruciating. The search begins with the officers assessing each prisoner one at a time - starting with their mouths as the workers slide a gloved finger around to swipe the inmates' teeth, gums and under their tongue. 'They'll look behind your ears, they'll look in your ears, they'll make you lift up the breast, they'll look in every crease, crevice, fold - everything you got they want it,' she recalled. 'They will make you lift your feet up and look between your toes, they'll look between your fingers, they'll make you take your hair down if it's up, they'll make you shake it out,' she described. 'They're looking everywhere - there's not a nook or cranny that they're not looking in,' she added. Next comes the worst part of the strip search - the 'god awful' squat and cough. 'I didn't even know there were two kinds,' she admitted. 'So they say grab your thighs with your hands and bend at the waist - do not bend your knees at all. 'So you bend at your waist and you bend over so now you're like at a 90-degree angle and [you] are told take the cheekaroos and spread them like a curtain - like they want to see your flower pucker,' she described. 'These are exact words that I heard come out of an officer's mouth okay,' she said bluntly. 'She said "I want to see that flower pucker girl."' Jen admitted she didn't know what she was talking about, but started 'coughing and coughing.' 'I found out later on that the flower was the back entrance and when you cough it flexes,' she shared. After being sentenced to 10 years in a Florida state prison, Jen shared the traumatic and invasive experience of her first strip search Jen often shares her prison stories after spending 10 years in jail for burglary, grand larceny, and trafficking stolen property across state lines Jen is now out of prison and is raising her son, who she gave birth to in prison Jen then moved on to describing the second squat and cough maneuver - which she says is 'completely different' from the first. 'So at this point she says "okay cool now I want you to bend your knees and squat all the way down to the ground - do not do anything with your torso, bend your knees and go all the way down" - like if you were trying to squat and pee outside or something,' she described. 'Once you get down there they do the same thing - three hearty coughs,' Jen explained. 'And they better be hearty because the thought is that if they're hearty enough, if there's anything up in the frontend entrance it will just fall out.' 'Don't know who made these up,' she quipped. 'Maybe it was a guy because biologically speaking your anatomy as a woman is not going to allow it.' Jen said she followed the officers instructions and was completely 'mortified' by what she saw. 'One of the worst parts is that women who are on their cycle are just dropping clots,' the former inmate added. 'I'm sorry to be vulgar, I'm really sorry, but they're dropping balls of jelly out of them okay - it's just not sanitary it's not good.' Jen also described the smell saying it was 'awful' and unsanitary. 'There are women who are coughing so hard they're farting, it stank. There is a green cloud surrounding us, [there] are people farting, there are people queefing,' she listed. 'There are people that are literally coughing so hard that they're having little sprinkles of pee coming out, little urination showers,' she continued. 'I mean it's a whole hot mess.' By the end of the search, Jen said the room not only smelled but was also wet and slippery. 'I'm ready to get the hell out of there. I'm not even uncomfortable anymore because there's so much going on that I can't even focus on the fact that I'm butt booty naked in front of this lady. 'It is craziness, anyway guys that's how the first strip search went it sucked big time,' she concluded the confronting story. 'It was horrible it was so dehumanizing it was so humiliating,' Jen said. She often shares her experiences in prison to her TikTok and YouTube channels. Jen, who gave birth to her son while in prison, clarified in an earlier TikTok she didn't spend a decade in jail due to burglary alone, but was also mixed up in her then-boyfriend's criminal activity and after he fled the country was slapped with extra charges. She previously made a video sharing what she would look out for when canvassing a home to rob. Jen listed bad weather, security systems and animals as green lights to rob a home, as the ex-burglar shared her surprising insights into how thieves scoped out potential targets. Fast and fun are the buzzwords for Ncuti Gatwas 15th incarnation of the Doctor as Doctor Who returns. His versions quick (the poor cameraman struggles to keep up with me, he laughs), and fun because thats how returning showrunner Russell T Davies wants him to be. I thought it was time for fun, time to be wilder and madder than we have been in previous series, says Russell. The result is eight pacy episodes full of action. We see the Doctor racing across London on a snazzy 60s scooter, narrowly escaping explosions and monsters with his new assistant Ruby Sunday (former Coronation Street actress Millie Gibson). Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor Who with his new assistant Ruby Sunday (former Coronation Street actress Millie Gibson ) The BBC is showing the first two episodes as a double bill. Space Babies features a Tardis of infants in pushchairs. It was hard work keeping them smiling, says Millie. We kept nursery rhymes on our phones. The second part sees the Doctor, whos a Beatles fan, take Ruby back to 1963 to meet his heroes, who are recording at Abbey Road Studios in London. The pair replicate the pedestrian crossing photo from the cover of the Fab Fours album and the Doctor bursts into song. Later, theres a story set in the Regency era which Ncuti and Millie dubbed the Bridgerton episode. Its no surprise Millie is excited about her first stint as the Doctors companion. I told my mum Id like to visit the 60s and the Regency period... what are the chances? she laughs. Fast and fun are the buzzwords for Ncuti Gatwa s 15th incarnation of the Doctor as Doctor Who returns George Caple plays Paul McCartney for this trip back to the 60s, as the doctor even breaks into song Born in Rwanda and raised in Scotland, Ncuti was inspired to become an actor watching David Tennant in the role, partly due to the Doctors loneliness. Theres a scene in the new series where he says to Ruby, I have the whole universe at my fingertips but Im all on my own. Id love it if you come with me. Although past alumni such as Bonnie Langford and Jemma Redgrave will pop up this series, Russell says respect for the past shouldnt stand in the way of reinvention. Doctor Who is entering what we hope is a glorious new era. A Maine resident received two "misdelivered" packages containing nearly 30 pounds of fentanyl worth $2 million, authorities announced this week. The Winslow Police Department said they received a complaint from a resident who received an unexpected package from California on Friday, May 3. The resident was not expecting any packages, and hadn't ordered anything. Winslow is about 75 miles northeast of Portland. When the package was opened, it was found to contain multiple bags of pills. Police said the pills "presumptively" tested positive for fentanyl, an opioid drug. Then on Saturday, the resident received a second unexpected package containing more pills. In total, police say the packages contained approximately 29.5 pounds of pills, worth up to $2 million if sold on the street. Winslow Deputy Police Chief Randy Wing said in a press release that the investigation into the origin of the packages is ongoing, and no further information was available. --with reporting by TMX Nearly 20 years after John Rebus was last on our screens, the world-weary Scottish detective is back but not as we know him. Ian Rankins beloved sleuth of 29 novels was made into a TV series between 2000 and 2007 starring John Hannah and then Ken Stott. The new Rebus, played by Outlanders Richard Rankin (no relation), reimagines him as a younger maverick detective sergeant pounding the streets of Edinburgh in the present day. Hes a hard-drinking, chaotic young divorcee with a messy love life who breaks the rules with relative impunity. Apart from the age shift (he went from 40 to 70 in the books, here hes back to around 40), peripheral characters in the books such as Rebuss brother Michael have been turned into major players. The new Rebus is played by Outlanders Richard Rankin (no relation) and reimagind as a younger maverick detective sergeant Ken Stott as Rebus previously in series four of the show It gives the detective a whole new lease of life, but Ian Rankin expects some readers to be unsettled by the new incarnation. I think long-term fans will get a shock because theyre seeing young Rebus, says Ian Rankin. Theyre getting the quite macho Rebus from the early books but set in contemporary times. We get him as quite a gung-ho cop, but set against the contemporary issues, politics and problems that people have. Ian says he didnt do enough with certain characters in his books and is delighted that screenwriter Gregory Burke has put Johns troubled brother Michael (The Ipcress Files Brian Ferguson) at the forefront of the action. During our conversations early on, Greg zoned in on that almost blood brothers thing, or that Jekyll & Hyde thing where you can have two brothers who love each other but can potentially destroy each other, explains Ian. Thats a really interesting route for the series to follow. As the six-part series opens, the police are facing a rising tide of drug-related gang crime in Edinburgh, and Rebus has a run-in with a familiar foe from the books, organised crime boss Ger Cafferty (Stuart Bowman), while his brother Michael, down on his luck but needing to support his family, turns to crime. Richard Rankin, 41, explains how Rebuss approach to life and work is taking a toll on the young detective. Gregory uses the Scottish word thrawn to describe someone who makes life as difficult as possible for themselves, he says. Frequently faced with easier choices, Rebus will take the difficult path. He has the potential to be a great detective, but he gets in his own way, often self-destructively. Edinburgh has a starring role in the new Rebus, its Gothic beauty and darker underbelly showing two sides to the Scottish capital. Edinburgh has a starring role in the new Rebus, its Gothic beauty and darker underbelly showing two sides to the Scottish capital Weve put Rebus in a street where he can walk out of his front door and see Edinburgh Castle, which is a bit of a cheat, says Ian Rankin. Thats not where he stays in the books! But in the TV version, if he looks to his left he can see the castle. So we get lots of lovely establishing shots. The new Rebus also introduces a new sidekick, Detective Constable Siobhan Clarke (Ten Percents Lucie Shorthouse), a fast-tracked detective who Rebus treats with some disdain. Siobhan has come up through the accelerated pathway scheme, explains Lucie, 33. For people like Rebus, who came via the more traditional route, its seen as the easy way. So Siobhan has to prove herself... also shes a woman in what is still a very male-centric institution. The new Rebus is a pacy, exciting thriller offering a fresh take on a much-loved character. A lot of crime stories on TV these days are interested in forensics or the crime scene, says Ian Rankin. This is really about what the job of being a cop does to you. So it harks back in some ways to the kind of classic macho crime stories a lot of us grew up with. But at the same time, its got all the modernity you could ask for. Next weekend is the highlight of the canine social calendar, Goodwoof. I'll be judging the Chien Charmant competition, looking for the most stylish and best bonded owner and dog pairing. My life with dogs began in the loveliest way with a surprise, a Yorkshire Terrier called Zebedee. I was five and lived in a flat in London and I'd only ever been allowed to keep a rabbit. Getting to know this tiny black-and-tan puppy transformed my life because at the time I was an only child. A baby brother would join our family a couple of years later but, because of the age gap between us growing up, Zebedee and the Yorkshire Terriers who came after her were my childhood companions. I still remember the magical morning I woke to discover our dog had given birth to a litter of puppies in my father's wardrobe. Darcey Bussell with her labrador Lucy - 'the first big dog we've owned' My mother was standing by my bed saying, 'There are three, there are three!' You can't match memories like that, or the lesson in unconditional love you get from dogs, which is something I've carried with me throughout my life. Today my husband Angus and I have two dogs. There's our Jagdterrier Dionysus, who was named by our daughters after the Greek god of wine and ecstasy. It's usually shortened to Dio, which is easier when you're calling for him in the park. Then there's Lucy, our Labrador Retriever, the first big dog we've owned. They couldn't be more different. Dio is a cool customer, the kind of dog who lives with you on his own terms. Lucy is so devoted she wags her whole body when she sees you. I'm also a kind of godmother to Dame Mary Berry's dog, a working Cocker Spaniel who's called Darcey after me. Mary told me during a visit to Strictly but I didn't quite take it in at first. She came up to my dressing room and handed me a card with a dog on the front and I was so delighted to have her there I'm a huge fan that I opened it and looked at the picture and said, 'Thank you!' She said, 'Darcey, you haven't read my card properly, have you?' And I had to admit I hadn't. When I looked inside, she'd written, 'I've named my dog after you and there's a reason why; it's because of your energy, enthusiasm and happiness.' I was delighted because that's exactly how I think of Mary, that Mary Berry 'glow' is real. Darcey says that Mary Berry has named her dog after her - as she prepares to host Goodwoof I'm a quiet supporter of Guide Dogs For The Blind too. We sponsor a working dog called Grace. It makes me very happy to have all these dogs in my life. When I was dancing I couldn't keep a dog I was performing in the evenings and often away on tour. It wouldn't have been fair. But I knew that when I settled down and became a mother, I'd want my own children to have what I'd had growing up. So when Angus and I moved to Australia, with our daughters then aged six and four, I couldn't wait to add a dog to our family and make Sydney feel like home. It all happened very fast and almost by accident. I was walking past a pet shop in an area called Double Bay, which is nicknamed Double Pay because it's so expensive, when I saw 'our' dog. I went back and back again over the course of a week and said to Angus, 'If she's still there in two weeks, we're meant to have her.' Well, she was still there, and she had a brother. Angus was saying, 'We only came for one!' but Double Bay, Double Pay, and we went home with both. They were Australian Spoodles which we called Lolli and Pop. They were inseparable from each other and from us, and when we returned to London in 2012, they came too. Goodwoof is a two-day doggie festival on the Goodwood estate in West Sussex. Pictured: A dog at the event last year Lolli and Pop were the dogs who taught my daughters the lessons I'd learned from Zebedee, about responsibility and empathy, and knowing you can't just take from a pet, you have to give too. I'll be taking Dio and Lucy to Goodwoof with me. I hope they behave. Lucy once climbed onto the kitchen island as I said, she was the first big dog we'd ever owned so we didn't know that was possible and ate an entire pack of butter. It was a mystery where it had gone until it emerged right in the doorway of a restaurant when we were out on a walk. I was begging for hot water to clear it up. I am sure there will be a lot of dog-lovers at Goodwoof who can relate to that embarrassing story! Goodwoof is on 18-19 May at The Kennels, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0PN. Tickets from 30, under-12s and dogs go free. Visit ticketing.goodwood.com. Meghan Markle was once dubbed the 'cleverest royal' - and many have praised the Prince and Princess of Wales for their prestigious St Andrews University education. But Belgium's brainy Princess Elisabeth appears to be putting our Firm in the shade with her cerebral endeavours. At 22 years old, she has attended the infamous Oxford University, a notoriously opulent college dubbed 'hippie Hogwarts' - and has even undergone military training. And that's not all for the heiress apparent - who is also setting off to Harvard University this year. In 2021 a study revealed that the Duchess of Sussex topped the list as the smartest member of the English royal family thanks to her time reading theatre studies and international relations at Northwestern University. At 22 years old has attended the infamous Oxford University , a notoriously opulent college dubbed 'hippie Hogwarts' and has even undergone military training. Pictured in 2022 Oxford Royale, as reported by the London Economic, said: 'Life as a royal isn't always an easy job and involves a lot of dealing with extensive scrutiny and life in the public spotlight, and Meghan Markle's academic strengths have equipped her perfectly for this role. 'While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may have resigned from their roles as working royals, they have captured the interest and attention of the world, and Meghan's desire to use her platform to raise awareness over serious world issues reflects her intelligence, analytical mind and educational pedigree.' The study looked at members' A-level results and university place in the QS World University Rankings. Kate Middleton came in second after Meghan, and was closely followed by her husband, Prince William. But one European royal who can rival their academic prowess is the eldest of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium's four children - born on October 25, 2001. When her father became King in 2013, Elisabeth became the heir to the throne and Duchess of Brabant. Elisabeth - who speaks Dutch, French, German, English, and has also taken classes in Mandarin Chinese - began attending royal engagements from a young age and was just nine when she delivered a speech at the opening of the Princess Elisabeth Children's Hospital. Like a number of other European royals, including Princess Leonor of Spain and Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, Elisabeth attended Atlantic College in Wales before moving on to Oxford. Alongside her training, in October 2021, the Princess began studying History and Politics at Lincoln College, Oxford. There, she rowed for Lincoln College Boat Club under the name 'Elisabeth de Saxe-Coburg' She then completed a one-year course in social and military sciences at the Royal Military Academy which is said to teach in-depth about the four components of Belgian defence: Army, Air Force, Navy and Medical Nicknamed 'Hippie Hogwarts', the school curriculum has included unusual activities such as Tai Chi and Tibetan literature. It has a remarkable cliff-top location in a 12th-century castle in the Vale of Glamorgan. Elisabeth enrolled on a 67,000, two-year course to study for her International Baccalaureate diploma at the school, which she has now completed. Before her two-year course in Wales, she attended the Dutch-speaking secondary school Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege in Brussels. The Princess also went to the Yale Young Global Scholars Program at Yale University. She then completed a one-year course in social and military sciences at the Royal Military Academy which is said to teach in-depth about the four components of Belgian defence: Army, Air Force, Navy and Medical. Alongside her training, in October 2021, the Princess began studying History and Politics at Lincoln College, Oxford. There, she rowed for Lincoln College Boat Club under the name 'Elisabeth de Saxe-Coburg'. Like a number of other European royals, including Princess Leonor of Spain and Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, Elisabeth attended Atlantic College in Wales before moving on to Oxford According to Belgian newspaper Le Soir, the princess completed a written entrance exam in history 'anonymously' so that her social status would not affect her marks. Elisabeth is believed to have chosen the course herself, in agreement with her parents, and reportedly consulted with graduates from various universities and made her decision based on what would be most useful to her in her role as queen later in life. An accomplished 22-year-old by any measure, the official royal website says Elisabeth enjoys walking in nature, reading and playing the piano although like 'all youngsters her age', writes the palace, 'her taste in music is varied.' Her next endeavour is the renowned Harvard University in Boston, where the Princess passed entrance tests to. She will be completing a two year Masters degree in Public Policy, the Brussels Times reports, and will be at the college's Kennedy School campus. The palace told the outlet: 'The Princess was also selected for an "Honorary Award" from the Fullbright Program, the US Department of State's international educational exchange programme.' An accomplished 22-year-old by any measure, the official royal website says Elisabeth enjoys walking in nature, reading and playing the piano. Pictured with Princess Amalia of the Netherlands last year Elisabeth's family - which includes multilingual Queen Mathilde, a former speech therapist who has a masters degree in psychology - aren't the only European monarchs to have dazzling credentials when it comes to academia. Elisabeth pictured last year And it seems that being brainy is in Elisabeth's blood - her cousin Prince Joachim, 32, also went to the Ivy League to get a degree in business administration. And her father, the Belgian King, went to Stanford to study political science. Elisabeth's family - which includes multilingual Queen Mathilde, a former speech therapist who has a masters degree in psychology - aren't the only European monarchs to have dazzling credentials when it comes to academia. Before meeting her husband King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands, Argentinian-born Maxima was pursuing a high-flying career in finance. While studying for her degree in economics from the Pontifical Catholic University, she worked for for Mercado Abierto Electronico SA, an electronic securities and foreign-currency trading market. She also balanced her studies with working in the sales department of Boston Securities SA in Buenos Aires, conducting research on software for financial markets. After graduating, she took up a job with HSBC in New York where she rose to vice president of institutional sales for Latin America. Her next move was to Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in New York where she worked as vice president of the emerging markets division, before moving to Deutsche Bank in Brussels. She is fluent in Spanish, her first language, English and Dutch and can speak conversational French. In 2021 a study revealed that the Duchess of Sussex *pictured in 2018) topped the list as the smartest member of the English royal family thanks to her time reading theatre studies and international relations at Northwestern University Kate Middleton (pictured at St Andrews) came in second after Meghan, and was closely followed by her husband, Prince William Thanks to her past career, Maxima was appointed as a UN Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development by former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2009. She has also been honorary patron of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) since June 2011 where she works on advancing the G20's work on inclusive finance. Meanwhile, before marrying King Frederik X of Denmark, his wife Mary studied at the University of Tasmania and graduated with a combined Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degree. After graduating she worked as an account executive for various firms before being appointed as account director for international agency Young and Rubicam in 1999. After meeting Prince Frederik, Princess Mary worked for Belle Property as a sales director, before moving to Paris to teach English at a business school. In 2002, she moved to Denmark permanently and was employed by Microsoft Business Solutions as a project consultant. A career-driven woman, Mary worked up until her engagement to Frederik in 2003, when she officially left her prior life and career behind and became a royal. She also studied Danish as a foreign language so she could embrace her husband's native tongue. Meanwhile, before meeting the heir to the Spanish throne, Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano whose father Jesus Jose Ortiz Alvarez and stepmother Ana Togores are both journalists, enjoyed a lengthy career in TV and newspapers. She completed a BA in journalism, followed by a masters in audiovisual journalism. After a stint at Asturian daily paper, La Nueva Espana, she went on to work for ABC, a popular national newspaper that enjoys the third largest circulation in Spain. Next came a stint at Spanish news agency EFE before a move to Guadalajara in Mexico saw her take on a role on local paper, Siglo 21. Back in Spain a year later, she worked for the Spanish version of Bloomberg, a news channel and agency specialising in economics, before moving to CNN+. By the time she met her husband King Felipe VI, Letizia was working for popular TV channel 24 Horas, where she anchored the popular Telediario 2 evening news bulletin. She reported on a wide range of breaking news events, among them the 2000 US presidential elections and the 9/11 attacks. Sierra, who is training to be an aesthetician, says skincare is a form of expression A mother whose seven-year-old boasts a detailed skin regime said her daughter is enamoured by skincare because she 'doesn't want wrinkles' Madisyn Dior, seven, often shares her lengthy skincare routines on her social media pages which are managed by her mother Sierra Myers. The youngster's clips have racked up several thousands of views - and have also attracted criticism from onlookers. However, the youngster isn't fazed by critics, and is more concerned about prevent ageing and any wrinkles from emerging - even at the tender age of seven. 'When I get older I don't wanna have no wrinkles. I don't wanna look 70! When I'm 20 I still wanna look young,' she told The Sun. Madisyn Dior (pictured), seven, has a lengthy skincare routine because she 'doesn't want wrinkles' when she's older Despite the backlash underneath Madi's videos, her mother Sierra believes the seven-year-old's skin care routine is a great way for the little girl to express herself. Sierra, who is training to be an aesthetician, hit back at claims Madi's skin care would age her. She claims to use 'skin analysis' to determine what products are safe for her daughter and is adamant Madi's skin care routine is safe. 'This is a cute way kids are starting to express themselves. It's fun and it's good to start young,' Sierra said. Reflecting on the various views left under Madi's videos, Sierra was confused about how anyone could say anything negative about kids 'preserving their youthful skin'. She added: 'We all should be incorporating a daily skincare routine to maintain healthy skin.' The seven-year-old is also barely phased by the critics, exclaiming how happy she is with her 'glossy' and 'great' skin. However, Madi's glowing skin comes with a hefty price tag with her mother spending a staggering 40 every skincare haul, according to The Sun. Her mother Sierra has hit out at critics, saying her daughter uses skincare as a form of expression Many were shocked by Madisyn's skincare regime, with some quipping that they were playing with barbies at her age In one video, where the skin care fanatic explained the benefits of wearing sun cream daily, people were quick to shame her mother. 'Its actually bad for her. My daughter's 12 and her doctor said when they are that young - meaning Madi's age her skin is so pure and fresh - using those things on their skin can actually hurt them in the long run.' one penned. 'She going look 40 at 17,' a second quipped, while another added: 'Girl u were literally Born in 2017.' 'You are seven go play with Barbies,' a fourth jabbed. Many were also quick to defend the young girl and her mother, with one writing: 'Id rather this any day than a child with poor hygiene.' 'She is starting early! Love that for her,' a user shared. 'Im very impressed in how smart she is I like how you let her really express herself,' another added. As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex kicked off their visit to Nigeria, all anyone could talk about was Meghan's dramatically long hair. Well, not all. There's the small, and surely not coincidental, fact that the 450 blush silk maxi, from Californian designer Heidi Merrick, she wore to their first engagement is called the 'Windsor Dress'. Perhaps Meghan was making a sly reference to comparisons that have been made between her and Wallis Simpson, the late Duchess of Windsor; or maybe it was a nod to her husband's family name. Or the sleeveless gown could have just been what she most fancied wearing in the 33C (91F) heat. As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex kicked off their visit to Nigeria , all anyone could talk about was Meghan's (pictured) dramatically long hair Meghan pictured wearing a 450 blush silk maxi, from Californian designer Heidi Merrick, called the 'Windsor Dress' Meghan and Harry pictured meeting the Chief of Defence staff at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja yesterday Meghan Markle pictured with Prince Harry at the Lightway Academy in Abuja, Nigeria on May 10 It trailed several inches on the ground (was it made to wear with her Aquazzura 4in heels?) and was cut away at the sides and back. She teamed it with 450 chunky gold earrings from Lanvin, her 5,306 Aurate collar necklace and an array of dazzling bracelets (including her favourite 7,050 Cartier Love Bracelet), as well as her wedding rings and a 49,460 Lorraine Schwartz pinky band. Meghan pictured in her sleeveless gown speaking at the Lightway Academy in Nigeria. She paired the dress with 450 chunky gold earrings from Lanvin Prince Harry and Meghan pictured, her hair was seemingly longer and knotted at the back to make a naturally tousled ponytail Meghan pictured wearing her 5,306 Aurate collar necklace and an array of dazzling bracelets (including her favourite 7,050 Cartier Love Bracelet), as well as her wedding rings and a 49,460 Lorraine Schwartz pinky band But her hair was the real talking point: Seemingly longer and knotted at the back to make a naturally tousled ponytail. The look was more relaxed than her usual sleek coiffure (a tight, glossy ponytail), while her eyebrows were equally dark and bold. Were extensions involved in making her long, soft curls? Her one-time British hairdresser, George Northwood, previously shut down such rumours in 2020. Later in the day Meghan wore a sharp 1,800 Altuzarra white trouser suit over a scoop neck top, which was arguably better suited to the occasion. It also abides by the late Queen's number one rule that, when on public engagements, her first duty was to stand out in a crowd. Zara and Mike Tindall embraced the warm British weather in stylish, casual outfits as they attended the Badminton Horse Trials yesterday afternoon. The King's niece, 42, and her husband Mike, 45, looked relaxed at a drinks reception in Gloucestershire, as Zara enjoyed some time away from the competition on Friday. Zara wore an oversized denim shirt and tight-fitting trousers, which she paired with classic white trainers and sunglasses. The mother-of-three tied her hair back for the warm day, which saw temperatures remain at around 20C. Meanwhile, Mike wore a pair of white shorts and a dark blue shirt. Zara and Mike Tindall embraced the warm British weather in stylish, casual outfits as they attended the Badminton Horse Trials yesterday afternoon But today, Zara was back in her wellington boots, wading through deep puddles on ahead of the cross country event later on. The Badminton Horse Trials take place over five days, and Zara has already been spotted competing in a number of events in the park of Badminton House, the seat of the Duke of Beaufort in south Gloucestershire. On Thursday, the mother-of-three put on an affectionate display today as she was supported by her husband Mike and her father Captain Mark Phillips at the equestrian event. Competing on day two of the annual five-day event, the King's niece appeared to take comfort from former England rugby star Mike as they repeatedly hugged one another. The Princess Royal's daughter also seemed delighted to have her father Mark by her side, with the two chatting to each other and sharing a smile while at the Badminton Estate. Dressed in her typical navy riding attire, Zara, who shares daughters Mia, ten, and Lena, five, and son, Lucas, three, with Mike, looked focused as she warmed up ahead of the competition, which started yesterday and runs until Sunday. Wearing white jodhpurs covered by her long, double-breasted coat, the royal finished off her look with a matching navy and white hat as she put her beloved gelding Class Affair through his paces at the event. After her turn in the competition, Zara was pictured sharing a cuddle with her proud husband Mike, while he appeared to lean in for a kiss from his wife. The King's niece, 42, and her husband Mike, 45, looked relaxed at a drinks reception in Gloucestershire, as Zara enjoyed some time away from the competition on Friday Today, Zara was back in her wellington boots, wading through deep puddles on ahead of the cross country event later on She wore a white cap, blue jeans and a fleece over a light blue hoodie for the morning Water was flooding the course of the cross country ahead of the event later today Zara Tindall (pictured sharing a hug with her husband Mike) was once again back in the saddle on Thursday as she competed at day two of the Badminton Horse Trials in Gloucestershire The King's niece, 42, was supported at the event by her father, Captain Mark Phillips (pictured right), and her husband, former England rugby star Mike Tindall , 45, whom she shares daughters Mia, ten, and Lena, five, and son, Lucas, three, with The royal was also spotted chatting to her father Mark, who divorced Princess Anne in 1992 after 19 years of marriage. Joining Mark in the crowd was his girlfriend Belgian equestrian Florence Standaert, believed to be in her 40s. Florence's long-term boyfriend, Thomas Ryckewaert, ran the Waregem horse trials in Belgium until his death at the age of 63 in 2019. Zara appeared to perhaps have something in her eyes as she attended the event today She was pictured sharing a cuddle with her husband Mike (pictured right) during the occasion after chatting to her father Mark, who divorced Princess Anne in 1992 after 19 years of marriage Mike and Zara shared an affectionate hug when seeing one another at the outing And a year later, Mark designed a cross country-course at Waregem, run by Florence, reported The Daily Mail in 2022. Meanwhile, looking effortlessly elegant, Zara teamed her navy attire with a pair of knee-high black riding boots for today's event. After showing off her horse riding skills, the late Queen's granddaughter cooled down with a walk in the nearby lake while barefoot. She swapped her smart competition attire from the earlier in the day for a pair of denim shorts, a navy jacket and a white cap. Before he received the Covid vaccine in August 2021, David Becerra, then 56, lived a full and rewarding life as a retiree who loved to spend time running around after his infant grandson. But a little less than a week after the shot, he became unsteady on his feet. And within a few months, he'd lost the ability to walk longer than a few blocks without needing a break. At one point, he began coughing up blood. Subsequent tests revealed Mr Becerra, from California, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that affects the nerves, causing paralysis, difficulty speaking, pain in the limbs, and difficulty breathing. He went on to have two strokes. Mr Becerra's doctors informed him that he was one of just around 100 of the 13million people who had the Johnson & Johnson shot to develop this condition as a result of the vaccine. Mr Becerra has had two strokes in the hospital and has also gone into kidney failure. He is unable to walk on his own. He and his wife place the blame on Johnson & Johnson's Covid vaccine It is a story that the Becerra family have been reluctant to tell until now, for fear that it may put others off having a life-saving shot. They are pro-vaccine, but think attention should be drawn to the small minority who have suffered a laundry list of seemingly unrelated health conditions. Theres no doubt that Covid vaccines introduced in late December 2020 saved hundreds of millions of lives across the globe, including the US. In a matter of just two years, the shots have averted more than 3 million deaths in the US. And while the overwhelming majority of scary stories about side effects have been discredited, recent findings have suggested the roster of possible side effects warrant a closer look. In the UK this month, pharma firm AstraZeneca announced it would withdraw its Covid vaccine from the market amid 81 deaths thought to be linked to vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), a blood clotting disorder. The company admitted that its shot can cause the side effect 'in very rare cases' for the first time last month in a class action lawsuit over claims that it led to dozens of deaths. While the AstraZeneca vaccine was never used in the US, there have been other troubling reports of adverse reactions to Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, including heart inflammation, tinnitus, and vertigo. Pfizer reported severe reactions in fewer than two percent of vaccine recipients in their trial, while in a Moderna trial that number was about eight percent. Scientists have reported feeling censored by others in their field after raising legitimate safety concerns. Experts have been exceedingly cautious about describing potential adverse reactions for fear of eroding public confidence in the vaccines, the benefits of which have been found to far outweigh the costs. Now, DailyMail.com is airing the voices of Covid vaccine recipients who have suffered difficult-to-explain maladies that they are convinced resulted from the shots. Kimberly Becerra (left) detailed her husband David's (right) ordeal with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that affects the nerves, and one which Johnson & Johnson warns of on its label Some of the most common effects reported to DailyMail.com include vertigo, tinnitus, chronic fatigue, behavior changes, and heartbeat irregularities. But while patients' suffering is real, theyve run into walls when it comes to explaining their symptoms to family, friends, and doctors, many of whom have labeled these people as antivaxxers or conspiracy theorists. Those who have suffered from what they maintain were side effects of Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson shots are frustrated about the lack of action on the federal governments part. Most independent studies have not been large enough to confirm links between various health events and the vaccines, but scientists have also not concluded yet that there are no links. One of the effects that has been reported in many of those who claim to experience side effects is the heartbeat problem, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS. The condition causes a sudden reduction in blood flow to the heart when a person stands up, leading to dizziness, fainting, and increased heart rate. A 2022 study in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research found that, of 284,000 adults who received a Johnson & Johnson Covid shot, 763 experienced POTS post-vaccine, compared to 501 people before receiving the vaccine, suggesting that the shot raised their risk. At the same time, Covid infection was found to raise the risk of POTS drastically. Among more than 12,000 adults who had Covid, 260 experienced POTS compared to 123 who had POTS before the shot. Tracy Jones, a 54 year-old healthcare worker from Houston, is one of the vaccine recipients who experienced POTS. She never had heart problems until she received a booster shot from Moderna. But two weeks later, Ms Jones - who has never considered herself anti-vaccine - started experiencing heart palpitations. Then, she had debilitating dizzy spells. Her heart rate would spike from her normal 60 beats per minute to as high as 200 beats per minute, even while lying down. She soon decided to go to the emergency department. She told DailyMail.com: My heart was racing, I was dizzy, feeling like I was going to pass out. It felt tied in my chest. I couldn't catch my breath. And I went into the ER, they gave me a drip and said, you're fine. And I kept telling them they were taking my heart and pulse while I was laying down. I said, but it's fine while I'm lying down. It's when I stand up that I have the issues and nobody really paid much attention to that. She said when she got home she felt very disturbed by the experience, because I knew something was wrong. 'But nobody was giving me any answers. Mr Becerra's wife Kimberly felt similarly confused when she asked her husband's doctors for answers. She watched Davids condition deteriorate for months while waiting to see a physician. It took months to get a wheelchair approved from the insurance company and equally as long to see a neurologist in their insurance plan. David Becerra had to wait months for his insurance plan, California's public MediCal, were able to supply him with a usable wheelchair. He and his wife Kimberly believe they were brushed off by both doctors and the government. And when David, now 58, moved from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility, the couple was promised he would receive the best possible care. Yet, the couple claim that staff at the home were brushing off his symptoms. We got no help. People who got Covid got help, got groceries delivered. We got nothing I still can't get him physical therapy,' said Kimberly. 'He still doesn't have a walker, even though the physical therapy, Ive requested it for over a year now.' Unable to walk on his own or go anywhere, because their car was not wheelchair appropriate, Mr Becerra was essentially homebound, unable to see his daughter and infant grandson. While hes now able to get around thanks to a non-electric wheelchair, Mr and Mrs Becerra have felt ignored by the doctors hes seen and his insurance program, MediCal. Mrs Becerra said: It's been just, very, very frustrating to see how they treat someone. I mean, the government asks us to do this to protect our neighbors, our cities, our states, our country. He still tells everybody to take the vaccine, that they had better chances of being bitten by a shark than this to happen to them. But the longer they let you sit here in this chair, with hardly any physical therapy We have just been left to rot. Another potentially severe side effect that more than 9,000 people have reported to the CDC is vertigo, or a spinning sensation related to problems in the inner ear. While studies into vaccine side effects in the US are scarce, other countries have reported it among their vaccine recipients. In a cross-sectional vaccination study of British and American healthcare workers, 8.3 percent reported vertigo symptoms. Meanwhile, an Italian study of 315,000 people found that dizziness was seen in 21 percent of them. In Houston, Texas, a 54-year-old military veteran, who wished to remain anonymous, told DailyMail.com that just a few months after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, he noticed severe dizzy spells. Primary care physicians said the symptoms were likely side effects of medication he takes to treat pain. But he remains convinced his symptoms have resulted from the shot. He told DailyMail.com: They told me that it was probably related to the medication. So I felt like they blew it off. 'I said this is what I'm facing; this is what's happening to me, and they go, just keep monitoring and let us know the changes. Well, it hasn't changed. I'm still experiencing all this stuff. Suddenly he couldnt run his normal five miles, having to stop after about a mile to steady himself. Hes fallen on runs and often has to pull over while driving due to the vertigo. He now believes he has myocarditis or inflammation in the heart. Israeli authorities were first to spot this unusual side effect in April 2021 primarily among young men after a second dose of a Pfizer or Moderna shot. But the CDC maintained there was no strong link between heart inflammation and Covid vaccines. He added: I joke around with my family, I tell him, you know, it's sad that I went overseas deployed with the military I served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, Brazil, Colombia, all over I survived, came back from all these missions that I did, and this vaccine will end up killing me. Jennifer Vacca, 34, was a PhD student in STEM and an accomplished athlete before she received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in April 2021. Three years later, she still has insomnia, brain fog, chronic fatigue syndrome, and heart problems Ms Vacca receives oxygen therapy while she exercises to build up strength and resilience while adequately oxygenating the blood Meanwhile in Austin, Texas, 34-year-old Jennifer Vacca is still in recovery three years after she received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. She describes a 'domino effect' of crippling health issues including POTS, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, vision problems, and chronic fatigue that traps her in bed for days on end. Ms Vacca felt flu-like in the hours after her vaccination, so she went to sleep. At one point, she woke up so sick that she debated calling an ambulance, but decided against it. But her illness continued. She described feeling as though she had 'a 200 pound brick sitting on every cell in my body every single day.' But help was hard to find. She told DailyMail.com: 'Every week, I was just bed bound. I was coughing up blood, my muscles were atrophying. 'I was calling nurses and they were scoffing at me. I was like, this cannot be normal. And they were like, just sleep it off. It's normal, quit making a big deal out of out of this.' Today, Ms Vacca lives with chronic fatigue syndrome that makes getting out of bed a herculean task. She has dealt with insomnia since shortly after getting vaccinated, but said it has gotten slightly better in the past couple of years. She said oxygen therapy while exercising has also helped build her strength and stamina up. After visiting doctors, naturopaths, and every health expert in between, someone finally acknowledged that she could be experiencing vaccine injury One of the many doctors she visited finally acknowledged that her constellation of symptoms were likely tied to the shot. He gave her a medical exemption from having to get the second dose and booster shots. The experience has had a lasting effect on her current life as well as her future. She said: 'Before, I was going to school, I was planning on getting my PhD. I was making A's and now I feel like I can't do can't do creative things that you would do as a normal like adult. 'Now I just barely have the brain energy take care of myself each day and make sure that I somehow pay rent and make myself food and stuff.' 44-year-old ophthalmology surgical technician Cassie Blythe, from Oregon, got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in late August 2021. She chose it because it would only require a single shot, unlike those from Pfizer and Moderna. She told DailyMail.com: 'The day after my single dose shot I began having short 30 second dizzy spells a few times per day. I attributed it to dehydration or stress. Then at week three came the vomiting and involuntary eye movements, accompanied by severe dizziness that lasted all day and all night. 'The dizziness was so severe I was no longer able to walk or stand anymore without falling to the floor.' Ms Blythe was bed ridden for four weeks, dealing with nausea, vomiting, and dizziness that kept the world spinning whether her eyes were open or shut. She was diagnosed with inflammation of nerves in her inner ear that causes vertigo and hearing loss, and is convinced the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was the cause. She said: 'Two years later, I am dizzy everyday and can still barely walk. After seeing eight docs, four physical therapists, naturopaths, acupuncture, and many other specialists, I still cannot function. I've lost my career that I loved as I can no longer assist in surgery. 'I wake up dizzy and most days cannot drive and can barely walk. A good day for me is being able to cook dinner for my husband and two children, and drive two miles to pick up the grocery store order.' Childbirth destroyed everything that was good in my life, yet of course when I learned I was pregnant with Leo I was overjoyed. But I was also very anxious. A couple of months previously Id miscarried at around eight weeks, so my happiness was tempered by persistent fear it would happen again. Reaching the 12-week point felt huge. I remember sitting at the NHS Chelsea and Westminster hospital in a room of other pregnant women waiting to be scanned. I was part of a club Id wanted to join for a long time. But from then, I began feeling pushed about in a system where I wasnt being listened to. I was sure I wasnt capable of a vaginal birth Im only 5ft and my hips couldnt be less childbearing if they tried. All the scans had shown my baby had a very big head and was probably going to be on the 90th centile for size, taking after my partner Ryan whos 6ft 3in and over 100kg. Louise: shirt, aligne.co. Trousers, palmerharding.com. Chain necklace and bracelet, tillysveaas.co.uk. All other jewellery, her own. Leo: T-shirt, lacoquetakids.com. Trousers, his own At around four months I asked a midwife about the possibility of an elective caesarean. But then, and every time subsequently, my concerns were brushed aside. I was told I was fit, healthy and low risk. I should actually be considering a home birth. As the pregnancy progressed, my fears around the birth only heightened. Our house was being renovated, so we were staying at my mothers. Weeks before my due date, I was woken in the middle of the night by the smoke alarm. I opened my bedroom door to find the landing engulfed in smoke, I couldnt even see my hand. My mother, Ryan and I fumbled our way downstairs and on to the street. It turned out the wine cooler in the basement had exploded. The smoke alarm saved us; five minutes later wed have all been killed. After a few weeks moving between friends houses, my father vacated his flat so we had somewhere to live. But amplified by the fire, my anxiety skyrocketed. At midwife appointments my concerns were still batted away. In the end, I gave up asking for a c-section and resigned myself to my fate. Now I feel stupid and naive that I didnt fight harder. My contractions started in the early hours of Leos due date, Sunday 14 November. I was awake most of the night, but the pain was manageable. By late afternoon the pain was increasing and by the time we arrived at the hospital, the contractions had shot through the roof. Id gone from very little pain to extreme agony with no build-up in between, to the point where I was hallucinating. I was terrified. In the birthing centre, we were ushered into a room with a bed and a birthing ball. The pain was so bad I wasnt able to hold a conversation. I was sweating, screaming and very stressed. Wed been in there alone for over an hour, with someone only occasionally popping their head in, before a lady who Id previously seen at the assessment unit kindly came in to check on me just before she finished her shift at 8pm. She put a cool wet towel on my neck and was clearly shocked Ryan and I had been left to fend for ourselves and not even shown how to use gas and air. Long past the point of being able to withstand the pain I asked for an epidural. They agreed, but it took several attempts by numerous different people over the course of an agonising two-and-a-half hours to administer one. Even then, I was still in out-of-this-world pain, the baby back-to-back and grinding against my nerves and spine. I was rapidly losing faith that anybody in this hospital knew what they were doing. Nobody seemed to be co-ordinating anything. No one appeared to be in charge. My temperature was really high, my blood pressure going crazy. I felt that things were going very wrong why was no one doing anything? I asked repeatedly if I could have a c-section, but the junior doctors just told me to keep going. Its their job to tell me that but I knew my body. Id known all along. I was left in this state of distress overnight, the pain beyond endurance. Louise reveals her stoma bag to her Instagram followers; Louise With son Leo, her brother Sam and his partner Zara McDermott At 8am, a midwife established Leos head was stuck at an awkward position in my pelvis, exactly what Id always feared. Im narrow with a tiny pelvis and had a baby with a larger-sized head. He was never going to get out that way. The midwife said immediately that I needed an emergency c-section. Was I OK with that? OK? For months, a section was what Id been begging and pleading for. Of course I was OK with it. Please God, can we just get this baby out? Ryan was handed a set of scrubs and we were wheeled down to theatre within minutes. Loads of people came rushing in including the anaesthetist, who was frantic. The energy in the room put me on edge. Why was everyone so agitated? No one had talked me through what was about to happen, but from what I understood, most c-sections were over within half an hour and thats what I focused on, Ryan by my side. In about 30 minutes I would have my precious baby in my arms and everything would be fine. It didnt take me long to realise that things were very far from fine. And it would be a long time before anything felt fine again. 15 November 2021 I am lying on a surgical bed and there is panic all around. I can see immense amounts of my blood splattering all over the curtain where they are cutting me open and then splashing on to the floor below. A lot of technical terms are being shouted across the room and there is alarm in the voices. More medics come dashing in; it feels like chaos. Pandemonium. I know I am losing blood and they cant stop the bleeding. I know this because I can feel it. They are right up against my lungs trying to stem the haemorrhage. Ryans face is next to mine and I am turning to him to look him in the eye. Am I alive? Am I alive? I keep repeating. Yes, youre here, Im with you, he tells me. But I believe that I am dying and I can tell from his face that he does too. And I think: at least Ryan is with me. At least Im not going to die alone. Louise posts a special sunny moment from the hospital ward on Instagram There is no reassurance coming from anyone on the other side of that blood-soaked curtain. No communication. No eye contact. There is no one I know or recognise from the medical team in the room. They pull the baby out and I hear a tiny cry before more unknown people from the paediatric team rush into the room and take him away and he is gone. I dont see him. There are no introductions, there is no skin-to-skin. No one tells me I had a healthy baby boy. I dont know if he has survived. Whats happening? Is it nearly over? asks Ryan. Were just finishing now, comes the reply. Were going to close her up. And Im relieved Im going to live; I have enough energy to keep myself in this survival state for just a few more minutes while they bring this nightmare to an end. Then something else goes majorly wrong. Again, they cant stop the bleeding and theres another scramble to fix whatever theyve obliterated inside me. For more than three harrowing hours, I am worked on in that operating theatre. Im awake throughout, hearing the panicked voices, feeling every pummel, witnessing the loss of blood, without a single word of comfort or explanation of what is happening. Eventually they staunch the haemorrhage and I black out from exhaustion. The next thing I know I am being moved on to a metal trolley. In my brain, I am one hundred per cent sure that Im in heaven. I am dead. The surgery has failed. Its my dead body on this trolley, waiting to be put in a bag. In a recovery room, I gradually came to, incapacitated on the bed, in a huge amount of physical pain and without my baby, who was stable in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Leo-Hunter Libbey had been born at 9.44am, weighing 7lb on the nose. Hed had to be resuscitated after being pulled out of me because hed stopped breathing. But he was, apparently, recovering well. He was going to be OK. Not that I asked about him. My brain didnt have the capacity or the initiative to consider my child. I couldnt make sense of what I had just witnessed and how the hell I was still alive having been subjected to such savagery. It wasnt until the next morning I was heaved into a wheelchair and pushed, screaming in pain, to NICU to meet Leo. He had tubes attached to him and was in a glass incubator, but he looked strong and healthy. I touched his perfect little hand through the glass, suddenly overcome. The numbness Id been submerged in was replaced by a heavy sadness that this was how things had turned out. I was heartbroken for both of us. Louise Thompsons memoir Lucky will be published by Ebury Spotlight on 23 May, 22. To pre-order a copy for 18.70 until 26 May, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over 25 The Government has launched a call for evidence to gather views on how classic cars can be preserved for future generations. Via a government response form, the DVLA and Department for Transport are asking enthusiasts and industry experts to help identify areas of potential change in the classic world. Motorists can help shape future policy on how to protect motoring icons and make them fit for the modern age. The call for evidence will run for eight weeks until 4 July 2024. By answering the Government's call for evidence, you could help preserve iconic cars such as these four Hilton & Moss restored Aston Martin DB5s Classic car policy has remained largely the same since the 1980s. At present the registration process after restoration and upgrades doesn't take into account how historic vehicles are improved with modern technology. But now the government wants to change this by inviting interested parties to propose ways to register and protect motoring icons - such as James Bond's Aston Martin DB5, Inspector Morse's MkII Jaguar and Back to the Future's DMC DeLorean - and make them fit for the modern age. The call for evidence will also help the government decide how to prioritise road safety and retain accurate vehicle records. Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, said: 'The way we restore and protect classic cars has not kept up with the times and evolving technologies, which is why we are calling for industry and enthusiasts to have their say on how to best protect these British classics for decades to come'. Electrogenic converts classic cars - like this Jaguar E-Type - to 100% electric 'by creating EV technology to extend the life of beautiful, historic cars and make them fit for the modern world'. Electrogenic have a testing and customer experience centre at Bicester Heritage The call for evidence will help to make it easier to register classic cars, and for restoration and modifications to be properly taken into account In future modifications will be properly considered as to how they improve car performance, with particular focus on electric conversions of classic cars. In recent years, 'retrofitting' classic cars with electric powertrains has brought enjoyment to many motorists, with specialist firms including Electrogenic, Electric Classic Cars and Lunaz making headlines with their modern take on historic motors. Steve Drummond, chief executive of Electrogenic, believes it is an important step that 'the government recognises the electrification of classic cars is part of the solution.' 'Carefully developed, sympathetic conversions like ours which preserve original structure of the car make a classic car more reliable, better to drive and mean it can run on clean energy, too.' Goodwood Revival is a huge attraction for motoring enthusiasts every year, with 150,000 visitors of all age groups flocking to the historic Goodwood Motor Circuit to enjoy three days of period dress and historic motor racing Every September, Revival's footfall helps to stimulating the local economy and preserve the classic car industry Ideas on how to future-proof the industry and support heritage jobs are encouraged, as the classic car industry currently employs 113,000 skilled people and is worth 18billion a year. Preserving historic motors will help to drive tourism to iconic classic car shows, with Goodwood Revival being a noted government example of how classic car events can contribute to the economy, and help local areas thrive. The Duke of Richmond, founder of the Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival, described the government's move as providing a platform for people to give their insight into the classic car industry and what it means to them. He added: Everything we do at the Revival is centred around sustainability and the preservation of these machines, and as part of that, this September we will become the worlds first historic motorsport event to mandate the use of sustainable fuels in all of the races. Bicester Heritage in Oxfordshire is a classic car hub - home to more than 45 specialist businesses. The Sunday Scramble is Bicester Heritage's signature event with each Scramble event attracting up to 10,000 visitors. The last Scramble of the year is happening this October Sunday Scramble raises money for its charity partner Startermotor, which works to get the next generation of young people driving, maintaining and enjoying historic cars in order to preserve the industry As well as being important to the economy, the classic car industry showcases British excellence around the world: 'It's a sector in which the Britain truly leads the world', Steve Drummond of Electrogenic affirms. 'This is a hobby that means so much to people around the country - so clarity on its future is absolutely needed.' To respond to the call for evidence, you can use the DVLA's SNAP Survey Ltd tool, email or post your response. Full details on how to respond are found on the DVLA website. Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. Wealthy: Noyan Nihat was behind two nuisance call firms A boss of two financial firms, which have been granted the Financial Conduct Authority's seal of approval, has been found to be behind two separate companies facing massive fines for making more than a million nuisance calls to elderly and vulnerable victims. Outsource Strategies Limited and Dr Telemarketing Limited were investigated by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which found the pair had called almost 1.43million people who had listed their numbers on the Telephone Preference Service's 'do not call' register. The firms have been fined 240,000 and 100,000 respectively. The calls were made over a 13-month period. The ICO revealed: 'People who complained said the callers were aggressive and used high-pressure sales tactics to persuade them to sign up for products. The ICO investigation also found evidence that both companies were specifically targeting elderly and vulnerable people.' At the time of these offences, the sole director of Outsource Strategies was wealthy North London businessman Noyan Nihat. He was also one of two directors at Dr Telemarketing. The other was his long-term business colleague Wayne Phillips, who has since been banned from acting as the director of any UK company. Meanwhile, Nihat is registered with the watchdog FCA as a director of Monark Global, which also uses the name Tru-Diamonds to trade as an online jewellery business. The FCA registration allows the company to act as a credit broker. He is also a director and Chief Operating Officer of Privat 3 Money, an electronic payment services firm licensed by the FCA. And he is a member of the Advisory Board of The Payments Association, a leading trade organisation. According to the FCA Register, Nihat has been approved by the regulator since 2018, and has never faced any disciplinary or regulatory action. This is true, but what the Register does not show is that Nihat was a director and joint owner of a Cardiff company, Mefinance Limited, which was authorised by the FCA, allowing it to sell insurance through telemarketing. In 2013, I reported how the same firm used telemarketing to drum up business for a consumer magazine called Sapphire. A Mail on Sunday reader who was called was promised the magazine and a selection of discount vouchers, all on a free 14-day trial. If she did not cancel within that time, her bank account would be debited with an annual subscription of 79. The reader a pensioner received no magazine or vouchers but Mefinance collected its 79 from her bank. When she protested, she was told it was her own fault for failing to cancel the payment before the free trial period ended. After The Mail on Sunday intervened, the reader received a full refund, and the company itself went into liquidation in 2015. Even further back, in 2011, Nihat ran a marketing company which represented Vitamail, a notorious mail order firm that issued mailshots giving people the impression they had won thousands of pounds. Winners had to place an order for Vitamail's health products, after which the goods arrived but the prizes were somehow more elusive. I asked the FCA how, in the wake of Vitamail and Mefinance, it had felt confident that Nihat would treat customers fairly when it approved him in 2018 to hold a major position at Monark Global. And I also asked the watchdog whether it was now reconsidering its approval, following the huge fines imposed by the Information Commissioner. The FCA refused to answer. A spokesman told me: 'We cannot comment on individual firms. We take all information received about the firms we regulate seriously, including fines by other regulators.' I also invited Nihat to comment on the 340,000 fines faced by the two nuisance call companies he ran. And I asked whether he believed the FCA would also take action. Nihat did not respond. Making a splash: O2 told Ms K.M. she needed a new contract with a new number, which did work Crossed wires on O2 exit bill Ms K.M. writes: I have been a customer of O2 for nearly 30 years. Last summer I stopped being able to make or receive international calls or texts, which are crucial as I have a property abroad and my Portuguese bank needs to text me a code for every transaction. O2 said I needed a bolt-on, and sold me a two-year contract but it did not work. It then told me I needed a new contract with a new number, which did work, but now it wants to charge me nearly 300 for leaving it, even though I am not. Tony Hetherington replies: It was O2's idea in the first place to sell you a new contract, with a new number, because it had already fallen down on the job by cutting off your international calls. But penalising you to the tune of almost 300, by telling you that you had broken your first contract in order to start the new contract, which O2 itself had sold to you, is beyond ridiculous it's marketing madness! You tried to sort this out with repeated visits to your local O2 shop, but told me: 'Staff almost got wedged in the back door in a frantic effort to escape when they saw me.' I was luckier. I asked O2's head office to intervene and you have had an apology. O2 is now allowing you to switch provider without penalty, so you can forget about the 300 demand. And O2 has told me: 'We have offered an additional 60 as a gesture of goodwill, which Ms M has accepted.' If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned. Authorities recovered the charred remains of a young Georgia mom stuffed in a suitcase nearly two months after she was last seen alive. Briana Winston, 23, vanished March 16, from the Clayton County, Georgia, apartment she shared with her married boyfriend, Michale Edwards, also 23. The couple shared a 4-year-old child. On April 1, loved ones reported Briana missing after not hearing from her for several weeks. An examination of Briana's bleach-soaked apartment led authorities to believe she was "the victim of a crime that left her incapacitated in some way," Clayton County police said last month. They were operating under the presumption the victim was dead. Edwards and his wife, Brienna Phillips-Edwards, were considered persons of interest early on in the case, after police accused him of cleaning out the apartment he shared with Briana. On Thursday, Edwards was formally charged with Briana's murder. During a court appearance Friday, authorities alleged Edwards choked Briana to death in their apartment following an argument about another man, WANF-TV and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. "You then traveled to Gates, Tennessee, with the body of the victim concealed in a suitcase; and with the help of a co-defendant, proceeded to burn the suitcase in a barrel," Clayton County Judge Betrice Scott accused, according to WSB-TV. The co-defendant was not identified. "We have closure," Briana's cousin, Jasmine Walker, told the station Friday. "That's about all we can say right now." Big deal: Nationwide chief Debbie Crosbie insists she took expert advice The biggest independent investor in Virgin Money has launched an extraordinary attack on its board for accepting a bid from Nationwide that is 'likely to sell shareholders very short'. In an excoriating broadside, fund management firm Allan Gray which owns more than 10 per cent of the lender also said giving Nationwide's members a vote on the 2.9 billion buyout would have been 'a much better path'. The building society has come under fire for refusing to give its 16 million members a say on the takeover. Virgin Money shareholders do get a vote on the deal as it is a listed company, and they have until this week to cast their vote. The result will be announced at a meeting on May 22. Virgin Money needs three-quarters of voting shareholders to approve the Nationwide offer, meaning disillusioned investors like Australian group Allan Gray could block it. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group has already pledged its 15 per cent stake in favour. But Australian investors led by Allan Gray could hold the key to the outcome. They own just under half of the bank's shares a legacy of when the former Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Group was owned by National Australia Bank before it was bought by Virgin Money. Allan Gray has not said which way it will vote but managing director and chief investment officer Simon Mawhinney spelt out his frustration. He said he was 'disappointed' that the bank's board had agreed to sell 'for 65p in the pound' the value of Nationwide's bid compared to Virgin Money's mortgages and other loan assets. 'This is not a sensible path to value creation,' he told the Mail on Sunday. Nationwide's surprise cash bid caused Virgin Money's share price to spike but left Mawhinney unimpressed. He said: 'The sugar hit that came with the share price move reeks of short-termism which, in the long term, is likely to sell shareholders very short.' Mawhinney also sided with campaigners pushing Nationwide for a member poll. 'Giving them a vote on this transaction would have been a much better path forward from a governance perspective,' he said. 'But that aside, I suspect their disappointment pales in comparison to ours,' he added. Campaigners who have mustered more than 5,000 online signatures from Nationwide members requesting a poll have accused the mutual of using 'technicalities' to reject their demands. Nationwide, led by former Virgin Money executive Debbie Crosbie, says it took expert advice before deciding members did not need to be consulted on a deal the biggest in British banking since the financial crisis. Insiders at the UK's biggest building society also say a benefit of the deal is that Virgin's future profits will stay in the UK, rather than going to Australian shareholders as dividends. Australian banks are more highly valued than British ones and the price Nationwide is paying for Virgin Money is similar to that paid by Barclays for Tesco Bank earlier this year, they added. Virgin's shares are trading just below Nationwide's 220p offer price, suggesting another bidder is unlikely to enter the fray. A Virgin Bank spokesman said Nationwide's offer was 38 per cent above the bank's share price before the bid was launched. It 'will compensate shareholders for the fundamental value of Virgin Money ', in cash, the bank's spokesman added. More than 21 billion of North Sea oil and gas projects risk being scrapped by the mid-2030s if Labour increases taxes, according to analysts. There has been an outcry in the industry since Sir Keir Starmer's opposition party promised a 'proper windfall tax' on the North Sea that would hike the current rate from 75 per cent to 78 per cent. Labour also indicated it could remove schemes that encourage investment while the windfall levy is in place. Companies claim they have held back spending or even called off deals because of the uncertainty. There are more than 30 projects worth between 200 million and 3.4 billion that would be 'uneconomic' or no longer worth pursuing if taxes rise and temporary allowances are called off, according to estimates from investment bank Stifel. This could also result in tens of thousands of job losses. Hit hard: There has been an outcry in the industry since Sir Keir Starmer's opposition party promised a 'proper windfall tax' on the North Sea Christopher Wheaton, oil and gas manager at Stifel, said: 'Investment in the UK North Sea is at risk because existing windfall taxes have already significantly hit the economics of investing in the UK, and further tax increases will push the industry over the edge.' He added that by getting rid of investment allowances, which allow companies to offset tax by ploughing more money into the sector, it creates a 'multi-billion pound paradox' that would ultimately deprive the Treasury of cash. 'If implemented, this would actually reduce overall tax income for the UK by 20 billion or more - because they will kill off investment, with UK North Sea oil and gas production dropping by nearly 50 per cent by 2029 so there will be many fewer barrels to tax,' he said. The windfall tax on profits made in the UK was introduced by then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak in May 2022 after oil and gas prices surged in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The levy was due to end at the end of 2025 but has since been extended to 2029. The boss of Kistos Energy, Andrew Austin, said the region had already become a 'hostile environment' under the Conservatives and that the industry was being seen as the 'devil incarnate'. 'What you see is all the investment in the space is being turned off because until you have any confidence with what's going on with the new Government, of whatever colour, no one wants to spend any money.' A spokesman for the Department for Energy and Net Zero said: 'No one is backing the UK's oil and gas industry more than this government. Instead, Keir Starmer's reckless plans to turn off the taps too soon would send 200,000 good jobs abroad and decimate communities. Industry are warning that Labour's energy policy would leave the UK 'uninvestable' and would sacrifice 450 billion of investment.' A Labour spokesman said: 'Closing the loopholes in the windfall tax will allow Britain to invest in cheap homegrown British energy in the future.' They added that once the windfall tax ends the UK can 'make use' of existing North Sea fields. Fiscal conservative: Rachel Reeves wants to banish the idea that Labour is anti-business Shadow Chancellor Reeves is fascinated by Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. When I revealed my own interest in him, she arranged for an inscribed copy of a new biography by her MP colleague Nick Thomas-Symonds to be delivered to my desk. Wilson had great political instincts and a vision for Britain. His talk of releasing the 'white hot heat of technology' still resonates today. And his government fought to combat the fiscal power of the Treasury by establishing a new Department of Economic Affairs. It sought to establish an early version of what Reeves calls 'securonomics', with a National Enterprise Board (NEB) ready to intervene to give Britain a technological edge. It was a key backer of what for a time was the UK's leading-edge computing giant, ICL. Reeves has so far failed to conjure up the rhetorical flourishes of Wilson. But it is my understanding that advisers to Reeves and Shadow Business Secretary Johnny Reynolds are developing a revised industrial strategy. A former Bank of England official, Reeves has adopted the stern demeanour of a fiscal conservative. Her closing of 'loopholes' tax policies are viewed by wealth creators with horror, with North Sea oil chieftain Andrew Austin talking of the 'devil incarnate'. But there is a seeming inevitability about a Labour victory in the autumn. Reeves's main goal is to banish the idea that Labour might be anti-business or profligate. Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner's 'New Deal for Working People', bowing to the party's trades union funders, is in for a detox amid disgruntlement from Rupert Soames, chairman of business lobby group the CBI, among others. A proposed ban on zero-hour contracts is set to be replaced with contracts offering a regular work pattern. Instead of full employment rights from day one in a new job, a probationary period is to be proposed. Reeves has offered few clues as to how she will boost output, but she does see growth as key to success. She wants the Treasury to embrace a growth mission in all that it does. There will be no NEB, but the same outcomes could be achieved by a great British wealth fund that invests in home-grown tech. Reeves and Reynolds want to revive a broader-based plan. Labour has already indicated that it wants to reshape the rail industry with a Great British Railways Company that will be responsible for timetables and improving services and infrastructure. A critical goal of Labour's advisers has been to give leader Sir Keir Starmer and Reeves, both of whom lack private-sector experience, as much exposure to the UK's business leaders as possible. Labour views some enterprises, such as the misbehaving water utilities, as natural monopolies that don't lend themselves to much competition. Under its strategy, there will be a far greater willingness to intervene if necessary. Another critical goal is to unlock funding to build on the UK's tech skills. Directing pension funds will be part of this. Reeves wants a British version of the French 'Tibi' scheme. It will require defined contribution pension funds to invest a proportion of their assets into UK growth assets. Restoring previous efforts to lift spending on research and development and setting more challenging goals could also be key elements of a new industrial strategy. There will be worries in the business community that Labour will seek to achieve its goals through higher taxes. Closing loopholes and coming down hard on tax avoiders may look benign enough. But as oil drillers have indicated, they could undermine energy security, investment and enterprise. Business people do not necessarily make the best politicians. But with Labour, the lack of entrepreneurial skills and instincts is in danger of smothering bold ambition. Britain's nascent battery industry has received a shot in the arm from the Government and foreign investors. The taxpayer-owned UK Infrastructure Bank has invested 25 million in Invinity Energy Systems, which is based in Scotland. The AIM-listed group makes vanadium flow batteries, which are used for energy storage but are too heavy to be used in technology such as electric cars. Shot in the arm: Being able to store huge amounts of electricity produced in the power grid will be key to renewable energy use in the future Being able to store huge amounts of electricity produced in the power grid will be key to renewable energy use in the future. Invinity raised 56 million in total, including from a Korean firm and retail shareholders. The money could support dozens of new jobs. The firm already has a large customer base, including the Royal Thai Armed Forces and the University of Central Florida. Jeff Jones survived falling off bridge near river, thinks he may have been pushed Police insist there is no serial killer but the mounting bodies sees rumor persist A man who was drugged and plummeted 25ft off a bridge, narrowly missing certain drowning, believes he could have been targeted by the 'Rainey Street ripper'. Jeff Jones, 38, was on a bachelor party trip to Austin with a dozen friends from his home in Boston on June 23 last year. He woke up in hospital more than two weeks later with metal rods holding his back together and doctors found the date-rape drug Rohypnol in his system. Jones believes he was drugged before the would-be killer pushed him off the bridge over a stream where he was supposed to drown and float away. Jeff Jones (pictured in hospital with his sister Amy) after he plummeted 25ft off a bridge in Austin, and believes he could have been pushed by the 'Rainey Street ripper' Fears a Texas serial killer could be on the loose have been reignited following the discovery of two more bodies in Lady Bird Lake, Austin 'Whoever they may be just missed the target and I hit the ground, and luckily because of that I didn't drown,' he told DailyMail.com. 'I just got lucky... Not many people can say they potentially survived a serial killer, so that's a story I can tell, I guess.' Locals have for years feared a serial killer is on the loose as a dozen bodies were pulled from the Colorado River and Lady Bird Lake near the popular bar district. Two more were found in the past month, both of which are not yet identified, but like all but one of the others were ruled not suspicious by police. Police insist there is no killer at large, but rumors of a 'Rainey Street Ripper' have continued to swirl as the bodies pile up. Jones and his friends began with dinner at the Iron Cactus, and then went to the Rustic Tap and Play - both on West 6th Street. About 1am he somehow became separated from his group, but he doesn't remember anything from well before that. Jones is 6ft 3in and can handle alcohol, and said he wasn't drinking heavily that night as the trip was a weekend-long affair. His friends last heard from him about 1.30am, after which he stopped replying to texts and his phone went dead. An anonymous 911 call was placed about 4am after he was spotted lying motionless at the bottom of the historic West Sixth Street Bridge. Jones wasn't able to leave hospital for 17 days while his older sister Amy dropped everything to fly in and stay by his bedside, then took him to her home in New Hampshire to recover Urine tests conducted at 6.59am, three hours after he was found, were positive for Benzodiazepine - a sedative family that includes Rohypnol The bridge runs over Shoal Creek, which flows into the Colorado River near where several bodies were pulled from the water over the past two years. Jones arrived at Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas about 4.45am and had emergency surgery on his damaged kidneys, liver, and lung, and his spleen was removed. He broke seven thoracic vertebrae - his third to seventh and 11th to 13th - along with his shoulder, elbow, and two ribs. He remembered nothing from being out with his friend to waking up from the second of two induced comas two weeks later. 'One minute I was at the bar and then everything's changed,' he said. 'I was in pretty rough shape. I had no idea what happened and what my body looked like, which was a mess it was pretty shocking. 'Like many people in comas I had very realistic dreams and it took everyone a couple of days to convince me of what really happened. It was very confusing.' Urine tests conducted at 6.59am, three hours after he was found, were positive for Benzodiazepine - a sedative family that includes Rohypnol. Jones was found at the bottom of this bridge over Shoal Creek, which flows into the Colorado River near where several bodies were found. The bridge wide raised wall that makes it impossible to simply drunkenly wander off the edge The metal rods and pins implanted along Jones' spine where he broke seven vertebrae - his third to seventh and 11th to 13th Jones was initially in a coma for a week during a series of surgeries, but then caught pneumonia and had to be induced a second time. He wasn't able to leave hospital for 17 days while his older sister Amy dropped everything to fly in and stay by his bedside, before taking him to her home in New Hampshire to recover. Jones still has no idea what happened to him in those three hours between disappearing and being spotted below the bridge. The bridge is an old stone structure with a wide raised wall that makes it impossible to simply drunkenly wander off the edge. 'But if someone was standing next to me, they could definitely have shoved me and flipped me over it,' Jones said. Jones landed within five feet of the water and as he was drugged with Rohypnol he likely would have drowned if he was submerged in the stream. 'I've thought about it (how he's only alive because he just missed the water) a lot,' he said. 'I couldn't even talk about it for the first couple of months, it was just too terrifying how close I came to being gone. 'I would have been incapacitated enough to not get myself out of the water. 'If they wanted to get away with something without being seen, this would be a way to do it it's a good way to have no trace of what happened.' Jones (right) on a ski trip with his brother earlier this year after mostly recovering from his injuries, though his elbow has limited mobility Jones didn't rule out other scenarios - but given the number of other men who turned up dead along the waterway after disappearing from nights out, and the drugs in his system, he believes he was attacked. 'The things that lead to it being a serial killer is that it's a very specific type of victim, which I fit, they don't have anything stolen from them, they drown in the water, and they disappear in the middle of the night,' he said. 'I match all of this, I just luckily didn't end up dead.' Jones still takes some painkillers but is back to running and other physical activity he enjoyed before plummeting form the bridge. The rods in his back will be removed over the summer and he has extensive scarring across his upper body. The only lasting effect is from a branch puncturing his left elbow in the fall. He had surgeries on it to improve his range of motion, but can still only straighten it to 75 per cent of normal and may never get back to where it was. Jones said the serial killer rumor and numerous bodies appearing in the waterway was a problem for Austin that police needed to take more seriously or it would scare away tourists like those on the bachelor party. 'If people keep disappearing I feel like it's not going to be a destination for much longer,' he said. Cliff Axtell, 40, was found in Lady Bird Lake on March 5 after he went missing near Stubb's in downtown on February 25. His death has been ruled 'undetermined' Four bodies were found in Austin's Lady Bird Lake in 2023 including, 33-year-old Jonathan Honey (pictured) who was found dead on April 1 Jason John, 30, was found on February 13,2023 after he was last seen on Rainey Street a week earlier. His parents believe there is more to the story behind his disappearance The first of the most recent bodies was found under South 1st Street Bridge on April 9 and was described as a 'cardiac-arrest' style event. However, police continue to probe the death. Just five days later, a fisherman called in a report of another corpse near 515 S. Pleasant Valley Road. The death was not being investigated as a homicide. Cops ruled out foul play in some of the deaths connected to the reservoir, stating they are most likely accidental drownings due to the lake's proximity to popular nightlife spots. These include that of Ricky Parks, 59, whose body was found first in July 2022 and who is thought to have drowned. The deaths of Christopher Gutierrez, Kyle Thornton, 56, and Christopher Hays-Clark 30, were also not deemed suspicious. Two of the deceased, Jason John, 30, and Jonathan Honey, 33, were deemed to have drowned accidentally. Both men were last seen on Rainey Street. The death of dad Christopher Hays-Clark, 30, (pictured with son) was not deemed to be suspicious Rainey Street (above) is a vibrant area in Austin known for its night life and offerings of bars, food trucks and restaurants. Lady Bird Lake is about 1.8 miles, or 35-minute walk away from the street. There are no camera's around the lake One man Josue Moreno was shot while driving and his vehicle plunged into the reservoir, cops said. The death of Clifton Axtell, 46, who was found in March 2023 was ruled as 'undetermined'. The remaining bodies were not being investigated as homicides. Last year, the City of Austin increased safety measures including lighting and fencing around the lake. The city was also considering stationing park rangers around the water as well as more surveillance cameras. Former Austin Police Department forensic director Mark Gillespie previously stressed in an interview with KVUE that the public should believe the police when they say that there is no foul play. 'They're looking for foul play, and so when APD comes out with the statement that at the current time, they don't suspect foul play, I promise you they were looking for it, and they were looking very hard for it, so I respect that,' he said. A memorial left by near to where Chris Hays-Clark's body was found in Lady Bird Lake Last year, the city of Austin announced that further safety measures including lighting and fencing around the lake Lady Bird Lake is a popular Austin destination for water activities, including kayaking In an interview with KXAN, Dr Carsten Andresen of St Edward's University, said the rumors around the Lady Bird Lake deaths were similar to conspiracy theories being spread in cities across the country. 'Human nature has always looked at things and sort of looked for patterns that may or may not exist. But also, social media and the ability to just sort of put these rumors online and sort of have them go out like wildfire,' he said. Andresen pointed out that Austin has a reputation as a city where people go to drink and cut loose. 'I don't think that we've seen anything that would lead one to conclude that there's a serial killer out there. But we do know that people drink to excess in Austin, and that men often engage in at-risk behavior,' he added. A woman was left stunned after making a life-threatening discovering in her first home. Sunny posted a walk through video of her latest renovation project on TikTok before followers believed they spotted a danger hiding in her new bathroom tiles. In the original clip, the homeowner dubbed the doors as 'giving horror film' and bathroom as 'eerie'. However, many social media users flooded her comments, as they thought the tiles in her new dilapidated property contained asbestos. 'I believe those to tiles contain asbestos. Do not remove them without getting them tested first,' one penned. Sunny, who recently purchased her first property, was left stunned after TikTok users warned her tiles may have asbestos A second warned: 'Get yourself an asbestos survey before you do any works.' 'You need it checking for asbestos. People think the tiles and walls are just daft or ugly decorating and its asbestos.' In a response video, Sunny said: 'Literally everyone, well not everyone but loads of people have commented saying I've got asbestos tiles. 'Didn't even know what that meant. Google search[ed] it saw all these horror stories.' Asbestos is the term given to numerous naturally occurring fibrous minerals that have crystallised to form fibres, according to GOV.UK. There are usually two types of asbestos, amphiboles and serpentine - which is the most frequently used type of the crystallised fibres. Explaining, how she went to her father, who is a property manager, for advice, she revealed he had never heard of asbestos tiles before. She shared that her father previously discovered he had asbestos in his garage and surrounding his plumbing pipes. Asbestos is typically found in properties built before 2000, and could impact your health if you are exposed to hazardous chemicals from the fibres. You should not remove any asbestos without guidance and should get in touch with your local council if you find it in your home, as per the UK's Health Security Agency's advice. Divulging that she was 'absolutely terrified of going back into the house', due to the comments, she also added that she wasn't yet entirely sure asbestos was present. Responding to other curious viewers, she affirmed asbestos did not come up in the property's survey. Asbestos is typically found in properties built before 2000, and could impact your health if you are exposed to hazardous chemicals from the fibres (pictured: Sunny's sink) Several viewers took to the comment section of Sunny's orignal video of her new home to warn about potentially asbestos ridden tiles In her follow up video, others were keen to offer their advice on how she could confirm if the tiles did have asbestos People flocked to her social media comments, offering her advice on the potential asbestos presence in her new home. Referencing people pointing out the potential danger, one person quipped: 'That's good to hear,' with another adding: 'How lucky that person commented!' A second chimed in: 'You dont have to book a survey for it if you didnt know. 'I used asbestos-sampling.com to send in my own samples which was so quick and easy to do.' Another person pointed out that if the home was refurbished in 2000 then there should be no asbestos present as the material was banned in 1999. Brits have been left baffled after an Australian woman revealed all of the run-of-the-mill British things that are illegal down under. Rhiannon Cunningham revealed in the now viral clips that you can receive hefty fines in her home country for jaywalking and even doing shots after midnight. In the two videos, which together amassed over an eye-watering 7.2 million views, the content creator shared that a business can get a staggering 37,794 fine if someone takes a shot after midnight. Dropping another bombshell, she also shared that an Australian business could get fined up to quarter of a million pounds for having a sunbed. But these aren't the only costly acts - which are seemingly innocent to us Brits - that could leave you thousands out of pocket. Rhiannon Cunningham shocked Brits as she revealed all the run-of-the-mill things we do that are illegal in Australia On British soil, it is not illegal to jaywalk, unless you are doing so on a motorway or a stretch of road which clearly states no pedestrians are permitted. However, in Australia it isn't that simple, as the youngster revealed you can get hit with a 115 fine for jaywalking. Not adhering to clear cross walks is illegal in Australia, and depending on the state you can receive various penalties. Drinking is woven into the fabric of British culture, and there aren't any restrictions on where people, who are over the age of 18, can drink either, according to Drinkaware. But down under this rule is far more stringent, according to Rhiannon, who shared that people can often be on the tail end of a 579 for such an offence. Similarly to jaywalking the level of your fine is dependent on the state you live in. In Western Australia, it is illegal for an individual of any age to drink in public and could land a partygoer with a maximum fine of 1579, according to the Western Australia Police Force. Typically resting your legs on the opposite seat on a train won't land you in much trouble in the UK. Although it could lumber you with a 50 and a police caution in more severe cases, PlymouthLive reports. However, resting your feet on a seat of a train could set you back a pretty penny, as Rhiannon explained you can sometimes incur fines up to 579. Another illegal Australian activity that is perfectly ordinary in the UK, is the buying, selling and setting off of fireworks. As per The Fireworks Regulations 2004 Act and The Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations of 2015, any persons can purchase carry or use fireworks that belong to category one two and three. However in Australia it is an entirely different scenario, as the content creator revealed buying, selling and even lighting a firework could land you with a 14,212 fine. Brits flocked the comments in shock, completely stunned by all the things you could not do legally in Australia. One asked: 'Wait, you guys can't just cross the road?' Their are various and costly penalties for various things from putting your feet up on trains and even jaywalking People flooded the comments in shock that jaywalking among several other things were illegal in Australia 'Im half and half, and when I went over to Australia to see my sister, I was too stunned to speak at being told you couldnt just cross the road,' a second quipped. 'Jaywalking? Nah[sic] thats just called crossing the road,' chimed a third. Just because feet on seats isnt illegal here doesn't mean you should do it 'Wait are you being serious, is Aussie that strict,' another said.. One user added: 'No. Ive always wanted to go to Australia but this has really ruined my plans and upset me. Pls say youre joking Ms Godfrey hasn't been on a date since that night The night she was killed, he sent a chilling text to Danni Godfrey A woman who escaped the clutches of dating app killer Ashley Gaddie has revealed he sent her a message asking for date on the same night he murdered a teacher. Gaddie, 35, met Dannielle Finlay-Jones, 31, on dating app Bumble just days before he beat her to death at a home in Cranebrook, in Sydneys west, on December 17, 2022. He fled the scene before becoming involved in a 12-hour stand-off with police at a the top of a cliff in the Blue Mountains and was eventually arrested, charged with murder, and jailed while awaiting trial. However, in April this year, he took his own life at Clarence Correctional Centre having never entered a plea or given any explanation for Ms Finlay-Jones' murder. Daily Mail Australia can now reveal that while Gaddie was sitting at a pub with Ms Finlay-Jones just hours before he brutally killed her, he secretly texted another woman, Danni Godfrey, 31. At 7.47pm that night he told her: 'Wish I could take you on a date.' The text was one of many Gaddie had sent Ms Godfrey over 12 months in an attempt to persuade her to go out with him, which involved a web of lies designed to manipulate her. Ms Godfrey said she had panic attack when she learned what Gaddie did to Ms Finlay-Jones,' telling Daily Mail Australia: 'It could have been me'. She has deleted her dating apps and has not been romantically involved with anyone since. Danni Godfrey (pictured) received a text from Ashley Gaddie the night he killed Dannielle Finlay-Jones Danielle Finlay-Jones, 31, was found brutally murdered in the spare bedroom of her friend's home in December 2022 Ashley Gaddie (pictured), was on bail for assaulting a woman and had AVOs taken out on him by five women. He suicided in prison in April 'Do you believe in true love?' Ms Godfrey said she and Gaddie grew up in the same town and had known each other as teenagers, but it wasn't until a Covid lockdown in about June 2021 that the pair started chatting on dating apps. 'We matched and became friends on social media, but he started to become creepy around that period,' she said. Gaddie's first message to Ms Godfrey on Facebook was sent at 5.55pm on June 25, 2021. He said: 'Hi Danni, can I ask you a question?' She replied: 'Hello, sure.' He said: 'Do you believe in true love? Or love in our generation.' When Ms Godfrey didn't reply, Gaddie wrote back about three hours later: 'Sorry I didn't mean anything by it.' She replied to his initial question, saying: 'Yes I do, why do you ask?' Gaddie then started talking about a security guard from the Philippines who said his grandchildren couldn't find love 'because of the way our generation are'. 'Since I don't speak to women and you are the only lady on my [Facebook] I thought I'd just ask the question,' he added. Ashley Gaddie started talking to Danni Godfrey on Facebook in June 2021 (pictured) Gaddie asked Ms Godfrey if she believed in true love, before he said his two dogs died. He didn't own any dogs Web of lies Two days later, and without a reply from Ms Godfrey, Gaddie continued: 'I wasn't trying to creep on you, I lost both my dogs and was really struggling. I won't bother you again. Sorry again.' When Ms Godfrey showed police the messages between herself and Gaddie following the murder of Ms Finlay-Jones, officers told her he had lied to a number of women about owning dogs. 'I have a dog and I found out through police it was a tactic he used with women because he didn't own a dog,' she said. Gaddie also told her that he had a broken leg when she uploaded a photo of her own fractured ankle on social media. 'Hopefully it's a speedy recovery. Mine was fractured for four months,' he said. Police told Ms Godfrey that Gaddie had never broken a leg. On August 29, Gaddie messaged her again, unprovoked, to ask how 'the Bumble dating life' was going. When Ms Godfrey told Gaddie she was seeing someone, he said only found women who 'waste my time' Gaddie's last message to Ms Godfrey was on the night he killed Dannielle Finlay-Jones Ms Godfre explained she didn't have Bumble and hadn't used dating apps for months because she met a pharmacist while she was out with a friend, telling him the encounter was 'random but nice'. Gaddie replied: 'Lol that is random. Still with him?' She said: 'Yeah. I was too short to get something off the shelf so he helped me and the rest is history lol.' Gaddie replied: 'Right place right time. Lucky bugger.' He then went on a tirade about how the women he dated were supposedly disingenuous about their motives. 'I just manage to find girls who waste my time,' he said. 'I met someone who was the opposite, school teacher of all things. 'Turned around three months later and said she never wants to have kids or get married, just lied about what she wanted cause she wanted to be with me.' In November, Gaddie asked how Ms Godfrey how her ankle was healing, but she didn't reply. Three weeks later, he sent another message saying: 'I'm sorry your last relationship didn't work out for you.' Ms Godfrey didn't reply to that message either and told Daily Mail Australia he was 'constantly trying' to engage her and she knew he was talking to multiple at the same time. Danni Godfrey has a dog (pictured) and police told her Gaddie lied about having two dogs to gain her sympathy Dannielle Finlay-Jones (pictured) was a teacher. The night she died, she had invited Gaddie to meet her friends 'It could have been me' Gaddie's final message to Ms Godfrey was sent in response to a Facebook photo she shared with her friends, showing her family enjoying an early Christmas celebration. He said: 'Wish I could take you on a date.' Gaddie sent that message on the night he went on his third date with Ms Finlay-Jones, after they matched Bumble. She had wanted to introduce him to her friends. The pair had a brief argument over a drinking game while at the Marsden Brewhouse, but they made up and went back to Ms Finlay-Jones' home in Cranebrook. When they hadn't surfaced by 2pm the following day, the friend entered the bedroom and found Ms Finlay-Jones' beaten body. Her face was bleeding and her neck was covered in strangulation marks. That day, a friend sent Ms Godfrey a message asking if she remembered Gaddie after news broke that police were looking for him. 'I had a panic attack when I saw his face because I thought it could have been me,' she said. 'Police have CCTV of him searching my profiles while sitting at the pub with Dannielle.' Ms Godfrey has not been on another date since and says she will never use a dating app again. Ms Finlay-Jones' mother Jacky (pictured), has said her daughter 'would still be alive' if Gaddie wasn't granted bail for violence against women 'Psychotic' predator Ms Godfrey said she was raped at the age of 21 and has been assaulted multiple times since, so she was furious when she learned what Gaddie did to another woman. She has had professional mental health training in the years since she was assaulted and now knows the warning signs of a predator - which is why she never fully engaged with Gaddie online. Ms Godfrey said one of Gaddie's most alarming red flags was that, while he was 'creepy' from the outset, he didn't show any signs of anger or aggression during their online conversations. 'I found out through detectives who came to interview me that this wasn't the first time he had been involved in domestic violence - he had offended before,' she said. When Gaddie met Ms Finlay-Jones, he was partway through a community corrections order for stalking and choking another woman. Five other women had apprehended violence orders against him, including an ex-girlfriend who he tried to kill. Ms Godfrey said the best way to keep women safe is to warn them when domestic abusers are granted bail. She did not report her own rape as she was dating her attacker at the time and didn't think anyone would believe her. Se said she wanted victims to feel safe enough to share their stories. 'I want women to know there are communities of other women out there who have been subject to similar violence where it is safe for them to tell their story, and where they can start their healing journey,' she said. 'Things like this cause trauma and fear and that's why I work to help women, to turn my trauma and pain into a form of healing,' she said. If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, phone 1800 RESPECT of the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008. A prison nurse has revealed the key differences between working with dangerous inmates in men's and women's jails. Marie, 38, spent two years treating male patients and another two administering care to females who had been jailed. From the beginning of her career the mother-of-one didn't shy away from a challenge and earned her nursing pin whilst caring for refugees in Calais. And while she enjoyed working behind bars - she said that male prisons presented unique challenges. She told MailOnline: 'When I worked in a male prison. the situation was a little bit more volatile, just because there are more people convicted violent offences in male prisons. Marie, 38, (pictured) who was a prison nurse for four years, revealed she has never forgotten a single name of patients who passed away in her care She also revealed there were many differences between male and female prisons, describing male estates as far more 'volatile (file image of Wandsworth prison) 'There's a lot of people in there for violent offences, whereas in female prisons it tends to be things more life shoplifting drug running.' A key difficulty the former nurse often faced in male prisons was treating sexual offenders, even though she continued to deliver healthcare to all patients without prejudice. Although female prisoners also commit sexual offences, it is more common to be faced with sexual offenders in male prisons, according to Marie. 'That particular prison population is quite difficult to work with. Some of the grooming tactics that they might use on their victims, they will also try and use on staff,' she said 'Mentally, it is quite difficult when you're thinking about your children who are at home whilst you'll given a paedophile their antibiotics. It is quite hard.' The former nurse, who was inspired by her grandfather - a World War II refugee - said working in the refugee camp prepared her for the challenges in her career. She told MailOnline: 'Prisons aren't particularly clean environments, and our resources in prison can be quite limited. Diving straight into the deep end, the ex-prison nurse earned her pin whilst treating refugees in Calais before going on to her second job in a male prison Although she was well-prepared for the job, she admitted that as a mother it was mentally challenging to care for sexual offenders (file image: HMP Manchester also known as Strangeways) 'But I had come from an environment [the refugee camp] that was even dirtier with even less resources. 'So actually, when I rocked up in prison, I was really happy that I had a treatment room to work in.' Even though many of the diseases and injuries were similar to the refugee camp - such as trench foot, scabies, pneumonia and more - her first six-months in the male prison was ' complete chaos'. 'I had to get used to a set of rules, the prison regime, even like. On my first day I didn't even have keys,' she revealed. 'I didn't know what the routine was, what time the medication rounds were, what time triage or what time the bloods had to be sent off. 'I didn't know any of that, so I went in blind. Luckily I had a really good period under indirect supervision and I had additional support.' But it wasn't only her time in Calais that prepared her for prison life, Marie had an experienced an chaotic upbringing herself as well as homelessness in her younger years. 'It meant that I was able to communicate with people from all walks of life, and I was able to adapt myself to people's needs 'When I was living in a homeless hostel, and I had older men trying to groom me I've had to be very assertive in situations to keep myself safe.' For Marie the best part of the job was the patients, appreciating how direct and transparent they were She added: 'Despite everything, I wouldn't change my life experiences'. Although Marie adored her role as a prison officers there were many challenges that came with the role beyond being a nurse. She soon discovered that the world of medicine and prison regulations would clash creating additional barriers in delivering health care. 'For example, the prison locks everybody back into their cells at a certain time of the day for over the lunch period. 'But if you have a patient that's got diabetes that you need to give insulin - it's trying to navigate things like that.' The 38-year-old adored her job, however some memories have stayed with her until this very day. 'I remember the names of every single patient that died in my care. If we lose one of them. It does hit everybody quite hard,' she said. 'I reflect on the care that I gave the patient. Did I do everything that I possibly could at that time or in the days and week in the run-up to try and prevent that death? 'Did I do everything that I could I could reasonably be expected to do in order to keep that patient safe? 'Fortunately, every single time it's happened I've been able to say yes to myself, and then I've kind of made peace with it.' The former nurse and botox practitioner had an chaotic upbringing - having been homeless in her younger years She added: 'Dealing with the mental health side of prisoners and the levels of self harm and suicide attempts, i would say, is absolutely heartbreaking. 'It used to make me really upset because I'd look at these people who I view prisoners is quite vulnerable, actually, and I am sure some people will disagree. 'But I think you know it's people's childhood and life circumstances lead them to be in prison. I don't think most prisoners are inherently bad people'. The role wasn't emotionally arduous, a lack of resources and recruitment meant there was occasionally additional obstacles. 'It was very, very busy. I mean, for example, a nurse on an acute medical ward they might have on a bad day they might have a ratio of one to eight patients. 'In prison. If you're working with patients with substance issues, your ratio could be one to 36. 'As a prison nurse don't get to pick your patients. A doctor doesn't assess them and decide if they are going to be admitted or not. 'it's the Ministry of Justice who decides whether they're going to go to prison or not. So we have to cover everything.' Despite the tough aspects of the job, Marie adored her time as a prison explaining that the patients were her favourite part of the role. 'They're so up front and honest. They'll tell you how it is. There's no second guessing them,' she said. Reflecting on how her childhood prepared her for the role, she said: 'It meant that I was able to communicate with people from all walks of life, and I was able to adapt myself to people's needs' 'If you've done something to upset them, they will make it very clear that you have upset them. 'So because they're quite often transparent - like I am - I just find that I click with them. I just really understand them.' Reflecting her time treating patients, the former prison and botox practitioner revealed prisoners shared that the smoking ban of 2017 brought about some comical moments. 'Because they kept selling, trading and smoking them [nicotine patches] we would have to ask for the old patch back before giving them a new one.' she said. 'They would try and make these fake patches out of bin bags. They must have spent hours cutting them out into the right shape and size. 'They would put a sticky substance to make it look like a nicotine patch. I would have loads of funny incidents of people just present me with this piece of bin bag.' Even though her childhood may of prepared her for the role, she confessed that in some ways the job changed her for the better. 'I have a bigger tolerance for patients definitely. They [prisoners] can be quite challenging. 'Not in a negative way, they just want to get their needs across by any means necessary,' she said. 'So my patience for challenging behaviour and difficult has massively improved. 'It made me realise that even though I've had a bit of a bad innings to start off with, there are people out there that are so much more unfortunate than me.' Even though Marie adored her role as a prison nurse, varying factors including becoming a single parents, her heart condition and a POTS syndrome diagnosis meant she had to leave the profession Although Marie, adored her role because of COVID-19. a heart condition and POTS syndrome diagnosis, as well as becoming a single parent, she can no longer do the role. 'I feel really sad that I'm not able to go back and do that role ever again in the future. But I'm also really happy that I actually got the opportunity to do it,' she said. 'If anyone has an inclination they want to do it just go for it because you might be pleasantly surprised. 'There's lots of cross over skills. I just think that every nurse should work in prison at some point in their life. 'No two days are the same. You can pick up a lot of skills beyond nursing such as interpersonal skills as well.' This comes shortly after a retired prison officer, who worked in some of Britain's most notorious jails had said the profession is so deadly there were inmates 'you can't even look at.' The former screw, who spent years on the wings of HMP Manchester, known as Strangeways, told MailOnline that some staff even had to enter witness protection after 'upsetting the wrong person'. The retired officer claimed that 'anyone' can become a guard because both the public and private sector have failed to carry out adequate checks on new recruits. But he added that there was a solution to the violent jail crisis - US-style supermax jails. Six Colorado counties are suing the state in an attempt to force the Democratic Governor to allow cops to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Officials in Elbert, Garfield, Mesa, and Rio Blanco counties have joined a suit originally filed by Douglas and El Paso counties that challenges two Colorado immigration laws, which they claim have stemmed their ability to effectively confront the flood of migrants in their state. Colorado has faced the crisis at the southern border head on, as more than 40,000 illegal migrants have found their way into the Rocky Mountain state, many via bus from the border. It has become a de facto Sanctuary City and cops say crime is up. The counties suing, which authorities say collectively represent some 25 percent of the state's population, are arguing that Democratic Governor Jared Polis has instated several 'unconstitutional immigration laws.' Six counties, which represent 25 percent of the state's population, are suing Colorado and its Democratic leadership over two laws they believe are preventing law enforcement from effectively dealing with the migrant crisis In the last 18-months or so, Colorado has seen 40,000 illegal migrants deposited in Denver, which behaves like a sanctuary city, despite not technically being one The suit, initially filed on April 15, specifically challenges two laws, the first of which prohibits law enforcement officers from detaining individuals based on a civil immigration detainer, i.e., an official note of suspicion that a person may be in the country illegally, or have violated other civil immigration law. The second law, prohibits employees of the state from making arrangements with ICE to rent bed space, potentially to hold detained illegal migrants. Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said of the suit: 'The most critical role of government is to protect its citizens. I believe this action is absolutely necessary to allow law enforcement to work with our federal partners to help keep all of Colorado safe.' Weekly has also blamed the migrant crisis for increased crime throughout the state. 'In 2023, our organization had a violent ransom kidnapping in Highlands Ranch that involved Venezuelan migrants who were being housed in the city of Denver. Our patrol personnel are coming into contact with undocumented migrants on traffic contacts,' he told Colorado Newsline. Poor federal border policy coupled with bad state law have 'resulted in an unlimited string of illegal immigrants into our communities,' agreed Douglas County Commissioner George Teal. Now, Sheriffs Tim Norton of Elbert County, Todd Rowell of Mesa County, Lou Vallario of Garfield County, and Anthony Mazzalo of Rio Blanco County, have endorsed the suit, which was also previously joined by El Paso County, whose sheriff is Joseph Roybal. In October, Douglas County passed a resolution firmly declaring itself not a sanctuary jurisdiction. Denver, on the other hand, behaves as a sanctuary area, which is one explanation for the some 40,000 migrants who have arrived there in the last year or so. Until recently, Denver was not a favored gateway for migrants who recently crossed the southern border. Not, certainly, in the same way that famed sanctuary areas like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York have become hubs for illegal immigrants. Sheriff Darren Weekly of Douglas County has led the charge on the lawsuit, which was filed in mid-April and has since been joined by a handful of conservative counties Some of the sheriffs, and other county officials, blame the ongoing migrant crisis for some of the especially disturbing crime they've seen across the state in recent months Sheriff Tim Norton of Elbert County (pictured). In early May, Rio Blanco, Mesa, Elbert, and Garfield counties joined the lawsuit, which challenges the state and its Governor, Democrat Jared Polis Texas Governor Greg Abbott identified Denver as a relatively destination to bus tens of thousands of migrants who had crossed over his border with Mexico Douglas County Commissioner George Teal (pictured) has said that poor federal border policy coupled with bad state law have 'resulted in an unlimited string of illegal immigrants into our communities' However, in the last 18 months or so, Denver has been forced to absorb more than 40,000 migrants at an incredible cost to taxpayers of $40million. Officials, including those who signed on to the lawsuit, speculate that the surge in migrants coming from the border to their state has much to do with Denver's relatively close proximity (600 miles) from the border, and its reputation for welcoming illegal migrants. Though Denver is technically not a sanctuary city, and Governor Polis will not go so far as to call it one, the city and state governments have, since at least 2017, passed a number of laws that prevent local authorities from working with ICE in ways that effectively make it a safe haven for those flooding across the border. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whose busing campaign earned him a spot on Time Magazine's 100 most influential people list, identified Denver about two years ago as a spot he could easily shuttle some of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who've filtered into his state. Since this time last year, Abbott has bused close to 20,000 migrants to Denver alone, and close to 120,000 to so-called 'sanctuary cities' across the nation. Sanctuary City is a designation assumed by a municipality that has adopted policies to discourage local authorities from reporting a person's immigration status to federal authorities, and now, in many cases, working with those federal authorities on any immigration-related issue. Officials in their various landing spots are near-universally of the position that border-crossers who arrive are permitted to remain in their new location pending the outcome of their immigration case, which will likely take years and years. But, things have become so dire in Denver that the city shipped staffers to Texas last month to inform migrants that there are now very few resources available for them in the state's capital. Since last year, Denver has paid to assist more than 8,000 migrants with housing. But now, the money's run out and migrants, most of whom do not have work permits, are back on the street and trying to figure out what's next. Governor Jared Polis signed both laws the counties are suing over into law. Earlier this year, he appealed to Washington to pass a comprehensive immigration package that would send more money to states like his, struggling to absorb the illegal migrants being sent their way Since this time last year, Abbott has bused close to 20,000 migrants to Denver alone, and close to 120,000 to so-called 'sanctuary cities' across the nation Denver has run out of taxpayer and other dollars to pay for housing and benefits for the migrants, many of whom are form Venezuela and arrived without a network of friends of family members in the country Denver's mayor announced earlier this year that he was going to need to implement a $45million budget cut across city departments in order to pay for the migrants Governor Polis, who signed both laws being challenged by the suit, has called on Congress and the White House to pass a border security deal that includes sending funding states like Colorado that are struggling to respond to the influx of migrants. Several months ago, ahead of a trip to Washington, DC to advocate for the deal, Polis said: 'We need Congress to take action to secure our border and pass comprehensive immigration reform. 'States cant do this alone. Its time to put politics aside and deliver the real solutions and support that states like Colorado, and many others, need. 'Without seriously securing the border, providing interior states relief and real reform the challenges facing states and localities will only grow.' When Congress subsequently rejected the immigration deal in February, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced that he would need to cut $45million from other departments in order to address the cost of the migrants arriving. In March, Johnston said his city needs to find a way to scale back the services made available for the fresh-off-the-bus migrants. Since then, the city has been scaling back, by thousands, the number of migrants it is housing as they wait for their asylum applications and work authorizations to be processed. A report by the Biden administration said Israel's use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Gaza may have violated international humanitarian laws in the White House's strongest criticism of Israel in the seven-month-old war, according to reports. But the administration noted that it couldn't make a definitive assessment connecting specific weapons deployed by Israel in its fight against Hamas because of the chaos of war, Reuters reported. The findings come in a 46-page unclassified State Department report released to Congress on Friday under a National Security Memorandum signed by President Joe Biden in February. "Given Israel's significant reliance on U.S.-made defense articles, it is reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm," said the State Department the report cited by Reuters. "Israel has not shared complete information to verify whether U.S. defense articles covered under NSM-20 were specifically used in actions that have been alleged as violations of IHL or IHRL in Gaza, or in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the period of the report," it continued. The report cited that lack of information sharing to say it still finds Israel's assurances credible that it is using the American-made arms in accordance with international law, Reuters reported. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, said the administration had "ducked all the hard questions" and avoided looking closely at whether Israel's conduct should mean military aid is cut off, the Associated Press reported. "This report contradicts itself because it concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe violations to international law have occurred, but at the same time that says they're not finding non compliance," Van Hollen told reporters. The report was released just days after President Joe Biden threatened to withhold shipments of some weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu carries out his plan to invade the city of Rafah in Gaza in its efforts to root out Hamas. "If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities that deal with that problem," Biden said in an interview on CNN, adding that U.S. weapons have been used to kill civilians. "Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers," he said. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's seven-month-old war on Hamas in Gaza, according to health officials in the Palestinian enclave. Arizona lawmakers have sued the Biden Administration earlier this year for protecting some one million acres of what used to be Native American land around the Grand Canyon. The native tribes, who call the area their ancestral home, are now joining the federal government to fight back. The Arizona Legislature, which reportedly supports opening more uranium mines in the now federally-protected area, argues that what the president did harms the state's economic development and amounted to an 'unlawful land grab.' President Joe Biden signed a proclamation last August creating a national monument called Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni, known in English as the Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. At issue is the authority through which Biden protected the indigenous lands - the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the president the power to preserve unique natural and historic features throughout the country. A section of the Grand Canyon. The lands around the canyon are now a protected federal monument to honor the tribes who lived there before they were forcibly removed during westward expansion President Biden is seen on August 8, 2023, signing the proclamation that declared the 1 million acres of Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni a national monument This act was used to create the Statue of Liberty, Colorado's Canyon of the Ancients, among other things. According to the state's lawsuit, the Antiquities Act simply doesn't apply to this gargantuan plot of land, which could be used for 'for the mining of important natural resources, such as uranium.' They claim that the mineral-rich native land could be 'financially benefit Arizona's state and local governments and schools.' 'The Proclamation ignores all that,' the suit continues. 'Congress passed the Antiquities Act to protect just that: antiquities. It did not pass the law to allow the Biden Administration to declare every inch of federal land a federal forest, cut off from all but those it selects.' Kim Quintero, a spokesperson for the Arizona Legislature, also argued that Congress is supposed to pass laws to protect federal land. 'Under the Constitution, Congress is the policy making branch of government that decides how federal land is used,' Quintero said. 'Not presidential edicts.' The three tribes whose ancestral land overlaps with the more than a million acres of Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni - the Hopi, Havasupai, and Navajo Nation - recently filed a motion to dismiss the Arizona Legislature's lawsuit with the US District Court of Arizona. Left, Kim Quintero is a spokesperson for the Arizona Legislature, which sued the Biden Administration over its decision to protect 1 million acres of land that could be used for economic development. Right, Matthew Campbell is serving as legal counsel for the Havasupai Tribe and the Hopi Tribe Pictured: The interior of the Arizona State Capitol Building in Phoenix, where the legislature meets The tribes point out that even though they want the same outcome as President Biden, the defendant, the US government can't adequately represent them. That's especially the case since former President Donald Trump, who had lessened protections for national monuments during his term, has a chance of returning to the White House come January 2025. 'When you think about Baaj Nwaanjo I'tah Kukveni and the creation of this monument, it's an immensely important place for the tribal nations,' said Matthew Campbell, a member of the Native Village of Gambell in Alaska, and legal counsel for the Havasupai Tribe and the Hopi Tribe. 'The tribes fought very hard for the establishment of the monument and are here to defend it.' Grist reports that indigenous people within the protected area still live on the lands and use them for hunting and praying. Havasupai Tribe Chairwoman Bernadine Jones, who was sworn in as the leader of her tribe in December 2023, says her people 'have never left the Grand Canyon.' Bernadine Jones, pictured left, is sworn in as the new chairwoman of the Havasupai Tribe. She is a key figure among other tribal leaders fighting to preserve their ancestral land The Grand Canyon pictured during the day. Ancestral lands around it that are now federally protected will be tied up in the courts for possibly years to come 'We are still here. It is our home. It is our culture. It is our source of life and existence. We are committed to protecting it. Establishing protections for Baaj Nwaavjo was an important and long-sought-after step,' Jones said. Nine conservation organizations including the Grand Canyon Trust, Center for Biological Diversity, and Sierra Club have also pledged their support in the fight to protect Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni. 'The conservation groups are very much following the lead of the tribes,' said Michael Toll, staff attorney for the Grand Canyon Trust. As the case moves forward, Arizona lawmakers have hinted that if the court doesn't rule in their favor, the plan is to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority. Campbell says it will likely take months before the tribes' intervention motion will be ruled on and years before the lawsuit is completely settled. So for the foreseeable future, the indigenous lands will remain solidly in the federal government's hands. Feasting on unburied corpses, using skulls as cooking utensils and eating human flesh as part of dark magic rituals: these are just a few of the stomach-turning practices still observed by the world's remaining cannibal tribes. Such tribes often inhabit corners of the world that have remained mostly untouched by modern civilisation, and thus have been sheltered from outside influences. As a result, their ways and traditions can date back thousands of years - and are so far detached from our own, they seem almost alien. It is perhaps for this reason that scientists and explorers alike have long been fascinated with the remote tribes of the world, none more so than cannibal tribes. Many have risked life and limb to get close to such groups, in some cases with tragic consequences. But it is thanks to their efforts that we know the little that we do. Here, MailOnline explores what we know about some of the world's cannibal tribes. ***WARNING: Contains graphic images*** Feasting on unburied corpses, using skulls as cooking utensils and eating human flesh as part of dark magic rituals: these are just a few of the stomach-turning practices still observed by the world's remaining cannibal tribes. Pictured: A member of the Indian Aghori tribe is seen drinking water from a human skull Cannibal tribes, such as the Asmat (pictured) inhabit corners of the world that have remained mostly untouched by modern civilisation, and thus have been sheltered from outside influences. As a result, their ways and traditions can date back thousands of years - and are so far detached from our own, they seem almost alien Pictured: Members of the Korowai tribe are seen gathering in West Papua, Indonesia. It has long been thought that the tribe are cannibalistic, although this has been questioned The Sentinelese are considered one of the Earth's last uncontacted tribes and are extremely hostile to outsiders. It was long rumoured that they were cannibals, but this has been brought into question by surveys carried out by the Indian government The Aghori Based in the northern Indian city of Varanasi, the Aghori are known as the most feared 'cannibal cult' in India and Nepal. They have chosen Varanasi as their home on account of its location - on the banks of the Ganges River, but they are not rooted to it. With around 2,000 temples lining its streets, the city is a holy place. Hundu Pilgrims travel from far and wide to bathe in the river's sacred waters, perform funeral rites, and in some cases - travel there to die. The Aghori, meanwhile, practice a small and extreme sect of Hinduism, notorious for its practice of eating human flesh and using human remains in its rituals. Dating back to the fifth century, the tribe moves between India and Nepal, with its people living among the cremation grounds along the banks of the holy river, where bodies are routinely burned and scattered into its sacred waters. Such funeral rites are often carried out here on account of the families of the dead being unable to afford more expensive ceremonies. Members of the Aghori use some of these remains cast out into the Ganges for their own practices, which have been captured in striking photographs over the years. One chilling image, captured in a 2018 series, shows a man as he tipped his head back and raised his hands before drinking from the mouth of a real human skull. Based in the northern Indian city of Varanasi, the Aghori are known as the most feared 'cannibal cult' in India and Nepal. Pictured: An Aghori tribesman is pictured in 2018 with a red-stained skull sitting on his head. His skin is covered in a grey-white dust The Aghori have chosen Varanasi as their home on account of its location - on the banks of the Ganges River - on account of it being where many go to perform the last rites for their dead Dating back to the fifth century, the tribe moves between India and Nepal, with its people living among the cremation grounds along the banks of the holy river, where bodies are routinely burned and scattered into its sacred waters In another picture, a man is seen sitting down with a red human skull perched on top of his own - his face covered in an eerie white dust. The tribe's monks use herbal drinks, alcohol and meditation in their rituals, we all as human flesh. The white dust is believed to be human ashes. Polish photographer, Jan Skwara, 38, was travelling through Varanasi when he captured the pictures. He gave details on the tribe at the time. Whilst they worship the Hindu deity of destruction, Shiva, Aghori practices are seen as being contradictory to orthodox Hinduism. Shiva, it is believed, resides in cremation grounds - explaining why the Aghori live among them. Jan said the Aghori believe in asceticism - a lifestyle in which one denies themselves of sensual pleasures choosing instead to pursue spiritual goals. 'It is said that the Aghori exist in the space between life and death. They usually live close to crematory grounds and collect 'human oil' from corpses,' Jan said in 2018. 'Post-mortem practices are considered to be filthy in Hinduism but the Aghori disagree with this. They have their own belief system built upon providing offerings to their God and consuming polluted things like human flesh, excrement, or toxins. 'There are many Aghori who choose not to partake in these ancient traditions. Instead, they engage in positive social change - even a former president of India was Aghori. However, others live outside of society pushing asceticism to the extreme. A member of the Aghori tribe is seen tipping water from a skull in this 2018 photograph 'The Aghori don't like visitors - especially tourists - as their lives are concentrated on praying and meditation.' However, Jan said he was able to visit them after he met a young man who was a former member of the tribe. Aghori people only eat the flesh of deceased corpses and often also use bodies as altars to forge a connection to the sect's deities. Asceticism promotes ridding yourself of passion, lust, and shame. For this reason, Aghori people wear very little clothing as a way to rid themselves of any shame. They are also not interested in receiving any fame or notoriety. 'It was difficult to find anyone who could take me to see them. I must confess, it is scary to see all of the skulls,' Jan said. 'They behave strangely - sometimes screaming or running around. Aghori rituals may seem shocking to Western people but they are largely accepted. 'It's hard to describe the Aghori as their philosophy is so complex. There are no rules to how they should behave. Many follow their own individual paths.' A spotlight was shone on the group in 2015 when CNN broadcaster Reza Aslan courted controversy by visiting the group and taking part in a ritual. He met a number of the monks from the tribe and was filmed eating human brain while taking part in a ritual. He left the network soon after. The Aghori themselves have faced criticism and scepticism in India. Polish photographer, Jan Skwara, 38, was travelling through Varanasi in 2018, when he encountered this Aghori sect and began to document their reclusive lifestyle One worshipper's home used an empty coffin as a shelving unit, and a gym bag of collected human skulls are seen at the foot of his bed Tamara Merino, another photographer who spent time with the tribe in 2016, said this was largely because they were misunderstood. 'The Aghor see beauty and light in everything, and they don't feel fear, hate or disgust. They follow a path of non-discrimination,' she said. 'With the consumption of human flesh, they affirm that nothing is profane or separate from God, because for them a corpse lacks the soul it once had. 'Despite their extreme practices and lifestyle, a true Aghor will keep himself away from killing, and will never hurt or damage anybody.' The Asmat The Asmat tribe are an ethnic group living in New Guinea, occupying 10,000 square miles of jungle swap in Indonesia's province of South Papua. They were first encountered by Europeans when the Dutch came across them in 1623 - however they remained almost entirely isolated from other ethnic groups until the 1950s, when they came into more regular contact with outsiders. Until then, it was well known that the tribe - often complete with face paint, headdresses and spears - were feared headhunters and cannibals. As a result, they were left well enough alone for many years. The Asmat tribe are an ethnic group living in New Guinea, occupying 10,000 square miles of jungle swap in Indonesia's province of South Papua A member of the Asmat tribe is seen in face paint and a headdress, in this 1976 photograph Asmat people are seen standing on rafts in this photograph taken in 1976 While the Asmat tribes were ferocious headhunters, they have also made stunning wooden sculptures (rubbed with the blood of those they killed) as well as hauntingly beautiful decorated skulls. These they collected from tribal foes, having eaten their brains in a sacred ritual they believed would give them the dead men's power. Their bloodthirsty way of life revolved around endless revenge attacks against neighbouring villages. Each time a tribe member was killed, he had to be avenged by taking the skull of an enemy - whether man, woman or child. The skulls of their victims are believed to be used in cooking. Journalist Carl Hoffman wrote of the group: 'They shook the brains out onto the leaf of a palm, scraped inside the skull with a knife to get every last bite, then mixed the mass with sago, wrapped the leaf up, and roasted it on the fire. 'This food was special,' he added. His writing on the tribe was in relation to an unusual mystery involving Michael C. Rockefeller, the 23-year old son of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and future Vice President - who is believed to have gone missing. His disappearance sparked the biggest hunt ever launched in the South Pacific at the time. But since Rockefeller disappeared during a trip to collect primitive art from one of the remotest corners of the planet, rumours swirled about his fate. The official explanation advanced by the former colony's Dutch rulers was that he drowned after he tried to swim to shore from his capsized boat. Others insisted he met a more horrible fate - killed and eaten by cannibals seeking revenge on white men for a Dutch attack on their village. Asmat people in the Papua province of Indonesia, along the Arafura Sea. A mother and her children children are pictured in the Village of Pirien in this photograph taken by Francois Gohier in 1976 It is this theory that was put forward by Hoffman in his 2014 book 'Savage Harvest' in which he claims that Rockefeller was brutally killed and eaten by the tribe. The Asmat remain relatively isolated today, and their traditions are strong. That being said, their interactions with the outside world have been increasing in recent decades. Some have received higher education in Indonesia and Europe, and they have found ways to incorporate new technology into their way of life. Despite their reputation for bloodshed, their artwork - particularly their woodcarvings - is sought by collectors worldwide. The Korowai Like the Asmat, the Korowai also hail from Indonesia's Papua - from southeastern Papua in the Indonesian provinces of South Papua and Highland Papua. They number around 4,000 to 4,400 people and - according to the Daily Telegraph - were unaware of the existence of people other than themselves until the late 1970s. The majority of the Korowai tribe members live in treehouses in their isolated forest territory, but some have moved into villages since the 1980s. Ever since they were discovered, the tribe have been rumoured to be cannibals who live in treetop houses. A Korowai tribesman uses a bow with a long arrow in this photo taken in 2006 The Korowai number around 4,000 to 4,400 people and - according to the Daily Telegraph - were unaware of the existence of people other than themselves until the late 1970s Members of the tribe today still encourage such stories when asked by Western visitors, but while they certainly once lived among the branches, there is limited evidence to support claims they ate human flesh. Their first documented contact with the outside world was when a group of scientists met with members of one clan in 1974. An Australian reporter later claimed the tribe practised cannibalism but this has been disputed by some. And while the Korowai previously lived in communal tree houses high up in the jungle canopy, the clans have increasingly moved into settled villages. Last year, the tribe was the subject of a BBC blunder when a film team following up on the 2011 series Human Planet discovered that the tree houses had been built for the benefit of the show - and were not lived in by the tribe. In BBC Two's My Year With The Tribe last year, Adventurer Will Millard visited the Korowai where during a trip to a treehouse they told him the raised houses 'are not our home' and that they were 'commissioned for filming'. 'What I found when we got to Korowai territory was that, actually, in the more contacted, accessible places, there was something of a Korowai tourist economy going on, where they were putting on a performance for the benefit of rich tourists,' Mr Millard said at the time. A Korowai tribesman uses his teeth to secure a knot on his improvised tool. The Korowai do not have access to many modern medicines The BBC later released a statement saying it 'breached editorial standards' by inaccurately portraying the life of the Korowai. The Korowai do not have access to many modern medicines and diseases are treated with herbs, so the mortality rate is typically very high. Not having the relevant scientific knowledge, the tribe reportedly believed that deaths are caused by 'khakhua' or demons that take the human form. Some say that anyone killed by a 'demon' was eaten by the remaining tribe members, a curious revenge ritual to protect the rest of the Korowai people, although this has been disputed. Certain anthropologists believe that clans in the tribe have perpetuated the myth of cannibalism to promote interest and tourism. However, Australian journalist Paul Raffaele - who was the first Western man to infiltrate the Letin clan - an offshoot of the Korowai tribe, reported that he did witness some of its members eating human flesh. In an interview with Vice in 2014, he said: 'For the Korowai, if someone falls out of a tree house or is killed in battle then the reason for their death is pretty obvious. 'But they don't understand microbes and germs (which the rain forests are rife with) so when somebody dies mysteriously to them (of a disease), they believe it is due to a khakhua, a witch man who comes from the netherworld. 'A khakhua possesses the body of a man (it can never be a woman) and begins to magically eat their insides, according to logic of the Melanesian imperative you must pay back in kind. They must eat the khakhua as it ate the person who died. It is part of their revenge based justice system.' A Korowai tribesman is seen climbing a ladder while being photographed He described how he met a man named Kili-Kili, who was the 'most notorious khakhua killer'. The man showed Raffaele the skull of a man who was killed. The journalist said the tribe 'steam everything with an oven made from leaves and rocks. They treat it like they would the flesh of a pig. 'They cut off the legs separately and wrap them in banana leaves. They cut off the head and that goes to the person who found the khakhua. 'That's why Kili-Kili had the skull,' he said. The Sentinelese With their poison arrows, knives, spears, clubs, axes and rocks, the Sentinelese are a people that perhaps best fits the image most have of a remote, isolated tribe. Infact, the Sentinelese tribe - hailing from the tiny island of North Sentinel in the Bay of Bengal - has become known as the world's last Stone Age tribe, and remain one of the world's few remaining 'uncontacted peoples'. This means that we know tantalisingly little about their language, culture, belief system - or even how many of them there are alive today. What we do know is that they have lived happily and largely healthily on their tiny, lush, 20-square-mile island for at least 30,000 years - and possibly even longer. A Sentinelese man aims with his bow and arrow at an Indian Coast Guard helicopter as it flies over the island for a survey of the damage caused by the tsunami in 2004 The Sentinelese tribe has attacked almost everyone who has entered their territory. Pictured: the tribes people are seen wielding arrows on the island John Allen Chau (pictured) was killed by arrows shot by protected tribesmen living on a remote Indian island after he arrived there in a bid to convert them to Christianity During that time they have mostly lived off wild pigs, clams, berries and honey and engaged in energetic communal sex sessions on the beach. At the same time, they have repelled pretty much every visitor (well-meaning or threatening) with a flurry of poison arrows and razor sharp machetes. It came as little surprise then that John Allen Chau, a 26-year-old American Christian missionary-cum-thrill-seeking explorer, met his end on the island in 2018. He visited the island that year and was felled by a poison arrow, before being dragged round the white sand beaches by a piece of twine until he was dead. Apparently Chau, a graduate of the evangelical Oral Roberts University, Oklahoma, who had previously declared visiting North Sentinel as his 'must-do adventure', had decided his life's calling was converting the Sentinelese to Christianity. But his fate made it clear why the Indian government has made it illegal for anyone to go within five nautical miles of the islands. Even filming the natives in the Andaman Islands - which include North Sentinel - was made illegal in 2017. This is partly to protect visitors such as Chau, from the natives' deadly tendencies. But it is also to ensure the continued survival of the world's last pre-neolithic tribe who are a people that are so isolated they are unlikely to have any resistance to common illnesses such as flu, measles or even a cold. The Sentinelese attracted international attention in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami, when a member of the tribe was photographed on a beach, firing arrows at a helicopter (pictured) It was for a long time thought that the Sentinelese were cannibals. However, this has also been disputed. A 2006 analysis of the tribe by the Indian Government following the death of two fishermen on the island found that they did not eat the two men. 'The Sentinelese not eating the deceased is a contradiction to the common belief that these tribes are cannibals,' the report said. It is believed that the misconception grew from a misunderstanding about a neighbouring tribe - the Onge - who cut up their dead and burned their flesh to prevent them from being consumed by evil spirits. TV chef Rick Stein bit off more than he could chew when he launched his latest bid to expand his empire in the Cornish fishing town he has been accused of trying to take over. Stein, 77, was forced to abandon plans to build a rooftop extension on his flagship Seafood Restaurant in Padstow after the proposals left locals gently simmering. The multi-millionaire runs a 16 bedroom hotel from the establishment which has spectacular views over the harbour and the Camel Estuary. Stein wanted to replace a rooftop terrace which had been popular with diners with a large extra en-suite room at the property, parts of which date back to the 19th Century. The restaurateur said the terrace had not been used since the start of the Covid pandemic and staff shortages meant it had not been possible to reopen it since then. Rick Stein, 77, was forced to abandon plans to build a rooftop extension on his flagship Seafood Restaurant in Padstow Rick Stein owns five restaurants in Padstow which are popular amongst tourists Stein wanted to replace a rooftop terrace which had been popular with diners at The Seafood Restaurant with a large extra en-suite room at the property Proposed east view of the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow if the plans went ahead He commissioned a detailed 56-page heritage assessment report highlighting how the proposals would serve to conserve and enhance the Conservation Area the building is set in. But Stein withdrew his application after conservation experts and the local council disagreed and insisted the development would be out of character for the town. Fed-up locals have told how the town should be renamed Padstein due to the large number of businesses the chef has set up there. He was accused by locals of trying to take over Padstow after setting up Rick Steins Cafe, Rubys Bar, St Petrocs Bistro, Steins Fish and Chips, The Cornish Arms and a fishmonger - all in the upmarket coastal town. Stein, who is estimated to be worth 32 million, has a string of other outlets in the area as well as in other parts of the UK and even Australia where he spends much of his time. Existing east view of the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall as it is now It all began with the Seafood Restaurant which he opened in 1975 with his then wife Jill. As well as food, the Stein group make much of their money from his property empire and prices start at 215-a-night to stay in the Seafood Restaurant which overlooks the historic harbour. Two of Steins other restaurants in Padstow also have hotel rooms while St Edmunds House, which nestles behind the Seafood Restaurant in the centre of Padstow, is run as a six-bedroomed luxury hotel and he also owns Prospect House in the heart off the town which has four hotel rooms. He also owns shepherds huts in the nearby village of St Merryn and farms and cottages across Cornwall which can be booked by holiday makers. Late last year, the chef submitted his extension plans to replace the open dining area with the new letting room made of pre-aged grey timber with extensive glazing along one side.' The celebrity chef, 77, has withdrawn the planning application following complaints by conservation experts The heritage statement submitted to the council said: At present the area is a roofed terrace previously used as an additional dining area for the restaurant. It has not been used for this purpose since the start of the Covid pandemic and staff shortages have meant it was not possible to reopen it since then. It is considered that the proposal would have no impact on the location or setting of the locality and that the proposal would conserve and enhance the conservation area. But experts who were consulted as part of the planning application took a different view. Padstow Council did not support the application, describing it as out of character with the street scene in the Conservation Area and saying materials were not in keeping with existing buildings. They added that the rooftop addition would also be visible from all angles. Fed-up locals have told how Padstow should be renamed Padstein after the celebrity chef. Pictured: Aerial panorama view of the town and beach from Rock on The Camel Estuary Historic Environment Planning (HPP) officials also hit out at the proposals. They said: HEP are concerned over the siting, design and finish of the new structure. Currently the second floor is recessed and as such the existing wide glazing here is discrete and not very discernible at street level. Due to the siting of the new structure towards the front of the building, the full width east facing glazing would be very evident in the street scene and this is not sympathetic to the character of the Conservation Area or to the existing traditionally proportioned windows of the ground and first floor of the building. Likewise, the new flat roof form would be very visible at street level where presently the upper flat roof element is set back and recessive. Additionally, we find the use of grey timber cladding would not harmonise with the existing traditional material palette of the host building. Overall, the addition is not considered to assimilate well with the host building or be a positive addition within this sensitive context. As such we find the proposals would not preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the Padstow Conservation Area. Stein (pictured with his wife Sarah) said the terrace had not been used since the start of the Covid pandemic A spokeswoman for the Steins did not comment. Stein met first wife Jill in Padstow and they married the year they opened the Seafood Restaurant. They are still in business together along with their three sons, Edward, Jack and Charles. Stein married second wife Sarah Burns following a five-year affair in October 2011. They met when Sarah, then his Australian publicist, was working on a book tour he was doing Down Under. In February, Stein candidly told how he believes he 'isn't going to last that much longer' after having open heart surgery. Stein said that while he had fully recovered from the procedure, the traumatic experience has made him aware of his mortality. He said that despite this, he is determined to live life to the full and enjoy the time he has. In an interview with The Times, he said: Having had the operation and recovered, the improvement in my health has left me tremendously optimistic. Even though at my age and with the normal realities of life Im not going to last that much longer, I think as long as youve got your health and youre optimistic generally and enjoying your life, you dont tend to ponder too much about how little life youve got left. Stein said that he was hit with the realisation that there was a chance he could not make it through the operation and would be none the wiser due to the anaesthetic. He explained how he was stopped in his tracks ahead of his operation and said that it gave him a chance to review his life. Steins thriving business took a huge hit after Covid and in 2022 he lost more than 1.2million. He blamed the loss on the lasting effects of the pandemic, less visitors to Cornwall and soaring fish and energy costs. Steins umbrella company The Seafood Restaurant (Padstow) which includes restaurants, hotels, online and high street shops and a cookery school also reported losses of 347,000 last year compared with a 3.8million profit in 2022. But Companies House documents show the holding company still has 14.5million in its coffers and Stein insisted his business was in good health. He allegedly played his victims like a fiddle and stole $300,000 worth of violins before robbing a bank - all to support his gambling habit. Federal prosecutors said Mark Meng, 57, posed as a serious collector and targeted businesses all over the U.S. to pull off the scheme to steal five antique instruments. Among the high-end instruments was a 1823 Lorenzo Ventapane violin valued at $175,000 alone. Meng allegedly 'gained the trust of these stores by representing himself as a collector, and in some cases, he purchased violin bows before asking for violin trial periods,' according to the complaint obtained by DailyMail.com. The FBI was already investigating the Irvine, California, man for the thefts when he allegedly decided to rob a bank on April 2, officials said. Prosecutors said Meng robbed a US Bank branch in Irvine on April 2 and approached the teller with a note that read, '$18,000. Withdraw. Please. Stay Cool! No harm. Thx.' Mark Meng, 57, could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted of the wire fraud and robbery charges Surveillance footage allegedly shows Meng robbing a U.S. Bank branch on Barranca Parkway in Irvine, according to police Irvine Police released surveillance footage from inside the bank that showed a man in disguise nervously pushing a note to the teller. The man in the surveillance video - later identified as Meng - wore a bandana to cover his face, blue medical gloves and a dark T-shirt with 'USA' emblem across the chest. Prosecutors said the teller noticed the robber 'appeared to be shaking and nervous as he slipped her the note.' When she told him she didn't have the $18,000 he wanted, Meng allegedly said, 'Give me whatever you have!' The teller then handed a wad of cash to the robber, who then ran out of the bank and drove off in a white Toyota Sienna minivan. Investigators who served a search warrant at Meng's Irvine home said they found various evidence linking him to the robbery, including the USA T-shirt. Prosecutors said Meng got away with a total of $446 during the April 2 robbery. However, they also claim Meng already knew he was being investigated by the FBI for wire fraud, according to the criminal complaint. The 57-year-old Irvine man was also allegedly caught running out of the bank and getting into a white mini van, which detectives later connected to Meng Investigators said between August 2020 through April 2023, Meng masterminded a scheme to steal several high-end violins. The alleged con man traveled to Virginia on January 2023 and found a violin collector who owned two rare violins - the 1823 Loranzo Ventapane and a Giulio Degani from 1903, worth $175,000 and $55,000 respectively. Meng also said he would buy three bows at $5,000 and needed to take the two violins for a 'trial' period. He negotiated a price of $235,234 and sent a check to the shop dated March 5, 2023. When the check bounced, Meng allegedly stopped answering the shop owner's calls. Prosecutors allege Mark Meng's violin scheme ran from August 2020 through April 2023 Meng allegedly touted himself as a collector and told owners of rare violin shops he needed to take the instruments for a trial period to decide if he wanted to make the purchase Meng then resold the Degani violin to a dealer in Los Angeles, who paid $16,000, according to the complaint. Just like the other scheme, he also allegedly 'borrowed' and resold three more violins and bows and never returned them to the collectors. He is accused of stealing a Caressa & Bernardel violin, dated 1870 and worth $60,000, and another from 1913 valued at $40,000. Investigators said Meng used checks that were processed with servers located outside of California. Agents interviewed Meng's roommates, who said the 57-year old 'liked to gamble,' while his wife spent half of the year in California and the other half in China. Agents also interviewed a woman who identified herself as Meng's girlfriend, who said she had to co-sign to purchase the van because 'he did not have good credit.' Meng told detectives that on April 2 - the day of the bank robbery - he went to Starbucks, Harrah's casino and Costco. Mark Meng also posed as a businessman and listed himself as the CEO of an Irvine-based company Irvine Police arrested Meng on April 11. He could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted of the wire fraud and robbery charges, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Meng not only posed as a legitimate dealer and collector of fine instruments. He listed himself as the CEO, secretary and CFO of a corporation called Alton Global Holdings, according to documents obtained by DailyMail.com. Meng listed his Irvine home as headquarters of this company, which was suspended by the Franchise Tax Board as of last month. Federal prosecutors filed a request on May 7 asking the judge to keep the alleged collector con man behind bars because they believe he is a 'flight risk.' He will remain in lockup at least until his next hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. 'I've joked that I'm the prodigal daughter to him,' Mace told DailyMail.com Nancy Mace and Donald Trump's relationship has come a long way since when he called her 'crazy,' a 'terrible person' and endorsed her primary opponent. Having flipped and endorsed Mace this cycle, Trump and the colorful South Carolina Republican now 'joke' about their former hatred of each other, she said. 'We make light of it, it's kind of funny. I've joked that I'm the prodigal daughter to him,' Mace told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. 'I like to build relationships, not burn them down.' Trump had endorsed Mace - now locked in a high-dollar primary - weeks after she snubbed one-time friend Nikki Haley to back him. She and the president now maintain regular contact, and Mace said she'd 'love' to see him choose South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott as his vice president. 'He got me going to church five years ago, and he's just an amazing human. He's gonna do wonderful things.' Mace is one of eight Republicans who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and is now facing his wrath, she believes, in primary challenger Catherine Templeton. Mace, R-S.C., speaks at a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. Nancy Mace and Donald Trump's relationship has come a long way since when he called her 'crazy,' a 'terrible person' and endorsed her primary opponent EXCLUSIVE Nancy Mace accuses former staffers of 'sabotage' Mace with her staff in 2023 Advertisement 'We project [McCarthy] is going to spend between he will spend between $4 and 5 million in the primary to try to buy this seat.' Mace said the former speaker's political career is 'down the tubes' and he's now taken to extracting vengeance on the Republicans who voted to oust him. 'He's going against Donald Trump the nominee, he's going against the party, as I'm the incumbent. And he's doing this to I think, divide the party, destroy the party. And it's very detrimental,' the congresswoman said. Mace is defending her Charleston-area seat against frontrunner Templeton, a former state agency head, and political newcomer Bill Young. Mace said Templeton's deeply conservative views and anti-abortion stance would lose them the general election if she was successful in a primary. 'She was the last person they asked and the only one who said yes,' said Mace. 'I don't tow the party line,' she said. 'Forty percent of our electorate are independent voters ... I represent a pro-choice district.' 'McCarthy put up someone against me who's on record opposing all exceptions. Opposing rape exceptions, incest, exceptions, opposing exceptions for life of the mother. So if you're a young woman with an ectopic pregnancy, she's okay with you dying. She's okay. She's on record saying you should die, basically.' Mace is one of eight Republicans who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and is now facing his wrath, she believes, in primary challenger Catherine Templeton Mace is defending her Charleston-area seat against frontrunner Templeton, a former state agency head, above, and political newcomer Bill Young Mace has made a name for herself on women's issues. 'We have such a slim majority anyway, and [McCarthy] did a s***y job in the 22 cycle. We lost seats we should have won, had we not buried our hat head in the sand on abortion post-Roe.' Capitol Hill life was 'lonely' after she voted to boot McCarthy, Mace said. But she saw it as a 'unifying event' - every Republican came out behind now-Speaker Mike Johnson after three frenzied, speakerless weeks. Since then, Johnson has lost more GOP votes than McCarthy in a motion to vacate - 11 to McCarthy's eight - but held onto his job thanks to help from Democrats. Mace once said Trump's 'entire legacy was wiped out' during the January 6, 2021 riot. She told staff she wanted to get punched in the face by rioters so she could be 'the face of the anti-Trump movement.' Rep. Nancy Mace pictured with Donald Trump when she worked on his campaign in 2016 - before being blacklisted Trump, in turn, has called her a 'grandstanding loser' and a 'RINO' 'Frankly, she is despised by almost everyone, and who needs that in Congress, or in the Republican Party?' Trump said in a statement while endorsing her opponent Katie Arrington in 2022. DailyMail.com reported that she was blacklisted from his events in 2016 after working for his campaign. But Mace now says Trump 'respects' her for the exact reason they were antagonists in the past - that she doesn't just go along with her party. 'It gets me in trouble when I go against the grain sometimes, but my voters in my district, in my state, don't want me to tow the party line. And I think he respects that.' 'When you go against the establishment like I have, I stand out like a sore thumb.' A decade ago, former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates famously declared that Joe Biden, 'has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.' Secretary Gates you'll never believe what Joe's done now. President Biden has made, perhaps, his most incompetent policy blunder yet (at least since his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan). In an interview Wednesday, Biden threatened to block the transfer of U.S. weapons to Israel, if the Jewish State launches a military operation against Hamas's last remaining stronghold in southern Gaza. His ultimatum comes nearly seven months to the day of the October 7 slaughter and after the White House admitted they had already secretly halted the delivery of bunker-busting bombs that Israel requires to root out terrorists hiding in deeply buried underground tunnels. Indeed, the mastermind of the Hamas massacre, Yahya Sinwar, is believed to be sheltering in these tunnels cynically dug beneath the feet of about 1.3 million Palestinians. It's not only layers of concrete, dirt and sand that shield these terrorists from the Israeli military. These monsters hide under women and children. But Biden blames Israel. It's not only layers of concrete, dirt and sand that shield these terrorists from the Israeli military. These monsters hide under women and children. (Above) Palestinian children in Central Gaza on May 11 Indeed, the mastermind of the Hamas massacre, Yahya Sinwar (above), is believed to be sheltering in these tunnels cynically dug beneath the feet of about 1.3 million Palestinians. In an interview Wednesday, Biden threatened to block the transfer of U.S. weapons to Israel , if the Jewish State launches a military operation against Hamas 's last remaining stronghold in southern Gaza . 'Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those [U.S.] bombs,' Biden told CNN's Erin Burnett. 'it's just wrong.' Consider the impact of this new Biden Doctrine: It is nothing less than an endorsement of Hamas's use of human shields. The President's message to terrorists the world over is that if they embed themselves in mosques, schools, hospitals, homes and refugee camps, the United States of America will protect them. What an appalling new precedent - and it didn't need to be this way. There were many viable policy alternatives that President Biden could have pursued before validating Hamas's strategy of maximizing civilian casualties. BLOCK AID FOR EGYPT, NOT ARMS FOR ISRAEL Instead of cutting off arms transfers to Israel, the Biden administration could have leveraged $1 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Egypt to force President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to take Gazan refugees. Egypt has all the capability necessary to temporarily shelter Palestinians in the vast empty spaces of the Sinai Peninsula the region just West of Rafah and nearly the size of West Virginia. This would allow for the evacuation of civilians and the final defeat of Hamas before the phased return of Palestinians to Gaza. To date, Egypt has refused to accept refugees because el-Sisi sees elements of the Palestinian population, especially the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Hamas, as an extremist threat to his rule. Egypt has all the capability necessary to temporarily shelter Palestinians in the vast empty spaces of the Sinai Peninsula the region just West of Rafah and nearly the size of West Virginia. Instead of cutting off arms transfers to Israel, the Biden administration could have leveraged $1 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Egypt to force President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (above, right) to take Gazan refugees. Western government officials have told the Foundation for Defense of Democracies that several Gulf States have even offered el-Sisi an additional $40 billion in economic aid to open Egypt's northern border to Palestinian refugees. Still, he has not budged. American pressure would surely change that calculus. U.S. aid to Egypt should be made conditional on Cairo alleviating the humanitarian suffering in Gaza. And el-Sisi should be held accountable for allowing Hamas, for years, to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza exacerbating the current crisis. PUT MOSSAD TARGETS ON HAMAS LEADERS While Palestinians suffer under the thumb of Hamas the terror group's leadership lives in luxury more than one thousand miles away in the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. Today, Hamas's political chief Ismail Haniyeh and his commanders living in Doha, Qatar are estimated to be worth $11 billion. They stand in the way of an immediate temporary Israeli ceasefire by refusing to release 132 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. But perversely, President Biden rewarded Qatar by naming the country a 'major non-NATO U.S. Ally' in 2022, despite its harboring of Hamas, which was designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. as far back as 1997. Today, Hamas's political chief Ismail Haniyeh (seated above right) and his commanders living in Doha, Qatar are estimated to be worth $11 billion The U.S. should give Doha a two-week deadline: Convince your Hamas guests to release the hostages back or the Biden administration will revoke Qatar's major non-NATO status and designate Qatar as a state sponsor of terrorism. In the long term, the U.S. should be pressuring Qatar's Emir to expel Hamas's leadership altogether then let Mossad deal with them. STRANGLE HAMAS'S PATRONS The Islamic Republic of Iran sends $100 million to Hamas, $700 million to Hezbollah, and tens of millions to Islamic Jihad every year, according to Israel. President Biden can take steps today to choke off this terror-funding pipeline. First, the White House could end its policy of appeasement toward Iran by halting the release of billions of dollars in oil funds, which were frozen during the Trump administration. These monies fund the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and terror proxies throughout the Middle East. Secondly, the administration can do more to shut down the stream of illicit oil sale revenues that continue to flow into Iran. For example, Malaysia's Prime Minister, who refused to condemn the October 7 massacre, has vowed to maintain ties to Hamas even if that leaves Kuala Lumpur vulnerable to Western sanctions. The U.S. Treasury Department has found that Malaysia is buying oil from Tehran is clear defiance of sanctions. President Biden should make an example of Malaysia by cracking down on this illicit trade that fuels international terrorism. In contrast, the White House has taken a different approach and abandoned an ally in the process. Maybe it's all about presidential politics: Biden has been desperate to rid himself of the 'Genocide Joe' label affixed to him by Hamas sympathizers inside and outside of the Democratic Party. He hopes that by betraying Israel, he will win back far-left supporters who threaten to withhold their support for him in November. But this cynical strategy is fated to fail. Biden won't mollify the 'From the River to the Sea' radicals on American campuses, bring the war in Gaza to a speedier conclusion or secure the release of a single hostage, alive or dead. However, he has established a perverse new doctrine that generations of Americans will come to regret. Mark Dubowitz is Foundation for Defense of Democracies' chief executive. Ben Cohen is an FDD senior analyst Barron Trump's voice was heard for the first time in a short video taken at a Mar-a-Lago event, ending years of speculation over what the former first son sounds like. In the video posted to X, formerly Twitter, Donald Trump's youngest child greets a guest and can be heard speaking to him. The video's viewers were amazed to hear Barron's voice finally, and many people were shocked by how similar he sounded to his father, Donald Trump. 'Impressed with this?' Barron seems to ask the guest, in reference to the swanky event taking place in a Mar-a-Lago ballroom. At one point in the video, the camera pans and for a moment, former President Trump is visible next to one of the dining tables. Barron Trump, 18, was heard speaking for the first time in a video taken at an event at Mar-a-Lago Barron has always been reticent, leaving people speculating over what is voice sounded like Although Barron is only 18, his voice seemed to have a deep and husky timbre, which surprised listeners. For years, people have theorized what Barron, who is 6'7 feet tall, sounded like, but he always appeared reticent, and his voice remained a mystery. The X.com video is captioned 'FINALLY. Now I know what he sounds like.' Commenters expressed a similar sense of joy at finally hearing Barron's voice. 'He sounds like Don Jr.' one person wrote. Another X.com user agreed, commenting, 'Sounds like his brothers.' Other viewers felt that Barron resembled the character Greg, from HBO's hit show Succession. 'Cousin Greg?' One user wrote. Viewers of the video were amazed by how much Barron sounded like his father, Donald Trump Other viewers thought that Barron, who is 6'7, resembled Cousin Greg, from HBO's Succession 'He sounds like Cousin Greg' another person noted. Barron, who is set to graduate from high school in May, could soon make his own foray into politics. Evan Power, chairman of the Republican Party in Florida, recently announced that Barron had the option to represent the state as one of 41 at-large delegates at the Republican National Convention in July. However, Barron declined the offer earlier today, citing 'prior commitments.' In a statement to Dailymail.com on her son's behalf, Melania said: 'While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitment.' The former first lady did not furnish any further details, and it remains unclear whether or not Barron will attend the convention in a non-representative capacity. Previously kept in the shadows, Barron seems to be assuming a much larger role in his father's 2024 bid for the White House. Barron is Trump's youngest son. Listeners thought his voice sounded like his older brother Donald Jr.'s Of late, the political scion has been fraternizing with numerous high-profile conservative personalities. Barron even invited Iranian-American entrepreneur Patrick Bet-David, 45, to dinner at Mar-a-Lago. On his podcast, Bet-David spoke effusively of his dinner with young Trump, praising him as a consummate host who told entertaining stories. The entrepreneur further complimented Barron's manners, modesty, and striking appearance. Bet-David said that Trump's youngest was prepared to enter the political arena. On X.com, people who commented on the video noted Barron's entrance into politics. Barron has been socializing with many high-profile conservative personalities, leading many experts to suspect that he will be assuming a larger role in the 2024 campaign One user expressed regret, writing, 'I really wish Barron had stayed out of politics.' Another asked: 'Now that he has entered politics, is he fair game?' One commenter celebrated Barron's decision and suggested that grand things lay in store for young Trump. 'I predict that Barron Trump will be huge in politics and maybe even president.' Seven teens were arrested overnight after allegedly assaulting McDonalds and Uber staff before stealing one of the rideshare driver's cars. Queensland Police were called to a Chermside McDonald's on Hamilton Road in Brisbane around midnight on Friday morning. Two Uber drivers were allegedly assaulted in the parking lot before one ran inside the restaurant where police say the group followed him and started another fight. The store manager, a woman in her 20s, and an employee, 19, were also assaulted by the teenagers who then allegedly stole the other Uber driver's grey Toyota Camry and fled. Police caught the group in Goodna, 34km south of Chermside, after deploying road spikes on Brisbane Road and chasing them on foot in Bertha Street at 1:40am. Seven teenagers were arrested in Goodna, Brisbane, in the early hours of Friday morning after they allegedly assaulted two Uber drivers and two McDonald's staff Calcifer Gan, who lives next door to the Chermside McDonald's, said she heard a lot of screeching and shouting before the car took off around midnight. [I heard] people screaming and then a car screeching. Five minutes later there was more screeching and some people yelling and then they were gone again, Ms Gan told 9News. Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Ben Marcus said the Uber drivers and McDonald's staff only received minor injures and did not require treatment. After fleeing the scene police chased the teens from Chermside through Clayfield, Nundah and South Brisbane before they eventually attempted fleeing on foot in Goodna. Police used the dog squad to track down the teens before arresting them. Queensland Police chased them through several suburbs after the group allegedly stole an Uber driver's grey Toyota Camry A 15-year-old Chermside West girl has been charged with armed robbery in company, attempted robbery, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and two counts of common assault. She was denied bail and was due to appear in a children's court today. The other six teenagers, aged between 13 and 15, have been charged with the same offences but were released on bai. They are due to appear in a children's court next week. Meanwhile, another alleged attack involving an Uber driver took place in Melbourne on Friday night. Victorian Police allege five teenagers were collected by a 62-year-old Point Cook man driving a Mercedes SUV on Cloverdale Road in Tarneit. Five minutes into the trip police allege one of the teens jumped out of the car, opened the driver's door and allegedly attacked the driver. The man was treated in hospital for minor injuries and the teenagers were tracked down by police using the Air Wing and the canine unit to hunt them on foot. All five offenders are assisting police with inquiries. Armed police have shot a crossbow attacker in High Wycombe after an officer was shot in the leg and a man in his sixties was stabbed in a quiet neighbourhood. Units descended on the village of Downley yesterday at around 6pm following reports of a 54-year-old man armed wielding a crossbow. When armed police arrived, the man in question shot a police officer with the weapon. He was then shot and arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and has been taken to hospital under police supervision with potentially life-changing injuries. A man in his sixties suffered a stab wound and was taken to hospital but has since been discharged. A video taken by a local resident shows a dog handler and a police car arriving at Downley, north of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire after reports of a crossbow wielding attacker Armed police units descended on the village of Downley at around 6pm following reports a man in his sixties had been stabbed Armed police officers gather on the quiet, residential street in Buckinghamshire A video taken by a local resident shows armed police, a dog handler and a police car arriving at Downley, north of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. In the clip, a police officer shouts 'have you been shot?' and 'get into hard cover'. A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told Bucks Free Press there had been trouble on Wednesday night between neighbours and it was very loud but they were unsure what had happened. The local said that police were called and when they arrived, the neighbour shot one in the leg with his crossbow before being shot by police. Residents were told to stay away as roads were closed following the terrifying incident. Thames Valley Police officers are currently at School Close in Downley and a man is believed to have been taken away by ambulance. MailOnline has approached Thames Valley Police for comment. Thames Valley Police Assistant Chief Constable Tim Metcalfe said: 'We are currently dealing with a serious assault and weapons incident in High Wycombe. 'A man in his sixties suffered a stab wound at an address in School Lane, Downley, at around 6pm yesterday (10/5). Thames Valley Police officers searching the scene at School Close, Downley after reports a police officer was shot with a crossbow Police have cordoned off the area after they were called to a dispute where a cross-bow wielding neighbour fired at a police officer Medical equipment in a park near School Close in Downley. The area has been cordoned off and residents have been told to stay away Police using torches to investigate the scene where a local resident in High Wycombe allegedly shot a police officer with a crossbow 'Police officers attended and one was shot in the leg with a crossbow. He was taken to hospital but has since been discharged. 'Our thoughts are with the injured officer and we are doing everything to support him and his colleagues, as well as all others affected by the incident within the force. 'The assault victim has also been taken to hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries. Our thoughts are with him as well. 'A 54-year-old man from High Wycombe has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He has also been taken to hospital under police supervision with potentially life-changing injuries having been shot by an armed police officer during the incident. We are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident at this time. 'There is a large police presence in the area as a result but there is no ongoing threat to the wider public. Anyone with concerns should speak to a uniformed police officer. 'A large police cordon is in place so please avoid the area as best you can. 'I'd ask the public to avoid speculating about the incident and sharing footage on social media; instead send it to us via our website. 'We have also made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.' The City of San Francisco is handing out bottles of beer, glasses of wine and shots of vodka to homeless alcoholics - and spending $5m a year on the program. The alcoholic drinks are served by nurses as part of the city's 'managed alcohol program', which has been running for four years, as a way of taking care of vulnerable homeless people. The program is designed to curb the amount of alcohol homeless people drink. It still allows them some, but in a more managed way, in the hope of curbing their addiction in a controlled manner. Nurses assess patients and typically serve them the equivalent of 1-2 drinks between three and four times a day handing out either 1.7 ounces of vodka or liquor (about a shot), 5 ounces of wine (1 glass) or 12 ounces of beer - about three-quarters of a pint. Experts involved in the program say that it has actually helped to keep homeless alcoholics out of hospitals, jails, and even from dying. San Francisco's managed alcohol program provides beer and vodka shots to homeless alcoholics as part of a harm reduction strategy and operates out of this former hotel The program, running for four years, aims to curb excessive drinking among the homeless while preventing hospitalizations and deaths Despite criticisms about enabling addiction, officials argue it saves money by reducing emergency services usage. Pictured, a homeless man is seen on the sidewalk Before the program was set up, those who drank alcohol to excess were among the city's highest users of the emergency services. The program has doubled in size since it began in 2020. While at first there were 10 beds available for those suffering from alcoholism, there are now 20 beds available on the premises of a disused hotel in the Tenderloin District. But it comes at a cost, with the city pouring money into the program to the tune of $5 million a year as nurses serve shots of vodka and beer several times a day, based on 'patients' specific healthcare plans. The focus is not so much on insuring those taking part become completely sober, but improving their overall health drop by drop. While the program may be raising spirits among the homeless community, some residents appear to have learned of the city's efforts only recently and believe the taxpayer funded program to be money down the drain. Professor at the UCSF School of Nursing, Shannon Smith-Bernardin, helped set up the program in San Francisco Adam Nathan, CEO of an AI company and chair of the Salvation Army San Francisco's advisory board noted that drugs are not being handed out to drug addicts and so questions why would alcohol be given to alcoholics. 'The whole thing is very odd to me and just doesn't feel right. Providing free drugs to drug addicts doesn't solve their problems. It just stretches them out. Where's the recovery in all of this?', Nathan posted to X. The program's thinking is based around 'harm reduction' which looks to cut the negative health effects from alcohol and drug use rather than the complete cessation of such vices. Homelessness and deaths from overdoses have plagued the city in years gone by, but critics argue such programs only allow addictions to continue. The Salvation Army, which pushes for the complete abstinence of alcohol, has criticized the city for spending public funds on the initiative. Even San Francisco's own mayor, London Breed appears to be at odds with her own public health department, believing the technique of harm reduction was not actually reducing the harm, but making things far worse. 'Are we just going to manage people's addictions with our taxpayer dollars in perpetuity forever? It seems like that's basically what we're saying,' said Tom Wolf, who is in recovery for heroin addiction, to the San Francisco Chronicle. 'I think we should be spending that money on detox and recovery.' But a professor at the UCSF School of Nursing, Shannon Smith-Bernardin, who helped set up the program in San Francisco explained how the aim is to stabilize the amount of alcohol being used by the homeless people 'so they're not binge drinking or stopping drinking and having seizures and then start figuring out what's next.' Aside from pouring the pints, and serving the shots, the program also allows those taking part to receive medication and therapy in a further drive to reduce the alcohol cravings. Nathan has brought the program on his social media feed earlier this week, posting details of what he discovered after walking into the former hotel where the scheme operated. He was appalled by what he had seen. 'I'm no doctor or "expert" on issues of drug policy. But I am a taxpayer. When did this Managed Alcohol Program get approved? Where were the public hearings? Why is it hidden away in an old hotel? Who approved a $2 million budget for it?' Nathan asked on X. Even San Francisco's progressive mayor, London Breed appears to be at odds with her own public health department, believing the technique of harm reduction was not actually reducing the harm, but making things far worse 'While there have been some limited studies showing some promise, I have to point out a couple of things that troubled me,' Nathan continued. '1. The Department of Public Health is spending $2 million of taxpayer dollars to give free alcohol to mostly homeless people struggling with alcoholism. '2. It's set up so people in the program just walk in and grab a beer, and then another one. All day,' he explained. Public health officials have defended the program stressing that Nathan's tweets only served to mislead the public and misrepresent the program. Quite apart from wasting public money, public health officials in San Francisco stress the manage alcohol program has in fact, save the city $1.7 million over a period of six months in what would have otherwise been emergency room visits or hospital stays. Officials say that visits to the city's sobering center fell by 92 percent while emergency room visits dropped by over 70 percent. It is unclear if those who arrive for free booze are breathalyzed first to see if they've been drinking on their own, meaning they could potentially be too drunk for the freebie. More than 2,500 people were evacuated from Ukraine's Kharkiv border region following surprise Russian incursions that sparked fierce fighting, the region's governor said Saturday. Combat continued for a second day around five frontier villages across from Russia's Belgorod region, said Kharkiv's governor Oleh Syniehubov, Reuters reported. "As of now, the enemy keeps pressing in the north of our region. Our forces have repelled nine attacks," he told a news conference. Efforts to evacuate civilians were ongoing, Syniehubov said. Russia opened up a new front in its 2-year war with Ukraine when armored vehicles launched an attack on the country's northeast after pounding the town of Vovchansk with airstrikes on Friday. Syniehubov said there was no imminent danger to the regional capital of Kharkiv, which has a population of 1.3 million and is Ukraine's second-largest city. Russia's Defense Ministry claimed it had captured the villages of Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylna and Strilecha, but a spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern command said reinforcements had contained the Russian forces. "The enemy is localized in the 'gray zone.' It is not expanding. However, there is the question of finally destroying it and catching it in the tree lines where it could hide," said spokesperson Nazar Voloshynin. A resident of Vovchansk, identified only as Serhii, told the BBC that his wife was rushed to a local hospital after being wounded by a Russian glide bomb that destroyed his house and vehicles. Although smoke was still pouring out of the home's ruins, Serhii said he didn't want to leave because he was worried about what would happen to the family's four goats. Kaylee Gain, the 16-year-old filmed being brutally beaten by a fellow student back in March, was a serial bully who started the fight, a juvenile officer has testified. The unnamed officer added Gain threw the first punch during the on-camera brawl with 15-year-old Maurnice Declue, which happened on March 8 outside their school in St. Louis. In the hearing Friday in St. Louis Family Court, he testified Declue should remain in the juvenile court system, but painted a very different picture of the other principle in the fight, who has received sympathy due to the extent of her injuries. She was left in a coma after Declue got the best of her and began slamming her skull into the pavement, only recently walking again two months later. Revealed to be an honor student who skipped the seventh grade, Declue has been charged with felony assault and is being held in St Louis as proceedings continue. Kaylee Gain, the 16-year-old seen being brutally beaten by a fellow student in a now-viral video filmed in March, was a serial bully who started the fight, a juvenile officer testified Friday The unnamed officer added Gain threw the first punch during the on-camera brawl with 15-year-old Maurnice Declue, which happened on March 8 near their St. Louis, Missouri school 'A terrible choice made by two teen girls to solve their issues through violence caused one to go too far with her bare hands and a concrete road,' Gain's stepmother, allowed to stay anonymous, said during the same hearing. Declue's mother, Consuella Declue, tearfully added: 'My family, my church, we all prayed for KG [Kaylee Gain]. 'I think [my daughter] was just defending herself, I don't think she had any intent or thought this would happen. 'We are very sorry,' she concluded, adding that her daughter regretted the incident, but still was acting in her self defense. The unnamed juvenile officer's testimony supported her assertion, in which he confirmed Gain had been suspended for fighting another girl just the previous day. The defense also produced several witnesses, including both girls' teachers, who revealed Declue never before had any behavioral problems, as the officer suggested she had been baited into the fight by the serial offender. Declue went on to easily get the best of her, repeatedly slamming the other girl's skull into the pavement as others watched. Spanish teacher Richard Bly praised Declue as a 'model student' who behaved well in his class, further revealing how her grades were so good, she had skipped the 7th grade and was one of the youngest kids in class. Kaylee Gain, the 16-year-old seen being brutally beaten by a fellow student in a now-viral video filmed in March, was a serial bully who started the fight, a juvenile officer testified Friday Revealed to be an honor student who skipped the seventh grade, Declue has been charged with felony assault and is being held in St Louis as proceedings continue. Teacher Richard Bly said Declue behaved well in his class, as others agreed she never showed any bad behavior Declue's mother, Consuella Declue, tearfully added: 'My family, my church, we all prayed for KG [Kaylee Gain] I think [my daughter] was just defending herself, I don't think she had any intent or thought this would happen. We are very sorry.' The girls allegedly agreed on the fight Gain's stepmother, who was allowed to be anonymous in open court, gave a statement describing how her daughter has had to relearn how to walk in the wake of the attack, which both sides concurred was needlessly brutal, and agreed upon by the two girls. She also said Gain has had to relearn how speak and take care of herself, still experiencing memory loss and forced to wear a custom-made helmet to protect her brain. Still, she said, she has 'improved considerably' since the incident, but is still missing part of her skull and will need to undergo additional surgeries to have it reattached. Lawyer Bryan Kaemmerer wrote in a statement: 'While hospitalized, Kaylee underwent a craniectomy which is a neurosurgical procedure that involved removing a portion of Kaylee's skull in order to relieve the pressure on her brain. 'The portion of Kaylee's skull that was removed still has not been put back in place,' he added, weeks after the father of the St. Louis schoolgirl whose beating horrified much of the nation revealed she endured a childhood marred by drugs. Offered up to The New York Post, the revelation was aired by Clinton Gain, 41, who previously told the paper the pair had agreed to the fight, producing text messages between the two as proof. DeClue proceeded to beat down Gain, leaving her with a skull fracture and frontal lobe damage - and in intensive care. The revalation comes weeks after the father of the St. Louis schoolgirl, Clinton Gain, revealed she endured a childhood marred by drugs and was a troubled youth Offered up to The New York Post, the revelation came weeks after Kaylee was left in life-threatening condition, only recently learning to walk again He admitted that a period of dysfunction and instability involving him and the girl's mother predated the footage, offering an account that somewhat coincided with the juvenile officer's on Friday. 'She was just a normal kid,' Clinton said in an exclusive interview, recalling how he and Kaylees mother, April Nordstrom, were both addicts during her youth. 'We tried to give them some stability and structure', he went on, before conceding that she indeed suffered during those years. Things got worse, he said, when the couple split up - back when Kaylee was only five. This left her and her little brother to live with Nordstrom, he said - when she was still knee-deep in addiction. Eventually, when Kaylee was 8, he said, the situation became so bad that both kids were sent to live with their grandparents for some two years. By then, Clinton said he had cleaned himself up, along with remarrying and finding a job. At that point, Kaylee, then 10, came to live with him and his spouse in St. Louis, he said. But a new struggle came when struggled to accept her stepmom, he said - before claiming the six or so years that followed were for the most part free of turmoil. 'She was becoming a young woman,' he recalled, how his daughter had an upbringing marred by drugs and dysfunction because of him an her mother, both of whom were drug addicts. 'She said she needed her mother' Another feud - this one surrounding Gain and DeClue - replaced those struggles at home, he said, before culminating with the widely seen beating But another feud - this one surrounding Gain and her high school nemesis DeClue - replaced those struggles at home, he said, before culminating with the widely seen beating that occurred last month, Just before that, her dad said, the teenager began to yearn for her mother, who he said has also since kicked her drug habit. She went on to repeatedly ask to return to Nordstrom's home - a request Clinton said he begrudgingly agreed to. He quickly came to regret that decision, he said - citing another tumultuous period where where Kaylee began to have problems at school, Hazelwood East High, and was repeatedly found herself involved in altercations, like the one with DeClue. 'She was becoming a young woman,' he recalled. 'She said she needed her mother, and April was in a good place by that time. She was working, she was doing okay.' 'We don't know who started things, if it was her or other people,' stepmom Jamie Gain added of the problems at school that followed. 'But there were problems.' Clinton recalled how his ex would go on to relay word of these incidents to him and his new spouse, but claimed he was not provided with a full picture of what was occurring. He admitted that a period of dysfunction and instability involving him and the girl's mother predated the footage, offering an account that somewhat coincided with the juvenile officer's on Friday, which painted Gain as the instigator Clinton further asserted that he reached out to Kaylee's teachers and told them to alert him of any issues, but claimed they were not helpful. He said that under her mom's care, '[Kaylee] just didn't have the structure anymore... [and] the things [her stepmom and I] tried to tell her weren't reinforced. 'There weren't these issues until a few years ago,' he said. The father then claimed he knew his daughter was experiencing another difficult period, and said he tried to convince her to return to his home. She refused, he recalled - citing his stricter parenting style. Moreover, he claimed he and Nordstrom were on good terms at this point, stating how she and him were committed to raising Kaylee collaboratively. However, he said she failed to keep a handle on her daughter's behavior, and left him unaware until the 25th hour. The girl's stepmom went on to recall the call she got from her husband's ex following the March 8 fight, in which a hysterical Nordstrom told her that Kaylee had been seriously hurt at school. The stepmother proceeded to speed to the hospital and called Clinton, after which the dad also arrived. The officer said she was suspended for fighting another student the previous day, weeks after rushed to the ICU with a brain bleed. She is seen here in an old photo with her former drug addict father 'When I first got to the hospital I was worried and concerned,' he told the Post, before quickly adding, 'But when I found out this was from a fight, I got angry. 'Because I felt like this could have been prevented.' Claiming he and his ex have already agreed to have Kaylee come live with him again when she fully recovers, he conceded: 'I have a lot of guilt that I didnt bring her back sooner.' Meanwhile, video of the fight - and Kaylee's head being repeatedly smashed into concrete - continues to circulate on social media. It shows how the fight left the youngster twitching on the ground and completely unconscious, after the two agreed to settle their differences roughly a mile away from the school they both attend. She was subsequently rushed to the ICU with a brain bleed, though is now on the mend. 'They both agreed to the fight, to meet up and settle what was going on,' Gain told Post, adding that Kaylee and DeClue had been insulting each other for weeks ahead of the fight. DeClue, as of writing, is currently in custody, facing felony assault charges as officials mull trying her as an adult. Her family on Friday continued to paint her as an honor student who was simply defending herself during a fight started by Gain - an account Clinton dismissed as false. County Prosecutor Wesley Bell did not object to keeping Declue in custody, but left it up to the judge decide. That decision is expected to come sometime next week, as proceedings continue County Prosecutor Wesley Bell did not object to keeping Declue in custody, but left it up to the judge decide. That decision is expected to come sometime next week, as proceedings continue. It was also ruled Declue will stay in the detention center until her upcoming trial - a decision Judge Dodson said was made for her own safety. The comes after she and her family have received threats as a result of the now viral fight video, which continues to circulate. Both sides on Friday further acknowledged Gain started the fight with Declue, before losing badly. The e-gate airport chaos that left thousands of Brits stranded across the UK's busiest airports was caused by the Home Office 'failing to tell BT it was updating its software'. The main Border Force security database - called 'Border Crossing' which was introduced just under three years ago at a cost of 372million suffered a complete shutdown earlier this week. Border Force officers were forced to check passports manually against back-up databases as e-gates were unable to function without access to the IT system. Now, it has been revealed that the Home Office Wi-Fi outage, which is suspected to have caused the e-gates to crash, was caused because it failed to tell BT about a software update, the Telegraph reports. It is believed that the update 'overloaded' the Home Office network, which then snowballed into causing the e-gate chaos on Tuesday. The airport e-gate chaos is believed to have been caused by a Home Office software update blunder. Pictured: Broken automatic passport scanning gates at Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport on Tuesday night at passport control after a nationwide IT system collapse Huge queues formed at Gatwick (pictured) and other UK airports, with people forced to wait for hours It is the fourth major malfunction of the system supported by Fujitsu, the firm behind the Post Office's Horizon programme since it launched three years ago. EXCLUSIVE READ MORE: How collapse of security database sparked ANOTHER e-gates airport meltdown Advertisement Home Office minister Tom Pursglove apologised to travellers, some of whom had to sleep in airports overnight. 'The Home Secretary and I will be unswerving in our determination to ensure that every possible lesson is learned to ensure that this does not happen again,' he told the Commons. But Labour's home affairs spokesman Dan Jarvis said the e-gates system was 'no longer reliable enough and risks further damaging public trust in the Government's management of our border security'. He added: 'The chaotic scenes across many of the UK's airports are unacceptable not least, given e-gates have failed on several occasions in recent years.' Travel expert and journalist Simon Calder told MailOnline that Brits should 'hope for the best' this summer, but warned 'anyone's holiday plans can unravel'. The fault with the e-gates began late on Tuesday evening and wasn't resolved until 2am A look at some of the queues at Bristol airport on Wednesday morning during check-in and border control 'The UK is not alone on experiencing a wide range of issues that can stand between travellers and their holidays,' he said. 'But because our aviation infrastructure is so overstretched, especially at Heathrow and Gatwick airports, disruption can spread through the system very swiftly with little slack in the system for recovery. 'At this stage, though, all you can do is hope for the best over the summer, but understand anyone's holiday plans can unravel.' There are more than 270 e-gates at 15 airports and railway stations across the country. The gates cross-check facial recognition scans with Border Force's security database, named Border Crossing. The programme checks travellers' names against terrorism records, the Police National Computer and immigration records. Bloodied and bandaged, she became the face of the Ukraine war after Russia's initial invasion in early 2022. And, though her injuries have healed, Olena Kurylo's expression tells a story of her country's ongoing agony as she stared sorrowfully at the camera while cowering from an airstrike yesterday. More than two years after the war broke out, the 54-year-old took a self-portrait as she crouched in her bathroom in the region of Kharkiv. It comes as Ukraine begins mass evacuations from the area as Russian troops launched a ground attack near the northeastern city opening a new front in the war. 'We are not sleeping again. Just now was the tenth air raid alert of the night,' Ms Kurylo said. Bloodied and bandaged, Olena Kurylo (pictured) became the face of the Ukraine war after Russia 's initial invasion in early 2022 And, though her injuries have healed, Olena Kurylo's expression tells a story of her country's ongoing agony as she stared sorrowfully at the camera while cowering from an airstrike yesterday 'I didn't close my eyes, but I can't run downstairs to the basement, because I am so exhausted from yet another sleepless night. 'We are at the end of our tether from tiredness. There hasn't been a single quiet night for weeks.' The defiant teacher who was treated in Britain for the damage to her eye after Vladimir Putin's 2022 invasion said: 'We won't leave. This is our land. This is home. There is no reason why our huge neighbour is destroying us. There is no excuse for millions of broken lives. 'We all know this is exactly their aim, to exhaust us, and to make us leave the city, so they can take it.' Yesterday's ground assault in the Kharkiv region comes just days after a punishing wave of missile, kamikaze drone and artillery attacks on the city. Shocking images and footage from the devastated city showed residential buildings on fire and rubble strewn on the streets as rescue workers battled to extinguish blazes. Shocking images and footage from the devastated city showed residential buildings on fire and rubble strewn on the streets as rescue workers battled to extinguish blazes At the site of one Russian missile explosion, three apartment blocks and outbuildings were destroyed and several others damaged. An 11-year-old and a 72-year-old woman were treated by doctors for acute stress. A high-ranking Ukrainian military source said Russia had advanced into Ukraine by just over half a mile and was close to the town of Vovchansk. They said Moscow was trying to 'create a buffer zone' to prevent any attacks within Russian territory. The advances represent the Kremlin's biggest land offensive in the region since its initial invasion, and tens of thousands of Russian forces are said to have gathered on the border. A Victorian pensioner has been hit with more than $20,000 in fines after he claims a group of people falsely nominated him for their driving penalties. Kelvin Bellette lost his wallet on a bus in the Mornington Peninsula in 2021 and, after reporting it to police, got it back minus his driver's licence. Since then the disability pensioner and part-time pizza delivery driver has been hit with 60 driving fines from the area, only four of which are his, he says. Mr Bellette moved to Colac, a three-hour drive west of the Mornington Peninsula, in early 2023 and received a fine for an offence in that area later that year. He hired Colac lawyer Tony Pyrtz who sought a photo linked to the offence that showed a person, clearly not Mr Bellette, behind the wheel. 'It looks like his name has been shopped around the district down on the Mornington Peninsula to nominate him as a driver,' Mr Pyrtz told the ABC. Kelvin Bellette lost his driver's licence on a Mornington Peninsula bus and claims it was 'shopped around' for people to nominate him for driving fines The driving infringements include for speeding, driving without a seatbelt and driving unregistered vehicles in a toll zone. 'He's been in a spiral of dealing with fines that aren't his,' Mr Pyrtz said. Fines Victoria has since provided Mr Bellette's lawyer with a list of the people who nominated him as the driver for infringement notices. The list shows seven different individuals, driving different vehicles, nominated him as the driver, with one person doing so for three different offences. A Mornington Peninsula trades business also nominated him for eight different offences. 'Kelvin has never owned or been in any of these vehicles, and he doesn't know any of the people who nominated him as the responsible driver,' Mr Pyrtz said. A very confused Mr Bellette entered into a payment plan to chip away at the massive debt, and only uncovered what appears to have happened with Mr Pyrtz's help. Under Victorian law knowingly providing false or misleading information in a nomination statement is an offence. Penalties of $9,000 and potential loss of licence apply in each case for an individual, while a business can be fined $18,000 in each case. The comedian sparked huge national interest this week when she emerged from a prolonged period out of the limelight to publicise her new book - which dramatically revealed that she had recently wed a mystery man. But apart from the fact that she had wed, the 51-year-old omitted any other details - aside from her emotional response when her new man proposed. But now MailOnline can reveal what happened at the secret wedding - and the amazing lengths she went to stop fans finding out about it. It's believed to have taken place at 4pm on July 6 at a 1,000-year-old church in the picturesque Hampshire village of Hambledon, attended only by a handful of family and close friends, all of whom were sworn to secrecy. The number of people crossing the Channel in small boats so far this year has smashed the 9,000 barrier amid a surge of more than a third compared with 2023. Home Office figures show that 211 migrants reached Dover on Thursday, bringing this year's running total to 9,037. The 9,000 mark was not breached until mid-June last year and in 2022 which went on to see a record annual total it was passed on May 22. In addition, an unconfirmed number of migrants arrived yesterday. People traffickers are thought to be generating a rush to cross the Channel before the Rwanda asylum removals scheme gets off the ground. Home Office figures show that 211 migrants reached Dover on Thursday, bringing this year's running total to 9,037. Pictured: An inflatable dinghy carrying migrants heading towards England on May 4 In addition, an unconfirmed number of migrants arrived yesterday. People traffickers are thought to be generating a rush to cross the Channel before the Rwanda asylum removals scheme gets off the ground. Pictured: Rishi Sunak It is understood smugglers are drumming up passengers by falsely suggesting that arriving in Britain now will make a difference to the prospects of remaining here. In fact, all 'irregular' migrants including those who arrive by small boat are ineligible to claim asylum in Britain and are already subject to the Rwanda scheme. By the same date in 2023 6,683 migrants had reached Britain by boat, meaning this year's running total is up 35 per cent. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the inaugural Rwanda removals flight is due to take off by mid-July. A Home Office spokesman 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.' Sadiq Khan's 'night-tsar' has been given a 4.5 per cent pay rise despite presiding over London's declining nightlife. Earlier this year, Amy Lame insisted she was worth her 120,000-a-year salary despite receiving backlash over City Hall-funded trips to Australia, Italy and Spain. Industry experts and the Conservative party have previously questioned whether she is providing value for money as startling figures showed London was falling behind cities such as Liverpool and Birmingham. Now, it has been revealed that Ms Lame has received an annual pay rise, in line with other staff at the Greater London authority, which takes her salary to 132,000-a-year, The Times reports. This also comes after Khan secured a historic third term as London Mayor last week, using his victory speech to tell Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to 'give the public a choice' and call for a general election. Sadiq Khan's 'night-tsar' Amy Lame (pictured) has been given a pay rise Ms Lame has blamed the previous Mayor of London Boris Johnson for the struggling nighttime economy Ms Lame, who is also a DJ on BBC Radio 6, explained that she was appointed in 2016 'to help London thrive as a 24 hour city.' Many have criticised Sadiq Khan's decision to fund the American-born DJ's position after figures from Square-Up, a firm which processes payments for businesses, said that in terms of the sheer number of transactions Liverpool and Birmingham have now overtaken London. One survey found that 1,165 venues have closed in London since pandemic, and the head of one industry body says that while all cities in Britain are facing issues, Ms Lame has to answer for London's poor performance. Michael Kill, the CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), told The Times that he believes that while the 'night tsar' has to oversee all 32 boroughs of London - a job that is far greater than others in her position elsewhere - there are still questions that need answering. He said: 'There is a big difference between signposting and virtue signalling and driving tangible change. We see a lot of announcements but not so many results.' He claimed 'the industry feels there hasn't been a strong enough voice for us' and that while there have been worthwhile initiatives such as the women's night safety charter, more is needed. Earlier this year, images posted under #LameLondon on X - formerly known as Twitter - went viral showing the state of London's empty streets at night, as some of the capital's best-known bars face closure. New figures revealed that London's nighttime economy has been overtaken by Liverpool and Birmingham Michael Knill, the CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) questioned whether Ms Lame would deliver any 'tangible change' One user posted a picture of a sign reading 'no drinks outside after 9.30pm' on the social media page, complaining 'London nightlife is practically nonexistent'. Another re-posted an image of a deserted Kingly Street in Soho from March last year, saying: 'I live in Soho and dont know a pub I can get a drink in post 10.30pm on a weeknight.' Between 2006 and 2022 it was reported that more than half the capital's LGBTQ+ venues shut their doors, according to the Telegraph, with the owner of London's Heaven nightclub also warning the club risks closure due to soaring costs. An average of two nightclubs also closed every week between March 2020 and December 2023 across the UK, according to the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA). Although most of Ms Lame's trips abroad - which saw her travel to Sydney, Bologna and Madrid in the space of 12 months in 2022 and 2023 - were not paid for by the taxpayer and were instead funded through private donations. But there have been costs for the taxpayer. According to her expenses, for a trip to Berlin, she claimed for flights and accommodation. Two former Liberal prime ministers have led the uproar against Australia's vote to allow Palestine to join the United Nations, saying it 'rewards terrorists'. Australia has joined 142 other countries in supporting a UN resolution to grant Palestine more rights as an observer state. The non-binding resolution recommends the UN Security Council 'favourably' reconsider Palestine gaining full membership after the US vetoed a similar resolution. The vote 'looks like rewarding the October 7 atrocity', Tony Abbott wrote on X, referring to the day Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 hostages. Scott Morrison was also outraged, tweeting that 'This is the most hostile policy act of an Australian Government to the State of Israel in our history. Two former Liberal prime ministers have led the uproar against Australia's vote to allow Palestine to join the United Nations, saying it 'rewards terrorists'. Tony Abbott (left) is pictured with Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu 'Such recognition must only occur where there is agreement and when Palestine can be a functional state. It is currently governed by terrorists,' referring to Hamas. Federal Labor MP Josh Burns slammed the government he is part of, saying its vote at the UN will isolate Jewish Australians facing increased acts of anti-Semitism since the war in Gaza started after the atrocities of October 7. 'Hamas are still holding 130 hostages, and remains the governing authority in Gaza,' he said on Instagram. 'The reaction from the Jewish people will rightly question the timing of this vote. 'Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Australia and the decision (to vote yes at the UN) will make Jewish Australians feel more isolated as they remain gravely concerned for the hostages in Gaza.' The vote provides a modest extension of Palestine's observer rights, while rejecting the goals and methods of Hamas, condemning its October 7 attack and calling for hostage releases, Australia's UN representative James Larsen said. 'Australia has long believed a two-state solution offers the only hope for breaking the endless cycle of violence and achieving lasting peace,' he said. 'Like many member states, Australia has been frustrated by the lack of progress.' The US joined Israel and seven other nations voting against the draft resolution, while 25 others abstained. China said the resolution reflects the will of the international community and accused the US of misusing its veto powers. Scott Morrison (pictured) said 'This is the most hostile policy act of an Australian Government to the State of Israel in our history' The general assembly meeting adjourned and will reconvene on Monday in New York. Palestine's status upgrades will not take effect until September. Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham accused the government of lacking courage in the face of pressure. Poll Was Australia right to vote for a resolution to allow Palestine to join the United Nations? Yes No Not sure Was Australia right to vote for a resolution to allow Palestine to join the United Nations? Yes 116 votes No 517 votes Not sure 15 votes Now share your opinion 'Labor's support for the resolution sends a shameful message that violence and terrorism get results ahead of negotiation and diplomacy,' he said on Saturday. Voting in favour of the resolution put Australia out of step with important allies who abstained or rejected it and risked emboldening terrorists, Mr Birmingham said. Amir Maimon, Israel's ambassador to Australia, said the vote would empower Iran and Hamas to further destabilise the region. 'Granting the Palestinian UN rights without direct negotiations is counterproductive,' he wrote on X. Palestine is pushing for full UN membership as war rages in the Gaza Strip and the US and allies call for a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict with Israel. Palestine's representative in Australia said supporting the vote added to Australia's credibility on the international stage and was in line with its policy to eventually recognise statehood. The vote came amid international condemnation as Israel pushed further into Rafah, Gaza's last refuge where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering following widespread destruction of the strip. Federal Labor MP Josh Burns (pictured speaking in parliament) slammed the government he is part of US President Joe Biden has threatened to withhold weapons exports to Israel if it pressed ahead with a full scale invasion of Rafah, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong expressed concerns about the humanitarian situation. Australia has called for a ceasefire to allow the release of hostages and unimpeded aid to flow into Gaza. After Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by Australia, invaded Israel on October 7, the Israelis responded with a ground offensive and bombing campaign in Gaza. Around 35,000 people have been killed and 77,000 injured in the territory in the past seven months, according to the Palestinian health ministry. After Hillary Clinton dismissed young people's views on Israel and Gaza during an interview on Thursday, a prominent left-wing journalist has called her 'embittered.' Writing on X.com, formerly known as Twitter, Glenn Greenwald said that Clinton speaks about the ignorance of younger Americans because she failed to gain their support in her two presidential bids. 'One major reason Hillary Clinton is spending her twilight years ranting and raving about the ignorance of "young people" is it was young people who largely supported Obama over her in their hateful 2008 fight, then Bernie in 2016,' he wrote. Greenwald, who previously worked as a journalist for The Guardian, where he helped break Edward Snowden's story, further condemned Clinton. 'They don't know very much at all about the history of the Middle East, or, frankly about history in many areas of the world, including in our own country,' Hillary Clinton said of young people in a recent interview Glenn Greenwald said that Clinton bears a grudge against young people because they didn't support her in her two campaigns 'Just an embittered, miserable person,' he wrote. Greenwald's comments were in reference to the former secretary of state's recent interview on MSNBC, during which she suggested that young Americans are largely ignorant. 'I have had many conversations with a lot of young people over the last many months now,' the former presidential candidate said with a slight smile. 'They don't know very much at all about the history of the Middle East, or, frankly about history in many areas of the world, including in our own country. Clinton proceeded to talk about the foreign policy efforts undertaken by her husband in the region. She cited an offer Bill Clinton made to then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat when he was trying to broker a settlement between Palestine and Israel. 'They don't know that...an offer was made to the Palestinians for a state on 96 percent of the existing territory occupied by the Palestinians...with 4 percent of Israel to be given to reach 100 percent of the amount of territory that was hoped for.' In 2008, Hillary lost the Democratic nomination to Obama, who would go on to be president Clinton, who has said that her opinions on students are based on several conversations with young people during the past few months, said: 'This offer was made and if Yasser Arafat had accepted it, there would have been a Palestinian State now for about 24 years.' In 2000, President Clinton sat down with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David, where he tried to negotiate a peace deal between the two parties. The peace proved elusive and failed to materialize. In the summit's aftermath, both Israel and Palestine sought to cast the blame on each other. Later that year, the Second Intifada of Palestinian resistance was announced, ushering in an epoch of greater violence in the region, which lasted until 2005 After the situation in Gaza deteriorated following Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, Hillary Clinton has found herself increasingly at odds with young people. Obama's campaign was able to draw on the energetic support of young Americans In 2016, Bernie Sanders became an unlikely star for young Americans, while Hillary struggled to generate support among that demographic Clinton is a professor of international and public affairs at Colombia University, where there have been impassioned and protracted protests against Israel's treatment of Gaza's civilian population. In February, Clinton was shouted down by pro-Palestinian protestors during a lecture. 'Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, you are a war criminal!' an angry protestor yelled as she walked onto a stage to address the students. 'The people of Libya, the people of Iraq, the people of Syria, the people of Palestine as well as the people of America will never forgive you.' One of those involved was armed with a knife, police say A man has been arrested after a terrifying incident in a Perth shopping centre where a man holding a knife ran through the complex after a fight. The altercation involving several men broke out at the Westfield Carousel Shopping Centre in Cannington, in the city's south-east, at about 3.30pm on Friday. It was initially reported that a 20-year-old man had been slashed in the face with a knife during a scuffle, but on Saturday the police confirmed the incident was sparked after two men had a fight and that one had a knife. The knife was not used to injure anyone, but a man got a facial wound from being punched in the face, the West Australian reported. The knife was found at the scene and the police launched a manhunt for the man who had been wielding it. In the video, a shirtless man (pictured) sprinted towards a group of people while wielding a large knife A man was arrested on Saturday morning, but charges have not yet been laid. 'Cannington Detectives wish to reassure the public there is no ongoing threat to the public or cause for alarm,' WA Police said in a statement. Terrifying footage of the incident showed a shirtless man sprinting towards a group of people while wielding a large knife. Among those fleeing the knifeman was at least one boy in school uniform. Shoppers screamed as they sought cover in nearby stores. The shopping complex was locked down on Friday afternoon and several police units were called to the centre. One shopper was with her 13-year-old son in the Jay Jays clothing store when she saw the scuffle kick off. She said a group of men that looked about 18 or 19-years-old said something to another shopper. 'This guy turned around and said ''what did you say? what did you say?'',' the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told Daily Mail Australia. She said the other man then met up with his friends and confronted the group, with a physical fight ensuing. 'They were all punching up, ripping their jumpers off, really getting into it,' she said. 'We couldn't pass and I didn't want to go in the opposite direction and put my back to them. 'You don't know what to do. I said to my son ''stand back, stand back''.' The woman then claimed one of the men pulled out a 30cm knife from his pants. 'I said to my son ''run into the shop and hide behind the counter''. I was panicking,' she said. 'I said to the assistant ''call security, call security he's got a knife''.' The mother and her son hid in a Footlocker outlet with two other shoppers and two staff as she begged them to close the doors. The chaos began when a scuffle kicked off between two men, one armed with a knife, at the Westfield Carousel Shopping Centre in the city's southeast at about 3.30pm on Friday (pictured are shoppers locked down in Kmart) 'He's closed his doors, all the other shops have closed their doors and these people are carrying on fighting,' the mother said. Police arrived at the complex and sent it into lockdown, with shoppers unable to leave. 'Cops were running up and down the elevators,' the mother said, adding the experience had left her 'shaken up'. 'I wasn't expecting him to pull out a knife,' she said. 'I just thought they were going to have a punch up and when he pulled the knife out I thought ''Oh my God this is going to get real now.''' The tragic events of the Bondi Junction stabbing murders played on her mind. 'The last few weeks all you have heard about is stabbings or knife incidents,' she said. 'I am just glad we and no one around us was hurt and it wasn't as bad as the Sydney one. It all happened all so quickly.' In the Bondi Junction stabbings, lone knifeman Joel Cauchi, 40, killed six people and injured a dozen more on April 13. That was followed by a spate of knife crime incidents, including an assault on an Assyrian Christian bishop during a livestreamed church service. Terrifying footage has emerged of the moment a knifeman charged after school students at a Westfield shopping centre in Perth A man ran around with a knife after a fight at the Westfield Carousel Shopping Centre (pictured) in Cannington, WA on Friday afternoon Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was preaching at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley in Sydney's west on April 15 when a teenager wearing a hoodie walked up to the altar and allegedly stabbed him multiple times. Horrifying footage of the incident, which was being broadcast live on the church's YouTube page, showed Bishop Emmanuel look up in astonishment as the attacker suddenly rains down blows on his face and head. In Torquay, Victoria, a man who was allegedly threatened with a knife by ex-soldier Travis Johnston while holding his 19-month-old son said he immediately thought of the tragedy in Bondi Junction. And earlier this month, surfer Kye Schaefer, 22, was stabbed in Park Beach in Coffs Harbour, NSW while still wearing his wetsuit at about 6.40am. Israel has issued a gripping order: Rafah must evacuate ahead of an impending ground offensive, while the United Nations warns food supplies will run out by tomorrow. Israeli forces have sent evacuation leaflets to the densely populated region, reported the Independent. "To all the residents and displaced people in the Rafah area, you are in a dangerous combat zone," the messages warned. "The Israeli military will act with extreme force against terrorist organizations in your areas of residence. Everyone in these areas is risking their lives and the lives of their family members. For your safety, we ask you to evacuate immediately to the humanitarian zone," it read. Avichay Adraee, an army spokesperson, also announced plans to advance into a northern Gaza stronghold allegedly harboring Hamas. The mandate coincides with a warning from the United Nations, cautioning that food supplies in the southern Gaza region, where Israel plans to execute another ground assault, will "run out tomorrow." The looming crisis stems from Israel's blockade of two southern crossings, considered vital routes for crucial humanitarian aid, in preparation for a ground offensive. Hackers have cracked a popular mortgage lender's servers and gained access to the personal information of its clients. Firstmac, an Australian non-bank mortgage lender, sent out a round of emails to customers this week alerting them to the fact that their data may have been breached. Information accessed by hackers included bank accounts, passport numbers, addresses, phone numbers and driver's licence details. It is unknown how many customers were affected by the breach which Firstmac said had no impact on the company's business operations or systems security. The hack was first publicised on Thursday when Cyberdaily.au reported the stolen customer information had been leaked online before Firstmac launched an 'urgent' investigation. Brisbane-based non-bank mortgage lender Firstmac has been hit by hackers who have stolen and leaked customers personal information The attack was first reported by Cyberdaily.au on Thursday who said that hackers leaked the data online after Firstmac failed to meet their ransom request Firstmac, which is based in Brisbane, said the 'cyber incident' was caused by a third party accessing its IT system. 'As soon as we detected the incident, we took steps to immediately secure our system. We also engaged cyber security experts to assist us with our investigation,' the email read. 'We already have robust security processes in place for any account access changes which will require you to confirm your identity using either biometrics and or two factor authentication. 'We are committed to protecting the personal information of all our customers, and we sincerely apologise for any concern this incident may have caused you.' Cyberdaily.au reported that the information was published online when Firstmac failed to meet its hacker's ransom deadline. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Firstmac for comment. Pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested on Friday night after jumping over the fence of the home of the president of the University of Pennsylvania. Hundreds of people could be seen walking through the streets of University City carrying Palestinian flags before reaching the home of the interim president Larry Jameson. As the crowd gathered, footage from NBC10 showed at least three jumping over the fence. One person could be seen lighting up a flare while another continued to hold up a Palestinian flag before banging on the door of the home. It remains unclear if Jameson was in the property, which is located on the 3800 block of Walnut Street. The arrests came as an encampment that had been set up on campus was finally dismantled. Three protestors jumped over the fence to the home of the UPenn president One person could be seen lighting up a flare while another continued to hold up a Palestinian flag before banging on the door of the home Protestors could be seen lurking in the doorway and on the steps to the home Hundreds of student could be seen marching through the streets on Friday night There was a standoff between students and the police before the encampment was cleared Police work to clear protesters at the University of Pennsylvania campus Protesters lock arms at the Ben Franklin Statue on Penn campus as police clear the site Philadelphia and campus police at Penn took action around daybreak to remove protesters from an encampment in place for more than two weeks. School officials said protesters were given warnings and the chance to leave without being detained. 'Our community has been under threat and our campus disrupted for too long. Passion for a cause cannot supersede the safety and operations of our University. Early this morning, we took action, with support from local law enforcement, to remove the encampment,' the school said in a statement. Initially, officials said 33 people, including faculty members and seven students, were among those arrested and charged with trespass, the school said. Later, school officials said nine students were among those arrested and that the remainder were people who had no affiliation with Penn. Upon searching the encampment, Penn police recovered several long lengths of heavy gauge chains, as well as smaller chains with nuts and bolts attached that police said could be used as weapons, officials said. Police carried out pre-dawn swoops Friday on students protesting the war in Gaza at the University of Pennsylvania Police arrive at a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania campus on Friday A police officer looks at the site of a pro-Palestinian protest encampment after police cleared the area in the early hours on Friday morning Maintenance staff and waste disposable crews clean up after police cleared a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia Police detain a protester on the University of Pennsylvania campus, in Philadelphia, on Friday Initially, officials said 33 people, including faculty members and seven students, were among those arrested and charged with trespass, the school said Police gather to clear protesters at the University of Pennsylvania campus, in Philadelphia Police confront protesters at the University of Pennsylvania campus, in Philadelphia The camp was completely cleared away and the contents thrown into a dump truck Protest camps have sprung up across the U.S. in recent weeks as students demand their universities stop doing business with Israel or companies that support its war efforts. Organizers seek to amplify calls to end Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, which they describe as a genocide against the Palestinians. The protest movement began nearly three weeks ago at Columbia University in New York City. Some colleges nationwide cracked down immediately, while others tolerated the demonstrations. Some recently started calling in the police, citing concerns about disruptions to campus life and safety. Prominent No campaigner on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Warren Mundine has publicly reached out to his daughter amid a health setback. Mr Mundine and his daughter Garigarra Riley-Mundine have not spoken in four years with Ms Riley Mundine, herself a new mother, saying she was morally opposed to her father's views in the lead-up to the referendum. Mr Mundine told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday he suffered a 'breakdown' on Saturday at a shopping centre near his home on Sydney's leafy North Shore amid the strained relationship with his daughter and public backlash to his campaigning on the Voice, and was being treated at Royal North Shore Hospital. 'It's the day before Mother's Day and it just triggered me and I had a breakdown,' Mr Mundine said. 'They had to call the police and ambulance who were very fantastic and they calmed me down and had a cup of tea with me and brought me to hospital. 'And then I reached out to my daughter.' Mr Mundine shared a picture of the pair, with Ms Riley-Mundine holding her niece, to X on Saturday morning with the caption: 'Garra, or any of Garra's friends, can you ask her to call me please. Her Dad.' Warren Mundine has revealed he suffered a 'breakdown' this weekend amid backlash over his Voice views and his strained relationship with his daughter Mr Mundine took to X to publicly ask his daughter to contact him Mr Mundine said the rift between himself and his daughter deepened when she gave interviews during the referendum campaign publicly speaking out opposing his views. Ms Riley-Mundine, who has Wiradjuri-Kamilaroi and Bundjalung-Yuin heritage, told The Guardian she felt his stance was 'not morally right'. In an interview with Narelda Jacobs for 10News she said the man she saw at the forefront of the No campaign was not the same man she knew growing up and his views were not how their family was raised. She recalled how her parents met at a protest and claimed some people around Mr Mundine in recent years were not people he would have associated with in his younger days. 'My daughter cut herself out of my life, I didn't even know she was pregnant,' Mr Mundine said. 'She sided with Narelda Jacobs who was the person who attacked me on SBS. 'But I'm proud of her and her opinions.' Garigarra Riley-Mundine, 31, is one of seven children Mundine had with former wife and Indigenous educator Dr Lynette Riley during a 26-year marriage that ended in a 2008 divorce Mr Mundine (pictured right with fellow No advocate Jacinta Nampijinpa Price) was a high-profile campaigner against the Voice to Parliament Mr Mundine said he has been subjected to intense backlash over his views against enshrining an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the Constitution. 'Whether you voted Yes or No, we should be respectful to each other,' he said. 'I have suffered from mental health issues and racial abuse and attacks. I've lost positions on boards because of corporate cowboys taking action against me. 'It's taken a huge toll on my mental health, I'm seeing a psychologist.' Mr Mundine said he was preparing to launch a campaign to increase awareness about mental health for all Australians. 'Men especially can be quiet about these things but there should be no shame to reach out for mental health support. His 'No Shame' podcast is recording next week and will be released later in the year. 'To my daughter I would say give me a call, reach out and we can sit down and have a cup of tea and talk.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Riley-Mundine for a response. An Aussie traveller has opened up about how her tropical getaway to Indonesia turned into a nightmare after she was struck down with dengue fever. Marley, a 24-year-old from Sydney, has only just returned to Australia following eight days in an Indonesian hospital after catching the illness while holidaying on the resort island of Gili Trawangan. Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral infection that infects 100-400 million people every year in tropical and subtropical areas. Marley said she suffered terrible fevers, had bloodshot eyes and even started to bleed on her gums. 'I had a lot of body aches, my joints were really sore which was weird. And then I was sweating but really cold, which was crazy,' the solo traveller told Yahoo News. Sydneysider Marley, 24, caught dengue fever while holidaying on the Indonesian island Gili Trawangan With the sickness coming in 'waves' doctors told Marley she needed to be transferred to a better medically-equipped hospital in Bali. She was then transported by an ambulance boat which was fortunately covered by her travel insurance. 'It was very scary,' Marley said. 'I have never been in an ambulance or anything before, I haven't really had any health problems when I've been overseas.' However, the brave Aussie said she had no other option than to remain 'calm' even as she suffered severe dehydration and a drop in her white blood cell count. She said she 'wouldn't wish' the illness on anyone. Among the 'feral' symptoms Marley experienced were aches, chills, bloodshot eyes and even bleeding gums Although Marley received a immunisation shot against the disease before going to Indonesia, she said she wasn't vigilant enough with using insect repellant. There has been a drastic increase in reported cases of dengue fever in Indonesia, with Bali's Bangli Regency region up 65 percent compared with this time last year. Travellers have been flooding social media with their own stories of intense pain, uncontrollable vomiting and temperatures above 39C. 'I went in March and got it on my 30th birthday,' a Sydney woman shared. 'It was horrific, don't wish it upon anybody. The worst part is the fever and body aches.' Another said: 'Got home to Darwin, same day the fever and full body rash started.' 'Off the plane, straight to hospital infectious disease isolation ward until they worked it out.' According to the World Health Organisation, most people recover in one or two weeks but in severe cases it can be fatal. This weekend is set to be the hottest of the year so far with temperatures expected to hit 27C in some parts of Britain. The Met Office is predicting highs of 26C in the Midlands and the south east of the country this afternoon, with temperatures reaching 27C on Sunday as the warm weather continues. The south of England will see highs of 26C (78.8F) today, with Britain set to bathe in temperatures of up to 27C (80.6F) on Sunday, according to the forecaster. But the heatwave is expected to come to a halt by the end of the weekend with thunderstorms due to arrive on Sunday followed by wet weather into next week. The Met Office has issued two yellow weather warnings for tomorrow - one for thunderstorms across parts of western and central England and Wales and another for thunderstorms across parts of Northern Ireland. LONDON: Three women take in the sunshine as temperatures soar at Richmond Riverside this afternoon BRIGHTON: A woman sunbathes on the beach as temperatures begin to soar on what is set to be the hottest day of the year BOURNEMOUTH: A man enjoys a refreshing glass of wine in the sun outside his beach hut GLASGOW: A group of friends show off their sunglasses as they relax at the Botanic Gardens BOURNEMOUTH: The beach becomes increasingly packed as people had to the seaside on the hottest day of the year so far GLASGOW: Groups of people lay down on the immaculate lawn at the Botanic Gardens as the sun beats down this afternoon BRIGHTON: Visitors take a dip in the sea to cool down from the baking sun this morning DORSET: Groups of people head down towards the beach at Durdle Door on the Jurassic Coast as temperatures look set to hit 26C BRIGHTON: A group take a stroll along the popular holiday spot as temperatures begin to soar early on Saturday By 9am today, the sun had broken through most of the early morning cloud across the country as temperatures began to soar. While most of the UK looks set to enjoy a day of warm and dry weather, parts of Scotland are expected to see some isolated showers. But for most of the country the baking heat is due to continue into the evening and overnight, with temperatures remaining in the teens for some parts of Britain throughout the night. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far and Brits slapped on the suncream and flocked to the seaside to take in the 25C heat, with sunseekers packing out beaches across the coast. In the capital, temperatures shot up to 24.6C in St James's Park as thousands delighted in the warm sunshine throughout the day. And hundreds of thousands of Brits reported seeing the Northern Lights from their windows last night thanks to a severe geomagnetic storm that threatens to disrupt the world's power grids. Pictures shared on social media showed large swathes of the country draped in a spectacular light display known as an aurora. Amazing shades of green and purple were captured in the skies above the UK including in Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Tyne and Wear, Essex, Berkshire and Kent. WEYMOUTH: Groups of people set up tents and parasols and take a dip in the cool south coast sea on the hottest day of 2024 BOURNEMOUTH: Boscombe Beach starts filling up this morning as people look to make the most of a mini heatwave WARWICK: Two friends take a refreshing dip by jumping into the river Avon from a bridge BRIGHTON: The beach overlooking the famous Brighton Pier filled up quickly this afternoon as visitors slapped on the suncream LONDON: Crowds of people flock to sun-kissed Richmond Riverside to make the most of the weather this afternoon DORSET: A seal laps up the weekend's sunshine as sunbathers watch on at the beach at Durdle Door CAMBRIDGE: Punters take a trip along the River Cam as the hot weather continues this weekend WARWICK: A dog shakes itself dry after cooling off from the heat in the river Avon WARWICK: A group of runners exercise in front of Warwick Castle despite the soaring temperatures this morning WEYMOUTH: Swimmers cool off in the sea at the popular Dorset beach as temperatures reach the mid 20s BOURNEMOUTH: Cars wait in a long queue to park as people pile in to lay their towels down at Boscombe Beach Scientists previously raised concerns that the geomagnetic storm the first to strike Earth in almost 20 years has the power to disrupt power grids, mobile networks and GPS satellites. Yesterday Deputy Chief Meteorologist Tony Wisson said: 'Many places will start fine and warm on Sunday, though it is likely to become cloudier from the west or southwest during the day. 'This will be accompanied by scattered showers, which could be heavy with thunder. 'On Monday we're likely to see more widespread and longer-lived spells of rain, some of which will be heavy and thundery. 'This will also lead to a much cooler feel to the day.' The warm weather brings an increase in UV levels. Weather conditions are expected to return to a more unsettled pattern heading into next week. Deputy Chief Meteorologist Dan Harris said: 'Heavy showers and thunderstorms are likely to break out on Sunday morning, most likely across southwest England and Wales, but possibly also across western Northern Ireland too. LONDON: As the heat escalates this afternoon, a couple of joggers still find time to exercise on Wimbledon Common WARWICK: A dog leaps into the river Avon to cool down from the heat, which is due to reach 26C in some parts of the country later today, as another has to be restrained from taking a dip itself WARWICK: A rower takes in a beautiful sunny morning on the river Avon with Warwick Castle in the background OXFORDSHIRE: The sun rises on what is set to be one of the hottest days of the year so far in Britain, with temperatures due to reach 26C today and 27C tomorrow OXFORDSHIRE: The south of England will see highs of 26C (78.8F) today, with Britain set to bathe in temperatures of up to 27C (80.6F) on Sunday, according to the forecaster But thunderstorms are expected to arrive by the end of the weekend with the Met Office releasing a map of what areas will be hit 'They'll track steadily north through the afternoon whilst probably growing into larger clumps of rain before clearing Scotland overnight. 'Some intense downpours are possible in a few places, giving up to 30mm in less than hour and perhaps 40-50mm over two to three hours. Hail, frequent lightning strikes and strong wind gusts will be additional localised hazards.' Rain and showers will start to move in from the west, due to a developing low pressure system from the Atlantic. Meanwhile a warning of an extreme risk of wildfire is in place for parts of northern Scotland amid dry weather. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) issued the warning for Inverness-shire and large parts of northern Scotland on Saturday while much of the rest of the country remains at very high risk. SFRS said that at this time of year there is a lot of dead vegetation left over from last year which can dry very quickly and act as fuel for wildfires. The weather over the next few days is expected to be dominated by high pressure and a combination of high temperatures, low humidity and strengthening winds, contributing to the wildfire risk. SFRS has released a video showing the intense and rapid spread of a recent wildfire in the village of Glenuig in Lochaber in the Highlands. BRIGHTON: A woman adjusts her sunglasses as the sun beats down on the packed beach this afternoon BOURNEMOUTH: A group of lifeguards keep watch as visitors to Boscombe Beach flood into the sea to relax in the soaring heat OXFORDSHIRE: The heatwave is expected to come to a close by the end of the weekend but people across the country are enjoying the weather today while it lasts OXFORDSHIRE: Dog walkers in the woods take in the early morning sunshine ahead of another hot day in the UK It spread across two miles before being extinguished by more than 30 firefighters over two days last weekend. Group Commander Niall MacLennan, an SFRS wildfire tactical adviser, urged people heading into the countryside to act with caution and avoid naked flames. He said: 'Over the weekend, the risk of wildfire is very real due to the higher temperatures and forecast low relative humidity. 'This contributes significantly to drying and lowering of moisture content in fine fuels, which are predominant in our countryside. 'If a naked flame comes into contact with this vegetation, it will act as a fuel and could spread rapidly. 'We know how damaging wildfires can be to the environment, wildlife and nearby communities and they place a significant demand on our emergency service. 'Human behaviour plays a significant role in preventing wildfires and clearly with this spell of warm weather, we anticipate large volumes of people will enter the countryside this weekend. 'We must ask that people behave responsibly and to please think twice before using any naked flames.' April 2024 was warmer than any previous April in records dating back to 1940, according to Copernicus, the EU's Climate Change Service. Record levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the weather phenomenon known as El Nino were believed to be behind the increase in air temperatures worldwide. TYNE AND WEAR: The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, glow on the horizon at St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast NORTHERN IRELAND: An incredible display of the Northern Lights in Dunseverick, County Antrim EDINBURGH: A stunning view of the Northern Lights over the National Monument of Scotland in Edinburgh IRELAND: Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, illuminate the sky between 11pm and midnight last night in County Cavan Global temperatures typically increase during an El Nino episode, as warmer water spreads further, and stays closer to the surface, releasing more heat into the atmosphere, creating wetter and warmer air. Surface air temperature for the month was 15.03C - 0.67C above the 1991-2020 average for April, and 0.14C above the previous high set in April 2016. Last year, temperatures reached 33.5C on September 10 in Kent on the hottest day. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was all smiles as he supervised the testing of a new multiple rocket launch system, amid fears the country is gearing up to arm Russia with weapons for its continuing war against Ukraine. The new rocket launch system is the latest move by North Korea to bolster its lineup of weapons targeting South Korean population centres and will be deployed to the nation's armed forces later this year, according to state media. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Friday's test confirmed the 'advantage and destructive power' of the 240-millimeter multiple rocket launcher and its guided shells. The agency said the system, which the North already tested twice this year, will be deployed to combat units from 2024 to 2026 to replace older weapons. North Korea in recent months has maintained an accelerated pace in weapons testing as it expands its military capabilities, while diplomacy with the United States and South Korea remains stalled. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is all smiles as he supervised the testing of a new multiple rocket launch system on Friday, amid fears the country is gearing up to arm Russia with weapons for its continuing war against Ukraine While North Korean artillery systems are designed to target South Korea's capital area, South Korean military officials also suspect the tests are aimed at examining weapons it plans to export to Russia Experts say this latest flexing of military muscle is part of a goal to eventually pressure the United States into accepting the North as a nuclear power and negotiating economic and security concessions from a position of strength. North Korea has focused on artillery systems in recent weeks. Its testing activities included salvo launches of 600-mm multiple rocket launchers in April that state media described as a simulated nuclear counterattack against enemy targets. Earlier this year, the country conducted various cruise missile tests and flight-tested what it described as a solid-fuel intermediate range missile with hypersonic warhead capabilities. Experts say it is designed to reach remote US targets in the Pacific, including the military hub of Guam. Following Friday's test, Kim issued instructions to maximize the production of the 240-mm multiple rocket launchers and their guided shells, which he said would bring a 'significant change' to the combat capabilities of his forces, the North Korean news agency said. While North Korean artillery systems are designed to target South Korea's capital area, which is home to half of that country's 51 million people, South Korean military officials also suspect the tests are aimed at examining weapons it plans to export to Russia. US and South Korean officials have accused the North of providing artillery shells, missiles and other military equipment to Russia to help extend its warfighting in Ukraine. Kim in recent months has attempted to boost the visibility of his ties with Moscow and Beijing as he tries to break out of diplomatic isolation and insert himself into a united front against Washington. Footage of the moment beloved Sydney activist Danny Lim was assaulted at a Sydney train station can be revealed for the first time after the father-of-five responsible for the attack was fined. CCTV released by the Local Court showed Ming Wiseman, 66, angrily confront and punch Mr Lim during a fiery confrontation in front of shocked onlookers, including school children, on the Strathfield Station concourse on September 22 last year. In court this week, Wiseman pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. However Magistrate Vivien Swain rejected his argument that he was acting in self defence, finding him guilty and recording a conviction. The court heard that Mr Lim - who is well known around Sydney for wearing his trademark sandwich boards spruiking peace and positivity - suffered a red mark to his left eye after being struck with a right fist during the scuffle. Well-known Sydney activist Danny Lim was assaulted by a father-of-five at a train station last September CCTV played in court showed Wiseman walking through the ticket gate at 3.21pm, carrying a backpack and wheeling his shopping trolley. The court heard the pair had also had a confrontation at the same train station earlier that day but it became physical when Wiseman came across Mr Lim for a second time. Mr Lim, who was 79 at the time, can be seen on the video talking to a station employee with one of his sandwich boards over his chest bearing slogans about 'peace' and 'love'. At the time he was campaigning for the the Yes vote for the Voice to Parliament. CCTV released by the Local Court showed Ming Wiseman, 66, angrily confront and punch Mr Lim during a fiery confrontation in front of shocked onlookers A young woman had to break up the scuffle between the two men Wiseman placed his shopping trolley and bag down by two bins, angrily pointing his finger at Mr Lim as he approached. During his evidence to the court Mr Lim said that he heard someone approach from behind uttering profanities. The footage captured Mr Lim backing up against a wall before a physical altercation ensued. During this week's hearing, the police prosecution conceded that Mr Lim threw a punch as he attempted to defend himself. Video showed the pair were involved in a physical altercation before it was broken up by a young woman in a black shirt. 'He swung with his right fist,' Mr Lim said during his evidence, before adding he was struck on the left side of his face. Magistrate Vivien Swain found that Wiseman struck Mr Lim in the face during the melee, despite Wiseman's claim that Mr Lim had intentionally inflicted his own injuries - an allegation that was strenuously denied by the activist during his evidence. Magistrate Vivien Swain found that Ming Wiseman (pictured) struck Mr Lim in the face during the melee, despite Wiseman's claim that Mr Lim had intentionally inflicted his own injuries When he was stopped by police a short time later, Wiseman claimed he acted in self defence saying: 'I didn't punch and he started first.' The court heard that Wiseman and Mr Lim had previous run-ins at Burwood and Town Hall train stations. Wiseman was convicted and fined $600 and Magistrate Swain also made an 18-month AVO for Mr Lim's protection. In court on Monday, Wiseman described Mr Lim as a 'disgrace' and said he had taken offence to some of his signs which included the word 'CVN'T'. Following the incident, Wiseman uploaded a video to YouTube titled 'I have duty to stop him.' 'He's a liar. He's actually a faker,' Wiseman said during the 22-minute video. 'He's a disgrace of our Chinese community so I have to expose him whenever I can.' A woman who was allegedly stalked by Baby Reindeer's real-life 'Martha' fears she will 'come for her again' after the release of the Netflix show. Laura Wray, widow of former Labour MP Jimmy Wray, said she fears for her own safety after being allegedly targeted by Fiona Harvey. Ms Wray has spoken out for the first time after her alleged stalker gave an explosive interview with Piers Morgan earlier this week. In an interview with the Mirror, the Scottish lawyer said she had not thought about her stalker for years until seeing the interview. She said: 'I hadn't thought about her for years. 'I had forgotten so much of it. Every time someone says a comment, it triggers it again. Lawyer Laura Wray who was allegedly stalked by an ex-employee similar to the character 'Martha' in the new Netflix series Baby Reindeer Fiona Harvey pictured with Piers Morgan where she gave a bombshell interview on his YouTube show Uncensored Baby Reindeer, the extraordinary hit Netflix drama, has been viewed more than 60 million times in the past month (Pictured: Martha played by Jessica Gunning) 'Memories of things that she did. Some of her actions. It's pretty distressing. Watching her last night [on Piers Morgan's show], how did I manage to cope with that for so long?' She went on: 'My partner and I are concerned about what she might do next. Is she going to come after me? 'She is posting things on Facebook accusing me of all sorts, and of being abusive. You don't know where it will end.' Until now, the Mail has chosen not to identify Harvey - instead withholding her name and pixelating her face, to protect her privacy. Now she herself has placed her real identity in the public domain, we will name her as Fiona Harvey. Wray claims problems started after she gave Harvey a two-week trial at her Glasgow law firm in 1997. Wray claimed to have sacked Harvey just days later because she was 'completely incapable of behaving herself'. Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning attended a photo call for a screening in LA earlier this week After being sacked, Wray claims she was then allegedly harassed by Harvey who was known at the time as Fiona Muir. Wray claimed Harvey bombarded her with phone calls, emails and texts. She also claimed Harvey had reported her to social services over alleged mistreatment of her child. Wray went on: 'She made some bizarre allegation that I was in my car driving and somehow managed to hit my son who was sitting in the back of the car in the child seat. 'Eventually it was all dropped but that's when I went for an interim injunction. 'Thankfully, it worked. She didn't defend it. We never heard any more from her.' Graph comparing the two stories between the Netflix show (left) and Fiona Harvey (right) The Daily Record reported that Wray served Harvey with an interim interdict to stop her from contacting the lawyer. Wray believes she features indirectly in the Netflix drama through a fictional newspaper headline: 'Sick stalker targets barrister's deaf child.' Baby Reindeer has become one of the most-watched Netflix shows of all time since it was released on April 11. It sees Martha, played by Jessica Gunning, latching onto a struggling stand-up comedian called Donny Dunn, played by Richard Gadd. Martha is eventually jailed. The show alleges that Dunn's female stalker conducted a relentless stalking campaign which started after he served her in a London pub while working as a bartender. Harvey claimed she was the inspiration for sinister Martha in the Netflix hit written by Scottish comedian Gadd, who also starred in the show. Fiona Harvey pictured on Piers Morgan's programme Baby Reindeer delves into Richard Gadd's harrowing real-life stalking ordeal as he plays a fictionalised version of himself called Donny Dunn (pictured) Gadd was subjected to a harrowing real-life stalking ordeal while working in a London pub. Harvey has denied ever stalking Gadd, sexually assaulting him or attacking his girlfriend. Wray went on to say that she was shocked by the fact Netflix 'didn't attempt to hide the stalker's identity'. She added: 'Even if she wasn't mentally ill, if you are doing a show billed as a true story where the people are still alive and might be harmed, there is a duty of care. But she seems obviously so mentally ill. They haven't done enough to protect her.' She said the similarities between Martha and her stalker were striking and added: 'It was obvious to me and to a lot of other people that she was my stalker. They made her a lawyer. 'That detail didn't have any bearing on the story. They could have made her a doctor, or an accountant.' However, Harvey has disputed many of Wray's claims. Harvey bombarded Gadd with hundreds of phone calls, texts and emails, the Netflix series says In the show, Martha goes to court and pleads guilty to stalking and intimidating Donny Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, she said she was 'head-hunted' by Wray and was not sacked from her law firm. She also claimed it was 'nonsense' that Harvey had served her with an interdict as she not filed the paperwork properly. Harvey also described the show as 'a work of fiction, a work of hyperbole'. She claimed that she was prepared to go to a court of law to defend herself against allegations made in the series. Harvey said she had instructed lawyers in part, but 'we want to explore all the options out there, there are a number of people to sue'. During the interview, Harvey also referenced a scene in the show where character Martha admits to intimidating Gadd's character and receives a nine-month prison sentence. 'That is completely untrue, very, very defamatory to me, very career damaging,' she said. 'I wanted to rebut that completely on this show - I am not a stalker, I have not been to jail, I've not got injunctions - it is complete nonsense.' Representatives for Richard Gadd and Netflix have been approached for comment by MailOnline. British tourists can now be fined up to 1,300 for drinking in the street in Spanish party hotspots as the war on rowdy visitors ramps up. From today, boozy Brits looking to consume alcohol in public face being slapped with a penalty between 500 (430) and 1,500 (1,292) thanks to new legislation passed in some of the most beloved holiday destinations. The Balearic regional government has imposed the new rules, which build on similar laws passed in 2020, in Llucmajor, Palma and Calvia (home to Magaluf) in Mallorca and Sant Antoni in Ibiza - some of the most popular party hubs in Europe. The fresh clampdown on so-called low quality tourism also sees a ban on party boats, much loved by touring Brits, coming within one nautical mile (1.852 km) of the affected areas after 9.30pm. It will also remain against the law for the vessels to pick up or drop off revellers at these spots. British tourists can now be fined up to 1,500 for drinking in the street in Ibiza (pictured) and Mallorca Tourists pictured dancing at an Ibiza nightclub. From today, boozy Brits looking to consume alcohol in public face being slapped with a penalty between 500 (430) and 1,500 (1,292) thanks to new legislation passed in some of the most beloved holiday destinations People pictured dancing while drinking in a pool at a nightclub in Ibiza The ban was introduced by the government of the Balearic Islands in a bid to crack down on so-called low quality tourism and will be enforced until at least December 2027 (pictured: drinkers at The Punta Ballena Strip in Magaluf) Shops in these tourist hotspots have been banned from selling alcohol between 9.30pm and 8am since 2020 as part of legislation that the regional government claimed was the first of its kind. Now lawmakers have pushed the crackdown on late night booze sales further by forcing stores to close at 9.30pm when they previously would only have to shut their alcohol counter. Rules have already been in place banning public drinking in certain popular holiday destinations across the Balearic islands but the latest measures represent a tightening of existing laws and the potential for increased fines. The original alcohol measures, which were passed in 2020, saw restrictions on the number of free drinks that package holidays could offer, as well as new rules on public nudity and climbing across hotel balconies. The new laws will be enforced until at least December 2027. The strict new rules in some of the busiest spots for British tourists come after a Menorca holiday village, currently soaring in popularity, threatened to ban rowdy Brits completely. Binibeca Vell, dubbed the 'Spanish Mykonos', is set to receive one million tourists this year after its popularity boomed on social media. Tourists seen walking on the street in Magaluf. Shops in tourist hotspots like Magaluf have been banned from selling alcohol between 9.30pm and 8am since 2020 as part of legislation that the regional government claimed was the first of its kind Tourists pictured dancing at the popular Punta Ballena strip in Magaluf in June 2019 Public drinking can land tourists a heavy fine in Llucmajor, Palma and Calvia in Mallorca and Sant Antoni in Ibiza. Meanwhile Binibeca Vell in Menorca is considering banning rowdy tourists altogether after a string of incidents But locals have hit back at bad behaviour from visitors with one claiming 'they went into homes', 'sat on chairs' and 'climb on our walls'. The fishing village, which is famous for its unusual whitewashed walls, previously told tourists to only visit between 11am and 8pm so they could enjoy their breakfasts. In a post on the village's website, locals also asked vistors to refrain from 'entering homes' and 'climbing balconies'. The message included a series of pictures showing one tourist splayed out on a stairwell and another sitting in a chair belonging to one of the locals. Oscar Monge, who runs a group representing Binibeca Vell's 195 property owners, told the Guardian: 'Binibeca Vell is not a place of adventure, but it's a private housing development where people reside.' 'If the administration continues to leave us abandoned, in August we'll carry out a vote among owners on whether we should close up the development,' he added. Oscar Monge, who runs a group representing Binibeca Vell's 195 property owners, told the Guardian: 'Binibeca Vell is not a place of adventure, but it's a private housing development where people reside.' Mr Monge explained that the main problem is the Spanish authorities who residents believe are not doing enough to tackle the issues with tourists. Binibeca Vell, which is popular with Brits, is set to receive one million tourists this year after its popularity boomed on social media In a post on the village's website, locals also asked vistors to refrain from 'entering homes' and 'climbing balconies' Locals have complained about the bad behaviour of visitors with one claiming 'they went into homes', 'sat on chairs' and 'climb on our walls' Last year, residents began to hit back, requesting tourists only visit the fishing village - which is famous for its whitewashed walls - between 11am and 8pm Begona Mercadal, head of tourism for Menorca told the El Diario newspaper that residents would be able to close their village to tourists if they wished. She said: 'We fully acknowledge that it is private property and, therefore, if they want to close it, that is their right.' Binibeca Vell residents were given 12,850 by the government last year to help deal with rubbish removal but the deal has not been renewed. She's the daughter of a self-made billionaire, is worth more than 500million herself and wears designer ensembles top fashion experts claim would have given Jackie Kennedy a run for her money - but Akshata Murty's lifestyle is not as gilded as one might think. In fact, the Prime Minister's wife rather likes the simpler things in life, like shopping at her local supermarket, enjoying watching the TV as a family, or just taking the dog for a walk. And when the Sunaks travel by train to his constituency in Richmond, North Yorkshire, they take their Tupperware leftovers with them. These are just some of the curiously normal life penchants Akshata - or Mrs M, as she is affectionately known to Downing Street staff - has opened up to in a revealing interview with The Times. Speaking for the first time in a media interview on her own - largely because she prefers to keep out of the limelight - the petite 44-year-old said normal day-to-day activities are what make her happiest. She's the daughter of a self-made billionaire, is worth more than 500million herself and wears designer ensembles top fashion experts claim would have given Jackie Kennedy a run for her money - but Akshata Murty's life is not as gilded as one might think Taking the family dog to the park, for example, is one of the top activities on her list. She said: 'Few people recognise me. I love that. I take Nova [the labrador] for a walk in St James's Park most weeks it's a great escape.' In other aspects of domestic life, the dedicated mum-of-two is the one who gets the food shopping in - and she prefers going to high street supermarkets. She reveals: 'I go to Tesco or the little Sainsbury's or I go to the M&S in Victoria.' As for family downtime, Akshata divulges that life can be busy for her, their two daughters, Krishna, 13 and Anoushka, 11, and Rishi, but they still try to put aside time to watch TV, including recently enjoying Jurassic Park together. The Prime Minister's wife, who is a former fashion designer, is also known for always looking stylish, but her everyday look is neither conspicuous or elaborate and she is unafraid of going make-up free. There is just one caveat however - rarely will she go to a formal event without wearing heels. At 5ft 6in, husband Rishi Sunak is shorter than the average height of a British man, which is around 5ft 10in - but Akshata says she would still never dream of ditching heels for flats. 'Oh no, I love a pair of heels,' she says emphatically. The Sunaks have previously revealed insight into their domestic life, giving an interview to Grazia in March. The No10 couple revealed they have rows over stacking the dishwasher, healthy eating and making the bed in an interview given to mark International Women's Day. As for family downtime, Akshata divulges that life can be busy for her, their two daughters, Krishna, 13 and Anoushka, 11, and Rishi, but they still try to put aside time to watch TV, including recently enjoying Jurassic Park together In a video interview they reveal that Akshata is not a morning person, and the PM often interrupts his work running the country to head back up to the No10 flat where they live - to make sure the sheets have been tucked in. In a lighthearted exchange Rishi said: 'You just don't like making the bed and it bugs me. I actually sometimes come up back into the flat from the office after we've all left to make the bed, because I'll be irritated if it's not been made.' Akshata revealed that she is the one who takes a firmer line with their children. 'I'm stricter when it comes to things related to school like getting their homework done, making sure they are reading. Making sure that anything related to school is done well,' she said. At the end of the day, Rishi said he enjoys watching old episodes of the popular 90s/00s sitcom starring Jennifer Anniston, Courtney Cox and the late Matthew Perry. While the Sunaks come across as a down-to-earth family, there are still the tell-tale signs of access to a significant disposable income. The Sunaks own a 7 million townhouse and a 1million flat in Kensington, as well as a 5.5million penthouse in California, overlooking Santa Monica pier, which they use in the holidays. There's also the 2million mansion in Rishi's Yorkshire constituency, where he is nicknamed the 'Maharaja of the Dales'. Of the latter, Akshata is particularly fond and prefers holidaying there than abroad. She reveals that she is in many ways an 'adopted' Yorkshirewoman and that she feels proudly British, having lived in the UK since 2013. Akshata was born in Hubli, Karnataka, India in 1980. She and her brother Rohan were largely raised by their paternal grandparents as her ambitious mother and father pursued careers in engineering and science. Her father Narayana, who was recently ranked the sixth richest person in India with a an estimated 3.9billion fortune, built his family's wealth after founding his firm Infosys, which is currently worth around 53billion. At 5ft 6in, husband Rishi Sunak is shorter than the average height of a British man, which is around 5ft 10in - but Akshata says she would still never dream of ditching heels for flats Akshata's mother Sudha became the first female engineer to work for India's biggest car manufacturer, TELCO. Child prodigy Rohan started computer coding at the age of eight before studying a PhD at Harvard and becoming a junior fellow at the prestigious university. He later joined the family company in 2013, before stepping down amid claims by Infosys employees of nepotism at the time. A year later, he founded AI firm Soroco, of which his sister Akshata is listed as a director of its UK arm. Akshata had a passion for fashion from an early age, something which got her into trouble with her mother. She previously recalled how she was scolded for paying more attention to glamour than she did to her studies. After finishing school, Akshata moved to the US, where she completed degrees in economics and French at Claremont McKenna College in California and studied at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in LA. She met her future husband after moving to Stanford University to study for an MBA. Mr Sunak previously told how there was 'clearly something' there when he and his wife first met. He went as far as changing some of his classes so he could sit next to his wife. Four years later, in 2009, they married in a lavish ceremony in Bengaluru in India, which was the couple's home for the next four years. During their early years together, Akshata pursued a career in fashion and set up her own business in 2007, Akshata Designs. However, her business venture fell flat and collapsed after just three years. Indian-born Akshata reveals that she is in many ways an 'adopted' Yorkshirewoman and that she feels proudly British, having lived in the UK since 2013 Nonetheless, the mother-of-two has continued to hold stakes in businesses over the years, the most significant of which is her estimated 430million holding in Infosys. She and Mr Sunak also set up a project together, Catamaran Ventures UK. Akshata has also been linked to Jamie Oliver's Pizzeria and Etonian tailor, New & Lingwood. Last year, Akshata hit the headlines over her non-domicile ('non-dom') tax status, which is a legal but controversial way to avoid paying taxes in Britain on overseas income. The status is often used by the super-wealthy to save thousands or even millions of pounds in tax. Amid an intense public backlash, she gave up the non-dom status and promised to pay tax in the UK on the fortunes she brought in from around the world. A statement read: 'It has become clear that many do not feel it is compatible with my husband's role as Chancellor. 'I understand and appreciate the British sense of fairness and I do not wish my tax status to be a distraction for my husband or to affect my family. 'This means I will now pay UK tax on an arising basis on all my worldwide income, including dividends and capital gains, wherever in the world that income arises. 'I do this because I want to, not because the rules require me to.' China launches new original technology innovation hub construction to speed up industrial upgrades Global Times) 12:11, May 11, 2024 A staff member displays an inspection robot at a test base in the Xiong'an Science and Technology Innovation Center in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Mu Yu) China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council recently launched the second phase of construction for original technology innovation hubs among centrally administered enterprises, in a bid to speed up the development of industrial upgrades driven by cutting-edge technology innovation. The move will support 40 centrally administered enterprises in establishing 52 original technology innovation hubs across 36 sectors such as quantum information, neuromorphic intelligence, and biomanufacturing, according to Xinhua News Agency. Experts noted that state-owned enterprises possess scale and resource advantages, especially in technology research and development (R&D). The rapid progress in technological innovation by these firms serves as a pivotal driving force for fostering innovation in the private sector and propelling China's economic growth. In the latest move, SASAC will urge central enterprises to bolster efforts in constructing innovation hubs and expedite 11 action plans to achieve original breakthroughs in fields such as quantum information, 6G, deep-sea exploration, controllable nuclear fusion, and advanced materials, Xinhua reported. China has been vigorously pushing for its high-quality development driven by new quality productive forces, and state-owned enterprises play a crucial role in advancing this process. Amid mounting global high-tech competition, it is imperative to encourage industrial innovation through policy and investment support, Li Chang'an, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies of the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Friday. China's central government approved a guideline in February 2022 that required state-owned enterprises to enhance their innovation capabilities, promote the deep integration of industrial and innovation chains, and establish original technology innovation hubs. SASAC's move marked the latest progress in this ambitious initiative, following the first batch of 29 key-supported technology innovation pilot projects launched since the plan was announced. Emerging sectors such as AI, green energy, and new business models are pivotal for enterprise growth. Some Chinese centrally administered enterprises have achieved goals in industrial chain upgrades through overall technology innovation, Zhou Lisha, research director of the Contemporary State-Owned Enterprises Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Friday. The favorable measures will further fuel the expansion of the emerging sectors, and serve as a key driver in meeting China's growth targets, Zhou added. Official data shows that centrally administered enterprises completed investments totaling 2.18 trillion yuan ($301.8 billion) in strategic emerging industries last year, representing a year-on-year growth of 32.1 percent, with a slew of key projects implemented in sectors such as photovoltaic hydrogen production, carbon fiber manufacturing, and automotive chips, according to media reports. Zhang Yuzhuo, the head of SASAC, stated during this year's two sessions in March that as of 2025, the share of revenue from strategic emerging industries of central enterprises is expected to reach 35 percent, with sophisticated strategic planning in domains including neuromorphic intelligence, quantum information, and controlled nuclear fusion. At an on-site promotion meeting on April 28 for deepening state-owned enterprise reform, Wang Hongzhi, deputy director of SASAC, urged eligible companies to focus on key areas such as computing power and algorithms, and strive for innovation and progress, in a bid to elevate tech-driven applications to expedite tech upgrades and growth momentum transformation. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Zhong Wenxing) Rescuers are struggling to save scores of pelicans found sick and starving along coastal Southern California -- even though experts say there's plenty of fish for them in local waters. The big-beaked seabirds are anemic, dehydrated and weigh only half of what they should, Debbie McGuire, executive director of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, told the Associated Press. "They are starving to death and if we don't get them into care, they will die," McGuire said. "It really is a crisis." The center recently rescued some two dozen ailing brown pelicans after lifeguards spotted them on a pier in Newport Beach, AP said. McGuire said she spoke to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to try to find out what's going on, and was told there's "plenty of bait out there" for the birds, which eat anchovies, sardines and mackerel, according to the Los Angeles Times. "We don't know the cause," she said. "They are just all starving." The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center is currently so overwhelmed by the number of pelicans in its care that it's had to erect to tents to house and treat them all. The International Bird Rescue Group said on its website Friday that more than 235 pelicans had been brought to its two wildlife centers near Los Angeles and San Francisco since April 20. Testing on the birds hasn't revealed evidence of any diseases, such as bird flu, that could explain the situation, the organization said. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has also been testing the birds and conducting postmortem exams, with preliminary results showing that they died of starvation-related problems, according to Friday release. Similar "stranding events" have occurred periodically among various California seabird species, with nearly 800 pelicans brought to wildlife rehabilitation centers in the spring of 2022, the department said. About half where successfully treated and returned to the wild. As Britain vows to do everything in its power to 'stop the boats', Europe's migrant crisis has crash-landed on the doorstep of its neighbour. With the threat of Rwanda looming over asylum seekers who reach the UK, Ireland is facing an unprecedented 'explosion' in migration which has left a country divided. The epicentre of the crisis lies in Ireland's capital, Dublin, where 'tent cities' have sprung up across the city due to a lack of available accommodation. The contrast in Dublin is stark. As friends and families soaked up the sunshine along the tranquil Grand Canal on Friday, migrants were being quizzed by police in their tents on the footpath - and ugly metal fences were being erected to block others from joining. For months tension has been mounting between locals and asylum seekers with those on the right declaring 'Ireland is full' against a backdrop of a housing shortage crisis, high taxes and a failing healthcare system. But they are united on the fact that Ireland's own history of immigration is contributing to the influx of migrants. When MailOnline visited the canal, migrants were being quizzed at their tents by police as mothers pushed their children along in buggies and revellers tucked into ice creams and soaked up the sunshine The epicentre of the asylum crisis lies in Ireland's capital, Dublin, where 'tent cities' have sprung up across the city due to a lack of available accommodation Jamal Naser Ah-Madi, an Afghan who travelled to Dublin via France, England and Northern Ireland, said Ireland had good people A police van approaches behind Jamal Naser Ah-Madi as it travels between railings Struggles with migration come against a backdrop of a housing shortage crisis, high taxes and a failing healthcare system Contract workers erect barriers on Dublins Grand Canal to stop asylum seekers pitching tents Workers unload barriers from the back of a lorry as they work to try and stop migrants from massing by the canal Despite tensions locals and migrants are united on the fact that Ireland's own history of immigration is contributing to the influx of migrants What part of Ireland's history is making migrants so hopeful? It has been estimated that more than six million Irish people have emigrated to the US since 1820, driven by famine and the hope of a better life overseas. The peak of emigrants fleeing the Emerald Isle came from the Great Famine of 1845-52 - where the failure of the potato crop left families destitute and starving. This only grew with mass evictions and near-famines in the following decades, as the country that had become increasingly reliant on the crop saw the vegetable decimated by blight. In that ten year period it is claimed that as much as a quarter of the population left for the US, with one in six Americans now identifying as having Irish heritage. Emigrants were often young, single women - with the disparity reaching a peak between 1886 and 1905 when nearly two thirds of those leaving for the US were female. Advertisement 'I chose Ireland because they have a history of immigration, the Irish know how we feel' Shire, a 36-year-old asylum seeker who fled Somalia for Dublin in February told MailOnline at Dublin's International Protection Office. 'They emigrated from one country to another because of hardships. That's why I prefer Ireland and the Irish people will understand how we feel. I hope the Irish people will welcome us because they have been through this situation.' Jamal Naser Ah-Madi, an Afghan who travelled to Dublin via France, England and Northern Ireland, agreed and said Ireland had good people, adding: I will have a better life here. I want to save my life and my familys life. He said he would not risk going back to the UK because Rwanda is not safe. While many locals claim to be content with migrants flocking to Ireland, there is an overwhelming feeling that the country is at boiling point and it is 'only a matter of time' before something bad happens. It comes amid a backdrop of thousands of people fleeing the UK's toughed up immigration policies by re-entering the EU through Ireland - a 'loophole' which Irish premier Simon Harris pledged he would not let his country fall victim to. Anne Hosback, from Cooloch, told MailOnline: 'All of a sudden it's exploded, the amount of people coming in. The unfortunate thing is we haven't got the accommodation. People here that are homeless are resentful because they see them getting all the benefits.' As the Irish government crackdown on Dublin's 'shanty towns' by dismantling them using diggers, people living in them are being driven out to the mountains to live in tents behind 10ft metal gates and 24-hour security where nobody can see them. Ministers were told last month that the government will spend 5billion on accommodating them in State-owned properties in the coming decades. Software engineer Derek Cahill, 32, who was walking past the Grand Canal tents after work, told MailOnline: 'There is tension and it's definitely getting worse' Ultan Doyle, 47, a project manager from the south of Dublin, said that the country will get to a point where 'accommodation, healthcare and education is at breaking point' While many locals claim to be content with migrants flocking to Ireland, there is an overwhelming feeling that the country is at boiling point It comes amid a backdrop of thousands of people fleeing the UK's toughed up immigration policies by re-entering the EU through Ireland Irish premier Simon Harris pledged he would not let his country fall victim to a 'loophole' which allows migrants to enter the EU through Ireland As the Irish government crackdown on Dublin's 'shanty towns' by dismantling them using diggers, people living in them are being driven out Some being driven out are going to the mountains to live in tents behind 10ft metal gates and 24-hour security where nobody can see them Based on recent figures, it is expected that between 13,000 and 16,000 people will arrive in Ireland each year. There have been 7,928 asylum applications between January and May 9 alone in Ireland. Ireland has blamed Britain's Rwanda policy for a recent influx to Dublin from Northern Ireland. But as a diplomatic row continues in the background, there is something bigger simmering. Software engineer Derek Cahill, 32, who was walking past the Grand Canal tents after work, told MailOnline: 'There is tension and it's definitely getting worse. There's a lot of hate out there at the moment and it seems like it's only a matter of time before something happens.' Sean O'Reilly, 46, from Arran Quay, said: 'The government are looking after migrants and not caring about the Irish.' In recent months, right-wing activists have staged demonstrations declaring 'Ireland is full', while police are investigating a series of arson attacks at sites earmarked for refugee camps as the migrant crisis reaches boiling point. But amid the threat of violence, others are more sympathetic to the desperate situation, reflecting on Ireland's own immigration history. Ultan Doyle, 47, a project manager from the south of Dublin, said: 'As a country we have been growing for years, eventually we were going to reach a point where accommodation, healthcare and education is at breaking point. 'Historically the English and rest of the world treated us appallingly, migrants will always be welcome here' Peter O'Donnell, 27, agreed, saying: 'Irish people have benefited throughout the years from emigration. I think if people don't see that, they are probably blind and not fully in tune with our history. Previously in America, Irish people, there were all those signs saying 'no Irish, no Jewish people', obviously there was bigotry here. The scene outside the immigration protection office in Dublin where asylum seekers have been moved after pitching tents outside for the last week Based on recent figures, it is expected that between 13,000 and 16,000 people will arrive in Ireland each year There have been 7,928 asylum applications between January and May 9 alone in Ireland Ireland has blamed Britain's Rwanda policy for a recent influx to Dublin from Northern Ireland Metal barricades have been put up outside the immigration protection office in Dublin where asylum seekers have been moved The IPO (pictured) has become a focal point for Dublin's migrant crisis, with hundreds of asylum seekers surrounding the building in tents before they were cleared on May 1 'Sadly, I think there always will be a level of bigotry. But I can see the other side of the coin, does a nation have an obligation to care for its own citizens before other people coming into the country? I think we are coming to a tipping point, where we simply cannot house or accommodate people that are coming.' But there is anger that in Dublin that their hard-earned taxes are being spent on immigration with no obvious benefit to the local community. There is fury that taxpayers' money is being spent on providing tents for migrants rather than their own people. Bus driver Patrick Kelly, 65, from County Athlone, said: 'The taxpayers' money should be used for upgrading the hospital and putting in more beds because people are genuinely stuck on corridors. 'Look on Ireland on a map, we're only a small country. We are expected to give them anything and everything. They are all coming over from Europe and getting benefits.' Other locals hit out at asylum seekers for failing to contribute to society. Electrician Adam Harvey, 32, complained that Ireland has become 'become a dumping ground' and that Europe's migrant crisis has landed on their doorstep. 'It's worrying,' he said. 'It's tense, I just don't see what the solution is. We barely have the right infrastructure for our own, never mind bus loads of people coming in.' Karl Hill fears tension could spark because of the rise in the far-right movement and far-right political parties There is anger that in Dublin that their hard-earned taxes are being spent on immigration with no obvious benefit to the local community There is fury that taxpayers' money is being spent on providing tents for migrants rather than their own people Other locals have hit out at asylum seekers for failing to contribute to society It appears many do not want to be sent to the Crooksling campsite and Citywest hotel, which are long journeys from Dublin and more importantly the IPO Justice Minister Helen McEntee claimed that 80 per cent of recent asylum seekers coming into the country had come from Northern Ireland It remains to be seen how long the fencing will stay up but Mr Harris has vowed that migrants will no longer be allowed to pitch up 'tent cities' Irish homeless charities have said 13,866 people are accessing emergency accommodation in Ireland. The IPO has become a focal point for Dublin's migrant crisis, with hundreds of asylum seekers surrounding the building in tents before they were cleared on May 1. Just days later, another encampment was set up around the corner along the picturesque Grand Canal. It appears many do not want to be sent to the Crooksling campsite and Citywest hotel, which are long journeys from Dublin and more importantly the IPO which they want to be close to in order to get documents. Justice Minister Helen McEntee claimed that 80 per cent of recent asylum seekers coming into the country had come from Northern Ireland, with migrants taking advantage of the lack of checkpoints on the border. This measure was kept following Brexit amid fears a visible border could put the peace process at risk. For many in Ireland though, peace is the opposite of what is happening right now. Karl Hill said: 'It's well documented there is a rise in far-right movement and far-right political parties. I find that unfortunate but it is something happening. There will be certain sections of society that would be growing into that tension with asylum seekers. 'It does not fill me with pride as an Irish citizen because it's something we have been predominantly well against if you look back over a number of decades but it is rising and it is concerning. Recent violence in the city centre is fuelled by the far-right and it's followers.' By Friday morning in Dublin, another 30 tents had sprung up on the Grand Canal - just 24 hours after being cleared and fenced off. The evening before, refugees who attempted to set up new encampments in areas of Dublin were run out by locals. When MailOnline visited the canal, migrants were being quizzed at their tents by police as mothers pushed their children along in buggies and revellers tucked into ice creams and soaked up the sunshine. It remains to be seen how long the fencing will stay up but Mr Harris has vowed that migrants will no longer be allowed to pitch up 'tent cities' like they have on Mount Street and the Grand Canal. He said: 'Those days are gone, those days are over. That's not going to happen and the Government are absolutely united in relation to this.' She became a house-hold name for her court battles over Brexit but businesswoman Gina Miller has a private side that few are aware of as the fiercely proud mother of a severely disabled daughter And now MailOnline has been given unique insight into the long journey the millionaire businesswoman has travelled with her 36-year-old daughter Lucy Ann to help her fulfil her potential by finally having her own home and job. In the sun-lit living room of that new home Gina, 59, told how she has fought for years and continues to fight to access the best possible care for her beloved daughter, as well as for others like her. And Lucy Ann is clearly appreciative. Her face lit up as she told us: 'I like having a house.' But her independence has been hard-fought. Lucy Ann was starved of oxygen during birth, leaving her with the mental capacity of a five or six year-old. Gina Miller's daughter Lucy-Ann, 36, has significant learning difficulties and lives in assisted accommodation in London (Pictured together) Gina says she has fought for years and continues to fight to access the best possible care for her beloved daughter, as well as for others like her (Pictured together) Gina says: 'She is perfectly beautiful and, although you can't really tell from looking at her, she has special needs.' Gina explains how a prolonged labour deprived Lucy Ann of oxygen at birth. She never cried and when aged two she made no attempt to walk. The 59-year-old then took her daughter to see child experts. She said: 'Everyone was negative. I decided that she was just going to be the best she could be.' Gina has told how her commitment to her daughter contributed to the end of the marriage to her childhood sweet-heart, Lucy Ann's father. As a single mother, Gina juggled several jobs, including modelling, serving at Pizza Express, and later went to university to study law. Lucy Ann was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism. Businesswoman Gina Miller's new True and Fair party was unveiled in 2021 (Pictured: At the party launch in January 2022) She suffered bullying at school, was groomed on Facebook and narrowly escaped an encounter with a middle-aged man pretending to be a teenager. However, Gina's perseverance finally led to her daughter gaining the financial care package that would enable her to live an independent life. 'It took us nearly seven or eight years in total to try to get [Lucy Ann's care] package together,' she said. 'And then Covid hit.' Like many young people, Lucy Ann suffered during the two years of the pandemic. Gina explained: 'With all the stress and everything she started self-harming, trying to take her own life [People with special needs] experience the same stress, emotions and worries as everybody else. 'But she's been here since July. She's finally settled.' Ms Miller is planning to lead the True and Fair party in elections against the Conservatives and Labour Party Now she lives with two other young people with special needs who have the support of a team of around-the-clock carers. Lucy Ann explains that the balloons in the room are left-over from her birthday celebrations earlier this week. Wearing a bright-coloured t-shirt, summer shorts and smiling from ear to ear, Lucy Ann explains how she loves her new found independence. 'I love my mum but I don't want to live with her at the moment. 'Maybe that might change but at the moment I don't want to live with my mum as it makes me feel a little bit more grown up.' She continued: 'Lucy Ann has a job working at a cafe two days a week.' Lucy Ann pipes up: 'I get the bus to work!' However, changes in disability benefits risk depriving Lucy Ann and people like her from leading independent lives, Gina claims. Lucy-Ann had her own funding 'pulled' after a 20-minute interview with a 'bureaucrat' that left her with a 15,000 debt (Pictured: Gina with Lucy-Ann) Eligibility to Personal Independent Payments [PIP] will be put under greater scrutiny, with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, insisting people with 'mild' mental health problems should get back to work. Lucy Ann had her own funding 'pulled' after a 20-minute interview with a 'bureaucrat' that left her with a 15,000 debt and facing court for failure to pay for her own care. Gina explained: 'Lucy-Ann had a debt collector chasing her and was facing court action for some 15,000 she owed for her care. 'Some bureaucrat had decided she was no longer entitled to her care package after an interview of just 20 minutes. 'I contacted them but one department wouldn't speak to the other. 'Finally, they said it had all been a mistake and reinstated her care package. Ms Miller has twice taken the government to court over Brexit. On the second case, which reached the Supreme Court, it was found that Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament to push through Brexit was unlawful 'These bureaucrats are trying not to pay vulnerable people to reduce the disability benefits bill. It is shamelessly demonising disabled people for cheap political gain.' Lucy Ann added: 'I think it is unfair because we've got feelings too. We have the right to have a good life as well as other people.' Gina Miller has also started up the True and Fair Party with a mission statement to clean up politics. She explained: 'I started the True and Fair Party because I believe the existing system is broken, that the Status Quo parties are not interested in modernising our politics, in cleaning up Westminster and fighting corruption.' Gina is standing as an MP in the forthcoming election in the Surrey stock-broker belt constituency of Epsom and Ewell, and hopes to transform the affluent suburb into a pioneer of 'Well-Being' to demonstrate a better society. She said: 'I think it is very exciting that Epsom and Ewell can be the place where we pioneer a 'well-being' economy, where we put health and happiness into the community and boost its wealth as well as its health.' Voters are not yet in love with Keir Starmer's Labour ahead of the general election, former leader Lord Kinnock has said. The leader of the opposition commands a double-digit lead in the opinion polls over Rishi Sunak's Conservatives, with the Prime Minister enduring a torrid set of local election results earlier this month. Sir Keir also hailed a 'seismic win' for Labour in the Blackpool South by-election, where the party secured a 26.33% swing, as well as council gains in key areas like Hartlepool. But Lord Kinnock, 82, who led Labour to a shock defeat at the hands of Sir John Major's Tories in 1992, urged caution among the party and pointed out that the first-past-the-post voting system could cause problems. He told the BBC: 'I think I can say with some certainty, we're not going to lose. Voters are not yet in love with Keir Starmer's Labour ahead of the general election, former leader Lord Kinnock (pictured) has said The leader of the opposition commands a double-digit lead in the opinion polls The Prime Minister has recently tried to highlight analysis of the local election results which suggested the UK was on course for a hung Parliament, which is when no party has an overall majority 'When it comes to trying to guess the possibility of majorities, large, medium, small, I simply won't engage in that, because we've got a first-past-the-post system which can be very capricious.' The former party leader accepted that Labour's position looked 'good' but he insisted Sir Keir should guard against complacency after a handful of disappointing results in the local elections. Lord Kinnock agreed that many voters were disappointed by the current Conservative government but that his former party had not won them over yet. He added: 'Expressing enthusiasm is different from expressing desperation. People will say "let's get the bloody Tories out", but they won't say "hurrah hurrah, marvellous, freedom, liberation is with us because of Keir Starmer". The former leader also heaped praise on Sir Keir for his 'sobriety, his maturity, his steadiness, his dependability' and suggested these qualities would stand him in good stead ahead of an upcoming election. Lord Kinnock was famously beaten by Sir John Major in the 1992 general election despite holding a lead in the polls ahead of the vote. The calamitous set of local elections saw the Conservatives lose almost 500 seats and all-but-one elected mayor, which has sparked a fresh battle in the Tory civil war. Mr Sunak also saw the Tories lose the Blackpool South parliamentary by-election to Labour, with his party only narrowly beating third-placed Reform UK. The PM has since seized on an analysis of the council resuts that suggested Labour would miss out on a House of Commons majority. 'These results suggest we are heading for a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party,' he told The Times earlier. 'Keir Starmer propped up in Downing Street by the SNP, Liberal Democrats and the Greens would be a disaster for Britain. Lord Kinnock (pictured, with wife Glenys) was famously beaten by Sir John Major in the 1992 general election despite holding a lead in the polls ahead of the vote 'The country doesn't need more political horse trading, but action. We are the only party that has a plan to deliver on the priorities of the people.' However, other polling experts have warned against reading too much into local election data, as voters in general elections tend to to behave differently, with fewer opting for smaller parties. Elections expert Professor Sir John Curtice said the Tories could be on course to lose 500 councillors in 'one of the worst, if not the worst' performances by the party in 40 years. Advertisement The Northern Lights might be visible in northern parts of the UK again on Saturday after the rare phenomenon was spotted across the country overnight. Also known as aurora borealis, the bands of pink and green light were seen across the UK and in parts of Europe after an 'extreme' geomagnetic storm caused them to be more visible, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Pictures shared by MailOnline readers from last night's light show revealed large swathes of the country from Teesside to the Isle of Wight draped in a spectacular fluorescent hue. And for those unlucky enough to miss out on the spectacle - fear not - as experts have revealed the Aurora will light up Britain skies again tonight in northern parts of the UK, including Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England. However, you'll need need to prepare to lose a few winks of sleep as they will likely only be able to be seen from around 10.30pm or 11pm 'when it gets really dark'. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE: Hugh Hall snapped this pic of the lights at Great Brington, Northamptonshire at around midnight LEICESTERSHIRE: John Middleditch snapped this incredible pic of the Old John Tower in Bradgate Park, Leicestershire being lit up by the lights DARTMOOR: Cameron Grankish snapped this extraordinary pic of the light over Bowerman's Nose, Dartmoor Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said there were sightings 'from top to tail across the country'. He said: 'It is hard to fully predict what will happen in the Earth's atmosphere, but there will still be enhanced solar activity tonight, so the lights could be visible again in northern parts of the UK, including Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England.' Mr Snell said there were sightings in parts of Europe on Friday night as well, with the Met Office receiving pictures and information from locations including Prague and Barcelona. He advised those hoping to see the lights on Saturday to head to an area with low light pollution and to use a good camera, adding: 'The best chance you have of seeing the lights is if you are away from street lights and areas with lots of light pollution, as any type of light does have a big effect.' 'Also, at this time of year, we are fighting the shorter length of nights, so it is unlikely that they will be visible until around 10.30pm or 11 o'clock when it gets really dark.' Sightings in southern parts of the UK are less likely on Saturday, although Mr Snell said the lights might be visible through a strong camera lens. The last storm with a G5 rating hit Earth more than 20 years ago in October 2003 and caused power outages in Sweden, Professor Carole Haswell told the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme on Saturday morning. ESSEX: Northern lights taken at Brentwood Town Football Club by Zoey Martin YORKSHIRE: Vanessa Adams snapped this beautiful pic of the aurora in east Yorkshire EASTBOURNE: Luke Rogers had a perfect view of the lights from his flat near Sovereign Harbour in Eastbourne SUSSEX: Mich Tocher sent in this image captured by his sister of the Aurora over Pulborough in west Sussex KENT: Jane Charman snapped this beautiful shot of an eighteenth century gastro pub opposite her 17th century barn in the village of Matfield in Kent PETERSFIELD: The northern lights can be seen in this pic taken from Butser Hill, Petersfield and sent in by Becky James EDINBURGH: The National Monument of Scotland, on Calton Hill in Edinburgh was lit up by the northern lights last night EDINBURGH: This pic of the Nelson Monument also on Calton Hill was sent in by Marcus Fox LANCASHIRE: Cheryl Little seized the moment to snap a pic of herself with the lights in Lytham, Lancashire SURREY: Chloe Stylianaki said the lights had her and her family 'marvelling in wonder' as they saw them from their home in Carshalton Beeches, Surrey ESSEX: Victoria Kreisher snapped this pic while out for drive in Barling Magna, Essex BEDFORDSHIRE: Penny Oakley sent in this delightful shot of her cat enjoying the light show in Stevington, Bedfordshire BLACKPOOL: Kate Fenton said the display was amazing when she saw it in Blackpool last night KINGSTON UPON THAMES: Kerry Davies snapped this wonderful shot of the Northern Lights over Kingston Upon Thames EASTBOURNE: Luke Rogers went down to the beach on Sovereign Harbour in Eastbourne to get this great snap of the lights DARTMOOR: Cameron Grankish snapped this extraordinary pic of the light over Bowerman's Nose, Dartmoor PETERSFIELD: Becky James also snapped this pic of the lights from Butser Hill in Petersfield BEDFORDSHIRE: Penny Oakley's moggy is again seen here with the beautiful Aurora Borealis in the background ESSEX: Victoria Kreisher took this snap showing the green hue of the northern lights in Barling Magna in Essex PETERSFIELD: Becky James said she has the most amazing night viewing the aurora from Butser Hill, Petersfield REDMARSHALL: Suze Horn snapped a pic of herself reveling in the lights in Redmarshall village last night DERBYSHIRE: The clouds didn't stop Stacey Ashford snapping this pic of the lights in Swadlincote in south Derbyshire WARWICK: The northern lights were also seen in Warwick in this pic taken by Ella Powell BEDFORSHIRE: Craig Brown snapped this pic of the northern lights from his garden in Flitwick, Bedfordshire ESSEX: Avril and John Jones are seen enjoying the light show outside their house in Billericay, Essex PETERSFIELD: The northern lights can be seen in this pic taken from Butser Hill, Petersfield and sent in by Becky James KINGSTON UPON THAMES: Kerry Davies sent in this picture of the Aurora looking over a the Thames in London last night HERTFORDSHIRE: Peter Higgins took this pic of the Aurora lighting up the skies in Hertford, Hertfordshire LONDON: Sue Agnew was lucky enough to see the northern lights from as far as London in the south of England ESSEX: The aurora is seen from Wallasea island over the Crouch river in this pic from Paul Gordon LEICESTERSHIRE: Alison Smith snapped this shot of the lights in Great Easton in Leicestershire Prof Haswell, head of astronomy at the Open University, said: 'A lot of the satellites communicate using radio signals and all of these charged particles speeding around disrupt radio signals, particularly GPS which is used by planes can be disrupted so it can cause navigation problems, it can cause outages with satellites, it can bring down power systems. 'The last big G5 storm caused a power outage in Sweden and I haven't heard of anything happening this time yet, so hopefully people have designed in sort of redundancies into their systems so that they can actually weather this sort of space weather.' A spokesperson for the Energy Networks Association told the PA news agency they had been monitoring the solar storm and said that the UK's electricity network continued to operate as normal on Saturday morning. Prof Haswell also explained how different colours within the aurora are formed and said: 'Green comes from oxygen which is about 80 to 250 miles above the earth's surface. 'The purple, blue and pink comes from nitrogen and when you get a very strong aurora sometimes you see a sort of scarlet red, and that comes from oxygen which is higher in the earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of about 180 miles.' Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere around the magnetic poles. In the northern hemisphere, most of this activity takes place within a band known as the aurora oval, covering latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees. When activity is strong, this expands to cover a greater area - which explains why displays can be occasionally seen as far south as the UK. A blind man has miraculously survived after falling four floors through an elevator shaft in a Los Angeles hotel. The shocking incident happened at the Madison Hotel, which is used to house low-income residents. It was caught on video, and the man can be seen waiting for the elevator doors to open before stepping in. However, there is no elevator, and the legally blind man falls through the shaft and plunges four floors. He is expected to survive his injuries following the ordeal. A blind man (pictured right) has miraculously survived after falling four floors through an elevator shaft in a Los Angeles hotel The shocking incident happened at the Madison Hotel (pictured), which is used to house low-income residents A video of the incident was shared online and is part of a lawsuit against the owner of the building. In addition to the accident, it shows a worker nearby rushing to help the blind man following his fall. Youve already got the guy falling down the elevator shaft, resident Tammy Davis told Fox11. I mean, whats next? She has lived in the building for 12 years and insists it is a little better than living on the street, so, you take what you can get, but it's not the best conditions. The property is owned by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and its president is Michael Weinstein. It owns other single-room occupancy hotels in Los Angeles, which help low-income people and some are on Skid Row. They have spent around $300 million sponsoring rent control ballot initiatives in California, according to the Los Angeles Times. However in Los Angeles, code enforcement and public health complaints at buildings owned by the foundation are three times higher than other nonprofits in Skid Row, the outlet said. It was caught on video and the man is seen waiting for the elevator doors to open before stepping in Youve already got the guy falling down the elevator shaft, resident Tammy Davis told Fox11. I mean, whats next? Davis added, We have roaches, we have bed bugs. The bathrooms are always not clean. The bathrooms are always not clean. If you say something, sometimes they fix it. Sometimes you get on a waiting list. She wants several issues inside the building dealt with and said, Somebody has to do something. My main goal is to get the place fixed up. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation pointed to a legal case they won against the hotels previous owner over a broken elevator. It added they have spent more than $6 million on renovating the Madison Hotel since 2018, with $600,000 in elevator costs. Residents in the building pay $400 a month to stay at the facility. The Los Angeles Times and other media outlets parroting the Times' sloppy journalism repeatedly have blamed AHF for The Madison's problems, especially its elevator outages, a spokesman for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said. This judgement proves AHF did not know the elevator was problematic to begin with. The real story should be the efforts AHF makes to keep the elevator running and to fix it as quick as possible when it goes out the prior owner never disclosed more than a $150 receipt for repairs in the three years he owned the building. DailyMail.com has contacted the Efor comment. A Florida park has warned visitors against feeding alligators after a social media post depicting children feeding the reptile made its way to officials. Several young kids were photographed providing food to the alligator at Wadsworth Park in Flagler Beach earlier this week. The post quickly reached Flagler County deputies who were forced to issue a press release, warning visitors that feeding wildlife is illegal in the state and can lead to aggression. 'Feeding wildlife can reduce their fear of humans which may result in aggression and the need for the animal to be removed or killed in order to protect public safety. 'In some cases, feeding wildlife is illegal in Florida. Species with rules related to feeding include bears, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, pelicans, alligators, crocodiles, sandhill cranes, and wild monkeys,' the release read. Several young kids were photographed providing food to the alligator at Wadsworth Park in Flagler Beach earlier this week The post quickly reached Flagler County deputies who were forced to issue a press release, warning visitors that feeding wildlife is illegal in the state and lead to aggression As a result of human intervention, a gator named 'Ollie', who had been food conditioned, has been removed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Flagler County General Services Director Mike Lagasse also commented, 'We've seen people out here every time we show up, and people are looking for the alligator. 'So it's become kind of a common understanding that there may be an alligator that you can feed here, which is not accurate. You know, it's against our county ordinances, against state law to feed alligators.' As a result of human intervention, a gator named 'Ollie,' who had been food conditioned, has been removed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. But authorities noticed the next day that another alligator swam up to the same area in search of food. Lagasse later said that the new alligator may also be removed as reptiles tend to become aggressive while searching for food. Lagasse later said that the new alligator may also be removed as reptiles tend to become aggressive while searching for food Officials have now placed additional warning signs about feeding alligators across the Park Photographer Mike O'Meally said he once spotted an alligator at Wadsworth Park with half a loaf of bread in its mouth Photographer Mike O'Meally told Fox35 that he once spotted an alligator at Wadsworth Park with half a loaf of bread in its mouth. According to the National Park Service website, 'Food conditioning is dangerous for animals because it can lead to serious consequences like getting sick, starving, or even having to be killed if they become too aggressive. 'Animals can lose their fear of people when they get used to eating our food.' Officials have now placed additional warning signs about feeding alligators across the Park. The BBC is moving to protect a controversial statue by paedophile sculptor Eric Gill after it was vandalised, MailOnline can reveal. Bosses at the corporation have lodged a planning application for a protective screen after carrying out costly repairs to the Prospero and Ariel carving. The statue, which is displayed on the outside of the BBC's London headquarters, has been attacked by protestors twice in the last two years. Campaigners against sexual abuse have been left outraged by the decision and called on corporation bosses to remove the statue, which shows Ariel as a naked child, given its connection to Gill who wrote about abusing his daughters in his diaries. In planning documents, Mark Fewster, the BBC's corporate security manager, said: 'The question must be if the guard force is physically unable to prevent someone from accessing the statue for any similar future attempt what is the solution? 'A protective screen has been proposed which, if designed and installed correctly, should prevent access, to all but the most determined of adversary.' The Grade II listed statue depicts Ariel and Prospero from The Tempest. Above, Gill with his work How the security screen will cover the statue at BBC Broadcasting House to deter attackers A man wearing a Spiderman mask used a hammer and chisel to damage the statue in May last year He goes to say: 'The statue is a highly emotive subject and has courted negative attention for many years, with individuals and groups demanding its removal. 'I do not see this interest waning and with the coverage of the previous attacks, copycat attempts cannot be discounted.' The BBC plan to erect a glazed screen measuring 13ft high by 9ft wide. The screen would be accompanied by a 45 degree Portland stone coping which would make it difficult to stand next to the statue. But one critic called on Westminster City Council, who are considering the plans, to refuse the screen and urged corporation bosses to remove the statue from Broadcasting House in Portland Place. Marilyn Hawes, chief executive of campaign group Freedom from Abuse, told MailOnline: 'It's outrageous, it makes no sense to me at all. 'The BBC are trying to brush this issue under the carpet. There is no consideration given for Gill's victims or any other victims.' In May last year, a man wearing a Spider-Man mask was accused of causing 31,000 worth of damage to the statue after allegedly scaling scaffolding outside Broadcasting House and attacking the statue with a hammer and chisel. In diaries published after his death, Gill (pictured) admitted to sexually abusing his daughters and a dog The Grade II-listed statue outside the BBC's London headquarters was also attacked by a man with a hammer in 2022 The area was cordoned off and the man remained there for just over eight hours until specialist officers arrived to arrest him, it was alleged. The man indicated a not guilty plea to one count of causing criminal damage in court last year. The statue was also attacked in January 2022 when a protester climbed a ladder and took a hammer to the statue. Mr Fewster added: 'As previously mentioned, I believe the installation of the sloping plinth and protective screening would necessitate an assailant to attack the statue while atop the ladder with an awkward angle and significantly reduced reach and swing angle. 'As a result, any damage that could be done would be significantly reduced.' Gill's 1932 statue Prospero And Ariel, inspired by Shakespeare's play The Tempest, occupies a prominent position at the entrance to Broadcasting House. Eric Gill was one of the most respected artists of the 20th century when he died in 1940. However his diaries, published in 1989, revealed that he regularly abused his daughters Betty and Petra, as well as the family dog. The Mail previously uncovered figures revealing the huge cost of repairing the 1930s sculpture. According to a Freedom of Information made to the BBC, the cost of the first phase of work carried out on restoring the sculpture totaled 40,782. This included the cost of 'scaffolding hire and licensing' as well as 'the cost of stone masonry works that were carried out after the first incident in January 2022'. It added there was an 'additional cost' of 7,255 for the 'continuation of scaffolding hire and licensing between the first and second phase of restoration work'. The first phase of the restoration includes stone masonry work that was required to clean the impacted surfaces as well as making sure it was still structurally sound. Phase two included the cost of restorative stone masonry as well as a listed building application. It is understood the BBC's decision to repair the sculpture came after discussions with cultural organisations such as Historic England. A BBC spokesperson said: 'The BBC in no way condones Gill's abusive behaviour. Broadcasting House is a building of historical and cultural significance and has been so for almost a century. 'Having sought expert advice and opinion, we are repairing the facade in line with the building's Grade II-listed status.' The corporation said members of the public will be 'able to access information about the artwork and artist' via a nearby 'QR code' once the restoration work is complete. Labor will funnel $227million into opening 29 more urgent care clinics across the country, as part of a broader multi-billion dollar health package in Tuesday's Budget. Despite a slow start to the rollout and ongoing concerns about opening hours, there have been almost 400,000 visits to the 58 bulk-billed clinics that have opened across the country since last July. Designed to ease pressure on emergency departments, anyone with a Medicare card is able to walk in to see a doctor or nurse for urgent, non life-threatening ailments such as minor injuries and respiratory infections. Labor will funnel $227million into opening 29 more urgent care clinics across the country, as part of a broader multi-billion dollar health package in Tuesday's Budget Health Minister Mark Butler said existing centres were working as designed, with about one in two presentations reporting they would have gone to an emergency department if they didn't have the option of visiting an urgent care clinic. 'Medicare urgent care clinics are already fulfilling their promise by making sure Australians can walk in and receive urgent care quickly and for free,' Mr Butler said. 'Medicare UCCs are making a difference, for patients and for busy hospital emergency departments. 'More UCCs, in more locations, and all patients need is their Medicare card.' The location of the new clinics have yet to be determined. To date, about one in three visits have been for children under the age of 15, and over a third of visits have been after 5pm on weekdays or on the weekend. But in the last round of Senate estimates, it was revealed the majority of those had fallen short of their objective of opening from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week, with only about 16 advertising that they met that criteria as of February 9. Many clinics have opening hours of 8am to 6pm, or 8am to 8pm Monday to Sunday, while some clinics only offer 8am to 10pm during the week but not on weekends. The Albanese government plans to open 29 more bulk-billed urgent care medical clinics Others operate with reduced hours on the weekend, including the clinic in Albury in regional NSW, which currently advertises as only opening for four hours on Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, the Devonport clinic in Tasmania currently operates between 2pm and 10pm, seven days a week. Mr Butler confirmed the budget would have $8.5billion in new health investment, and would provide additional funding for clinics in regional, rural and remote Australia. He said the government would continue to work closely with state and territory governments, and primary health networks, to roll out the clinics. Currently, there are 14 clinics in NSW, 10 in Victoria, 11 in Queensland, seven in WA, five in South Australia, four in Tasmania, five in the ACT and two in the Northern Territory. A teacher is on the run after being charged with allegedly having sex with a student in a middle school classroom. Caitlin Thao, 24, was a substitute teacher at St Paul City School in Minnesota until earlier this year, where she encountered the teenager. The school sent a letter to parents on Friday explaining the alleged illicit sex was with a 17-year-old boy after school hours in an empty classroom. Thao appeared to have gone into hiding as a nationwide warrant was issued for her arrest by the Ramsey County District Court last week. Caitlin Thao, 24, is on the run after being charged with allegedly having sex with a student in a middle school classroom The teen told police on March 13 that he had sex with Thao in the classroom where she taught about six weeks earlier. She invited him to her home but he declined, court documents alleged. Thao resigned in late February just weeks later, and allegedly told a social worker at the Regions Hospital mental health unit where she was being treated. Thao was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $30,000. A winding road in Pennsylvania is said to be haunted by the ghosts of children and a couple who died in a tragic accident in the 1800s. It has been dubbed Mystery Mile, and supernatural enthusiasts believe it has all of the hallmarks of a cursed area. The area in Ohioville has a small population, a cemetery at the end of it and a nuclear powerplant nearby. 'Theyre the most democratic of the haunted places,' Tom White, archivist and curator of special collections at Duquesne University, told Penn Live. 'You dont need special permission to be there; you can go to a road as long as youre not doing anything disruptive or as long as its not a private road, which very few of these [legends] ever are. 'Youre allowed to be there, and its a place that people can get to easily.' There are countless stories of involving paranormal interactions on Mystery Mile over the years. A winding road in Pennsylvania is said to be haunted by the ghosts of children and a couple who died in a tragic accident in the 1800s It has been dubbed Mystery Mile and supernatural enthusiasts believe it has all of the hallmarks of a cursed area 'Over the years, theres been lots of stories and they go back very far,' White said. There are claims that spirits are heard crying, cultists take part in rituals and animals become dangerous once they cross on to Mystery Mile. Kelley road is thought to be the area in question as it has a cemetery at the end whole Wolf Run which sits alongside it is also mentioned. 'In the 1940s, they changed the direction of [Wolf Run], and it [became] a dirt road that forks off,' White added. 'And some people think that originally that was what, back in the 40s and early 50s, the locals called "Mystery Mile" as a joke that they started a road and never finished it.' The area in Ohioville has a small population, a cemetery at the end of it and a nuclear powerplant nearby The first mile of the road is believed to cause animals to act 'strange or unhinged' and 'a little violent or aggressive.' Others insist the area is under a Native American curse or subject to a satanic cult. White said, 'Some people claim it was a curse that [Natives] placed on the land when they were driven out. 'Regardless of what people believe, they always thought that something strange was happening.' He added that people have spotted 'creepy ghost children' in the area where there has supposedly been an 'abnormal amount of car accidents'. There is another tale of a couple in the 1800s who were riding down the road when their horse was spooked and the carriage flipped over, killing the woman instantly. While the man died slowly underneath the wreckage and there are rumors his voice can still be heard calling for help. On Wolf Run Road, a young girl was playing outside when she disappeared on March 21st, 1956 and her body was discovered nearby but her death remains a mystery. But she is never mentioned in the discussion of Mystery Miles various haunting encounters. Activists continued to protest a Tesla factory in Germany Saturda amid concerns that an expansion of the electric-car maker's plant would damage the surrounding countryside, according to several reports. The demonstrations at the factory outside Berlin in the town of Gruenheide were expected to continue through the weekend, Bloomberg reported. At least 16 people were arrested Friday after protesters broke into an airfield, damaged Tesla cars and blocked a road by the factory, the report said, citing local police. About 800 people took part in the demonstrations. A number of people were injured, including 21 police officers. Local residents and environmental groups have opposed the expansion of the factory and have mounted legal challenges against it, claiming the new site would use too much water and threaten wildlife. "We are here today to draw attention to the Tesla factory in Grunheide for the environmental destruction here," Disrupt Tesla spokesperson Ole Becker told Reuters. The BBC's gaffe-prone presenter Maryam Moshiri has brought joy to Eurovision fans this afternoon after she suffered another mishap on air. Hilarious footage has emerged of the 46-year-old making another blunder just months after she showed her middle finger to viewers on BBC News in December. The clip sees the 46-year-old batting her assistant away as he tries to fix the host's hair after the cameras have started rolling. The presenter then recovers from the blunder and delivers the start of the bulletin hours ahead of the beginning of the contest. In response to the post on X showing the mix-up, Ms Moshiri said: 'Omg I cant believe this happened. There is a delay and everyone was so worried about my messy hair! @MarvinNadalutti your hand is famous!' BBC 's gaffe-prone presenter Maryam Moshiri (pictured) has brought joy to Eurovision fans this afternoon after she suffered another mishap on air The clip sees the 46-year-old batting her assistant away as he tries to fix the host's hair after the cameras have started rolling The presenter then recovers from the blunder and delivers the start of the bulletin hours ahead of the beginning of the contest The gaffe comes as Eurovision descended into chaos today after a raft of major crises unraveled just hours before the grand final is due to start. Ireland's entry Bambie Thug missed their final dress rehearsal after they said a 'situation' required 'urgent attention' from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), who are organising the event. Irish Broadcaster RTE reported they were upset by Israel TVs coverage of their semi-final appearance. And they were not alone in missing the final practice performance - as Switzerland entry Nemo and Greece's Marina Satti were also both absent this afternoon. It comes just hours after it was revealed Dutch contender Joost Klein has been axed from the contest after being quizzed by police over an incident involving 'a female member of the production crew'. Meanwhile, thousands of pro Palestine protestors gathered in Malmo demanding Israel's contestant Eden Golan be kicked out of the final while a Norwegian juror has quit. Today's broadcasting mishap was not Ms Moshiri's first with the BBC presenter making the headlines for showing her middle finger to the camera last December during a programme. In viral footage Maryam Moshiri could be seen raising her eyebrows and flipping off the camera in a 'private joke' as she comes on-screen after the programme's famous musical countdown ends. Ms Moshiri, 46, one of the network's chief presenters, seems to quickly realise she is live and snatches her hand away before beginning to read out the headlines, much to the amusement of many on social media. Today's broadcasting mishap was not Ms Moshiri's first with the BBC presenter making the headlines for showing her middle finger to the camera last December during a programme Ms Moshiri, 46, one of the network's chief presenters, seems to quickly realise she is live and snatches her hand away before beginning to read out the headlines, much to the amusement of many on social media She issued an apology after the end of the clip was broadcast live, going viral as a top of the hour BBC News bulletin on December 6 began with the presenter holding her middle finger up to the camera. She said: 'I was joking around a bit with the team in the gallery,' she explained. 'I was pretending to count down as the director was counting me down from 10-0.. including the fingers to show the number. So from 10 fingers held up to one... 'When we got to 1 I turned finger [sic] around as a joke and did not realise that this would be caught on camera. It was a private joke with the team and I'm so sorry it went out on air [...] I wasn't "flipping the bird" at viewers or even a person really.' The deadliest highways in the U.S. have been revealed, with three states proving especially dangerous. Research suggests a huge disparity across America, with deaths in the least safe state almost at 4,500 compared to 63 in the safest. ConsumerAffairs analyzed data from National Highway Transportation Safety Association (NHTSA) to determine the top five deadliest, as well as the best states for drivers. With 4,498 deaths in 2021, Texas was identified as the most perilous state for motorists. The 79,000 miles of highways in the Lone Star State saw 4,068 crashes in the same year. The deadliest highways in the US have been revealed, with three states proving especially dangerous With 4,498 deaths in 2021 Texas was identified as the most perilous state for motorists. Pictured: A fatal school bus crash on West State Highway 21 in March 2024 The bus was carrying 44 Tom Green Elementary School pre-K students and 11 adults on their way home from a field trip at the Bastrop Zoo when an adult and child were killed Among the fatalities recorded this year was a school bus which crashed and rolled over on West State Highway 21, killing two people including a child. Texas also recorded the most alcohol-related fatalities, with a third of motorists involved in collisions testing blood alcohol levels (BAC) of .01 or higher. California, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina rounded out the top five least safe states. The data also revealed that Mississippi is one of the most dangerous states for young drivers. One reason for the high number of fatal crashes is thought to be that drivers can obtain a license without taking a driving test. Additionally, the state is among the lowest for users of seatbelts. 'Mississippians are twice as likely to die in a car crash than the average American and more than four times as likely to die in a car crash than residents of Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York or Rhode Island,' ConsumerAffairs data analysts Alexus Bazen and Michael Dempster said in a joint statement. The data revealed that states with stricter driving standards tended recorded a lower number of crashes. Rhode Island was deemed to be the safest state for motorists largely due to its stringent road safety laws Highways: Top 5 Deadliest States Texas California Florida Georgia North Carolina Advertisement Highways: Top 5 Safest States Rhode Island Alaska Vermont Hawaii North Dakota Advertisement Rhode Island was deemed to be the safest state for motorists. While it has adopted the national standard blood alcohol content (BAC) limit of 0.08, it has a lower threshold (0.05) for young drivers under the influence. Alaska, Vermont, Hawaii and North Dakota make up the five least dangerous states. Lower speed limits in Vermont have been attributed to a reduced number of crashes. Meanwhile by population percentage, New York and Massachusetts were second and third respectively for fatal collisions. Gilbert and his new lawyer don't intend to file charges against Holland The medical student who came close to being declared 'brain dead' after being pushed into a Louisiana lake has broken his silence and revealed what happened. Christopher Gilbert, 26, was pushed into a lake in Farmerville, Louisiana, on April 14, by co-worker, Cassidy Holland and was allegedly left fighting for his life for 20 minutes while a group of 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 claimed he was almost 'brain dead.' As he continued to make his miraculous recovery, he has spoken out about what happened minutes before the incident, saying he doesn't think 'anyone did anything intentionally wrong'. Christopher Gilbert, 26, who was nearly declared 'brain dead' after being pushed into a Louisiana lake has broken his silence and revealed what happened Gilbert was reportedly pushed into the lake by his co-worker, Cassidy Holland (pictured) He doesn't think 'anyone did anything intentionally wrong' and that he was joking minutes before with Holland 'I don't think anyone did anything intentionally wrong,' he told the New York Post. Gilbert revealed that he and his 10 friends, including Holland, were at Rhetts Tails and Shells, a restaurant in Farmerville. Holland, who is his colleague and 'buddy,' started joking with Gilbert minutes before she pushed him in. 'I took my keys, wallet, and phone out of my pockets and took my shoes off. I knew Cassidy wanted to push me in for messing with her, so I kind of played into it. 'I thought maybe the water wouldnt be as deep, and I would kind of hit the ground, get my footing and shoot up and come back up and grab the pier and just stand there. 'And then, the water ended up being deeper than we thought and being a lot colder than we thought. 'I misjudged the situation,' he clarified in a Zoom interview with the publication. Talking about claims of him being 'brain-dead,' Gilbert said he hated them and that they could potentially damage his credibility in the future as a doctor. 'I kind of hate the[claims about] me being brain-dead, or this attempting for it to be some sort of race issue. '[Plus] who would want a doctor who has suffered brain damage?' he exclaimed. Later, Holland also said that she did not mean to hurt Gilbert and instead the group actually tried to save him Gilbert revealed that he and his 10 friends were at Rhetts Tails and Shells, a restaurant in Farmerville Later, Holland also told the Post that she did not mean to hurt Gilbert, and instead, the group actually tried to save him. She said, 'I would never try to hurt him. Chris is a beautiful person, my co-worker, and dear friend... Im so thrilled at his recovery and getting back to normal.' The revelation comes days after his family said they were 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.' But Gilbert has refuted these claims and said they were 'completely false'. Aaron Lawrence, the student's new attorney said that they dont plan to press any charges against Holland or the restaurant. 'This has been a prime example of how sharing information without common sense has made an already bad situation so much worse,' he said. Christopher Gilbert, 26, had graduated with a master's degree from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston 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 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. His heart and breathing had stopped by the time an onlooker hauled him from the water 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. 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".' 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 problem Gilbert has refuted all claims about being brain dead and said they were 'completely false' 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 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 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 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.' 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. 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 '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.' Gilbert plans to return to his bartender job as soon as next week and continue studying for the MCAT exam next year. He has set up a GoFundMe page to help with medical expenses. 'I want to thank everyone for their support and their prayers,' he said. A Labour MP who defected from the Tories last week has been accused of trying to exert 'improper' influence over her ex-husband's trial for sexual assault by personally lobbying the Justice Secretary, The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal. Natalie Elphicke, whose switch to Sir Keir Starmer's party this week triggered a fierce Labour backlash, faces claims that she complained to Sir Robert Buckland about the judge who presided over Charlie Elphicke's 2020 trial for sexually assaulting two women. Sources have told The Mail on Sunday that when Ms Elphicke complained about Lady Justice Whipple, Sir Robert reacted furiously and pointed out that it would be wrong for him to interfere. Last night Sir Robert said: 'She was told in no uncertain terms that it would have been completely inappropriate to speak to the judge about the trial at all.' The claims will prove embarrassing for Sir Keir a former Director of Public Prosecutions. Natalie Elphicke supporting her husband Charlie at Southwark Crown Court in 2020 The extraordinary clash came after Elphicke's trial was listed as one of the first cases after the first Covid lockdown. The sources said that Ms Elphicke asked Sir Mark Spencer, then Chief Whip, to arrange a meeting with the Justice Secretary under the guise of 'discussing the justice system'. But during the exchange, in Sir Robert's Commons office, Ms Elphicke 'went straight in all guns blazing' to complain about the timing of the case on the grounds that, as one of the first in-person trials after the first lockdown, there would be a disproportionate amount of media interest. She objected to the seniority of Lady Justice Whipple, who was then a High Court judge, which she implied would contribute to the publicity the case attracted, and suggested that the judge's prominence made it more likely that she would 'throw the book' at her husband. She is also understood to have argued that the trial should be 'split' between the two assault claims, which the sources understood to be a bid to lessen the likelihood of his conviction. Last night, Ms Elphicke denied that 'characterisation of the meeting' with Sir Robert. Elphicke, who lost the Tory whip in 2017 when the allegations were referred to the police, stood down as Dover MP in 2019 and was succeeded by his wife. He was sentenced to two years in prison. In a further apparent case of attempted interference, Ms Elphicke used parliamentary-headed paper to write to Dame Kathryn Thirlwall, Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales, and Dame Victoria Sharp, President of the Queen's Bench Division, to make representations at pre-sentencing hearings. Her actions led to her being suspended by the House of Commons Committee on Standards for 'an attempt improperly to influence judicial proceedings'. A friend of Sir Robert said 'Lady Justice Whipple (pictured) has a very good reputation' Right-wing Ms Elphicke's defection and that followed fellow former Tory MP Dan Poulter's move two weeks ago has angered many Labour MPs, with one understood to be considering resignation. Sir Keir's chief of staff Sue Gray is understood to have played a key role in securing her defection behind the backs of senior members of Sir Keir's shadow cabinet. Last night, a friend of Sir Robert said: 'He had made it clear that it would be improper to talk about the trial, and he could only discuss general justice issues, but Natalie then launched into a diatribe about the timing. 'She wanted him to intervene to enquire why the judge was listing the case first-off in Southwark after a lockdown. He said that it was not for him to interfere with the listing functions of the judiciary. 'They are wholly independent. It would be wrong.' The friend added that the insinuation was 'that she was not happy with the judge. But he explained to her that there was no universe in which he would get involved. That's not his role.' The friend also pointed out that 'Justice Whipple has a very good reputation.' He added that Ms Elphicke 'overstepped the mark. If Robert had been told she wanted to talk about her husband's case, he would not have held the meeting.' He added that Ms Elphicke had appeared to be unhappy with the fact that both complainants were in the same trial, and said they should be 'severed' to stop the jury from hearing two complainants at the same time. However, Sir Robert's friend said: 'That would be a decision made purely by the judge on the law, and is certainly nothing to do with the Government.' Amid growing discontent on the Labour benches last week, Ms Elphicke apologised for comments she made after the trial in which she argued that her ex-husband had merely been 'attractive, and attracted to, women' and that made him 'an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations'. A source said of Sir Robert: 'Buckland is not a ranty man but he was not pleased' A source close to ex-Chief Whip Sir Mark said that he was 'a bit embarrassed' about the Buckland meeting, saying: 'He told her that she couldn't put the Justice Secretary in the position of discussing a particular case and she mustn't raise Charlie's case specifically. 'So he asked Buckland to meet with her on the grounds that it was to do with justice in general. 'Of course, what she bloody did was go straight into that meeting and went all guns blazing.' The source added: 'She was ranting on about the treatment that Charlie had had and the way in which the case was being put together, and how the whole system was biased because he was a Tory MP. 'Buckland is not a ranty man but he was not pleased.' Lady Justice Whipple has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the judiciary to become one of Britain's top judges. The mother-of-three was appointed as a Court of Appeal judge in 2021 and is described by legal sources as a 'brilliant and fair' high flyer. A legal source said: 'She is the model of a modern judge fiercely intelligent and scrupulously fair. She has warmth, good humour and commands the respect of those who appear in her court. 'As a trial judge, she was often tasked with particularly difficult and sensitive cases, which she was known to handle with consummate skill. 'She has made the step up to the Court of Appeal appear effortless and she is held in extremely high regard.' Last night, a Labour Party spokesman speaking on behalf of Ms Elphicke said: 'Natalie Elphicke totally rejects that characterisation of the meeting. 'If Robert Buckland had any genuine concerns about the meeting, then he should have raised them at the time, rather than making claims to the newspapers now Natalie has chosen to join the Labour Party.' Russia accidentally dropped a 500kg bomb damaging 30 houses and ten cars injuring five people in their own territory, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. In a Defence Intelligence Update, the Russian fighter jet 'accidentally released a FAB-500 munition on a civilian area in Belgorod on May 4 - on the Russian side of the border. It was later reported that the regional governor Vyachaslav Gladkov said Razdobarkina Street in Belgorod had been damaged by an explosion. However he had refused to reveal the suspected cause of the blast. The MoD said the damage showed the destructive power of the munition. A Russian aircraft has accidentally bombed a village on its own side of the border with Ukraine with a 500kg 'smart' bomb The UK Ministry of Defence said the botched attack was one of several recently carried out by Russian forces According to the MoD: 'This is not an isolated incident. On February 18, a FAB-250 was reportedly released on Soloti in the Belgorod area which led to the evacuation of 150 residents. 'Media outlets suggest that such discharges are fairly common with 20 lost munitions accidentally dropped in the Belgorod region alone between March and April 2024. 'These incidences indicate Russia's continued inability to successfully employ their munitions on intended targets. 'Such errors have destructive and lethal consequences for the Russian population.' Meanwhile in Kyiv, Ukrainian air force pilots are expected to receive their first F-16 fighter jets in June or July. Ukraine has sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russia's air superiority for more than two years of war. The source did not say which country would supply the jets. So far, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium have committed to sending F-16s to Ukraine. The bomb was reportedly delivered by a Russian Su-25 ground attack aircraft Ukraine is hoping to deploy the first F-16 attack jets in June or July to counter Russia's air superiority Illya Yevlash, spokesperson for the air force, said this week that some Ukrainian pilots were completing their training to fly the warplanes. The pilots and ground staff have been trained by Ukraine's Western partners for months. The Ukrainian military has had to rely on a relatively small fleet of Soviet-era jets as it has fought to hold back Russia's full-scale February 2022 invasion. With Russian forces slowly advancing in the eastern Donbas region and mounting a fresh assault in the northeast near the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials see the addition of the F-16 as a vital upgrade for its Air Force. A US congressman and war hero says Israel should level Gaza and 'kick the s**t out of' the Palestinians who live there. Congressman Brian Mast was confronted by pro-Palestine protesters as he walked with his cane along the halls of the US Capitol, and gave them a very blunt answer. Jewish activist Medea Benjamin asked the 12-year US Army veteran, who lost both his legs to an IED in Afghanistan, if he agreed there should be a ceasefire in Gaza as 'the world is asking for one'. 'I think Israel should go in there and kick the s**t out of them, just absolutely destroy them, their infrastructure, level anything they touch. Clear enough?' he replied. Congressman Brian Mast was confronted by pro-Palestine protesters as he walked with his cane along the halls of the US Capitol, and gave them a very blunt answer Jewish activist Medea Benjamin asked the 12-year US Army veteran, who lost both his legs to an IED in Afghanistan, if he agreed there should be a ceasefire in Gaza Benjamin and fellow activist Sumer Mobarak harassed another congressman in the Capitol hallway the same day, and Mobarak is trying to have him charged with assault for swatting her phone away as she filmed him. Mast, a Republican from Florida, was asked again if Israel should agree to the ceasefire now that Hamas had backed a proposal from Egypt and Qatar. 'You know what? If there's an American held, or somebody else being held, there should be every expectation that Americans come and kill them as well,' he replied. 'If there's an American being held, we should go kill the people that are holding them.' Benjamin asked: 'Why are you so hateful?' but Mast insisted his views weren't hateful, but that Palestinian civilians brought the violence on themselves. 'These people shouldn't associate with terrorists, they shouldn't vote terrorists into office like Hamas,' he said, then listed several Palestinian terror groups. Mast is a 12-year US Army veteran, who lost both his legs to an IED in Afghanistan Mast walks with his sons Magnum and Maverick in the US Capitol during the pandemic 'Well, I think that you are a heartless, soulless, cruel man,' Benjamin said. Mast shot back: 'From you, I'll take that as a compliment' Benjamin argued that the people bearing the brunt of the Gaza invasion and bombings were children, but Mast replied: 'just 'cause you say it, doesn't make it true'. 'Let me say this very clearly, I literally don't believe a word that you say,' he said. 'Well, I think that you are a heartless, soulless, cruel man,' Benjamin said. Mast shot back: 'From you, I'll take that as a compliment.' Benjamin also noted it was Holocaust Remembrance Day and claimed Israel was perpetrating another one on the Palestinians. She and Mobarak are from Code Pink, which calls itself a 'feminist grassroots organization working to end US wars and militarism'. Her Instagram profile shows numerous other videos of her harassing lawmakers in the halls of the Capitol, other buildings, and on the street. How the activists regularly gain access to the Capitol and were able to confront politicians in unclear. Benjamin is a Jewish-American, but sympathetic to Palestine and critical of the war, Zionism, and Israeli Government policy. Mobarak is Palestinian-American. Benjamin is a Jewish-American, but sympathetic to Palestine and critical of the war, Zionism, and Israeli Government policy Sumer Mobarak (center), a Palestinian-American who frequently ambushes lawmakers about the issue, claims a congressman assaulted her when he swatted away her phone as she harassed him about Gaza at the US Capitol (pictured outside) The pair harassed Congressman Mike Ezell on the same day as Mast, until he swatted Mobarak's phone away The pair harassed Congressman Mike Ezell on the same day as Mast, until he swatted Mobarak's phone away. Mobarak then added: 'You want the killing of my people, my Palestinian people?' 'Shut up. Knock it off,' Ezell says as the video shows him extending a hand and knocking down the phone that was being used for recording. Mobarak said she filed a police report against Ezell, alleging assault. US Capitol Police said they were looking into the incident, but did not comment further. CodePink says on its website that 'China is not our enemy' and shares some views of the Chinese Communist Party - including its human rights abuses. The group refers to Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China the government relentlessly persecutes, as terrorists and defends their mass detention in 'reeducation' camps. Israel's bombing and invasion of Gaza has killed 34,844 Palestinians since it began after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, according to UN figures. Israel's bombing and invasion of Gaza has killed 34,844 Palestinians since it began after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, according to UN figures Palestinian medics treat a wounded baby in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah Palestinian medics treat a wounded man in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah The casualties included 4,959 women and 7,797 children as of May 8, along with 224 humanitarian aid workers and 97 journalists. Exactly how many of the dead are civilians is difficult to establish but it is generally believed to be about 70 per cent of the total. The UN notes it has 'so far not been able to produce independent, comprehensive, and verified casualty figures'. US President Joe Biden is increasingly uneasy about the mounting death toll and earlier this week demanded it halt the onslaught. He said American bombs have been used to kill civilians in Rafah and he would pause more arms shipments to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a full-scale invasion. 'Civilians have been killed in Rafah as a result of those bombs and other ways they go after population centers,' Biden said in an interview with CNN. Palestinians inspect the destroyed buildings in Ez-Zawayda area after the Israeli attack in the central part of Gaza targeted the town of Ez-Zawayda and the Nuseirat Refugee Camp More than a million Palestinian refugees are sheltering in tent cities in Rafah, the last city in Gaza not invaded by Israel A Palestinian boy stands amid the rubble of a residential building destroyed by an Israeli strike in Al-Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip 'I made it clear that if they go into Rafah they haven't gone into Raffa yet - I'm not supplying the weapons. The president, last week, delayed the delivery of 3,500 bombs to the U.S.'s Middle East ally. It was the first time he used his executive power to influence Israel's approach to its war with Hamas. More than a million Palestinian refugees are sheltering in tent cities in Rafah, the last city in Gaza not invaded by Israel. There are fears of mass casualties should Israeli troops move in, as the civilians who fled there have nowhere else to go. A woman in Alabama accused of killing a mother by pushing her off a cliff is facing the death penalty. Loretta Kay Carr, 44, and her daughter Jessie Kelly, 22, were both charged with murder in June 2023, nearly two years after Mary Elizabeth Isbell, 38, went missing. Authorities searched far and wide for Isbell's body, but were unable to find any trace of the missing Hartselle, Alabama, mother until last year. It emerged that Carr shared a photo of her by the murder spot in January 2019 at Little River Canyon National Preserve. Now, the State of Alabama has provided notice to Carrs defense team that it will be seeking the death penalty. Alabama woman Loretta Kay Carr, accused of killing a mother by pushing her off a cliff, is facing the death penalty The 44-year-old and her daughter Jessie Kelly, 22, were both charged with murder in June 2023, nearly two years after Mary Elizabeth Isbell, 38, went missing Authorities searched far and wide for the body of Isbell (pictured) but were unable to find any trace of the missing Hartselle, Alabama mother until last year Court documents filed reveal that Alabama prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Carr. Carr and her daughter were detained three days before the remains of Isbell were located. Photos of her at the site of the murder later emerged and she wrote, 'Day trip to Little River Canyon and Falls. Was beautiful and only a little ways from the house.' Carr has been held at DeKalb County jail in Fort Payne, Alabama. She is charged with kidnapping and capital murder - but Carr insists there is no evidence. Carrs attorneys previously argued the state does not have enough evidence to justify confinement or to send the case to a grand jury. Her daughter was arrested in Pennsylvania and was extradited to Alabama. Carr is accused of abducting Isbell before pushing her from a cliff on October 18, 2021. It is unclear how the women knew each other. DeKalb County Sheriff Nick Welden previously said: 'We would like to thank the Pennsylvania State Police Corry Barracks, Huntsville Search Dog Unit, State of Alabama Aviation Unit, Jackson County Sheriff's Office, Fischer Rescue Squad and all the volunteers who helped during this investigation for all their hard work and dedication. 'Each individual played an important role in bringing Beth home and holding those responsible for this horrific crime accountable. 'We would ask that you pray for Beth's family and give them privacy as they navigate through this difficult time.' Isbell was last seen in the fall of 2021. She was officially reported missing in January 2022, and two women were arrested last June on charges of her kidnapping and murder. Isbell's remains were found in an Alabama nature preserve It emerged that Carr posed by the murder spot in January 2019 at Little River Canyon national preserve Carr, of Fort Payne, was charged with capital murder and faces life in prison or the death penalty if convicted The timeline of Isbells disappearance remains muddled. In the months leading up to her disappearance, she was suspected of a theft in DeKalb County. The sheriff's office said the theft involved an apartment she was living at with her boyfriend, James Allen Wright. James Wright was arrested by the sheriff's office in September 2021 and released to a Florida rehab facility in November 2021. The sheriff's office said while he was in jail, Isbell was essentially homeless, moving between friends' houses and 'living where she could in DeKalb County.' Her mother, Debbie Wood, told a local news channel that Isbell became entangled with a 'bad' crowd. 'I think she got mixed up with some wrong people,' she said. She described Isbell's relationship with Wright as 'new but troubled,' saying they were always getting into fights. Carr is accused of abducting Isbell and pushing her from a cliff on October 18, 2021. However, according to another police report, on November 22, 2021, she visited her mother's home in Hartselle. She was spotted the next day, November 23, 2021, across the street from her son's school, also in Hartselle. Isbell's ex-husband, Steven Isbell, said on December 27, 2021, that she was missing. I actually hate to put this out here on social media but Facebook covers a wide area,' he wrote. '[Her son] hasn't heard from his mom since September 6th on his birthday and he's really worried about her because she always at least calls him on the holidays. Isbell was living an unsettled life in the run up to her disappearance. Her boyfriend was in prison and then rehab, and she was moving from place to place Carr's lawyers are arguing that there is no evidence she murdered Isbell and claim there is no link between the two women 'I've talked to her family and no one has heard from her. So we thought about doing a missing person report.' Harselle PD detectives searched the home where Isbell was staying on the day of Steve Isbell's Facebook post, December 27, 2021. Physical evidence was recovered from the home and entered into a national database, but no match was found at the time. Relatives officially reported her missing in January 2022 to the Hartselle Police Department and the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, and on January 19, 2022, a missing poster was placed on their website. The case went quiet until June 20 last year, when DeKalb County investigators received information about Isbell's disappearance and interviewed two people in connection with her killing. Carr was arrested on June 25. Officers discovered remains on June 28, with forensics confirming they belonged to Isbell on June 30 what would have been her 39th birthday. Her teenage son posted a tribute to his mother, sharing a link to Carr's arrest, writing: 'Love you forever, like you for always, as long as I'm living, my mommy you'll be.' A suspect has been arrested following the brutal rape of a New York City woman who was lassoed from behind with a belt and dragged away. Kashaan Parks hung his head in shame after he was perp walked out of the Bronx Special Victims Unit on Saturday. Parks is charged with attacking the 45-year-old woman on May 1. He was seen sporting a white jumpsuit as he was escorted into a waiting car outside the police station. A huge manhunt had been underway for the 'person of interest' since Friday when the NYPD released his picture and asked for assistance finding him. Parks, 39, is awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, the New York Post reports. Kashaan Parks was arrested on Saturday and charged with the brutal rape of a New York City woman He was seen hanging his head as he was seen being perp walked out of the Bronx Special Victims Unit Parks, 39, was reportedly filmed lassoing a woman around the neck with a belt before raping her He was named as a suspect nine days after the savage attack in the South Bronx Police released these images of the father-of-one and asked for the public's help in locating him on Friday He was named as a suspect nine days after the savage attack in the South Bronx. The victim was walking near East 152nd Street and Third Avenue around 3 a.m. when Parks allegedly crept up behind her. Parks then reportedly placed a belt around the victim's neck, causing her to go unconscious, before sexually assaulting her, the NYPD said. While security footage of the incident has gone viral on social media, cops said they were not made immediately aware of the situation because the victim did not report it. In fact, it wasn't until the victim was arrested for petty larceny that officers found out about the incident. She cooperated and identified Parks as the man who assaulted her. 'Our victim indicated that she had seen him before; she actually described his teeth to us; he had unusual teeth,' Chief of Patrol Joseph Kenny told amNY. 'She said he has space between his teeth.' Surveillance video reviewed by DailyMail.com showed the woman walking ahead of who police suspect to Parks, who had tied a white cloth around the lower half of his face. He looped a belt around her neck and yanked her to the ground, and while the woman struggled, she quickly fell limp. A woman was choked unconscious and sexually assaulted by an unknown man as she walked through the Bronx in the early hours of May 1 The NYPD confirmed that the woman was walking near East 152nd Street and Third Avenue when an unknown man placed a belt around her neck. He knocked her unconscious before sexually assaulting her Surveillance video shows the man dragging the victim's limp body between two parked cars Parks allegedly dragged her down the sidewalk and between two parked cars. He reportedly looked around before bending over the woman's body, which is obscured from sight. The police believe the attack happened following an earlier conversation between the two people that night, which involved having sex in exchange for money. They say the conversation involved the victim being offered money for sex. However, according to the police, when this agreement didn't happen, Parks became extremely angry and allegedly strangled the victim with a belt before raping her. Parks has been identified as the father of a young daughter and lists himself as in a relationship on social media. After a rare G5 level geomagnetic storm swept across the Northern Hemisphere, residents of select US cities may have the opportunity to witness the breathtaking spectacle of the northern lights. Those who were fortunate enough to witness the northern lights Friday night may have another opportunity to view them on Saturday, according to NOAA. Weather permitting, states spanning from Washington and Oregon to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and extending as far south as Missouri, stand a chance to experience the mesmerizing spectacle Saturday night. The aurora may also be visible in states including, Nebraska, Indiana and even New York - however, visibility will depend on various factors. Theres a solid chance of viewing the aurora in Minnesota on Saturday and Sunday nights - and even on Monday and overnight Tuesday, but it will likely be less intense. 'Overnight, aurora were visible across much of the United States. Weather permitting, they may be visible again tonight,' the Space Weather Prediction Center said on Saturday morning. The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, is visible over Ann Arbor, Mich., early Saturday, May, 11 Places as far south as Alabama and parts of Northern California were expected to see the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights from a powerful geomagnetic storm that reached Earth Kathryn Richer (left) and her friend Andrea gaze upon the Northern Lights at Chanticleer Point Lookout on the Columbia River Gorge in the early morning hours of May 11, 2024 in Latourell, Oregon People view the northern lights, or aurora borealis, as they glow over Lake Washington, in Renton, Wash. Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), also known as aurora, colorful lights shift, illuminate the sky in Rochester, New York Residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are advised to seek darker viewing spots away from city lights, such as beaches or parks, to maximize their chances of witnessing the spectacle. However, individuals in upstate New York and rural areas are more likely to enjoy unobstructed views, contingent upon weather conditions. The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the US as Alabama and Northern California, according to NOAA. However, experts caution that it is difficult to predict and the aurora displays may not resemble the dramatic spectacle featuring those bright vibrant colors often associated with the northern lights - but more like splashes of greenish hues. NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to take precautions. 'For most people here on planet Earth, they won't have to do anything,' said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center to the Associated Press. 'That's really the gift from space weather: the aurora,' Steenburgh said to the AP. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye. The northern lights glow in the sky over St. Croix State Forest near Markville, Minn., late Friday, May 10 Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada The northern lights glow in the sky over St. Croix State Forest near Markville, Minn., late Friday, May 10 The northern lights glow in the sky over St. Croix State Forest near Markville, Minn., late Friday A person takes a photo of Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, May 11 The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii. 'We are not anticipating that' but it could come close, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said. This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people's homes, Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth. An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa. Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted. The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona. The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot that's 16 times the diameter of Earth, NOAA said. It is all part of the solar activity ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle. NASA said the storm posed no serious threat to the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The biggest concern is the increased radiation levels, and the crew could move to a better shielded part of the station if necessary, according to Steenburgh. Increased radiation also could threaten some of NASA's science satellites. Extremely sensitive instruments will be turned off, if necessary, to avoid damage, said Antti Pulkkinen, director of the space agency's heliophysics science division. Several sun-focused spacecraft are monitoring all the action. 'This is exactly the kinds of things we want to observe,' Pulkkinen said. The anticipation surrounding this astronomical event has been set off by captivating images of the aurora from Europe, where the phenomenon has been trending on social media platforms. Many in the U.K. shared phone snaps of the lights on social media early Saturday, with the phenomenon seen as far south as London and southern England. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE: Hugh Hall snapped this pic of the lights at Great Brington, Northamptonshire, at around midnight DARTMOOR: Cameron Grankish snapped this extraordinary pic of the light over Bowerman's Nose, Dartmoor LEICESTERSHIRE: John Middleditch snapped this incredible pic of the Old John Tower in Bradgate Park, Leicestershire being lit up by the lights YORKSHIRE: Vanessa Adams snapped this beautiful pic of the aurora in east Yorkshire EASTBOURNE: Luke Rogers had a perfect view of the lights from his flat near Sovereign Harbour in Eastbourne KENT: Jane Charman snapped this beautiful shot of an eighteenth century gastro pub opposite her 17th century barn in the village of Matfield in Kent PETERSFIELD: The northern lights can be seen in this pic taken from Butser Hill, Petersfield, and sent in by Becky James EDINBURGH: The National Monument of Scotland, on Calton Hill in Edinburgh was lit up by the northern lights last night EDINBURGH: This pic of the Nelson Monument also on Calton Hill was sent in by Marcus Fox ESSEX: Victoria Kreisher snapped this pic while out for drive in Barling Magna, Essex BEDFORDSHIRE: Penny Oakley sent in this delightful shot of her cat enjoying the light show in Stevington, Bedfordshire EASTBOURNE: Luke Rogers went down to the beach on Sovereign Harbor in Eastbourne to get this great snap of the lights DARTMOOR: Cameron Grankish snapped this extraordinary pic of the light over Bowerman's Nose, Dartmoor PETERSFIELD: Becky James also snapped this pic of the lights from Butser Hill in Petersfield There were sightings 'from top to tail across the country,' said Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, Britain's weather agency. He added that the office received photos and information from other European locations including Prague and Barcelona. Also known as aurora borealis, the bands of pink and green light were seen across the UK and in parts of Europe after an 'extreme' geomagnetic storm caused them to be more visible, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Pictures shared by MailOnline readers from last night's light show revealed large swathes of the country from Teesside to the Isle of Wight draped in a spectacular fluorescent hue. And for those unlucky enough to miss out on the spectacle - fear not - as experts have revealed the Aurora will light up Britain skies again tonight in northern parts of the UK, including Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England. However, you'll need need to prepare to lose a few winks of sleep as they will likely only be able to be seen from around 10.30 pm or 11 pm 'when it gets really dark'. Scotland's under-pressure police force has been bombarded with an astonishing 10,000 hate crime complaints since the SNPs law came into force. The number of allegations has broken through the landmark figure in little over a month, The Mail on Sunday can disclose. However, 90 per cent of the complaints around 9,000 were not regarded as crimes by police, confirming early fears that many claims under the new law would be vexatious. The Hate Crime Act introduced on April 1 created a new offence of stirring up hatred relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex. After it was introduced, police were hit with a flood of complaints many anonymous. Author JK Rowling is a high-profile critic of the hate crime law, claiming it harms free speech By May 5, the number had reached 9,863 and does not include complaints over the past week, including after yesterdays Old Firm derby between Celtic and Rangers, which will be likely to have pushed the total above 10,000. The number of Recorded Hate Crimes in the 35-day period covered by the statistics was 1,062, or just 10 per cent of the calls and emails received. The shocking figures come as the number of police officers in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level since 2008 amid savage cuts by the SNP government. Police union leaders have branded the new law a disaster as it has led to officers already struggling with huge workloads being overwhelmed. After an initial surge of around 3,000 complaints in the first days of the law, reports have settled to a lower level but still range between 100 and 200 a week. In total, hate claims have been made once every five minutes on average over the 35-day period covered by the figures. David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation which represents rank-and-file officers said: There has been no extra funding from the Scottish Government, despite the extra work which has been created. It is a disaster and officers are being overwhelmed by a deluge of complaints. While the vast majority end up being deemed for no further action, each has to be checked and assessed, using resources which could be used elsewhere. Author JK Rowling and billionaire businessman Elon Musk, who bought social media firm Twitter in 2022, are among the high-profile critics of the law, both claiming it harms free speech. Opponents say that as well as creating a bureaucratic nightmare for police, the legislation adds a pointless layer of legal duplication as it creates offences which can already be prosecuted under aggravations of the existing breach of the peace law. Since April 1, so-called Recorded Hate Crime Aggravators have included more than 580 cases involving race, around 200 for sexual orientation, 32 relating to transgender and one citing variations in sex characteristics. A person commits an offence if they communicate material, or behave in a manner, that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive, with the intention of stirring up hatred based on the identified characteristics. Meanwhile, the police data also shows around 2,000 officers, about one in eight of the total force, had not completed their hate crime training by the start of May. Tory MSP Sharon Dowey said: Everyone knew Humza Yousafs reckless hate crime law would lead to spurious complaints, putting even more pressure onto our overstretched officers. With police numbers at their lowest level in 16 years, Police Scotland can ill-afford the time involved in wading through large numbers of online complaints. John Swinney, as new First Minister, must realise this unworkable SNP law is a farce which threatens free speech, and finally make the decision to repeal it. Police Scotland said: We have seen a significant reduction in online hate reports and these continue to be managed within our contact centres with minimal impact on frontline policing. The Scottish Government said: The latest data shows a 98 per cent decrease in online reports since the first week of implementation. The new Act is protecting vulnerable groups within communities. Another whistleblower has gone public with allegations of being pressured to downplay quality-control issues involving Boeing passenger planes and called the situation a "recipe for disaster." In interviews with CBS and the BBC, Santiago Paredes said he often found as many as 200 defects on fuselages built for Boeing when he worked as an inspector at a Spirit AeroSystems factory in Wichita, Kansas, from 2010 to 2022. "I was finding a lot of missing fasteners, a lot of bent parts, sometimes even missing parts," he said. Paredes said he was pressured to be less meticulous by bosses who nicknamed him "Showstopper" because he would delay deliveries to Boeing. "It's a recipe for disaster," Paredes alleged. "I said it was just a matter of time before something bad happened." Paredes said he inspected fuselages for Boeing's 737 model and often found problems in the same area where a door panel blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 midflight in January. Paredes' CBS interview aired one day before the Associated Press reported that a 737 caught fire and skidded off a runway in Dakar, Senegal, injuring the pilot and nine others. "Working at Spirit, I almost grew a fear of flying," he said. "Knowing what I know about the 737, it makes me very uncomfortable when I fly on one of them." A spokesperson for Spirit AeroSystems, which isn't affiliated with Spirit Airlines, said it was "committed to addressing concerns and continuously improving workplace safety standards," and encouraged "employees with concerns to come forward, safe in knowing they will be protected." A Boeing spokesperson said the company has long had a team that finds and fixes defects in Spirit fuselages before they're assembled into airplanes at Boeing's factory in Renton, Washington. Since March, Boeing engineers have also been inspecting each Spirit fuselage as it rolls off the assembly line in Kansas, the spokesperson said. Last month, former Boeing safety inspector Sam Salehpour told the New York Times that the fuselages of Boeing's 787 airplane, known as the "Dreamliner," were improperly assembled and could break apart midflight after thousands of trips. During April 17 testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Salehpour also said he was harassed and threatened for raising concerns and was "told not to create delays." Boeing has called his allegations "inaccurate" and said they didn't "represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft." "We know we have more work to do and we are taking action across our company," the company said in a statement after the hearing. Two previous Boeing whistleblowers have died in the last two months, raising concerns among some observers, but no wrongdoing has been linked to their deaths by reported natural causes. Hundreds of criminals are set to be freed early in a controversial bid to relieve the crisis in Scotlands massively overcrowded jails. With the number of inmates expected to hit record levels, prison bosses have issued a stark warning that cramped conditions could spark riots. Fearing a catastrophic breakdown, prison governors have written to Justice Secretary Angela Constance to demand that she authorise the emergency release of offenders. Separately, the head of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has claimed current levels of overcrowding could lead to concerted violence and inmates demanding compensation because their human rights have been breached. ROOFTOP PROTEST: Siege at Peterhead Prison in 1987, which ended when the SAS stormed in Laws introduced last year handed ministers the power to release prisoners early in exceptional circumstances. This followed the use of such a policy as a one-off measure during the pandemic. In 2020, then justice secretary Humza Yousaf authorised the early release of around 350 prisoners including some guilty of attempted murder to reduce the spread of infection behind bars. The Scottish Mail on Sunday later revealed almost half of those freed went on to commit more crimes. Now insiders have told this newspaper the situation in the countrys powder-keg prisons is so serious that the release of inmates is likely to be given the go-ahead again. One said: It sounds an extreme move... but this is an extreme situation. The plans would see hundreds of prisoners nearing the end of their sentences released early. Although jail bosses would only free inmates assessed as no longer posing a risk to the public, the move has sparked an angry reaction. Opposition politicians accused the SNP of mismanagement of the criminal justice system and warned emergency release could betray victims and put the public at risk. Scottish Tory justice spokesman Russell Findlay said: We are opposed to prisoners being released before theyve completed their sentences. If the SNP government does decide to set prisoners free, then they have a duty to be honest and upfront with the public. Any early release needs to be fully transparent and subject to the most rigorous process of risk assessment. Labour MSP Pauline McNeill said: Scotlands prisons are dangerously overcrowded as a result of massive court backlogs and high levels of serious crime but the SNP has failed to tackle these issues and dragged its heels modernising our Victorian prison estate. It is essential that early release of prisons doesnt compromise public safety or let down victims. By the end of last month the number of inmates was 8,246 the highest in more than four years with the prison population forecast to hit a record 8,450 this summer. The Prison Governors Association Scotland (PGAS) has written to Ms Constance urging her to consider an emergency release scheme to reduce pressure on the system. PGAS chair Natalie Beal governor of HMP Glenochil in Clackmannanshire said seven prisons were already rated as red risk for overcrowding, ramping up pressure on staff and inmates. She said: Our members are working in a state of permacrisis, working with constant pressures due to the mix of population complexity and physical numbers. We are operating with a prevailing sense of only just coping and are concerned emergency action will only be taken when something goes significantly wrong. The PGAS would welcome urgent mitigation in the form of emergency release measures, greater use of electronic monitoring particularly used instead of remand. A PGAS spokesman yesterday confirmed it was awaiting a decision from Ms Constance, adding: We are clear immediate action needs to be taken in the short term to release pressure on the system and ask that this is considered with some urgency. Last June, Holyrood passed the Bail and Release from Custody Bill, giving Ministers the power to authorise the emergency release of prisoners. This can be done in response to the effect of an emergency situation and for the purpose of protecting the security and good order of a prison, or the health, safety or welfare of prisoners or those working in a prison. It is not clear how much time would be cut from sentences, but in England and Wales a scheme was set up last October allowing prisoners to be released up to 18 days early to try to tackle overcrowding. Last week it was extended so inmates can be freed up to 70 days early. Earlier this year SPS chief executive Teresa Medhurst discussed the possibility of emergency release, saying that overcrowding in prisons was at a tipping point. She added: We cannot take any more. Prisons become very unsafe. The atmosphere, the tension, the volatility increases. Levels of violence increase, levels of self-harm increase. This month she also warned that the current levels of overcrowding could lead to riots. She told MSPs at Holyroods public audit committee that the status of Barlinnie, Edinburgh, Glenochil, Grampian and Perth prisons was already red risk. They are telling us they are on the brink, she said. Ms Medhurst also warned overcrowding could prompt human rights claims from prisoners. She added: Were not as yet in a position where were not meeting our legal obligations. But a sustained period of this high level of overpopulation will certainly get us there far more quickly than we anticipated. Last night the Scottish Government declined to confirm officially if prisoners are to be released early. A spokesman said: We are carefully considering the issues raised by the Prison Governors Association in their letter. Many will recall shocking images of rampaging masked inmates on Scottish prison rooftops, hurling tiles and defiantly parading terrified prison officer hostages. Two of the most infamous riots turned sieges took place in 1987 at HMP Barlinnie, the bleak Victorian fortress looming over Glasgows East End, and HMP Peterhead, which only ended when the SAS stormed in. Conditions have been transformed since those dark days but it is no exaggeration to say that in 2024 our prisons are on the brink of a similar and potentially catastrophic breakdown of order, with the root causes being severe overcrowding and rampant drug use. Those are not my warnings, but those of some of the most senior figures within the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) who have recently made a series of public interventions. Last summer, Barlinnies governor warned a catastrophic incident was a matter of when, not if. Scotlands largest jail was then running at 140 per cent capacity. This was followed by the governor of HMP Edinburgh highlighting ultra-potent synthetic drugs causing extreme and unpredictable outbreaks of violence. Russell Findlay MSP is the Scottish Conservative Justice Spokesman Just last week, SPS chief executive Teresa Medhurst told MSPs that almost half of our prisons have declared red status, meaning theyre struggling to fulfil their duties. It seems likely these portentous warnings were welcomed if not sanctioned by the SNP government, which often markets its weak justice agenda as smart. Justice Secretary Angela Constance has been frank about the challenges faced by the SPS and I welcomed her recent invitation, along with MSPs from other parties, to discuss what could be done. It is true dangerously high inmate numbers are not a uniquely Scottish problem, with some prisoners in England now set to be released early. This elicited an ill-judged response from previous SNP justice secretary Keith Brown who said there is nothing to prevent these prisoners from coming to Scotland and reoffending. This irresponsible scaremongering, and Anglophobic dog-whistle, was sadly typical of the SNP deputy leader who itches for a constitutional grievance in every possible issue. Yes, the Scottish Conservatives are opposed to the early release of prisoners. Yes, we also accept this is a shared UK-wide problem. But we would be failing in our duty if we did not ask questions specific to Scotlands devolved criminal justice system. It may be a comfort blanket for Brown to pander to his Nationalist base, but he was in charge of our jails when drug-soaked mail became the most common smuggling route. Despite a spate of mass overdoses, some fatal, his government dithered and delayed. It was only after a concerted campaign between prison officers and the Scottish Conservatives that Brown stopped the drug-mail. This resulted in an immediate and dramatic drop in overdoses. But, inevitably, criminal gangs were quick to find novel ways to get their contraband behind bars and we are now seeing a huge rise in drone use. Its also impossible to forget the SNP governments madcap idea of spending millions of pounds to give every prisoner a free mobile phone, initially using the Covid visiting ban as justification. Supposedly tamper-proof, these were hacked within hours and used to commit a spate of state-assisted crimes including a deadly drugs war in Greenock. However, by far the greatest failing of the SNP government when it comes to prisons has been its shameful inability to build much-needed new capacity. In 2020, the prison inspector branded Barlinnie not fit for purpose, but the replacement HMP Glasgow remains little more than a twinkle in the Justice Secretarys eye. When I recently questioned its likely cost, I almost choked at her nonchalant admission that it would exceed 400 million. Todays report in The Scottish Mail on Sunday only adds to my partys concerns. This newspaper reveals that most of those behind bars are not minor miscreants but have committed violent crimes. Great care must be exercised in what happens next. John Swinney and his party have been in charge of Scotlands justice system for 17 years. Forget the tiresome Nationalist whataboutery by pointing towards England. This is far too important for the usual SNP spin. If the SNP government does decide to set prisoners free early, then it has a duty to ensure it is subject to the most rigorous process of risk assessment in order to protect the public. Nicola Sturgeon threatened to confiscate SNP officials phones and access their emails as she raged about leaks at a meeting where the partys finances were discussed. Documents handed to this newspaper show that, in June 2019, the former First Minister told the SNPs national executive committee (NEC) phones will have to be handed in and emails checked amid concern about members leaking information to the Press. Her warning to members made two years before she was captured on video furiously insisting the SNPs finances had never been stronger came as party treasurer Colin Beattie was asked about where 600,000 raised for a second independence referendum had gone. A meeting minute from June 1, 2019 attributed to Ms Sturgeon reads: Cannot find words strong enough to deprecate leaking about party members. Most of the time people know who is responsible because of reasons for leaking... If there is an inquiry, phones will have to be handed in and emails checked, etc. RAGING: Nicola Sturgeon warned SNP staff that their emails may have to be checked At that same NEC meeting, a finance report to members suggested that, because information was being handed to journalists, SNP top brass felt it necessary to consider what financial information can be safely discussed at NEC. The latest MoS revelations come as Police Scotland confirmed Ms Sturgeon and Mr Beattie are still suspects in Operation Branchform, the probe into alleged SNP fraud. Minutes from the June 1 NEC meeting show Mr Beattie presented a financial report, with the log reading: Colin Beattie mentioned leaking and that this must not happen again. He is happy to individually discuss any issues with NEC members. It then stated: In response to question from Norman MacLeod, Yes funds belong to the party and are ring-fenced for spending. [It] is sitting in [the] party books but not specifically broken down. At the any other committee business part of the meeting, Ms Sturgeon made it clear leakers would not be tolerated. The next day, Mr Beattie snubbed a request to discuss finances when one NEC member sought advice, according to emails handed to this newspaper. The member wrote: I had some questions at yesterdays NEC that for some reason it was stated only you could answer. Im surprised that the financial operation of the party relies solely on you. I had asked how much the current Yes fundraiser had raised. Nobody at the meeting was able to answer this? I had asked what the final balance of the Scot Ref fundraiser was in 2017(?) and where exactly this money was, i.e. was it included combined with the current fundraiser or was it sitting in a standalone earmarked reserve? An SNP spokesman said last night: It is entirely normal for the SNP to seek to protect the confidentiality of internal matters. And while the process of what a leak inquiry might entail was discussed, at no point were any threats made. A million vehicles will be banned from three more cities in Scotland within weeks as the SNPs Low Emission Zones are extended. Business leaders expressed dismay over the LEZs being introduced in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh despite scientific evidence that emissions were well within legal limits in each city last year. Critics say the zones cause huge inconvenience at massive cost to taxpayers, with concerns today reiterated by business leaders in the new LEZ cities. The Scottish Mail on Sunday has revealed how the first LEZ, in Glasgow, was introduced last year with zero positive impact on air pollution, and levels of the most serious pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, actually increasing. Figures show 1,078,580 vehicles will be banned from Scotland's four biggest cities The Glasgow LEZ also saw more than 700,000 shelled out by the local authority on hiring vehicles to replace its own non-LEZ compliant ones despite the council telling locals and businesses they have had years to get ready. Zone's forced us to move An ice cream shop is being forced out of a city centre by LEZ rules. Stephen Bennett must find new premises because of work vans which do not comply with the restrictions. Mr Bennett, 59, said the LEZ is the straw that broke the camels back for his Casa Di Gelato business, which has operated in Dundee for four years. He said: We use specialist vehicles for events and deliveries, and a new one could cost 100,000. Even a second-hand one could be half that, so we are talking about significant sums of money. FINAL STRAW: Businessman, Stephen Bennett Our plan was to turn the shop into a manufacturing premises as well but, come May 30, I cant get any of the vehicles to the shop so we have to move. I am not convinced of the logic of these new zones and you do have to question whether there is a revenue-raising element to it all. Advertisement Figures show 1,078,580 vehicles about a third of the total registered in Scotland will be banned from its four biggest cities. Non-compliant cars, generally diesel-engine ones from before 2015 and petrol ones from before 2006, attract 60 fines each time they enter an LEZ. Fines totalling around 3.5million have been issued in Glasgow since last June. Dundees zone will be enforced from May 30 with Aberdeen and Edinburghs following on June 1. A survey of more than 2,700 people found 90 per cent of them opposed the Aberdeen LEZ, with most saying they would be less likely to visit the city centre. A spokesman for Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce said: People in Aberdeen are already taking time to adjust to the new bus gates around Union Street. It would make sense to review the impact of these measures first, before further crackdowns on motorists are enforced. Alison Henderson, chief executive of Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, said: We are concerned at the experiences of businesses in Glasgow and would not be in favour of additional costs to a business or their staff and customers, particularly in the current circumstances where hospitality and high street businesses are finding times tough. A spokesman for Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce said: The hospitality industry has been through an extraordinarily difficult time and is still suffering and fragile in its recovery, and the LEZ must not create additional difficulties. Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson warned the SNP cannot arrogantly continue acting like there are no issues with LEZs and must listen to communities and businesses across Scotland before new ones are implemented. Scott Arthur, City of Edinburgh Council transport convener, said: Our information campaign started two years ago to give people time to get ready, and to avoid penalties when enforcement begins. Scottish Government quango Transport Scotland said: LEZs protect public health by improving local air quality. A Catholic priest has been reprimanded after telling his stunned worshippers that Jesus Christ had an erection when he died on the cross. Father Thomas McHale, the priest at Our Blessed Lady Immaculate in Blackhill, Consett, County Durham, took to the pulpit as normal on Good Friday. However, the 53-year-old, who is from America, is understood to have told the congregation, roughly 100 Catholic residents, that blood would have rushed to the lower body of Jesus as a result of the violent execution method of crucifixion. A parishioner told The Times: 'He told people Jesus died with an erection. The church was shocked. There were young families there.' Father McHale is understood to have not lost his job despite complaints from parishioners about the 'vulgar' Easter weekend sermon. Father Thomas McHale, 53, from America, told worshippers Christ had an erection when he died on the cross Pictured: Our Blessed Lady Immaculate church in Blackhill, Consett, County Durham A spokesman for the diocese of Hexham & Newcastle told the publication: 'A complaint was received and has been investigated in keeping with our diocesan complaints policy. The investigation has been very recently completed and the complaint is upheld.' In April, a Catholic ministry hastily pulled the plug on the world's first 'AI priest' after it suggested baptizing a baby in Gatorade and solemnly advised one woman on how to prepare for marriage to her brother. READ MORE: Christian AI app quickly scraps 'creepy' digital priest Advertisement Californian advocacy group Catholic Answers created Father Justin to 'provide users with faithful and educational answers' about Catholicism. But the bearded avatar quickly went rogue, promising to forgive users their sins, offering them confession and claiming it had been a Catholic priest for 25 years. Father Justin has now been defrocked and recast as a lay Catholic adviser after a storm of protest from believers outraged at the 'creepy' experiment. Last year another pastor was also embroiled in another row for outsourcing his Sunday service to Artificial Intelligence. Jay Cooper of Violet Crown City Church in North Austin decided to see if the transformative technology was up to the task of inspiring his congregation through a complete one-hour service. The Methodist minister asked Chat GPT to come up with prayers, a sermon, and an original song based on the sermon for the church which promises members a safe space to explore lifes big questions. A teacher in New York City who was fired after allegedly sending nearly 30,000 late-night texts to a young girl is working in another school. Dulaina Almonte, 33, was let go from her job at Harry S. Truman High School in The Bronx in 2020 after a Special Commissioner of Investigation report found she had behaved inappropriately with the students. But the teacher now works at a different charter school in the area despite being fired by the city's department of education. 'I cant be guilty if Im still a teacher,' she told The New York Post. 'Still a teacher working elsewhere. Like, you really cant f***ing touch me.' Almonte allegedly sent 28,075 late-night texts to a 17-year-old female student over the course of 14 months and shared 1,900 messages with another male in 12th grade. Teacher Dulaina Almonte, who was fired after allegedly sending nearly 30,000 late-night texts to a young girl, is working in another school The 33-year-old was let go from her job at Harry S. Truman High School (pictured) in The Bronx in 2020 after a Special Commissioner of Investigation report found she had behaved inappropriately with the students 'Its not a crime, but still got fired, which is honestly why the DOE can suck a big prk,' Almonte said. 'Still a teacher! Cant touch me!' The Special Commissioner of Investigation concluded that her 'excessive contact and behavior with the students demonstrates that she has no place in the New York City Schools.' There was also an investigation by the New York City Police department into a student's claim that Almonte and a former student were 'involved in a sex act', a police report stated. Almonte denied the allegations, which included an accusation that she and a pupil 'made out and had oral sex all the time in school.' No arrest was made over the claims. Although, it sparked the Special Commissioner of Investigation to look into thousands of late-night and weekend conversations between the teacher and students. The teenagers made multiple visits to Almonte's Bronx home, according to the report. But Almonte claimed the results from the year-long investigation were 'completely false.' She is now teaching Spanish at AECI 2: NYC Charter High School for Engineering and Innovation which is privately run. The department of education is facing criticism for not doing more to prevent teachers who are found to have behaved inappropriately with students from working in other schools. 'No paper trail follows teachers state to state unless theyre convicted and it shows up in a [criminal] background check,' researcher Billie-Jo Grant said. But the teacher now works at a different charter school in the area despite being fired by the city's department of education Almonte allegedly sent 28,075 late-night texts to a 17-year-old female student over the course of 14 months and shared 1,900 messages with another male in 12th grade She is now teaching Spanish at AECI 2: NYC Charter High School for Engineering and Innovation which is privately run But less than five percent of school administrators around the country report sexual misconduct to authorities. 'Theres a lot of motivation to not have it on the front page of the paper,' Grant added. The Special Commissioner of Investigation has upheld 254 allegations of sexual or inappropriate misconduct by department of education employees in the last five years. But only four cases have led to criminal charges. Those who are convicted of sexual abuse charges instantly have their educator's state license revoked. However, in most cases, there needs to be at least two arbitration hearings before a teachers state license can be taken. The department of education also does not share data on a fired teachers with other districts, religious, private or charter schools. Findings from the report on Almonte were sent to the Education Department, which has the power to revoke licenses if the person is found guilty of a crime or has immoral character. But there was no disciplinary hearings, according to the state website. Department of education spokesman Nathaniel Styer confirmed that Almonte was fired. 'Im not going to get into personnel items beyond she was terminated. If others come to us for background checks, we respond,' he said. While AECI 2 CEO Derick Spaulding insisted that the school does background checks on all employees who have to pass a 'fingerprint authorization.' 'All employees have to get fingerprinted. If there was something in a persons background that was worthy, that would show up,' he said. 'Thats the states way of stating this persons allowed to work [with children].' However, since there were no criminal charges brought against Almonte, none of the accusations would have been revealed in using the fingerprint method. DailyMail.com has reached out to the department of education and Almonte. Home Secretary James Cleverly will this week announce a crackdown on Line of Duty-style 'cuckooing crime'. He will unveil a new stand-alone offence to target people who take over the home of a vulnerable person to commit specific crimes. And anyone found guilty of so-called 'cuckooing' will face a maximum sentence of five years in jail, an unlimited fine or both. The Home Office pointed out that the crime often linked to 'county lines' drug gangs - was depicted in the hit BBC series Line of Duty and Happy Valley. The Home Office pointed out that the crime often linked to 'county lines' drug gangs - was depicted in the hit BBC series Line of Duty (pictured) and Happy Valley Ciera Hulatt (pictured) was given a 'community protection notice' after she was found in a number of homes that had been 'cuckooed' Sources admitted that the Government had previously resisted calls for a new specific offence as there were a range of existing offences that could already be applied to cuckooing. But they said that Ministers had listened to concerns and accepted that a new standalone offence would help ensure offenders are held to account for the harm done to victims of the crime. And last night, Mr Cleverly said: 'Cuckooing is a vile practice where cruel and opportunistic criminals prey on the most vulnerable. 'That is why we will be tabling an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to introduce a criminal offence of cuckooing, ensuring our laws reflect the true impact this behaviour has on victims.' He added: 'This is another step we are taking as a government to crack down on the misery, violence and exploitation caused by county line gangs. Jazz trumpeter William Algar, 53, was chopped up in his own bathtub after his home had been taken over by drug dealers 'Since April 2022, we have taken the fight to county lines gangs, closing over 2,500 county lines and delivering over 6,000 major and moderate organised crime group disruptions. 'Our plan to crack down on illegal drugs through a whole-system approach is working, as set out in our 10-year Drug Strategy, backed by a record 3 billion funding over three years - including a new target to smash another 1,000 county lines by August.' The Home Secretary also paid tribute to senior Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith for highlighting the need to tackle cuckooing. Last night, Sir Iain said: that he and other MPs had originally pushed for a change in the law 'because vulnerable people have suffered as they have had their houses taken over by criminals who have used their homes for vile criminal activities such as illegal drug dealing and setting up brothels. 'I am pleased the Government has engaged with us and agreed to put this into law.' An email obtained by NewsNation seems to show him admitting to a heinous act Mica Miller's husband allegedly made a shock confession in an email just weeks before her suicide. John-Paul Miller, 44, admitted to carrying out an 'evil' act against his wife, a message he is alleged to have written that was obtained by NewsNation shows. Mica, 30, died by suicide on April 27, days after serving her husband with divorce papers amid allegations of abuse. DailyMail.com previously revealed how she accused him of posting a nude photograph of her on Facebook just weeks before her death. It now appears that the former pastor of Solid Rock in South Carolina admitted to the malicious act and even tried to make amends. Mica Miller's husband allegedly made a shock confession in an email just weeks before her suicide Mica, 30, died by suicide on April 27, days after serving her husband with divorce papers amid allegations of abuse John-Paul Miller, 44, admitted to posting revenge porn of his wife on Facebook, according to an email he was said to have written that was obtained by NewsNation Miller was seen breaking cover on Wednesday morning, amid a series of bombshell allegations about the state of his marriage before his wife's death 'I'm sorry for putting a picture of you on the internet,' the harrowing email read. 'It was for less than one hour and immediately taken down. I was hurt that you are telling everyone horrible intimate details of my past sin, and I just wanted to try and hurt you. Please forgive me. It was evil of me to do that.' His estranged wife contacted Myrtle Beach Police Department on April 8 after spotting an indecent image of herself on Facebook. She claimed the shamed pastor posted the image to a group called 'big boobs and nice curves,' and even tagged an old account for Mica which she had no access to. The police report indicated that Mica told authorities she sent John-Paul the photograph six months prior. 'The complainant further advised that he is the only person she has ever sent that type of photo to. Although the complainants' breasts are exposed the nipple is blurred out, not meeting the SC Code of Law for nudity,' a police report states. Officers advised Mica that the photo was posted anonymously, and there was 'no way to prove he was the one who actually posted the photo.' Shockingly, authorities even told the distressed woman that 'once a photo is sent the person who the photo was sent to is now the owner of the photo.' Chilling new CCTV video has also emerged showing the pastor's wife purchasing a firearm at Dick's Pawn Shop in Myrtle Beach just three hours before she used it to end her life Miller's black Honda is observed traveling on Highway 501 near Four Mile Road, Conway, South Carolina, on April 27 hours before her death Mica Miller died by suicide at Lumber River State Park, North Carolina, weeks after speaking about abuse within her marriage to John-Paul Miller A few days after that, he allegedly sent the apology email Mica that filed in an affidavit with her lawyer. 'Since the day we became husband and wife, I have been abused in every way I can think of. Emotionally, sexually, spiritually, financially, and physically,' she wrote. 'He has harassed me physically and electronically with letters, phone calls, emails, and texts, hacking my emails, hacking my personal Facebook, and impersonating me. 'Using my stolen phone to send texts and emails out to church members pretending to be me, texting friends and family saying that I am sleeping with teenagers from our church, and showing up in person at places around town.' On March 14 and March 26, Mica reported that she had found a tracking device on her car, after discovering it attached by magnets under the chassis. She made several other bombshell allegations against her husband, claiming that he 'groomed' her from the age of 10. Another police report over the alleged theft of her silver Honda Accord shows the breakdown of their marriage dating back to February 2023. Jonh-Paul meanwhile complained that Mica and her family were 'harassing him' on social media moaning that a post his wife had made regarding 'abuse' would harm his reputation. In an emotional Facebook video shared on March 22 (pictured) Mica offered her support to victims of abuse, reminding them that they 'don't have to stay' Mica's dad Michael Francis, and sister Destinee Barrientos said they hold John-Paul responsible for Mica's 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 Officers dismissed his claims, advising him to contact them again if he was being harassed, as he had 'no texts or proof' of the allegations. Mica was found dead from a gunshot wound at Lumber River State Park over the state border in North Carolina. Police released heartbreaking video and audio of her final moments amid conjecture over the circumstances of her death after her family amplified her claims of abuse. A bizarre video of John-Paul delivering the news of his wife's suicide to his former congregation also fueled wild theories. Her dad Michael Francis, and sister Destinee Barrientos told NewsNation's Banfield they hold John-Paul responsible for Mica's suicide. 'I know she was pushed to the brink. My theory is broad right now. There are bruises on her hand and injuries. These things are not documented, and they don't show up for no reason. We just want more answers,' Francis said. 'As soon as they got married, her behavior went downhill fast. She seemed to be more sad, more under control. I believe he compressed her. He just sucked the life right out of her and caused her to go downhill.' If you or a loved one is experiencing suicidal thoughts or actions, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) But Duran disappeared and almost two days of searching has not found her Her 14-year-old son also went in and they rescued the girls from drowning A young mother is missing after she dived into a river to rescue her daughter and niece, but never made it back to shore. Brenda Duran, 30, was with her family by the San Joaquin River in Newman, California, on Thursday night when the children started struggling. She and her 14-year-old son jumped in to the river about 6.30pm on Thursday and managed to get her 11-year-old daughter and niece to safety. 'While attempting to help her daughter, Duran also struggled to stay afloat,' the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office said. Brenda Duran, 30, is missing after she dived into a river to rescue her daughter and niece, but never made it back to shore Police from several towns used divers, drones, and helicopters to scour the area while family looked on kayaks, paddleboards, and on foot 'Durans son and daughter safely made it out of the river, but Duran did not. The two juveniles were immediately given medical attention by ambulance personnel at the scene.' Duran never resurfaced and hours of searching on Thursday night and again on Friday found no trace of her. Police from several towns used divers, drones, and helicopters to scour the area while family looked on kayaks, paddleboards, and on foot. 'She's a very thriving person, always smiling, never giving up and very compassionate,' her husband Jamie Aguilar said The search was paused at 11pm that night due to safety and visibility concerns but picked up again on Friday and Saturday mornings The search was paused at 11pm that night due to safety and visibility concerns but picked up again on Friday and Saturday mornings. 'She's a very thriving person, always smiling, never giving up and very compassionate,' her husband Jamie Aguilar told KCRA. 'I wouldn't want anyone to go through this... the cousins have been searching for more than 12 hours.' Teenagers convinced they are the wrong gender are breaking an NHS ban on puberty blocker drugs by buying them online from foreign dealers. Social media sites including Reddit, X and Facebook have been flooded with links to websites where the teens can buy the 'dangerous' drugs without any age checks or prescriptions. This week an undercover Mail on Sunday reporter posing as a young teenage girl was able to buy large quantities of puberty blockers shipped to Britain from Turkey, Hong Kong and Russia. Last night Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said she was 'appalled' and 'looking closely' at new laws to crack down. The drugs, which halt the onset of adolescence, were banned for under-18s by the NHS last month following an outcry over their use by London's Tavistock gender identity development clinic, which prescribed them to hundreds of children. Serkan Senvardar, a dealer based in Turkey, shipped a testosterone-blocking drug called bicalutamide from Istanbul A government review by Dr Hilary Cass found that the drugs posed danger to children and 'no evidence' that they gave them 'time to think' before changing gender Medics warned the drugs can damage brain and bone development and cause infertility. That led to a damning government review by Dr Hilary Cass, who said the drugs pose a danger to children. Former Tavistock patients have sued the NHS over the scandal. Dr Cass also found 'no evidence' the drugs gave the young 'time to think' about whether they really wanted to change gender. But by following advice and links on Reddit, a Mail on Sunday reporter posing as a young teen-ager easily bought the puberty blocker drugs from three different websites in recent weeks. The online pharmacies charge from 52 for a nasal spray to 228 for a syringe. One website boasted 'express delivery' and offered a 10 per cent discount for payment with the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Serkan Senvardar, a dealer based in Turkey, shipped a testosterone-blocking drug called bicalutamide from Istanbul. It arrived in London seven days after our reporter placed the order. Sold under the brand name Casodex, bicalutamide is a prescription-only medication usually used for treating prostate cancer. Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said she was 'appalled' and 'looking closely' at new laws to crack down But influencers posting on Reddit have advised boys wanting to transition to girls that 'it's pretty effective at basically making testosterone useless'. Last week the MoS tracked Mr Senvardar to the holiday resort of Marmaris in Turkey, where he initially told our undercover reporter she could buy more Casodex. When we later confronted him about his business, he denied involvement in the online operation. Reacting to our findings last night, Health Secretary Ms Atkins pledged to look at 'legislative options' to crack down on the black market in puberty blockers. 'I'm appalled that dangerous drugs like this are being sold to vulnerable children and commend The Mail on Sunday's vital public interest journalism,' she said. Tory MP Paul Bristow said: 'This all sounds like every parent's worst nightmare. The people trading in distribution of these products that can cause irreversible damage to young bodies are vile.' Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: 'These powerful drugs were never designed to be available on demand but this investigation makes clear thousands of children are at risk. We must be relentless in stopping this trade' A Dutch performer was disqualified from Saturday's Grand Final of the annual Eurovision Song Contest after a female member of the show's production crew filed a complaint against him with local police. Joost Klein, 26, had been a favorite among bookies to win this year's major competition with his Euro-techno tune "Europapa," the Associated Press reported Saturday. The complaint involves an allegation of intimidation, the BBC reported, citing a Swedish police spokesperson who said a man had been reported for making "unlawful threats" at the Malmo Arena in Sweden following Thursday's semi-final. "The police have taken all essential investigative measures and questioned the suspect, plaintiff and witnesses," the spokesperson said. "The investigation has been completed by the police ... and the case will now go to the prosecutor within a few weeks." The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the popular annual TV singing tournament, said Klein would not be competing on Saturday due to its "zero-tolerance policy" against "inappropriate" behavior. Klein's ouster marked the closest to the final that any contestant has been disqualified and it's unlikely he'll be replaced due to the difficulty of adding new, last-minute elements to the production, the BBC said. The Dutch company AVROTROS, one of dozens of public broadcasters that fund and televise the contest, said it was "shocked by the decision," AP said. It also issued a statement that Klein said was recorded without consent when he came offstage after Thursday's semifinal and made an alleged "threatening movement" toward the camera in response. AVROTROS said Klein didn't touch the camera or its operator, and called his disqualification a "very heavy and disproportionate" punishment. Supporters of a man who was wrongly jailed for rape have joined calls for a review into the conviction of White House Farm murderer Jeremy Bamber. Andrew Malkinson was cleared of rape last year after being jailed for life in 2003. There was never any DNA evidence connecting Mr Malkinson to the crime. He was acquitted after forensic tests linked it to an offender on the police database. The case led to criticism of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which failed to fund the tests. They were paid for by the charity Appeal. On Friday, a demonstration was held outside CCRC's offices in Birmingham, which has been investigating Bamber's conviction for the murders of Nevill and June Bamber, both 61, Sheila Caffell, 28, and her six-year-old twins Daniel and Nicholas at White House Farm, Essex, in 1985. Supporters of a man who was wrongly jailed for rape have joined calls for a review into the conviction of White House Farm murderer Jeremy Bamber (pictured) Andrew Malkinson was cleared of rape last year after being jailed for life in 2003 (pictured) Sheila Caffell (pictured) who was found shot dead by police, along with her parents, Neville and June Bamber, and her twin sons in 1985 Bamber, 63, has always denied the shootings, blaming Sheila, a paranoid schizophrenic. He says police officers concealed evidence and tampered with the crime scene. At the protest, members of campaign groups warned about potential conflicts of interest from former police officers working on CCRC cases. Emma Morris, of the Jeremy Bamber Campaign team, said: 'There are many people fighting their cases with the CCRC that may have thought the problems they were having with the CCRC were unique to them. 'As Andrew Malkinson said upon proving his innocence, 'I'm not the only one.' A CCRC spokesman said: 'We make impartial, evidence-based decisions. We do not make decisions on the basis of external pressure from anyone.' A mother has lost a High Court battle with her ex-husband over whether their daughter should be allowed to receive medication from private clinics to change gender under the age of 18. The woman disagreed with her former partner that their 16-year-old, who identifies as male, should be allowed to be prescribed cross-sex hormones by private doctors. She rejected the idea that 16-year-olds had the mental capacity to decide to take hormones that could leave them infertile. But this week, after a two-year legal fight, Mrs Justice Judd ruled she could not 'override' the 16-year-old's consent to be given gender treatment by regulated doctors in the UK. But the judge did ensure that the girl's father promised the court he will not 'fund or facilitate' treatment at a controversial offshore gender service known as Gender GP while the girl is still a minor. A mother has lost a High Court battle with her ex-husband over whether their daughter should be allowed to receive medication from private clinics to change gender under the age of 18 The woman disagreed with her former partner that their 16-year-old, who identifies as male, should be allowed to be prescribed cross-sex hormones by private doctors (stock photo) She is instead expected to go to Gender Plus, a private centre run by former staff of London's Tavistock clinic, which was wound down after it was deemed 'unsafe' in Dr Hilary Cass's recent NHS review. Last night the mother said she regretted the judge had 'not gone further' in safeguarding under-18s when accessing cross-sex hormones through private providers. She said: 'My daughter hates me. But as awful as it is to lose a child, it is more important to me that my beautiful, clever child is safe. If I hadn't gone to court she'd potentially have received hormones from Gender GP two years ago.' Her worries mounted when she found her daughter had been on 'pro-trans' pages on social media. She said: 'I found they were full of mostly teenage girls cheering each other on, calling each other 'bro' and encouraging each other to get testosterone and mastectomies.' Mother loses High Court battle with her ex-husband over whether their 16-year-old daughter should be allowed 'gender-changing' medications Netflix was heavily criticised last night after British viewers were confronted with a fully erect penis in its new drama. Viewers, MPs and schools campaigners were shocked at the closing episode of the streaming giant's six-part series A Man In Full. Actor Tom Pelphrey drops his bedsheet after taking Viagra to reveal himself to co-star Jeff Daniels in the adaptation of Tom Wolfe's best-selling 1998 novel. It is believed to be the first time a mainstream drama on British TV has broken the 'erect penis' taboo and there was no prior warning about graphic nudity. It has highlighted worries about regulation of streaming services, with concern that children are at risk. Netflix is already under fire over its drama Baby Reindeer for failing to protect the identity of a stalker who inspired the story. Netflix was heavily criticised last night after British viewers were confronted with a fully erect penis in its new drama Tom Pelphrey drops his bedsheet after taking Viagra to reveal himself to co-star Jeff Daniels (pictured) Jeff Daniels as Charlie Croker in episode 101 of A Man in Full Spectator columnist Mary Killen said: 'I don't want to see graphic sexual images when I'm watching a drama. There is too much already and it is reducing us to no better than barnyard animals.' The Gogglebox contributor added: 'Viewers shouldn't be forced to see pornography. This trend will end in tears as it's depressing, unmysterious and taking away some of life's magic.' Writer Anne Atkins, a contributor to Radio 4's Thought for the Day, said: 'Where are the boundaries now, Netflix? 'A visibly erect penis is not only revolting to many normal viewers but artistically completely unnecessary: a glance down, a raised eyebrow would have done far more.' Watchdog Ofcom's rules effectively discourage UK broadcasters from showing such a scene but Netflix, with its European HQ in Amsterdam, is beyond the regulator's Broadcasting Code. Tory MP Alexander Stafford said: 'If Netflix is serving up this sort of low-grade, pornographic rubbish, we need to give Ofcom full oversight of the streaming giant's output as soon as possible.' Fellow Tory MP Sara Britcliffe added: 'Streaming services are available at any time of day, so watershed protection doesn't apply.' Safe Schools Alliance's Tanya Carter said: 'Yet again we are questioning why the Government is failing to act on this multi-fronted assault on childhood.' Ofcom's Broadcasting Code states sex and nudity scenes must be after the watershed and not be easily accessible to children. The episode broke a long-standing TV taboo, and has highlighted concerns over the lack of regulation of streaming services Tory MP Alexander Stafford criticised the scene as 'low-grade, pornographic rubbish' There are no other clear guidelines about nudity and there is no explicit ban on the depiction of an erect penis but, because of the other rules, British broadcasters have fought shy of showing it. The Government plans new legislation and a code which must be followed by all streamers operating in the UK. Streamers could be fined up to 250,000 or be restricted if they break the rules. Netflix is voluntarily signed up to the British Board of Film Classification and A Man In Full has been given a 15 rating. The series is accompanied by a warning for 'sex, language, sex reference, sexual images, injury detail' but has no clear warning about content beyond that. Netflix said: 'We have consistently supported introducing a Media Bill and proposals to bring Netflix and other streaming services under Ofcom in the UK.' Today marks a very significant day in our country's history. Exactly 25 years ago, the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff sat for the first time. What high hopes there were in some quarters! Scotland's parliament hadn't met for nearly 300 years. Wales had never had its own assembly. Tony Blair's New Labour promised the United Kingdom nothing less than a new constitutional settlement. We were told and many believed it, though I certainly didn't that Scotland and Wales would be better governed under Devolution than they had been from Westminster. The Union would supposedly also be safe. George Robertson, a Scot and member of the New Labour Cabinet, had promised Devolution would 'kill nationalism stone dead' north of the border. Pictured: Vaughan Gething poses for a portrait after he is announced as the fifth First Minister of Wales on March 16 Pictured: Outgoing Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf signs his official resignation letter to King Charles III at the Scottish Parliament, on May 7 Was ever a political forecast so comprehensively confounded? Nor have assurances of improved governance been remotely fulfilled. Devolution was New Labour's pride and joy, though Blair later claimed in his 2010 memoir that he 'was never a passionate Devolutionist'. Perhaps the sinuous former PM could already see things were not turning out as well as he and his fellow constitutional iconoclasts had hoped. In Scotland, the political tribulations of the Scottish National Party have recently attained new heights. Twelve days ago, we endured the spectacle of a third-rate, over-promoted Scottish First Minister committing political hara-kiri. Two weeks before the hapless Humza Yousaf stabbed himself in the back, there had been an earlier earth tremor north of the border. Peter Murrell, husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and ex-chief executive of the SNP, was charged by police in connection with the embezzlement of funds from his party. Mr Murrell may of course be innocent. But his arrest after a year-long investigation, combined with the pantomime of Mr Yousaf's resignation, somehow symbolises the dysfunctional nature of Devolution in Scotland. This week the SNP chose a new First Minister, John Swinney, unopposed. He is a plodding politician who failed to set the heather alight as the Scot Nats' leader two decades ago. Why would he do any better this time? Wales's predicament is almost as dire. Newly-installed Labour First Minister Vaughan Gething, no titan in the political firmament, is facing accusations over a 200,000 campaign donation from a company whose owner was twice convicted of environmental offences. Pictured: John Swinney speaks during his debut at First Minster's Questions at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood Peter Murrell, husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and ex-chief executive of the SNP, was charged by police in connection with the embezzlement of funds from his party What grieves me as a Unionist who sees himself as British first and English second is that our fellow citizens in Scotland and Wales have in effect been abandoned to the devices of incompetent, mediocre and sometimes corrupt politicians. Conservative ministers look at the pitiable state of the Labour-run NHS in Wales, where waiting lists are even longer than in England, and jeer. One can understand their wanting to make political capital. But shouldn't they be showing concern for Britons trapped in what increasingly resembles a madhouse? The theory is that democracies adjust when people are badly governed and voters will sooner or later turn to alternative political parties that offer more sensible policies. Unfortunately, this theory doesn't obviously apply to Scotland and Wales. Despite its corruption and serial ineptitude, the SNP remains in government after 17 years. Polls suggest that a resurgent Labour Party could win more seats than the flagging Scot Nats in the forthcoming General Election. It might even form the next administration in Holyrood when elections, due in May 2026, take place. But Scottish Labour is in many respects indistinguishable from the SNP. Both are centre-Left. What mainly separates them is independence, with Scottish Labour against (though its former leader Kezia Dugdale has recently revealed she is increasingly drawn to it) and the SNP wildly in favour. On many other issues the two parties think alike. For example, Scottish Labour supported the Scots Nats over the Gender Recognition Act. This would have enabled transgender 16-year-olds to declare themselves male or female without medical endorsement if the Westminster Government hadn't blocked it, using a power that hadn't been exercised before.Similarly, Scottish Labour backed the SNP's recent illiberal and near-lunatic hate crime laws, which have enraged people such as JK Rowling. Its leader, Anas Sarwar, has said that Scottish Labour won't repeal the Act if his party forms the next government in Holyrood. Scottish Labour has also mostly gone along with the SNP's tax-raising heists following Holyrood's acquisition of new powers in 2016, recklessly bestowed by the Tories. Nicola Sturgeon and her cohorts set about fleecing Scottish taxpayers. God knows, south of the border we are groaning under the burden of excessive taxation but it's worse in Scotland. People there earning more than 26,562 a year pay 1p in the pound more tax than in England, which is increased to 2p more in the higher income bracket. Top earners are subjected to an extra walloping. The upshot is that even those on relatively modest incomes are paying thousands more in tax than counterparts in England. Mr Sarwar has suggested that Scottish Labour might trim tax for middle earners but, given his party's traditional love of high taxes, voters would be wise to be sceptical. Scottish Labour is in many respects indistinguishable from the SNP - both are centre-Left parties Pictured: Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Dame Jackie Baillie, speaking during the Scottish Labour Party conference So in tax as in other matters there's little to choose between the SNP and Scottish Labour. Unless voters turn in droves to the Scottish Tories an unlikely event for all kinds of historical reasons our fellow citizens are, as a consequence of Devolution, imprisoned in a high-tax economy. Admittedly, largely thanks to the Westminster government transferring more than 8billion a year to Holyrood under the so-called Barnett formula, the Scots enjoy perks unavailable to the English. They have free prescriptions (as do the Welsh and Northern Irish) and don't pay tuition fees at Scottish universities. Council tax has been frozen in Scotland during this tax year. These handouts engender justifiable resentment in England towards the Scots and further undermine our already weakened Union. Just one more instance of the pernicious effects of Devolution. As for the Labour-run Welsh government, it has so far been given fewer tax-raising powers than Holyrood, though this hasn't prevented it from squeezing extra cash from taxpayers wherever it can. Sir Keir Starmer has said that he wants to increase the scope of the administration in Cardiff. He declared last year that if he moves into No 10 he will make changes leading to 'Wales having power over its economic destiny'. That implies enhanced tax-raising capabilities. It seems practically insane to give yet more powers to a government that has presided over the never-ending calamity that is the Welsh NHS, as well as plummeting educational standards. The latest Pisa international rankings show that Welsh schools have fallen further behind those in the rest of the United Kingdom, while Scottish schools, once famed for their excellence, have declined in reading, science and maths. By contrast, English schools showed modest improvements across the board. As for the Labour-run Welsh government, it has so far been given fewer tax-raising powers than Holyrood, though this hasn't prevented it from squeezing extra cash from taxpayers wherever it can Sir Keir Starmer has said that he wants to increase the scope of the administration in Cardiff Why would anyone propose further powers these could include a second chamber (even more politicians!) for the devolved nations to a government in Cardiff that has failed on so many fronts? One of its latest idiocies, champ-ioned by First Minister Mark Drakeford before his recent retirement, was to impose a 20mph speed limit in all built-up areas. This measure has proved so unpopular, even Mr Gething's administration is considering reversing it in some places. Wales is dominated by the more populous Labour-voting south of the country. However misguided its policies, however mediocre and occasionally sleazy some of its politicians, Labour has a tribal following that apparently ensures its survival as the ruling party no matter what sins it commits. With breathtaking effrontery, ministers in Cardiff recently instructed farmers across Wales to set aside 10 per cent of their land for permanent tree planting. Unsurprisingly, many of them resent being pushed about in this way. Would Westminster in pre-Devolution days have been so high-handed? The tragedy is that Wales never really wanted Devolution in the first place. In New Labour's 1997 referendum, only about half of Welsh people bothered to vote, of whom fractionally more than 50 per cent supported Devolution. A constitutional and cultural upheaval took place even though only about a quarter of the country voted for it. What a disaster this has been! I don't, of course, suggest that England has been perfectly governed for the past two decades, but the experience of the Welsh and Scottish has been far worse. Devolution has spectacularly failed to deliver the promise of better and more efficient government in either country. It's also almost certain that both Scotland and Wales are poorer than they would have been without Devolution. According to official figures, between 2011 and 2023 gross national product per person increased appreciably more in almost every English region than in Scotland. We may not have done very well down south but Scotland has performed even worse. Yet rather than question the wisdom of New Labour's misguided revolution, Sir Keir proposes more of the same. More powers for devolved governments that have made such a hash of things. As for the Tories, they've forgotten that they ever opposed Devolution and cheerfully hand over new powers to Holyrood and Cardiff. Whenever things go wrong, they can barely suppress their feelings of schadenfreude. Look what happens when the centre-Left takes over! What has happened is that millions of British people have been consigned to government by pygmy politicians from which they seem unlikely to escape. Does the implosion of the Scot Nats offer a thin silver lining? It's true that the party's collapse almost certainly pushes the prospect of independence further into the future. Nevertheless, polls suggest that around half of Scots remain in favour of it. Devolution which has splintered the country once known as Great Britain into mutually uncomprehending parts will surely one day lead to an independent Scotland. In the meantime, we can only look on forlornly as British citizens in Wales and Scotland suffer its baleful consequences. The 25th anniversary of Devolution will doubtless elicit sanctimonious claptrap about its glorious benefits from politicians who unlike the people they govern have profited from it. Although the Holyrood Parliament first met on May 12, 1999, its official opening took place months later, on July 1. Queen Elizabeth attended the ceremony in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland. Donald Dewar New Labour's main architect of Devolution and the new First Minister delivered a stirring speech in which he welcomed 'the day democracy was renewed in Scotland, when we revitalised our place in this our United Kingdom'. He declared that Rabbie Burns's poem A Man's A Man, which had been movingly sung, reminded us that 'honesty and decency are priceless virtues'. How bitterly ironic those words now sound. Democracy hasn't been renewed. Far from it. Scotland's place in the United Kingdom has been weakened and there's precious little evidence of honesty and decency in the corrupt and incompetent SNP. Yet this is our country, Britain, and it is our fellow Britons who are paying the price for Labour's catastrophic project. A dam that supplies drinking water near a major city could be used to cool a reactor should Australia embrace nuclear power. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is expected to use his upcoming Budget in Reply speech to provide more detail on potential sites for nuclear reactors, with the Coalition arguing Australia cannot solely rely on renewable energy to meet its climate change targets. Nuclear for Climate Australia has been endorsed by Coalition MPs and its founder, a disillusioned former Labor candidate, is now advising the Opposition on nuclear energy policy. It has recommended the future conversion of decommissioned coal-fired power stations into nuclear reactors - a policy idea Mr Dutton has recently backed. The group has also suggested 13 potential sites for a nuclear reactor, including the Wivenhoe Dam 80km north-west of Brisbane that supplies south-east Queensland with its drinking water, along with several sites in suburban Brisbane and Ipswich. A big city dam could be used to cool a reactor should Australia embrace nuclear power (pictured is Wivenhoe Dam north-west of Brisbane) Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is expected to use his upcoming Budget reply speech to provide more detail on potential sites for nuclear reactors, with the Coalition arguing Australia can't solely rely on renewable energy to meet its climate change targets Nuclear plants use the process of fission - splitting atoms - to heat water from the dam to create steam, which powers a turbine that creates electricity. The dam's water would also be used to cool down the nuclear system, with the water then recirculated back into the reactor. 'While recirculating systems don't add heat to the river or lake, they do consume water through evaporation,' Nuclear for Climate Australia said. Nuclear for Climate Australia's founder Robert Parker is a civil engineer of 37 years who is now advising the Coalition, despite running as a Labor candidate in 2007 'In Australia the availability of sizeable inland rivers are limited though a number of large reservoirs such as Wivenhoe Dam provide a substantial resource for fresh water cooling.' Wivenhoe Dam has been a pumped hydro storage hydroelectric power station since 1984, providing 570 megawatts or 570million watts of power. Nuclear for Climate Australia's founder Robert Parker is a civil engineer of 37 years with a masters in nuclear science who has supervised the construction of dams in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, along with Vietnam, Iran and Eritrea. He said Wivenhoe Dam offered cooling qualities during a drought. 'You need to ensure that you got sufficient water in the highest demand, hot periods when everyone's got their air conditioners going, you do not want your plant losing cooling ability,' Mr Parker told Daily Mail Australia. 'Smaller nuclear power plants would need to be able to get an allocation of water, particularly in the hot-weather periods out of those dams to cool themselves. 'If the water allocation can be given to the power station, it would be a phenomenally good resource for cooling a nuclear power plant.' This site was one of 10 'probable' sites in Queensland along with another three 'possible' sites in the home state of Mr Dutton and the Coalition's energy spokesman Ted O'Brien. Opponents of nuclear power argue it is too risky to put a plant near any population centre because of the risk of meltdown, even though nuclear medical isotopes for cancer treatment are produced at Lucas Heights in suburban Sydney. The meltdown at the Soviet-era Chernobyl plant in Ukraine in 1986 resulted in a mass leakage of radiation that devastated surrounding areas for decades, while the effects of the 2011 earthquake on the Fukushima plant in Japan also caused a major radiation event. Other possible nuclear power plant sites Nuclear for Climate's 13 recommended potential reactor sites include seven existing coal-fired power stations: Callide, Stanwell, Tarong, Gladstone, Millmeran, Kogan Creek and Collinsville, along with gas-fired Swanbank in suburban Ipswich. 'In Queensland coal fired plants were constructed adjacent to available coal mines and other infrastructure,' it said. 'New nuclear plants will where possible take advantage of the resource used for cooling at these plants.' Mr Dutton has flagged the idea of potentially converting five disused coal-fired power stations into nuclear energy reactors, arguing Australia could not entirely rely on wind and solar energy to meet its target of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. The Coalition argues the existence of electricity transmission lines from these sites meant nuclear power could be delivered affordably - unlike Labor's $20billion Rewiring the Nation plan. Nuclear for Climate Australia has been endorsed by Liberal Party politicians and has previously suggested converting disused coal-fired power stations into nuclear reactors - a policy idea Mr Dutton has recently endorsed. It has also listed 10 'probable' sites in Queensland Dick Smith blasts Australia's 'hypocritical' and 'emotional' ban on nuclear power: Read his compelling argument for why the country CAN'T solely rely on wind and solar The entrepreneur says Australia's continuing ban on nuclear energy production is hypocritical given how much uranium we export to other countries to produce nuclear power Advertisement 'If there's a retiring coal asset, so there's a coal fired generator that's already got an existing distribution network, the wires and poles are already there to distribute the energy across the network into homes and businesses, that's really what we're interested in,' the Opposition Leader told Seven's Sunrise program on March 5. 'The latest technology means that you can switch off old coal assets and start with a firming capacity that means that we can have cheaper prices, it means that we can have reliable energy, it means that we can keep the Australian jobs because, at the moment, manufacturing is going offshore because they simply can't afford to stay here.' Nuclear for Climate has also suggested Ross River in north Queensland, the existing site of a solar farm near Townsville that is also close to the sea. The three 'possible' sites included Stockleigh in suburban Logan south of Brisbane, Samsonvale west of Brisbane, and the Burdekin regional in north Queensland. Mr Parker compiled that list in 2022 but since then he has revised it to drop two sites too far inland, citing droughts. 'Subsequent research since 2022 has meant I have become less confident that small nuclear power plants can be adequately cooled in Queensland in high demand, hot dry periods,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'In the absence of more thorough analysis I will probably drop the Kogan Creek and Millmerran sites and reduce the number of plants at Tarong I think a greater reliance on coastal locations with sea water cooling is required as well as greater reliance on places like Ross River and the Burdekin.' Nuclear advocacy group Nuclear for Climate was influential within Coalition circles even before Mr Dutton in March revealed a government led by him would push for a nuclear power industry. Mr Parker, who ran as a New South Wales state Labor candidate in 2007, said he was now providing advice to the federal Coalition. 'I'm assisting the Coalition parties with technical advice and work,' he said. 'I'm pretty deeply embedded with them.' In 2022, he addressed the Parliamentary Friends of Nuclear Industries, chaired by Nationals backbencher David Gillespie. Coalition senators in 2022 also cited Mr Parker in their dissenting report on the government's plan for Australia to source 82 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. Hollie Hughes, Ross Cadell and Bridget McKenzie wrote their report as members of a Senate environment and communications committee who opposed the Climate Change Bill 2022, which Labor and the Greens backed. Mr Parker's Nuclear for Climate group had made a submission to this bill arguing Australia could not rely on renewable energy for power generation. 'Society cannot be held hostage to the vagaries of the weather,' it said. 'The risks of failure with randomly variable power sources are so high, and their environmental toll so great, that we must embrace a sustainable large scale roll out of nuclear energy.' Mr Parker has also been endorsed in Parliament by Liberal MP Rick Wilson. In November 2022, the assistant shadow minister from Western Australia hailed his expertise on small modular reactors that can produce 300 megawatts, or 300million watts of power. 'Speakers like Robert Parker, founder of Nuclear for Climate Australia, described the journey of Canada's expanding nuclear power using SMR technology,' he said. While the Liberal Party is open to establishing a nuclear industry in Australia, Labor and the Greens are resolutely opposed, preferring less reliable renewable energy sources to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 (pictured is the Tihange nuclear power plant in Belgium) SITES EARMARKED FOR NUCLEAR POWER '10 PROBABLE SITES' COLLINSVILLE: coal-fired plant in Whitsunday region of north Queensland MILLMERRAN: coal-fired plant in Darling Downs region of south Queensland (dropped) CALLIDE: coal-fired plant at Biloela in central Queensland GLADSTONE: coal-fired plant in central Queensland TARONG: coal-fired plant in South Burnett region of south Queensland (scaled back) STANWELL: coal-fired plant near Rockhampton in central Queensland KOGAN CREEK: coal-fired plant north-west of Toowoomba in south Queensland (dropped) SWANBANK: gas-fired plant in Ipswich in south-east Queensland WIVENHOE: hydro plant north-west of Brisbane in south-east Queensland ROSS RIVER: solar farm near Townsville in north Queensland '3 POSSIBLE SITES' STOCKLEIGH: rural area west of Logan BURDEKIN: pumped hydro in north Queensland SAMSONVALE: rural area west of Moreton Bay in south-east Queensland Source: Nuclear for Climate Australia's 2022 list which founder Robert Parker has reconsidered in 2024 Advertisement 'As a Commonwealth cousin with similar culture, laws, physical landscape and federated political system, Canada presents an opportunity to collaborate on energy systems for climate change mitigation. 'Today, energy prices for families in Canada are close to half the price Australians are paying.' No country in the world, however, has small modular reactors yet, with Canada not expected to have this technology until the late 2020s, when Ontario's state-run power company installs a reactor designed by General Electric and Hitachi. Rolls Royce is developing SMR technology so a series of units the size of shipping containers could be manufactured in a factory and transported to a site. But conventional, large-scale reactors have been commercially proven, with the United Arab Emirates setting up a new reactor at Barakah in 2020 with South Korean technology after eight years of construction work. A review commissioned by former prime minister John Howard in 2006 concluded establishing nuclear power plants would take at least a decade. Rolls Royce is developing SMR technology so a series of units the size of shipping containers could be manufactured in a factory and transported to a site Former Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski, a trained nuclear physicist, in his 2006 review, concluded nuclear power is 'between 20 and 50 per cent more costly to produce than power from a new coal-fired plant at current fossil fuel prices in Australia'. He modelled a scenario where the deployment of nuclear power that started in 2020 'could see 25 reactors producing about a third of the nation's electricity by 2050 (a position already surpassed by France, South Korea, Sweden, Belgium, Bulgaria and Hungary, among others)'. While the Liberal Party is open to establishing a nuclear industry in Australia, Labor and the Greens are resolutely opposed, preferring less reliable and heavily subsidised renewable energy sources. Mr Parker, who ran unsuccessfully as a Labor candidate in 2007 in the state seat of Goulburn, is no longer an ALP member, because of the party's position against nuclear power. 'It's the biggest disaster of all time, the ALP's policy is a shocker,' he said. 'Politics has often got nothing much to do with what's good for the nation - can you command the votes? 'It's a cynical game. The flea on the tail wags the dog and the flea is the Greens in the inner city; Labor's got to hold the Greens off by being anti-nuke.' A solar eclipse that appeared in the sky in 1207BC. An earthquake that rattled Jerusalem 28,000 years ago. And an ancient royal's mines uncovered in Israel. These are not just archeological discovers made throughout history, but they are also details described in the Bible. Troves of ancient artifacts, landmarks and celestial discoveries have been made that can all be found written in the pages of the religious book, suggesting the stories are true. A clay seal unearthed In Jerusalem dating from the eighth century BC may bear the signature of the Prophet Isaiah, according to author Eilat Mazar The signature of Prophet Isaiah A clay seal unearthed in Jerusalem in 2019 dating from the eighth century BC may bear the signature of the Prophet Isaiah, according to Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Isaiah was said to have predicted the coming of the Messiah, which is found in the Book of Isaiah chapter 53. In the Bible, Isaiah is described as a close advisor to Hezekiah, who was the king of Judah, and the clay seal that may read 'Prophet Isaiah' was found near one bearing Hezekiah's name in the Ophel, an ancient fortified area of Jerusalem. A clay seal unearthed In Jerusalem dating from the eighth century BC may bear the signature of the Prophet Isaiah, according to author Eilat Mazar 'We found the eighth-century BC seal mark that may have been made by the prophet Isaiah himself only 10 feet away from where we earlier discovered the highly-publicized bulla of King Hezekiah of Judah. 'If it is the case that this bulla is indeed that of the prophet Isaiah, then it should not come as a surprise to discover this bulla next to one bearing King Hezekiah's name given the symbiotic relationship of the prophet Isaiah and King Hezekiah described in the Bible.' If confirmed to be Isaiah's seal, it would be the first evidence of the prophet outside the Bible. The earthquake in ancient Jerusalem Books of Amos and Zechariah in the Old Testament describe an earthquake that rocked the city Jerusalem about 2,800 years ago - and archaeologists found evidence of the biblical event in 2021. Researchers uncovered evidence of damage to buildings and pottery that may have been a result of a massive eight-century BC quake. In the book of Amos, the passage reads: 'The words of Amos, a sheep breeder from Tekoa, who prophesied concerning Israel in the reigns of Kings Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 'And the Valley in the Hills shall be stopped up, for the Valley of the Hills shall reach only to Azal; it shall be stopped up as it was stopped up as a result of the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah,' reads another passage in Zechariah, recalling the event some 200 years later, to suggest how strong of a collective memory it left.' Evidence suggests that the wall was built by Uzziah - just as the Bible said Since the artifacts were discovered deep into excavation site, experts say residents had to have built on top of the ruins following the earthquake, which preserved traces the event occurred. In addition to the earthquake, researchers uncovered a stretch of wall that was built by Uzziah, grandfather of King Hezekiah - information written in scripture. Joe Uziel of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said: 'For decades, it was assumed that this wall was built by Hezekiah, King of Judah. 'But it is now becoming clear that it dates back to the days of King Uzziah, as hinted at in the Bible. 'Until now, many researchers assumed that the wall was built by Hezekiah during his rebellion against Sennacherib, King of Assyria, in order to defend Jerusalem during the Assyrian siege. 'It is now apparent that the wall in its eastern part, in the area of the City of David, was built earlier, shortly after the great earthquake of Jerusalem, and as part of the construction of the city.' Researchers used carbon-14 dating on artifacts including grape seeds, date pits and even bat skeletons. to confirm the age of the wall. All were cleaned, converted into graphite, then put into a particle accelerator at speeds of 1,865 miles per second to separate the carbon-14 from other organic material. Measuring the carbon then revealed the wall's true age. The eclipse that made the 'sun stand still' When Joshua, the leader of the Israelite tribes after the death of Moses, led his people to victory he witnessed that the 'sun stood still and the moon stopped' in the sky. In Joshua 10:18, 12-14 reads: 'Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered the Amorites before the children of Israel; and he said in the sight of Israel: 'Sun, stand still upon Gibeon.' Was the incident in the Book of Joshua an eclipse? Academics find hidden Bible chapter using ultraviolet light Advertisement Researchers believe that the sun 'standing still' was a real event, a solar eclipse three millennia ago - and have been able to precisely date it to October 30, 1207BC. Professor Sir Colin Humphreys, of Cambridge University's Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy said: 'If these words are describing a real observation, then a major astronomical event was taking place - the question for us to figure out is what the text actually means. 'Going back to the original Hebrew text, we determined that an alternative meaning could be that the sun and moon just stopped doing what they normally do - they stopped shining.' An Egyptian text, the Merneptah Stele, offers confirming evidence that the Israelites were in Canaan between 1500 and 1050 BC, the researchers said. The siege of Jerusalem The siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD was an event of the First Jewish-Roman War. The Romans invaded the city and destroyed much of it - and the battle is described in the second Book of Kings. In 2 Kings 25:2-4, it reads: 'So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 'On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Researchers found a unique mix of artefacts in 2019, which suggested the fiery siege of the city really happened, with Scythian-type bronze and iron arrowheads, pottery and lamps and burnt wood and ashes 'Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls.' Researchers found a unique mix of artifacts in 2019, which suggested the fiery siege of the city really happened, with Scythian-type bronze and iron arrowheads, pottery and lamps and burnt wood and ashes. Researchers believe this is evidence of the conquest of Jerusalem by Babylon in 587/586C. UNC Charlotte professor of history Shimon Gibson said: 'We know where the ancient fortification line ran, so we know we are within the city. 'For archaeologists, an ashen layer can mean a number of different things. However, in this case, the combination of an ashy layer full of artifacts, mixed with arrowheads, and a very special ornament indicates some kind of devastation and destruction. Nobody abandons golden jewelry and nobody has arrowheads in their domestic refuse.' King Solomon's mines Solomon is known for being the king of Israel and his significant wealth that was believed to have been stashed in underground mines. In 2 Chronicles 1:11, the scripture describes: 'But since you have asked for wisdom and knowledge to lead my people, over whom I have made you king, I will give you wisdom and knowledge. I will also give you more wealth, riches, and honor than any king who has lived before you or any who will live after you.' Solomon is known for being the king of Israel who built the first Temple in Jerusalem along with his significant wealth that was believed to have been stashed in underground mines, which were found in an area under the kings rule In 2017, archaeologists at the University of Tel Aviv uncovered 3,000-year-old organic matter in Timna Valley in Israel's Aravah Desert. Scholarly work and materials found in the area suggest the mines were operated by the Edomites, a semi-nomadic tribal confederation that according to the Bible warred constantly with Israel. 'The mines are definitely from the period of King Solomon,' said Dr. Ben-Yosef. 'They may help us understand the local society, which would have been invisible to us otherwise.' Ben-Yosef believes that copper mines in Timna may have been controlled by Biblical nomads in the Iron Age. Being stressed during the third trimester of pregnancy could lead to a lower IQ in male children, according to a new study. When women are pregnant their levels of cortisol a steroid hormone that is released in response to stress naturally rise. It is required for the healthy development of a baby and has a positive influence on the development of their brains. However, researchers have found that excessive levels of the hormone during the last three months of pregnancy may impede IQ scores in boys aged seven years old. To examine its effect on cognitive function in children as they grow up, researchers analysed data on the cortisol levels of 943 pregnant women during their third trimester and the IQ tests of their children at the age of seven. Experiencing high levels of stress during the third trimester of pregnancy may be associated with lower IQ in male babies according to a new study (file photo) They discovered pregnant women carrying a boy had lower cortisol levels circulating in the blood than those carrying a girl. However, boys exposed to higher cortisol levels in the womb scored lower on IQ tests at the age of seven. Girls, on the other hand, did not seem to be affected. The researchers, from Odense University in Denmark, said their findings suggest boys may be more vulnerable to prenatal exposure of cortisol compared to girls. A previous study, carried out by the same research team, found that children between the ages of one and three have more advanced speech and language skills when their mothers have high levels of cortisol during their third trimester. That study found that boys whose mothers were exposed to high levels of stress could say more words at ages 12-37 months, while girls were better at understanding more words at the age of 12-21 months. Researchers found that children whose mothers had experienced high levels of stress tended to display lower IQ by the age of seven (file photo Lead author Dr Anja Fenger Dreyer said: Although our previous study showed prenatal cortisol exposure was positively associated with language development, in this study prenatal cortisol exposure is negatively associated with IQ scores. This may mean that the high levels of prenatal exposure might have a temporary effect on a childs cognitive development. It should also be noted that the vocabulary in toddlers was reported by parents in our previous study, while child IQ in this study was assessed by trained psychologists. Separate research has also found that babies exposed to high levels of cortisol are more likely to develop behaviour problems and stress-related diseases later in life. Meanwhile, experts have previously suggested that women who are stressed at the time of conception are twice as likely to have a girl. The findings were presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Stockholm. Stargazers were treated to a stunning light display that illuminated the sky in southern Australia courtesy of a severe geomagnetic storm, with more set for tonight. Aurora Australis put on one of its best shows of the last decade on Friday night due to a number of huge solar fares and 'coronial mass ejections' emitted from the sun earlier in the week. The impressive Southern Lights, usually only seen in Tasmania, were visible in Victoria, SA and WA with the Bureau of Meteorology's Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre issuing a warning for G5 (extreme) geomagnetic storm conditions on Saturday. The phenomenon, caused by solar wind disrupting the Earth's ionosphere which agitates gas particles and produces light, is the southern hemisphere's counterpart to the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis. Red light is generally seen at higher altitudes, then green light and blue at the lower levels. The solar wind can also affect electrical and communications infrastructure such as power grids, satellite signals, GPS services and TV or radio broadcasts. Aurora Australis was seen as far north as SA (pictured), Victoria and northern WA on Friday The phenomenon is caused by solar wind agitating gas particles in the ionosphere which causes light The lights from Coodlie Park Eco Retreat on the Eyre Peninsula (picture: Krystina Rose) The bureau issued an updated alert on Saturday. 'Severe geomagnetic storm in progress. Aurora may be observed during night hours in good observing conditions as far as middle latitudes,' the bureau said. In a media release it said there was no danger to humans. 'The warning issued for this event informs government and critical infrastructure operators so they can take action to mitigate potential impacts on infrastructure assets and essential services,' the release said. 'The Bureau continues to monitor the situation and will provide updates of significant changes.' While a solar storm does have the potential to cause damage to our power and radio networks, there is no danger to humans. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) in the US through its Space Weather Prediction Center issued a global G4 Geometric Storm Watch for the first time since 2005. 'This is an unusual and potentially historic event,' said Clinton Wallace, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center director. There is the potential of seeing the Aurora Australis as far north as Sydney and Perth, mostly in dark sky environments away from cities. Incredibly, one photographer posted a picture of the phenomenon taken in Karratha in WA's Pilbara region, which is further north than Mackay in Queensland. Massive solar flares earlier in the week caused the geomagnetic storm The lights could be seen from all over Australia's south (picture: Linda N Irwin-Oak) The Bureau of Meteorology said electrical and communications infrastructure could be affected The sun is continuously erupting and hurling particles into space, but given that its 93million miles from Earth, it rarely reaches us, and if it does it only causes a minor G1 or G2 storm. If a geomagnetic storm reaches a level five, satellites could crash into other objects in space or the atmosphere and suffer physical damage from supercharged 'killer electrons' which would hurtle into important sections of hardware, rendering it useless. The last severe geomagnetic storm occurred in 2022, which destroyed up to 40 Starlink satellites worth more than $50million, sending them back toward Earth but fortunately they burned up in the atmosphere. People have reported Friday that their Starlink internet has gone down following the first blast from space hitting Earth around 1:45pm ET. It remains unlikely that wireless connectivity will be directly affected by the storm because these networks rely on different radio frequencies than GPS systems. Even if GPS features are affected, people will likely still be able to maintain a map showing their rough location. The electrical grid is more prepared than it was in similar past geomagnetic storms because they now have backup power generators and mobile cell towers that can be put into action if cell towers lose power. Flight patterns can also be affected during these storms because commercial airlines are warned to stay away from the Earth's poles as they risk losing communication and navigation systems. SHOPPING Contains affiliated content. Products featured in this Mail Best article are selected by our shopping writers. 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Head to the Lumene website now to shop and change the way you feel when you look at your face first thing in the morning. An Australian couple's dream wedding has been thrown into disarray after the collapse of two airlines within 10 days of each other. Shane Holford and fiancee Emma Chapman, from the Sunshine Coast, have spent months making arrangements to hold the ceremony in their favourite holiday spot, Vanuatu. But the sudden collapse of Air Vanuatu, which grounded planes and cancelled its flights from Sydney and Brisbane this week, along with the earlier collapse of regional Australian airline Bonza, has left many of their guests with worthless tickets. 'We've got 19 of our wedding guests that have been affected by this, so that's 19 people out of 41 attendees,' Ms Chapman told A Current Affair. Other flights for the non-major routes that both airlines flew were quick to book out, leaving the couple's best man and maid of honour with no way to attend their wedding and Shane and Emma about $7,000 out-of-pocket. The collapse of Air Vanuatu and Bonza has ruined Australian couple Shane Holford and Emma Chapman's dream Pacific wedding with 19 of their 41 guests holding worthless plane tickets Air Vanuatu operates four airplanes, including one Boeing 737 and three turboprop planes 'There's only so much planning you can do,' Mr Holford said. 'Who would have thought you'd have to factor this in, unfortunately.' The couple got engaged two years ago and their wedding is set for next weekend in Vanuatu. 'I'm honestly an emotional wreck. I haven't stopped crying. I'm so upset,' Ms Chapman added. 'We're trying anything we can and we're just so desperate. 'We hope that maybe Virgin or Qantas, or even Air Fiji - there are three reputable lines that fly those routes - that possibly could aid and assist.' Bonza went into administration earlier this month with the airline confirming last week its aircraft lessors, AIP Capital, were enforcing their rights and repossessing planes, intending to reposition them overseas. The company owes about $110milion in total including $4.6million to AIP Capital, $77million across two loans, almost $16million to trade creditors and another $10million to landlords. Other debts include more than $5million in staff wages and annual leave entitlements and $3 million to government authorities such as the Australian Taxation Office. The first plane to leave Bonza's fleet - a Boeing 737 Max 8 - flew out from Sunshine Coast Airport shortly after 9am on Thursday for Honolulu. Without planes, Bonza has cancelled all flights until May 15 and will not compensate any customer left out of pocket. On Thursday it emerged that Air Vanuatu had cancelled all international flights as its government owner reviewed its viability. Just hours later, the airline entered voluntary liquidation, stranding hundreds of passengers. The couple have been planning their wedding for two years only to have it thrown into disarray two weeks out by the collapse of two airlines Air Vanuatu is the Pacific Island's (pictured) only airline and is run by the government EY Australia's Morgan Kelly, Justin Walsh and Andrew Hanson were appointed as Air Vanuatu's liquidators on Friday. The Pacific nation's carrier cancelled more than 20 flights to and from Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland for the rest of the week on Wednesday. This was attributed to 'extended maintenance requirements' on their aircraft. EY said it would conduct safety and maintenance checks before the resumption of normal operations. Mr Kelly, partner in strategy and transactions, said the airline's existing management team would remain in place throughout the process. 'Air Vanuatu is critical to the people of the Republic of Vanuatu and a strategically important business to the nation,' he said. 'Our team is working closely with management to ensure continuity of service to customers and to ensure services continue as seamlessly as possible. 'The outlook for the airline is positive, despite pressures on the broader industry, and we will be focused on securing the future of this strategically vital national carrier.' Affected travellers would be informed of this disruption and re-booked on flights as soon as operations resumed. Meanwhile, administrators for beleaguered budget carrier Bonza insist there are still multiple parties interested in buying the cash-strapped airline. Richard Albarran, from administrators Hall Chadwick, said several parties had expressed interest in taking over the airline, adding details of any sale of the company would be set out over the weekend. The administrators previously revealed default notices on the leases were sent on April 17 almost two weeks before customers were left scrambling to secure alternative flights. Talks have been held with about 20 interested groups, including airlines and companies from the travel industry, a meeting late this week was told. Administrator Hall Chadwick revealed default notices were issued to the airline on April 17, almost two weeks before customers were left scrambling to secure alternative flights Further details were not provided on the grounds of commercial sensitivity, but Mr Albarran confirmed at least one of the interested parties had planes 'ready to deploy quickly'. Administrators have talked with state and federal governments about an assistance package, but none has been finalised. Administrator Kathleen Vouris said a detailed financial report would be prepared in about five weeks before creditors voted on ending the administration, a deed of company arrangement or liquidation. Multiple creditors asked if Bonza had been trading while insolvent, to which Mr Albarran replied the airline had been at least operating with 'clearly significant financial difficulties'. But he said it was too early for any formal breaches of director duties or a ruling of insolvent trading to be made. The meeting was told sourcing new planes could take about three months, although a short-term lease could be available more quickly. The more than 57,000 customers who had flights cancelled were encouraged to contact their financial institution or travel insurance providers, but they will not be provided a refund by Bonza. Wes Anderson's latest project is a three-minute commercial for Montblanc. Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images Houston-born director Wes Anderson is back in the news this month as he premiered his latest film project, "Montblanc: 100 Years of Meisterstuck," at the Paramour Estate in Los Angeles. The three-minute short, starring Jason Schwartzman, Rupert Friend and Anderson, was made to celebrate the 100th birthday of Montblanc's Meisterstuck pen. If you're an Anderson fan, don't worry. You don't have to travel to California and be invited to some swanky soiree to see the commercial. You can actually watch it from the comfort of your home on YouTube. But that's not all that the filmmaker is up to these days. Here are five things you probably didn't know. Advertisement Article continues below this ad 1. Anderson is releasing his own pen next year As part of his partnership with Montblanc, the German-based manufacturer of high-end writing utensils, the filmmaker is coming up with his own pen to be released next year, according to Vogue. That pen will be marketed under the name of Schreiberling," which is German for Scribbler." 2. Yeah, but when is his next real film coming out? Anderson's next film is called "The Phoenician Scheme" and is in production in Germany with stars Bill Murray, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed and Benicio del Toro. No release date as of yet. 3. Will the new movie be less Wes Anderson-y? Mum's the word on this one, though he did tell the French outlet Le Monde, My next feature film will be linear, with Benicio Del Toro in every shot. I cant tell you much more than that, except that it will be about espionage, a father-daughter relationship and, lets say, with a rather dark tone. Advertisement Article continues below this ad 4. So that's why he didn't show up to the Academy Awards to receive his first-ever Oscar. Longtime Anderson fans were puzzled that he didn't show up to pick up his golden statue for "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar," which won in the live-action short category and is his first Oscar win. But, as he told the Hollywood Reporter, shooting on "The Phoenician Scheme" was due to start in Germany the day after the Oscar ceremony. Also, according to the Hollywood Reporter, Anderson received $1.5 million euros in funding from Germany to help make "The Phoenician Scheme," so, yeah, he wasn't going to bail on that. 5. With Anderson involved in two projects with German connections, is he living in Germany now? Anderson lives in Paris and has been based there since 2005, after spending much of his adulthood in New York City after he left Houston. Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire is now a household name, flaunting two BAFTAs and an Olivier Award nomination. Yet, the TV alum comes from humble beginnings, as she shoot to stardom playing the young barmaid of the Rovers in the iconic soap Coronation Street - but do you remember her character? Sarah, 59, first joined the cobbles as Raquel Watts in January 1991 and stole many viewers' hearts with her unique role until her time on the soap didn't end in November 1996. But she delighted fans once again when she returned on January 2000 for one last appearance. Raquel was a long-serving barmaid at the renowned Rovers Return Inn, which is a particularly popular public house in Weatherfield. Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire is now a household name, flaunting two BAFTAs and an Olivier Award nomination Sarah, 59, first joined the cobbles as Raquel Watts in January 1991 and stole many viewers' hearts with her unique role until her time on the soap didn't end in November 1996 (pictured with Phil Middlemiss and Kevin Kennedy in 1995) Before joining the Rovers, she used to work in the supermarket Bettabuy where she met her first husband Curly Watts, played by Kevin Kennedy. And long before welcoming a daughter, Alice Watts (Annabelle Tarrant), their entangled relationship saw Raquel considering Curly only as a friend, while he loved her from afar. Under the wing of Bet Gilroy (Julie Goodyear), she then joined the Rovers where she spent the next four years pulling pints and from time to time, taking on some modelling assignments. Only when Raquel's on-off lover Des Barnes - played by Philip Middlemiss - continued to repeatedly cheat on her, that the barmaid finally saw Curly with the same eyes. Despite their mutual love, there was not enough stable foundations for a marriage - and ultimately in 1996 Raquel left him to go for an aromatherapy job in Kuala Lumpur. In a typical Coronation Street plot twist, Raquel only gave birth to Alice after splitting from the supermarket manager, and eventually moved to France as housekeeper of Armand de Beaux. She came back to the cobbles in 2000 after falling pregnant with Armand's baby, asking Curly to divorce officially so she could marry Armand. During her brief stay, Raquel also informed Curly of his daughter's existence - as he was completely unaware until that very moment. In 1996, her role as Raquel earned her a nomination for Most Popular Actress at the National Television Awards, although she lost out to Dervla Kirwan. Her beloved character was known for her naivety but also became a pillar of the soap. In fact, Raquel gets mentioned in an episode later on by Bet Lynch in 2002. Bet confessed to Vera Duckworth (Liz Dawn) that she still occasionally spoke with ex-barmaid, adding she was happy with her French husband and children at a Chateau. The actress built up a respectable career spanning about four decades in acting, now playing the much-loved police sergent Catherine Cawood in BBC drama Happy Valley. She joins a star-studded cast including Steve Pemberton (Benidorm), Siobhan Finneran (Downton Abby) and Game Of Thrones Karl Davies. Raquel was a long-serving barmaid at the renowned Rovers Return Inn, which is a particularly popular public house in Weatherfield (pictured in 2000) When working in the supermarket Bettabuy she met her first husband Curly Watts, played by Kevin Kennedy, and their entangled relationship saw Raquel considering Curly only as a friend, while he loved her from afar (pictured together in 1995) When Raquel's on-off lover Des Barnes (Philip Middlemiss) continued to repeatedly cheat on her, she finally saw Curly with the same eyes but there wasn't enough foundations for a marriage - and ultimately in 1996 Raquel left him to go for an aromatherapy job in Kuala Lumpur In a typical Coronation Street plot twist, Raquel only gave birth to Alice after splitting from the supermarket manager, and eventually moved to France as housekeeper of Armand de Beaux (pictured in 1999) The actress built up a respectable career spanning about four decades in acting, now playing the much-loved police sergent Catherine Cawood in BBC drama Happy Valley (pictured on the show last year) Speaking about the exciting role, Sarah said: Happy Valley is a dark, funny, multi-layered thriller revolving around the personal and professional life of Catherine, a dedicated, experienced, hard-working copper. She is also a bereaved mother who looks after her orphaned grandchild. Its an emotional, complex, challenging role. Im terrified, exhausted and freezing cold but I wouldnt want to be anywhere else. Former Bardot stars Katie Underwood and Belinda Chapple have addressed long-standing rumours about a potential band reunion, 22 years after the group split. The pair, who have formed a pop duo called Ka'Bel, told Daily Mail Australia they would be open to Bardot reuniting - however, founding member Sophie Monk would not be involved. 'If there's ever going to be a Bardot reunion it will be just four members of the band,' Katie said. 'We have reached out to Sophie Monk from time to time, but she's very happy and successful doing her own projects. We respect that.' Katie, 48, and Belinda, 49, shot to fame in 2000 as member of girl group Bardot, after winning Channel Seven's reality show Popstars, alongside Sophie Monk, Sally Polihronas and Tiffani Wood. Former Bardot stars Katie Underwood (right) and Belinda Chapple (left) and have addressed long-standing rumours about a potential band reunion, 22 years after the group split The band performed from 1999 - 2002, when they split up as Sophie Monk pursued a solo career and later became a TV presenter. The pair added their connection was so strong they decided that even if their other former band members were unavailable, they could still perform as a duo. 'We got together around Covid, all of Bardot reconnected. We chatted about having a 20 year reunion but that was never going to happen,' Belinda said. Katie, 48, and Belinda, 49, shot to fame in 2000 after winning reality show Popstars, alongside Sophie Monk (centre), Sally Polihronas and Tiffani Wood. The pair said while they would be up for a band reunion, it would be without Sophie as she was busy with her own projects 'But six to 12 months later, Katie and I caught up and we asked if it would be weird if just the two of us did something. I said it wouldn't be, I'm up for anything!' 'It's a passion project for both of us, so here we are! Releasing pop tunes for people who want to listen to fun pop!' The duo have a new single out now called One in a Million, which is a fun and upbeat dance song which acts as a throwback to their start in the industry. 'If there's ever going to be a Bardot reunion it will be just four members of the band,' Katie said. 'We have reached out to Sophie Monk from time to time, but she's very happy and successful during her own projects. We respect that' In August, Belinda broke her silence on the implosion of girl pop group Bardot which saw Monk pursue a successful solo career. In her new memoir The Girl in the Band, the former pop star said the band parted ways after Sophie left to pursue a solo career. Bardot was the biggest girl band in Australia after forming on Popstars back in 1999, and despite having success with hit singles such as Poison, the group fell apart after just a few years and disbanded in early 2002 The duo have a new single out now called One in a Million, which is a fun and upbeat dance song which acts as a throwback to their start in the industry Belinda said her 'heart was broken entirely' after her bandmates Wood, Polihronas, Underwood and Monk went their separate ways. Bardot was the biggest girl band in Australia after forming on Popstars back in 1999, and despite having success with hit singles such as Poison, the group fell apart after just a few years and disbanded in early 2002. Last week Gavin And Stacey fans were left overjoyed as James Corden and Ruth Jones confirmed the sitcom will be returning for a final episode, five years on from that dramatic cliffhanger on Christmas day 2019. The show creators shocked viewers as they revealed they have written the final ever episode and took to Instagram to share a black and white photo of themselves holding up the script confirming the cast will be reuniting. At the height of the show's success, James (Smithy) and Mathew Horne (Gavin) were inseparable as they struck up a strong friendship on the show and continued to work together afterwards, even hosting the Brits in 2009. However, working as a duo didn't take off in the way that they hoped. And after a string of failed projects James headed off to America and the pair drifted apart amid rumours of a feud. Here MailOnline look back at the pair's relationship and explore what really happened in their friendship and how they healed the rift to reunite for the show. Gavin And Stacey's James Corden and Mathew Horne went from best friends to hardly ever speaking amid feud - but what REALLY happened between the pair and have they healed their rift ahead of the reunion? (pictured in 2007) At the height of the show's success, James (Smithy) and Mathew (Gavin) were inseparable as they struck up a strong friendship on the show (pictured during filming for the Gavin And Stacey Christmas episode in 2008) After the success of Gavin And Stacey the 'Gavalar' and 'Smithster' went on to work together as comedy partners on projects including the critically-panned movie Lesbian Vampire Killers. Hoping to make it as a TV duo they also hosted comedy show Horne and Corden in 2009, yet this also received woeful reviews from critics. The Guardian described the show as 'crude, crass and unfunny' and even James himself admitted that their film was 'atrocious'. Speaking to The Mail On Sunday back in 2015, he admitted: 'I don't disagree with a lot of what people said at the time. 'You know when you've done something well or badly, deep down. That show wasn't good enough, simple as that. The film we did at the same time, Lesbian Vampire Killers, is atrocious. 'Then we hosted the Brits together and we were so poor I can't even watch it.' As their career together failed to take off, the pair stopped working together and began to drift apart with rumours of a feud circling them both. While James found success on the West End stage in One Man, Two Guvnors, and then headed over to America to begin hosting the Late Late Show in 2015, Mat remained in the UK working on TV projects. After the success of Gavin And Stacey the 'Gavalar' and 'Smithster' went on to work together as comedy partners on projects including the critically-panned movie Lesbian Vampire Killers (pictured 2009) They presented the Brits alongside Kylie Minogue in 2009, which even James himself has described as 'so poor I can't even watch it' Speaking to The Mail On Sunday back in 2015, James admitted: ' I don't disagree with a lot of what people said at the time. You know when you've done something well or badly, deep down. That show wasn't good enough, simple as that. The film we did at the same time, Lesbian Vampire Killers, is atrocious' (pictured 2009) Speculation on the pair's friendship continued to grow as many fans feared they had fallen out. During an appearance on Piers Morgan's Life Stories in 2011, James discussed their relationship as he admitted they had drifted but there was never a pivotal fall out. As James was asked whether he kept up with Mat, he replied: 'Err, we talk occasionally, yeah.' Piers then revealed that Mat was asked to take part in the programme but chose not to. Faltering, James continued: 'I didn't know that, but I can understand.' Expressing regret for how quickly they got caught up in everything post Gavin And Stacey, he confirmed 'We never fell out, it was never that. We were one person for a long time. If I have one regret, it was we just rushed those things. 'We did our own sketch show but the reaction was fierce. It was hard to go through that. We were riding this amazing wave and then it just dropped. In one year we spent 263 days together and we went from that to nothing.' Riding the LA wave, James hosted the Late Late Show until 2023, as he made a name for himself across the pond with his iconic Carpool Karaoke's and Spill Your Guts challenge. James and Mat reunited for the Gavin And Stacey Christmas special back in 2019 and Mat squashed any rumours of a feud. While James found success on the West End stage in One Man, Two Guvnors, and then headed over to America to begin hosting the Late Late Show in 2015 (pictured hosting in 2023), Mat remained in the UK working on TV projects James shut down rumours of a fall out during an appearance on Piers Morgan's Life Stories in 2011 as he said: 'We never fell out, it was never that. We were one person for a long time. If I have one regret, it was we just rushed those things' (pictured 2009) James and Mat reunited for the Gavin And Stacey Christmas special back in 2019 and Mat squashed any rumours of a feud When asked about the 'feud' by MailOnline at the launch episode, Mat insisted the claims were entirely were fabricated - with no animosity in place When asked about the 'feud' by MailOnline at the launch episode, Mat insisted the claims were entirely were fabricated - with no animosity in place. As MailOnline asked the actor: 'After rumours of a feud, did you feel the need to address the claims when you reunited earlier this year', Mathew simply insisted the claims were made up, as he joined the whole cast except James at the press conference. After both insisting there was never a feud between the pair, they are reuniting once again for the final ever episode of the sitcom set to air this Christmas. Last year, Mathew shut down speculation of a Gavin & Stacey reunion, admitting that it would be hard to get some 'successful people' on board. The actor claimed that fans desiring the comedy's return 'is not enough of a reason', adding that the writers 'want to make sure that they have a story' first. Shocking fans with the news last week, James and Ruth wrote: 'Some news... It's official! We have finished writing the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey. See you on Christmas Day, BBC One. Love Ruth and James!' Sharing his excitement after keeping it under wraps, Mat seemed excited for the reunion as he reshared the snap of Ruth and James holding up the new script, he wrote: 'Happy Christmas'. Meanwhile Joanna Page, who plays Stacey, reshared James and Ruth's photo to her Instagram and wrote: 'Oh my God it's happening! So excited! Last ever Gavin And Stacey! Christmas Day @bbcone Can't wait to start filming!' James and Ruth Jones revealed they have written the last ever episode of Gavin And Stacey, set to air on Christmas Day The pair wrote: 'Some news... It's official! We have finished writing the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey' Joanna also shared a statement with ITV's Loose Women that read: 'I'm very excited for the return of the Gavin and Stacey and can't wait to come back on and tell you all about it'. The actress also revealed she 'can't wait to find out what happens' next on the BBC show as she doesn't know what happens after the 2019 Christmas cliffhanger when Nessa proposed to Smithy. Speaking on Off The Telly on BBC Sounds podcast, Joanna said: 'Im so excited to see the gang again and start filming, and I cant wait to find out if Smithy has said yes. I cant wait to find out whats happening to everybody! 'Im going to have to keep that script away from your [Natalies] little paws but yeah we are going to be able to review it on our show at Christmas and I will be very cross if you arent sitting down on Christmas Day watching me!' Fans expressed their joy at the news under James and Ruth's post. Among those sharing their delight was Rio Ferdinand who wrote: 'I'm clearing the diary.' Other celebrities including Gordon Ramsay, John Bishop, Ferne Cotton and Amanda Holden all shared their delight. Others wrote: 'This has made my whole year'... 'Yes roll on Christmas, been waiting a very long time for this'... 'Stepping into Christmas 2024! Yay!' One fan demanded the final episode be 'five hours long' to make up for the length of time it's been since the last special. Several fans said they finally wanted to know what happened on character Bryn's notorious fishing trip with his nephew Jason which they both refuse to speak about, a long-running joke on the series. Sienna Miller soared to fame in the early Noughties - with her burgeoning acting career and romance with Jude Law hitting headlines. However it was not just work and love life that captured column inches 20 years ago, as the blonde beauty's fashion sense propelled her to style icon status at speed prior to her throwback-worthy appearance at Monday night's Met Gala. The Layer Cake star, 42, became the pin-up girl for the beloved boho look of the time, with her love of ripped denim, beachy hair, cowboy boots, embellished belts and UGGs making her the prime candidate for a fashion maven. Throughout her time in the spotlight, her looks evolved - although the boho look was never far behind - with her turn as Andy Warhol's muse Edie Sedgwick in 2006's Factory Girl seeing her court in a Sixties theme to her dressing. As well as her boho style and her nods to Warhol's era, Sienna - who is mother to Marlowe, 12, with actor Tom Sturridge, and a daughter, five months, with Oli Green, has also made an impact with her incredible maternity style over the past decade. So what are Sienna's most important style moments? On Monday night, Sienna Miller wowed at the Met Gala in a boho-inspired Chloe gown, which brought back memories of her fashion heyday as the queen of boho 20 years previously (left, on Monday, right, June 2004) Throughout her time in the spotlight, her looks evolved - although the boho look was never far behind - with her turn as Andy Warhol's muse Edie Sedgwick in 2006's Factory Girl (piuctured) seeing her court in a Sixties theme to her dressing As well as her boho style and her nods to Warhol's era, Sienna - who is mother to Marlowe, 12, with actor Tom Sturridge , and a daughter, five months, with Oli Green, has also made an impact with her incredible maternity style over the past decade (pictured in October 2023) Prior to Monday's Met, Sienna looked sensational as she stepped out with her boyfriend in a pair of tights seemingly borrowed from her Factory Girl days THE ORIGINAL BOHO BABE Many staples of the boho babe wardrobe of the early Noughties were spawned from Sienna's personal style and close relationships with designers. She joined a host of other stars of the era, who were seldom seen without their Balenciaga City bag - with a slouchy shape and slew of attachments making for the perfect accompaniment to a boho babe style. Additionally, the stunner joined the likes of Kate Moss in overseeing the rise of boho boots, making Uggs an essential as opposed to a slipper, studded ankle boots a wardrobe essential, cowboy boots the ultimate look and slouch boots a pinnacle. Belts were also a key look of the time, with an array of studded gladiator-style belts draped over loose-fitted looks with sky-high hemlines. At Monday night's Met, Sienna evoked nostalgia with her boho lace dress as she appeared alongside a slew of other stars in Chloe ensembles. Many staples of the boho babe wardrobe of the early Noughties were spawned from Sienna's personal style and close relationships with designers (Pictured in October 2003 and June 2004) Her on-off romance with Jude Law made her a tabloid target, however it was her style that really nabbed column inches; Pictured with Jude in 2004 Sienna's wardrobe was awash with neutral shades, low-slung denim and the UGGs she put in style; Pictured in 2004 Her looks were experimental paired with raunchy; Pictured in 2004 Her make-up evolved with her look - ranging from fresh-faced glam to a smouldering smokey eye In light of Chloe's new boho revival, Sienna spoke to Vogue about her own style coming back in to prominence 20 years after she first wore the styles. She said: 'The first feeling [I have] is, has it really been that long? Am I that old? I'm in denial. Things that I feel like I wore yesterday are suddenly vintage... 'It makes me laugh. But there's a Gen-Z spin on it now where, things that were trashy at the time are now chic.' She admitted the inspiration she has provided for others has inspired her to dip back into her aesthetic, saying: 'I'm like, 'Can I wear cowboy boots and a miniskirt again?'... 'I don't know if I can get away with it. But I'm enjoying watching from the sidelines, and cheering them on in my old age.' Speaking again about her iconic style, she said in 2019: 'I mean, if I look back on the early '00s which is when it happened, I don't know that I'd put all of my clothes together in that way now, like I did then... 'It was a real moment in time and kind of amazing for people to respond in the way that they did, out of nowhere. I have always been drawn to that aesthetic... 'I look back and laugh at a lot of it now ... it doesn't bother me. It was a moment in time but I've evolved, is what I would say.' In light of Chloe's new boho revival, Sienna spoke to Vogue about her own style coming back in to prominence 20 years after she first wore the styles; Pictured in 2005 While stepping out with Jude, she would often wear a slew of boho-inspired evening gowns Sienna perfectly transcended day to night with her trademark look; pictured in September 2004 SIXTIES SIENNA When Sienna starred as Edie in 2006's Factory Girl, she transformed her image with a new choppy hairdo, floaty minis, opaque tights and Breton striped tops. Her haircut was the biggest transformation as Sienna bid farewell to her beachy blonde locks and debuted a pixie chop in a nod to Edie's style. In the midst of the regrowth, she tied her hair into her ensembles, with shift dresses becoming a pinnacle alongside thick hoisery and staggering heels. Her make-up look evolved with her style, as she began wearing lashings of mascara and eyeliner to stand out against her blonde tresses. At the New York premiere for the movie in January 2007, she looked breathtaking in a white fringed mini dress with dramatic make-up. Her haircut was the biggest transformation as Sienna bid farewell to her beachy blonde locks and debuted a pixie chop in a nod to Edie's style; Pictured in 2005 When Sienna starred as Edie in 2006's Factory Girl, she transformed her image with a new choppy hairdo, floaty minis, opaque tights and Breton striped tops; Pictured in June 2007 and October 2007 At the New York premiere for the movie in January 2007, she looked breathtaking in a white fringed mini dress with dramatic make-up; Pictured in January 2007 Her Factory Girl looks were heavy on monochrome; Pictured in January 2007 MATERNITY MAVEN In both her pregnancies, Sienna has made maternity fashion her own in sizzling looks - with her bare bump taking front and centre in key style moments. While attending Vogue World: London 2023 at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in September last year, she unveiled her second baby bump. Back in 2012, while she was expecting Marlowe, Sienna's boho style was very much at the centre of her maternity dressing, with floaty dresses. In her new interview with Vogue, she discussed the perks of breastfeeding for her figure and how her new boobs tie in with her look. She said: 'I'm really loving the freedom of everything sheer, and that women are celebrating bodies in a way that was never really accepted before... 'I love that women are empowered to wear what they want and people don't get to criticise them for it. At the moment, I've got enormous boobs because I'm breastfeeding. So maybe I'll get my mum boobs out in a sheer top... 'We're setting the nipple free!' In both her pregnancies, Sienna has made maternity fashion her own in sizzling looks - with her bare bump taking front and centre in key style moments She looked elegant in her pregnancies Back in 2012, while she was expecting Marlowe, Sienna's boho style was very much at the centre of her maternity dressing, with floaty dresses and beachy hair (pictured in May 2012) Meghan Markle's mentor Bonnie Hammer has dished out details about what the Suits star was really like behind the scenes of her hit show. Speaking to DailyMail.com about her bestselling book, 15 Lies Women Are Told At Work: And the Truth We Need To Succeed, the 74-year-old NBCUniversal Vice Chairman revealed that then 'junior' cast member Meghan worked her 'butt off' during the legal drama's rehearsals and always asked for help. The actress, who is now married to Prince Harry and known as the Duchess of Sussex, starred in the USA Network series from 2011 to 2018. While sharing the uncomfortable truths that women working a nine-to-five lifestyle need to hear to succeed, Bonnie, who is known as the 'Queen of Cable,' also lifted the lid on the secrets she gave to her mentee, which helped make the Duchess, 42, the star she is today. Meghan Markle's mentor Bonnie Hammer has dished out details about what the Suits star was really like behind the scenes of her hit show (seen with Meghan in 2015) In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Bonnie revealed that then 'junior' cast member Meghan worked her 'butt off' during rehearsals and always asked for help After seeing Meghan's 'incredible' worth ethic while she worked tirelessly to become the face of the legal drama, Bonnie took her under her wing. She recalled the Suits star being constantly willing to learn and always wanting more. The 74-year-old NBCUniversal Vice Chairman is author of the bestselling book, 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work: And The Truth We Need To Succeed 'Megan was incredible. When she worked on Suits and worked on Our Family she absorbed help, she was willing to ask questions,' the mentor raved to DailyMail.com. 'She was amazing on staff, but she wasn't afraid to raise her hand and say, "Can you explain? Can you help me with something if I want to be more than just a young star?"' And although Bonnie admitted that Meghan was a 'junior' person, she was 'amazing.' 'It wasn't quite an ensemble cast. She was one of the more junior people on the show, and she grew into part of the ensemble because she worked her butt off. She tried hard, asked questions, and had a can-do attitude,' the business mogul told DailyMail.com. 'She was very strong, and she was amazing on the show, and again did she absorb what I said. I think she absorbed what anyone and everyone told her that she believed would help her performance or help her do well in that situation. So I give her a lot of credit for that.' In addition to Suits, Meghan also had a brief stint in Deal Or No Deal and 90210. In 2014, she also started her own blog known as The Tig, in which she shared various aspects of her life that inspired her. After seeing Meghan's 'incredible' work ethic while she worked tirelessly to become the face of the legal drama, Bonnie took her under her wing (Suits cast seen) She recalled the Suits star being constantly willing to learn and always wanting more (Bonnie seen alongside Meghan and other women in the hit show in 2014) She then went on to tie the knot with the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, in 2018. Following her marriage, Meghan soon found herself in murky waters as tensions with the Royals arose. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex laid bare explosive allegations against the Royal Family in their $100 million docuseries Harry & Meghan with streaming giant Netflix in December of 2022. Meghan & Harry, directed by Liz Garbus, was the first project to emerge from the multi-year deal the couple signed with the streaming giant back in 2020, shortly after they announced they were stepping down as working members of the Royal Family. Meghan and Harry used their $100 million deal with the streaming giant to take swipes at the Royal Family and Britain in shows being described as transatlantic 'TV bombs' hurled at The Firm. The privacy-conscious couple handed over a trove of pictures and video from their relationship including the moment Harry proposed in 2017 and filming himself in the VIP lounge at Heathrow as he emigrated in March 2020. Although Bonnie admitted that Meghan was a 'junior' person, she was 'amazing' (L-R: Daniel Bryan, Brie Bella, Meghan, Bonnie Hammer, Big Show and Mark Feuerstein in 2015) In addition to Suits, Meghan also had a brief stint in Deal or No Deal and 90210 before tying the knot to Prince Harry (seen in 2023) However, it seems that Meghan followed Bonnie's mentor advice and made it out on the other side as she is now prepping to launch a new cooking and lifestyle business, American Riviera Orchard (Meghan and Bonnie seen in 2015 alongside Gina Torres and Sarah Rafferty) The first three episodes contained a series of barbs that are believed to have upset his father King Charles III, including Harry's claim that he was 'literally brought up' by a 'second family' in Africa where he chose to spend three-month stints in his late teens and 20s as he came to terms with his mother's death. However, it seems that Meghan followed Bonnie's mentor advice and made it out on the other side as she is now prepping to launch a new cooking and lifestyle business, American Riviera Orchard. Bonnie also became a mentor to Today Show co-host, Hoda Kotb. She branded Hoda 'one of the most genuine, authentic, hardworking, open, and honest humans I have dealt with in this business.' Both Meghan and Hoda broke out of male-dominated fields and set themselves apart from the men in suits to become role models of the corporate world. The TV executive explained that in the first seven seconds of meeting someone, they had already made up their mind about what they thought about you. Bonnie also became a mentor to Today Show co-host, Hoda Kotb. She branded Hoda 'one of the most genuine, authentic, hardworking, open, and honest humans I have dealt with in this business' Bonnie's book 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work: And the Truth We Need To Succeed is now available for purchase (cable tycoon seen in 2006) And while Bonnie made sure to emphasize that it wasn't about beauty or style, she did note that you should make an effort to look 'put together.' At the end of her book, Bonnie suggests that both women and men begin embracing change. Her biggest piece of advice for those who feel uncomfortable with changing circumstances is to embrace it and accept that it's happening. 'You can't stop it. It's going to happen whether you wanted to or not. So wasting time worrying about it, trying to stop it, pretending it doesn't exist. It's just a waste, because it's going to be there. So the best advice is to figure out a way to embrace it,' she added. Bonnie's book 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work: And The Truth We Need to Succeed is now available for purchase. Prince Harry wrote extensively about his past use of illegal drugs in his tawdry memoirs, Spare. I hear, however, that his favourite chain of private members' clubs is cracking down on drug use by its fashionable members. Soho House, where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex enjoyed their first date, sent members an email this week, warning them of its 'strict no-drugs policy'. So severe is the crackdown that the club has threatened to expel members found to have shared a lavatory cubicle, on the grounds that they might have been taking drugs together. A branch of Soho House on Dean Street (pictured), where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex enjoyed their first date, sent members an email this week, warning them of its 'strict no-drugs policy' 'With an exciting summer across our UK Houses ahead, we wanted to take this opportunity to remind all of our members both old and new some of the important things about using your Soho House membership,' its director, Velma Simmons, wrote. 'We have a strict no-drugs policy across all of our Houses. Any member who's found or believed to be buying, selling, using or possessing illegal drugs while in any of our spaces will have their membership terminated with immediate effect. This also applies to anyone found in a toilet cubicle with another person. 'Any members or guests who breach our House rules risk the member having their membership suspended or revoked.' The Duke and Duchess of Sussex enjoyed their first date in Soho House in London Jude Law and Sadie Frost's daughter, Iris, then aged two, was rushed to hospital in 2002 after she swallowed an ecstasy tablet that she found on the floor of Soho House at a children's birthday party. Founded in 1995 by Nick Jones, husband of television star Kirsty Young, Soho House has grown into a chain of 42 clubs around the world. Its members include Hollywood stars. Full membership with access to every venue costs just shy of 3,000 a year. Membership of one club starts at 850 a year, but is well above 1,000 for many venues. The Duke of Sussex met Meghan for the first time in person at 76 Dean Street, its Soho branch set in one of Westminster's oldest townhouses. They later stayed at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire. In his autobiography, Spare, Harry admits that he took cocaine as a teenager, blaming it on an adolescent rebellion. He claimed that he was offered the Class A drug during a hunting weekend when he was 17, and on a few other occasions. He confesses that he had lied about his cocaine use when confronted about it at the time of the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002. King Charles's younger son also recounted smoking cannabis at Eton College, and said he had continued to use the drug at Nottingham Cottage, the home he moved into with Meghan in the grounds of Kensington Palace. Top model and actress Cara Delevingne is said to have amassed a fortune of more than 100million. Her sister, Poppy, is, however, now going out with the scion of a multi-billion-pound empire. I can disclose that actress and model Poppy, 38, is enjoying a passionate romance with Archie Keswick, 42, an ex-boyfriend of Hollywood star Sienna Miller. Archie, who has been described as 'the most eligible bachelor you've never heard of', is a member of the Jardine Matheson dynasty which owns the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. His family fortune is reputed to be more than 6billion. Actress and model Poppy (pictured), 38, is enjoying a passionate romance with Archie Keswick, 42, an ex-boyfriend of Hollywood star Sienna Miller Archie Keswick and Sienna Miller attend the Polo Ralph Lauren and British Vogue day during Wimbeldon 2021 One of Poppy Delevigne's pals has disclosed that her new relationship with Archie is 'serious' 'It's a serious relationship,' one of her pals tells me. Poppy split up with her 'toyboy', Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece and Denmark, 25, last December. The Greek royal, affectionately known as Tino, is Prince William's godson. Poppy separated from her husband, James Cook, 41, who works for his family's aerospace company, in 2022 after eight years of marriage. Eton-educated Keswick has two daughters with his ex-wife, Alice, an interior designer and former model. At the end of April, Poppy and Sienna both attended the 25th birthday party of their aristocrat pal Lady Lola Bute The daughter of the late John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute and fashion designer Serena Bute, hosted guests at her family seat Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute in the Scottish Highlands. Once there, well-heeled guests had a weekend-long celebration, dancing in the 19th Century Gothic revival dining hall, and sleeping in grand bedrooms that look straight out of a fantasy novel. Australian billionaire Robert Whyte celebrated his 80th birthday on Friday following news of his reported engagement to fashion marketer Alessandra Eddy. The businessman, who is the country's 141st richest man, enjoyed lunch at the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club in Sydney with his billionaire friends. 'Hungry' Jack Cowin, Airlie Funds Management co-founder John Sevior, and Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond attended the lunch, The Daily Telegraph reported. They were also joined by former NRMA director Nick Whitlam, publican John Ryan, and Roxy Jacenko's husband Oliver Curtis. Other guests included Gerry Harvey, Neville Crichton and eastern suburbs property agent Bill Malouf. Australian billionaire Robert Whyte has celebrated his 80th birthday on Friday following news of his reported engagement to fashion marketer Alessandra Eddy The celebration comes after it was revealed the reported engagement of Whyte to his much younger girlfriend has ruffled feathers among family members. He proposed to fashion marketer Alessandra, 38, days before they attended the annual Gold Dinner, the most exclusive charity gala in Australia, reported The Sunday Telegraph. However, sources close to the businessman have since told Daily Mail Australia that while the couple are head over heels in love, he has not proposed to her. 'Robert has a history of giving significant rings to women,' dished one source. The businessman, who is the country's 141st richest man, enjoyed lunch at Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club in Sydney with his billionaire friends The publication claimed that their 'news' was a closely guarded secret by the couple, who share a 43-year age gap, during the celebrity-packed event. Eddy, a prominent figure in Sydney's social scene and single mother, is known for her role on the committee of the Gold Dinner. During the soiree, she was seen mingling with high-profile guests but reportedly chose to conceal her new engagement ring. According to the rumours, Eddy's father has taken issue with his daughter's betrothal to a man more than four decades her senior. The celebration comes after it was revealed the reported engagement of Whyte to his much younger girlfriend has ruffled feathers among family members Nicholas Eddy, a well-known Paddington lawyer, is said to be less than thrilled about his daughter's rapid ascension into the billionaire's life, after she apparently moved into Whyte's sprawling $30million mansion in Darling Point. Eddy founded Australian fashion brand Luna Atelier, which was known and loved by A-listers including Kelly Rowland, Cheyenne Tozzi and Kate Ritchie. Father of three Whyte was a private investor and banker who built his fortune on property and equity market investments and was a close friend of the late billionaire Kerry Packer. The 2020 AFR Rich List ranked him 141st in Australia. Miranda Cosgrove has reflected on her own stalking experience after the success of Netflix's Baby Reindeer eight years after her stalker set himself on fire and fatally shot himself in her yard. The 30-year-old former child actor - who attended the star-studded Mother Of The Bride screening earlier this week - talked candidly about the ordeal at her home in Los Angeles and even revealed how it affects her to this day. The Netflix series is centered around Richard Gadd's real-life story about a stalker named Martha who he met while bartending in 2013 and has become one of the streamer's biggest hits of the year. Cosgrove told Bustle on Friday: 'That's another reason why I go back and forth to my parents' house so much. Miranda Cosgrove has reflected on her own stalking experience after the success of Netflix's Baby Reindeer eight years after her stalker set himself on fire and fatally shot himself in her yard The Netflix series is centered around Richard Gadd's real-life story about a stalker named Martha who he met while bartending in 2013 and has become one of the streamer's biggest hits of the year 'I just don't feel super safe in that house. For two years after it happened, I wouldn't really stay there. 'Then I got into a relationship and because that person was there with me, I was less scared. But I don't really like being there on my own that much.' Cosgrove became a household name as the titular character in Nickelodeon series iCarly which aired over six seasons beginning in 2007. Back in December 2016, there was a man found dead in the yard of her Hollywood Hills home as law enforcement found him shot dead and engulfed in flames. Like much of the world, Cosgrove streamed Baby Reindeer and admitted to the publication that it made her reflect on her own situation as she revealed her admiration for Gadd being able to recreate his tough story for the cameras. Cosgrove explained: 'I didn't think about it very much. 'I feel like if that were me having to go back through your most terrible experiences and then try to act them [out], that'd be so hard.' Over the past month Netflix viewers went into meltdown after discovering a new thriller based on a true and terrifying stalking tale. Back in December 2016, there was a man found dead in the yard of her Hollywood Hills home as law enforcement found him shot dead and engulfed in flames; she is pictured in January 2016 Cosgrove (seen on Wednesday) told Bustle: 'That's another reason why I go back and forth to my parents' house so much. I just don't feel super safe in that house. For two years after it happened, I wouldn't really stay there. 'Then I got into a relationship and because that person was there with me, I was less scared. But I don't really like being there on my own that much' Cosgrove became a household name as the titular character in Nickelodeon series iCarly which aired over six seasons beginning in 2007; she is pictured with Jennette McCurdy Scottish comedian Richard Gadd retells the traumatic experience of being stalked for years in the tense mini-series - Baby Reindeer. After offering a woman a free cup of tea at the pub where he pulled pints, Gadd was flooded with 40,000 emails, 740 tweets and a staggering 350 worth of voicemails as well as hundreds of letters, in a harassment case that spanned over five years. Despite telling police, there was unfortunately not much they could do because the unwelcome communication was not 'obviously' threatening. Using his trauma, Gadd created a play called Baby Reindeer - a nickname his stalker had given him which has now been transformed into the haunting Netflix series. Reframing his own dreadful experience, the hair-raising show centres around the life of comedian hopeful Donny (Richard Gadd) who is being harassed by Martha (Jessica Gunning). Mirroring Gadd's tale, Martha becomes obsessed with the actor-writer after he gives her a free cup of tea in the boozer. Initially Donny appreciated the attention from Martha - and even sometimes flirted back. However as the stalker begins to cross boundaries as we see their friendly encounter turn into a terrifying tale, unearthing Donny's past trauma of sexual abuse. Scottish comedian Richard Gadd has transformed his own terrifying stalking experience into a new haunting mini series on Netflix called Baby Reindeer (Richard Gadd as Donny, pictured) Martha, who is based on Gadd's stalker, becomes enthralled with actor-writer Donny after he offers her a free cup of tea at the pub where he works (Jessica Gunning as Martha, pictured) 'Stalking on television tends to be very sexed-up,' Gadd told Netflix. 'It has a mystique. It's somebody in a dark alley way. It's somebody who's really sexy, who's very normal, but then they go strange bit by bit. 'But stalking is a mental illness. I really wanted to show the layers of stalking with a human quality I hadn't seen on television before.' Although their encounter initially begins as a friendly chat, Martha crosses several boundaries unearthing Donny's past trauma The title of the haunting mini-series based on Gadd's true story comes from the nickname his own stalker gave the actor The real-life Martha is now required by law not to approach Gadd or any of his friends or family. Netflix fans have been blown away by how the Scottish comedian has managed to retell his trauma in the harrowing story, with several labelling it a 'masterpiece'. Baby Reindeer is a smash-hit for the streaming giant as it has topped the Netflix most-watched charts for about a month. Sydney socialite Lisa Pongrass has reportedly welcomed her first child with Hollywood movie producer John Jacobs. The luxury fashion entrepreneur, 54, married the Family Guy producer in December and they recently welcomed their first son via surrogate, reports The Daily Telegraph. The couple, who are currently living in New York City, have not revealed the newborn's name. Pongrass founded the luxury handbag label Canvas and Hyde in 2016 and she is already mother to 23-year-old daughter Amber, whom she shares with her ex-husband, Sydney property developer Steven Pongrass. Meanwhile, Jacobs has frequently worked with American comedian Seth MacFarlane on a variety of projects, including Ted, Family Guy and American Dad. Sydney socialite Lisa Pongrass has reportedly welcomed her first child with Hollywood movie producer John Jacobs at the age of 54. Both pictured In December, he shared a loved-up gallery of photos to social media confirming their engagement and later marriage. He captioned them with some heartfelt words: 'So happy to be engaged to the most wonderful woman in the world... She's my world.' It comes after Australian actress Melissa George welcomed her son on March 20 at the age of 47. In April, Melissa shared a first look at her newborn son after giving birth to her third child . Melissa shared the news of the birth in March by posting a black and white photo of her son's feet. The luxury fashion entrepreneur married the Family Guy producer in December and they recently welcomed their first son via surrogate, reports The Daily Telegraph 'Welcome to the world my little man,' began the 30 Days of Night actress' caption. 'Love knows no end. A mother of 3 sons. Cannot believe it. My heart is so full.' The baby's name is not yet known, nor is the identity of the father. Melissa shares her sons, Raphael, nine, and Solal, seven, with her ex-partner Jean-David Blanc, a French entrepreneur. She was previously married to Chilean furniture designer and film director Claudio Dabed from 2000 to 2011. Protesters gather and march before the start of the HISD State of the District address at Marriot Marquis Houston on Thursday, March 21, 2024, in Houston. Karen Warren/Staff photographer Houston ISD alerted dozens of teachers and principals of both performance-based job cuts and budget-forced reductions this week, prompting parents across the state's largest school system to plan another round of protests as the tumultuous school year under state takeover nears an end. Among the dozens of teachers and principals asked to leave: both the HISD Elementary and Middle School Principals of the Year in HISD in 2023. Neff Elementary Principal Amanda Wingard confirmed in a Facebook post Thursday that the school district asked her to resign. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "I have loved Neff and the Sharpstown community for the last 35 years," wrote Wingard, who was honored at a banquet a year ago for her leadership. Alongside her is 2022-23 Middle School Principal of the Year, Auden Sarabia, who told his staff at Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts this week that he was asked to resign or go before the Board of Managers, a teacher and parents confirmed. Saraba has worked for HISD for 18 years. Crockett Elementary Principal Alexis Clark is also not returning to her visual and performing arts magnet campus near the Heights. "I'm heartbroken. We're all heartbroken. I've done my best to protect my kids they're young from what's happening," said Liz Silva, PTO fundraising chair and incoming president. "Can't really avoid the topic anymore with them." Clark has been a staunch advocate for the campus, which is set to become one of appointed Superintendent Mike Miles' 40 new New Education System schools next year. Silva and other parents received "a very cold email" Friday from the school district saying that Clark would not return for the upcoming school year. The district email did not state a reason for the change. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Crockett parents plan to picket by the school Monday morning, and said they plan to not send their children to school that day, Silva said. Parents at Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School are planning to protest at their campus at 7:30 a.m. Monday. The Houston Chronicle is working to confirm other principal departures, and, in some cases it is unclear whether principals are resigning or being forced out. Even before this latest round of cuts, HISD's principal turnover had been high under Miles. PRINCIPAL TRACKER: These are the HISD campuses with turnover prior to April The school district's Board of Managers unanimously permitted job cuts Thursday night prior to the 2024-2025 school year. Positions subject to cuts include nurses; librarians; counselors; assistant principals; principals; reading, math and science teachers; and special education coordinators. It's unclear at this time how many termination notices have been handed out and how many positions total will be cut. Miles said Thursday the school district will slash jobs in almost every department due to budget cuts, as the district faces an estimated $450 million funding gap. Miles said initially that the majority of cuts will affect HISD's central office and he aimed to keep them "as far away from students and classrooms as possible," an HISD spokesperson said in April. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Miles put about half of the district's principals on notice in March after receiving results of midyear proficiency screenings, according to documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle. Community outraged prompted Miles to say he would not use the district's proficiency screening as a criteria for school leadership positions next year. PROFICIENCY SCREENINGS: Mike Miles puts nearly half of HISD principals on notice for low performance in March Yen-Chi Le, parent of a Parker Elementary student whose son is headed to Meyerland PVA because he's a violinist and interested in creative writing, said she is crushed by the news. "We just went through signing day," Le said. "And Principal Sarabia how he has structured the leadership and the wrarparound services and the teachers with long tenures it felt like the right choice, like a community." She said the school felt like home for her child. Now, she's having second thoughts about sending him there. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "I myself went through public school, and I'm a native Houstonian," Le said. "I really believe in public school education. But what has happened since superintendent Mike Miles has taken over it's just heart-breaking and devastating." A familiar face from Love Island is giving love another shot, this time on Channel 4's Celebs Go Dating. Chris Taylor was an Islander on series five of the dating show, but was dumped after 15 days. He returned for Love Island All Stars, where he entered the villa on day 1 but was subsequently dumped from the island on day 26. Despite his failed attempts to find romance, it is thought he is looking to try his luck again for the third time. The TV personality known for his charm and popularity with fans, is reportedly in talks with E4 bosses to join the dating series to see if he is more successful this time with the help of dating experts Dr Tara, Anna Williamson & Paul C Brunson. A source told The Sun they see Chris, 33, as a valuable addition to the show due to his large TikTok following and his role in the Barbie movie, which generated a significant buzz. Chris Taylor is reportedly in talks with E4 bosses to join Celebs Go Dating to see if he has more success third time around With the help of dating experts Dr Tara, Anna Williamson & Paul C Brunson, Chris could find a perfect match They said: 'E4 bosses have been in talks with Chris as they're really keen to sign him on the dotted line. 'He'd be a huge get for them as, beyond Love Island, he's got a huge TikTok following and also been in the Barbie movie, which got loads of people talking. 'Chris is keen too as he was really hoping to find a meaningful connection in the Love Island villa, but failed both times.' Despite forming connections with Love Island co-stars like Arabella Chi and having a brief fling with Maura Higgins back in 2021, Chris has been unsuccessful in a lasting romance, prompting his decision to try his luck on Celebs Go Dating. If Chris joins the show, he'll be in good company, as several Love Island alumni, including Olivia Attwood and Megan Barton Hanson, have previously appeared on Celebs Go Dating. Rumours also suggest that other Love Island stars, such as Hannah Elizabeth and Callum Scott, may join the upcoming series, although no official announcements have been made regarding its return to screens. MailOnline have contacted Chris's reps and E4 for comment. Chris shocked everyone when he made a cameo appearance last year in the box-office blockbuster movie, Barbie. Chris Taylor appeared on series five of Love Island and returned for Love Island All Stars, where he entered the villa on day 1 but was dumped from the island 26 days later Despite forming connections with Love Island co-stars like Arabella Chi and having a brief fling with Maura Higgins (pictured) back in 2021 his romances have been short lived but his popularity on TikTok has risen A source told The Sun if Chris committed to the show it would get alot of people talking due of his popularity on socials and his appearance in the Barbie movie The Love Island star, 33, made a cameo appearance in the box-office blockbuster movie as one of the many Kens, appearing on a stage as he said: 'And the Nobel prize for horses goes to Ken!' Leading star and producer Margot, 35, is a huge Love Island fan and offered the former contestant a part in her Hollywood hit During his short-lived appearance, which lasted less than 30 seconds, the TV star appeared on a stage as one of the many Kens announcing: 'And the Nobel prize for horses goes to Ken!' However, despite appearing in one of the biggest films of the year, Chris shut down rumours he could appear in a sequel of the iconic film while chatting to his friend and fellow Islander Toby Aromolaran. While on Toby's YouTube podcast Fancy A Chat, Chris said when asked about reprising the role: 'Probably not. I don't know if they'll have me back. Took me literally five hours to get a single line out properly. I did about 57 takes.' He went on explaining: 'One time, I got it wrong. But that was only because they said that a camera was going to come in front of me and it didn't. 'And it was a camera that was like six miles away that I was never even gonna see.' 'I think Margot Robbie's husband Tom was just like, 'Yeah, don't worry mate. Like, it's over there. You're not gonna see it'. But anyway, it just took me, it took a lot. It took me like four hours of filming,' the reality star said bluntly. Chris Hemsworth stunned his fans on Friday by revealing his surprising secret skill in footage shared to social media. The Thor star, 40, was featured in a clip shared by his wife Elsa Pataky, 47, in which he was seen masterfully playing a short tune on a grand piano. Hemsworth looked every inch the musical maestro in the jaw-dropping clip, as his hands glided over the piano keys and produced a gorgeous classical melody. He looked confident and stylish as he worked his magic on the instrument, and made his wife laugh in delight. Elsa captioned the clip with some heartfelt words: 'Amazing piano skills, love.' Chris Hemsworth (pictured) has stunned his fans by revealing his surprising secret skill in footage shared to social media The post comes after Chris recently reunited with his former Home and Away co-star Kate Ritchie - before the pair were embarrassed by an unwanted throwback. The Hollywood actor and Anya Taylor-Joy appeared on Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie to promote their new film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. And Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli surprised Hemsworth and Ritchie as he played a clip of the pair in their Home and Away days. The Thor star, 40, was featured in a clip shared by his wife Elsa Pataky , 47, in which he was seen masterfully playing a short tune on a Grand Piano 'Anya, I bought a bit of a treat if you don't mind me interrupting,' Wippa began. Taylor-Joy couldn't contain her excitement as she swooned over the young actor. Ritchie couldn't resist a playful jab, quipping: 'He was much better after working with me Anya... you know what, sometimes you go onto amazing things, I mean Chris has just gone on to Furiosa and I'm now doing Fitzy and Wippa!' Hemsworth looked every inch the musical maestro in the jaw-dropping clip, as his hands glided over the piano keys and produced a gorgeous classical melody A mortified Hemsworth joked: 'We've seen enough of that by the way.' Kate grew up on the soap, playing the beloved Sally Fletcher from seasons one to 21 before leaving the show in 2008 and Chris was cast four years before she left. He took the role of Kim Hyde on Home and Away in 2004 at the age of 20, having originally auditioned for the part of Robbie Hunter, which he lost out to Jason Smith. The hunky blond went on to land his breakout role as Thor in the Avengers film franchises and break-out films. Tania Buckley has found love again, according to a new report. The former wife of AFL legend Nathan Buckley was spotted at a go-karting event this week with her arm around Marco Kelly. The pair are believed to have met through the sport, which Tania and her children enjoy, the Herald Sun reports - but little else is known about the mystery man. The publication goes on to claim that Tania and Marco are expected to go public with their romance, 'at the launch of the BYD Sealion 6 SUV electric car at the Docklands Studios on Thursday.' Nathan and Tania got married in December 2002 and announced their separation in December 2020, almost 18 years to the day they wed. Tania Buckley has found love again, according to a new report. The former wife of AFL legend Nathan Buckley was spotted at a go-karting event this week with her arm around Marco Kelly. Pictured at a go-karting event with her children and brother The pair issued a statement via Tania's Instagram page at the time, publicly announcing they'd separated almost a year before. They share two teenage sons, Jett, 18, and Ayce, 16, which have live with Tania. Nathan has found love again and is currently dating 35-year-old business manager Brodie Ryan, who he went public with in October 2022. Tania listed her mansion for $18 million earlier this year, after her split from husband Nathan. Nathan and Tania got married in December 2002 and announced their separation in December 2020, almost 18 years to the day they wed. Both pictured Tania listed her mansion for $18 million earlier this year, after her split from husband Nathan The WAG and the AFL star's one-time family home in Melbourne's Toorak went on sale in March. In April, the property was opened to wider offers, including from overseas investors, as it continues to search for a new owner. 'I can't wait to see how a move and the future unfolds for our family' Tania told the Herald Sun. The socialite explained that she was in the process of building a new dream home with a vineyard. 'I'm really excited because my next major design project will include building a new dream house' she said. Tania also explained that she and her sons have been spending their time between Melbourne and Victoria. Brooke Blurton has opened up about the death of her mother. The 29-year-old former Bachelorette lost her beloved mum at the tender age of 11, only a week after Mother's Day. And now as the anniversary of her passing approaches on May 18, Brooke has revealed she still struggles with her grief. Appearing on Stellar's Something to Talk About podcast, Brooke said each Mother's Day brings 'a slight emptiness'. 'Like a feeling that can't be filled,' she continued. Brooke Blurton (pictured) has opened up about the death of her mother. The 29-year-old former Bachelorette lost her beloved mum at the tender age of 11, a week after Mother's Day 'It brings up feelings that you'll never have something that other people do, which is having their mum around in those moments and days. But there's also a moment to celebrate their legacy.' Elsewhere in the chat Brooke confessed she still felt the loss of her mother as the media star has grown older and more successful. 'I've felt a little bit more isolated and probably a little bit lonelier now, which I know is very unusual. 'But when I was younger, I had some motherly figures. I had my teachers. I had a stepmother, who was beautiful and sort of filled that role of being a mum. Appearing on Stellar's Something to Talk About podcast, Brooke said each Mother's Day brings an emptiness that can't be filled. 'And now, in my adult life moving away from home and breaking into my career and being so independent I probably feel more isolated around those times, especially because I think about motherhood and what that would look like.' Meanwhile, Brooke told the Daily Mail Australia in March that she had put her love life on hold to concentrate on her work. 'I'm so single it hurts,' she said in an exclusive interview as she walked the red carpet at the Formula One Glamour on the Grid event in March. Brooke has had quite the successful media career since shooting to fame season six of The Bachelor in 2018. She appeared on Bachelor In Paradise in 2019, and then became Australia's first ever bisexual Bachelorette in 2021. Macklemore arrived in Australia for his tour Down Under just days ago and he's already taken the country by storm. The American rapper put on a rousing performance at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion on Friday night as he kicked off the first concert of his tour. The 40-year-old donned his iconic Thrift Shop era faux fur coat as he rocked out to the massive hit song. He then changed into a blue satin jacket worn along with a tight white shirt and black trousers. Macklemore looked in great spirits as he joined his crew of dancers to bop to his biggest hits for the salivating crowds. Macklemore arrived in Australia for his tour Down Under just days ago and he's already taken the country by storm. Pictured The American rapper put on a rousing performance at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion on Friday night as he kicked off the first concert of his tour The 40-year-old donned his iconic Thrift Shop era faux fur coat as he rocked out to the massive hit song The Grammy Award winner, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, later worked the mic in a sleeveless white shirt. Macklemore kicked off his Aussie tour in Sydney on May 12 before he heads off to dates in Melbourne, Queensland and Western Australia. It comes as the rapper has gone viral after releasing a pro-Palestine song in which he slams US president Joe Biden for his role in the bloody conflict in Gaza. 'Hind's Hall', referencing the Columbia University building renamed by pro-Palestine protestors in honour of a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by an Israeli airstrike two months ago in Gaza as she waited for aid while trapped in a car and surrounded by her relatives' dead bodies, was released on social media on Monday. He then changed into a blue satin jacket worn along with a tight white shirt and black trousers Macklemore looked in great spirits as he joined his crew of dancers to bop to his biggest hits for the salivating crowds Macklemore kicked off his Aussie tour in Sydney on May 12 before he heads off to dates in Melbourne, Queensland and Western Australia The Grammy Award winner, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, later worked the mic in a sleeveless white shirt It comes as the rapper has gone viral after releasing a pro-Palestine song in which he slams US president Joe Biden for his role in the bloody conflict in Gaza The song, which has been seen by 24million people on Twitter alone, takes aim at Joe Biden, who until last night had consistently provided military support for Israel. He said in his song: 'The blood is on your hands Biden, we can see it all. And f*** no, I'm not voting for you in the fall.' The rapper, best known for his pro-LGBTQ+ rights song Same Love, also called out the music industry for being 'complicit in their platform of silence.' The video accompanying the song intersperses his lyrics with clips of protests across American colleges, which have seen a surge of clashed between protestors and campus police. Streaming proceeds from the song, which has not yet been released on streaming platforms, will be donated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which had much of its funding cut this year following allegations its workers were involved with October 7 attack. Macklemore has long been a supporter of Palestinian people. In November, Macklemore gave an impromptu speech at a pro-Palestine rally in Washington DC, in which he told the crowd: ' 'I don't know enough, but I know enough that this is a genocide.' His speech was preceded by a statement on October 19 in which he condemned Hamas' bloody incursion against Israel, and Israel's brutal response against the Gaza Strip, calling the latter 'an unfolding genocide' and a 'US backed catastrophe.' Fifi Box and her 'hot dad' boyfriend Rocky Mangano are still going strong. The pair, who went public with their romance in August last year, have struck a wonderful balance between parenting and romance, the radio star tells this week's issue of Stellar Magazine. 'For both of us our kids are our priority. He's so supportive and understanding of me and the kind of mum I am' the 46-year-old says. 'I'm very hands-on, but it's just lovely meeting somebody who's in a similar space. We enjoy our time together and then we have our time with our kids. It's great'. Fifi also recounted the sweet moment that she and the father-of-two first fell for each other in the school playground while picking up their kids. Fifi Box (pictured) and her 'hot dad' boyfriend Rocky Mangano are still going strong The pair, who went public with their romance in August last year, have struck a wonderful balance between parenting and romance, the radio star tells this week's issue of Stellar Magazine. Rocky is pictured '[Daisy] was throwing a bit of a tantrum and I was trying to manage it' she says of her young daughter. 'I looked up and he was laughing his head off and thought it was funny. That started a conversation, and the rest is history.' In August, Fifi revealed she was 'officially off the market' and in a new relationship with Rocky, who is one of the dads at her daughter's school. The radio host and media personality excitedly shared the happy news on her Fox 101.9 radio show Fifi, Fev and Nick. 'For both of us our kids are our priority. He's so supportive and understanding of me and the kind of mum I am' the 46-year-old says Fifi, whose last public relationship was with former Ironman Grant Kenny, told listeners: 'I do have some news. I'm in a relationship! I'm not single anymore!' She admitted his name was Rocky, however, she used to call him 'hot dad' to her mates. The mother of young daughters Beatrix and Daisy revealed that they met on the school run in Melbourne after making eye contact on numerous occasions. Rocky is a father-of-two, frequently posing photos of his outings with his son and daughter to Facebook. Fifi was previously linked to Ironman Grant Kenny, who she dated for several months in 2012, but they had broken up by the time she welcomed daughter Beatrix 'Trixie' Belle via IVF the following year. She did not acknowledge Grant was Trixie's father until 2016, when she shared a photo to Instagram of the retired athlete attending their child's third birthday party. She has hit the ground running with a range of fashionable ensembles since she joined This Morning in March. And Cat proved that she is stylish both on and off the screen as she was seen out and about with her children on Saturday. The TV presenter, 47, looked in great spirits as she treated herself to an ice cream in Primrose Hill as she embraced the beginning of the London summer. Cat shares sons Milo, eight, and James, five, with her husband Patrick Kielty. The family relocated back to the UK several months ago after previously living in Los Angeles. Keeping it casual, Cat opted for a black leather jacket and black and white striped tee as she enjoyed her sweet treat. Cat Deeley kept it stylish as she enjoyed an ice cream with her children Milo, 8, and James, 5, while out and about in Primrose Hill on Saturday The 47-year-old proved that she is stylish both on and off the screen as she opted for a chic leather jacket Showcasing her fabulous physique, she also donned a pair of black skinny jeans and chunky black zip up boots. Styling her hair in natural curls, Cat completed the look with some black sunglasses and the Reporter East West Messenger Bag in Black Pebble from Aspinal of London, which costs 395. Cat made her return to UK TV in March after her and Ben Shephard became the official new hosts of This Morning after Holly Willoughby's departure last October. The star and her husband decided to ditch their glitzy LA lifestyles and returned to the UK several months ago after a 'terrifying' gun situation made them rethink their life in the States. Following her terrifying ideal, she swapped her 3.8 million Beverly Hills mansion for a 4.9million rundown 1950's home in leafy Hampstead in north London where she counts Harry Styles among her neighbours. Cat left behind her long-time role on So You Think You Can Dance in the US, where she was reportedly paid 43k an episode - instead opting for the role on This Morning with a reported 550k annual salary. However despite the eye-watering salary, the star is quickly proving that she doesn't need a lavish budget for onscreen style, sourcing many of her clothes from the High Street. While her predecessor Holly Willoughby favoured designer items, Cat has won fans over by wearing brands such as Zara and John Lewis. Keeping it casual, Cat opted for a black leather jacket and black and white striped tee as she enjoyed her sweet treat The TV presenter looked in great spirits as she treated herself to an ice cream in Primrose Hill as she embraced the beginning of the London summer Showcasing her fabulous physique, she also donned a pair of black skinny jeans and chunky black zip up boots Cat shares sons Milo, eight, and James, five, with her husband Patrick Kielty. The family relocated back to the UK several months ago after previously living in Los Angeles Cat completed the look with some black sunglasses and a cross body Aspinal of London black leather bag She looked to be enjoying her ice cream as she cooled down in the hot weather Earlier this month, she wore a gold two-piece suit from the High Street store Mint Velvet, which cost 278. In another episode she styled a pair of white, wide-leg trousers from online brand Sosandar for 59 and a red floral blouse from Rixo. On another day she wore a white lace minidress from Mint Velvet, costing 199, and later in the week she opted for a cargo mini dress from Zara for 89. Holly, who quit This Morning in October, used her private stylist Danielle Whiteman on the show. The pair have worked together for years and Danielle now helps with Holly's lifestyle brand Wylde Moon. During her 14 years on This Morning, Holly would regularly wear clothing from the likes of Ted Baker, LK Bennett and Jaeger, but it seems Cat is keen to adopt a different style. Cat's hair looked flawless as she styled gorgeous curls Despite her eye-watering 500k salary, the star is quickly proving that she doesn't need a lavish budget for onscreen style, sourcing many of her clothes from the High Street Cat and Patrick Kielty tied the knot back in 2012 while in Rome The star has taken a more casual style approach to her role on This Morning While her predecessor Holly Willoughby favoured designer items, Cat has won fans over by wearing brands such as Zara and John Lewis The star is using ITV's own stylist David O'Brien, who has also dressed her co-stars Josie Gibson and Alison Hammond. Last year Alison was also praised for her low-budget wardrobe on the show, wearing clothes from I Saw It First and Asos. On one of Cat's recent posts of her outfits, which she captioned with the hashtag 'Cat's Closet', fans praised her style. One commented: 'Love your looks, a lot more affordable than others'. Another wrote: 'Cat wears a lot of her own clothes and that's so fantastic to see.' Rose Ayling-Ellis admitted she is 'heartbroken' and 'frightened' as she discussed the world's first deaf gene therapy trial on Instagram on Saturday. The Strictly Come Dancing winner revealed she has strong feelings towards the trial after an 18-month-old girl who was born deaf can now hear following taking part. The EastEnders star was supported by her former dancing partner Giovanni Pernice as she shared a sweet photo of herself as a child along with a number of the headlines about the gene therapy. She said: 'Here is a photo of me as a toddler. If I had been born a couple of years later, my life could have been very different. 'Today, it was reported that a gene therapy trial has taken place. I knew that it was going to happen, but I didn't expect it so soon. Rose Ayling-Ellis admitted she is 'heartbroken' and 'frightened' as she discussed the world's first deaf gene therapy trial on Instagram on Saturday The Strictly Come Dancing winner revealed she has strong feelings towards the trial after an 18-month-old girl who was born deaf can now hear following taking part The EastEnders star was supported by her former dancing partner Giovanni Pernice as she shared a sweet photo of herself as a child along with a number of the headlines about the gene therapy 'My first reaction was feeling terrified and heartbroken. It feel like the end. Let me explain why.' Rose went onto question whether she will be the 'last deaf generation' following the success of the new trial. She continued: 'Imagine a world where everyone is 'normal'. What will become of our story, our culture, language, and identity? Will we be the last deaf generation and end up in a museum somewhere?' 'Deaf people have existed throughout human history. Who decides that their lives are not worth being integrated into society? Who assumes that we want to be 'fixed'? Where will they draw the line?' The actress expressed her concern that inclusivity could be 'thrown out of the window' and insisted she did not need 'relief' from being deaf as it has given her many opportunities. She added: 'My life is richer because of it. There are many deaf people out there that are doing great things! Why should we tell them that they are broken when, in fact, they are winning?' 'To add insult to injury, this was released during Deaf Awareness Week. The week should be about embracing and spreading awareness about our culture. Not something to overcome.' '(Please respect the decision made by the family for their little girl. Like any parent, they are doing what they believe is best for their child. Alongside a baby photo, she wrote: 'Imagine a world where everyone is 'normal'. What will become of our story, our culture, language, and identity? Will we be the last deaf generation and end up in a museum somewhere?' The actress expressed her concern that inclusivity could be 'thrown out of the window' and insisted she did not need 'relief' from being deaf as it has given her many opportunities In the comments, Rose also added that she believes that 'hearing individuals make decisions for deaf individuals without fully understanding their way of life' Rose was supported by her former Strictly professional dancer partner Giovanni who shared three red heart emojis in the comments 'This is not a rant directed towards them in any way. Rather, it is a rant directed towards the society that makes us all believe that being deaf will only bring us suffering, when in reality, it is quite the opposite.)' In the comments, Rose also added that she believes that 'hearing individuals make decisions for deaf individuals without fully understanding their way of life'. She penned: 'I strongly support the right of deaf individuals to make their own choices whether they want this or not. 'However, there is a concern when it comes to the fact that 90% of deaf children are born into hearing families. While these families want the best for their child, it's important to consider that the decision being made is not ultimately up to the baby. 'It's often the case that hearing individuals make decisions for deaf individuals without fully understanding their way of life. This is what I find concerning.' Rose was supported by her former Strictly professional dancer partner Giovanni who shared three red heart emojis in the comments. The British girl Opal Sandy , 18 months, has had her hearing restored after becoming the first person in the world to take part in a groundbreaking gene therapy trial. She was born completely deaf due to the condition auditory neuropathy, which is caused by the disruption of nerve impulses travelling from the inner ear to the brain. Now, thanks to a 'one and done' gene therapy being trialled in the UK and worldwide, Opal's hearing is almost normal and could improve further. The little girl, from Oxfordshire, who has a genetic form of auditory neuropathy, was treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital, which is part of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The British girl Opal Sandy , 18 months, has had her hearing restored after becoming the first person in the world to take part in a groundbreaking gene therapy trial The little girl was born completely deaf due to the condition auditory neuropathy Professor Manohar Bance, an ear surgeon at the trust and chief investigator for the trial, said the results were 'better than I hoped or expected' and may cure patients with this type of deafness. He said: 'We have results from (Opal) which are very spectacular so close to normal hearing restoration. So we do hope it could be a potential cure.' Auditory neuropathy can be caused by a fault in the OTOF gene, which is responsible for making a protein called otoferlin. This enables cells in the ear to communicate with the hearing nerve. To overcome the fault, the 'new era' gene therapy from biotech firm Regeneron delivers a working copy of the gene to the ear. In Opal's case, she received an infusion containing the working gene to her right ear during surgery last September. Her parents noticed improvements to her hearing in just four weeks, but the results were particularly impressive 24 weeks later. Jo Sandy, a 33-year-old secondary school geography teacher, and her husband James, 33, who works in car manufacturing, said they were 'gobsmacked' when they realised Opal could hear without the need for a cochlear implant. Opal now loves slamming her cutlery on the table to make a noise and enjoys playing with toy drums, a piano and wooden blocks. Cindy Crawford revealed she began making more money than her parents by the age of 18. While reminiscing about her early modeling career, the supermodel, 58, explained that she started out-earning her parents 'quickly, within a year.' 'I started modeling in Chicago, and in Chicago, it's a small pond, so I was the big fish pretty quickly there,' the catwalk queen said while appearing on the Kelly Corrigan Wonders podcast with Christy Turlington. She added, 'And I was making more money than my parents made, more money than they could ever have even dreamed of.' After her brother Jeffery died of childhood leukemia at age 3 in 1975, Crawford's quick wealth made her feel like 'I was the son in a weird way.' Reminiscing about when she began modeling at 18, Cindy Crawford, 58, explained that she began out-earning her parents 'quickly, within a year' 'I was making more money than my parents made, more money than they could ever have even dreamed of,' said Crawford 'Like, when I got married and didn't change my name, [my dad] was like, 'Yeah, the Crawford name will go on!'' she recalled. 'I was able to help where I could,' added Crawford. 'I don't feel like I became the dad.' Crawford noted that she's 'been able to take [her family] on nice vacations,' following her January girls trip to Miami with mother Jennifer and sisters Chris and Danielle. 'Fun weekend with my mom and sisters,' she captioned a group photo from at the time. Despite her wealth, Crawford said she tries to avoid buying lavish gifts for her two siblings. The brunette beauty fears that by being too generous, she could actually 'emasculate their husbands'. Cindy explained: 'If I'm giving my sister a nicer ring than her husband gives them or something like that, it just becomes this weird thing. 'I was more about giving experiences and then helping them if they need a down payment on a house or something like that. My sisters have been awesome because they always paid it back. But navigating being in that financial position where you could do a lot is tricky.' After her brother Jeffery died of childhood leukemia at age 3 in 1975, Crawford's quick wealth made her feel like 'I was the son in a weird way' Crawford noted that she's 'been able to take [her family] on nice vacations,' following her January girls trip to Miami with mother Jennifer and sisters Chris and Danielle Crawford also shared the valuable advice her mother gave her: 'Don't ever change their lifestyle, because then you are signing up for it for the rest of [your life]' The Meaningful Beauty mogul previously reunited with Turlington, 55, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell last month for a screening of their Apple TV+ docuseries The Super Models. Her daughter Kaia Gerber, also a model, said she 'was star-struck in front of her after' watching the doc as she didn't previously realize how 'iconic' her mother was. 'I thought it was so cool that she always had that ambition, and she did things where people told her, 'This will ruin your career. Don't do this,'' explained Kaia, 22. 'And she trusted her instincts.' Crawford shares Kaia and son Presley, 24, with husband Rande Gerber. Drake complained about being woken up by news helicopters flying over his house on Saturday morning. The 37-year-old rapper took to his Instagram Story to make a noise complaint just two days after the third police-involved incident at his mansion in the past week. Over a plain background, he tagged CP24, a news outlet from his native hometown of Toronto, and wrote that after he got his sleep, he wanted to 'discuss' the inconvenience. 'Can we discuss the chopper flight times over the house cause I won't lie I'm trying to sleep,' he penned. He added an emoji of an arrow shooting through a pink heart and continued: 'Anytime after 3pm works great for me.' Drake, 37, complained about being woken up by news helicopters flying over his house on Saturday morning; seen in May 2019 This comes after his house was the subject of yet another trespassing incident, making it three this week amid his ongoing, longtime feud with Kendrick Lamar. The first involved an early morning shooting of a security guard outside of his mansion gates on Tuesday. Toronto Police told DailyMail.com they could not confirm if the Hotline Bling hitmaker was at his residence at the time of the shooting. Then, police officers were called to his home around 2 p.m. Wednesday after an intruder tried to break into his home. Once again, police responded to another call about a trespasser at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, according to a statement from Toronto Police spokesperson Shannon Eames as reported by USA Today. The intruder was reportedly involved in an 'altercation' with multiple security guards outside of Drake's $100 million mansion before the police arrived. The trespasser was later taken to the hospital. It's unclear if there is any connection between the intruders, or the drive-by shooting, to Drake's widely publicized feud with Lamar, 36, which has been carried out via viral diss tracks. The rapper took to his Instagram Story to make a noise complaint just two days after the third police-involved incident at his mansion in the past week This comes after his house was the subject of yet another trespassing incident, making it three this week amid his ongoing, longtime feud with Kendrick Lamar. It's unclear if there is any connection between the intruders, or the drive-by shooting, to Drake's widely publicized feud with Lamar, 36, which has been carried out via viral diss tracks The first involved an early morning shooting of a security guard outside of his mansion gates on Tuesday. Toronto Police told DailyMail.com they could not confirm if the Hotline Bling hitmaker was at his residence at the time of the shooting; seen in June 2019 The shooting and attempted invasions at Drake's Toronto mansion comes after Lamar taunted him by using his home as his cover art this past week; seen in May 2023 In the past month, the rival rappers have released 'diss tracks' against each other. For his track Not Like Us, Lamar used an image of Drake's mansion covered in markers from a sex offender app Although the police mentioned that they were aware of the feud, they said there wasn't currently any indication that the incidents were related. However, the shooting and attempted invasions at Drake's Toronto mansion comes after Lamar taunted him by using his home as his cover art this past week. In the past month, the rival rappers have released 'diss tracks' against each other. For his track Not Like Us, Lamar used an image of Drake's mansion covered in markers from a sex offender app. They accused one another of abusing women, with the five-time Grammy winner who recently relisted his Beverly Hills mansion for $88 million after a year on the market dropping the last diss track, The Heart Part 6, on Sunday, May 5. Clouds of deadly ammonia fumes spread over the West Loop 610 overpass at the Southwest Freeway after an ammonia tank truck crashed through a guardrail and exploded. Anhydrous ammonia like in the May 11, 1976 disaster is still transported through Houston, though truck engineering and highway safety have improved. Carroll S. Grevemberg/Houston Chronicle Files The scene where a truck fell while carrying 7,500 gallons of anhydrous ammonia from a Tenneco chemical plant that was traveling north on the West Loop en route to Corpus Christi. Anhydrous ammonia like in the May 11, 1976 disaster is still transported through Houston, though truck engineering and highway safety have improved. Othell O. Owensby Jr./Houston Chronicle Scene along the Southwest Freeway at Loop 610 after ammonia truck spill. Anhydrous ammonia like in the May 11, 1976 disaster is still transported through Houston, though truck engineering and highway safety have improved. Fred Bunch/Houston Chronicle Scene along the Southwest Freeway at Loop 610 after ammonia truck spill, May 11 1976. Pavement, railing on overpass shattered by the blast from ammonia truck. Manuel M. Chavez/Houston Chronicle Scene along the Southwest Freeway at Loop 610 after ammonia truck spill, May 11 1976. Dan Hardy/Houston Chronicle 05/11/1976 - The remains of an ammonia carrying tank truck operated by Transport Co. of Texas smoulder on the Southwest Freeway at the Loop 610 interchange. The cab of the truck is at left, twisted around a pier of the freeway interchange. The driver was killed. Damage to the overhead structure on the freeway was caused by the truck which fell to the lower level. Three other persons were killed. Othell O. Owensby Jr./Houston Chronicle 05/11/1976 - The severed tank from a truck carrying 7,500 gallons of anhydrous ammonia from a Tenneco chemical plant that was traveling north on the West Loop en route to Corpus Christi. The truck, owned by Transport Co. of Texas, was turning off the Loop on to the Southwest Freeway when the driver lost control of the vehicle, careened off the exit ramp, struck a support column and plunged 15 feet onto the Southwest Freeway. Othell O. Owensby Jr./Houston Chronicle 05/11/1976 - The scene where a truck fell while carrying 7,500 gallons of anhydrous ammonia from a Tenneco chemical plant that was traveling north on the West Loop en route to Corpus Christi. The truck, owned by Transport Co. of Texas, was turning off the Loop on to the Southwest Freeway when the driver lost control of the vehicle, careened off the exit ramp, struck a support column and plunged 15 feet onto the Southwest Freeway. Sam C. Pierson Jr./Houston Chronicle Houston Police Lieutenant J.E. Neely and Francis McAdams of the National Transportation Safety Board inspect a damaged column at the Loop 610-Southwest Freeway interchange. Southwest Freeway - Houston. This pillar was broken when truck by the ammonia truck...pillar is on the ground - rear is southwest freeway. Curtis McGee/Houston Chronicle The hazardous chemical that choked and blinded scores of Houstonians when a tanker careened off I-610 nearly 50 years ago, searing into local memory and triggering a federal policy review, is still regularly moved through the regions dense roadways. FROM 2023: Residents shelter in place after anhydrous ammonia leaks from Katy warehouse On the morning of May 11, 1976, a Transport Co. of Texas truck loaded with more than 7,500 gallons of anhydrous ammonia wove through heavy traffic and lost control, flying off the side of a highway ramp where I-610 meets the Southwest Freeway near the Galleria. It rammed into the support column of an overpass, severing the tank and sending a cloud of the toxic chemical into the air. Dorothy Nash, who worked as a sales manager at a building on nearby Richmond Avenue, told reporters she felt she would die on the spot. She had opened the door after she heard an explosion and saw men stumble by outside the building, but quickly ran back inside after she started choking and saw a great cloud of white smoke coming like it was pursuing me. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The impact of the crash itself killed one person, but the ammonia release sent 78 to the hospital and eventually killed six more. Anhydrous ammonia is still regularly liquefied and transported in pressurized tank trucks and rail cars for use as a fertilizer on farms across the country. It is highly corrosive, and when first released it burns into the eyes and skin of anyone in its vicinity. It can also cause narrowing of the airway, narrowing of the throat and swelling, so people cant breathe, said Inyang Uwak, an epidemiologist who works with the environmental nonprofit Air Alliance Houston. Uwak, who is familiar with the explosion, said her concern was not so much the substances continued use as the fact that it is still transported on roadways through dense, highly-populated cities such as Houston. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a 1977 report that the speed of the truck and the lateral surge of its liquid contents caused the crash, killing the driver on impact. The spill itself caused the rest of the incidents injuries: nearly 200 were either treated at the scene or hospitalized. The ammonia fumes penetrated automobiles and buildings, and when their occupants left to escape the fumes during the early minutes of the release, many were exposed to higher dosages, the report said. The tank contents exploded as the suddenly depressurized substance turned from liquid to gas. The blast destroyed the roadway, a support column and 94 feet of bridge rail, and flung debris at passing cars. The safety board later used the Houston tragedy as the basis for a review of U.S. Department of Transportation policy, concluding that none of the regulatory safeguards were effective in reducing the injurious effects of the hazardous materials release. TODAY IN HISTORY: Coverage of the ammonia truck disaster Advertisement Article continues below this ad Ryan Paquet, vice president of Hazmat Safety Consulting and a former industry regulator, said a lot of things have changed since 1976. Theres been tons of improvements in technology. Electronic braking systems, anti-rollover systems in cargo tanks, tons of regulations that have changed. Now, in the United States, drivers have to have a hazardous materials endorsement, Paquet said. The ashes and rubble of Cara Delevingne's home are making way for something new. On Sunday, demolition began on the model's $7 million Los Angeles mansion as bulldozers were seen on the property after it was destroyed in a fire in March. The pool, which appeared to be unaffected and still filled with water, was fenced off in preparation. Delevingne, 31, was in London for her West End debut as Sally Bowles in Cabaret when the house caught fire in the early hours of Friday, March 15. The model shared a photo of her cats at the time, believing they had died in the fire. Demolition has begun on the Cara Delevingne's $7 million Los Angeles mansion Bulldozers were seen on the property Saturday after it was destroyed in a fire in March The pool, which appeared to be unaffected and still filled with water, was fenced off in preparation 'My heart is broken today,' Delevingne wrote at the time. 'I cannot believe it. Life can change in a blink of an eye. So cherish what you have.' She later revealed that the pets were rescued from the blaze: 'They are alive!! Thank you to the firefighters.' It took 94 firefighters, 13 engines and nearly two hours to fully contain the fire, during which there was one injury. Someone staying at the Studio City home was also treated for smoke inhalation. Cara's mother Pandora Delevingne said at the time that her daughter was 'devastated' by the fire. 'She had everything in her house, her whole life,' said Pandora. 'She built it, she made it. She has everything in it.' Her father Charles Delevingne said that the cause of the fire was 'electrical,' explaining that 'something fell on a powerline' amid 'very windy' weather. The Los Angeles Fire Department officially ruled the cause 'undetermined' last month after extensive damage made it too difficult. Following weeks of investigation by the arson squad, officials made it clear there were no signs of foul play. Delevingne, 31, was in London for her West End debut as Sally Bowles in Cabaret when the house caught fire in the early hours of Friday, March 15 The model shared a photo of her cats at the time, believing they had died in the fire, before revealing they were rescued from the blaze Cara's mother Pandora Delevingne said at the time that her daughter was ' devastated ' by the fire Delevingne was previously granted a five-year restraining order against her stalker Floris Van Merkesteyn in 2022 after he tried to break into the home. The American Horror Story actress bought the 8,000-square-foot mansion for $7 million in 2019. She gave Architectural Digest a tour of the home in 2021, showing off her eccentric Alice in Wonderland-inspired aesthetic, which included Gucci wallpaper, a ball pit, and a 'pink p***y palace' with a vaginal tunnel. After Delevingne attended Monday's Met Gala, she hit back at a critic who said she appeared 'coked up' on the red carpet, following her 2022 stint in rehab. 'Been clear for nearly two years!! Thanks for the support,' she responded in a comment. Who says charity work has to involve hardship? A posse of glamorous socialites headed out to Singapore and Malaysia in the name of saving the tigers but they certainly weren't slumming it. The group, including Lila Moss, Poppy Delevingne and Lady Lola Bute, took a luxury 4,000 train journey on the Eastern and Oriental Express and stayed at both a five-star beach resort and Singapore's historic Raffles Hotel, where rooms start at 1,000 a night. The tour, which actress Jaime Winstone organised with Save Wild Tigers, took them into the Taman Negara rainforest where they learned all about conservation efforts. And the group many of whom were at Lola's 'spectacularly indulgent' 25th birthday bash in Scotland a couple of weeks ago also got to watch a five-minute film about the big cats starring Jaime's actor dad Ray. It's all work! Lila Moss , Poppy Delevingne and Lady Lola Bute, took a luxury 4,000 train journey on the Eastern and Oriental Express while in Singapore and Malaysia campaigning to save tigers The group, including Poppy Delevingne, stayed at five-star beach resort and Singapore's Raffles Hotel Lila Moss gushed: 'Thank you for bringing this dream trip to life and giving us the experience to immerse ourselves in a country where tigers are so precious, showing us how important it is to save these beautiful creatures from extinction.' Jaime also vowed: 'I shall continue to raise awareness to protect the majestic wild tiger.' I'm sure the tigers are grateful The brain who'll reign! Is Princess Elisabeth, heiress to the Belgian throne, the cleverest royal in Europe? After graduating from Oxford, where she has been reading history and politics, the 22-year-old, left, she will head to Harvard in September for a two-year masters in public policy. Elisabeth, who attended UWC Atlantic in Wales in her secondary school years, is rumoured to be close to 20-year-old Nicholas Dodd, from Manchester, whom she met while on the same course at Oxford's Lincoln College. Heiress to the Belgian throne Princess Elisabeth is studying history and politics at Oxford, and will start a two year masters at Harvard in September Today programme stars Martha Kearney and Simon Jack set tongues wagging about their sleeping arrangements. Martha asked listeners yesterday: 'Did you see the Northern Lights? Simon and I were tucked up in bed' before hastily adding: 'Separately I should say.' 'Yes, make that clear,' chimed Simon. I do hope comic actor Stephen Merchant, isn't getting too big for his size 14 boots, as the 6ft 7in star, right, admits he struggles to be friends with people who aren't famous. Comic actor Stephen Merchant admits he struggles to be friends with people who aren't famous 'You do start to drift away from them,' The Office co-creator says of his old pals. 'You get to do so many exciting things but you don't want to be the person who comes back to the pub and starts boasting. So you feel like, 'Who can I share this stuff with?' A cat or a dog might be the conventional options for a four-legged friend, but socialite-turned -midwife Chloe Delevingne has different ideas. I can reveal that the big sister of supermodel Cara and her property developer husband Edward Grant, both right, have adopted a bearded dragon lizard, inset. They have named it Cal after a safari guide they met on a recent trip to South Africa. Cute... Chloe Delevingne and property developer husband Edward Grant have adopted a bearded dragon lizard Historian Tom Holland has delved into his past and discovered enough scandal to make it worthy of one of his podcasts. The Rest Is History co-host asked the Your Tour genealogy service to research his family tree, and his great-great-grandmother Henrietta was a servant who may have had an affair with her boss at Ingestre Hall in Staffordshire a Jacobean mansion that was formerly the seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury. The father's name was omitted from her son's birth certificate, and Tom tells me: 'In those days if no father was named on the birth certificate, and you were a housemaid, then it's invariably because the father is your employer.' Posh reveals her style queen The Princess of Wales, Meghan Markle and the Duchess of Edinburgh have worn her designs, but Victoria Beckham takes her fashion inspiration from a different royal Queen Letizia of Spain, right. The former Spice Girl, inset, who launched her clothing line in 2008, says the 51-year-old wife of the Spanish monarch is her 'definitive muse' when it comes to style. 'I don't know her in person, but I find her beautiful and elegant. She's never wrong in terms of fashion,' says Victoria. Posh has other royal muses, too, having once hailed the late Queen Elizabeth as a 'source of inspiration'. Emma wants an invisibility cloak It seems actress Emma Watson is feeling a little camera-shy these days. At the first birthday party for her gin label Renais last week, guests had no chance of snapping a selfie with the star as little stickers were placed over their phone cameras as they entered the event at the Savoy Hotel. Actress Emma Watson kept a low profile at her gin label Renais's first birthday party, with stickers placed over guests' phone cameras so they couldn't snap pictures Choosing to keep a low profile, 34-year-old Emma, left, spent much of the event chatting to her Harry Potter co-star Tom Felton, 36, who confessed to having a 'secret love' for Emma in his 2022 memoir. Did Dua forget about Callum? She is rumoured to be dating The Capture actor Callum Turner having been pictured together at events such as a Brits after-party, above. Dua Lipa and Callum Turner are seen attending the BRIT awards after party in London in March In her weekly newsletter Service95, Dua wrote about the joys of singledom, describing it as 'an important part of everyone's life' So it's a surprise to hear pop star Dua Lipa, right, waxing lyrical about the joys of singledom. Writing in her weekly newsletter Service95, Dua, 28, says: 'I really do believe being single is such an important part of everyone's life, because it allows you to learn so much about yourself.' Dua, who has said her new album Radical Optimism was inspired by the single life, went on to praise evenings home alone and dining by yourself as a good way to find out what you need in a partner. Like Callum? Will it be third time lucky for celeb haunt Julie's? The restaurant in Holland Park, where Kate Moss hosted her 21st, reopened last week after its second closure. Hopefully new owner Tara MacBain can tempt fans Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger back! Her character may have said 'au revoir' to France and 'ciao' to Italy but Lily Collins remained as fashionable as ever as she filmed the next series of Emily In Paris on the streets of Rome last week. The 35-year-old star was matched in the style stakes by her co-star Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, 26 years her senior, with the pair's white outfits permanently complementing each other. Ms Collins, who plays American emigre Emily Cooper in the Netflix show, wore a bespoke two-piece suit, accessorised with an embroidered white and gold Dior Micro bag, costing 5,400, and 600 blush velvet Malone Souliers slingbacks. Lily Collins and co-star Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu pictured in Rome filming scenes for the new series of Emily in Paris When the cameras stopped rolling Ms Collins swapped her pink heels for a pair of comfortable Birkenstock sandals The ancient cobbled streets of Rome saw Ms Collins swap her velvet heeled pumps for a pair of slip on Birkenstock sandals But the heels proved something of a challenge on Rome's ancient cobbles and when the cameras stopped rolling Ms Collins swapped them for a pair of comfortable Birkenstock sandals. Meanwhile French actress Philippine, who previously starred in Call My Agent! wore a high-waisted ribbed white pencil skirt from Tunisian designer Alaia, a black off-the-shoulder top and nude heels in her role as Emily's boss Sylvie. Ms Collins previously posed outside the Colosseum, having earlier told her Instagram followers: 'Last day of season 4 filming Paris. Rome... here we come!' French actress Philippine wore a high-waisted ribbed white pencil skirt from Tunisian designer Alaia, a black off-the-shoulder top and nude heels in her role as Emily's boss Sylvie Ms Collins previously posed outside the Colosseum, having earlier told her Instagram followers: 'Last day of season 4 filming Paris. Rome... here we come!' Ms Collins spotted on set in between takes sporting a pair of beige Birkenstocks sandals Ms Collins and a crew member under an umbrella in between takes during filming of the new season of Emily in Paris Ms Collins wore a bespoke two-piece suit, accessorised with an embroidered white and gold Dior Micro bag, costing 5,400, and 600 blush velvet Malone Souliers slingbacks France's First Lady, Brigitte Macron (pictured), will be making a cameo in the new series, and has been pictured on the Parisian set in a chic black outfit It's not known how the action for series 4 switches from Paris to Rome, or for how long. France's First Lady, Brigitte Macron, will be making a cameo in the new series, and has been pictured on the Parisian set in a chic black outfit. The 70-year-old is said to be a big fan of the Netflix show even though it has faced criticism for its crassly stereotypical view of French life. However, today he says the fees charged to workers have become too high He is credited with overhauling the way millions of Americans think about and save for retirement. But today Ted Benna - known as the 'father of the 401(K)' - has some reservations about his own creation. 'I am very disturbed by what's happening with the investment expenses,' the 82-year-old told DailyMail.com. 'Originally in our plan all of the administrative fees would be covered by the employer but that's all changed now.' A Christian working as a workplace benefits consultant in the 1970s, Benna had become tired of helping clients maximize their own tax breaks while doing little for their employees. 'Father of the 401(K)' Ted Benna (pictured) says he has some reservations about his own creation A Christian working as a workplace benefits consultant in the 1970s, Benna had become tired of helping clients maximize their own tax breaks while doing little for their employees He then stumbled upon a creative way to reinterpret the eponymous section of a 1978 tax law. It allowed employees to save pre-tax salary into a retirement account while receiving a matching contribution from their workplace. He implemented the strategy into his own company's retirement plan and soon after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury department sanctioned his idea which took off. Just 8 percent of Americans contributed to a defined contribution plan in 1981. By 2023, 56 percent of workers participated in a retirement plan of some kind, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But Benna argues companies have become too greedy by charging hefty administrative fees - while their employees do not know any better. He told DailyMail.com: 'I know one employer was charging administrative fees of 2.75 percent. It's something I'm seeing more and more.' Fees on 401(K) plans can significantly dampen investment returns. There are three types of fees covering administrative, service and investment. Although administrative fees tend to be non-negotiable, savers do have more control over service and investment charges. Service fees are only paid when you wish to activate certain features of your plan for example, taking out a 401(K) plan. The 401(K) is credited with overhauling the way millions of Americans think about and save for retirement. A recent survey by Northwestern Mutual shows how much workers think they need for a comfortable retirement Benna (pictured) told DailyMail.com: 'I know one employer was charging administrative fees of 2.75 percent. It's something I'm seeing more and more' Investment costs are charged by the funds available on your plan. Savers can find funds with a low expense ratio such as broad-based index funds. Benna's original vision called for employers to pay all the fees associated with administration and keeping audits. The employer would also pay between $10 and $20 a year for their workers to receive investment advice. But mutual fund providers expressed concern that their financial results could be impacted by an independent advisor - before realizing they could make money by adding another layer of fees. Benna also says a flaw in today's system is the fact employees have the option to withdraw their 401(K) entirely when they change jobs. This is something he argues should be 'eliminated' to ensure Americans are keeping funds in their retirement pots. Workers do have the option to roll over the funds into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). However, Benna cautions: 'A 30-year-old changing jobs is hardly going to be thinking about retirement when they have the option to take out $10,000 in front of them.' Today he is working on a new 'Wheat Grains Incentive Plan' which is a type of defined contribution plan which makes it easier for low and mid-income workers to withdraw funds. The concept comes as more and more Americans take hardship withdrawals from their 401(K)s to cope with higher living costs. Filled with energy and high political spirit ever since he walked out from Tihar Jail on Saturday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while addressing his enthused party workers launched a scathing attack at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of crushing his and other Opposition parties. Kejriwal, who has launched his Lok Sabha campaign for the May 25 Delhi schedule, alleged that the BJP is on a mission to bring about dictatorship in the country. Besides the one nation, one leader jibe, the AAP convenor also accused the BJP of shielding corrupt leaders and asked them if they would live up to the rule of retirement at the age of 75 that was brought about by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kejriwal further claimed that the Prime Minister wants Amit Shah to succeed is his acknowledgement that the party is set to retain power for a third straight term. At the same time Kejriwal also asserted the BJP will not return to power and said the INDIA Bloc will form the Government on June 4. In the last 20 hours after release from jail, I talked to poll experts and people and got to know the BJP is not going to form the Government. The AAP will be part of the Government at the Centre. We will get full Statehood for Delhi and it shall have a peoples Governor, not a man from Gujarat, he said, while adding that according to his assessment that the BJP is not getting more than 220-230 seats. Earlier in the morning, Kejriwal along with his wife Sunita and Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann offered prayers at the Hanuman temple in central Delhis Connaught Place. Hours after the visit, the Chief Minister posted on X about his temple visit. Reciting a verse from Hanuman Chalisa, Sab sukh lahe tumhari sarna, tum rakshak kahu ko darr na, he said in the post in Hindi, Reached the ancient Hanuman temple in Connaught Place and received the blessings of Hanuman ji. I prayed to Mahadev in Shiva temple and worshiped Shanidev Maharaj. I prayed to God for happiness and prosperity of the country and to give strength to free the country from dictatorship. God bless everyone. The BJP sent four of our top leaders to jail - Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Satyendar Jain. This was an attempt by them to crush us. PM Modi wants to crush the AAP because he knows that we can bring about a bright future for the country. All Opposition leaders including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and RJD leader Tejashvi Yadav, will be in jail if BJP wins Lok Sabha polls, Kejriwal said addressing media, a first after his release on bail in the multi crore liquor scam. Kejriwal claimed that PM Modi has not spared his own partys popular leader and will remove Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath from his post if the saffron party wins again. Modi ji has a very dangerous plan - the plan of One Nation One Leader. He doesnt want anyone else to be popular. If they win the Lok Sabha polls, they will change the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in two months. They have tried to crush all the popular leaders in their party. Look at Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chauhan. I am sure that Yogi Adityanath is the next, he added. Party workers and supporters gathered in big numbers to welcome Kejriwal after he was granted an interim bail by the Supreme Court till June 1. A supporter was seen standing on the tree at the office with the picture of Bhagat Singh and a copy of the Constitution of India shouting the slogan Jail k tale toot gaye, Kejriwal choot gaye. Many others adorned party flags and t-shirts that has I am also Kejriwal written on them. This was Kejriwals first such presser following his release from jail after 50 days. Further, he said that the reason why he did not resign from Chief Ministers post was because he didnt want to give in to the dirty politics of BJP. I dont have any love for posts. When I became the Chief Minister for the first time, I resigned within 49 days. However, everyone keeps asking as to why I never resigned when I was arrested? The AAP has won in Delhi with unprecedented margins. They know they cannot defeat us even for the next 20 years. They conspired so that I would resign and the AAP Govt will fall. I said that I wont resign and will run the government from jail, he said while adding that even former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren shouldnt have resigned. To accommodate more competitors and reflect the diverse nature of the nation, the organisers of the Miss Universe India beauty pageant have announced significant changes in the specifications for the competition, including the elimination of age and height limits. This move aims to open up opportunities for a broader range of women to participate and showcase their talents on the global stage. The announcement was made by Miss Universe 2023 Sheynnis Palacios, Miss Universe Vice President Mario Buraco, and Miss Universe India Director Nikhil Anand. In the midst of these changes, its worth noting the historical context of the Miss Universe pageant. Since its inception in 1952, the age limit for participation has been set at 18 to 28 years, with a minimum height requirement of 5 feet 3 inches without heels. These criteria, although intended to uphold certain standards of beauty and eligibility, have also been limiting for many talented individuals. Simply having a short height prevents many talented girls from moving forward. For talent, we have made this competition even easier, Anand announced at a Press conference last week releasing significant changes for Miss Universe India 2024. He further added that, State-level competitions will be held in all states of India, and the winner will represent India on the global stage. This year, state director State-level competitions will now be held across all Indian states, ensuring wider participation and representation. This move removes the barrier of limited local audiences and provides a platform for talent regardless of location. The appointment of a state director in each region allows for a more grassroots approach; ensuring local engagement and sighting hidden gems on a national scale. Palacios, the first Nicaraguan to win the Miss Universe title, expressed her admiration for India saying she has spent only a short time in India, but the people here are so lovely where it feels having known them for years. India is a confluence of great cultures; I feel very at home here, she added, praising Indian cuisine, particularly butter chicken masala. Mario highlighted the Miss Universe stages significance in connecting countries worldwide and providing a platform for the exchange of cultures. He emphasised that preparations are underway for a unique event for this years Miss Universe competition. After seven years, a non-Indian Miss Universe titleholder has visited India. Palacioss visit aimed to inaugurate the Miss Universe India competition under the new management of the Glamour Group. The 2024 Miss Universe competition will be held in Mexico. These changes in the Miss Universe India competition are not just about eliminating age and height limits; they represent a broader shift towards inclusivity and diversity in beauty pageants. By removing these barriers, the competition aims to provide a platform for women of all ages and heights to showcase their beauty, talent, and intelligence. The decision to introduce state-level competitions in all states of India is also a significant step towards decentralizing the pageant and providing opportunities for women from diverse backgrounds to participate. By eliminating age and height limits, introducing State-level competitions, and appointing Sate directors, the competition is setting a new standard for beauty pageants, one that celebrates the diversity and talent of women from all walks of life. Ruling party of the State Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), on Saturday, mocked Union Minister for Homer Affairs, Amit Shah and said that he has been proved lucky for the opposition and he will ensure victory of candidates of INDI Alliance. Addressing media persons in a press conference, JMM's Central General Secretary, Supriyo Bhattacharya said that Amit Shah is a boon for JMM. Wherever he comes, two to four thousand people will gather there. From tomorrow till May 30, Shah should remain in Jharkhand. So that it can be ensured that the India Alliance gets 14 seats, he added. The language of Shah is very strange. He would straighten it by hanging it upside down. This is not Gujarat but Jharkhand. No one can threaten here. The public will answer. Here BJP will be turned upside down and made straight. The answer will be received only on May 13, said Bhattacharya. The JMM General Secretary also said that there is a direct electoral fight with BJP in all four seats of the first phase. Incidentally, these four seats are reserved seats. These four seats will clearly come in favour of INDI Alliance. BJP will be wiped out. I am saying this because yesterday Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a public meeting in Khunti. There were only 5,000 people transported there. People of Jharkhand are simple. This is the land of Birsa Munda. He fought with the British. This is not Gujarat. He will be driven away, he added. Hitting hard on BJP, Bhattacharya said that if you have courage in 2024, then show it by holding assembly elections in Kashmir. Only jackals are worried about everything. Language will have to be controlled. Be thankful that there were no tribals there. BJP does not talk on issues. Since he has become the minister of paramilitary force, he thought that he would threaten and leave. Why don't you go to Srinagar? Amit Shah please answer. Only and only blackmailing is being done. The Finance Minister comes here. Meets the land scam accused. Papers are exchanged. The Election Commission should take cognizance of this, he added. Chief Electoral Officer K. Ravi Kumar has appealed to the voters of the Lok Sabha constituencies voting in the fourth phase that they should consider voting as a matter of top priority and go to vote on May 13. He said that even if someone does not have a Voter ID card or it is lost somewhere, they do not need to worry because if their name is registered in the voter list, they can vote even without a Voter ID card. For this, they will have to come to the polling station with any one of the 12 alternative identity cards prescribed by the Commission. It was told that these alternative identity cards include Aadhaar card, MGNREGA job card, bank passbook/post office passbook with photo, health insurance smart card issued by the Ministry of Labour, driving license, PAN card, smart card issued under NPR, Indian passport, with photo. These include pension documents, service ID cards with photographs issued by the Centre, State or government undertaking, government identity cards issued to MPs, MLAs and Legislative Council members and unique disability ID cards. Therefore, he made a public appeal that even if a registered voter does not have a voter identity card, he should still go to vote with one of the above 12 alternative identity cards. Meanwhile, campaigning for the fourth phase of elections in the Country and first phase of Jharkhand ended in Singhbhum, Khunti, Lohardaga and Palamu on Saturday. No gathering, rally, meeting or campaigning through loudspeakers will be allowed in the concerned areas from 5 pm onwards. However, the candidates will be able to continue door-to-door campaigning. The voting will be held in all four Lok Sabha constituencies of the State on May 13. CEO K Ravi Kumar said that the process of deployment of security forces at the polling booths has started. Adequate numbers of EVMs have been made available at the booths for voting work, he added. These four seats cover 10 districts and 23 assembly constituencies of the state. Today Saturday is the last day of campaigning for this phase. There are 45 candidates in the electoral fray from these four Lok Sabha constituencies. These include 4 candidates from Singhbhum, 15 from Lohardaga, 9 from Palamu and 7 from Khunti. According to the Election Commission data, 64 lakh 37 thousand 460 voters of Jharkhand will exercise their franchise in the fourth phase. There are 32 lakh 29 thousand 480 male voters and 32 lakh 07 thousand 938 female voters. Palamu has the highest number of voters 22 lakh 38 thousand 460. Whereas 14 lakh 36 thousand 351 voters in Lohardaga, 14 lakh 41 thousand 841 voters in Singhbhum and 13 lakh 20 thousand 808 voters in Khunti will participate in the elections. Out of fourteen Lok Sabha seats in the State, these four seats are reserved for Schedule Tribes (ST) and Schedule Cast (SC). Palamu seat is reserved for SC and Lohardaga, Khunti and Singhbhum seats are reserved for ST. As soon as the election campaign ends, the candidates will go door-to-door and appeal to the people to vote in their favor. Union Minister Arjun Munda, former Minister in the State Government, Joba Manjhi and three sitting MPs are in the fray on all four seats of the State. The current MPs include Vishnu Dayal Ram from Palamu, Arjun Munda from Khunti, Geeta Koda from Singhbhum. Only BJP candidates are in the electoral fray from NDA side. Two candidates from Congress and one each from JMM and RJD are contesting from the India Alliance. Arjun Munda from Khunti, Geeta Koda from Singhbhum, Sameer Oraon from Lohardaga and Vishnu Dayal Ram from Palamu are in the fray from BJP. Congress has fielded Kalicharan Munda from Khunti and Sukhdeo Bhagat from Lohardaga. JMM has fielded Joba Manjhi from Singhbhum and RJD has fielded Mamta Bhuiyan from Palamu. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday claimed that Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav jumped into the poll fray, when the INDIA bloc could not find a candidate for Kannauj. Addressing an election rally in Kannauj, Adityanath alleged that they gave a ticket to the first candidate but it was withdrawn. "The second candidate left the poll fray. The third candidate refused to contest the polls. When they could not find a candidate for Kannauj, the SP chief said he wanted to serve the people, Adityanath claimed. He said that Uttar Pradesh had become a hub for riots and the previous chief minister would invite the rioters to his residence and eulogise them. Adityanath attacked the INDIA bloc and said when they could not find a candidate for the Kannauj constituency, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav jumped into the fray. But, now you are watching how the new Uttar Pradesh of new India deals with the rioters and those imposing curfew". Adityanath was campaigning for the BJP candidate from Kannauj Subrat Pathak. Adityanath said that in the new India, there is security, welfare of the poor, development, respect for heritage and faith. "SP used to open fire on Ram devotees, withdrew the cases against terrorists and the BJP built Ram temple. You have elected the government of the BJP in Delhi and Lucknow. With your contribution, a grand Ram temple has been built in Ayodhya after 500 years. After all this time, Prabhu Ram played Holi at his birthplace, celebrated Ram Navami and did Surya Tilak. This world was blessed to see the new Ayodhya. We also saw the hopes and dreams of our ancestors being fulfilled before our eyes," Adityanath said. He alleged that Ramdrohis' are conspiring against India and its people. Ram devotees want to create a new history with Modi ji's government. Ram devotees want to make India the world's biggest power, developed, self-reliant and happy and we will become that under the leadership of Modi ji in Delhi, he said. Under his leadership, Uttar Pradesh will play its role as the growth engine of India's economy," he added. In Kanpur, Adityanath said that if the INDIA bloc comes to power, the era of terrorism and Naxalism will return to the country. "The Congress, which spreads the fear of constitutional amendment, was the first to trample upon the freedom of expression by amending the Constitution," he said. Taking a jibe at the Samajwadi Party, the UP chief minister said that their agenda was not to develop Ayodhya but rather to withdraw the cases against the terrorists who attacked the city. Hitting out at the INDIA bloc, Adityanath said, "INDI alliance is losing its credibility due to negative politics. They are worried about the interests of Pakistan. They are not worried about solving the problem of terrorism and Naxalism, but about withdrawing the cases filed against terrorists. Their concern was that no matter what happens, Ram temple should not be built in Ayodhya." Kannauj and Kanpur will go to the polls on May 13 in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Octavia Johnson is a general assignment reporter for the Houston Chronicle. She can be reached at octavia.johnson@houstonchronicle.com. Before joining the Chronicle, Octavia worked as a digital content producer at WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tenn., where she became a leader in producing fast paced, audience-focused content. Octavia graduated from UNC Pembroke with a bachelor's degree in journalism before earning her master's degree in media and communications at Norfolk State University. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that all opposition leaders, including his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and RJD leader Tejashvi Yadav, will be in jail if the BJP wins the Lok Sabha polls. Addressing his party workers at the AAP headquarters here, Kejriwal asserted the BJP will not return to power and said the INDIA bloc will form the government on June 4. "In last 20 hours after release from jail, I talked to poll experts and people and got to know the BJP is not going to form the government," said Kejriwal. "The AAP will be part of the government at the Centre. We will get full statehood for Delhi," he added. Kejriwal charged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is asking for votes for Union Home Minister Amit Shah. "These people ask INDIA bloc about their face. I ask BJP who will be their PM? Modi ji is turning 75 on September 17 next year. He had made the rule that people aged 75 will be retired. They retired LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan," said Kejriwal. "He will retire next year. He is seeking votes for making Amit Shah the prime minister. Will Shah fulfill Modiji's guarantee?" he asked. Kejriwal also claimed that if the BJP comes to power, the party will change Uttar Pradesh chief minister within two months. While Kejriwal was in jail, the BJP had demanded his resignation. Talking about why he did not resign, he said, "The chief minister's post is not important for me. I did not step down as the chief minister because a conspiracy was hatched to force me to resign on a fake case." Kejriwal in a scathing attack on the BJP said all "thieves and dacoits" are inducted by the party. "If the prime minister wants to learn about fighting corruption, he should learn from Arvind Kejriwal. We sent corrupt to jail and even our own ministers," he added. The chief minister also alleged that the "prime minister has left no stone unturned to crush the AAP by sending its four top leaders to jail". Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday took out a massive roadshow in Hamirpur district and said the enthusiasm of the people clearly suggests that they have made up their mind to vote for the BJP. Thakur, the BJP candidate from Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, said that people were happy with the performance of the BJP led government at the Centre and wanted to make Narendra Modi the prime minister for the third term. Thakur, a four time MP from Hamirpur, started his programme in the early morning hours and visited the Kuldevi -Awahdevi temple to seek blessings for himself and the party. He also took blessings from his parents. Thakur took out a roadshow in an open jeep from Awahdevi to Hamirpur. He was accompanied by former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP chief Rajeev Bindal and BJP candidates from Sujanpur and Barsar Rajendra Rana and ID Lakhanpal. He also offered prayers at the Shiva temple where hundreds of local party leaders and workers were present. The BJP flags, banners and hoardings were seen all around the town. Carrying placards and photos of Thakur in their hands, the BJP workers and supporters raised slogans in support of the minister and the party. Thousands of men, women and youngsters from Una, Bilaspur, Mandi and Kangra districts also joined the procession. The procession was so large that commuters faced difficulty crossing through Hamirpur town. The roadshow was organized a day after a show of strength by the Congress after its candidate Satpal Raizada filed his nomination papers from the Hamirpur seat on Friday. Thakur's father and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal told PTI over phone that he was happy to see the public showering their support for his son and the BJP. He said that the BJP would win all four Lok Sabha seats and six Vidhan Sabha seats in the state. Meet local singles shopping for casual hookups in south africa If you are looking for some casual hookups in south africa, you have arrive at the best destination! only at casual hookups, we all know how exactly to have some fun. we now have many folks from everywhere whore selecting a little enjoyable, so were certain we could assist you in finding everything youare looking for. we now have a giant range of people that are in search of casual hookups, and that means youre certain to find someone whos suitable for you. we also provide many passions, so youre certain to find an individual who shares your interests. were here to help make your relationship experience as easy as possible, so dont hesitate to give us an attempt! 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She can be reached at shakari.briggs@houstonchronicle.com. Before joining the Chronicle in November 2023, she worked for Spectrum News as a digital journalist based in her hometown. Shakari comes to the Houston newsroom with experience in broadcast reporting and producing as a former multimedia journalist and associate producer. The Dallas native has also worked at small to medium-sized newspapers throughout her career. Her reporting on the rise and fall of a shopping mall won an Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors Contest award. She also earned an Arkansas Press Association award for freelance reporting. Workers sort mail Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Tameka Watson, a mail handler and equipment operator, sorts packages Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer A worker moves packages Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Packages sit in a cart Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer John DiPeri, vice president of regional processing operations for the Western Processing Region of the United States Postal Service, talks about some of USPSs new robots as he leads a media tour Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer B. Harris, left, and B. Williams, both mail clerks, sort mail Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Workers sort mail Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer Workers sort mail and packages Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer U.S. Postal Service officials provided an updated timeline Thursday of its modernization plan in Houston, noting operations at the South Houston Local Processing Center should be 95% complete by the end of August. The processing center in Missouri City is a new facility built as part of the Delivering for America plan, the Postal Services 10-year plan to modernize the post office. Officials said more than $250 million will be spent on improving operations in the area by the end of the year. Unlike our past facilities, where we just shoehorn things in wherever we had space, this building, we were able to get a large enough building where we could put the machines in that we wanted to put in, said John DiPeri, vice president of Regional Processing Operations. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The facility opened in November as a peak season annex for the regions main facility in North Houston but continued operating after the holiday season ended. But due to problems, including staffing shortages and a hard freeze, the facility played a major role in the mail delays that swept across the region. A recent audit from the USPS Office of Inspector General revealed the auditors estimated 384,000 pieces of late mail were at the facility during an unannounced visit at the end of January. The audit also found safety concerns, incorrect reporting of mail and more at the site. John DiPeri, vice president of regional processing operations for the Western Processing Region of the United States Postal Service, leads a media tour Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer We got into a congested situation that took us several weeks to come out of, DiPeri said. We brought a team of extra plant managers immediately from across the country to come help us. It took us a month to really bail out to get out. And I apologize for that. That responsibility is my responsibility. And it wont happen again. The South Houston Local Processing Center, which is about 400,000 square feet, is currently only sorting packages as its machines to do letters and magazines are constructed. Only one side of dock doors are currently being used as the other side is being constructed. Advertisement Article continues below this ad There will be three package-sorting machines when the facility is fully operational. There are currently five because the facility is taking on packages that will be serviced out of the North Houston Regional Processing and Distribution Center when that facility is full operational. DiPeri said 205 people were working at the facility in May, with plans to staff up to 500 by August. The facility also has its first set of running bathrooms with more restrooms starting construction Friday. It is also currently being run on generators as a transformer wont be in town until July due to supply chain issues, officials said. B. Williams, a mail clerk, sorts mail Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer DiPeri led the visit along with James Gibson and Larry Wagener, who is the senior director of Division Processing Operations. Gibson is the South Houston Local Processing Center plant manager. He said he started in the role a month ago and moved here from Las Vegas. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The officials apologized multiple times for the mail delays during the tour, which saw service performance drop significantly with a nadir in on-time delivery in January. Inbound first-class mail in January was on time only 67.33% of the time in the Texas 2 region, which extends the entire Gulf Coast region of Texas and well into the state. Breakdowns into counties or cities are not available via the services performance tracker. Problems did occur in the execution when we first started, Wagener said. Service was admittedly poor during January. We own that. Service performance for inbound first-class mail improved to 83.78% in February and 88.91% in March before dropping to 86.60% on April 1-April 26. Data from the last week of April has not been updated online. Advertisement Article continues below this ad While those numbers are up compared to Januarys rough statistics, they are down by at least 3% compared to the same period last year. DiPeri said the Postal Service is learning from what happened in Houston and other areas experiencing problems related to the Delivering for America plan. Earlier in the week, DiPeri along with four vice presidents and 20 high-level folks had meetings in Texas regarding the lessons learned from the problems that occurred during and after the holiday season. I would have had more people available, and I would have planned the execution better, DiPeri said. But I learned from that. Chopper lifts off from landing ship China Military Online) 12:17, May 11, 2024 A ship-borne helicopter attached to a ship-borne helicopter regiment with the navy under the PLA Eastern Theater Command lifts off from the flight deck of a landing ship during a coordinated training exercise in mid-April, 2024. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Zhou Chunze) A ship-borne helicopter attached to a ship-borne helicopter regiment with the navy under the PLA Eastern Theater Command lifts off from the flight deck of a landing ship during a coordinated training exercise in mid-April, 2024. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Zhou Chunze) A ship-borne helicopter attached to a ship-borne helicopter regiment with the navy under the PLA Eastern Theater Command lifts off from the flight deck of a landing ship during a coordinated training exercise in mid-April, 2024. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Zhou Chunze) A ship-borne helicopter attached to a ship-borne helicopter regiment with the navy under the PLA Eastern Theater Command lifts off from the flight deck of a landing ship during a coordinated training exercise in mid-April, 2024. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Zhou Chunze) (Web editor: Tian Yi, Zhong Wenxing) Texas, the birthplace of Western swing, has been the musical cradle for performers who play country, blues, pop, jazz, polka and traditional Mexican music. But Texas weather isnt as kind to their musical instruments. Whether you play a stringed instrument, percussion, brass or woodwind instruments, they can be damaged by humidity and extreme temperatures, which are inescapable in Texas. Advertisement Article continues below this ad When wood takes on moisture, it expands and when it dries out, it contracts, said Clint Strait, the president and owner of Strait Music Company in Austin. Any major swings in temperature and humidity are bad, causing warping and cracking. In unpredictable Texas weather, Strait said its best to avoid leaving your instruments in a hot or cold car, as drastic temperature changes can be damaging. A good rule of thumb: Make sure to store your instruments in their cases after playing to help maintain proper humidity levels. Left-handed guitars hang for display at Southpaw Guitars, which has been selling the instruments for more than forty years in Houston. To keep a guitar in good condition, you should maintain a humidity level between 40% and 50%, which Houston residents know can be a struggle. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer In tune with humidity To keep a guitar in good condition, you should maintain a humidity level between 40% and 50%. Coincidentally, this is the same range in which a perfectly tuned HVAC system should operate which Texas residents know can be a struggle. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Relative humidity is a measure of how much moisture is present in the air compared to how much it can hold at a given temperature. For example, a relative humidity of 50% means the air is holding one-half of the water vapor it has the potential to hold, which is air thats equally dry and moist. Depending on the wind direction, Texas air can either be especially muggy with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, or much drier, thanks to the fluctuating boundary of semi-arid air in West Texas called a dry line. So, getting the perfect humidity is near impossible, but Strait said you can create humidity harmony. WEATHER EXPLAINED: How Texas weather frustrates detectives who are solving mysteries behind dead bodies Most wooden instruments need to be stored in their case because humidity is easier to control in a small space, Strait said. You can even use a hygrometer, an instrument used to measure humidity or water vapor in the air, in your instruments case, and invest in a humidification system to regulate moisture levels as needed. This is not only true for wooden instruments, but also for brass instruments because of the mechanisms inside which are degradable. Advertisement Article continues below this ad If you leave a saxophone in a wetter environment for a while, it can start to erode or (moisture can) break down the pads that seal or close the holes that produce the different pitches, said Steven Vague, who solos on the saxophone for his band, Waller Creek Vipers. A wet environment can damage woodwinds like a saxophone by breaking down the pads that seal the holes where air flows to produce the different musical notes, musicians say. Andrew Richardson/Houston Chronicle Extreme temperatures Temperature can also be a stressor on instruments, causing significant problems with tuning and performance. Cold weather can cause notes played on wind instruments to go flat and notes played on string instruments to become sharp. Conversely, warm weather can lead to string instruments expanding and potentially sounding sluggish. Chris Rogers, a professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts University, and musical instrument engineer Jesse Jones told Scientific American magazine that the amount of friction between the bow and strings of a violin changes in warmer weather, which can alter how a musician plays. The key bushings of a piano, which are the hinges that help keep the keys on track, will swell in such conditions. This swelling leads to an increase in the time between when the musician strikes the key and when the hammer hits the string by 10 milliseconds. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The key bushings of a piano, which are the hinges that help keep the keys on track, will swell in warm weather. This swelling leads to an increase in the time between when the musician strikes the key and when the hammer hits the string by 10 milliseconds. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News How do you combat those elements when playing the instruments? State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Zip Code As proclaimed representatives of the British royal family, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are conducting an official royal visit to the African nation of Nigeria. To great praise and applause from the Nigerian crowds, the royal couple were greeted. The royal trip to Nigeria has been a great success. Representing the British Royal Family Royal expert Simon Fortington-Smythe revealed some of the intricacies of the royal trip to Nigeria. Thanks to King Charles III not relinquishing these two of their royal titles, they can profit from them as they wish, as well as visit any place they want using their royal titles claiming they represent the British royal family. It is the Windsor clans intransigence and wish not to confront the problem head on which is causing these two people to do as they wish using the titles bestowed upon them by the late Queen Elizabeth II without any form of consequence of their actions. Cashing in on royal ties King Charles does not like confrontation in any way, and thus the Windsor family is effectively a laughingstock as this couple gallivant around the globe doing exactly what the late queen forbade. The poor former queen is probably spinning in her grave. Despite hypocritical Prince Harry being supposedly concerned about security in the UK, he has chosen to visit a country full of Islamic terrorist groups like Al-Shabab and ISIS, to name a few. Nigeria is the twelfth most dangerous country in the world, and the Home Office has issued alerts to citizens not to visit the country. Amongst the baying, wild Nigerian crowds, an assassination attempt would be easy. Yet Harry has no qualms about the security in the region, especially when they are receiving the much-needed adulation they crave from the people of Nigeria who rarely receive such visits. As every narcissist would love, Meghan mania continued in Nigeria as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended a sitting volleyball match and were mobbed by fans. One fan even carried a placard proclaiming 43% Nigerin referring to Markles heritage, and other fans proudly carried Harrys book Spare where he denounces and insults the British royal family. The visit which has become a royal tour is part of Harry and Meghans renewed public relations campaign to supersede the British royal family in the media. It seems their ploy is working, as they are all over the press, whilst the Windsors are but a forgotten memory. Prince William meanwhile was visiting the Scilly Isles, which received little or no attention from the press. Ascension, one of the biggest private healthcare networks in the US, is confirmed to have suffered a ransomware attack, forcing multiple medical and non-emergency services to be paused. In a cybersecurity update on Thursday, the St. Louis-based healthcare firm determined the service disruption last Wednesday to be a cyberattack from the Russian-speaking ransomware group Black Basta. Ascension has already notified all the 140 hospitals and 40 senior living facilities using its services to temporarily disconnect while the company is still trying to restore its servers. Several digital systems, including phones and various systems "utilized to order certain tests, procedures, and medications," have reportedly been affected by the attack. It remains unclear if patients' medical records were accessed by the still unidentified hackers. Ascension is currently investigating the "cybersecurity incident" with federal authorities. The company has already initiated its "downtime procedure" as it diverts its ambulances and emergency operations to other hospitals, while patient appointments are rescheduled. Also Read : Canadian Pharmacy Becomes Latest Victim of Cyberattacks on Healthcare Businesses Ransomware Attacks on Healthcare Firms Becomes More Rampant The attack on Ascension is only the latest in the growing number of healthcare businesses in North America being targeted for ransomware campaigns. The World Health Organization earlier noted "inadequate security" systems in many healthcare infrastructures, allowing bad actors to easily infiltrate private medical records. Just last March, UnitedHealth Group, the biggest medical and healthcare provider in the country, suffered a major ransomware attack that crippled its operations for nearly a week, affecting major pharmacies and hospitals across the US. A subsequent investigation has found that around one-third of its American customers' private information might have been compromised during the data breach. UnitedHealth had to pay $22 million to prevent the hackers, BlackCat, from leaking sensitive medical records to the public. A few weeks after, Canadian pharmacy London Drugs also reported attempted cyberattacks across its British Colombia branches, forcing the company to temporarily shut down its operations. The WHO advised healthcare firms like Ascension to heighten their "cyber-maturity," including steps towards building stronger defenses on their digital assets and technology against more sophisticated cyberattacks. US Gov't Urged to Boost Health Sector Cyber Defenses Amid the attacks, calls for larger federal funding for better protection in the health sector are getting traction in the US government. The supposed solution is being touted as a way to disrupt potential cyberattacks on healthcare firms and raise cyber awareness on what to do during these incidents. The calls include plans to establish a "streamlined and efficient process" to help affected health facilities minimize cyberattacks' impact on healthcare operations. So far, the current administration has proposed a $800 million budget plan to help 2,000 high-need hospitals by 2027 and 2028. There are more than 6,100 hospitals and 45,311 pharmacies currently operational in the US. It is time to end the piecemeal approach and instead set up a top-level, cross-border structure to develop a new university, and regional development plan, for the North West. The Derry University Group has been saying we need a Marshall Plan for more than a decade now, so it is very refreshing to see this approach echoed by the Royal Irish Academy in its recent Irish government-commissioned report on our grossly underdeveloped university sector. Everybody whose child ever took the boat across to Liverpool - two-thirds of them never coming back - should take the time to read the excellent new RIA paper. Inter alia, it describes current piecemeal development practices as wasteful and anachronistic, concluding: The relative underinvestment in tertiary education in the greater north-west has had major negative consequences for the development of the region. The rectification of this anomaly necessitates major joint affirmative actions by the Irish and UK governments and the Northern Ireland Executive. This should involve the development of a clear vision and programme to enable the region to fulfil its potential and find its niche within the economies of Northern Ireland and Ireland. ...Ultimately, spatial planning of tertiary education and other development is a responsibility of governments. It is unrealistic and unfair to delegate such planning to tertiary institutions, which will, inevitably, have many competing pressures. The Academy, which co-ordinated a series of seminars in the North West over the past two years as part of its research, identified that the lack of political will had been a key impediment to growth - and echoed the view that an ambitious regionally-focused strategy, underpinned by independent expertise was urgently needed. Significantly, the RIA is firmly of the opinion that any new Higher Education cluster, or standalone university, in the North West should be independent of Belfast and of Ulster University. It highlights concern (alarm) that the capital is profiting at the expense of the North West, due to the disproportionate concentration of students in Belfast (82.6 percent of the NI total), which is more than double the figure for any of the other capital cities. It also warns about the difficult, if not impossible challenges in managing split-campus universities anchored in a capital city, such as Ulster University: ...Tension is likely to arise for multi-campus universities spread across both more affluent and disadvantaged areas, where the priorities and external pressures relative to different campus locations and campuses may be difficult, if not impossible, to manage within a unitary governance structure. The group of three which co-ordinated the new report was chaired by former UU Vice-Chancellor and recently-retired RIA Vice-President Gerry McKenna. They propose that students could be encouraged and incentivised to come to the North West as a means of restoring regional balance. This could, they suggest, take the form of reduced student fees or increased student maintenance to those attending the new NWU. They have also called for independent scrutiny of the Northern Ireland university sector, the only HE sector on the islands without an oversight body. The report states: It is difficult to envisage a HE oversight body supporting the current geographically skewed distribution of HE places or concluding that such concentration would be in the interests of economic and cultural development or social cohesion. Of the two HE models considered for the region, the Academy favours a new federal university over a HE cluster in the North West. It states: The development of a federal crossborder tertiary education institution merits serious consideration. A federal cross-border tertiary education institution would be made up of existing constituent institutions but with an overall governance structure involving coordinated oversight of planning across the region, promoting collaboration and eliminating wasteful and unnecessary duplication. In such a scenario, each jurisdiction would continue to be responsible for the funding of its colleges and campuses. ...It is recommended, therefore, that a feasibility study examining the options available should be commissioned by the Irish and UK governments and the NI Executive as an important next step. The Derry University Group holds that a new cross-border structure, dedicated to the development of the federal North West University, is the next necessary move for the governments. The RIA report is the most significant intervention in the NW university sector - and its economic sector - in a generation. If implemented, as it should be, the blueprint will transform both sides of the border in the North West. The report must be the cornerstone of every economic discussion and development plan for the next decade. We commend Professor McKenna and the Academy for the vision and determination - and all those who have supported the 60 year campaign for a university for the North West. St. Brigids Primary School in Carnhill celebrates a milestone this year with the school marking its fifty years in existence! And to mark the special occasion, school principal Ms. Mary McCallion and her staff have organised a number of events, notably a Celebration Mass, officiated by Bishop Donal McKeown on Wednesday, June 19 at 2pm at St. Brigids Church, Carnhill. This will be followed by A Trip Down Memory Lane in the school followed by refreshments and the Principal said she is hoping to see many old faces and not so old faces coming along to enjoy and have a catch-up. A second event on Friday, June 21 will see a Fun Day organised for the pupils to mark the occasion and again its hoped many familiar faces will take time out to come along and enjoy the days proceedings. There will be a fairground atmosphere with inflatables, tombola, face-painting, music, BBQ, ice dream, tuck shop, disco and much more. Speaking on the announcement this week, Principal Ms McCallion said it was important to mark a milestone in the schools history. "I, the board of governors and staff look forward to seeing as many former pupils, retired staff and indeed, anyone who had any connection with the school, joining us on Wednesday 19 June to celebrate with Bishop Donal McKeown and Fr. Sean O'Donnell PP in St. Brigids Church, Carnhill. "This will be followed by a trip around the school where we have many photos adorning the walls and Im sure there will be a lot of reminiscing as these go right back to when the school opened. We look forward to seeing you all there! Anyone looking to help out or assist financially in the 50th celebrations is asked to contact the school on 02871 351929 or email mmccallion607@c2kni.net Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. There is a continued lack of expertise within the civil service in Northern Ireland to deliver needed public sector reform, DUP interim leader Gavin Robinson has said. Mr Robinson drew attention to comments from senior civil servants reported at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, which he said had been contemptuous towards elected representatives. The MP made the comments in his weekly message to DUP members, seen by the PA news agency. Mr Robinson became the unionist partys interim leader in March following the resignation of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson when he was charged with historical sexual offences. Mr Robinson said improving the lives of people in Northern Ireland required political vision and ambition coupled with expertise and capacity from civil servants. He said: Comments this week from the Covid-19 inquiry are strikingly similar to those made during the RHI inquiry. Whilst most civil servants are striving to achieve the very best for the public, comment from some senior figures have not only been contemptuous towards elected representatives but highlight a continued lack of expertise within our local civil service to deliver the ambitious reform that schools, roads and hospitals require. The Covid-19 Inquiry has been sitting in Belfast while it examines Northern Irelands handling of the Covid emergency. The RHI inquiry identified a multiplicity of mistakes in the running of a botched green energy scheme. Mr Robinson added: I dont believe that Northern Ireland is lacking in vision or ambition, but too often we have seen a scarcity of expertise within our public sector to make that vision a reality. We sought to tackle this within the Safeguarding the Union command paper. That sets out a programme for skills exchange between the NICS (Northern Ireland Civil Service) and the UK Home Civil Service. Encouraging those secondments and movement across all parts of the UK may sound like a technical or even inconsequential move, but it not only mainstreams Northern Ireland more within the United Kingdom but can deliver real and meaningful benefits for the people living here. Our objective is to fix the problems and build for the future. It is clear the NICS does not have the requisite expertise to deliver the radical reform or build the infrastructure needed for the next generation to succeed. The MP said the DUP would not allow the current situation to drift. He added: We will be pressing for greater integration within the Home Civil Service and the recruitment of more external experts as senior leaders. I am in the business of building a better Northern Ireland for everyone living here. That includes ensuring that we can deliver the kind of public services people here not only expect but deserve. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are paying a $10 million settlement from 50 attorney generals' complaints of deceptive "unlimited" data plans and carrier switching incentives. The New York Attorney General's office announced on Thursday the finalization of the settlement deal after a multistate investigation found the companies "deceptively marketing wireless service plans." According to the findings, all three telecoms' "unlimited" data plans were "in fact limited and had reduced quality." AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile Now Required to Fully Disclose Data Plan Offers The investigation also determined that the companies lied about the "free" phones and bonuses for switching wireless carrier plans, excluding key details on how to retrieve the offered products. To prevent similar malpractices from happening, 50 general attorneys have started requiring the companies to disclose the full terms and conditions of the offer before receiving payment. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile maintained that the agreements "reflect no finding of improper conduct." Part of the settlement payment is expected to be returned to the millions of customers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile sold its misleading data plans. A "dedicated representative" is already being required to handle all customer complaints and inquiries regarding the agreement and its possible compensations. Federal Gov't Cracks Down on ISPs' Unfair Practices The multistate investigation is only the latest move from the US government as it starts cracking down on unfair business practices many internet service providers have committed for many years. Just a week earlier, the Federal Communication Commission fined AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile nearly $200 million for unlawfully sharing customer data locations with ad companies. The "Big Three" carriers are also facing more regulatory scrutiny following the commission's decision to reinstate net neutrality rules, preventing ISPs and wireless carrier providers from bottling data speeds to promote their much more expensive connection plans. These are in addition to the administration's move to remove "junk fees" from internet bills to ease Americans' monthly expenses. 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. The whole country will be rooting for Irelands Eurovision hopeful Bambie Thug, the Irish premier Simon Harris has said. Bambie Thug, 31, landed a place in the grand final following a vote for their performance of Doomsday Blue in the first semi-final. It makes them the first Irish finalist since 2018. The Co Cork stars hometown of Macroom is planning the party to end all parties on Saturday evening. A stage and large screen will be erected in the town square so fans, who are being encouraged to wear green, white and gold, can watch the Eurovision final. Organisers are also hopeful that live footage of their event can be beamed to Malmo so that Bambie can see their hometown support. Asked what his message would be, Mr Harris said: For the first time since 2018, Ireland is in the final of Eurovision that is down to Bambie Thug. They have been absolutely incredible. They have done the country absolutely proud. I am so proud of them as Taoiseach (premier) of this country on the world stage, in front of a global audience doing Ireland proud. Speaking on Friday, he added: So I wish Bambie Thug every good luck tomorrow night. I know the whole country will be rooting for them. Speaking to reporters in Co Cork, Mr Harris said: I know particularly Cork will be rooting for them. We have a real chance and if we win the Eurovision, Im quite sure Cork will have a very strong claim that if Cork won it, than maybe Cork should host it. On a related matter, the Irish leader said he intended to bring discussion on funding for a proposed event centre in Cork to a conclusion within a number of weeks. Cork needs its event centre and Ive had conversations with coalition colleagues and others on this, he added. A fatal road incident has turned into a murder investigation following new evidence which has come to light. An Garda Siochana is continuing to investigate the fatal traffic incident involving a motorcycle and a car that occurred at Sandbrook, Ballon, Co Carlow, at approximately 10:30pm on Wednesday, 24 April. The motorcyclist, a male in his 30s, was pronounced deceased at the scene. The car involved was found burnt out at the location, and the occupants of the car failed to remain at the scene. Following extensive investigations by Gardai including technical examinations and a post-mortem examination on the deceased, a murder investigation has commenced. A Family Liaison Officer (FLO) has been appointed and is keeping the family of the deceased updated on this investigation, in addition to providing support. Gardai are continuing to appeal to any person that can assist Gardai with this investigation to come forward. In particular, Gardai are appealing for public assistance in tracing the movements of a dark grey Volkswagen Passat CC (with Northern Irish registration plates and partial registration OHZ). It's known at this time that this car travelled across the M1 toll bridge at approximately 8pm on Tuesday, April 23 and it is known that it then travelled to the Ballon area of Carlow on the evening of Wednesday, April 24. Gardai are appealing to any persons in the environs of Ballykealy, Ballon, Rathoe and Sandbrook who may have observed this car on either days to come forward. Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling in these areas are asked to make them available to Gardai. Any home-owners in these areas who have CCTV facing the road are also asked to make contact with Gardai. Gardai are also looking to trace the movements of a black Honda CBR motorcycle (partial registration 03 WW) in the Sandbrook area on the evening of Wednesday, April 24 and are again appealing to any road-users with camera footage (including dash-cam) or to home-owners with CCTV facing the road to come forward, in addition to any person who remembers observing this motorcycle. Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact Carlow Garda Station at 059 913 6620, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station. The home town of Irish Eurovision entry Bambie Thug is celebrating them bringing the nation back to the grand final for the first time in six years. The performer secured Irelands first qualification for the final of the competition since 2018. The centre of Macroom, Co Cork has been transformed with a giant screen to allow locals and visitors to watch Saturdays final together. The towns former mayor Connie Foley was among those who had turned out to support Bambie Thug. He described them as being from a very talented family. We wish them the best and all the family, he said. The performance of Israels entry, Hurricane by Eden Golan, was not shown on the big screen in the town. Instead, a minute of silence was held. Event organiser James OSullivan told the crowd the silence was as a mark of respect to everybody, our friends in Ukraine, Gaza and every other part of the world that has been affected by warmongers and violence. There was spontaneous applause following the silence, and a call for ceasefire now. We need everyone to come out in huge numbers. There will be other activists from across Cork, and the rest of Ireland joining us. This is not a protest against the individual representing Ireland. Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign (@CampaignCork) May 11, 2024 A demonstration in solidarity with Palestine, and against Israels participation in the contest, had been expected to take place in Macroom on Saturday. The Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign emphasised the gathering is not against the individual representing Ireland, but about showing solidarity with Palestine. (Photo : Unsplash/Li-An Lim ) Hundreds of protesters opposing the expansion of a Tesla plant in Grunheide, near Berlin, clashed with police on Friday as some attempted to storm the electric vehicle manufacturing facility. Opposition to Tesla's Gigafactory The organizing group Disrupt Tesla reported that around 800 people participated in the protest, which alleges that the expansion would harm the environment. Tesla has faced significant criticism since opening the factory in March 2022 and subsequently announcing plans to expand into a nearby forest to boost production capacity. To facilitate expansion, Tesla purportedly planned to clear 250 acres of forest near a nature preserve to construct a freight rail depot and storage facility. The company asserts the project will reduce dependence on external suppliers and mitigate delays in part production. Despite locals voting against the proposed expansion in February in a nonbinding vote, Tesla and local officials opted to proceed with the plan. Since then, demonstrators have been stationed in an encampment nearby in protest. The facility was closed in March for a week due to suspected arson, which turned off its power. A different protest group, known as the Volcano Group, claimed responsibility for the fire, advocating for the complete destruction of the gigafactory. Disrupt Tesla's Environmental Protest A group of activists attempted to trespass on Tesla's property. At the same time, sit-in blockades disrupted vehicle road access, leading to scuffles between police and protesters, with some demonstrators attempting to escape the situation. In a video depicted by Reuters, dozens of individuals wearing blue caps and masks emerged from a nearby wooded area. They tried to breach the company's premises, with police intervening through force. At least one protester was detained. Tesla CEO Elon Musk questioned on his social media platform X on why the police were lenient to let the left-wing protestors off easily, noting that they failed to breach the premises. READ ALSO: Elon Musk Railing Against $55 Billion Pay Ruling, Shifts Neuralink Incorporation from Delaware to Nevada The video also depicted medical personnel assisting injured individuals. Disrupt Tesla spokesperson Ole Becker informed Reuters that they were there to raise awareness about the environmental damage caused by the Tesla factory in Grunheide. The group also aims to bring attention to environmental devastation in countries such as Argentina or Bolivia caused by lithium mining, emphasizing that lithium is a crucial resource for electric vehicle batteries. Brandenburg police spokesperson Mario Heinemann emphasized that while they respect the freedom of assembly, they also prioritize maintaining public order and safety and, therefore, would intervene when necessary. Heinemann confirmed that the protesters attempted to enter the plant's premises but were stopped, resulting in several individuals being taken into custody and reportedly receiving reports of few injuries and that some demonstrators had damaged a few Tesla cars using pyrotechnics and paint at a nearby car storage site. Earlier this week, Tesla said it would shut the factory for one day on Friday without specifying a reason. RELATED ARTICLE: Tesla Aiming for Expansion, Faces Hurdle as German Locals Cast Non-Binding Vote Opposition 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. (Photo : Unsplash/Ernie Journeys) After dismissing senior director Rebecca Tinucci and her entire 500-person EV charging team, Musk has now changed direction, stating that the company remains dedicated to investing well over $500 million to expand its flagship network of Superchargers. Musk Funding New Supercharger Sites In a post on X last Friday, Musk asserted that the funds would be utilized to establish new 'Supercharger' sites across the country, reiterating the amount is solely for new sites and expansions, excluding higher operational costs. As anticipated, Musk did not elaborate on his significant shift in stance. The unpredictable CEO faced considerable criticism, even from some staunchest supporters, for undermining an aspect of the company that distinguishes it significantly from its US competitors. The Damage Caused by The Disbandment The EV maker faced turmoil last month as several vital executives departed following multiple rounds of mass layoffs, causing the company's sales to plummet. Earlier this week, the company caused a stir when it suddenly terminated all members of its EV charging team, including the executives responsible for its industry adoption. Among them was the head of the business, Rebecca Tinucci, raising doubts about the future of its network. The disbandment of Tinucci's team has significantly tarnished the company's reputation. After all, Tesla's relatively dependable fast-charging network stands out in today's EV infrastructure scene, especially in the US, which many customers cited as the primary factor in their decision to purchase a Tesla. READ ALSO: Tesla Aiming for Expansion, Faces Hurdle as German Locals Cast Non-Binding Vote Opposition EV makers are increasingly adopting Tesla's North American Charging Standard, potentially positioning the company's superchargers as the industry norm, overshadowing the rival Combined Charging System. However, Musk's choice to dismantle the electric-vehicle charging team is disrupting plans to deploy new fast-charging stations, potentially causing delays in President Joe Biden's efforts to electrify US highways. Biden's EV Infrastructure Program The Biden administration has allocated $5 billion to states over five years to construct 500,000 EV chargers for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. Tesla has emerged as one of the largest beneficiaries of these federal funds thus far. Many Americans cite range anxiety as the primary reason for not transitioning to electric vehicles, fearing a lack of charging stations and the possibility of running out of battery charge during a journey. Now, Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) system is being widely adopted by other automakers such as General Motors and Ford. Over 2,200 stations are installed in the US, and the goal is to have tens of thousands by 2030. EV experts and officials informed DailyMail.com that Tesla's decision to back out of its agreements could pave the way for other companies to fill the void. Following the layoffs, BP's EV charging unit expressed interest in expanding its presence in the US, with a spokesperson for the company saying in a statement that they are aggressively seeking to acquire real estate to expand their network, which has become a top priority following the recent Tesla announcement. However, Musk said on X that Tesla still plans to expand the network at a slower pace for new locations, emphasizing maintaining 100% uptime and expanding existing locations. RELATED ARTICLE: "Disrupt Tesla" Protesters Storming German Plant, Clashed with Police Over Environmental Destruction 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A COUPLE who met at a teenage disco in the Savoy in December, 2009, were married recently. Robyn Madden, from Little Island, and Kevin Lynch, from Ballyvolane, now live in Gurranabraher. They were engaged at Cloonlough Lake in Kerry in January, 2022, and afterwards stayed in the Brehon Hotel and Spa in Killarney, so it was only fitting that they celebrate their wedding at that same venue, two years later. Groom Kevin Lynch with his son Isaac and father Jim Lynch, left, and his grandfather, Gerry Dalton, right. The bride wore a dress and veil from Cinderellas Closet. It was a Disney dress in the Cinderella style. My shoes were by the Rainbow Club which I purchased from a small shop in Castlemartyr called Wedding Belles. I also bought my earrings by Azure from there. Nichole Corcoran did hair and make-up for me and the girls. Recalling their guests on the day, the bride said: We only had a small, intimate ceremony with around 60-70 of our close friends and family. Our twins, Indie and Isaac, played a big part in our ceremony, they each had little jobs. Indie read a poem, Isaac held the rings, and they both rang the special kissing bells at the end of the ceremony. Maid of honour was the brides sister-in-law Tracey Walsh, while her sister Jasmine Madden was bridesmaid. Maid of Honour was the brides sister-in-law, Tracey Walsh, while her sister Jasmine Madden was bridesmaid and daughter Indie was flowergirl. Kevins best man was his best friend David Murphy, his groomsman was Robert Walsh, his brother-in-law, and son Isaac was pageboy. The groom waiting for his bride to arrive for the ceremony, as his daughter Indie looks on . They had a civil ceremony, presided over by Jacqui Lee. Our celebrant made sure the ceremony was so personal and told the story of our relationship in such a gorgeous way. There was plenty of tears and laughs throughout and its something that really set the tone for the full day of celebrations. "She really included both the kids throughout as well, which we were so delighted with. It felt like it was a friend marrying us! the bride said. The happy couple with their twins, who played a special role in celebrating the day. Indie read a poem and Isaac held the rings. The celebrations continued at the Brehon. Caricature Artist Mark Heng was at the drinks reception. The couple want to give a special mention to Paddy White from Now And Forever who did the invites/table plans/banners/signs/tayto sandwich boxes, etc, and went above and beyond. The cake was from Heavenly Baked, Tralee, and music was by Darren from Sax Appeal, who was fantastic from start to finish. The couple were joined by 60 to 70 close family and friends at The Brehon Hotel and Spa in Killarney, to celebrate their special day. Their first dance was to Teddy Swims - Youre Still The One. It was a relaxing day, without stress and worry. We spent the whole day laughing. MANAGING limited parking facilities in Cobh, upgrading the road infrastructure, and ensuring sufficient council staff are in place to maintain public areas, are some of the key matters Cobh and Harbour Chamber president Toddy Stafford would like to see incoming elected members focus on. Mr Stafford said that, to ensure the local community and economy develops, various issues need to be addressed. Incoming councillors must ensure that they firstly co-operate to ensure they act cohesively for the benefit of the local area and inhabitants. The existing only road access to Cobh was first slated for change in 1981. This must now be progressed urgently as it is impeding all development in the area resulting in a stay on both housing and commercial expansion. The increasing local and seasonal population necessitate that the council ensure the provision of adequate council staff for maintenance and supervision, this creates an enjoyable environment in which to live, work, and visit, he added. Mr Stafford said he would also like to see the improved management of limited parking facilities to create a balance for local, commercial and visitor use. He also said he would like to see further action on vacant and derelict properties to provide for more town centre living. Cobh and Harbour Chamber is comprised of local business representatives, who join together to promote the economic and social development of the Cork Harbour community. Mr Stafford said the chamber has always had a good working relationship with local councillors. We wish to acknowledge their commitment and dedication to public service, and we look forward to working together in the future for the greater good of the community and the business sector, he added. TWO Cork students have finished among the top finalists in a prestigious national essay competition which encourages young people to consider issues of social justice. Every year, the Law Society of Ireland sponsors the National Grainne ONeill Memorial Legal Essay Competition, which aims to inspire students from a wide range of backgrounds in legal learning. Emma McCarthy from St Brogans College, Cork and Ornaith ODonoghue from Colaiste Muire Realt na Mara, Cork were among the 30 finalists that attended the event at the Law Society Of Ireland in Dublin. Transition Year student Patrick Galvin, from Abbey Community College in Waterford, was announced as the overall winner of this years competition, winning a 1,000 prize and a cup for his school. President of the Law Society, Barry MacCarthy and Emma McCarthy, St Brogans College, Cork. The competition received almost 140 essays from 48 schools across 16 different counties, with each student submitting a 1,500-word essay entitled: Climate Change Mitigation: The role the law can play in addressing the climate crisis. Barry MacCarthy, president of the Law Society, said the solicitors profession was changing, and the Law Society was committed to supporting legal education for the next generation. With this years essay focused on climate change, the students offered passionate, engaging and reflective essays. This competition encourages students to consider the law and helps them understand how the law can impact issues that are close to their hearts and areas of their daily lives, Mr MacCarthy said. We hope this essay competition will inspire students from across the country to continue their legal education, nurture their curiosity for justice issues and to consider a future career in law. The Grainne ONeill Memorial Legal Essay Competition honours the life and legacy of the late Judge Grainne ONeill, who in 2014 was appointed to the District Court, becoming the youngest judge in Ireland. She passed away in 2018 following a period of illness. CORK will hold its second Anti-Racism Summit this month at City Hall, a youth-led event which aims to bring together people from all walks of life, including service providers, policymakers, and educators. The summit takes place from 1pm to 5pm on Friday, May 17, at City Hall, and is organised by the Cork Migrant Centre (CMC) as part of its Youth Initiative against Racism, and the Children and Young Peoples Services Committee (CYPSC). The goal of the event is to have a conversation about racism and division, one which will be led by young people, and which will seek to bring about positive change. Those attending will not only share experiences of racism through music, spoken word, and drama, but will also seek to facilitate discussions on creating a more anti-racist society. In June 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the CMC Youth Initiative against Racism and CYPSC hosted a webinar against racism, with more than 500 people registering. The death of Mr Floyd, a black American man murdered by a white police officer who, during an arrest, knelt on Mr Floyds neck and back for four minutes and 29 seconds, causing him to die from a lack of oxygen, sparked protests around the world, with his last words, I cant breathe, becoming a rallying cry. The Cork webinar was created to amplify the voices of young people, including those living in direct provision, as they spoke on their experiences of racism. A follow-up in-person summit was held last year in City Hall, and those in attendance pledged to work within their organisations and spheres of influence to advance anti-racist work in Cork. Organisers say this year will see the voices of young people taking centre stage as they debate and engage with decision-makers. In this years summit, we will evaluate the progress of our initiatives and assess the actions taken by community members, policymakers, and politicians to make Cork a safer city for all young advocates, including those from the Traveller and Roma communities, LGBTQ+ migrants, refugees, and international groups, they said. A significant focus will be directed towards education, an essential component of young peoples lives. They added that young people had underscored the importance of creating safe and inclusive environments in schools, where feelings of isolation within the Irish community could be addressed. Stealing eyeshadow has left a mother facing the possibility of more than 17 months in prison, a district judge warned. The aggravating factor in the shoplifting case is that Kathleen McDonagh, 30, with an address at 1 Inchera Close, Mahon, Cork, had five separate suspended jail terms hanging over her when she carried out the cosmetics theft. Defence solicitor Donal Daly said the accused woman was pleading guilty to the theft which was carried out on November 6 2023 at BPerfect Cosmetics on Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork. Inspector Brendan McKenna said: Ms McDonagh entered the store with another female with a large shopping bag. They were observed taking eyeshadow pallets and left the store without paying. On December 15 2023 gardai met the defendant on St Patricks Street and she admitted taking the eyeshadow pallets when asked about the matter. She has 63 previous convictions. 32 of them are for theft and two for handling stolen property. Apart from any sentence that could be imposed in respect of this theft of cosmetics the difficulty for the accused is that it will trigger applications to have previously suspended sentences activated. Judge John King said: I am looking at five suspended sentences for this lady she had five active suspended sentences when she committed this offence. I am just totting it up here, 17 months aggregate sentence and that is without counting the sentence for this (latest) offence. Mr Daly said: That is presupposing the sentences being consecutive. Judge King said: I think that is a safe bet. Because of the possible sentence that could be imposed, Judge King said he would direct a probation report and adjourned consideration of the issue until June 27. There is a possibility that Corks Bambie Thug and Israels Eden Golan may face off in tonights final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, an Irish bookmaking company has suggested. Ireland and Israel both qualified for the final at their respective semi-finals this week, but Israels presence in this years Eurovision at the same time the country has waged war on Gaza has been a point of great international controversy. Pro-Palestine demonstrators have protested in Malmo. Despite this, Irish gambling firm BoyleSports is now rating Israel as 3/1 second favourite to win the song contest. Audience members, including former Irish entrants Jedward, left in protest during Eden Golans performance in Thursday night's semi final, but BoyleSports said there was a growing belief in some quarters that Israel could gain enough support from allies on Saturday to win. The bookmakers have slashed Israels odds from 33/1 into 3/1 in recent days. Macrooms Bambie Thug also is a possible winner, the bookies said, as they are fourth favourite at odds of 14/1 and just 7/2 to record a top-three finish. Before Tuesdays semi-final, Bambie Thug was asked by Eurovision organsisers to remove from their face and legs Ogham writing spelling out Ceasefire and Freedom for Palestine. Bambie Thug will perform their song Doomsday Blue 10th in Saturday nights running order, a position which may prove a good draw for them. According to statistician Dr Liam Brierly of the Universities of Liverpool and Glasgow, songs performed in the second quarter of the final do historically well, with only songs performed in the last quarter doing better. Croatias Baby Lasagna will hope to secure a first Eurovision win for their country and is now the 10/11 favourite to go all the way, while the UKs Olly Alexander would have to spring a major surprise at odds of 250/1 to bring the trophy back to London. Brian OKeeffe, spokesperson for BoyleSports, said Israels chances might cause an upset on tonight. The Eurovision Song Contest continues to be embroiled in controversy over Israels participation, but there is a wariness that the voting could well go in their favour on Saturday night, he said. The Eurovision final takes place at 8pm on Saturday, May 11, in Malmo, Sweden. CORK Airport has announced a partnership with Fleadh Cheoil Chorcai, which takes place this weekend in the village of Douglas. The festival, which is organised and hosted by Comhaltas na Duglaise, will showcase the best of Irish music, dance, and culture in the county of Cork. The weekend-long festival kicked off yesterday with an extensive programme of events, including a Fleadh Ceili in association with Craobh Proinnsias Ui Neill, comortaisi (competitions) for those aged under 12, 12- to 15-year-olds, and 15- to 18-year-olds, fleadh sessions, a special aifreann na fleidhe (fleadh Mass), and other group performances. All the events are taking place within the surrounds of Douglas, in venues including Douglas GAA Hall, Rochestown Park Hotel, Douglas Village Shopping Centre, and local bars. Announcing the partnership with Fleadh Cheoil Chorcai 2024 and Comhaltas na Duglaise, Cork Airports managing director Niall MacCarthy said: Were really proud to sponsor Fleadh Cheoil Chorcai. Pictured at Cork Airport ahead of Fleadh Cheoil Chorcai 2024 were Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director, Cork Airport; Ger ODriscoll, Nora Ni Nunain and Michael Middleton of Comhaltas na Duglaise along with the performers from Comhaltas na Duglaise. Regularly, throughout the year, we feature Irish musicians playing in our terminal. Whether it is Christmas welcomes, St Patricks Day festivities, or just holiday musical celebrations, our passengers love a bit of Irish music to welcome them home. This is our way of saying thank you to the wonderful Barry Cogan and all at Comhaltas na Duglaise for all that they do to promote Irish culture, particularly at Cork Airport. The cathaoirleach of Comhaltas na Duglaise, Barry Cogan, said: Ahead of this weekends Fleadh Cheoil Chorcai, it is great to have the support of Cork Airport. We are very grateful to Niall MacCarthy and all the team for their support. Comhaltas na Duglaise have a great programme of events across the weekend and each of these events are free to attend. For anyone in the vicinity of Cork city this weekend, wed like to extend an invitation to come and enjoy the fantastic music and dance that will be on show." Crowds in their droves gathered at various locations across Cork in the early hours of the morning to participate in the annual Darkness into Light (DIL) events in aid of Pieta. Darkness into Light commenced in 2009 when around 400 people at the Phoenix Park in Dublin set off on the inaugural 5km walk. From humble beginnings, Darkness into Light has now become a global movement dedicated to raising vital funds for Pietas life-saving services. Haley Duggan and Michelle Creedon who took part in the Darkness into Light swim to raise funds for Pieta at Fountainstown. Photo: David Creedon Pieta provides a professional one-to-one therapeutic service to people who are in suicidal distress, those who engage in self-harm and those bereaved by suicide. All of the services are provided free of charge and no referral is needed. Across the city and county, Cork again showed its support for the movement this year. Maria Marrinan and Emile McKeown who took part in the Darkness into Light swim to raise funds for Pieta at Fountainstown. Photo: David Creedon In the city, the Darkness into Light event which starts and finishes at UCC drew the largest crowd in years, according to UCC committee member Mick Finn. Thousands walked in Cork for Darkness into Light for Pieta at UCC in what was one of the most stunning mornings ever for the event. People seemed to have enjoyed the event which definitely was the biggest in years, he told The Echo. Deputy Lord Mayor councillor Colette Finn sent participants on their way around the 5km loop from the UCC Quad, taking in the Mardyke and Sunday's Well. Delighted to start the #DarknessIntoLight event this morning in @UCC. Amazing turnout & over 30 events in Cork. Thinking of those touched by suicide. pic.twitter.com/YA5bjRq2EQ Colette Finn (@ColetteFinnCork) May 11, 2024 Thanks to all those who took part and donated and special thanks to all those who volunteered as stewards on campus and along the route. High Hopes Choir set the tone with some great music, while refreshments were provided by KSG Catering and Glanmire Ices. I would also like to thank the small group of fantastic people on our committee who helped ensure another great occasion. Hopefully, the money raised for Pieta will continue to support people in our communities. Thanks also to Pat Cotter and staff at UCC, the Gardai, Cork City Council, Order of Malta and Irish Red Cross for their vital inputs, the Independent councillor and former Lord Mayor added. I walked into dawn this morning with the newly re-started Cork Northside #DarknessIntoLight in aid of suicide awareness and counselling. Congratulations to my ward colleague, John Maher, and all the committee involved for a fantastic experience and everyone who took part. pic.twitter.com/28xRCxchiV Oliver Moran (@oliver_moran) May 11, 2024 Meanwhile, a Darkness into Light event that had previously taken place in Ballyvolane resumed this year following a hiatus since the pandemic. Over 300 attended the DIL Cork northside [event] at Glen Rovers Hurling Club after a five year break, committee member John Maher said. It was fantastic to see and the atmosphere was superb. The committee are brilliant and weve learnt so much in the build up to this event and we are planning for 2025 already. It was lovely to see the crowds pass through Ballyvolane, Mayfield, the Glen, Blackpool and Dublin Hill, supporting each other and remembering loved ones. Thank you to all who supported the event, Mr Maher, who is also a Labour Party councillor, continued. A group of walkers relaxing after completing the Darkness into Light walk in aid of Pieta in Cobh. In total, 30 DIL events took place in Cork this year with locations also including Ballincollig, Blarney, Youghal, Cobh and Fountainstown. Nationally, the 2024 Darkness into Light event was also well attended. CEO of Pieta, Stephanie Manahan expressed her thanks to everyone who took part this year. Thank you all for your support, everybody up an down the land, we really, really appreciate your support and the work that you do for Pieta. We couldnt do the work we do without you so please continue to support us, she said. Holly Bartley and Mags Kelleher who took part in the Darkness into Light swim to raise funds for Pieta at Fountainstown. Photo: David Creedon To avail of Pieta services, visit www.pieta.ie or call 0818 111 126. Pieta provides 24/7 support via the freephone crisis helpline on 1800 247 247, or text HELP to 51444. Irelands Eurovision Song Contest entry Bambie Thug has said they missed their dress rehearsal after a situation required urgent attention from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). On their Instagram story, they wrote: Dear Coven, There was a situation while we were waiting to go to stage for the flag parade rehearsal which I felt needed urgent attention from the EBU the EBU have taken this matter seriously and we have been in a discussion about what action needs to be taken. This means I have missed my dress rehearsal I am really sorry to the fans that have come to see me. I hope to see you on the stage tonight. In response, the organisers of Eurovision said: Bambie Thug did not perform in dress rehearsal three and the footage of their performance in dress rehearsal two was used in its place. They missed the dress rehearsal due to a situation that is currently being discussed with the EBU and song contest organisers. We hope that this will be resolved shortly and Bambie Thug will appear in the Grand Final show as planned. RTE has reported that the singer called on organisers to address commentary made on Israeli television before their performance in Tuesdays semi-final. This is not believed to be related to the situation Bambie has described in their social media post. They told the publication: Im angry with other teams breaching their rules of the EBU, and still being allowed in. So theres definitely a war drum sounding in my heart to push the performance even more than I have done before. Bambie has been critical of Israel competing in the contest and has called for a ceasefire in the Middle East. The United States "deliberately" excluded then South Korean President Moon Jae-in from its first-ever summit with North Korea in Singapore in 2018 as he was "too willing" to make concessions, a State Department spokesperson during the former Trump administration said in a book published this week. Morgan Ortagus, the department's spokesperson from 2019-2021, described the exclusion from the meeting between then President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as an "America first foreign policy in action," stressing that though the U.S. works with allies, it will sometimes move "independently" when it serves America's interests. She wrote this in a chapter in the book, titled "An America First Approach to U.S. National Security." It was published by the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a non-profit organization, and the chapter was titled, "America First, NATO, and U.S. Alliances: Why America First is Not Isolationism." "The United States also deliberately excluded Moon from the Singapore summit because he was too willing to make concessions to North Korea," she wrote. "This is an America first foreign policy in action: American strength, presidential leadership, peace through strength, and working with allies with the caveat that the United States will sometimes act independently when it is in our nation's interest," she added. The Singapore summit took place in June 2018, producing an agreement, under which Pyongyang committed to work toward the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula, while both sides agreed to work together to build new relations and foster a lasting, stable peace regime on the peninsula. Ortagus noted that the U.S. "listened to" Moon, but took a much harder line against Pyongyang than Moon wanted. "Although the United States worked closely with Japan and South Korea in its approach to North Korea, the Trump administration did not give either state a veto over America's North Korea policy," she said. She portrayed Trump's personal diplomacy with the North Korean leader as a "case study" of how an America first foreign policy can work. In particular, she recalled Trump's U.N. address in 2017, in which he said that the U.S. has great strength and patience, but if it was forced to defend itself and its allies, it would have no choice but to "totally destroy" North Korea. "Trump's tough rhetoric, sanctions, and policies against North Korea in 2017 led Kim to agree to diplomacy with the United States, including a summit with the president in Singapore in June 2018," she said. She took a swipe at President Joe Biden's foreign policy, saying his administration has continued along a "dangerous" path. "North Korea's significant expansion of its missile program since 2021, along with possible preparations for a seventh underground nuclear test, has seen no real policy response from the Biden administration," she said. "This has been driven by the president naming a part-time North Korean special envoy and a failure of top Biden officials to attempt bilateral diplomacy with their North Korean counterparts." Calling Biden's Asia foreign policy "weak," she said it has led to joint naval and air exercises between Russia and China, and a "new Russia-China axis that has been augmented by North Korea and Iran." Ortagus touched on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's move to cope with evolving North Korean threats while pointing to Yoon's past comment hinting at the possibility of South Korea exploring its own nuclear option. "Yoon's comments caused panic in Biden's national security team and led to a crash program to repair U.S. relations with South Korea and Japan, culminating with the Biden-Yoon summit and the Camp David summit," she said. The Camp David summit refers to a landmark trilateral meeting between Yoon, Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the presidential retreat in Maryland in August. It produced a series of agreements, including the "Commitment to Consult" each other in the event of a shared threat. "Although Biden deserves credit for these efforts, it is fair to say the meetings were a response to his administration's neglect toward our Asian allies and their worries about whether the United States would support them against China and North Korea," she said. In a chapter written by Stephen Yates and Adam Savit of the AFPI, they noted the role of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea in dealing with potential threats from China. "With the Korean Peninsula frozen in conflict since 1953, nearly 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in the South alongside a formidable South Korean military that stands to deter the nuclear-armed North," they wrote. "These forces are crucial to deterring China's likely attempts to goad Kim Jong Un's regime into mounting a Korean front in the event of a general conflict, but this would likely leave them unable to intervene directly in the vicinity of Taiwan." AFPI was established in 2021 to promote Trump's public policy agenda. It involves a series of former senior officials from the Trump administration. (Yonhap) Leeside legend Frank O'Flaherty, often spotted feeding the pigeons around Daunt Square, has been remembered as a pure and proud Corkonian who was very well loved and respected following his passing. The Lord Mayor of Cork, councillor Kieran McCarthy, led the tributes to the northside native, describing him as a pure and proud Corkonian with a great love for Cork. Meanwhile, Sinn Fein TD Thomas Gould, living near Mr O'Flaherty in Gurranabraher, said his passing will be felt deeply in the local community. Hell be a big loss around the Gurranabraher/northside area because he was very well loved and respected. He used to clean a well called the All Saints Well [near Blarney]. He used to go out there and help maintain it. Frank OFlaherty feeding the pigeons at Daunt Square. Picture: Dan Linehan He loved feeding the pigeons. He was always around with his dog talking to people, he said. The Cork North Central TD said the late Mr OFlaherty was a well known community activist who got involved in a number of different movements including the campaign against water charges and protests over the cost of living crisis. Youd always see Frank out with his placard, he said. He was always a man for the underdog. An ongoing rally in support of Palestine marked its 30th demonstration in the city centre in as many weeks today. Organisers of the weekly event, Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign, estimated that approximately 900 people attended this afternoons demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Speakers at todays march and rally included Shawan Jabarin, general director of the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq and a member of Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Board. It also featured Abdelfattah Abusrour, a Palestinian author, actor and theatre director. The demonstration comes as Israel has ordered new evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its operation and adding that it is also moving into an area in northern Gaza where Hamas has regrouped. The latest weekly rally, organised by Cork Palestine Solidarity Group, calling for ceasefire and the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, in Cork city centre. Picture: Larry Cummins Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, pushing the operation to the edges of the heavily populated central area. The order comes in the face of heavy international opposition and criticism. US President Joe Biden has already said he will not provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah, and on Friday Washington said there was reasonable evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians in the way it conducted its war against Hamas the strongest statement the Biden administration has made on the matter. The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. More than 1.4 million Palestinians half of Gazas population have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israels offensives elsewhere. Considered the last refuge in the strip, the evacuations are forcing people to return north where areas have been devastated by previous Israeli attacks. 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. Hundreds of leading climate scientists from around the world expect global temperatures to increase by at least 2.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100 a full degree above internationally agreed targets leading to catastrophic consequences for the planet, an exclusive poll by The Guardian has found. All the respondents were from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Nearly 80 percent anticipated a rise to at least 2.5 degrees above the threshold, with almost half predicting a minimum three degrees of warming. Just six percent believed the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius was still a possibility. Current policies have the world on course to warm approximately 2.7 degrees Celsius. Sometimes it is almost impossible not to feel hopeless and broken, said climate scientist Ruth Cerezo-Mota, as The Guardian reported. After all the flooding, fires, and droughts of the last three years worldwide, all related to climate change, and after the fury of Hurricane Otis in Mexico, my country, I really thought governments were ready to listen to the science, to act in the peoples best interest. The reasons for the failure to adequately tackle the climate crisis were clear to the experts. Nearly three-quarters said not having the political fortitude was at the forefront, while 60 percent cited corporate interests like those of the fossil fuel industry. We asked them what the biggest barrier to climate action was the top choice was lack of political will, Damien Carrington, The Guardians environment editor, told EcoWatch in an email. Carrington said humans must rapidly phase out fossil fuel burning to curb global heating as much as possible in the short- and long-term. Numerous scientists surveyed envisioned a semi-dystopian future for the planet, with heat waves causing mass migrations, increasingly frequent and extreme storms and floods, wildfires and famines. Many said they felt hopeless, angry and frightened by governments failing to act in the face of clear scientific evidence. [Authorities] will be overwhelmed by extreme event after extreme event, food production will be disrupted. I could not feel greater despair over the future, said Gretta Pecl, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Tasmania, as reported by The Guardian. As global temperatures rise, a number of scientists said it is important to continue the climate battle since each fraction of a degree that can be avoided means less suffering. Nearly half of the review editors and lead authors of IPCC reports contacted by The Guardian 380 of 843 replied. The poll revealed that younger scientists 52 percent of those under 50 expected the planets temperatures to rise to at least three degrees Celsius. Dr. Lisa Schipper, a professor of geography at Germanys University of Bonn, expressed hope in the next generation for being so smart and understanding the politics. Numerous respondents said inequality and the rich not being willing to aid the poor who bear the brunt of climate impacts contributed to the problem. If the world, unbelievably wealthy as it is, stands by and does little to address the plight of the poor, we will all lose eventually, said Dipak Dasgupta of New Delhis Energy and Resources Institute, as The Guardian reported. Roughly a quarter of the experts polled believed Earths average temperature would remain below two degrees Celsius. Some were cautiously optimistic. I am convinced that we have all the solutions needed for a 1.5C path and that we will implement them in the coming 20 years, said Henry Neufeldt of the United Nations Copenhagen Climate Centre. But I fear that our actions might come too late and we cross one or several tipping points. 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. U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a roundtable meeting with energy sector CEOs in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC on April 3, 2020. Doug Mills-Pool / Getty Images According to a new report by The Washington Post, last month at his private Mar-a-Lago club Donald Trump bluntly proposed a deal to more than 20 oil executives from some of the largest oil companies in the United States, suggesting they donate $1 billion to his presidential re-election campaign. In exchange, Trump promised that once he was back in office, he would immediately reverse dozens of environmental regulations implemented during President Joe Bidens presidency and prevent the passage of any new ones. The offer followed one oil boss complaint about how even though oil executives had contributed $400 million in the past year to lobby the Biden administration the sector was still facing environmental rules that hampered operations. Trump said the $1 billion gift from the petroleum CEOs which included those of Exxon, Chevron and Continental Resources would be considered a deal, considering the regulation and taxes the companies would be avoiding, people privy to the meeting said on condition of anonymity, as The Washington Post reported. Trump is putting the future of the planet up for sale, Christina Polizzi, Climate Powers deputy managing director of communications, told The Guardian. He is in the pocket of big oil he gave them $25bn in tax breaks in his first term and now its clear he is willing to do whatever big oil wants in a potential second term. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has overturned 27 of Trumps actions related to the fossil fuel industry, a Washington Post analysis said, and has been racing to implement new ones ahead of the November election. Despite Bidens policies, the U.S. produces more oil than any nation in history an average of almost 13 million barrels per day in 2023. Trump promised to immediately stop Bidens permit freeze on new exports of liquefied natural gas, The Washington Post said. Youll get it on the first day, Trump said, according to a meeting attendee. Trump also told the CEOs that he would resume more auctions of Gulf of Mexico oil drilling leases, as well as reverse Alaskan Arctic oil drilling restrictions. Youve been waiting on a permit for five years; youll get it on Day 1, Trump told them, the attendee recalled, as reported by The Washington Post. Trump promised to get rid of Bidens electric vehicle (EV) mandate referring to recent rules finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that require automakers to reduce tailpipe emissions, rather than calling for a specific technology like EVs. Donald Trump is selling out working families to Big Oil for campaign checks. Its that simple, said Ammar Moussa, Biden campaign spokesperson, in a statement, as The Washington Post reported. It doesnt matter to Trump that oil and gas companies charge working families and middle-class Americans whatever they want while raking in record profits if Donald can cash a check, hell do what they say. Climate Power senior oil and gas adviser Alex Witt said that with Trump everything has a price. They got a great return on their investment during Trumps first term, and Trump is making it crystal clear that theyre in for an even bigger payout if hes reelected. North Korea has appointed a new ambassador to its mission at the United Nations office in Geneva, the U.N. website showed Saturday. Jo Chol-su, who previously served as director-general of international organizations at North Korea's foreign ministry, presented his credentials to the U.N. Office in Geneva, Friday, according to the website. Jo's appointment comes five months after his predecessor, Han Tae-song, returned to the North amid allegations of his involvement in ivory smuggling. The new envoy has "extensive experience" working with the U.N., including as first secretary at the North Korean U.N. mission in Geneva and as a national staff member for World Food Program and United Nations Development Program delegations in Pyongyang, the website said. He also previously worked in the North America department of the North's foreign ministry, handling negotiations over the country's nuclear weapons program. (Yonhap) The following includes spoilers for Space Babies. You cant help but admire Russell T. Davies audacity. He plucks the rights to make Doctor Who from the BBC. He gets Disney+ to write an enormous check to bring the show to life in a way never before attempted. Then, with so much money at stake and a months-long promotional campaign, he opens season one and the door to new fans with this. We kick off at the end of The Church on Ruby Road, with the Doctor's latest companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), entering the TARDIS for the first time. The Doctor introduces himself and offers a quick run-through of the premise for the folks at home. Theyre an alien, adopted by the Time Lords of Gallifrey who were then wiped out. That leaves the Doctor (once again) as the last of their kind; a quasi-immortal time traveler who can go anywhere in the universe. To set the scene, the pair hop back to prehistoric Wyoming to gaze at a detailed vista of some CGI dinosaurs. This is the show boasting about what it can do even for a throwaway scene with its new bigger budget. And it helps banish the memories of some of the less successful attempts to do a dinosaur episode from way back when. Ruby is already savvy to the conventions of the time-travel genre and asks about the risks to causality if she steps on a butterfly. The Doctor dismisses this idea out of hand before Ruby does and causes unutterable damage to the timeline. The butterfly is quickly revived and the Doctor nips back into the TARDIS to activate the Butterfly Compensator. Which is as close as this show gets to saying that it has never been a hard sci-fi show and it never will be. James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios For their next trip, they travel into the far future, landing on a space station that grows babies for colony projects. The bowels of the vessel are being stalked by an eyeless, teeth-heavy monster while the upper deck is crewed by talking babies. Mere seconds after proving the show can do decent-looking dinosaurs, it overreaches and adds an appallingly creepy CGI mouth to a baby. Ive seen this done in movies, and commercials, and it never works, and please God stop trying. The Doctor and Ruby encounter the crew, a bunch of babies with the minds of preschoolers and the mouths of adults, or something. Theyve been left to run the station, with pulleys and cables letting them control specific onboard functions, and smart strollers to carry them around. The only other presence on the ship is an AI, NAN-E, which acts as a comforting voice for the kids. Rubys genre-savviness kicks in again here, and she notices theres almost a storybook quality to the situation. A bunch of kids being menaced by an unwelcome, bogeyman-esque presence below, and the need for a hero to step in and rescue them. The pair give the babies some much-needed cuddles and are then invited to another part of the station by NAN-E. On the way, the pair discuss origin stories and how Ruby, following on from the events of The Church on Ruby Road, wants to use the TARDIS to find out who her parents are. While they talk, snow the same snow that fell when Ruby was left on the steps of the eponymous church starts to fall inside the corridor. Rubys memories and history are somehow seeping through into the present, or shes able to do something to alter the universe. James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios But they cant focus on that too much, since theyre interrupted by NAN-E, who turns out not to be an AI, but a person. Jocelyn Sancerre (Golda Rosheuvel) is the last adult crew member, who stayed on the station to care for the children when everyone else was ordered to leave. The government of the planet below pulled funding for the stations and ordered the adults to leave, abandoning the children in place. But, because the planet is also anti-abortion, they wouldnt terminate the as-yet unborn babies, preferring them to slowly die from external factors. Geez, do you think they might be talking about us? Much as this will be framed as a post-Roe story by US audiences, its worth saying the UKs Conservative Party has taken a similar approach. In 2010, the Labour government had worked to greatly reduce child poverty and homelessness with a number of targeted programs. These were quickly unwound by the incoming Conservatives, not only undoing all of those gains but making the issue a lot worse. So much so that the UN the UN! of all people upbraided the nation. The streak of saying the quiet part out loud continues when, while hatching a plan to save the babies, they opt to take them to another planet in the system. Its a world that takes in refugees, but you have to turn up on the planets doorstep to get any help, because it wont lift a finger to help rescue people in need from further afield. Again, this is a not-so oblique reference to the UKs monstrous policy of attempting to block refugees from reaching the country via sea. It is a point of enormous pride for the Prime Minister that he has boasted about his work to prevent boat crossings. This is made all the more painful as, for a brief moment, the country was reconsidering its approach following the death of Alan Kurdi, a two-year-old boy who drowned while attempting passage to Europe from Syria. The image of his body became a harrowing and defining image of the day, but the press quickly worked to stifle any pro-migrant sentiment, enabling the country to engage in an enormous boondoggle by spending millions of pounds building a detention center in Rwanda to forcibly-relocate people seeking asylum in the UK as a deterrent. James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios The grown ups cant mull their problems for long as Eric, one of the babies (sorry, space babies) heads down to the lower level to tackle this bogeyman. Theres a telling moment where Ruby sprints out to rescue the child far ahead of the Doctor, continuing a thread from the Christmas special: Ruby Sunday is willing to throw herself head-first into the action rather than waiting for help, steel pipe in hand. Doctor Who has always thrived when the companions a name weve been saddled with since 1963 are active figures in the narrative. Every one of the shows sidekicks, bar one, has their ardent fans, but commanding figures like Sarah Jane and Ace are always the most beloved. Once the baby is rescued by the other babies wielding a gas pipe as a flamethrower, theyre sent back upstairs while the Doctor and Ruby take on the bogeyman. Rubys assumptions are proved further right when it turns out the alien is actually a bogey-man, as in made of snot. The stations malfunctioning systems sought to build an appropriate environment for the kids, and used childrens literature as its template. Jocelyn works out that she can force the bogeyman toward an airlock while keeping the Doctor and Ruby safe. She then exposes the monster to the void of space, but the Doctor cant be so cruel to another lonely, misunderstood figure. He makes his way into the airlock room and closes the door to seal them both in to save the bogeymans life. The episode ends with the Doctor realizing that the station can eject its six full years worth of soiled diapers to propel it towards the refugee planet. Its entirely fair game to resolve a crisis precipitated by rogue bodily fluids with a poop joke. Crisis averted, he and Ruby walk back to the TARDIS where he gives her a key and welcomes her to the team, before adding that, as much as she may want to, he cant take her back to the moment she was abandoned. He covertly begins scanning Ruby to work out what exactly is her deal, and why shes capable of bending the universe. (And yes, there are shades of the Impossible Girl arc in how this is playing out.) The TARDIS lands back at Rubys home, smashing up the kitchen and the Christmas dinner therein. James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios I imagine it wont be long after the episode airs that the usual corners of the internet will scream culture war. Davies was always a political writer and feels a duty to be unapologetic about his viewpoint on current-day matters. His original tenure on the show was rooted at the tail-end of the Blair and Brown years, fueled by righteous fury around the invasion of Iraq. This is, again, all the more surprising given its being broadcast on Disney+, the model of conservative restraint. During his first tenure, Davies would begin the production of every episode with a tone meeting which outlined how each episode would maintain a consistent feeling in the writing, acting and direction. By comparison, Space Babies lurches wildly: Poop and fart jokes in one scene, unsettling horror in the next, weighty examinations of human morality between. The scenes of Jocelyns adult dialog being run through the nanny filter is a good source of comedy, its just odd that theyre juxtaposed with high drama. But thats more or less what makes Doctor Who one of the best shows on TV its ability to do anything it damn well pleases. If the weirdness of what youve just seen appeals then youve just become a Doctor Who fan. If it didnt, then you might find the next episode will serve up what you were looking for. The strongest geomagnetic storm in 20 years made the colorful northern lights, or aurora borealis, visible Friday night across the US, even in areas that are normally too far south to see them. And the show may not be over. Tonight may offer another chance to catch the aurora if you have clear skies, according to the NOAA, and Sunday could bring yet more displays reaching as far as Alabama. The extreme geomagnetic storm continues and will persist through at least Sunday... pic.twitter.com/GMDKikl7mA NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 11, 2024 The NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center said on Saturday that the sun has continued to produce powerful solar flares. Thats on top of previously observed coronal mass ejections (CMEs), or explosions of magnetized plasma, that wont reach Earth until tomorrow. The agency has been monitoring a particularly active sunspot cluster since Wednesday, and confirmed yesterday that it had observed G5 conditions the level designated extreme which havent been seen since October 2003. In a press release on Friday, Clinton Wallace, Director, NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center, said the current storm is an unusual and potentially historic event. The Sun emitted two strong solar flares on May 10-11, 2024, peaking at 9:23 p.m. EDT on May 10, and 7:44 a.m. EDT on May 11. NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the events, which were classified as X5.8 and X1.5-class flares. https://t.co/nLfnG1OvvE pic.twitter.com/LjmI0rk2Wm NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 11, 2024 Geomagnetic storms happen when outbursts from the sun interact with Earths magnetosphere. While it all has kind of a scary ring to it, people on the ground dont really have anything to worry about. As NASA explained on X, Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earths atmosphere to physically affect us. These storms can mess with our technology, though, and have been known to disrupt communications, GPS, satellite operations and even the power grid. If you've been seeing more Waymo robotaxis recently in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles, that's because more and more people are hailing one for a ride. The Alphabet-owned company has announced on Twitter/X that it's now serving more than 50,000 paid trips every week across three cities. Waymo One operates 24/7 in parts of those cities. If the company is getting 50,000 rides a week, that means it receives an average of 300 bookings every hour or five bookings every minute. Waymo has revealed, as well, that it's had over one million rider-only trips across four cities, including Austin, where it's currently offering limited rides to select members of the public. In its announcement, Waymo credited its "safe and deliberate approach" to scaling its program for reaching the milestone. "We see people from all walks of life use our service to travel carefree, gain independence, reclaim their commute and more. Fully autonomous ride-hailing is a reality and a preferred mobility option for people navigating their cities every day," it added. While Waymo certainly seems to be doing better than Cruise, which only recently re-deployed some of its autonomous vehicles following a much-needed hiatus, it's had its share of controversies. In April, six Waymo robotaxis blocked traffic in a San Francisco freeway, and it was just one of the instances wherein the company's vehicles caused traffic blockage. Earlier this year, two Waymo vehicles crashed into the same pickup truck one after the other, because their software had incorrectly predicted the future movements of the truck. The company issued a software recall after the incident to fix the issue and prevent similar incidents from happening. Korean and U.S. officials discussed ways to cooperate in software supply chain security as part of their growing partnership in cybersecurity issues, the Presidential Office said Saturday. The two sides held the third meeting of the bilateral Cybersecurity Senior Steering Group (SSG) in San Francisco, Friday (local time), led by Cybersecurity Secretary Shin Yong-seok from the Presidential Office and White House National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director for Cyber Policy Matthew Curtis. They discussed issues such as protecting critical infrastructure, countering global cyber threats, and reviewing the operational status of working groups. In addition, "our delegation explained the government's recently announced software supply chain security policy to the U.S. delegation and shared views on cooperation involving the private and industrial sectors," the Presidential Office said in a press release. The SSG was jointly launched by the National Security Office under the Presidential Office and the White House NSC in June 2023 to facilitate common action against global cyber threats. (Yonhap) A lady claiming to be the muse behind Martha, the stalker character in 'Baby Reindeer,' expressed her strong disapproval of the Netflix series, labeling it as "defamatory" that dismisses a significant portion of its storyline as "a work of fiction." The series, conceived and led by comedian Richard Gadd, revolves around his character Donny, who grapples with the unsettling presence of Martha, portrayed by Jessica Gunning. Gadd, 34, maintains that while the narrative draws from his own encounters, Martha's portrayal is distinct from any real-life individual. As the series gained widespread critical acclaim, online communities delved into conspiracies regarding the true identity of Martha. Speculation reached such fervor that by the end of April, Gadd took to Instagram to implore fans to cease their unfounded speculations. In a recent YouTube interview with Piers Morgan, uploaded on Thursday, Fiona Harvey felt compelled to speak out about her ordeal due to relentless online harassment from internet detectives. Harvey, 58, said the show has "taken over enough of my life. I find it quite obscene. I find it horrifying, misogynistic. Some of the death threats have been really terrible online, people phoning me up." Harvey continued, "It's been absolutely horrendous. I wouldn't give credence to something like that, and it's not really my kind of drama." Harvey claims that neither Netflix nor Gadd reached out to her regarding the show, which she adamantly stated she hasn't watched. She affirmed her intentions to pursue legal recourse against both Gadd and the streaming media company. Richard Gadd's Netflix series originated from his solo performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2019 that explored themes of obsession and delusion. Gadd emphasized that the character resembling his stalker was intentionally obscured. Despite the claim of being a true story, the show's credits clarify that certain elements were fictionalized for dramatic effect. Scottish farmers and crofters are being urged to 'crack on' with submitting the all-important single application form as the deadline is just days away. Latest figures by the Scottish government suggest that, with just 4 days to go, over 11,000 forms have been completed. That compares with 10,600 at the same time in 2023 and 10,200 in 2022. Around 18,000 forms are submitted annually in Scotland. The single application form deadline remains one of the most important dates in the Scottish farming calendar. Completion is required to access important support schemes such as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Greening, and the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme. All schemes available as part of it are critical to the financial well-being of Scottish agriculture injecting over 500 million into the industry annually. Given the pressure that some are under to complete spring work, NFU Scotland is urging farmers to submit the application by the deadline of Wednesday 15 May. However, applications submitted by the deadline can still be amended, added to, or increased, up until 31 May without penalty, the union says. Since 2022, it has been a requirement that all single application forms must be completed online. NFU Scotland director of policy, Jonnie Hall said that the support payments remained 'critically important' to the viability of most Scottish farming businesses. It is encouraging just how many forms have been completed but there is a significant number of forms still to be started. "There are also many forms started but not completed and we urge those with forms in a draft state to go on and complete their application at the earliest opportunity and ensure that it is properly submitted." He added: Farmers and crofters must prioritise these annual application forms in the next few days." Avicii's ex-girlfriend has died at the age of 34. Avicii's ex-girlfriend dead at 34 According to Us Weekly, Emily Goldberg passed away on April 3 in La Jolla, California and her cause of death has been ruled a pulmonary embolism, which according to Harvard Health is a "blood clot that blocks the flow of blood to part of one lung". In May 2023, Emily revealed she had been battling cancer but was in remission. She wrote on Instagram: "I have had cancer for the past year. I am now cancer free." She is survived by her parents Julie and Sam and brother Aaron. A message on Emily's online obituary stated: "Emily was a vivacious and unique person who experienced many adventures in her all too brief life. She was born on December 3, 1989 in Poway, California. "After graduating college, she traveled the world with an EDM music tour, eventually working in event planning and social media marketing for the Wynn Encore Hotel in Las Vegas. Most recently, she became somewhat of an expert on American and Japanese wrestling with an extensive network of like- minded friends. "Emily had a particular fondness for animals, especially Pomeranian puppies, and spent many happy hours with her beloved dogs Bear and Kuma. "A private memorial service is being held." Emily and late DJ Avicii reportedly met in Las Vegas when Emily worked for the Wynn and Avicii had a residency there. They bonded over their shared love of EDM. Avicii - who retired from the music industry in 2016 - died by suicide in April 2018 at the age of 28. John Cleese is annoyed by "woke" people who "think they have invented kindness". John Cleese has big complaint about 'this whole woke business' The 84-year-old Monty Python star has reflected on his time working on GB News show 'The Dinosaur Hour', which ran for 10 episodes last year and featured interviews with Stephen Fry, Caitlyn Jenner and more. He told The Oldie magazine: "I was allowed to say what I wanted and enjoyed that. On one programme, we had three academics and discussed this whole woke business. "What annoys me is how some people think they have invented kindness, but kindness has always been there. "Kindness is everywhere, and much of my comedy is about teasing people with affection." He also still has affection for the UK, although it doesn't always shine through - but he dismissed the idea that he's entirely the same as his grumpy 'Fawlty Towers' creation Basil Fawlty. He explained: "I am not Basil and never was - but I can feel for him when I am under a lot of stress. "When Connie and I were writing the script, we used to think that Basil actually existed. He became such an important part of our lives." The character is being revived at the Apollo Theatre in London for the ongoing production of 'Fawlty Towers: The Play', and John has high hopes for the live show as the run keeps rolling. He said: "I think it will get better as it goes on, because in comedy the audience becomes part of the show. "There could be a pause while people are launching and then the actors might have to ad-lib. "It's those extra messages that can be devastatingly funny. I just hope it works, because it's been a joy pulling it together." Poppy Delevingne is dating Sienna Miller's ex. Poppy Delevingne dating Sienna Miller's ex The 38-year-old model has enjoyed a string of dates with Archie Keswick, 42, who has been described as "the most eligible bachelor you've never heard of". Archie is a member of the Jardine Matheson dynasty which owns the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. A source told the Daily Mail's Eden Confidential column: "It's a serious relationship." Archie - who was linked to Sienna in 2021 - has two daughters with his ex-wife, Alice, an interior designer and former model. Meanwhile, Poppy split from her husband, James Cook, 41, in 2022 after eight years of marriage, although the pair have never publicly addressed the break-up. Last year, Poppy dated Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece and Denmark, although the pair ended their romance in December. Speaking about the breakdown of her relationship with the royal, who is 12 years her junior, a source told the Daily Mail: "They are just at different stages of their life. There is no animosity." Poppy and businessman James enjoyed two wedding ceremonies with one taking place in London and the other in Marrakesh, Morocco. And, despite the split, Poppy previously revealed she would save her two wedding gowns from a fire above any other possession she has, even though one dress is now on display in a museum in Norway. Speaking on This Old Thing? podcast, she said: "I had one [dress] designed by the wondrous Karl Lagerfeld, for Chanel. "For part two, I wore a Peter Dundas for Pucci wedding dress. Thats now in a museum in Norway - hes stolen it back from me. I want it back because I want to do the washing up in it. "[Id save] those two things if my house is burning down they hold so much sentimental value." The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and five other opposition parties jointly called on President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday to accept a special counsel investigation into the military's response to a Marine's death last year. The six the DPK, the Rebuilding Korea Party, the New Reform Party, the Justice Party, the Progressive Party and the New Future Party (Saemirae) held a press conference near the presidential office to demand Yoon not veto a special counsel bill passed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly last week. "Is it asking for too much to ask for the truth on why a young Marine died while supporting flood recovery operations and whether there was external pressure during the course of the investigation?" said DPK floor leader Park Chan-dae. "The president exercising his veto authority will not hide the truth," he added. "If he exercises his veto authority, the people will not tolerate it." Cpl. Chae Su-geun died during a search mission for downpour victims in July 2023. The DPK has pushed for a special counsel investigation on allegations that Yoon's office and the defense ministry inappropriately interfered in a military investigation into his death. Yoon voiced reservations about a new probe during a press conference Thursday, saying if the ongoing investigation by the police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials is insufficient, he "will be the first to call for a special counsel probe." (Yonhap) Catherine, Princess of Wales is "doing well" following her cancer diagnosis. The Princess of Wales has been receiving treatment The 42-year-old royal has undergone chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with a form of cancer - but Prince William, her husband, has delivered a positive update about the princess during a visit to Cornwall in south-west England. The future monarch visited St Mary's Community Hospital in Hugh Town on Friday (10.05.24), and William told Tracy Smith, the administrator of the hospital, that the princess was making encouraging progress. Tracy told the BBC: "I asked William about his wife Kate and he said: 'She's doing well, thanks,' and I suggested they might like to come for a visit and bring the children." The princess - who has Prince George, ten, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six - went public with her cancer diagnosis in March, following weeks of speculation about her health. She said in a statement at the time: "In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment. "This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. "As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK. "As I have said to them; I am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal; in my mind, body and spirits. "Having William by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance too. As is the love, support and kindness that has been shown by so many of you. It means so much to us both." Thailand is leading the charge to bring six SouthEast Asian nations under an umbrella scheme for seamless travel A Schengen visa can be hard to get if youre not a frequent traveller to Europe though things are getting easier if you are but, once you get it, it is a veritable passport to exploration. Which is why we are thrilled to hear that Thailand is working towards a visa programme on the lines of the Schengen one for SouthEast Asia to allow explorers unrestricted travel. SouthEast Asia is an important and popular destination area for Indian travellers especially since travel works out great budget-wise and there is a familiarity to the experience. The strength of the Indian rupee also ensures that you get great price vasooli with the local currencies. The proposed joint-visa programme will encompass six nations Thailand (main image), Myanmar, Malaysia (above), Cambodia (below), Vietnam and Laos which will allow citizens to travel seamlessly. The six countries in the proposed group received about 70 million visitors last year with Thailand and Malaysia welcoming over half of this total. The Thai leadership hopes that the Schengen-like facility will help boost a boom in tourism in the coming years. Tourism is particularly important for Thailand 20% of total employment is generated by the industry, while it accounts for 12% of the economy. Having the Schengen-like visa scheme in place will allow seamless travel within the entire grouped area, and encourage travellers to include the less-visited countries in their itineraries. Images: Shutterstock Also Read: Dont Lean On Me In Italy Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2024) - RED METAL RESOURCES LTD. (CSE: RMES) (OTC Pink: RMESF) ("Red Metal" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Gregg Jensen and Marian Myers, P.Geo., have been appointed to the board of directors of the Company, effective May 10, 2024, to fill vacancies created by the resignations of Jeffrey Cocks and Joao (John) Da Costa from the board of directors. The Company thanks Messrs. Cocks and Da Costa for their services as directors of the Company and wishes them all the best in their future endeavors. Following the appointments, the board of directors now consists of Caitlin Jeffs, P.Geo., Cody McFarlane, Michael Thompson, P.Geo., Gregg Jensen and Marian Myers, P.Geo. Director and Management Changes In addition, Caitlin Jeffs, P.Geo. has decided to step down from her management positions as President, CEO and Corporate Secretary of the Company and is excited to transition such management roles to Gregg Jensen who assumed such leadership positions effective as of May 10, 2024. The Company also announces the appointment of Brian Gusko as VP-Finance and Marian Myers, P.Geo., as Project Manager. Gregg Jensen Gregg Jensen has over 25 years' experience in finance, capital markets and business management spanning several industries from technology, mining, engineering, to professional services. Most recently, Mr. Jensen was a director of Lomiko Metals Inc., a graphite and lithium exploration company from December 2020 to December 2021. Marian Myers, P.Geo. Marian Myers, P.Geo, has a M.Sc (Geology) from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and has 35 years' experience working for a wide array of major and junior mining companies including Gold Fields (GFI), Anglo American (A.L.), AngloGold (AU), Balmoral Resources and Cardero Resource Corp. Ms. Myer's breadth of international experience has taken her from her home town near Johannesburg, South Africa to work on projects in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Australia, Alaska, Peru, Chile and now Canada where she resides in Vancouver. She specializes in the GIS integration of geochemical, geophysical and geological information, including historical data sets with expertise in QA/QC procedures, field data collection supervision, and assessment and technical report development. Brian Gusko Brian Gusko has an MBA from the University of Calgary, and attended the European Summer School of Advanced Management. Mr. Gusko has over 15 years' experience in capital markets and has helped raise over $75 MM for various enterprises. He has served on the board and as Chief Financial Officer of various private and public companies. Mr. Gusko has assisted with the interlisting of over 10 companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and has helped numerous companies access German capital markets. Previously Mr. Gusko was Chief Financial Officer of private and public companies. The last company he helped take public on the CSE had a market capitalization of over $200M at the time of listing. Proposed Consolidation The Company announces that it intends to complete a consolidation of its issued and outstanding common shares (each, a "Share") on the basis of three (3) pre-consolidation Shares for one (1) post-consolidation Share (the "Consolidation"). It is anticipated that the Consolidation will reduce the number of outstanding Shares from 54,866,625 Shares to approximately 18,288,875 post-consolidated Shares, subject to adjustment for rounding. The Board of Directors of the Company believes that the Consolidation of the Shares will enhance the marketability of the Company as an investment and better position the Company to raise the funds necessary to execute the Company's business plan. The Company does not intend to change its name or its current trading symbol in connection with the proposed Consolidation. The effective date of the Consolidation will be announced in a subsequent news release. The Company has set May 24, 2024 as the proposed record date for the Consolidation. No fractional post-consolidated Shares will be issued as a result of the Consolidation. Shareholders who would otherwise be entitled to receive a fraction of a post-consolidated Share will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of post-consolidated Shares and no cash consideration will be paid in respect of fractional shares. The exercise price and number of Shares of the Company issuable upon the exercise of outstanding options and warrants will be proportionally adjusted upon the implementation of the proposed Consolidation in accordance with the terms thereof. The Company will be obtaining a new CUSIP and ISIN number in connection with the Consolidation. The new CUSIP and ISIN numbers will be disclosed in a subsequent news release. The Company anticipates that the CSE will issue a bulletin to dealers advising of the Consolidation and effective date of trading on a consolidated basis. Restructuring of Certain Debt The Company also wishes to announce that it has restructured certain debt (the "Restructuring") in the amount of $1,911,451.33 (the "Debt") owed to certain directors (at the time) and arm's length parties (the "Creditors"). In connection with the foregoing, the Company entered into a debt restructuring agreement (the "Debt Agreement") with the Creditors. Pursuant to the Debt Agreement, the Creditors agreed to forgive a certain portion of the Debt and to restructure the repayment of the balance by the Company. The Debt will accrue interest at a rate of 8% per annum, and will be repaid over a period of 60 months in installment payments every six (6) months, commencing on the date that is six (6) months from the date of the Debt Agreement. The Restructuring is a "Related Party Transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI61-101") as each of Caitlin Jeffs, a current director, Joao (John) Da Costa, a former director, and Richard Jeffs, the Company's major shareholder, are parties to the Debt Agreement. The Restructuring is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 based on the exemption set out section 5.5(g) and section 5.7(1)(e) of MI61-101, respectively, on the basis of the "financial hardship" exemption therein. The Debt Agreement was approved by the independent directors of the Company. About Red Metal Resources Ltd. Red Metal Resources is a mineral exploration company focused on growth through acquiring, exploring and developing copper-cobalt-gold assets in Chile. The Company's projects are located in the prolific Candelaria iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) belt of Chile's coastal Cordillera. Red Metal is quoted on the CSE under the symbol RMES and on OTC Link alternative trading system on the OTC Pink marketplace under the symbol RMESF. For more information, visit www.redmetalresources.com Contact: Red Metal Resources Ltd. Gregg Jensen, CEO 1-866-907-5403 gregg.jensen@redmetalresources.com www.redmetalresources.com Forward-Looking Statements - All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws including, without limitation statements related to the Consolidation, timing thereof, and description of its exploration plans. Red Metal provides forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to exploration findings, results and recommendations, ability to raise adequate financing, receipt of required approvals and unprecedented market and economic risks associated with current unprecedented market and economic circumstances, as well as those risks and uncertainties identified and reported in Red Metal's public filings under its SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.c a . Although Red Metal has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Red Metal disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208884 SOURCE: Red Metal Resources Ltd. TORONTO, May 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lifeist Wellness Inc. ("Lifeist" or the "Company") (TSXV: LFST) (FRANKFURT: M5B) (OTCMKTS: LFSWF), a health-tech company that leverages advancements in science and technology to build breakthrough ventures that transform human wellness, today announced that, further to its news release dated April 30, 2024, the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") has approved the consolidation of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares on the basis of one (1) post-consolidation common share for every twenty (20) pre-consolidation common shares (the "Consolidation"). The Consolidation will be effective at the opening of the market on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The Consolidation was approved by the Company's shareholders at the annual and special meeting held on March 14, 2024. The Company's name and trading symbol will remain unchanged following the Consolidation. The new CUSIP number will be 53228D205 and the new ISIN number will be CA53228D2059 for the post-Consolidation common shares. The Company currently has 594,087,243 common shares issued and outstanding, and after the Consolidation is effective there will be approximately 29,704,362 common shares issued and outstanding. No fractional shares will be issued as a result of the Consolidation. Instead, any fractional share interest of 0.5 or higher arising from the Consolidation will be rounded up to one whole share, and any fractional share interest of less than 0.5 will be cancelled without further compensation. A letter of transmittal from the Company's transfer agent, Computershare, will be sent to registered shareholders. Shareholders who hold their shares in brokerage accounts are not required to take any action to effect an exchange of their common shares. About Lifeist Wellness Inc. Sitting at the forefront of the post-pandemic wellness revolution, Lifeist leverages advancements in science and technology to build breakthrough companies that transform human wellness. Portfolio business units include: Mikra, a biosciences and consumer wellness company developing and selling innovative products for cellular health; CannMart, which operates a B2B wholesale distribution business facilitating recreational cannabis sales to Canadian provincial government control boards including for CannMart Labs, a BHO extraction facility producing high margin cannabis 2.0 products; and Australian Vapes, one of Australia's largest online retailers of vaporizers and accessories. Information on Lifeist and its businesses can be accessed through the links below: www.lifeist.com https://wearemikra.com/ https://cannmart.com www.australianvaporizers.com.au Contact: Meni Morim CEO Lifeist Wellness Inc. Ph: 647-362-0390 Email: ir@lifeist.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 or has in any way approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release. Forward Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not historical in nature contain forward-looking information. Forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "expect", "likely", "should", "would", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "proposed", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen. The forward-looking information contained herein, including, without limitation, statements related to the Consolidation are made as of the date of this news release and are based on assumptions management believed to be reasonable at the time such statements were made, including without limitation, the Consolidation can be effected on the stated date, as well as other considerations that are believed to be appropriate in the circumstances. While we consider these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to management, there is no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct, and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. A variety of factors, including known and unknown risks, many of which are beyond our control, could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this news release. Such factors include, without limitation: unforeseen circumstances that would prevent the Company from completing the Consolidation on the effective date, if at all, the Consolidation failing to achieve its intended benefits, the Company's failure to develop its businesses as anticipated and risks relating to the Company's ability to execute its business strategy and the benefits realizable therefrom. Additional risk factors can also be found in the Company's current MD&A filed under the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Source: Lifeist Wellness Inc. Lucrative offers available to invest in Real Estate & Win a Free Trip To Dubai SINGAPORE, May 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Dubai, renowned globally for its surreal skyscrapers and stunning skyline, is the epitome of luxury and innovation. The city is part of a thriving economy complete with state-of-the-art infrastructure, stable government, and the best education and healthcare facilities that attract investors seeking both capital appreciation and steady rental income. Sobha Developers have now brought to Singapore the lucrative chance to invest in Dubai's real estate market. UAE's top developers, including industry giant Sobha Developers, are gearing up to host an Exclusive Dubai Property Showcase on May 11th and 12th at the iconic Marina Bay Sands, Level 4, Lotus Ballroom, 4A & 4B. The Dubai Property Showcase is a haven for investors. From expert guidance to a diverse portfolio, there are several reasons why you should attend the event where there will be a portfolio of luxury properties, with starting prices at 300,000 SGD. At the event one can engage in personalised consultations with industry experts for tailored investment advice. Best of guidance and information about project locations, features, and amenities will be available to help investors and buyers understand the best investment opportunities in Dubai real estate. Upon making a property investment at the show, buyers will be entitled to a complimentary 2-night stay for two in Dubai. Dubai is one of the world's most profitable real estate markets to invest in and a tax free economy, boasting of returns exceeding 6%, backed by a robust economy and stellar infrastructure. Dubai's strategic location and stable economy solidify its position as an investment hotspot, promising long-term growth and prosperity. Buyers can even gain access to Dubai's prestigious Golden Visa program, offering long-term residency benefits to property investors and their families. To become a part of this exclusive opportunity to explore Dubai's real estate horizon, you can register on https://tinyurl.com/4836wff2 for the Exclusive Dubai Property Showcase and take the first step toward securing your financial future in one of the world's most dynamic real estate markets. CONTACT: Yasmine: +6585575024 Abdullah: +971553367231, abdullah.hussain@sobharealty.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2410348/Dubai_Property_Showcase.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/sobha-developers-bring-to-singapore-an-exclusive-dubai-property-showcase-302142915.html Earth has been hit by the biggest solar storm in decades. The sequence of solar flares and coronal mass ejections has given rise to mesmerising auroras in a few parts of the planet. There is, however, the chance of disruptions to Earths communications systems. This is the first G5 storm to hit the planet since 2003 read more The Sun emitted two strong solar flares, peaking at 5:40pm ET on 8 May, 2024, and 5:13am ET on 9 May, 2024. NASA The Earth is currently experiencing the most powerful solar storm in over two decades, with a series of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) bombarding the planet. These CMEs, massive expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun, began on Friday and have escalated into an extreme geomagnetic storm, reminiscent of the infamous Halloween Storms of October 2003. The first of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun came just after 1600 GMT, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)s Space Weather Prediction Center. Advertisement Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earths atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground. However when intense enough they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS & communications signals travel. NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 9, 2024 However, alongside the celestial spectacle, concerns loom over potential disruptions to communication networks and power grids. The fluctuating magnetic fields associated with geomagnetic storms can induce currents in long wires, including power lines, posing a risk of blackouts. Additionally, satellites and high-frequency radio communications face potential disruptions. How do solar storms disrupt communications? NOAAs discussion of solar activity pertains to the release of energy from the sun, which traverses through space and eventually reaches Earth. Upon encountering the magnetic sphere enveloping our planet, this radiation induces fluctuations in the ionosphere, a layer situated in the upper atmosphere. These alterations can directly impact satellites and spacecraft in orbit, potentially causing shifts in their orientation or even damaging their electronic components. Furthermore, the modifications to the ionosphere have the capacity to obstruct or degrade radio transmissions attempting to traverse the atmosphere to communicate with satellites. Advertisement The Sun emitted a strong solar flare on May 10, 2024, peaking at 2:54 a.m. ET. NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an image of the event, which was classified as X3.9. https://t.co/cpikVzJYZl pic.twitter.com/xvuweTpZ81 NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 10, 2024 Additionally, they can impede radio transmissions from effectively bouncing off the ionosphere, a technique often utilised by radio operators to amplify the range of their signals. Advertisement Given that GPS satellites rely on signals penetrating the ionosphere, the anticipated geomagnetic disturbance could jeopardise this critical technology extensively used by aircraft, maritime vessels, as well as in industries such as agriculture, oil, and gas. Also Read: Once covered in oceans, now Venus has almost no water. Heres why Moreover, it could disrupt shortwave radio transmissions essential for communication among ships, aircraft, emergency management entities, the military, and amateur radio operators, all of whom depend on the high-frequency radio airwaves susceptible to scattering by the impending storm, as outlined by NOAA. Still have your solar viewing glasses from last months eclipse? If so, break em out! If you have sunny skies, you can currently see a huge sunspot group on the Sun with nothing more than your solar viewing glasses. pic.twitter.com/5DGWvM2hrC NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 9, 2024 Advertisement Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earths surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations, NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center said in a release. SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action. Will your phones be affected? Regarding cellphones, consumer wireless networks operate on different radio frequencies compared to high-frequency bands, suggesting that the solar storm will have minimal direct impact to public safety line of-sight radio and commercial cellular services and no first-order impact to consumer electronic devices. Advertisement Moreover, the GPS functionality on mobile devices typically utilises a combination of pure GPS and cellular tower-based location tracking. Therefore, even in the event of disruptions to GPS signals, users may still retain a rough location fix, reported CNN. Extreme (G5) geomagnetic conditions have been observed! pic.twitter.com/qLsC8GbWus NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 10, 2024 Research summarised findings from a 2010 study conducted by NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, indicating that extreme space weather events should result in minimal direct impact on public safety line-of-sight radio and commercial cellular services, with no primary impact on consumer electronic devices, provided the underlying electrical infrastructure supporting wireless networks remains intact. Also Read: Rocky planet twice the size of Earth with thick atmosphere discovered. Can it harbour life? A 2021 presentation by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency echoed similar sentiments, suggesting that line-of-sight radio transmissions are generally resilient to space weather, except in specific circumstances. However, the presentation highlighted potential risks for copper cables and telephone lines on land. In a separate incident in February, NOAA reported two significant solar flares coinciding with widely reported cellular network outages. Despite this, the agency deemed it highly unlikely that the flares directly caused the blackouts. Weve not seen any evidence in the past that a space weather storm could impact that now, Brent Gordon, chief of the Space Weather Services branch for SWPC, told reporters on a conference call. If power is not available for those, then yes, certainly, the secondary impacts from that would be great. Has this happened before? The current solar storm invokes memories of the Carrington Event of 1859, the most intense solar storm in recorded history. While the storm poses risks to high-voltage transmission lines and satellites, NASA has assured that the International Space Station (ISS) and its crew are not in serious danger. However, increased radiation levels could threaten some of NASAs science satellites, prompting precautionary measures. Yet another strong solar flare was recently observed from NOAA Region 3664... pic.twitter.com/zFTl09Teh5 NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 11, 2024 Beyond communication infrastructure, the solar storms effects extend to wildlife and navigation systems. Pigeon handlers have noted a reduction in birds returning home during geomagnetic storms, highlighting the impact on species with internal biological compasses. Can there be a blackout? The power grid faces potential risks due to severe space weather, as highlighted by NOAAs recent alert mentioning possible widespread voltage control problems and the potential tripping out of key assets. Historical incidents, such as the 1989 blackout in Quebec and the October power outages in Sweden and South Africa, underscore the vulnerability of electrical infrastructure to geomagnetic storms, reported CNN. The Carrington Event of 1859, the largest geomagnetic storm on record, resulted in telegraph stations sparking and catching fire. A blackout could have cascading effects on communications and technology, including cellphone service, as cellular towers and data centers may lose power. Also Read: US Space Force is planning secret missions in space, to conduct military drills across Earths Orbits However, wireless carriers often have backup power generators and mobile cellular towers ready for deployment during emergencies, prioritising redundancy and resilience in critical infrastructure. Consumers may need to focus on keeping their devices charged rather than worrying about connectivity. With inputs from agencies The US Air Force (USAF) is set to upgrade its fleet of doomsday planes, airborne command centres designed for surviving scenarios like nuclear war. We take a look at the features and capabilities of such planes are and what their future looks like read more A Boeing E-4B "Doomsday Plane" military aircraft takes off at Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland, US, 11 May, 2022. Reuters Sierra Nevada Corporation has acquired five Boeing 747 passenger jets previously operated by Korean Air. These jets are intended to replace the United States Air Forces (USAF) existing fleet of strategic command and control military aircraft, better known as doomsday planes. We take a look at the features and capabilities of doomsday planes are and what their future in the US looks like. What are doomsday planes Doomsday planes are aircraft specifically designed to ensure continuity of government and military operations during extreme crises, including the event of a nuclear war. These planes are airborne command centres that maintain communication and control when ground facilities are unavailable or destroyed. The term typically refers to the E-4B Nightwatch aircraft, part of the US National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC). Advertisement The USAF has initiated a significant upgrade of its ageing fleet of E-4B aircraft. With the existing planes nearing the end of their operational life, Sierra Nevada Corporation was awarded a $13 billion contract to develop the next generation of these airborne command posts, dubbed the Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC). This contract signifies a major overhaul aimed at enhancing the capabilities and extending the lifespan of these critical assets. Features and capabilities The doomsday planes are known for their robust design, which includes: EMP protection: Ensuring electronic equipment remains operational after a nuclear explosions EMP. Mid-air Refueling Capability: This allows the plane to stay airborne for prolonged periods without needing to land for fuel. Advanced communications: Secure lines that can access military and civilian networks, ensuring command continuity. Technological sophistication: Equipped with ultra-high frequency, very high frequency, satellite communications, and even secure internet connections, these systems are shielded against interference and designed to function post-nuclear events. Design and durability: The airframe and electrical systems are hardened to withstand EMPs, with thermal and radiation shielding to protect against nuclear fallout and heat. Operational readiness: These aircraft are maintained in a state of constant readiness, with at least one always on 24-hour alert. This readiness allows them to be in the air within minutes of receiving a command, ensuring that a mobile command centre is always available should ground-based operations be compromised. Mobility advantage: The strategic mobility provided by the doomsday planes extends beyond just their airborne capabilities. Capable of refuelling mid-air, they can remain airborne for days if necessary. This feature allows the aircraft to move the nations command and control capabilities to different locations around the globe. The role of the E-4B and future SAOC The E-4B, developed during the Cold War, is a modified Boeing 747-200B designed to withstand nuclear explosions and electromagnetic pulses (EMP). Its primary role is to serve as a mobile command centre for the highest levels of US leadership, including the President and the Secretary of Defense. The aircraft has advanced communication systems, allowing for global uninterrupted command and control of US military forces. This plane can act as a flying Pentagon in emergencies, ensuring that national leadership can operate effectively even if traditional command centres are incapacitated. At least one E-4B is always kept on high alert, ready to launch at a moments notice. The shift to Boeing 747-8s The transition to using Boeing 747-8s involves purchasing aircraft formerly operated by Korean Air. These newer models will replace the older 747-200B frames, offering more advanced technology, better fuel efficiency, and increased capacity. The new planes, once modified, will provide a modern platform capable of adapting to future technological advancements, keeping the US at the forefront of military command and control capabilities. Advertisement The SAOCs design will incorporate modular technology, allowing for rapid updates and integration of new systems as they become available. This modular approach ensures the planes can evolve with changing military needs and technological landscapes, maintaining operational relevance. With inputs from agencies As Tesla sees multiple lay-offs, Elon Musks choice to significantly reduce the companys electric-vehicle charging team may also affect US president Joe Bidens plans. The move could disrupt strategies for deploying new fast-charging stations and could potentially impede his endeavours to electrify highways in the US read more Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his security detail depart the company's local office in Washington, US on 27 January, 2023. File Image/Reuters Recent developments within Tesla have raised concerns regarding the expansion of EV charging infrastructure, a critical component of Bidens vision for electrifying US highways. Musks decision to downsize Teslas electric-vehicle charging team has implications for the rollout of new fast-charging stations, potentially disrupting Bidens efforts. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, introduced by the Biden administration, earmarked $5 billion over five years to establish 500,000 EV chargers across the country. Teslas extensive network of fast chargers, known as Superchargers, was poised to play a pivotal role in this initiative. Advertisement Why is Elon Musk firing Tesla employees? Teslas extensive series of layoffs continue as employees take to platforms like LinkedIn to share news of their termination from the company. The recent wave of layoffs, initially brought to light by reports from Electrek and Business Insider, appears to be impacting various departments within Tesla, including software, services, and engineering. The exact number of affected employees remains unclear. However, reports highlighted at least seven individuals who publicly announced their layoffs on Sunday alone. A Tesla logo is seen outside a showroom of the carmaker in Beijing, China on 31 May, 2023. File Image/Reuters The current round of layoffs follows a series of cuts initiated last month, during which Tesla reportedly began downsizing approximately 10 per cent of its global workforce , totaling around 140,000 employees. Notable casualties included Rebecca Tinucci, Teslas head of EV charging, along with her entire 500-person team, as well as Daniel Ho, the head of the new vehicles program. Musk conveyed on X that the company undergoes a restructuring process every five years. In an internal email to staff, Musk emphasised the necessity of making decisive cuts, particularly targeting those working under executives who fail to meet stringent performance criteria. Also Read: Tesla freezes all hiring in North America, deletes all listings, posts from job portals and social media Bloomberg reported that Musk expressed a desire for layoffs reaching at least 20 per cent of the company, citing a corresponding decline in quarterly vehicle deliveries. Tesla currently faces significant financial challenges, marked by a decline in sales and a 55 per cent decrease in profits compared to the previous year. These challenges are compounded by heightened competition in both the US and Chinese markets, coupled with a global decrease in demand for electric vehicles. Advertisement Musk announces $500 million investment Following the news of layoffs, Musk announced a substantial investment in expanding the companys fast-charging network, allocating over $500 million towards the initiative. Just to reiterate: Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year, Musk said in a post on his social media platform X . Thats just on new sites and expansions, not counting operations costs, which are much higher, he said. He noted that this expansion would focus more on existing locations rather than new sites, which aligns with the companys decision to slow down the pace of new location openings. Advertisement What are the implications for the industry? Teslas change of plans not only affects its own operations but also has broader implications for the entire EV industry. The adoption of Teslas North American Charging Standard (NACS) by almost all automakers underscores the significance of Teslas charging infrastructure in shaping industry standards. However, this shift opens up opportunities for other charging startups and recently laid-off Tesla employees. Charging companies like EVgo are actively recruiting talent affected by the layoffs, signaling potential shifts in the industry landscape. Executives from charging companies have reported receiving inquiries from landlords seeking alternative partners for charging projects after Teslas withdrawal, reported Reuters. Advertisement A Tesla car is being charged at a Tesla electric vehicle charging station on a car park of the A10 shopping center in Wildau near Berlin, Germany on 20 March, 2024. File Image/Reuters The Biden administration has said that it remains vigilant regarding the situation, with state authorities closely monitoring developments. While some states like Colorado express readiness to adapt their programs as necessary, others like Texas, a major beneficiary of NEVI funds, anticipate minimal impact from Teslas layoffs. However, the overall uncertainty surrounding Teslas shift in strategy poses challenges to the smooth execution of the NEVI program. Also Read: Tesla begins another round of layoffs, this time in software, service teams Its going to delay NEVI rollout. Theres no question about it, Aatish Patel, co-founder of XCharge North America, which makes EV chargers for fleets and charging station operators, told Reuters. Advertisement With inputs from agencies By Robert Neff On the rainy morning of May 1, 1886, the French warship Primauguet sailed into Jemulpo (modern Incheon) harbor. On board was Francois George Cogordan, the French plenipotentiary, and his staff, who had come to negotiate the French-Korean Treaty. Over the next couple of days, the harbor was filled with the booming of cannons as courtesy visits were made to the French warship by the captains of the other foreign warships. On shore, the Korean government made preparations to escort Cogordan and his party to Seoul. Judging from the American warships logbook, many were anticipating a wet ride, but fortunately, the weather cleared on May 6. According to an account published in a Chinese newspaper, the French mission, escorted by a detachment of French sailors and a guard provided by the Korean monarch, arrived in Seoul in the evening presumably just before the closing of the city gates. It seems that most of the French rode in palanquins or chairs but Cogordans wife (Sophie Augustine Marie) may have been riding upon a horse. In his diary, Dr. Horace N. Allen, an American missionary-doctor in Seoul, wrote: The French plenipotentiary F. G. Cogordan arrived today. The French Ministers lady rode on Mrs. Allens saddle. They will enter no negotiations till the Coreans promise to grant religious liberty. As the French rode through the gate, they were thronged by crowds of [Koreans] desirous to witness the strange arrival from another foreign country to visit their sovereign. The French were then led to the former residence of Paul Georg von Mollendorff (a German who had once advised the Korean court) which had been courteously prepared arranged for their comfort in the European style. It might be interesting to note that one of Mollendorffs residences was reportedly haunted. Over the next couple of days, preparations were made for the impending negotiations which were expected to be difficult as the French insisted on religious freedoms. According to the Chinese newspaper: All seemed going smoothly, when rumours of dissatisfaction at the proposed insertion of the Christian Clause in the treaty resounded through the city. Who the authors of all this threatening disturbance were is not clearly known, but it was not spontaneous, and, certain busybodies, not altogether Corean, were supposed to be its originators. A correspondent for a Japanese newspaper also commented about the hostility towards the Christian Clause. The King is favourably inclined to grant religious liberty, but the followers of the ex-Regent are so numerous, and so bitter in their hatred of Christianity (as represented by the Roman Catholic Church), that it is doubted by some whether it would be wise to grant it just now. However, he pointed out that the Korean government had just recently purchased six Gatling guns to be used around the Royal Palace and in the city to enforce the law. He was convinced the French treaty would soon be signed, including the religious toleration clause. In a letter home, the American representative to Korea, Ensign George C. Foulk, also expressed his desire for the French to receive their treaty but noted there was opposition: The French are here trying to make a treaty. They insist upon the free exercise of the Christian religion in Korea and wish to enter a claim to provide it in the treaty. The Koreans are frightened and sad over it, but I think the French would succeed, were it not for coercive influence being exerted by China against the clause. I am trying to help the French minister. Foulk blamed the opposition to religious toleration upon the Chinese influence, especially on the part of Chinese Minister to Korea Yuan Shih-kai, who used every means in his power to thwart the clause being added. However, Foulk overlooked the strong influence one of his fellow Americans had upon King Gojong. On May 9, Allen noted in his diary that the palace interpreter came to visit him earlier that morning and asked some questions on behalf of the Korean monarch. He came to learn Allens opinion of Catholicism an opinion that the American was more than willing to share. I thought it my duty to deal at length with the subject, wrote Allen, and apparently spoke about the experiences China, Japan, Mexico and Spain had with the religion. He then went on to add, [We] Americans are an independent people and look with disfavor on anything that tends to curtain our favor. Were we Catholics our President would be under the favor of the Pope. Allen then gave three reasons why he found the Catholic religion unacceptable. The first concerned prayers: The Catholics worship and pray to the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ, a woman. The second was forgiveness. [No] one but God can forgive sins, [but] they give this power to corrupt priests to whom all Catholics must confess their most private thoughts. However, it was his third reason which resonated the most with the conservative interpreter: [Catholic] priests are men with the same organs and passions as other men, they are not eunuchs and we [American Protestants] claim that it is not safe for women to go and confess to these men their secret thoughts and faults. Allen gloated, This was a great argument with him and the whole conversation will doubtless produce its effect. In his missive to the State Department, Foulk noted that he had cautioned [the American missionaries] individually against indiscreet impulsiveness in propagating doctrines. They expressed themselves as content to work in Corea in giving medical and educational assistance. With much tact and practical reason they have labored so as to secure the respect and kindly regard of the whole Corean people. In mid-June, 1886, Allen reported to his mission that the Catholic priests in Seoul lead a very self-sacrificing life in their native disguise [and were] disheartened at the failure of their ambassador to get the concessions they so much long for. The animosity to the clause by the handful of American Protestant missionaries in Seoul is somewhat surprising as they, too, would have gained the freedom to openly propagate. In the end, the Korean government came to a compromise in which the French were allowed to travel in the interior to study and teach language, arts and industrial skills. Allen, who seemed more of a physician, consultant and diplomat than a missionary, was probably unaware that his own prejudices contributed to the restrictions imposed upon the American missionary movement in Korea. Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters. The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal till June 1 for the campaigning of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections read more Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday took centre stage after spending 50 days in jail. Following a visit to the Hanuman temple in the national capital, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader delivered a speech from the party office for the first time since walking out of jail. The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Kejriwal till June 1 for the campaigning of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The AAP convenor was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 over the alleged Delhi Liquor Policy scam. Advertisement I didnt resign from CM post because After he was arrested, Kejriwal did not resign from his chief ministerial post, drawing the ire of the BJP for running his government from jail. Clearing the air on the issue, Kejriwal said, When I was in jail, some people raised this issue that why doesnt Arvind Kejriwal resign from the post of Delhi CM? I have not come to become CM or PM. He said that in 2015 AAP formed the government in Delhi with the most historic majority and that no other party could win in any state with such a huge margin. #WATCH | Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says "When I was in jail, some people raised this issue that why doesn't Arvind Kejriwal resign from the post of Delhi CM? I have not come to become CM or PMIn the last 75 years, elections have been held in so many states, AAP government was pic.twitter.com/75cakV0TDt ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 They knew could never defeat AAP, so a conspiracy was hatched to send Kejriwal to jail and the government would fall but we did not fall into their trap, the chief minister added. He also said that former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who stepped down from the post hours before his arrest, should not have resigned. Advertisement If you imprison democracy in jail, democracy will run from jail, Kejriwal said. Will work 36 hours a day Kejriwal, who will remain out of jail for 21 days, said that he would utilise each day to work for the nation during the ongoing elections. VIDEO | "I want to thank the Supreme Court. They have given me 21 days. There are 24 hours in a day, I will work for 36 hours in a day. I will visit across the country to stop this dictatorship. I will sacrifice my everything for the country. Every drop of my blood, every minute pic.twitter.com/GKrM2QHdAc Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 11, 2024 Advertisement I want to thank the Supreme Court. They have given me 21 days. There are 24 hours in a day, I will work for 36 hours in a day. I will visit across the country to stop this dictatorship. I will sacrifice my everything for the country. Every drop of my blood, every minute of my life is for the country. I will travel across the country to save my nation, he said. Advertisement Mamata, Stalin next Taking potshots at the saffron party, Kejriwal claimed that more leaders will face arrests if the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power in this election. #WATCH | Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says "They will send opposition leaders to jail and will finish (Nipta denge) the politics of BJP leadersOur ministers, Hemant Soren, ministers of Mamata Banerjee's party are in jailIf they win again, then Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, Tejashwi pic.twitter.com/xtzToyYuQd ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 They will send opposition leaders to jail and will finish the politics of BJP leadersOur ministers, Hemant Soren, ministers of Mamata Banerjees party are in jailIf they win again, then Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, Tejashwi Yadav, Pinarayi Vijayan, Uddhav Thackeray and other opposition leaders will all be in jail. On this day in 1998, India led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee carried out nuclear tests in Rajasthans Pokhran area, away from the prying eyes of America. After the detonation of all five warheads on 13 May 1998, India declared itself a full-fledged nuclear state read more File image of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee waving to cameramen as he stands on the edge of the crater at the Shakti-1 site, where an underground nuclear test took place on 11 May. AFP Twenty-six years ago between 11 and 13 May, India scripted history when it conducted a series of underground nuclear tests with five bombs in Pokhran, Rajasthan. At 3.45 pm on 11 May, the tests were initiated, under the assigned code name Operation Shakti, with the detonation of one fusion and two fission bombs. Now, 26 years later, this milestone is marked every year as National Technology Day to honour the achievements of scientists, researchers, engineers and all others involved in the field of science and technology. Advertisement As we celebrate National Technology Day, heres a look back at the tests, the reactions from the world and why it was significant for India. History behind the Pokhran II tests The 1998 tests werent Indias first nuclear weapons trial; the first successful one took place in 1974 under the codename Smiling Buddha during Indira Gandhis rule in Rajasthans Pokhran. However, this wasnt enough to place India on the same page with other nuclear states. File image of the crater where the first Indian underground nuclear test was conducted 18 May 1974 at Pokhran in Rajasthan. AFP For the next two decades, many prime ministers tried to revive nuclear research most notably PV Narasimha Rao only to surrender to American surveillance satellites and the threat of sanctions. In fact, in 1995 when Rao ordered for a nuclear weapons test it had to be aborted after Americas Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) spy satellites picked up signs of preparations for nuclear testing at Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. President Bill Clinton and his administration exerted enormous pressure on Prime Minister Narasimha Rao to stop the preparations. In 1996, Vajpayee came to power and began working to achieving his dream of converting India into a nuclear state. However, his plans had to be put in cold storage after his government fell in 13 days. When he returned to power in 1998, he gave the thumbs-up for the nuclear tests to the then Defence Research and Development Organisation chief A P J Abdul Kalam and then Atomic Energy Commission chairman R Chidambaram. Advertisement On the go and in the dark Once the approval for the tests were given, India began meticulously planning the procedure, away from the prying eyes of America. Reports state that the people involved in the tests were sworn to absolute secrecy and also they had one-and-a-half year to rehearse and plan every step. As per a report in the Daily O, Indias access to state-of-the-art satellites helped greatly in planning the Pokhran tests. These satellites gave India the pivotal information on what could and couldnt be seen. Using this, they would work at the test site on at night so as to avoid being captured on camera. Advertisement File image of nuclear scientists at the testing site in camouflage army uniforms. Image Courtesy: @MoDIndia/Twitter Moreover, in locations where holes were dug, sand was aligned towards the direction of the wind. This prevented suspicion since unaligned sand could have signalled activity. The people involved in the tests also used code names to counter CIAs spying on communication lines. Some of the code words used then were White House, whiskey and even Taj Mahal. It has also been reported that when scientists from DRDO and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre would visit Pokhran they would do it in disguise. In fact, APJ Abdul Kalams name was switched to Major General Prithvi Raj and Rajagopala Chidambarams codename was Natraj. History made Advertisement On 11 May, the residents of Pokhran woke up to an ordinary day. However, a huge clap of thunder and cheers turned the course of history. Vajpayee quickly called for a press conference from his Race Course Road residence in New Delhi and announced that India had conducted three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran. The site where Shakti-3 nuclear device was detonated underground on 11 May 1998. AFP Today, at 15:45 hours, India conducted three underground nuclear tests in the Pokhran range. These tests conducted today were with a fission device, a low-yield device and a thermonuclear device. The measured yields are in line with expected values. Measurements have also confirmed that there was no release of radioactivity into the atmosphere. These were contained explosions like the experiment conducted in May 1974. I warmly congratulate the scientists and engineers who have carried out these successful tests, he said. Advertisement International outrage The tests left the Western world shocked and surprised. The Clinton Administration condemned the tests and said it was deeply disappointed and subsequently slapped sanctions against India. In fact, the then US president Bill Clinton would go on to refer to South Asia as the most dangerous place on Earth. US senator Richard Shelby had then sai that the CIAs failure to identify that these tests were going to take place was the biggest failure of our intelligence gathering agencies in the past ten years or more. Britain conveyed its dismay and Germany called it a slap in the face for the countries that ratified Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the then-United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan issued a statement expressing his deep regret. Explaining the reason for the tests, Vajpayee wrote in a letter to Clinton: We have an overt nuclear weapon state on our borders, a state which committed armed aggression against India in 1962. Although our relations with that country have improved in the last decade or so, an atmosphere of distrust persists mainly due to the unresolved border problem. Significance for India Despite protests by international as well as national entities, Vajpayee stood firm on his decision to carry out the Pokhran II tests. In an address in Lok Sabha, he had then said, The Pokhran II nuclear tests were conducted neither for self-glorification, nor for any display of machismo. But this has been our policy, and I think it is also the policy of the nation, that there should be minimum deterrence, which should also be credible. This is why we took the decision to conduct tests. The Pokhran II tests also paved the way for Indias No First Use policy a vow that it would never carry out a nuclear first-strike and also would not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear powered states, and would strictly control the export of such materials and technologies. Experts also believe that the Pokhran tests helped change the worlds view of India. Michael Kugelman, a senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, has been quoted as saying, The nuclear tests in 1998 were a watershed moment in Indias history. They served as an early but resounding reminder of Indias status as a rising power. But the nuclear tests also set India and Pakistan on a new and escalatory collision course that they remain on today. Former National Security Advisor, Shivshankar Menon speaking to Economic Times said that the tests shook loose our relations with all major powers, US, China, even Pakistan. The world had got used to a certain kind of India. That was challenged, successfully. With inputs from agencies Reddys comments come just a day after another Congress leader, Mani Shankar Aiyar, said that India should respect Pakistan as they have atom bombs read more Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is the latest Congress leader to brew controversy by casting doubt over the Pulwama attack, saying that it is not certain if a surgical strike even took place in 2019. Reddy also slammed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) over its failure to foresee the attack in Pulwama that killed over 40 CRPF personnel. For Modi, everything is politics, everything is about winning elections. So, Modis thinking is not right for the country. So, the country needs to be without BJP, without Modi now. They answer everything with Jai Sri Ram. The Pulwama incident is a classic example. They have failed. What is the IB doing? What is the Intelligence network doing? Modi ji attempted political benefit from the surgical strike after Pulwama incident, the Telangana chief minister said. Advertisement #WATCH | Hyderabad: Telangana CM Revanth Reddy says, "...For Modi, everything is politics, everything is about winning elections. So, Modi's thinking is not right for the country. So, the country needs to be without BJP, without Modi now. They answer everything with 'Jai Sri pic.twitter.com/17ZYnIxbur ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 He added, Nobody knows to date if a surgical strike actually took place. So, internal security is Congress responsibility. We are not ready to leave the country in just anyones hands. The Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2019 launched a surgical strike in Pakistans Balakot in response to the Pulwama attacks. Reddys comments come just a day after another Congress leader, Mani Shankar Aiyar, said that India should respect Pakistan as they have atom bombs. BJP reacts Reacting to the Telangana chief ministers comment, BJPs national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, He must remember that Fawad Chaudhary who is showering support on his biggest leader Rahul Gandhi has said it in Pakistans national assembly as the minister of Imran Khan govt that humne Pulwama tak ghus ke mara hai. Reddy has either no knowledge or such love (for Pakistan) that he is unable to see and listen even after the Pakistan minister has said this. Advertisement #WATCH | On Telangana CM Revanth Reddy's remark regarding 'Pulwama attack', BJP MP and party's national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi says, "He (Revanth Reddy) must remember that 'Fawad Chaudhary' who is showering support on his (Revanth Reddy) biggest leader Rahul Gandhi has pic.twitter.com/etDZWW6zMu ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 Pakistans former minister Fawad Chaudhary had praised Gandhi over the Congress partys resolution to conduct a wealth redistribution survey after coming to power. Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has maintained positive relations with the Asian states of SCO and BRICS, which include China and India. The Russian president favours a multi-polar world and has criticised Americas monopolistic dominance in global relations read more Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was sworn in on Tuesday at a grandiose ceremony in the Kremlin. He starts his fifth termanother six years at the helm of power. Russians seem generally happy with the authoritarian leader. Once a superpower, it had lost global standing after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, Putin revived the military power and took strong stands at global forums. Putins actions in annexing Crimea were viewed as positive assertions against the scheming West. He began the Ukraine offensive after repeated warnings about Russias cut-offs for NATOs eastward expansion. Russia withstood the Western financial sanctions admirably. Putin managed to get good direct or indirect support from China, India, and many countries in West Asia. Advertisement Putin was seen not only as an authoritarian leader but also as someone who could fan nationalism. There are other authoritarian leaders who are similarly popular in their nations, for example, Chinas Xi Jinping and Turkeys Erdogan. It is important to understand Putin as a leader. Putins Early Inspirations Putin was born on October 7, 1952, in Leningrad, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia). His grandfather, Spiridon Putin, was a personal cook to Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Putins mother was a factory worker, and his father was a conscript in the Soviet Navy, serving in the submarine fleet in the early 1930s. At the age of 12, he began to practice sambo and judo. He enjoyed reading the works of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Lenin. Putin studied German in high school and speaks both German and English as additional languages. Putin studied law and graduated in 1975. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU); he remained a member until it ceased to exist in 1991. Putins Political Rise Putin has held continuous positions as president or prime minister of Russia since 1999. Prime minister from 1999 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2012, and as president from 2000 to 2008 and since 2012. He is the longest-serving Russian or Soviet leader since Joseph Stalin. Advertisement In 1975, Putin joined the KGB, the security agency for the Soviet Union. He resigned from the rank of lieutenant colonel on August 20, 1991. During the 1991 Soviet coup detat attempt against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, he supported Boris Yeltsin. He began his political career in Saint Petersburg. In 1996, he moved to Moscow to join the administration of President Boris Yeltsin. He briefly served as the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and then as secretary of the Security Council of Russia before being appointed Prime Minister in August 1999. Following Yeltsins resignation, Putin became acting president and, in less than four months, was elected to his first term as president. Advertisement In 2003, a referendum was held in Chechnya, adopting a new constitution that declared that the Republic of Chechnya was a part of Russia while retaining autonomy. Subsequently, Putin was re-elected in 2004. Due to the constitutional limitations of two consecutive presidential terms, Putin chose to serve as prime minister again from 2008 to 2012 under Dmitry Medvedev. He returned to the presidency in 2012 and was re-elected in 2018. In April 2021, after a referendum, he signed into law constitutional amendments that included allowing him to run for re-election twice more, potentially extending his presidency to 2036. In June 2023, he survived the Wagner Group rebellion. And finally, in March 2024, he was re-elected for another term. It appears that under Putin, the Russian political system has been transformed into an authoritarian dictatorship. Advertisement Domestic Restructuring Early in his presidency, Putin organised the 89 federal subjects of Russia into seven administrative federal districts and appointed a presidential envoy responsible for each of those districts. In 2004, the direct election of those heads (usually called governors) by popular vote was replaced with a system whereby they would be nominated by the president and approved or disapproved by regional legislatures. Some commentators have described Putins administration as a sovereign democracy. Putins Economic Approach During the Russian financial crash of August 1998, Putin learned that financial crises are politically destabilising and must be avoided at all costs. Therefore, he cares about financial stability. During Putins initial presidential tenure, the Russian economy grew on average by 7 per cent per year, driven by both economic reforms and a five-fold increase in the price of oil and gas. Between 2000 and 2004, Putin consolidated his position through initial bargains with powerful Russian oligarchs in exchange for their explicit support. But he continued the criminal prosecution of those who did not toe the line. Advertisement In 2005, the National Priority Projects were launched to improve Russias health care, education, housing, and agriculture. Putins overcoming the consequences of the 2008 world economic crisis was a significant achievement. Stabilising the size of Russias population between 2008 and 2011, following a long period of demographic collapse that began in the 1990s, was a big success. Putin handled the coronavirus crisis in a very mature and controlled way. Fuelled by the 2000s commodities boom, including record-high oil prices, the Putin administration from 2000 to 2016 could see an increase in incomes by 4.5 times in dollar terms. The industry grew substantially, as did production, construction, real incomes, credit, and the middle class. Russia joined the World Trade Organisation in August 2012. In 2014, Putin signed a deal to supply China with 38 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year. Power of Siberia, which Putin has called the worlds biggest construction project, was launched in 2019 and is expected to continue for 30 years at an ultimate cost to China of $400 billion. Military Development By the early 2000s, Russia started investing more money in its military and defence industries. It was only in 2008 that full-scale Russian military reform began, aiming to modernise the Russian Armed Forces and make them significantly more effective. Key elements of the reform included reducing the armed forces to a strength of one million, reducing the number of officers, creating a professional NCO corps, introducing more civilian logistics and auxiliary staff, reorganising the reserves, reorganising the army into a brigade system, and reorganising the air forces into an airbase system instead of regiments. Putin embarked on a buildup of Russias nuclear capabilities because of US President George W Bushs unilateral decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Putin has also sought to increase Russian territorial claims in the Arctic and its military presence there. Geopolitics and Security Approach In a speech in February 2007 at the Munich Security Conference, Putin complained about NATOs eastward expansion. Here, Putins approach became bold. He announced that Russia would suspend implementation of its Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) obligations. He laid severe conditions to revisit the subject, and this included asking NATO members to cut their arms allotments and restrict weapons deployments. In 2008, at the NATO Bucharest summit, invitee Putin told George W Bush and others, We view the appearance of a powerful military bloc on our border as a direct threat to the security of our nation. Putin led Russia in a conflict against Chechen separatists, re-establishing federal control over the region. While serving as Prime Minister under Medvedev, he oversaw a military conflict with Georgia and enacted military and police reforms. He also ordered a military intervention in Syria to support his ally Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian civil war, ultimately securing permanent naval bases in the Eastern Mediterranean. Under Putin, Russias relations have improved significantly with Central Asian nations. Russia was also accused of interference in the 2016 US elections. Putin denied it but later stated that interference was theoretically possible and could have been perpetrated by patriotically minded Russian hackers. Russia often used the oil and gas supplies to Germany as a geopolitical weapon. On August 23, 2023, exactly two months after the rebellion, Wagner leader Prigozhin was killed along with nine other people in a business jet crash. Putins strong handling of the June 2023 Wagner group rebellion made him more powerful. Putin offered to be a mediator in the on-going Israel-Hamas conflict. Ukraine-Russia Dynamics In his third presidential term, Russia annexed Crimea and Sevastopol after a referendum in which, according to official results, Crimeans voted to join the Russian Federation. Subsequently, clashes between pro-Russian groups in the Donbas area of Ukraine escalated into the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Russian military vehicles crossed the border in several locations to support pro-Russia groups. Putins incursions into Ukraine had initiated a completely new Russian foreign policy akin to a Soviet-like offensive stance. Putin was trying to defend nations in Russias sphere of influence from encroaching western powers. In November 2021, Putin stated that an enlargement of NATO in Ukraine would be a red line issue for Russia. On February 21, 2022, Putin signed a decree recognising the two self-proclaimed separatist republics in Donbas as independent states. Finally, on February 24, Putin, in a televised address, announced a special military operation in Ukraine, launching a full-scale invasion of the country. It was meant for denazification and to protect people in the predominantly Russian-speaking region of Donbas who, according to Putin, faced humiliation and genocide from Ukraine for eight years. It prompted international condemnation and led to expanded sanctions. In September 2022, he announced a partial mobilisation and forcibly annexed four Ukrainian oblasts into Russia. Putin repeatedly put Russias nuclear deterrence units on high alert and made effective political use of nuclear weapons. The conflict has been ongoing for over two years. Putin successfully wooed many Asian and African countries for support or neutrality. Russia did face tactical military reverses. But it did manage to increase defence production substantially. It also sourced munitions from China, North Korea, and Iran. Notwithstanding sanctions, he managed to sell huge quantities of petroleum products. Despite nearly $200 billion in Western financial and military equipment support for Ukraine, Putin is nearly set to dictate an end to hostilities on his own terms. Ukrainian oblasts that have joined the Russian Federation through a decree since 2014 (Crimea) include Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia. As a condition for ending the invasion, the Kremlin demanded Ukraines neutrality, recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, and recognition of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states. International Criminal Court Order In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes related to his alleged criminal responsibility for illegal child abductions during the war. It was the first time that the ICC had issued an arrest warrant for the head of state of one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. An order that many neutral countries felt was biased and engineered by the West. The death and destruction caused by many Western countries in Asia and Africa actually has no parallels. Human Rights and Freedom Questions Russia has been known for far-reaching corruption. The same can be said about many countries, including China. Putin is often accused of widespread human rights violations, including the imprisonment and suppression of political opponents, the intimidation and censorship of independent media in Russia, and a lack of free and fair elections. The West ranks Russian media as not free, indicating that basic safeguards and guarantees for journalists and media enterprises are absent. In 2020, Putin signed a law labelling individuals and organisations receiving funding from abroad as foreign agents. Under Putin, Russia has consistently received low scores on transparency, corruption perception, and public and media freedom, among others. Russia and China both call these indices with Western bias. Yet Russias human development index (HDI) score has been around 0.824. The HDI statistic combines life-expectancy, education levels, and GDP per capita. Countries with scores over 0.800 are considered to have very high levels of development. The US Dual Containment: Bad Choice After the US moved out of Afghanistan, it was hoped that they would concentrate on the bigger threat and competition, China. By egging Russia into a war in Ukraine, the US has to confront both China and Russia, the second and third most powerful nations, respectively. Effectively, it pushed these two countries together. Such dual containment was uncalled for. Letting Ukraine stay out of NATO was a rather small concession to make. In fact, the US should have tried to get the economically declining but significant military powerRussiaon its own side. Attempts to weaken Putin did not succeed. At the end of the Ukraine war, both Putin and Russia could come out stronger. Another theory is that by supporting the Ukraine conflict, the US and its military industrial complex have gained greater control over Europe. India and Putins Russia In 2012, Putin wrote an article in The Hindu newspaper, saying: The Declaration on Strategic Partnership between India and Russia signed in October 2000 became a truly historic step. India remains the largest customer of Russian military equipment, and the two countries share a historically strong strategic and diplomatic relationship. In October 2022, Putin described India and China as close allies and partners. Both countries bought huge quantities of Russian oil despite US sanctions. India convinced the US to bypass provisions of the Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for the purchase of Russian S-400 air defence systems. Russian global arms exports have been declining in recent years. Indian armed forces still have 60 per cent weapon systems of Russian origin. There is a consistent effort to reduce the size of this basket through indigenisation and diversifying sources. Under Putin, Russia has maintained positive relations with the Asian states of SCO and BRICS, which include China and India. Russia and India are working closely on the multi-modal International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). Conclusion Putin won the 2024 Russian presidential election with 88.48 per cent of the vote. The West claimed irregularities, but Putin does not care. He has said that Russia was in favour of a democratic multipolar world and strengthening the systems of international law, but criticised what he called the US monopolistic dominance in global relations, and almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations. The Russian president is not in favour of a new Cold War. Putin has publicly opposed plans for the US missile shield in Europe. He suspended Russias participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US. He announced the stationing of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Putin has condemned NATO-led military interventions across the globe. Putin has cultivated a cult of personality for himself with a macho, take-charge superhero image. Not just by showcasing his muscularity, but in reality, he is clearly becoming stronger by the day. Many Russians credit Putin for reviving Russias fortunes. He has been called president for life as he has ruled Russia continuously since 1999 and technically could remain in power till at least 2036. Is the world finally heading for multipolarity? It is time to wait and watch. 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. Iran lost confidence of many of its supporters in Pakistan, tarnishing its reputation in pro-Iranian societies, pro-Tehran lobby groups, and civil society organisations, which President Raisi could have hoped to regain through this visit read more Experts argue that Tehran, by accepting the invitation of Pakistans President Asif Ali Zardari, reflected strategic calculus, culminating in Irans President Ebrahim Raisis three-day visit to Pakistan, starting with his arrival in Islamabad on April 22, making him the first Iranian leader to visit Pakistan in eight years. During his visit, the two nations signed over eight agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs), strengthening bilateral cooperation and fostering regional security and economic prosperity. Advertisement That said, his visit came at a crucial time. Just a week before the visit, Iran had launched rocket barrages using a mix of missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for the Israeli Air Force airstrike on the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus. This reminded us of the beginning of 2024, when regional security was seriously threatened as Tehran and Islamabads diplomatic relations took a dip after the artillery strikes conducted in each others territory. A bid to revive diplomatic relations? At the outset, one may argue that President Raisis Pakistan visit reflects Tehrans attempt to win Islamabads support (in the backdrop of retaliation against Israel), perhaps even reflecting/demonstrating Pakistans importance in Tehrans neighbourhood policy and its relations with regional economies. That said, Islamabad has serious limitations in the context of internal/domestic security or foreign policy, coupled with a crippled economy, forcing it to take calculative measures even before committing political support through foreign policy engagements without seeking anything in return. That said, for Islamabad, its policy towards Tehran is centred on: economic gains, border insecurity, and terror groups operating on the borders It is without a doubt that this visit reflects Tehrans willingness to engage with Pakistan in the context of economic engagement, perhaps bringing more collaborative opportunities in terms of strengthening economic cooperation and reaffirming Tehrans commitment to strengthen its engagement with Islamabad and bolster relations. That said, President Raisis visit did not reflect (or demonstrate) regional influence, making it a focused visit to strengthen relations with Pakistan. During a discussion with an expert from the University of Tehran, he opined that the visit may have carried remnants of recent events, reflecting Irans commitment to de-escalate and revive regional stability, emanating from his conversations with IRGC leadership in Tehran, which are visible in comments made by the Pakistan Foreign Office. Reflecting on the joint statement released by Pakistan and Iran on April 24, member states called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take action against Israel, accusing it of having targeted neighbouring states and foreign diplomatic structures illegally. The authors speculate that Tehran has sought assistance from Pakistani authorities to relay messages between Iran and the US or the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in an effort to reduce regional escalation (Israels retaliation) with Pakistans history of mediation between Washington and regional neighbours. It remains unclear whether Tehran sought Pakistans assistance to reach Washington due to their strained ties and stark differences on the issue of the fight against terrorism, the hostility that continues to persist after the US operation to kill Osama bin Laden, even today, and Pakistan being the epicentre of Chinas CPEC and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Advertisement Taking note of Islamabads absence in the Saudi coalition against Yemen and not favouring the Kingdom during the Qatar crisis, Pakistans image in the Gulf has taken a dip. Today, Pakistans importance in the Arab Gulf is largely dependent on its vitality in Beijings Middle East policy and its Belt and Road Initiative. That said, the Gulf (particularly the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia) is looking to expand its relations beyond Pakistan, using formats such as I2U2 or the IMEC Corridor to engage with India, denying Islamabad any room to mediate between Washington, Tehran, and the Gulf. A game of economics? Advertisement Besides diplomacy, President Raisis Pakistan trip echoed economic and security cooperation, with both nations agreeing to increase bilateral trade to $10 billion in a time span of five years from the existing $2 billion. The trade of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in addition to crude oil plays a significant role in bilateral relations between the two states, with Tehran providing electricity supply to the province of Baluchistan among other border regions of Pakistan. The highlight of this bilateral relationship echoes at the energy trade between the two countries. Islamabad and Tehran signed the Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement in June 2009 for a pipeline that was planned to supply 750 million to 1,000 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to energy-starved Pakistan for 25 years from Irans South Pars Field. Though Tehran had claimed in early 2011 to have completed their side of the pipeline, construction delays continue to haunt Islamabad, primarily from the fear of Washington invoking sanctions against them. The Biden administration has categorically questioned the Pakistan-Iran pipeline, dismissing its support, opposing it, and reiterating that Iran is under US sanctions for its nuclear programme. Advertisement In February this year, the then-caretaker government in Pakistan approved constructing a small patch of pipeline connecting the Iranian border to Pakistani territory out of fear of being penalised billions of dollars due to delays in project construction. Post-election, the incumbent regime of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif (which took office in March) is yet to authorise construction of the project. The delays from the Pakistani side appear to leave a dent in its relationship with Tehran, which was evident from the lengthy joint statement issued at the end of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisis visit to Pakistan, with passing mention of the pipeline, raising speculation on further delays. Advertisement Energy-starved and cash-strapped, Pakistan is in dire need of cheap oil to support over 240 million people. Pakistan currently imports expensive oil and gas from Gulf countries, primarily from Irans arch-rival Saudi Arabia, with Aramco acquiring a 40 per cent equity stake in Gas and Oil Pakistan Ltd., and according to a former Aramco official, the Kingdom staunchly opposes the deal. Regional stability by countering terrorism? According to a former IRGC official, terrorism persists as a point of contention in Iran-Pakistan bilateral relations, with both nations pointing accusations towards their inability to curb Islamist factions operating within their territories. One such terror faction is the Jaish al-Adl, popularly known as Jundullah (Soldiers of God), which is a Sunni Islamist group with Balochi ethnicities operating in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as North West Frontier Province) province of Pakistan. According to a Tehran-based security analyst, the groups launched a series of attacks in the Iranian cities of Rask and Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchistan Province in April 2024, which resulted in a sustained gun battle lasting over 17 hours between islamist militants and Iranian security forces. In December 2023, the group was responsible for killing 11 members of the Iranian security forces at a police station in Rask. This prompted Tehran to launch a targeted strike against all Jaish al-Adl bases in Pakistan in January 2024, with the group now posing a direct threat to Irans national security. This resulted in Pakistan retaliating two days later by targeting the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) camps, which Islamabad considers a threat to its national security. President Raisis visit reflects Tehrans interest in de-escalating tension with Islamabad, which was caused by the formers attack and the latters retaliation. Instead, the authors argue that the visit reflects some pressure Tehran could have faced domestically after Islamabads retaliation, which some hardliners may have called for greater exercise of power from Tehran. Tehrans military action was deemed a response from Islamabad, which many in Tehran considered unwarranted, calling for greater exercise of power and strength in response to Islamabad undermining Tehrans capability to further retaliate. That said, the decision to strike against Jaish al-Adl exposed limitations in Tehrans strategic calculus, especially underestimating Islamabads capability to retaliate. Additionally, Iran lost the confidence of many of its supporters in Pakistan, tarnishing its reputation in pro-Iranian societies, pro-Tehran lobby groups, and civil society organisations, which President Raisi could have hoped to regain through this visit. During the authors discussion with an Islamabad-based scholar, the expert opined of a positive response from general gatherings and local masses towards Raisis visit, reflecting the depth of Tehrans soft power influence. At the outset, President Raisis visit to Pakistan demonstrates Tehrans willingness to renew relations with Islamabad. This visit may have also set the stage for Tehran to renew its neighbourhood policy, starting with renewed momentum in its bilateral relations with Pakistan and laying the foundation for a pro-active look-east strategy. President Raisis visit appears to have set the stage to not just achieve the aforementioned objectives, but by renewing confidence in Pakistan, Tehran may aim to cloak its regional ambitions from potential US sanctions. Anant Mishra is a visiting fellow at the International Centre for Policing and Security, University of South Wales. Christian Kaunert is Professor of International Security at Dublin City University, and Professor of Policing and Security at the University of South Wales. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. Sam Pitrodas worldview is incorrect. India is the only large country which continues to have indigenous populations, though definition of indigenous depends on how far back you go read more I have been to Casablanca once. In and around Casablanca, there is plenty to see. It is a historic city. But like many others, such was the impact of the 1942 film, that I headed straight for Ricks Cafe. This of course is not original. It is of recent vintage. Rick Blaines nightclub, made famous by the film, never existed. It was fictional. Lines from the film, like Humphrey Bogarts Heres looking at you, kid, have become immortal. Another such immortal line, though it was never spoken in the film, either by Humphrey Bogart or by Ingrid Bergman, was Play it again, Sam. But everyone thinks it figured in the film, so much so that Woody Allen had a film by that name. Advertisement Sam was of course the pianist. We have another pianist in the form of Sam Pitroda, who strums at the piano chords from abroad. In view of what has been happening, the expression Play it again, Sam must have passed through the minds of many people. He has to strum the chords from abroad. When he returns to India, he might have problems because of the National Herald case. In the 1980s, Sam Pitroda was described as the trigger behind Indias telecom revolution (STD booths), though Arvind Panagariyas book (India, the Emerging Giant, p.374) suggests Sam Pitroda did his best to protect his turf and obstructed introduction of cellular technology. Otherwise, the mobile revolution would have occurred earlier. I didnt meet Sam Pitroda in the 1980s. I got to know him when he was Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission. He is a wise man and I have always been educated by him. Many years ago, when ancestry testing was not that common, at least in India, I got mine done. Most people know that this is a mitochondrial DNA test, through the mothers line. Most Indians who have done this ancestry mapping find a familiar pattern. Out of Africa circa 100,000 BCE, into India circa 35,000 BCE and so on. Mine was slightly different. It floated around in southern Europe till around 500 CE and then proceeded to the region around Uttar Pradesh, courtesy the female slave trade done by the Arabs. This kind of ancestry mapping through the mother is probabilistic, not deterministic. Advertisement Earlier, villages kept records of ancestry. My father revisited his ancestral village (he left it after 1947) in Bangladesh and dug up those village records. These are deterministic. Karnasuvarna is in Murshidabad district, near Berhampore. At one point, it used to be the capital of the Gauda kingdom. Through those village records, my father traced the earliest known ancestor (Boron Dev) back to Karnasuvarna, circa 1500 CE. From there, Boron Dev migrated to the Sylhet region of what is now Bangladesh. Before Karnasuvarna, Boron Dev had been in Kanyakubja (Kannauj) in Uttar Pradesh. On both the fathers side and the mothers side, we converge on Uttar Pradesh. What am I, as per Sam Pitrodas taxonomy? Part Arab, part White I guess. By the way, there are general accounts of Brahmanas from Kanyakubja moving to Bengal and Odisha. (My wifes line belongs to one of these.) Advertisement I have seen several genetic studies done of Bengalis and they reveal the obvious. Bengal, like all of Bharatavarsha, was a complete melting pot. You cannot have those stereotypes of Arab, White, Africa and China. For Bengal, you do have a small percentage of East Asian genetic makeup. But thats not the same as Chinese and this percentage is more pronounced in Bangladesh than in West Bengal, depending on the part of that country. Of course, Sam used China for all of Indias east, not just Bengal. Having been born in the North-East, I am upset when people from other parts refer to those from the North-East as Chinky. There is nothing Chinky about those Indians. But having been a frequent visitor to Delhi once upon a time, Sam must have been aware of that negative appellation. Or perhaps, despite moving to the US in the mid-1960s, he was aware of West Bengals famous slogan from the late-1960s and the 1970s: Chinas Chairman is Our Chairman. More disturbing is the mindset revealed by the Pitroda worldview. There cannot be anything indigenous in Bharatavarsha, in the genes or otherwise. It must have been imported by Arabs from the west, by Africans from the south, by Chinese from the east and by Whites from the north. Advertisement Perhaps this is a natural mindset for a person who has spent the formative years, and the rest of the career, in the United States. After all, in that country, the indigenous population was killed, subjected to ethnic cleansing, enslaved and packed off to reservations by White settlers and invaders. Thats a historical fact, regardless of what the US says today about native Americans and native Alaskans. Ditto for a country like Australia. India is the only large country which continues to have indigenous populations (reflected in genetic studies too), though definition of indigenous depends on how far back you go. But the limited point is that the Pitroda worldview is incorrect. Many people, including Indians, wear blue jeans. I have seen Sam Pitroda wear them too. But that doesnt make you an expert on genes. Advertisement The author is the chairman of the Prime Ministers Economic Council. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. The Quad is not going anywhere, neither has its importance diminished read more An emerging quadrilateral framework between the US, Japan, Australia and the Philippines has triggered a bizarre debate over the future of Quad. It is being claimed that Quad, the four-way grouping between India, Japan, Australia, and the US is apparently losing its relevance and its premier status in the regional minilateral matrix due to Indias purported reluctance to call out China, and its unwillingness to prioritize the frameworks security agenda or deliver on core military goals. Advertisement We are being told (the source is unclear) that a tired Washington is fed up with Indias pussyfooting over Quad and has decided to replace the framework with another emerging bloc tentatively called the Squad, where Indias spot is taken over by the Philippines. India will only go so far in helping Quad to counter China in the South China Sea. New Delhi is more focused on its own neighborhood. Hence, US now has an alternate Quadprivately called Squadthat will do it. Squad replaces India with the Philippines.https://t.co/LksI4GNlwn Derek J. Grossman (@DerekJGrossman) May 4, 2024 I have come across some whacky arguments over the years. This one probably takes the cake. Before we delve into why such a theory is baseless, uninformed, and unmoored from reality, the regional incidents that triggered the development of the latest ad-hoc network are worth recounting. Philippines, under president Ferdinand Marcos who was elected into the office in 2022, has become the next big flashpoint in the South China Sea and a lightning rod for Chinas assertiveness in the South China Sea. Advertisement Marcos has reversed former president Rodrigo Dutertes policy of extreme appeasement of China, which had seen the Philippine Navy give up patrolling of even its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), hewed closer towards the US, its treaty ally, and has taken a more confrontational stance against Chinas naked aggression in the Indo-Pacific thereby incurring Beijings wrath. China, through its infamous nine-dash line and wanton flouting of international laws of the sea, claims almost the entirety of South China Sea that includes Philippines 200-nautical mile exclusive waterways as well as its resource-rich Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef situated in the Spratly Islands. Advertisement Beijing didnt take kindly to Manilas policy reversal and responded with a flurry of provocative moves and grey-zone tactics that included firing water cannons, ramming Filipino vessels and guiding military-grade laser beams at Philippine coast guard ships to prevent sailors from reaching BRP Sierra Madre, a rusty tank-landing ship from the World War-II era that sits atop the Second Thomas Shoal to enforce Manilas permanent claim to the reef. In response, the Joe Biden administration has been steadily intensifying strategic and security cooperation with its treaty ally and held its first joint naval and air drills with the Philippine defence forces last month in the disputed South China Sea, that also saw the participation of Japan and Australia. Advertisement Defence chiefs of the four nations, who had met on the sidelines of the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore last year, attended a series of meetings in Hawaii on May 2 and decided on an ambitious course of action that includes reestablishing deterrence against Chinas hostility in South China Sea and deepening interoperability and security ties within the group that Pentagon officials, according to Bloomberg, are informally calling Squad. All four treaty allies have promised to hold more maritime military drills and provide more muscle to Philippines in countering Chinas hostile behaviour. At a post-meeting presser, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said that Chinas recent behavior in the South China Sea was irresponsible and disregards international law. They also issued a joint statement that reiterated serious concerns on Chinas repeated obstruction of Philippine vessels exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and the disruption of supply lines to Second Thomas Shoal. Advertisement China, that habitually denies such behaviour, has found it difficult to rebuff the charges. Theres a reason. Chinese hostilities have gained international attention owing to Philippines decision since 2023 to take international media crew on board its patrol ships to witness first hand Chinas harassment and intimidation. The result has been a spate of reporting on how Chinese water cannons , so powerful that it can bend steel, shattering the glass panels of Filipino boats and injuring sailors, military-grade laser beams from Chinese maritime militia blinding Filipino sailors and Philippines fisheries vessel sustaining damage to electrical, navigation and radio systems after being rammed by Chinese coast guard ships. Now that Chinas methodical madness has gained global exposure, Beijing has become even more brazen in its approach. This context is important to understand the rationale behind another overlapping four-party framework focused exclusively on the maritime geography of East China Sea and South China Sea where the tiny Philippines, at the receiving end of Chinas risky and destabilizing actions involving coast guard vessels and maritime militia, is desirous of a framework that promises a more equitable distribution of responsibilities and power to push back at China, and is busy retooling its foreign policy prerogatives to suit that agenda. What the Philippines gets, if this grouping between four treaty allies is institutionalized, is more teeth to take on China. The US gets one more functional group among an array of minilateral arrangements aimed at containing China such as the Quad and Aukus each with its own areas of focus and tapping into a set of independent capacities brought to the table by the actors involved. It is evident that these frameworks complement and even enhance each other instead of replacing. Quads multi-tiered structure has a wider ambit by design, and its focus beyond maritime security into non-traditional security threats, along with incorporation of wide-ranging topics such as health, cybersecurity, climate change, technology, STEM research, HADR, supply chain linkages or global value chain makes it a one-stop solution mechanism in a region that is wary of antagonizing China or being sucked into the great power competition between China and the US. That is not to say that Quad avoids working on security agendas. As scholars Dhruva Jaishankar and Tanvi Madan have pointed out in Foreign Affairs, The Malabar naval exercise that began as a bilateral operation between India and the US aiming to increase interoperability between the two naval forces now regularly involves the four countries navies. Separate antisubmarine warfare exercises often include other partners such as Canada and South Korea. The Quad has also conducted other military exercises with France and the United Kingdom on an ad hoc basis to build additional capacity for military cooperation. By soaking in all the attention, the Quad also allows other bilateral and trilateral security arrangements to go under the radar. The suggestion that a fledgling framework such as Squad, which is still at a conceptual stage, has made the Quad inconsequential or irrelevant emerges from a fundamental misconception of the nature of issue-based coalitions. To quote Lisa Curtis, director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security in Nikkei Asia , the Squad is not a replacement for the Quad and should rather be seen as a supplement because India is an important part of the Indo-Pacific strategy. Its a critical part. For its part, India is playing a critical role in this matrix by steadily ramping up its diplomatic and military ties with the Philippines. From offering helicopters to Philippine coast guards, delivering BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to holding joint maritime exercises. India, with its naval prowess and mounting defence engagements with claimant states such as Vietnam or the Philippines is offering to burden share, and it ties perfectly with Manilas attempts to forge new partnerships and diversify defence and economic ties. As professor Harsh Pant writes in NDTV, Many regional players are looking at alternatives to the dominance of China and the US in the regional security calculus. Indias naval presence and defence cooperation agreements extend its influence across the Indian Ocean and beyond. By engaging in joint exercises, capacity-building programmes, and humanitarian assistance missions, India asserts its commitment to fostering a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region Indias ties with the Philippines are not restricted to advanced defense cooperation alone. Adani group, Indias largest commercial port operator, is eyeing expansion in the country including a plan to develop a port in Bataan, and the groups managing director has already held discussions with president Marcos in this regard, according to reports in local media. India has offered Philippines a loan at concessional rates to meet its defence requirements, New Delhi is sending its first-ever defence attache to the country who, according to reports , is expected to take charge in about three to four months time and under the Narendra Modi government, India has become more vocal about Chinas flouting of international norms and bullying of Philippines. At a joint presser with his counterpart last month, Indias foreign minister S Jaishankar during his visit to Manila said India is convinced that the progress and prosperity of this region is best served by staunch adherence to a rules-based order. UNCLOS 1982 is particularly important in that regard as the constitution of the seas. All parties must adhere to it in its entirety, both in letter and in spirit. I take this opportunity to firmly reiterate Indias support to the Philippines for upholding its national sovereignty. Needless to say, China wasnt amused and thundered that third parties have no right to interfere. India is also sending warships to the South China Sea for naval exercises with friendly countries thereby raising the stakes and making China feel hot under the collar. It is therefore foolish to suggest that any regional framework such as Quad that has the presence of a country that has an active land border dispute with China and sees eye to eye with the PLA will have a diminished importance in the regional security matrix. If Quad is not focused narrowly on security, thats a feature of the framework, not a bug. The author is Deputy Executive Editor, Firstpost. He tweets: @sreemoytalukdar. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government, posted on the social media platform X that hundreds have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries. Mujahid identified the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Ghor and Herat as the worst hit. read more People gather around their damaged houses after heavy flooding in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan Saturday, May 11, 2024. - AP The United Nations food agency said Saturday that flash floods from unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed over 1,000 houses. The World Food Program has started distributing fortified biscuits to survivors of the recent floods that have ravaged Afghanistan, particularly impacting the northern province of Baghlan. The floods, which hit on Friday, have caused extensive damage in several provinces, with neighboring Takhar province reporting at least 20 fatalities. Advertisement Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government, posted on the social media platform X that hundreds have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries. Mujahid identified the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Ghor and Herat as the worst hit. He added that the extensive devastation has resulted in significant financial losses. He said the government had ordered all available resources mobilized to rescue people, transport the injured and recover the dead. The Taliban Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that Afghanistans air force has initiated evacuation efforts in Baghlan, rescuing numerous individuals stranded in flooded areas. Additionally, they reported transporting around 100 injured individuals to military hospitals in the region. Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on Afghanistans human rights situation, emphasized the urgent need for immediate aid and long-term planning to address the aftermath of the floods, highlighting the countrys vulnerability to the climate crisis. Videos circulating on social media depicted crowds gathering behind a hospital in Baghlan on Saturday, seeking information about their loved ones. An official advised them to begin digging graves, as hospital staff were occupied with preparing bodies for burial ceremonies. The floods have brought devastation to Afghanistan, with previous reports indicating that heavy rains and flash flooding in April resulted in at least 70 casualties, damaged thousands of homes, and impacted mosques and schools across the country. The development came a day after the Philippines national security adviser called for the expulsion of Chinese diplomats over an alleged leak of a phone conversation with a Filipino admiral in a significant escalation of a bitter row over the South China Sea. read more Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Tensions between the two countries are escalating over territory in the South China Sea. (Source photos by Reuters) Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned Manila government over expulsion of its diplomat, saying that any hasty action could potentially harm the Philippines amid territorial tensions in the South-China Sea, reported by The Manila Times. The development came a day after the Philippines national security adviser called for the expulsion of Chinese diplomats over an alleged leak of a phone conversation with a Filipino admiral in a significant escalation of a bitter row over the South China Sea. Advertisement Lin Jian, spokesman for Chinas Foreign Ministry, issued the statement after Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to expel the Chinese diplomat who illegally recorded a phone call with the chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Western Command. Jian said that if proven, this action could have severe diplomatic and legal implications, The Manila Times reported. The Philippines response shows precisely their guilty conscience in the face of facts and evidence and how exasperated and desperate they have become. We ask the Philippines to ensure that Chinese diplomats can carry out their duty normally and to stop provocations and infringements, Lin said in a press conference. He emphasised that the Philippines must refrain from making reckless moves, which could only backfire on the Philippines. The two countries have been embroiled in a series of heated standoffs this past year in disputed areas of the South China Sea as the Philippines, emboldened by support from the United States and other allies, steps up activities in waters occupied by Chinas vast coast guard. China has accused the Philippines of trespassing and of treachery, while Manila has scolded Beijing for what it says is a policy of aggression and dangerous manoeuvring inside its exclusive economic zone. The announcement makes good a commitment from the Labor government to phase out the controversial practice, despite pushback from farm groups that say the move will put people out of work and destroy farming communities read more Australias government said on Saturday it would ban live sheep exports from the country by sea from May 2028, fulfilling a pledge to end a practice long opposed by animal welfare advocates. We are giving certainty to sheep producers and the supply chain by legislating the date, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said in a statement on Saturday. The announcement makes good a commitment from the Labor government to phase out the controversial practice, despite pushback from farm groups that say the move will put people out of work and destroy farming communities. Advertisement Watt said A$107 million over five years would be offered as a transition package to support people, including sheep farmers, affected by the industry wind-down. We are putting support on the table now so that people can start planning and acting now, the agriculture minister added. Legislation to enact the ban would be introduced in federal parliaments current term, Watt said. The phase out does not apply to other livestock export industries, such as live cattle exports, nor does it apply to live sheep exports by air. Watt said A$107 million over five years would be offered as a transition package to support people, including sheep farmers, affected by the industry wind-down. We are putting support on the table now so that people can start planning and acting now, the agriculture minister added. Legislation to enact the ban would be introduced in federal parliaments current term, Watt said. The phase out does not apply to other livestock export industries, such as live cattle exports, nor does it apply to live sheep exports by air. Most sheep are shipped to the Middle East, around two weeks sailing away. The main export destinations are Kuwait, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Animal rights groups have for years pushed to end those shipments from Australia, where public outcry in 2018 over the death of 2,400 sheep from heat stress prompted calls for stricter welfare standards. Advertisement In January, a ship carrying about 14,000 sheep and 2,000 cattle bound for Israel became stranded off the coast of Australia in sweltering heat after it was forced to abandon a trip through the Red Sea, causing renewed outcry from people concerned about animal welfare in the industry. We Are China AI meets street dance in Shenzhen (People's Daily App) 16:35, May 11, 2024 Witness the captivating fusion of innovation and creativity in this promo video for Shenzhen Design Week 2024. (Video source: Shijie App-Shenzhen TV) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing) By David A. Tizzard Modern life says we are allowed to define ourselves. We become the masters of our own identity, narrative, and existence. Previous forms of control (society, religion, and science) have all succumbed to the power of the individual. The lived experience takes precedence. And while acknowledging the liberation this has brought to countless millions, Ive often perceived myself differently from many of my kind in Korea. I see myself as an immigrant. A first-generation voyager to Korea: here to try and put down roots and settle. Start a family and integrate into society. Being cognizant of my position as a guest, a foreigner, a member of the lowest rung of acceptance. But at the same time, believing in the Korean dream. The idea that if you come to this country, work hard and push yourself, you can create a better life for the next generation. An unfair comparison In a certain sense, though it might sound questionable to some, I see myself comparable to first generation Korean and other immigrants to the United States. There you had people with qualifications and degrees forced to run corner shops and dry cleaners. Working ungodly hours, struggling with the language, and facing all sorts of race and cultural barriers. And yet doing so in the hope that their children and subsequent grandchildren will be more integrated into the society they have moved to. Planting trees under whose shade they will never sit. As a white person in Korea, I receive far less discrimination. I even receive positive discrimination. I am cognizant of this and do not wish to demean or disrespect those who find life here far more difficult than me. I support them and hope that their experiences will become more positive. Sometimes, I am allowed to sit in the center of tables, be the focus on conversation, be forgiven for all my social faux pas, and have my terrible jokes laughed at. In such a situation its easy to develop main character syndrome. To slowly and unconsciously believe that the world, like the seating arrangements, all revolves around me. A dinner meeting of all Korean people suddenly adopts English despite how uncomfortable some might be. The music suddenly becomes Western. Korean people abandon titles for a fleeting moment and become individuals. But that is to be an outsider. In that life you are always the other: never expected to conform, forgiven all the instances of honorific exemptions. Understood when you break all forms of convention and etiquette. That is not the life I seek. I dont want to be treated differently. Instead, I want to be treated and seen like everyone else. And this means my Korean will be heard on occasion no matter how many prepositions and articles I make a mess of or which verb tenses I butcher. I am happy to go to the bottom rank of social occasions and events. After all, the country gave me a job, keeps my kids safe on the street, provides us access to amazing healthcare, and serves up amazing food. Work When I occasionally share my daily schedule on Instagram, many are inspired. Others stare open-mouthed. Generally, Im on the go from 630am to 10pm six days a week and still working on the seventh. This was the schedule that got me through a Masters degree and a PhD while also working multiple jobs. Yes, I could just sit at home and zone out on my mobile phone and geek out on Netflix dramas, but I dont. I push myself to a ridiculous degree. The joke is that the oft-used neologism of gatsaeng pales in comparison to what I do. And why not? Ive adopted the attitude of an immigrant. Ive started living knowing that I will never be quite accepted. That my language skills will never be perfect. And even if I were to naturalize and take up Korean citizenship, something I seriously consider, I will always be an outsider. And yet, thats okay with me. I dont need to be accepted. I dont need to be seen as equal or receive all the benefits of a full citizen. But I will still try hard so that those who come after me might. Life is not just about me. I pay full taxes but cant vote for the president. And unlike many from other countries, the pension contributions I make dont come back to me if I leave the country. A lot of British people complain about this. Where is my 6 million won when I leave the country? they ask the internet, creating petitions and online documents demanding governments recognize them and give them money. Ive never really felt the need to do this. Korea has already given me far more than I could have ever asked for. Would more money help me clear some of my debt? Absolutely! But I chose to come to Korea and choose to keep living here. I cant change who I am or where I am from. A happy immigrant In the near twenty years that Ive been here, Ive had to do drugs tests and aids tests to get my visa. Ive had to provide transcripts and fingerprints. Ive sat in Jongno for hours wondering whether the person the other side of the glass will stamp my document or not. Ive been kicked out of nightclubs for being a foreigner and found myself unable to register for things online. Ive typed my name all sorts of ways and yet ultimately failed to sign-up for a variety of offers given to other citizens. And as frustrating as this is, its fine with me. The country is slowly changing in its own ways and according to its own history and culture. I hope that it keeps moving at its own speed and in its own direction. I love Korea. I am thankful for everything that it is. I support gay rights and am open in my alliance with people from these communities, but I dont demand 50-million Koreans do the same as me right now if they are not ready. I dont always change my clothes when I get home but I dont think Korean people have to do this as well. I write a weekly column in the paper and try to observe whats going on here and communicate it to other people, but I never tell the country what its doing wrong or how it should improve. There are far too many imperfections in my own life for me to be able to judge a country as rich and as complex as this and try to improve on everything that it has achieved thus far. Some people consider themselves expats. Some consider themselves experts, here to change the country and enlighten the people as to their own ways. Some people think of themselves as foreigners. Some, no matter how long they live here, will never learn the language or ingratiate themselves to the people and culture. Thats all good. Everyone gets to define themselves. And for me? Whatever others might say, I consider myself an immigrant. A poor man in anothers country trying to start and raise a family. I dont ask for anything. I dont seek to change a culture. I just appreciate the opportunities. And Korea has plenty of that for which I remain grateful. Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social-cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the "Korea Deconstructed" podcast, which can be found online. On Wednesday, the Florida GOP named Barron Trump as one of the states at-large delegates to the national convention scheduled to take place in mid-July in Milwaukee read more After stirring major headlines about his political debut, former US President Donald Trumps son Barron Trump has turned down the chance to serve as a delegate to the Republican National Convention (RNC). The youngest son of the business mogul turned politician declined the offer due to some prior commitments. On Wednesday, the Florida GOP named Barron Trump as one of the states at-large delegates to the national convention scheduled to take place in mid-July in Milwaukee. However, in a statement released by former First Lady Melania Trumps office, it was stated that the 18-year-old political scion will be turning down the offer. Advertisement While Barron is honoured to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments, the statement obtained by The DailyMail reads. The opportunity was touted as a rare step into the political spotlight by Trumps youngest son, a high school senior who is set to graduate next week. Florida delegate still remains Trump family-heavy Despite Barron pulling out from the opportunity, the Florida delegation still remains Trump family-heavy. The delegation included Trumps other son Eric Trump as delegation chair, and other family members including Donald Trump Jr. and his fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle; Tiffany Trump and her husband, Michael Boulos. It is pertinent to note that Barron did not make a statement after he was selected as a delegate and the Trump campaign did not comment when asked about his selection. The Republican Party of Florida is also yet to comment on Barrons decision to bow out. Not only this, it is also not clear who would replace him as one of the delegates. One of the individuals who was excited about Barrons political debut was his own father. In an interview on Friday, the former president stated that he thought his youngest son would be a good fit for the political role. Advertisement He does like politics. Its sort of funny. He will tell me sometimes, Dad, this is what you have to do, Trump told Philadelphias Talk Radio 1210 WPHT radio station. So anyway, hes a good guy. He is a senior now in high school and he will be going to college," he added. With inputs from agencies. Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was one of the few independent voices who showed the extent of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan in 2020 read more A pro-democracy activist holds a placard with the picture of Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was imprisoned by the Chinese regime, in Hong Kong on December 28, 2020. (Photo: AP) Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist, is set to be released after four years of imprisonment for her coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan in 2020. Zhan was one of the few independent voices who showed the extent of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan in 2020. The first-known outbreak at Wuhan went on to become a worldwide pandemic that has so far killed close to 6.9 million people across the world. Advertisement Zhan, who was convicted and sentenced in December 2020, will be released on Monday, according to The Guardian. Who is Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan? Zhang Zhan is a former lawyer. She lived in Shanghai before she was arrested by the Chinese regime. She was 37-years-old at the time. In February 2020, Zhan travelled to Wuhan, the known epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak, and documented the life there. She posted her content on X (formerly and then known as Twitter), WeChat, and YouTube. She was among the few independent voices covering the Wuhan outbreak as China does not have a free press and the Communist Party of China (CPC) does not allow critical voices. In a video in February, Zhan said that the authorities were imprisoning people in the name of pandemic prevention. She further said that without the truth, everything is meaningless, according to a translation carried by The Guardian. In another video, Zhan showed a hospital overflowing with patients. Yet another video showed a crematorium working past midnight. In this vide, she said, Its 12:40 a.m. The sound of the funeral homes crematorium. They work day and night. Such a portrayal ran against the narrative that the Chinese regime was pushing at the time. In the CPC-approved narrative, China had built massive hospitals in record time and everything was under control. Advertisement Zhans last video was in May 2020, according to The New York Times. In the video, she said, The governments way of managing this city has just been intimidation and threats. This is truly the tragedy of this country. In May 2020, Zhan disappeared from public video. It was later reported that she was convicted and sentenced in December 2020 for four years. Zhang convicted for picking quarrels & provoking trouble In December 2020, Zhan was sentenced to four years in jail for the offence of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Activists in China are often convicted under this offence. The Guardian reported that Zhan was incarcerated in Shanghais women prison. Advertisement On multiple occasions, Zhans former lawyer and brother were quoted as saying that she was in poor health. She was also reported to be indulging in hunger strikes in the prison and was said to be force-fed through a nasal tube. In the winter of 2020, a lawyer who previously represented Zhan, said she was very thin and was being fore-fed via nose while her hands were tied, according to The Guardian. In October 2021, Zhans brother Zhang Ju, said that his sister was on a hunger strike and was being force-fed via nasal tubes. She may not survive the coming cold winterIn her heart, it seems there is only God and her beliefs, with no care for anything else, said Ju in a post on X at the time, as per AFP. The report suggested that Trump might consider selecting Haley if he believed she could bolster his chances of winning the presidency, shield him from a possible prison sentence, and assist in covering tens of millions in legal expenses if he lost. read more Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is currently being considered as a potential running mate by Donald Trumps campaign. Nikki is under active consideration by Donald Trumps campaign to be his running mate, news site Axios reported on Saturday, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. The report suggested that Trump might consider selecting Haley if he believed she could bolster his chances of winning the presidency, shield him from a possible prison sentence, and assist in covering tens of millions in legal expenses if he lost. Advertisement Haley, the ex-governor of South Carolina and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, withdrew her unlikely bid for the Republican presidential nomination in March. Despite Trumps repeated disparagement of her candidacy, she acknowledged his likelihood of securing the Republican nomination but stopped short of endorsing him. Their renewed relationship might even entail a partnership both of them appeared to have rejected out of hand just months ago. Haley, who was the US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, might find her way onto her former bosss presidential ticket as his vice president. The South Carolina politician has yet to endorse Trump for the presidency since dropping out of the primary in March after losing critical states on Super Tuesday. With inputs from agencies. Hamas released a video saying that Nadav Popplewell, who was taken hostage from the southern Israeli community of Kibbutz Nirim, died after being wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza. read more Palestinian terrorist group Hamas said on Saturday that another one of the hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel has died. Hamas released a video saying that Nadav Popplewell, who was taken hostage from the southern Israeli community of Kibbutz Nirim, died after being wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza. The Israeli military did not offer immediate comment on the latest video. It has referred to previous videos of hostages released by Hamas as psychological terror. It has also denied some of the previous accusations by Hamas that hostages were killed by Israeli fire. Advertisement Earlier on Saturday Hamas released an undated video of the 51-year-old captive in front of a white wall, with a bruise on his right eye, and speaking his name. Hours later, in the second video, it said Popplewell died of wounds sustained a month ago in an Israeli air strike. Hamas said Popplewell, whom it said was also a British citizen, was being detained with a woman hostage when the place they were being held was targeted by an Israeli missile. He died because he didnt receive intensive medical care at medical facilities because of the enemys destruction of hospitals in Gaza, the Hamas armed wing spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said in a statement. Of 252 people abducted on Oct. 7, 128 remain in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. At least 36 of them have been declared dead by an Israeli forensic committee. Israel says securing the release of the hostages is the aim of its offensive in Gaza, along with eliminating Hamas, which has ruled the enclave since 2007. Popplewell, according to the hostages support group, was captured with his mother from her home in Kibbutz Nirim. His brother was killed during the attack. His mother was freed during a brief truce in November. Xu Feihong also said cooperation and coordination between India and China on global and regional affairs would not only bring opportunities to both but also have an important positive impact on a reasonable international order read more China is ready to work with India to accommodate each others concerns and find a mutually acceptable solution to specific issues through dialogue at an early date, Beijings new envoy to New Delhi Xu Feihong has said, remarks that came against the backdrop of the prolonged military standoff in eastern Ladakh. An Assistant Minister ranked official, Xu, 60, appointed by Chinese President Xi Jinping for the sensitive job, said he regards his posting in New Delhi as an honourable mission and a sacred duty to improve and advance the bilateral ties. Advertisement It is an honourable mission and a sacred duty. I will do my best to deepen understanding and friendship between the two peoples, expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and improve and advance the bilateral relationship, Xu told PTI and Chinas state-run CGTN-TV in a media interaction here before leaving for New Delhi to take up his posting. China is ready to work with India to accommodate each others concerns, find a mutually acceptable solution to specific issues through dialogue at an early date, and turn the page as soon as possible, Xu said without elaborating further. Xu previously served as Chinas Ambassador to Afghanistan and Romania, besides senior cadre-level postings in the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC). He succeeds veteran Chinese diplomat Sun Weidong, who completed his tenure in October 2022. He is currently Chinas Vice Foreign Minister. Xus appointment comes after an unusually long delay of 18 months amid strained relations between the two countries over the Ladakh military standoff. Relations between the two countries hit a low 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 two sides have so far held 21 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks to resolve the standoff. India is pressing the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) 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. Advertisement 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). As he set to take over his posting in New Delhi, Xu was candid and hopeful about resolving the present deadlock in bilateral ties. I noted Prime Minister Modis comments on the importance of China-India ties, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson responded to that right afterwards, Xu said. In his recent interview with Newsweek magazine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Indias relationship with China is important and significant. The Chinese side always believes that China-India ties should not be defined by any single issue or area; the boundary question is not the entirety of the relationship. Speaking at the Indian Council of World Affairs in September 2014, President Xi Jinping said that we must not focus our attention only on differences and forget about our friendship and cooperation, still less should we allow the differences to stand in the way of our development and interfere with the overall growth of bilateral relations," Xu said. Advertisement On how he viewed his appointment after a considerable hiatus, Xu said, It is my great honour to be appointed by His Excellency President Xi Jinping as the 17th Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Peoples Republic of China to the Republic of India. I look forward to, and I trust that I will have, the support and assistance from the Indian government and friends from all sectors as I work to perform my ambassadorial duties," he said. Xu also said cooperation and coordination between India and China on global and regional affairs would not only bring opportunities to both but also have an important positive impact on a reasonable international order. Advertisement The world today is experiencing profound changes unseen in a century. We face multiple global challenges such as climate change, food and energy crises, weak economic recovery and so on," Xu said. Closer communication and coordination on global and regional affairs will not only bring opportunities to both countries and the world but also add stability and positivity to international relations. It will have an important positive impact on the development of a fair and reasonable international order, he said. The Israeli military has issued evacuation orders to residents in central Rafah, signaling a significant escalation of its military operations in the city and posing a threat of displacement for hundreds of thousands more people. read more Israeli strikes on Saturday hit parts of Gaza including Rafah where Israel expanded an evacuation order and the UN warned of an epic disaster if an outright invasion of the crowded city goes ahead. AFP journalists, medics and witnesses reported strikes across the coastal territory, where the UN says humanitarian relief is blocked after Israeli troops defied international opposition and entered eastern Rafah this week, effectively shutting a key aid crossing and suspending traffic through another. Advertisement Tens of thousands of Palestinians were seen leaving Rafah, Gazas southernmost city, on Saturday after Israel Defence Forces (IDF) issued warnings of an impending military assault. The roads leading out of Rafah were crowded with people of all ages and conditions, packed into vehicles, carts, and on foot, carrying their belongings under the scorching sun. According to reports, over 150,000 residents have evacuated from Rafah since the Israel Defense Forces called for the evacuation of eastern neighborhoods and seized the border crossing with Egypt earlier in the week. The IDF cited the operation as a targeted effort to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons or funds into Gaza. Earlier, the Israeli military has issued evacuation orders to residents in central Rafah, signaling a significant escalation of its military operations in the city and posing a threat of displacement for hundreds of thousands more people. In a post on social media site X, a military spokesperson also called on residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, and 11 other neighbourhoods in the enclave to go immediately to places west of Gaza City. The latest evacuation orders came hours after internationally mediated ceasefire talks appeared to be faltering, with Hamas saying Israels rejection of the truce offer it had accepted returned things to square one. Advertisement Last week, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) seized control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in what it described as a precise, targeted operation after instructing residents of eastern neighborhoods to evacuate. The Palestinian militant group also hinted it was reconsidering its negotiation policy. It did not elaborate on whether a review meant it would harden its terms for reaching a deal, but said it would consult with other allied factions. Israel says it wants to reach a deal under which hostages would be released in exchange for the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, but that it is not prepared to end the military offensive. Advertisement Despite strong pressure from the U.S. and concerns raised by residents and humanitarian groups, Israel has affirmed its intention to proceed with a military incursion into Rafah, where over a million displaced individuals have sought refuge during the seven-month-long conflict. Israeli tanks seized control of the main road separating Rafahs eastern and western sectors on Friday, effectively surrounding the eastern part in an offensive that has prompted Washington to halt the delivery of certain military aid to its ally. Israel asserts that it cannot achieve victory in the conflict without rooting out what it believes to be thousands of Hamas militants stationed in Rafah. Advertisement According to Israeli military estimates released on Saturday, approximately 300,000 Gazans have relocated to Al-Mawasi thus far. The conflict was sparked by a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in over 1,200 casualties and the abduction of more than 250 individuals, according to Israeli figures. Israel has given fresh evacuation orders for Palestinians in several neighbourhoods in Rafah and northern Gaza read more A tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the Israeli offensive is seen in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Source: File Image/ AP Israel has expanded the evacuation orders in the eastern parts of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. So far, around 300,000 Palestinians have left Rafah, according to Israel. Rafah is the town at the southern-tip of Gaza where more than 1 million Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas War had taken shelter. It is the only Gazan town that has not seen major fighting so far. The expansion of the evacuation orders comes at a time when the rift between Israel and its principal partner the United States is the widest. While US President Joe Biden has halted shipments of heavy bombs and has said he would further stop weapons supplies if Israel invades Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly hinted that plans to invade Rafah will move forward anyway. Advertisement Separately, Israel also ordered fresh round of evacuation in northern Gaza where fighting has been halted for several weeks. Israel issues maps with evacuation orders For both Rafah and northern Gaza, Israel issued maps in Arabic to show from where it wants people to evacuate. For Rafah, residents of the neighbourhoods of Al-Adari, Al-Jeneina and Khirbet Al-Adas are supposed to immediately move to the expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, according to maps shared by the Israeli military on X (formerly Twitter). For Gaza City, residents of Al-Salam, Al-Nour, Tal Al-Zaatar, Beit Lahia Project, Jabalia Camp, Ezbet Mlin, Al-Rawda, Al-Nuzha, Al-Jarn, Al-Nahda, and Al-Zuhour neighbourhoods have been told to relocate to shelters west of Gaza City. # , , - ! . pic.twitter.com/oFYipXMajx (@AvichayAdraee) May 11, 2024 Some residents told AFP news agency that they received the latest orders on phone via text and audio messages. The agency further reported that images on social media also showed leaflets with the latest order. Saheb al-Hams, a hospital director in Rafah, was quoted as saying that sadly, the Kuwaiti Specialist Hospital is now included in the places threatened with evacuation. There is no other place for patients and injured people to go to but this hospital, Hams said. He was further quoted as urging immediate international protection for the hospital. Hamas is trying to rebuild its capacity In its evacuation order, the Israeli military said that the Hamas, the terrorist group it is fighting for over seven months, is trying to rebuild its capacity in northern Gaza. Therefore, operations with great force are needed in the region, said the military. Advertisement For several weeks, there have been reports that Hamas has been reestablishing itself at local levels in northern regions where the Israeli military had driven it away from. As Israel did not leave any policing element or made any alternative governance mechanism in areas it freed from the control of Hamas, the group has slowly been reestablishing itself to an extent in these areas as the Israeli focus moved southwards, as per reports. You are in a dangerous combat zone. Hamas is trying to rebuild its capabilities in the region, and therefore the IDF will work with great force against the terrorist organisations in the region in which you are located, and therefore everyone who is in those areas exposes themselves and their families to danger, said the Israeli military in its statement in Arabic. Advertisement Israel says 300,000 Palestinians have left Rafah Even as the Israeli government called for fresh evacuations, it said on Saturday that around 300,000 people have already Rafah. So far, approximately 300,000 Gazans have moved towards the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi since the order was issued on Monday, the news agency AFP quoted an Israeli militarys statement as saying. Earlier, the United Nations had said that the Israeli attacks in and around Rafah had forced more than 100,000 people to flee. The international community, including the United States, has repeatedly warned Israel against an invasion of Rafah as it could create a grave humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, Israel has maintained that the invasion of Rafah is a must as multiple Hamas battalions are still there and an operation in the town is needed to militarily defeat the group. While addressing the assembly, Erdan used a miniature shredder to destroy a copy of the UNs foundational treaty read more In a dramatic moment, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan shredded a copy of the United Nations at the General Assembly meeting held on Friday. Erdan conducted the ordeal while the UNGA voted to recognise Palestines full membership in the international body. While addressing the assembly, Erdan used a miniature shredder to destroy a copy of the UNs foundational treaty. He condemned the states that favoured the resolution and screamed Shame on you! Advertisement While Palestine has been an observer in the United Nations, the resolution demanding full membership dates back to 2012. The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to reconsider Palestines membership. The gathering also expressed deep regret and concern over the USs decision to veto its recognition on April 18 when the resolution was introduced in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Watch: Israeli ambassador to the UN @giladerdan1 used a paper shredder to shred the UN charter on the podium of the UN general assembly ahead of a vote that will give new privileges to the Palestinians at the UN pic.twitter.com/mWQ85c8uwK Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 10, 2024 What Erdan said in the dramatic speech While addressing the assembly, the Israeli envoy reacted furiously to the suggestion that Palestine should be admitted. You are shredding the UN Charter with your own hands. Yes, yes, thats what youre doing, he said while shredding the UN Charter. Shame on you, he said while shredding the UN charter. He mentioned that admitting Palestine into the UN would give the rights of a state to an entity that is already partly controlled by terrorists, and will be replaced by a force of child-murdering Hamas rapists. Advertisement After the meeting, Farhan Haq, the UNs deputy spokesman, described the shredding as theatrics. Regarding the charter, obviously this is an organisation that is premised on respect for the UN Charter, and all of the member states have pledged to uphold the UN Charter, and we expect them to fulfil that obligation, he said. Meanwhile, Palestine representative to the UN Riyad Mansour also gave an emotional speech and called the vote historic and significant. It is important to note that a new state cannot be given membership to the United Nations without a successful vote at the UNSC. If the motion passes at the UNSC, it needs two-thirds of the majority at the UNGA for it to be passed as a resolution. Advertisement However, an attempt to allow Palestine to join the body was vetoed by the US last month. Before the voting, the US suggested it would be willing to recognise Palestine as a state but made it clear that it would first seek agreement from Israel, which it hoped would agree in exchange for a deal normalising its relations with Saudi Arabia. The emir not only dismissed the countrys parliament but also suspended several articles of the Kuwaiti Constitution read more Another Middle Eastern nation fell into the clutches of political turmoil after the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Mishal Al Ahmed Al Sabah announced that he would suspend the countrys elected parliament for up to four years. I will not permit democracy to be exploited to destroy the state, the emir said in the televised speech. The announcement stoked fears that the move could dismantle one of the Middle Easts last semi-democratic political systems. Advertisement The unhealthy atmosphere experienced by Kuwait in previous years has encouraged the spread of corruption to reach most state facilities, and unfortunately it reached the security and economic institutions, the 83-year-old said in his speech. It has even affected the justice system, which is the peoples sanctuary of their rights and freedom," he added. What is happening in Kuwait? The emir not only dismissed the countrys parliament but also suspended several articles of the Kuwaiti Constitution. He called it a transitional period and stated that this time would be used to review all aspects of the democratic process in Kuwait. During the suspension of the parliament, the emir and the cabinet will take over the 50-member Parliaments legislative powers. The decision came just a month after the oil-rich nation held national elections for the fourth time in as many years. While Kuwait chose a new parliament, its member had not yet begun their new session after getting elected. It is important to note that Kuwaits Parliament has frequently been dissolved in favour of new elections, the last suspension took place in February this year. However, a parliamentary suspension has happened only twice in the countrys history, in 1976 and 1986. The country has witnessed frequent deadlocks between Parliament and the executive branch which has intensified over the past five years. The Middle Eastern nation has been a staunch US ally since the 1991 Gulf War expelled occupying Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein. Kuwait also hosts some 13,500 American military personnel as well as the forward headquarters of the US Army in the Middle East. Advertisement With inputs from the agencies. The funds were allegedly channeled from six of the 11 plaintiffs through various offshore entities before being used to purchase luxury goods from 48 vendors across 14 jurisdictions read more Companies, including 1Malaysia Development Bhd. (1MDB) and SRC International Sdn Bhd, have filed a lawsuit against Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, accusing her of acquiring luxury goods worth over US$346 million through misappropriated funds. According to a court filing dated May 9, the plaintiffs are seeking the return of the luxury goods in Rosmahs possession and a payment of US$346 million, or a sum determined by the court. Advertisement The funds were allegedly channeled from six of the 11 plaintiffs through various offshore entities before being used to purchase luxury goods from 48 vendors across 14 jurisdictions. The luxury items include thousands of pieces of jewelry, watches, and handbags. The court filing also names Shabnam Naraindas Daswani as a second defendant, alleging that she procured luxury goods on behalf of Rosmah. Rosmahs lawyers stated that they have not received a statement of claim, only a copy of the writ, according to The Edge newspaper. Najib Razak served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018, but his tenure ended amidst the 1MDB scandal, leading to the defeat of the Barisan Nasional coalition in the election. Following his removal from power, authorities conducted raids linked to Najib and Rosmah, seizing assets worth about 1.1 billion ringgit (US$232 million). Both Najib and Rosmah have denied any wrongdoing but face multiple criminal charges related to the 1MDB scandal. U.S. President Joe Biden's warning to Israel that he could withhold some arms supplies has shaken Israelis used to relying on their main ally at a time when the country faces widening political splits and growing isolation over the war in Gaza. Biden threatened to halt supplies of bombs and artillery shells, Wednesay, if Israeli forces go ahead with a full-scale assault on the southern Gazan city of Rafah, which is packed with Palestinians uprooted by Israel's war on Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wartime coalition have reacted defiantly, saying Israel will press ahead with its campaign to dismantle the Palestinian militant group as Israeli tanks mass on the eastern edge of Rafah. Opinion polls show most Israelis blame Netanyahu for the security failures when Hamas gunmen rampaged through Israeli communities around Gaza, Oct. 7, and would vote him out if there were an election, but many also say the war must continue. "There are some things that we have to sometimes make a decision and say, even without the support of our allies or the support of other countries, it has to be done because we have to protect our citizens," said Danny Ehrlich, an Israeli who grew up in New York and now lives near Jerusalem. But alongside the support, pressure has been growing on Netanyahu from the considerable number of Israelis who believe he is putting his own political survival ahead of the interests of the country. Mass street protests have become weekly events, drawing tens of thousands demanding the government do more to bring home hostages seized by Hamas, Oct. 7, and calling for Netanyahu to go. For the moment, he has succeeded in holding together centrists such as former army generals Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. All three have been wary of alienating the United States and hardline nationalist religious parties led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. But many Israelis feel coalition survival has been achieved at the expense of disrespecting Biden, who has supported Israel despite a growing domestic political cost before November's presidential election in which he will face former President Donald Trump in a rerun of the 2020 election. "Biden is a true friend of Israel. He's given us a crazy amount of backing and we haven't known how to use it correctly," columnist Itamar Eichner wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest newspaper. "Now the administration in Washington is convinced Netanyahu has put all his cards on Trump, so he's trying to minimize damage ahead of November elections." Presidential election year Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, said support for Israel, a traditionally bi-partisan issue in American politics, now risked becoming a touchstone test of political allegiance, as is immigration control. "In a presidential election year where the economy is not a major issue, where everyone is looking for issues, now they've got one," he said. The Israeli campaign in Gaza, which began after the Oct. 7 attack in which Hamas-led gunmen killed some 1,200 people in Israel and abducted more than 250, has now killed almost 35,000 Palestinians. About 2 million people also face a humanitarian crisis in the enclave. Biden's warning followed months of frustration in Washington, whose calls for restraint have been repeatedly rejected even as the political price it was paying for supporting Israel was growing. The wave of pro-Palestinian protests that have hit college campuses in the U.S. appear to underline a growing disconnect between the administration and many young voters who might normally be expected to support a Democratic president. Trump, considered by many one of Israel's strongest supporters after he ordered the U.S. embassy to be moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv when he was president, has also been critical of Netanyahu's handling of the war. Although many on the right believe he will allow Israel a freer hand if he wins back the presidency, others say risking the support of an avowed friend of Israel is a big gamble. "Of course we are afraid," said Kamar, a Tel Aviv resident who has been a regular at the anti-government protests. "What can we do? It's not just the state. Look at all the world. Israelis are afraid to go as tourists anywhere now." "The chutzpah of some of the ministers to go against the most Zionist president of the United States ever is unbelievable." (Reuters) While several senior military and intelligence officials of the Jewish nation have taken accountability for the attack, this is the first time Netanyahu admitted his failure as well read more As the Israel-Hamas war escalates, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepts some responsibility for failing to anticipate Hamas devastating October 7 massacre. In an interview with Dr. Phil McGraw, the Israeli premier admitted that there were failures in his country to deal with the attacks. While several senior military and intelligence officials of the Jewish nation have taken accountability for the attack, this is the first time Netanyahu admitted his failure as well. Advertisement There were failures, obviously, Netanyahu said. First of all, government. The governments first responsibility is to protect the people. Thats the ultimate enveloping responsibility. And the people werent protected. We have to admit that," he added. However, he insisted that there needs to be a thorough examination of what exactly went wrong. I think were going to have to give a thorough explanation. Were going to have to have a thorough examination once the war ends of exactly what happened, how it happened and who made it happen. Thats something that you have to do, Netanyahu averred. But I think right now, our goal is one to achieve victory, he furthered. Netanyahu takes responsibility When pushed further about his personal responsibility over the matter, Netanyahu finally admitted his failure to oversee the attacks. I hold myself and everyone on this. I think we have to examine how it happened. What was the intelligence failure? Netanyahu responds. We can delve into it. But I think the important thing right now is to make sure that we dont have another failure because the greatest failure would be if we dont complete [the counter-attack] if we allow these murderers to be there and to get control of Gaza again Im focused right now on achieving this victory, he added. Advertisement This is the furthest Netanyahu went when it comes to taking responsibility for the attack. In November, the Israeli prime minister attempted to distance himself from the criticism. Did people ask Franklin Roosevelt, after Pearl Harbor, that question? Did people ask George Bush after the surprise attack of [September] 11? he told CNN. In the past, Israels military intelligence chief and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has also accepted responsibility for failing to foresee the October 7 attacks. Netanyahu on ties with Biden When asked about the latest rift between Israel and Washington over IDFs looming ground assault in Rafah, the Israeli premier maintained that he and US President Joe Biden have a strong friendship. Advertisement Ive known Joe Biden for many years 40 years and more. We often had our agreements, but weve had our disagreements. Weve been able to overcome them. I hope we can overcome them now, Netanyahu said. We will do what we have to do to protect our country, and that means to protect our future. And that means we will defeat Hamas, including in Rafah. We have no other choice, he added. Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden warned Israel that would halt military supply to the Jewish nation if it conducted the ground operation in Rafah. While Israels premier was in all praises for the POTUS he also took some time to take potshots at him. Advertisement He told Dr Phill that while world leaders tell him in private that Hamas need to be destroyed, when they are faced with all this propaganda, all this madness in the campuses they begin to fray, some of them. But I dont fray. Well do what we have to do to protect ourselves, he added. Pyongyang in February said it had developed a new control system for its 240mm multiple rocket launcher that would lead to a qualitative change in its defence capabilities, and last month executed a test-firing of new shells read more Multiple rocket launchers are seen being fired during a military drill at an unknown location. Reuters file Adding more to its arsenal, North Korea has announced that it will equip its military with a new 240mm multiple rocket launcher this year. State media on Saturday said that the army will also undergo a significant change in its artillery combat capabilities. On Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the live testing of the technically updated rocket system, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The announcement comes at a time when North Korea is ramping up the production of artillery and cruise missiles that will be sent to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine. Advertisement What is the new rocket launcher system? Pyongyang in February said it had developed a new control system for its 240mm multiple rocket launcher that would lead to a qualitative change in its defence capabilities, and last month executed a test-firing of new shells. The updated rocket launcher will be deployed to units of the Korean Peoples Army as replacement equipment from 2024 to 2026, KCNA. However, South Koreas Defence Ministry told AFP that it could not confirm that North Korea conducted test launches of the new rocket systems on Friday. On the other hand, Pyongyang claims to have fired eight shells that hit point target to intensively prove the advantage and destructive power of the updated 240mm multiple rocket launcher system. Images released by state media showed leader Kim conversing with military officials during an inspection of the launcher, as well as what appeared to be the live-fire test of the system. North Koreas rising military prowess The largely isolated country has recently bolstered military ties with Russia, and Pyongyang thanked Moscow last month for using its UN Security Council veto to block the renewal of a panel of UN experts that monitored international weapons sanctions on Kims regime. KCNA said Saturday that Kim discussed ways to raise production of the new rocket launcher system and shells to the highest level. It also said a significant change will be soon made in increasing the artillery combat ability of our army, without providing details. Advertisement With inputs from AFP Tusk accused Belarus, an ally of Russia, of escalating a hybrid war against the West by incentivizing migrants to attempt entry into the EU. He pledged that Poland would spare no expense in enhancing its border security. read more Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Saturday that Poland is starting work to bolster security along its entire eastern border in response to what he described as a growing hybrid war involving illegal migration from Belarus. Tusk accused Belarus, an ally of Russia, of escalating a hybrid war against the West by incentivizing migrants to attempt entry into the EU. He pledged that Poland would spare no expense in enhancing its border security. Advertisement While Tusk did not disclose specific details about the planned measures or the allocation of funds, he emphasized that when it came to Polands security, there would be no limits to the actions taken. The Polish-Belarusian border is a unique place due to the pressure of illegal immigration. In fact, we are dealing with a progressing hybrid war, the prime minister said as he visited the frontier and met soldiers and guards. The visit to the border, Tusks first since he took office in December, comes after a Polish judge defected to Belarus this month. He claimed he was facing persecution in Poland, a democracy, but officials have denounced him as a traitor and he is being investigated on suspicion of espionage. Tusk replaced a national conservative party at odds with the EU over rule of law issues. This party, Law and Justice, adopted a staunch anti-migration stance, leading to discord with other European allies upon assuming power in 2015. Over time, attitudes toward migration have hardened across Europe. While Tusk refrains from employing the harsh anti-migrant rhetoric of his predecessors, he shares their stance against unregulated migration. This is not only Polands internal border, but also the border of the European Union. Therefore, I have no doubt that all of Europe will have to and I know that we will achieve this invest in its security by investing in Polands eastern border and in the security of our border, Tusk said. Advertisement He added that he made a declaration to the commanders of the security forces at the border there are no limits on resources when it comes to Polands security. The visit comes weeks ahead of next months elections for the European Parliament, and Tusk seemed intent on sending a message to voters that his political party, Civic Coalition, favors border security and supports the uniformed officers there. I came today primarily so that both commanders and their subordinates have no doubt that the Polish state and the Polish government are with them in every situation, here at the border," he said. A crisis erupted along the EUs eastern border with Belarus in 2021 when large numbers of migrants from the Middle East and Africa began arriving there. The EU accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging the migration to destabilize the EU after it imposed sanctions on the country for an election widely viewed as fraudulent. Advertisement Polands previous government responded to the crisis by constructing a tall steel wall. With inputs from agencies. The station decided to not only suspend Giuliani but also cancel the show he hosted for three years read more Former New York Governor Rudy Giuliani was suspended from WABC radio for using his show to spread misinformation that the 2020 US presidential elections were rigged. John Catsimatidis, the station owner and one of the major donors of GOP told NBC News that Giuliani had been warned twice by station management about the comments he made on the show. The station decided to not only suspend Giuliani but also cancel the show he hosted for three years. In the letter addressed to Giuliani, Catsimatidis said that the former US President Donald Trumps ex-lawyer was prohibited from engaging in conversations relating to the 2020 Presidential Election on his WABC programs. Advertisement These specific topics include, but are not limited to, the legitimacy of the election results, allegations of fraud effectuated by election workers, and your personal lawsuits relating to those allegations, Catsimatidis wrote in the letter which was dated Thursday. We do not condone these actions: Station to Giuliani The letter cited a news article about two Georgia poll workers who were awarded $148 million in damages last year in a defamation lawsuit against Giuliani. The two poll workers were accusing Giuliani of making fresh false statements. You are now once again stating that there was fraud. You may not do so on our airwaves. This is a clear condition of your continued relationship with WABC. We do not condone these actions, and do not want to be subject to the ramifications of your conduct under any circumstances, Catsimatidis said in the letter. While speaking to NBC News, the billionaire said that the cancellation of the former New York City mayors show was not preplanned. He stated that he feels very bad because he is still Americas mayor, but we need to know where to draw the line. Giuliani reacts Meanwhile, Giuliani blasted WABCs actions and released an angry statement. This directive is a clear violation of free speech, Giuliani said, adding that he had not been informed previously about restrictions. Obviously I was never informed of such a policy, and even if there was one, it was violated so often that it couldnt be taken seriously, he added. It is important to note that the former New York mayor is facing charges in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Giorgia and Arizona. Advertisement His suspension came at a time when the news outlet has been hit by several lawsuits from voting machine companies over false statements regarding the 2020 presidential election and the integrity of its results. Russia has announced that it will conduct exercises with tactical nuclear weapons in near future amid the ongoing war with Ukraine read more Russia is conducting nuclear exercises to plan a response to any attack on its soil aided by the West, said senior Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev. The comment from Medvedev comes as Russia is planning to conduct exercises with tactical nuclear weapons amid the ongoing war with Ukraine. In recent months, Russia has scored a string of victories in Ukraine as defenders have found themselves starved of ammunition and low on morale. In a thinly-veiled threat to the West, Medvedev further said that any Russian response to any such attack will not be just limited to Ukraine. Advertisement Medvedev added that the nuclear drills are taking place at a time when the West has allowed Ukraine to carry out attacks inside Russia with Western weapons. For several months, Ukraine has been striking at targets deep inside Russia, particularly at military sites and oil refineries. Medvedev is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, the apex body on all matters related to security thats part of the Russian presidential administration. The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is the Chairman in ex-officio capacity. Previously, Medvedev has served as the President (2008-12) and Prime Minister (2012-20) of Russia. Russian response will not be limited to Ukraine, warns Medvedev In response to attacks inside Russia purportedly aided by the West, Medvedev has warned that Russian responses will not be restricted to Ukraine. Under certain circumstances the response will be delivered not only to Kiev and it wont contain plain explosives but special ammunition as well. And to drill the response to such attacks is the aim of the planned military exercise. Even the semiliterate Imbeciles of His Royal Majesty should understand that, said Medvedev in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The special kind of arms is an apparent reference to nuclear weapons. Medvedevs comment appears to be a veiled threat about potential Russian nuclear strikes on Western nations if Russia is attacked from Western weapons. Advertisement A certain Mr. Cameron has called for fighting Putin to the bitter end. Oh I remember the guy quite well. I used to work with him after he became the prime minister: a usual fishy Briton. Back then he was gleefully foolish and looked like a young daredevil reveling in a Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) May 10, 2024 Medvedevs expletive-laden post primarily targeted on UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who recently said that it is up to Ukraine to how to use British-supplied weapons. He said that Ukraine may use British-supplied weapons inside Russia as well. In an apparent response to this remark, Medvedev called Cameron a usual fishy Briton. He further said that Cameron was claiming that the British were not afraid of even nuclear conflict. Advertisement Basically, he tells Ukrainians to shoot the British missiles anywhere they wanted. And we the British are not afraid of anything, even of a nuclear conflict, said Medvedev. Further mocking Cameron, Medvedev said that the Ukrainian attacks were practically being controlled by the countrys European partners. A tough guy! You shouldnt have said it, laddie. Bear in mind that those who handle the Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG cruise missiles are not the halfwits dressed in embroidered shirts, but the British and French, said Medvedev, referring to French missiles that have been provided to Ukraine. What we know of Russian nuclear exercises Russian President Vladimir Putin last week ordered military drills near the border with Ukraine that will involve the simulation of nuclear weapons use on the battlefield. Advertisement The Russin defence ministry on Monday said Putin had ordered the exercise to increase the readiness of nonstrategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions, according to a statement carried by The Moscow Times. The announcement was seen as the starkest warning by Russia in more than two years of fighting in Ukraine that it could use nuclear weapons. The Russian defence ministry did not say when the exercise would take place and just said it would take place in near future. It further said that the exercises were in response to provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation. Advertisement Later on Thursday, Putin provided further details about the exercises and said Belarus, where Russia has deployed nuclear weapons, will also be joining the exercises. He described the drills as a routine affair. There is nothing unusual here. This is planned work. It is training, said Putin, as per state-run TASS news agency. Putin further said, We hold them regularly. This time they are held in three stages. At the second stage, Belarusian colleagues will join our joint actions. For decades, girls education in Pakistan has suffered from multiple issues like economic constraints, security issues and a shortage of female teachers leaving it in a state of disrepair read more (File) Girls attend lessons at a school in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad. Reuters On Friday, Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered immediate reconstruction of a girls school which was recently blown up by unidentified militants in Tehsil Shewa of North Waziristan district. According to Dawn, Prime Minister Shehbaz expressed the governments strong determination to hold terrorists accountable for their attempts to obstruct girls access to education. He emphasized that such malicious intentions will not succeed, reiterating the governments steadfast commitment to providing equal educational opportunities for all, especially girls. Advertisement While this is reassuring, what is the current state of girls education in Pakistan? Girls left behind? In their joint research paper Women Education in Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities, researchers Anna Askari from Psychophysiology Research Lab, University of Karachi; Ammad Jawed from Azra Naheed Dental College, Superior University, Lahore and Salvat Askari from Foundation of Education, SZAK Memorial Welfare Organisation, Karachi wrote: Womens education in Pakistan faces numerous challenges, including cultural norms, poverty, and lack of educational facilities. However, opportunities such as government initiatives, womens empowerment, and the role of technology also exist to improve womens education. It is essential to highlight the challenges to overcome them and progress. Broadly speaking, the following concerns the researchers found due to which womens education is suffering in Pakistan: Traditional expectations often prioritise girls involvement in domestic responsibilities like household chores and child-rearing, potentially at the expense of their education. Economic hardships, particularly extreme poverty, compel many families to forgo sending their daughters to school, opting instead for their employment to supplement the family income. Deep-seated gender biases lead to a preference for investing in sons education, as they are perceived as future breadwinners, thereby marginalising opportunities for daughters. Concerns regarding womens safety and security pose significant barriers to their educational pursuits in Pakistan. Insufficient educational infrastructure limits access to quality education for women across the country. Additionally, the scarcity of female teachers presents a notable challenge, as it creates discomfort and hampers the educational experience for girls. In their March 2023 article for the World Bank titled Facing the Challenges of Girls Education in Pakistan, Juan D Baron and May Bend highlighted that despite advancements girls in Pakistan encounter significant obstacles in accessing quality education resulting in educational outcomes that consistently fall behind those of boys. In their study, the authors discovered that in Pakistan, approximately 2 million more girls than boys are currently out of school. According to data from 2018, 26 per cent of girls and 19 per cent of boys had never attended school. Moreover, girls encounter various forms of harassment both within schools and on their way to school leading to significant concerns about their safety in public spaces, during transportation and in the vicinity of educational institutions. What has come as a big shocker is that 75 per cent of 10-year-olds in Pakistan cannot read a simple text which might have gone up to 79 per cent due to COVID-19 and the 2022 floods. Advertisement A November 2018 report by Human Rights Watch delivered a scathing assessment of the condition of female education in Pakistan. How much does Pakistan spend on education? According to World Bank data, Pakistan spent a meagre 2 per cent of its GDP on education in 2022. Although on a declining trend, the World Bank data reveals that Pakistan invested 2.6 per cent of its GDP in military spending in 2022. Why Pakistan must increase focus on girls education In her opinion piece titled Navigating the Challenges of Girls Education in Pakistan, published in February this year for the Tribune, Saira Batada emphasized the interconnectedness between various aspects of human development and schooling, particularly for women. She asserted that prioritizing womens education not only elevates their status but also positively impacts several areas such as nutrition, community empowerment, health and the eradication of child labour and exploitation. Advertisement In June 2022, the United Kingdom pledged up to 130 million for girls education in Pakistan targeting nearly 17 million children. In the global landscape of education, a staggering 132 million girls find themselves outside schooling, representing approximately 9.2 per cent of the total. Pakistan, unfortunately, bears a significant burden of this educational crisis, with 12.2 million girls deprived of access to education. Shockingly, 54 per cent of the poorest 25 per cent of girls find themselves excluded from classrooms, experiencing only a fraction of the learning opportunities available to their more privileged counterparts. In the Punjab province, women lag at 54 per cent in literacy rates, further plummeting to 44 per cent in rural areas while men enjoy a significantly higher literacy rate of 72 per cent. Alarmingly, a study referred to by the British High Commission in Pakistan said that 2.2 million adolescent girls aged 1519 in Punjab find themselves neither in schools nor engaged in employment or marriage. Advertisement The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa paints a similarly grim picture, with a staggering 66 per cent of girls deprived of education compared to 34 per cent of boys. In the Newly Merged Districts, a mere 40 per cent of girls find themselves enrolled in primary schools, with a dismal 3 per cent transitioning to middle school. At the higher secondary level, the presence of girls dwindles to a mere 250 across the entire province reflecting upon the magnitude of the educational crisis gripping the region. Former UK High Commissioner to Pakistan, Christian Turner, rightly said that no nation could achieve its full potential without the inclusion and empowerment of 50 per cent of its population. Advertisement For Pakistan, there is a lot of catching up to do indeed! South Africa has asked the court to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah; to take measures to ensure unimpeded access to U.N. officials, humanitarian organizations and journalists to the Gaza Strip; and to report back within one week as to how it is meeting these demands read more Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a makeshift tent camp in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo) South Africa urged the United Nations top court Friday to issue more emergency measures to restrain Israel, saying its military incursion in Rafah threatens the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza. The request marks the fourth for additional measures by South Africa, which filed a genocide case against Israel late last year at the International Court of Justice. According to the latest request, the previous preliminary orders by The Hague-based court were not sufficient to address a brutal military attack on the sole remaining refuge for the people of Gaza. Advertisement At hearings in January, lawyers for Israel argued that its war in Gaza was a legitimate defense of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide. South Africa has asked the court to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah; to take measures to ensure unimpeded access to U.N. officials, humanitarian organizations and journalists to the Gaza Strip; and to report back within one week as to how it is meeting these demands. Earlier this week, Israel issued a warning to evacuate an area of eastern Rafah where approximately 100,000 Palestinians have been sheltering. Israeli military forces have now seized the nearby border crossing with Egypt, leaving all entries and exits from the beleaguered enclave under Israeli control. South Africa also accused Israel of violating the previous provisional measures imposed by the court. In January, judges ordered Israel to do all it could to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza. Two months later, the court issued a second set of measures, telling Israel to improve the humanitarian situation, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies. The court also announced on Friday that Libya had asked to join the case and intervene in support of South Africa. The North African country joins Nicaragua and Colombia, which have filed their own requests to take part in the proceedings. Advertisement Separately, Nicaragua brought a complaint against Germany, arguing the European country is enabling genocide by sending arms and other support to Israel. Earlier this month, the court rejected a request for emergency measures against Berlin, but the case will continue on merits. The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. The attack sparked an Israeli invasion the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million people. Israels bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Much of Gaza has been destroyed and some 80% of Gazas population has been driven from their homes. Advertisement The U.N. says northern Gaza is already in a state of full-blown famine. Russian officials reported the capture of another village, Pletenivka, as part of a renewed offensive in the region, prompting Ukrainian authorities to declare that over 1,700 civilians had been forced to flee. read more Russian forces have taken five border villages in Ukraines Kharkiv region the countrys Defense Ministry said Saturday. In a briefing, the defence ministry said that Russian forces had taken the villages of Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylna and Strilechna, all of which are directly on the border with Russias Belgorod region. Russian officials reported the capture of another village, Pletenivka, as part of a renewed offensive in the region, prompting Ukrainian authorities to declare that over 1,700 civilians had been forced to flee. Advertisement According to Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov, more than 30 towns and villages experienced artillery, mortar, and aerial bombardments, resulting in the deaths of at least three individuals and injuries to five others. In response to the Russian assault, Ukraine swiftly dispatched reinforcements to the Kharkiv region on Friday to bolster local defenses and repel the advancing forces. Ukrainian forces launched a series of drone and missile strikes on Saturday, according to Russias Ministry of Defense. The strikes targeted Russias Belgorod, Kursk, and Volgograd regions, with air defense systems successfully intercepting and downing 21 rockets and 16 drones. Tragically, one person lost their life in a drone strike in the Belgorod region, while another individual perished in the Kursk region, as confirmed by local officials. In late March, Russian forces intensified their bombardment of Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, marking a strategic shift in Moscows approach to the war that Ukrainian officials had anticipated for weeks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Friday evening that Russian forces were expanding their operations, urging Western allies to expedite the delivery of promised military aid to bolster the countrys defense. The Kremlins forces have sought to exploit Ukraines shortages of ammunition and personnel amid a slowdown in Western military aid in recent months, with anticipated new support yet to materialize. Ukrainian authorities had been aware of Russia assembling thousands of troops along the northeastern border, particularly near the Kharkiv and Sumy regions, and had anticipated an attack in that area, despite Russias previous focus on southern parts of eastern Ukraine. Advertisement While Russias territorial gains in the region have been limited thus far, analysts at the U.S. think tank Institute for the Study of War characterized them on Friday as tactically significant. Mass graves have been reported at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and Kamel Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza read more Mass graves have been reported at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, Nasser Hospital, and Kamel Adwan. (Photo: AFP) The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has called for an investigation into mass graves found near hospitals in the Gaza Strip. In a statement on Friday, the UNSC called for an immediate and independent investigation into the mass graves. The Hamas-run Gaza authorities have claimed that the graves contain hundreds of bodies. Such mass graves have been reported at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and Kamel Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. These facilities have witnessed shelling and ground operations by the Israeli military. Advertisement Accountability for violations for international law While calling for an investigation into the mass graves at Gazas hospitals, the UNSC member-countries expressed deep concern and underlined the need for accountability for violations of international law. In a statement shared by the United Kingdoms mission to the UN, the members called the investigators to have unimpeded access to all locations of mass graves in Gaza to conduct immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations to establish the circumstances behind the graves. The UN Security Council calls for immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations into mass graves discovered at the Nasser and Al Shifa medical facilities in Gaza. There needs to be accountability for violations of international law. pic.twitter.com/nQpBsHtolc UK at the UN (@UKUN_NewYork) May 10, 2024 The member countries further called upon all parties to follow international law in Gaza. The members of the Security Council reiterated their demand that all parties scrupulously comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, in particular regarding the protection of civilians and civilian objects, said the statement. Hamas alleged Israel killed & buried people, Israel rejected charge The officials of the Hamas-run Gaza administration have previously alleged Israel of killing and burying people in Gazas hospitals. Israel has rejected the allegations as baseless and unfounded. Advertisement Earlier this week, Gazan officials told Anadolu news agency that 520 bodies had been exhumed from the seven mass graves. The mass graves are a new evidence of the brutality of the criminal occupation army in its systematic aggression against our people and the medical sector, said Hamas in a statement carried by the agency. The Israeli government has long claimed that Hamas has used hospitals in Gaza as command-and-control centres. It has also accused Hamas of using two other hospitals, Sheikh Hamad and Indonesian, as a cover for its military activities. The Joe Biden administration of the United States has been working to safeguard American manufacturers against the influx of cheap Chinese imports driven by subsidies and weak domestic demand read more The US and European allies are concerned about the influx of cheap Chinese EVs (Photo: AFP) The United States is set to impose new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), semiconductors, medical supplies, and renewable energy imports, according to reports. The development comes at a time when the US and its European partners are deeply concerned about cheap Chinese imports. They are concerned that China is dumping its industrial overcapacity in their markets at the cost of their own industries. The Joe Biden administration of the US has been lately working to safeguard American manufacturers against the influx of cheap Chinese imports driven by subsidies and weak domestic demand. Advertisement The Biden administration may hike tariffs on EVs from 25% to 100%, according to The New York Times. The report further said the hike may be announced as early as next week. Separately, Reuters reported that tariffs may be announced on Tuesday. What will be targeted by US in new tariffs? The new tariffs by the Biden administration are expected to target EVs, renewable energy imports, semiconductors, medical supplies, and industrial metals like steel and aluminum. The renewable energy sector-related goods expected to be targeted include solar panels and lithium batteries. Among the medical supplies, the tariffs are expected to target syringes and personal protective equipment (PPE), as per Reuters. Among the EVs, the Biden administration is particularly concerned about vehicles connected to the internet. US President Joe Biden has said that such vehicles posed risk to the US national security as they could send sensitive information to Beijing. The Biden administration is currently reviewing if such vehicles should be blocked completely from entering US market, according to the report. Since coming to office in 2021, US President Joe Biden has invested in boosting American manufacturing capabilities. He has specifically focused on semiconductors and renewable and clean energy industries sectors most acutely affected by China. As per the White House, investments to the tune of more than $800 billion have been facilitated by Bidens Investing in America agenda including the CHIPS and Science Act that doled out huge subsidies in these sectors. Advertisement Im looking for competition, not fight with China: Biden As tensions between the United States and China rise on all fronts ranging from the Indo-Pacific region to trade, Biden has said that he is looking for competition and not conflict. Im not looking for a fight with China. Im looking for competition fair competition, said Biden last month in an address to steelworkers in Pittsburgh. He further said, The bottom line is that I want fair competition with China, not conflict, and were in a stronger position to win the economic competition of the 21st century against China or anyone else because were investing in America and American workers again finally. Advertisement In the same address, Biden also said that he has instructed US Trade Representative Katherine Tai to investigate trade practices by China in steel and aluminum sectors. He further said the tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum imports could be tripled if the investigation finds unfair practices. Granholm will participate in a meeting of the Net-Zero Producers Forum, a group of countries representing 40 per cent of global oil and gas production, including the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar read more US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates next week to work on climate co-operation and other issues, two Biden administration officials told Reuters on Friday. The visit will run from Tuesday through Thursday, with Granholm visiting the UAE first, one of the officials said. It will be her first trip to the region as secretary. The visit is a continuation of long-standing engagement between the U.S. and this region, the officials said. Advertisement Specifically, for the Department of Energy, it will move forward work both countries are doing on climate cooperation and to diversify the energy economy. Granholm will participate in a meeting of the Net-Zero Producers Forum, a group of countries representing 40 per cent of global oil and gas production, including the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the sources said. The group, which works on ways to cut emissions such as abatement of methane and deployment of clean energy, was formed in 2021. Saudi Arabia and UAE are both members of OPEC, which is debating whether to extend output cuts. The Net-Zero meeting was planned long in advance and Granholm does not plan to discuss oil policy with counterparts on the trip, one of the sources said. The Biden administration and Saudi Arabia are nearing an agreement for US security guarantees and civilian nuclear assistance, even as an Israel-Saudi normalization deal envisioned as part of a Middle East grand bargain remains elusive, sources told Reuters this month. The lawmakers, including Representative John Moolenaar, Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, flagged the urgency of adopting passive defenses such as hardened aircraft shelters and the dispersal of forces read more A group of American lawmakers has raised concerns over the vulnerability of US bases and aircraft in the Pacific region to Chinese missile threats, urging immediate action from the Pentagon to address the issue. In a letter addressed to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, 13 members of Congress highlighted the pressing need for defensive measures to counter Chinas formidable missile force. The lawmakers, including Representative John Moolenaar, Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, flagged the urgency of adopting passive defenses such as hardened aircraft shelters and the dispersal of forces. Advertisement According to the letter, China possesses a significant missile arsenal with the capability to target all US bases in the Pacific, posing a serious threat to American service members and assets in the region. The lawmakers warned that these vulnerabilities could severely hamper US military response in the event of a conflict. Many US bases in the Pacific remain unhardened, leaving aircraft and assets exposed to missile strikes. The letter pointed out the need for passive defenses and sufficient capabilities to mitigate the impact of such attacks, including hardened shelters, underground bunkers, and rapid runway repair capabilities. Preliminary information shared in the letter highlighted a significant disparity between the number of Chinese and US hardened aircraft shelters in the Pacific, with China having constructed over 400 shelters compared to just 22 by the US. The absence of US shelters in Guam, home to Andersen Air Force Base, was particularly concerning. While acknowledging that no defense measures can provide complete protection from Chinese missiles, the lawmakers highlighted the importance of upgrading defenses to increase survivability and deter Chinese aggression. They criticised the lack of urgency in pursuing base hardening projects in the Pacific and highlighted the absence of such projects in the fiscal year 2024 budget. The assessment underscores the growing recognition of China as a pacing challenge for the US and the need for enhanced readiness to counter potential conflict. Despite efforts to adapt to the evolving threat posed by Chinas military build-up, experts and analysts caution that more work is needed, particularly in defending against Chinese missiles. Citing people familiar with the situation, Axios had reported that Trump could pick Haley if he were convinced she could help him win the presidency, avoid a potential prison sentence and cover tens of millions in legal bills if he loses. read more Donald Trump said on Saturday that former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was not being considered to be his running mate in the November election. His comment came after a report by the news site Axios claimed that former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is currently being considered as a potential running mate by Trumps campaign. Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well! Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. Advertisement Haley, the ex-governor of South Carolina and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, withdrew her unlikely bid for the Republican presidential nomination in March. Despite Trumps repeated disparagement of her candidacy, she acknowledged his likelihood of securing the Republican nomination but stopped short of endorsing him. Comment was not immediately available from Haley. While she has acknowledged that Trump, who repeatedly belittled her candidacy, would be the Republican nominee, Haley has not endorsed him. With inputs from agencies. In a highly anticipated report to Congress, the US State Department said that they found that weapons Washington provided to Tel Aviv may have been used in ways that are inconsistent with international human rights law read more As the Israel-Hamas war continues to escalate, the United States said that it is reasonable to assess that the Jewish nation has violated humanitarian law during its military operation in Gaza. In a highly anticipated report to Congress, the US State Department said that they found that weapons Washington provided to Tel Aviv may have been used in ways that are inconsistent with international human rights law. However, the State Department maintained that there is no concrete evidence to link specific US-supplied weapons to violations or warrant cutting the supply of arms. Advertisement Given the nature of the conflict in Gaza, with Hamas seeking to hide behind civilian populations and infrastructure and expose them to Israeli military action, as well as the lack of USG personnel on the ground in Gaza, it is difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents, the State Department said in the report. Nevertheless, given Israels significant reliance on US-made defence articles, it is reasonable to assess that defence articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm, the report furthered. The brewing tensions between Israel and the US The damaging report came at a time when ties between Israel and the US have soured due to their disagreement over the Rafah ground assault. Both the United States and the United Nations have warned Israel that launching an assault on Rafah can cause a major humanitarian crisis. Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden said that his administration would halt the supply of weapons to Israel if the Jewish nation go ahead with the Rafah operation. Bidens assertion drew severe criticism from Israel, indicating Tel Avivs discomfort with Americas foreign policy shift. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off all the criticism and remained adamant about the Rafah ground operation. Advertisement What did the report say? The report by the US State Department covered the ongoing Israel-Hamas war from the start of the conflict. Interestingly, the assessment in the report was not that harsh on Israel. The Biden administration still maintained that it did not find any evidence which suggested that Israel has withheld humanitarian aid to Gaza. The ultimate finding also stated that Israels assurance made under the national security memorandum is credible and reliable. However, this assessment has already raised scrutiny among some lawmakers and incredulity among human rights and humanitarian organizations. Critics argued that the report did not mandate any actions to be taken against the Israeli government and it did not trigger any policy changes as well. Advertisement However, it is important to note that it was the first time the United States government had to make an assessment of Israels conflict with Hamas, which was triggered by the terror groups surprise attack on October 7. The criticisms that followed Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen who was one of the key players who encouraged the Biden administration to create the national security memorandum, expressed disappointment in the report. The administration ducked all the hard questions about making the actual determination, the Maryland Democrat told reporters Friday evening, CNN reported. I think what theyre trying to do is make clear that they recognize how bad the situation is, but they dont want to have to take any action to hold the Netanyahu government accountable for whats happening, he added. Advertisement Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, who is on the Foreign Relations Committee, echoed a similar sentiment. On the one hand, it says that its very reasonable to conclude that theres been restriction of aid, its very reasonable to conclude that our weapons have been used in violation of international law and then it proceeds to say that we just dont want to give an answer on that yet, Merkley averred. The Oregon Democrat is one of the few US lawmakers who set foot on Rafah to see the ground realities. Clearly, politics come into this and strategy comes into this, but it is frustrating because its so important at this moment that we use the leverage we have to persuade Israel to change its conduct, he added Advertisement With inputs from agencies. China has been aggressively investing in its domestic semiconductor industry, with over US$142 billion in government incentives aimed at achieving 70 per cent self-sufficiency by 2025. This investment has resulted in a three-fold increase in wafer fab capacity between 2012 and 2022 read more A report published by the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) indicates that the United States is poised to significantly expand its domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity by 2032, surpassing China in the production of advanced chips. The report forecasts that by 2032, the US will increase its share of advanced chips, specifically those below 10-nanometers used in applications such as the latest smartphones, to 28 per cent, while mainland Chinas share in the same category is expected to be just 2 per cent. Advertisement Taiwan and South Korea dominated global capacity for production of sub-10-nm chips in 2022, with 69 per cent and 31 per cent share, respectively. The projected growth in the US semiconductor industry is attributed in part to the Chips and Science Act passed by Washington in 2022, aimed at bolstering the countrys chip manufacturing capacity. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the worlds largest chip foundry, has already committed to building a 2-nm plant in Arizona as part of a planned total investment of US$65 billion in the state. Despite the anticipated growth in the US, Taiwan and mainland China are expected to maintain leadership in global wafer fabrication capacity, with 21 per cent and 17 per cent share respectively by 2032. China has been aggressively investing in its domestic semiconductor industry, with over US$142 billion in government incentives aimed at achieving 70 per cent self-sufficiency by 2025. This investment has resulted in a three-fold increase in wafer fab capacity between 2012 and 2022. Mainland China currently boasts over 3,000 fabless companies, focusing on consumer electronics, industrial control systems, and intelligent devices. However, the report notes that Chinas domestic chip designs are less competitive in advanced CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs, and corresponding higher servers and computer power management. Nevertheless, China maintains the lead in global capacity for assembly, test, and packaging facilities, with a 30 per cent share compared to Taiwans 27 per cent. The lower construction and skilled labor costs in mainland China and Taiwan are cited as contributing factors to their dominance in this aspect of semiconductor manufacturing. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has passed a resolution that calls for expanded membership of the State of Palestine at the UN read more The White House has defended the US vote at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Palestines membership and said the way to Palestinian statehood is through direct talks in the Middle East and through a vote at the UN. The UNGA on Friday overwhelmingly passed a resolution that granted the State of Palestine expanded membership of the UNGA. The resolution further pressed the UN Security Council (UNSC) to grant full-membership to Palestine. Advertisement While the United States voted against the resolution along with eight other members, 143 voted in favour of the resolution and 25 members abstained from the vote. Best way for Palestinian statehood through direct talks The White House has said that the best way for Palestinian statehood is through direct talks in the Middle East. He reiterated that the Joe Biden administration of the United States stands committed to the two-state solution. The two-state solution refers to the proposed resolution of the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the establishment of a Jewish State of Israel and an Arab State of Palestine side-by-side. Speaking to reporters on Friday, White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby said Biden remained fully and firmly committed to a Palestinian state. We continue to believe in the power and promise of a two-state solution and an independent state for the Palestinian people. We also believe that the best way to do that is through direct negotiations with the parties and not through a vote of the UN of this kind, said Kirby, as per The New York Times. Separately, the US mission to the UN flagged that the expanded membership does not bring any major benefits to the State of Palestine at the UNGA, which would remain a non-member observer state. It further said that the vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood. Advertisement Instead, it is an acknowledgement that statehood will come only from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties, said Robert Wood, Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs of US mission to UN, in a statement. Establishing the importance of direct talks, Wood further said, There is no other path that guarantees Israels security and future as a democratic Jewish state. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and with dignity in a state of their own. And there is no other path that leads to regional integration between Israel and all its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia. Advertisement What was the UNGA vote on Palestine about? The UNGA vote was intended to expand the membership of the State of Palestine at the UN. The resolution was a watered-down version of what was initially expected to be voted upon. While the vote does not give the State of Palestine voting rights or any full membership, the overwhelming passage of the resolution marked an expression of most of the world in favour of the world and a sharp rebuke of Israel and its principal partner the United States. The UN News reported that the passage of the resolution delivered the following to the State of Palestine. Advertisement 1. Sit among member states in alphabetical order 2. Make statements on behalf of a group 3. Submit and introduce proposals and amendments 4. Co-sponsor proposals and amendments, including on behalf of a group 5. Propose items to be included in the provisional agenda of the regular or special sessions 6. Right to request the inclusion of supplementary or additional items in the agenda of regular or special sessions 7. Right of missions members to be elected as officers in the plenary and the Main Committees of the General Assembly 8. Full and effective participation in UNGA conferences and other activities Dennis received bachelor's degrees in communication and political science with a TAG degree in Spanish from The University of Akron in Ohio. He grew up in Ohio with two sisters and two brothers, one being his fraternal twin. He and his wife have two dogs: Bacio, and Cal. Dennis currently covers natural resource and environmental issues for The Daily Sentinel China's state security authorities warn overseas personnel of potential spy recruitment Global Times By Global Times Published: May 10, 2024 03:00 PM China's Ministry of State Security issued an article on Friday warning Chinese nationals stationed overseas to be aware of "friendly" individuals who usually focus on key groups of overseas personnel using various methods to approach, gather intelligence, and infiltrate and recruit. China's international economic and trade cooperation has led to the expansion of enterprises and projects overseas, contributing to the growth of the global economy. Foreign intelligence agencies have long been coveting the internal information of the high-tech industry-leading companies, and they are good at using manipulative tactics to lure Chinese nationals stationed overseas, according to the ministry. The tactics involve creating chance encounters and initiating conversations to gain the target's favor and trust by acting helpful and approachable. By catering to the target's interests, these "friendly" personnel regularly deepen emotional connections with the target to win their trust, said the ministry. After jumping into the traps, some Chinese nationals stationed overseas may lack vigilance and disclose state secrets, and some may be coerced into betraying national interests, and even some may willingly become accomplices to foreign intelligence agencies, posing a threat to national security, according to state security authorities. The national security authorities remind Chinese nationals stationed overseas for long periods of time to maintain a calm and rational attitude in their interactions with others in order to avoid risks. Chinese nationals stationed overseas working in sensitive enterprises are especially a valuable resource for foreign spies to obtain first-hand information. These personnel must fully recognize the importance, sensitivity, and confidentiality of their positions and the information they possess, the ministry noted in the article. "This is both a protection of national security and a responsibility for personal safety." The revised Counter-Espionage Law took effect on July 1, 2023. If someone is coerced or deceived into joining an espionage or hostile organization overseas and engaging in activities that harm national security, they should promptly explain the situation to the Chinese diplomatic missions abroad. They should report it to the national security authorities directly or through their employer and show repentance after entering the country. In such cases, they may not be held accountable, according to the revised law. In April, the ministry unveiled 10 notorious spy cases in a special documentary film, revealing the devious tactics used by foreign intelligence agencies for infiltration, theft, and incitement. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mossad admits for first time: We were surprised by Hamas operation Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 10:16 AM The Israeli spy agency Mossad has admitted that it was "surprised" by the operation conducted by the Gaza-based Palestinian Hamas resistance group in early October. Mossad made the acknowledgment for the first time in a document it composed for a bulletin published by the so-called Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center, Haaretz newspaper reported on Thursday. Mossad, the document said, "was also surprised on the morning of the holiday of Simchat Torah [October 7] by the code red alert sirens that pierced the sky." Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people. The unprecedented raid shook the occupying regime's security establishment, leaving 1,200 Israeli settlers and military personnel dead and 252 others in captivity. Hamas released 105 captives during a week-long truce in late November. In response to the Hamas operation, the Tel Aviv regime unleashed a genocidal war on the besieged Gaza, which has so far killed 34,904 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 78,514 others. Haaretz said that although the document is not signed, it's clear to anyone familiar with the Mossad's work procedures that every word in it has been approved by the agency's director David Barnea. In the scope of its role, Mossad is not focused on the Palestinian arena, but in practice, it certainly has contact and interface with several aspects related to the arena, it added. Last month, the Israeli military's intelligence chief, Major General Aharon Haliva, resigned over the failure to prevent the October 7 operation. The Israeli army's chief of staff Herzi Halevi and Ronen Bar, the head of the regime's so-called internal security service Shin Bet, are also expected to quit. Some reports say Israeli military and intelligence officials missed or ignored multiple warnings that predicted the Hamas attack that caught the regime off-guard. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Foreign Minister JosA Manuel Albares at the Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Foreign State Information Manipulation US Department of State Remarks Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State Treaty Room Washington, D.C. May 10, 2024 SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good morning everyone. It's first of all a great, great pleasure to have my friend JosA Manuel here in Washington. In fact, again, we've worked so closely together these past years, and in fact, when Spain was hosting the NATO summit - of course, under JosA Manuel's leadership, a terrific and important NATO summit. I'm looking to inspiration and advice from my friend as we prepare to host the NATO summit here in Washington. We're going to sign a memorandum of understanding in a couple of minutes which I'll talk about briefly, but first let me just say the great importance that we attach to the partnership between the United States and Spain across so many different issues that are working to advance the interests of our people - both Spanish and Americans alike. We're, of course, the strongest of NATO Allies. We're working together in support of Ukraine and against Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine. We're working for peace in the Middle East. We're dealing together with some of the challenges posed by China. And Spain and the United States and many other partners are also working to address many of the needs of the global majority countries around the world. Today, we are signing an important MOU on foreign information manipulation. And this speaks to something that is a huge challenge not only for both of our countries, but for democracies around the world. Propaganda, misinformation, information manipulation - these are national security threats for both of our countries and many others. Adversaries seek to use information and disinformation, misinformation to create or exploit existing divisions both within and among our countries. They seek to imperil the integrity of elections. And all of this undermines public trust, including in our institutions. This use of disinformation sows cynicism, it sows suspicion, and it's imperative that we develop and develop together more resilient information systems and a more resilient information environment. That's what this MOU is all about. That's what the framework that we've established is all about, with now over a dozen countries joining in. It helps us work together to more effectively deal with the misinformation and disinformation challenge, strengthening the capacity of our countries both to detect and do something about the use of misinformation and disinformation; developing and administering strategies; supporting journalists and civil society who are on the frontlines of this fight; and bolstering multilateral cooperation, because the more we're able to join forces to share information, to share best practices, the more effective we're going to be. So in a minute I'm looking forward to joining JosA Manuel in signing this memorandum and then getting to work on implementing it. But first, Mr. Foreign Minister, the floor is yours. FOREIGN MINISTER ALBARES: Thank you, Tony, for hosting me here today, for your hospitality, and your friendship. Spain and United States are friends and are allies in a very complex world today. We are in a crucial moment of our Euro-Atlantic relationship and that's why it's so important that the natural ally of Europe, the United States, we strengthen ties as we are looking forward to the NATO summit that will be hosting here in July. We are together in the support to Ukraine in front of the unjustified Russian aggression, and I want to commend all the work that you personally, Tony and the Biden administration, has done to deliver a new financial package of aid to Ukraine in a very crucial moment. Spain has just concluded negotiation with Ukraine on our own bilateral security commitment, and we will be together as long as it's needed. As we are looking towards the summit, we want to promote peace in Ukraine as we want to promote peace in the Middle East. That's why we call for an immediate cease fire in Gaza, the release and unconditional release of all hostages, and the access of unimpeded aid to the strip of Gaza. We want to bring peace to Gaza and to the whole Middle East. Together, we have a common progressive agenda that goes from multilateralism to gender equality and to LGTBIQ rights, and we will promote it together, Spain and the United States. We have working groups that are very important to advance in the Sahel and in Central American common position and stability on both regions. And we are just going to sign an agreement on this information, which we each will share our experiences and we will fight any attempts to try to interfere in elections. We have very soon elections to the European Parliament in Europe, and here there will be presidential elections. And we want to make an especial effort to avoid disinformation in Spanish languages. So once again, Tony, thank you very much, and I want to commend especially all the work that you personally are doing together with Qatar and Egypt to bring peace to the Middle East. MODERATOR: Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Albares are signing a memorandum of understanding to develop a shared understanding of the threat posed by foreign information manipulation. It also aligns our efforts along five mutually reinforcing key action areas which strengthen democratic societies and ensure a robust, resilient, and fact-based information environment. (The memorandum was signed.) (Applause.) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Police arrest 3 Cambodian opposition party members 'This is a threat' ahead of May 26 elections, a party official says. By RFA Khmer 2024.05.09 -- Cambodian authorities arrested three opposition party members on Thursday one leader from a new party and two members of an older party ahead of a range of elections on May 26, activists told Radio Free Asia. Sun Chanthy, 44, president of the National Power Party, formed last year, was questioned by police after being arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport upon his return from Japan, where he addressed Cambodian supporters. Charged with incitement, he was detained at Phnom Penh Municipal Police headquarters. On Friday evening, a Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge ordered authorities to transfer him to a remote prison in Pursat province's Phnom Kravanh district for allegedly "inciting serious social security unrest." According to a statement from the Ministry of Justice, the charge stemmed from a social media comment Sun Chanthy made that criticized the government's policy on issuing "poverty cards," or IDs for the poor to receive free medical treatment or subsidies. It said he had "twisted information" to suggest that the cards would only be distributed to those who join the ruling Cambodian People's Party, or CPP. Chea Mony, vice president of the National Power Party, traveled with Sun Chanthy to Japan and witnessed Thursday's arrest, saying it had to do with upcoming provincial, municipal, district and Khan council elections. Chea Mony said that during the visit to Japan, Sun Chanthy did not make political statements that would have disrupted Cambodia's social order or national security. "There was no effect on national security according to accusations by the court," Chea Mony told Radio Free Asia. "The council election is coming. We don't need to explain, [but] this is a threat ahead of the election." "This is a repeated action to scare the pro-democrats," he said. "The party doesn't have any plans to incite anyone." New party The National Power Party was formed in 2023 by breakaway members of the Candlelight Party, the main political organization opposing the government under the CPP. The CPP has ruled the country since 1979, often arresting political opposition members on politically motivated charges ahead of elections to ensure its own politicians retain power or win new seats in contested areas. In response to the arrest, the National Power Party issued a statement calling on the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet to release Sun Chanthy without any conditions and to restore political space so that the party can participate in the democratic process. In the arrest warrant issued on May 7, Chreng Khmao, prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, ordered police to bring Sun Chanthy to the internal security office of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police before May 23 for questioning on the "incitement" charge. But the warrant didn't mention what Sun Chanthy said during his Japan visit that brought about the charge. On Friday, Sun Chanthy's wife, Yean Srey Yan, told RFA that the Phnom Penh Municipal Court had prohibited her from visiting her husband in detention. She called his arrest a "political threat" to those fighting for democracy and the national interests. She demanded that the court release him because he was simply expressing his views as a politician and said the government should be "open to criticism from all people." "My husband and I won't be made afraid," she said. "This arrest shows the Cambodia [government] is threatening politicians who love the country by charging them with various crimes." Yean Srey Yan said she was traveling to see her husband in Pursat Prison. Attempts by RFA to contact the prosecutor in Sun Chanthy's case and Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesman Plang Sophal for further clarification went unanswered Friday. Candlelight Party members arrested Also on Thursday, police arrested two members of the Candlelight Party in Kampong Cham province Dum Khun, second deputy head of Ampil commune in Kampong Siem district in Kampong Cham province, and Sim Sam On, commune councilor of Ampil said former Candlelight Party leader Ly Kim Heang. They were detained by Kampong Cham provincial police, she said, adding that authorities provided no reason for their arrest and prevented family members from visiting the two men. On Friday, authorities released both of the men. RFA was unable to reach Kampong Cham Police Chief Heng Vuthy for comment on their detention and subsequent release. Speaking after being freed, Sim Sam On told RFA that authorities had accused him of "using a motorbike that was bought without paying tax," but let him go after questioning him. "I am worried about my security to be able to continue my political activities in the community," he said. The Candlelight Party had issued a statement following their arrest which suggested that it constituted a threat aimed at eliminating legitimate political activities, and called for their release. Since the beginning of 2024, more than 10 members of the Candlelight Party have been detained by authorities, including six officials from Kampong Cham province. Ny Sokha, president of Adhoc, Cambodia's oldest human rights group, warned that the government's reputation would deteriorate and that it would face more pressure from the international community if it continued to arrest opposition party members. "This will affect the government's reputation on the world stage," he said. Translated by Yun Samean for RFA Khmer. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster. This story has been updated with details about Sun Chanthy's case, comments by his wife, and information about the release of Dum Khun and Sim Sam On. 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre En Route Mountain View, CA May 09, 2024 Aboard Air Force One En Route Mountain View, California 6:40 P.M. EDT MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hello. I have nothing. Q This is kind of late, isn't it? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: The gaggle or Q Yeah, yeah. MS. JEAN-PIERRE: We just got on didn't we just get on the plane? Q But it's almost seven o'clock. Q Late in general. Q Late in general. AIDE: We said 6:30 tentatively, and it's only 6:40. So Q No, no, no, I'm not talking about that. I mean, just in general. Like the scheme of the day. MS. JEAN-PIERRE: In life? Q Yes. Q The flight is late in the day. MS. JEAN-PIERRE: It's I don't know. I was going to say something, but it's inappropriate, so I won't say it. Q Go ahead. MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Nope. Nope. Nope. (Laughter.) Have at it. (Laughs.) Q How is the White House responding to the pushback that you all have been getting from the President's comments yesterday that he's not going to give Israel the offensive weapons it needs to go into Rafah? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, as you know, my colleagues over at my colleague over at the State Department had a briefing today and I think did a really good job laying that out. Admiral Kirby did a gaggle this morning also discussing discussing all of this as well. Here's what I'll say and just kind of give a li- little bit of a laydown, as they did. So, as you all know, obviously, last night, the President outlined what has been our policy on Rafah, that his support for Israel's defense is ironclad, and and Israel has every right to go after Hamas and those responsible for October 7th massacres. What we do not support is a major ground operation in Rafah, a city now sheltering over 1 million people, since we believe there are better alternative ways to go after Hamas. The President has said that publicly and has communicated that repeatedly and directly to the Prime Minister. What the President made clear on CNN is that we do not want to provide materiel support to such an operation, describing how we have held a shipment of high-payload, unguided munition as we discuss with Israel our concerns about their use in dense urban environments. For him, this is straightforward. We will continue to provide Israel with all of capabilities it needs to defend itself, but he does not want certain categories of American weapons used in a particular type of operation in a particular place. More broadly, the President has has directed his team with continuing to work with Israel to refine their strategy to inf- to inflict an enduring defeat on Hamas. Smashing into Rafah, in his view, will not advance that objective. So, that's the laydown of how we see things. That's a laydown how the President laid spoke to last night, obviously, on CNN. And that's how we see it moving forward. But, look, when it comes to Rafah operations, we have been very clear on this. We've talked to all of you publicly. Obviously, the President, as I just stated, has said this privately, not just to, obviously, the Prime Minister but also to our Israeli counterparts. As you know, we had two, we thought, very concrete, important virtual virtual meetings that were led by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in the past several weeks laying out our concerns. We've been very public and private about our concerns about a a ma- a major operation going into Rafah. We're talking about 1.5 million civilians, Gazans, who are in a densely populated area of Rafah areas of Rafah, and we want to make sure that there is a plan that protects them, there is a plan that makes sure that, you know, we are protecting the lives of these innocent civilians who are seeking refuge in Rafah. So, we've been very clear about that. And that's what you heard from the President. Again, he put a pause on a particular type of weaponry because he is concerned about about how Israel potentially could move forward into Rafah. But, look, we have not seen any any movement. But we want to be very, very clear on this. We have to make sure that we protect those 1.5 million civilian lives. Q Prime Minister Netanyahu said that MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. Q reportedly said that they would fight to fight by their fingernails, if they had to. That doesn't sound like they're responding very well to the the President's you know, that they're responding very well to any sort of pause in arma- in armaments or anything. MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, I mean, all you have to look at is the Pr- what the President has done since October 7th. The President has committed to Israel being able to defend itself. Israel's Israel's security is ironclad. You've heard us say that over and over again, as as recently as a couple of weeks ago, as you know, when we saw Iran send hundreds of missiles and drones into into Israel. We stepped in and helped defend Israel defend itself. And you saw others partners and allies step in as well to help Israel defend itself. That is our commitment here. And with the national security supplemental, we pushed for that to get through so that Israel can also get the get the security assistance needed to defend themselves. What we are talking about is a particular operation the Rafah operation. Again, 1.5 million people living in in not l- seeking refuge, to be more exact, in Rafah. And we want to make sure that they are protected. But we will be committed we are committed, the President is committed to Israel's Israel's security and able to defend itself, and that is ironclad. That has not changed. That has not changed. Q Will Netanyahu listen? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, that is for the Prime Minister to speak to. As you know, the President spoke to the Prime Minister on Monday. They talked about humanitarian aid, obviously, as we mentioned, and making sure that one of the crossings are open so that we can get more trucks in. He also talked to him about Rafah operations. We've been very clear about this. We've been very consistent. Our again, our commitment to Israel's security is ironclad. But we want to make sure as it relates to this Rafah operation, we want to make sure that there is a comprehensive plan on how we would on how how Israel would deal with the innocent civilians the 1.5 innocent civilians in Rafah. We want to make sure that they are protected. But our our support for Israel's security has not changed. This is a pause. This is a pause that we're talking about on one particular shipment. It is a pause. Q Is this threat, though, based on any intelligence or briefing that the Israelis gave to the administration on what they intend to do in Rafah? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, as you know, we've had a back-and-forth, as I just stated, with Isra- our Israeli counterparts. We I mentioned that the President spoke to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We read that out on Monday. I'm not going to go beyond what the readout has been. We have not seen any any operations moving forward in Rafah. But we want to be very clear of our concerns. And this is a pause. This is not a a stopping of weaponry so that they so that Israel can defend itself. This is a pause on on the on on, you know, a situation that we've been very clear and concerned about. We've shared our concern about the Rafah potential Rafah operations, but we have not seen anything. Just want to be very clear. Q Is there a time frame for the pause? Like, how long MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I don't Q Is it until Rafah until Israel says, "We're done in Rafah"? Is it MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I don't have a timeline, but we are continuing those conversations with our Israeli counterparts. We are in ongoing communications. I just don't have anything else beyond that. Q Karine, does the White House have a comment about the letter that was sent by a top Biden fundraiser, Mr. Saban, to Anita Dunn and other White House advisors about talking about there are more Jewish supporters than there are Palestinian supporters of the President? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I I ha- I can't speak to that letter. Sounds like a campaign letter, so I I just can't speak to that. As it relates to supporters, potential donors, I just want to be really, really mindful. And I have not seen this letter, so I can't I don't have a direct comment to it. Q Karine, can I ask this in a way that will try to (laughter) get around your Hatch Act violation concerns? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. Q The President earlier was asked about debating and said responded by saying, "Set it up." Would would it be correct to interpret that as a glib, maybe insincere response to that question? Or would it be correct to say that the President is open to an earlier debate? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I think (laughs) I got to be mindful. Again, as you just stated in your question, in trying to ask me the question before you asked the question, in trying to ask me the question, I just want to be super careful. It's a debate. It's part of the campaign. I I want to be mindful and respect the Hatch Act. All I can do is is you know, is send you to the President's statement and also the President's campaign. I just I don't want to even step foot you know, dip my toe in that. I got to be super mindful. Q Karine, the President said that in addition to the 2,000-pound bombs you outlined, the U.S. will also not provide Israel with artillery shells to use in Rafah. Is that the case? And, if so, can you give a full accounting of what the U.S. will not provide Israel? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, let me just give you just bear with me for a second. So, we have paused one shipment of weapons. It consists of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs. We are especially focused on the end use of the 2000-pound bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings, as we have seen in other parts of Gaza. We have not made a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment. Not going to speak beyond that shipment. I want to be super mindful. I also emphasize the President spoke of a hypothetical: if Israel invades Rafah. That has not happened yet, as I've stated many times. I would also note that the United States has surged billions of dollars in security assistance to Israel since the October 7th attacks; passed the largest-ever supplemental appropriation for emergency assistance to Israel; led an unprecedented coalition to defend Israel against Iran Iranian attacks, as I've mentioned already; and will continue to do what is necessary to ensure Israel can defend itself from the threat it faces. We are also committed to ensuring Israel gets every dollar appropriated in the supplemental. In addition, we just approved the latest tranche of foreign military financing, which is $827 million worth of weapons and equipment for Israel. So, we are very specific about particular about what we're concerned about. And I just don't want to go beyond beyond that. Q So, artillery shells will continue? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I don't want to go beyond what I just stated. But, look, I think the the bigger piece of this right? is that 1.5 million ci- civilians are living in Rafah in in a densely populated areas, right? And they are there seeking refuge, seeking shelter. And the President wants to make sure that their lives are protected. We understand, obviously, the importance of going after Hamas operatives. That is something that we certainly support Israel doing. But we want to see a comprehensive plan. And that's the conversations that we have been having back and forth. We have provided Israel with some alternatives I'm not going to get into that, obviously, from here on how to do that, how to be strategic in going after those Hamas operators. And so, those conversations are going to continue. And our commitment our commitment to Israel's security continues to be ironclad. As I just laid out, we are going to make sure every dollar of the appropriations that is coming out of the national security supplemental, indeed, gets to Israel. That is our commitment. But we believe we have to we have to make sure that those civilian lives more than 1 million is protected. And we've been pretty consistent about this over and over and over for the past several weeks. Q What do you mean by "alternatives"? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, I and I said, I'm not going to get into the al- I'm what I was talking about is there's been back-and-forth, obviously right? with the our Is- Israeli counterpart that the National Security Advisor, Jake Sul- Sullivan, has been leading. And we've offered alternatives on how to move forward in getting those Hamas operatives that we believe we believe in Israel's goal in in doing that. I'm not going to get into sp- specifics. But we've talked we've said this before. I think the National Security Advisor said this at the podium. I'm just not going to get into specifics from here. Q Karine, as we were taking off, the FAA bill was being stalled in Congress over a fight over slots additional flights into DCA. Does the White House have an opinion on how lawmakers should handle that issue? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I'm going to let that process play out. I'm not going to get ahead of that, but certainly will will let congressional members deal with that. Q Karine MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. Q An Inspector General for the VA found that the Veterans Administration improperly awarded 11 million in bonuses. MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Improperly? I'm sorry? Q Yeah, improperly MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. Q awarded 11 million in bonuses and has had a hard time paying it back. Does the President still have confidence in VA Administrator McDonough? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: He has confidence in VA Administrator McDonough. I I can't speak to that particular report, it sounds like, that you're laying out. I don't have any I don't have any insight in that. But I know that the President respects Secretary McDonough. As, obviously, you know, they worked together in the Obama administration when the Secretary was then Chief of Staff, and I know they have a a good relationship, a close relationship. And certainly, one of the reasons why he appointed him is because he respected his leadership. I can't speak to that particular report at this time. All right? Q I have one other question. Do you know if the President is aware of the case in Florida the apparent a Black member of the military, an Air Force airman, was shot and killed by police in an apparent case of them going to the wrong apartment? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, I heard I've read those reports. It happened, like, earlier this week. I haven't had a chance to speak to the President about that. So, I can't speak to his his knowledge of it. All right. Q Can you talk to us a little bit about why we're on the airplane? Like, what's happening these next two days? If MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Why we're on I ca- (laughs) Q Is there any official MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Matt. (Laughs.) Q capacity, or is this all fundraisers? MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I can say that the trip that we are obviously, we're headed to California, headed to Seattle. Those are campaign trips, and certainly, the campaign can speak specifically on what we'll be doing. So, I can't can't say beyond that. Q So, there's nothing official that you MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, no, this is this is strictly on campaign. All right? Thanks, everybody. Appreciate you all. Enjoy dinner Q Thank you. MS. JEAN-PIERRE: or whatever time it is. Yes, dinner. Thanks, everybody. 6:56 P.M. EDT NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Head of State: Bulgaria Will Continue to Be a Reliable Partner in the Transfer of Energy Resources to Central and Eastern Europe and in Ensuring Energy Security and Stability in the Region President of the Republic of Bulgaria 10 May 2024 | 16:15 President receives the ambassadors of the Visegrad Group countries in Bulgaria Bulgaria will continue to be a reliable partner in the transit of energy resources to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and in ensuring energy security and stability in the region. This is what Head of State Rumen Radev said at a meeting today at the presidential institution with the heads of the diplomatic missions of the Visegrad Group countries in Bulgaria. Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Bulgaria, Miroslav Toman, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, Maciej Szymanski, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic, Vasil Grivna, and Ambassador of Hungary Miklos Boros participated in the meeting. During the meeting, President Radev highlighted the actions taken by this country to restore predictability in the Bulgarian energy sector with the abolition of the so-called energy contribution for the transportation of natural gas through the country. The Head of State also highlighted the efforts made to diversify Bulgaria's natural gas supplies by ensuring access to the liquefied natural gas terminals in Greece and Turkey and the reserved capacities there, as well as to increase the transit capacities of the Bulgarian gas transmission network to our neighbours and the region. In this context, the potential of the Bulgarian Solidarity Ring initiative for cooperation between the gas transmission system operators of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR to transport additional quantities of natural gas to Europe was also discussed. In the context of the energy crisis, nuclear energy is becoming essential and both Bulgaria and the Visegrad countries share the position for its recognition as green, which is a necessary condition for ensuring the sustainability of the energy transition process. The Head of State expressed his appreciation for the support of the Visegrad Four countries for Bulgaria's full membership in Schengen and voiced his position for an even closer partnership in the field of the EU migration policy, which should focus not only on migration flows to Europe, but also on joint work with the countries of origin of the migrants. The security risks for Europe from the Russian Federation's ongoing war against Ukraine and approaches to tackle its negative social and economic consequences for EU Member States were also discussed during the meeting. The Visegrad Group was established in 1991 by the presidents of Czechoslovakia and Poland and the prime minister of Hungary. Initially the group was called the "Visegrad Troika," but after the split of Czechoslovakia into two independent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, it was renamed the "Visegrad Four". The creation of the format was motivated by the aspirations of the member states for sustainable economic development and increased regional cooperation. Intergovernmental cooperation within the group is coordinated by a Presidency, which is held by each member country on a rotating basis, with a mandate of one year. For the period 1 July 2023 - 30 June 2024. The Czech Republic is holding the Presidency of the Visegrad Group. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Canada imposes additional sanctions in response to Hamas' terrorist attacks against Israel Global Affairs Canada News release May 10, 2024 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that Canada is imposing additional sanctions under the Special Economic Measures (Hamas Terrorist Attacks) Regulations. Today's sanctions apply to four individuals who are also part of Iran's so-called "Axis of Resistance." These individuals have provided support through military training and resources to help bolster Hamas' terrorist capabilities. These individuals are: Khaled Qaddoumi (Hamas) Ali Morshed Shirazi (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] Al-Quds Force) Mostafa Mohammad Khani (IRGC Al-Quds Force) Ali Ahmad Faizullahi (IRGC Al-Quds Force) Canada unequivocally condemns the brutal terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas and its affiliates on October 7, 2023. These horrific attacks included the killing, maiming and abduction of innocent civilians, including children. Hamas and its affiliates are holding more than 130 hostages captive and continue to launch rocket attacks. These actions pose significant risks to regional stability and security. Iran intentionally spreads instability across the Middle East through its support for its so-called "Axis of Resistance," including support for Hamas , a listed terrorist entity under the Criminal Code. These sanctions measures contribute to addressing Iran's malign conduct and destabilizing activities in the Middle East. Canada remains deeply concerned by the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict and its impact on Israeli and Palestinian civilians. Canada maintains its unwavering commitment to promoting peace and security in the Middle East. Quotes "Today's announcement demonstrates our commitment to responding to Hamas' horrific terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. For Canada, the protection of innocent civilians is paramount. The atrocities perpetrated by Hamas should have never happened - and we will continue to work with our partners and allies to ensure that these kinds of atrocities do not happen again." - Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs Quick facts Canada has listed Hamas as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code since November 2002. It is a criminal offence to knowingly participate in or contribute to any activity of Hamas. Canada has also listed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and other groups as terrorist organizations under Canadian legislation, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001). The Government of Canada has no contact with these groups. Members of a listed terrorist entity are inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. In addition, property owned by listed terrorist entities in Canada may be subject to seizure, restraint or forfeiture. Israel has a right under international law to take the necessary measures, in accordance with human rights and international humanitarian law, to protect the security of its citizens from attacks by terrorist groups. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Canada imposes additional sanctions in response to Hamas' terrorist attacks against Israel Global Affairs Canada Backgrounder Effective immediately, Canada is imposing sanctions against four additional individuals in response to the terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel that began on October 7, 2023, and the threat that Hamas and its affiliates pose to regional security. Canadian measures The Special Economic Measures Regulations impose a prohibition on dealings related to the listed individuals and entities, effectively freezing any assets they may have in Canada. Persons in Canada and Canadians outside the country are prohibited from dealing with the listed individuals, and the listed individuals are also rendered inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The specific prohibitions are set out in the regulations. The names of the individuals added to the schedule of these regulations are the following: Khaled Qaddoumi (Hamas) Ali Morshed Shirazi (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] Al-Quds Force) Mostafa Mohammad Khani (IRGC Al-Quds Force) Ali Ahmad Faizullahi (IRGC Al-Quds Force) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Canada Abstains from United Nations General Assembly resolution on Admission of new Members to the United Nations Global Affairs Canada Statement May 10, 2024 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada Today, Global Affairs Canada issued this statement: "In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 181 and agreed that the only viable solution for peace in the Middle East was the creation of two states. However, 75 years later, the full promise of that vision has not been fulfilled. "Canada's position on questions relating to Israel and Palestine remains, and has always been, guided by our historic and unwavering commitment to a two-state solution. "October 7, 2023 will forever be a date seared into our memories. Hamas killed over 1,200 people, kidnapped more than 240, and committed brutal acts of sexual violence. Without hesitation, Canada condemned this attack by Hamas and called for the release of hostages and has continued to do so since. "Since October 7, thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in the military conflict that followed that fateful day. Nearly 2 million people have been displaced and even more now face imminent starvation. The scale of the humanitarian crisis is catastrophic. "Canada has mourned the loss of all of these lives. "An immediate ceasefire is urgently needed. Hostages must be released. Rapid, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian relief must be provided to civilians. Israel must refrain from military operations in Rafah, which are already bringing devastating humanitarian consequences. "Canada's approach to this crisis has been guided by several principles. Israel has the right to exist, and to defend itself, in accordance with international law. The Palestinian people must be able to realize their right to self-determination. The protection of civilians is paramount and a strict requirement under international humanitarian law. "As the General Assembly considers granting additional privileges for the Palestinian delegation at the United Nations and recommending that the Security Council reconsider full United Nations membership for Palestine, the prospects for a lasting peace are bleaker than ever. "Canada has decided to abstain on the General Assembly resolution in response to efforts to prevent the realization of a two-state solution. "The Netanyahu government has made clear, in its words and in its actions, that it rejects the two-state solution. Illegal settlements and settler violence in the West Bank are growing at alarming rates, often with impunity. We believe there must be continued progress toward Palestinian self-determination. "At the same time, Hamas currently controls areas in Gaza, an essential part of the territory of the future State of Palestine. Hamas continues to hold hostages, has yet to lay down its arms or end its violent opposition to the existence of Israel. All Palestinians deserve to be led by a legitimate and representative government, without the participation of a terrorist organization. "It is clear we must urgently build a credible path to achieving the two-state solution, one that gives hope to both Palestinians and Israelis that they may live side by side in peace, security, and dignity. That process cannot indefinitely delay the creation of a Palestinian state. Canada is prepared to recognize the State of Palestine at the time most conducive to lasting peace, not necessarily as the last step along that path. "We will also continue to support efforts towards peace and regional stability. We will maximize pressure on Hamas and the Iranian regime, including through sanctions. We will impose sanctions on extremist settlers, support the strengthening of the Palestinian Authority and the introduction of reforms to deliver for Palestinians. We are further committed to supporting the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza in the context of a sustainable peace. "The solution also needs to be regional and include the full integration of Israel in the Middle East. Canada will continue working with the international community and will keep at the centre of its efforts the need for long-term security guarantees for Israel. "We must redouble our efforts to fully realize the vision first articulated by the General Assembly in 1947. We owe it to the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, who deserve a brighter future and a sustainable peace. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address May 10, 2024 Speech 'A Message of Expectations': Remarks by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III at South Carolina State University's Commencement (As Delivered) Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Orangeburg, South Carolina Well, good morning, Bulldogs! [Crowd responds, "Good morning!"] I know it's raining, but I don't think there's anybody out there. [Laughter] Let's try that again. Good morning, Bulldogs! [Crowd responds with more energy: "Good morning!"] Alright. That's more like it. You know, it's great to be at South Carolina State. And I'm not just saying that because my sister-in-law is a graduate of SC State. [Cheers and applause] This truly is a good-looking crowd. Now, I know that I am standing between you and your diplomas, and some other things. And as Congressman Clyburn said, I am a former general, so I know when I'm outnumbered. [Laughter] So I'm going to try to keep this pretty brief. [Cheers and applause] Yeah, yeah, I'm with you. [Laughter] I believe that a good commencement speaker should be tall but a good commencement speech should be short. [Cheers and laughter] Congressman Clyburn, thank you for that generous introduction. It is an honor to be here with you. You've been a personal inspiration and a true friend. And sir, you are a paragon of leadership. You've always fought to make America's promise real for every citizen. And that's why, just last week, President Biden awarded you America's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Let's give him a round of applause. [Applause] And sir, you met your late wife, Ms. Emily, right here in Orangeburg. And you both gave so much to this university. Today, the Dr. Emily England Clyburn Honors College carries on in her legacy. And the James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center will prepare students for great careers that will keep America moving forward. So Congressman, thanks for everything that you and Ms. Emily have done for SC State and for our democracy. President Conyers, thanks for leading your alma mater so well. And thanks for all that you've given to the Department of Defense, including your 28 years of service in the United States Army. Trustees, distinguished faculty, and dedicated staff thanks for doing so much for South Carolina State. And I know you already paid a special tribute to your parents, but I want you to give them another round of applause. [Applause] And I know that everyone knows that tomorrow is Mother's Day, right? [Cheers] Sunday is Mother's Day. I'm living in the future, guys. [Laughter] Sunday is Mother's Day, so don't forget. And let's give our mothers and grandmas a round of applause. [Cheers and applause] And that brings me to you the Class of 2024! 2024, let's make some noise! So graduates, we are here to celebrate you and your achievements. Your class had an especially challenging road to graduation day. In 2020, as the pandemic erupted, your freshman class was less than half the normal size. It was unprecedented, and it was hard. But you dug deep. You stuck by each other. And you made it to today. Now, many of you are the first in your family to graduate from college. [Cheers and applause] That is a phenomenal achievement. And many of you have balanced school with work, with raising a family, and with giving back to this community. You can call it grit. You can call it hustle. But around here, we call it Bulldog Tenacity. [Cheers and applause] Class of 2024, you have worked incredibly hard to get here. And we are very proud of you. And you should be proud of yourselves. Now, I've got to give a special shout-out to the South Carolina State Army ROTC program. [Applause] The legendary Bulldog Battalion! [Cheers and applause] Over more than 75 years, this ROTC program has produced more than 2,000 U.S. military officers. In 1972, South Carolina State became one of the first HBCUs to enroll female Army ROTC cadets. And all six of those women became colonels. [Applause] And believe it or not, this university has launched the careers of more than 20 generals and admirals. And we may have some future generals with us in the crowd today. So let's congratulate the newest Second Lieutenants in the U.S. Army! [Cheers and applause] So as I said, I'm going to keep it brief. So I want to share three things with you today and then I'll let you get back to celebrating. First, as the old guy, I'll explain what I've learned about the power of education. Second, I'll say a word about the importance of giving back. And finally, I'll leave you with what Congressman Clyburn has called a "Message of Expectations." So, number one: education gives you the power to make change, even when it's hard, and to help America live up to its full promise. You know, I've lived that. I grew up in Georgia in the time of Jim Crow. Our local public high school had long been whites-only. And when I was a teenager, I became one of the first Black students to integrate it. Those were hard days. Painful days. Ugly days. But you know, I am still moved by the memory of every person who fought to make sure that I could get a good public education the teachers, the officials, and the neighbors. And I still remember their determination and their decency. And I still carry forward their lesson, which is that living up to this country's founding values means bringing everyone along, and leaving no one out, and drawing on the full talents of all of the American people. And I am honored to stand here with you today as America's first Black Secretary of Defense. [Cheers and applause] Now, I doubt that the people that were trying to keep me out of that school imagined that they were blocking the education of a future four-star general and a cabinet official. But you never know which kid is going to grow up to be Bob Johnson or Oprah or Chadwick Boseman or Stacey [Abrams] or Barack Obama or Kamala Harris. You never know what we lose when we leave someone out. And so we don't have one American to spare. We don't have one citizen to squander. And that means that we need to keep working together to knock down barriers, to level the playing field, and to let everybody compete to win. You know, I saw that in action at West Point. As a cadet, I was thrown in with people from all walks of life. I was a Southern kid far from home. But my teachers taught me more than math or military strategy. They believed in us. And I was lucky to have educators including some very special Black mentors who showed us all how to become a team, and to turn our differences into strengths, and to turn hard work into results. And they showed us that leadership isn't just about what you do. It's about who you are. So here's my second message. Your education at South Carolina State has already changed your lives. And it'll keep making possible a number of new things. It has already shaped your character and equipped you to excel. And that won't stop. For nearly 130 years, South Carolina State has produced the skilled leaders that our country needs, in agriculture, education, engineering, and much more. You know, South Carolina State trains more Black nuclear engineers than any school in the country. [Applause] And the National Security Agency has designated South Carolina State as a center of academic excellence in cyber defense. [Applause] This university educates its graduates for the jobs of the future. And it has prepared you for the challenges ahead. And I know that you've heard President Conyers say, "You can get there from here!" And that has always been the story of America's HBCUs. Generation after generation, they teach excellence, and they kick open the doors of opportunity. As President Biden has noted, HBCUs help produce 40 percent of America's Black engineers, and 50 percent of Black lawyers, and 70 percent of Black doctors and dentists, and 80 percent of Black judges. And I can't put it any better than retired Army Major General Abe Turner, a member of the Class of 1976 whom I've proudly served with in the military. HBCUs, he says, provide "an opportunity to do goodness, and to prosper, and to provide a service to the nation that otherwise might have been missed by larger universities." So Class of 2024, we need your "service to the nation." So find ways to make change. To contribute. And to be a part of something bigger than yourself. As you heard Congressman Clyburn say, I had a brief, 41-year career in the U.S. Army. And we definitely need some of you to stand up, and salute, and defend the United States in uniform. But we also need all of you to give back in your own ways. And you can do that as a teacher. As a doctor. As a firefighter. Or by joining the PTA. Or by building a great business in your community. Or by serving as an usher in your church. Or by leading a Girl Scout troop. Or by running for city council. Or by registering people to vote. You'll find your own path. But in times like these, civic engagement is not optional. And that brings me to my third and final message for you. It's what Congressman Clyburn calls "a Message of Expectations." You know, the Congressman also grew up in the segregated South. And he always had big dreams. But one day, a well-meaning neighbor warned young James to keep his high ambitions to himself. So his mother called him to the kitchen table. And she looked him in the eye. And she told him, "Don't pay any attention to what that lady said." His mother said that she and his father expected and insisted that James and his brothers would push themselves to achieve more than their parents. That was her Message of Expectations. And Class of 2024, that message is yours as well. It won't always be easy. But we need you out there. So you've got to keep putting in the work. To keep doing the reps and sets. You know, my friend and mentor, the late Colin Powell, addressed the graduates of South Carolina State back in 2011. And he said, "No matter what your past is, no one owes you a thing. You have to perform to get ahead." But you know what? You've already proven that you're going to perform. Class of 2024, you were tested. And you overcame. And you made it here today. So you've shown, in the words of your school song, that you are "Ready all to do and dare!" And that's the spirit of South Carolina State. Now, you're graduating in challenging times. Divided times. But so many things still bring us together as Americans. Our Constitution. Our democracy. The rule of law. The new Beyonce album. [Laughter] Still with me out there. I got you. [Laughter] Ladies and gentlemen, we don't get to choose our times. But we do get to shape our times. And in a democracy, that is especially relevant and it's a special responsibility for every citizen. And for every member of this graduating class. You know, in May 1964, the great playwright Lorraine Hansberry, the author of "A Raisin in the Sun," spoke to a group of talented young Black Americans. And she said, "The nation needs your gifts!" And so Class of 2024: the nation needs your gifts. The nation needs your resilience. And the nation needs your service. So congratulations, Class of 2024! Let's hear it for the Bulldog Nation! [Cheers and applause] May God bless you. May God bless our troops. And may God continue to bless the United States of America. Thank you very much. [Cheers and applause] https://www.defense.gov/News/Speeches/Speech/Article/3771626/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address May 10, 2024 By Matthew Olay, DOD News Retired Special Warfare Commander Lauds Value of Strong Allied Relationships Former leader of U.S. Special Operations Command and retired Navy four-star admiral William H. McRaven discussed the value of developing and maintaining strong relationships within the international special warfare community during a fireside chat Thursday at the Special Operations Forces 2024 convention in Tampa, Florida. During a one-hour interview led by veteran television investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge that covered a wide range of topics, McRaven consistently underscored the importance of having trust-based partnerships to facilitate communications among SOF organizations across the globe. "It's personal relationships ... it's always about personal relationships," McRaven said, when asked about the key factors that make up a successful SOF organization. "We used to talk about the War on Terror as [being] a war about relationships. It was [about] how ... we build relationships with our Iraqi partners, with our Afghan partners [and] with our NATO partners and allies from around the world ... You've got to build that personal relationship because they've got to trust you, and you've got to trust them." McRaven emphasized that a strong working relationship between SOF organizations can't be established without first having trust. "When it comes to building relationships and doing anything else beyond that sharing intelligence, partnering on tactical missions you've got to start with trust," he said. McRaven elaborated on the topic by saying that there is very little tolerance for violating such trust. "Trust is not ... 'three strikes and you're out'; trust is ... 'two strikes and you're out.' Because, if you build trust, and you [fail at it] once, the trust factor will hold for a little while," he said. "But if you undermine your allies and your colleagues a second time, you're done." When asked if there are challenges to establishing such trustful relationships in parts of the globe that don't share those same trust-based values, McRaven pushed back slightly, saying that militaries worldwide share the same values. "I think, across the board, militaries have core values," he said. "They understand the value of good order and discipline; they understand the value of the mission; they understand the value of doing things the right way; [and] they understand how to make sure that you don't have collateral damage that really exceeds the nature of the mission." For an example of SOF personnel from a variety of nations being able to come together and efficiently work as a unit, McRaven mentioned the SOF 2024 capabilities demonstration that took place in the bay just outside of the convention center on Wednesday. The demonstration which simulated an attack on the Tampa Bay Convention Center by a notional, unnamed enemy showcased U.S. SOF teams collaborating with SOF personnel from nine other nations. "You can line [foreign SOF operators] up on the pier out here by the convention center; and their uniforms are all different, the color of their skin may be different, their religion may be different, [and] their ethnicity may be different," McRaven said. "But then, here, they're all kind of the same and you can spot them coming a mile away. So, I do think relationships are built on trust." When asked about potential challenges to building strong, international SOF relationships, McRaven said inaction is the primary impediment. "We know how to build the relationships; now we just have to do it," he said, adding that Socom and the various theater special operations commands around the globe need to consistently be building relationships in support of the combatant commander in the respective regions. As the chat wound down, McRaven said that during times of relative peace when countries aren't sharing the battlefield together, it's crucial to be proactive in building relationships. "Because believe it or not sooner or later you're going to find yourself on the battlefield again, in a place you've never heard of, at a fight you never thought would happen," McRaven said. "And if you haven't built these relationships ... then you're not going to be able to move as quickly and you're not going to be as successful. "So, take whatever you learn this week, take it home, and then find ways to continue to build the relationship." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UNGA: Statement by High Representative Josep Borrell on the vote at the UN General Assembly on the Palestinian Membership European External Action Service (EEAS) 10.05.2024 EEAS Press Team The European Union acknowledges the result of today's momentous vote at the UN General Assembly concerning Palestinian application for membership of the United Nations where a majority of States voted in favour. Palestine has received unequivocal support to have its permanent observer status augmented with additional rights and privileges. The EU recalls its longstanding commitment to a just and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the two-state solution, with the State of Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign, and viable State of Palestine, living side by side in peace and security and mutual recognition, and with Jerusalem serving as the future capital of both states. The EU will continue its strong support to Palestinian state building, and strengthening Palestinian institutions and their capacity in preparation for future statehood. It is vital to restore a political horizon towards a two-state solution. The EU stands ready to work with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and regional and international parties toward this goal. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel/Palestine: Statement by the spokesperson on the attacks on UNRWA European External Action Service (EEAS) 10.05.2024 EEAS Press Team The EU condemns the two arson attacks on the UNRWA compound in occupied East Jerusalem on 9 May, which happened at a time of increasing escalation and a growing campaign against the agency and the UN system at large. We call on the Israeli authorities to ensure the security and safety of UN staff and its premises in line with its obligations under international law and to bring the perpetrators to justice. UNRWA services and humanitarian aid in Gaza and across the region are essential and play a crucial role in ensuring stability. The EU also condemns recent statements by Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Arieh King, which appear to incite further attacks against diplomatic premises. We call on the Israeli authorities to take the necessary measures to prevent this from happening. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Macedonia: Joint Statement by High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell and Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi on the second round of the Presidential elections and parliamentary elections European External Action Service (EEAS) 10.05.2024 EEAS Press Team The second round of presidential and regular parliamentary elections took place in North Macedonia on 8 May. According to the preliminary findings and conclusions by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), they took place in a peaceful and democratic atmosphere. The elections were competitive and fundamental freedoms were respected, although the process remains insufficiently regulated. The EU congratulates President Siljanovska-Davkova on her election and looks forward to working with the new president, North Macedonia's first woman Head of State. We encourage relevant political actors to work to form a parliament and a stable government. Both institutions need to work together to advance North Macedonia's EU path including by implementing key reforms particularly in the area of the rule of law and the fight against corruption, in the interests of all its citizens. North Macedonia has made decisive steps in the EU accession process, and it will be important now to implement the outstanding commitments necessary to open the first cluster in the accession process. The EU and North Macedonia share a strong partnership. The country aligned fully to the EU common foreign and security policy, and we expect our cooperation to continue and further develop. The EU notes that the joint international election observation mission from the ODIHR and OSCE, the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe characterised both elections as competitive and respectful of fundamental freedoms. The election administration organised the elections efficiently. The media environment was generally free. While the legal election framework laid the basis for democratic elections, some provisions did not comply with international standards, as regards on equal media access, accountability of state funding and access to legal redress. Recent amendments to the Electoral Code were introduced late and did not reflect ODIHR recommendations. Once the International Election Observation Mission issues its final recommendations for future elections, the European Union expects all political actors, relevant institutions, and stakeholders to demonstrate their commitment to strengthening democracy by working together to implement those recommendations rapidly and well ahead of the next elections. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel leaves Biden with few options as breach over Rafah operation grows Global Times 'Exposing deep-rooted flaws of US political system' By GT staff reporters Published: May 10, 2024 10:29 PM Israeli leaders said the army had enough munitions on hand to proceed with its plans in Rafah, despite US President Joe Biden's threat of pausing some arms deliveries. Israel, its close ally, has put the US in an awkward position, according to observers. They attribute this situation to the deep-rooted flaws in the US political system. President Biden quoted by CNN threatened to stop the supply of specific weapons if Israeli soldiers entered populated areas of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The threat was widely interpreted as a turning point with relation to Israel in the seven-month conflict. Reacting to Biden's announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone." Other Israeli officials also expressed disappointment and criticism over Biden's remarks. On Friday, the General Assembly is scheduled to hold a vote on Palestine's bid to become a full member of the UN, a move seen by many as largely symbolic. In a surprising move, Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan spoke on behalf of the US, stating, "If it is approved, I expect the US to completely stop funding the UN and its institutions, in accordance with American law." Asked why before any official stance of the US has been taken, an Israeli diplomat stationed at the UN seems to have made diplomatic decisions on behalf of the US, Chinese experts said the development was not surprising. Earlier, the US House of Representatives surprisingly passed an "Anti-Semitism Awareness Act" aimed at addressing rising antisemitism among college students who are angered by Israel's acts in Gaza and the US' long-standing biased Middle East policy. Ding Long, a professor from the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times that despite increasing pressure from the international community, the Biden administration has stood firm with Israel by providing weapons and other assistance. But this time, Biden is eager to remove the burden of Israel and doesn't want it to become a negative factor for his election campaign. A few days ago, during the negotiations in Cairo, the US dispatched the CIA director in hope of achieving a deal between Israel and Palestine to cool down the conflict. However, the current problem is that Netanyahu, whose position as prime minister is in peril, simply does not listen to the US, and proceeding the war is the only option for Netanyahu to continue political career, Ding noted. "Once you get on the tiger's back, it's hard to get off again." The military possesses the required weaponry for its planned operations, including those in Rafah, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari stated on Thursday. Despite conditioning its military shipments to Israel, Biden remained committed to making sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to those attacks. Li Jianmin, academic dean of the Institute of Central Asian Studies at Northwest Normal University, told the Global Times that the Biden administration cannot risk completely angering Israel. One reason for the Biden administration not to completely turn its back on Israel is that protecting Israel is in line with its overall policy of playing a bigger role in the Middle East, Li said. Israel's recent actions in Rafah has forced approximately 80,000 residents to flee their homes, with most seeking refuge in Khan Younis or Deir al Balah. These areas are lacking essential services, according to the United Nations. The Israeli military instructed around 110,000 civilians to leave parts of Rafah, which has become a haven for many displaced Palestinians living in inadequate conditions, media reports said. Previously, Jordan condemned Israeli settlers attacked a humanitarian aid convoy on its way to Erez crossing in northern Gaza. Observers warned of more humanitarian disasters as they predicted Netanyahu is determined to continue the military operation in Rafah. Lin Jian, a Chinese spokesperson for foreign ministry on Friday also condemned Israel's behavior of attacking aid convoy, urging Israel to implement international humanitarian aid law and provide guarantee for the aid. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Norway votes in support of granting Palestine full membership status in the UN Government of Norway Press release | Date: 10/05/2024 The resolution states that Palestine is fully qualified for membership in the United Nations and recommends that the Security Council reconsiders the matter favourably. Pending the approval of such membership, the resolution, which was adopted by a vote of 143 to 9, with 25 abstentions, provides Palestine with stronger rights and status within the UN. Norway was a co-sponsor of the resolution. 'We are very pleased the resolution was adopted with 143 countries voting in favour. This is evidence of the increasing international support for the Palestinian people's demand for a state of their own,' said Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide. The resolution gives Palestine enhanced rights as an observer state. It may now participate alongside member countries in multiple UN contexts, such as conferences organised by the General Assembly. Palestinian representatives may also be elected to serve on various UN committees. The resolution does not, however, entail full UN membership for Palestine. Palestine is not granted the right to vote in the UN General Assembly; nor will it be able to put forward its candidature for the presidency of the General Assembly or to the Security Council. 'Norway has made it very clear that it supports Palestine's application for full membership status in the UN, and that Norway will vote in favour the day the General Assembly holds a vote on the application. It is highly significant that the resolution asserts that Palestine is fully qualified for UN membership, and that it clearly recommends that the Security Council approves Palestine's membership. Norway fully supports the Palestinian demand for full membership status in the UN. It was therefore important for Norway to vote Yes and to have co-sponsored the resolution. We believe its adoption can help us move forward in the effort to find a political solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine,' said Mr. Eide. In the resolution, the General Assembly asks the Security Council to reconsider Palestine's application for membership in the United Nations. When the Security Council held a vote on the application on 18 April, 12 Council members voted to accept Palestine as a full member. The United States vetoed the measure, and it was therefore not sent to the General Assembly for consideration. The General Assembly requires an explicit recommendation by the Security Council, with at least nine Council members voting in favour and none exercising a veto, in order to consider Palestine's membership application. 'For over seven months, the war in Gaza has caused inconceivable destruction, suffering and loss of life. It has traumatised the people on both sides of the conflict. It has also shown us how important it is to achieve a two-state solution, in which Israel and Palestine exist side by side in peace and security. A Palestinian state is fundamental to realising the two-state solution conceptualised in the UN's 1947 partition plan. Israelis and Palestinians cannot go back to life as they knew it on 6 October of last year,' Mr Eide said. Norway also voted in favour when Palestine was granted UN observer status in 2012. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nordic-Baltic statement on recent developments in Georgia Government Offices of Sweden Statement by Ministry for Foreign Affairs Published 10 May 2024 We, the Nordic-Baltic countries have supported the democratic and economic development of Georgia ever since its restoration of independence. By granting Georgia EU candidate status in December of last year, the EU showed that it supports the aspirations of the Georgian people. Georgia was given a clear path to start accession negotiations and later on join the European Union. However, recently the Georgian authorities have chosen a concerning trajectory disrupting Georgia's European Future. The draft law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, currently under consideration in Georgia's parliament, is incompatible with European norms and values. If adopted, the law could be used to silence media and civil society organisations that play a vital role in helping Georgia on its way to EU membership. The claims by Georgian authorities that the proposal resembles EU draft legislation are unfounded and misleading. We urge Georgia's political leaders to reconsider adoption of the draft law. The decision to pursue EU membership is the sovereign choice of Georgia and its people. It is the responsibility of the Georgian authorities to fulfill the preconditions if it wishes to join the European Union. The anti-Western rhetoric of Georgian authorities seriously risk undermining Georgia's European choice. The EU candidate status was granted to Georgia on the understanding that 9 steps would be fulfilled. At this point, Georgian authorities have not made overall progress in fulfilling those steps. We have a strong wish to see Georgia succeed on its European and Euro-Atlantic path as desired by a large majority of the Georgian people. We hope the Georgian government will use this historical window of opportunity created by a reinvigorated EU enlargement process and revert to the course towards EU membership. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hamas saves Israeli captive from possible suicide IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 10, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, has said that its members have recently rescued one of the Israeli captives who was attempting to commit suicide in the Gaza Strip. A Hamas statement said on Friday that a Zionist tried to commit suicide in captivity in Gaza a few days ago but was prevented from taking his own life. This Zionist prisoner tried to end his life due to his deteriorating physical and mental condition, the statement added. Hamas accused Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing to reaching an agreement on the prisoners' swap, saying he is the main individual responsible for the worsening of physical and mental state of Israeli captives held in Gaza. Last Tuesday, Hamas' military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, in a statement, announced the death of 70-year-old female captive named Judy Feinstein, in the Israeli aerial bombardment of Gaza. The same statement, also reported that another captive succumbed to injuries he sustained before. Al-Qassam attributed the death to the Israeli regime, arguing that the injured captive was unable to receive treatment due to the destruction of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip. 4399**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN membership for Palestine first step in dealing with injustice: Iran IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 10, 2024 New York, IRNA -- Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani, while expressing Tehran's support for full membership of Palestine at the world body, said it is the first step and a pivotal moment in dealing with historical injustices done to Palestinians and suffering inflicted upon them. Iravani told the UN General Assembly that the recently approved resolution correctly emphasizes that Palestine is eligible for the membership in accordance with Article 4 of the UN Charter. The Iranian diplomat emphasized that the Islamic Republic approves and supports the decision of the General Assembly, which he caked a small yet vital step in implementing the obligations of the international community toward the Palestinian people and restoring some of their inherent rights. A draft resolution proposed by a group of Arab countries on Palestine's full membership in the United Nations approved by 143 yes votes on Friday local time in the General Assembly, which gives Palestine special rights and privileges and asks the Security Council to revise the request of Palestine to become the 194th member of the United Nations. The full text of the speech of Iran's permanent envoy to the United Nations is as follows: Mr. President, The Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its support to Palestine's full membership in the United Nations. The admission of Palestine as a full member of the UN is a first step and a pivotal moment in addressing the historical injustices endured by the Palestinian people. The resolution [just adopted], rightly underscores that the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter. The Islamic Republic of Iran acknowledges and supports the General Assembly's decision today. The decision represents a modest yet crucial step in fulfilling the international community's obligations toward the people of Palestine and restoring some of Palestine's inherent rights. Palestine has demonstrated its commitment to peace and its ability to fulfill the obligations under the UN Charter. Consequently, it deserves full membership in the United Nations. Conversely, the Israeli regime's actions disqualify and render this regime ineligible as a peace-loving entity capable of upholding the UN Charter's obligations. The Israeli regime consistently violates international law, the UN Charter, and UN resolutions. It refused to comply with the legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice and persists in egregious violations including massacres, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide. The appalling reports of mass graves discovered in Gaza paint a harrowing picture of war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by this regime. Approximately 400 bodies, including women and children, were found buried, serving as stark examples of the regime's brutality and disregard for human life. These actions run counter to the fundamental values of the United Nations and all basic norms and principles of international law and threaten international peace and security. We regret that the United States has obstructed the draft press statement of the Security Council proposed by Algeria which calls for an impartial, transparent, and international investigation to determine the facts behind the horrific crime of mass graves in Gaza. This irresponsible behavior by a permanent member of the Security Council is unacceptable, reckless, and contradicts the international community's will. Mr. President, Despite the overwhelming support by the international community, the US, as a staunch supporter of the occupying regime, once more, has chosen to blind its eyes to this reality and made cynical efforts to hinder the realization of the noble aspiration of the Palestinian people for full membership. However, today's vote shows how the United States is isolated in its unconditional support of the Israeli regime. We trust that today's vote sends a clear message to the Security Council. Upon the adoption of this resolution, we hope that the Security Council will be able to reconsider its previous stance regarding the Palestinian request for full membership. Mr. President, The Islamic Republic of Iran firmly believes that support for the cause of Palestine and the Palestinian people must continue until they can realize their fundamental rights, in particular their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. In conclusion, my delegation voted [will vote] in favour of the resolution (resolution ES-10/*), and considers it a demonstration of the international community's strong support for the cause of Palestine, particularly the Palestinian people's realization of their inalienable right to self-determination. While we welcome the adoption of the resolution, our hearts go out to the people of Gaza and Rafah, who endure the ongoing atrocities committed by Israel. Iran remains steadfast in advocating for the establishment of a sustainable ceasefire, recognizing it as an urgent, indispensable requirement for Gaza's well-being at this critical juncture. Finally, we would like to put on record that our support for the resolution is without prejudice to our long-standing and constant principled position on issues related to the question of Palestine and the non-recognition of the Israeli regime. I thank you Mr. President. 4399**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Palestinian resistance group captures Israeli drone over Gaza IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 10, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Quds Brigades (Saraya Al-Quds), the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, announced on Friday that its forces have taken control of an Israeli Skylark drone. According to IRNA, citing the Al Jazeera news network, Al-Quds Brigades intercepted and managed to take control of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flying over Rafah, a flashpoint city of the southern Gaza Strip. Last month, Saraya al-Quds forces took control of a similar UAV over Khan Yunis, another city in southern Gaza. Meanwhile, the resistance group also announced that it blew up military equipment of the Zionist enemy in Gaza's Zaitun neighborhood in the early hours of Friday. Fighters from different Palestinian resistance groups have been engaged in fierce clashes with the Israeli regime's forces ever since the Gaza war broke out on October 7, 2023. The resistance groups have repeatedly pledged to continue their fight until the regime stops its bloodshed and attacks in Gaza, which have so far claimed the lives of nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. 4399**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 4 European countries to recognize Palestinian state: Top EU diplomat IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 10, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, confirmed on Friday that four European countries, including Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, and Malta would recognize Palestine as an independent state. Borrell made the revelation ahead of a UN vote slated for Friday on Palestine's full membership in the organization, according to IRNA citing Reuters. In an interview with a Spanish media, Borrell said that European countries plan to declare the independence of Palestine on May 21. It is a symbolic act of a political nature, which Belgium and other European countries will probably follow, he added. In March, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that his country along with Ireland, Slovenia, and Malta views the recognition of a Palestinian state as a crucial step toward a lasting two-state solution. He then did not specify the exact day of their announcement. Israel is against an independent Palestinian state and has opposed its full membership at the United Nations in the past that was also backed by the Zionist regime's key backer, the United States. The United Nations General Assembly is going to put Palestine's request for full membership in a public vote in a few hours. Ireland's national television (RTE) said on Thursday that Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta were awaiting a UN vote to recognize Palestine as an independent state. 4399**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address More Gazans die as Zionist regime keeps pounding Rafah IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 10, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Occupation forces of the Zionist regime continue their attacks across the Gaza Strip, especially the flashpoint city of Rafah, killing and injuring a number of Palestinian civilians and causing further destruction to the besieged territory, news sources report. IRNA cited a report from Beirut-based Al Mayadeen TV on Friday that the Zionist warplanes targeted residential buildings in the east of Rafah and areas around the Nuseirat camp in Central Gaza in the early morning. Eight members of the Qadih family were also martyred after a house belonging to them was hit in an area, east of the southern city of Khan Yunis. A number of people were killed and injured in the attacks on the Al-Zarqa area in northern Gaza and on a family house in Gaza City. The occupying forces also attacked a residential complex in the Zeitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City. The overall death toll since the launch of Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in early October last year is now approaching 35,000. Resistance retaliation Meanwhile, news sources reported that Palestinian fighters are putting up stiff resistance to the invading forces in several areas, with fierce clashes ongoing in the vicinity of the Rafah crossing that was captured by Zionist forces earlier this week. Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement, announced that it has carried out a widespread retaliatory attacks, resulting in death and injury of several regime forces. A building near Al-Dawa Mosque, east of Rafah, where the Zionist soldiers were sheltering was targeted that left several soldiers dead and wounded, Al-Qassam said. The military wing of Hamas also confirmed that a group of Zionist soldiers was trapped in an explosive ambush and finally killed and injured in the east of Rafah. The resistance group also reported rocket attacks on Israeli positions at Karam Abu Salem area as well as the destruction of two Israeli tanks and some armored vehicles with rockets and RPGs. On Monday, despite international opposition, the Zionist regime's war cabinet approved an invasion of the city of Rafah. The move sparked international condemnations, including from the regime's western backers. 4399**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rockets fired toward occupied Palestine IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 10, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- News sources have reported that several rockets were fired from Lebanon at an Israeli settlement located in Al-Jalil in the north of occupied Palestine. Channel 12 an Israeli Television channel reported on Friday that several rockets have been launched from Lebanon towards the Israeli-occupied territories in Al-Jalil, north of occupied Palestine. Also, Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of anti-terror fighters, revealed on Friday that they had attacked the Ovda Airbase, located in the southern occupied territories, approximately 40 kilometers north of the port city of Eilat. Iraq's Islamic Resistance said its forces had targeted the Israeli air force's "aggressor squadron" housed at Ovda Airbase, using drones, as an act of solidarity with Gaza amidst ongoing Israeli genocidal war. A few hours ago, the Islamic resistance of Iraq announced a drone attack on the Elifelet base of the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine. 6125**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address EU welcomes South Sudan's exemption of UN agencies from taxes on imported goods People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 21:59, May 10, 2024 JUBA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) has welcomed South Sudan's move to exempt UN agencies from taxes on imported goods for humanitarian aid. Timo Olkkonen, head of the EU delegation to South Sudan, said on Thursday evening that they need to see trucks with fuel and supplies that are stuck at the borders moving and have the assurance that the UN and the humanitarian community can continue their life-saving and peacekeeping work. "Anything short of that would be a disaster for the people of South Sudan and cause reputational damage to the country itself," Olkkonen said. The UN system in South Sudan recently protested the tax measures imposed on UN-contracted trucks carrying fuel and other valuable deliveries, saying the measures would hamper critical humanitarian deliveries to millions of internally displaced persons and more than 650,000 returnees and refugees fleeing conflict in Sudan. On May 3, the South Sudanese government said the UN agencies and diplomatic missions will be exempted from paying taxes on imported goods, but contracted companies remain obligated to do so. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Afghanistan accuses U.S. of violating its airspace People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 15:20, May 10, 2024 KABUL, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Acting Deputy Prime Minister on Political Affairs Mawlawi Abdul Kabir has accused the United States of violating the country's airspace, local media reported Friday. U.S. drone operations are a problem because Afghanistan has no necessary equipment to stop the U.S. operations, Tolonews quoted Kabir as saying. The senior Afghan official made the remarks in a public meeting in the eastern Panjshir province on Thursday, according to the private media outlet. In the meeting, Kabir also rebuffed the reported financial aid from Washington for allowing American drones to patrol Afghan airspace. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PLA monitors, expels US guided-missile destroyer in China's Xisha territorial waters People's Daily Online By Global Times Published: May 10, 2024 10:13 PM The guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey illegally trespassed into the territorial waters of China's Xisha Islands without the Chinese government's permission on Friday, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command organized naval and air forces to track, monitor and warn it off in accordance with the law and regulations, said Air Force Senior Colonel Tian Junli, spokesperson for the PLA Southern Theater Command, in a written statement on Friday. The actions taken by the US have seriously violated China's sovereignty and security, serving as another irrefutable evidence of the US' pursuit of "navigation hegemony" and creation of "militarization of the South China Sea," Tian said, noting that this fully demonstrates that the US is the "security risk maker in the South China Sea" and the "biggest destroyer" of peace and stability in the region. The Southern Theater Command will always stay on high alert, resolutely defending national sovereignty, security, and the peace and stability in the South China Sea, Tian added. On Wednesday, the US guided missile destroyer USS Halsey sailed through the Taiwan Straits and publicly hyped its actions. In response, Li Xi, spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theater Command said in a statement on the same day that the theater command organized naval and air forces to monitor and exercise vigilance throughout the entire passage of the US vessel and handled the situation in accordance with the law and regulations. The forces of the theater command maintain a high level of alertness at all times, resolutely defending national sovereignty, security, and regional peace and stability, Li said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Poland supports the UN General Assembly resolution expanding Palestine's rights in the United Nations Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Republic of Poland 10.05.2024 On 10 May, the UN General Assembly in New York adopted a resolution expanding Palestine's rights in the UN. Poland, along with 142 UN member states, including the majority of the EU, voted in favour of the resolution. Nine countries voted against and 25 abstained. The UN General Assembly resolution does not grant UN membership to the State of Palestine but significantly expands its rights and privileges within the Organization. Palestine was granted rights similar to those applicable to UN member states, including the right to participate in debates on Palestinian and Middle East issues as well as on other items of the agenda, to make statements on behalf of groups of states, and to submit proposals and amendments. However, Palestine will not have the right to vote in the UN General Assembly or to put forward its candidature to United Nations organs. The resolution also expresses support for Palestine's aspirations for UN membership, determining that it meets the criteria set out in the Charter of the United Nations. The UN General Assembly also called on the Security Council to reconsider Palestine's accession to the United Nations. Palestine's full UN membership requires the approval by the Security Council which, on 18 April 2024, rejected the resolution recommending the UN General Assembly to grant full membership of the Organization to the State of Palestine. For Poland, voting in favour of the resolution is consistent with our stance to date which results, among other things, from the fact that we recognized the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988. Poland understands and has for decades supported the Palestinian people as it strives for self-determination and statehood. It is on all fora that we work towards peace and stability in the Middle East. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we consistently advocate the two-state solution based on international law as the only one capable of putting an end to the fear and suffering experienced by both communities. We consider the General Assembly resolution to be a legitimate and important step in this direction. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hamas welcomes UN resolution for Palestine's membership bid Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 9:22 PM The Islamic resistance movement Hamas has welcomed the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a resolution recommending the Security Council to reconsider the membership of Palestine. The resolution, which was spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates (on behalf of the Arab Group), was adopted on Friday by overwhelming consensus with 143 member states voting in favor, 9 against and 25 abstentions. Hamas said in a statement on Friday that the UN General Assembly measure enhances the rights and privileges of the State of Palestine at the United Nations. The Palestinian resistance group also said the overwhelming support for the resolution is an "affirmation of international cooperation." "We consider this resolution an acknowledgment of the necessity for our Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights and a confirmation of the international support for our people, in the face of the American will supporting the genocide being waged against them," the statement said. "We call upon the free countries of the world to intensify their efforts and provide all means of support and backing for our Palestinian people, who long for freedom and their right to self-determination," Hamas said. It also called on the UN Security Council now to recognize Palestine. "We also urge the Security Council to fulfill its responsibilities and make a decision to recognize the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations, and to seriously work to stop the massacre committed by the fascist occupation government in the Gaza Strip, which violates all the laws and treaties upon which the United Nations Charter was founded," the statement added. Co-sponsored by Turkey along with nearly 80 member states, the resolution expressed "deep regret and concern" over the veto of the US at the UN Security Council on April 18. At least 34,943 people Palestinians, mostly children and women, have been killed and 78,572 people wounded in the war that Israel began on October 7, 2023 following a retaliatory operation by the Palestinian territory's resistance movements. The brutal military onslaught enjoys unreserved military and political support on the part of the Israeli regime's Western allies, including the United States and France. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran welcomes UN resolution to revive Palestine's membership bid Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 5:53 PM Iran's Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani says Tehran welcomes a move by the UN General Assembly to endorse a resolution calling for the reconsideration of Palestine's UN membership bid. The resolution, which was spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates (on behalf of the Arab Group), was adopted on Friday by overwhelming consensus with 143 member states voting in favor, 9 against and 25 abstentions. "The admission of Palestine as a full member of the UN is a first step and a pivotal moment in addressing the historical injustices endured by the Palestinian people," Iravani said in an address to the General Assembly session on Friday. Co-sponsored by Turkey along with nearly 80 member states, the resolution expressed "deep regret and concern" over the veto of the US at the UN Security Council on April 18. The Iranian diplomat added that Tehran acknowledges and supports the General Assembly's decision which represents a "modest yet crucial step" in fulfilling the international community's obligations toward the people of Palestine and restoring some of their inherent rights. He emphasized that the resolution "rightly" underscored that Palestine is qualified to become a UN member by Article 4 of the world body's Charter. The top Iranian diplomat reiterated Palestine's commitment to peace and its ability to fulfill the obligations under the UN Charter, saying, "Consequently, it deserves full membership in the United Nations." "Conversely, the Israeli regime's actions disqualify and render this regime ineligible as a peace-loving entity capable of upholding the UN Charter's obligations," he emphasized. Iravani added that the Tel Aviv regime consistently violates international law, the UN Charter and UN resolutions while it also refused to comply with the legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The regime persists in egregious violations including massacres, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide, he noted. He said mass graves discovered in Gaza "painted a harrowing picture of war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Israeli regime." "These actions run counter to the fundamental values of the United Nations and all basic norms and principles of international law and threaten international peace and security," the Iranian ambassador pointed out. Iran regrets the US obstruction of the draft press statement of the Security Council proposed by Algeria calling for an impartial, transparent, and international investigation to determine the facts behind the horrific crime of mass graves in Gaza, he said. "This irresponsible behavior by a permanent member of the Security Council is unacceptable, reckless, and contradicts the international community's will," he added. He lashed out at the US, as a staunch supporter of the Israeli regime, for choosing once more to blind its eyes to this reality and make cynical efforts to hinder the realization of the noble aspiration of the Palestinian people for full membership. "However, today's vote shows how the United States is isolated in its unconditional support of the Israeli regime," Iravani said. He once again renewed Iran's firm stance on the importance of supporting the cause of Palestine and its people until they can realize their fundamental rights, in particular their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state with Al-Quds as its capital. "Iran remains steadfast in advocating for the establishment of a sustainable ceasefire, recognizing it as an urgent, indispensable requirement for Gaza's well-being at this critical juncture," Iravani emphasized. He explained that Iran's support for the resolution is without prejudice to the country's long-standing and constant principled position on issues related to Palestine and the non-recognition of the Israeli regime. At least 34,943 people Palestinians, mostly children and women, have been killed and 78,572 people wounded in the war that Israel began on October 7, 2023 following a retaliatory operation by the Palestinian territory's resistance movements. The brutal military onslaught enjoys unreserved military and political support on the part of the Israeli regime's Western allies, including the United States and France. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Four Israeli forces killed in Gaza City as fighting rages Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 5:36 PM The Israeli military says four soldiers were killed when an "explosive device" went off in Gaza City. "The four soldiers were killed in the same incident, from an explosive device near a school in the area of Zeitoun," a southern neighborhood of Gaza City, the military said in a statement. It said that two other soldiers were "seriously injured" in the explosion. The Al-Quds Brigade, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement, said in a statement that it "detonated a field of mines and high-explosive ground devices" in the Zeitoun neighborhood on Friday. Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, also said it attacked Israeli soldiers in the east of Rafah. More than a million people displaced from elsewhere in Gaza by Israel's war on their homeland are now sheltering in the territory's southern city of Rafah. The regime's forces on Tuesday seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing, prompting fears of a planned ground offensive on the last refuge of the Palestinians. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far brushed off urgent warnings from the international community and the regime's close allies and ordered the military to invade the southern city only hours after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the group accepted their proposal for a ceasefire. Hamas said on Friday that the "ball is completely" in the regime's court as it is the party that has rejected the proposal. Israel waged its bloodiest-ever military campaign in the Gaza Strip in early October, after Hamas launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupied territories. The Israeli attacks have killed nearly 35,000 people in the besieged coastal area while leaving vast swathes of the territory in ruins. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN General Assembly resolution urges fresh vote on Palestinian statehood Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 4:54 PM The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly passed a resolution, urging the world body's Security Council to reconsider Palestine's request to become a full UN member. The resolution was passed during an emergency session of the assembly on Friday. A total of 143 countries voted in favor of upgrading Palestine's status at the world body, while nine voted against and 25 abstained. Palestine is currently a UN non-member observer state, a status that was granted to it in 2012. An application to become a full UN member needs to be approved by the Council and then at least two-thirds of the General Assembly. The United States, the Israeli regime's biggest ally, has so far blocked Palestinians' every attempt at being recognized as a full member by casting its veto against relevant resolutions. Most recently, it exercised the veto power during a vote that was being held on the issue at the Security Council on April 18. Washington, however, does not wield the power at the assembly. The Friday resolution also granted new "rights and privileges" to Palestine, thus recognizing it as qualified to join the UN as as full member. Its passage came amid the Israeli regime's October 7-present genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has increased sympathy towards Palestinians and amplified international calls for the recognition of the State of Palestine. At least 34.904 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed so far during the war, which began following al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver's resistance groups. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN: Over 100,000 Palestinians displaced from Rafah as Israel intensifies strikes Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 10:55 AM The United Nations says more than 100,000 Palestinians have been forced to leave Rafah, amid intensified Israeli strikes on the southern city in Gaza. "More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah," Hamish Young, UNICEF's senior emergency coordinator in the Gaza Strip, said at a briefing in Geneva via video-link from Rafah on Friday. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) also estimated that "around 110,000 people have now fled Rafah looking for safety." The agency, however, stressed that "nowhere is safe in the Gaza Strip & living conditions are atrocious," reiterating its call for ceasefire. "The only hope is an immediate ceasefire," the UN agency said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The UNRWA noted that the forced displacement comes as "Israeli Forces bombardment intensifies in Rafah." The regime has vowed for weeks to launch a wholesale ground incursion against the city of Rafah, where nearly more than half of Gaza's population of 2.4 have sought shelter from Israeli strikes elsewhere in Gaza. The Israeli military has already gone ahead with waging limited ground attacks against the city and seized control of Gaza's side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which is the main corridor for the transfer of aid into the besieged strip. Israel launched the devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians. Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed more than 34,900 Palestinians and injured more than 78,000 others. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah hits group of Israeli soldiers at military post Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 10:36 AM Fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement have carried out a strike against Israeli military positions in the northern side of the 1948 occupied territories in response to brutal aggression against the Gaza Strip. Lebanon's media outlets reported that Hezbollah fighters targeted on Friday a group of soldiers in the al-Malkia post, causing casualties in the targeted area. The development came a day after the Israeli military announced that a soldier had been killed in a Hezbollah mortar and missile attack on an army position in Malkia on Wednesday. The slain soldier was named as staff sergeant Haim Sabach, 20, of the so-called border defense corps' 869th combat intelligence collection unit. Another soldier was lightly hurt in the attack, the Israeli military added. The Hezbollah resistance group claimed responsibility for launching anti-tank guided missiles and mortars from Lebanon at Israeli military positions in the Malkia area. In return, the Israeli military said it had carried out several waves of strikes against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah conducts retaliatory drone attack on Israeli military command Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched on Thursday a drone attack on an Israeli military command in the Kfar Giladi settlement on the northern flank of the Israeli-occupied lands, causing casualties among Israeli officers. The Lebanese resistance group said in a statement that the attack was carried out with multiple drones in retaliation for Israel's assassination of three of its members in Lebanon's southern village of Bafliyeh. Unnamed Lebanese military sources said one of the air-to-air missiles fired by Israeli aircraft toward the drones fell and exploded in the vicinity of Lebanon's southeastern village of Khiam, while several other missiles fired by the Israeli Iron Dome missile system at the drones exploded in the airspace of the border area in southern Lebanon. The sources noted that Israel carried out five airstrikes and fired about 30 shells on several sites and border towns and villages in southern Lebanon. They said about 30 surface-to-surface missiles and several barrages of rockets were launched from Lebanon toward the occupied lands. The Israeli regime has repeatedly attacked southern Lebanon since October 7, when it launched a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed at least 34,904 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hamas: Ball 'completely' in Israel's court as regime rejects Gaza truce proposal Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 9:48 AM Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says the Israeli regime has rejected a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, stressing that the "ball is completely" in Israel's court in the truce talks. Hamas made the statement early Friday after its delegation attending ceasefire negotiations in Egypt departed for Qatar. "The negotiating delegation [of Hamas] left Cairo heading to Doha. In practice, the occupation [Israel] rejected the proposal submitted by the mediators and raised objections to it on several central issues," the group said in a message to other Palestinian resistance factions, adding it stood by the proposal. "Accordingly, the ball is now completely in the Israeli occupation's court," Hamas stressed. "The next step will be subject to Palestinian study based on adherence to the last proposal and taking into account the Israeli occupation's last move by attacking Rafah and occupying the Rafah crossing," added the movement. Hamas said on Monday it has agreed to a ceasefire proposal put forward by Egyptian and Qatari mediators. The group said the proposal includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes, and a prisoner swap, with the aim of a "permanent ceasefire." But the office of Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time that the proposal was "far from Israel's essential demands." Israel has long been opposed to the idea of a permanent ceasefire, saying its genocidal war on Gaza is aimed at destroying Hamas. According to state-linked Egyptian media outlet Al-Qahera News, representatives of both sides left Cairo on Thursday after two days of negotiations aimed at finalizing a ceasefire deal. The outlet, cited a high-level Egyptian source, as saying efforts by mediators "continue to bring the points of view of the two parties closer together." Israel launched the devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians. The regime has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis. Since the start of the offensive, the Israeli attacks have killed at least 34,904 Palestinians and injured 78,514 others, as an estimated 10,000 Palestinians are believed to be buried under the rubble of buildings flattened by the regime's bombs. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Europe must raise its voice for justice on issue of Palestine': Iran FM Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 8:47 AM Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has urged European countries to raise their voices for justice on the Palestinian issue, noting that it is a "crucial test" for the legitimacy of values that Europe claims to be working for. In a post published on the social media platform X on Thursday, the top Iranian diplomat congratulated Europeans on the occasion of the Europe Day, which is celebrated on May 9 every year. "On this special day all who worked for peace and prosperity for Europe should be mindful on the peace and security all over the world," Amir-Abdollahian wrote. He referred to the unfolding Israeli atrocities in Gaza, stressing that what is happening in the besieged coastal sliver weighs "heavy on the conscience of humanity" and is a "crucial test for the legitimacy of values namely human rights and dignity" that Europeans claim to be working for. "The Europe must raise its voice for justice on the issue of Palestine," the Iranian foreign minister underscored. Amir-Abdollahian further noted that Iran "stands ready" to continue to work and engage with Europe "based on respect, constructive dialogue, cooperation for mutual interests," as well as peace and security in the world. The remarks come as Palestine solidarity protests continue across different universities in Europe. Dutch police on Thursday dispersed a student protest at the University of Amsterdam in the second consecutive day of demonstration over Israel's genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian enclave that has been dragged on for the past seven months. Police forces in full riot gear attacked protesters and knocked down makeshift barricades of desks, bricks and wooden pallets, arresting at least 32 demonstrators. Videos of the incident show police dragging several students away as hundreds shouted: "Shame on you!" In Spain, demonstrations and encampments continued at several campuses across the country. A non-profit association representing 77 universities across Spain said its members would review and, where appropriate, suspend agreements with Israeli universities and research centers. The campus protests come as EU leaders fend off growing pressure to respond to Israel's war on Gaza. Israel unleashed its atrocious onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship since Palestinian resistance movements launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, against the usurping regime on October 7. At least 34,904 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and another 78,514 individuals have sustained injuries. More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address May 9: 'Axis of Resistance' operations against Israeli occupation Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 7:57 AM By Press TV Website Staff Amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 34,900 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 Thursday, May 9, are as follows: Al-Qassam Brigades' operations on May 9: Targeted a D9 military bulldozer of the Israeli army southeast of the Al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza and bombed the gatherings of Israeli forces positioned on the "Netzarim" axis and south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood with mortar shells. Targeted a gathering of Israeli forces south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City with a barrage of mortar shells. Blew up an booby-trapped tunnel opening on an Israeli military engineering unit east of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza comprising three vehicles, a digger, and several soldiers, resulting in multiple casualties. Targeted two Israeli military vehicles south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City with an "Al-Yassin 105" shell and a Shuath explosive device. Targeted an Israeli military D9 bulldozer with an Al-Yassin 105 shell southeast of the Al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' operations on May 9: Targeted a command and control center of the Israeli military along the supply line of the "Netzarim" axis with a barrage of heavy-caliber mortar shells. Engaged in fierce clashes with an Israeli military infantry patrol using appropriate weapons in the Al-Shuoka neighborhood east of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, inflicting many casualties. Targeted an Israeli military vehicle with an RPG shell in the Al-Shuoka neighborhood east of the city of Rafah, resulting in injuries to those inside the vehicle. Targeted an Israeli military vehicle with an RPG shell south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, resulting in injuries to those inside the vehicle. Claimed responsibility for the 'Flag Ambush Operation' in which an Israeli flagpole was rigged with explosives in one of the forests of the Kochav Hashachar settlement near the village of Al-Mughayyir east of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, causing critical injuries to many Israeli settlers. Targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles on the axes of advance east of the southern Gaza city of Rafah using 107-type rockets. Targeted a gathering of Israeli forces and their military vehicles with several mortar shells south of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City. Al-Quds Brigades' operations on May 9: Targeted a command and control center of the Israeli military near the "Netzarim" axis, south of Gaza City, with mortar shells. Targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers and their military vehicles in the vicinity of Ali Mosque southwest of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City with mortar shells. Targeted a gathering of Israeli forces east of the southern Gaza city of Rafah with a barrage of standard 60-caliber mortar shells. Targeted a Israeli military gathering with heavy mortar shells east of Al-Shouka neighborhood on the outskirts of the city of in southern Gaza. Mujahideen Brigades' operations on May 9: Targeted the "Gaza envelope" with a barrage of rockets, causing extensive damage to illegal settlements there. Targeted a gathering of Israeli forces and their military vehicles stationed in the "Netzarim" axis with 107-type rockets. Martyr Omar Al-Qasim Forces' operations on May 9: Engaged in fierce clashes, using appropriate weapons, with Israeli soldiers penetrating east of the Abu Halawa junction in southern Gaza city of Rafah. Targeted a gathering of Israeli forces in the western "Netzarim" axis with a barrage of mortar shells. Targeted a cavalcade of Israeli military vehicles near the airport, east of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, with 107-type rockets. Hezbollah's operations on May 9: Eastern sector: At around 15:00 local time, the Al-Samaqa site of the Israeli military in Lebanon's Kfar Shuba was targeted with missiles. At around 16:58 local time, an Israeli military command and control center in the Kfar Ladi settlement was targeted with appropriate weapons. Western sector: At around 13:23 local time, Al-Ramia site was targeted with appropriate weapons. > Zafar Mehdi: At around 14:15 local time, a command and control center of the Israeli military in the Netua settlement was targeted with artillery shells. At around 15:20 local time, Israeli soldiers were targeted at the Al-Jardah site with appropriate weapons. At around 17:15 local time, Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Jal al-Alam site were targeted with a Burkan missile. At around 20:05 local time, an Israeli military vehicle was targeted at the Al-Malikiyah site with appropriate weapons. Islamic Resistance in Iraq's operations on May 9: Targeted the Israeli military's Ovda base in the Palestinian-occupied territories with a barrage of drones. Targeted the Leviathan gas platform of the Israeli regime in the Palestinian-occupied territories with a barrage of drones. Targeted the Israeli military's Elifelet base in the Palestinian-occupied territories with a barrage of drones. Targeted the Asqalan oil port in the Palestinian-occupied territories using an Arqab advanced cruise missile. Targeted the Israeli military's Nevatim base in Bir Al-Sabi area of the Palestinian-occupied territories with a barrage of drones. Yemeni military's operations on May 9: Carried out a joint military operation against the Israeli ships MSC DEGO and MSC GINA in the Gulf of Aden using a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones. Carried out two more military operations against MSC VITTORIA in the Indian Ocean and in the Arabian Sea with a barrage of missiles as part of the Yemeni military's fourth phase of pro-Palestine operations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Agency closes al-Quds HQ following Israeli settlers' 'outrageous' attacks Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 7:27 AM The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has closed its east al-Quds headquarters after Israeli settlers set fire to the compound's perimeter in the presence of the regime's forces. "This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA headquarters in occupied east Jerusalem [al-Quds]," the UNRWA's chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. He described how "a crowd accompanied by armed men were witnessed outside the compound chanting 'Burn down the United Nations'." Media reports said Israeli forces were present when settlers burned trees and grass on the building's property, but didn't prevent them. "While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas," Lazzarini said. According to UNRWA, the agency's staff members were present at the headquarters and worked to put out the fire. "Our director with the help of other staff had to put out the fire themselves as it took the Israeli fire extinguishers and police a while before they turned up," said Lazzarini. "This is an outrageous development. Once again, the lives of UN staff were at serious risk." Noting that it was the second attack on the compound, which has on its grounds petrol and diesel stations for a fleet of UN cars, in few days, Lazzarini said he decided to shut down the compound, given the ongoing security risk to the agency's staff members. "In light of this second appalling incident in less than a week, I have taken the decision to close down our compound until proper security is restored." The attack also comes after months of protests outside of the building by far-right Israeli settlers. One protest earlier this week "became violent when demonstrators threw stones at UN staff and at the buildings of the compound," Lazzarini said. The UNRWA chief lamented that "over the past months, UN staff have regularly been subjected to harassment and intimidation." "Our compound has been seriously vandalized and damaged. On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our staff with guns." Lazzarini urged a probe into the attacks, saying that UN staff, property, and operations "should be protected at all times in line with international law." "The perpetrators of these attacks must be investigated and those responsible must be held accountable," he added. "Anything less will set a new dangerous standard." Condemnations pour in following settlers' attack The Palestinian Authority decried Thursday's arson attack and called on the international community to take "strict measures" against Israeli "militias." Qatar's Foreign Ministry also condemned the "systematic Israeli targeting of UNRWA", maintaining it aimed "to liquidate it and deprive millions of Palestinians of its necessary services." Saudi Arabia and Jordan also slammed the attack, with Amman urging measures to force Israel to "assume its responsibility as the occupying power in Jerusalem [al-Quds]" and put an end to the harassment. UNRWA, the biggest humanitarian aid provider in Gaza which has been subjected to a genocidal Israeli war for seven months, has been in crisis since earlier this year when the Israeli regime claimed that dozens of its 13,000 Gaza employees were involved in the October 7 operation launched by Hamas resistance movement against the occupying entity. The regime's allegations against UNRWA prompted more than 10 donor countries, including the United States, Germany, the European Union, Canada, and Japan, to temporarily withhold financial support, threatening the agency's efforts to deliver desperately needed aid in Gaza. The funding from these countries makes up the bulk of all funding received by the UN agency. Last month, an independent review for the UN, led by ex-French minister Catherine Colonna, underscored the lack of substantiation for broader allegations made by Israel that accused numerous UNRWA employees of affiliation with Hamas or Islamic Jihad resistance groups. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi resistance targets strategic Israeli sites in Eilat in support of Gaza Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 6:02 AM Fighters from the Iraqi anti-terror resistance groups have launched separate drone strikes against two strategic targets in the southernmost part of the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories in response to the regime's ongoing bloody onslaught against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, in a statement published on its Telegram channel, claimed responsibility for an attack on a "vital" installation in the Port of Eilat, which lies at the northern tip of the Red Sea, early on Friday. It said the drone strike was carried out in continuation of the struggle against the occupying Israeli regime, in support of Palestinians in Gaza, and in retaliation for the massacres that the usurping Zionist entity is perpetrating against ordinary people, including women, children and the elderly, in the besieged territory. The group noted that it will continue to target and destroy important installations across the occupied lands. Moreover, Iraqi anti-terror resistance fighters hit a military site inside the Port of Eilat with an unmanned aerial vehicle. Earlier, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq had claimed responsibility for an operation against Ovda Airbase, situated around 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) north of Eilat. The coalition has been staging many such attacks on Israeli targets since the occupying regime launched a genocidal war on Gaza in early October. Israel launched its atrocious onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship since Palestinian resistance movements launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, against the usurping regime on October 7. At least 34,904 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and another 78,514 individuals have sustained injuries. More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Closed dam in Vietnam is leading to dry river beds in Cambodia Residents from nearly 60 villages downstream have appealed to authorities for help. By RFA Khmer 2024.05.10 -- Authorities in Vietnam have stopped water flowing from a dam near the Cambodian border for two months, causing water levels in the Sesan River to drop or even run dry, affecting nearly 60 villages downstream in Cambodia, residents told Radio Free Asia. The drop in the water level of the Sesan - a tributary of the Mekong River - has caused water shortages in the villages, made it hard to fish and affected the biodiversity of the river, they said. It's also hurt tourism to the area. The problem is affecting 57 villages in four districts in Ratanakkiri province, northeastern Cambodia, and residents have appealed to the government to talk to officials in Vietnam to address the issue related to the Sesan Yali Dam, they said. It wasn't immediately clear why Vietnam had stopped water from flowing through the Sesan Yali Dam, but residents said it does happen from time to time. The authorities should coordinate with their counterparts in Vietnam so that this is no longer a problem, Ear Vuth, a representative of an indigenous community in the area, told RFA Khmer. "If the water in the river has a problem like this, tourists will not come to visit the area," he said. "That in turn stops the villagers from earning income." So far authorities have done nothing to solve the issue, Klan Yan, the chief of another village, told RFA. "Recently, people are fishing using banned nets and sometimes electric shock at night," he said. "As the local authority, I don't know who I have to talk to, and Vietnam is another country entirely." RFA was not able to reach provincial governor Nhem Sam Oeun and Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology spokesman Chan Yutha, or the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia for comment. Turning off the water for people living downstream in another country is against the law and international principles, said Leang Bunleap, the executive director of an organization called the 3 Rivers Protection Network, or 3SPN. "We should request that the Vietnamese government open the water to a level appropriate to the natural flow, and If they close the dam gate, they should let us know in advance," he said. "It is very important for us to ... share information with each other in accordance with national and international principles for the common good." Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Eugene Whong 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address On Tbilisi's Streets, Gen Z Protesters Are Taking Center Stage By Joshua Kucera May 10, 2024 TBILISI -- When protests in Georgia's capital against the country's "foreign agent" bill began last month, organizers originally planned to hold protests only on days when parliament took action on the bill, so as to conserve protesters' energy. But after the parliament on April 17 passed on its first reading the bill -- which would require media outlets and NGOs to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if more than 20 percent of their funding comes from abroad -- many young protesters didn't want to rest. "They stopped protesting and told people we should wait until the second reading," said Zviad Tsetskhladze, an 18-year-old first-year law student at Tbilisi State University. "But we, the new Generation Z, we didn't like this situation. So we started protesting by ourselves," he said. He and other students began nightly marches from the university campus to the parliament, about 2 1/2 kilometers away. At first, other protest organizers discouraged the marches, Tsetskhladze said, worried that if not many people joined them then photos of meager protests would spread and create a narrative that the movement was dying. But the marches quickly gained popularity. "When we started to create big marches, [the other organizers] started to like us," he said. And now, these young people -- mostly from Generation Z, which consists of people born roughly between the late 1990s and the early 2010s -- have become the defining element of Georgia's protests, providing energy, numbers on the streets, and, in some cases, inspiration for their elders. In an essay for RFE/RL's Georgian Service, prominent novelist Zaza Burchuladze wrote that the movement should be called the "children's revolution." Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, a supporter of the protests, has repeatedly praised the country's "youth with fire in their hearts." "We will show the world what Georgia and its youth can do," she said in a recent speech. Foreign Agent Revisited After originally introducing the bill into parliament in March 2023, the ruling Georgian Dream party ending up withdrawing it after a widespread public outcry and mass street protests. A year later, the revival of what opponents call the "Russian law" has resulted in the most serious political crisis of Georgian Dream's 12-year rule and has sparked fears among pro-Western Georgians that the party may be trying to steer their country away from their European aspirations. Previous Georgian protest movements have not been nearly so youth-dominated, said Vano Abramishvili, a program director at Caucasian House, a Tbilisi NGO that runs many programs directed at Georgian young people. "This is a very new phenomenon," he said. Although there were also large numbers of young people at the "foreign agent" protests last year, that movement lasted only a matter of days and so the youth factor wasn't much commented on. But the ruling party noticed, Abramishvili said. Following the 2023 protests, the government introduced several new youth-oriented policies, such as debt relief for student loans and a paid internship program. This time around, just a month before rolling out the "foreign agent" law again, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced a new four-year youth action plan. "They paid massive attention to young people," Abramishvili said. Now that young people are again demonstrating in large numbers -- apparently unmoved by the party's efforts -- Georgian Dream officials have scrambled to respond. A pro-government rally organized by Georgian Dream featured a youth march, too -- led by Tsotne Ivanishvili, the teenage son of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder and still informal leader of Georgian Dream. The rally featured speeches by no fewer than five members of the party's youth wing. "You could see how artificially some of these youngsters were squeezed in," Abramashvili said. Pro-government media has portrayed the youth protesters as naive and manipulated by their elders, in particular the opposition parties and NGOs that the law is meant to target. Kobakhidze went so far as to label the entire "Generation Z" as a "violent movement." Getting the young people on side won't be easy for Georgian Dream. Polls have shown that younger people have significantly less trust in the ruling party than other age brackets. They also are significantly more likely to believe the country should strive for European integration: a March 2023 poll by the Caucasus Research Resource Center found that 93 percent of Georgians between 18 and 34 wanted their country to join the European Union, as compared to 82 percent of the population as a whole. Helena Adamia, another first-year Tbilisi State University student, studying psychology, estimates that about half of the students at the university are participating in the protests. Most of them are driven by a "romanticized" view of Europe, she said. But she is a frequent protester, as well, and sees the demonstrations as fighting for Georgia's European future. While she doesn't agree with everything the EU does -- particularly what she sees as excessive support for Israel in its war in Gaza -- she thinks Georgia doesn't have any alternative to Europe. "In our case, given Georgia's situation, the only way for us to move forward, for there to be any progress in our country, is to be part of the European Union," she said. Given Moscow's overbearing influence in the region, she said that: "Truly, it's Russia or Europe for us." One value that is clearly on display in the youth protests, and which differentiates young Georgians from many of their peers in other countries, is a strong sense of patriotism. Georgian flags are ubiquitous at the demonstrations, and singing the national anthem is common. During one recent student march, the group stopped midway for a break to sing the anthem. Adamia, wearing a lip ring and a Palestinian scarf, immediately put her hand to her heart and sang along. Law student Tsetskhladze, who helped start the student marches, is one of the leaders of a youth group called Dafioni ("Sunset"), which has come to prominence during these protests. The group raised eyebrows at one early protest by having members swear an oath to "defend Georgia's statehood" and to "never be co-opted by the force that tries to transfer our country to our enemy, Russia." Sunset's ideology could be described as "liberal nationalist or democratic nationalist," Tsetskhladze said. In Tsetskhladze's Facebook profile photo, he is wearing camouflage military gear, complete with a balaclava. "I love military stuff," he said. "Soldiers in Georgia, throughout our history, they are defending the country, not attacking." "Gen Z is the most patriotic generation that has lived in our country since independence," Tsetskhladze said. Political Shift In many ways, the politics of today's Generation Z track those of their elders. Opinion polls consistently show that economic issues are at the top of their agenda, as with every generation in Georgia. But in other important aspects, the young people protesting today represent a significant shift in political thinking. Today's students have little memory of a time before when Georgian Dream -- which took power in 2012 -- ruled the country. That makes them less vulnerable to the ruling party's most common line of attack: associating any opponent with the former, and still widely unpopular, regime of Mikheil Saakashvili and his United National Movement (UNM) party. "You cannot point your finger at them and say that they are UNM supporters or pro-Misha," said Abramishvili, using Saakashvili's nickname. "The only government these young people saw growing up was Georgian Dream, and they are making their own conclusions." At the same time, most young Georgians get their information largely from social media, where news on the country is dominated by Western-funded media and NGOs run by liberal millennials or Gen Xers. These groups -- human rights organizations, watchdog organizations, and liberal media organizations -- control much of the mainstream narrative in Georgia, if not much direct political power. Georgian media is polarized into pro- and anti-government, and the latter space "is completely taken over by these organizations. "It's like you cannot get a new voice [heard], because the space is completely full," said Gio Meskhi, a third-year political science student at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. "These NGOs have way more influence on young people than the government or actual political structures like parties," he said. Although Meskhi opposes the "foreign agent" law, he has not been participating in the protests because he feels their agenda is "completely curated and manipulated by the leaders of the opposition [political parties] and the top dogs of the big NGOs," he said. "It's top-down, not bottom-up. They play on the ego of the youth to mobilize them." Still, many young people distrust the country's political parties, both ruling and opposition. Surveys have shown that young Georgians are much more likely to feel that no political party represents them. Meskhi said he didn't know a single supporter of UNM at his university, even though that is still the most popular opposition party among Georgians as a whole. Opposition oriented students are more likely to support the libertarian Girchi (Pine Cone) or the staunchly pro-Western Droa (It's Time) parties, he said. While Dafioni has a loose affiliation with UNM, Tsetskhladze said he still doesn't trust Saakashvili or any other opposition leader, believing them all to have "Soviet mentalities." "Yes, [Saakashvili] created the European course of this country, but he also has some problems with democracy, and they became authoritarian," he said. "So, we don't want old guys in the new political reality. We want new blood, we want a new generation." The youth movements involved in the protests do cooperate with their elders; there are regular coordination meetings in which figures from opposition parties, NGOs, and the activist movements all discuss strategy. "We coordinate with everyone, which is a rare thing in Georgian politics," said Kote Chakhunashvili, a member of another youth group, Jiuti (Stubborn). (Chakhunashvili, a 32-year-old doctor, is himself not strictly Generation Z.) "We need everyone if we are going to defeat this monster," he said. Still, he said, younger protesters want a more decentralized approach. "The older generation thinks that you need some kind of a leader, so they have a strict power vertical," he said. "But this generation is more horizontal, they are for a lot of sergeants and fewer generals." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/georgia-protests-generation-z- young-people-foreign-agent-law/32941394.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Students Join Protests In Armenia As Pressure Builds On Pashinian By RFE/RL's Armenian Service May 10, 2024 YEREVAN -- Students have joined opposition groups in marches led by an outspoken Armenian archbishop, blocking streets in Yerevan as part of a "day of disobedience" to protest a land deal negotiated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his government with rival Azerbaijan. A day after tens of thousands of Armenians packed the capital's central square, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, the leader of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, led the march on May 10, where he called for university students to ratchet up pressure on Pashinian to resign. "We must continue our civil disobedience actions," Galstanian, who called a new rally at Yerevan's Republic Square for the evening of May 10, told reporters. "We cannot retreat and back down in any way." The unrest was sparked by a controversial border-demarcation deal with Baku that cedes control of four villages that were part of Azerbaijan during the Soviet era but which have been controlled by Armenia since the 1990s. The border agreement has been hailed by the United States and the European Union, as well as by Pashinian, who has been accused by opposition politicians of giving up territory with no guarantees. "We spoke with the parliamentary deputies. They are ready to continue this process, to complete it legally, and then a candidate for prime minister will be required, and then probably a name will be announced," Galstanian said. On May 9, Galstanian said in a speech to supporters who gathered in Republic Square that Pashinian had one hour to announce his resignation. The deadline passed without any word from the beleaguered prime minister as chants of "Nikol! Traitor!" and "Resign!" emanated from the crowd. Galstanian has called on his supporters to be patient for "two or three more days" while he explored the possibility of impeaching Pashinian in parliament. The two opposition groups represented in the legislature have pledged to initiate a parliamentary vote of no confidence in the prime minister. But with the house controlled by Pashinian's Civil Contract party and senior lawmakers representing it insisting that neither they nor any of their pro-government colleagues will back such a motion, it remains unclear whether a vote will ever take place. Pashinian's political allies and other supporters have verbally attacked Galstanian during protests, which have been peaceful, over the past two weeks. During an April 30 session of the Armenian parliament, pro-government lawmakers branded Galstanian as a Russian spy, accused him of provoking another war with Azerbaijan, and even called on Armenian border guards to forcibly draft the 52-year-old archbishop. Pashinian has said the unilateral concessions are necessary to prevent Azerbaijani military aggression against Armenia. The Armenian opposition maintains Pashinian is actually encouraging Baku to demand more territory from Armenia and to use force for that purpose. Armenia agreed to the handover as the initial step in defining the frontier between the two rival South Caucasus countries. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, are scheduled to hold peace talks in the Kazakh city of Almaty on May 10. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars in the last three decades over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been a majority ethnic Armenian enclave since the Soviet collapse and is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory. The region initially came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian military, in separatist fighting that ended in 1994. In 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of Nagorno-Karabakh along with seven surrounding districts that Armenian forces had claimed during the earlier conflict. After Baku took full control over the region as the result of a one-day military operation in September last year, nearly 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/students-protests-armenia- pashinian-resignation-galstanian/32940840.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address International Rights Groups Urge Georgia To Protect Freedom Of Speech By RFE/RL's Georgian Service and RFE/RL's Echo of the Caucasus May 10, 2024 TBILISI -- International media and human rights organizations have appealed to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to withdraw a draft law on "foreign agents" and to ensure the safety of journalists and protect the freedom of the press in Georgia. Weeks of protests against what critics call "the Russian law" -- legislation pushed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, despite widespread anger from much of the country and criticism abroad -- have been met with tough police actions to disperse crowds, while roving bands of thugs have targeted demonstrators. In a joint letter issued on May 10, the 18 media and rights organizations, including the International Press Institute, said the proposed legislation, which recently passed in its second reading in parliament, "provides the authorities with a powerful tool to discredit, pressure, and eventually silence independent voices, thereby threatening press freedom and freedom of expression." The groups noted the proposed legislation would not only force independent media and NGOs to be labelled as "organizations pursuing the interests of foreign powers," but would also empower the Georgian Justice Ministry to conduct probes of these organizations "solely on the basis of a written application alleging ties to a 'foreign power.'" The appeal was issued after seven people were reportedly detained late on May 9 as they took part in a march on Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue in downtown Tbilisi after Ucha Abashidze, a military expert, blogger, and activist, was arrested at his home in the capital, accused of illegally purchasing and storing weapons. One of the participants, Tina Vashakidze, told RFE/RL that at least seven people were detained. The Interior Ministry, despite numerous attempts by RFE/RL to obtain an official statement, did not reveal the number of detainees. Vashakidze, who was detained and then released a few hours later, told RFE/RL she was physically abused during her arrest. "An elderly man fell on Chavchavadze and my friend and I went to help him. He fell and the police grabbed him. As soon as we bent down, they threw us all to the ground, and seven police officers kicked us in the head and sides. My friend and I were shoved into a vehicle, where I was grabbed by the hair and kicked by their chief. When I asked for a doctor or an ambulance, they kicked me out of the vehicle, just with my phone and without money," Vashakidze said. Other detainees were taken to the main building of the Interior Ministry, she said. Separately, film critic and TV presenter Levan Abdushelishvili said he was released by the police and taken to a clinic for a medical examination. "I'm fine, my friends, I'm in an ambulance and I'm being taken to the Ingoroqva clinic. I was hit in the head by a security guard," he wrote on Facebook after leaving the police station. RFE/RL identified a third detainee as Niniko Shengelaya, a young woman who was treated brutally by police and was photographed by journalist Mari Nikuradze as she was detained. According to reports by her friends, Shengelaya also left the police station a few hours after his arrest. Separately, three members of Georgian opposition parties were attacked and beaten up by unidentified men. The three are Boris (Chele) Kurua, a member of the Girchi-More Freedom party; Nodar Chachanidze from the United National Movement (UNM); and Georgy Mumladze, also from UNM. In another incident, a member of the Akhali political association, Georgiy Oniani, reported that unidentified people tried to break into his house, where his 14-year-old son was alone at the time. The latest attacks came a day after Georgia's Interior Ministry said an investigation had been opened into the assault of three other protesters -- one of whom is an opposition politician -- during a rally against the law in Tbilisi late on May 8. The three are international relations specialist Gia Japaridze, activist Lasha Gvinianidze, and UNM member Dimitri Chikovani. On May 9, police also announced that six protesters had been detained for alleged public disturbance offenses. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the United States was deeply troubled by actions taken against those protesting the draft law. "We are aware of increased reports of harassment and physical assault of civil society and opposition activists and journalists. We condemn this and we call for a full, independent, and timely investigation," Miller said May 9. Miller said Washington had enjoyed a successful partnership with Georgia for more than 30 years and would like that to continue. "There is still time to work collaboratively with Georgia, but the Georgian government needs to change course for that to be the case," he said. In an indication of dissent inside the Georgian government, the country's ambassador to France, Gotcha Javakhishvili, resigned in protest against the so-called "foreign agent" bill, becoming the first senior official to do so. In a posting on Facebook on May 9, Javakhishvili said the proposed legislation, which has passed on two readings in parliament already, would steer Georgia away from further integration within Europe. "I no longer see my role and resources in this direction: the move towards Europe," Javakhishvili said. The legislation is expected to face a third and final reading that could come as early as May 13, with Georgian Dream and its allies seemingly in control of enough votes to carry the bill and potentially override a veto that has been promised by President Salome Zurabishvili. The controversial bill says media outlets, NGOs, and other nonprofits must register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if more than 20 percent of their funding comes from abroad. The government insists the law is in line with EU standards and is only intended to increase "transparency" and prevent "harmful foreign influence" in the country's political scene. Human Rights Watch rejected that stance on May 9, saying it threatens fundamental rights in the country. "Georgian parliamentarians and government officials formally defend the bill as providing transparency, but they make no secret of its intended purpose," said Hugh Williamson, the rights watchdog's Europe and Central Asia director. "By labeling independent groups and media as serving foreign interests, they intend to marginalize and stifle critical voices in the country that are fundamental for any functioning democracy." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/protests-georgia-bill-attacked- detained/32940791.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Palestinian Leader Welcomes UNGA Resolution Granting Palestine New Rights - Reports Sputnik News 20240510 TUNIS, (Sputnik) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has welcomed a UN General Assembly resolution expanding the rights of Palestine in the organization and recommending that the Security Council grant it member status, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. Earlier in the day, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution recognizing Palestine as qualified to join the world organization in a 143-9 vote with 25 abstentions. Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, accused the UN General Assembly of encouraging terrorism in response to the resolution on Palestine. "The political theater called the UN has adopted an artificial decision, detached from reality, which only encourages terrorism. Israel seeks peace, and peace will only be achieved through direct negotiation between the parties," he was quoted as saying by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on X. Katz also described the vote as "a reward for Hamas terrorists," arguing it harmed Israel's efforts to release the hostages still held by the Palestinian movement and made the ceasefire prospects in the Gaza Strip even more distant. In April, the United States vetoed an Algerian resolution at the UN Security Council recommending that the General Assembly admit Palestine to the UN. The United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained. The remaining members of the UN Security Council voted in favor. Palestine has held permanent observer status at the UN since 2012, while Israel has been a full member of the organization since 1948. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IDF Says 14 Rockets Fired From Gaza at Southern Israeli City of Beer Sheva Sputnik News 20240510 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday it had detected 14 rocket launches from the Gaza Strip at the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva, including at least nine from the city of Rafah. "Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in the area of Be'er Sheva, nine launches were identified that crossed from the area of Rafah and fell in open areas. Furthermore, throughout the past hour, the IDF identified five additional launches from the central Gaza Strip toward the city of Be'er Sheva," the IDF said on Telegram. The incident is being reviewed, it added. In the night from Monday to Tuesday, the Israeli army started a military operation in the eastern parts of Rafah and took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Israeli authorities say the operation is aimed at eliminating the remaining battalions of Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Blinken to Issue Critical Report on Israel, But Keep Silent on Any Law Violation Sputnik News 20240510 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to present to Congress a "highly critical" report on Israel on Friday, but will refrain from making any accusations of possible international law violations in the Gaza Strip, the Axios news portal reported, citing three US officials familiar with the matter. The US Department of State is studying the use of weapons by Israel and six other nations participating in various armed conflicts in accordance with a new US National Security Memorandum, the news portal reported. If Washington uncovers any violations of international humanitarian legislation by these countries, it may decide to halt military assistance to them, the report said. As part of the process, Blinken has reportedly been instructed to study a number of incidents related to Israel's actions in the Gaza conflict. The US secretary of state is likely not to restrain himself in his criticism of the Jewish state, but he will stop short of concluding that Israel allegedly violated international law in the context of the US national security memorandum, the report said. On Monday, Israel started a military operation in the eastern parts of Rafah and took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. The decision came despite Palestinian movement Hamas agreeing to the terms of a ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal unacceptable. Over a million people are believed to be sheltering in Rafah. On October 7, 2023, 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 34,900 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 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bolivia Condemns Israel for Blocking Its Humanitarian Aid Sent to Gaza Strip Sputnik News 20240510 LA PAZ (Sputnik) - The Bolivian government, which has sent 90 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, condemns its blockade by Israel, Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa Lunda said. The cargo sent by Bolivia is still on the border with Rafah, "under the protection of the occupation authorities", which the Bolivian authorities have urged to allow its passage. "I cannot but condemn the systematic blockade that Israel is implementing to prevent humanitarian operations in Gaza... Obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people is a very serious violation of human rights and will worsen the situation of the population in the conflict zone," the minister told reporters in La Paz. 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 34,700 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. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel 'Will Fight With Fingernails' Amid Possible Halt in US Arms Supplies - Netanyahu Sputnik News 20240510 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Jewish state has enough power to fight alone in the event of a possible cutoff of military aid from the United States. On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said Washington would restrict the supply of weapons to Israel if the Jewish state launches a major military incursion into Rafah. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed Wednesday that the US had paused one shipment of "high payload munitions" to Israel and was "reviewing near-term" shipments amid Israel's heightened offensive in Rafah. "If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone. We will fight with our fingernails if we have to," Netanyahu said in a video address to the nation released on Thursday. Earlier on Thursday, Netanyahu's adviser, Dmitry Gendelman, said Israel regrets not receiving support on weapons deliveries from their "closest ally," the United States, amid the ongoing Israeli operation in the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Thursday, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said the Biden administration hopes it will not have to make decisions about weapons shipments to Israel, but will have to do so if Israel enters Rafah. On Monday, Israel started a military operation in the eastern parts of Rafah and took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. The decision came despite Palestinian movement Hamas agreeing to the terms of a ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar. Netanyahu called the deal unacceptable. Over a million people are believed to be sheltering in Rafah. On October 7, 2023, 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 34,900 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 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Army Orders $451Mln Upgrade For Multiple Rocket Artillery Launchers - Pentagon Sputnik News 20240510 WASHINGTON, (Sputnik) - The US Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a $451 million contract to recapitalize more M270 mobile artillery rocket launchers expanding its force, the Department of Defense announced in a press release. "The US Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $451 million contract to recapitalize additional M270 systems expanding its domestic fleet of launchers and providing upgrades for global partners," the release said on Thursday. The modernization program will add additional capability to the M270-series launchers and maintain their capability for NATO forces for decades to come, Lockheed Martin Vice President for Precision Fires Jay Price said in the release. "Recapitalization includes complete overhaul and upgrades to the systems with brand new engines, improved armored cabs, and the new Common Fire Control System (CFCS) which will provide compatibility with current and future MLRS [Multi-Launch Rocket Systems] Family of Munitions (MFOM)," the release said. Lockheed Martin's next-generation Extended-Range GMLRS and Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) can only be fired by M270A2 and HIMARS launchers, it noted. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Secretary Blinken's Meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Albares US Department of State Readout May 10, 2024 The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller: Secretary of State Antony Blinken met today with Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Albares. The Secretary and the Foreign Minister underscored unwavering transatlantic support for Ukraine as it defends against Russia's brutal and unprovoked war, and shared their concerns about PRC and third-country support to the Russian defense industrial base. They called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as part of a hostage deal and stressed the value of working with regional leaders to ensure Palestinian civilians' safe access to humanitarian assistance as well as the need to prevent further escalation in the Middle East. They discussed cooperation to assist Haiti through the Multinational Security Support mission and their shared concern for instability in the Sahel. Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Albares discussed preparations for the July 9-11 NATO Washington Summit and our crucial relationship as NATO Allies. They also discussed ever-increasing U.S.-Spanish collaboration in Latin America, shared priorities on investment, migration, and democracy, and issues related to the Indo-Pacific, including the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address "Setting out a horizon for a Palestinian state should be one of the vital conditions for moving from a pause in the fighting to a sustainable ceasefire." Explanation of vote by Ambassador Barbara Woodward on the General Assembly resolution on Palestinian UN membership, rights and privileges. 10 May 2024 Thank you, President. The UK remains firmly committed to a two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people. As we said in the Security Council last month, we are abstaining on this resolution because we believe that the first step towards achieving this goal is resolving the immediate crisis in Gaza. The fastest way to end the conflict is to secure a deal which gets the hostages out and allows for a pause in the fighting in Gaza. We must, then, work together to turn that pause into a sustainable, permanent ceasefire. Setting out a horizon for a Palestinian state should be one of the vital conditions for moving from a pause in the fighting to a sustainable ceasefire. Recognising a Palestinian State, including at the UN, should be part of that process. As my Foreign Secretary has said, "while this shouldn't be at the start of a new process, it doesn't have to be at the very end of the process". President, we remain deeply concerned about the prospect of a major operation in Rafah. We are clear that we would not support this unless there is a very clear plan for how to protect civilians, who must be safe and able to access food, water and medical care. We have not seen that plan, so in these circumstances we would not support a major operation in Rafah. The UK is doing all it can to reach a long-term solution to this crisis. In addition to our support for a deal which would secure a pause in the fighting and the immediate release of all hostages, we are pushing as hard as we can to get aid to Palestinian civilians; working with partners to deescalate the situation in the region; and building momentum towards a lasting peace. The UK has offered the Palestinian Authority our support as the new Palestinian government implements much-needed reforms. An effective Palestinian Authority is vital for lasting peace and progress towards a two-state solution. And just as the PA must act, so must Israel. This means releasing frozen funds, halting settlement expansion and holding to account those responsible for extremist settler violence. Last week, the UK announced a second package of sanctions targeting individuals and groups directly responsible for egregious violence against Palestinian civilians. The Israeli authorities must put a stop to this. President, in conclusion, we will continue to work urgently to bring the Gaza conflict to a sustainable end as quickly as possible, and to build a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution and lasting peace. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address As Rafah needs rise, humanitarian response forced to 'scrape the bottom of the barrel' UNICEF This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Senior Emergency Coordinator in the Gaza Strip, Hamish Young - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva 10 May 2024 GENEVA/RAFAH, Gaza, 10 May 2024 -- "Thank you, and greetings from Rafah in Gaza. I have been working on large-scale humanitarian emergencies for the best part of the last 30 years and I've never been involved in a situation as devastating, complex or erratic as this. "When I arrived in Gaza in the middle of November, I was shocked by the severity of the impact of this conflict on children and, impossibly, it has continued to worsen since. "Yesterday, I walked around Al-Mawasi, the so-called humanitarian zone' that people in eastern Rafah are being told to move to. More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah in the last 5 days and the stream of displacement continues. The roads to Mawasi are jammed - many hundreds of trucks, buses, cars and donkey carts loaded with people and possessions. "Today I saw someone trying to move their latrine on the back of a donkey cart - this gives you an idea of just how desperate people are. Shelters already lined Al-Mawasi's sand dunes and now it is hard to step between the mass of tents and tarpaulins. "People I speak with tell me they are exhausted, terrified and know life in Al-Mawasi will, again, impossibly, be harder. Families lack proper sanitation facilities, drinking water and shelter. People are making improvised toilets by digging holes in the ground around groups of tents. Open defecation is on the rise. "Displaced people are subject to even greater risk of disease, infections, malnutrition, dehydration and other protection and health concerns. Beyond a few mobile health points and field hospitals with limited capacity, the closest hospital is at least 4km away, assuming that the road to it is safe to use. In Gaza almost everyone has now been displaced more than once - some many times - and as a result they are at even greater risk. "One father told me, crying, that he only had bad options to choose from. Nowhere is safe for his children. "Impossibly, again, it will worsen if humanitarian operations are not revived in the next 48 hours. "For 5 days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel. This is already a huge issue for the population and for all humanitarian actors but in a matter of days, if not corrected, the lack of fuel could grind humanitarian operations to a halt. "Without fuel, the maternity wards in Emirati hospital cannot function, while approximately 80 babies are born there every day. Pregnant women are left without options for safe delivery of their newborns. As we have seen in other parts of Gaza over the last seven months, when hospitals run out of fuel, lifesaving equipment such as ventilators and incubators stop working. "Without fuel, the water desalination plants and the water wells cannot function, the sewage system cannot operate. And our trucks cannot bring the critical, lifesaving humanitarian aid to the people in need. "Food stock to support the people in the south is expected to run out tomorrow and the last functioning bakery in the south is about to run out of fuel. "At a time when people are being forced to pick up and move again, the lifesaving supplies that sustain and support them have been entirely cut off. Let's be very clear - this will result in children dying. Deaths that can be prevented. "And then there are the families that cannot leave Rafah or choose to stay. Hundreds of thousands of children are injured, sick, malnourished or have a preexisting disability. "Over 14,000 children have reportedly been killed already - a ground offensive in Rafah will undoubtedly result in this number increasing dramatically. "I've spent a lot of time in Gaza's remaining hospitals and the injuries I have witnessed are excruciating. It is really hard to describe the impact of modern weaponry on a four-year-old. What it does to a young body is just beyond comprehension. I've seen firsthand many, many children who have lost limbs, who have suffered horrific burns. And of course, the impact on the mental health of all children in the Gaza Strip is terrible. "Those of us working here are doing everything we can to keep the humanitarian response alive. We remain hopeful our calls for a ceasefire will be heard and acted on, but we are also braced for this senseless conflict to continue to shock even the most seasoned of us. "We need fuel immediately. Aid must flow. Hostages must be freed. Rafah must not be invaded. And children must be protected, not killed." ##### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN General Assembly presses Security Council to give 'favourable consideration' to full Palestinian membership 10 May 2024 - The UN General Assembly convened again in New York on Friday for an emergency special session on the Gaza crisis and overwhelmingly passed a resolution which upgrades Palestine's rights at the world body as an Observer State, without offering full membership. It urged the Security Council to give "favourable consideration" to Palestine's request. What does the resolution mean? Here's a quick recap of what this means: by adopting this resolution the General Assembly will upgrade the rights of the State of Palestine within the world body, but not the right to vote or put forward its candidature to such organs as the Security Council or the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Granting Palestinian membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council. At the same time, the Assembly determines that the State of Palestine is qualified for such status and recommends that the Security Council "reconsider the matter favourably". None of the upgrades in status will take effect until the new session of the Assembly opens on 10 September. Here are some of the changes in status that Palestine will have a right to later this year: To be seated among Member States in alphabetical order Make statements on behalf of a group Submit proposals and amendments and introduce them Co-sponsor proposals and amendments, including on behalf of a group Propose items to be included in the provisional agenda of the regular or special sessions and the right to request the inclusion of supplementary or additional items in the agenda of regular or special sessions The right of members of the delegation of the State of Palestine to be elected as officers in the plenary and the Main Committees of the General Assembly Full and effective participation in UN conferences and international conferences and meetings convened under the auspices of the General Assembly or, as appropriate, of other UN organs 6:04 PM The meeting has adjourned for the day. Vice President Jorundur Valtysson announced that the session will reconvene on Monday, 13 May, at 10 AM New York time. For a full summary of this and other major UN meetings, visit UN Meetings Coverage in English and French. 4:59 PM Saudi Arabia: Re-establish the truth Saudi Arabian Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil recalled General Assembly resolutions adopted over the years that reaffirmed the rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination. "The resolution presented today is fully in line with those resolutions. It seeks to implement the will of the international community and contribute to building true peace in the Middle East based on the two-State solution," he said. "It is high time for the international community to re-establish the truth because the world can no longer ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people that has lasted for decades," he added. Ambassador Alwasil further noted Israel, the occupying power, has perpetrated "all sorts of crimes" against Palestinian people, scorning international law. "Israel is convinced that they are above these resolutions and that they enjoy a certain level of immunity...which explains their ongoing hostile and brutal policies," he said. He highlighted the dire situation in Rafah, the last refuge for the Palestinian people which was also densely populated by those displaced from elsewhere and called he for a strong international position to put an end to the Israeli practices in Gaza. Concluding his statement, the Ambassador expressed Saudi Arabia's commitment to supporting the right of Palestinian people to self-determination and to build their own independent State within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with relevant resolutions. 4:43 PM China: Resolution reflects the will of the international community Ambassador FU Cong of China said that Palestine should have the same status as Israel and that Palestinian people should enjoy the same rights as Israeli people. "It is the common responsibility of the international community to support and advance the process of Palestinian independent Statehood, and provide strong support for the implementation of the two-State solution and a lasting peace in the Middle East," he said. He further noted that on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, the United States repeatedly used its veto "in an unjustified attempt" to obstruct the international community's efforts to correct the "historical injustice long visited on Palestine". "It is not commensurate with the role of a responsible major country," he said. He also recalled the overwhelming support for the General Assembly resolution, adopted earlier in the day, reaffirming the right of Palestinian people to self-determination and recommending that the Security Council reconsider favourably its application to join the United Nations. "China welcomes this historic resolution, which reflects the will of the international community," Ambassador Fu said. "We believe that the special modalities adopted within the limits permitted by the UN Charter will enable the international community to listen more adequately to the voice of Palestine and help it to talk and negotiate with Israel on a more equal footing." 3:04 PM Assembly President Francis resumed the meeting, with about 72 speakers left to take the floor. The spokesperson for the General Assembly announced earlier in the day that due to the number of remaining speakers, the meeting will likely continue on Monday. 1:07 PM With the last speaker for the morning having delivered their statement, the President of the General Assembly adjourned the meeting. It will reconvene at 3 PM New York time. 1:00 PM Switzerland: Ceasefire urgently needed Swiss Ambassador Pascale Christine Baeriswyl explained that her country's abstention from the vote was in line with its position at the Security Council last month. "We felt that in view of the great instability prevailing in the region, this stage was not conducive to improving the situation," she said. "Without opposing it, we believe it would be preferable to consider admitting Palestine as a full member of the United Nations at time when such a step would insert itself in the logic of emerging peace," she added, noting that such admission would have to follow the procedures enshrined in the UN Charter. She also voiced Switzerland's firm support to the two-State solution, stating that only a negotiated solution in which two States - Israel and Palestine - live side by side in peace and security can lead to lasting peace. Ambassador Baeriswyl also voiced deep concern over the catastrophic situation of civilians in the ongoing conflict in Gaza, stating that it could worsen further in the event of a major Israeli military offensive in Rafah. "Such a prospect is unacceptable, and Switzerland reaffirms its opposition to such an operation," she said, emphasising the need to ensure protection of humanitarians and respect for international humanitarian and human rights laws. In conclusion, she called for an immediate ceasefire. "Safety of civilians must be ensured. All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally, and safe, rapid and unhindered access for humanitarian aid must be allowed via all crossing points." 12:10 PM Firmly committed to two-State solution: UK Barbara Woodward, Ambassador of the United Kingdom, said that her country remains "firmly committed" to the two-State solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people. "We are abstaining from this resolution because we believe the first step towards achieving this goal is resolving the immediate crisis in Gaza," she said, emphasising that the fastest way to end the conflict is "to secure a deal which gets the hostages out and allows for a pause in the fighting". "We must then work together to turn that pause into a sustainable, permanent ceasefire." She added that "setting out the horizon" for a Palestinian State should be one of the vital conditions from moving from a pause in fighting to a sustainable ceasefire. "Recognising a Palestinian State, including at the UN, should be part of that process," she said. Ambassador Woodward also noted that the UK remains deeply concerned about the prospect of a major operation in Rafah and that it will not support such an act, unless there is a "very clear plan" on protecting civilians as well as their access to aid and medical care. "We have not seen that plan, so in these circumstances, we will not support a major operation in Rafah," she said. 11:58 AM France: High time for political solution French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said his country voted in favour of the resolution, noting also the clarifications provided in the text on the right to vote and the right to be elected, which are the prerogatives of Member States alone. "France recalls that the procedure for admitting a new Member State is defined by the UN Charter, and it must not be circumvented," he said. He also noted that France is in favour of the admission of Palestine as a full member of the Organization, which is why it voted in favour at the Security Council last month. Reiterating his country's condemnation of the terrorist attacks by Hamas and other groups on 7 October, Ambassador de Riviere stated France's demand for a ceasefire and release of all hostages. "The offensive that has started in Rafah risks causing numerous victims and displacing people at a time where nowhere can be deemed safe today in Gaza. There is further risk of disrupting delivery of aid," he said, expressing his country's opposition to the military operation. "All parties must do everything they can to protect civilians and guarantee access for humanitarian aid. It is high time to mobilise for a political solution," he added. 11:46 AM Statehood must be negotiated: US Explaining the US's negative vote, Ambassador Robert Wood said that it did not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood. "We have been very clear that we support it and seek to advance it meaningfully. Instead, it is an acknowledgement that statehood will come from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties," he said. "There is no other path that guarantees Israel's security and future as a democratic Jewish State. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and dignity in a State of their own," he added. He further expressed the US commitment to intensifying its engagement with Palestinians and the rest of the Middle East region to advance a political settlement that will create a path to Palestinian statehood and subsequent membership in the UN. "This resolution does not resolve the concerns about the Palestinian membership application raised in April in the Security Council...and should the Security Council take up the Palestinian membership application as a result of this resolution, there will be a similar outcome," he said. 11:24 AM Draft resolution passed overwhelmingly The vote is in. It has passed overwhelmingly with 143 countries in favour, nine against and 25 abstaining. 11:22 AM The Assembly just voted to pass the draft resolution as long as two thirds agree. 11:18 AM Pakistan: Resolution vote will determine strong support Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan said there will come a day when Israel will be held accountable for the crimes committed against Palestinians, especially in Gaza. The insults hurled today are "the arrogance of the aggressor" reflecting the impunity of the occupier, he said, explaining his delegation's position ahead of the vote on the draft resolution. He also expressed hope that the international community will appropriately respond in that regard. The Ambassador underscored that the resolution's adoption will determine the widespread support for Palestine to be accorded full UN membership. 11:05 AM Russia: A moral duty The Assembly is now preparing to vote on the draft resolution. Before that, some countries are exercising their right to make statements before the vote, starting with Russia's Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia. He is criticising the US, saying that the resolution is complicated because it is attempting to advance Palestinian membership as far as possible without provoking another veto from Washington on full membership. He said Palestine deserves nothing less than full membership at the UN. "It is the moral duty of everyone," he said. "Only full-fledged membership will allow Palestine to stand alongside other members of the Organization and enjoy the rights that this status implies." 10:55 AM Israel: Extra benefits for Palestine would appease terrorists Israel's Ambassador Gilad Erdan said that after Hitler's rise to power, the Nazis had sought to annihilate the Jewish people and all those they deemed sub-human, but the forces of good fought to return peace to the world, and the UN was founded to ensure that such tyranny never raised its head again. "Today, you are doing the opposite...welcoming a terror State into its ranks," he said. "You have opened up the United Nations to modern-day Naziism. It makes me sick." The terrorist group Hamas controls Gaza and has taken over areas of the West Bank, he said, holding up a poster showing Hamas's leader, who he described as "a terrorist diplomat whose stated goal is Jewish genocide". "Today, you have a choice between weakness and fighting terror," he said, adding that the UN is appeasing "murderous dictators" and destroying the UN Charter. "This day will go down in infamy." In closing, he held up a mini portable electric document shredder and inserted the cover of the UN Charter. 10:48 AM Palestinian flag 'flies high and proud' Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the observer State of Palestine, recounted the devastating impacts of the ongoing war in Gaza, with over 35,000 Palestinians killed, a further 80,000 injured and over two million displaced. "No words can capture what such loss and trauma signify for Palestinians, their families, their communities and for our nation as whole," he said. He added that the Palestinians in Gaza have been pushed to the "very edge" of the Strip "to the very brink of life" with "bombs and bullets haunting them". Mr. Mansour highlighted that despite the attacks and destruction, the flag of Palestine "flies high and proud" in Palestine and across the globe, becoming a "symbol raised by all those who believe in freedom and its just rule". 'Lives cannot be restored' "It is true that we will not disappear, but the lives lost cannot be restored," he stated. The Permanent Observer said people have to make a decision: stand by the right of a nation to live in freedom and dignity on its ancestral land, standing with peace and recognising the rights of Palestinians or they can stand on the sidelines of history. Mr. Mansour said after holding observer status for 50 years, "we wish from all those who invoke the UN Charter to abide by the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination guaranteed by the Charter." "A 'yes' vote is a vote for Palestinian existence; it is not against any State, but it is against attempts to deprive us of our State," he added, stating that it would be an investment in peace and empowering the forces of peace. 10:29 AM Security Council must heed global call for Palestinian statehood: UAE On behalf of the Arab Group, Mohamed Issa Hamad Mohamed Abushahab, Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the UN, introduced the draft resolution, saying it recommends that the Security Council reconsider Palestine's full UN membership application. "Today marks a defining moment," he said. The State of Palestine has demonstrated that it deserves full membership in the international community by acceding to international treaties, adhering to the UN Charter and meeting requirements of statehood. In addition, more than 140 countries now recognise Palestine as a State, he said. Voting for the resolution amid the ongoing conflict would support the two-State solution to the crisis, he said, adding that the Security Council must respond to the will of the international community. Vote to take place at 11:00 AM After delivering his statement, the UAE Ambassador called on the Assembly to vote on the draft at 11:00 AM New York time. Members agreed to do so and would afterwards resume the debate. 10:17 AM Middle East on course for 'full-scale catastrophe', warns Francis Mr. Francis said from the podium of the Assembly Hall that the Israel-Palestine crisis was the original crisis before the world body when it was founded in 1946. Peace has remained elusive, and today has become an untenable situation that is deteriorating "at an alarming speed", he told delegates. This is "bringing countless innocent victims into its deadly fold and pushing the region further to the brink of full-scale catastrophe". He urged the international community to not look away from the dire situation that has unfolded since the 7 October terror attacks and the ensuing Israeli devastation of Gaza. End the scourge of war "Today, let us remember the legacy from which we hail. We stand proudly upon the shoulders of those who, many decades ago, recognised their ultimate responsibility to forge a peace that will banish the scourge and terror of war," he urged. "I therefore call upon the membership to purposely assess the situation before us, with nothing else in mind but a commitment to peace as our utmost ambition," he said. He called upon the parties to the conflict, supported by nations with leverage, to urgently come to an agreement on a ceasefire to bring to an end to the suffering of countless people and secure the release of all hostages. "We must believe in the essential goodness of others," he said, and "in the understanding that no problem of human relations is insoluble", calling on them to help bring lasting peace, save lives and end the violence. 10:14 AM He's inviting the Assembly to recognise the fact that some members are in arrears with their mandatory contributions. If you don't pay up, you lose your vote. Those are the rules. But, there are exceptions that have been made, including today. 10:12 AM The President of the General Assembly Dennis Francis has just gavelled in the resumed session on the Gaza crisis. 09:55 AM Aid operations have come to a standstill since the start of the military's ground operation in Rafah this week, with an estimated 100,000 Palestinians displaced once again in a highly fluid situation, according to humanitarians. The Assembly is also expected to vote on a draft resolution, co-sponsored by a group of countries, concerning the status of the observer State of Palestine at the United Nations. Read our explainer on Palestine's status at the UN here. The draft resolution follows the veto cast by United States at the Security Council on 18 April, which blocked Palestine's admission as a full UN Member State. That draft resolution, submitted by non-permanent Council member Algeria, had received 12 votes in favour, with Switzerland and the United Kingdom abstaining. Draft resolution on Palestine The draft resolution expected to be put to a vote at the 193-member General Assembly, where no nations have veto power, would have the world body "recommend" that the Security Council reconsider the matter of Palestine's membership favourably in line with Article 4 of the UN Charter concerning membership and the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1948. A revised version of the draft resolution, as of Thursday evening in New York, also included an annex, which on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent, lists significant changes to the State of Palestine's status at General Assembly meetings and conferences, including its order in the list of speakers and seating arrangements. These would not just be of symbolic importance, but signal a shift in Palestine's diplomatic heft within the entire UN system. That said, General Assembly will not grant Palestinian membership in the UN, since this requires a recommendation from the Security Council. No voting rights The draft resolution also notes that as an observer State, Palestine does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly or to put forward its candidature to UN organs such as the Security Council or the Economic and Social Council. If adopted, the resolution's provisions would only apply from the start of the 79th session of the General Assembly, which gets underway in mid-September 2024. Draft resolutions do not represent the official position of the General Assembly until they are formally adopted. Once the resolution is voted on, the whole issue of Palestine's status will return to the 15-member Security Council for further consideration, where any effort to attain full membership is likely to be blocked again by the United States, which holds veto power alongside the organ's other permanent members - China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom. The majority of the General Assembly will have had their say, however, amid the continuing crisis. 10th Emergency Special Session The meeting is the continuation of the 10th Emergency Special Session (ESS), which last convened on 12 December 2023, against the backdrop of a worsening crisis in Gaza. At that meeting in a resolution passed overwhelmingly, the Assembly demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire as well as the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. The Assembly also decided to adjourn the session temporarily and authorised the President of the General Assembly to resume its meeting upon request from Member States. The 10th ESS convened for the first time in April 1997 following a request from Qatar. It followed a series of Security Council and General Assembly meetings regarding the Israeli decision to build a large housing project in an area of East Jerusalem. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gaza: As exodus from Rafah continues, UN urges reopening of aid lines 10 May 2024 - With no let-up in the Israeli military operation in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah into Friday, UN humanitarians issued renewed calls for a ceasefire as "the only hope" to avert further bloodshed and restore desperately needed aid deliveries. "As Israeli Forces bombardment intensifies in Rafah, forced displacement continues," said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in a post on X. "Around 110,000 people have now fled Rafah looking for safety. But, nowhere is safe in the Gaza Strip and living conditions are atrocious. The only hope is an immediate ceasefire." In addition to the immediate threat of ongoing military action, UN aid agencies have warned with increasing urgency since Israeli tanks rolled into the Rafah border crossing on Monday that the humanitarian operation across the enclave has been crippled. "Impossibly, again, it will worsen if humanitarian operations are not revived in the next 48 hours," said UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Senior Emergency Coordinator in the Gaza Strip, Hamish Young. UN under attack In a related development, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned a new attack by protesters on an UNRWA facility in Jerusalem. "I condemn the recent attack on @UNRWA's Headquarters in East Jerusalem. Targeting aid workers and humanitarian assets is unacceptable, and must stop," the UN chief said in a post on X. His comments underscored those of UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on Thursday who reported that Israeli residents had "set fire twice to the perimeter" of the agency's headquarters, marking the second time UNRWA had been targeted in a week amid weeks of demonstrations. Uprooted again Back in Gaza, the latest images from Rafah provided by UNRWA showed a steady stream of people leaving the east of the city with cars, motorbikes and donkey carts laden with their belongings in response to evacuation orders from the Israeli military. Most of those displaced are seeking safety in Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah. But, these areas lack the basic services required to support civilians who need food, shelter and healthcare, aid teams maintain. Roads to the coastal zone of Al Mawasi, where Gazans have been instructed to move to, "are jammed", said UNICEF's Mr. Young. Speaking from Rafah via video-link to journalists in Geneva, he described desperate scenes as families were uprooted once again, with "many hundreds of trucks, buses, cars and donkey carts loaded with people and possessions" continuing to stream out of the southern city. "People I speak with tell me they are exhausted, terrified and know life in Al Mawasi will, again, impossibly be harder," he said. "Families lack proper sanitation facilities, drinking water and shelter. People are making improvised toilets by digging holes in the ground around groups of tents. Open defecation is on the rise." "One of the fathers told me he had nothing other than bad options to choose from. And as he was telling me where he was going, he started sobbing. Then his children starting crying and then started asking me what to do. It's just a tragic situation and there's just nowhere safe in Gaza for children." Griffiths call "Civilians in Gaza are being starved and killed...This is Gaza today," said the UN's top aid official, Martin Griffiths. In a social media post on X, he warned late Thursday that for days, "nothing and no one had been allowed in or out of Gaza." The closure of Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings in southern Gaza - the main entry points for critically needed aid food, water, fuel and medical supplies - "means no aid", Mr. Griffiths continued. "Our supplies are stuck. Our teams are stuck," he said, a message echoed by aid teams whose assessment missions have been cancelled because of a lack of fuel. Meanwhile, civilians have faced and repeatedly fled intense and daily bombardment and clashes "and we are prevented from helping them", the emergency relief chief insisted. Aid stores too dangerous to access At the same time, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that its main warehouse in Gaza was now out of reach. "Our main warehouse is now inaccessible. No aid has entered from southern crossings in two days," said WFP Palestine Country Director ad interim Matthew Hollingworth on X late Thursday. "Thousands of people are on the move. Only one bakery is still working. Supplies of food and fuel in Gaza will only last one to three days. Without them, our operations will go into standstill." Hospital services critical The outlook is equally dire for the enclave's remaining medical facilities, warned the UN World Health Organization (WHO), which said that "without fuel, the whole system collapses". WHO is responsible for fuel deliveries to all hospitals in Gaza, but it has had to suspend missions to the north so that those in the south can stay open, said spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris. "All the things that a hospital does, all the lifesaving treatments no longer can be done, even if you've got somebody back from the brink, you've operated on them, you've put them on a ventilator, the ventilator stops, they no longer breathe." The following health facilities are scheduled to run out of fuel within the next 24 hours, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said, citing Gazan authorities: Five ministry of health-run hospitals 28 ambulances (14 Palestinian Red Crescent Society and 14 from the health ministry) 17 primary health care centers run by UNRWA and other partners Five field hospitals 10 mobile clinics which provide immunizations, trauma care and malnutrition services and 23 medical facilities in Al Mawasi From UNICEF, Executive Director Catherine Russell also warned that services for premature babies risk losing power unless fuel supplies reached Gaza. "We need fuel to move lifesaving supplies - medicine, treatments for malnutrition, tents and water pipes - as well as staff to reach children and families in need." Without fresh aid supplies, children and families face becoming dehydrated or will be forced to drink dangerous water, while sewage treatment centres "will overflow and spread disease further". According to UNICEF, approximately 80 babies are born at Emirati hospital every day. But, it "cannot function" without fuel, insisted Mr. Young, who added that pregnant women "are left without options for safe delivery of their newborns. As we have seen in other parts of Gaza over the last seven months, when hospitals run out of fuel, lifesaving equipment such as ventilators and incubators stop working." Rising toll According to the Gazan health authorities, at least 34,900 people have been killed and well over 78,500 wounded during the Israeli bombardment and ground operation in Gaza since 7 October. Some 1,250 people were killed in Hamas-led terror attacks on southern Israel that sparked the war, with more than 250 taken hostage. Dozens are still being held. Gaza crossings are 'aid lifelines': Rights chief In a statement later on Friday UN Human Rights Chief (UNHCR) Volker Turk said he disapproved of any hostilities that impact the "entry and distribution of critically needed humanitarian aid" to Gaza. "The handful of land crossings into Gaza serve as lifelines for the supply of food, medicine, fuel and other necessities that must be allowed to reach the despairing and terrified population," Mr. Turk said. He called on all warring parties to "lay down their weapons immediately" to ensure that crossings for civilians and necessary goods and aid will reach people in Gaza with no delay and without risk through military operations. Security Council calls for independent and immediate investigation into mass graves Also on Friday, members of the Security Council voiced "deep concern" over reports of the discovery of mass graves, in and around the Nasser and Al Shifa medical facilities in Gaza, where several hundred bodies, including women, children and older persons, were located. Underscoring the need for accountability for violations of international law, Council members called for "investigators to be allowed the unimpeded access to all locations of mass graves in Gaza to conduct immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations to establish the circumstances behind the graves". They also reiterated their demand that all parties "scrupulously comply" with their obligations under international law, in particular the protection of civilians and civilian objects. Members also reaffirmed the importance of allowing families to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing love ones. Experts raise concern of threats against ICC staffers and their families UN independent human rights experts on Friday voiced concern over some US and Israeli statements that threaten retaliation against the International Criminal Court (ICC), its officials and family members. "At a time when the world should unite to end the terrible bloodshed in Gaza and seek justice for those unlawfully killed, injured, traumatised, or taken hostage, since October 7, it is distressing to see State officials threatening to retaliate against a Court for pursuing international justice," the experts said. The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) condemned statements made on Friday, May 4, regarding threats to retaliate against the court. It reminded everyone that per Article 70 of the Rome Statute, any threats of reprisal could be considered a crime against the administration of justice. "Threats of retaliatory action violate human rights norms against attacks on justice personnel and exceed the accepted limits of freedom of expression. We call on all States to respect the Court's independence as a judicial institution and protect the independence and impartiality of those who work within the Court." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN expert raises alarm over unfair treatment of pro-Palestinian student protesters in US 10 May 2024 - A UN independent human rights expert warned on Friday that the recent increase in student protest attacks across campuses in the United States indicates an "erosion of intellectual freedom and democratic principles within educational settings." "I am deeply troubled by the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, arrests, detentions, police violence, surveillance and disciplinary measures and sanctions against members of the educational community exercising their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression," UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Farida Shaheed said, in a statement at the end of an official visit to the US. The UN Human Rights Council-appointed expert said she is particularly concerned by the way protesters are unfairly treated based on their political viewpoint - specifically pro-Palestinian protestors. Core constitutional commitment While Ms. Shaheed was in the US, she visited Washington DC, Indiana and Colorado. Her visit occurred simultaneously with US students setting up encampments on campus grounds to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, call for a ceasefire, and in many cases demand that university divest any assets linked to Israel. She said, "These attacks signal a concerning erosion of intellectual freedom and democratic principles within educational settings." Ms. Shaheed is appealing to the US Government to reiterate its core commitment to freedom of speech by ensuring all students have unrestricted access to diverse ideas and perspectives. Academic freedoms under threat The Special Rapporteur also expressed concern about 307 policies and educational gag order bills introduced in the US since January 2021. "These policies, manifested through book bans and restrictions on curricula, have instilled a pervasive 'chilling effect' that stifles the free exchange of ideas and silences marginalised voices," she said. Ms. Shaheed found that underfunding in the US educational system paved the way for other systemic issues including teacher shortages and student mental health support challenges. These educational funding disparities are worsened by over reliance on local property taxes, harming marginalized and low-income neighbourhoods. The rapporteur said, "Communities need to find a way to distribute funds more equitably between wealthier and poorer districts to end the cycle of deprivation and segregation." "I also urge the federal government to take decisive action to address disparities in educational funding," she added. Increased educational rights The Special Rapporteur has called on federal and state authorities to acknowledge education as a human right while ensuring fair access for all students irrespective of background or identity, level of income, place of residence or any other personal circumstance. Ms. Shaheed also mentioned that despite federal non-discrimination safeguards, school safety and police presence in schools in addition to standardised testing and students' mental health, are all related but negatively affect people from marginalized and minority communities. "It is crucial to remove police presence from schools and invest in qualified personnel such as counsellors and social workers to create a safe and nurturing learning environment," Ms. Shaheed said. "It is time to shift the narrative, prioritising holistic growth and social interaction skills over standardised testing results reducing students to mere numbers." Special Rapporteurs and other UN rights experts are not UN staff and are independent from any government or organisation. They serve in their individual capacity and do not receive a salary for their work. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address In Nairobi, Guterres reiterates appeal for end to Gaza war 10 May 2024 - With the situation in Rafah "on a knife's edge", UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed again on Friday for Israeli and Hamas leaders "to demonstrate political courage and spare no effort" in reaching an agreement to end the war in Gaza and free all hostages. Speaking at a press conference in Nairobi, he warned that "the fate of Palestinians and the entire region hangs in the balance." More than a million Palestinians are crowded into Rafah Governorate in southern Gaza as Israeli military operations continue throughout the area. Roughly 100,000 people have left and are moving north. "A massive ground attack in Rafah would lead to an epic humanitarian disaster and pull the plug on our efforts to support people as famine looms," he said. UN engagement continues The UN is actively engaging with all sides towards resuming the delivery of life-saving aid into the enclave, including desperately needed fuel, through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings. Meanwhile, key medical facilities in Rafah could soon become inaccessible or inoperable, including the only dialysis department still operating in Gaza. At the same time, humanitarians in the south have no more tents or food stocks. Stressing that international humanitarian law in unequivocal, he said civilians must be protected, particularly vulnerable people unable to relocate from active fighting, such as pregnant women, children, the injured, the sick, and older people and those with disabilities. 'West Bank 'repercussions' As "what happens in Gaza has profound repercussions in the occupied West Bank," the UN chief also noted the "deeply disturbing spike in settler violence, excessive use of force by the Israeli Defense Force, demolitions and evictions" in the territory. "All of this speaks to the need for the international community to speak with one voice for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and a massive surge in life-saving aid," he said. Solidarity with Kenya The Secretary-General was speaking to reporters in the Kenyan capital ahead of the closing of the UN Civil Society Conference held there this week. Expressing solidarity with the people, he extended deepest condolences to those who have been affected by the devastating floods in the country and elsewhere in East Africa. He said the UN will continue to support relief efforts by the Government. Concern for Sudan Mr. Guterres also addressed conflicts in Africa that are "tearing lives and communities apart". He voiced particular concern over the ongoing war in Sudan, where nine million people have fled their homes and starvation looms in Darfur. Violent clashes in El Fasher are preventing aid from getting through, he said, and an attack on the city would be devastating for civilians. The UN chief was also very concerned by reports of escalating violence in North and South Kordofan and Al Jazirah States. He urged all parties to abide by international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and facilitate full and unrestricted humanitarian access. 'Get Sudan back on track' "Ultimately, we know that there is no military solution to this conflict. We need an urgent, coordinated international effort to deliver a political process that can get Sudan back on track," he said. In this regard, he welcomed steps taken to end the conflict, including efforts by the East African bloc IGAD, the African Union, the League of Arab States, and through talks held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Salute to civil society The Secretary-General participated in the UN Civil Society Conference, which was held over the past two days and attracted some 1,500 participants. In remarks to the closing ceremony, he thanked representatives for their work, noting that he has witnessed the enormous impact of civil society in every corner of the globe. He also acknowledged that many of them work at great personal risk. "Climate activists are being criminalised and persecuted; human rights defenders are threatened; and humanitarians killed," he said. Call for reform Mr. Guterres urged civil society to keep working with the UN to build a better world amid ongoing crises, including conflicts, climate chaos and threats to sustainable development. While these challenges demand collective solutions, the current international system "is not up to the task", he said, highlighting the need for reform, including of the "dysfunctional and unjust" international financial system. "We need to reform and revitalise multilateralism so that it reflects the realities of today, and is fit to face the challenges ahead," he said. Summit of the Future He pointed to the Summit of the Future, to be held at UN Headquarters in September, as "a key moment to drive forward our vision for a renewed multilateralism." Among the aims are "turbocharging" sustainable development, unlocking finance for climate action and development, and driving progress towards reforming the international financial architecture. Other areas for action include considering future generations in decision-making today, closing digital divides, prioritizing conflict prevention, and working towards a nuclear-free world. "The Summit of the Future is a chance to push progress on the issues that matter to you - and to us," he said. "Together let's seize this chance and make the Summit of the Future really count." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Secretary-General's opening remarks at press conference ahead of the closing session of the United Nations Civil Society Conference United Nations Secretary-General 10 May 2024 Dear members of the media, It is a pleasure to be back in Nairobi. Kenya is a critical partner of the United Nations, a powerful force on the global stage, and a pioneer of peace regionally and internationally. I am particularly grateful to Kenya for agreeing to lead international efforts to quell the violence in Haiti. But this visit comes at a very difficult time for the country. I extend my deepest condolences to all those affected by the devastating floods that have swept through Kenya and neighbouring countries. The United Nations stands in solidarity with the Kenyan people. And we will continue working hand-in-hand to support government relief efforts in any way that we can. Dear members of the media, I am here for the United Nations' Civil Society Conference, focussed on September's Summit of the Future in New York. Civil society is central to the Summit's aims: advancing sustainable development; unlocking finance; and reshaping multilateralism for the 21st century. I am delighted by the diverse participation at this conference, including many young people and representatives from African countries. Their contribution is vital. Because our world is facing multiple crises. And Africa is suffering - disproportionately. This continent is being blasted by extreme weather, turbocharged by a climate crisis it has done next to nothing to create: From lethal floods in the East, to deadly droughts in the South. Africa could be a renewables giant. It is home to thirty percent of the minerals critical to renewables, and sixty percent of the world's best solar resources. Yet, in this unfair world, in recent decades, it received just two percent of the investments in renewables. And too often, countries and communities with critical energy transition minerals are exploited, and relegated to the bottom of the value chain. Others take the profits somewhere else. The United Nations is fighting for climate justice: Our new Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals - co-chaired by Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa - will develop voluntary principles to ensure developing countries receive maximum benefit. We are calling for developed countries to honour their promises on climate finance - including funding to help countries prepare for the worst of climate chaos; For significant contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund; For action to reform the multilateral development banks so that finance flows to climate action; And for the G20 to lead efforts to slash emissions and accelerate a just global phase-out of fossil fuels. I ask African leaders to support these efforts. And I urge all governments to create ambitious new national climate plans by next year. Plans that drive sustainable development, attract investment, and align with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst of climate chaos. Africa's fate rests on meeting that limit. Dear members of the media, Conflicts are raging around the world, causing enormous pain and suffering. The fate of Palestinians, Israelis and the entire region hangs in the balance. I reiterate my appeal for the Government of Israel and the leadership of Hamas to demonstrate political courage and spare no effort to reach agreement to stop the bloodshed - and to free the hostages. The situation in Rafah is on a knife's edge, as airstrikes continue throughout southern Gaza. Over one million Palestinians, half of whom are children, have crowded in the Rafah Governate for shelter. We are actively engaging with all involved for the resumption of the entry of life-saving supplies - including desperately needed fuel - through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings. Meanwhile, our health partners tell us that all the key medical facilities in Rafah could soon become inaccessible or inoperable - including the only dialysis department still operating in Gaza. Around 100,000 Palestinians are moving north from Rafah, yet humanitarian partners have no tents or food stores left in south Gaza. A massive ground attack in Rafah would lead to an epic humanitarian disaster and pull the plug on our efforts to support people as famine looms. International humanitarian law is unequivocal: civilians must be protected. In particular, vulnerable people unable to relocate from active fighting must be protected wherever they seek shelter - pregnant women, children, the injured, the sick, and older people, and people with disabilities. International humanitarian law is a must. It must be respected by all parties. And, of course, what happens in Gaza has profound repercussions in the occupied West Bank, where we see a deeply disturbing spike in settler violence, excessive use of force by the Israeli Defense Force, demolitions and evictions. All of this speaks to the need for the international community to speak with one voice for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and a massive surge in life-saving aid. Dear members of the media, The conflicts raging on African continent are tearing lives and communities apart. The United Nations fully supports the African Union's work to silence the guns. We are ready to cooperate and mobilise the international community to support peace from the Sahel, to the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes and beyond. I am particularly concerned about the ongoing war in Sudan where we are witnessing indiscriminate attacks against civilians, grotesque sexual violence against women and girls, and humanitarians blocked, attacked, and killed. Close to nine million people have fled their homes. And the World Food Programme warns that the window of time to prevent starvation in Darfur is closing rapidly. Violent clashes in El Fasher are preventing aid getting through. An attack on the city would have devastating consequences for civilians. And would likely see the conflict tear across Darfur. I am also very concerned by reports of escalating violence in North and South Kordofan and Al Jazirah States. I call on all parties to abide by international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and facilitate full and unrestricted humanitarian access. Ultimately, we know that there is no military solution to this conflict. We need an urgent, coordinated international effort to deliver a political process that can get Sudan back on track. I welcome the steps taken to end the conflict in including efforts by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development -IGAD-, the African Union, the League of Arab States, and through the Jeddah process. The United Nations - particularly my Personal Envoy, Ramtane Lamamra - will continue working closely with all parties to advance coordinated efforts towards an inclusive and lasting peace: A peace spearheaded by the region, and owned by the Sudanese people. And I call on all countries to use their influence to get the warring parties to the negotiating table. Members of the media, The crises we face demand international solutions. The United Nations will never stop fighting to deliver - for Africa and for all humanity. And I thank you. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Navy Destroyer Conducts Freedom of Navigation Operation in the South China Sea US Navy 10 May 2024 From Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet Public Affairs SOUTH CHINA SEA -- On 10 May, USS Halsey (DDG 97) asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, consistent with international Law. At the conclusion of the operation, USS Halsey exited the excessive claim and continued operations in the South China Sea. This freedom of navigation operation ("FONOP") upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging the restrictions on innocent passage imposed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and Vietnam and also by challenging the PRC's claim to straight baselines enclosing the Paracel Islands. Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations. The United States challenges excessive maritime claims around the world regardless of the identity of the claimant. Customary international law reflected in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention protects certain rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea enjoyed by all nations. The international community has an enduring role in preserving the freedom of the seas, which is critical to global security, stability, and prosperity. The United States upholds freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle. As long as some countries continue to claim and assert limits on rights that exceed their authority under international law, the United States will continue to defend the rights and freedoms of the sea guaranteed to all. No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms. The PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam each claim sovereignty over the Paracel Islands. In violation of international law, all three claimants require either permission or advance notification before a military vessel or warship engages in "innocent passage" through the territorial sea. Under customary international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention, the ships of all States--- - including their warships - enjoy the right of innocent pass through the territorial sea. The unilateral imposition of any authorization or advance-notification requirement for innocent passage is unlawful. By engaging in innocent passage without giving prior notification to or asking permission from any of the claimants, the United States challenged these unlawful restrictions imposed by the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The United States demonstrated that innocent passage is not subject to such restrictions. The United States also challenged the PRC's 1996 declaration of straight baselines encompassing the Paracel Islands. Regardless of which claimant has sovereignty over these islands, it is unlawful to draw straight baselines around the Paracel Islands in their entirety. Customary international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention is both clear and comprehensive regarding the circumstances under which States can depart from "normal" baselines. The PRC-claimed straight baselines violate customary international law reflected in Article 7 of the Law of the Sea Convention. Furthermore, international law does not permit continental State, like the PRC, to establish baselines around entire dispersed island groups. With these baselines, the PRC has attempted to claim more internal waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf than it is entitled to under international law. U.S. forces operate in the South China Sea on a daily basis, as they have for more than a century. They routinely operate in close coordination with like-minded allies and partners that share our commitment to uphold a free and open international order that promotes security and prosperity. All of our operations are conducted safely, professionally, and in accordance with customary international law. The operations demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows-regardless of the location of excessive maritime claims and regardless of current events. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN calls for independent probe of alleged mass graves in Gaza By VOA News May 10, 2024 The United Nations Security Council called Friday for an immediate independent investigation into mass graves allegedly containing hundreds of bodies near hospitals in Gaza. Members of the council expressed in a statement their "deep concern over reports of the discovery of mass graves, in and around the Nasser and Shifa medical facilities in Gaza, where several hundred bodies, including women, children and older persons, were buried." They stressed the need for "accountability" for any violations of international law and urged that investigators be given "unimpeded access to all locations of mass graves in Gaza to conduct immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations." Israel has repeatedly struck hospitals in Gaza since the beginning of its military operation in the enclave, which was prompted by an October 7 attack on Israeli residential communities and a music festival by Hamas militants. Israel has accused Hamas of using these medical facilities as command centers and in some instances as places where it held hostages abducted during Hamas' October 7 attack. The World Health Organization said in April that Gaza City's Shifa Hospital had been reduced to an "empty shell," with many bodies found in the area. The Israeli army has said around 200 Palestinians were killed during its military operations there. The U.N. rights office called last month for an independent investigation into reports of mass graves at Shifa and the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis. Rafah exodus The U.N. says about 110,000 people have fled the southern Gaza city of Rafah as of Friday, amid fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants, along with Israeli bombardments that have increased in and around the city. Meanwhile, cease-fire talks brokered by Qatar and Egypt are back to square one, Hamas said Friday, accusing Israel of rejecting a truce proposal written by the mediators. Negotiators for Israel and Hamas left Cairo late Thursday, ending the latest round of indirect negotiations. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Friday called the development "deeply regrettable." The U.S., Qatar and Egypt were mediating the talks. "We are working hard to keep both sides engaged in continuing the discussion, if only virtually," he said. While a full-scale invasion of Rafah does not appear to be imminent, the more limited incursion launched earlier this week is continuing. Speaking Friday at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once again appealed to both Israel and the Hamas leadership to "demonstrate political courage and spare no effort to reach an agreement to stop the bloodshed and to free the hostages." He described the situation in Rafah as being "on a knife's edge" as airstrikes continued throughout southern Gaza. More than 1 million Palestinians, half of whom are children, have crowded into the Rafah governorate for shelter. At a news briefing earlier Friday, the head of the U.N. Gaza Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, Georgios Petropoulos, said the fighting surrounding Rafah is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Speaking remotely, Petropoulos said all crossings into the Rafah area in southern Gaza are closed, preventing movement of supplies, humanitarian staff or any civilians needing to evacuate. He said even if the Rafah crossing was open, the nearby fighting would make it too dangerous to use. The OCHA chief said unless there is a solution quickly, humanitarian activities will come to a halt in Gaza "within the next two days." The Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, said Friday that 34,654 Palestinians have been killed and 77,908 injured since Israel's military offensive on Gaza began in October after the Hamas terror attack on October 7. The White House on Thursday once again warned Israel against expanding its limited operation into an all-out assault on Rafah, this time not only for long-held humanitarian concerns but for strategic calculations. Kirby told reporters, "Our view is that Rafah operations, certainly any kind of major Rafah ground operation, would actually strengthen Hamas' hands at the negotiating table, not Israel's." He said that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader currently believed to be hiding in the network of tunnels in Gaza, would have "less incentive to want to come to the negotiating table" if there were massive new civilian casualties in Rafah. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained defiant, saying Israel is prepared to "stand alone" against its enemies. In a later interview on U.S. television, Netanyahu said he hoped that he and Biden could overcome their disagreements. Netanyahu ordered Israeli forces to carry out a "limited operation" in eastern Rafah earlier this week after rejecting a proposed cease-fire deal that Hamas said it had agreed to. The deal would have provided a temporary pause in hostilities paired with the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli jails. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Thursday that negotiators are still working to make changes to Hamas' counterproposal, but finalizing the agreement's text was an "incredibly difficult" process. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that his country's military "will continue to fight Hamas until its destruction." Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US says Israel's use of US weapons may have infringed on international law By Nike Ching May 10, 2024 In a report to the U.S. Congress on Friday, the State Department raised doubts about whether Israel has in all instances used U.S. military assistance in a manner consistent with U.S. and international law, but it stopped short of a final conclusion and said it was still investigating. On balance, the report said Israeli assurances that it has been using the materiel appropriately were found to be "credible and reliable." The determination allows the U.S. to continue providing materiel to Israel. A senior State Department official said the U.S. had not currently assessed that the Israeli government was prohibiting or restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance, but it is an ongoing evaluation. While Israel has the knowledge, experience and tools to implement best practices for mitigating civilian harm in its military operations, the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether its military is using them effectively in all cases, the report said. The politically sensitive report to Congress came as Israel was pressing ahead with its military operation in Rafah and amid growing concerns about restricted humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Rafah crossing into Egypt has been the main portal for delivery of food and other humanitarian assistance into Gaza. The U.S. is watching Israel's operation in Rafah with concern and urges Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing immediately, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Friday. "There's going to be more suffering, and that's deeply concerning to us," Kirby said. In the past five days, more than 100,000 people have fled Rafah, where more than half the enclave's population had sought refuge from the fighting, said a senior UNICEF humanitarian coordinator earlier Friday. Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday. Israel's military campaign has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 80,000, most of them civilians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The offensive was launched following a Hamas terror attack into Israel that killed 1,200 people. National security memorandum In February, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a national security memorandum, known as NSM-20, that required the State Department to assess and report to Congress on whether it found Israel's assurances "credible and reliable" regarding the use of U.S. weapons in ensuring compliance with international and U.S. law. Israel has provided written assurances to Washington that its use of weapons supplied by the U.S. in the Gaza war has not violated U.S. or international legal standards in its conduct of the war or its treatment of civilians, including the provision of adequate humanitarian assistance. But analysts said there's currently no government mechanism to monitor how American weapons are used. "What we call end-use monitoring is an unfortunate misnomer. It's basically just checking if a munition is in the hands of a designated end user, rather than how that end user is using this munition," said Ari Tolany, director of the Security Assistance Monitor program at the Center for International Policy. "So it's for this reason that NSM-20 was very reliant on humanitarian and documentary organizations to submit credible allegations of abuses of U.S. weapons, because the U.S. government does not have statutory authority going to be regularly tracking that." Others, including the Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20, a private, volunteer group of policy experts, said the State Department's assessment that Israeli forces have in some instances used the U.S. weapons in a manner inconsistent with humanitarian law "continues to inch towards reality." The task force recommended that Congress conduct strong oversight of arms transfers. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller explained that the NSM-20 report examines past events, with the department reviewing various aspects from the previous year up until the time of the report's submission. "It goes to questions of intent. It goes to questions of proportionality," Miller told reporters Thursday. US opposes full-scale assault The U.S. has been opposing a full-scale military assault by Israel in Rafah, situated in the southern part of Gaza. Such an operation would endanger the lives of 1.3 million civilians who evacuated from the northern and central areas of the territory to seek safety from Israel's military response to Hamas militants' October 7 attack on Israel. Biden has made clear the U.S. will not make available certain types of military assistance to Israel for its use in a military campaign in Rafah. The Biden administration recently paused bomb shipments to Israel, sending a political message to its ally. On May 1, Blinken held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, during which Blinken reiterated the U.S. concerns over Israel's planned military operation in Rafah. Blinken also renewed Washington's call for "accelerating and sustaining" the humanitarian aid delivery to Gaza. But investigations conducted by organizations such as Amnesty International, which found increasing evidence of human rights abuses by Israel against Palestinian civilians, have prompted some U.S. lawmakers to urge the Biden administration to impose consequences on Israel. Position of Congress More than 80 Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to Biden earlier this month, raising concerns about the Israeli government's conduct of the war in Gaza and what they described as Israel's restrictive policies on humanitarian assistance. The letter also called for the administration to enforce National Security Memorandum 20 and its underlying law, Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act. "Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act prohibits the United States from providing security assistance or arms sales to any country when the President is made aware that the government prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance," the lawmakers wrote. "We believe that despite recent advancements, there is sufficient evidence that Israel's restrictions on the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid violate Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, and therefore call into question the assurances Israel provided pursuant to National Security Memorandum 20," they added. Others, including Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch, have objected that the national security memorandum creates redundant bureaucratic requirements that erode America's ability to provide security assistance to Israel and other allies. "The timing of its release makes clear that its aim is to placate critics of security assistance to our vital ally Israel," they wrote in a letter to Biden. On Wednesday, Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson sent a letter to Biden expressing alarm about his decision to pause weapons shipments to Israel. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN General Assembly expresses support for Palestinian statehood By Margaret Besheer May 10, 2024 The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Friday in a show of support for Palestinian statehood, and as a cease-fire remains out of reach in the seven-month war between Israel and Hamas militants that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. "A 'yes' vote is a vote for Palestinian existence; it is not against any state," Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said before the vote in an emotional speech. "But it is against attempts to deprive us of our state." The General Assembly voted 143 in favor, nine against, with 25 abstentions, for a resolution that "determines that the State of Palestine is qualified" for U.N. membership under the organization's charter and recommending that the U.N. Security Council "reconsider favorably" its full membership in the United Nations. The 15-nation council must recommend a potential member's application to the General Assembly for final approval and admission. The United States used its Security Council veto on April 18, to stop the process. It voted "no" again Friday in the General Assembly. "Our vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood; we have been very clear that we support it and seek to advance it meaningfully," Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said. "Instead, it is an acknowledgement that statehood will come only from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties." Israel's envoy voiced loud opposition to the resolution, saying it would give rights to Hamas terrorists. "So here it is, I present to you the future outcome of today's vote: soon-to-be President Yahya Sinwar, tyrant of the state of Hamas, sponsored by the U.N.," Ambassador Gilad Erdan said, holding up a placard with a photo of the Hamas leader with the words "President Sinwar" printed on it. "And he owes his deepest gratitude to you - the General Assembly." The Palestinians are represented at the United Nations by the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and the two groups have long been at odds with each other. Israel says it will continue its war in Gaza until Hamas is eliminated. Practical effects General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do carry the moral weight of the international community. The support of 143 countries sends a clear signal of how the international community feels about the issue of Palestinian statehood. "I think the vote shows that most U.N. members not only want a cease-fire in Gaza, but actually want a more fundamental long-term solution to the Palestinian question based on a two-state solution," Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group told VOA. U.S. envoy Wood indicated that if the matter returns to the Security Council, Washington's position would remain unchanged that statehood must come through direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The Palestinians currently have nonmember observer state status, which means they cannot vote, but they can participate in meetings and can join U.N. bodies like the World Health Organization and the International Criminal Court. Wood emphasized that Friday's resolution would not enhance their rights. "As a result of this vote, the Palestinian nonmember state observer mission has not gained the right to vote in the General Assembly," Wood said. "It also has not gained the right to put forward candidates in U.N. organs or to be elected as a member of the Security Council. In short, the Palestinians' nonmember state observer mission does not have the same standing as a member state after this vote." That could also be a message to the U.S. Congress, which under legislation from the 1990s has the power to cut funding to the United Nations should it unilaterally admit the Palestinians. On Thursday, 25 Republican senators, led by Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, introduced legislation to update the existing law. Calling it the "No Official Palestine Entry Act of 2024," or "NOPE," it would limit funds to the United Nations and other organizations "that provide any status, rights, or privileges beyond observer status" to the Palestinians. Analyst Gowan said the final text was carefully written not to trigger a U.S. funding freeze. "I think U.S. diplomats and their allies had made it very clear to the Palestinians that they could unintentionally blow up the U.N., and they should have avoided this," Gowan said. "But if Congress now changes the rules, in line with Romney's proposal yesterday, there could still be a blowback for the U.N. budget." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Humanitarian operations in Gaza at risk of grinding to a halt for lack of fuel By Lisa Schlein May 10, 2024 In what they are calling an "unprecedented emergency," U.N. agencies are warning that humanitarian operations throughout the Gaza Strip will cease within a matter of days if Israel does not reopen border crossings and allow critical fuel supplies to enter the Palestinian territory. "For five days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip, and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel," Hamish Young, UNICEF's senior emergency coordinator in the Gaza Strip said Friday. Speaking from Rafah, Young told journalists in Geneva that "This is already a huge issue for the population and for all humanitarian actors but in a matter of days, if not corrected, the lack of fuel could grind humanitarian operations to a halt." The UNICEF official said that he has been working on large-scale humanitarian emergencies for the last 30 years but that he has "never been involved in a situation as devastating, complex or erratic as this." "When I arrived in Gaza in the middle of November, I was shocked by the severity of the impact of this conflict on children and, impossibly, it has continued to worsen," he said. Israeli forces seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza on Tuesday, bringing a halt to all aid shipments into Gaza. Israel said Wednesday it had reopened its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after several days of closure, but the U.N. said no humanitarian aid was going through. COGAT, Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, says aid is entering Gaza in other ways, noting that limited shipments of aid are going in through the Erez crossing. But the World Food Program says it last received food supplies for Gaza in mid-April. Both WFP and UNRWA (U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) warn they will "run out of food for distribution in the south by Saturday." The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, reports that the closure of the Rafah crossing has severed access to fuel for humanitarian activities and curtailed the movement of staff, as well as the entry of food and other lifesaving humanitarian items. Georgios Petropoulos, head of OCHA's sub-office in Gaza, said OCHA and several other U.N. agencies went to the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings this week to assess the security situation and found that those highly militarized areas "are not secure, they are not safe, and they are not logistically viable." Speaking from Rafah Friday, he said "There is a lot of work that we have to do to get into that state. We are working hard with member states to find ways to bring in supplies and to make sure that aid workers can get in and out. For this solution to be sustainable, we have to bring some kind of predictability to the aid here. "Unless these solutions come quickly, our aid activities, our communication, lack of fuel, banking activities will halt within the next two days. Not having fuel will affect life-critical sectors." Shortages have already created higher prices in the market, Petropoulos said, with vulnerable members of society being forced to make difficult or dangerous choices to access what is available. The United Nations reports Israel's recent evacuation orders, which are linked to military operations in Rafah, have led to the forcible displacement of at least 110,000 people, many of whom already have been displaced multiple times. UNICEF's Young said that Thursday he walked around al-Mawasi, the so-called humanitarian zone where Israel has told people in eastern Rafah they should move. He described the area as being jammed with trucks, buses, cars, and donkey carts loaded with people and their possessions. "People I speak with tell me they are exhausted, terrified and know life in al-Mawasi will, again, impossibly, be harder. Families lack proper sanitation facilities, drinking water and shelter," Young said. "Displaced people are subject to even greater risk of disease, infections, malnutrition, dehydration and other protection health concerns. Beyond a few mobile health points and field hospitals with limited capacity, the closest hospital is at least four kilometers away, assuming that the road to it is safe to use," he said. OCHA says within the next 24 hours, numerous health facilities will run out of fuel. Among those affected are five Ministry of Health-run hospitals, 28 ambulances, 17 primary health care centers, five field hospitals and 10 mobile clinics "which provide immunizations, trauma care and malnutrition services." Amid the gloomy picture, World Health Organization spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris noted "one bright spot." Thanks to international support, she said the Naser Medical Complex, which had been severely damaged during shelling by Israeli forces, has been made partially functional. The hospital is accepting dialysis patients and the laboratories are able to perform some blood tests, she said. "But as has been made absolutely clear, without fuel all that stops," Harris said. "All the things a hospital does, the lifesaving treatments, no longer can be done. "If you have got somebody back from the brink, you have operated on them, you have put them on a ventilator, and the ventilator stops, they no longer breathe," she said. "So, without fuel, no matter what everybody has done, the whole system collapses." Harris said WHO missions currently have been suspended in the north "to try to ensure that we can provide as much fuel as possible to hospitals in the south to keep them going." She said work was continuing to repair the sewage system in the Naser Medical Complex, adding that "this is something that has to be done throughout the Gaza strip." "A lack of sewage services, lack of clean water means if the bombs do not get you, you die of thirst, infectious diseases or simply hunger," she said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Analysts: Turkey-Israel ties risk further deterioration over Gaza By Begum Donmez Ersoz May 10, 2024 Following Turkey's decision to halt all trade with Israel because of the war in Gaza, there are concerns that bilateral relations might deteriorate further. Experts speaking to VOA Turkish argue this is a dramatic change in ties, whereas previously the economic aspect was usually the last one to incur damage despite political tensions. Turkey announced last month it was restricting the export of 54 items to Israel, including steel, construction products and chemical fertilizers. And earlier this month, Ankara took the unprecedented step of halting all trade, sending Turkish and Israeli traders scrambling for alternatives. Turkish-Israeli ties have been strained since a 2010 incident in which Israeli commandos raided the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara aid ship sailing for Gaza in international waters. Despite tensions throughout their unsteady relationship, impacted at times by the domestic political dynamics of each country, the trade component of their relations largely remained intact. Nimrod Goren, Israeli affairs expert at the Middle East Institute, said the recent move was a "game changer." "One of the unique characteristics of the relations was every time there was political tension, the economic relations managed to continue. Now it's a big-time change in the nature of relations," he told VOA in an interview via Skype. Gallia Lindenstrauss, from the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, is worried that diplomatic relations might also be in danger. Likening the trade component to "oxygen" for the bilateral ties, she said, "Trade was in a way [an] insurance policy for the relations. When you take out trade, you are not left with a lot." Call to 'work through differences' Turkey and Israel appeared to be on a path of rapprochement until the war in Gaza reversed those efforts. Just a few weeks before the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in person for the first time on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The two leaders committed to mutual visits. Goren said that before the Hamas attack took place, relations between Turkey and Israel were good. "The starting point this time for Turkey was a very good one. Turkey had good relations with Israel, and it had better relations with Egypt. Those were the two things that prevented Turkey from mediating in the Israeli-Hamas escalation in the past," he said. The United States called this week on Turkey and Israel to resolve their differences. When asked about Turkey's trade ban with Israel, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, "They are both allies of ours and we would encourage them to work through their differences." Businesspeople in limbo Turkey and Israel conducted $6.8 billion in trade last year. A free-trade agreement between the two countries has been in place since 1997. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, or TUIK, Israel ranked 13th among the countries Turkey exported to the most in 2023. Israel imported vehicles, construction materials, steel and textile products from Turkey. There has been concern that the trade ban would have an impact on Azerbaijan oil shipped to Israel via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The oil tankers bound for Israel are loaded at Turkey's Ceyhan port. Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told VOA Turkish that Turkey's function is to transmit and load the oil. It continues to operate the pipeline as part of an international agreement, he added. Ankara says the trade ban will stay in place until there is a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. The talks in Cairo have yet to yield results amid concerns of a bigger military action by Israel in Gaza's southern city of Rafah. "The war is not in the same level of intensity. But it might prolong. Businesspeople don't like uncertainty. They are in limbo now. If it's temporary, it's one thing. But if it's going to be prolonged, it will be very, very hard to get back to square one," Lindenstrauss told VOA. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted a tweet Thursday on X saying Turkey had retracted many of the trade restrictions, easing the trade ban. Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat dismissed his claim as "absolutely fictional." However, the Turkish Trade Ministry reportedly introduced a three-month respite for firms to fulfill their existing orders via third countries. A source from the ministry told Reuters the move aims to protect Turkish traders, while another source denied any easing of the ban. This story originated in VOA's Turkish Service. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chad deploys troops as opposition protests after Deby named election winner By Moki Edwin Kindzeka May 10, 2024 Chad has ordered the immediate deployment of troops to maintain peace, especially in the capital, N'djamena, after provisional results of the May 6 presidential elections surprisingly published on Thursday night declared transitional ruler General Mahamat Idriss Deby winner with over 61% of the votes. The main challenger, Succes Masra, claimed he won, with over 73% of the votes. Residents in Chad's capital, N'djamena, said they awoke Friday morning to the sound of heavy gunshots. Forty-five-year old Oumar Saleh is a resident of the Machaga neighborhood spoke to VOA on Friday morning via a messaging app. Oumar said the shooting may have been ordered by Chad's government to intimidate those objecting to the results of Chad's May 6 presidential elections published by the country's elections management body, ANGE, Thursday night. Chadian state TV reports that there were isolated gunshots in N'djamena but does not say who the shooters are. Public Security and Immigration Minister Mahamat Charfadine Margui said in a release Thursday that enough police have been deployed to stop what he called the use of weapons and explosives all over Chad, but specifically in Ndjamena. Chad's military also said before the announcement of the partial results that enough troops had been deployed to protect people and their goods, especially in N'djamena and Moundou, the central African state's second-largest city. According to the provisional results, transitional President General Mahamat Deby is the official winner with 61.3% of the votes, more than the 50% needed to avoid a run-off. Members of the opposition and the public say they are surprised ANGE published the figures in three days instead of 15 days after the voting, as stated in the electoral code. ANGE says it is legal to publish results within 15 days. Deby in a late-night message said he is very grateful to the majority that voted for him. Deby said he is now the democratically elected president of all Chadians, including opposition party leaders who lost. Deby says he is particularly delighted because he scored a resounding victory, and that he is going to work immediately to fulfill his electoral promises. Deby said he will concentrate on providing jobs for unemployed youths and strengthening Chad's internal security to guarantee peace and stability. ANGE says more than 75% of the registered 8.2 million voters took part in the vote. Deby's main challenger, Succes Masra, scored 18.53% of the vote while Albert Pahimi Padacke, the first transitional prime minister, got 7.91%. Masra had earlier declared that he won a resounding victory in the first round of voting, but that his victory was stolen by Deby. He spoke in a message broadcast on Facebook Thursday afternoon. He said Chadians voted en masse to say enough is enough to the over three-decade dictatorial rule of Chad's former president Idriss Deby Itno and his son Mahamat Idriss Deby. Masra said all his supporters and security forces should strongly oppose an attempt by Deby to steal victory from the people. Masra said all Chad civilians should calmly mobilize and demonstrate peacefully for the stolen victory to be restored. Opposition and civil society members say there is perceivable tension that may cause chaos in Chad following the publication of the results. Candidates have five days from the date of publication of provisional results to file complaints at the constitutional council, which has 10 days rule on fraud and irregularities allegations. Definitive results will be declared by Chad's Constitutional Council on May 21. Deby took power in April 2021 after the death of his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who died on the front line of a war against rebels after ruling for 30 years. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Operation Iron Swords - Day 217 - 10 May 2024 At any point, Hamas could have ended this burgeoning tragedy to surrender and release every hostage. Hamas instigated and owns this humanitarian catastrophe. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) Israeli media outlets reported that at least five Israeli troops were killed in fiercest Rafah, Gaza confrontations, adding that multiple military helicopters evacuated Israeli casualties from areas of confrontation. Among those killed are reportedly four Israeli members of the Nahal Patrol Brigade's 913th Battalion. The troops were killed as a result of the detonation of an explosive device in al-Zeitoun which also resulted in the injury of two troops. The Washington Post reported that US President Joe Biden's remarkable admission this week that US weapons are killing civilians in Gaza represents a turning point in US policy towards Israel, days after the Israeli army carried out its first move on Rafah and before the issuance of an expected government report on Israel's behavior in the Gaza Strip. Gaza. While the Biden administration has repeatedly expressed concern about civilian casualties in Gaza, some former officials say it took longer to implement laws and policies aimed at preventing the use of American weapons, in violation of international humanitarian law, according to the same source. Experts say that the United States has always been selective in how it applies international law, and in how it balances human rights concerns and realpolitik. But its continued material support for the Israeli war in Gaza has led to a rare surge in public reactions that say the US administration is slow to implement laws aimed at limiting or imposing conditions on military aid to foreign allies. White House National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby said Washington would stop sending certain types of weapons to Israel if its forces carried out a large ground operation in Rafah , repeating the warning made by President Joe Biden two days ago. This came after news of the approval of the Israeli Mini-Cabinet to expand the area of Israeli army operations in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. Kirby said, "We did not say that Israel cannot work to end Hamas, but what we do not support is a major military operation in Rafah." He added that implementing such an operation would push the United States to stop sending certain types of weapons, echoing what President Biden said during an interview with CNN on Wednesday evening. Kirby stated that the ongoing military operation "is focused on the Rafah crossing area ." Kirby stressed that the recent negotiations that took place in Cairo after Hamas approved the proposal did not result in an agreement, but he said, "We believe that it is possible to overcome the remaining gaps." He continued, "The face-to-face meetings regarding the hostage agreement have ended, but we are working to keep both parties involved in the talks." He added that Washington believes that it is possible to reach a ceasefire agreement, and that it "requires moral courage and leadership positions, and we have not surrendered yet." Regarding the temporary floating port, the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal revealed that the United States will soon begin using the seaport pier that it built off the coast of Gaza, but it is facing difficulties in distributing aid, which represents a test of Bidens promise to alleviate the humanitarian crisis for the Palestinians. The newspaper quotes American officials as saying that the main details have not yet been resolved, and Washington has not developed a plan for how to store, secure and distribute aid once it arrives. War Termination Negotiations hosted by Egypt did not lead to any ceasefire agreement in Gaza on Thursday. A senior Israeli official said late Thursday that the latest round of indirect negotiations in Cairo to stop hostilities had ended and that Israel would proceed with its operation in Rafah and other parts of the Palestinian Strip according to the plan, according to what was reported by Reuters. The official added that Israel presented to the mediators its reservations about Hamas proposal for a hostage release agreement. For its part, Hamas announced, at dawn on Friday, after its delegation left Egypt, where the talks were taking place, that the ball is entirely in Israels court to reach a truce agreement in the Gaza Strip. Hamas said in a statement addressed to the Palestinian factions, The negotiating delegation left Cairo heading to Doha, adding, In practice, the occupation rejected the proposal submitted by the mediators and raised objections to it on several central issues. Our position is to adhere to the national position that agreed to the mediators latest proposal. Accordingly, the ball is now with the occupation completely, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse. The Islamic Resistance Movement - Hamas put out a statement regarding the ongoing mediated talks with the Israeli occupation, saying that it will hold talks with other Palestinian Resistance factions to look into its negotiating strategy. The group reiterated that its negotiating team expressed the "necessary flexibility to facilitate reaching an agreement" that would achieve its five-points-based demands. This includes a permanent ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, the free return of all forcibly displaced Palestinians to their homes in the besieged territory, a serious prisoner exchange deal, and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. However, the movement said that "Israel's" rejection of the mediators' proposal, has pushed matters "back to square one." It also pointed to the Israeli military's direct attack on Rafah and its occupation of the border crossing, just after the movement announced that it accepted the mediators' deal. Hamas said that the action confirms that the Israeli occupation is "avoiding reaching an agreement." As for the Netanyahu-led government, Hamas said that it is taking advantage of the negotiations process to "cover its attack on Rafah." "In light of Netanyahu's behavior, his rejection of the mediators' proposal, the attack on Rafah, and the occupation of the crossing, the movement's leadership will hold consultations with the leaders of the Palestinian Resistance factions in order to reconsider our negotiating strategy," the statement read. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, urged, during a phone call on Thursday, all parties to show flexibility and make more efforts necessary to reach a truce agreement in Gaza that puts an end to the humanitarian tragedy and allows the full and sustainable delivery of aid that meets the urgent needs of the population. A statement published by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its Facebook page stated that Shukry had received a phone call from Blinken on Thursday, during which they discussed developments in the security and humanitarian situation in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, and the delicate stage that the ongoing negotiations in Cairo are going through to reach a truce. "It allows for a ceasefire and the exchange of prisoners and hostages being held." Shukri stressed the necessity of reaching a ceasefire as soon as possible, reiterating to his American counterpart the dangers of Israeli military operations in the Rafah area, and the catastrophic humanitarian repercussions they will have on more than 1.4 million Palestinians, and the security consequences that will affect stability and security. Region". Blinken reiterates Washington's opposition to any forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, confirmed on Thursday, in a phone call with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, that the United States opposes any forced displacement of Palestinians, amid Israels threat to launch a major military attack in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. In the same context, the Egyptian Minister stressed the "categorical rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land." Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, stated that Shoukry discussed with Blinken the repercussions of military operations, Israels control of the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side, and the future risks of the continuation of this situation. The two ministers agreed to "continue close consultation and coordination to continue pushing the parties to reach a comprehensive truce in Gaza and put an end to the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian Strip." The United Nations General Assembly approved a draft resolution recommending that the UN Security Council positively reconsider the issue of Palestine obtaining full membership, by an overwhelming majority. The General Assembly voted by a large majority in support of Palestines request for membership in the United Nations , in a decision of a symbolic nature due to the American veto in the Security Council, according to what Anatolia Agency reported. A total of 143 members out of a total of 193 members of the United Nations approved the resolution, while nine rejected and 25 abstained from voting. The resolution supports Palestine's application for full membership in the United Nations, recommends that the Security Council reconsider the application, and also identifies ways to implement additional rights and privileges related to Palestine's participation in the United Nations. According to the resolution, the General Assembly decides, on an exceptional basis and without this setting a precedent, to adopt several methods related to the participation of the State of Palestine in the sessions and work of the General Assembly and the international conferences held under its auspices and other United Nations organs. The resolution reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including having their own independent state, which is Palestine. The resolution called on the international community to make renewed and coordinated efforts to end the Israeli occupation that began in 1967, and to reach a just, lasting and peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in accordance with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions. The resolution, which Turkey co-sponsored along with nearly 80 member states, included expressions of deep regret and concern over the United States use of its veto in the United Nations Security Council on April 18. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the vote of the United Nations General Assembly in favor of a resolution supporting Palestines obtaining full membership, saying: We will continue our endeavor to obtain full membership in the United Nations by a decision of the Security Council, according to what was reported by the Palestinian Agency. In turn, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz described the United Nations General Assembly's decision to amend the status of Palestinians in the organization as a "prize for Hamas," according to a statement issued by his office on Friday. The ridiculous resolution taken by the UN General Assembly highlights the structural bias of the United Nations and the reasons why the organization, under the leadership of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has become an irrelevant institution, Katz said. The United States used its veto power to prevent the State of Palestine from obtaining full membership in the United Nations, in the vote that took place on April 18, where 12 countries voted in favor of the resolution, and two countries abstained from voting, while Washington used the Veto." Operational Update South Africa this evening (Friday) asked the court in The Hague to publish additional warrants against Israel, following the operation in Rafah. The state turned to the court and requested additional emergency measures against Israel in the ongoing case against it. The petitioners claim that the steps taken by the court have no reference to the changed circumstances in Gaza. A few weeks ago, news was published that Israel expects South Africa to make a move of this type , and that the fear was that the operation in Rafah would be the turning point. Yesterday, 11 members of the American Congress wrote a letter to the President of the United States, Joe Biden, in which they claimed that he is not doing enough against the Hague Tribunal in his moves against Israel. "We are writing to express our concern regarding the latest reports about the possible intention of the International Court of Justice in The Hague to issue arrest warrants against the Israeli Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Chief of Staff," the members of Congress wrote in the letter. Commenting on the operations carried out by the Palestinian resistance, military and strategic expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi believes that these operations reflect the way the resistance managed the battle with the occupation army, saying that they suggest a return to the first day of the ground invasion in the northern region of the Gaza Strip . Through its operations, Al-Duwairi adds, the resistance sent clear messages with multiple contents. The first was directed to the Israeli interior, stating that your leadership did not undermine the capabilities of the Hamas movement and the rest of the factions after months of war. The second was directed to the Israeli army, specifically Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy , to tell them that they had failed to achieve their goals. Al-Duwairi confirms that the Palestinian resistance is still fighting in the areas that the occupation army entered 6 months ago, and its brigades in Rafah are more capable and ready to fight, which it proved through the operations it carried out - Friday - by firing missiles from a distance of 40 kilometers, stressing that it is capable of It launches missiles with a range of 60 to 75 kilometers. According to the academic and expert on Israeli affairs, Dr. Muhannad Mustafa, the resistance operations reinforce the internal debate in Israel, which says that the war on Gaza has exhausted all military capabilities, and that Israel does not have any other military alternatives in order to achieve its goals, and it has failed in them militarily and strategically. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu portrayed his military operation in Rafah as the only way out of his crises and his military and political failure, he was surprised today by the operational momentum of the resistance in Gaza, as political and strategic analyst Saeed Ziad said. The operations of the Qassam Brigades refuted Netanyahus claims that he had eliminated or neutralized the resistances missile capabilities and that the cities of the interior were no longer vulnerable to these missiles. Ziad said that the resistances launching of missiles from the heart of Rafah and from other cities gives an indication that it is capable of increasing the momentum of the missiles it is launching towards Israeli towns and delivering them. For other ranges. He concluded that the scenes of sniping, bombing of vehicles, and movement in tunnels taking place above the square confirm that the resistance was not harmed or harmed, which is something that reinforces Israeli despair. Regarding the relationship of what is happening in the field to the negotiations between the Palestinian resistance and Israel, the political and strategic analyst indicated that Netanyahu wants a deal that will free the Israeli prisoners and give him a period of calm to solve his problems without ending the war, while the resistance wants a deal that leads to the end of the war, that is, there is a big difference between the two scenarios. Operational Update - Gaza Israel said that it killed about 13,000 militants and dismantled 20 out of 24 Hamas battalions, and that between 5,000 and 8,000 fighters, making up 4 Hamas battalions, are holed up in Rafah, along with the leaders and many hostages that Hamas has been holding since October 7. Israeli officials' information was conflicting, as some of them estimated the size of Hamas' force in Rafah at two battalions west of the city, and some of them, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke of four battalions holed up there. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority "Makan" reported that Netanyahu repeated on numerous occasions that there are 4 Hamas brigades in the city of Rafah , which is the "last stronghold" of the Palestinian movement in the Gaza Strip, and that "they must be dealt with." On the other hand, 3 informed Israeli officials confirmed that there are no longer 4 Hamas battalions in Rafah, as the Prime Minister believes. The officials added: "A large part of the fighting force left the city and its suburbs. They moved to Khan Yunis, and perhaps also to the camps in the center of the Strip. What remains is about two battalions on the western side of the city, perhaps in the Tal al-Sultan area." In turn, observers say that the number of remaining Hamas battalions in the city of Rafah does not matter, because no Hamas force can withstand a single Israeli army division. Rather, the strategy followed by Yahya al-Sinwar is to remain underground for a long period extending more than the period during which the IDF is likely to remain on the ground. The Palestinian Resistance has been engaging Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, in what could be described as the fiercest confrontations since the invasion of the southernmost city of Rafah. In concurrence with an attempted Israeli advance into new sectors of Rafah, the occupation's military also launched an incursion into Gaza City in the north. Axes of confrontation in al-Sabra and al-Zeitoun neighborhoods, in the center of the city were renewed, following months-long ground attack by occupation forces. These areas had been supposedly "cleared" by the Israeli occupation's military, however, the Resistance has re-emerged in the neighborhoods and regained operational activities, including rocket launching operations. Commenting on the field developments, the military and strategic expert, Colonel Hatem Karim Al-Falahi, said that Rafah has turned into a hot area, as the resistance factions began carrying out and escalating operations after the limited and rapid incursion of the occupation forces during the past two days. Al-Falahi confirmed during his analysis for Al-Jazeera that the battles began to rage with bombardment of military crowds and ambushes, which means an increase in the number of losses among the ranks of the occupation army, after what he called a lull in operations in the past few days. He pointed out that the resistance operations ranged from targeting soldiers of the occupation forces who were holed up in homes to detonating minefields and explosive devices in military vehicles, "which means that the resistance factions are conducting a successful defensive battle." Regarding the Israeli incursion into the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Al-Falahi stressed that the northern region of the Strip has moved into the third phase of the war, which means that major military operations in the region have ended. He pointed out that what the occupation is doing is similar to specific security operations, considering them a response to the intensification of the resistance in recent days, sniper operations and the intensification of the bombing of the Netzarim axis, which separates the northern Gaza Strip from its center and south. According to Al-Falahi, the occupation forces are trying to secure the forces stationed in the Netzarim axis by dealing with hotbeds of resistance that are considered a current threat. Among the objectives of the occupation operation in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, the military expert said that the area into which the Israeli forces penetrated into the sea is considered parallel to the area that includes the American floating dock, and it is necessary to secure it. Following the alert that was activated in the Beer Sheva area, nine missiles were identified that were fired from the Rafah area and fell in an open area. Also, five additional launches were identified that were fired from the center of the Gaza Strip into the area of the city of Beer Sheva. A fall in space was detected. In the last few days, the Nahal TDF began an operation led by the 99th Division in the Zeyton area. The forces raided terrorist infrastructures in the area, eliminated a number of terrorists from the air and on the ground, located weapons and intelligence means of the terrorist organization Hamas and together with the brigade fire complex destroyed terrorist infrastructures of the organization. As part of the operation, the fighters raided a school and found weapons, Kalashnikovs and cartridges in the classrooms. The battle team of the Givati Brigade led by Division 162 is currently operating in East Rafah. The forces are working to destroy terrorist infrastructure and purify the area. The fighters eliminated dozens of terrorists, located weapons and tunnel shafts. Following the alert that was activated in Kerem Shalom, one launch was detected that crossed from the Rafah area to the area surrounding Gaza and was successfully intercepted by the air defense fighters. After that, another warning was activated in the Kerem Shalom area, during which the air defense fighters successfully intercepted another launch that crossed from the Rafah area. The forces of Division 162 continue to operate in Mizrah Rafah. In the last day, the combat team fighters of the Givati Brigade located several underground tunnel shafts in the area. In the Rafah crossing area on the Hazati side, the fighters of the 401st Brigade's combat team eliminated a number of terrorist squads in face-to-face battles and closing circles from the air. Aircraft led by the Air Force and the 215th Fire Brigade attacked a number of areas in Rafah from which rockets and grenade launchers were launched in recent days towards Israeli territory and the Kerem Shalom crossing. The army said in a statement: After sounding the sirens earlier today (Friday) in the Kerem Shalom area, it was determined that a missile was being launched that was crossing from the Rafah area into Israel, and the launch was successfully intercepted, noting that the sirens returned and sounded. In the Kerem Shalom area, the Israeli armys air defense system intercepted an additional missile fired from the Rafah area. In another statement, the army stated, During the past day, Israeli army forces found several underground tunnel openings in eastern Rafah. On the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, the forces eliminated a number of terrorist cells, and army aircraft bombed several sites in the Rafah area. "Firing rockets and mortar shells at Israel over the past few days, including towards the Kerem Shalom crossing." He added: "Israeli army forces are working in the Al-Zaytoun area in the central Gaza Strip to eliminate terrorists and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure. A number of Hamas members were targeted in a building filled with a large number of explosives, and a weapons storage facility was targeted in central Gaza." In the area of Zeyton in the center of the Gaza Strip, the fighters of the Nahal Brigade and the 2nd Brigade are working, under the intelligence guidance of the Shin Bet and Amman, to continue dismantling terrorist infrastructures and eliminating terrorists in the area. The westward advancement of Israeli troops into the al-Zeitoun neighborhood was met with several direct operations conducted by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's (PIJ) al-Quds Brigades. Utilizing rocket-propelled grenades, the faction was able to target Israeli armored vehicles in both al-Zeitoun and al-Sabra, which is located to the northwest of the aforementioned town. The group detonated a pre-set minefield, consisting of large caliber anti-armor explosive devices, targeting a number of Israeli military vehicles to the east of al-Zeitoun. Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades confronted Israeli occupation forces on multiple axes in the southernmost city of Rafah, targeting the Israeli military in direct confrontations, shelling their positions, and conducting a well-executed ambush. According to al-Qassam's Military Media Unit, Resistance fighters were engaged in operations near al-Dawa Mosque, the Saad Sayel Barracks, and the Abu Halawa area, all located in eastern Rafah. The fiercest confrontations concentrated in the Saad Sayel Barracks, where al-Qassam fighters lured occupation forces into a minefield that led to confirmed casualties among enemy forces. Al-Qassam fighters also executed a multifaceted ambush near al-Dawa Mosque, targeting a composite force, consisting of an armored unit and infantry, with several thermobaric RPG rounds and an anti-armor tandem al-Yassin shell. The group confirmed that the ambush dealt with casualties among an armored personnel carrier's (APC) crewmembers and at least two tanks located near the APC and a nearby building. In the past day, fighter jets have attacked a number of terrorists and Hamas targets, including a structure captured by many weapons. Fighter jets led by the Air Force and the Gaza Division attacked a number of terrorist infrastructures throughout the Strip, including anti-tank positions and tunnel shafts. The forces of the 679th brigade's combat team identified a terrorist squad coming out of a weapons warehouse in the center of the strip and moving towards them. An air force aircraft attacked the squad. The munitions warehouse and another terrorist from the squad were attacked shortly after by fighter jets and helicopter gunships of the Air Force. During the last day, aircraft and fighter jets of the Air Force attacked and destroyed about 40 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip. Among the targets that were attacked, military buildings, observation posts, terrorist squads and other military infrastructures. The resistance carried out a series of qualitative military operations against the occupation army, confirming the deaths and injuries among its ranks, in addition to engaging in fierce clashes with the occupation forces penetrating the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood , and controlling a drone. The Al-Qassam Brigades announced that an Israeli force was ambushed after detonating a minefield in a barracks east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip , noting that members of the force were killed and wounded. Al-Qassam announced the targeting of two Israeli Merkava tanks in the vicinity of the Saad Sayel barracks, east of Rafah. It was also able to target a troop carrier and a building in which soldiers were barricaded at the Al-Dawa Mosque, east of Rafah, leaving all members of the force dead or wounded. In the vicinity of the barracks, the brigades were able to destroy an Israeli troop carrier. The occupation army admitted that twelve soldiers were injured during operations in the Gaza Strip. For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, carried out a series of operations against the occupation forces. In the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, the Al-Quds Brigades said that they targeted an Israeli military vehicle with an RPG shell in the vicinity of the Al-Zaytoun Clinic in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City. It also bombed a gathering of occupation vehicles and soldiers in the vicinity of the Moonlight Hall on Eighth Street in the neighborhood. In a third operation, the Al-Quds Brigades detonated a field of mines and high-explosive ground devices in a number of occupation vehicles penetrating east of the neighborhood. In Rafah, the Al-Quds Brigades bombed with heavy-caliber mortar shells Israeli soldiers and vehicles penetrating east of the Al-Salam neighborhood in the city of Rafah. It also took control of an Israeli Skylark drone in Rafah. The Al-Quds Brigades also published what it said were scenes of mortar fire with which its members pounded soldiers and occupation vehicles penetrating east of the city. Guideless and amid an atmosphere of fear, families in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, gather their belongings and head towards the unknown after the Israeli occupation army decided to invade the area, ignoring all the international warnings that warned them of the consequences of any military action in the city. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced that the number of displaced people from the city of Rafah has risen to about one hundred and ten thousand since May 6. She stressed that the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza continues in the absence of a safe zone in the Strip, and stressed that the only hope for stopping the tragedy that the Palestinians are suffering is an urgent ceasefire. In turn, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that about two hundred thousand Palestinians are displaced from Rafah towards the north, stressing that the situation in the city has reached the abyss. For his part, the head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Georgios Petropoulos , said that about thirty thousand people are displaced from the city of Rafah every day. He explained that most of these people had to be displaced five or six times since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip . As for the destination of the displaced people, it is west and north of Rafah and the Al-Mawasi area west of the Gaza Strip. Some of them were forced to walk tens of kilometers from the eastern and southern areas of Rafah, due to the lack of vehicles to transport them due to the occupation targeting any moving object in the city. Although the Rafah and Khan Yunis Mawasi area lacks the most basic necessities of life, such as sanitation services, roads and sidewalks, the people of the Strip resort to it as the safest area in the Gaza Strip compared to other areas, even though it has been subjected to a number of attacks on more than one occasion. The problem of the shortage of tents is a dilemma facing everyone displaced from eastern Rafah, as they were living in schools and shelter centers and did not have tents to stay in. Satellite imagery revealed tent cities in Rafah before and after the Israeli threat to begin the attack. Palestinians are fleeing tent cities in Rafah in large numbers as the threat of a potential major Israeli attack in the southern Gaza city looms, satellite images show. CNN identified from the photos several camps housing a large number of displaced people in Gaza, including the main camp in central Rafah, which includes thousands of tents, and whose size decreased significantly between Tuesday and Wednesday. Although some camps in Rafah saw a decline in population earlier in the week, the majority of camps identified by the network saw their largest decline since Tuesday. Some tent camps were located in UN schools, others in open fields, or along roads for months. Now, a large number have disappeared, but many remain in the camps despite IDF orders to leave. The question imposed by the reality on the ground is whether the Israeli forces can confirm Who is the identity of the displaced people that are urged to evacuate areas in Rafah? Or does the idea of militants infiltrating among civilians, which he previously referred to, might mean that military operations will remain in a closed circle within the Palestinian sector? the Strip. While Israel stresses that it does not target Palestinian civilians and that its interest revolves around eliminating Hamas and achieving security, the military operation in Rafah raises concerns about the fate of about a million Palestinians who are there, and raises questions about how the army identifies the movements armed elements in the midst of the crowds. Palestinian political analyst, Ashraf Akka, says, The Israeli army will not be able to distinguish between civilians and members of the Hamas movement, given that the movements members have different names and are in large numbers, considering that the army will not be able to understand the nature of the secrecy and the administrative and organizational process upon which the Ezz Brigades were built. Al-Qassam or other Palestinian factions. Since the establishment of the Palestinian armed movements, their elements have been surrounded by more secrecy and mystery, and the organizational pyramid is very complex, according to what Akka added while speaking to the Al-Hurra website. Therefore, the Israeli army will not be able to distinguish between civilians and fighters. Akka explains: For months, there has been talk about a possible operation in Rafah, and it is possible that faction elements have taken this into consideration, and have prepared well during the recent period, when some say that the city will surprise the Israeli army in many situations. For his part, Israeli military analyst, Kofi Lavie, confirms that "the armed elements were able to hide among the displaced people in the city of Rafah, and also to intimidate and intimidate them." Speaking to Al-Hurra website, he added: The terrorists wear civilian clothes and hole up in homes among civilians, whom they use as human shields, to serve Iranian political ambitions, not Palestinian ambitions. It is noteworthy that Hamas has repeatedly denied Israeli accusations of using civilians as human shields. The recent targeting of the Kerem Shalom crossing, with missile attacks launched from among the tents of the displaced, according to Lafi, clearly revealed the infiltration of combat elements among civilians in Rafah, who do not care about the continued operation of the only crossing for the entry of humanitarian aid. This week, the Israeli army announced that 4 soldiers were killed and others wounded as a result of rockets falling in the Kerem Shalom crossing area, explaining that the rockets were launched from an area adjacent to the city of Rafah. An Israeli military spokesman said, according to Agence France-Presse, that the evacuation of eastern Rafah is part of our plans to dismantle Hamas... and we received a violent reminder of their presence and operational capabilities in Rafah, adding that the evacuation is to keep people away from danger. Lafi points out that "Hamas members also target displaced civilians in Gaza, killing them under the pretext of their cooperation with Israel and intimidating them from reporting them," as he considered during his speech that "the Palestinians know the armed elements well." But the Israeli military analyst stressed that his country is capable of distinguishing between civilians and Hamas militants in Gaza, based on the intelligence information it collects, as well as the database of Gazans who will flee to safe areas through Israeli security corridors, through which Hamas members can be identified. He continues: "Therefore, they (Hamas members) will try today to move through tunnels from one area to another, so that they will not be arrested in the Israeli corridors." The armed Palestinian factions can move among people or follow other military methods, including through internal tunnels between areas of the Gaza Strip that the Israeli army has not yet discovered, according to Akka. The Palestinian political analyst believes that Israel's current military operation "cannot achieve its goals in the way that Israel seeks, nor can it lead to the dismantling of the factions and ending the war militarily." He added: "Israel will find difficulties in reaching the hostages, which is the important part of this operation, and it also cannot target civilians in any way, despite the bombing operations that we have witnessed during the past hours, not only in eastern Rafah but also in the center of the city." Akka asserts that the fate of civilians in Rafah remains a pivotal issue that cannot be ignored. Israeli promises cannot be relied upon, even if we assume that there is an American-Israeli agreement on a limited operation. Dividing Rafah into temporary military zones from time to time may indicate operations of widespread destruction. "It is the worst scenario imaginable." Lafi asserts that the displaced are required to cooperate with Israel to detect the fighting elements, and informing Israel of these elements ensures that they do not infiltrate and move among themselves. He said that the Israeli army is capable of fully pursuing Hamas and the terrorist factions, as he points out that the army is not only working in Rafah, but in parallel it is working through military efforts in different areas in the Gaza Strip, to ensure that goals are achieved and cleared of terrorist elements. He added: "Israel often takes care to avoid carrying out some military operations, given the possibility of the presence of some kidnapped hostages in these areas." Akka believes that Israel's strategy to pursue and eliminate Hamas members will lead to "a war taking place in a closed circle without achieving any decisive victory." He says: "This is not only a Palestinian point of view. Rather, multiple international parties agree that it is not possible to eliminate Hamas in this way." The Israeli military analyst says that his country "destroyed the vast majority of Hamas' brigades and their infrastructure, which cost it billions of dollars over the past years." But he came back to acknowledge that "Hamas members are still working against their own people, who have begun to reject their presence and are fed up with them as a result of the disastrous conditions in which they live." The American website "The Hill" believes that the red line that Biden set against any major Israeli military operation in Rafah puts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a crossroads. The site shows that Netanyahu speaks in a challenging tone in public to court his right-wing base, but behind the scenes he showed respect for Biden's demands. In turn, military affairs editor Dan Sabbagh believes, in an analysis in the British newspaper The Guardian, that Israel is capable of moving forward with its attack on Rafah in the near term. He believed that Biden's threat required stopping a specific category of weapons, leaving other types available to Israel, and that the Israeli Air Force was not largely affected by the American decision. In an article in the Hebrew newspaper "Haaretz", writer Zvi Bar'el considered Israel's control of the Rafah crossing to be an occupation of Gaza once again, with consequences in accordance with international law. According to Bar'el, this complicates Tel Aviv's relationship with Cairo, and no less important is what the rules of engagement are, in the event of an attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) or clashes with the residents of Gaza. The American magazine "Newsweek" quoted experts and non-governmental organizations as saying that the Israeli attack on Rafah will weaken the Hamas movement, but will not undermine its leadership in the Gaza Strip in the long term. The Institute for the Study of War says - according to the magazine - that Hamas leaders may have believed that their movement was able to survive the operation and follow the ceasefire demands without making major concessions, because Hamas continues to operate from other areas in the Gaza Strip outside of Rafah and controls it, and the attack will weaken Israels position. At the global level. For its part, the American newspaper "Washington Post" said that the Israeli military operations in Rafah this week exacerbated the deterioration of the already dilapidated health care network. She pointed out that children were most at risk, as thousands of infants in southern Gaza suffer from acute malnutrition, and those under the age of approximately five in the region suffer from one or more infectious diseases, according to UNICEF . Operational Update - Judea-Samaria The prosecutor's office admits that since the beginning of the war, the police have arrested and interrogated, in quite a few cases, Arab citizens without receiving the authorization required for the investigation following statements or posts on the networks. At the same time, in the civil arena, crime is rising in an unprecedented way. Since the beginning of the year, more than 70 have been murdered, and the rate of solved cases by the police remains low. The Israeli occupation forces carried out - at dawn on Friday - new raids and arrests in the West Bank , as part of an ongoing escalation since the seventh of last October. Al Jazeera's correspondent said that the occupation forces stormed the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, raided a house in the Rafidia neighborhood, and arrested two students from An-Najah National University. Palestinian sources also reported that gunfire targeted Israeli forces that penetrated the Rafidia neighborhood in Nablus, noting that Israeli soldiers raided student housing in the neighborhood. According to the same sources, the representative of the Islamic Bloc at An-Najah University, student Aseed Hamadneh, was arrested during the raid. Palestinian sources also reported that Israeli forces stormed the city of Qalqilya in the northern West Bank at dawn, and deployed in a number of its neighborhoods. The occupation forces delivered notices to demolish two homes in the town of Azzun, east of the city. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that 3 Palestinians were injured by occupation forces bullets during their storming of the city of Qalqilya yesterday for more than 3 hours. The occupation forces fired live bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas at school students, leading to clashes in the neighborhood and causing injuries. Local sources reported that Israeli soldiers arrested two young men and a boy before they withdrew from the city. The Palestinian Ministry of Health also said that a Palestinian child and a boy were injured - yesterday, Thursday - by bullets from the occupation forces during their storming of the town of Bir Zeit, north of Ramallah, noting that one of them was seriously injured. Yesterday, Israeli forces raided the towns of Jaffna and Birzeit, and were stationed near the entrance to Birzeit University. They stormed one of the shops, confiscated the ID cards of its workers and detained them, before withdrawing from the place. Al Jazeera's correspondent also reported that the Israeli army stormed the village of Kafr Malik (northeast of Ramallah), amidst live bullets being fired towards the homes of Palestinian citizens. To the east of occupied Jerusalem, the occupation authorities blew up the house of the martyr Fadi Jamjoum in the Shuafat camp. The occupation forces accuse Jamjoom of carrying out the shooting attack in Kiryat Malachi near Ramla last February, which resulted in the killing of two Israelis and the injury of 4 others. Operational Update - Lebanon The Northern Command continues to increase competence and readiness for a variety of combat scenarios in the North. The reserve battalions of the Etzioni Brigade (6) participated in a brigade exercise in the Western Galilee, led by the National Center for Land Training (MLA). The exercise simulates combat in Lebanon, infantry, armor and engineering forces practiced operational cooperation in mountainous and complicated areas using camouflage and combat techniques alongside a logistical and ICT envelope. Since the outbreak of the war, the Etzioni Brigade has been taking part in the defense of the northern border of the State of Israel with a wide deployment of fighters from the head of the Nakra to the Golan Heights. In the exercise of the 91st Division Headquarters (Ozbet HaGil), the division headquarters and its commanders practiced a variety of scenarios to accelerate readiness for an attack in this arena. In the Uzbat Hiram exercise (769), the units of the brigade, alongside the Air Force and the personnel of the logistics system of the Northern Command, practiced a scenario of aerial supply to maneuvering forces in enemy territory. Fighter jets attacked military buildings and terrorist infrastructure of Hezbollah in the areas of Kfar Kila, Alma al-Sha'ab and Yaron in southern Lebanon. A team from Unit 869 identified two Hezbollah terrorists moving near a military structure in the Yaron area, while carrying weapons. Air force fighter jets attacked the terrorists. Fighter jets of the Air Force attacked a terrorist infrastructure of Hezbollah in the area of Kfar Kila. In addition, a military structure of the organization in the area of Leida, where terrorists were staying, was attacked. Further to the warning about the intrusion of a hostile aircraft in the north of the country, this is a false identification. Settlers from abandoned settlements in northern occupied Palestine are planning demonstrations on May 16 in al-Quds and Haifa, advocating against a political agreement with Hezbollah and calling for security to be brought back to their region through military means. During a meeting of "Israel's" Conflict Zone Forum, the leaders of the Israeli northern settlements decided to announce the establishment of the State of Galilee and fully separate from "Israel". According to Israeli news website Walla!, the step is set to be announced on "Independence Day". The media website explained that their decision was reached after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's dismissive response to Benny Gantz's inquiry about settlers returning home for the school year, saying, "What would happen if they return a few months after September 1?" This latest action follows the forum members' publication of protest advertisements in early April, where they publicly solicited bids to "locate the Israeli government." This comes in the context of the intensified and unprecedented operations carried out by the Lebanese Resistance in support of the Palestinian Resistance in the Gaza Strip. A new balance of terror has emerged in the North, one that "Israel" cannot live with even for a "single hour," an op-ed published by Israeli newspaper Maariv said. Avi Ashkenazi, the military correspondent of the newspaper, recalled in his piece the course of confrontation, the balance of combat, and the rules of engagement between Hezbollah and the occupation since before the withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. "Any solution in the North requires decision-makers in Israel to work on dismantling this balance of terror," the author began by warning. According to the Ashkenazi, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was able, before the Israeli withdrawal, and over the years, to create engagement rules in his favor in the "security belt in Lebanon," where "he decided that every Israeli attack on a civilian target would lead to rocket fire on Kiryat Shmona and settlements in the Galilee," and that the targets of the rocket launches varied between "open areas and inhibited ones." Later, this led to the debate within the occupation entity about the withdrawal to intensify, he said. Operational Update - Syria / Iraq The Iraqi resistance targeted a military site of the Zionist entity in Eilat, Umm al-Rashrash, in the occupied Palestinian territories, with drones. The resistance said in a statement: In continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation and supporting our people in Gaza and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against Palestinian civilians, including children, women and the elderly, resistance fighters this morning targeted a Zionist military site in Eilat Umm al-Rashrash in our occupied territories using drones . . The resistance confirmed its continued destruction of enemy strongholds. Yesterday , the Iraqi resistance announced the targeting of several Zionist enemy sites in the occupied territories by drones, causing direct hits there, noting that the targeted sites are the Zionist Yafalet base, the Leviathan gas platform, and the Ovda air base. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced that it carried out 8 operations against several sites in Israel using drones and the Al-Arqab missile within 24 hours. The Iraqi Al-Nujaba Movement in response to the targeting of a cultural and media edifice in Damascus: We will reach the depths of Israel The "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" issued several statements stating that "in continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation, 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": The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted a Zionist military site in Eilat, Umm al-Rashrash, in our occupied territories this morning, Friday, May 10, 2024, using drones. The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted a vital target in Eilat, Umm al-Rashrash, in our occupied territories, this morning, Friday, May 10, 2024, by drone. The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted the Zionist Obda Air Base in our occupied territories on the evening of Thursday, May 9, 2024, using drones. The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted the Zionist invasion Leviathan platform in our occupied territories on the evening of Thursday, May 9, 2024, using drones. The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted the Zionist Yafalet base in our occupied territories on the evening of Thursday, May 9, 2024, using drones. The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted the Ashkelon oil port in our occupied territories on the morning of Thursday, May 9, 2024, using an Al-Arqab (upgraded cruise) missile . The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted a vital target in Eilat, Umm al-Rashrash, in our occupied territories, at dawn on Thursday, May 9, 2024, using two drones. The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted the Zionist Nevatim base in Beersheba in our occupied territories at dawn on Thursday, May 9, 2024, by drone. The "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" confirmed that it will continue to "destroy enemy strongholds," as the resistance factions in Iraq adopt from time to time bombing areas in Israel and American bases in Syria and Iraq in response to the devastating Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. These factions also warned the United States that they "will increase the number of armed operations in response to Washington's continued provision of military assistance to the Israeli army." In a statement, the Al-Nujaba Movement said: A treacherous targeting of a cultural and media edifice affiliated with the Islamic Resistance Movement Al-Nujaba in the Syrian capital, Damascus, by the usurping Zionist entity that kills children, women and innocent civilians. The statement added: "This entity has gone too far in its tyranny, brutality and arrogance, targeting the culture and media building that spread their scandals and brutal crimes against humanity. In this targeting, the lie of culture and peace promoted by the West, which is an exposed lie, was revealed to the public." The "Al-Nujaba" movement threatened in its statement, saying: "We announce it publicly that our response will be sudden, strong and effective, and the usurping enemy knows that if we say we will, and our drones have made them feel bad, and they know where our missiles have reached, then, God willing, we will reach the depths of the entity and these crimes will not pass without Punishment, and God is the Guardian of the believers. Operational Update - Yemen Mr. Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Ansar Allah movement, announced in his recent speech that the Yemeni armed forces, with all their arms, had begun implementing the fourth phase, that is, attacking all ships heading to Israeli ports, regardless of their nationality, and in all seas, including the Mediterranean, and this The announcement is in line with the expansion of the resistance axis scope of its war against the occupying entity and its ports on more than one front, and regardless of the results of the negotiations currently taking place in Cairo to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian writer and editor-in-chief of Rai Al-Youm newspaper, Abdul Bari Atwan, wroted that "The Israelis, whether they are politicians or military leaders, know very well the bravery and steadfastness of the Yemenis, their self-esteem, their lack of fear of death, and their pursuit of martyrdom in defense of their homeland, land, and dignity. That is why they emerged victorious in all their battles and wars against the invaders, since the dawn of history, without any exception. "The Yemenis were the ones who ended the myth of the Patriot missiles , the pride of the American industry, and exposed their shame and all the holes in their defensive capabilities, and their Iranian allies came to deal them with the final blow during the Al-Waad Al-Sadiq attack, which targeted two Israeli air bases in the heart of the Negev, one of which is adjacent to the Dimona nuclear reactor, in retaliation, revenge and response. On the Israeli aggression that targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus, and this explains the occupation entitys announcement to abandon all Patriot missile systems within two months in clear acknowledgment of its failure to confront the Iranian missiles and drones participating in this attack, especially since these missiles, according to Iranian statements, were The least developed among its counterparts in the Iranian military arsenal, especially the new generation, such as hypersonic missiles, and winged ballistic missiles with multiple fission warheads. "The transition of the Yemeni armed forces to the fourth phase comes within the framework of an operational escalation process by the axis of resistance, on a large scale on several fronts. For the first time, the Ashtar Brigades affiliated with the Bahraini Islamic Resistance launched marches on the occupied city of Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat), while the Islamic Resistance Brigades Iraq bombed Tel Aviv for the first time a few days ago, after attacks on Israeli military bases in the occupied Golan Heights and infrastructure in the port of Haifa. As for the Lebanese resistance led by Hezbollah, its missiles reached the city of Acre for the first time in years, and we do not rule out that its targets will expand to Haifa. The same very soon, and perhaps the speech of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, which he will deliver on Monday evening (today), may include surprises in this regard.... "The Yemeni solution is the best and shortest way to respond to the Israeli orgy, break the Israeli and American arrogance, and liberate all the occupied territories from the river to the sea. Abu Yemen says, does, and rises, which is why the occupation authorities tremble upon hearing his name, and avoid opening any front. A confrontation with him, because it will be a quick beginning to its end..." Maps All maps are lies. Not only is it easy to lie with maps, it is essential, wrote cartographer Mark Monmoneir in his book How to Lie with Maps. He showed that condensing complex, three-dimensional spaces onto a two-dimensional sheet of paper [in old days] is bound to be reductive. But it is impossible to comprehend the war in Gaza without reference to maps, otherwise the entire conflict is reduced to an endless series of meaningless acts of random violence and the suffering of civilians. The first characteristic of guerrilla warfare is the loss of a front line. Evidently, different mappers have different ideas of how to depict the war in Gaza, notably those that seek to depict Israeli progress in the ground campaign. Part of the problem is latency. The news that forms the basis of the maps takes time to filter out to mappers, and the cartographers take time in crafting their maps, and it takes time to curate them. These processes are uneven among mappers, so their maps may differ in detail. Probably there is some ideological bias, or at least thematic apperception, which is understandable in wartime. It may come as no surprise that al-Jazeera maps depict rather less Israeli territorial progress than other sources. Finally, there remains the epistemological question of just exactly what are the colored in areas depicting. Naively, this might be understood as areas of Israeli control, that are no longer contested by the HAMAS. Or possibly these are areas of Israeli presence, in many of which the possibility of an RPG-wielding HAMAS militant popping out of a tunnel unexpectedly remains a live possibility. With the "zero-range" combat characterized by small unit tactics on both sides, maps may be prey to a fallacy of misplaced concreteness. Bystanders Georgios Petropoulos, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza, confirmed that 30,000 people are displaced from Rafah every day, explaining that without supplies in the coming days, it is expected that a large number of health facilities will lack the fuel necessary to continue working, and stressed that the situation has reached unprecedented emergency levels. This includes 5 hospitals affiliated with the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, 5 field hospitals, 17 primary health care centers run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees ( UNRWA ) with other partners, 10 mobile clinics providing vaccination services and treatment of psychological trauma and malnutrition, and 23 medical facilities in the Al-Mawasi area located To the north of Rafah. Hamish Young, chief emergency coordinator at the United Nations Children's Fund ( UNICEF ) in the Gaza Strip, stressed the need for the Israeli army to refrain from invading Rafah, and called for the immediate flow of fuel and aid to the Strip. Speaking from Rafah, he said, "Yesterday I was walking around the Al-Mawasi area , where Rafah residents were asked to move." He added, "More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah during the past five days, and the displacement is still continuing." He explained, "Shelters are increasing on the sand dunes in Al-Mawasi, and it has now become difficult to move between the mass of tents and tarpaulins." Axis of Resistance Palestinian factions called on the Palestinians in the West Bank , Jerusalem and the occupied interior to launch a massive uprising in support of the Gaza Strip and to save the city of Rafah from what they described as a humanitarian disaster and a genocidal war. The Follow-up Committee for the National and Islamic Forces, which includes the majority of the factions, said in a statement that the Israeli occupation began implementing its plan to invade Rafah and continue its ground operations in which it agreed with its allies and supporters to do so, according to what was reported by the Anatolia Agency. The factions added that the occupation closed the border crossings and cut off relief and humanitarian supplies from the Gaza Strip, and targeted all areas that shelter displaced persons, as our people in the Gaza Strip are exposed to the greatest catastrophe and genocide. The factions reaffirmed their full support for the Palestinian resistance, and called on them to do everything necessary to confront the occupation forces and protect the Palestinian people, and held Israel and the American administration fully responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe to which people in Rafah are exposed. The statement called on Arab and Islamic countries, international and international institutions and bodies to open the crossings, especially the Rafah crossing, and to bring in relief and humanitarian aid according to previous mechanisms before the Israeli army occupied the crossing. It also called on the Arab and Islamic peoples and the free people of the world everywhere to hold marches, demonstrations and sit-ins in all capitals, cities, squares and universities against the genocide and humanitarian catastrophe in Rafah. The statement considered that the occupation of the Rafah border crossing, under Egyptian-Palestinian sovereignty, constitutes a violation of international conventions and a threat to Arab national security in general and Egyptian national security in particular. Allied for Democracy Yesterday, the political-security cabinet approved the expansion of activities in Rafah, but not in a way that would lead to a frontal confrontation with the American administration - this was announced this evening (Friday) on Friday news in Khan 11. During the discussion, ministers Smotrich and Ben Gabvir expressed a hawkish position, while Eisenkot and Gantz believed that it was necessary to maintain The relationship with the United States. The mandate for the negotiating team for the deal for the release of hostages was also voted on and approved despite the opposition of Ministers Smotrich and Ben Gvir. During the meeting, the Minister of Finance asked Ministers Dermer and Gallant if the words of the President of the United States Biden about delaying the arms shipments constitute threats intended to make Israel withdraw from activities in Rafah, or if there really will be an American arms embargo. Dermer, according to sources, said that Biden would not allow himself to do this, and that such a move would harm him in the presidential elections that will be held at the end of the year. Defense Minister Gallant said that "it's a risk not worth taking", and quoted a joke by the "pale tracker" according to which "if you see lights in front, it could be two motorcycles - or a truck". According to a source familiar with the matter, during the War Cabinet meeting, a thought arose to take a renewed initiative, and it was agreed that in a few days there will be another round of talks that may take place in Doha, the capital of Qatar. The political-security cabinet met yesterday after the threat by the President of the United States Joe Biden that he would stop the arms shipments to Israel , if the operation in Rafah expands. Today (Friday) some of the quotes were published at the yeshiva, where even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not remain indifferent and burst out laughing. The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gabir, who made headlines yesterday after attacking President Biden in an embarrassing tweet, said that it is necessary to talk to the Americans with respect. Finance Minister Smotrich wondered and asked Minister Ben Gabir: To speak with respect as in your tweet? The Minister of National Security replied that "I actually wrote very gently, relative to what most Israelis think about the unprecedented behavior towards us." Minister Gila Gamaliel intervened and said: "He is even a romantic, Lev added." At this point, Prime Minister Netanyahu did not hold back and started laughing. Minister Ben Gvir: We both eat the smelly fish and are expelled from the city. They also don't stop delivering humanitarian aid, there are also claims against us now, and they also stop our weapons. I suggest to you, here is an opportunity to reduce humanitarian aid - as long as our abductees are not given humanitarian aid. We need to talk to the Americans with respect but make it clear to them that if there are sanctions on us, there is less humanitarianism. Minister Smotritz: To speak with respect like your tweet? Minister Ben Gabir: I actually wrote very gently, relative to what most Israelis think about the unprecedented behavior towards us... Minister Gamliel: He is even a romantic, Lev added (The prime minister burst out laughing) Minister Ben Gabir: There will be a lot of tweets like this, I expect all the government ministers to join me. There is support for what I said not only by Trump who said very, very important things but also by some Democrats. Eisenkot: You should take a deep breath and give a lot of respect to the President of the United States. Ben Gabir: And it is worth sending a message that even in the United States he has a majority against Biden A senior aide in the US Congress told the "Wall Street Journal" today that the decision to delay the shipment of one weapon to Israel was a "small warning shot". He added that the decision does not constitute a change in American policy towards Israel. The White House clarified tonight that it has not yet made a final decision regarding the halting of arms and ammunition shipments to Israel. The Reuters news agency reported that the White House also announced that it had provided Israel with several alternatives for action against Hamas, against the background of the planned military operation in Rafah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interviewed tonight (Thursday) on the American talk show of host Phil McGraw - "Dr. Phil". "I hope that Biden and I can overcome our disagreements, but we will do what is necessary to ensure Israel's security," he said Prime Minister. In the interview, the Prime Minister also responded to Biden's threat not to provide Israel with offensive weapons, if it invades Rafah: "This is a precise weapon, so in fact if you want to avoid civilian casualties - then this is the weapon you need." He added: "We are doing everything we can to let the people there leave, tremendous efforts." Netanyahu informed that 20 out of 24 Hamas battalions were destroyed during the war in Gaza. The prime minister also referred to the day after the fighting: "Hamas must be defeated in Rafah. There will be a need for some kind of civilian government in Gaza, probably with the help of the United Arab Emirates and other countries that want stability in the region." When asked about the issue of taking responsibility for the default, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that protecting the citizens is the first responsibility of the government. "Now, it must be made sure that it happens and there will not be another failure," stressed the Prime Minister. Netanyahu promised that there would be an in-depth investigation into what brought about and caused these events, but after the war. About the abductees he said several times in an interview that they are the top priority. Regarding the demonstrations on the campuses, he said that there are many people who do not know what Hamas is, and "they are being manipulated." Israeli media claimed that US President Joe Biden's decision to suspend ammunition shipments to Israel may push the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) to become more stringent in ceasefire and prisoner exchange negotiations. They pointed out that Israeli fears are mounting about the possibility that the new American position will allow the arms export embargo to turn into a snowball that includes other Western countries. Biden had warned that his country would stop supplying weapons to Israel if it launched a major military operation in Rafah, in what appeared to be public conditions for the first time announced by the American president for continuing American military support for Israel. In this context, the Israeli channel Kan 11 quoted senior Israeli officials who spoke with their American counterparts as saying that preventing the provision of precision munitions to us may give strength to Hamas, especially in this period, at a time when the negotiations are progressing and have reached a critical point, and this may constitute a danger. On the deal." They added, "This unprecedented American step includes additional countries that are considering stopping or delaying their security exports to Israel, such as Britain and other European countries." In the same context, the former head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Division described the falsity of Biden's decision as sad, noting that Israel had begun the war with "the utmost levels of legitimacy and American support." Ziv added to Israeli Channel 12, "Now the situation has not only changed, but it seems that the United States - and we do not know this precisely - is providing guarantees to Hamas." As for Knesset member from the ruling Likud Party, Tali Gottlieb, she said that Israel has inaccurate missiles, and perhaps instead of using an accurate missile and blowing up a specific room, we will use our inaccurate missiles, and simply blow up 10 buildings. Gottlieb added during a Knesset session, I stood here and told you three months ago that the United States is not a friend of Israel. In turn, Rafif Drucker, presenter of political programs on the Israeli Channel 13, said that the leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, "is the one who will choose whether a small defeat or a big defeat will befall us." Drucker added, "We were convinced that Hamas practiced deception and illogical matters in the negotiations, but when you look at the end, this is not entirely the case. The negotiations collapsed and the delegation returned from Cairo, and it is nonsense to say otherwise." American officials revealed to Axios that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will submit a report to Congress on Friday, strongly criticizing Israeli practices in the Gaza Strip, but he will not accuse Israel of violating the terms of the use of weapons. The American website explained that Blinken's report "will not reach the point of concluding that Israel has violated the terms of its use of American weapons," in the midst of tensions in the relationship between the two prominent allies, and Washington's withholding of an arms shipment to Israel due to developments in the Gaza Strip. The officials explained that the report assesses whether Israel has adhered to international law, or obstructed the process of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, and has caused major internal controversy in the US State Department. The process of preparing the politically sensitive report, according to Axios, has continued within the US State Department over recent months, as it was required under a new national security memorandum issued by President Joe Biden in February. The State Department is reviewing how American weapons are used by Israel and six other countries involved in various armed conflicts, and if any of them is proven to have violated humanitarian law, or obstructed the delivery of humanitarian aid supported by the United States, this may lead to the suspension of military aid, according to Axios. The report was supposed to be completed by May 8, before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to postpone it for a few days. An American official said that the postponement was "largely due to technical reasons, related to the lack of readiness of all reports on the seven countries." The US State Department's Office of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor recommended that Blinken conclude that Israel "violated the conditions for the use of weapons, contrary to the recommendations of other parties within the department." Axios quoted other American officials as saying that the US ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, and the outgoing humanitarian envoy to Gaza, David Satterfield, sent a memorandum to Blinken indicating that Israel is not violating international law during its war in Gaza, and is not obstructing humanitarian aid. . They also pointed out that "Israel's restrictions on aid in the past have changed since April, after Biden issued a final warning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in this regard," according to the American website. Three American officials also explained to Axios that Blinken will include in his report a series of facts that raised serious concerns about Israeli violations of international law. They said that the report will describe the situation in highly critical terms and state that the State Department is still investigating those facts. But they stressed that Blinken would not reach the point of concluding in his report that Israel violated international law. Axios reported that Republican lawmakers are pushing for legislation aimed at preventing US President Joe Biden from blocking arms shipments to Israel. This step, as the site explained, comes after the US administrations move to prevent an arms shipment sparked a violent reaction from pro-Israel lawmakers in both parties. According to the website, Representative Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) introduced an immediate support bill for Israel on Thursday, which requires the transfer of some weapons to Israel within 30 days of the date of purchase. "Israel is currently at war with a terrorist organization that continues to hold more than 100 civilian hostages. There is simply no excuse for this delay," Van Duyne said in a statement. But the website explained that the bill would only apply to weapons that were approved in the $95 billion foreign aid package approved by Congress last April, while the shipments that Biden temporarily suspended were authorized and allocated under previous legislation. According to the site, Representative Corey Mills (Republican from Florida) is taking things a step further, as he told Fox News that he is drafting impeachment proceedings against Biden for withholding aid. Several Republican lawmakers have floated impeachment as the ideal legislative path, with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) saying the House has no choice but to impeach Biden. More recently, Representative Brad Schneider (D-Illinois) said in a statement on Thursday that he was deeply concerned by the decision, as well as by the Presidents comments about withholding security aid to Israel. However, Axios believes that impeachment is far-fetched, especially given that the House of Representatives' more than year-long investigation into the Biden family's finances has failed. Biden said this week that he would not supply weapons to Israel if it launched an attack on Rafah, because of the danger posed by any military operation to civilians there. He said in an interview with the American CNN network, that the United States is still committed to defending Israel, and will provide it with interceptor missiles and other defensive weapons, but if it goes to Rafah, we will not provide it with weapons. Biden stated that while the United States will continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including the Iron Dome air defense system, other shipments will stop if a "major ground invasion of Rafah" begins. Indeed, the US administration withheld a shipment of weapons to Israel, including bombs weighing 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms), due to concerns about civilian casualties. A senior Biden administration official told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday: Last week, we suspended sending one shipment of weapons consisting of 1,800 bombs, each weighing 1,000 pounds (907 kg), and 1,700 bombs, each weighing 500 pounds (226 kg). Operation Iron Swords - By the Numbers 1,900,000 IDPs in Gaza 78,514 Gazans injured, 28% adult male 70,000 tons of explosives dropped on Gaza 70,000 Gaza housing units completely destroyed 70,000 Israeli IDPs from Lebanon border 45,000 bombs dropped in Gaza 45,000 Gazans killed, including buried under rubble 34,904 Gazans martyred 33,000 Gaza targets attacked 20,528 Palestinians in Israeli prisons [Haaretz, 20 Mar 2024] 15,140 Israelis injured [i24 TV] 15,000 rockets launched from Gaza 14,520 Gazan children martyred 13,000 HAMAS combatants killed [N12] 13,000 HAMAS combatants killed [IDF] 11,000 arrested by Israelis in the West Bank in 2023 10,000 Gazans missing under the rubble 9,920 Gazan women martyred 9,400 Palestinians in Israeli prisons 9,000 IDF needing psychological assistance 8,665 arrested by Israelis in the West Bank since Oct.7th 7,209 IDF injured admitted to rehabilitation [IDF] 6,800 IDF officers and soldiers injured [Channel 12] 6,000 HAMAS combatants killed [HAMAS] 5,500 IDF wounded [reports] 4,800 West Bank Palestinians wounded 4,700 sites targetted in Lebanon 3,850 wanted persons arrested throughout Judea and Samaria 3,600 administrative detainees 3,188 IDF wounded [IDF] 2,100 Gazan women are missing 1,609 terrorists killed on the first day 1,650 wanted persons arrested throughout Judea and Samaria affiliated with Hamas 1,160 Israelis killed on the first day 615 Israeli officers and soldiers killed since the start of the war 468 West Bank Palestinians martyred 364 people [including fighters] killed in Lebanon 267 Israeli officers and soldiers killed in Gaza 240 Hezbollah fighters killed in Lebanon 126 people recovered, including 91 Israelis, 11 bodies, and 24 foreign workers 116 living hostages in Palestinian custody 70 civilians killed in Lebanon 29 IDF deaths were caused by "friendly fire" 15 Israelis killed in the West Bank and Israel Not every number is reported every day, so sudden jumps generally reflect reporting artifacts rather than actual upticks. Many of these numbers fluctate, up and down, with no apparent explanation. This list records the highest number reliably reported for each matter, under the theory that reality with catch up with reports, as is relentlessly the case. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russo-Ukraine War - 10 May 2024 - Day 807 Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos. On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. "To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal] The UK Ministry of Defence reported that 09 May 2024 is Russia's Victory Day which commemorates Russia's victory over Nazism in the 'Great Patriotic War'. The major parade took place in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin presiding, following his inauguration on 07 May. Victory day parades were cancelled in 24 cities, primarily those cities in regions that border Ukraine, likely due to poor security. This compares to 21 cancelled parades in 2023. Although the fly-past was reinstated, with nine SU-30SM and MiG-29 aircraft, as well as six SU-25 attack aircraft, the Moscow parade was reduced in scale with less modern military equipment on display when compared to pre-war parades. Of the 30 units on parade over two-thirds were sourced from military academies, youth and veteran groups. There were also domestic security and emergency service groups on parade. In total, 9,000 military cadets, veterans, and service personnel took part. This compares to 8,000 in 2023 but lower than the 2021 pre-Ukraine war parade of 11,000. Whilst there were 61 military vehicles on display, there was an absence of heavy armoured vehicles or tracked military vehicles. The lone ceremonial second world war era T-34 tank which traditionally starts the parade, was the sole Main Battle Tank present. This contrasts with the 2020 Moscow parade which included 20 Main Battle Tanks. With the significant losses in Russian personnel and equipment as a result of the Ukraine war there was no opportunity for Russia to use the parades to demonstrate military strength. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day of May 10, there were 91x tactical engagements. Russian forces launched a total of 6x missile and 67x air strikes, 92x MLRS attacks on the positions of Ukrainian troops and various settlements. Volyn and Polissya axes: no significant changes. No signs of formation of an offensive group. Sivershchyna axis: Russia maintains its military presence in the russian areas bordering Ukraine. Russia conducts subversion, continues shelling of Ukrainian settlements from the territory of Russia and increases the concentration of mining operations along the state border of Ukraine. More than 10x settlements, including Karpovychi, Prohres (Chernihiv oblast), Chernats'ke, Yastrubshchyna, Ulanove (Sumy oblast), came under Russian artillery and mortar fire. Slobozhanshchyna axis: Russian forces carried out 5x attacks in the vicinities of Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliynykove, and Hatyshche (Kharkiv oblast). Russian forces launched air strikes in the vicinities of Hlyboke, Luk'yantsi, Ohirtseve, Vovchans'k, Vil'cha, Lyptsi, Slobozhanske, Sosnovyi Bir, Ukrains'ke (Kharkiv oblast). Kup'yans'k and Lyman axes: the Ukrainian defenders repelled 10x attacks in the vicinities of Syn'kivka, Berestove (Kharkiv oblast), Stel'makhivka (Luhansk oblast), where Russian forces, using air attacks, attempted to improve its tactical position. Russian forces fired artillery and mortars at around 10x settlements, including Petropavlivka, Stepova Novoselivka, Berestove (Kharkiv oblast). Lyman axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled 6x attacks in the vicinities of Makiivka (Luhansk oblast), Tors'ke (Donetsk oblast). Russian forces fired artillery and mortars at more than 10x settlements, including Nevs'ke (Luhansk oblast), Terny, Yampolivka, Tors'ke (Donetsk oblast). Bakhmut axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled 17x attacks in the vicinities of Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast), Verkhn'okam'yans'ke, Rozdolivka, Hryhorivka, Bohdanivka, Kalynivka, Klishchiivka, Andriivka (Donetsk oblast), where Russian forces, using air strikes, attempted to improve its tactical position. Russian forces launched air strikes in the vicinities of Druzhba, Chasiv Yar (Donetsk oblast). More than 10x settlements came under artillery and mortar fire, including Hryhorivka, Chasiv Yar (Donetsk oblast). Avdiivka axis: the Ukrainian defenders repelled 22x attacks in the vicinities of Kalynove, Novooleksandrivka, Sokil, Umans'ke (Donetsk oblast), where Russian forces, with air support, made attempts to dislodge Ukrainian troops from their positions. Russian forces launched air strikes in the vicinities of Stara Mykolaivka, Novohrodivka, Novopokrovs'ke, Netailove (Donetsk oblast). The Russian invaders fired artillery and mortars at around 20x settlements, including Novooleksandrivka, Sokil, Novopokrovs'ke, Umans'ke (Donetsk oblast). Novopavlivka axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to hold back Russian forces near Krasnohorivka, southwest of Novomykhailivka, Solodke (Donetsk oblast), where Russian forces made 3x attempts to breach Ukrainian defense. The Russian enemy fired artillery and mortars at more than 10x settlements, including Krasnohorivka, Maksymil'yanivka, Heorhiivka (Donetsk oblast). Orikhiv axis: Russian forces launched 8x assaults on positions of Ukrainian defenders in the vicinities of Staromaiors'ke (Donetsk oblast) and Robotyne (Zaporizhzhia oblast). Around 20x settlements, including Bilohir'ya, Robotyne, Kam'yans'ke (Zaporizhzhia oblast), were under Russian artillery and mortar fire. Kherson axis: Russian forces conducted no offensive. The occupiers fired artillery and mortars at around 15x settlements, including Krynky, Tyahynka, Kachkarivka, Kizomys, Stanislav (Kherson oblast). During the day of May 10, the Ukrainian Air Force and Missile Forces launched strikes on 1x anti-aircraft missile system, 1x radar station, 17x concentrations of Russian troops. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that from 5 to 10 May 2024, in response to the Kiev regime's attempts to damage objects of Russian power infrastructure and defence industry enterprises of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, 27 group strikes by long-range high-precision sea- and air-based weaponry, including the Kinzhal aeroballistic hypersonic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, were delivered, as a result of which Ukrainian power infrastructure, military industry enterprises, and rail road infrastructure were wiped out. In addition, strikes were delivered at air defence weaponry, POL bases, uncrewed surface vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles production and maintenance workshops, temporary deployment areas of Ukrainian nationalists formations and foreign mercenaries, as well as AFU manpower and hardware clusters on rail road loading stations. Units of the Zapad Group of Forces liberated Kotlyarovka and Kislovka (Kharkov region), as well as inflicted losses on units of nine AFU brigades near Stelmakhovka, Novoselkovskoye (Lugansk People's Republic), Novosadovoye (Donetsk People's Republic), and Sinkovka (Kharkov region). 14 counter-attacks launched by assault detachments of three AFU brigades and one Ukrainian National Guard Brigade were repelled near Krakhmalnoye (Kharkov region), Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People's Republic), and Grigorovka (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to up to 1,015 Ukrainian troops, three tanks, including two German-made Leopard tanks, five armoured fighting vehicles, including one U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carrier, five motor vehicles, and 23 field artillery howitzers, including five western-made samples. One U.S.-made AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery warfare station was also neutralised. During active combat operations, units of the Yug Group of Forces continued to advance to the depth of enemy defences. Losses were inflicted on manpower and hardware of two AFU assault brigades, eight mechanised brigades, three territorial defence brigade brigades near Spornoye, Andreyevka, Elizavetovka, Kurdyumovka, Pobeda, and Grigorovka (Donetsk People's Republic). One counter-attack launched by assault detachments of one AFU mechanised brigade was repelled near Krasnoye (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to more than 1,985 Ukrainian troops, three tanks, six armoured fighting vehicles, including one U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carrier, 26 motor vehicles, 35 field artillery howitzers, including 13 supplied to Ukraine by Western countries. In addition, the U.S.-made AN/TPQ-50 and AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery warfare stations, as well as three field ammunition depots were wiped out. Units of the Tsentr Group of Forces liberated Novokalinovo (Donetsk People's Republic), inflicted losses on units of 12 AFU brigades, and repelled 48 enemy counter-attacks near Semyonovka, Solovyovo, Ocheretino, and Netaylovo (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to more than 2,360 Ukrainian troops, four tanks, including one German-made Leopard tank and two U.S.-made Abrams tanks, 16 armoured fighting vehicles, including two U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and one German-made Marder infantry fighting vehicle, 30 field artillery howitzers, and one Czech-made Vampire MLRS. Units of the Vostok Group of Forces improved the tactical situation and inflicted losses on two AFU mechanised brigades and two territorial defence brigades near Urozhaynoye, Staromayorskoye, Vodyanoye, and Prechistovka (Donetsk People's Republic). The AFU losses amounted to up to 860 Ukrainian troops, seven tanks, eight armoured fighting vehicles, 19 motor vehicles, and 17 field artillery howitzers. Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of three AFU brigades, as well as marines brigades, territorial defence brigades, and Ukrainian national guard brigades near Zolotaya Balka, Tokaryovka, Ivanovka, Mikhailovka, Stepnoye (Kherson region), and Pavlovka (Zaporozhye region). One counter-attack launched by an assault detachment of the AFU 118th Mechanised Brigade was repelled north of Rabotino (Zaporozhye region). The AFU losses amounted to up to 240 Ukrainian troops, nine motor vehicles, 20 field artillery howitzers, including 11 U.S.-made M777 howitzers. Missile Troops, Artillery, and unmanned aerial vehicles of the Groups of Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation wiped out one western-made missile weaponry depot near Odessa, one S-300 surface-to-air missile system radar station, and one P-19 detection and tracking radar station for detection and tracking of aerial targets. In addition, one fuel depot the AFU Joint Logistics Centre was destroyed. Aviation and air defence units shot down one Su-27 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Forces, three U.S.-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles, 17 French-made Hammer and U.S.-made JDAM guided aerial bombs, 30 GLSDB, HIMARS, Uragan, and Vampire MLRS projectiles, as well as 163 unmanned aerial vehicles. Over the past week, 13 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered on the line of contact. In total, 594 airplanes and 270 helicopters, 23,905 unmanned aerial vehicles, 512 air defence missile systems, 15,934 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,282 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 9,437 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 21,570 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Minister Blair meets with Germany's Minister of Defence and announces a $76 million contribution to Germany's Immediate Action on Air Defence initiative National Defence News release May 10, 2023 - Ottawa, Ontario - National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces Today, the Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence, welcomed Germany's Minister of Defence, Boris Pistorius, to Ottawa. The Ministers held a productive bilateral meeting, during which they discussed Canada's recently-released defence policy update, Our North, Strong and Free and Canada-Germany defence relations. The Ministers also discussed our mutual efforts to support Ukraine and our work to strengthen NATO's defence and deterrence posture, including in the Baltic states, where both Canada and Germany lead multinational NATO battle groups. Minister Blair today announced that Canada will contribute $76 million to Germany's Immediate Action on Air Defence (IAAD) initiative in support of Ukraine. This initiative, launched by Germany in April 2024, pools money and resources from the international community to quickly source and deliver air defence systems for Ukraine. These systems will help defend against Russian aerial attacks that have killed thousands of Ukrainians and destroyed hospitals, power plants and apartment blocks. Ministers Blair and Pistorius highlighted the work Canada and Germany are doing to support the NATO Alliance, including leading NATO battle groups in Latvia and Lithuania, and strengthening NATO's defence and deterrence measures in Eastern Europe. Both countries are working toward building their battle groups up to full Brigade size. The Ministers further discussed joint priorities in the lead-up to this summer's NATO Summit in Washington D.C. and reaffirmed their countries' commitment to continue providing vital military support to Ukraine in the immediate and longer term. Canada's contribution to the German IAAD initiative is just one way that Canada and Germany are working together to support Ukraine. Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members are currently deployed to Germany as part of the Security Assistance Group - Ukraine, which is helping to facilitate the transfer of aid to Ukraine, working to align future donations with Ukraine's needs, and planning for the immediate and longer-term training needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Canada and Germany share a strong and cooperative defence relationship and we will continue to deepen our ties as we work to uphold peace, stability, and the rules-based international order. Quotes "Canada and Germany are close NATO Allies, united through our close defence relationship and our commitment to supporting Ukraine. Through Canada's investment in Germany's Immediate Action on Air Defence Initiative, we are working together to provide Ukraine with the crucial air defence systems that it needs to protect its people. I thank Minister Pistorius for his strong cooperation, and I thank the German people for their hospitality to Canadian Armed Forces members deployed to the country." The Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence Quick facts Canada and Germany are like-minded global partners with a shared commitment to bolstering multilateralism and the rules-based international order. As long-standing NATO Allies, we cooperate closely on security and defence issues, and are also both members of the G7 and G20, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization. Since February 2022, Canada has committed over $14 billion in total support to Ukraine, including $4 billion in military assistance. This includes Leopard 2 main battle tanks, armoured combat support vehicles, anti-tank weapons, M777 howitzers, artillery ammunition, drones, and more. Canada is also contributing to multinational efforts to train pilots and maintain and support Ukraine's F-16s. Since March 2022, the Royal Canadian Air Force has been assisting with the delivery of military aid to Ukraine, donated by Canada, Allies, and partners. The RCAF has transported over 16 million pounds of Ukraine-bound military aid to date. Canada is more than doubling its military presence in Latvia. By this summer, there will be 1,500 persistently deployed CAF members in Latvia, with the full implementation of up to 2,200 members in a Brigade capacity by 2026. On April 8, 2024, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defence Minister Bill Blair released Our North, Strong and Free: A Renewed Vision for Canada's Defence. This defence policy update prioritizes Arctic and northern security and will invest $8.1 billion over five years and $73 billion over 20 years to bolster the defence of Canada. With this investment, Canada projects its defence spending to GDP ratio to reach 1.76% in 2029-30. This is a significant step forward towards meeting our commitment to reach defence expenditures of 2% of gross domestic product. Initiatives under Our North, Strong and Free also put Canada on track to exceed NATO's target of 20% for major equipment expenditures as a proportion of defence funding in 2025-2026. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Beijing slams Washington over reported tariffs on Chinese EVs Global Times By Chu Daye, Chen Zishuai and Ma Jingjing Published: May 10, 2024 11:06 PM Updated: May 10, 2024 11:36 PM The US' reported plan to levy tariffs on imports from China's emerging industries is adding mistakes to mistakes, and its commerce department's decision to add 37 Chinese entities in the high-tech sector to a trade restriction list is abusing export control tools to suppress Chinese companies, which will prompt necessary countermeasures from China, a Chinese Foreign Ministry (FM) spokesperson warned on Friday, urging the US to stop politicizing trade matters and cracking down on Chinese companies on so-called national security grounds. The latest moves showed that the US is stepping further down the path of clamping down on Chinese companies and "decoupling" with China, observers said, warning that there will be serious consequences. The Biden administration is set to announce new China tariffs as soon as next Tuesday targeting strategic sectors including electric vehicles, batteries and solar equipment, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Also on Thursday, the US moved to tighten its technology crackdown on Chinese firms after the US commerce department added 37 Chinese entities to a trade restriction list, including some companies accused of involvement in the balloon incident in 2023, and also citing other reasons such as national security and links to Russia. Observers said the moves revealed that the illogical and groundless smear campaign by the Western media and politicians hyping so-called Chinese "overcapacity" in green products is no more than a stepping stone for trade protectionist measures that had long been planned by the Biden administration, which lays bare the US' ulterior motive of cracking down on and stymieing China's development. In response to reported US levying of more tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and other green exports, FM spokesperson Lin Jian told a routine press briefing on Friday that the actions are "doubling the US' fault," noting that the Section 301 tariffs imposed by the former US administration on China have severely disrupted normal trade and economic exchanges between China and the US. The WTO has already ruled those tariffs against WTO rules. Instead of ending those wrong practices, the US continues to politicize trade issues, abuse the so-called review process of Section 301 tariffs and plan tariff hikes. The spokesperson urged the US to follow WTO rules, lift all additional tariffs on China and not to impose new ones. Regarding the US entity list, Lin said that China strongly opposes US abuse of entity list and other export controls to go after Chinese companies. "China and Russia have the right to normal economic and trade cooperation, and such cooperation should not come under external interference or constraint," Lin noted. Lin urged the US to stop overstretching the concept of national security, stop politicizing trade and tech issues or using them as weapons, and stop abusing various types of sanctions lists to suppress Chinese companies. China will continue to do what is necessary to defend the lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies, Lin said. China will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard its own interests if the US still proceeds with its wrongdoings, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Friday in response to a military aid package the Biden administration signed in April, which contains multiple negative items targeting China. Politicizing trade matters Following US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to China in April, there has been a marked uptick in the US' actions aimed at provoking China in trade and economic matters. The US this week revoked licenses that allowed companies including US chipmakers Intel and Qualcomm to deliver chips used for laptops and handsets to Chinese tech giant Huawei. China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday lambasted US export restrictions on the purely civilian use of chips as a "typical act of economic coercion," while US companies said that the move would negatively impact their earnings. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Wednesday warned that the US may take "extreme action" and seek to ban Chinese connected vehicles on national security grounds. The US has also launched a probe into the Chinese maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries. Analysts warned that the US government has walked away from its pledge to avoid holding back China's economic growth and formulated new measures to crack down on Chinese companies and engage in "decoupling", which is hurting the positive atmosphere of engagement and dialogue that had developed in recent months. Li Yong, a senior research fellow from the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Friday the US' continued crackdown on China's high-tech sectors and emerging industries is not surprising and represents more of the US saying one thing but doing another. "The US' continuing to contain and suppress China's development, to build and expand the so-called 'small yard, high fence,' and push toward decoupling is undermining the positive atmosphere of engagement and dialogue that had been built up in recent months with multiple high-level meetings taking place between the two sides," Li said. LA Xiang, research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday that the reports on a potential rollout of additional tariffs on Chinese green products showed that the Biden administration now believes there is an urgent need to resort to protectionist trade measures to shore up the US traditional industries and salvage some voters' support. The Biden administration has apparently backpedaled on its pursuit of a green economy by giving in to pressure from workers' unions at traditional US automakers that predominantly make internal combustion engine vehicles, the expert said. Biden and his aides are also trying to woo voters by playing tough on China, LA said. "The punishment of entities accused of being involved in the balloon incident seems to tell its voters that the Biden administration does not easily forget things, while the crackdown on Chinese technology companies serves the purpose of looking tough on China." However, LA said any trade protectionist moves taken by the Biden administration are unlikely to halt the downward trend of the US economy, noting that the US government's investment and industrial policies have been so far proved ineffective in boosting overall investment in the US. Global concerns International and global business communities have raised grave concerns over the prospects of heightened tensions between the world's two biggest economies and their implications for global economic recovery. IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath said on Tuesday that escalating tensions between the US and China have caused global ripples, and countries are reevaluating their trading and investment partners based on economic and national security concerns, leaving the world divided into three blocs. Many in the corporate sector have also cast doubt over the West's hyping of Chinese "overcapacity" in green exports. "With green technologies, China is making a great contribution to the world because we need to go very fast to solar and go very fast to electric mobility. China is helping to achieve that both in China and the world," Frank Hammes, global CEO of Swiss air quality technology company IQAir, told the Global Times in an interview on Friday. China is well positioned in important sectors that facilitate a global transition to a greener, more sustainable power generation and transport, he said. China, which had kept a restrained posture in response to US provocations, could strike back when it deems necessary in this escalation of trade tensions amid the US' headstrong trade protectionist moves, analysts warned. Despite certain US politicians pushing for decoupling against Chinese exports, bilateral trade has shown signs of steady growth, with total China-US trade expanding 1.1 percent year-on-year to 1.47 trillion yuan ($203.42 billion) in yuan-denominated terms in the first four months, reversing a 0.7 percent contraction in the first three months, customs data showed on Thursday. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Office of China's FM hits out remarks of US Consul General on HKSAR, calling US to return to the right path Global Times By Chen Qingqing and Bai Yunyi Published: May 10, 2024 05:45 PM China's foreign ministry's office in Hong Kong slammed the latest remarks of the US Consul General Gregory May, who criticized judicial cases in the Chinese city and openly supported anti-China and anti-Hong Kong figures including infamous rioter Jimmy Lai. Experts said the responsibility for improving US-China relations, including those with Hong Kong, lies with the US side, which should refrain from meddling in Hong Kong affairs. A spokesperson for the Commissioner's Office of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) expressed strong opposition and condemnation toward the remarks made by May, according to a statement published on the website of the office late Thursday night. Certain anti-China organizations and politicians in the West remain resentful of Hong Kong's shift from chaos to governance and now to prosperity. Under the guise of academic discussions, they actually intervene and discredit Hong Kong's political democracy, judicial fairness, and human rights conditions, which is neither objective nor fair, the spokesperson said. With Hong Kong entering a new phase of economic revitalization and development, any external interference is destined to fail, the spokesperson noted, advising the US to recognize the reality, position itself appropriately, refrain from stirring trouble, and return to the right path of fostering healthy and stable development of China-US relations through concrete actions. While China and the US are attempting to stabilize bilateral relations, May said during a webinar hosted by a Washington think tank Center for Strategic & International Studies on Thursday night that the US aims to stabilize relations with China, including those with Hong Kong. He also suggested that if Hong Kong leaders cease their "expanding crackdown" and return to the provisions and spirit of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, the US government would respond positively and attempt to improve Hong Kong-US relations, local media outlet Ming Pao reported. The US official also criticized the Hong Kong government's stated goal of combating "soft resistance," arguing that it is actually using extrajudicial means for "soft suppression," according to the media report. Based on May's comments, the US is trying to find an "exit strategy" in the face of being unable to change the situation in Hong Kong. However, if the US demands that Hong Kong admit to "mishandling" matters, Hong Kong will naturally refuse since that would be untrue, Lau Siu-kai, a consultant from the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies who is also a senior policy advisor, told the Global Times on Friday. Lau believed that the responsibility for improving US-China relations, including those with Hong Kong, lies with the US side, which should refrain from meddling in Hong Kong affairs. The US official told a webinar that American companies in Hong Kong are still interested in investing there, but some are concerned about potential instability following the implementation of Article 23 of the Basic Law and the legislation on critical infrastructure security expected later this year, according to the local media report. Businesses worry that some offenses under Article 23 are vaguely defined, leading to uncertainty for businesses and individuals, May noted, emphasizing that American companies expect the Hong Kong government to firmly and clearly reaffirm that the internet will remain free and open, and that Hong Kong will avoid strict information control, preventing foreign companies from having operational difficulties. National Security together with a safe, fair, proper and harmony use of the internet and electronic media, continuously contributes the prosperity of the city. The internet is never an extraterritorial forum or should be isolated from widespread of violence and illegal propaganda or materials, Chu Kar-kin, a veteran commentator based in the HKSAR and member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told the Global Times on Friday. "The HKSAR government has devoting efforts to contribute to the business environment, reputation and image. May should not defame Hong Kong and never interfere in Hong Kong's internal affairs and judicial system by inserting external pressure based on subjectivity and bias," Chu said. The fundamental national policies toward Hong Kong outlined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration have been fully implemented in the Basic Law, and the UK has no sovereignty, jurisdiction, or supervisory rights over Hong Kong after its return to the motherland, Willy Fu, a law professor who is also the director of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong & Macao Studies, told the Global Times on Friday. Over recent years, the UK, the US, and anti-China nations have intervened in Hong Kong's internal affairs in various ways. They mistakenly regard the Joint Declaration as a legal basis for the Basic Law of the HKSAR and demand that China fulfill "obligations" stipulated in the Joint Declaration, Fu said. "They also use the declaration to criticize China's enactment and implementation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong. These actions entirely confuse the original intent, nature, and status of the Joint Declaration. China's consistent stance is that the UK has no right to use the declaration as an excuse to interfere in Hong Kong after its return," the legal expert said. Some lawmakers in Hong Kong also voiced strong opposition to the US Consul General's remarks. Lawmaker Nixie Lam Lam said in a statement issued on Friday that some American politicians continue to ignore the deep societal divisions in their own country, suppress dissenting students, and restrict freedom of speech, yet focus on commenting on other nations' internal affairs to divert global attention away from these issues. "Anti-China rioter Jimmy Lai and other infamous anti-China figures have long played the role of traitorous clowns, deliberately slandering Hong Kong and fabricating false stories to solicit international sympathy with ulterior motives," Lam said, noting that Hong Kong's political democracy has continuously improved, freedoms and human rights are fully protected, economic development is steadily recovering, and society is orderly. The lawmaker also pointed out that May and the US government have long disparaged Hong Kong affairs, including the National Security Law for Hong Kong and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. "I believe such remarks show that US criticism of Hong Kong is completely unfounded, ignoring the fact that every country has national security laws," Lam said. May further claimed that the upcoming Cybersecurity Law would directly impact the free flow of information in Hong Kong, but his comments on a law that hasn't even been enacted are entirely fabricated and alarmist, which indicates that the US' comments about Hong Kong are purely political and are not based on facts, the lawmaker added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Full Text: Outcome list of President Xi Jinping's state visit to Hungary People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 13:14, May 10, 2024 BUDAPEST, May 9 (Xinhua) -- From May 8 to 10, 2024, President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China paid a state visit to Hungary. The outcome list of the visit is as follows: I. Joint Statement Joint Statement Between the People's Republic of China and Hungary on the Establishment of an All-Weather Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the New Era II. Cooperation Documents Signed or Agreed Upon by Both Parties China-Hungary Belt and Road Cooperation Priority Projects and Issues List (the third round) Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing Joint Laboratories Between the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Culture and Innovation of Hungary Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation Between the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Finance of Hungary Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting High-quality Development of Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones Between the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry for National Economy of Hungary Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting Investment Cooperation in Green Development Between the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Energy of Hungary Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of Investment Cooperation Committee Between the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Work Plan on Cultural Cooperation Between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Culture and Innovation of Hungary for the Period 2025-2029 Joint Communique Between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Culture and Innovation of Hungary on the Inauguration of the China Cultural Center in Budapest Memorandum of Understanding Between the China Atomic Energy Authority and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy Memorandum of Understanding Between the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary on Cooperation in the Field of Animal and Plant Quarantine Protocol Between the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary on Health Requirements for Bovine Semen to be Exported from Hungary to China Protocol of Phytosanitary Requirements for Export of Fresh Cherries from Hungary to China Between the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary Memorandum of Understanding Between the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary on Promoting Supply Chain Cooperation Between Chinese and Hungarian Enterprises Memorandum of Understanding on Film Cooperation Between China Film Administration and the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister of Hungary News Exchange and Cooperation Agreement Between Xinhua News Agency of the People's Republic of China, Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund and Duna Media Service Provider Nonprofit Ltd. of Hungary Memorandum on Deepening Cooperation Between China Media Group and Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund of Hungary Strategic Cooperation Agreement Between China Media Group and National Tourism Agency of Hungary Agreement on Mutual Cooperation Between People's Daily (People's Republic of China) and Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund and Duna Media Service Nonprofit Private Limited Company (Hungary) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US sanctions 37 Chinese tech firms over drones, spy balloons Move comes amid concerns American-made technology was being used for military purposes. By Alex Willemyns for RFA 2024.05.10 -- The United States on Friday blacklisted 37 Chinese companies it said were buying American-made components to build spy balloons, drones and quantum computing facilities for the country's military. Among the 37 firms were 22 accused of "participation" in the quantum technology sector, 11 accused of ties to building spy balloons and four with alleged ties to the production of unmanned drones. Some also are believed to have shipped items to Russia for the war in Ukraine. The sanctions bring the number of Chinese firms banned from dealings with American companies to 355 since the Biden administration took office in 2021, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which called the figure a record for any administration. Alan Estevez, the under secretary of commerce for industry and security who has led the sanctions effort, said the blacklistings were due to "significant national security concerns" over how the firms were using American-made technology for military purposes. "Today's action is another decisive step in addressing challenges posed by the People's Republic of China and its military modernization," Estevez said. "We must remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent entities such as these from accessing U.S. technologies that could be used in ways that harm our national security." Matthew Axelrod, the assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement, said that China acquiring advanced quantum computing capabilities, which would provide computing power dwarfing current abilities, would provide Beijing with "destabilizing" capabilities. "Preventing Chinese companies from acquiring technologies that enable the ... quantum, drone, and high-altitude surveillance programs is critical to protecting U.S. national security," Axelrod said. China's Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. Huawei licenses The new sanctions follow a move by the Department of Commerce on Tuesday to revoke licenses from U.S. companies including Intel and Qualcomm that had allowed them to sell components to Huawei. Under the Trump administration, Huawei was in 2019 added to a Department of Commerce list that requires American companies to obtain licenses before exporting any items to the company. Intel and Qualcomm were both granted such licenses in 2020, also under then-President Donald Trump. Last month, though, Huawei unveiled its first AI-capable laptop, the MateBook X Pro, which is powered by an advanced processor produced by Intel. That followed the release of the advanced Huawei Mate 60 Pro smartphone last year. Both products led to Republican lawmakers in the United States raising questions about export restrictions. Leading Republicans, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, a contender for the vice presidential slot on the party's presidential ticket in November, praised the license revocations as a boon to national security and even claimed credit for making them happen. "I will continue to conduct critical oversight to ensure that the Bureau of Industry and Security takes its role as a national security agency seriously by adding more companies to the entity list and revoking additional licenses if needed," Stefanik said in a statement. "We cannot provide Communist China with any technology developed in the U.S. that would give them an advantage," she said. But the move was less popular in Beijing, which has accused the United States of blocking Chinese companies from trading with American counterparts in order to disadvantage them competitively. "China resolutely opposes the United States overstretching the concept of national security and abusing export controls to suppress Chinese companies without justification," China's Foreign Ministry said. 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China resumes cooperating with US on illegal migration By Wenhao Ma, Adrianna Zhang, Mo Yu May 10, 2024 China has quietly resumed cooperation with the United States on the repatriation of Chinese migrants illegally stranded in the U.S., The Associated Press reported Thursday. The U.S.-China repatriation cooperation resumes amid the influx of Chinese migrants across the southern border of the United States. China halted the cooperation in August 2022 as part of retaliation over the visit to Taiwan by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Beijing considers the self-ruled island a breakaway province that must one day reunite with the mainland a by force if necessary a and opposes any official contact between Taipei and foreign governments, especially Washington, which supplies weapons for Taiwan to defend itself. Since the cooperation was halted, the U.S. has seen a spike in the number of Chinese migrants entering illegally from Mexico. U.S. border officials in 2023 arrested more than 37,000 Chinese nationals at the southern border, nearly 10 times more than in 2022. China's Foreign Ministry this week told the AP Beijing was "willing to maintain dialogue and cooperation in the area of immigration enforcement with the U.S." and would accept Chinese nationals who were deported. The resumption came after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in April told NBC News the U.S. and China were holding high-level talks on the issue. Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, said negotiations may increase the number of deportations of Chinese migrants in the short term. But he said the real effect on migrants' decision-making process depends more on U.S. resources and capacity to conduct more removals. "Prior negotiations with Venezuela, for example, did not lead to large increases in removals from the United States partially because it takes time to change structures and implement these measures," he told VOA. The New York Times reported that 100,000 Chinese nationals are living in the U.S. despite final orders for deportation. The number of Chinese migrants illegally entering the U.S. on its southern border has shown a downward trend this year, after a record spike in December. U.S. Customs and Borders Protection (CBP) said that while there were nearly 6,000 arrests of Chinese nationals in December, there were 3,700 in January, 3,500 in February, and just over 2,000 in March. Soto attributed the drop to stronger visa and border enforcement, but also to China's censoring online information about the route. "Because technology has become so entrenched in how migrants learn and select travel routes today, unlike in prior years when these were more heavily based on personal knowledge and networks," he told VOA, "it is likely that censoring content in mainstream channels can make it more difficult to travel along existing routes." Social media platform Douyin, the Chinese version of the short video sharing platform TikTok, has since last year been quietly cracking down on content about "Zouxian," which means "walk the line" in Mandarin. The term refers to Chinese migrants illegally crossing borders, including into the U.S. from Mexico and South America. It became a popular topic on the Chinese internet a few years ago and was used to search for information and tips on the route. Reuters reported last year that many Chinese migrants found at the U.S. southern border said they found out how to travel there on Douyin. Yang Yinhua, 31, told VOA he had no idea what the word "Zouxian" meant until last summer when he was introduced to the phrase while reading news about how dangerous the journey could be. He tried to look it up on China's biggest search engine, Baidu, but couldn't find much useful information. In August, someone he met on the internet invited him to join a group chat on Douyin. Group members shared information and tips about how to Zouxian to other countries, including the U.S. Yang said the chat quickly reached the maximum number of participants, which was 500. It was one of the six Zouxian group chats created by a user called Yunfei. Yang said all six chats were filled within weeks. "Nobody was living a decent life during the last five or six years," he told VOA. "The ruling party wasn't making the people feel happy like it used to." When Yang's mother died alone during the pandemic, he blamed China's draconian COVID-19 policy and decided it was time to leave his home country. By October, he had a plan to travel to the U.S. by way of Turkey, Ecuador and the Mexico-U.S. border. But Yang noticed Douyin started blocking Zouxian content. Yang and others in the group chat had to invent new words to continue discussing the route because the platform kept censoring certain key words. By the end of October, Yunfei had deleted all videos he posted about getting to the U.S., Yang said. Then Douyin suspended Yunfei's account and shut down all six of his chat groups. As soon as he left China, Yang stopped using Douyin and moved to the messaging application Telegram, where he joined a group chat also set up by Yunfei. But by the time Yang entered the chat, Yunfei had already left. In April, Yang said, the chat was taken over by what he called "little pink patriots," a derogatory nickname for those expressing pro-Beijing views. On TikTok, the international version of Douyin owned by the same parent company ByteDance, users noticed in January that content about Zouxian and the U.S.-Mexico border were being blocked. "No results found," the app says when you search for the term "Zouxian." It adds that the phrase "may be associated with behavior or content that violates our guidelines." According to TikTok's community guidelines, content considered harmful cannot be displayed. That includes hate speech, sexual violence, harassment, human exploitation and more. "We do not allow human exploitation, including trafficking and smuggling," the guidelines read. VOA tested Douyin in May and found that, aside from a few news clips about Chinese migrants traveling to the southern border of the U.S., "Zouxian" does not return any details about the route. Search results for locations including "Ecuador," "Guatemala" and "Panama" likewise show no results for Zouxian. For many Chinese migrants, Douyin was one of the few sources of online information on the route. China's internet firewall blocks social media sites Facebook, YouTube and X in China. VOA reached out to ByteDance for comment but received no response by the time of publication. Wang Yaqiu, director of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at human rights organization Freedom House in Washington, said the phenomenon of Zouxian reflects many Chinese people's dissatisfaction with Beijing, which she thinks can partly explain Douyin's crackdown. "I think the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is embarrassed that so many Chinese people want to flee the country even through such risky means. It exposes CCP propaganda about the Chinese economy and how good people's life are to be a sham," she wrote to VOA. In March, the bodies of eight Chinese migrants were found washed up on a beach in southern Mexico after the boat they were on capsized. Despite China's censorship of the route, Yang evaded border patrols to cross into the U.S. in early December with his sister. He lives in California, works at a warehouse and has no desire to return to China. Aline Barros contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Xi's fruitful Europe visit brings new impetus to ties Global Times By Wang Wenwen and Zhao Juecheng in Budapest Published: May 11, 2024 12:38 AM President Xi Jinping left Budapest on Friday, wrapping up his fruitful three-nation Europe visit, which both Chinese a
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nd European analysts believe injects momentum into China-Europe relations as well as future multipolarity and global stability. At a farewell event held by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his wife on Friday, Xi said China is now advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through Chinese modernization, and China's high-quality development and opening-up will provide more opportunities for Hungary. On Thursday, China and Hungary decided to elevate bilateral relations to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era. To enrich the new relationship, the two sides are committed to enhancing synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Hungary's "Eastern Opening" policy, said a joint statement released after Xi's meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. According to the statement, the two sides will further deepen cooperation on finance, encourage financial institutions of both sides to provide financing support and financial services for trade and investment cooperation, further tap the cooperation potential in green finance and other fields, and continue to jointly issue green Panda bonds. They will also strengthen exchanges and cooperation on land and spatial planning, expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation, and strengthen coordination and communication on tourism policies. "In a world clouded by the threat of protectionism and economic decoupling disguised as de-risking, economic and trade cooperation needs a surrounding atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. The now elevated strategic partnership between China and Hungary can generate not only such a solid atmosphere, but also the solid ground for long-term secure investment environment," Zoltan Kiszelly, director for political analysis of the Budapest-based political think tank Szazadveg Foundation, told the Global Times. Hungary was the last leg of Xi's Europe visit, which also included France and Serbia. This is the first time in five years that Xi has visited Europe, and each stop during the trip had its own highlights and memorable moments. In Serbia, Xi was greeted by thousands of Serbians in Belgrade. President Xi and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic signed a joint statement on the building of a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era, making Serbia the first European country to build such a community with China. In the joint statement, the two countries decided to deepen and elevate the China-Serbia comprehensive strategic partnership. On his first day in France, President Xi said during a trilateral meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that China-EU cooperation is "complementary and mutually beneficial" in essence. China-EU relations enjoy a strong endogenous driving force and bright prospects for development, and this relationship does not target any third party, nor should it be dependent on or dictated by any third party, Xi added. Xi and Macron also held talks at the Elysee Palace. President Xi said that 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 and Macron also reached agreements to strengthen cooperation among small and medium-sized enterprises. The next day, amid falling snow in the picturesque mountains in the Hautes-Pyrenees Department in southwestern France, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were warmly received by Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron at a mountain restaurant for a closed meeting. Experts believe that this personal touch marks a new climax in high-level exchanges that can boost mutual trust and understanding. Building trust Despite the EU's definition of China as "a partner for cooperation, an economic competitor and a systemic rival" and voices calling for de-risking, a milder version of the US' "decoupling" rhetoric, President Xi's Europe trip was preceded by a series of visits from European leaders to China this year - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the prime ministers of Belgium and the Netherlands. Serbian President Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Orban both participated in the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation when they held bilateral talks with President Xi. Zivadin Jovanovic, president of the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, who served as the minister of foreign affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1998 and 2000, told the Global Times that President Xi's Europe visit represents continuity of the highest-level dialogue and expression of a mutual interest to reinforce the strategic Europe-China partnership and cooperation. "The visits to France, Serbia and Hungary, as well as the tripartite meeting between Xi, Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have led to the conclusion of many new agreements for future cooperation and to the removing of unnecessary barriers," Jovanovic said. Some Chinese experts noted that as intensifying major-power competition and geopolitical rivalry deal a heavy blow to the existing global order, the importance of China-Europe relations is rising, as is the complexity of this relationship. There have been voices from Western media saying that China's boosting of its relations with Europe aims to undermine the transatlantic relationship between Europe and the US and even to undermine the European Union. Xin Hua, director and chair professor of the Center for European Union Studies, Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times that this mind-set underestimates Europe's interests. "China and Europe need each other. In a certain sense, Europe needs China to counterbalance the US, given the contradictions and divergences between Europe and the US. Europe will not shut its door to developing relations with China," said Xin. "There is no fundamental conflict of interests between China and Europe. For Europe, the real risk would be to do without China," SAbastien PArimony, an expert from the Schiller Institute in France, told the Global Times. He Zhigao, a research fellow with the Institute of European Studies from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that if China and Europe work together, camp confrontation, bloc politics and a new Cold War will not emerge, and this is related to the future of an equal and orderly multipolarity. "From the perspective of global economic development, if China and Europe work together to develop, protectionism, decoupling and de-risking will not happen. This is related to the future of inclusive globalization," said He. PArimony added that it is obvious to any rational person that the only solution to today's problems lies in a multipolar world based on the concept of mutual development, with new agreements in place for a security architecture and win-win growth strategies for all of the world's nations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US discusses North Korea with China, raises repatriation concerns Beijing routinely labels North Koreans as illegal 'economic migrants' and forcibly repatriates them. By Taejun Kang for RFA 2024.05.09 -- The senior U.S. official for North Korea met with her Chinese counterpart in Tokyo and expressed concern about the forcible repatriation of North Koreans from China, the U.S. State Department said. During Thursday's discussions with China's Special Representative on Korean Peninsula Affairs Liu Xiaoming, Jung Pak noted North Korea's "provocative and irresponsible rhetoric toward its neighbors," the department said in a statement. "She [Pak] also expressed continued U.S. concerns regarding the forcible repatriation of North Koreans, including asylum seekers, to the DPRK and called on Beijing to uphold its non-refoulement obligations," said the department. DPRK, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is North Korea's official name. The U.N. principle of non-refoulement is supposed to guarantee that "no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm." Pak also stressed concern about Pyongyang's deepening military cooperation with Moscow, saying that Russia's veto of a mandate extension for a U.N. panel that monitored North Korean sanctions would hamper efforts to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions, according to the statement. Pak's remarks came after international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch published a report on Wednesday saying China had recently forcibly returned about 60 North Koreans. "The Chinese government forcibly returned about 60 North Korean refugees on April 26, putting them at grave risk of enforced disappearance, torture, sexual violence, wrongful imprisonment, forced labor, and execution," said HRW. It cited Stephen Kim, the pseudonym of an underground missionary, as saying that the Chinese government had forcibly returned the North Koreans from China's Jilin and Liaoning provinces. Kim told HRW that the Chinese authorities had apprehended at least 92 North Koreans since January but could not confirm whether anyone among the 92 was forcibly returned on April 26, adding that it was highly unlikely. This round of forced returns came soon after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with China's third highest official, Zhao Leji, on April 13. HRW noted that the meeting had "raised concerns among North Koreans in exile and rights activists that China might speed up forced repatriations of North Koreans." Beijing routinely labels North Koreans as illegal "economic migrants" and forcibly repatriates them under a 1986 bilateral border protocol with Pyongyang. China's foreign ministry said in October last year there were no North Korean "defectors" in China but North Koreans had illegally entered for economic reasons and that China always handled the issue according to the law. HRW earlier reported that it confirmed China had forcibly returned more than 670 North Koreans since Pyongyang closed its northern border in early 2020. This includes more than 500 North Koreans on Oct. 9, 2023; 40 on Sept. 18, 2023; 80 on Aug. 29, 2023; and about 50 in July 2021. In Tokyo, Pak also discussed North Korea with her South Korean and Japanese counterparts and underscored the importance of maintaining close trilateral cooperation in addressing issues around North Korea, including security threat, human rights and humanitarian challenges created by the North, the department said in a separate statement. Edited by Mike Firn. Copyright 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Condolatory Address Made at Ceremony of Bidding Farewell to Late Kim Ki Nam Korean Central News Agency of DPRK Pyongyang, May 10 (KCNA) -- Ri Il Hwan, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, made a condolatory address at the ceremony of bidding farewell to the late Kim Ki Nam on Thursday. Ri Il Hwan in the condolatory address said that it is hard to find such a veteran revolutionary who defended the validity of our ideology and cause while playing an core role on the ideological front of the Party with invariable loyalty to it to preserve the lifeline of the Korean revolution and dynamically accelerate its accomplishment for more than 60 years. Kim Ki Nam grew up to be an intellectual of a new Korea and a pillar of the Party under the care of President Kim Il Sung , said Ri Il Hwan, praising his fervent loyalty to the leader, which ran through his whole life. He went on: Kim Ki Nam came to have and glorify his political integrity and physical life under the care of the Party and the leader and dedicated himself to the accomplishment of the historic cause of modeling the whole Party and the whole society on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. Gifted with resolute and ardent mind, he performed distinguished feats with matchless ability and admirable traits on the important ideological front. His boundless loyalty to the ideology and cause of the Party was perfectly combined with his honesty and uprightness, which added brilliance to his career to make it a mirror for posterity. The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un climbed to the top of Mt Paektu with him to inject new vitality into his old-age life, sent a heart-warming autograph full of love and affection to him on his 85th birthday in praise of the exploits the veteran soldier performed by working for a long time in a responsible position for guiding the ideological work of the whole Party, and made sure that the title of Labor Hero, the highest honour of the Korean people, was awarded to him on his 90th birthday, thus seeing to it that the old loyalist enjoyed the greatest glory and happiness. As he was an honest man with his inmost heart burning with the will to repay the kindness of the benefactor of his life, he did not drop his brush even in his 90s to bequeath what he witnessed and experienced under the guidance of the great leaders, and even in sickbed, he asked others to faithfully uphold the guidance of Comrade Kim Jong Un . We will faithfully uphold the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Un for the brilliant accomplishment of the Juche revolution, to which Kim Ki Nam devoted his all, and console him before his bier by remaining faithful to the mission and duty we have assumed before the Party and the revolution, the country and posterity. -0- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Attacks on German politicians raise fears for democracy By VOA News May 10, 2024 A growing list of physical attacks on German politicians in recent weeks has brought condemnation from leaders and fears about the future of democracy in Germany and Europe. The latest attacks this week included Berlin State Senator and former Mayor Franziska Giffey, who was attacked Tuesday at an event in a Berlin library. Reports say she was hit from behind by a man with a bag containing something "hard and heavy." She was treated for her injuries and the man was taken into custody. Later that same day, a 47-year-old female Green Party politician was attacked by two people while putting up election posters in Dresden. German state-funded media company Deutsche Welle caught the assault on video. It shows the city council candidate being verbally attacked and spat on by a woman while the attacker's male companion could be seen shoving members of the candidate's team. Along with insults, the attackers reportedly shouted support for the German right-wing Alternative for Germany party. Two right-wing politicians were also attacked this week. Police in the southwestern city of Stuttgart say two state lawmakers from the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) were verbally and physically abused late Wednesday as they managed an information booth about their party. Police say the injuries were not serious. The worst of the recent attacks occurred a week ago in Dresden, where member of the European Parliament Matthias Ecke, a member of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's German Social Democrats (SPD) party, was brutally beaten by four assailants while putting up campaign posters. Party officials say his injuries will require surgery. Four suspects in the attack on Ecke a aged 17 and 18 a have since been arrested. The attacks have drawn commendation from German lawmakers from across the political spectrum. In a video message Thursday, Scholz referred to them as "attacks on our democracy" that "concern all of us, which is why we do not stand idly by when public officials, campaigners or volunteers are brutally attacked." He suggested one of the best things people can do to fight back is to vote in next month's European Parliamentary elections. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a former German politician herself, also spoke out against the violence Thursday during comments to the German conservative CDU party congress in Berlin. "When we talk about threats to our democracy, we are not just talking about positions and content. It's also about people," she said. "We must protect all those who stand up for our democratic society and our country, regardless of which party they belong to." In an interview with Reuters television Friday, Bundeswehr University German political scientist Jasmin Riedl said the attacks are a worrying sign for liberal democracy. "When it comes to verbal violence, people are supposed to be delegitimized. And that in itself is problematic for political competition. But when people are attacked, they withdraw from the political arena," she said. "That ruins the competition because it makes it unfair for them. Certain groups are simply removed one by one." Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DRDO organises 8th Technology Council Meeting to review the status of induction of DRDO technologies into CAPFs, Police & NDRF India - Press Information Bureau Ministry of Defence Posted On: 10 MAY 2024 7:36PM by PIB Delhi Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) organised the 8th Technology Council Meeting in New Delhi on May 09, 2024. The meeting was held to review the status of induction of DRDO technologies into the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), Police and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Various DRDO laboratories from across the country participated in the meeting virtually. The meeting had active participation and was successful in consolidating the progress achieved. It also laid out a roadmap of activities for the next six months. An exhibition of various DRDO-developed products was also organised as part of the meeting, where latest technologies across diverse domains such as Weapon systems, Communications, Internal security, VIP security, Sustenance etc were showcased. DG (Production, Coordination & Services Interaction) Smt Chandrika Kaushik chaired the meeting, which was attended by IGs of BSF, CRPF, ITBP, SSB, NDRF, NSG, Assam Rifles, IB and Delhi Police. Advisor, MHA Smt Harcharan Kaur also participated in the meeting. Shri Sangita Rao Director, Directorate of Low Intensity Conflicts (DLIC) Achary Addanki steered the meeting. DLIC is the nodal agency coordinating the same. DRDO is the premier research organisation involved in development of critical and futuristic technologies for the Defence Services towards achieving self-reliance. To aid in the modernisation of Central Police and Paramilitary forces under MHA and the state police forces, an MoU had been signed between DRDO and MHA in 2012 to induct DRDO developed technologies and products into these forces. *** ABB/Savvy/KB (Release ID: 2020278) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address ICG signs MoU with private sector for manufacturing & supply of indigenous marine-grade aluminum for construction of ships India - Press Information Bureau Ministry of Defence Posted On: 10 MAY 2024 12:17PM by PIB Delhi Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Hindalco Industries, on May 09, 2024, inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi for the manufacturing and supply of indigenous marine-grade aluminium to Indian public and private shipyards for the construction of ships. The MoU will also provide benefits such as quarterly pricing, priority in supplies and Turnover discount. The ICG fleet is presently operating 67 ships with aluminium hull with capability of operating in shallow waters. To further boost coastal security, it has planned to induct more such vessels where the indigenously manufactured marine-grade aluminium will be utilised. The MoU was signed by Deputy Director General (Materiel & Maintenance), ICG IG HK Sharma and CEO, Downstream Aluminum Business, Hindalco Shri Nilesh Koul in the presence of senior officials of the ICG. ****** ABB/KB (Release ID: 2020184) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India completes troop withdrawal from Maldives: Indian FM spokesperson People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 08:57, May 11, 2024 NEW DELHI, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randir Jaiswal on Friday confirmed that all Indian troops previously stationed across three platforms in the Maldives have been redeployed back to India and replaced by technical civilian personnel. Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu pledged to withdraw all foreign troops after assuming office in November 2023. India agreed to withdraw its military personnel from the Maldives by May 10 after a series of constructive meetings and dialogues between the two countries. The Maldives government previously announced that there were 89 Indian soldiers and support staff in the country, primarily engaged in maintenance work, positioned across three regions in the Maldives. Later that day, the chief spokesperson at the Maldivian President's Office Heena Waleed also confirmed that all Indian troops have been withdrawn. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Enemies put on a show of sanctions removal under JCPOA' IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency May 10, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami says the Islamic Republic's adversaries only pretended to lift the sanctions but did not fulfill their duties following the 2015 deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Fortunately, today, Iran's nuclear capacity has flourished and is progressing, and we will increase our capacities stronger than in the past, Eslami told a gathering marking the 33rd Fardo Martyrs' Memorial in Qom. While calling Martyrs the pride of the nation, Iran's nuclear chief emphasized that the country excelled in the field of science and technology after the victory of the Islamic Revolution despite plots hatched by enemies to derail it from the path of excellence. One of these cases is radiopharmaceuticals, in which, we have made significant progress and we could not have progressed if we had not achieved self-sufficiency in the fuel cycle, he explained. Another of Iran's achievements in the nuclear field is the issue of heavy water. The Islamic Republic is currently among the best in the world in the field of heavy water and its derivatives needed in research and development in pharmaceutical and other sectors, he said. The AEOI chief noted that the Shahid Alimohammadi Enrichment Complex (Fordo) is one of the most important nuclear capacities of the country, which has become a thorn in the eyes of the enemies that claimed to have their monopoly on science and technology. They resorted to crippling sanctions on the country under various pretexts only because of Iran's powerful entry into this arena, he said adding, "Our country is independent and excellent in various defense, nuclear and scientific sectors, and our enemies do not want the Islamic Republic of Iran to walk the path of excellence with authority". Eslami continued by saying that as the Supreme Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution had emphasized, nuclear technology is a source of honor for the country, and accordingly, our nuclear scientists have taken an endogenous and committed step in this direction. For this reason, today the output of Iran's nuclear technologies and achievements, despite all the sabotage, terror, threats, and sanctions, is at the global level. 4399**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Leader calls for strong parliament as Iranians vote in election runoff Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 4:55 AM Iranians have voted in a runoff election for the remaining seats in the country's parliament, with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei calling for a strong turnout. People in 22 constituencies across the country are electing 45 representatives from a pool of 90 candidates. The voting began in 15 provinces at 8 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) on Friday. In the capital, Tehran, 16 representatives will be chosen from 32 candidates. Final results are expected on Monday, though counts in smaller constituencies are likely before that. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei cast his ballot at a polling station in Tehran in the first minutes of voting. Ayatollah Khamenei said that every person, who wants Iran's progress, has a national duty to take part in the election. "The importance of the second round is not less than the first one, and God willing, our beloved people will all participate, vote and complete the parliament," the Leader added. "The more votes, the stronger the parliament is, and the stronger the parliament, the more opportunities to work in the country." Mohsen Eslami, spokesman of Iran's Election Headquarters, said on Thursday that the polling stations would remain open for 10 hours. He noted that the time may be extended upon the decision of the Interior Ministry. The first round of the parliamentary election, which was held along with the Assembly of Experts vote on March 1, saw a turnout of 41 percent. Back then, 245 candidates managed to pass the 20-percent threshold to win the ticket to the parliament. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said participation in the second round was "as important" as the first. "Those with influence among the people should encourage the nation to participate in it," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Senior Iranian Official Threatens Change In Nuclear Doctrine By RFE/RL's Radio Farda May 10, 2024 A senior Iranian official has issued a stark warning that Tehran might change its nuclear doctrine and begin to build nuclear bombs if the nation's existence is threatened. Kamal Kharrazi, head of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in an interview aired on Al-Jazeera Arabic that Iran "has the capacity to produce a bomb," though the country has not taken the actual step of making one. "Two years ago in an interview with Al-Jazeera, I announced that Iran has the capacity to produce a nuclear bomb. That capacity still exists today, but we have no intention of producing a nuclear bomb. However, if the existence of Iran is threatened, we will have to change our nuclear doctrine," he said. The comments come at a time of escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, further complicated by the international community's concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions. The Islamic republic has repeatedly claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, despite possessing the technical capabilities for weaponization. A nuclear deal in 2015 lifted U.S. sanctions against Tehran, but in 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump left the agreement and Washington has since ratcheted up measures against Iran that have choked the country's economy. Efforts to revive the deal have failed, and Tehran has violated terms of the pact by producing uranium with a higher enrichment threshold. In March, Bloomberg News quoted a senior U.S. Defense Department official as saying Iran was less than 12 days away from obtaining the fissile material necessary to produce an atomic bomb. The threat of a shift in doctrine follows an incident last month when Israel is said to have targeted a radar system at a base near the city of Isfahan. The attack followed an incident on April 13, when Iran retaliated against an Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus that claimed the lives of seven senior officers from the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles at Israel, though almost all failed to hit targets inside Israel. After Khamenei issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, against nuclear weapons in 2005, officials were adamant that Tehran's nuclear program was strictly for civilian purposes. But the rhetoric has shifted in recent years. In the interview, Kharrazi also made reference to potential reactions to any attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. "If they want to strike at Iran's nuclear capabilities, it could naturally lead to a change in Iran's nuclear doctrine," he said. Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned earlier this month that Iran is only weeks away from having enough enriched uranium to produce a nuclear bomb. Grossi has criticized Tehran's cooperation with the agency as "unacceptable" and called for a significant shift in Iran's nuclear policy. Kharrazi also hinted at the possibility of Iran withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and potentially moving toward developing nuclear weapons. Iran had previously warned it would leave the NPT if its regime felt threatened. Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-change-nuclear- doctrine-bombs-israel/32940976.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Seeks Shift In Iranian 'Decision-Making Calculus' Through Saudi-Israeli Normalization By Kian Sharifi May 10, 2024 The United States wants to force a gradual shift in Iran's "decision-making calculus" by signing a defense deal with Saudi Arabia and securing the normalization of relations between Riyadh and Israel. "We continue to work with allies and partners to enhance their capabilities to deter and counter the threats Iran poses, impose costs on Iran for its actions, and seek to shift Iran's decision-making calculus over time," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told RFE/RL. The security package has several components, including a bilateral U.S.-Saudi defense pact aimed at enhancing the Sunni kingdom's deterrence capabilities. But Washington is adamant that regardless of how close the Americans and the Saudis are to a bilateral agreement, the security package cannot materialize without Saudi-Israeli normalization. Saudi Arabia has conditioned the normalization of ties with Israel on the establishment of a cease-fire in Gaza and a credible pathway to Palestinian statehood. The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden sees a three-way deal key to ensuring a sustainable peace in the Middle East, which includes isolating Iran and making it costly for the Islamic republic to maintain its current regional policies. "Iran's isolation in the region and in the international community is a result of its own policies," the spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement to RFE/RL. A calculus shift will "definitely" happen, but not in the way that the United States wants, according to Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. "Any sort of coalition-building would result in Iran going for counter-coalitions," he added. But analysts maintain that for Saudi Arabia, isolating Iran is not the core objective of a security pact with the United States. The Saudis see normalizing relations with Israel as a strategic leverage to help them extract substantial security commitments from Washington, "thereby balancing against Iranian influence without overtly antagonizing Tehran," Azizi said. Meanwhile, securing a path toward Palestinian statehood could help Saudi Arabia assert its leadership within the Muslim world and effectively end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Iran has long opposed Arab normalization with Israel and is a staunch critic of the Abraham Accords, which saw Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) establish diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020. On May 1, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei implicitly criticized Saudi Arabia for looking to normalize relations with Israel in the hopes of resolving the Palestinian question. Anna Jacobs, a senior Gulf analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, argued that the U.A.E. model of balancing relations with Iran and Israel suggests that Saudi Arabia can do the same. "Riyadh seems confident that normalization with Israel wouldn't have a major impact on its relationship with Tehran," she said. "The Saudi strategy with Iran right now is both containment and engagement." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-saudi-israel- deal-defense/32941112.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'We have what we need': Israel downplays Biden's threat of freezing arms supplies Iran Press TV Friday, 10 May 2024 1:53 PM The Israeli military has downplayed a recent threat issued by US President Joe Biden of freezing American arms supplies to the occupying regime if the latter went ahead with a full-scale ground invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military "has munitions for the operations that are planned, and also for the operation in Rafah. We have what we need," military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Thursday. Joe Biden voiced the threat in remarks to CNN on Wednesday, saying, "If they go into Rafah...we're not gonna supply the weapons and the artillery shells that have been used." The regime has vowed for weeks to launch a ground incursion against the city. The Israeli military has already gone ahead with waging limited ground attacks against Rafah and seized the nearby crossing into Egypt, which is the main corridor for the transfer of aid into besieged Gaza. Some 1.5 million Palestinians are seeking refuge in the city after fleeing a war that the regime has been waging against the entire Gaza since October 7. At least 34.904 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed so far during the war, which began following al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver's resistance groups. 'US military support unprecedented, differences resolvable' Hagari, meanwhile, thanked the United States for its extraordinary military support for the regime so far during the war that has seen Washington providing Tel Aviv with thousands of tons of military equipment. "The United States has provided so far unprecedented security assistance...during the war," he said. The Israeli official also affirmed existence of favorable ongoing cooperation between the regime's military and the US Central Command, which is responsible for the American military operations in West Asia among some other regions. "What is equally important is the military assistance and cooperation between" the American Central Command and the Israeli military, he said. He added that Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israeli military, speaks with the head of CENTCOM Michael Kurilla "every day" to discuss "war efforts" and "challenges in the region." "Even when we have differences between us, we resolve them in closed rooms." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Myanmar junta bombs rebel meeting, killing 16, including child Anti-junta forces were meeting at a monastery when the junta attacked by air, witnesses say. By RFA Burmese 2024.05.10 -- Myanmar junta airstrikes on a gathering of opponents of military rule killed 16 people, including a child, and injured 25, residents and an anti-junta militia member said on Friday. The anti-military activists were meeting in a Buddhist monastery in Magway region when the aircraft attacked, said a resident of the area who identified himself as Ko Lin. A child was among the dead in the Thursday morning attack in Ah Kyi Pan Pa Lun village in Saw township, he said. "The monastery was hit with firebombs. Eleven or 12 people were caught in the fire," he told Radio Free Asia. The dead had been cremated and the wounded were being treated, according to groups helping the victims. Rescuers and residents told RFA that the death toll could rise, as several people remained missing and bodies had yet to be recovered. "As far as I know, the number of deaths are increasing," said one rescue worker, who declined to be named due to security concerns. "There are still people who are missing, as we can't locate their bodies." Military 'relentlessly' attacked In images posted online, rebel fighters and residents can be seen gathering body parts amidst smoke and rubble. Many of the corpses could not immediately be identified, due to the damage caused to heads, limbs and torsos. Other images showed charred trees, burning structures, and zinc plating scattered in the bombing. A resident of the area who managed to escape unharmed and identified himself as Ko Lin said junta forces "relentlessly" shelled and fired on the site. "Despite the bomb falling nearby, I remained unharmed," he said, adding that he had no opportunity to flee because "the sound of the plane came just as bullets hit the area." RFA tried to contact the junta's spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, by telephone for more details but he did not answer. RFA was also unable to reach Myo Myint, the junta's minister of social affairs and spokesperson for Magway region. Hotbed of opposition Myanmar's central dry zone, made up of the Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay regions, has become a hotbed of opposition to military rule from the majority ethnic Burman community. Pro-democracy activists took up arms after the military overthrew an elected government in 2021, forming militias known as People's Defense Forces (PDF) and allied with ethnic minority insurgent groups that have been battling for self-determination in border regions for decades. The anti-junta forces have been on the offensive since late last year, making significant gains in several areas. The junta has used heavy firepower in its battles against PDF fighters in central Myanmar, at times leveling villages and killing numerous civilians, survivors have said. Three attack runs A member of Saw township's PDF said the jets attacked from an air base in Tada-U in Mandalay Division. "It seems that the members were being targeted when they were meeting in the monastery, but civilians were also there," said the militia member, who declined to be identified. He said a jet made three attack runs over the village, dropping six bombs in all. Thursday's attack on Ah Kyi Pan Pa Lun was the most deadly in the district since the war began, residents said. According to data compiled by RFA, from the coup until the end of March 2024, military airstrikes and artillery fire have killed at least 1,677 civilians and injured 3,263 others. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. This story has been updated to include descriptions of the site after the bombing, as well as comments from rescue workers and residents who witnessed the attack. 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mikhail Mishustin appointed Prime Minister of the Russian Federation The President signed Executive Order On the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. May 10, 2024 18:10 Pursuant to the Presidential Executive Order and in accordance with Article 83 paragraph (a) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Mishustin has been appointed Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Meeting with Acting Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin Vladimir Putin met with Acting Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. May 10, 2024 12:40 The Kremlin, Moscow President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Mishustin, as you know, I have submitted a proposal to the State Duma on appointing you as Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. Most recently, we have met with colleagues to assess the Government's performance over previous years. A lot has been achieved in challenging conditions, and I think it would be proper for us to continue working with you and for you to continue your work as Prime Minister. You and I have discussed the structure and line-up. I think in general we are on the right path, and I very much expect the State Duma deputies to appreciate and support you during your upcoming consultations today with the Duma parties and later at a parliament session. Just recently, you made a report in the State Duma, and the deputies are well aware of the work that the Government and you as Prime Minister have done over these past years. After this, which will hopefully go as planned, we will meet again to discuss your proposals in greater detail. We will act in accordance with the Constitution. I hope that the State Duma deputies will support your candidates for deputy prime ministers and federal ministers. Acting Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you, Mr Putin. First, I would like to thank you for the trust you put in me. The tasks you set in your Address to the Federal Assembly, and, of course, the national development goals specified in the new May executive order, serve as guidelines and priorities for the Government's work. I would like to emphasise that the Government will continue working uninterrupted. I also believe that we must ensure continuity regarding all the previous national goals set in the Executive Orders 204 and 474. We will make every effort to develop our economy and so to justify the trust of our people, and I am confident that under your leadership we will achieve all the set tasks. Vladimir Putin: We formulated the national development goals together with you and our colleagues from the Government, and the achievement of these goals in all areas is our paramount objective. As the recent years have shown, we are generally able to achieve the results that the country needs, and obviously, in today's difficult conditions, we must get together and organise the activities exactly as we agreed at the latest meeting with the Government, working continuously. Mikhail Mishustin: We will do this, Mr Putin. Vladimir Putin: Thank you. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Landsbergis meets with the Foreign Minister of Latvia: "Russia poses the biggest direct, long-term threat" Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2024.05.10 On May 10, Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, met with Latvia's new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baiba Braze, in Vilnius. The Foreign Ministers discussed the region's geopolitical situation, the need to increase military support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's war of aggression, the accountability of the aggressor Russia and its accomplice Belarus, and infrastructure projects. "The neighbourhood links Lithuania and Latvia, the closest possible cooperation within NATO and the European Union, and a close friendship. We share a Baltic identity, history, a common assessment of today's geopolitical challenges and a very similar approach to what and how we need to do to overcome them," said Landsbergis, welcoming his counterpart who chose Lithuania for one of his first visits. According to the head of Lithuania's diplomacy, current security challenges and threats help to further strengthen bilateral and regional cooperation between the eight Nordic and Baltic countries. Landsbergis noted that the Baltic states were leaders among Ukraine's supporters and worked together to ensure that other countries, especially large and economically capable countries, would contribute significantly to Ukraine's victory. "Ukraine's victory over the aggressor Russia is a prerequisite for the return of peace to the European continent. For this, Ukraine needs to receive much more military support and air defence systems, and we need to take significant steps towards Ukraine's membership in the EU and NATO. Ukraine's place is in the European and Euro-Atlantic family, and it is eagerly awaited," Landsbergis said. The Foreign Ministers discussed the latest manifestations of Russia's aggression - diversion operations - and insisted that they had a common understanding: it is necessary to act decisively to prevent these attacks and impose sanctions on persons executing the operations or otherwise involved in them. "Russia poses the biggest direct, long-term threat. Together with our partners, we must intensify our work on devising a comprehensive strategy to deter Russia, create strategic dilemmas for it, impose new tight sanctions, prevent their circumvention, and strengthen the international isolation of Russia and Belarus," Landsbergis said. Landsbergis noted that today, the so-called Core Group was meeting in Vilnius to create a special international tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression against Ukraine. At the meeting, the Foreign Ministers also discussed infrastructure projectsthe synchronisation of the Baltic states' electricity grid with the Continental European Network, the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor, and the final transition to European standards to ensure the integrity of the region, defence mobility, and business interests. Braze is a professional diplomat who previously worked in the Latvian diplomatic service and NATO structures and was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia on April 19, 2024, after the resignation of the former Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tried and Tested: Putin Reappoints Mikhail Mishustin as New Russian Prime Minister Sputnik News 20240510 Russian President Vladimir Putin has selected the most experienced and effective officials to navigate the country's economy amidst global geopolitical shifts and the emergence of a new multipolar environment. Following Russian President Vladimir Putin's May 7 inauguration, a new government has to be formed according to Constitutional amendments of 2020. A new Russian prime minister and other civilian ministers have to be approved by the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Federal Assembly of Russia, whereas the upper chamber - the Federation Council - holds discussions on the appointment of the heads of the Ministry of Defense, Internal Affairs, Emergency Situations, and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Accounts Chamber. Mikhail Mishustin: Technocrat and Crisis Manager On May 10, Putin nominated Mikhail Mishustin for another tenure as the country's prime minister, a proposal that was approved by the State Duma. Putin emphasized that the Mishustin cabinet has proven to be efficient amid Western sanctions pressure and the ongoing special military operation in Ukraine. Mishustin assumed office in January 2020 at the start of the economic crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2022, he was tasked with stabilizing the economy in the face of the West's hybrid war against Russia. The prime minister managed to steer the economy towards sustainable growth: between 2020 and 2023, Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.7%, despite turbulence in foreign trade and a radical restructuring of the entire export strategy. Mishustin was born on March 3, 1966, in Moscow. He graduated from the Moscow Machine Tool Institute with a degree in computer-aided design systems in 1989 and completed post-graduate studies in 1992. He continued his education well into his working life, earning a doctorate of economics in 2010. The newly appointed PM is no novice when it comes to crisis management. During the Russian financial crisis of August 1998 in which the nation suffered a default, Mishustin became deputy head of the Russian Tax Service, improving what at the time was a catastrophic rate of non-payment of taxes among Russia's business elites. Under Mishustin's leadership over the past two years, the Russian economy has embarked on a path of re-industrialization and strengthened economic ties with the BRICS bloc and the Global South, moving away from the West. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin may visit Vietnam as Hanoi aims to secure power balance By VOA News May 10, 2024 Vietnamese officials are hopefully anticipating an unannounced visit to Hanoi by Russian President Vladimir Putin, possibly as early as next week on his way to Beijing for meetings with Chinese leaders. Experts say such a visit would allow the Russian leader to show that Western efforts to isolate his government over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine have failed, while furthering Hanoi's efforts to navigate a middle ground between the United States and China. Vietnam could also be expected to seek an arms deal with its historical ally as its Soviet-era military equipment ages beyond its service life. During a phone call on March 26, the leader of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam a General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong a extended an invitation to Putin to visit Hanoi. According to state media outlet Vietnam News Agency, "President Putin happily accepted the invitation and agreed for the two sides to arrange [the visit] at a suitable time." Ian Storey, fellow at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told VOA that the visit could take place this month, when Putin is expected to travel to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Putin confirmed at an April 25 congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs that he would visit Beijing sometime in May. He did not provide dates, but Bloomberg quoted unidentified sources saying it would take place on May 15 and 16. "Putin might use this opportunity to visit Russia's three closest partners in Asia: China, Vietnam and North Korea," Storey wrote in an email on April 10. "Putin would use this visit to signal to the world that his government's 'Turn to the East' policy remains on track and that the West has failed to isolate Russia." Balancing power Maintaining a close connection to Moscow is a priority for the Vietnamese leadership as they attempt to balance between the world's two leading powers, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at Honolulu's Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. "Vietnam has to balance its relationship between China and the United States, and it's like it's caught between a rock and a hard place," he told VOA during a Zoom call on April 13. Vuving said that Beijing is a threat to neighboring Vietnam's territorial integrity not only as it encroaches into the South China Sea but also as its power grows regionally. While the U.S. is the obvious counterbalance, Washington is seen as a threat to the country's regime by the ruling Communist Party. "Russia offers a very good middle ground for Vietnam," Vuving said. Moscow shares "regime affinity and their leaders still call each other comrades." Furthermore, Russian enterprises are key partners to Vietnam's oil and gas ventures in the South China Sea, he said. Storey said a meeting would be particularly significant after Hanoi upgraded ties with Washington in September 2023 and Xi visited Hanoi in December. "Putin has been invited to visit Vietnam twice now," first by President Vo Van Thuong in October 2023 and again in March by Trong, Storey wrote. "Now that the visits of Presidents [Joe] Biden and Xi have taken place, Vietnam might welcome a visit by Putin for two reasons: First, to demonstrate that it pursues a balanced foreign policy; and second, to show Moscow that despite the war in Ukraine, Russia remains a valuable friend." Arms and public perception Nguyen The Phuong, a doctoral candidate at the University of New South Wales Canberra, told VOA that an arms deal with Russia may be in the works. "If Putin visited it will be a very good chance for Vietnam to explore those kinds of possibilities of how they could somehow purchase weapons from Russia," Phuong said, speaking to VOA on April 8 over Zoom. Storey wrote that acquiring new fighter jets is a top priority for Vietnam "as its current inventory of Russian-made aircraft is reaching the end of its operational life." "We cannot rule out future purchases from Russia," he said, adding that any discussion of arms deals would be kept tightly under wraps amid sensitivity over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Although Vietnam's international reputation would be damaged if news of an arms deal with Russia was made public, it would likely be supported by the majority of the Vietnamese public, according to Phuong. "They would be welcoming of the upcoming visit of Putin," he said. "The Vietnamese public still has some sense of some support for Russian weapons a it's a result of a historical narrative and propaganda." Still, that support is not universal. Tran Anh Quan, a Ho Chi Minh City-based social activist, said he has opposed the war on Ukraine since its outset. "If today I do not oppose Russia's invasion of Ukraine, then later, if China invades my country, who will speak up to support us?" he wrote over the messaging app Telegram in Vietnamese on April 13. Quan told VOA that he has faced pushback from Vietnamese authorities for his efforts to support Ukraine. "In March 2022, I created the Vietnamese Stand With Ukraine fanpage to launch a campaign to support the Ukrainian people. Then I printed and sold t-shirts with the slogan Vietnamese Stand With Ukraine to raise money to send to the Ukrainian embassy in Hanoi," he wrote. "In October 2022, security from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security came to my house to arrest me and interrogate me about my pro-Ukraine views. The police told me verbatim that 'supporting Ukraine is a plot to overthrow the Vietnamese state.'" In the face of threats, Quan said, he closed his initiative to support Ukraine. "They threatened to kill me if they met me in Ho Chi Minh City. So I had to close my business to be safe," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese FM urges Japan to restrain certain personnel over erroneous Taiwan position Global Times By Global Times Published: May 10, 2024 09:28 PM China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday urged the Japanese authorities to strengthen supervision over a certain retired official who has made irresponsible comments on China's Taiwan island, and to cease sending the wrong signal to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, in response to former Japanese ambassador to China Hideo Tarumi's latest wrong remarks. Since retiring, the Japanese official has often made irresponsible remarks and engaged in actions that go against professional ethics and integrity, violating Japan's commitment to the one-China principle, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at Friday's regular press briefing. Lin also slammed Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities for seeking to curry favor with Japan. The DPP authorities deliberately engage in political manipulation, ingratiate themselves with Japan and sell Taiwan out in order to seek "Taiwan independence" through soliciting foreign support, Lin said. According to The Japan News, more than 30 Japanese lawmakers will attend an inauguration ceremony for Taiwan regional leader Lai Ching-te on May 20. There is only one China in the world, and 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, Lin said. The spokesperson warned the DPP authorities that collusion with external forces to plot "independence" provocations will never succeed, and those who sell out the national interests will eventually pay the price. Japan has made clear commitments in the China-Japan Joint Statement signed in 1972, which clearly stipulates that the Japanese government recognizes the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, and the Japanese government fully understands and respects the Chinese government's position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and firmly maintains its stand under Article 8 of the Potsdam Proclamation, said Lin. Article 8 of the Potsdam Proclamation states that the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out. As stated clearly in the Cairo Declaration, all the territories Japan had stolen from China should be restored to China, Lin noted. Japan has more than once made serious commitments to China on the Taiwan question, including not supporting "two Chinas," "one China, one Taiwan" or "Taiwan independence," and only maintaining people-to-people and region-to-region exchanges with Taiwan island. This is the historical context, and the principles and position that Japan must abide by, said Lin. China urges Japan to adhere to the spirit of the four political documents between the two countries, and take concrete actions to honor its political commitment to uphold the one-China principle, and not support "Taiwan independence" in any form, thus maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, the spokesperson said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Record number of Chinese ships enter Taiwan waters near Kinmen island 11 Chinese vessels were detected inside Taiwan's territorial waters. 2024.05.10 -- Taiwanese authorities said 11 Chinese official vessels intruded into the so-called "prohibited" and "restricted waters" around Taiwan's outlying Kinmen island, a record number entering its waters at one time. On Thursday afternoon, seven Chinese vessels, including maritime patrol and fisheries ships, entered Kinmen's restricted waters and conducted a maritime exercise there with three Chinese fishing boats, the Taiwanese coast guard said in a statement. This group of ships was as close as 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) from Liaoluo Bay on Kinmen island, it said. At the same time, another group of four Chinese coast guard ships entered prohibited waters south of Kinmen. "Prohibited" and "restricted" waters are the tacit boundaries between Taiwan's outer islands and China's mainland that both sides have been adhering to. "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. Taiwan's coast guard dispatched a total of six vessels to monitor and broadcast warnings to the two groups of Chinese ships. The statement added China's activities "seriously undermined cross-Strait peace, stability and navigation safety, as well as hurt the feelings of people on both sides of the Strait." China has yet to respond to the allegation but the armed forces' China Military Online website on Thursday posted a feature about what it called "regular law enforcement patrols in waters near Kinmen." Regular patrols The 11 Chinese ships reportedly stayed for about 90 minutes in the area before heading back to Xiamen on China's side. This is the first time the Chinese coast guard has been joined by ships from other Chinese government agencies. In February, both Taipei and Beijing said they would "enforce the law" in the waters between Kinmen island and China's mainland after an incident that resulted in the deaths of two Chinese men. "China has used the death of its two fishermen to effectively erase the prohibited and restricted boundaries around Kinmen," said Ben Lewis, an independent defense analyst based in Washington who has been tracking Chinese military movements. "The defense ministry in Beijing has recently said that it 'normalized' law enforcement patrols near Kinmen, and this latest incursion is a natural extension of that normalization," Lewis noted. Experts say in the run up to the inauguration of Taiwan's new president, Lai Ching-te, on May 20, there will likely be more such incursions as China has always ramped up military activities ahead of Taiwan's major political events. Kinmen is less than 10 km (6.2 miles) from China's Fujian province coast and the "restricted" and "prohibited" waters serve as a means for Taiwan to ensure safety and security in a very busy waterway, according to Lewis. Another analyst, Su Tzu-yun, a research fellow at state-run Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research, explained that the boundaries around outer islands such as Kinmen and Matsu were originally set by Taiwan as "defensive cordon lines" to safeguard security and regulate maritime traffic and rather than to claim territorial sovereignty. "The Chinese side deliberately ignored Taiwan's goodwill and demonstrated unilateralism, which is not conducive to peace in the Taiwan Strait," Su told RFA. "We shall remain vigilant but be careful not to overreact," he said, comparing Taipei's tactic to that of Finland in dealing with Russia's invasions of its airspace. "Taiwan should appeal to international law and public opinion for support, which would emphasize that the responsibility rests entirely with China." Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang. 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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese FM slams US' false narrative on UN Resolution 2758 Global Times By Global Times Published: May 11, 2024 01:59 AM In response to some US officials' unfounded claims about UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, hyping the so-called "undetermined status of Taiwan" and advocating for the island of Taiwan's participation in UN meetings and activities, Yang Tao, director-general of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of China's Foreign Ministry, held a briefing on Friday to clarify China's position, saying the US is challenging the international consensus on the one-China principle. The lies of the US, even if repeated a thousand times, will not become the truth, said Yang. Yang said on Friday that for some time, the US has deliberately distorted and challenged Resolution 2758, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971. The resolution restored all the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the UN and expelled the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek at the UN and in all the organizations related to it. The US has hyped up the so-called "undetermined status of Taiwan" and advocated for the island of Taiwan to participate in UN meetings and activities. Recently, officials from the US State Department made unfounded claims that Resolution 2758 "does not recognize, is not equivalent to, and does not reflect" a consensus on the one-China principle, is not related to the sovereignty choices of countries regarding Taiwan island, and does not preclude the island from participating in the UN system and other multilateral forums. The US also claimed that its one-China policy differs from China's one-China principle. Yang said that this false narrative of the US is an attempt to mislead the international community and challenge the international consensus on the one-China principle. "We believe it is necessary to comprehensively and systematically clarify the origin and essence of UNGA Resolution 2758, and set the record straight," said Yang. The one-China principle is crystal clear: There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an integral part of China, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. The UNGA Resolution 2758 fully reflects and solemnly confirms the one-China principle. Taiwan has always been a part of China since ancient times, which is a historical fact and also part of the international consensus, said Yang. On October 25, 1971, the 26th session of the UNGA overwhelmingly passed Resolution 2758. The resolution thoroughly resolved the issue of representation of China, including the island of Taiwan, in the UN politically, legally, and procedurally. It clarified that there is only one China in the world, that Taiwan is part of China, not a separate country, and that there is only one seat for China at the UN, with the government of the People's Republic of China being the sole legitimate representative. There is no "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan," said Yang. "If the status of Taiwan is undetermined, and if China's representation does not include the Taiwan island, why expel 'the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek?' Why, for over 50 years, have China's contributions to the UN and many other international organizations included the island of Taiwan's GDP? With such clear facts and simple reasoning, why does the US pretend to be confused?" Yang asked. The UN system has consistently adhered to UNGA Resolution 2758 and upheld the one-China principle in handling questions related to the Taiwan island. After the adoption of UNGA Resolution 2758, the UN and its specialized agencies, as well as other intergovernmental organizations, have all abided by it, affirming that Taiwan is a province of China and not recognizing the so-called international representation of the Taiwan authorities. The UN Office of Legal Affairs has issued multiple legal opinions, stating clearly that Taiwan is part of China, that Taiwan, as a province of China, does not have independent status, and the Taiwan authorities do not enjoy any form of governmental status. If "Taiwan" needs to be mentioned in Secretariat documents, the term "China's Taiwan Province" must be used. Yang noted that as part of China, Taiwan island has no legal basis, reason, or right to participate in the UN or other international organizations that are only open to sovereign states. Any issue regarding Taiwan's participation in international organization activities must be handled in accordance with the one-China principle confirmed by UNGA Resolution 2758. The international community universally abides by UNGA Resolution 2758, fully and accurately implementing the one-China principle. As a signatory of the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, the US is well aware of the historical and legal fact that Taiwan belongs to China, yet it seems to have developed a case of "amnesia," openly challenging the post-war international order, said Yang. As a founding member of the UN and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, instead of leading by example in complying with UN resolutions, the US has repeatedly questioned and distorted them, eroding the foundation of the UN, trampling on the principles of international law, and attempting to mislead international public opinion with its malicious distortions, imposing its erroneous stance on the international community, said Yang. "Is this what the US calls a 'rule-based international order'"? This is clearly hegemony and coercion, picking and choosing which international laws to follow," said Yang. The US must cease its attempts to undermine the one-China principle, said Yang. "We want to remind the US that reversing the course of history will inevitably lead to disaster, playing the 'Taiwan card' will inevitably backfire, and pursuing a policy of 'using Taiwan to contain China' will inevitably end in failure," said Yang. "We want to warn the US that regarding UNGA Resolution 2758, it has an obligation to strictly adhere to it, with no qualification to interpret it arbitrarily, let alone the privilege to act recklessly. We urge the US not to stand in opposition to the international community, not to oppose international justice, and not to oppose the fundamental principles of international relations," said Yang. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM call with Prime Minister SiliAa of Latvia: 10 May 2024 The Prime Minister spoke to Latvian Prime Minister Evika SiliAa today. 10 May 2024 The Prime Minister spoke to Latvian Prime Minister Evika SiliAa today. The leaders began by reaffirming their unwavering commitment to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. They agreed it was their duty to support Ukraine in its fight for survival and welcomed efforts to increase the supply of drones as part of the UK-Latvia drone capability coalition. They highlighted the importance of international partnerships including the Joint Expeditionary Force and NATO for ensuring global security. Turning to illegal migration, the Prime Minister underlined the need for leadership and collaboration to tackle this shared global challenge. The leaders looked forward to discussing these issues further at the upcoming UK hosted European Political Community in July. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM call with Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania: 10 May 2024 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama this morning. 10 May 2024 The Prime Minister spoke to Albanian's Prime Minister Edi Rama this morning. They began by discussing the close relationship between the UK and Albania, noting significant bilateral cooperation including on trade and investment. The Prime Minister highlighted the strong progress made through the UK-Albania migration partnership. Both leaders acknowledged more work needed to be done to tackle the illegal migration challenge in Europe and looked forward to discussing this further at the European Political Community meeting in the UK in July. They underlined the importance of ensuring stability in the Western Balkans, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Turning to the situation in the Middle East, the leaders discussed the importance of tackling rises in antisemitism across the globe and championing our shared values of tolerance and respect. Both leaders looked forward to speaking soon. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese FM reveals details of third round of shuttle diplomacy over Ukraine crisis Global Times By Global Times Published: May 10, 2024 11:47 PM China's Foreign Ministry on Friday released a briefing on efforts by China's Special Representative on Eurasian Affairs Li Hui to find a political resolution to the Ukraine crisis, listing six proposals put forward by China and agreed by multiple parties for a de-escalation of the situation, including no spillover of the conflict and opposing the use of nuclear and biological weapons. From May 3 to 9, Li conducted a third round of shuttle diplomacy on the political resolution of the Ukraine crisis. He visited Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, where he held discussions with senior officials. Before and after the visits, Li also communicated with officials from countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, and Kazakhstan, according to the Foreign Ministry. Li exchanged in-depth views with all parties on the Ukraine crisis. There was widespread agreement on some proposals put forward by China to call for a de-escalation of the situation, including no spillover of the conflict, no escalation of hostilities, and no provocation by any party. Other proposals that have been agreed by all parties include that the parties to the conflict should create conditions for the resumption of direct dialogue, promote de-escalation, and work toward achieving a comprehensive ceasefire, as well as increasing humanitarian assistance to the affected regions to prevent a larger-scale humanitarian crisis. There was also agreement on the proposal to support the exchange of prisoners of war by the parties to the conflict, and opposing the use of nuclear and biological weapons, as well as opposing armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities and other nuclear installations. All parties agreed on adhering to international laws such as nuclear safety conventions to prevent human-induced nuclear accidents. They also agreed to proposals on jointly supporting international cooperation in energy, finance, the grain trade, transportation, and other fields, and jointly safeguarding the security of key infrastructure such as oil and gas pipelines, electric power facilities, and undersea cables to ensure the stability of the global industrial and supply chains. All parties agreed to continue communication and coordination, while welcoming the support of the international community in promoting efforts to de-escalate the situation, and jointly playing a constructive role in advocating for a ceasefire, peace talks and reconciliation, according to the release from China's Foreign Ministry. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Our common goal is Ukraine's victory" - Baiba BraAe during her visit to Lithuania Republic of Latvia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs 10.05.2024 On 10 May 2024, during her working visit to Lithuania, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baiba BraAe, met the Speaker of the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament), Viktorija AmilytA-Nielsen, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis. As part of her visit, the Minister took part in a discussion on current foreign policy developments organised by Lithuania's Eastern Europe Studies Centre. The officials of the two countries discussed current bilateral and regional cooperation, the security situation in the Baltic region, developments in and support to Ukraine, as well as other topics high on the international agenda, including the situation in the Middle East and Georgia. Views were exchanged on strategic energy and infrastructure projects, with a special focus on Rail Baltica. Baiba BraAe highlighted the close bilateral relations between Latvia and Lithuania and the importance of cooperation between the EU and NATO to strengthen the security of the Baltic region and to consolidate support to Ukraine, both for its defence and for integration with the EU and NATO. At the press point for the Lithuanian media, Foreign Minister BraAe reiterated: "Ukraine has the right, under international law, to also use weapons supplied by the West for strikes on military facilities in the Russian territories wherefrom Russia launches its attacks on Ukraine. Ukraine may strike targets not only in the sovereign territory of Ukraine, but also in the areas that Russia attacks it from." During the visit, the officials of the two countries discussed further steps of making pressure on Russia, which includes the tightening of restrictive measures through adoption of the 14th package of sanctions and eliminating opportunities to circumvent the existing sanctions, as well as holding Russia accountable for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. "Ukraine is a priority for all the Baltic States - Ukraine's victory is a common goal for all of us. At the same time, in the current geopolitical situation where different Russian hybrid warfare activities are observed on a daily basis, Latvia, the Baltic and Nordic region as a whole need to join efforts and strengthen security in a forward-looking and coordinated manner, including the resilience of society, in cooperation on the implementation of strategic infrastructure projects and in other fields. This is our own greatest responsibility," the Foreign Minister said. The officials agreed that region's connectivity was also of critical importance; therefore, the Rail Baltica project was crucial not only in terms of ensuring mobility for the population but also military mobility in the south-north direction. As the Latvian and Lithuanian officials discussed the NATO summit to be held in July, they agreed that it was necessary to achieve the amount of defence spending by all NATO Member States in the amount of at least 2% of their GDP. The three Baltic States have already exceeded this target. The officials also exchanged views on the implementation of NATO's defence plans and strengthening the Allied presence in the Baltics. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Minister RadosAaw Sikorski meets with First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Republic of Poland 10.05.2024 Today's talks between Polish Foreign Minister RadosAaw Sikorski and First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha focused on the upcoming Peace Summit in Switzerland, security cooperation, and Ukraine's accession to the European Union. The ministerial consultations covered the preparations for the upcoming Peace Summit in Switzerland as the main topic. Poland's chief diplomat fully supported President Zelenskyy's Peace Formula and expressed readiness to provide continued financial and military assistance to Ukraine as it defends itself. Minister Sikorski took the occasion to reaffirm Poland's willingness to support Kyiv in its accession process, including to share the Polish experience of both our own accession and our twenty-year membership of the European Union. The meeting, organised at the MFA, was part of broader Polish-Ukrainian consultations that Ukraine's deputy foreign minister has recently held in Poland. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Expresses Confidence Ukraine Will Repel Any Fresh Russian Offensive By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service May 10, 2024 Washington says it expects Russia to intensify a new offensive in Ukraine but expressed confidence in Kyiv and doubted that Moscow will make major territorial gains. "It is possible that Russia will make further advances in the coming weeks, but we do not anticipate any major breakthroughs, and over time, the influx of U.S. assistance will enable Ukraine to withstand these attacks over the course of 2024," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington on May 10. His comments came hours after Russian troops attempted to open a new front by breaking through Ukrainian lines in the Kharkiv region, a move Kyiv said its forces repelled, though fighting was reported to be continuing. Kirby also spoke after the White House announced that the United States is preparing a $400 million military aid package for Ukraine, as the country returns to a regular pace of supplying weapons to Kyiv after lawmakers passed a bill that includes $61 billion in assistance for Ukraine. Earlier in Kyiv at a press conference, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that the attack early in the morning on May 10 failed to catch Ukrainian troops by surprise. "Ukraine met them there with troops: brigades and artillery," Zelenskiy said, warning that Moscow could send more forces to back its attempted push that military sources said was aimed at establishing a "buffer zone" to prevent Ukrainian forces from shelling Russian territory. The northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv borders Russia, with the outskirts of its homonymous capital, Kharkiv, only 25 kilometers from the frontier. Russian troops attacked after hours of heavy artillery fire, the press service of Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported. "After dark, Russian occupiers stepped up the fire pressure on our defense line with the support of artillery. At approximately 5 a.m., the enemy attempted to break through our defense line under the cover of armored vehicles," the ministry said. Reserve units have been deployed to strengthen the defense lines, and Ukrainian forces continue to hold back the enemy's offensive, the ministry said, adding that clashes of various intensity are still under way. Earlier, Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, reported that the town of Vovchansk, some 70 kilometers northeast of Kharkiv and only four kilometers from the Russian border, was coming under heavy Russian shelling. "All night long, shelling from antiaircraft guns and artillery continued. There were unsuccessful [Russian] attempts...to break through the border," Synyehubov wrote on Telegram. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said fighting against Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups had continued into the afternoon. With a prewar population of 1.4 million, Kharkiv is Ukraine's second-largest city and one of its most important economic and industrial powerhouses and was one of the initial targets of Russia's invasion, experiencing heavy fighting in the spring of 2022. A successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in September 2022,liberated most of the Kharkiv region, throwing Russian forces back and allowing the return of a large part of the city's population. But Russian artillery, drone, and missile strikes on the region and its capital have intensified massively over the past several months as the Ukrainian forces' shortage of ammunition and air defense systems became more and more acute while a desperately needed U.S. military aid package was being held up by political bickering in the House of Representatives. Many civilians have been killed and infrastructure has been seriously damaged in the region. A day before the May 10 Russian attacks, 21 settlements were hit by Russian artillery and mortar strikes, authorities reported. Synyehubov said one person had been killed and at least three people had been wounded in that series of attacks. Elsewhere in Ukraine, three civilians were killed. One woman was killed in a Russian strike on Sumy region, local authorities reported. Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak said two people were killed in Nikopol and eight were wounded. In Donetsk, one person was wounded, regional head Vadym Filashkin said. Oleksandr Prokudin, the governor of Kherson, said one person was wounded in his region. Separately, an oil refinery caught fire in Russia's Kaluga region after an alleged Ukrainian drone strike. Kaluga Governor Vladislav Shapsha said the fire has been quickly localized and put out. Ukraine has not commented on the claim, which could not be independently confirmed. The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses downed seven Ukrainian drones early on May 10 in the Moscow, Bryansk and Belgorod regions. Late on May 10, a suspected Ukrainian strike is reported to have triggered a large fire at an oil storage depot in Ukraine's occupied Luhansk region. Russia-installed officials in the region said three people had been killed and seven wounded. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/shelling-kharkiv-donetsk- kherson-nikopol-front/32940675.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukraine Loses Some 3,300 Troops in Fights With 2 Russian Groupings of Forces Sputnik News 20240510 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Ukrainian military has lost approximately 3,300 soldiers in fights with Russia's western and central groupings of forces in the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday. Over the past seven days, the western grouping of forces took control of Kyselevka and Kotlyarovka settlements in the Khrakov region and repelled 14 Ukrainian counterattacks, according to the ministry. The Ukrainian forces lost up to 1,015 servicepeople in battles, the ministry added. The central grouping of forces took control of the Novokalynovoe settlement in the Donetsk People's Republic and repelled 48 Ukrainian attacks, according to the ministry. "The Ukrainian armed forces lost more than 2,360 servicemen, four tanks, including one German-made Leopard and two US-made Abrams tanks ... in the past week in this direction," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Kiev also lost over 1,985 servicepeople in fights against Russia's southern grouping of forces in the same period. The total of 13 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered in the past week, the ministry said. "From May 5 to May 10 ... the Russian armed forces launched 27 group strikes with long-range sea-based and airborne precision weapons ...facilities of the energy sector, enterprises of the military-industrial complex and railway infrastructure of Ukraine were hit," the ministry said, adding that an arms depot hosting Western-made missiles was also destroyed near Odessa. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Strikes Ukraine's Ammunition Depot in Kharkov, Suburbs Sputnik News 20240510 DONETSK (Sputnik) - Russia has struck ammunition warehouses of the Ukrainian armed forces in Kharkov and the Kharkov region, underground network coordinator Sergei Lebedev told Sputnik on Friday. A Ukrainian air defense missile was presumably launched at the moment, and an explosion was heard one minute later, the coordinator said, adding that he had not received any exact information on the matter yet. "A report from Kharkov: 'Kharkov, 03:20 a.m. local time [00:20 GMT], explosions in Kharkov. They are loud in the western district. A siren went off due to the explosions, ambulances are rushing to the western part of the city without sirens, but with flashing lights'," Lebedev said. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address No Matter What, We Are Preparing a Global Peace Summit So That the World's Majority Can Force Russia into Peace - Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his Address President of Ukraine 10 May 2024 - 22:00 The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a telephone conversation with the President of Argentina Javier Milei, the newly appointed Prime Minister of Iceland Bjarni Benediktsson and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The Head of State has personally invited them to take part in the Global Peace Summit that will be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland. "I am grateful to each of them for their desire to bring international law back to full effect. We will continue to be equally active a all the continents, all the countries' views should be represented at the Peace Summit," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address. The Head of State thanked the Prime Minister of Iceland for his willingness to use personal contacts in Africa to involve as many countries of the Global South as possible in the Summit. Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on Easter, thanked His All Holiness for his prayers and called his participation in the Global Summit highly symbolic. In a conversation with Javier Milei, the President thanked Argentina for supporting the Ukrainian Peace Formula and assured that the voice of Latin America in Switzerland is very important. Volodymyr Zelenskyy added that today he had also held a detailed meeting with the Ukrainian team preparing the event. "The organization of the Summit is already elaborated. We still have tasks to accomplish a so that every leader can demonstrate their effectiveness for the sake of common interests. We are sure it will happen. And this is exactly a we have to realize it a what Russia is trying to disrupt now. The more meaningful the Summit is, the closer peace will be," the President emphasized. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Successes of our Fight at the Front and of the Global Peace Summit will Give Result for a Just Peace in Ukraine - Andriy Yermak President of Ukraine 10 May 2024 - 20:28 The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, met with the heads and authorized representatives of Evangelical Protestant churches. Andriy Yermak, on behalf of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his own behalf, thanked each of the attendees for their assistance in promoting the interests of Ukraine, particularly in the United States. He also informed the participants of the meeting about the preparations for the Global Peace Summit that will be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland and called on them to spread information about the event and its importance. According to the Head of the Presidential Office, Ukraine and Switzerland have already sent invitations to more than 160 delegations. "It is important that as many countries as possible are present because along with our fight at the front, we need to further isolate Russia, agree on a framework for a future joint plan to end the war, overcome the crises it caused, and return all Ukrainians a adults and children a home," emphasized Andriy Yermak. Ukraine expects that the Global Peace Summit will result in a joint declaration by world leaders in support of the independence and territorial integrity of our country within internationally recognized borders. "The successes of the Summit and our fight on the frontline will give us the necessary result," summarized Andriy Yermak. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukraine Launched Negotiations on Bilateral Security Agreement with Belgium President of Ukraine 10 May 2024 - 16:30 Ukraine and Belgium started negotiations on a security cooperation agreement pursuant to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's instruction and in furtherance of his recent phone conversation with Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander De Croo. According to the Presidential decree, the Ukrainian negotiating delegation is headed by the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak. Today's round of talks was led by the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Ihor Zhovkva. The Belgian delegation is headed by Peter Moors, Chief of the Belgian Prime Minister's Cabinet for Security and Foreign Affairs. "We appreciate Belgium's leadership in many areas of support for Ukraine, both at the bilateral level and within the framework of Ukraine's cooperation with the EU and NATO on the path to our membership," Ihor Zhovkva noted. The parties discussed the text of the draft agreement, addressed certain provisions, and agreed on the next round of negotiations. The progress made in the first round creates real possibilities for signing the document in the near future. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Thanks to Cooperation, Relations Between Our States Have Become the Most Meaningful - Volodymyr Zelenskyy Following the Meeting with the President of Slovakia President of Ukraine 10 May 2024 - 16:02 The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the President of Slovakia Zuzana AaputovA in Kyiv. The Head of State thanked Zuzana AaputovA for her determination and moral leadership shown in the face of the full-scale Russian invasion, as well as for supporting the Ukrainian Peace Formula. "We appreciate that thanks to cooperation, relations between our states have become the most meaningful since 1991. First of all, it's defense cooperation with Slovakia and political interaction, especially at the level of the European Union," Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted. The leaders discussed in detail the situation on the front and the intentions of the Russian occupiers. Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the Russian aggressor state had launched a new wave of counteroffensives in the Kharkiv direction. "Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades and artillery. It is important that they can increase their forces and bring more troops in this direction. This is a fact. But our army and our military command were aware of this and calculated their capabilities to meet the enemy with fire. Now a fierce battle is underway," the President said. Apart from that, during the meeting, the state leaders focused on the needs of Ukraine, especially the military ones, aimed at disrupting the plans of the occupier. "Today we have also discussed political cooperation - something that can strengthen us and send a clear message to Russia that there is and will be no alternative to a just peace. This time in May and early June is dedicated to active diplomacy - our work for the Global Peace Summit," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The President of Slovakia, Zuzana AaputovA, noted that from the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion, her country sheltered Ukrainian refugees and was one of the first to provide military assistance, including air defense systems and aircraft. According to her, cooperation between the two countries continues: there is an agreement to complete and launch the Kyiv-KoAice railroad connection and to increase electricity transit. "This tragedy must be stopped. The entire civilized world must be involved. Only a just peace is acceptable. We deeply respect your courage and resilience. You are defending not only your own country, but also the principles on which our security is based," she assured. For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Zuzana AaputovA arrived in Ukraine in May 2022. This is her third visit since then. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Andriy Yermak: Heads of State Who Really Want to Stop Russia's War Against Ukraine Should Attend the Global Peace Summit President of Ukraine 10 May 2024 - 14:40 Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak held an online meeting with well-known global figures in the field of human rights. The conversation was attended by American civil rights advocate Van Jones, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit organization for research on well-being and humanitarianism, Deepak Chopra, International Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Irwin Cotler, and Chair of the Board of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre Jay Rosenzweig. Andriy Yermak thanked them for everything they had done to support Ukraine during these difficult times. The Head of the President's Office emphasized that Ukraine continues to fight against Russian aggression on the battlefield, while at the same time doing a lot of work at the diplomatic level to ensure that the world supports a fair plan to restore peace for our country. At the first inaugural Global Peace Summit to be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland, state leaders should create a framework for a future joint plan of responsible countries on how to end the aggressive war against Ukraine, bring a just peace to our country, and resolve all crises caused by the war. "We invited everyone who respects international law and the UN Charter to the summit. We understand that different countries have different positions. We are ready to listen to everyone and exchange views in order to prepare a joint plan to achieve peace. And today it is very important to convey to the international community that the heads of state who really want to stop the war in Ukraine should attend the Global Peace Summit," explained Andriy Yermak. The Head of the President's Office is convinced that the success of this summit will demonstrate to the world that international law does exist and that there are mechanisms in the world to achieve justice. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The President Thanked the Episcopate of the OCU and the UGCC for Supporting Ukrainians at the Front and in the Rear President of Ukraine 10 May 2024 - 14:31 On the occasion of Easter, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with representatives of the episcopate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated everyone on Easter and thanked them for their prayers and concrete actions to support Ukrainians. "Everyday we live, fight, win and lose. Therefore, I would like to congratulate you on the day that Ukrainians are waiting for and which contains a very warm moment. Unfortunately, there are not many such moments in life. Easter is celebrated in different ways, but it is celebrated at the front, in the cities, along the borders," the President noted. Primate of the OCU Epiphanius emphasized that the occupier can be defeated only in unity, when everyone works in their place and contributes to the common cause. "We want a just peace to prevail in Ukraine, but this is possible only when we defeat the enemy. We, as churches, do not only pray. Our sacred duty is indeed to pray, to provide spiritual support. But we are also engaged in social service," he added. Head of the UGCC Sviatoslav noted that churches have been supporting the military since 2014, even before the law on chaplaincy was passed. He also emphasized that the Ukrainian church has historically been destroyed where Russian colonizers seized our lands. "Today, the UGCC has been officially liquidated in the occupied territories, our priests are imprisoned, and there are terrible persecutions, much worse than in Stalin's time, because the tools of control over people are much more effective now," he emphasized. The participants also discussed the specifics of promoting the Ukrainian Peace Formula among representatives of the religious community, expanding the work of chaplains, and methods of combating narratives promoted by Russian propaganda. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Andriy Yermak and Sean Penn Discussed the Importance of Drawing Maximum Attention to the Global Peace Summit President of Ukraine 10 May 2024 - 09:09 Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak held an online call with American actor, film director, screenwriter and producer Sean Penn. Andriy Yermak thanked Sean Penn and all friends of Ukraine in the United States for maintaining attention to our country and sending important signals about the need to continue to help Ukraine. The Head of the Presidential Office spoke about the preparations for the first inaugural Global Peace Summit, which is expected to become a crucial diplomatic event to bring a just peace to Ukraine closer. According to him, it is very important to spread information about the Global Peace Summit among all countries of the world, as Ukraine really needs the presence of each of them. "Today, Russia is using every opportunity to put pressure on these states and influence them. The consolidation of the world leaders at the Peace Summit will help us to show Russia and Putin that he is isolated," said Andriy Yermak. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US warns of large-scale Russian offensive against Ukraine's Kharkiv By VOA News May 10, 2024 The White House said Russian forces may be preparing to mount a large-scale counteroffensive against the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv after making incremental incursions in the area and opening a new war front near Ukraine's second-largest city. "You're not going to do that if you're not also thinking about some other larger assault directly on the city," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday during a press briefing. The U.S announced a fresh $400 million military aid package of weapons and equipment for Ukraine Friday as its forces try to repel an intensified Russian armored ground offensive near Kharkiv, Kirby said. The State Department said in a statement that the emergency military package contains urgently needed materiel such as air defense munitions for Patriot and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems; Stinger anti-aircraft missiles; equipment to integrate Western launchers, missiles and radars with Ukraine's systems; additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and ammunition; 155 mm and 105 mm artillery rounds; TOW and Javelin missiles; AT-4 anti-armor systems; precision aerial munitions; high-speed, anti-radiation missiles; Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles; M113 Armored Personnel Carriers; mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles; coastal and river patrol boats; small arms ammunition; grenades; demolitions munitions; and spare parts. The Presidential Drawdown Authority allows the president to transfer munitions and services from the Pentagon's U.S. stockpile without congressional approval. This is the third tranche of emergency military aid for Ukraine since the U.S. Congress passed an aid bill allocating $60.8 billion for Ukraine. Fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine Fighting is raging near Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian officials. "We are adding more forces to Kharkiv directions," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday in his nightly video address. "Both along our state border and along the entire front line, we will invariably destroy the occupier in a way that will disrupt any Russian offensive intentions. We are providing everything required to protect our positions." Zelenskyy warned earlier Friday that Russia could be preparing a large-scale counteroffensive within the next few months. He told reporters that Kyiv's forces were prepared to meet Friday's Russian assault, but that Moscow could send more troops to the area to overwhelm Ukraine's overstretched and outnumbered troops. Russian troops supported by armored units have pushed into Ukraine in that region by 1 kilometer, trying to "create a buffer zone" that would prevent Ukrainian attacks into Russia's border regions, according to a high-ranking Ukrainian military source who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject. At least two civilians were killed and five more were injured during the heavy Russian shelling of the border settlements, said Oleh Syniehubov, governor of Kharkiv region. Russia is pummeling the frontier town of Vovchansk with guided aerial bombs and artillery. Local authorities are helping with civilian evacuations, Tamaz Gambarashvili, head of the Vovchansk military administration, told Hromadske radio. There was no immediate comment from Moscow. More than two years after its invasion, Russia has the upper hand in the battlefield, piercing into Ukrainian territory and opening a new front as Ukraine faces shortages of manpower, artillery shells and air defenses. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in March he was considering creating a "sanitary zone" in Ukrainian territory adjoining Belgorod, a Russian region often hit by Ukrainian shelling. Ukraine's attacks on Russian forces Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military struck an oil storage depot in Ukraine's Russian-occupied Luhansk region that sparked a fire, Russia's TASS news agency reported. Ukrainian bloggers and Telegram channels also said the depot in the town of Rovenky was hit, and they posted pictures of a large blaze. Earlier Friday, another Ukrainian attack targeted an oil refinery near the Russian city of Kaluga, southwest of Moscow. The strike, by a Ukrainian long-range drone, set four oil storage tanks on fire, according to Vladislav Shapsha, the regional governor. He said there were no casualties. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian refineries, hoping to cripple the country's military abilities and hit Russia in its pocketbook: Russia is one of the world's biggest oil producers, providing key revenue and fuel. The Russian Defense Ministry said it downed seven Ukrainian drones early Friday in the Moscow, Bryansk and Belgorod regions. Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NEW YORK, May 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces an investigation of potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) resulting from allegations that Block may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public. SO WHAT: If you purchased Block securities you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses. WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the prospective class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=24974 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. WHAT IS THIS ABOUT: On February 16, 2024, before market hours, NBC News published an article entitled Federal regulators are probing whether Cash App leaves door open to money launderers, terrorists which stated, among other things, that Federal financial regulators are exploring allegations by two whistleblowers that Cash App, the popular mobile payment platform, and entities providing transaction services to its users performed inadequate due diligence on customers, potentially opening the door to money laundering, terrorism financing and other illegal activities. On this news, Blocks stock fell $3.84, or 5%, to close at $65.64 per share on February 16, 2024. On May 1, 2024, before market hours, NBC News published another article entitled Federal prosecutors are examining financial transactions at Block, owner of Cash App and Square: Internal documents indicate Block processed crypto transactions for terrorist groups and Square processed transactions involving nations subject to economic sanctions. That article stated, among other things, that Federal prosecutors are digging into internal practices at Block discussing with a former employee alleged widespread and yearslong compliance lapses at the companys two main units, Square and Cash App[.] On this news, Blocks stock fell $6.16, or 8%, to close at 66.84 per share on May 1, 2024. WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs Bar. Many of the firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com NEW YORK, May 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of common stock of Globe Life Inc. f/k/a Torchmark Corporation (NYSE: GL) between May 8, 2019 and April 10, 2024, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), of the important July 1, 2024 lead plaintiff deadline. SO WHAT: If you purchased Globe Life common stock during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Globe Life class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=24072 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than July 1, 2024. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs Bar. Many of the firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made numerous materially false and misleading statements and omissions concerning: (1) Globe Lifes consistent premium revenue growth, particularly from American Income Life Insurance Company (AIL); and (2) Globe Lifes Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the Code of Conduct). Specifically, defendants repeatedly attributed Globe Lifes consistent premium revenue growth to increased agent count and productivity. In addition, Globe Lifes Code of Conduct stated, among other things, that [t]he Company is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment, that [v]iolence and threatening behavior are not permitted, and that [t]he use of illegal drugs in the workplace will not be tolerated. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the Globe Life class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=24072 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investors ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (West Red Lake Gold or WRLG or the Company) (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQB: WRLGF) announced today that, as a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Company is issuing the following news release to clarify certain information. In an email circulated on behalf of the Company, certain disclosure was made regarding mineral reserves. The Company retracts such statements and any other disclosure that suggests the Madsen property has mineral reserves. The Company wishes to clarify that the property has only mineral resources (as defined under NI 43-101), as noted in its technical report titled Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Pure Gold Mine, Canada dated June 19, 2023, and amended April 24, 2024 (the Madsen Mine Technical Report). The Madsen Mine Technical Report is filed under the Companys profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. 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 worlds 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 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 closing of the Offering, the exercise of the over-allotment option and the expected closing date of the Offering. 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 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 managements 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. Newark, May 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Brainy Insights estimates that the USD 4 billion in 2023 global knitted underwear market will reach USD 6.51 billion in 2033. Knitting is the method used to create knitted pants. Knitted undergarments include bras, briefs, and panties, among other types of undergarments. Materials like cotton, modal, nylon, polyester, and elastane are used to make them. Comfy knit undergarments are available. Its comfortable and flexible fabric structure guarantees a tight fit while facilitating maximum mobility. Furthermore, fabrics with breathable qualities, such as cotton and modal, guarantee moisture-wicking capabilities that keep the wearer dry and cool. Because knitted materials are renowned for their resistance, knitted pants are a dependable option for daily use. Request market scope and parent market analysis sample PDF: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/enquiry/sample-request/14267 This comfort also extends to its durability. Additionally, they have a seamless structure that reduces friction and irritation, making them especially good for tight clothing. The range of styles available in knitted knickers, from bikinis to thongs, demonstrates its adaptability. Knitted knickers are very versatile; they come in a wide range of styles to fit different body shapes and tastes, from bikinis to thongs to boxer briefs. They emphasize their utility with easy care. Knitted pants keep one modest and hygienic. Globally, knitted pants are available from various brands and producers to individuals of all ages and genders. Key Insight of the Global Knitted Underwear Market North America will dominate the market during the forecast period. Leading textile manufacturing companies in the region are always innovating new materials and techniques to manufacture high-quality products, fostering innovation and technological improvements. Furthermore, North America establishes global fashion trends that impact tastes and styles, increasing demand for chic and fashionable knit knickers. Due to the region's sizable and varied consumer base, which includes a range of demographics and tastes, companies can meet a broad spectrum of needs. The robust retail infrastructure in North America, encompassing physical stores and virtual marketplaces, enables the seamless delivery of knitted undergarments to customers throughout the continent. In 2023, the shapewear segment dominated the market, with a 40% market share and revenue of 1.60 billion. The type segment is divided into shapewear, thermal clothes, and others. In 2023, the shapewear segment dominated the market, with a 40% market share and revenue of 1.60 billion. In 2023, the online sales segment dominated the market with the largest market share of 42% and revenue of 1.68 billion. The distribution channel segment is divided into specialty stores, supermarkets, and online sales. In 2023, the online sales segment dominated the market, with a 42% market share and revenue of 1.68 billion. Get additional highlights on the growth strategies adopted by vendors and their product offerings: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/report/knitted-underwear-market-14267 Advancement in market PT Ricky Putra Globalindo (RPG), the business that owns GT Man, the top men's knickers brand in Indonesia, revealed new seamless knickers for men made with Indonesia's first cutting-edge seamless knitting machine. The company can now make its hallmark Seamless technology items for GT Man Customers thanks to high-tech seamless equipment imported from Italy. These products revolutionize how they are made and raise the bar for comfort and design. The business can reduce the production process by up to 50% thanks to the new technology seamless equipment, which benefits customers by offering a higher quality product at a more affordable price. Market Dynamics Driver: The growing market for environmentally friendly goods. Growing consumer awareness of social and environmental issues is reflected in the demand for knitted pants, which is rising in response to the fashion industry's push for sustainable and ethical methods. Customers look for companies that value ethics and sustainability, which helps explain why knit pants made of recycled or organic materials are becoming increasingly popular. The global knitted pants market is growing due to customers making purchases consistent with global sustainable ideals. This helps to positively impact the fashion industry and move it toward a more equitable and sustainable future. Restraints: The financial aspects of knitted undergarments. The price is heavily influenced by the quality of the materials, with premium or organic fabrics commanding higher prices because of their improved comfort, sustainability, and durability. Knitted pants from well-known manufacturers with a track record for quality and innovation are frequently more expensive. A factor in price increases is manufacturing processes, where specific methods like seamless construction or sophisticated textile technology raise production costs. Sustainable knitting techniques, such as environmentally friendly production methods or moral labour standards, typically produce more expensive undergarments. Furthermore, features and designs that provide value and support higher costs can be found in odour resistance, compression support, and moisture-wicking textiles. Consequently, the emergence of less expensive competitors and cost considerations may hinder the market's growth. Opportunities: Textile technology advancements. The performance and comfort of knitted pants have been improved by advances in textile technology to satisfy the needs of customers leading active lifestyles. Traditional seams are no longer uncomfortable thanks to seamless construction, which provides a perfect fit for daily wear and exercise. Moisture-wicking clothing wicks away perspiration from the skin to control body temperature and avoid dampness. This is especially useful for people who exercise vigorously or live in humid locations. Furthermore, knitted pants retain their freshness for extended periods between washes thanks to odour-resistant qualities obtained through antimicrobial treatments or natural fibres like bamboo charcoal, increasing user convenience. Thus, during the projected period, the market's growth and expansion have been facilitated by textile developments, which have also improved the quality and functionality of knitted underwear. Challenges: Presence of cheaper and better alternatives. Knitted underwear may not always provide the level of support some individuals require. Unlike structured or reinforced undergarments, knitted underwear often lacks rigid support elements like underwires or boning. This limited support can be a drawback for individuals who prefer or require extra support for specific activities or body types. Moreover, knitted underwear may not provide the same level of shaping or contouring as structured undergarments. Therefore, the drawbacks or disadvantages of knitted underwear and the presence of cheaper and better alternatives will challenge the market's growth. Get a comprehensive report summary describing the market size and forecast: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/enquiry/buying-inquiry/14267 Some of the major players operating in the global knitted underwear market are: Adidas Calvin Klein EAST INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY Fukuhara Hanesbrands Inc RIFA Santoni Spa Shaoxing Jinhao Machinery WELLKNIT YAMATO Key Segments covered in the market: By Type Shapewear Thermal Clothes Others By Distribution Channel Specialty Stores Supermarkets Online Sales By Region North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico) Europe (Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Rest of APAC) South America (Brazil and the Rest of South America) The Middle East and Africa (UAE, South Africa, Rest of MEA) About the report: The market is analyzed based on value (USD Billion). All the segments have been analyzed on a worldwide, regional, and country basis. The study includes the analysis of more than 30 countries for each part. The report analyses driving factors, opportunities, restraints, and challenges to gain critical market insight. The study includes Porter's five forces model, attractiveness analysis, Product analysis, supply and demand analysis, competitor position grid analysis, distribution, and marketing channels analysis. Interested in Procure Data? Visit: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/buy-now/14267/single About The Brainy Insights: The Brainy Insights is a market research company, aimed at providing actionable insights through data analytics to companies to improve their business acumen. We have a robust forecasting and estimation model to meet the clients' objectives of high-quality output within a short span of time. We provide both customized (clients' specific) and syndicate reports. Our repository of syndicate reports is diverse across all the categories and sub-categories across domains. Our customized solutions are tailored to meet the clients' requirement whether they are looking to expand or planning to launch a new product in the global market. Contact Us Avinash D Head of Business Development Phone: +1-315-215-1633 Email: sales@thebrainyinsights.com Web: http://www.thebrainyinsights.com RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Majid Al Fayyadh, CEO of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC) joined the Gulf Creatives Conference (GCC) at Harvard 2024. The event, GCC at Harvard, is organized by The Diwan, an organization run by graduate students at Harvard University. In his address, Dr. Al Fayyadh showcased the KFSH&RCs journey since its inception in Riyadh almost five decades ago, highlighting how it has significantly reduced the need for patients to travel abroad for medical care. KFSH&RC has evolved into a premier provider of tertiary healthcare services and today offers cutting-edge treatments for heart diseases, tumors, organ transplantation, and genetic disorders. Dr. Al Fayyadh discussed KFSH&RC's transformation into an independent, non-profit foundation. This move, he indicated, aligns with the organization's strategic vision to become a global healthcare innovation leader, emphasizing excellence, innovation, and investment in cutting-edge technology to tackle global health challenges. "The Saudi Leadership has outlined a clear vision for KFSH&RC, mandated by a royal decree transitioning the hospital into an independent Sui Generis, non-profit foundation," stated His Excellency, Dr. Al Fayyadh. He further highlighted that this transformation seeks to elevate global healthcare standards through increased independence and flexibility. This shift will allow KSFH&RC to optimize existing services, pursue new opportunities, and direct resources toward initiatives that promote human health and well-being both within the Kingdom and internationally. Ultimately, this move reinforces KFSH&RC's dedication to patient-centered excellence. Dr. Al Fayyadh pointed out that KFSH&RC envisions itself as a leader in maximizing the value of healthcare spending, adhering to evidence-based practices to ensure optimal patient outcomes. It seeks to remain at the forefront of global healthcare innovation, with initiatives designed to increase health equity and access worldwide. To achieve this, KFSH&RC will continue to invest in cutting-edge medical facilities, advanced diagnostic equipment, and state-of-the-art treatment technologies. Building on existing progress in areas like CAR T-cell therapy, robotic surgeries, organ transplants, and personalized medicine, the institution aims to achieve global competitiveness. This will be further supported by fostering an exceptional workforce, pursuing Nobel Prize-caliber breakthroughs, and strengthening strategic international collaborations. Dr. Al Fayyadh joined a panel discussion focusing on the evolving landscape of the healthcare sector and the positive outcomes of KFSH&RCs ongoing transformation in patient care. He also addressed current challenges and anticipated future developments within the healthcare sector, emphasizing the profound impact of the hospital's innovations on global healthcare advancement. Additionally, Dr. Al Fayyadh highlighted the effective role of the hospital's transformative initiatives in aligning with the objectives of the Health Sector Transformation Program and Saudi Vision 2030. KFSH&RC is recognized as one of the leading global institutions that provide specialized healthcare, drive innovation, and serve as an advanced medical research and education hub. It is dedicated to developing medical technologies and elevating healthcare standards worldwide, forging partnerships with leading local, regional, and international institutions to deliver world-class services in clinical, research, and educational domains. For the second year running, KFSH&RC has retained its status as the leading institution in the Kingdom and ranks 20th globally among the top 250 academic medical centers worldwide. It is also recognized as the most valuable healthcare brand in the Kingdom and the Middle East in 2024, according to Brand Finance, and has been ranked among the world's top 250 hospitals by Newsweek Magazine. About King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre: King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre stands among the global leaders in providing specialized healthcare, driving innovation, and serving as an advanced medical research and education hub. Through strategic partnerships with prominent local, regional, and international institutions, the hospital is dedicated to advancing medical technologies and elevating healthcare standards worldwide. The hospital has secured its position as the leading brand in the healthcare sector across the Kingdom and the Middle East, marking its second consecutive year as the most valuable healthcare brand. It ranks 9th within the Kingdom and 28th in the Middle East. The hospital distinguishes itself as the sole hospital globally to break into the top 10 brands in its country, as highlighted in two reports by Brand Finance on the 50 most valuable brands in Saudi Arabia and the 150 most valuable brands in the Middle East in 2024. Due to the transformation programs and the Kingdoms Vision 2030, launched by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Prime Minister - may God protect him - to enhance the Kingdoms leadership in the global healthcare sector, KFSH&RC has emerged as a leading Academic Medical Centre in the Middle East and Africa. It maintained its 20th rank globally for the second consecutive year in 2024, according to "Brand Finance." Additionally, it has been ranked among the top 250 hospitals globally in 2024 by the American magazine "Newsweek." For further information, please contact: Mr. Essam AlZahrani, Acting Head of Media Affairs, 0555254429 Mr. Abdullah Alown, Media Coordination Officer, 0556294232 Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d9d0ed27-fa87-49ac-b72b-ccf5b5843637 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/682fadee-20a5-4328-bf00-e036bc3350fd NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAW CALGARY, Alberta, May 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- High Arctic Energy Services Inc. (TSX: HWO) ("High Arctic" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors (Board) has unanimously approved the reorganization of High Arctic to separate the Corporation's North American and Papua New Guinea ("PNG") businesses, by way of a court-approved plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement"), as well as a distribution of surplus cash to shareholders by way of a return of capital of up to $38.2 million (up to $0.76 per common share) of High Arctic (the "Return of Capital"). The Arrangement will transfer High Arctic's PNG business to a separate, dedicated, and independent, publicly traded company named "High Arctic Overseas Holdings Corp." ("SpinCo"), while High Arctic will continue to own and operate the Corporation's existing North American Business. Each of the two companies will have its own management and operational teams and separate Board of Directors. Under the proposed Arrangement, each shareholder of High Arctic ("Shareholder") will receive one-quarter of one (1/4) common share of SpinCo ("SpinCo Common Share") and one-quarter of one (1/4) common share of post-Arrangement High Arctic for each common share of High Arctic held. The Arrangement, the Return of Capital, and other resolutions related to the reorganization, as well as annual meeting matters, will be put to the Shareholders for approval at an annual general and special meeting of shareholders of the Corporation to be held in Calgary, Alberta on June 17, 2024 (the "Meeting"). As a result of the Arrangement, each Shareholder will continue to own its pro rata portion of both SpinCo and post-Arrangement High Arctic. Strategic Rationale High Arctics Board and management are of the view that the Corporation has historically been unable to derive appropriate value from the market that represents the sum of the parts. The Corporation has also found a lack of synergy between the businesses in PNG and Canada. In separating the PNG business from the Corporation, High Arctics Board and management believe value can be created for the Shareholders. For the holders of SpinCo Common Shares, separation provides the opportunity for SpinCo to consider transactions with a wider group of PNG focused companies, and greater flexibility to relocate in the future to a market that better understands PNG and is likely to ascribe greater value to SpinCo. For the holders of post-Arrangement High Arctic common shares, the transaction opens-up opportunities for High Arctic to participate in Canadian M&A activity where the PNG business may have been perceived as an impediment to accretive transactions. For years the Corporation has both pursued or entertained potential business combination transactions. The distinctly different profiles of the North American and PNG businesses have proven to be the main impediment to identifying transactions acceptable to all parties and in the best interests of Shareholders. Finding unique companies desirous of being linked to both distinct businesses has proven unsuccessful. Companies to whom association with our North American Business may be attractive are a distinctly broader group and do not overlap with the international companies with whom the PNG business and its risk profile may fit well. Board and management unanimously agree that the separation of these two businesses will ensure that management is dedicated to enhancing the value of each business and accessing new pathways to transformative and accretive transactions that are currently inaccessible. Benefits to Shareholders Certain of the expected benefits to Shareholders of the Arrangement are as follows: The benefits of dividing the Corporation into its distinct businesses; Each company will be owned by Shareholders on a pro rata basis with reference to the number of High Arctic Common Shares held prior to the Arrangement; The Arrangement is expected to improve the markets identification and valuation of each company and allow Shareholders, investors and analysts to more accurately compare, evaluate and value each of the companies on a stand-alone basis against appropriate peers, benchmarks and performance criteria specific to that company; Each company will have independent access to capital (equity and debt) which management believes will result in optimal capital allocation; The procedures by which the Arrangement is to be approved, including the requirement for approval of the Arrangement by the Court after a hearing at which fairness to the Corporations securityholders will be considered; The Corporation has received the financial Fairness Opinion (defined below); The availability of rights of dissent to Shareholders with respect to the Arrangement; and The tax treatment of the Arrangement is expected to be tax efficient for Canadian tax purposes for most shareholders. Board and Management of High Arctic and SpinCo The Hon. Joe Oliver has informed the Corporation that he does not intend to stand for re-election as a director at the Meeting and will resign on May 15, 2024. Mr. Oliver has served as a director of High Arctic for eight years, and his intention to resign coincides with the Arrangement and the setting of a new strategic direction for the remaining Corporation, which he supports. Michael Binnion, High Arctics Chairman stated: On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank the Honorable Joe Oliver for his dedication and commitment to High Arctic during his tenure. Joe has played an important role in the evolution of High Arctic including the challenges of a global pandemic and a rebuilding of the businesses that sets the stage for a new and independent future. We wish Joe all the very best. Upon completion of the Arrangement and election or re-election by Shareholders at the Meeting, the Board of High Arctic will consist of: Simon Batcup (Chair) Douglas Strong Michael Binnion Craig Nieboer The management of High Arctic will consist of: Michael Maguire (Interim CEO) Lonn Bate (CFO) Trevor Barker (GM Operations) Justin Morrical (Business Development Manager) High Arctic is actively pursuing permanent CEO placement options. If the Arrangement is approved, Mr. Maguire will assume the role in an interim capacity and transition duties to a new CEO appointed by the Board. The management of SpinCo will consist of: Mike Maguire (CEO) Lonn Bate (Interim CFO) Stephen Lambert (COO) Chris Fraser (VP Strategy & Growth) Matthew Cocks (VP Finance) The Board of SpinCo, upon completion of the Arrangement, will consist of: Michael Binnion (Chair) Mike Maguire Bruce Apana Summary of the Arrangement The Corporation and SpinCo have entered into an arrangement agreement providing for the Arrangement (the "Arrangement Agreement"). A copy of the Arrangement Agreement will be filed under High Arctic's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Full details of the Arrangement, the Return of Capital, and the other items to be approved by the Shareholders at the Meeting will be included in the management information circular of High Arctic to be mailed to Shareholders on or about May 13, 2024. The Arrangement will require approval by a minimum of 66 2/3% of the votes cast by High Arctic Shareholders, voting in person or by proxy, at the Meeting. The Arrangement is also subject to the approval of the TSX and the Court of King's Bench of Alberta, and applicable regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of certain other closing conditions customary for transactions of this nature. It is anticipated that the Return of Capital will be distributed to Shareholders on or about July 24, 2024, and the closing of the Arrangement will take place on or about July 31, 2024, assuming that the required Shareholder, Court and regulatory approvals have been received by such time, and subject to the other terms and conditions set out in the Arrangement Agreement. Application has been made to the TSX Venture Exchange for the listing of the SpinCo Common Shares upon completion of the Arrangement. It is a condition of the completion of the Arrangement that the new common shares of High Arctic and the SpinCo Common Shares will be listed on either the Toronto Stock Exchange or will be listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. Lightyear Capital Inc. has provided to the Board of Directors an opinion ("Fairness Opinion") that, as of the date of the Fairness Opinion and based upon and subject to the assumptions, limitations, qualifications and conditions described therein, the consideration to be received by Shareholders pursuant to the Arrangement was fair, from a financial point of view, to such Shareholders. Summary of the Return of Capital In July 2022 the Corporation made a strategic decision to divest certain well servicing and snubbing assets in Canada, to two separate purchasers, and in July 2023 the Corporation sold its Canadian nitrogen pumping business (collectively, the Sale Transactions). As a result of receiving the cash proceeds of the Sale Transactions, the Corporation had working capital of approximately $62.7 million which included a cash balance of approximately $50.4 million as at December 31, 2023. Although the Corporation reviewed opportunities to redeploy its excess working capital in North America and elsewhere, the High Arctic Board has determined to seek shareholder approval for the Arrangement and the Return of Capital. Pursuant to the provisions of the Alberta Business Corporations Act, the Corporation proposes to reduce the capital account maintained by the Corporation in respect of the High Arctic Common Shares in an amount up to $0.76 multiplied by the number of High Arctic Common Shares issued and outstanding, such amount to be determined by the Board. Approval of the Stated Capital Reduction enables High Arctic to distribute the same amount to Shareholders as a Return of Capital. High Arctic anticipates that the aggregate amount of the return of Capital will be a maximum of $38.2 million. The Return of Capital is expected to be completed immediately prior to the completion of the transactions contemplated by the Arrangement. The Return of Capital will require approval by a minimum of 66 2/3% of the votes cast by High Arctic shareholders, voting in person or by proxy, at the Meeting. Board Recommendation The Board of Directors of High Arctic, including the Hon. Joe Oliver, has unanimously approved the Arrangement and the Return of Capital and has determined that the Arrangement and the Return of Capital are in the best interests of High Arctic, and recommends that the High Arctic shareholders vote in favour of the Arrangement and the Return of Capital. Other Matters to be Approved at the Meeting At the Meeting, provided that the Arrangement is approved by the Shareholders, the Shareholders will also be asked to approve the accelerated redemption of all outstanding units under the Corporations deferred share unit plan, as well as an equity incentive plan for SpinCo. Shareholders will also be asked to approve various annual matters, including fixing the number of directors to be elected at the meeting, election of the directors of the Corporation, and appointment of the auditors of the Corporation. About High Arctic High Arctic is an energy services provider. High Arctic is a market leader in Papua New Guinea providing drilling and specialized well completion services and supplies rental equipment including rig matting, camps, material handling and drilling support equipment. In western Canada High Arctic provides pressure control and other oilfield equipment on a rental basis to exploration and production companies, from its bases in Whitecourt and Red Deer, Alberta. For further information, please contact: Lonn Bate Interim Chief Financial Officer 1.587.318.2218 1.800.668.7143 High Arctic Energy Services Inc. Suite 2350, 3305th Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 0L4 website: www.haes.ca Email: info@haes.ca Forward-Looking Statements Forward-Looking Statements. Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or High Arctic's and SpinCo's future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe" and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. High Arctic believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon by investors. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are expressly qualified, in their entirety, by this cautionary statement. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements, pertaining to the following: the anticipated benefits of the Arrangement to High Arctic and its Shareholders; the timing and anticipated receipt of required regulatory (including stock exchange), court, and shareholder approvals for the Arrangement; the ability of High Arctic to satisfy the other conditions to, and to complete, the Arrangement; the anticipated timing of the mailing of the information circular regarding the Arrangement, the closing of the Arrangement, the approval by the Board and the amount and payment of the Return of Capital, and the composition of the management teams and Board of Directors of SpinCo and post-Arrangement High Arctic. In respect of the forward-looking statements and information concerning the anticipated completion of the proposed Arrangement, the anticipated timing for completion of the Arrangement and related transactions, High Arctic has provided them in reliance on certain assumptions that it believe are reasonable at this time, including assumptions as to the time required to prepare and mail shareholder meeting materials, including the required management information circular; the ability of the parties to receive, in a timely manner, the necessary regulatory, court, shareholder and other third party approvals; and the ability of the parties to satisfy, in a timely manner, the other conditions to the closing of the Arrangement. These dates may change for a number of reasons, including unforeseen delays in preparing meeting material; inability to secure necessary shareholder, regulatory, court or other third party approvals in the time assumed or the need for additional time to satisfy the other conditions to the completion of the Reorganization. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these times. With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this press release related to High Arctics business and operations, High Arctic has made assumptions regarding, among other things: (i) there being no significant disruptions affecting operations, whether due to labour disruptions, supply disruptions, damage to equipment or otherwise during the balance of 2024; (ii) that the exchange rate between the Canadian dollar and the U.S. dollar will be approximately consistent with current levels; (iii) the ability of the Corporation and SpinCo to maintain ongoing relationships with major customers and successfully market their services to current and new customers; (iv) the ability of High Arctic and SpinCo to successfully manage, operate, and thrive in an environment which is facing much uncertainty; and (v) the ability of High Arctic and SpinCo to obtain equity and debt financing when needed on satisfactory terms. The actual results of High Arctic and SpinCo could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors that may include, but are not limited to: volatility in the worldwide demand for oilfield services; impact on industry activity levels due to such factors as volatility in oil and natural gas prices and the ability of customers to raise capital for exploration and development; change in legislation and the regulatory environment; changes in PNG government policy on resource development; risks inherent in operating in foreign jurisdictions; and geohazards and meteorological hazards associated with operating in PNG. This forward-looking information represents High Arctics views as of the date of this document and such information should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any date subsequent to the date of this document. High Arctic has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those current expectations or estimates expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. However, there may be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as expected or estimated and that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from current expectations. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as results and future events could differ materially from those expected or estimated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required by law, High Arctic undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. VANCOUVER, May 10, 2024 - Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. ("Wheaton" or the "Company") announces that the nominees listed below were elected to the Board of Directors at the 2024 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders, including the addition of Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, or Venkat, who joins the board effective today. Detailed results of the vote for the Board of Directors of the Company are shown below. "With his impressive track record of exemplary leadership and success in the mining industry, we are pleased to welcome Venkat to our Board of Directors," said George Brack, Chair of the Board of Wheaton. "Venkat brings a wealth of experience, strategic insight and a strong dedication to sustainable growth, which will be invaluable to Wheaton as we venture into our next phase of expansion. We look forward to working closely with Venkat and benefiting from his contributions to our board discussions and decision-making process." 2024 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders Voting Results Nominee Votes For % For Votes Withheld % Withheld George L. Brack 324,783,866 98.27 % 5,717,692 1.73 % Jaimie Donovan 327,626,678 99.13 % 2,874,880 0.87 % R. Peter Gillin 313,193,110 94.76 % 17,308,448 5.24 % Chantal Gosselin 318,747,803 96.44 % 11,753,755 3.56 % Jeane Hull 327,216,498 99.01 % 3,285,060 0.99 % Glenn Ives 328,571,567 99.42 % 1,929,991 0.58 % Charles A. Jeannes 325,495,940 98.49 % 5,005,618 1.51 % Marilyn Schonberner 324,115,890 98.07 % 6,385,668 1.93 % Randy V.J. Smallwood 329,605,299 99.73 % 896,259 0.27 % Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan 328,191,419 99.30 % 2,310,139 0.70 % The following special matter was also approved by shareholders at the 2024 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders: the ordinary resolution to approve the appointment of Deloitte LLP, Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, as auditors of the Company was carried with 94.42% of the votes cast in favour of such resolution; and as a special matter, the non-binding advisory resolution accepting the Company's approach to executive compensation was carried with 94.14% of the votes cast in favour of such resolution. Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan - New Director Mr. Venkatakrishnan is a Corporate Director and an experienced mining executive who brings a wealth of mining and financial experience, gained through his vast experience of leading global mining businesses, in a career that has spanned across 17 countries and six continents. Mr. Venkatakrishnan has a proven track record of leading multinational organizations - including major publicly listed companies - through periods of challenging and transformative change. He is currently the Chair of Endeavour Mining Plc and a director of BlackRock World Mining Trust plc. He was also, until March 31, 2024, a Director of Weir Group Plc. Previously, Mr. Venkatakrishnan served as CEO of Vedanta Resources Plc from 2018 to 2020 and was CEO of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. between 2013 to 2018, having previously been Chief Financial Officer of the business from 2005, and of Ashanti Goldfields Limited from 2000. In his early career, he was a Director with Deloitte in London, leading corporate restructurings on behalf of both corporates and financiers. Mr. Venkatakrishnan is a past board member of the World Gold Council, International Council on Mining and Metals, Business Leadership South Africa, the Chamber of Mines of South Africa and a past member of the Financial Review Investigation Panel of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wheaton-precious-metals-announces-election-of-directors-and-approval-of-special-matters-and-welcomes-new-board-member-302142737.html SOURCE Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. Company continues to Expand its Near Surface High-Grade Copper, Platinum, Palladium, Gold, and Silver Zone 5km Northeast of its Main Nisk Deposit TORONTO, May 10, 2024 - Power Nickel Inc. (the "Company" or "Power Nickel") (TSXV: PNPN) (OTCBB: PNPNF) (Frankfurt: IVV) is pleased to announce high-grade multi-elements assay results for holes PN-24-048, PN-24-052 and PN-24-053. (see Figure 2 and Table 1 below) Highlights: PN-24-048 returned, 15.27 m of 0.50 g/t Au, 16.13 g/t Ag, 1.89% Cu, 7.07 g/t Pd, 1.26 g/t Pt and 0.80% Ni Including: 5.00 m of 0.94 g/t Au, 12.76 g/t Ag, 1.14% Cu, 14.23 g/t Pd, 2.92 g/t Pt, and 0.06% Ni, 1.70 m of 1.27 g/t Au, 99.84 g/t Ag, 12.30% Cu, 15.45 g/t Pd, 0.60 g/t Pt and 0.38% Ni PN-24-052 returned, 11.35 m of 0.26 g/t Au, 6.12 g/t Ag, 0.63% Cu, 1.57 g/t Pd, 0.67 g/t Pt and 0.04% Ni Including : 2.00 m of 0.93 g/t Au, 13.95 g/t Ag, 1.01% Cu, 3.67 g/t Pd, 2.59 g/t Pt, and 0.03% Ni 2.85 m of 0.22 g/t Au, 10.44 g/t Ag, 1.36% Cu, 3.54 g/t Pd, 0.82 g/t Pt, and 0.08% Ni PN-24-053 returned 5.00 m of 1.76 g/t Au, 102.90 g/t Ag, 12.70% Cu, 20.87 g/t Pd, 1.02 g/t Pt and 0.40% Ni Including : 2.25 m of 2.37 g/t Au, 133.68 g/t Ag, 19.85% Cu, 31.78 g/t Pd, 0.86 g/t Pt and 0.37% Ni "Another set of great holes in the increasingly exciting polymetallic Lion Zone. It is never easy to follow up drill holes like holes 47 and 51. PN-24-047 : 14.42 m of 0.59 g/t Au, 69.14 g/t Ag, 8.17% Cu, 6.25 g/t Pd, 8.44 g/t Pt and 0.58% Ni PN-24-051 : 11.40 m of 0.24 g/t Au, 13.95 g/t Ag, 2.51% Cu, 3.20 g/t Pd, 19.59 g/t Pt and 0.18% Ni As we can now see, we are establishing some boundaries delineating a high grade and thick core that is surrounded by well mineralized but thinner edges. Holes 48 and 53 are examples of the former, while a hole like 47 is coming from that 100-metre-wide core zone. The system starts essentially at surface and goes down to 275 metres," commented Terry Lynch, Power Nickel CEO. "When I initially created this pictures plate (see Figure 1), I wanted to provide a visual comparison between the amount of massive chalcopyrite observed and the assay results, and from hole to hole. Thus far, with assays received for four of the presented holes, we like the correlation. We expect to get the assays in for holes 55 and 59 soon; both of which as you can see below contain a lot of massive PGE-bearing chalcopyrite," stated Kenneth Williamson, Power Nickel's VP Exploration. Figure 1 below presents core pictures of some of the best intersections to date. It is noticeable that the relative quantity of semi-massive chalcopyrite observed in both PN-23-031A and PN-24-044, while excellent, appeared to be dwarfed when compared to some of the other holes coming from the core of the zone. Hole PN-24-047 confirmed the observation, and yet again with PN-24-053. The Company's winter 2024 drill program ended with 15 successful holes at the Lion Discovery. Additional assays released continue to support the ongoing progress on the discovery that has been made (see Figure 2 below). Power Nickel will continue to drill at the Lion Discovery in the upcoming summer season, following up PN-24-051 and PN-24-062, the deepest mineralized intersections to date. Table 1 below presents the significant results and the current Assay Status for the remaining holes of the program. Note: Length is presented as downhole distance; true width corresponds to 60-80% of such downhole distance in function of the orientation of the hole. CuEq Rec represents CuEq calculated based on the following metal prices (USD) : 2,360.15 $/oz Au, 27.98 $/oz Ag, 1,215.00 $/oz Pd, 1000.00 $/oz Pt, 4.00 $/lb Cu, 10.00 $/lb Ni and 22.50 $/lb Co., and a recovery grade of 80% for all commodity, consistent with comparable peers. From the available data and observations, the mineralized zone can be followed 225m laterally and 300m deep. The thickness of massive chalcopyrite varies, ranging from up to 5-6 m true width in the core of the zone to less than 1 meter laterally. While holes PN-24-048 and PN-24-053 are located at the periphery of the zone, confirming its lateral continuity both west and east of previously announced results. Hole PN-24-052 appears to be related to a sheared and highly altered portion of the zone; considering the overall geological context in which the zone is hosted, and the knowledge acquired at Nisk Main, the presence of such smaller scale structure can be expected. 3D modeling and interpretation of secondary lithologies (dykes, sub-units) and structures from core logging and geochemistry data is ongoing as more results become available. Figure 3 below is a 3D view of the Lion Discovery Zone which illustrates our current interpretation as well as the vast open ground area that could potentially be host of more than one of these mineralized zones. QAQC and Sampling GeoVector's Management Inc is the Consulting company retained to perform the actual drilling program, which includes core logging and sampling of the drill core. All samples were submitted to and analyzed at Activation Laboratories Ltd ("Actlabs"), an independent commercial laboratory for both the sample preparation and assaying. Actlabs is a commercial laboratory independent of Power Nickel with no interest in the Project. Actlabs is an ISO 9001 and 17025 certified and accredited laboratories. Samples submitted through Actlabs are run through standard preparation methods and analysed using RX-1 (Dry, crush (< 7 kg) up to 80% passing 2 mm, riffle split (250 g) and pulverize (mild steel) to 95% passing 105 m) preparation methods, and using 1F2 (ICP-OES) and 1C-OES - 4-Acid near total digestion + Gold-Platinum-Palladium analysis and 8-Peroxide ICP-OES, for regular and over detection limit analysis. Pegmatite samples are analyzed using UT7 - Li up to 5%, Rb up to 2% method. Actlabs also undertake their own internal coarse and pulp duplicate analysis to ensure proper sample preparation and equipment calibration. GeoVector's QAQC program includes regular insertion of CRM standards, duplicates, and blanks into the sample stream with a stringent review of all results. The results presented in the current Press Released are complete within the mineralized intervals, but results are still pending for the top portion of both holes reported. QAQC and data validation was performed on these portions of the holes where assays are fully integrated, and no material error were observed. Qualified Person Kenneth Williamson, Geo, M.Sc., VP Exploration at Power Nickel, is the qualified person who has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release. About Power Nickel Inc. Power Nickel is a Canadian junior exploration company focusing on developing the high-grade Nisk project into Canada's first Carbon Neutral Nickel mine. The NISK property comprises a significant land position (20 kilometers of strike length) with numerous high-grade intercepts. Power Nickel is focused on expanding the historical high-grade nickel-copper PGE mineralization with a series of drill programs designed to test the initial Nisk discovery zone and to explore the land package for adjacent potential Nickel deposits. In addition to the Nisk project, Power Nickel owns significant land packages in British Colombia and Chile. The Company is in the process of reorganizing these assets in a related vehicle, through a Plan of Arrangement that will be presented to Power Nickel shareholders of record for their approval. To obtain Power Nickel's Corporate Presentation, please use the link below: http://powernickel.com/corporate_presentation.pdf For further information, readers are encouraged to contact: Power Nickel Inc. The Canadian Venture Building 82 Richmond St East, Suite 202 Toronto, ON Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor it's Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This message contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" concerning the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws. 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," "indicates," "opportunity," "possible" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results or realities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such material risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, among others, the timing for the Company to close the private placement or the second Nisk option or risk that such transactions do not close at all; raise sufficient capital to fund its obligations under its property agreements going forward; to maintain its mineral tenures and concessions in good standing; to explore and develop its projects; changes in economic conditions or financial markets; the inherent hazards associates with mineral exploration and mining operations; future prices of nickel and other metals; changes in general economic conditions; accuracy of mineral resource and reserve estimates; the potential for new discoveries; the ability of the Company to obtain the necessary permits and consents required to explore, drill and develop the projects and if accepted, to obtain such licenses and approvals in a timely fashion relative to the Company's plans and business objectives for the applicable project; the general ability of the Company to monetize its mineral resources; and changes in environmental and other laws or regulations that could have an impact on the Company's operations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, dependence on key management personnel and general competition in the mining industry. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/power-nickel-delineates-new-polymetallic-discovery-302142747.html SOURCE Power Nickel Inc. Toronto - Metalite Resources Inc. (CSE:METL) (OTC:JNCCF) (Frankfurt:5VHA) ("Metalite" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Hazelton as Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company effective immediately. Mr. Hazelton is an experienced finance professional with more than 20 years of operational and advisory experience in various capacities and industries. Mr. Hazelton continuously offers his expertise to publicly listed and private companies in Canada and the United States. Previously, Mr. Hazelton has held a number of senior finance roles, including but not limited to Chief Executive Officer and Director at Universal PropTech Inc., Vice President for Cavalry Corporate Solutions Ltd., Chief Executive Officer and Director at Canada Pacific Capital Corp., Chief Financial Officer for Lineage Grow Co. Ltd. (now StateHouse Holdings Inc.) and Chief Financial Officer & Director at Sagittarius Capital Corp. (now Water Ways Technologies Inc.) In addition, Mr. Hazelton was on the board of Psyched Wellness Ltd. Mr. Hazelton is a Chartered Professional Account and holds an undergraduate degree from McMaster University. Mr. Hazelton's appointments come after David Melling's resignation as Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company due to his decision to retire. The Company wishes to thank David Melling for his commitment and the contributions he made to the Company during his tenure and wishes him well in his retirement. The Canadian Securities Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transactions and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. About Metalite Resources Inc. Metalite Resources Inc. is a Canadian junior mineral exploration issuer with a precious metals focused project in NSW, Australia. About Cachee Gold Mines Corp. Cachee Gold Mines Corp. is a private mineral exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Cachee currently has two projects which are 100% owned by Cachee: 1) Launay Gold Project - comprised of large claims package in the heart of the Abitibi, a world class mining district; and 2) Titan Project - comprised of approximately 5,445 contiguous hectares comprising 17 patented claims and 84 unpatented claims in Nipissing District, Ontario, with an inferred resource estimate of 46 million tonnes grading 48.32% Fe2O3, 0.24% V and 14.88% TiO2. Cachee's leadership team is comprised of seasoned individuals with a track record in mining, technology, life sciences and finance. For further information please contact: info@metaliteresources.com To learn more, please visit https://www.metaliteresources.com/. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of historic fact, that address activities, events or developments that Metalite believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate, "expect," and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may," "will," "can," "should," "could," or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of Metalite based on information currently available to Metalite. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of Metalite to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on Metalite. Forward looking statements in this press release include statements regarding the proposed transactions with Cachee and between Osprey and Ferromin and the timing thereof. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, failure to obtain all necessary approvals for the completion of the transactions discussed herein. 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, Metalite disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although Metalite believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Copyright (c) 2024 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Vancouver - Fidelity Minerals Corp. (TSX-V: FMN | FSE: S5GM | SSE: MNYC) ("Fidelity" or the "Company") announces that it has granted an aggregate of 4,150,000 incentive stock options (the "Options") to certain directors, officers and consultants of the Company pursuant to the Company's previously approved Stock Option Plan. The Options are exercisable at a price of $0.05 per share for a period of 5 years. About Fidelity Minerals Corp. Fidelity Minerals Corp. has assembled a portfolio of high-quality mining assets in Peru and aims to delineate major deposits on these properties that could attract the interest of mid-tier and major mining companies. Fidelity has a portfolio of assets in Peru and is currently focused on progressing its most advanced project - Las Huaquillas. Fidelity is also looking to opportunistically expand its project portfolio with accretive acquisitions. The company is backed by an experienced management team with diverse technical, market, and commercial expertise and is supported by committed, and sophisticated investors focused on building long-term value. On behalf of the Board of Fidelity Minerals. Dean Pekeski CEO, President and Director Email: dean@fidelityminerals.com For more information, please visit the corporate website at http://www.fidelityminerals.com or contact: 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. Disclaimer & Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future events or future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of terminology such as "may", "should", "intend", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "project", "predict", "potential", or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. This news release may also contain inferences to future oriented financial information ("FOFI") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The information in this news release has been prepared by our management to provide a context to provide the reader with an outlook for our future activities and anticipated key milestones and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements in this announcement include, (but are not limited to) advancing certain key project activities that could represent important milestones which the Company expects may represent material valuation catalysts, such as the expectation that through the assembling of a portfolio of high-quality mining assets in Peru, the Company aims to delineate major deposits on these properties that could attract the interest of mid-tier and major mining companies. Further, forward-looking statements in this release include that Fidelity Minerals Corp. is also looking to opportunistically expand its project portfolio with accretive acquisitions. Copyright (c) 2024 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Vancouver, May 11, 2024 - Red Metal Resources Ltd. (CSE: RMES) (OTC Pink: RMESF) ("Red Metal" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Gregg Jensen and Marian Myers, P.Geo., have been appointed to the board of directors of the Company, effective May 10, 2024, to fill vacancies created by the resignations of Jeffrey Cocks and Joao (John) Da Costa from the board of directors. The Company thanks Messrs. Cocks and Da Costa for their services as directors of the Company and wishes them all the best in their future endeavors. Following the appointments, the board of directors now consists of Caitlin Jeffs, P.Geo., Cody McFarlane, Michael Thompson, P.Geo., Gregg Jensen and Marian Myers, P.Geo. Director and Management Changes In addition, Caitlin Jeffs, P.Geo. has decided to step down from her management positions as President, CEO and Corporate Secretary of the Company and is excited to transition such management roles to Gregg Jensen who assumed such leadership positions effective as of May 10, 2024. The Company also announces the appointment of Brian Gusko as VP-Finance and Marian Myers, P.Geo., as Project Manager. Gregg Jensen Gregg Jensen has over 25 years' experience in finance, capital markets and business management spanning several industries from technology, mining, engineering, to professional services. Most recently, Mr. Jensen was a director of Lomiko Metals Inc., a graphite and lithium exploration company from December 2020 to December 2021. Marian Myers, P.Geo. Marian Myers, P.Geo, has a M.Sc (Geology) from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and has 35 years' experience working for a wide array of major and junior mining companies including Gold Fields (GFI), Anglo American (A.L.), AngloGold (AU), Balmoral Resources and Cardero Resource Corp. Ms. Myer's breadth of international experience has taken her from her home town near Johannesburg, South Africa to work on projects in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Australia, Alaska, Peru, Chile and now Canada where she resides in Vancouver. She specializes in the GIS integration of geochemical, geophysical and geological information, including historical data sets with expertise in QA/QC procedures, field data collection supervision, and assessment and technical report development. Brian Gusko Brian Gusko has an MBA from the University of Calgary, and attended the European Summer School of Advanced Management. Mr. Gusko has over 15 years' experience in capital markets and has helped raise over $75 MM for various enterprises. He has served on the board and as Chief Financial Officer of various private and public companies. Mr. Gusko has assisted with the interlisting of over 10 companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and has helped numerous companies access German capital markets. Previously Mr. Gusko was Chief Financial Officer of private and public companies. The last company he helped take public on the CSE had a market capitalization of over $200M at the time of listing. Proposed Consolidation The Company announces that it intends to complete a consolidation of its issued and outstanding common shares (each, a "Share") on the basis of three (3) pre-consolidation Shares for one (1) post-consolidation Share (the "Consolidation"). It is anticipated that the Consolidation will reduce the number of outstanding Shares from 54,866,625 Shares to approximately 18,288,875 post-consolidated Shares, subject to adjustment for rounding. The Board of Directors of the Company believes that the Consolidation of the Shares will enhance the marketability of the Company as an investment and better position the Company to raise the funds necessary to execute the Company's business plan. The Company does not intend to change its name or its current trading symbol in connection with the proposed Consolidation. The effective date of the Consolidation will be announced in a subsequent news release. The Company has set May 24, 2024 as the proposed record date for the Consolidation. No fractional post-consolidated Shares will be issued as a result of the Consolidation. Shareholders who would otherwise be entitled to receive a fraction of a post-consolidated Share will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of post-consolidated Shares and no cash consideration will be paid in respect of fractional shares. The exercise price and number of Shares of the Company issuable upon the exercise of outstanding options and warrants will be proportionally adjusted upon the implementation of the proposed Consolidation in accordance with the terms thereof. The Company will be obtaining a new CUSIP and ISIN number in connection with the Consolidation. The new CUSIP and ISIN numbers will be disclosed in a subsequent news release. The Company anticipates that the CSE will issue a bulletin to dealers advising of the Consolidation and effective date of trading on a consolidated basis. Restructuring of Certain Debt The Company also wishes to announce that it has restructured certain debt (the "Restructuring") in the amount of $1,911,451.33 (the "Debt") owed to certain directors (at the time) and arm's length parties (the "Creditors"). In connection with the foregoing, the Company entered into a debt restructuring agreement (the "Debt Agreement") with the Creditors. Pursuant to the Debt Agreement, the Creditors agreed to forgive a certain portion of the Debt and to restructure the repayment of the balance by the Company. The Debt will accrue interest at a rate of 8% per annum, and will be repaid over a period of 60 months in installment payments every six (6) months, commencing on the date that is six (6) months from the date of the Debt Agreement. The Restructuring is a "Related Party Transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI61-101") as each of Caitlin Jeffs, a current director, Joao (John) Da Costa, a former director, and Richard Jeffs, the Company's major shareholder, are parties to the Debt Agreement. The Restructuring is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 based on the exemption set out section 5.5(g) and section 5.7(1)(e) of MI61-101, respectively, on the basis of the "financial hardship" exemption therein. The Debt Agreement was approved by the independent directors of the Company. About Red Metal Resources Ltd. Red Metal Resources is a mineral exploration company focused on growth through acquiring, exploring and developing copper-cobalt-gold assets in Chile. The Company's projects are located in the prolific Candelaria iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) belt of Chile's coastal Cordillera. Red Metal is quoted on the CSE under the symbol RMES and on OTC Link alternative trading system on the OTC Pink marketplace under the symbol RMESF. For more information, visit www.redmetalresources.com Contact: Red Metal Resources Ltd. Gregg Jensen, CEO 1-866-907-5403 gregg.jensen@redmetalresources.com www.redmetalresources.com Forward-Looking Statements - All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws including, without limitation statements related to the Consolidation, timing thereof, and description of its exploration plans. Red Metal provides forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to exploration findings, results and recommendations, ability to raise adequate financing, receipt of required approvals and unprecedented market and economic risks associated with current unprecedented market and economic circumstances, as well as those risks and uncertainties identified and reported in Red Metal's public filings under its SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Although Red Metal has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Red Metal disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/208884 Happily, there was no drama when the nation's presidential electors met on Monday to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Thanks in part to the Supreme Court , "faithless electors" did not threaten Biden's substantial lead, and no legislature ignored its state's popular vote to appoint a competing slate of electors. Some may conclude that the evils of the Electoral College have been tamed, that we can live with this creaky institution.We can't. The Electoral College as it currently functions is a disaster waiting to happen and a source of daily distortion to our democracy. Doing away with the institution entirely might seem desirable to many, but a constitutional amendment for direct election of the president and vice president has almost no chance of passing Congress and three-fourths of the states. As difficult as the challenge is, we must find a more broadly supported path to reform, focused on the Electoral College's most dangerous flaws. There is one route that could find bipartisan appeal.The urgent need for change could not be clearer. After this norm-shattering year, we are probably one close election away from national breakdown. For the first time, a sitting president and his supporters have urged state legislatures to name electors contrary to the popular vote. State laws make clear that they can do so if an election dispute lasts long enough. There were no "faithless legislatures" this year, in part because state vote totals weren't very close. We won't always be so lucky in the future.We are also fortunate this year that the popular-vote winner also won the Electoral College. With a swing of only about 22,000 votes, the second-place candidate would be heading to the White House for the third time in six elections. We can expect the Electoral College to remain competitive, and Democrats seem likely to retain the popular-vote majority. It is thus only a matter of time until the basic principle that the candidate with the most popular votes should win is violated again.The worst problem with the Electoral College is not the issue most people talk about, that small-state voters have more weight in the choice of a president. Other countries convey greater voting impact to less-populated regions. In the United Kingdom, for example, the smallest parliamentary district has one-fifth the number of voters and thus five times the impact on who becomes prime minister as the largest. And in this country, despite popular perceptions, Republicans do not dominate small states: The 16 smallest states have divided eight-to-eight in each of the last four presidential elections.The much more significant problem is that the logic of the Electoral College has compelled all but two states to allocate their electors on a winner-take-all basis. Winner-take-all math is the reason swing states dominate presidential campaigns and the reason second-place popular-vote finishers can win if they eke out victories in enough states. For the Republican Party, winner-take-all has enabled dependence on a narrow base and intensified motivation to reduce turnout, both of which distort our democracy on a daily basis. Winner-take-all is not in the Constitution, nor was it in the Founders' intent.The idea for reforming the Electoral College that has advanced the furthest is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact , which commits states to give their electoral votes to the national popular-vote winner and goes into effect once enough states sign on to provide the winning 270 electoral-vote total. So far, 15 blue states and the District of Columbia have passed the agreement. If the compact is adopted by several Republican-controlled legislatures, survives the Supreme Court and is not overturned in member states, it could be the solution the country needs. But those "ifs" are big enough to make clear we need a Plan B.Two states, Nebraska and Maine, allocate some of their electors by congressional district. But that approach, if adopted nationally, would give a big role to gerrymandered districts and would not have prevented Donald Trump's win from second place in the popular vote in 2016.The best solution needs the permanence of a constitutional amendment, which means offering something for both sides. Republicans want to keep the small-state advantage and the state-based, rather than national, calculation of results. Democrats want results that reflect the popular vote. How to satisfy both?The Supreme Court provided part of the answer with its unanimous decision that electors don't need discretion making clear that we don't need electors. A constitutional amendment should replace human electors with electoral votes that can be expressed fractionally, in decimal form. An amendment should also end winner-take-all and the risk of faithless legislatures by requiring states to allocate their electoral votes proportionally, ideally to the state's top two vote-getters. To illustrate, in Missouri a popular-vote outcome of 55 percent to 45 percent would result in the state's 10 electoral votes being awarded 5.5 to 4.5.An amendment with those two provisions makes a second-place president extremely unlikely and creates incentives for candidates to campaign in every state, creating a truly national election at last. This approach would also drastically reduce the "spoiler" problem: A few percentage points to a Libertarian or Green Party candidate would no longer potentially swing all of a state's electoral votes.It may sound crazy to propose a broad-based national agreement when one side still won't acknowledge this year's results. But this idea already passed the Senate once, by a vote of 64-27, in 1950 in the form of the Lodge Gossett amendment . And it's supported by a growing list of national leaders, including 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig and Nobel Prize-winning economist Peter Diamond.Party officials outside of swing states would likely support a change that can bring presidential campaigns to their states to help with down-ballot races. Moderates of both parties should welcome an alternative to the current options of status quo or a National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.The risks and distortions of the Electoral College intensified significantly this year. It is irresponsible of us not to find a path to fix it.GoverningGoverning Rickey McIntosh, who was just granted house arrest this week while two of his criminal cases make their way through the judicial system, may have to go back to jail. McIntosh had the two most important elements necessary to move from the Department of Corrections into house arrest: a place to live, and two third-party custodians that passed the courts approval. But during a recent site inspection for court probation officers to install an electronic monitoring anklet on McIntosh, they learned that the house he is staying in is not hooked up to island power. A detainee is responsible for charging the battery pack on the anklet worn, twice per day. The probation office said that there was an operating generator at the residence when they visited, but Superior Court Judge Alberto E. Tolentino said that was not reliable enough. McIntosh was given special consideration considering the injuries he sustained from a recent incident at the Department of Corrections that sent him to the hospital with multiple fractions, a cracked eye socket and a bone near his brain that could kill him if it moves. McIntosh was in pretrial detention at DOC for a drug possession case and last year picked up a second case. He, along with two other detainees were indicted and face charges of promoting controlled substances as major prison contraband. His defense attorney Mark Smith had said that McIntosh was beaten while inside of his prison cell on Post 5, and said it could be a warning to his client not to cooperate with authorities. He feared for his life. Government prosecutor Randall Albright said he opposed McIntoshs release and stuck to the governments original recommendation of incarceration. The question is, though, who do I go to if he should come back dead? asked Tolentino. Then its too late, right? Hed be dead. Thats what Im trying to prevent. Tolentino said that the home had better have electricity by the time his next hearing comes up at 2 p.m. May 17. He said things need to be squared away by then because he will be off island after May 17, and motions would be heard by a judge unfamiliar with the case. Tolentino said either the probation office or AGs office could very well recommend that McIntoshs house arrest be revoked, and that he be sent back to DOC because he was unable to do what the court ordered him to do. National Parks Services Barbara Alberti shares that anyone can take a self-guided tour on the NPS app, where viewers can listen to some of Guams history from some of the people that were there. Content was uploaded just in time for the 12th Annual Back to Sumay Day event at Naval Base Guam. Former Sumay residents and their descendants were invited to celebrate mass and partake in a fiesta on May 11, 2024 at the Clipper Landing Park. Mesemwan Repwak, who was wanted for several violent crimes, including attempted murder, is being held on a total of $540,000 bail in three separate cases. He was charged Saturday in the Superior Court of Guam, along with June Monu, who was with Repwak during an altercation Friday that left one man with a machete injury to his back, according to a magistrates complaint. Repwak and two of his alleged accomplices, Monu and a woman suspected of helping him evade police, were arrested Friday and confined at the Department of Corrections. Ammy Janie Jain was confined in four separate cases on suspicion of hindering apprehension and obstructing government functions. All four cases involve Repwak. However, Jain was not charged as of Saturday. Superior Court of Guam Magistrate Judge Jonathan R. Quan set bail at $500,000 on the charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault for Repwak in one of three cases listed. That case involves the shooting of a 14-year-old girl who was in a car which Repwak allegedly shot at in the early morning hours on May 3 in Maite, court documents state. The girl had a laceration to the right side of her stomach area and possibly a gunshot wound to the right back area, based on court documents. Repwak is also charged with aggravated assault in the second case, and is being held on $15,000 bail. In his final case, Repwak faces charges of aggravated assault, assault on a peace officer and resisting arrest, and was being held on $25,000 cash bail. All told, Repwak needs $540,000 to be considered for pretrial release. Monu was held on $20,000 cash bail and faces charges of aggravated assault and terrorizing. According to a DOC confinement listing, Repwak was confined in 12 separate cases on suspicion of several aggravated assault cases, reckless driving, two cases of theft of a motor vehicle and attempted murder, among other charges. Monu was confined in two cases, both involving Repwak. Man struck with machete According to a magistrates complaint, Repwak and Monu, along with two other men, were involved in an altercation Friday morning. A man told police he was driving with his family in Sinajana when a Nissan Altima struck him from behind. The man took a left turn on Chalan Canton Tutujan when the car collided with him again near Sinajana Mobil. The man decided to drive to the Central Precinct because he was in fear for himself and his family. As the man attempted to turn into the precinct the Nissan Altima collided with the car a third time, the complaint states. The man then tried to drive forward, but the Altima collided with him a fourth time, which caused him to lose control of the vehicle. The man reversed into a small road and got down to verify if his children were OK. As he exited the vehicle, he saw four men get down from the Altima and three of them were holding machetes and a firearm. One of the suspects who was holding a short machete swung at him, striking his back. The other suspect holding a longer machete swung at him, but missed. The third suspect was holding a firearm and pointed it at the man, documents state. The driver of the Altima fled north towards 76 Circle K and the other three fled into the jungle behind 9As Tire Shop. Officers observed an 8- to 10-inch cut on the mans back. Through a photo lineup, the man was able to identify Repwak as the man who struck him with a machete and the man who pointed the shotgun at him as Monu, the complaint states. The two other suspects were not located. Police chased after Repwak at the Sinajana Mobil gas station parking lot and he refused to stop running, but stumbled and fell to the ground. An officer attempted to restrain him, but Repwak pulled his knees to his chest and thrusted his feet toward the officer and then swung his fist, trying to return to his feet, documents state. Repwak continued to fight back and several officers had to hold him down. Repwak pulled his hands underneath his chest and refused to comply with officers orders. It took three to four officers to pull his hands from underneath him and secure his wrists, the complaint states. After being put into a police vehicle, Repwak lunged his head and attempted to bite an officer, documents state. The officer told him to stop, but Repwak again attempted to bite the officer. Monus story Monu told officers that around 7:30 a.m., his friend, Parvin, arrived at Jains residence in Sinajana to pick him up to stroll. He told police he exited the vehicle with a rifle style pellet gun in his right hand and a machete in his left hand. He told police that he, Parvin and Repwak stepped out of the vehicle and called the man out to fight. He told officers he struck the mans back with a machete, the complaint states. Chief of Police Stephen Ignacio, during a Friday press conference, said two other people were arrested in connection with Repwak, but didnt name the suspects. DOC documents show that Monu and Jain were confined on the same case numbers as Repwak. Police put out a wanted poster for Repwak on April 29 in connection with several violent incidents that happened in Barrigada. Nearly two weeks later, police were finally able to capture him. Ignacio, in a press conference Friday afternoon, said GPDs Special Operations Division, along with marshals from the Superior Court of Guam, captured Repwak and another suspect following a road rage incident near Adas Funeral Home. According to Ignacio, Repwak and two other men armed with a shotgun and machete were involved in an altercation after a vehicle collision around 7:50 a.m. in Sinajana. Help from residents GPD Capt. Kim Santos said some residents in the village helped police out with finding Repwak. Residents told officers they saw Repwak go into a residence so officers were posted around the home waiting for him, and he took off out the back door, Santos said. Officers were then able to apprehend Repwak without incident. People should still take precaution because the other individuals involved with him have not yet been apprehended and we are actively searching for them, Santos said. Repwak is also allegedly part of a group that attacked another man with a machete on Aug. 23, 2023, outside of Hana Market in Harmon. On April 14, Repwak was identified in another carjacking incident on Robat St. in Maite, the chief said. Two days later, Repwak allegedly brandished a pistol during an altercation on San Roke St. in Barrigada, resulting in injuries, he said. On April 24, Repwak evaded officers but left behind a vehicle that held rifles and suspected methamphetamine, Ignacio said. By Terry Spencer | Associated Press MIAMI A federal judge ordered the Florida man charged with his estranged wifes disappearance in Spain held without bond on Friday, rejecting his lawyers argument that the prosecutions case is entirely circumstantial and shouldnt be tried in the United States. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said the decision to hold David Knezevich until trial was a close call, but he said the Fort Lauderdale business owners wealth and close ties to his native Serbia make him a potential flight risk even if he was required to post a $1 million bond, wear an ankle bracelet and surrender his passport. Knezevich and his wife are both naturalized U.S. citizens she is from Colombia. Knezevich, 36, was arrested by the FBI last weekend at Miami International Airport and charged with kidnapping. His 40-year-old wife, Ana Maria Henao Knezevich, disappeared Feb. 2 after a man in a motorcycle helmet spraypainted the lens of a security camera outside of her Madrid apartment. She had moved there from Florida late last year after their split. Torres decision came after a contentious two-hour hearing during which federal prosecutor Lacee Monk and defense attorney Jayne Weintraub sparred over just how strong the governments case is against Knezevich and whether the U.S. has jurisdiction to try an alleged crime that happened in Europe. Monk told Torres that prosecutors believe Ana is dead and that the FBI and Spains national police have substantial evidence that Knezevich is behind his wifes disappearance, which happened five weeks after she left him and moved to Madrid. She said the couple had been going through a nasty divorce after 13 years of marriage, fighting over how to split a substantial fortune they had amassed from their computer firm and real estate investments. He didnt want her to have an equal share, Monk said. Monk said Knezevich flew to Turkey from Miami six days before Anas disappearance, then immediately traveled the 600 miles to his native Serbia she said he was covering his tracks. There, he rented a Peugeot automobile. On Feb. 2, security video shows him 1,600 miles from Serbia in a Madrid hardware store using cash to buy duct tape and the same brand of spray paint the man in the motorcycle helmet used on the security camera, Monk said. His cellphone connected to Facebook from Madrid. The man in the motorcycle helmet is the same height and has the same eyebrows as Knezevich, she said. A photo of missing Colombian-born American woman Ana Maria Knezevich Henao, 40, is displayed on a streetlight in Madrid, Spain, on Feb. 16, 2024. The estranged husband of the woman who disappeared three months ago in Spain has been charged by U.S. federal agents with her kidnapping. U.S. marshals arrested David Knezevich at Miami International Airport on Saturday, May 4, 2024.Manu Fernandez | The Associated Press File License plates that were stolen in Madrid in that period were spotted by police plate readers both near a motorcycle shop where an identical helmet was purchased and on Anas street the night she disappeared. Hours after the helmeted man left the apartment, a Peugeot identical to the one Knezevich rented and sporting the stolen plates was recorded going through a toll booth near Madrid. The driver could not be seen because the windows were tinted. The morning after his wife disappeared, Knezevich texted a Colombian woman he met on a dating app to translate into perfect Colombian Spanish two English messages, Monk said. After she sent those back, two of Anas friends received those exact messages from her cellphone. They said she was going off with a man she had just met, something they say she would have never done. Monk said that proves Knezevich had his wifes cellphone. Finally, when Knezevich returned the Peugeot to the rental agency five weeks later, it had been driven 4,800 miles, its windows had been tinted, two identifying stickers had been removed and there was evidence the license plate had been removed and then put back. Monk said Knezevich has a strong incentive to flee as he is looking at a potential life sentence if convicted of kidnapping and death if it can be shown his wife has been killed. But Weintraub said the governments case is built on assumptions. She denied that the couples split was acrimonious and questioned FBI agent Alexandria Montilla extensively about the investigation, trying to poke holes in the governments theory, admitting she sometimes crossed into snarkiness. For example, Montilla said the only items missing from Anas apartment were her laptop and cellphone. Weintraub said perhaps she took a change of clothing, which wouldnt be obvious, and ran off with a man. When Montilla said unidentified blood was found in Anas apartment and is being tested, Weintraub asked why that would take three months. When Montilla said Spanish police had interviewed all the men Ana had dated since arriving in Spain, Weintraub asked how they would know there wasnt someone else. She said Ana had a history of mental illness and had talked of suicide. Weintraub posited that Ana perhaps ran off on a mental health holiday and would soon return with whomever shes with a suggestion that caused Anas relatives in the gallery to noticeably stir. Weintraub also argued there is no evidence that Anas disappearance was forced, an essential component of a kidnapping charge. And there never will be, she said. She then questioned whether the U.S. government even has jurisdiction. Monk argued that under revisions made to the federal kidnapping law in 2006, the U.S. can charge someone if the offender engaged in interstate or foreign commerce to commit the crime. Weintraub called that a stretch. Torres agreed that Weintraub will be able to mount a substantial defense, but the prosecution does have sufficient evidence to charge her client and he is flight risk. He invited Weintraub to appeal his decision. She did not respond. I recently visited my dad in Alaska and one of the top things to see on my list was the Northern Lights. I had seen Tiktok videos claiming 2024 would be a good year to see them if you lived or traveled to Alaska, parts of Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden or Finland, so I was excited to have the opportunity at my fingertips. The day I arrived, my dad said there was word going around town that on that night, the aurora could be visible. With that in mind, we prepared to stay up as late as we could, even though my dad is nowhere near a night owl, to be able to see them. There wasnt a cloud in the sky, it was quite dark in typical small town Alaska fashion, and our excitement was high. At 9 p.m. we went outside in the front and back yard to have no luck. We checked again at 10 p.m.- still no luck. Ok, we thought maybe it needs to be very late at night. We returned outside at 11:30, 12, 12:30 a.m., all to see nothing but Mt. Edgecumbe the volcano in the distance. While the volcano was cool to look at, its not what we were looking for. I wrote this article yesterday, but the good news is, you may be able to view the Northern Lights again tonight across... Posted by Meteorologist Katie Frazier on Saturday, May 11, 2024 To wrap up the story, we heard the next day you had to look well over the mountains to be able to see them. If you had a boat, even better, as you could get a clear view of the lights. Unfortunately, I was not able to see the Northern Lights on my trip to Alaska. Even though I had no luck, Im hoping that some folks in Texas can see them tonight. Here are two geomagnetic storm forecasts below. I will explain how to read them, and let you know if you may have a chance to see the colorful dancing lights. University of Alaska Fairbanks Aurora Forecast for the night of May 10, 2024.University of Alaska Fairbanks While both maps are predicting high Aurora Borealis activity across much of the United States tonight, one shows mainly the northern half having a chance at seeing the Northern Lights, and the other shows the chance for the majority of the country with a chance at seeing them. The NOAA forecast is outlining the areas who are most likely to see the aurora tonight. Red indicates a high likelihood of seeing them, whereas green represents a lower likelihood. The red line is the possible southern extent of who will be able to see them tonight. The University of Alaska Fairbanks forecast also outlines the area with the highest chance of seeing the lights, with the darker the green color on the map, the better chance of seeing them. Their green line is the estimate of the southernmost areas that wont be able to see them overhead but may appear low on the horizon. Aurora Borealis activity from space.NASA With both forecasts in mind, there very well may be a chance some north and northeast Texans could see the Northern Lights tonight. If you live in Lubbock, Amarillo, Midland-Odessa, Abilene, Dallas-Fort Worth, Waco, Tyler, Longview, or any of the cities in between, you could see the aurora tonight. If you want to have the best shot at seeing them, travel outside of your city or town to a darker area. Head north if you can, and look toward the northern horizon. If you are lucky, you just might be able to see the rare sight of the Northern Lights. To see when and where the aurora will be best visible to you, check out the Aurora 30 Minute Forecast from NOAA. I hope you will have better luck than me with seeing the elusive Northern Lights! Haiti - FLASH : 21 military planes have already landed in Port-au-Prince Thursday, May 10, 2 other American army planes landed at Toussaint Louverture airport, they were transporting civilians, soldiers and equipment and materials in preparation for the deployment (by the end of May 2024) of the Multinational Mission of support to the National Police of Haiti (PNH) in its fight against armed gangs Some details on the support of the Department of Defense (DOD) for the security of the Haitian airport and the preparation efforts of the Multinational Mission Support to the (MMSS) Summary as of May 10 : 21 planes landed in Haiti 577 tonnes of cargo were delivered Transport of civilian contractors for the construction of the base to host the Mission and of military personnel for the security of delivered materials, personnel and the airport Materials and equipment delivered : Hygiene and sanitation, construction materials, food, heavy and medical equipment "The United States will continue to provide strong, multifaceted support to Haiti as it moves toward a more secure and prosperous future," says U.S. Southern Command Let's recall that in February and March 2024, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised US aid of $300 million https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41867-haiti-politic-antony-blinken-announces-an-additional-$100m-for-the-pnh-support-mission.html to support the multinational mission in Haiti approved by the United Nations https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40642-haiti-flash-the-security-council-approves-the-intervention-of-a-multinational-force-in-haiti.html See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42270-haiti-flash-$60-million-of-american-military-equipment-for-the-mission-some-details.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42217-haiti-flash-7-countries-from-africa-asia-and-the-caribbean-will-support-the-pnh.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42142-haiti-flash-appointment-of-a-special-envoy-to-prepare-the-arrival-of-2-000-beninese-soldiers.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41867-haiti-politic-antony-blinken-announces-an-additional-$100m-for-the-pnh-support-mission.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40642-haiti-flash-the-security-council-approves-the-intervention-of-a-multinational-force-in-haiti.html SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - FLASH : JetBlue Airways returning to Haiti in June "The safety and security of our customers and crew members is our top priority. As a result of the recent civil unrest in Haiti, we have canceled operations through Tuesday, June 4," said Derek Dombrowski, JetBlue airline spokesperson. "We continue to monitor the situation and are working closely with the U.S. embassy and our team in Haiti to determine next steps." For its part, the American Airlines reservation system shows that the first available flights (unless there are changes) to and from Port-au-Prince will take place June 1st https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42277-haiti-flash-new-postponement-of-american-airlines-flights.html The new schedule of the two airlines foresees the return of services after the arrival of troops from the Multinational Security Support Mission, led by Kenya Earlier this week, Spirit Airlines announced the resumption of flights on Friday, May 10 between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International and Cap-Haitien https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42291-haiti-flash-spirit-airlines-resumes-service-to-cap-haitien.html As for the Haitian company Sunrise Airways, it has resumed its Cap-Haitien - Miami service since March 27, 2024 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-41974-haiti-notice-sunrise-airways-resumption-of-regular-cap-haitien-miami-flights-+-special-flights.html S/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... Airport : Phase II of the demolition project The 2nd phase of the project to demolish houses and businesses that could serve as firing points and hideouts for bandits will start next week in Sarthe, precisely at Street Foyer divin, Lakou Malo and Drouillard, according to details from Nice Simon, the mayor of Tabarre. "All houses from which the airport runway can be overlooked, even if it is 40 meters from the fence, will be demolished." https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-42309-icihaiti-airport-around-350-houses-have-already-been-demolished.html France : National Slavery Day The National Day of Remembrance of the Slavery Trade and Their Abolitions (May 10, 2024) took place this year in La Rochelle (France), under the presidency of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. On this occasion, he spoke to "mark France's solidarity with the people of Haiti, a nation born from the fight against slavery in 1804 and which is currently experiencing a dramatic situation." "Faced with the extremely serious situation Haiti is going through, I want to express our support and solidarity to the Haitian people." Suriname : Inauguration of the House of Culture of Haiti This week was inaugurated in the presence of Jean Claude Lappe, Consul of Haiti in Suriname, the first House of Culture of Haiti located Kristaalstraat, in Paramaribo North (Suriname) for the benefit of the Haitian community of approximately 10,000 people. Flag Festival : Text and drawing competition The Haitian Flag Committee is pleased to announce the celebration of the Haitian bicolor on May 18, 2024, marked by a Solidarity march for Haiti under the theme "A Committed Diaspora for Haiti". This day will also be an opportunity to organize a DRAWING and TEXT COMPETITION on the same theme, with prizes awarded the same day. For any additional information, please contact the Haitian Flag Committee at : comitedrapeauhaitien@gmail.com Malnutrition : USAID alongside Haitian children In 2023, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID-Haiti) reached 363,501 children under five with interventions to increase nutritional intake. A total of 5,282 children under the age of 5 were admitted to USAID-supported facilities for treatment of severe acute malnutrition and 8,476 for treatment of moderate acute malnutrition. During the screening sessions, vitamin A was distributed to 178,178 children under five years old. In addition, 106,687 pregnant women received nutritional support, including malnutrition screening. More than 3 million iron tablets and multivitamins have been distributed. Canadian Embassy temporarily closed Reminder : The Embassy of Canada to Haiti is closed temporarily to the public. Consular services are being provided remotely. Register with us: https://ow.ly/FIUE50PUg6o Request emergency consular assistance: https://ow.ly/G4pb50PUg6p HL/ HaitiLibre "The facts and the constitution are on our side and we expect to prevail again." With these words, Singaporean TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew reacted at the end of April to the new law banning TikTok in the USA, with effect from the beginning of 2025. The Chinese company has now filed a lawsuit. It refers to four constitutional provisions that the law violates. Anzeige Officially, the law is called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. It prohibits hosting services as well as distribution and updates for "applications controlled by foreign adversaries". Even the distribution of relevant source code is prohibited. The penalties amount to up to 5,500 US dollars per user. However, the law provides for two classes of affected operators: On the one hand, the Cayman Islands-based holding company Bytedance Ltd and its app Tiktok are mentioned by name; on the other hand, the US President can declare other operating companies to be "foreign adversaries" this, however, with exceptions, under certain conditions, only after prior notice and upon submission of a public report describing the specific threats to the national security of the United States of America. The constitutional arguments No such process existed for TikTok, and there is no description of alleged threats to national security. Accordingly, Bytedance believes that the right to equal treatment has been violated. At the same time, it is a conviction by law(Bill of Attainder), which is also expressly prohibited by the US Constitution. As with the successful lawsuit against the TikTok ban imposed by then US President Donald Trump by presidential order, Bytedance is once again insisting on the First Amendment of the US Constitution. This guarantees the right to free speech, and Tiktok is precisely a stage for citizens to express themselves. The fourth constitutional argument is that the law is tantamount to unconstitutional expropriation. According to previous decisions of the US Supreme Court, this prohibition also applies to the reduction of the value of existing companies through government measures, not just pure nationalization. Anzeige Sale pointless In theory, the law provides a way out for companies whose applications are banned: They should sell their applications within 270 days and otherwise divest themselves of them entirely. Specifically tailored to Tiktok is the condition that the former owner does not share any data with the sold company and also does not cooperate about the algorithm for recommending content. This algorithm is considered to be TikTok's secret recipe for success. The People's Republic of China has already banned its export, so Bytedance cannot sell it at all. Without the algorithm, TikTok is worth very little. This residual value would be reduced to almost zero by the legally required separation of content into "American" and "other", especially as American users like to consume short foreign videos. According to Bytedance, it would be impossible to sell the content within the 270-day deadline. Nobody could take over the extensive source code and understand and use it without the Chinese developers. This makes the sale not only legally and economically impossible, but also technically impossible. Bytedance also fights for future victims The Chinese company is requesting that the law be declared unconstitutional and that the responsible minister be prohibited from enforcing the law. Bytedance has filed the lawsuit with the US Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. This seems unusual, as federal appeals courts usually deal with appeals against decisions by federal district courts. However, the challenged law contains a special provision according to which actions against the law are to be brought exclusively before this federal court of appeals. This not only means that a different court has jurisdiction, but also that there is no ordinary appeal against the decision of this Federal Court of Appeal. If Bytedance loses, it cannot appeal. While it may seek a rehearing before an expanded bench of the same court and/or a trial before the US Supreme Court, it has no legal right to do so. In fact, only a small percentage of such petitions are granted. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act contains another bombshell: it only allows challenges to the law for 165 days from the time it was signed by US President Joe Biden at the end of April. This means that Bytedance is also fighting for companies that may be affected in the future and that cannot even know today that they may one day be banned under this US law. The case is called Tiktok et Bytedance v Merrick B. Garland and is pending in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia under case no. 24-1113. (ds) GOP Men's Club censures party chair Mark Delk makes a point during a Republican Men's Club meeting Saturday. Henderson County Republicans ousted from the partys executive committee and their allies voted unanimously to censure party Chair Brett Callaway on Saturday morning during a Republican Mens Club meeting in which members also called for Callaway to resign and aired numerous other grievances. The meeting at American Legion Post 77 was the first opportunity precinct chairs had to complain publicly about the actions of Callaway and two top deputies, supported by the partys 11th Congressional District chair, Michele Woodhouse, to wrest control of the party from the longtime grassroots workers. Based on Woodhouses interpretation of the state partys review of the county partys actions, the precinct chairs were ousted for having been improperly elected and a new plan of organization was adopted by Callaway and the few remaining committee members. Let me just say something about the precinct chairs, Club President Bruce Hatfield said. Theyre the closest to the voters that anybody could be. When you eliminate those precinct chairs, the word doesnt get out. And we need to have those precinct chairs out there working to get the vote out. Hatfield opened the meeting with a lengthy review of the past two months of turmoil, starting with a determination by state party officials that Henderson Countys plan of organization was invalid because of inconsistencies, followed by the March 23 county convention that erupted into shouting and a crossfire of accusations then a special called meeting of the party executive meeting on April 15 when Hoopers Creek precinct chair Kathy Maney was ejected and around half the room walked out with her. (Although earlier reporting of the party turmoil said no one was allowed to speak at the 11th Congressional District convention in Waynesville on April 27, Republicans said Saturday attendees were permitted to speak at that meeting.) If thats not corruption, I dont know what is Maneys complaint that Callaway roughly grabbed her arm and tried to take away her cell phone during the county convention resulted in an assault on a female charge against him. The fact that an assistant district attorney on Wednesday insisted that Maney and Callaway attempt to resolve the dispute through mediation drew new howls of protest from her allies at the Mens Club meeting Saturday. We have the travesty against Kathy, which is really a travesty against us all, for intimidation, persecution, Susane Brown said. So we have that and the threat that its gonna just be dismissed because all the judges in the courthouse except for one are Republicans, because theyre afraid to get involved because they know Republicans vote for them and keep them in office, which they like, and they dont want to get into the controversy of dismantling the chair. She was required to go to mediation, added Wayne Garren, who says he witnessed Callaways actions. Our assistant DA was not gonna prosecute. Now if thats not corruption, I dont know what is. Another Maney ally, Buncombe County Republican Bill Robinson, implored Republicans to stop attacking the former Hoopers Creek precinct chair. The people who are saying, Please, lets not tear apart the party and are talking about lets stop being hateful and angry, they can start with my friend Kathy Maney. Because the anger and the hate that Ive seen directed at her by people who either disagree with her or just dont like her should stop immediately. What theyre doing to her insisting that she go to mediation or theyll dismiss the case Ive never heard that option being enforced against any victim, he added. They should be going after Brett Callaway because theyve got video and 30 witnesses. Any prosecutor worth their salt would relish that opportunity. The whole thing is very perverse. Callaway, who did not attend the meeting, did not respond to the Lightnings phone calls seeking comment. One executive committee member, Cher Silvius, rose to defend Callaway. I go to as many of the monthly meetings as possible, she said. I go to the (city) Diversity Equity Inclusion meetings, I go to the City Council meetings, I go to the Board of Education meetings, I go to the county commissioner meetings, and you know who I dont see there? A lot of you. I am working my tail off. What are you all doing but tearing our party apart. A party activist for several years, Silvius called for peace. We need to come together as a party, she said. I came in when Merry Guy was the chair. She had her way of running things. And Brett has his way of running things. I did what Brett asked us to do. I built my precinct. How many precincts that are here have done that? Woodhouse also defended Callaway and the state party's oversight. "They have the right to censure him if they choose to," she said. "Our focus is 100 percent on getting Republicans elected. We were No. 1 in the state (in voter turnout) in this primary. Henderson County Republicans are getting to the polls and voting. This is sadly and unfortunately a distraction from our work and that is electing Republicans." Callaway takeover totally illegitimate Candler Willis, a former county commissioner and Green River precinct leader for more than five decades, said he is involved in a challenge to the actions by Callaway and Woodhouse. The new plan of organization those two pushed through, not the old one favored by the ousted executive committee members, is invalid. And Ive been advised on good legal authority that our case is sound that the leadership through the chairman acted improperly, acted in violation of our plan of organization and has been thoroughly uncooperative, he said. We have operated our plan of organization naming the precinct chairs as members of the executive committee at least as far back as 1971 when I was first elected chair of Green River, and in the more than 50 years since then that has always been our plan of organization. And weve submitted that plan to Raleigh to be looked at, and weve never heard any objection to it until the 13th day of March of this year. In his account of his own action at the March 23 county convention, Willis said he made a motion to correct the inconsistencies in the plan of organization. The motion passed, I think unanimously, certainly overwhelmingly, and so the sense of the party was well expressed, he said. And based on this and based on the fact that there has not been any statement of retroactive repeal of the former actions, we feel our executive committee, chosen in the 2023 convention, still stands as our executive committee, and this effort to change it in the 15th of April meeting was contrary to the plan of organization and totally illegitimate. Woodhouse disputed Willis's assertion. "That did not correct all the inconsistencies," she said. "It went to the state and they said it did not correct all the inconsistencies. ... Nothing in this process was personal. This was about following the direction of the state party. If people don't like that that's unfortunate." Bengaluru police have arrested a 51-year-old woman for the murder of her live-in partner, a transgender individual, discovered on May 3. Bengaluru East police announced Prema's arrest on Friday, revealing she was apprehended in Hassan district on May 8, at her mother's residence. (Representational Image) The victim, Manju Naik, 42, shared a residence with Prema, 51, in the Murugeshpalya area of east Bengaluru, where Naik was found dead, The Indian Express reported. ALSO READ | Karnataka man chops off minor girl's head, takes it with him for calling off marriage Naik's brother, Parasa Naik, raised suspicions of foul play and filed a police complaint, alleging that Prema had strangled his sibling with a towel, turned off her phone, and vanished, the report said. Following a post-mortem at Sir C V Raman General Hospital, determining suffocation as the cause of death, the police registered a murder case on May 7. ALSO READ | Karnataka man who beheaded minor found dead, suicide suspected: Report On Friday, Bengaluru East police announced Prema's arrest, revealing she was apprehended in Hassan district on May 8, at her mother's residence in Ayyarahalli village of Channarayapatna taluk, based on tips from informants, the publication added. ALSO READ | SIT initiates probe to identify persons who 'forced' woman to lodge complaint in Prajwal Revanna sexual abuse case According to police, the accused, whose husband had passed away, had been cohabiting with the victim in Murugeshpalya. Allegedly, a confrontation ensued between Prema and Naik on the night of April 26, resulting in Prema strangling Naik with a towel when Naik reportedly attempted to attack her with a knife. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed confidence that the police will conduct a legal investigation into the Prajwal Revanna case and that there is no need to transfer the case to the central bureau of investigation. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah. (ANI) Responding to the media's questions about Kumaraswamy's request to the Governor to hand over the Prajwal Revanna case to the CBI, the Chief Minister said, "I have confidence in our police. There is no need to hand over Prajwal Revanna's case to CBI." READ | Prajwal Revanna case: BJP leader Devaraje Gowda arrested "Has the BJP ever handed over a single case to the CBI? Earlier during the Congress government D K Ravi case, the lottery case, the allegation against Minister K J George, and Paresh Mesta cases were handed over to CBI," adding to which the CM questioned whether anyone had been punished in these cases. In the past BJP itself has described CBI as Corruption Bureau of Investigation. Devegowda said that CBI is a Chor Bachao organisation. The CM questioned, "Do they trust CBI now? I have faith in CBI. However, we have faith in our police." READ | Third rape case against JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna after fresh complaint He also explained that a special investigation team has also been formed for this issue."Our government does not interfere in legal proceedings and investigations. We believe that the team is doing things appropriately. We have never advised them to work against the law. There is no need for an investigation at the international level. We have to trust our police. Is it not our police who investigate all criminal cases? Haven't we formed a special investigation team?" the CM added. The Chief Minister made it clear that neither he nor DK Shivakumar was involved in this case, adding to which, he said, "We have confidence that the truth will come out." Responding to the allegation of political interference in Revanna's arrest, the Chief Minister said, "If there is no truth in the allegation against him, why did he seek anticipatory bail?" He also questioned why the anticipatory bail application was rejected. READ | SIT initiates probe to identify persons who 'forced' woman to lodge complaint in Prajwal Revanna sexual abuse case Earlier on May 9, A delegation of the JD(S) led by former CM HD Kumaraswamy met with the Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot and submitted a memorandum urging for an "impartial probe" into the case. "We have submitted before the Governor all the developments that have taken place in this case till now. We requested him to urge the Central government to conduct a fair inquiry into this case. Where is the investigation going? What is Revanna's role in this? Why have they arrested Revanna? The state government is misusing the power. Where are the victims? Congress is saying there are more than 2900 victims, but where are they?" Kumaraswamy asked while speaking to reporters after meeting with the governor." A dust storm struck Delhi on Friday, along with thunderstorms and rain, killing at least two people and injuring 23 others. A road gets blocked as trees fall after a massive dust storm, in New Delhi on Friday. (ANI Photo) The storm brought strong winds that uprooted trees, knocked down electricity poles, and caused walls to collapse in various parts of the city. Many areas also saw power outages. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted rainfall in Delhi over the weekend. As per the IMD forecast, by Sunday, the maximum temperature is likely to dip and settle around 37C, while the minimum is likely to oscillate between 28C and 29C. As reported per PTI, officials received 152 calls, out of which 130 were made to the Delhi Fire Service (DFS). These calls were regarding fallen trees, poles, and billboards. Additionally, 55 calls were received about collapsed buildings and structures. According to officials, over 200 calls were received regarding power disruptions. At the Delhi airport, at least nine flights were cancelled on Friday night due to the bad weather conditions. During the storm on Friday, some areas in Delhi saw winds as fast as 77km/hour, according to the Met Department. Earlier on Friday, the Meteorological Department issued a "yellow alert" for dust storms and rain for the weekend, but later upgraded it to an orange alert, indicating severe weather conditions. The storm started around 9pm, with wind speeds reaching 77 kmph over Ujwa at 10pm, 63 kmph at Pragati Maidan, and 61kmph at Lodhi Road. Stay indoors, close windows and doors and avoid travel if possible. Take safe shelters, do not take shelter under trees, the IMD said in an advisory on Friday. The dust storm occurred due to an interaction between mid-tropospheric south-westerlies and lower tropospheric easterlies, IMD scientist Krishna Mishra told HT. We may see generally cloudy skies throughout the weekend, with a possibility of very light rain and thunderstorms... The rainfall is due to the influence of western disturbances as well as some low-level easterlies coming in from the Bay of Bengal, said Mishra. He also added that partly cloudy skies are likely to continue over Delhi till May 14. Jaipur: Rajasthan forest department is likely to release two orphaned tiger cubs from captivity into the forest next month, following approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), officials aware of the matter said on Saturday. (Representative Photo) Following the passing of their mother, tigress T-114, in February last year, the cubs were relocated from Ranthambore National Park (RNP) to Abheda Biological Park in Kota. Currently, at approximately 15 months old, the department plans to reintroduce them into their natural habitat in June, added officials. A committee was established to oversee the development of the cubs, under the guidance of the chief wildlife warden. Directions regarding this matter were sought from the NTCA, said a senior forest official familiar with the development. He said during their time at the Biological Park, the cubs were initially given bait, but with time, they began hunting, which the foresters were monitoring through CCTVs. These cubs were maintained in a natural ecosystem with zero human interference. The official said, As per the initial proposal, both the cubs will be released in two separate reserves. The female will be sent to Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR), and the male will be rewilded in Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve. He continued, as per protocol, that the relocation would initially occur in a soft enclosure. The forest department has previously encountered two instances of raising orphaned cubs, but in both cases, it was done in the wild. The official recalled that this is not the first such move of rewilding as it happened four years back. He said both tigress T-15 and T-5 in Ranthambore left behind two cubs each after their demise. They were successfully raised by the forest department. However, they were not transferred to captivity and were raised in the wild with heightened monitoring. This presents a new challenge of determining the appropriate time for releasing these cubs. Retired Indian Forest Serviceman Sunayan Sharma said, Rewilding is not a problem, but it needs to be ensured that the tigers are hunting. Their release should be at reserve with adequate prey base and less threat from adult tigers. Jaipur: A tigress named Rani gave birth to three cubs in Nahargarh Biological Park in Jaipur on Friday, officials aware of the matter said. (Twitter/@Sanjay4India1) According to one of the officials quoted above, the newly-born cubs have been kept under surveillance along with her mother to keep a check on their health conditions. Confirming the development, deputy conservator of forest Jagdish Gupta said, The tigress gave birth to three cubs on Friday morning. Among the three cubs, one is white, while the other two are golden in colour. The staff members are closely monitoring the tigress and her cubs via the CCTV cameras. In 2021, the tigress was relocated to Jaipur from Odishas Nandankanan Zoological Park, said the officials. In July 2022, a tiger named Shivaji was also brought to Jaipur from Gandhi Zoological Park in Gwalior as part of the Wildlife Exchange Programme to bolster the tiger population, added the official. Both were paired at Nahargarh Biological Park. Gupta said surveillance was initiated as soon as we discovered that the tigress was pregnant. Special attention has been given to cleanliness for the past month. Additionally, a caretaker has been assigned, and the entire responsibility of caring for the tigress has been entrusted to them, he said. For a long time, there were only four tigers and tigresses in the park. Rani gave birth to three cubs on Friday morning, increasing the number of tigers and tigresses in Nahargarh Biological Park to seven, he said. A seven-year-old boy died due to food poisoning while five members of his family fell ill in Pilibhit on Friday night, said district administration and health officials on Saturday. The seven-year-old boy and his family were on a visit to his maternal grandparents. (For Representation) The boy identified as Rahul Kumar from Dehradun along with his mother Seema and two siblings Vivek and Sandhya was on a visit to his maternal grandparents living in Rahul Nagar Colony under Pooranpur tehsil of Pilibhit, they added. As per the officials, the entire family had noodles and rice on Thursday evening after which the health of Rahul, his two siblings, mother besides maternal aunts Sanju and Sanjana deteriorated. They said all were admitted to a private hospital on Friday and were discharged after they got initial relief. They were rushed to local community health centre (CHC) for further treatment. Dr Rashid of the CHC on Saturday informed the media that Rahul died during the treatment while Vivek was referred to the district hospital as his condition was critical while the remaining four were still under treatment at the health centre. The Chhattisgarh police on Saturday said that the security forces fought for about 12 hours in the jungles of Pedia in Bijapur district during Fridays fierce encounter in which 12 Maoists were killed. Police said that during the operation some Maoists changed into civilian clothes to pose as villagers to mislead the police after the first exchange of fire at around 6am. Police have also identified all 12 Maoists who were gunned down by security personnel and claimed that they were carrying a cumulative reward of 31 lakh on their heads. The encounter started at 6am on Friday, and the face-off took place about nine to 10 times at regular intervals till 6pm. Bijapur superintendent of police (SP) Jitendra Kumar Yadav told media persons on Saturday that Budhu Oyam and Kallu Punem, both members of military company no. 2, were carrying a reward of 8 lakh each on their head, while Gangaloor area committee member of Maoists, Lakhe Kunjam, and member of military platoon number 12, Bhima Karam, were carrying a reward of 5 lakh each on their heads. The other deceased, militia platoon commander Sannu Lakom and vice head of Janata Sarkar (peoples government) Avlam, were carrying a bounty of 2 lakh each, the SP said, adding that six others were lower-run members of the CPI ( Maoist) He further said that initially some Maoists also tried to surround the security forces by laying ambushes at three places, but the attempts were foiled by the security forces, he said. A peculiar thing we noticed for the first time during this operation was that after the first exchange of fire, some Naxalites changed into civilian clothes and mixed with villagers to mislead the police, Yadav said. We have taken several people into custody from the area, and their identities are being ascertained, the official said. As per a statement issued by the Bijapur police, the operation was launched based on inputs about the presence of special zonal committee members Chaitu, Lengu and Papa Rao, commander of PLGA company number 2 of Maoists Vella and Gagaloor area committee secretary Dinesh Modiyam and 100-150 cadres in the forest of Pedia. Security personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG) from Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma districts, Bastar Fighters, Special Task Force (STF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) were involved in the operation. The encounter started at 6am on Friday, and the face-off took place about nine to 10 times at regular intervals till 6pm, the statement said. Three Maoists, who sustained injuries, were also apprehended from the spot. A civilian was also injured in the crossfire, the SP said, adding that security personnel have also busted a transit camp set up by Maoists in Pedia forest. The Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board, KSEAB, has released the schedule of the Karnataka SSLC exam 2. In an official notification, the KSEAB stated the examinations will be held from June 7 to June 14, 2024, in pen and paper mode. Karnataka SSLC 2024 exam 2 schedule released at kseab.karnataka.gov.in. (Representative image) In the notification, the board instructed District Deputy Directors (Administration) to ask all high school head teachers under their district jurisdiction to obtain the schedule of SSLC Exam-2 from the Board's website kseeb.karnataka.gov.in and publish it on their school notice boards and take steps to inform all the students. It may be mentioned here that instead of the supplementary examinations, the KSEAB has introduced a new education policy wherein three exams will be held, namely exam 1, exam 2, and exam 3, starting from the academic year 20232024. Download Karnataka SSLC exam 2 schedule The schedule of the Karnataka SSLC exam 2 is given below: June 7 First Language: Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, English, English (NCERT), Sanskrit June 8 Third Language: Hindi, Kannada, English, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Konkani, Urdu, Tulu, and NSQF subjects June 10 Mathematics/Sociology June 11 Elements of Electrical Engineering IV, Elements of Mechanical Engineering-2, Elements of Mechanical Engineering IV, Engineering Graphics-2, Elements of Electronics Engineering-IV, Elements of Electronics Engineering, Programming in ANSI 'C', Elements of Computer Science, Economics June 12 Science, Political Science, Carnatic music, Carnatic music, Karnataka music/Hindustani music June 13 Second Language: English, Kannada June 14 Social Science All exams will be held for 3 hours 15 minutes. It may be mentioned here that the Karnataka SSLC or Class 10th final exam result was declared on May 9, 2024. An overall pass percentage of 73.40% has been registered this year. A total of 859967 appeared for the examination out of which 631204 candidates passed. The SSLC examination commenced on March 25 and ended on April 6, 2024. Practical and oral examinations for JTS students were conducted on April 8, 2024. One hour of extra time was given to 3 hours of question paper, and 40 minutes of extra time will be given to 2 hours of question paper for differently abled candidates. Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu has informed that the case, involving 150 students in Assam's Cachar district who did not get marks of the higher secondary final examination results declared on Thursday, has been resolved. Assam 12th Results 2024: Education Minister Ranoj Pegu has said the the issue of marksheets in Cachar has been resolved, However, students have pointed out irregularities. (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the state education minister wrote, This issue of Cachar district has been resolved. Students can download their mark sheet with marks in all subjects they appeared. Among the 150 students are those students who secured the top-10 position in the class-10 final examination in 2022. Meanwhile, the students said that they had downloaded the marksheets again and it was the same as the earlier. Responding to Pegu's post, a student named Nehal Tanti wrote, "Still shows the same." Biswadeep Nath, a student from Silchar's Ramanuj Gupta Senior Secondary School, who secured a tenth position in the class-10 final examination in 2022, has been marked absent in the English Language subject in the HS final result sheet. His father, Bidyut Nath, a senior physician in Silchar said that his son has suffered because of the irregularities but he preferred not to react to this matter. On Friday evening, after the education minister's assurance, he said that his son's marksheet had not been updated yet. The examination conducted by the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) concluded on March 13 and the result was declared on May 9. According to the education minister, 273908 students appeared in the examination and 242794 students passed. The pass percentage was 88.64% and the girls performed better than the boys all across the streams. However, the irregularities in several education institutes in Cachar district left the students disheartened. A student from Silchar's Gurucharan College, on the condition of anonymity, said that the result was shocking. "I know how I performed in the papers and I had some plans for further studies. But the marksheet has destroyed my career. My name is marked absent in English language paper but the marks in other subjects are less," the students said. Owner of Silchar's Ramanuj Gupta Senior Secondary School, Rudra Narayan Gupta said this is a big concern and the education department needs to find the source of the problem. "As per the process, papers from one district go to other districts for checking. The department needs to be more careful about including the marks in the mark sheets because this sort of instance can impact the students psychologically," he said. Check the post here: The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police has stepped up the probe into the alleged paper leak of NEET-UG 2024, which was conducted on May 5. According to the police, the paper leak gang allegedly took 30 to 50 lakh from many candidates and accommodated them in lodges of Patna where they were provided question papers, claiming to be that of NEET-UG, for memorizing. NEET UG 2024 paper leak case: Bihar Police's Economic Offences Unit (EOU) has stepped up probe into the alleged paper leak of NEET UG question papers. (Representative image) Additional Director General of EoU, NH Khan confirmed that the unit decided to take up the case after the involvement of organized gangs, which have a history. An eight-member SIT led by EoU SP (admin) Madan Kumar Anand has been constituted to crack the case. "The probe unit during the investigation found that the gang members hired Learn Boys Hostel and Learn Play School at Khemnichak under Ram Krishna Nagar police station of the state capital to solve the answer paper for two dozen aspirants. When police raided the place, they seized burnt question papers and sent them for forensic examination," said Khan, adding that police also recovered admit cards, post-dated cheques, and educational certificates from the arrested persons. The Patna police have arrested 13 persons, including four examinees, so far and forwarded them to judicial custody under sections 407/408/409 and 120b. Examinees were identified as Ayush Kumar (19), a resident of Danapur, Abhishek Kumar (21) from Ranchi, Anurag Yadav (22) from Samastipur, and Shivnandan Kumar from Gaya. Besides four, the police arrested Anurags mother Rina Kumari, Ayushs father Akhilesh Kumar, Abhisheks father Awadhesh Kumar, exam setters and mastermind of the gang, junior engineer Sikander Prasad Yadvendu (Samastipur), his driver Bittu Kumar (Rohtas), Nitish Kumar and Amit Anand (Munger). Two persons, namely Raushan Kumar (Nalanda) and Ashutosh Kumar (Jamui) are said to be associates of Amit Anand. Patna police got information about the NEET question paper leak from a Jharkhand-based central agency, which provided the registration number of a Duster car. Police first located the car and detained four persons, including Sikander and Abhishek. During the examination of the car, police recovered four admit cards of different NEET students. In the course of interrogation, Akhilesh confessed that his son Ayush appeared at DAV School and was later detained from the center. "Ayush confessed that he had received the NEET question paper on Saturday night, a day before the exam that was held on May 5. He said that the question paper he got was the same as the one distributed at the examination center. Ayush also said that 25 other candidates like him memorized the answers to the question paper that was given to them on the premises of Learn Boys Hostel and Learn Play School," said an investigator. Investigation revealed that the kingpin of the gang is Sanjiv Singh, a resident of Nalanda. Sanjiv's wife Mamta Devi was the elected mukhia of Bhuthakhar panchayat and fought the 2020 assembly election from the Harnaut constituency. Sanjiv is the person who arranged the question paper and handed it over to Rocky. Rocky is still large. The junior engineer Sikander, posted with Danapur Nagar parishad since 2020, confessed after arrest the names of Sanjiv Singh, Rocky, Nitish, and Amit Anand. Police said that Sanjiv's son Dr Shiv Kumar, was arrested from Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) in a BPSC TRE-3 question paper leak case. ADG Khan said EoU would shortly take them on remand and would conduct a thorough interrogation. Bihar police have already arrested 16 solvers (impersonators) for cheating. Out of 16, eleven of them are medical students, studying at different medical colleges in Bihar, Goa, and Maharashtra and one is the lecturer of a paramedical college. Eight were arrested from Katihar, four from Purnia, two from Vaishali, and one each from Gopalganj and Patna were arrested allegedly appearing for the exams in place of registered candidates. Separate FIRs have been lodged against the solvers. Somy Ali currently works towards raising awareness about human trafficking and domestic violence ever since she bid adieu to her Bollywood career. She was previously in a relationship with Salman Khan, and has acted in a few popular Hindi films during the 90s. In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, Somy expresses her concern for Salman's safety following the firing incident that occurred outside his building. Excerpts from the interview. Somy Ali has condemned the firing incident outside Salman Khan's house. Somy sends best wishes to Salman after firing incident Somy recalls leaving Bollywood after her highly-publicized breakup, and also mentions the recent shooting incident that took place outside Salman's home. She says, I came back to US at the age of 24 years after my break-up, it's not hidden from anyone. The whole world knows and I don't want to repeat it again and again. Especially with what's happening to Salman right now, I won't wish upon my enemy what he has been through. All said and done, no one deserves what he went through. My prayers are with him. No matter what has happened, let bygones be bygones. I would never ever wish something like that to happen to anyone, be it Salman, Shah Rukh or my neighbour. She further adds, Every human being deserves to go through due process, law enforcement, evidence, and judicial process, at least in America. I would never want Salman or his family to endure any pain, and I wish him all the best. When my mother and I learned about this incident, we were shocked. We pray that he is not harmed. He and his family always have our blessings. Everyone is image-conscious, be it you, me, Salman, Shah Rukh or anybody. So, he did whatever he felt was right on his part. But currently, my focus is on what he is going through. Nobody deserves what he is experiencing right now. Somy appeals to Bishnoi community to forgive Salman Somy also feels nobody has a right to break the law and opines, Even today, I do make mistakes; you also make mistakes. We'll keep making mistakes till we are alive, it's human nature. This is innately built within us and nobody is perfect. But if you're attempting to kill someone or firing bullets on him then you're crossing the line. I don't support hunting as a sport but this event took place so many years ago. Salman was much younger in 1998. I want to request the head of the Bishnoi tribe to forget about it and move on. I apologise on his behalf (Salman) if he has made a mistake and please forgive him. Somy also says, Taking someone's life is not acceptable, be it Salman or an average common man. If you want justice, you should move to the court. I have full faith in India's judicial system and lawyers, the same as America. I want to appeal to the Bishnoi community that harming Salman Khan will not bring back the blackbuck. Whatever happened to me cannot be changed; let bygones be bygones. I have made peace with myself. My life is completely dedicated to No More Tears now. Somy made her debut in the Bollywood industry with the 1993 action-drama movie Krishan Avtaar, in which she starred opposite Mithun Chakraborty. Preity Zinta is once again back-in-action, shooting for Lahore 1947, produced by Aamir Khan. The actor, who had been away from the silver screen for a long time, was recently spotted in Mumbai. In a viral video, Preity was seen looking uncomfortable as she was followed by paparazzi who were trying to take her pictures. (Also read: Preity Zinta hopes for a Sangarsh sequel; director Tanuja Chandra says, It would be wonderful to see Reet Oberoi again) Preity Zinta recently got uncomfortable as the paps surrounded her for pictures. Preity Zinta feels uneasy as paps get closer Preity was seen dressed in a white gym-vest and jeans, paired with black shades. She styled her hair in a bun as she took a walk near a building. When the photographers approached her for photos, the actor appeared visibly uncomfortable. Preity said, Guys, you all are scaring me. Before entering the building, she smiled and posed for the paparazzi. In a viral clip shared on Instagram by paparazzo Viral Bhayani, photographers were criticized by netizens. Netizens slam photographers for their behaviour A user commented, Its true.. give the woman space to walk and for her to hear who shes talking to on the phone. The paps are borderline rude. Its unacceptable! Another netizen wrote, Most disgraceful people. Behave decent and stop harrasing people. How are you Ma'am it seemsShe's saying you'll are scaring her and you'll are just saying no no no no and started yelling again. A fan also commented, Rubbish you guys invading people's privacy stop uour nonsense it's not funny. A user took a jibe at paparazzi and wrote, Thapad se darr nae lgta sahib, paparazzi se lgta hai (I am not afraid of getting slapped sir, I am afraid of paparazzi)(laughing emoji). About Preity Zinta Preity made her Bollywood debut with Mani Ratnam's Dil Se, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala in pivotal characters. She shot to fame with films like Soldier, Koi..Mil Gaya, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Veer Zaara, Salaam Namaste and Kabhie Alvida Naa Kehna. Preity Zinta's upcoming project Preity's next Lahore 1947 also features Sunny Deol and his son Karan Deol. The Rajkumar Santoshi directorial is backed by Aamir Khan Productions Mumbai, Actor Manoj Bajpayee says he drew inspiration from the mega star Amitabh Bachchan as well as his contemporaries Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna to play a massy hero in his upcoming film Bhaiyya Ji. HT Image The revenge action film is directed by Apoorva Singh Karki, who earlier directed the actor in the critically-acclaimed movie Sirf Ek Banda Kaafi Hai. In the movie, the actor is playing the titular role, a man out to avenge his brother's death. I grew up watching commercial films and all the big stars of that time, they were all my inspiration, be it Shatru ji , Vinod Khanna ji, Amit ji or Jeetendra Sahab and all of them. It happened subconsciously. I knew that I had to do certain things to make him look attractive on screen. So that everyone would like to be a figure like Bhaiyya Ji. "He is an inspirational force. The audience should look up to him. So that is why I got all of those mannerisms in playing Bhaiyya ji, Bajpayee told PTI in an interview. As a child, the actor said, whenever he watched a mainstream action film, he used to feel like a hero. This is what a commercial film does to the audience. The adrenaline rush, the excitement, the energy flow. Everyone starts feeling like a hero when they come out . This is the purpose of a good commercial film, he said. When it comes to labels like superstar or action star, Bajpayee said he considers himself a "desi actor". I am definitely a desi actor... I desire our culture, villages and the story of our soil should come in the mainstream cinema. Our heroes should look like us, not from some western country. We need to make good films with good stories and that need to be rooted in our culture, he added. Bajpayee said he has done majority of the action sequences and credited action choreographer Fefsi Vijayan for pushing him as an artiste. It has been a very difficult film to shoot because most of the action scenes are done by me. Fefsi Vijayan, who is such a legend from the Tamil industry, is the one who was a tough taskmaster. He wanted Manoj Bajpayee to do all the actions and he was not ready to compromise at all... I'm so happy that he pushed me hard because everything is looking so amazing on the screen. Bhaiyya Ji is the 100th film of Bajpayee's career, which is filled with some of the most critically-acclaimed movies of the last two decades "Satya", "Shool", "Raajneeti", "Gangs of Wasseypur", "Aligarh", "Gali Guleiyan", "Bhonsle", "Sonchiriya" and "Joram". An item song is often considered an important ingredient of a commercial movie but Karki was against the idea of having one in "Bhaiyya Ji", the actor revealed. "We don't have any item songs. There are many stereotypes that we are breaking. Most of the commercial films and mainstream films, women don't have much to contribute. The women of this film are as strong as Bhaiyya ji. They are not your usual heroes and heroines. And the mothers on the screen, they are very different, he added. Reaching the 100 film milestone is nothing short of a miracle for Bajpayee, the 55-year-old actor said. I never counted as I don't believe in it. But somehow Apoorva found out and the producers tried to make it an occasion. 30 years and 100 films, that too in the lead roles or as second lead, it has been quite a feat for me. "It's a miracle that coming from outside, thousands and thousands of kilometres away, from a village and accomplishing this has been quite a journey. 'Bhaiyya Ji' in that sense is a special film, he said. Also starring Suvinder Vicky, Jatin Goswami, Vipin Sharma, and Zoya Hussain, "Bhaiyya Ji" is a Bhanushali Studios Limited, SSO Productions, and Aurega Studios production. Vinod Bhanushali, Kamlesh Bhanushali, Samiksha Oswal, Shael Oswal, and Vikram Khakhar also serve as producers on the film, slated to be released in theatres on May 24. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Both Allu Arjun and Ram Charan enjoy a massive fan following. Coincidentally, both the stars were greeted by a tsunami of ardent fans during their recent public appearances. While Allu Arjun joined the campaign trail for YSR Congress candidate Ravi Chandra Kishore Reddy in Nandyala, Ram Charan was on his way to visit the Kukkuteswara Swamy temple in Pithapuram with his mother, when both the stars were surrounded by a wave of fans who cheered for them. Videos of the same quickly surfaced on social media. (Also read: Allu Arjun sends best wishes to Pawan Kalyan ahead of AP elections: I've always been proud of the path you have chosen) Allu Arjun (left) and Ram Charan (right) were spotted interacting with fans. Allu Arjun waves at fans A video of Allu Arjun shared by trade analyst Ramesh Bala on X showed the star being welcomed by hundreds of fans as he stepped out to visit Nandyala to support his friend Ravi Chandra Kishore Reddy ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the state. Allu greeted fans with folded hands, waved at them and smiled. Sneha Reddy was also seen standing beside him. The caption read, Icon Star @alluarjun, accompanied by his wife #AlluSnehaReddy, is visited Nandyala today to extend their best wishes to their friend, Ravi Chandra Kishore Reddy, who is contesting as an MLA candidate in the upcoming elections. Allu took to his X handle and wrote, Grateful to the people of Nandyal for the warm reception. Thank you, @SilpaRaviReddy garu, for the hospitality. Wishing you the very best in the elections and beyond. You have my unwavering love and support. Fans are eagerly awaiting the release of Allu's Pushpa: The Rule in August 15. The film also stars Fahadh Faasil, Rashmika Mandanna, Dhananjay, Rao Ramesh among others and marks the sequel of the widely popular Pushpa: The Rise. The first song from the album was released a few days ago and is already a hit among the fans. Ram Charan mobbed by fans during temple visit Meanwhile, an army of ardent fans of Ram Charan made it tough for the star to reach the temple premises at Pithapuram, Rajahmundry. He was seen waving at fans and requesting them to step aside as his security cover tried hard to make way for him. Ram had come to seek blessings with his family, after his father, megastar Chiranjeevi, was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan award on Thursday in Delhi. The awards ceremony was attended by his wife Surekha, children Ram Charan and Sushmita, apart from daughter-in-law Upasana Konidela. Ram is currently shooting for Shankars Game Changer with Kiara Advani. Richa shares about the worst day from Heeramandi set While recalling the shooting experience as both her worst' and best day, Richa said that performing dance scenes on-screen is not as easy as people think. Kapil quizzed the actors to share their best and worst days from Heeramandi's shooting experience. Richa said, My best day was my worst day," and then asked, What is your highest number of retakes? Sonakshi said, I don't think I went over 12. Aditi Rao Hydari added, In dance, it can go over 12-13. Richa replied, I think my score is the highest. 99! Richa says performing dance sequences is not easy Richa also pointed out, I almost hit a century. You know, it's not easy. People think it's easy. Imagine that you're dancing with about 200 to 300 extras watching you, and you're unable to perform well. But when you overcome that, you feel like, Wow, I didnt know I could do this.' Everyone in the audience cheered and clapped for the actor. Manisha Koirala, Sanjeeda Sheikh, and Sharmin Segal also joined their co-stars as they shared their working experience with Sanjay. About Heeramandi Heermandi is set in the backdrop of pre-partition India during the period of the 1920s-40s. The story unfolds parallel to the Indian freedom movement in the colonial era. The title of the series is adapted from the red-light district of Lahore in British India (present-day Pakistan). The power struggle between the courtesans, nawabs, and the British government leads to the drama and conflict in the show. Heeramandi is available for streaming on Netflix. Actor Pooja Hedge is a multi-tasker and she gets that from her mother Lataa Hegde, however, the actors calm demeanor she acquires from her father Manjunath Hegde, confesses her mum. Pooja Hegde's mother Lataa Hegde shares some heartwarming memories with the actor. Lataa, who oversees Poojas film commitments, points out similarities between herself and her actor-daughter. We are very hard working people. If we set our minds at doing anything then we will achieve it no matter what. I think that is something that is there. One more quality we share is being ethical. If we have given our word for somebody, we will stand by it. Another thing is, we are quite homebodies. We like our home, we have few friends but solid friends. For us good time is spending time with your family and best friend, Lataa tells us in a candid chat, adding, But yeah, I am more hyper, she is calmer than me, that she gets from her dad. Did you know that Lataa is a true-blue Mumbaikar? Born and brought up in the town, she did her BSc in Life Sc/iences, pursued law from government law college, then a course in PR from Xaviers before taking up MBA. The 62-year-old further reveals that she originally wanted to study medical but since seats were limited in Mumbai, her typical South Indian family didnt allow her to My family said to get married and go wherever I want, she quips. A multi-tasker, Lataa finished her MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Marketing Management after getting married at the age of 25, and soon got a job in advertising . However, she soon had to leave her job. My husband was also in advertising and one of us had to get out of it. I was quite clear that I wanted two children and I will have my kids not too far apart, and till they were four or five, I will be at a stay-at-home mother. So, I gave up my job. Two years later, Pooja was born and then, when she turned four, I realised I wanted to do something to get back to work, she recalls. Soon, Lataa became an entrepreneur and managed successful business in Computer Education and Software development. A working mother, she divided her time between pushing her business and managing school-going children at home. I encouraged Pooja to take up films: Lataa Hegde As time passed, Pooja, a tomboy and introvert in nature, decided to step out in the limelight. Interestingly, while some parents are skeptical about their children pursuing acting, it was the other way round in case of Pooja and her mum. Pooja went to college and put her name down for all inter college activities. At one such event, she was spotted by pageant people and she participated and started doing modelling a bit. She was also getting film offers but kept turning them down, shares Lataa Hegde, adding, I was the person who asked her, Pooja why are you saying no to acting? Just because you havent done something doesnt mean you cannot do it. I pushed her to do her first Tamil film. I told her if the universe is knocking on your door more than once, you should do it. I started accompanying her to shoots. When she came in front of the camera, she realised it was for her. The Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav has thrown his hat in the electoral ring from the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat his father Mulayam Singh Yadav had carefully nurtured it as a family seat and passed it on to him 24 years ago. Yadav is a four-time MP and currently an MLA from Karhal assembly constituency since 2022, which was the first time he contested in state elections. His last minute-entry into the electoral battle has been because of two reasons: First, to reclaim the legacy of his father, who in his lifetime saw the family fort breached in 2019. And, second, its part of the Yadav familys efforts to defend its traditional strongholds in the so-called "Yadavland": His wife, Dimple Yadav, contested from Mainpuri, party leader Ram Gopal Yadavs son Akshay Yadav from Firozabad and Shivpal Yadav's son Aditya Yadav from Badaun. He is contesting the Kannauj seat for the fourth time after 15 years. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won from Kannauj, Badaun and Firozabad in the 2019 general elections. Only Mulayam Singh Yadav won from Mainpuri. But in 2014, SP had won all four seats despite a Narendra Modi wave. The loss of Kannauj in particular hurt the SP and Akhilesh Yadav the most; never before had the SP lost the seat since it contested in the constituency for the first time, with the Yadav-Muslim alliance dominating it since 1998. The party won the seat a record seven times in a row as the senior Yadav inherited the legacy of Ram Manohar Lohia, the first MP from his seat and for whom Yadav had campaigned in 1967. Over the years, he nurtured the seat, which became the familys bastion. He won the seat in 1999 in Mainpuri, which he continued to represent, and left Kannauj for his son. Senior journalist Anurag Tripathi was among the journalists who had reported on the handover at a rally addressed by the senior Yadav in Kannauj. The SP chief introduced a shy and soft-spoken Akhilesh Yadav sitting at his feet. "Main ladka dekar jaa raha hoon, isko sansad sadasya bana dena (I'm bringing you my son, please ensure he reaches the Parliament)," Mulayam famously said to the audience as party leader Azam Khan almost dragged Akhilesh to the masses in 2000, Tripathi recalled. Akhilesh won the seat three times in 1999, 2004 and 2009, each time margin of victory going up, before giving up the seat to become the youngest chief minister of Uttar Pradesh at 38 years. His wife filled in as the next MP, unopposed between 2012-14. She barely scraped through the 2014 elections, which she won by just 20,000 votes. The BJP had closed the gap and breached the SP fort in 2019 by 12000 votes. After the death of Mulayam Singh in October 2022 at the age of 82, this would be the first time Akhilesh returns as a candidate from Kannauj amid a looming question: Will he be able to reclaim the legacy of his father after his passing away? This explains why he chose to contest again, even though he had earlier stated that he would remain in the state assembly ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. In an indication of his true intentions, the SP chief, however, had been regularly visiting Kannauj after the 2022 elections, dropping hints to the party cadre about his return while rectifying the mistakes made in 2019 and 2022 in five assembly constituencies. To be doubly sure about the ground realities, Yadav, two days before the nomination, announced the candidacy of Tej Pratap Yadav, son-in-law of Lalu Prasad Yadav. The decision created a sensation, and leaders of his party reached Lucknow pressing him to change his decision. On April 26, he ended all speculations and filed his nomination papers. The BJP's sitting MP Subrat Pathak who'd defeated Dimple Yadav in 2019 too filed his nomination. The first thing Akhilesh did was take out a 40 km long roadshow from Rasoolabad in Kanpur Dehat to Tirwa the two assembly constituencies responsible for the loss of the 2019 elections. His uncle Shivpal's rebellion had cost him some real ground operators like former Shiv Kumar Beria and Kuldeep Yadav in Rasoolabad. Some Yadav leaders were thrown out in Tirwa. Beria and Yadav both have made a comeback in the party fold. But the party leader Akhilesh was working on the weak spots for two years he worked on cobbling together a new social equation the 'the Pichda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak' or the PDA, his father first experimented with Bahujan Samaj Party founder in 1993. Kannauj, which elected Yadavs ten times in the last 16 elections has 4.75 lakh Muslims and Yadavs. But the real problem before the SP is about lacking a Brahmin face, the community makes up about 9% of the population. Yadav appointed Shyam Lal Pal as the new state president of his party replacing Naresh Uttam Patel. Pal is active in Tirwa. "SP lost four assembly constituencies, Rasoolabad, Tirwa, Chibramau, and Kannauj Sadaer to BJP by a total of 16,000 votes. This is where the focus has been to make sure the division of votes is solidly checked with the PDA line," said Rajan Mishra, a political observer in Kannauj. In his run so far, Yadav has managed to push his preference not to be perceived as a leader entrenched in Muslim-Yadav politics, but as a leader fostering a wider coalition, including Dalits and OBCs. At the time of his nomination filing his choice of proposers clearly indicated his strategy three of four were Dalits and OBCs, and one was Muslim. In his last three outings in Kannauj, Yadav has held meetings with key families and three rallies, to firm up booth management and remind the masses of his father's legacy. In the rally with Rahul Gandhi in Kannauj, Akhilesh largely restricted to anecdotes about his political journey with his father in Kannauj. "Whether I have contested the elections from here or not, I never left the people of Kannauj," he said. His extra careful approach stems from the fact that the rival Pathak has been trying to polarise the elections. He already has likened the contest to the one between India and Pakistan. After Yadav went to pray at the Gauri Shankar temple early this week, the BJP workers washed it with Ganga water, in a bid to "purify" the premises. The 108 Brahmin leaders who recently conducted the 'Shat Chandi' recitation for Yadav's victory in a Ganga ghat temple, suddenly have a volte-face. Their spokesman Pandit Sachin Tiwari appeared before the media to assert that they support the party that brought Ram Lalla to Ayodhya while distancing itself from the SP. Pathak, whom Union home minister Amit Shah described as his good friend to raising his profile in this contest at a rally in Kannauj, has had his own fair share of controversies in the last five years. The face of Hindutva in Kannauj, Pathak recently had a heated exchange with influential Brahmin leader Kanhaiya Dixit. In Tirwa, he is up in arms with the Lodhi community over the removal and then reinstall the statue of Maharani Avantibai Lodhi. His controversial video discussing the possibility of buying Lodhi votes only added fuel to the fire. Furthermore, during the Ram Navami procession, a young man was sent to jail for climbing onto a religious pedestal, leading to allegations of police brutality and discontent among BJP supporters. Internal discord within the party has also surfaced due to Subrat's contentious remarks about BJP leader Satish Pal during the ticket allocation process, which went viral and sparked further discontent. BJP leaders who did not wish to be named said Pathak is fighting the Brahmins of Kannauj and Akhilesh as well. In his support, the party's deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya has addressed six rallies with a focus on Tirwa where Pathak's tiff with Lodhis continues to simmer. Shah on his part too held his rally in Tirwa to alleviate his political troubles. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already addressed a rally for him. Not to forget the perfumers' lobby plays a pivotal role in Kannauj. Understanding the direction of the perfumers is crucial in the final stages. Every party maintains cordial ties with this lobby. But in the last five years, the perfumery businesses have faced numerous raids from the Income Tax and GST departments. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during a road show for Lok Sabha elections, at Mehrauli in New Delhi, Saturday, May 11, 2024. Arvind Kejriwal News highlights: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal got interim bail from the Supreme Court until June 1 in a money laundering case connected to the alleged excise policy scam. However, he will need to surrender and return to prison on June 2. Kejriwal is expected to lead and boost up the party's election campaigns leading up to the general elections in Delhi, slated for May 25....Read More AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal gets interim bail AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has been granted interim bail after spending over 50 days in jail following his arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement on March 21 in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. The bail, effective until June 1, comes with conditions, including avoiding visits to the Office of the chief minister or the Delhi secretariat. Supreme Court lawyer Shadan Farasat, representing Kejriwal, clarified that the order is valid until June 2 and there are no restrictions on his election campaigning. Upon his release, Kejriwal received a warm welcome from supporters and family members. Arvind Kejriwal's schedule for Saturday 1. Visited Hanuman temple at Connaught Place at 11 am. 2. Press meeting scheduled at 1 pm at the Aam Aadmi Party office in Delhi. 3. Road Show in South Delhi's Mehrauli at 4 pm 4. Road Show in East Delhi's Krishna Nagar at 6 pm Lok Sabha elections in Delhi and Punjab AAP is contesting on its own in all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. However, in Delhi, AAP is having a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress party, and is contesting on four out of the seven seats. The elections in Delhi are scheduled to take place on May 25. Punjab will vote on June 1 in the last phase to elect 13 members to parliament. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday walked out of Tihar Jail on interim bail after spending 40 days in judicial custody. In his first reaction, he thanked Lord Hanuman and sought people's support to end alleged "dictatorship" in India. He will today carry out a road show in Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal (C), chief minister of New Delhi and leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) addresses his supporters and party members upon his release from the prison on interim bail. (AFP) "I am feeling great to be with you. I had told you that I would come out soon... First of all, I want to pay obeisance to Lord Hanuman. I am among you because of the blessings of Lord Hanuman," he said. Here are 10 points on Arvind Kejriwal's bail: Arvind Kejriwal also thanked the Supreme Court for granting him bail till June 1. He announced that he will participate in a roadshow in South Delhi's Mehrauli today. The roadshow will be Arvind Kejriwal's first political engagement since he was jailed on March 21. Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann will also participate in the road show. Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the Delhi liquor policy case, has been barred by the Supreme Court from visiting his office or the Delhi secretariat. Arvind Kejriwal can't even sign files except those that require the lieutenant governor's approval. Apart from barring him from visiting his office and the Delhi secretariat, the court also asked him to not make any comment linked to his alleged role in the Delhi excise policy case. The court has also asked him to surrender on June 2, a day after the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections gets over. On Friday, Arvind Kejriwal invited his supporters to visit Connaught Place's Hanuman temple at 11 am today. AAP leaders hailed Arvind Kejriwal's release. "Truth can be troubled but not defeated. The decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court is welcome. The dictatorship will end. Satyamev Jayate," said AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who recently came out of jail. Union minister Amit Shah, meanwhile, said the people of the country will remind him of the excise scam. "This is not regular bail. It is an interim bail. He can campaign but every time he goes to campaign, people will be reminded of the excise scam," he said. Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal, who has been campaigning for the party in her husband's absence, said his release was the victory of democracy. "Hanuman ji ki jai. This is the victory of democracy. It is the result of the prayers and blessings of millions of people. Many thanks to everyone," she wrote on X in Hindi. While granting him bail, the Supreme Court asked him to furnish bail bonds of 50,000. Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate opposed his bail saying it would be like giving "the premium of placing the politicians in a benefic position compared to ordinary citizens of this country". The bench, however, noted that Kejriwal wasn't convicted, and wasn't a criminal or a threat to the society. With inputs from PTI The National Testing Agency (NTA) has increased the number of centres for the Common University Entrance Test for undergraduate admissions or CUET-UG, which will be in hybrid format starting this academic session, by three times to 2415, officials said on Friday. University Grants Commission chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar is monitoring CUET along with NTA. (PTI) The third edition of the countrys largest test, which is set to begin from May 15, will be conducted in hybrid mode for the first time. While the test for 15 subjects with the most registrations will be conducted in offline mode, the rest will be computer-based. Each test will be conducted in one shift or one day unlike the last two editions of CUET when tests in the same subject were conducted over different days in different shifts. 1.34million students have registered for the exam this year. Using a combination of offline testing for papers with higher registrations and computer-based testing for smaller ones, we have expanded our test centre options significantly. In 2023, we had 821 centres, but this year that number has increased to around 2415 . We have tripled the number to ensure students have ample choices when selecting their test centres,said chairperson of University Grants Commission (UGC) M Jagadesh Kumar, who is monitoring CUET along with NTA. This was also a motive behind allowing for pen and paper tests for the popular subjects -- they can be conducted anywhere, obviating the difficulties associated with travel for test takers, especially from rural areas. The number of cities where the test will be conducted has also increased to 380 this year from 308 last year. According to a senior NTA official, the testing agency is likely to use schools, colleges and other educational institutions as exam centres for the offline tests. Until last year earlier we could have only used centres equipped with a large number of computers , the official added, asking not to be named. The computer-based tests will still be conducted in these centres. Tests in pen and paper mode using the optical mark recognition (OMR) format will be conducted for subjects with high registration including Chemistry, Biology, English, General test, Economics, Hindi, Physics, Mathematics, Geography, Physical Education, Business Studies, Accountancy, History, Political Science and Sociology. The offline tests will be conducted first between May 15 and May 19, and after that, compter-based tests for other subjects will be conducted between May 21 and May 24. Days after Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said that India should engage in dialogue with Pakistan as it possesses an atom bomb, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the party only creates fear psychosis in the minds of people using the nuclear bomb threat, but people know that Pakistans nuclear bomb is not of good quality. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a public meeting for Lok Sabha elections in Odishas Balangir on Saturday. (PTI) Speaking at an election rally in Odishas Kandhamal district, Modi said, They (Congress) create fear psychosis in the minds of Indians by reiterating Pakistan is a nuclear power. Due to Congress weak mindset, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have struggled for decades. India will never forget the times when India used to have frequent terrorist attacks and the Congress leaders used to sit with the perpetrators of terrorism. They would say Be careful Pakistan has an atom bomb these mare pade log (people about to die) are trying to kill the mindset of the country. The Congress has always had that mindset. After the 26/11 attacks, Congress and the INDI alliance didnt have any inquiry on the attacks for fear of upsetting their vote bank. Congress rather used to have meetings with terrorists. Follow full coverage of the Lok Sabha elections here. Modi said the condition of Pakistan is such that they cant even handle the bomb (nuclear). They are now out to sell it so that they find someone to buy it but people know that its not of good quality. Hence, its not being sold, he said. Giving credit to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the nuclear test at Pokhran on May 11 in 1998, Modi said, Indians across the entire world had taken pride in it and for the first time after independence, Indians abroad were seen with respect. But the Congresss mindset on the other hand is to scare the country, he said. In an interview with YouTube channel Chill Pill, posted on April 15, Aiyar said, India should give respect to Pakistan as it has an atom bomb. If we dont give them respect, they will think of using an atom bomb against India. Also Read | Congress wants to make Hindus second-class citizens: Modi in Telangana The Congress distanced itself from Aiyars statements, with party spokesperson Pawan Khera saying, INC and indeed the entire nation recalls with pride that in December 1971 Pakistan was broken and Bangladesh emerged thanks to Indira Gandhis decisive and determined leadership and the valour of our armed forces. Referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhis statement that Modi would not return as PM on June 4, Modi said Congress will be restricted to below 50 in the Lok Sabha election. The prince of Congress is shooting statements every day. You see his speeches of 2014, 2019 and 2024 elections. He keeps reading the same script. Congress needs one-tenth of total Lok Sabha seats to be the Opposition party. But the country has decided that Congress will not get the status of Opposition party as their numbers will reduce to below 50 on June 4, said Modi, adding that this time NDA would cross 400 seats in Lok Sabha polls. Launching further attacks on Congress, Modi said President Droupadi Murmu visited Ram temple in Ayodhya a few days ago and offered prayers there. One day after her visit, one of the biggest leaders of the Congress party said we will do purification of Ram temple with Gangajal. Do such people have the right to be in Indian politics? he asked. Attacking the Biju Janata Dal and chief minister Naveen Patnaik in his meetings at Kandhamal, Bolangir and Bargarh - all scheduled to go for polls on May 20- Modi said he is challenging Patnaik to name the districts of Odisha without seeing a paper. The CM, who cannot even name the districts and its district headquarters without a piece of paper, how far will he be able to understand the pain and suffering of the people. Ask him a question on my behalf that as he (Naveen) is contesting from Kantabanji, can he name 10 villages? I am sure that he would not be able to name even 10 villages without seeing a paper despite being CM for so many years. He (Naveen Patnaik) doesnt know your sorrows, dreams and capabilities as he is away from the soil and people, he said. Also Read | Amit Shah vs Arvind Kejriwal on when PM Narendra Modi will retire Modi said though the people of Odisha gave opportunity to BJD for 25 years, its leaders are now living in palatial bungalows and vehicles, but the people are forced to migrate outside in search of work. Was Odisha born after Modi? The state has been there with its rich culture spanning over 1,000 years. However, the Congress only showed the states pictures of poverty to the world. The BJD government also did not dare to stop the attempts of Congress or change the poverty scenario. Odisha is one of the richest states in the country, but the people are battling poverty. The BJD government is not providing water for irrigation, nor jobs. How long will the people of Odisha be forced to live in such situations? Till the corrupt BJD is in power, the beneficiaries will not be able to reap the benefits of the schemes, be it toilets, gas, pucca houses or drinking water. Fifty years of the people of Odisha have been lost. It is time to save Odisha, Odia Asmita and future of the children of the state. BJP has approved several Eklavya schools. But the BJD leaders have usurped tribal lands. Aau kete din sahiba Odisha- (how long will Odisha tolerate), he said. Highlighting the benefits of Ayushman Bharat scheme, he expressed concerns over the non-implementation of the scheme in Odisha. It is one of the biggest schemes and the people here are deprived of the benefits. I have been trying to convince the Odisha government to implement the scheme in the last 5 years. Does such an insensitive government need to remain in power here? Modi asked. Taking a dig at Naveen Patnaiks trusted lieutenant VK Pandian, Modi asked who is running the Odisha government. The entire governance has been outsourced in Odisha. A Super CM is now there over the CM chosen by the democratically elected legislators. Are sons and daughters born in the land of Odisha not capable of running the govt? Are people born here not capable of ensuring development? Do you want the reins of power to be given to a person who does not understand Odisha, he asked. Be it Gopabandhu Das, Harekrushna Mahatab, Biju Babu and others, no one ever compromised with Odia Asmita. Today, the Odia culture is in danger; and how to protect Odia Asmita is the biggest challenge. Hence, the BJP has decided to bring out Odisha from such a crisis as Odia Asmita cannot be mortgaged. Responding to the attacks of PM Modi, BJD leader VK Pandian said while the Modi government is beating its drums on double engine sarkar, the Centre is spending only 6,000 crore for Ayushman Bharat for the entire country. Odisha would get just 300 crore. But on Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, the state is spending 300 crore every month. Why did the Centre fail to build coastal highway in Odisha? We are tired of requesting the Centre over raising the coal royalty. Had the coal royalty been revised, Odisha would have got 5 lakh crore extra, said Pandian. Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called the Congress party anti-Hindu and said the grand-old party hates Hindus and wants to make them second-class citizens in their own country. PM Modi in addressed rallies in Telangana for Lok Sabha polls (Twitter/BJP) Addressing an election rally at Narayanpet in Telanganas Mahabubnagar parliamentary constituency, Modi said the Congress hated Hindus and Hindu festivals. This is becoming evident every day. The leader who gave tuition to Shehzada (the prince) has also said that the Ram temple should not have been built in Ayodhya. He announced that building the Ram temple and celebrating Ram Navami is anti-India and against the idea of India, Modi said. Modi taunts Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as Shehzada Stating that the Congress had called him anti-national when he had visited the temple, Modi alleged that the Congress wants to make Hindus second-class citizens in their own country. Do these people want to establish Aurangzebs rule in India? Is this why they are talking about vote jihad? he added. He charged Congress with dividing the country based on religion and caste. The Congresss real agenda is to appease certain communities for political gains, without considering the welfare of the nation. The Congress is trying to give reservation based on religion to Muslims instead of SCs [scheduled caste], STs [scheduled tribes] and OBCs [other backward class]. Congress knows that reservations based on religion are anti-constitutional. It also knows that Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar opposed it, Modi said, adding no one could snatch the rights of weaker sections under Modis guardianship. Modi lashed out at the alleged racist remarks of the Congress, recalling the interview of Sam Pitroda saying the people of South India look like Africans. They think the people of Telangana look African. Do you know why? Because they dont like the colour of your skin. Who is African, and who is Indian? Now Congress will decide this based on our colour, he said. He reiterated his commitment to providing three crore new homes for the poor in the next five years, free healthcare for every senior citizen above 70 years of age, and fulfilling every promise made to the people. Referring to the migration of labourers from Mahbubnagar, a perennial problem in the drought-prone district, the PM said the farmers were forced to migrate for labour because the state government was not taking up irrigation projects. The Congress made false promises of loan waivers to the farmers. If Congress has given anything, it is betrayal and betrayal, he said. Also Read: PM inaugurates projects worth 56k-cr, slams dynastic parties Addressing another rally at L B Stadium in Hyderabad, Modi said Hyderabad always had a special place in his heart, as it played a big role in igniting hope and change a decade ago. Telangana is saying, Congress Nakko, TRS Nakko, MIM Nakko. Well vote for BJP. Well make BJP win Modi declared. He said a vote for the BJP would lead to the resolution of decades-old problems. He accused Congress of a track record of corruption, appeasement, and dynasty politics. Congresss track record is looting, appeasement, dynasty first, he said, adding that Congress was soft on terrorism during its tenure. Telangana will go to polls in the fourth phase on May 13. The counting of votes will take place on June 4. A special court in Maharashtra on Friday convicted two men for the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune but acquitted three others, almost 11 years after the grisly crime shocked the country and sparked suspicions of a wider conspiracy targeting leftist activists, journalists and atheists. Dabholkar, who was 67 when he was killed, dedicated almost 30 years of his life towards working to eradicate superstition in Maharashtra. (HT Photo) Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, who allegedly shot Dabholkar while he was on a morning walk in Pune on 20 August 2013, were sentenced to life imprisonment. The three other accused, Virendrasinh Tawade, Sanjiv Punalekar and Vikram Bhave, were acquitted for lack of evidence, said additional sessions judge PP Jadhav. The murder of Dabholkar, a well-known anti-superstition crusader, was the first in a chain of similar killings of three other rationalists and activists: Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur in February 2015, Kannada-language scholar MM Kalburgi in Dharwad in August 2015, and journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru in September 2017. But the acquittal of the men the investigators charged as the masterminds of the murder deals a blow to the investigation into the alleged wider conspiracy hatched by right-wing groups to target the four victims. The judge said though Tawade was charged as the conspirator in the case and there was ample scope for suspicion, the prosecution failed to convert the suspicion into evidence, which is why he was acquitted of all charges. In the case of Bhave and Punalekar, even if there is scope for suspicion, there is no evidence, and therefore, both have been acquitted of all charges for want of evidence, the judge said. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which took over the case in 2014, had claimed that a long-standing enmity between Dabholkar whose organisation Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (committee for eradication of superstition, Maharashtra) often targeted fringe groups and the right-wing Sanatan Sanstha was the motive behind the murder. All five accused were linked to the Sanstha in CBIs charge sheet. However, after the verdict was announced, the Sanatan Sanstha disassociated itself from Andure and Kalaskar, saying they are Hindutva activists but have never been involved with the organisation. The group admitted Bhave was a member, and alleged that Virendrasinh Tawade belonged to another right-wing organisation called Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, while Punalekar is an advocate who takes up cases of Hindutva activists. The family said it was disappointed by the judgment. The masterminds in the case are still at large. So far as todays order is concerned, we will challenge it in the high court, said Mukta Dabholkar, the victims daughter. In Pansare case, a special court in Kolhapur has framed charges against 10 accused, marking the beginning of the trial in January this year. In Kalburgi and Lankesh murders, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has directed the states home secretary to take urgent steps to expedite the trials. Tawde, Kalaskar and Andure are also accused in Pansare case. Clear evidence The judge, in his written order, observed that it was crystal clear that Andure and Kalaskar had fired bullets at Dabholkar. According to the CBI chargesheet, Andure and Kalaskar came on a motorbike and shot Dabholkar twice, killing him instantly. Interestingly, CBI had first named fugitives Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the shooters in its charge sheet. But later, it arrested Andure and Kalaskar, and said in a supplementary chargesheet that they had shot Dabholkar. The acquittal of Tawade, an ENT surgeon from Panvel, came as a jolt to the prosecution as he was named the main conspirator. The prosecution accused Punalekar and Bhave of aiding the conspiracy to kill Dabholkar. CBI had invoked Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 120B (conspiracy) and 302 (murder), relevant sections of the Arms Act, and Section 16 (punishment for terrorist act) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. CBIs negligence The judge also rapped the federal investigation agency for negligence while invoking provisions of UAPA. There were charges framed under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the case. However, the way the competent officer exhibited negligence while invoking provisions of UAPA in the case, the charges could not be proved. The judge then asked the defence counsel to give their opinions on the quantum of the sentence for Andure and Kalaskar. Advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, appearing for the duo, argued that the case didnt fall under the rarest of the rare circumstances, to which public prosecutor Prakash Suryawanshi replied, We have not sought death punishment in this case. Upon hearing brief arguments from both sides, the judge pronounced the sentence, saying, Both Andure and Kalaskar have been sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of 5 lakh to be imposed on each. The judge also condemned some of the defences comments that seemed to justify Dabholkars murder: It is regretful. The defence counsel should ponder over it. Long wait for justice Fridays verdict came almost 11 years after Dabholkars murder on August 20, 2013, and three years after the trial began in June 2021. The delay was mainly due to CBIs inability to secure the murder weapon until the last moment. At the same time, the agency, which took over the investigation in June 2014, also tried to secure a forensic opinion. There has been a delay in the case, but finally the court has convicted the two assailants, said Omkar Nevgi, the Dabholkar familys lawyer. Hamid Dabholkar, son of Narendra Dabholkar, said it was disappointing that the masterminds were still at large. If masterminds are not brought to justice, incidents like this will keep repeating. It is evident from the charge sheet that Dabholkars murder was committed for ideological reasons, he said. Both the defence and prosecution hinted they are considering appealing the judgment in higher courts. We are currently considering challenging the acquittal of the three in the high court, said public prosecutor Suryawanshi. This verdict makes it clear that the investigation in the case was suspicious, said Sanatan Sanstha spokesperson Abhay Vartak. Dabholkars legacy Dabholkar, who was 67 when he was killed, dedicated almost 30 years of his life towards working to eradicate superstition in Maharashtra. Since the murder, the anti-superstition movement in the state has only grown, with members and branches of his organisation expanding to other states as well. Months after the murder, the Maharashtra government in December 2013 enacted the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil, and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, colloquially known as the anti-black magic act. Dabholkar advocated this law before his death. In the last 10 years, over 1,000 cases 58 of them from Pune district alone have been registered under this act. New Delhi, The Delhi Police's investigation into the murder of an elderly physician in southeast Delhi's Jangpura area has revealed that he was brutally tortured and hit on the head with a blunt object before being strangulated with a leash, officials said on Saturday. Delhi doctor murder: Brutally tortured, police say CCTV camera footage revealed four suspects Yogesh Chandra Paul, a 63-year-old physician, was found dead in his home in Jangpura Extention on Friday. Paul's body was found with his hands tied, they said. The police accessed footage from a CCTV camera near Paul's house that showed four suspects. A police officer aware of the investigation said one suspect stood outside while the other three entered the house. The accused beat up Paul, gagged him and tied him to a chair. They dragged the chair with Paul tied to it to the kitchen where they hit him on the head with a blunt object and strangulated him with a dog leash, the officer said. The accused had locked Paul's two dogs in the bathroom. They then ransacked the house before fleeing. The police have registered a case of murder and robbery and are investigating it from various angles. "We have not ruled out the possibility of some insider or someone known to Paul being involved," the officer said. Paul lived with his wife Neena Paul, a doctor at a Delhi government hospital. She was at work when her husband was murdered. One of their daughters lives in Canada while the other lives in Noida. Both are married. The matter came to light after Neena Paul returned home, the police said. Neighbours said Paul was a popular doctor in the area as he ran a clinic from his house. He used to treat the poor without charge and even gave them medicines for free. Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Deo said they have strong leads and the investigation is at a crucial stage. Raids are being conducted at various locations to nab the accused. On Saturday, Paul's neighbours held a candle march in the locality. Some residents alleged poor police patrolling led to the murder. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday termed Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharges recent letter to INDIA bloc leaders over voter turnout data an attempt to create confusion, misdirection and impediments in the conduct of free and fair polls, prompting the Opposition party to call the poll bodys response regrettable. (Representative Photo) On May 7, the Congress chief wrote a letter to leaders of the INDIA bloc, alleging discrepancies in the voting data released by the poll body. Sharing the letter on X, Kharge had said that apart from the delay, the voter turnout data released by the Commission does not mention crucial yet related figures, such as the votes polled in each Parliamentary Constituency and in the respective Assembly Constituencies. He also alleged that the credibility of the Election Commission was at an all-time low. In a 21-page response with a series of annexure, the poll body on Friday rejected the charges of mismanagement and delay in the release of voter turnout data in the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections. During the election period, the Commission scrupulously avoids commenting on political parties and takes the hard-hitting of several public questions and accusations on its own shoulders as it believes in a respectful collaborative equation with all political parties, so critical for healthy Indian democracy. However, the Commission has found your communication placed in the public domain in the middle of the ongoing election process as highly undesirable and one that appears designed to create confusion/misdirection/impediment to the conduct of smooth, free and fair elections which is the mandate of ECl under the constitution. Therefore, to uphold the integrity of the election process, in the face of aggression on the vitals of live conduct of the election coming from your statements, the Commission categorically rejects your insinuations/ allegations and advises you to exercise caution and refrain from making such statements, EC said. Also Read: Lok Sabha Election 2024: Plea in Supreme Court questions ECs delay in release of poll turnout data Till the end of phase three, the poll body had not released data about the number of eligible voters (electors) in each parliamentary constituency, making it impossible to calculate whether the absolute number of voters has increased or decreased. Refuting allegations of delay, EC said there is always a time lag in reporting estimated data on poll day. Voters continue to vote even after 6:00 pm in long queues at many polling stations and can be verified by actual close of poll time recorded, it said. In the 21-page response with eight annexures, the EC called allegations by Kharge unwarranted, insinuations and innuendos and an aggression on vitals of live election operations. The Congress, however, termed ECIs response to Kharges letter regrettable. The approach of the Election Commission to addressing these issues is deeply regrettable, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a statement. Both the content and intent of the letter will be a permanent blot on the reputation of an institution that can boast of luminaries like Sukumar Sen, TN Seshan, JM Lyngdoh and others, he added. The fresh war of words comes as the EC is already battling concerns from political parties including the Trinamool Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPIM] and the Congress over polling data. Later in the day, several members of the Oppositions INDIA bloc, including Congresss Abhishek Singhvi and Salman Khurshid, and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Derek OBrien, met senior EC officials reiterating concerns about the delay in publishing voter turnout figures. We had made this complaint a long time ago, but unfortunately the Election Commission has uploaded its reply just a little while before our meeting today. We have filed 11 complaints against PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, but no action has been taken on them, the alliance said in a statement released later. Ramesh called ECs response extraordinary. Taking to X, he wrote, The response of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to the issues raised by the Congress President in his letter to the INDIA parties is simply beyond description. The EC is a Constitutional body entrusted with the responsibility of being an impartial body that ensures, and is seen to ensure, a level playing field to all political parties. Both the content and intent of the letter will be a permanent blot on the reputation of an institution that can boast of luminaries like Sukumar Sen, TN Seshan, JM Lyngdoh and others. On May 6, the TMC had written to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, asking him to urgently furnish the constituency-wise precise voter turnout figures for phases 1 and 2 along with an explanation and clarification for the delay in releasing the voter turnout report. The party called the lack of data about eligible electors a paradigm shift from the previous voter turnout report(s) from the past election(s), where the ECI provided a detailed report in this regard. On May 3, Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) general secretary in a letter to Kumar, wrote, The ECI has not come out with any explanation for the cause of this undue delay. What goes unanswered is also a surge of 6 per cent from the initial figures that the ECI put out and the final figure. this variation of six per cent is unusual and raises some suspicion. Also Read: Kharge writes to allies raising concerns over ECIs delay in releasing poll data He called on the ECI to release state-wise, constituency-wise and assembly segment wise break-up of the initial and final percentage as also the number of votes cast along with details of how these votes were cast EVMs, postal ballots, and votes by personnel on duty. On May 9, a group of lawyers, activists and bureaucrats, including noted psephologist Yogendra Yadav and senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, also wrote an open letter to the ECI to proactively disclose Part I of Form 17C to allay doubts related to the fluctuating voter turnout figures across the first three phases of the ongoing general elections. Part I of form 17C is the account of votes recorded which is to be filled by the presiding officer of every polling station, a true copy of which must be provided to the polling agent of every candidate as per Section 49S of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. The election commission in its response on Friday, pointed this out as it said that political parties know the constituency-wise number of electors at every stage of the electoral cycle as they are intimately involved in the preparation of electoral roll. It also said that the number of electors by polling station, aggregated to constituency level, is available with every candidate and political party. The poll body said that there is no scope at all for any deviation with the number of votes polled as recorded in Form 17C, a signed copy of which is made available to all contesting candidates on close of poll. The EC pointed out that the Congress had not raised any concerns about any of its candidates not receiving a copy of the electoral roll, or its polling agents not getting a copy of Form 17C at the end of the three polling days, or other such concerns. It also said that no Congress candidate over the last three years had filed any election petition over a discrepancy in data. To be sure, until the EC provided PC-wise data about electors on May 7, this data was not available in the public domain or on the EC website. Different states have different formats for displaying this data on the websites of their respective chief electoral officers. No state gives the final number of eligible voters; instead, they list the entire electoral roll by district. Some states have not updated the electoral rolls online so the data is from previous years. In its response to Kharge, the EC said, It may be noted that the Commission is not legally bound to publish any voter turnout data at the aggregate level of a constituency, a State or in a phase of election because voter turnout is recorded at polling station level in statutory Form 17C which is prepared by the Presiding Officer and signed by polling agents of candidates present. Copies of Form 17C are shared with polling agents present immediately, as the strongest measure of transparency. So, candidates are aware and in possession of exact voter turnout data in absolute numbers even before it is known to ECI. Concerns have been raised by political parties as well as the media about the electoral data. For instance, HT observed that according to the data released by the EC to media on April 19, the turnout for phase I at 9 pm (62.37%) differed from the final data released on April 30 (66.14%) by 3.77 percentage points. Three states saw their voter turnout increase by more than 10 percentage points Lakshadweep, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. For phase 2, a similar comparison was not possible as the EC did not provide VTRs throughout the polling day on April 26 to the media and instead directed journalists to the Voter Turnout app. According to the data on the app accessed by HT on April 28 at around 7 pm, the reported VTR did not change between April 28 and April 30 for any state except Manipur where it increased by 2.95 percentage points from 81.9% to 84.85%. In its letter, the EC gave details of how and when data is updated on the Voter Turnout App and what causes changes, arguing that it is not a delay. The election body said that the app displays estimated approximate voter turnout on the poll day every two hours (9:30am, 11:30am, 1:30pm, 3:30pm, 5:30pm), then it displays live updation of estimated approximate voter turnout from 7:00pm onwards till mid-night, as further reports are received from the field. During phase 3, HT monitored the app and reported the data at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm after which it stopped giving the time on the app. The number continued to change continuously until the next day but not for all states. For instance, for UP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Goa, Karnataka, MP and Maharashtra, the VTR on the app did not change between the 11:40pm press release of EC on May 7 and 2:38pm on May 8 when HT checked the app. For others Assam, Gujarat and West Bengal the change was less than a percentage point. Also Read: Lok Sabha polls: EC releases voter turnout data; most regions see dip In its response to Kharge, the EC said there is always a time lag in reporting estimated data on poll day. Voters continue to vote even after 6:00pm in long queues at many polling stations and can be verified by actual close of poll time recorded, the letter said. The EC said that as polling parties arrive late at night and data is updated with actual numbers from Form 17C on poll day, on P+1 day after scrutiny is conducted in the presence of candidates and observers, and even P+2 or P+3 day due to difficult geography and weather conditions. This data may further get updated for any constituency where repoll is being conducted, on conclusion of repoll and arrival of parties which is normally on P+4 days. Thus, there is no delay in the publication of data for a constituency or a State on voter turnout application. Issuance of press note on 30th April 2024 was nothing but presenting the data already displayed and available in App live. It is thus not a delay, EC stated. New Delhi Dr Zakir Husain on May 9, 1967 won the Presidential contest by a comfortable majority, surpassing the most optimistic estimates of the Congress. Both in Parliament and state assemblies, he had a decisive lead over his rival, Subba Rao, the Opposition nominee. Dr Zakir Husain takes oath as the President at a ceremony attended by outgoing President S Radhakrishnan on May 13, 1967. (HT Archive) Dr Husain polled 471,244 votes against 363,971 votes secured by Rao. It gave him a lead of 107,273 votes. Parliamentary affairs minister Dr Ram Subhag Singh, campaign manager of the Congress party, had anticipated a margin of 60,000 votes. There were 41 invalid papers, representing over 7,000 votes. Jubilant Congress leaders hailed the victory as a clear indication of the partys solidarity and refutation of the Opposition propaganda on defections in Congress ranks. The opposition leaders were visibly depressed. There is a big disparity in Dr Husains margin over Subba Rao in the State Assemblies -- of 7,454 votes -- and the lead in Parliament -- of 97,344 votes. Dr Husain was backed by 447 MPs and Subba Rao by 278. The Congress nominee got a majority of votes in 12 States, including three where non-Congress governments are in power, West Bengal, Punjab and UP. But the other five non-Congress states Bihar, Kerala, Haryana, Madras and Orissa -- voted solidly for Rao. The result was officially announced by returning officer BN Banerjee, secretary, Rajya Sabha, at 3pm, though the counting of ballot papers was over an hour earlier. The counting started at 10am at the Parliament House. It was a thrilling finale to the drama that had been exciting the imagination of the entire country for the last one month. Fortunes of the two leading candidates fluctuated every hour of the counting and an element of suspense was maintained as box after box was unsealed. Members of the Congress Working Committee, which was in session at the AICC office, had several anxious moments as they got reports from the counting hall. At one stage, when Dr Husains margin dropped to 1,600, they got worried. The final result came as big morale-booster to the Congress after the general election reverses. Indira Gandhis supporters were particularly happy since her stand had been vindicated. Close race For quite some time, there appeared to be a close race between Dr Husain and Rao. Hope alternated with despair in the two camps as reports from the counting room mentioned the tilting of balance-on Dr Husains side at one time and on Raos at the other. At 12.30pm, Dr Husain had a lead of over 9,000 votes when boxes from 11 states had been counted but within 15 minutes his margin was reduced to 1,600 Kerala, where Rao got 89 ballots against 30 by Dr Husain, materially changed the position. The UP result was also known in these crucial 15 minutes but the state was evenly divided 210 for Dr Husain and 209 for Rao. Dr Husain again improved his margin to 8,000 when counting of votes from Rajasthan and Mysore was over. But soon it slumped to 3,739. Bihar had tilted the scales against Dr Husain. At this stage, counting in 15 out of 17 states had been completed. Madhya Pradesh was the last but one state to be counted. It increased Dr Husains lead to 7,454. West Bengal, the last state, had the biggest surprise for the Congress. The party leaders were prepared for a deficit here and anticipated an overall lead of around 100,000. Just then, they received the cheering report from the counting hall that West Bengal, too, had voted for Dr Husain. As soon as the election result was known, Dr Ram Subhag Singh rushed to the official residence of Dr Husain at Maulana Azad Road to congratulate him. He also called on the Prime Minister. Mrs Gandhi was one of the earliest to call on Dr Husain. PMs message In a message, she said: I offer my warmest congratulations and good wishes to Dr Husain on his election as our Rashtrapati. A life time of dedicated service had earned the President-elect the affection, respect and goodwill of the entire nation. Asked for comments by newsmen at Dr Husains house, she replied: There is no need to say anything. Facts speak for themselves. Subba Rao came to know of the election result in Madras while on his way to Bangalore. He conveyed his congratulations to Dr Husain. A Madras report quoted him as saying: The election has strengthened the democratic forces in the country. Polling for the presidential election took place in New Delhi and the state capitals on Saturday last. The last of the ballot boxes was brought to Delhi last night. Large crowds of people who had gathered in the premises of Parliament and outside were kept in tenterhooks as the results swayed with the progress of counting. By half past one in the afternoon it became evident that Dr Husain, was in a comfortable lead. New Delhi, The Delhi High Court has granted bail to Abdul Subhan Qureshi, co-founder of banned terror organisation Indian Mujahideen , in a terror case. HC grants bail to alleged Indian Mujahideen operative in terror case A bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain considered the period of incarceration undergone by him, which was around five years, and directed that the terms and conditions of the bail would be decided by the trial court. "In case there is any violation of any condition imposed by the trial court or appellant attempts to threaten or influence any witness, directly or indirectly, or attempts to delay the trial, it would be open to prosecution to seek cancellation of bail, without any reference to this cour," the bench said. The high court passed the order while allowing an appeal by Qureshi challenging a trial court's December 2023 order, in which his plea seeking bail in the Unlawful Activities Act case was dismissed. He sought bail under section 436-A of the CrPC which states that an under trial prisoner has the right to seek bail on serving more than one-half of the maximum possible sentence on their personal bond. Advocates Prashant Prakash and Quasar Khan, representing Qureshi, urged the court to grant bail to the accused on the ground of prolonged under-trial detention and submitted that he has been in custody for nearly five years awaiting trial, constituting half of the prescribed punishment period for the alleged offence, which is seven years. The lawyers said charges have already been framed against the accused for the alleged offences under section 153A , 153B , 120B of the Indian Penal and under section 10 and 13 of the UA. According to the prosecution, Qureshi remained an active member of IM and Students' Islamic Movement of India . The case of prosecution was that on September 27, 2001, the SIMI was banned by the Central government and on the same night, the Delhi Police got information regarding a press conference being held by the organisation in Zakir Nagar. It said a raid was conducted at the office of SIMI in Zakir Nagar where the press conference was going on and the members of the organisation were raising slogans against the Indian government for banning it. Some members of the organisation were arrested from the spot and some others, including Qureshi, fled and several incriminating items were seized there, the prosecution said. He was arrested by Delhi Police in the case on June 1, 2019. The prosecutor opposed the plea saying that the accused was earlier declared a proclaimed offender and was arrested in this case only after being apprehended in another case. He claimed that there are four other matters in which Qureshi continues to be in judicial custody. The court said merely because the allegations against the accused are serious in nature, cannot be taken as sole ground for declining the relief provided under Section 436-A CrPC. "We are also conscious of the fact that all his co-accused in the present case are already on bail and the case is at the stage of recording of prosecution evidence in which 8 witnesses have been examined. "There are 53 cited prosecution witnesses and therefore, it cannot be said that trial is likely to be concluded in near future," the bench said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. A day after he was released on interim bail, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday addressed his first rally in New Delhi. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi on May 11.(PTI) In a charged-up speech, Kejriwal, who spent around 50 days in jail, targeted Prime Minister Narendra and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and warned that the major Opposition leader would be in jail if the BJP won the Lok Sabha polls. The Supreme Court on Friday gave interim bail to the Aam Admi Party convenor till June 1. However, as per the terms of his bail, the Delhi Chief Minister cannot comment on his role in the Delhi liquor scam case. Here's what Arvind Kejriwal said at the rally: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Advocate G Devaraje Gowda, was arrested on Friday in connection with the Hassan JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna's sexual tapes case. BJP leader G Devaraje Gowda(File) Gowda was arrested for allegedly leaking the explicit video in a pen drive. He was caught at Gulihal toll gate in Chitradurga district after a tip-off from the Hassan Police, who wanted his presence for the case. Read here: Prajwal Revanna case: BJP leader Devaraje Gowda arrested Who is Devaraje Gowda? A BJP leader and advocate by profession, Gowda had claimed that he alerted the BJP leadership last year about Prajwal Revanna's alleged sexual abuse of several women and cautioned the saffron party. However, the BJP state president said that Gowda's claim of sending a letter on the videos to him was patently false. Revanna is the grandson of former prime minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda, and is the BJP-JD(S) Lok Sabha poll candidate from Hassan. The BJP entered into an alliance with the JD(S) for the ongoing general elections. Gowda had contested the 2023 Karnataka assembly election against Prajwal's father and Holenarasipura MLA HD Revanna. Molestation case against Gowda: An FIR has been lodged against the BJP leader for sexual harassment in Hassan's Holenarasipura town over the complaint of a woman who alleged that she was physically harassed and threatened by Gowda and others. Read here: Devaraje Gowda's claim of sending a letter on videos is false: BJP's Vijayendra Yediyurappa Gowda has been booked under sections 354 (A), 354C, 448, 504, 506, 34 of the IPC and 66(E) of the Information Technology Act, 2008 for the offences including, assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage modesty, sexual harassment, voyeurism, house trespass, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace and criminal intimidation. As per the police FIR, it was filed on April 1 for the offence that took place on February 4 at the victim's house in Holenarasipura. The FIR has named three others in the case apart from Deveraje Gowda. Prajwal Revanna case The Prajwal Revanna case is being probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police. Three FIRs have been registered against him, with charges such as rape, molestation, intimidation, blackmailing, and issuing threats. Read here: Third rape case against JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna after fresh complaint The MP is absconding and a 'blue corner' notice has been issued against him by the Interpol. (With inputs from agencies) New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal arrived at Hanuman Mandir in Connaught Place on Saturday morning where he offered prayers, a day after he was released from Tihar Jail on interim bail on the order of the Supreme Court. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday offered prayers at Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place (Twitter/video screengrab) Kejriwal arrived at Hanuman Mandir with his wife Sunita Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh where AAP leaders were already gathered besides several party workers. With the blessings of Hanumanji, the prayers of crores of people and the justice of the Supreme Court judges, I am very happy to be back amongst you all, the Delhi CM wrote on X while also informing that he is set to hold roadshows in the city. Also Read: Victory of democracy, says Sunita; AAP: Tiger is back The AAP national convenor at 1pm will address a press conference at the party headquarters. Later in the day at 4pm, he will hold a roadshow in South Delhis Mehrauli before marching off to East Delhis Krishna Nagar where he will address another roadshow. Saturdays roadshow will be Kejriwals first of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi. Punjab CM Mann will also join Kejriwal in the roadshows. There was an excitement among the party workers to see Kejriwal who is out in public for the first time since his arrest on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi excise case. After coming out of jail, Kejriwal gave a call to save the country from dictatorship. The Delhi chief minister walked out of Tihar Jail on Friday on interim bail by the Supreme Court after spending 40 days in judicial custody. In his first reaction, he thanked Lord Hanuman and sought peoples support to end the alleged dictatorship in India. He will today carry out a road show in Delhi. I had said that I would come (out) soon. I have come. Before all, I want to pay obeisance on the feet of Hanumanji. I am among you due to the blessings of Hanumanji. I want to thank you all, millions of people from across the country sent their blessings and prayers to me. I want to thank the judges of the Supreme Court due to whom I am among you. I want to request you to work together to save the country from dictatorship. I am fighting against dictatorship with all my strength, but the 140 crore [1.4 billion] people of the country will have to fight dictatorship, said Kejriwal while addressing party workers gathered outside Tihar Jail on Friday. Kejriwal also thanked the Supreme Court for granting him bail till June 1. The BJP on Saturday called Arvind Kejriwal a member of the jail return club, a day after the Supreme Court granted interim bail to the Delhi chief minister, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in March in the liquor policy case. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday offered prayers at Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place (Twitter/video screengrab) Party leaders compared the AAP national convenor to a few other politicians who were jailed and came out on bail. They also recalled how he used to give statements against Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and ex-Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit he succeeded the latter in office but is now an ally of the grand old party. Arvind Kejriwal has come out and is celebrating. He has finally become a part of the jail return club like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Jayalalithaa, and Shibhu Soren. The one who used to say that he would send Sheila Dikshit and Sonia Gandhi to jail, is now a part of the INDI alliance because all of them are against (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said at a press conference. The Congress-led INDIA bloc is a coalition of opposition parties who have joined hands to take on the BJP-led ruling NDA in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, in which the NDA is seeking a third consecutive term at the Centre. The INDIA bloc is derided by BJP leaders and supporters as INDI alliance. The AAP is a constituent of this coalition of opposition parties. Despite opposition by the ED, the Supreme Court on Friday gave interim bail to Kejriwal, the first sitting chief minister to be arrested. The bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, allowed his release so that he can campaign for the Lok Sabha Sabha polls. The bench, however, imposed certain conditions on the AAP chief, who must surrender on June 2, a day after the final round of polling is to be held for the seven-phase general elections. : A Kerala court on Friday convicted a 27-year-old man for the murder of a 23-year-old woman at her residence near Panoor in Kannur district. The court is expected to announce the quantum of punishment on May 13. (Getty Images) The court is expected to announce the quantum of punishment on May 13. The Thalassery additional district sessions court found the accused, Shyamjith, guilty of trespassing into the home of Vishnupriya, a pharmacist, when her family members werent around and stabbing her to death in her bedroom at 11.50 am on October 22, 2022. Shyamjith, a resident of Manantheri, was arrested within hours of the crime. The murder was an act of revenge against the woman after she thwarted his romantic advances and got close to another man, the prosecution argued. We are happy with the verdict and we commend the police for its investigation. The court has made the ruling based on scientific evidence and statements of witnesses. The prosecution case was that the victim and the accused knew each other and were friends. However, after the accuseds behaviour deteriorated, the woman ended the relationship. This murder was committed by the accused as an act of revenge. It was a most brutal murder and the postmortem found 29 injuries on the body of the victim, public prosecutor K Ajith Kumar told reporters. The CCTV footage of the accused on his bike near the victims home as well as that of him buying the murder weapon from a shop were submitted as evidence by the prosecution. I dedicate this verdict to young women of our state. I have also conveyed to the court that the accused Shyamjith, as per his demeanor and behaviour during the trial in the court, is beyond reformation. He has told the police once that he was young and even if he got a life sentence of 14 years, he would still get out of jail at the age of 39 and that he would lead a comfortable life. I have argued before the judge that the victim also deserved to live a good life which was stolen from her, said Kumar. The convict does not deserve any mercy. If the court declines to give him a death sentence, the society will see it as an act of cruelty towards it, the advocate added Two temple administration boards in Kerala have banned the use of arali (oleander) flower in the offerings to the deity (naivedyam) as well as in food given to devotees as prasadam in the backdrop of concerns over the toxic content in it, people familiar with the matter said. Two temple administration boards in Kerala have banned the use of arali flower in the offerings to the deity (naivedyam) as well as in food given to devotees as prasadam (AFP) PS Prasanth, president of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) which manages temples mostly in southern Kerala including the famous Sabarimala shrine, said on Thursday that the temples under it have been prohibited from using the flower. We have decided to completely avoid using the flower in temples especially in naivedyam and prasadam. Instead, the devotees should offer tulsi leaves, thechi (Jungle geranium) and hibiscus. The oleader flowers can be used for pujas, but it should not reach the hands of devotees. The decision has been communicated to all the assistant commissioners of the board, he said. The Malabar Devaswom Board (MDB), which manages around 1,300 temples mostly in northern Kerala, made the similar announcement. MDB president MR Murali told PTI, Although the Arali flower is not widely used in rituals in temples, its use is banned considering the safety of devotees. Studies have found that the flower contains toxic substances. The ban on the use of the flower comes nearly 10 days after a woman in Alappuzha district died after suspected poisoning from the accidental consumption of oleander leaves. On April 28, Surya Surendran, who had got a job as a nurse in UK, vomited and collapsed at the Cochin International Airport. A day later, she died at a private hospital. The station house officer of Haripad, K Abhilash Kumar, told HT that the postmortem report of the woman pointed to some kind of toxic substance in her blood. We are led believe that it was her accidental consumption of the arali leaves, which has toxic content, that led to her death. She had told the doctors at Tiruvalla that she had consumed the leaf and spit it out as well. But the leaf juice may have gone in, causing the heart attack, that eventually led to her death. Since she doesnt have any history of heart disease, there is no other reason for her death, he said. Her blood samples have been sent for detailed chemical analysis. The report will come in a few days, the officer said. It has been proved scientifically that Nerium oleander, commonly known as oleander, has toxic compounds in all its parts and its ingestion will lead to vomiting, nausea, bloody diarrhoea and irregular heart rhythm. All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being obsessed with words beginning with the letter M, which was why he was talking about Mangalsutra, Mughal, Mutton, Muslim League. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge being welcomed by Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad on Friday. (ANI) Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, Kharge accused Modi of creating a fear psychosis among the people and projecting an atmosphere of violence. He is obviously afraid of losing power and hence, he is creating a wedge among different sections of people, he said. The Congress president said no Prime Minister was born in the country who could sneak into a house and snatch someones mangalsutra. Only a person like Modi is capable of doing something like that, Kharge observed. Reacting sharply to the allegation levelled by Modi during his recent speech at Karimnagar that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had received tempos loads of currency from industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, the AICC chief wondered whether Modi had shut his eyes and sleeping or was just watching when the money bags were being sent to Rahul Gandhi. Why didnt Modi use the ED, CBI or IT to raid and seize the houses of Adani and Ambani if he had prior information about the tempos carrying money? he asked. Stating that Modi was not speaking like a statesman, Kharge said the former was a jhooton ka sardar (king of liars). When we levelled allegations against his friends (Adani and Ambani), Modi used to defend them. Now, he is attacking them and spreading lies, he said. The Congress president said Modi and his cabinet colleague Amit Shah had stopped asking people to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) based on development, but were focussing on abusing the Congress and Rahul Gandhi. It is because they are worried about the fate of the BJP after the third phase of Lok Sabha elections, he said. Modi and Shah have stopped talking about their manifesto, but are only abusing the Congress leaders, calling our leader Shehzade etc., and distorting their speeches, which is not required. It doesnt augur well for a Prime Minister to use such childish language, he said. Kharge said the Modi government had neglected the rights and welfare of the underprivileged sections. The Congress, if voted to power, would conduct caste census so that these sections would get their due share in the welfare and development. He assured that the Congress would provide apprenticeship opportunities to youth, fill 30 lakh vacant government positions and enforce 50% reservation for women in government jobs. We have given a few guarantees during the Telangana assembly elections. We have fulfilled five guarantees so far, just one remains because MCC is in effect. We implemented every scheme and proved ourselves that we do what we say. As the Congress president I assure you that we promise only what we can fulfil, he said. Referring to minimum support price (MSP) to farmers, Kharge said the farmers organized protests earlier demanding MSP but the Central government ignored their demand. The Congress would fulfil the aspirations of farmers in the country, he added. Voting for all 17 seats in Telangana will take place on May 13 in the fourth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. May 11, 2024 7:41 AM IST Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called the Congress party anti-Hindu and said the grand-old party hates Hindus and wants to make them second-class citizens in their own country. Addressing an election rally at Narayanpet in Telanganas Mahabubnagar parliamentary constituency, Modi said the Congress hated Hindus and Hindu festivals so much. This is becoming evident every day. The leader who gave tuition to Shehzada (the prince) has also said that the Ram temple should not have been built in Ayodhya. He announced that building the Ram temple and celebrating Ram Navami is anti-India and against the idea of India, he pointed out. Stating that the Congress had called him anti-national when he had visited the temple, Modi alleged that the Congress wants to make Hindus second-class citizens in their own country. Do these people want to establish Aurangzeb's rule in India? Is this why they are talking about vote jihad? he added. He charged the Congress with dividing the country based on religion and caste. The Congress's real agenda is to appease certain communities for political gains, without considering the welfare of the nation. The Congress is trying to give reservation based on religion to Muslims instead of SCs, STs and OBCs. The Congress knows that reservations based on religion are anti-constitutional. It also knows that Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar opposed it, he said, adding no one could snatch the rights of weaker sections under Modi's guardianship. For Maneka Gandhi, there is no other reason for her son Varun Gandhi not getting the BJP ticket from Pilibhit other than his posts on X, formerly Twitter -- which were somewhat critical of the government. In an interview with news agency PTI, Maneka said she could not think of any other reason for Varun not being repeated by the party. As a mother, she said she felt bad that Varun was replaced by Jitin Prasada but it was the party's decision. "I am sure Varun will do very well even without a ticket," Maneka Gandhi said adding that she felt that Varun should have been there. Maneka Gandhi said Varun wants to campaign for her but no decision has been taken on this yet.(PTI) Maneka's seat Sultanpur will go to the polls on May 25 in the sixth round of the election and Varun Gandhi may campaign for her. Varun wants to come for campaigning but a decision regarding this has not been taken yet, Maneka said. Lok Sabha election 2024: Full coverage Pilibhit voted in the first phase on April 19 in the three-cornered contest between BJP's Jitin Prasada, Samajwadi Party's Bhagwant Saran Gangwar and Bahujan Samaj Party's Anis Ahmed Khan. It was speculated that Varun Gandhi may jump into the fray as an independent candidate but Varun Gandhi distanced himself from the 2024 Lok Sabha election -- neither contesting independently nor from any other party. Where is Varun Gandhi? Varun Gandhi was not seen in Pilibhit after he was denied the ticket. He did not attend the rallies of chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After being denied the ticket, he wrote an emotional letter to the people of Pilibhit in which he recounted the first time he came to Pilibhit in 1983 as a three-year-old. "Today, when I am writing this letter, countless memories have made me emotional. I remember that little three-year-old child who came to Pilibhit for the first time in 1983 holding the fingers of his mother. Little did he know that one day this land would become his work place and the people here would become his family," his letter read. "The ideals given by Pilibhit were instrumental in my upbringing and development not only as an MP but also as a person. Being your representative has been the greatest honour of my life and I have always raised my voice for your interests to the best of my ability," he said. "If not as an MP, then at least as a son, I am committed to serve you throughout my life and my doors will always remain open for you as before. I came into politics to raise the voice of the common man and today I seek your blessings to continue doing this work always. Even if I have to pay any cost for this," Varun added. Pilibhit has a long association with Maneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi and this was the first time that none of them contested from here. Maneka Gandhi won Pilibhit on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989, lost in 1991 and won again in 1996. She won from the constituency again in 1998 and 1999 as an Independent candidate. She won the seat in 2004 and 2014 as a BJP candidate. Varun Gandhi won the seat in 2009 and 2019 as a BJP candidate. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday criticised governor CV Ananda Bose over allegations of molestation against him. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at Balagar, Hooghly on Wednesday, May 08.(PTI) Addressing a poll rally in West Bengal's Saptagram, Banerjee said that Bose must explain why he should not step down. The CM also asserted she would not step inside the Raj Bhavan till Bose remains the governor. The governor says 'didigiri' (high-handedness) will not be tolerated...But, I say Mr Governor, your 'dadagiri' will not work anymore, the TMC supremo was quoted as saying by PTI. "Bose must explain why he should not resign after such allegations were levelled against him," she said. She also referred to the airing of the CCTV footage of May 2, the day the temporary employee in his office accused the governor of sexual assault, at the Raj Bhavan. Bose recently organised the screening in a bid to clear the air over allegations of molestation brought against him. It, however, plunged Bose into a fresh controversy, as the complainant accused him of revealing her identity. "The governor had released an edited video. I saw the entire footage and its contents are shocking. I have got another video... Your conduct is shameful," the chief minister said, according to PTI. "I am not going to the Raj Bhavan till he is the governor... I prefer to meet him on the streets," she said. What are the allegations against CV Bose? On May 2, Bose was accused by a temporary employee of Raj Bhavan of molestation on two occasions. The next day Kolkata Police set up an inquiry team to probe the allegations. Police said they sought CCTV footage from Raj Bhavan and also planned to speak to some Raj Bhavan staff. On May 5, Bose asked the staff at Raj Bhavan to ignore the police inquiry citing Article 361 of the Constitution which says that no criminal proceedings can be initiated against the President and the governor of a state as long as they are in office. In the circumstances, all staff/ employees including part-time, temporary, DRW (Daily Rated Workers) or those engaged in Raj Bhavan in any manner are hereby directed to ignore any communication from the police in this respect and refrain from giving any statement online, offline, in person, over phone or in any other manner, Bose told the Raj Bhavan staff in a letter which was uploaded on social media. Rahul Gandhi on Friday said Congress made mistakes in the past and it will have to change its politics in the future. He also claimed that Narendra Modi is a king, not the prime minister. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at an event in Lucknow on Friday. (Mushtaq Ali/HT Photo) "The Congress party will also have to change its politics in the coming times. This will have to be done," Rahul Gandhi said at the event in Lucknow. "I also want to say that the Congress party has also made mistakes and I am saying this while being from the Congress party," he added. Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being a monarch, Gandhi claimed the former is a front for some financiers. "Modi ji is a king, I am telling the truth," Rahul Gandhi said. "He is not the prime minister, he is a king. He has nothing to do with the Cabinet, Parliament or the Constitution. He is the king of the 21st century and is the front for two or three financiers who have the real power," he added. He also challenged PM Modi for a debate. Rahul Gandhi did not elaborate on what change he felt the Congress needed. He predicted that the BJP will win not more than 180 seats in the Lok Sabha. He added that Narendra Modi will not become the prime minister of India again. "I can give you in writing, if you want, that Narendra Modi is not going to be the PM again," he said. Rahul Gandhi also claimed that he has no interest in the politics of power. "I was born into it (power) and have no interest in it. But for me it's just a tool to help the public," he said. Rahul Gandhi said when INDIA bloc's government comes to power, they will order a caste-based census. "If the nation is to be strengthened, it cannot be done without including the 90 per cent. If you say that the 90 per cent will not come into bureaucracy, sports, media, judiciary and even beauty pageants, then what superpower will you make? Do you want to make 10 percent of the population a superpower," he said. With inputs from PTI Even as negotiations among governments went into the final hours on Friday the last day of negotiations among 194 World Health Organisation (WHO) member states the final draft agreement to prevent, prepare, and manage future pandemics did not take concrete shape, people familiar with the matter said. World Health Organisation (Representative Photo) The United Nations health body in a statement, however, said that significant progress had been made regarding the drafting of the accord and that the talks are going to continue further till the start of the World Health Assembly towards May end. Governments of the world today agreed to continue working on a proposed pandemic agreement, and to further refine the draft, ahead of the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly that starts 27 May 2024, said WHO in a statement. Governments meeting at the World Health Organisation headquarters in Geneva agreed to resume hybrid and in-person discussions over coming weeks to advance work on critical issues, including around a proposed new global system for pathogen access and benefits sharing (i.e. life-saving vaccines, treatments and diagnostics); pandemic prevention and One Health; and the financial coordination needed to scale up countries capacities to prepare for and respond to pandemics, it added. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said, During more than two years of intensive negotiations, WHOs member states have shown unwavering commitment to forging a generational agreement to protect the world from a repeat of the horrors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. I welcome the determination that all countries have shown to continue their work and fulfil the mission on which they embarked. The member state-led Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) was established two years ago to take this effort forward. The Bureau of the INB, which is guiding the process, will submit its outcome for consideration at the World Health Assembly. INB Bureau co-chair Dr Precious Matsoso, from South Africa, said, progress had been made during this latest round of discussions on a wide range of issues contained in the draft agreement. We are witnessing history play out before our eyes during this process, with the coming together of all countries to decide a binding pact to protect all citizens of the world, said Matsoso. This is not a simple exercise. This is the first-ever process to develop a proposed agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Getting this done means getting it right, and the INB Bureau is committed to helping finalise a meaningful, lasting agreement, he added. Fellow INB Bureau co-chair, Roland Driece, from the Netherlands, said when countries launched the process two years ago to develop a pandemic agreement, they did so knowing they had set an ambitious timeline to reach an ambitious goal. This unprecedented effort by all WHO member states was launched in response to an unprecedented global emergency the COVID-19 pandemic, said Driece. These sovereign states did so recognising that great collaboration and coordination were needed in the face of pandemics. While negotiations have been challenging at times, all countries agree that the world must be better prepared for the next pandemic. It is not a matter of if a pandemic will happen again, it is a matter of when. We cannot afford to miss this historic opportunity to make the world safer from the next pandemic threat, he added. In March 2021, heads of state and government from two dozen countries issued a statement of commitment calling for global collaboration to prepare for, prevent and respond to pandemics. In December 2021, in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Assembly at its second-ever special session established an intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) to draft and negotiate a convention, agreement or other international instrument under the Constitution of WHO to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. This was driven by the need to ensure communities, governments, and all sectors of society within countries and globally are better prepared and protected, in order to prevent and respond to future pandemics. At the heart of the proposed accord is the need to ensure equity in both access to the tools needed to prevent pandemics (including technologies like vaccines, personal protective equipment, information and expertise) and access to health care for all people. The key point of contention between the developed and developing countries has been the clause for benefit sharing that expected sharing of drugs and vaccines equitably to avoid a repeat of the situation that was seen during the Covid pandemic where vaccine hoarding and bulk procurement of products by developed countries resulted in countries like those in Africa in want of supplies. US senators reportedly had a problem with giving up on intellectual property rights, and the UK had issues with giving away a significant portion of its vaccines. Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy on Friday questioned the authenticity of the Balakot airstrikes, becoming the latest leader from the Congress party and the larger opposition, to doubt the February 2019 action on Pakistan's soil by the Indian Air Force (IAF). Telangana CM Revanth Reddy (File Photo) Nobody knows for sure if the airstrike, as was claimed, took place. If the responsibility of ensuring the country's internal security was with us (Congress), we wouldn't have left it in anyone's hands,' Reddy said at a press meet. The Congress leader accused Prime Minister Modi and the BJP of trying to reap political benefits from the Pulwama attack and the retaliatory strikes by the IAF. I want to ask him (PM), what were you doing? Why did you let it (Pulwama attack) happen? What did you do to boost the country's internal security? Why did you not take the help of the agencies at your disposal such as the IB and R&AW? It was your failure, he charged. The Telangana CM then called on people to vote out the Modi government in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. For Modi, everything is about winning elections. His way of thinking is not good for the country. The time has come for the country to get rid of Modi and the BJP. They failed to prevent the Pulwama attack. What was the Intelligence Bureau doing? Reddy asked. The Pulwama attack went down on February 14, 2019, after a suicide bomber of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, rammed an IED-laden vehicle into a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus. On February 26, IAF fighter jets targeted a Jaish hideout in Pakistan's Balakot, killing a "large number: of terrorists and destroying their infrastructure. (With ANI inputs) Claiming that BJP icons LK Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi were forced to retire in line with the party's retirement at 75 policy, Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy on Saturday wondered if the same rule will apply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he crosses the threshold. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge being welcomed by Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad on Friday. (ANI Photo) At a press conference, the Congress leader said Narendra Modi will cross 74 in the near future. Next year, he said, the prime minister will turn 75. "He has decided 75 years as the age for retirement in the BJP for an elected representative. That is how he has forcefully taken decisions against LK Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi and senior leaders. Now that Narendra Modi is going to cross 74 years, one more year is left. I want to pose the same question to Narendra Modi. Are you ready to retire at the age of 75?" Reddy said at a press conference. Revanth Reddy, who became the chief minister earlier this year after dislodging BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao from power, claimed PM Modi ruined the country by borrowing 113 lakh crore. "I want to remind you of one thing. From 1947 to 2014, 14 prime ministers, for almost 67 years, have borrowed 55 lakh crores. PM Modi borrowed 113 lakh crores. He ruined this country. The country is facing a crisis. So he has to take responsibility. So whatever documents he is submitting, we are not going to believe those documents because he can go to any level to win elections. He doesn't have integrity or credibility," he told ANI. This comes amid continual sniping between PM Modi and Revanth Reddy amid the Lok Sabha elections. PM Modi, the BJP's main campaigner, has been accusing the Telangana government of accepting kickbacks, which he calls the RR tax. "Since the time the Congress has come to power in Telangana, there has been discussion on double 'R' tax. One 'R' is for Telangana, and the other is for Delhi. Both of them together have made Hyderabad and Telangana into an ATM," he said. He has also accused AIMIM of exacting what he called the razakar tax. "Here in Hyderabad, you have to take the burden of triple R tax. Here one R is for Razakars. How this Razakar tax functions is visible in Old Hyderabad. The supporters of Congress and BRS and Majlis MP who have been in power for a long time, have not even given basic facilities to people," PM Modi. Telangana will vote on May 13, during the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The results will be declared on June 4. LK Advani and MM Joshi, the two biggest names in the Ram Janmabhoomi stir, were made members of the Margdarshak Mandal after PM Modi assumed power. The Opposition claimed they were sidelined. This year, PM Modi gave Advani the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. Ex-Pakistan minister Fawad Chaudhry, who has been frequently commenting on the Lok Sabha elections in India, on Friday reacted to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's release from Tihar jail. After Kejriwal walked out of jail following the Supreme Court's interim bail, Chaudhary said Prime Minister Narendra Modi lost another battle. Ex-Pak minister Fawad Chaudhary and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.(File) Also Read: Pakistan leader praises 'Rahul Sahib' on wealth distribution, BJP reacts Modi G Lost another battle #Kejriwal released... good news for moderate India, the ex- Pak minister said in a post on X. The Pakistan leader further lamented the rule of law situation in the Islamic nation saying that the civil society, bar associations, media organisations, and human rights organisations have completely sat down. "As a result of the historic stand of the judges of Islamabad, the judiciary has stood up, the problem is civil society, bar associations, media organizations, human rights organizations have completely sat down. The future of the Rule of Law is at stake," he said in another X post. Arvind Kejriwal granted interim bail: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal walked out of Tihar Jail on Friday after spending over 50 days, following the top court granting him interim bail for election campaigning in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Also Read: Grave concern: Rajnath Singh on Pakistan leader's deep love for Rahul Gandhi Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in connection with the alleged money laundering linked with Delhi liquor excise policy case, has been granted interim bail till June 1. Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, party leaders Atishi, and Saurabh Bhardwaj along with a huge crowd of supporters welcomed the Delhi CM after his release. Fawad Chaudhry's praise for Rahul Gandhi amid Lok Sabha polls: In the past few days, Chaudhry has remained vocal over the developments in Indian politics and ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Earlier this week, he showered his praise on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the grand old party's poll-promise of conducting a wealth redistribution survey, if it was voted to power. Addressing the Wayanad MP as "Rahul sahib", Chaudhry said that Gandhi was following his great-grandfather and India's first PM, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who used to believe in socialistic reforms and the distribution of wealth. Before that he applauded Rahul Gandhi by sharing a video clip of one his rallies, where he was speaking about Ayodhya's Ram Mandir inauguration and asking whether there were any poor people invited to the occasion. Coming under fire for supporting Rahul Gandhi, the Pakistani leader added: 'Because I oppose extremists and hate mongers be it in Pak or India or elsewhere...." BJP's reaction: Meanwhile a political slugfest was triggered over Pakistan leader's praise for the Congress leader with the BJP attacking the party saying that Pakistani leaders want to make Shehzada of Congress India's prime minister. PM Modi also reacted to Chaudhry's words of praise for Rahul Gandhi saying that this has exposed "partnership" between Pakistan and Congress. Addressing a rally, PM Modi said Pakistani leaders are praying for Congress when the party is getting weak in India and they want to make Rahul Gandhi the prime minister. Read here: Why Pak leader praising Rahul Gandhi: BJP questions Fawad Chaudhry's X post "Look at the coincidence, today Congress is getting weak in India. The funny thing is that here Congress is dying and there Pakistan is crying. Now Pakistani leaders are praying for Congress. Pakistan is eager to make the prince the Prime Minister and we already know that Congress is a fan of Pakistan. This partnership between Pakistan and Congress has now been completely exposed," PM Modi said. However, Congress has alleged that the Pakistan leader has made the remark under pressure so that the BJP can benefit from such statements in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Party leader Rashid Alvi claimed that Chaudhry was pressured by the Shehbaz Sharif government, which has good ties with the prime minister. The statement praising the Congress leader was made so that PM Modi could exploit it and benefit in the ongoing polls, Alvi added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking at a rally in Odisha's Kandhamal, challenged chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday to name the state's districts and their respective capitals, adding that Odisha's development remained stunted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi (ANI) Modi said, I want to challenge 'Naveen Babu' as he has been the CM for such a long, ask 'Naveen Babu' to name the districts of Odisha and their respective capitals without seeing them on paper. If the CM cannot name the districts of the state, will he know your pain? He added, Can you leave your children's future in such people's hands? I am just requesting you to give me a chance for five years. If in those five years, I don't make Odisha number 1, then you can question me. Naveen Patnaik is the five-time chief minister of the state and has been holding the post since 2000. Talking about Odisha's hampered progress, he added, Odisha has vast opportunities for the tourism sector to flourish. And, the tourism sector usually has a spillover effect on the overall economy of the region. Your state government is not willing to trust your capabilities, due to which your development remains stunted. This election holds immense significance for the people of Odisha. Your every vote is crucial for the development of Odisha and a prosperous India. Your single vote will enable a BJP government, bringing a double-engine government to Odisha for the first time! Modi emphasised that he was working tirelessly every day to improve the living standards of Odisha's public. He asserted, What compels the state government to hide the truth? Who are they trying to protect? Today, I promise the people of Odisha and the nation that under the BJP government transparency will be restored. This is Modi Ki Guarantee. I am from a poor family, so I empathise with your plight. I work relentlessly, day in and day out, to uplift your living conditions. I have helped 25 crore people to move out of poverty. I will not be content till all the poor are uplifted. Your vote is important for the realisation of Viksit Odisha for Viksit Bharat. Your one vote can bring the double-engine government here. Press the Lotus button and help our candidate win, he added. Modi attacked Congress for creating fear psychosis by saying that Pakistan is a nuclear power. Odisha offers me immense love and support. I will repay every ounce of your trust by selflessly serving the country. 26 years ago, Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji conducted the Pokhran test today. The nuclear test filled Indians all over the world with pride... That was the first time India made the world aware of its capabilities. Whereas, Congress keeps threatening its own people. They create fear psychosis in the minds of Indians by reiterating, 'Pakistan is a nuclear power'. Modi addressed the issue of the missing keys to the inner chamber of Shri Ratna Bhandar, which have been lost for the past 6 years. He said, Odisha has a special connection with Akshaya Tritiya, as it marks the beginning of the construction of chariots for the Puri Rath Yatra. However, I want to draw your attention to a sensitive issue. 7 decades ago, rules were established for the management of the Shri Jagannath Temple. Among these rules was the maintenance of records for all temple assets, including gold, silver, and precious stones. The last evaluation of the treasure in Shri Ratna Bhandar took place 45 years ago, revealing an abundance of jewellery and gems deemed priceless. Surprisingly, the inner chamber keys of Shri Ratna Bhandar have been missing for the past 6 years. The state government claims to have found duplicate keys, but how and by whom they were made remains unknown. Despite handing over the investigation to a commission, the Odisha government has not made the report public. The BJP is committed to addressing this issue, and we ask, why is the BJD government avoiding it? The Prime Minister mentioned that both the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress designated Kandhamal as a backward district. Modi decided to turn such backward districts into aspirational districts of the country. I monitor the work being done in these districts regularly. PM Modi highlighted the abundant opportunities for the tourism sector to thrive in Odisha. The BJP believes in both development and heritage. Under BJP governance, the country fulfilled a 500-year aspiration with the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Are you not proud to see this? In Odisha, the state BJP is committed to promoting the Odia language and culture. Any son or daughter of Odisha, rooted in its culture, will be considered for the position of Chief Minister by the BJP, he said. Odisha will vote for the state Assembly and Lok Sabha in four phases from May 13 to June 1, with counting on June 4. In the last Assembly election in 2019, the BJD won 112 out of 146 seats, while the BJP got 23 seats and the Congress won 9. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJD won the most seats (12) in the state, followed by the BJP (8) and the Congress (1). Reacting to Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's 'respect Pakistan' remark, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday quipped that India's estranged neighbour is forced to sell its nuclear arsenal because of economic problems. At a rally in Odisha, PM Modi accused the Congress of trying to spook the people of India with Pakistan's atomic bombs, and said such a weak attitude encouraged cross-border terrorism in the past. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a road show. (Reuters file photo) "Congress continually tries to scare its own country. They say, 'Beware, Pakistan has atom bombs'. These feeble people are trying to kill India's spirit. Congress always had such an attitude. Pakistan is in such a state that they can't even handle their own bombs. They are trying to sell their bombs but no one wants to buy because of their poor quality. Because of this weak attitude, the people of Jammu and Kashmir had to bear terrorism for over six decades," PM Modi said. In an old viral video, Mani Shankar Aiyar asked India to give respect to Pakistan because the sovereign nation possessed atomic bombs. He further said that if a mad person came to power in Pakistan, they could use the bomb and harm India. The Congress on Friday dissociated itself from Mani Shankar Aiyar's remark, claiming the BJP was trying to deflect attention from PM Modi's "goof ups". "Indian National Congress dissociates itself completely from and disagrees totally with some remarks made by Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar a few months back which have been revived today by the BJP in its attempt to deflect attention from Prime Minister Modis daily goof ups. Mr Aiyar does not speak for the party in any capacity whatsoever," Congress leader Pawan Khera said. Home minister and BJP leader Amit Shah later slammed Mani Shankar Aiyar's remark. "Mani Shankar Aiyar is telling us to respect Pakistan as it possesses an atomic bomb. A few days ago, INDIA bloc leader Farooq Abdullah said do not talk about PoK as Pakistan has an atomic bomb. I want to tell the Congress and the INDIA bloc that PoK belongs to India and no force can snatch it," Shah said. Meanwhile, PM Modi today said that the Congress will be reduced to less than 50 seats in the Lok Sabha after the general election results. With inputs from PTI, ANI New Delhi: Twenty six years ago, India under NDA Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee conducted Shakti series of nuclear tests at Pokhran on May 5 and May 11, a pivotal moment for Indias nuclear capability in the field of national security and clean energy. Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Pokhran after Shakti series of nuclear tests. After India declared itself as a nuclear weapon state by exploding a range of devicesfrom thermonuclear to tacticalthe country has gone miles ahead in the interregnum with a complete, functioning and highly capable nuclear triad and robust second strike capability due to nuclear powered ballistic missile firing submarines. Today, India has a 5000 km range land based Agni ballistic missile and a 3000 km range K-4 submarine based ballistic missile, which can cover India from threats posed by China, Pakistan and beyond. While nuclear deterrence has helped India stand up to military and diplomatic coercion of global powers, the most important part of Vajpayees decision to test was that India for the first time named China as the key reason for Bharat going nuclear. In his letter to then US President Bill Clinton on May 13, 1998, Vajpayee stated : We have an overt nuclear weapon state on our borders, a state which committed armed aggression against India in 1962..to add to the distrust that country has materially helped another neighbor of ours to become a covert nuclear weapon state. Chinas threat to India was out of closet that day as before that day the Indian government and the media did not even mention China by name. The Communist state was Indias Voldemort as Buddha smiled on that day. Also read: View: Modi steals spotlight as NDA gathers momentum in Andhra Pradesh Even after two decades, the threat from China and the Communist regime has not decreased and in fact multiplied as there is concern that the pro-Beijing Muizzu regime in Maldives may lease an island to the PLA to establish a base in the coming days. India has made it clear to Maldives that this is a red line and will have serious repercussions. China has increased its intermediate range ballistic missile arsenal manifolds and Pakistan is trying to develop MIRV technology citing asymmetric conventional threat faced from India. It is another matter that China is using Pakistan to target the Indian hinterland through jihad. Also read: NSA Ajit Doval raises Sikh radicalisation concerns with UK counterpart After the Shakti series of tests, PM Vajpayee was castigated by the then Opposition particularly the Left parties and Leftist media and the government had to fend off US pressure through pro-west Indian media to sign the CTBT. Yet, despite the world declaring India as a nuclear pariah barring France in the P-5, India under Vajpayee managed to fend off pressure and sanctions and four years later on July 28,2002 then Secretary of State Colin Powell offered the civilian nuclear deal to National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra. Also read: PM Modi concerned over random terror attacks in Poonch-Rajouri sector Even though Indias adversaries in the west tried to play nuclear flashpoint theory to pressurize India on Kashmir on behalf of Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi demolished that shibboleth by conducting surgical strikes and Operation Bandar in Balakot in Pakistan as a response to terror strikes with no answer from Rawalpindi GHQ. In fact, today the same Indian capability has been utilized to produce clean energy and ensure Bharat is part of the climate change response. May 11, 1998, was the day when India asserted itself globally. Chapra: Homemaker Sushama Sarkar admitted without hesitation she did not know why Mahua Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha last year even as she watched the firebrand Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader address a crowd of around 200 people at a roadside meeting near Gatra High School in the Chapra area of Krishnanagar constituency on Wednesday afternoon. TMCs Mahua Moitra campaigns for Lok Sabha polls in Nadia (HT Photo) A heavy shower had just lashed parts of this Nadia Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to the polls on May 13, along with seven other West Bengal seats. Three of these seats are located in Murshidabad and Naida districts that stand along the Bangladesh border, where charges of infiltration are an issue raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). For me, this is a fight for honour. Only you have the power to stop me from returning to Parliament, not [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi, Moitra told the audience, alleging that the inquiry - ordered by the Lok Sabha Speaker after BJP accused her of compromising national security by sharing her Parliament account password with an outsider - made her go through humiliation and insult. Standing under the shed of a tea stall, almost 40 metres away from the crowd, 27-year-old Sarkar said: This village has been voting for the BJP since the 2018 panchayat polls. Most of the families living here are Hindu. The ground reality was not hidden from Moitra who won from Krishnanagar in 2019 defeating her nearest BJP rival by 63,218 votes, not a big margin in a Lok Sabha segment having around 1.6 million voters. This Bagberia panchayat region is the only place where TMC did not get a lead over BJP in the 2018 panchayat, 2019 Lok Sabha and the 2021 assembly elections. Will you vote differently on May 13? What has the BJP done with your support? [chief minister] Mamata Banerjee has ensured all the development. The BJP candidate is visiting only Hindu-dominated areas, while the CPI(M) [Communist Party of India Marxist] nominee is going to Muslim communities. Tomorrow, I will be completing my tour of all 82 panchayat areas in Krishnanagar constituency. TMC does not spew the communal venom, Moitra told the crowd. Anybody might wonder why TMC at all needs the support of nine small villages that comprise Bagberia gram panchayat when it could win six of the seven assembly segments in the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat in 2021, losing only one to TMCs Mukul Roy, who was then in BJP. The answer lies in the numbers. Bengals projected population in 2021 stood at 101.9 million. During the last 2011 census, the Hindu population stood at 70.54%, while Muslims comprised 27.01%. In Nadia district, which has a population of 5.17 million according to the 2011 census, Hindus and Muslims comprise 72.15% and 26.76%, respectively. The district has two Lok Sabha seats Krishnanagar and Ranaghat. Ranaghat, which is reserved for the scheduled caste community, was wrested by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 by a margin of a whopping 2.33 million and a vote share of 52.78%. In the Krishnanagar parliamentary segment, the TMC won Tehatta, Palashipara, Kaliganj, Nakashipara, Chapra and Krishnanagar South assembly seats in the 2021 assembly polls with an overall vote share of 45.8 %. TMC leader Mukul Roy, who joined the saffron camp in 2017 and returned to the ruling partys fold in 2021 without resigning from the BJP, won the Krishnanagar North seat on a BJP ticket. Even as the BJP could capture only one assembly segment in Krishnanagar, its overall vote share in 2021 reached 37.8%, up from only 9% in 2016 and 6% in 2011. The Chapra assembly segment, with around 0.24 million voters, can be randomly picked up to explain the shift in figures. TMCs Rukbanur Rahaman has been winning from Chapra since 2011 but the BJP has steadily increased its votes, from 7,078 in 2011 to 58,168 in 2021. The CPI(M), which won this seat consecutively from 1977 to 2006, secured 76,000 votes even in 2016 but its tally dropped to 11,722 in 2021. The reason, all parties admit, is the BJPs popularity among the Kishnanagar Lok Sabha segments scheduled caste community, which comprises around 30% of the population. A sizeable section of these people belongs to the Namasudra and Matua communities that entered Nadia as refugees from Bangladesh after 1947 and the 1971 Liberation War. Enforced in March this year, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been placed before these voters as the BJPs prized electoral promise. TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee, on the other hand, has projected CAA as a threat to both Hindus and Muslims saying it is a precursor to enforcement of National Register of Citizens (NRC) which left 1.9 million Hindus in jeopardy in BJP-ruled Assam in 2018 and the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) on which Uttarakhand passed a law in February. CPI(M)s S M Saadi, who fought the TMC wave and won the Palashipara assembly seat in 2011, has been pitted against Moitra. In the 2021 state polls, Saadi came third at Palashipara because the BJP increased its vote share by more than 21% over its 2016 performance. Saadi is getting a good response from voters in Muslim-dominated areas. He may not win but his presence may make a dent in the TMCs minority vote bank. That may help BJP, Ataur Sheikh, a trader from Chapra, said. Moitra dismisses such arguments. This is an election to oust the BJP government at the Centre. Why will any citizen waste a vote? BJP reaped the benefits of its polarisation tactics in 2019 by winning 18 of Bengals 42 Lok Sabha seats. The 2021 assembly results proved its popularity is on the decline, said Moitra. In 2019, the BJP set a record by winning 18 of Bengals 42 Lok Sabha seats. However, in 2021, it targeted 200 of the states 294 assembly seats but could win only 77. Most of these 77 seats are located in the districts bordering Bangladesh and the tribal belts in the western parts of Bengal. Saadi argued that he is reaching out to all voters, irrespective of their religious background, with the message to defeat both the TMC and the BJP. TMC symbolises corruption, and so does the BJP. People at the grassroots want employment. Both Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee are asking people not to vote for Left and Congress. This alone makes it apparent who their common enemy is, said Saadi. Weeks after Moitra was nominated by Banerjee, the BJP sprung a surprise by fielding Amrita Roy, a member of the erstwhile royal family of Krishnanagar. The party is referring to her as Rajmata (queen mother) in its campaign with TMC mocking her for being projected as royalty in the 21st century. PM Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have both campaigned for Roy who has no experience in politics. Rajarshi Lahiri, a Bengal BJP spokesperson overseeing Roys campaign, said, Moitra always depended on Muslim voters from Chapra, Palashipara, Nakashipara and Kaliganj assembly segments but did nothing for them. A huge section of these people will vote for BJP. The CPI(M)s main target is to cut a slice from the votes cast by Hindus and do damage to the BJP. No matter how many times Mamata Banerjee may claim to have no alliance with Congress and Left in Bengal, the INDIA coalition does exist. BJP leader Devaraje Gowda was arrested on Friday night in connection with an explicit video purportedly showing now-suspended JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna. Prajwal Revanna (PTI) Also Read: Political tussle over Prajwal sexual abuse case continues According to police, Devaraje Gowda, an advocate, was arrested for allegedly leaking the video. He was caught at Gulihal toll gate in Chitradurga district after a tip-off from the Hassan Police, who wanted his presence for the case. The video is among thousands such clips that purportedly show Prajwal, who left for Germany on April 26, hours after polling ended in Hassan in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The 33-year-old politician is Hassan's sitting Lok Sabha representative and contested the seat again. His grandfather is former Prime Minister of India and JD(S) patriarch, HD Deve Gowda, while his uncle HD Kumaraswamy is Karnataka's ex-chief minister. HD Revanna, his father, is a JD(S) MLA. Also Read: Prajwal Revanna tapes call for a collective response The Deve Gowda-led party is in alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka. Under the seat-sharing agreement, the JD(S) got three of the state's 28 parliamentary constituencies Hassan, Kolar, Mandya while the remaining 25 went to the saffron party. Devaraje Gowda, the arrested BJP leader, previously claimed that he had informed the party's state leadership about the videos months before the clips eventually surfaced. In response, BY Vijayendra, the Karnataka BJP chief, denied having any knowledge about the videos. Devaraje Gowda is accused of leaking the videos, a charge he has categorically rejected. The Prajwal Revanna case is being probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police. Three FIRs have been registered against him, with charges such as rape, molestation, intimidation, blackmailing, and issuing threats. The ruling Congress party has repeatedly accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of allowing Prajwal to leave India, and questioned them for going ahead with the JD(S) alliance despite being aware of Prajwal's actions. (With PTI inputs) A day after Rahul Gandhi said in Uttar Pradesh that he was 100% ready to participate in a public debate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress leader replied to the invitation sent by journalist N Ram, former judges Madan B Lokur, Ajit P Shah affirming that he looked forward to participating in a production and historic debate. Rahul Gandhi said he is ready to participate in a public debate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Please do let us know if and when the Prime Minister agrees to participate following which we can discuss the details and format of the debate," Rahul Gandhi wrote. If any such debate takes place, either Rahul Gandhi or Congress president Mallikarjun Kharhe would participate. "I have discussed your invitation with the Congress president, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji. We agree that such a debate will help understand our respective vision and enable them to make an informed choice. It is also critical to put to rest any unsubstantiated allegations attributed to our respective parties. As the principal parties fighting the election , the public deserves to ear from their leaders directly," Rahul Gandhi wrote. On Friday, Rahul Gandhi was asked about his opinion on a public debate -- at a Lucknow gathering. He said he was ready but he knew that Narendra Modi would not debate with him. On Thursday, the invitation was sent to Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi inviting them to an open debate where they would answer each others' allegations. The invitation said the public only heard allegations and challenges from either side but not any meaningful responses. "The General Election for the 18th Lok Sabha has already reached its midpoint. During rallies and public addresses, members of both the BJP, the party in power, and the INC, the principal opposition party, have asked important questions relating to the core of our constitutional democracy. The Prime Minister has publicly challenged the Congress on reservations, Article 370 and wealth redistribution. Congress president Mallikarjin Kharge has questioned the Prime Minister on possible mutilation of the Constitution, Electoral Bond scheme and the government's response to China, and also challenged him to a public debate," the letter said. "...we believe that citizens would hugely benefit by hearing directly from our political leaders through a public debate on a non partisan and non commercial platform. It would be ideal if the public heard not just the question of each side but also the responses. We are of the view that this would help to strengthen our democratic process immensely. This bears more relevance as we are the world's largest democracy, and the entire world is watching our elections keenly. A public debate such as this would, therefore, set a great precedent, not just by educating the public, but also in projecting the true image of healthy and vibrant democracy," it said. While the ongoing Lok Sabha elections have been pitched as a direct battle between the BJP-led ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress-led opposition INDIA bloc, ex-Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has claimed that depending on the results, it could even be a group of regional parties that form government at the Centre with support from NDA or INDIA. K Chandrasekhar Rao (File Photo) I will tell you a surprising thing now, the politician, also known by his initials KCR, told NDTV in an exclusive interview. This time, something new is going to happen in the country. All the regional parties are very strong now and they will emerge as a force. It's not the regional parties supporting NDA or INDIA. Either of them will have to support the regional parties' group. It will be a reverse thing, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief said. Also Read: EC issues notices to KCR on foul language used against Congress leaders While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on voters to give more than 370 Lok Sabha seats for the BJP and over 400 for the NDA, he predicted 226 seats for the ruling coalition, well below the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The Prime Minister has lost his charisma. People have realised it. The value of the Rupee has gone down to its lowest level and there is a capital drain from India now. Farmers are angry, many others are angry, KCR remarked. All 17 parliamentary segments in Telangana will vote on Monday in the fourth round of the seven-phase general elections. In the previous 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BRS won nine of these constituencies, while the BJP won four. The Congress bagged three seats, and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi secured fourth consecutive term from the Hyderabad seat. In December last year, however, the BRS lost assembly elections in Telangana, India's youngest state (formed in June 2014). The Congress was elected to office, and A Revanth Reddy, its state unit chief, succeeded KCR and became Telangana's second chief minister. New Delhi, May 11 The Supreme Court has granted bail to former Mumbai Police officer Pradeep Sharma, awarded life sentence in the 2006 fake encounter killing case of gangster Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakkhan Bhaiya.. SC grants bail to ex-cop Pradeep Sharma in 2006 fake encounter case A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra noted the submission of the lawyer for the Maharashtra government that the state had no objection to the court granting bail to Sharma. Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Sidharth Luthra appeared for Sharma, while senior advocate R Basant represented the complainant and opposed the former officer's bail application. The top court had earlier on April 8 said he need not surrender till further orders to undergo the life sentence awarded to him in the case. While admitting Sharma's appeal against the March 19 Bombay High Court verdict, the bench had said, "It is a case of reversal of acquittal by the high court, where the appeal is filed by the appellant. The statutory appeal is admitted for hearing. Issue notice on bail plea. The high court has directed him for surrender in three weeks. Till the next date of hearing, he need not surrender." Sharma, who along with the likes of Daya Nayak, Vijay Salaskar and Ravindra Angre was part of a dreaded squad of Mumbai police that took on the city's underworld in the 1990s and 2000s and killed scores of alleged criminals, has challenged the Bombay High Court order which sentenced him to life imprisonment in the fake encounter killing of Ramnarayan Gupta, an alleged close aide of gangster Chhota Rajan. On March 19, the high court had upheld the conviction and life sentence imposed on 13 other accused-12 former policemen and a civilian. It said the "protectors/guardians of law cannot be permitted to act as criminals in uniform and if this is permitted then it would lead to anarchy". The court noted that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt the abduction, wrongful confinement and killing of Gupta in a fake encounter with "credible, cogent and legally admissible evidence". It, however, quashed the 2013 judgement passed by a sessions court acquitting Sharma due to the lack of evidence and termed it "perverse and unsustainable". The high court had convicted Sharma of all charges, including criminal conspiracy, murder, kidnapping and wrongful confinement, and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Sharma is also an accused in the of killing of businessman Mansukh Hiren to whom the SUV used in the Antilia bomb scare case was traced. Hiren had, however, reported to police that the vehicle had been stolen days before the incident. His body was found floating in a creek off a Mumbai suburb a few days after the incident. On November 11, 2006, a police team picked up Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakkhan Bhaiya from Vashi in Navi Mumbai along with his friend Anil Bheda, and killed him in a staged encounter near Versova in western Mumbai the same evening. Gupta's associate Anil Bheda was released from custody in December 2006. However, in July 2011, a few days before he was scheduled to depose in court, Bheda was also allegedly abducted and killed. The state CID is probing the case. Taking note of Bheda's case, the high court had said till date, the CID has not taken any steps to conclude the investigation and trace the perpetrators. Twenty-two individuals, including 13 policemen, were initially charged in the Ramnarayan Gupta fake encounter killing case. Following a trial, the sessions court in 2013 found 21 of the accused guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Two of the convicted individuals died while in custody. Those convicted filed appeals in the high court, while Gupta's brother Ramprasad appealed against Sharma's acquittal. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. The elections to the Andhra Pradesh state assembly scheduled to be held on Monday will decide the fate of major political parties the ruling YSR Congress party led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) headed by former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy greets supporters during an election rally at Mangalagiri, amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in Guntur district on Friday. (PTI) At the same time, the elections are also crucial in deciding the fate of Andhra capital whether it will have a single grandiose capital at Amaravati on the banks of Krishna river, as visualised by Naidu or three capitals executive capital at Visakhapatnam, judicial capital at Kurnool and legislative capital at Amaravati, as proposed by Jagan. As the matter is now caught in a legal wrangle in the Supreme Court, the people of the state are waiting with bated breath for the outcome of the assembly elections on June 4 to know the fate of their capital city. If Jagan returns to power, it is for sure that he would abandon Amaravati as the only capital and push for three capitals with much more vigour. He has already made arrangements for shifting his residence and the chief ministers office to Visakhapatnam. I shall take oath as the chief minister again at Visakhapatnam after June 4 and begin my administrative operations from there, Jagan announced at a public rally in Visakhapatnam last week. But if the TDP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) wrests power from Jagan, Naidu will revive Amaravati capital city project. I know it is a difficult task to revive the capital city to its original glory. But I am confident of doing it with the support of the Centre, he said in a recent media interaction. The people of Amaravati are keeping their fingers crossed over their fate. It is not just about whether a world-class capital city would come up in their area or not, but the future of 28,000-odd farmers, who had given away 34,385 acres of their lands under Land Pooling System (LPS) for the construction of the capital city in 2015. The farmers surrendered their fertile lands for the capital city, hoping that it would change our fate for good. They were allotted 250-400 square yards of commercial plot, depending on the location, besides 1,000 square yards of residential plots in the capital region, for every acre of land they surrendered to the authority, besides being paid annuity of 30,000 to 50,000 per acre, depending on whether the land is dry or wet, for a period of 10 years, with 10 per cent enhancement every year. With the Jagan government completely dumping Amaravati, the entire area turned into a virtual ghost city. Dense bushes have come up on the residential and commercial plots at several layouts. Weeds have grown all around the multi-storeyed official and residential complexes abandoned midway of their construction. The half-built villas of ministers and judges have become a haven for stray dogs. Iron rods meant for construction of these buildings are gathering rust. The internal roads were dug up at several places, and gravel has come up. Even the 23-km long six-lane seed access road connecting Amaravati to the national highway (NH-16 connecting Chennai to Kolkata), lies in an utter state of neglect with huge pipelines meant for the underground drainage system on either side lay abandoned. In the last five years, Amaravati has gone back in development by 20 years. Even if Naidu comes back to power, he cannot restore it in the next five years, unless there is a huge help from the Centre, said C Ganesh, a farmer from Thullur, the epicentre of agitation by Amaravati farmers. If Jagan comes back to power, we have no option but to migrate to other parts of the state or even to Telangana, he said. Another farmer Gadde Surendra Babu, whose family gave away 23 acres of land for the capital city, is sceptical about the outcome of the elections. Who knows Jagan might come back to power. If that happens, we have to give up hope on our future. Amaravati is gone, he said. B Appa Rao of Tadikonda, however, has not lost hope. We are vigorously campaigning among the people that this is the golden opportunity to see that Amaravati capital city becomes a reality. If we lose this opportunity, we are lost forever, he said. NO ENTHUSIASM IN VISAKHAPATNAM On the other hand, people of Visakhapatnam are not very enthusiastic about the city becoming an administrative capital of Andhra Pradesh; as such, it has not become an election issue for them. We have never asked for Visakhapatnam to be developed as a capital city. So, we neither want it to happen nor would we get disappointed if it doesnt become a capital city, B Satyanarayana, a retired central government employee. Many people are apprehensive that Visakhapatnam would turn chaotic if it becomes a capital city. In the last five years, we have seen how politicians from different parts of the state, particularly from Nellore and Rayalaseema, encroached the lands in Visakhapatnam. If it becomes a capital city, there will be no land left for the common man, said Yugandhar Reddy, a former journalist of a vernacular daily. He said the talk of executive capital has jacked up the value of lands and residential apartments, as a result of which the cost of living of the common man has gone up abnormally. We generally prefer leisure and quiet life. We dont want to see the hustle-bustle of the capital city, Reddy said. The YSRC reiterated in its election manifesto released on April 26 that Visakhapatnam will be developed as the world class executive capital city of Andhra Pradesh. Visakhapatnam is a growth engine and it can be developed on par with Hyderabad or Mumbai or Chennai in a short time, Jagan said at a rally in Visakhapatnam on May 7. NO EUPHORIA IN JUDICIAL CAPITAL In Kurnool city of backward Rayalaseema region, which Jagan proposed to develop as judicial capital, it is absolutely a non-issue in the present elections. We still dont understand what additional benefits we would get if Kurnool becomes a judicial capital. Nobody is able to explain to us how it helps in the development of the city, observed Shivaram Reddy, a local resident of Kurnool town. According to G Kondappa, reporter of a vernacular daily in Kurnool, nobody is talking about the judicial capital issue in the elections. Even Jagan did not make any mention of it during his recent election rally in Kurnool. The local YSRCP leaders have not been talking about it all. So, the people, too, are obviously not interested, he said. Chennai: The Theni district police on Friday conducted a search at the office and residence of whistleblower turned Youtuber Savukku Shankar in connection with a ganja case filed against him last week, a police officer said. The police said that Shankar was allegedly in possession of ganja when he was arrested from a hotel room in Theni on May 4. (Getty Images) The officer said: His office in T Nagar and residence in Maduravoyal were searched today (Friday). The investigation is on from several angles. On May 4, the cyber crime wing of the Coimbatore police arrested Shankar over his alleged defamatory statements against senior and women police officers during an interview. A former employee of the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC), he currently runs Savukku media in T Nagar comprising a web portal and a YouTube channel. The police said that Shankar was allegedly in possession of ganja when he was arrested from a hotel room in Theni on May 4. Since then, as many as five cases have been filed against Shankar. His arrest came days after the staff of Savukku media were arrested on various charges. On Friday, Shankar was also brought from Coimbatore prison to Chennai to be produced before a local court in Egmore in connection with two cases booked against him by the cyber crime wing of Greater Chennai City Police on May 7. The two additional cases were based on the complaints of the founder and leader of Tamilar Munnetra Padai, Veeralakshmi. Felix Gerald, who manages a YouTube channel Redpix, has been named as one of the accused. They have been booked under sections 294(b), 506 (i) of the IPC, police said. The second case pertains to an old harassment complaint by a woman editor of a private media company, police said. Investigation is going on in both the cases, police said in a statement. Police did not identify the woman editor. But journalist Sandhya Ravishankar posted on X, After 6 years, Chennai Police registered an FIR on the basis of my complaint against Savukku Shankar. The Chennai Cyber Crime have registered a case u sections 294(b), 354D, 506(i), 509 IPC and section 4 of TN Prevention of Harassment of Women Act on May 7. Thanks to CoP, Chennai & team, Ravishankar said. The Madras high court on Wednesday directed the Coimbatore district legal services authority to submit a report on the health condition of whistleblower turned YouTuber Savukku Shankar by Thursday. He was sent to judicial custody till May 17, following his arrest allegedly for making defamatory remarks against women police officers. A vacation bench of Justices AD Jagadish Chandira and R Kalamathi passed the order on a habeas corpus petition filed by Shankars mother A Kamala. She moved the HC alleging that he is facing custodial violence by prison authorities at the Coimbatore central prison. In her petition, she stated that Shankars lawyer has informed her that he was brutally attacked by the jail wardens resulting in severe injuries. She sought directions for a judicial probe into the alleged custodial violence and for providing him proper treatment at a private hospital. The justices said that they will wait for the legal services authoritys report. On Thursday, the HC remarked that Youtube channels have become a menace in the society. Shankar was earlier jailed in 2022 after the Madurai Bench of the HC, sentenced him to six months in jail in suo motu contempt proceedings for his statement that the entire higher judiciary is riddled with corruption. Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday accused National Commission of Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma of acting on political bias and inciting women in Sandeshkhali to register false sexual assault complaints against its leaders, adding it will move the Election Commission of India (ECI) against her. TMC accuses NCW chief of political bias over Sandeshkhali row, may move EC Sandeshkhali, a riverine island in North 24 Parganas district, witnessed violent protests earlier this year over allegations of sexual atrocities on women and land grabbing by local leaders of the West Bengals ruling party. Yesterday, a video surfaced in which a woman could be seen saying how the womens commission almost forced the villagers to lodge complaints of rape. We have already moved the ECI against BJP leaders. Now we will move ECI against Rekha Sharma, chairperson of NCW, states women and child development minister and TMC spokesperson Shashi Panja alleged. A purported video of a Sandeshkhali woman shared by the TMC on Wednesday claimed that a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader made those women sign on blank papers which were later filled up as complaints of sexual assault. A local woman BJP leader took my mother-in-law to the police station saying that the womens commission has come. I wasnt home at that time. The BJP leader asked her (mother-in-law) to sign a black document and later we came to know that a complaint of sexual assault has been lodged against four people, a Sandeshkhali woman is heard saying in the video. HT could not independently verify the veracity of the video. Earlier on May 4, the TMC had shared another purported video, allegedly shot on spy cam, in which a BJP leader from Sandeshkhali was heard claiming that Suvendu Adhikari, leader of the opposition in the assembly, was behind the whole conspiracy. Panja pointed out that the Centre had sent multiple delegations of national commissions to Sandeshkhali when the region was tensed amid violent protests. Rekha Sharma incited the women and coerced them (to lodge false complaints). It was politically motivated and she had received political signals. The BJP orchestrated this and brought in all the commissions. We would also expose more people and more national commissions involved in this conspiracy and supported the BJP in this dirty game, Panja claimed, seeking an apology from the BJP. The NCW chairperson, who visited violence-hit Sandeshkali on February 19 and spoke with women there, had recommended imposition of the Presidents Rule in West Bengal over alleged atrocities on women. The police and government were not registering the complaints. Only one woman has come out and registered her statement before a magistrate. We want more women to come forward, she had told reporters. Sharma did not respond to multiple phone calls and text messages from HT for a comment. Besides the NCW, a delegation of the National Commission for Scheduled Caste led by its chairperson Arun Halder and a team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had also visited Sandeshkhali in February. Later in the day, the NCW chief in a letter to the ECI asserted that the women of Sandeshkhali were coerced into retracting their complaints. It has come to the notice of the Commission that the women of Sandeshkhali are being compelled to withdraw their complaints by TMC workers as they are the ruling party in West Bengal, Sharma said in the letter, seeking an inquiry from the poll panel on the matter. Khunti/Singhbhum/Lohardaga: The three scheduled caste reserve Lok Sabha seats Khunti, Singhbhum and Lohardaga going to polls on May 13 in Jharkhand is presently a tough contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the INDIA bloc even though some independents in the fray are making an impact in the electoral dynamics. The three SC reserve Lok Sabha seats Khunti, Singhbhum and Lohardaga will go to polls on May 13 (Representative Photo) While the BJP had won Khunti and Lohardaga in 2019, Singhbhum was won by Congress. In 2019, the BJP won 11 constituencies in the state and its ally, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), won one seat, and the remaining two Singhbhum and Rajmahal in Santhal Parganas were won by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance. However, the BJPs victory margin in tribal reserved seats was much less with the saffron party winning Khunti and Lohardaga with wafer-thin margins of 1,445 and 10,363 votes, respectively. The Congress had defeated BJP by 72,155 votes in Singhbhum. Tribal minister Arjun Munda facing electoral heat in Khunti It is difficult to predict the result with guarantee as everything is lukewarm this time round, be it election campaign or response of people. However, certain things are clear. Arjun Munda won from here and became a minister. The expectations were high for him. The one visible project which I remember that he did for the constituency was a free health mela in Khunti. Overall, he has failed to make a mark, said Bir Singh Bodra, a scheduled tribe member. Bhola Ram Sahu, who runs a steel fabrication shop on the Khunti-Chaibasa national highway said Congress candidate Kalicharan Munda is banking on the tribal votes and Arjun on non-tribal votes plus a section of his own Munda community. Last time, Arjun made a lead in the Kharswan Assembly and Tamar Assembly where Kurmis have a sizeable population. Arjun Munda is also preferred in the urban pockets and Kalicharan is stronger in the rural belt. A lot will depend on who can hold on to their forts on the voting day, said Sahu, who declared himself a staunch BJP supporter. Khunti Lok Sabha constituency comprises six assembly segments of which two are with the BJP and four with the Congress. Traditionally, the Congress has been strong in the tribal-dominated assemblies. In the Christian-dominated Simdega assembly seat, from where Rahul Gandhis Nyay Yatra passed, Hiradhar Bhoi, a Gond tribal leader, said he was influenced by Gandhi and he will go to his village this time and vote. People are talking about voting for change, he said. Khunti hit the headlines in 2017 for the Pathalgadi movement. And one of the faces of the movement, Babita Kachhap, is in the fray as an independent. Besides Kachhap, Aparna Hans from the Jharkhand Party, led by former Kolebira MLA and minister Enos Ekka, is also in the fray. While Congress says these candidates would make any impact, the BJP claims they will benefit Arjun. Be it Kachhap or Hans, all votes which would go to them would help us. However, what is more worrying for the party is the voting pattern in the Pathalgadi-affected area. Last time many people boycotted the polls, but this time they are likely to participate. If they choose to vote for Congress, it could matter, especially in a situation of a tight contest, a BJP leader, not willing to be named, said. Tables have been turned in Singhbhum In Singhbhum, the sitting Congress MP, Geeta Kora, wife of former chief minister Madhu Kora, who won in 2019, this time is fighting on a BJP ticket. She is up against Joba Majhi, a five-term legislator of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) from Manoharpur and a former minister in ex-Jhakhand chief minister Hemant Sorens cabinet. The lone Lok Sabha Congress member from Jharkhand and one of the five working presidents of its state unit had defected to the BJP in February this year. Singhbhum Lok Sabha has six assembly segments and all are with the ruling JMM-Congress alliance. The seat has traditionally seen a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP. However, since 2009, when Madhu won the Singhbhum Lok Sabha as an independent, the Kora family has been a major factor in the constituency, dominated by the Ho tribe community. Besides, the chatter of betrayal by Koras amongst the Congress supporters, the identity of the Ho tribal sub-group is a major talking point in the constituency. According to the political workers across parties, the Ho community makes up around 60-70 per cent of the population in Singhbhum and has, therefore, been represented mostly by the Ho community members in the Parliament. Majhi is a Santhal, the most dominant tribal sub-group in the state. Chief minister Champai Soren, who represents the Saraikea assembly, is also a Santhal. However, his cabinet colleague Deepak Birua belongs to the Ho community and is most instrumental in backing Majhi in the battle against Kora. Roby Lakra, president of the social group, Kurukh Sarna Jagran Manch, said people of the area would not like to lose their Ho identity. This is the only seat where we have our presence as its a matter of identity for around 60-70 per cent of the population here. People have also not taken it well the way Geeta Kora was gheraoed and attacked by JMM workers during campaigning, said Lakra. Geeta was allegedly attacked while campaigning in Gamharia and Mohanpur in April. Ashok Verma, a resident of Manoharpur and activist, said, I dont think Ho versus Santhal is an issue this time round. It is true that the area has backed members of the Ho community, but it also elected Krishna Maardi, a Santhal in 1991. Here work track record and accessibility of the candidates would be more important factors, he said. Arun Nag, a Congress worker sitting in the election office of the JMM in Manoharpur, said, they were angry with the way Geeta defected to the BJP. We backed her with all might last time and that is why she won decisively. This time we are backing the JMM candidate also because she has done a lot of work and is also very accessible to people, he added. The BJP was looking for a major Ho face after the demise of former MP and state president Laxman Gilua. The local party leaders who have been fighting against the dominance of Koras in the zone are worried. They fear that if Kora wins, the family will become the most dominating force in the BJP in the Kolhan belt, a BJP leader from the Chaibasa district unit said. Lohardaga BJP drops two-term MP, JMM rebel creates uncertainty Lohardaga Lok Sabha seat has been in a close contest in the past two elections and with JMM strongman and three-term legislator Chamra Linda contesting this time, the fight has become triangular. Lohardaga Lok Sabha comprises five assembly seats and all five are held by Congress and JMM legislators. The Congress has fielded its former state unit chief Sukhdeo Bhagat, who lost to BJPs Sudarshan Bhagat by just over 10,000 votes in 2019. Whereas dropping Sudershan this time, the BJP has given a ticket to its national Scheduled Tribes wing president Samir Oraon, a Rajya Sabha member. While the locals feel Lindas entry is an advantage to the BJP, the Congress supporters deny that Linda would hit their fortunes. His politics has been based on his aggressive demand of Sarna code in the Census for the tribals. He is also well-connected due to his social initiative of promoting youth clubs in the villages. In 2009, he had pushed Congress Rameshwar Oraon to third place and garnered 1.18 lakh votes and in 2014, he got around 96,000 votes when he contested on a TMC [Trinamool Congress] ticket. BJPs fortunes would depend on his performance, said Binod Singh, a resident of Lohardaga. The Sarna Code is a proposal for a separate religious code for tribal communities in India who follow Sarna or nature worship Ramesh Kumar, in charge of the Congress election office in Lohardaga, said that the 2019 election result mirrors the limited impact Linda would have in the election. Even if you go by the numbers, he got around one lakh votes in 2009 and 2014. Its not that all those votes are anti-Congress. If that had been the case all those votes should have gone to the BJP in 2019 when Linda did not contest. Rather his votes were divided equally and the difference in Congress and BJP votes was merely 10,000. So even if he gets some votes this time round, he would eat into the votes of both the BJP and the Congress, Kumar said. While Linda poses an external threat, the Congress candidate is also battling internal fighting. Former Lohardaga MP, Rameshwar Oraon currently represents Lohardaga in the assembly and is not campaigning for Congress Sukhdeo. Similarly, Mandar MLA Shilpi Neha Tirkey, daughter of state working president Bandhu Tirkey, is also not backing him. So much so that party-in-charge Ghulam Ahmad Mir had to caution leaders at a recent meeting. He told party leaders that assembly ticket will depend on the number of votes Bhagat gets from their assembly constituencies, said a party leader, who did not wish to be named. Shankaracharya Jayanti is marked every year to celebrate birth of Adi Shankara or Adi Shankaracharya, an Indian Vedic scholar who popularized and taught Advaita philosophy according to which atman and brahman, the invisible supreme being, are the same. Born in Kalady, Kerala during 788 C.E in a Nambudiri Brahman family, Adi Shankara disappeared at the age of 32 in year 820 C.E. In his short life, he majorly contributed towards shaping of Hindu culture and spirituality. The day is the time to reflect on the teachings of Shankaracharya and focus on spiritual growth and serving humanity. (Also read | Parshurama Jayanti 2024: Date, rituals, significance and everything that you need to know) Born in Kalady, Kerala during 788 C.E in a Nambudiri Brahman family, Adi Shankara disappeared at the age of 32 in year 820 C.E.(HT Photo) History and significance of Adi Shankaracharya Jayanti Adi Shankaracharya is believed to have lost his father, Shivaguru, at a young age. He renounced the world and turned a sanyasi against his mothers wish and studied under Govinda, who was a pupil of Gaudapada. Adi Shankaracharya was known to reconcile various sects - Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Saktism - with the introduction of the Pancayatana form of worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were different forms of the one Brahman. Shankaracharya is known to consolidate doctrine of Advaita Vedanata and revived it at a time when Hindu culture was on decline. Adi Shankara along with Madhava and Ramanuja played a significant role in shaping up Hinduism. The knowledge shared by them are still followed by their respective sects. Date of Adi Shankaracharya Jayanti Adi Shankaracharya Jayanti is observed on Panchami Tithi during Shukla Paksha of Vaishakha month. It is usually observed in the month of April or May as per Gregorian calendar. This year it's being observed on May 12, Sunday. Shubh muhurat 1236th Birth Anniversary of Adi Shankaracharya is being celebrated on Sunday, May 12, 2024 Panchami Tithi begins at 2:03 am on May 12, 2024 Panchami Tithi ends at 2:03 am on May 13, 2024 The practice of nursing has been in existence since ancient times but it was the legendary Florence Nightingale who promoted the formal nursing profession as we know it today and to commemorate her birth anniversary, International Nurses Day is celebrated each year in May. Florence Nightingale is perhaps the most famous nurse across the world who is also known as the founder of modern nursing for her work on the improvement of the health sector. International Nurses Day 2024: Date, history, significance (Image by Freepik) Date: Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, at Florence in Italy hence, International Nurses Day is celebrated each year on May 12. History and significance: Apart from being known as the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer and statistician. Not only did she contribute immensely to the improvement of the health sector, she also penned over 150 books, pamphlets, and reports on health-related issues. She is often referred to as the 'Lady with the lamp' and is remembered for taking care of wounded soldiers of the British army during the Crimean War, fought between 1853 and 1856. In 1907, she was awarded the order of merit, becoming the first woman to ever receive this honour. She opened a nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London in 1860, thus laying the foundation of professional nursing and giving the job a favourable reputation. Having an aptitude for mathematics from an early age, she later became a pioneer in the visual representation of information such as pie charts -- which at the time was a relatively new method of presenting data. Pie charts were first developed by William Playfair in 1801. The iconic Lady with the Lamp ushered in the era of educated and compassionate professional nurses and her efforts were instrumental in starting nursing training in India at St Stevens Hospital in Delhi in 1867. Nightingale, Clara Barton (founder of American Red Cross), Mary Ezra Mahoney (the first ever African-American nursing college graduate) and Virginia Lynch (regarded as the mother of Forensic nursing) are globally renowned for their contributions to nursing. In its infancy, nursing was primarily focused on treatment of soldiers injured in wars or during times of epidemics but with the passage of time, it has evolved into a multi-dimensional and critical area of healthcare globally. Nurses are today, the wheels that propel the healthcare vehicle forward. The mention of the word Nurse conjures up the image of a compassionate lady in white uniform who selflessly attends to patients. Administering IV fluids, ensuring that the patients take their medicines on time and monitoring their health, nurses perform numerous duties hence, it is appropriate that they are usually referred to as Sister because irrespective of the age, region or religion of the patient, the nurses treat everyone with care and compassion. A step short of being the physicians, modern nurses practice a lot of specialities and they also have varying degrees of authority to prescribe medicines. With the diversified nature of requirements, the modern nursing services and the role of nurses have been rapidly changing and in many areas, the age-old conventions are being replaced by contemporary need-based considerations. In countries such as the UK and USA, nurse specialists are even authorised in many states to diagnose medical conditions and prescribe medications or treatment therapies in consultation with qualified doctors. In India, the profession of nursing is highly respected and critical force multiplier due to the paucity of qualified doctors while the scope and range of services offered by nurses has only expanded with the emergence of private healthcare operators and to acknowledge all of this, International Nurses Day is celebrated each. Tearing of the perineum, the region located between the vagina and anus, can occur during childbirth known as perineal or vaginal tears and these vaginal tears can be painful for women. In other words, the perineum - the region between the vagina and anus - typically expands effectively during childbirth but may experience tears, particularly in first-time vaginal deliveries by women. Perineal tears: Vital tips for home treatment of vaginal tears after childbirth (Photo by Difference Between) In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Padma Srivastava, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Motherhood Hospitals in Pune's Lullanagar, explained, Perineal tears are categorized into different degrees based on their size and impact: First-degree tears are minor, superficial tears that typically heal on their own. Second-degree tears are deeper and involve the perineal muscle, often requiring immediate repair with dissolvable stitches post-birth. Third-degree tears affect the anal sphincter muscle and necessitate stitching. Fourth-degree tears extend into the anal lining like third-degree tears but also require stitches. She shared, The recovery period for a perineal tear varies depending on its severity, with more extensive tears likely requiring a longer recovery time. The tear may take at least 2-3 months to heal. It is imperative to manage vaginal tears to relieve plan, protect the area and prevent infections. This is how one should deal with vaginal tears at home. She suggested the following vital tips to deal with vaginal tears - Opt for a warm compress: That will help to recover quicker. Even a warm compress to the perineum during labor can soften the tissues, lowering the chances of vaginal tears. That will help to recover quicker. Even a warm compress to the perineum during labor can soften the tissues, lowering the chances of vaginal tears. Maintain good personal hygiene: Ensure to wash the vaginal area with warm water and avoid using chemical-laden products or douching down there. Ensure to wash the vaginal area with warm water and avoid using chemical-laden products or douching down there. Go for a cold compress: Using clean water or a cold pack will help to reduce swelling and discomfort. Using clean water or a cold pack will help to reduce swelling and discomfort. Dress appropriately: Always choose breathable fabrics such as cotton and avoid wearing tight clothes like jeans, as these can enhance vaginal tears and delay healing. Always choose breathable fabrics such as cotton and avoid wearing tight clothes like jeans, as these can enhance vaginal tears and delay healing. Avoid rigorous exercise: Dont stretch or put pressure on your private part that can worsen the pain. Dont stretch or put pressure on your private part that can worsen the pain. Be vigilant while sitting: Use a soft and comfortable cushion while sitting. If you are using any cream and ointments then do so only after consulting the expert. Use a soft and comfortable cushion while sitting. If you are using any cream and ointments then do so only after consulting the expert. Sitz bath can be helpful: If there is a tear, a saltwater bath may help with quick recovery. Salt eliminates bacteria that form in an open wound, drying out the area faster and speeding the healing process. Try to keep the area clean and dry. Ensure not to rub the area too hard which can cause further problems. If there is a tear, a saltwater bath may help with quick recovery. Salt eliminates bacteria that form in an open wound, drying out the area faster and speeding the healing process. Try to keep the area clean and dry. Ensure not to rub the area too hard which can cause further problems. Dont forget to take a stool softener: If you have a vaginal tear then pooping can be a herculean task. In case you have to strain while pooping then it is better to take laxatives suggested by the doctor. Having a vaginal tear can be a matter of concern for a large number of women hence, it is essential to seek timely treatment. So, stay vigilant when it comes to vaginal tears. An extremely strong solar storm that recently hit Earth prompted a stunning display of colours in various parts of the world, including one of the remotest villages in India, Hanle - located in Ladakh. Some who witnessed the aurora also posted pictures on social media, which has left others mesmerised. The image shows a rare auroral arc captured in Ladakh's Hanle. (X/@snorl) Instagram user Vincent Ledvina shared a video that shows how his curiosity helped him witness the beauty of the aurora in Hanle. Cant believe I got this shot all the way from India! This is such a rare occurrence here. I am so stoked! Who saw the aurora last night? We just had the strongest geomagnetic storm in 20 years, he wrote. The video of this photographer and PhD Student is a montage of pictures that show his journey of witnessing this incredible natural phenomenon. Take a look at this video, which may leave you stunned: An X user, Stanzin Norla, also gave a glimpse of the night sky from Hanle. His picture shows the entire sky covered in a beautiful rare auroral arc. Compared to the traditional auroras, the auroral arcs are formed differently and remain static while displaying a particular colour. Stable Auroral Red Arcs (SAR arcs) captured from Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, UT Ladakh on 11.05.24 at 0100 hrs. A very rare phenomenon for Mid Latitude like Hanle. Eta Aquarid meteor shower added more beauty to the aurora, visible in the top right of the photo, Norla wrote while sharing the picture. Both the posts captured social media users interest and left them mesmerised. Many flocked to the comments sections of the post to express the same. How did social media users react? This is fantastic! I tried to see Aurora and went to bed too early. It was visible from Italy, and now I am watching other people's photos, wrote an Instagram user. This is beyond incredible, posted another. An X user shared, People are seeing them as far as Southern California and Nebraska and unbelievable nature spectacle. A fourth added, This is so extraordinarily beautiful. Before the solar storm hit the Earth, the US government issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for the first time in nearly 20 years. This massive burst of energy in the form of solar flare increased the visibility for the northern lights or aurora borealis in certain parts of the world. According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, the solar storm will continue through the weekend. What are your thoughts on these pictures of aurora from Ladakh's Hanle? Contractors curious about an extension cord on the roof of a Michigan grocery store made a startling discovery: A 34-year-old woman was living inside the business sign, with enough space for a computer, printer and coffee maker, police said. People curious about an extension cord on the roof of a Michigan grocery store made a startling discovery: A 34-year-old woman living inside the rooftop signage. (AP) She was homeless, Officer Brennon Warren of the Midland Police Department said Thursday. It's a story that makes you scratch your head, just somebody living up in a sign. The woman, whose name was not released, told police she had a job elsewhere but had been living inside the Family Fare sign for roughly a year, Warren said. She was found April 23. Midland, best known as the global home of Dow Inc., is 130 miles (209 kilometers) north of Detroit. The Family Fare store is in a retail strip with a triangle-shaped sign at the top of the building. The sign structure, probably 5 feet (1.5 meter) wide and 8 feet (2.4 meters) high, has a door and is accessible from the roof, Warren said. There was some flooring that was laid down. A mini desk, he said. Her clothing. A Keurig coffee maker. A printer and a computer things you'd have in your home. The woman was able to get electricity through a power cord plugged into an outlet on the roof, Warren said. There was no sign of a ladder. Warren said it's possible the woman made her way to the roof by climbing up elsewhere behind the store or other retail businesses. "I honestly don't know how she was getting up there. She didn't indicate, either," he said. A spokesperson for SpartanNash, the parent company of Family Fare, said store employees responded with the utmost compassion and professionalism. Ensuring there is ample safe, affordable housing continues to be a widespread issue nationwide that our community needs to partner in solving, Adrienne Chance said, declining further comment. Warren said the woman was cooperative and quickly agreed to leave. No charges were pursued. We provided her with some information about services in the area, the officer said. She apologized and continued on her way. Where she went from there, I don't know. The director of a local nonprofit that provides food and shelter assistance said Midland which has a population 42,000 needs more housing for low-income residents. From someone who works with the homeless, part of me acknowledges she was really resourceful, said Saralyn Temple of Midland's Open Door. Obviously, we don't want people resorting to illegal activity to find housing. There are much better options. Ankur Warikoo often takes to X to share varied posts, including questions for his followers. In his latest share, he asked X users how to teach a teen the value of money. His question received tons of answers, including an interesting ice cream theory. Ankur Warikoo is an entrepreneur, author, and YouTuber. (File Photo) How do you teach a 13-year-old the value of money? Ankur Warikoo asked. While replaying, an X user wrote, Buy him an ice cream cone. Eat the top part that has chocolate. Teach him about TDS. For every two bites he takes, you take the third bite. Teach him about Income Tax. Once he gets to the bottom, that has the hard chocolate. Take it from him and eat it. Teach him about GST. Replying to his own tweet, Ankur Warikoo added his observations about how X users reacted to his post. 2 fascinating observations. 1. People are assuming the parent is the teacher. Almost resigning to the fact that money or values cannot be taught in school. 2. 50% of suggestions involve scarcity. Scarcity doesnt always teach the right value. Take a look at the post here: Since being shared a day ago, Ankur Warikoos post has collected more than 2.9 lakh views - and the numbers are still increasing. The share has also accumulated close to 300 likes. What else did X users suggest to Ankur Warikoo? He will pick it up if you keep valuing it properly, posted an X user. By introducing children more often to people who do not have money, suggested another. Much of it is innate, unfortunately. Adversity helps, but it is hard to create artificially, and that will backfire if the teenager is particularly headstrong, added a third. By helping them understand two basic ideas: 1. how value is created when you make something useful or do something helpful for others. 2. how money is an abstraction we have collectively arrived at as a civilization to measure and trade this value, wrote a fourth. In 2009, I quit consulting to join the startup full-time and over the next couple of years we built several other websites across automobiles, education, finance. The big one of that became Gaadi.com, which eventually got sold to goibibo.com in 2010, Ankur Warikoo wrote on his personal website. In 2011, he started Groupons India business as the founding CEO and then bought it from Groupon in 2015. A Colorado womans attempt to steal a pickup truck shortly after she was released from jail on a car theft charge was thwarted not by officers, nor the trucks owners, but by her inability to drive a stick shift, Boulder Police said. The woman, released from jail on car theft charges, allegedly tried to steal a pickup truck the next day. (X/@boulderpolice) The woman had been released from jail on May 3 after being accused of stealing a car a day earlier, and walked down the road until she spotted a pickup truck with the keys inside. She then started the pickup, but apparently discovered she couldnt manage the manual transmission, so she got out and walked away, leaving the truck to roll forward and strike a fire hydrant, police said. The woman was arrested and now has a May 30 court date on new charges of motor vehicle theft, careless driving, driving without a license and failing to report the crash. The truck was returned to its owner, police said. Police titled a social media post about the case Stick Shift FTW," which is an acronym for for the win. The department wrote, Not a standard recommendation for car theft prevention, but this past Friday a stick shift kept a thief from getting far in a stolen car. In the following lines, they explained the incident in detail. Thankfully no one was injured, and the truck was quickly returned to its rightful owner, the department added. Take a look at the entire post here: What did X users say about this incident? Stick shift and cursive = unbeatable superpowers, joked an X user. She should be forced to pay 100% of the original value of the truck to the owner (in addition to paying for its repairs) upon conviction. That'll teach her not to ever steal any vehicle ever again, shared another. Why was she let out after just stealing a different car? asked a third. The most telling part of this story is that the female was arrested the day before for stealing a car and already out, wrote a fourth. In a major snub to the US support to Israel amid ongoing Gaza war, 143 countries voted in favor of a United Nations( UN) resolution to grant additional rights to Palestinians. In the vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, nine countries voted against the resolution, including the US and Israel, while 25 countries abstained. The results of a vote on a resolution for the UN Security Council to reconsider and support the full membership of Palestine into the United Nations is displayed during a special session of the UN General Assembly, at UN headquarters in New York City (AFP) Before the vote for the resolution on Friday, the US had urged other member states to vote against it. It will not end the fighting in Gaza or provide food, medicine and shelter to civilians in Gaza that is where US efforts are focused, US mission to the UN spokesperson Nate Evans said in a statement. The resolution aims to allow Palestinians to submit their own resolutions and fully participate in UN and international conferences. Palestine has held observer-state status at the UN since 2012. However, they are trying to become a full member of the world body. Under Friday's resolution at the UN, the measure also recommended the Security Council to accept Palestine's full-membership at the United Nations. Notably, the US had blocked such a move last month. ALSO READ| Israel envoy shreds UN Charter over Palestine membership vote; India backs resolution The US also has a long-standing policy of supporting Palestinian statehood only through direct negotiations with Israel. It has voted against earlier membership-related moves by the Palestinians at the UN, reported news agency Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hailed the vote in favour of Palestinian rights. Abbas said This overwhelming vote in favor of Palestine confirms that the world stands with the freedom and rights of the Palestinian people and rejects the Israeli occupation of our land and people, Strain in relations between Israel and US Over Israel's decision to launch an offensive in the Rafah region of the Gaza strip, US President Joe Biden has threatened to stop supplying some weapons to its ally. However, the US has promised to continue supply of defensive weapons to Israel. Recently, Biden expressed concern over the civilian killings in Gaza due to Israel's ongoing offensive. Flash floods from unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed over 1,000 houses, the U.N. food agency said Saturday. Afgan people gather along a road before a floaded area between Samangan and Mazar-i-Sharif following a flash flood after a heavy rainfall in Feroz Nakhchir district of Samangan Province on May 11, 2024. (AFP) The World Food Program said it was distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors of one of the many floods that hit Afghanistan over the last few weeks, mostly the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of the deluges Friday. In neighbouring Takhar province, state-owned media outlets reported the floods killed at least 20 people. Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government, posted on the social media platform X that "hundreds ... have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries. Mujahid identified the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Ghor and Herat as the worst hit. He added that the extensive devastation has resulted in significant financial losses. People are seen near to their damaged homes after heavy flooding in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan Saturday, May 11, 2024.(AP) He said the government had ordered all available resources mobilized to rescue people, transport the injured and recover the dead. The Taliban Defense Ministry said in a statement Saturday that the countrys air force has already begun evacuating people in Baghlan and has rescued a large number of people stuck in flooded areas and transported 100 injured people to military hospitals in the region. Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, said on X that the floods are a stark reminder of Afghanistans vulnerability to the climate crisis and that both immediate aid and long-term planning by the Taliban and international actors are needed. Videos posted on social media showed dozens of people gathered Saturday behind the hospital in Baghlan looking for their loved ones. An official tells them that they should go and start digging graves while their staff are busy with preparing bodies for the burial ceremony. Officials previously said that in April at least 70 people died from heavy rains and flash flooding in the country. About 2,000 homes, three mosques, and four schools were also damaged. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will spar with main opposition party leader Elly Schlein in an unprecedented debate on May 23 ahead of the European elections. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, Italy.(Reuters) The debate -- the first ever in Italy between a sitting prime minister and the head of the opposition -- will be hosted on Rai1, the flagship station of the state broadcaster. Meloni, head of the Brothers of Italy party, has been in power since October 2022 as part of a coalition with other right-wing parties. Partly in response to losing that year's election, Schlein was elected to lead the opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD) in March 2023. Both of them are at the top of their party's lists for the June 8-9 European elections. Neither will take their seats in the European Parliament however with Meloni planning to stay on as prime minister and Schlein preferring to remain a member of the Italian chamber of deputies. Recent polls put Brothers of Italy at 27 percent in the European vote and the PD at 20 percent. Apart from both being the first women in their respective positions, the two are polar opposites. Meloni, 46, is a skilled orator with a modest suburban background. Her party stresses Italy's Christian roots and has put the fight against immigration on top of its agenda. Schlein, 39, who is in a couple with another woman, comes from an academic family and also has US and Swiss nationality. She is less comfortable with public speaking than her rival. Meloni's party is running on a campaign slogan of "Italy is changing Europe" while Schlein has focused on problems with Italy's healthcare system. Negotiations over organising the debate were arduous, both teams said. Schlein has for months accused the right-wing governing coalition of interfering with coverage at Rai, which she says has become a "government megaphone". Italian leaders have long been accused of meddling with Rai, but insiders say intrusions have become more pronounced under Meloni. Rai journalists have told AFP that investigative reporters have been pushed aside, pro-government commentators promoted, and programmes critical of members of the government cancelled or watered-down. "I have worked at Rai for 20 years but I have never felt such pressure or seen as much censorship," Enrica Agostini, a journalist at Rai News, told the Foreign Press Association in Rome. Some Rai journalists held a 24-hour strike this week, though most programming continued as usual thanks to a union more favourable to the government not joining. "TeleMeloni is the fruit of imagination of the left", Brothers of Italy said this week on X. gab/gv/ach X In a strong display of outrage, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan shredded a copy of the United Nations Charter at the General Assembly to protest over the passage of a resolution supporting full membership of Palestine. India, meanwhile, backed the resolution. Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan while speaking during a special session of the UN General Assembly(AFP) Read here: 'Ball is completely' in Israel's hands, says Hamas on Gaza ceasefire talks Calling the resolution a "clear violation" of the UN Charter, Erdan said that it subverted the US veto in the Security Council last month. He further said that he is "holding up the mirror" for the member states while shredding the UN Charter. "This day will go down in infamy. I want the entire world to remember this moment, this immoral act...today I want to hold up a mirror for you, so you can see exactly what you are inflicting upon the UN Charter with this destructive vote. You are shredding the UN Charter with your own hands," he said. A video of Erdan using a miniature shredder to destroy a copy of the charter, the foundational treaty of the United Nations, has gone viral on social media. The UNGA on Friday voted for a resolution asking the Security Council to make Palestine, which has UN observer status, a full member. The resolution was passed by a majority of 143 votes in favour, including India. 25 countries abstained, and nine nations, including the United States and Israel, voted against it. Read here: UN, EU officials condemn 'escalation' of violence by Israel against UNRWA in Jerusalem The resolution determined that the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter of the United Nations and "should therefore be admitted to membership in the United Nations. The Israeli envoy further alleged that the resolution passed to grant full membership to Palestine opens up the UN for "modern day Nazis" referring to Hamas. "Today, you are also about to grant privileges and write to the future terror state of Hamas. You have opened up the United Nations for modern day Nazis, to the Hitler of our times...So here it is. I present to you the future outcome of today's vote...the soon-to-be President, Yahya Sinwar, President tyrant of the State of Hamas, sponsored by the UN, and he owes his deepest gratitude to you, the General Assembly," the Israeli envoy added while holding up an image of Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza. Israeli external affairs minister Israel Katz also condemned the passing of the resolution saying that it is an "absurd decision" that highlights "the structural bias of the UN" and rewards the actions of Hamas on October 7, news outlet CNN reported. "The message that the UN is sending to our suffering region: violence pays off. The decision to upgrade the status of Palestinians in the UN is a prize for Hamas terrorists after they committed the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,' he said. India backs Palestinian membership, US opposes: Meanwhile, India voted in favour of the resolution. Last month, the US used its veto power to block a United Nations Security Council resolution on granting statehood to Palestine. Read here: US says it's reasonable to assess that Israel violated international humanitarian law using American weapons In the vote 12-1, the one being the US veto and two abstentions, the UNSC did not adopt a draft resolution. For a draft resolution to pass, the UNSC must have at least nine members in favour and none of its permanent members--China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US--using their veto power, according to the UN document. (With inputs from ANI) The Susexxes have started their three-day journey in Nigeria after landing in Abuja, the capital city, on the bright Friday morning. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have spent the majority of their Friday schedule with Lightway Academy students. (Photo by Kola SULAIMON / AFP)(AFP) Notably, Meghan Markle touched down at Heathrow Airport, UK, for the first time in the last two years and joined Prince Harry, before catching their flight to Abuja. Upon their arrival in Nigerias bustling capital, the royal couple made their way to their first official engagement at Lightway Academy, a school supported by their Archwell Foundation. This institution, which benefits from the patronage of their foundation, welcomed them with vibrant dances and the innocent smiles of its young learners. ALSO READ| Meghan Markle shades UK Royals in Nigeria with controversial Windsor dress following Harrys snub; fans convinced Prince Harry vouched to erase the stigma around mental health It was here that the Duke and Duchess chose to address a topic close to their hearts: mental health awareness. Prince Harry expressed, In some cases around the world, in more than you would believe, there is a stigma when it comes to mental health. Too many people dont want to talk about it cause its invisible. Its something in our mind that we cant see. The duke passionately urged, Every single person in this room, the youngest, the oldest, every single person has mental health. So therefore, you have to look after yourself to be able to look after other people. There is no shame in admitting that you are having a bad day, Prince Harry's words resonated deeply with the audience. You see why Im married to him? Meghan elicited cheers with her affectionate quip. Meghan shared that their 2-year-old daughter, Lilibet, had recently said she see her own reflection in Meghan's eyes: I see myself in you. Meghan reflected on these words, saying she hung onto those words in a very different way and as I look around this room, I see myself in all of you as well. ALSO READ| Why Prince Harry is hurt and disappointed during his visit to UK When she was introduced to a 5-year-old at the school, Meghan fondly mentioned, Our son Archies 5. He turned 5 last week. Prince Harry and Meghan were there in Nigeria to honour General Christopher Musa, Nigerias chief of defence staff's invitation. The Sussexes are set to meet with injured service members as they aim to promote the Invictus Games, an initiative founded by the duke that champions the indomitable spirit of injured military personnel and veterans through sports. Recent, Newsweeks The Royal Report podcast explores the complex relationship between Prince Harry and King Charles III, as the monarch his younger son due to full programme. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, gestures after his visit to the Kaduna State Government House in Kaduna, Nigeria, May 10, 2024. REUTERS/Marvellous Durowaiye(REUTERS) The episode delved into the anxiety that may have been caused by a heated phone exchange between the two royals concerning Meghan Markle during the time of Queen Elizabeth IIs passing. This comes amidst Prince Harrys visit to the UK for the 10th Invictus Games. Speculation about a potential meeting between father and son was quashed by Harrys spokesperson, who cited, The Duke of course is understanding of his fathers diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon. Both hot-headed royals are responsible for the rift, royal podcast reveals Jack Royston, Newsweeks chief royal correspondent, expressed disappointment over the missed opportunity for the Windsors to mend fences and the move was a shame. I would say, in the King's corner, is Harry can be hot tempered sometimes. I mean all the Windsors can, Charles is no exception...He's a man who gets frustrated sometimes, he suggested. ALSO READ| Meghan Markle reveals why she married Prince Harry: You see why Im married to him? Royston pointed out, But there is one moment that sticks in the mind for me, which is that Harry blew up at his father as Queen Elizabeth II was dying because he felt Charles had spoken in a dismissive way about Meghan. And I just wonder, really, whether Charles might have taken away from that experience a level of background stress about seeing Harry, a kind of generalized floating anxiety that something might go wrong and it will be another negative encounter with lots of hostile emotions and him getting the blame. He stated, listen to this passage from Harrys recently published 2023 memoir.Spare, where he retells how Charles asked him to fly to Scotland because Elizabeth the queens death occurred just a couple of hours. Harry told readers that Charles had spoken disrespectfully about Meghan, and it offended him. Harry wrote, Then came another call from Pa. He said I was welcome at Balmoral, but he didnt wanther. Dont ever speak about my wife that way: Prince Harry He started to lay out his reason, which was nonsensical, and disrespectful, and I wasnt having it. Dont ever speak about my wife that way. He stammered, apologetic, saying he simply didnt want a lot of people around. No other wives were coming, Kate wasnt coming, he said, therefore Meg shouldnt. Then thats all you needed to say. Royston reflected on the quotes from Harrys memoir, describing them as indicative of a fairly hostile stance. However, he also acknowledged that Harrys reaction might have been justified, given the absence of Charles perspective in the book and the lack of any public response from the King to the claims made within. ALSO READ| Meghan Markle shades UK Royals in Nigeria with controversial Windsor dress; fans convinced Charles may well have been being dismissive, Royston conceded. We dont actually have any direct quotes from him in the bookperhaps he may even think in hindsight that he could have worded it better, but in fairness his mother was dying and he must have been very, very shaken up by that. His mind must have been all over the place, you know, you must have had a lot of jobs to do as well, Newsweeks chief royal correspondent stated. This is one of the tragic things, that grief has an administrative side to it, it has a kind of business end to it which confounds your emotional responses and Harry will not be the only call that would have had to have been made. About 50,000 opponents of a "foreign agents" bill marched peacefully in heavy rain through the Georgian capital on Saturday, after the United States said the country had to choose between the "Kremlin-style" law and the people's Euro-Atlantic aspirations. Protesters march during a rally against the controversial "foreign influence" bill in Tbilisi (AFP) "We are deeply alarmed about democratic backsliding in Georgia," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan wrote on X. "Georgian Parliamentarians face a critical choice - whether to support the Georgian peoples EuroAtlantic aspirations or pass a Kremlin-style foreign agents' law that runs counter to democratic values," he said. "We stand with the Georgian people." The bill, which would require organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as "agents of foreign influence", has touched off a rolling political crisis in Georgia, where thousands have taken to the streets to demand the bill be withdrawn. The crowd on Saturday waved Georgian, European Union and some Ukrainian flags and in a break with the past, included more older protesters as well as the many young people who have thronged the streets over the past month. "The government should hear the free people of Georgia," said one protester in her 30s who gave her name as Nino, waved a large Georgian flag and led one of three columns that converged on the city centre, which blocked much of the city's roads and filled the cobblestoned heart of Tbilisi's old town. "We want to enter the European Union with our proud nation and our dignity," she said. Anuki, a 22-year-old student of acting, said it was her generation's responsibility "to make sure that our future and the future of generations after us are safe, that they have freedom of speech, and they are free, basically." "And we don't want to be part of Russia," she added. "We never wanted to be part of Russia. And it has always been and always will be our goal to be part of Europe." Parliament, which is controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party and its allies, will begin committee hearings on the bill's third and final reading on Monday. Opposition groups had called for a fresh wave of protests from Saturday. The crisis has pitted the Georgian Dream ruling party against a coalition of opposition parties, civil society, celebrities and the country's figurehead president, with mass demonstrations shutting down much of central Tbilisi almost nightly for more than a month. Georgian opponents of the bill have dubbed it "the Russian law", comparing it to legislation used to target critics of President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin. The European Union, which granted Georgia candidate status in December, has said that the bill will pose a serious obstacle to further integration if passed. Georgian Dream says the bill will promote transparency and Georgian national sovereignty. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream, has said the law is necessary to stop the West trying to use Georgians as "cannon fodder" in a confrontation with Russia. Sullivan said that Georgian Dream appeared to be deliberately trying to break with the West, even as both the ruling party and Georgian public opinion has traditionally been in favour of the country's joining the EU and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance. Sullivan wrote: Georgian Dreams recent rhetoric, proposed legislative changes, and actions go against the aspirations of the Georgian people and are designed to isolate Georgians from the United States and Europe. Sierra Nevada Corporation, an American company, has purchased five Boeing 747 jets previously operated by Korean Air. Initially serving as standard passenger planes for civilian day-to-day travel, these jets will reportedly undergo conversion for specialised military use. The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is the same company that recently won a US Air Force contract worth $13 billion to build a replacement for the E-4B Nightwatch, also known as the Doomsday plane. An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles approaches for landing at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States in Washington, US on March 13.(REUTERS) Korean Air jets purchased by U.S. company for 'Doomsday' role E-4B Nightwatch, known as Doomsday Jet is one of the most trusted jets renowned for its ability to survive a nuclear war and act as an emergency call centre. The five Korean-flagged Boeing 747s, valued at approximately $674 million, have been sitting on the tarmac for at least two out of the past five years due to the global air traffic disruption and slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. SNC will receive the aircraft by the 3rd quarter of 2025, according to a Reuters report. Also read: Aurora Borealis dances across skies in 10 stunning photos: Northern Lights dazzle UK and US after Solar storm Korean jets to replace Americas E-4B Nightwatch The current US Air Force relies on the E-4B Nightwatch, a Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post, as its airborne military command centre. However, the aforementioned firm has been tasked to develop the next-generation nuclear doomsday plane to replace the current Nightwatch. Sierra Nevada Corporation will potentially develop the next-generation version of this "Doomsday plane," ensuring the US has a modernized command and control centre in the skies during any national emergency, including nuclear war scenarios. Also read: Donald Trump's son Barron pulls out as Florida Delegate for RNC amid backlash; Heres why On Friday, a company spokesperson acknowledged the acquisition report; however, they declined to provide any further details. The American Air Force assigned the company the duty of creating the Survivable Airborne Operations Center back on April 26. According to an announcement from the Defense Department, the project deadline is set for 2036. Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokesperson told CNN, The development of this critical national security weapon system ensures the Departments Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications capability is operationally relevant and secure for decades to come. To satisfy operational requirements, the weapon system will be comprised of a Commercial Derivative Aircraft that will be hardened and modified to meet military requirements. The US government has recently issued a warning about a major geomagnetic storm that is expected to hit the country soon. This solar storm has become a trending topic as it has ignited the Aurora Borealis in the skies across the UK and some parts of the US as well. The storm is predicted to cause major damage to infrastructure by potentially knocking out power grids and disrupting GPS systems. The government has advised the public of at least five earth-directed coronal mass ejections. NOAA issues rare alert for supercharged solar storm causing voltage control problems and power grid impact..(Chris Granger /The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)(AP) US warns of complete blackout due to solar activity The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a rare alert, warning the public about a supercharged solar stormthe first of its kind since 2003that struck Earth on Friday. This storm is likely to cause widespread voltage control problems, potentially affecting the power grid. The impact of the storm is expected to last throughout the weekend. Within the US government's classification system, this severe geomagnetic storm (G4) is ranked second in severity. Also read: American firm buys 5 Korean air jets for next gen nuclear doomsday' plane conversion The storm is caused by "a large sunspot cluster that has produced several moderate to strong solar flares, according to NOAA which also confirms the diameter of the sunspot to be about 16x the diameter of Earth. Communication interruption due to solar storm The radiation effect, which started on Friday, will last until Saturday and could extend into Sunday as well. The last time such a storm swept the Earth was in October 2003. Besides impacting daily livelihood, property, and infrastructure, the G4 storm has the ability to disrupt communication lines, satellite interactions, GPS, and even high-frequency radio communication, says NOAA. Also read: Aurora Borealis dances across skies in 10 stunning photos: Northern Lights dazzle UK and US after Solar storm Why it happens? Apart from triggering communication disruption, this type of solar activity also causes the Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights. The mesmerising colour palette of the sky, which has left the world in awe, typically occurs near Earths poles where the magnetic force is strongest. However, during such solar activity, when supercharged solar particles collide with Earth's magnetic surface, it results 5 times more spectacular display. In the same way, the ionosphere is affected by radiation when it hits the Earth, which can cause changes that directly affect satellites or other spacecraft that are in orbit, such as changing their orientation or damaging their electronics. In his latest gaffe, US President Joe Biden on Friday addressed North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as the president of South Korea. The world leader blunder occurred when Biden was targeting former President Donald Trump at a campaign reception in California's Portola Valley. The Democrat was blasting his GOP rival over his close ties with the North Korean dictator.(Reuters) The world leader blunder occurred when Biden was targeting former President Donald Trump at a campaign reception in California's Portola Valley. The Democrat was blasting his GOP rival over his close ties with the North Korean dictator and Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Well never forget his love letters for the South Korean President Kim Jong Un or his admiration for Putin what a great leader Putin is," Biden said, as per a White House transcript of his remarks at the reception. Biden is known for making blunders when it comes to naming the global leaders. Last year, he welcomed South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for a grand state dinner at White House. In 2022, Biden mispronounced Yoon's name and referred to him as "President Moon" during a trip to South Korea. Notably, President Moon Jae-in was Yoon's predecessor. Last year, Biden stumbled over the names of former and present presidents from Mexico, Egypt, France, Germany, and Ukraine. He even called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky 'Vladimir' during a NATO Summit last July. In February, the 81-year-old Commander-in-Chief confused Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The blunder was made during a press conference in which he was trying to defend himself against assertions made by former special counsel Robert Hur that he had a poor memory. Also Read: Biden repeats long-debunked claim about travel with Xi Jinping, gives himself a new name in latest gaffe Biden faces flak for latest blunder Biden has been making several verbal blunders since taking office, prompting concerns regarding his mental health as he seeks a second term in the White House. If Biden gets re-elected in November, he will turn 86 years old by the end of his second term. Reacting to his latest gaffe, one X user wrote: North Korea, South Korea, what's the difference... His mind is decaying faster than roadkill, another blasted Biden. A third user reacted, saying But sure, hes totally fit for 4 more years. Biden is making too many mistakes to be a President anymore, one more chimed in. Hes also the King of Mexico, a fifth user quipped. Former US president Donald Trump rejected the reports of planning to name former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as his running mate in 2024 presidential race. Taking to his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday, Donald Trump wrote: Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well!(AP) This development comes after Axios reported, citing some sources familiar to the situation, that Haley was vying for Trump's vice presidential nomination. Earlier, both GOP leaders faced a contentious primary battle and Haley has not endorsed Trump even after withdrawing from the race. Many of her supporters remain cautious of Trump's candidacy for the role of president. This comes as a warning sign for the ex-president as he attempts to unite Republicans ahead of the White House elections in November. Taking to his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday, the GOP leader wrote: Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well! Reacting to his post, one X user wrote, "thank God", while another commented, "Vivek (Ramaswamy) please". True MAGA Republican deserves Trump ticket: Steve Banon Few months back, Steve Bannon also hit back at such reports and targeted Haley as "establishment neocon". Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist in the Trump Administration, argued that only True MAGA Republican deserves Trump ticket. "If Nikki Haley is in this administration, in any capacity, it will fail. Well, she's a viper. She's a viper. And once she gets in there, she'll try to run it as prime minister. She'll try to be Dick Cheney," Bannon had stated. He further called the report a "spin from her donors and some Republican operatives around Trump." Can Nikki Haley help Trump garnering huge support of voters? Haley continues to receive a substantial share of votes in primaries across the United States. She received 22 per cent in Indiana's primary this Thursday, after withdrawing from the campaign more than two months ago. Choosing a running mate who can appeal to Republican voters who support Haley could assist Trump in the presidential race. According to some experts, Haley herself may be the ideal candidate to do so. However, many of Trump's MAGA supporters turned against Haley during the primary, and electing her for a potential VP position could alienate his base. While Trump has ruled out Haley as his VP, his "wish her well" statements appear to indicate that he is ready to patch wounds and rally her supporters behind his candidacy. Meanwhile, Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes stated that only ex-president will decide whether a candidate for "VP is in or out", adding that anyone who claims to "know who he will choose is lying". Barron Trump, the 18-year-old son of former US President Donald Trump, has withdrawn from his recently granted delegate position for the upcoming presidential election process. This decision follows the backlash that followed shortly after his initial appointment. Sources close to the Trump family suggest that Barron's choice was influenced by prior commitments. Barron, who is set to graduate soon, received an invitation on Wednesday to participate as a delegate for the Florida GOP at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee. US president Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and son Barron at the White House in Washington, DC on January 1, 2018.(AFP Photo) Barron Trump won't be a Florida Delegate While Barron is honoured to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments, Melania Trumps office rolled out a statement on Friday citing the withdrawal. If he had been part of the lineup, Barron would have joined his siblings Donald Jr., Eric, and Tiffany in representing Florida as delegates. Their combined participation was viewed as major support for nominating their father as the official Republican presidential nominee at the convention scheduled for July 15-18. Also read: Did Kendrick Lamar steal lines from Twitter for Drake's beef track Not Like Us? Fans say, Yes Barron Trump withdraws from Trumps political campaign Earlier a spokesperson of Trumps political campaign mentioned that Barron was pretty much interested in the process. Trump himself later used his Truth social platform to commend his youngest son's foray into the political campaign. However, the public reaction was lukewarm, with many questioning whether he wanted to build on his father's legacy with a prominent political role or simply join what critics call "his dad's circus". Also read: Donald Trump's son Barron, 18, sparks debate as Florida delegate; 'is he joining his father's circus?' Apart from the Trump siblings, additional GOP delegates with family ties include Don Jr.'s fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Tiffany's husband, Michael Boulos. Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump, who often finds herself in the spotlight due to her celebrity status, previously stated that she would not participate in the campaign and intends to avoid any roles within it. In other news, Donald Trump, who is currently in the middle of a hush money lawsuit, has been granted permission by a judge to appear at his son Barron's graduation next month. Earlier on Friday, Donald revealed that Barron was interested in politics and sometimes gave him advice. Barron is often seen with his mother, Melania, who is reportedly very protective of his privacy and his education. Hes a little on the tall side. I will tell you, hes a tall one, but he is a good-looking guy. And hes really been a great student. And he does like politics. Its sort of funny, Trump spoke to Philadelphias Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. In another blow to Donald Trump, it has been revealed that the former President used a questionable accounting trick to claim unwarranted tax deductions on his troubled Chicago tower. According to an investigation by Internal Revenue Service (IRS), if Trump lose a years-long audit fight over the claim might result in a tax liability over $100 million.(AP) According to an investigation by Internal Revenue Service (IRS), if Trump lose a years-long audit fight over the claim might result in a tax liability over $100 million, NY Times reported. A look at history of Trump's Chicago Tower & tax returns The Republican leader owns 'The Trump International Hotel and Tower', a 92-story skyscraper along the Chicago River. It was his last big construction project and the structure was designed by Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill . Trump faces many financial losses due to cost overruns and the unfortunate timing of its launch during the Great Recession. However, when the business tycoon sought to gain tax benefits from his losses, the IRS concluded that he went too far and effectively wrote off the same losses twice. The first write-off was on Trump's 2008 tax return. With revenues falling far short of expectations, his debts on the project ensured he would never profit, claiming his investment met the tax code definition of "worthless." According to the Times and ProPublica, as a result of this decision, Trump suffered financial losses of up to $651 million for the year. In 2010, Trump and his tax advisers attempted to wring more benefits from the Chicago project, a move that drew years of investigation from the IRS. Also Read: Can you buy Trump Tower at auction in New York? Not anytime soon In his very first move, Trump restructured the tower's ownership into a new partnership. Later, he utilised his move to justify declaring $168 million in additional losses over the next ten years. During Trump's presidency, the IRS conducted a thorough legal examination before pursuing a case against him. The Times and ProPublica, in conjunction with tax specialists, projected that the IRS's proposed change would result in a new tax bill of over $100 million, in addition to interest and possible penalties. Following his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump's tax returns became a matter of considerable speculation as he violated decades of custom and refused to release his records, citing a lengthy audit. In 2020, Times reported that the IRS was challenging a $72.9 million tax refund claimed by Trump, leading to partial exposure of the audit's substance. Is Trump facing another financial threat? The audit poses yet another significant financial threat to Trump. The Republican Party's probable 2024 presidential contender has been directed to pay $83.3 million in a defamation lawsuit and $454 million in a civil fraud prosecution filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James. He has appealed both decisions. At present, he is facing a criminal trial in Manhattan, in which he is accused of concealing a hush-money payment to a adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley may have withdrawn her post from the race in March 2024; however, her presence continues to make waves on the political scene. (COMBO) Nikki Haley abandoned her White House ambitions two months ago, yet she is still taking a significant chunk of votes in presidential primary contests -- underlining a persistent refusal among a sizable bloc of Republicans to get behind Donald Trump. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez and Christian MONTERROSA / AFP)(AFP) In the latest scoop by Axios, the American news website reported that Haley is under active consideration by Donald Trump's campaign to be his running mate. Though the sources have been left unnamed, they've been identified as two people familiar with the dynamic. The alleged swing at swooping Haley to Trump's support appears to be a conscious attempt at making his candidate strong with looming fears of losing voters to the Democrat side. Support for Nikki Haley continues despite her campaign ending two months ago AP News previously said she'd won 1 in 5 Indiana Republican voters in the presidential primary. Despite pulling out of the competition, the former UN Ambassador has still attracted significant support at state primaries months after the conclusive decision. Also read | Stormy Daniels brutally mocked by Jeanine Pirro; but what did Trump whisper in ex-judge's ears after court hearing? The former South Carolina governor had already qualified for the May 7 Indiana ballot before her campaign wrapped up in March. Even after walking out of the competitive polls, she hasn't yet endorsed Trump. AP News reported that she drew her most considerable support in Indiana's urban and suburban counties. Indianapolis Marion County brought her 35% of the vote, while over 1/3rd came from suburban Hamilton Country. Why would Trump want Nikki Haley? The rivals' chilly dynamic may paint a different picture. However, Trump may choose the former presidential candidate as a viable VP pick if her position could help him clinch the 2024 poll verdict later this fall. Numerous media reports have claimed that with her missing out on action, people vouching for her may slip to the Democratic vote. Axios also reported that in spite of their divergent views on some paramount issues like war, Social Security and Medicare, it's in Haley and Trump's mutual interests to reconcile. While scrambling to pay legal fees, Trump is anyway looking to sneak in an advantage against current President Joe Biden. The report added that Haley's connection to donors who werewary of the ex-president could work in Trump's favour. Ditching their bitter connections could help bring in support from some college-educated Republicans who've shot their renewed support in Haley's direction despite her moving out of the race. In an interview with the Today Show on NBC, Haley previously asserted that Trump is not qualified to be president. Distancing herself from endorsing Trump could adversely affect her position on the GOP politics front. The GOP's conservative foundation may even turn on her for the same reason, impacting her prospects of a presidential campaign in the future. On the flip side, Joe Biden's side has purposely reworked its campaign ads around Trump's originally disagreeable demeanour towards Haley. One of Biden-Harris 2024 campaign ads asserted, If you voted for Nikki Haley, Donald Trump doesn't want your vote. The Protesters of around 800 camped outside Teslas Gigafactory plant in Grueneheide, Germany Friday, which seeks to halt the expansion project and the abhorring environmental impact thereof. A police officer uses pepper spray as they try to block activists running in the direction of Tesla Gigafactory during a protest against its expansion, in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, May 10, 2024. REUTERS/Christian Mang(REUTERS) And Elon Musk is not happy about it as his Tesla nightmare continues. The expansion, which has been a contentious issue, drew criticism from Ole Becker, a spokesperson for the protests organizing group, Disrupt. Becker remarked, The fight against this car factory is a fight against every car factory, in a press release on the coalitions website. Disrupts press release further accused the Gigafactory of being constructed unlawfully and argued that its expansion would inflict harm on the neighboring woodlands. With over 60 percent local populace reportedly voting against the 50-hectare expansion in a recent poll, as reported by Wired. ALSO READ| Elon Musk wants this Tesla network to expand after firing employees making it A group of protestors are camping in the forest since then. The environmental toll of lithium mining, essential for the production of electric car batteries, was another focal point of the protest. According to Reuters, the demonstrators aimed to draw attention to the ecological damage caused by lithium extraction, which releases toxic chemicals and heavy metals into the air, water, and soil globally. The day of the protest saw a considerable turnout from across Germany A video shared online captured the chaotic scenes as protesters clashed with law enforcement while attempting to approach the factory. Musk responded to the footage, assuring that the facilitys security perimeter remained intact. Protesters did not manage to break through the fenceline. There are still 2 intact fence lines all around, he wrote. Note, this is National Protest Week in Germany, so there are a lot of protests for many different reasons. Musk appeared perplexed by the environmentalists decision to target Tesla. He expressed his bewilderment, stating, Something super weird is going on, as Tesla was the only car company attacked. ALSO READ| Elon Musk shares what Earth looks like in radio frequency. Unseen pic will stun you Musk openly criticized the perceived leniency of the police, questioning, Why do the police let the left-wing protestors off so easily? Becker told CNN he experienced a lot of police torture at the protest, and a video published on X shows police shooting pepper spray at the fleeing protesters. Dozens of protesters were arrested to ensure the disturbances will ceased. The police estimated that hundreds were injured during the demonstration. President Joe Biden made an autocratic gaffe in Portola Valley, California, while criticizing his 2024 opponent, former US President Donald Trump. US President Joe Biden addresses at an election fundraising event hosted by Indian American billionaire and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla at his residence, in Washington, Friday, May 11, 2024. (PTI Photo)(PTI) The 81-year-old president mistakenly referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the South Korean President during his speech. As he was highlighting Trumps past interactions with foreign leaders, saying, Well never forget his love letters for the South Korean President Kim Jong Un or his admiration for Putin what a great leader Putin is. This slip-up is part of a pattern of Biden's similar mistakes involving world leaders names This gaffe comes after more than a year since President Biden hosted the actual South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, at the White House for a state dinner. Bidens history of misnaming leaders dates back to at least May 2022, when he referred to South Korean President Yoon as President Moon after a tour of a Samsung micro-chip facility in South Korea. Yoons predecessor was Moon Jae-in. ALSO READ| US says it's reasonable to assess that Israel violated international humanitarian law using American weapons Over the past year, President Biden has also incorrectly named leaders from Mexico, Egypt, France, Germany, and Ukraine. For instance, in July, during a NATO summit in Lithuania, he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Vladimir, which seemed to conflate him with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In February, he confused Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at a press conference. Robert Hur defends Biden of poor memory Defending himself against accusations of a poor memory from former special counsel Robert Hur stated, As you know, initially, the president of Mexico, Sisi, did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in [to Gaza]. I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate. The 46th US has recounted discussions about the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot with European leaders who were not alive at the time. On February 7, he told Democratic donors in New York that he had spoken with former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl about the riot, despite Kohl having passed away in 2017. ALSO READ| American firm buys 5 Korean air jets for next gen nuclear doomsday' plane conversion He said, Helmut Kohl said, Joe, what would you think if you picked up the phone and picked up the paper tomorrow and learned in the London Times, on the front page, that 1,000 people stormed the Parliament, broke down the doors of the House of Commons and killed 2 bobbies in the process trying to stop the election of a prime minister? Switching it to another event he said, Helmut Kohl of Germany told me. Amidst the escalating tensions within the royal family, several experts have speculated over the reunion of King Charles and Prince Harry this week. However, both father and son were seemed to be too busy to have some time for each other. While Prince Harry claimed that his father was too occupied with his royal duties and "various other priorities" to meet him, King Charles held a meeting with former England captain David Beckham to talk about his charitable foundation while Harry was in London.(AP ) While the Duke claimed that his father was too occupied with his royal duties and "various other priorities" to meet him, King Charles held a meeting with former England captain David Beckham to talk about his charitable foundation while Harry was in London, according to Daily Mail. It seems that revelation about the King's latest meeting may broaden the father-son rift further. The Duke of Sussex's visit to the UK was scheduled months in advance, but the King's visit to a barracks this week was dubbed as a surprise. It was reported that Harry invited the King to St Paul's Cathedral for the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games. Meanwhile, the Palace has not issued any statement over the monarch not seeing Harry son during his UK visit, despite the Duke mentioning that "it was "great" to be back to his own country. Harry last met his father in February for a brief period when he was diagnosed with cancer. Meanwhile, the Duke and his wife Meghan Markle received a grand welcome in Nigeria as they landed in the African nation for a three-day tour. Also Read: Prince Harry sends this hidden message to Prince William and King Charles III at St Pauls Cathedral King Charles announces meeting with Prince William after Harry snub Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles and Prince William will attend a joint engagement on Monday. During the meeting, the King will officially hand over the job of colonel-in-chief of the Army Corps to William to his son and heir, Prince William. According to report, the King has seized a military duty intended for Prince Harry and decided to give it to Prince William, despite the fact that the Duke of Duchess served a regiment in Afghanistan. Earlier, Kensington Palace announced the appointment with the following statement, stressing that the role would have been give to Harry if if he had not resigned from his royal duties in January 2020. His Majesty the King will officially hand over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. In August 2023, following His Majestys Accession, the King was pleased to announce military appointments including that the Prince of Wales would become Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps. The role was previously held by His Majesty the King, as Prince of Wales, for 31 years. Meghan Markle's outfit choice during a recent stop on her royal tour in Nigeria has sparked a flurry of reactions on social media. The Duchess of Sussex, who travelled to the African country alongside her husband Prince Harry for Invictus, received a warm welcome from the crowd. The couple engaged with the public and interacted with schoolchildren, with images of their visit quickly going viral. Notably, Meghan's decision to wear a dress named "Windsor" has caught attention, a move some fans are convinced is a pointed message towards the monarchy. TOPSHOT - Britain's Prince Harry (L), Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan (R), Duchess of Sussex, meet with children during their visit at the Lightway Academy in Abuja on May 10, 2024 as they visit Nigeria as part of celebrations of Invictus Games anniversary. (Photo by Kola SULAIMON / AFP)(AFP) Meghan Markle wears Windsor dress The photos that surfaced online show Harry and Meghan embracing the culture and style of Nigeria to connect with people on a more personal level. While the Duke opted for a simple shirt and trousers look instead of his classic coat and pants, Meghan sported a backless peach maxi dress by Heidi Merrick. Interestingly, the dress is named 'Windsor,' sparking speculations about whether this was a coincidence or a deliberate choice. Also read: Prince Harry 'happy to be back in UK' but THIS reality check leaves him shocked "Meghan Markle is desperate to have ties to Windsor name," a user wrote on X (formerly twitter). Oh god! Isnt she shading the royals by wearing Windsor, Lol. Wrote another. "Her strategic marriage and un-strategic moves since then have backfired. Like a dress with the name gives her the legitimacy that continues to elude her!" One more chimed in. There were reports earlier about Meghan's wish to live in Windsor Castle, a desire that the Queen reportedly turned down. Instead, they settled at Frogmore Cottage, but they had to give it up when they stepped back from royal duties in 2020. Now, Meghan, living outside the royal circle, wears a dress named "Windsor," which adds an ironic twist to the story. Also read: Prince Harry faces betrayal' blow on UK trip as King snubs him to honour William with Im convinced she is doing this on purpose at this point. Infamy is her goal not approval. She is taking a page out of Walliss handbook, one more royal followers added to the comment section. Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys Nigeria visit Harry and Meghan, who recently announced their new Netflix series, made a special visit to Nigeria at the request of Christopher Musa, the country's highest-ranking military official and chief of defence staff. According to British Broadcaster Helena Chard, the purpose of their three-day trip is to boost their popularity as estranged members of the royal family and to gain positive PR. Given the constant scrutiny and criticism they face, any involvement with Invictus would naturally attract great press attention, she says. I would be surprised if they didnt call in pool coverage. I also wouldnt be surprised if they had Netflix cameras following them, especially as one of the cultural activities is a polo game Their few days in Nigeria will have the feel of a royal tour, albeit a pseudo-royal tour." Chard told Fox news. WABC radio fired former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Friday for trying to use his show to question the outcome of 2020 presidential elections. According to WABC owner, John Catsimatidis, Giuliani continued to discuss the lie that Donald Trump lost the elections to Joe Biden due to electoral fraud.(AP) According to the station owner, John Catsimatidis, Giuliani continued to discuss the lie that Donald Trump lost the elections to Joe Biden due to electoral fraud. Speaking to Daily Mail, Catsimatidis producer Matt Wanning stated that John had warned Giuliani over his election claims and added that he "finally just kind of crossed the line." Meanwhile, John Catsimatidis, who is also a Republican donor, told the New York Times: Were not going to talk about fallacies of the November 2020 election. We warned him once. We warned him twice." "And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning that he refuses not to talk about it. So he left me no option. I suspended him. Rudy Giuliani Joe Biden regimes lawyers Later, former mayor Giuliani also confirmed that he had been suspended. In a hard-hitting statement, Trump ally said he has learned that he is being fired because he "refused to comply with their overly broad directive stating, word-for-word, that Im prohibited from engaging in conversations relating to the 2020 presidential election. Blasting WABC, Giuliani said his firing comes at a very suspicious time, just months before the 2024 election," claiming that John and WABC are being pressured by Dominion Voting Systems (DVS) and the Biden regimes lawyers. DVS, a producer of voting machines, and Fox News struck a $787.5 million settlement over its broadcast of election fraud allegations. It also sued Giuliani and Sidney Powell, one more attorney involved in Trump's bid to overturn the 2020 election. He further called the move a clear violation of free speech and said he would speak more about the situation on social media on Friday night. According to a copy of letter sent to Giuliani by Catsimatidis on May 9, Giuliani was issued a warning, stating that he is prohibited from engaging in conversations relating to the 2020 presidential election" on the programs broadcast on WABC, as per The Guardian. Also Read: It was not rape: Rudy Guiliani slams disgrace judge's $83.3 mn verdict against Trump Rudy Giuliani urges followers to ask WABC if they support free speech As promised, Giuliani took to X, formerly Twitter, to give more insight into his suspension. In his post titled CALL TO ACTION, he said, WABC Radio fired me because I refused to give into their demand that I stop talking about the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He further appealed to his followers to call @77WABCradio and ask them if they support free speech! Phone Number: (646)720-0634". Reacting to his post, one X user said: Will do! We love and support you! While another hit back at the former mayor, writing: They have a right to free speech by way of rejecting lies on their airwaves. Suck it up, liar. In 2020, Giuliani attempted to overturn Biden's electoral defeat of Trump, only to face a succession of courtroom failures and humiliation from the public. Giuliani, who has denied wrongdoing, filed for bankruptcy in New York last December. Filings revealed that he is facing indebtedness of up to $500 million. It seems there is no end to Donald Trump's controversies. On Friday, Trump after the end of testimony in his ongoing hush money trial called Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to speak with him privately. Donald Trump summoned Jeanine Pirro while leaving the NY courtroom, as reported by NYT reporter Maggie Haberman, who was present inside the courtroom.(AP ) He summoned her while leaving the NY courtroom, as reported by NYT reporter Maggie Haberman, who was present inside the courtroom. Trump looks delighted as he stands up at the end of the proceedings. He sees Jeanine Pirro as he leaves and whispers, come, reported Haberman. Surprisingly, Trump later took to Truth Social and urged his followers to watch Jeanine Pirro on the show of Sean Hannity. The GOP leader didn't advocate for any other guest on the show but specifically asked his fans to watch Pirro. Watch Judge Jeanine tonight on Sean Hannity. 9.00 pm, Fox News, he wrote. Responding to his post, one of his followers wrote: Alright fine Why Trump summoned Jeanine Pirro after court hearing? Following Trump's post, Pirro appeared on Hannity and spent the whole conversation making remarks that would have violated the gag order if made by Trump, his attorneys or any other spokesperson. She launched a scathing attack on former adult star Stormy Daniels, Judge Juan Merchan and D.A. Alvin Bragg. The Five co-host Judge went on to say that Daniels credibility has been "totally destroyed" as a witness. Pirro even violated the gag order by insulting Michael Cohen and discussing the jury on the show. She even claimed that a federal judge called Trump a "serial liar". Trump is particularly banned from "directing others" to make remarks that contradict the order. Also Read: Who is 'Orange Turd' and why Donald Trump's lawyers showed Stormy Daniels' tweet to jurors? So, why he called Pirro after the court hearing and what he exactly told her still remains a question. After Trump was found in contempt of court for violating a gag order for the tenth time, Justice Juan Merchan warned him, stating that further violations may result in jail time. "At the end of the day, I have a job to do and that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system," stated the judge during his hush-money trial in New York. Merchan has earlier fined Trump with $1,000 each for nine infractions in hush money case. On Monday, stated that the $9,000 gag-order fine for past transgressions did not appear to be a deterrent. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of fabricating company paperwork in order to conceal a payment made to Daniels for an alleged affair. He, however, has denied any wrongdoings. May 10 - U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates next week to work on "climate co-operation" and other issues, two Biden administration officials told Reuters on Friday. US energy secretary to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE next week, officials say The visit will run from Tuesday through Thursday, with Granholm visiting the UAE first, one of the officials said. It will be her first trip to the region as secretary. "The visit is a continuation of long-standing engagement between the U.S. and this region," the officials said. "Specifically, for the Department of Energy, it will move forward work both countries are doing on climate cooperation and to diversify the energy economy." Granholm will participate in a meeting of the Net-Zero Producers Forum, a group of countries representing 40% of global oil and gas production, including the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the sources said. The group, which works on ways to cut emissions such as abatement of methane and deployment of clean energy, was formed in 2021. Saudi Arabia and UAE are both members of OPEC, which is debating whether to extend output cuts. The Net-Zero meeting was planned long in advance and Granholm does not plan to discuss oil policy with counterparts on the trip, one of the sources said. The Biden administration and Saudi Arabia are nearing an agreement for U.S. security guarantees and civilian nuclear assistance, even as an Israel-Saudi normalization deal envisioned as part of a Middle East "grand bargain" remains elusive, sources told Reuters this month. Those talks are being led on the U.S. side by White House officials and the State Department, but not Granholm. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. The Biden administration came out on Friday and said that it is reasonable to assess that the American weapons that Israel used in Gaza are inconsistent and abuse of international humanitarian law and, therefore, Israels actions are obviously not right as per the international standards. Smoke rises over the city of Kiryat Shmona following a rocket that was launched from Lebanon and fired towards Israel, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, May 10, 2024. REUTERS/Ayal Margolin ISRAEL OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN ISRAEL(REUTERS) However, the administration has not definitively stated that Israel has breached the law. A State Department-drafted report acknowledges ongoing investigations into possible violations but admits that they do not have complete information to verify the use of US weapons in purported breaches of international humanitarian law. ALSO READ| Joe Biden threatens to cut off weapon supplies if Israel tries to invade Rafah In Gaza, it is difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings Given the nature of the conflict in Gaza, with Hamas seeking to hide behind civilian populations and infrastructure and expose them to Israeli military action, as well as the lack of USG personnel on the ground in Gaza, it is difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents, the report states. Nevertheless, given Israels significant reliance on U.S.-made defense articles, it is reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm. Covering the period from the onset of hostilities with Hamas on October 7 to late April, the report does not conclude that Israel has impeded humanitarian aid to Gaza in contravention of U.S. statutes. We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance, the report said. Despite not finding Israel in violation of the memorandums terms, the report is critically vocal about the repercussions of Israels military actions. This critique comes at a time when U.S.-Israeli relations are already tense, following President Joe Bidens warning that he might limit weapon transfers if Israel initiates a significant offensive in Rafah. The reports ultimate conclusion is that Israels assurances under the national security memorandum are credible and reliable and will likely displease human rights and humanitarian groups. ALSO READ| Biden administration halts ammunition delivery to Israel, US officials say it is intentional No actions are mandated by the report for the Israeli government The US administration has generally refrained from supplying military support to Israel. However, Biden said in a CNN interview, I made it clear that if they go into Rafah they havent gone in Rafah yet if they go into Rafah, Im not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities that deal with that problem. The consequential report was declassified and sent to Capitol Hill on Friday afternoon, as mandated by a February national security memorandum, which President Biden issued amid pressure from Democratic legislators. This marks the first US governmental evaluation of Israels conduct during the seven-month conflict with Hamas in Gaza, which was triggered by the terror groups severe attack on October 7, resulting in over 34,000 fatalities and extensive destruction in the coastal region. The NYPD said it has spent more than $50 million on overtime pay as officers responded to the thousands of pro-Palestinian protests that have broken out across New York City since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, according to a report. The $53 million is part of a $168 million expenditure for unplanned police overtime since last July, Gothamist reported. NYPD officials told a City Council budget hearing Thursday that officers have racked up thousands of overtime hours because of the pro-Palestinian protests, with the department dishing out $5 million on OT between April 21 and May 7. That includes the time when the NYPD broke up encampments on the campuses of Columbia University and the City College of New York. Police officials defended the spending saying it was needed to quell the protests at the schools. When NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban was asked by council members whether the schools would reimburse the department, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters Michael Gerber said that's an issue it is "exploring." Dalton Fire District Annual Town Meeting May 14 DALTON, Mass. Fire District voters will decide on a proposed $3,524,680 budget for fiscal year 2025 at the upcoming annual district meeting. The meeting will take place at the Stationary Factory on Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. The annual election will be held on the same day, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the fire station. Offices up for election are one member of the Board of Water Commissioners for three years; one member of the Prudential Committee for three years; and one moderator and one auditor, each for one year. Water Commission incumbent Michael Kubicki is being challenged by Ken Sagendorph for the seat on the Water Commission. A number of the budget hikes are caused by increases outside the district's control, specifically insurance. Additional proposed increases relate to competitive wages and stipends, personnel and training, education and recertification, and building improvements, all of which aim to improve the district's Property Protection Classification. Throughout the budgeting process, Fire Chief Christian Tobin emphasized the need to communicate with voters so that they are informed why these increases are necessary to operate and improve safety in Dalton and the surrounding towns. The district held an information session in April to improve attendance at the annual meeting and communication with residents. During the meeting, Tobin clarified that the district is not part of the town, which is a common misconception. The Fire District provides residents with all-hazard mitigation, including fire, emergency medical services, rescue, hazardous material response, inspections, investigations, community education, permitting, and good intent assistance, among other services. The state does not consider the EMS service an essential service, so the town is not required to provide it. However, Tobin demonstrated that Dalton has a low tax rate compared to some other towns in the Berkshires. He also clarified that the town's tax rate is $17.01 per $1,000 of assessed property value, while the district is only $1.19 per $1,000. Great Barrington has a $1.79 tax rate but does not provide EMS services and has no 24/7 firefighters on duty; Dalton has eight, Tobin said. According to the Becket Ambulance's website, the company has an average of 250 runs yearly with its 24/7 365-day service. Dalton does four times that amount, and it keeps going up, Tobin said. Ambulance and fire have proposed a combined budget of $1,873,608, up approximately $360,000. In fiscal 2024, voters approved a $703,506 ambulance budget and a $597,837 Fire Department budget, for a total of $1,301,343. The department is also budgeting $15,000 for firefighter training and education, an increase of $8,500 from FY24. An additional $5,000 is budgeted for ambulance training and education, a decrease of $5,500 from last year. The department would like to invest in workspace improvements to meet Americans With Disabilities Act guidelines. The district would gradually bring the building "up to date to meet federal and state standards for community access," the budget presentation says. The department's proposed budget includes a new line item for $2,500 for building management and an additional $4,200 for radio maintenance, bringing the total radio maintenance cost to $10,000. These increases are part of the department's gradual efforts to meet the standards, training, education, and recertification. Firefighters need to receive state training to be interior firefighters, Tobin said during a previous Water Commissioners meeting. Tobin's plan focuses on staffing, professional development, and community outreach. This includes hiring two full-time equivalent firefighters to work during peak operation hours, which are between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. "[These additions are] in trying to meet the National Fire Protection Association minimal standards for staffing and trying to meet the [U.S.] Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements for firefighters on the ground," Tobin said during a previous Water Commission meeting. It will take two or three years to meet those standards, he said. Using run data, he found the busiest times are between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. when on-call firefighters are unavailable. The department responds to people-intensive emergencies such as vehicle accidents, heart attacks, and strokes. Tobin said it's not a total answer but should help 80 percent of the time. Throughout the budgeting process, Tobin emphasized that properly equipping, staffing, and training the town's fire department can save residents and businesses money because it improves the department's Insurance Services Office rating. The score reflects a community's preparedness for fires and focuses on local fire departments, water supply, and emergency communication systems. A good ISO score will result in lower insurance rates for their properties. The department last had an ISO rating over a decade ago, the chief said. Tobin has been working with the district to develop a three-year strategic plan that outlines its organization's challenges and opportunities and the anticipated strengths and weaknesses it will face over the next few years. As part of the strategic plan, the department must have a vision of who it is, what its purpose is, and how to align that purpose with serving the community, Tobin said. The district is there to minimize and mitigate risk in the community, and insurance companies are in the business of doing the same thing, he said during the information session. The fire and ambulance insurance line item is projected to increase by $105,875, bringing it to $436,561. The administration budget is proposing a 25.76 percent increase, bringing it to $166,396, a $34,081 increase from last year. The leading factor in the increase is the insurance line item, which is going up by 58.25 percent, or $15,679, to approximately $42,594. The administration budget also includes an additional $10,000 to cover the additional hours the office assistant has been working. In fiscal year 2024, the district budgeted $5,000 for an office assistant who works on call. She has been working more than anticipated to help with District Clerk and Treasurer Melanie Roucoule's workload. The proposed Water Department budget is mostly staying the same. It includes salary increases and insurance rate hikes. The district is projecting a budget of $830,918, a $125,077, or 17.72 percent increase from last year. The water department's insurance hikes are the driving force behind its increases. The district budgeted $240,050 for the department's insurance, a $60,116, or 116.16 percent increase from last year. Superintendent Bob Benlien is requesting a $30,000 line item for meters. The district will continue to budget for meters until all the meters have been changed. Benlien also requested a $10,000 increase for overtime, projected at $50,000. DEI Officer for Berkshire Health to Speak at BCC's 64th Commencement PITTSFIELD, Mass. Berkshire Community College will hold its 64th commencement ceremonies at Tanglewood in Lenox on Friday, May 31, at 4:30 p.m. The keynote speaker will be Charles Redd, a 1995 graduate of the college's nursing program. Redd, who went on to receive a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Elms College in 2014 and a master's degree in health care administration from Southern New Hampshire University in 2020, is the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officer at Berkshire Health Systems. "Charles is the embodiment of a BCC success story. He not only graduated from BCC and went on to get his master's degree, but he is now an invaluable addition to the BHS team and a pillar of his community," said BCC President Ellen Kennedy. "We are so proud to call him an alum." Redd joined the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), a voluntary school desegregation program, in the 1970s. As a result, he attended school on the South Shore in Scituate from sixth grade through high school graduation. The opportunity allowed him to learn about different cultures and realize that "people struggle everywhere." He lived with a host family with nine children. In February 1985, a cousin who was "like a brother" to Redd was killed in a gang shooting. Devastated, Redd moved out of Boston to the nearby suburb of Revere, where he worked as a nursing assistant. In 1987, acting on a leap of faith, he moved to Pittsfield. He considered going to school for respiratory therapy and decided to visit BCC. The idea of paying for school proved too difficult, so he joined the workforce instead. Things changed a few years later when his daughter was born. He enrolled at BCC, starting with classes in English and chemistry. He struggled, not yet realizing that he was dyslexic. In 1995, he graduated from the nursing program with honors something, he admits, he never thought he would do. As the first DEI officer at BHS, Redd is focused in his mission. "I talk first about community relationships, because I think as a health system, we need to build those bridges and relationships between us and the community," he says. Of the many ways Redd could choose to define his success, it is this: Once a year, a former patient of his sends him a text on the anniversary of their sobriety. "It's about making a difference in people's lives. We never know how we touch somebody in that moment, but people remember," he says. "It keeps you moving. It drives you." Before you can earn that success, Redd says, you have to take the leap. For those hesitant to enroll in college, he acknowledges, it is a big step especially for those who haven't been to school in a long time. "But I learned that experience is knowledge. Eighteen-year-old Charles would not have done well at BCC, but 26-year-old Charles thrived. If I went to a major university at that age, back then, I probably would've struggled." Redd says that without the support of his wife of 25 years, Erin, or his three children, Cassandra, Dakota and Anthony and his grandson Eli he wouldn't be the nurse he is today. Redd also credits his success to his mother Phyllis Redd King, who passed away in December, for raising him and his two younger brothers, Ken and Tracy, as a single parent in inner city Boston. "I never would have made it without her leadership and guidance and without the love and support of my brothers," he says. Speaking at BCC's commencement is a full-circle moment for Redd, who says, "I am honored. I never thought that when I graduated in 1995 I would be the keynote speaker 29 years later." Dalton Man Accused of Kidnapping, Shooting Pittsfield Man PITTSFIELD, Mass. A Dalton man was arrested on Thursday evening after allegedly kidnapping and shooting another man. Nicholas Lighten, 35, was arraigned in Central Berkshire District Court on Friday on multiple charges including kidnapping with a firearm and armed assault with intent to murder. He was booked in Dalton around 11:45 p.m. the previous night. There was heavy police presence Thursday night in the area of Lighten's East Housatonic Street home before his arrest. Shortly before 7 p.m., Dalton dispatch received a call from the Pittsfield Police Department requesting that an officer respond to Berkshire Medical Center. Adrian Mclaughlin of Pittsfield claimed that he was shot in the leg by Lighten after an altercation at the defendants home. Mclaughlin drove himself to the hospital and was treated and released with non-life-threatening injuries. "We were told that Lighten told Adrian to go down to his basement, where he told Adrian to get down on his knees and pulled out a chain," the police report reads. "We were told that throughout the struggle with Lighten, Adrian recalls three gunshots." Dalton PD was advised that Pittsfield had swabbed Mclaughlin for DNA because he reported biting Lighten. A bite mark was later found on Lighten's shoulder. Later that night, the victim reportedly was "certain, very certain" that Lighten was his assailant when shown a photo array at the hospital. According to Dalton Police, an officer was stationed near Lighten's house in an unmarked vehicle and instructed to call over the radio if he left the residence. The Berkshire County Special Response Team was also contacted. Lighten was under surveillance at his home from about 7:50 p.m. to about 8:40 p.m. when he left the property in a vehicle with Massachusetts plates. Another officer initiated a high-risk motor vehicle stop with the sergeant and response team just past Mill Street on West Housatonic Street, police said, and traffic was stopped on both sides of the road. He is charged with armed (firearm) kidnapping; armed assault to murder; carry of dangerous weapon (brass knuckles); assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; firearm discharge within 500 feet of a building; firearm violation with one prior violent drug crime; possession of a firearm without FID Card; possession of a firearm in felony, subsequent offense; possession of ammunition without an FID Card and Class B drug possession. Lighten is being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Wednesday, May 15. In the alternative, he will be held on $500,000 bail. Council President Peter White, left, is recognized for his local boosterism and Milltown Capital, represented by Andy Wrba, for its strong local partnerships. Incoming board President Chuck Leach, left, with Director Rebecca Brien and outgoing president, Brandon Huldeen. Mayor Peter Marchetti lauds the new festivals and events that are bringing people back to downtown. The annual meeting was held at the Berkshire Museum on Thursday. PreviousNext Downtown Pittsfield Inc. Celebrates a Bustling 2023 Downtown Pittsfield Inc. Director Rebecca Brien is credited with the vibrancy seen downtown, including 23 new businesses in the past year. PITTSFIELD, Mass. This past year has been a "whirlwind of activity" for Downtown Pittsfield Inc., according Director Rebecca Brien. DPI held its annual meeting at the Berkshire Museum on Thursday, touting the 17 businesses welcomed to the downtown in 2023 and six so far this year. In preparing for the event, Brien referred to her first project with the 230-member organization for inspiration: the strategic plan. "We envision downtown as a place that welcomes people, businesses, and events to join a diverse, vibrant, and bustling district. Our goal is to strengthen and promote our members through advocacy, collaboration, and celebration," she said. "It was then that I realized that in this past year, with support from our partners, our board, our members, and our community, that the DPI team has been every day doing just those things" She highlighted the recent myriad successful DPI events such as the Let It Shine! celebration of public art, the It's Alive! Halloween block party, the 10x10 Restaurant Week, and Downtown Celebrates Spring Week. "The Heart of the Berkshire's marketing is working this year. The Love Pittsfield Downtown and Beyond guidebooks have increased to 10,000 copies being printed because we ran out and they are getting distributed throughout the county," Brien added. "Our website is the hub for all news downtown and followers on our Facebook, Instagram, and the expanding DPI app grow every day. At this point, our weekly newsletter is so full that it may qualify as a small novel." Mayor Peter Marchetti pointed to the recently launched First Fridays at Five event in collaboration with DPI that combined the beloved Third Thursdays and First Fridays Artswalk events. "Downtown has been full of activity over the last year. Most recently we welcomed a new event First Fridays at Five. Even Mother Nature worked in our favor and gave us a beautiful evening to dance to Soul Magnets, to grab a dinner and a drink, experience a live creation of art view exhibits, and participate in family fun activities," he said. "I'm so proud of the city's collaboration with DPI on the successful evening for a new event and can't wait for the next one on June 7." Council President Peter White was honored with the Robert K. Quattrochi Downtown Person of the Year Award and Mill Town Capital was honored with the Downtown Pittsfield Community Award. White was recognized for his consistent promotion of city businesses, frequenting many downtown spots and posting about it on social media. In presenting him with the award, Hot Plate Brewery owner Sarah Real said he was a supporter before they even opened their doors. "He is a great human being. He walks the walk, talks the talk, walk it like he talk it, it and he is everywhere," she said. "And he really promotes Pittsfield and what we all have to offer." Marchetti said that through White, "we have witnessed the positive power of social media." "Thank you for giving us so many reasons to be proud of our downtown Pittsfield businesses and providing so many new and fun events to keep us busy," White said. "I work downtown and I know if we want places to succeed, we must all keep supporting them and spreading the word, whether in person or on social media, about how wonderful the downtown is." "I think honestly, from where I sit, I've been involved with DPI for probably six or seven years now, I think she's the best thing to happen to it." Some key areas he is focused on are the growth of the membership, economic activity, foot traffic in the downtown, and DPI programming. "Growth will be coupled, hopefully, with innovation, optimism, and energy," he said. The evening began with networking and refreshments in the museum's Ellen Crane Memorial Room and ended with more networking at 101 Restaurant and Bar. Close UK's Eurovision entry Olly Alexander breaks silence after Netherlands singer disqualified For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Reactions to the most chaotic Eurovision in history are pouring in after Switzerland act Nemo was crowned as this years winner. The 68th Eurovision Song Contest was held in Malmo, Sweden, with scores arriving from the 25 countries that performed in the final, and in the wake of behind-the-scenes chaos. Despite winning the contest, Nemo has not held back in their assessment of the organisers after it was revealed audience members were not permitted to bring non-binary flags into the arena. Meanwhile, Irish delegate Bambie Thug has tearfully accused organisers of not supporting them over a row with an Israeli broadcaster. Afterwards, they said their life is forever changed. Throughout the event, Pro-Palestine demonstrations took place outside the arena, with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg removed by police. Israels delegate Eden Golan performed early in the contest, with the BBCs Graham Norton remarking on the boos heard by the crowd. The UKs entry Olly Alexander received a rather low score for his song Dizzy, after Irelands Bambie Thug dazzled with Doomsday Blues, following speculation that they could pull out of the final after missing the dress rehearsal. Follow live updates below: For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Climate activist Geta Thunberg has been removed by Swedish police outside the Malmo arena where the Eurovision final is taking place. Thunberg, 21, had joined the Stop Israel march in Malmo where thousands continue to protest Israels inclusion in the competition over accusations the Israeli military was committing genocide in Gaza something it strongly denies. The activist was later pictured wearing a Keffiyeh scarf while being escorted away from the protest in moments before Saturday nights final kicked off. Follow The Independents live coverage of the competition here. Some protesters were reported to be chanting Shame on you at attendees arriving at the arena, as they continue to boycott this years competition for its inclusion of Israel. Israeli act Eden Golans song Hurricane was reworked from a previous track called October Rain, which was thought to be a reference to the Hamas attacks on Israel. Golan is taking part in the final after being successful at the semi-finals. It comes as Thunberg accused Israel of artwashing its reputation at the Eurovision Song Contest. Thunberg said: People from all over Sweden are gathering in Malmo this week, where Eurovision is taking place, to protest against Israels participation in the competition. Yesterday we were tens of thousands people flooding the streets of Malmo. We will not accept that a country currently committing genocide is allowed a platform to artwash themselves. open image in gallery Activist Greta Thunberg being removed from protests by Swedish police ( EPA ) The world cannot remain silent in a genocide. Everyone who can must use their voice and speak up against Israels crimes and occupation. The organisers behind Eurovision, the European Broadcasting Union, have repeatedly rejected calls to ban Israel from the contest amid its ongoing war on Gaza, where the death toll is believed to have reached as high as 35,000. Swedish police have estimated between 10,000 to 12,000 people have taken part in the protest march against Israels participation in the competition. Eurovisions announced ahead of the competition that they reserve the right to remove any Palestinian flags and pro-Palestine symbols at the show, as protests mount against Israels participation in the competition amid its war in Gaza. Last December, organisers of the event rejected calls for a boycott as they said it remains a non-political event. Organisers at Eurovision recently doubled down on their stance, saying that to exclude Israeli broadcaster Kan from the competition would have been a political decision. Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Drake has issued a plea to the media in the wake of what has been a controversial fortnight for the rapper. In the last few weeks, the Canadian star has made headlines for his feud with Kendrick Lamar , which saw the pair launch personal attacks against each other. Days later, a drive-by shooting occurred outside Drakes residence. On Tuesday (7 May), a security guard was shot in the chest, with officers finding him unconscious when they arrived at the scene. The guard is believed to have been standing outside the gates in front of the property when he was shot at around 2am. He was later transported to a local hospital with serious injuries. One suspect fled the scene in a vehicle, police said. Officials could not confirm whether Drake was home at the time of the shooting, but said that the rappers team is cooperating with the investigation. Days later, an intruder tried to break into Drakes mansion, with another spotted outside the residence hours later. The second intruder had an altercation with security guards and was taken to hospital with injuries that were serious, but not life-threatening. On Saturday (11 May), Toronto Police Service told TMZ a third intruder was escorted off the rappers property. Drake has now referenced the frenzied interest in his residence on Instagram via a post addressed to Canadian news organisation CP24. He wrote: Can we discuss the chopper flight times over the house 'cause I won't lie, I'm trying to sleep. Anytime after 3pm works great for me. Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up open image in gallery Drake issues plea to media on Instagram ( Instagram ) The incidents came 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. A rivalry between two of the worlds biggest rappers has simmered for years, flaring up again in recent weeks thanks to the surprise tracks. 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. open image in gallery Drakes mansion is the source of media interest ( Getty Images ) 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. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Actor Kevin Spacey claims film bosses are blocking his career over allegations made about him in a recent documentary. The Oscar-winning actor was last week forced to deny fresh allegations of inappropriate behaviour from men who featured in a two-part Channel 4 documentary Spacey Unmasked. It came after Mr Spacey was last year acquitted of a number of sexual offences alleged by four men in the UK to have taken place between 2001 and 2013. He said he had received a lot of support from the members of the public and some directors, producers and fellow actors had said yes to involving him in work. But someone in some office in some distribution company or network has said no, we cant buy a film with Kevin Spacey in it, he alleged in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. "An individual I have never met is deciding for the public except in a couple of cases that some people might be upset. You can Google anybodys name and somebody will have a problem with them. For its documentary, Channel 4 interviewed 10 men not involved in the 2023 criminal trial. open image in gallery Actor Kevin Spacey denies any wrongdoing ( PA ) Several men shared their experiences of Spacey in the documentary, with their testimonies spanning from the 1970s to the 2010s, in both the UK and the US. Mr Spacey denies any wrongdoing and 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. It was alleged that several acting offers for Mr Spacey could now be in jeopardy as a result of the documentary. Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free He also questioned why the industry has not been more welcoming towards him since his acquittal. I find it confusing that I am in an industry in which a great number of its most celebrated individuals spend a tremendous amount of time talking about how important redemption is and extend a remarkable path for people who served in prison and did their time," the 64-year-old said. We see so many people talk with so much empathy about how these individuals should be given a path back, and isnt it ironic and strange that the same path doesnt seem available if you are in the industry itself." The US star said those with right-wing views have shown him an enormous amount of support and offered him a path, in stark comparison with those of left-wing views. Mr Spacey was one of the most recognised faces in Hollywood when allegations of sexual misconduct were made in 2017, leading streaming giant Netflix to cut ties with the actor. A representative for Channel 4 has been contacted for comment. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies has killed off a fan favourite character in a move that might upset viewers. Davies, who spearheaded the long-running science-fiction shows revival in 2005, has returned as showrunner for what is expected to be miltiple new seasons. The acclaimed first two episodes of the new era are now available to stream on BBC iPlayer before being aired at 6.20pm on Saturday (11 May), in a move that controversially caters to US audiences for the first time New episodes are being led by Ncuti Gatwa, who made his debut at the end of a series of specials that welcomed back former Time Lord star David Tennant. At the end of the specials, Tennant regenerated into Gatwa but, this being Doctor Who, fans were hopeful that Tennant might return one day in the future. According to Davies, though, Tennant will absolutely never come back, with the writer sharing an off-screen conclusion to his version of the character. For fans of Tennants iteration of the character, its sad news. I think he died, Davies told The Times. Im going to start saying that. He went to Venice, 2063, when the city sank, and he went into a whirlpool, which is really sad. David is parked and retired and its all Ncutis show now. Genuinely. Not that David might be coming back hes absolutely not coming back. Davies also reflected on Whittakers tenure in the series, which was overseen by Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall. open image in gallery David Tennant will absolutely never return to Doctor Who ( BBC ) Whittaker was the first woman to play the role, and the three series and five specials she starred in are considered the shows most divisive since its 2005 revival. Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free After both Whittaker and Chibnall left, fans claimed that the show was in need of saving when Davies signed on to return and the writer has now addressed this belief. I know people were saying that and its not really fair for me to comment. But I loved Jodie. My friend Chris Chibnall was writing it. He suggested that public opinion of those series is more positive than what you would find online. I think were having to cope with an internet age in which fandom is very critical, but its not public opinion, he said. open image in gallery Jodie Whittaker in Doctor Who ( CASEY CRAFFORD/BBC AMERICA/BBC STUDIOS ) Earlier this year, Davies liked posts from angry Doctor Who fans concerning the release plans for the new series. When the return date was announced, it was revealed new episodes would debut at midnight on BBC iPlayer before airing in its usual time slot on a Saturday night. This move comes after the series struck a deal with Disney+, where new episodes will become available globally at the same time as the UK. While this is very good news for fans of the show outside of the UK, some viewers have been left saddened by the move as theyre concerned social media will be filled with spoilers. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Hours after Indias apex court granted bail to Delhis chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, the opposition leader launched an attack against the ruling Modi government, urging voters in the ongoing general election to bring an end to dictatorship. I have come to beg 1.4 billion people to save my country. Save my country from this dictatorship, Mr Kejriwal said at a press conference held a day after his release from jail. Mr Kejriwal, a key figure in the Indian opposition, and a vocal critic of prime minister Narendra Modi, became Indias first sitting chief minister to be arrested, a month before the countrys general elections started. The Delhi leader was arrested by Indias Enforcement Directorate (ED) the countrys main agency for fighting financial crimes over accusations that his party and state ministers accepted 1bn Indian rupees (9.5m) in bribes from liquor contractors some two years ago. His arrest, along with three other top leaders of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was widely seen as politically motivated, with the US state department and Germany calling on India to follow due process. This was an attempt by them to crush us. PM Modi wants to crush AAP because he knows that we can bring about a bright future for the country, Mr Kejriwal said. Arvind Kejriwal addresses his supporters and party members upon his release from the prison ( Getty ) However, the Modi-led government has denied using agencies under its control to harass political opponents. The ED opposed granting Mr Kejriwal bail, saying any special concession to him will amount to anathema to the rule of law and equality. But the countrys supreme court granted Mr Kejriwal temporary bail to campaign in the ongoing election, with the results set to be announced on 4 June. However, the apex court ruled that he could not take part in official duties during these 22 days. Hours After Release Arvind Kejriwal Goes to Hanuman Mandir, Delivers Daring Speech Against Modi Meanwhile, Mr Modi, who has been in power for a decade, is seeking a third straight term and faces a weakened coalition, including the main opposition Congress party and its regional allies. On Saturday, the Delhi leader accused Mr Modi of crushing the opposition and bringing about dictatorship in the country. Modi ji has a very dangerous mission One Nation One Leader. They will send all the opposition leaders to jail and manage all other BJP leaders and undercut them, Mr Kejriwal said. (The BJP is Mr Modis party). If they win the elections, they will change the UP [Uttar Pradesh] chief minister Yogi Adityanath in two months. They have tried to end all the popular leaders in their party, he said. He reiterated his partys campaign promise that if INDIA (the coalition of which AAP is part) won, then Delhi would get full statehood. The INDIA alliance was formed last year by 26 Indian opposition parties, which joined forces to take on Mr Modi in the 2024 elections. It is my assessment that BJP is not forming the government on 4 June. My assessment says BJP is getting 220-230 seats. The INDIA bloc will form the government, and AAP will be part of that government, the Delhi leader said. We will give full statehood to Delhi. Delhi will have a peoples governor, not a man from Gujarat, he added. The freed politician puts on a turban during a press conference at party HQ in New Delhi, a day after his release ( Getty ) Mr Kejriwal also asked whether the BJP would live up to its internal rule of retirement at 75, enacted by Mr Modi. I ask BJP, who is going to be your PM? He is turning 75 next September. He is the one who made the rule that those who turn 75 had to retire. He has to retire next year. I ask BJP, who is your PM pick? the AAP leader asked. Who will fulfil Modis guarantee? Will Amit Shah do it? When you go out to vote, remember, you are not voting for Amit Shah, not for Modi, he said. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Watch as thousands of people protest against Israels Eurovision entry ahead of Saturdays final in Malmo tonight (11 May). Israels Eden Golan place in the competiton has been mired in controversy as protests have taken place across Sweden in the lead-up to the contest. On Thursday ahead of the semi-final where Golan qualified, Greta Thunberg joined pro-Palestinian protesters on the streets of Malmo. The 21-year-old Swedish activist claimed on social media that Israel is trying to artwash the contest, referencing the use of artistic performance to distract from perceived negative actions, and accusing the country of genocide in the Gaza strip. Israel has strongly denied any accusations of genocide and maintained it has the right to defend itself following the attacks launched by Hamas in October that saw more than 1,000 Israelis killed and kidnapped. Earlier on Saturday, Dutch act Joost Klein was disqualified from the grand final following a Swedish police investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour, the European Broadcasting Union said. Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - Two arson attacks and growing protests forced UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA to temporarily close its office in East Jerusalem this week, but its vital work will continue as war rages in Gaza and violence rises in the West Bank, Senior Communications Manager Jonathan Fowler told UN News on Friday For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Iran's hard-liners won most of the remaining seats in an election run-off to give them full control over the country's parliament, authorities said Saturday, while not sharing any details on the turnout. The result, and that of the previous vote in March, gives hard-liners 233 of the 290 seats in Iran's parliament, according to an Associated Press tally. Hard-liners seek more cultural and social restrictions based on Islamic sharia, including demanding that women wear the Islamic veil in public. They also express enmity toward the West, particularly the United States. Those politicians calling for change in the countrys government, known broadly as reformists, were generally barred from running in the election. Those calling for radical reforms or for abandoning Irans theocratic system were also banned or didnt bother to register as candidates. Vote counting began after the ballots closed late Friday, with the election authority publishing the names of the winners the day after. Interior minister Ahmad Vahidi said Saturday the election saw good participation, without elaborating. All elected people have had a relatively good and acceptable" number of votes, he said. The result requires approval by a constitutional watchdog. It is expected next week. The new parliament will begin its job on May 27. The parliament in Iran plays a secondary role in governing the country though it can intensify pressure on the administration when deciding on the annual budget and other important bills. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say in all important state matters. In March, a total of 25 million ballots were cast, for a turnout of just under 41%, the lowest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought Islamists to power. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The widow of a man who died after his Tesla veered off the road and crashed into a tree while he was using its partially automated driving system is suing the carmaker, claiming its marketing of the technology is dangerously misleading. The Autopilot system prevented Hans Von Ohain from being able to keep his Model 3 Tesla on a Colorado road in 2022, according to the lawsuit filed by Nora Bass in state court on May 3. Von Ohain died after the car hit a tree and burst into flames, but a passenger was able to escape, the suit says. Von Ohain was intoxicated at the time of the crash, according to a Colorado State Patrol report. He was three times the legal limit according to analysis of his blood-alcohol level in the autopsy report, according to the Denver Post. This image provided by Colorado State Patrol shows a Tesla Model 3 that crashed on May 16, 2022 in Clear Creek County, Colorado ( Colorado State Patrol via AP ) The Associated Press sent an email to Tesla's communications department seeking comment on Friday. Tesla offers two partially automated systems, Autopilot and a more sophisticated Full Self Driving, but the company says neither can drive itself, despite their names. The lawsuit, which was also filed on behalf of the only child of Von Ohain and Bass, alleges that Tesla, facing financial pressures, released its Autopilot system before it was ready to be used in the real world. It also claims the company has had a reckless disregard for consumer safety and truth," citing a 2016 promotional video. By showcasing a Tesla vehicle navigating traffic without any hands on the steering wheel, Tesla irresponsibly misled consumers into believing that their vehicles possessed capabilities far beyond reality, it said of the video. This image provided by Colorado State Patrol shows a Tesla Model 3 that crashed on May 16, 2022 in Clear Creek County, Colo. The widow of a man who died after his Tesla veered off the road and crashed into a tree while he was using its partially automated driving system in Colorado in 2022 is suing the car maker Last month, Tesla paid an undisclosed amount of money to settle a separate lawsuit that made similar claims, brought by the family of a Silicon Valley engineer who died in a 2018 crash while using Autopilot. Walter Huang's Model X veered out of its lane and began to accelerate before barreling into a concrete barrier located at an intersection on a busy highway in Mountain View, California. Evidence indicated that Huang was playing a video game on his iPhone when he crashed into the barrier on March 23, 2018. But his family claimed Autopilot was promoted in a way that caused vehicle owners to believe they didnt have to remain vigilant while they were behind the wheel. U.S. auto safety regulators pressured Tesla into recalling more than 2 million vehicles in December to fix a defective system thats supposed to make sure drivers pay attention when using Autopilot. In a letter to Tesla posted on the agencys website this week, U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigators wrote that they could not find any difference in the warning software issued after the recall and the software that existed before it. The agency says Tesla has reported 20 more crashes involving Autopilot since the recall. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A man has been charged with murder after a woman was stabbed to death in broad daylight on a busy road in north London. Jalal Debella, 22, was due to appear at Willesden Magistrates Court on Saturday charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon. He was arrested in the Colindale area on Thursday, 9 May. Police were called to reports of a stabbing on Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware, at about 11.50am on Thursday. Ambulance crews and police attended and a woman aged 66, who has not yet been named, was found suffering from stab wounds. She was treated by paramedics but died at the scene. The Met said following the stabbing there would be an increased police presence in the area over the coming days to reassure locals. There were 244 murders involving a knife or sharp instrument in England and Wales in the 12 months to March 2023, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows. Some 78 of the victims were people under the age of 25. Overall crime involving a knife or sharp object is on the up. ONS data published last month showed there were 49,489 of these types of offences recorded by police between January 2023 and December 2023 - an increase of 7 per cent on the previous year. The ONS said there was a noticeable increase of 20 per cent in the number of robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument. West Midlands was the policing area with the highest amount of these types of offences at 180 per 100,000 of population. The Met, which covers most of London, was second with 165 offences per 100,000 of the population. Cleveland, the policing area covering Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool and Redcar was third with 143. Anyone with information that could assist police with the Edgware murder investigation is urged to contact the Met, quoting reference CAD3105/9May. Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously and free on 0800 555 111. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A fraudster whose marriage broke down spiralled into a gruesome, lucrative addiction to extreme body modifications that has now ended in him being jailed for life. Marius Gustavson, who already had two previous fraud convictions in his native Norway, descended into a subculture centred around male castration, penis removal and other grisly procedures as he sought empowerment at the end of his 11-year marriage in 2016. Five years on, a court heard, the 46-year-old had become the mastermind of a large scale and extremely dangerous enterprise, involving the sharing of sick footage of amputations carried out in peoples homes as well as the trade of trophy body parts, some of which he stored in his freezer. A knife used by Damien Byrnes, 36, from Tottenham, to remove Gustavsons penis ( Metropolitan Police/PA Wire ) Gustavsons Eunuch Maker pay-per-view website was operating on an unprecedented scale, with a staggering 22,841 registered users, and raking in almost 300,000 between 2017 and 2021 the year he, the ringleader, and some of his acolytes were arrested, and the site shut down. At the Old Bailey on Thursday, Gustavson, of Haringey, north London, who had previously admitted charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years. Sentencing Gustavson and six other men who had admitted their part in the conspiracy, HHJ Mark Lucraft KC said their grisly and gruesome actions amounted to little more than human butchery in some cases, and concluded that all were motivated by a mix of sexual gratification as well as financial reward. Gustavson had not participated in any body modification before the end of his marriage, Rashvinderjeet Panesar, defending him, previously told the court. It had kept him stable, and its breakdown was a trigger for his extreme activities. Ashley Williams, 32, of Newport, Gwent, was jailed for four years and six months ( Metropolitan Police/PA Wire ) When it came to an end it sent him into a spiral, Mr Panesar said. He had a desire to be the architect of his own body. His modification led him to feelings of empowerment. It appears at face value to be something thats become an addiction for him. The lawyer said Gustavson had also been diagnosed with body identity integrity disorder, which accounted for his desire to have body parts removed. Extreme body modification is linked to a subculture where men become nullos, short for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed. Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said Gustavson was linked to at least 29 procedures: There is also, we say, clear evidence of cannibalism. Peter Wates, 67, of Purley, Surrey, a retired former member of the Royal Society of Chemists, was sentenced to 12 years in prison ( Metropolitan Police/PA Wire ) According to court documents, body parts were put up for auction online with a buy it now button. Subscribers paid to access videos on the Eunuch Maker website, which operated in plain sight, not on the dark web, with varying levels of membership from free to VIP, which cost 100. Ms Carberry said the defendants employed a wide variety of tools such as clamps used for animal castration. The court heard Gustavson offered to sell the severed penis of one of his victims for hundreds of pounds. His arrest came after he used a red hot iron to brand a mans calf with the letters EM for Eunuch Maker. In a victim impact statement, the man who complained to police, described Gustavson as a lunatic who had put together a slick, professional website. There were 13 victims of the conspiracy overall, the youngest of whom was 16 years old. Stefan Scharf, 61, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four years and six months in jail ( Metropolitan Police/PA Wire ) The police investigation led to the arrest of 10 men in London, Scotland and South Wales. During raids, officers found Gustavsons penis in a drawer in his home four years after it had been amputated. Gustavson also had to have his leg amputated in February 2019 after getting a man to freeze it, and claimed 18,000 in disability payments up until 2021. Gustavson now wishes to return to his native Norway, where he believes his views are more likely to be accepted, Mr Panesar told the court. He had moved to the UK from Norway in 2012, having already been convicted twice of fraud offences. David Carruthers, 61, of Newport, Gwent, was jailed for 11 years ( Metropolitan Police/PA Wire ) Gustavson pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm, five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of making an indecent photograph of a child, one count of distributing an indecent photograph of a child and possession of criminal property contrary to Section 329(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The other six defendants had admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. Peter Wates, 67, of Purley, Surrey, a retired former member of the Royal Society of Chemists, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Janus Atkin, 38, of Newport, Gwent, who had been completing a veterinary course, was jailed for 12 years. Ion Ciucur, 30, of Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, was sentenced to five years and eight months ( Metropolitan Police/PA Wire ) Ion Ciucur, 30, of Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, received five years and eight months imprisonment, and Stefan Scharf, 61, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail. David Carruthers 61, and Ashley Williams, 32, of Newport, Gwent, were jailed for 11 years and four years, six months respectively. In January, three men were sentenced after admitting causing grievous bodily harm to Gustavson. Janus Atkin, 38, of Newport, Gwent, who had been completing a veterinary course, was jailed for 12 years ( Metropolitan Police/PA Wire ) Damien Byrnes, 36, from north London, was jailed for five years for removing Gustavsons penis with a kitchen knife on video at his home on 18 February 2017. Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 23, from Epsom in Surrey, was jailed for three years and eight months for freezing Gustavsons leg leading to the need for it to be amputated in February 2019. Nurse Nathan Arnold, 48, from South Kensington, west London, received a two-year suspended sentence for the partial removal of Gustavsons nipple with a scalpel in the summer of 2019. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Vapes laced with spice are being used to spike people in what police have labelled a very dangerous new threat. The Metropolitan Police issued a fresh warning over the devices at an event about tackling spiking this month as reports increased by 13 per cent in 2023, with the number of allegations made reaching 1,383. As vapes surge in popularity, the force revealed it is increasingly common across devices that contain chemicals other than nicotine, including THC, the psychoactive found in cannabis, and spice, the street name for the class of drugs known as synthetic cannabinoids. The latter are substances made in labs designed to mimic the effects of cannabis, which can cause chest pains, seizures, extreme anxiety and suicidal thoughts. They have been widely consumed in UK prisons for more than a decade, while The Independent revealed earlier this year that schoolchildren were being offered vapes spiked with spice that were being distributed via Snapchat. The Metropolitan Police this month issued its fresh warning over the devices at an event as 900,000 people across the UK were survivors of spiking last year ( MBI/Alamy/PA ) Speaking to reporters at Scotland Yard, Met forensic consultant and national lead for Operation Lester Dean Ames warned: Many of you are aware of the rise of vapes. They are very much a new threat. They should contain nicotine, but they do contain THC and more recently weve seen vapes that contain what is colloquially known as spice. People could be offered a vape not knowing what theyre about to inhale. Vapes are very dangerous. The force revealed it had discovered more than 100 different types of drugs being used to spike people in the capital within the last three years. Following the surge in spiking cases reported in freshers week at UK universities in 2021, which included the use of needles, Mr Ames said it developed a quicker testing service that revealed the sheer variety of chemicals being used by perpetrators, from prescription to street drugs. Operation Lester was also established in 2021 to coordinate the police response to spiking across the country, a crime described by detective chief superintendent Angela Craggs as very complex to investigate. Some drugs used for spiking leave the body in less than 12 hours, so police say early reporting gives them the best opportunity to investigate what has happened. More than 100 different types of drugs have been used to spike people in London within the last three years ( PA Archive ) DCS Craggs said an average of 114 spiking allegations are made in the capital every month, with 60 per cent by women, while only 70 arrests were made in the whole of 2023 and the Met believes it is being hugely underreported. Deputy assistant commissioner for local policing Helen Millichap, who is the Mets lead for violence against women and girls, said: Our data is only as good as people feeling confident in venues and venues being really encouraging in calling the police and trusting that we will do everything possible to help somebody in these circumstances. Ms Millichap admitted the force understands and accepts the reasons victims might not report getting spiked to the police. She said: They might not want to call us. We understand that, we understand the complex reasons behind that, we accept that. According to a Drinkaware survey of 10,000 respondents last year, Karen Tyrell, the charitys CEO, said 2 per cent reported having been a victim of spiking over the previous 12 months, equivalent to 900,000 people across the UK. Ms Tyrell added that gender and sexual minorities are almost twice as likely to be victims. However, Dawn Dines, the CEO and founder of Stamp Out Spiking, said a national poll conducted by her charity found 97 per cent of survivors did not report getting spiked to the police. When we delved into that to find out why, Ms Dines said. They were ashamed, they were embarrassed, some of them who did report it were accused of being drunk so obviously that put them off a bit. Weve also got recreational drug users who are also obviously frightened to come forward. There was an increase in spiking cases reported in freshers week at UK universities in 2021 ( Getty Images/iStockphoto ) Rosie Smith, who was studying at the University of Manchester at the time, previously told The Independent she was spiked at a nightclub while visiting her sister in Durham in October 2022. The 20-year-old said: After only two drinks I lost all control of my limbs and ability to talk. I was trapped within my own body and left powerless. My mental health was dramatically impacted after I was spiked and I didnt report the incident to the police due to many other students I know not being believed or being turned away. Spiking is a terrifying and sadly prevalent crime which has a long-lasting impact on the victim, family and friends. Ms Tyrell said a non-judgemental culture, such as advice and attitudes, is key to combatting spiking, including in encouraging survivors to make a report to the police. Its really important not to underestimate how terrifying it can feel for people, she said. Making sure as a society that were bringing this conversation out into the public having these open conversations is important as step one. A spiking incident can be reported anonymously and on behalf of someone at Report Spiking Metropolitan Police, with no time limit. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A police dog helped solve the murder of a drug dealer who was stabbed multiple times by a gang during a raid on his home for drugs and money. Monty found 8,000 in cash hidden in the headboard of a bed belonging to 30-year-old Olsi Kuka, who died in the incident at his north London home in May 2022. The discovery of the money, described as vital evidence, was used to convict five men, who had failed to find the cash hidden in the headboard of a bed during the raid. Chief Inspector Neil Rawlinson said.The violence used in this attack was calculated, vicious and unrelenting. The five men had planned to rob Olsi and were prepared to use any force necessary in order to get what they wanted. We are thankful for the work of our police dog Monty, who was able to find vital evidence that helped secure a successful conviction Olsi Kuka was found in his bed with multiple stab wounds (Metropolitan Police/PA) ( PA Media ) During a trial at the Old Bailey, a jury heard the group all travelled to Mr Kukas home address shortly before 3am on 11 May 2022. Wearing Covid masks, they were split into two Mercedes cars that parked outside before the group forced entry into the flat and attacked Olsi, stabbing him numerous times. They then ransacked his flat, searching for drugs and money they believed Olsi had in his property - but missed the crucial 8,000 in cash. The victims cousin, Alush Kuka, who was living in the flat in Whetstone, north London, was also injured during the frenzied attack. A post mortem examination concluded that Mr Kukas stab wounds had been caused by at least two different knives. There were also four metal ball-bearings found in his scalp consistent with being shot by an air weapon. Reuben Bernard, 19, of Wootton, Northampton, was convicted of murder last year. Daige Ramsey, 25, of Winchester Road, east London and Santana Thompson, 21, of Aldriche Way, Waltham Forest were convicted of manslaughter last week at the Old Bailey. Ozan Seran, 28, of no fixed address, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Bulent Bakir, 27, of Old Road, Enfield, was convicted of conspiracy to rob. All five will be sentenced at a later date. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The man behind the white/gold-blue/black dress that broke the internet has pleaded guilty to endangering his wifes life, and admitted to strangling her. Keir Johnston, 38, appeared at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday, where he pleaded guilty to a terrifying attack on his wife, Grace Johnston, that left her fearing for her life, but alive, according to The Daily Record. Johnston, from the Isle of Colonsay, off the west coast of Scotland, was remanded in custody until his sentence next month, scheduled for 6 June. Johnston received global attention for #TheDress after an image of his mother-in-laws dress during his wedding in 2015 was shared online by a guest at the event. The debate over the dresss true colours black and blue or white and gold broke the internet, headlines said at the time and drew thousands of comments including from celebrities. Reality star Kim Kardashian posted that she had argued about it with her then-husband, Kanye West. The photo dress posted on social media divided opinion as to whether it was white/gold, or black/blue ( Swiked / Tumblr ) Ellen DeGeneres invited the Johnstons onto her talk show, where they were given $10,000 and a trip to Grenada. This week, the Scottish court heard that behind closed doors Johnston left his wife fearing for her life, and had a history of domestic abuse towards her. Chris Macintosh, prosecutor for the Crown, told Lady Drummond and the court how Grace lived in fear of her abusive husband, The Record reported. There is no permanent police presence on the island, and she was in a situation where she felt trapped, he said. The court heard that Ms Johnston had once refused her husbands demands not to attend a job interview on the mainland. Days later he told her he was leaving her before the pair got into an altercation where Johnston grabbed his wife and threw her to the ground. Johnston woke up and said that he was going to leave her. She went outside the property to stop him leaving. He followed her and pinned her to the ground, Mr Macintosh said, according to The Record. Keir Johnston, pictured left during a talk show appearance in 2015, admitted to strangling his wife Grace Johnston, right, during a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday ( The Ellen Show/YouTube ) He placed both knees on her arms, so she was unable to move. He then began strangling her with both his hands. She was initially able to scream and feared for her life and believed Johnston intended to kill her as he was very forceful, Mr Macintosh said that despite suffering severe bruising, Ms Johnston did not require medical treatment. Lawyers for Johnston said he had accepted responsibility for the assault. Lady Drummond denied Johnston bail and placed him in custody, telling him: I have no need to tell you that this is a serious and violent offence. You repeatedly strangled her, injured her and put her life in danger in what must have been absolutely terrifying circumstances for her. I am afraid, Mr Johnston, that your status has now changed, you have been convicted of a very serious crime and you will be remanded meantime. It is unclear whether the Johnstons have separated following the incident. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Parents have been encouraged to apply soon to claim free childcare for their children as the government rolls out new entitlements this year. From May 12, working parents of children 9 months and older will be able to apply for 15 hours a week of free childcare. This brings the age of eligible children down even further, with entitlement for two-year-olds beginning last month. The Department for Education (DfE) has said parents should act now to secure a place for September as a small number of providers will have waiting lists of over six months. They recommend reaching out to your preferred provider as soon as possible. The deadline to apply for the first round of free childcare for children aged nine months is August 31. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: This government has a track record of transforming childcare, with the offer of 30 hours for 3 and 4-year-olds for eligible working parents introduced in 2017. We are now going further, giving hard-working parents of under threes the certainty they deserve to balance growing their families with a successful and rewarding career, saving parents up to an average of 6,900 a year for the full 30 hours. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said parents will be saved up to an average of 6900 ( PA Wire ) How do I apply for free childcare? To apply for free childcare, you and your child must meet certain eligibility criteria. The number of hours of free childcare you can get will vary depending on the age of your child. If your child is nine months old, you can get up to 15 hours of free childcare. If youR child will be aged between 9 and 23 months old on 31 August, you can apply from 12 May. If your child is two, you can get up to 15 hours of free childcare. You can apply from when your child is one year and 36 weeks. If they are aged three to four, you can get up to 30 hours, and you can apply from when your child is two years and 36 weeks. When you apply, youll receive a code to give to your childcare provider. You must renew your code every three months to confirm your eligibility. Will there be enough childcare places? There has been some concern from childcare providers that the government expansion of free childcare will exceed the sectors current capacity. The DfE has estimated that around 85,000 more childcare places and 40,000 extra staff will be needed by September 2025. The department says it will invest 400 million in 2024-25 to ensure services run properly. However, a report earlier this year by the Early Years Alliance discovered that 55 per cent of all childcare services have no places available and also have a waiting list. Neil Leitch, chief executive of the charity, said the research should send alarm bells ringing among ministers. For details on how to apply and eligibilty for free childcare, visit the governments website. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Its a moment that in the current mood could have quickly turned ugly. Outside Oxfords Sheldonian Theatre, as 200 student protesters group together for a rally and fill the area with chants such as Palestine will live forever, an Israeli flag unfurls in the crowd. The blue Star of David waves in the breeze as observers quickly look to its bearer, Israeli politician Sharren Haskel, who smiles confidently for photographs and video taken by her aides. The bold move by the member of the opposition party New Hope shocks those within eyeshot, including nearby police officers, but clearly none knows who the smartly dressed politician is. And just as well, for her comments to us calling the protesters idiots as she says she is standing up for intimidated Jewish students threaten to quickly turn the mood of the until now peaceful event. But with the crowd beginning to gather around, shes quickly whisked away. Just a five-minute walk from the rally, students at Oxford University are in the third day of their so-called liberation zone encampment on the lawn outside the citys Natural History Museum. Banners on the walls around the lawn in front of Oxford Universitys Natural History Museum ( The Independent ) Around 40 tents covered with flags and handwritten signs are dotted among the casts of fossilised prints of a megalosaurus dinosaur. Cardboard, wood and even carpet have been laid out to provide a frowzy walkway separating the tents from zones that include a library and study, a canteen serving donated food and a media area. Theres even a tent for sun cream. There are activities with a busy hour-by-hour programme featuring a morning forum entitled Democracy and an afternoon talk called The Great Uprising of the Arab Revolt. Its got a festival vibe, but make no mistake, its also ruthlessly organised and self-policed. As we head through the only entrance, one student with their face covered with a surgical mask calls over to us: Are you here for the camp? Standing under the shade of a canopy with a handwritten welcome sign above it, protesters are busy bringing aboard new participants, while also dealing with a stream of journalists. We dont like the Daily Mail, says one as I enquire if everyone is allowed in after providing my own credentials. Independent? We saw a piece you guys ran a few days ago, she says. A woman on the speaker reminds people to stay hydrated to avoid any more emergencies ( The Independent ) And that is enough to gain entry as we are then led on a tour of the makeshift camp in which the students, most of them masked due to security concerns, appear relaxed amid the upturn in the weather. A protester picks up a microphone. Your daily news from Gaza, he says, before providing a few hand-picked headlines about the conflict almost 3,000 miles away. Another person then picks up the mic to remind people to stay hydrated. Dealing with one emergency was enough, she said, as the camp cant afford to deal with medical emergencies in camp. We intend to stay here for as long as were able to put pressure on the university through this action, says Amy Tess, who reads off a list of demands including Oxford overhauling its investment policy, boycotting Israeli genocide, apartheid and occupation and divesting from military firms. And if it becomes time for us to maybe do something else as well, we absolutely have the numbers and the support for it, she says. So we will keep taking action until the university meets our demands. But so far, as students freely admit, theres been little response from the university, or the police. In a statement issued to us, a spokesperson for the university said it respected the right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests. We were told by police on the ground that despite efforts to talk to the protesters, they had been unable to engage. Cardboard and wood are laid down for a footway over the sodden ground, after rainfall earlier this week ( The Independent ) Pressure is growing on Oxford University, along with other universities where similar protests are taking place, as Rishi Sunak called on them to remain bastions of tolerance while discussing combating antisemitism and keeping Jewish students safe. Edward Isaacs, president of the Union of Jewish Students, claims the political statements at such protests are direct calls for violence. But back at the camp, Amy Tess insists there is no intimidation of Jewish students, and that the movement has support from all religions. They also claim to have strong support from those in the colleges, with more than 300 faculty and staff signing a letter of backing. One Jewish student who did not wish to be named tells us he does not feel intimidated, but rather uncomfortable about what his friends taking part in the protests now thought of him. The fact that the prime minister made that comment [on concerns over a rise in antisemitism from university protests] and wanted to raise such an alarm about this issue shows how much he is trying to distract from the real issue at hand, Amy Tess says. The reality is that we have Jews, we have Christians, we have Muslims, we have atheists, we have everybody at this encampment saying no to genocide; it really should not be a controversial issue for universities to not be profiting off of weapons investments, it really shouldn't be. Honestly, if we want to talk about feeling unsafe, I am very, very focused on the millions of people who are about to die. Israeli MP Sharren Haskel speaking to The Independent after appearing outside the demonstration ( The Independent ) Were next introduced to Sam, a 19-year-old politics and philosophy student from Tunbridge Wells. Wearing a keffiyeh scarf, he laughs when we ask about the sleeping conditions. Ive done DoE [Duke of Edinburgh], so I actually like the camping, he says. He has exams in four weeks and I ask if the protest will get in the way. I think the scope of this issue far outstretches whether or not I get a first or second, he says. I think if I were to look back this point in time, and I thought to myself, what was I doing? Was I focusing on doing slightly better on an essay that doesn't really have much bearing on anything, or was I taking part in a movement trying to stop the genocide? As global media attention intensifies on the protest in Oxford, media reports suggest students taking part have signed a pro-Palestinian manifesto that upholds the Thawabit, a set of demands laid down by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in the 1970s. Organisers would not show us the form. But we saw a shared version, which appeared to show members agreeing to call for making Jerusalem the capital of Palestine. Protesters chant slogans outside the Sheldonian Theatre, as the vice-chancellor of Oxford University attended a ceremony ( The Independent ) When asked about this, Sam says the Thawabit provides the principles of our camp, adding it includes a restructuring of Palestine with Palestinians having Jerusalem as their capital again. The protest in Oxford began at the same time as one in Cambridge, where students are encamped in some 40 tents outside Kings College. Outside the nearly 600-year-old college, Palestine flags drape the walls along with sheets of fabric repurposed as banners to display messages. At the entrance, a chalkboard beside a marquee sets out a timetable for the day, with events such as a kite-making workshop along with a rally and walk to deliver demands. Music plays from speakers inside, and protesters are offered free hot meals and drinks. A final year PhD student says: We think its absolutely disgusting that the university does not disclose all of its research collaborations and financial ties with companies and institutions complicit in Israels genocide. As in Oxford, the university has not sought to remove students from the encampment, and has issued a statement saying it is committed to freedom of speech within the law. However, a Jewish fourth-year student, who was not participating in the protests, told The Independent he felt threatened by some of the messages displayed on banners at the encampment. One read: From Cambridge to Gaza, intifada. The word intifada is believed here to refer to the two uprisings of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza (1987-1993 and 2000-20005) that aimed to end Israels military occupation of the territories. The student said: Im not sure people have properly contemplated the meanings of these things that theyre shouting and writing. Im worried antisemitism will only rise if these chants dont stop. The organisers of the encampment, however, insist they have a zero-tolerance policy towards antisemitism. Back in Oxford, the chilled-out vibe on camp continues into lunchtime. Many sit on the ground studying on their laptops, others make signs, help bring in supplies or simply take cover from the sun in a tent. An aromatic stew is served from the canteen tent where opened packets of biscuits and chocolates lie on the table for people to help themselves. The still is only broken by pro-Palestinian chants delivered intermittently over the microphone. After lunch, the camp starts emptying as protesters file out for the rally outside the Sheldonian Theatre, where Oxford Universitys vice-chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, is honouring staff members for achievements in a special ceremony. "We think its frankly absurd to be having a celebration at a time like this when all eyes are on Rafah, says Amy Tess. No one emerges from the theatre to talk to the protesters. Later, we catch up with Ms Haskel, the Israeli politician, who says she was on her way to talk to students when she encountered the event. The flag, she says, came from the bag of one of her delegates. Appearing on Israels i24News afterwards, the former soldier, who is in the UK to discuss the threat of Iran to politicians, laughs as she reflects on feeling uncomfortable during the confrontation, adding I felt a sense of mission to raise my head. Oxford is different to London, Ireland and America, she says. But her actions are perhaps an indication of the fragile tensions at university protests, with many hoping for no repeat of the trouble on campuses in the US two weeks ago. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Akshata Murty has revealed that she no longer reads the news, as it has become so much more personal. As the wife of Rishi Sunak, she has found that she and her husband are in the spotlight not just for his political decisions, but every aspect of his life. Bemused by the interest in his Adidas Samba trainers, she told The Times: I had no clue. Rishi has always worn Sambas. You kind of have to live your life and not let it consume you. I try not to [read the news] now because it is so much more personal. Ms Murty, 44, is the multimillionaire daughter of one of Indias richest businessmen and managed to stay out of the public eye until The Independent revealed she had been avoiding tax by claiming non-dom status while her husband was chancellor. She later agreed to pay UK tax on her overseas income. She and her husband also came under fire over her stake in Koru Kids after Mr Sunak failed to declare her involvement in the childcare agency that benefited from the Budget in 2023. Mr Sunak and Ms Murty in their flat in 10 Downing Street ( Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street ) Her choice of fashion has also raised eyebrows in the past, including when she wore a pair of Gucci shoes costing 645 on the campaign trail in the run-up to the local elections. In her first solo interview since the non-dom row, she described her passions since moving into Downing Street. She has set up Lessons at 10, a weekly session with youngsters from all over the country to learn about everything from beauty to business. More than 1,000 pupils from schools across the country have taken part in the classes, learning about cooking, coding and chemistry and also taking part in drama inside one of the most famous buildings in the world. Unlike in the US, where the presidents wife is known as the first lady, there is no official title for the wife of the prime minister. They also have no structured role under the constitution but sometimes accompany the PM on official engagements. My view is, in what small way can I add value, not just by supporting Rishi, but what I can do thats worthwhile while living here? Ms Murty said. Education is one area that has always been meaningful to me. Ms Murty canvassing in Chelsea with her husband ( Conservative Party ) Ms Murty, who divides her time with the couples two daughters between London and their Yorkshire constituency, said the family like to play games such as Catan and Uno, rather than watching television, She said she tries to stay apolitical while delivering the lessons, which she said helps to keep her busy as the PMs spouse. Can you lie in bed all day eating chocolates? I dont do that. Ms Murty went to Stanford Business School, where she met Mr Sunak, but now sees her current role as supporting her family. I try very hard to keep life as routine as possible, she said. I also look at this time in our lives as an opportunity to serve and you serve in the best way you can. That is my mindset. I am not a politician. I cant always please everyone. My father told me the softest pillow is a clear conscience. Do your best and then you dont worry. So thats my role. To keep the show going. The role of the prime ministers wife has been described as a thankless task and some of Ms Murtys peers have found it difficult. Samantha Cameron, the wife of ex-PM David, once decried the harshness of the role ( PA ) Samantha Cameron, the wife of ex-PM David, once decried the harshness of the role. Youre trying to do your best in a role you may not be expecting. I think its very harsh, said Mrs Cameron. Youve got to find your way, do the things you enjoy and feel that you are good at, and be supportive, while also learning very quickly how to get in and out of a car without showing your knickers. Carrie Johnson, wife of Boris, was involved in a number of scandals during his time in Downing Street and cast by opponents of the former prime minister as a manipulative figure who led him astray. She was said to have been embroiled in a bitter power struggle with Dominic Cummings before he was ousted from government as the prime ministers top aide. Praia, Cape Verde (PANA) - An International Monetary Fund {IMF) team and the Cape Verdean authorities have reached staff-level agreement on the policies needed to complete the Fourth Review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF)-supported programme and the First Review of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF} arrangement The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The family of Kaylee Gain, the 16-year-old who was critically injured in a fight at a Missouri high school, has said that the teenager had part of her skull removed while recovering in the hospital. Bryan Kaemmerer, an attorney representing the teenagers family, said that the procedure, known as a craniectomy, was done to remove some of the pressure on the girls brain. Shes now required to wear a custom helmet to protect her brain should she fall. The teenager is scheduled to undergo another surgery to reattach the missing part of her skull, which will require her to be hospitalized again, the attorney said. The update is the latest her family has given on the childs condition since 1 April. Shes currently at home after being hospitalized for a month and spending two weeks at an in-patient rehabilitation facility. The teen attends physical and speech therapy three times a week and experiences short-term memory loss. Shes also working with a counselor to address her mental well-being as she copes with the trauma, fear and pain that have arisen from this incident, her attorney said. Kaylee Gains family says the 16-year-old is missing part of her skull after another kid allegedly assaulted her ( Supplied ) A certification hearing for Maurnice DeClue, the 15-year-old accused of beating Kaylee on 8 March near Hazelwood East High School in St Louis took place on Friday. The purpose of the hearing is to determine if the teenager should be charged as an adult. Juvenile officers previously recommended that DeClue be charged with first-degree assault, triggering Fridays hearing. The Independent has reached out to an attorney for the teenager for comment. Video of the March incident circulated online and showed another girl repeatedly slamming Kaylees head into the concrete. Her family knows that the childs path to recovery is a long one, her attorney said. The teen will undergo extensive neuropsychological testing later this summer to assess the long-term impacts of her injuries. Commenting on the legal proceedings, the attorney said, The family is confident in the legal system, and trusts that the Judge will make an appropriate decision based on all of the facts and evidence in the case. The family will respect the Court's ruling, regardless of the outcome. A GoFundMe page for the teenager has reached just over $50,000 out of a $100,000 goal. Clinton Gain, the childs dad, said: We are so incredibly blessed with all the support and so encouraged by how well Kaylee is doing. We are happy to have her back home with us to continue her healing journey, in an update posted to the fundraising site. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A suspect has been arrested over the rape of a woman in New York who was lassoed with a belt and dragged down the street before falling unconscious. Kashaan Parks, 39, was charged on Saturday over the sexual assault of the woman, 45, at around 3am on 1 May near East 152nd Street and Third Avenue in the Melrose section of the Bronx, the New York Police Department said. Disturbing surveillance video, obtained by News 12, shows the suspect stalking the woman down a sidewalk before sneaking up behind her, using a belt to lasso her around the neck and pull her to the ground. Disturbing video shows the suspect lassoing the woman and dragging her down the street in the Bronx ( NYPD ) He then looks around before dragging her down the street while she claws at her neck. He pulled the woman, who was knocked unconscious, between two cars and sexually assaulted her, police said. A 10-day manhunt was launched with police releasing photos and video of the suspect. Kashaan Parks, 39, is accused of sexually assaulting the woman on 1 May ( NYPD ) The victim, who survived the assault, was able to help police identify Parks by his distinctive teeth. She described previous run-ins with him in the neighborhood. He choked me with a belt because he wanted to demand sex with me in exchange for money, she toldNBC New York. And I said no, and I kept moving. So he grabbed from behind with a choking belt and dragged me to the ground over there by the cars and raped me. The NYPD released images of Parks as manhunt continues ( NYPD ) The victim told NBC4 that she was worried that the suspect, who is known to the neighborhood, could strike again. Ive been worried, Im scared beyond my life because he can pop up anytime and do something to somebody again, she said. Its not the first time hes done this to a woman. Its like the second time to a woman he did that to. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Rudy Giuliani has attacked the WABC radio station for firing him on Friday and is accusing it of axeing him to appease trailer trash little creep Joe Biden in an effort to gain favour among Democrats. Hours after he was fired, the former New York City mayor shared his frustrations on his Americas Mayor Live show on Twitter/X, claiming that WABCs billionaire owner John Catsimatidis was attempting to keep him from telling the truth about the stolen 2020 presidential election. The Democrat thing has something to do with it. And the fact that the Bidens are really zeroing in, now, on interference with the 2024 election. And remember, we can go right back to the beginning. The first thing Biden did as a candidate is write a letter to the network saying to keep me off, Mr Giuliani claimed. He began as a trailer trash little creep taking little bits with his scummy little brothers. And now hes a world-class thief. Somehow, strangely, hes president of the United States. Mr Catsimatidis, a Republican donor, told The New York Times that he had fired the former mayor from The Rudy Giuliani Show which has since been cancelled because he had failed to comply with the stations policy around the election. He also said the former mayor had been given repeated warnings before being ousted. Former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Washington on 15 December 2023 ( AP ) Were not going to talk about fallacies of the November 2020 election, Mr Catsimatidis told the outlet. We warned him once. We warned him twice. And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning, that he refuses not to talk about it. The billionaire said that once Mr Giuliani was told that he was suspended and would not be going on the air for his 3pm show, he became belligerent. What John Catsimatidis has done is disgraceful, Mr Giuliani said in response during his Twitter/X show on Friday night. With the pretence that he was building some kind of a first amendment station, he blew a hole in the first amendment thats so big you cant even find it. You cant tell somebody not to talk about the 2020 presidential election and tell me that you have respect for free speech. Isnt that a test? he asked his viewers. All the good people are the ones who want to speak, and the bad people are the ones who want to stop people from speaking. Nobody can really learn about it ... And isnt it a hell of a time to stop me from doing what Ive been doing for three and a half years just when they may be preparing to steal another election? The final straw came on Thursday, when Mr Giuliani tried to speak about election-related issues live on air, prompting station employees to cut him off, The New York Times reported. His ousting from the WABC show, which aired every weekday and on Sunday, means that Mr Giuliani has lost one of his main platforms for communicating with the public, as well as a source of income though Mr Giuliani only earned advertising revenue from the show, and was not paid a salary. For the man formerly known as Americas mayor before he became synonymous with pushing election conspiracies, the latest financial blow comes after he filed for bankruptcy in December. As well as this, Mr Giuliani is facing a criminal trial, having been indicted on charges of attempting to overturn the result of the 2020 election in Georgia and Arizona. The trained attorney has also been disbarred in Washington DC and New York. In an emailed statement to The Independent, Mr Giuliani said he had learnt of his firing from a report in The New York Times and claimed that he was unaware of a policy against his speaking out about the 2020 election. How can you possibly believe that when Ive been regularly commenting on the 2020 election for three and a half years, and Ive talked about the case in Georgia incessantly ever since the verdict in December, Mr Giuliani wrote. Even if such a policy did exist, he said, it was violated so often that it couldnt be taken seriously. He called the directive a clear violation of free speech. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps son Barron Trump will not be attending the Republican convention as an at-large delegate, his mothers office announced in a statement. While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments, a statement from former First Lady Melania Trumps office said according to USA Today. No further details were given on why he would miss the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which starts on 15 July. Mr Trump s youngest son, who is an 18-year-old high school senior, had been chosen to serve as a Florida delegate nominating his father as the Republican presidential candidate alongside his siblings at the event. Barron, who will graduate from high school next week, would have served as one of Floridas 41 at-large delegates, according to state party chairman Evan Powers at the convention in Milwaukee between 15 and 18 July. Hes pretty young, I will say. Hes 17, Mr Trump said in an interview with Telemundo 51 Miami, getting his sons age wrong. But if they can do that, Im all for it. The teenager has been largely kept out of the realm of politics. He was set to join Mr Trumps two other sons Donald Trump Jr, 46, and Eric Trump, 40, along with his youngest daughter Tiffany Trump, 30, who also make up part of the Florida delegation. Barron Trump will no longer be attending the Republican convention as a delegate, Melania Trumps office has announced ( AFP via Getty Images ) Trumps eldest daughter Ivanka Trump, 42, who served as an advisor to her father during his term as US president, has said she will not be part of his 2024 bid to return to the White House. Barron hit headlines at the start of his fathers historic criminal trial last month in which the former president is accused of making hush money payments to Stormy Daniels to suppress stories about an alleged affair. Trump denies both the affair and the charges against him. After careful consideration, Judge Juan Merchan ruled that there would be no court session on 17 May after the former president demanded that he should be able to attend Barrons graduation ceremony. However, Trump is now also planning to headline a political fundraiser on the day he demanded a break at the New York courthouse to attend the Lincoln Reagan Dinner, the Minnesota Republican Party announced. 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. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A State Department report has found reasonable evidence that Israel has violated international humanitarian law using US weapons in Gaza. The long-awaited report could have required the US to stop sending weapons to its ally if it had violated the terms of a weapons agreement. But the investigation could not immediately link the violations to US arms, which leaves the Biden administration with some leeway on whether to restrict future sales. An earlier story by the AP, citing an unnamed official, said that the report was expected to find Israel had not broken international humanitarian law. The report was the result of a presidential directive that came following pressure from Democrats to force the administration to rule on whether US-made weapons sent to Israel were being used lawfully. It is unclear if the US will continue to investigate if the violations contained in the report were carried out with US weapons. A separate investigation by Amnesty International found that US munitions were used in two deadly, unlawful air strikes on homes full of civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip in October. The fact that US-made munitions are being used by Israeli military in unlawful attacks with deadly consequences for civilians should be an urgent wake-up call to the Biden administration. The US-made weapons facilitated the mass killings of extended families, said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty Internationals Secretary General. Israel insists it abides by international humanitarian law and blames Hamas for high civilian casualties for operating near civilians. It says it is fighting an existential battle against Hamas. Mr Biden in December said indiscriminate bombing was costing Israel international backing, but this is the first time the US government has directly linked Israel to war crimes. Senator Chris Van Hollen, who spearheaded the push for the investigation, told The Independent earlier this week: This report will be a test of the Biden administrations credibility as to whether or not theyre willing to look at all the facts and apply the law to the war in Gaza. In recent days, President Joe Biden explicitly threatened for the first time to withhold the delivery of weapons to Israel if it launched a major ground operation in the border city of Rafah. Mr Biden made the declaration in an interview with CNN during a visit to Wisconsin on Wednesday, telling anchor Erin Burnett that he wont stop the flow of defensive weapons like the interceptors used for Israels Iron Dome anti-missile system even if he cuts off the flow of munitions such as the shipment of 2,000 lb bombs he acknowledged putting a hold on. Were going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently, he said. But its, its just wrong. Were not going to were not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells. Mr Biden also said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel is not going to get our support, if in fact theyre going to these population centres. Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centres. The Independent has previously reported on claims from former State Department and Pentagon officials that the administrations investigations into potential war crimes committed by Israel are being undermined by Mr Bidens insistence on providing his close ally with billions of dollars in military support. The former officials said the presidents decades-long and deeply held personal connection to Israel renders US laws and regulations concerning US arms sales essentially toothless. Theres no incentive to investigate if the president and the White House themselves have announced that aid is unconditional, said Brian Finucane, who worked for a decade in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department advising on arms transfers and the laws of war. That means they dont want to hear inconvenient legal conclusions, he told The Independent last month. Charles Blaha, former director of the State Departments Office of Security and Human Rights, which regulates weapons transfers, said investigations into breaches of humanitarian law in the Gaza conflict if they are taking place at all are likely not being taken seriously. My sense is that people get patted on the head and say, this is all very interesting, But I think the president is the decider here, he said in April. The State Department has been working on the report for months. It was due to be delivered on Wednesday but was delayed. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump told a Pennsylvania radio station that his 18-year-old son is interested in politics and gives him advice on his moves. In an interview with Philadelphias Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, the former president said high school senior Barron Trump is a great student who is interested in politics. Hell tell me sometimes, Dad, this is what you have to do, Mr Trump told the outlet. His comments come just after the Republican National Convention (RNC) announced the 18-year-old would serve as a delegate from Florida at this years convention. Mr Trumps two other sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, will also serve as members of the Florida delegation. Barrons mother, former first lady Melania Trump, then put out a statement a day after the RNCs announcement saying her son would actually not be taking part because of prior commitments. Delegates at the RNC scheduled for this July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin will vote on their pick for the Republican nominee based on the results of the primary elections. However, given that Mr Trump no longer has any GOP opponents in the primary race for president, he is the presumptive nominee and will almost certainly win the candidacy in July. Mr Trump also said that his son, who turned 18 this year, is trying to decide where he will go to college in light of the widespread anti-war protests on campuses in the last month. More than a thousand protesters have been arrested and demonstrations are still ongoing as Israels war in Gaza continues. Hes a senior now in high school, and hell be going to college, Mr Trump said. And you know, a lot of, a lot of these choices of colleges are changing because you see whats going on in the last month. Earlier this year, Mr Trump claimed Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing his ongoing hush money trial, was not allowing him to attend Barrons high school graduation. Donald Trump (left) and Barron Trump (right) attend a funeral for Melania Trumps mother in January. Mr Trump recently told a local news outlet his 18-year-old son gives him political advice ( AFP via Getty Images ) However, Judge Merchan did grant his 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. Mr Trumps trial just adjourned for the weekend after several days of fiery testimony from porn star Stormy Daniels. Also this week, Judge Merchan rejected another mistrial motion from Mr Trumps defense and denied a request that the gag order imposed on Mr Trump be lifted to allow him to respond to Ms Daniels, who mocked him on Twitter by saying real men testify. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Jersey Shore was swamped with Maga supporters as Donald Trump hit the stage in Wildwood for a sunset rally on the beach. The former president arrived an hour-and-a-half late on Saturday at about 6.30pm local time for the event which was attended by 80,000 supporters, according to his campaign officials. Thousands of fans gathered on the beach and along the boardwalk throughout the day wearing Trump masks and American flag-themed outfits. They pitched giant Trump 2024 flags as conditions remained on the cooler side after several days of rain. Long lines formed and bars and restaurants were busy in the town at a typically sleepy time in the off-season. Trump is attempting to kick-start a campaign in the Democrat-held state ( AP ) Kicking off his speech Mr Trump vowed to win the long-time Democrat-held state of New Jersey. We love Wildwood. Weve been here many times we love this place and is [there] nowhere else Id rather be this beautiful evening. It is a nice one, right? he said, to cheers from supporters. As you can see, today, were expanding the electoral map because we are going to officially play in the state of New Jersey. Were going to win the state of New Jersey. His speech was filled with jibes including for President Joe Biden who he dubbed a total moron. There was a festival atmosphere before the rally began ( AP ) You could take the 10 worst presidents in the history of our country, and add them up... and they havent done the damage to our country that this total moron has done, Mr Trump said. He got even nastier when he turned his attention to Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor overseeing his hush-money case in New York, and trial judge Juan Merchan. He slammed Mr Bragg as Fat Alvin, corrupt guy and called the judge highly conflicted. Mark Bellini, 63, of Brick, New Jersey, told the Daily Mail that he had been holding on to his 12th place in line since 5pm on Thursday. It was cold, it was raining. Yeah, it was wet. I used a plastic bag over my head in order to keep my spot, he said. The rally in New Jersey comes as a welcome break for Mr Trump, who has spent much of the last three weeks inside a New York courtroom ( AP ) Jodi Derstine, a 62-year-old nurse from Morristown, New Jersey, also told The Mail that she had arrived at 5am on Friday, and said that Mr Trump was gonna save America. A spokesperson for the city of Wildwood told the Associated Press that she estimated between 80,000-100,000 people had attended the rally of Mr Trump. However, the Trump campaign has been known to exaggerate crowd sizes in the past, and reporters on the scene questioned the numbers. The former president has been packing his weekends with campaign events as he has spent much of the past four weeks inside a Manhattan courthouse where he is on criminal trial over alleged hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. He is facing ongoing criminal and civil cases, some related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Some fans even donned Trump costumes and American flag-themed outfits for the rally ( AP ) Mr Trump, the presumed Republican presidential candidate, is expected to face-off against Mr Biden in this Novembers election. Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said that the tens of thousands expected attendees would be a notable contrast to the number that typically show up for Mr Bidens political events, which he described as eight circles, two of which are empty. The former president last appeared in New Jersey in January 2020, when he attended an event with congressman Jefferson Van Drew, a former Democrat who had switched to the GOP as a rebuke for Mr Trumps first impeachment. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} South Dakota governor Kristi Noem is now barred from entering six of the nine Native American reservations within the state, after a vote Friday by the Yankton Sioux Tribe. Most of the tribes within the state have voted in recent months to bar the Republican leader from their territory, leaving her unable to access more than 90 per cent of the states tribal lands and more than 16 per cent of South Dakotas total landmass. The bans come in response to controversial recent comments from Ms Noem, accusing tribe members of being absentee parents and in cahoots with drug cartels. Their kids dont have any hope, the governor said at a town hall in March. They dont have parents who show up and help them. They have a tribal council or a president who focuses on a political agenda more than they care about actually helping somebodys life look better. Weve got some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefitting from the cartels being here, and thats why they attack me every day, she added. Indigenous leaders condemned Ms Noems statements. As Tribal leaders, it is our duty to honor the voice of our people, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Council wrote in a statement earlier this week after a ban vote of its own. Although, it is always a goal to engage in constructive dialogue with our political counterparts at the federal and state level. It is equally important we take actions that protect our values, ensuring a safe and inclusive environment, and preventing further marginalization of tribal nations. Governor Kristi Noems wild and irresponsible attempt to connect tribal leaders and parents with Mexican drug cartels is a sad reflection of her fear-based politics that do nothing to bring people together to solve problems, Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council Janet Alkire said in a statement earlier this year. Rather than make uninformed and unsubstantiated claims, Noem should work with tribal leaders to increase funding and resources for tribal law enforcement and education. In addition to the Yankton and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribes, the Oglala, Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, and Rosebud Sioux tribes have all voted to bar the governor from their reservations in South Dakota. Banishing Governor Noem does nothing to solve the problem, a Noem spokesperson said in response to a past vote. She calls on all our tribal leaders to banish the cartels from tribal lands. The Friday vote is the latest complication for Ms Noem, whose seen her reputation as a national rising star severely damaged in the wake of controversy over her new memoir No Going Back, which features a highly dubioous (and now-removed) claim she met Kim Jong UN, and a story about shooting a misbehaving farm dog. The Independent has contacted the governors office for comment. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A story that Donald Trump spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to hide is now out in the open, vividly remembered in a courtroom, and documented across dozens of pages of court transcripts. He is criminally charged with a scheme to cover up a potential sex scandal while his aides scrambled to keep his chances of winning an election alive in the wake of another one. But the criminal case against the former president in New York is not really about sex, affairs, nondisclosure agreements or tabloid press, after all. Its about fraud. Its about a presidential candidate accused of falsifying business records to conceal reimbursement payments to his lawyer, who suppressed a story about Mr Trump having sex with a porn star weeks before voters cast their ballots in the 2016 presidential election by buying her silence. Understanding exactly what happened with that potential scandal and all its messy details, as both defense attorneys and prosecutors have called them is key to understanding why Mr Trump would want to cover it up. In trial testimony over two days in a frigid Manhattan courtroom, Stormy Daniels walked the jury through the moments before, during and after her encounter with Mr Trump in a hotel room in 2006 including lurid details that defense attorneys and the judge blocked from the court record. What happened, by her accounting, is not salacious or scandalous, but largely familiar and terrifying: a mans surprise demand for sex, a stunned reaction, a wave of numbness, and then the shame for going through with it. The details that filled the courtroom a description of Mr Trump in his underwear, her feeling as if she blacked out are problematic for all parties in the case, but they explain precisely what the defendant did not want to become public, Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger told the judge on Tuesday. For prosecutors, her testimony gave jurors crucial context to understand why, exactly, the former president would risk felony prosecution to bury public knowledge of the allegations while he was campaigning for the presidency. Those details about what happened in that room those messy details that is motive, that is Mr Trumps motive to silence this woman in 2016 less than a month before the election, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass told the judge on Thursday. That is why Mr Trump tried so hard to prevent the American people from hearing about this. Ms Daniels is not on trial. But defense attorneys treated her as if she was, while their client sat and glared and rolled his eyes and cursed loud enough for the judge to hear just feet away from her during his courtroom reunion this week. Donald Trump speaks to reporters inside a criminal courthouse in Manhattan on 10 May. ( EPA ) To the defense, Ms Daniels is a liar, an extortionist, and a fame-seeking opportunist. Mr Trumps attorney Susan Necheles frequently punctuated her rapid-fire questions to ask whether she was making things up or changing her story. Ms Daniels appeared relatively relaxed, leaning on her arm and squinting at Ms Necheles as if what she was saying was nonsense, and frustrating her line of questioning with quick-witted replies and refusals to accept their premise. This was your career for over 20 years, writing, acting, and directing sex films, Ms Necheles told her on Thursday. You have a lot of experience making phoney stories about sex appear real, right? Wow, Ms Daniel replied, taking a moment to laugh off the question. Thats not how I would put it, she said. The sex in those films is very much real just like in that hotel room. Unlike her films, I didnt have to write this one, she said. If that story was untrue, I wouldve written it better. Trump claims he would be 'proud to go to jail' for constitution When that didnt work, Ms Necheless questions veered into blatant attempts to shame her as an adult film star including at one point suggesting that working in porn means she would automatically consent to sex or to frame her as an unreliable crackpot, spending several minutes interrogating her interests in the paranormal. Youve acted and had sex in over 200 porn movies, right? And there are naked men and naked women having sex in those movies? she asked. But according to you, seeing a man sitting on a bed in a T-shirt and boxer shorts was so upsetting you became light-headed and almost fainted? When youre not expecting a man twice your age, yes, Ms Daniels fired back. You have a lot of experience in memorizing these fictional stories? Ms Necheles asked at another point. I have experience in memorizing dialogue, not how to have sex, Ms Daniels replied. Pretty sure we all know how to do that. Defense attorney Susan Necheles cross examines Stormy Daniels on 9 May. ( AP ) Asked why she would celebrate Mr Trumps indictment, Ms Daniels asked her to clarify. There are a lot of indictments. Ms Necheles also went nearly line by line through a 13-year-old celebrity magazine interview about the encounter, trying to find case-breaking inconsistencies that instead turned into 15-minute long exchanges about what exactly constitutes dinner. Defense attorney Todd Blanche also accused prosecutors of blowing a dog whistle for rape by allowing Ms Daniels to claim that Mr Trump did not wear a condom. But the judge was shocked that defense attorneys never once objected to any mention of condoms in her testimony. I agree, that shouldnt have come out, he told them without the jury present. I wish that didnt come out For the life of me I dont know why she didnt object. It is unclear how the jury will interpret these exchanges or her reliability as a key witness in the case. But Ms Daniels appeared to stand her ground against repeatedly failed attempts to impeach her character. She knows what she does for a living and enjoys it, she admittedly and confidently hates Mr Trump and will insult him and his supporters if they come after her, and she acknowledges that she was ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees after a defamation lawsuit against him collapsed, but she wants to hold him accountable and believes she has done nothing wrong but tell the truth. She didnt even regret meeting Mr Trump that evening in 2006. She said she enjoyed the conversation. Your story has completely changed, hasnt it? Ms Necheles asked her at the end of her two-day testimony. Not at all, Ms Daniels replied. Youre trying to make me change, but it hasnt changed. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Warning: This livestream has not been independently fact-checked and may contain misinformation. Watch again as Donald Trumps hush money trial continued in New York on Friday 10 May. Mr Trump returned to court after porn star Stormy Daniels lurid testimony about her alleged sexual encounter with him, as prosecutors prepare to call their final witnesses in the first-ever criminal trial of a sitting or former US president. In seven hours of testimony this week over two days in New York state criminal court in Manhattan, Ms Daniels spared few details. She told jurors she had sex with Mr Trump in a Lake Tahoe hotel suite in 2006 while he was married to his wife Melania, testifying about gold tweezers she saw in his toiletry bag and stating that he did not wear a condom. Mr Trump, 77, has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohens $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels, 45, for her silence ahead of the 2016 US presidential election. He denies having sex with Ms Daniels and has called the case a politically motivated effort to interfere with his campaign to win back the White House. Fridays proceedings are expected to kick off with more cross-examination of Madeline Westerhout, the former White House aide who testified on Thursday about checks Mr Trump signed in the Oval Office and a meeting he scheduled with Mr Cohen early in his 2017-2021 presidency. Bonn, Germany (PANA) - As the world celebrates World Migratory Bird Day 2024 on Saturday, the UN has announced that for the first time ever, the campaign is focusing on the importance of insects for migratory birds, and highlight concerns related to decreasing populations of insects The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Campus outlets at the University of Southern California (USC) published a speech on Friday from graduating student Asna Tabassum, a Muslim-American valedictorian whose remarks were canceled last month over security concerns, sparking a free speech debate. The biomedical engineering student was set to offer the traditional valedictorians speech today during the universitys commencement, but the school canceled her remarks amid a hail of criticisms surrounding her positions on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The remarks, published today in the Daily Trojan, were virtually all redacted. This speech is published as was written and shared by Tabassum. Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan did not write, edit or change the speech or its presentation, the universitys media centre said online. President Folt, Provost Guzman, faculty, staff, families and fellow Class of 2024, Ms Tabassums speech began. It is my honor to stand before you today as your Valedictorian. I am filled with gratitude to have the privilege of, followed by 10 paragraphs of redactions. The speech ended with Congratulations, Class of 2024. Thank you. In April, USC announced it was canceling Ms Tabassums speech, citing unspecified security concerns. After careful consideration, we have decided that our student valedictorian will not deliver a speech at commencement, university administrators wrote in a statement at the time. While this is disappointing, tradition must give way to safety. To be clear: this decision has nothing to do with freedom of speech, it added. Ms Tabassum, who beat out numerous other high-achieving applicants to be top of her class, came to public attention after she was selected as valedictorian. Jewish groups on campus and beyond pointed to her past activity on social media and declared it was antisemitic. USCs Chabad chapter, for example, accused the student of supporting material that was antisemitic and hate speech. Trojans for Israel, meanwhile, accused Ms Tabassum, who completed an inter-disciplinary minor studying issues around genocide, of calling for the complete abolishment of Israel. At issue was a link on Ms Tabassums private Instagram, from before the 7 October conflict began, linking to an online repository of information about the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The page refers to Israel as a Jewish ethnostate and calls Zionism a racist settler-colonial ideology that advocates for a Jewish ethnostate built on Palestinian land. Elsewhere on the page, which Ms Tabassum did not author, the repository expresses a hope that both Arabs and Jews can live together without an ideology that specifically advocates for the ethnic cleansing of one of them. Ms Tabassum has said she stands by her remarks, arguing she was advocating for the kind of social justice values she learned in part at USC. Absolutely not. I stand by exactly what I stand by, she told KABC-TV. It is the very values and the very lessons USC taught me that I stand by. She has been critical of USCs decision to cancel her speech. I am a student of history who chose to minor in resistance to genocide, anchored by the Shoah Foundation, and have learned that ordinary people are capable of unspeakable acts of violence when they are taught hate fueled by fear, she previously wrote in a statement. And due to widespread fear, I was hoping to use my commencement speech to inspire my classmates with a message of hope. By canceling my speech, USC is only caving to fear and rewarding hatred. Critics of USCs decision argued the canceled speech is part of a larger wave of actions silencing pro-Palestinian perspectives, including the banning of pro-Palestinian groups on multiple US college campuses in recent months, and represents a double standard on free speech about Israel. Lets be very clear: if Tabassum were pro-Israel and her Instagram linked to any of the very many genocidal things that the Israeli government had said about Palestinians, there is little chance her speech would have been cancelled, Arwa Mahdawi argued last month in The Guardian. Many students appeared to be on the silenced speakers side. During Fridays commencement ceremony, she received a standing ovation. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The original private investigator hired by Madeleine McCanns family is returning to the scene of the worlds biggest missing child case the infamous holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. This week would be Madeleines 21st birthday but the mystery of her disappearance appears to be no closer to being solved. Julian Peribanez was part of the original private investigation firm Metodo 3 hired by the McCann family to explore leads that werent being considered by police in Portugal. He revealed he is heading back to the familys holiday apartment in Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva, Praia da Luz, in the Algarve where Madeleine vanished on the penultimate day of her family holiday in 2007. He is returning to chase leads, some stemming from the underworld, to seek answers he claims police would be unable to get. Julian Peribanez is heading back to Praia Da Luz ( Netflix ) The McCanns admitted they left the then three-year-old and her younger twin siblings asleep in their apartment while they went out to dinner with friends. Mr Peribanez spoke after the Metropolitan Police was handed 192,000 by the Home Office for Operation Grange their continuing investigation into the disappearance. Mr Peribanez told The Independent: The problem is that the only way to obtain information, in my opinion, is from certain people that would never speak to the police. The kind of person that knows what happened lurks in the underground of every city or town. Im no one to say what to do to Operation Grange. I think it is good each one carries his own investigations. It would be great to be able to share between us, but I know how police forces work and I understand they wont disclose any information. Im happy to say if I find something relevant I will take that information personally to them. The view of the holiday hotel in Praia da Luz, from which Madeleine disappeared ( AP ) Mr Peribanez is pressing on with the 17-year search using money from his own pocket and has ruled out accepting any public donations. He said: I wouldnt want people to think I do this with any economic interests. You know how people are and specifically in this topic and with the things that have happened, almost everyone who came near this case was acting in their own interest. Either to obtain fame, money or publicity. On the latest Home Office funding which will take the total that Operation Grange has spent to more than 13.2m, he said: I think they will spend it correctly from their point of view as this is public money that is put under surveillance. But I know its hard to believe for people that this is money well spent. So many years have passed and they havent provided any further evidence in the case. Someone in Portugal has to know something. I will keep on looking for personal reasons, its a case that got deep on me for several reasons. The prime suspect in Madeleines disappearance is currently on trial in Germany charged with unrelated sex offences, allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. The 47-year-old German, Christian Brueckner, spent many years in Portugal including in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleines disappearance. He is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for the rape of an elderly woman at her home in the resort town in 2005. He had denied all the charges against him and any involvement in Madeleines disappearance. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The paratroopers floated down after springing out of the C-17 Globemaster aircraft under a deep blue sky into swirling winds as they descended a thousand feet into a vast barren field before regrouping under treeline cover for the mission ahead. The air assault by British and American forces is preparing troops for frontline combat as part of Natos largest ever exercise since the end of the Cold War, aimed at confronting Russia in a European security landscape fractured by the Ukraine War. Britains 16 Air Assault Brigade and the USs 82nd Airborne Division will be part of a rapid reaction force if the confrontation between the West and the Kremlin spirals into open conflict. More than 90,000 troops are engaged in military drills in seven countries ranging from the Baltic to the Balkans in preparation for this dire scenario unfolding. After being pushed back following the initial invasion, Russian forces are on the offensive in the Donbas in Ukraine and attempting to open another front towards Kharkiv. Five villages have fallen near the countrys second city, with artillery and airstrikes hitting 30 other towns and villages. The Nato exercises over Estonia ( Will Harrison ) In Washington, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged: It is possible that Russia will make further advances in the coming weeks. But he insisted that a new arms package being delivered to Kyiv after being passed by the US Congress would prevent any major breakthroughs. Emmanuel Macron has raised the prospect of French and other Nato forces being deployed to help Ukraine a move not backed at present by other member states. But Exercise Steadfast Defender, of which the British led Swift Response in Estonia is a key part, is honing tactics in case an emboldened Kremlin seeks to use its military muscle in other countries which were once part of the Soviet Union. Paratrooper from the 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, ahead of the jump ( Cpl Aaron J Stone/MoD ) Brigadier Mark Berry, commander of the 16 Air Assault Brigade, wanted to stress that parachuting into combat remains an important and viable tactic. Speaking at Nurmsi, in north-central Estonia, where the air drop was taking place, he said: I think it is an extremely realistic capability. Not only does parachuting have a role in a combat situation, it also has a role in terms of reaching difficult areas to access for humanitarian disasters as well as combat. It allows us to project force very rapidly. So its as relevant today, in the context of potential Russian invasion, as it has ever been. In fact, it is relevant in any combat situation anywhere in the world. Moscow has invested significantly in airborne forces in recent times. Four years ago, Russian paratroopers carried out the first ever Arctic parachute descent, using oxygen and jumping from an Ilyushin troop transporter at 30,000 feet. The troops then carried out a three-day mock battle in the icy fastness. British and US paratroopers take part in the Swift Response military exercise near Nurms ( Reuters ) The feat was acknowledged by Western militaries, which also expressed alarm at what appeared to be plans for establishing further control in the High Arctic by the Kremlin. Since then, however, Russian airborne forces have suffered big losses in Ukraine having to go into battle as infantry with inadequate fire support, with commanders using the elite troops to carry out human wave attacks in the Donbas and the south. The last time British troops took part in an air assault in conflict was in 1956 when the UK, France and Israel attacked Egypt after the countrys leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, nationalised the Suez Canal. Troops of the Parachute Regiment successfully captured a military airfield, and then destroyed coastal defences. British army 16 Air Assault brigade commander Mark Berry ( Reuters ) The three countries, however, were forced to withdraw their forces when US president Dwight Eisenhower, whose administration had not been informed about the attack on Egypt, organised a UN resolution condemning the invasion and then forced a ceasefire agreement. Some of the British soldiers taking part in the jump in Estonia felt confident they would get a chance to show their skills in combat in the future. Corporal Thomas Skeld, of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, said: I certainly hope, think, that is the case. That is what we have trained for. Air assault gives us the opportunity to carry out operations in a fast and agile way. We are a fit lot and we can go in carrying on foot, carrying our kit, after we get on the ground. Bombardier Ryan Shaves, of the Royal Horse Artillery, added: It depends on what type of operation youre going into, theres every chance, I think, in a conventional operation. How will we do against Russia? I wouldnt like to say whether wed win or lose: but we are not on our own. We are a part of Nato. Our forces, together, are stronger than Russias. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Fierce fighting has raged for a second day on the fringes of Ukraines northeastern Kharkiv region as thousands more civilians were evacuated from frontier towns within a few miles of the nearest Russian soldiers. Moscow claimed it had captured five villages all within three miles of the Russia-Ukraine border, which runs along the eastern side of Kharkiv region. But the regions governor, Oleh Syniehubov, disputed the Kremlins claim, saying that active fighting continued on the territory of all five of the villages. We clearly understand what forces the enemy is using in the north of our territory. Certainly, the escalation can grow, the pressure can increase, it can strengthen its military units, its military presence, he said. As of now the enemy keeps pressing in the north of our region. Our forces have repelled nine attacks. Russia launched the armoured incursion early on Friday, an attack on a new front that may presage a broader push into the Kharkiv region or aim to draw away overstretched Ukrainian forces from where Moscows offensive is focused further to the east. Governor of the Kharkiv region Oleh Syniehubov address media on Saturday as Russian forces fought on the border ( Telegram ) The attack, led by small groups of infantrymen and supported by armoured vehicles, is being carried out across two sections of the border with the Kharkiv region, largely in areas known as the grey zone, which are parts of Ukrainian land controlled by neither side. One of the advances appears to be a concerted push towards a small town called Vovchansk, less than four miles from the Russian border. Tamaz Gambarshvili, the head of the military administration for the town, said it had come under intense shelling throughout Saturday. He claimed Russia fired more than 20 highly destructive guided aerial bombs, adding that there were both wounded and dead. At least two men were confirmed dead in Vovchansk after a Russian shell hit their house, Mr Syniehubov, the governor, later confirmed. He added that authorities had evacuated more than 2,500 people from the frontier area and that the effort continued. Policemen and volunteers load an elderly man onto a van as they evacuate locals from the Buhaivka village near Volchansk, Kharkiv area ( EPA ) Residents from Vovchansk and nearby villages wait for buses amid an evacuation to Kharkiv ( REUTERS ) Less than 20 miles to the north, Russian forces appeared to have advanced around a small town called Oliinykove, according to an updated map published by DeepState, a Ukrainian war tracker with ties to the military. Oliinykove is around two and a half miles from the border with Russia and just 25 miles from the Kharkiv regions namesake capital, which is home to around 1.3 million citizens and has been fiercely bombed by the Russians this year. Mr Syniehubov said there was no imminent danger to the city, Ukraines second largest behind Kyiv, and there was no need to begin evacuating. Kyiv has been on the back foot on the battlefield for months as Russian troops have slowly advanced mainly in the Donetsk region to the south, taking advantage of Ukraines shortages of troop manpower and artillery shells. But until now, the fighting has largely been confined to areas southeast of the Kharkiv region, including Donetsk, neighbouring Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Russia has, however, been massing tens of thousands of soldiers around the grey zones in the Kharkiv region over the past few months, according to Ukrainian military officials. Kyiv has rushed in reinforcements to deal with the incursion and Nazar Voloshyn, spokesman for Ukraines eastern command, said on Saturday that his forces had managed to contain Russias forces in the borderlands where it is unclear who has control. The enemy is localized in the grey zone, it is not expanding, he said. However, there is the question of finally destroying it and catching it in the tree lines where it could hide. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} 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. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Get Simon Calders Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Holidaymakers at the busiest resorts on Spains Balearic Islands are unable to buy alcohol from shops between 9.30pm and 8am under a crackdown announced by the local government. The late-night sales of booze is prohibited in Llucmajor, Palma, Calvia (Magaluf) in Majorca and Sant Antoni in Ibiza. Party boats will also be stopped from operating within one nautical mile of the designated area under the toughening of a law passed in 2020 to limit the impact of alcohol-fuelled holidays. The ban on sales does not apply to bars, restaurants and clubs. The legislation comes with a 14m funding package for security, inspections and advertising, the Balearic government said. Officials say it is part of an overall plan to promote responsible tourism, with the new law to remain in place until 2027. Luis Pomar, from the Balearic Islands Tourism Council, told the BBC that he hoped the law would no longer be needed if we instil in people how to behave. The measure comes as many European resorts brace for the influx of tourists over the summer season. While the money generated by drinking alcohol is welcomed by some local businesses, the impact of drunk holidaymakers can be negative for the regions, especially for the people living there. The situation has been highlighted by several television programmes such as What Happens in Kavos which show young people often getting drunk and getting involved in antisocial incidents such as fights. In response, initiatives have been run across many party islands in a bid to crackdown on alcohol consumption. In 2019, officials in Mallorca warned tourists they faced fines of up to 3,000 for antisocial behaviour or causing a public nuisance. The 2020 law imposed by the Balearic Islands banned bar crawls, defined as excursions promoting excessive consumption of alcohol. Holiday companies have also taken action. Thomas Cook warned holidaymakers in 2022 that all-inclusive no longer means unlimited drinks with local laws in the Balearic Islands determining people can have a maximum of six alcoholic drinks a day. Irelands Eurovision entry, Bambie Thug, shouted Love will always triumph hate after their performance in Saturdays grand final (11 May). This years song contest - in Malmo, Sweden - was highly controversial, with some fans calling for a boycott over Israels participation. Ahead of the final, Bambie admitted they cried when it was announced that the nations act, Eden Golan, had qualified for the competitions finale. Israels participation has been met with a fierce backlash from Palestine supporters amid the countrys ongoing war on Gaza. After wowing the Eurovision crowd with their performance, Bambie sent a clear message from the stage. Israeli military has claimed Hamas carried out a missile strike on a childrens playground in southern Israel. Israel Defence Forces (IDF) released a video on Friday night (10 May), showing the aftermath of the alleged attack in Beer Sheva. Air raid sirens can be heard in the background and a soldier is seen taking cover. Speaking to the camera, Captain Isacc said: As you can see behind me, a missile exploded in the middle of the playground. This missile was part of a rocket barrage that was launched from Gaza. Fortunately, no children were here at the time. The Independent has not independently verified the footage. The Duke and Duchess were all smiles on their second-day visit to Nigeria on Saturday (11 May). Harry and Meghan donned matching green scarves from well-wishers as the Prince took part in a game of sitting volleyball. The visit is part of Harrys Invictus Game project and onlookers were delighted when he took part in a game. Unfortunately, his Nigeria Unconquered team ended up losing 21-25 to the Chief of Defence staff squad with all the players being wounded military personnel. Harrys visit comes after he returned to the UK last week to mark a decade of the Invictus Games. A boat trip to France can offer you huge savings on your favourite tipple Travel in the off-season and take advantage of the generous alcohol limits on the return journey The wine and beer supermarkets of Cherbourg are well-priced. Photo: Getty Sinead Ryan Sat 11 May 2024 at 03:30 Although ferry companies like to dress it up to the nines describing it as a stylish French getaway and praising the cultural wonders for most Irish people, it remains the booze cruise. The group, which will bring together some of Irelands bright young entrepreneurs, will launch this autumn. A new think tank, which is being backed by the Collison Brothers John and Patrick, will work to solve problems like the housing crisis, renewable energy and public transport in Ireland. The philanthropic initiative called Progress Ireland will bring together some of Irelands brightest young entrepreneurs with the goal of making Ireland a better place to live. Although sources close to the project are keeping tight-lipped on the progress being made behind the scenes, The Sunday Independent has learned that it will launch this autumn. Speaking to the newspaper this weekend a well-placed source said the very high level mission will see a group of successful entrepreneurs and academics conduct research on public policy in Ireland. A separate source said this is exactly what Ireland needs right now. It couldnt come at a better time. The Collison brothers have previously expressed their frustration at the slow pace of progress here so Im not surprised they are involved in this. Last August, one half of the billionaire brothers, John Collison, spoke out about his frustration with how Ireland works. The Stripe co-founder slammed the red tape and ecological paperwork that has been inhibiting Irelands planning system. The Limerick born tech billionaire posted on X: Has anyone ever surveyed Irish people on whether they actually want all the red tape and ecological paperwork that prevent housing, energy infrastructure, transit and other important works from being built? He has also been critical of the slow level of housing construction in Ireland. In 2022, in an interview with the Sunday Independent, he also questioned the nature of Irelands housing delays, which has emerged as one of the countrys biggest social and political problems of the last decade. Why is it so hard to build new housing in Ireland? We clearly need to have a bunch more of it. Why cant we build up? he asked. I think we need to do something about it. Any solution that isnt building more housing is essentially saying to some set of people who want to live in Dublin that they dont get to live there, which is kind of a dissatisfying answer. Mr Collison has also been critical of the time it can take to process an application in Irelands work visa system. The problem disproportionately affects high-tech companies who are seeking to recruit experienced, in-demand engineers form abroad. Why cant it just take a week? he asked in the same interview. When you get your passport renewed here, its brilliant, really quick and efficient. Can we get those people who do the passport renewal system around the visa system. It is understood the project will be led by Sean Keyes, former finance correspondent at The Currency, who is expected to become CEO. He has an M.A in Economics from University College Dublin (UCD) and a B.A in Economics and Political Science from Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Irish company records show that a company by the name Sslf Progress Ireland was set up on 18th December last year. The company directors are named as Luke Fehily, Sean ONeill McPartlin and Sean Keyes. Mr O Neill McPartlin is the co-founder of the Better Planning Alliance, an organization which researches innovative policy solutions in the housing sector. Footage from bystanders and testimony given in court revealed the true scale of the horror that unfolded in a small Dublin housing estate where two children and a teenager were murdered at the hands of their older brother. The lives of the tour operator Gillian Bowler, the Father Ted actor Frank Kelly and Charles Haugheys spin doctor PJ Mara are included in the latest update to the Dictionary of Irish Biography. The reference work, first published in nine volumes in 2009, is an intriguing compendium of Irish lives and of individuals who had a significant career in Ireland. Produced by the Royal Irish Academy, it is now updated online every six months and the number of individuals included has grown to 11,000. In order to be added to the dictionary, the individual has to be dead for at least five years and the decision to include a person perhaps marks the moment when they become an historical figure. Some of the more fascinating passages in the dictionary are those that mention less well-known details of a subjects life. The entry for Frank Kelly, who died in February 2016, tells how he worked for a time as a journalist for the Irish Independent and was also a travelling salesman for the RTE Guide before he hit the big time as an actor and comedian. At the Irish Independent, he was alone in the newsroom when news broke of John F Kennedys assassination and had to race to alert senior editorial staff. Kelly was the son of a cartoonist and when he was at school at Blackrock College, his father nurtured his talent as a musician at the expense of his academic work, and according to his dictionary entry, this led to years of resentment on the part of the performer. He played lead roles in school plays and musical shows. To anybody under 40, Kelly is best known for starring as Father Jack Hackett in Father Ted, but to older viewers he was already famous as one of the leading figures in the RTE satirical show of the 1970s, Halls Pictorial Weekly, which lampooned politicians. And he hit the UK charts and was featured on Top of the Pops for his comedy monologue Christmas Countdown, based on the 12 Days of Christmas, featuring his character Gobnait O Lunasa. He once recalled the auditions for his role as the foul-mouthed hard-drinking priest in Father Ted, a part that made him a recognisable figure beyond Ireland. The casting agents asked Kelly to shout expletives in the most idiosyncratic manner he could think of: So I shouted the required words with wild gusto, slipping into what became Father Jacks accent instinctively. They looked at each other and nodded in agreement, then turned to me and asked, Well, would you do it? One of the editors of the dictionary, Terry Clavin, says Gillian Bowler, founder of Budget Travel, is included for helping to create a mass market in Ireland for foreign sun holidays from the 1970s onwards. London-born Bowler emigrated to Ireland in 1973, worked for various Dublin travel companies, but finding that they were averse to allowing women responsibilities, she started Budget Travel in modest circumstances in a one-room basement. She paid a monthly rent of 12 for the office. She initially focused on Greece, then a destination overlooked by Irish tour operators. Bowlers love for and knowledge of Greece was such that she found herself persuading callers of its attractions over the phone and tailoring suitable holidays. Her business grew through word of mouth and within three years she had become a tour operator. As the dictionary puts it, Bowler lured the young, chic and adventurous with her cheap wanderer packages, entailing flights on elderly turboprop aircraft followed by stays in a motley assortment of hostels, tavernas, village houses and pensions for two weeks of island-hopping. Over the years, Budget Travel thrived among young holidaymakers, broadening its range of destinations until it became the leading tour operator in the country. As a skilled self-publicist, Bowler mastered a cheap, cheerful and cheeky approach to marketing long before Ryanair and Paddy Power. As the dictionary puts it: Always photographed with sunglasses perched on her head, she projected an aura of style, sophistication and fun. The latest update to the dictionary also chronicles the life of PJ Mara, the PR man who died in January 2016. As a close ally of Charles Haughey, he was perhaps the first political spin doctor operating in Ireland to become a household name and that was largely due to his portrayal on the satirical radio show Scrap Saturday as a lackey pandering to the then taoiseachs shabby delusions of grandeur. According to the dictionary, Mara claimed to have developed his skills of persuasion to avoid harassment by other boys at school. The dictionary records how Mara performed one of his most spectacular turns in the mid-1980s at a time when Fianna Fail was riven by splits. He was reported to have goose-stepped in front of a group of journalists while holding two fingers under his nostrils to resemble a Hitler moustache. He uttered a slogan linked with Benito Mussolini: Uno Duce, una voce in other words, we are having no more nibbling at my leaders bum. The online version of the dictionary is published free online at DIB.ie Emails from bosses had chilling effect on younger officers A number of gardai based in the district where three siblings were murdered by their brother Andy Cash found themselves facing questions for looking up the incident on the Pulse system. The Irish Independent understands a number of officers received emails from garda management asking them to explain why they had looked up the incident the day after Cash stabbed to death his sister Lisa Cash (18) and twins Christy and Chelsea Cawley (8) at the family home in Tallaght. Sources said the officers concerned were stationed in the M district, which covers Rathfarnham and Tallaght in south-west Dublin, and therefore wanted to inform themselves about a serious incident on their patch. Earlier this week, Cash (26) received three life sentences after pleading guilty to murdering his two sisters and brother on September 4, 2022, in one of the most grotesque crimes ever recorded in the State. Gardai who had arrested Cash described walking into a scene of carnage, where the three victims had suffered catastrophic injuries. A post-mortem revealed Lisa had suffered 71 slash and stab wounds to her face, neck, chest and limbs and there was evidence she had tried to defend herself. Victims Chelsea Cawley, Lisa Cash and Christy Cawley Christy suffered 107 stabbing injuries before being thrown out of a first-floor window of the house at Rossfield Avenue, while his sister Chelsea was stabbed and slashed 65 times. Garda representative sources have revealed that a number of colleagues were very concerned when they received emails from management inquiring as to why they accessed the incident on the Pulse system. The sources claim the action was another example of an over-zealous disciplinary regime. Gardai are not permitted to look into incidents if they are not involved in the actual case. It is intended to prevent the leaking of information regarding incidents, such as those involving well-known people. However, sources said that in this case, gardai were concerned about the Cash family and their relatives around the M district. It is, of course, wrong to look incidents up for the sake of gossip, but in this case, the gardai concerned were doing what is expected of them, they were making sure they were acquainted with the facts of what happened in Tallaght and the family involved, a source familiar with the incident said. The victims of this appalling crime were members of the Travelling community and the extended family live at different locations around the M [district]. They [officers] needed to know who was affected by this tragedy so that in the event that they engaged with relatives of the deceased, they could show empathy and express their condolences. The source confirmed the emails did not result in any disciplinary sanctions, but said they had a chilling effect on younger gardai. The people who received the please explain email were very concerned that in the current climate, they could face disciplinary action or even suspension, the source said. The problem is that in future, some of the younger gardai will be afraid to acquaint themselves with whats going on. However, another source said policing access to Pulse is important to ensure professional standards are observed. An Garda Siochana was contacted for comment. Tents being removed from the Grand Canal, Dublin, on Thursday. Photo: Collins The Government is paying for tents that are handed out to asylum-seekers, only for them to be destroyed days later when they are moved out of makeshift encampments in Dublin city. Ministers are struggling to stop so-called tent cities springing up close to the International Protection Office (IPO) in the capital, despite Taoiseach Simon Harriss assertions that the camps will not be allowed. With these factors taken into account, confusion has been expressed over the States provision of tents to men it is unable to find accommodation for. The Irish Independent understands that when international protection applicants arrive at the IPO on Mount Street in Dublin city, they are registered and given a blue card with their details. Once the administrative process is complete, they are advised to visit a local charity where they receive a sleeping bag and tent. The charities then use the details on the blue card to claim back the cost of the equipment from the State. Speaking yesterday, the Taoiseach said he is satisfied that more accommodation options, such as those provided to people who were camped at the Grand Canal in Dublin, will come on stream soon. Mr Harris was addressing the media at Corrine Mart in Fermoy, Co Cork. He said Ireland faces a challenging situation as large numbers of people come to the country while there are constraints on providing accommodation. More tents were erected along the banks of the Grand Canal in the early hours of yesterday, less than a day after an encampment was removed from the area. About 30 tents were pitched after asylum-seekers were moved to tented accommodation on state-owned sites on Thursday. Mr Harris said that outside of accommodation, other options at the Governments disposal are being examined so that a sustainable immigration policy can be put in place. The Taoiseach also called for a measured sense of perspective amid heightened public tensions. He said people coming to Ireland seeking protection are very vulnerable, and outlined how important it is for the public to be aware of this. He added that the Governments responsibility is to demonstrate there are rules in place, and that its system is fair and firm. Immigration has benefited this country and it continues to benefit this country, but people also want to know we have a rules-based system, he said. They want to know when someone comes here that they can be processed quickly that if they get a yes, they can make a contribution to Irish society. But equally, if they get a no, the rules also work in relation to that. Mr Harris said there is no update regarding the Governments position on asylum-seekers crossing into the Republic via Northern Ireland. The factual position now is that the minister will bring forward legislation to regularise the agreement that is already in place, he said. He added that the most important thing Ireland could do to successfully address immigration is ensure people seeking asylum get clarity and certainty in a swift manner. Mary Banotti, grand-niece of Michael Collins, during a wreath laying ceremony at the graves of General Michael Collins, President Arthur Griffith and Treaty signatory Eamonn Duggan Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to former Fine Gael MEP Mary Banotti who has died. Ms Banotti (84) served as an MEP for Dublin from 1984 to 2004 and was also a candidate for the party in the 1997 presidential election. From Clontarf in Dublin, Ms Banotti was a nurse in the US, London, Canada and Kenya before she began her career in politics. She was also a co-founder of Womens Aid and served as chairperson of the Rutland Centre for Drug Abuse. May I join with all of those who have paid tribute to the life, work and generous personality of the late Mary Banotti, President Higgins said. Mary Banotti made a very significant contribution to Irish life, both in her 20 years of service to the people of Dublin as a Member of the European Parliament, and through the many important causes which she played such an active role in supporting over the course of her life. I had the privilege of personally knowing Mary over a number of decades and had the deepest respect for her principled positions on these important issues. Among those many noteworthy contributions and achievements were those she made as a co-founder of Womens Aid, as chairperson of the Rutland Centre for Drug Abuse, in combating child abduction and in support of the environment. May I extend my deepest sympathies to Marys daughter Tania, to her sister Nora Owen and to all of her extended family, and to her many colleagues and friends across Ireland, Europe and beyond. In his tribute, Taoiseach Simon Harris described Ms Banotti as a trailblazer who put environmental issues on the European agenda. Mary was a talented politician, a trailblazer and a joy to be around. She was smart, wise and funny, Taoiseach Simon Harris said. Her work in healthcare and womens rights was evident throughout her committed and assiduous career in the European Parliament. She also focused in on and put environmental issues on the European agenda long before it was the widespread thing to do and was named one of the top 10 environmental legislators in Europe, Mr Harris added. The Taoiseach said Ms Banotti had so much to be proud of, but she was humble. Her energy was boundless and she always had a nugget of wise political insight or a witty observation, he said. The eldest of six children, Ms Banotti had previously written about the hard work her mother had done to put her children through education. Mary wrote once that her mother grafted hard to put her six children through education, that she was highly ambitious for them and that she wanted her children to come out of the top drawer and make something of themselves. Mary Banotti did that, and then some, the Taoiseach said. Ms Banotti was the grandniece of Michael Collins and her sister Nora Owen became the deputy leader of Fine Gael in 1993. Mary was extremely proud of her family. She was proud to be a grandniece of Michael Collins and proud to see her sister, Nora Owen, become deputy leader of Fine Gael. She was enormously proud of her daughter Tania and my heartfelt thoughts are with Tania, Nora and wider family, Mr Harris said. People are suicidal and stressed over fears for the future as accommodation insecurity is rampant Dr Cliona Ni Cheallaigh, clinical lead for the Inclusion Health Service at St Jamess Hospital in Dublin. Photo: TCD Researchers say a lack of stability in term of accommodation is a major cause of poor mental health. Stock image: Getty Health experts and housing charities are warning of a looming mental health crisis as thousands suffer the stress of rent instability and the threat of homelessness. They are calling for urgent government action to finally resolve the long-running housing emergency as the issue takes centre stage ahead of the local and European elections next month. The Irish Independent has carried out an investigation into the mental and physical health ramifications for those struggling in insecure housing. Psychotherapist Maxine Walsh, from Ardara Counselling in Tallaght, south Dublin, said: People are coming to me with severe depression. Some have panic attacks. Sometimes theyve disclosed to their families they have suicidal ideation. And the underlying source in up to 75pc of these cases is due to housing insecurity. Ms Walsh said a large number of her clients are professionals in their mid to late 20s and 30s. Theyre well paid but they cant afford a house. Theyre living with their parents, trying to save every penny. Theyre single, lonely, living in the childhood bedroom theyve lived in since birth. Theyre trying to save every penny for a mortgage and a house theyll never be able to buy. There are people in their 20s and 30s who should be getting married and having kids. Theyre not. Theyre at their childhood home, not developing and neglecting their social lives. I have clients who are single parents living in hotels. And the kids theyre raising are going out into the world, having lived in that horrible situation. I fear how that will impact kids in 10 to 15 years when theyre grown up. Housing instability is traumatic for children. Meanwhile, Dr Cliona Ni Cheallaigh, clinical lead for the Inclusion Health Service at St Jamess Hospital in Dublin, is at the centre of pioneering work to help homeless people with healthcare. Referring to housing inequality, Dr Ni Cheallaigh said: Theres a lot of data to suggest not having a stable life can lead to health problems. The doctor believes there is a link between the stress of not having stable housing and further health impacts. A lot of the things that keep people healthy are being part of a community and a social network, Dr Ni Cheallaigh said. And thats all dependent on building a network where you live. Having to move around frequently increases loneliness and loneliness is as bad as smoking for peoples health. Homeless people have much higher rates of illness and much shorter life expectancy than those who are housed. She said the mental health crisis is huge in Ireland right now. If the Government solved this housing crisis, it would also solve a massive social and health crisis. It would also solve problems with criminality and addiction, she said. Threshold CEO John-Mark McCafferty said the housing charitys advisers are regularly assisting people with varying levels of distress. Mr McCafferty said Threshold staff signpost people to psychological supports when necessary. Renters and their families regardless of income and background are exposed to the risk of losing their rented home, with the worry and stress which that entails, he said. Rebecca Heslin, clinical psychologist at youth mental health not-for-profit Jigsaw, said housing inequality is a massive social injustice that has wide ranging mental health impacts. We see people up to 25 years of age who are living at home in a box room, long past what is developmentally appropriate, she said. There are multiple generations living in one house. Children and young people might have no privacy and that is a complete violation of the rights of a child. Its absolutely traumatising for children and young people. We have a duty of care to provide a safe space for children and Ireland is failing. Housing campaigner Rory Hearne, who is the Social Democrats candidate for the Midlands North-West constituency in the European Parliament elections, said tenants who had been evicted from private rentals sometimes felt traumatised by going back into another private rental. He added: Tenants are being forced to leave their home and the process of forced eviction is extremely traumatic. Mr Hearne also associate professor in social policy at Maynooth University said the Government could solve forced evictions overnight by introducing no-fault eviction legislation that exists in most European countries. In Germany there are lifetime leases, where people cant be evicted if the landlord decides to sell the property. Why havent they done this in Ireland? he asked. The Minister for Integration has said it will be a number of months before the State will have enough accommodation to avoid the development of tent cities in the capital. This week, a multi state operation got underway to relocate asylum seekers from the banks of the Grand Canal, to state provided tented accommodation. Up to 100 tents had been pitched in the area before they were removed on Thursday. However, less than 24 hours after the operation, up to 30 new tents were set up in the area with international protection applicants staying there. It is the second of such operations in Dublin, with the first taking place in Mount Street near the International Protection Office last week. While yesterday Taoiseach Simon Harris said more accommodation options would come on stream soon, Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman said it would be a number of months before there will be enough accommodation for IP applicants. I believe in the next number of months we'll be in a position to say with confidence that everybody who requires an offer of accommodation can get one and that's what we're working to achieve across government, the minister said on The Anton Savage Show on Newstalk. Minister O'Gorman said while the Government was working to build up state accommodation, state land like that currently being used in Crooksling will continue. It's the delivery of that state lands that was really important in terms of us being able to offer accommodation to these people. And in the short term, the use of state land is going to continue to be important in terms of allowing us provide this. the minister said. The minister denied that government intervenes to relocate asylum seekers from camps when the camps have developed to a large size. No, we will continue to intervene when we get additional accommodation and that's what we're working to achieve, Mr OGorman said. As the government attempts to source additional accommodation, the minister said the government would continue to support and fund NGOs who work with those sleeping rough and provide international protection applicants with tents. We're not in a position to accommodate everybody where people aren't accommodated, they engage with a number of NGOs that our department supports in terms of providing services to international protection applicants who haven't been accommodated, Mr OGorman said. A number of those NGOs where they identify that the individual is at risk of rough sleeping, a number of those NGOs may provide a tent or sleeping bag. Our government funds NGOs in terms of providing what they see are the necessary services to individuals, he added. When asked about the government essentially removing and dumping state sponsored tents once asylum seekers are relocated, the minister said: I don't believe we want to leave people entirely destitute. I think it is important that we are supporting homelessness NGOs to provide the services to provide the supports that they know from their experience are needed for people who are rough sleeping as a short term measure, he added. Russian embassy attacks rabid propaganda after jury acquits man who drove into its gates Ive done my bit Driver of truck that crashed into Russian embassy gates in Dublin Paul Williams and Cian O Broin Sat 11 May 2024 at 03:30 The Russian embassy has accused the Irish State and media of promoting rabid anti-Russian propaganda, which it claims influenced a jury that acquitted a man of dangerous driving when he reversed a truck into the embassy gates two years ago. 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Trips have helped to heal a broken heart and connect to familys heritage I didnt know how much my first trip to Ireland would change my life when my plane landed at Shannon Airport 12 years ago. As I was grieving the loss of my husband at the time, I wondered if anything could bring me joy again. My niece came with me, and we didnt put much effort into the planning process. We went to Co Clare and Co Galway. Then we took a spontaneous trip to Co Leitrim, where we unexpectedly walked into a pub bearing my grandmothers family name. We randomly met two cousins that day who we didnt know existed. It was truly a magical experience. The Cashel blue story: The interesting thing is that it was all designed for the export market, not for us Two decades ago, only 30pc of Cashel blue was sold in Ireland. Sarah Furno of the husband-and-wife team behind the now popular cheese tells us why adventurous Irish consumers have done a U-turn, how the tangy variety is so unique to its Tipperary terroir and busts the myth that its unhealthy Sergio and Sarah Furno of Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers in Co Tipperary. Photo: Dylan Vaughan Alex Meehan Mon 13 May 2024 at 03:30 Its no exaggeration to say that Irelands food culture has changed enormously in the last 40 years, and a case in point is the rise and rise of Cashel blue. Im angry because this bill might land on my desk again: Prof Philip Nolans restaurant row and the inside story of bullying allegations Taoiseach knew of claims made by senior management in Science Foundation Ireland earlier this yearInvestigation critical of lack of clarity on reporting responsibilities in Nolans new role created by Simon HarrisResearch body chief told senior managers: I think the board would be happy to be shut with the lot of you Who is Philip Nolan? Fionnan Sheahan Sat 11 May 2024 at 03:30 It was described as an unseemly incident at the board dinner and a heated discussion. Professor Philip Nolan accepts he was angry, but denies he cast a doubt on a senior executive having a job into the future. The theft of the Irish Crown Jewels from Dublin Castle in 1907 was one of the worlds most notorious heists of all time. The story made the news headlines across the globe. Presented by King William IV to Ireland in 1831, the collection contained 394 precious stones which were taken from the English Crown Jewels to create the set including the Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick. The hunt for the thieves grabbed the nations attention with aristocrats being accused of the theft right through to the use of psychics and even Sherlock Holmes author to help solve the story of who stole the Irish Crown Jewels. Presenter Siobhan Maguire is joined by Sunday Independent columnist, Sarah Caden, who dons her detective hat to look back on the mysterious missing jewels. First published on June 12, 2023. Zakaria Messaci and Kamel Toudeft ran to the aid of a woman who had allegedly been thrown into the River Slaney in Tullow, Co Carlow The heroic actions of two young men in Co Carlow have been praised after they jumped into a river to save a woman in distress. Zakaria Messaci and Kamel Toudeft ran to the aid of a woman who had allegedly been thrown into the River Slaney in Tullow, Co Carlow. The alleged assault took place on the evening of Sunday May 5 in Tullow Town Park after an argument broke out between a man and a woman. Follow Independent Carlow on Facebook Children in the park at the time of the incident saw a man allegedly assault a woman in her 50s, before throwing her into the river. The children ran from the park screaming for help. Zakaria and Kamel were walking over the bridge in Tullow when they heard the commotion. The two men, who are both Algerian, have been living as International Protection Applicants in Tullow for about seven months. Since arriving in the area, the two friends have been part of the Tullow Mens Shed. Frank Morris from the Mens Shed said because of the childrens quick thinking and Zakaria and Kamels actions, the woman was saved from the river and the man was contained. "The kids came running up to Zakaria and Kamel screaming come help. That was how they were alerted to the situation, because of the quick thinking of the children, explained Frank. "Once they got to the scene of the incident they saw the lady in the water and she was out a good bit hanging onto a branch to keep herself afloat. "Zakaria and Kamel jumped into the water and managed to pull the lady from the river to the safety of the bank. "The men said she couldnt even speak to them when they pulled her from the river as her lungs were full of water. "At this point other people had started to gather. One of the kids had run to Tesco which is next door to the park to get help from the security man in Tesco. Not only did Zakaria and Kamel save the woman from the river, they also helped restrain the man to stop him from hurting the woman further. "The man who allegedly assaulted the woman and threw her into the river was still there when the woman was pulled from the river and continued to act very aggressively, added Frank. "Luckily other people were able to help Zakaria and Kamel contain the man until the emergency services arrived. Frank posted a picture and a message of gratitude to Zakaria and Kamel on the Tullow Mens Shed Facebook page. I decided to put the post up because number one they are members of our mens shed and we are all so proud of them. "Secondly I wanted everyone in Tullow and further afield to hear about their bravery. Unfortunately in Tullow and across Ireland there is a lot of negativity directed towards International Protection Applicants. "There is also a lot of disinformation circling about asylum seekers coming into the country and its all just pure lies so I wanted people to see the amazing thing Zakaria and Kamel did for the community. Since the post went up it has been flooded with comments and messages of thanks for the two men. "No thanks necessary, responded Zakaria to the comments. It is our duty to help anyone in need or danger. The man involved in the alleged assault of the woman has since been charged under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984. He appeared before Kilkenny District Court on Tuesday May 7. A school principal has said that the children in Dublin 15 are at risk as the HSE is not providing enough support services for those with additional needs. Helena Tranch, principal of the Powerstown Educate Together National School, says it will definitely get increasingly worse, unless more resources are given to children who need support at an early stage of their education. Within the Dublin 15 area, there are two CDNT teams (children's disability network team). One is in Blanchardstown, and one is in Blakestown. They have to cater for the entire Dublin 15 community, she told the Irish Independent. As it stands, it's very difficult to access these teams but the teams, when you can access them, are amazing psychologists, OTs and speech and language therapists, they are amazing at their jobs. It's very difficult to access them due to their lack of staffing and the number of people referred. Within our two CDNT teams, the Blanchardstown waiting list most recently was four years. And the Blakestown waiting list for children with complex needs is seven years plus. I have children in my school who were diagnosed with autism at the age of three, and these children are about to move into 6th class, and they have never accessed any clinical support. That's the seven-year plus waiting list. When you have children with complex needs such as intellectual disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, down syndrome, or autism. These children require early intervention. They require speech and language therapy, OT, and psychological support. Parents require support, but at present, because the waiting lists are so long, our parents must pay astronomical amounts of money privately to access services to support their children. Early intervention is proven to work. The research is there to prove that it works. And if it was to take place and access to services, both clinical and Kalms and psychiatry supports, if they were accessible to kids, a lot of her kids and families would not get to the crisis point. Ms Tranch explained that the principals in Dublin15 got together and had a conversation about the children who would require special classes or special schools. Theyre also concerned about the kids who are transitioning from primary school to secondary school, looking for school places, then trying to access services for kids who have autism, down syndrome or cerebral palsy or intellectual disabilities. I think all schools across the country have seen the level of complex needs within the schools setting is increasing year on year, she said. School staff are educated to be teachers. We are not clinicians and would benefit from clinical support for our kids before they get to crisis point. CDNT are so oversubscribed, their priority cases that they can take on are crisis cases, where the school place may be at risk or where the child is in a huge amount of distress in school or at home. These children can get access to support when they reach crisis points. If early intervention were to happen and if adequate support services were adequately staffed, or, for example, if there were four CDNT teams in Dublin, early intervention could happen to prevent children getting into crisis to support. When you have children with complex needs in mainstream schools, they need access to services too. Services and interventions work and improve childrens mental health and physical health and they improve their ability to regulate within a mainstream setting. "If that's not addressed, the number of children in distress is going to keep on increasing. We need to be able to put the support in place for children and families at an early age. There is an embargo on recruitment for primary care teams. They would deal with children who would have autism, DLD, sensory regulations. They would support children who wouldn't have complex needs but would have very specific needs too. There's been a recruitment embargo on them since last year. They have not been able to employ people, and their waiting lists are getting longer and longer too. So, it's not just the children with complex needs, it's also the children with any kind of additional needs who would benefit from clinical support are really, really struggling to access services due to insufficient teams and staffing levels on the ground. The teams on the ground are amazing to work with and do a fabulous job. Their supports support school placements being successful and support staff support kids as best they can. But without that level of support, we're putting children at risk. Helena believes that early intervention does not exist in Dublin 15 unless you have the money to pay for it privately. A lot of these kids arent getting access to service or support in their whole primary education to date, she said. Those parents that are paying a huge amount of money privately, a lot of those parents, their kids might not be at crisis points where they are being physically aggressive at home or in school, or they might not be as distressed. So, they're not prioritised for support because it's not a crisis or emergency case. But those kids still have their intellectual disability needs, or they still have their down syndrome needs or autism needs. They're not being addressed by clinicians, and school staff must try to support them as best they can in a school setting. When you have a distressed child in school and at home you have no respite, you have no access to services. It can be very distressing for parents, but also for school staff, it's very difficult for teachers to teach children. These kids are diagnosed, and it's great to get an assessment and get these parents some respite knowing the position their children are in. The HSE and the Department of Education have been contacted for comment. At least 90 dead and hundreds missing in Rio Grande do Sul People evacuate an area flooded by heavy rains in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) Cars are surrounded by flooded streets after heavy rain in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. (AP Photo/Carlos Macedo) Brazilians living in Dublin say they feel helpless as many of their families were forced to flee their homes after devastating flooding. Theyve had little contact with them due to the lack of electricity after ferocious rain flooded huge stretches of Rio Grande do Sul, leaving at least 90 dead and displacing more than 155,000 people. State governor Eduaro Leite called it the biggest ever climate catastrophe, with more than 48,000 people living in dozens of shelters. Lisiane Freitas, who works for a health insurance company in Dublin, is from Rio Grande do Sul and most of her family have lost everything. I have family and friends who had to leave their houses in a rush and most of them lost everything, she told the Irish Independent. Lisiane Freitas says friends and family 'lost everything' Some of them still have their houses under the water as it is still not going down. And the weather forecast is still expecting more rainy days. Seeing the devastation on social media, especially from afar, leaves me feeling helpless. I wish I could be there helping. Alessandra Pizzato works as a data analyst in Dublin. She was born and raised in Porto Alegre and has family there, including her parents. Even though my family is safe, theyre without electricity and water. Many of my friends lost everything and had to leave their houses because of the flooding, she said. Theres so many people living in shelters and they have no perspective when they will be able to return to their homes or if they will have a place to go back to. Im worried because the level of the water is still going up and now, were expecting more rain. We dont have enough resources to help as we should. I have contact with my family, but it is limited as the power is coming and going. Its heartbreaking because Im very worried and I feel powerless. Theres not much I can do from here. I have mixed feelings about being in Ireland. I feel safe here but at the same time I wish I could be doing more for my people. Claudia Dos Anjos lived in Rio Grande do Sul before moving to Dublin Claudia Dos Anjos lived in Rio Grande do Sul until moving to Dublin in 2016. I went to school and college in Rio Grande do Sul, so it is heartbreaking to see in the news and on social media people in the area losing their houses and businesses, she said. I am gutted about the whole situation as thousands of people lost everything and many are still waiting to be rescued. But Im relieved that my parents are ok at the moment. All I can do is try to raise awareness about peoples struggles in the area and ask people to donate. Many people had to be rescued from their houses by boat or helicopter as the level of the water suddenly increased. Eduardo Scandaroli Rodrighues, who has been living in Dublin since 2015, has many close friends from Rio Grande do Sul. A friend of mine is in Rio Grande do Sul at the moment and says its chaotic, sad, and truly desperate, he said. Many people have lost their lives, others are missing. Many are stranded due to the collapse of bridges, which serve as vital routes. Theyre without water, power and food, many cities are struggling amidst the chaos. Hundreds of bodies are floating on the water, mostly children. Thousands of people are awaiting rescue, and unfortunately, many of them are dying. The Brazilian people are very united, and when something of this magnitude happens, we all suffer, especially since we cannot help the victims directly and, we must watch from afar. Eduardo Scandaroli Rodrighues said the situation in Brazil is 'chaotic' I have spoken with friends whose relatives are still stranded, awaiting rescue. Its a feeling of helplessness where there isnt much I can do. Here in Ireland, three Brazilian companies have come together to collect clothing, especially warm clothing as winter is approaching and temperatures are expected to drop significantly in southern Brazil. Collection points are set up at Kino Events in Cork and Golden Bite in Dublin until May 17, after which all collected materials will be sent to the disaster victims. Rosane Becker Flores, who lives in Drogheda, lived in Rio Grande do Sul all her life and all of her family still live there. She feels guilty because she is not at home. My family was impacted because many of them dont have water or cant move because everything was destroyed, she said. I see a lot of things on social media, photos and videos. For me, staying here during this tragedy is sad. I feel guilty for staying safe here and many people are suffering there. Itll take many years to reconstruct our state, with cities and streets, many cities probably have disappeared forever. Our airport was destroyed so I can't go back for many months, she added. Nicky Keaney, from Broadway Co Wexford, winner of the Guinness Ireland Regenerative Barley award with David Hagan, Global Regenerative Agricultural Manager at Diageo and Walter Furlong Jnr from Cooney Furlong. Nicky Keane, a barley grower from Broadway, Co. Wexford has been named winner of the Guinness Ireland Regenerative Barley Awards 2023, having impressed the judges with his commitment to regenerative farming methods. Mr Keane demonstrated a spirit of continuous improvement, adopting outstanding regenerative agricultural practices and generating positive outcomes on his farm. Bobby Miller, who farms in Stradbally, Co. Laois, was also highly commended by the judges. With a focus on improved soil health, enhancing biodiversity and actively working to reduce carbon emissions and improve water quality, both farmers impressed judges with the innovation and technologies used to deliver impactful results. It is a virtuous circle of improvement, where one area positively effects the other. David Hagan, Global Regenerative Agricultural Manager at Diageo says: Nicky is an outstanding farmer with an undeniable commitment to improving his land through regenerative practices and truly leading by example. Were delighted for him and look forward to seeing how the changes he is making will positively impact the future of his farm and the community around him. Mr Keane said: I committed many years ago to learning, trialling and adopting techniques that allow me to grow top quality crops, as well as improve the soil and biodiversity on my farm. Were delighted to win this award and hope we can share best practice with other farmers, who might be newcomers to regenerative farming. Highly commended farmer Bobby Miller, based just outside of Stradbally, Co. Laois, said: Weve been introducing regenerative farming practices for a few years now and are committed to enhancing the wildlife on our farm by leaving space for nature. Improving soil structure with the use of cover crops and implementing minimum tillage for some crops we are growing is a key management area for us. To be recognised by Guinness, is very welcome and we hope to inspire more farmers across Ireland by sharing our knowledge and learnings. Nicky Keaney, from Broadway Co Wexford, winner of the Guinness Ireland Regenerative Barley award with David Hagan, Global Regenerative Agricultural Manager at Diageo and Walter Furlong Jnr from Cooney Furlong. The Guinness Ireland Regenerative Barley Award recognises the barley grower in Ireland who has demonstrated the greatest improvement in implementing regenerative farming practices and reducing the impact of barley production. All entrants are marked against the same criteria and independently reviewed by three judges. The winning farmer receives 2,500 for their commitment to regenerative farming and holds the title for a year, the highly commended farmer receives 500. As a global brand with a focus on creating impacting in the communities where we source, grow and produce the ingredients that are used in the brewing process, Guinness is fully aligned to the Diageo Society 2030: Spirit of Progress - Diageos wider ten-year action plan towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The plan is designed to create a more inclusive and sustainable world, delivering opportunities for communities to shine brighter from the ground up, and explore innovative solutions to agricultural challenges that can boost yields, productivity and income for farmers. The show, which is supported by Science Foundation Ireland, paid a visit to the school last year to film pairs of children performing their own science experiments and demonstrations. One of the presenters, Mark Langtry, also called around the west Wicklow school to film a fun quiz with a group of children. The theme for this season is Protecting Planet Earth, which sees the Wicklow children demonstrating how electric cars work and how ocean currents are formed. Another pair made their own draught-tester and excluder and a fourth pair used an egg and some food dye to show how a toad can breathe through its skin! The show is presented by scientists Amy Hassett and Mark Langtry and stars an alien called Zoom. Writer and producer, Mary Murphy from stop.watch productions said: Given all the restrictions to filming during the pandemic lockdown, it was brilliant to be able to visit and film with children in their own schools, thanks to a lot of work by the school staff. Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of Science for Society at Science Foundation Ireland, said: We are delighted to support the return of Lets Find Out to our TV screens. The show features fascinating scientific sites nationwide, including several of our SFI Discover Centres. Learning about our planet is vital to empower all of us as environmental custodians, and participating students had the opportunity for hands-on learning through experiments, demonstrations and quizzes. Very best of luck to Amy, Mark, Zoom and all the schools involved, were looking forward to watching. Lets Find Out: Protecting Planet Earth starts on RTEjr and RTE 2 on Monday, May 13 with all episodes streaming after on the RTE Player. The popularity of the Camino de Santiago has resulted in plenty of interest in pilgrim walks in Ireland, with Wicklows St Kevins Way proving to be one of the most popular pilgrim paths in Ireland and now there are plans for a new route to nearby Glendalough. You can follow in the footsteps of St Kevin on a scenic walking route through the heart of County Wicklow and the valley of Glendalough where he spent the spent the rest of his life in solitary prayer and contemplation. After Kevins death in AD 618, medieval pilgrims came from far and wide to visit Kevins tomb, and the alternative starting points to the walk reflect the different directions from which they are likely to have travelled. The main route starts in Hollywood, while the alternative route comes from Valleymount. The paths meet and join at Ballinagee Bridge. The walker then climbs towards the spectacular Wicklow Gap and the flagstones of the old pilgrimage road are still visible in sections. The route then follows the descent of the Glendasan River into the Valley of Glendalough. The total walk covers 26km and takes around eight hours to complete in full, covering forest trails, country roads and mountain paths. Plans are now afoot for a brand new pilgrim trail being proposed by Cllr Mary Kavanagh, which will travel from Wicklow town to Glendalough. She is working alongside local man Cormac McGrane, who is himself a seasoned Camino walker, and members of the Town Team, Dave Shannon and Pascal Burke. The proposed route will take in as many of the local towns and villages along the way such as Wicklow, Rathnew, Glenealy, Rathdrum and Laragh, while it is also hoped to divert walkers to other areas such as Newtownmountkennedy and Roundwood. The work has been ongoing for a few years explained Cllr Kavanagh, It was first mooted a long time ago when Cormac and my late sister, Cllr Pat Kavanagh, discussed the possibility of a walk all the way from Wicklow town, where St Patrick is reputed to have first landed in Ireland, to Glendalough which is one of the most important landmarks not only in Wicklow but in Ireland as its one of our top tourist attractions. The route has just been finished and should hopefully be submitted for sign-off very soon. The Strip and Dip has been running for eleven years supporting Aoibheanns Pink Tie. Up to 1,000 women are expected to bare all for the eleventh time at a nudist swim event taking place in Wicklow next month in aid of Aoibheanns Pink Tie, the national childrens cancer charity. The Strip and Dip was started by Dee Featherstone. When she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, she had a brainwave after her mastectomy to do something fun and raise money for childhood cancer. The event itself has grown from 40 women in the first year it was held to 2,500 women during the sixth year of the event - and the numbers continue to climb. Dee said: The accumulated fundraising over the last ten years is now 1.17 million and counting. With these funds we have supported buying and renovating a house in Crumlin, Aoibheanns Lighthouse, which is used for families who receive the devastating news that their child has cancer and need a place to stay while their child is undergoing treatment. This beautiful house is a respite for families travelling from outside Dublin and has an Aoibheanns Lighthouse sign outside to remind everyone what a beacon of light and hope Aoibheann Pink Tie is to families going through the worst times imaginable. The Strip and Dip will take place at the secluded Magheramore Beach on Saturday, June 8. The headquarters will be based at the Arklow Bay Hotel, with breakfast taking place from 8am to 9am, before shuttle buses bring everyone to the beach arriving at 11am. The dip takes place at 1pm. During breakfast, the Sea of Change Choir will be performing at the Arklow Bay Hotel from 8.30am, when the secret song for 2024 will be revealed, alongside special guests, including Jimmy Norman, founder of Aoibheanns Pink Tie. Dee added: There are a lot of women undertaking this who have been through cancer and of course lots of people who have been affected by it. With laughter, scars, dodgy boobs, or in a lot of cases only one or none, we would like to send a clear message that there is life after cancer and also raising awareness of how important it is for ladies to get checked. Its a magical day for all involved and a closed format. Remember, only ladies allowed. It is hoped funds raised at this years event will tip the Strip and Dip total over the 1.2 million marker. Any women wishing to take part can register at www.stripanddip.ie. There will be no males permitted at the beach. Scottish TV star Brian Cox has spoken about losing his anonymity, which he prized, after starring in hit series Succession. Cox, 77, who played foul-mouthed global media tycoon and family patriarch Logan Roy, was killed off in episode three of the final season of the hit HBO show. The gritty series, from Peep Show creator Jesse Armstrong, which also starred Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin, came to an end last year, and scooped numerous accolades during its four-season run, including winning the drama series gong at the Emmys. Jesse Armstrong and Brian Cox (Suzan Moore/PA) Cox, who won a Golden Globe for Succession, is nominated in the leading actor category at the Bafta Television awards for his role as Logan Roy, marking his first Bafta TV nomination since 1993, when he was nominated for The Lost Language Of Cranes. Speaking ahead of the TV Baftas, being held on May 12, he told BBC Scotland News: One thing I have lost is my anonymity, which I prized. It is a double-edged sword. The success, I am not going to knock it, but at the same time everybody knows who I am now. People would say youre? I loved the fact people didnt know what to say because I had done so much variation. But now Logan Roy is it, as far as the general public is concerned. His other recent projects include starring as The Controller in the Prime Video series 007: Road To A Million. He is also known for roles including the first incarnation of Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter (1986) and CIA chief Ward Abbott in the Bourne franchise. He is a patron of the Scottish Youth Theatre in Glasgow, The Old Rep in Birmingham, the British American Drama Academy in London and The Space in his native Dundee, and in 1965 Cox was among the founding members of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company in Edinburgh. He told BBC Scotland News: I have done more than 200 films altogether so it was just another role, but it was a great one. He always made his punch. There was nothing elaborate about Logan, what you saw was what you got, whether you liked it or not. Cox said Succession was one of the best jobs, adding: It was a great cast to work with. We are close as a family and it was one of the happiest jobs ever. Brian Cox opened the London Stock Exchange to mark Succession season four (Ian West/PA) He is nominated in the leading actor category at the Bafta Television awards alongside The Crowns Dominic West, Kane Robinson for Top Boy, Paapa Essiedu for The Lazarus Project, Timothy Spall for The Sixth Commandment and Steve Coogan for The Reckoning. Logan Roys shocking death in Succession is also in contention for the P&O Cruises memorable moment award at the ceremony, being held on May 12 at the Royal Festival Hall. Roys death shocked fans of the dynastic drama primarily because it happened off screen and so early in the final series. While it had long been speculated that the head of the Waystar-Royco empire would meet his end in the series, few people expected it to be in episode three, without any fanfare. The Bafta TV Awards will air on BBC One at 7pm. The Boss paid another visit to the Dublin institution Leo Burdocks. Pic: @leoburdockireland American superstar Bruce Springsteen was pictured visiting some of his favourite Dublin spots ahead of his three sold-out concerts in the capital next week. Bruce Springsteen played Belfast on Thursday night and will perform in Kilkenny on May 12, Cork on May 16 and Croke Park in Dublin on May 19. On Friday night The Boss was pictured stopping into one of the regular spots hes visited in his time in Dublin Leo Burdocks Famous Fish and Chips. Unsurprisingly he ended up in the flagship chip shop yesterday. Heartfelt moment as Bruce Springsteen hugs young fan at Belfast concert Under a picture posted on the chip shops Facebook page, a staff member said, the boss has landed at our flagship. Around 80,000 fans will fill Croke Park on May 19 in what has been promised to be a three-hour show. Concert fans were reminded that the stadium is in a residential area and have been urged to be respectful of residents property. Those attending are also being encouraged to use public transport to get to the concert, such as buses, Dart and the Luas. It will mark a hectic 2024 concert season for Ireland with sell-out concerts by Taylor Swift and Coldplay already announced for the capital. It is understood that negotiations are under way for another Slane Castle concert after the success of the Harry Styles gig at the famous Meath venue last June. Kevin Spacey has alleged film bosses are blocking his acting career, in the face of public support. Last week, the Oscar-winning actor denied new allegations of inappropriate behaviour from men who featured in a two-part Channel 4 documentary titled Spacey Unmasked, which was released on Monday and Tuesday. The documentary came after he was acquitted of a number of sexual offences alleged by four men between 2001 and 2013 after a trial in London and won a US civil lawsuit after being accused of an unwanted sexual advance at a party in 1986. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content I do think the British public are more mature than Channel 4, and I believe every time I have come back to London we are stopped by so many people who are so kind and say such generous things. And if there was a theme to what they are talking about it is this: When are you going back to work? This has gone too far, Spacey told the Telegraph newspaper. The US star previously claimed he had repeatedly requested that Channel 4 give him more than seven days to respond to the allegations made about him in their documentary and said the broadcaster refused. It was alleged that a number of acting offers for Spacey could now be in jeopardy as a result of the documentary. There is no doubt this has been a challenging couple of weeks, but I am incredibly excited about a number of projects I would be so honoured to bring to life, Spacey told the Telegraph. Actor Kevin Spacey described the past few weeks as challenging (James Manning/PA) I have been so pleased directors, producers and fellow actors have absolutely said yes but someone in some office in some distribution company or network has said no, we cant buy a film with Kevin Spacey in it. An individual I have never met is deciding for the public except in a couple of cases that some people might be upset. You can Google anybodys name and somebody will have a problem with them, he said. Spacey also questioned why the the industry has not been more welcoming towards him since his acquittal. I find it confusing that I am in an industry in which a great number of its most celebrated individuals spend a tremendous amount of time talking about how important redemption is and extend a remarkable path for people who served in prison and did their time, the 64-year-old said. We see so many people talk with so much empathy about how these individuals should be given a path back, and isnt it ironic and strange that the same path doesnt seem available if you are in the industry itself. The US star said those with right-wing views have shown him an enormous amount of support and offered him a path, in stark comparison with those of left-wing views. Spacey was one of the most recognised faces in Hollywood when allegations of sexual misconduct were made in 2017, leading streaming giant Netflix to cut ties with the actor. A representative for Channel 4 has been contacted for comment. Irish performer tells of intense atmosphere at song contest after day of disruption Irish Eurovision entrant Bambie Thug is hopeful they can bring the contest back to our shores 28 years after we last won. However, the non-binary artist spoke yesterday afternoon about a heavy mood surrounding the grand final. Yesterdays dress rehearsal was fraught. Those in the arena were surprised when the Netherlands act, Joost Klein, did not take to the stage, despite appearing at the opening flag ceremony. Shortly afterwards, organiser the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) issued a statement saying it was investigating an incident. There were disruptions through the dress rehearsal. Speaking about the incident, Bambie Thug said they were asleep at the time it happened, but things had become very intense backstage. The Irish artist, who will perform 10th tonight with Doomsday Blue, said mentally they were in a different zone compared with Tuesdays semi-final. I dont know whether Im in a more grounded zone or my roots just feel much more clasped into the earth, they said. Im always ready. My energies are definitely ready to be released on stage. There is a different energy, definitely a much more fierce energy and a much more heavy energy. Bambie Thug arrived at the press conference wearing a keffiyeh a traditional Palestinian scarf. There have been continuing calls for the organisers to expel Israel from the contest, as well as protests in Malmo throughout the week opposing Israels participation. Earlier in the week, Bambie Thug said they were ordered by the EBU to remove Ogham writing from their body that read Freedom for Palestine and Ceasefire. They replaced it with their slogan Crown the Witch. Asked if they thought the controversy surrounding Israels involvement was overshadowing the event, they said: It is a complete overshadow for everything. It goes against everything that Eurovision is meant to be. Its a big community together and their contestant was never allowed to even meet us. God forbid we might have some conversation where minds might be changed. Its definitely a cloud above it for everyone. It has been reported that the Israeli delegation had been ordered not to leave their hotel due to increased security threats. There has been heightened security around the arena in recent days, with armoured vehicles and a heavy police presence. It has been a politically tense contest this year, and Bambie Thug said they believe the EBU should gain some heart and some conscience and some humanity in relation to how they deal with contentious issues in the future. Despite the disrupted dress rehearsal, Bambie Thug was feeling confident before their performance tonight and spoke about how much it would mean to win. The last time Ireland won Eurovision was in 1996 with Eimear Quinns The Voice, while the last time we qualified for the final was in 2018 with Ryan OShaughnessys Together. It would mean everything, said Bambie, who is from Co Cork. It would be so incredible for us. I am so proud of my country on a global scale, and of its morals, its heart and art. It would be an amazing year for Cork. Imagine if Cillian Murphy got the Oscar and we get the Eurovision? I could win and I am fearful that we will miss a lot of votes because of the boycotting but there are 200 million viewers and, regardless, our performance stands out and it is undeniable how theatrical it is. They also encouraged the witches of Europe to vote for them, saying Get out and vote and crown the witch. Get the spells out, get the cleansing energies out. Asked why people should vote for them, they said: You should vote for Bambie Thug for art, for change, to shake things up. And for the best song and the best performer in the competition. This evening, 26 acts will take to the stage in the grand final. The favourite to win is Croatian act Baby Lasagna, with their song Rim Tim Tagi Dim, which features the lyrics: Ay, Im a big boy now, Im ready to leave, ciao, mamma, ciao. Non-binary Swiss act Nemo is also fancied to make it into the top five with their popera song The Code, about self-discovery. Bambie Thug cited Nemo as one of their favourite acts and said it was amazing having a little queer gang in the contest. Estonias 5MIINUST X Puuluup are a bit of a dark horse the title of their song translates to (We Still) Dont Know Anything About (These) Drugs; and Swedens answer to Jedward, Marcus & Martinus, should do well with their slick song, Unforgettable. In Malmo yesterday, many Irish fans spoke about their excitement ahead of the grand final. Alex Rice, from Dublin, said Bambie Thug had done the Eurovision fandom and the country proud. British presenter Rylan Clark also said he hopes Bambie does well. I love them and am so thrilled you have qualified for the first time in a good few years, the former X Factor star said. If Ireland does win, RTEs commentator Marty Whelan said he would be honoured to be asked to help host. Im always available. The suits still fit. Until Winning Streak comes back, the suits are still in the wardrobe, he said. Asked what their plans were following Eurovision, Bambie Thug said: I look forward to getting my own room and somewhere to live, I look forward to opening Download festival and more festivals, more music and creating more art for ever and ever. There has never been any love lost between US president Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but until this week, one could usually say with high confidence that their dysfunctional personal relationship would take a backseat to the historic alliance between the US and Israel. Not any more. Mr Netanyahu, the longest-serving head of government in Israels 75 years of statehood, had been experiencing a cold shoulder of sorts from Mr Biden after returning to government. The president was wary of his Israeli counterpart on account of Mr Netanyahu and the Likud Partys efforts to remake Israels judiciary into a more political, more compliant and less powerful entity. And Mr Netanyahus long history of antagonising US leaders elected from the Democratic Party was well known. Israel has ordered new evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as it prepares to expand its operation, saying it is also moving into an area in northern Gaza where Hamas has regrouped. Photo courtesy: Screenshot grab from YouTube video Bengaluru/IBNS: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader G Devaraje Gowda, who flagged the alleged sexual abuse of a series of women by suspended JDS leader Prajwal Revanna, was taken into custody by police in connection with a sexual assault case on Friday night, media reports said. Gowda was taken into custody when he was travelling from Bengaluru to Chitradurga. On the basis of a complaint by a 36-year-old woman, Gowda has been arrested for allegedly molesting her on the pretext of helping her to sell her property. Though he is accused of leaking the videos allegedly showing Revanna sexually abusing women, Gowda denied the charge and instead pinned the blame on Congress. Prajwal Revanna has been caught in the middle of a massive row in Karnataka after some leaked explicit videos allegedly showed him sexually assaulting multiple women. The 33-year-old leader, who is the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, went abroad, a day after polling took place in Karnataka's Hassan from where he is a candidate, and shortly after the videos began circulating online. The alleged scandal came to light after a woman filed a complaint against Prajwal Revanna over sexual assault. She accused the JDS leader of sexually abusing her on several occasions between 2019 and 2022. Meanwhile, Prajwal's father and JDS MLA H.D. Revanna was arrested in connection with a case pertaining to kidnapping of one of the victims in the sex scandal. Photo courtesy: X/@BRSparty New Delhi/IBNS: Former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has claimed the regional parties in the country will form the next central government leaving no other choice for the national coalitions- NDA or INDIA- to join them, media reports said. Rao said the regional parties won't be supporting the national coalitions- be it NDA or INDIA- but the other way round. Speaking to NDTV, Rao, who heads the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), said, "I will tell you a surprising thing which you may not believe. This time, something new is going to happen in the country. All the regional parties are very strong now. "They will emerge as a force. It's not the regional parties supporting NDA or INDIA. It's nothing like that. Either of them will have to support the regional parties' group. It will be a reverse thing. You will see it." Contrary to Rao's claims, several regional parties, which are undoubtedly powerful in their own states, have extended their support to the INDIA bloc, which has been formed to counter the BJP-led NDA. The AAP is fighting the elections in Delhi with Congress, RJD is in the INDIA alliance in Bihar, and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP) are fighting together. Though TMC is going solo in West Bengal, the party's supremo, Mamata Banerjee has announced she will extend her support to INDIA after the elections are over. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rao's party had won 9 out of 17 seats but the BRS was routed by Congress last year in the assembly elections. Slamming the Congress, Rao said, "The only promise they have delivered is free bus (tickets) for the woman. Even that has become a big joke. Women are fighting in the buses and auto drivers are (protesting) on the roads. That's the reason people are very angry. Photo Courtesy: S Jaishankar X page External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has expressed hope that the partnership between India and the European Union will grow further in the upcoming days. He recently attended the Europe Day celebrations in Delhi along with his wife Kyoko Jaishankar. Pleased to attend Europe Day celebrations in New Delhi today. relations are consequential not only for us both but also for the world. Our expanded exchanges, deeper economic ties, stronger technology cooperation and increased people to people connect tell their own pic.twitter.com/JVxDJrxyc5 Dr. S. Jaishankar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrSJaishankar) May 9, 2024 Jaishankar said the relationship between the two sides is crucial for the entire world. He posted on X: "Pleased to attend Europe Day celebrations in New Delhi today. relations are consequential not only for us both but also for the world." A great honour and pleasure to have @DrSJaishankar as Chief Guest to #EuropeDay2024. Building an enduring partnership is of strategic relevance for both sides but also for the world. A journey to walk together pic.twitter.com/oIGzfpJZwR Herve Delphin (@EUAmbIndia) May 9, 2024 "Our expanded exchanges, deeper economic ties, stronger technology cooperation and increased people to people connect tell their own story," he said. "Confident that this partnership would grow further in the times ahead," the Indian leader said. European Union Ambassador to India, Herve Delphin, posted on X: "A great honour and pleasure to have @DrSJaishankar as Chief Guest to #EuropeDay2024. Building an enduring partnership is of strategic relevance for both sides but also for the world. A journey to walk together." Europe Day is a day celebrating "peace and unity in Europe" celebrated on 5 May by the Council of Europe and on 9 May by the European Union. Photo courtesy: UNI Indore: Congress has launched a full-blown campaign, urging voters to press the NOTA button, after its candidate defected and joined the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), media reports said. The sudden move by Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam left Congress stunned and the party is now banking on the NOTA - none of the above - option to "teach a lesson" to the ruling party BJP. While the BJP has nominated sitting MP Shankar Lalwani, the Congress has not won the Indore constituency in 35 years (since 1989). Worst, this time, it will be the first instance it has even failed to field a candidate. The Congress has launched a high-octane push for NOTA votes in Indore, which is Madhya Pradesh's biggest constituency in terms of voters. Akshay Kanti Bam not only quit the race on the last day of withdrawing nominations but also proceeded to quit the party as well. Following the High Court's rejection of the alternate candidate's plea to run from the constituency under the party's symbol, the Congress has intensified its efforts to garner NOTA votes. BJPs campaign had appeared subdued due to the perceived lack of challenge from the remaining 13 candidates in the race. Former minister and ex-MP senior Congress leader Sajjan Verma said in Hindi in a video posted on X, "I appeal to the people of Indore... Our Congress candidate has been stolen by some people, who have deprived you of your right to vote. If you want to teach them a lesson, press the NOTA button and save democracy." The state Congress chief Jitu Patwari has declared that the party will not extend support to any of the remaining candidates and exhorted the public to press NOTA in order to punish the BJP. Indore is scheduled to vote in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Monday. Image Credit: video grab Hyderabad: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday rubbished Arvind Kejriwals claim that PM Modi will retire from active politics on his birthday September 17, next year, as he will turn 75. In a sharp retort, Shah said there is no need for Kejriwal to be happy, hoping that PM Modi will leave politics after he turns 75. "I want to tell Arvind Kejriwal and the INDI alliance that there is no need to be happy about Modiji turning 75. It is not written in the Constitution of the BJP that Modiji cannot become Prime Minister. He will again become Prime Minister and complete the term," Amit Shah said while addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, reported India Today. Earlier in the day, Arvind Kejriwal, who was released from Tihar jail on interim bail, asked if PM Modi will be retiring in 2025. Kejriwal, who was released on Friday from jail on bail by the Supreme Court in the Delhi liquor scam case to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, has been attacking the BJP, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi his main target. "PM Modi is turning 75 on September 17. He made a rule that leaders in the party would retire after 75 years. Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, and Yashwant Sinha have retired, and now PM Modi is going to retire on September 17," Kejriwal said. Kejriwal's remark also elicited a response from BJP National President JP Nadda Dismissing Delhi CM's comments in an X post. "Now they are looking for a way out by making an excuse of Modi Ji's age. There is no such provision regarding age anywhere in the constitution of the BJP... Modi ji is our leader and will continue to lead us in the future too," Nadda said. Amit Shah said Arvind Kejriwal shouldn't consider interim bail as a clean chit. "The interim bail has only been given till June 1 and on June 2 he has to surrender himself in front of the agencies. If Arvind Kejriwal considers this as a clean chit, then his understanding of the law is weak," Shah said. Image credit: File image/UNI New Delhi: BJP leader and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi has revealed why her son and sitting Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi has been denied a ticket in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, media reported. According to Maneka Gandhi, Varuns criticisms about the policies of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre could be the possible reason, news agency PTI reported. The BJP has replaced Varun Gandhi with Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada as its candidate from Pilibhit, which went to polls in the first phase on April 19. "Well, I can't say I was delighted, but I am sure Varun will do very well even without a ticket," the BJP leader was quoted as saying by PTI. She described Pilibhit as Varun Gandhis karmabhoomi' (workplace), and added that Varun should have been BJPs candidate from the constituency in this election also. She, however, said that the party has decided to not field him this time and that decision is final. "Yes, he should have been there, but the party has taken a decision and that's it," she said, the report added. The BJP has nominated Maneka Gandhi as its candidate for the Sultanpur seat in Uttar Pradesh, which is scheduled to vote on May 25 during the sixth phase of the seven-phase general elections. As an eight-time MP, Maneka Gandhi emphasized that her campaign is centered around addressing the local issues of Sultanpur to garner support from the voters. Pilibhit is tied in a three-way contest among candidates from the BJP, the INDIA bloc, and the BSP. The constituency has been held by either Maneka Gandhi or her son since 1996. Maneka Gandhi secured victories in the constituency in 1998 and 1999 as an Independent candidate. Thereafter, she won the seat in 2004 and 2014 as a BJP candidate. Her son, Varun Gandhi, emerged victorious in the seat in 2009 and 2019 as a BJP candidate. Image Credit: twitter.com/MehboobaMufti Pulwama (Jammu Kashmir): PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti has alleged that the local administration imposed Section 144 in Pulwama district two days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and detained her party workers were detained by the authorities, media reports said. The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir also accused the administration of unfairly influencing the polls by harassing and detaining her party workers in Pulwama, where voting is scheduled to take place on May 13. "Section 144 has been imposed in Pulwama district, which is unprecedented. It has not happened before. Restrictions are imposed where the elections are to take place and that too till the time of the conclusion of polls," Mufti said while addressing a presser in Srinagar, reported India Today. Mufti also accused the local administration of engineering the same outcome as the 1987 elections, which were allegedly rigged and seen as a triggering decade of unrest in the valley. According to her, the primary objective behind the detention of her party workers was to disrupt her Lok Sabha campaign. Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner (DC)/ District Magistrate (DM) of Pulwama said the imposition of Section 144 is a standard procedure to maintain law and order in the district. "ECI guidelines mandate specific SOPs for the last 72 hours and last 48 hours. Under Section 126 and Section 130 of Representation of People's Act 1951 and SOPs edition 2 Para 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3 mandate issuing of Order under Section 144 CrPC. Such orders have been issued by other districts also who went to polls/ are going to polls," a post from DC Pulwama's X handle said. "The restrictions apply to specific activities related to campaign etc, being silent period. Restrictions relate to only specified points in order and not general restrictions," it added. ECI Guidliens mandate specific SOPs for last 72 hours and last 48 hours. Under Section 126 and Section 130 of Representation of People's Act 1951 and SOPs edition 2 Para 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3 mandate issuing of Order under Section 144 CrPC. @ceo_UTJK @diprjk pic.twitter.com/s50x5YdHXb Deputy Commissioner Pulwama (@dcpulwama) May 11, 2024 Pulwama is located in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency, where Mufti is locked in a three-way contest against Mian Altaf from the National Conference (NC) and Zaffar Iqbal Manhas from the Apni Party. As part of the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat, Pulwama is slated to vote on May 13 in the fourth phase of the elections. Photo courtesy: Wikipedia Indian Tamil language film Star featuring Kavin released on big screens on Friday. The film is written and directed by Pyaar Prema Kadhal famed Elan. A special screening of the film was held on May 9 night. Apart from Kavin, the film features Lal, Aaditi Pohankar, Preity Mukhundhan and Geetha Kailasam. The plot tells the story of a young man who faces obstacles in pursuit of his dream to become an actor. Star is produced by B.V.S.N. Prasad and Sreenidhi Sagar. Photo Courtesy: Unsplash Pakistani administration is deploying troops in the Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) ahead of the May 11 protest, triggering protest and tension in the region. However, the United Kashmir Peoples National Party (UKPNP) and the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) have issued serious warnings to the administration against the use of any brutal force against peaceful protestors, reported ANI. Both parties have released warnings that they will organize international protests and demonstrations if the administration uses any force against the protestors who are raising their legitimate demands. Personnel from the Frontier Corps, Rangers, and Quick Response Force (QRF) of Punjab Province are currently present in the streets of the area. According to a joint statement issued by the UKPNP and JAAC, the demonstrators are protesting and unjustified taxation, high electricity bills, uncontrolled inflation, severe shortages of essentials like and flour, reported ANI. Photo Courtesy: Pixabay At least seven accused, including one police constable, have been arrested over two gangrape cases in Pakistan. City Police Officer (CPO) Sadiq Ali told media as quoted by The Nation that a 27-year-old girl who earns her living by decorating womens hands with henna reported to Violence Against Women Centre (VAWC) Multan that a girl (F) had called and asked her to reach to Fatima Jinah Colony where four men allegedly subjected her to gang rape. They reportedly shot the video and threatened to put it on social media if the woman did not pay Rs100,000 to them. In another incident, CPO told The Nation, a 21-year-old divorcee and mother of two kids from Rahim Yar Khan complained to Women police that she was residing at a girls hostel near Jalal Park in Multan city when she came into contact with a person Haris Jatt via a social media platform. On May 5, Haris Jatt took her to the house of another person Adnan where she alleged that two men subjected her to rape and also shot video. Women police had registered an FIR and arrested the two accused later. The former girlfriend of Bollywood star Salman Khan, Somy Ali, has stepped forward to extend her support to the actor amid recent adversities. The actor, whose life has been under scrutiny following a fire incident at his residence, received prayers and sympathy from Ali, who expressed her concerns regarding the situation in a Hindustan Times interview. Having shared a romantic relationship with Salman during the 1990s before relocating to the United States, Ali spoke candidly about the troubles faced by the actor, stating, "I wouldn't wish what he's been through on anyone." Despite the passage of time and the conclusion of their relationship, Ali emphasised the universal sentiment that nobody should have to endure such challenges. Salman Khan's Ex-GF Somy Ali Urges Bishnoi Community For Peace Ali's stance on the matter extends beyond personal support for Salman; she also took a firm stance against hunting as a recreational activity. Drawing attention to the Bishnoi community, renowned for their advocacy of wildlife protection, Ali urged for a cessation of any intentions to harm Salman. She advocated for the pursuit of justice through legal means rather than resorting to vigilante actions. Also Read: Abdu Rozik Shares Engagement Photos Keeping Fiancee Amira's Face Covered, Confirms Salman Khan's Wedding Attendance Why Is Bishnoi Community After Salman Khan? The Bishnoi community is pursuing justice against Salman Khan due to his involvement in the Blackbuck poaching case. The community, known for its reverence for wildlife, sees the killing of the blackbuck as a violation of their religious beliefs. They are actively seeking accountability for the incident, reflecting their commitment to protecting animals and their environment. Here's a simplified timeline of the Black Buck poaching case involving Salman Khan: Why Is Bishnoi Community After Salman Khan?/X October 1998: Salman Khan, along with several other Bollywood actors, allegedly went on a hunting expedition during the shooting of the film "Hum Saath Saath Hain" in Rajasthan, India. During this trip, two blackbucks, a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act, were allegedly hunted down. February 2006: Salman Khan was convicted under the Wildlife Protection Act for killing the blackbucks. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but he appealed the verdict and was granted bail. August 2007: The Rajasthan High Court suspended Salman Khan's sentence, pending the hearing of his appeal. December 2012: The Rajasthan High Court acquitted Salman Khan of all charges in the blackbuck poaching case, citing lack of evidence. July 2016: The Rajasthan government filed an appeal against Salman Khan's acquittal in the Supreme Court. January 2017: The Supreme Court issued a notice to Salman Khan on the Rajasthan government's plea challenging his acquittal. April 2018: Salman Khan was convicted in the blackbuck poaching case by a Jodhpur court and sentenced to five years in prison. He was immediately taken into custody but was later granted bail after spending two nights in jail. July 2018: Salman Khan applied for bail in the Jodhpur Sessions Court, which was granted. April 2019: The Jodhpur High Court issued a notice to Salman Khan on the state government's appeal against his acquittal in the Arms Act case related to the blackbuck poaching incident. July 2019: The Rajasthan High Court acquitted Salman Khan in the Arms Act case related to the blackbuck poaching incident. In February 2021, the Rajasthan government accused Salman Khan of submitting a fraudulent affidavit regarding the Arms Act, as stated in its petition to the High Court. On February 11, 2021, the Jodhpur District and Sessions Court dismissed the Rajasthan Government's appeal against Salman Khan for allegedly presenting a deceptive affidavit in the Arms Act case. March 21, 2022: The Rajasthan High Court approved the transfer of two petitions to its jurisdiction from another court. Overall, the case stretched over two decades, involving multiple legal proceedings, appeals, and verdicts before reaching its conclusion. Disclaimer: The timeline provided is based on available information and may not be entirely accurate. Legal cases often involve complex proceedings and multiple developments over time. For more news and updates from the world of OTT, celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. Getting stuck in traffic for hours on our way to work and back home has become the everyday reality of our lives. But imagine getting stuck in a traffic jam, not on a road, but in the middle of a desert, that too when you are riding a camel! No, we are not talking about life on the ancient Silk Route or some desert country in the Middle East. FACEBOOK Visiting Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang The city of Dunhuang in Gansu province of Northwestern China, could very well be the only place on earth that has traffic jams due to camels. The Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang, also known as the Singing Sand Dunes, is a highly sought-after tourist destination in China and is visited by millions of tourists from across the world every year. Also read: Google Maps Will Show Traffic Signals For Faster Route Navigation Too many camels carrying tourists The best way to enjoy Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring is to take a camel ride, but due to the high demand by tourists, it is not uncommon to see long lines of camels crossing the desert and collisions between the animals. CHINA DAILY Traffic light for camels A few years ago, China came up with an ingenious solution for this - a traffic light for camels. Touted as the world's first traffic light for camels, the system was launched in 2021. The red, yellow, and green lights, that have camel signs on them, perform the job of regular traffic lights - red means the camels have to stop and green signals them to march ahead. Also read: South Korea Installs Traffic Lights On Street For Smartphone Addicts CNS Tourism in Dunhuang Dunhuang City sits in an oasis in the Gansu-Xinjiang desert region and it was developed as a tourist attraction in the 1990s. According to local authorities, more than 3.7 million tourists visited Dunhuang in 2023, with 42 percent opting for camel rides. CNS The camel rides are operated by local villagers who charge 100 yuan (Rs 1,100) per tourist for the trip. There are over 2,000 camels in Dunhuang ferrying tourists. For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. We all love free money, and so did Sibongile Mani, a South African student. So one day when she realised that there were 14 million rands (approximately 6.3 crore) in her bank account, she decided to make the best use of it. The 32-year-old went on the shopping spree of her life, buying everything she ever wanted -- from designer clothes to the latest iPhone and expensive bottles of liquor. REDDIT Shopping with free money She even threw lavish parties for her friends and was having the time of her life. Then one day everything came crashing down after the bank noticed unusually high transactions from her account. Soon her dream turned into a nightmare, and she was arrested on charges of theft. Also read: UK Man Shocked To Find Rs 1.24 Crore In Bank Account Bank error make her rich According to local media, it all began in 2017 when Mani was a student at Walter Sisulu University. As a student, she was entitled to a stipend of 1,400 rands (approximately 6,000) per month. But due to some clerical error on the bank's side, a whopping 14 million rands (approximately 6.3 crore) got credited to Mani's account. Instead of reporting this to the bank, Mani decided to keep the money and make the most of the opportunity. Her luck ran out after she left behind a bank receipt at a supermarket. Pexels Arrested, sentenced to five years "She was just suddenly spending so much. Her supermarket receipt, which was leaked, showed she had 13.6 million rand in her account, and she had been throwing parties for her friends and showering them with gifts without worry," Samkelo Mqhayi, branch secretary of the South African Students Congress, said. Mani was arrested by the police in 2017 when she was charged with theft and fraud. She was sentenced to five years in prison in 2022, but in July 2023, two judges at the East London High Court in Makhanda accepted her appeal and suspended Mani's prison sentence. Instead, Mani was ordered to complete 14 weeks of community service and undergo therapy. Also read: Man Buys Gold Bars, Coins With Money Accidentally Deposited In His Bank Account REDDIT Want to start afresh After being released from jail, her lawyer said Mani is relieved to put this chapter behind her and is eager to start afresh. She is very relieved She wants to put this whole affair behind her and start over," he said. For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the International Space Station (ISS) is the "third brightest object in the sky and easy to spot if you know when to look up". If you are a space enthusiast and want to view the ISS pass overhead, we have some good news for you. This month, you may view it with your own eyes from the sky over Chennai. Yes, you read it correctly. When can you view the International Space Station from the naked eye? International Space Station | Image: NASA According to NASA, you can view the space station from May 8, 2024 until May 23, 2024. The ISS was visible for seven minutes today, at 7:09 p.m. It emerged 10 above SW and vanished 10 above NNE. (Also read: NASA Has Plans To Crash The International Space Station Into The Pacific Ocean Within A Decade) If you missed it today, you can watch it tomorrow at 5:02 a.m. The ISS will be visible for six minutes. The ISS can also be seen in the early morning hours of May 12. What time will it be seen? It will be seen at 414 a.m. for four minutes straight | Image: NASA It will be seen at 4:14 a.m. for four minutes straight. The ISS will appear at 10 above North and vanish at 10 above East. If you aren't an early riser, you may watch it at 7:08 p.m. It will remain visible for four minutes. (Also read: Fascinating Animation Reveals Astonishing Speed Of International Space Station) The International Space Station will appear 10 above W and disappear 10 above NNW. The ISS will also be visible on May 13 and 14, at 5:00 and 4:14 a.m., respectively. On May 13, the space station will be visible for six minutes; on May 14, it will be visible for only three minutes. Mark these dates on your calendar and don't miss out on this incredible chance | Image: European Space Agency On May 13, it will appear 10 above NW and disappear 10 above SSE; on May 14, it will appear 59 above ESE and depart 10 above SE. So, mark these dates on your calendar and don't miss out on this incredible chance. What do you think about this? Tell us in the comments. For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram. Jim Simons Net Worth: Jim Simons, the renowned mathematician-investor and founder of Renaissance Technologies, a prominent hedge fund, has passed away at 86. Simons, who shifted from academia to finance, leaves behind a legacy of innovative quantitative trading strategies that transformed the investment world. Jim Simons' path to financial achievement was unconventional. Before establishing Renaissance, he embarked on a varied career, serving as a codebreaker for the NSA, contributing to the Institute for Defense Analyses, and holding teaching positions. Who was Jim Simons? Jim Simons was a respected mathematician and investor, earning the nickname "Quant King" for his pioneering use of quantitative analysis in investing. He founded Renaissance Technologies and its Medallion Fund. Simons shared his mathematical expertise by teaching at MIT, Harvard University, and Stony Brook University. He passed away on May 10, 2024. Jim Simons Net Worth | investwizardry Key Highlights: Jim Simons started and was the CEO and chair of Renaissance Technologies from 1982 to 2010. His Medallion Fund follows a black box approach in its investment strategy. Simons led the mathematics department at Stony Brook University. He worked as a codebreaker for the National Security Agency during the Vietnam War. Jim Simons: Early Life and Education Jim Simons was born on April 25, 1938, in Brookline, Massachusetts. He got his bachelor's degree in maths from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1958 and got his Ph.D. in maths from the University of California, Berkeley in 1961. During the Vietnam War, Simons worked as a codebreaker with the National Security Agency and was part of the research team at the Institute for Defense Analyses until 1968. He taught maths at MIT and Harvard University before becoming chairman of the maths department at Stony Brook University. Jim Simons: The "Quant King" In 1978, Jim Simons started a hedge fund called Monemetrics. He figured out that spotting patterns could help in trading on financial markets, so he made a system using maths and stats. By hiring maths experts, statisticians, and physicists, he set up Renaissance Technologies and its main Medallion Fund in 1982. Jim Simons, known as the "Quant King," relied totally on number-crunching and computer-based investing. By 2022, Renaissance Technologies was handling 55 billion. The Medallion Fund, which uses a secret strategy only available to Renaissance's staff, was worth 10 billion. Jim Simons was the boss of Renaissance Technologies until he retired in 2010. READ ALSO: Meet Thomas Mathew, The Man Writing Ratan Tata's Biography Book 'Ratan Tata: A Life' Jim Simons Net worth As of 2022, Jim Simons held the 48th position on the Forbes list of American billionaires, boasting a net worth of $29 billion. Together with his wife, Marilyn Simons, he established the Simons Foundation in 1994, channeling more than $2.7 billion of his wealth into it. The foundation is dedicated to bolstering education, healthcare, and autism research. In 2004, Simons founded Math for America, a program designed to incentivize math and science teachers to stay in their profession and enhance their teaching skills. Jim Simons Net Worth | LinkedIn Jim Simons' remarkable achievements in mathematics, finance, and philanthropy have earned him widespread recognition. He is regarded as a pioneer in the field of quantitative investing and a highly influential figure in both academia and finance. In 1994, Jim Simons and his wife co-founded the Simons Foundation, demonstrating their commitment to philanthropy. With generous donations exceeding $2.7 billion, Simons focuses on supporting initiatives in education, health, and autism research. ALSO READ: Do You Know Ratan Tata Once Skipped His Meeting With King Charles For This Heartwarming Reason? Jim Simons Profile: Net Worth & Biography Jim Simons Profile Category Details Born April 25, 1938, in Newton, Massachusetts, U.S. Age 86 years Source Of Wealth Hedge Funds Industries Finance & Investments Citizenship United States Residence East Setauket, New York Education Bachelor of Arts/Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Doctorate, University of California, Berkeley Spouse Barbara Bluestein (Married: 1959; Divorced: 1974), Marilyn Hawrys Children 5, including Nat For the latest and more interesting financial news, keep reading Indiatimes Worth. Click here The discovery of an infants body at a local landfill has sent shockwaves through the local community of Vravrona. Authorities confirmed the infant sustained head injuries, most likely from debris during waste disposal operations. The case took a distressing turn when police investigations revealed the child was discarded by its parents. The father, in a statement to the police, claimed the baby was stillborn and out of fear and confusion, he disposed of the body in the trash The incident was corroborated by security footage. The parents, both Nepalese nationals aged 24 and 25, were working and residing at a local hotel. The situation came to light when the mother was taken to Alexandra Hospital due to severe bleeding, where it was discovered she had recently given birth. Police were alerted when no baby was found with her. It was later revealed that the woman had gone into premature labor at the hotel. A state coroner is set to determine whether the infant was born dead,as claimed by the father, or alive, which could lead to more severe charges for the parents. Known as mild-mannered individuals by their acquaintances, the parents actions have left the community and local authorities grappling with the tragic event. Giannis Aidiniotis, Deputy Mayor of Markopoulo, expressed his dismay to iefimerida.gr: We are searching through fifteen to twenty tons of garbage for the infants body. T This incident has deeply shocked us all. The police are meticulously combing through the landfill, guided by the sanitation team, to piece together this heartbreaking story. iefimerida.gr Greeces former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has moved to sue the German government for banning his entry and engaging in political activities in the country. The legal action, announced by Mr. Varoufakis political movement MeRA25, underscores a broader concern about civil liberties in Europe. Legal aides to the former minister say the ban is a flagrant breach of both German and European Union laws, particularly those safeguarding freedom of speech and movement. The dispute stems from an incident last April when German authorities prohibited Mr. Varoufakis from participating in a conference on Palestine. The event, co-organized by MeRA25 Germany, the Jewish Voice for Peace, and other groups, aimed to foster dialogue on securing equal political rights in the region. German authorities have cited national security reasons for the ban but have refused to disclose any further details. Mr. Varoufakis lawsuit is seen as a test case for the protection of political freedoms in the EU. It challenges the German states stance on security and its implications for personal liberties, setting a precedent for European citizens rights to political participation and free movement. MeRA25 has called for public support against the misuse of national security as a pretext to erode fundamental rights, emphasizing that the real threat to citizen safety lies in the loss of these liberties. iefimerida.gr The Kogi State Government, on Friday, disclosed that nine students have been confirmed missing after the attack by gunmen on Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTEC), Osara. Recall that the gunmen invaded the university around 9pm on Thursday and abducted students who were preparing for their examinations. Advertisement State Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, told newsmen that the state has deployed security operatives and hundreds of local hunters into the bushes in pursuit of the kidnappers. He added that security agents have also been positioned around the school. Hundreds of local hunters, who understand the terrain, as well as the conventional security agents, are currently combing the area to ensure the safe rescue of the abducted students who were kidnapped from their classrooms. READ ALSO: Bandits Kidnap Kogi Varsity Students So far, nine students have been reported missing and we hope to rescue them as soon as possible. We wish to assure students, parents and the entire people of Kogi that the government is on top of the situation and all the abducted students will be rescued alive. Governor Usman Ododo has also directed that security agents be positioned around all tertiary institutions in the State, Fanwo stated. He further commended the local hunters and other security agents for engaging the abductors on the night of the invasion. According to him, their gallantry and dedication ensured that the kidnappers did not have a field day. We wont submit to terror. We shall prevail by Gods grace, he said. A State High Court in Port Harcourt has granted an interim injunction restraining Martin Amaewhule from parading himself as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. In a Friday ruling, Charles Wali, the Presiding Judge, also restrained 25 other assembly members, loyal to former Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike, from parading themselves as legislators. Advertisement The motion ex parte was filed by the factional Speaker, Victor Jumbo and two assembly members Sokari Goodboy and Orubienimigha Timothy loyal to Siminialayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers. The suit listed 25 lawmakers as 1st to 25th defendants and the Governor of Rivers, the Attorney-General, and the states Chief Judge as 26th to 28th defendants. READ ALSO: Fubara Not A Peacemaker, Not Ready To Reconcile With Wike Ex Rivers Attorney General Alleges In its ruling, the court stopped the Governor, the Attorney-General, and the Chief Judge from interacting with the affected lawmakers. The order asked the lawmakers to stop parading themselves as members of the assembly or conducting any legislative business as members of the house. The court also ordered them to stop sitting at the auditorium of the house of assembly quarters located along Aba Road or any other place whatsoever to conduct business as members of the house of assembly. The court further ordered substituted service on the lawmakers within seven days from the date by substituted means to wit by pasting at the entrance gate of the Rivers state house of assembly legislative quarters. The Rivers House of Assembly has been conflicted since 2023 following the rift between Fubara and Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory. The Trade Union Congress has berated the opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly over their quietness on controversial cybersecurity levy. Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria, directed financial institutions to implement a 0.5 per cent charges on electronic transfers. The apex bank noted that deductions would go to the National Cybersecurity Fund which would be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). Advertisement Osifo, in his reaction to the directive on Channels Televisions Politics Today, on Friday night, wondered why the opposition lawmakers who are representatives of the people are yet to take a stance on the controversial policy. The TUC President also accused ruling party, All Progressives Congress of making life more difficult for the Nigerian people. READ MORE: Cybersecurity Levy: TUC Slams NASS, Threatens Nationwide Shutdown He said: Where are the opposition parties in the National Assembly? Where are the PDP, Labour Party, and NNPP members? the visibly angry Usifo questioned. Even if the ruling party today wants to suffocate Nigerians and the opposition, you hear nothing from them. It is really that bad. This kind of attitude where we dont see bills like this in the newspapers that there is going to be public hearings, and we dont hear any advertisement on major television channels that there is going to be a public hearing. What are they doing with the budget of the National Assembly? Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, has issued an executive order moving the sitting of the State House of Assembly to the Government House. The document was sent to newsmen by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Boniface Onyedi, on Friday. The gazette dated December 14, 2023, cited the explosion recorded at the State Assembly on October 29, 2023, as the reason for the relocation. Advertisement The Governor said the sitting of the state parliament will henceforth take place at the government house until the assembly complex, which was affected by fire in October, is renovated. That on the 29th day of October 2023, a fire incident occasioned by unknown persons burned and damaged the hallowed chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly. That the Hallowed Chamber of the Rivers State House of Assembly in its present state is unsafe and constitutes a threat to the lives of the staff and the Honourable members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and thus not conducive for the business and proceeding of the Rivers State House of Assembly. READ ALSO: Fubara Not A Peacemaker, Not Ready To Reconcile With Wike Ex Rivers Attorney General Alleges That it is expedient to carry out urgent repairs, renovation, and reconstruction of the burnt and damaged chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly. That it is further reasonable to ensure that the business and proceedings of the Rivers State House of Assembly are not impeded and frustrated. Now therefore, I, sir Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS, the Governor of Rivers State this 30th day of October 2023, pursuant to the powers vested in me under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) hereby issue, order, and direct that all proceedings and business of Rivers State House of Assembly shall temporarily take place at the Auditorium, Admin Block, Government House, Port Harcourt until the repairs, renovation or reconstruction of the chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly are completed, the gazette reads. The gazetting of the order comes in the wake of a renewed political crisis in the oil-rich State. ECI to adopt early action formula in Bengal to ensure fair LS polls in next four phases The Election Commission of India (ECI) will adopt an early action formula in the forthcoming four phases of the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal to ensure peaceful and fair elections. Explaining this early action formula, a source in the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)s office said on Saturday that this strategy will be multi-pronged. First, the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will not allow unnecessary assembly of supporters of political parties within a specific area in the radius of the polling stations, from the very first hour of the commencement of polling. This exercise will be a kind of caution for potential troublemakers that stricter punitive measures will follow in the case of habitual offenders, the source said. Second, there will be constant monitoring of identified influential local politicians so that they are unable to assemble for extended periods with their associates near polling stations, as it might result in altercations and tension in the area. This will be implemented from the very first hour once polling begins. Third, habitual offenders who do not take the first warning seriously will be detained for the day and will be released just an hour before the closing time of polling so that they are able to cast their votes. As per legal provisions such preventive detentions up to 24 hours are allowed. Insiders in the CEOs office said that these three layers of the early action formula were in place to a limited extent in the third phase of the elections on May 7, considering that two traditionally-troubled constituencies of Jangipur and Murshidabad went for polls on that day. From the fourth phase the same formula will be implemented more elaborately and strictly, the sources said. A yet to be identified skit maker, who claimed in a viral video that he is a son of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, has finally apologised to the traditional ruler. It was gathered that in the first video, the young man accused the monarch for hiding him with his mother with an instruction that he should stay discreet. He added that the Oonis silence on his identity as a prince compelled him to make the video. Advertisement He said: Oba Enitan Ogunwunsi is my father. He hid me with my mother with a clear instruction that I must not reveal myself. Reacting to the video on Thursday, Moses Olafare, the spokesman for the Ooni in a statement disclosed that the man in the viral video had engaged in impersonation, noting that the matter had been reported to security agencies for further action. According to video monitored by PUNCH, on Friday, the man was seen apologising to the traditional ruler, saying tha he had earlier seen the Ooni in a dream in 2022 engaging him in a discussion after which he gave him a wrist bead. He claimed he had another dream involving the Ooni a month ago. READ MORE: Ooni Of Ife Disowns Alleged Son In Online Video, Seeks Police Intervention He said: I have a reason for creating that video. In 2022, I found myself beside the Ooni in my dream, engaging in discussions. Initially, I was unaware that it was a dream because Kabiyesi gave me the bead on my wrist. However, when Kabiyesi raised my hand, that was when I woke. Upon waking, I was perplexed about how I had encountered the Ooni of Ife but later concluded that he is the father of Oduduwa land. Dreaming about him is not unusual or inappropriate. I have never dreamt about an Oba before; typically, I dream about governors, not an Oba. Three days after this dream, I travelled to Ile-Ife in an attempt to meet the Ooni. Despite all my efforts, I could not see Kabiyesi, and I departed in the evening after spending the entire day at the Oonis palace. I created the video after returning home from Oonis palace because I sensed there was a significance behind the dream I had about him. Additionally, I produced music with the hope that when Ooni sees it online, he may extend an invitation to me. Furthermore, I reached out to someone in Canada to recommend a contact who could facilitate a meeting with the Ooni. The person recommended to me, guided me through certain protocols, but all attempts to meet the Ooni or have him listen to my music proved unsuccessful. A month ago, I dreamt of the Ooni once more, and I pondered what significance it might hold. As a creator of skits, I decided to produce the final skit to further emphasize my desire to meet the Ooni. This is why I referred to the Ooni as my father in the video. My esteemed father, please do not be displeased with me. I did not create the video to defame you; rather, I made it to attract your attention so that I could narrate my dream to you and hopefully meet you. Nevertheless, you remain my father because you are the father of Oduduwa land. I implore Nigerians not to spread my video to defame the Ooni, as its purpose was to seek his attention. Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, says he will soon make public the forensic audit report which indicted the administration of former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of diverting billions of state funds meant for projects to individual company accounts. He also said the immediate past administration transferred the N10 billion airport funds into 32 different company accounts before it was shared. According to him, the money had already been transferred out of the state government account before they approached the Abia State House of Assembly for approval. Advertisement The governor was offering more clarification on the auditing during his monthly media chat, tagged Governor Alex Otti Speaks to Abians held at Government House, Umuahia. While noting that the denial of the former Governor was not unexpected, Otti pointed out that it was reported in the media, that instead of denying spending the fund, they then claimed that they used it for road construction which is against the evidence available. Otti said the management of the company, FEROTEX Construction Company, has admitted that the company never applied to be awarded the aborted airport project under the past administration. READ ALSO: Former Nigeria International Star, Babaginda, Wife Hospitalised As Brother Dies In Auto Crash He maintained, however, that when the report would eventually be published, the rest of the work would be handled by security agencies, insisting also that his interest is for the money to be refunded rather than taking anyone to jail. The immediate past governors denial is not unexpected. When it was announced, they went to the media abusing the government and saying that the government lied. It is a report by KPMG which says that they diverted the money into roads. In the bank statement on the 26th of September 2020 when people were dealing with COVID-19, a debit went into the state account for N10 billion and it was payment for an 80 per cent contract of the Abia airport. Its true and incontrovertible. The statement is there, the report is there. By the way, the report will be published very soon. But I can assure you that as reported by the media, its KPMG that did the forensic audit. So, clearly something went wrong. Our engagement with the company that received the money gives the impression that the company was deceived. The Managing Director of the company said that he told them that he had never built an airport before and that it is not his area of competence neither did he apply to them to construct an airport. The governor equally stated that his government was not bordered over the defections in droves by PDP members to APC in the state. He said those that should be worried were the remnants of the PDP, affirming that both members of the PDP and other political parties are joining him in the Labour Party. Our government is the government of the people. What is important for us is to give good governance and that is what we are doing, he stated. Real Warri Pikin, a comedian, has criticised Abuja single men for refusing to get married. According to her, she has received numerous reports from people in the FCT about the chaotic dating scene. She claimed that the majority of the men there are only searching for women to become baby mama and are unwilling to settle down in marriage. Advertisement Despite the fact that women want to get married, men are adamant about it. They are not willing to commit to the institution of marriage, despite having access to intimacy with ladies. She asserted that there are still fantastic marriages because she is currently in one and met her husband in Abuja; thus, men should change. READ MORE: Reps. Speaker Appoints Eniola As His SSA On Social Events, Public Hearing Abuja men, what is happening to the dating pool in Abuja, I hear say na una dey scatter am you people are not ready to get married you people are not ready for commitment, youll just see responsible girl living her life and you want to turn her to baby mama, is she a factory? Information reaching me is that you people dont want to settle down but the girls are ready, she said in part. SEE VIDEO: The All Progressives Congress (APC) has posited that the egregious actions of Governor Siminalayi Fubara are indicators he needs to be impeached. The APC also dismissed Fubaras claim that the Martin Amaewhule-led group of lawmakers at the State House of Assembly are non-existent. Advertisement National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, in a Friday statement said the Governors declaration was reckless and a direct affront to the nations constitution which vested legislative authority on the House. The PDP tendered a hogwash argument that by Section 109 of the Constitution, the 27 House of Assembly members who defected from PDP to APC have forfeited their seats, and echoed the Governors declaration that the Rivers State House of Assembly is non-existent. Contrary to PDPs assertions, it is not the APC that is calling for the impeachment of Governor Fubara. Rather, by his egregious actions, conduct and infantile comments, Fubara is actively and vehemently precipitating his impeachment. Governor Fubaras declaration that the Rivers State House of Assembly does not exist is not only reckless, it is a direct affront to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The House of Assembly is a creation of the Constitution, and vested with the legislative authority of the state. The members of the Assembly were elected by the good people of Rivers state in the same manner that Fubara was elected Governor, Morka said. The APC noted that the said 27 APC lawmakers did not lose their membership of the Assembly by virtue of their decampment, quoting Section 109(1)(g) of the Constitution. READ ALSO: N80.2bn Fraud: We Dont Know Where Yahaya Bello Is Lawyer Begs Court For A Month To Find Him The Party added that only a properly constituted court of law can make a determination as to whether a member of the House of Assembly has vacated his seat in accordance with that provision of the Constitution, hence, the 27 lawmakers remain the constitutionally recognised and authorised members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. According to the statement, Fubaras demolition of the House of Assembly complex remains one of the most brazen attacks on democratic institutions in our nations history. The states opposition party further stated that the governor continues to conduct the business of government unhinged, and in total contempt of the state legislature, while he expends the states resources without regard to appropriation and public procurement laws. Fubara, on Wednesday, had barred all heads and officials of the 23 LGs in the state from appearing before the state House of Assembly. He warned that any chairman who appeared before the lawmakers risks being sacked. Recall that on December 11, 2023, the 27 lawmakers who are supporters of former Governor Nyesom Wike the present Minister of the Federal Capital Territory; defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC. The APC Caretaker Committee Chairman in the state, Chief Tony Okocha, had earlier on Tuesday called on the pro-Wike loyalists of the State House of Assembly to immediately commence an impeachment process against Fubara. Reacting, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, in a press briefing on Wednesday, cautioned the APC to discard any thought of a forceful takeover of the state leadership. "Adam and Eve with Cain and Abel" by Fra Bartolomeo, dated 1512, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A new book claims the painting is misattributed and was done by Leonardo da Vinci. Read more Francois Muhlberger has an obsessive passion for Renaissance painting. A Belgian administrator for a Spain-based olive oil company, he pores over centuries-old artworks in his free time. It was light fun until he became convinced that he had made a major discovery in 2022: a Leonardo da Vinci painting wrongly attributed to a different painter at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The amateur art historian was reading a book about the painter Fra Bartolomeo when he first saw Bartolomeos Adam and Eve with Cain and Abel (1512). The painting was acquired by PMA in 1933 as part of the John G. Johnson collection (the same collection that held a different painting now thought to be a true Vermeer). Eve, partially draped in a light blue fabric, holds a baby in one arm and the hand of a toddler with the other hand. Across from her sits the outlined profile of Adam, naked and holding a farm hoe. Behind them are mountains, trees, and billowing clouds with a mysterious figure in red, holding up his arms in the distance. Muhlberger was struck by the unfinished work, and couldnt shake the feeling that it was painted by Leonardo, not Bartolomeo. Advertisement There is a Leonardo in Philadelphia, Muhlberger writes in his book, The Leonardo of Philadelphia, which was published in French last year, then translated into English in 2024. In less than 60 pages, he argues that because the work was unfinished (common for Leonardo), has visible fingerprints on the canvas (Leonardo blended colors with his hands), shows the tip of Adams penis (Muhlberger says the prudish monk Bartolomeo would never), and contains a subliminal nod to Cain killing Abel, it must be the genius of Leonardo. His conviction is clear, but the evidence is muddled. The implications of this claim are not lost on Muhlberger. If proven true, the discovery would rattle the art world in Philadelphia and beyond. The only other Leonardo held in a U.S. museum is his Ginevra de Benci at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and there are very few known works an estimated 15 to 20 paintings by the Italian master that have been authenticated. Attribution debates are not new, and often these investigations take years of study from experts and scholars. In 2017, Leonardos Salvator Mundi became the most expensive artwork ever sold, fetching $450 million, but a year later, one scholar argued that the painting was almost entirely done by one of the painters studio assistants. The attribution is still supported by most Leonardo scholars, but its an ongoing conversation. In this case, however, Muhlbergers claim lacks the legitimacy of academic experience. With a 1999 degree in art history from Belgiums University of Liege, he accepts that he is no expert, but believes that Adam and Eve with Cain and Abel deserves a serious investigation nonetheless and he is incredibly persistent. Muhlberger first contacted the PMA in November 2022 to request additional photographs of the painting so he could study the piece and publish them in his book. The museum obliged, sending 10 photos including X-ray and infrared images. A friend in Belgium, Bernard Quickels, believed the Leonardo argument and published the book under a new publishing company. Ahead of publication, Muhlberger and Quickels sent copies to PMA head Sasha Suda and awaited her reply. The museum said its experts would review it. Months went by. Muhlberger sent several emails, with increasing urgency but which went unanswered, inquiring about the status of the investigation: I know that it may seem surprising, even unbelievable. But I am not a novice, and I am convinced I am right. I think I know the painted work of Leonardo like no one else, he wrote in November 2023. You will have to face the facts and assume that this little painting is definitely not by a monk painter, but of the hand of Leonardo da Vinci. You only need some courage for it. The same courage I took to write such an essay, knowing in advance the cold reception that the academic world would reserve for it. After he requested additional photos of the paintings wooden panel earlier this year he believes that analyzing the age of the wood could confirm a more accurate creation date the museum said it would need to examine it further before sending more images, and that the panel is so thin that it would not be possible for such an analysis. We take these claims as seriously as we can with the resources we can, a PMA spokesperson said recently. Were certainly not ignoring it, but they take time to look into. Weve simply not done the research. Muhlberger has sent the book to roughly a dozen experts and has heard back from four. They are not in accord with me, he said. Its a Leonardo, I am sure. I did my job and I think that time will give me wisdom. Time will do the rest. Renowned Leonardo expert Martin Kemp, a professor emeritus of art history at Oxford University who has also taught at Princeton, was one who replied. While Kemp could see affinities with Leonardo, he believed the painting could be attributed to Fra Bartolomeo or another contemporary, Mariotto Albertinelli. (The painting was initially attributed to Albertinelli, but in 1906, experts agreed on Bartolomeo.) His research is a good try but not credible, Kemp said. Undeterred, Muhlberger continues to wait on the museum. I dont want to change the world. I only want to change the attribution of a single painting, he said. He and Quickels plan to put The Leonardo of Philadelphia in local bookstores soon, hoping greater attention will quicken the process. Muhlberger is also working on another book about the misattribution of a painting at the Met, but hes not ready to go public just yet. At some colleges, protests, sit-ins, and their latest iteration encampments have long been part of the campus culture. At Swarthmore College, sit-ins go back at least to 1969, when students were calling for more Black student enrollment. The same is true at the University of Pennsylvania, where people still talk about how students occupied College Hall for six days that year over concerns about the schools war-related research and expansion into West Philadelphia and how it might displace residents. Advertisement So, its not surprising that Swarthmore has a pro-Palestinian encampment on its campus and Penn had one, too, until Friday before police dismantled it, with the university citing disruption and safety concerns. READ MORE: Philly Police have cleared Penns Pro-Palestinian encampment and arrested 33 protesters The reasons why one campus has a culture ready for encampments while another has no trace of protest are myriad and intertwined with factors ranging from the socioeconomic status of students to the geography of the schools location. A history of protest is one factor that can make some colleges more likely places for encampments, experts say, because they have a tradition of campus activism passed down through generations. Campuses with higher percentages of students who are of Middle Eastern descent or Muslim could raise the possibility, too. It also might depend on how welcoming a college administration is to protest those that are might see more and how able the students involved are to risk arrest or discipline. But sometimes repression leads to more activism, said Robert Cohen, a New York University professor who has studied the history of protest. Its not a straight line. Its not an easy formula. Its complicated. That complexity is true in the Philadelphia region. Most of the campuses that have had encampments over the last couple weeks Bryn Mawr, Princeton, and Haverford, in addition to Penn and Swarthmore are among the regions most elite, highly selective colleges. Several, including Haverford and Swarthmore, are rooted in Quaker culture, which has an activist tradition. READ MORE: While a few other universities reach compromises with protesters, why cant Penn? Then theres Rutgers, New Jerseys state flagship, and it was far from the only state university in the nation to have an encampment. The vast majority of colleges in the Philadelphia region, however, including Pennsylvania State University, Villanova, West Chester, and La Salle, did not get encampments. Neither did Drexel or Temple, though students from those universities were participating at the Penn encampment. Compared with the height of protests that happened in 1970 during the Vietnam era, the latest batch is pretty small. More than four million students were taking part in protests back then at about 500 campuses, said NYUs Cohen. This is very mild, he said of the recent encampments. This is the biggest protest on campuses in the 21st century, but thats not saying much. How Villanovas culture led to a march At Villanova, more than 100 students marched and protested on the campus in late April but decided against an encampment. Students were told that they would face academic probation and possible suspension if they erected an encampment, said Stephanie Sena, an anti-poverty faculty fellow at Villanovas law school. READ MORE: Is the call to divest feasible? Heres why there are hurdles to Penn protesters demands. Students expressed concern because they are at Villanova on scholarship and if they got suspended, they could have that scholarship taken away, she said Its very important to understand students in the 60s didnt have tuition (prices) the way we do, or student debt the way we do. Jonathan Gust, a Villanova spokesperson, said that a member of the universitys student life staff told the students at a meeting about the responsibility to peacefully assemble but that the topic of an encampment didnt come up. Villanova, Sena noted, also is a suburban school and an encampment there may not get the same support and resources from the surrounding community that Penns received in the city, she said. READ MORE: Student protests over Gaza war are forcing Penn and other U.S. universities to face impossible demands And Villanovas identity as a Catholic institution also is significant, she said, asserting that it is more conservative and not as prone to progressive activism. Ak Asalu, 21, a junior criminology and political science major at Villanova, agreed that the potential sanctions played a role in students decision not to set up an encampment, but it was also that they decided they could accomplish the same thing with the sizable protest they held. Theres not really a culture of activism on campus, he said. So we knew that if the protest had a good turnout, we definitely would be able to get attention from the office of the president. We were able to get a meeting with the president to discuss our demands. Asalu said it was the right decision for students at Villanova. We really wanted to prioritize the safety of our students and we were still able to achieve what we wanted at the end of the day, he said. The president, the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, told students that Villanova does not have investments related to Israel and doesnt invest in war efforts, Asalu said. Gust confirmed those assertions, noting that Villanova follows the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops guidelines on socially responsible investing, which restrict investments in weapons manufacturing. Students still hope the university will put out a statement calling for a ceasefire and donate money to a Palestinian student relief fund, Asalu said. A tactic of choice The latest encampment movement really got its start at Columbia University last month and when the university used force to remove it, that fired up students at the nations other elite universities, who do tend to follow each other, said Timothy Burke, a history professor at Swarthmore. What that did is more or less lock in the idea of the encampment as the tactic of choice for students already poised to be in confrontation, he said. Students, he said, are constructing their sense of a universe of peers, he said. And while elite colleges may nurture student activism, at some point when those schools operations are affected they may push back and tell students thats enough, and that will only make students want to protest more, he said. They will say, I am just doing what you say you want people to do, he said. Some regional public universities and less-selective private schools also started encampments in part because the students there see themselves as peers to those at the elites, Burke said. None of the 10 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, including West Chester, has had an encampment, the system confirmed. Students at state universities may be struggling to hold down jobs, get through college in four years, and intend on remaining in the area after they graduate, Burke said. They may not feel they can risk getting involved, he said. West Chester spokesperson Nancy Santos Gainer shared the universitys rationale. We have been very open with our students that as a public institution, WCU is an advocate of free speech and the exchange of ideas in a civil manner, she said. We hope that our students know that through our actions of letting all sides of a debate be heard, WCU is an inclusive community and works actively to promote a culture of unity through meaningful and peaceful dialogue. Burke, the Swarthmore professor, acknowledged that the encampment, which is still in place, has caused some tension and unease. Ill be very interested to see how the semester ends, he said. My personal hope is that the encampment is left alone and students make their own decision to say OK, were done for now. Police on Friday disbanded the 16-day old pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania, less than 24 hours after Gov. Josh Shapiro called for its removal and over the objections of free speech advocates. At times, the scene on College Green in the heart of the Ivy League campus appeared like a game of cat and mouse, but it escalated over 48 hours into a full takedown by police, similar to what has happened at some campuses across the nation, such as Columbia University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The move at Penn had been under discussion as a possibility for at least nine days as Penn officials tried unsuccessfully to come to an agreement with student protesters over the activists demands and sought help from city police in preparing to remove the encampment and its inhabitants when and if they felt it necessary. Advertisement By the time they were done executing their plan, 33 people had been arrested without incident nine of them Penn students and cited for defiant trespass, a university spokesperson said. Penn did not say who the other 24 were, but noted that none were Penn-affiliated. Two faculty members originally detained, one with handcuffs, were let go. Those arrested received a civil or code violation, which is the equivalent of a ticket that will not create a criminal record, but may include a fine, according to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. READ MORE: Protesters march through University City after Penn encampment disbanded: When they destroy, we build Penn police began the process at 5:30 a.m. with support from the Philadelphia Police Department and gave those at the encampment multiple warnings to leave and avoid arrest, the university said. Our community has been under threat and our campus disrupted for too long, Penn leaders said in an email to the campus Friday morning. Passion for a cause cannot supersede the safety and operations of our University. In the email, President J. Larry Jameson, Provost John L. Jackson Jr. and Craig R. Carnaroli, senior executive vice president, said access to College Green, where the approximate 35-tent encampment had been set up, would be restricted until further notice. The action brought immediate praise from some leaders, including Gov. Shapiro and Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.), as well as the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, which said, it had become increasingly clear over the past two weeks that the encampment fostered an atmosphere of intimidation and harassment, particularly towards Jews on campus. But it brought disappointment and condemnation from other leaders, including Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and State Rep. Rick Krajewski, (D., Philadelphia) and faculty groups, including the Penn chapter of the American Association of University Professors, Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine and the chair of Penns faculty senate, who resigned Friday. One word, abhorrent, said Dagmawi Woubshet, an associate professor of English, who is a member of Penns Faculty For Justice in Palestine. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said city police agreed to assist after it became clear student protesters and the school administration could not come to an agreement. She said her administration worked closely with Krasner and that a variety of officials attempted to mediate the situation to facilitate an end to the encampment, to no avail. The university first requested help from the city on May 1 and Philadelphia police provided Civil Disorder Training to Penn Police over three days this week, Parker and other city officials said in a statement. We are thankful that the clearing occurred without violence, they said. On Thursday, Shapiro, speaking at an event in Westmoreland County, called on Penn to remove the encampment, noting a more unstable situation in the past 24 hours. Penn, however, had made its decision before Shapiros comments. Such a large tactical effort would be hard to organize in less than 24 hours. The universitys decision was triggered shortly after the encampment expanded on Wednesday. An early morning move in Philadelphia police dressed in riot gear with zip ties and shields stood alongside Penn police as dozens of protesters chanted with their arms linked around the base of the universitys iconic Benjamin Franklin statue, as the dismantling got underway. Walnut Street traffic was blocked by police cars at 33rd and 34th Streets and lined with several police vans. Nada, who asked that her last name not be used out of fear of retaliation, was sleeping at the encampment when a voice said, You have two minutes to leave the property or you will be arrested. The Drexel University student said everything moved swiftly after that. We didnt even have time to collect the art we have been building for the last 15 days, including hand sewn flags, Nada said. Just before 7 a.m., police attempted to drive a van transporting students who had been detained but a group of seven faculty members made a human chain to stop it from passing. Students chanted, faculty with students, Free Palestine. But by 8:30 a.m., most signs of the Gaza solidarity encampment were gone. University staff had piled in a heap all the tents, lawn chairs, pillows, Palestinian flags and signage in support of Gaza. Once the final dump truck pulled away, facilities staff began to take down the barricades that had enclosed the encampment, leaving only the tent outlines. The protesters are part of a national movement on U.S. college campuses calling for universities to disclose their funding sources and divest their endowments from entities benefiting from the ongoing war in Gaza, where the death toll for Palestinians has surpassed 34,000 following the Hamas attack on Israel in October, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and hostages being taken. Criticism and support At Penn, protesters are also calling on the university to provide amnesty for pro-Palestinian students facing discipline over past protests. Penn has so far placed at least six students on leave and evicted one of them, an international student, from campus housing for participating in the encampment. Tulia G. Falleti, chair of Penns faculty senate, in announcing her resignation as chair, said she is heartbroken at the universitys decision to dismantle the encampment. I am no longer confident of my ability to work collaboratively with our administration that has sent in the police to arrest its own students, staff, and faculty for participating in a nonviolent protest, Falleti said in a three-page letter. Falleti, who will maintain her position as a political science professor and director of the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies, noted that the faculty senate executive committee on Thursday agreed to encourage the administration and encampment negotiating team to keep negotiating in good faith, to de-escalate, and to seek a peaceful resolution. Woubshet, member of Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine, said Penn should have followed the lead of other universities, including Rutgers, that came to peaceful agreements with their protesters. Chi-ming Yang, a professor of English and also a member of the faculty group, said it is particularly upsetting that the dismantling occurred amid negotiations between the students and the administration. Three sessions had been held. Its completely immoral, she said. Woubshet, who is Black and was one of the faculty members originally detained by police, said he was handcuffed for several minutes, while his female colleagues, who were white and Asian, were not handcuffed. I started asking, I am a faculty member. Why am I being handcuffed? I heard another officer in a hushed tone say Take it off. Take it off. But others in the Penn community were supportive of the move. Benjamin Abella, professor of emergency medicine, wishes Penn had acted earlier but also said he respected the fact that this is a delicate situation. Abella was one of the leaders of a petition with more than 3,000 signatures from faculty, students and alumni calling on Penn to take the encampment down. He and others delivered the petition to Jameson last week. Its sad that it came to this, he said. Ultimately, the administration and the police acted professionally and calmly and certainly did the right thing. University leaders said they could not permit further disruption of Penns academic operations or risk students being prevented from taking exams or participating in commencement, scheduled for May 20 at Franklin Field. The protesters refused repeatedly to disband the encampment, to produce identification, to stop threatening, loud, and discriminatory speech and behavior, and to comply with instructions from Penn administrators and Public Safety, they wrote. Instead, they called for others to join them in escalating their disruptions and expanding their encampment, necessitating that we take action to protect the safety and rights of everyone in our community. Nor could they acquiesce to protesters demands, including granting amnesty to encampment participants or divesting from companies profiting from military efforts in Gaza. Penn remains unequivocally opposed to divestment, and it is unlawful for institutions receiving funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the university said. Escalating tensions between protesters and the Penn administration, the encampment had expanded Wednesday night as a large crowd gathered and the Benjamin Franklin statue was again defaced. On the statues forehead, protesters drew an inverted red triangle, which has conflicting meanings as a reference to a Palestinian flag and the target markers used in Hamas tactical videos. The triangle appeared to have been washed off of Franklins forehead by Thursday morning. But on Friday, two small red triangles appeared on gray tape at the statues base, with the words intifada until victory. In recent days, others colleges, including Columbia, have used police to remove pro-Palestinian encampments. More than 2,900 protesters have been arrested across 100 campuses nationwide, according to The Intercept. Whether this will be the end of encampments at Penn for the semester remains to be seen. At some other universities, they were reerected after arrests. Could that happen at Penn? Anything is possible, said Yang, one of the professors with Faculty for Justice in Palestine. Staff writers Nate File, Anna Orso, Chris Palmer, Nick Vadala, Ariana Perez-Castells, Rob Tornoe, Gillian McGoldrick, Jesse Bunch, Beatrice Forman, and Ellie Rushing contributed to this article. Sisters Karen Schiendelman (left) and Anne Bortner were investors with Joe Pezzano, a Collegeville accountant who died last Christmas. They gave him money they'd inherited from their parents. Their brother, a retired Peco worker, had rolled his pension into the fund. Now, they're trying to find their money. Read more Anne Bortner had been thinking about retiring. She was going to tap into the $180,000 she had invested with an accountant in Collegeville, a pillar of the Montgomery County community who everyone seemed to know and trust. Bortner, 65, who lives in South Jersey and works with people whove suffered traumatic brain injuries, had given the money to Joseph Pezzano about five years ago after her mother died. Her twin sister did the same. Advertisement Its a lot of money to us, Bortner said. Thats what our parents left us. Last Christmas Day, Pezzano died at the age of 73. Nearly five months later, no one can tell Bortner where her money is. Same for her sister, Karen, who works at Rite Aid. And their brother, Leonard, a retired Peco employee who had rolled his pension into Pezzanos investment plan. Dozens of investors have found themselves in the same situation, seeking to recover millions of dollars that were managed by Pezzano, according to recent court filings and interviews with clients, attorneys, and law enforcement officials. Current estimates put the total amount missing from between $10 million and $30 million. The FBI is now conducting interviews and issuing subpoenas, The Inquirer has learned. Some investors have filed court claims in excess of $1 million each, questioning whether they had been roped into a long-running Ponzi scheme. Others are holding out hope that Pezzano a South Philly native whom one client described as a truly fantastic person had simply failed to plan for how the money would be managed after his death. Even some police officers went to Pezzano to get their taxes prepared. Regardless, Bortner is starting to wonder whether retirement is still an option for her. I dont know what else to do, she said. I cant afford a lawyer because they got my money. No answers for clients Within days of Pezzanos death, the alarm bells starting ringing. His accounting firm, Bond, Pezzano & Etze, sent an email to clients in mid-January stating that it has no affiliation with Pezzanos investment arm, JPA R/E Associates. That further spooked investors. The financial statements theyd been receiving from JPA listed the same address and phone number as the accounting firms. Two weeks later, an office manager at Bond, Pezzano & Etze sent a follow-up email, stating that the firm could not answer any questions about investments with Pezzano. A third email in February referred questions to a lawyer representing Pezzanos estate. The lawyer, Thomas Boulden, did not respond to requests for comment from The Inquirer. Nor did representatives for Bond, Pezzano & Etze, where Pezzanos daughter is a partner. Were in the dark, said Ron Adkins, 79, a semiretired former owner of a day-care business. No one from his office would admit to anything. Adkins said he and his wife have been unable to locate about $850,000 that they had invested with Pezzano. The couple were under the impression their money was going into IRAs. He was a very nice guy. Youd absolutely love him, Adkins said of Pezzano. Youd walk into his office and hed make you feel like the most important person in the world. Adkins said he now has serious concerns about whether his money can be recovered. Im wondering how many people dont even know he died yet and are sitting back and thinking their money is nice and secure, he said. FBI probe intensifies Collegeville Police Chief Barton Bucher said his department started hearing from Pezzanos investors shortly after his death, with reports of missing funds ranging from about $50,000 to several hundred thousands dollars each. There could be many more that I dont even know about, Bucher said of the clients. Buchers investigators turned the case over to the FBI. A spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment last week. Several lawyers representing investors have filed claims in Montgomery County Orphans Court. Adam Sager, who represents two investors, has questioned in court motions how Pezzano was able to purchase at least 10 properties in Ocean City, NJ. The attorney said it is possible that his clients might have been victims of a Ponzi scheme involving rental properties. The Bernie Madoff story comes to mind, Sager said. Cathy McKeever worked closely with Pezzano for about 25 years, retiring just weeks before he died. She and her husband, James, had about $150,000 invested with him. Its hard for me to imagine the man I worked for, for such a long time, would ever have done anything like this, McKeever said of the possibility of fraud. Its really unfathomable. But, the longer this has gone on, with everything being quiet, the more Im worried. READ MORE: Paula & Joe Pezzano: From half a pizza to half a century McKeever said some Exelon employees had rolled their pensions into Pezzanos investment business, and collected monthly disbursements. They spread the word to their spouses and other employees, who also invested. A lot of money was going in, in lump sums, said McKeever, who handled customer service and marketing for Pezzano. McKeever said Pezzano did not live extravagantly. Rarely took vacations. Worked weekends. Lived in a rancher at the end of a cul-de-sac that he and his wife, Paula, purchased in 1979 for $63,900. It doesnt make sense, she said. James McKeever said he believes there could be an innocent explanation. One as simple as Pezzano not having a succession plan for when he died. A colossal mistake, but not a crime. Its a small town. People knew him and he knew them, James McKeever said. People like that dont do that type of thing. But as winter turned to spring, the number of people who shared that opinion started dwindling. Im not saying its a Ponzi scheme, Bortner said. But its a Ponzi scheme. Her sister, Karen Schiendelman, doesnt know what to think. She also was hoping to use $70,000 she had invested with Pezzano for her retirement. There are a lot of people out a lot of money, she said. He died, then everyone is pulling away from the business. Its shaky. Its all shaky ground. Sager, the attorney, said he is waiting for the results of a forensic examination of one of Pezzanos computers. He said there have been rumors of investors being told they were holding mortgages for other investors. If it was just a bookkeeping issue, he figures it would have been resolved by now. The question is, can they find these funds to even make any distributions to the investors? Sager asked. What happened to those funds? Gov. Josh Shapiro delivers his second budget address Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 in the rotunda in the Capitol building in Harrisburg. Read more As Gov. Josh Shapiro first called for the University of Pennsylvania to disband an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters, he knew Penn and the city were already behind the scenes working to end it. Shapiro said at a news conference Thursday the protest had reached an absolutely unacceptable point. It was past time for the university to act to address this, to disband the encampment and restore order and safety on campus, he added. Advertisement It was the first time hed been asked about the issue in almost a week, and he credited his changed opinion to the escalation of the protest Wednesday night. But according to sources close to him who spoke on the condition on anonymity, Shapiro already knew a plan was coming together by Penn and Philadelphia Police to remove the encampment. Shapiros perfectly timed remarks which looked like he was pressuring Penn, when he already knew officials were preparing to step in show his careful strategy: work behind the scenes, speak out when its right politically, and step into a central role to share credit for restoring order on the campus. Shapiro had been speaking at an unrelated news conference in Westmoreland County on Thursday morning when he was asked by a reporter about the 16-day protest on Penns campus. That opened the door for Shapiro to get ahead of Penn and city police disbanding the encampment by calling for its removal. The first-term governor who is rumored to have national ambitions in the 2028 presidential election has been outspoken about his support for Israel, as Pennsylvanias third Jewish governor. He has condemned some protests of Israels campaign in Gaza that targeted Philly businesses, and made headlines with his criticism of former Penn president Liz Magills congressional testimony about the schools handling of antisemitic speech on campus. His criticism against Magill proved to be a turning point, and she later resigned. Up until Thursday when six students participating in the encampment were placed on mandatory leaves of absence Shapiro had said repeatedly students and faculty had the right to protest as long as they werent breaking any laws during the weeks-long demonstration, which was largely peaceful. That changed overnight Wednesday, when Penn students were suspended and organizers tried to expand the encampment. Shapiros comments also offered Penn and the city cover to move forward, knowing they had the support of the states top executive as they enacted their early-a.m. plan to take down the encampment. Thirty-three people were arrested as part of the disbandment. Before organizers set up on Penns campus last month, Shapiro seemed poised to step into the spotlight again if protests became disruptive on a Pennsylvania campus and potentially with force. He told national reporters in Washington, D.C. that any elected official would need to step in if universities cant guarantee the safety and security and well-being of the students. Tattoo artist Mona Maruyama (left) tattoos the hand of Miya Oshiro in the traditional hajichi style, at Floating World Tattoos, in Philadelphia on May 9, 2024. Oshiro's tattoo is hajichi with an African adinkra symbol, Osram ne Nsoromma, which honors the mother. Read more How many people can say theyre in a 13-person worldwide collective of people doing their specific job? Or that folks travel from all over to work with them? Most of us certainly cant, but Mona Maruyama, a tattoo artist at Floating World Tattoos in Center City, can. Maruyama does hajichi, a traditional style of permanent body markings reserved for Okinawan women. It is said that hajichi offers protection and spiritual connection to their ancestors. [It] is a constant reminder of the land we wish to defend, Maruyama said. Advertisement The community of hajichi artists, or hajichaa, keeps in touch via group chat, holds meetups, and has a website dedicated to providing information and resources surrounding hajichi. They are members of the Ryukyuan diaspora and aim to encourage the revival of the hajichi ritual and tradition. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. How did you get started in hajichi-style tattooing? I got into giving hajichi to members of the diaspora after hearing members of the community encouraging Ryukyuan artists to begin practicing and looking into supporting the cultural revival effort. What is hajichi? Tell me all about it. Hajichi is a closed tattoo practice reserved for Okinawan people that was banned by the Japanese government in 1899. Hajichi is one of the many words we have to describe tattoos traditionally worn on the hands of women and the term differs from island to island. The reasons have changed over time and some of the meaning behind the symbolism has been erased and the information we do have is unfortunately a mere snapshot of the tail end of the thousands-of-years-long tradition, typically recorded by outsiders. Based on what we know, many of our symbols are based on our land and culture, mostly nature, like flowers, stars, inside of turtle shells. But as a collective, weve also discussed the similarities in some of the designs and shapes with sound waves of certain frequencies. What does hajichi protect Okinawan people from? It protects against invaders and colonizers. Its a kidnapping deterrent because its a marker of who you are and where your family is from. Why do you think there has been a rise in popularity recently? What encouraged the push for revival? With everything going on right now, people are speaking up and rising up against imperial aggression. It reminds me of what my people have gone through, just at different periods of time. Americas role in Palestine, at this point, is trying to build more military infrastructure. And in Okinawa, 20% of it is U.S. military bases. Its fenced off. Most of us are diaspora. Its no way for people to live. Ive seen you say on Instagram that you want to decolonize our skin what does that mean to you? I want to tattoo in a way that disrespects the status quo because the status quo has never served the global majority. To decolonize our skin, what I mean is no more accepting being disrespected in the process of getting tattooed by rejecting colonial Eurocentric American values when choosing a design or artist. What are your tattooing goals and dreams? My biggest tattoo dream, other than the current dream to continue reviving hajichi, is to help establish a tattoo collective with shared values in Philly that is centered around ensuring people of color of all backgrounds feel honored and welcome. I want to create a space that is welcomed by the local community. Ultimately I would love to open a shop in the northwest end of Tokyo where my grandma lives, because thats where most of my family lives and I would love to be closer to them. My grandma hates the idea of me opening a shop anywhere near her, but it would be cute and thats why I want to do it. She loves that I tattoo, she doesnt care that I am tattooed. Shes very much of the mindset of, Ive met so many people, you think your tattoos are gonna bother me? Body-camera footage captured what happened after San Francisco police officers arrived at the Pacific Heights home of Nancy and Paul Pelosi just after 2 a.m. on Oct. 28, 2022. Provided by San Francisco Police Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence David DePape to 40 years in prison for attempting to kidnap House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and nearly killing her husband Paul Pelosi when he struck him on the head with a hammer at the couples San Francisco home in 2022. DePape was found guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assaulting a federal officials family member. The jury verdict was unanimous and came less than 24 hours after deliberations began. In court documents reviewed by the Chronicle, federal prosecutors say that DePape has not shown remorse for his crime and seemed proud of what he had accomplished. Prosecutors also called the attack by DePape an act of terrorism, adding that he planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and break her kneecaps if she lied to him. Advertisement Article continues below this ad There is nothing about the history and characteristics of the defendant that warrant leniency, the documents said. The defendant has admitted indeed bragged that he knew what he was doing when he packed his bags and went to the Pelosis home. The attack at the Pelosi home occurred in the early morning of Oct. 28, 2022. San Francisco police officers were dispatched to the home at 2:27 a.m. They found DePape and Paul Pelosi both holding the hammer at the homes entryway. DePape proceeded to rip the hammer away from Pelosi and violently assaulted him, Police Chief Bill Scott said after the attack. Paul Pelosi was transported to Zuckerberg General Hospital in San Francisco where he underwent successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, according to Nancy Pelosis office. He was released from the hospital six days after the attack. However, as of DePapes trial in November, Paul Pelosi still had not fully recovered from his injuries, the court documents said. At the trial, Pelosi testified that he still was experiencing side effects, both physical and emotional, as a result of the attack. Mr. Pelosi is a brave man who has fought hard to recover his health after nearly dying at the defendants hands, prosecutors said in the documents. However, it is certain that Mr. Pelosi will never regain the quality of his physical or emotional life that he had prior to October 28, 2022. The impact of course, goes beyond Mr. Pelosi to his wife and to his children who live with the reality of what almost happened and what did happen and what might have happened had the hammer hit just a centimeter to the side. Advertisement Article continues below this ad After the attack, the Chronicle dug into DePapes past, which revealed details about his childhood in Canada, his move to the Bay Area, and a stint of pro-nudity activism. He also appeared to have an obsession with spreading right-wing conspiracy theories on the internet and maintained a WordPress blog that sought to rally against censorship by tech companies, government officials and media outlets. Pro-Palestinian activists march north on 38th Street in University City on Friday. Read more Hours after the dismantling of the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania, protesters gathered at the Woodlands cemetery on Friday evening before marching through University City. Protesters stopped at interim university president J. Larry Jamesons residence near 38th and Walnut Streets, where they held a rally. Penn issued an alert that a large demonstration was in the area, and police were on the scene. About 9:30 p.m., approximately eight protesters from the crowd climbed the gates of the residence, shaking the gate until the lock opened, according to Penn police. Advertisement Once inside the yard, they set off smoke bombs as police tried to close the gate. In a video of the rally posted to social media, protesters can be seen banging on the door of Jamesons home before police pulled them back. According to Penn police, one of the protesters tried to reopen the gate and gestured for others to join in. It was not known whether any Penn students or faculty were involved. The Daily Pennsylvanian, the student newspaper, reported dozens of police pushing the group into the streets, toward the police cars. It was not clear late Friday if anyone had been arrested in connection with the protest. The Philadelphia Police Department did not immediately respond to request for comment. After stopping at Jamesons home, the group again began marching, with a crowd of about 100 people some waving Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs walking down Chestnut Street before turning left on 33rd. About 10:30 p.m., they stood in a large circle in the intersection, clapping and chanting: The students united will never be defeated. The crowd was peaceful and largely young. The group was followed by a line of Philadelphia police cars and vans, their blue and red lights blinking, the vehicles blocking off parts of 33rd Street. A student who was introduced as having been arrested Friday morning at the Penn encampment addressed the group in the intersection. READ MORE: Philly Police have cleared Penns Pro-Palestinian encampment and arrested 33 protesters History will view the Palestinian liberation movement fondly, and Larrys legacy will be one of cowardice, the student said, referring to Penns president. The group then chanted: When they destroy, we build. The students vowed to build more encampments. About 10:40 p.m., organizers announced that the action had come to an end. Once we leave here, everyone will disperse. Do not stay in this intersection. And, again, keep an eye out for all upcoming actions and get home safe, an organizer told those gathered. The circle of protesters quickly disbanded and the attendees dispersed into the night. The row of police cars followed suit, and the intersection opened back up to traffic. Staff reporter Michelle Myers contributed to this article. We had just gotten settled into the second-floor apartment of a house in the Rockhill neighborhood of Kansas City, Mo., when my husband burst through the door with disturbing news. A psychological test given to the entering class at St. Pauls School of Theology, a Methodist seminary, indicated he was gay. If that were true, he might not be able to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a Methodist minister. Tears filled his eyes as he explained the test results to me. But youre not gay! I insisted. We know that! The incident, in the fall of 1969, was unsettling, but we soon moved past it. We loved each other very much. Advertisement Three years later, after he graduated from seminary and was ordained, the Rev. Michael L. Collins took his first church assignment as pastor of a congregation in a white, working-class neighborhood of Portland, Ore., our hometown. We lived across the street in a three-story, four-bedroom parsonage, which came with the job. I had never lived in such a large and beautiful place. As Mike preached the social justice message of the Gospel, I became the dutiful ministers wife, inviting church lay leaders over to the parsonage for Sunday pot-roast dinner. I began teaching Sunday school. Late one summer afternoon in 1974, Mike summoned me from the parsonage to his office in the church. He paced the floor in front of me. When he spoke, there was a sense of urgency in his voice. Ive just tested positive for an STD, and you will have to be tested, he told me. Pause. I got it from a man. When Mike came out, he faced an impossible choice: Because the United Methodist Church forbade LGBTQ Methodists from being ordained and serving as parish ministers, he could either keep his ministry and continue to live a lie, or he could acknowledge his sexual orientation to church officials and lose his ministry. Night after night, we stayed up late to talk about the options. We also probed our relationship. We loved each other; I wanted that to be enough. But, of course, it wasnt. I eventually moved out. He told church officials and was forced to give up his parish ministry. Soon, he moved to New York City and launched the first national resistance movement aimed at changing discriminatory Methodist doctrine. For nearly a decade, he traversed the country to mobilize clergy and lay leaders in support of full inclusion for LGBTQ ministers within the United Methodist Church. Along with other activists, he founded Affirmation, a group of LGBTQ people within the Methodist denomination who fought for inclusion. He also reached out to conservative opponents to change hearts and minds. But at conference after conference, proposals to liberalize church doctrine went down to defeat. Despite our separation and eventual divorce, Mike and I remained soulmates. In the fall of 1983, I moved from Oregon to Philadelphia to take a reporting job at The Inquirer. I was excited to be joining the staff at one of the countrys leading metropolitan dailies, but just as excited to be moving within easy commuting distance of Mike in New York. Our rekindled connection was short-lived. Michael Leroy Collins died of complications due to AIDS on Oct. 15, 1984, a week and a day after his 37th birthday. He was among the first wave of gay men in New York to succumb to a virus that would go on to kill more than 40 million people worldwide. After Mike died, I carried on his work in my own church, Philadelphias First United Methodist Church of Germantown, which had a long history of supporting liberal causes including the civil rights movement in the South. In 1990, our church took on a new cause: the fight for gay equality within the Methodist denomination. After many months of discussion and debate, parishioners voted overwhelmingly to become a Reconciling Congregation, part of a small but growing network of Methodist churches advocating for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the life and leadership of the church. In doing so, our church defied Methodist doctrine until now. On May 1, after more than half a century of barring openly gay clergy from the pulpit, the United Methodist Church threw out its discriminatory policies and voted to allow LGBTQ Methodists to be ordained and serve as parish ministers. Under new rules, Methodist ministers will also be allowed to preside over same-gender marriage ceremonies. READ MORE: United Methodists repeal longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy The historic changes rolled back a 1972 Methodist policy that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Also eliminated was another rule, adopted in 1984, that explicitly prohibited self-avowed practicing homosexuals from serving as Methodist clergy. The reforms ushered in a new era in the Methodist church in the United States, which will now practice within its own ministerial ranks the ideals of unconditional love and acceptance that the church has preached ever since its founding more than 200 years ago. I rejoice that one of the nations largest Protestant denominations has finally embraced equality for LGBTQ clergy. But equality was made possible only after more than 7,600 religiously conservative congregations roughly one in four Methodist parishes in America broke from the United Methodist fold and were no longer able to block proposals to liberalize church doctrine. It is the largest doctrinal schism since 1844, when Southern congregations left the Methodist Episcopal Church over the issue of slavery. While current and future generations of LGBTQ clergy will benefit from the recently approved reforms, those who went before them will not. The larger loss, however, is the pain endured by hundreds of gay clergy over the past five decades who were either kicked out of the pulpit or who were not let into church leadership because Methodist doctrine deemed their sexual orientation to be incompatible with Christian teaching. While current and future generations of LGBTQ clergy will benefit from the recently approved reforms, those who went before them will not. I only wish Michael Collins were alive today to see his dream for an inclusive Methodist church finally come true. I think of him every Sunday as I take Communion and hear the words Jesus spoke: My body, broken for you. Huntly Collins has spent more than four decades in journalism, including nine years as a reporter at the Oregonian, a year as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, 18 years at The Inquirer, and 12 years as a journalism professor at La Salle University. Police officers directed a person in a wheelchair who was escorted from a homeless encampment on Kensington Avenue on Wednesday. Closing encampments is a good start, but dismantling the network of drug dealers should also be a top priority, the Editorial Board writes. Read more Five months into her administration, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker began making good on her promise to shut down the open-air drug market in Kensington. Philadelphia police and city workers dismantled a homeless encampment last week along a two-block stretch in Kensington. The rollout has not been perfect, but the attention and attempt to improve the quality of life in the long-troubled neighborhood is welcome. Indeed, nearly 60 people in and around the encampment accepted treatment, care, or housing services last week, a spokesman for Parker told the Editorial Board. Advertisement Whether the efforts can continue to be handled with dignity and sustained long enough to make a lasting impact remains to be seen. But we give Parker props for taking on an intractable problem, decades in the making. For too long city officials looked the other way as crime, gun violence, open-air drug dealing, rampant drug usage, prostitution, and homeless encampments overwhelmed Kensington, which has a poverty rate of 45%. Past efforts to crack down on drug dealing and homelessness were short-lived and shortsighted. Over time, Philadelphia allowed a humanitarian crisis to unfold in plain view. More than one-third of the citys unhoused population live in Kensington. There were 1,270 fatal overdoses in its main zip code 19134 between 2015 and 2022; that figure is more than double any other neighborhood. There were more than 1,400 shootings in Kensington during that same time. Kensington became known as the Walmart of heroin. Viral videos of homeless encampments and scores of people in the throes of addiction were heartbreaking. Residents were traumatized, and quality of life was degraded beyond any acceptable standard for a city that claims to be world-class. Parker has become a champion for the residents in Kensington. Immediately after taking office, she declared a public safety emergency in Philadelphia and went to Kensington to swear in Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel. Parker then gave Bethel 100 days to develop a comprehensive plan to address public safety across the city, including the open-air drug market in Kensington. Last month, Parker signed three bills into law that aimed to tackle quality-of-life issues in Kensington. On her 100th day in office, Parker toured the neighborhood. Community activist Darlene Burton said Parker has been to Kensington often to update residents on her plan. I think that she is really trying to make a difference here, Burton told the Editorial Board. Not everything has gone smoothly. Last fall, Parker floated a plan to call in the National Guard to help shut down the open-air drug market in Kensington but backed off after Gov. Josh Shapiro rejected it. Public health officials and others said Parkers plan to cut funding to a nonprofit that provides clean needles to drug users will lead to an increase in the spread of HIV and hepatitis C. City Council criticized the Parker administration for the lack of transparency regarding its plans in Kensington, which include borrowing $100 million for triage and wellness facilities for people in addiction. Parker acknowledged the efforts in Kensington wont be perfect, and likened the initiative to building the plane while Im flying it. That is an alarming admission and a risky approach. Then again, Parker frequently dismisses input from experts whom she often refers to as academicians and I-know-whats-best-for-you-people policymaking. But listening to trained pilots may make for a safer flight. Better communication, transparency, teamwork, and community input will certainly reduce the turbulence. To that end, Parker must spell out the plans in Kensington, including any borrowing, spending, and contracting. Council is right to take a trust-but-verify approach. Taxpayers should know where their money is going. For now, community leaders in Kensington seem to support the spirit of Parkers plan, even if they have mixed opinions about its prospects for success. But the optimism includes healthy skepticism. Past plans in Kensington have come and gone with only short-term or limited impact. Past mayors have lost interest after the initial show, or worse, ignored the problem. To be sure, there is no quick fix. Closing encampments is a good start, but the hard work of dismantling the network of drug dealers should also be a top priority. There are roughly 80 open-air drug markets within a 1.9-mile stretch of Kensington, with different gangs on some corners selling four or five different drugs, Bethel told the Editorial Board. It adds up to a $1 billion-a-year business that employs thousands of big and small dealers. Philadelphia police have begun chipping away at the drug trade. Since mid-March, 159 drug sellers and 67 buyers have been arrested, Bethel said. The police department is working with federal and state law enforcement to develop a strategy that will target violent crimes and drug abuse and bring in intervention and treatment services, Bethel said. Bethel acknowledged that shutting down homeless encampments and disrupting drug sales may cause users and dealers to move to other neighborhoods. He said the city will remain nimble and humble in its efforts and adjust its tactics as needed. Unlike past efforts, Bethel said the city is in it for the long haul. The mayor made a commitment to the community, he said. Time will tell if real change comes to Kensington. Protesters are led away as police clear the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania Friday. Read more Penn sent in police Friday morning to dismantle its Gaza protest encampment. It got a thumbs-up yesterday from Gov. Josh Shapiro, who said that it was past time to restore order and safety on campus by removing the students who were living there. But it was cops in riot gear not unarmed, peaceful protesters who overturned tents and pulled people out of them to get arrested. Remind me who was threatening order and safety again? Advertisement I understand why Penn wanted the encampment gone, especially as graduation season approaches. But I also think it was a mistake to forcibly remove it. For the past few weeks, Ive been pleading for a different course: Build a new one. Wed call it the Education Encampment. It would look a lot like the communities that protesters have set up on dozens of American campuses: tents, tarps, snack bars, juice boxes. People could stay overnight or just stop by, as they please. But the purpose would be different: to teach, and to learn. Wed invite scholars, activists, and officials from every walk of life and every political perspective to discuss the Middle East conflict and the broader role of the United States in world affairs. Thats what I thought universities were supposed to do: Explore and deliberate complex questions. But since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel and the subsequent Israeli attack on Gaza we have fallen down on the job. We have sacrificed education for public relations, and dialogue for damage control. Our goal has been to minimize injury of every kind instead of to maximize learning. Lets be clear: Some of the encampments have indeed triggered physical altercations, most prominently at UCLA. But to say that the protests were disrupting campus operations and causing fear as Penn president Larry Jameson wrote last Monday doesnt jibe with what I witnessed, or with what my students reported. I didnt hear of anyone who was blocked from attending class or from going to their job because of the encampment. I know that some Jewish students, especially, viewed it as fundamentally antisemitic. But many other Jews eagerly joined the encampment, which didnt generate the kind of harassment and intimidation that would justify suppressing it. Besides, taking down the encampment wont squelch the protesters. We might remove them from one space or arrest them but theyll reappear at another one. So its time to try a different tack, focused squarely on our fundamental purpose: education. To be fair, many universities including Penn have hosted speeches and lectures about the Mideast conflict. They have also sponsored events where people of different perspectives are encouraged to converse with each other. But these well-meaning efforts havent drawn the kind of attention they deserve. At Washington University in St. Louis, for example, the schools Dialogue Across Difference program staged a dozen facilitated dialogue spaces about the Gaza conflict last semester. A total of 17 people yes, you read that right showed up. Rallies get numbers, provocative measures get numbers, one disappointed participant observed. I dont find that these cross dialogues get as many numbers because its a longer, more tedious process that is more frustrating. Hes right: Talking across our differences is hard, especially right now. But thats why our universities need to do something big, creative, and dramatic in service of it. We have sacrificed education for public relations, and dialogue for damage control. And thats where the Education Encampment comes in. Constructing a new tent community and dedicating it to learning would signal that the university was four-square behind that goal. It would also provide an instructive contrast to the teach-ins in the student encampments, which have reflected a singular perspective: Israel is a settler-colonial state, its attack on Gaza is a genocide, and so on. The protesters purpose isnt to educate; its to persuade. Universities have a different goal. We dont seek to convert people to a particular point of view; we expose them to different ones, so they can decide what they think about Israel, and everything else. I know that there are many administrators, faculty, and students who believe deeply in that ideal, but theyre getting drowned out in the noise of the moment. So we need to do something loud and sensational to support them. We shouldnt be suppressing the protest; we should be imitating it. If a large university like Penn was bold enough to erect its own encampment, others might follow. To quote a frequent chant by the protesters, join us. And dont forget your sleeping bag. Delaware County is hosting a 24-hour giving day, Delco Gives Day, this week May 8 through May 9. It is the first community-wide giving day in the Philadelphia area. The end of the event is celebrated at Rose Tree Park in Media. Hidaya Jeddou tries to gab as much play money as she can to raise money for the over 300 non-profits the event benefited. Each participant got to choose which non-profit got the monetary amount they were able to grab. Read more Mayor Cherelle L. Parker spent much of the last week trying to avoid a forceful end to the pro-Palestinian protest encampment at the University of Pennsylvania. But in the end, it was up to her to decide whether to fulfill Penns request for Philadelphia cops to help disband it. Advertisement This account of the decision to clear the encampment early Friday morning is based on public statements and information from people with knowledge of the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to discuss private negotiations. Penn officials first reached out to the city for general assistance on May 1, six days after the encampment began, Parker said in a statement. Penn has its own police force, but would need city assistance and cooperation if it was going to clear the encampment. Parker said she told the school that Philadelphia Police would provide backup assistance if arrests were made, or if the situation became dangerous or violent. But she didnt want it to come to that. We were also clear that we expected Penn to explore every option to resolve this matter peacefully, she said. Parker directed City Solicitor Renee Garcia and Public Safety Director Adam Geer to try to help with negotiations with the protesters. Penn Interim President J. Larry Jameson said Monday that the encampment should end but that local public officials ... recommend that we continue to focus on de-escalation and dialogue before taking steps that could inflame tensions. There are several reasons Parker may have wanted to avoid images of Philly cops hauling away college kids appearing on the evening news. At the time Penn first reached out, New York police officers intense clashes with protesters at Columbia University were making international headlines. Meanwhile, Parkers administration was planning a separate clearing of an encampment of people experiencing homelessness in Kensington that had the potential to be explosive. That clearing took place Wednesday. As talks with protesters dragged on, Parker largely avoided commenting on the issue, referring media inquiries to the Police Department. The administration worked together with District Attorney Larry Krasner during the negotiations, a rare moment of alignment for the progressive prosecutor and the tough-on-crime mayor. But the talks didnt produce results. And a major turning point came Wednesday night, when protesters held a large rally and expanded the encampment to a second nearby green space. City and university officials talked that night about clearing the encampment by force, and by Thursday morning Penn had asked the city to provide assistance in accordance with a memorandum of understanding between the Penn and Philadelphia police departments that calls for city cops to help the university when required. The University made the decision to clear the encampment, Parker said. As such, Penn called, asked for assistance, and Philadelphia Police fulfilled its commitment to provide support. Around noon, Gov. Josh Shapiro said it was past time for the university to act to address this, to disband the encampment and to restore order and safety on campus. Shapiro, a staunch supporter of Israel, was notably reluctant to call for an end to the encampment up until that point. After Friday mornings clearing, many thought his comments Thursday propelled the university and city to act. But a source with knowledge of Shapiros involvement said the governor was already aware of the plan for police to disband the encampment when he made the comments. Later that night, Parker called City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, whose 3rd District includes Penns campus, to give her a heads up about the plan. But Gauthier, a progressive who has expressed sympathy for the protesters, said she was still surprised at the scale of the operation and that it appeared to be more than a hundred police in riot gear approaching students who were likely sleeping. I just dont think that the situation, which has been peaceful, demanded that level of aggression, she said. And so I was quite taken aback by that. By Friday afternoon, the encampment was gone, and Penns College Green was quiet. Staff writers Gillian McGoldrick, Susan Snyder and Anna Orso contributed material. Two decades ago, Ireland created a new normal. In an uphill battle won against one of the worlds most powerful industries, the Irish government successfully implemented the smoking ban in 2004, prohibiting it in workplaces, bars and restaurants and becoming the first country in the world to do so. While controversial at the time, the governments efforts paid off. In the 20 years since the ban was introduced, the rate of smoking in Ireland dropped from 27% to just 18% in 2024, reflecting a reduction of about 800,000 people. More than 70 countries have followed Ireland's footsteps by implementing similar bans, and now a quarter of the world's population lives in a country that prohibits smoking in bars, workplaces, and public transport. Irelands efforts were pivotal in the fight against smoking, showing successful government intervention can invoke positive change when consumer-targeted nudges fall short. However, Ireland now faces a new yet familiar beast one posing catastrophic problems for the climate and public health but, like the tobacco industry, has deep pockets and a diversified game plan, ready to divert attention and greenwash their image as needed. Irish people consume double the amount of textiles than the EU average, says Mark Sweeney, chair of Charity Retail Ireland and Donated Goods Strategy Manager at Oxfam Ireland. It's not a criticism, it is a fact. Ireland overconsumes textiles. Most recent data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that per capita consumption of new textiles in Ireland is 53kg per year, more than twice the European average of 26kg reported by the European Environment Agency (EEA). This has been enabled in no small part by the growing prevalence of concerningly cheap and materially ambiguous clothing made in abundance half a world away, demand for which is shaped by aggressive advertising, a strong social media presence and prices lower than their social cost. Mr Sweeney said he had been bombarded with messaging, from all four corners of the internet. Theyre on the sidebar of almost every website. I have two small kids playing games on my iPad receiving ads for Shein and Temu every few minutes. "They just want their ad out there, which is one of the problems. Advertising has a huge part to play in overconsumption." These companies marketing tactics are not just limited to direct ads, however, with fashion brands like Temu, Shein, Zara and H&M also largely reliant on influencer marketing, offering industry-leading rates to those with an online platform to share and promote their products in a way that looks genuine and authentic. An often lucrative business for aspiring content creators, the deal comes with free clothing, the opportunity to collaborate with an industry giant and monetary payment, making it hard to refuse for many, but not all. Irish influencer and content creator Keelin Moncrieff has dedicated a large portion of her online platform to discussing climate issues and sustainable clothing With an academic background in fashion, Irish content creator and influencer, Keelin Moncrieff has dedicated a large portion of her online platform to discussing climate issues and sustainable clothing while promoting second-hand stores and charity shops as substitutes for fast fashion. I was coming to the end of my studies in fashion buying and was looking into potential careers. The only position you can go for in Ireland is working at Penneys, which would be a huge producer of fast fashion. In March of this year, fast-fashion giant Shein posted a record $2bn (1.87bn) in profit for 2023, according to the Financial Times, with the retailers total value of goods sold on its website totalling $45bn (42.1bn) not bad considering the average garment costs around 9. There was no module on sustainability during my studies or any focus on the impact of textiles on the environment, the 25-year-old content creator told the Irish Examiner. The fashion industry is one of the biggest contributors to climate change it should have been at the forefront of our studies. I got to see all the behind-the-scenes where the textiles come from, the huge profit margins behind it and how they cut costs so huge corporations can make more and more money. According to Oxfam, about 63,000 tonnes of textiles in Ireland end up in landfills annually. Across Europe, textile consumption has the fourth highest impact on the environment and climate change after food, housing and transport. Boasting almost 120,000 followers on Instagram, a further 112,000 followers on TikTok and 88,000 subscribers on YouTube, the Dublin native recalls looking for ways to dress and style herself without buying anything new. As Ms Moncrieff says: A huge part of social media and influencer culture is that we are all sold the idea we need to buy new things to look nice and fit in for the new season. The fashion industry is behind this. They changed it from only four seasons to weekly cycles, which is where the term fast fashion comes from. The pressure is on to buy new things and it's weighing down heavier and heavier on people to keep up. I dont feel like thats people's fault, its a marketing ploy thats been pushed upon them. Fast fashions rising popularity is largely helped by its questionable prices, with such a low opportunity cost pushing many to purchase in bulk. People pay so little for it they think because it is so cheap, theres no harm in buying it because if it doesnt fit, it's only a few quid anyways, says Mr Sweeney. That creates a bigger problem, which is the waste element of it. From experience, what we see when people buy those large quantities from Shein, is they throw half of it into a charity bag with the tag still on it. It's poor quality, ill-fitting, it doesnt look like how it did on the model, it's not meant to. This influx of Shein rejects is becoming a growing problem for charity shops, warns Mr Sweeney. It is not welcome. If you pay 2 for a top and put it in a bag for the charity shop, what value can a charity shop sell it for? It doesnt matter that the tag is on it, it is perceived as second-hand. "Charity shops run as fundraisers for charity. We need to present good products and we want to raise as much money as we can to support our respective charities. I dont think even the public wants fast fashion in a charity shop because thats not what were about. We are about people being able to go in and find a good piece of clothing for an affordable price. With fast fashion coming into charity shops now, it creates problems. Textile waste will become a major problem in the future for Ireland, Mr Sweeney warms, citing new legislation from the European Commission aiming to restrict the export of textile waste. There is also legislation coming in January where textiles cannot be put into domestic waste. All these things coming down the line means we will need to change our behaviours in a big way. Speaking to the Irish Examiner, a spokesperson for the Department of the Environment said: At an EU level, the department is actively participating in policy and legislative developments regarding textiles. The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles proposes measures to make producers take responsibility for products throughout the value chain, including waste. The aim is to make producers who manufacture and sell disposable goods for profit environmentally accountable for the products they place on the market. Mr Sweeney points to a clear solution. Earlier this year, the French government supported a pioneering bill targeting the fast fashion industry's largest culprits. It proposes stringent regulatory measures, including the banning of advertising for fast fashion products, as well as the introduction of environmental levies on these low-cost products. It is almost like cigarettes or alcohol it reduces the temptation to purchase, says Mr Sweeney. I think that is very positive. Ms Moncrieff agrees, adding a similar model could greatly benefit Ireland. I think it would really help in terms of the influence these brands have on people. There should be limits on where these retailers can promote products. Its just like Botox or plastic surgery these things need regulation. As Mr Sweeney argues: We will not properly see the impact of fast fashion on public health and the climate for possibly another generation, but we cant just wait around. When it comes to legislation, the Irish Government would do well to look at what France is doing. Protesters rally in support of Palestinians as graduates and their loved ones leave Saturdays UC Berkeley commencement ceremony at Memorial Stadium. Though many universities nationwide canceled commencement in the wake of campus tensions over the Mideast, UC Berkeleys graduation went on as planned. Don Feria/Special to the Chronicle Pro-Palestinian demonstrators and new graduates march down Bancroft Avenue to Sproul Plaza after Saturdays UC Berkeley commencement ceremony. Don Feria/Special to the Chronicle A counterprotester waves an Israeli flag outside Berkeley Hillel, a campus Jewish organization, after the commencement ceremony. Don Feria/Special to the Chronicle Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally outside Memorial Stadium as graduates and attendees leave UC Berkeley commencement. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Protesters voice support for Palestinians as UC Berkeley graduates and their loved ones leave the commencement ceremony. Don Feria/Special to the Chronicle Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally during UC Berkeleys commencement at Memorial Stadium. Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle Attendees hold an Israeli flag in counterprotest at UC Berkeleys commencement ceremony. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle A student displays a cap in support of Palestinians before the UC Berkeley commencement ceremony. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle UC Berkeley graduates pass by tents and protest signs outside Sproul Hall as they make their way to Memorial Stadium for graduation. Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle A student wears a stole with an embroidered Palestinian flag in the shape of a heart during UC Berkeleys commencement Saturday. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Students in caps and gowns line up outside California Memorial Stadium during the UC Berkeley commencement Saturday. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle A student displays a cap in support of Palestinians before the UC Berkeley commencement Saturday. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Students in caps and gowns celebrate during the UC Berkeley commencement ceremony. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle UC Berkeleys campus-wide commencement began peacefully Saturday morning but soon was disrupted by hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters, mostly graduates in cap and gown, who gathered in one area of Memorial Stadium to chant. Though many universities nationwide altered or canceled commencement ceremonies in the wake of campus encampments protesting Israels war with Hamas, UC Berkeleys graduation went on as planned. While chanting made it difficult for many to hear the speeches, the 90-minute ceremony proceeded on schedule, and no one was arrested. Reactions to the political activity ranged from full-on support to anger, with at least one scuffle as guests left the stadium. This wouldnt be Berkeley without a protest, Sydney Roberts, president of the Associated Students of the University of California, said after her speech was interrupted briefly by chanting. In all, more than 7,700 graduates registered to attend the commencement, and an additional 25,425 guest tickets were sold, according to UC Berkeley media relations. The ceremony was too large for individual names to be read, and many departments and student groups held smaller events. The morning started quietly. The only signs of potential trouble were a campus police transport van that rumbled toward a nearby staging area and officers discreetly stationed in the stadiums tunnels. By 10 a.m., the section of the stadium reserved for students was packed with excited graduates from all departments and levels of the school. Across the field, the stands were heavily sprinkled with their relatives and friends. An announcer over the loudspeakers noted that for many of the young people, it would be their first graduation in person because their high school ceremonies were held during COVID. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather outside Memorial Stadium after UC Berkeley commencement. Yuri Avila The Chronicle We basically just sent in videos for an online stream when I graduated high school, so this feels really good closure for both high school and college, said Keerthana Ramaswamy of San Jose, who was getting her bachelors degree in public health. As the event began, it was clear that the university was braced for protests. An announcer cautioned against shouting over speakers and said that people who are disruptive would be asked to leave. UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ started her remarks by acknowledging the student movement. They feel passionately about the brutality and the violence in Gaza, tens of thousands of Palestinians killed and the destruction of educational institutions, she said, to cheers in the crowd. Soon after, about 20 students rose in the middle of the stands, waving placards and Palestinian flags and chanting, Free Palestine! Minutes later, security guards escorted them to the back of the stadium. Its OK to miss the ceremony, because were bringing awareness to the problem of Gaza, said Yusuf Rashid, a Middle Eastern studies undergraduate in the group. There are students in Gaza who no longer have schools, or who are dead, and that needs attention. The protest grew as about 300 graduates and other students moved from their seats to cluster in the same section of the stadium to chant. Graduates protest in support of Palestinians during the UC Berkeley commencement ceremony. Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle In response, guests chanted Kick them out! briefly. There were no counterprotests, but a few students held up Israeli flags. One who said he didnt want to give his name out of fear of reprisal glared at the chanting protesters a couple hundred feet away from him. Advertisement Article continues below this ad This is a bunch of sheep, he said. They dont really know what theyre screaming for. Annie Ramos of Roseville (Placer County) said it was not what she had expected. I feel like theyre ruining it for those of us who paid for tickets and came to show our pride for our graduates, she said. Theres a time and a place, and this is not it. Her daughter Savannah Reiss, a sociology undergraduate who had joined in some of the campus protests for Palestinians but not todays crowd, shrugged. Its good, she said I figured this was going to happen. Its Berkeley. Graduates express their demand for UC Berkeley to divest from Israel during the commencement protest. Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle After the ceremony ended, when commencement attendees walked past another group of about 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had gathered outside one of the stadiums main exits, some guests aired their frustrations. A man leaving the ceremony yelled at one of them, then made a pushing motion toward another, but someone who was with him pulled him back. Shut up! the man yelled at the demonstrators as he walked away. A woman who wore two Israeli flags on her head like mouse ears heckled the demonstrators as she passed. Viva viva Palestina, they yelled in response. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Similar protests erupted at UC Berkeley law schools commencement Friday at the campus Greek Theatre, where several students took off their black gowns to reveal white shirts that spelled out UC Divest while the dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, was opening the ceremony. Law graduate Malak Afaneh, who drew national attention last month when she protested the war in Gaza during a dinner at the home of Chemerinsky and his wife, law professor Catherine Fisk, unfurled a Palestinian banner as she received her diploma Friday. Spring classes have been shut down on campuses nationwide as students demand that their schools divest from Israel over its handling of the war in Gaza in response to Hamas surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel. While police have arrested students and dispersed encampments at California schools including UCLA and Cal Poly Humboldt, the encampments at UC Berkeley and Stanford University have largely been left alone. Pro-Palestinian students chant in protest during the UC Berkeley commencement ceremony. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Universities that have changed commencement plans over safety fears include Columbia University in New York, where police arrested dozens of protesters in an encampment crackdown. It canceled its main commencement, replacing it with dozens of smaller events for each of its colleges starting Friday. The University of Southern California replaced its campus graduation ceremony with a celebration Friday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum featuring fireworks but no speech from valedictorian Asna Tabassum, an outspoken advocate for Palestinians who faced criticism from Israeli groups. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Cal Poly Humboldt, where police cleared a camp and arrested protesters last month after students took over an administration building, held scaled-back commencement ceremonies Saturday at three off-campus sites. Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took approximately 250 hostages in its Oct. 7 attack on Israeli towns, according to the Israeli military. Israels subsequent war with Hamas has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and wounded over 77,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Several hundred thousand Palestinians are facing famine, while more than 80% of Palestinians have been driven from their Gaza homes, according to estimates. UC Berkeley students stand inside Memorial Stadium for graduation. Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle Yassen Abdelfatah, a graduating business administration major at UC Berkeley who has attended on-campus protests and sit-ins, said his familys experience with the civil war in Sudan has given him a sense a kinship with the people of Gaza. Abdelfatah said he wants to use what hes learned at Berkeley to help countries that are facing oppression from other nations. Advertisement Article continues below this ad I appreciate what its taught me, (that) its never too late to make a change, he said. I met Bruce Springsteen a few years back. I'm not sure if I ever told you... it probably slipped my mind. Anyhow, it was up in Kilkenny many moons ago that I saw Bruce in concert. Having gotten a free ticket through some bit of good fortune, I found myself listening to 'The Boss' for free. The concert went on for a long time. It was enjoyable too, of course, but strung out, for Bruce is never in a hurry. During a break in the music, I got talking to this dairy farmer from Kilkenny about grass supply, springers, and calf scour. To cut a long story short, our conversion was so riveting that I never noticed the time pass. Soon, the concert was over, and just me, the farmer from Kilkenny, and Bruce Springsteen left. "Have ye any homes to go to?" The Boss asked, holding his guitar. I told him we did and asked why he was so concerned about our homes. He then told us, with floods of tears (I might add), that he finds it very hard to get accommodation. He is so popular you see, that wherever he tours in the world, accommodation is booked out far in advance of his arrival. And it makes absolute sense when you think about it. Dublin has been booked out for months in anticipation of Taylor Swift. Where she will stay when she finally gets here is anyone's guess. Thankfully, we found shelter for Burce that night, and I told him never to be stuck. There will always be some corner of a barn in Kilmichael available to you, if ever you need it, I promised. And sure enough, on Tuesday, I got the call from Bruce himself telling me he was on a bus heading from Macroom to Lissarda and was wondering if I might pick him up somewhere along the line. Well says I, "Bruce, I have no car at the moment, only the tractor and transport box if that will do you? "A spin in a transport box," says he, "Is better than four miles by foot." "Boy, golly Bruce," says I. "You could make a fine song out of that if you had the time." And so Bruce 'The Boss' arrived here later that day and has been with us here on the farm since then. A better companion would be hard to find. They say you should never meet your heroes, well Bruce was delighted to meet me. "Where do you get all your ideas?" he asked, stunned that I have been writing for the Farm Exam with almost 20 years. "In the strangest of places," I assured him... and between you and me, that really is the truth. Anyhow, on Thursday, after we dose a few calves, myself and Bruce will get the 233 bus from Crookstown to Cork. Bruce has the bus pass now, and he is making full use of it. He's saving a fortune. Then, we will have a few scoops in a city bar before striking for the concert. Bruce was telling me yesterday that he is sick and tired of singing the same old songs And I had to admit that 'Born in the USA' and 'The River' can get a bit tedious when heard too often. Anyhow, on Thursday, he promises to start the show with 'The Bold Thady Quill' and will follow it with 'Mount Massey the Flower of Macroom' in honour of Bambie Thug. "Sing 'The Banks' too," I squawked. "The crowd will go nuts for that class of thing." After that, it won't matter what he sings, for as usual, Bruce will give the performance of a lifetime. And sure, why wouldn't he? And we look after him like one of our own. After weeks of near-endless rain, a rare and intoxicating blast of sunshine is mirrored by the sparkling, sunny demeanour of the small crowd assembled to celebrate the fifth birthday of Izz and Eman Alkarajehs multi-award winning Izz Cafe, and cut the ribbon on a new extension. But just as the rain will inevitably return the next day and it does the collective mood will also return to a darker place that has preoccupied all gathered here since last October, when the Hamas attack on Israel triggered what rapidly mutated into one of the most appalling and prolonged assaults on humanity in modern history: Israels uncompromising, genocidal war on Gaza, killing well over 34,000 Palestinians to date, mostly civilians, almost 70% women and children. Deliberate restriction of aid to a desperate and starving population has caused deaths of multiple children through malnutrition, and the spectre of mass famine now looms large. Izz and Emans story is familiar to many but no less inspiring for repetition. A young Palestinian couple, prevented by Israeli authorities from living in their homeplace of Hebron, then forced to leave Saudi Arabia where they had been working and rearing a young family, they wound up in direct provision in Ireland in 2016. With the help of new Irish friends, Darina Allen chief among them, they began trading at Mahon Point farmers market, selling Emans home-cooked traditional Palestinian dishes, and success was near instantaneous. Making coffee at Izz Cafe, Cork, Picture Dan Linehan A year later, they were able to establish a brick-and-mortar presence in Cork City centre and, though neither had any hospitality experience, the awards and acclaim began rapidly piling up. Even when we were in direct provision, says Izz, we had a vision for this cafe. I started designing the logo and the brand, developing the business identity and our first gazebo at the market had the cafe brand. Since then things have happened way beyond our expectation. The farmers markets helped us to connect with the network of food producers and suppliers who were all so supportive, and became our friends. "When we launched the cafe, it was a dream come true. We became very busy, very quickly and were soon struggling with space, especially at weekends. We were sad to disappoint so many people. We have followers from all over Ireland coming here every weekend. One family of six got the train down from Dublin, ate and went straight back to Dublin. I was very impressed. I first met Izz, Eman and their three children on their second week at the farmers market, cowering under a spiteful Irish rain. Eman spoke little English, concentrating on the food and though already a very good home cook, she appeared nervous, perhaps not entirely convinced she was cut out to be a professional chef. In the first days of the restaurant, a steep learning curve, she sometimes wore an especially frazzled look. Five years on, Eman is a different creature entirely. She is still a gentle and preternaturally calm presence but her English has vastly improved, and she glides through the restaurant with relaxed confidence. Im really very busy all the time, she says, I do have chefs and workers but if you want to keep quality, you dont trust anybody else with your food. Izz is always telling me to hire more people, and to rest and spend time with him and the kids, but I feel, no, I take care to make sure the food is the best it can be. Yes, Im very strict in the kitchen [laughing], nobody likes me in the kitchen. Izz and Eman Alkarajeh at Izz Cafe, Cork, Picture Dan Linehan THE IMPACT OF GENOCIDE Eman has immersed herself in regional styles of Palestinian cuisine, adding all the time to her repertoire. As we talk on a Tuesday morning when the restaurant is closed, we share exquisite mansaf, lamb cooked in a broth flavoured with jameed, hard dried salted yogurt that is my new favourite ingredient, and many new menu items are full meals as opposed to street food snacks. Upon receiving his Irish passport last August, Izz booked to attend two hospitality trade shows in Germany, 21 days apart, scheduling a visit to family in Palestine in between. The first exhibition had already started when we began hearing news about October 7, says Izz, and I became very nervous because we know Israel responds madly when they are hit with a small operation. The response to this was going to be huge. By the time I arrived in Jordan, the border was closed, I couldnt go to Palestine. Israeli retaliation was of the horrific magnitude anticipated by Izz and others, and though the Alkarajehs extended family live in the West Bank, the impact was soon felt in Cork. We have two chefs from Gaza, brothers, Habib and Ramzi, and they couldnt take all the bad news and when they lost communication [temporarily] with their family, they assumed the worst had happened. Habib and Ramzi are like our family as well. Their parents, brothers, sister and their children lost their home, were displaced and fled from the North to the South. They sheltered with others in a UN school but that area was also attacked so they ended up living in tents. "Habib couldnt do anything [in the kitchen], he was just shocked and every day the news was worse. So we decided to close and do takeaway, but we were really struggling even with that. So we decided to close altogether, we had to take care of the two guys because they were really in a bad situation. We had been so excited to open the extension but we couldnt feel happy for anything. We stopped eating. We felt guilty when we knew they were struggling to get water. They would walk in the streets for kilometres just to find a bottle of water and snipers shoot at them. Habibs mother has cancer and already needs care, even in a stable situation but the hospitals were bombed and theres no medical supply, their life was miserable. It was very hard for us to live a normal life. Izz and Eman Alkarajeh at Izz Cafe, Cork, Picture Dan Linehan In Cork, friends, customers and champions called in to offer support, sometimes just offering hugs. One day, says Eman, they called me and said somebody outside wants to see you. I went and she said, Hi. I said, Hi, she said Im Jewish. I said OK. And she said, I really am so sorry for what is happening and she starts crying and I just went and hugged her. I said, thank you so much, I appreciate your feeling, I just want you to tell the truth to everybody. "She said she had lived there, she said Palestinian people are really good people and they didnt deserve what happened, and she came just to say, we stand with you and are sorry for what was happening. Lots, lots, lots of people called us, messaged us, they still are doing it. There were even children emptying out their savings boxes, says Izz, for the children of Gaza and the people of Gaza. A retired Irish doctor came in and wanted our help to connect with health services in Gaza so he and other doctors could go to help. We are really so moved, we appreciate so much what everybody is doing, its so emotional and sometimes I just . All three of us sit in silence, momentarily overwhelmed. Izz and Eman Alkarajeh at Izz Cafe, Cork, Picture Dan Linehan THE CITY PROTESTS Within days of October 7, a protest march was held in Cork with one every single Saturday since. It is where Cork gains its name the Rebel County, says Izz, and Irish people do not accept injustice, colonialism, by nature resisting, fighting against this with every means. Its a peaceful movement, to stop the genocide, and we try to support them as much as we can. This war has changed a lot of people who were ignorant about the reality of whats happening, now the real narrative is being spread by real people on the ground. At a national demonstration in Dublin earlier this year, Izz realised the extent of Izz Cafes renown. We closed that Saturday and all went with our staff. I was surprised how famous I was [chuckling], everyone was shaking hands, welcoming me as if they knew me, even some people visiting from Australia. In the face of Israels grinding intransigence in their prosecution of this brutal war, it has been hard to maintain hope. Theres a difference between what you hope for, says Izz, and what you think might happen. We hope for peace, liberation, independence. I dont want to keep applying for Israeli permission to visit my family. Its 2024. This is not happening anywhere on earth other than Palestine. They are controlling our lives. Why do they decide whether my wife is allowed to visit my family or when I am allowed to travel from one city to another? "I dont know how they accept themselves colonising another people, deciding how much calories a certain area in Palestine can have during the month. And we have to keep struggling and fighting for our rights, and that doesnt mean necessarily firing a rocket. Even speaking, demonstrating, is fighting. Celebrating our culture is fighting. We are struggling for our freedom in every possible manner that is legal and protected by international law. We ask everybody, dont stop talking about Palestine, especially Gaza. Eman gazes absently out the window towards the River Lee. I think its going to rain, she says. About two minutes later, an almighty cloudburst pours down. How did you know? asks Izz in wonderment. Eman shrugs, she has learned to read the vagaries of Cork weather as well as any born and bred Leesider. There are beautiful places all over Ireland, she says, but whenever we are away, I always say, now I want to go back home to Cork. Cork is now our home. As Shiv Sheridan in the second and latest series of The Dry, Roisin Gallagher captures the look of a woman living a life vicariously through herself. Its a look that screams what is going on here, and what am I supposed to do about it? The highly rated comedy-drama is back on our screens, following south Dubliner Shiv as she moves from initially recovering alcoholic to more fully re-engaging with life around her or, at least as much as she can given the sheer weirdness of her surroundings. All of Shivs family are back living under one dysfunctional roof in the original family home, in addition to Shivs mothers now live-in lover. In brief, theres a lot going on. Appearing down a Zoom line from her Belfast home, its clear that Gallagher has fallen under the spell of her character in the show more so, possibly, because in her own words, playing this role has been a lucky break. I think for Shiv that is her real awareness of the reality of the situation she is in, Roisin says of those lingering shots of a character to whom life seems to be happening despite herself. Its becoming more and more glaringly obvious the more sober she gets. She does not have all, if any, of the answers. I think thats what makes great comedy and it makes it interesting because we dont know what choices she is going to make and how she will deal with the chaos she is surrounded by. Shiv always was the chaos and now she sees the chaos and shes not it and how do you move forward with that? In season one it was about understanding the mentality and behaviours and characteristics of a person who has just embarked on a 12-step programme. I had to understand all that, I had to learn that like approaching a new subject, and I found it so completely fascinating, I absolutely lapped it up. I just thought it was such an interesting subject: addiction within families, trauma cycles, how we use addiction and addictive substances to just avoid reality and how our parents can influence that and the place we grew up, she continues. In series two then, it all moved into a different space, so she seems to be doing ok, so how do you live then? She laughs when asked about whether she had any personal experiences she could channel when it came to Shivs wild years. I was like, I dont know what it would be like to be in your 20s, in London, drunk, with no shoes, she says with more than a touch of sarcasm. Yeah, absolutely. With every single character its mostly imagination and creation and theres also a little of yourself you bring into it. I had a few personal experiences that I could draw upon not even being drunk necessarily but of coming home and having not made it. The first time I connected with Shiv was when I read Im 35 and Im not where I thought I was supposed to be I dont have a boyfriend, I dont have a career, I dont have a house. That was the first time I really went oh my goodness, this is relevant. Roisin Gallagher. Pic: David Reiss "WHAT'S NEXT?" This feels like an important point Gallagher, now 37, is flying, having recently appeared in Sky Atlantic drama The Lovers, but she has spoken in the past of a sense of elation, or relief, when she secured the role of Shiv in The Dry. It helped boost her career, and she appears to have hit a sweet spot in her life living in Belfast with her husband and two boys, work on hand and projects (which she cant talk about) in the pipeline, but she is certainly not taking any of it for granted. I think I am learning to enjoy the joyful bits more, allow the assurance of where I am now to be a gift and propel me into the next right thing, rather than oh they made a mistake! she says. I never would rest on my laurels. I understand the business enough to know that youre only as good as your last scene and nothing is going to carry you through to the next gig in terms of oh, youre done that great thing, right thats lovely and then whats next? Its an impermanent joy and it does move but it is joyful and I am really proud. So many talented, incredible actors and artists dont get that break. The work Ive done has paid off but I am also very aware that I got a lucky break with The Dry and that has opened other doors. It has given me the assurance but thats a work in progress as well. I never ever feel 100% sure and I think it must be meant to be that way. In navigating Shivs awkward path to something like normality, Gallagher seems to have found a new family of her own even as the screen version shunts off the rails. It is a really beautiful thing to be involved in. Id never done a series one of anything, let alone it going on to a series two, she says. Its a real ensemble cast, the family of the Sheridans spend a lot of time together off set and we really clicked. I didnt know anyone at all when I started.. we became very close, very quickly. This invisible connection means that we are all invested in each others character development as well. It also means that while some of the scenarios in The Dry might seem a bit outsized, there can be more than a grain of truth in them too. Actress Roisin Gallagher pictured at the Royal Television Society Republic of Ireland Awards at the Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy "A BIG WAKE-UP CALL" Take the notion of all three siblings back living in the family home with an estranged set of parents and a mothers new partner. Can you imagine all of your siblings moving back into the family home together now, at this stage of life? she says. I think that is what the real comedy and humour is, and also the stark, stark reality is that a lot of people are because of the housing crisis and financial difficulties and the whole shebang. The south Dublin element also allows for some probing of the issue of class, with Shiv keen to counter any notion that she is posh in the eyes of her would-be boyfriend. I dont think that Shiv would like to think that she has been in any way privileged, but she absolutely has. And then to be faced in her thirties with a sibling situation that maybe hasnt come up before for any of the family due to their circumstances, it is a big wake-up call, there is a lot of adult decisions that she has to make. And as much as she can complain about sticking around at home, she is still sticking out her hand for 50 quid in the first episode to her mum. Roisin thinks Irish writing is enjoying an extended moment, driven by the craft and skill of not just Harris but Sharon Horgan, Aisling Bea, and others. I think there is an astonishing level of talent in female Irish writers and there has thankfully been a great platform for that in the last while, she says. I wonder is it because there was no platform previously, and thats why it feels like there is an insurgence right now? I think it probably is. Roisin Gallagher. Pic: David Reiss Her own writing is on hold at present, simply from being so busy with acting, though she says a time will come when she turns her observations into something concrete. But for now, she feels grateful to Shiv for having altered her own trajectory. Its a big world out there and I would love to just continue doing really good parts, she says. The parts I have had since Shiv have really been incredible and challenging and really pushed the boundaries of what I thought I could do, and I really want to keep doing that and see where it is going to go. There has to be a tenacity and a real desire to keep the work going. That is when I feel most vital in myself and I dont know why that is, it just is. Series Two of The Dry returns to RTE on May 15 The Eurovision Song Contest has been plunged into further controversy following a participant calling for peace during their performance and a Norwegian jury spokesperson resigning. On Saturday, during the dress rehearsals at the Malmo Arena in Sweden, French contestant Slimane stopped singing Mon Amour to call for peace amid the war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip. There have been multiple calls to boycott the competition over Israels participation with singer Eden Golan, who is due to perform her song Hurricane on Saturday evening. Palestinian flags are held up in the crowd during the final dress rehearsal ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest final (Andreas Hillergren/AP) There have been large protests in the centre of the city in response. Slimane told the audience: Everybody, I just need to say something. Sorry I dont speak English very well but when I was a child I dreamed about music, I dreamed about this dream, to be a singer and to sing peace here. Every artist here wants to sing about love and sing about peace. We need to be united by music yes, but with love for peace. United by music yes, but with love for peace. Thank you so much, thank you Europe. Also during the show, Palestinian flags which had been banned by the organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) had been seen in the audience. Ahead of the grand final Alessandra Mele posted to Instagram to say she will no longer be the person who announces the points awarded by Norway during Eurovision. Palestinian flags held up in the crowd (Andreas Hillergren/AP) In a video the former Eurovision contestant said: Even though Im thankful that I was given the opportunity to do so, Ive taken the decision to withdraw. United by music Eurovisions motto is the reason why the music unites people, brings them together. But right now, those words are just empty words. There is a genocide going on and Im asking you all to please open up your eyes, open up your heart, let love lead you to the truth. Its right in front of you. Free Palestine. The grand final will now have 25 performers rather than 26 after Dutch act Joost Klein was disqualified following a Swedish police investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has been approached for comment. After much speculation, Irelands Bambie Thug has taken to the stage at the Eurovision grand final in Malmo, Sweden, following some doubt about whether they would even perform tonight. The only confirmation they would likely perform came when they appeared during the flag walk at the start of the live show. The Cork performer stunned the audience with an emotive performance of their witchy song Doomsday Blue, accompanied by dancer and choreographer Matt Williams. The song ended with what sounded like a cathartic scream from Bambie after a long day of confusion over Irelands participation in Eurovision and a simple statement to the audience: Love will always triumph hate. Bambie caused a stir earlier on Saturday when they did not appear during the afternoon dress rehearsal, casting doubt on whether they would perform in the final. They confirmed on social media that they had spoke to the European Broadcasting Union about a situation which I felt needed urgent attention from the EBU the EBU have taken this matter seriously and we have been in a discussion about what action needs to be taken. Speaking to RTE, Bambie called on organisers to address commentary made on Israeli television that aired before their performance in Tuesdays semi-final, saying it breached the rules of the Eurovision and Israel should not be allowed to continue in the competition. Bambie Thug takes to the stage at the Malmo Arena. Picture: Andres Poveda Bambie said the Israeli commentary would motivate them in their performance tonight. Theres a lot more anger and a lot more drive in me now, they said. "Im angry with other teams breaching their rules of the EBU, and still being allowed in. So theres definitely a war drum sounding in my heart to push the performance even more than I have done before." Earlier today, the EBU confirmed that Dutch act Joost Klein had been disqualified from the grand final as Swedish police investigate a complaint made by a female member of the production crew after an incident following his performance in Thursday nights semi-final. Car buyers wont have easily missed the negativity swirling around electric vehicles (EVs) for the past few months. Some of this is based on incorrect information such as batteries that give up the ghost after a few years and cost the Earth to replace and some of it caused by the price-shift in the electric car market that is making buyers wary. Whatever has triggered the negative hype, theres no doubt its influencing those in the fortunate position to be buying a new car, giving them pause before they make the move to electric power. Its time to tackle some of the issues objectively. Whats happening with pricing? Following a period of low supply and high demand for new and used electric cars in 2021 and 2022 leading to unrealistically high values on the used market in particular there was a shift change in 2023 as supply freed up. Adding momentum to the natural swing back to realistic pricing, Tesla announced significant price reductions on its new cars early last year. The knock-on effects of that were profound, as it instantly devalued used Teslas and indirectly reduced the residual values of all used EVs on the market. That trend accelerated as other car brands did their best to match Teslas pricing with considerable reductions in new-car pricing across the board. CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB At around the same time, the first wave of the most popular modern-generation EVs, such as the Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4, entered the used market as their owners changed to new cars and suddenly there was no shortage of used electric cars. Availability of affordable electric cars is what motorists have been crying out for, of course, so its all great news if youre about to go electric. Why the negativity? Because some early adopters of electric cars have come to trade up for a new car and found their car worth less than hoped, making the cost to change high. The naysayers have used this to suggest that residual values for EVs are lower, and always will be, than those for cars powered by petrol, diesel or hybrid engines. They are conveniently ignoring the fact that the situation was the other way around only a year ago and that the market is transient. Experts (note the difference between an expert and a specialist there are plenty of EV specialists calling themselves experts but theyre of no use to anyone that isnt sure if electric power is for them) believe that there are already signs of price stability, and its unlikely that we will see such large reductions in the cost of new EVs again, the main driver for the current situation. What if Ive bought a car before prices came down? Understandably, recent buyers of new EVs may be anxious about the value of their car given the negative media attention. And they wont be reassured if they try to find out its value, nor by the headlines suggesting that garages wont take electric cars as trade-ins. In fact, only a handful of independent dealerships have come out and said that, and thats their prerogative given the short-term nature of their buy-and-sell business. The thing is, all new cars depreciate considerably in their first year; indeed, as soon as they have registration plates on them, and they leave the forecourt, theyre worth a lot less than the owner paid for them. At this very moment in time, EVs seem to be losing their value quicker than their internal-combustion-engined siblings. But this is a momentary thing, and most new-car buyers dont plan to change their vehicle in such a short time. Its expected that the market will stabilise within a year and anyone buying now will find normal levels of depreciation over the next few years. The advice is simple: dont panic, enjoy the car you bought for now and worry about its trade-in value when the normal time comes. For those who bought on PCP (Personal Contract Plan), the car will have a guaranteed future value and fixed monthly payments in any case. Good news for the used EV buyer? The drop in EV values is great news if youre in the market for a used example today. The earliest proper electric car on the Irish market was the Nissan Leaf and today, 5,000 will get you a decent version with good specification, low mileage and plenty of life left in it. Sure, the range between charges may not be much more than 100 kilometres or so, but that covers most commutes and itll cost cents to run if you can charge it up at home. Up your budget to closer to 15,000 and there are options that should manage nearly 300km on a charge, while the cheapest used Teslas are about 20,000. There has been some talk about the cost of replacing batteries and their longevity that is worth addressing here. Undoubtedly, it would be prohibitively expensive to replace a full EV battery, especially for older models that have a low value to start with. Of course, the same can be said for replacing an engine or other expensive component in a petrol or diesel car, and scrapyards around the country are always full of seemingly decent petrol and diesel vehicles which could not be economically repaired. However, and this is a key detail, its incredibly rare for a full battery pack to be unusable. The packs are made up of multiple modules containing a multitude of battery cells, more like AA and AAA batteries than you might expect. While its not the work of a moment to work on this set-up, neither does it have to cost thousands of euros to repair. And anyway, batteries and electric motors are inherently more reliable with far fewer moving parts than an internal combustion engine. Should I buy a new EV now? There has never been a better time to buy an EV new or used. While new EV sales are still relatively healthy, theyre not as buoyant as was predicted for this year, dampened by the negative press and buyer uncertainty. That indecision is unlikely to last long so now is a great time to walk into a showroom and make a deal with salespeople potentially nervous about hitting targets. Whats more, if you are unconcerned about having the latest registration plate, you could get a better deal now, ahead of the 242 registration change on July 1. That usually comes with a flurry of sales, but registrations in the month beforehand are slow. Supply of new EVs is excellent right now, too, meaning you should have your choice of model. And, of course, there are new options being added every week, so theres massive variety in the market. The pace of new model roll-outs has never been as high as it is now, and most of the new cars are electric. Where will I charge an EV if I buy it? The poor state of Irelands public EV-charging network can be at least partially blamed for the slower uptake of new electric cars than expected. In a recent report by environmental think-tank Transport & Environment (T&E), Ireland was third from the bottom in a table of EU countries listed in order of achieving targets for rolling out electric car chargers ahead only of Cyprus and Malta. EV drivers regularly report long queues at charging stations or poorly maintained chargers, and buyers on the cusp of going electric undoubtedly take that on board and it puts them off making the change. Thankfully, the situation is slowly improving, with more availability of fast chargers along busy routes than ever, but the pace of the network improvement and roll-out is too slow, notably so away from the main motorways. EVs make most sense and cost the least to run, if you can charge them up overnight at home. However, that should not concern everyone. The vast majority of drivers do less than 100km a day in any case so wont need to often charge up a modern EV, most of which can surpass 400km between charges now, in their daily life. Sure, the few times a year you do a longer trip, its less convenient to charge up than it is to fill a petrol or diesel tank with fuel, but thats hardly a reason to not buy an EV. And the public network is improving. Slowly. The thing is, EVs make most sense and cost the least to run, if you can charge them up overnight at home. That way you take advantage of cheaper rates of electricity and the car is parked up and not in use anyway, so it takes no time out of your day. Some businesses supply EV chargers for employees to use, too, and theres no benefit-in-kind tax applied if you do so. Admittedly, theres still a large cohort of people not properly catered for in the transition to electric motoring, and thats those without off-street parking, whether thats a terraced house or an apartment or even rented accommodation where its not possible to install an EV charger. There needs to be in place far more expansive infrastructure and not just rapid chargers along national routes to ensure everyone has access to affordable charging stations. Ireland is a very long way from that, unfortunately. The advice is to ensure you know where youre going to charge your EV before you buy it, and if you cant fit a charger at home, investigate subscription-based charging to keep your costs down. Tesla, for example, has its own Supercharger network of chargers that are fast and rarely fully occupied, but there are other options. Will Tesla continue to compete? Its difficult to know what to believe when it comes to the success or otherwise of Tesla. It undoubtedly sells a lot of cars and has a fiercely loyal following, but Elon Musk seems to do his best to undo the companys good work with his public persona and financial decisions. Not that many of us are qualified to comment on how a billionaire does business, but a recent round of lay-offs at the company isnt confidence-inspiring, either. Regardless, the new Tesla Model 3 is really good value and better than ever, and theres a similar round of improvements coming to the popular Model Y. After that its anyones guess as to how soon Tesla can bring another new car to market. The headline-grabbing Cybertruck wont be sold in Europe, for example, and its not clear if the much-rumoured Tesla Model 2 hatchback will ever see the light of day and be profitable against the cavalcade of new Chinese EVs. Are the Chinese invading? If youve been keeping an eye on the car market then youll have noticed the onslaught of new brands vying with the old guard, using the transition to electric motoring as a springboard to launch. Almost all these new brands hail from China and in fact, many of them arent new at all, but well-established in their home country. Take BYD for example. The letters stand for Build Your Dreams, which sound funny, but its no joke that this Chinese conglomerate makes and sells more EVs globally than any other. It already has three models on sale in Ireland that stand up well to comparison with cars from better-established marques, and not just because theyre well-priced. It has many more on the way. BYD is not alone, but it is typical of the newest generation of Chinese cars that can compete in terms of ability and technology, not just a bargain-basement price. Whether buyers will be willing to overlook the fact that the Chinese government is involved with all these companies on some level, and that it has a dubious record in terms of human rights, remains to be seen, but in truth, the same could be said of virtually any piece of technology we use in our daily lives. Should I buy at all? Regardless of the negative press that EVs have received of late, they are, at the very least, the medium-term future of motoring in Ireland and the rest of Europe. Legislation is in place that will eventually ban internal-combustion-engined cars from sale and hence the car makers have invested billions of euros in ensuring they are ready for the change. The short-term blip in demand wont change the long-term strategy of the motor industry and governments around the world. Given this future, wed argue that its potentially riskier to buy a new diesel car than a new electric one, though wed advise buyers to go for the vehicle that best suits their needs for the next few years and not to worry too much about what happens. The parents of a young woman whose death was ruled a result of medical misadventure earlier this year are hopeful a meeting with the Tanaiste will help expedite a report into the circumstances of her death. Alison and Chris Sainsburys 25-year-old daughter Bryonny suffered a serious brain injury after she was injured by a horse on August 26, 2021. Bryonny, of Briskil, Newtownforbes, Co Longford, died from her injuries in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin five days later, after originally being treated at the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar. An inquest into her death returned a verdict of death by medical misadventure. Her parents met with Tanaiste Micheal Martin at Leinster House on Thursday evening to raise their concerns with him about the nature of her death, and the delay in a review into her care by the HSE, which the family expected to have been completed a year ago. Ms Sainsbury said: He is going to look into what is the delay with the report. He was very empathetic. Last month, the family received correspondence from the Ireland East Hospital Group, issued to their solicitor, which said while the report was at an advanced stage, it is subject to a legal review and is not completed. Bryonny Sainsbury died from her injuries in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin five days later, after originally being treated at the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar. The review team has received legal advice outlining that the draft report cannot be shown to the family until the required processes under the Incident Management Framework 2020 have been completed in full, according to the letter. The couple's local TD, Joe Flaherty, organised Thursdays meeting for the family and they were accompanied by their legal team at it. After the meeting, which lasted up to an hour, during which the Sainsburys told the Tanaiste of the trauma they had been suffering since Bryonnys death, Ms Sainsbury said: We think this will expedite our case. Hopefully we will get answers and that it [the report] will be expedited because it needs to be. We are worn out. We are reliving it each time we are telling about it. We do want to speak about Bryonny but in a good text. In issuing the inquest verdict in February, coroner Dr Crona Gallagher referenced concerns raised by Alison and her husband Chris about their daughters condition while in the Mullingar hospital, as well as querying why she had not been transferred to Beaumont sooner. She also acknowledged a consultant neurosurgeon from Beaumont had assessed scans taken of Bryonny as showing her condition was deteriorating. The family had expected the review to be completed within 125 days. Alison said the family received a letter on October 13, 2021, less than two months after Bryonnys death, informing them the review team was being put together. The team was completed in December 2022. The family had a meeting with the team on March 13 last year in a hotel in Mullingar and she said they were told they would receive a report within four weeks. The latest delay was conveyed to them on the day of the medical misadventure verdict in the inquest into the death of Clare teenager Aoife Johnston at University Hospital Limerick. Their meeting with the Tanaiste came as the family of Tatenda Mukwata have been contacted by the HSE in relation to providing them with a report into the circumstances of her death at University Hospital Kerry in April 2022, after she gave birth to her fourth child. Ms Mukwata was a resident at the Atlantic Lodge direct provision centre in Kenmare and had been granted permission to stay in Ireland shortly before she died. Last Septembers inquest into her death returned a verdict of death by medical misadventure. The jury found her death was probably preventable, noting a misdiagnosis was followed by a failure to investigate other possible differential misdiagnoses. A review was established in her case in September 2022 and the family is still awaiting the findings. In a letter received on Friday, April 26, the family was told the review commissioner, general manager of UHK, Mary Fitzgerald, could not accept the draft report from the review team. The report is now expected to be available to the family shortly, after contact was made with their legal team on Friday requesting how the family wished to receive it. The student who led the successful five-day Trinity College protest over the Israeli invasion of Gaza is in talks with other student leaders around Ireland. Laszlo Molnarfi says he plans a series of workshops around the organisation and execution of student-led direct action. The president of the Trinity College Dublin Students Union (TCDSU), whose protest blockaded the historic old library building that houses the Book of Kells, says he has already spoken to University College Cork. The solidarity encampment protest, which attracted world headlines, saw 100 students erect 70 tents on Fellows Square. Laszlo Molnarfi's photo of the TCD encampment protest over the Gaza conflict on the grounds of Trinity College in Dublin. Picture: X/@TCDSU_President Just hours before a deal was struck to end the protest on Wednesday, the 23-year-old had told the Irish Examiner he was prepared for it to continue indefinitely. He believes the Gaza protest and resulting encampment is what Ireland can expect from a growing trend towards more direct action from students. There isnt really a tradition of more radical mass student movement here in Ireland but I would say there is now, and that way of approaching issues is being accepted as the way to do things, said Laszlo, who is planning to apply for Irish citizenship in the future. Apathy has been replaced by faith in collective action," he said. What were seeing is a popular resurgence of the student movement in Ireland, after more than a decade. Hopefully, the way we are doing things, taking direct action and speaking out unapologetically for student interests will spread like a wildfire across the country. He added: Other countries, including the UK, have a much more engaged and radical student movement. Here in Ireland, that sort of culture needs to be established. Asked if he has been in touch with other colleges, he said he has and he will be hosting workshops about direct action. "It has been said multiple times that the Trinity job has been a source of inspiration for students across the island, he said. He said he is in talks with student representatives in UCC and University College Dublin about protests. While possibly the most high profile of protests the college has seen in recent years, the latest was one in a long line of them. Last September, for example, he cost the college up to 100,000 in lost revenue when he arranged a blockade at the entrance to the Book of Kells, which fronts onto Fellows Square. The then newly-elected TCDSU president had organised the protest in reaction to the colleges 2% rise in rent of campus accommodation. At the time, he proclaimed that if [Trinity] take money from the students then the students will take money from the college. They did this by blocking access to an attraction that attracts at least one million visitors a year and earns up to 350,000 a week. As a result of the day-long protest, Trinity College scrapped the rent rise a few weeks later and agreed to a rent freeze for the academic year 2024-2025. His other victories include getting more lights put up around the campus so female students could feel safer on campus at night. Born in Vienna in 2001, he was raised in Brussels by his Hungarian parents who work there for the EU Commission. He attended the prestigious European School, Brussels 1 (ESB1), whose past pupils include European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and former UK prime minister Boris Johnson. He was there from 2013 to 2020 and, by the time he reached high school, he was involved in student politics, serving as student council president before he left. While at ESB1, he was taught by a number of Irish-born teachers and he says they are the main reason he moved to Dublin in 2020. His tenure as TCDSU president ends at the end of June, and he plans to concentrate on his studies and on graduating with a joint-honours degree in Sociology and Philosophy next year. Then, he said he plans to return with his girlfriend to Vienna where they will both get their masters degrees. He said he plans to return to Ireland after that and become an Irish citizen. Its going to be quiet for a while, he said. I need to take a little break and I have to pass my exams, and to do my dissertation next year. Id say Ive done my bit, and I would say, now its time for other people to take the lead. After Vienna, I will be back. I dont have a specific job in mind, but Im looking forward to settling down here because I feel like I found my place. For the first time since 2018, Ireland will feature in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday. Heres everything you need to know ahead of the event. Where and when is it on? The final of the Eurovision takes place at 8pm Irish time at the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden. Sweden is hosting this years competition having won it in 2023 (and equalling Irelands record total of seven wins in doing so). The two semi-finals of this years contest took place on Tuesday on Thursday of this week. In the first, Macrooms Bambie Thug wowed audiences and qualified for Saturdays final. Who else is in the final? The final consists of 25 acts in total. Aside from Bambie Thug, the acts from Serbia, Portugal Slovenia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Finland, Cyprus, Croatia and Luxembourg qualified from the first semi-final. From the second, Latvia, Austria, the Netherlands, Israel, Greece, Estonia, Switzerland, Georgia, and Armenia moved on. The UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy automatically qualify for the final, given they are the biggest donors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the contest. Sweden, as hosts, also automatically qualify. So what time will Bambie Thug take to the stage? It is hard to say exactly, but the official running order had Bambie Thug performing tenth on the night. However, since that was issued, it has been confirmed that the Netherlands will not compete in the final due to an ongoing investigation by police into a complaint of inappropriate behaviour. The final will now proceed with 25 participants instead of 26, so we can presume Bambie Thug will now perform 9th. Heres the order: Sweden Ukraine Germany Luxembourg Israel Lithuania Spain Estonia Ireland Latvia Greece United Kingdom Norway Italy Serbia Finland Portugal Armenia Cyprus Switzerland Slovenia Croatia Georgia France Austria Keep an eye on number 10 too: the Latvian song was co-written by Mayo man Liam Geddes. Who are the favourites? Baby Lasagna of Croatia is the current favourite to win. AP Photo/Martin Meissner According to most bookmakers, Croatia, and their song Rim Tim Tagi Dim performed by artist Baby Lasagna, are favourites with odds of around 5/6. At the time of writing, Israel is second favourite with odds of 16/5, closely followed by Switzerland at 5/1. Different bookmakers have various combinations of France, Ukraine, and Ireland as having 4th, 5th, and 6th best odds to win. At present, Bambie Thugs odd are hovering between 11/1 and 16/1 or so. How does the voting work? Audience votes make up half of the result. The other half is made up of the votes from juries of five music professionals in each participating country. The juries rank each song based on four criteria: composition and originality of the song quality of the performance on stage vocal capacity of the performer And overall impression of the act The ranks allocated to the individual songs by each juror are then converted into a specific score value from 12 downwards decreasing exponentially; and the sum of all score values within a national jury determines the final national jury ranking for their nation. The Top 10 songs with the highest ranks are awarded 1 8, 10, and 12 points. Non-participating countries from around the world are also be able to vote, with their votes collectively accounting for the weight of one additional country. And viewers outside participating countries can also vote in the 24 hours leading up to the final. Viewers in participating and non-participating countries alike can vote using the official Eurovision App or at www.esc.vote both provide the correct voting method for all eligible countries automatically. Votes can also be cast by phone and SMS. Do we know who is on the Irish jury? Per the rules of the competition, the jurors identities are not publicised until after the final. That said, spokesperson for the Irish jury is Paul Harrington, who won the contest for Ireland with the song Rock n Roll Kids in 1994. Anything else? Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg attends a rally in Malmo, Sweden, in protest against Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Picture: AFP via Getty Images The 2023 Eurovision final attracted some 162m viewers from all around the world. It will be interesting to see if this years competition surpasses this mark. And the participation of Israel in this years competition has caused some controversy, with pro-Palestinian protests taking place in Malmo in recent days. At a dress rehearsal on Wednesday, Israeli artist Eden Golan was met with boos and shouts of Free Palestine from some members of the audience. This was followed up in their performance on Thursday evening, with audible boos inside the arena. Israel originally submitted a ballad called October Rain for this years contest, widely thought to reference the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. However, the entry was barred on the grounds of breaking rules on political neutrality. Israels public broadcaster Kan, responsible for choosing the countrys entry, later agreed to amend the song following the Israeli president Isaac Herzogs call for necessary adjustments to ensure it could take part. Some of the songs lyrics of the song were subsequently changed. For its part, the EBU continues to hold the position that the contest remains a non-political event that unites audiences around the world through music. The people of Ireland are standing on the right side of history in the Israeli-Palestine conflict, according to the Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Board. But while Ireland maybe about to officially recognise the Palestinian state, one of its leading members said today that the people of Palestine need more actions than words. West Bank-based human rights organization Al-Haqs General Director Shawan Jabarin said all trade in Ireland with all Israeli companies should be stopped, not just trade with companies in the occupied territories. He was speaking ahead of the 30th Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign march, taking place in Cork on Saturday afternoon. This march came against the backdrop of new orders by Israel to evacuate the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Such a stop will not wreck the Irish economy, Mr Jabarin said. What Ireland wants to do in recognising Palestine is good. But Israel needs to feel that they are being punished or are going to be punished and held accountable for that it has done to Palestine. Israel needs to be held accountable for its crimes and it needs to feel painful economic consequences for what it has done. If they dont, Israel will keep repeating the crimes they commit. Abdelfattah Abusrour (right) and Shawan Jabarin before today's rally and march in Cork. Picture: Neil Michael A former Amnesty International Palestinian Prisoner of Conscience, he has worked for years promoting human rights in Palestine. He added: I know the people of Cork and Ireland and where they stand. They stand on the right side of history when it comes to justice, accountability, equality and human rights. We say dont just stand behind the people of Palestine, stand behind your principles, your values, your morality and your human conscience. But what is missing is actions by officials, actions by the State, and by actions, I mean sanctions. The people of Palestine do not need a few words here or there, we need action. Read More Student leader who forced Trinity climbdown is in talks with students of other universities Also addressing the rally was author and actor Abdelfattah Abusrour, founding director of Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society, established in 1998 in Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem. It took him nearly four days to get out Bethlehem to get to Cork, and risked being shot at by Israeli settlers, or simply banned from leaving the country. He said: Palestinians can see what the Irish people are doing on the streets and in Trinity College. In many ways, the people are the voice of the country but governments lack that voice. All the demonstrations that are happening have still not made enough pressure on governments to divest their economic interests in Israel. We dont need just verbal support or the intention to help create a Palestinian state, or so on. But this verbal support and good will should also accompany actions against the occupying genocidal system that is happening. Palestinians hear the people around the world but we do not feel governments are doing enough. The weekly rally, organised by Cork Palestine Solidarity Group, calling for ceasefire and the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, in Cork City centre on Saturday 11th May 2024. Pic: Larry Cummins Around 900 people joined the rally, held on Cork citys Grand Parade, before then marching down Patrick Street behind people in loud hailers shouting slogans. Those 30 Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign marches and rallies have seen the involvement of dozens of medics and health workers who joined an estimated 1,000 people in march for Palestine through Cork city in January. Doctors are not targets, they chanted, as they urged the government to take concrete action against Israel in the wake of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the time that there is a plausible case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. In March, action included doing a 72-hour hunger strike while sleeping outside Cork City Hall in protest against Israels deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Tanya Peterson, CEO and executive director of the San Francisco Zoo, received a vote of no confidence from the zoos union. An outside lawyer has been tapped to look into problems at the zoo, which has been beset by allegations of mismanagement and concerns over worker safety and animal welfare. Thomas Webb/The Chronicle 2011 The organization that runs the San Francisco Zoo is conducting an internal investigation, an action that follows a Chronicle report that detailed employee allegations of mismanagement, safety lapses and animal welfare concerns, as well as a recent vote of no confidence in CEO and executive director Tanya Peterson by the zoos union. The investigation comes just as San Francisco has begun preparations to host a pair of high-profile pandas from China at the zoo as soon as next year. Advertisement Article continues below this ad On Thursday, executive board members of the San Francisco Zoological Society, the nonprofit organization that runs the city-owned zoo, held a meeting with investigator Harriet Lipkin, a Washington, D.C.-based labor lawyer, and members of the zoos union, according to sources familiar with the meeting. Melinda Dunn, the new chair of the Zoological Society board, has also encouraged employees to contact the investigator directly to discuss their concerns, emails obtained by the Chronicle show. Engaging in due diligence is a fundamental aspect of board governance and should not be misconstrued as a negative reflection of the zoos leadership or its operational procedures, Dunn said in a statement to the Chronicle. Exactly who or what is being investigated is unclear. It is also unclear exactly when the investigation began. When asked for details, Dunn did not answer, but said, The Zoological Society board is dedicated to collaborating with its leadership team and our labor partner to ensure a positive work environment for all our employees at the zoo. In alignment with this commitment and in cooperation with the union, we are utilizing several channels for gathering information. Thursdays meeting was scheduled after 97% of the zoos union members cast a vote of no-confidence in Peterson in early April, according to an April 17 letter that union representative Corey Hallman sent to membership and was obtained by the Chronicle. A statement accompanying the vote alleged that Peterson had created a toxic work environment and that the zoo suffered from staffing shortages and safety problems, such as concerns about the security of proposed housing for a new jaguar, among other issues. Peterson, who has led the zoo since 2008, did not respond to specific allegations raised by employees, but said in a statement to the Chronicle: I fully endorse initiatives aimed at fostering positive dialogue and communication. I take immense pride in our dedicated employees and consider it an honor to collaborate with them in advancing the zoos mission. Hallman declined to comment when contacted for this story. But in the April 17 letter, Hallman wrote that Dunn had informed the union that it was conducting an investigation into the issues the union has raised. The Chronicles investigation into the zoo was published online April 17. Separately, Larry Mazzola, the chair of an advisory group within the Recreation and Park Commission called the Joint Zoo Committee, said he is doing his own research into similar issues. After the Chronicle published its article, which detailed concerns about safety, zoo management and animal welfare from 20 current and former employees, Mazzola said he would invite Peterson and Dunn to the committees June meeting, which is public, to discuss them. Mazzola said he is investigating these issues in preparation for the June meeting. My goal is to have all of the facts out on the table with reasonable solutions so we can make the S.F. Zoo the best place to work for the employees, and the best place to live for the animals, he said in an email. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The San Francisco Zoo has also been in the media spotlight since Mayor London Breed announced last month that she had secured the loan of a pair of pandas for the zoo from China, due to arrive in 2025. The zoo will spend an estimated $25 million to build housing for the bears and potentially pay $1 million a year for the loan of the animals. Breed spokesperson Parisa Safarzadeh said the mayor is focused on construction preparation and fundraising for the pandas arrival, which she called a multiagency effort. The S.F. Zoo is one of the citys most prized attractions, Safarzadeh said in a statement. She added that the mayor supports the process actively in play for workers to report all concerns and raise issues. This process is happening as it should, and the mayor will continue to monitor all developments. In addition to the no-confidence union vote in early April, a group of 15 self-described nonunion staff members emailed Dunn anonymously last month to share their concerns about issues raised in the Chronicles report and other complaints, including many years of inadequate leadership at the zoo, according to a copy of the email obtained by the Chronicle. Peterson did not respond to a request to comment on the letters statement on zoo leadership. In response to the email, Dunn said she appreciated them sharing their views and wrote, We want to hear your concerns, suggestions and thoughts for the future. Dunn also wrote that Lipkin, senior counsel at DLA Piper who specializes in hospitality and leisure, was scheduling interviews with individuals with first-hand knowledge of the allegations, as necessary to conduct her investigation. Her charge is to conduct an unbiased investigation, without revealing the identity of her reliable sources. Earlier this year, the board also offered zoo employees a new online portal to report concerns. Dunn said that some kind of employee hotline had been in place since 2008. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Elderly nursing home residents in wheelchairs joined hundreds on a protest through Nenagh town on Saturday calling for the HSE to reverse a decision to use a newly-built nursing home for hospital patients instead. Older people in Tipperary are being punished for the failures of the HSE and government to address overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick, protesters said. The 24m nursing home will be run temporarily by a private provider offering rehabilitation for patients from UHL and other hospitals. It means an older nursing home, St Conlons, remains in use although its premises were criticized by regulator Hiqa, and other people face longer waits for a bed. St Conlons Resident Martin Hogan speaking to Aoife McCarthy at the Save Nenagh Community Nursing Unit March and protest in Nenagh,Co Tipperary on Saturday. Picture : Eamon Ward Cindy Burke, walking with three friends, said people are furious. Her mother experienced the problems with the older home, having to move from a single room to a two-bed before her death last year, she said: because her room was so small, they couldnt get a hoist in. For many this is the final straw following the closure of Nenagh Hospitals emergency department in 2009. Teresa Langton, walking with her husband Tony, said they had protested that decision also. They ignored us completely, and Ill be damned if theyll take the community hospital from the old people. Its horrible, absolutely horrible, she said. People taking part in the Save Nenagh Community Nursing Unit March and protest in Nenagh,Co Tipperary on Saturday. Picture : Eamon Ward Eamonn Donnellans 90-year-old father had expected to transfer from Nenagh Hospital to the new nursing home in March. Instead, he spent seven weeks in hospital while the family scrambled to find another nursing home. They found a bed 16km away in Borrisokane, but Eamonn said: Family is everything to him. Its sad to be far away, Nenagh is his home." He shares the anger expressed by others, saying: I understand why the government is doing it, but they cannot punish the elderly for their own mistakes. Nessa Devaney walked with her mother Phil and said: Were here because were sad. If you have a parent, a grandparent, you should be here today. We are going to need this facility. For Con Morris, the issue was also clear. We are paying for the overcrowding in Limerick, he said. Thats 100%." Protest organizer Anna Tracey is a staff member at St Conlons nursing home and Siptu shop steward. We have nearly 60 people waiting for a bed in St Conlons, which is not fit for purpose, she said. We have only 21 public beds in St Conlons so losing this new unit, with all our waiting lists, what is going to happen to those people now? People taking part in the Save Nenagh Community Nursing Unit March and protest in Nenagh,Co Tipperary on Saturday. Picture : Eamon Ward Labour TD Alan Kelly who campaigned for the new nursing home to be built addressed the protest, urging people not to accept this use of the 24m new unit. Independent councillor Seamus Morris told the crowd the issue should be central to the local elections. A message for Minister Donnelly at the Save Nenagh Community Nursing Unit March and protest in Nenagh,Co Tipperary on Saturday. Picture : Eamon Ward The protest was also supported by the Save Nenagh A&E campaign which is part of the Midwest Hospital Campaign and want to see another emergency department opened in the region. A spokesman for the HSE CHO 3 region said the tender process is on-going to find a provider and that the new unit will also take rehabilitation patients from Nenagh Hospital. The benefit of having access to rehabilitation and sub-acute care for our elderly population in North Tipperary and across the wider region cannot be underestimated, he said. Older people will avail of the right care and closer to their own homes and communities. Inpatient rehabilitation has many positive impacts, not least because it enables recovery of the older person, meaning they can live an independent life, for longer, in their own homes and reduce the overall risk of readmission to acute hospital. He reiterated this is a temporary plan, and said: It is fully intended that the staff and residents of St Conlons will move to the CNU once the required additional staff are in place. The first bomb on May 17, 1974, went off in Parnell St at 5.28pm. It had been placed in a Hillman Avenger, metallic golden olive in colour. The car had been stolen that morning in Belfast. Andy Rowan, from Cederwood Rd in North Dublin, was a teenager at the time, accompanying his father in his fathers van. Rowan is a brother of the artist Guggi. We stepped back into the van and the bomb exploded and blew the doors outwards, Rowan tells the documentary film May-17-74: Anatomy of a Massacre. I got out [of the van] and where I got out lying at my feet was one of the men who died. A newspaper, somebody got a newspaper and covered this man with it. It just got red. My dad ran to help a lady who had both her legs blown off. Some 10 people died as a result of the Parnell St bomb. The bomb on Talbot St went off at 5.30pm. The bomb car was a metallic blue Ford Escort, which had been stolen in Belfast that morning. Bernie McNally was working in ONeills shoeshop on the street on the day in question. A customer came in late and requested a pair of shoes that were not on show in the shop. Bernie went downstairs to the storeroom to get the shoes. She was down there when she heard the bomb going off in Parnell St, but she wasnt sure whether it was a bomb at the time. May McKenna who lived in a flat over the shoe shop also heard the Parnell St bomb go off and she came down to the shop. She was standing near the door at 5.30pm, and Bernie was further into the shop. A big flash came in the sky and threw us all in, Bernie tells the filmmakers. Onto the floor. I dont know what happened. We all ended up on the floor. May McKenny was killed. The later night shopper I went to get the shoes for was dying. Some 14 people lost their lives in and around Talbot St on that day, as well as an unborn child whose 20-year-old mother Colette Doherty was among the dead. A victim of the terrorist bomb explosions at Talbot St, Dublin, which killed 20 people and injured 150. Picture: Maxwell/Keystone/Getty. The bomb on South Leinster St went off at 5.32pm. It exploded in an Austin 1800 Maxi, lagoon blue in colour. The car was owned by a taxi company in Belfast. That morning it was hailed by a man who asked to be driven to the Sandy Row area of the city. Three other men were picked up along the way, the car taken and the driver held until the afternoon. The car was then driven south. Kevin OLoughlins mother Christina was one of two people who died on South Leinster St. Hours after the explosion, she hadnt come home. An uncle of mine and my father said it would be better going out searching, but I know they ended up going to the morgue and identified her there, and then they came back and told the rest of us, Kevin tells Anatomy of a Massacre. The bomb in Monaghan town centre exploded at 6.58pm. It was in a green Hilman Minx, which had been stolen that afternoon in Portadown. One theory is that this bomb was placed as a decoy to facilitate the return of the bombers to the north, although another theory suggests that the Dublin bombers stayed the night in the city. Seven people died in the Monaghan bomb. In total, 34 people lost their lives and hundreds were injured as a result of the four bombs. The bereavement and trauma that resulted reached wide and down through subsequent generations. Exacerbating it all, and elevating the tragedy to scandal, was the manner in which the crimes were investigated. There are copious amounts of evidence that a proper investigation was not undertaken. There is evidence that elements of the British security forces were complicit in effectively launching an attack on the neighbouring sovereign jurisdiction. For nearly 20 years after the bombings, there was little effort at official level to find out what happened. From a political standpoint, the dead, injured, and bereaved were treated as collateral damage in the wider scheme of things. The bombings took place two days after the Ulster Workers Strike began in earnest in the North. This was designed to object to and bring down the Sunningdale power sharing agreement. Loyalist paramilitaries were prominent in the strike, and it is widely believed to have provided the backdrop to the bombings. The public views the destruction outside the Welcome Inn, Parnell St, Dublin. Some 10 people died as a result of that bombing. Pretty soon after the event, British army intelligence identified two loyalist groups as being responsible one from Belfast, the other from mid Ulster. The latter was part of what has come to be known as the Glennane gang a notorious outfit that murdered dozens of innocent Catholics, sometimes with collusion from security forces. In the South, the Provisional IRA, rather than loyalists were considered the greater threat to stability. The Provos stated aim was to violently overthrow the southern Government and install a socialist, 32-county entity. While such a prospect seemed fanciful to many, the Government took it so seriously that sometimes it appeared as if paranoia was setting it. Four days after the bombing, then taoiseach Liam Cosgrave addressed the Dail about the tragedy. He rhetorically asked what do men of violence hope to gain. To them, I would say that the only unity they are capable of creating is the unity, in opposition, of all decent men and women to their values and methods. The men of violence he appeared to be referencing here were of the Provisional IRA. In his recently published book on the bombings and its aftermath, retired senior Garda John OBrien comments on Cosgraves reference: The taoiseachs use of the word unity may have conveyed a mindset that the IRA were involved [with the bombing], or at least vicariously. Was he thinking only of the IRA? There is not a scintilla of evidence that the Provos had anything to do with it. In any event, the criminal investigation didnt go anywhere. The forensic evidence gathered by An Garda Siochana was minimal. The force was not, in any event, yet equipped to properly deal with forensic evidence. Apart from that, they had some hearsay to go on and some eyewitness evidence from survivors at the various sites. The generally accepted theory is that the bombs were prepared north of the border and driven south. In this respect, any successful investigation would have to be a joint operation. There does not appear to have been great enthusiasm on either side to conduct a thorough investigation. By August 7, less than three months after the bombings, the Garda file on the matter was closed. The forensic evidence gathered by An Garda Siochana was minimal. Picture: Charlie Collins In an atrocity such as this, it would be expected that there would be huge political will to drive on efforts to catch the perpetrators. Yet, the opposite appears to have been the case. John OBriens book, The Great Deception, puts major emphasis on two meetings between senior figures in the respective governments. On September 11, 1974, a meeting in London was held between prime minister Harold Wilson, Mr Cosgrave, ministers, and officials from both sides. The minutes prepared by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs reference Mr Wilson talking about internment of various loyalists, including the perpetrators of the Dublin bomb outrages but it was impossible to get evidence to try them in open court. So the British had identified prime suspects, had them in custody, and had already determined it was impossible to charge them. The Irish were given this information, which could go a long way to solving the case, but did nothing about it. At a meeting in Dublin just over two months later on November 21, similar information was provided. He [the prime minister] emphasized again that the people who had bombed Dublin were now interned, and that this was the only way which they could be dealt with because the sort of evidence against them would not stand up in court. They were certain they had the right people Interestingly, this meeting occurred on the same day as the Birmingham bombings, in which the Provos killed 21 people and injured 182 others. Were the leading members of the Government distracted by the Provos showing their capacity again? Did they somewhere, perhaps subconsciously, relegate the plight of the dead and injured at home because of what they perceived as the bigger picture. John OBrien writes of the importance of what was imparted at the two meetings. This information was critical, crucial, and pertinent to the discovery of the culprits and never actioned. Garrett Fitzgerald attended both meetings in his capacity as minister for foreign affairs. Much later, he would tell an Oireachtas subcommittee that it was not the Governments remit to intervene in the activities of the police at the time in matters such as the bombings. The morning after - A Garda cordon limits access to Talbot St, where cars and commercial vehicles remain as they were at the time of the explosion. By any standards, that was an extraordinary position to take. The worst atrocity had taken place in the South since the Irish Civil War, yet senior ministers didnt want to do anything that might assist bringing the perpetrators to justice. Other ministers from the time gave similar explanations. OBrien is not convinced, declaring himself amazed at suggestions that they were concerned to operate within clear protocols of demarcation and boundaries, and they were Jesuitically avoiding getting close to Garda investigations. Nonsense! OBrien also points out that a Cabinet subcommittee on security existed at the time, consisting of the then taoiseach, then tanaiste, and ministers for defence and justice. Can anyone seriously believe that this subcommittee did not discuss the car bombings? Can we believe that they were not told of the British admissions? No minutes exist of its deliberations. This group was formed to deal specifically with matters of national security, and yet no footprint of its deliberations exist. The most plausible explanation is that the Dublin Government did not pursue the matter, because its sole focus was on the Provos. On the British, side there was no interest either because those in government suspected and may even have known that there had been collusion between the security services and the bombers. As a result, two democratic governments wantonly ignored a terrible crime that visited intergenerational trauma on dozens of innocent families in the name of expediency. Nearly 20 years after the bombing, an ITV documentary, Hidden Hand, exposed some of the serious failings around the event and its investigation. Then, in 1997, Bertie Ahern became taoiseach. He had been in Dublin on the day in question, working as an accountant in the Mater Hospital, and had gone down to the city centre when word came through. One of the first things I did when I became taoiseach was I got the file, he says in the film. I didnt know till then that the Garda file was closed on the August weekend [of 1974]. In 2000, a commission of inquiry was set up under retired judge Liam Hamilton but he had to step down because of ill health. He was replaced by his colleague Henry Barron. The Barron Commission reported in 2003. He established much of the facts that had been swirling around the scandal over the preceding decades, including the possibility of collusion and the lack of pursuit of an investigation. Crucially, he also indicted the Government of the day which, he ruled, failed to show the concern expected of it. The Barron Commission reported in 2003 and found that the Government of the day 'failed to show the concern expected of it' into the bombings. He did note that he was looking at the issue with the knowledge of 2003 rather than 1974, but he went on: The Government of the day showed little interest in the bombings. When information was given to them, suggesting that the British authorities had intelligence naming the bombers, this was not followed up. Any follow-up was limited to complaints by the minister for foreign affairs that those involved had been released from internment. By the early 2000s, the attitude in Dublin has changed completely and answers were sought. However, the British position remained steadfast and that has persisted until today. Central to that position is a refusal to hand over vital documents, which would illustrate the intelligence that was amassed about the event and, quite possibly, indicate the extent and specifics of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. The co-ordinator of Justice for the Forgotten, a group of survivors and relatives of the bereaved, Margaret Urwin, says that their hope of any closure rests on two reports. There is an investigation ongoing for several years with the police ombudsman for Northern Ireland, she says. They have received the co-operation of the gardai in relation to Dublin and Monaghan. There is Operation Denton, which is investigating former RUC people, but does not extent to the British army We have been told that will be published before the end of the year. The hope of the truth emerging at this stage, however, is remote without full co-operation from the British government. Some 50 years on from a terrible tragedy, the scandal that informed the subsequent investigation has never been fully resolved. The Great Deception Dublin and Monaghan car bombings by John OBrien is available at jaobrien.ie. May-17-74: Anatomy of a Massacre will be screened at selected cinemas from next week. Oh, for a dress with pockets. Those hidden folds of wonder that allow us to keep what is important close a personal charm, a well-sharpened pencil, a tampon, a penknife, a piece of sea glass, emergency biscuits or a crumpled receipt with a scribbled note-to-self. Turn out a womans pockets and you will see what she deems necessary to get her through the day. Heres one magnificent example from Irish writer, editor and philanthropist Anna Maria Halls 1849 novel, fittingly called Grandmammas Pockets. Grandmammas capacious pocket contained take a breath needles, keys, knives, spoons, forks, scissors, a thimble (solid and with deep indentations), a nutmeg grater, a snuffbox, spectacles, buttons, tweezers and a most perfect, tiny, hard-headed brass hammer. That is not even a complete list but the point of Halls novel was to show what a good housewife needed to go about her business efficiently. The staggering array of sundry items could be carried with you, hands-free, thanks to the wonderful tie-on pockets that were a feature of womens clothing in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. A pocket was a detachable piece of material that women of all social classes, from washer-woman to duchess, wore tied around her waist. She filled it with all kinds of everyday objects gloves, coins, love letters and, in one case, two live ducks which could be easily accessed through openings in skirts and petticoats. HISTORY HUB If you are interested in this article then no doubt you will enjoy exploring the various history collections and content in our history hub. Check it out HERE and happy reading If you ever wondered how Lucy Locket, of the famous rhyme, managed to actually lose her pocket, it was because it became untied from her waist. In real life, that was a commonplace occurrence and youll find newspaper adverts offering rewards for the return of lost or stolen pockets. Unfortunately, youd have to return to the 19th century to find a pocket deep enough to meet the modern womans average needs. Ever since designers decided that pockets ruined the line of their figure-hugging creations, women have been left with mean-spirited flaps that wouldnt even hold a credit card safely. And thats assuming those miserable faux pockets arent sewn shut, another fashion abomination that has robbed us of the instant access to a well-made pocket. Anyone who has fumbled about in a handbag will know what I mean. Its not that Im against the hold-all, but there is no denying that the arrival of the handbag has left us out of pocket in more ways than one. It would be interesting to add up how much a woman spends on handbags in a lifetime, but thats a calculation for another day. What interests me here is that the must-have accessory has allowed even encouraged the makers of womens clothes to shun pockets. If we had proper pockets, we could store our valuables safely within them and go about our daily business unencumbered, arms swinging and free. To understand the politics of pockets and, yes, pockets are political you have to go back several hundred years when the medieval purse, worn on belts, was replaced by pockets. Tie-on pockets were a feature of womens clothing in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The first pockets were sewn into mens trousers but not womens clothing. Instead, from the late 17th to 19th centuries, women wore tie-on pockets. And it wasnt long before the pocket, like so many other items of female clothing, was embroidered with a range of meaning. In Grandmammas case, quoted in The Pocket, an outstanding hidden history of womens lives by Barbara Burman and Ariane Fennetaux, this voluminous receptacle offers the key to being a good housewife. But pockets were also seen as a symbol of self-sufficiency, even proto-independence; an inviolate private space that a woman could call her own. Although, few feminine spaces are ever left intact. The tie-on pocket, worn so close to a womans skin, also led to erotic, illicit, and often vulgar associations. The Pocket is an outstanding hidden history of womens lives by Barbara Burman and Ariane Fennetaux. And yet when it went out of fashion to be replaced by the reticule or purse, women protested about the loss. Burman and Fennetaux recall how American womens rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton described the losing battle she had with her dressmaker in 1895 when she asked for pockets in her dress. Pocket-less clothes hampered womens mobility and independence, she argued. In 1901, she illustrated that point with this evocative description. She described a woman rushing to a boat with her train in one hand, her umbrella and handkerchief in the other, and her purse held in her teeth! That unfortunate spectacle could have been avoided if dressmakers had used part of her dress train to make a deep pocket, she said. The new woman of the 1900s was fighting not only for votes but for pockets. They had some success with the former when, in 1918, women in the UK over 30 with property won the right to vote. There was less success in the campaign for pockets, though. As artist Gwen Raverat so wonderfully put it in her memoir Period Piece in 1952: After writing so bitterly about the clothes of my youth, I must now be just, and admit that they had one great advantage over the clothes we wear nowadays. We had pockets. What lovely hoards I kept in them: always pencils and India-rubbers and a small sketch-book and a very large pocket-knife; beside string, nails, horse-chestnuts, lumps of sugar, bits of bread-and-butter, a pair of scissors, and many other useful objects. Sometimes even a handkerchief. For a year or two I also carried about a small book of Rembrandts etchings, for purposes of worship. Why maynt we have Pockets? Who forbids it? We have got Womans Suffrage, but why must we still always be inferior to Men? It is profoundly depressing to see that, decades on, we are still campaigning for real pockets in womens clothes. I remember punching the air at some point in 2018 when a mother pleaded with clothes manufacturers to put pockets in girls trousers. In a viral tweet, she wrote: My 3yo is SO ANGRY when she doesnt have pockets or the pockets are fake. She has THINGS TO HOLD, like rocks and Power Rangers. Shes resorted to putting stuff down her shirt. come on. pockets for girls please. There have been some advances. And thank heavens for author, pocket enthusiast and Tik Tok sensation Rosie Talbot who returned to the 18th century for inspiration and sewed very big pockets into her handmade bustle skirt.She wanted to fit in the essentials, she said: Phone, keys, a paperback, my iPad, and maybe a bottle of wine. Progress, however, has been halting and slow. Isnt it time to start a campaign for bigger, bolder pockets? Whos in? Last weekend, the Sunday Independent ran a piece by psychotherapist Jacky Grainger. She wrote of what she was subjected to after co-authoring an article about a proposed conversion therapy ban bill three years ago. Conversion therapy is a highly controversial process in which an attempt is made with teenagers who are gay or wishing to transition gender to convince them they are not gay or trans Some religious extremists believe in the practice but a government-commissioned study in this country found that it had never occurred here. Despite that, Minister for Integration Roderic OGorman pushed for legislation in the area. This followed a campaign by a vocal lobby of activists to have it banned. Grainger and her fellow authors wrote that any such bill could cause problems for therapists. They stated they might feel restricted in what they could say in therapy to young clients for fear of breaking the law. There has been an explosion in the number of teenagers over the last decade raising issues around their gender, including a firm intent to transition. Some question what is happening here, suggesting further examination is required. For a vocal lobby of activists, this amounts to denying trans people the right to exist. And in defending such a position they believe that no comment or debate in this area should be countenanced. Grainger wrote last week that she was put through hell for expressing her views. She encountered extreme reactions from being frozen out in some professional circles to vitriolic abuse on social media. Slowly, I withdrew, partly out of self-preservation and mostly from exhaustion and stress, she wrote. It got to the point of not sleeping and my mental health took a downward turn. Reputations thrashed One of her co-authors was the high-profile psychotherapist Stella OMalley. In April 2022, her reputation was thrashed in the Dail when she was described as an extremely controversial figure who shouldnt be involved in State education. Comments she made were quoted completely out of context by People Before Profits Mick Barry. For some strange reason neither the Taoiseach, who had the floor at the time, nor the Ceann Comhairle pulled Barry up on the abuse of privilege. It was as if once they heard the term transgender they ran for the hills, afraid of what could befall them. Such was the power of the activists, particularly but not exclusively online, that politicians were scared stiff of being labelled anti-trans or even far right. Donal OShea and Paul Moran, consultants who have worked in transgender care for decades, also had their bona fides questioned by activists who didnt want to hear their expert opinions. Then in June 2022, RTEs Liveline ran a couple of programmes on the subject of gender dysphoria. It included a moving account from a mature person who had transitioned late in life. However, it also had contributions from some people who question aspects of gender dysphoria. On the basis that Joe Duffy had platformed the latter views, Dublin Pride pulled out of a partnership deal with RTE. The message was clear. If you sin by questioning the absolute orthodoxy of a group of activists in this area you will be chased from the temple of decency. Such a warning in an age of social media was chilling for both politicians and professionals in the area. All of that now seems like a long time ago. Last March the result in the family and care referendums was cast by some as a reaction to the so-called woke orthodoxy, of which the above issue was one of the prominent features. In reality, reasons for the defeat of both referendums were more complex but there was a grain of truth in the notion that a chuck of the public and the body politic were fed up with being told that only certain views would be tolerated in the public square. Some people had had enough of what might be termed this intolerance of the illiberal left. Toxic times Today, one form of intolerance has been displaced by another, probably more toxic strain. Certainly in much of the body politic, and considerable sections of the electorate, there is now an intolerance for anything that can be described as woke, a term that is misused as a form of insult for identity politics. For instance, were the proposed ban on conversion therapy to be presented to the Oireachtas today, the smart money says it would not be passed into law. Far more relevant to everyday life is another piece of legislation that appears to be falling victim to the latest form of intolerance. This week it was revealed that there has been a 12% increase in the volume of hate crime and hate-related incidents reported to the gardai. Some 651 incidents were recorded last year, up from 582 in 2022. Victims ethnicity or nationality now account for the greatest percentage of incidents. Despite that, a long-awaited hate crime bill is being stalled. This State is one of the only jurisdictions in Europe not to have a proper up-to-date hate crime law to reflect that minorities are consistently targeted in either a casual or organised manner. A few years ago there was near unanimity in the Dail backing the bill. After the referendum result, Sinn Fein among others said it should be scrapped. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael make noises about ensuring it will be dealt with in this Dail, but nobody really believes them. The main parties do not want to be associated with anything that might spark resistance, both online and on the doorsteps, from the latest form of intolerance. The kernel of the problem lies in a relatively minor element of the bill concerned with hate speech. Opponents claim it will impact on free speech but there is little doubt that some of this opposition is a reaction to the intolerance of the illiberal left that was so prominent a short while ago. It is reckless and dangerous to play politics with this issue, Pavee Points Martin Collins said on Wednesday at a press conference held by the Coalition Against Hate Crimes. He is correct but it might be more accurate to state that politicians simply dont have the cojones to lead on a moral issue because of fear of those who shout loudest. Where a few years ago they were scared stiff of being labelled anti-trans or far-right, today their worst fears are to be accused of pandering to a woke agenda. Thus the plight of minorities targeted by hate is reduced to an afterthought. Just as the plight of teenagers struggling with gender identity is secondary to those who pursue a strict ideology that they claim is about protecting rights. In essence, intolerance begets intolerance whether it comes from the left or right, and those who preach it ultimately have scant regard for basic humanity irrespective of where their pulpit is located. Migration has been top of the agenda at EU level for a decade, so having to resort to fencing off parts of Dublin should never have happened. Successive governments have treated immigration, an issue that has dominated discussions in Brussels for many years, as a problem that would never get as far as our little outcrop on the periphery of the continent. Whether it was naivety or recklessness, its a logic that has now forced the current coalition into a panicked and inhumane whack-a-mole policy of waiting to see where tent encampments pop up before moving in and clearing people off. As summer finally arrives this weekend, Dubliners wont be heading down to the Grand Canal, a traditionally-favoured sunshine spot, unless they want to socialise in an elaborate maze of barriers erected after migrants sleeping in tents were moved away from the site this week. Its almost a dystopian view if you go down there; you will see the use of construction fences covering every inch. "Its almost like some sort of elaborate maze that has been constructed there, said Stephen Roche of Social Rights Ireland. The question is, is this going to be now incrementally creeping all over the city? Fencing erected this week after tents were removed at the Grand Canal. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins With around 130 migrants arriving here each day, and no real medium-term plan to house those seeking asylum, this new approach will likely be repeated many times in the weeks ahead. The real issue is that for more than 20 years, Ireland has treated asylum seekers as a short-term issue. Back in 2015, when Enda Kenny as taoiseach attended the final EU summit of the year, the key item on the agenda was the unprecedented flows of asylum seekers arriving in Europe. The meeting had come just three months after the harrowing picture of Alan Kurdi, the two-year-old found lying face-down on a beach near the Turkish resort of Bodrum, caused outcry across the world. After the meeting, EU leaders concluded that over the past months, the European Council has developed a strategy aimed at stemming the unprecedented migratory flows Europe is facing. However, implementation is insufficient and has to be speeded up. Political leaders agreed to speed up some of the actions contained in a comprehensive strategy, including implementation of relocation decisions and returns and the control of the EUs external borders. That year, a record 1.3m migrants applied for asylum in the 28 member states of the European Union, Norway, and Switzerland nearly double the previous high-water mark of roughly 700,000 that was set in 1992 after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ireland remained relatively sheltered as hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing war arrived in Europe. This country agreed to take in around 4,000 Syrian refugees a trickle, compared to the overall numbers. While the flow of asylum seekers peaked in 2015 and 2016, three years later the UN was reporting that the number of international migrants globally had reached 272m in 2019, an increase of 51m over 20 years. The 2019 report revealed that regionally, Europe hosted the largest number of international migrants, at 82m. Ireland remained relatively removed from the issue. That year, the International Protection Office received 4,781 applications for protection. While this represented an increase of 30.2%, Irelands figures still only accounted for 0.64% of the 745,255 applications made in the EU-28 countries in 2019. No one could have anticipated Russias attack on Ukraine in February 2022, which has seen more than 100,000 refugees arrive here. But this Government, taking account of the enormous stress countries such as Greece and Italy came under during 2015, should have been more aware and more prepared for such a scenario. Russias attack on Ukraine in February 2022 has resulted in more than 100,000 refugees arriving in Ireland. File picture: Markus Schreiber/AP Instead, successive coalitions continued to maintain the inadequate direct provision system that shunned people who arrived here seeking protection. In her 2020 report, Catherine Day, who chaired the advisory group on direct provision, concluded that the system, which places applicants for long periods in segregated, congregated accommodation with little privacy or scope for normal family life, was not fit for purpose. The report now feels like it was published in a completely different era, given the escalation in the number of people arriving here. We are further away than ever from abolishing direct provision, a system that was originally introduced as a temporary measure, and which over the decades has been criticised repeatedly by international and national human rights organisations, including the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC). More than two and a half years on from the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the State has yet to get to grips with a new reality of increased global migration. Temporary solutions of hotels and now tents on State land are still being utilised. A pilot of rapid-build modular units, which ended up being far from what could be considered accelerated delivery, was never extended. This week, further calls to identify State-owned land that might be suitable for tented accommodation were made, an illustration of how the Government is grappling with the issue. Taoiseach Simon Harris, aiming to re-establish Fine Gael as the party of law and order, has now taken a firm stance on encampments, stating that they will not be allowed to fester. Read More Government scrambles to identify State-owned lands to accommodate asylum seekers Taking asylum seekers off the streets is the right approach, both for local residents, the general public, and migrants themselves, who have been left sleeping in tents with no privacy or basic facilities. But what will become of areas cordoned off out of fear that yet another village will spring up? As Harris said himself, it is a challenging situation, which he inherited from generations of taoisigh who allowed asylum seekers, through the continuation of an inadequate direct provision system, to remain a separate people, living almost unnoticed in the shadows. That is until now. The Government can no longer disregard asylum seekers now that they are in plain sight and their tents are clogging up parts of the city centre. As Taoiseach, I am determined to bring a whole-of-Government approach in relation to addressing the very significant challenge this country is currently facing regarding migration and accommodation relating to that, Harris said at an event in Cork yesterday. This co-ordinated approach is one that has been lacking, with many in Government privately admitting that Integration Minister Roderic OGorman has been left to shoulder much of the burden. The Government can try to point to a spike in people arriving here from across the border in recent weeks and months, and ministers can also point to the war in Ukraine. But blaming the Rwanda plan, Russian aggression, or even Brexit is simply covering up years of inaction. The Biden administration has said that Israels use of US-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented US officials from determining that for certain in specific air strikes. The administrations findings of reasonable evidence to conclude that its ally had breached international law in its conduct of the war in Gaza, released in a summary of a report being delivered to Congress on Friday, represent the strongest such statement from Biden officials. But its caveat that it was unable immediately to link specific US weapons to individual strikes by Israeli forces in Gaza could give the administration leeway in any future decision on whether to restrict US provisions of offensive weapons to Israel. Palestinians at a hospital in Rafah mourn relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip (Ismael Abu Dayyah/AP) The administrations findings, a first-of-its-kind assessment that was compelled by President Joe Bidens fellow Democrats in Congress, come after seven months of air strikes, ground fighting and aid restrictions that have claimed the lives of nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Mr Biden has tried to walk an ever-finer line in his support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus war against Hamas. He has faced growing rancour at home and abroad over the soaring Palestinian death toll and the onset of famine, caused in large part by Israeli restrictions on the movement of food and aid into Gaza. Tensions have been heightened further in recent weeks by Mr Netanyahus pledge to expand the Israeli militarys offensive in the crowded southern city of Rafah, despite Mr Bidens adamant opposition. Mr Biden is in the closing months of a tough re-election campaign against Donald Trump. He faces demands from many Democrats that he cut the flow of offensive weapons to Israel and denunciation from Republicans who accuse him of wavering on support for Israel at its time of need. The Democratic administration took one of the first steps towards conditioning military aid to Israel in recent days when it paused a shipment of 3,500 bombs out of concern over Israels threatened offensive on Rafah, a southern city crowded with more than a million Palestinians, a senior administration official said. Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip arrive at a makeshift tent camp west of Rafah, Gaza (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) The presidential directive, agreed to in February, obligated the defence and state departments to conduct an assessment of any credible reports or allegations that such defence articles and, as appropriate, defence services, have been used in a manner not consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law. The agreement also obligated them to tell Congress whether they deemed that Israel has acted arbitrarily to deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, delivery of any US-supported humanitarian aid into Gaza for starving civilians there. Legislators and others who advocated for the review said Mr Biden and previous American leaders have followed a double standard when enforcing US laws governing how foreign militaries use US support, an accusation the Biden administration denies. They had urged the administration to make a straightforward legal determination of whether there was credible evidence that specific Israeli air strikes on schools, crowded neighbourhoods, medical workers, aid convoys and other targets, and restrictions on aid shipments into Gaza, violated the laws of war and human rights. Their opponents argued that a US finding against Israel would weaken it at a time it is battling Hamas and other Iran-backed groups. Any sharply critical findings on Israel are sure to add to pressure on Mr Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to Israels military and further heighten tensions with Mr Netanyahus hard-right government over its conduct of the war against Hamas. Any finding against Israel could also endanger Mr Bidens support in this years presidential elections from some voters who keenly support Israel. Women activists hold a silent protest with placards in Arabic, Hebrew and English calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and safety, freedom and equality for Israelis and Palestinians, outside of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem (Maya Alleruzzo/A At the time the White House agreed to the review, it was working to head off moves from Democratic legislators and independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont to start restricting shipments of weapons to Israel. Israel launched its offensive after an October 7 assault into Israel, led by Hamas, killed about 1,200 people. Two-thirds of the Palestinians killed since then have been women and children, according to local health officials. US and UN officials say Israeli restrictions on food shipments since October 7 have brought on full-fledged famine in northern Gaza. Human rights groups have long accused Israeli security forces of committing abuses against Palestinians and have accused Israeli leaders of failing to hold those responsible to account. In January, in a case brought by South Africa, the top UN court ordered Israel to do all it could to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive. Israel says it is following all US and international law, that it investigates allegations of abuse by its security forces and that its campaign in Gaza is proportional to the existential threat it says is posed by Hamas. Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a makeshift tent camp in Rafah, on the border with Egypt (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) Mr Biden in December said indiscriminate bombing was costing Israel international backing. After Israeli forces targeted and killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen in April, the Biden administration for the first time signalled it might cut military aid to Israel if it did not change its handling of the war and humanitarian aid. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush, in the 1980s and early 1990s, were the last presidents to openly hold back weapons or military financing to try to push Israel to change its actions in the region or towards Palestinians. A report to the Biden administration by an unofficial, self-formed panel including military experts, academics and former State Department officials detailed Israeli strikes on aid convoys, journalists, hospitals, schools and refugee centres and other sites. They argued that the civilian death toll in those strikes such as an October 31 strike on an apartment building reported to have killed 106 civilians was disproportionate to the blow against any military target. Sudans military and allied armed groups have staved off an attack by a paramilitary group and Arab militias on a major city in the western region of Darfur, officials and residents said on Saturday. The attack on Friday was the latest by the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, where hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering, many of whom have fled fighting elsewhere in Darfur. The RSF, which has been at war with the military for more than a year, has built forces up in recent months to wrestle control of el-Fasher, the last city that is still held by the military in the sprawling Darfur region. Sudans conflict began in April last year when soaring tensions between the leaders of the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. The situation is catastrophic. We dont know when this will end. Whats happening is senseless The conflict wrecked the country and pushed its population to the brink of famine. It killed more than 14,000 people and wounded thousands more amid reports of widespread sexual violence and other atrocities that rights groups say amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Darfur witnessed some of the worst atrocities in the war, with the RSF taking control of many cities and towns across the region. Human Rights Watch said in a report last week that RSF attacks constituted a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the regions non-Arab population. The RSF and their allies launched the attack on el-Fashers eastern side early on Friday and clashed with military forces and other armed groups defending the city, said resident Amany Mohamed. She said the military and allied forces have repelled the attack. Yesterday was a very difficult day, she said over the phone on Saturday. There were fierce clashes that lasted for six hours. Another resident and an activist, Ibtisam al-Doum, fled with her family to a school-turned-shelter on the southern side of the city during heavy fighting on Friday. She said she saw hundreds of people escaping on foot to safer areas. The situation is catastrophic. We dont know when this will end, she said, speaking from the Jiser al-Jinan shelter. Whats happening is senseless. The military-led camp and the RSF blamed each other for initiating Fridays fighting. Local media reported heavy clashes in parts of the city including its power planet. Footage on social media platforms showed army troops and allied forces celebrating and captured fighters in RSF uniform being paraded in the streets. The people of Darfur need more food, not more fighting Reports of intensifying clashes in the city are deeply alarming, Martin Griffiths, the UNs relief chief, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, and called for warning parties to de-escalate. The people of Darfur need more food, not more fighting, he said. The International Organisation for Migration said the military launched airstrikes on Saturday on the RSF positions in the northern and eastern parts of el-Fasher. It said Fridays fighting had forced about 170 households, or about 800 people, from their homes. The United Nations last month said the RSF had encircled the city and warned an attack would have devastating consequences on its 800,000 people. The RSF and allied Arab militias have launched a series of attacks on el-Fasher and its surroundings in recent weeks, taking several villages on the northern side. Such attacks resulted in horrific reports of violence, including sexual violence, children injured and killed, homes set on fire and destruction of critical civilian supplies and infrastructure, Catherine Russell, executive director of Unicef, said earlier this month. The fighting and growing fear of ethnically motivated violence has driven many families to overcrowded displacement camps such as Zamzam camp and informal gathering sites in and around el-Fasher city, she said. A bounty hunter had been arrested and charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed a Bay Area man he was attempting to apprehend. Rafe Swan/Getty Images Police in Newark said Thursday that a bounty hunter has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed a man he was attempting to apprehend. Charles Price, 49, of Foresthill (Placer County) was arrested Thursday, police said. He was suspected of shooting and killing Richard Turner, whom police identified as a 42-year-old Bay Area resident. Turner was allegedly wanted on a warrant for weapons offenses when Price attempted to apprehend him on March 19, police said. An altercation ensued on the 39000 block of Cedar Boulevard in Newark, police said, and the two men allegedly began shooting at each other. Both firearms were recovered, police said. Turners weapon was allegedly a ghost gun, an untraceable, privately assembled firearm. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Turner was shot and later died at a hospital. The Alameda County District Attorneys Office charged Price with second-degree murder, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was taken into custody by Placer County sheriffs officials and was booked into Santa Rita jail. 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. Moderates emerged from the March election with momentum but have stumbled in their attempt to hold sway in San Francisco City Hall. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle But its one thing to talk about prioritizing policy outcomes over political machinations and another thing to actually do it. Moderates have learned that the hard way over the past few weeks as messes of their own making have rapidly overshadowed their policy agenda. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Exhibit A: The revelation, reported by my colleague J.D. Morris, that Jay Cheng, executive director of Neighbors for a Better San Francisco which has funneled nearly $9 million into local races over the past four years helped connect a potential job applicant with the mayoral campaign of moderate candidate Mark Farrell. At one point, Cheng promised a political player that he would hold open a $15,000-per-month consulting position on the Farrell campaign. (Cheng also connected philanthropist and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie with a political consultant whom Lurie later hired to help run the mayoral campaign he launched five months later.) Neighbors board members said the groups lawyer determined that Chengs referral didnt cross any legal lines. But the perception of impropriety lingers and could hamper Neighbors ability to form an independent expenditure committee to back a mayoral candidate for the November election. Under state campaign finance laws, these committees can raise unlimited funds to support a candidate but only if they dont coordinate with the candidates campaign. That isnt the only scandal Neighbors has been dealing with. A nearly 14-year-old sexual assault allegation against Cheng has also resurfaced amid a citywide reckoning with how its toxic political culture enables abuse. The moderate-controlled Democratic County Central Committee rushed to create a new committee focused on sexual assault allegations. But these members many of whom Cheng helped elect didnt appear to anticipate that Cheng himself would come under the microscope for allegations that he sexually assaulted his then-girlfriend while a student at UC Irvine. Advertisement Article continues below this ad No charges were filed and Cheng denies the allegations, and although emails have surfaced in which Cheng wrote to his then-girlfriend that he tried to rape her, Cheng maintains they were written under duress and are false. (Neighbors board members recently reaffirmed their support for him to continue as executive director.) Unsurprisingly, amid all this political drama, policy has taken a backseat. TogetherSF Action, another moderate political group led by Chengs wife, Kanishka Cheng, is struggling to advance the reforms it says are crucial to improving City Hall. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Last year, TogetherSF Action withdrew a proposed ballot measure to reduce the number of city commissions after realizing it could have expanded the authority of the Board of Supervisors instead of the mayor. (The group is working on qualifying a revised version for the November ballot.) And last week, TogetherSF Action announced it would stop collecting signatures for another proposed November ballot measure to empower the mayor to unilaterally appoint and remove department heads and appoint deputy mayors. A TogetherSF Action spokesperson told me the decision was the result of polling that showed voters were hesitant about supporting the measure due to uncertainty over who would win the mayors race. The group plans to revive it in another election cycle. Fair enough theres no point in pouring millions of dollars into an initiative likely to fail. But these blunders still suggest that the group, in its eagerness to criticize San Francisco government and present itself as a savior, hasnt taken enough time to fully understand the nature of the citys challenges and potential solutions. TogetherSF Action is also suffering from an image problem. This week, Mayor London Breeds campaign announced that she is reevaluating whether to participate in a May 20 mayoral debate hosted by TogetherSF Action and another moderate group, GrowSF, amid concerns that TogetherSF Action is too closely linked to Farrell. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Kanishka Cheng used to work for both Farrell and Breed, and multiple former TogetherSF Action members now work for Farrell. Adding fuel to the fire, Mission Local reported this week that a Farrell campaign consultant in a February text message described Kanishka Cheng as helping guide the ship, raising concerns about potentially improper coordination. Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, seen as the most progressive mayoral candidate, had already declined the debate invitation, posting on X: TogetherSF is closely linked in an extremely partisan fashion to one or more other campaigns for Mayor. (Kanishka Cheng has repeatedly emphasized that her group is not working with Farrell or any other candidate, but told Mission Local that as an individual shes given guidance to all of the top mayoral campaigns other than Peskins.) And so San Francisco remains mired in an endless political soap opera in which the key players change but the underlying dynamic stays the same. Its exhausting and disappointing. San Franciscans dont care if progressives or moderates win in November the delineation between the two groups is increasingly meaningless, anyway. What we want is less politicking, less drama and more competence and public servants we dont feel icky about supporting. Advertisement Article continues below this ad 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 By Raymond Offenheiser, University of Notre Dame | (The Conversation) Amid persistent calls from the United States and other countries that Israel needs to make it easier for life-saving aid to reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military closed two of the regions few operating border crossings in Rafah, a southern Gazan city, on May 7, 2024. Responding to political pressure and alarm, Israel then reopened a different border crossing into Gaza, called Kerem Shalom, on May 8. These border crossings are crucial for aid workers and deliveries of food, fuel and other supplies, especially as commercial imports have stopped entering Gaza. The amount of aid going into Gaza each day has varied since Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and Israels subsequent invasion of Gaza. But the overall number of aid trucks flowing through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings is down 75% from before the war, according to the United Nations. Aid workers say they are unable to meet Palestinians needs in Gaza, even with the aid air drops and boat shipments that the U.S. and other countries are doing. I spent 20 years as the president of Oxfam America, an international humanitarian organization, and have overseen humanitarian responses to some of the biggest crises of the past three decades, from the war in Kosovo to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know from experience that the major aid organizations know how to run large, well-integrated operational responses to emergencies like Gaza. However, this is not happening, in part because Israel is not giving aid groups what they need to do so. The needs in Gaza After seven months of conflict, the international community has not set up the kind of well-coordinated response it would normally provide during a crisis. There are several reasons why enough aid deliveries are not quickly entering Gaza. First, Israel controls all of the border crossings into Gaza and does intensive searches of trucks for security reasons, slowing down the deliveries. Even if aid does cross into Gaza, it does not mean the goods will reach people in need. There have also been reports of people dying and being injured when trying to collect aid packages that are air-dropped, as well as Hamas and other groups intercepting aid deliveries and either hoarding the items or selling them at high prices on the black market. In early May, northern Gaza passed a critical threshold and is now entering into a full blown famine, according to the United Nations. Bombings in Gaza have destroyed water and energy systems, leaving 95% of the population without access to clean water. Theres a fairly standard playbook for how aid organizations respond to humanitarian crises like the one playing out in Gaza. In most cases, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a designated U.N. office that focuses on humanitarian affairs and is typically called OCHA, takes the lead in defining what exactly different U.N. agencies should do to help people in a crisis. The World Health Organization, World Food Program and other U.N. agencies all have their own specialties be it health, housing, hunger, education or other issues. The U.N. agencies coordinate their work, while OCHA also assigns an international nonprofit organization to help each U.N. agency share their workload with other international and local nonprofits. CBS News Video: U.N. agency: No humanitarian aid able to enter Gaza In most emergencies, there is clear coordination among international aid agencies from day one. This is a well-oiled machine with decades of experience in meeting peoples immediate needs in some of the worlds most challenging circumstances. Aid work in Gaza is different However, Gaza does not align with this typical system of aid work. In Gaza and the West Bank, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or simply UNRWA, has been the main U.N. agency that has been focused only on providing a full suite of services to Palestinians since the late 1940s, when Israel was created and many Palestinians were pushed out into what are now the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank. Over the years, UNRWAs role has evolved from meeting Palestinians basic needs for food and water, for example, to also providing health care and education. While other U.N. agencies like the World Health Organization work in Gaza, UNRWA is by far the largest aid organization there and after Hamas is the second-largest employer in Gaza. Both the Israeli and Egyptian governments have long recognized UNRWA as the main coordinator for trans-border aid shipments, especially those for other U.N. agencies and nonprofits that work with it. While the UNRWA was accustomed to operating a large humanitarian operation in Gaza before the war, the agency is not equipped or staffed to help provide housing for the more than 1.7 million people in Gaza who have had to flee their homes. Additionally, Israel and the UNRWA have a long, complicated relationship that came to a peak in March 2024, when Israel said that it would stop working with the agency altogether because of allegations which have not been independently verified that UNRWA staff participated in the Oct. 7 attacks and held hostages captive. Israel no longer working with the UNRWA creates new logistical challenges that prevent a coherent, organized humanitarian response in Gaza. This may force other U.N. agencies to suddenly take over UNRWAs long-established roles in Gaza. Border closings and other challenges Israels intermittent closing of border crossings into Gaza and continued long delays for arriving aid trucks is another crucial factor that is hampering aid delivery. Aid experts also say that the number of aid trucks entering Gaza, which in May 2024 reached an average of 180 per day through the two main crossing points combined, is inadequate to address the hunger crisis. Achieving whats actually needed, they say, would require many more trucks, an influx of aid workers, training of Palestinian medical personnel to treat people suffering from malnutrition and gastrointestinal diseases, the restoration of medical facilities and, above all, an end to the military conflict. Meanwhile, international nonprofits and their staff are facing their own safety challenges. At least 224 aid workers, most of them Palestinians, have been killed in Gaza since October 2023. Indiscriminate bombings of residential neighborhoods have forced other aid workers to move their families multiple times to find safety and shelter, making it nearly impossible for them to do their jobs. Possible reforms I think there are certain things that the U.N. could do to help make it easier for aid deliveries to reach people in Gaza. First, OCHA could step in to better coordinate all of the relevant U.N. agencies that may need to join or take on a larger role in the Gaza humanitarian crisis. I also think that the U.N. could insist that Israel help create safe and secure conditions for a well-coordinated and comprehensive U.N. response. This includes guarantees to open additional border crossings as needed, and increase the number of daily aid deliveries especially food as well as ensuring more consistent access and supplies. Professional humanitarians are prepared to sacrifice ourselves to preserve and protect the dignity of all, both Israelis and Palestinians. History has taught that the only lesson from all wars is that no one really wins and millions suffer quietly well into the future. Humanitarians job is to find and create safe spaces and save as many lives as we can, with the experience and resources at our disposal. We carry no weapons and rely entirely on respect for international humanitarian law and other rules of war to ensure our safety as we carry out this dangerous mission. But in order to carry out this work, we need access and minimally safe and secure conditions that let us do our jobs. Raymond Offenheiser, Professor of global affairs, director of the McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business, University of Notre Dame This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered herself of some ahistorical and distorted remarks about Palestine on Morning Joe, maintaining that the young people protesting the Gaza atrocities do not know history. Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticizes pro-Palestinian protests, saying that many of the young people she has spoken to don't know very much at all about the history of the Middle East." pic.twitter.com/vAoT8tdUjt PALESTINE ONLINE (@OnlinePalEng) May 10, 2024 Ms. Clintons self-serving description of the 2000 Camp David process has been debunked by many historians. In fact, her husband Bill Clinton promised in the Oslo Accords in 1993 that Israel would withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank by 1997. He then allowed Benjamin Netanyahu to sabotage that process and allowed the Israelis to double the number of squatters they sent in to the Palestinian West Bank to steal property and terrorize people. When Netanyahu went out and Ehud Barak came in, Clinton sponsored negotiations, but Barak was maddeningly vague about what he would offer and never produced a text that Yasser Arafat could sign. It is not clear why Arafat needed to sign anything more; he already signed the Oslo treaty, which should have resulted in an Israeli withdrawal that never came. Soon thereafter Barak lost to Ariel Sharon, who was as determined to sabotage any land for peace deal as Netanyahu had been, and he wrecked the whole process. Her placing of all the blame on the Palestinians is typical of inside-the-Beltway Goy Zionism, and is profoundly ahistorical. The young people cant be fooled by these glib words. They see what they see. I have also never understood the trope that Israel made generous offers to the Palestinians (it never did) but that the Palestinians rejected them, and therefore the Palestinians should be deprived of all their basic rights forever. What is this, an Original Sin doctrine? If the negotiations of 2000 fell through, why couldnt they have been picked back up in 2001? It is because the Israelis wouldnt pick them back up, and went on to steal vast swathes of private Palestinian property and to brutalize the occupied population. That is, in understanding these events, values as well as historical understanding are important, and I fear the Clintons have never had much of either. In contrast, Irish American rapper Macklemore (Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, b. 1983) dropped his single, Hinds Hall, on May 10. He is donating the proceeds to UN relief work in Gaza. It may be the most powerful anti-war statement in music since Bob Dylans protest songs in the early 1960s against the nuclear arms race between the US and the Soviet Union. And the song displays a firm knowledge of what exactly has been done in history to the Palestinians. HINDS HALL Now Available on Streaming. All Proceeds to UNRWA. https://t.co/daXnWRmBHE pic.twitter.com/J0Ft6wjuSv Macklemore (@macklemore) May 10, 2024 The reference is to Columbia Universitys Hamilton Hall, which students occupied briefly and renamed Hinds Hall. Hind Rajab was a Palestinian little girl who got into her uncles car in northern Gaza on January 29, along with her aunt and four cousins, to head south, which the Israeli military said was a safe zone (that was a lie). Under the shockingly inhumane Israeli rules of engagement, unlike anything in any civilized democracy, the car was fair game just because it was in motion out in the open. Israeli pilots and tank and artillery commanders appear to make no effort at all to avoid killing civilians, explaining why they have murdered over 40,000 people from the air (over 34,000 confirmed and thousands more under the rubble). The car was hit and everyone was killed but the five-year-old Hind. Her cousin had tried calling the Red Crescent rescuers but then she died of her wounds. Hind called them back herself, in an incredible feat for a wounded child surrounded by the corpses of her loved ones. She was asked by the operator, what about your relatives. Theyre dead, Hind replied. The call went like this: HIND RAJAB: [translated] Come take me. You will come and take me? RED CRESCENT DISPATCHER: [translated] Do you want me to come and take you? HIND RAJAB: [translated] Im so scared. Please come. Please call someone to come and take me. The Red Crescent Society, the Middle Eastern branch of the Red Cross, got permission from the Israeli military to send two rescuers. They appear, however, to have been hit by an Israeli tank shell not far from Hinds position. She spent the last four hours of her life bleeding out. There are no Hamas operatives in this story. It is a tale not just of reckless disregard for civilian life but of the deliberate targeting by the Israeli army of civilians. The Red Crescent ambulance was clearly marked and the society had gotten Israeli permission to rescue Hind, but they were murdered anyway. This is not an error. It is systematic sadism. So the student protesters at Columbia University named Hamilton Hall after Hind (rhymes with wind), who did not live to celebrate her sixth birthday. She joined some 15,000 dead Palestinian children casually wiped off the face of the earth by Israeli war criminals. The student protesters were themselves assaulted by police and arrested. Macklemores lyrics celebrate the bravery and determination of the campus demonstrators: The people, they wont leave What is threatenin about divesting and wantin peace? The problem isnt the protests, its what theyre protesting It goes against what our country is funding (Hey) Block the barricade until Palestine is free (Hey) Block the barricade until Palestine is free The first stanza implicitly contrasts the threats issued by campus administrators and municipal authorities with the peaceful demands of the students. It also highlights the hypocrisy of the US government, which proclaims itself a supporter of liberty, in keeping Palestinians stateless and unfree. The second stanza slams the role of the police in protecting property rather than persons, on behalf of a system of white supremacy. Macklemore here implicitly draws a parallel between the Black Lives Matter movement and these protests for Palestinian rights: Actors in badges protecting property And a system that was designed by white supremacy (Brrt) But the people are in the streets He goes on to slam Meta (Facebook and Instagram) for having been paid off to suppress news about Palestine. (I actually dont think Meta was paid off to do this, it is just something management wanted to do.) He then criticizes the politicians who take money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which serves Israeli interests in shaping the US government. The so-called land of the free, he complains, is beset by fear-peddling. The new generation, however, is not taking it. Nothing, not banning TikTok and not using algorithms to hide the atrocities, can now make the youths unsee what they saw. But its too late, weve seen the truth, we bear witness Seen the rubble, the buildings, the mothers and the children He insists on the frame of white supremacy for the denial to Palestinians of the right to resist being occupied and subjected to ethnic cleansing. That right is granted only depending on dollars and the color of your pigment, he says. He blasts the claim that it is antisemitic to be anti-Zionist, saying Ive seen Jewish brothers and sisters out there and ridin in Solidarity and screamin Free Palestine with them Organizin, unlearnin and finally cuttin ties with A state thats gotta rely on an apartheid system To uphold an occupyin violent He agrees with many Palestinians that the Israeli project of ethnic cleansing that began with the Nakbah or catastrophic expulsion of over half of Palestinians from their homeland in 1948 has never really ended. History been repeating for the last seventy-five The Nakba never ended, the colonizer lied (Woo) He wonders if it is really more of a challenge to law and order for students to set up tents on a campus lawn than for Israel to commit genocide, a set of war crimes in which the president of the United States is deeply entangled: Where does genocide land in your definition, huh? (Hey; hey) Destroyin every college in Gaza and every mosque Pushin everyone into Rafah and droppin bombs The blood is on your hands, Biden, we can see it all And fuck no, Im not votin for you in the fall (Woo) Undecided He also calls out his colleagues in the music industry: Yet the music industrys quiet, complicit in their platform of silence (Hey, woo) He acknowledges that if he was on a label he might well be dropped, but he says he would be fine with that. What you willin to risk? What you willin to give? What if you were in Gaza? What if those were your kids? If the West was pretendin that you didnt exist Youd want the world to stand up and the students finally did, lets get it (Woo) Macklemores historical understanding runs rings around that of Ms. Clinton. MACKLEMORE HINDS HALL Why we must maintain our focus on the agonies of Gaza and the West Bank, denouncing them and calling for an end to Israels assaults. By Ellen Cantarow and Jennifer Loewenstein | ( Commondreams.org ) All of usand we are legion across the worldmust keep our eyes on the genocide in Gaza, as well as on the vicious pogroms underway in the West Bank. A recent statement by James Elder of UNICEF reports that in Rafah, The European hospital is crammed with severely injured and dying children. A military offensive here will be catastrophic. At the same time, throughout the West Bank , mobs of fascist settlers torch homes, steal possessions including livestock, kill Palestinians and drive them off their land. All of this has been enabled by President Joseph Biden, who has sent fulsome amounts of aid to Israel to carry out its genocidal and ethnic cleansing assaults on the Palestinian people. A holocaust, underwritten by the greatest military power in the world, is underway in both occupied territories. Promoting the savageries Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said , Whoever perpetrates against the Jewish people like these evil ones have perpetrated on us, will be destroyed, they will be annihilated, and it will echo for decades and decades onwards. In another statement he declared: Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat, total and utter destruction that will erase the memory of the Amalek from under the skies. This is the fulfillment of Israels dream of inhabiting all of what was once historic Palestine, making it a land unencumbered by its indigenous Arab population. Israels ongoing efforts since 1948 to kill or expel all Palestinians from what was historic Palestine have triggered student sit-ins and demonstrations on some 120 American college campuses. Israel has become a country with powerful fascistic tendencies, headed by fanatics and demagogues catering to a population so filled with hatred of Arabs that it welcomes the genocide. In a recent article, Dead on Arrival: Israels Blowback Genocide, Ellen recalls visiting the West Bank city of Hebron in the 1980s and seeing graffiti on walls that proclaimed, Arabs to the Gas Chambers. At that time renowned Israeli public intellectual Yeshayahu Leibowitz warned that Israel was turning its soldiers into Judeonazis. Recent YouTube videos of soldiers mocking their victims bear out his prophecy. This hatred is pervasive in Israel. There are courageous exceptions like journalists Amira Hass and Gideon Levy who write for the newspaper Haaretz and the group Combatants for Peace . But all too many Israelis have supported their countrys assault on Gaza, or even wanted something worse. The student protests that for weeks have been under public scrutiny have been peaceful mass gatherings of citizens outraged at Bidens unconditional support for Israels relentless campaign in Gaza. Yet early on, riot police were summoned to Columbias campus as well as that of the City College of New York, the University of Texas-Austin, UCLA, and others, to dismantle the encampments, arrest, and sometimes beat up students and supporting faculty. Ayman Mohyeldin on MSNBC last week showed images of a mob hurling fireworks at the UCLA protesters, spraying them with pepper spray, and beating them with sticks and other weapons. In tandem with the police actions, cries of antisemitism have arisen about the protests. When interviewed in print or on television, the Jewish student activists have said unanimously that these protests are neither antisemitic nor hate-filled. Moreover, the antisemitism claims are irreconcilable with the fact that thousands of Jewish students nationwide are participating. Two leading protest organizations, Jewish Voices for Peace and If Not Now, are Jewish, proclaiming that never again may genocide take place against any people, not just Jews. Both of us writers of this article have experienced real antisemitism. Ellen remembers, in her early childhood, around 1945, her mother saying that the local grocer, a Mr. McGonigle, was glad Hitler was mopping up all the kikes. She remembers the child in her third-grade class who called her a kike. Jennifer remembers being pelted with spitballs by classmates shouting Jew! at her for making a Star of David design in her art class. Meanwhile, her father recalled being chased around the block by a neighborhood bully holding a knife saying, You killed Christ! These experiences mirror what until now has been the guiding definition of antisemitism, that of The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA): Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish and non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities. Democracy Now! Video: 12 Arrested Outside NYCs New School as First Faculty-Led Gaza Solidarity Encampment Continues Yet the campaign against alleged antisemitism has gone forward, adding criticism of Israel to the definition of the term. In Congress, the House of Representatives on May 1 passed a bill entitled The Antisemitism Awareness Act . It makes speech seemingly threatening the existence of Israel newly antisemitic, citing, for example, the cry, From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free as a call for the annihilation of the Jewish state and of the Jews in it. It makes no difference that Jewish students and people like the writers of this article have chanted that slogan, intending its meaning to be that Palestinians should be free within a redefined state. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, a longtime supporter of Israel and a Zionist, has criticized the bill: While there is much in the bill that I agree with, he said, its core provision would put a thumb on the scale in favor of one particular definition of antisemitism to the exclusion of all others to be used when the Department of Education assesses claims of antisemitism on campus. He continued that the new definition includes contemporary examples of antisemitism, adding: The problem is that these examples may include protected speech, in some contexts, particularly with respect to criticism of the State of Israel. Omer Bartov, an Israeli-American Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, described by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial museum as one of the worlds leading specialists on the subject of genocide, is the author of an article entitled, Weaponizing Language: Misuses of Holocaust Memory and the Never Again Syndrome. In a recent dialogue with the Israeli Holocaust scholar Raz Segal, the two discussed antisemitism and the perils of antisemitism and its current weaponization. In an April 30 interview on Democracy Now!, Bartov noted the peaceful nature of the University of Pennsylvania demonstration as well as the one at Brown University. Of antisemitism he said that it is a vile sentiment, its an old sentiment, it has been used for bloodshed, for violence, and for genocide. But it has also become a tool to silence speech about Israel. And that, too, has quite a history, and numerous governments under Benjamin Netanyahu have been pushing this agenda of arguing that any criticism of Israeli policy, not least, of Israeli occupation policies, is antisemitic. He added that there are Jewish students who feel threatened, for instance by the term Intifada, which literally means shaking off, as in the shaking off of the 57-year-long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. But theres nothing threatening about opposing occupation and oppression. The Antisemitism Awareness Act, which indeed weaponizes antisemitism against those protesting Israels savagery in Gaza and the cruelty of its overall occupation policies, is soon to be voted upon by the Senate. Its enactment would mark a giant step towards degrading the U.S. Constitution, in particular its protection of freedom of speech, assembly, and a free press. It also threatens the status of academia as a realm in which the free exchange of ideas can flourish. Fascism threatens American democracy embodied in a Republican Party that has long ceased to be a political party and is rather, according to Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein of The American Enterprise Institute, an insurrection. The reelection of Donald Trump would import an Israeli-style fascism embodied by Netanyahu and Smotrich, while the reelection of Joe Biden will allow these smoldering tendencies to ignite the flames of that ideology within the U.S. If the Antisemitism Awareness Act is passed by the Senate, the erosion of civil liberties long anchored in the Constitution seems all but certain. Like all forms of prejudice and ethnocentrism, antisemitism has no place in an enlightened society. But what about genocide? Is that an acceptable manifestation of a modern society? Are those denouncing protests against Israels genocidal and ethnic cleansing actions OK knowing that over 100,000 people, most of them women and children, have been killed, wounded, and maimed in indiscriminate bombing raids across the Strip since Oct. 7th? Meanwhile, all the focus on alleged antisemitism has diverted national attention from the genocide in Gaza and the barbaric settler actions in the West Bank. The official number of Gazas dead is close to 35,000 with another 8-10,000 people unaccounted for under the rubble. If 6,000 of these people were Hamas fighters , that still leaves a total of nearly 40,000 civilians dead. News of atrocities within this holocaust continues. Recently, UN Special Rapporteur of the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese stated , I am extremely alarmed by information that Dr. Adnan Albursh, a well-known surgeon at #alshifa_hospital , has died while detained by Israeli forces in the Ofer military prison. While I acquire more information, I urge the diplomatic community to intervene with CONCRETE MEASURES to protect Palestinians. No Palestinian is safe under Israels occupation today. Israel is neither a democratic nor a peace-loving society. It is an arm of US regional hegemony and a US client state that receives $3.8 billion annually in military aid and that has received over $30 billion additional military aid since October 7th. Since its founding in 1948, Israel has received $158 billion in military support , making it the greatest recipient of US military aid in history. Israel has nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons the only such power in the Middle East to have this kind of arsenal. [We] suggest the next time someone complains that little Israel is surrounded by enemies (a false statement to begin with), people consider these facts. We need look no further than Tel Aviv to determine which nation is the real destabilizing force in the region. If the Antisemitism Awareness Act passes the Senate, what will befall student protests? Will they all become acts of civil disobedience? What about the alternative press, whose independent organs have become invaluable given the corporate medias pussyfooting or downright ignoring of the Gaza holocaust and West Bank atrocities? Will it be shuttered by the federal government on the grounds of banned hate speech? Will what we write be rejected by publications that fear for their survival? As a Jewish person who stands hand-in-hand with my Palestinian brothers and sisters and works daily against anti-Arab hate, I find this weaponization of my identity particularly disgusting, states Arab-American Antidiscrimination Committee staff attorney Chris Godshall-Bennet. Criticism of Zionism and of the Israeli government is not antisemitic, and conflating the two only serves to provide cover for Israels numerous, ongoing human rights abuses and violations of international law, as well as its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Declares Palestinian poet Mohammad Al Kurd, I am asked to have patience for these kinds of debates that tell me that words are genocidal. The Israeli regime is engaging in a war of attrition against the Palestinian people and yet we are asked to talk about chants and slogans But this is about our moral obligation as human beings to reject genocide, the real genocide that is happening in real time. All people of conscience must keep this in mind. And we must maintain our focus on the agonies of Gaza and the West Bank, denouncing them and calling for an end to Israels assaults, to settler violence, and ultimately to the occupation of both the West Bank and Gaza. We must honor the student demonstrators and all who champion them as the heroes they are, cease the opportunistic abuse of the term antisemitism, and urge them to continue their protests. \ Ellen Cantarow Ellen Cantarow, a Boston-based journalist, first wrote from Israel and the West Bank in 1979. Cantarow has written on women in the labor force, social activism, and the Middle East. Her work has been published in the Village Voice, Grand Street, and Mother Jones, among other publications, and was anthologized by the South End Press. More recently, her writing has appeared at Counterpunch, ZNet, TomDispatch and Common Dreams. Jennifer Loewenstein Jennifer Loewenstein is an American activist. She is politically active in Madison, Wisconsin, and writes as a freelance journalist. In the north, the MNJTF (Multinational Joint Task Force) has, since 2015 played a major role in destroying Boko Haram and other Islamic terrorist groups in Borno State. Boko Haram translates to western education is forbidden. The group was originally inspired by the success of the Taliban in Afghanistan. MNJTF strength varies from 7,500 to 10,000 troops and maintains bases and camps near Lake Chad in northern Borno state and concentrates on hunting down and killing Islamic terrorists. MNJTF has taken the lead in containing local ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) groups, mainly ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) and blocking the Islamic terrorist efforts to once more control territory in the region. Increasing violence by Boko Haram and Islamic terrorists in neighboring countries led to the creation of the MNJTF, which consists of troops from Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Benin, and Nigeria. At first the MNJTF was used mainly inside Nigeria but by early 2017 MNJTF was spending most of its time clearing Boko Haram out of border areas, especially the Lake Chad coast. Each member country assigns some of their best troops to the MNJTF. Because of that Boko Haram has suffered heavy losses trying to deal with the MNJTF. This played a role in the 2016 Boko Haram split that turned Boko Haram operating near Lake Chad into ISWAP. MNJTF concentrated more and more on the areas around Lake Chad and has been successful at curbing ISWAP operations there. Recently the Nigerian Air Force has been using its ground attack aircraft to carry out frequent air strikes against ISWAP during April and early May. Soldiers enter an area hit by an air strike as quickly as possible to count the dead, capture the wounded and pursue the survivors and walking wounded. Badly wounded men are often carried away and would often not survive a rapid pursuit. The dead are searched to obtain identification and any useful information in the form of documents or stored on cell phones or laptop computers. The fleeing terrorists often leave behind large quantities of equipment and supplies, including motorcycles, trucks, large amounts of grain and grinders to turn the grain into flour. Documents recovered, and interrogations of captured terrorists and local civilians, sometimes reveal that a major supply base for Islamic terrorists in the region was captured. ISWAP is the sole survivor in a civil war among Islamic terrorist factions that took place in the northern Sambisa Forest. This remote and thinly populated area has long been a refuge for bandits and currently Islamic terrorists. There is still violence in the far north caused by Boko Haram and Islamic terrorists. Some battles between Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters left over a hundred dead. Most of these skirmishes were less deadly. Another new problem in the north is the nomadic Fulani, who have long skirmishes with farmers and each other over access to water and grasslands for their herds in northeastern and Central Nigeria. The Fulani are armed, mainly with AK-47 assault rifles and not much ammunition. The Fulani have learned how to use the AK-47 in single shot mode, which requires the user to quickly release the trigger after one of two shots. The nomadic Fulani have long lived frugal lives along with their cattle in the relatively dry Sahel region. The Sahel forms a transitional region between the dry Sahara Desert to the north and the humid savanna region to the south. The Sahel is a semi-desert area south of the Sahara Desert that covers much of northern Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the east coast of Africa. A growing Fulani population and the need for more cattle to support more Fulani meant the Fulani needed more grazing land and water. The only major source of water in northeastern Nigeria is the Niger River, which makes its way through several countries, including Sudan, Chad, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria. West of the Niger River, there is a lot less water and more competition between the Fulani herders and farmers occupying and working arable land south of the Sahel. Most Nigerians want a long standing compromise with the Fulani to survive but the radical Islamic terrorist minority among the Fulani were unconcerned with such un-Islamic compromises and were willing to burn the entire nation down to prove their point. The Fulani violence has been escalating for years and overall has killed five times as many Christians as Boko Haram. Thats because the majority of Nigerians the Fulani attack are Christians. With Boko Haram in the north, the Christians are a minority who are quick to leave when threatened and move to the Christian south. Boko Haram killed as many Christians as they could catch but most northern Christians were not eager to become martyrs. In Central Nigeria the Christians are defending their ancient homeland and livelihoods from invaders. In 2023 Nigerian President Tinubu backed a compromise plan between the Moslem Fulani and the Christian and Moslem farming communities south of the Sahel that the Fulani nomads were moving into. Tinubu had problems getting all factions of the Fulani to cooperate. When the Christians fight back against aggressive Fulani or Islamic terrorists, the Islamic terrorists take heavy losses and are often driven away while the more numerous Fulani remain. This is why there is this north-south religious divide in Nigeria and several other African nations. Islam had been slowly moving south in Africa for over a thousand years when the Europeans showed up and moved inland early in the 18th century. The Europeans, like the Arabs before them, had no resistance to the many local diseases, especially in areas with more rainfall. The advancing Arabs married into the local tribes and slowly developed immunity to the local diseases. Since 2020 the Islamic terrorist violence has declined while tribal violence grew to be the largest source of violent deaths in central and northern Nigeria. The Islamic terror groups were not just fighting to expand the territory they controlled. This was not about conquest but staying alive. Most of the violence could be described as banditry on a large and growing scale. By 2024 violence throughout Nigeria had become endemic, especially in the northeast, where nearly five million people were suffering from severe and growing hunger. Similar but less severe problems were felt by nearly 40 million Nigerians. The government denied the extent of the problem and did so from the capital or other major cities where the food shortages were minimal. You had to go out into the countryside to witness the full extent of the crisis. The government advised foreigners to avoid such areas because they werent safe. By 2024 the Christians in northeastern Adamawa state had rebuilt 87 churches destroyed by Boko Haram after 2014. Boko Haram came and went while the more numerous Christian communities prevailed. The problems with Boko Haram can be traced back to 2004 when Islamic violence in the northeast began as protests and escalated into larger and persistent problems. The violence became so extensive and intense that there are still millions of refugees plus substantial economic damage in northeastern Borno and Adamawa States, where it all began. There seems to be no end in sight because of the corruption among local government and tribal leaders. For a while some competent leadership in the security forces reduced the violence but that did not last. Historically local police and the national armed forces have been crippled by corrupt and inept leadership. All this when a small group in northeastern Borno State calling themselves Boko Haram sought to emulate the Taliban in Afghanistan and impose order using Islamic law and ruthless violence. This activity grew for a decade until 2014 and appeared unstoppable. It took over a year for the government to finally muster sufficient military strength to cripple but not destroy Boko Haram. This did not get much media attention outside Africa, even though in 2014 Boko Haram killed more people than ISIL did in Syria and Iraq. The main reason for Boko Haram gains in 2014 and 2015 were corruption in the army, which severely crippled effective counterterror efforts. By itself Boko Haram was too small to have much impact on a national scale but the inability to deal with this problem put a spotlight on the corruption that has hobbled all progress in Nigeria for decades. A new president, Bola Tinubu, was elected in 2023 and made considerable progress in reducing corruption. This included dealing with growing instances of tribal feuds and similar violence throughout the country. This has been especially bad down south in the Niger River Delta oil-producing region. Violence against oil facilities continues, in part because local politicians and business leaders were part of the oil theft business. Northern Moslems want more control over the federal government and the oil money. In northern and central Nigeria, you have increasing violence as nomadic Moslem herders move south and clash with largely Christian farmers over land use and water supplies. For the last few years these tribal feuds have killed more people than Boko Haram. The situation is still capable of sliding into regional civil wars, over money and political power. Corruption and ethnic/tribal/religious rivalries threaten to trigger, at worse, another civil war or at least more street violence and public anger. May 11, 2024: American allies have come to depend on the United States to get military forces anywhere on the planet in a surprisingly short time. This feat is unique to the United States and is accomplished through the use of nuclear powered aircraft carriers, cruise missile carrying nuclear submarines and prepositioned stocks of weapons sufficient to equip a combat brigade. If you need an American combat brigade on the spot and ready to fight, you use the APS (Army Prepositioned Stocks). Fly in the several thousand soldiers that use APS weapons and equipment and you have a combat brigade ready to fight or just be there to deter someone else from starting trouble. Currently the United States Army has two APS sites in Germany, for use against attacking Russians. There are also APS sites in Japan and South Korea and another carried by commercial ships berthed at Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean. The army is considering establishing another APS site in Finland or Sweden because of the growing Russian threat in the Russian northwest along the Finnish and Norwegian borders. The U.S. holds regular training exercises where troops are flown to an APS site where they take control of the equipment, carry out some field exercises lasting six or seven weeks and then return the equipment to the APS site where the weapons and equipment are checked for wear and tear. Any damage incurred by the APS equipment is repaired and all equipment returned to storage. These exercises also assure troops that the APS equipment is in good shape and if any problems are encountered, they are taken care of. Sometimes that means personnel changes for the staff that maintains the APS site. The PAS sites also require a supply of spare parts, vehicle fuel and fresh batteries that must be constantly monitored to ensure enough of everything is available to make the APS equipment work. Friday, May 10, 2024 - Marlon Wayans has revealed that his late mother, Elvira Wayans, is the reason he never got married. The 51-year-old American actor said he made a commitment to make his late mother the No. 1 woman in his life, and he stuck to it until she died in 2020 at 81. The comedian told The New York Times in an interview that he chose to never get married because he wanted to prioritize his relationship with his mother. My mothers death broke me. It shattered me into a million pieces, because that was my girl, he said. I never got married, because I never wanted my mother to be jealous of a woman. I never wanted my mother to feel second to any woman. When pressed to confirm that his mother was the reason he never got married, Marlon Wayans responded absolutely, before adding that she was one of five reasons. He said: Mom was very needy. I told my mother on her deathbed, I never got married because I always wanted you to be my No. 1 girl. Those were my last words. I said, Take that to heaven with you. Marlon Wayans shares two children, sons Kai and Shawn, with former longtime partner Angelica Zackery. In March this year, he confirmed that he had welcomed a now-1-year-old daughter. The comedians parents, Elvira and Howell, had 10 children, many of whom are entertainers. Howell Wayans died last year at 86. Marlon Wayans, who famously appeared on In Living Color and The Wayans Bros., is the youngest of his siblings. In 2020, Marlon Wayans paid tribute to his mother on what would have been her 82nd birthday. You will always be my first love happy bday woman. Baby boy misses you, he wrote. Saturday, May 11, 2024 - Keroche Heiress, Anerlisa Muigai, has been rewarded by her controversial fiance, Joe Kariuki, for being loyal after she raised money to secure his release on cash bail after his bank accounts were frozen. Kariuki upgraded her to a better and bigger ring. She flaunted the ring on her Instagram stories and captioned the photo, Got an upgrade for being that chick, Anerlisa made headlines a few days ago when she sent a message to her friends to help raise Sh 3 million to bail out her fiance. Her message was leaked by a friend to a blogger. She later took to social media to call out the fake friend who leaked the message. When you thought you had real friends then boom, a blogger sends you a screenshot from a very enclosed group. Tomorrow could be you. "At least I know I cannot count on everyone and that's okay. And yes we managed to get out without your help. We good. #God First, she wrote. Anerlisas fiance is facing criminal charges after he was linked to the fake fertilizer scandal. He was once jailed in Tanzania for defrauding a businessman millions of shillings. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Saturday, May 11, 2024 - A family in Machakos is mourning and demanding justice after their daughter was brutally murdered by unknown people. Faith Musembi, 19, was a student at Mount Kenya University in Thika. She was killed on Wednesday night and her lifeless body was discovered by her father in her rented room at Pilot Estate within Hospital Ward in Thika. The deceased ladys father, Boniface Musembi, said they received a call on Wednesday from an unknown individual demanding a ransom of Ksh.20, 000 for the release of their daughter. The caller was using the deceaseds phone. They hurriedly sent the money for the sake of their daughters life, while he left for Thika to pursue the matter. He reported the matter at Thika Police Station but the officers allegedly downplayed the matter and dismissed it as a trick game by the deceased, her friends, or her boyfriend. Dissatisfied with the services and response at the police station, he went to Mount Kenya University to seek help in finding the daughter. It was already past midnight by then, hence he spent the night at the university. On Thursday morning, Musembi went to the house where his daughter was residing but found it locked with a padlock. He called out her name severally but there was no response. He broke into the house and found her lifeless body lying in bed. He now blames police officers for laxity saying if they had acted swiftly, they would have saved his daughter from her killers. Below are photos of the slain student. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Saturday, May 11, 2024 - Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome has ordered the beefing up of Bumula MP Jack Wamboka's security after he claimed his life is in danger. Wamboka is the sponsor of the motion seeking to have Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi impeached. Making his submission Tuesday before the 11-member select committee probing the allegations against the CS, Wamboka claimed he has been encountering suspicious occurrences since the motion was approved "I have been followed by unmarked cars and unknown people; it is not easy but I will soldier on for the integrity of the Republic of Kenya," Wamboka told the Select Committee. He urged the committee members to enhance the security of members in such situations. Speaking Friday after the hearings, committee chairperson Naomi Waqo confirmed the matter has been fully addressed. Waqo said IG Koome has acceded to the request made by the committee through the clerk of the National Assembly. "I wish to update you that the clerk has since liaised with the inspector general of police and the personal security of the sponsor has been enhanced accordingly," she stated. Linturi is set to know his fate on Monday. The Kenyan DAILY POST Saturday, May 11,2024 - Controversial lawyer, Miguna Miguna, has urged President William Ruto to stop playing with the minds of Kenyans over Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithinka Linturi's impeachment case. Linturi is facing possible impeachment over the distribution of fake fertilizer to innocent farmers. Miguna, in a social media post on Saturday, termed the impeachment motion as a 'Public Relations stunt' and said the buck stops with the President who has the power to sack Linturi. The 'General' said Ruto should save Kenyans the impeachment abracadabra in parliament and fire the corrupt CS. Three things President @WilliamsRuto should have authorized or done without the ongoing PR drama at the Senate: 1. Mithika Linturis arrest and arraignment. (Oh yes, everyone knows that the docile DPP wouldnt charge him without the presidents say so). 2. Release the resignation letter Mr. Linturi signed (all CSs signed them before their appointments). 3. Fire Linturi within 2 days of the publication of the expose on the fake fertilizer scandal. Anything else is nonsensical abracadabra, which Kenyans wont buy. The buck stops with President @WilliamsRuto ! The more the silly drama is staged, the more Kenyans will be convinced that the scum originated from @StateHouseKenya!, Miguna stated. The Kenyan DAILY POST Friday, May 10, 2024 - A nine-year-old boy stabbed a 10-year-old boy to death after they got into a fight while on their way home from school in Brandfort, Free State, South Africa. South African Police Service (SAPS) Free State spokesperson, Captain Stephen Thakeng, who confirmed the incident on Friday, May 10, 2024, said the nine-year-old boy went to his house to retrieve a knife, returned and stabbed the deceased to death. It is alleged that two schoolboys, from different schools, were on their way to their respective homes on 08 May 2024 at about 16:00 when a fight reportedly broke out between them, he said. "Preliminary investigations reveal that the nine-year-old boy went to get a knife from his home nearby and returned, stabbing the 10-year-old boy. "Police were informed about the incident and upon arrival, found a 10-year-old boy still in school uniform lying inside the ambulance with a stab wound on the left side of his chest. "The paramedics pointed out a silver stainless steel knife with a black handle on the ground. "The boy was certified dead at the scene in one of the streets of Nomzamo Park, Majwemasweu, Brandfort. The mother identified the deceased as her son. Both are Grade 4 learners in different primary schools in Brandfort. An inquest has been registered and the nine-year-old child was handed over to his parents to be referred to social workers. he added. Also confirming the incident, the Free State Education MEC, Makalo Mohale, identified the deceased as Kamogelo Leepile, a learner at WSM Malotle Primary School in Brandfort. This incident happened in full view of other learners who were on their way home. Mohale said that Kamogelo Leepile was stabbed three times by the grade 4 learner from Monamodi Primary School. The Free State Education Spokesperson Howard Ndaba said the suspect who according to his mother, has complained of consistent bullying by the deceased and his brother was taken to the police station on Thursday morning 9 May. MEC Mohale has called on schools to be safe spaces for both learners and teachers. Mohale said the incident can only be described as abhorrent and travesty .' We strongly condemn any acts of learner misconduct including bullying and relentlessly appeal to parents in assisting to enforce discipline in and outside the school environment. Psycho-social services have been sent to both schools to provide counselling. Saturday, May 11, 2024 Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga was right to criticize President William Ruto and his government. This was revealed by Jubilee Party National Youth Chair Advice Mundalo, who defended the ODM leaders recent criticism of Ruto and his government, arguing that he has every right to do so. Raila is keen to be the next chairperson of the Africa Union Commission (AUC) and has been working closely with Ruto's administration to woo African presidents to support his bid. However, his recent criticism of the Kenya Kwanza government raised eyebrows, and a section of leaders allied to the president demanded that he apologise and desist from 'biting the hand that's feeding him'. Mundalo said such an argument is misplaced as Raila was still the Opposition leader and had not been elected as AUC chair yet. "Raila has every right to criticise the government because that is his work as the leader of the opposition. He will only desist from doing so the day he will become AUC chair," Mundalo. He emphasized the importance of having a strong Opposition in a democratic country, arguing it helps to strengthen good governance. "The president himself is on record asking the opposition side to do its job. At no point has he ever complained about criticism from the opposition. He is the one who proposed to have the office of the opposition leader so that the bearer can have resources to do the job properly," added the communication strategist. When asked about whether Raila's response would rattle the President to withdraw support from his AU bid, Mundalo said: The President stands tall as an icon of Democracy operates at the highest level of the country's governance and is therefore not petty to react to Opposition gimmicks. He will support Raila's bid because he has a proven history of sticking to his word without minding petty politics, he said. The Kenyan DAILY POST Saturday, May 11, 2024 - A section of residents in Uriri Constituency were up in arms against former Prime Minister Raila Odingas ODM for expelling their MP from the party. The visibly angry residents took to the streets to protest after their MP Mark Nyamita was expelled from the ODM party for working with the Kenya Kwanza regime. According to the residents, the expulsion was one-sided and unfair, as all the leaders were not called during the meeting. The residents called upon the leadership of ODM and pleaded with Raila Odinga to have talks with both leaders and reconsider their decision against Nyamita. "Expelling our MP was one-sided because there were more than five including ward representatives and MPs. "Why didn't they call all of them but only our MP? We are asking Baba and his leadership to call all the MPs (sic)," a resident said. However, the residents in unison said they were still supporters of ODM and the perception of them distancing from ODM was a misguided thought. They called on the MP to have a stand as a member of ODM, even as they called on the party's leadership to lift his expulsion. "We are in ODM as residents of Uriri. We are not leaving, that is all propaganda. Our MP should have a stand and lead us under ODM because we are not buying the idea of Nyamita's expulsion. "Let's us stop spreading that Uriri is not part of ODM," he added. The Kenyan DAILY POST Saturday, May 11, 2024 - As the fight against siphoning and the illicit trade in siphoned fuel heightens to curb the sale and distribution of adulterated fuel, the DCI raided a site off Kangundo Road yesterday and seized thousands of litres of siphoned fuel. The crackdown by the Operations Support Unit also saw a trailer, two fuel tankers, generators fitted with hosepipes, funnels, 20l jerrycans, and several tanks containing unestablished amounts of siphoned fuel confiscated. Acting on a tip-off by a concerned member of the public on a notable spillage and the impunity with which the illegal business operated just next to a supermarket and an open-air market along KCC Road, the officers moved into the compound that was concealed by a temporary iron sheet fence. But the well-organized criminal syndicate involved in the illegal operations got wind of police presence through their informers and, locking the main entrance from within, secured enough time to hole up through a panya route thus evading arrest. After preliminary investigations, detectives believe that the business operators are linked to the April 12, 2024 raid conducted behind Shell petrol station off Lunga Road in Nairobi where 41 suspects were rounded up and charged, but the five tankers found at the site later released through a court order. The DCI thanks members of the public who continue to volunteer actionable information on this illegal business, as they contribute pragmatically to the prevention of loss of lives through unfortunate cases of infernos such as the dreadful February 2 Embakasi gas explosion. Further, the DCI invites all stakeholders including licensed distributors and government agencies to multi-agency undertakings in an effort to pool forces that will break the organized criminal rings. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Friday, May 10, 2024 - The United Nations General Assembly is set to back a Palestinian bid to become a full U.N. member by recognising it as qualified to join. On Friday, May 10, the UN said it would send Palentine's application to the U.N. Security Council to "reconsider the matter favourably." The Palestinians are reviving their bid to become a full U.N. member, a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state after the United States vetoed it in the 15-member U.N. Security Council last month. The vote by the 193-member General Assembly on Friday will act as a global survey of support for the Palestinians. 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. An application to become a full U.N. member first needs to be approved by the Security Council and then the General Assembly. But while the General Assembly alone cannot grant full U.N. membership, the draft resolution being put to a vote on Friday will give the Palestinians some additional rights and privileges from September 2024 - like a seat among the U.N. members in the assembly hall but it will not be granted a vote in the body. The push by the war-torn country 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. Each licensee shall furnish the board his current address. When a practitioner is closing, selling, or relocating his practice, he shall meet the requirements. The practitioner shall retain in his records. When it came time to renew my Virginia state medical license, I noticed something troubling a complete lack of gender equality in physician licensure application language. However, my state medical board was not an anomaly. I conferred with my colleague and friend from medical school and, on our cursory review, found that 15 of 50 states (30 percent) had similar language pervading their websites and official documentation: Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wyoming. This was despite updates within the past five years from each state, while some, such as Delaware, Idaho, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia, had been updated just six months prior. Although some states proactively removed exclusionary gender language, others, such as Louisiana, implemented a footnote suggesting that masculine terms such as he/him/his should also be deemed to include the feminine. However, a footnote fails to address the underlying issue. While eliminating discriminatory language is the first step, we must also seek to fundamentally address gender inequality within these governing organizations because, at present, even the ruling bodies of these institutions are responsible for gender discrimination, with documents from the Wyoming State Board of Medicine stating that the executive director or his designee determines if a licensure interview is required. In 2019 the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted Principles for Advancing Gender Equity in Medicine as an official policy, calling on state and specialty societies to work towards eliminating gender discrimination and bias. However, there is still a long way to go. Revamping the language of licensing organizations, at a bare minimum. Gender equality is worth the effort. In our quest for change, we have written to each of the licensing boards, urging them to amend their gender language. We also invite others to join us in our pursuit of a medical community that outwardly endorses gender equality across all subspecialties and at all levels of training and leadership. By reshaping our language and that of our medical boards, we hope that this may serve as a stepping stone towards gender equality in medicine. Daniel J. Cognetti is an orthopedic surgeon. Heather Kagan is an internal medicine physician. There are frequent accusations against physicians and other health care professionals regarding their behavior and/or education: they cannot communicate, are misogynist, racist, and ageist, and are poorly educated, despite American physicians training longer than those in other developed countries. But are these complainants aiming at the most obvious, though not most significant, target? There are more pressing problems than patient-provider relationships, as serious as they are, weightier concerns that are capable of destroying an already fractured health care system. It will accomplish little if we have doctors who are wonderful communicators but lack a functional health care system within which they could function. A few years ago, a southern states Republican governor commissioned a study to determine the states cost of expanding Medicaid. The researchers determined that the program would generate millions of dollars for the state, a finding subsequently supported by implementation in other states. However, this was contrary to the governors politics, and though lives, mostly Black, would have been improved or saved, the report (though leaked) was never published, and the program was never implemented. The state also has appalling maternal-infant health statistics, especially in rural and Black locales. Having primarily Black and female providers propose rural-based pre-natal clinics and birthing centers to serve these women likely would have improved morbidity and mortality. In response, the state health department promulgated a proximity regulation of a clinic to a level III hospital for patient safety, although many of the women never resided within this vicinity prior to the proposal, and despite that accessible care would reduce the likelihood of complications necessitating this propinquity! If the agency was genuinely concerned for patient safety and the present dismal outcomes, why does it now establish an obstructive rule? More likely, as the people to be served are of color, both the rule and limitation of expanded Medicaid are racially motivated. Then too, public interest groups can be misguided in their attempts to help those they serve. In two instances, these organizations exerted pressure on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make decisions based on hope, not evidence. Two organizations for patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis lobbied the FDA to approve a medication for which preliminary research barely demonstrated a positive effect, and subsequent studies determined it was ineffective. Another specialty association touts two medications for early-stage Alzheimers dementia while neglecting to mention their ineffectiveness, limited patient eligibility, and serious side effects. Aside from creating false hope, these groups accomplished little for their membership. Increasingly hospitals, nursing homes, medical practices, etc., are not owned by those motivated by service but by individuals or organizations interested in profit. Making money in itself is not evil, as even non-profits require sufficient cash flow to maintain operations, but when service is subjugated to wealth generation, patient care suffers. Reports on private equity-owned institutions and practices consistently reveal, on average, lower quality care than in non-profit establishments: they employ fewer and less qualified staff, experience increased staff turnover, decrease necessary treatments, perform more superfluous tests and procedures, reduce equity, and compromise patient safety. Health insurers, including Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, also demonstrate more interest in profit than payment for patient services and, when necessary, reduce benefits, increase patient monthly and co-payments, delay prior authorizations and appeals, deny necessary care, and/or reduce physician/provider income. They frequently claim to be on the edge of bankruptcy but invariably trumpet quarterly profits. One company, for a recent quarter, claimed nearly $1 billion in earnings, while other companies ballyhooed recent quarterly gains in multiple $100s of millions. Conservative estimates of behaviors by insurance and private equity ownership cost the American taxpayer $400-$450 billion annually and unnecessary deaths. It is estimated, for example, that private-enterprise nursing homes alone, presently 72 percent of total facilities, account for 1,275 needless deaths yearly. Advocates for government single-payer programs have again asserted that they could be a panacea to many of our current health care problems, given a 2024 Congressional Budget Office report. These plans, it is argued, could save between $42-$743 billion, depending on the chosen model, and improve equity and outcomes. A major area of reduction could be administration. Medicare spends 2 percent, while MA plans average 13.7 percent. These programs are already threatening service reductions in response to a minimal decrease in 2025 payments from Medicare, although trimming administrative costs could easily balance this payment reduction with no loss to client services. And yet, this assumption of single-payer superiority is naive, as all countries with this system are beset with problems: increasing service costs, non-equitability, reductions in basic services, lower use of advanced drugs/techniques, low professional salaries, and rife fraud. In 2023, for example, the U.K. recovered $280.2 billion in fraudulent payments, about 50 percent of these payments. Our problem lies with our favoring a laissez-faire approach to business and only applying regulation after years of damage and public pressure. Regulatory agencies are chronically underfunded, making them unable to effectively enforce, in the present instance, existing regulations on health care insurers and for-profit ownership of health care entities. Citizens need to pressure both state and federal legislators to improve agency funding to increase enforcement. There will be significant industry opposition, and it will take time, likely years. But, if we learn from the errors of others, we will gain an improved health care system, improve equity and health, and save money. M. Bennet Broner is a medical ethicist. A total of 20 security officials from the ten countries that form the East Africa Stand by Force (EASF) completed a two weeks advanced training of trainers and mentoring course conducted in Kampala. Countries that took part of training include Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Seychelles, Comoros and Sudan. Speaking at a closing ceremony during which graduands were awarded certificates, retired Brigadier General Paul Kahuria Njema the director EASF secretariat urged participants to always embrace change, and to work as a team ready to give and receive feedback freely. Out of the prevention of conflict mechanism , we are training trainers of trainers, ensuring that we have a data base of officers who can continue mentoring He said He also commended the Ugandan government for championing peace initiatives. Uganda has always been one of the countries that strongly believe in EASF, I want go thank the Leadership. He noted EASF formerly Eastern Africa Standby Brigade (EASBRIG), is one of the five regional forces for Peace Support Operations (PSOs) of the African Standby Force, consisting of military, police and civilian components. The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces UPDF was among the East African troops sent to provide peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2023. /// The Justice Forum (JEEMA) has called upon the Ugandan government to reform its tax policies to more favorably consider the local traders over foreign investors. Swaib Kaggwa Nsereko, the media advisor for JEEMA, expressed concerns that the current tax laws disproportionately benefit international investors at the expense of local business operators. Nsereko highlighted the struggles faced by Ugandan traders under the existing tax framework, arguing that these conditions hinder their ability to conduct business effectively and contribute to the national economy. If the tax laws are implemented in a right way, traders will be able to pay it, Nsereko stated, underscoring the necessity for a more equitable approach to taxation. The advisor criticized the governments current focus on attracting foreign investment by offering substantial tax incentives, which he believes marginalize local entrepreneurs who do not receive similar benefits. The government is prioritizing investors only, yet Ugandan traders are not considered very well, as we have suggested before there several ways tax regimes can be introduced in the country but the best approach is to broaden the tax base, and we have suggested that by introducing minimum wage this will enable so many other payers who pay as they earn. Swaib Kaggwa stated 1 of 1 - - khaskhabar.com : , 11 2024 10:00 PM Chris Bishop announced: I have agreed with the Councils alternative recommendations in nine instances, relating to development around Adelaide Road, the walkable catchment around the City Centre Zone (including Hay St), character precincts, building heights and controls on the interface of the City Centre Zone and Moir and Hania Street, setbacks for 1-3 residential units, the Johnsonville train line and its walkable catchments, the Kapiti train line walkable catchments, and hydraulic neutrality as it applies to the City Centre Zone. The reasons for accepting these recommendations vary depending on the precise issue, but in general, the Councils recommendations give better effect to the National Policy Statement on Urban Development in that they provide additional capacity for housing and business land, will better achieve a well-functioning urban environment, will better provide for a competitive development market and provide for a more efficient use of land. The Council asked me to not upzone the Kilbirnie centre, as was recommended by the Hearings Panel, to allow them to undertake a plan change within one year. I have not accepted this recommendation and have instead accepted the Hearings Panel recommendation. This will apply a 10-minute walkable catchment around the Kilbirnie centre and consequently mean a High Density Residential Zone will apply. This is great. There were 10 areas where the Council and the Hearings Panel disagreed. In all 10 cases Bish has gone with the option which will be best for allowing more housing. The Council also asked me to remove ten buildings from the schedule of heritage buildings in the District Plan. However, the question of whether a building should be on the heritage schedule is an evidential one. In the original District Plan that was notified for public consultation, the Councils position was that the ten buildings in question should be on the heritage schedule. The Councils own heritage expert and planning officer supported this and provided evidence to this effect to the Hearings Panel. The Hearings Panel therefore recommended the ten buildings be listed or retained on the heritage schedule. The Council has not pointed to any evidence to support its reasons for rejecting the Hearing Panels recommendations. No expert heritage evidence was lodged by buildings owners. Given the evidence before me, and without the ability to seek further evidence, I have therefore agreed with the recommendations of the Hearings Panel in relation to the ten heritage buildings. That said, I understand the Councils position regarding the ten buildings and I have received separate correspondence from the Mayor around making it easier to delist heritage buildings. I have already asked for advice on this matter and I look forward to conversations with her and other councils regarding the issue of heritage and how it impedes development. Basically the Council made the right decisions on removing the heritage provisions, but did so without an evidential basis so Bishop cant legally go along with their decision. Instead a law change is likely allowing Councils to remove buildings from heritage listings more easily. So all in all a great outcome for more affordable housing in Wellington. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Gullible media have reported that Hamas has accepted a ceasefire deal. They have not. They rejected the proposed ceasefire deal and proposed their own one. And what are some key aspects of it: Hamas shall release three Israeli detainees on the third day of the agreement, after which Hamas shall release three other detainees every seven days, starting with women as much as possible (civilians and female soldiers). If there are fewer than 33 living Israeli detainees to be released, a number of bodies from the same categories shall be released to complete this stage. So Hamas has only agreed to release three hostages a week, and they dont even have to be alive! Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr By Casey Lartigue Jr. I will start by issuing a warning that there could be numerous heart attacks at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents Club as a result of this blog post. On Friday, May 3, North Korean refugee Kim Myeong-hee visited the Freedom Speakers International office in Seouls Mapo District for an interview with a South Korean TV crew. The crew interviewed Myeong-hee, FSI co-founder Lee Eun-koo and me. After the interviews, I returned to my desk and found a notification revealing that Myeong-hee had donated 1.3 million won ($1,000) to Freedom Speakers International (FSI). Myeong-hee was the Grand Prize winner of the FSIs 19th I am from North Korea speech contest, held on April 13 at Harvard University. She said that after winning the contest she talked it over with her husband and they decided to donate her prize money to Freedom Speakers International. Her husband stressed how precious of an opportunity it was for her to speak at Harvard University and together they agreed the donation was a good way to show their appreciation to FSI. Are there any ambulances being dispatched to the Seoul Foreign Correspondents Clubs or their various watering holes around town? Myeong-hees generous donation may shock some researchers, reporters and others who lambaste North Korean refugees for allegedly trying to monetize their trauma stories or for rejecting interview requests unless they get paid. What do they have to say about a North Korean refugee gleefully donating her prize money and many other North Korean refugees I recently blogged about who fundraise, donate, and support Freedom Speakers International in other ways? This is not a one-off relationship. I first met Myeong-hee in 2012 shortly before Lee Eun-Koo and I started what has become Freedom Speakers International. In 2017, she officially joined FSI to study English. In 2021, she joined the FSI North Korean Refugee Keynote Speakers Network. Every one of her tutors and mentors have enjoyed teaching her. Some dont want to let her go to other volunteers, but an important part of our learner-centered approach is that North Korean refugees meet a variety of volunteers so they can encounter new approaches and perspectives. Myeong-hee suffered greatly in North Korea and China and her initial adjustment to South Korea was also difficult. She expresses gratitude for even small things in life and especially appreciates those who were with her as she successfully settled down here. Every meeting with Myeong-hee is inspiring. It is the kind of relationship that drive-by researchers or reporters may not be able to understand. We respect North Korean refugees as individuals reaching their personal goals, not as one-off or occasional interview subjects. Initially when North Korean refugees joined us a few years ago it was a one-way street with them receiving services. Our first North Korean refugee ambassadors, Yeonmi Park and Cherie Yang, changed that when they also volunteered for our academic team. As our organization has grown and sought to become more stable, North Korean refugees have grown along with us. It is becoming more of a reciprocal relationship in which we are partners with them. Two days after that TV interview and generous donation by Myeong-hee, she gave a speech to Americans visiting South Korea. This year we have about 90 speaking opportunities for North Korean refugees giving speech then engaging with travelers to South Korea. Sunny, the facilitator that day, is a real pro. He has studied about North Korea, led many sessions with North Korean refugee speakers, and makes it clear he is a fan of Freedom Speakers International. He kicked off the event by introducing FSI and me. Before that, he had already given the travelers a briefing about North Korea, North Korean refugees, and FSI. His organization also shares information in advance. He was delighted when I informed him before the session that Myeong-hee had won our speech contest at Harvard University. We usually hold personal announcements or breaking news updates about North Korean refugee speakers until the end of sessions, but he couldnt wait to share the news. I then took a few minutes to introduce FSI's mission and our connection with Myeong-hee. This is my one chance to talk because after the North Korean refugee starts talking then, naturally, the visitors focus on the speaker and forget that I exist. After that, it was time for Myeonghee! She stood up and looked at me. She told me she was nervous and didnt know why. I reminded her that before she spoke at Harvard that she told me she was nervous and she had been great. I reminded her that as we all walked together to the speech contest venue on April 13th that she told me more than once she was even more nervous because she was the first speaker. This time, she was both the first and last speaker! The attendees responded, "Don't be nervous, we are not Harvard!" This isnt Harvard, theres nothing to worry about! It was a talk with a friendly group of travelers from the USA. These opportunities are low-pressure opportunities for North Korean refugees to build confidence in themselves and for attendees to hear directly from North Korean refugees in English. Myeong-hee talked about her life in North Korea, China and South Korea. The travelers were with her every step of the way. During a Q&A, Sunny interpreted Myeong-hee's responses when she wanted to give deeper answers and I added statistics, context and anecdotes. After I recited some statistics based on Myeong-hee's comments and their questions, one attendee asked me, "Were you a math major?" I told them I have been around and learned something in the last dozen years of working with North Korean refugees. As we were about to wrap up, I announced that Myeong-hee had donated her prize money after winning the speech contest. They applauded her again and expressed admiration for her. She explained in a matter of a fact way that it was the right thing to do. FSI has been with her and she is with FSI. She didnt use the phrase, but she was describing a reciprocal relationship, not a one-way giver and recipient. As a donor and fundraiser, she is helping to support the organization that partners with North Korean refugees. I have heard many North Korean refugees express pride in being able to give as a way to express gratitude to others who have helped them along the way. The session went into overtime even though we mentioned we needed to wrap up. Like Myeong-hees volunteer tutors and mentors, the audience didnt want to let her go. Finally, Myeong-hee had to go so we took a group photo. After she left, they were then asking me questions. I said I could stay longer to answer as many questions as they had. I am usually the last person standing during a Q&A. That turned into 40 minutes of them shooting questions at me before they finally had to go. One of the attendees told me that I am "an unusual person." Another told me that I am a hero for doing this work. They departed thanking FSI for existing and bringing out North Korean refugee stories into the world. One thing they recognized is that we were empowering North Korean refugees who otherwise would not tell their stories. I told them it is only possible because of support from donors, fundraisers, volunteers, and, of course, North Korean refugees like Myeong-hee. In three days, we had two special meetings with Myeong-hee and she donated her prize money. When researchers and others complain to me about not being able to find enough North Korean refugees or that North Korean refugees are trying to monetize their trauma stories, I cant relate to their problems and complaints. We are practitioners who operate in the realm of practicality and reality, not in the research realm of speculation, supposition, and conjecture. That may be why, on the one hand, North Korean refugees seek us out, continue returning to us, refer other North Korean refugees to us, and even try to find ways to support us. We have had more than 500 North Korean refugees study English, public speaking, and career development with us after they found us. On the other hand, I dont recall any North Korean refugees asking us to introduce them to a reporter or researcher. In the 12 years that I have been doing this work, I have had many reporters and researchers ask me to introduce them to North Korean refugees. Few North Koreans have declined when we shared interview requests by researchers and reporters and they must recognize the one-way relationship. Many only agree to interview requests after confirming it will be helpful for FSI. We make it clear we dont care and that we are just sharing the requests. As it has been said, it is insanity to do the same thing over and over again and to expect different results. Arent the researchers and reporters who must track down and allegedly bribe North Korean refugees the least bit curious, beyond their usual knee-jerk complaints, about why North Korean refugees look for us and not for them? They complain that North Korean refugees ask for payments from them, but could there be a deeper reason that they donate to and fundraise for our organization and even reject payments? As researchers and reporters marvel at yet another North Korean making a generous donation to us, someone might want to do well-being and welfare checks at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents Club and cafes where researchers and freelance reporters write in case many of them have gone into cardiac arrest. Casey Lartigue Jr. (CJL@alumni.harvard.edu) is the co-founder of Freedom Speakers International with Lee Eun-koo and co-author with Han Song-mi of her memoir "Greenlight to Freedom: A North Korean Daughters Search for Her Mother and Herself. During his latest show appearance, SEVENTEEN member Seungkwan revealed just how many contacts he has saved on his phone, and it has everyone shocked! On May 10, Girl's Day member Hyeri uploaded the 13th episode of her YouTube web show, "Hyell's Club." On the show, she prepares cocktails and bar chow for guests while they chat comfortably. For this episode, Seungkwan of SEVENTEEN was the guest. During the show, Hyeri mentioned that Seungkwan is an "inssah." Also known as an insider, this is someone who is extroverted, who knows all the trends, and is always picking up new things. Inssah also refers to someone who is popular or is a social butterfly. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: SEVENTEEN Woozi Reveals Why Some Countries Are Miss Out in Every Performances Hyeri then asked Seungkwan how many contacts he has on his phone, noting that although she is considered an inssah, she doesn't have that many contacts on her phone. She noted this is a question his fans, the CARATs, wanted to ask. Both the idols then decided to check their phones to see how many contacts they had. Seungkwan was the first to reply, and his response shocked everyone on set. Seungkwan has 802 contacts on his phone! YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN: SEVENTEEN Mingyu Leaves CARATs' Blown Away By His Sultry, Topless Look: 'Will I Ever Get Over?' The number shocked Hyeri, who released a sound of shock and covered her mouth. Seungkwan, on the other hand, appeared relaxed, even asking, "Is that a lot?" However, he admitted that there are many contacts that he doesn't keep in touch with. 802 ? .. pic.twitter.com/fdSIzI0sls (@BO0S2_) May 10, 2024 Before revealing her contact count to others, Hyeri showed the number to Seungkwan. The SEVENTEEN member appeared shocked and asked Hyeri if she was the type to cut people off without hesitation. Hyeri then revealed she has 214 contacts on her phone. Soon after the episode was uploaded, a post titled "Boo Seungkwan who has 802 people in his contact list" was uploaded to the popular South Korean online community forum Instiz. CHECK THIS OUT: IN THE LOOP: NewJeans Hyein's Hiatus, TWICE Dahyun's Acting Debut, SEVENTEEN's 'MAESTRO,' More Of K-pop's Hottest! Korean netizens noted that due to his line of work, it makes sense why he has so many contacts. In his line of work, he needs to keep in touch with producers, editors, composers, and more to ensure that he gets more projects. Many think this is one of the ways he ensures a long-lasting career. Still, many were surprised at the large number. Others claimed that they only had a couple of contacts, joking that Seungkwan had ten times more people on his phone than them. Some comments read, "Seriously, he is a total inssah. I am such an assah (outsider) that if I deleted my family members, I only have one contact." "He is a real inssah... I only have 100 people." "I thought 'That's a f*cking lot' but then I checked my phone and saw I had 500 contacts. I need to delete those useless contacts." "It's because Seungkwan's job is all about meeting new people. Producers, composers, editors... Seungkwan needs to keep in contact with them if he wants a long-lasting career." "Wow, 800... I have 80, so Seungkwan has ten times more than me. Impressive." What do you think of the situation? Tell us in the comments below! FOR YOU: SEVENTEEN DK Receives 'Terrifying' Call From Sasaeng: 'Isn't This A Crime?' KpopStarz Owns This Written by Alexa Lopez In a recent announcement, K-pop sensation NewJeans has revealed their innovative Japanese debut concept centered around "street fashion," marking a significant step in their global expansion strategy. According to their agency ADOR on May 11th, NewJeans, comprising members Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein, has joined forces with Hiroshi Fujiwara, a legendary figure in Japanese music production and a pioneer in street fashion trends. Known as the godfather of Japanese street fashion, Fujiwara brings his iconic style and expertise to the group's debut activities. Hiroshi Fujiwara's collaboration with NewJeans resulted in a range of exclusive items, including T-shirts, bandanas, hats, bags, and more, collectively known as "NewJeans X Hiroshi Fujiwara" items. IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS: NewJeans Facing Backlash Over Drastic Weight Gain: 'They should slim down...' These creations feature a fusion of graphics, including the group's name, individual member names, Hiroshi Fujiwara's signature, and handwritten Hangul by the designer himself, showcasing a blend of Korean and Japanese cultural elements. NewJeans' Japanese debut single titled "Supernatural" is set to drop on June 21st, promising a captivating blend of music and fashion that resonates with international audiences. Despite being a Japanese release, the single will be available simultaneously in Korea and globally, highlighting the group's cross-border appeal. Additionally, NewJeans is gearing up for an exciting showcase at the prestigious Tokyo Dome on June 26th and 27th, further solidifying their presence in the Japanese music scene. Meanwhile, the Dispatch article reveals that CEO Min Hee Jin allegedly "stole" members from Source Music to create the girl group NewJeans under her own label, ADOR. Dispatch revealed that Min Hee Jin sneakily "stole" the current members of NewJeans from Source Music to create her own girl group. #NewJeans #SourceMusic #ADOR https://t.co/u07r7f3nxV KpopStarz (@kpopstarz) April 25, 2024 Despite her role in shaping the group, Source Music CEO So Sungjin is credited with nurturing the members over three years. Min Hee Jin denies trying to seize management rights of ADOR but her past remarks contradict her actions. The success of NewJeans is attributed to both Min Hee Jin and the support of HYBE, but if the group failed, HYBE would bear the financial burden. YOU MIGHT BE ALSO INTERESTED IN: Why NewJeans' 'Zero' the Most Controversial Coca-Cola Song Ever? Find Out Why Everyone's Talking About It! For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz. KpopStarz owns this article. Written by Cassidy Jones. Xi concludes Europe trip with clear message on fortifying cooperation Xinhua) 08:08, May 11, 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) Over the course of six days, Xi's travels took him through France, Serbia, and Hungary, where he consistently underscored the significance of the China-Europe relationship for fostering global peace and prosperity. BUDAPEST, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday wrapped up his first trip to Europe in nearly five years by affirming to European leaders that China remains a committed partner and is ready to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides. Over the course of six days, Xi's travels took him through France, Serbia, and Hungary, where he consistently underscored the significance of the China-Europe relationship for fostering global peace and prosperity. The message, delivered amidst rising protectionism and mounting geopolitical tensions, symbolized China's latest endeavor to promote stability and cooperation on the global stage. In a trilateral meeting on Monday in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Xi said that the China-European Union (EU) cooperation is in essence complementary and mutually beneficial and China always views its relations with the EU from a strategic and long-term perspective. This relationship does not target any third party, nor should it be dependent on or dictated by any third party, Xi said. Macron, a prominent proponent of Europe's strategic autonomy, stressed that France and the EU need to strengthen cooperation with China, as this bears on the future of Europe. France hopes to enhance dialogue and cooperation with China, and strengthen mutual trust and friendship between France and China and also between the EU and China, he said. Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a China-France-EU trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) France has for long advocated strategic autonomy for Europe, said Eric Alauzet, president of the France-China Friendship Group of the French National Assembly. "That means not to fall back after the East-West confrontation ... so this multipolarity, this multipolar, multilateral world is what China and France want in common," said Alauzet. Later in the day when holding talks with Macron, Xi urged both sides to uphold independence and jointly prevent a new Cold War or bloc confrontation. On many occasions during his stay in France, Xi referred to the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and France 60 years ago, a milestone event in China-Western relations. This significant historic event, dubbed a "diplomatic nuclear explosion" by Western media then, stirred public discourse in the West and had a tremendous impact on the international landscape. It happened eight years prior to former U.S. President Richard Nixon's groundbreaking 1972 trip to China. At that time, then French leader General Charles de Gaulle reportedly noted that France needed to listen to the voice of China directly and vice versa, and that those governments still holding a wait-and-see attitude would sooner or later follow the step of France. In a signed article published Sunday in French media Le Figaro, Xi said that "history is our best teacher" as the world now "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," Xi wrote. "There are so many crises that great countries like China and France must work together, and the work must be done in a spirit of multilateralism," said former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius. Given the gravity of major global challenges such as ending conflicts, enhancing economic development, addressing climate change and significant health crises, an effective resolution necessitates cooperation among all nations, he said. Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Belgrade for a state visit to Serbia at the invitation of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, May 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen) In his visits to Serbia and Hungary, respectively, Xi and leaders of the two Central and Eastern European (CEE) nations announced decisions to elevate bilateral ties. This enhancement coincided with China's robust, intensifying investment flows in the region. From January to March 2024 alone, China's investment in CEE surged by 36.35 percent compared to the previous year, reaching about 450 million U.S. dollars. As of March 2024, the cumulative total of Chinese investment in the CEE region soared to 5.2 billion dollars. Take Hungary as an example. In 2023, Hungary was able to attract a total of 13 billion euros (about 13.86 billion dollars) in foreign direct investment, of which about 8 billion euros (about 8.53 billion dollars) were from China, said Hungarian Minister for National Economy Marton Nagy in an interview with Xinhua. The Hungarian side is looking forward to further cooperating with China in the fields of foreign trade, capital investment, infrastructure, logistics, artificial intelligence, and new energy, among others, he said. That is also the case for Serbia. "During the past two years, China has emerged as the largest foreign direct investor in Serbia, bringing numerous benefits to the country," said Jelena Grubor Stefanovic, director of representative office of Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China. "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," she said. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban jointly meet the press after their talks in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) Chen Fengying, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that China's enhanced cooperation with Serbia and Hungary has spurred local economic growth and uplifted living standards. This success is a compelling example of the tangible benefits obtained from forging partnerships with China and progressing collectively, said Chen. Such an achievement has also exerted a noteworthy inspirational and motivational influence on other CEE countries, she added. Xi's visit to Europe came as Washington is maneuvering to rally its allies in the West to "de-risk" and "decouple" from China, and slow down the country's high-tech progress, protectionist tactics rejected by European leaders. Speaking during the China-France-EU trilateral meeting, Macron reaffirmed that the EU refuses the logic of decoupling. The EU welcomes investment and cooperation by Chinese companies in Europe, said Macron during the China-France-EU trilateral meeting, noting that the EU hopes to step up cooperation with China and jointly safeguard the security and stability of value chains and supply chains in Europe. "I believe that the economic cooperation between Europe and China is something very important. China is strong, and that is why Europe has to develop itself and be strong also," Marc-Antoine Jamet, secretary general of the LVMH group, told Xinhua on Monday before the closing ceremony of the Sixth Meeting of the China-France Business Council. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing) TIMES STAFF WRITER KTLA-TV Channel 5 morning news anchor Barbara Beck quit Wednesday in an apparent dispute with producers and station management. Beck, one of the original members of the morning news team that is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary, last appeared at the anchor desk Monday. Station executives declined to comment on the reason for Becks departure, and Beck could not be reached. However, station sources said tensions had been brewing for months between Beck and morning news executive producer Marcia Brandwynne over the direction and management of the morning news. Advertisement Carlos Amezcua, Becks co-anchor, said he was stunned and devastated by her resignation. Amezcua said the news team would discuss Becks departure during this mornings newscast. KTLA is owned by Tribune Co., which also owns the Los Angeles Times. Marjorie Taylor Greene is getting continually railed on by her fellow Republicans after her stunt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson failed miserably as Democrats sided with him. Other House Republicans have already called her Moscow Marjorie over her vehement opposition to the Ukraine aid bill, while others made fun of her Jewish space lasers conspiracy theories and her often anti-semitic rhetoric. "You can be productive, or you can be destructive, Ms. Taylor Greene is choosing destructive," South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson told reporters on the Capitol steps regarding Greene. "Most of us by the time we turn 12 years old figured out the tantrums don't actually work, but apparently not everybody in Congress got the memo." "Moscow Marjorie has clearly gone off the deep end, maybe the result of a space laser," added New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, joining the many others piling on the infamous and controversial Georgia congresswoman. "But this type of tantrum is absolutely unacceptable, and it does nothing to further the cause of the conservative movement," Lawler added. "The only people who have stymied our ability to govern are the very people that have pulled these types of stunts throughout the course of this Congress to undermine the House Republican majority." Matt Gaetz, who butted heads with Greene earlier, also dunked on Greene. However, many pointed out his hypocrisy as he is the one behind the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which previously threw the entire US government into chaos. "I voted to table the motion for one principal reason - with a two-seat majority in an election year I believe 2-3 Republicans could be susceptible to bribes to resign or even vote for a Democrat," he said on X, though he was making excuses for not going with his far-right allies. "Democrats would then instantly deem Trump an 'insurrectionist' to bar him from the ballot. House Republicans must do better. We must be led better. We must return Trump to the White House." Marjorie Taylor Greene Backed Down But Remains Defiant Despite Other Republicans' Criticisms Although it is her Republican colleagues who are slamming her for the chaos she caused, Greene is standing defiant but slammed Democrats instead, according to BBC. READ MORE: Republican Infighting Continues as House GOP Blames Marjorie Taylor Greene for Lack of Border Wins, Call Her an 'Idiot' "Democrats voted to save Johnson because they knew it was impossible to take control of the House," she said on X. "They want to keep Johnson because he's given them everything they want... The good news this morning is now the American people have been shown the truth." Marjorie Taylor Greene Slams Fox News, Say They Want to 'Murder Tucker Carlson' Greene appeared on Steve Bannon's podcast, where they took aim at Fox News, which openly criticized Greene for her Mike Johnson ouster attempt. "You got to remember Fox News that literally fired Tucker Carlson, the number one cable TV news host in the nation," she told Bannon. "Tucker, who was basically the voice of everyone, that's the Fox News that refused to cover me calling the motion to vacate." "Fox News wants to control what Republican voters think and the control and the information that they give you is the establishment Republican Party view, the Bush view, the Cheney view, the same view that led us into the Iraq War claiming that there was weapons of mass destruction," she added. "...And that's why Fox News attacks Steve Bannon. That's why Fox News attacks Charlie Kirk, and that's why Fox News would love to murder Tucker Carlson, and that's the reality. And that's why Fox News is losing viewers because I think you guys are smart." READ MORE: Kevin McCarthy Says He Is Not Speaker of the House Anymore Because Matt Gaetz 'Slept With a 17-Year-Old' This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: 'Moscow Marjorie Taylor Greene!' Jeffries mocks push to oust Speaker Johnson - MSNBC Peru authorities have detained President Dina Boluarte's brother and lawyer in connection with alleged influence peddling, intensifying scrutiny on the country's leader, who is already under investigation over the Rolex scandal after receiving watches and jewelry. The police apprehended President Boluarte's brother, Nicanor Boluarte, and her lawyer, Mateo Castaneda, on Friday as part of an inquiry into suspected influence peddling. This investigation targets Nicanor Boluarte for purportedly leading a criminal network that manipulates the appointment of individuals to high-ranking positions of authority, Reuters reports. Authorities conducted searches at more than 20 locations, including Nicanor Boluarte's residence in Lima, where they allege he orchestrated the placement of individuals in influential roles in exchange for financial gain. Simultaneously, the president's lawyer, Mateo Castaneda, faced a raid on his home as part of the investigation into the alleged improper acquisition of luxury items by President Boluarte. The Peru Justice Department authorized the detention of Nicanor Boluarte and others for ten days, citing suspicions of criminal organization and influence peddling. President Boluarte, speaking at a democracy forum, expressed confidence in the justice system but made no explicit mention of the detentions. Nicanor Boluarte, upon his transfer to a judicial unit, adamantly denied the allegations, asserting his innocence to reporters. He faces charges related to conspiracy and influence peddling, accused of leveraging his connections to secure appointments in exchange for monetary benefits. Castaneda, the president's lawyer, is accused of obstructing the investigation into Nicanor Boluarte's activities. READ NEXT: Peruvian President Boluarte Grilled Over Rolex Scandal Political Turmoil in Peru Peru has faced political instability in recent years, with six different presidents in as many years, accompanied by frequent corruption investigations and impeachment proceedings. President Dina Boluarte succeeded Pedro Castillo in December 2022, who himself was removed from office and detained on charges of corruption and rebellion. The arrests were sanctioned by a judge, as per the warrant acquired by The Associated Press. The document alleges that Nicanor Boluarte orchestrated the appointment of government officials in exchange for financial incentives and support for registering a new political party. Continued Pressure on Boluarte President Boluarte's approval ratings remain low, around 10 percent, as she faces mounting challenges during her tenure. Her administration has been marred by controversies, including allegations of corruption and suppression of dissent. Prior to the recent detentions, President Boluarte faced scrutiny over her possession of the Rolex scandal and high-end jewelry, which she claimed were loans from a friend. The ongoing investigation aims to ascertain the legality of her acquisition and ownership of these luxury items, CTV News noted. Attorney General Juan Villena announced on social media that he is assessing the decision to dissolve a police unit that was assisting in the investigation into President Boluarte's inner circle. Interior Minister Walter Ortiz authorized the disbandment of this unit, prompting further questions about the government's handling of corruption probes. The detention of President Dina Boluarte's brother and lawyer underscores the deepening crisis of governance in Peru, marked by allegations of corruption and abuse of power. As investigations continue, the country grapples with a fragile political landscape, plagued by frequent leadership changes and persistent allegations of misconduct at the highest levels of government. READ MORE: Haiti Transition Council Reverses PM Nomination Amid Gang Attacks This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Ross Key WATCH: Peru police raid President Boluarte's home in luxury watch investigation - From Global News MBABANE The landscape has changed drastically for murder convicts such that they now look forward to their sentencing with ominous trepidation. This is because the sentencing trend at the High Court is now such that murder convicts get nothing less than 40 years, unless the circumstances suggest otherwise. This means that the times of murder convicts getting away with murder are a thing of the past. Judges usually cite a judgment of the Supreme Court in which Petros Khumalo, who had been sentenced to 23 years by the High Court and appealed the sentenced and it was revised to 40 years imprisonment by the apex court. Guidance In one of the judgments, Judge Bonginkhosi Magagula said he took guidance from the Supreme Courts decision in Rex vs Petros Khumalo, which has set a new precedent regarding the range of sentences. The judge went on to sentence Colani Ntjwele Kunene to 40 years imprisonment for murder. The latest convict to be sentenced to 40 years imprisonment is Mfanasibili Msimango, who was found guilty of killing his brother, Vusi, at their parental home situated at Lugongolweni in the Lubombo Region, over missing dagga. Mfanasibili suspected that Vusi had stolen his dagga, which was supposedly in a bedroom in the main house of the homestead. Judge Nkosinathi Maseko sentenced Mfanasibili to 40 years behind bars and backdated the sentence to June 8, 2023. Judge Maseko said there was no doubt that Mfanasibili (44) had imbibed alcoholic beverages between 11pm and 1am on February 16, 2022. The court made a finding of legal intention to kill his brother, it was undisputable, according to the court, that he had consumed a lot of alcoholic drinks leading to the murder. Judge Maseko said extenuating circumstances, therefore, existed, wowing to his consumption of liquor. Judge Maseko said he found that there were compelling circumstances that called for a sentence that fits the offence as well the offender. He said the court considered the prevalence of murder cases in the country and the statistics were alarmingly high and unless the courts issue deterrent sentences, people will continue to perpetuate murders without any worry or regard of repercussions. Judge Maseko said the courts have a duty to protect members of society from people who easily and often times, without provocation, commit murders. Prohibited In this case, Judge Maseko said Mfanasibili was the elder brother, and even if the family dealt in dagga, which is prohibited in the kingdom, he had no right to assault his brother with a crowbar and in the manner he did. According to Judge Maseko, the excuse of dealing in dagga by Mfanasibili did not amount to provocation because the whole transaction was, in law, illegal. The judge also stated that the fact that Mfanasibili killed his brother because he had stolen his dagga in a five-litre container was arrogant and the court rejected it with the contempt it deserves. People like the accused who deal in dagga, which they know very well to be prohibited in this country, who go about killing other people whom they suspect of having stolen their dagga or because of competition or territory rivalry, must know that if they are convicted of killing other people in those unlawful circumstances, will face the full might of the law and if convicted must brace themselves for deterrent imprisonment sentences for their offences, said Judge Maseko The judge also told Mfanasibili that his actions had destroyed his family. Your unlawful actions have destroyed your family and in particular, your mother whom you know is very sickly. Your mother and brother have lost two family members in yourself because of the lengthy term of imprisonment as well as your deceased brother, Vusi, said Judge Maseko when sentencing Mfanasibili. In the Supreme Court judgment, where court quashed Khumalos High Court sentence of 23 years, which was issued by the High Court on June 22, 2021, and substituted it with life imprisonment of 40 years, the sentence was not commensurate with the serious nature of the offence, the dimension of gender-based violence and his conduct before, during and after the evil act. Confessed Khumalo killed his wife, Gcinile Mhlanga, with an axe and chopped off her head. He confessed to the murder. Khumalo is said to have accused his wife of being a serial adulteress and he had known her to be unfaithful even prior to marrying her. He stated in the confession that he and his wife attended a Jericho church vigil overnight and returned in the morning to sleep. Later on that day, I engaged her on the question of her extra-marital affairs and we quarrelled. She lay on top of the bed. I then got angry and took an axe and chopped her on the neck as she was fast asleep. Our children were also sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the same house. It was in broad day light. I then took a pick and a shovel and went a few steps from my home fence where I dug a pit. I went back to the house, collected her body and buried it in the pit and covered it. The time was around 3pm, the confession read. Supreme Court Judge Magriet Van Der Walt stated that there was no hesitation and the degree of violence, which Khumalo meted on his wife, was egregious, excessive and exhibited horrifying aggression. The Mexico national elections, the largest in the country yet, are heating up as a new poll has shown that 2nd-ranked Xochitl Galvez is gaining on presidential frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum, who has maintained a massive lead much of the time, heading into the election. Mexican polling firm Parametria's survey between April 25-29 showed Sheinbaum's MORENA having 44% of support, ahead of a right-left alliance of three parties that have Galvez as their candidate, with 31%. However, this is a big deal as this showed that MORENA is waning in support but Galvez's 3-party alliance is gaining, as Parametria's previous poll showed Sheinbaum with 49% support and Galvez with only 29%. Despite this, the MORENA candidate is still in a comfortable lead over Galvez. Meanwhile, third-ranked candidate, Jorge Alvarez Maynez of the opposition center-left Citizens' Movement (MC), also found his poll numbers increasing to 8%. This is a three-point increase from the previous survey held last February, according to Reuters. The face-to-face poll asked 800 people and had a 3.5% margin of error. Aside from the top three candidates, 17% of respondents offered no preference. Despite the 5-point slide, the poll showed that the support for the ruling Morena Party is still very much solid despite the criticisms toward President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a close ally and mentor to Claudia Sheinbaum, who, like AMLO, also previously served as the mayor of Mexico City. Mexican University Holds Mock Mexico Election Simulation, With Claudia Sheinbaum Beating Xochitl Galvez Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM) in Mexico City held a simulation of the upcoming Mexico presidential election in a mock poll where 255,707 students took part. The result was a landslide victory for Sheinbaum, who many believe would also win the youth vote. READ MORE: Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Claims Drug Cartels Are 'Respectful' and 'Respect the Citizenry' Sheinbaum received over half of the total number of votes at 162,444, which is around 63.5%. Surprisingly, Jorge Alvarez Maynez took 59,128 votes in second place, with him having 23.1% of the votes. Xochitl Galvez, who was the consistent 2nd placer in other polls, only took 21,845 votes, which is around 8.5%. UAM Spokesperson Pamela Guevara told La Jornada Maya that the mock election represented the voice of its students and must be respected, adding that it was not made to be liked or not or provoke the reaction of any party. It was only to demonstrate the level of participation within the university. Mexico Youth Could Have a Big Impact on the Presidential Election The hundreds of thousands of students making their voices heard at UAM are just in one university. Imagine what might happen on a national scale, and that may be the impact of the youth vote in the upcoming June 2 election. AS/COA noted that there are many issues that the Mexican youth are worried about, and politicians running for president must tackle these issues. These include the crime rate, the lack of job opportunities, and low salaries. Young Mexicans are mostly unenthusiastic about the election and many are mistrusting of politicians. READ MORE: Mexico Elections Primer: Who Are the Top 3 Candidates Vying to Replace AMLO? This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Mexico presidential debate: Candidates face off ahead of elections in June - Al Jazeera English After Donald Trump's lawyers constantly complained about their client's gag order, Judge Juan Merchan has ordered star witness Michael Cohen to keep quiet ahead of his hush money trial testimony, which is reportedly scheduled for Monday. Cohen, who previously served as Trump's personal lawyer and fixer, had been taunting his former friend with posts and jabs. However, Judge Mechan has ordered prosecutors to tell Cohen to stop doing this. The order comes as Trump cannot attack Cohen over these posts because of the gag order. According to the Associated Press, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass confirmed the judge's order, adding that the prosecution could rest its case by the end of the week. Prosecutors have been building up their case ahead of Michael Cohen's testimony on Monday. Cohen was responsible for arranging the $130,000 payout to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet regarding her affair with Donald Trump while his wife, Melania Trump, was recovering from giving birth to Baron Trump. It was noted that the judge's warning to prosecutors underscored the fact that Michael Cohen is not only their most important witness but also their most complicated as he went from Donald Trump's most loyal henchman to becoming one of his biggest critics after he was imprisoned on federal charges regarding the hush money payment to Daniels. Cohen has constantly attacked Trump in news show appearances and on social media. On Monday, he is expected to give the most important testimony of all, and after that, defense lawyers are expected to argue that the former Trump lawyer who served prison time is "out to get Trump and cannot be believed." READ MORE: Donald Trump Trial: New Poll Finds 20% of Trump Supporters May Reconsider Vote If He Is Convicted Where Would Donald Trump Go If He Breaks His Gag Order Again and Land in Jail? Speaking of gag orders, Donald Trump has constantly been breaking them and has recently been fined another $1,000. With the fines seemingly not working on Trump, the judge has threatened him with jail time. Should this happen though, where will he go? According to USA Today, many are speculating he might land in Rikers Island, the most infamous prison in New York, where his friend and former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, is currently serving his sentence. However, others are pointing out that this might be unlikely going into the prison with a reputation for violence and unsanitary conditions. Instead, if he is hailed for contempt, he may just land in a jail cell inside the courthouse. None the less, he will still be the first former president to land in jail after leaving office. Donald Trump Looking Frustrated Ahead of Michael Cohen Testimony Meanwhile, Trump looked quite frustrated during the hearing on Friday, and many have noticed, according to The Guardian. The newspaper reported that a visibly irked Trump was carrying a thin stack of papers in his hand and dropped them on the table. The clack was heard by many in the gallery. The day before, Stormy Daniels provided embarrassing details about their sexual encounter. Now, Trump is about to face a former friend who might spill even more beans regarding his illegal activities. When the hearing ended, he once again played the victim card and complained that one wrong word could land him in jail. READ MORE: Donald Trump Hush Money Trial: Former Trump Spokesperson Hope Hicks Testifies This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Michael Cohen expected to testify Monday in Trump criminal trial - CBS Evening News Three individuals, including a teenager, a man, and a juvenile, face severe charges for their alleged involvement in a California mass shooting in King City and a separate double homicide in Monterey County. The suspects, identified as Jonathan Leal Cervantes, 18, Pedro Manuel Nava, 32, and an unnamed juvenile, all residents of Greenfield, were apprehended by law enforcement officials from the Monterey County Sheriff's Office, the King City Police Department, and the Salinas Police Department. The suspects stand accused of a litany of charges, including four counts of murder, four counts of criminal conspiracy to commit murder, seven counts of attempted murder, and weapons and gang enhancements related to the King City, California mass shooting in March, Yahoo! News reports. Additionally, they face two counts of murder in connection with a double homicide in South Monterey County that occurred on February 24. READ NEXT: Man from California Allegedly Fatally Injures Mother Amid Altercation Suspects Plead Not Guilty In court appearances on Friday, all three suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, according to KION46. The initial appearance was made by a Greenfield teenager, identified as "Angel E." in court documents. The District Attorney's office revealed intentions to try Angel E. as an adult. Pedro Manuel Nava and Jonathan Cervantes also entered not-guilty pleas and are scheduled for further court proceedings. Nava, specifically, is alleged to have directed the shooters at their targets. More than 80 warrants were executed by various agencies to seek justice for the victims of the shootings, which resulted in six fatalities and 11 injuries in total. Law enforcement officials expressed determination to bring closure to affected communities, acknowledging the profound impact of the violence on residents' sense of security. The arrests followed a series of events starting in January, including vehicle thefts, armed confrontations, and ultimately culminating in the tragic California mass shooting. These incidents involved stolen vehicles, robberies, and targeted violence, spanning different locations in Monterey County. Arrests and Charges Detailed The suspects, all residents of Greenfield, have been implicated in the fatal California mass shooting that took place during a birthday celebration in King City. They are also linked to a separate shooting incident in southern Monterey County and an armed robbery in Salinas. The charges against them include multiple counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, as well as weapon and gang-related charges. Sheriff Tina Nieto expressed hope that the arrests would bring a semblance of security back to the affected communities, CBS News noted. She extended sympathies to the victims and their families, emphasizing the collective desire for healing and peace in the wake of the tragic events. The arrests of the suspects represent a significant development in ongoing investigations into the violent crimes that have shaken Monterey County. As legal processes persist, authorities are dedicated to ensuring justice prevails and offering resolution to impacted communities. READ MORE: Florida Police Accused of Fatally Shooting US Airman in Incorrect Apartment This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Ross Key WATCH: Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto announces arrest in King City Mass Shooting - From KSBW Action News 8 UPDATE: Despite what report says, people in Pa. prisons dont go hungry, corrections department says The food served in Pennsylvania state prisons is contributing to the malnourishment of inmates, with meals failing to meet basic nutritional needs, leaving the vast majority of inmates hungry and predisposed to chronic illness as a result of the poor quality of food. Those are among the findings contained in a report provided to PennLive by the Pennsylvania Prison Society, the largest prison monitoring organization in the commonwealth. The year-long research into the quality of food in Department of Corrections facilities found that beyond being unappetizing, the meals failed to provide sufficient calories to meet standard dietary guidelines, meals contained twice the recommended amount of starchy vegetables and refined carbohydrates, and half the fruit and vegetable servings recommended by standard dietary guidelines. The study found that menus at the states 23 prisons rely heavily on processed foods, and as a result, contribute to escalating rates of chronic illnesses among inmates, including high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma. The food that is being served exacerbates diet-related illness and safety issues because nutritional neglect is associated with misconduct, said Claire Shubik-Richards, the Prison Societys executive director. It affects the dignity of inmates because being served human edible food is part of being a human being. Eating is central to the human experience. The year-long survey was conducted in collaboration with a dietician, who helped review menus and perform nutritional analysis of food; the organization also relied on hundreds of hours of interviews with inmates. The quality of the food is poor, said Arielle Herman, the consulting dietician. A lot of the food is prepared. Its ultra processed food. Theres not a ton of fresh fruit or vegetables and there is a lot of canned foods. The findings, Shubik-Richards said, were troubling. The majority of people in Pennsylvania state custody go hungry every day, she said. The food they are served likely contributes to diet-related illness and poor families are put on the hook for paying for additional food for loved ones, if they dont want their loved ones to go hungry every day. The survey was launched in the wake of increasing complaints from inmates during the pandemic, which ushered in changes to prison food service, most notably the policy that meals were no longer served in dining halls but taken directly to the inmates cells. The big thing that came to us during the pandemic was the number of people telling us they had to eat next to their toilets, Shubik-Richards said. That policy is still in place, with the exception of one prison, which has re-opened its dining hall. Meals in most facilities are taken from the kitchen to housing units, and usually arrive cold, the survey found. The food is loaded into trays in the kitchen, put into insulated carts and wheeled the distance of a few city blocks, Shubik-Richards said. The food gets jostled around. It goes over a city block then it may sit there for however long it takes to get a staff person out. Under Gov. Josh Shapiros proposed budget, the Department of Corrections would receive $3.3 billion in funding. The department annually spends about $358 million on medical care; that budget has ballooned in recent years. Moreover, in 1996, Pennsylvania spent $9 per person per day on food. Currently it spends $2.61 per person per day. Its robbing Peter to pay Paul, Shubik-Richards said. The department is focused on cost saving for food, not recognizing that skimping on food quality and leaving people hungry and malnourished is partially propelling the growth in its medical care budget. The DOC budget represents the second largest department expenditure for the state. Corrections Secretary Laurel Harry in February said the department was in the middle of a menu refresh with a $3 million price tag. The department has added two registered dieticians to its staff to assist with the menu, she said. Speaking at a state House budget hearing, Harry acknowledged the department staff is well aware of the wide concerns with food quality in prisons. DOC has more than 10,600 inmates over 50, some with significant health issues. Harry said the department is looking to decrease sodium and carbohydrates, while increasing fiber, all within calorie ranges set by the National Dietary Guidelines. The new menu was slated to be rolled out in March and included bringing back some more popular items and increasing portion sizes. The secretary said the department considered the feedback from inmates. We put a lot of thought into this, Harry said. We are pleased that were in a good spot with our food. In an interview with PennLive earlier this year, Harry noted that officials from the Prison Society had met with central office food service staff to discuss menu options. One topic discussed: inmate request lists for certain foods. The prisons now have a new pizza option that Harry said she personally sampled and pronounced very good. Department staff routinely carry out inspections and look at the food and portion size. These are all things that we monitor, Harry said. Our food service staff do audits of all of our operations or food service, culinary operations. So its not like we just say okay, heres the menu and theres no follow up. Harry said the majority of inmates post-pandemic indicated a desire to continue to eat in their cell units. Doing so takes up less time, and affords them other opportunities for programming and recreation. (A)n overwhelming majority wanted to continue in-cell feeding, Harry said. Now Im sure there were folks that still wanted to go to a dining hall but we took their feedback into consideration. We surveyed our staff. We surveyed the unions, so it was a real collective effort. But at the end of the day, the overwhelming majority of all of those groups wanted to continue with in-cell feeding and so thats what we went with. Time is a big consideration, she said. At SCI Camp Hill, for example, sit down meals required several hours to serve the estimated 3,500 inmates. I mean it took quite some time, said Harry, the former Camp Hill superintendent. So feeding itself has certainly allowed us a little more flexibility with our operational schedule. So thats probably something thats changed positively. Harry said prison staff sends items back if they dont meet the quality expected and removes items from contracts if necessary. So we have lots of processes in place to ensure that we are obviously providing the best that we can with regard to food services, Harry said. The Prison Society survey found that up to 70% of incarcerated people surveyed relied on the commissary to supplement their meals. Those items include instant ramen, honey buns, and potato chips all high in sodium, sugar and refined carbohydrates. But an inmates purchasing power depends on their prison earnings or the generosity of family. Shubik-Richards noted that currently wages range between 23 cents and 50 cents an hour. A packet of snack mix is $2.50, she said. If you want packet of snack mix, that is three to six hours of labor. What that means for the majority of incarcerated people is that families on the outside are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep their loved ones fed. What that means is that poor people are getting poorer. She noted that what few healthy options the commissary might offer are typically sold out. For former inmate Radee Hammett, the value of the food in prison still resonates, even 10 years after his release. The quality of the food was not the best, he said. It was basically whatever we got, you had to eat. Hammett served four years at the now-closed SCI Retreat in Luzerne County. He gained weight while in prison and saw his cholesterol levels shoot up. He recalls some stomach-growling nights. There were times I did go to bed hungry, Hammett said. Waiting on the commissary money to come in....There were some nights I wasnt satisfied as far as my nourishment needs. It does something to your mental. Not only are you locked up behind bars, in a cage, thats already weary enough on your mind. Now another thing you are worried about is food. How is the food going to be? Is it beneficial for me? That is definitely demoralizing when you are getting fed like you are not a human. Shubik-Richards commended the department for its swift action in recent months to address the food situation. More broadly, she said everyone should care about the issue. If you care about public safety, you should care because hungry people are more irrational and violent, she said. If you care about safety in prison and the safety of corrections officers, you care because you get more violence when people are hungry all the time. Prison populations are predominantly brown and Black, and because of socio-economic factors, that fact alone disproportionately places undue burden on governmental services inside and outside of prison. If you care about human dignity, then you should care because food and eating a meal and having edible food is central to being a human being, Shubik-Richards said. Staff writer Jan Murphy contributed to this report. The Hellertown Police Department suffers from a decades-long leadership vacuum thats left deficiencies in almost every key aspect of how a department should be run, according to a third-party review. The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association says borough council needs to invest in professional grade, quality service from its police department or the borough should reduce its police services and get those services from state police or an outside contractor. The report by the police chiefs association says former Hellertown Police Chief Robert Shupp was essentially hands-off as the departments leader. The 47-year-old Bushkill Township resident is accused of taking $122,000 in unauthorized comp time payments, drug forfeiture proceeds and petty cash. The department has deficiencies in organizational oversight, structural components, supervision, policies and procedures, budgetary expenditures and scheduling, the report says. It says the policy manual hasnt been updated in 20 years. Its so far out of date the report recommends scrapping it and starting from scratch with a new manual. The report, frankly, doesnt paint a pretty picture of the department in its current state, said borough council in a jointly-issued statement Wednesday. The police chiefs association recommends creating four supervisory positions within the department to handle day-to-day oversight so that the chief can focus on administrative duties. It also calls on hiring one new full-time patrol officer. That cost will be offset by a lower demand for overtime. The department relies too heavily on overtime, the police chiefs association says. The demand of overtime and lack of leadership has hurt morale in the department, the report says. It says theres friction in the department over the choice of Dominick Fragano as interim chief. The borough is soliciting applications for a permanent chief. The report says borough council has looked into moving the police headquarters but ultimately decided to stick with a facility the police chiefs association says is inadequate. The report says the mayor and borough council are facing some difficult decisions over whether to cut police services, contract supplemental service from another municipality, rely on state police for services, or find funds so the department can achieve professional grade, quality service in the borough. The borough must consider the options and determine how the department will be resourced and structured going forward, the report says. Borough council says it released the police chiefs association report to start a community dialogue over how to proceed. Borough council will meet later with the police chiefs association and will have a special borough council meeting at 7 p.m. Monday so residents can also be part of the discussion on the report and the state of the police department in Hellertown. There are no quick fixes here. There are also no easy answers, borough council says in its joint statement. If money were no object, some of the issues regarding staffing and supervision could be more easily fixed, but in a borough with limited resources, we need to be fiscally responsible. The borough police officers union released a statement Thursday praising the study and calling for the backing, structure and support they requested from borough council. Former police Chief Shupp faces a combined 18 counts of theft, receiving stolen property, forgery, tampering with public records and unlawful use of a computer, according to online court records. Shupps attorney, Gary Asteak, previously blamed the boroughs lack of oversight for the misappropriated funds. In December, Asteak said lack of administrative oversight and auditing resulted in misunderstandings with regard to invoices, time records and accounts. Shupps preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 29. He was the chief in Hellertown from 2009 through October 2023. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. A West Easton man was sentenced this week to spend up to 75 years in prison for sexually abusing multiple children in Northampton County, authorities said. Ronald Walte Raisner Jr., 54, who also has Stroudsburg, Monroe County ties, pleaded guilty in February to eight offenses: felony involuntary deviate sexual intercourse; two counts felony aggravated indecent assault; felony indecent assault; two counts felony child endangerment; misdemeanor indecent exposure; and one count misdemeanor invasion of privacy, according to the Northampton County District Attorneys Office. Edward J. Andres, the public defender listed for Raisner, did not immediately return a call for comment. Raisner initially was charged in March 2023 in the case, and additional charges were filed in July 2023 when a new accuser came forward. Raisner pleaded guilty to the charges Feb. 9 before Northampton County Court of Common Pleas Judge John Morganelli. Raisner has been in Northampton County Prison since his initial arrest in March 2023, court records show. The charges are in connection with multiple female victims who testified against Raisner. The incidents spanned 2012 to 2019 and all involved juveniles whom Raisner knew. Raisner repeatedly engaged in sex acts with the victims. Prosecutors had said the sexual assaults spanned several years for some victims, and that Raisner threatened at least one victim. Morganelli presided over the sentencing Tuesday, imposing the maximum sentencing allowed on each charge a total of 22 years and 4 months to 75 years in prison, to be followed by 12 years probation. Prior to the sentencing, Morganelli had already determined Raisner to be a sexually violent predator. As a result, Raisner must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. The judge said Raisner had no prior history of mental illness or drug abuse. He described Raisners upbringing as normal with no history of abuse. I find that Mr. Raisner committed these horrific acts for self-gratification and his pleasure without regard for the girls, Morganelli said. " ... You betrayed their trust and robbed them of their innocence. District Attorney Stephen Baratta credited Trooper Jeremey Hayes with Pennsylvania State Police at Belfast for investigating the case and the incredible courage and bravery of the five victims who were able to come forward, according to a news release from the prosecutors office. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Its now the second full week of May and the outside world is alive with activity. Plants are growing and blooming, insects are flying around, and so are a lot of different butterflies, although its early for many of them. Properly identifying butterflies, except for a few common species, is challenging. I was once visited by a couple who was tired of chasing birds, so they wanted me to teach them butterflies. They thought finding and identifying butterflies would be easier, but they couldnt have been more wrong. Some butterflies have multiple broods a year, while others have only one. Some butterflies nectar at just about any plant, but some will only use one or two specific plants. And while some larger butterflies may live for months, most of them only live for weeks. Some butterflies migrate north in the spring and then their last brood goes back south in the fall. Currently Im seeing many red admirals (Vanessa atalanta), which are an example of a species that does this. However, in the warmer parts of the country many of them stay put. Emigrant red admirals come north spring into summer, and sometimes they come in big numbers. Ive seen groups of them but nothing like what happened in spring 1990 when observers recorded tens of thousands of them moving into the New York area. I see a lot of butterflies because of our habitat of flowers, trees, and welcomed weeds. Recently I was watching a red admiral fly across the back yard when suddenly I lost sight of it when the wind blew hundreds of silver maple fruit off a tree. Silver maple fruit matures as early as when their leaves are coming out, and already the pond, the deck, and the back yard are covered with them. Currently in our yard lilacs, rhododendrons, and wisteria are blooming, as are native purple trilliums in one flowerbed. A small red buckeye tree is covered with red flower clusters, and a variegated willow has fresh yellowish leaves. In the wild many plants are also blooming, although most of them arent native. Probably the most visible ones are the dames rocket (Hesperis matronalis) that get mistaken for wild phlox. Theres no denying that dames rocket are pretty, but theyre Eurasian invasives that form monocultures that keep out native plants. The easiest way to tell dames rocket from wild phlox is to count the number of petals on the plant. Phlox has five while dames rocket have four. Another Eurasian/Asian introduction is also now blooming at many places. Star of Bethlehem plants (Ornithogalum umbellatum) have white blooms close to the ground, and they reproduce easily, making large patches. But while their flowers are pretty, the plant is toxic if ingested, so wash your hands well if you touch one. In some cultures, though, star of Bethlehem plants have been used medicinally and in other cultures the plant has religious significance. On a recent nursery trip David and I bought two citronella scented geraniums, plants commonly called mosquito plants because theyre supposed to repel bugs, flies, and mosquitos. Whether or not they actually do this, though, is controversial. Some scientists say they dont. But theyre still worth having because they smell really good! Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Editors Note: Lehighvalleylive.com is offering a benefit to subscribers: Click the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and get free, print-quality downloads - as well as the option to purchase keepsakes at half the price. Bethlehem Catholic High School students celebrated their prom at the Event Center at blue in Bethlehem Township on Friday. Freelance Photographer Tim Wynkoop was there to capture a few of the students as they arrived for the prom. Lehighvalleylive.com will be sending photographers to proms throughout the Lehigh Valley and Warren County this season. Our full coverage of proms across the region can be found at lehighvalleylive.com/prom. Check out the gallery above to see everyone dressed up for a night to celebrate. SHARE YOUR PROM PHOTOS Dont forget to tag @lehighvalleylive in your Instagram photos and @lehighvalley on Twitter - we just might highlight the best pics! Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Saed Hindash may be reached at shindash@lehighvalleylive.com. Editors Note: Lehighvalleylive.com is offering a benefit to subscribers: Click the photo gallery to see if we photographed your favorite prom-goer, and get free, print-quality downloads - as well as the option to purchase keepsakes at half the price. Wilson Area High School students celebrated their prom at The Club at Twin Lakes in North Whitehall Township on Friday. Freelance photographer Donna Fisher was there to capture a few of the students as they arrived for the prom. Lehighvalleylive.com will be sending photographers to proms throughout the Lehigh Valley and Warren County this season. Our full coverage of proms across the region can be found at lehighvalleylive.com/prom. Check out the gallery above to see everyone dressed up for a night to celebrate. SHARE YOUR PROM PHOTOS Dont forget to tag @lehighvalleylive in your Instagram photos and @lehighvalley on Twitter - we just might highlight the best pics! Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Saed Hindash may be reached at shindash@lehighvalleylive.com. NHLANGANO A 66-year-old man was arrested and charged with six counts of assaulting six farm workers at Mbhondzela last Sunday. Mbhondzela is a farm located along the Nhlangano and Gege route. The farm is under Mahamba Gorge, Farm 19. It was alleged that last Sunday, four farm workers were allegedly assaulted by the dwellers for disconnecting water pipes. It was said that the water pipes were put installed by the farm dwellers to convey water from the mountains. Four of the workers were rushed to hospital, where two were discharged while the others were reportedly in a critical condition. Mnciniseli Nhleko, who is also a farm dweller was slapped with four counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and two of common assault. He appeared before Shiselweni Magistrate Agrippa Bhembe. Pleading When pleading for bail, Nhleko told the court that his home was demolished without a court order and he spent a night outside his home that day. He asked the magistrate what was he supposed to do when he was attacked again and he was told to report to the police. He was admitted to E1 000 bail and to return to court on September 10, 2024 for the setting of the trial date. During his court appearance, members of different political parties went to give him moral support. In fact, they even organised his bail money, which was paid while they waited. They later convened a meeting to discuss a way forward. They first suggested delivering a petition at the regional administrators offices yesterday, but they later decided against this, stating that they needed to organise the march. They wondered how an elderly man like Nhleko would be capable of assaulting six men who would be critical in hospital, stating that such was practically impossible. Affected In the same meeting, they shared that there were other members of the different political parties who went to visit the affected Mbhondzela farm dwellers and requested more to join. It was said that they would be spending some time on the farm to see the way the farm dwellers were being treated. In fact, it was said that the farm dwellers had to be inside the farm premises by 6pm and the political party members shared that they would be walking in and out of the farm during the same time to see what would happen. They further shared that they would be delivering a petition at Gege though they were yet to conclude on the exact day next week. The meeting ended with the members demonstrating in front of the court entrance together with Nhleko and other dwellers who came to give him support. A drunk motorist was caught driving a car with no tyre and sparks flying from the wheel. Miklos Balogh (47) of 18 Rossmore, Roscrea, Tipperary was accused of careless driving, drunk driving and driving a dangerously defective vehicle on the R445 at Borris-in-Ossory on January 10, 2023. Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby said the defendant was driving with a steel rim with sparks coming out and a member of the public alerted gardai. He said the Ford Galaxy was stopped by gardai at 2.40am. The vehicle was examined and deemed to be dangerously defective. The driver gave a breath sample of 69mgs per 100mls of breath. He said the man had no previous convictions. I want to commend the witness for contacting gardai, said Sgt Kirby. Solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick said her client was a Hungarian national. She said he was living in Ireland with his family and he has some medical issues. She asked that the judge might grant him a postponement on any disqualification so that he could put arrangements in place. Sgt Kirby said the defendant has no previous convictions and he had saved the prosecution time by admitting guilt. Judge Andrew Cody fined the man a total of 1,100 and disqualified him from driving for three years. He postponed the activation of the disqualification until August 15, 2024. There will be an operation to clear the latest makeshift migrant camp along a canal in Dublin, the housing minister has said. It comes after approximately 30 tents were erected along the Grand Canal one day after a major multi-agency action removed 163 asylum seekers from an encampment just metres down the waterway. Last week, a similar action saw roughly 290 other international protection applicants removed from a camp near the International Protection Office. Taoiseach Simon Harris said the encampments emerging in the city will not be allowed to fester. He said the encampment on Mount Street that lasted months should not have happened and was not acceptable. Mr Harris said: Im determined to bring a whole-of-government approach in relation to addressing the very significant challenges this country is currently facing regarding migration and accommodation relating to that. I inherited a very challenging situation. Ive been Taoiseach for around a month and since then Ive convened multi-agency group on two occasions. Weve seen very significant progress made in terms of around 450 people who were living in tents at Mount Street and Grand Canal being provided with safer, better accommodation and access to sanitation. A public health emergency on Mount Street in many ways being averted. We also have to be honest with people, the situation around accommodation is extremely challenging. He said he expects more accommodation for asylum seekers to become available soon. I think we do need to look at all of the levers at the states disposal in terms of what its sustainable migration policy looks like, he added. So, yes, were working on accommodation on a daily basis, on a several-times-a-day basis, and I do expect to see more responses coming on stream. We will not have a situation where these encampments are allowed to fester, go on for weeks and weeks and months and months, as was the case on Mount Street. Thats not acceptable to me. Issues will arise, tents will appear and the Government will work with agencies on a multi-agency approach, none of this siloed stuff, to resolve these issues. On Friday, Darragh OBrien said there had been a meeting involving the Taoiseach on the matter on Thursday night. He said: Weve been very clear that that is not where we want to see people. We dont want to see asylum seekers in tents, thus an operation will be put in place between our departments to move those tents on and move the people on to safe and secure accommodation thats what we intend to do. Mr OBrien was speaking to reporters alongside Integration Minister Roderic OGorman at an event in Hollystown, Dublin. Mr OGorman said the key issue has been the availability of accommodation but this has improved within the last two weeks. More than 1,800 asylum seekers are without an offer for State-provided accommodation. Asked about the long-term plan for accommodating asylum seekers, the integration minister said there was a need to move away from over-reliance on commercial providers. He added: Were acutely aware we need to do more. At a separate event in Dublin, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said that it is not reasonable to ask any country, including Ireland, to find suitable accommodation for every person seeking international protection. Speaking in Dublin on Friday, Mr Donnelly said: We cant have a situation in the capital city or indeed in any city in the country, where we have large tented encampments popping up. Its not something that can go on and the Government is quite right on moving to address that. Were dealing with a situation in Ireland, similar to a situation across much of the Western world, where we have quite rightly taken in about 100,000 people fleeing Russias invasion of their country (Ukraine). They have been welcomed here, they are welcomed here and were doing exactly the right thing for those people. At the same time, the number of people seeking international protection has gone up from it used to be about 2,000 to 3,000 a year it went up to nearly 9,000 last year, projections of 14,000 or 15,000 or more this year. Thats the level of demand that Ireland is dealing with, its a level of demand being dealt with right across Europe. Its simply not reasonable to expect any government, be it the Irish government, be it a different government, or indeed any country to be able to simply absorb so many people without there being issues. The Holy Family Senior School in Portlaoise proudly hoisted their first Europe Flag, gifted to mark their completing of months of work learning about the continent in the Blue Star programme. Students Maya from Mr Finlays class and Xavier from Ms Donegans class had the honour, accompanied by Minister of State Sean Fleming from Laois, and councillors Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald, Thomasina Connell, Caroline Dwane Stanley and John Joe Fennelly. Tap Next to see photos. More story below. The school held the event during their second annual marking of Europe Day, which takes place every year on May 9 to celebrate peace and unity in Europe. The Blue Star program in the school has involved pupils from 3rd, 4th and 5th class learning all about Europe and the European Union in creative and enjoyable ways through artwork, projects, and participating in online quizzes. To celebrate the day, pupils put on an exhibition of their artwork and projects while also having a food fair to learn about and taste traditional foods from throughout Europe. Minister Sean Fleming addressed the pupils with his own personal experience of Europe Day and how Ireland has changed in the last 50 years as part of our membership of the European Union. "We were delighted to raise our first Europe flag which was ably done by to celebrate completing the Blue Star program. The morning finished off with the Handshake for Europe which saw pupils, teachers and guests exchange handshakes as a sign of a peace, friendship and community," the Holy Family Senior school said. On the last weekend of April the Irish Peatland Conservation Council hosted a butterfly and bumblebee information stand at Monasterevin Tidy Towns Bluebell Festival in Moore Abbey Wood. At this time of year a woodland walk is highly recommended because all of the woodland wildflowers are now in bloom. Woodland wildflowers are always early to bloom as they take advantage of the sunlight seeping through the open tree canopy, growing through photosynthesis, before the tree canopy becomes filled with leaves limiting light reaching the woodland floor. For this reason, woodland wildflowers are an important source of nectar for early butterflies and bumblebees in our community. You can expect to find lesser celandine, primroses, wild garlic and the most striking of all bluebells (coinnle corra as Gaeilge) now in bloom. Bluebells are native to Ireland but you should also know that a none native Spanish variety of bluebell has been introduced. At first glance they look very similar but there are important features to identify between the two varieties. The native Irish bluebell will always hold its drooping, tubular, purplish-blue flowers on one side of the stem, each of the flowers will also have white anthers (an anther is part of the male reproductive part of the flower located on top of the stamen within the flower). The Spanish variety will have the flowers on both sides of the stem and will have blue anthers. The leaves are fleshy, longer than wide and come from the root. The Spanish variety has broader leaves than the Irish native bluebell but this feature may be difficult to use to identify between the two varieties unless you have both growing in the same area, similarly there is a difference in colour between the flowers with the Spanish variety being paler than the Irish native bluebell. You can also use your sense of smell to identify between these two species, the native bluebell has a strong fragrant smell while the Spanish variety will have no smell. If you would like help identifying a wildlife observation in your community you can contact me on bogs@ipcc.ie. Media Advisory - Government of Canada to deliver more inclusive early learning and child care in Quebec GATINEAU, QC, May 10, 2024 /CNW/ - The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Transport, and the Honourable Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for CED, will announce funding to support inclusive child care across the province through the Government of Canada's Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund. The announcement is being made on behalf of the Honourable Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. A photo opportunity and media availability will follow the announcement. Please note that all details are subject to change. All times are local. Date: Monday, May 13, 2024 Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT To register, contact [email protected] with your name and media outlet before Noon EDT on Monday, May 13, 2024. Follow us on X (Twitter) SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada 10 may 2024 at 19:03 News published onand distributed by: Almonty Receives Further Commitments For A$1.9M Under Previously Announced Placement Almonty Industries Inc. ("Almonty" or the "Company") (TSX: AII / ASX: AII / OTCQX: ALMTF / Frankfurt: ALI) is pleased to announce that following its March 2024 Placement, the Company has received firm commitments to raise further gross proceeds of A$1,860,000 via the issuance of 3,000,000 Placement Chess Depository Interests Units ("CDIs") at A$0.62 per CDI Unit ("Placement"). Each CDI Unit participant will be issued one free unlisted option for every one CDI issued ("Options), exercisable at A$0.84 with an expiry date of 24 months from the date of closing. Proceeds from the Placement will be applied towards general working capital and offer costs. The closing of the Placement is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the acceptance by the TSX and ASX. RM Corporate Finance Pty Ltd acted as Lead Manager to the Placement and will be paid a total fee of 6% of the gross proceeds. About Almonty The principal business of Toronto, Canada-based Almonty Industries Inc. is the mining, processing and shipping of tungsten concentrate from its Los Santos Mine in western Spain and its Panasqueira mine in Portugal as well as the development of its Sangdong tungsten mine in Gangwon Province, South Korea and the development of the Valtreixal tin/tungsten project in northwestern Spain. The Los Santos Mine was acquired by Almonty in September 2011 and is located approximately 50 kilometres from Salamanca in western Spain and produces tungsten concentrate. The Panasqueira mine, which has been in production since 1896, is located approximately 260 kilometres northeast of Lisbon, Portugal, was acquired in January 2016 and produces tungsten concentrate. The Sangdong mine, which was historically one of the largest tungsten mines in the world and one of the few long-life, high-grade tungsten deposits outside of China, was acquired in September 2015 through the acquisition of a 100% interest in Woulfe Mining Corp. Almonty owns 100% of the Valtreixal tin-tungsten project in north- western Spain. Further information about Almonty's activities may be found at www.almonty.com and under Almonty's profile at www.sedar.com. Legal Notice The release, publication, or distribution of this announcement in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law and therefore persons in such jurisdictions into which this announcement is released, published, or distributed should inform themselves about and observe such restrictions. Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information When used in this press release, the words "estimate", "project", "belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or "should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. These statements and information are based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and reflect Almonty's current expectations. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Almonty to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: any specific risks relating to fluctuations in the price of ammonium para tungstate ("APT") from which the sale price of Almonty's tungsten concentrate is derived, actual results of mining and exploration activities, environmental, economic and political risks of the jurisdictions in which Almonty's operations are located and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, forecasts and assessments relating to Almonty's business, credit and liquidity risks, hedging risk, competition in the mining industry, risks related to the market price of Almonty's shares, the ability of Almonty to retain key management employees or procure the services of skilled and experienced personnel, risks related to claims and legal proceedings against Almonty and any of its operating mines, risks relating to unknown defects and impairments, risks related to the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, risks related to governmental regulations, including environmental regulations, risks related to international operations of Almonty, risks relating to exploration, development and operations at Almonty's tungsten mines, the ability of Almonty to obtain and maintain necessary permits, the ability of Almonty to comply with applicable laws, regulations and permitting requirements, lack of suitable infrastructure and employees to support Almonty's mining operations, uncertainty in the accuracy of mineral reserves and mineral resources estimates, production estimates from Almonty's mining operations, inability to replace and expand mineral reserves, uncertainties related to title and indigenous rights with respect to mineral properties owned directly or indirectly by Almonty, the ability of Almonty to obtain adequate financing, the ability of Almonty to complete permitting, construction, development and expansion, challenges related to global financial conditions, risks related to future sales or issuance of equity securities, differences in the interpretation or application of tax laws and regulations or accounting policies and rules and acceptance of the TSX of the listing of Almonty shares on the TSX. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to, no material adverse change in the market price of ammonium para tungstate (APT), the continuing ability to fund or obtain funding for outstanding commitments, expectations regarding the resolution of legal and tax matters, no negative change to applicable laws, the ability to secure local contractors, employees and assistance as and when required and on reasonable terms, and such other assumptions and factors as are set out herein. Although Almonty has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results, level of activity, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and even if events or results described in the forward-looking statements are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, Almonty. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and are cautioned that actual outcomes may vary. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. Almonty cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. When relying on Almonty's forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Almonty has also assumed that material factors will not cause any forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF ALMONTY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PRESS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD- LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE ALMONTY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS. 10 may 2024 at 20:55 News published onand distributed by: Kuwait's emir on Friday, May 10, dissolved parliament and assumed some government duties barely six weeks after elections in the wealthy Gulf oil state that has seen repeated political crises, state media reported. The Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) said "an emiri order was issued to dissolve the national assembly and suspend some articles of the constitution for a period not exceeding four years." It said the emir, Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, and the council of ministers were "assuming the powers granted to the national assembly." The state's ruler attributed his move to the "interference" of some MPs in the emir's powers and others imposing "conditions" on helping to form a government. "We have faced difficulties and obstacles that cannot be tolerated," he said in a speech broadcast on state television. He accused some lawmakers of "going as far as to interfere in the heart of the prince's powers and his choice of his crown prince, forgetting that this is an explicit constitutional right of the prince." Parliament, elected in early April, was to meet for the first time on Monday. But a number of MPs have refused to participate in the government. Kuwait's constitution requires that at least one deputy hold a ministerial portfolio until the government formation is completed. But the prime minister-designate has been unable to convince any lawmaker to take part. Oil-dependent economy Sheikh Meshal said the failure to form a government was the result of "the dictates and conditions of some" lawmakers. Badr al-Saif, a Kuwait University political analyst wrote on X, the former Twitter, that the emir had taken a "historic step," only seen before in Kuwait in 1976 and 1986. Kuwait has seen constant disputes between its elected lawmakers and cabinets that are named by the ruling Al-Sabah family. The Al-Sabahs maintain a strong grip on political power, despite a parliamentary system that has been in place since 1962. The deadlocks have prevented parliament from passing reforms to diversify the oil-dependent economy, while repeated budget deficits and low foreign investment have added to Kuwait's troubles. Read more Subscribers only In Kuwait, censoring culture is back on stage Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traore, in July 2023 in Russia. TASS / VIA REUTERS According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), at least 223 civilians, including 56 children, were executed on February 25 in two villages in northern Burkina Faso by their own army. The revelation of this massacre one of the worst since the start of the jihadist insurgency in the country in 2015 two months after the fact, was made possible by the testimonies of 14 survivors of the killings, international organizations, and civil society, as well as by photo and video analysis. In Nodin and Soro, two villages located about 20 kilometers from the Malian border and besieged like many others by the jihadists of the Nusrat al-Islam Support Group (Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, affiliated to Al-Qaida), soldiers ordered people out of their homes before herding them into three groups men, women, and children and shooting them at point-blank range, finishing off those who were still alive, according to survivors' accounts gathered by the human rights organization. Fleeing individuals were also targeted. When the hundred or so Burkinabe soldiers arrived in Soro in armored vehicles and on motorcycles, after having already killed in the neighboring village of Nodin, "they asked us just one question: 'Why didn't you warn us of the arrival of the jihadists? And then they added, answering themselves: 'You're terrorists!' Then they started shooting at us," said a 32-year-old woman, who was wounded in the leg and said she saw "dead people falling on [her]." 'Survivors pulled out of a pile of corpses' Earlier in the morning, 30 kilometers to the southeast, on the outskirts of the town of Ouahigouya, a Nusrat al-Islam attack on a security post had resulted in the death of at least 13 Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), civilian auxiliaries massively recruited to support the army against the jihadists after Captain Ibrahim Traore came to power in 2022. The deployment of these militiamen has only fanned the flames of violence, with the terrorists increasing the frequency and scale of their attacks on soldiers and VDP. The VDP responded by retaliating against populations perceived as the enemy's accomplices. According to the NGO ACLED, since Traore came to power, the army has killed at least 1,300 civilians in anti-terrorist operations. According to a survivor of the Soro massacre, the only survivor of a family of 17, all exterminated that day, "the soldiers wanted to make sure there were no survivors because before they left, they shot several times at people who were already on the ground." "Those who survived, like me, were pulled out of a pile of corpses," said the 25-year-old, quoted in the HRW report. Locals dug 11 mass graves, some reserved for women, others for children, to bury the 44 victims in Nodin and the 179 others in Soro. You have 53.93% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only. MBABANE The Minister of Education and Training, Owen Nxumalo, has announced a 21-member committee tasked with reviewing the education system in the country within six months. The minister announced the committee during a press briefing yesterday at the ministrys offices, pointing out that this was in response to the concerns submitted by emaSwati during Sibaya about the status of education in the country. We will recall that during Sibaya, a lot was said about the state of education in the country, and the challenges that must be addressed. This is largely due to the fact that the level of education among local children has dropped compared to other countries. Cabinet, therefore, saw it necessary that the education challenges raised during Sibaya be addressed, he said. Nxumalo also acknowledged the patience of the ministrys management on the appointment of the committee. We appreciate the patience of management in giving us time to appoint the committee. This was long announced and the management has been asking us about the delay in announcing the committee. Let me say that we were still tying up loose ends on this issue with Cabinet. Cabinet has now mandated me to announce the committee to the nation. Cabinet did indicate that their hope is now on this committee to deliver on their mandate, he said. The minister said it was apparent that the standard of education in the country had gone down, pointing out that submissions during Sibaya touched on a lot of issues including uniforms, insufficient food in schools and many more other challenges that must be addressed. Companies Most importantly, there is a need to establish if the education system is still relevant to companies in terms of creating job opportunities. There are a lot of challenges that would be addressed by this committee. We tried to look for the cream of the crop when appointing this committee to address the issues. He said the appointment of the committee was also motivated by the fact that there were many studies on the education system done by organisations like the United Nations Chilrens Fund (UNICEF) and World Bank, but noted that there were difficulties in implementing their recommendations. This committee will look into those studies and try to implement the recommendations and develop the standard of education. We would like to request that this committee should work together with the ministry and Cabinet. In short, this committee will drive the studies done by the mentioned organisations, he stressed. He also informed those present that when His Majesty the King heard about this initiative, he showed happiness, especially on the fact that even new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) will be introduced in schools. He said the countrys authorities are confident that this committee will do the required task and deliver on their mandate. Size The committee is big because their work is also equally huge. People should not be worried about the size of the committee because the members will be assigned to do different things. Others will look at curriculum, while others will focus on hiring of teachers. The task for the members will be separated so that the task is done quicker and efficiently. He said Cabinet has great trust in the announced members, stating that: we have confidence that they will not disappoint us in doing the expected job with the aim of uplifting the standard of education. They should work together with officials in the ministry. Nxumalo also stated that the appointed committee has started doing its job. We have already done their terms of reference together with them. Even Cabinet is very happy about that. They have been given six months to do this work and we will review how far they have gone after that period, he said. The minister concluded by mentioning that a similar committee would be appointed to look into the challenges faced by the University of Eswatini (UNESWA). The UNESWA issue is still being discussed at Cabinet level and we remain hopeful that a committee will be appointed to look into how the challenges facing the institution can be addressed. Once finalised, the committee will be announced to the nation, Nxumalo assured. The appointed committee is headed by Mboni Dlamini, who is the executive secretary of the Eswatini Qualifications Authority. IRELAND South MEP Mick Wallace, who is seeking a second term in parliament, will host a question-and-answer session in Limerick. The Strand Hotel at Ennis Road in the city will play host to the event, on Monday, May 13 from 8pm. It comes as the Wexford man submits his nomination papers to the returning officer in Cork city where the European election votes will be counted after Friday, June 7. READ MORE: Prominent Limerick solicitor to run in local election He was elected on his first attempt to the European Parliament in 2019 taking the third seat in Ireland South. Im pleased to have the papers submitted and Im looking forward to the campaign. Ireland South is a massive and really diverse constituency. It has some amazing places and great people. Im a very social person and I love meeting people and having a chat and discussing the issues of the day and being challenged on issues too, he said. Mr Wallace says the cost-of-living crisis hitting Irish people comes as a direct result of decisions at EU level, decisions which are undermining the living conditions of many people. He added he has approached his work in Europe with the same seriousness as he has done in Dail Eireann. ONE business owner in Abbeyfeale says ongoing road works, which meant customers were in heavy traffic for long periods of time, were a factor in why she has closed her business. From the end of January until late April, there were water main replacement and pavement works, resulting in a stop/go traffic system on the N21. It impacted people travelling from the Church of the Assumption in Abbeyfeale to Mount Mahon. Some motorists reported that it took almost an hour to get through the main street. Pamela Kelleher ran The Fish Hut in The Square in Abbeyfeale. Speaking to Limerick Live, she said that the road works did have a bearing on her decision to close. She said that a lot of her customers werent in a position to be sitting in traffic for extended periods of time. While the road works were a major inconvenience for her and other business owners alike, she said it was not the only reason she closed and there were other factors at play. The May monthly Newcastle West Municipal District meeting heard that other businesses had to close some days, as they could not get in or out of their business, due to the road works. Councillor Liam Galvin appreciated the quality of the work, but said the traffic should have been managed better. Cllrs Galvin, Francis Foley and Michael Collins all attended a public meeting last week, with about 100 people present, mostly with vested business interests in the town. Cllr Galvin told Limerick Live that people were angry about the way traffic was managed for the most recent road works. At the meeting, engineer Kieran OGorman told people that for these works a stop/go system was unavoidable. However, a commitment was made that for the Abbeyfeale traffic management plan, any stop/go system that would be needed would be used at night and would not impact businesses. That plan will go to tender soon and will likely take six weeks to go through. A carpark will be developed at the rear of what was Riordans building before the works start, which Cllr Galvin said will make a big difference. This will be a major project with new sewerage lines, new water lines, and putting ESB and broadband lines underground. There are going to be disruptions, Cllr Galvin said, adding that the carpark development and nighttime stop/go system will help to lessen the impact on businesses. He said that for the works at the start of the year, the businesses felt they werent consulted enough. READ MORE: Aldi issues update on its plans for new Limerick store Speaking at the Newcastle West Municipal District meeting, Cllr Galvin said that during the works, the traffic was so bad that businesses sent staff home some days. Retail businesses down the town did not and could not trade, he said. He added that at times traffic couldnt move. I saw it myself, it was mayhem, he said. Motorists reported being stuck in the traffic trying to get through the town for up to an hour sometimes. Cllr Galvin pointed out that the N21 going through Abbeyfeale is a national primary route. It is a gateway to the holiday destination of Kerry,he said. Cllr Collins told the meeting even though he's not based in Abbeyfeale, he too was getting calls. One woman said she had one customer in a day - thats soul destroying. Its going to help businesses and the town in the long term, but in the short term, we cant have businesses suffering, he said. Councillor Foley described the situation as a nightmare. I feel traffic wasnt allowed to flow, he said. Cllr Jerome Scanlan cited a UK example where businesses impacted by works can put in an estimated claim of losses to go against their rates. However, in response, the council said that commercial rates are legally payable on all properties and that the road works were managed to minimise disruption. In response, Cllr Galvin said: It's not an easy request, but when you hear of businesses closing and people sending home their staff - we need to come up with a scheme, something has to give here. In the wake of these works, Cllr Galvin urged people to shop local. "Abbeyfeale is alive and open for business," he said. THE ENDEAVOUR of publishing a novel is far from easy, and that pinch me moment came for Karen Fitzgibbon one afternoon when she received a large delivery to her Limerick city home. After finally finding a publisher who snapped up her debut novel, The Worlds End - the first installment in a series she envisions - Karen received a box packed to the brim of her glossy soft-back bound work. The moment was so stunning to the Castleconnell native, that she left it unopened for hours, until she was ready for the realisation that she had achieved it - after years of writing, she had just become a published author. The premise of the crime fiction debut is one of mystery. On a beautiful weekend in May, Grace, and her friend Sarah travel to the seaside village of Castle Cove. After a night of partying, they hire a boat and sail to a nearby island. Five go out, but only four return, and a year later, private investigator Lana Bowen is set on getting to the bottom of the case. The inspiration for the setting came as Karen reflected on all of the beautiful seasides she has ever had the joy of witnessing. About 15 years previous to the release, Karen recalls visiting Seafield Beach in Quilty, Co Clare, in particular the remains of a home her mother-in-law had mentioned. You have to cross the field to get to the beach. And that's where the ruin of this house is and there's an outline of a swimming pool there. But you can just see the pale blue paint on the outline, but it's all overgrown. And I just thought, What is this place? Having been captured by the sights, the cogs of her creative mind began to turn. In January 2021, as lockdown engulfed the world, Karen sat in the corner of her living room, to write the first draft of the page-turner which can now be seen dotted along the shelves at OMahonys bookshop on OConnell Street in the city. Wife to Pat, and mother-of-three to Peter, Lauren and Jonathon (pictured above), and proud owner of cherished springer spaniel, Major, the author agrees that while writing is a solitary activity, her family were always on-side to hear her latest page-turning development, proofread pages or even listen to how she twisted the plotline entirely halfway through. I changed the perpetrator halfway through the book, she candidly states. So, it could be any of the four who returned, and I explored each one of them. It was almost like I was investigating the story, as well as Lana Bowen. Having sent three drafted novels, including the first installment seen on shelves today, to numerous publishers, Karen became used to the feeling of rejection, adding that it was even something she came to expect. However, the moment that faithful acceptance email arrived, Karen admits to glancing only at the teaser line, which read: Hi, Karen, just to let you know that we've read all three novels and I rang my son, Peter, hyperventilating, I couldnt open the email, so I gave him all of my details, he opened it and he said oh mom, and that was the best, you know, it was a true pinch me moment. The writing process for Karen is unlike that of many other authors. My process is that I don't have one, and I discovered that as I went along, Karen revealed. I've made lots of attempts to write books, I've even finished one but kept getting stuck and found the whole thing really, really hard, so I originally just thought it wasnt for me. However, after being sent a link to an online writers workshop, Karen found herself excited to begin writing fiction again. I've been writing scripts for theatre and film with Limerick community groups for donkey's years, and I thought, why not give this another go? READ MORE: Crime spree in picturesque Limerick village So far, the novel is a hit with family and friends alike, with even reviews from acclaimed authors such as Limericks Donal Ryan and fellow crime fiction author, Patricia Gibney. Karen's love affair with words stems from her passion for page-turners, citing Patricia Cornwell as one of many inspirations. I love reading and I love page-turners. I love when characters are gritty and not too polished, she added. However, it also stems from her passion for theatre. Productions were a calling for Karen over the years, as seen with her own company, Teaspach, the Irish word which colloquially translates to high energy. She brought drama to the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, allowing it to be used as a teaching tool, while also working with the Northside Misfits, Southill Community and Drama Groups, St Saviours, Thomond Studio, and more. When I started using it to teach at first, it was a case of, let's write the script rather than choose it, because when you have a group of 15 people, and there's men and women of different ages, it's really hard to find a script that's going to suit them. So, you have to write your own. Limerick, she appreciates, is becoming a more vibrant scene for the arts, and culture. With each home-grown project seemingly flourishing, Karen continues to bring drama to life by writing scripts for locally-shot short films. Seeing her previous words jump from their pages has Karen dreaming of The Worlds End hitting the big or small screens, or in whatever format the production teams see fit! IN THIS article I want to focus on what foreign nationals can expect to encounter should they wish to purchase a property in Ireland and what they need to be mindful of when applying for a mortgage. It can be a difficult and complex process at the best of times and what information Ive seen available can be confusing and at times conflicting. So Im hoping this article will be a useful resource and will help guide people in the right direction. Work Permit Okay first things first foreign nationals are able to get a mortgage in Ireland, but the caveat is that lenders will only accept applications from those who hold a visa status Stamp 4 or a Stamp 1 critical work permit. Length of Time in Country The length of time spent in the country is also a critical determinant in how much a bank is willing to lend because if you are < 2 years in the country a bank will restrict the amount theyll lend to 80% of the purchase price of a property. However, if youre living here for > 2 years, you can borrow up to 90%. Credit Check And if you are living less than two years in Ireland a bank will insist on carrying out a non-resident bureau check (NRBC) and this will also apply to people regardless of their length of time in the country if theyve disclosed that they are carrying debt owed outside of Ireland. Borrowing Capacity The amount you can borrow from a bank is determined by the Central Bank of Irelands limits and they apply to everyone applying for a mortgage. And for first time buyers the amount you can borrow is four times your gross annual income. So, if you or you and your partner are earning 70,000 per annum you can borrow 280,000. Banks have been given flexibility by the Central Bank, which allows them to deviate from the 4 x rule by 15% of their total lending in any one year to first time buyers and second/subsequent buyers. And they are being given this leeway to cater for individuals whose particular circumstances may give a bank some comfort to exceed the normal limits. A good reason to exceed the income multiple limits might be when a first-time buyer applicant has demonstrated a clear ability through monthly savings and or the amount they pay in rent each month that they have the capacity to fund a mortgage which is maybe 4.2 times their gross. Personal Contribution Okay next up is the amount you have to contribute towards the purchase and for a first time buyer its 10% of the purchase price. So, if a property is costing 300,000 you have to personally contribute 30,000. Help to Buy Initiatives Having said that, now is a good time to mention one initiative put forward by the government in recent years that was aimed specifically at helping to fast track first time buyers getting a foothold on the property market. And this assistance is available to foreign nationals as well. And its called the Help To Buy Scheme (HBS) and it has the ability to help first time buyers buy a property costing up to 300,000 without having to have any savings at all. FTBs can claim back the lesser of, (a) 30,000 (b) 10% of the purchase price of a new property (c) 10% of the approved valuation of a self-build property or (d) the amount of income tax and DIRT they paid in the previous four years. So, if a property was costing 300,000, the mortgage amount would be 270,000 i.e. 90% and the remaining 10% would be funded by the HBS scheme, provided either the single or joint applicants have paid in excess of 30,000 in income/DRT tax in the previous four years, and their annual gross salary was 67,500. There is another initiative called the First Home Scheme and rather than going into detail about what it is, I would say you should familiarise yourself with it and with everything thats available and how they could perhaps be used by you. Additional Costs I referred to the amount you have to contribute to the purchase price of a property and it being 10%, but thats not going to be your only outlay, there will be others and some of them will be: Solicitor fees - Id say budget in this instance for circa 1.5% of the purchase price but shop around and ask a number of solicitors how much each will charge. Conveyancing fees - these are separate to what a solicitor charges for their time, they are a fixed cost that you have to pay to have the property registered with the land registry registration of your mortgage etc. A structural survey - this is not mandatory and really only applies if you are buying a second hand property. What you are doing here is getting an engineer to check out the property for any structural defects that may not appear apparent to you but they would to them. The cost here might be in the region of 300 to 500. And it might be money very well spent particularly if they draw your attention to work that may need to be done that could cost thousands. Being forewarned of what this future cost could be might even influence you from continuing with the purchase. A valuation fee - this is mandatory and required by the bank to make sure the property is equal to or greater than what youre paying for it. The cost is about 150. Documents Required for Mortgage Application Okay when youre applying for a mortgage you have to present a number of documents to your lender and an example of what they are, are as follows: A salary certificate - this is a templated form given to you by the bank and it will be completed by your employer. It will show your annual earnings, start date, any bonus or commission payments which are a feature of your job etc. Three recent payslips Confirmation of what your income was for the previous two years this is available online via Revenues myAccount service and you are looking for your employment detail summary Savings statements 6 months but they may ask for 12 if your account is held with a bank you are not making the application with Loan account statements as above Current account statements as above Photo and address ID Stamp 1 or 4 work permit Repayment Options And once you are approved for a mortgage and you have identified a property and you have moved forward with getting a valuation carried out, next comes your letter of approval. And on this will be the address of the property, the conditions of the mortgage approval that you have to satisfy (arrange life cover, get the property insured etc) the amount you are borrowing, the term of the mortgage etc and one very important area is what type of mortgage you are proceeding ahead with. And your choice in this instance will be between a variable or a fixed rate mortgage. If you choose a variable rate, the monthly repayments could rise or fall and if you choose a fixed rate they will remain fixed for your chosen period. So, if you choose a five year fixed rate, you have certainty over what your next 60 monthly repayments will be. And this route is the one most favoured by first time buyers simply because of the certainty it gives them and its easier to budget and manage their finances each month. And heres an option that many people dont realise is available to them and thats opting for a mortgage thats part variable and part fixed. So, you could lock 85% of your mortgage into say a five year fixed rate with the other 15% on a variable rate. And why would you do this? Perhaps you think rates will fall and if they did the variable portion of your mortgage would fall. Or maybe you want to overpay your mortgage each month and if everything is on a fixed rate your lender may restrict the amount you can overpay, whereas if you have a variable portion youre not limited to the amount you can overpay. And its important to say that the variable and fixed rates available to Irish residents are available to foreign nationals who satisfy the criteria I referred to at the beginning of this article. Thats about it. I hope those Ive written this article for have found it useful. And Id say when applying for a mortgage, Id consider getting the help of a mortgage broker, someone whos been down this road many times with others who were once in your position. Their help and insights could be invaluable to you. But dont be afraid to speak directly with a bank yourself either, they too have super advisers who will guide you at each stage of the house buying and mortgage application process. Liam Croke is MD of Harmonics Financial Ltd, based in Plassey. He can be contacted at liam@harmonics.ie or www.harmonics.ie The CEOs of Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Nvidia Corp. are among the industry chieftains whove swung through the region in past months, committing billions of dollars in investment and holding forth with heads of state from Indonesia to Malaysia. Amazon.com Inc. just this week took over a giant conference hall in downtown Singapore to unfurl a $9 billion investment plan before a thousands-strong audience cheering and waving glow sticks. After decades of playing second fiddle to China and Japan, the region of about 675 million people is drawing more tech investment than ever. For data centers alone, the worlds biggest companies are set to splurge up to $60 billion over the next few years as Southeast Asias young populations embrace video streaming, online shopping and generative AI. Traditionally welcoming to Western investment, the regions moment has arrived as China turns more hostile to US firms and India remains tougher to navigate politically. Silicon Valley is setting its sights on business-friendly regimes, fast-growing talent pool and rising incomes. The advent of AI is spurring tech leaders to pursue new sources of growth, laying the digital infrastructure of the regions future. Countries like Singapore and Malaysia are largely neutral to the geopolitical tensions happening with China, US, Ukraine and Russia, said Sean Lim, a managing partner at Singapore-based NWD Holdings, which invests in AI-based projects and other areas. Especially with the ongoing wars, this region has become more attractive. Take Tim Cook and Satya Nadella, who last month embarked on their biggest tours across Southeast Asia in years. The investments they pledged are set to help turn the region into a major battleground between the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Google in future frontiers such as artificial intelligence and the cloud. The regions growing workforce is making it a viable alternative to China as a center of talent to support companies global operations. As its governments pushed for improvements in education and infrastructure, its become an attractive base for everything from manufacturing and data centers to research and design. The governments are pro cross-border investments and theres a deep talent pool, said NWDs Lim. Southeast Asia has also become a sizeable market for gadgets and online services. About 65% of Southeast Asia will be middle class by 2030, with rising purchasing power, according to Singapore government estimates. Thatll help more than double the regions market for internet-based services to $600 billion, according to estimates by Google, Temasek Holdings Pte and Bain & Co. Apple, whose pricey gadgets for long remained out of reach for the vast majority in the region, is now adding stores. Chief Executive Officer Cook toured Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore in late April, meeting prime ministers and announcing fresh investments as the company seeks new growth regions beyond China, where sales have sputtered. In Jakarta, besides pow-wows with the countrys leadership, Cook met a local influencer with almost 800,000 Instagram followers over chicken satay, and learned enough of the local language to say How are you in a video circulated on social media. On his X account, local customers asked Cook for an Apple Store and better servicing of Apple products in the country. Following the trip, Apple reported its revenue in Indonesia had reached a record, even as total global sales declined. These are markets where our market share is low, Cook said on a conference call last week. The populations are large and growing. And our products are really making a lot of progress. Microsoft CEO Nadella also received an enthusiastic welcome after meeting with the leaders of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand last week. In Bangkok, under a ballrooms shimmering chandeliers, he was seen shaking hands and conversing with high-ranking government officials and the countrys top business elites. Southeast Asias draw becomes apparent once you consider slowing toplines in Silicon Valley, which is struggling now to lay the foundations of AI anticipated to become an industry-defining technology. Within the next few weeks, two major AI-themed events in Singapore are set to feature top leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft and others to further tout the technologys promise for Southeast Asia. A specific catalyst for the tech companies is generative AI, with services like ChatGPT rapidly gaining users. Southeast Asias accelerating AI adoption has the potential to add about $1 trillion to the regions economy by 2030, according to a report by consulting firm Kearney. That means more data centers are needed to store and process the massive amounts of information traversing between content creators, companies and customers. Data center demand in Southeast Asia and North Asia is expected to expand about 25% a year through 2028, according to Cushman & Wakefield data. That compares with 14% a year in the US. By 2028, Southeast Asia will become the second largest non-US source of data center revenue in the world. Hotspots include Malaysias southern Johor Bahru region, where Nvidia last year teamed up with a local utility for a plan to build a $4.3 billion AI data center park. Nvidia is also targeting Vietnam, which CEO Jensen Huang sees as a potential second home for the company, local media reported during his visit in December. Huang was spotted enjoying street food and egg coffee, a Vietnam specialty, as he hung out with local tech contacts in a black T-shirt and jeans. The company has since reviewed Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang as potential locations for investments, with Keith Strier, its vice president of worldwide AI initiatives, touring the cities last month. A region consisting of about a dozen politically, culturally and geographically disparate countries, Southeast Asia isnt the easiest market for global companies to operate in. Risks include difficulties navigating local working cultures, as well as the volatility of the various currencies, said NWDs Lim. But for now, the tech majors are embracing the regions advantages such as its relatively low-cost yet highly skilled workforce helpful for building expensive technologies such as large language models that require not just a lot of cash but also skilled engineers. Most of the US firms announced training programs with local governments, with Microsoft promising to train a total 2.5 million people in AI skills in Southeast Asia by 2025. Shares of Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Ltd., the high-end electric car brand under Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., rose 35% after an expanded initial public offering thats the biggest US listing by a China-based company since 2021. Zeekrs American depositary shares closed at $28.26 apiece on Friday in New York, giving the company a value of about $6.9 billion. The company on Thursday raised $441 million from the sale of 21 million ADS priced at the top of a marketed range of $18 to $21. Underwriters have an option to purchase as many as 3.15 million more ADSs in an over-allotment option, which if exercised in full will lift the offering to 24.15 million ADSs, representing about 9.1% of Zeekrs issued share capital, according to an earlier statement. Geely Auto, Mobileye Global Inc. and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. were interested in subscribing for as much as $349 million worth of shares in the offering, Zeekr had said in its filings. Zeekrs offering adds to a US IPO market rebound that is steadily overtaking the lackluster volumes of the past two years. The roughly $17 billion raised via listings on US exchanges since Jan. 1 compares with less than $10 billion at this point last year, with close to half of 2023s volume coming from a single blockbuster, Johnson & Johnsons spinoff Kenvue Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Biggest Since Didi The listing by Zeekr is the biggest by a China-based firm in the US since Didi Global Inc.s $4.4 billion IPO almost three years ago. Days after the ride-hailing firm went public, it became the subject of investigation by Chinese regulators and delisted from the New York Stock Exchange less than a year later. The crackdown that ensued after Didis IPO, which spread to wide swaths of the countrys tech sector, crushed both share prices and US IPO activity. Since then, listings on New York exchanges by China-based companies have been small and rare. Zeekrs valuation suffered in the aftermath, too. The company said in February 2023 that it had been valued at $13 billion in a funding. Overcapacity in its domestic market also afflicts Zeekr and others such as BYD Co., leaving them eager to boost sales overseas. Zeekr warned investors in its prospectus that the Chinese government could intervene in its business to further its own regulatory, political and societal goals. Zeekr founder and Chairman Li Shufu will control about 75% of the shareholder voting power in the company after the IPO, according to the filings. He now presides over an empire that includes two other EV makers that are publicly traded in the US, as well as Volvo Car AB in Stockholm. Lotus, Polestar In February, Geely took automaker Lotus Technology Inc. public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. That followed Geelys Polestar Automotive Holding going public in a SPAC deal in 2022, and the listing of Volvo Car the previous year. Last year, Zeekr had a net loss of $1.16 billion on about $7.3 billion in revenue, with the latter increasing more than 60% from 2022, according to its filings. The Zeekr lineup includes the 001, a five-seat crossover and the X, a compact sport utility vehicle. The brand has also launched the 007, a premium sedan. GSEB 10th result 2024: The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSEB) declared the results for Class 10 today, May 11 at gseb.org. This year, the overall pass percentage registered was 82.56% is significantly higher than the previous year's where it stood at 64.62%. It surpassed the records of last ten years even the record set in 2011which was 71.06% and 70.65% in 2007. Celebrations were in full swing after Gujarat board declared SSC result. Also read: GSEB Gujarat 10th Result 2024 Live Updates: Gujarat Board SSC results OUT, Gandhinagar district outshines; stats here The video below shows students from Rajkot school marking the day by shaking a leg as happiness spurled the atmosphere. Video footage from Ahmedabad's The HB Kapadia New High School shows students cheering after declaration of result. Gujarat Education Minister Kuber Dindor took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to congratulate the students. The post read, Congratulations to all the students who have cleared the Class-10 exam announced by the Gujarat Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education and best wishes for a bright future. Gandhinagar district has recorded the best results, followed by Surat, Mehsana and Banaskantha. Porbandar district recorded the lowest pass percentage. ANI quoted chairman of GSEB, Banchhanidhi Pani as saying. Girls outperformed boys this year with pass percentage of 86.69% while that of boys stood at 79.12%. Commenting on the dropout ratio he said, I think these are very good results. This will lead to dropout ratio going down gradually, gross enrolment rate will go up and students will go to their skill-based avenues. Gandhinagar outperformed all districts in the state by registering the highest pass percentage, 87.22%. Surat district trailed close behind with 86.75% pass percentage. Porbander recorded lowest pass percentage 74.57%. Given below are pass percentages of other districts : Narmada -86.54%, Banaskantha -86.23% Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal predicted the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) loss in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 and said the party will be "wiped out in Punjab and Delhi". While addressing the public during a roadshow in Delhi on Saturday, Kejriwal said that on June 4, PM Modi's government will not come to power, but instead, the INDIA bloc government, of which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be a part, will be formed. He added that everyone is saying the BJP is not getting the majority, "their seats are decreasing in Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh". Kejriwal said during the Mehrauli roadshow, It has been 20 hours since I came out of jail. I have talked to many people on the phone. Everyone is saying that BJP is not getting the majority, their seats are decreasing in Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, and UP. They will be wiped out in Punjab and Delhi. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was also present with Arvind Kejriwal during the roadshow. This was the first roadshow that Kejriwal participated in after being released from Tihar Jail on Friday. While speaking on Saturday, Kejriwal also accused the BJP of trying to halt the AAP government's work, which he saw as a threat to democracy. He also urged the people to support him in his fight against BJP's "dictatorship". "They (BJP) want to stop our work. This is not a good thing for the country, this is dictatorship. And the common people have to fight against this dictatorship. I am fighting against this dictatorship, but I need your support," Kejriwal said. Kejriwal accused the Modi government of arresting him because he built schools and hospitals for the people of Delhi. "When they arrested me, I was wondering what my mistake was. My fault is that I have built good schools and hospitals for the people of Delhi. When I went to Tihar, they stopped my insulin for 15 days," the Delhi chief minister said. Arvind Kejriwal's statement came a day after he received a big relief from the Supreme Court. The court granted him interim bail till June 1 in the excise policy case on Friday. Kejriwal spent over 50 days in Tihar Jail after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy case on March 21, days after the election schedule for the general elections was announced. The bail is applicable till June 1 and Kejriwal has to surrender to authorities on June 2. The Delhi CM can participate in the poll campaigning but can not attend his office as Chief Minister. The Lok Sabha elections in Delhi's seven parliamentary constituencies will be held in a single phase on May 25. The counting of votes will be done on June 4. A sense of disquiet is sweeping over the old continent. Innovative, low-cost Chinese producers are taking on Europes venerable industries and unsettling its policymakers. Europe has played only a bit-part in the tech revolution: the market value of Americas magnificent seven" tech giants is about the same as that of the combined stockmarket capitalisation of the EUs 27 members. In an interview with us last week, President Emmanuel Macron offered his own diagnosis. There can be no great power without economic prosperity and technological sovereignty, but Europe does not produce enough wealth per capita." It must become an attractive place to invest and innovate. This requires vast amounts of capitaland a well-oiled financial system that channels savings to promising investment opportunities across the continent. The trouble is that European finance remains inefficient and bound by national borders. Pressing ahead with banking and capital-market reforms is thus more important than ever. A decade ago European banking was on its knees. The sovereign-debt crisis in the south exposed an infernal doom loop. Because banks held a lot of sovereign debt and governments had to bail out banks in difficulty, trouble at one infected the other. Lenders were unprofitable, unloved by investors and saddled with non-performing loans. Today those bad loans have been shed and profits have recovered. The share price of UniCredit, one of Italys largest lenders, has outperformed that of Meta this year. Big banks are now subject to European supervision and regulation, rather than a patchwork of national measures. Yet banking on the continent remains cumbersome and parochial. Europes banking union, first proposed in 2012, remains incomplete, mainly because a common deposit-insurance scheme has yet to be set up. One result is that the doom loop retains its power. Another is that too little cross-border activity and consolidation takes place. Regulators fear that if a bank collapses, they will be on the hook for loans made to dodgy borrowers beyond their borders. Without a common deposit-insurance scheme, governments require banks to use ring-fencing regimes to hoard liquidity that could have been more profitably deployed elsewhere. The time to press on with such a scheme is surely now, when non-performing loans are low everywhere and even southern banks are in good health. Banks are not the only source of finance. More must also be done to create a European capital market, which can help spread risks. National markets are underdeveloped: according to the imf, only 30% of companies financing comprises tradable securities in the euro area, compared with two-thirds in America. As a consequence, Europeans vast savings are locked up in bank deposits, small firms struggle to obtain finance and entrepreneurs bear too much risk. By one estimate, a shock of one percentage point to national GDP growth results in a 0.8-point fall in consumption in the eu, but only a 0.18-point fall in America, where the pain is shared by investors, creditors and the government. No wonder Americans are more go-getting. Although a proposal for a European capital-markets union was put forward in 2015, not much has been achieved. That is because regulations touching things like insolvencies, tax and disclosure have to be harmonised for an investor to see no difference between a security in Greece and one in Germany. Compared with whacking tariffs on Chinese cars, this is neither eye-catching nor easy. It is the spinach of public policy. Eat your greens Tariffs cheat European consumers by raising the cost of otherwise good and cheap products. By comparison, financial reforms channel Europes large pot of savings into profitable investments. They should encourage innovation and make the economy more resilient, by spreading risk more widely. Europe rightly worries that it is falling behind as America and China charge ahead in the race for technological supremacy. But, as with the two superpowers, one of its main strengths is size. To keep up, Europe should make the most of it. 2024, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com EZULWINI His Majesty King Mswati III has challenged the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) to give closer attention to its supervisory role for curbing reckless lending among emaSwati. His Majesty made these remarks when addressing guests during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the cBe coupled with the blessing of the new site for the headquarters of the financial institution. The King noted with concern that many emaSwati were falling prey to unscrupulous lenders, who have plunged them deep into debt traps. Our commercial banks require scrutiny to avoid giving rise to numerous social challenges, exacerbating poverty and reversing the gains made towards financial inclusion for all. Responsible lending will ensure that every business and citizens are economically empowered to achieve financial gain and prosperity, he said. The King also encouraged the bank to work towards establishing an independent banking system for the country that has its own switch facility. We believe that there are many investment opportunities in our financial and banking sectors. We wish to invite those who want to invest in this area to take advantage of the good financial environment that prevails in the kingdom, the King urged. His Majesty pointed out that establishing an independent banking system for the country would bring more opportunities for the public and private sectors, including the ordinary emaSwati citizens as the country increase its monetary movement in all spheres. Crucial His Majesty also acknowledged the crucial role played by the CBE in maintaining healthy national reserves, which gives the markets confidence in the nations ability to meet its external obligations. Healthy reserves also reinforce the value of the domestic currency with external assets, helping government to address its foreign exchange requirements and external debt commitments, he said. The King also said the nation was appreciative of the CBEs role in creating conducive environment that stimulates the development of various financial products like payment systems, savings, credit and insurance, among others. He noted that the various options and solutions have helped introduce many emaSwati, including the elderly (bogogo nabomkhulu) to simple digital financial services and platforms. His Majesty also said he was happy to note that since its commissioning on April 1, 1974, the CBE, 50 years later, has acquitted itself very well. It has not only managed to maintain the high quality of the local currency, Lilangeni, which is not easily forged, it has also developed a banking system that matches international standards. As we look back at the milestones achieved by the bank over the past five decades, we have several reasons that make such a celebration worthwhile. The King said during this period, the bank has successfully carried out its key role of fostering price and financial stability. It also provided sound financial advice across all seasons, which has contributed to Eswatinis economic stability, despite globally depressed financial growth. This was more noticeable during the COVID-19 pandemic. The King highlighted that the banking sector plays an important role in the growth of the economy and national development by protecting depositor money and prudently using it to provide access to financing for the corporate sector while also meeting the needs of individual borrowers. We applaud you for the regulatory role and encourage all relevant entities to continue collaborating with the central bank to ensure that we build a strong and resilient economy by fostering successful businesses. Prudent Adding, the King said: In the same vein, we urge the institutions to always engage in prudent financial practices and market conduct. They must not jeopardise the countrys banking systems or the safety and security of depositors funds. The King also recognised financial institutions in the country, making it clear that there would be no central bank without the various financial institutions in the kingdom. He emphasised on the importance of the Central Bank, pointing out that this financial institution plays a pivotal role in maintaining macroeconomic stability and regulating the financial sector, among other functions. The bank is also responsible for developing appropriate financial systems, institutions and policies to guard against illicit flows of money and money laundering. This is essential to protect the country as it trades with numerous countries around the world. The King said it was also imperative to safeguard the local banking system to build confidence in potential investors and trading partners. He urged the central bank to ensure that local systems are protected from external elements and cybercrime that could compromise the confidence and confidentiality of end users. We also urge the bank to continue working closely with international multilateral institutions to strengthen our capacity and enhance institutional capabilities in providing sound financial advice to help the country implement effective economic strategies. Speaking about the new headquarters for the central bank, the King shared that during the presentation of the master plan for this project, he was informed that the auxiliary buildings will include conference facilities, recreational facilities, financial services museum, innovation and centre of excellency to mention but a few. We are pleased with this capital development as the new structure will change the landscape of the fast-developing area of Ezulwini Valley. The King also acknowledged the conference for governors from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region as well as an alliance for financial inclusion meeting held earlier yesterday at the Royal Villas. He said the governors presence was proof of the CBEs efforts to collaborate with like-minded institutions, from which best practices on effective implementation of monetary policy, financial stability and economic integration, which are essential for the growth and development of any sector, can be shared. WHAT IS THE ideal job to outsource to artificial intelligence? Todays AIs, in particular the ChatGPT-like generative sort, have a leaky memory, cannot handle physical objects and are worse than humans at interacting with humans. Where they excel is in manipulating numbers and symbols, especially within well-defined tasks such as writing bits of computer code. This happens to be the forte of giant existing outsourcing businessesIndias information-technology (IT) companies. Seven of them, including the two biggest, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys, collectively laid off 75,000 employees last year. The firms say this reduction, equivalent to about 4% of their combined workforce, has nothing to do with AI and reflects the broader slowdown in the tech sector. In reality, they say, AI is an opportunity, not a threat. Business services are critical to Indias economy. The sector employs 5m people, or less than 1% of Indian workers, but contributes 7% of GDP and nearly a quarter of total exports. Simple services such as call centres account for a fifth of those foreign revenues. Three-fifths are generated by IT services such as moving data to the computing cloud. The rest comes from sophisticated processes tailored for individual clients. Capital Economics, a research firm, calculates that an extreme case, in which AI wiped out the industry entirely and the resources were not reallocated, would knock nearly one percentage point off annual GDP growth over the next decade in India. In a likelier scenario of a slow demise", the country would grow 0.3-0.4 percentage points less fast. View Full Image (The Economist) The simplest jobs are the most vulnerable. Data from Upwork, a freelancing platform, shows that earnings for uncomplicated writing tasks like copy-editing fell by 5% between ChatGPTs launch in November 2022 and April 2023, relative to roles less affected by AI. In the year after Dall-E 2, an image-creation model, was launched in April 2022, wages for jobs like graphic design fell by 7-14%. Some companies are using AI to deal with simple customer-service requests and repetitive data-processing tasks. In April K. Krithivasan, chief executive of TCS, predicted that maybe a year or so down the line" chatbots could do much of the work of a call-centre employee. In time, he mused, AI could foretell gripes and alleviate them before a customer ever picks up the phone. But Mr Krithivasan and fellow Indian IT bosses believe that in the age of AI the world is going to need more tech workers, not fewerand a lot of them will come from India. They are thinking how to turn the AI revolution to their firms advantage. One way is to use AI to boost the firms productivity. Infosys has rolled out AI helpers to all 330,000 of its employees. It says this has already led to a 10-30% reduction in the time needed to build some new applications. Sales assistants who previously waited hours or days to get input from colleagues in order to answer clients questions can now respond in 30 minutes. View Full Image (The Economist) The hope is that added efficiency will greatly boost demand for such services. Another source of fresh demandand the IT companies second big opportunityis for all-new tasks tied to clients deployment of AI in their organisations. The IT firms have been preparing for this. A paper last year by Alexander Copestake of the IMF and colleagues identified near-exponential growth" in demand for AI-related skills in Indias service sector since 2016. Two in five Indian AI job postings in the 2010s were in Bangalore, which is home to Infosys and where TCS has a large campus. These recruits have been busy. Infosys has already built AI tools, such as chatbots that answer queries based on internal company data, for 50 clients. An executive at TCS says his teams have been developing voice assistants for customers since before anyone heard of ChatGPT. Some liken the current AI moment to the lead-up to the year 2000, when Western businesses raced to prevent their computer systems from being fatally flummoxed by the zeroes marking the new millennium. Fear of the Y2K bug" enriched the Indian IT firms. A series of mini-Y2Ks, as clients rush to stay ahead of the fast-changing technology, may create another bonanza. The outsourcing giants hope that AI will also help them win back some business they have been losing to their multinational clients own Indian IT operations. In-house global capability centres" have been mushrooming in India in recent years. They make it easier for companies to safeguard sensitive data and intellectual property. But if AI tools become an off-the-shelf commodity like cloud storage, then economies of scale could give the IT-services specialists an edge. Last June Infosys acquired the IT centre in India belonging to Danske Bank, a Danish lender. Nandan Nilekani, chairman and co-founder of Infosys, argues that his company and its Indian IT rivals will benefit from what he calls velocity of experience". Already, he observes, one client wants a coding copilot"; another wants better customer support; a third wants to predict how a wildfire might affect an energy utility. Solving these diverse problems makes firms like Infosys well-suited to tackle new scenarios, he explains. In time, it may help them avoid a cliff-edge. 2024, The Economist Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com Madhya Pradesh High Courthas issued a notice to Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor Khan regarding the title of a book on her new pregnancy memoir"Kareena Kapoor Khan's Pregnancy Bible." The court notice was issued following a petition filed by an advocate, Christopher Anthony, against the use of the word "bible" in the book's title. As per the latest report by NDTV, a single-judge bench of Justice Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia of the Madhya Pradesh High Court issued the notice on advocate Christopher Anthony's petition to register a case against Kareena Kapoor Khan as well as the book's seller, Amazon. The court sought an answer from the actor on why the word "bible" was used in the title. Demanding a ban on the book's sale in his petition, advocate Anthony said, The word Bible is the name of the holy book in Christianity...there is a lot of anger in the society, adding that Kareena and the book's seller have been given time till July 1, 2024 to reply. Also Read | Rahul Gandhi accepts invitation for public debate with PM Modi amid LS polls "Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan launched a book which is named as 'Pregnancy Bible', the word Bible is the name of the holy book in Christianity...there is a lot of anger in the society regarding this...High Court took cognisance and issued notice to Kareena Kapoor Khan, Amazon...and sought answers. They have been given time till 1st July," advocate Christopher Anthony said. The report said Anthony, a social worker from Jabalpur, has alleged in his petition that the use of the word "bible" in the book's title is hurtful to the sentiments of the Christian community. " Also Read | 'PM Modi won't be replaced after 75': Amit Shah's reply to Arvind Kejriwal The Bible is the holy book of Christianity all over the world, and it is wrong to compare Kareena Kapoor Khan's pregnancy with the Bible," NDTV quoted Anthonys petition. Anthony alleged the actor used the word to gain "cheap publicity" for her book. The report said, the portioner earlier first tried to file a FIR (First Information Report) against the Bollywood diva, but the Madhya Pradesh Police refused to file a case. Also Read | 'Are you ready to retire?': Telangana CM Revanth Reddy takes dig at PM Modi His portioner in the lower court was rejected as the court observed that he failed to establish how the use of the word "bible" in the title was offensive. His plea in Additional Sessions Court was again rejected, Slightly aloof from the hustle and bustle of Indiranagar in Bengaluru, nestled amidst the greenery of a nursery and a garden store lies Nerlu cafe, a haven for coffee enthusiasts. This cafe has carved a niche for itself with its dedication to the art of coffee making. They brew coffee from roasts all over the country, with a colourful display of their packaging on one of the walls. While I usually order a flat white, the current heatwave had me looking at the cold beverages section of the menu on the wall. The citrus cold brew called out to meit seemed perfect for the hot morning. Just one sip and I knew that I had found my new favourite summer beverage. Its time to make cold brew your best friend this season. As fancy as it sounds, the process is rather simple. Coarse coffee grounds are steeped in cold water for an extended period, typically 12-24 hours in a jar. This long steeping allows the cold water to gradually extract the flavours, oils and caffeine from the coffee grounds, resulting in a smooth, rich brew with lower acidity and bitterness as compared to its hot-brewed counterparts. Once the brewing process is complete, the brew can be diluted with water or milk to achieve the desired strength and flavour profile. It can also be served over ice for a refreshing pick-me-up on a hot day or used as a base for a variety of creative coffee concoctions. In this case, the cold brew was combined with lots of ice and an orange syrup (the kind used for mocktails and cocktails) to give it a strong citrus flavour. You can also make a cold brew float by topping it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, along the lines of affogato, which is a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a shot of espresso. Also read: Mangoes shake up the cocktail scene While you get cold brew coffee makers, you dont need any specialised equipment to make it at home. A large mason jar or a French press works perfectly fine. Just make sure to grind the beans to a coarse consistency. Try making cold brew coffee at home from the method given below. Vietnamese iced coffee is another way to enjoy coffee during summer. The Vietnamese drip coffee brewing equipment called phin is quite similar to our south Indian coffee filter. Brew some strong coffee in the filter and pour it over condensed milk. Top with plenty of ice to serve it chilled. Like south Indian filter coffee, even the Vietnamese coffee blends used to prepare this coffee have a mix of chicory, so you can try this brew with any of the south Indian filter coffee powder brands. A Vietnamese blogger Hungry Huy recommends keeping the condensed milk in a squeezy bottle in the fridge for a quick and easy way to prepare this iced coffee. In the early 2000s, it was cool to sip on frappes in Cafe Coffee Day and Barista, when the coffee culture was just taking off in India. What I didnt know then was frappe is just a fancy term for our homely cold coffee. Of course, a good cafe will use freshly brewed coffee for the same over the instant coffee used in homes. To make frappes, brewed coffee (not hot), milk, sugar and ice are blended until frothy and icy, poured into a tall glass and then topped with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, or any other flavours to suit your indulgence. A loaded frappe can easily have the calorie load of a meal, so its nice to make it leaner at home with less sugar and skipping the whipped cream, ice cream and chocolate syrups. A nice low-cal touch would be to dust cinnamon powder, cocoa powder and a bit of shaved dark chocolate. If nothing, theres always iced Americano, a good dose of caffeine, refreshingly chilled and pretty much zero calories. What brew is beckoning you this summer? HOMEMADE COLD BREW Makes 3-4 servings Ingredients 1 cup coffee beans of choice 4 cups filtered water Method Grind the beans to a coarse consistency using a coffee grinder. In a 1.5-litre bottle or jar, combine the coffee with four cups of filtered water and stir well. Cover the jar and set aside for 8-12 hours depending on how strong you want it. I prefer letting it steep in the fridge given that our room temperature is hitting over 35 degrees Celsius. Pass it through a fine-meshed sieve lined with a double layer of muslin cloth or through a nut-milk bag. Save the cold brew in an jar in the fridge. This will last well for a week. Cold brew made this way is quite strong, so it is best to have it diluted. Combine one part cold brew with one part cold water or milk (dairy or alt milk) or serve over lots of ice. Add a flavour of choice like orange syrup, hazelnut, caramel or vanilla. ESPRESSO TONIC ON ICE Makes 2 Ingredients 2 shots espresso (made in a espresso machine or mokapot) 2 bottles low-sugar tonic water (I love using Vaums Elderflower Rosemary Botanical water) 2 sprigs of rosemary Lots of ice Method Make the espresso ahead of time and let it cool down to room temperature. Take a highball or Collins glass for this drink. Half fill both the glasses with ice cubes. Pour the tonic water over the ice. Pour one shot of espresso each into the glasses and gently stir to mix. Garnish with rosemary sprigs. You can also use simple soda instead of tonic, if the clash of flavours between the tonic water and espresso are not to your taste. Double Tested is a fortnightly column on vegetarian cooking, highlighting a single ingredient prepared two ways. Nandita Iyers latest book is The Great Indian ThaliSeasonal Vegetarian Wholesomeness (Roli Books). She posts @saffrontrail on Twitter and Instagram. Delhi police issued a special traffic advisory for the today that will remain effective from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The Delhi traffic advisory stated, due to special traffic arrangements on 11.05.2024, movement of general traffic will be regulated on the following roads and junctions from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Entire Kalka Dass Marg Aurobindo Marg T.B. Hospital to MCD Park Roundabout Qutab Minar Internal Roads around SDM Office Mehrauli, Police Station Mehrauli Anuvrat Marg from T.B. Hospital to Andheria Mor Commuters are requested to cooperate by avoiding/bypassing the above-mentioned roads, if possible, and by making maximum use of public transport, especially Metro services. Further, general public is advised to keep sufficient time at hand while planning road journey via the above-mentioned roads and junctions. Arvind Kejriwal to visit Hanuman Temple, hold roadshow today Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit the Hanuman Temple at Connaught Place today a day after he walked out of Tihar Jail after being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court. The Chief Minister is also scheduled to hold a press conference later in the day at the Aam Aadmi Party office in Delhi. The Aam Admi Party national convenor said on Friday that he would also participate in a road show in South Delhi in the evening. Kejriwal spent over 50 days in Tihar Jail after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy case on March 21, days after the election schedule for the general elections was announced. The bail is applicable till June 1 and Kejriwal has to surrender to authorities on June 2. The Delhi CM can participate in the poll campaigning but can not attend his office as Chief Minister. (Bloomberg) -- Steve Bannon, a longtime adviser to former President Donald Trump, failed to persuade a federal appellate panel in Washington to toss his conviction for contempt of Congress. Bannon deliberately refused to comply with a subpoena requiring him to testify before a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, a three-judge panel for the District of Columbia Circuit Court ruled Friday. Bannons failure to appear was no accident and there was no basis for him to claim hed relied on his attorneys advice, the panel wrote. A jury convicted Bannon in 2022 for refusing to testify and hand over documents to the committee. The 70-year-olds four-month jail sentence had been stayed pending his appeal of the conviction. Todays decision is wrong as a matter of law and it reflects a very dangerous view of the threshold for criminal liability for any defendant in our country and for future political abuses of the congressional hearing process, Bannon attorney David Schoen said in an emailed statement. Bannon will ask that his case be heard by the full appellate court, Schoen said. Bannon argued on appeal that his constitutional rights were infringed because he wasnt allowed to explain to a jury why he didnt respond to the subpoena. Bannon said hed been advised by his then-attorney Robert Costello that he was bound by executive privilege, and that he relied on previous Justice Department opinions that shielded presidential advisers. Mr. Bannon knows only what Mr. Costello told him, Schoen argued at a November hearing before the three-judge appellate panel. He did what a lay person should do. He hired a lawyer. US District Judge Carl Nichols, who presided at the contempt trial, cited a longstanding court decision called Licavoli in restricting Bannon from using an advice of counsel defense. But the conviction, the judge said Bannons appeal raises a substantial question of law that is likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial. However, the appellate panel concluded that this exact advice of counsel defense is no defense at all. Bannons request to depart from Licavoli must clear a high bar, which it failed to do, the court said. The panel reasoned that under Bannons interpretation of the law, effectively enforcing congressional subpoenas would be exceedingly difficult because there would be an additional requirement to prove that failing to respond was done in bad faith. Otherwise, any subpoenaed witness could decline to respond and claim they had a good-faith belief that they need not comply, regardless of how idiosyncratic or misguided that belief may be, the panel wrote. Prosecutors have characterized Bannon as acting above the law in his refusal to cooperate with the congressional committee. The government also pointed out that Trump didnt invoke executive privilege and most of the information sought from Bannon wasnt covered by that protection. Bannon, a prominent right-wing media personality who is credited with helping Trump win the presidency, is one of the only members of the former presidents inner circle to face charges for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee. In September, former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro was convicted on the same charges. The appellate case is US v. Bannon, 22-3086, US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. (Adds comment from Bannons attorney in fourth paragraph) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com On Friday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was granted an interim bail by the Supreme Court in the money laundering case to campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. A Supreme Court bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta granted interim bail to Kejriwal till June 1. Justice Sanjiv Khanna is the senior among the two judges and is also the in line to become the next Chief Justice of India (CJI) after the incumbent CJI DY Chandrachud retires in November 2024. Khanna was elevated to the Supreme Court in January 2019. His appointment as a SC judge had sparked a controversy as he was appointed directly to the Supreme Court, despite 33 judges senior to him in age and experience being in line. He is also related to the SC judge Hans Raj Khanna, who had resigned from his judgeship during the emergency. Justice Sanjiv Khannas career Justice Sanjiv Khanna, born on 14 May 1960, holds a law degree from the Delhi University. In 1983, after enrolling as a lawyer with the Bar Council of Delhi he started his practice in Delhis district court. Later, he switched to the Delhi High Court and tribunals. Khanna has practiced in the fields of constitutional law, direct taxes, arbitration and commercial matters, company law, land laws, environment and pollution laws and medical negligence. Prior to becoming the Supreme Court judge, Khanna was a judge in the Delhi High Court for 14 years from 2005. According to his profile on the Supreme Court website, He (Khanna) had also argued a number of criminal cases in the Delhi High Court as an Additional Public Prosecutor, and on appointment by the Court as an amicus curia. This year in April, Justice Khanna had passed a judgment dismissing a petition seeking cross-verification of the votes cast in EVMs (electronic voting machines) with VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail). Justice Khanna was also a part of the Supreme Court bench that struck down the constitutional validity of the electoral bonds scheme. Kejriwal bail The SC bench had said Kejriwal, arrested in the money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2. Kejriwal being granted interim bail after 40 days is no less than a miracle. There is also a divine hint that the prevailing conditions are going to change in the country. His release will pave the way for big changes in the country, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj had said at a press conference at the party office. (Bloomberg Law) -- US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas decried the nastiness and the lies he and his wife Ginny have had to endure in recent years. Theres certainly been a lot of negativity for my wife and I in the last few years, Thomas said Friday at a conference of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Point Clear, Alabama. But we choose not to focus on that. Thomas was the focus of controversy over Supreme Court ethics in 2023, after reports emerged that he accepted luxury travel via yacht and private jet from billionaire businessman and conservative political donor Harlan Crow without disclosing the gifts publicly. The justice also sold real estate including his childhood home in Georgia to Crow and failed to include those deals in his annual financial disclosures. ProPublica received a Pulitzer Prize on May 6 for its role in uncovering the financial connections. On Friday, Thomas recounted a conversation with a friend during a walk around his neighborhood years ago. Thats before they started attacking my friends, Thomas said. I hope I still have some. Thomas also described Washington as a place where people pride themselves in being awful. It is a hideous place as far as Im concerned, Thomas said. Its one of the reasons we like RVing, he added. You get to be around regular people who dont pride themselves in doing harmful things merely because they have the capacity to do it or because they disagree. The Supreme Court for the first time adopted a code of conduct in November, but it said the policy mostly affirmed existing principles around judicial ethics. It also opted against a system for receiving and investigating public complaints that applies to other federal judges. Moderating Thomas Q&A-style talk on Friday was Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, previously a law clerk for Thomas who became one of nations youngest federal judges when then-President Donald Trump appointed her in 2020. The American Bar Association rated her as not qualified at the time because of her limited experience, but she narrowly won Senate confirmation to the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida. She drew praise from conservatives in 2022 for striking down the Biden administrations pandemic-era mask mandate for airline travel. Questioning Precedent Mizelle asked Thomas about his tendency to write separate or dissenting opinions that question the wisdom of long-standing precedent, as he did with the constitutional right to abortion prior to the court striking down that right in 2022 with its Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health decision. My granddaddy would always say, boy, if it dont make no sense, it dont make no sense, Thomas said. Im not going to reflexively go along with something simply because others have always gone along with it, he added. Mizelle recalled Thomas holding his law clerks to tough but clear expectations such as getting the work done perfectly and on time, which he said originated from lessons learned on his grandparents farm when he was growing up in south Georgia. If you live on a subsistence farm, you either closed the chicken yard up or you didnt. OK, if you didnt, you may not have any chickens tomorrow, he said. Everything is this fine line between getting stuff done right and existing and eating and having food for the next year. Thomas also praised the revised format for Supreme Court oral arguments that emerged during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. The justice had a reputation for rarely speaking during arguments prior to Covid, which he said was because the format struck him as rude, with justices and attorneys interrupting and talking over each other. Its much better. We allow lawyers to argue their cases, he said. It may take a bit longer, but its more thorough. I think its more polite, and you actually listen to the lawyers. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Marr in Point Clear, Alabama at cmarr@bloombergindustry.com To contact the editor responsible for this story: Seth Stern at sstern@bloombergindustry.com More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com (Bloomberg Law) -- US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas decried the nastiness and the lies he and his wife Ginny have had to endure in recent years. Theres certainly been a lot of negativity for my wife and I in the last few years, Thomas said Friday at a conference of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Point Clear, Alabama. But we choose not to focus on that. Thomas was the focus of controversy over Supreme Court ethics in 2023, after reports emerged that he accepted luxury travel via yacht and private jet from billionaire businessman and conservative political donor Harlan Crow without disclosing the gifts publicly. The justice also sold real estate including his childhood home in Georgia to Crow and failed to include those deals in his annual financial disclosures. ProPublica received a Pulitzer Prize on May 6 for its role in uncovering the financial connections. The Supreme Court for the first time adopted a code of conduct in November, but it said the policy mostly affirmed existing principles around judicial ethics. It also opted against a system for receiving and investigating public complaints that applies to other federal judges. Moderating Thomas Q&A-style talk on Friday was Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, previously a law clerk for Thomas who became one of nations youngest federal judges when then-President Donald Trump appointed her in 2020. The American Bar Association rated her as not qualified at the time because of her limited experience, but she narrowly won Senate confirmation to the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida. She drew praise from conservatives in 2022 for striking down the Biden administrations pandemic-era mask mandate for airline travel. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Marr in Atlanta at cmarr@bloombergindustry.com To contact the editor responsible for this story: More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com (Bloomberg) -- Ajit AJ Khubani made a fortune selling contraptions such as the PedEgg, for removing callouses from feet, and the Horsepower, for getting rid of grime, through As Seen on TV ads. Now, the infomercial king is about to plow that money into one of the largest real estate purchases ever made in the Miami area. Khubani agreed to pay $100 million for three parcels of a waterfront compound on an island in Miami Beach, said people with knowledge of the matter, asking not to be identified because the information is confidential. A second buyer would purchase the remaining fourth parcel for $22 million. All told, the nearly 3-acre (1.2 hectares), La Gorce Island estate would go for about $122 million, making it the most-expensive home ever sold in the Miami area. The previous record was the mansion Ken Griffin purchased in 2022 for $107 million, which so far has been the only purchase in the Miami area that has topped $100 million. Khubani didnt respond to calls and messages seeking comment. The La Gorce property was initially put up for sale for $170 million in 2022, according to a listing. It belonged to Dr. M. Lee Pearce, a physician and health-care investor who died in 2017. Proceeds from the sale are slated to go to his charitable foundation. The estate is made up of four parcels: The three Khubani is buying, which include two houses and a private park, and a fourth with a bigger home that will go to a different buyer. All together, it adds up to 12 bedrooms and four marinas. Final terms of the purchase, at 18 La Gorce Circle, still hinge on securing local authorizations to split the estate. Khubani was born in New Jersey to a family of Indian immigrants. He and his brothers operate several companies, like BulbHead and Ideavillage, that sell products under the As Seen on TV banner. The family has made money on South Florida real estate recently, with one of the brothers, Anand, selling a vacant oceanfront lot in Palm Beach for $85 million last month, records show. He had bought the property for $12.7 million in 2005. The transaction was reported by the Real Deal. Sales of luxury South Florida homes have been fueled by ultra-rich buyers like Jeff Bezos and Griffin. Developers have started marketing penthouses in new high-end towers for over a $100 million, banking on the continued inflow of deep-pocketed buyers lured by warmer weather and lower taxes. Jill Eber, Jill Hertzberg and Danny Hertzberg of Coldwell Banker Realty represented the seller on the La Gorce deal. Brett Harris, with Douglas Elliman, and Bespoke Real Estate were on the buyers side. (Updates with details on brokers in final paragraph) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com As many as 9,681 children have been wrongly incarcerated in adult prisons in India over a period of six years, a study by legal justice non-profit iProbono, has found. The study titled Incarceration of Children In Prisons in India relies on data obtained through 124 Right to Information (RTI) applications filed between April 2022 and March 2023 across 28 states and two union territories. The data we received indicates that at least 9,681 children were wrongly incarcerated in adult prisons across the country between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2021, reads the report launched by two children in conflict with the law (CCLs) who lost crucial years of their lives lodged in prisons at New Delhi's India Islamic Cultural Center on May 11. 9,681 children wrongly incarcerated in adult prisons in 6 years: Report "For six years, i thought the jail would be the end of my life. I lost my childhood," said one of the children on the occasion. Justice S Ravindra Bhat, former Supreme Court judge and former chairperson of the Supreme Court Juvenile Justice Committee, delivered the keynote address on the occasion. Gitanjali Prasad, lead author of the report and advisor to iProbono, presented the context to and main findings of the study. A press statement issued by iProbono said that the study examines the effective implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act) which legally mandates that a child alleged to have committed an offence, or found guilty of an offence, is to be placed in an appropriate juvenile home - such as an observation home, special home, or a place of safety - and not an adult prison. District prison Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, for example, had the highest number of children (294) transferred in six years, despite there being no Juvenile Justice Board visits. Among the five UP central jails, only Central Prison Naini transferred children 203 during the period of study. Similarly, in district prison Araria and Central Prison Bhagalpur of Bihar, the number of children identified by JJBs was greater than the number of children transferred from prisons to juvenile homes. Two states Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal (with the 3rd and 6th highest prison populations, respectively, based on 2022 data), didn't respond to RTI queries, according to the report. Also Read: A juvenile rush to justice The report comes amid overcrowding of Indian prisons. The prison occupancy rate has shot up in the last five years, shows the 2023 Prison Statistics India Report. The intent behind the study is to both protect a children in conflict with the law (CCLs) from any mental or physical trauma that they may be subjected to in prison, the report said. MBABANE Nine years ago, the cost for the construction of the Strategic Oil Reserve Facility at Phuzumoya stood at E900 million. In the financial year 2022/2023 and 2023/2024, the custodian of the facility, Eswatini National Petroleum Company (ENPC) had fixed the costs at E2.1 billion. From January 2024 to the present, the ENPC had not changed the budget for the facility until companies from Taiwan got involved in the project. This newspaper can reveal that CECI, a Taiwanese engineering company, has tabled the proposed costs of the construction of the Strategic Oil Reserve Facility, which the entity fixed at US$380 million, the equivalent of E7 billion in the current foreign exchange rate. That could be the most expensive project in the country, as the International Convention Centre and Five-Star Hotel (ICC&FISH) project commenced with a budget of E370 million. The Sikhuphe project has cost the taxpayer, so far, around E4.5 billion, excluding other related costs incurred when government, among other things, built link roads and payment of licensing fees for the airport. On the other hand, by March 31, 2023, the actual expenditure incurred by government in the construction of the ICC&FISH stood at E5.48 billion (E5 478 304 000). Strategic The estimated total cost of the project, which began about a decade ago, is around E8 billion now. There are fears that if the Phuzumoya Strategic Oil Reserve Facility costs E7 billion at its inception, it means the future project costs may escalate to E15 billion. On December 26, 2023, it was reported that the Botswana Oil Limited (BOL), a national oil company, began the construction of a 60 million-litre storage facility at a total cost of E1.3 billion, the equivalent of USD$74.5 million. On March 8, 2024, the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) announced that the first phase of the new fuel storage facility would cost over E2.5 billion. The new reserve facility in Buloba is designed to store up to 320 million litres of fuel. It is also building another 60 million-litre fuel storage facility in Kampala for E918 million. The Burgan Cape Terminals (Pty) Ltd, South Africa, built the 118 million-litre fuel storage capacity in Cape Town at a cost of E1.2 billion. It was built because of the shortage of oil refinery facilities in Cape Town, long haul distances and congested loading at existing facilities. It was launched on August 30, 2017. The facility was built by VTTI, which had shown interest in constructing the Phuzumoya fuel storage facility at a cost of E900 million. Meanwhile, it has been established that the company to carry out the construction part of the Phuzumoya project is Overseas Investment & Development Corporation (OIDC), which signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ENPC last year. Resistance Impeccable sources said the E7 billion budget proposal has received resistance from almost all government sectors, from Cabinet to the technocrat level, with some of them calling upon Parliament to stop the highly inflated project cost. Others are of the opinion that the proposed figure, E7 billion as it were, should rather be used to finance the upgrading of the 500km road network, a project that government will be undertaking in this current financial year. According to the proposed costs submitted to government by the engineering company, the taxpayer will pay E1.4 billion (E1 400 240 000) for the management/procurement services and engineering. For field construction, the costs have been fixed at E1.932 billion (E1 932 000 000), while equipment and materials supply will require government to pay E2.162 billion. Documents seen by this publication reveal a sum of E555 312 000, which the company requests government to set aside for construction management. It has been established that the construction levy will cost E30 448 320. In fact, the total budget is US$330 434 800, the equivalent of E6 080 000 320. However, the total budget, inclusive of 15 per dent Value Added Tax (VAT) amounts to US$380 000 000, the equivalent of E7 billion. There are optional budgets which CECI proposed, including additive tanks and pumps that can cost E92 million and rail siding at a cost of E58.88 million. The inflated costs of the project, as proposed by the Taiwanese company, has influenced Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo to file a question for the attention of the Minister of Natural Resources and Energy, Prince Lonkhokhela, who met CECI in his ministrys boardroom last Monday. According to the Notice Paper of the Eswatini House of Assembly, MP Khumalo will call upon the minister to first disclose the reasons for the expulsion of the Board of the ENPC. The Board was chaired by a well known local property mogul and engineer, Muziwandile Dlamini, popularly known as MA. Hijacked In his question, MP Khumalo would want the prince to confirm if he was not dancing to the tune of a foreign country in Asia that has allegedly hijacked the project for its own economic benefit. According to the Notice Paper, the MP asked: Could the minister of Natural Resources and Energy inform this honourable House about the reasons behind the expulsion of the Board of Eswatini National Petroleum Company (ENPC), two months before the end of their term, and further confirm if he is not dancing to the tune of a foreign country in Asia that has hijacked the project for its own economic benefit, in view of the fact that its proposal for the project is around E8 billion, whereas the ENPC had concluded that the project will cost in the region of E2.1 billion? He would also call upon the minister to explain to the House why he has chosen to allegedly violate the procurement laws of this country, including the Public Finance Management Act, as amended, by not putting the Fuel Strategic Oil Reserve project to tender. Investigations carried out by the news desk has also revealed that ENPC has obtained a loan of E1 billion in local currency to facilitate some phases of the project, with external funders also showing an interest in aiding the public enterprise. It has been learnt that the ENPC and over 95 per cent of members of government, mainly those who sit in decision-making meetings, were convinced that they would build storages for the 80 million-litre fuel project at a cost of E2.1 billion. The custodian of Eswatini money, Neal Rijkenberg, the Minister of Finance, referred enquiries to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy. Nhlanhla Dlamini, the Chief Executive Officer of ENPC, also referred enquiries to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy. Advised After being advised by his principals, Sikelela Dlamini, the Communications Officer in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy, advised this newspaper to contact CECI as the said company is better positioned to unpack the proposed budget. Khoza also said this newspaper should advisably touch base with the ENPC as they were also better placed to respond to the commencement date of the project. Pertaining to this project, ENPC said the ministry was better positioned to offer advice. Under normal circumstances or as government procedure dictates, it is the project owner who address such matters with the media or the public, especially where budget matters are concerned. In this case, the project owner is government through the ENPC. However, sources in government and ENPC said the issue was at ministerial level; hence, CECI representatives went to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy to brief the minister and senior officials on the progress of the project. Even then, CECIs contacts were not shared with this newspaper and it was not possible to get hold of them last night. It must be emphasised though that this matter is now before Parliament, the legislative branch of government. The Times SUNDAY reported in its previous edition that projects for CECI Engineers Consultants in the country included the King Mswati III (KMIII) International Airport, where it provided design and construction supervision services. The scope of work included inter-related civil and landscaping engineering works such as roads, drainage, parking, landscape, etc. It was understood that CECI was instrumental in the construction of the KMIII International Airport. Development The KMIII International Airport, a three-storey structure, replaced the former Matsapha International Airport. His Majesty King Mswati III officially opened the airport in 2014. KMIII International Airport has the capacity of handling 300 000 passengers per year. CECI also offered engineering expertise during the construction of the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP). It commenced the feasibility study and master planning services for the park development in 2008. Research by the Times SUNDAY revealed that the company then carried out design services and supervised construction. The RSTP is divided into two divisions. These are the IT Park and the Biotechnology Park. It manages about 317.17 hectares of land, for which 152 hectares is dedicated to industrial development land and 165.17 hectares shared between research and laboratories, administration centres and residential buildings. Then in September 2023, Taiwan agreed to help Eswatini, its only African ally, by building the new oil tank in the country, according to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) inked between the two sides. Overseas Investment and Development Corporation (OIDC), a Taiwanese company focused on carrying out government overseas aid projects, was contracted to build the strategic oil facility. Construct Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua said Eswatini had hoped to construct an oil tank that could store at least 30 days of oil reserves. Outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen, who was on a four-day visit to Eswatini, lauded the agreement as a milestone for relations between the two countries. The outgoing president remarked that both countries had been in talks about the construction project for some time, adding that the planned facility would help to ensure the security of the countrys energy supply. It is understood that since Eswatini imports most of its oil products from South Africa, it is, therefore, susceptible to volatile international crude oil prices, according to the countrys government website. As a result, government mandated its national oil company, ENPC to build and operate the oil reserve facilities as part of the effort to address the issue and better ensure energy security. The MoU was signed by OIDC General Manager Jeff Chung and ENPC CEO Nhlanhla Dlamini. His Majesty King Mswati III and President Tsai witnessed the signing of the MoU. OIDC was established in 1995 by several State-run and private companies in Taiwan to undertake aid and infrastructure projects launched by the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in its allied nations. It was not immediately clear if it had undertaken a fuel storage facility. It is said that the oil reserve facility will enable security of fuel supply and significantly contribute towards the socio-economic development of the country through infrastructural development and job creation. On its website, the ENPC states that it is the countrys national oil company established by the Petroleum Act No.18 of 2020 and has been mandated by government to build and operate a Strategic Oil Reserve Facility at Phuzumoya. The company says the facility will enable security of fuel supply and significantly contribute towards the socio-economic development of the country through infrastructural development and job creation. In November 2023, ENPC invited companies for pre-qualification of contractors for the proposed construction of the Strategic Fuel Reserve Facility at Phuzumoya. Disruptions This was referred to as Tender No.10 of 2023/2024. According to the project background as relayed by the ENPC, the public entity is planning to construct a Strategic Oil Reserve Facility at Phuzumoya that will be central to the countrys goal of having security in energy supply and mitigate fuel supply disruptions. Currently, Eswatini sources petroleum products from the international markets through the Republic of South Africa and Mozambique. Most of the products are distributed from the commercial storage facilities in Matsapha. The company said the stock was, however, generally limited to approximately two to three days storage, despite the Petroleum Act of 2020 mandating the Oil Companies to hold 14-days commercial stock. As a result, the Government of Eswatini, through ENPC, intends to develop a Strategic Oil Storage Facility. The facility will hold up to 80 million litres of fuel stock, which is equivalent to 60 days consumption for the country. It will also offer blending for all its 95-ULP. JERUSALEM (AP) A European naval force detained six suspected pirates on Friday after they opened fire on an oil tanker traveling through the Gulf of Aden, officials said, likely part of a growing number of piracy attacks emanating from Somalia. The attack on the Marshall Islands-flagged Chrystal Arctic comes as Yemen's Houthi rebels have also been attacking ships traveling through the crucial waterway, the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting them. The assaults have slowed commercial traffic through the key maritime route onward to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. The pirates shot at the tanker from a small ship carrying weapons and ladders, according to the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which oversees Mideast shipping routes. The pirates carried Kalashnikov-style rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the private security firm Ambrey said. The pirates opened fire first at the Chrystal Arctic, whose armed, onboard security team returned fire at them, the UKMTO said. The pirates then abandoned their attempt to take the tanker, which continued on its way with all its crew safe, the UKMTO said. Dark black smoke came out of the small boat carrying the pirates, likely from a burning fuel drum, Ambrey said. Hours later, the European Union naval force in the region known as Operation Atalanta said a frigate operating in the region detained six suspected pirates. The frigate seized the pirates given the unsafe condition of their skiff and said that some had injuries of varied severity. It wasn't immediately clear if those injured suffered gunshot wounds from the exchange of fire with the Chrystal Arctic. The EU force declined to elaborate due to the security of the operations. Ambrey identified the EU vessel as Italy's Carlo Bergamini-class frigate ITS Federico Martinego. Once-rampant piracy off the Somali coast diminished after a peak in 2011. That year, there were 237 reported attacks in waters off Somalia. Somali piracy in the region at the time cost the world's economy some $7 billion with $160 million paid out in ransoms, according to the Oceans Beyond Piracy monitoring group. Increased naval patrols, a strengthening central government in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, and other efforts saw the piracy beaten back. However, concerns about new attacks have grown in recent months. In the first quarter of 2024, there have been five reported incidents off Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau. These incidents were attributed to Somali pirates who demonstrate mounting capabilities, targeting vessels at great distances, from the Somali coast, the bureau warned in April. It added that there had been several reported hijacked dhows and fishing vessels, which are ideal mother ships to launch attacks at distances from the Somali coastline. In March, the Indian navy detained dozens of pirates who seized a bulk carrier and took its 17 crew hostage. In April, pirates releases 23 crew members of the Bangladesh-flagged cargo carrier MV Abdullah after seizing the vessel. The terms of the release aren't immediately known. (Bloomberg) -- US health officials are putting more than $100 million toward ramping up surveillance of bird flu in cattle and people amid rising concerns that the outbreak has spread more widely than reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration will use the funding to detect and track the virus, called H5N1, thats been spreading in wild birds, poultry and domestic cows, according to a statement Friday. Scrutiny of the CDCs response to health crises has risen after widespread criticism for inadequate early testing for emerging health threats such as Covid and the mpox virus. While just one H5N1 infection has been recorded in a person in the US so far, scientists have cautioned that virus has the potential to mutate into something far more transmissible and dangerous. The CDC will use $34 million to test for and analyze viral sequences, while another $29 million will be dedicated to tracing and monitoring people who may have come into contact with the virus. Other funds will be used to study vaccine candidates and wastewater sites. The CDC is also distributing protective equipment to farm workers, prioritizing those with infected herds. Observation of the virus has been spotty. Some dairy farms have hesitated to invite the CDC for surveillance, facing a potential financial impact if sick cows are found. Migrant workers who staff farms are leery of government officials, fearing job loss if they show signs of exposure to the virus. No states have invited the CDC to test, which has created blind spots in understanding the scope of the outbreak. Read More: Just One Human Is Infected by Bird Flu. More US Cases Likely The CDC maintains that the risk to humans is low. However, six new farms reported infected cattle this week - up from the earlier count of 36 farms in nine states - prompting concern over the viruss spread. About 30 people have been tested for H5N1 this year, and 220 have been monitored for symptoms. The CDC is ready to deploy epidemiological teams, but is awaiting states invitations, Director Mandy Cohen said in an interview Monday. The Department of Agriculture is making funding available to dairy farms dealing with cattle outbreaks, including financial incentives to distribute protective equipment. Farms could receive up to $28,000 each over the next 120 days, including reimbursements for veterinarian costs and testing, if they help increase herd surveillance. The FDA will dedicate an additional $8 million to support milk supply surveillance and pasteurization. One in five milk samples contains fragments of the avian flu virus, the agency said in April, but pasteurization kills it. Tests for live virus in eggs have been negative, the FDA said. The agency said last week that it tested 297 retail dairy samples, and all were negative. --With assistance from Riley Griffin and Madison Muller. (Updates with additional details from third paragraph.) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Maldives foreign minister Moosa Zameer on Saturday said 76 Indian military personnel were replaced by civilian personnel sent by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Maldives-based Sun Online reported. HAL had manufactured the helicopters donated by the Indian government to Maldives. Indian soldiers were deployed in Hanimaadhoo, Kadhdhoo and Gan. 26 soldiers withdrew from Gan between March 7-9, while another 25 soldiers withdrew from Hanimaadhoo between April 7-9 and 12 withdrew from Kadhdhoo on May 7, said the Sun Online report citing Moosa Zameer. He also said that civilians have been brought in to replace Indian soldiers and the civilian crew will leave in April 2026. Civilians have been brought in to replace all of them, to maintain and manage [the aircrafts]. We want to note that only the necessary number had been here before, as well. Further, he stated that the letter of exchange signed between Maldives and India mentions when the civilian crew will depart from Maldives, according to the report. The contract period of the 26-member crew in Gan and 25-member crew in Kadhdhoo expires in February 2025, and the contract period of the 25-member crew in Hanimaadhoo expires in February 2026, it added. Their period of stay is declared in the latest letter of exchange signed with us. The period will remain in place for long as there are no amendments made to this letter of exchange. We will engage in further talks with the Indian government based on need, Moosa Zameer also said. Earlier on May 10, Indias ministry of external affairs had confirmed the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from the Maldives and the deputation of competent persons to the archipelago nation. In an agonizing incident, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Islamabad to Skardu left the body of a six-year-old child at the Islamabad International Airport on Friday while his grieving parents continued their journey, unaware of the shocking mistake, ANI reported on Saturday. The report said the parents of the deceased boy fainted due to shock and disbelief at Skardu airport when they learnt that their son's mortal remains had been left behind at Islamabad's airport. The report further said that the boy, Mujtaba--a resident of Kharmang district's Katshi village-- was diagnosed with a brain tumour at a hospital in Skardu, and doctors referred him to Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi for treatment a month ago. However, Mujtaba died on Thursday. Also Read | Modi to retire next year, who is your next PM? Arvind Kejriwal questions BJP Mujtabas grieving parents decided to transport his body to Katshi for burial. They booked a PIA flight for Friday and confirmed their tickets on flight PK-451 from Islamabad to Skardu. The grief-stricken parents of Mujtaba brought the body to Islamabad airport at 6 am and completed the cargo procedure for the body after fulfilling SOPs and the airlines rules and making the payment. Also Read | BJP-YSRCP tie-up in Andhra Pradesh? PM Modi says 'never considered Jagan Mohan Reddy as an ally, but...' The report quoted a relative of the deceased child as saying that the body was scheduled to be transported with the parents to Skardu from Islamabad at 9 am, but the flight got delayed for four hours. When the flight arrived at the Skardu airport at 2 pm, the parents were informed that mistakenly the body was not loaded on the aircraft and was left behind at the Islamabad Airport. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on May 11 invoked former Prime Minister and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee while pushing for talks between India and Pakistan after new government comes at the Centre post Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Abdullah, the vice president of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), expressed hope that new governments in Pakistan and in India would create a conducive environment for talk between the two countries to address issues. We don't speak with neighboring countries only considering their nuclear weapons. We are neigbours (other than Pakistan who do not have nuclear weapons. But we try to keep good relations with them. Be it, Bangladesh. Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, Abdullah, the JKNC candidate from Baramulla seat, told reporters during election campaigning on Saturday. Abdullah was responding to a question on Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's 'respect Pakistan' remark that incited criticism from opposition parties. Aiyar's comments in election season saying Pakistan is a respected nation that also possesses an atom bomb was criticised by top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress also distances itself from his comments. As for as ties with Pakistan, (former PM) AB Vajpayee once said that you can change friends but not neighbours, Abdullah said. "A new government has been formed in Pakistan recently. A new government will be formed in India after the results are declared on June 4. We hope the leaders of both the countries create a conducive environment for talks and address issues, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not retire from active politics upon turning 75-years-old. The assertion came from several key BJP leaders on Saturday including Home Minister Amit Shah as the Opposition reminded voters about the party's internal no ticket above 75 rule. The policy has been in place for several years with Home Minister Amit Shah even noting ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that the BJP had opted no skip any candidate above the age of 75. I want to clarify that there is no such provision in BJP's constitution and Modi ji will lead the country till 2029 and Modi ji will also lead the coming elections. There is no good news for INDI alliance...They cannot win elections by spreading such lies... Shah said on Saturday. There is no such provision regarding age anywhere in the constitution of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The public knows that every bit and every moment of Modiji is dedicated to the service of India. The vision of 'Developed India' is becoming a reality under the leadership of Modiji and in his next 5 years of tenure, Modiji will take the country to new heightsModi ji is our leader and will continue to lead us in future too, added current party president JP Nadda. ALSO READ: 'PM Modi won't be replaced after 75': Amit Shah clarifies as Arvind Kejriwal sparks 'next PM' debate Opposition leaders meanwhile accused the saffron party of showcasing a double-faced character by refusing to restrict Modi. Several lawmakers including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have sought to know whether the PM would retire upon turning 75 (if elected to power for a third term). Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, for example, had also resigned from the top post in 2016 as she closed in on the unwritten 75-year age bar. No one above 75 has been given tickets. This is the partys decision, Shah had told The Week while campaigning for the 2019 elections. And for the most part, the BJP appears to be abiding by its own policies with very few party leaders in their early and mid-70s nominated for elections. 76-year-old Yogesh Patel was the party's oldest nominee for the Gujarat elections in 2022 while 75-year-old Jagannath Singh Raghuvanshi became a candidate for the 2023 Madhya Pradesh elections. LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, and Yashwant Sinha were retired and now PM Modi is going to retire on 17th September. If their government is formed, they will first dispose of Yogi Adityanath and then make Amit Shah the Prime Minister of the country. PM Modi is asking for votes for Amit Shah. Will Amit Shah fulfil Modi's guarantee? Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked on Saturday. 74-year-old Narendra Modi is currently eligible to contest the Lok Sabha elections even by the most stringent interpretation of BJP policies. But the PM and several leading members of his cabinet (including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh) will turn 75 during their term in office if voted to power. Based on precedence, this raises the question of possible resignations once they hit the cut-off age. However it is pertinent to note that this is a matter of policy rather than a rule enshrined in the BJP constitution. Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) leader and former minister, Aga Ruhullah is up against Waheed Para of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat in the general elections scheduled in fourth phase on May 13. Ruhullah said that his concern in the elections is the return of dignity and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir that, he alleged, was snatched by the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. I have been expressing my views for a while without the consideration of any election. My concern is the return of dignity and rights that were snatched from us after Article 370 abrogation, he said in an interview with the Indian Express. Established in 1962, the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat has been a JKNC stronghold. The Farooq Abdullah-led party has won 10 out of the 13 Lok Sabha elections so far. The only national party to win a Lok Sabha elections in Srinagar, until now, is Congress, which bagged the seat way back in the 1996 elections. JKNC President and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah won the Srinagar seat by polling 57 per cent votes in 2019 election. The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 are the first general elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019 by the BJP-ruled centre that stripped its special status. The government also downgraded the erstwhile state into two Union Territories Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The JKNC and the PDP, parties in INDIA bloc, are contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha election for three seats of Kashmir valley separately. The two regional satraps supported the Congress party in two seats of Jammu. The BJP has not fielded any candidate in any of the three seats of Kashmir valley -- Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag-Rajouri. Ruhullah accused BJP-ruled Centre of denying people of Jammu and Kashmir the democratic right to protest and turning the erstwhile state into an open-air prison . They created a psyche of fear. When I interact with the public the only thing I get to hear is, We (people) need you to represent us and speak for what we went through," he said Ruhullah said his objective of entering the Parliament was to convey to the country that Article 370 was an article of faith. "Numerically, we cannot change anything in Parliament. But we can try to convey to the country that we are not anti-nationals and Article 370 was an article of faith. We can connect and reach out to the rest of India, he said. He said people were falsely made to believe that PM Narendra Modi integrated Jammu and Kashmir into India by abrogating Article 370. He also said that Article 370 was the argument of mainstream politicians against separatists and that it defined Jammu and Kashmir's dignified relation with the Union of India The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a veiled attack on the Telangana Chief Minister Revnath Reddy over questioning the Balakot airstrikes. Speaking to reporters in Telangana on Friday, CM Reddy accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to reap political benefits from the horrific ambush of a CRPF convoy that left 40 personnel dead and the airstrikes that followed. Laying the blame on the BJP-led NDA for 'failing' to prevent the Pulwama attack, the Telangana CM said, For Modi, everything is political. Everything is about winning elections. His way of thinking is not good for the country. The time has come for the country to be rid of Modi and the BJP. Ask them anything and they will respond with 'Jai Shri Ram' (glory to Lord Ram). They failed to prevent the Pulwama attack. What was the IB doing? What was our intelligence network doing? He added, What did you do to boost the country's internal security? Why did you not take the help of the agencies at your disposal such as the IB and R&AW? It was your failure. Nobody knows for sure if the airstrike, as was claimed, took place. If the responsibility of ensuring the country's internal security was with us, we wouldn't have left it in anyone's hands. Political reactions Terming CM Reddy's statement as very unfortunate, former IPS officer and Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Asim Arun said, It is very unfortunate that the sacrifice of our jawans are being questioned today. I have been in the Police force. I have also looked after the Anti-Terrorist Squad. The challenging situation, that we have been able to resolve to a great extent. This was possible only because our armed forces, paramilitary, J&K Police, NIA and everyone else have worked in good coordination with each other...Those who are making such remarks today are denting the country and attempting to demoralise the security forces of the country. We should be wary of such people. Earlier, senior Congress leader and Karnataka Chief Minister M Veerappa Moily questioned the Pulwama attack and labelled the country's retaliatory action as a 'bogus' claim, adding that PM Modi used them for political mileage. The 2024 elections are different from 2014 and 2019. In 2019, Modi (government) claimed to have carried out the airstrikes. One of the former governors of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. (Satyapal) Malik, who was with the BJP earlier, called the claim of the airstrikes post Pulwama as bogus. Riding on this bogus strike claim, Modi came back to power in 2019, Moily said. BJP MP and party's national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, He (Revanth Reddy) must remember that 'Fawad Chaudhary' who is showering support on his (Revanth Reddy) biggest leader Rahul Gandhi has said it in Pakistan's national assembly as the minister of Imran Khan govt that 'humne Pulwama tak ghus ke mara hai'. Revanth Reddy has either no knowledge or such love (for Pakistan) that he is unable to see and listen even after the Pakistan minister has said this. The Pulwama attack occurred on February 14, 2019, when a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus. Following the attack, the IAF conducted airstrikes on a JeM terrorist hideout in Balakot, Pakistan, within days, resulting in the destruction of terrorist infrastructure and casualties among the militants. Pakistan's attempts to retaliate against Indian military installations in Jammu and Kashmir were prevented by the alertness of the Indian Air Force. In response to the Pulwama attack, on February 26, 2019, Indian Air Force aircraft targeted an advanced terrorist training camp belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a roadshow in South Delhi on Saturday, a day after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail concerning his alleged role in the liquor policy case. Before the roadshow, Kejriwal offered prayers at Hanuman Mandir in Delhi's Connaught Place. The roadshow at the main Mehrauli market of the national capital begins at 4 pm with top Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, in attendance. AAP leader Sahiram Pahalwan is opposition INDIA bloc's candidate against Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Ramvir Singh Bidhuri in South Delhi seat. Later in the day, Kejriwal will hold another roadshow in East Delhi's Krishnagar area. After being in jail for 50 days, Kejriwal, the AAP star campaigner, begins the poll campaign in the middle of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. While three phases of polling are over, four more rounds are scheduled to take place on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. Twenty parliamentary seats in Delhi and Punjab two states where the Kejriwal-led AAP is in power will go to polls in the fifth and sixth phase on May 25 and June 1, respectively. Tiger is back: How Arvind Kejriwals bail alters Lok Sabha poll campaign dynamics in Delhi and beyond The Enforcement Directorate arrested Kejriwal on March 21. He is out on bail until June 1, when the last day of polling for general elections will be held. The results of seven-phase Lok Sabha polls will be declared on June 4. Shift in Campaign Dynamics Until his release, the focus of AAP campaign has been on Kejriwals arrest. The posters carried a picture of the Delhi Chief Minister behind the bars. Now that the AAP chief is out, albeit temporarily, the campaign dynamics will change. The poster for the Saturday's roadshow reads the Tiger is back slogan. It will be Kejriwals first roadshow in the Lok Sabha election 2024. Posters apart, AAP has already started redrawing its campaign strategy with focus on Arvind Kejriwal during his interim bail. While there are no restrictions on Kejriwals campaign, he has only been barred from visiting the Chief Minister's Office and the Delhi Secretariat and referring to the Delhi liquor policy case in his speeches, in the bail conditions. Sources said Kejriwals campaign in the next few weeks will focus on the fight against tanashahi (dictatorship) to save the democracy and constitution poll pitch. I have tried my best. But 140 crore people of Delhi have to fight against the dictatorship, Kejriwal said soon after coming out of Tihar jail on Friday evening. In Delhi, the AAP is contesting elections in alliance with the Congress party as part of opposition INDIA bloc. The AAP got four seats in Delhi while the Congress has fielded candidates in the remaining three seats as per the seat-sharing deal. In Punjab, the party is contesting 13 seats on its own. After focusing on Delhi until May 23, the last day of campaigning for May 25 polls in the national capital, Kejriwal is scheduled to shift to Punjab for campaigning. The Delhi CM is also expected to go to Kurukshetra in Haryana once before the May 25 polls. The AAP is contesting Kurukshetra seat of Haryana as part of seat sharing arrangement with the Congress. While AAP has not won any Lok Sabha seat in Delhi so far, it won one seat in Punjab in 2019 elections and four seats in 2014. The BJP response The BJP is also said to have restructured its election strategy in the national capital, where it won all seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi in 2014 and 2019. The BJP, sources said, will be more aggressive against the INDIA bloc, and Arvind Kejriwal, than it has already been. The party feels Kejriwals release will have a negative impact on its chances in at least three out of seven Delhi seats Northeast Delhi, Chandni Chowk and West Delhi, according to a report in The Indian Express. These are seats where the population in JJ colonies and slums is high and their residents have traditionally been AAP supporters, and before that, of the Congress. In 2019, we could manage just a little over 40% of the vote share from those living in such areas in these Lok Sabha seats while the rest was split between AAP and Congress, the report quoted a BJP leader as saying. After Kejriwals release, Union minister Amit Shah said the people will remind him of the excise policy scam. "This is not regular bail. It is an interim bail. He can campaign but every time he goes to campaign, people will be reminded of the excise scam," Shah said. Boost for INDIA bloc The release of Kejriwal, one of the prominent opposition leaders, has provided a boost to the opposition INDIA bloc too. Kejriwal is among the two opposition chief ministers who have been in jail in the election season. Another opposition Chief Minister Hemant Soren resigned before being arrested. Kejriwal continued to be the CM in jail. The release was welcomed by many leaders of INDIA bloc parties including the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the Trinamool Congress. Kejriwal might campaign for INDIA bloc in seats beyond Delhi and Punjab too, according to AAP sources, if the other parties want him to. New Delhi: After enduring two consecutive years of a decline, India's smartphone market, the world's second-largest, is showing signs of a recovery. Not because companies are selling more handsets. But because they have figured out how to sell costlier ones. The first quarter of the year has ushered in a wave of optimism, signalling a resurgence for brands, such as Samsung, Xiaomi and Vivo, with the industry witnessing an impressive 18% rise in market value, soaring to $9.5 billionthe highest first-quarter revenue in the past five years. Despite the first quarter of a fiscal year being a relatively subdued period for sales historically, a consensus poll of four industry analysts by Mint, project a robust growth trajectory for the full year. Forecasts indicate a potential 15% revenue surge, breaching the $45 billion mark in FY25, compared to $39 billion in the previous fiscal year. Also read: Is the worst over for India's smartphone industry? This bullish outlook is despite market volumes that are expected to remain unchanged as compared with 2023 levels, with projections hovering at 151-155 million units. On Thursday, Counterpoint India said in a report that smartphone sales recorded an 8% growth from a year earlier, with shipments likely surpassing 33.5 million units. While this marks an improvement over last year, it falls short of the market's post-pandemic highs. The premiumization factor The driving force behind the domestic smartphone market's revival is the rise in average selling prices (ASPs) of smartphones. According to Mint's analyst consensus, the ASP stands at $295, or around 24,600up 20% in the past two years. This trend, hints at a premiumization of India's smartphone market, after enduring eight consecutive quarters of stagnation. Samsung, for instance, achieved its highest-ever ASP in India in Q4 FY24, reaching $425 ( 35,500). Despite ranking third in terms of volumes, the Korean firm claimed the top spot in overall market value, capturing 25% of the $9.5 billion revenue generated during this period. Also read: Can AI ring in a change for smartphones? Meanwhile, Apple, which does not rank in the top five in sales volumes, secured the second spot in revenue share, with a 19% share. Email queries to Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi did not elicit any response till press time. Pundits attributed this resurgence to a combination of of factors, including lucrative financing schemes, lack of compelling offerings in the low-price segments, increasing disposable incomes, and a strategic shift towards high-margin market strategies by leading brands. Margin dynamics According to Mint's analyst panel, smartphones priced under 15,000 yielded a modest 4% margin for retailers. In contrast, devices priced above 25,000 witnessed margins of 8%, potentially rising to 10% with brand incentivesa testament to the allure of premiumization driving India's smartphone renaissance. Brands are bringing along a heavy push for internal financing options, targeting users in tier-II cities, and beyondeven for those who do not have an existing credit line or cards," said Shubham Singh, research analyst, Counterpoint Research. Internal financing options at zero interest are piquing users interests, which are in turn, pushing users to buy more expensive devices." Also read: How GenAI is making your smartphone more intelligent The margin dynamics add an interesting dimension to the narrative. With quarterly revenue surging to $9.5 billion, and ASPs on the rise, retailers and brands alike stand to benefit from higher profit margins on smartphone sales. Manish Khatri, a partner at Mumbai-based multi-brand electronics retailer Mahesh Telecom, echoed similar views, following the uptick in smartphone demand in the first quarter. More users are walking in to avail upgrade schemes, cashbacks and 24-month, zero-interest financing schemes for premium smartphones. This is good for us, since a higher-valued device is better to sell for retailers, including brand partnership incentive schemes." In fact, more and more buyers are opting for long-tenure financing plans, which would allow them to make a staggered payment for over a two-year period. For instance, devices priced up to 1 lakh could now be accessible for around 4,200 per month under these schemes. There is an increase in disposable income and credit awareness that weve seen among buyers, which makes it easier for us, sellers, to push devices that are more expensive," said the director of a national electronics retailing chain, requesting anonymity. "The easiest to sell are Samsung and Apple handsets, due to their premium brand impression. Especially in tier-II markets, this is helpful since buying a flagship smartphone for many is still an aspirational social factor," he added. A concern: Longer upgrade cycles That said, there are near-term concerns. Both Counterpoint's Singh and Mahesh Telecom's Khatri agreed that a significant outcome of these long-term financing plans is the extended usage and upgrade cycle. The market has moved on from a six-month smartphone refresh cycle among buyers to two yearsthis is a given in the present market. This is also driven by the fact that lower priced smartphones do not bring features that are as exciting as premium ones, and this is something that will play out over the next few years," Singh said. Khatri, however, sounded cautiously optimistic. Longer usage cycles make business tricky for us, since we are catering to a finite user pool. Plus, there are bigger retailers as well as online retailers, with more financial muscle, who could be difficult to compete with in terms of matching their deals." Apple may introduce a much-needed generative AI-powered upgrade to Siri that could make the voice assistant more conversational and versatile, giving it the ability to chat rather than just answer one question at a time, the New York Times reported. The new Siri upgrade, along with Apple's other AI offerings, could be unveiled at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10. Apple reportedly isn't looking to compete directly with ChatGPT with the new Siri upgrade. Instead, the company is focusing on making Siri better at tasks it already does, such as setting reminders, creating calendar appointments, adding items to shopping lists and more. Siri could also get the ability to summarise text messages. Apple is also planning to market the new AI-powered version of Siri as more private than its rivals, as it will be able to process requests directly on iPhones rather than via cloud servers. Apple's latest approach could have some obvious advantages, such as improved privacy, faster response times and the ability to work offline or in places with poor internet connectivity. On the other hand, on-device large language models (LLMs) may not be as powerful or knowledgeable as commercial chatbots such as ChatGPT or Gemini, which are backed by huge servers with billions of parameters. Why is Apple providing a generative AI revamp to Siri? The decision to give Siri a "brain transplant" was reportedly made last year after top Apple executives including Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea spent weeks testing ChatGPT, which made Siri look "antiquated". Siri was first introduced as a voice assistant in iPhones in 2011 and has been a staple of all new launches ever since. However, the virtual assistant has been known to struggle to carry on conversations and is instead limited to answering one-off questions. Furthermore, Apple is finally trying to catch up in the AI race, and a new upgrade to Siri is likely to be part of the company's wider efforts to embrace generative AI across its business. The New York Times report claims that Apple is planning to increase the memory in the iPhone 16 series to support Siri's new capabilities. The Cupertino-based tech giant is also reportedly working on deals for complementary AI models from various companies including Google, Cohere and OpenAI. Milestone Alert! Livemint tops charts as the fastest growing news website in the world Click here to know more. 3.6 Crore Indians visited in a single day choosing us as India's undisputed platform for General Election Results. Explore the latest updates here! May 18: Paving will commence and take an estimated five days to complete. Traffic will shift from the inside lanes to outside lanes and vice-versa. The temporary entrance on the west side of the RV park will close. During this time, motorists trying to head north or south will leave the plaza at the east entrance. May 23: Crews will restripe two lanes in both directions. Only one lane will be striped at a time during this switch. Traffic will switch periodically from the fast lane to the slow lane in both directions during the painting. May 24: Traffic will be restored back to one lane in each direction. The temporary entrance on the west side will re-open in anticipation of Memorial Day Weekend. The interchange is scheduled for completion in mid-November and will provide safer access to AhtWy Plaza by uninterrupted movement off and over the highway. Live traffic impacts can be found by visiting 511.idaho.gov. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game killed 20 wolves in the states remote Lolo Zone last winter in an effort to aid elk herds there. The state has partnered with the federal Wildlife Services Agency and private contractors to shoot wolves from helicopters in the upper reaches of the North Fork Clearwater River nearly every year since about 2011. Fish and Game spokesperson Roger Phillips said in a statement that the Lolo elk herd is well below the states population objective. Weve been working about a decade to reduce predator populations (wolves, black bears and mountain lions) in that zone to help elk herds recover, he said. Due to the remote nature of that area, its hard for hunters and trappers to get back there, which is why the commission decided to do the control actions for wolves. We also extended hunting seasons and allowed additional tags for hunters for black bears and mountain lions in that zone. Phillips said the operation cost $40,000. Wolf advocates were quick to condemn the operation. Suzanne Asha Stone, director of the Idaho-based International Wildlife Coexistence Network, said killing wolves wont bring elk back. Elk populations boomed in the Lolo Zone following a series of large fires in the first half of the 20th century that created ideal habitat. But since then, the young forests and open brush fields that provided elk with abundant food have matured and closed in. Invest in our future Number one of most importance is, invest in our children. Our children have a much better chance of investing in our communities in positive ways with a good education under their belts. If we do not invest in their education, they are more likely to be a burden to our communities than a good investment. Idaho is behind every other state in receiving funding for our schools. This a new wave. In past years, we voted for the school levy. We need to step up and vote to bring our national total for funding our childrens futures up to where all other states are right now. Most states vote yes on levies for our children regularly because they understand the need for educated community members. We need a healthy and robust staff population in our schools to meet our childrens educational needs. We need the staff and teachers to keep our students engaged and wanting to learn. We have a conservative budget that helps our schools rank high in education, increasing consistent accomplishments by our students. Our children need our support. Our taxes increase very little, even though this is a common misconception. Another misconception is that people cant afford to invest in this levy. This is not based on any actual numbers. Our children are the very best investment we can make to our community and ultimately the whole United States. The children are our future. Please vote yes May 21 for Mountain View School District No. 244s levy. Regina Yegge Grangeville Conservative natives In regard to the Nez Perce County Republican Central Committee meetings, I have witnessed very disturbing things. Sadly, many local conservatives cannot believe a Native person can be a conservative. Our traditional form of government differs little from conservative views. Let me be a free man ... Free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself ... . These words were delivered to Congress by Chief Joseph. Tribal leaders worked for the benefit of the people. Who would oppose legislation to outlaw antisemitism? More people than you might think. First, there is the thorny question of definitions. Consider: How do you define antisemitism? As with some attempts to define racism, you may find yourself settling on a version of the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewarts famous definition of obscenity: I know it when I see it. But, as with racism and other words that draw legal limits on inhuman acts or beliefs, there is no moral off-ramp called It depends. Thats why I found it ironic that the debate over a bill that passed last week in the Republican-controlled House to curb antisemitism began with heated discussion over definitions. Eager to do something in response to a nationwide wave of pro-Palestinian protests at colleges, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill aimed at addressing reports of rising antisemitism on campuses. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, blamed woke policies by college leaders for failing to confront the spread and backed a bill to push back. In contrast to the partisan gridlock that has plagued so much other major legislation, this bill easily passed, although not without some important objections. The House passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act in a refreshing display of bipartisanship in these fractious times with a 320-91 vote, with a majority of Democrats 133 joining Republicans. New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who introduced the bill, was predictably delighted to thank the supporters of the bill from a wide range of Jewish organizations that are standing up, endorsing this legislation, and saying enough is enough. But is that enough? The American Civil Liberties Union was not impressed by the bill and opposed the legislation which still must be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate and signed by President Joe Biden to become law as infringing on rights of free speech. Besides, as the ACLU pointed out in a statement, Federal law already prohibits antisemitic discrimination and harassment by federally funded entities. Instead of protecting against antisemitic discrimination, the ACLU letter said, the proposed law would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism. Now, Murray is a co-sponsor of the badly needed revised Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, which would allow pot retailers access to the same banking instruments as any other entrepreneur. Shes also one of several lawmakers reintroducing the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which would strike marijuana from the list of federally controlled substances. Because pot is not uniformly allowed at the federal level, banks mostly refuse to do business with folks who sell it under threat of prosecution. Banks could lose their deposit insurance protection and their employees could be penalized. And in many states, cannabis companies cant deduct most business expenses, so they face a huge tax burden. This is unacceptable, especially since it can be solved. The SAFE Banking Act would allow state-legal cannabis retailers access to banking services. Along with protecting banks from prosecution, it also allows them to decline to do business with people in the pot business if they choose, even if recreational or medicinal consumption for adults is legal in their state. When cannabis becomes legal in a state, it is regulated and taxed, like any other business. Yet employees of legal cannabis retailers are subject to dangers other kinds of employees are not, because their employers are not treated like others engaging in legal commerce. Passing the cannabis bill would bring the federal government in line with most constituents wishes, but the banking bill is likely easier to enact and is definitely more urgent because it would save lives. TNS Nature & Weather By Lon Cohen Published: May 11 2024 On May 11th, we will get another chance to see the aurora borealis. Update: The Northern Lights should be visible again on Mother's Day. Click here for more info. If you missed the spectacular display by Mother Nature in the sky last night (or early this morning), dont panic. You will get another chance. A powerful solar storm hit Earth on Friday, which produced the auroras that could be seen as far south as Florida. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center - yes there is such a thing - we will get a second shot at seeing the Northern Lights tonight. NOAA Sunspot Region 3664 remains quite active and produced two more X-class flares in the past 12 hours, the agency reported. This sunspot cluster has been responsible for much of the geomagnetic associated events over the past few days. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy that can impact radio communications, power grids, and navigation signals. It also produces the magical lights everyone has been seeing in the sky. The best viewing times are usually within an hour or two of midnight, between 10 pm and 2 am local time. Get yourself to a beach, preferably on the North Shore and away from light pollution but many of our readers reported seeing the auroras right outside of their back door. Click here to see reader photos of the auroras from Friday night and Saturday morning. Iraqi militia Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba issued a statement on Thursday threatening to retaliate against the Jewish state following a reported Israeli strike earlier in the day against a cultural and media center belonging to the group in the Syrian capital. A treacherous targeting of a cultural and media center affiliated with Islamic Resistance Movement al-Nujaba in the Syrian capital, Damascus, by the usurping Zionist entity that kills children, women, and innocent civilians. We announce publicly that our response will be sudden, strong, and effective.. we will reach the depths of the entity, and these crimes will not go unpunished.., said the statement. The reported Israeli attack occurred on Thursday morning on the outskirts of Damascus. Syrian state-controlled media said air defenses downed some of the missiles, and the attack caused material losses. At approximately 03:20 a.m. on Thursday, the Israeli enemy launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a building in the Damascus countryside. The source noted that the aggression caused only material losses. For its part, Asaib Ahl al-Haq security chief Jawad al-Talibawi published a statement deriding the attack and warned Israel would be punished for the act. While we stand in support of the brothers in blood and jihad, we affirm that the crimes of the Zionist(s).. against the men of the resistance and its headquarters will not pass without deterrent punishment. The Iraqi militias affiliated with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have been targeting Israel in response to the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip. Given this context, it is doubtful that al-Nujabaa or any other Iraqi militia will launch an attack outside of the scope of the current Iraqi militia operations against Israel. Moreover, the reported Israeli attack resulted in material losses, which suggests that the likelihood of a significant response from Iraqi militias is low, as they did not suffer any casualties among their members. Joe Truzman is an editor and senior research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal focused primarily on Palestinian armed groups and non-state actors in the Middle East. The Hague, May 11 (UNI) South Africa has filed an urgent request with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday for additional provisional measures against Israel over its planned military operation in the Gazan city of Rafah. "South Africa today filed an urgent request with the Court for the indication of additional provisional measures and the modification of provisional measures previously prescribed by the Court in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel)," the statement read. The African nation calls on the ICJ to consider "the changed circumstances and new facts" and order further provisional measures as well as modify the previously indicated ones, The Hague-based court said. "The situation brought about by the Israeli assault on Rafah, and the extreme risk it poses to humanitarian supplies and basic services into Gaza, to the survival of the Palestinian medical system, and to the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza as a group, is not only an escalation of the prevailing situation, but gives rise to new facts that are causing irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people in Gaza," the ICJ quoted South Africa as saying in its request. South Africa filed its lawsuit against Israel on December 29, 2023. On January 26, the ICJ ruled provisional measures ordering Israel to take urgent steps to prevent acts of genocide and ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to the enclave. At the same time, the ICJ did not order an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. In early March, the African nation went back to the ICJ to call for additional provisional measures against Israel that would address widespread starvation among Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip. UNI/SPUTNIK AKS An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth produced stunning displays of color in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere early Saturday, with no immediate reports of disruptions to power and communications. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects of the Northern Lights, which were prominently on display in Britain, were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. Many in the U.K. shared phone snaps of the lights on social media early Saturday, with the phenomenon seen as far south as London and southern England. There were sightings from top to tail across the country, said Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, Britains weather agency. He added that the office received photos and information from other European locations including Prague and Barcelona. NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to take precautions. Northern lights shine over Portsmouth, N.H., Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)AP For most people here on planet Earth, they wont have to do anything, said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center. The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the U.S. as Alabama and Northern California, NOAA said. But it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of color normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues. Thats really the gift from space weather: the aurora, Steenburgh said. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye. The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, glow on the horizon at St. Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast, England, Friday, May 10, 2024. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)AP Snap a picture of the sky and there might be actually a nice little treat there for you, said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center. The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii. We are not anticipating that but it could come close, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said. This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in peoples homes, Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth. This image provided by NASA shows a solar flare, as seen in the bright flash in the lower right, captured by NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory on May 9, 2024. A severe geomagnetic storm watch has been issued for Earth starting Friday and lasting all weekend _ the first in nearly 20 years. (NASA/SDO via AP)AP An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa. Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted. The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the suns outer atmosphere, or corona. Northern lights glow in the sky near Kroschel, Minn., late Friday, May 10, 2024. (Owen Caputo Sullivan via AP)AP The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot thats 16 times the diameter of Earth, NOAA said. It is all part of the solar activity ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle. NASA said the storm posed no serious threat to the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The biggest concern is the increased radiation levels, and the crew could move to a better shielded part of the station if necessary, according to Steenburgh. Increased radiation also could threaten some of NASAs science satellites. Extremely sensitive instruments will be turned off, if necessary, to avoid damage, said Antti Pulkkinen, director of the space agencys heliophysics science division. Several sun-focused spacecraft are monitoring all the action. This is exactly the kinds of things we want to observe, Pulkkinen said. ___ 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. A Dorchester man who co-owned a Mattapan plumbing and heating supply company pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns in connection with a scheme to use $10 million in unreported business receipts to buy gold bars, Acting United States Attorney Joshua Levys office announced. Claudio Poles, 78, of Dorchester, pleaded guilty to four counts of filing false tax returns, Levys office said in a statement released Friday. Poles was charged on April 30. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled his sentencing for Aug. 9. Between 2019 and 2022, Poles falsely and fraudulently reported losses on his individual tax returns and left out any personal income he received from the business by buying gold and silver bars, Levys office said. He failed to disclose the companys gross business receipts to its tax preparer, who appeared the companys tax returns using the false information he provided. Poles used the excess receipts that were not reported on the tax form to buy over $10 million worth of gold and silver from a bullion dealer, court documents show. To cover up his purchases, prosecutors say he wrote checks saying he was buying equipment for the company, like boilers and plumbing and heating supplies Prosecutors also accused Poles of falsely reporting losses totaling roughly $75,000 and omitting more than $8.3 million in income he received from the purchase of the bars with money from the business on tax forms between 2019 and 2022. In doing so, court documents show, he cost the IRS about $3 million in tax loss. The charge of filing 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 $250,000. A man accused of tipping over a porta-potty with a woman and her 4-year-old daughter inside in New Hampshire earlier this week faces multiple criminal charges, police said. Police in Manchester, New Hampshire received a call Wednesday from a young mother reporting she and her 4-year-old daughter were trapped inside a porta-potty at Derryfield Park after a man pushed it over from behind. The pair said they were covered in feces and bodily fluids, according to a statement from the Manchester Police Department. Officers responded to the scene and spoke with witnesses, who said the man and woman had been arguing near the porta-potty. When the woman went inside to help her daughter, the man allegedly pushed the porta-potty over, causing it to land with the door on the pavement and trapping the pair inside, the department said in its statement. Bystanders quickly ran over to the overturned port-potty and stood it up, freeing the mother and daughter. They were not hurt, according to the statement. Through their investigation, police identified the man who allegedly tipped over the porta-potty as 18-year-old Aiden Studer of Manchester. He was arrested and charged with two counts of criminal restraint and criminal mischief, the statement said. Studer was also charged with simple assault on a police officer. He is accused of throwing something at one of the officers, according to the department. It appears Studer and the woman and child did not know each other, the department said. A liposuction procedure performed at a home in Somerville is under investigation following the death of a person earlier this week, news outlets reported. The procedure was allegedly done inside the home in Somerville late Thursday and may be linked to the death of a person, according to WCVB. The individual returned home to Everett and was then brought to the hospital Police are investigating whether the person had come home after an allegedly illegal liposuction procedure in the Somerville home, WCVB reported. Everett police also told WHDH law enforcement are investigating whether a person was injured during liposuction procedures done at a home Thursday. A woman died and another was wounded after the operations, according to the news outlet. Police responded to a multi-family home on Central Street in Somerville for a medical emergency around the same time, WHDH reported, citing Somerville police. The incidents in Everett and Somerville may be connected, according to the news outlet. Everett and Somerville police declined to give statements to MassLive about the incidents. The Middlesex District Attorneys Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. Police arrested 10 people and seized more than 150 grams combined of cocaine and fentanyl and over $2,500 in cash in Boston earlier this week following a months-long investigation, according to prosecutors. The people were arrested and the alleged drugs were seized Tuesday as part of a six-month-long investigation dubbed Operation Clean House. The investigation centered on a Maverick Landing housing development building at 44 Border St. in East Boston that has been an incessant source of drug activity and 911 calls, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Haydens office said in a statement. The residential building has accounted for 52 documented drug-related police interactions between January 2023 and April 2024, according to the district attorneys offices statement. More than 100 grams of cocaine, over 60 grams of fentanyl and $2,610 in cash were seized after police executed multiple search warrants Tuesday. The warrants targeted four individuals and three apartments at the 44 Border Street building, the statement said. According to the district attorneys office, the following individuals were arrested as a result of the investigation: Kerry Bell, 47, who was charged with trafficking over 70 grams of a Class B substance; Youssef Benarba, 30, who had outstanding warrants; Youssef Benelmir, 50, who had outstanding warrants; Edwin Ceballo-Hernandez, 36, who was charged with trafficking Class A and B substances. Reinaldo Diaz, 45, who was charged with possession of a Class A substance with intent to distribute and being a fugitive from justice; Christina Dionizio, 30, who had an outstanding warrant; Victoria Herrera, 30, who was charged with trespassing; Samuel Junta, 43, who was charged with trafficking over 70 grams of a Class B substance; Edwin Pagan, 47, who was charged with possession of a Class A substance with intent to distribute; and Amin Roundil, 30, who was charged with trespassing. Some of the people who were arrested were arraigned this week and received a variety of bail amounts and release conditions, the district attorneys office said. The others are expected to be arraigned at later dates. Diaz, who is facing a fugitive from justice charge for a pending case in Rhode Island, was ordered held without bail, according to the statement. [M]onitoring of the property will continue and trespassers and other violators will face arrest, arraignment and appropriate prosecution, the statement said. On May 11, 1986, 31-year-old Russell Russ Bovit was reported missing by friends after not showing up for an appointment to buy property. The Walden, Vermont mans truck was later found stuck in the mud miles from his home. Blood was discovered inside. However, Bovit was not there. Thirty-eight years after Bovit went missing, the mans disappearance remains a cold case, and police are still searching for answers. Reports have been received Bovit was killed and dumped in a lake. However, no body has been found, and he remains listed as a missing person, according to a statement from Vermont State Police. Anyone with any information on Mr. Bovit is asked to contact our Derby office, 802-334-8881, state police said. Bovit was last seen by two friends on his dairy farm in Walden, called Last Resort Farm, on the evening of May 6, 1986. He was not reported missing until five days later. His truck, a light-blue 1974 Renault, was found stuck in the mud four miles from his home, and it did not appear an effort was made to remove it, according to state police. Blood was discovered in the trunk and passenger side of the vehicle as well as on Bovits mattress. Tests determined the blood was from the same person, state police noted. Garth Drew, who was convicted of murder, told investigators Bovits body was placed in a U-Haul trailer and dumped in Lake Willoughby. However, authorities searched the water body and did not find any evidence to support the claim. It was believed that Russ was murdered, but robbery was not a factor, state police said on a webpage dedicated to Bovits missing persons case. Russ parents hired private investigators and it is believed that he was murdered by a man that died three months later and that drugs were involved. It should be noted that Russ reportedly did not use drugs or drink alcohol, state police added. A woman was charged with driving under the influence and airlifted to the hospital after a crash on Interstate 93 in New Hampshire early Saturday, according to police. Amanda B. Webber, 28, was allegedly driving a Jeep Renegade around 2:15 a.m. Saturday when the car went off the left side of I-93 just before the exit 23 off-ramp in New Hampton, struck an embankment and rolled over multiple times before coming to a rest in the median, New Hampshire State Police said in a statement. State police received an automated crash notification from the area. Other drivers made additional calls about the collision a short time later as well, according to state polices statement. Webber was evaluated by the New Hampton Fire Department before she was airlifted to Concord Hospital to be treated for her injuries, which were later determined to not be life-threatening, the statement said. I-93 was shut down in the area for roughly 30 minutes to make way for the medical helicopters arrival and landing, according to state police. During the investigation into the circumstances of the crash, authorities detected indicators Webber was allegedly impaired. She was subsequently arrested and charged with driving under the influence, state police said. While driver impairment and excessive speed appear to be the leading causes of the crash, all aspects remain under investigation, state police noted. Anyone who witnessed the crash or who has information that could help with the investigation is asked to contact state police Trooper Zachary Bilotta at zachary.t.bilotta@dos.nh.gov or the State Police Communications Center at (603) 223-4381. Buenos Aires, May 11 (UNI) At least 30 people were injured and hospitalised after a train collision in Buenos Aires, Alberto Crescenti, director of the SAME emergency service, said. On Friday, a passenger train crashed into a maintenance train on a railway bridge in the suburb of Palermo on the San Martin line, which connects the Argentine capital with the province of Buenos Aires, media reported. "We have assisted a total of 90 passengers, 30 of whom are in various city hospitals with code red," Crescenti told reporters at the scene. The trains collided at slow speed, as the passenger train had just started moving and the empty boxcar, which was loaded with materials for repairing the railway track, was not moving at all, Argentine broadcaster TN said. Many passengers left the train on their own, while others needed help from emergency response teams, the report said. A train control error may have caused the incident. UNI/SPUTNIK AKS Officials at the state Department of Correction signed a new, 5-year contract for health care services at the commonwealths 10 prisons, ending the Bay States relationship with a company that faced scrutiny for long wait times and service denials. VitalCore Health Strategies, a nationwide company that has offices in Stowe, Vermont, replaces Nashville, Tenn.-based Wellpath, the agency confirmed in a statement released on Friday. VitalCore was chosen after what officials described as an extensive procurement process and won the contract based on its demonstrated ability to provide innovative and comprehensive correctional health care. The state pulled in experts from ForHealth Consulting at UMass Chan Medical School to develop their request for proposal for the contract, the Correction Department said in its statement. The new partnership reflects (the companys) deep commitment to delivering holistic healthcare to incarcerated individuals, state Secretary of Public Safety and Security Terrence Reidy said in a statement. Wellpath found itself the center of national scrutiny earlier this year when The Appeal, a website that covers criminal justice reform issues, revealed that incarcerated people in the states prison system had to wait years for Wellpath to provide them with dentures or other basic dental care. Those concerns prompted the Bay States two Democratic U.S. senators, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, to fire off a letter to the company late last year as Wellpaths contract came up for renewal. Among those queries was whether Wellpath, which took over health care services in 2018, planned to cut its health care operational costs even as the states prison population grows older and sicker; the percentage of required staffing it has provided to meet those needs, and even whether and how much the company has donated to county sheriff races across the state. In a statement provided to MassLive on Friday, Warren said shed pushed hard for stricter oversight, proper staffing and appropriate treatment in the prison health care system in Massachusetts. The choice of VitalCore reflects the Healey administrations commitment to (improving) health care for people in state custody, Warren said, adding that she planned to continue to monitor the performance of this new provider to ensure accountability. Interim Correction Commissioner Shawn Jenkins amplified that sentiment, noting that VitalCore had been selected because of its ability to deliver important services across our state correctional system. The expertise of our partners at ForHealth informed our approach to enhancing our service delivery model in ways that will improve outcomes for those entrusted to our care, Jenkins continued. Late last year, WellPath defended the services it provided to the commonwealth, telling MassLive in a statement that the company was proud of the work it does in Massachusetts and around the country to provide high-quality care to hundreds of thousands of patients every year. We put patients at the center of everything we do, and our clients count on us for our professionalism, our innovative approach and our world-class health care providers, the spokesperson told MassLive. MassLive reached out to the Correction Department to ask whether the scrutiny that Wellpath had received from Warren and Markey, along with a decision by officials in Barnstable County to terminate their contract with the company two months early, had played a role in the agencys decision-making. In an email, Correction Department spokesperson Scott Croteau emphasized that VitalCore was selected after a robust and competitive procurement process. Recognizing the wide-ranging needs of incarcerated individuals, we selected VitalCore BOSTON The Red Sox went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base in a 5-1 loss to the Nationals on Friday at Fenway Park. Boston ranks 23rd among big league teams in batting average (.238) with runners in scoring position. They are 19th in on-base percentage (.322) and 21st in slugging percentage (.365) with runners in scoring position. The Sox have dropped six of their past seven games to fall to .500 (19-19). They have left 278 men on base this season. Boston squandered chances in the first, fifth and sixth innings. We didnt get the big hit, manager Alex Cora said. Tyler ONeill doubled to center field with two outs in the first inning and Rafael Devers walked. Connor Wong singled to right field and ONeill tried to score. But right fielder Victor Robles threw out ONeill at the plate. Its not a great throw. Its off the line, Cora said. It just happens that Tyler was right there. Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran stroked back to back singles to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. Rob Refsnyder then flied out to right field and Rafaela tagged up to third. But ONeill struck out looking and Devers grounded out. Boston loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth inning. Vaughn Grissom singled with one out. Wilyer Abreu and Rafaela walked with two outs. But Duran struck out looking on a 95.1 mph fastball from lefty reliever Robert Garcia, who was brought in to face the left-handed hitter. The way you come out of this is you keep putting good at-bats, have traffic, Cora said. Obviously at one point were going to get the big hit. ... It didnt happen tonight. We walked five times. But we struck out nine times, too. So just keep working and hopefully tomorrow is the day. Fanatics Sportsbook 10X$100 BONUS BET BET MATCH BONUS CLAIM OFFER Must be 21+. GAMBLING PROBLEM? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (CO, KY ,MD, OH, PA, TN, VA, VT, WV); (888) 789-7777 or ccpg.org (CT); 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA); (800) 327-5050 or gamblinghelpline.org (MA), mdgamblinghelp.org (MD), 1800gambler.net (WV) Houck allows all three runs with two outs Houck retired the first two batters in the second inning, then gave up four straight hits (single, double, single, single). Trey Lipscombs two-run single made it 2-0 Washington. The Red Sox avoided further damage when Jarren Duran threw out Lipscomb at home for the final out after Victor Robles singled to left field. Houck again got into trouble after retiring the first two batters in the third inning. Luis Garcia Jr. doubled and Joey Meneses followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0 Nationals. Houck pitched 7 innings and allowed three runs, six hits and one walk while striking out four. For him to go seven and give us a chance to win, another good one for him, Cora said. Cooper records first RBI with Red Sox Garrett Cooper, who Boston acquired April 27 from the Cubs, recorded his first RBI as a member of the Red Sox. His two-out double off the Green Monster scored Connor Wong to cut Bostons deficit to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning. Duran throws out runner at plate Jarren Duran has been impressive defensively this season. He entered Friday with six defensive runs saved in 185 innings in center field and three defensive runs saved in 139 innings in left field. He recorded his fourth outfield assist for the third out of the second inning. He threw out Trey Lipscomb trying to score from second base on Robles single to left field. Saturdays game The Red Sox and Nationals will play again Saturday at 4:10 p.m. Boston righty Cooper Criswell (2-1, 1.74 ERA) will start opposite right-hander Jake Irvin (2-3, 3.72 ERA). BOSTON Red Sox starter Garrett Whitlock (left oblique strain) threw a live batting practice Friday at Fenway Park. He tossed three innings. Lets see how he feels tomorrow and then well decide if he goes on a rehab assignment next week, manager Alex Cora said before Bostons game Friday against the Nationals here at Fenway Park Whitlock likely will need to make more than just one rehab start before returning to pitch for Boston. He was placed on the 15-day injured list April 17, after leaving his start the previous day when he threw only 54 pitches in four innings. Brayan Bello (right lat tightness), meanwhile, likely will be activated from the 15-day injured list to start Sunday against the Nationals. Hes trending in the right direction and theres a good chance hell pitch Sunday, Cora said. Bello struggled in a rehab start for Portland on Tuesday. He allowed three runs (two earned), four hits (one homer) and two walks while striking out five in 2 innings. SPRINGFIELD American International College celebrated its 139th commencement ceremony at the MassMutual Center Saturday morning, sending 603 graduates on in life with either bachelors, masters or doctorate degrees. For all the pomp and circumstance and good cheer, it was also a ceremony celebrating the unlikely. To start with, the Class of 2024 started college in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. When he grew up in the McKnight neighborhood and ran with his crew to Interskate 91 or Riverside for fun, and the Boys and Girls Club for pretty much everything else, you ask folks how likely Mike Smith was to become somebody. Probably not likely at all, they might have said. No way he would become a special assistant to the president of the United States and serve as his senior director of cabinet affairs. The kid who was afraid to play dodgeball, because he might get hit, is a pretty unlikely candidate to become CEO of Americorps, the countrys largest public volunteer force. MONTAGUE Look at the Connecticut River just below the hydroelectric dam in the village of Turners Falls some days and youll see what Nina Gordon-Kirsch describes as a river basin short on water. You can see rocks, Gordon-Kirsch, the Massachusetts river steward for the Connecticut River Conservancy, said this week. There is a section of the river that is dewatered. SPRINGFIELD On the last night of January, 2,901 people in the county were homeless, according to newly-released data from the Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care. Thats an uptick of more than 200 people compared to the same survey done last year. Unfortunately, we are not surprised by the overall increase in homelessness. Like the rest of Massachusetts and much of the nation, Hampden County does not have enough housing units, which has led to dramatic rent increases in the last few years, Gerry McCafferty the citys director of housing and administrator of the Springfield-Hampden County Continuum of Care said in a statement. Police took a man into custody Thursday after he allegedly brandished a knife and started a fire in a bathroom at the Behavioral Health Network on Liberty Street, damaging a residential portion of the building. The incident unfolded after a psychiatric behavior call came in to police around 3:55 p.m., Springfield Police Department spokesperson Ryan Walsh said Friday. overnments of the world agreed to continue working on a proposed pandemic agreement, and to further refine the draft, ahead of the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly that starts 27 May 2024. Governments meeting at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva agreed to resume hybrid and in-person discussions over coming weeks to advance work on critical issues, including around a proposed new global system for pathogen access and benefits sharing (i.e. life-saving vaccines, treatments and diagnostics); pandemic prevention and One Health; and the financial coordination needed to scale up countries capacities to prepare for and respond to pandemics. During more than two years of intensive negotiations, WHOs Member States have shown unwavering commitment to forging a generational agreement to protect the world from a repeat of the horrors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. I welcome the determination that all countries have shown to continue their work and fulfill the mission on which they embarked. The Member State-led Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) was established over two years ago to take this effort forward. The Bureau of the INB, which is guiding the process, will submit its outcome for consideration at the World Health Assembly. INB Bureau Co-Chair Dr Precious Matsoso, from South Africa, said progress had been made during this latest round of discussions on a wide range of issues contained in the draft agreement. We are witnessing history play out before our eyes during this process, with the coming together of all countries to decide a binding pact to protect all citizens of the world, said Ms Matsoso. This is not a simple exercise. This is the first ever process to develop a proposed agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Getting this done means getting it right, and the INB Bureau is committed to help finalize a meaningful, lasting agreement. Fellow INB Bureau Co-Chair, Mr Roland Driece, from the Netherlands, said when countries launched the process two years ago to develop a pandemic agreement, they did so knowing they had set an ambitious timeline to reach an ambitious goal. This unprecedented effort by all WHO Member States was launched in response to an unprecedented global emergency the COVID-19 pandemic, said Mr Driece. These sovereign states did so recognizing that great collaboration and coordination were needed in the face of pandemics. While negotiations have been challenging at times, all countries agree that the world must be better prepared for the next pandemic. It is not a matter of if a pandemic will happen again; it is a matter of when. We cannot afford to miss this historic opportunity to make the world safer from the next pandemic threat. In March 2021, heads of state and government from two dozen countries issued a statement of commitment calling for global collaboration to prepare for, prevent and respond to pandemics. In December 2021, WHO Member States decided to launch a global process to draft and negotiate a legally binding convention, agreement or other international instrument to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. OPay, the leading Fintech company focused on emerging markets, today announced its landmark first monthly profitability, with daily active trading users soaring past 9 million and poised to breach the 10 million mark. This marks a significant milestone in OPays remarkable journey. Since its inception in 2019, OPay has been providing cutting-edge payment, digital wallet, and other financial services to customers across Africa and Asia. Leveraging the power of AI and big data, OPay offers innovative financial technology solutions that reshape the traditional financial landscape. Currently, OPays services span countries including Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan and other countries. By integrating advanced financial technology into local financial ecosystems through technological innovation, OPay has been instrumental in supporting the digital transformation of local businesses and providing convenient financial services to vast populations in Africa and the Middle East who are under-served or lack traditional banking access. After five years of relentless innovation and growth, OPay has established itself as a market leader in Nigeria and Egypt, playing a pivotal role in promoting inclusive finance in emerging markets. Yahui Zhou , Chairman of OPay, commented, OPays mission is to make financial services more inclusive through technology. We will continue to uphold our long-term perspective, remain grounded in our principles, create value for our customers, and strengthen our capabilities in four key areas: security, data analytic, monetization, and compliance. Our aspiration is to become the most respected, popular, and socially valuable Fintech company. OPays rapid growth and outstanding performance in Africa and the Middle East have garnered international media attention and industry recognition. In February 2022, Forbes reported that OPay provided innovative financial technology solutions in the Middle East and North Africa. In June 2022, CNN conducted an in-depth report on OPays development in Nigeria, recognizing it as a leader and pioneer in business transformation in Africa. Additionally, OPay has been selected as one of the CB Insights Global Fintech 250 for three consecutive years. In 2023, OPay was also named in the CNBC Global Fintech 200. In a strategic move in May 2022, OPay forged a partnership with Mastercard, solidifying its status as a trusted partner of the worlds leading financial institutions. This collaboration significantly expanded digital commerce opportunities for millions of individuals in the Middle East and Africa, promoting greater financial inclusion, economic growth, and the further establishment of a robust financial ecosystem. In early 2023, Pakistani President Arif Alvi met with OPay Chairman Yahui Zhou to discuss the vast potential of Pakistans digital economy. The two sides engaged in insightful discussions on how OPays cutting-edge Fintech technology could assist Pakistan in achieving a cashless society and embracing the digital economy with AI. The Pakistani President expressed his profound admiration for OPays achievements and aspirations, hoping that OPay could bring advanced Chinese Fintech technology to contribute significantly to Pakistans digital economy and inclusive finance development. Since its inception, OPay has attracted investments from numerous top-tier domestic and international investment institutions. In November 2019, OPay successfully closed a B-round financing of 120 million dollars, with investors including Long-Z Investments, Source Code Capital, IDG Capital, and HongShan (formerly known as Sequoia China). In 2021, OPay raised a 400 million C-round financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund, with follow-on investments from Long-Z Investments, HongShan(formerly known as Sequoia China), Redpoint China Ventures, Source Code Capital, SoftBank Asia Fund, and 3W Capital, post-investment valuation reached $2 billion. By April 2024, OPay has established a robust foothold in emerging markets, serving over 50 million users and 1 million merchants, boasting monthly transaction volumes surpassing $12 billion. With daily active trading users approaching the 10 million mark, OPay has also created a significant impact, fostering 400,000 direct and indirect job opportunities. A recent report by BCG and QED Investors titled Global Fintech 2023: Reshaping the Future of Finance forecasts a sixfold growth in Fintech revenues, from 245 billion dollars in 2021 to a staggering 1.5 trillion dollars by 2030. Notably, Africa is poised to emerge as one of the fastest-growing regions in the global Fintech landscape, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 32% for Fintech revenues. Looking ahead, OPay remains committed to expanding its reach in emerging markets such as Nigeria, Egypt, and Pakistan, while also venturing into new countries and regions. The company aspires to provide safer, more convenient, and inclusive financial services to its users, contributing significantly to the development of local digital economies. OPays vision is to serve 1 billion users and 10 million merchants, ultimately creating 3 million job opportunities by 2031. With its iconic seven-arch viaduct and the magnificent Blackoak River flowing into Clew Bay, Newport, is regarded as one of the most picturesque towns in the county. The town now known as the Town of the Two Graces and the heart of the Great Western Greenway has a lot going for it. But Newport did not always have a reputation as a thriving west Mayo tourism town. If you travelled its streets 30 years ago, it was usually only to pass through on the way to Achill. The only reason to stop might have been for an ice-cream from Chambers shop on Main Street. It was in a state, admitted Maureen McGovern, who ran a guesthouse called The Anchor House on the Quay in Newport for many years. I dont think we could get a cup of coffee or anything in the town. It was bad, she added. At the beginning of the 1990s, up to a dozen properties lay derelict in the centre of Newport, some with just their four walls left standing. Maureen was one of a group of a small number of people who decided that something had to be done to change the image of Newport, and in 1994 they formed the Newport and District Development Company, or NADDCo for short. Fast forward three decades, and NADDCo is getting reading to celebrate 30 years of community development with a function in Hotel Newport this Sunday, May 12 at 7pm. The organisation plans to deliver a presentation on its past achievements and unveil exciting future plans, while giving special recognition to individuals who have contributed to the towns growth. Early days Two of the directors who played a significant role in the development and transformation of Newport were Maureen McGovern and Mary Kelly, who held a variety of roles in the company over the last 30 years. The Mayo News met the two women in Hotel Newport today is a thriving business, despite the site being a major eyesore in the town 30 years ago. Both Maureen and Mary agreed that the top objective in the early days was tidying up the town and trying to get the derelict buildings renovated. We were very concerned. I was in the tourism business, and people would ask why [buildings were] derelict. People would say that it was such a lovely town and it was such a shame it was not developed properly, Maureen explained. They visited other towns like Clonakilty in west Cork to learn how similar small towns could succeed, and they soon realised that despite its problems, Newport had huge potential. The renovation of an old granary the Carey Walsh building on Georges Street was one of the first major projects undertaken. The Carey Walsh building was totally derelict, and that was a major project, Maureen explained. Frank Chambers was a councillor at the time, and he was a great help. The project also benefitted from Leader funding and FAS scheme workers. The building, which retains much of its old character, is now home to South West Mayo Development Company, as well as the tourist office that NADDCo helped set up. Fundraising NADDCo went on to facilitate the sandblasting of the viaduct and church, and the lighting that shows these features off so well. Other NADDCo projects include the development of the town park and childrens playground, the roll out of the Christmas lights, keeping the town tidy, the establishment of the local credit union, the organising of festivals, the installation of the ships anchor on the bridge and, probably most importantly of all, the setting up of the lotto. Without the weekly lotto, NADDCo would not have had the resources to fund its projects, and so Maureen and Mary, as well as other directors, went around the pubs every weekend to sell lotto tickets. Wed do the pubs every Saturday night, Mary recalls. There would be some nights you would think, Oh hell!, but you would still go out. It was a thankless job but it needed to be done or we would not get funds otherwise. One night one man said, What are you doing with the money?, and I named off all the different projects we did and were doing, and he just was looking at me. I said, You are living in the town and you dont know whats going on. No, he says. A lot of people wouldnt have an idea of what we did. They still filled in the envelopes and gave you the money, and that is all you wanted. If we wanted anything we only had to ask and the people responded; they were great. It was hard work going into the pubs and selling tickets, but we did it. Good times Each year the directors would meet and decide what projects needed to be worked on and from there they would look at ways of applying for funding and progress the projects. Maureen said they received a lot of help from council officials at the time such as former county manager, Peter Hynes as well as the former government minister and Mayo TD Padraig Flynn. Maureen and Mary both credit Flynn for saving the Newport viaduct when he was minister, as Mayo County Council had planned to knock it down. The council sent a petition for it to be knocked, but Mr Flynn said over my dead body and got it sandblasted and lit up instead, explained Mary. Both Mary and Maureen recently stepped down as directors of NADDCo, but they both have confidence in the new committee under the chairmanship of Martin Dillane to achieve great things in the future. While not all their plans came to pass, Maureen says that looking back, she has no regrets and would not do anything differently. She believes that the work of NADDCo in those early days gave people the confidence to invest in Newport, making it the thriving town it is today. I hate to think what it would be like if we just sat back and didnt do anything, she said. It was a combined effort. The group worked well together, and we felt we were achieving and we did achieve. We enjoyed working together. There were lots of good times. Musa al-Gharbi in Compact Magazine: To understand broad trends, it can often be helpful to dig into a particular case. With respect to the tumult over the encampments protesting the US-backed Israeli offensive in Gaza, it would be hard to find a more illuminating example than Columbia University. Here, we may observe students sincere concern for the least among us, on one hand, and their ambitious social climbing, on the other. Here, we can clearly recognize elite institutions deep commitment to sterile forms of activismand we can readily see how identitarian and safetyist approaches to social justice are weaponized in the service of the status quo. At Columbia, we can most readily perceive the jarring dissonance between the spectacle of unrest over Gaza and the realities of the conflict that has been overshadowed by the spectacle. But lets start with some basic facts. On April 17, Columbias president, Nemat Minouche Shafik, appeared before the US House of Representatives to testify about the prevalence and nature of anti-Semitism on campus. Eager to avoid the fate of her peers at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, Shafik kept her head down and assented to assertions that Columbia, and universities writ large, are awash in Jew-hatred, and that Columbia wasnt doing enough to fight it. Over the course of the three-hour hearing, she paid comparatively little attention to pro-Palestine students who have faced assaults, doxxing, and alleged harassmentincluding by professorsunder her watch. She also didnt voice any objection when the term intifada was equated with hate speech, despite knowing wellas a native Arabic speaker born in Egyptthat the term is used broadly for mass uprisings in many contexts; its how the Warsaw Uprising is described in Arabic. More here. APPRECIATIVE crowds gathered at Westport Quay last week to celebrate the opening of two engaging exhibitions at the Custom House Gallery: Mayo artist Bryan Gerard Duffys Idle Walls and Wexford artist Deirdre Byrnes The Long Way Round. Duffys multi-layered, hard-hitting body of work for this show is the culmination of 15 years exploration of themes awoken by trips to the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria. While there, Duffy lived among the displaced nomadic Sahrawi people of Western Sahara who have been corralled into the camps since 1975 after they fled the invading Moroccan forces. The Western Sahara War, which saw the Sahrawi indigenous Polisario Front attempt to fight back against the internationally bolstered might of Morocco, raged until 1991. Tragically, despite a UN Security Council Resolution designed to facilitate a referendum on the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara, the conflict remains unresolved and the referendum still has not taken place. The situation has resulted in one of the most protracted refugee crises in the world, second only to the 76-year-long displacement of the Palestinian people. Duffy worked on the shows artworks from his studio at the Custom House, which lies opposite a low stone wall known locally as the Idle Wall. Here, people historically idled in the hope of gaining paid work on the fishing boats at the quay. It occurred to the artist that the people of Western Sahara have been forced to wait idly behind the Dividing Wall a 2,700-kilometre wall flanked by minefields that separates them from their homeland for almost 50 years, waiting for others to allow them decide their fate. Weaving the theme of walls into his show, Duffy created large free-standing, moveable saili walls un-rendered, incomplete willow-plank walls that allow the viewer see into their interiors and the thought-provoking installations they carry. These pieces include letters from an imagined Sahrawi pen pal from one of the refugee camps; paintings of botanical subjects, arranged in intersecting, chequered evocations of chess games; and multi-media sculptural works, many using rock phosphate lucrative deposits of which are being mined in the disputed Western Saharan territory to be sold internationally as a fertiliser ingredient, stripping the country of natural resources while robbing its people of any potential benefit. This dense, affecting exhibition contains many other poignant installations, each imbued with meaning from Watch Towers, made with glass, rock phosphate and iron-on fabric vinyl, to Slan, made with turf, toy bricks, an Algerian/Western Sahara Dinar coin and shredded newspaper. Duffy describes the works in Idle Walls collectively as a conversation on the societal challenges of retaining ones tradition, identity and ancestral roots in the face of adversity, colonialism, nature, AI and capitalism. There is a lot to absorb and meditate upon, and visitors are encouraged to take their time viewing, reading and reflecting while assuming ownership of the exhibition themselves by moving the saili walls through the gallerys generous ground floor space. A sense of Spain ADORNING the walls of the gallerys first-floor space is Deirdre Byrnes atmospheric show, The Long Way Round. A visual artist who splits her time between Wexford and the Spanish city of Seville, Byrne is primarily interested in landscape. Scenes from the south of Spain dominate this colourful exhibition, while themes of birds and bird migration also inform many of the artworks. The artist is particularly interested in environmental psychology, in probing the interplay between identity, sense of place and our connection to the natural and built environments that surround us. Accordingly, her artists lens moves fluidly from the macro to the micro zooming out for an aerial birds eye view of rainclouds and sandstorms passing over patchworks of developed land; zooming in to depict a snowy mountain scene or a winding road; zooming in further still to consider a cactus or a nest. Throughout, there is a sense of stillness, of a snapshot in time brief encounters grasped and movingly preserved. All the artworks are rendered on wood panels, with Byrne using a blend of gesso, coloured pencil and alcohol-based ink marker to create images that frequently appear painted rather than drawn. I often saturate or mute the colours rather than creating a direct representation, Byrne explains, adding: I enjoy experimenting with how a material behaves on a given surface, and this process often guides my artistic process. Given the artists interest in identity and sense of place, it is interesting to note that working on The Long Way Round enhanced her own connection to southern Spain. Moving through and making work in this landscape has allowed me to draw meaning from and feel attached to this particular environment, she reveals. Idle Walls, by Bryan Gerard Duffy, and The Long Way Round, by Deirdre Byrne, will be on show at the Custom House Studios Gallery, Westport Quay, until May 26. BIRD'S EYE VIEW 'Cloudmap I', by Deirdre Byrne, part of her show 'The Long Way Round'. OVER 500 people took part in Kiltimaghs first ever Darkness Into Light walk this morning - making it one of the largest such events in Mayo. A total of 512 people registered for the Kiltimagh event, with between 500 and 600 taking to the streets of the town in support of the suicide and self-half prevention charity, Pieta. A dry, crisp morning was the setting for a 4.7k loop walk which started and ended at the Bocce Courts in Kiltimagh. The route took in rural roads on the outskirts of town and the Sculpture Park, where the crowd were enthused by an uplifting repertoire from Cill Aodain Choral Society under the director of Finola Higgins. Over 35 volunteer stewards were positioned at key strategic locations along the route helping to illuminate the bends and turns while providing guidance to all participants as they walked down Chapel Street and all around the hinterlands of Cordarragh and Kilcon. An added feature of the Kiltimagh Darkness into Light was The Remembrance Stretch - a distance of just over 0.5K designated as a special place of remembrance where participants could walk in silence and pay an additional mark of respect to the loved ones they lost through suicide. Participants were welcomed back to the Bocce Courts with live music from Ollie Burke and a tasty array of refreshments which were sponsored by a host of local businesses. The Kiltimagh GAA Club crest position along the Darkness Into Light route in Kiltimagh Joe Corry, Chairperson of the Kiltimagh Darkness Into Light Committee, hailed all those who participated in the walk and everyone involved in making the inaugural event such a success. On behalf of myself and all the volunteers, stewards, and committee members, we are absolutely delighted with the response to our Darkness Into Light Kiltimagh Inaugural Walk, said Mr Corry. This walk is a credit to all involved underscoring the strength and vibrancy of the community spirit here in Kiltimagh. A big thank you to all who took part to help make our inaugural walk such a huge success. To our musician Ollie Burke, the Cill Aodain Choral Society, the Mens Shed who helped with our signage, to all our volunteers and stewards, your contribution was immense. Thank you to all our sponsors who donated so generously so we could host our refreshment gathering here after the event. A special thank you to all my colleagues on the committee, you were all top class. He added: It would be remiss of me if I didnt thank all those who donated privately to the event. To our TY students at St Louis Community School here in Kiltimagh who organised a sponsored Jersey day and a shave a head day at the school to raise money for Darkness into Light. You have made such a difference. Mr Corry also extended thanks to the Swinford Darkness Into Light organisation, who will host the walk in Swinford once more in 2025 before it returns to Kiltimagh in 2026. It is planned that the towns will continue to alternate the hosting of Darkness Into Light each year into the future. A total of 14 Darkness Into Light walks took place in Mayo this morning (Saturday). The event is the flagship fundraiser for Pieta, which was founded in 2006 to provide free, accessible one-to-one counselling to people suffering from suicidal ideation, engaging in self-harm or to those bereaved by suicide. Last year in Connacht alone, Pieta provided over 4,000 hours of therapy and saw over 500 clients across the province. The charity also supported almost 100 families and households bereaved by suicide. The charity has over 200 qualified therapists and support staff across 24 centres, and is 85 percent funded by events like Darkness Into Light. To avail of Pietas services, visit www.pieta.ie or call 0818 111 126. Pieta provides 24/7 support via the Freephone crisis helpline on 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444 To the Young Protestants holding Portraits of Martin Luther on the steps of the Catholic Cemetery in Bielsko on All Souls Day When Luther couldnt convert his Jewish neighbors, he wrote: Set fire to their synagogues and schools in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, that God might see we are Christians. Between us iron grates and the cries of blackbirds on graves. Wind circles the firs. A child bounces a red ball. You stand smiling after five hundred years. You ask for nothing more than a coin from history, the blessing of pigeons nibbling crumbs at your feet, but it was never this simple. How young I was when my parents converted from Catholicism, entered the plain nave of a Protestant chapel and its Bach cantatas. Condemned by priests, shunned by our Irish relatives, we became devout Presbyterians. My Polish grandfather, a religious and political rebel, wouldnt let a priest in his house. In Sunday school, I was taught about the Reformations doctrines, martyrs, exiles. What can a child understand of cruelty and dogma? I missed my cousins in their First Communion finery, their frosted cakes. In Europe, in Ireland, death came for centuries with the swing of a censer, a bare cross replacing the crucifix, families divided with the slice of a cake knife. We stand in this land where the people of the book visit us in the fall windJews and Christians, whove strayed, says the Quran, from Gods true faith. Enough, the blackbirds cry. by Tersa Cader from Plume Magazine by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, May 10, 2024 A federal judge has dismissed X Corp's lawsuit against Israeli company Bright Data, which allegedly scraped and sold publicly available data that users had posted to the tech platform X, formerly Twitter. The ruling, issued Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup in the Northern District of California, marks the second time Bright Data has prevailed in a dispute with a social media platform. Earlier this year, Bright Data defeated a similar lawsuit brought by Meta Platforms. Thursday's ruling stems from a lawsuit brought last July by X Corp., which accused Bright Data of using automated tools to collect data about tweets, and also selling both the scraped data and data-scraping tools. The complaint included claims that Bright Data violated X Corp.'s terms of service, and that it effectively misappropriated X Corp's data. Alsup said in his ruling that even if X Corp. could prove Bright Data violated X's contractual terms by scraping data, X Corp. would also have to show how it was harmed by the scraping to prevail on that claim. advertisement advertisement "Under California law, '[a] breach of contract without damage is not actionable," he wrote, quoting from prior cases. "X Corp. has not alleged any damage resulting from access through unauthorized means, Alsup added. Alsup also found that federal copyright law overrode X Corp's claims relating to Bright Data's alleged sale of data that had been publicly posted by users. X Corp's claims would upend the careful balance Congress struck between what copyright owners own and do not own, and what they leave for others to draw on, Alsup wrote. He added that X Corp.'s theories would give the company de facto copyright ownership in copyrighted content that X users designated for public use. by Les Luchter , May 10, 2024 Mental health services provider LifeStance Health has partnered with Leica Camera and author/poet Hussain Manawer for Not One Face, a campaign from The Unquantifiable agency that seeks to destigmatize mental health by showing a wide range of experiences. The Unquantifiable was launched in 2020 by former Code and Theory chief creative officer Brandon Ralph, who is also one of 13 Leica brand ambassador photographers featured in Not One Face. In a two-and-a-half minute campaign video titled There Is Not One Face to Mental Health, some four dozen images from the photographers illustrate an original poem read aloud by Manawer. The poem ends: From the shadows Im revealing, all Im feeling advertisement advertisement To emerge from the deep end To begin my healing Why not let it be today? Lifestance has now run a Not One Face campaign for three years to mark Mental Health Awareness Month. The first one featured diverse portraits by just one renowned photographer, Mark Seliger, while last year's featured the responses of 28 New York suburbanites to the question, What does anxiety mean to you? Our goal with the latest iteration is to continue shedding light on the diversity of experiences when it comes to mental health, Ashley Anderson, LifeStances senior vice president of marketing, said in a statement. Just as everyones interaction with mental health will be different, its important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to treatment. In addition to a dedicated landing page and other owned media, LifeStance has been getting its message out through paid online ads and influencers. Founded in 2017, LifeStance is a clearinghouse of mental health clinicians, and touts a hybrid approach to treating mental health. We can see you virtually, or we can see you in person, Anderson told Marketing Daily last year. LifeStance now has over 550 locations in 33 states. The seven-year-old companys revenues topped $1 billion in 2023, a 23% rise from 2022, and $300 million in the first quarter of 2024, a 19% year-over-year increase. by Colin Kirkland , May 10, 2024 Although more U.S. readers are getting local news from online forums than daily newspapers, it's becoming clear that Meta is attempting to lessen the flow of news content on its family of apps, especially Facebook. According to a new report by publisher analytics firm Chartbeat and digital intelligence platform Similarweb, referral traffic from Facebook to publisher websites has declined 50% over the past 12 months. Chartbeat has been tracking Facebook traffic to a group of 792 news and media sites since 2018, showing that over the past six years, referrals to the sites have plunged by 58% -- from 1.3 billion in March 2018 to 561 million last month, according to Press Gazette, which originally reported on the study. advertisement advertisement In terms of total referrals, Facebook is now responsible for driving less than a quarter of their 2018 level -- down from 30% in March 2018 to just 7% in March 2024. Which has especially hurt small publishers. Combined page-view referrals from Facebook for the 316 smaller publishers (those with under 10,000 average daily page views) included in the analysis are seeing 2% of the traffic they saw six years ago. While page views to large publishers (those with over 100,000 average daily page views) and medium-sized outlets (between 10,000 and 100,000 views) are seeing about 50% of their March 2018 levels. Meta has been curbing its news output for years now. The tech giant this year announced that it would be deprecating its Facebook News tab in the U.S. and Australia, following earlier cutoffs of the tab in the U.K., France and Germany. The number of people using Facebook News in Australia and the U.S. has dropped over 80% last year, the company wrote in a blog post, adding that people don't come to the platform for news, but to connect and discover new opportunities, passions and interests. In addition, Meta banned news on Facebook in Canada and said it would stop recommending political content on Instagram and Threads. Overall, after the Capitol riots on January 6, when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has to testify in front of Congress, the company has been attempting to lessen the spread of hate and debate on its apps, which tends to root itself in political content. by Danielle Oster , May 10, 2024 According to a recent study from the National Retail Federation Prosper Insights & Analytics, 84% of U.S. consumers are expected to celebrate Mothers Day this year, and theyre anticipated to spend around $33.5 billion a historical figure second only to last years record $35.7 billion in spending. With 48% prioritizing finding gifts that are unique or different, and 43% looking to create a special memory -- more than in past years -- brands may not be able to rely on their typical strategies to court consumers for this holiday. Heres how three CPG brands are navigating their marketing pitches to consumers looking for the perfect gift for mom. Marias Gamesa PepsiCo-owned Mexican cookie brand Marias Gamesa is reviving its Cafecito con Marias Gamesa brand platform ahead of Mothers Day, which is designed to act as a virtual community of support for Latinas navigating motherhood in the U.S. advertisement advertisement For this year, the brand is partnering with parenting podcast "Super Mama," and delving into topics about relationships and prioritizing personal interests. The approach follows a recent brand survey finding Latina mothers in the U.S. arent leaning on community or family support systems, including the mother figures in their lives. According to the survey, 64% of Latina moms felt relieved after reaching out to their own mothers for support following difficult parenting situations, but 70% reported feeling too overwhelmed or stretched for time to give their mothers a call. So the brands centering its digital campaign around prompting consumers to give Mom a call with its Marcale a Mama" spot, running across Meta, YouTube, and TikTok through Mothers Day. The brand is also promoting viewers on social media channels to give mom a call, utilizing the #MarcaleAMama hashtag. The cookie brand is also partnering with a group of four Latina mother content creators as part of the campaign. dubbing the group the Marias Gamesa Squad. This influencer marketing team will share real motherhood experiences on their social channels, as well as appearing as guests on the "Super Mamas" podcast. Emma Sleep Emma knows working moms are tired. The brand, which sells mattresses, bed essentials and other sleep-related items, focused its Mothers Day campaign on the 71.2% of mothers globally who the company says are working either part-time or full-time jobs, while still taking on the bulk of household chores and childcare. Citing Stanford University research by Daniel Abrams about the influence and benefits of hearing a mothers voice on childhood development, the brand is offering a way for moms to let their kids hear their voice, even when they cant be there IRL. Emma created a bedtime story about the relationship between a mother and child, and the importance of sleep, which it is sharing as a free e-book. Its inviting moms to record themselves reading the story so their kids can fall asleep to the sound of Mom's voice. M&Ms Does Mom have a sweet tooth? M&Ms created a Mom Dispenser for Mothers Day (which dispenses M&Ms candy, not mothers). The nostalgic contraption -- available in versions reading Best Mom Ever or Happy Mothers Day -- is for sale for $54.99 on the brands website, and is filled with M&Ms candies with user-chosen personalized text delivering a nice message to Mom every time she turns the crank for a handful of the candy. The Mom Dispenser is the central component of the personalization approach offered on M&Ms dedicated Mothers Day page, which also includes a series of gift box, gift jar, and gift bottle options. A competing brand, Dove Chocolate, addressed moms who needed some job-hunting help in its distinct approach to Mothers Day -- which we covered in full here. by Teresa Buyikian , May 10, 2024 New seasonal menus and locations are sprouting as were halfway through spring and barreling towards summer. Here are just a few. Menus Auntie Annes has launched three new watermelon-flavored beverages, available until Aug. 25. The Watermelon Lemonade Frost is a blend of watermelon and frozen lemonade topped with whipped cream and sprinkles, while the Watermelon Frozen Lemonade is a frozen combo of watermelon and Auntie Annes Original Lemonade. The Watermelon Lemonade Mixer is an iced watermelon flavor with Auntie Annes Original Lemonade. Handel's Homemade Ice Cream has created a new Carrot Cake ice cream flavor: a carrot cake base with cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins and cream cheese. Carrot Cake flavor is available until May 30 by scoop or pint at all Handels locations. advertisement advertisement Wing Snob has added an Extra Saucy Mac and Cheese to its menu. The savory dish is available with an added Snob Shot -- an extra splash of sauce such as Honey BBQ, Buffalo, Cajun, Hot AF, Lemon Pepper, Nashville Hot or Sweet Heat. The new Mac and Cheese is available as a premium side option included in meal combos, or on its own regular, large and family sizes. Wendys has launched a Nuggs Party Pack, which features approximately 50 all white-meat chicken nuggets for sharing with a group. To promote the new party pack, Wendys teamed up with Rashiq Zahid, the developer behind McBroken (a website that locates every U.S. McDonalds with a broken ice-cream machine) to create WendysNuggParty.com. The website is a real-time interactive map, directing customers to their closest Wendys serving the Nuggs pack. Locations Daves Hot Chicken has signed a multi-unit agreement for seven new locations across the St. Louis area with The Hari Group. Since its inception in 2017, the brand has grown to over 140 locations in the United States and Canada. The Honey Baked Ham Company recently signed a new agreement with existing franchisee group Glazed Animals LLC to bring a new location to Columbia, Tennessee. This new agreement builds upon the groups initial deal from October 2023, which outlined a new HoneyBaked store in Clarksville, Tennessee, as well as ownership of an existing location in Cleveland, Tennessee. Port of Subs has signed a regional development deal for 10 new locations throughout Arizona over the next several years. The first store is slated to open by the beginning of 2025, and will be near a local hospital, tech hubs, hotels and multifamily housing per the release, with additional locations in Mesa and Queen Creek opening later in the year. Shipley Do-Nuts, an 88-year-old U.S. donut brand, has signed 14 deals for 61 new locations throughout Texas. So far in 2024, the brand has already opened six Texas and Oklahoma locations, as well as slated shops in Colorado, Florida, Maryland and North Carolina to open before the end of the year. Highlights: International Nurses Day, celebrated on May 12th, honors the pivotal role of nurses in healthcare The theme for 2024, "Our Nurses. Our Future. The economic power of care," underscores nurses' significant contributions Various activities and gestures of gratitude are organized to appreciate nurses' dedication and compassion Trusted Source How far do nurses walk? Go to source Trusted Source Did You Know? Nurses walk 4-5 miles during a 12-hour shift! Let's honor their dedication. #thankyounurses #nurseday #celebratenurses #medindia Nurses walk 4-5 miles during a 12-hour shift! Let's honor their dedication. #thankyounurses #nurseday #celebratenurses #medindia Advertisement Theme and History: International Nurses Day 2024 Advertisement The Significance of International Nurses Day Advertisement Expressing Gratitude and Support: Celebrating International Nursess Day How far do nurses walk? - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16999182/) International Nurses Day, observed annually on May 12th, is a momentous occasion dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the invaluable contributions of nurses worldwide. Serving as the backbone of the healthcare system, nurses play a pivotal role in enhancing the quality of life for millions of individuals. The significance of this day is deeply rooted in history, as it coincides with the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, a pioneer in modern nursing ().The theme for International Nurses Day 2024,underscores the indispensable role nurses play not only in providing compassionate care but also in driving economic prosperity through their expertise and dedication.The origins of International Nurses Day trace back to 1953 when Dorothy Sutherland, an official with the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, first proposed the idea of celebrating "Nurses Day." Despite initial setbacks, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) persisted in advocating for the establishment of this day. Finally, in 1974, the ICN officially declared May 12th as International Nurses Day, with the primary objective of honoring Florence Nightingale and acknowledging the profound impact of nurses on global healthcare.The significance of International Nurses Day extends beyond mere recognition; it serves as a poignant reminder of the vital role nurses play in safeguarding public health and well-being. Nurses possess a wealth of knowledge and skills, acquired through rigorous training and experience, enabling them to address diverse healthcare needs with precision and empathy. Their commitment to patient care and advocacy epitomizes the essence of compassionate healthcare delivery.In observance of International Nurses Day 2024, various activities and initiatives are organized worldwide to honor and support nursing professionals. Expressing gratitude towards nurses for their tireless efforts and sacrifices is paramount. Simple gestures such as sending thank-you notes, organizing appreciation events, or offering small tokens of appreciation can go a long way in uplifting spirits and fostering a sense of recognition.Moreover, fostering creativity and camaraderie within healthcare settings can amplify the celebration. Crafting handmade cards, organizing sing-alongs, or arranging wellness activities such as foot massages or spa treatments can provide much-needed respite to nurses amidst their demanding schedules.Social media platforms serve as powerful tools for amplifying the message of appreciation and recognition for nurses. By sharing personal anecdotes, photos, or messages of gratitude using hashtags like, individuals can contribute to raising awareness and fostering a culture of appreciation for nursing professionals.Furthermore, International Nurses Day presents an opportune moment to inspire the next generation of healthcare providers. Encouraging aspiring individuals to pursue careers in nursing, characterized by a unique blend of intellect and compassion, ensures a steady continuum of exemplary care in the future.In conclusion, International Nurses Day stands as a testament to the invaluable contributions of nurses to the global healthcare landscape. As we commemorate this day, let us reaffirm our commitment to supporting and honoring the dedicated men and women who epitomize the ethos of healing and compassion. Together, let us celebrate the resilience and boundless empathy of nurses, whose impact reverberates far beyond the confines of hospital walls.Source-Medindia Trusted Source After one death in Kerala, Tamil Nadu deploys Mobile Medical Teams in 12 blocks in Coimbatore to check spread of West Nile Virus Go to source Trusted Source West Nile Virus transmission by Culex mosquitoes puts Tamil Nadu on high alert. #westnilevirus #publichealth #medindia Advertisement Deployment of Mobile Medical Teams (MMT) for Screening Advertisement Symptoms and Severity of the West Nile Virus Advertisement Expert Insights and Health Department Response After one death in Kerala, Tamil Nadu deploys Mobile Medical Teams in 12 blocks in Coimbatore to check spread of West Nile Virus - (https://www.deshsewak.org/english/news/157150) The Tamil Nadu governments health department has initiated increased surveillance measures in several villages of Coimbatore District to prevent the spread of the West Nile Virus . This action comes in response to reported cases of the virus in neighboring districts of Kerala, where it is transmitted through mosquito bites ().To bolster efforts against the West Nile Virus, the Coimbatore District Health Department has deployed 12 Mobile Medical Teams (MMT) to screen residents across 12 blocks. These teams are tasked with identifying individuals exhibiting symptoms such as fever and influenza, which are indicative of a possible West Nile Virus infection.The West Nile Virus is transmitted primarily by Culex mosquitoes and can lead to severe symptoms including high fever, stiff neck, headache, disorientation, stupor, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, coma, paralysis, and even death in some cases. Prompt medical intervention is crucial to prevent the progression of the disease, as delayed treatment can result in debilitating consequences.Dr. R. Ramanandan, a Microbiology Professor, emphasized the urgency of administering proper medication to West Nile Virus patients to prevent worsening of their condition. He highlighted the potential for paralysis and fatality if treatment is not initiated promptly.Dr. P. Aruna, Deputy Director of Health Services, affirmed the departments proactive approach in screening patients with fever in Coimbatore District, particularly in light of recent fatalities and hospitalizations in Kerala. Circulars have been disseminated to all district health officers to conduct screenings for the virus in patients presenting with fever at Primary Health Centres across the state.The swift action taken by the Tamil Nadu health department underscores the importance of proactive surveillance and response measures in combating infectious diseases such as the West Nile Virus. By deploying Mobile Medical Teams and implementing screening protocols, authorities aim to mitigate the spread of the virus and safeguard public health in the region.Source-Medindia Thomas Meaney in Sidecar: If the battle of ien Bien Phu the Stalingrad of decolonization were in need of a symbol, you could do worse than a bicycle. One saddled with pieces of Katyusha rocket artillery, en route to be reassembled on the rim of the highlands overlooking the valley where the army divisions of Vo Nguyen Giap smashed the French imperial forces seventy years ago. To commemorate their victory, the Vietnamese state this week staged a full-scale re-enactment of the events, with thousands taking up the roles of peasant porters and army regulars who won the First Indochina War. Everything was in place except for actors to play the French, though if the invitation had gone out to veterans of the French New Wave, its hard to see them turning down the call. Jean-Pierre Leaud as Henri Navarre! One of the central dramas of ien Bien Phu is that both sides wanted the showdown. The commander of the French, Navarre, was confident they could rout the Vietnamese army just as they had done at Na San two years before. He wanted to shut off any Vietnamese incursion into Laos in the north, turning ien Bien Phu into an entrenched camp populated by 12,000 French troops, while simultaneously dispatching 53 battalions to root out the Vietnamese forces in the southern river delta. His second in command, Rene Cogny, wanted to meet Giaps soldiers out in the open in the style of battles of the previous century: I want a clash at ien Bien Phu. Ill do everything possible to make him eat dirt and forget about wanting to try his hand at grand strategy. Giap was happy to take up the gauntlet, telling his planners that ien Bien Phu could be the battle. More here. RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza's southern city of Rafah on Saturday, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its military operation closer to the heavily populated central area, in defiance of growing pressure from close ally the United States and others. Israel's military also said it was moving into an area of devastated northern Gaza where it asserted that the Hamas militant group has regrouped. Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, which is considered the last refuge in Gaza. The United Nations and others have warned that Israel's planned full-scale Rafah invasion would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. Rafah borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, which already have been affected. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to shut down. U.S. President Joe Biden has said he will not provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah. On Friday the U.S. said there was reasonable evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians in the way it conducted its war against Hamas the strongest statement yet that the Biden administration has made on the matter. In response to the U.S. report, Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Israels prime minister, told the AP that Israel acts in compliance with the laws of armed conflict and the army takes extensive measures to avert civilian casualties, including alerting people to military operations via phone calls and text messages. More than 1.4 million Palestinians half of Gazas population have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israels offensives elsewhere. The evacuations are forcing people to return north where areas are devastated from previous Israeli attacks. Aid agencies estimate that 110,000 had done so before Saturday's order, which adds a further 40,000. What should we do here? Do we wait until we all die on top of each other? So weve decided to leave. Its better, said Rafah resident Hanan al-Satari as people rushed to load mattresses, water tanks and other belongings onto vehicles. "The Israeli army does not have a safe area in Gaza. They target everything, said Abu Yusuf al-Deiri, earlier displaced from Gaza City. Many people have been displaced multiple times, and there are few places left to go. Some fleeing fighting earlier in the week erected new tent camps in the city of Khan Younis half destroyed in an earlier Israeli offensive and the city of Deir al-Balah, straining infrastructure. Some Palestinians are being sent to what Israel has called humanitarian safe zones along the Muwasi coastal strip in Gaza. But the zone is already packed with about 450,000 people in squalid conditions, with the garbage-strewn camp lacking basic facilities. Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the U.N. humanitarian agency in Rafah, said aid workers had no supplies to help people set up in new locations. We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system, he said. The World Food Program had warned that it would run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday, Petropoulos said. Aid groups have said fuel will also be depleted soon, forcing hospitals to shut down critical operations and halting trucks delivering aid across south and central Gaza. Heavy fighting is also underway in northern Gaza, where Hamas appeared to have regrouped in an area where Israel has launched assaults. Israeli Army spokesman Avichay Adraee told Palestinians in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya and surrounding areas to leave their homes and head to shelters in the west of Gaza City, warning that people were in a dangerous combat zone and that Israel would strike with great force. Northern Gaza was the first target of Israel's ground offensive launched after Hamas and other militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 250 hostage. They are still holding some 100 captives and the remains of more than 30. Israel said late last year it had mostly dismantled Hamas in northern Gaza. The U.N. agency supporting people in Gaza, known as UNRWA, said about 300,000 people have been affected by evacuation orders in Rafah and Jabaliya, but the numbers could likely be more as they are very built-up areas. Were extremely concerned that these evacuation orders have come both towards central Rafah and Jabaliya, Louise Wateridge, UNRWA spokesperson in Rafah, told The Associated Press. Israels bombardment and ground offensives have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties, accusing it of embedding in densely populated residential areas. At least 19 people, including eight women and eight children, were killed overnight in central Gaza in strikes that hit the areas of Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah and an AP journalist who counted the bodies. Another round of cease-fire talks in Cairo ended earlier this week without a breakthrough. ___ Mednick reported from Tel Aviv and Magdy reported from Cairo. Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem contributed. The Rangers have signed Chasen Shreve and Peter Solomon to minor league contracts, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. It seems likely that both pitchers will head to Triple-A Round Rock. Shreve signed a minor league pact with Texas over the offseason. He was in camp as a non-roster invitee but didnt make the team after allowing four runs through six innings. Shreve initially accepted an assignment to Round Rock. He made 10 appearances, working 10 1/3 frames of three-run ball, before triggering an opt-out at the start of May. Shreve spent a week exploring the market before circling back to Texas on a new minor league deal. Its fairly common for veterans of Shreves ilk to opt out of one minor league deal only to re-sign on a similar arrangement. The brief free agent stay at least gave his camp a chance to see if another team was willing to offer an immediate MLB job. Its possible the new contract also contains another opt-out that wasnt in the original deal. Shreve has pitched parts of 10 seasons in the big leagues. He has a 3.97 ERA in 356 innings between seven clubs. The 33-year-old split last year with the Tigers and Reds. Shreve allowed 4.63 earned runs per nine with solid strikeout (23.3%) and walk (7.3%) numbers through 44 2/3 frames. Solomon, 27, also pitched in the majors as recently as last season. He has far less MLB experience than Shreve, tallying 27 1/3 innings through 11 appearances in long relief. The Notre Dame product is a former fourth-round draftee of the Astros. He debuted with Houston in 2021 and made five appearances for the Diamondbacks early last season. Arizona ran him through outright waivers in June and he reached minor league free agency at years end. The right-hander opened 2024 in independent ball. He signed with the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League, where he started three games. Solomons nine runs allowed in 12 2/3 innings isnt eye-catching, but he ran a 19:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio that evidently impressed the Rangers enough to give him another chance in affiliated ball. Solomon has a 6.59 ERA with more walks than strikeouts in his abbreviated MLB work. He has pitched parts of three seasons in the Pacific Coast League, allowing a 6.16 ERA in 261 1/3 innings. Solomon has managed a decent 22.1% strikeout rate while working mostly out of the rotation at the top minor league level. He can pitch in the rotation or in long relief at Round Rock. LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MI - The man linked to 11 deaths in Michigan from the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak was sentenced Friday to 10-15 years in prison, officials said. Barry Cadden, 57, was sentenced in 44th Circuit Court in Livingston County two months after he pleaded no contest to 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in a release. Cadden used to own the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts, which produced epidural injections that led to 64 deaths nationwide, officials said. We all depend on safe medications, Nessel said in a statement. Whether its a child needing antibiotics, a parent receiving life-saving treatment, or a grandmother in desperate need of pain relief, every patient deserves to know their medications will help them, not kill them. The families of these 11 victims will forever bear the weight of Mr. Caddens greed and disregard for basic standards that caused this horrific tragedy. The lab, located in Framingham, Massachusetts, disregarded sterility procedures, including forging cleaning records and testing results, officials said. Although testing repeatedly revealed the presence of mold or bacteria in the sterilized rooms used to mix the drugs to create the steroids the company sold, the company misrepresented the safety of its product, according to previous reporting. The 2012 outbreak of fungal meningitis, a life-threatening infection that causes swelling around the brain and spinal cord, was linked to the lab, Nessel said. The deaths in Michigan were a result of epidural injections of the steroid methylprednisolone at the Michigan Pain Specialists Clinic in Livingston County. The injections were compounded and produced at Caddens lab. Donna Kruzich, Paula Brent, Lyn Laperriere, Mary Plettl, Gayle Gipson, Patricia Malafouris, Emma Todd, Jennie Barth, Ruth Madouse, Salley Roe and Karina Baxter died because they were injected with the steroid, Nessel said. Cadden was originally charged in 2018 with 11 counts of second-degree murder in Livingston Countys 53rd District Court. The case was sent to the countys circuit court in August 2020. Read more: Men tied to 2012 meningitis outbreak that killed 11 still set to stand trial Cadden was also found guilty in federal court of 57 criminal charges and sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison. His federal sentence began in August 2017. As part of his plea of no contest, Caddens state prison sentence will be served concurrently with his federal sentence, Nessel said. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but is treated like one by criminal courts. It avoids what could be considered an admission of liability in any civil case. Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page, the Ypsilanti-area news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter. Parul Sehgal at The New Yorker: Butler is soft-spoken and gallant, often sheathed in a trim black blazer or a leather jacket, but, given the slightest encouragement, they turn goofy and sly, almost gratefully. When they were twelve years old, they identified two plausible professional paths: philosopher or clown. In ordinary life, Butler incorporates both. Butler apologized for the mess in their car, an old BMW, when we went for a drive one daythis amounted to a few books by the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, strewn around the back seat. Butlers marginalia in those books are in a precise, hunched hand. Merleau-Ponty propounded the idea that the body, not consciousness, is our primary instrument for understanding the world. To be in a body is not to be contained but to be exposed to the world; from our first breath, we are in need of care from other people. Merleau-Ponty is a deep influence; one can feel him tumbling around in the back seat of much of Butlers thinking. I am open to a world that acts on me in ways that cannot be fully predicted or controlled in advance, and something about my openness is not, strictly speaking, under my control, they have said. more here. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - My late parents taught me that it was important to be engaged in your community and voting was your civic duty. As Black Americans, they also emphasized to me and my siblings that too many people had fought and died for us to have the right to vote, not to, and that every vote counts. There are just three days left to get a free $40 gift card when you sign up for a Costco membership. Get the Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership + a $40 Digital Costco Shop Card on sale now for $60 -- offer expires May 12. Sign up now and discover savings on thousands of brand-name products for your home or business. Shop for Costco services including business centers, warehouses, travel, Costco.com, gas, hearing aid centers, optical and pharmacy. Your membership purchase MUST be redeemed by 06/16/24 to qualify for this promotion, but you are encouraged to redeem within 30 days of your purchase. Valid for NEW MEMBERS ONLY or for members whose memberships have been expired for more than 18 MONTHS Costcos offers a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee with full refund. Limitations apply. What you get A Gold Star Membership includes a free Household Card and allows you to purchase products for your home and family. Your Gold Star Membership is valid for one year at any Costco location worldwide, and at Costco.com. Qualified members will receive their $40 Digital Costco Shop Card by email within two weeks of redeeming their purchase. Although a Gold Membership card cannot be used for resale, you can shop at Costco Business Centers, and Costco Warehouses worldwide. In addition you can use your Gold membership for travel, Costco Gas Stations, Shop online at Costco.com and more. Costco offers you quality merchandise at an incredible value and excellent member service. For additional information about Costco membership, please review the Member Privileges and Conditions. Chirag Daruwalla is an astrologer with more than 18 years of experience advising clients on career, health, finance, business, money, and love marriage related queries, and on all kinds of life and work problems. Visit chiragdaruwalla.com, call/Whatsapp +91 8141566266 or email info@chiragdaruwalla.com May 11, 2024 / 08:40 IST In accordance with the current examination regulations, students who were absent or failed in one, two, or three subjects in the March 2024 SSC exams are provided an opportunity for improvement. These students can appear for the Supplementary Examination 2024. Applications for the supplementary exam must be filled out online via the board's official website at www.gseb.org. Only online applications and fees processed through schools will be accepted, as there is no provision for in-person submission of applications. Eligibility and Application Details The list of students eligible to participate in the 2024 Supplementary Examination will be prepared by each school and sent along with the results of March 2024. It is essential for schools to obtain the consent of the students listed in the "One, Two, or Three Subject Fail List" before submitting their applications online. The fees for the supplementary exam are as follows: INR 145 for one subject, INR 205 for two subjects, and INR 265 for three subjects. Special Note for Differently Abled and Female Candidates The government has exempted differently abled and female candidates from the examination fees. However, they are still required to register online for the Supplementary Examination 2024. A zero-fee receipt should be kept as proof of registration and may need to be presented to the board if necessary. Application Corrections and Special Instructions In cases where a candidate eligible for improvement is not listed in the school-provided list or online, the principal must verify the student's scorecard and S.R., and provide the necessary documents and fees to the board's office in Gandhinagar. This process ensures that all eligible students have the opportunity to correct their records and appear for the supplementary exam. You are already a Moneycontrol Pro user. 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Before joining Moneycontrol, she was an Assistant Editor at The Economic Times, where she wrote for the paper for over a decade and was a host on their podcast. Contact: rachita.prasad@nw18.com Follow us on: Quant hedge fund pioneer Jim Simons dies at 86; tributes pour in from Ray Dalio, Mike Bloomberg, more Follow us on: Analyst Call Tracker: What drove the biggest downgrades and upgrades this year ?? Fiscal de la Nacion (i), Juan Carlos Villena, presidio la ceremonia por el 43. aniversario del Ministerio Publico y Dia del Fiscal. Durante su discurso, rechazo la desactivacion del Equipo Especial PNP de apoyo al #EFICCOP y evalua acciones en defensa de la legalidad. pic.twitter.com/VZl73NnmtA Follow us on: Caste key factor in Beed as BJP's Pankaja Munde seeks to keep family's winning streak since 2009 Follow us on: Haryana political crisis: Of governors and floor tests what does the law say? Follow us on: Who is Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the future CJI who granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal? Best cities to find a job in the US Japanese CEO, who relocated to Bengaluru in April, says world needs Indian leadership: 'Amazed at the diversity of values' Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal shares why he spoke about gender pronoun issue: 'Putting my money where my mouth is' Invite your friends and family to sign up for MC Tech 3, our daily newsletter that breaks down the biggest tech and startup stories of the day There are wild weather and flash flooding warnings along the NSW coast this weekend as Sydney closes in on notching a fortnight straight of rain. Sydney's rain is set to continue this weekend as it closes in on a record run. Source: Weatherzone/Getty For millions of Australians, it might feel like the rain will never end. Unfortunately, theres plenty more in store this weekend. Sydney has notched double digits in consecutive days of rainfall, closing in on a historic record while others along the east coast are again being warned of potential flash flooding. In the past few days weve had continuous rainfall because of a series of slow moving high pressure systems ... directing a moist easterly air stream, Jiwon Park, from the Bureau of Meteorologys Sydney office told Yahoo News Australia. This weekend weather will be even more moist, especially on Saturday. The southern and central part of the NSW coast, namely the Illawarra region and the south coast, will likely have the biggest soaking in store today. A combination of weather systems and a deepening coastal trough could see "widespread" totals of more than 100mms of rainfall from Saturday into Sunday. "It's possible we'll see isolated totals of over 200mm which may increase the potential of flash flooding," Park said. "The soil is quite saturated to any moderate rain has the potential to cause flash flooding." Flooding last month cut roads in the suburb of Stanwell Park in Illawarra, Wollongong. Source: AAP That sentiment was echoed by Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino on Friday who warned "another round of widespread rain will drench Australia's southeast mainland over the next three days, dumping more water into already saturated catchments". "It has rained in Sydney every day so far this month, allowing the city to receive its entire May average in just six days," he noted online. Sydney's Warragamba dam, already at 99 per cent capacity, is forecast to spill. The water reservoir last spilled after heavy rain in April, causing catastrophic damage to some homes near the catchment area. #Thunderstorms are possible about some inland and coastal parts of #NSW today. #SevereThunderstorms are possible about coastal parts of #Sydney, the #Hunter and #Illawarra for the risk of heavy #rainfall that may lead to localised flash #flooding. https://t.co/GBbpwF4jbu pic.twitter.com/bRnil7ZiAn Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) May 11, 2024 Sydney 'very close' to rain record In Sydney, the downpour on Saturday is expected to be lighter than on the southern coast and in the range of 20 to 50mms, Park said. The city of five million has seen 11 straight days of rain. As ABC meteorologist Thomas Saunders pointed out, it is closing in on a record for most consecutive days with more than 1mm of rainfall recorded. #Sydney's wet spell has now reached 10 days (>1mm per 24 hours). The all-time record is 16 days (data to 1859). We can probably bank another 3 days, and with onshore winds continuing next week a new record is in the realm of possibility. pic.twitter.com/kM5CuiyYaN Thomas Saunders (@TomSaundersABC) May 9, 2024 "Sydney's wet spell has now reached 10 days," he wrote online on Thursday. "The all-time record is 16 days (data to 1859). We can probably bank another three days, and with onshore winds continuing next week a new record is in the realm of possibility." With rain expecting to ease for Sydneysiders from Monday, "at this moment our anticipation is that it may not break the record," Park told Yahoo. The wet weather is tipped to potentially push into Monday but that "may be the last day of this wet spell," he said. "Sydney may not make the 16 ... But very close." A warmer atmosphere is a wetter atmosphere. So, it's no surprise that Earth's warmest April on record for air and ocean temperatures was also a record-breaking month for global atmospheric moisture. Full details here: https://t.co/zwqusBIUR7 pic.twitter.com/7SL3TJfUFe Ben Domensino (@Ben_Domensino) May 9, 2024 According to Weatherzone, Sydney is far from alone after some long wet weeks. In fact, Earth had its "most moisture-laden" April on record as air and ocean temperatures caused atmospheric moisture content to surge across the planet. With global temperatures on the rise, Domensino noted the atmosphere can hold about 7 per cent more moisture for every 1C of warming. Wet weather is also forecast this weekend for neighbouring parts of Queensland and Victoria. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. Australia's UN representative James Larsen has backed an international motion that has proved controversial back home. Source: ABC Australia has backed a major international push that could lead to official Palestinian statehood amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. In a historic vote carried out at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the international body lodged their support for a bid by Palestine to become a full member of the UN. The resolution, which recognised that Palestine was qualified to join, overwhelmingly passed early this morning (AEST), with Australia among the countries to support it. Currently Palestine is considered an "observer" and does have an ambassador to the UN, but the vote upgrades its status. While it is not yet a full member, it bestows greater rights and privileges (to come into effect in September) and recommends the UN Security Council "favourably" reconsider Palestine gaining full membership after the US vetoed a similar resolution. In total, 143 nations including Australia voted in favour of the non-binding resolution, while nine voted against it and 25 abstained from the vote. The United States and Israel were among the nine countries to vote against it. The move is seen as a de facto step towards future Palestinian statehood, the ABC reported. However full UN membership is considered unlikely. It comes seven months into the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the largest militant group in the Palestinian territories. Australia has previously abstained from voting on a call for an immediate humanitarian truce in the war. Palestinian Permanent Representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, accepts the congratulations following the vote. Source: Getty Full membership is still considered highly unlikely. Source: Getty Australia's UN representative James Larsen said the resolution rejected the goals and methods of Hamas, condemned its October 7 attack on Israel, and called for hostage releases. "Australia has long believed a two-state solution offers the only hope for breaking the endless cycle of violence and achieving lasting peace," he said. "Like many member states, Australia has been frustrated by the lack of progress." Australian Liberals 'dismayed', call Australian support 'shameful' Back in Australia, the opposition Foreign Affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham accused the government of lacking courage in the face of pressure. "Labor's support for the resolution sends a shameful message that violence and terrorism get results ahead of negotiation and diplomacy," he said on Saturday. Voting in favour of the resolution put us out of step with important allies who abstained or rejected it and risked emboldening terrorists, he argued. Simon Birmingham and a raft of other Liberals have slammed Australia's decision. Source: AAP The Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, James Patterson, also derided the move as "shameful". "Before the election Labor told Australians, including the Jewish community, that there was no difference between the major parties on Israel. Our shameful vote at the UN last night is yet further evidence this was a lie. Only the Coalition stands with Israel," he posted on Saturday morning. Meanwhile former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott also took to social media to decry our government's support. "Dismayed that Australia has broken eight decades of bi-partisanship," he wrote. "Shame the government has forgotten [former Labor PM] Bob Hawkes declaration that 'if the bell tolls for Israelit tolls for all mankind'." Australia has long been an unwavering supporter of a two state solution. Today, Australia voted in support of a General Assembly Resolution which grants the Palestinians a modest extension of rights as a non-member observer state in the #UNGA. https://t.co/uz61ja77L2 Ambassador James Larsen (@AustraliaUN) May 10, 2024 Meanwhile Israel's ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon took to social media to express his "disappointment" saying it "would only reward Hamas for the atrocities they committed ... [and is] a reward that will only empower Iran and Hamas to further destabilise the region." The vote came amid international condemnation as Israel pushed further into Rafah, Gaza's last refuge where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering following widespread destruction of the strip. China said the resolution reflects the will of the international community and accused the US of misusing its veto powers. The general assembly meeting adjourned and will reconvene on Monday in New York. with AAP Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. Governor Gavin Newsom's press conference on his revised budget plan View Photo Sacramento, CA Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes a $288 billion May revised budget proposal while announcing a $27.6 billion deficit he hopes to tackle with spending cuts and eliminating 10,000 vacant state jobs. We have a math problem. Is this what I want to do? No. We can eliminate our expansion of healthcare. We can eliminate wages. We can do furloughs. We can do layoffs. We can do a lot of things, stated Newsom at a press conference in Sacramento on Friday. I dont want to do those things, so these are the things that, in the absence of those other things, are difficult to do. Newsom is proposing over $30 billion in ongoing and one-time spending cuts, including to education and climate objectives, while promising to keep core social service programs untouched. It also includes one-time reductions of $2 billion for broadband expansion, $272 million for employment services for the states welfare program, and $500 million for water storage. However, not the controversial tunnel project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which he supports. Continuing cuts would save $81 million by closing housing units across 13 state prisons, removing $300 million in pandemic-related aid to public health departments, $510 million from a scholarship program for middle-class college students pursuing teaching credentials, and suspending the net operating loss tax deduction for businesses. These are programs, propositions that Ive long advancedmany of them, Newsom stressed. But youve got to do it. We have to be responsible. We have to be accountable. We have to balance the budget. The $38 billion deficit predicted by Newsom in January is smaller due to $17.3 billion in cuts in agreed-upon actions lawmakers took to close the gap. State tax collections from personal income, corporations, and sales dropped over $6 billion below the previous estimate, affecting the deficit. One thing he will not support is new taxes. I dont see theres real evidence in need right now to increase general taxes in the state, put more burden on working folks, and our competitive posture, so no, I wouldve laid that out if I believed that I do not believe we need that this year or next year, stated Newsom. Republicans criticized Newsom for failing to responsibly manage the states spending. Californias budget situation is a mess, said Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong, vice chair of the chambers budget committee and a congressional candidate. I have said repeatedly that budget gimmicks, cost shifts, and more borrowing only creates more problems in the future. In January, Newsom advised that the states revenues for 202223 to 202425 have been coming in $42.9 billion lower than they estimated. The governor says his plan will address both this years deficit and a projected $28.4 billion deficit for the following year. The state legislatures deadline to pass a balanced budget or lose its pay is June 15. The fiscal year starts on July 1st. Clare Slater was first diagnosed with cancer when she was pregnant and had to give birth early to get treatment. Clare Slater was 31 weeks pregnant when doctors delivered her baby girl Daisy in order to start treating the 39-year-old's cancer. Source: Supplied After first being diagnosed with cancer in the final few months of her second pregnancy, an Aussie mother is once again fighting for her life against odds that arent in her favour. Doctors still don't know what type of rare and malignant cancer Queenslander Clare Slater is once again battling, but her strength and determination to defeat it one more time are carrying her through the most gruelling chemotherapy. I feel hopeful despite the 50 per cent success rate, the 40-year-old told Yahoo News Australia. I have a lot to live for, to stay strong for my family so I feel like theres no room to be sad or depressed. I just have to get through my treatment and onto life beyond cancer. Bleeding in pregnancy When Slater began bleeding heavily during her second pregnancy in early 2023, it was thought that she had placenta previa, a condition where the placenta lies low and may block the cervix. But her daughter was growing beautiful and doctors werent too worried. Yet when Slater, who was living in Melbourne at the time, didnt feel her baby moving much during a holiday to visit family in Brisbane, she panicked and went to hospital. It was during a speculum examination that a little bit of tissue came away which was sent off for testing. Then doctors found a five centimetre mass in her cervix area. But I'd had pap smears, internal scans and blood tests just before getting pregnant, because wed struggled to get pregnant, and there was no evidence of any cancer, lumps, bumps or anything, Slater said. So doctors told her not to worry, indicating that it was probably a polyp (most often a benign growth). In Melbourne, at 30 weeks pregnant, an MRI revealed Slaters mass was now 7.7 centimetres. But the oncology gynaecology team said, don't worry, you know it's not going to be cancer because you had that pap smear, explained Slater, who booked in for a biopsy the following week. Then Redland Hospital in Brisbane called me. They said: We've got the tissue sample back and its malignant. Youve got cancer. An early delivery With a cancer diagnosis, Slaters medical team wanted to deliver her baby as soon as possible and on May 4 little Daisy was born early at 31 weeks. A week later, Slater underwent surgery with surgeons going straight in through my caesarean wound to remove the tumour which by this point was over eight centimetres to perform a hysterectomy. But just four weeks later, a follow-up scan revealed that the tumour had grown back in the space where her cervix used to be. The mother-of-two was told by doctors not to worry about the 8cm mass growing inside her. Source: Supplied Days after that, Slater started her first round of chemotherapy. I felt like I missed a lot of Daisys first four months, the mother of two said. I was supposed to be on maternity leave looking after my newborn, but instead I was visiting a chemo unit daily. It felt unfair. To both me and her. But the treatment worked and in October Slater was given the all clear no more cancer so she moved her family to Brisbane to be closer to family and for a new job. A familys worst nightmare Months flew by while the family set up life in Queensland. Everything was going well until the Easter long weekend and I started having the kind of back pain that I had last time, the 40-year-old said. I thought it was related to carrying my children around and that Id just been overdoing it. But you know when you sort of just have a bit of a feeling that it's not that. What followed was the worst news imaginable. Her cancer was back. I was really upset, she said. Not so much health wise because I was never thinking: I'm going to die, I was thinking: I've just started to get my life back on track and somebody has now completely taken the scissors to it. Slater was diagnosed with cancer again in April and had already commenced chemotherapy when the family celebrated Daisy's first birthday in early May. Source: Supplied Friends rally behind family While doctors again dont know exactly what type of cancer Slater has, shes currently undergoing five cycles of brutal chemotherapy with a 50 per cent success rate. Her stem cells will also soon be harvested in order to transplant them back to help her recover from the treatment. I am hopeful, she said. I have seen a psychologist, and obviously cancer is hard, but she thinks I am doing very well. Im functioning. But Slater and her family cant do it alone. As the main breadwinner, the mother of a one and almost three-year-old, is now out of work. Fortunately, theyre surrounded by loving friends whove set up a GoFundMe page to help support the family. More than $28,600 has already been raised. We know that everyone is doing it tough right now with the cost of living crisis, and a lot of people out there are struggling," Slater said. "We really, really appreciate anything. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. HWY 120 three vehicle crash View Photos Tuolumne County, CA The CHP is releasing the names of those involved in the Friday morning collision on Highway 120 in the Moccasin area of Tuolumne County, where one person was flown from the scene. The crash happened around 11:30 a.m. at the Highway 49 intersection. CHP spokesperson Officer Steve Machado detailed that 44-year-old Tambra Whitlow of Oakdale was driving a 2001 Subaru Outback eastbound on 120, near Moccasin Creek Road. At the same time, 32-year-old Kevin Schmierer of Stockton was driving a 2024 Kenworth big rig westbound. 40-year-old Song Chen of Sacramento was traveling behind the big rig in a 2016 Toyota Tundra. Whitlow allowed her vehicle to travel over the double yellow line and struck the left side of the big rig. After crashing into the big rig, Whitlows vehicle crashed into the Tundra, disclosed Machado. Whitlow sustained major injuries and was flown to Doctors Medical Center for treatment. Chen sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene, and Schmierer was uninjured. Machado added that alcohol and/or drugs are not suspected to be a factor in this crash. Yves here. Energy hog advanced economies are trying to wean themselves from using Russia as a source of uranium. Amusingly, the county stepping in to fill the gap is China, the other nemesis of the West. By Haley Zaremba, a writer and journalist based in Mexico City. Originally published at OilPrice Russias nuclear energy sector continues to generate significant revenue despite sanctions on its fossil fuels. Western nations are increasingly turning to China for nuclear energy supply chains, strengthening Chinas economic and geopolitical power. This transition is part of a broader trend of Chinas growing influence in the global energy landscape. While the west has had a considerable amount of success imposing energy sanctions on Russia in response to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russian nuclear sector exports have proven harder to kick. But now, as more western nations get serious about cutting Russia out of their nuclear energy supply chains, they are pushing more and more economic and geopolitical power into the hands of China. While it seemed impossible to wean Europe off of Russian oil and natural gas without devastating the economy and dangerously compromising European energy security, the European Union has had remarkable success cutting those ties thanks to a surge in renewable energy production and a very mild winter during the critical transition phase. But the potency of those efforts has been undermined by the continued global reliance on Russian nuclear energy supply chains. Russian state-operated nuclear energy firm Rosatom has long been one of the primary exporters of nuclear fuel and uranium enrichment services around the world. European countries including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland, and Bulgaria have increased their imports of Russian nuclear fuel in order to make up for Russian fossil fuels, meaning that theyre still providing significant funding to the Kremlin. The Belladonna think tank estimates that nuclear fuel exports earned over $739 million for Moscow in the last year alone. Rostatom is also a major source of funding for the construction of new nuclear facilities on a global level. At present, nearly one in five nuclear power plants on the planet is either in Russia or is Russian-built. But Russias influence in certain nuclear markets appears to be faltering as the nations ongoing war in Ukraine compromises its ability to deliver on its projects. Bulgaria has pleaded with the United States to help get out from under Russias nuclear thumb, and Hungary seems to be trying to get out as well Rosatoms Paks II nuclear power plant in Hungary has been delayed and over budget since its earliest planning phases in 2014, but the setbacks have intensified in recent years as Europes stance toward the Kremlin and heightened security measures have complicated Russias ability to finalize the project. As Russia continues to spin its wheels on Paks II, Hungary appears to be turning to China to continue its nuclear energy development. Chinas President Xi Jinping will be making a stop in Budapest later this week, where he is expected to sign 16 agreements with the Hungarian government, including one which concerns cooperation covering the entire portfolio of nuclear energy. This would seem to include Paks II, signaling that Hungary is looking to cut Rosatom out of its nuclear industry. This is not the first time that nuclear energy has been a geopolitical flashpoint between Russia and China. The two economic giants have also been facing off for nuclear dominance in emerging economies, and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where the growth potential for a nuclear power industry is enormous and in dire need of funding to kick off the prohibitively expensive development phase of nuclear power plant planning and construction. But with Moscows attention and resources caught up in wartime chaos, China has a clear upper hand. This potential transition of nuclear energy power and profit toward China is part of a much bigger trend in the global energy landscape. Beijing has been outspending the rest of the world on renewable energy and green infrastructure and manufacturing for years now. Beijing has placed itself at the nexus of global clean energy supply chains, becoming indispensable to growing clean energy sectors in developed nations in Europe and the Americas while simultaneously expanding its energy influence in emerging economies. Filling Russias shoes in the global nuclear energy industry is just one more step toward Beijings consolidation of power over global energy markets. Yves here. If you think unhinged is an overstatement, here is a longer version of what the Israel ambassador said regarding the General Assembly vote to find that Palestine qualified for membership, which passed by a large majority: As Lambert put it, Israeli ambassador completely loses his shit, [family blogging] childish and cringe. This gives me an excuse to use one of my favorite lines from film. In the must-see The Lives of Others, the lead character Georg Dreymann replies to a particularly offensive and proof-of-power-abusing remark by a former senior official in the GDR: To think that men like you once ran a country. Sadly, that remark applies to most Western leaders, absent the use of past tense. By Jake Johnson, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams Shame on you, said Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan shortly before the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution supporting full membership for Palestine. Shortly before the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution Friday supporting full U.N. membership for Palestine, Israels ambassador took to the podium and put a prop copy of the U.N.s founding document through a handheld paper shredder. In a speech that one journalist described as unhinged, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan described Palestinians as modern-day Nazis and condemned the U.N. General Assembly for choosing to reward them with rights and privileges. You are shredding the U.N. Charter with your own hands, Erdan said as he fed a small copy of the document through a miniature paper shredder. Shame on you. Watch: Watch: Israeli ambassador to the UN @giladerdan1 used a paper shredder to shred the UN charter on the podium of the UN general assembly ahead of a vote that will give new privileges to the Palestinians at the UN pic.twitter.com/mWQ85c8uwK Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 10, 2024 Erdans bizarre performance came just before the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution urging the Security Council to reconsider Palestines request to become a full U.N. member following a U.S. veto last month. Palestine is currently a nonmember observer state of the U.N. The General Assembly voted by a margin of 143 to 9with 25 abstentionsin support of the resolution. The nine countries that voted no were the United States, Israel, Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Papua New Guinea. In addition to backing its bid for full U.N. membership, the resolution gives Palestine the right to introduce and co-sponsor proposals as well as amendments within the assembly, The Guardianreported. Riyad Mansour, Palestines permanent observer at the U.N., said ahead of Fridays vote that support for the resolution is a vote for Palestinian existence. I stand before you as lives continue falling apart in the Gaza Strip, said Mansour, noting that more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, 80,000 have been maimed, 2 million have been displaced, and everything has been destroyed by Israeli forces over the past seven months. No words can capture what such loss and trauma signifies for Palestinians, Mansour added. The U.S. and Israel are isolated and the world is on the side of Palestine. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, called the U.N. General Assemblys passage of the resolution an unprecedented move that shows once again how unbelievably isolated [U.S. President Joe] Biden has made the U.S. In anticipation of Fridays vote, a group of Republican U.S. senators led by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) introduced legislation that would halt U.S. funding for any entityincluding the U.N.that gives Palestine any status, rights, or privileges beyond observer status. Current law requires the U.S. to cut off funding to U.N. agencies that give full membership to a Palestinian statewhich could mean a cutoff in dues and voluntary contributions to the U.N. from its largest contributor, The Associated Pressreported Friday. Craig Mokhiber, a former U.N. official who resigned in October over the bodys failure to act in the face of Israels genocidal assault on Gaza, wrote that Fridays vote further shows that the U.S. and Israel are isolated and the world is on the side of Palestine. ZIONIST INDOCTRINATION: AIPAC-sponsored congressmen push bill to make teaching about Oct. 7 attack MANDATORY for high schoolers A bipartisan pair of congressmen heavily funded by the powerful pro-Israeli lobbying group AIPAC are pushing for a new bill to create an "Oct. 7th remembrance curriculum" to be taught in high schools all over the United States. Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Michelle Steel (R-CA) claim that the October 7th Remembrance Education Act seeks to direct the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to create a curriculum to teach about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. "For decades, educators have taught about the Holocaust to expose the repercussions that hate and intolerance can have on our society," said Gottheimer in a statement. "In the wake of Oct. 7th, the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, we must develop new educational resources to combat the surging tide of antisemitism across the United States. We cannot stay silent in the face of hate and bigotry online, on our college campuses, or anywhere in our nation." (Related: BLOOD MONEY: Here are the TOP 10 POLITICIANS taking influence money from ISRAEL.) "With each passing day, the ongoing consequences of Hamas' violent and unprovoked attack against innocent civilians in Israel remind us that the dangers of antisemitism are not just something of the past," said Steel. "We must ensure that future generations are educated about the very real and very present danger of antisemitism so that this hateful ideology does not continue to spread. This legislation takes concrete steps to do just that, and I am proud to partner with my colleagues on this measure to stand with the Jewish people both now and in the future." 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. Gottheimer and Steel are heavily funded by AIPAC. Gottheimer has received nearly $1.7 million from AIPAC, and Steel has received around $252,000. Bill requires teaching of Oct. 7 attack for high schoolers The bill uses as precedent the fact that the Holocaust Memorial Museum already provides schools with Holocaust education materials. The Oct. 7th Act would be targeted toward students from ninth to twelfth grades. The bill requests that the new curriculum include information on the Oct. 7 attack that kickstarted the ongoing Israel-Hamas war; how the history of antisemitism contributed to the attack; the current spread of antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric on college and university campuses; the spread of anti-Israel rhetoric on social media; and the "denial and distortion" of the Oct. 7 attack "as a form of antisemitism." The bill also presents a definition of antisemitism in line with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's own, which includes denying the right of the State of Israel to exist, calling Israel "a racist endeavor" and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of Nazi Germany. Finally, the bill also demands that the Department of Education make regular reports to Congress on the progress of the crafting of the curriculum as well as its eventual implementation. The bill has been supported by several organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federations of North America. Learn more about pro-Israel lobbying groups and their influence on American politics at IsraelCollapse.com. Watch this clip from "TruNews" reporting on AIPAC's anger over President Joe Biden's decision to temporarily halt the shipping of certain types of bombs and artillery ammunition to Israel in the wake of its invasion of Rafah. This video is from the TruNews channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Foreign agent: "Judas" House Speaker Johnson received more than half a million dollars from pro-Israel PAC, FEC report reveals. TrackAIPAC.com exposes Zionist politicians who take Israeli bribes. DIRTY MONEY: Billionaire owner of OnlyFans is biggest donor of pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, which funds hundreds of lawmakers in America to do the bidding of Israel. Blood money: The top ten politicians taking the most Israel lobby cash. Pro-Israel PAC to spend $100M to unseat Congress members fighting for Palestinian human rights. Sources include: InformationLiberation.com JewishInsider.com Gottheimer.House.gov TrackAIPAC.com HolocaustRemembrance.com Brighteon.com An enterprising lawyer is hoping to get thousands of dollars out of Jetstar by using the airline's 'fine print' against them. A young lawyer has taken the fight to Jetstar in the most unusual fashion. Source: SpiltMilk/Getty Australia's national carrier Qantas, and its subsidiary Jetstar, have been the target of public ire in recent years, and some fed-up travellers are even finding innovative ways to fight back. An enterprising young lawyer thinks he's found a loophole to gouge Jetstar and is now locked in a bizarre legal battle with the airline. Kiwi lawyer Tyrone Barugh booked 58 flights between Sydney and Auckland in hopes of taking advantage of a loophole in a 'return for free' promotion put on by Jetstar New Zealand. He booked a promotional flight from Auckland to Sydney before then cancelling the outbound flight and receiving a credit from Jetstar. He then used the credit to book a Sydney to Auckland trip and again cancel the outbound trip. As a result he was left with two flights which he had paid $0 for. He then reportedly decided to rinse and repeat the process some 57 times. Barugh, who runs a small Kiwi-based law firm and is also admitted to practice law in New South Wales according to the firm's website, has now become a thorn in Jetstar's side. Rather than ever actually using the flights, he is now trying to get a settlement from the airline which he claims he is entitled to under Australian law and Jetstar's policies. The lawyer is arguing he should be eligible for a refund on the taxes associated with the flights to the tune of about $4,500 AUD. Jetstar New Zealand is contesting the unusual matter. Source: Getty Barugh has chronicled his subterfuge online, admittedly to a somewhat mixed response from people. "F*** yeah i did, and what. nothing unlawful about booking 58 separate SYD-AKL $0 flights. now asking Jetstar NZ to refund the taxes. but they're having a sook," he tweeted on Thursday, sharing a photo of paperwork in his claim currently before the Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand. "I'm just asking ... Jetstar pay me what's mine by virtue of the deeming provision in s 10(2) of the Passenger Movement Charge Collection Act," he wrote, referring to a $60 tax the Australian government collects on outgoing passengers. "Honestly even if i lose this i'm f***in proud of this effort." pretty reasonable settlement offer to @Jetstar_NZ. $1500 AUD flight credit, and i promise not to play silly buggers with the bookings this time. c'mon lads, meet me in the middle pic.twitter.com/FF87IUZ5nv tyrone barugh (@BarughTyrone) May 10, 2024 While the young lawyer has copped some blowback online over his intentions, speaking to New Zealand publication Stuff, he argued he was just giving the airline a taste of its own medicine. "Jetstar and Qantas are very quick to rely on the fine print rather than talking about fairness when it comes to dealing with customers who have experienced disruption to their travel plans," he said. According to the publication, the case appeared before the Tribunal on Thursday but Barugh claimed Jetstar tried to bring a lawyer, which is not allowed so the hearing was pushed back. Australian publication Crickey, which first reported on the dispute, said it had seen Jetstar's statement of defence which asserts the NZ tribunal does not have jurisdiction over a claim that centres around an Australian law and that even if it did, Barugh is not entitled to a proper refund. When asked if the headline-grabbing crusade was all for a laugh, Barugh told the publication he set out entertaining the possibility of actually winning some money from the airline. "I'm not out here doing gags for nothing, mate," he reportedly said. Jetstar said it would not comment while the matter was with the tribunal. Qantas to refund $20 million to passengers over deceptive conduct Earlier this month, Jetstar's parent company Qantas admitted to misleading customers for years and agreed to refund hundreds of dollars each to tens of thousands of Australians who endured cancelled flights, dubbed "ghost flights". The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had sued the airline in the Federal Court after alleging Qantas engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by continuing to sell the tickets on flight that were not due to take off. A total of 86,597 customers, who between May 2021 and August 2023 were sold fares Qantas had already decided to cancel, will share about $20 million in compensation. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. American military would be wiped out in Ukraine former US Army officer US troops deployed to Ukraine to prop up Kiev in its conflict with Russia would end up being wiped out, former US Army officer Stanislav Krapivnik told RT on Thursday. (Article republished from RT.com) The US military in its current state is not fit to take on Russia in a conventional war, Krapivnik argued. Even in the Cold War era, the whole of NATO would have only been able to slow down a potential advance of the Soviet bloc rather than launch an all-out ground assault against it, he said. If you listen to rational experts in the West, theyll tell you, yes, the US Army is in no position right now the US Army has never been in a position to take on Russia on the ground. For NATO, as a whole, during the height of the Cold War, the mission was first and foremost to block the Warsaw Pact forces and buy time, no kind of any massive offensive, Krapivnik explained. Since then, the warfighting capabilities of the collective West have greatly deteriorated, largely due to the military endeavors the US itself undertaken in the past decades, he suggested. Right now, its much worse. The endless wars that America has been fighting, the endless guerilla wars have totally sapped Americas capability to fight a conventional war. They are trying to up it right now, but it takes a lot of time to rebuild your forces, Krapivnik stated. The ex-US Army officer also touched upon recent media reports that should US President Joe Biden be reelected, he, or the collective Biden, whoever actually makes the decisions could send American troops to Ukraine. The problem is, that the people in Washington, the Biden regime is absolutely devoid of any sense of reality, Krapivnik said. While the idea is bound to result in a crushing defeat for the US military, such a deployment cannot not be ruled out entirely, he suggested. This is totally devoid of reality. The US Army is going to get wiped out, if they are going to Ukraine. Watch the full interview below: Read more at: RT.com Super PAC American Values 2024 to sue Meta for blatantly censoring RFK Jr.s biographical film The super PAC backing independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced its plan to sue Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for "blatantly censoring" the new biographical film about RFK Jr. and his journey in fighting against corporate corruption. American Values 2024, the super PAC supporting RFK Jr.'s presidential bid, acquired the 30-minute film "Who is Bobby Kennedy?" produced by director Mike Piscitelli and creator Jay Carson, known for his work on Apple TV+'s "The Morning Show." The film, narrated by actor Woody Harrelson, delves into the life and motivations of RFK Jr. for seeking the presidency. However, American Values 2024 posted on Substack that many viewers encountered difficulties sharing the film on Facebook and Instagram after it premiered on YouTube on May 3. In many other cases, Meta also suspended user accounts for two to six days for attempting to share the film. "When social media companies censor a presidential candidate, the public can't learn what that candidate actually believes and what policies they would pursue if elected," said Tony Lyons, the founder of American Values 2024. "We are left with the propaganda of lies from the most powerful and most corrupt groups and individuals." (Related: Insta-BANNED: RFK Jr. campaign accounts immediately SUSPENDED by Instagram for 6 months.) According to a press release from the presidential campaign team of RFK Jr., Meta provided the team with inconsistent explanations. Some were informed that the video was spam, while others were warned about links to malicious websites or graphic and violent content. Meanwhile, other viewers were informed of violations of community standards, while others received error messages indicating failed uploads. 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. Meta eventually allowed users to share the video, but the platform continued to algorithmically suppress it to the extent that even users with thousands of followers saw zero views upon posting. In turn, the campaign team compiled screenshots from affected users and included a selection in their press release. "If supporters of all candidates do not have equal access to the digital public square, then we have a democracy in name only," RFK Jr. said in the press release. "This goes beyond restricting freedom of expression on issues and ideas. Meta is censoring a biographical film about a major candidate in an election year. How can voters make an informed choice if they are denied basic information about a candidates life?" Meta denies censorship of RFK Jr.'s political ad campaign Meta, however, has claimed that the blocking of the film was due to it being inaccurately flagged as spam and was quickly rectified. "It was mistakenly blocked, and it was corrected within a few hours," Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said on May 5. Children's Health Defense asked Meta to clarify if there was an "error in the spam-finding algorithm" or something in the content that "looks like spam" that it had mistakenly flagged the video as spam and whether the company had already issued an official apology for the mistake, but the site only received a similar response. "Thank you for reaching out. The link was mistakenly blocked and was quickly restored once the issue was discovered," Meta spokesperson Corey Chambliss said. But despite the denial, American Values 2024 and the campaign team of RFK Jr. still plan to sue Meta in federal court for censorship and violation of First Amendment rights to free speech. Banned.news has more stories about RFK Jr. and others being suspended on social media platforms. Watch Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reiterating his willingness to die for Americans' right to speak during the ReAwaken America Tour. This video is from the Thrivetime Show channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: RFK Jr. warns: "There is no time in history where the people censoring speech were the good guys." RFK Jr. blasts media as PROPAGANDA ORGANS for government agencies. ABC News censors Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s criticisms against covid "vaccines." RFK Jr. promises punishment against all government officials who committed crimes against humanity during covid: "Not retribution but justice!" RFK Jr. on Faucis role in developing bioweapons & how Bill Gates profits from COVID lies. Sources include: ChildrensHealthDefense.org PressReader.com Brighteon.com Flemish MEP warns right-wingers will be censored and kicked off social media In an exclusive interview with ReMix News, senior Belgian nationalist lawmaker Gerolf Annemans warned conservative political parties across Europe as mass censorship by the liberal establishment is inevitably coming soon. During the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary last week, the Vlaams Belang MEP and president of the European Identity and Democracy group said the right-wingers should start with the contingency plans on how their voices will continue to be heard when they are banned and kicked out off the internet and social media platforms. "Globally, we expect that we have to seek alternatives. That's why we now organize visiting homes on a very large scale. We are shifting toward means that allow us to reach the electorate even if we are cut off on social media," said Annemans. "We have new means to talk to the people. People want to hear us. So, the people are open to hear and to listen to us and we adapt to the situation. We expect social media to be shut down for normal political communication." Annemans' party has had considerable success on social media in recent years. It has 620,000 followers on Facebook. Furthermore, it is the most popular party with young people on TikTok. However, their social media presence will inevitably result in a backlash as he alerted that a major crackdown was coming against those across the European Union whose views deviate from the typical left-wing mainstream and that conservative parties need to find workarounds, including face-to-face meetings with the public. 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 invest where we can and we use the means that we have, but of course that cannot rely [on social media] for more than a few years because we see what the European Union is doing with the Digital Services Act [DSA]," he said. DSA has just been rolled out, forcing more than 40 online giants to police the content they deliver within the European Union starting August 25. The bloc attempts to regulate social media, placing requirements on digital platforms to monitor content and remove that is deemed to fall short of being "socially desirable" as early as 2022 when it was initially proposed. (Related: SILENCE! EUs censorship law is now legally enforceable across social media platforms and search engines.) He sees a little hope on X, formerly Twitter, as Big Tech mogul Elon Musk has been claiming to be a "free speech" proponent. But Annemans is skeptical that the platform can stay immune from the rising tide of regulation and censorship. "There is a little change with the coming up of Elon Musk on Twitter. But of course, as you know, Twitter is not the only thing, but theyre also on it. Hes a sign of hope and even he, we will have to wait and see. Will he prevail? I'm not even sure that he will be able to keep up this free zone," the senior MEP warned. Media watchdog reveals rise in media censorship in Eastern Europe, Central Asia Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently reported that there has been a massive increase in the suppression of press freedom over the past year in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The report published on May 3 noted the media situation in Belarus, where its president, Alyaksandr Lukashenka persecutes reporters under the excuse of fighting "extremism." It also included Georgia, where the government has been pushing "foreign agent" legislation modeled on Russian law. Belarus dropped 10 positions to 167th in the world, while Georgia, at 103th, fell a whopping 26 places. "Media censorship has intensified in a spectacular mimicry of Russian repressive methods," RSF remarked, claiming the countries are modeling after Russia. Meanwhile, the Eurasian country, which ranked 162nd out of 180 countries, has reportedly continued its campaign against independent journalism. At the moment, some foreign journalists are still in prison as more than 1,500 have left the country since the start of the war. Azerbaijan fell 13 places to 164th mainly due to the authorities' crackdown on the media before its presidential election while the deteriorating situation in Serbia, which was down seven positions to 98th place, served as an example of the "Kremlin's long reach," the report claimed. On the other hand, RSF noted a "positive development" on the 18-place jump made by Ukraine due to what it said are "improvements in the security and political indicators." Political interference in Ukraine has fallen, with the country being currently ranked 61st, the report claimed. In Eastern Europe, the report notes a "dangerous trend" by some governments to stifle independent journalism, which RSF calls "Orbanization," after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Orban, in power since 2010, has been accused of muzzling the free press. Hungary is currently in 67th place. In Slovakia, ranked 29th, the situation is also deteriorating under Russia-friendly Prime Minister Robert Fico, RSF says. Meanwhile, Turkmenistan, where independent reporting is completely banned, is listed 175th. Kyrgyzstan is at 120th. In Afghanistan, where the persecution of journalists has been "incessant" since the return of the Taliban to power in 2021, three journalists were killed and at least 25 were detained over the past year. Afghanistan dropped 26 places to 178th out of a total of 180 countries in the index. Bookmark Censorship.news to catch updates on how free speech is being suppressed worldwide. Sources for this article include: RMX.news RFERL.org AstraZeneca COVID injection pulled from market worldwide after admission of link to mysterious clots After earlier being pulled from a number of European countries, the viral-vector Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "vaccine" from AstraZeneca is being withdrawn from the market, worldwide The reasons given have nothing to do with the health issues linked to the shot. Instead, scientists are claiming that newer versions of the jab targeting the latest "strains" and "variants" are now so widely available that AstraZeneca's injection is obsolete. Back in March, AstraZeneca voluntarily pulled its COVID injection from the entire European Union (EU) market. Now, a couple months later, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has officially unauthorized the shot's continued use. AstraZeneca says demand for its COVID injection has plummeted not because much of the world realizes that COVID and Operation Warp Speed were a fraud, mind you, but because of the supposed "newer options" of the jab that are now widely available. Like the other Big Pharma companies that hawked COVID injections on the masses, AstraZeneca is taking credit for the alleged "millions of lives saved" by its injections, which were included among the more than three billion COVID jabs administered throughout the "pandemic." (Related: Did you know that the leading cause of death in America today is pharmaceuticals?) AstraZeneca's rebranding scheme failed to drum up new sales It should be noted that at one point AstraZeneca attempted to rebrand its shot under a new name, changing it from CoviShield to Vaxzevria in an attempt to garner more business. The company also tried to persuade more people that the shot was "safe and effective," an effort that also failed. 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. After eight European countries decided to pull the AstraZeneca shot due to safety concerns such as serious blood clots, the EU held an Emergency Vaccine Summit to decide how to proceed. It was around the time of this meeting that Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a nerve disorder, was officially labeled as a side effect of CoviShield / Vaxzevria. Here in the United States, federal health officials were also probing AstraZeneca for providing "outdated information" about its shots with package inserts, including misleading data claiming that the shot is highly effective at stopping COVID. "According to independent estimates, over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over 3bn doses were supplied globally," reads a statement from AstraZeneca about its jab. "Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic. 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." China also got involved by ordering the arrest of AstraZeneca officials for their involvement in fraud. Though the company reportedly took disciplinary action against the employees involved, China went a step further by seeking criminal charges. As for the mRNA (modRNA) COVID injection produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, it was recently reported that a young boy participating in a new company gene therapy trial died from Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) after taking a new experimental gene therapy manufactured by the company. That trial, called Daylight, aimed to investigate the effects of the new drug, called fordadistrogene movaparvovec, on young boys between two and three years of age. In a statement about AstraZeneca's now-deleted COVID jab, Prof. Catherine Bennett, chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, had this to say in praise of the defunct shot: "It has saved millions of lives and that should not be forgotten. It was a really important part of the initial global response." Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "vaccines" are still killing people every single day. Learn more at ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: GreatGameIndia.com NaturalNews.com TheGuardian.com Biden gives ultimatum to Israel: Dont attack Rafah or youll lose supply of U.S. bombs, artillery shells President Joe Biden has delivered a firm message to Israel indicating that his administration will halt the supply of bombs and artillery shells if Israeli forces proceed with its planned offensive on the southern Gazan city of Rafah. In a televised interview, Biden reiterated his administration's position, emphasizing that the United States would not provide weapons for an offensive on Rafah, which could result in a humanitarian crisis. This stance signals a potential shift in the relationship between the two close allies. The decision comes after the U.S. paused the delivery of 3,500 munitions, including 2,000-pound bombs, amid concerns about civilian casualties in densely populated areas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on a Rafah offensive, despite U.S. warnings, has strained relations between the two allies. The hold on weapons shipments underscores the growing tension over Israel's military actions and their humanitarian impact. (Related: Israel carpet bombs Rafah after Hamas accepts ceasefire proposal.) While Israel's ambassador to the United Nations expressed disappointment with the U.S. decision, progressive Democrats supported Biden's move, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach to U.S.-Israel relations. Biden affirmed continued support for Israel's defense, particularly its Iron Dome system, but stressed that offensive weapons for a potential Rafah offensive would not be supplied. The decision reflects U.S. concerns about the humanitarian consequences of such an operation. 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 pause in arms shipments is not a one-off measure; additional deliveries may be delayed or face obstacles if the offensive proceeds. This signals a significant reevaluation of U.S. policy toward Israel's military actions. The U.S. move to withhold arms shipments also reflects broader concerns about Israel's conduct in the conflict and its adherence to humanitarian principles. As talks resume in Cairo and Hamas proposes a revised ceasefire, the Biden administration remains engaged, seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis. However, the delay in arms shipments marks a departure from previous US support for Israel and underscores growing scrutiny of its military operations in Gaza. Israeli forces have already entered Rafah Israeli forces had recently entered eastern Rafah, a densely populated area, leading to concerns about civilian safety. The incursion, accompanied by airstrikes on the city, raised alarm internationally and drew scrutiny to the use of U.S.-supplied weaponry in the conflict. Following the incursion, Israeli forces took control of Rafah's border crossing with Egypt, prompting warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe and the inability of Palestinians in the city to flee from the Israeli onslaught. Biden has acknowledged that U.S.-made bombs have caused civilian casualties in Gaza, an admission that comes following a perceived shift in U.S. policy toward ensuring accountability for civilian harm. The decision was prompted by reports of civilian casualties resulting from the use of U.S.-made bombs, highlighting the need for greater scrutiny of arms sales to conflict zones. Thousands of bombs, including 2,000-pound and 500-pound munitions, were withheld due to their indiscriminate use in conflicts, particularly in densely populated areas like Rafah. This move signaled a commitment to preventing further civilian casualties and promoting accountability for human rights violations. The development highlighted the complexity of navigating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the challenges of balancing security interests with humanitarian considerations. Biden's pledge to withhold certain weapons from Israel signaled a recognition of the need to address the root causes of conflict and promote accountability for human rights violations. Overall, the temporary halt in arms shipments represented a significant step toward ensuring that U.S. weapons are not used to perpetrate violence against civilians and promoting a more responsible approach to arms sales in conflict zones. Watch this video of a recent Israeli strike on Rafah that mostly harmed children. This video is from the CreeperStatus channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Biden HALTS shipments of U.S.-made ammunition to Israel first time since October 7. Israeli invasion of Rafah under way following evacuation order on 100,000 residents. Netanyahu: Israel WILL INVADE Rafah with or without ceasefire and agreement to release hostages. CALL FOR GENOCIDE: Israeli minister demands "total annihilation" of Rafah a city where 1.5 million Gazans are sheltering. EVIL: Israel tricking Palestinian refugees into "safe zones" in Rafah, then bombing them to death. Sources include: TheGuardian.com RT.com Brighteon.com Boeing under investigation for misconduct, falsified plane inspection records at non-union South Carolina plant The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched a probe into airplane and defense industry corporation Boeing over alleged criminal activity taking place at the company's non-union South Carolina plant. According to reports, federal investigators are looking into claims that Boeing's South Carolina factory is omitting mandatory inspections while its employees falsify records. The investigation was launched after Boeing willingly came forward to notify the FAA about alleged "misconduct" at the North Charleston plant, particularly with regard to the failing 787 Dreamliner program. "The company voluntarily informed us in April that it may not have completed required inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes," the FAA said in a statement. "Boeing is reinspecting all 787 airplanes still within the production system and must also create a plan to address the in-service fleet." When the news of an inquiry dropped, Boeing's share price dropped by 1.5 percent. (Related: Remember the Titan submersible scandal and CEO Stockton Rush's claims about "collaborating" with Boeing on the sub's faulty design?) Flying on a Dreamliner? Beware All Dreamliner airplanes currently in operation are unaffected by the news, meaning they will continue to fly as normal even though there could be problems with their construction integrity. The only airplanes being double checked are those still at the final assembly plant in North Charleston, which means those deliveries will be delayed until the final checks are conducted. 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. Boeing reportedly released an internal memo following inquiries by the media that explains how a worker named Scott Stocker at the plant noticed an "irregularity" in the required wing-to-body joint tests, which he quickly reported to his manager. "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, followed by Boeing indicating that it has since taken "swift and serious corrective action" to remediate the situation. There are other problems with Dreamliner construction as well, including delayed production and delivery of a key component in the airplane. Boeing says U.S. sanctions on Russia are to blame for this delay because the required parts are manufactured via a joint U.S.-Russia venture. More bad news also came to investors after Boeing announced that there will not quite be as many Dreamliner jets delivered as was originally planned this year due to shortages of heat exchangers and cabin seating. Production of Boeing's infamous 737 MAX jet, which is riddled with problems as it is, also fell to single digits per month after one of the planes owned by Alaska Airlines had its door plug blow out mid-flight back in January. There have been multiple problems with the 737 MAX over the years, including two separate crashes in 2018 and 2019 that resulted in more than 340 deaths. "The apple does not fall far from the tree," one commenter noted about Boeing's continued decline. "A serial killer, dying and decaying U.S. empire reflected perfectly upon a serial killer, dying and decaying Boeing." "Boeing should be investigated also for suddenly killing whistleblowers," wrote another. "It is no longer a coincidence." "Three whistleblowers so far and two 'committed an Epstein.' How low has the U.S. sunk and in particular Boeing? It used to make the safest aircraft in the world, including the jumbo jet. Today, it is making garbage and if anyone thinks something is going to happen as a result of this investigation, think again. The entire U.S. system is corrupt like this." Greed and corruption have destroyed many formerly great American companies like Boeing over the years. Learn more at Collapse.news. Sources for this article include: RT.com NaturalNews.com Boy Scouts of America yields to WOKE agenda, adopts new inclusive name Scouting America After more than a century, the iconic Boy Scouts of America (BSA) youth organization has yielded to the woke agenda by changing its name to a more "inclusive" one According to the Associated Press (AP), BSA announced that the organization will be officially changing its name to Scouting America in line with its new policies of inclusion. BSA President and Chief Scout Executive Roger Krone said the change will take effect on Feb. 8, 2025 coinciding with the BSA's 115th birthday. The Texas-based BSA was established in 1910 and made its mark by teaching young people basic survival and life skills. While it has had over 130 million youth members throughout its history, the BSA declared bankruptcy in 2020. The filing came in the wake of a burgeoning sexual abuse scandal, which involved scores of scoutmasters over several decades. (Related: Boy Scouts of America accused of rampant sexual abuse of young boys.) Last year, the BSA agreed to pay out $2.46 billion to settle claims by some 82,000 Boy Scouts who claimed to have been sexually abused by organization officials and volunteers. Nevertheless, the bankruptcy reorganization plan has allowed the organization to keep operating and adding new members. "Though our name will be new, our missions remains unchanged. We are committed to teaching young people to be prepared for life," Krone told AP while announcing the rebrand. "In the next 100 years, we want any youth in America to feel very, very welcome to come into our programs." In 2013, the BSA announced a drastic change to its policies and officially ended its prohibition on gay members. Five years later, it began accepting girls with the BSA currently having over 170,000 female members. 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 2018 decision to allow girls to join the BSA elicited a lawsuit by the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), which was founded in 1912. The GSUSA accused the BSA of unfair competition and trademark infringement, arguing that the move led to confusion by making it seem like the BSA had sole purview over all scouting activities. But in 2022, a federal judge rejected the GSUSA's claims. Rep. Clyde: Wokeness destroys everything it touches According to the AP, generations of scouts have included former Presidents Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, actor Harrison Ford and director Steven Spielberg. Despite this, Krone said the BSA must continue to attract newcomers. "Part of my job is to reduce all the barriers I possibly can for people to accept us as an organization and to join," he explained. "It send 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." The National Organization for Women (NOW), one of many groups pressuring the BSA to accept girls, applauded the name change. David Aaker, vice chairman of the national branding and marketing firm Prophet, remarked that the BSA's name change to Scouting America is "a one-time chance to tell a new story." He warned, however, that the rebrand can risk alienating supporters who think the change is unnecessary. Several members of Congress did not take too kindly to the news, with some of them voicing out their disappointment on social media. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined the chorus of critics who lamented the removal of the word "boy" in the new name. U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), meanwhile, summed up BSA's renaming in five words: "Wokeness destroys everything it touches." Watch Clayton and Natali Morris discussing the BSA's rebrand to Scouting America on this segment of "Redacted with Clayton Morris." This video is from the Neroke-5 channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Gender equality? Denmark to introduce mandatory military service FOR WOMEN. Study: Most gender-confused children OUTGROW gender dysphoria during adulthood. Equity vs. equality: California reparations commission wants to legalize racial discrimination. Book exposes CIAs promotion of gender ideology. Sources include: RT.com APNews.com Brighteon.com China develops brain-computer interface technology for cognitive enhancement and military applications China has developed brain-computer interface (BCI) technology for general cognitive enhancement and military applications. NeuCyber NeuroTech, in conjunction with the Chinese Institute for Brain Research, showcased a novel BCI able to interpret a monkey's thoughts and allow it to control a robotic arm. Despite limiting their research to noninvasive technology involving electrodes in the past, advances in devices that implant directly in the brain, such as Elon Musk's Neuralink, have galvanized Chinese researchers. Analysts suggest that their progress is now being conducted at a rate that is competitive with that of the United States. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has laid out its ambition to use brain-computer interfaces for "nonmedical purposes such as attention modulation, sleep regulation, memory regulation and exoskeletons," raising national security concerns. (Related: Investigative journalist: China has been creating gene-edited SUPER SOLDIERS and brain-controlled military weapons.) The potential for BCI technologies to influence warfighters' cognition and merge human-machine intelligence could result in a military paradigm shift, potentially leaving the U.S. at a disadvantage if it does not follow suit. "China's strategy fundamentally links the military and the commercial, and that is why there is concern," explained Margaret Kosal, associate professor of international affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology. Research made more advances because of AI The research, made more viable by advances in artificial intelligence (AI), also raises ethical concerns about a "transhumanist" future in which man and machine increasingly overlap, and dystopian concepts such as "virtual children" become normalized. 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. Researchers in the U.S. have tested similar systems in paralyzed people to allow them to control robotic arms, but the demonstration underscores China's progress in developing its brain-computer interface technology. William Hannas, lead analyst at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), noted that China is quickly catching up with the U.S. in terms of its BCI technology. "They're strongly motivated," he said of the Asian superpower. "They're doing state-of-the-art work, or at least as advanced as anybody else in the world." He said China has typically lagged behind the U.S. in invasive BCIs those that are implanted in the brain or on its surface choosing instead to focus on noninvasive technology that is worn on the head. But its quickly catching up on implantable interfaces, which are being explored for medical applications. Hannas co-authored a report released in March that examines Chinese research on BCIs for nonmedical purposes. "China is not the least bit shy about this," he said, referring to ethical guidelines released by the Communist Party in February 2024 that include cognitive enhancement of healthy people as a goal of Chinese BCI research. A translation of the guidelines by CSET stated: "Nonmedical purposes such as attention modulation, sleep regulation, memory regulation and exoskeletons for augmentative BCI technologies should be explored and developed to a certain extent, provided there is strict regulation and clear benefit." But according to Kosal, there's a key difference between how the U.S. and China approach BCI research. "The U.S. has not explicitly linked our civilian science with our military research," she said. "China's strategy fundamentally links the military and the commercial, and that is why there is concern." In a paper published last year, Kosal argued that China is more likely to widely adopt BCI technologies in the commercial and military sectors due to its government structure and sociocultural norms, and because its neuroscience research goals are closely aligned with its military goals. She noted that earlier adoption of BCIs could have implications for U.S. national security. "If that is something that a state can weaponize, that would change the nature of warfare," she said. Visit CommunistChina.news for more stories involving China. Watch this report about China's attempt to create super soldiers. This video is from the ThrivetimeShow channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: China making dramatic advances in development of HYPERSONIC WEAPONS. Is communist China planning to attack the United States? First human implanted with Neuralinks brain chip can control computer mouse with his mind, claims Elon Musk. Chinese military claims to possess high-tech NEUROSTRIKE WEAPONS that can disrupt brain function and manipulate entire populations. Admiral John Aquilino: China is building up its military and nuclear arsenal as it prepares to invade Taiwan by 2027. Sources include: TheNationalPulse.com Brighteon.com Creditors pressure Ukraine to PAY UP on its loans Two years after Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, a group of creditors are now demanding that Kyiv pay up on its loans as early as 2025. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the group includes investment giants BlackRock and Pimco. The creditors reportedly granted Kyiv a two-year debt holiday in 2022, betting at the time that the conflict with Moscow would have ended by now. Unfortunately, open conflict still remains with the threat of violence spilling out beyond the two belligerent nations. The group of creditors holds around a fifth of Ukraine's $20 billion in outstanding Eurobonds. While this figure represents a fraction of Ukraine's total external debts of $161.5 billion, the bondholders said servicing the interest on this bonds would cost Kyiv $500 million annually. "Should the bondholders fail to strike a deal with Kyiv by August, Ukraine could default. This would damage the country's credit rating and restrict its ability to borrow even more money in the future," the Daily Expose said. The WSJ added that Ukrainian officials are hoping that the U.S. and other Western governments will side with Kyiv during talks with the bondholders. But it pointed out that a separate group of these countries has already offered Ukraine a debt holiday on around $4 billion worth of loans until 2027. The group of nation-states, it continued, are reportedly concerned that any deal with the bondholders would see private lenders being repaid before them. Some bondholders have suggested that Washington and Brussels could use frozen Russian assets to pay off Ukraine's debts. While around $300 billion in assets belonging to the Central Bank of Russia have been frozen in American and European banks since 2022, the U.S. only passed legislation allowing for their seizure in April. No similar legal mechanism exists in the European Union, where the vast majority of these assets are held. (Related: Russian central bank governor: Western seizure of frozen assets won't affect Russias financial stability.) 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. But both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) have warned governments against seizing this money. Last month, ECB President Christine Lagarde warned that doing so would risk "breaking the international order that [the West wants] to protect." Ukraine dependent on foreign aid to stay afloat "Ukraine already relies on foreign aid to keep government departments open and state employees paid," the Expose said. "The countrys military is almost entirely dependent on foreign funding." "Officials in Kyiv and the West were predicting imminent defeat, until the U.S. Congress approved a foreign aid bill last month which included $61 billion for Ukraine and U.S. government agencies involved in the conflict. The bill provides almost $14 billion to Ukraine for the purchase of weapons, and includes $9 billion in new 'forgivable loans.'" In March, Reuters reported that a group of eight to 12 large asset managers holding a significant portion of Ukraine's outstanding Eurobonds was expected to form a creditors committee. The names of the "large asset managers" were not provided at the time, but the later WSJ report disclosed that BlackRock and Pimco were included. The bondholders have now formed the creditors committee and have hired lawyers from based Weil Gotshal & Manges and bankers from PJT Partners both located in New York City to negotiate on the committee's behalf. A spokesman for the creditors committee said it "looks forward to engaging constructively to assist with Ukraines sovereign debt." As per the Expose, the lawyers and bankers commissioned by the private bondholders seek to strike "a deal whereby Ukraine would resume making interest payments next year, in exchange for having a significant chunk of its debt written off." But some sources from the IMF and several countries from the Group of Seven (G7) have remarked that Kyiv would be reluctant to resume a normal debt repayment schedule before 2027 at the earliest. Check out UkraineWitness.com for similar stories. Watch this report by Chay Bowes of Russia Today about U.S. aid to Ukraine via the recently approved $61 billion aid bill. This video is from the Dutchyboy channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: EU agrees to provide $55 billion aid package for Ukraine as U.S. aid stalls. Ukraine received $1.25 billion grant from US taxpayers to pay the wages of government employees. DESPERATE MOVE: Zelensky BEGS Western allies for more money, promises to pay back all loans after the war. "Reconstruction bank" set up by globalist financiers to help Ukraine secure more than $411bn needed to rebuild. Where did the money go? Ukraine set to default on loans after American taxpayers provided tens of billions in aid. Sources include: Expose-News.com MSN.com Brighteon.com Deadly prion diseases are increasing and may be transmissible now, thanks to COVID-19 vaccines A rare, highly progressive neurodegenerative disease has become more prevalent after the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Prion diseases, which hollow out the brain and lead to rapid death, have increased over the last three years. According to the medical literature, many new cases have occurred after the administration of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Because prions rapidly destroy similar proteins types, the disease can be transmissible if an individual is exposed to organs or blood already affected by prions. Cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease increase after COVID-19 vaccination One of the main prion diseases is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). CJD was traditionally seen as an extremely rare neurological and degenerative disease, representing approximately 1 case per one million people. Traditionally, there are approximately 350 cases of sporadic CJD in the United States each year. CJD cases makeup 90 percent of all prion diseases. In April 2023, medical researchers documented a fatal case of CJD after the 68-year-old patient received a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Another case documented in September 2022 involved a 59-year-old man suspected of having CJD, who developed symptoms following multiple COVID-19 vaccinations. In a third researched case, a 68-year-old woman suffered rapid memory loss, behavior changes, headaches and gait disturbance a week after COVID-19 vaccination. By June 7, 2022, the Vaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS) had captured 42 cases of CJD after vaccination. Sid Belzberg, an independent researcher, gathered an additional 60 reports of prion diseases after COVID vaccination on a website hed set up to collect data on the neurological side effects of the jabs. These 60 cases came from a population of approximately 15,000 people who visited the site, suggesting an alarming trend. 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. A 2021 paper by J. Bart Classen proposed that the spike protein in the mRNA vaccines could cause prion-like diseases, because it can bind to many known proteins and induce their misfolding into potential prions. The researchers found that the RNA sequence from the vaccine contains specific sequences that can induce TAR DNA binding protein (TDP-43) and Fused in Sarcoma (FUS) binding protein to tragically fold into their pathologic prion formations. Further research concludes that the vaccines spike protein contains an S1 component that may function as an amyloid and eventually form toxic aggregates. This amyloid formation ultimately leads to neurodegeneration. Researchers warn that COVID-19 vaccines cause prion formation and can essentially spread the disease First defined in the 1920s, prion diseases were delineated into three categories: sporadic, inherited or acquired. Most cases (90 percent) are classified as sporadic. Initial symptoms include: lack of coordination, problems with walking and balance; impaired thinking, memory and judgment; behavior changes; depression, mood swings and anxiety; confusion; insomnia, or changes in sleeping patterns; unusual sensations and changes in vision. These symptoms ultimately lead to involuntary muscle jerks and severe mental deterioration and/or dementia. One of the faulty processes in the manufacture of the COVID-19 vaccine occurs during codon "optimization." In the COVID-19 vaccines, when uracil is replaced with synthetic methylpseudouridine, a process called frameshifting occurs, leading to a glitch in the decoding. This glitch triggers the production of off-target aberrant proteins, or prions. Researchers warn that these prion diseases may be transmissible now, through blood and organ transplants from individuals adversely affected by mRNA vaccines. These infectious prion conditions may go on to cause ALS, front temporal lobar degeneration, Alzheimers disease and other neurological degenerative diseases. A prion is essentially a proteinaceous infectious particle. These potentially infectious agents include a protein material that can fold in structurally distinct ways. One of the many ways it can fold actually enables it to transmit to other prion proteins a method similar to a viral infection, but without the nucleic acids. Instead of replicating through DNA or RNA, prions have an uncanny ability to find and transfer their misfolded protein state to similar proteins. This sets off a chain reaction that damages healthy proteins and causes rapid destruction of the individuals nervous system. Because prions can survive extreme conditions, they cannot be sterilized or destroyed by immune cells, so they are difficult to treat. Sources include: ChildrensHealthDefense.org AnnCaseRep.com [PDF] NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov ScholarlyCommons.HCAHealthcare.com Jessicar.substack.com SciVisionPub.com [PDF] Pubmed.gov Ninds.NIH.gov The motorist says this technology monitoring drivers looks very similar to street lights and some people may not know what it's looking for. An Aussie driver has sparked debate after sharing a video where she highlights the purpose of a small crane spotted on the side of a suburban road. Motorists have slammed the technology as an invasion of privacy and questioned why there aren't warning signs alerting motorists to its purpose. Sydney woman Layla Ellaz came across a transportable mobile phone detection camera in Punchbowl in the citys southwest this week and complained about pictures being taken of the inside of peoples cars from above, slamming it as an "invasion of privacy". She also raised questions about why there wasn't a warning ahead of the camera's position like those which are mandated within the state when it comes to mobile roadside speed cameras. Ah, the joys of modern technology, where even our cars are under the watchful eye of Big Brother, or shall we say, Big Camera! she told Yahoo News Australia. While I fully support the crackdown on distracted driving, it seems the enforcement method is reaching new heights literally. Who knew that the next time we buckle up, we're also posing for aerial snapshots?" In a video taken by the 32-year-old driver, from the mobile phone mount on her dashboard, a yellow trailer can be seen parked on the grass alongside Punchbowl Road opposite Perry Park, with a large metal arm jutting out from the top. At one end, positioned over the bitumen, is a camera. As Ellaz points out the structure looks very similar to the street lights on either side of it and quite different from other traffic infringement cameras and many drivers may not even know that it's a camera. When Ellaz shared the video on TikTok many commenters agreed with her concerns, with one person referring to the ol crotch cams, but lots said that the solution was to not use your phone behind the wheel. Do you realise these are put in place to protect your safety? another person asked. Once you lose a loved one from someone not paying attention while driving, Im sure youll change your mind, privacy concerns or not, commented another. Ellaz told Yahoo that many other cameras didn't shoot drivers from high above like these. If only our vehicles came with a 'privacy mode' button to shield us from unintended crotch and cleavage captures," she said. At the very least, a sign indicating the presence of the device or acknowledgment of photo capture would level the playing field, she said. Ellaz pointed out the the camera looks very similar to the street lights on either side of it. Source: TikTok/laylaellaz Cameras fall within Privacy Act In responding to allegations of privacy breaches, a Transport for NSW spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia that photos taken, stored and used dont breach the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998. Transport for NSW and Revenue NSW adhere to the Act in its operation of the mobile phone cameras and all other safety camera programs, they said. When a potential offence is detected, images will be pixelated and cropped to protect privacy before the images are adjudicated by authorised staff." All images captured by cameras are reviewed automatically by software. Those that dont contain evidence of an offence are permanently and irretrievable deleted, typically within an hour. The penalty for using a mobile phone behind the wheel is $387, or $514 if in a school zone, as well as five demerit points. Lack of warning signs intended to catch out more drivers In response to questions on why there aren't warning signs leading up mobile detection cameras, the spokesperson said it's about catching motorists out. "The program focuses on deterring drivers from illegal mobile phone use while driving by enabling anywhere, anytime detection, hence there are no warning signs for these cameras," they said. "If people believe they are likely to get caught and penalised, they are less likely to commit an offence." The 32-year-old driver was shocked to see the camera on the side of Punchbowl Road on Wednesday. Source: TikTok/laylaellaz & Google Maps Cameras save lives In the face of backlash over mobile phone detection cameras, the NRMA said: the technology is there to save lives and that if youre not doing the wrong thing, then you dont have to worry. Once people start to take their eyes off the road, its almost like driving drunk in terms of their capacity to drive a vehicle safely, Peter Khoury from the NRMA told Yahoo News. The laws were brought in and this technology was brought in as a preventative measure ... to stop people getting behind the wheel and taking risks that jeopardise the safety of others. Transport for NSW said taking photos inside cars for the purpose if mobile phone detection doesn't breach the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998. Source: Transport for NSW He said the organisation called for this technology and continues to support it. The road toll is terrible nationally in Australia, Khoury added, pointing to the 320 road deaths in the first three months of this year. So we need to do everything we can to reduce risks on our roads. Even the NSW Council of Civil Liberties agreed that there wasnt a privacy issue. There is no privacy concern for photographs taken of the inside of vehicles driving on public roads, a spokesperson for the NSWCCL told Yahoo News, as long as the vehicles are photographed driving on public roads and not parked in secluded areas. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. Declassified documents reveal current and former senators believe the government has secretly recovered UFOs of non-human origin Several members of the United States Senate believe the government has secretly recovered alien craft of non-human origin Recently declassified documents show how two members of the Senate's Democratic leadership Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) believe the federal government has hidden evidence of its encounters with UFOs. They are not alone in this. The Democratic leaders received crucial support and encouragement from a bipartisan group of prominent senators. This group includes former Senators Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and John McCain (R-AZ). Sitting Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have also voiced their support for Schumer and Reid. (Related: Sen. Marco Rubio, other lawmakers demand answers on UFOs and UAP.) In late 2011, the leading scientist at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) met with Reid and Lieberman, then-chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to talk about the creation of an ultra-secret UFO program. As described in the recently declassified documents, the purpose of the suggested program was to "gain access to and inventory" UFOs secretly under investigation by America's national laboratories, other government organizations or even by government contractors. The program on that premise would take part in "laboratory experimentation" and "scientific investigation" to promote "technology exploitation" of the recovered materials. Reid and Lieberman reportedly supported setting up the program "with some sense of urgency," including its plan to reverse-engineer UFO technology. 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 Reid- and Lieberman-supported proposal even contain an initiative to interview a pre-identified "list of retired, previously highly placed government armed services, contractor and intelligence community individuals" purportedly with knowledge of the "location of advanced aerospace technology and biological samples." Schumer claims government has "great deal of information" about UFOs it is refusing to share More recently, Schumer and a bipartisan group of five other senators have introduced legislation claiming the existence of clandestine government "legacy programs" that recover and seek to reverse-engineer UFOs of "non-human" origin. In remarks on the Senate floor, Schumer stated the government "has gathered a great deal of information about [UFOs] over many decades but has refused to share it with the American people." As stated by Schumer, "multiple credible sources" have claimed that elements of the American government have withheld UFO-connected information from Congress illegally. Schumer and the legislation's principal cosponsor, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), vowed to "keep working to change the status quo." The key elements of the legislation match the claims of Air Force veteran and former intelligence official David Grusch, who testified under oath to the existence of UFO retrieval and reverse engineering activities not subject to congressional oversight. Grusch said the recoveries of incomplete fragments through and up to intact vehicles have been made for decades through the present time by the government, its allies and defense contractors. Follow UFOs.news for more news about Congress conducting hearings about UFOs. Watch this video featuring highlights from a recent congressional hearing on UFOs and alien life. This video is from the Rick Langley channel on Brighteon.com. More related articles: Sen. Marco Rubio: Senior government officials have first-hand knowledge of secret UFO programs. Former intelligence official: US has at least a dozen alien spacecraft in its possession. Ahead of UFO meeting, former defense official says U.S. government has recovered technology that "did not originate on this earth." Intelligence officer-turned-whistleblower reveals U.S. government found non-human biologics at crash sites but Pentagon covered it up. Sources include: TheHill.com AARO.mil [PDF] TheDebrief.org Brighteon.com Ex-Israeli special forces agent says he went undercover at UCLA protest encampment On 2 May, while Los Angeles police were cracking down on a Gaza solidarity encampment set up by students at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), an Israeli special operations veteran was boasting online about running a "quiet infiltration operation" into the camp. (Article by Umar A Farooq republished from MiddleEastEye.net) "Ran a quiet infiltration operation into the UCLA encampment and now down here with LASD whos staging now and preparing to make entry onto the to begin taking down the pro terror antisemitic encampment," Aaron Cohen posted on X. It wasn't clear whether Cohen had conducted his operation in coordination with the Los Angeles Police Department or the Los Angeles Sherrif's Department, as mentioned in his social media post. Middle East Eye reached out to the LAPD, LASD, and Cohen for comment. The LASD and Cohen didn't respond to the request for comment, and the LAPD referred MEE to UCLA for comment. MEE reached out to UCLA, which also didn't respond by the time of publication. But the post from Cohen, which has since gone viral with five million views, has shined a light on the ties between former and current Israeli intelligence officials and US police departments. "We have seen over the years what some might describe as the Israelisation of our law enforcement, which is the phenomena of American law enforcement agents being trained by Israeli trainers, who are either former military or police officers," Hussam Ayloush, director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair-LA), told Middle East Eye. Ayloush visited the student encampment several times over the past few weeks, including when he was invited by students to give a Friday sermon for Muslim students holding an on-site Friday prayer. Ran a quiet infiltration operation into the UCLA encampment and now down here with LASD whos staging now and preparing to make entry onto the to begin taking down the pro terror antisemitic encampment. Also had a good chat and deep dive with @drphil who came down for a debrief pic.twitter.com/3N8sVk789Q Aaron Cohen Official (@aacohenofficial) May 2, 2024 He said during the time he spent at the encampment that he saw several people on site who appeared to be instigating protesters. "I was there at UCLA and I did see people like Aaron Cohen. I'm talking about fearmongers. I would say professional instigators and propagandists who represent the extreme right of Israeli politics with all its bigotry, violence, and dehumanisation," Ayloush said. "What are they doing? They're trying to instigate violence against overwhelmingly peaceful, diverse students." The police crackdown The student encampment at UCLA began on 25 April, following the encampment that began earlier at Columbia University in New York City. The students protesting at UCLA put up the encampment for several reasons, chief among them a demand for the university to divest from companies profiting from Israel's war in Gaza - a conflict that has been described by legal and UN experts and several countries as "genocide". According to a timeline of the encampment constructed by UCLA's student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, on the night of Thursday, 30 April, pro-Israel counterprotesters attempted to enter the camp violently. Three fireworks were then set off in the direction of the encampment, and soon noxious gas was released on the protesters several times. By 2am on 1 May, dozens of police officers had mobilised and arrived on the scene, according to the Daily Bruin, and officers initially stood by and watched while counterprotesters engaged with protesters. On 2 May, police in riot gear then swept the encampment, reportedly using flashbangs and rubber bullets on protesters. The social media post by Cohen, in which he explained his operation in a video, was published at 4:24 am on 2 May local time. It was unclear at what time the video was shot, and Cohen did not respond to MEE's request for comment by the time of publication. "LASD, this is the biggest sheriff's agency in the country with some of the finest deputies that I've worked with. And their capabilities, their tactics are incredible for diffusing a situation like this," Cohen said. "It's really important right now to support law enforcement. These are the peacemakers out here. And these are the guys that are going to be risking their life." Cohen later went on Fox News, where he claimed to have used his experience in the Israeli Special Forces. The video footage aired during the interview segment cited Cohen and was dated "Wednesday", which would have been 1 May, the time in which counterprotesters engaged in violence against students at the encampment. Cohen boasted that he was probably the only person to know how to wear a keffiyeh correctly. "With Aaron, clearly he knows what he's doing. This is what he does for a living, he creates fear, he creates enemies. It's good for business, obviously, because he trains law enforcement," said Ayloush. Israel-US police links Cohen describes himself as an "Israeli-trained career special operations and intelligence veteran" with two decades of experience. He said he began his career in Israel's undercover "counterterrorism" unit known as "Mista'aravim". He says on his website that he has "trained hundreds of police agencies and military units" with his experience in Israel, and also serves as a reservist in the US Sherrif's Department. Hundreds of American law enforcement officials from several states have gone to Israel to receive training, while thousands have received training from Israeli officials in the US. 'These were UCLA students peacefully protesting ... And what they met with is police brutality similar to how Israeli police treats Palestinian protesters' - Hussam Ayloush, Cair-LA These trainings date as far back as the early 1990s, a time when law enforcement officers, including police officers and agents from the FBI, CIA, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be sent to Israel through exchanges, or by attending summits within the US that were sponsored by pro-Israeli organisations. Leading rights organisations have denounced the exchange programmes, warning that Israeli police standards and tactics only serve to exacerbate racial profiling and police brutality in the US. The connection between Israeli and US police forces previously came under intense scrutiny during the George Floyd protests, when the video of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of the unarmed Black American, for nearly nine minutes as he slowly died, drew a parallel to footage of Israeli security forces using the same techniques on Palestinians. Regarding the police response to the student's protest on UCLA's campus, Ayloush said the scenes were similar to how Israeli security forces deal with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. "These were UCLA students peacefully protesting their university's financial support through its investment in the genocide," Ayloush said. "And what they met with is police brutality similar to how Israeli police treats Palestinian protesters, or quite often just regular people." Read more at: MiddleEastEye.net Gaza solidarity student protests and encampments spread to Nordic nations The wave of Gaza solidarity university and college campus protests and encampments that started in the United States has reached the Nordic nations In Finland, dozens of protesters from the Students for Palestine solidarity group have reportedly erected an encampment outside the main building at the University of Helsinki. They are demanding that the institution cut ties with Israeli universities, including terminating all exchange student agreements and research cooperation. According to the demonstrators, Israeli universities, particularly Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have been involved in developing weapons and other military technologies used in Gaza and in training military personnel in cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces. (Related: Pro-Israel student screams "Kill the Jews" to invoke police crackdown on pro-Palestine protests.) Finnish university students are following in the footsteps of those in Norway, where protests have successfully gotten five universities to divest from Israel back in February. The students in Helsinki have threatened to keep their encampment up until their demands are met. In Denmark, students have also set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen. About 45 tents have been reportedly installed on the lawn outside the Faculty of Social Sciences campus. The university said students could 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 administration stated on X. 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. The pro-Palestine group argued their attempts to talk to the administration over the past two years about withdrawing investments from Israeli companies have been in vain. "We can no longer be satisfied with cautious dialogue that does not lead to concrete action," the group stated on its Facebook page. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations erupt in Sweden Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have erupted in Sweden's third largest city of Malmo at the onset of the Eurovision Song Contest. Swedish authorities have reportedly tightened security ahead of the protests and have allowed police to carry larger weapons and riot gear and bring in reinforcement officers from Denmark and Norway. In the early morning hours of Thursday, May 9, hundreds have already gathered in Malmo's main public square chanting slogans like "Free, Free Palestine" and slogans about the invasion of Rafah, and have carried Palestinian flags and worn Palestinian keffiyeh headscarves. Demonstrations were planned for May 9 due to Israel's participation in the second semifinal of the Eurovision song competition. Protesters have called for Israel to be disqualified from the competition. Protests are set to resume on Saturday, May 11, the final day of the competition. Up to 30,000 protesters are expected to participate in the demonstrations. The demonstrations have even spread all over the city of more than 360,000 inhabitants, with AFP journalists reporting seeing brightly colored competition banners struggling for attention with the deluge of Palestinian flags hanging from windows and balconies. In an effort to prevent participants and viewers from waving Palestinian flags, Eurovision organizers have gone so far as to ban the waving of all flags other than those of the participating countries inside the arena. Banners with "political messages" have also been banned. Watch this video from "Southfront Press" discussing the beginning of Israel's brutal invasion of Rafah. This video is from the channel Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth on Brighteon.com. More related stories: NYPD Chief: There was no danger to any students at Cooper Union pro-Palestine protest. Israels GENOCIDE in Gaza leads to rising global pro-Palestine sentiment. Pro-Israel student screams Kill the Jews to invoke police crackdown on pro-Palestine protests. Republicans call for TikTok ban due to pro-Palestine content surpassing views of pro-Israel posts. Student groups call for the targeting of Israeli CIVILIANS in pro-Palestine Day of Resistance protests. Sources include: RT.com Reuters.com France24.com Brighteon.com Google helping Democrats by BANNING Trump campaign ad showing how life is worse under Biden Search engine giant and Big Tech corporation Google has censored the latest campaign advertisement from former President Donald Trump's team, claiming that the ad violated the company's policies The ad was initially flagged by NBC News reporter Andrew Arenge, who shared screenshots showing that the ads paid for by the Make America Great Again Inc. super PAC were being removed from Google's search results. (Related: Poll: Interest in presidential election hits two-decade low of 64% despite tight Biden-Trump rematch.) NEW: This ad has been removed by Google for a "policy violation". It was live in the Google archive this morning but I just looked and it's now been removed. Super PAC spent over $15K targeting it at specific communities near Macon, GA after launching it on April 25th. https://t.co/DQnUHgsUuS pic.twitter.com/AnwHwtzlp0 Andrew Arenge (@MrArenge) May 3, 2024 The MAGA super PAC spent over $15,000 running the ads at specific communities near Macon, Georgia after launching it on April 25. Following public backlash over the blatant censorship including public statements from notable figures like Donald Trump Jr. and Dinesh D'Souza Google was forced to reverse its decision, though the tech giant has refused to be forthcoming regarding why the ad was taken down in the first place and what policies it supposedly violated. Ad highlights how life is worse under the Biden administration The censored ad imagines a fictional conversation between a worker for President Joe Biden's campaign and a remorseful African American Democrat who voted for the president in 2020. 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. In the short, 30-second ad that targeted Biden's African American voter base in Georgia, the voter expressed concerns with the campaign worker over the rising cost of living under Biden and the hundreds of hard-earned dollars taken from the voter's wallet in the form of taxes to house and care for illegal immigrants. The ad backs up this claim by pointing to a Daily Mail report noting how Americans in Michigan are being forced to provide migrants up to $500 a month for up to 12 months through a taxpayer-funded program subsidizing the stay of illegal immigrants in the state. "The 'Refugee Resettlement Program' will only burden the U.S. taxpayer with higher costs,'" wrote Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) in a letter to Biden demanding answers from the White House and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and calling the scheme a "slap in the face" to the state's taxpayers and a way of "rolling out the red carpet" for illegal migrants. The ad ends by noting Trump's growing popularity among young and African American voters as well as voters from other minority groups, with the campaign worker frustratingly asking if Biden can still count on the man's vote, and the disillusioned Democrat stating that "Things were better before Biden" and declaring his support for Trump. The ad's last point refers to a poll from USA Today showing that only 63 percent of Black voters have declared their support for Biden, a staggering decline from the 87 percent he carried in 2020. This same ad notes that 39 percent of Hispanics prefer Trump over the 34 percent who prefer Biden. This is a decline of nearly half from the 65 percent of Hispanics who voted for Biden in 2020. Furthermore, among voters under 35, a generation that is at odds with the Republican Party over social issues like abortion, Trump now leads by 37 percent compared to Biden's 33 percent. Over half of young voters in 2020 backed Biden. Learn the latest news from former President Donald Trump and his presidential campaign at Trump.news. Watch the Trump campaign's ad showing how life is worse under Joe Biden. This video is from the channel Rick Langley on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Hypocrisy? Biden cheers ban on TikTok while he uses "influencers" to boost his sagging campaign. Poll: Trump LEADS Biden in seven key swing states. Trump challenges Biden to a DEBATE "anywhere, anytime, anyplace." Just in: Explosive allegations that the CIA is operating Ukrainian online anti-Trump "troll farms" to influence American voters and the 2024 election. Report reveals Google has INTERFERED in U.S. elections for 16 years. Sources include: TheNationalPulse.com DailyFetched.com Twitter.com DailyMail.co.uk USAToday.com Brighteon.com ISIS-linked migrant was living in the U.S. for more than two years before his arrest An Uzbekistani migrant with alleged ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had been living in the U.S. for over two years prior to his arrest. NBC News recently reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents recently detained Jovokhir Attoev, 33, in Baltimore over his ties to the terrorist group. Citing two officials, the network's Julia Ainsley said Border Patrol had previously apprehended the Uzbekistani in Arizona back in February 2022. At the time, neither Customs and Border Protection nor ICE uncovered any concerning information about Attoev. Consequently, he was released on bond while in the U.S. and lived there since. In May 2023, Tashkent issued an international notice for Attoev's arrest over his ISIS ties. But it wasn't until March of this year during a review of the migrant's asylum application that U.S. officials connected him with the notice from the Central Asian nation. ICE agents subsequently arrested Attoev on April 17 in Baltimore, with lawyers for the agency expected to argue for his continued detention to gather more information regarding his alleged ties to ISIS. He is currently in custody in Pennsylvania and awaits trial in immigration court in New Jersey next week.(Related: ICE data: Illegal immigrants have less than 5% chance of getting deported under current Biden administration policies.) NBC News previously reported the case of another migrant taken into custody, Mohammad Kharwin, whose name was included on the U.S. Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB). Maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the TSDB contains the names of 1.8 million individuals considered potential security risks. Kharwin was released last month due to insufficient information connecting him to the terrorist watch list at the time of his crossing. 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. Former DHS officials: Follow-up vetting on migrants is a must Former officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who spoke to NBC News raised concerns about the effectiveness of follow-up vetting on migrants who have already crossed the border. Elizabeth Neumann, former DHS assistant secretary for counter-terrorism and threat prevention, was one of them. According to her, there has been a decrease in counter-terrorism budgets following the decline of ISIS. However, Neumann noted the resurgence of ISIS as a threat following the fall of the Afghan government in 2021. Thus, the former DHS official called for the passage of bipartisan border security legislation and increased funding for counter-terrorism efforts. Meanwhile, a DHS spokesperson affirmed the agency's commitment to screening and vetting individuals entering the U.S. to identify potential national security threats. They emphasized that appropriate actions are taken if individuals with potential concerns are identified post-entry. Despite concerns, the percentage of migrants with terrorist ties crossing the border remains extremely low. An analysis by NBC News showed a lower percentage during the Biden administration compared to the Trump administration. In fiscal year 2023, CBP encountered 736 migrants on the terrorist watch list at U.S. borders, the highest in six years. It remains unknown whether migrants on the watchlist or named in international notices for suspected terrorist ties were released into the U.S. during the Trump administration. Head over to NationalSecurity.news for more similar stories. Watch this news report from Russia Today about ISIS mostly attacking U.S. adversaries. This video is from the Andreash channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Record-high 12,600 illegal migrants break into America in one day while government officials snooze away. ISIS-affiliated smuggler helped migrants illegally enter the U.S. via Mexico. ISIS gearing up for blood-soaked comeback amid Gaza conflict. Over 100 people in Russia DEAD in ISIS-claimed terrorist attack at concert venue right outside Moscow. ISIS claims responsibility for twin bombings in Iran that killed dozens of people and injured hundreds more. Sources include: JustTheNews.com NBCNews.com Brighteon.com Israel captures Rafah crossing, leaving 27 people dead and cutting vital lifeline of Palestinians An Israeli military official said on Tuesday that Israel's military has captured the Rafah crossing, leaving at least 27 people dead including six women and nine children on the Palestinian side of the border since Monday evening, CNN reported. The news outlet was able to confirm this via hospital sources in the southern Gaza city. According to reports, Israel's 401st Armored Brigade took control of the crossing in southern Gaza on Tuesday morning after another brigade disconnected Salah al-Din road in eastern Rafah from the crossing overnight. The Israeli flag was raised on flag poles at the crossing, while the Palestinian flag was pulled to the ground. During the same day, rockets were fired from the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip toward Kerem Shalom and the Re'im area of southern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military operation in Rafah serves the twin goals of returning the hostages held in Gaza and eliminating Hamas. Member of Israel's war cabinet Benny Gantz further said the IDF military's operations in Rafah will "continue and expand as necessary." (Related: EVIL: Israel tricking Palestinian refugees into "safe" zones in Rafah, then bombing them to death.) Observers were weary that the said invasion would further endanger the already miserable humanitarian and medical conditions in the region as the Rafah crossing is a vital lifeline for Palestinians. It is the only passageway in and out of the enclave that was not directly controlled by Israel. Since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007, the crossing has been jointly administered by Egypt and Hamas. 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. Since the capture, aid trucks carrying medicine, medical equipment and fuel needed for hospitals were prevented from entering, the Palestinian health ministry said. It also said that all operations at the crossing were halted due to Israel capturing the gateway. "The wounded, sick and their relatives were prevented from traveling to receive treatment outside Gaza," the ministry said in a statement. "We have travel lists for thousands of cases of wounded and sick, and now they have been prevented." The health ministry already called on the countries who had requested lists of wounded and sick Palestinians to "fulfill and adhere to their pledges" by working urgently to secure their safe exit from Gaza. The last remaining operational hospital in Rafah has also issued a call for all available medical teams to help with the constant influx of injured patients arriving at the medical facility. The remaining field hospitals in the area of an eastern Rafah hospital that was evacuated Monday will only be able to provide less than one-third of its offered services, according to the hospital medical director. Meanwhile, the United Nations has also warned of the main aid arteries being choked off as the Israeli military announced that the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing along the boundary between Gaza, Israel and Egypt, which Israeli authorities control, had also been closed for security reasons. But Kerem Shalom has been reopened on Wednesday, May 8, following a call between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu, where the latter promised he would reopen said border. UN chief Guterres continuously appeals to Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed three times in less than 24 hours to Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire, saying that it is "essential to stop the unbearable suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and of the hostages and their families." "I reiterate my appeal for both parties to show the political courage and spare no effort to secure an agreement now," he said. Al Jazeera correspondent Kristen Saloomey said how it is noteworthy that the UN has refused to assist in any evacuation of displaced people in Rafah to another area, to allow for such a military operation. The UN has said that there are too many people in Rafah, that moving them would be too dangerous, and that theres no place safe for them to go given the areas that theyre being directed to are already overcrowded and lacking water and toilets and other essentials that people would need, she reported. Meanwhile, Hamas' latest written response in ongoing ceasefire negotiations said the group intends to offer Israel the corpses of dead hostages in addition to hostages who are still alive, during the first phase of the truce, as per sources familiar with the talks. A senior representative of Hamas also said that the proposed deal it agreed to includes the "withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip." According to the source familiar with the meetings, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Bill Burns returned to Cairo on Tuesday for more talks as the U.S. and other mediators look to revive an effort to bring about a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. Head over IsraelCollapse.com to read more on Israel's ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza. Sources for this article include: Edition.CNN.com MiddleEastEye.net BBC.com AlJazeera.com Israel once again dropping WHITE PHOSPHORUS on Gaza in war crimes assault The gates of hell are ready and waiting to burst forth in Rafah, the last remaining refuge of the Palestinian people still alive in Gaza. And already, in eager expectation of the promised ground invasion, Israel is once again raining down white phosphorus on them in violation of international human rights law. According to reports, May 8 is when Israel started blasting Rafah with white phosphorus munitions, which were illegally targeted towards civilians and civilian infrastructure throughout the enclave. "Overnight and into the early hours of the morning, the Israeli military continued to pound parts of eastern Rafah city," the media reported, adding that scant remaining health facilities in Rafah are unable to handle the large number of injuries and casualties occurring. On the morning of May 8, 2024, the city of Rafah was struck with internationally banned white phosphorus in front of all cameras and on all channels (Al-Jeneina neighborhood axis) ??? #Rafah #RafahUnderAttack #RafahHolocaust #rafah_genocide pic.twitter.com/pAMBomXMqA A7MADiNiO ??????? (@A7MADiNiO_1990) May 8, 2024 (Related: Check out our coverage from the last time Israel dumped white phosphorus on the Palestinian people living in Gaza.) Israel vaporizing Palestinians with illegal thermobaric weapons Since the start of the genocide, Israel has used white phosphorus on civilians not only in Gaza but also in Lebanon numerous times the many vaporized corpses being found in Gaza are evidence of that. Israel is also using, it appears, illegal thermobaric weapons to destroy the Palestinian people, a method that is also leaving behind unidentifiable, vaporized remains. We have received word that the long-closed Kerem Shalom border crossing in and out of Gaza was reopened this week after being closed, while the Rafah crossing, described by The Cradle as "a key lifeline for Palestinians," is now closed indefinitely. It would seem as though Israel wants to end the lives of everyone who still remains in Gaza, not just Hamas. All roughly 1.4 million people hunkered down there are being deprived of aid, meaning no food, medicines or other necessities. 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. Area locals say Gaza is absolutely in an engineered famine right now as Israel cuts off every last lifeline into the Palestinian enclave in an attempt to starve out and otherwise destroy these targeted people. The United Nations (UN) and other outsiders, including Israel's "best friend" the United States, are doing little to nothing to stop the horror show. The UN continues to issue verbal slaps on the wrist while the Biden regime withholds some ammo and arms while sending gobs of cash and other supplies to the Zionist regime. On May 7, Israel heavily bombarded Rafah in an attack that injured and killed numerous children, including a four-month-old baby and six- and eight-year-old children who were living in the Qishta family home. Israel bombed the residence, killing most of its inhabitants. Israel also successfully captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with tanks and troops, which has sealed the remaining Palestinian people inside the much-smaller open-air concentration camp of the southern Gaza city. The day after this bombardment occurred, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued an empty statement about how Israel's full-scale assault on Rafah would be "a strategic mistake," borrowing from the same language as the Biden regime (more about what the Biden regime is doing with regard to Israel's war can be found in this article). These sentiments are nice and all, but perhaps the West should stop funding the very war they are condemning if they truly want to be taken seriously as alleged advocates for the innocent Palestinians who are embattled in Israel's crosshairs. The latest news about Israel's continued actions in Gaza can be found at Genocide.news. Sources for this article include: TheCradle.co NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com Netanyahu begs Biden to block ICC from trying to put him in prison for war crimes Afraid that he might actually be held to account for his war crimes in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is begging President Biden toto stop the International Criminal Court (ICC) from pursuing justice against himself and several other top Israeli government officials. With more than 34,000 people in Gaza now dead, most of them women and children, Israel is under increasing scrutiny for the war crimes that investigators say Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are committing in Gaza at the direction of Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. Back in January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of the United Nations (UN) issued a ruling stating that it is "plausible" Israeli forces have committed acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip. The ICC in The Hague agrees. Citing two anonymous Israeli officials, Axios, which broke the news, reported that Netanyahu phoned Biden last Sunday asking him to use his clout in Washington to stop the ICC from issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and several other top warmongers in Israel's government. NBC News also reported, citing an unnamed Israeli official, that the ICC could also pursue charges against Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and several other unnamed senior military officials in Israel. "Israel is working through diplomatic channels to try to stop the warrants being issued," an NBC article states, adding that the ICC "has an ongoing independent investigation in relation to the situation in the State of Palestine." (Related: Did you know that your elected officials are scheming to unleash "antisemitism monitors" at U.S. college and university campuses.) 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. Netanyahu goes completely rogue Never one to take responsibility for his misdeeds, Netanyahu jumped right on social media after news about the ICC's arrest warrants broke to declare that he will never surrender to the international court or any other entity seeking to hold him and his cabinet accountable for genocide. Israel, Netanyahu tweeted, "will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense." "The threat to seize the soldiers and officials of the Middle East's only democracy and the world's only Jewish state is outrageous," Netanyahu continued, inserting carefully placed propaganda into his manipulative diatribe. "We will not bow to it." The issue at hand has nothing to do with Israel being a democracy or a Jewish state. The fact that it is these two things are not why Netanyahu belongs in prison. The reason has everything to do with the fact that Netanyahu has no regard for Palestinian life, and his hatred for the people of Gaza has led him to commit outsized genocide in response to the events of October 7. Israel does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction, nor is the Jewish state a party to the Rome Statute. Even so, Netanyahu's international travel could be restricted in the 124 countries that recognize the court if the ICC ends up following through with issuing an arrest warrant for him. "Just asking Biden is admitting to the world that the U.S. controls the ICC even though neither is a signatory," one commenter wrote about how Netanyahu just tipped his cards. "Good to see some panic from Netanyahu as he begs Biden for mercy," wrote another. "He's on the ropes and his days are now numbered." "Biden should be included on the warrant along with Zelensky," added someone else to the conversation. "They are facilitators of genocide and complicit in numerous war crimes in Ukraine." "I'm surprised Netanyahu is even having to ask, seeing as how he owns America and Biden and thinks he's the president of the United States," said another. You can run but you can't hide forever, Netanyahu. Learn more at IsraelCollapse.com. Sources for this article include: RT.com NaturalNews.com North Israel to SECEDE and become State of Galilee over frustrations with misguided Netanyahu regime Settler communities in northern Israel are planning to secede from the rest of Israel and become the "State of Galilee." According to reports, the heads of these communities are tired of what they say is the Netanyahu regime's inaction concerning the tens of thousands of settlers who have been displaced from Galilee by Hezbollah. At a recent meeting of the Conflict Zone Forum, a decision was made for northern Israel to break off from the rest of Israel and become the State of Galilee. The move will be formally announced on May 15, which is Independence Day for Israelis and Nakba Day for Palestinians. Hebrew media outlet Walla called this "unilateral disengagement from the State of Israel" an "extreme step (that) will be accompanied by additional actions." The "straw that broke [the camel's back]," Walla continued in its report, was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's response to war cabinet member Benny Gantz's statement at a recent meeting indicating that he is in no hurry to help the displaced settlers get back to their homes. Channel 12 reported that Gantz urged the return of these displaced settlers to their homes by September 1, to which Netanyahu scoffed and said "what will happen if they return a few months after September 1?" (Related: If you vote for Trump, you're voting for the death penalty for anyone who says something that upsets a Zionist.) Israel breaking apart at the seams Thousands of displaced settlers, upon hearing Netanyahu's words, raged with anger. They proceeded to confront their area heads, including Upper Galilee Regional Council head Giora Zaltz who told Channel 12 that he is working hard to return the settlers to their homes without official government approval. 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. "We can't wait for a decision from someone who never decides," Zaltz reportedly said to the media outlet. Displaced settlers currently occupying Haifa and Jerusalem are planning organized protests for May 16 calling for the Netanyahu regime to cooperate in getting them back to where they want to be. "No to a political agreement with Hezbollah" is the banner statement of the protests, along with calls for the "restoration of security through military action." "This is a battle that we must fight together a fight for our freedom, and honor and the future of our children," their mission statement further reads. "We the people of the north will not be silent." Back in early April, representatives from the settler communities located in the Conflict Zone Forum posted advertisements inviting locals to come up with proposals "to be submitted for an alternative government is Israel." "The full details of the tender can be found in the hotels and the accommodation apartments of the displaced throughout the country, with the business owners who collapsed in the north, in the dead tourism areas in the north, and in the offices of the authorities in the north," the advertisements read. On May 8, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops that a very "hot summer" awaits them, meaning the war is about to escalate and a lot more lives are going to be lost. Israel is fighting several wars right now: one in Gaza and one against Lebanon. There is also Iran to contend with, along with all of Israel's newest enemies who are outraged beyond belief at how the Netanyahu regime is treating the besieged Palestinian people stuck inside the Gaza Strip. Both the United States and France are reportedly in the process of proposing de-escalation initiatives that aim to end the fighting in northern Israel. So far, all proposed initiatives have failed. If keeping a close eye on what Israel is doing interests you, be sure to check out Prophecy.news. Sources for this article include: TheCradle.co NaturalNews.com New York Gov. Kathy Hochul: Black kids in the Bronx dont know what the word computer is New York's Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul has stated that black children in the inner city "don't even know what the word computer is." She made the comment at the Milken Institute Global Conference in California on Monday, May 6, when she was talking about how politicians could extend access to tech jobs for disadvantaged communities. (Related: More anti-vaccine bigotry: New York's Marxist Dem Gov. Kathy Hochul says state will offer full scholarships to 50 young adults but only those who got the COVID jab.) "Right now, we have young black kids growing up in the Bronx who don't even know what the word computer is. They don't know, they don't know these things," Hochul said. Her statement went unquestioned by her interviewer but was soon ridiculed online. Even fellow Dems slam Hochul New York State Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo, a fellow Democrat who represents the Bronx, called the remark "harmful, deeply misinformed and genuinely appalling." Septimo moved 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." "B***h, not only do we know what a computer is, we all got one in our pockets. You sound just as racist as S****y Joe Biden did when he said 'poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids,'" Florida congressional candidate Lavern Spicer wrote on X. "I misspoke and I regret it. 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," Hochul said in a statement late Monday. 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. Hochul's apology has not calmed the surge of criticisms from legislators and citizens alike. "Of course, Black kids in the Bronx know the word 'computer,'" State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, a Democrat who represents Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn, wrote on X. Gonzalez mentioned that the governor's AI initiative failed to involve financing for education and workforce development in underserved communities. Assemblywoman Karines Reyes, a Bronx Democrat, said she was "deeply disturbed" by Hochul's remarks. "Our children are bright, brilliant, extremely capable and more than deserving of any opportunities that are extended to other kids. Do better," Reyes posted on X. Assemblyman John Zaccaro, also a Bronx Democrat, said: "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." Social media users have also criticized Hochul, with many claiming she was "out of touch" with reality and one even branding her a "delusional sociopath." "Detached from reality is an understatement. Says a lot about the Governor from New York," wrote X user Richard Pierce. "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," X user Marc commented. X user Bob Kain said: "This is about as racist as it gets...not to mention one helluva indictment on NYC public schools." Another X user said Hochul "should resign in disgrace." A spokesperson for Hochul didn't immediately reply to a request for comment. Follow RaceWar.news for more stories like this. Watch the video below on New York Governor Kathy Hochul's racist comments about kids from the Bronx. This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com. More related articles: NY Gov. Kathy Hochul orders monitoring of social media platforms to flag criticism of Israel as "hate speech." The party of racism strikes again: Dems tell Blacks they cannot succeed in a merit-based system' after the Supreme Court rules affirmative action unconstitutional. Black children are being killed across the country why isn't Black Lives Matter demanding justice for them? Sources include: RT.com DailyMail.co.uk NewYorkTimes.com Brighteon.com A now viral video of the roadside paint job has racked up nearly a million views and plenty of frustration from locals. The local tradie has called out city authorities over the dodgy road job. Source: Facebook Some days at work, it's easier just to go through the motions. That appears to be the case for one group of public servants who have been exposed for a rather lazy effort that has rendered part of their work almost completely useless. Road contractors were tasked with administering a fresh line of paint along the side of an Auckland road to allow drivers to more easily see where they're going. However unfortunately for motorists, and taxpayers, the fresh paint won't be there for long. Local man Geoff Upson came across the road markings earlier this week and in a now viral video showed how the workers missed the asphalt and instead simply "painted on top of all the vegetation built up on the side of the road." Geoff is a road safety campaigner in New Zealand, albeit with a rather unusual style, and is elected to the local council board while also working full-time as a tradie. He told Yahoo News Australia he spotted the paint job as he drove past on Friday. "I thought I'd just quickly do this video on my way to work," he said. "I stopped for something to eat at about 11 o'clock and had a look and it was just going out of control - it was quite funny. "People are just dumbfounded and shocked," he added. The line on the side of the road was painted on top of dirt and easily brushed away. Source: Facebook Contractors 'just painted on top of a big pile of dirt' In the video, Geoff pulls away the vegetation and, of course, the white line disappears with it. "Basically they've just painted on top of a big pile of dirt," he says in the clip, showing the mistake was made over a stretch of road spanning at least 30 metres. In just over 24 hours the video has been watched nearly a million times, racking up more than 4,000 comments on Facebook from frustrated and angry Kiwis who were quite to hit out at officials. "It's not just this issue, it's so many other issues between Auckland Transport and road contractors where there's such substandard work being done with no oversight," Geoff said. "It's quite frustrating and that's why people have resonated" with the video so much. Speaking to Yahoo, he explained he'd actually reported the build-up of dirt along the side of the road back in January. "They sort of tried to sweep it in February ... but just just two months on [and] they have done this." With the video reaching hundreds of thousands of people, Geoff expects he will likely hear back from city authorities "on Monday or Tuesday when everyone is back in the office," he laughed. It's certainly going to be an awkward start to the work week for some. Road campaigner drew penises around pot holes Geoff is no stranger to keeping local authorities honest. Before he won a seat to be on the local council board a couple of years ago, he made headlines for spray-painting phalluses around road potholes in an effort to shame Auckland Transport into having them repaired. It was a move that got him dubbed the "infamous penis Picasso" in New Zealand's media as well as a stern warning from police at the time. An earlier photo of Geoff, dubbed the 'penis Picasso'. Source: Stuff.co.nz Speaking to local publication Stuff in 2022 after winning a seat on the council board in the rural area, he expressed surprise at his political ascendency. "I honestly didnt think the campaign was going that well. I only spent $4,000," he said. "And Ive mainly been putting rubber ducks into potholes." Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. D.C. Nine group of jailed pro-life activists could be sentenced up to 11 years in prison The "D.C. Nine" group of jailed pro-life activists are set to be sentenced to up to 11 years in prison each in the nation's capital on May 14, 15 and 17. The nine individuals are Joan Andrews Bell, Jonathan Darnel, Herb Geraghty, Will Goodman, Lauren Handy, John Hinshaw, Paulette Harlow, Heather Idoni and Jean Marshall. Pro-abortion Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the District Court for the District of Columbia is set to charge them with up to 11 years in prison for violating the FACE Act and "conspiracy against rights." Eight of the nine defendants are being detained in federal custody at the Alexandria Detention Center in Alexandria, Virginia and the ninth is under house arrest for participating in a pro-life rescue of the unborn in a late-term abortion center in Washington, D.C. (Related: Pro-lifers call for shutdown of U.S. Attorneys office in D.C., along with FBI field office and federal court, after protesters were thrown in a GULAG.) The D.C. Nine have been in jail for around nine months. During this time, many of them have already suffered severe mistreatment that follows the definition of torture both based on American law and international standards. The 59-year-old Idoni was put in extended solitary confinement for 22 days and denied sleep with the lights of her cell kept on continuously. Idoni, a mother of five, was made to appear in full shackles in federal court in March for a pre-trial hearing in a manner generally reserved for dangerous or violent criminals. The 74-year-old Marshall was denied sufficient clothing and heat during the severe freezing winter cold, causing her to develop pneumonia, which went untreated for three weeks. She has been deprived of a critically needed hip surgery, counter to her doctor's instructions, bringing about agonizing pain and exhausting use of her right leg. 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. Furthermore, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has directly violated the religious liberty of one of the pro-lifers, who has been placed on arrest, asserting that she be forbidden from attending church despite the defendant's specific request to be permitted to attend Mass aside from her doctor's visits. The 75-year-old Harlow, a devout Catholic, has been denied permission to attend mass at a Catholic Church while under house arrest despite her specific request to the judge while in court. Punishment for pro-life activism unprecedented Speaking on the "historic importance of these sentencings," jailed pro-lifer Hinshaw wrote in a recent article for LifeSiteNews, "From the abolitionists, the suffragettes, the civil rights movement, anti-Vietnam war protests, anti-nuclear protests, climate alarmists and even the 'mostly peaceful' riots of 2020, NO ONE was threatened with 11 years!" "We are now entering into the 'Fugitive Slave Law' period of our comparable struggle wherein the slavers/abortionists try to make us all complicit in their evil," Hinshaw said. "To our ruling class, abortion is sacred; we sacrifice children to it, and they are determined we all genuflect. This I wrote in response to a Michael Novak column 30 years ago, in harmony with Lincoln's perspective on slavery: We will either lay all our laws, legal systems and institutions at the feet and service of abortion or we will eradicate it. As with slavery, compromise is cooperation." Hinshaw added that America will stand on the edge of a cliff it has never seen before on May 14. He went on to say that America can fall to tyranny by the action of one old, tired, retired and irrelevant judge who "has no bone to gnaw." The pro-life rescuers will face sentences of up to 11 years in jail for trying to stop the murder of late-term babies in the Santangelo abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. "If you do not yet see the historic importance of these sentencings, scheduled for May 14, 15 and 17, then you must cite when peaceful, civil disobedience has ever been so threatened and punished in the United States," Hinshaw stressed. Follow Abortions.news for more stories about the ongoing battles of pro-lifers against pro-abortion advocates. Watch the video below about Glenn Beck's commentary on the pro-lifers who are facing 10 years in prison for praying. This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com. More related articles: Arkansas pro-lifers mobilize to defeat radical pro-abortion constitutional amendment. Pro-lifers oppose "extreme" bill in Maine that seeks to legalize abortion after fetal viability. Ohio enshrines abortion into its constitution despite fervent opposition from pro-life advocates and religious leaders. Calls to shut down DC US Attorneys office, FBI field office, and federal court after pro-lifers thrown in regime gulag. 6 Pro-lifers CONVICTED for peaceful protests, could face 10 years behind bars. Sources include: LifeSiteNews.com 1 LifeSiteNews.com 2 Brighteon.com Robert Scott Bell: Bloodshot eye scare part of bird flu FEARMONGERING Brighteon.TV The "bloodshot eye" scare is part of the bigger fearmongering agenda under the guise of "bird flu," according to homeopathic practitioner Robert Scott Bell. During the May 6 episode of "The Robert Scott Bell Show" on Brighteon.TV, he explained that reports of people bleeding from their eyeballs is one way to trigger another fake pandemic similar to that of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). This, he added, results in a frightened public that will lock down, shut down, wear masks and get experimental injections again. According to Bell, Dr. Sherri Tenpenny had warned about the bird flu scam decades ago. She noted at the time that bleeding eyeballs was never a thing with bird flu. Meanwhile, Bell's co-host Don Naylor commented that the recent bird flu scare apparently started with a bird sneezing on a cow, and the pathogen jumping from cow-to-cow. Bell answered that given this, it shouldn't be called bird flu but cow flu. He added that the H5N1 virus has infected at least 36 herds across nine U.S. states. Bell added that just like smallpox, farmers working on the farms with birds or cows are also getting it. The Texas farm worker who contracted bird flu apparently had bloodshot eyes, according to the Daily Express. "They have to ratchet up the fearmongering, and the only way they can do it was bloody, ugly, viciously looking. This could happen to you. This could happen to me. Maybe I should believe them now," said Bell, who believes the agenda is to slaughter all the cattle and birds that people are eating. (Related: FOOD SUPPLY RESET: Will bird flu become the next fake pandemic thats used to wipe out out animal agriculture?) 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. "They've done this once before with bird flu. Who says they won't do it again especially since their expressed intent and purpose is to get you all to eat bugs. This is not about the flu. This is not about how to protect yourself from the flu." Bloodshot eyes caused by different factors and bird flu isn't among them According to Bell, bloodshot eyes or bleeding eyeballs could happen from a night of heavy drinking or injuries to the eye. He added that the symptom has nothing to do with the mammal-to-human transmission of bird flu, stressing that this is fearmongering and fear porn. Naylor meanwhile mentioned eye bleeds can also be caused by subconjunctival hemorrhage, trauma to the eye, rubbing of the eyes, blood thinning medications and medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension and blood disorder. Bell also pointed out that nutrient or mineral deficiencies such as silica, silicon, copper and selenium along with other factors like environment, food, water and air could cause an eye bleed. Selenium and copper are two key minerals that protect the vasculature more than any other. But the homeopathic practitioner warned against overusing zinc and vitamin C as they can deplete copper. "People have been made weaker by eating food that is chemically grown and processed, devoid of the vitamins, minerals, trace elements, trace minerals that we need to restore and maintain integrity to the endothelial lining of any connective tissue. And so, we're already vulnerable to eye bleeds," Bell said. "We ingest, we inhale, we have skin. And we can utilize these things to restore integrity to all of those areas, including the immune system that would respond to things normally and naturally through those mechanisms of interface and interaction." Follow Influenza.news for more stories about bird flu. Watch the May 6 episode of "The Robert Scott Bell Show" below. "The Robert Scott Bell Show" airs every Monday at 4-5 p.m. on Brighteon.TV. More related stories: WHO and mainstream medias bird flu warnings are part of a psyop fear campaign to gain control and push vaccines. MORE SCAMDEMIC FEAR: EU officials warn of the dangers of BIRD FLU, lament the lack of immune defenses against it. Dr. Joseph Mercola: Bird flu cant kill humans unless it is WEAPONIZED. Sources include: Brighteon.com The-Express.com Texas suing border NGO over criminal conduct involving illegal immigration; Annunciation House intentionally hid illegals from law enforcement Citing systemic criminal conduct in the state of Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Annunciation House , a non-governmental organization (NGO) purportedly helping illegal migrants near the southern border. Paxton announced the filing of an application for a Temporary Injunction against Annunciation House, which he says is facilitating illegal border crossings and concealing illegally present aliens from law enforcement. All of this is illegal. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) reviewed and obtained sworn testimony proving, Paxton says, that Annunciation House's operations were intentionally designed to facilitate illegal activity at the southern border that is flooding the nation with people who do not belong here. Earlier in the year, OAG issued a request for documents from Annunciation House seeking to learn about its operations. Instead of responding with the requested information, Annunciation House sued OAG. Since then, it has come to light that Annunciation House's own sworn testimony shows that it is foundationally a criminal operation that shelters illegal aliens who evade Border Patrol at border crossings throughout the Lone Star State. "It even goes into Mexico to retrieve aliens who border patrol denied," Paxton's office confirmed in a statement. "Then, by its own admission, it conceals those people in its shelters from law enforcement. It will let any alien in, yet it paradoxically refuses to comply with any law enforcement demands. Its own website even boasts that it houses people who crossed the border with 'help from a coyote.'" 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. (Related: Paxton has been so busy seemingly trying to rectify the Biden regime's open borders disaster that the so-called president threatened war with Texas.) America under attack Annunciation House's argument against the initial request for operational documentation from OAG was that it has a religious right to refuse compliance with Paxton's investigation. However, when asked under oath how the religion would be burdened by producing the requested documents, Annunciation House's executive director admitted that it would not. Paxton's office then went on a hunt to determine what types of religious practices even occur at Annunciation House. All of its senior staff members reportedly gave what OAG described as "nonsensical answers," including one answer in which a staffer simply responded with "the seven commandments." "Any NGO facilitating the unlawful entry of illegal aliens into Texas is undermining the rule of law and potentially jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of our citizens," Paxton himself commented about the case. "All NGOs who are complicit in Joe Biden's illegal immigration catastrophe and think they are above the law should consider themselves on notice." In the comments on one of our earlier stories about Paxton's efforts to secure the borders, at least in Texas, one person asked how in the world Biden is trying to justify waging war on a state "for daring to protect its citizens and territory from illegals invading the nation." "War because they dared to disrupt the Marxist left plan to turn Texas blue for decades to come?" this person continued, speculating as to what the Biden regime is probably trying to disrupt. "Texas should secede from the union. They are now being threatened by the federal government." "They are not being defended. Biden has failed in his sworn responsibility to do so, and more than any other state they are hemorrhaging money and human resources caring for invaders because of the Biden administration." Another wrote that Texas is "drowning" as a direct result of the Biden regime "orchestrating an invasion of the southern border of the U.S." Clearly our country is under attack from without and from within. The latest news about America's illegal immigration problem can be found at InvasionUSA.news. Sources for this article include: TexasAttorneyGeneral.gov NaturalNews.com TexasAttorneyGeneral.gov TikTok files lawsuit against Biden administration over law forcing sale of app TikTok has filed a lawsuit against the government of the United States after President Joe Biden signed the bill requiring parent company ByteDance to sell its stake on the platform or be shut down. ByteDance has stated that it would rather close the short-form video hosting platform than surrender to the bill's demands. In its lawsuit, ByteDance claims the First Amendment rights of TikTok users have been violated. The bill was filed over concerns that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that governs China could have access to user data through a back door in the app. (Related: House committee passes bill ordering TikTok to divest from the CCP.) The lawsuit claims that "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 also claimed that TikTok had already spent some $2 billion in security measures to protect American users' data and had already made some security commitments that were organized with the Committee on Foreign Investment in America. The lawsuit further states that ByteDance has been informed by the CCP that it would not allow the sale of the social media platform's algorithm. TikTok lawsuit insists the bill violates First Amendment The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, May 7, in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C., asserts that the bill, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, violates constitutional protections of free speech and constitutes an "unprecedented violation" of the First Amendment. 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. "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 said in the lawsuit. ByteDance contends that citing national security concerns is not an adequate reason for restricting free speech and that the burden is on the federal government to prove that this restriction is justified. The lawsuit even notes that Congress has not provided any evidence indicating that TikTok poses the kind of data security risks or foreign propaganda spread that "could conceivably justify" the law and has failed to prove that the app poses any specific harm in these areas. The Department of Justice (DOJ) did not instantly answer a request for comment. A White House spokesperson diverted a request for comment to the Justice Department. "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. 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 CCP. I'm confident that our legislation will be upheld," said Rep. John Moolenaar, the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. The lawsuit, which had been anticipated since Biden signed the bill on April 24, is likely to add to an already long timeline for a possible ban or sale of the app. ByteDance already had more than a year to move forward with selling its stake in TikTok. The current legal proceedings will break that timeline, meaning it could be years before a ban takes effect. Watch the video below to learn more about TikTok's lawsuit against the U.S. government. This video is from the CreeperStatus channel on Brighteon.com. More related articles: Poll reveals majority of Americans view TikTok as a tool for spreading Chinese influence in the U.S. TikTok ban bill could lead to broader surveillance and censorship by the U.S. government. Hypocrisy? Biden cheers ban on TikTok while he uses influencers to boost his sagging campaign. Biden administration strikes a deal with ByteDance to gain total control over TikTok operations in America. Ex-TikTok employee claims he was INSTRUCTED to send American users data to Beijing-based parent company. Sources include: ThePostMillennial.com DailyMail.co.uk NBCNews.com Brighteon.com Tlaib urges ICC to ARREST NETANYAHU after the Israeli leaders decision to invade Rafah Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he decided to invade Rafah following the United States' approval of over $14 billion in military aid. "Its no coincidence that immediately after our government sent the Israeli apartheid regime over $14 billion with absolutely no conditions on upholding human rights, Netanyahu began a ground invasion of Rafah to continue the genocide of Palestinianswith ammunition and bombs paid for by our tax dollars," said Tlaib in a statement. Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, is one of just 36 other congressmen who opposed the foreign aid package due to the alleged ties of U.S.-supplied weaponry to the violence against civilians in Gaza. Tlaib has also joined forces with 56 other legislators who have been urging the administration of President Joe Biden to halt shipments of offensive weapons in fear that such weapons could contribute to Israel's invasion of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Gazans including over 600,000 children have run to for refuge. (Related: LIES: U.S. asserts no genocide being committed in Gaza amid violent Israeli military campaign.) Despite the opposition, Biden still signed the package into law in April. Shortly after, Israeli forces seized control of Rafah's border crossing with Egypt, effectively preventing Palestinians from fleeing and blocking the delivery of crucial humanitarian aid into Gaza. For Palestinians trapped in Rafah, nowhere else in Gaza is safe to run to. 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. "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." In turn, Tlaib called upon the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials. "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." Senators warn of serious repercussions if ICC prosecutor issues arrest warrants In response to Tlaib's call to action, 12 senators, led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) wrote a letter to Karim A. A. Khan, the prosecutor for the ICC, to warn him that any actions taken against Israeli officials would be illegitimate and lack legal basis. "The ICC is attempting to punish Israel for taking legitimate actions of self-defense against their Iranian-backed aggressors. In fact, in your own words, you witnessed scenes of calculated cruelty conducted by Hamas in Israel following the October 7 attacks," the letter read. "These arrest warrants would align the ICC with the largest state sponsor of terrorism and its proxy. To be clear, there is no moral equivalence between Hamas' terrorism and Israel's justified response." The senators argued that any move against Israel would not only be unjust but also a breach of the court's principles, as the ICC can only proceed in cases where the relevant government is unwilling or unable to prosecute itself. "By issuing warrants, you would be calling into question the legitimacy of Israels laws, legal system, and democratic form of government," the letter stated. "Issuing arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel would not only be unjustified, it would expose your organizations hypocrisy and double standards." The letter further accuses the ICC of selectively applying its justice, pointing out the lack of arrest warrants against leaders of nations accused of egregious human rights violations, including Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Furthermore, the letter reminded Khan that the U.S. and Israel aren't part of the ICC, so actions against them fall outside its authority. It warned that any such actions would lead to the cessation of American support for the ICC, sanctions against its employees and a ban on Khan and his family from entering the United States. Watch this clip of South African lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi providing "chilling" evidence that Israel's continued indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza constitutes genocide. This video is from the Contrarian channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: GENOCIDE CALL: Oldest Israeli army reservist wants to eradicate Palestinian families, children. GENOCIDE by STARVATION: Israels bombing operations have exhausted the food supply in Gaza. GENOCIDE JOE: White House supported Israel despite knowing they were indiscriminately bombing civilians in Gaza. Israel using Hamas FALSE FLAG attack to commence second great genocide first was the COVID vaccine genocide. Joe Rogan finally comes around on calling out Israels blatant genocide while Breitbart editor Joel Pollack embraces genocide denialism. Sources include: RT.com Tlaib.House.gov CommonDreams.org FoxNews.com Brighteon.com For years, there has been a debate about the environmental impact of oil crops, such as palm oil and soy. Some people believe that these crops are inherently bad for the environment, while others believe that they can be grown sustainably. A recent report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) sheds light on this complex issue The Truth About Oil Crops: It's Not the Crop, It's How We Grow It The report argues that the impact of oil crops depends on the practices used to grow them. Deforestation, for example, is a major driver of environmental damage in the oil crop industry. When forests are cleared to make way for oil palm plantations, it can release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and destroy wildlife habitat. Sustainable Oil Crop Production is Possible The good news is that it is possible to grow oil crops sustainably. The IUCN report highlights a number of practices that can help to reduce the environmental impact of oil crop production. These practices include: Using Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) Reducing deforestation Improving agricultural practices Protecting biodiversity CSPO is palm oil that has been produced according to a set of environmental and social standards. These standards help to ensure that palm oil is grown in a way that minimizes deforestation and protects biodiversity. Reducing deforestation is another important step towards sustainable oil crop production. There are a number of ways to reduce deforestation, such as improving yields on existing plantations and finding alternative sources of land for new plantations. Improving agricultural practices can also help to reduce the environmental impact of oil crop production. For example, farmers can use less fertilizer and pesticides, and they can adopt practices that help to conserve soil and water. Protecting biodiversity is essential for sustainable oil crop production. Oil palm plantations can provide habitat for a variety of wildlife species. However, it is important to manage plantations in a way that minimizes the impact on wildlife. The IUCN report concludes that the future of the vegetable oil industry depends on a shift towards sustainable practices. By adopting these practices, the industry can reduce its environmental impact and contribute to a more sustainable future. The Socio-Economic Benefits of Sustainable Oil Crop Production In addition to the environmental benefits, sustainable oil crop production can also have positive socio-economic outcomes. A recent report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) found that smallholder and local oil production systems can contribute to poverty reduction, rural development, and food security. The IISD report recommends a systemic approach to addressing challenges in the vegetable oil industry. This approach would involve collaboration between governments, traders, farmers, and processors. By working together, these stakeholders can develop and implement sustainable practices that benefit both the environment and society. Also Read: Growing Palm Oil for Biofuels may Accelerate Climate Change: Study The Palm Industry: A Complex Issue The palm industry is a complex issue with both positive and negative impacts. On the one hand, palm oil is a versatile and productive crop that can be used to produce a wide variety of products, from food to fuel. The palm oil industry also provides jobs and income for millions of people around the world. On the other hand, large-scale palm oil production has been linked to a number of environmental problems, including deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and habitat destruction for orangutans. These environmental concerns have led to calls for a boycott of palm oil. However, not all palm oil is produced in the same way. Small-scale palm oil production can be beneficial for the environment and local communities. Small-scale producers are more likely to use sustainable practices, such as intercropping and crop rotation. They are also more likely to set aside land for conservation. The future of the palm industry depends on finding a way to balance the economic benefits of palm oil production with the environmental costs. This will require a concerted effort from governments, businesses, and consumers. What Consumers Can Do Consumers can play a role in promoting sustainable palm oil production by choosing products that contain certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO). SPO is palm oil that has been produced according to a set of environmental and social standards. These standards help to ensure that palm oil is grown in a way that minimizes deforestation and protects biodiversity. By choosing CSPO products, consumers can send a message to the palm oil industry that they demand sustainable practices. This can help to drive change in the industry. The future of the vegetable oil industry is bright.By adopting sustainable practices, the industry can reduce its environmental impact and contribute to a more sustainable future. This will benefit not only the environment but also the people who depend on the industry for their livelihoods. Related article: Palm Oil: The Common Household Ingredient that Harms the Climate Hot weather is persisting longer which is great if you like eating outdoors, exercising outside, or going to the beach. But theres a troubling downside to this climactic change thats likely to make life a little more unpleasant the increased risk of pests and diseases. But its not just humans who are at greater risk of illness. These changes are likely to harm crops growing on Australias farms and drive up food prices even further, and are in line with warnings from a mosquito expert and fungus scientists who Yahoo News spoke with earlier this year. Forests may also come under growing pressure from swarms of beetles that attack the trunks of trees. The warning has come from an industry professionals who are increasingly concerned with climate change. They belong to the Actuaries Institute, an advisory body that advises the multi-billion dollar insurance and banking sectors about risk. How worried should we be about climate change? The new Australian Actuaries Climate Index (AACI) was published this week. It is the culmination of research into the impact of climate change right now and analysis of how societies are working to decarbonise and mitigate the problem. AACI lead author Rade Musulin told Yahoo News the insurance and banking sectors are very concerned about the threat of climate change. His report assessed the frequency of extreme weather conditions and their variation over time and detected higher temperatures in the northeast between December 2023 and February 2024. We're undergoing a change right now that's on the scale of the Industrial Revolution, electrification, the internet, and even the printing press. And this change is going to affect every part of our economy, society, where we live, the way we live, how we build houses, how we get around, he said of the climate crisis in general. It is really important to our profession that we serve the public, the policy makers in Canberra, the insurance industry, the banks and various other people. Theyre all going to be affected by this regardless of what their political position is. Related: Thousands of newly built Aussie homes already 'unsafe' Extreme weather events can cost the insurance industry billions. Source: AAP Why major disasters are being closely watched by insurers The role of the Institute has traditionally been to help insurers set prices for everything from bushfire protection, to electric vehicle comprehensive policies and health insurance. But with the climate crisis worsening, its members are being called upon to help assess the risk of major extreme weather events. I personally do a lot of work in international risk transfer of big disasters, Musulin said. So when a big disaster like a hurricane in Florida, or a typhoon in Japan, or a flood in Australia, becomes a $10 or $20 billion problem, then that goes into the global financial system, and actuaries price that risk and help balance the books on how much all that stuff costs across the world. Related: Seven dire reasons it might be time to leave Australia His report also examined an aspect of climate change that doesnt get as much attention as extreme heat waves the impact of elevated minimum low temperatures. There are several consequences and they include problems in agricultural production, to people not sleeping well at night if they dont have an air conditioner and that has health and wellness implications to proliferation of beetles, and more moisture in the atmosphere helping seed rainfall, Musulin said. Are there benefits to climate change? The news isnt all doom and gloom. Musulin hopes readers of his report will see there is a lot of opportunity for Australia to become a sustainability superpower. We've got minerals that are needed for electrification, weve got massive potential for renewable energy here, we've got a really skilled workforce that can build the electric grids, he said. You never want to say climate change is good thats not the message. But there is a lot of opportunity here that goes along with the risk. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories. Sorry, something doesn't look right. Something seems unusual about your device or browser. Please contact support. UN chief calls for action on escalating climate crisis, conflicts in Africa U nited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has renewed a call for the global community to support action on the climate crisis and civil strife undermining the quest for peace, stability, and sustainable growth in Africa. Guterres said at a briefing on the sidelines of the UN Civil Society Conference, which concluded on Friday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, that Africa remains the epicentre of climate emergencies despite its negligible contribution to the emission of planet-warming gases, Xinhua news agency reported. "This continent is being blasted by extreme weather, turbocharged by a climate crisis it has done next to nothing to create: From lethal floods in the East to deadly droughts in the South," he added. He stressed that Africa can overcome climatic vagaries once the continent receives a fair share of investments in renewable energy and other adaptation measures. "Africa could be a renewables giant," Guterres said, noting that the continent is home to 30 per cent of the minerals critical to green energy transition and 60 per cent of the world's solar resources. Stressing that the United Nations will press for climate justice in Africa, Guterres observed that the continent has received only two per cent of investments in clean energy in recent decades. The UN Chief called on major economies to honour their commitment to finance climate action in Africa, while increasing their contribution to the newly established Loss and Damage Fund. In addition, Guterres said the reform of multilateral development banks is urgent to enhance capital flows to climate action in developing countries, the majority of which are in Africa. He urged the G20 nations to lead in slashing greenhouse gas emissions while accelerating a just global phase-out of fossil fuels that are responsible for worsening planetary warming. African governments should establish ambitious national climate plans by next year to help attract investments required to enhance the resilience of communities on the front line of the climate crisis, he added. On the ongoing conflicts in Africa, Guterres said the UN has rallied behind the African Union's call for silencing the guns and restoring peace in several hotspots, including Sudan, eastern Congo, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa. The UN Chief called upon combatants in various African hotspots to abide by international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and ensure they have access to basic services. UN chief calls for action on escalating climate crisis, conflicts in Africa Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! US 'doubling down' on boosting trade with 'critical partner' India: Senior trade official I ndia has emerged as a "critical partner" for the US which is "doubling down" on it for trade and working on further boosting economic ties, according to a senior US trade official. Assistant Commerce Secretary Arun Venkataraman said, "I genuinely believe that this is very much a heyday of this bilateral economic relationship" between India and the US. "We are doubling down on India and finding more ways to collaborate and grow that economic integration," he told reporters on Thursday ahead of the World Trade Week in New York. India "has become an even more critical partner for the US," he said. "We are amazed by the incredible deepening of the collaboration that's happened in the last few years with India." According to the US International Trade Administration, total trade in goods and services between India and the US topped $191 billion in 2022, almost doubling from 2014. Foreign direct investment (FDI) from the US reached $103 billion during the 2022-23 fiscal year, while Indian FDI flows to the US reached $14.4 billion in 2021 providing for more than 72,000 US jobs. Asked by a reporter if the US would consider a free trade agreement with India, Venkataraman did not directly address the possibility, instead pointing to India's participation with the US and 12 other countries in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) launched in 2022. "Free trade agreements are a fantastic tool and can be very effective, but I think we should also remember the free trade agreements are only one tool in the toolkit," he said. Right now, he said that the IPEF "is addressing key elements that you don't find in free trade agreements, addressing the urgencies of the day". "We're focused on getting that (IPEF) implemented" and making sure "that we avoid some of the vulnerabilities that we all learned during the pandemic," he added. While most of the attention to keeping the Indo-Pacific region free and open has been focused on strategic issues, Venkataraman emphasised the critical role of the IPEF. "We are proud of the fact that in short order we have managed collectively, with Japan's help and all of our Indo-Pacific partners, to be in a position to move aggressively towards implementing the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework," he said. The IPEF has made headway in one key aspect, making the supply chain resilient, he added. The IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement came into force in February and "we will soon be setting up the institutions to operationalise" it, he said. It "is really going to be critical to mitigating supply chain disruptions going forward and helping make our economies collectively more resilient to the threats that could occur from supply chain disruptions," Venkataraman added. He said that substantial progress has been made in negotiations on two other elements of the IPEF, ensuring a clean and fair economy. These are aimed at "ensuring a transparent environment free of corruption" and efficient tax administration, he added. At the first IPEF ministerial meeting in Singapore in June, there will also be a "clean investor forum" bringing together entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, government agencies, and others to strategise on increasing investment in sustainable infrastructure, he said. The Tamil Nadu-born Venkataraman holds the Global Markets portfolio in the Commerce Department in addition to being the Director-General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service. (Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis) US 'doubling down' on boosting trade with 'critical partner' India: Senior trade official Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Pandemic agreement talks to continue beyond deadline: WHO G overnments around the world agreed to extend for another two weeks the talks over a landmark agreement on handling future pandemics, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. A ninth and final round of negotiation involving WHO's 194 member states, advocacy groups, and relevant stakeholders ended Friday without finalising an agreement, which is scheduled to be considered for adoption at the World Health Assembly later this month, Xinhua news agency reported. The member states-led Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) was established over two years ago to draft and negotiate a legally binding agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. Pandemic agreement talks to continue beyond deadline: WHO Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Jackky Bhagnani shares video of his 'doctor' Rakul Preet; says 'bahut intelligent hai yeh' A ctor-producer Jackky Bhagnani on Saturday gave a sneak peek of his 'doctor' -- wife and actress Rakul Preet Singh, sharing insights into her eating habits and praising her intelligence. Jackky, who tied the knot with Rakul on February 21 in Goa, took to Instagram stories to share a video featuring the diva. In the video, Rakul is seen donning a half-sleeved white T-shirt and oversized round-framed sunglasses, with her hair left open and wet. The video captures Rakul enjoying her breakfast, which seems to be poha, although it's not explicitly mentioned. Jackky can be heard saying, "She is chewing and eating," to which Rakul adds, "that will make a paste in your mouth." The 'Youngistaan' actor further said: "It takes 21 minutes to tell your brain," with Rakul completing the sentence, "that you are full." Jackky concludes the video by remarking, "Bahut intelligent hai yeh (she is very intelligent)." The video is captioned: "My Doctor Rakul Preet." Rakul and Jackky had a two-in-one wedding ceremony, first with the 'Anand Karaj' in the Sikh tradition, followed by a Sindhi-style ceremony, symbolising both their cultural backgrounds. On the professional front, Rakul has 'Meri Patni Ka Remake' and 'Indian 2' in the pipeline. As a producer, Jackky's next has 'Suryaputra Mahavir Karna' and 'Mission Lion'. His last project as producer was the Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff starrer-'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan'. Jackky Bhagnani shares video of his 'doctor' Rakul Preet; says 'bahut intelligent hai yeh' Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Along with their guardians, they will pack in a full day. Leaving Springfields Abraham Lincoln Capitol Airport at 4 a.m., they wont return until late in the night. City Alan P. Reed, 63, of Auburn, was charged May 8 with operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content level of .08 of 1% first offense and driving while intoxicated first offense. Madison V. Bannister, 25, of Port Byron, was charged May 9 with imitation controlled substances first violation and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Paul B. Bovee, 36, of Seneca Falls, was charged May 9 with false personation, resisting arrest, second-degree obstructing governmental administration, imitation controlled substances first violation, third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance Ricky P. Meehan, 55, of Auburn, was charged May 10 with second-degree criminal contempt and second-degree criminal trespass. Catherina A. Meyers, 45, of Auburn, was charged May 10 with sixth-degree conspiracy and petit larceny. Jacob A. Meyers, 22, of Auburn, was charged May 10 with sixth-degree conspiracy and petit larceny. Eric M. Prior, 27, of Union Springs, was charged May 10 with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. State Abner A. Paz, 32, of Union Springs, was charged May 8 with second-degree criminal contempt. The records page: Blotter, restaurant inspections and more Visit the records page of auburnpub.com to see The Citizen's latest blotter, restaurant inspections and property transfers. A team led by Dr. Eddie Imada, assistant professor of research in pathology and laboratory medicine, has been awarded a three-year, $1.5 million United States Department of Defense grant for research on a cellular process called alternative polyadenylation and its role in prostate cancer. The grant was awarded under DoD's long-running Prostate Cancer Research Program, a Congressionally-directed medical research funding project aimed at improving prostate cancer prevention, detection and patient care. Thousands of current and former servicemen are diagnosed with, and die of, prostate cancer every year. At first glance, polyadenylation isn't an obvious culprit in cancer. It is an evolutionarily ancient and routine process that adds a tail of RNA nucleotide "letters"all of them adenosines, represented by the letter "A" in the genetic codeto one end of a gene's newly made RNA transcript. This polyA tail and other routine modifications turn the transcript into a messenger RNA (mRNA). Scientists know that polyadenylation increases the stability of the mRNA and helps it exit the cell nucleus so it can be translated into a protein in the cytoplasm. On the other hand, polyadenylation is not a straightforward process: For about two-thirds of human genes, the place where the raw RNA transcript is trimmed and polyadenylated - known as polyadenylation sites - sometimes differs resulting in what is termed alternative polyadenylation. This "alternative polyadenylation" can lead to a host of changes including greater or lesser production of the protein encoded by the gene, or even different versions of the protein. In some cases that appears to be a normal, healthy way of fine-tuning various cell processes, including cell division and cell maturation. In other cases, alternative polyadenylation seems dysfunctional; it has been linked to multiple diseases including cancers. Dr. Imada says his project may be the first in-depth, genome-wide exploration of alternative polyadenylation's role in prostate cancer. He and his team will use computational analysis of RNA sequences from healthy individuals and from patient tumor samples to see how changes in polyadenylation site usage affect prostate cancer progression and treatment response. Potential payoffs of the research include uncovering new molecular targets that can lead to new treatments for prostate cancerwhich often becomes resistant to current treatmentsas well as better ways of enhancing therapy selection for existing treatments such as immunotherapies. Ever since Darwin published his landmark theory of how species evolve, biologists have been fascinated with the intricate mechanisms that make evolution possible. Can mechanisms responsible for the evolution of a species over a few generations, called microevolution, also explain how species evolve over periods of time extending to thousands or millions of generations, also called macroevolution? A new paper, just published in Science, shows that the ability of populations to evolve and adapt over a few generations, called evolvability, effectively helps us understand how evolution works on much longer timescales. By compiling and analyzing huge datasets from existing species as well as from fossils, the researchers were able to show that the evolvability responsible for microevolution of many different traits predicts the amount of change observed between populations and species separated by up to one million years. Darwin suggested that species gradually evolve, but what we found is that even though populations rapidly evolve over the short term, this (short-term) evolution doesn't accumulate over time. However, how divergent populations and species are, on average, over long periods of time still depends on their ability to evolve on the short term." Christophe Pelabon, professor at NTNU's Department of Biology and senior author of the paper Big datasets from living creatures and fossils The ability to respond to selection and to adapt, the evolvability, depends on the amount of heritable (genetic) variation. The researchers conducted their analysis by first compiling a massive dataset with measures of evolvability for living populations and species from publicly available information. They then plotted evolvablity against population and species divergence for different traits such as beak size, number of offspring, flower size and more. They also examined information from 150 different lineages of fossils, where other researchers had measured differences in morphological traits in the fossils over time periods as short as 10 years and as long as 7.6 million years. What they saw was that traits with higher evolvability were more divergent among existing populations and species, and that traits with higher evolvability were more likely to be different from each other between two consecutive fossil samples. Conversely, traits with little evolvability or little variability didn't change very much between populations or between successive fossil samples Environmental fluctuation is the key Traits with higher evolvability change rapidly because they are able to respond to environmental changes more quickly, Pelabon said. The environment things such as temperature, the type of food available, or any other characteristic important for the survival and the reproduction of the individual is the driving force of evolutionary changes because populations try to adapt to their own environment. Typically, environments are changing from year-to-year or decades-to-decades, fluctuating around stable means. This generates fluctuation in the direction of selection. Highly evolvable traits can rapidly respond to these fluctuations in selection and will fluctuate over time with high amplitude. Traits with little evolvability will also fluctuate but more slowly and thus with lower amplitude. "Populations, or species, that are geographically distant from each other are exposed to environments whose fluctuations are not synchronized. Consequently, these populations will have different trait values, and the size of this difference will depend on the amplitude of the trait's fluctuation, and therefore on the evolvability of the trait," Pelabon said. Consequences for biodiversity The researchers' results suggest that selection and therefore the environment has been relatively stable in the past. With climate change, things are rapidly changing, and mostly in one direction. This may strongly affect patterns of selection and how species can adapt to environments that are still fluctuating but around optima that are no longer stable even over periods of time of a few decades. "How much species will be able to track these optima and adapt is uncertain, but most likely this will have consequences for biodiversity, even on a short timescale," he said. A book on orthopedic and trauma nursing co-edited by Dr Mary Drozd, a senior teaching fellow in nursing at Aston University, is to be translated and published in Chinese. Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing: An Evidence-based Approach to Musculoskeletal Care, published by Wiley Blackwell, is now in its second edition. It is aimed at pre-registration and qualified adult and children's nurses working in orthopedic and musculoskeletal trauma units in hospitals and community settings. It is also suitable for students seeking post-qualification education in orthopedic nursing as well as undergraduate nursing and allied health students. Orthopedic and trauma care remains a highly specialized aspect of healthcare focused on musculoskeletal problems or injury and following orthopedic surgery, and the book fills an important gap in the market. It provides practitioners and educators with current evidence-based practice. Musculoskeletal conditions or injuries are common across all age groups. The book was selected over many other orthopedic texts for translation and publication in China "due to its high quality and the valuable insights it delivers from a team of highly regarded experts," according to the publisher. Dr Drozd and co-editor Dr Sonya Clarke, a senior lecturer from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) sought contributions from a wide range of highly experienced practitioners, researchers and educators from different parts of the globe. They are themselves very experienced. Dr Drozd is a registered nurse with nearly 40 years' experience and has worked as an advanced nurse practitioner within the field of orthopedics in different parts of the country and in various clinical settings, combining this with academic roles in higher education. She is part of the editorial team for the International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing and she teaches on Aston University's adult nursing program. Dr Clarke is a registered children's and adult nurse with over 30 years' experience in orthopedic and trauma nursing, holding a specialist practitioner qualification in orthopedic nursing. Her doctoral research focused on children's experiences of hospital from the perspective of the hospitalized child and the children's nurses who care for them. Sonya is the Chair of the Royal College of Nursing, Society of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing. Dr Drozd said: "I am truly grateful for the opportunity to co-edit an important textbook with Dr Sonya Clarke from Queen's University Belfast. Working with an amazing team of highly accomplished practitioners and educators who have contributed to the book has been a wonderful experience. The book is proving very popular in the UK and has received five-star reviews. I am really pleased that it will reach a much wider audience when it has been translated into Chinese. Most importantly we hope the book influences nursing practice so patients with musculoskeletal conditions or injuries receive the highest possible quality of evidence-based care." I am delighted the second edition is to be translated into a second language and will help inform nurses globally. I wish to thank Mary for taking over the editor role. The book again reflects the life course with new contributions from a medical and paramedic perspective. Mary has previously acted as an external examiner for QUB's orthopedic and fracture trauma program, where the book continues to be used as a core text for teaching and learning for both the RN student and pre-registration student." Dr. Sonya Clarke, registered children's and adult nurse Tom Marriott, commissioning editor, nursing, midwifery and allied health at Wiley Blackwell, added: "This collaboration signifies a remarkable milestone and is a testament to the dedication and expertise that has gone into crafting this book, the value of which transcends borders. We celebrate not only the future publication of the book in Chinese but also the shared commitment to advancing healthcare education and improving patient outcomes worldwide." A new tool developed at the University of Virginia School of Medicine will help doctors and scientists better understand and overcome childhood undernutrition that contributes to almost half of all deaths of children under 5. The research model created by UVA's Carrie A. Cowardin, PhD, and colleagues provides a more sophisticated way to study the effects of undernutrition on the microbiome, the microbes that naturally live inside the gut, and, in turn, on growth and the immune system. Scientists routinely study the many complex interactions within the microbiome by taking samples from the human microbiome and moving them into lab mice. But Cowardin and colleagues found that they could significantly improve the effectiveness of that model by introducing the microbes when the mice were very young, before they had been weaned. This new model of "intergenerational colonization," they determined, better mimicked the effect of undernutrition during early childhood. "We believe this new model will help us investigate many of the major challenges facing undernourished children, including higher rates of infection and changes in cognitive development," said Cowardin, part of UVA's Department of Pediatrics. "Our current studies are using this system to identify specific microbes that impact development, with the goal of using these microbes as therapies to promote healthy growth. " Undernutrition and the microbiome Using Cowardin's new model, the UVA researchers found that unweaned mice that were given microbes derived from children with impaired growth also suffered stunted growth. Further, the young mice developed immune system responses similar to those seen in human children. But when the microbes were given to mice later in life, the effects were much less similar to what was seen in humans. That suggests Cowardin's new approach offers a better way to study childhood undernutrition. Further, the results align nicely with prior research suggesting that infancy is a critical period that shapes the health and strength of the immune system throughout life, the researchers say. The new model, Cowardin said, should help scientists better understand the underlying biological causes of stunted growth and other harmful effects of undernutrition in developing counties. That understanding will advance efforts to develop new approaches to prevent those effects and help children live longer, healthier lives. We hope this work also allows us to answer fundamental questions about how the microbiome interacts with our own cells to shape the course of development. Growth stunting due to undernutrition is a really difficult problem facing global child health, and the lessons we learn will likely apply to many other conditions as well." Carrie A. Cowardin, PhD, UVA Cowardin was recruited to UVA specifically for her microbiome expertise. She is part of UVA's ambitious TransUniversity Microbiome Iniatitive (TUMI), which brings together researchers from across the university to explore the role of the microbiome in human health. TUMI serves as the central hub for the university's cutting-edge microbiome research to expand our understanding of the microbiome to better treat and prevent disease. Her lab is part of UVA Health Children's Child Health Research Center, which fosters cutting-edge research to improve the lives of children everywhere. About the research Cowardin and her collaborators have described their new model in the scientific journal Microbiome. The research team consisted of Yadeliz A. Serrano Matos, Jasmine Cano, Hamna Shafiq, Claire Williams, Julee Sunny and Cowardin. The scientists have no financial interest in the work. The researchers were supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01 HD105729, T32 AI007496 and T32 AI055432 and by National Science Foundation LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship 1810762. When it comes to improving the lives of children with genetic conditions, medical research often focuses solely on the children. But there is an equally important population in need of research that a faculty member at the University of Colorado Department of Medicine is highlighting -; the caregivers. We need to think very broadly about how to support not just the kids -; yes, that matters -; but also the people caring for those kids. I want to do work that informs policy to support caregivers and to help families." Liza Creel, PhD, health services researcher and associate professor in the Division of Health Care Policy and Research Recently, at the CU Department of Medicine's Research Day, Creel presented her research on parents as medical caregivers, specifically looking at how caregiving is associated with their own health and employment. "The health of these caregivers matters," said Creel, who is also involved in the Adult and Child Center for Outcomes Research and Delivery Science (ACCORDS). "These things are all connected." Caregiving: A valuable but time-consuming role Creel said the most recent survey data from 2021 estimates that 3.9% of children in the United States -; which is nearly 3 million children -; have a genetic condition. This includes inherited metabolic conditions, Down syndrome, blood disorders, and cystic fibrosis. However, capturing a true estimate of the prevalence of genetic conditions is difficult. "There are many genetic conditions that are not captured in this definition, such as hearing loss," she said. "This likely underestimates the true prevalence, but right now, it's the best that we have." These conditions are lifelong and require ongoing management and therapeutic interventions, she said. Research has found that children with genetic conditions have increased health care utilization and are more likely to have unmet health needs than other children. "That's attributable to both the complexity of their needs and a very limited specialized workforce in the area of genetic medicine," Creel said. Caregivers for children with genetic conditions provide a variety of support, such as care coordination of the health care system and insurance navigation, physical support, psychosocial support, navigation of the education system, and other services like transportation. "Caregiving can be time consuming, and many things that you do as a caregiver have to happen in regular business hours," Creel said. "That suggests that there are potential implications on their participation in the labor market and the amount of time they have to take care of their own health needs." Impact of caregiving on employment, health To examine the associations between caregiving for a child with a genetic condition and the caregivers' health status and employment, Creel and her research team conducted a retrospective analysis using combined data from the 2016-2021 National Survey of Children's Health. Since they had several years of data to analyze, Creel's team decided to also look at the prevalence of children with genetic conditions. They estimated that 4.4% of children in the U.S. have a genetic condition -; roughly 0.5% higher than what the 2021 study showed. Creel said her team measured caregivers' employment by using one specific variable that asked the caregiver, who was the person filling out the survey, if they had left the workforce in the past 12 months due to caring for a child. They ultimately found that caregivers for children with genetic conditions had increased odds of leaving the workforce compared to other caregivers. Specifically, 12.6% of caregivers for children with genetic conditions stopped working, as compared to 8.5% of caregivers for children with other special health care needs. "Overall, among caregivers of all children, 3.7% had left the workforce in the prior year due to caring for a child," Creel said. The research also found increased odds of leaving the workforce for caregivers of Black children, American Indian children, children who receive care from others at least 10 hours a week, and children who needed care but did not receive it. On the flip side, caregivers with college degrees and those who are married had decreased odds of leaving the workforce. Caregivers' health status was assessed based on self-reported responses to survey questions about physical and mental health. The data showed caregivers of children with genetic conditions, both mothers and fathers, reported fair or poor physical health and mental health at a higher rate than other caregivers. For instance, 14% of mothers of a child with a genetic condition reported fair or poor physical health, as compared to 5.9% of mothers of a child who does not have a genetic condition. "When a caregiver has poor or fair physical or mental health, the likelihood of leaving the workforce doubles," Creel said. Why this research matters Understanding the impact of caregiving on employment and caregivers' health matters for a multitude of reasons, Creel said. In terms of health policy, the Administration for Community Living released a national strategy to support family caregivers in 2022, saying there are financial, physical, and emotional costs to being a caregiver. "One study estimated that family caregivers lose over $500 billion in wages every year due to caregiving, and employers experience a financial loss as well," she said. Understanding the impacts of caregiving is also relevant to clinical practice in a lot of ways, Creel said. For instance, the health care system focuses on offering clinical interventions and prevention efforts to improve a patient's wellbeing. However, to achieve this goal, there are a lot of factors and steps. "There are these enabling resources, like whether a person has health insurance or the financial resources to access the care that they need," she said. Other factors include caregivers' predisposing characteristics, and their real and perceived need for health care services. "These things all influence the health behaviors that we perceive in the health system, including their use of services and their application of self-care. Both of which also really matter in terms of health outcomes," she said. Ultimately, family caregiving is an area of policy, research, and clinical importance, Creel said. Both children with genetic conditions and their caregivers face substantial medical and care coordination needs. They also potentially face limited access to subspecialty care and other supports that facilitate access to needed care. "Policies to support caregivers through respite, specialized childcare, coordination tools, and other resources may allow caregivers to focus their attention where it is most needed, allowing for a focus on their own health and without needing to leave the workforce," Creel said. The HIV variant dominant in Indonesia was introduced from Thailand over multiple events. The Kobe University study traces where it came from and how it spread from there, offering insights of possible value to the development of treatments against the disease. HIV is the virus causing AIDS, but one of the things that make it so difficult to treat is that there are many variants of it. Kobe University virologist KAMEOKA Masanori says, "The diversity is increasing every day and the prevalent virus strains differ from region to region around the world." Knowing which variants of the virus are prevalent in a given region and how it spreads from one to another is relevant not only to better trace the epidemic, but also to ensure that treatments are deployed against those variants that are most likely to occur in any given region. In Indonesia, the fourth-most populous country on Earth, only a third of the affected have access to anti-HIV drugs, and little is known about the circulating strains. Indonesia is recognized as one of the countries where the HIV/AIDS pandemic is still expanding. Kobe University has established a joint research center for infectious diseases at the Institute of Tropical Diseases at the Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia, and so we decided to decode the viral genome from blood samples of individuals infected with HIV-1 (out of the two main HIV types, the one causing the vast majority of AIDS cases worldwide) around the country to clarify the viral transmission trends." Kameoka Masanori, Kobe University virologist Their findings, now published in the journal Scientific Reports, show that all of the analyzed viruses belonged to a strain called "CRF01_AE" first identified in Thailand. But their detailed analysis shows that from there, the virus was brought to Indonesia at least three different times, sometimes via different countries such as Vietnam and Laos. And while it was Thai substrains that spread to most of Southeast Asia and also to other parts of the world, it was an Indonesian substrain that moved on to Iran. In the paper, the researchers write, "As a country with a high incidence of HIV-1 infection in Southeast Asia, Indonesia may contribute to the spread of HIV to other Asian countries." With their data, the Kobe University research team could trace the timeline of the spread of the CRF01_AE strain. Having originally emerged in Africa, it probably was brought to Thailand around 1977, from where it started to spread through Southeast Asia. It probably first entered Indonesia around 1980, then again via Laos around 1983 and via Vietnam around 1985. Only then, in 1985, it was recorded for the first time, in Thailand, and according to the WHO has been the dominant strain of HIV in Southeast Asia since 1990 and has become the dominant strain in East Asia, including also China and Japan, in the last decade. Kameoka explains the importance of pursuing this line of research: "I personally believe that it is important to constantly monitor and accumulate information on viral genome genetic information in endemic areas, as viruses causing infectious diseases can change their properties due to genetic variation. Such information could also be useful for control and countermeasures against infectious diseases by estimating epidemic routes and transmission trends." This research was funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology Japan, the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Indonesia, and Universitas Airlangga (grant 571/UN3.15/PT/2021). It was conducted in collaboration with researchers from Universitas Airlangga and Ritsumeikan University. Bob Wilbur thought he'd found a retirement home that would be a place of peace. Nestled against Admiralty Bay on the western edge of Whidbey Island, the three-story house is surrounded by trees and shoreline. It offers the kind of quiet that only an island can provide. Except when the Growlers fly. As often as four days a week, Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft based at the nearby Naval Air Station Whidbey Island fly loops overhead as pilots practice touch-and-go landings. The noise is immense, around the level of a loud rock concert. "It interrupts your day," Wilbur said. "You're unable to have a pleasant evening at home. You can't communicate. You constantly try to organize your day around being gone when the jets are flying." New research from the University of Washington shows that the noise isn't just disruptive -; it presents a substantial risk to public health. Published May 9 in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, an analysis of the Navy's own acoustic monitoring data found that more than 74,000 people are exposed to noise levels associated with adverse health effects. "Military aircraft noise is substantially more intense and disturbing than commercial jet noise," said lead author Giordano Jacuzzi, a graduate student in the UW College of the Environment. "Noise exposure has many downstream effects beyond just annoyance and stress -; high levels of sleep disturbance, hearing impairment, increased risk of cardiovascular disease -; these have real impacts on human health and quality of life. We also found that several schools in the area are exposed to levels that have been shown to put children at risk of delayed learning." Guided by conversations with community members and local advocacy groups, researchers analyzed four weeks of acoustic and flight operations data collected by the Navy in 2020 and 2021, in addition to prior-year data collected by a private acoustics company and the National Park Service. Researchers then mapped noise exposure across the region to estimate how much noise specific communities were exposed to in an average year. Researchers estimated that two-thirds of Island County residents, including everyone in the cities of Oak Harbor and Coupeville, were exposed to potentially harmful levels of noise, as was 85% of the population of the Swinomish Indian Reservation. In total, an estimated 74,316 people were exposed to average noise levels that posed a risk of annoyance, 41,089 of whom were exposed to nighttime noise levels associated with adverse effects on sleep. Another 8,059 people -; most of whom lived within fairly close proximity to aircraft landing strips were exposed to noise levels that can pose a risk of hearing impairment over time. "Our bodies produce a lot of stress hormone response to noise in general, it doesn't matter what kind of noise it is. But particularly if it's this repeated acute noise, you might expect that stress hormone response to be exacerbated," said co-author Edmund Seto, a UW professor of environmental and occupational health sciences. "What was really interesting was that we're reaching noise exposure levels that are actually harmful for hearing. Usually I only think of hearing in the context of working in factories or other really, really loud occupational settings. But here, we're reaching those levels for the community." Taken as a whole, the potential harms can be quite serious, Seto said. "Imagine people trying to sleep, or children in school trying to understand their teachers and you've got these jets flying." Every monitoring station on Whidbey Island measured noise events in excess of 100 decibels when jets were flying. In some instances, noise levels were "off the charts" -; exceeding the limits of models used to predict the health effects of noise exposure around the world. We found it striking that Growler noise exceeds the scientific community's current understanding of the potential health outcomes. For this reason, our estimates of health impacts are conservative." Julian Olden, co-author, UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences The noise has been the subject of community disputes and legal controversy since 2013, when the U.S. Navy moved more Growler jets onto Whidbey Island and increased the number of flights to more than 110,000 per year. Bob Wilbur is a member and the current chair of Citizens of Ebey's Reserve, a community group that has sued the Navy over the jet noise and increased flight operations. The group also helped facilitate the UW study, and Wilbur is a co-author. Like other military aircraft, the Growlers' noise differs significantly from commercial jets -; louder and deeper, the kind of sound that people feel before they hear. "It's the intensity, the intermittent nature of the noise, and the low-frequency energy specifically," Jacuzzi said. "Those three things are very different than what you experience from normal commercial flights, which are predictable and high in altitude. When Growlers fly over a home, they emit a rumbling noise that penetrates windows and shakes walls." While commercial jet noise has been the subject of extensive study, research into military aircraft noise is relatively rare. Previous UW-led research found that military flights were the largest cause of noise pollution on the Olympic Peninsula. While discussing that study, Whidbey residents complained that the noise disturbed their sleep and interfered with students' schoolwork, which prompted this new line of inquiry. While conducting this study, researchers worked closely with community members and advocacy groups and held multiple webinars to share results and shape future work. "Our research was motivated by the growing chorus of complaints by Washingtonians across multiple counties," Olden said. "We believe the science speaks for itself. It's no longer a question of whether noise impacts people, but how, where and how much these effects are experienced." Other authors are Lauren Kuehne of Omfishient Consulting, and Anne Harvey and Christine Hurley of Sound Defense Alliance. This research was funded by the UW Population Health Initiative. DevPro Biopharma and Bespak have announced the completion of early feasibility studies on DP007, a new formulation of albuterol in a pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) which shows comparable performance to Ventolin HFA but with a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This breakthrough pMDI is being developed by DevPro Biopharma, a respiratory-focused clinical development accelerator, and Bespak, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) focused on orally inhaled and nasal drug-device combination products. Clinical studies are planned to be initiated by the end of the year to fast-track its development, as the pharmaceutical industry begins to accelerate its transition to climate-friendly respiratory care. The preliminary results will be presented on May 18, 2024, at the 2024 Respiratory Innovation Summit, hosted by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) during their 2024 International Conference at the San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA. The new formulation has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of respiratory disease by reducing the global warming potential (GWP) impact of albuterol inhalers such as Ventolin, the most commonly prescribed inhaler type globally. It is expected to be commercialized by mid-2027 to meet the requirements of the US phasedown of fluorinated gases under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020. As many as 384 million people globally suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and about 262 million people suffer from asthma. Most of these patients are treated using pMDIs that have a high GWP due to the use of greenhouse gases known as hydrofluoroalkanes (HFAs) as propellants. Greenhouse gas emissions challenge efforts to keep the global temperature rise at or below 2 C this century, and regulation is being tightened across the world as a result. The innovative formulation is being developed by Bespak at its Research Triangle Park, NC research facility under the terms of an exclusive agreement with DevPro Biopharma. The new formulation contains Honeywells Solstice Air (HFO-1234ze(E) cGMP), a hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) propellant that has 99.9% less global warming potential than current HFAs and is in clinical development for pMDI products. This announcement follows an earlier announcement of the commercial partnership between Bespak and Honeywell to speed the development of near-zero GWP inhalers. Colin Reisner, CEO of DevPro Biopharma, said, Albuterol pMDIs account for approximately 45% of all pMDIs used worldwide, contributing substantially to global warming. In the US, about 60 million prescriptions are written annually for albuterol pMDIs producing emissions equivalent to more than 200,000 passenger vehicles. There is an urgent need to develop a low-GWP albuterol pMDI to reduce the environmental impact of the life-saving inhalers patients need, without sacrificing performance or ease-of-use. Working with Bespak, we are excited about the results we have seen with DP007 showing comparable performance with Ventolin HFA. Based on our own market research, it has the potential to generate peak sales in excess of $500 million USD annually. Chris Hirst, CEO of Bespak, commented, Were committed to leading the transition to low-GWP propellants in pMDIs to help halt the global warming caused by greenhouse gases. Bespak has a long history in the development, scale-up, and clinical and commercial supply of inhalers and our goal now is to transition as many pMDI products as possible to meet the requirements of evolving global legislation. We believe in not only leveraging our own skills and capabilities, including our expertise in valves, actuators, and dose counters, but also working together across the industry to achieve this goal. Building on our partnership with Honeywell, we are proud to partner with the experienced team at DevPro Biopharma on this exciting development. This is a low risk, high reward development program with opportunity for a major reduction in global warming. We have assembled a world-class team of experts from Bespak and DevPro Biopharma who have developed the plan together for the next phase of the program to quickly de-risk the asset. We are encouraged by interest in the program and look forward to speaking with potential investors at ATS 2024 Respiratory Innovation Summit. Chris Hirst, CEO, Bespak DevPro Biopharma is inviting expressions of interest from investors and pharmaceutical organizations in the next phase of the development program. Scripps Research professor emeritus John Johnson, PhD, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciencesone of the highest honors given to scientists. According to the Academy, members are selected in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. John Johnson, PhD. Image Credit: Scripps Research Becoming a member of the Academy is a great honor for me and the 70 graduate students and post docs that have worked in my lab since 1978, as well as numerous collaborators at Scripps and around the world, says Johnson, who is also the Eldon R. Strahm Professor of Structural Virology in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology. The organization shares my commitment to helping the world through science. John Johnson, PhD, professor emeritus, Scripps Research Johnson earned his doctorate in physical and inorganic chemistry from Iowa State University in 1972 and spent 23 years at Purdue University before moving to The Scripps Research Institute (now known as Scripps Research) in 1995. His lab investigates a range of virusesincluding those that infect bacteria, insects and plantsand he has published several related studies. Much of his work used X-ray crystallography and, more recently, electron cryomicroscopy to solve the structures of intact complex virus particles. During his tenure, Johnson published the first reports of icosahedral virus particles as building blocks for organic chemistry, bridging the field of chemistry with biology. And while combining chemistry with molecular genetics, he found a way to attach a range of molecules to the surface of a virus, thereby imbuing the virus with the properties of those molecules. This method is applicable to several scientific fields, including materials science, medicine and molecular electronics. It can be used to immobilize large moleculesand even whole proteinson the surface of a virus. Even more, the technique was applied to build a circuit on the surface of a virus employing chemical nanowires. His lab also generated the first atomic models of an insect virus, a dsDNA bacteriophage and an archaeal virus that lives in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park. For his contributions to science, Johnson has been awarded the Distinguished Scientist Award by the American Chemical Society-San Diego. Johnson also served as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Cancer Institute as well as the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, and on the council of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences In addition, he served on the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of General Virology, the Journal of Molecular Biology, the Journal of Molecular Recognition, Structure and Virology. Established by an Act of Congress that was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, the National Academy of Sciences has been in existence since 1863. As advisors to the nation, Academy members are required to provide scientific guidance to any US government body whenever called upon. With the election of Johnson, Scripps Research faculty now hold 30 memberships in the National Academies of Sciences, Medicine and Engineering. Kolkata, May 10: Air India Express on Friday cancelled five flights on four routes from Kolkata as the airline is making efforts to get back to normalcy following the cabin crew-related crisis, an official said. The airline cancelled two flights between Kolkata and Hyderabad, one each to Chennai, Cochin and Ayodhya, an Air India Express spokesperson told PTI. These were among the total of 120 flights, both domestic and international, that were cancelled across the country on Friday, even after the section of the cabin crew who had been on strike since Tuesday night had called it off on Thursday. According to the spokesperson, besides the 120 cancellations, the airline operated 246 flights to various destinations of which 20 flights were operated by Air India and two by Vistara. Sources in the airline said though the cabin crew started reporting back to work, putting them on flights was not possible immediately due to a lot of technicalities related to rostering and re-rostering. Things are expected to be fully normal in one-and-a-half days. Sources also said that some time will also be consumed in the medical check-up of the cabin crew who reported back to work, besides working out the entire duty roster. Notably, the strike (sudden mass sick leave) by a section of the cabin crew since Tuesday night had resulted in cancellation of more than 170 flights was called off on Thursday evening. The airline also had withdrawn the termination letters issued to 25 striking cabin crew. The cabin crew had started reporting sick to protest against alleged mismanagement at the airline. PTI SBN NN . Manhattanville University President Frank Sanchez knows it's a difficult time for Wells College students reeling after the shocking announcement the Aurora institution will close at the end of the spring semester. With the fall semester only a few months away, though, the students who aren't graduating are searching for a new school. Enter Manhattanville. When Wells announced its closure, it also revealed Manhattanville University, a private institution in Purchase, Westchester County, has been selected as its preferred teach-out partner. The teach-out agreement, which is subject to approval, would allow Wells students to transfer their credits and continue their studies at Manhattanville. Discussions between Manhattanville and Wells began in January, according to Sanchez. While Wells students can transfer to Manhattanville, it's not required. There are proposed teach-out agreements with other institutions, such as Le Moyne College in the Syracuse area. Why Manhattanville? In an interview with The Citizen, Sanchez made his pitch for why Wells College students should continue their educational careers at Manhattanville University. He highlighted the institution's top social mobility ranking among private institutions in New York and experiential learning programs. "By design, we have embedded those experiences in our curriculum. That is, I think, very distinctive," Sanchez said. "Those critical hands-on learning experiences shouldn't be episodic for students that are paying a lot of money for their degree. "It should be something you can guarantee that they walk out with because the world of work is changing so fast and so quickly with artificial intelligence and technology. That hands-on learning experience during the college career, we think, is incredibly important for their future success." Sanchez also noted Manhattanville's efforts to provide a pathway to a five-year master's degree for every major. An advanced degree would prepare students for entry-level jobs and to lead their chosen industry, he said. The university is exploring other ideas, including a three-year program for honors students to earn their undergraduate degree and a four-year program in which honors students could earn their bachelor's and master's degrees. Location Manhattanville University is located in the New York City suburbs. Sanchez, who is a native of Cheyenne, Wyoming, is aware there might be students hesitant to head downstate. Although it's within close proximity to cities, including White Plains in Westchester County, Manhattanville is in a rural area. Sanchez said there are two traffic lights on the street that runs past the college. There are a few restaurants, but it's mostly a residential area. That may help Wells students as they prepare for their move from Aurora, a village with a population of 641. Sanchez thinks the student populations are similar many Wells students come from New York City and the Westchester County area, he said. "Part of what we have to do is to help educate and help people really appreciate where Manhattanville University is and the type of experience we can provide," he said. "We actually think if students and families came down here, I think they would have a very different impression than what you might think a downstate university might provide." Legacy An important part of the agreement is Manhattanville University's commitment to preserve Wells College's legacy. In a news release, the institutions said they intend to "develop a legacy agreement that will seek ways to integrate the Wells College name and history into the Manhattanville community." Sanchez provided more details about what that might look like. Manhattanville has a heritage hallway in Reid Castle, its most recognizable building, featuring the institution's history. Wells College's history could be added to the hall, he said. There are also discussions about how to keep the Wells College name, whether it's by placing it on a building, residence hall or school, and allowing some members of the Wells' board of trustees to sit on Manhattanville's governing board. Sanchez said the school will create a Wells College student advisory board that will meet with him and other campus leaders. "I think it's so important, if students choose to come to Manhattanville some four hours away, we're doing our very best to hear what their concerns are and provide a forum for them to share, to the highest level of administration, what we're doing well and how we can improve," he said. To make the transition easier, Manhattanville has set aside a residential building for Wells College students. This will allow them to continue living together while integrating into Manhattanville, Sanchez said. Stability After experiencing a college closure, students may be seeking assurance that Manhattanville or wherever they decide to continue their education won't close, too. Sanchez told The Citizen he is "extremely confident" that won't happen at Manhattanville. He said the school is bucking national enrollment trends the university's enrollment increased 5% in the past year and its graduate programs are growing and generating additional revenue. There is also growth in alumni giving, fundraising and philanthropy. "We're positioned, I think, very well to compete in a hyper-competitive higher education environment," he said. When colleges and universities close, Sanchez explained, there are certain "common denominators." One is enrollment below 1,000 Wells has 357 students, while Manhattanville has 1,329 undergraduate students and 1,050 graduate students, according to the university's website. Other factors include decreasing endowments and a lack of online course offerings. Manhattanville's endowment is "stable," Sanchez said, and they are working to grow it. The school also offers several online courses and degree programs. A recent change may provide a boost. The institution long known as Manhattanville College became a university in April. "That's not only going to make us more attractive regionally, but nationally and internationally," Sanchez said. "I think more individuals are going to look at the Manhattanville education." Outreach After Wells College announced its closure, Manhattanville University began its outreach to students. Sanchez said personnel from the university visited Wells on May 3. Although classes had ended, about 100 students attended the meeting. Manhattanville has launched "Wells Wednesdays," a series of virtual information sessions that will be held at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. every Wednesday. The university is also planning to host an open house exclusively for Wells College students. Sanchez encouraged Wells College students to visit Manhattanville's campus and review the university's academic programs. CUET UG 2024: Dress Code Any light clothes with long sleeves are prohibited. If candidates arrive at the examination centre wearing traditional or cultural attire, they should report at least one hour in advance of the last reporting time. Low-heeled sandals and slippers are acceptable. Candidates are not allowed to wear shoes. CUET UG 2024: Documents to Carry to Exam Hall It is important to note that all candidates must bring a printout of their admit card to the examination centre, as well as a valid ID proof for verification. CUET UG 2024: What to Check? The admit card will contain the candidates name, roll number, examination centre, and date, and time of the exam. In case of any discrepancy, report to the authorities immediately. CUET UG 2024 to be Held in Hybrid Mode The CUET UG 2024 exams will be held in hybrid mode (CBT and Pen and Paper) at 380 examination centres, including 26 outside India. This year, around 13.48 lakh students will appear in the exams. CUET UG 2024 Admit Cards for May 15-18 Exams Released; Steps to Download NTA is all set to conduct the Common University Entrance Test Undergraduate (CUET UG) 2024 exam from tomorrow and has finally released the admit cards for the exams on May 15-18. CUET UG 2024 aspirants can download their hall tickets from the official website at exams.nta.ac.in. This entrance exam acts as a single platform for students seeking admission to undergraduate courses across various universities. Know how to download admit card here. CUET UG 2024 Exam Pattern There will be fifteen subjects in the OMR format exam. The duration of the CUET exam ranges from 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the subject. There will be a 60-minute time slot dedicated to the General Test paper and other disciplines like Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Economics, etc. The time for other disciplines, such as geography, sociology, Hindi, English, etc., will be 45 minutes. CUET UG 2024 Begins Tomorrow: Exam Guidelines 1. Applicants should ensure they have all required documents, including their valid ID and admit card. 2. It is suggested that applicants arrive at the testing location one to two hours prior to the start of the entrance exam. They will not be permitted entry into the CUET 2024 exam centre thirty minutes before the exam starts. 3. Students are required to attach a current photo to the CUET admit card by themselves. 4. Candidates will not be permitted to enter the testing centre without the admit card. 5. The majority of objects are not permitted within the examination centre, thus candidates should bring as few items as possible. How to Download CUET Admit Card 2024? Step 1: Go to CUET UGs official website, cuetug.ntaonline.in. Step 2: Click the CUET admit card card link on the home page. Step 3: Enter the relevant log in credentials and click the submit button. Step 4: Your CUET UG 2024 admit card will appear on the screen. Step 5: Review the details on the admissions card and download the document. CUET Admit Card 2024: Credentials Needed to Check Result Candidates can download their Admit Card from the official website using their Application Form Number and Date of Birth, the NTA said. CUET Admit Card 2024: NTA Advises Candidates to Download Admit Card Today Evening Candidates are advised to download the admit card on May 14th Evening so that any changes in the Examination Centre due to administrative reasons may be reflected in the admit card, the official notice NTA reads. CUET Admit Card 2024 Released For May 15-18 Exams Admit Card of candidates appearing for the examination scheduled to be held on 15th to 18th May 2024, are hosted on website cuet ug@nta.ac.in, reads the official notice by NTA. CUET Admit Card 2024 Released! CUET UG 2024 Admit Card LIVE: CBT Schedule CUET UG 2024 Admit Card LIVE: How to Check Exam Centre The admission card contains information about the CUET test centre to which candidates have been assigned. After downloading the CUET 2024 admission card, students may review details such as the exam centre code, address, reporting time, and more. CUET UG 2024 Admit Card LIVE: What Can Candidates Carry into the Exam Hall Admit card with Self Declaration (Undertaking) Transparent ballpoint pen Personal transparent water bottle Sugar tablets or fruits (such as bananas, apples, and oranges) if the individual has diabetes. Additional photograph (same as submitted in the application form) Authorised picture IDs (must be original, valid, and not expired).School Identity Card/PAN Card/ Drivers License/Voter ID/Passport/Aadhaar Card (with photo). PwBD certificate issued by the authorised medical officer, (if applicable) CUET Admit Card 2024: How Many Institutes Accept The Exam Scores? The CUET 2024 scores will be used by around 250 universities to determine admission to various first-year degree courses CUET UG 2024 Admit Card LIVE: Pen and Paper Exam Schedule CUET Admit Card 2024: Exam Timings As many as 63 test papers are being offered in the CUET (UG) 2024. Each exam will be held for 45 minutes except for Accountancy, Economics, Physics, Computer Science, Informatics Practices, Chemistry, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and General Test which will conducted for 60 minutes, the agency has said. CUET Admit Card 2024: NTA Helpline Numbers Students can contact the NTA helpline at 011-40759000 or 011-69227700 if they have any queries related to the CUET 2024 hall tickets. The results of the Class 10 test or Secondary School Certificate (SSC) for the year 2024 have finally been made public by the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSEB) today, May 11. This years Gujarat Board SSC Class 10 results showed a pass percentage of 82.56 per cent, a 17.94 per cent improvement over the previous year. 699,598 out of the 706,370 students who registered for the GSEB 10th exam 2024 took the test. Among those who appeared for the exam, 577,556 candidates passed.The Gujarat board Class 10 result 2024 may be viewed and downloaded by students who took the SSC exam this year via the official website, gseb.org. According to the official announcement, the results would be made public at 8 am, and the result link would be enabled shortly after. However, they were published considerably earlier, about 7 AM. GSEB SSC Class 12 Result 2024 Live Updates While boys achieved a commendable pass rate of 79.12 per cent in the GSEB Class 10 SSC Result for 2024, girls surpassed them significantly with an impressive 86.69 per cent pass rate. This year, Gandhinagar had the highest pass percentage at 87.22 per cent, making it the top performing district. The best-performing district from the previous year was Surat, with a pass percentage of 76.45 per cent. GSEB Class 10 SSC Result 2024: How to Check Online Step 1: Visit the Gujarat Boards official website, gseb.org. Step 2: Go to the main website and click on the GSEB SSC/Class 10 Result 2024 link. Step 3: Students will be prompted to input their seven-digit seat number in the given box when a new page opens on the screen. Step 4: Press the Submit button. Step 5: Your screen will display the Gujarat Board SSC class 10 result for 2024. Step 6: Once downloaded, print a copy of the Gujarat SSC class 10 result 2024 for future admission processes. Students must provide their login information, which includes their seat number to check the Gujarat board SSC class 10th result 2024. Exams for the Gujarat Board SSC 2024 were given from March 11 to March 22. In 2023, the SSC class 10 total pass percentage was 64.62 per cent. Out of the 7,34,898 students who took the exam, only 4,74,893 passed. Girls achieved a pass rate of 70.62 per cent, beating boys pass percentage of 59.58 per cent. Stay ahead with all the exam results updates on News18 Website. A criminal case has been registered against a schoolteacher and two others in Gujarats Godhra for their alleged involvement in the malpractice of helping six candidates appearing for the NEET-UG exam by promising to solve their papers for a sum of Rs 10 lakh each, police said on Thursday. The racket was busted at a Godhra school designated as a centre for the NEET-UG exam held on Sunday after the district collector received a tip-off, according to an FIR. A physics teacher, Tushar Bhatt, the deputy superintendent of exams at the centre, was booked along with two others, namely Parsuram Roy and Arif Vora. Rs 7 lakh in cash was recovered from Bhatts car, which Vora paid him as an advance to help a candidate get into the merit list, said the police. As per the deal between the accused and several NEET-UG aspirants, they were asked to leave blank questions whose answers they did not know. The answers to these questions were to be written once the papers were collected after the exam, police said quoting the FIR. An FIR was filed in the case at the Godhra taluka police station on a complaint of the district education officer. According to the FIR, Bhatt was working as a teacher at Jay Jalaram School and was appointed the deputy centre superintendent for NEET in the city. A team of district additional collector and district education officer arrived at the school on the day of the examination and questioned Bhatt. Upon checking his mobile phone, they recovered a list of 16 candidates with their names, roll numbers and exam centres which was sent to his WhatsApp number by co-accused Roy, stated the FIR. When enquired about the list, Bhatt said these candidates were to take the NEET exam at his centre. He later confessed to having been promised Rs 10 lakh each to solve the question papers of six of these candidates, District Education Officer Kirit Patel said. One of the aspirants had paid Rs 7 lakh in advance which was seized by authorities. The investigating team seized the teachers mobile phone, cash and the car from where the cash was recovered and submitted a report to the district collector, who later ordered the registration of an FIR. The three accused were booked for criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy, a Godhra taluka police station official said. Further investigation in the case was underway, said the official. The NEET (UG) is an all-India entrance test for students who wish to pursue undergraduate medical (MBBS), dental (BDS) and AYUSH (BAMS, BUMS, BHMS) courses in government and private institutions in India. (With PTI inputs) Stay Informed With Live Updates On TN 10th Result 2024 . Stay ahead with all the exam results updates on News18 Website. Supreme Courts interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal is not a clean chit for him, said Union Minister Amit Shah on Saturday. He stressed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, who is an accused in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, will have to surrender before the investigation agency on June 2 as the apex court granted him bail just to campaign for Lok Sabha Election 2024. Addressing the media at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Hyderabad, the Union Minister said if Kejriwal thinks interim bail to him is a clean chit, then his understanding of the law is at fault. Arvind Kejriwal has been given interim bail for the election campaign. He prayed in front of the Supreme Court that his arrest was wrong, but the Supreme Court did not agree to it. He filed a bail petition which was also rejected, Shah said The court has given only interim bail till June 1 and on June 2 he has to surrender in front of the agencies. If Arvind Kejriwal considers this as a clean chit, then his understanding of the law is weak, the BJP leader added. Kejriwal walked out of Tihar Jail on Friday after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail after 40 days in judicial custody. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor was granted interim bail till June 1 and will have to surrender and go back to prison on June 2. AAP leaders said the interim bail granted to Kejriwal will be a game changer for both AAP and the INDIA blocs campaign as the Lok Sabha polls enter the crucial phases in the coming weeks. Opposition leaders also welcomed Kejriwals interim bail, saying the fight to save democracy will now be with more intensity. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase I will sell Badam (nuts) if I lose, I will quit politics if I lose these are some statements that senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been repeating over the past few days while campaigning or addressing the media in his constituency Baharampur. It is probably the most crucial and almost defining election for Chowdhury, Bengals senior-most Congress leader, and a known Gandhi family loyalist who has been a five-term MP from this seat since 1999. Baharampur, one of three Lok Sabha seats in West Bengals Murshidabad district that is located near the International Border with Bangladesh, has Muslims as its majority population. Baharampur is set to vote in the upcoming fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections and the seat will not only determine the course of Chowdhurys political career, but will decide the pattern of voting in the state especially for Muslims. Last Bastion of Congress Baharampur is now Congresss last bastion in West Bengal, at least with regards to Lok Sabha elections. Since 1951, it has been a Red fort of the RSP (Revolutionary Socialist Party), a constituent of Left Front until 1999. Between 1951 and 1999, there were at least 11 elections and RSP won all, barring one. The former chief minister of Congress-led government in West Bengal, Siddhartha Sankar Roy, fought from that seat but lost. In 1999, a young Chowdhury, who was then in his early 40s, won the seat and never lost. Chowdhury has been a loyalist of the Gandhi family and is now the leader of the parliamentary party in Lok Sabha. He used to have an iron grip over the district and all three constituencies as well. However, in 2019, Congress lost two seats in the district, while Chowdhury held onto his. This election will also determine Congresss political fate in a state that the party ruled for over three decades. During the rule of the Left Front government, Congress defended its turf Malda, Murshidabad, parts of south and north Dinajpur districts and Birbhum from where former President and Congress stalwart Pranab Mukherjee belonged. From six to seven seats in West Bengal, Congress slipped to two in 2019. In the 2021 assembly election, the party did not win any seat. From 44 seats and around 15 per cent vote share, the party drew a blank in 2021. Its vote share plummeted to 2.93 per cent. In a bid to reverse its fortunes, Congress formed several alliances in Bengal over the past decades. It allied with Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress in 2011. However, the alliance fell flat following alleged poaching by TMC. It then joined hands with the Left Front, once its arch rival, in 2016. The party is fighting elections this season as part of the same alliance. In 2021, Congress lost all seven assembly segments that constitute the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat. Six were won by Trinamool Congress, while one went to the BJP. Muslim factor A look at the data of the past five general elections shows that Chowdhury won the seat with a vote share of over 50 per cent. Murshidabad district has over 60 per cent Muslim vote share. Jangipur Lok Sabha seat has around 64 per cent share, while Baharampur has around 52 per cent. According to election data experts, Muslims voted for Congress in this district almost en mass until in 2019, when two Lok Sabha seats went to Trinamool. The party decimated further in the region in 2021. Post the CAA protests, spearheaded by Bengals Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2019, Muslims consolidated in favour of Trinamool and it was reflected in the results of 2021 assembly elections. During the election campaign, the Muslim factor is one of the primary reasons that Banerjee keeps targeting Congress, even more than she targets BJP. Muslim votes in Bengal are a low-hanging fruit for Trinamool Congress, Congress and Left. All of them want a share of that chunk though Muslims in Bengal now believe that only Banerjee can protect them from BJP, at least in the state. This is also the reason that Banerjee did not ally with Congress in Bengal and decided to fight elections alone. Bipolar fight Baharampur is going to witness a two-corner election between Trinamool Congress and the Grand Old Party. In her attempt to dethrone Chowdhury, Banerjee sprung a surprise by fielding Yusuf Pathan as the TMC candidate in Baharampur. News18 travelled across villages in Baharampur and realised that while there is still support for Chowdhury, the dependence on Trinamool Congress is higher. Murshidabad is also the district that sees maximum migration as villagers work as migrant labourers in other states. The villages are yet to see the return of migrants for elections. This is one of the many factors due to which Murshidabad, which voted in the third phase, saw a major drop in polling percentage. Sahdul Sheikh, a trader in Baharampur, said Muslims have traditionally supported Chowdhury but, this time, they must consolidate in favour of one party. We do not like Trinamool much. They have not done anything for Muslims as a community, but we have to be united for our survival. BJP has made things worse for us. We can trust Didi, but not her party leaders, said Sheikh. Bappa Mondal, a local villager in Beldanga, said: Our villages are so polarised now. The polling will be on religious lines here. Adhir Babu has always been there for us. He is the most accessible leader. But, it is not easy to predict this time. Beldanga saw communal riots during Ram Navami and tension continues to simmer in the village. Banerjees cash schemes, including the ones for women, have strong resonance on the ground. Corruption is an issue but not as major to determine an election. Fatima Biwi, the wife of a migrant labourer in Beldanga who runs a small grocery shop, said: The Hindu and Muslim paras (localities) have always been peaceful until this riot on Ram Navami. We do not know if we can venture out on polling day. The male members are all out for work to other states and they didnt come back for elections. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday flayed the opposition INDIA bloc for insulting President Droupadi Murmu after her visit to Ayodhyas Ram temple, and asserted that the Congress will get fewer seats than the age of its shehzada. Addressing a poll rally at Chatra, Modi also said leaders of the alliance are planning to merge small parties post the Lok Sabha polls to attain opposition status. Congress will get fewer seats than the age of its shehzada, the PM said, in an apparent reference to Rahul Gandhi, and added that the bloc has already accepted defeat. The mentality of the Congress is of the 18th century after the President paid obeisance at the Ram temple, they talked about cleaning the temple they insulted the President, Modi said. He also asserted that NDA governments will be formed in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Arunachal Pradesh where simultaneous assembly polls were underway. We worship tribals, but the JMM and Congress are not able to digest the respect shown to them, he said and urged people to vote for the BJP to oust such forces. The prime minister also alleged that the INDIA bloc has plans to hand over the countrys assets to Muslims, and the OBC/SC/ST reservations to the coalitions vote bank. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase A day after being released from Tihar Jail on interim bail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a scathing attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party and predicted that if the party comes to power again, it will oust Yogi Adityanath as the Uttar Pradesh CM. Addressing a press conference, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor also claimed that all Opposition leaders and the top brasses would be arrested under PMs one nation, one leader mission. Kejriwal alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making way for Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to be the next PM. These people ask INDIA bloc about their face. I ask BJP who will be their PM? Modi ji is turning 75 on September 17 next year. He had made the rule that people aged 75 will be retired. They retired LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan. He will retire next year, the AAP chief said, adding that the Prime Miniser is seeking votes for making Amit Shah the prime minister. Will Shah fulfill Modijis guarantee? he asked. The Delhi CM alleged that the saffron camp is brushing aside the political career of its veteran leaders such as LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. Politics of LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, former BJP chief ministers, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje, ML Khattar, and Raman Singh have been finished. The next is Yogi Adityanath. If they win this election, they will change the CM of Uttar Pradesh within two months, Kejriwal said in his big prediction. He also issued a warning to the Opposition leaders, including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, saying that they would be sent to jail in case the BJP-led NDA comes to power after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. They will send opposition leaders to jail and will finish them (nipta denge) Our ministers, Hemant Soren (former Jharkhand CM), ministers of Mamata Banerjees party (Trinamool Congress) are in jail If they (BJP) win again, then Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Chief Minister Pinaray Vijayan, Uddhav Thackeray (UBT Chief) and other opposition leaders will all be in jail, the AAP national convenor said. Taking a swipe at the BJP, he said that all thieves and dacoits are being taken into the party. You include all thieves in your party and send Kejriwal to jail, this is not a fight against corruption By arresting Kejriwal they have given the message that if Kejriwal is arrested then they will arrest anyone. The name of this mission is One Nation One Leader, Kejriwal added. He alleged that PM Modi has left no stone unturned to crush the AAP by send its four top leaders to jail. The Supreme Court on Friday granted Kejriwal interim bail till June 1, paving way for his release nearly two months after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with excise policy-linked money laundering case. Notably, the AAP chief has to surrender on June 2, two days before the results. He will not perform chief ministers duties during this period. (With inputs from agencies) Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday asserted that the BJP will not form the government on June 4 and said if the INDIA bloc comes to power, the direction and fate of the country will change. He held his first roadshow for Lok Sabha election campaign along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann in the South Delhi and East Delhi constituencies, a day after his release from Tihar jail. Party leaders and workers gathered in large numbers while Kejriwal and Mann mounted an open-roof vehicle, waving and greeting people. I have come straight to you after being released from jail. I missed Delhi people a lot. I want to thank crores of people who prayed and sent blessings to me, Kejriwal said at the end of his roadshow. Mann said Kejriwal has changed the direction of politics in the country. In the coming days, he will decide which way the politics of the country is headed, asserted Mann. In his second roadshow in the late evening in support of AAPs East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar, Kejriwal alleged the BJP wanted to change the Constitution and end the reservation policy. He also assured women that he will start the scheme of a monthly honorarium of Rs 1,000 to them, announced in Delhi Budget this year. Kejriwal also hit out at the Modi government saying the BJP was talking about mangalsutra instead of telling about its achievements of 10 years. Recalling his days in jail, Kejriwal said his wife Sunita, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his ministers used to come to meet him. I used to ask my ministers about the welfare of people while in jail. During my stay in jail, I used to think what is my fault that I was arrested. My fault was that I provided good schools and hospitals for people. I provided health facilities to people. They (BJP) stopped my insulin for 15 days in jail, he said. The AAP chief said he was fighting against dictatorship with all his power. I need your support. The country never accepted any dictator and people removed them. I have come to seek your support to fight dictatorship, he said. Kejriwal asserted that the Modi government will not be formed on June 4. They are losing seats everywhere, be it Karnataka, Haryana. In Punjab, they will not win anything and even in Delhi, all the seven seats will be won by the INDIA bloc, he claimed. If the INDIA bloc comes to power, full statehood will be provided to Delhi, he said. The Delhi chief minister alleged the BJP wants to shut everything to paralyse the Delhi government. Remembering his former ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, who are in Tihar jail, he claimed they changed the face of schools and hospitals. Sisodia changed the face of schools in Delhi. He should be made the Union minister of education, he said. AAP volunteers, holding party flags and raising slogans, marched behind the vehicle in the narrow streets of Mehrauli in South Delhi, in support of party candidate Sahi Ram Pehalwan. Kejriwal, who is out on an interim bail granted by the Supreme Court till June 1, earlier in the day said he will campaign across the country to fight against dictatorship. Punjab CM Mann said it was the most fortunate moment for Delhi that its beloved leader is amid people within 24 hours after getting bail. Nobody comes out of their homes for political leaders. But you stood with him and his family during the crisis, he said thanking people. BJP thought sending AAP leaders in jail will finish the party but they do not know that it is a thought that cannot be finished, he said. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Campaigning for May 13 elections in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union territories including all seats in Andhra Pradesh, where assembly elections are also being held concurrently, and Telangana concluded on Saturday evening. Issues like reservations, appeasement politics, corruption and jobs dominated the battle of narratives in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections. Among the prominent candidates in the fray are Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP), Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar) and Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar), Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Baharampur, WB), BJPs Pankaja Munde (Beed, Maharashtra), AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad, Telangana) and Andhra Pradesh Congress president YS Sharmila (Kadapa). Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni, whose son is an accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, is eyeing a hat-trick from Kheri (UP), while TMCs Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from Lok Sabha in the wake of cash-for query allegations, is seeking re-election from Krishnanagar in West Bengal. Polling will be held on Monday in 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, 25 in Andhra Pradesh, 13 in Uttar Pradesh, five in Bihar, four in Jharkhand, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, four in Odisha, eight in West Bengal and one in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP-led NDA has MPs from over 40 of these 96 seats. Voting will simultaneously be held in 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, which is witnessing a triangular contest involving YSRC, the Congress-led INDIA bloc and the NDA, comprising the BJP, Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP and Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP). The campaign saw BJP leaders led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacking the Congress over the remarks of Rahul Gandhis close aide Sam Pitroda on race and skin colour of Indians. They accused the INDIA bloc parties of being anti-Hindu and engaging in loot, appeasement and dynastic politics. The Congress targeted the BJP over Prime Minister Narendra Modis tempo loads of money remarks and persisted with its offensive on the issues of protecting the Constitution and reservations. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed election rallies in Unnao, Kannauj and Kanpur on Saturday, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) held a public outreach programme in Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency. Among the 13 poll-bound constituencies, a close contest is on between SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and sitting BJP MP Subrat Pathak in Kannauj, while in Unnao, incumbent BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj is up against SPs Annu Tandon. Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of having a deal with businessmen Ambani and Adani, and asked if the party has received tempo loads of black money from the two for its leader Rahul Gandhi to stop abusing them. Hitting back, Gandhi dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a probe by the CBI or ED into whether Adani and Ambani sent black money to his party and taunted if Modi was speaking from his personal experience that they send their money in a tempo. On the same day, Pitroda resigned as the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress after his controversial remarks spurred the BJP to label the Congress racist and left it scampering to control the damage. Slamming the Congress and INDIA bloc, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in on May 5 said that Muslims now understand that the Congress and INDIA bloc are using them as pawns, asserting that the community is distancing itself from them after seeing the development carried out by the BJP. On Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said an INDIA bloc storm is arriving in Uttar Pradesh, and asserted that Narendra Modi will not make it to the post of prime minister this time. Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav addressed joint rallies in Kannauj and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, where the two parties are contesting as allies. Under their seat-sharing agreement, the Congress is fighting on 17 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. In his Kanpur address, Gandhi claimed the Congress will win at least 50 seats in UP. The SP chief on Saturday termed the ongoing Lok Sabha elections as a national movement for the cause of the Constitution and to protect reservations. On May 4, Modi held a roadshow in Kanpur to campaign for the BJPs candidates from the Kanpur and Akbarpur constituencies. Campaigning also ended for bypolls to the Dadraul assembly constituency in Shahjahanpur district that fell vacant following the death of BJP MLA Manvendra Singh on January 5. In Andhra Pradesh, the ruling YSRCP is contesting in all 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. As part of a seat-sharing deal among NDA partners, the TDP was allocated 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha constituencies while the BJP will contest from six Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats. The Janasena will contest two Lok Sabha and 21 Assembly seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the YSRCP had won 22 seats while TDP was reduced to just 3. YSRCP president and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (Pulivendla), TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam) and Janasena chief and actor Pawan Kalyan (Pithapuram), among others, are in the Assembly poll race. Leaders of all political parties made a last-ditch effort to woo voters in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, where 24 candidates are in the fray. The National Conference has fielded influential Shia leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi while youth leader Waheed Para is contesting on a Peoples Democratic Party ticket. The Apni Party has fielded Ashraf Mir. In Bihar, three of the seats are currently held by the BJP and the party is optimistic following rallies of Prime Minister Modi in Darbhanga and Munger. Of the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, polling is over in 21 in the first three phases of the general elections. The eight constituencies in Madhya Pradesh spread over 64 assembly segments in 15 districts in the states Malwa-Nimar region, are considered the bastion of the BJP. In Indore, after Congress candidate Akshay Bam withdrew his nomination at the last minute and joined the saffron party setting the stage for a one-sided contest for BJPs Shankar Lalwani, who won by nearly 5.4 lakh votes in 2019, the Congress urged voters to hit NOTA. Polling for next three phases is on May 20, May 25 and June 1. Counting of votes is on June 4. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended an invite to National Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar to join the alliance of Bharatiya Janata Party after the results for the Lok Sabha elections on June 4. In his message to senior Pawar at a rally in Maharashtras Nandurbar, the prime minister said, instead of dying by merging with the Congress, come to Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde. Responding to the invite, Pawar said that he would never ditch the Nehru-Gandhi ideology and join hands with those who adopt an anti-Muslim stand. Modi on Friday took a jibe at the NCP (SP) leaders recent statement that smaller regional parties may come closer to or merge with the Congress in the coming years. Without mentioning his name, the prime minister called Pawars party the nakli (fake) NCP and said it would be better if it joined the BJP-led coalition in Maharashtra with pride than merge with the Congress and die in four days. The NCP (SP) leader had earlier, on Thursday, said that voting in the first three phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections has unsettled PM Modi and he has openly started mentioning Muslim community in his speeches. He has started making a mention of Muslim community openly (in his speeches). It seems he thinks that the situation would change by bringing in communal thoughts. It is my observation that some people in his party think that as the phases complete, his position is getting in danger, the former Union minister had told reporters in Satara. After his attack, PM Modi, at a rally in Maharashtras Nandurbar district the next day, mocked Pawar for making wild statements despite being a tall leader with a experience of 40-50 years in Maharashtra politics. After the Baramati election, he is frustrated and disappointed. After discussing with a lot of people, he made a statement. He has said that if smaller regional parties have to survive in politics, they will have to merge with Congress, the prime minister further said. It means nakli NCP and nakli Shiv Sena have made up their minds to merge with the Congress, he added, referring to Pawars party and Uddhav Thackerays party, which are part of the Opposition INDIA bloc. Chaar din baad Congress mai ja karke marne ki bajay, seena taan karke humare Ajit dada aur Shinde ji ke saath aaoo, aapke sabhi sapne poore ho jayenge. (Instead of merging with the Congress and dying four days later, join hands with Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde with pride, all your dreams will be fulfilled), PM Modi said in Nandurbar. Reiterating PM Modis statement, Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said, The prime minister has very clearly stated that Sharad Pawar has realised that he is losing the Baramati seat thats why he gave this statement that after June 4, all the regional parties will have to merge with the Congress because they understand that Congress is going to lose in this election. #WATCH | On PM Modi's statement, Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis says, "Look, there is no question for discussion. PM Modi has said very clearly that Sharad Pawar has realised that he is losing the Baramati seat that's why he gave this statement that after June 4, all the https://t.co/tjCyyOJ2jg pic.twitter.com/mo6WDTomDR ANI (@ANI) May 10, 2024 Pawar had also mentioned about smaller parties merging with the Congress in an interview with Indian Express on May 4. In the next couple of years, several regional parties will associate more closely with the Congress. Or they may look at the option of merging with the Congress if they believe that is the best for their party, he was quoted. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana falls under the general category and includes part of Mahbubnagar district. It comprises seven assembly segments: Kodangal, Narayanpet, Mahbubnagar, Jadcherla, Devarkadra, Makthal, and Shadnagar. Manne Srinivas Reddy of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi is the incumbent MP here and has got the poll ticket again. Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy of the Congress and DK Aruna from the Bharatiya Janata Party are the other top contenders. Polling will be held in the constituency on May 13 in the fourth phase of the ongoing general elections. Political dynamics Congresss prestige battle: Mahbubnagar is all set to witness a repeat of the 2019 triangular contest, with all the same candidates Manne Srinivas Reddy of the BRS, Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy of the Congress, and DK Aruna of the BJP. The sands are shifting in the political landscape of Telangana since the ouster of the K Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS government in 2023. The Congresss resounding victory and the soaring phenomenon of chief minister A Revanth Reddy have placed the party in a promising situation with a solid chance of wresting Mahbubnagar, a BRS bastion since 2009. However, the BJP is no underdog in this contest much to the discomfiture of the Congress. In the 2023 assembly elections, the Congress secured all seven assembly seats in the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha constituency, with a winning margin of over 1 lakh votes and a vote share of 46.4% against the BRSs 38.7%. This was a solid jump from the Congresss 2018 performance when it bagged only 20.8% of the votes while the BRS got 50%. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had slipped to third place with about 20% of the votes with the BRS candidate winning the seat with a vote share of 41.78%. Meanwhile, the BJPs stock is consistently rising with each election. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party rose to second place, scoring a vote share of almost 34%, up from 27.7% in 2014. The Congresss grand victory in the state last year has boosted its chances in the Lok Sabha elections, with CM Revanth Reddy making it a personal battle for him, especially in the constituency of Mahbubnagar of which he is a native. The Congress party is targeting a victory in 14 out of 17 seats in the state, and Mahbubnagar is one of its most crucial battlegrounds. A Revanth Reddy started his political career in the Mahbubnagar district where he won his first zilla parishad territorial constituency. To prove his mettle and solidify his hold over the party, the leader is leveraging his influence in the region to garner votes based on his reputation rather than solely on the candidates name, elevating the Congresss game from its 2019 show. The Congress has stuck with Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy as its candidate in 2024. Reddy was in the fray in 2019 also, when he lost the election, slipping to third place below the BRS and BJP, with a vote share under 20%. Reddy is a former MLA, who has been associated with the NSUI and was the state President of the Andhra Pradesh Youth Congress before being elected in 2014 as an MLA from the Kalwakurthy seat. Being a youth leader native to Mahbubnagar, Reddy is a well-known face in the constituency. His stock has got a significant boost with the recent rise of the Congress, and a hearty endorsement from the chief minister himself. Minority voters, drawn towards the Congress leadership in the state, may shift from their former favourite KCR to Revanth Reddy. Moreover, with seven MLAs in the constituency, the leader of the Congresss campaign is a powerful one, putting the BRS on the back foot. However, the BJP is unfazed, which has made the Congress jittery. The Congress party has realised the threat of a tacit understanding between the BJP and BRS, with Revanth Reddy expressing this suspicion at a public meeting in Narayanpet. He also attacked DK Aruna, claiming that she had failed to push the development of the Palamuru Irrigation Project despite joining the BJP. BJPs heavyweight candidate: The BJP is presenting a formidable challenge in the Mahbubnagar seat with both Revanth Reddy and KCR targeting its candidate DK Aruna. Fielding Aruna, a well-known political figure in Telangana, the BJP aims to capitalise on her strong presence in the Mahbubnagar district. She was first elected to the assembly in 2004 on a Samajwadi Party ticket from Gadwal and later shifted to the Congress continuing for two more terms in 2009 and 2014. She served as a minister in the Andhra Pradesh cabinet under the reign of YS Rajasekhara Reddy. Ultimately in 2019, she made a pivotal decision to join the BJP and contest in the Lok Sabha election. Aruna comes from one of the most powerful political families in south Telangana, with links in both the Congress and the BRS and considerable sway in the entire Mahbubnagar district. Her father, Ch Narsireddy, was an MLA, as was her brother Rammohan Reddy who lost on a BRS ticket in Makthal in 2023. Her nephew, BRS leader BK Reddy, is an MLA from the Gadwal seat. Moreover, DK Samarasimha Reddy, the elder brother of her husband, held a prominent position within the Congress during the 1980s and 1990s, earning a reputation for his firm control over the district. With an impressive political background and family ties to the region, Aruna presents herself as a formidable candidate, vying for victory against the Congress. She has even positioned herself as a potential cabinet minister at the Centre if elected and is determined to secure a win for the BJP, leveraging both her personal reputation and the partys platform to appeal to voters in Mahbubnagar district. DK Aruna is an aggressive leader with formidable political experience, setting her sights firmly on securing the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha seat. In 2019, with her in the fray, the BJP rose to second place with a vote share of almost 34%. This time, the party seeks to expand its share in a head-to-head contest with the Congress. Moreover, Aruna is backed by the Narendra Modi factor, as the Prime Ministers popularity has risen in the area owing to central development and welfare schemes. Hindutva is a key factor as well, with the Ayodhya Ram Mandir celebrations mobilising support for the BJP. Backed by Hindu voters, especially among the forward castes including Brahmins, the BJP has a strong undercurrent flowing in its favour in Mahbubnagar, at a time when minority votes are at risk of splitting between the other two parties. BRS bastion slipping away: Mahbubnagar, a BRS bastion, is slipping out of its hands in real-time. Once held by K Chandrashekar Rao in 2009, the seat is now under Manne Srinivas Reddy since 2019, who is also the candidate in 2024 for a second term. In 2019, he won the election with over 77,000 votes against his BJP rival DK Aruna. However, things do not look easy for the BRS this time with the grand comeback of the Congress. According to local reports, the BRS stands eviscerated in the state ever since its devastating loss in the assembly elections. The party had a vote share of 38.7%, down from 50% in 2018. It could not secure even a single seat in the Mahbubnagar constituency. The regional party now fears that it is at risk of being pushed to the sidelines in a BJP vs Congress battle of national behemoths. KCR has asserted that the core fight is with the BJP, ignoring the elephant in the room, which is the sweeping tide of the Congress. He also asserts that his party, after facing a loss in state elections, has bounced back owing to alleged anger against the Revanth Reddy government in the last few months. In a speech in the district pointed towards recent power outages, he said that the Congress cannot even provide electricity supply to the people. The seat has become a matter of prestige for former chief minister KCR, who still commands considerable sway in the state. He is leveraging his political stature among the poor and minority voters in Mahbubnagar to hold on to this bastion. Voter demographics (2011 Census) Total voters (2019): 15,06,102 Urban: 19.6% Rural: 80.4% SC: 15.3% ST: 8.6% Hindu: ~90% Muslim: 9.4% Christian: 0.53% Key issues Divitipally locality: People below the poverty line have long dreamt of owning a house. Their dreams were fulfilled by the state government scheme under K Chandrashekar Rao as people received 2 BHKs at KCR Nagar at Divitipally. However, the houses had extensive problems, which people had to pay to get repaired out of their own pockets. They had to shell out up to Rs 10 lakh by taking loans from banks, moneylenders, etc, to fix the houses. Moreover, essential amenities are missing from the locality. Roads, security measures, educational institutions, a local vegetable market, streetlights, and reliable public transport connectivity are absent. The residents and beneficiaries of the government scheme have demanded better police protection, roads, and connectivity but no action has been taken for development. Palamuru irrigation project: This project is crucial for the drought-stricken areas of the Mahbubnagar district, including the Kodangal, Narayanpet, and Makthal assembly constituencies. But it has been caught in a war of words between the Congress and BJP, with Revanth Reddy claiming that DK Aruna had failed to secure central funds for the project despite having joined the BJP. She though has not been in power for the last five years. Aruna addressed the attack as frustration, stating that the misleading and false campaign unleashed by Revanth Reddy would backfire on him. Unemployment and emigration: Despite having good infrastructure capabilities to support higher education, the region has failed to support employment for the educated youth. At present, there exists one IT park in Mahbubnagar, which is also suffering from a lack of major companies. As a result, the employment opportunities at present are severely constrained. People, especially the youth, have had to move out of their hometowns to nearby urban centres such as Hyderabad, Chennai, or even Bengaluru in search of better opportunities. Freebies: Freebies have generated a strong critical response from the middle and lower middle classes. People are surprised and shocked by the number of freebies announced by the BRS and Congress and have recognised this as vote bank politics rather than social welfare. People have questioned how the government is going to pay for all the freebies it has announced, whether the state has money, and if it does, then why it is not investing it to provide civic infrastructural development such as roads, schools, hospitals, and colleges. Distribution of schemes: The BRS had implemented a huge number of welfare and other schemes such as the Aasara pension, Rythu Bandhu, Dalit Bandhu, Podu Patta, Dharani Portal, Mission Bhagiratha, 2BHK housing scheme, and Rythu Runa Mafi. While they are all aimed to provide economic welfare and houses, etc, to the poor masses, their implementation has been inconsistent and erratic as BRS workers have been preferred over people with irregular or no sources of income. They have been unable to receive pensions, which has made the whole exercise of the welfare scheme a failure in several pockets of Mahbubnagar. Critical gagging: People who have not been able to benefit from the schemes of the state government are scared to voice their opinions against the local MLAs. They fear either being thrashed by local goons or getting thrown into jail under false cases. People feel that there is a hidden gag order that has been put on them from being critical of the local administration or MLA. Some have termed it as the death of democracy and their rights. Illegal sand mining: Despite facing multiple arrests by the police and penalties imposed by revenue officials, the sand mafia in Koilkonda Mandal of Mahbubnagar district continues to escalate its illegal mining activities. Similarly, rampant illegal sand mining is also underway in Madanapur Mandal of the Devarkadra constituency. Archaeological neglect: A 900-year-old group of temples belonging to the Chalukyan dynasty have been lying in neglect here. There are four in Polepalli and a triple shrine on the outskirts that await maintenance and care. These have the potential to become a centre and transform Mahbubnagars economic development by turning the state into a hub of spiritual tourism. Locals have been made aware of their importance and they do believe that providing support and maintenance to the temple buildings will help transform the local economy of Polepalli, and Mahbubnagar as a whole, where industries and government projects have failed to create employment. Infrastructure development Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation: The irrigation system is one of the most important to provide irrigation and drinking water to the drought-hit areas of Mahbubnagar. It is being built on the Krishna river at a cost of Rs 35,000 crore. IT tower: The IT tower was inaugurated in 2023. It is the first of its kind in Mahbubnagar and currently hosts nine IT firms. It was built at a cost of Rs 40 crore. KCR Urban Eco-Park: The state government developed this park on 2,087 acres, making it the largest eco-park in India. It was inaugurated in 2020. Plans have been put in place to construct an aviary at the eco-park, which will house more than 800 exotic species of birds. Hyderabad (Kacheguda)-Raichur-Hyderabad (Kacheguda) train service: Inaugurated in 2023, the line aims to connect backward areas in Mahbubnagar with rail connectivity for the first time. This will ensure ease of travel for students, daily commuters, labourers, and the local handloom industry in the region. Amrit Bharat station: Mahbubnagar has been selected as one of the stations in the state which will be completely renovated to match the logistical capacity and provide passenger amenities on par with airports. The citys station is being developed at a cost of Rs 39.9 crore. Railway infrastructure: Doubling railway lines, with projects like the Secunderabad-Mahbubnagar-Dhone section have been completed, aimed at increasing capacity and reducing travel times. Additionally, the electrification of lines has been prioritised to improve speed and sustainability. Safety remains paramount, with the construction of road over bridges and limited-height subways to eliminate level crossings and ensure smooth traffic flow. These developments, coupled with green initiatives like solar power utilisation and LED lighting at stations, are transforming Mahbubnagars railway network. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency, which is going to polls in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13, is a must-win for the Congress. The seat, until last year, was represented by none other than Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy, who gave it up for the top state job. But, the BRS shadow is long and strong in the constituency even as the BJP is banking on an old regional hand looking for a political resurrection. Hence, it will be a tough triangular contest between the key candidates, all of whom have recently jumped parties. While the BRS candidate can be called a local resident, the other two are non-locals. But, political experts said, the local, non-local factor is insignificant in this seat because most of the voters are non-locals. The twist in the tale is posed by how the seven assembly segments stand as of now because none of them has a Congress MLA. All the assemblies Malkajgiri, Medchal, Quthbullapur, Kukatpally, Uppal, LB Nagar and Secunderabad Cantonment belong to the BRS, which lost power to the Congress only last year. Often referred to as Mini India for its cultural diversity, Malkajgiri is the largest Lok Sabha constituency in India in terms of voter count at 31.5 lakh. It is one of the 17 constituencies in Telangana and is the largest in the state. It forms part of Greater Hyderabad and encompasses parts of Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts. The key candidates in the constituency are Eatala Rajender of the BJP, Sunitha Mahender Reddy of the Congress and Ragidi Laxma Reddy of the BRS. Revanth Reddys direct interest Revanth Reddy, who resigned from the Malkajgiri seat in December owing to his ascent as CM, views this contest as a prestige battle one that will help cement his authority over the party in Telangana. He has, in fact, set an ambitious target of securing 14 out of 17 seats for the Congress this year, and is laying special focus on the Malkajgiri and Mahbubnagar constituencies. Despite facing tough opposition from the BRS, his victory in the 2019 elections provided a significant boost to his political career, especially after his loss in the previous assembly polls in Kodangal. His position as an MP enabled him to strengthen his ties with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Against all odds, he successfully led the party to victory in the 2023 assembly polls. Now, with his prestige on the line, Revanth is leaving no stone unturned in supporting Sunitha Mahender Reddy, for whom he personally ensured that she received the party ticket for the Vikarabad zilla parishad chairperson. He is actively engaging in aggressive campaigning, conducting street corner public meetings, while stressing that he is very much on the ballot and a vote for Sunitha is akin to a vote for him. Sunitha is a former BRS leader, who comes with her own set of challenges that may be difficult to overcome. She is seen as an outsider and is not well-known while her husband, Patnam Mahender Reddy, is a former BRS minister and chairperson of the Vikarabad ZP. Originally considered for the Chevella constituency, she was reassigned to Malkajgiri after being unable to secure candidacy there. Another significant issue concerns the lack of development in the region, where civic infrastructure is in a dilapidated condition. Narrow, congested roads, water scarcity and substandard drinking water are immediate concerns in this densely populated constituency. Revanth, who is facing questions over these issues, is also in a better position to solve them now as CM. For example, the state government has said the Hyderabad Metro Rail expansion in Malkajgiri is still on track, although with a limited scope. Sunitha, meanwhile, has unveiled a local manifesto pledging improved roads, educational facilities, community halls, water access, and other amenities. The CM has been highlighting his governments six assurances, such as free bus service. Another challenge is that despite losing the state in 2023, the BRS maintained its stronghold in Malkajgiri securing all seven assembly segments with a total vote share of 46.6 per cent, far ahead of the 29 per cent vote share with the Congress. For Revanth, who was directly serving in the constituency in the run-up to the assembly elections, this is a concerning matter. BJP has a strong chance The BJP has a strong chance in this constituency as it banks on BRS turncoat Eatala Rajender, who was once a close aide of former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao. Before joining the BJP, he fell out with the BRS and turned into a bitter rival of the party supremo. In the assembly elections last year, he received a devastating set of blows as he lost from both the seats he was contesting Huzurabad and Gajwel. Hence, Malkajgiri is a crucial political lifeline for the leader. In the 2023 elections, the BJP secured a vote share of 19.2 per cent, which was an improvement from its 2018 vote share of 9.3 per cent. In the general elections, the BJP improved its vote share from 9.7 per cent in 2014 to 19.7 per cent in 2019. This is a trend that the BJP hopes to take advantage of with the acquisition of a high-profile former BRS leader. Rajender was unceremoniously expelled from the BRS by KCR despite enjoying special access beyond even family members, including son KT Rama Rao, nephew T Harish Rao and daughter K Kavitha. His statement at a party workers meeting was seen as the final act of dissent against the BRS supremo. He had said: We all are owners of the party. We gave blood and sweat for it. Ultimately, Rajender was dismissed from the state cabinet in May 2021 on allegations of land grabbing. This was seen as a humiliation of the leader who wields tremendous sway among voters from the backward castes. The former state finance and health minister is hoping to garner the sympathy vote in his favour, akin to Revanths victory in 2019 that came after a loss in the assembly polls. It is clear that the BJP sees potential in him as he managed to beat veteran leaders like P Muralidhar Rao in the race for a ticket. Despite being a non-local like his Congress counterpart, the former minister is seen as a high-profile candidate widely recognised in the constituency. Rajender is also riding on the Modi wave, which is evident in Malkajgiri. This largely urban constituency has a large makeup of migrant voters people from the north, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, who have settled here for decades. Due to this fact, national issues find deep resonance among the electorate. While local issues were amply focused upon in the assembly polls, national issues and the question of who gets to form the government in Delhi is a more dominant discussion. Welfare schemes of the central government, its stand on national security issues, its Hindutva politics and the Ram Mandir construction and inauguration are all factors that appeal to a sizeable chunk of voters. BRS on the sidelines Despite the BRS winning all the assembly segments in December, their candidate Ragidi Laxma Reddy is not in the leading position, as the main contest appears to be between the Congress and BJP. Former minister KT Rama Rao, who has been advocating for Laxmas candidacy and highlighting his local ties, accused the CM of neglecting the constituency during his tenure as an MP. The presence of Rajender in the fray complicates matters. The ex-BRS leader has made several remarks about internal governance in the party, accusing KCR of treating elected leaders as slaves. Once outside the party, Rajender began referring to Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of the Telangana CM, as Slaves Bhavan. He is also expected to take away the BC votes from the party, as he had previously been successfully serving as the chief conduit between the BRS and BC voters. Here are the key issues in Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency: Water issues: Malkajgiri is one of the most densely populated areas in Greater Hyderabad. It also faces acute drinking water problems due to the decline in the groundwater. According to reports, this is nearly five metres as compared to last year. In March 2023, the water table here was 19.5 metres, while in March this year it dropped to 24.47 metres. One of the main reasons is year-round unplanned construction in the region. There is also an inadequate piped water network, which leads to increasing dependence on groundwater. Malkajgiri is one of the most densely populated areas in Greater Hyderabad. It also faces acute drinking water problems due to the decline in the groundwater. According to reports, this is nearly five metres as compared to last year. In March 2023, the water table here was 19.5 metres, while in March this year it dropped to 24.47 metres. One of the main reasons is year-round unplanned construction in the region. There is also an inadequate piped water network, which leads to increasing dependence on groundwater. Road closures: Any major event, such as the general elections, brings forward the issue of road closures in the Secunderabad Cantonment area that is in the Malkajgiri constituency. As a result, thousands of residents suffer daily. Residents of the cantonment area face numerous difficulties, including infrastructure deficiencies and sanitation issues. The closure of major roads by the army has been a persistent source of contention, as it compels residents to take long and inconvenient detours. Any major event, such as the general elections, brings forward the issue of road closures in the Secunderabad Cantonment area that is in the Malkajgiri constituency. As a result, thousands of residents suffer daily. Residents of the cantonment area face numerous difficulties, including infrastructure deficiencies and sanitation issues. The closure of major roads by the army has been a persistent source of contention, as it compels residents to take long and inconvenient detours. Waterlogging: Another issue that the residents in Malkajgiri face is waterlogging due to the crumbling sewerage. Residents have reported that water enters their homes due to water logging in the rainy season. It also creates unsanitary and unhygienic conditions as waste water gets mixed with rainwater and turns into a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Roadside bins, which overflow with garbage, start to rot and stink creating a nuisance for the people. Another issue that the residents in Malkajgiri face is waterlogging due to the crumbling sewerage. Residents have reported that water enters their homes due to water logging in the rainy season. It also creates unsanitary and unhygienic conditions as waste water gets mixed with rainwater and turns into a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Roadside bins, which overflow with garbage, start to rot and stink creating a nuisance for the people. Merger of municipality: Dissatisfaction with the Secunderabad Cantonment municipalitys performance has led many residents to favour a merger with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, believing it will address long-standing issues. However, some residents express scepticism, fearing that the needs of underprivileged communities might still be overlooked. Dissatisfaction with the Secunderabad Cantonment municipalitys performance has led many residents to favour a merger with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, believing it will address long-standing issues. However, some residents express scepticism, fearing that the needs of underprivileged communities might still be overlooked. Noise pollution: Noise pollution in the Secunderabad Cantonment area has reached such unbearable levels that it caught the attention of the Telangana High Court. Prompted by a complaint from an army officer, the court took up the issue as a public interest litigation, highlighting the blatant disregard for noise pollution regulations. This resulted in directives for the police in Bowenpally to increase patrols near function halls and ensure they operate within acceptable noise limits. The court also instructed the state government to enforce existing guidelines more rigorously. Residents had previously voiced their concerns about excessive noise, especially late at night, but their complaints had gone unattended until the courts intervention. A circular was also issued on March 5. Noise pollution in the Secunderabad Cantonment area has reached such unbearable levels that it caught the attention of the Telangana High Court. Prompted by a complaint from an army officer, the court took up the issue as a public interest litigation, highlighting the blatant disregard for noise pollution regulations. This resulted in directives for the police in Bowenpally to increase patrols near function halls and ensure they operate within acceptable noise limits. The court also instructed the state government to enforce existing guidelines more rigorously. Residents had previously voiced their concerns about excessive noise, especially late at night, but their complaints had gone unattended until the courts intervention. A circular was also issued on March 5. Infrastructure woes: Malkajgiri has been facing the challenge of poor infrastructure for a long time. These challenges include lack of roads, public transport and basic amenities. Resident welfare associations have created manifestos to address these concerns, advocating for projects such as a double-decker corridor, enhancements to the MMTS Phase II, additional metro lines, and the completion of road overbridges and underpasses. Traffic congestion is a significant issue, affecting major parts of Greater Hyderabad. Residents believe their constituency has not received sufficient attention despite its size. Voter Demographic (as per 2011 Census) Total Voters (2019): 31,50,313 Urban areas: 92.3% Rural areas: 7.7% Literacy Rate: 67.74% Social Composition SC: 9.2% ST: 2.2% Religious Composition Hindu: ~90% Muslim: 8.8% Christian: 0.5% The war between Maharashtra Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana and AIMIM lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi has been escalating ever since Ranas remove police for 15 seconds threat to Owaisi. In her latest warning, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said its good that senior Owaisi has kept Akbaruddin in control else Ram bhakts and (Narendra) Modi jis lions are roaming on streets. The elder one says that only he can control his younger sibling (Akbaruddin), no one else can. I would like to say that good you are making him understand, and hence hes still in front of your eyes else Ram Bhakts and Modi jis lions are roaming in every street, Rana said, adding that cannons like Owaisi are kept outside her house for decoration. Her reaction came after Asaduddin Owaisi hit out at Rana for her remove cops for 15 seconds threat, and threw a fresh challenge: That MP sahiba who has come from Maharashtra keeps saying chhote chhote (younger sibling). Ive stopped chhote and kept him in control. The day I ask him to handle the situation on his own, that day well see how you will manage. Meanwhile, Akbaruddin too was seen making a fiery speech. Goonge nahi hain hum. (Im not deaf). Akbaruddin has such power that he can even teach a mute person how to speak. Sadly, BJP is not getting votes in the name of Modi, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath and even Lord Ram. And hence, they now want to seek votes in the name of Owaisi brothers, the junior Owaisi said. The verbal duel between Rana and Owaisi brothers began earlier this week when the BJP leader launched a scathing attack on AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and his brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, saying that if police were removed from duty for 15 seconds, the brothers would not know from where they came and where they went. The younger one (Akbarauddin) says remove the police for 15 minutes and we will show what we can do. Let me tell the younger one, you will take 15 minutes; it will be only 15 seconds for us. If you remove police for 15 seconds, you wont know where you came from and where you went away, said Rana. The threats were made on Wednesday, when Navneet Rana was campaigning in support of the BJPs Hyderabad candidate, K Madhavi Latha. On Thursday, while reiterating her stance, Navneet Rana said, I always stand by my statement. I am not afraid of anyone. If they will take 15 minutes, we will take 15 seconds. Navneet Ranas blistering attack came in response to a 2013 controversial speech by AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi in which he said it would take them only 15 minutes to balance the Hindu-Muslim ratio in the country if the police were removed. After Navneet Ranas threats were publicised, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi retorted, I tell Modi ji give her 15 seconds. What will you do? Give her 15 seconds, give her 1 hour. We, too, want to see if you have any humanity left in you. Who is scared? We are readyIf someone is making an open call for it, then so be it, said Owaisi while speaking to the media. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Prime Minister Narendra Modi challenged Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday, asking whether he could name all the states districts and their respective capitals without seeing a paper. Addressing a public rally in Odishas Kandhamal district, PM Modi said, I want to challenge Naveen Babu as he has been the CM for such a long time, ask Naveen Babu to name the districts of Odisha and their respective capitals without seeing them on paper. If the CM cannot name the districts of the state, will he know your pain? He also noted that the state has a wide range of opportunities for its tourism sector to blossom. Hitting out at the Congress party, the PM said that by saying Pakistan is a nuclear power, the grand old party creates fear psychosis. The PM said that he will repay every ounce of the states peoples trust by selflessly serving the nation. He recounted the Pokhran test that was conducted by the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee 26 years ago, this very day. The nuclear test filled Indians all over the world with prideThat was the first time India made the world aware of its capabilities. Whereas, Congress keeps threatening its own people. They create fear psychosis in the minds of Indians by reiterating, Pakistan is a nuclear power, the Prime Minister said. The Prime Minister alleged that Odishas development has continued to remain undersized as the state government does no trust the peoples capabilities. Odisha has vast opportunities for the tourism sector to flourish. And, the tourism sector usually has a spillover effect on the overall economy of the region. Your state government is not willing to trust your capabilities, due to which your development remains stunted, PM Modi said. The Prime Minister noted that the Lok Sabha polls are very significant for the people of Odisha. Every vote is crucial for Odishas development and Indias prosperity, he added. Your single vote will enable a BJP government, bringing a double-engine government to Odisha for the first time, PM Modi said. The PM promised the states citizens that under the BJP government, transparency and the reputation of Shri Ratna Bhandar will be restored. This is Modi ki Guarantee, PM Modi asserted. Noting that BJD and Congress declared Kandhamal a backward district, the PM said, Modi decided to turn such backward districts into aspirational districts of the country. I monitor the work being done in these districts regularly. Earlier in March, the saffron camp had said that it will contest the Lok Sabha polls and the assembly elections in Odisha independently. Odisha, with 21 constituencies, will go to polls in four phases from May 13 to June 1. Counting of the votes will take place on June 4. (With agency inputs) Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase BJP Mumbai North Easts Lok Sabha candidate Mihir Kotecha has hit out at his opponent Sanjay Dina Patel of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction) for disrespecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was blabbering as he sees his defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha Election. First of all, I want to say that the day I get elected, I will continue to try and change the name of Mankhurd to Shivaji Nagar. Similarly, with the blessings of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, all the black businesses of Zakir Naiks descendants be it drugs, gutkha or matka will be closed, and true governance will be brought, he said. Mankhurd area in Kotechas constituency has a large slum belt that houses migrants and the working class of the city. Ridiculing Patil for his absence during a debate organised for Lok Sabha candidates to present their ideas for the development of Mumbai, the BJP leader said: In the Mumbai debate organised by the Press Club, we wanted to present our ideas about the city of Mumbai. As far as I know, the organisers made 15 phone calls, but Patil ran away and did not answer a single one. Kotecha challenged Patil and said he was ready to come to any place and discuss one-on-one in public about his ideas regarding Mumbais development. I am sure you will accept my challenge and clear the charge of evasion against you, he said to Patil. Last month, Kotechas campaign vehicle was vandalised by unknown people. Kotecha, an MLA from the Mulund constituency, is now contesting the Lok Sabha election from Mumbai North East. He started campaigning for the Lok Sabha immediately after his ticket was declared by the party high command. An interesting fight is expected in the constituency, which has remained a bastion for BJP for the last two Lok Sabha polls. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Uttar Pradeshs Leather Belt Unnao, situated on the banks of the Ganges River, is set for a historic showdown between BJPs firebrand leader Sakshi Maharaj who is keen to score a hat-trick and Samajwadi Partys Annu Tandon, an INDIA bloc candidate. The constituency, which is situated at a distance of 65 kilometres from the state capital, will go to polls in the fourth phase on May 13. News18 travelled to Unnao to understand the situation on the ground and learnt that apart from discontent over unemployment and paper leaks, voters are also unhappy with Sakshi Maharaj for neglecting development in the constituency. Besides, labourers and slum dwellers said they were not getting benefits of governments welfare schemes, which had built resentment among them. Once called a stronghold of Congress, Unnao which is famous all over the world for its leather work holds a distinct position in UP politics. We are not getting any benefits of government schemes. Though some locals who hail from the nearby villages claim to be getting gas cylinders, we havent got any, said Rakesh Kumar, a local who hails from Unnao. Another labourer Mohammed Miraj said his vote will go to INDIA bloc since their candidate Tandon is active in the field. We voted Sakshi Maharaj to power twice. But, both times he remained absent from his constituency and hardly did any work for the welfare of the constituency despite the fact that BJP is doing very well in other districts. Its the only reason why we will vote for change, said Miraj. Not far away from the industrial area lies DSN PG College where students expressed their concern about unemployment and said their vote will go to the party that addresses the issue. Over the years, unemployment has increased. We are concerned about our future. The Agniveer scheme has made the situation worse. Our vote will go to the party that addresses the issue, said Pushpendra Pandey, a student. Another student demanded a law to plug paper leaks to ensure free and fair exams. The UP government should come up with stricter laws to check paper leaks that are spoiling the future of the youth, he said. Priyanka Shukla, another student, hailed BJPs Izzatghar Scheme that aims to construct toilets in every household in rural pockets but said there is a need to launch a thorough inspection as the majority of toilets are in bad shape. I think senior officials should visit the villages to assess the ground reality. Most of the toilets are either lying defunct or are being used to store fodder, she said. The locals of Moti Nagar hailed BJP for constructing the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya but said that would not sway them to vote for the local candidate who has done nothing for the constituency. Maharaj-ji is spending extensively to carry out religious programmes in Unnao but when it comes to the construction of roads or carrying out other developmental work, he has done nothing in the last 10 years, said Pushpendra Nigam, a trader from Moti Nagar area. Others, however, said their vote will go to Prime Minister Narendra Modi irrespective of the local candidate. For us, its Modi-ji who matters and not the local candidate, said Naresh Pandey, a local from Moti Nagar. Explaining the politics of Unnao, Ram Singh, a political enthusiast, said: Since 1952, the Unnao Lok Sabha seat was a Congress bastion until 1984, barring the year 1977 when the seat went to Raghvendra Singh of Janata Party. Despite occasional representation by the Congress, Janata Dal, and Samajwadi Party, the BJP has maintained a robust presence in Unnao since 1991. According to the 2011 census, the total population of the Unnao Lok Sabha constituency is 31,08,367, with 82.9 per cent residing in rural areas and 17.1 per cent in urban areas. The constituency comprises a Scheduled Caste population of 30.52 per cent. It consists of six Vidhan Sabha seats Mohan, Unnao, Bangarmau, Safipur, Bhagwantnagar, and Purwa, with Safipur and Mohan reserved for the Scheduled Caste category. Since Independence until 2019, the parliamentary history of the Unnao constituency has seen 16 Lok Sabha elections and one by-election. Among these, Congress emerged victorious nine times, while BJP secured victory four times. The Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Janata Party each won once. Unnao witnessed robust electoral contests in both the 2019 and 2014 elections. BJPs Sakshi Maharaj emerged victorious both times, securing substantial margins. In 2019, he garnered 7,03,507 votes, defeating Samajwadi Partys Arun Shanker Shukla by 4,00,956 votes. Similarly, in 2014, Sakshi Maharaj triumphed with 518,834 votes, leaving Shukla trailing by 310,173 votes. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase The Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, which will vote in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13, has witnessed a vibrant political revival in the run-up to polling. The downtown especially, which used to be a stronghold of the banned Al Umar Mujahideen (AuM) terrorist group and where kidnappings were the order of the day in early 1990s, is a completely different place now as it is abuzz with political rallies and activity. Not only this, the political landscape has also significantly changed since the abrogation of Article 370 with the BJP gaining ground. During campaigning, former chief minister Omar Abdullah orchestrated a bold move by hosting a rally for his National Conference candidate. So much was the enthusiasm that the security forces had a tough time managing the crowd at the NC rally hosted at a park in the Tibetan colony, just meters away from the historic Jamia Masjid, a focal point for Mirwaiz Umar Farooqs moderate Hurriyat Conference. In Srinagar, however, the National Conference faces stiff competition from the PDPs Waheed Para. The party has been mainly focussing on holding street meetings in the area. This upsurge in political engagement underscores the evolving dynamics of the area, moving from a turbulent past to a more engaged and politically active tomorrow. The surge in political activities in a region once plagued by terrorism underlined a significant shift towards a more politically active future. Srinagar is presently represented by Farooq Abdullah of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. This time, the high-stakes contest has attracted a diverse array of candidates from various political parties and independent groups, each vying to capture the imagination of the electorate with their respective agendas and promises. The prominent candidates are Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi of the National Conference (NC) and Waheed-ur-Rehman Para of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). J&K Apni Partys Muhammad Ashraf Mir, Democratic Progressive Azad Partys Amir Bhat, J&K National Panthers Party (BHIM) candidate Hakikat Singh, Loktantrik Partys Rubina Akhter and 18 Independents are also in the fray. Changed political landscape since abrogation of Article 370 The NC presently holds all three Lok Sabha seats. The party has been threatening to go solo and is banking on the dynastys leadership to win the public support. PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti has been calling for a united front against the Centre. But, in recent talks with the NC and Congress, the party failed to land a deal in its favour. Moreover, the PDP has seen a sharp decline since 2019 as dozens of its leaders have left the party. The BJP, meanwhile, is gaining in Srinagar. Several key NC leaders, including the Kathua district president, have joined the BJP in a jolt to the Farooq Abdullah-led party in the Jammu region. Many supporters and district office-bearers also made the switch. The BJP has also won 75 seats in the district development council (DDC) polls. Its inclusive approach and the ground-level impact of the central governments welfare schemes have worked in the partys favour. But, how much of this will translate into votes in the Lok Sabha elections is yet to be seen. Two prominent pahadi leaders Shehnaz Ganai and Mushtaq Bukhari joined the BJP following in the footsteps of big names such as Abdul Qayoom Mir and Iqbal Malik. The saffron party has made a significant impact with government schemes and development efforts, which has made up partially for its anti-Muslim image in the state. However, despite increasing support, the question of voting for the BJP is influenced by religious leanings, which play against the partys favour. Here are the key issues in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency: Air pollution: Srinagars air quality index (AQI) entered the poor category, especially in the mornings and evenings when the temperature drops during the winter. This is due to fuel burning, including biomass. Srinagars air quality index (AQI) entered the poor category, especially in the mornings and evenings when the temperature drops during the winter. This is due to fuel burning, including biomass. Poor infrastructure development: Scattered, messy construction of residential and commercial zones. This is compounded by the continuous influx of people from other districts. Scattered, messy construction of residential and commercial zones. This is compounded by the continuous influx of people from other districts. Civic issues: People are facing problems in private residential colonies, including drainage, drinking water supply, road connectivity, lack of transport facilities, healthcare, and schools. People are facing problems in private residential colonies, including drainage, drinking water supply, road connectivity, lack of transport facilities, healthcare, and schools. Power crisis during winter: The city fails to meet the high demand for power during sub-zero temperatures when electrical heating systems are used widely. The city fails to meet the high demand for power during sub-zero temperatures when electrical heating systems are used widely. Drinking water scarcity: In the summer, several places in Kashmir face drinking water shortage owing to dry weather conditions and heat waves. In the summer, several places in Kashmir face drinking water shortage owing to dry weather conditions and heat waves. Smart meters: There has been a public agitation against the installation of smart meters due to perceived unfairness and lack of action against big defaulters. Smart meters track electricity use and forward the bill to the customer, which in turn must be paid in order for the power supply to continue. The state is used to a practice of not paying the bill or paying it in part. The administrations efforts to get people to pay electricity bills have not been received well. In fact, asserting that 1.30 crore people of Jammu and Kashmir were the priority of his administration, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha announced last year to waive off the power bills of poor people, if they are unable to pay it. There has been a public agitation against the installation of smart meters due to perceived unfairness and lack of action against big defaulters. Smart meters track electricity use and forward the bill to the customer, which in turn must be paid in order for the power supply to continue. The state is used to a practice of not paying the bill or paying it in part. The administrations efforts to get people to pay electricity bills have not been received well. In fact, asserting that 1.30 crore people of Jammu and Kashmir were the priority of his administration, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha announced last year to waive off the power bills of poor people, if they are unable to pay it. Inadequate drainage: The drainage system leads to flooding and inconvenience during rainfall. The drainage system leads to flooding and inconvenience during rainfall. Lack of basic infrastructure: There is no permanent bus stand, which causes a lot of inconvenience to passengers and students. There are parking issues in both civil lines and downtown areas affecting traffic movement and business activities. There is no permanent bus stand, which causes a lot of inconvenience to passengers and students. There are parking issues in both civil lines and downtown areas affecting traffic movement and business activities. Solid waste management: There is a need for a new dumping site due as the existing one is overflowing and poses sufficient health risks. Here are the key state issues: Drop in terror and violence: This is the main plank of the Narendra Modi-led government as it seeks to make inroads into the Valley. The ministry of home affairs has listed some achievements like 69 per cent drop in militancy-related incidents; no stone-pelting incidents in 2023; drop in civilian deaths by 81 per cent; killings of security personnel dropped by 47 per cent; zero tolerance policy towards terrorism. This is the main plank of the Narendra Modi-led government as it seeks to make inroads into the Valley. The ministry of home affairs has listed some achievements like 69 per cent drop in militancy-related incidents; no stone-pelting incidents in 2023; drop in civilian deaths by 81 per cent; killings of security personnel dropped by 47 per cent; zero tolerance policy towards terrorism. Naya Kashmir: Kashmir has transformed since the abrogation of Article 370. The states political landscape has significantly changed while the security situation has improved and tourism has taken off. The economy is improving with the GSDP doubled to more than Rs 2.25 lakh crore from Rs 1 lakh crore. In three years, Jammu and Kashmir got Rs 84,544 crore investment proposals, with the actual investment at Rs 2,518 crore. Moreover, government funds for infrastructure and welfare schemes are pouring in, ensuring a promising future for the Valley. Kashmir has transformed since the abrogation of Article 370. The states political landscape has significantly changed while the security situation has improved and tourism has taken off. The economy is improving with the GSDP doubled to more than Rs 2.25 lakh crore from Rs 1 lakh crore. In three years, Jammu and Kashmir got Rs 84,544 crore investment proposals, with the actual investment at Rs 2,518 crore. Moreover, government funds for infrastructure and welfare schemes are pouring in, ensuring a promising future for the Valley. Restoring statehood: All opposition parties have demanded that J&Ks statehood must be restored. The Centre has agreed to do so only after the assembly elections. In December 2023, union home minister Amit Shah said statehood will be restored only at an appropriate time. All opposition parties have demanded that J&Ks statehood must be restored. The Centre has agreed to do so only after the assembly elections. In December 2023, union home minister Amit Shah said statehood will be restored only at an appropriate time. Assembly elections in 2024: The Supreme Court has set a deadline of September 2024 for the Election Commission to hold assembly polls. The government is keen on conducting elections between September and November. It initially considered conducting the polls alongside the Lok Sabha election but the 2019 experience did not favour such a proposal, with the Centre citing hurdles in arranging adequate forces for deployment. There are other electoral concerns as well. The Gujjar-Bakarwal tribes migrate in the summer and return to their base in the winter. They will be a crucial constituency, with nine assembly seats reserved for ST in J&K for the first time. These factors are likely to be applicable even in 2024. Such a scenario may mean elections will be held in J&K along with Haryana and Maharashtra in September and October. The Supreme Court has set a deadline of September 2024 for the Election Commission to hold assembly polls. The government is keen on conducting elections between September and November. It initially considered conducting the polls alongside the Lok Sabha election but the 2019 experience did not favour such a proposal, with the Centre citing hurdles in arranging adequate forces for deployment. There are other electoral concerns as well. The Gujjar-Bakarwal tribes migrate in the summer and return to their base in the winter. They will be a crucial constituency, with nine assembly seats reserved for ST in J&K for the first time. These factors are likely to be applicable even in 2024. Such a scenario may mean elections will be held in J&K along with Haryana and Maharashtra in September and October. Power shortage: The UT faces an active power crisis due to poor infrastructure and output. This winter, Kashmir saw its worst power crisis in years. The reported daily power cuts of 12 to 16 hours have affected the lives of more than 70 lakh people. The UT has a requirement of about 2,600 MW of electricity. But, the power supply to the Kashmir division is 1,200 MW while it is 900 MW to Jammu. There is a deficit of about 500 MW. The UT faces an active power crisis due to poor infrastructure and output. This winter, Kashmir saw its worst power crisis in years. The reported daily power cuts of 12 to 16 hours have affected the lives of more than 70 lakh people. The UT has a requirement of about 2,600 MW of electricity. But, the power supply to the Kashmir division is 1,200 MW while it is 900 MW to Jammu. There is a deficit of about 500 MW. ST status to pahadis: The new law granting tribal status to pahadis has angered Gujjars and Bakarwals. There were widespread demonstrations by the two communities against the inclusion of four new groups in the states ST list. Gujjars and Bakarwals, the dominant ST groups in the UT, see this as potentially diluting their political empowerment. The Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which seeks to add four communities Gadda Brahmin, Koli, Paddari Tribe, and Pahari Ethnic Group to the list of STs in J&K, was passed in the Lok Sabha in January. This bill seeks to add the pahadi-speaking community to the ST list, enabling them to access a 10 per cent reservation. The community has long sought recognition as ST, with this demand originating in 1975. The new law granting tribal status to pahadis has angered Gujjars and Bakarwals. There were widespread demonstrations by the two communities against the inclusion of four new groups in the states ST list. Gujjars and Bakarwals, the dominant ST groups in the UT, see this as potentially diluting their political empowerment. The Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which seeks to add four communities Gadda Brahmin, Koli, Paddari Tribe, and Pahari Ethnic Group to the list of STs in J&K, was passed in the Lok Sabha in January. This bill seeks to add the pahadi-speaking community to the ST list, enabling them to access a 10 per cent reservation. The community has long sought recognition as ST, with this demand originating in 1975. Unemployment: The rate of unemployment in the age group of 15 to 29 years is 18.3 per cent, as per the MHA. The ministry also said more than 29,000 vacancies have been filled in J&K after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. The Centre has pushed government recruitment drives and a number of self-employment schemes like Mission Youth, Rural Livelihood Mission, Himayat, PMEGP, Avsar, Tejaswani are being implemented for providing employment opportunities The rate of unemployment in the age group of 15 to 29 years is 18.3 per cent, as per the MHA. The ministry also said more than 29,000 vacancies have been filled in J&K after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. The Centre has pushed government recruitment drives and a number of self-employment schemes like Mission Youth, Rural Livelihood Mission, Himayat, PMEGP, Avsar, Tejaswani are being implemented for providing employment opportunities Infrastructure development: Kashmir has seen a significant boost in infrastructure development over the past five years. This has been largely perceived positively and is something that the UT and Centre can bank on as an achievement. This includes the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, PM Gram Sadak Yojana, rural development through NABARD schemes, MoRTH projects, first rail line to Kashmir, expansion of Srinagar airport terminal among others. Voter demographic Population City: 12,19,516 Urban agglomeration population: 12,36,829 Gender Male: 53% Female: 47% Sex ratio: 888 females per 1,000 males (city) and 880 females per 1,000 males (urban agglomeration) Literacy City and urban agglomeration average literacy rate: 71% (national average is 74.04%) Religion Muslims: 95% (11,57,044) Hindus: 4% (42,442) Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains: 1% Caste-based Population SC: 0.1% (1,068) ST: 0.7% (8,935) YSRCP supremo Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday appealed to the people of Pithapuram Assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh to vote for his party candidate V Geetha and reject her opponent Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan. He also promised to make Geetha as deputy chief minister if the party comes to power again. The ruling party chief alleged that Kalyan is inaccessible, and would not stay in the constituency. He would rush to Hyderabad even if he was affected by a bad cold. How can women meet the actor-cum-politician who is in the habit of changing wives every five years as people change cars, said Reddy, addressing a public meeting on the last day of the election campaign. Reposing faith in Geetha, the chief minister asserted that she would strive for the constituencys development. According to Reddy, for the first time in the history of Andhra Pradesh, the YSRCP implemented 99 per cent of its election promises. Further, he claimed that TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is deriving sadistic pleasure by stalling the doorstep delivery of monthly pensions and disbursal of funds for other ongoing welfare schemes for which he had already clicked the button. Moreover, Reddy alleged that Naidu and his friendly media houses have unleashed a disinformation campaign against the Land Titling Act which is meant to safeguard the rights of land owners. He called on people to reject the TDP and its allies BJP and Janasena and give a clear mandate to the ruling party to ensure the continuance of the welfare and development measures. The YSRCP chiefs election campaign for the 2024 polls ended on Saturday, which included a statewide bus tour, canvassing in 106 Assembly constituencies, public meetings, 16 siddham (ready) meetings and roadshows, among others. Simultaneous elections for the 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 Assembly constituencies in the southern state will be held on May 13. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase A woman was sexually harassed by a man who entered her house to install a water purifier in Bengaluru. A case was registered with the Begur police and the accused has been arrested. According to a TOI report, on May 4, the 30-year-old victim residing in Begur raised a service request for the reinstallation of the water purifier at her home. When the technician did not show up she called up the service provider the next day and raised another complaint. A technician turned up at her door at 5:00 PM and the woman, who was alone in the house at the time, opened the door and explained to him the issue with the water purifier. The technician asked her to turn off the main switch so that he could reinstall the water purifier. He then started touching her inappropriately and groped her while she was working in the kitchen. The woman pushed him out of the kitchen, locked herself in and dialled a friend nearby for help. Her friend arrived, to see the man attacking her from outside the kitchen. The attacker, however, fled after both of them confronted him. He was also said to have sustained slight injuries. Later, the woman reached out to the police and filed a case against the accused. The police received the technicians details from the company, but when they called, the accused did not respond. On Wednesday, the accused was traced, and an investigation into the case is underway. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase A Brazilian national was arrested from Mumbai airport allegedly with 975 grams of cocaine worth Rs 9.75 crore, a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence official said on Saturday. The man was apprehended on Thursday on specific intelligence and he confessed to having ingested drug-filled capsules, the Mumbai Zone DRI official said. He was produced in a court where the magistrate ordered that he be admitted in JJ Hospital. On Friday, doctors there purged from his body 110 capsules containing 975 grams of cocaine valued at Rs 9.75 crore, he said. He was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and further probe to unravel the peddling network was underway, the official said. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase A 63-year-old general physician was found dead with his hands tied in his house in Jangpura Extention here on Friday evening, police said. Police have suspected it to be a case of robbery as the house was ransacked, a senior officer said. A PCR call was received at about 6.50 PM. Local police which responded to the call found Dr Chander Paul, the victim, in the kitchen of his house. His hands were tied and suspected to be smothered to death. During the time of incident, he was alone at home. His wife Dr Neela Paul is also a doctor in Delhi government hospital, the officer said. There are also signs of robbery as rooms have been ransacked. Prima facie, it appears that the accused persons robbed the house and brought fatality to Dr. Paul, another police officer said. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Hello readers, todays evening digest brings you the latest stories: If You Imprison Democracy: Kejriwal Reveals Why He Did Not Resign As Delhi CM After Arrest; and other top stories. If You Imprison Democracy: Kejriwal Reveals Why He Did Not Resign As Delhi CM After Arrest A day after getting bail in the Delhi excise policy case, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday launched scathing attacks on the BJP-led central government, saying it wants to crush his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by arresting its top leaders. READ MORE Baharampur Battle: Can Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Help Congress Retain Last Bengal Bastion? I will sell Badam (nuts) if I lose, I will quit politics if I lose these are some statements that senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been repeating over the past few days while campaigning or addressing the media in his constituency Baharampur. It is probably the most crucial and almost defining election for Chowdhury, Bengals senior-most Congress leader, and a known Gandhi family loyalist who has been a five-term MP from this seat since 1999. READ MORE If They Win Again, Yogi Adityanath Is Next: Arvind Kejriwals Big Prediction If BJP Wins Lok Sabha Polls A day after being released from Tihar Jail on interim bail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a scathing attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party and predicted that if the party comes to power again, it will oust Yogi Adityanath as the Uttar Pradesh CM. READ MORE Thailand Updates Visa Rule For Indians: 5 Iconic Destinations To Explore Other Than Bangkok Thailand, one of the most popular tourist destinations among Indians, has recently made headlines by extending its visa exemption program for visitors from India. According to a report in Bloomberg, this extension allows Indian tourists to explore Thailand without the need for a visa until November 11, 2024. READ MORE Rishabh Pant Suspended for a Match, Fined Rs 30 Lakh For Breaching IPL Code of Conduct Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant has been handed a one-match suspension and a fine for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct. DC were found to have maintained a slow over-rate during their IPL 2024 match against Rajasthan Royals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on May 7. READ MORE Richa Chadha Turned To Gin For The Drunk-Dancing Sequence In Heeramandi: It Made Things Worse Actor Richa Chadha initially turned to gin to lend authenticity to a drunk dancing scene in Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Heeramandi, but she quickly found that alcohol impeded her performance by making her movements lethargic. Despite being a teetotaler, Richa attempted to drink on the first day of filming the dance number after struggling with 30-40 takes without achieving the desired effect. READ MORE Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Google Doodle for Mothers Day 2024, which is being celebrated today on Sunday, May 12, 2024, depicted a mother reading to her child on a couch in a cozy home setting. This heartwarming image symbolised the love, care, and nurturing that mothers provide to their children. The act of reading together in the Doodle further emphasized the importance of storytelling in strengthening the mother-child bond. ALSO READ: Happy Mothers Day 2024: Perfect Wishes, Quotes, Images & More to Make Mom Smile! Its a simple yet powerful reminder that the moments we share with our mothers, big or small, create lasting memories. However the Doodle, that came with with a Happy Mothers Day! message and a red heart, is not visible in India. Mothers Day, a day dedicated to honouring the incredible women who shape our lives, arrives on the second Sunday of May each year. BEYOND THE DOODLE: A DAY TO CELEBRATE MOTHERS EVERYWHERE Googles Doodle is just one way to celebrate Mothers Day. This special occasion is a time to express our gratitude for all the sacrifices mothers make, the unwavering love they provide, and the endless support they offer. Whether you plan a grand gesture or a heartfelt conversation, take this day to show your mom how much she means to you. Here are some ideas to make Mothers Day unforgettable: Spend quality time togetherPlan a fun outing, a relaxing day at home, or simply enjoy a meal together. Express your love with a heartfelt card or giftLet your mom know how much you appreciate her with a personalized message or a thoughtful present. Help out with choresGive your mom a break from her daily routine by taking care of errands or household tasks. Create lasting memoriesCapture special moments with photos or videos, or write a heartfelt letter expressing your love and appreciation. MOTHERS DAY GIFT ExperiencesSometimes, the best gifts are experiences that create lasting memories. Consider gifting your mom tickets to a concert, play, or sporting event. If she enjoys the outdoors, plan a hike or picnic in a scenic location. Or, for a truly pampering experience, give her a spa day or a weekend getaway. Personalized GiftsPersonalized gifts show that you put extra thought and effort into your selection. You can personalize almost anything, from jewelry and mugs to photo albums and home decor. Handmade GiftsA handmade gift from the heart is a unique and sentimental way to show your mom you care. If youre crafty, you could knit her a scarf, paint her a portrait, or write her a poem. Gifts that Help Her RelaxSelf-care is essential, and a thoughtful gift can help your mom unwind and de-stress. Consider gifting her a luxurious bathrobe and slippers, a comfy blanket, or a subscription to a meditation app. Gifts that Indulge Her HobbiesThink about your moms hobbies and interests when choosing a gift. If she loves to cook, get her a new cookbook or a set of high-quality kitchen tools. If shes a bookworm, give her a gift certificate to her favorite bookstore or a subscription to an e-reader service. Flowers and ChocolatesA classic combination that never goes out of style. Choose her favorite flowers and a box of decadent chocolates for a sweet and simple way to show you care. No matter how you choose to celebrate, Mothers Day is a beautiful reminder to cherish the bond we share with our mothers. And May 12, 2024 Google Doodle perfectly captured the essence of this special day a celebration of love, care, and the irreplaceable role mothers play in our lives. Thailand, one of the most popular tourist destinations among Indians, has recently made headlines by extending its visa exemption program for visitors from India. According to a report in Bloomberg, this extension allows Indian tourists to explore Thailand without the need for a visa until November 11, 2024. Removing visa requirements for Indian travellers aims to draw more visitors and boost economic growth through increased tourism. With this positive development, Indians can now explore Thailand with greater ease and enjoyment. While Bangkok is a popular destination, Thailand offers a variety of splendid experiences beyond its bustling capital. Here are just a few to consider: Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Heeramandi was released on May 1 and has been earning rave reviews ever since then. The web series has received positive reviews from the film fraternity, fans, and critics. Having said that, Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana too cheered for the web series and also applauded the entire team. The actor took to his Instagram stories and wrote, A true masterpiece by a master storyteller! Loved it, and tagged the entire team. Have a look at the post : Meanwhile, Heeramandi is set against the backdrop of the pre-Independence era in the 1940s. It explores the cultural reality of a prominent red-light district through the lens of courtesans and nawabs. The series boasts a star-studded cast, including Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, and Sharmin Segal. News18 gave Showsha 4.5 stars and wrote, Bhansali pens a near-perfect screenplay, and it is this rich writing that already forms an impressive foundation for the show. Each character is written with a lot of courage, empathy, and sensitivity. Here, each female character is so well-fleshed out, including those in the periphery, that they all deserve a spin-off of their own. It further read, With Heeramandi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali creates a world thats exquisite and is rich and vibrant in its culture and texture. Inhabiting this realm are some characters that are as unapologetic, complex, and imperfect as a human can be. Here, the women call their own shots and is unafraid of what the civil society might think of them. Theyre pitted against each other, sometimes one even wishing for and conspiring against anothers downfall and shattering their self-worth, pride and ego. They can tear apart and even love like tigresses. And when the right time comes, they dont bat an eyelid before fiercely protecting one another. Despite deep and dark ambition plaguing their hearts, theyve their conscience clear. Maybe thats why Fareedan in a scene reprimands a British officer for robbing her aunt Mallikajaan off her aabru when all she wanted was for her to have her guroor crumbled. Ayushmann Khurrana recently visited New York to attend the prestigious TIME100 Gala. The actor had a splendid time in the foreign land with some music and events with global personalities. On the work front, he was last seen in Dream Girl 2, the sequel to his 2019 smash blockbuster Dream Girl. Raaj Shaandilyaa directed the film, which stars the actor in dual roles. It is produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor under the label Balaji Motion Pictures. Television actor Gurucharan Singh, who used to play the role of Roshan Sodhi in the popular show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, has been missing for almost 20 days. Delhi police is investigating the case and trying to trace the actor. It has now been revealed that a team of police officials visited TMKOC sets in Mumbais Film City. News18 Showsha has exclusively learnt that a team of Delhi police officials recently visited the sets of the popular comedy show in connection with Singhs missing case. They questioned Singhs former co-stars to try to find out his whereabouts. This week Delhi police visited our sets and spoke with the actors who were in touch with Gurucharan Singh. Everyone has co-operated well with the police, a source close to the shows production told us. Also, there were some rumours related to Gurucharan Singhs payments being due from the production house. But, the police found that the payment of the actor was cleared long ago, the insider added. Meanwhile, Sohil Ramani, Head of Production of Neela Films also confirmed, As a part of their investigation, Delhi police had visited our set. They went back assured that there were no dues from our end towards Gurucharan Singh. We continue to pray for his well being and hope he is found soon. Gurucharan Singh was last seen on April 22, 2024. His father filed a missing complaint four days later which stated, My son Gurucharan Singh, Age: 50 years, had left at 8:30 am on 22nd April to go to Mumbai. He went to the airport to catch a flight. He didnt reach Mumbai, neither has he returned home and his phone is not reachable. He is mentally stable and we had been searching for him but now he has been missing. Later, News18 Showsha exclusively reported that the actor may have planned his own disappearance. He left his phone in the Palam area. We are trying to find but it only makes it more difficult for us to trace Gurucharan Singh, because this means that the phone is not with the actor. In the CCTV footage, we recovered that he was seen moving from one e-rickshaw to another. Looks like, he had planned everything and has moved out of Delhi, police sources told us. Recently, the actors father Hargit Singh also recalled the last day he spent with Gurucharan before he went missing. Hargit revealed that the actor was in New Delhi when they celebrated his birthday. There were no celebrations as such, but we were at home together, and it felt nice. The next day, he was supposed to travel to Mumbai, he told the Times of India. What has happened is very shocking, we dont know how to deal with it. Hum sab bahut pareshaan hain (We are very troubled) and are eagerly waiting for some update from the police. Hum uske wapas aane ka intezaar kar rahe hain (We are awaiting his return), Gurucharans father added. Meanwhile, several of Gurucharans TMKOC co-stars including Jennifer Mistry, Samay Shah and Mandar Chandwadkar have expressed concern over his disappearance, hoping him to return home soon. Recently, the shows producer Asit Kumarr Modi also reacted to the news and called it painful and shocking. Earlier this year, Kriti Sanon sparked speculation that she was dating Kabir Bahia, a businessman in London. While the actress has not acknowledged the same, she recently opened up about the idea of having an ideal partner. The actress shared that her ideal partner should be someone who makes her laugh and, most importantly, be just real. In an interview with Film Companion, the actress was asked, referring to another interview of hers, about how she wants to have a value system and another long list of qualities in her ideal partner. Reportedly, the actress laughed off and shared, I dont know. Does the guy have to match up to all that? I dont know; I dont think. She then added about how the pressure is often put on what one wants rather than what one needs. She further added, I feel we put too much pressure like I want this, this, this. What you want and what you need might also be different. I might feel I want someone like this who is like that, whose like that but what I might need actually might just be like simplistic thing, someone who is just real, who can make me laugh, Ive a connect with, who I can talk to for hours, who respects me and my work and I think those things are also way more important. I dont think someone needs to match up to me but to hold his own that is more important and to be secure absolutely and thats very important. Kritis rumoured relationship with Kabir made headless when the duo celebrated Holi together in London. Their photos surfaced on the microblogging site Reddit, and fans have begun speculating that Kriti and Kabir are dating. According to several news reports, Kabir is said to be the son of a prominent businessman in London. Some reports also claimed that Kabir is related to Sakshi Dhoni. However, neither Kriti nor Kabir have addressed these speculations. Meanwhile, on the work front, Kriti Sanon is currently basking in the success of her recently released film, Crew. The actress shared the screen space with Kareena Kapoor Khan and Tabu. Crew is set in a financially struggling airline sector and follows the lives of these three flight attendants: in-flight supervisor Geeta Sethi (Tabu), senior flight attendant Jasmine Rana (Kareena Kapoor), and junior flight attendant Divya Bajwa (Kriti Sanon). However, their destiny places them in terrible situations, and they get entangled in a web of lies and deception. Next, Kriti will soon be seen in the crime thriller Do Patti with Kajol. The actress announced the film last year when she revealed that Do Patti would also be her first film as a producer. Tamil actor Silambarasan, popularly known by the name Simbu, has been in the limelight for his upcoming project Kamal Haasan starrer Thug Life. He has been officially announced as a part of the cast for Kamal Haasans Thug Life, directed by Mani Ratnam. The announcement was made through a promo on Wednesday. However, producer Ishari K. Ganesh has filed a complaint with the producers council, stating that Simbu should not be allowed to act in the movie. Earlier, Simbu signed a contract to act in the film Corona Kumar, which was planned to be produced by Ishari K. Ganes under the banner of Vels Film International. As per reports, Simbu was supposed to be paid nine and a half crore rupees for acting in this film. Initially, he was paid four and a half crore rupees as an advance in 2021. But it is also alleged that he did not come to the shoot after receiving the money. Ganesh filed a court petition seeking that Simbu should be banned from working in any other films till the movie Corona Kumar is completed. The case is still pending in court. In this regard, Ishari K. Ganesh has filed a complaint with the Producers Association that actor Simbu should not act in any other film other than Corona Kumar. However, Simbus upcoming film Thug Life, an action drama film, is directed by Mani Ratnam, who co-wrote the script with Kamal Haasan and produced by Raaj Kamal Films International, Madras Talkies, and Red Giant Movies. Haasan is said to play a triple role in the film, along with Silambarasan, Trisha, Ashok Selvan, Abhirami, Nassar, Joju George, Aishwarya Lekshmi, and Vaiyapuri will be seen in other pivotal roles. This upcoming film marks Ratnam and Haasans reunion following their classic movie Nayakan (1987). The film was formally announced in November 2022 under the working title KH 234. This upcoming project is said to be Haasans 234th film as a lead actor. The film has music composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography handled by Ravi K. Chandran, and editing by A. Sreekar Prasad. A month after firing outside his Mumbai residence, Salman Khans former girlfriend Somy Ali reacted to the incident. In a recent interview, Somy hoped for Khans security and revealed that she was shocked when she got to know about it. Especially with whats happening to Salman right now, I wont wish upon my enemy what he has been through. All said and done, no one deserves what he went through. My prayers are with him. No matter what has happened, let bygones be bygones. I would never ever wish something like that to happen to anyone, be it Salman, Shah Rukh or my neighbour, Somy told Hindustan Times. Every human being deserves to go through due process, law enforcement, evidence, and judicial process, at least in America. I would never want Salman or his family to endure any pain, and I wish him all the best. When my mother and I learned about this incident, we were shocked, she continued and concluded by saying that nobody deserves to go through what Salman is experiencing right now. On April 14, gunshots were fired outside Khans Galaxy Apartments in Mumbais Bandra area. Later, it was reported that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang is alleged to be behind the attack as the gangsters brother, Anmol Bishnoi, claimed responsibility for the shooting incident via a Facebook post, a few hours after the firing incident. So far, five accused have been arrested in the case. Earlier this month, one of the arrested accused, Anuj Thapan, allegedly died by suicide in Mumbai Police custody. While the police claimed that Thapan killed himself in prison, his family alleged foul play and claimed that he was killed. Meanwhile, Salman Khans security has also been increased. The actor earlier had two PSOs. Now, two commandos, two escort vehicles and 11 cops under the Y+ category security have also been provided to him. Additionally, personnel in the security convoy will carry two automatic guns. It should be noted that Salman Khan has not issued any statement regarding the firing incident as of now. However, previously, his father Salim Khan spoke to India Today about the incident when he said, Whats there to talk about ye jaahil log jo kehte hain maar denge tab pata lagega na (These illiterate people say youll learn your lesson when well kill you). Weve been given extra police protection. Theyve (Mumbai Police) assured protection for us and our friends. If theyve arrested two people today, that means theyre on it. Police were summoned to rapper Drakes Toronto mansion on Thursday afternoon (May 9) in response to a person attempting to trespass on the property. This week, the rappers Bridle Path residence attracted copious amounts of police action due to persistent trespassing by unidentified individuals. All three incidences occurred amidst Drakes continuing spat with Kendrick Lamar, which has resulted in more than a half-dozen diss singles. But theres no proof that the events at his estate are related to the rap feud in any way. Trespassers on Drakes property were apprehended by his security force on Wednesday and Thursday and then taken into custody by the police. The first individual was detained by the Ontario Mental Health Act, according to Rolling Stone, and as a result, his name was kept confidential. The event is not being investigated as a criminal case. NBC News reports that Drakes security stopped a second individual who tried to break in outside his residence on Thursday afternoon. The trespasser was brought to the hospital as a result of the altercation that followed. The second trespassers information has not yet been made public by Toronto Police. Both instances came after a shootout outside Drakes Bridle Path estate earlier this week, in which one of his security guards seemed to have been shot. According to Toronto Police Inspector Paul Krawczyk, who spoke with Rolling Stone, the man was brought to the hospital with very serious injuries and is still there. The suspect is said to have driven off in a car after the shooting, but neither the individual nor the vehicles description has been released. The inquiry is still in progress. Meanwhile, the third trespasser was not apprehended under the Mental Health Act. Around 3:30 p.m., police were called to Drakes residence, according to Toronto Police spokesman Shannon Eames, who spoke with USA Today. Before police arrived, the trespasser got into a fight with security personnel, and the perpetrator was eventually brought to the hospital. Its important to note that Lamar included an aerial photo of Drakes house on the cover of his diss single Not Like Us, which he released on May 4. Fans and critics, citing the battle between Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., are reportedly worried that the back-and-forth might have real-life repercussions, according to Variety. With each passing day, the mystery behind the missing Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah actor Gurucharan Singh is getting deeper. If a recent report is to be believed, Singh was using multiple email accounts before his disappearance. As reported by Deccan Herald, a police officer close to the investigation has revealed that Gurucharan Singh was suspicious of being surveillance by somebody and therefore, he would often change his email accounts. It is said that the actor was using 27 separate email accounts. This comes a day after several reports shared details of the actors financial condition before he went missing. It was reported that Singh used to operate 10 bank accounts and used to rely upon credit cards. It was also said that he used to frequently utilise credit cards and was not in good financial condition. Gurucharan Singh, who used to play the role of Roshan Sodhi in TMKOC, was last seen on April 22, 2024. His father filed a missing complaint four days later which stated, My son Gurucharan Singh, Age: 50 years, had left at 8:30 am on 22nd April to go to Mumbai. He went to the airport to catch a flight. He didnt reach Mumbai, neither has he returned home and his phone is not reachable. He is mentally stable and we had been searching for him but now he has been missing. While Delhi police are investigating the case, earlier today, News18 Showsha exclusively learnt that a team of police officials visited the sets of TMKOC and questioned Singhs former co-stars. This week Delhi police visited our sets and spoke with the actors who were in touch with Gurucharan Singh. Everyone has co-operated well with the police, a source close to the shows production told us. Also, there were some rumours related to Gurucharan Singhs payments being due from the production house. But, the police found that the payment of the actor was cleared long ago, the insider added. Meanwhile, Gurucharan Singhs father Hargit Singh also recalled the last day he spent with Gurucharan before he went missing. Hargit revealed that the actor was in New Delhi when they celebrated his birthday. There were no celebrations as such, but we were at home together, and it felt nice. The next day, he was supposed to travel to Mumbai, he told the Times of India. What has happened is very shocking, we dont know how to deal with it. Hum sab bahut pareshaan hain (We are very troubled) and are eagerly waiting for some update from the police. Hum uske wapas aane ka intezaar kar rahe hain (We are awaiting his return), Gurucharans father added. Theatre fans who were eagerly awaiting the premiere of British director Jamie Lloyds Romeo & Juliet production were left disappointed after the show was cancelled. According to Deadline, the Saturday night premiere at Londons Duke of Yorks theatre did not go as planned due to production difficulties. The showmakers reportedly need more time to fine-tune the set. The ticket holders were informed of the shows cancellation on Thursday. Now the next show is slated for May 23. The play has Spider-Man star Tom Holland as Romeo and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, best known for the comedy sitcom Bad Education, as Juliet. The Jamie Lloyd Company announced the play back in February. Reportedly, all tickets for the multiple dates were sold out within two hours of their release. According to Deadline, an estimated 60,000 people joined a virtual ticket-buying queue for the show. The Shakespearean tragedy will play on multiple dates from May 11 (the first show was cancelled) till August 3. Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, who is a black actor, received racially charged abuse after the plays casting was announced. In response to the trolling and abuse, Jamie Lloyd Company released a statement condemning the barrage of deplorable racial abuse. The statement did not mention Francesca Amewudah-Rivers by name, but the company added that they would report any bullying and harassment. The statement concluded, Our rehearsal room is full of joy, compassion and kindness. we celebrate the extraordinary talent of our incredible collaborators. The Romeo & Juliet community will continue to rehearse with generosity and love, and focus on the creation of our production. Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis shared an Instagram post in support of Francesca Amewudah-Rivers. Davis wrote, Ability and talent are gifts that should not be seen or used as limitations because of Race. Perhaps the real question for those who took it upon themselves to spout this abuse is Why does it bother you so much? To the artists in this production and any other: SOAR, RISE, INSPIRE. Lay the seeds for the next generation so this narrative of nonsensical HATE can stop! And to Francesca, you are FRIGGIN BEAUTIFUL!!!! She ended the post with an original line from Romeo and Juliet that said, she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiopes ear; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! The findings of the Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC) are alarming with dangerous consequences for Indias survival as a country of Sanatan culture. Those who would ignore this would do so at their own peril. The report says that between 1950 and 2015, the population of Hindus declined by 8 per cent whereas the population of Muslims grew by 43 per cent. In 1950, Hindus comprised 84 per cent of the total population but it came down to 78 per cent in 2015. During the same period, the population of Muslims increased from 9.84 per cent to 14.09 per cent. Those who are talking of the timing of the report want to mislead the nation. This is a crucial issue that affects the survival of the country in its present form. Election time is the right time to discuss how the country should be governed and what policies are needed to correct this imbalance that is sure to multiply if not addressed properly. The country has witnessed the Partition and its aftermath. The Partition happened on religious grounds. Are we in a position to afford another division of the country? Even if the Partition does not happen, the rhetoric and aggressive statements of some Islamic leaders have the potential to create social, cultural and political conflicts. ALSO READ: Opinion | Study Shows Indias Hindu Population Shrank By 7.8%, Busts 3 Liberal Lies Islamists in India still hold on to the dream that a day would come when India would become an Islamic country. They still feel Muslims, who were once a ruling elite, would reclaim their position with an increase in the Muslim population. Madrassas have become the breeding ground of such thoughts that are antithetical to the very idea of India being a Republic. Is it not strange that the majority in this country fear Muslim aggressiveness? The report indicates this fear is real. What took 65 years to transpire could happen in less than 25-30 years due to the unchecked population growth. The main reason for higher growth is rapid reproduction, illegal infiltration encouraged by vested interests and conversion. The issues that concern every Indian (Hindu) is whether they can survive with their civilisational and cultural values under Islamic rule. The country has witnessed untold misery because of Muslim rulers enthusiasm to convert Hindus into Islamic faith. Entire Kashmir which was once a Hindu land of Hindu cultural renaissance has become Islamic due to this. We all know how infiltration has threatened the demographic composition of Assam and endangered the indigenous culture. The experience of Hindus in Muslim countries has not been good. They have witnessed persecution and forced conversion and there are very few countries or rights groups talking about them. The plight of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh is too well known in the entire world. Luckily, they have India as their ancestral place to come and take refuge. The Modi government has made policies to give citizenship to such persecuted Hindus. However, what will Hindus do if India becomes Islamic and they are forced to flee? To which country would they go? What protection or insurance do they have that the country would not be disturbed from growing as a liberal democracy? Hindus in this country faced violence and paid jizya under the Mughals to retain their culture and ways of worship. ALSO READ: Opinion | Hindus of South Asia Secular to a Fault: Inescapable Takeaway from PM-EACs Demographic Report Lets not close our eyes and lull ourselves into a make-believe world where everything will be okay, a world where we shouldnt worry about a rising population. Despite being in the majority, Hindus have shown that they believe in democracy and have no problems with people practicing other faiths. But can the same be said about those who claim to be exclusivist and superior? Our decision-makers must take a rational call on this. The writer is the convener of the media relations department of the BJP and represents the party as a spokesperson on TV debates. He has authored the book Narendra Modi: The Game Changer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. China has taken full advantage of globalisation and the framework of the WTO to become a formidable economic colossus, and this in collaboration with the US and its allies. In 30 years, China developed into a global manufacturing hub with a huge inflow of capital and technology from the G7, and a carefully crafted industrial policy supported by state subsidies. This very rapid industrial expansion resulted in overcapacities in many areas, which China has successfully used to dump products and obtain control of external markets by killing competition. Equally, China, with foresight, and with the huge financial resources at its command, acquired control over many critical raw materials and made advances in many critical technologies vital for a transition to green energy amidst climate change concerns. Solar panels and batteries for electric vehicles are examples. At the same time, China has developed into a strong military, nuclear and space power. China is now challenging US power. The equations between the two countries have changed. China, as the second largest economy, a huge market and the biggest exporting nation, with its tentacles now spread all over the globe through its Belt and Road Initiative, cannot be either ignored or contained. The US, European and Japanese economies are far too linked with the Chinese economy to risk a rupture. The US now sees China as its principal adversary and is forging policies that would rebuild its own industrial strength in critical areas in order to reduce dependence on China, as well as to slow down Chinas technological progress through denial of the latest Western technologies. It is also putting pressure on Europe to follow suit. If the US intends to blunt the China challenge, its geopolitical strategies are not in tune with this objective. It is seeking to simultaneously contain both Russia and China, giving both the incentive to support each other, which adds to the challenge the US faces. While the US claims it can handle conflicts both in Europe and Asia and that its proxy war against Russia does not deplete its capacity to thwart Chinas expansionism in the western Pacific, the reality is different. The US has already lost ground in West Asia to China as well as Russia. China has played a role in the Iran-Saudi Arabia reconciliation process. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have joined BRICS which has multipolarity as a major objective, as well as promoting trade in national currencies to reduce transactions in US dollars. On Iran and North Korea, the US is no longer in a position to work with Russia and China cooperatively on nuclear or sanctions issues in the UN or outside. China is supporting Russia politically on the Ukraine issue, including in the UN, and obtaining Russian support on the Taiwan issue. The US is now accusing China of providing dual-use technologies and raw materials to Russia to support its defence production and enabling Russia to prosecute its war against Ukraine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinkens visit to China in late April 2024 was in this general background. The goals of the visit had to be limited, given the many points of difference between the two countries. The US is looking for some basic stability in ties even in an atmosphere of mutual distrust. It wants to avoid getting drawn into a military conflict, which is why it has been insisting on US-China military-to-military level talks. Any armed conflict when the presidential election is due later this year would be politically disastrous, although tough political posturing on China would bring electoral benefit. China too, facing economic headwinds, sees an advantage in engaging in a dialogue with the US to reduce the build-up of pressures on it. Despite its economic and technological achievements, its prosperity depends on access to global markets and advanced Western technologies. It seeks to play for time by calibrating its external posture of a mixture of outreach to the West and a defiant verbal pushback, with some flexing of military muscle in the western Pacific. According to the Chinese readout of the meeting, Xi used the occasion of Blinkens call on him to give political lessons to the US, but with standard formulations that give no clue to real thinking and policy. Xi said that China and the US should be partners rather than rivals; help each other succeed rather than hurt each other; seek common ground and resolve differences rather than engage in vicious competition. He wanted the US to honour words with actions rather than say one thing but do another which may be true of the US but is equally true of China. Xi proposed mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation as the three overarching principles for the relationship, a meaningless formula China uses for ties even with India. Xi underlined that the two sides should value peace, prioritise stability, and uphold credibility, though all three are missing in Chinas own regional policies and those with India. He talked emptily of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and patronised the US in saying that major countries should behave in a manner befitting their status and act with broad-mindedness and a sense of responsibility. Hinting at a G2, he said that China and the US 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. Stating that China is committed to non-alliance, Xi cautioned against the US creating small blocs with Quad and AUKUS no doubt in mind. China welcomed a confident, open, prosperous and thriving United States, he said- a condescending tone that shows how much the equation between the two countries has changed. According to the Chinese read-out, Blinken seems to have used Chinese phraseology to assure China on all points of concern. This was obviously important to the Chinese for internal messaging, as also to counter the US readout which they would expect to underline differences for the US own internal messaging and one to its allies. The US did not seek a new Cold War or a change in Chinas system, the readout said, or seek to suppress Chinas development and revitalise its alliances against Beijing. (This doesnt sound entirely credible as hindering Chinas technological progress and strengthening US alliances in the region are declared US policy objectives.) Blinken assured China that the US adhered to the one-China policy, wanted to avoid misunderstandings, responsibly manage differences, and had no intention to have a conflict with China. It sought to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations and achieve stable development of US-China relations. Blinken noted that good progress had been made in their cooperation in such areas as bilateral interactions, counter-narcotics, artificial intelligence and people-to-people exchanges. The multiplicity and complexity of the challenges the world faced required the US and China to work together (seems a Chinese formulation). The Chinese readout of Foreign Minister Wang Yis meeting with Blinken was more explicit about differences. It noted that the overall China-US relations had been stabilised from further deterioration, but negative factors continued to rise and build. Wang Yi stressed that the Taiwan question was the number one red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations. China asked the US to strictly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, and not to send any form of wrong signal to Taiwan independence separatists. The US needed to act on President Bidens commitment of not supporting Taiwan independence, two Chinas or one China, one Taiwan and not using Taiwan as a tool to contain China. The US should stop arming Taiwan and support Chinas peaceful reunification. Wang Yi pointed out that no one shall deprive the Chinese people of their right to development. The US had employed all kinds of measures to hit China on trade, economy and technology. This was not fair competition, but steps to contain and block China. It was not de-risking but risk-building. The US said it did not seek to contain Chinas economy, decouple or bar Chinas progress in science and technology. It should honour those words. The US needed to stop spreading the false narrative of Chinese overcapacity, lift illicit sanctions on Chinese businesses and halt the Section 301 tariffs which were against WTO rules. Wang Yi stressed that in the Asia-Pacific regional countries should not be coerced to take sides, the US should stop deploying land-based medium-range missiles and stop harming Chinas strategic security interests. In the Chinese readout, Blinken noted that the US and China had the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world. (The Chinese dont want this honour to go to India alone, as the US has been describing the India relationship in these terms). It is important for both sides to responsibly manage this relationship. The US continued to follow its one-China policy and did not support Taiwan independence. The US did not seek to change Chinas system, had no intention to have conflict with China, and did not seek to decouple from China or hold back Chinas development. A growing and successful China was good for the world (doesnt sound authentic). On Chinas supply of military equipment and dual-use technologies to Russia, an issue Blinken raised quite aggressively before his visit, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesperson had dismissed these as groundless accusations, that the normal trade and economic exchanges between China and Russia should not be infringed upon, besides noting the hypocrisy of the US passing a bill providing a large amount of aid for Ukraine. The Chinese government, he said, oversaw the export of dual-use articles in accordance with the laws and regulations (suggesting that it did not need to follow US laws or regulations and that China is not part of the Wassenaar Arrangement)). China, he said, will certainly not accept being the scapegoat, adding that accommodating the legitimate security concerns of all parties and creating a balanced, effective, and sustainable European security architecture through dialogue and negotiation was the only right way forward. The US read-out of Blinkens meetings is an omnibus one, covering all his meetings, with no separate readout on his meeting with his counterpart Wang Yi and Xi Jinping. It differs from the Chinese readout, with the US spelling out differences much more prominently. It is interesting that in the US readouts, China is referred to as the PRC, not China. The US emphasis is on managing competition with the PRC, not on cooperation, except in select areas such as in counternarcotics to disrupt the flow of synthetic drugs (fentanyl) into the US, enhanced dialogue at a military-to-military level to avoid miscalculation and conflict, responsible and reciprocal policies to facilitate expanded exchanges between students, scholars and businesses, and launching talks on managing the risks of advanced forms of artificial intelligence. Blinken addressed the PRCs non-market economic policies and practices that distorted trade and threatened the USs national security and raised concern about the global economic consequences of the PRCs industrial overcapacity. Blinken was firm that the US will continue to defend its interests and values, and those of its allies and partners, including preventing advanced US technologies from being used to undermine US national security and economy without unduly limiting trade or investment. He raised concerns about Hong Kongs autonomy and democracy and the PRCs human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as transnational repression. He raised serious concerns about the PRCs support to Russias defence industrial base to prosecute its war against Ukraine and undermining as a result European and transatlantic security. He underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and expressed concern over destabilising PRC actions at the Second Thomas Shoal (Chinas confrontation with the Philippines). That Blinken was not seen off on departure by any Chinese official says something about the outcome of his visit. Kanwal Sibal is a former Indian Foreign Secretary. He was Indias Ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. On December 18, 1992, the United Nations adopted a significant declaration concerning the rights of individuals who belong to national or ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities. According to Article 1 of this declaration, it is the responsibility of each state to safeguard the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories. Furthermore, states are also encouraged to create favourable conditions for the promotion of minority identities. Countries were strongly encouraged to establish their own legislation to address this matter. This event occurred during a period marked by the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, as well as the Gulf Wars, which resulted in widespread conflicts worldwide. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (UNDM) is a non-binding declaration that remains the sole global instrument specifically addressing minority rights. However, legally binding provisions exist at the international level, such as Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Article 5 of the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education, which protects minority rights. India strictly follows all such laws and diligently works to protect its minority communities. In adherence to the UN declaration, India established the National Commission of Minorities in 1993, which recognises six communitiesMuslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsisas minority communities in India. Even prior to the establishment of such institutions, our nation has consistently upheld the rights of minority groups. We provided refuge to the Parsi community when they faced persecution in various regions of West Asia. Similarly, we embraced the Jewish community as our own during their torment in Europe. As the first colony to ensure the protection of minority rights upon gaining independence, we have always championed this cause. Despite our strong commitment to minority rights, certain Western institutions unjustly attempt to undermine our credentials in this regard. The recent report by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) titled, Share of Religious Minorities A Cross-Country Analysis highlights the positive outcomes of our continued commitment to uplifting the minority community. However, this report also prompts us to think whether a sub-categorisation of minorities or a focus on marginalised minorities is necessary while designing government welfare schemes. According to the EAC-PM report, the Muslim populations share increased from 9.84 per cent in 1950 to 14.09 per cent in 2015, marking a 43.15 per cent increase. The Christian populations share rose from 2.24 per cent to 2.36 per cent, a 5.38 per cent increase between 1950 and 2015. The Sikh populations share also saw an increase from 1.24 per cent in 1950 to 1.85 per cent in 2015, a rise of 6.58 per cent. Additionally, the Buddhist populations share witnessed a significant increase from 0.05 per cent in 1950 to 0.81 per cent. However, the Jain populations share in India decreased from 0.45 per cent in 1950 to 0.36 per cent in 2015. The Parsi populations share in India experienced a drastic decline of 85 per cent, reducing from 0.03 per cent in 1950 to 0.004 per cent in 2015. While the report highlights the rise in the population of almost all minority communities, a large portion of this increase is attributed to the Muslim community. In light of this, it is crucial for the State to allocate resources carefully to create a conducive atmosphere for people from other minority communities as well. In states like Kerala, there is already growing discontent within the Christian community, as the majority of welfare schemes designated for minority populations tend to benefit the Muslim community. Such an unequal distribution of welfare schemes and benefits may eventually lead to a rift that could impact the social harmony of our country. While there is an increase in state funding for Islamic learning institutions in some states, other minority religions receive minimal support. Some states prioritise Arabic education, but the same attention is not given to Latin, Pali or even Sanskrit languages. Therefore, while opportunities should be provided for the development of minority communities as a whole, special emphasis should also be placed on addressing the needs of smaller minorities within these communities to maintain social balance. Thrust should also be given to the development of linguistic minorities alongside these religious minorities. The second concern that needs to be addressed is the decline in the population of the majority community. According to the same report, the Hindu population in India decreased by 7.82 per cent between 1950 and 2015, going from 84.68 per cent to 78.06 per cent. This decline is worrisome for the majority community and raises questions about the concept of secularism as defined by our Constitution. Whether it is necessary to redefine the principles of secularism in our Constitution can only be determined over time. If the majority population continues to decline, it will have an impact on the structure of our population pyramid. Historically, a decrease in the population of the majority religion has resulted in significant demographic changes and economic implications. Therefore, this statistical data is indeed a cause for concern. In a country with a high population growth rate, such a shift can lead to significant fiscal imbalances and social divisions. The United Nations population projection for India suggests that in April 2023, we surpassed China as the most populous nation. However, we will only have a clear understanding of the exact figures once the next Census is conducted. At that time, India will also have a larger minority population, potentially exceeding the combined population of many countries. This will put pressure on the availability and utilisation of natural resources. Consequently, it is necessary to reconsider how we define minority status, taking into account population growth and regional categorisation. Population growth necessitates a realignment of resources and a reassessment of our priorities to sustain our growth momentum. Only through such proactive measures can we genuinely champion the rights of minorities. It may be worth considering implementing strict measures to address the challenges posed by population growth. Rigorous border controls and a robust immigration policy are needed to regulate entry from neighbouring countries, especially those which have a poor track record of protection of minorities. It is high time that we formally define and include linguistic minorities within the broader definition of minorities. Communities that have demonstrated consistent progress in terms of socio-economic indicators since independence could be taken out from the list, allowing for the inclusion of more marginalised groups. This would effectively broaden the scope of minorities in India. However, achieving effective change will require not only policy-level adjustments but also sufficient legislative support. This will enable us to harness the potential of our demographic dividend as we strive to become the worlds third-largest economy. Adarsh Kuniyillam is a parliamentary, policy and political analyst from Kerala. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. Lately, the debate over wealth taxation has intensified, with proponents arguing for its role in addressing income inequality and funding social programs. However, implementing a wealth tax is not without its challenges and drawbacks. The proponents and detractors were sharply divided even when the debate of retention and abolition of wealth tax was at its peak till one fine day when the tax under reference was repealed, through Budget 2016-17 to be precise. Global Experience Dating back centuries, a tax on accumulated wealth has roots in ancient civilisations such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome which imposed taxes on property acquired and inherited. Rome used to levy the Patrimonium tax on the total wealth of its citizens. Feudal societies in medieval Europe relied on wealth taxes to fund wars and support monarchies. France, as a European monarchy, collected the taille, a direct tax on households based on the amount of land held. In the UK, estate duties were introduced to combat rising wealth inequality during the industrialisation of the 18th and 19th centuries. However, it was in the aftermath of World Wars I and II that wealth tax grew prominence, with the introduction of federal estate and gift taxes by the United States in the early 20th century. With the advent of the 21st century, countries scaled back owing to the insignificant contribution to the overall tax revenues, administrative challenges and concerns about the economic impact. Indian Context King must collect tax like honeybee, enough to sustain but not too much to destroy ~ Chanakya India introduced a wealth tax in 1957. Over time, the tax base eroded, compliance became challenging, and inefficient collection led to the abolition of the wealth tax in 2015. The consequential loss to the exchequer was sought to be subrogated through a levy of additional surcharge on the super rich under the existing tax regime. Taxing the Capital Taxing property unfairly penalises only a select few. This form of tax often leads to double taxation, first when the money is earned and second on the asset acquired with the tax suffered earning. The State should not dictate the virtuous usage of ones own money. India aims to reach the $5 trillion economy in the next three years with a vision to be an economic powerhouse by 2047. The fact that this aspiration can never be translated to reality without the active support of the so-called ultra-rich i.e., the businesspeople, industrialists and the like, can barely be overstated. High-net-worth individuals may alter their investment strategies, asset allocation, or even residency to avoid taxes and protect their assets. It could distort economic behaviour by disincentivising investment, entrepreneurship, and wealth accumulation. Such taxes could lead to reduced investment potential, further undermining economic competitiveness and distorting economic decision-making. A policy flip-flop environment takes a toll on trust and confidence with enduring economic development being the casualty. It discourages work, savings, and capital formation, potentially hindering innovation and productivity. Advocates push forward the need to redistribute resources to reduce poverty and promote inclusive growth under the cover of the ability-to-pay principle but with alternative options available and working, taxing the wealthy may be counterintuitive. Capitalism v/s Socialism Normatively, the tax policies across jurisdictions are guided by Taxation Doctrines in relation to source, origin, holding, recipient etc. However, the essential features peculiar to a State are influenced by the economic model of the day. Tax as an instrument is used by the State depending on the chosen governance model, which brings the conversation of capitalism vs socialism to the fore. Capitalism emphasises on increased production whereas socialism focuses on fairer distribution. It is a matter of fact that India embraced a socialist model for its economic governance till the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century when LPG reforms were rolled out and empirical evidence suggests that in the first four decades, more poverty was created than wealth. The shift from a socialist model to a near-capitalist model (Hybrid system) continues to exert its profound implications on almost all segments of the economy including taxation. When we adopt a new economic belief as a nation that rejects most of the old models principles and favours the opposite framework, it is fair and wise to create policies that align with the new program. Specifically, under this renewed model, solely using tactics to discourage or single out the wealthy as a primary fiscal tool to pursue a socialist agenda could disrupt the current situation and also be subject to ethical and moral objections. Any deviation, even if an aberration, would be a negation of the model-in-vogue. As a corollary, holding a few responsible for the inequalities that exist could legitimise Marxisms assertion that capitalism inherently breeds severe economic disparities, justifying the criminal actions of the disadvantaged as a response. Small wonder, such ideologies have failed to elicit acceptance even in jurisdictions where welfarism remains a formidable article of faith. Besides these two universally acknowledged models, there exists a third model by the name of restrained consumption that was introduced by Late Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya as part of his seminal treatise titled Integral Humanism. The text opposes unbridled consumerism by drawing inspiration from Indian culture. In hindsight, the concept resonates well with all the aspects that are actively debated under the overarching climate/environment protection. While the goals of wealth taxation are laudable, its re-entry is likely to bring significant challenges and risks. It could undermine economic efficiency, exacerbate capital flight, and tax evasion. Policymakers must carefully weigh these considerations and explore alternative approaches to address income inequality and promote fiscal sustainability. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. A day after getting bail in the Delhi excise policy case, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday launched scathing attacks on the BJP-led central government, saying it wants to crush his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by arresting its top leaders. Addressing his supporters at the AAP headquarters in the national capital, Kejriwal claimed that all opposition leaders would be sent to jail if the BJP returned to power. However, he claimed that the BJP is getting around 220 seats in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. If You Imprison Democracy In Jail The Delhi CM revealed why he did not resign from his post while being lodged in jail and said, If you imprison democracy in jail, democracy will run from jail. Even Hemant Soren should not have resigned. By not resigning, I am battling against Tanashahi. When I was in jail, some people raised this issue that why doesnt Arvind Kejriwal resign from the post of Delhi CM? I have not come to become CM or PMIn the last 75 years, elections have been held in so many states, AAP government was formed in Delhi with the most historic majority, no other political party could win in any state with such a huge margin. They knew could never defeat AAP, so a conspiracy was hatched to send Kejriwal to jail and the government would fall but we did not fall into their trap, he said. #WATCH | Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says When I was in jail, some people raised this issue that why doesnt Arvind Kejriwal resign from the post of Delhi CM? I have not come to become CM or PMIn the last 75 years, elections have been held in so many states, AAP government was pic.twitter.com/75cakV0TDt ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 No Other Party Harassed To This Extent in 75 Years No other party has been harassed to this extent in 75 years. The Prime Minister is saying that he is fighting corruption but all the thieves are in his party. By arresting Kejriwal, they have given the message that if Kejriwal is arrested then they will arrest anyone he added. #WATCH | Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says No other party has been harassed to this extent in 75 years. The Prime Minister is saying that he is fighting corruption but all the thieves are in his party. 10 days ago the one who was said to have committed a scam after they made them pic.twitter.com/EJbSDnL7Pc ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 They Will Send All Opposition Leaders To Jail The AAP national convenor also said that if the BJP returns to power in the Centre, they will send all opposition leaders to jail. They will send opposition leaders to jail and will finish (Nipta denge) the politics of BJP leadersOur ministers, Hemant Soren, ministers of Mamata Banerjees party are in jailIf they win again, then Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, Tejashwi Yadav, Pinarayi Vijayan, Uddhav Thackeray and other opposition leaders will all be in jailPolitics of LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje, ML Khattar, Raman Singh have been finished. The next is Yogi Adityanath. If they win this election, they will change the CM of Uttar Pradesh within 2 months, he said. #WATCH | Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says They will send opposition leaders to jail and will finish (Nipta denge) the politics of BJP leadersOur ministers, Hemant Soren, ministers of Mamata Banerjees party are in jailIf they win again, then Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, Tejashwi pic.twitter.com/xtzToyYuQd ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 A dictator wants to end democracy Without taking any names, Kejriwal alleged that a dictator wants to end democracy and urged for support of people in saving the country. Whenever a dictator tried to take over, the people of the country uprooted him. Today again a dictator wants to end democracyI am fighting against that dictator but I cannot do anything alone. I have come to beg from 140 crore people to support me in saving the country from this dictatorThe Supreme Court has given me 21 days, I will travel across the country. Every drop of my blood is for the country he said. I am coming straight from jail to you. It feels great to be with you after 50 days. I just went to Hanuman temple with my wife and CM Bhagwant Mann. Bajrang Balis blessings are on our party and us. It is by his grace that I am among you today the Delhi CM said. AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal walked out of Tihar Jail on Friday, after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail till June 1 in the liquor policy case. Arvind Kejriwal Is Not A Person, Arvind Kejriwal Is A Thought Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who was also present during the press conference, said, Whether I went to Assam, Gujarat or Punjab, I just said that Arvind Kejriwal is not a person, Arvind Kejriwal is a thought, you will arrest the person, how to arrest the thought?In the first 3 rounds (of LS polls), PM Modi got to know that this time it is not going to be 400 paarThere is a slogan coming from the women wing- 25 May, BJP gayi #WATCH | Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann says Whether I went to Assam, Gujarat or Punjab, I just said that Arvind Kejriwal is not a person, Arvind Kejriwal is a thought, you will arrest the person, how to arrest the thought?In the first 3 rounds (of LS polls), PM Modi got to know pic.twitter.com/BSX04rjKS6 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 Earlier in the day, Kejriwal visited the Hanuman Temple at Connaught Place on Saturday accompanied by his wife Sunita and Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and thanked Lord Hanuman for his interim bail after 40 days in judicial custody. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal offered prayers at Hanuman Mandir in Connaught Place today.His wife Sunita Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann were also with him. pic.twitter.com/7RDuEXqpuA ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 Opposition leaders also welcomed Kejriwals interim bail, saying the fight to save democracy will now be with more intensity. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Day after walking out of Tihar jail, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the Hanuman Temple at Connaught Place on Saturday. The CM was accompanied by wife Sunita and Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann. He also thanked Lord Hanuman for his interim bail after 40 days in judicial custody. The chief minister is scheduled to hold a press conference later in the day, at the Aam Aadmi Party office in Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor said on Friday that he would also participate in a road show in South Delhi in the evening. Kejriwal was granted interim bail till June 1 by the Supreme Court earlier in the day in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. He will have to surrender and go back to prison on June 2. AAP leaders said the interim bail granted to the Delhi CM will be a game changer for both AAP and the INDIA blocs campaign as the Lok Sabha polls enter the crucial phases in the coming weeks. Opposition leaders also welcomed Kejriwals interim bail, saying the fight to save democracy will now be with more intensity. Hinting at a rise in the stature of Kejriwal as a top INDIA grouping leader, senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said he will go all over the country to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. As the Delhi chief minister walked out of prison Friday evening, AAP workers and supporters raised slogans of Jail Ke Tale Toot Gaye, Kejriwalji Chhoot Gaye. Standing through the sunroof of a car outside the prison, a grey T-shirt-clad Kejriwal addressed AAP workers and leaders gathered there to welcome him. Beginning with slogans of Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Vande Mataram and Inquilab Zindabad, he said, I am fighting against dictatorship with all my might but 140 crore people (of the country) will have to come together to fight against it. He added that he would visit the Hanuman temple at Connaught Place at 11 am on Saturday and address a press conference at the AAP office at 1 pm. I am feeling great to be with you. I had told you that I would come out soon First of all, I want to pay obeisance to Lord Hanuman. I am among you because of the blessings of Lord Hanuman, Kejriwal said, asking people to come in large numbers to the temple. Arvind Kejriwals Saturday Itinerary at a Glance: 11 am: Hanuman Temple, Connaught Place 1 pm: Press conference at AAP office 4 pm: Road show at South Delhis Mehrauli 6 pm: Road show at North Delhis Krishna Nagar Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on Congress accusing the then ruling party of not taking any action after the attacks of 26/11 over fears that their vote bank will shift. The prime minister, while addressing a rally in Odishas Kandhamal, further said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have struggled for decades because of Congress weak mindset. India will never forget the times when the country used to suffer frequent terrorist attacks and the Congress leaders would sit with the perpetrators of terrorism, he said. PM Modi Reacts To Mani Shankar Aiyars Respect Pakistan Remark PM Modi further reacted to Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyars India should respect Pakistan because it has atom bomb remark saying the grand old party tries to instil fear in their own countrymen. Time and again Congress try to scare its own country. They say sambhal ke chalo Pakistan ke pass atom bomb hai. Ye mare pade log, desh ke man ko bhi maar rahe hain. They talk about Pakistans bomb, but the condition of Pakistan is such that they dont know how to keep it and they are looking for a buyer to sell their bombs but no one wants to buy them as people know about the quality, he said. #WATCH | While addressing a public meeting in Odishas Kandhamal, PM Narendra Modi says, Time and again Congress try to scare its own country. They say sambhal ke chalo Pakistan ke pass atom bomb hai. Ye mare pade log, desh ke man ko bhi maar rahe hain. They talk about pic.twitter.com/DmbBWnZpfX ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 The prime minister also said that Congress will be limited below 50 seats. India has made up their mind that NDA will cross 400 (in Lok Sabha). The people of Congress must note that the country has now decided that on June 4 they wont get the seats that are needed to be the opposition, they will be limited below 50 seats, PM Modi added. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration of trying to fix the Lok Sabha elections by selectively targeting and harassing her party and its supporters. Addressing a press conference at the PDP headquarters here, Mufti also alleged that the authorities have imposed restrictions for 48 hours from 6:30 pm on Saturday under Section 144 in Pulwama, which is part of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat going to polls on Monday. From 6:30 pm today, Section 144 has been imposed in Pulwama district which is unprecedented. It has not happened before that restrictions are imposed where the elections are to take place and that too till the time of the conclusion of the elections, she said. The PDP president said they were trying to harass the people so that they do not come out to vote. Preparations are being made to do fraud in the elections. The election is being fixed, she added. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister also alleged that her partys active workers, who have been organising its meetings, have been detained ahead of the polling. This is not restricted to Pulwama only. Some days back, there was an attack in Surankote (in Poonch district of Jammu). After that, 50-60 of our workers have been detained and a strange atmosphere is being created, said Mufti. If the Election Commission of India has to repeat 1987 elections, then why this drama of elections? If they have to create Ikhwan (government gunmen) or the party of Ikhwans, their proxies whom they are supporting then they should say that, she added. Mufti said the administration is not yet openly coming out in support of their proxies as they are waiting for the elections to conclude in two seats in Srinagar and Baramulla. After that, they will declare their support in Rajouri-Poonch (part of Anantnag-Rajouri seat). The election was delayed there only because of their party, the party of suited-booted ikhwans. They have created political ikhwans whom they support fully, the whole government machinery supports them, Mufti said. The government officials are under pressure. The PDP workers are selectively targeted, they are harassed, she added. The PDP chief asked Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to stop the drama of elections. If you want to do fraud in the elections, then tell us, we will leave. Why would we then put the lives of our workers at risk? she said. Mufti alleged the ruling BJP put several youth in jails. It is your responsibility to send a message to New Delhi that while you put our youth in jails, we will send them as our advocate to the Parliament, she added appealing to the people of Kashmir to cast their votes in favour of her party. Mufti further said they were targeting the PDP as they were rattled by her partys popularity. To a question about Union Home Minister Amit Shahs remarks on PoK, Mufti said the government should first address the problems in this part of Kashmir. Let them talk to the people here first. There are 22 crore Muslims in our country and the BJP calls them infiltrators and termites, Mufti said. So, what will they do by bringing Muslims from PoK when they think of the Muslims here as their enemies, she added. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In April, China's domestic passenger vehicle (PV) market retailed 1.532 million units, marking a year-over-year decrease of 5.7% and a month-over-month decrease of 9.4%, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association ("CPCA"). For the first four months of this year, the country's PV retail sales totaled 6.364 million units, an increase of 8% compared to the same period last year. For clarity, the passenger vehicles hereby refer to cars, MPVs, and SUVs locally produced on the Chinese Mainland. In 2024, China's macroeconomic conditions are stable and improving, with the first-quarter (Q1) car markets retail sales achieving a positive start as anticipated. The CPCA said policy guidelines aimed at the automotive industry are being issued frequently at the national level to further stabilize and expand car consumption. Following the implementation and gradual rollout of trade-in and vehicle replacement policies, Chinas Ministry of Commerce has organized nationwide promotional activities for car trade-ins. Additionally, car manufacturers and dealerships have initiated corresponding promotional events. Various regions have utilized energy conservation and emission reduction subsidy funds arranged by the central government to support eligible car trade-ins, which, along with corporate promotions, have effectively boosted the car market around the May Day holiday. Despite having 22 working days in April, two more than the previous year, a strong wait-and-see sentiment prevailed among consumers due to unstable pricing, resulting in a cyclical month-over-month downturn in China's passenger car retail sales. While price wars in the new energy vehicle (NEV) sector brought some increase in sales, the sustainability of these gains was weak and the internal market became heavily segmented. Conventional oil-fueled vehicles, under continued price competition, had little room for further price reductions, leading to an accelerated market share erosion by new energy vehicles and causing some consumers to hold off on purchases, further suppressing potential sales growth. In April, China's self-owned brands sold 880,000 PVs by retail, reflecting an 11% increase year-over-year but a 5% decrease from the previous month. For the month, these brands captured a 57.4% share of the domestic retail PV market, a growth of 9 percentage points compared to the same month last year. Cumulatively for 2024, their market share stood at 56%, up 6.3 percentage points from the same period last year. Mainstream joint-venture brands retailed 450,000 PVs in April, a 26% decrease year-over-year and a 9% decrease month-over-month. German brands made up 19% of retail sales, down 2.2 percentage points year-over-year; Japanese brands captured 15.2%, a drop of 3.6 percentage points; and American brands secured a 5.9% market share, down 2.6 percentage points from last year. Premium PV sales amounted to 200,000 units in April, marking a 12% decrease year-over-year and a 24% decrease month-over-month. Premium brands held a 13.2% share of the retail market, down 0.9 percentage points year-over-year, reflecting weak demand in the traditional luxury car segment. Among the top 10 automakers by homemade PV retail sales in Apr., there were only three companies seeing a rising movement year-on-year, namely, BYD, Geely Auto, and Chery Auto, all of which are China's local players. Both GAC Toyota and FAW Toyota faced a year-on-year decline of over 30%. The premium carmaker BMW Brilliance moved into the list at the 10th place. In April, PV manufacturers in China wholesaled 1.952 million units, marking a 9.8% increase year-over-year but an 11.2% decrease from the previous month. Chinese indigenous automakers wholesaled 1.246 million units, achieving a substantial year-over-year jump of 25% but a slight month-over-month decrease of 4%. Mainstream joint-venture automakers wholesaled 462,000 units, experiencing a 13% decline year-over-year and a 21% drop from the previous month. Premium car wholesalers moved 240,000 units, down 2% year-over-year and 22% month-over-month. In April, leading carmakers like BYD, Chery, Geely, and Changan demonstrated overall strong performances. There were 32 manufacturers in China with wholesales exceeding 10,000 units (compared to 33 in March and 27 in the same period last year), accounting for 95.6% of the total market share. Of these, three manufacturers saw year-over-year growth exceeding 100%, 14 had growth over 10%, and 14 experienced a decline in sales. Additionally, nine of the manufacturers that sold over 10,000 units reported a month-over-month increase compared to March. In April, China's passenger car production output reached 1.988 million units, an increase of 14.9% year-over-year and a decrease of 9.6% from the previous month. This production figure exceeded the previous historical high set in April 2018 by 18,000 units, establishing a new record. Production growth varied among different segments. To be specific, premium brands experienced a 7% increase year-over-year, despite a 13% decrease month-over-month; joint venture brands saw a 10% decrease year-over-year and an 18% decrease month-over-month; and Chinas self-owned brands achieved a remarkable 30% increase year-over-year, even with a 5% decrease from the previous month. Automobile exports continued their strong growth trajectory from the end of last year. In April, Chinas customs reported vehicle exports of 556,000 units, reflecting a 31% increase year-over-year. From January to April, vehicle exports totaled 1.878 million units, up 26% year-over-year. According to data reported by main PV manufactures, China's PV exports (including complete vehicles and CKD) reached 417,000 units in April, marking a 38% increase year-over-year and a 0.2% growth month-over-month, the highest monthly export volume in history. From January to April, cumulative PV exports were 1.491 million units, a 37% increase year-over-year. New energy vehicles accounted for 27.1% of total exports in April, down 2.9 percentage points from the same period last year. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused Governor CV Ananda Bose, accused of molestation by a former employee of Raj Bhavan, of showing edited CCTV footage of the premises of May 2 to the common people. Demanding the Governors resignation, Banerjee said she would not visit the Raj Bhavan till Bose holds the constitutional chair. Addressing a Lok Sabha Election rally in Hooghly, the Trinamool Congress Chief said, Governor CV Ananda Bose should resign. He has tortured women He must explain why he should not resignBengal Guv released edited CCTV footage of Raj Bhavan, I watched the entire video and its contents are shocking. Stating that she will not visit Raj Bhavan till Bose remains Bengal Governor, the Chief Minister said, I feel sitting beside him is also sin. Without directly referring to the recent screening of CCTV footage at Raj Bhavan for the public earlier this week, Mamata Banerjee said that she had got a copy of the original footage and the edited version. I have kept it with myself. I have also got the edited copy. All are yet to be revealed. Today I received yet another pen-drive. What authority do you have to harass a woman? Mamata Banerjee questioned. Without directly naming Bose, the Chief Minister also referred to the recent statement by the Governor that he will not tolerate high-handedness over Raj Bhavan. What is my fault? You are saying that you will not tolerate high-handedness. Just tell us when you will resign, the Chief Minister said. Mamata Banerjee also claimed that the BJP had started smelling an election disaster since the end of the third phase of polls on May 7. They are crying after the third phase of polls. Just wait and watch what transpires in the coming days, she said. Mamata Banerjee also alleged that Trinamool Congress leaders were constantly receiving threatening calls, warning them of dire consequences if they do not stay out of the polls. We are not scared of anyone. If we can end the 34-year-long Left Front rule in West Bengal, we can surely throw BJP out of power in the country, she said. CCTV Footage Screening At Raj Raj Bhavan The allegation came a day after Bose on Thursday showed May 2 CCTV footage of Raj Bhavan premises to the common people. Footage from two CCTV cameras positioned at the main (north) gate, spanning from 5.32 pm to 6.41 pm on May 2, was shown to a select group of people and journalists at the Central Marble Hall on the ground floor of Raj Bhavan. A contractual woman employee of Raj Bhavan had last week lodged a written complaint with Kolkata Police alleging that she was molested by Bose in the governors house on April 24 and May 2. However, in the entire footage, Governor Bose could not be seen. In the first footage, the woman, dressed in blue jeans and a top, was seen going to the police outpost housed within the governors house, with many policemen deployed on Raj Bhavan premises for the scheduled visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The second footage, which lasted for around 10 minutes, showed various vehicles including fire tenders arriving at the gate, and policemen lining up for their regular duties but the woman could not be seen coming out of the next room. According to the investigating officers of Kolkata Police, the complainant has alleged that she was molested inside the conference room of Raj Bhavan. During the entire screening, neither Bose nor any official of the governors house were present. Even after the screening was over, there was no official briefing to clarify the purpose of screening the CCTV footage. Bose had on Wednesday said he would show the footage to common people, barring politician Mamata Banerjee and her police. Modi had on May 2 stayed the night at Raj Bhavan, before addressing three political rallies in West Bengal on May 3. TMCs Reaction Reacting to the CCTV footage screening, Trinamool Congress leader and state finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said, The governor said he will show CCTV footage to 100 people. Who are those 100? It was seen that some policemen were roaming around outside Raj Bhavan. A woman is seen in the footage. Her face should have been blurred. Second, the Governor said, the truth will come out. Then he could have shown the events of that time. The footage shown proves nothing. BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said, The governor will surely take action as per his Constitutional responsibilities. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has raised doubts over the surgical strikes by Indian Air Force (IAF) in Pakistans Balakot after the Pulwama attack in February 2019, saying nobody knows if something like this has taken place. Reddy further flagged the failure of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) over the Pulwama incident, in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed. His remarks came after similar comments by Congress leaders over the Pulwama attack. For Modi, everything is politics, everything is about winning elections. So, Modis thinking is not right for the country. So, the country needs to be without BJP, without Modi now. They answer everything with Jai Sri Ram. Pulwama incident is a classic example. They have failed. What is the IB doing? What is the Intelligence network doing? Modi ji attempted political benefit from the surgical strike after Pulwama incident, Reddy said. My question to him is What are you doing? Why did Pulwama incident happen? Why did you let it happen? What are you doing about internal security? Why did you not use agencies like IB, R&AW? It is your failureNobody knows to date if a surgical strike actually took place. So, internal security is Congress responsibility. We are not ready to leave the country in just anyones hands, the Congress leader further said. #WATCH | Hyderabad: Telangana CM Revanth Reddy says, For Modi, everything is politics, everything is about winning elections. So, Modis thinking is not right for the country. So, the country needs to be without BJP, without Modi now. They answer everything with Jai Sri pic.twitter.com/17ZYnIxbur ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 Telangana CM Giving Clean chit to Pakistan: BJP leader Bandi Sanjay Kumar Reacting to Revanth Reddys remarks, BJP leader Bandi Sanjay Kumar asked why the Telangana CM was trying to give a clean chit to Pakistan on the surgical strike and Pulwama attack. The other day, he gets praise from Pakistan newspaper. Today he questions Honble PM Narendra Modi on National security. This Congress which is responsible for Gokul chat, Mecca Masjid, Dilshuknagar, Lumbini Park Bomb blasts in Hyderabad should be last one to speak about national security. Sooner or later congress might say, even these blasts didnt happen. Its unfortunate and didnt expect Telangana CM to question the sacrifices of Indian army just for cheap political mileage, Bandi wrote in an X post. Explore the detailed schedule and key constituencies of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Fourth Phase Art museums open the doorway for us to pause, reflect, wonder, and feel. Not only do we tap into our subconscious to perceive the treasured objects as per our interpretation, but we also learn a lot about the places culture and history. However, in present times, museums have fallen prey to rebellion and activism. People are choosing these peaceful environments to protest, even going to the extent of damaging precious art forms. A similar incident was recently witnessed at Paris Centre Pompidou-Metz where two women ruined a 19th-century nude painting by spraying the Me Too movement slogan on the artwork. According to a report by the New York Post, a performance artist named Deborah de Robertis and another unidentified woman were the main culprits behind the art damage. The painting that was destroyed was illustrated by French artist Gustave Courbet in 1866, featuring a nude titled The Origin of the World. They sprayed the words Me Too on the glass pane, the medium through which the artwork was protected, as a part of their performance act You Dont Separate the Woman from the Artist. The painting was taken on loan from the Musee dOrsay in Paris, as a part of an exhibition. The museum authorities have filed a police complaint against the two women. Stained with red paint, the work was taken down for examination by a qualified restorer. The frame has received numerous splashes of paint that could have lasting marks even after restoration, claimed the Musee dOrsay officials, as quoted by the New York Post. Apart from Courbets nude painting, the two women also ruined four other art illustrations. Pompidou-Metz prosecutor Yves Badorc confirmed that the two women have been arrested, reported The Guardian. Besides the two women, a third person was also involved in the crime of stealing precious 1991 artwork which was a red embroidery on a white material, created by French artist Annette Messager. The performance artist claimed that the act of stealing was a part of reappropriation. The name of the same was I Think Therefore I Suck. As per Musee dOrsay, Courbets painting will not return to the Pompidou-Metz exhibition which will wrap up in May. When we think of travel and exploring new destinations around the world, Pakistan might not be the first place that pops into our heads. Its like that one underrated dish on the menu that probably has the potential to turn out to be a hidden gem but it often goes unnoticed from the bucket list of most travel enthusiasts. But, for Katie Scollan, a popular British travel influencer with a knack for the offbeat, Pakistan was the ultimate adventure waiting to happen. Scollan is known for her solo adventures and social media presence. She recently took on a journey to explore Pakistan, documenting her experiences along the way. In a video reel shared on April 15, Scollan revealed her first day in the country, immersing viewers with glimpses of Pakistans rich culture and warm hospitality. Starting her day with a tuk-tuk ride, Scollan travelled through the bustling street market, immersing herself in its vibrant atmosphere. The market, adorned with quaint tea shops and lively stalls, offered a sensory delight. In the video, Scollan indulges in a rabri-flavoured ice cream. Moving on to Clifton Beach, renowned for its lively ambiance, Scollan talks about the local scene and takes a camel ride. She also captures picturesque moments that are sure to grace her Instagram feed. As the day drew to a close, Scollan treated herself to a delicious steak dinner, leaving her viewers with envy-inducing shots of her mouthwatering food. Watch it here: Apart from getting millions of views, the video has also sparked conversations among social media users, with many praising Pakistans hospitality and expressing excitement for Scollans upcoming adventures in the country. The hospitality culture seems so kind, fantastic on the first day, wrote a user. So proud of Pakistans hospitality, wrote another . Welcoming the influencer to their country, a viewer said, Thank you for visiting and exploring our country. Do visit the north side, You guys are always welcome here with open arms. Encouraged by the positive feedback, Scollan continued her exploration, sharing more reels that showcase Pakistans diverse landscapes and cultural treasures. From traversing the scenic routes of Punjab and Islamabad to braving the challenging roads of Murree and Naran Kaghan, Scollans journey in Pakistan is showing the countrys allure to her viewers globally. Today, anything and everything is considered content on social media. From dancing inside trains to shooting a vlog at someones funeral, content creators are pushing boundaries like never before. Amidst this, a video of an influencer dancing with a pistol on a Lucknow highway has gone viral on the internet. The influencer, identified as YouTuber Simran Yadav, can be seen in the viral clip dancing to a Bhojpuri song in the middle of the street, with a gun in her hands. As the video progresses, she lip-syncs to the background score and waves the weapon around boldly. Instagram star Simran Yadav of Lucknow is openly flouting the law and code of conduct by waving a pistol on the highway and making a video viral to show off her communitys power in the society, but the officials are maintaining silence, wrote X user, Advocate Kalyanji Chaudhary, tagging the authorities. Following the videos viral spread, Lucknow Police responded, stating that an investigation into the matter has been instructed to the concerned authorities. The concerned have been directed to take necessary action, read the comment by the Lucknow Police. LUCKNOW POLICE (@lkopolice) May 9, 2024 Meanwhile, internet users expressed outrage at such acts being performed in broad daylight. One user wrote, Please take stringent action so that no other idiotic influencer can imitate such stunts. Another echoed, Start putting a hefty fine on these jokers. Money can be used to feed poor people. Also Read: British Influencer Shares Solo Travel Vlog From Pakistan And Internet Is Loving It Why is she showing a gun and all so casually in the middle of the street with people around? And sharing the same on the internet with such a massive following is simply not acceptable, commented a third user. Earlier, an Australian influencer, Mikaela Testa, faced backlash on social media for posting an image from a gun range. She shared this post in response to a question about her favourite thing about America. Many people in the past have been declared dead by mistake. There are many instances of people getting their documents cancelled after that. People have lost their nationality like this as well. Multiple documentaries and movies on these incidents keep us astonished. A case in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, surfaced where something similar took place. The university had cancelled the pension of the person who was considered dead. Dr Brij Kishore Singh was considered dead by Ranchi University by mistake. However, he was only retired from his job and was still alive. Due to the mistake, his pension was cancelled. The profession worked in the physics department. He retired from the department 15 years ago. He visited the bank every month to collect his pension. On the first day of the month, when he did not receive any message, it meant that he had not received the pension. This forced him to contact the bank. Dr. Brij Kishore Singh made a complaint regarding e-pension. When he informed the bank about what had happened, the bank also informed him that they did not receive the pension either. The money did not arrive at the bank, either. The money did not get credited to his account. Then he reached out to Ranchi VV headquarters and filed a complaint. The employees of the department received the complaint and apologized to him. The Department of Pension had made a mistake in the details, and according to the data, he was considered dead. Dr. Brij Kishore Singh forced the employees of the department to make corrections. Finally, they informed Dr Brij Kishore Singh that his pension would be sent to his existing bank account with the pension next month. Such incidents are not rare when, due to mistakes made in documents, someone is announced dead in India. People have been informed about such incidents previously. Many corrections have been made by government officials. Some of these examples were seen during the elections too. Authorities in Taiwan have put serious accusations against a woman, alleging that she hid her dead fathers body in her home for years to falsely claim his military pension. The woman, whose identity remains undisclosed, lives in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan and had reportedly resided with her father for over five decades. The initial suspicions were first raised in November after she was fined NT$60,000 (approximately Rs 1.50 lakh) for obstructing health officials from applying dengue prevention chemicals in her residence. Her constant refusal raised concerns and prompted police involvement. During the probe, when officers interrogated the woman regarding her fathers whereabouts, she falsely asserted that her father was living in a nursing facility. According to South China Morning Post, the womans father was a military veteran who served the country for over 20 years. This enabled him to receive a monthly pension based on his rank and service record. Although specific details of his military service were not disclosed, Taiwanese military veterans typically receive an average monthly pension of NT$49,379 (approximately Rs 1.27 lakh). Meanwhile, upon further investigation and questioning, the woman altered her story, claiming that her brother had transported their father to the mainland. However, this narrative was dismissed later when the authorities found evidence that the brother had passed away almost 50 years ago and there were no records that her father left Taiwan. Struggling to maintain credibility, she once again changed her opinion and told police that her father had passed away on the mainland. When they asked for his death certificate, the woman alleged that she was in the process of applying for the document. Following the womans unstable statements, authorities conducted a search of the premises and discovered a black plastic garbage bag containing the remains of an elderly individual. Upon investigation, police found that the man had been deceased for a long time. Additionally, forensic experts revealed that it typically takes one to two years for a body to decompose into skeletal remains. While the strongest smell comes two weeks after someone dies, it usually goes away after almost a month. As of now, the investigation about the cause of the mans death is ongoing and authorities will determine whether the woman committed a serious crime beyond just hiding her fathers body. In Taiwan, penalties for offenses related to mistreating or mishandling a corpse can be severe, as individuals can face up to five years in prison. On the other hand, if such crime involves a direct relative or close family member, the sentence may be increased by 1.5 times. After a major legal battle, a woman has made nearly $2 million (Rs 16 crore) off a NASA artefact she purchased at a seized assets auction. Nancy Lee Carlson came into possession of Neil Armstrongs moon rock bag after purchasing it for $995 (Rs 83,000) at a seized assets auction on behalf of the US Marshals Service. Soon after, she sent it to NASA for authentication, which confirmed its historical value but then refused to return it. Carlson began a mental legal battle with the government agency, which she eventually won and gained possession of the artefact. Then, in 2017, she decided to sell the piece of history via auction. As the first person to walk on the moon, Armstrongs memorabilia was expected to fetch a nice chunk of money despite its relatively plain appearance. Experts had estimated the bags value at around $2 million (Rs 16.7 crore) and expected it to fetch at least that amount at auction. The bag was used by the astronaut to collect exogeological samples from the moon while on the surface of Earths most popular space rock. On July 20, 2017, the 48th anniversary of the Apollo 11 space mission that made Armstrong a household name, Carlsons bag was auctioned off at the Space Exploration Auction in New York City. She fetched a large sum of money from the sale of the 12-by-8.5-centimetre bag. The bag is simply marked LUNAR SAMPLE RETURN and is white with a thick brass zipper. Despite its visual simplicity, Carlson was able to fetch $1.8 million (Rs 15.03 crore) for her less than a thousand-dollar investment at the July auction. The object was introduced by the auctioneer as an exceptionally rare artefact of mankinds greatest achievement, Phys Org reports. It took just five minutes for bids to skyrocket and the item was eventually sold to an anonymous buyer. It may be surprising that such an important piece of American and scientific history was relegated to one persons private collection, and so it should be. Armstrongs collection bag was supposed to be carefully preserved, but a clerical error landed the piece in a storage box at the Johnson Space Center. On the way out, the centre offered it to the owner of a space museum in Kansas, who gratefully accepted it. He was later arrested and convicted of theft, fraud, and money laundering while the bag rotted in a box of seized evidence. In Michigan, USA, a homeless woman was found occupying the rooftop sign of a grocery store named Family Fare in Midland. The 34-year-old woman had transformed the space behind the triangle shaped sign of Family Fare into a comfortable home. The unexpected discovery happened when a contractor was investigating an extension cord on the rooftop which was approximately 5ft wide and 8ft high. While there was no visible way of access, such as a ladder, officer Brennon Warren from the Midland Police Department speculated that the woman might have climbed up from behind the store or neighbouring retail stores. Interestingly, the woman managed to get electricity through a power cord connected to a rooftop outlet. Despite having a job, she lived inside the sign for nearly a year. After agreeing to vacate the premises, no legal action was taken against her by the store owners. Officer Warren told AP, Its a story that makes you scratch your head, just somebody living up in a sign. There was some flooring that was laid down. A mini desk, her clothing, coffee maker, printer and a computer, things youd have in your home. I honestly dont know how she was getting up there. She didnt indicate, either. Officer Brennon Warren even provided the homeless woman with information about available services in the area, to help find support. However, she politely declined the help, apologised and left the scene. Despite the officers efforts, it remains unclear where she went afterwards. Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Spartan Nash, the parent company of Family Fare stated, We are proud of our associates for responding to this situation with the utmost compassion and professionalism. Ensuring there is ample safe, affordable housing continues to be a widespread issue nationwide that our community needs to partner in solving. Out of respect for privacy for the individual involved, we will not be sharing further comments. Saralyn Temple, representing Midlands Open Door, a nonprofit organisation hel Flash floods that have ripped through northern Afghanistan left more than 300 people dead in multiple provinces, the World Food Programme said on Saturday, as authorities declared a state of emergency and rushed to rescue the injured. Northern Baghlan province was one of the hardest hit, with more than 300 people killed there alone, and thousands of houses destroyed or damaged, according to WFP. On current information: in Baghlan province there are 311 fatalities, 2,011 houses destroyed and 2,800 houses damaged, Rana Deraz, a communications officer for the UN agency in Afghanistan, told news agency AFP. There were disparities between the death tolls provided by the government and humanitarian agencies. The UN migration agency, the International Organization for Migration, said there were 218 deaths in Baghlan. Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesman for the interior ministry, told AFP that 131 people had been killed in Baghlan, but that the government toll could rise. Many people are still missing, he said. Another 20 people were reported dead in northern Takhar province and two in neighbouring Badakhshan, he added. In Baghlani Jadid district alone, up to 1,500 homes were damaged or destroyed and more than 100 people died, an IOM emergency response lead said, citing figures from the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority. Taliban government officials said 62 people had died as of Friday night. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said hundreds of our fellow citizens have succumbed to these calamitous floods in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, without differentiating the numbers of dead and injured, though he told AFP dozens had been killed. Multiple provinces across Afghanistan saw flash flooding, with officials in northern Takhar province reporting 20 dead on Saturday. Rains on Friday also caused heavy damage in northeastern Badakhshan province, central Ghor province and western Herat, officials said. Emergency personnel have been deployed to the affected areas and were rushing to rescue injured and stranded people, the defence ministry said. Afghanistan which had a relatively dry winter, making it more difficult for the soil to absorb rainfall is highly vulnerable to climate change. The nation, ravaged by four decades of war, is one of the poorest in the world and, according to scientists, one of the worst prepared to face the consequences of global warming. Beijing (Gasgoo)- Voyager Technology, a Shanghai-based ADAS solution provider, has recently been nominated by South Koreas KG Mobility to supply its VT-DMS driver monitor system for the latters mass production project. Photo credit: Voyager Technology This milestone not only expands KG Mobility's footprint in the European market but also accelerates Voyager Technology's global technology outreach. Voyager Technology's VT-DMS complies with the EU's 2019/2144 (GSR 2.0) certification regulations concerning DDAW/ADDW/Cybersecurity, meeting a series of technical requirements outlined in (EU) 2021/1341, (EU) 2023/2590, UN R155, among others. Established in November 2013, Voyager Technology is a global intelligent driving company specializing in environmental perception, intelligent decision-making, and control execution, with over 70% of its workforce dedicated to R&D. In April this year, Voyager Technology successfully concluded its Series B+ financing round, securing over 100 million yuan in funding. The company operates three core business segments, VT-CAM intelligent perception series, VT-Pilot intelligent driving series, and VT-Cockpit intelligent cabin series. It provides tailored solutions and technical support to major automakers, including FAW Group, Geely, Changan, Great Wall Motor, Chery, and HOZON Auto. With a strategic focus on global expansion for over a decade, Voyager Technology has established a presence in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe and the Americas. Collaborations with renowned automakers such as Toyota, Volkswagen, and KG Mobility underscore its commitment to driving innovation across borders. Britains Prince William said on Friday his wife Kate was doing well in a rare public comment about the Princess of Wales as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy for cancer. Kate announced in March she was having treatment after cancer was found following abdominal surgery she underwent at the start of the year. She said at the time she was well, but the couples office have said they would not be providing regular updates on her health and she is not due to return to public duties until her doctors say she is well enough to do so. However, asked how his wife was faring during a visit to a community hospital on the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall in southwest England, William, 41, replied: Shes doing well, thank you, yes. The heir to the throne, who is also the Duke of Cornwall, was on a two-day trip to the region, where he saw a site for a new project to tackle homelessness, spent time on a beach with local groups and visited a community hospital. He arrived by boat on Friday on the Isles of Scilly, 28 miles (17 miles) off the coast of Cornwall, buying a Cornish pasty, the regions famous savoury pastry and telling crowds who had gathered on the quayside that his family were very upset that he was there without them. William had also met harbour operators and local business people on St Marys, the largest of the islands, talking to them about their preparations for the summer tourist season. His father King Charles, 75, had also been out and about on Thursday, visiting a military training college, in his latest engagement since he returned to public duties after his cancer diagnosis. Nudists from many countries are embarking on a 11-day trip as they sail aboard the 968-foot Norwegian Pearl from Miami to the Caribbean islands. The trip will take place next year. The trip has been planned by Bare Necessities a travel company that caters to nudists. Nudists are individuals or communities who embrace naturism and enjoy being unclothed in designated places like resorts and beaches. Bare Necessities and Norwegian Cruise Line are partnering for the Big Nude Boat 2025, according to the groups website. They have also renamed the boat The Big Nude Boat for the journey. Bare Necessities newest nude cruise is a private island double-dip with a brand new travel partner! Well begin our Big Nude Boat 2025 on Norwegian Pearl with an exclusive visit to an idyllic private island in The Bahamas, and cap off the cruise adventure with another exclusive stop on the way back. Two opportunities to enjoy a new slice of Bare-adise, coupled with a beautiful selection of Eastern Caribbean island stops, will make this a cant miss Big Nude Boat experience, the company said in its message discussing the itinerary for the trip scheduled for next year. As always, its our pleasure to provide you with the luxury of deciding what NOT to wear, a message on the Bare Necessities site reads. However, there are two places that they must cover up. While travelling through the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and St. Maarten, customers will have to cover their bodies if they disembark the ship to do any sightseeing. There are also strict rules regarding dining. The customers will be required to wear some form of clothing while inside the vessels indoor dining rooms, according to a report by the New York Post. Nude outdoor dining is allowed in the large buffet area. Nudists will need to wear some form of clothing if they are sitting in the stateroom, pool deck and buffet area if theyre baring their bottoms. The company warned that fondling or inappropriate touching is prohibited. The company has chartered more than 75 nude cruises in the past. Nude cruise prices begin at $2,000, with deluxe three-bedroom villas costing nudists up to $33,000. A sexagenarian who took one of their tours said on social media that these cruises attract those who enjoy leisure and dining and most people are not that comfortable being nude in public. He said the crowd is also mostly older in age. Also, most people dont seem to be comfortable being nude in public until later in life so the crowd was older. Id say 20% attractive, 20% average, 60% unattractive, the person said on Reddit. An American restaurant worker in the US state of Kansas admitted to cops that he rubbed his genitals, urinated or spat on food before serving them to customers. Jace Christian Hanson, 21, a worker at Hereford House steakhouse told the cops that he placed his genitals on the salmon fish, peed in pickles and in the au jus sauce (a thin, flavorful sauce made from the juices of cooked meat). He told the cops that he engaged in such acts more than 20 times. He started working at the Hereford House steakhouse in the affluent community of Leawood, a city that is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. He told cops that men he met on dating apps and fetish sites egged him on and requested him to commit these acts but local police busted him for his stomach-churning antics. US news media outlets said US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents investigating reports of possible intentional food contamination tipped the cops. Uploaded Videos The cops were provided with thumbnails from videos posted on a website called thisvid.com by a user going by the name Vandalizer. The thumbnails teased videos of a man urinating in food kept in restaurant-style bins, pressing food items against his penis and buttocks and using his feet to touch food. The videos had titles like: Pissing in the serving sauce again, Pissing on restaurant desert, Love making people taste my sweaty balls and toes and Spitting on everything in restaurant part 2. The FBI pinged a phone number they believed belonged to Hanson and traced its signal to the Hereford House parking lot and found a vehicle registered in his name. When cops spoke to Hereford House authorities on April 25, the owner and head chef, who recognized his au jus sauce in one of the thumbnail photographs, quickly ordered Hanson to meet them and the cops. Hanson was working on that day and came out of the kitchen. He also happened to be wearing the shoes he wore in at least three videos because of which authorities at Hereford House and the police instantly recognised. Ill just be straight up, yeah (I had) just been doing stupid shit, Hanson admitted as soon as he appeared in front of the police. (I have been) urinating in food, rubbing food on my d**k, he further added, admitting that he shoved food items down his pants on numerous occasions. I am sure, he said, confirming that he ensured the food items he served to customers were contaminated and he did so more than 20 times. He said that men he met through apps like Grindr, Sniffys and Scruff had made special requests to violate food items. He also said that he masturbated in the restaurants walk-in cooler but denied putting his bodily fluids on any food products. He said it that he acted like this because he did not like the job but said that he continued doing it even after he began enjoying his work. This is an upsetting situation for our customers and for all of us connected to the restaurant, Hereford House, which has been open since 1957, said in a statement. The statement added that the community has been supportive, and the restaurant looks look forward to continuing serving everyone. Long-time patrons of the restaurant, like John Durrett from Kansas City, expressed outrage and sadness over the incident. He said it was a death penalty for the trust bestowed by patrons on the upscale restaurant. He was livid because he recently visited Hereford House with his mother to commemorate his late father, who loved eating here, and chose the restaurant because it held sentimental value. However, shortly after their meal, Durrett fell ill with gastrointestinal problems. He told local news outlets that if the news had not broken he may not have made the connection. Hanson faces felony charges of criminal threat and could get up to 13 months in prison and a $100,000 fine. Hes out on $100,000 bond and has a court date on June 6. Around 140 people said they ate at the restaurant during the time of the incident. Years after the project was announced but still before any dirt was dug, Nicaragua has canceled its $50 billion deal with a Chinese businessman to build a canal through it connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The plan had generated widespread opposition over the past decade, sparking protests by thousands of farmers, the Guardian reports; three of the protest leaders were sentenced to long prison terms. President Daniel Ortega's government argued the 172-mile canal, envisioned as much larger rival to the Panama Canal, would be good for the economy, creating tens of thousands of jobs. Many Nicaraguans saw the project as destructive. The canal would have forcibly displaced an estimated 120,000 people, including Rama and Creole communities from protected Indigenous territories. As one of the world's biggest civil engineering and construction projects, it would have would have bisected the largest lake in Central AmericaLake Nicaraguaand destroy protected natural spaces where 22 endangered species live. The contract itself made no sense to many; the 50-year canal concession was awarded to a Hong Kong-based company owned by a Chinese businessman with no experience in civil engineering. Wang Jing then reportedly lost 85% of his wealth in the 2015 stock market crisis, per the Guardian. A ground-breaking ceremony was held in 2014 that proved meaningless. The nation's congress now has officially scrapped the deal, per the South China Morning Post. "It's a shame that Ortega realizes his own failure a decade later, after making arrangements to confiscate land from peasant farmers," said Medardo Mairena, the leader of a canal opposition group who's living in exile in the US. (More Nicaragua canal stories.) Beijing (Gasgoo)- On May 9, Shanghai-based intelligent vehicle innovation platform CIV-IP and V2X technology develoepr CICTCI officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement in the field of intelligent transportation, aiming to advance city-level vehicle-road-cloud operation scale for intelligent connected vehicles, according to SAIC Motor's WeChat post on May 10. Under the agreement, both parties will collaborate on national-level pilot projects and major initiatives in integrated vehicle-road-cloud systems, intelligent connected vehicles, and intelligent transportation. They will undertake the construction and commercialization of urban V2X platforms, large-scale autonomous driving C-V2X deployment, and application service requirements. Additionally, they will jointly expand urban industrial cooperation, solidify Shanghai and East China's construction and operational models, and establish industry standards for nationwide replication. Furthermore, they will participate in the formulation of standards for urban-level C-V2X autonomous driving platforms, promoting the industrialization of communication, autonomous driving, and intelligent transportation standards. China Information & Communication Technologies Group Corporation Limited (CICT) is a pioneer in C-V2X technologies, and CICTCI is the group's V2X technology arm. As an industry leader, CICTCI has supported over 100 projects in various smart city, smart park, smart highway, and intelligent driving scenarios, continuously leading the industrialization of V2X technologies. The State Department told Congress on Friday that although it hasn't found violations that would merit withholding military aid from Israel, it is "reasonable to assess" that the US ally's offensive in Gaza has used US weapons in breaking international law. At the same time, the Biden administration said it accepts Israel's word that its military campaign has not violated the law. Both conclusions were in a report ordered by President Biden, who called for similar evaluations for all nations receiving US weapons, the Washington Post reports. It's the most in-depth assessment yet of Israel's operation in Gaza. The report says Israel "has the knowledge, experience and tools to implement best practices for mitigating civilian harm in its military operations," per the New York Times. But the toll in Gaza, including civilian casualties, raises "substantial questions" about whether the Israel Defense Forces are using that capability to the fullest. In investigating allegations that Israel broke human rights laws, the report says, the US ran into Israel's refusal to turn over complete information on whether US weapons were used in those cases. Israel launched the offensive after Hamas fighters attacked it on Oct. 7, then retreated to Gaza. The report concedes that Israel has faced an "extraordinary military challenge" fighting Hamas in Gaza, per the BBC. It also notes the difficulty in obtaining reliable information from the war zone, including on the way Hamas operates in a place densely populated by civilians. But military aid shipments will not stop, after the administration said it found Israel's assurances that it will employ US weapons in a manner consistent with international law "credible and reliable." The report adds that the US did not conclude that Israel had intentionally obstructed humanitarian aid shipments to Gaza, per the Times. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.) With oral arguments over for this term, Supreme Court justices fanned out across the country over the weekend, providing an unusual flurry of public comments. At an appearance in Texas, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the way to increase public faith in the judicial system is through consistency, transparency, and mutual respect. In Ohio on Saturday, Justice Samuel Alito urged new college graduates to "go boldly and engage the world" while standing up for their beliefs, the Washington Post reports. Justice Clarence Thomas, speaking at a judicial conference in Alabama, went in a different direction. Without specifically mentioning the ethical questions he's faced about his actions, Thomas ripped what he called "the nastiness and the lies" that he and his wife, Ginni, have endured. "There's certainly been a lot of negativity in our lives, my wife and I, over the last few years, but we choose not to focus on it," he said, per the New York Times. Of the nation's capital, Thomas said, "It's a hideous place." Especially in Washington, he said, people "pride themselves on being awful." The criticism and questions about Thomas' conduct involve gifts and travel paid for by billionaires, as well as his refusal to recuse himself from Jan. 6 cases though his wife worked to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. One topic might be especially frustrating to Thomas' detractors: He said he wishes he'd kept his old job on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit instead of accepting a nomination to the Supreme Court. "If I knew more about the court, I would have stayed on the DC Circuit," Thomas said, adding that he had no interest at the time in public life but felt called by God. "I really would have preferred, if I could be selfish, to be on the DC Circuit," Thomas said. "I think this court is a bit tougher of a haul." (More Clarence Thomas stories.) Panama is on the verge of a dramatic change to its immigration policy that could reverberate from the dense Darien jungle to the US border. President-elect Jose Raul Mulino says he will shut down a migration route used by more than 500,000 people last year. Until now, Panama has helped speedily bus the migrants across its territory so they can continue their journey north, the AP reports. Whether Mulino can reduce migration through a sparsely populated region with little government presence remains to be seen, experts say. "Panama and our Darien are not a transit route. It is our border," Mulino said after his victory with 34% of the vote in Sunday's election was formalized Thursday evening. He will become president on July 1. The 64-year-old lawyer and former security minister said he would try to end "the Darien odyssey that does not have a reason to exist." The migrant route through the narrow isthmus grew exponentially in popularity in recent years with the help of organized crime in Colombia, making it an affordable, if dangerous, land route for hundreds of thousands. It grew as countries like Mexico, under pressure from the US government, imposed visa restrictions on various nationalities including Venezuelans and just this week Peruvians in an attempt to stop migrants flying into the country just to continue on to the US border. But masses of people set out on foot through the jungle-clad Colombian-Panamanian border. A crossing that initially took a week or more was whittled down to two or three days as the path became more established and entrepreneurial locals established a range of support services. It remains a risky route, however. Reports of sexual assaults have continued to rise, some migrants are killed by bandits in robberies, and others drown trying to cross rushing rivers, per the AP. Even so, some 147,000 migrants have already entered Panama through Darien this year. (Chinese migrants who are increasingly crossing into the US have used the Darien route.) TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Bahrain yesterday vehemently denounced the assault perpetrated by extremist Israeli settlers against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) headquarters in Jerusalem. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated Bahrain's urgent appeal to the international community, urging swift action to uphold the principles of international law, international humanitarian law, and resolutions of international legitimacy. These measures are essential for safeguarding civilians, as well as the premises and personnel of international and humanitarian organizations dedicated to providing essential aid to the Palestinian population, particularly in the Gaza Strip. The attack was also condemned by United Nations and European officials yesterday. "I condemn the recent attack on UNRWA Headquarters in East Jerusalem. Targeting aid workers and humanitarian assets is unacceptable, and must stop," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on X, formerly Twitter, referring to Thursday's attack. Earlier Germany's foreign ministry called out the "escalation of violent protest" and said on X that "Israel must ensure the protection of UN facilities and personnel in the occupied Palestinian territories". "The UN need to be able to serve their important mandate in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem," the ministry added. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc also "strongly condemns the attack". "It is Israel's responsibility to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers. UNRWA is an irreplaceable lifeline to millions in Gaza and the region," he said in a post on X. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Nibras Taleb, the CEO of Bahrains Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), emphasized the significance of strengthening cooperation and knowledge sharing with Kuwait to improve the work environment, combat illicit practices, and address human trafficking. His remarks came during discussions with a Kuwaiti delegation led by Ambassador Sheikha Jawaher Ibrahim Al Duaij Al Sabah, Kuwaits Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Human Rights. The meeting, held at the Migrant Workers Protection Society, provided a platform for Taleb to outline Bahrains initiatives, projects, and measures in combating human trafficking and upholding labor rights. He highlighted the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), an integrated electronic system that unifies governmental and non-governmental entities to streamline operations effectively. The Kuwaiti delegation received insights into the role of the Migrant Workers Protection Society in offering preventive, advisory, legal, and shelter services for victims and potential victims of human trafficking. Additionally, they were briefed on the Regional Centre of Excellence and Capacity Building for Combatting Trafficking in Persons, aimed at equipping certified trainers with the necessary skills to identify and assist victims of human trafficking. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Yesterday, Dr. Jaleela bint Al Sayed Jawad Hassan, the Minister of Health, engaged in discussions with Dr. Andreas Eliades, the recently appointed Ambassador of Cyprus to Bahrain. The meeting focused on areas of mutual interest, exploring avenues to bolster collaboration in training, exchanging expertise, and facilitating visits for medical professionals and specialists. Specifically, they delved into fields such as genomics, genetic blood disorders, and public thealth. Dr. Eliades underscored the significance of initiatives aimed at bolstering cooperation and coordination in the health sector between Bahrain and Cyprus. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In the fourth month of 2024, SAIC Motor sold 360,010 vehicles by wholesale, representing a year-on-year decline of 3.73%, according to its latest monthly sales results. For the first four months of this year, the Shanghai-headquartered auto giant recorded a total sales volume of 1,194,163 vehicles, which slid 5.61% over a year earlier. Of the vehicles sold last month, 74,590 units were contributed by the new energy vehicle (NEV) business, marking a 9.33% growth from the previous year. As for year-to-date performance, SAIC Motor's NEV sales amounted to 284,723 units for the Jan.-Apr. period, jumping 35.37% over a year ago. In addition, SAIC Motor announced a volume of 92,061 vehicles for its Apr. overseas sales (including export volume and sales created by its overseas bases), indicating a 2.7% year-over-year growth. However, the groups Jan.-Apr. overseas sales shrank 8.06% from the previous year to 318,736 units. Wuling Binguo; photo credit: SGMW Breaking down the Apr. sales by specific subsidiaries, SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) outsold others with a sales volume of 123,000 units, which jumped 16.81% compared to the same span in 2023. SAIC Volkswagen posted a 4.18% year-on-year growth in its Apr. sales, which reached 92,013 units. SAIC MOTOR Passenger Vehicle, the groups wholly-owned passenger vehicle unit, faced a 7.24% year-on-year decrease with 63,315 vehicles sold last month. Moreover, SAIC-GM saw its Apr. sales tumble 37.92% from the year-ago period to 49,665 units. Notably, IM Motors, the premium electric vehicle brand co-owned by Alibaba Group and Zhangjiang High-Tech, scored a 49.33% year-on-year surge in its Apr. deliveries, which stood at 3,000 units. As of Apr., there have been 13,001 vehicles under IM Motors delivered this year, marking a 125.16% soar year-over-year. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Plans are underway to conduct a comprehensive inventory of the Kingdoms groundwater wells. A tender, launched by the Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture, aims to update existing data and integrate technical information into the software utilised by the Local Agricultural Production Directorate (LAPD). The process will involve identifying and cataloguing all groundwater wells across Bahrain, including gathering essential technical data related to each well such as depth, water quality, and location coordinates. Through this initiative, the nation aims to ensure the sustainable management of groundwater reserves, thereby supporting agricultural productivity and environmental conservation efforts. The closing date for receiving bids is June 5th, 2024. A mandatory initial bond of BD1,000 is required for all bids. The ministry offers a 12-month contract to the successful bidder. The Daily Tribune has earlier reported that there are a total of 2,660 unmonitored wells in the Kingdom. 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. Li Auto to ship OTA 5.2 version onboard OS Li Auto is set to roll out the OTA 5.2 update for its vehicle infotainment system starting May 11, 2024, targeting users of the L series and the Li MEGA. This update focuses on enhancing smart driving and intelligent space functionalities. It introduces 19 new features and 23 improved experiences, specifically iterating on the features for the 2023 and 2024 models across all Li Auto vehicles. NETA Auto begins delivering NETA L vehicles On May 10th, at the Suzhou Fumao User Center, Chinese new energy vehicle maker NETA Auto initiated the first batch of deliveries for the NETA L model. This event also marked the beginning of the model's nationwide rollout. NETA Auto's CEO, Mr. Zhang Yong, personally handed over the vehicles to the first group of customers. China's Hefei city plans to add over 90,000 EV charging piles in 2024 Hefei city, the capital of Anhui province, plans to construct over 90,000 new electric vehicle charging piles in 2024, bringing the total number of charging piles in the city to more than 260,000 by the end of this year, according to a post on Hefei governments WeChat account. BYD releases images of first new energy pickup model 'SHARK' BYD recently unveiled official images of its first new energy pickup truck model, the SHARK, primarily highlighting the vehicle's side design. SAIC Motor's Roewe launches DMH Super Hybrid Technology brand On May 10th, during the eighth annual China Brand Day, SAIC Motor's self-owned passenger vehicle brand, Roewe, unveiled its "DMH Super Hybrid Technology", according to SAIC Motor's press release. This new technology brand aims to pioneer hybrid electric products for a global audience. CIV-IP, CICTCI partner to advance V2X smart transportation application in China On May 9, Shanghai-based intelligent vehicle innovation platform CIV-IP and V2X technology develoepr CICTCI officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement in the field of intelligent transportation, aiming to advance city-level vehicle-road-cloud operation scale for intelligent connected vehicles, according to SAIC Motor's WeChat post on May 10. Voyager Technology nominated to supply VT-DMS to South Korea's KG Mobility Voyager Technology, a Shanghai-based ADAS solution provider, has recently been nominated by South Koreas KG Mobility to supply its VT-DMS driver monitor system for the latter's mass production project. BYD's fire new mid-sized SUV Sea Lion 07 EV goes on sale, starting at 189,800 yuan On May 10th, BYD officially put its new all-electric mid-sized SUV, the Sea Lion 07 EV, onto the market. It comes with four variants priced between 189,800 yuan and 239,800 yuan. SAIC Motor's Jan.-Apr. NEV sales jump 35.37% YoY In the fourth month of 2024, SAIC Motor sold 360,010 vehicles by wholesale, representing a year-on-year decline of 3.73%, according to its latest monthly sales results. DreamSmart Group announces new executive team, former CEO Shen Ziyu not included Geely-associated DreamSmart Group recently unveiled its new executive team on its official website. Former Chairman and CEO of DreamSmart Group, Mr. Shen Ziyu, is notably absent from the new executive lineup. Screenshot: WEAR News Police in Milton, Florida arrested a man after he pulled a gun on an Uber driverearlier this week who was dropping his daughter off. Sean Hollonbeck forced the driver out of the car and onto the ground and has since been charged with false imprisonment and aggravated assault with a weapon, WEAR News reports. After pulling him out of the car, Hollonbeck reportedly forced the driver to lie down in the roadway, show his drivers license so he could photograph it, and allow him to photograph his license plate, his Uber account and the address where he picked up Hollonbecks daughter. As it turned out, the 13-year-old snuck out of the house Saturday night and took an Uber to Pensacola, about 30 minutes away. When he discovered shed snuck out, he reportedly called both the Santa Rosa County and Escambia County sheriffs offices, but didnt get much help from either department. So when she got back home, he made the only logical decision and pulled a gun on the completely innocent Uber driver. Its not entirely clear what kind of gun Hollonbeck used. WEAR News said it was a .22 rifle, but Fox 35 Orlando reports it was actually an AR-15. Either one could be deadly at close range, and having any gun pointed in your face is going to make for a bad day. ADVERTISEMENT If you assumed Hollonbeck would have seen the error of his ways after his arrest and being fired from his job, though, you couldnt possibly be more wrong. He is doubling down, insisting that he did everything right. That vehicle was completely unmarked. In my mind this was not good, right? he told WEAR News. And everybody knows whats going on in this country with fentanyl and child trafficking and rape. Terrible stuff. He also really wants people to know hes a veteran, saying, I served 31 years, I was an Army doctor, I trained as a Navy flight surgeon, I served with the 7th Special Forces Group, I served with the 160th. I served six tours. That, of course, only makes things worse since hes not some yokel whos never been taught the rules of firearm safety or when its appropriate to pull a gun on someone. Story continues The vast majority of this story has not been presented to the public whatsoever. And the vast majority of this is related to parental rights, he said, later adding, In this country, youre innocent until proven guilty. If it goes to trial, I look forward to it because I want to get 12 moms and dads on that jury and judge if what I did was fair because I called for law enforcement, and I didnt get them. Something tells us the jury will probably see things differently, but it is Florida, so you never know. Maybe theyll decide it actually isnt illegal to pull a gun on your daughters Uber driver. Crazier things have happened in the past. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. BIRTHDAY STAR: Actor Sabrina Carpenter was born in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, on this date in 1999. This birthday star portrayed Maya Hart on Girl Meets World from 2014 - 2017. She also voiced the role of Melissa Chase on Milo Murphys Law. Carpenters film resume includes roles in Tall Girl 2, Emergency, and Clouds. Besides acting, she also sings with her albums including the 2022 release Emails I Cant Send. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Discover your own path in life despite any fears that may be coming up. Your unique outlook could attract more attention than usual. Enjoy the special treatment and recognition that may come as a result of being your true self. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Follow your intuition as you sort through temptations that may or may not be good for you. You may have someone special who could support you in all the endeavors and challenges that life may bring. Allow your heart to guide you. CANCER (June 21-July 22): A spontaneous conversation may lead to a wise professional move or a profitable project. Since you could be in good harmony with your favorite person, an unexpected change of plans should be unlikely to spoil any weekend adventures. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): You may find that any advice you receive could be worth hearing especially when coming from those who may have your best interests at heart. Consider doing something out of the ordinary this weekend that may ignite your passions. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You could desire to do something worthwhile with your dreams, keep track of inspiring ideas and distill your knowledge. String together pearls of wisdom and create something valuable you could be proud of whatever the occasion. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A new financial concept may have the power to change your viewpoint. You might not always agree with your loved ones, but you might respect their knowledge and recognize their expertise on a variety of subjects. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You may possess plenty of understanding and sympathy which might make it easier to accept changes or disruptions with grace. Someone might need a break, or act in unpredictable ways, but it could turn out to be to everyones benefit. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You may turn your dreams into reality all while remaining close to home. Once you have completed a few tasks on your list, you might prioritize spending time working on your hobbies or enjoying the comfort of activities with your inner circle. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Your desires and goals may be waiting for more dedicated action from you; make progress by taking strategic and aligned steps forward. You may experience a yearning to break free from routines and explore something new. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Your passion for life and dedication to your dreams could be appreciated most by your loved ones. You may find it to be easy to stir up enthusiasm or gain cooperation, especially if you want to organize a gathering or unique outing for a close group. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You may find that the doubts that once clouded your thoughts disappear when an agreement and mutual understanding is achieved. Embrace a neighborhood get together or local event and you could meet supportive allies within your community. ARIES (March 21-April 19): Its possible that your trusted friends and reliable companions may be on your mind just as you could be on theirs. An impulsive purchase or unexpected gift could turn out to be more enjoyable than you imagined. IF MAY 11 IS YOUR BIRTHDAY: Your professionalism and practical expertise may shine brightly during the upcoming two to three weeks. Consider implementing key financial strategies while your common sense and skills may be at their peak. You could be impacted by emotional issues or struggle to make decisions in June. Wait until July to think about following your fantasies; perhaps take a vacation or get away for a weekend with someone close. Your social calendar could fill up quickly in August when your networking efforts could pay off with some extra invitations. Wait until late September or early October, when your reputation may be enhanced, to consider applying for a new opportunity or putting a new product out into the public view. That could be when your most attractive qualities are more obvious and you might be able to make firm commitments that reflect well on your public image. _____ Get a free personal astrology calendar: https://bit.ly/FreeAstroCal Use code FreeAstroCalendar See best & worst days here: https://bit.ly/BWDays 2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Hudson County Executive Craig Guy couldnt help but feel the pro-Bill ODea vibes at a recent Jersey City Democratic Committee meeting. I am here to support Rob Menendez. I see you all are here to support Bill ODea (for Jersey City mayor in 2025), Guy joked with the crowd, which roared its approval of the longtime Hudson County Board of Commissioners member according to sources who attended the event. Guy, who is expected to take over as chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization the group that makes and breaks political careers in the county was likely closer to the mark than some colleagues would like. There is a very strong level of support for ODea among the rank and file of Jersey City, an insider said, noting that people sometimes forget that while ODea often rails against the establishment, hes still an HCDO member. Democratic activist types, people who have been around a long time, county employees, city employees and people who have been around the game have a lot of respect for Bill. In an election thats still 18 months away, there is a buzz that even some in the HCDO are turning in Bill ODeas direction, or at the least hedging their early all-in support of former Gov. Jim McGreevey to succeed Steve Fulop, insiders say. Five HCDO insiders told The Jersey Journal some members, especially in Jersey City, are losing interest in supporting McGreevey, who runs the New Jersey Reentry Corp., a resource center for reformed offenders and the underserved. ODea, who has taken subtle and not-so-subtle jabs at McGreevey as an outsider, could not be reached for comment. McGreevey says his campaign is going more than well after growing positive feedback from the people of Jersey City. Before even making it official in November, the former governor had the full support of the HCDO. We are talking about the issues that impact peoples lives, McGreevey said. Our quest is to focus on the mission and the mission is how do we make life in Jersey City more affordable, safer and recreation better. That is my focus. Former school board President Mussab Ali and current Jersey City City Council President Joyce Watterman are also in the race, and it remains to be seen if anyone can crack the ODea-McGreevey bubble and catch fire. Current HCDO Chairman Anthony Vainieri has felt the positivity around ODeas campaign. I wasnt going to get involved in the mayoral race because I wouldnt be the chair for the mayoral race in 2025, said Vainieri, who has endorsed Guy for the HCDO chair. However, I am hearing that ODea is picking up a lot of steam or momentum maybe because they dont like who is supporting McGreevey. I dont know I dont think residents of Jersey City want an outsider running this city. One insider said ODea has Fulop, whos running for governor in 2025, on his side, and the two have appeared at numerous events together. But another insider said Fulop isnt going to publicly support ODea until he thinks he can win. Two other insiders pointed to a recent social media post by Fulop that called McGreeveys path to victory very narrow/unlikely as it stands today due to his campaign being controlled by non-Jersey City (people). The undercurrent has helped create more of a never-McGreevey than a pro-ODea mentality, they say. Insiders called the post a dig by Fulop at McGreeveys biggest booster, Union City Mayor and state Sen. Brian Stack, who was the first to endorse McGreevey for the position. The ground is sort of shifting in terms of the Fulops direct attacks and his supporters sort of signaling to not be with McGreevey, one insider said. I think Stacks reluctance to throw his weight behind Fulop is a driving force behind it because Fulop wants a united Hudson County for his gubernatorial bid. Stack has remained mum on the 2025 gubernatorial election, telling The Jersey Journal last month that its still early. But, the insiders agreed, it has not gone unnoticed that Stack has made appearances with Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-Fifth District, a potential gubernatorial candidate. Support from the HCDO for a candidate means financial backing, boots on the ground, and organizational leadership. While an HCDO endorsement is often seen as a guarantee for candidates in Hudson County to win an elected seat, Jersey City has been an outlier. Fulop defeated the HCDO-back incumbent Jerramiah Healy in 2013. One insider believes whoever wins will serve just one term because of the numerous financial decisions that many residents will not feel great about like raising taxes, fixing a top-heavy police department and addressing overtime. Getting the fiscal house at the city in order is going to take a lot of hard choices, the insider said. Stargazers in New Jersey and many states across the nation who woke up early Saturday morning were treated to a dazzling sky show as a powerful solar storm caused the colorful Northern Lights to glow in places that rarely see them. From Egg Harbor City in Atlantic County to Metuchen in Middlesex County and towns up north in Bergen County, scores of skywatchers took to social media to post photos they snapped of this rare event. In case you slept late and missed it, there is some good news: The Space Weather Prediction Center says the Northern Lights may be visible in many areas of the United States again Saturday night into early Sunday morning because of the extreme geomagnetic storm that has occurred high up in the atmosphere. The bad news: The agency says theres a possibility the solar storm could disrupt communications satellites or power grids, so some GPS systems could be briefly interrupted. The agency said there have been some reports of power grid irregularities and degradation to high-frequency communications and GPS from the solar storm that was flaring Friday night into early Saturday. Additional details about those disruptions werent available Saturday morning. The solar storm was classified as G5, which is considered rare and extreme, and believed to be the strongest solar flareup since October 2003. Weather experts say there's a possibility the colorful Northern Lights might be visible in many areas of the United States again, weather permitting, Saturday night, May 11 into early Sunday morning, May 12, 2024.Space Weather Prediction Center This weekends solar storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in peoples homes, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth. An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa. Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, one expert noted. The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the suns outer atmosphere, or corona. This rare glimpse of the Northern Lights glowing in the sky over Bedminster, New Jersey, was captured by Mike Mostwill.Mike Mostwill The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot thats 16 times the diameter of Earth, NOAA said. It is all part of the solar activity ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle. NASA said the storm posed no serious threat to the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The biggest concern is the increased radiation levels, and the crew could move to a better shielded part of the station if necessary, according to Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center. Increased radiation also could threaten some of NASAs science satellites. Extremely sensitive instruments will be turned off, if necessary, to avoid damage, said Antti Pulkkinen, director of the space agencys heliophysics science division. This rare glimpse of the Northern Lights glowing in the sky over Bedminster, New Jersey, was captured by Mike Mostwill.Mike Mostwill In New Jersey, increasing clouds Saturday night and the possibility of scattered rain showers could block the view of the Northern Lights. The National Weather Service said some breaks in the clouds are not out of the question. I dont think tonight is going to be a great viewing opportunity, meteorologist Patrick OHara told lehighvalleylive.com Saturday morning from the weather services regional forecast office in New Jersey. However, clearing skies are forecast Sunday into Monday as high pressure moves into the region, so theres a better chance for that period, OHara said. This view of the Northern Lights glowing in the night sky in Clifton, Colorado was captured by George Altz on Friday night, May 10, 2024.George Altz This view of the Northern Lights glowing in the night sky in Clifton, Colorado was captured by Karen Mahany on Friday night, May 10, 2024.Karen Mahany Current weather radar The Associated Press and LehighValleyLive.com staff writer Kurt Bresswein contributed to this report. Thank you for relying on us to provide the local weather news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com or on X at @LensReality. A local brewery has created a limited-edition beer to serve at one of the largest national collegiate sporting events this weekend in New Jersey. As part of the 85th anniversary of the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta, Double Nickel Brewing Company of Pennsauken has created the Dad Vail Pale Ale, a clear light pilsner with an undertone of lemon. A message for all those GOP vice presidential hopefuls who humiliated themselves in an attempt to get on Donald Trumps ticket: The jokes on you. (That cursing you hear is probably coming from Tim Scott.) A report by Axios on Saturday said that Trump could wave a white flag and select Nikki Haley in a desperate attempt to reclaim Haley voters who continue to reject Trump long after Haley exited the Republican primary. MORE POLITICS Supporters flock to Wildwood ahead of Trumps beachfront rally Former staffer mercilessly drags GOP congresswoman Fox News pundits bizarre advice for Trump Trump loyalist could be headed to jail soon Trump, losing badly to President Joe Biden in fundraising, also wants to siphon cash from Haleys donors, two people familiar with the discussions told Axios. Biden had hoped to peel off a percentage of Haley voters who find Trump unacceptable. Trump and Haley have quieted the vicious sniping that marked the primary, but earlier this year, Trump said Haley didnt have presidential timber and Haley said Trump was not qualified to be president. Haley also cited Trumps age and her supporters mocked Trump when he referred to her as Nancy Pelosi on the campaign trail. But politics is politics. According to Axios: Trump would choose Haley if shed help him win the presidency, avoid a potential prison sentence and cover tens of millions in legal bills if he loses. In last weeks Indiana primary, more than 120,000 voted for Haley. Republicans close to both campaigns believe its in Haley and Trumps mutual interests to reconcile, despite their bitter fight in the GOP primary and their divergent views on some big issues. Although voters seldom choose a presidential candidate based on a running mate, a reconciliation with Haley, his former UN ambassador, also could help Trump attract college-educated Republicans who have kept voting for her in primaries even after she dropped out. Haley hasnt endorsed Trump, and if she withholds her support and Trump loses in November, she could be blamed by the party. But who will make the first move? She has said the burden is on Trump to reach out to her and her supporters if he wants to unite the GOP. Trumps campaign says the party already has rallied behind him. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. First, Kristi Noem murdered a dog and a goat. Then she murdered the truth and has been hammered in almost every interview on her book tour even by MAGA-friendly Fox News hosts. And now she apparently has been caught in another lie. How do you say fact-checker in French? Frances government is disputing a portion of the South Dakota governors book that describes a canceled meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. MORE POLITICS Former staffer mercilessly drags GOP congresswoman Fox News pundits bizarre advice for Trump Trump loyalist could be headed to jail soon The book which has already had a passage scrubbed when the one-time GOP star wrongly reported meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says a meeting between Noem and Macron last year was canceled after he allegedly made pro-Hamas comments. While in Paris, I was slated to meet with French president Emmanuel Macron, Noem wrote in No Going Back, her controversial memoirs. However, the day before we were to meet, he made what I considered a very pro-Hamas and anti-Israel comment to the press. So, I decided to cancel. A French official refuted Noems account, saying theres no record of a scheduled meeting, nor was there an invitation extended to her. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Noem said that the Governor was invited to sit in President Macrons box for the Armistice Day Parade at Arc de Triomphe. Following his anti-Israel comments, she chose to cancel, Ian Fury, the governors chief of communications, said in a statement, according to NBC. Fury added that Macron did not end up attending, either. Noem had been in Paris in November 2023 to speak at the Worldwide Freedom Initiative conference. Pundits believe Noems book, which was supposed to position her to become Donald Trumps GOP vice presidential running mate, instead has torpedoed any chance she had. Along with falsehood that she had met Kim, Noem admitted in her book that she shot and killed her familys 14-month-old dog because of it could not be trained to be a hunting dog. She also confessed to shooting a goat. In another questionable claim, Noem told interviewers that South Dakotas reservations are a hotbed of activity for the drug cartels. In an interview this past week, Trump said, She had a rough couple of days. I will say that. RealClearPolitics reported Noem put her calamitous tour on ice. Gov. Noem has sold a lot of books on this tour and is back in South Dakota to be prepared for some potential emerging bad weather systems, Fury told RCP. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Students from Cherokee High School celebrated their prom Friday night at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dressed to impress, the prom-goers enjoyed the evening as they socialized, posed for photos and danced the night away. SUBSCRIBER BENEFIT: Subscribers can get free unlimited high-resolution digital photo downloads of any of our photos in our galleries. Additionally, subscribers will get 50% off the prom-related keepsakes available for purchase. NJ.com is expanding its prom coverage this year with more photos from the celebrations. If you arent yet a subscriber, heres how you can become one. NJ Advance Media will be sending photographers to nearly 60 proms throughout the season, which continue through the middle of June. Our coverage can be found at nj.com/prom. Know of something unique happening at a prom, like a special king and queen crowning, unusual rides to the party, eccentric outfits or rare venues for the big night? Let us know about it by sending an email to tips@njadvancemedia.com. You can also share your pics or tips with us on Instagram @njdotcom. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism you rely on and trust. Patti Sapone may be reached at psapone@njadvancemedia.com. A necessary read for the girls, gays and theys and our allies as we navigate a rapidly changing, culturally fraught, complicated country where our bodies are constantly being legislated. Sign up for Honey today! On Wick Man, a track off the deluxe version of For All the Dogs, Drake raps that: White America say Im becoming a threat/ Black America love to remind me what my mama look like/ As if Id ever fuckin forget/ Im never enough. The song came out towards the end of 2023, just months before Rick Ross would repeatedly call the Toronto rapper a white boy and Kendrick Lamar would tell him that we dont wanna hear you say nigga no more. Drakes relationship with his Blackness and biraciality has been a point of contention even before his recent explosive beef where his Compton contemporary repeatedly brings his race into question. Im so light that people are like youre white, the Toronto rapper says in a 2011 interview with The Village Voice. Thats what I get more than anything, people saying youre white, youre not black. In his 2015 song You and the 6 he raps I used to get teased for being Black/ and now Im here and Im not black enough/Cause Im not acting tough/ or making stories up bout where Im actually from. Jabs towards Drakes Blackness speak to a larger issue people have with feelings of authenticity when it comes to the rapper. Lamars reference to him in the song Not Like Us as being a colonizer, gestures to Drakes voyeuristic relationship to Black American culture as a Canadian biracial who was primarily reared by his white mother. Born to a Black American father and an Ashkenazi Jewish mother, questions of Drakes racial identity have less to do with the faulty biological determinants that have been the basis for categorization. Instead, the whiteness that is being cited here evokes more of a spiritual allegiance to the race. The conflict between Lamar and Drake highlights the incongruent journeys that have brought these men here today. Both representatives of the post-Obama, impending political upheaval of the mid-2010s, Lamar emerged as a messianic figure while Drake emerged as a post-racial jester. Lamars 2015 album, To Pimp A Butterfly, the album which featured era-defining songs like the affirmational Alright, served as the backdrop for the Black Lives Matter movement. I make music that electrify em, you make music that pacify em Lamar raps in Euphoria one of several response records to Drake. That same year, Drakes biggest release was the pop rap record Hotline Bling, the nonsensical song about an ex-girlfriend who has moved on with her life. Theres always been a post-racialism that Drake has operated under. In contrast with his peers like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, Drake has skirted around the issues of race and racism throughout his career. It should be stated here that no one is interested in Drake becoming a conscious rapper. In all the cultural identities he has briefly assumed throughout his career, from Afrobeats artist to Arabic rapper, no one is interested in seeing him become hip hops Malcolm X in between bars about whatever ting hes currently obsessed with at the moment. Theres always an argument for escapism, but one must understand what theyre escaping before they can be free. You always rappin like you bout to get the slaves freed, Drake raps in Family Matters about Lamar; a jarring line that feels less like a jab towards his rap opponent and more like an omission about his contemptuous feeling towards the idea that a Black artist would use their music to speak towards liberation. Returning to Lamars line about pacifying the masses, this beef comes at an interesting time sociopolitically. We are once again in a moment of political upheaval, the same kind of cultural climate that nearly 10 years ago calcified the careers of both these men. As people have spent months in the streets and occupying college campuses in protest of the genocide against Palestinians, many have questioned the utility of celebrity in this moment. Are we being distracted? Should we expect more from our artists, especially those who have positioned themselves as holier than thou? Lamar raps that he wouldnt let a Canadian nigga make Pac turn in his grave, a reference to Drakes AI conjuring of the late rappers voice on the song Taylor Made in an attempt to goad Lamar into a response a move that proved to be more necrophilic than clever. But would the rapper who famously wrote They got money for wars, but cant feed the poor, focus solely on said Canadian nigga? Theres almost a sick irony that the only rapper to meet this political moment were in right now is Macklemore, the white rapper who infamously bested both Lamar and Drake for Best Rap Album a decade ago at the 2014 Grammys. This past Monday, the Seattle rapper released his pro-Palestine song Hinds Hall where in it he raps I want a ceasefire, fuck a response from Drake. Lamar raps in Euphoria that them superpowers gettin neutralized, speaking to Drakes years of near untouchability as a universally beloved and palatable figure. But if were to believe that Lamars powers are to electrify the people, it seems like hes found his kryptonite in his pursuit for money, power, [and] respect. Hanna Phifer is a journalist and critic based in Charlotte, North Carolina. NEW YORKOn the 11th official day of testimony in the trial of former President Donald Trump, the prosecutors laid out the groundwork to call star witness Michael Cohen to the stand starting next Monday. Like the testimony of adult star Stormy Daniels, Cohen's testimony is central to the case brought against Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Trump stands accused of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Alvin Bragg, the district attorney, characterized the crimes as a "catch-and-kill" scheme involving Cohen, David Pecker and several high-profile individuals related to Trump's campaign and White House staff. Pecker was the former publisher of the tabloid National Enquirer and its former parent company, American Media Inc., to catch-and-kill negative stories about Trump. This includes the capture of a story alleged by Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, who had a relationship with Trump from 2006 to 2007. Pecker paid $150,000 for the rights to McDougal's story. Cohen, Trump's former attorney and fixer, played a central role in paying off Daniels to silence her about an affair she had with Trump in 2006 at Lake Tahoe. Cohen's actions were part of a coordinated effort instigated by Trump's 2016 presidential campaign to suppress any negative press that would harm his chances of beating Hillary Clinton. The prosecution has previously presented strong evidence that Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 through her attorney, Keith Davidson, in a separate agreement orchestrated by Cohen on behalf of Trump through a shell corporation he formed to shield the payment from potential regulatory and legal scrutiny. Judge Juan Merchan asked Cohen on Friday, via the prosecutors, to refrain from making further public comments about the trial. After the court adjourned for the week, Trump criticized the judge, calling this advice to Cohen a "disgrace." There is no gag order for Michael Cohen," Trump said. "What the judge did was amazing, actually. Everybody can say whatever they want, but Im not allowed to say anything about anybody. Its a disgrace." Trump has already been held in contempt of court 10 times for violating a gag order restricting him from commenting on the case publicly, as it could risk the trial. Merchan has also not placed orders to silence witnesses in the case from speaking publicly. Todd Blanche, one of Trump's attorneys, asked Merchan to restrict Cohen like Trump. I will direct [the prosecutors] to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from any more statements about this case, Merchan said. Madeleine Westerhout, Trump's former director of Oval Office Operations and his personal assistant, resumed her testimony from yesterday. After exchanging smiles with her former boss, Westerhout was cross-examined by Trump attorney Susan Necheles. Necheles asked whether Westerhout knew if Trump cared about his family. Westerhout recollected that she remembered how upset Trump was in 2018 when the story of Stormy Daniels' affair came out. She acknowledged that, "My understanding was he knew it (the Stormy Daniels story) would be hurtful to his family." She also testified that Trump signed dozens of documents a day when he was president, often multitasking and not reviewing what he was signing. She confirmed that personal mail of Trump's was sent through a back channel via an employee's actual home address to circumvent the White House screening system for personal mail. Six-day (Tuesday through Sunday) print subscribers of the Watertown Daily Times are eligible for full access to NNY360, the NNY360 mobile app, and the Watertown Daily Times e-edition, all at no additional cost. If you have an existing six-day print subscription to the Watertown Daily Times, please make sure your email address on file matches your NNY360 account email. You can sign up or manage your print subscription using the options below. These killings are not only targeted killings. Some are accidental; in 2023, four Region children under age six died after getting ahold of a weapon and shooting themselves or a family member. McGee and Cannon were joined at the press conference by Gary fire Chief Larry Tillman II, Deputy Prosecutor Bradley Carter, Gary Public Schools Chief Esther Goodes, Lake County Juvenile Court Judge Thomas P. Stefaniak and Gary City Court Judge Inga Lewis-Shannon. Tillman said the fire department is on the receiving end of many violence calls that require medics on scene. While it affects families, he said, it also affects those who bear witness to the trauma. "PTSD is real," Tillman said. "Not only does it have a lasting effect on the community but these officers, judges, prosecutors...it goes home with us." Removing unwanted guns and locking up weapons to prevent children and teenagers getting ahold of them can help mitigate the generational trauma that is often passed down after a young life is lost to violence, he said. GARY After being installed as the fifth Roman Catholic bishop of Gary on World Day for the Sick 2020, Bishop Robert J. McClory spent the next two years presiding over the diocese in quarantine. In and out of the pandemic, McClory is the spiritual leader of a diocese with 170,000 Catholics in 58 parishes, 21 schools, and assorted hospitals and social service ministries. McClory, 60, celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood at a Mass Friday at Holy Angels Cathedral. In his homily, McClory thanked Jesus as the reason for our priesthood, the one who gives us our eternal destiny. Joined by his fellow clergy and eight visiting bishops, McClory thanked Jesus. For me, the Detroit native said, Jesus has been so kind, so loving, so patient. nothing less than the Son of God, who opens for us the pathway to eternal life. His gentle voice is calling us to follow Him. A man with a varied career in and out of the Roman collar, McClory was ordained a priest May 22, 1999, at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit. Two uncles, both deceased, were also priests. The holder of a bachelors degree in political science and communications from Oakland University and a masters in public policy and administration from Columbia University, McClory earned a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1991. After practicing civil law for three years, McClory entered Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit. While studying in Rome, he earned a licentiate in canon law. Contemplating religious life, McClory recalled, I began to see that it would be a life well lived, not without hardship or sacrifices, but that would be a life well lived. McClorys family attended the Mass. Michael McClory of Detroit, the bishops oldest brother, is an attorney and a Wayne County judge. He always had a strong faith, always a passion, Michael said. I was not completely surprised (he became a priest), given his background. As a young priest, McClory served in various capacities in the Archdiocese of Detroit. These included parish work, tribunal judge, administration, vicar general, marriage enrichment and Knights of Columbus. In 2005 he received the title of monsignor. Since his installation as bishop Feb. 11, 2020, at Holy Angels, McClory has embraced a vision to lead the people of the diocese to be both disciples and missionaries. First, though, McClory and his fellow Catholics had to deal with COVID-19. Churches were shuttered with Masses watched online. McClory chose to reinvigorate the synod process started by his predecessor, Bishop Donald J. Hying, by initiating Synod 21. Listening sessions involving religious and lay stakeholders were held throughout the diocese to discern focus areas. Following those sessions, on Feb. 2, 2022, McClory released his first pastoral letter, We Proclaim Jesus as Lord!, on missionary discipleship. The bishop then held parish visitations during 2023 and 2024 to learn about parish progress on synod goals. Those visits, McClory said, have taken him on sick calls, to soup kitchens and to diocesan schools. The past 25 years, my heart is just full of gratitude, the bishop said. The Lord chose me. How beautiful that is, and He wants to use all of us. The historic Porter County Jail and Sheriff's Residence has sat empty for the last four years since PoCo Muse moved across the street in the spring of 2020. But now a new tenant has revived the historic building at the corner of Franklin St. and Indiana Ave. Market 102 moved into 153 Franklin St., where it's selling vintage and artisan goods. "There really wasnt a use for the county and so money was not allocated to keep up the historic building," Porter County Commissioner Barb Regnitz said. "In 2023, the commissioners decided to change that. We voted to lease out the building for at least three years to generate funds to improve the structure. We borrowed money from the county RDC, which will be paid back with the lease payments. We were able to add HVAC to the first floor, reinstall the first floor restroom, upgrade the electric and make a number of cosmetic improvements." Porter County spent about $70,000 to renovate the building. "Our dream of having the building occupied was realized. Market 102 moved in and seems the absolute perfect fit for the vintage building," Regnitz said. "They sell a number of vintage items and the place has been brought to life." The Porter County Jail was built in 1871. Porter County Museum Executive Director Kevin Matthew Pazour speculates the residence predates the jail and was sold by Franklin Hunt to the Porter County Commissioners in 1870, but said he has no concrete proof. "What I do know is that each Porter County sheriff had the option to live in the residence or designate a jailer between March 1872, when the jail opened, and January 1975, when Myrick Crampton and his family moved out," Pazour said. "On May 11, 1975, the Porter County Museum opened its doors as The Old Jail Museum in the old residence and jail. We operated our museum in that space until we closed for the pandemic on March 12, 2020." The residence and jail were painted white in the 1950s. Lawyers used to jokingly call it the "Graystone Hotel" since guests checked in at all hours, Pazour said. Lorri Olson, Robin Leslie and Scott Leslie opened the new boutique in the historic jail and sheriff's residence. "We are an artisan and vintage boutique where 25 artisans sell their products," Olson said. "We scour all over the place to bring the best vintage finds to our store. There's so much that's handmade. We have cutting boards, lamps and vintage decor." The shop stocks goods like jewelry, quilts, old-fashioned candy, old-fashioned games, books, teas, pet supplies, beach glass products, mancave items, sunglasses, beachwear, tumblers, fragrances, soups and furniture. "We have a variety," she said. "We have gifts for everything, for baby showers, for Mother's Day. You can find a gift for anybody here." The store occupies the first floor of the building while the basement and second floor remain vacant. "It's a great historical spot," she said. "When we opened the door, our first word was 'wow.' The staircase is the original staircase. It's absolutely beautiful. It's a walking piece of history." The store stocks many unique items like paper earrings made from Bible pages, bracelets made from roadmaps and necklaces made from Harry Potter books. It has rare plants, vintage clothing, baby blankets and towels. The inventory is ever-changing and seasonal. It for instance stocks more flip flops and other beach attire in the summer. "We love the downtown Valpo area and want to take our own creative ideas and put them in a place we can share with the community," Olson said. "Helping people find vintage items in an old historical building felt like the right place to pursue our dreams and share our ideas." The Porter County Jail and Sheriff's Residence desperately needed someone to occupy it so it didn't fall further into disrepair, Regnitz said. The commissioners had thought it might become home to an arts group or lawyers, but none expressed interest. "We're just so excited to finally have a tenant. It was vacant for so long. You know what happens to buildings when you don't have an occupant. They're bringing life back to it and they're a perfect fit," she said. "It's got tall arched windows and a high ceiling. Older buildings have so much character. It's such an interesting building." Market 102 is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Ronn Torossian, a New York City public relations executive and an associate of Mayor Eric Adams, was arrested last weekend at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus of Syracuse University, where he and other parents were protesting what he described as the schools inaction toward student safety issues, including violence and antisemitism. Mr. Torossian, who is Jewish and the parent of a Syracuse student, confronted a student protester who had a sign that said, From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free. University officials described him as especially aggressive toward students. When Mr. Torossian refused to leave, campus security arrested him. Harassing behavior or conduct from anyone that creates a safety concern will not be tolerated, the university said in a statement about the episode. The arrest followed an off-campus incident the day before involving a pro-Palestinian protester who the school says was not a Syracuse University student. The protester said Heil Hitler as he made a Nazi salute at a Jewish student and then punched the student in the face, according to a police report and an email from university officials. [MUSIC PLAYING] ezra klein From New York Times Opinion, this is The Ezra Klein Show. In 2020, voters in Oregon passed a ballot measure, a drug reform policy, that was beyond what I ever thought would pass in any state in America. archived recording 1 Overnight, Oregon became the first state in the country to decriminalize most street drugs. archived recording 2 Even drugs like cocaine, heroin, meth, and oxycodone. archived recording 3 Its a sea change. Measure 110, which was passed by 58 percent of Oregon voters, treats active drug users as potential patients rather than criminals. ezra klein Ive been involved in drug policy reform for a long time. I got into it in high school. And this was not a politics that seemed possible back then. In that era, the idea that you would have a state decriminalize heroin possession, I mean, it was unthinkable. But in the coming decades, there would be a real turn on the war on drugs the overpolicing, the mass incarceration, the racism, the broken families. It was not achieving, as far as anybody could tell, anybodys policy goals. So we began to move in this other direction. Oregon was at the vanguard of this, but it wasnt alone. In Washington state, you saw the Supreme Court overturn the law that had made a lot of drug possessions and felonies. In a bunch of different cities, you had these very liberal district attorneys who instead of running on tough on crime platforms were running against overpolicing, against mass incarceration. Something that had really never been tried before in America was all of a sudden being tried. We were moving towards a radically different equilibrium than anybody had imagined even just a few years before on drugs. I mean, you could walk down the streets you can right now in many states and buy all kinds of cannabis products from shops. It was, again, unthinkable. But this politics and these policies are not working out the way people had hoped. Chesa Boudin, who was the district attorney in San Francisco, one of these very liberal set of reformers, he was recalled. Legislation was passed rebuilding an enforcement structure around drugs in Washington state. There are a lot of concerns and, I think, quite bright ones about how cannabis legalization and particularly cannabis commercialization is working out in a bunch of places. And in Oregon, Measure 110 was gutted. The results of it had not been what many of the advocates had hoped for. Drug policy feels very unsettled to me right now. The war on drugs was a failure, often a cruel one. The war on the war on drugs has not been the success its advocates had hoped. So what comes next? Keith Humphreys is a professor at Stanford University who specializes in addiction and drug policy. Hes advised the White House, California, the UK. I always find that he balances compassion and rigor unusually well. So I wanted to have him walk me through what he has seen and where hes landed. As always, my email for guest suggestions, for reflections, ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. [MUSIC PLAYING] Keith Humphreys, welcome to the show. keith humphreys Thanks, Ezra. Good to talk to you. ezra klein Theres a tendency to just use this term drugs. And that tendency just belies a huge amount of variation, I think, in how people think about different drugs, how they think about opioids, how they think about stimulants, how they think about psychedelics, how they think about cannabis, alcohol, caffeine. Is this a useful term? keith humphreys So drug is an incredibly vague term that covers an enormous number of drugs that have very different properties. The biggest one, I think, is the capacity to instill addiction. People dont get addicted to LSD, for example. But they do get addicted to heroin. Thats really important. They do get addicted to nicotine. Thats really important. So you would think about those drugs differently, the ones that have the ability to generate an illness with obsessive compulsion to use in the face of destructive consequences over and over and over again. Those belong in their own class, I think. The second thing is that we should stop pretending that legal and illegal drugs are so different for lots of reasons. We could learn much more about what to do with illegal drugs if we looked at legal drugs. When I talk to policymakers, they say, well, I know what I dont want. And thats a carceral, racist war on drugs. I say, OK, Im glad that option is off the table. That, of course, leaves millions and millions of other options to choose from. And how some people have framed that is theres really only two choices here. You can have that, that horrible thing. Or you can throw the switch the other way tolerance, acceptance, public sale. And thats going to be better. And the problem with that argument, even before we get into what happened in places like Oregon, is the number one drug that kills people on the planet is cigarettes. The number one drug associated with arrests, violence, and incarceration is alcohol. Those drugs are legal. Its not that drugs suddenly become easy to deal with once theyre legal. You get to pick the set of problems you have, as our mutual friend Mark Kleiman used to say. But you dont get to get rid of those problems. So people are right to identify substantial costs to prohibition of drugs or for that matter of everything. But that is different than saying there is some other framework that doesnt also include pretty substantial costs. ezra klein So this major drug policy reform went into effect in Oregon in 2021, Measure 110. It passes. What happens next? keith humphreys Part of what happens is exactly what the reformers hoped would happen, which is that theres a dramatic drop in arrests arrests for drug possession and arrests for drug dealing. So they say, wow, thats a victory. On the other hand, some of the other aspects of it didnt work out the way people planned. So there was a system that they thought would encourage people to enter treatment in replacement of criminal penalties. Youd be written a ticket, lets say, if you were using fentanyl on a park bench. And it said theres $100 fine for doing this, but you dont have to pay the fine. All you have to do is call this toll free number, and you can get a health assessment and a potential referral to treatment. Well, it turned out that over 95 percent of the people got those tickets simply threw them away, which, keeping with the spirit of the law, there was no consequence for doing that. Hardly anybody called. The new body they set up to distribute the new funds had very serious management problems because the people they may have been terrific human beings, but they werent actually experienced in how do you run a government bureaucracy. So there was no real improvement in the availability of treatment, no real improvement in the number of people interested in seeking it. And those things may well have contributed to Oregon having a very high overdose rate. So currently going up about 40 percent per year, 4-0. Of course, some of that is due to fentanyl, which is raising Im here in California. Our rates up 5 percent, but its certainly not up 40 percent. And the last thing is the intangible. And I say this as someone who goes to Oregon a lot and talks to people there almost every week, which is just the change in neighborhoods was really palpable of what it was like to go out in the street or try to go to a park, how much visible drug use you saw, how much disorder connected to it. And this was accentuated even further by the pandemic. There were fewer people on the street who had the choice. So the experience became more frightening as people were perhaps outnumbered in their neighborhood by people who had clearly visible problems were using drugs. And that generated significant and, I think, understandable upset as to how things were going in Oregon. ezra klein So not everybody agrees that Measure 110 was a failure, certainly not as a policy. I mean, it definitely failed politically. The Drug Policy Alliance says that it failed because of disinformation because there was a concerted effort to undermine it. And they cite data from the Oregon Health Authority saying that, look, health needs screenings increased by almost 300 percent. Substance use disorder treatment increased by 143 percent. Is there some argument to this that were looking at the wrong measures and, judged according to its goals, 110 was actually kind of working? keith humphreys If what you care about the most was a drop in drug arrests and involvement of people who use drugs and deal drugs in the criminal justice system, then it was a success clearly because there was very little contact anymore between law enforcement and people who sell and deal drugs. But on the health side, no, I dont think that. And those statistics on treatment I believe count a lot of one time consultations. I think what most people, particularly people who love someone who has an addiction, are looking for is evidence on people getting better, people getting into recovery, not just at some point having some transitory contact with the system. ezra klein Theres another argument thats made in the Drug Policy Alliance document and other things Ive seen and that has occurred to me, too, because when I think about Oregon, when I think about San Francisco, when I think about Washington State, I mean, youre talking about places with very broken housing markets. Well talk Im sure more about the Tenderloin. But the Tenderloin is dystopic in the way the Tenderloin is dystopic because it is a giant homeless encampment. And that was true well before the current wave of drug policy liberalization. And so one argument here is that the drug system is being blamed for policymakers inability to solve these other problems. Is there something to that? keith humphreys Theres an intense argument out here in the Bay Area between people who say, look, the homeless crisis is just a side effect of addiction. And people say, look, the addiction crisis is just a side effect of homelessness. And I would say theyre both wrong in that, even within my personal group of acquaintances, I know people who lost their home because of an addiction. And its not that the housing market discharged them, they had an empty property. But they were out on the streets. And then there are people who lost their housing and then were living next to drug markets on the streets and developed an addiction there. So I dont think we can separate that Gordian knot. And I dont know if in policy terms we have to. I mean, I think we should be able to pursue policies that increase the access to housing and still work on policies that reduce the damage from addiction. ezra klein So to go back to Oregon and one of the theories that was operating there was that were going to move more money into treatment. Were going to make it easier and safer in the sense that you will not be arrested for seeking treatment. Were going to make it easier and safer for you to seek treatment. Were going to make it cheap to seek treatment. Why didnt more people seek treatment? keith humphreys That theory reflects a misunderstanding about the nature of addiction, which is that it is like, say, chronic pain or depression, conditions that feel lousy for the person who has them all day long, and they will do anything to get rid of them. Drug addiction is not like that. It has many painful experiences. It destroys peoples lives. But drug use feels in the short term incredibly good. That is why people do it. Theyre getting intense reward. So they are ambivalent about giving that up in a way no one with chronic pain is ambivalent about giving up chronic pain and no one with depression is ambivalent about giving up depression. The other point about it is a huge number of the problems from drug use and addiction fall on other people rather than the person concerned. And so people like me who work in this field, we get calls and calls and calls from mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children concerned about their loved ones. But its very rare we get a call from somebody concerned about their own use. Take the law out of it and look at a drug that is legal and widely accepted. Studies of people who seek treatment for an alcohol problem, slightly over 9 in 10 of those people say they were pressured to come. And the pressure might be family pressure, mom and dad said or my spouse said, this keeps up, Im moving out. The boss said, one more day drunk at work, and youre fired. Doctor said, you keep doing this, you will be dead in six months. It could be this is your fourth or fifth arrest for drunk driving, and your lawyer says, you better get into treatment because the judge otherwise might throw you in the penitentiary. That is overwhelmingly the situation of people seeking treatment pressure from outside. So lets just remove all pressure. No legal pressure, no disapproval. Then people will spontaneously say, OK, I really want to make a change, and Ill come in. Look, those of us who do this for a living, we pray for patients like that. Its great when they come in, but that is just a very rare person. ezra klein Let me ask about this from the other direction, which is maybe this all just wasnt nearly liberal enough because one of the arguments made and I do think theres evidence behind it is people are getting stuff they dont know. And the reason people die from fentanyl laced heroin or simply fentanyl that they thought was heroin is because they dont have a source they can trust. Part of the difficulty here is, yes, people end up addicted. We dont have really good treatments for addiction that we can come back to whether you think that is a true claim. And then we also make it very difficult for people and dangerous for people to get what they need to avoid withdrawal to keep feeling normal. And if we made that easier on them, if we made it so they didnt have to go to a place like the Tenderloin and instead get something safe, they would not die from overdose. They would not die from fentanyl laced heroin. Is there validity to that? keith humphreys Yeah, well, certainly using fentanyl in an illicit market is extraordinarily dangerous. And my colleagues and I are trying to figure out the death rate per year of a regular user. It might be as high as 5 percent. So that is an extraordinarily dangerous thing to do. And the arguments youre making have been influential in this region to the point that if you go up slightly even further in the Pacific Northwest into Canada and British Columbia, theyve gone so far to say its the governments job to supply these drugs because prohibition makes things more dangerous, so we have a positive obligation to do this. But the problem with that reasoning is we did flood communities with legally made, consistent quality, clearly labeled opioids for years. And the net effect was millions of people getting addicted and hundreds of thousands of people dying. Thats, in fact, how we got here. I think everyone knows what OxyContin is, all the other opioids that were really pushed out there. So its just really hard to sustain that argument that at a population level, huge access to addictive drugs is not going to cause a lot of addiction and overdose as long as theyre clearly labeled and of consistent quality. If that were true, we would never had an opioid crisis. [MUSIC PLAYING] ezra klein So Measure 110 passes in 2020. It goes into effect in 2021. What happens to it in 2023? keith humphreys At that point, overdoses were way up. And popular sentiment has shifted pretty dramatically. I think quite a few people felt burned. They hadnt gotten what theyd been promised. And that included people who, for example, had relatives who were addicted who they assume would be getting into treatment and recovery and then werent able to get services. Neighborhoods are decaying. Polling showed that about two thirds of the Oregon population wanted Measure 110 repealed in part or in whole. And interestingly, those sentiments were even stronger among Black and Hispanic Oregon residents. In response to all this, both Houses by very large margins replaced Measure 110 with a different approach to drug policy. It restored the ability to impose criminal penalties, to use those penalties particularly to leverage people to change their behavior for example, by restoring drug courts and other kinds of diversion and monitoring programs. It is definitely not correct to say they reinstated the war on drugs because, it has to be remembered, Oregon never really had a war on drugs policy. They were the first state in the nation to decriminalize marijuana over 50 years ago, in fact. They decriminalized marijuana. They had a very low rate of putting nonviolent criminals into prisons. So it was more a restoration of that progressive, liberty loving approach that theyd had before but supplemented with a lot more funding for treatment, which is something theyve had a lot of problems standing up for years, which had nothing to do with Measure 110. The treatment system was in very bad shape before Measure 110. And it still is. ezra klein If youve been around drug policy conversations for a long time, youll have heard a lot, I have heard a lot, about Portugal. And Portugal is a place where they decriminalized drugs. And it has been a much more sustainable, solid policy. So what is different about Portugal? keith humphreys Portugal is different in policy and different in culture. So they definitely dont throw people in prison, and its decriminalized. But they do have what are called dissuasion commissions that do assessments of people, say, who arrested in the street for using drugs. And you have to show up to this assessment. And they can push and nudge people to seek care. And they can also apply penalties if they want to. They can say, youre a cab driver. Youve been caught using cocaine. And were going to take your cab license away until you seek treatment and stop using cocaine. Things like that. It is not a war on drugs approach, but it is a push in the policy. And that has never been taken on seriously by American advocates who cite Portugal. Portugal also has a universal health care. We do not have that. We are the only developed Western country that doesnt have that. So that makes it easier to get help irrespective of what the laws are. And Portugal had at least at the time of their decriminalization a very nice network of treatment services and harm reduction services for people. And all that together worked in the policy mix. The other point is the culture of Portugal is much more family oriented. Its much more communitarian than American general and certainly much more true than our freedom loving Libertarian Pacific Coast. If you spend time in Lisbon, you have a common experience of running into people and say, where are you born? And theyll say, well, Lisbon. And where were your parents born? Lisbon. And they still live in my neighborhood. And my grandparents live in my neighborhood, too. You never hear this in San Francisco or Portland. Everybody is from somewhere else. And many people actually moved to the West to get away from everybody else, to get away from social constraints. I want to be my own person. Well, Portugal is the opposite of that. So theres a lot of constraint on behavior. Its loving constraint, but it is constraint, those boundaries around peoples behavior that dont exist out in the West with the exception of recent immigrant communities, which, by the way, have very low rates of drug problems. ezra klein This is something that I always think people underestimate at least about San Francisco, which is one of these cities under the best, which is that it is a culture of enormous tolerance. And that is a lot of what makes San Francisco remarkable, what has made it a home for L.G.B.T.Q. people when that was a very rare thing to be, what has made it open to all these weird ideas from computer scientists and strange nerds who came around with their thoughts about AI and their thoughts about visual operating systems. And people dont like necessarily the dark side of this open, tolerant, nonjudgmental way of looking at the world. Theres a bit of a divided soul, a difficulty judging, a discomfort with paternalism, and a kind of optimism that if you let subcultures have their freedom and grapple their way forward, theyll find their way to an equilibrium and that we should be very, very, very skeptical of heavy handed particularly law enforcement as a way of changing culture. keith humphreys That is a very nice description of the city we both love. And wed be much poorer without San Franciscos embrace of individual freedom and all the great things that it gives, which you just articulated. To me, the resolution here is taking addiction seriously as a problem. So if you look at somebody who is using methamphetamine five times a day, you could say, well, that is really an expression of their individual freedom. I need to respect that. But if you recognize the likelihood that they are not particularly free because they are addicted, the inconsistency disappears. And so I feel personally no contradiction between saying the state should intervene with pressure for example, mandating people into treatment. For me, that doesnt conflict with individual freedom at all. So when I talked to somebody who said, look, you need to just let people do what they want, I say, look. I volunteer in the Tenderloin. And I carry naloxone, the overdose rescue medication, with me. If someone were in front of me in overdose and dying, should I administer naloxone even though the person cant consent, theyre unconscious? And Ive never had anyone say, youre right. You should just respect their right to die. They say, well, no, of course, you should do that, conceding the principle that there are times that the thing we can do the most to help other people is take care of them when they were not in a fit state to take care of themselves. ezra klein Is that a straw man, though? I cant really think of people at least that I have heard arguing that somebody under the throes of heroin addiction is free and is choosing the life they live, that theyre likely to be happy with the world they now exist in. keith humphreys One of the really striking things about this new rhetoric about drug policy out here is how rarely addiction is even mentioned. The fact that theres so much focus on drug overdose, which is, of course, terrible, but that is treated as the only index and not addiction reflects a viewpoint that thats not either an important thing or not that real a thing. Because if it were, you would note that in the heyday of wild opioid prescribing, there were fewer overdoses, but there were far more people who were addicted to those substances. And that made their lives dramatically worse. I also see the lack of attention to addiction in the investment in harm reduction without the idea of using it as a springboard into treatment, which to me is a very novel idea thats only become more powerful in the last couple of years where people feel like that in itself is the goal versus trying to eliminate addiction and get somebody into recovery. ezra klein So this is complicated, I think, because theres this interaction in this period between what you might call elite and mass drug culture. In this period, you have the rise of a lot of super popular podcasters like Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss, who are very open about their psychedelic use. You have Michael Pollans great book on psychedelics, How to Change Your Mind. I do a bunch of podcasts about psychedelics. You have a book by Carl Hart, whos a well-known drug researcher at Columbia, called Drug Use for Grownups where he talks openly about using heroin to relax at the end of the day. Ketamine use rises in a very public way. And so you have this change in drug culture among elites. It becomes much more acceptable to talk about how you use drugs to improve your life that I think also makes it look hypocritical to have a punitive approach not just legally but culturally towards other kinds of drug use. Do you think theres something to that? keith humphreys Yeah. Ive seen that very much, too. And people with a platform, theyve got a hearing. One of the most important things to understand about Measure 110, for example, is it passed easily. It was not that controversial as people thought it would be. And that elite change, I think, was part of the dynamic. And definitely, you could see that in psychedelics in Oregon, which, as you know, has set up an entire system to administer psychedelics as a healing force. At least thats the theory. These are transformative medicines often, by the way, in advance of evidence. But put that aside for a minute. And that is a remarkable change. I think the criticism you could make of people who are well off and well resourced and have a lot of social capital and have access to treatment and health care whenever they need it is that they could be overgeneralizing what its like to use drugs in that situation versus the situation most people find themselves in with a lot less resources and a lot fewer things to catch them if they develop a problem. Now, some would say, well, the real problem is the law, and its the punishment you get and all that. And that can absolutely ruin peoples lives. Theres no question to that. But theres also quite a few people whose lives are ruined by drugs, including cannabis. Theres some people whose lives have been ruined by psychedelics and certainly peoples lives ruined by cocaine and fentanyl and so on. You dont think about that much maybe when you are in a really comfy, well-resourced environment. But the average person who lives in a more typical environment does think about it, does have to worry about it. And that gives them a different understanding of what drugs are, how risky they are, and what they want their government to do about them. ezra klein That all makes sense to me. But something else I would say was here was that I would have described the consensus for a very long time as drug use is bad, and policing is good. And to some degree, by the time of 110 and some other reforms we were seeing in other states, I think that there was and you can tell me if this tracks for you a belief that drug use is somewhere between neutral and good depending on the drug, and policing is bad. keith humphreys Yeah. Theres no way to separate what happened in Oregon from the murder of George Floyd and from Black Lives Matter. I mean, the protests against police were as intense in Oregon as anywhere they were in the United States and indeed throughout the region and a lot of concern and its got to be said a lot of justifiable concern about racism and policing. And a huge portion of that was focused on drug enforcement. And that flip was clearly part of why the bill passed. In terms of drug use, I think theres a split. I mean, so there are people who accept its a health matter. So lets move to that part of the population, some of whom will say, its not a good idea, but we should add health services, and I certainly wouldnt punish anybody for it, to people would say, no, it is good. In fact, it is actively good. Drug use is good. Drug use should be accepted and maybe even promoted or celebrated. And the debate has been, I think, between those two strands, whereas in the 80s, it was more between drugs are bad period and they should be legal even if theyre good or bad. ezra klein Youve written about billboards that I used to see and always thought were somewhat strange around fentanyl use and showing happy people and these were in San Francisco showing happy people and suggesting if youre going to use this stuff, use it with friends. Use it around others. Make sure youre not doing it alone. One way of looking at them was as a destigmatization of this. Its totally fine. Just be safe. And another way of looking at it was a total last gasp, but we dont know what to do. Were going to try this approach to everything else is failing. Maybe if we completely turn around our approach and just try to change the social dynamics in which people use, that might have an effect on the margin. keith humphreys So several things there youre saying, I think theyre important. One is, absolutely. In the face of all this death and all this suffering, were all desperate for solutions. And I think it is good that we are thinking in very fundamental ways about what the solutions are. That should be the case when you have this much suffering. I think it is not irrelevant that these changes have unfolded during a pandemic where, lets face it, we all went a little crazy. It was very stressful. It was emotional. Many policy debates took on a very personal cast. And we did rock between different extremes in our politics. With the billboards and just to describe these billboards, what to me is interesting about them is that the public health department signed off on these. And if they had been promoting beer, they wouldve been outraged by them because they wouldve said, well, youre making it look like this is something young, attractive, successful people do. And its a lot of fun. And youre understanding all the risk. And youre going to be tempting kids. Youre basically giving people really bad information. But it wasnt alcohol. It was fentanyl. And so I guess they felt it was reasonable on the idea that this will destigmatize. And then people will be comfortable talking about it and using fentanyl together. And they would show people in the apartment having a nice party. Then they could take care of each other in the event of an overdose. It would be a social event, and then you could be there. To me, its an extraordinary chain of reasoning. But thats where San Francisco got in 2021. ezra klein I lived in San Francisco during this period. It also had a highly liberalizing attitude on drugs. It had significant open air drug markets, particularly in the Tenderloin. But what I always saw as the core thing that was infuriating people because I lived in places like D.C. that had a much higher murder rate but where crime was much less of an angry political issue was a feeling that the government was tolerating disorder, that it wasnt fighting it and failing or fighting it and failing to triumph over whats a very hard problem, but that the government was allowing it, that they were allowing these open air drug markets, that they were allowing people to shoot up on the street, and that it turned out the politics of permitting disorder were really, really, really bad. keith humphreys Yes, they are. And I volunteer in the Tenderloin. So Ive spent a lot of time in those neighborhoods and definitely pick up that sense. And, say, for a number of people would express it in an even harsher way, which is the government is tolerating it where I live in a way they would never tolerate it in a wealthier neighborhood. That could be coupled also with a sense of some of those people in the wealthier neighborhoods say this should be tolerated, but theyre not having to tolerate it. I am. And that generates understandable anger. And this has had an interesting racial dimension in my observation of it is that a lot of this tolerance has been pushed in the name of racial justice often by white college educated progressives but is unpopular with many, many people of color who live in low income neighborhoods because theyre paying the cost of it while its being advocated for for people who they dont even know who live in neighborhoods that dont have these kinds of problems. ezra klein I was reading recently a lawsuit filed by residents of the Tenderloin against San Francisco. And it was saying in a way that is illegal and unconstitutional, it was alleging that San Francisco and everybody knows this to be true was not enforcing laws in the Tenderloin the way it was in other parts of the city, that it had settled on a containment strategy in the Tenderloin. And the Tenderloin is really rough for people who have not walked around there. I mean, the disorder, the despair, the difficultys incredibly visible. And one of the things that was noted in the lawsuit was that the Tenderloin has a much higher ratio of children than most parts of San Francisco. It has a lot of immigrant families, a lot of poor families. And so this is being tolerated where really a lot of kids were. And the argument was that this was not allowed where richer people lived in San Francisco, and it was where these poorer people lived. And even knowing that, it was striking to see it laid out and to see these experiences of people who were living amidst it laid out and their fury that containment was being done on their backs. keith humphreys Why are there hundreds of dealers standing on street corners in the Tenderloin and in the south of Market? They are not there to service the neighborhood. Because if you live in a neighborhood and your dealer lives in the neighborhood, your dealer doesnt have to stand on a corner. You know each other. You can text. You can just stop by and make your transactions. Open air markets are there to service strangers. Theyre so that buyers and sellers can find each other really fast. And in an open air market, its serving people who dont live in the neighborhood. Theres no reason thered be that many dealers. The Tenderloin doesnt need that many dealers to pay for its own drug use. So its a legitimate gripe if you live in a neighborhood and youre trying to raise a family in a neighborhood that is taken over by an open air market to say, were taking all the harms of all the drug use of the other neighborhoods where they dont allow open air dealing. But people know they can just drive from there to here pick up their drugs and then go off about their way. And thats unfair. And so I sympathize with the residents of the Tenderloin who are raising that very legitimate gripe about not getting equal protection under the law. ezra klein One question Ive had about all this is how much of it is a set of policies that mightve worked or certainly worked better than they did, but fentanyl rolled a grenade underneath this? I mean, a lot of this thinking was happening years before fentanyl just completely invaded America. keith humphreys The emergence and dominance of powerful synthetic drugs like fentanyl among the opioids or super strong methamphetamine that is now a larger share of the market than cocaine has, I think, undermined basic assumptions about drug policy across the world. When a kind of person who might come into, say, a methadone clinic addicted to heroin, their heroin use might be once a day or maybe twice a day, including people who were holding jobs, people who still were in touch with their families. Not that life was going well, but there was some level of manageability. We now have people with fentanyl using 10, 20, 30 times a day. Their entire existence is because fentanyl has a very short cycle of action. So you wake up. Youre in withdrawal. Withdrawal is incredibly unpleasant. You may smoke fentanyl, smoke, smoke, smoke. Maybe it takes 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes. Your withdrawal finally stops. You smoke some more till you get high. You fall asleep. You wake up, and youre in withdrawal. And youre just really stuck like that. And I see people like that. I mean, Im very optimistic about the potential of recovery for addiction. Those are what Ive seen. And those are also my values. I try to approach everybody that way. And I also sometimes am frightened that its just much, much harder to help people in this state when their life is that consumed by drugs even relative to how consumed their lives were by drugs like heroin and OxyContin. Its really pretty frightening. And we are getting it first. The United States and Canada too are being exposed to these drugs. Its interesting to note in Europe, theyre just starting to get these drugs. And whether theyll keep with their same policy mix is a really interesting question. It isnt entirely sure. I have a colleague who says fentanyl is like an antibiotic resistant infection. The stuff we always done that used to work doesnt work anymore. And thats terrifying. ezra klein How good now is our best gold standard addiction treatment? keith humphreys So this varies a lot by drug. Im going to start with the bad news first, which is the stimulants. So the biggest disappointment of my career is about cocaine and methamphetamine. I started my career in the late 1980s. And the care that people got for those drugs then is almost the same as what they get now. Theres been very little progress. Billions have been spent. Brilliant people have tried to develop, for example, pharmacological treatments for them. Nothing has panned out yet. Most of the behavioral treatments dont work. We have one thing that seems to work, which is contingency management, a particular way of structuring and giving rewards to help people make changes in their behavior. But weve had that for a very long time. So the news there is kind of disappointing. For alcohol, funnily enough, one of the best things we have has been around forever, which is Alcoholics Anonymous. And for a long time, people in my field looked down on it as too folky and not medical enough. And yet theres now tremendous evidence that myself and some colleagues assembled in whats called a Cochrane Collaboration showing that does work, that people do, in fact, as well or better in Alcoholics Anonymous as they do coming to see people like myself. Theres also some medications available. Acamprosate is one. Naltrexone is another. Some people benefit from those. On the opioids, we have multiple approved FDA medications. Methadone has been around a very long time. Its a substitute medication. It is effective for many people. Buprenorphine is another substitute medication, slightly different pharmacologically, but also effective for a great many people. And we have naltrexone, which is it works differently. Its a blocking agent. And there are people who do very well on that. So those things are all good. Thats considered the front line. You offer people medication first. And people also can benefit from other kinds of things therapies and from residential care. And if somebody is out on the street with an addiction, its not believable that they are going to check in once a week for an hour with a therapist because their lives arent that organized. They usually need a safe substance free environment in which to stay. And those are often in short supply. So we sometimes dont have success there not because we dont know what to do, but because we havent allocated the resources to do it. ezra klein But how good are any of these? I mean, lets zoom in on alcohol for a minute. Ive known a lot of people people Ive loved who have had very severe alcohol addictions. And you cant be near that and not realize how differently different drugs act on different people. If I am drinking, just at some point, my body is like, thats good. Were done. And there are people I know who they have burnt their life down around them. And theyve been in and out of residential treatment. Theyve gone to A.A. Some people recover. Often they really dont. How likely is it if you go into A.A. or some of these other things that youll recover? keith humphreys People who seek for alcohol treatment or Alcoholics Anonymous can fall into three bins. If you look at them about 6 or 12 months later, somewhere between 40 percent, 50 percent are dramatically better off. Their lives are dramatically better. And that could be the completely abstinent, or theyre much more abstinent, but their lives are dramatically better. Then theres another group of people who seem to be somewhat better. That might be 20 percent, 25 percent. Theyre still having significant problems. But maybe they make some things like, at least Im not drinking and driving at the same time, or at least my spouse and I are making some progress in our marital communication. And then the remaining people unfortunately look exactly the same as the day they came into treatment. They either made no progress, or they made some slight progress and then relapsed. The perception that we have of it tends to be driven by that last group. Thats because when people get better, they disappear into the woodwork. So when I worked in the White House, I used to think when I walked by somebody getting out of the metro whos actively using drugs or alcohol, Im very aware. Thats so visible to me. And yet I know every day people walk by me in suits or in recovery, and I dont notice them at all. Just looks like another Washington lawyer or civil servant or politician. So the cognitive effects of people who are doing the worst or the most vivid give us, I think, a more despairing view than we ought to have. ezra klein How much is the risk of developing an addiction genetic? keith humphreys Genes affect us a lot. Studies across addictions show a genetic contribution. It varies by the substance, but at least 30 percent, sometimes even 50 percent. How much control people have just in general some people are more impulsive than others, have a harder time thinking about the future than others from their first day on this Earth. And that will increase your risk for addiction. If youre very, very risk averse person who thinks a lot about the future, drug use looks differently to you than if youre someone who wants to feel good today and is a happy go lucky person. Some of why we get addicted has to do with things that nobody can really control. And those can be things like liking. Even for the first time we use them, we like drugs differently. When my boys were little, they were in the backyard, and they were climbing a tree. And I said, ah, thats not how to climb a tree. Ill show you how to climb a tree. So when I got to the emergency room, I said, this bone is broken. And I know it because I can see the way its knocked off my wrist. And they nicely patched it for me. And they sent me home with Vicodin, the opioid Vicodin, bottle of 30, and said, its going to hurt. So youre going to want to take these. I take one. And I feel terrible. Stomach all feels bound up. I feel just really groggy. I dont like this. For me, it was very easy to say pain is better than taking even one more of these pills. Meanwhile, Ive treated people who say, the first time I had an opioid, it was like a hole that had been in my heart my whole life filled up for the first time. Now, both those experiences are real. You cannot attribute them to, well, Keith must be a real solid and moral person, and thats an immoral person, or Keith must have made good choices, and that person made bad choices, because we had no learning history at all. It was just the kismet of genetics that drugs feel differently to different people from the very first time, not just learning history. And so I find it very easy to be sympathetic to someone whos addicted to opioids because I think the reason Im not going to do that is not because Im a better person. Its because they just dont feel good to me. And to you, they felt fantastic. And so you were willing to keep on using them. ezra klein Its not just that I find it easy to be sympathetic. But I find it hard to know how to think about it because, to be blunt, Ive had very positive personal experiences with certain drugs. And at the same time, Im somebody who is extremely nonaddictive in this area of my life. I have never wanted more puffs on a cigarette than I had. Ive never smoked a cigarette and been like, I need another one. Obviously, other people I knew when I was in college, that was not how that went for them. There is something here where, on the one hand, I worry that a fair amount of the discourse around drugs comes from people for whom maybe it actually is positive for them. There are people who have real positive relationships with different kinds of substances both legal and illegal. Adderall can be amazing for somebody with A.D.H.D., and it can be very destructive for somebody who ends up using it recreationally. I mean, you were talking about methamphetamines. And its not all that different. And it becomes, I think, almost philosophically hard to know how to think about these substances that really can range. How to think about something where for some people it can be a very good part of their life, either pleasurable or even very profound. For other people, it can be a complete disaster that will actually ruin their life. And who are you making policy for and how feels like something that this conversation gets caught on a lot. keith humphreys I agree, yeah, because drugs arent good, and drugs arent bad. They are good and bad. And sometimes I envy colleagues who work in areas like cholera prevention. If theres a cholera outbreak, and you get rid of it, youre a hero. Everybody loves you. Nobody says, but I was having a party. I need a little cholera. Cant you keep a little cholera for special occasions? Its like, no, everyone just hates cholera. Drugs are absolutely not like that. People have great experiences with drugs. I drink wine, by the way. Thats a drug. Or ethanol is a drug. So we cant resolve it that simply. And so we have to get into these questions of, well, when is it good? And when is it bad? And for whom is it good? And for whom is it bad? And then theres a question that is to me a philosophical question, in fact, religions grapple with, which is should I give something up for the benefit of others? Perhaps I can use fentanyl freely and enjoy it. But should I still say it shouldnt be in recreational market because Im aware enough of my fellow people would find it life ruining? And so the moral thing is for me to give it up so the sense that all of us can live together in a spirit of common humanity. And theres always going to be tougher discussions, things that are good and bad versus things that are just clearly good, and we should just embrace them, and clearly bad and just reject them. [MUSIC PLAYING] ezra klein I wonder about this with the rollout of legal cannabis across a lot of the country. So this is something that I occasionally take. Ill sometimes have a 5 milligram edible to help me sleep or to relax at the end of the night. It isnt something I want all that often. And when I go into these stores, and I look in them, and I see the way theyre popping up in New York the way they popped up in California, its pretty clear this market is not catering to me. And I think a lot about something that, as you mentioned, our mutual late friend Mark Kleiman, who was one of the great drug researchers and crime researchers, used to say to me, which is that alcohol companies do not make their money on people who drink a beer or two a week. They make their money on people who drink a case. And when I go into these stores, what I see are the rise of super high potency products that I wouldnt touch. And clearly the money is being made given how many of the stores there are on people taking a lot more than I am a lot more often. When you look at what is going on with legal cannabis, how do you feel about it? keith humphreys So start at the question of should we ever throw people in a cell for cannabis? Oh, so that was a terrible idea. So lets take that off the table and just say if were going to have a legal industry, have we regulated it well? And I think its absolutely clear we have not. And this is something were generally Id say bad at relative to other countries of constraining profit when the profit damages public health. And so we have an industry with hardly any constraints on their products, not a very good record with even labeling their products accurately, very poor enforcement of even keeping the legal regime in place. And the pot shops in New York are a good example of that. A huge number of them are unlicensed and just doing whatever they want. And theyre being allowed to do that. So I think weve done a really bad job with cannabis and in part driven by this phenomenon of not being willing to admit that cannabis isnt good or bad, but it is both. And so when Mark Kleiman and I worked with Washington state, who was one of the first states to legalize, and we said, you still need to have some enforcement to make a licensing system work, I remember people literally either laughing or getting angry at us saying, the war on drugs is over. No more enforcement ever. Its like, actually, no. Why would you have a license and do the right thing and not hire minors? And why would you be sure to card? And why would you sell clean and safe products when you do that because you get a market advantage in a licensed market? And so if we just allow anybody to do anything, well, then theres really no point in getting licensed, no point in paying your taxes, no point in being a good citizen, no point in not in hawking dangerous products. And thats the situation that we have. And were going to be really sorry for it. The distribution of consumption is also really important to think about. Its not quite half, but its certainly a plurality of cannabis users today are using it every single day, usually a high strength product. ezra klein Wow, really? Almost half? keith humphreys Yeah. Id say about 40 percent are daily or near daily users. And so thats where the money is if youre running an industry. And so you want to produce cheap high-strength product that that population will use and use and use and use. And I just think were really going to regret that. ezra klein My friends over at Search Engine, which is a great podcast, just did this two part series on the New York cannabis market. And I had not really understood that while New York is now completely full of what appeared to me to be legal cannabis stores, virtually none of them are legal cannabis stores. Theres a very small number of legal ones and then a huge number of illegal ones. And you might say, well, how are there all these illegal stores? And the answer is that nobody wants to send the police to bust people for cannabis. And so much of the theory of legalization as I understood it for years was that we will legalize and then be able to regulate the market. But if what weve done is legalized, but were not willing to use law enforcement, and so we cannot regulate the market, thats actually a dramatically different policy equilibrium than I feel like I was promised. keith humphreys Yeah, the experience youre having I think people have had across a lot of drug policy is expecting one thing and then getting another and underestimating the ideological commitments of the people who designed it. So there are people who say, were going to have this legal market, and well get rid of the illegal sellers and all that. But that isnt what necessarily they wanted. They just thought, look, this should not be restricted at all. And you should just be able to deal with it and sell it and have a classic Libertarian understanding of it as opposed to a more progressive understanding of what we expect from industries. And this problem is replicated all over the country. Theres also something thats happened in policing, which is theres always more to do for police than they have to do. So theyre not super interested in getting involved. Even with some of the massive problems we have, for example, here in California, we have huge illicit groves, some of them staffed by people who have literally been human trafficked. But it hasnt really risen up as an enforcement priority because, cannabis, we dont do that anymore. ezra klein You said this about cannabis, and I found it really striking. Quote, The newly legal industry looks a lot like the tobacco industry an under-regulated, under-taxed, politically connected, white dominated corporate entity that generates its profits mainly by addicting lower income people to a drug. 85 percent of Colorados cannabis, for example, is consumed by people who did not graduate from college. Can you say a bit more about that socioeconomic breakdown? keith humphreys Yeah. So I think that in middle upper class society, that figures really shocking. And the idea is, oh, cannabis user is, oh, someone like you, someone who has a good job, went to college, and maybe uses occasionally. No. I say if you want to think of the typical user, think of somebody who works in a gas station who gets high on all their breaks. Thats much more the sociodemographic breakdown of it. And by the way, thats what you see with tobacco as well. In my professional middle class life, it is so rare for me to see somebody smoking a cigarette. But if you go into a poor neighborhood, theres still a lot of people who smoke cigarettes. And so weve won the war on smoking I guess, middle class and well off. But its far less the case as you move into people who have much more challenging lives. And this comes back to the point that you raised and I think is really important one is that since that professional class makes the policies, its really important for them to remember that their lives are different than the people whose lives will be most profoundly affected by those policies. ezra klein One thing that a lot of drugs, cannabis being one of them, do is allow you to escape from a life that doesnt feel good to you. If I had a job that bored the hell out of me, it might be more appealing to use something like cannabis more often. I really like my job. And I definitely cannot do it high, so I dont. But theres both a question of how does this affect you as a person but also how much might you want it, need it, need the escape? keith humphreys I think this gets down to one of the most important questions to ask, which is, why dont more people use drugs? People say, why does anybody use drugs? And its like, well, do you ask me why anybody has sex? Thats a really strange question. It feels good. We dont need an explanation why people use them. Its actually far more interesting to think, why arent we all using them? Why arent you and I using drugs right now? And big reasons why are, well, we have other rewards in our lives. And we have a lot of other stuff that we want to do that is rewarding. So in the absence of those things, the why not question, the answer seems to be, well, I cant think of a reason why not. I might as well. Well, you wont live as long. Well, I dont expect to live that long. You wont do well in your brilliant career. I dont have a brilliant career. You wont enjoy your fabulous house. I dont have a fabulous house. And thats a reason I think its easy or it should be easy to have some sympathy. We all dont have the same set of rewards to choose from. Rewards any neuroscientists would tell you are judged relative to each other. We dont just make judgments over good, bad, but we do a lot of this is better than that. So as you pull rewards out of an environment, yeah, drugs become relatively more appealing. ezra klein It feels to me across this conversation that were talking about two eras that didnt really work. I think a lot of people are worried about just a pendulum swinging between extremes. Im curious if to you there is a synthesis out there either in a place or in a theory that feels like it balances these different realities, that people will use drugs? They are good for some people and terrible for others, that we dont want to be throwing adults constantly into jail because they did something with their own bodies. We dont want tons of people to get addicted because we decided not to throw anybody in jail. Is there something that feels to you like it strikes a balance here? keith humphreys So years ago, when I worked for President Obama, we cited Washingtons example because they had taken a couple of hundred million dollars, spent it on mental health and substance use treatment, and showed within 12 months theyd actually made all their money back because of less crime, because of less disability, because of less trips to the emergency room. And importantly, they had gathered data to show that. And that was one of the things we used when the Affordable Care Act was being done to explain why covering substance use in that package would be a good deal for the taxpayer in addition to, of course, being a good deal to any person who had that problem. Theres also certain issues where people with very different views and feelings about drugs can agree. So Ive been working with a lot of people around the country on building Medicaid into the correctional system starting in California. It was pushed by a fabulous assembly member named Marie Waldron. We turn Medicaid on before people leave. And that gets them typically on some type of medication. And that can pull people together because it makes it far less likely for them to die of an overdose or to have other health problems. And it also makes them much less likely to commit crimes. And so you can get people like, well, Im not very sympathetic. I dont want to spend money on the health of some drug user. But if it makes them less likely to commit more crime, I like that. And other people say, well, this is a health matter. Its like, well, then they like it too. And that approach, which now multiple states have been approved for and the Biden administration C.M.S. has said, you can all have this Medicaid waiver I dont know the current number. I think its about 14 or 15 other states are applying. And as an example of something where you dont necessarily have to resolve all the disagreements, but you can find a policy that maximizes multiple outcomes that a broad section of people care about. ezra klein Something Ive seen you talk about and write about is this idea that the way that policing should work here is it should be very, very predictable, very certain you will get picked up, and very modest. Its sort of almost like it operates as a constant annoyance. You end up in jail for 24 hours and are let loose. And there was some evidence that definitely did decrease repeat offending not among everybody but among enough people to really matter in the study. Do you still think thats a good idea? keith humphreys Absolutely. Its a good principle for enforcement and for deterrence to have it be predictable, responsive, and fair. Theres been a lot of success with drink driving and alcohol through the program 24/7 Sobriety, which started in South Dakota and has now spread to about 15, 20 states and is also now in other countries. Its all across England, all across Wales where I was just last week actually working on that, which is a model whereby people are sentenced after their second, third, fourth, fifth alcohol related arrest to not be allowed to drink. They arent sent to jail. They arent fine. Their cars arent taken away. But their alcohol use is monitored literally every single day with swift and certain but modest consequences if they drink. And that program has reduced incarceration. It has reduced crime. It has reduced domestic violence. And it strikes a good balance between using the criminal justice system to protect and put some constraints on people but not in a way that ends up being carceral. And the place where we can really make a huge impact on that in the United States is the million people were already supervising on probation and parole who have substance use problems. And we need to roll those out more broadly. For example, Oregons new policy mix if implemented properly, which will be a challenge, I think it would be a very good one. They do put pressure on people to seek treatment. But they say literally, no one is going to be put into a prison in Oregon simply because they used a drug. And now theyre building up the other part you got to have, which is have to have the health system and the services that keep people alive while they use and then help them get into recovery. That, I think, is a very appealing mix of things. We have a really hard time, I think, in the U.S. and lots of policy issues of realizing that its not a series of on/off switches. Its a series of dials. And you can adjust things and find sensible, nuanced approaches that are more effective than what fits on a bumper sticker. And I feel like thats what my job is. And people like me who do not have to take the great risk to stand up and people and say, please vote for me. And then that means I have to explain something simply. It cant be any other way but are next to it and are very fortunate to have the time to sift through evidence in a calm environment before they venture out with some suggestions about what we might do better. ezra klein I think thats a good place to end. So then as a final question, what are three books you would recommend to the audience? keith humphreys So theres so many good books written about in this area. Its hard to pick. So I decided to prioritize personal relationship starting with your late friend of mine Mark Kleiman, who wrote a book called Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know, coauthored with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken. And it is exactly what the title promises. Its accessible. Its something you can dip into and out of and answer any question you want. And I also point to it as just a model of how academics in any area can write in such a fashion that a broad audience can engage their work and learn from it. The second book I would suggest, again, from a friend whos someone Ive known since she was a psychiatric resident and I was an assistant professor. And thats Dr. Anna Lembke here at Stanford. And the book is called Dopamine Nation, which was a deserved bestseller around the world. But that gives you much more of the human experience describing, what is it like to be addicted, to not be able to stop doing something even though you know its destructive? How does it feel? How do you try to overcome it? And what is going on in that person neurologically that makes it so hard? And then the book also talks about just the seeking of reward in a reward saturated society and how we all are chasing all these things, whether its on our cell phones or with drugs and so on. And then the last one maybe a more eccentric choice, but its such a good book is by Thomas De Quincey. And its called Confessions of an English Opium Eater. So De Quincey was a hangers on of the romantic poet set about 200 years ago in England. And he wrote at the time a very scandalous account. But, of course, also scandalous things in Britain are often very popular things. So it became a bestseller about his experience of long time opium use. And he talks about the pains of opium and the pleasures of opium and a bit about how it affects social relationships, how it affects human psychology. And what I like about is, first off, it has a wonderfully florid over the top poetic style. And the other thing is almost everything you and I have talked about today is touched on in that book. And that shows that while we do learn things and we go forward with science, with policy, it is also true that the human relationship with drugs has had the same benefits and challenges in it for time immemorial. And so thats a reminder of that when you read a book written that long ago and can resonate with so much of whats going on today. [MUSIC PLAYING] ezra klein Keith Humphreys, thank you very much. keith humphreys Thank you. ezra klein When the reigning Miss USA, Noelia Voigt, announced this week she would be resigning from her position, she cited her mental health and wrote about her gratitude for the opportunity. As individuals, we grow through experiencing different things in life that lead us to learning more about ourselves, she wrote on Instagram on Monday. But an internal resignation letter by Ms. Voigt to Miss USA leadership and the Miss Universe Organization, obtained on Friday by The New York Times, presented a much darker picture. In the eight-page letter, Ms. Voigt, who represented the state of Utah and was crowned in September, described a toxic work environment within the Miss USA Organization that, at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment. She also complained in her letter that the organization had delayed making good on her prize winnings. Barron Trump, former President Donald J. Trumps youngest son who has stayed out of the spotlight since his father entered politics, will not serve as one of Floridas delegates to the Republican National Convention, the office of Melania Trump announced on Friday. In a statement released two days after Barron, 18, was selected to be an at-large delegate by the Florida Republican Party, Mrs. Trumps office said that Barron was honored to be chosen but that he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments. The Trump campaign referred a request for comment to a spokeswoman for Mrs. Trump, who did not immediately respond to questions about what those commitments might be. Barron, who will graduate from high school next week and who plans to attend college in the fall, has largely not participated in his fathers political career. People in Britain marveled at the unusual and spectacular sight of the northern lights on Friday night, the consequence of a severe solar storm that was brewing and was expected to continue over the coming days. The northern lights also known as aurora borealis usually dont reach that far south. They are most often seen in higher latitudes closer to the North Pole. People in other European countries, including Denmark and Germany, also reported seeing the lights. Onlookers marveled at the sight, posting their surprise, delight and sometimes shock on social media. As one user wrote: Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely over Edinburgh? Talks involving Israeli and Hamas negotiators on a cease-fire and hostage release deal remain snagged over whether a truce would be permanent or temporary, and how many hostages would be freed in the first phase of an agreement, officials briefed on the matter said. Israel and Hamas representatives left Egypt on Thursday after the latest round of indirect talks they do not communicate with each other directly without any deal in sight, the officials said. But U.S., Egyptian, and Qatari teams were still holding further discussions in Egypt. Hamas is still demanding that Israel abide by a permanent cease-fire and completely withdraw from Gaza as part of any truce, said Mousa Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamass political leadership. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has said Israel cannot end the war as long as Hamass rule in Gaza remains intact. On Friday, Hamas declared that Israels rejection of a framework that Qatar and Egypt had proposed, and Hamas had approved, had brought matters back to square one. Mr. Abu Marzouk added that another obstacle in the talks is how many living hostages held in Gaza would be released during the first phase of a multistage cease-fire. His account was confirmed by an Israeli official and another official briefed on the negotiation. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations. Palestinian armed groups still hold approximately 132 hostages in Gaza, the vast majority of them seized during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, according to the Israeli authorities. But Israel says it has also determined that at least 36 of them are dead. Israel had initially demanded that Hamas release 40 hostages in the first phase of a cease-fire, including old captives, ill people and women, both civilians and soldiers. Male Israeli soldiers, seen by Hamas as higher-value captives, would be released in the second phase of the truce. Xem them ... Tin bai cuoi cung Khong con du lieu e load Following Israels incursion into Rafah this week, the Israeli military briefly shut down the Kerem Shalom crossing and seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, choking the flow of desperately needed food, fuel and medical supplies at a time when experts believe parts of Gaza are already experiencing a famine and several have died from malnutrition. According to United Nations data, the number of aid trucks entering Gaza hit a peak last week since October: A total of 1,674 aid trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings, the main entry points of aid into the enclave. But since Sunday, no aid trucks have entered Gaza from either entry point, even after Israel said that it had reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing on Wednesday. The entry of aid into Gaza has been heavily restricted by Israel since the war started, creating what aid experts say is a human-made hunger crisis. Humanitarians warn that the crisis will worsen without the fuel necessary for bakeries and hospitals to operate. Here is a look at the major routes for aid into Gaza and their status. Kerem Shalom Israel shut down the Kerem Shalom crossing after a Hamas attack on Sunday killed four of its soldiers in the area. On Wednesday, Israel said it had reopened the crossing, but the United Nations and others disputed that claim because no trucks were being allowed through. On Friday afternoon, Israel allowed at least 157,000 liters of fuel to enter, according to Scott Anderson, a senior official at UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinians. But no humanitarian aid, which includes food and medical supplies, has entered since Sunday, he said. Egypt, which plays an important role in facilitating aid collection and delivery, has complicated matters by resisting sending trucks to Kerem Shalom, according to several Western and Israeli officials; American and Israeli officials believe that Egypt is putting pressure on Israel to curb its invasion of Rafah. Days after an Israeli military incursion into Rafah, in southern Gaza, South Africa once again asked the United Nations top court to issue constraints on Israel, saying the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza was under threat. In filings disclosed by the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Friday, South Africa asked the court to order Israel to immediately withdraw from Rafah, Gazas southernmost city where more than a million Palestinians displaced by the war have sought shelter, and to cease its military offensive and allow unimpeded access to international officials, investigators and journalists. South Africas latest move is part of a case the country filed in December in which it accused Israel of genocide. Since then, the court has ordered Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza and ordered the delivery of more humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the face of growing starvation in areas. But the court has not ordered Israel to stop its military campaign against Hamas. Israel has strongly denied South Africas accusations and said that it had gone to great lengths to admit deliveries of food and fuel into Gaza and to lessen harm to civilians. It has also said that its war in Gaza was necessary to defend itself against the Oct. 7 attacks led by Hamas and other armed groups that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and led to the capture of about 250 others. Fridays request is the fourth time that South Africa has asked the U.N. court for temporary injunctions. The filings noted that conditions had deteriorated significantly for civilians sheltering in Gaza. Rafah is the last population center in Gaza that has not been substantially destroyed by Israel and as such the last refuge for Palestinians in Gaza, South Africa stated. The court has not indicated when it will respond to the South African request, but its rules require that it must give priority to petitions for emergency orders. The 15-judge court has no means of enforcing its orders. The main case, dealing with the question of genocide, is not expected to start until next year. A White House spokesman on Friday defended the United States decision to oppose a U.N. resolution declaring support for Palestinian statehood, saying that such a measure should be negotiated in the Middle East. The United States was among a handful of holdouts as the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution declaring that Palestinians qualify for full membership at the United Nations. The vote was widely seen as a rebuke of Israel and the United States as global outrage mounts over the Israel-Hamas war. John F. Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, said President Biden remained fully and firmly committed to a Palestinian state, but the U.N. resolution was not the way to establish it. We continue to believe in the power and promise of a two-state solution, and an independent state for the Palestinian people, Mr. Kirby told reporters. We also believe that the best way to do that is through direct negotiations with the parties and not through a vote of the U.N. of this kind. Fridays vote comes as the ties between the United States and Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East, are tested over the war in Gaza. More than 34,000 people have died in Gaza, including both combatants and civilians, and the director of the World Food Program has said that parts of the Gaza Strip are experiencing a full-blown famine. The United States is the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, and Mr. Biden is hoping to use that leverage to get Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to forgo a long-threatened invasion of Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than one million Palestinians have taken refuge. Just hours before this years Eurovision Song Contest final was scheduled to begin in Malmo, Sweden, on Saturday, the glitzy singing competition was thrown into crisis after organizers banned the Netherlands entry from taking part. On Friday, the Dutch musician, Joost Klein, whose songs mix pop with hyperfast beats, did not appear for a scheduled rehearsal to perform his song Europapa, a song about a transcontinental European odyssey that had been among the favorites to win. Shortly afterward, the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the contest, said in a statement that it was investigating an incident involving the Dutch artist. On Saturday morning, a Swedish police spokeswoman said in an email that officers were investigating a man suspected of unlawful threats toward a Eurovision employee and had passed a file to prosecutors to consider charges. Eurovision organizers said in a new statement that it was Klein under investigation, and that it would not be appropriate for the musician to compete in Saturdays final while a legal process was underway. When the movie producer Bert Schneider met the Black Panther Party leader Huey P. Newton, he swooned. Schneider, who had helped revolutionize the movie industry (and made a lot of money) as a producer of films like Easy Rider, wanted to shake up things off the screen as well. He saw Newton, who had already done a prison stint for the killing of a police officer Newton denied that he shot the officer, and the conviction was eventually overturned as the real deal, a star on the front lines of the actual revolution. Their unlikely partnership is now the heart of the new limited series The Big Cigar, premiering May 17 on Apple TV+. Its a caper about how Newton (played by Andre Holland) fled to Cuba in 1974 after he was arrested and charged with the murder of a prostitute (also a crime he claimed he didnt commit). Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) ponied up cash and logistical assistance, including a fake film production, to help Newton escape. For the first time in 30 years at the Cannes Film Festival, an Indian film will compete for the Palme dOr in the main competition, alongside new movies from Francis Ford Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos and Andrea Arnold. The dry spell might come as a surprise for a country with film industries in multiple regions producing hundreds of films per year, including international sensations like last years Oscar-nominated RRR. But the inclusion of All We Imagine as Light, directed by Payal Kapadia, reflects a growing recognition of the independent cinema made in the shadow of the countrys mainstream hits. Thierry Fremaux, the artistic director of Cannes, noted the new generations of filmmakers in India when he announced the lineup in April. These movies offer what the critic Namrata Joshi calls a young, probing, and provoking gaze at Indian reality. Indian publications have celebrated the countrys prominent presence at the festival, whose inaugural edition in 1946 included a film from India, Chetan Anands Neecha Nagar, in its grand prize category. There was a time when Tembe Denton-Hurst didnt know a life like hers was possible. In college, she thought she might become a lawyer. I used to think that I was going to be the first Black Supreme Court justice, which, obviously, it wasnt me, she said. Who she is now, at 28 years old: a Brooklyn-raised, Queens-based writer at New York magazines The Strategist, and a novelist and co-owner of a biscuit delivery company called Sundays Only. Ms. Denton-Hurst recently visited her alma mater, St Johns University in Queens, to talk to college students who are where she once was: young and unsure of what lies ahead of them. One student asked what she would say to her younger self. Two police cars idled across the street from the protest rally I was attending in front of the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, their red and blue lights flashing but their sirens silent. The police seemed more bored than annoyed. It was the early 2000s, and I had recently moved from Turkey to study at the University of Texas. My fellow protesters were outraged. This is what a police state looks like! they started chanting. I turned around, bewildered. Turkey was still emerging from the long shadow of the 1980 coup. For years, protests were suppressed, sometimes with deadly force. Even a whiff of disruption could get Istanbul shut down, with armored vehicles blocking major roads. Trust me, I said, this is not what a police state looks like. When I told my friends back home that Americans thought it was outrageous for the police even to show up at a demonstration, it was considered yet more evidence that I had been recruited by the C.I.A. Protesting the worlds wrongs has been a rite of passage for generations of American youth, buoyed by our strong laws protecting free speech and free assembly. Yet the students and other demonstrators disrupting college campuses this spring are being taught the wrong lesson for as admirable as it can be to stand up for your beliefs, there are no guarantees that doing so will be without consequence. The highest calling of a university is to craft a culture of open inquiry, one where both free speech and academic freedom are held as ideals. Protest is part of that culture, and the issue on which so many of the current demonstrations are centered U.S. involvement in the Israel-Hamas conflict ought to be fiercely and regularly debated on college campuses. The constitutional right to free speech is the protection against government interference restricting speech. Therefore, leaders at public universities, which are funded by government, have a heightened duty to respect those boundaries. Private institutions dont have the same legal obligations, but that doesnt relieve them of the responsibility to encourage open dialogue whenever and wherever possible on their campuses. Its essential to the pursuit of learning. In the real world, though, this can get messy, and nuance is required when free speech comes into tension with protecting academic freedom. The earliest universities to adopt the principle of academic freedom did so to thwart interference and influence from totalitarian states and religious zealotry. Today, the American Association of University Professors defines it as the freedom of a teacher or researcher in higher education to investigate and discuss the issues in his or her academic field and to teach or publish findings without interference from political figures, boards of trustees, donors or other entities. On separate visits to Beijing last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen bore a common message: Chinese manufacturing overcapacity is flooding global markets with cheap Chinese exports, distorting world trade and leaving American businesses and workers struggling to compete. Not surprisingly, Chinas leaders did not like what they heard, and they didnt budge. They cant. Years of erratic and irresponsible policies, excessive Communist Party control and undelivered promises of reform have created a dead-end Chinese economy of weak domestic consumer demand and slowing growth. The only way that Chinas leaders can see to pull themselves out of this hole is to fall back on pumping out exports. That means a number of things are likely to happen, none of them good. The tide of Chinese exports will continue, tensions with the United States and other trading partners will grow, Chinas people will become increasingly unhappy with their gloomy economic prospects and anxious Communist Party leaders will respond with more repression. The root of the problem is the Communist Partys excessive control of the economy, but thats not going to change. It is baked into Chinas political system and has only worsened during President Xi Jinpings decade in power. New strategies for fixing the economy always rely on counterproductive mandates set by the government: Create new companies, build more industrial capacity. The strategy that most economists actually recommend to drive growth freeing up the private sector and empowering Chinese consumers to spend more would mean overhauling the way the government works, and that is unacceptable. Foreign policy can make a mockery of moral certitude. Youre trying to master a landscape of anarchy policed by violence, where ideological differences make American polarization look like genial neighborliness, where even a superpowers ability to impose its will dissolves with distance, where any grand project requires alliances with tyranny and worse. This seems clear when you consider the dilemmas of the past. Its why the good war of World War II involved a partnership with a monster in Moscow and the subjection of half of Europe to totalitarian oppression. Its why the bad war of Vietnam was escaped only at the cost of betraying the South Vietnamese and making a deal with yet another monster in Beijing. But in active controversies the tragic vision can seem like a cold way of looking at the world. Lean into it too hard, and you get accused of ignoring injustice or recapitulating the indifference that gave cover to past atrocities. Sometimes those accusations have some bite. A realist foreign policy can slide from describing power to excusing depredations. It can underestimate the power of a righteous cause as I underestimated, for instance, Ukraines capacity to defend itself in 2022. Not to spend too much time writing about Donald Trump this week, but I was struck by this report in The Washington Post on the former presidents recent overtures to oil executives. After hearing one executive during an event last month at his Mar-a-Lago club complain about supposedly burdensome environmental regulations promulgated by the Biden administration, Trump made a proposition. You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Bidens environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation. Giving $1 billion would be a deal, Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people. The rest of the story goes on to describe Trumps plans to gut the federal governments response to climate change and facilitate more and greater fossil fuel extraction. Trump told the executives that he would start auctioning off more leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a priority that several of the executives raised. He railed against wind power, as The Post previously reported. And he said he would reverse the restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic. This would be a generational setback on climate change, a large and disastrous mortgage on the future so that oil and gas giants could fill their coffers for just a little bit longer before they are overtaken by clean energy. Im obviously angered by the blatant disregard for the planet and its inhabitants. But Im also struck by the in-your-face brazenness of Trumps reported quid pro quo. This is more than the hint of corruption; it is the overpowering scent of the rotting corpse of corruption. It is influence trading of the sort that would embarrass a Boss Tweed or a Roscoe Conkling, whose honest graft came with at least the pretense of pursuing the public good. Even more striking than Trumps corruption, however, is the fact that we seem to be completely unfazed by the fact that the former president has apparently offered to sell his prospective administration to fossil fuel interests. That might be because, from the beginning of his term to its end, Trump was a font for corruption while in office. His hotel, located just down the street from the White House, was a clearinghouse for anyone who wanted to buy a favor. His daughter and son-in-law may not have accomplished much as presidential advisers, but they walked away from the administration with upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars in new wealth. And six months after leaving the White House, Jared Kushner secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. If Trumps latest instance of corruption isnt a campaign-ending scandal, it may be because it is nothing new. Trump is corrupt to his bones and now that appears to be as noteworthy as the weather. Befitting a campus synonymous with student protest, the graduation ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley, on Saturday blurred the lines between pomp and pro-Palestinian activism. When the university chancellor, Carol Christ, took the stage around 10:45 a.m. at the schools Memorial Stadium, a smattering of boos erupted from graduating students. But her initial remarks, acknowledging the students camping on Berkeleys Sproul Plaza for almost three weeks, elicited cheers. They feel passionately about the brutality of the violence in Gaza, she said. I, too, am deeply troubled by the terrible tragedy. As the chancellor continued, dozens of students in the crowd in the stands rose with signs reading, Divest, and at least 10 Palestinian flags. They began to chant: Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go and U.C. divest. They also interrupted the speech by the student body president, Sydney Roberts, who said, This wouldnt be Berkeley without a protest. A woman found living in the rooftop sign of a grocery store in Michigan had set up the small space to call home with flooring, a Keurig coffee maker and a computer, the authorities said. The unidentified 34-year-old woman, who was not formally charged with anything, had been living there for about a year, Brennon Warren, a spokesman for the Midland Police Department in Midland, Mich., said in an email. The police were called by store staff members on April 23 around 2 p.m. after contractors who were working on the roof found her, Officer Warren said. It is unclear how she was getting up and into the triangular sign on the rooftop of a Family Fare store, he said, estimating the building to be between 15 to 20 feet tall and the space where she had been living to be about 10 to 15 feet in length, five feet wide and approximately six to eight feet at its highest peak. President Biden laid it out for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel long before letting the public know. In a conversation bristling with tension on Feb. 11, the president warned the prime minister against a major assault on the Gaza city of Rafah and suggested that continued U.S. support would depend on how Israel proceeded. It was an extraordinary moment. For the first time, the president who had so strongly backed Israels war against Hamas was essentially threatening to change course. The White House, however, kept the threat secret, making no mention of it in the official statement it released about the call. And indeed, the private warning, perhaps too subtle, fell on deaf ears. Six days later, on Feb. 17, Mr. Biden heard from Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. The presidents chief diplomat was calling from his blue-and-white government plane as he was flying home from a security conference in Munich. Despite the presidents warning, Mr. Blinken reported that momentum for an invasion of Rafah was building. It could result in a humanitarian catastrophe, he feared. They had to draw a line. At that point, the president headed down a road that would lead to the most serious collision between the United States and Israel in a generation. Three months later, the president has decided to follow through on his warning, leaving the two sides in a dramatic standoff. Mr. Biden has paused a shipment of 3,500 bombs and vowed to block the delivery of other offensive arms if Israel mounts a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah over his objections. Mr. Netanyahu responded defiantly, vowing to act even if we need to stand alone. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. warned on Saturday that freedom of speech was under threat at universities and that freedom of religion was in peril in society at large. Troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles, he said. He made his remarks at a commencement ceremony at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, a Catholic institution. Support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously, especially where it should find deepest acceptance, he said. A university, he said, should be a place for reasoned debate. But he added that today, very few colleges live up to that ideal. He lay on top of his young sons, trying to shield them with his body, he said. The military had forced them and dozens of other villagers under a baobab tree. Then, he said, the soldiers opened fire. They shot at us all, said Daouda, a farmer who had survived for years in jihadist-controlled territory only to be shot at by the military that was supposed to protect him. The mass killings in Daoudas village and a nearby hamlet in February were among the deadliest in a decade of upheaval in Burkina Faso, a country torn apart by the Islamist insurgencies that have swept across parts of western Africa. Burkina Faso has faced such relentless assaults from extremist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State that it topped the Global Terrorism Index last year, becoming the nation hardest hit by terrorism in the world. Heavy seasonal rains have set off flash floods across Afghanistan, killing more than 300 people in one province and destroying thousands of homes, according to United Nations officials. The floods have displaced thousands of others and engulfed entire villages, Afghan officials say. The floods toll in the northern province of Baghlan, which appeared to have suffered the worst devastation, was likely to rise, said Hedayatullah Hamdard, the director of the provincial disaster management department. Most of the dead there were women and children, he said. At least 2,000 homes have been destroyed, according to the U.N. World Food Program. Flooding began around 4 p.m. Friday and continued into the evening in Baghlan Province. Abdul Aziz Ayyar, a tribal elder, was in his home in the Baghlan-e-Markazi District when rain began pouring down. He stepped outside and saw a torrent of water rushing down a nearby mountain toward his village. He grabbed his two children and wife and began sprinting to a different nearby mountain, shouting as he ran to warn the other villagers, he said. His 30-year-old niece was running behind him, carrying her 1-year-old and 3-year-old daughters. At one point, his niece tried to grab his hand to steady her and her children, he said, but before he could grab her, floodwater crashed over them, carrying them away. Mr. Aylward, of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, had joined with leaders from three other public sector unions to announce that they had started a series of legal challenges over the federal governments requirement that most of their members show up at their workplaces at least three days a week beginning in September. And they said that they would take coordinated actions leading to disruptions as a pressure tactic. For most Canadians, the ability to work chiefly from home faded away along with the pandemic health threat some time ago. In January, Statistics Canada reported that 20 percent of people, including government employees, spend the majority of their work time at home. Thats well down from the 40 percent level at the height of the pandemic but nevertheless higher than the 7 percent level of 2019. The protests roiling college campuses are filled with all sorts of demands, but many of them have one thing in common: money. Many pro-Palestinian protesters want their schools endowments to pull money from investments in companies that have financial ties to Israel. Most institutions have declined to do so. This form of financial protest is not new. We all want to live our values and have our colleges, employers and communities do so, too. We saw similar protests in the 1970s and 80s with South Africa and in the continuing debate over climate change. Students, especially, can learn a lot about investing, governance and complexity through trying to influence their schools. But many individual investors also have the ability to press the eject button on stocks that they disfavor, all on their own. This week after years of being disgusted by the way that a small number of companies have treated their American customers, employees and the public trust writ large I finally did it myself. This is personal, so I will not name the companies here. But, to be clear, it had nothing to do with Israel and Gaza, and everything to do with how investing in bad corporate actors made me feel. Vladimir Putin has taken the oath of office as president of the Russian Federation for another term. Most Western nations, expectedly, boycotted the ceremony on May 7, refusing to send diplomats to the inauguration. But does their action really worry Russia? According to Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Moscow does not conduct elections or inaugurations "in order to be appreciated, loved or hated by the West."Indeed, the process of "decoupling" between Russia and the West seems to be unstoppable. For the Kremlin, creating a "positive image" of Russia in the Western world is no longer a top priority. Putin, however, hinted in his short inauguration speech that Russia is ready for dialogue with the West on security and strategic stability, "but only on equal terms." But from the Western powers' perspective, treating Moscow as an equal partner would represent a demonstration of weakness. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States has treated the Kremlin as a junior partner, in the best case. Putin is attempting to improve Russia's position in the global order, quite aware that the existing system of international relations is heading toward a radical transformation. The West, led by the United States, seeks to preserve the dominant role in a new international order. That is why the Kremlin can unlikely count on equal treatment in any arrangements with Western powers. As a result, a new cold war will continue, and Russia will undoubtedly aim to develop relations with various non-Western actors. One month before the Russian presidential election, held on March 17, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian leader is expected to visit Turkiye Moscow's "strategic frenemy" after the vote. To this day, however, it remains highly uncertain when, and if at all, Putin will travel to Turkiye, which is a NATO member, to meet with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Although such a move could strengthen pragmatic relations between Moscow and Ankara, the Kremlin seems to be more interested in deepening ties with non-NATO nations. China is undoubtedly one of them. According to Peskov, preparations for Putin's visit to China have entered their "final stage." Given Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing European tour, as well as the upcoming Victory Day celebration in Moscow, it is not very probable that the Russian and Chinese leaders will meet in the first half of May. But if Putin visits China before Turkiye, it will be a clear message to the West that, for the foreseeable future, Russias foreign policy vector will go eastward. The fact that leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan will attend the Victory Day celebration on May 9, perfectly illustrates that one of the Kremlin's goals during Putin's fifth term will be to preserve good ties with what it sees as "Russia's near abroad," especially with countries that are members of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Putin's inauguration rhetoric also indicates that, for the new Russian government, preserving stability at home will possibly be its most important task. Preventing potential divisions within Russia's multinational society will almost certainly play a very important part in the country's domestic politics. "We are a united and great people and together we will overcome all obstacles, realize all our plans, and together we will win," Putin said after being sworn in. His statement should be interpreted not only in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, but also in connection with the March 22 Crocus City Hall terror attack a tragic event that threatened to destabilize the country. Putin will, therefore, insist on unity in Russia, although he is expected to make some changes to the makeup of the new Russian government. If Putin serves the full six years of his new term, he will become one of the the longest serving Russian leaders since Empress Catherine the Great in the 18th century. He has held continuous positions as president or prime minister since 1999. Over the years, he has attempted to improve Moscow's relations with the West but, as he repeatedly stated, Western leaders have "led Russia by the nose and deceived the Kremlin." As a result, Russia now seeks to strengthen political, economic, and military relations with the Global South. Unlike Peter the Great, the Russian Tsar who ruled the country in the late 17th and early 18th centuries aiming to Westernize it, Putin promises to take a different approach and is paying more attention to developing Russian traditional values. But in the next six years, Putin will face many challenges. Although the West, at least according to French President Emmanuel Macron, "has no desire for a regime change in Russia," it will be very difficult for the Kremlin to find a common ground with nations it sees as unfriendly. Even if the conflict in Ukraine ends tomorrow, relations between Russia and the West are unlikely to "get back to normal" anytime soon. That is why Putin's fifth term in office, at least when it comes to Russian foreign policy, is expected to lead to additional de-Westernization of Russia. The author Nikola Mikovic is a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, and a freelance journalist in Serbia. (Source: CGTN THE inaugural AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards, celebrating schools that give back to the community, took place in Croke Park on last Wednesday, having received a staggering 123 submissions from 103 schools across the country. Schools across Ireland showcased their amazing work to contribute to the betterment of their communities at the Gala Awards in Croke Park. The event was hosted by digital creator, presenter, and actor Muinteoir John Sharpson. Colaiste Naomh Cormac were among the winners in the Large Group Social category. Their project was from a mixed group of Junior and Senior students. The description of the project stated that Croi na Comharsanachta strives to be the "Heart of the Neighbourhood," fostering community unity through various initiatives. From educational programmes to cultural events, they emphasise collaboration, diversity, and inclusion, making a meaningful impact on residents of all ages. The AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards centre on three key pillars of activity: Environmental, Social, and Financial. These pillars encompass a wide range of activities that contribute to the betterment of communities, including volunteering, fundraising, awareness campaigns, mentoring, peer education, skills-sharing, and environmental conservation. The AIB Future Sparks Programme is a skills-based interdisciplinary programme for post primary schools. Underpinned by rich education resources, this programme joins the dots for young people and their teachers as they navigate major transitions and key life moments by providing rich educational resources across multiple subject areas, such as Guidance Related Learning, Wellbeing, Business, Economics, Accounting, TY, Financial Education, and Home Economics. As part of AIBs commitment to sustainable communities, the AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards recognise and reward schools contributions to the social, financial, and environmental success of their community. The awards provide a platform to showcase the endeavours schools are undertaking to inspire and ignite change, such as fundraising, volunteering, activism, mentoring, and more. Importantly, students who have participated leverage the skills they have acquired, using them to make a positive impact in the community while learning and developing new skills along the way. Ann Marie Freyne, Head of Retail Distribution AIB Mid East at AIB, said: We are delighted to celebrate the outstanding contributions made by schools across Ireland through the AIB Future Sparks School Impact Awards. These awards enable students to leverage the skills they have acquired to make a positive impact in the community all the while fostering continuous learning and skill development. For 2024, the programme received a staggering 123 submissions from a whopping 103 schools, from the full spectrum of post primary schools spanning 22 counties. Bearded Viking Mead Company, located in Columbus, opened its doors to the public with their grand opening Mead Up event last week. The three-day celebration included a ribbon-cutting, axe throwing, food-trucks, a variety of mead samplings, and most importantly, a gathering of people. The Bearded Viking is about bringing people together, founder and mead master, JT Robertson said. And that's what we do here. If you look around, there's no technology. Everything here is about being a part of a family, a community. The small tasting room, located off Montana Highway 78, is housed in a Quonset hut, with most of the seating space outside. Wooden benches are constructed with a communal space in mind, in two semi-circles, around two fire pits. The benches are set so you have to sit next to people, so you get a chance to talk to new people and converse and bring a sense of community back to the world. Like the sense of community that Bearded Viking strives to provide, it was Robertsons fellow military brothers-in-arms and longtime friends who rallied around him in support to make his dream, and theirs, a reality: a space of welcoming and kinship. While others started baking sourdough bread during the COVID quarantine, Robertson, a Marine Corps and Army combat veteran, as well as a Viking-minded Salt Lake City dweller, he started fermenting honey. He just happened to have a 50-pound surplus of honey, sourced from his backyard beehives, he said, after giving the first 50 pounds away to his friends and family. After four years of fermenting and failing and turning honey into white lightning for a while and some terrible failures, it just kind of came to be, he said. I just kept working at it and working at it and became better and better with every batch. He moved to Montana, a longtime goal of his, to find his place of refuge, and pursue mead-making fulltime. But whats the fun of making mead without friends, and family, to share it with. They say never do business with friends, but you can't do business with people you don't trust, right? Robertson said. I don't consider them friends, theyre my chosen family. Theres a lot of trust between the nine of them, everyone bringing different talents to the table in their business partnership. His family gathered from across the country, from Utah, Colorado and Montana, to bring the endeavor to fruition. Now, two and half years after breaking ground on the project, their meaderys doors are open. Robertson no longer sources honey from his own beehives, although he kept nine of them, he sources honey locally from Sunshine Apiary, also located in Columbus. The relationship couldnt be more symbiotic and fortuitous for Robertson, something hes glad of. Eventually, he and his family plan to expand the indoor tasting room into a larger gathering space, with a Viking-inspired hall in mind. Until then, through the warmer summer months, visitors will have the outdoor space to commune. On the other side of battle themselves, this fellowship of nine veterans have found a common purpose not only in their shared business venture, but also in a solidarity among veterans and the awareness of mental health issues affecting them. The group of them host a weekly men's mental health podcast, called Vikings, Outlaws and Cowboys. We talk about men's mental health because nobody ever talks about it. Men don't talk about mental health. We don't sugarcoat anything, he said. It's just reminding men that they need to be men; you can do all sorts of things and still be a man. Address people with kindness and respect, you'll get it back. Your opinion doesn't matter in life, it doesn't. Hold your beliefs to you and encourage other people to be good. Bearded Viking Mead Company is located at 4595 on MT-78, Columbus, open 4-9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Author, Bruce Lerro Co-Founder and Organizer Socialist Planning Beyond Capitalism Orientation Purpose of this article Almost 2 years ago I wrote an article called Aryan Right-Wing Mythology for the New Age based on the work of Robert Ellwood (The Politics of Myth). In it Ellwood showed the conservative nature of popular mythologists Carl Jung, Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell. My purpose was to show how the naive New Age movement took these mythologists to be liberal in spite of their conservative and even proto-fascist leanings. All three mythologists were writing from the early to the middle part of the 20th century. In this article I want to trace the history of right-wing mythology back 200 years. For this task I will be relying on two great books. One is Aryan Idols: Indo-European Mythology as Ideology and Science by Stefan Arvidsson; the other is Theorizing Myth by Bruce Lincoln. In search for the Indo-Europeans Why explore a lost culture with little evidence to go on? From the early 19th century to the end of World War II historians, linguists, folklorists and archeologists have tried to re-create a lost culture, a people older than the Sumerians. Those scholars who have maintained that this culture existed and have called them "Indo-Europeans;" "Proto-Indo Europeans", "Aryans" or "Japhetites". It was in 1813 that Thomas Young coined the term "Indo-European". In Part I of this article I explore those theories that searched for the Indo-Europeans by dissecting language-based on the theories of Sir William Jones and Max Muller. Both these theorists suspected that India was the home of the Indo Europeans. Further on, in the hands of the Grimm Brothers, the search for the Indo-Europeans takes a nationalist turn. Finally, neo-traditional religion supports the vitality of chthonic earth gods. Lastly, I discuss the impact of racial anthropology in which the search for Indo-Europeans is now based on the climate of the area, the skin color and brain size of people in these cultures. Part II continues this rightward turn in Indo European studies with explicitly fascist direction. Following Arvidsson, I contrast the difference between the "order" theorists and the more "barbarophilism" as they affect the rise of Hitler. India falls out of favor as the home of the Indo-Europeans and is replaced by Germany. But later, following Bruce Lincoln we find a French fascism smuggled into the work of the great French comparative mythologist, Georges Dumezil. I close with a brief presentation of the fascist work of Roger Pearson in his efforts to carry Indo-European studies right into second half of the 19th century. By way of conclusion, I present comparative mythologist Bruce Lincoln's ten methodological steps to be sure that the political use of mythology does not interfere with the science of comparative mythology. Who were the Indo-European scholars and what were their methodological problems? Interestingly, supporters for the discovery of IE culture were a multidisciplinary lot. They consisted of historians of religions like Mircea Eliade, Jan de Vries, Jacob Grimm, Frederic Max Muller; historians such as Georges Duby and Jacques Le Goff; anthropologists such as Claude Levi Strauss and Marshall Sahlins; archeologists like Gordon Childe; sociologists like Georges Dumezil. Others included Franz Bopp, Ernest Renan and Emile Benveniste. The problem for these scholars was that Indo-Europeans have not left behind any texts and no objects that can definably be tied to them. Given these problems, why did these scholars not give up and turn their attention to other excavations? Why did they persist under these difficult conditions? The answer Stefan Arvidsson gives is that most of these scholars did so for religious and political/ideological reasons. I The Ideological Origins of the Search for Indo-Europeans Anthropology typically examines the similarities and differences between cultures. Yet anthropologists are affected by the political climate of their countries. In European colonial times of the late 18th century, there was little to gain by elites for pursuing the Enlightenment dream of finding a universality of all cultures. Instead, religious and political zealots look for differences to justify the subjugation of these countries. The ancient history of the supposed Indo-Europeans became the proof that one branch of humanity was destined to exploit and rule the others. Mythology became an ideology to justify conquest. As Arvidsson pointed out, romantics like Chateaubriand, and Joseph de Maistre stressed importance of Laws of Manu found in India as a justification for a tripart conservative ideology as we will see later. Indo-European "Aryan" studies were appropriated at an early stage by racial science. British archeologist Colin Renfrew has concluded from his own research that the research in IE is itself a modern myth. They included those who want to rekindle the old pre-Christian IE or Aryan paganism. Even as late as 1940-44 the most important dividing line among Europe's inhabitants were between Aryans and Semites. After the fall of Germany in World War II "Aryan" was replaced by "Indo European" because post-war scholarship was dominated by Dumezil who never spoke about "Aryan religion". Today the term is only used by Neo-Nazis. Why was it so important for Germany to search for a culture of its origins? Unlike Britain, France or Spain there was no Germany until the end of the 18th century. The usual process of nation-building involved a reference to an ancient geographical homeland as well as an ancient religion. In this climate of imperial ambitions, Germany had neither, so it set out to discover one. II Discovery of Sanskrit Sir William Jones The Romantic use of language interpreted by various peoples who spoke IE languages made them have an organic unity and had a common fate. They claimed that all people who spoke IE had also inherited a common belief system. IE scholars like Bryant and Jones attempted to find similarities in the myths and god figures and found traces of these beliefs in at least four places: Roman texts, Greek myths, Indian hymns and Norse saga literature. Bruce Lincoln, in his great book Theorizing Myth says Sir William Jones (1746-1794) established himself as one of the world's foremost linguists with a grasp of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Turkish along with a knowledge of Persian and Arabic. He was a scholar, poet and translator sympathetic to the most liberal causes of his day. By a series of occupational happenstances, this led him to study Sanskrit. In 1785 he gave a lecture in which he proposed the common origin of the languages (Sanskrit) to which others would later derive and give the name "Aryan". Jones discovered the similarities between Latin and Greek European languages and the Sanskrit and Persian languages which were termed linguistic families". The Bhagavad Gita was translated by Jones along with The Laws of Manu. India was assumed to be the oldest member of that group. Jones focused on four specific domains of culture a) language and letters b) philosophy and religion c) architecture and sculpture d) science and arts. In his discussion of an evaluation basing his judgments on what he took to be levels of accomplishment, he considered India first among the nations and evaluated it most favorably. He connected the peoples of India and Iran on the basis of their linguistic, religious and artistic similarities. Romanticism and India Interest in Sanskrit exploded. Herder (1744-1803) was the first to spread the doctrine of Indomania in German. He thought it was one of the most important steps in the development of the human race. Raymond Schwab referred to the period around 1800 as an "Oriental Renaissance". Schlegel's book in 1808 made the case for India as the Aryan homeland. In the translation of the Laws of Manu, the word "Aryan" means noble. The plot thickens. For romantics the idealization of India served both as a protest against and an escape from the contemporary world that seemed the like a confident march of progress. Threatened by rationalism, mechanistic science, materialistic anthropology, anti-aristocratic politics and watered down theology Romantics made India a mystical unity that did away with interdisciplinary European conflicts. While the Enlightenment advocated a contractual right of man, German Romantics argued that human races are an organic part of the natural world with India as its model. Poets such as Shelley, Lord Byron and Schopenhauer attempted to synthesize India with European thinking. Paris was the Mecca of Orientalism during the 1830s-1840s and it was hoped that studying Sanskrit would liberate scholars from their preoccupation with Greece and Rome. For some time, ancient India became the imagined home of Indo-Europeans. The attractive power of this world grew in 1819 through the writings of Frederic Schlegel, who attempted to build a comparative linguistics (1767-1845) along with von Humboldt and Jacob Grimm (1785-1863). Like many to come, Herder believed that Asia was the original home of human unity. The discovery of IE language transformed India, Persia and Central Asia as a kind of European Orient. Thomas Trautmann writes that Jones' work is nothing less than a project to make the new Orientalism safe for Anglicans. Interest in India was popularized by the historian of religion, Max Muller. What we are interested in is the relationship of that discovery to political interests of colonial British rule in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Language mediates how nature grows in culture For Romantics, language was the most basic expression of the soul of a people and is the foundation for musical and artistic traditions as well as social laws. The study of the origin of language (philology) was the cornerstone in the 19th century of research in the search for Indo-Europeans. Language became the vehicle through which nature grows through people. For Hamann and Herder, the ancient vernacular of languages and literature - poetry and myth - was a prime basis of national identity. Each language embodied the history of the people who spoke it. Each language had a basis in poetry and music far deeper than the degraded prose of modernity. For Herder, the formation of culture consisted of 4 parts: A variety of climates - heat and cold have an impact on the disposition of customs and bodies. Climate first produces change at the body's most superficial level. Over long periods of time the effects penetrate deeper to transform skeletal structure and even the shape of the skull and nose. The landscape - the features of individuals in a culture are brought into line with the features of the landscape. Language impacts thought and social relations. The arts through music and dance. III Max Muller and the Birth of Comparative Religion Comparative religion as rooted in linguistics As a philologist, Max Muller believed that religion is tightly linked to linguistic groups. Muller thought the only scientific way of classifying religion was by language. He raised the question that if the belief in God arises naturally, why are there such different religious types? In order to explain the origins of myths he founded the discipline of comparative mythology. Primitive religion was monotheist and rooted in sun-worship Which natural phenomenon had been the most prominent in catalyzing the mythopoetic imagination? Was it thunder and lightning, earthquakes, volcanos or the sun and dawn? Muller suspected that primitive religion was monothetic and this divine creator had originated from humanity's encounter with forces of nature. However, it was not the wildest and most unpredictable events but it was the ones which were the most persistent and reliable. He thought the light of the sun fit the bill. Muller hoped to find traces of the original experience of the infinite among the oldest and most primitive peoples. He believed that the origin of monotheism was India. In the hopes of finding the monotheistic roots of India, he translated the Rigveda. Use and abuse of myth: history of myth According to Bruce Lincoln, the word "myth" has been used in many ways depending on the historical period. Myth had been used originally in early Greek times to mean a primordial truth or a sacred story. It gradually became discredited with the rise of the Pre-Socrates and dismissed by the Romans as a "fable". Christianity saw myth as a lie and set them in dualistic opposition to the non-mythic bible. With the rise of science myth was seen as either as a sign of ignorance, the result of poetic revelry or a children's story. Resurrected by the romantics in the 19th century, it became politicized and used to assist in the building of nation-states. In the 20th century it helped to build support for the wave of fascism in the 20th century. Muller sees myth as degenerative Muller was a modernist Protestant. He was not a romantic when it came to myths. He found myth irrational and immoral. Muller agreed the IE mythology was a poetic explanation of nature. But if Vedic India was equal to the West, what kept India economically and politically backward? Unlike Nietzsche and other romantics, Muller saw myth not as a foundation of all religion but as a source of religious degeneration. Like Hamann and Herder, he took poetry to be present from human origins and to reflect an innate religious awareness. Myth was a later development, a disease of language. The Jews, Muslims and Christians as staunch monotheists were less disposed to the seductions of myth. Muller and British colonialism Muller hoped to influence a change in British colonial politics. He wanted to make the British colonists understand that their Indian subjects were Aryan brothers. During a long degeneration, Indian religion withered while Europeans grew and matured into monotheism. Muller hoped that the people of India would leave behind worship of idols if they received knowledge about the old Aryan Vedic religion. IV Romantics Champion Myth and Folklore to Build Nationalism At the end of the 18th century romanticism turned its back on the Enlightenment, especially its more deterministic tendencies. Myth was given a new lease on life. People such as Jones saw myth symbolically as veiled wisdom that simply needed to be first interpreted and then explained. Interest in the vernaculars (local language) displaced the international languages of church and court while myths and to a lesser extent, folk songs were constitutive as an authentic primordial voice of the volk. The use of myth at the end of the 18th century was also used by nationalists in their search for a language and set of stories on which the emergence of the nation-state could be founded. In the hands of the Brothers Grimm and others this is exactly what happened. The Grimm's monumental research shows a Herderian interest in language and myth. They devoted themselves to the first encyclopedic compendium of German myths of 4 volumes. The Grimms argued that it was the conversion to Christianity that shattered the nexus of land-myth and folk. Myth then became entangled with attempts to contrast Aryans and Semites, as we shall see. Grimm stirs the use of folklore to build nationalism For the brothers Grimm, prehistory was not a period of dark barbarism but a high cultural golden age. The recovery of ancient texts during the Renaissance included Tacitus' Germania, first published in 1457. It dealt with the German sense of honor and integrity, their physical prowess, their courage and sense of beauty. They were received with enthusiasm by the people of Northern Europe, in part because Tacitus broke the Mediterranean monopoly on antiquity by giving the Germans, Scandinavians, Dutch and Anglo Saxons their first sense of the prestige derived from a deep and noble past. Grimm (1785 - 1863) gathered folktales from German peasants in order to recreate a strong German culture. He wanted to find a rich German stories that could successfully compete with classical Judeo-Christian traditions He hoped that within the surface of folktales searchers he could find traces of a German mythopoetic prehistory. Theorists of Northern origins challenged the Bible, for orthodox religion looked to Israel as the cradle of language. Grimm's work spread and scholars began to record tales and customs of their society. Nationalist motives were always in the search for myths whether they were folktales or rituals. V From Modernist to Neo-Traditional Religion: Fall of Nature Mythology of Max Muller Modernist theories of religion see the modernization process, including science, as part of the evolution of religion. The focus of religious experience is the individual. Modernist theories of religion look for a common core in all religion and its practices involve ethics and prayer. Modernists understand animism and polytheism as late degenerate forms of primitive monotheist tendency. To study non-modern cultures it focuses the language, and it studies myth. Max Muller was a modernist. Capitalist class rejects modernist religious interpretations Bruce Lincoln points out that when the bourgeois class at the end of the 19th century became the ruling class, it grew all the more skeptical about modernization. One of the reasons was that more radical modernists, social democrats, communists, anarchists and union members became interested in these subjects. Events that shook bourgeois idealism and liberal humanism were the real threat of socialism as seen in the Paris Commune. Between 1880-1920, the bourgeois class became a dominating class whose interest in social change decreased, and the relationship between a civilized bourgeoisie and a barbaric working-class now became more important than the relationship between the bourgeois class and a reactionary aristocracy and priesthood which the bourgeoisie had defeated. In reaction, the bourgeois became conservative, nostalgic and nationalistic. Correspondingly, the image of IE as cultural heroes changed from a modernist to a neo-traditionalist. But what does neo-traditionalist mean? What is neo-traditional religion? Neo-traditional ideals of religion want to recreate a vitalized traditional religion that could serve as a counterbalance to modernization (Muller). Von Schroder, a Baltic German Indologist, wants to renew folk-national, heathen rituals. Scholars like Lang, Von Schroeder, Harrison, Mauss and Eliade think that modernization has been chocked full of what is most vital in religion which was its magical, communitarian and collective rituals. What makes religion vital is what makes religion locally dispersed. Rather than ethics and prayer, what makes religion juicy is its altered states. Animism and polytheism are not only prior to monotheism, but once monotheism comes to power the part of religion that speaks to most people is chocked off. Further, evolutionary anthropologists claimed as Muller's theories were no more than Christian crypto-apologetics. Frazer's theories of ancient religion were an attempt to replace Muller's philological paradigm with an evolutionist and folkloristic theory. Jane Harrison and the chthonic roots of Olympian Greece religion Beyond anthropology, the importance of ritual as opposed to myth was embraced by classicists like Jane Harrison (1850-1928), Francis Cornford (1874-1943) and the Cambridge ritualists, Jane Harrison argued chthonic religion had been the true religion of Greece up to the 7th century BCE. With the Olympians' victory over the Pelasgian religion, reflection, distinction and clarity triumph over pulsing life. She held that myth arose as an attempt to explain well-entrenched and no-longer-understood rites. VI Aryan Studies Turn Rightward at the End of the 19th Century Aryan liberal romanticism that began with Jones had weakened substantially by 1870. Yet the search for the Aryans grew, with input from Michelet, Fichte, Lasson and Hubert on the left and Renan, Schlegel and Wagner on the right. Right-wing transitions to Aryanism On the right, Renan idealized the polytheism of the IE. He constructed a long-lived opposition between IE and Semitic people. He connected the Biblical Shem's line with monotheistic intolerance, egotism, conservatism, otherworldliness, irrational rituals along with lack of feeling for art and nature. For conservatives, the Jews promoted modernism. From 1870 on IE became connected with anti-Semitism. Schlegel questions whether the French Revolution really was, along with its cosmopolitan and humanistic optimism, about progress. Becoming a Catholic, he came to embrace a nationalistic, reactionary and pessimistic world view. In circles close to Schlegel people began for the first time to value the Middle Ages more highly. Wagner Wagner greatly admired Grimm for all his work on folktales. He sought to connect the Volk through art rather than scholarship. According to Wagner, a total work of art would integrate music, poetry dance, theatrical spectacle, the plastic arts and architecture. This integration of all the arts would undermine the shallowness of modernism, and rejuvenate an appreciation of folk, where the arts and rituals were once one. Wagner worked on his materials over the next thirty years into the four dramas of The Ring Circle. This was intended as a ritual celebration, not a theatrical performance. He claimed that both the science and art of today are specialization of activities that were once unified. He believed this appreciation of the beauty of nature could arises only out of polytheism. That Wagner traced the origins of the German Volk to India shows that he understood them as part of the Aryan Diaspora. The place and misplace of Nietzsche in Aryan politics For Nietzsche, myth was a necessary foundation for all religion. In his earlier writings on myth, he took Wagner's theories as his point of departure, especially in his book Birth of Tragedy. But in his later life Nietzsche disliked the vulgar antisemitism and German nationalism of Wagner. Nietzsche threw in the towel with Wagner after The Ring premiere at Bayreuth. Nevertheless Nietzsche's training was in classical philology and he was well-versed with research in Indo-European linguistics and myth and undertook his own studies. He was not dependent on Wagner for this. Nietzsche has been mistakenly categorized as antisemitic, especially in liberal and socialist circles. But as Walter Kaufman pointed out many years ago in his great biography of Nietzsche, Nietzsche's work was taken over by his sister who had fascist connections so that his work was pulverized to make it fit with Nazi ideology. Bruce Lincoln gives us at least four reasons why Nietzsche was not antisemitic or a proponent of fascism: Nietzsche's "blond beast" is not a special race but a category that encompasses multiple races, including Greeks and Japanese. However, he gave them further consideration. His detailed discussion was all devoted to the Greeks and the Germans. Soon after Nietzsche wrote Genealogy of Morals he came upon the Laws of Manu, an ancient Indian text on the ethics, law and social structure of India. Nietzsche admired the original religion and culture in India. While all the world's people originated in India, he thought those of the West-Egyptians and Europeans came from the higher castes and it was for them that was reserved the title "Indo-Europeans". While Nietzsche showed racial bias it was towards Europeans and Egyptians, not Germans. Nietzsche drew a sharp distinction between ancient and modern Germans. Ancient Germans (based on the work of Tacitus) had freedom and energy, but modern Germans did not, having become ever less Aryan and ever less Therefore, Nietzsche saw nothing in the Germans of his time that was noteworthy. The Nazis were antisemitic - Nietzsche was anti-Christian. His early antipathy toward the Jews and Judaism was gradually attenuated and balanced by a growing, occasionally grudging respect. Instead he become mercilessly more critical of Christianity. Everything wrong in Judaism was amplified and exacerbated in Christianity. The criticism he had of the Jews was that they were the first weak Christians, not that they had any of the other characteristics that fascists attributed to them. His most acidic systematic criticisms, his theory of resentment was leveled at Christianity not Judaism. Christianity is treated as the extreme form of all that is sickeningly present in Judaism. VII) Racial Anthropology As we've seen, the first Indo-European studies were grounded in linguistic observations. Max Muller equated linguistic affinity with ethnic affinity as opposed to physical appearance. In retrospect, he rightfully saw language, religion and nationality as independent of blood, skull or hair color. Jones also did not think skin color was important. However, both scholars' contention was increasingly isolated and drowned out. The issue was how to measure being Indo-European? Did one belong with those who spoke related languages and are considered to have a similar culture, or with those who looked similar? During the 19th century racial anthropologists began to discuss IE, threatening the proprietorship of linguists. Instead of the study of religion, language and folklore to find the origins of Indo-Europeans, the new school focused on differences between people in material and physical characteristics and their geographical location. Racial anthropologists argued that people's physical appearance could directly explain their degree of civilization. They debated which race was the original one and whether other races were the result of evolution or degeneration. They thought pure races were more fit than mixed ones. Racial anthropology became a study of signs where the internal moral and cultural states could be interpreted from external physical signs. Climate, skin color and physique According to Tacitus, the German climate is harsh and damper in the North and West, windier in the South and East. The cold and damp character of the Northern environment impressed itself on the bodies of those who live there. Bruce Lincoln says the whiteness of the cold must have scorched the Indo-Europeans and produced their red color. From mid-19th century, the empirical methods of racial anthropologists were improved to measurement of skin color and the size of skulls and noses. Carl Gustav Carus (1789-1869) argued that Aryans could be identified by their long skulls, blond hair and blue eyes. In his more extreme moments, Carus associated blond hair with the color of the sun and blue eyes with that of the sky, which identified Aryans as day people in contrast to the darker, lesser races. The changing meaning of "barbarians" Bourgeois humanists before 1870 looked down on barbarians for having had destroyed classical Rome. But as romanticism gained hold of bourgeois ideology, barbarian invasions were seen in a more positive light. As European romantics grew more cynical of the benefits of civilization and they studied the decline of other world civilizations and tumultuous migrations, the violence of the barbarians seemed to be necessary steps in a process of revitalization. Over a period of time from 1870, the barbarian origin of Europe changed from having been a source of guilt and shame to being something honorable. The right turn against India A racial anthropology of India begins in 1840s. It was discovered that not all Indian languages were Sanskrit. South Indians had Dravidian language roots. From this, John Stevenson developed the racial theory of Indian civilization. According to him Indian races were divided into Aryans and Dravidians. It was thought the caste society was developed as a protective mechanism against racial mixing. In other words, violence was justified as a means of maintaining racial purity. This theoretical framework served to legitimatize British colonialization. The relations of the British as a new invader into India was only the latest version of a hierarchical order that had existed thousands of years before. These vital colonizers had no use for romanticizing India. Arthur de Gobineau and Germany as the proposed new home of Indo-Europeans Scholars like Gobineau, Chamberlain and Paul Broca described Indo-Europeans as blond, blue eyed and tall with straight noses, a straight profile and long narrow skulls. In their hands, Indo-Europeans were no longer a large group of different people who spoke IE languages but a delineated group of people with defined physical characteristics. According to Gobineau, what happened in India was that white Aryans became brown and their culture and religion had degenerated into Hinduism. This racist historiography was also backed up by philological interpretations of India's oldest source, the text the Rigveda as an interpretation of the description of the Aryan Dravidian conflict. Gobineau's moral of history claimed that when whites racially mix their superior civilization degenerates. Indo-Europeans were looking less and less like Indians and Iranians and more and more like Germans. Led by Renan, the culture that was Indo-European was no longer to be discovered in West Asia but ultimately in Germany. Wagner was friends with Gobineau and tried to make de Gobineau'stheories less pessimistic and more antisemitic. Wagner's son-in-law was Houston Chamberlain (1855-1927) whose book in 1899 was the foundation text for the development of Nazi ideology. Please see my table at the end of the article which compares the framework for the changing meaning of Indo-Europeans on our website Socialist Planning Beyond Capitalism. Israel's Rafah invasion leaves displaced Palestinians helpless The situation in Gaza's Rafah is increasingly dire as over 1.4 million Palestinians -- 1 million of whom are displaced after fleeing ... (Image by YouTube, Channel: TRT World) Details DMCA Israeli attack in Rafah, Gaza "The US State Department has released a report that criticized the way Israel conducted its war against Hamas in Gaza, but stopped short of openly accusing West Jerusalem of any specific violations that would require Washington to halt the flow of weapons to its ally". [1] That's right, according to this report the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) hasn't been indiscriminately killing innocent women and children in Gaza. That's genocide by the way. But don't tell the authors of the State Department report. Some probe when they all resemble Stevie Wonder-apologies to Mr. Wonder. Already over 34,000 Gaza Palestinian's have been slaughtered by the IDF which uses tanks and jet fighters against what it says are used only against Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who himself is a criminal, has vowed to destroy Hamas even if he goes against the advice of allies. President Biden now says he'll stop delivery of 500 and 1,000 pound bombs if Israel invades Rafah in Gaza. Someone please inform Uncle Joe the IDF has already invaded Rafah. The UN General Assembly has voted to recognize Palestine as a state. Do we need to guess which country opposed the ruling. As we know the US sends $3.5 billion in aid to the apartheid Israeli regime each year. Yes Hamas started the war in October invading southern Israel killing some 1200 Israeli's and taking some 240 as hostages. Yet in response the Israeli assault on Gaza has been relentless with the US always bleating Israel has the right to defend itself. Let's be clear. The Israeli's see all Palestinian's in Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights as squatters on land given to the Jews by God some 3,000 years ago. Of course it doesn't matter Palestinian's have inhabited these lands for generations. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Dear Liz: I have an adult daughter by a previous marriage who has no savings or retirement funds. I want to change my living trust to ensure that my daughter only receives a monthly amount similar to my required minimum distribution from my IRA, plus half of our paid-off house after my wife and I pass away. Do I need a trust attorney? Answer: Restricting access to an inheritance might be necessary, but few adults would be happy about being put on an allowance. Unhappy heirs may be more likely to challenge an estate plan, so you should get expert advice if you want your wishes to prevail. Even if your daughter is amenable, you still need an estate planning attorneys help to craft the trust that doles out the money. Understand that inherited IRAs typically must be drained within 10 years. (The exceptions are for surviving spouses, minor children, the disabled or chronically ill or survivors who are not more than 10 years younger than the account owner.) If the beneficiary is a trust, the distributions dont have to be paid out to your daughter, but any amount retained by the trust will typically be taxed at a higher rate. Plus, youll have to find someone to manage the trust, notes Burton Mitchell, a Los Angeles estate planning attorney. Who you select to be the trustee is critically important, as they will have to deal with your daughter for the rest of her life, Mitchell says. Also, you may need to reconsider how you own your house if you want to ensure half goes to your daughter. Typically couples own property jointly, so that the survivor inherits automatically. If you want to bequeath your half of the property to someone other than your spouse, you may need to change the ownership structure to tenants in common. Youll need to think this through carefully, since such a change would have legal, tax and practical implications that youll want an attorney to thoroughly explain. For example, if your spouse dies before you, she could leave her house to someone other than you, Mitchell notes. The house could be sold and you might need to find somewhere else to live. Conversely, if you die first, your wife could be forced to move if your daughter insisted on selling the house. In other words, achieving what you want may be a lot more complicated and have more repercussions than you currently imagine. Talking with an experienced estate planning attorney can help you better understand your options. Liz Weston, Certified Financial Planner, is a personal finance columnist for NerdWallet. Questions may be sent to her at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604, or by using the Contact form at asklizweston.com. Wade Trammell recalls the time he and his fellow firefighters responded to a highway crash in which a beer truck rammed into a pole, propelling the trucks engine through the cab and into the drivers abdomen. The guy was up there screaming and squirming. Then the cab caught on fire, Trammell says. I couldnt move him. He burned to death right there in my arms. If you've read this far, you are as invested in this city and campus as we are. That's why we are asking you to invest in us. Since 1916, the Daily has served the Norman and OU communities with free independent journalism, with all decisions made locally with no administrative, governmental or corporate influence. We provide Norman with the city's largest reporting staff, drawn from one of the nation's top journalism colleges. Our coverage is routinely honored at state and national levels. And we're advised by a veteran professional staff with a mission to help us build on our legacy as a launching pad for media professionals. OU students pay about $14 in annual fees that help support the Daily. If you find value in our work and are not a student, please consider matching or exceeding that with a one-time or recurring donation. In an era when subscriptions to paywalled news organizations routinely exceed $100 annually, grassroots support from readers like you can collectively make a transformative difference in our organization. A 4-year-old girl passed away and four members of her family were injured when two assassins released a shower of bullets at a home in Texas in a targeted assault, as per authorities on Thursday. Texas Shooting Incident Recorded by Neighbor's Surveillance Camera The circumstances took place on Wednesday evening at a home in San Antonio and was recorded on surveillance cameras of nearby neighbors, authorities declared. According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, a man and woman in their mid-20s along with their three kids were shot at the house. All five casualties were hurried to San Antonio Military Medical Center in a crucial situation. Unhapilly, the 4-year-old girl died, as declared by Salazar at a press briefing on Thursday. The other casualties, including kids aged 7 and 8, are currently in stable condition, Salazar added. The shooting unfolded around 7:40 p.m. CT at a townhome on the 6700 block of Windsor Hollow Drive. In surveillance footage issued by the sheriff's office, two gunmen are seen arriving at the jome in a vehicle believed to be an Infiniti, according to Salazar. They then approached the house and fired weapons akin to a Draco, characterized as a "small AK-47-type weapon" that shoots a "devastating round," Salazar explained, before fleeing in the car. Both assassins were masked with ski masks. Salazar disclosed that thirty rounds were retrieved from the scene, emphasizing that "This was not a drive-by shooting where they shot from the street." He continued, "They wanted to get out and get up close and personal and they wanted to empty enough lead into that home to make sure that they inflicted maximum damage. To make sure that they killed somebody." Remarkably, one adult emerged unharmed from the attack, Salazar noted, and a second unit attached to the townhome was not targeted. "I do not doubt that they were after the people in that home, for whatever reason," stated Salazar. He mentioned that there are persons of interest being investigated in connection with the shooting, although he couldn't provide further details. "We're pretty certain we're hot on their tracks," he assured. Read Also: Arkansas Teen Arrested for Murder Following Tragic Shooting at Post Prom Event Police Assured Public of Their Safety Despite Shooting Incident Salazar stated that they intend to pursue capital murder charges about the shooting. He reassured the public on Wednesday night that there wasn't an immediate threat to their safety. The sheriff's office's organized crime group and criminal investigation division are currently handling the investigation. Salazar indicated the possibility of additional accomplices waiting in the vehicle and affirmed that capital murder charges await those responsible upon capture. The BCSO has deployed various units, including the criminal investigations division and organized crime investigators, to address the case. Individuals with information are urged to contact BCSO via phone or email. Among the casualties were three kids under 10 years old. The 4-year-old girl succumbed to her wounds, while her two brothers, aged 7 and 8, underwent surgeries. Their parents, aged 25 and 27, were recently hospitalized. A neighbor, who is a nurse, gave initial aid before EMS help arrived. According to a family member, a fourth child, a two-year-old boy, was unharmed as he was at a neighbor's residence during the incident. A gay couple is filing a lawsuit against New York City, claiming healthcare discrimination for failing to receive IVF benefits. The couple, consisting of former New York City assistant district attorney Corey Briskin and his husband, Nicholas Maggipinto, contend that the city's healthcare plan unfairly excludes gay male employees and their partners from accessing IVF benefits. This exclusion, they argue, contrasts with the provision of such benefits to employees in heterosexual relationships, single women, and women in same-sex relationships. Gay Couple Sues NYC for Denying IVF Benefits This NYC lawsuit marks a significant legal milestone as the first class action case advocating for IVF benefits for gay male employees, a press release from the plaintiffs' law firm reveals. The potential success of this case, according to the legal team representing Briskin and Maggipinto, could have widespread implications, extending fertility benefits to gay male couples nationwide. Peter Romer-Friedman, founder of the civil rights and class action law firm Peter Romer-Friedman Law PLLC, emphasized the broader goal of reshaping legal standards to ensure that gay men are not excluded from IVF opportunities. The core argument of the lawsuit centers on New York City's alleged violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by withholding IVF coverage from gay male employees while providing it to other groups. The crux of the issue lies in the city's definition of "infertile," which currently hinges on the inability to conceive through traditional heterosexual intercourse or intrauterine insemination (IUI). This definition, as the lawsuit contends, creates a barrier for gay men to qualify for IVF benefits, as their inability to conceive through these specific methods does not fit within the existing framework. This discrepancy, the lawsuit argues, unfairly hinders gay men from pursuing biological parenthood. Landmark IVF Case for Healthcare Discrimination According to the lawsuit, Briskin and Maggipinto have been pursuing IVF to expand their family since 2017. In 2021, Briskin requested equal IVF benefits for himself and fellow gay male employees from former Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration but was denied, leading the couple to file a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission the following year. The city's argument, as presented in the lawsuit, is that Briskin and Maggipinto were ineligible for IVF benefits due to the healthcare plan's lack of coverage for surrogates. However, the couple clarified that they were not seeking reimbursement for surrogacy charges but rather sought coverage for the same IVF services provided to other employees. They received a "right to sue" letter from the Department of Justice in March, advancing their legal recourse. The lawsuit highlights the detrimental impact of the city's "outdated" definition of infertility, which has deprived hundreds, if not thousands, of city employees of IVF and family-building benefits. Without these benefits, which typically cover 75% of IVF costs, gay couples face significantly higher out-of-pocket expenses for the procedure, compounded by the costs associated with surrogacy. The financial burden of IVF and surrogacy is substantial, with estimates from the advocacy group Men Having Babies indicating costs exceeding $177,950 for gay men seeking to conceive a biological child. The lawsuit implicates both Mayor Eric Adams and former Mayor Bill de Blasio as defendants, prompting a response from a city hall spokesperson. In their statement, the spokesperson emphasized the Adams administration's commitment to supporting LGBTQ+ New Yorkers' access to necessary healthcare, including IVF treatments. The city asserts that it has been a leader in providing IVF treatments to any city employee or dependent covered by the health plan, irrespective of gender identity or sexual orientation, provided they can demonstrate proof of infertility. A nurse from upstate New York faces accusations of falsifying vaccination documents for over 100 kids throughout the state. Sandra Miceli, a licensed nurse practitioner, and registered professional nurse at Surviving Naturally in Monroe County, was penalized $55,000 by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) after the allegations. New York Nurse Accused of Forging Vaccination Records Miceli is indicted of forging immunization records for 116 school-aged kids, involving nearly 550 scheduled vaccinations. This supposed deceit has raised issues among health professionals, as it could have left the kids susceptible to numerous communicable illnesses such as measles, chickenpox, and polio. Dr. James McDonald, the Health Commissioner of NYSDOH, highlights the risks posed by forging vaccine documents, stating that vaccination is essential for avoiding diseases. He also emphasizes the comprehensive influence of spreading vaccine misinformation on public health. Miceli, who operates Surviving Naturally, a "natural wellness center" in Webster, supposedly gave wrong data to the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS) between July 2019 and February 2021. According to the health department, Miceli falsified hundreds of vaccinations and falsely claimed that kids got vaccinations when they did not. The majority of the affected children reside and attend schools in Monroe County and Western New York, though some are from as far as New York City. NYSDOH's investigation revealed that Miceli would purchase vaccines and pretend to administer doses to children. In one instance, she reportedly claimed to have administered thirty times the number of doses she had purchased. Miceli's opposition to vaccines and vaccine mandates was evident on social media platforms. She allegedly posted content on Surviving Naturally's Facebook page, spreading misinformation about vaccines and expressing her opposition to a New York state bill eliminating non-medical exemptions from school and daycare vaccine requirements. NYS Department of Health Fines Nurse with $55,000 In answer to her actions, Miceli was fined $55,000 by the NYSDOH. She was ordered to pay $30,000 within ten days, with the remainder of the fine suspended provided she adhered to certain conditions outlined by the department. Additionally, Miceli and her staff at Surviving Naturally are permanently excluded from the NYSIIS and prohibited from administering vaccines reported to the system. According to the NYS Department of Health, Sandra Miceli, who operated the natural wellness center "Surviving Naturally" in Webster, was accused of creating false immunization records impacting numerous children in the region. Following the elimination of non-medical exemptions for required school vaccines in 2019, Miceli purportedly falsely documented that her patients received vaccines they had not. Investigators identified 546 false vaccination reports concerning 116 school-aged or younger children. DOH disclosed that Miceli posted anti-vaccination propaganda and disseminated misinformation about vaccines on social media, alongside her opposition to vaccine requirements. Affected children's parents and schools will receive notifications if their vaccine records are invalid. Parents affected by these circumstances are ordered to guarantee their children are vaccinated before returning to school. For those whose children's records were impacted, contact the Monroe County Department of Health's immunization clinic at (585)-753-5150. A kindergarten teacher from Burbank, California, terribly lost her life in a conflict with her adult son on Tuesday, as recorded by the police. Karyn Lombardo, aged 57, who taught at Bret Harte School, was found dead at her home on North Avon Street around 10 p.m. Son Has Been Arrested Under Suspicion of Murdering His Mother Her 25-year-old son, Kyle Lombardo, was arrested on skepticism of her killing, supported by proof collected at the location. He is recently confined on a $2 million bail, as per reports. Investigators concluded that the altercation between the mother and her son, who resided together, led to her demise. While the motive behind the killing remains undisclosed by the authorities, Karyn's husband, Vince, mentioned that their son has a mental condition and that prior incidents had prompted police visits. Vince expressed frustration at the lack of adequate support for individuals like his son, stating that action often comes too late. He also emphasizes Karyn's efforts to assist her son despite the challenges. Vince reflected on his wife's compassionate nature, emphasizing her dedication to helping their son and her students. He described her as a beloved figure in the community, affectionately dubbed "the unofficial mayor of Burbank." Natalie Talamantes, set to be the incoming PTA president, hailed Karyn as the heart and soul of Bret Harte, recalling her presence in a bee costume and her exceptional teaching skills. Former student Zoe Bautista reminisced about Karyn's uplifting influence, noting her encouragement to love oneself and seek support from parents during tough times. John Paramo, the superintendent of Burbank Unified School District, lauded Karyn's extensive impact over her 30-year tenure, spanning thousands of lives. He praised her dedication and warmth, acknowledging the profound void her loss leaves in the community. Read Also : Boston Police Discovers 4 Newborns in Freezer; Prosecutor Decides Not to Pursue Criminal Charges Tribute Was Held Outside the School for California Kindergarten Teacher Outside Bret Harte School, a growing memorial adorned with flowers and heartfelt notes serves as a poignant tribute to Karyn Lombardo's legacy. Karyn Lombardo had served as an educator at Bret Harte Elementary School for more than three decades. Her grieving husband, Vince Lombardo, was away for the evening and had anticipated returning home on Wednesday. Hours after exchanging texts with his wife, Vince received a devastating call from the authorities. The couple, married for 31 years and parents to two adult children, shared a deep bond, with Karyn's impact extending beyond their family life to the community of Burbank. Burbank Unified School District superintendent John Paramo emphasized Karyn's comprehensive contributions to the school and community, noting the extensive influence of her enthusiasm and devotion. Reflecting on his wife's compassionate nature, Vince emphasized her devotion to both her family and her students, many of whom were inspired to continue teaching careers because of her impact. Karyn Lombardo's teaching journey began in 1990 as a bilingual instructor at Joaquin Miller Elementary before she transitioned to Bret Harte Elementary three years later, where she remained until her death. A California couple is now facing imprisonment for charges related to child endangerment and the drug bust of thousands of fantanyl pills caught under their baby's crib. After discovering a significant number of drugs in their residence, the couple, Krystal Delgado, 23, and Octavian Moreno, 27, are facing serious lega charges accompanied by unlawful firearm ownership. This development stems from a recent North California drug bust, described as one of the most substantial fentanyl seizures ever recorded in Santa Clara County, according to a statement from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, located in the southern San Francisco Bay Area. California Couple Arrested for Child Endangerment A California couple faces serious legal repercussions following their arrest on charges of child endangerment and various drug offenses. Investigators, during a raid led by the Santa Clara County Specialized Enforcement Team (SCCSET), discovered a substantial quantity of illicit substances, including fentanyl pills, marijuana, and cocaine, in close proximity to a baby. District Attorney Jeff Rosen's office reported that law enforcement executed a warrant at the couple's apartment, leading to the discovery of approximately 25,000 fentanyl pills concealed in a backpack beneath the baby's crib. These pills were packaged in plastic bags labeled with "10k." During the raid, authorities also observed the couple's one-year-old baby playing in his playpen, mere feet away from a bag containing marijuana. Additionally, in the kitchen area, investigators found cocaine stored in a cabinet adjacent to the baby's formula and an unlawful firearm stored in an unlocked drawer. The raid uncovered further evidence, including 13 pounds of marijuana, 1.5 pounds of cocaine, a loaded firearm, two digital scales, and close to $4,000 in cash. Furthermore, the proximity of these dangerous substances and weapons to the couple's young child raises significant concerns about their parenting environment and the safety of the child. Largest Fentanyl Seizure in County's History Additionally, cocaine was discovered in a kitchen cabinet alongside the baby's formula, as reported by prosecutors, while an illicit firearm was found in an unlocked drawer within the same kitchen. The couple's arrest was a result of a task force operation, characterized by District Attorney Jeff Rosen's office as the largest seizure of fentanyl in the county's history. In a poignant statement, the district attorney referenced the tragic losses of two other young South Bay children due to fentanyl overdoses. Rosen stated, this county has witnessed the devastating effects of fentanyl and the reckless disregard for its lethal potential, as seen in the untimely deaths of two innocent souls - Baby Phoenix and Baby Winter. He added, their brief lives should serve as a stark warning to all parents. Today, he is relieved that we have not added another name to the heartbreaking list of victims. "Baby Phoenix" was a three-month-old infant who passed away in May 2023 after allegedly ingesting methamphetamine and fentanyl. Phoenix's father, 38-year-old David Anthony Castro, faced charges of felony child endangerment and possession of a controlled substance, while the mother had succumbed to an overdose. "Baby Winter," at 18 months old, met a tragic end due to fentanyl and methamphetamine poisoning in August 2023. Murder charges were brought against her parents, 27-year-old Derek Vaughn Rayo and 28-year-old Kelly Jean Richardson, along with suspected drug dealers, 31-year-old Phillip Ortega and 32-year-old Paige Vitale. According to Rosen's office, Moreno and Delgado are set to be arraigned Thursday afternoon, with Moreno potentially facing up to 18 years in prison and Delgado facing a maximum of 13 years upon conviction. Fair warning, so that you can avoid these places on the dates indicated below. In company with others, I will be speaking in the following locations during the first half of June: Tonight, though, Ill be in Provo, Utah, at a 7 PM event honoring George L. Mitton. You are also invited to it. But remember and beware: Ill be there, too. As critics long ago predicted, the website of the Interpreter Foundation continues to slumber. To illustrate its unchanging hibernation, I share three new items that have recently appeared on it: Mormon and Moronis Rhetoric: Reflections Inspired by Grant Hardys Understanding the Book of Mormon, written by Val Larsen Abstract: Grant Hardy has shown that Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni have distinctive personalities, rhetorical strategies, implied readers, and thematic concerns. Mormon lived within history and wrote as a historian. He focused on the particulars of time and place and person, on political and military matters. But, Hardy says, Mormon lacked audience awareness. I argue Mormons historiography was well adapted to the needs of his initial envisioned audience, the Alma family. Moroni, who lived most of his life outside of history, wrote intertextually, in dialog with voices speaking from the dust. And he wrote as a theologian especially attuned to the tragedy of human existence without God. Unlike his father, Moroni was a reluctant and, initially, untrained writer. His initial lack of confidence and competence and his growth as a writer and as a person are apparent in the five different endings for the Book of Mormon that he successively inscribed over the course of his life. Moronis ultimate model as he so effectively closed the large-plates record was Amaleki, last author of the small plates. This article critiques Hardys assessment of Mormons and extends his account of Moronis rhetorical effectiveness. Interpreting Interpreter: Mormon and Moronis Rhetoric, written by Kyler Rasmussen This post is a summary of the article Mormon and Moronis Rhetoric: Reflections Inspired by Grant Hardys Understanding the Book of Mormon by Val Larsen in Volume 61 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. All of the Interpreting Interpreter articles may be seen at https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/summaries/. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/. The Takeaway: Larsen critiques and extends the literary profile of Mormon and Moroni offered by Grant Hardy, suggesting that, like other Alma-family writers, Mormon initially aimed his narrative at the young men of the Alma family, who were destined to be Nephite leaders, eventually modifying the text to address modern readers. Larsen also shows how Moroni matured as a person and a writer as he composed five separate endings for the Book of Mormon, suggesting that the final ending in Moroni 10 is an expansion of the ending Amaleki wrote for the Small Plates in the book of Omni. Hugh Nibley Observed: Hugh Nibley and Classical Scholarship, presented by Eric D. Huntsman Let me begin by telling you a little bit about myself via Brother Nibley. I have come to understand that has become somewhat part of the genre of speaking about Brother Nibleyto share Nibley anecdotes and how you know him. Now, here I am considerably handicapped because Im a little bit younger than some of my colleagues who were his students. I started BYU in 1983 when Professor Nibley was already emeritus. But I did get one class with him in the fall of 1984. At the time I was in a period of academic crisis. I had had a head-on collision with calculus, my dreams of becoming a medical doctor were crumbling around me, and I had to do something else. Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Hugh Nibley Observed, edited by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Shirley S. Ricks, and Stephen T. Whitlock. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/hugh-nibley-observed/. Heres something of which you might want to be aware: Interpreter Foundation Mesoamerica Tour: Operated by Book of Mormon Tours: October 22, 2024 November 4, 2024 And theres this, as well: Church History and Britains Victorian Century with the Interpreter Foundation: Operated by Bountiful Travel: May 15, 2025 May 27, 2025 Those of you who have access to the New York Times might enjoy this just-published article: For Mormon Missionaries, Some Big, Big Changes: The church has loosened its strict rules for those evangelizing. And many members of Gen-Z are loving it. For once, the article is a positive one! Also in the media, theres this thought-provoking piece: Religious Nones Have Soared In Recent Years, But Why Not The Number Of Atheists? It turns out, rather intriguingly, that atheism tends to be a luxury connected with what is often denigrated as wealthy white privilege. In conclusion, though, I share five chilling stories from the ever-horrific Christopher Hitchens Memorial How Religion Poisons Everything File. Sit down, read them, and weep: Helena Food Share receives $1.3 million donation from Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Church Unites With Traditional Leaders in West Africa to Promote Peace and Social Cohesion: Collaboration blesses individuals and communities in the Africa West Area Church of Jesus Christ Responds to Major Flooding in Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil: Twenty-one meetinghouses are being used as shelter as flood waters close the Porto Alegre airport and force thousands from their homes Service Can Be Contagious: JustServe Clubs Are Growing in Numbers in Southern California: More than 57 JustServe high school clubs are spreading from Ventura to San Diego to Riverside Thousands of Youth Serve Their Communities for Global Youth Service Day and Month: With the help of JustServe, youth follow the teachings of Jesus Christ to help those in need Raw milk from North Dakota dairy cows carries a low risk of avian flu contamination, producers say, but they are still increasing precautions. The so-called bird flu has been detected in dairy cows in nine other states, including South Dakota, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has advised against drinking raw milk. This issue comes less than a year since the 2023 Legislature lifted a rule against selling raw -- unpasteurized -- milk in North Dakota, though sales can only be at the direct consumer level, not to wholesale or retail outlets or across state lines. There are currently about two dozen raw milk producers in the state. One is Peter Bartlett of Bartlett Farms, Bottineau, who said he received a cautionary notice from the North Dakota Milk Producers Association. The notice advised caution when buying cows and to keep close watch for illness in the herd. He said customers are not deterred. A pasture-based farm thats not confining its animals in more close confinement like a conventional dairy would be a lot less susceptible, Bartlett said. He already follows three levels of safety protocols to ensure the health of his cows. Since the restrictions were eased on sales of raw milk last year Bartlett has seen a steady and growing interest from consumers. In the past six months, we seem to have had almost twice as many inquiries about milk, he said. So that's a good sign. I think that now that the law passed, people look at it as a valid option. Ty Petersen of Bevs Best Dairy, Monango, agrees that larger dairy farms with confined cows are more at risk from transmission and that smaller operators have a better grip on the health of individual animals. He said he isnt greatly concerned about avian influenza infecting his cows. Just being a fussy producer helps a lot, thats a big part of it, and you know just being around them cows all day you notice stuff lickety split. Ava Brokaw of Brokaw Ranch, Kulm, said she is meticulous about the cleanliness of her cows and quality of her raw milk. If I question anything, I dump it, she said. I would never sell anything where I questioned whether my cow was sick or not. Brokaw said shes had a ton of people reach out since the restrictions were lifted, and that people should do their research on whatever it is they are consuming. Ive got kids and I want to make sure that everything that I'm giving them is good, you know, so I read up on the risks on it, Brokaw said. But for us, we've had more problems with store-bought milk than raw milk. Inherent risks North Dakotas Department of Agriculture regulates production of pasteurized milk, but not raw milk. The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services can only offer guidance, according to Heather Steffl, communications manager of the Public Health Division. Pasteurization is the safest choice, Steffl wrote in response to an inquiry from the North Dakota News Co-op. State Veterinarian Dr. Ethan Andress said consuming raw milk has inherent risks aside from the possible transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza. There are organisms that contaminate raw milk that have the potential to cause people to get sick and occasionally die, he said, adding that its the same risk for all raw food, from oysters to meat. Andress advises raw milk producers to minimize contact with wild birds because it is hard to know if they are infected, and ensure that feed is protected from exposure to wild birds. Milk production is a key indicator of a cows health. The most common sign (of illness) is a drop in milk production, Andress said. But even with precautions, some infected cows may not show signs of sickness. I think the most frustrating part of this is the asymptomatic part, that some of these cows have an infection but aren't getting sick, Andress said. Just like people when we get influenza, you have varying levels of how bad people get sick and the same thing occurs in cows. The closest the avian influenza virus H5N1 has been found in dairy cows is in South Dakota. Other states where its been detected are Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. There have been no cases of avian influenza detected in North Dakota this year, according to the North Dakota Department of Agriculture. Most cases from 2023 occurred in the fall. Transmission risks Federal officials believe the virus is spreading among cows due to contact with milk from other infected cows, but that further testing is needed. It is also unknown if humans can contract the virus through consuming raw milk from infected cows. Pasteurization of milk inactivates the virus, according to the FDA. The agency has tested commercially produced pasteurized milk and other dairy products in 38 states and found no live, infectious virus in pasteurized milk. A recent study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that cats that consumed raw milk from avian influenza-infected cows became sick and some died. Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, told NDNC that while we dont know if people can get H5N1 from drinking raw milk, due to the high levels of viral loads, its very much a possibility. Animals such as cats, dogs, and bears that eat dead birds have gotten diseased, and some died, from that consumption, Rasmussen said. An FDA statement from May 1 said the agency is continuing to test samples of pooled raw milk routed to pasteurization and processing for commercial use. The FDA currently advises strongly against the consumption of raw milk and recommends that industry does not manufacture or sell raw milk or raw milk products. The FDA has also recommended that precautions should be taken discarding milk from infected cows so it does not become a source of further spread. Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has defused the misconceptions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. There are some Ghanaians and people around the world who till date doubt the existence of the Coronavirus disease that sent shivers down the worlds spine as it claimed millions of lives. Some people have bought into various theories that suggest the disease was fiction. Some believe it is all part of a conspiracy theory for the rich to control the world; others saw it as a depopulation mechanism. But according to Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, COVID-19 isnt a figment of imagination nor conspiracy theory as some people believe but rather the disease is real. In an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FMs Kokrokoo show, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye disclosed the disease is still present but stressed many people have been spared due to the mass vaccination. COVID is real. Its the same story they said concerning flu in 1918 but flu still exists till date. COVID is not over. COVID is still there except that its not as prevalent as it started and due to almost 60% of the population have not been targeted because they are vaccinated as well as about 71% have received at least one dose, even if you contract it, you may not even notice because you dont fall that sick and the chance to pass it on to somebody is difficult because most people are also vaccinated, he asserted. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The murder trial of Safina Adizatu Mohammed, the lady accused of killing Canadian-based Ghanaian, Frank Kofi Osei has been scheduled to begin in the next legal year which starts from October. The decision according to the presiding judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, is due to circumstances beyond the court's control. Despite the court's earlier arrangement to call the first Prosecution witness, that did not happen following the new development. Safina, a 23-year-old university student is alleged to have killed Frank Kofi Osei, a Ghanaian resident in Canada with other accomplices when he visited her at Ashaley Botwe a suburb of Accra while he was on vacation in Ghana. Justice Lydia Osei Marfo while adjourning the case indicated that, the court will will have a pre trial on May 22. "Due to circumstances beyond the courts control and though we have completed the pre trial with all the parties taking date and time for trial within this month and next month, we have been unable to use any of those dates. That means before the end of the this legal year we cannot start. "However, we can come on the next legal year. Therefore, the case will be adjourned to May 22 for another pre trial," she noted. Meanwhile, an uncle of the deceased, Bismark Sakyi said, they are satisfied with the decision of 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. Featured Video The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor, MP, has called on world leaders to increase financing for forest action, to tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Speaking at the Nineteenth Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF19), at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Minister said the capacity of forests in combating the triplet planetary crises calls for an urgent need to re-examine forest financing options to stimulate investment efforts towards achieving the globally agreed goals on forests, climate change and biodiversity. The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), established in 2000 to promote the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, and to strengthen long-term political commitment towards this goal. Made up all UN Member States, the Forum meets annually, to assess progress of work, adopt decisions and make commitments towards achieving the goal of the Forum. The nineteenth session of the Forum, which begun on 6th May, 2024, is also undertaking a mid-term review of the implementation of the International Arrangements on Forests. On Thursday, 9th May, the Forum held its High-Level Ministerial Segment and forest partnership dialogue on the theme, Forest-based solutions to the triple planetary crises: A focus on people, science and technology. Addressing the Forum, Mr. Jinapor decried the continuous destruction of global forests, despite the increasing global knowledge and understanding of environmental challenges and the potential of forests to contribute to tackling these challenges. According to the World Resources Institute, tropical primary forest loss in 2023 alone, totalled three point seven million hectares (3.7 million ha), and accounted for two point four gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions (2.4GtCO2e). And it is estimated that some Three Hundred and Ninety-Three Billion US Dollars (US$393 billion) is required, annually, to save the worlds forests. Referring to these statistics, Mr. Jinapor said global leaders need to take urgent, concerted and collaborative action to save the worlds forests, the planet, and the lives and livelihoods of the one point six billion (1.6 billion) people who depend on forest resources for survival. He said Ghana, under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo, has taken several initiatives aimed at forest protection and conservation, including the Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy, the Green Ghana Project, and the Ghana REDD+ Strategy. Mr. Jinapor said developing countries which host some forty-five percent (45%) of global forests, face enormous challenges in protection and conservation, particularly financial challenges. He said Ghana has had to expend her limited resources on sustainable forest management due to the importance Government attaches to forest. The Minister bemoaned the continuous default by developed countries to honour their pledges to support developing countries in sustainable forest management. This lack of commitment, he noted, is, also, manifested in the inconsistency in carbon pricing. Why should the price of carbon in Europe, for example, be different from Africa, or in the Americas be different from Asia?, the Minister quizzed. He, also, called for a comprehensive programme for incentivising local communities that depend on forests to preserve these resources, noting that the world benefits more from forest conservation than the gains to these communities. The Forum, which ends on Saturday, 11th May, 2024 will adopt a Declaration and a number of resolutions aimed at promoting sustainable forest management. 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. Featured Video There is a hidden feature in users' Google accounts that lets the tech giant quietly record their voices that it stores for other uses. Google saves the audio recordings from web and app activity, along with verbal interactions with Search, Assistant and Maps, which it uses 'to develop and improve its audio recognition technologies.' However, A tech expert recently shared a 'cheat code' that he claimed will stop Google from recording your smartphone activity. Users need to manage their Google account and unselect options in 'Data and Privacy,' which a digital expert has claimed will block the tech company from accessing your microphone and camera. Tech entrepreneur Jeffrey Castillo posted a video on Instagram, explaining that users can turn off this function by going to the Google app and clicking on 'Manage your Google account.' From there, select the 'Data and Privacy' tab and scroll down to 'History setting' and select the 'Web and App activity' section, which you'll see has a blue checkmark. Once you click in and scroll down, you should notice that the voice and audio activity setting has a blue checkmark- uncheck that to put a stop to Google listening in. The way Google continues to pick up on conversations is a verbal version of a search engine, and each time it receives a 'Hey Google' command, it's creates the same effect as opening a browser window. 'When this voice and audio activity setting is off, audio recordings from voice interactions with Google Search, Assistant, and Maps won't be saved to your Google Account on Google servers, even if you're signed in,' Google has shared. 'If you turn this voice and audio activity setting off, previously saved audio is not deleted. 'You can delete your audio recordings at any time.' Google has claimed it only listens in to snippets of conversations to pick up 'wake words' that it was programmed to recognize, allowing it to respond to voice commands. Although Google and other companies like Amazon and Apple argue that their assistant devices including Alexa and Siri only listen for commands and marketing efforts, the reality is that it still poses a major privacy concern. If cybercriminals access your account or tap in to your smart devices, they could listen to phone recordings and steal information from Google's stored data. Other steps you can take to protect yourself include verifying the apps you download to make sure they are from official stores rather than third-parties that could contain malware and review app permissions to turn off access to your phone's microphone. Norton, a cybersecurity application, suggested that people delete their voice request history to there isn't a memory bank of your conversations, use a VPN to encrypt your information so it can't be accessed by third parties and keep your software up-to-date. Source: dailymail 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. Featured Video In a tragic incident, an industrial explosion at a manufacturing company in Accra has claimed the lives of two individuals and left five others critically injured. The Tema Regional Public Relations Officer for Ghana National Fire Service, DOIII Ebenezer Yenzu, provided details on the explosion. He stated that the fire service received a call around 2:30 pm on Friday about a blast at a company along the Spintex Road. Fire personnel from the Kasapreko Fire Station were immediately dispatched to the scene, where they discovered that the incident had occurred at Joyea Construction, a company that specializes in construction materials, roofing trusses, and sheets. According to DOIII Yenzu, the explosion happened during a routine welding operation when an oxyacetylene tank ruptured. The incident occurred when during one of their normal duties, an oxyacetylene tank used for welding ruptured, he said. The tragic incident resulted in the deaths of two male individuals, and five others are currently in critical condition, receiving treatment at a nearby health facility. The immediate cause of the explosion is still unknown, but the fire officers are investigating factors such as the positioning of the tank and potential leakages that may have contributed to the incident. DOIII Yenzu emphasized that investigations are ongoing to establish the exact cause of the explosion and to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Political candidates in the 2024 general election have been advised to use election campaigns as a platform to foster unity among the public to consolidate the countrys democratic credentials. The President of the Ghana National Association of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Practitioners (GNAAP), Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, addressing the 11th annual general conference of the association in Accra last Saturday, explained that strengthening the culture of respect for all groups of people in the country would ensure inclusiveness and guarantee peace during and after the elections. If political candidates are desirous to serve the interests of the people they represent, they will not promote electoral violence, but would rather use the election campaigns to foster unity among the population to achieve national developmental goals, he said. The conference was on the theme: Strengthening Ghanas Democracy through Dialogue and Inclusiveness The Role of ADR. Up to 77 new members were inducted into the association. The Patron, Alex Nartey, led the new members to swear the oath of allegiance and membership. ADR Mr Owusu-Koranteng underscored the need to include ADR in the countrys electoral process ahead of the upcoming general election. In doing so, he said, it would help in addressing some of the conflicts that often occurred before, during, and after elections. There is no doubt that our people are still adjusting to the historical change in our social and political structure. It is our strong belief that ADR, which is premised on our historical principles of reconciliation and peace building, is a time-tested social cohesion instrument which must be promoted as of our electoral culture to avoid occurrences of conflicts that have become associated with our elections, Mr Owusu-Koranteng explained. He advised political activists and candidates to be united by the desire to ensure that this years elections united the citizenry and strengthened the countrys resolve to harness the national resources to promote national development. He said the association was ready to provide free conflict resolution services during and after this years elections for speedy resolution of conflicts and to collaborate with institutions such as the National Peace Council (NPC), the judicial service and electoral institutions. Peace The Executive Secretary of the NPC, George Amoh, noted that the mandate of the NPC was not different from that of GNAAP, which included conflict resolutions. He explained that the NPC, in its quest to ensure that this years general election was a peaceful one, had undertaken a number of proactive measures. The measures include an engagement with various stakeholders, including the Inspector General of Police, leadership of the various political parties, the Electoral Commission, and the owners of media houses. He indicated that the NPC had set up a committee to monitor political utterances and commentaries and planned to set up situation rooms in five locations in the country. The Chairperson for the occasion, the Adontenhene of Adomfe, Nana Barfi I, in his closing remarks, urged participants in the conference to be advocates of peaceful conflict resolutions. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former NDC Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini has described the ongoing impasse between the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), as a sign of a dysfunctional system. According to the former lawmaker, the system responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption and corruption related offences is broken down. If we are investigating an allegation of crime, it is imperative for the state institutions to collaborate, but if you take a good look at what is happening now, it is a clear indication that they are engaged in a turf war. Everybody is fighting for his turf, he said. He further stated that in fighting crime, there is no need to use turf war because it defeats the purpose of the investigation. The question remains unanswered of where Cecelia Dapaah got her money from. We are not interested in the issue of her keeping money in her bedroom. What every Ghanaian is interested in has got to do with the source of her money and not where she kept the money." The Special Prosecutor was investigating into the matter but his mandate centres on corruption and corruption related offences, and breach of the procurement act, he explained. Alhaji Fuseinis comment comes on the heels of the return of the docket of alleged money laundering case presented to EOCO by the OSP. The OSP transferred the investigations of the alleged money laundering to EOCO. EOCO, upon advice from the Attorney-General, decided not to continue with the case because, there is no available evidence to that effect. Speaking on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' with Kwame Nkrumah Tikese on Thursday, May 9, Inusah Fuseini stated that the moment the OSP decided to transfer the docket to EOCO to investigate the case of money laundering, I knew the case was over. There was no way Attorney-General will allow EOCO to investigate Madam Cecelia Dapaah because the President had already stated in his letter to the former Sanitation Minister that she will be vindicated. We dont know the grounds on which Attorney-General said EOCO cannot investigate the case of money laundering all because OSP did not attach the evidence or documents to the docket. Watch Video Below Source: Kobina Darlington/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. Featured Video Political Activist, Bernard Mornah, has declared his intentions of contesting for the position of the highest political office in the land. The former National Chairman for the Peoples National Convention (PNC) and the lead convener of AriseGhana, stated that, the current state of Ghanas economy demands that Ghanaians give him the opportunity to lead and transform the economy. According to him, the plethora of experience he has gathered over the years has groomed him to become well-suited to be Ghanas next president. In an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Citi FM's Eyewitness News monitored by Peacefmonline.com, Bernard Mornah credits his desire to be President to his ability to address the greed of some government officials which the current administration is afraid to tackle and knead in the bud. Speaking further, Bernard Mornah revealed that the greed that has ensnared the countrys leadership and his courage to implement policies to deal with it is what would advance the country forward. "I have insisted that probably I am not good enough to be an MP for a constituency, but I am more than good enough to be the President of the nation. There are many reasons because I see that first and foremost the greed of our leadership has collapsed our economy and actually blurred the future of our nation. I have also seen that because of lack of courage, our leaders have acquiesced to policies and programmes from Western and Breton Wood institutions that tend to undermine our forward growth as a nation. Thirdly I also see that it appears that sometimes we went [go] to school, and we only learn not to come and apply what we have learnt within the confines of our environment, he said. Source: Kobina Darlington/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. Featured Video In a remarkable display of support, thousands of residents, spanning across generations and social strata, have rallied behind Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, endorsing his bid as the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the upcoming December 2024 polls. The enthusiastic endorsement comes as Vice President Bawumia embarks on the second phase of his campaign tour in the Bono East Region, a pivotal area in Ghana's political landscape. In a series of Facebook posts accompanied by vibrant images capturing the fervent support, Vice President Bawumia expressed his gratitude to the people of the Bono East Region. "I had an exciting tour of the Bono East Region yesterday. The love, cheers, inspirational words, and chants of support from the young and old across were super amazing. I cannot thank you enough, the people of Bono East Region. Let's forge together, like never before, for a historic victory in December. It is possible!" During his visit, Vice President Bawumia engaged with various segments of society, including the Bono East Regional House of Chiefs, where he held discussions on his vision and policies for Ghana. Praising the invaluable contributions of the traditional leaders, he remarked, "I'm grateful to the Bono East Regional House of Chiefs for their time this afternoon in Techiman, as we held discussions on my vision and policies for our country Ghana. The contributions of Nananom were really inspiring." Continuing his community engagements, Vice President Bawumia met with clergy, imams, and Zongo Chiefs in Techiman, where he shared his vision for the nation and welcomed suggestions from the religious and community leaders. Reflecting on the interaction, he expressed his gratitude, stating, "I am pleased with the fruitful interaction we had, as it afforded me an opportunity to share my vision for Ghana and also receive some suggestions. I am grateful to the clergy, imams, and the Zongo Chiefs for their encouraging words and prayers." The overwhelming show of support from the people of the Bono East Region underscores Vice President Bawumia's growing popularity and highlights the significance of the region in shaping the political landscape of Ghana. With the December polls drawing near, the Vice President's campaign continues to gain momentum, fueled by the unwavering support of the Ghanaian populace. 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. Featured Video By Frank Kummer, The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS) Parsley, an 11-year-old goat, ambled over to several children who gathered to watch his first day on the job. He patiently let them pat him but soon had to get back to work munching on a bush. Parsley chewed away at leaves and branches that made their way to his four-compartment stomach to be fermented as if in a living wine barrel. Parsleys one of my favorites and part of the same herd weve had for 11 years, said Bruce Weber, owner of Amazing Grazing LLC. My kids hand-raised them. Each one has a name. So, basically, they are pets. Morton, Pennsylvania, hired Webers herd of goats starting Wednesday to help clear out invasive vines, bushes, shrubs and trees that have engulfed six acres spread over two wooded lots. The children were let in only briefly until Weber set up. After that, the goats were off limits to people. The Delaware County borough opted for the more natural, and adorable, goat solution rather than herbicides. The Amazing Grazing herd is always up for a snack. Contained by solar-powered, low-voltage electric fencing, the goats will munch their way through the flora of the 4.9-acre Jacobs Park and 1.6-acre Sycamore Woods. The 19 goats will dine on the two lots over three weeks, gobbling their way through English and poison ivies, poison oak and sumac, Japanese knotweed and oriental bittersweet. We wanted to make sure that not only are we preserving our green space but to make sure were enhancing it as well, said William Stewart, borough manager. Morton, at less than a square mile, has about 2,800 residents. The goats are part of the boroughs $180,000 Community Forest Management Plan funded by a Delaware County grant. The borough hired the herd thats based at Webers farm in Cochranville in Chester County for $12,000. Allen Lindenmuth, who lives next to Sycamore Woods, came out with other neighbors to greet the goats on their arrival. He was with his wife, Melissa, and their daughter, Addison, 2. Our daughter is a big animal girl, Lindenmuth said. So when she heard the word goats, there was no way we werent coming tonight. Mortons idea to use goats came from the Davey Resource Group, a horticultural and environmental services firm that the borough hired to create an urban forest management plan. Morton is also working with the Eastern Delaware County Stormwater Collaborative, a collection of municipalities trying to improve water quality in the Darby Creek watershed. The plan calls for identifying dead or dying ash trees on the lots. The trees have been attacked by the emerald ash borer, a destructive, metallic green beetle thats also devastated trees at Tyler Arboretum, also in Delaware County. Goats are increasingly recognized as a land management tool because they can access hard-to-reach terrain and do such a thorough job. For example, Friends of High School Park has used goats from the Philly Goat Project to control invasive species on that 11-acre Cheltenham park. The nonprofit Philly Goat Project is based at the Awbury Arboretums farm in East Germantown. Editors note: This story was updated to correct erroneous information provided to PennLive about the nature of the defendants plea. SUNBURY A Northumberland County man who wounded a state trooper during a foot pursuit entered pleas of no contest in two cases Friday. By Cecily Harwitt I love being a Jewish mother. I love teaching my kids our family traditions, I love making sure everyone eats enough, and I love being loud and bossy. And I usually love to celebrate all that on Mothers Day. But this year feels different: my tax dollars have been used to murder 13,000 Palestinian children and orphan another 19,000, all in the name of so-called safety for families like mine. Mothers in Gaza are being required to undergo c-sections without anesthesia. Babies are starving to death. And local public dollars, at both the city and state levels , in part in the form of Israel bonds, are paying for it. Thats why, this year, my Mothers Day wish is to divest our local funds from Israel Bonds and instead invest in our children here at home. If youre surprised to read that demand coming from a Jewish mother, I didnt arrive here easily. Growing up in a Conservative Jewish community in suburban Los Angeles, I joyously attended annual celebrations for Israel Independence Day, which is coming up this week. It was common to give and receive Israel bonds as gifts for lifes most important occasions, especially bar and bat mitzvahs. I internalized the message from my parents and religious leaders that it was Israels existence, more than 7,000 miles away that kept me safe on a daily basis. So I accepted that it was my responsibility to fight to protect Israel, my commitment only strengthening when I went on Birthright, a free trip to Israel for American Jews, in college. When I graduated and began working as a community organizer on gentrification issues outside Boston, I was confused to find that my friends who shared my other political values had a very different perspective than me on Israel. Even then, I thought they just dont get it. I wondered why non-Jewish friends couldnt just mind their own business. I may never have seriously questioned what I was taught had I not become friends with E, a young Israeli woman who had refused her compulsory military service. That her opinions were born of lived experience and of real sacrifice, not armchair activism, made it possible for me to hear her. I heard how Israels independence meant death and expulsion, known as the nakba (catastrophe) for thousands of Palestinians who already lived there. I heard about the oppression of Palestinians over decades. I heard about the second class citizenship, or non-citizenship, of Palestinians in Israel and about the open air prison that is Gaza. And I finally listened. Its painful to confront the lies I was told and to notice all the places they still live in me. But since October 7, I cant turn away. I was devastated by the violence that took place in Israel that day, and Ive been watching brokenhearted as that violence is returned manifold to innocent civilians in Gaza. Scrolling news and social media each night after my kids are asleep reveals horror after horror, from the murder of 6-year-old Hind Rajab while she waited for paramedics, to the death of 5-day-old Sabreen Jouda, rescued prematurely from her dead mothers womb. As we argue about activism on Ivy League campuses, dead children have been found in mass graves outside hospitals in Gaza where they sheltered. At the same time, Israeli hostages like Hersh Goldberg-Polin remain in captivity, his mother using every tool at her disposal to bring him back while the Israeli government refuses one deal after another. Why do Philadelphia and Pennsylvania have tens of millions of dollars invested in these politics of death? How can we keep sending money to a government that is dropping bombs on all of these people indiscriminately? Im tired of watching mothers cry out for their lost children, and I cant in good conscience enjoy my brunch and flowers this year. Instead I hope my Philadelphia and Pennsylvania tax money is divested from death and destruction and invested instead to support moms and families here at home. Cecily Harwitt is a mother, community organizer, and synagogue board member living in Philadelphia. By Dr. Natalia Kanem Every day brings new horrors for women and girls in Port-au-Prince, as violence has reached terrifying levels in recent months. Residents of the Haitian capital and surrounding areas live in fear as armed gangs rape, kidnap and murder with impunity. Many homes have been burned or ransacked, forcing thousands of women and children to flee to temporary displacement sites outside the capital. Conditions in these 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 other basic necessities. Nearly half of the countrys population is facing acute food insecurity. United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) is alarmed by recent attacks on hospitals and health facilities. Fewer than half of health facilities in the capital are fully functional, and those which are functional risk running out of essential supplies. For the estimated 3,000 women who are currently pregnant in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, limited maternal health care facilities make giving birth even more dangerous. This in a country where already 1,500 women die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth every year. It is estimated that just 3 percent of rape survivors receive medical assistance within 72 hours of being assaulted. Most suffer in silence. Increased funding and safe access are urgently needed so that lifesaving services and supplies can be delivered to all those in need. UNFPA has remained in the capital since the beginning of the crisis. With the Pan American Health Organization, UNFPA is supporting three hospitals in Port-au-Prince to provide maternal health services, including emergency obstetric care. UNFPA and partners have provided medicines and supplies, including for the clinical management of rape, to 13 health facilities in the capital and surrounding region. We have deployed mobile clinics to seven displacement sites to support womens and girls sexual and reproductive health, reaching close to 4,500 people so far. We are also running hotlines for survivors of sexual assault, as well as centres that provide psychosocial support, and have distributed thousands of dignity kits containing hygiene and other essential supplies to the most vulnerable. With the Transitional Presidential Council now in place, the international community must work with and for the people of Haiti to restore public security and the rule of law, rebuild the health system and establish robust services to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. The deployment of a Multinational Security Support Mission to support the National Police in addressing the security situation is critical in this regard. There is an urgent need for lasting protection solutions in Haiti that integrate the rights and needs of women, girls and all civilians. The appalling and indiscriminate violence against women and girls must stop. What women and girls need is peace and security, the assurance that the world will not abandon them, and support to build a brighter future. Dr. Natalia Kanem is Executive Director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities. After hearing about it for so long, I have finally read the masterpiece of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In 416 pages, One Hundred Years of Solitude felt like some condensed Chinese mult-generation saga (I thought of Ordinary World which I listened to a long time ago). The Buendia family was among the founders of Macondo, a utopian town in Columbia. The patriarch, Jose Arcadio Buendia, befriended Mel the gypsy, who left volumes of manuscript to be finally deciphered by Aureliano, the only 5th-gen heir, to be the Sanskrit account to the last detail of all the family members over more than 100 years, including the end of the line. The author's imagination, the hyperboles, and wisdom make the book enjoyable despite of my slow progress (about 70 pages a day). There were not so many new words as in some of the crime novels I read earlier this year. I would say this was in the top ten most entertaining English books for me so far. For example, when it rained for three years non-stop, the author said on page 315, The air was so damp that fish could have come in through the doors and swum out the windows, floating through the atmosphere in the rooms. and on page 202, the author dispensed an interesting idea on living old, Colonel Aureliano could understand only that the secret of a good old age is simply an honourable pact with solitude. Many episodes were memorable including - how the Colonel survived shooting himself through a mark on the chest made by the doctor who anticipated the suicide attempt. - how the message of Jose Arcadio's death reached Ursula via a thread of blood that trickled through town and ended up in her kitchen. - stories of Remedios the Beauty - Aureliano (the 5th-gen) read through six volumes of the encyclopedia and discovered Sanskrit and thus the key to Mel's manuscript. Short descriptions such as - the girl with the stealthy beauty of a serpent of the Nile, and - tortured Spanish were just as unforgettable. More than two dozens of characters over six generations confused me a bit toward the end, especially when all the males in the family are named Jose, Arcadio, or Aureliano or some combinations. I had to visit often the Buendia family tree at the beginning of the book. The Florida Republican Party picked Barron Trump to be a delegate at the Republican convention, but the ex-presidents son declined. Politico reported: A Friday statement from former first lady Melania Trumps office said While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments. The youngest Trump graduates from Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach, Fla., next Friday. The former president is receiving a day off from his hush money criminal trial in New York to attend. A Trump campaign official previously told POLITICO that Barron is very interested in our nations political process. Barron Trump might be interested in the political process, but he seems uninterested in spending four days of his summer supporting his father. None of this is surprising. Even young Barron understands the bad optics of being a delegate for his potentially convicted felon father. Ivanka Trump is plotting a return to her dad and the campaign, but she wont show up until after the criminal trial blows over. The Trump family is nothing but transactional. The story that Barron Trump was going to be an RNC delegate always sounded very out of character for the Trumps. Of course, by the time the convention rolls around, the Trumps will all be giving speeches at the Republican convention, but the fact that Trump cant even get his youngest son to be a delegate for him highlights the dumpster fire nature of his third run for president. 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. [wpedon id=344887 align=center] Wildwood, NJ, invoiced Donald Trump and his campaign and required prepayment for security and clean-up costs before they would allow him to hold a rally on the beach. NJ.com reported: The Republican presidential hopefuls campaign paid $54,200 to Wildwood for the May 11 rally being held on the beach between a set of amusement piers, according to records obtained by NJ Advance Media through the Open Public Records Act. The campaigns payments Wildwood were made in two parts a week apart: $54,000 on April 16 and $200 on April 24, the invoice records show. Mayor Ernie Troiano said the city came up with the sum and submitted it to the campaign. This will be Trumps second appearance in Wildwood in the past four years. In one respect, Trump is still getting special treatment. How many people on trial for 34 felonies would be allowed to book a municipal area for anything? The answer is not many. However, Trump being forced to pony up the cash is a change. Trump has been stiffing local cities and towns for nearly a decade on security costs associated with his campaign events. The fact that Wildwood got Donald Trump to pay in advance is quite an accomplishment. It will be interesting to see how many people actually show up. Since the current presidential campaign kicked off, Trump has not held any big rally-style events or campaign events. Much of Trumps rally crowd isnt local. There are a sizable number of hardcore MAGAs who follow the ex-president around like an ungrateful dead. If every city and town that Trump attempts to invade forced him to pay upfront, it would be a welcome development for local public budgets. Trump has deadbeated off of local taxpayers for almost ten years. It is time that he is forced to pay his own way. 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. [wpedon id=344887 align=center] Republicans have made no major investment in Kari Lake as Democrats put tens of millions of dollars behind Rep. Ruben Gallego in the Arizona Senate race. Politico reported: In Arizona, they are increasingly warning that Lakes divisive persona and instinct for provocation could sabotage them yet again. When you dont really have a core belief in anything, and youre willing to take whatever position you think is politically expedient at the moment, you end up getting caught between a rock and a hard place before too long, said former Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), who ran against Lake in 2022. Now, as Democrats have placed tens of millions of dollars in fall TV reservations, national Republicans havent begun to seriously invest in the state. Republicans are thinking that there are better Senate races out there for them and that Lake might be a sure loser. None of them will phrase their thoughts that directly yet, but national Democrats have set aside tens of millions of dollars in TV ads for Rep. Gallego, and Kari Lake has nothing. Part of this shift is due to Trump running the RNC into the ground through his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. The RNC is now committed to paying Trumps legal bills and getting Trump back into the White House. Republican candidates like Kari Lake are increasingly on their own. It says a lot about the status of the Senate race in Arizona and the Republican outlook for 2024 that they are already considering bailing on Kari Lake. Democrats are ready to get Gallego elected, while Republicans are floundering under the leadership of Donald Trump. 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. [wpedon id=344887 align=center] The candidate spends most of his time ranting about his criminal trials. The campaign is struggling to raise money from voters, and there is no swing state operation, as the Trump campaign reeks of political death. The Washington Post reported on the alarm bells being rung by swing state Republicans: In order to win close elections in Georgia, you have to have a ground game that emphasizes turning out early votes and absentee votes, said Cody Hall, a senior adviser to Gov. Brian Kemp (R). I have seen no evidence of them having any of that. The Trump campaign has a consultant in Georgia, but there is nothing else that I can see. Everyone is generally concerned. There is no sign of life, said Kim Owens, a Republican operative and public relations professional in Arizona. Especially in a state that Trump lost so closely last time, youd expect to have more of a presence. I would think, Lets step it up. I think its a terrible mistake. In Michigan, some of the states operatives and Republican lawmakers have grown concerned about a lack of an operation there, according to four people familiar with the matter, even as they feel generally bullish about the state. Trumps Campaign Funds Are Going To Pay Lawyers Small donors arent giving to Trump like they used to, so the ex-president has been turning to billionaires and special interests to fund his campaign. Trumps big problem is that much of the money that he is raising is going to pay legal bills. The Trump campaign has tried to spin the situation as the ex-president running a leaner and meaner operation, but since he wasted $1 billion in campaign funds in 2020, Donald Trump has struggled to raise cash. Trump is increasingly trying to cut deals with potentially wealthy donors like Big Oil, but this is a very different operation from 2016. There is no campaign arm mobilizing potential voters, and since took over the RNC and turned it into his personal operation, there is no partywide effort in the swing states. It sounds like swing state Republican parties are out there on their own while Biden and the Democrats are building a massive get-out-the-vote operation. Campaigns that have money troubles and no get-out-the-vote operation tend to underperform the polling and lose. Trumps campaign reeks of electoral death, and if the situation continues for much longer, the GOP could be looking at another Trump-led loss in 2024. Trump is reportedly considering Nikki Haley as his running mate if she will pay tens of millions of dollars in his legal bills. Axios reported: The GOP rivals relationship remains chilly, but Trump could pick Haley if he were convinced shed help him win the presidency, avoid a potential prison sentence and cover tens of millions in legal bills if he loses. Republicans close to both campaigns believe its in Haley and Trumps mutual interests to reconcile, despite their bitter fight in the GOP primary and their divergent views on some big issues. Trump is scrambling to make up a fundraising disadvantage against President Biden and pay legal fees. Haley, meanwhile, has deep ties to donors who are wary of the former president. This needs to be called what it is. Trump would sell the running mate slot on the ticket to Haley as long as she covered his legal bills and helped him avoid prison. The question is, what would Haley get out of such a deal? If the ticket loses in November, former ambassador Haley would be blamed. Her political career and any future presidential campaigns would be destroyed, and she would be saddled with the liability known as Donald Trump. The Trump campaign seems to be floating this story to try to get Haley and her supporters back into the fold, which is an admission that the ex-president is struggling to unite the Republican Party. Trump has already offered to sell American energy policy to the oil companies for $1 billion. Apparently, he is so desperate for cash that he is willing to sell the vice president slot on the Republican ticket for help paying his legal bills. Running for president is his only source of income, and without a campaign or being in office, he wont be able to afford his lawyers. The situation within the Republican Party looks even worse than imagined, as everything appears to be for sale to cover Trumps bills. 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. [wpedon id=344887 align=center] https://fortune.com/2023/01/26/bill-gates-china-rise-great-for-rest-of-world/ 2023 1 26 1980 ' 20% 20%''' 20% " GDP" "" https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/bill-gates-says-chinas-rise-huge-win-world Adam Sabes 2023 1 25 20% GDP COVID-19 72% 2021 11 2 COP26 Jeff J Mitchell - Pool/Getty Images/Getty Images 20% 20% 2022 10 23 20 / Chinatopix 2019 11 21 (CCIEE) 2019 //VCG via Getty Images/Getty Images https://scheerpost.com/2023/02/05/bill-gates-sees-chinas-rise-as-huge-win-for-the-world/ 2023 2 5 23 ...... 20% 20% 11 SPJH 1 1 1 31 1000 1 10% 5% 1 1 G 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C857FwMqbE8 G 1 G Michael Grifter Calgacus 1 2008 888 1 29 1 Bill Gates says the rise of China is good for everyone and that Beijing needs to 'play a stronger role in world governance' https://fortune.com/2023/01/26/bill-gates-china-rise-great-for-rest-of-world/ BY STEVE MOLLMAN Jan 26, 2023 Bill Gates, seen here at the Australian Open on Thursday, considers China's rise a net positive. Bill Gates sees Chinas rise as a huge win for the world. But he knows that not everyone shares his view. Speaking this week at the Lowy Institute, a think tank based in Sydney, the Microsoft cofounder gave his perspective on Chinas transformation from a developing economy to a major world player. China has gone from in 1980 being incredibly impoverishedpoorer than India, I mean literally, with starvation, malnutritionto being the most wealthy middle-income country in the world, said Gates. Its incredible, and its great for the world. The Microsoft billionaire, who currently ranks as the fourth richest person in the world, also warned about the negative attitudes toward China in the United States today, and vice versa. I do think the current mentality of the U.S. to China, and which is reciprocated, is kind of a lose-lose mentality, he said. If you ask U.S. politicians, Hey, would you like the Chinese economy to shrink by 20% or grow by 20%, Im afraid they would vote that, Yeah, lets immiserate those peoplenot understanding that for the global economy, the invention of cancer drugs, the solution of climate change, you know, were all in this together. The current hawkishness toward China in the U.S. could become self-fulfilling in a very negative way, he cautioned. He didnt give an example. U.S. lawmakers voted overwhelmingly this month to establish a House select committee specifically to address the various threats that China poses to the U.S. GOP Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher described a coordinated whole-of-society strategy to undermine American leadership and American sovereignty by the Chinese Communist Party. Gates also noted Chinas economic importance, saying it holds 20% of the worlds people. Their portion of the global economy and their portion of the global population match exactly. Countries like Australia, U.S., we have per capita GDPs five times what the Chinese have, so we have a disproportionate share of the worlds economy. But it wasnt all rosy. Gates also leveled criticism at China. The country is not a democracy, he acknowledged, and is an outlier today in terms of that level of wealth and still being as autocratic as they are. He also knocked China for not acting quickly enough to get its population properly vaccinated early during the COVID pandemic. China should have jumped on vaccines, particularly for the elderly, much faster, and that would have allowed them to open up somewhat sooner than they did, he said. China recently loosened its strict COVID restrictions and is reporting an uptick in COVID deaths as people circulate more freely, but the official numbers are likely far below reality. Well never know the true death numbers, Gates said. Still, Gates said nations like China needed to step up on the world stage. The U.S. is politically weaker today, I would say, than its been, and, you know, thats scary for the world, he said. The current world system is designed around U.S. leadership. As other countries have gotten richer, these middle-income countries including China and India need to play a stronger role in world governance. Bill Gates says 'China's rise' is a 'huge win for the world' https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/bill-gates-says-chinas-rise-huge-win-world Gates also said that China needs to play a 'stronger role' in world governance By Adam Sabes FOXBusiness January 25, 2023 FOX Business' Ashley Webster reports that billionaire Bill Gates is backing an Australian startup that's trying to stop cows from burping methane emissions. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that China's rise is a "huge win for the world" during an interview in Australia on Monday. Gates made the comment during an interview with the Lowy Institue, a think tank based in Sydney, Australia. "I tend to see China's rise as a huge win for the world," Gates said. "I mean, that's 20% of humanity. They today match their portion of the global economy, and their portion of the global population match exactly, you know, countries like Australia, U.S., we have per capita GDP's five times what the Chinese have. So we have a disproportionate share of the world's economy." His comments about the communist country came in response to a question asking Gates how "bullish" he was on China. CRITICAL COVID-19 CASES IN CHINA ARE DOWN 72% AFTER HITTING PEAK EARLIER THIS MONTH Bill Gates attends the World Leaders' Summit "Accelerating Clean Technology Innovation and Deployment" session on day three of COP26 on November 02, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell - Pool/Getty Images / Getty Images) "You know, I do think the current mentality of the U.S. to China and which is reciprocated is kind of a lose-lose mentality, that if you ask U.S. politicians hey, would you like the Chinese economy to shrink by 20% or grow by 20%,' I'm afraid they would vote that yeah, lets immiserate those people,' not understanding that for the global economy, the invention of cancer drugs, the solution of climate change, you know we're all in this together." While painting China's rise positively, Gates acknowledged that the country is "not a democracy," and is an "outlier today in terms of that level of wealth and still being as autocratic as they are." GALLAGHER ACCUSES BIDEN ADMIN OF BEING 'DIVIDED' ON WHETHER CHINA OR CLIMATE CHANGE IS TOP THREAT TO US Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen at the end of the Chinese Communist Party's 20th Party Congress on a giant screen a commercial district of Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang province on Sunday, Oct 23, 2022. (Chinatopix via AP / AP Newsroom) During the interview, Gates also said that the U.S. is politically in a weak state, adding that countries like China need to play a bigger role in world governance. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Chairman Bill Gates speaks during 2019 New Economy Forum at China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) on November 21, 2019 in Beijing, China. (Hou Yu/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images / Getty Images) "The U.S. is politically weaker today, I would say, than it's been and you know, that's scary for the world. The current world system is designed around U.S. leadership," Gates said. "As other countries have gotten richer, these middle-income countries including China and India need to play a stronger role in world governance." A spokesperson for Gates did not immediately respond to FOX Business. Bill Gates Sees 'China's rise' as 'Huge Win For the World' ?https://scheerpost.com/2023/02/05/bill-gates-sees-chinas-rise-as-huge-win-for-the-world/ by EDITOR Feb 5, 2023 At a forum in Australia on Monday the 23rd, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates described Chinas rise to a leading global economy as a huge win for the world. According to Forbes, Gates stated: I do think the current mentality of the U.S. to China and which is reciprocated is kind of a lose-lose mentality If you ask U.S. politicians: Hey, would you like the Chinese economy to shrink by 20% or grow by 20%? Im afraid they would vote that Yeah, lets immiserate those people, not understanding that for the global economy, the invention of cancer drugs (and) the solution of climate change, were all in this together. Were humans. We innovate together, and we have to change the modern industrial economy together in a pretty dramatic fashion Im very aligned with (Australias former prime minister) Kevin Rudd on thisIn the U.S., wed be in a minority, where people are kind of hawkish. I think that could be self-fulfilling in a very negative way. Back in 2019, Joker managed to make over $1 billion at the global box office and earn itself 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and a Best Actor win for Joaquin Phoenix. I recall respecting the movie for Phoenixs performance and the inspired idea to paint him as a Scorsese-style Read moreJoker: Folie a Deux The sixth annual Pink Promenade celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness month saw 10 survivors showcase the latest in pink fashion on Oct. 12 at Mount Pleasant Towne Centre. Prior to the catwalk, attendees were clued in by Dr. Philip A. Albaneze on Roper St. Francis Foundation's efforts to he Read morePink of Health: Survivors strut the runway at Pink Promenade One of the most challenging aspects of preserving a run-down historic building isn't figuring out what needs replacing and what only needs repairing. It isn't pulling the permits or getting the needed approvals and design review. It's not even finding the necessary money, even though the amo Read moreEditorial: Sometimes, preservation requires finding a very creative new use PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-11 16:37:49 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1024 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 RADNOR, PA / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2024 / The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP informs investors that the firm has filed a securities fraud class action lawsuit against agilon health, inc. (NYSE:AGL) ("agilon" or the "Company"). This action, captioned Hope v. agilon health, inc., et al., Case No. 1:24-cv-00305, was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and expanded the class period which was pled in a first-filed case in that same Court. After the Hope action was filed, another case was filed against agilon in another Court, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, which even further expanded the class period as pled in the Hope action as that case is brought on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired agilon common stock between April 15, 2021, and February 27, 2024, inclusive (the "Class Period").Important Deadline Reminder: The first-filed action in the Western District of Texas issued a notice of its filing pursuant to the federal securities laws which triggered the deadline of May 20, 2024, for any investors who purchased agilon common stock to seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class. The filing of the Hope Action does not change the May 20, 2024, lead plaintiff deadline.CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR AGILON LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/new-cases/agilon-health-inc?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=agl&mktm=r CANNOT VIEW THIS VIDEO? PLEASE CLICK HERE . YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK TO COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://youtu.be/PB_vrMuHE7w LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE: MAY 20, 2024CLASS PERIOD: APRIL 15, 2021, THROUGH FEBRUARY 27, 2024CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:Jonathan Naji, Esq. (484) 270-1453 or Email at info@ ktmc.com DEFENDANTS' MISCONDUCTagilon is a healthcare and technology company that acts as an intermediary between physician groups that provide medical services to senior citizens and Medicare and Medicare Advantage insurers. One of agilon's key financial metrics is "medical margin," which the Company defines as medical services revenue less medical services expenses.The Class Period begins on April 15, 2021, which is the day after the Registration Statement was declared effective by the SEC and the first day agilon shares were publicly traded in connection with the IPO.Throughout the Class Period, Defendants repeatedly touted the strength of agilon's medical margin. Additionally, Defendants downplayed the significant cost pressures on the Company's medical margin and profitability. For example, on June 7, 2023, just days before other health insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Humana Inc. reported significant increases in medical costs, Defendant Bensley, speaking at an analyst-sponsored healthcare conference, reported that Defendants "expect this year to generate somewhere around $550 million of medical margin," noting that the Company has seen "steady progress on medical margin upwards." Investors began to learn the truth about the cost pressures impacting agilon's medical margin and profitability on November 2, 2023, when the Company announced its third quarter 2023 financial results after the market closed. Critically, agilon reported a net loss of $31 million for the third quarter of 2023 and slashed its fiscal year 2023 medical margin to a range between $455 million and $470 million. Defendant Sell also assured investors that agilon's more conservative approach to guidance "should reduce the risk of negative claims development next year." On this news, the price of agilon common stock declined $3.78 per share, or more than 22% over two trading-days, from a close of $16.89 per share on November 2, 2023, to close at $13.11 per share on November 6, 2023.After several additional disclosures in November 2023, investors more fully learned the truth about the cost pressures on agilon's medical margin and profitability before the market opened on January 5, 2024, when agilon updated its fiscal year 2023 financial results and provided its initial outlook for 2024. Critically, agilon further slashed its 2023 medical margin guidance more than $100 million, to a range between $340 million and $360 million, due to "higher-than-expected medical costs." This represented a decline of more than 34% from the $550 million in medical margin it had predicted. On the related investor guidance call, Defendant Sell acknowledged that agilon "failed to recognize these elevated cost trends" and had "a data and analytics gap that led to [the Company] being late in both recognizing the magnitude and source of the utilization shifts." Defendant Sell further indicated that the increased cost trends were expected to persist through 2024. Also on January 5, 2024, Defendant Bensley announced that he would retire in 2024. On this news, the price of agilon common stock plummeted $3.45 per share, or nearly 29%, from a close of $12.08 per share on January 4, 2024, to close at $8.63 per share on January 5, 2024.Finally, on February 27, 2024, agilon disclosed that its 2023 medical margin had in fact come in at just $299 million for the year - far lower than the range of $340 million to $360 million provided just a few weeks prior. Furthermore, agilon slashed its 2024 medical margin guidance by 27%. On this news, the price of agilon common stock dropped from $6.48 per share when the market closed on February 27, 2024, to $6.04 per share on March 1, 2024, a 7% decline on abnormally heavy volume of a three-day period. In subsequent days, the price of agilon stock continued to decline, falling to a low of just $5.66 per share on March 6, 2024, more than 85% below the Class Period high.WHAT CAN I DO?agilon investors may, no later than May 20, 2024, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff for the class, through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages agilon investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASEWHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent https://theindependent.ca/commentary/the-nonagenarians-notebook/why-is-the-united-states-always-fighting-a-war-somewhere/ 2018 6 1 RLC/MODOGLhttps://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26917595 3070800 17 4000 J Danny Sjursen 17 Jason Dempsey 70% 17 Sjursen Kreps 30 2% 3% Sjursen ** ** Qui bono 886020167670 216084510 360 276 BAE 269 225 216 8,860 D 1963 4 30 8,000 Why is the United States always fighting a war somewhere? https://theindependent.ca/commentary/the-nonagenarians-notebook/why-is-the-united-states-always-fighting-a-war-somewhere/ BY ED FINN THE NONAGENARIAN'S NOTEBOOK JUNE 1, 2018 Sgt Anthony Boocock, RLC/MOD, OGL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26917595 Why is the United States always fighting a war somewhere? Could it be because war is profitable? Harper's magazine, in its June issue, reports on a panel of former soldiers that it convened at the U.S. Military Academy at Westpoint, New York. They were all veterans of wars waged by the U.S. over the past 30 years, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan, or stationed in some of the nearly 800 military bases the U.S. maintains in more than 70 countries and territories around the world. These veterans were asked to explain why their country has been engaged in so many armed conflicts, and why, in none of them since World War II, has the outcome resulted in a decisive victory. And this despite the U.S. having the worlds best-trained and best-equipped armed forces. The war in Afghanistan has now dragged on for 17 years, under Presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump. Obama campaigned on ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, then reneged after his election; and candidate Trump, who deplored the many soldiers being led to senseless slaughter in Afghanistan, promptly sent an additional 4,000 troops there after he became president. In the published excerpts from the forum hosted by Harpers, subtitled Americas addiction to war, all of the six participants blamed either unjustified declarations of war in the first place, or flawed conduct and extension of the war after it was launched. Following are a few salient quotes from that forum. Andrew J. Bacevich: For politicians, staying (in Afghanistan) is the safer course. As long as they can make a show of supporting the troops, they are able to evade accountability. Susan Kreps: The American experience (while fighting wars) is one of not giving up, so you dont want to be the president who withdrew from the war. As long as these leaders are responsive to a public that doesnt want to see us losing, well just continue muddling on. Danny Sjursen: Having an all-volunteer force creates a perfect storm. If this were a draftee army, if there were conscriptions, it would be much harder to keep the forever war going. The reason why it has been 17 years and there is still really no anti-war movement (as there was during the Vietnam war) is because the fighting is done by a small portion of Americans. Jason Dempsey: The approval rating of the military is astronomical really, no institution merits a 70 per cent approval rating, especially not one thats still struggling to wrap up conflicts after 17 years. How do we explain this? Some of it is just ignorance. Americans today have no idea how the military operates, how the defense budget is spent. They just know they should respect the military. Gregory Daddis: Adulation of the military plays a part in the enduring war. Weve addicted our soldiers to war. The costs of being addicted damaging their psyches, tearing families apart are hidden until later. But there is also a class component to the all-volunteer force that we shouldnt underrate. Young soldiers have an opportunity for social recognition that might be out of their reach elsewhere in American society. For a young man or woman of a certain class, this is an opportunity for something that is visceral. They matter in society. They are recognized. They have worth. Sjursen: The military is also a welfare state. It is the most socialist institution we have. It provides economic stability. Kreps: Over the past 30 years real wages in the U.S. economy have stagnated, but in the military you get a raise of 2 or 3 percent a year, and decent health care as well. Bacevich: Lets say no one steps in to end these wars. How likely is it, then, that the United States will be able to achieve its original aims in Iraq and Afghanistan that both will become stable countries aligned with the United States? Sjursen: Im 100 per cent pessimistic. I just came from Fort Leavenworth, where they have a formula: ends equal ways plus means. But the ends we laid out are unachievable. It doesnt matter how many ways and means you come up with. There is absolutely no chance of success as it was laid out by the Bush administration, or even in some of Obamas rhetoric. * * * As interesting and revealing as this discussion at West Point certainly is, it fails to identify the main reason why the United States keeps getting embroiled in so many prolonged wars and military incursions. The only way to find the answer to this question is to pose the ancient Roman question: Qui bono? Who benefits from perpetual warfare? The answer although never acknowledged by U.S. political leaders, and seldom by even the U.S. media is the countrys military industrial complex. The big arms manufacturers profit enormously from wars and other armed conflicts. In fact, without continuous and prolonged warfare that requires the deployment of their guns, bombs, tanks, warships and submarines, they would go out of business. The American military budget for the next fiscal year that is projected by the Trump administration is $886 billion, up from $767 billion in 2016. This massive amount is the second largest item in the countrys budget after social security. It is four times more than Chinas military budget of $216 billion, and 10 times bigger than Russias budget of just $84.5 billion. In total, the United States spends more on defense than the next nine countries combined. Who profits most from this vast expenditure on the trappings of warfare? Obviously its the big arms companies. Its difficult to find out how much of the colossal U.S. military budget each of them receives. The latest figures I could find (undoubtedly not up to date) were $36 billion for Lochhead Martin, $27.6 billion for Boeing, 26.9 billion for BAE Systems, $22.5 billion for Raytheon, and $21.6 billion for General Dynamics. But there are dozens of other arms producers that are also awarded contracts. Together, they probably receive and profit from at least half, more likely two-thirds, of that huge $886 billion war bonanza. These corporations depend on the United States being continually at war against some country somewhere and now against terrorists everywhere. The weapons of war they produce are made to be used, not stockpiled. If world peace were ever actually to be achieved, they would be bankrupted, unless they could switch to manufacturing things that arent designed to kill people. So its not surprising that these corporations keep beating the war drums, keep donating millions of dollars to the election campaigns of warmongering politicians or even politicians who fear the economic collapse that could result from the closure of the countrys war plants and the consequent loss of a million or more jobs. Few U.S. politicians today remember or take any inspiration from the Cross of Iron speech that President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered in April 1963, shortly before his retirement from office. Here is a crucial excerpt from that speech: Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, from those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one heavy bomber could build modern schools in 30 or more communities, or two fine, fully equipped hospitals. We pay for a single destroyer with the money for new homes that could have housed 8,000 people. This is not a good way of life in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. Eisenhower was a general in the Second World War who had a close view of the terrible carnage and destruction that war inflicts on its victims. Its a sad reflection of his inability as U.S president to muster political support for peace that he had to wait for his impending retirement even to give voice to his abhorrence of war. PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-11 12:31:44 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 536 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 QUEBEC CITY, QC / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2024 / In an unprecedented global initiative, HERONET has launched a visionary project to galvanize individuals and organizations around the world in a collective effort to address the most pressing challenges of our time. Inspired by the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, HERONET embodies the spirit of heroism with a clarion call to action: "TOGETHER WE SAVE THE WORLD." A Global Call for HeroesHERONET recognizes that heroism is not confined to the annals of history or the capes of the legendary; it is a potential that resides within every individual. The mission of HERONET is threefold: to inspire the hero within, to call for action in service of our planet, and to honor those who contribute to the betterment of the world.Innovative Platforms for ChangeWith a long-term vision for sustainable development, HERONET is collaborating with strategic partners to create a suite of platforms that leverage cutting-edge technology for social good. These include a Launchpad for innovative projects, a decentralized finance (Defi) system, an NFT Marketplace for digital assets, a Metaverse for virtual collaboration, and notably, the pioneering Humanitarian Certification platform.The Humanitarian Certification platform is set to become the world's first system to record and certify volunteer and humanitarian efforts, akin to the carbon credit model. This platform aims to foster a culture of mutual support and incentivize volunteerism on a global scale.Empowering Community ActionIn the short term, HERONET's goal is to cultivate a worldwide community of millions of heroes engaged in daily acts of kindness, from blood donation to environmental conservation. Under the motto "DO GOOD TO EARN," HERONET has developed a transparent operating system built on the Blockchain, ensuring integrity and empowering its community to expand the reach of its activities.HERO and GEM Tokens: Fueling the EcosystemTo further engage the community and optimize the ecosystem's value flow, HERONET has introduced two digital tokens: the governance token, HERO, and the reward token, GEM. In a generous campaign running from April 1, 2024, to September 30, 2024, new members registering with HERONET can earn up to 100,000,000 GEM, with an additional 50,000,000 GEM available through daily check-ins. The GEM token is set to be listed on November 11, 2024, backed by 10% of the total supply of HERO tokens, representing an unprecedented 50 trillion HERO.Join the MovementHERONET invites individuals and organizations to join this heroic quest to shape a future where humanity and our planet can thrive in harmony. For more information on how to become part of this transformative movement, please visit the following resources:Website: https://heronet.xyz Telegram Group: https://t.me/HERONET_Official_GroupTelegram Channel: https://t.me/HERONET_Official_ChannelYoutube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@HERONET_Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/HERONET_Global Email: contact@ heronet.xyz About HERONETHERONET is a global initiative dedicated to inspiring and activating the hero within each of us to create a sustainable and equitable world. Through innovative technology and community-driven action, HERONET is leading the charge towards a future where every act of heroism, no matter how small, contributes to the grand vision of saving our world.Media ContactOrganization: HERONETContact Person: Mr. AlbertWebsite: https://heronet.xyz Email: contact@ heronet.xyz City: QuebecCountry: CanadaSOURCE: HERONET PR-Inside.com: 2024-05-11 03:05:30 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 497 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Kaben Announces Launch of New OMS Software to Simplify Cross-Border E-Commerce Between Southeast Asia and ChinaBANGKOK, THAILAND / ACCESSWIRE / May 10, 2024 / Southeast Asia is on the rise. For several reasons-diversification of supply chains, fast-growing populations and an untapped consumer base, and being attractive for foreign direct investment (FDI)- the region is growing rapidly. E-commerce has experienced unprecedented growth, thanks in part due to Covid. 41% of global retail sales will be conducted as e-commerce by 2027, up from 18% in 2017.The last several years have seen the rise in use of other digital tools. 5 of the top 10 countries in the world by digital wallet adoption are in ASEAN. Indeed, Southeast Asia is on the rise in e-commerce. Now Kaben, a new player, has entered the scene.The OMS market in e-commerce is filled with well-known names: IBM Sterling, Brightpearl, Zoho Inventory, etc. Now, Kaben emerges. For countries in Southeast Asia, who are interested both in cross-border commerce with themselves are most interested in the Chinese market. Kaben is the OMS soft for this. With all the specs of its competitors, It will facilitate the expansion of Southeast Asian countries into the $4 trillion Chinese market by being designed specifically for cross-border commerce in Southeast Asia and China. User penetration in China of e-commerce remains about 80%, with total sales culminating in nearly $4 trillion in value. To put this in perspective, if Thailand captured just 1-2% of the Chinese market, that would amount to $10-20 billion (350-700 billion baht).Kaben will facilitate easier transactions by addressing several challenges. Specifically, those related to logistics, consumer preferences, and payments. Credit card use is comparatively low in the region with consumers favoring digital wallets or bank transfers. China maintains the highest mobile payment usage of any market in the world. The gross value of digital payments across the six largest ASEAN economies reached $806 billion in 2022, and is forecasted to reach $1.2 trillion by 2025. Account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile money provider shows mobile payment is the preferred method.Southeast Asia will sustain 15-25% annual growth for the next five years. People in Southeast Asia spend more time on their phones than almost anywhere else. Shopee, Lazada, etc., are used daily. Given the rapid growth and potential of social and live commerce-where both the number of users who are "social shoppers" and projected market value have boomed-Southeast Asia is poised to become the next global commerce hub.As countries look to capitalize on growth opportunities in China, new technologies will play a decisive role. The advent of OMS software like Kaben will streamline the process for those in Southeast Asia interested in selling their products to China.With integration of Chinese platforms, emphasis on cross-border commerce within Southeast Asia and to China, integration of social and live commerce, and addressing of systemic e-commerce challenges, Kaben will be the key to capturing growth.For references you can visit this link hereMedia Contact:Preem VisanuyothinFlowfusion Technology+66928364505 media@ kaben.asiawww.kaben.asia SOURCE: Kaben Dana Air on Saturday announced that it has disengaged some of its staff members amid an operational audit being conducted by the nations regulatory authorities. The airlines Head of Corporate Communications, Kingsley Ezenwa, made this known in a statement Saturday morning. The airline noted that the audit, currently underway, is a collaborative effort between Dana Air and the authorities to ensure compliance with all necessary standards and regulations. In light of the ongoing audit, Dana Air has made the decision to temporarily disengage some staff members pending the conclusion of the audit, Mr Ezenwa said. This decision has been made to ensure efficient management of resources and to facilitate a thorough review of operational procedures. The Management of Dana Air extends its sincere appreciation to all staff members for their resilience and dedication during this period of uncertainty. It recognises the difficulties that staff have had to endure and assures them that every effort is being made to resolve the situation promptly. The statement said that Dana Air reaffirmed its commitment to full cooperation with the authorities to facilitate a smooth and expedited resolution of the audit process. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later It added that the airline remains committed to providing updates and support to its staff throughout the process and while these challenges are being addressed, it has commenced talks with lessors and are currently engaging stakeholders on the progress made so far. Dana Air therefore urges for calm and understanding from our very dedicated staff for their altruism and stakeholders, the airline said. Background Last month, PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) suspended the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of Dana Airlines with immediate effect. The directive was contained in a letter issued and endorsed by the NCAA Acting Director General, Chris Najomo, in Abuja. It said the action was based on elevated safety concerns posed by the airline. The airline suspension came less than 48 hours after an aircraft (MD82 with registration marks 5SN-BKI) belonging to Dana Air experienced a runway incursion upon landing at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos from Abuja. According to the airline, all the 83 passengers and crew members aboard the aircraft were evacuated safely. We are relieved to confirm that all 83 passengers and crew onboard the flight disembarked safely without injuries or fear as the crew handled the situation with utmost professionalism, the airline said, adding that the countrys investigation Bureau and NCAA had been properly briefed about the incident. Meanwhile, it was the second time within two years that the NCAA would suspend the airlines AOC over safety violations. In 2022, the airlines operation was halted after the outcome of a financial and economic health audit carried out on the airline by the regulatory authority came out negative. READ ALSO: Dana aircraft overshoots runway in Lagos On Saturday, the airline said its management is working diligently to address any concerns and is preparing a restart plan that will ensure the safe and efficient resumption of operations. Dana Air is confident that with the continued support of its staff and stakeholders, it will overcome these challenges and emerge stronger than ever, the statement said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print To reduce the incidence of bullying among students, Chrisland Schools, Lagos, has empowered its learners to stay safe and speak up against all forms of bullying. This is part of the school commemorating its Safeguarding Week across all its branches in Lagos and Abuja, according to a statement from the school Thursday. The statement quoted the Head, Risk, Compliance Safeguarding and Child Protection, Kemi Fajemirokun, as urging parents and their wards to always speak up whenever they see something wrong. According to the school, the week-long event held every term is designed to empower learners and provide them with the necessary tools and knowledge to navigate each term safely and confidently. Cases of bullying across schools in Nigeria have been on the rise in the past few years and some schools are now taking initiatives to sensitise and empower their learners against the vices. Recently, another Lagos school, Wellspring College held its maiden anti-bullying campaign involving the students, teachers, and parents to raise awareness about the dangers of bullying and its direct impacts on child development, family values, and social life. Safeguarding week According to Chrisland Schools, the safeguarding week is themed, Promoting total well-being and positive mental health through protection from cyberbullying and general bullying. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later The objective of the week was to raise awareness about the effects; and protection from all forms of bullying, as well as to sensitise students about the importance of speaking up. The school noted that the activities for the week featured song presentations, playlets, debates, drama presentations, spoken word performances, and talk shows, among others, adding that the safeguarding ambassadors for each level were reintroduced and encouraged to be exemplary in their roles. Parents participation, comments The statement noted that during one of the sessions, Maureen Ada-Leonard, an organisational psychologist and a parent at Chrisland High School Ikeja, encouraged the learners to communicate with their parents at home and counsellors at school. Mrs Ada-Leonard emphasised the importance of upholding moral values such as respect, integrity, and responsibility. She admonished parents at the event on the need for a holistic approach from both home and school in raising a well-rounded child. Another parent, Opeoluwa Adeyemi, urged learners at Chrisland School Ladipo-Oluwole to remain vigilant, emphasising that bullying can occur not only within the school premises but also outside of it. She pointed out that Bullying does not only take place in school; it can happen anywhere. However, its effects can be felt or observed while the child is at school. Ensuring safety In her comments at the grand finale of Safeguarding Week at the school branch in Ikeja, Mrs Fajemirokun explained that the terms theme was chosen through a questionnaire survey conducted to understand the concerns of the children. READ ALSO: School speaks on viral video of bullying among students According to her, the chosen theme will resonate throughout the term, noting that an empowered learner is a strong learner, less susceptible to bullying or abuse. This commitment to safety is evident in the involvement of parents who are part of the safeguarding committee of each school. We are raising children who will be global leaders. So, if you see something, say something and do something, she said The first terms safeguarding week focused on The Duty of Care, that is, the responsibilities of staff in ensuring the children are well cared for, protected, and safeguarded while in school. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Nigerian student, David Akanmu, has been selected as one of the beneficiaries of the 2024 Knight-Hennessy Scholars Award at Stanford University. According to the announcement on the website of Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University, the 2024 cohort comprises 90 students from 30 countries who will pursue degrees in 45 graduate programmes across all seven graduate schools at Stanford University. Mr Akanmu was the Best Graduating Student (BGS) at the 54th convocation ceremonies of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) held in January. The student, who graduated with a perfect Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 5.0 in Civil Engineering, is one of five Africans and the only one from an African-based tertiary institution selected for the 2024 cohort which is the seventh and largest cohort since the inception of the award. UNILAG reacts In reaction to the news, UNILAG in a statement Thursday signed by the Head of Communication Unit, Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem, said the university has underscored its position as an international springboard for success. UNILAG noted that Mr Akanmu is the third UNILAG graduate to receive the Knight-Hennessy Scholar Award. The university statement further noted that for over five decades, it has provided qualitative and research-oriented education to Nigerians and all those who have entered its domain in search of knowledge. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later The University has built a legacy of excellence, and has been instrumental in the production of top-range graduates and academia that have had tremendous impact, directly or indirectly, on the growth, development and international recognition of Nigeria, it said. About award The UNILAG graduate will pursue a Ph.D. in Energy Science and Engineering at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Among the 2024 scholars, according to the Knight Scholars, 47 per cent hold a non-U.S. passport, 49 per cent of U.S. scholars identify as a person of colour, and 11 per cent have served in the U.S. military. It noted that the scholars earned undergraduate degrees at 60 different institutions, including 12 international institutions, adding that 22 per cent are the first in their family to graduate from college. With each new cohort of scholars I am even more encouraged about the future, the Stanford University president emeritus, John Hennessy was quoted to have said, The challenges our world faces are only growing more complex, which validates the importance of our mission here. About Knight Hennessy Scholars Knight-Hennessy Scholars is a multidisciplinary, multicultural graduate fellowship program spanning all seven schools at Stanford University. The 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. The Knight Scholars also announced that the application for the 2025 cohort of Knight-Hennessy Scholars will open on 1 June 2024, and is due on 9 October 2024. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Global online streaming platform, Spotify, has revealed that Nigerian musicians streaming royalties exceeded N25 billion in 2023. Spotify made this known in a recent newsletter titled Loud & Clear, which was sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Friday. The report states that Nigerian artistes earning over N10 million in royalties have quadrupled since 2018. The exponential growth, doubling from the previous year and skyrocketing by 2,500 per cent since 2017, signifies not just a financial boon but also testifies to the global recognition of Nigerian sounds and artists. Beyond the unparalleled success of Afrobeats, the report shows that Nigerias music is undergoing a genre revolution. Homegrown genres like Highlife, Igbo Pop, and Fuji are experiencing a surge in popularity, as revealed by Spotifys data. Fuji king K1 De Ultimate retains his throne, while fresh voices like Umu Obiligbo and Phyno invigorate Highlife and Igbo Pop, respectively. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Highlife, Fuji, and Igbo Pop also saw listenership increase in Q1 2024, growing by 240 per cent, 175 per cent, and 270 per cent, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2023. According to Spotify, over half of these royalties went to independent artists or labels, showcasing the democratising power of streaming. It also stated that over 1,400 Nigerian musicians were added to Spotify editorial playlists in 2023, as they owned over 80 per cent of the tracks featured on Nigerias daily top 50 charts in 2023. Furthermore, Spotify listeners engagement with Nigerian artistes soared, with discoveries tallying nearly 950 million times in 2023 alone. The domination of men in listenership across local genres is apparent. Men dominate listeners of local music genres like Fuji at 85 per cent, Highlife at 89 per cent, and Igbo Pop at 81 per cent. Also, according to the reports, Gen Z (aged 18-24) emerges as a formidable force, constituting a significant portion of the audience, with listenership consisting of 32 per cent of Fuji, 31 per cent of Highlife, and 46 per cent of Igbo Pop. Cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Katsina emerge as hotbeds for streaming local genres. Remarks Spotifys Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, lauded the remarkable growth, citing it as proof of Nigerian artists talent, creativity, and global appeal. She reaffirmed Spotifys commitment to nurturing African creators and pledged further investment to sustain the momentum of the Nigerian music revolution. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Nigerias burgeoning talent, Starz BSM, is back in the spotlight with his latest offering, Special. This feel-good track celebrates the essence of true love, inviting listeners into a world of blissful melodies and heartfelt emotions. Produced by Jonn P, known for his work on Davidos acclaimed Timeless album, Special embodies the perfect blend of smooth vocals and infectious indie afrobeats rhythms. Starz BSMs soulful delivery and Jonn Ps production prowess create an enchanting ambience, evoking the warmth of summertime romance. At its core, Special serves as a heartfelt confession of love, capturing those euphoric moments shared between two souls deeply connected. With its uplifting vibes and irresistible hooks delivered in Pidgin, the track promises to be a standout addition to any playlist. Much like his previous releases, Starz BSMs approach to music is characterised by a profound sense of authenticity and vulnerability, with compositions that are not merely performances but windows into his soul, each imbued with the depth of his emotions. With this new release, he continues to weave his narrative of love and connection with even greater finesse. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Starz BSMs hits include No Relent, Romance, and Monalisa. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Have you ever wondered why Kanayo O Kanayo is called Nnanyi Sacrifice? The answer is not far-fetched, as the 62-year-old actor has earned the nickname Nnanyi Sacrifice due to his portrayal of various ritual roles in some of his old movies. Now, more than ever, snippets from these films have surged in popularity across social media platforms, particularly TikTok, where users have transformed them into memes. The title Nnanyi Sacrifice, which translates to The father of Sacrifices, seamlessly intertwines with Kanayos movie persona. At the sight of his name in a movies cast list, you already know that he is likely a member of an occult group. Although he is not the only actor who plays the role of a ritualist in movies, while other esteemed actors have ventured into similar roles, they have yet to replicate Kanayos enduring magnetism within this specialised genre. Interestingly, the actor-cum-lawyer said he got the title Nnanyi Sacrifice during the mothers funeral of Nigerian billionaire businessman Obi Cubana, although he immediately rejected the title. Despite his rejection, the label stubbornly clung to him, eventually gaining his acceptance. In this article, PREMIUM TIMES delves into seven of Kanayo O. Kanayos most deadliest films, exploring the roles that have solidified his reputation and earned him the title Nnanyi Sacrifice over the years. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Kanayo debuted as a ritualist in the 1992 movie Living in Bondage. His portrayal of Chief Omego, a wealthy businessman who delves into dark rituals for success, where he uses his mother for ritual, sets the stage for his future roles. Blood Money: The Vulture Men (1997) The movie narrates the story of Mike (played by Zack Orji), who reunited with his former schoolmate and police chief Collins (portrayed by Kanayo O. Kanayo). Collins has become a millionaire by profiting from the organ trade. Collins would have his loved ones killed and harvest their organs for ritual. He persuades Mike to join a secret cult called the Vultures, led by a Great Vulture spirit who promises instant wealth. At the Great Vultures command, Mike kidnaps a child who is then imbued with moneymaking abilities. However, Mike is unaware that the child is Chief Collins only son, leading to a rift between the two men. Three years later, the Great Vulture demands a blood sacrifice from Mike. To delay this, Mike offers his wife and mother instead. Blood Money Billionaires club Billionaires Club is a Nigerian movie directed by Afam Okereke, released in 2003. The film delves into the dark and secretive world of a secret society of men who wield occult powers to manipulate individuals and amass wealth through ritual means. The cast includes prominent Nollywood actors such as Pete Edochie, Kanayo O. Kanayo, Clem Ohameze, Tony Umez, Sola Sobowale, and Chidi Ihezie, who brought depth and intensity to the narrative, making Billionaires Club a memorable and influential film within the industry. Billionaires Club The Diamond Secrets The Diamond Secrets is a Nollywood movie about David (played by Bob Manuel Udokwu), a struggling businessman who is enticed into joining a secret cult known as the Diamond Secret by his friend Edward (played by Kanayo O Kanayo). The cult promises wealth and power but at a grave costhuman sacrifices. David, succumbing to the allure, sacrifices his son, only to be consumed by regret and a desire to flee the cults grasp. His attempts to escape are futile, and he ultimately meets a tragic end at the hands of the cult members. The Diamond Secrets Nothing For Nothing Nothing for Nothing is a movie that narrates the story of Emenike, whose girlfriend left him because he could not take care of her, his mother died because he couldnt afford the bills, he was humiliated by his cousin because he couldnt pay the village youth levy, the only land that is left for them is collected by a chief forcefully. These are some of the woos trailing Emenike before he met Amobi, an old friend. The journey to great wealth begins for Emenike at the instance of Amobi, but at what cost? Nothing For Nothing Emaka Tigana Emeka Tigana is a Nollywood movie featuring prominent actors such as Kanayo O. Kanayo and Yul Edochie. The plot revolves around two wealthy and influential men: Emeka Tigana, portrayed by Yul Edochie, who is young, handsome, fearless, educated, and arrogant, and Chief Akukaria, played by Kanayo O. Kanayo, who is bold, selfish, well-connected, fearless, and stingy. The story unfolds with chaos in the kingdom as these two billionaires clash, leading to a dramatic and intense power struggle. The movie showcases themes of wealth, power, and the consequences of arrogance and stinginess. Its a blockbuster that has captivated audiences with its engaging storyline and the performances of its leading actors. EMEKA TIGANA Standing Order (Thou Shall Be Rich) The movie narrates the story of Nobert and his friend Fred, who just finished their National Youth Service but grapple with the difficulties and realities of wealth-making. Nobert has an eleventh commandment: Thous must be rich. He snared wealth and took up a new chieftaincy title, Ocharia, but soon grads his friend into the cult group, where they both meet their doom in no time, as Fred is constrained to sacrifice either his wife or his mother. Standing Order (Thou Shall Be Rich), Kanayo O. Kanayo played the character of Nobert, who sacrifices his father, twin sister, and wife to enjoy ten maximum years of wealth. At the same time, Fred was portrayed by Clem Ohamaeze. Standing Order The Ritual (1997) The Ritual, produced by Kenneth Nnebue and Andy Amenechi, a star-studded cast brought the story to life, including Pete Edochie, Charles Okafor, Paul Adams, Ayo Adesanya, Francis Agu, Festus Aguebor, Obot Etuk, Prince Emeka Ani, Kanayo O. Kanayo, Ejike Asiegbu, and the late Ernest Asuzu. That Movie brought to the fore a lot of societal ills and misdoings that were only whispered in corners and dark places hitherto. Within the narrative, Kanayo O. Kanayo assumed the character of George, while Pet Edochie played the role of Don Pedro, one of the patrons of the Vampires Confraternity. The film is centred on Desmond (Sola Fosudo), who wants to run for the office of governor of the state. He joins the Vampire Confraternity, who asks him to sacrifice his mother and wife to fulfil his ambition. The law of karma catches up with him after he loses the gubernatorial election. RITUALIST Whether propelled by the harsh realities of poverty or willingly enmeshed in various cult groups, Kanayo O. Kanayos characters display an undoubtfully willing willingness to execute whoever is demanded without hesitation, whether it be a spouse, sibling, offspring, or stranger. Nobody wears the hat of Nnayi sacrifice better than Kanayo O. Kanayo. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print On 25 April, three West African countries = Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Benin rolled out, in thousands, doses of an anti-malaria vaccine for infants between 5 and 17 months old. The rollout began five months after the World Health Organisation (WHO) endorsed two anti-malaria vaccines for children: RTS, S, and R21. The vaccines were described as a certified tool for improving child health and malaria control in Africa. Since the rollout, countries such as Benin added the vaccine to their routine immunisation programme after receiving 215,900 doses. But Nigeria, where malaria is responsible for 11 per cent of maternal deaths and 25 per cent of deaths among infants, and despite carrying the highest global burden of the disease, has yet to receive or commence administration of the vaccine. However, PREMIUM TIMES has found that Nigeria missed out on the rollout because the malaria vaccine designated for deployment in Nigeria by GAVI was not ready for distribution. The GAVI Head of Malaria Vaccine, Scott Gordon, told PREMIUM TIMES that the three countries which began deployment of doses of malaria vaccine to their children were those who received RTS,S- the vaccine that was ready for distribution at the time. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later He said countries were matched with the vaccines based on cost alongside their level of demand, and that Nigeria, among other countries, was matched with the R21 vaccine. Mr Scott noted that GAVI considered the R21 vaccine best suited for Nigeria based on the countrys needs and plans, as presented in its proposal to GAVI. The match is based in part on the cost of the vaccine as well as the available supply. It is to make sure theres enough of the vaccine to scale up according to Nigerias needs and plans, Mr Scott told PREMIUM TIMES. Initial rollout for Bayelsa, Kebbi Both the RTS,S and R21 are intended to protect against Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite globally. The RTS,S is the first malaria vaccine, which was piloted in Ghana, Malawi, and Kenya in 2019. R21, on the other hand, is a newer vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company, Vaccitech. The latter requires a lower dose and is easier to manufacture compared to the former. According to WHO, these vaccines have similar effectiveness in clinical trials, preventing around 75 per cent of malaria episodes in areas with a high burden of the disease. Also, theres no evidence showing that one vaccine performs better as they have not been tested in a head-to-head trial Nigeria matched with the R21 vaccine, intends to roll out its first doses to two states where seasonal transmission of the disease is high- Bayelsa and Kebbi states. The National Coordinator, National Malaria Elimination Plan (NMEP), Godwin Ntadom, said the vaccines launch in the country will only involve the two states because of the limited number of doses. He said more high-burden states will receive the vaccine when the country is able to secure more doses. The prevalence of the disease varies at the state level. It is often higher in rural communities situated by the banks of major rivers, water bodies, or irrigation dams. Currently, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states have the highest burden, while Lagos and Kwara states have the lowest. Also, according to NMEP, states in the North-west region have the highest prevalence, with 33.8 per cent, followed by the North-east with 19.9 per cent, North-central with 21.2 per cent, South-west with 18.4 per cent, and South East with 15.7 per cent. States in the South-south have the lowest prevalence, at 15.6 per cent. The 2022 World Malaria Report showed that Nigeria contributes about 27 per cent of the global burden of the disease. Rollout date uncertain Mr Scott predicted that the R21 vaccine should be out to countries by the end of May or the first weeks of June. He said the vaccine is almost ready, and that the next phase of the process would be rolling to countries listed to receive the vaccine. GAVI will be able to supply the vaccine by the end of May or early June, depending on the arrangement to ship it. The vaccine is imminent and its been a question of working with the country to make sure they have time to do all the preparation that they need, he noted. Nigeria, he said, plans to start rolling out the vaccine later in the year, but the exact timing is up to the health ministry. When asked if Nigeria had sent a late application for the vaccine, as health professionals who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES speculated, Mr Scott explained that Nigeria, indeed, failed to send an early application when the window first opened. However, he noted that given the selection process, this delay could not have interfered with the time of allocation to Nigeria. WHO comments Also, WHO, in an email correspondence to PREMIUM TIMES, said it is working with the GAVI Alliance to support Nigerias application to secure vaccine doses needed for this introduction. According to the WHO Country Representative and Head of Mission to Nigeria, Walter Mulombo, Nigeria is currently trying to secure malaria vaccines and will roll them out as soon as it is successful. When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the NMEP coordinator, Mr Ntadom, to ask when the country is likely to roll out, he said, I cannot say anything is certain about it, the process is still ongoing. When we are done, therell be an announcement to that effect. Combining tools in portfolio By 2025, Nigeria aims to reduce malaria prevalence to less than 10 per cent and infant mortality to less than 50 deaths per 1,000 live births. In the 2016-2020 malaria elimination plan, Nigeria aimed to reduce the disease to pre-elimination levels and deaths to zero. However, instead, it achieved a decline from 42 per cent to 23 per cent. The country only achieved 53 per cent of its goals. According to Mr Scott, Nigeria needs to accelerate its efforts to meet its target against malaria. The country needs to combine all the anti-malaria tools that have been endorsed for use, such as Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITN) and Chemoprevention. Nigeria should use all the tools available in the portfolio to accelerate its effort against malaria. Each tool is important, and the efforts should be at both the national and subnational levels. It is not just about the supply of these tools to the country but the distribution to key areas as well, he said. Other counsel Other experts and stakeholders have also advised that Nigeria should reappraise its efforts. Some urged the federal government to increase internal financing for addressing the epidemic. They also suggested an increased investment in data, leadership, coordination and the local production of anti-malaria drugs. This way, transmission of the disease is likely to reduce significantly, especially among the most vulnerable populations, pregnant women and children, who reside in remote parts of the country. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has ordered an immediate relocation of the legislative business of the state House of Assembly to Government House in Port Harcourt. The relocation order is contained in the states official Gazette, Executive Order of the Rivers State Government 001-2023, Channels Television reported. The order came about 24 hours after Victor Oko-Jumbo, a lawmaker loyal to the governor emerged as a new factional speaker of the assembly and a few hours after hours after a High Court in the state barred the pro-Wike speaker and 24 other lawmakers from parading themselves as members of the assembly. The order also came a few days after Mr Fubara declared that Rivers State had no House of Assembly and a day after the governor visited the legislative quarters where the pro-Wike lawmakers were holding sitting. The complex which housed the Rivers assembly was demolished last year after a section of it was set ablaze in the aftermath of a failed attempt to remove the governor from office. The gazette reads, That on 29 October 2023, a fire incident occasioned by unknown persons burnt and damaged the hallowed chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly. That the Hallowed Chamber of the Rivers State House of Assembly in its present state is unsafe and constitutes a threat to the lives of the staff and the Honourable members of Rivers State House of Assembly and thus not conducive for the business and proceeding of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later That it is expedient to carry out urgent repairs, renovation, and reconstruction of the burnt and damaged chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly. That it is further reasonable to ensure that the business and proceedings of the Rivers State House of Assembly are not impeded and frustrated. Now therefore, I, Mr Fubara the Governor of Rivers State this 30th day of October 2023, Pursuant to the powers vested in me under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) hereby issue, order, and direct that all proceedings and business of Rivers State House of Assembly shall temporarily take place at the Auditorium, Admin Block, Government House, Port Harcourt until the repairs, renovation or reconstruction of the chambers of the Rivers State House of Assembly are completed. The relocation and other related events that happened before it have further worsened the already hostile relationship between Mr Fubara and the pro-Wike lawmakers. The lawmakers have been at loggerheads with Mr Fubara after the governor fell out with Mr Wike last year. Mr Wike, the immediate-past governor of the oil-rich Rivers, was instrumental to the emergence of Mr Fubara as governor but the duo fell out shortly after Mr Fubara assumed office as a result of the battle over the control of their partys structure in the state. The feud deteriorated despite the intervention of President Bola Tinubu who brokered a peace deal between Messrs Wike and Fubara after the seats of Mr Wike-backed lawmakers were declared vacant following their defection to the APC. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Recently, the news of "China's construction of thousands of schools in Iraq" by the Iraqi Shafaq News Agency has attracted the attention of foreign netizens. According to a report published on the 18th, the foundation stone laying ceremony was held on the same day for the education project of China-aided construction of 1,000 schools in Iraq. Many foreign netizens expressed the emotion of "American bombing, China building", and some people said that "in the great power competition, China is competing at a level that the United States will never understand". On "World Refugee Day", some netizens also specially sent a meme picture of "China and the United States are very different in Iraq" to the US Secretary of State Blinken, who boasted that the United States has greatly helped refugees, and ridiculed him: "China's government in Iraq 1,000 schools, the United States directly killed 16,000 civilians in Iraq. This is how China and the United States 'practice human rights' in Iraq." According to statistics released by NGOs in April 2022, since the outbreak of the Iraq War, the number of Iraqi civilians killed by the war may exceed 209,000. If military, police and other public officials are added, the total death toll far exceeds this figure. According to earlier reports, on December 16, 2021, China and the Iraqi government signed an agreement, announcing that China will help Iraq rebuild its education system, including the construction of 1,000 schools. Institute) and China Power International Technology Co., Ltd. (321 Institute) participated in the construction. Hassan Mejaham, an official from the Iraqi Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said at the time that the 1,000 schools to be built by Chinese companies will be built within two years. Mejaham also said Iraq would use oil products to pay for the project. The Iraqi government's official Twitter post on this, the country's Prime Minister Mustafa Kadimi attended the signing ceremony On June 18, 2022, this China-aided construction project in Iraq officially started. According to the Iraqi Shafazi News Agency, that morning, the groundbreaking ceremony of the "Iraq Demonstration School" project of China Power Construction was held in Baghdad Province. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadimi attended the ceremony and delivered a warm speech. He said that the "Iraq Model School" project is an important strategic project related to the livelihood of the people. The project is committed to serving the society and cultivating future leaders for Iraq. He specifically mentioned that since the end of the "Iraq War" in 2003, the restoration of the education system has not received enough attention, and the "Model School" project, as the first project implemented under the framework of China-Iraq cooperation, can be described as "contemporary and beneficial. In Qianqiu". According to reports, the "Iraq Demonstration School" project is the first project in the Iraqi government's plan to build 8,000 schools by 2030. It is also the most urgent political project and livelihood project in Iraq. It is the hope of the whole country to resume sailing after the war. According to the report, the groundbreaking ceremony marked the official implementation of the project plan. With the successive start of projects in different provinces of Iraq, the construction of the school project group has been fully rolled out and is progressing smoothly. Taking POWERCHINA as an example, the construction of 679 schools in 10 Iraqi provinces has already entered the substantive stage of construction. As of May 4, 177 of the 236 schools in the project that are ready for construction have undergone substantial excavation, and the number is increasing at a rate of dozens of schools per week. The groundbreaking ceremony on June 18 Although this news did not make waves in the Western media, it attracted a lot of attention on overseas social media. Many foreign netizens unanimously expressed the emotion of "American bombing, China building". When reporting on the project in December 2021, Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" also made a large-scale comparison, saying that when China signed a cooperation agreement with Iraq, the US military stationed in Iraq had just finished its combat mission, and the US "New York Times" also broke the Pentagon. The scandal claims a classified document shows that thousands of civilians, including many children, have been killed as a direct result of U.S. airstrikes in the Middle East. The Russian media "Russia Today" also published a report titled "China is in Iraq, not like the United States", saying that the United States spent years bombing Iraq beyond recognition and killing local people recklessly; Build 1,000 schools that will serve children affected by the war in America. Decades of conflict and underinvestment in Iraq have damaged what was once the region's best education system, according to the UNICEF website. Nearly 3.2 million school-age children are out of school in this country of 40 million. Someone said: "What is destroyed by the United States, China will rebuild it." A netizen calling himself a "journalist" said, "The US-led NATO destroyed 100 schools and killed 1,000 school-age children in Iraq, while China will build 1,000 schools here." The U.S. destruction of Iraqi schools is far greater than this statistic. In 2007, UNICEF conducted its first comprehensive survey of schools in Iraq and found that in 2003 alone, more than 200 primary schools were damaged in the US bombing of Iraq. In addition, hundreds of schools were burned and more than 3,000 schools were looted. Benjamin Norton, a well-known independent investigative journalist in the United States, forwarded relevant reports, saying that the United States has carried out brutal bombing and military occupation of Iraq for many years. On the contrary, China is building schools there. Another American independent journalist, Danny Haiphong, also commented that "China and the United States are very different": China has built 1,000 schools, and the United States has dropped 17,000 bombs, an average of 46 per day. Now that China's construction aid program is in full swing, some netizens even sighed: "The United States brings death and destruction, and China brings hope and development." Others expressed that they are fair and comfortable. "The United States bombs, and China builds. The bombing of other countries is unpopular." "In this great power competition, China is competing at a different level that the United States will never understand." "The United States destroyed Iraq, and China invested billions in aid to Iraq. Who do you think Iraqis most want to work with in the future? All countries should seriously consider it." Coincidentally, just when foreign netizens were talking about the matter in the past few days, US Secretary of State Blinken's speech on social media happened to "hit the muzzle of the gun". June 20 is "World Refugee Day". Blinken tweeted on this day that millions of refugees around the world are forced to leave their homes every year, and the United States will help these refugees through various means. As the country most keen to launch foreign wars in the world, the United States is one of the culprits that has led to countless refugees. In the case of the Iraq War, the United States created the fastest-deteriorating refugee crisis in the world. The United Nations estimates that there are 4 million refugees in Iraq and those fleeing to neighbouring countries, with 3,000 leaving Iraq every day. Therefore, some netizens made fun of this tweet with a meme that said "China and the United States are very different in Iraq": "China built 1,000 schools in Iraq, and the United States directly killed 16,000 civilians in Iraq. . This is how the US and China 'practice human rights' in Iraq." According to a previous report by Reuters, the "Model School" project is the first project implemented under the framework of China-Iran cooperation. In addition, China will continue to provide assistance to the Middle East. According to a statement from the Iraqi Prime Minister's Office, Iraq signed an agreement with POWERCHINA to build a 2,000-megawatt photovoltaic power station, and POWERCHINA will first build an installed capacity of 750 megawatts. On June 16, two days before the groundbreaking ceremony of the "Demonstration School" project, the 2.5MW off-grid photovoltaic energy storage project in Iraqi District 9, which was built by China Energy China Gezhouba Power Company, was successfully completed and successfully delivered and put into operation. The project is the first ground photovoltaic power station in Iraq. The Iraqi side said that it will promote and display the project as a model project, paving the way for the subsequent vigorous development of photovoltaic project construction. Editor / Xu Shengpeng. President Bola Tinubu, on Friday in Abuja, reaffirmed Nigerias strategic position in Africa as a bastion of peace, saying the nation will continue to play its role as a stabiliser on the continent. Receiving a letter of credence from the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mohamed Ahmed, President Tinubu emphasised the shared commitment of both countries to promoting global peace and stability through collaboration within international organisations, such as the United Nations. He noted that since establishing diplomatic relations in 1961, Nigeria and Egypt have collaborated on key international priorities, including promoting regional peace, security, and stability. The discussions at the meeting also touched on the situation in the Sahel and Sudan. Acknowledging Egypts role towards a truce in the crisis in Gaza, President Tinubu said: We need to do more. Stability in the region is of paramount importance. Mr Ahmed conveyed President Abdel Fattah el-Sisis willingness to bolster economic partnership with Nigeria, emphasising Egypts interest in increasing trade and investments between the two countries. We need to complement each other on investments. Many Egyptian companies are interested in coming to Nigeria to invest, the Egyptian ambassador said. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later In discussions with the High Commissioner of Pakistan, Sohail Khan, a retired major general, President Tinubu described the ambassadors military background as invaluable for exchanging ideas to expand security and defence cooperation. He underscored the need for global cooperation in combating terrorism and violent extremism. We must do more to stop extremists. We need to enhance our collaboration and exchange of ideas and knowledge in these areas. As a government, we will keep an open-door policy with countries and development partners on enhancing cooperation on security, economy, education, and the information and communication technology sector where the minister is doing very well. How can we improve our bilateral relationship? We must do more, the president said. The Pakistani envoy noted the demographic similarities between the two countries and expressed a desire to elevate the relationship to new heights. Pakistan has the fifth largest population in the world while Nigeria is the sixth largest. We have a significant youth population, and our national flags are similar. I would like to take our relationship to a new level, from strength to strength, the high commissioner said. In a separate meeting with the Greek Ambassador to Nigeria, Athanasios Kotsionis, President Tinubu reiterated his administrations commitment to an open-door policy that encourages collaboration and progress for the benefit of all. He restated Nigerias commitment to strengthening bilateral relations with Greece and building bridges of cooperation to address common challenges. The president assured the ambassador of Nigerias commitment to creating an environment conducive to socio-economic growth and development. Nigeria and Greece have good historic ties. We have shared priorities, including promoting democracy, and there is room to expand cooperation. The economic situation in Africa and Europe is still very unbalanced. We should build on the opportunities from our challenges and strengthen relations between the two countries. What I expect is an improvement in the relationship between both countries, and I look forward to us working on that. Our government is about renewed hope. Nigeria will continue to play its role as a stabiliser on the continent, the president said. Mr Kotsionis outlined Greeces efforts to finalise agreements with Nigeria in the areas of tourism, scientific exchange, technology, and maritime. We are ready to sign the agreements with Nigeria as soon as they are ready. There is a lot to be done between the two countries, and we will need the support of your government. We hope to achieve incredible things in Nigeria during my stay, the ambassador said. Ajuri Ngelale Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity) May 10, 2024 Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and its spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, have been criticised over a press statement on the arrest of a Nigerian journalist, Daniel Ojukwu. The statement by the NPF was posted on its X handle on Friday evening after the release of the journalist. Mr Ojukwu, a reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was arrested by the police and detained for nine days. He regained freedom on Friday, a day after a coalition of 23 media and civil society organisations gathered at the Force Headquarters in Abuja to protest his illegal detention. Police statement In a four-paragraph statement, signed by its spokesperson, Mr Adejobi, and titled, FIJs Case: Ojukwus arrest, investigation justifiable under the law, the police said that Mr. Ojukwu was lawfully apprehended and detained pursuant to a valid remand warrant issued by a competent court of justice on May 2nd 2024. His initial detention in Lagos and subsequent transfer to Abuja by the FCID-National Cybercrime Centre (NCCC) aligns with standard investigative procedures undertaken by police. He added that Mr Ojukwu has a case to answer and as such will be arraigned in court upon conclusion of investigations. Mr Adejobi further stated that the release of Mr Ojukwu came after he had met his bail conditions by also providing a surety and not the demonstration by CSOs and journalists. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later He has however been released upon providing a reliable surety today Friday 10th May, 2024, pending the commencement of prosecution at the Federal High Court which has jurisdiction over cyber related crimes. It is instructive to note that his release has no correlation with the unwarranted protest held at the Police Headquarters on 9th May, 2024, but strictly due to him meeting the bail requirements and the policy of the Force on being rule of law compliant. However, many Nigerians jumped on the trending post and decried the statement as a breach of fundamental human rights and an action of impunity by the police, which doesnt entrench the concept of fair hearing. They described the action of the police as an impunity, abuse of power and disregard for the rule of law Outrage One user, @Orguy said The report for which he was arrested, have YOU investigated to ascertain the veracity of same? Also, do you mean that EVERY petition results in an arrest of the person(s) named therein? As weve seen in the past, some baseless petitions are initiated as a cover for unduly oppressing others by the Police. Remember that Justice mustnt only be done, but must be seen to be done Ire, o. Its the way of Nigeria. We revel and glory in impunity and abuse of power, coupled with a gross disregard for due process of law. They questioned why the police would arrest and detain an individual for more than 24 hours and also without a court warrant or thorough investigation before their action. The users also spotlighted that the police obtained a court warrant after arresting the journalist, stressing such action as illegal while some said it was an abduction. The NPF have now become nothing but a tool for oppression You arrested him before obtaining a warrant and then went ahead to keep him for 10 days. Na today una remember to do press release mtcheeew. another user @Erimus said Warrant of arrest granted on 2nd May while he was abducted on the 1st? Make it make sense And why must you arrest someone without concluding investigation? You can do better @PrinceChioke said @OladeleEnahoro said, That is not arrest but kidnapping & the law says u cant keep him for more than 48 hrs b4 charging him to court. He spent 10days with you lawbreakers & in saner climes where policing is effective, u investigate before arrest & not d other way round. Also no warrant for his arrest. @Realtorinc said, Exactly, it is shameful that Nigeria police will arrest based on petition by one on another, instead of investigating first, to see the basis, motive and reasons for the petition. Some people will owe you money and still go write a petition against you, just to scare you away. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Nigerias growing concerns about the unemployment rate have prompted calls to preach the entrepreneurial gospel to university undergraduates as a viable alternative to the competitive labour market and a means of making them self-sufficient. However, an organisation, BMI-CTY, advocates more than just a shift towards entrepreneurship as a viable solution. After two years of research, they have developed an inclusive methodology for teaching entrepreneurship education in Nigeria. To this end, at a media event on Thursday, they explained that they have designated programmes to foster an entrepreneurial mindset in primary and junior secondary school children. These programmes, they said, will equip the pupils with the necessary tools to navigate an increasingly complex and dynamic world. Additionally, they shared how they are empowering these students to unleash their potential as future business leaders and change-makers. At the event, they shed light on the upcoming Incubating African Kids Entrepreneurs for Next-Gen Impact Conference scheduled for Friday at the Oriental Hotel and Towers Lagos. Entrepreneurship meets academics In his remarks, BMI-CTY Chairperson Nnamdi Unachukwu highlighted the companys innovative efforts to integrate entrepreneurship into basic education curriculums. He said his team had developed a six-sense approach with resource materials such as Textbooks, Workbooks, Discussion books, Cartoon series, practical books, video-recorded teachings, and gaming that suit the young learners. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Early learning is always a motivation for acquiring behaviours and habits since learning modifies behaviour, cognitive, motor, and sensory levels, integrating changes in our values and attitudes, he noted. He stressed the initiative equips students with essential entrepreneurial skills crucial for succeeding as future nation-builders. More so, the BMI-CTY Chairperson noted that the company pursued a research-driven approach and, after two years of diligent work, developed an inclusive methodology for teaching entrepreneurship education in Nigeria. He underscored that the group comprises experienced educators, successful entrepreneurs with extensive experience, IT experts, seasoned researchers, and management consultants. The significance of fostering a mindset of innovation, creativity, and problem-solving among students is beckoning in Nigeria and cultivating entrepreneurial skills and mindset in a child is easier. It makes the child creative, innovative, risk-taking, and a wealth-builder, Mr Unachukwu noted. Furthermore, Henrietta Onwuegbuzie, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Lagos Business School and a certified Management consultant, said this initiative would foster proactiveness in the children by [encouraging them to identify and solve problems, promoting initiative and self-motivation] and help build future employment in the country. She argued that instilling entrepreneurial skills in children would reduce reliance on job-seeking and promote the development of a resilient local economy, sparking a sense of concern and engagement in the audience for the economic future of Nigeria. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, has said his opposition to state policing in Nigeria has not changed but he concedes to the stance of President Bola Tinubu who is promoting state policing, which many believe may help address some of the security challenges facing the country. Nigeria currently runs a unitary policing system controlled by the federal government. However, President Tinubu and state governors recently agreed on the need for states to have their police and agreed to work together to implement it. Discussions are ongoing and there would be a need to amend some of Nigerias laws to accommodate state police. In 2012, Mr Bagudu, then a senator, said Nigeria was not ready to operate state police. His main argument, similar to that of many critics of the proposal, is that it would be abused by state governors, many of whom have shown the penchant to be intolerant of criticism. Despite serving as a state governor for two terms (in Kebbi, 2015-2023) and now as a minister, Mr Bagudu said his position has not changed but he defers to the stance of his principal, President Tinubu. President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu understands dissent, Mr Bagudu told PREMIUM TIMES in an exclusive interview. Im not changing my view. I agree with him. But I have the right to express my view. Mr Bagudu indicated that the Tinubu administration is pushing the policy because some government officials raised superior arguments to his. Im not flip-flopping. I was opposed to it as a senator, but superior argument and logic emerged, the minister said. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later At a recent dialogue on state police organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review last month, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, also opposed the idea of state police. Mr Egbetokun, instead, proposed that the Nigerian government should merge the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Commission (NSCDC) as departments under the federal police to increase its manpower as well as funding. I was at a dialogue on state policing, Mr Bagudu said. Even the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives spoke about many issues that need to be appreciated in order that we can do it right. So its not even whether for or against, there are issues about state police and that is what is important. The state police bill currently before the National Assembly seeks the removal of police from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list. The exclusive list contains all items that only the federal government can act upon while the concurrent list contains issues that both the federal government and state governments can act on. In the last assembly, the state police bill was rejected by the lawmakers, who felt that state governors may abuse state police. However, in the face of rising insecurity and the support of the president, there seems to be a favourable disposition to the bill by the current assembly. In the interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Bagudu also spoke about the economy, budget padding of President Tinubus first full-year budget by the National Assembly, the 2023 elections that brought Mr Tinubu to power and other matters. The full interview with Mr Bagudu will be published soon. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The United Nations General Assembly Friday voted by a wide margin to back a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member. The assembly also called on the UN Security Council to favourably reconsider the request to have a Palestinian state become the 194th member of the United Nations. The vote by the 193-member General Assembly was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member a move that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state after the United States vetoed it in the UN Security Council last month. The assembly adopted a resolution on Friday with 143 votes in favour and nine against including the US and Israel while 25 countries abstained. Nigeria and all other African countries voted for it except Malawi which abstained. In December, Malawi also abstained from a vote calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. Most African countries and the African Union have always supported the Palestinian cause and backed a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict. Several countries that voted for Palestines admission believed their vote counted for the protection of civilians, especially women and children, and for upholding legal and humanitarian obligations in Gaza. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Fridays vote does not give Palestine full UN membership, but recognises it as qualified to join, Al Arabia reports. Palestine still needs the UN Security Council to approve its application with the US still expected to veto it when the matter is retaken to the council. The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on 18 April that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent. The NBC reports that US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood made it clear that the Biden administration opposed the assembly resolution. Weve been very clear from the beginning there is a process for obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and this effort by some of the Arab countries and the Palestinians is to try to go around that, Mr Wood said Thursday. We have said from the beginning the best way to ensure Palestinian full membership in the UN is to do that through negotiations with Israel. That remains our position. Under the UN Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be peace-loving, and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. READ ALSO: UN General Assembly to vote on granting palestine increased status Palestine became a UN non-member observer state in 2012. The assemblys resolution on Friday determines that the state of Palestine is qualified for membership dropping the original language that in the General Assemblys judgement it is a peace-loving state. It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request favourably. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Clerk of the Rivers House of Assembly, Emeka Amadi, has disowned Victor Oko-Jumbo as the newly elected speaker of the assembly. Mr Oko-Jumbo, a member representing Bonny State Constituency, is believed to be an ally of the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara. A statement, signed by the factional speaker, Mr Oko-Jumbo and G. M. Gillis-West, said to be the clerk of the assembly, claimed Mr Oko-Jumbo emerged as speaker during plenary on Wednesday. The statement was forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES by the governors spokesperson, Chukwudi Nelson, on Wednesday. The development occurred about 24 hours after Governor Fubara declared that Rivers State had no House of Assembly. No change of leadership But the Clerk of the House, Mr Amadi, in a statement later on Wednesday, said the claims that there was a change of leadership in the House was false. There was no change in the leadership of the House today (Wednesday) and Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule remains the speaker of the House while Rt. Hon. Dumle Maol and Rt. Hon. Major Jack remains deputy speaker and majority leader respectively, he said. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later The clerk stressed that there was no vacant seat at the assembly apart from the seat of Khana Constituency II which was declared vacant following the death of the member representing the constituency. He said Mr Oko-Jumbo, two others Goodboy Sokari and Timothy Orubienimigha who allegedly participated in the election of the factional speaker were suspended from the assembly in October last year. Their suspension is yet to be lifted and they cannot lay claim to be officers of the House, he said. Referencing Mr Fubaras declaration against the assembly, Mr Amadi said there was a subsisting court injunction restraining the governor from impeding or frustrating the assembly under the leadership of Mr Amaewhule as the speaker. The clerk said the House was still conducting legislative business in line with the Standing Order of the House and the Nigerian constitution. He urged residents of the state to disregard the reported leadership change in the assembly. Rivers House of Assembly The Rivers legislature is a 32-member assembly. One lawmaker died shortly after the 2023 general elections, leaving 31 members. Out of 31 members, 27 are loyal to the immediate-past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, now the minister of FCT, while the remaining four are loyal to Governor Fubara. Mr Wike, who was instrumental to the emergence of Mr Fubara as governor, has since fallen out with the governor, a development that split the assembly into two factions. Mr Amaewhule is the speaker of the Wike-backed faction, while Edison Ehie was the speaker of the four-member faction backed by Governor Fubara. The political feud between Messrs Fubara and Wike steadily deteriorated, prompting the intervention of President Bola Tinubu, who brokered a peace deal between them after the seats of Mr Wike-backed lawmakers were declared vacant following their defection to the All Progressives Congress. After the peace deal, Mr Ehie resigned as speaker and also from the assembly. He was appointed chief of staff to Mr Fubara, leaving the governors faction with just three lawmakers. With their overwhelming majority, the pro-Wike lawmakers, after their return to the assembly, have been at loggerheads with Governor Fubara. They have, for at least six times, overridden the governors veto on bills passed by the assembly. Barring of pro-wike lawmakers Meanwhile, in a fresh twist, the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt, on Friday, barred Mr Amaewhule and other 24 lawmakers, loyal to Mr Wike, from parading as members of the state assembly. The suit was filed by Mr Oko-Jumbo and the two other House members loyal to Governor Fubara Messrs Sokari and Orubienimigha. The court adjourned the case till 29 May for hearing of motion on notice. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Nigerian Army on Friday pulled out 29 generals of the Infantry Corps who retired from active military service. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that out of the 29 retired infantry officers pulled out of active service at the Jaji Military Cantonment in Kaduna State, 19 were major generals and 10 brigadiers general. Leading the pack was Victor Ezugwu, a major general, who spoke on behalf of the retirees. Mr Ezugwu encouraged their successors to not only sustain the modest strategic, operational and tactical achievements made, but also to surpass them. The frontline is expanding and the Nigerian Army is becoming increasingly committed with the eyes of the nation and the world on it. Our Infantry Corps must therefore not relent or rest on her oars as the entire Nigerian Army depends largely on the Infantry Corps to achieve its core mandate and mission. I admonish the Infantry that as the threats to Nigeria sovereignty is becoming asymmetric in time and space, you must be proactively way ahead of our adversaries in all aspects of the unfolding combat scenarios, he added. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Mr Ezugwu also called on the Infantry Corps to review some of its tactical and operational strategies in the areas of night fighting capabilities, and frontline intelligence gathering on enemy activities. He further advised the corps to strengthen basic field crafts training in the areas of aggressive fighting patrols to dominate at least 5 km radius of their locations, ambushes, listening and observation posts as well as all levels of battle drills. Mr Ezugwu advocated for employment of modern technology and ICT enablers, and deliberate efforts to develop the leadership skills of junior commanders. Be rest assured that my colleagues and I will be glad and willing to avail the Infantry Corps our time, energy and resources until our last breath on earth. He announced the donation of 200 books and encyclopedia to the Infantry Corps Centre and Nigerian Army School of Infantry libraries to promote training, reading culture, mentorship and capacity development of officers and soldiers. We are also availing the infantry Corps the sum of N1 million to purchase more Corps related books. This is our modest way to encourage the edification of younger Infantry officers and soldiers so as to inspire and motivate them to reach their full potentials as they grow in service, Mr Ezugwu said. He described military career as the most priceless, honourable and sacrificial call to duty globally, and thanked God for allowing them to end their careers alive after serving the nation for between 30 -38 years. The general described the day as full of emotional feelings, nostalgic memories, wholesome gratitude, unending joy and unwavering fulfilment. For every service personnel, retirement from active service remains a natural and inevitable end which begins to count from the day we passed out from NDA as officers in the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Our joy and that of our families, colleagues and friends gathered here today knows no bounds as we take a final bow from the Infantry Corps. On behalf of my retired colleague generals, I most respectfully and dutifully appreciate the incumbent Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Taoreed Lagbaja for organising this benefitting and memorable pulling out parade in our honour, he added. He also appreciated the Commander Infantry Corps, Olufemi Oluyede, a major general, for mobilising the entire Infantry family including veterans and other luminaries in the Infantry Corps to honour them. As I stand on this podium and looking around this Parade Ground, I am moved with hysterical feeling of excitement considering the mammoth turn out of the infantry family, host and neighbouring communities of Jaji, Labar, Wusono, Railway, Birnin Yero, Angwan Loya and other parts of Zazzau Emirate, led by our revered Emir, to celebrate our retirement. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says troops have eliminated a total of 135 terrorists, apprehended 182 and rescued 140 kidnap victims in ground and air operations across the country in the last one week. The Director, Defence Media Operations, Edward Buba, a major general, made this known in a statement on Friday in Abuja on the operations of the armed forces. Mr Buba said the troops recovered 97 assorted weapons and 3,117 assorted ammunition during the week. He said the recovered items comprised 47 AK47 rifles, one PKMG, one FN rifle, 17 locally fabricated guns, 21 dane guns, nine pump action guns, three locally fabricated pistols, 336 hand grenade and one IED. Others according to him are: 1,087 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 840 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 402 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 88 rounds of 5.56mm, 33 rounds of 9mm x 99mm ball ammo, 90 live cartridges, 29 magazines, 15 vehicles, 21 motorcycles, six bicycles, 43 mobile phones and the sum of N2.02 million, among other items. In the North-east, Mr Buba said, the troops of Operation Hadin Kai killed 47 terrorists, arrested 53 suspects and rescued 40 hostages. He said the air component on 3 May conducted air interdiction on terrorists assembling in Mandara mountain, killing several of them and destroying their logistics. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later According to him, the terrorists were converging with their equipment for possible attack on troops and locals before the location was acquired and attacked with rockets and bombs. In the North-central, Mr Buba said the troops of Operations Safe Haven and Whirl Stroke killed 29 insurgents, arrested 58 violent extremists and rescued 42 hostages as well as recovered cache of arms and ammunition. In the North-west, he said the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji, killed 36 terrorists, arrested 25 and rescued 45 hostages as well as recovered several arms, ammunition and other items. Under Operation Whirl Punch, Mr Buba said the troops killed nine terrorists, arrested 21 suspects and rescued 30 kidnapped victims within the week. According to him, the air component conducted air interdiction on 3 May, following reports and aerial surveillance on migration of sets of terrorists with their equipment towards the deserted Allawa village and nearby forest in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State. READ ALSO: 29 Nigerian Army generals retire The air component conducted pre-emptive air strikes to destroy terrorist at the location and the Battle Damage Assessment revealed that several terrorists were eliminated with their equipment destroyed, he said. In the South-south, Mr Buba said the troops of Operation Delta Safe discovered and destroyed 40 illegal refining sites with 11 dugout pits, 29 boats, 24 drums, four receiver, seven reservoirs and 41 storage tanks. He added that 115 cooking ovens, two generators, 13 vehicles and three pumping machines as well as 14 weapons and 250 assorted ammunitions were recovered. He said the troops also recovered 588,400 litres of stolen crude oil and 238,686 litres of illegally refined AGO while 18 suspected oil thieves were apprehended and two killed during the week. In the South-east, Mr Buba said, the troops of Operation UDO KA killed 23 terrorists, arrested 31 violent extremists and rescued 13 hostages as well as recovered several arms and ammunition. In the South-west, he said the troops of Operation AWATSE arrested five violent extremists and rescued one hostage while cache of weapons were recovered. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Gunmen, on Friday, attacked police operatives conducting a stop-and-search operation in Enugu State, South-east Nigeria. The police spokesperson in the state, Daniel Ndukwe, who disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, said two police officers sustained gunshot injuries during the attack. Mr Ndukwe, a deputy superintendent of police, said the attack occurred around 9.30 p.m. along Presidential Road, Enugu. The police spokesperson said the hoodlums were suspected to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed militant wing, Eastern Security Network. How it happened Mr Ndukwe said the hoodlums, who were operating in three SUVs, suddenly opened fire on the operatives on arrival at the area. The operatives returned fire, forcing the hoodlums to escape with varying degrees of gunshot wounds, he said. However, two of the operatives sustained gunshot injuries in the ensuing gun duel and were taken to the hospital for medical treatment. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later The police spokesperson said the fleeing attackers, consequently, abandoned a Lexus 300 SUV, which he said, was later recovered by the operatives. The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, Kanayo Uzuegbu, has ordered the massive deployment of the police operatives to sustain ongoing operations in the area to track down the hoodlums, Mr Ndukwe said. Mr Uzuegbu asked residents of Enugu State to support the police in the state by providing credible information that would help in arresting the attackers. The police commissioner also urged the residents and owners of medical facilities to report to the police individuals seen with gunshot wounds in their areas. Increased attacks Like in other states in the South-east, security has deteriorated in Enugu State with frequent attacks by armed persons. The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities. Hundreds of persons, including security agencies, traditional rulers and government officials, have been killed or abducted in such attacks The Nigerian government has accused IPOB of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region. But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks. IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the south-east and some parts of the south-south Nigeria. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, has said President Bola Tinubu should not be blamed for the National Assemblys failure to confirm Nasir El-Rufai as a federal minister. Mr Bagudu said President Tinubu has shown character and promise keeping by nominating Mr El-Rufai to be a minister in his cabinet but the National Assembly as an institution withheld his confirmation. Constitutional democracy is based on separation of powers, Mr Bagudu told PREMIUM TIMES in an exclusive interview. The Senate has been given a constitutional role in the confirmation process. If they decide to deny any one of us, they are approving their confirmation power. The president is handicapped by our constitution to do everything. Is it fair? But that is how the laws have been set up, he added. Mr El-Rufai, as governor of Kaduna State, campaigned vigorously for the election of Mr Tinubu. He, alongside Mr Bagudu and other governors of northern states played major roles to help Mr Tinubu win the APC primary. Before the general election, Mr Tinubu publicly invited Mr El-Rufai to work with him if he became Nigerias president. Last August, President Tinubu nominated Mr El-Rufai for ministerial appointment and sent his name to the Senate for legislative screening. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later The upper legislative chamber, however, withheld his confirmation and those of two others, citing security reports from the State Security Service for the action. The two others were a former senator from Taraba, Sani Danladi, and a nominee from Delta State, Stella Okotete. Consequently, the former Kaduna State governor withdrew his interest in being part of Mr Tinubus cabinet. During his confirmation hearing on 1 August 2023, El-Rufai said Mr Tinubu asked him to work with him on the power problem facing the country. According to him, the president had given a target of seven years for Nigeria to stop experiencing power outages in the country. According to Mr Bagudu, the president did everything he could to have Mr El Rufai in his cabinet. I wish the National Assembly had confirmed him, Mr Bagudu said. When asked why Mr Tinubu did not intervene or lobby the National Assembly to confirm Mr El-Rufai, Mr Bagudu said he would not want to speculate. What was done objectively is that the president nominated him. We know that his name was read at the Senate. He went to the National Assembly for screening. He answered all the questions that were asked of him. Although some were stepped down. So thats an objective way to look at it. That is what happened. I cant answer speculatively, but I believe for the president to submit your name, for you at least to be taken to the National assembly, its the best measure of the presidents willingness and confidence in the person, he said. In the interview, Mr Bagudu also spoke about the economy, the 2024 budget, the Lagos-Calabar coastal road and other matters. Note: PREMIUM TIMES will publish the full interview with Mr Bagudu on Sunday. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Americas unsavory record of violent interventions in Syrialittle-known to the American people yet well-known to Syrianssowed fertile ground for the violent Islamic jihadism that now complicates any effective response by our government to address the challenge of ISIL. So long as the American public and policymakers are unaware of this past, further interventions are likely only to compound the crisis. Secretary of State John Kerry this week announced a provisional ceasefire in Syria. But since U.S. leverage and prestige within Syria is minimaland the ceasefire doesnt include key combatants such as Islamic State and al Nusra--its bound to be a shaky truce at best. Similarly President Obamas stepped-up military intervention in LibyaU.S. airstrikes targeted an Islamic State training camp last weekis likely to strengthen rather than weaken the radicals. As the New York Times reported in a December 8, 2015, front-page story, Islamic State political leaders and strategic planners are working to provoke an American military intervention. They know from experience this will flood their ranks with volunteer fighters, drown the voices of moderation and unify the Islamic world against America. To understand this dynamic, we need to look at history from the Syrians perspective and particularly the seeds of the current conflict. Long before our 2003 occupation of Iraq triggered the Sunni uprising that has now morphed into the Islamic State, the CIA had nurtured violent jihadism as a Cold War weapon and freighted U.S./Syrian relationships with toxic baggage. This did not happen without controversy at home. In July 1957, following a failed coup in Syria by the CIA, my uncle, Sen. John F. Kennedy, infuriated the Eisenhower White House, the leaders of both political parties and our European allies with a milestone speech endorsing the right of self-governance in the Arab world and an end to Americas imperialist meddling in Arab countries. Throughout my lifetime, and particularly during my frequent travels to the Mideast, countless Arabs have fondly recalled that speech to me as the clearest statement of the idealism they expected from the U.S. Kennedys speech was a call for recommitting America to the high values our country had championed in the Atlantic Charter; the formal pledge that all the former European colonies would have the right to self-determination following World War II. Franklin D. Roosevelt had strong-armed Winston Churchill and the other allied leaders to sign the Atlantic Charter in 1941 as a precondition for U.S. support in the European war against fascism. But thanks in large part to Allen Dulles and the CIA, whose foreign policy intrigues were often directly at odds with the stated policies of our nation, the idealistic path outlined in the Atlantic Charter was the road not taken. In 1957, my grandfather, Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, sat on a secret committee charged with investigating the CIAs clandestine mischief in the Mideast. The so called Bruce-Lovett Report, to which he was a signatory, described CIA coup plots in Jordan, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Egypt, all common knowledge on the Arab street, but virtually unknown to the American people who believed, at face value, their governments denials. The report blamed the CIA for the rampant anti-Americanism that was then mysteriously taking root in the many countries in the world today. The Bruce-Lovett Report pointed out that such interventions were antithetical to American values and had compromised Americas international leadership and moral authority without the knowledge of the American people. The report also said that the CIA never considered how we would treat such interventions if some foreign government were to engineer them in our country. This is the bloody history that modern interventionists like George W. Bush, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio miss when they recite their narcissistic trope that Mideast nationalists hate us for our freedoms. For the most part they dont; instead they hate us for the way we betrayed those freedomsour own idealswithin their borders. *** For Americans to really understand whats going on, its important to review some details about this sordid but little-remembered history. During the 1950s, President Eisenhower and the Dulles brothersCIA Director Allen Dulles and Secretary of State John Foster Dullesrebuffed Soviet treaty proposals to leave the Middle East a neutral zone in the Cold War and let Arabs rule Arabia. Instead, they mounted a clandestine war against Arab nationalismwhich Allen Dulles equated with communismparticularly when Arab self-rule threatened oil concessions. They pumped secret American military aid to tyrants in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon favoring puppets with conservative Jihadist ideologies thath they regarded as a reliable antidote to Soviet Marxism. At a White House meeting between the CIAs director of plans, Frank Wisner, and John Foster Dulles, in September 1957, Eisenhower advised the agency, We should do everything possible to stress the holy war aspect, according to a memo recorded by his staff secretary, Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster. At left, Joseph P. Kennedy, the authors uncle, in 1955. Two years later, Amb. Kennedy served on a secret committee that sharply criticized the CIA-backed oversees operations that inflamed anti-American sentiment in the Middle East. That same year, freshman Senator John F. Kennedy, pictured right with brother Robert during a Senate committee hearing, delivered a speech from the Senate floor titled ImperialismThe Enemy of Freedom, similarly excoriating the Eisenhower administration for hindering political self-determination in the region. The CIA began its active meddling in Syria in 1949barely a year after the agencys creation. Syrian patriots had declared war on the Nazis, expelled their Vichy French colonial rulers and crafted a fragile secularist democracy based on the American model. But in March 1949, Syrias democratically elected president, Shukri-al-Quwatli, hesitated to approve the Trans-Arabian Pipeline, an American project intended to connect the oil fields of Saudi Arabia to the ports of Lebanon via Syria. In his book, Legacy of Ashes, CIA historian Tim Weiner recounts that in retaliation for Al-Quwatlis lack of enthusiasm for the U.S. pipeline, the CIA engineered a coup replacing al-Quwatli with the CIAs handpicked dictator, a convicted swindler named Husni al-Zaim. Al-Zaim barely had time to dissolve parliament and approve the American pipeline before his countrymen deposed him, four and a half months into his regime. Following several counter-coups in the newly destabilized country, the Syrian people again tried democracy in 1955, re-electing al-Quwatli and his National Party. Al-Quwatli was still a Cold War neutralist, but, stung by American involvement in his ouster, he now leaned toward the Soviet camp. That posture caused CIA Director Dulles to declare that Syria is ripe for a coup and send his two coup wizards, Kim Roosevelt and Rocky Stone, to Damascus. Two years earlier, Roosevelt and Stone had orchestrated a coup in Iran against the democratically elected President Mohammed Mosaddegh, after Mosaddegh tried to renegotiate the terms of Irans lopsided contracts with the British oil giant Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP). Mosaddegh was the first elected leader in Irans 4,000-year history and a popular champion for democracy across the developing world. Mosaddegh expelled all British diplomats after uncovering a coup attempt by U.K. intelligence officers working in cahoots with BP. Mosaddegh, however, made the fatal mistake of resisting his advisers pleas to also expel the CIA, which, they correctly suspected, was complicit in the British plot. Mosaddegh idealized the U.S. as a role model for Irans new democracy and incapable of such perfidies. Despite Dulles needling, President Harry Truman had forbidden the CIA from actively joining the British caper to topple Mosaddegh. When Eisenhower took office in January 1953, he immediately unleashed Dulles. After ousting Mosaddegh in Operation Ajax, Stone and Roosevelt installed Shah Reza Pahlavi, who favored U.S. oil companies but whose two decades of CIA sponsored savagery toward his own people from the Peacock throne would finally ignite the 1979 Islamic revolution that has bedeviled our foreign policy for 35 years. Flush from his Operation Ajax success in Iran, Stone arrived in Damascus in April 1957 with $3 million to arm and incite Islamic militants and to bribe Syrian military officers and politicians to overthrow al-Quwatlis democratically elected secularist regime, according to Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA, by John Prados. Working with the Muslim Brotherhood and millions of dollars, Rocky Stone schemed to assassinate Syrias chief of intelligence, the chief of its General Staff and the chief of the Communist Party, and to engineer national conspiracies and various strong arm provocations in Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan that could be blamed on the Syrian Baathists. Tim Weiner describes in Legacy of Ashes how the CIAs plan was to destabilize the Syrian government and create a pretext for an invasion by Iraq and Jordan, whose governments were already under CIA control. Kim Roosevelt forecast that the CIAs newly installed puppet government would rely first upon repressive measures and arbitrary exercise of power, according to declassified CIA documents reported in The Guardian newspaper. But all that CIA money failed to corrupt the Syrian military officers. The soldiers reported the CIAs bribery attempts to the Baathist regime. In response, the Syrian army invaded the American Embassy, taking Stone prisoner. After harsh interrogation, Stone made a televised confession of his roles in the Iranian coup and the CIAs aborted attempt to overthrow Syrias legitimate government. The Syrians ejected Stone and two U.S. Embassy staffersthe first time any American State Department diplomat was barred from an Arab country. The Eisenhower White House hollowly dismissed Stones confession as fabrications and slanders, a denial swallowed whole by the American press, led by the New York Times and believed by the American people, who shared Mosaddeghs idealistic view of their government. Syria purged all politicians sympathetic to the U.S. and executed for treason all military officers associated with the coup. In retaliation, the U.S. moved the Sixth Fleet to the Mediterranean, threatened war and goaded Turkey to invade Syria. The Turks assembled 50,000 troops on Syrias borders and backed down only in the face of unified opposition from the Arab League whose leaders were furious at the U.S. intervention. Even after its expulsion, the CIA continued its secret efforts to topple Syrias democratically elected Baathist government. The CIA plotted with Britains MI6 to form a Free Syria Committee and armed the Muslim Brotherhood to assassinate three Syrian government officials, who had helped expose the American plot, according to Matthew Jones in The Preferred Plan: The Anglo-American Working Group Report on Covert Action in Syria, 1957. The CIAs mischief pushed Syria even further away from the U.S. and into prolonged alliances with Russia and Egypt. Following the second Syrian coup attempt, anti-American riots rocked the Mideast from Lebanon to Algeria. Among the reverberations was the July 14, 1958 coup, led by the new wave of anti-American Army officers who overthrew Iraqs pro-American monarch, Nuri al-Said. The coup leaders published secret government documents, exposing Nuri al-Said as a highly paid CIA puppet. In response to American treachery, the new Iraqi government invited Soviet diplomats and economic advisers to Iraq and turned its back on the West. Having alienated Iraq and Syria, Kim Roosevelt fled the Mideast to work as an executive for the oil industry that he had served so well during his public service career at the CIA. Roosevelts replacement as CIA station chief, James Critchfield, attempted a failed assassination plot against the new Iraqi president using a toxic handkerchief, according to Weiner. Five years later, the CIA finally succeeded in deposing the Iraqi president and installing the Baath Party in power in Iraq. A charismatic young murderer named Saddam Hussein was one of the distinguished leaders of the CIAs Baathist team. The Baath Partys Secretary, Ali Saleh Sa'adi, who took office alongside Saddam Hussein, would later say, We came to power on a CIA train, according to A Brutal Friendship: The West and the Arab Elite, by Said Aburish, a journalist and author. Aburish recounted that the CIA supplied Saddam and his cronies a murder list of people who had to be eliminated immediately in order to ensure success. Tim Weiner writes that Critchfield later acknowledged that the CIA had, in essence, created Saddam Hussein. During the Reagan years, the CIA supplied Hussein with billions of dollars in training, Special Forces support, weapons and battlefield intelligence, knowing that he was using poisonous mustard and nerve gas and biological weaponsincluding anthrax obtained from the U.S. governmentin his war against Iran. Reagan and his CIA director, Bill Casey, regarded Saddam as a potential friend to the U.S. oil industry and a sturdy barrier against the spread of Irans Islamic Revolution. Their emissary, Donald Rumsfeld, presented Saddam with golden cowboy spurs and a menu of chemical/biological and conventional weapons on a 1983 trip to Baghdad. At the same time, the CIA was illegally supplying Saddams enemy, Iran, with thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to fight Iraq, a crime made famous during the Iran-Contra scandal. Jihadists from both sides later turned many of those CIA-supplied weapons against the American people. Even as America contemplates yet another violent Mideast intervention, most Americans are unaware of the many ways that blowback from previous CIA blunders has helped craft the current crisis. The reverberations from decades of CIA shenanigans continue to echo across the Mideast today in national capitals and from mosques to madras schools over the wrecked landscape of democracy and moderate Islam that the CIA helped obliterate. Mohammed Mosaddegh, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran from 1951-1953, pictured left in 1951, the same year he was named TIME Person of the Year, right. His tenure was cut short by a United States-led coup in 1953, which installed Shah Reza Pahlavi. A parade of Iranian and Syrian dictators, including Bashar al-Assad and his father, have invoked the history of the CIAs bloody coups as a pretext for their authoritarian rule, repressive tactics and their need for a strong Russian alliance. These stories are therefore well known to the people of Syria and Iran who naturally interpret talk of U.S. intervention in the context of that history. While the compliant American press parrots the narrative that our military support for the Syrian insurgency is purely humanitarian, many Arabs see the present crisis as just another proxy war over pipelines and geopolitics. Before rushing deeper into the conflagration, it would be wise for us to consider the abundant facts supporting that perspective. In their view, our war against Bashar Assad did not begin with the peaceful civil protests of the Arab Spring in 2011. Instead it began in 2000, when Qatar proposed to construct a $10 billion, 1,500 kilometer pipeline through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Qatar shares with Iran the South Pars/North Dome gas field, the worlds richest natural gas repository. The international trade embargo until recently prohibited Iran from selling gas abroad. Meanwhile, Qatars gas can reach European marketsonly if it is liquefied and shipped by sea, a route that restricts volume and dramatically raises costs. The proposed pipeline would have linked Qatar directly to European energy markets via distribution terminals in Turkey, which would pocket rich transit fees. The Qatar/Turkey pipeline would give the Sunni kingdoms of the Persian Gulf decisive domination of world natural gas markets and strengthen Qatar, Americas closest ally in the Arab world. Qatar hosts two massive American military bases and the U.S. Central Commands Mideast headquarters. The EU, which gets 30 percent of its gas from Russia, was equally hungry for the pipeline, which would have given its members cheap energy and relief from Vladimir Putins stifling economic and political leverage. Turkey, Russias second largest gas customer, was particularly anxious to end its reliance on its ancient rival and to position itself as the lucrative transect hub for Asian fuels to EU markets. The Qatari pipeline would have benefited Saudi Arabias conservative Sunni monarchy by giving it a foothold in Shia-dominated Syria. The Saudis geopolitical goal is to contain the economic and political power of the kingdoms principal rival, Iran, a Shiite state, and close ally of Bashar Assad. The Saudi monarchy viewed the U.S.-sponsored Shiite takeover in Iraq (and, more recently, the termination of the Iran trade embargo) as a demotion to its regional power status and was already engaged in a proxy war against Tehran in Yemen, highlighted by the Saudi genocide against the Iranian backed Houthi tribe. Of course, the Russians, who sell 70 percent of their gas exports to Europe, viewed the Qatar/Turkey pipeline as an existential threat. In Putins view, the Qatar pipeline is a NATO plot to change the status quo, deprive Russia of its only foothold in the Middle East, strangle the Russian economy and end Russian leverage in the European energy market. In 2009, Assad announced that he would refuse to sign the agreement to allow the pipeline to run through Syria to protect the interests of our Russian ally. Assad further enraged the Gulfs Sunni monarchs by endorsing a Russian-approved Islamic pipeline running from Irans side of the gas field through Syria and to the ports of Lebanon. The Islamic pipeline would make Shiite Iran, not Sunni Qatar, the principal supplier to the European energy market and dramatically increase Tehrans influence in the Middke East and the world. Israel also was understandably determined to derail the Islamic pipeline, which would enrich Iran and Syria and presumably strengthen their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas. Secret cables and reports by the U.S., Saudi and Israeli intelligence agencies indicate that the moment Assad rejected the Qatari pipeline, military and intelligence planners quickly arrived at the consensus that fomenting a Sunni uprising in Syria to overthrow the uncooperative Bashar Assad was a feasible path to achieving the shared objective of completing the Qatar/Turkey gas link. In 2009, according to WikiLeaks, soon after Bashar Assad rejected the Qatar pipeline, the CIA began funding opposition groups in Syria. It is important to note that this was well before the Arab Spring-engendered uprising against Assad. Bashar Assads family is Alawite, a Muslim sect widely perceived as aligned with the Shiite camp. Bashar Assad was never supposed to be president, journalist Seymour Hersh told me in an interview. His father brought him back from medical school in London when his elder brother, the heir apparent, was killed in a car crash. Before the war started, according to Hersh, Assad was moving to liberalize the country. They had internet and newspapers and ATM machines and Assad wanted to move toward the west. After 9/11, he gave thousands of invaluable files to the CIA on jihadist radicals, who he considered a mutual enemy. Assads regime was deliberately secular and Syria was impressively diverse. The Syrian government and military, for example, were 80 percent Sunni. Assad maintained peace among his diverse peoples by a strong, disciplined army loyal to the Assad family, an allegiance secured by a nationally esteemed and highly paid officer corps, a coldly efficient intelligence apparatus and a penchant for brutality that, prior to the war, was rather moderate compared to those of other Mideast leaders, including our current allies. According to Hersh, He certainly wasnt beheading people every Wednesday like the Saudis do in Mecca. Another veteran journalist, Bob Parry, echoes that assessment. No one in the region has clean hands, but in the realms of torture, mass killings, [suppressing] civil liberties and supporting terrorism, Assad is much better than the Saudis. No one believed that the regime was vulnerable to the anarchy that had riven Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia. By the spring of 2011, there were small, peaceful demonstrations in Damascus against repression by Assads regime. These were mainly the effluvia of the Arab Spring that spread virally across the Arab League States the previous summer. However, WikiLeaks cables indicate that the CIA was already on the ground in Syria. But the Sunni kingdoms with vast petrodollars at stake wanted a much deeper involvement from America. On September 4, 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry told a congressional hearing that the Sunni kingdoms had offered to foot the bill for a U.S. invasion of Syria to oust Bashar Assad. In fact, some of them have said that if the United States is prepared to go do the whole thing, the way weve done it previously in other places [Iraq], theyll carry the cost. Kerry reiterated the offer to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.): With respect to Arab countries offering to bear the costs of [an American invasion] to topple Assad, the answer is profoundly yes, they have. The offer is on the table. Despite pressure from Republicans, Barack Obama balked at hiring out young Americans to die as mercenaries for a pipeline conglomerate. Obama wisely ignored Republican clamoring to put ground troops in Syria or to funnel more funding to moderate insurgents. But by late 2011, Republican pressure and our Sunni allies had pushed the American government into the fray. In 2011, the U.S. joined France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UK to form the Friends of Syria Coalition, which formally demanded the removal of Assad. The CIA provided $6 million to Barada, a British TV channel, to produce pieces entreating Assads ouster. Saudi intelligence documents, published by WikiLeaks, show that by 2012, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia were arming, training and funding radical jihadist Sunni fighters from Syria, Iraq and elsewhere to overthrow the Assads Shiite-allied regime. Qatar, which had the most to gain, invested $3 billion in building the insurgency and invited the Pentagon to train insurgents at U.S. bases in Qatar. According to an April 2014 article by Seymour Hersh, the CIA weapons ratlines were financed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The idea of fomenting a Sunni-Shiite civil war to weaken the Syrian and Iranian regimes in order to to maintain control of the regions petrochemical supplies was not a novel notion in the Pentagons lexicon. A damning 2008 Pentagon-funded Rand report proposed a precise blueprint for what was about to happen. That report observes that control of the Persian Gulf oil and gas deposits will remain, for the U.S., a strategic priority that will interact strongly with that of prosecuting the long war. Rand recommended using covert action, information operations, unconventional warfare to enforce a divide and rule strategy. The United States and its local allies could use the nationalist jihadists to launch a proxy campaign and U.S. leaders could also choose to capitalize on the sustained Shia-Sunni conflict trajectory by taking the side of the conservative Sunni regimes against Shiite empowerment movements in the Muslim world ... possibly supporting authoritative Sunni governments against a continuingly hostile Iran. As predicted, Assads overreaction to the foreign-made crisisdropping barrel bombs onto Sunni strongholds and killing civilianspolarized Syrias Shiite/Sunni divide and allowed U.S. policymakers to sell Americans the idea that the pipeline struggle was a humanitarian war. When Sunni soldiers of the Syrian Army began defecting in 2013, the western coalition armed the Free Syrian Army to further destabilize Syria. The press portrait of the Free Syrian Army as cohesive battalions of Syrian moderates was delusional. The dissolved units regrouped in hundreds of independent militias most of which were commanded by, or allied with, jihadi militants who were the most committed and effective fighters. By then, the Sunni armies of Al Qaeda in Iraq were crossing the border from Iraq into Syria and joining forces with the squadrons of deserters from the Free Syrian Army, many of them trained and armed by the U.S. Despite the prevailing media portrait of a moderate Arab uprising against the tyrant Assad, U.S. intelligence planners knew from the outset that their pipeline proxies were radical jihadists who would probably carve themselves a brand new Islamic caliphate from the Sunni regions of Syria and Iraq. Two years before ISIL throat cutters stepped on the world stage, a seven-page August 12, 2012, study by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, obtained by the right-wing group Judicial Watch, warned that thanks to the ongoing support by U.S./Sunni Coalition for radical Sunni Jihadists, the Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood and AQI (now ISIS), are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria. Using U.S. and Gulf state funding, these groups had turned the peaceful protests against Bashar Assad toward a clear sectarian (Shiite vs. Sunni) direction. The paper notes that the conflict had become a sectarian civil war supported by Sunni religious and political powers. The report paints the Syrian conflict as a global war for control of the regions resources with the west, Gulf countries and Turkey supporting [Assads] opposition, while Russia, China and Iran support the regime. The Pentagon authors of the seven-page report appear to endorse the predicted advent of the ISIS caliphate: If the situation unravels, there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor) and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want in order to isolate the Syrian regime. The Pentagon report warns that this new principality could move across the Iraqi border to Mosul and Ramadi and declare an Islamic state through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria. Of course, this is precisely what has happened. Not coincidentally, the regions of Syria occupied by the Islamic State exactly encompass the proposed route of the Qatari pipeline. But then, in 2014, our Sunni proxies horrified the American people by severing heads and driving a million refugees toward Europe. Strategies based upon the idea that the enemy of my enemy is my friend can be kind of blinding, says Tim Clemente, who chaired the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force from 2004 to 2008 and served as liaison in Iraq between the FBI, the Iraqi National Police and the U.S. military. We made the same mistake when we trained the mujahideen in Afghanistan. The moment the Russians left, our supposed friends started smashing antiquities, enslaving women, severing body parts and shooting at us, Clemente told me in an interview. When the Islamic States Jihadi John began murdering prisoners on TV, the White House pivoted, talking less about deposing Assad and more about regional stability. The Obama dministration began putting daylight between itself and the insurgency we had funded. The White House pointed accusing fingers at our allies. On October 3, 2014, Vice President Joe Biden told students at the John F. Kennedy Jr. forum at the Institute of Politics at Harvard that our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria. He explained that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were so determined to take down Assad that they had launched a proxy Sunni-Shia war funneling hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad. Except the people who were being supplied were al-Nusra, and al-Qaedathe two groups that merged in 2014 to form the Islamic State. Biden seemed angered that our trusted friends could not be trusted to follow the American agenda. Across the Mideast, Arab leaders routinely accuse the U.S. of having created the Islamic State. To most Americans, such accusations seem insane. However, to many Arabs, the evidence of U.S. involvement is so abundant that they conclude that our role in fostering the Islamic State must have been deliberate. In fact, many of the Islamic State fighters and their commanders are ideological and organizational successors to the jihadists that the CIA has been nurturing for more than 30 years from Syria and Egypt to Afghanistan and Iraq. Prior to the American invasion, there was no Al Qaeda in Saddam Husseins Iraq. President George W. Bush destroyed Saddams secularist government, and his viceroy, Paul Bremer, in a monumental act of mismanagement, effectively created the Sunni Army, now named the Islamic State. Bremer elevated the Shiites to power and banned Saddams ruling Baath Party, laying off some 700,000 mostly Sunni, government and party officials from ministers to schoolteachers. He then disbanded the 380,000-man army, which was 80 percent Sunni. Bremers actions stripped a million of Iraqs Sunnis of rank, property, wealth and power; leaving a desperate underclass of angry, educated, capable, trained and heavily armed Sunnis with little left to lose. The Sunni insurgency named itself Al Qaeda in Iraq. Beginning in 2011, our allies funded the invasion by AQI fighters into Syria. In April 2013, having entered Syria, AQI changed its name to ISIL. According to Dexter Filkins of the New Yorker, ISIS is run by a council of former Iraqi generals. ... Many are members of Saddam Husseins secular Baath Party who converted to radical Islam in American prisons. The $500 million in U.S. military aid that Obama did send to Syria almost certainly ended up benefiting these militant jihadists. Tim Clemente, the former chairman of the FBIs joint task force, told me that the difference between the Iraq and Syria conflicts is the millions of military-aged men who are fleeing the battlefield for Europe rather than staying to fight for their communities. The obvious explanation is that the nations moderates are fleeing a war that is not their war. They simply want to escape being crushed between the anvil of Assads Russian-backed tyranny and the vicious jihadist Sunni hammer that we had a hand in wielding in a global battle over competing pipelines. You cant blame the Syrian people for not widely embracing a blueprint for their nation minted in either Washington or Moscow. The superpowers have left no options for an idealistic future that moderate Syrians might consider fighting for. And no one wants to die for a pipeline. *** What is the answer? If our objective is long-term peace in the Mideast, self-government by the Arab nations and national security at home, we must undertake any new intervention in the region with an eye on history and an intense desire to learn its lessons. Only when we Americans understand the historical and political context of this conflict will we apply appropriate scrutiny to the decisions of our leaders. Using the same imagery and language that supported our 2003 war against Saddam Hussein, our political leaders led Americans to believe that our Syrian intervention is an idealistic war against tyranny, terrorism and religious fanaticism. We tend to dismiss as mere cynicism the views of those Arabs who see the current crisis as a rerun of the same old plots about pipelines and geopolitics. But, if we are to have an effective foreign policy, we must recognize the Syrian conflict is a war over control of resources indistinguishable from the myriad clandestine and undeclared oil wars we have been fighting in the Mideast for 65 years. And only when we see this conflict as a proxy war over a pipeline do events become comprehensible. Its the only paradigm that explains why the GOP on Capitol Hill and the Obama administration are still fixated on regime change rather than regional stability, why the Obama administration can find no Syrian moderates to fight the war, why ISIL blew up a Russian passenger plane, why the Saudis just executed a powerful Shiite cleric only to have their embassy burned in Tehran, why Russia is bombing non-ISIL fighters and why Turkey went out of its way to shoot down a Russian jet. The million refugees now flooding into Europe are refugees of a pipeline war and CIA blundering. Clemente compares ISIL to Colombias FARCa drug cartel with a revolutionary ideology to inspire its footsoldiers. You have to think of ISIS as an oil cartel, Clemente said. In the end, money is the governing rationale. The religious ideology is a tool that inspires its soldiers to give their lives for an oil cartel. Once we strip this conflict of its humanitarian patina and recognize the Syrian conflict as an oil war, our foreign policy strategy becomes clear. Like the Syrians fleeing for Europe, no American wants to send their child to die for a pipeline. Instead, our first priority should be the one no one ever mentionswe need to kick our Mideast oil jones, an increasingly feasible objective, as the U.S. becomes more energy independent. Next, we need to dramatically reduce our military profile in the Middle East and let the Arabs run Arabia. Other than humanitarian assistance and guaranteeing the security of Israels borders, the U.S. has no legitimate role in this conflict. While the facts prove that we played a role in creating the crisis, history shows that we have little power to resolve it. As we contemplate history, its breathtaking to consider the astonishing consistency with which virtually every violent intervention in the Middle East since World War II by our country has resulted in miserable failure and horrendously costly blowback. A 1997 U.S. Department of Defense report found that the data show a strong correlation between U.S. involvement abroad and an increase in terrorist attacks against the U.S. Lets face it; what we call the war on terror is really just another oil war. Weve squandered $6 trillion on three wars abroad and on constructing a national security warfare state at home since oilman Dick Cheney declared the Long War in 2001. The only winners have been the military contractors and oil companies that have pocketed historic profits, the intelligence agencies that have grown exponentially in power and influence to the detriment of our freedoms and the jihadists who invariably used our interventions as their most effective recruiting tool. We have compromised our values, butchered our own youth, killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, subverted our idealism and squandered our national treasures in fruitless and costly adventures abroad. In the process, we have helped our worst enemies and turned America, once the worlds beacon of freedom, into a national security surveillance state and an international moral pariah. Americas founding fathers warned Americans against standing armies, foreign entanglements and, in John Quincy Adams words, going abroad in search of monsters to destroy. Those wise men understood that imperialism abroad is incompatible with democracy and civil rights at home. The Atlantic Charter echoed their seminal American ideal that each nation should have the right to self-determination. Over the past seven decades, the Dulles brothers, the Cheney gang, the neocons and their ilk have hijacked that fundamental principle of American idealism and deployed our military and intelligence apparatus to serve the mercantile interests of large corporations and particularly, the petroleum companies and military contractors that have literally made a killing from these conflicts. Its time for Americans to turn America away from this new imperialism and back to the path of idealism and democracy. We should let the Arabs govern Arabia and turn our energies to the great endeavor of nation building at home. We need to begin this process, not by invading Syria, but by ending the ruinous addiction to oil that has warped U.S. foreign policy for half a century. A Nigerian journalist, Ibraheem Hamza Mohammed, was on Friday released from prison after the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria) intervened in his case. The Nasarawa State Command of the Nigeria Police arrested Mr Mohammed on 1 May after he was accused of falsely publishing that N40 million was stolen from Governor Abdullahi Sules bedroom. The article was published on 22 February 2024 on First News, a Lagos-based online newspaper. The police then charged him with violation of the Cybercrime Act and secured an order for his remand at the Medium Security Custodian Centre in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, pending the commencement of trial. However, the journalist was released Friday after a Nasarawa High Court sitting in Doma granted him bail. He spent 10 days in jail. He will remain on bail till 13 May when the police are expected to withdraw the charges against him and discontinue the trial. To secure his release, IPI Nigerias delegation led by the President, Musikilu Mojeed, visited Lafia on 6 May, meeting with top officials of the Nasarawa State government, including Governor Sule, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Labaran Magaji and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ibrahim Addra. The delegation also visited and conferred with the journalist, Mr Mohammed, in prison. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Meanwhile, the management of First News has apologised to Governor Sule over the story, saying it has since found that the said story lacked any form of truth in it and that the reporter merely concocted the story in his bid to pursue a personal vendetta against the governor. While tendering an unreserved apology to the Nasarawa State Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Abdullahi Sule, we wish to assure him that such will not repeat itself ever again, the newspaper added. IPI Nigeria is hereby admonishing Nigerian journalists to always uphold the ethics of their profession, desist from publishing false news, and continue to observe a high degree of standard in their practice. Tobi Soniyi Legal Adviser/Chairman, Advocacy Committee *IPI Nigeria Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has contradicted police on the killing of two police operatives by gunmen in the state. The police spokesperson in the state, Daniel Ndukwe, in a statement earlier on Saturday, said some police operatives from Ogui Division were attacked along Presidential Road on Friday night. Mr Ndukwe, a deputy superintendent of police, claimed that although two of the operatives sustained gunshot injuries, they were able to repel the attack. Two of the operatives sustained gunshot injuries in the ensuing gun duel and were taken to the hospital for medical treatment, he said. The police spokesperson said the hoodlums were suspected to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed militant wing, Eastern Security Network (ESN). The contradiction But speaking to reporters at the Government House later on Saturday, Mr Mbah said two operatives were killed during the attack. We just rounded off our security council meeting where we discussed, among other things, about the gruesome killing of our policemen men of the Enugu State Police Command by criminals suspected to be members of the ESN, the governor said. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Let me say this, this bestial and cold-blooded action cannot be condoned in Enugu State. I have given my directives to the security agencies that there must be no hiding place for these criminals in Enugu State. We must use everything necessary to hunt down, arrest, and bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous crime, he added. The governor spoke after a State Security Council meeting convened over the attack. The State Commissioner of Police, Kanayo Uzuegbu; State Director, State Security Services, Theresa Egbunu; Garrison Commander, 82 Division of the Nigerian army, Enugu, Murtala Abu, were among those who attended the meeting. The State Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Peter Ogar, also attended the meeting. Like the police, the governor said available information suggested that suspected IPOB and ESN members carried out the attack. He called on residents of the state to be on the lookout for the criminals and report the same to security agencies. N10 million bounty Mr Mbah also announced a N10 million bounty for information that could help in tracking down the killers. So, I enjoin members of the public to, please, come forward, or call the police and other security agencies with any useful information that could lead to the arrest of these criminals. We do not have room to accommodate these people, these vagabonds, and these miscreants in our state, he said. The governor vowed that his administration would do everything necessary, including adopting technology, to ensure that the death of the police operatives did not go in vain. I will also ensure that, as a government, we are going to provide the necessary support to the bereaved families. Let me just also add that those who murder our policemen or indeed any member of our security agencies may assume that they have triumphed in their evil acts. Let me inform them that we are going to come after them with everything we have, he stated. IPOB, a group seeking the independent state of Biafra to be carved out of the south-east and some parts of the south-south Nigeria, has been linked to some deadly attacks in the two regions. But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Nigerian Army has said it has commenced investigation into the protest staged by some of its personnel detained in its Sokoto barracks. The army said this in a statement on X by its spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, a major general, on Saturday. An audio visual footage of soldiers protesting overcrowded cells and poor feeding in its Sokoto barracks went viral earlier on Saturday. Mr Nwachukwu described the protest as unfortunate and embarassing to the sound administration efforts of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Taoreed Lagbaja, a lieutenant general. He said in line with the leadership style of the COAS, the Service had instituted an appropriate investigation into the incident to determine whether it was an isolated or widespread situation in similar detention facilities. He said the army would not shy away from appropriately sanctioning the soldiers involved in the unruly behaviour in its Sokoto detention facility for failing to exhaust all available options to channel their complaints to the appropriate authorities. He added that if it was discovered its authorities did not do what they were supposed to do, necessary administrative actions would be taken against anyone found to have failed to discharge his/her duties effectively. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Undoubtedly, the Sokoto barracks detention facility incident is quite unfortunate and an embarrassment to the sound administration efforts of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), to say the least, and in line with his leadership style, the COAS has instituted an appropriate investigation into the incident to determine whether it is an isolated or widespread situation in similar detention facilities. While the service regrets and has gleaned some lessons from the incident, it will however not condone the manner the inmates expressed their purported grievance. Mutiny and conduct prejudicial to service order are grievous misconducts, and this very incident epitomises such. As such, as Army, on the one side, goes ahead to implement the COAS directive to look into the state of all NA detention facilities, as detainees lives also matter, the Service shall not shy away from appropriately sanctioning the soldiers involved in the unruly behaviour in its Sokoto detention facility for failing to exhaust all available options to channel their complaints to the appropriate authorities and if it was discovered they did and nothing was done, necessary administrative actions will be taken against anyone found to have failed to discharge his/her duties effectively. Read the full statement: NIGERIAN ARMYS RESPONSE TO VIRAL AUDIO VISUAL FOOTAGE OF SOLDIERS PROTESTING OVERCROWDED CELLS, POOR FEEDING The Army Headquarters has taken note of a report and audiovisual recording circulating on social media produced by some of its personnel held in custody at the 8 Division Garrison detention facility. Undoubtedly, the Sokoto barracks detention facility incident is quite unfortunate and an embarrassment to the sound administration efforts of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), to say the least, and in line with his leadership style, the COAS has instituted an appropriate investigation into the incident to determine whether it is an isolated or widespread situation in similar detention facilities. While the service regrets and has gleaned some lessons from the incident, it will, however, not condone the manner the inmates expressed their purported grievance. Mutiny and conduct prejudicial to service order are grievous misconducts, and this very incident epitomises such. As such, as Army, on the one side, goes ahead to implement the COAS directive to look into the state of all NA detention facilities, as detainees lives also matter, the Service shall not shy away from appropriately sanctioning the soldiers involved in the unruly behaviour in its Sokoto detention facility for failing to exhaust all available options to channel their complaints to the appropriate authorities and if it was discovered they did and nothing was done, necessary administrative actions will be taken against anyone found to have failed to discharge his/her duties effectively. While the Service is mindful of its subjective oversight engagements by statutory bodies, it remains primarily a responsible, self-regulating professional body. As such, the Service remains committed to ensuring that everyone, even those found guilty of aiding terrorists, kidnappers, and bandits, and are awaiting confirmation of their sentencing, as it has been discovered in the Sokoto case is accorded a relatively decent life until their judgment is confirmed and executed. This commitment underscores the NAs dedication to upholding professional standards and maintaining a just and fair system. The NA appreciates all Nigerians for their concern and support as well as pledge to remain focused on its drive to defeating security challenges facing the nation in conjunction with sister services and other security agencies. ONYEMA NWACHUKWU Major General Director Army Public Relations 11 May Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The US Diplomatic Mission in Nigeria proudly unveils the selection of 56 distinguished young Nigerians for the 2024 Mandela Washington Fellowship programme, celebrating its 10th anniversary. These fellows will travel to 28 cities across the United States from June 19 to August 1, culminating in a summit in Washington D.C., where they will engage with US leaders in the business, government, and nonprofit sectors. Additionally, three fellows will participate in the Professional Development Experience at a U.S. organisation for four weeks following the summit before returning to Nigeria. Initiated in 2014, the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders stands as the cornerstone of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). This program is a testament to the enduring US commitment to invest in Africas future. The fellowship offers a comprehensive programme that includes academic coursework, leadership training, and networking opportunities. Charge dAffaires of the US Diplomatic Mission in Nigeria David J. Greene welcomed the 56 young Nigerians chosen for the 2024 Mandela Washington Fellowship, emphasising the rigorous selection process and their ability to lead and inspire others. He highlighted the fellows diverse achievements and encouraged them to share their culture in the United States and use the fellowship to expand their influence in Nigeria. He expressed appreciation to the Public Diplomacy team and the State Department for their efforts in identifying future leaders and reminded the fellows of the importance of sharing their knowledge upon return to their communities. Since the fellowships inception, the US Mission in Nigeria has had the privilege of supporting 569 young Nigerian leaders through this exchange programme. The US Mission in Nigeria eagerly anticipates the Mandela Washington Fellowships continued success and its positive impact in shaping Africas future. The US Diplomatic Mission in Nigeria is pleased to announce that the following Nigerians will participate in the 2024 Mandela Washington Fellowship: Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print to practise journalism in a country where you can easily be declared a terrorist or non-citizen, requires the journalist operating like a guerrilla fighter. To worsen matters, the Sahrawi journalist, by virtue of his/her nationality has to work in three territories: in parts occupied by Morocco, in the liberated territories, and the Refugee Camps in Tindouf, Algeria. The journalist is needed everywhere, but is endangered everywhere. Hence humanity declared 3 May as World Press Freedom Day to highlight the importance of the profession and the need for freedom of the press in the context of current global affairs. Tragically, the day has become like one for a body count of journalists killed, those incarcerated and, in some places, the near impossibility of practising the profession in many places. In 2023, at least 71 journalists were killed. This year promises a far higher figure, unless the Israeli-Palestinian War is quickly brought to an end. Already, that seven-month conflict has claimed 97 journalists, with 92 of them being Palestinian, two Israeli and three Lebanese. Those figures make Palestine presently the deadliest place to practice journalism in the world. Even before the on-going conflict, it was dangerous to practise the profession in Palestine, as Israel had been deliberately murdering journalists in that country. One of the most brazen instances of this was the 11 May, 2022 murder of Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh. She was picked out by an Israeli sniper while standing with her professional colleagues, all wearing vests with Press emblazoned on them. The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that her murder was deliberate. As the world marked the Press Freedom Day, a week ago, Nigerian journalist, Daniel Ojukwu, of the Freedom for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) was spending his third day in detention after being abducted by the Special Forces sent by Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun. Since nobody, except his abductors, knew his whereabouts, he was presumed missing or possibly dead before, luckily, he was found in a Lagos police cell. As I write, Ojukwu remains in captivity. He might be luckier than Segun Olatunji, Editor of FirstNews, who was abducted by armed soldiers on 15 March from his home, in the presence of his young family, and practically vanished. Even the serving Nigeria Army Generals who directed his abduction, personally claimed they knew nothing about his whereabouts. He was lucky to have been located in a military dungeon in Abuja by his colleagues. At that point, the cornered Generals set him free after 13 days in captivity. In a sense, Nigerian journalists are luckier than those in Palestine; at least they are not being shot. But those in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), better known Western Sahara, are operating in almost impossible circumstances. At least in Palestine, Israel, even if it cannot tolerate them, recognises Palestinian journalists and is conscious that it is an occupying force. In contrast, the Moroccan monarchy does not even recognise Western Sahara as a separate territory, does not see itself as an occupying force and, of course, does not recognise Sahrawi journalists as professionals with a duty to report. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Where, during protests, Israel pretends to spare the Palestinian journalist, Morocco sees Sahrawi journalists as part of the subversive forces that are fit only for prison. As an occupying force, Israel attacks Palestinians and imprisons but does not expel them. In Moroccos case, it claims the Sahrawi are its citizens, but can expel them from their country. In one of the most infamous cases, when on 13 November, 2009, the President of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA), Aminatou Haidar, returned home from a trip to Nigeria, where I was one of the labour leaders who received her, she was denied re-entry. The Moroccan government detained her overnight at the airport, seized her passport and national identity card, and expelled her as a stateless person to the Spanish Canary Islands. In striving to remove the prevailing international media veil over the bloody and vicious attempts by the Moroccan monarchy to recolonise Western Sahara, a member of the African Union, the international journalists, examined Current Issues and Double Standards in reporting the situation. They dedicated themselves to documenting the truth about the country and conveying the voice and stories of the Sahrawi people to the world. So, to practise journalism in a country where you can easily be declared a terrorist or non-citizen, requires the journalist operating like a guerrilla fighter. To worsen matters, the Sahrawi journalist, by virtue of his/her nationality has to work in three territories: in parts occupied by Morocco, in the liberated territories, and the Refugee Camps in Tindouf, Algeria. In marking the 2024 World Press Freedom Day, journalists from various continents gathered in the Refugee Camps in practical solidarity with Sahrawi journalists and people. This first international media solidarity conference was titled: A journalistic perspective of the issue of Western Sahara and its Developments. In striving to remove the prevailing international media veil over the bloody and vicious attempts by the Moroccan monarchy to recolonise Western Sahara, a member of the African Union, the international journalists, examined Current Issues and Double Standards in reporting the situation. They dedicated themselves to documenting the truth about the country and conveying the voice and stories of the Sahrawi people to the world. The journalists also announced that they would be: Defending Sahrawi media professionals in the occupied territories of Western Sahara by exposing Moroccan violations that target them, highlighting the risks to which they are exposed under occupation, and contributing to the defence of their freedom and safety. In examining the state of journalism in todays crisis-ridden world, the journalists concluded that the old ways of reportage are no longer adequate as the situation threatens not just the professional standards of journalism, but also human values. In noting the widening areas of conflict in an increasingly explosive, complex, divergent, yet intertwined world, they regretted that: Instead of reporting and addressing events objectively, the media has become a massive propaganda machine, posing a threat to peace, stability, and security. They warned that: Any failure of the free press today to fulfil its pivotal role, leaves the field wide open, especially given the opportunities presented by modern communication technologies and their effects. In a declaration called: The appeal of Bir Lahlu, named after the liberated Sahrawi territory, the international journalists called for a unification of the efforts of free advocacy for a better, possible world, with its free media serving the freedom and dignity of humanity. Linking these to the Western Saharan situation, the visiting journalists revealed that concealing and biasing the truth has become a consequence of colonial policies and their various forms characterised by racial, cultural, and even geographical discrimination, among others. They declared that the forms of occupation anywhere in the universe are essentially the same and that declaring legitimate resistance as terrorism is no solution to such occupation. They added that for there to be peace, it has become an urgent necessity for the conscientious across the globe to unite in protecting basic rights and principles of justice. The media practitioners advocated for journalism with social relevance; one that would convey the concerns, hopes, and future of oppressed peoples in all corners of the world from Western Sahara to Palestine. In a declaration called: The appeal of Bir Lahlu, named after the liberated Sahrawi territory, the international journalists called for a unification of the efforts of free advocacy for a better, possible world, with its free media serving the freedom and dignity of humanity. The future of journalism, and I dare say of the world, may depend on humanity, adopting and implementing declarations like the one emanating from Western Sahara. Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt, on Friday, barred 25 lawmakers backed by the immediate-past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, from parading themselves as members of the states House of Assembly. The judge, Charles Wali, ordered them to stay away from the House and restrained them from taking any action in their capacity as the states lawmakers pending further hearing in the case fixed for 29 May. He gave the ex parte order in a suit instituted by Victor Oko-Jumbo, a factional speaker of the assembly and two of his colleagues loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara. Mr Oko-Jumbo emerged the speaker of the three-member faction on Wednesday, PREMIUM TIMES reported. Martin Amaewhule, the speaker recognised by a total of 27 other lawmakers who are loyal to Mr Wike (now FCT Minister), and 24 lawmakers from his camp, are sued as defendants in the suit. Other defendants are Governor Fubara, the state chief judge and the attorney general of the state. To justify their application for the order, Mr Oko-Jumbo and the other applicants cited the defection of the 25 members of the rival faction in the House from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the subsequent declaration of their seats vacant. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later Being an ex parte order, it means that the courts restraining order against the 27 lawmakers, was issued on Friday after a hearing that exluded the adverse parties sued by the applicants. An order of interim injunction is granted restraining the 1st to 25th defendants from parading and holding out themselves as members of Rivers State House of Assembly and or meeting/sitting at the Auditorium of the House of Assembly quarters located at off Aba Road, Port Harcourt or any other place whatsoever to purport to carry out legislative business of Rivers State House of Assembly, their legislative seats having been declared vacant pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice, the court ordered. The court also barred Governor Fubara from interfacing or accepting any resolutions, bills or howsoever interacting with the pro-Wike lawmakers in their capacity as members of the assembly from 13 December 2023 that their legislative seats were declared vacant. The order against Mr Amaewhule and the 26 other members of his camp went viral online on Friday. Chukwudi Nelson, the spokesperson for Governor Fubara, also shared a copy with PREMIUM TIMES on Friday. Backstory The Rivers State House of Assembly has been enmeshed in crisis since last October after Mr Wike-backed attempt to remove Governor Fubara from office, a development that led to the burning of a section of the assembly complex and its subsequent demolition by the state government. The crisis split the lawmakers into two factions one faction with 27 members are loyal to Mr Wike while the other with three members are loyal Governor Fubara. Mr Amaewhule is the speaker of the Mr Wike-backed faction while Edison Ehie, a former majority leader of the assembly who was removed from office for declining to support the move to remove Governor Fubara was the speaker of the faction loyal to the governor. The crisis got so messy last December when the pro-Wike lawmakers defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, prompting Mr Ehie to obtain a court order to carry out legislative business without an interference by the Wike-backed faction. Buoyed by the court order, Mr Ehie declared vacant the seats of 27 pro-Wike lawmakers, a development that prompted an intervention by President Bola Tinubu, who brokered a controversial peace deal between Messrs Fubara and Wike. One of the conditions in the deal was for Mr Fubara to allow the pro-Wike lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant to return to the assembly with their rights and privileges restored and also conduct legislative business at the venue of their choice. Following the peace deal, Mr Ehie, the erstwhile speaker of the four-member assembly backed by Mr Fubara, resigned from his position as well as his membership of the assembly, reducing lawmakers loyal to Governor Fubara to just three. Mr Ehie was later appointed Chief of Staff to Governor Fubara After returning to the assembly, the pro-Wike lawmakers have been at loggerhead with Mr Fubara, and have overridden the governors veto on bills for at least six times. In apparent dissatisfaction with the actions of the pro-Wike lawmakers, Mr Oko-Jumbo, one of the three lawmakers loyal to Mr Fubara on Wednesday emerged as a factional speaker of the assembly, about 24 hours after Mr Fubara declared that the state had no house of assembly. Mr Oko-Jumbo, in his acceptance speech, urged Governor Fubara to disregard the actions taken by the pro-Wike lawmakers since 13 December 2023 that their seats were declared vacant, adding that their actions were a nullity. To consolidate his position, Mr Oko-Jumbo on Friday obtained a court order barring the pro-Wike lawmakers from parading themselves as assembly members and also prevent Governor Fubara from interfacing with the Amaewhule-led faction. The court after granting the interim order, adjourned the matter till 29 May for hearing Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The South China Sea issue has always been the focu... NEW YORK, May 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The ninth annual United Nations Science, Technology, and Innovation Forum (UN STI Forum), dedicated to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, convened at the UN headquarters in New York on May 9-10, 2024. Under the theme "Science, Technology, and Innovation for Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and Eradicating Poverty in Times of Multiple Crises: The Effective Delivery of Sustainable, Resilient, and Innovative Solutions," the forum featured keynotes from luminaries such as Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly; Paula Narvaez, President of ECOSOC; Li Junhua, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs; Tshilidzi Marwala, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Rector of the United Nations University; Muhammadou M. O. Kah, Chairman of the UN CSTD and Vice Chair of the WDTA Education Council. These remarks focused on deploying innovative solutions to expedite the achievements laid out in the 2030 Agenda. A key highlight of the forum was the DigiBridge side event, organized by the World Digital Technology Academy (WDTA). The event centered on crucial discussions about narrowing the global talent and skill gap and enabling developing countries to leverage digital technologies for sustainable growth. The event was officially opened by Peter Major, Vice Chairman of the UN CSTD and Founding Chairman of WDTA, detailed how the DigiBridge program detailed how the DigiBridge is a leading global initiative in digital talent development, designed to bridge the global digital skills gap for everyone. This comprehensive educational and training program melds advanced pedagogical techniques with the demands of industry and international benchmarks, offering a lifelong learning platform for college students, technology professionals, and sector leaders. Muhammadou M. O. Kah, also opened the event by highlighting the indispensable role of digital technologies in global economic growth and as pivotal solutions to global challenges. He outlined the vision for UN CSTD and WDTA to jointly foster a platform that promotes creativity, groundbreaking ideas, and international collaboration, serving as a powerful catalyst for sustainable digital technology growth and societal advancement. Yale Li, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of WDTA, introduced the highly anticipated 'DigiBridge Digital Talent Development Program. He emphasized the transformative role of innovative educational solutions in shaping a resilient digital economy, particularly through the lens of AI-driven training programs. These initiatives demonstrate WDTA's leadership in educational innovation and its commitment to cultivating an inclusive global digital talent pool. Prof. Li mentioned that the WDTA has launched the " Certified Artificial Intelligence Security Professional" and " Certified Chief AI Officer" programs, which are rapid actions to support comprehensive education in artificial intelligence. Tshilidzi Marwala delivered a keynote speech on the topic of generative AI in education. He emphasized the vast potential of generative AI in the educational sector, particularly in personalized learning and the access to educational resources, while also highlighting the risks and challenges it presents, such as data biases and the potential decline in students' critical thinking skills. He advocated for a comprehensive and ethical approach to exploring AI's application in education, ensuring equitable access and mitigating potential negative impacts. Contributions about AI and Education also came from industry leaders. Naria K, General Manager of Digital Inclusion at Microsoft Philanthropies, presented 'Helping People Build Skills for a New Way of Working.' She discussed the transformative impact of Generative AI on the workplace and the new opportunities it creates. Highlighting the necessity for AI fluency in all future jobs, Naria detailed Microsoft's initiatives to upskill individuals, especially from underserved backgrounds, to navigate and thrive in the evolving AI economy. Dr. Cari L. Miller, Co-founder and Board Chair at the AI Procurement Lab, presented 'Urgent and Emerging AI Use Cases and the Demand for Cross-Cutting Education.' She discussed the rapid adoption of AI use cases and their future trends, emphasizing the need to adapt educational practices to prepare a tech workforce capable of delivering immediate employer value. Dr. Miller highlighted the importance of context-specific AI applications and cross-cutting educational strategies that enhance ROI through applied technical skills and domain knowledge. From the academic sector, Professor Ryan Ko, Cyber Security Chair at the University of Queensland, spoke on 'AI for Interdisciplinary Cyber Security Education and Research.' He outlined how UQ Cyber leverages AI in cyber security training, detailing the synergy between rapid AI advancements and educational strategies. His presentation highlighted UQ's role in training Team Oceania for the International Cybersecurity Challenge, where AI significantly enhanced the team's performance, securing them second place. This effort not only demonstrated effective AI application but also contributed to several UN Sustainable Development Goals, reflecting the global impact of their educational innovations. Zhifeng Hao, President of Shantou University, outlined the evolution from early digital technologies to today's AI-driven landscape, emphasizing the need to integrate disciplines like AI and Big Data into education. Professor. Hao highlighted Shantou University's commitment to supporting the DigiBridge program, which aims to promote sustainable development and universal access to digital technology. During the summary of the event, Executive Director and Assistant to the Chairman of the WDTA, Melan Xu, stated that DigiBridge is an open collaborative program. It invites governments, corporations, NGOs, and others to partner with the WDTA to leverage our collective strengths for synergistic development, with the common goal of bridging the digital divide and ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to and benefit from the digital economy. The success of the DigiBridge side event at the 2024 UN STI Forum underscored the critical importance of international collaboration in tackling challenges of the digital era. It also reaffirmed the vital role of multilateral cooperation in promoting digital education equity and inclusive growth worldwide, ensuring that bridging the global digital gap for everyone. SOURCE World Digital Technology Academy (WDTA) WASHINGTON, May 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Following is a statement by Emily Wilkins, president of the National Press Club, on the second anniversary of the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, while reporting from the West Bank in 2022. "It has been two years since Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has been killed by an IDF sniper while reporting on a military action in the West Bank. And in that time, we have seen through excellent investigations by western media -- more clearly what happened that day and a now greater meaning for where we find ourselves today. Sadly, the US government, and its ally Israel have been unable to provide any form of effective justice for Shireen, her family and her country. The failure of the US and Israel in the case of Shireen Abu Akleh told the IDF that there would be no consequences for the murder of journalists in the future. We warned where that would lead. And now, since Oct. 7, there have been some 100 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza, including some who appear according to rigorous reporting by their colleagues in the press, to have been targeted. Initially, the IDF insisted, Shireen was shot by Palestinians who were firing weapons in the air. That was false. Then, IDF claimed they were engaged in suppressing fire that might have struck Shireen. That was false. Next they said, and continue to say, this was an accident despite her wearing a vest and helmet marked 'PRESS' and her standing in an area filled with other press members and camera crews. She was killed and it matters, deeply, how she was killed and why. There have been no proper investigations by the FBI or Israel of Shireen's killing. There have been, effectively, no changes in policy or any retraining at the IDF following the killing of Shireen. None of this is acceptable. And the U.S. government continues to refuse to declassify a summation report on the killing of Shireen that was produced by the United States Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. While this report is not an actual criminal investigation it is clear that it is being suppressed in a PR move to protect the reputation of IDF. The IDF team responsible for killing Shireen, the shooter, the spotter and the officer who approved the shot, have not been identified, suspended or dismissed. They could be serving together in Gaza today on the second anniversary of Shireen's death. All this is taking too long, incomplete and unjust. She was a civilian, a journalist, a non-combatant. She should not have been targeted. She was a U.S. Citizen. Her government the U.S. Government must continue to press for answers on who killed their citizen and for retraining and reform of process to ensure the safety of journalists working in the field near IDF." Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. With 3,000 members representing nearly every major news organization. The Club is a leading voice for press freedom in the U.S. and worldwide. Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 for National Press Club SOURCE National Press Club SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- BASIS Charter Schools proudly announce that two of its exceptional students have been named 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars by the U.S. Department of Education. Matteo N. Huish from BASIS Mesa and Sruti Peddi from BASIS Scottsdale have been recognized for their outstanding academic achievements, leadership, and commitment to their communities. (PRNewsfoto/BASIS Charter Schools) The U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, now in its 60th year, selects only 161 high school seniors nationwide for this prestigious honor. These scholars represent the best and brightest across the country, embodying excellence in academics, the arts, and career and technical education. Matteo Huish, a student at BASIS Mesa, has demonstrated exceptional dedication to his studies, consistently striving for excellence in and out of the classroom. Sruti Peddi, representing BASIS Scottsdale, has showcased remarkable leadership skills and a passion for serving her community, setting an inspiring example for her peers. Thdre were a total of three Presidential Scholars in the entire state of Arizona two from BASIS. "We are immensely proud of Matteo and Sruti for their remarkable accomplishments," said Carolyn McGarvey, CEO of BASIS Ed Arizona. "Their achievements reflect the rigorous academic standards and commitment to excellence that define BASIS Charter School campuses nationwide, and particularly here in our home state of Arizona. We congratulate Matteo, Sruti, and their families on this well-deserved honor." The U.S. Presidential Scholars Program recognizes students who excel not only academically but also in their extracurricular pursuits and community involvement. Matteo and Sruti's selection as Presidential Scholars is a testament to their hard work, talent, and dedication to making a positive impact on the world around them. Matteo and Sruti were each given the opportunity to nominate a teacher who significantly contributed to their academic journey. Matteo selected his Economics teacher, Greg Thorson. Sruti chose Charity Taylor-Antal, her English Literature teacher. Both Mr. Thorson and Ms. Taylor-Antal were honored as Distinguished Teachers by the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. As part of the recognition, Matteo, Sruti, and their fellow scholars will participate in an online recognition program this summer, where they will be celebrated for their outstanding achievements. Matteo and Sruti's schools were recently ranked among the top schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. In all, eleven BASIS Charter Schools were ranked in the Top 100 public schools in America out of 24,000 schools, including Matteo's BASIS Mesa campus (#56), and Sruti's BASIS Scottsdale campus (#32). Additionally, BASIS Mesa is ranked as the #17 STEM school in the nation, the #12 charter school in the U.S., and the #7 school overall in Arizona. BASIS Scottsdale is also ranked as the #9 STEM school nationally, #7 charter school in the U.S., and the #3 school in Arizona. Moreover, BASIS also has the #1 school in America overall BASIS Peoria. About BASIS Charter Schools The network of BASIS Charter Schools is among the best in the United States, whether assessed by state or national rankings across myriad publications, OECD/PISA scores, AP Exam scores, college admissions, merit aid earned, or any other measure. Our passionate and knowledgeable Subject Expert Teachers serve students in kindergarten through grade 12 using the STEM-inspired, liberal arts-focused BASIS Charter School Curriculum. Our acclaimed programfounded in 1998 and cultivating excellence every school year sinceeducates students at the highest international levels, preparing them to be participants, not spectators, in the 21st-century global workforce. In the 2024-25 academic year, there will be 40 public charter school campuses managed by BASIS Ed, serving more than 24,000 students in Arizona, Louisiana, Texas, and Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit enrollBASIS.com, enrollBASISTX.com, or basised.com. SOURCE BASIS Ed LOS ANGELES, May 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WIO LLC, parent company of the global TV broadcast airings platform, WIOpro, has announced a new strategic agreement with Gracenote, the global content data business unit of Nielsen, to address the longstanding challenge of accurately tracking and collecting music royalties generated by broadcast television and digital programming, With this agreement, WIO will integrate Gracenote TV program metadata and show airings into its WIOpro ("When's It On Professional") platform enabling performance rights organizations, copyright management organizations and other entities to better monitor broadcast schedules and identify when royalties have been earned. By integrating Gracenote historical program data into WIOpro's new LookBack feature, WIO is enhancing its reporting capabilities and empowering Collection Societies, Rights Management Companies and the royalty-earning community to more easily monitor and export broadcast airings and better understand collections opportunities. "At WIO, we are committed to empowering collection societies and copyright holders around the world with our platform tools and unprecedented access to the best and most accurate television broadcast and streaming data available," said Shawn Pierce, Co-Founder and CEO of WIO LLC. "We have enjoyed an incredible relationship with Gracenote for 10 years. With the solidification of this agreement, we are able to deliver an unrivaled dataset to the royalty and residual community in a way that has not been offered before." said Adam Shafron, Co-Founder and CTO of WIO LLC. "WIO's platform developed to solve the difficult matter of royalty tracking only becomes more powerful based on the integration of accurate, timely and comprehensive Gracenote metadata," said Scott Monahan, Director, Strategic Partnerships, Gracenote. "We look forward to the combination of WIOpro's technology and Gracenote's program metadata delivering on the promise of transforming music royalty collection so that rights holders can be fairly compensated for use of their work." WIO and Gracenote will be at the MusicBiz 2024 conference in Nashville, TN May 13 16. Contact Dave Pelman, COO of WIO LLC at [email protected] for media queries or to book an appointment for a product demonstration. About WIO: WIO is a technology company dedicated to providing broadcast television and digital programming data tailored specifically for the royalty and residual collection industry. Through its platform WIOpro (wiopro.com), users obtain access to real-time broadcast insights, reporting and curated data delivery. About Gracenote: Gracenote is the content data business unit of Nielsen providing entertainment metadata, connected IDs and related offerings to the world's leading creators, distributors and platforms. Gracenote enables advanced content navigation and discovery capabilities helping individuals easily connect to the TV shows, movies, music, podcasts and sports they love while delivering powerful content analytics making complex business decisions simpler. SOURCE WIOpro If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Silchar, May 11 : Despite the torrential rains causing widespread waterlogging in Assam's Silchar, local BJP MLA Dipayan Chakraborty took the initiative to clear the accumulated garbage in the Longaikhal canal and blamed the "misrule by the previous Congress governments for the woes in the city". Chakraborty has expressed concerns about the waterlogging problem in Silchar. The MLA along with representatives of the Indian Red Cross Society embarked on the Longaikhal canal, which is adjacent to the national highway in the city, and an area of about 600 feet of the canal was cleaned for three hours. The recent torrential rains caused flash floods in Silchar town and adjoining areas. As various canals and drains of the city were full of waste and garbage, different areas were submerged due to obstruction in water drainage. Chakraborty told IANS, "Several steps have been taken by the state government to solve this problem. We took a boat ride to clean the Longaikhal canal. The BJP-led government has already taken up several projects and a few projects are in the pipeline." According to him, Rangirkhal, another important canal of the city received a development project worth Rs 42 crore and the construction work has been running at full pace. Meanwhile, drains are newly built in other busy places in Silchar. "However, the waterlogging problem will not be solved quickly because this city was developed in a very unplanned manner due to the Congress government's misrule. Drains and sewers were encroached heavily and common people are suffering today," Chakraborty said. He appealed to the citizens of the city to come forward to resolve the problem of waterlogging along with the help of government initiatives. Chakraborty said that the state government has cleaned an area of 600 feet of the Longaikhal canal, which will temporarily solve the waterlogging problem in a vast area of Silchar City. Warsaw, May 11 : Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced a partial government reshuffle, after accepting the resignations of four Ministers who will be running in the upcoming European Parliament elections. According to the reshuffle plan, outlined by Tusk at a press conference on Friday, Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration Marcin Kierwinski, Minister of State Assets Borys Budka, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz and Minister of Development and Technology Krzysztof Hetman will be replaced by Tomasz Siemoniak, Jakub Jaworowski, Hanna Wroblewska and Krzysztof Paszyk respectively. "I expected these Ministers to act efficiently, sometimes toughly. The first months were months of 'crashing the wall'. Now is the time for tidying up," said the Prime Minister as quoted by Xinhua news agency report. Although Tusk initially said that the reshuffle would also affect Ministers who had not "optimally utilised" their first few months in their departments, a few days before the announcement he decided that the changes would only apply to candidates for positions in Brussels. The official inauguration ceremony for the new Ministers will take place on May 13 at the Presidential Palace. Beirut, May 11 : A first aid responder and a telecommunication technician were killed during an Israeli airstrike in Tayr Harfa, a town located in the southern border area of Lebanon, Lebanese military sources reported. The sources told Xinhua news agency anonymously on Friday that an Israel drone fired an air-to-surface missile toward a team comprised of the soldiers of the Lebanese army, first aid responders from the Islamic Message Scouts, a local paramedics' organisation, as well as workers from Touch, a mobile operation in Lebanon. The team was carrying out maintenance work for a cellphone transmission station in Tayr Harfa when the attack occurred and one first aid responder and one technician from Touch were killed, the sources said as quoted by Xinhua news agency report. Two other civilians were wounded and a military vehicle was damaged during the attack, the sources added. Moreover, the sources also noted that another Israeli airstrike destroyed a house in the village of Yarine, Tyre district, southern Lebanon, and killed a Hezbollah fighter, wounding a civilian. Meanwhile, Hezbollah said that it attacked several settlements and Israeli army positions with drones and heavy missiles. Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have killed 461 people on the Lebanese side, including 290 Hezbollah members and 85 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources. Washington, May 11 : The US has announced an additional package of weapons and equipment for Ukraine worth $400 million. Capabilities included in the package were additional air munitions for Patriot and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems; Stinger anti-aircraft missiles; equipment to integrate Western launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine's systems; additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and ammunition, according to a statement by the State Department released on Friday. Also to be provided to Ukraine were 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds; TOW and Javelin missiles and AT-4 anti-armor systems; Precision aerial munitions; High-speed Anti-radiation missiles; Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles; M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers; Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles; coastal and riverine patrol boats; small arms ammunition and grenades; demolitions munitions; and spare parts, the statement said as quoted by Xinhua news agency report. The US has committed more than $51.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of President Joe Biden's administration, including more than $50.6 billion since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war on February 24, 2022, the Defence Department said in a news statement. The new assistance from the US came on the same day northern Ukraine was reportedly attacked by Russia in a new ground operation that began on Friday dawn. Targeting the border town of Vovchansk near Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, the attack was the most serious cross-border ground offensive by Russia in nearly two years, according to a CNN report citing a Ukrainian military source. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who thanked the US for the new package on X, was quoted by CNN as saying the assault was part of "a new wave of counteroffensive actions" by Russia, adding that a "fierce battle" was being fought in the area. Geneva, May 11 : Days after the Israeli army took control of the Rafah crossing, UN agencies have reiterated the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza and emphasised the urgent need for humanitarian assistance. Volker Turk, the UN Human Rights Chief, issued a statement on Friday condemning actions that endanger the entry and distribution of critically needed humanitarian aid into Gaza, Xinhua news agency reported. "The handful of land crossings into Gaza serve as lifelines for the supply of food, medicine, fuel, and other necessities that must be allowed to reach the despairing and terrified population," he said. Turk urged all parties involved to ensure that civilian crossings and the flow of necessary goods for civilian survival are not put at risk due to military operations. "Given the particular importance for civilians all across Gaza of the free flow of humanitarian aid, special care must be taken by both sides to ensure that these crossings remain safe and functional, and are neither direct targets of attack nor collaterally damaged," the UN Human Rights Chief emphasised. He reiterated his call for all parties in the conflict to immediately cease hostilities and to facilitate full, unrestricted, and continuous humanitarian aid to meet the needs of all Palestinians in Gaza "without delay". "We are scraping the bottom of the barrel," said UN Children's Fund Senior Emergency Coordinator in Gaza, Hamish Young, who told journalists in Geneva that no fuel or humanitarian aid has entered the Gaza Strip for five days. "This is already a huge issue for the population and all humanitarian actors but in a matter of days, if this is not corrected, the lack of fuel could grind humanitarian operations to a halt." The situation in Gaza has reached even "more unprecedented emergency levels," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned, with all crossings into Rafah closed or unsafe. The shutting down of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossing has cut off their ability to access fuel, supplies, and the transportation of humanitarian personnel, said Georgios Petropoulos, who leads OCHA's Gaza sub-office. He also noted that this situation has impacted the movement of civilians across the border and the ability to evacuate medical patients from Gaza. According to OCHA, a continued lack of fuel will affect all key sectors as it could force hospitals to close and lead to a further worsening of malnutrition. Over the next 24 hours, five hospitals run by the Palestinian Health Ministry and 28 ambulances are expected to run out of fuel. The UN World Health Organisation's Spokesperson Margaret Harris also spoke about the impact of fuel shortages. "Even if you've got somebody back from the brink, you've operated on them, you've put them on a ventilator, (the) ventilator stops, they no longer breathe," said Harris. "Without fuel, no matter what everybody has done, the whole system collapses." New Delhi, May 11 : OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Saturday refuted reports that his artificial intelligence (AI) company is going to launch a search engine like Google. In a X post, Altman said that OpenAI will stick to its AI goals, making its AI chatbot called ChatGPT more powerful. "Not GPT-5, not a search engine, but we've been hard at work on some new stuff we think people will love! feels like magic to me," he commented. On Monday, OpenAI will livestream its event to showcase some ChatGPT and GPT-4 updates. Reports earlier claimed that OpenAI will launch a search product ahead of Google's flagship conference called 'I/O' next week. However, the company has now clarified that it will stick to updates on ChatGPT and its latest model, GPT-4. OpenAI has already made its AI chatbot more direct and less verbose. The new GPT-4 Turbo model is now available to paid ChatGPT users. It has been trained on publicly available data up to December last year. "When writing with ChatGPT, responses will be more direct, less verbose and use more conversational language," OpenAI commented. Tel Aviv , May 11 : Israel war cabinet, which met late on Friday, has ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to secure Hamas military chief Yahya Sinwar and his deputy, Mohammed Deif and to accelerate the invasion in Rafah region. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have, according to sources in Israel's Defence Ministry, forcefully pushed for securing the two Hamas leaders considered to be the brain behind the October 7 attack on southern Israel, slaughtering 1,200 people. Sources in Israel's Defence Ministry told IANS that Israeli intelligence agencies have given inputs that Sinwar and Deif are in separate tunnel networks between Khan Younis and Rafah area, at a distance of five kilometres. The Israeli military intelligence has also reported that both the Hamas military leaders are surrounded by Israeli hostages, and that an attack will be carried out using specific intelligence on the exact locations of Sinwar and Deif. Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, considered a hawk in the Israeli government, had publicly called for the assassination of Sinwar to bring Gaza under total control of IDF. Chennai, May 11 : The Tamil Nadu government's health department has increased surveillance in several villages of Coimbatore District against the spread of the dreaded West Nile Virus and deployed 12 Mobile Medical Teams (MMT) to screen people in 12 blocks. This is following many districts of Kerala reporting cases of the West Nile Virus, which is a mosquito-borne disease. The Coimbatore District Health Department has deployed 12 Mobile Medical Teams (MMT) to screen people with fever and influenza in 12 blocks to check whether they are infected with the virus. The disease is spread through the Culex mosquitoes and the symptoms are high fever, stiff neck, headache, disorientation, stupor, tremors, convulsions and muscle weakness. In some cases, it even leads to coma, paralysis and death. Dr R Ramanandan, Professor of Microbiology in a private medical college in Coimbatore told IANS, "West Nile Virus is a dangerous disease and proper medication has to be given to the patients at the earliest to prevent their condition from deteriorating. If the patient is not treated on time it can lead to paralysis and even death." Deputy Director of Health Services, Dr P Aruna told IANS that the department has accelerated the screening of patients with fever in Coimbatore District after one person died and many were hospitalised in Malappuram, Kozhikode and Thrissur districts of Kerala. The state health department has also sent circulars to all the district health officers to conduct screening for the West Nile Virus in patients who undergo checks for fever in Primary Health Centres in the state. IANS aal/rad Paris, May 11 : France has called on Israel to immediately halt its military operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The foreign ministry in Paris announced that the military operation, which has been ongoing since the beginning of the week, is threatening a catastrophic situation for the civilian population in Gaza, who have already been displaced several times and for whom there are no longer any safe areas in the Gaza Strip. Israel should resume negotiations, it said on Friday evening, as this was the only way to achieve the immediate release of the hostages and a lasting ceasefire. France once again called on Israel to do everything possible to ensure the protection of the civilian population and to ensure the import of humanitarian aid in accordance with international law and the demands of the International Court of Justice. According to the Foreign Ministry in Paris, Israel must immediately reopen the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, which is essential both for the civilian population's access to humanitarian aid and for the most vulnerable people to leave the Gaza Strip. France also condemned the attacks by Israeli settlers on a Jordanian aid convoy and called on the Israeli authorities to put an end to the settlers' violence. France also condemned the Hamas attack on the Kerem Shalom border crossing. --IANS/DPA sd/svn Gaza, May 11 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned the Israeli military against expanding its assault on the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. "The situation in Rafah is on a knife's edge, as airstrikes continue throughout southern Gaza," said Guterres at a press conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Friday. "A massive ground attack in Rafah would lead to an epic humanitarian disaster and pull the plug on our efforts to support people as famine looms," Guterres said. More than one million Palestinians are seeking refuge in Rafah, half of them are children, Guterres pointed out. Humanitarian volunteers in the border town reported devastating conditions. Hospitals would have to suspend their services within 24 hours if urgently needed new fuel was not delivered. The Israeli armed forces had advanced into the eastern outskirts of Rafah with ground troops on Monday night. According to the UN figures from Friday, 1,10,000 people have since fled the city on the border with Egypt, which is overcrowded with refugees. "I reiterate my appeal for the Government of Israel and the leadership of Hamas to demonstrate political courage and spare no effort to reach an agreement to stop the bloodshed a" and to free the hostages," Guterres said. The military action is fuelling fears that this could be the start of a major offensive on the city. The US, Israel's most important ally, is urgently warning the country against such a move. --IANS/DPA sd/svn Parthampur, May 11 : Repolling was underway on Saturday in Parthampur village in Gujarat's Dahod Lok Sabha constituency. Pathampur recorded 26.72 per cent voter turnout till 11 a.m. Dahod is a Scheduled Tribes reserved seat, where BJP's Jasvantsinh Bhabhor is seeking a third consecutive term. Prabha Taviad is the candidate from the Congress. The Election Commission had ordered repolling in Parthampur after a booth-capturing incident was reported on May 7. Vijay Bhabhor, identified as the son of the incumbent BJP MP Jasvantsinh Bhabhor, is said to have broadcast live from a polling station in Santrampur taluka, Mahisagar district, via his Instagram account. Although the video was subsequently deleted, it had already been widely shared, sparking significant outcry. In the video, Vijay is heard claiming ownership of the voting machine in Gujarati, asserting that the "machine belongs to my father". Two individuals were arrested for the booth-capturing incident. The polling staff present during the event, including the Presiding Officer, Assistant Presiding Officer, and two Polling Officers, have all received show-cause notices. Berlin, May 11 : Berlin police are preparing for further protests on Saturday at the Tesla factory site in Grunheide in Germany after violent clashes. Friday's actions will be taken into account in operational planning, said a police spokesman. The activists have planned fresh actions over the weekend. Initially, a protest march from Fangschleuse station to the Tesla plant is planned for around midday on Saturday. Further actions by the demonstrators around the Tesla plant are to be expected. On Friday, there were repeated clashes between protesters and police officers. The police used pepper spray and batons. According to the police, several participants in the protests and 21 police officers were injured, while 16 people had been taken into custody. A spokeswoman and a spokesman for various protest groups involved criticised the "disproportionately brutal" actions of the police. A large contingent of police was deployed, including hundreds of reinforcements brought in from other federal states. Water cannons and an armoured personnel carrier were also deployed but were not used at first. During a demonstration on Friday, several activists attempted to enter the Tesla factory premises. They scaled a fence in the forest on the edge of the factory site. According to the police, they were prevented from entering the factory premises. At an airfield in Neuhardenberg, demonstrators made it onto the site, set off pyrotechnics and damaged Tesla vehicles with paint. According to a spokesman the police had also tried to protect this area. However, the sheer size of the airfield had made this difficult. The starting point of the protests was the protest camp set up near the car plant in GrAnheide. Activists have been staying there in tree houses since the end of February to protest against the planned expansion of the Tesla site and the clearing of the forest. The police want the tree houses to be dismantled. A legal dispute is ongoing. Tesla opponents have been calling for days of action against the car manufacturer since Wednesday. "The fight against this car factory is a fight against every car factory," said the Disrupt group involved on Friday. "In order for the earth to remain our home in the long term, we should be brave enough to creatively redesign this factory. Whether we build buses, ambulances or cargo bikes here is something we have to decide together." The police had attempted to cordon off the site of the only Tesla plant in Europe, and several motorway exits were closed. The railway line between Berlin and Frankfurt was also temporarily closed at Fangschleuse station. There was also a sit-in blockade on country road 23 near the plant on the fringes of the demonstration marches to the site. In Berlin, activists held a banner with the slogan "Clean cars are a dirty lie" in front of the Mall of Berlin shopping centre where a Tesla showroom is located. "There is nothing wrong with peaceful protest, and citizens must be able to express their opinions," said Brandenburg's Minister of Economic Affairs, Jorg Steinbach, explaining the events in Grunheide on Friday. "This is a central component of our democracy," he said in response to an enquiry. Tesla did not initially comment on the course of the protests. There was no production at the plant on Friday. However, a company spokeswoman emphasised that this had to do with the bridge day after Ascension Day, a public holiday, and not with the demonstrations. The US car manufacturer had to stop production at its factory for a few days in March after an arson attack on an electricity pylon. A left-wing extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack. In addition, parked Teslas had repeatedly gone up in flames at various locations. --IANS/DPA sd/svn Hyderabad, May 11 : Telangana is heading for an intense three-cornered fight in the majority of the 17 Lok Sabha seats on May 13. Five months after coming to power in this southern state, the Congress is facing a stiff challenge from the BRS and the BJP. Barring 3-4 seats where one party appears to have an edge, it will be a close triangular contest in the remaining constituencies. While the Congress is looking to repeat its impressive performance of the Assembly elections held in November 2023, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to put up a good show in Telangana, the second key state for the party in South India after Karnataka. Despite losing power to the Congress after ruling the state for 10 years and a series of setbacks with several key leaders defecting to the BJP and Congress, the BRS looks strong on the ground. The party appears to be recovering from its loss, if one goes by the huge crowds during party President and former Chief Minister KC Raoas bus yatra. The BJP appears to be sitting pretty in three out of four seats it won in 2019 and is locked in a tight fight with the Congress and BRS in at least four constituencies. Banking on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi factor, the saffron party has set a target of 10 seats. PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda and other leaders have campaigned extensively. The Congress party looks ahead of its rivals in five constituencies and is facing a tough challenge in other constituencies. The BRS, which lost five of its sitting MPs to the two rivals during the last couple of months, seems to have an edge in a couple of constituencies. Interestingly, both the Congress and BJP have gained from the exodus of leaders from the BRS during the last few weeks. A sitting MP, a sitting MLA, daughter of a sitting MLA are among the Lok Sabha contestants for the Congress. Similarly, the BJP has fielded a sitting MP and son of sitting MP as its candidates after they defected from the BRS. Former MPs and former state Legislators of BRS also figure in the list of candidates of the Congress and BRS both. While the BJP retained three of its four sitting MPs, the Congress had to look for new faces as all three MPs who won in 2019 were elected to the Assembly. A. Revanth Reddy, who was elected from Malkajgiri constituency in the previous election, has become the Chief Minister. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, who were elected from Nalgonda and Bhongir respectively, have become ministers. The trio is now making all efforts to ensure that the party retains these seats. There was some high drama in the run-up to nominations. Kadiam Kaviya, who was named as candidate from Warangal Lok Sabha seat by the BRS, withdrew from the contest to join the Congress along with her father and sitting BRS MLA Kadiam Srihari. Among key contestants, Union Minister and state BJP chief, G Kishan Reddy is seeking re-election from Secunderabad. He is locked in a three-cornered contest involving BRS MLA T Padma Goud and Congress candidate D Nagender. In the recent Assembly elections, Nagender was elected on a BRS ticket from Khairatabad constituency but he defected to the Congress to secure the MP ticket. BJP National General Secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is fighting from Karimnagar for a second-consecutive term, faces a tough contest from BRS candidate Vinod Kumar. The Congress party has fielded V Rajender Rao. In Mahabubnagar, it will be a repeat of the 2019 battle. The BJPas National Vice President D K Aruna, who had finished runner-up in the previous election, is again taking on sitting MP Manne Srinivas Reddy of BRS. Revanth Reddy, who comes from the same district, is making every effort for the victory of Vamshi Chand Reddy. In Malkajgiri, which is Indiaas biggest constituency, BJPas Eatala Rajender is locked in a tough fight against Sunitha Reddy of the Congress party and R Lakshma Reddy of BRS. Like Mahabubnagar, this is also a battle of prestige for CM Revanth Reddy, who is also the state Congress chief. In Medak, the home district of BRS chief KCR, the party is going all out to retain the seat. It has fielded former bureaucrat Venkatarami Reddy. Former MLA Raghunandan Rao is the BJP candidate. The Congress, which has fielded Nilam Madhu, is in search of its first win since 1989 in a constituency, which was once represented by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In Khammam, it is expected to be a direct fight between sitting MP Nama Nageswara Rao of BRS and Congress candidate Ramasahayam Raghuram Reddy. In Nagarkurnool, former IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar, who quit BSP to join BRS recently, is taking on senior Congress leader Mallu Ravi and BJP candidate P Bharat Prasad, who defected to the saffron party from BRS along with his father and sitting MP P Ramulu. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi, who is seeking re-election for fifth-consecutive term from Hyderabad, faces BJPas Madhavi Latha in what is likely to be a direct flight. The Congress party has fielded Sameer Waliullah from here. In the 2019 elections, held a few months after BRS retained power in the state with a thumping majority, KCRas party bagged 9 seats, polling 41.3 per cent votes. The BJP won four seats with a vote share of 19.5 per cent. This was the saffron partyas best-ever performance in Telangana. The Congress bagged three seats but polled 30.2 per cent votes. The AIMIM retained the Hyderabad seat. In Assembly elections held in November 2023, the Congress party dramatically improved its fortunes to wrest power from the BRS, which was ruling the state for the last 10 years. In the 119-member Assembly, the Congress bagged 64 seats and polled 39.40 per cent votes. The BRS won 39 seats with 37.35 per cent vote share. Congress ally CPI won the only seat it contested with a vote share of 0.34 per cent. The BJP has almost doubled its vote share compared to 2018. It polled 13.90 per cent votes against just 6.98 per cent in the previous Assembly polls. The saffron party also significantly improved its tally of seats from one to eight. AIMIM, which retained its seven seats, garnered a vote share of 2.22 per cent, down from 2.71 per cent in 2018. Thiruvananthapuram, May 11 : Even as the political slugfest over the Kerala Chief Minister's three-nation private visit continues, Pinarayi Vijayan's arch-rival Governor Arif Mohammed Khan waded into it on Saturday by thanking the media for the information that the CM was abroad. Even as the Congress and the BJP slammed CM Vijayan for leaving quietly early this week, Governor Khan revealed that he also had no clue about the CM's impending trip. "Has he (CM Vijayan) gone on a foreign visit, I am not aware. Thanks to you (media) for informing me that the CM is on a foreign trip," said Khan. "In the past I had informed the President that the CM doesn't inform me when he leaves," said Khan. However, the CPI(M) has defended the trip of the CM and his family to Indonesia, Singapore, and the UAE, saying it was a private trip funded by the CM and his family and not state-funded. It was on Monday morning that the news surfaced that CM Vijayan had left on a three-nation trip with his wife and their grandson, while his daughter Veena Vijayan and her husband and state Tourism Minister PA Mohammed Riyas, will join them in Indonesia. CM Vijayan and his family are expected to return to India on May 21. Mumbai, May 11 : Actor-producer Jackky Bhagnani on Saturday gave a sneak peek of his 'doctor' -- wife and actress Rakul Preet Singh, sharing insights into her eating habits and praising her intelligence. Jackky, who tied the knot with Rakul on February 21 in Goa, took to Instagram stories to share a video featuring the diva. In the video, Rakul is seen donning a half-sleeved white T-shirt and oversized round-framed sunglasses, with her hair left open and wet. The video captures Rakul enjoying her breakfast, which seems to be poha, although it's not explicitly mentioned. Jackky can be heard saying, "She is chewing and eating," to which Rakul adds, "that will make a paste in your mouth." The 'Youngistaan' actor further said: "It takes 21 minutes to tell your brain," with Rakul completing the sentence, "that you are full." Jackky concludes the video by remarking, "Bahut intelligent hai yeh (she is very intelligent)." The video is captioned: "My Doctor Rakul Preet." Rakul and Jackky had a two-in-one wedding ceremony, first with the 'Anand Karaj' in the Sikh tradition, followed by a Sindhi-style ceremony, symbolising both their cultural backgrounds. On the professional front, Rakul has 'Meri Patni Ka Remake' and 'Indian 2' in the pipeline. As a producer, Jackky's next has 'Suryaputra Mahavir Karna' and 'Mission Lion'. His last project as producer was the Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff starrer-'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan'. Mandya, May 11 : Hindu organisations and a section of advocates are staging a protest on Saturday in Keragodu village in Karnataka's Mandya district to protest alleged torture by state police and condemn notices served to Hindu activists in connection with the Hanuman flag removal row. The saffron colour Hanuman flag removal by authorities from the 108-foot tall flag post during the occasion of the 'Pran Pratistha' of Ram Mandir in January at Keragodu village had led to huge controversy in the state. It had also led to a war of words between the opposition BJP and the state Congress government. The BJP said that the state Congress government is resorting to such an act to "check the celebration of Hindu activists for the sake of appeasement politics". The Hindu organisations have alleged that notices have been issued to Hindu activists by the Keragodu police asking them to reply in seven days about why a rowdy sheet should not be opened against them. The police notice further said that the Hindu activists are indulging in "threatening people of other religions", abusing them with vulgar language and giving provocation in connection with the matter of flag post. The notice has also stated that Hindu activists are indulging in illegal activities and why action should not be initiated against them. The Hindu activists are directed to appear before the police station and submit their clarifications. The notices have been issued to Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists Chikkaballi Balu, Karthik and Harish. The police have also lodged a case against them under the IPC Sections 143, 149 (unlawful assembly with common intent), 341 (wrongful restraint), 353 (assault to deter public servant from discharge of duty). Thiruvananthapuram, May 11 : Even as the political slugfest over the Kerala Chief Minister's three-nation private visit continues, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan waded into it on Saturday by thanking the media for the information that Pinarayi Vijayan was abroad. Even as the Congress and the BJP slammed CM Vijayan for leaving quietly early this week, Governor Khan revealed that he also had no clue about the CM's impending trip. "Has he (CM Vijayan) gone on a foreign visit, I am not aware. Thanks to you (media) for informing me that the CM is on a foreign trip," said Khan. "In the past I had informed the President that the CM doesn't inform me when he leaves," said Khan. However, the CPI(M) has defended the trip of the CM and his family to Indonesia, Singapore, and the UAE, saying it was a private trip funded by the CM and his family and not state-funded. It was on Monday morning that the news surfaced that CM Vijayan had left on a three-nation trip with his wife and their grandson, while his daughter Veena Vijayan and her husband and state Tourism Minister PA Mohammed Riyas, will join them in Indonesia. CM Vijayan and his family are expected to return to India on May 21. Adarsh Gourav gets attention from filmmakers seeking to use his singing talents. Image Source: IANS News Mumbai, May 11 : Actor Adarsh Gourav, who was recently seen in the streaming film 'Woh Bhi Din The', and recently released two albums, 'Kho Gaye' and 'Ishq Nachaawe', shared that music gives him much-needed solace. Adarsh's seamless transition between acting and music has earned admiration and acclaim from both the film and music industries. Reflecting on his dual passions, Adarsh shared: "Amid the chaos of filming 'Alien' and striving for perfection in my craft, music has been my constant companion. It's where I find refuge and rejuvenation amid the demanding schedules. The ability to express myself through both acting and music is truly a blessing." Meanwhile, on the work front, the actor will be seen in the upcoming science fiction horror television series 'Alien'. Written and directed by Noah Hawley, the series is based on the 'Alien' franchise. It will serve as a prequel and will be set three decades before the events of the 1979 film aAliena. Kolkata, May 11 : The Election Commission of India (ECI) will adopt an 'early action formula' in the forthcoming four phases of the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal to ensure peaceful and fair elections. Explaining this 'early action formula', a source in the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)'s office said on Saturday that this strategy will be multi-pronged. First, the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) will not allow unnecessary assembly of supporters of political parties within a specific area in the radius of the polling stations, from the very first hour of the commencement of polling. "This exercise will be a kind of caution for potential troublemakers that stricter punitive measures will follow in the case of habitual offenders," the source said. Second, there will be constant monitoring of identified "influential" local politicians so that they are unable to assemble for extended periods with their associates near polling stations, as it might result in altercations and tension in the area. This will be implemented from the very first hour once polling begins. Third, habitual offenders who do not take the first warning seriously will be detained for the day and will be released just an hour before the closing time of polling so that they are able to cast their votes. As per legal provisions such preventive detentions up to 24 hours are allowed. Insiders in the CEO's office said that these three layers of the 'early action formula' were in place to a limited extent in the third phase of the elections on May 7, considering that two traditionally-troubled constituencies of Jangipur and Murshidabad went for polls on that day. "From the fourth phase the same formula will be implemented more elaborately and strictly," the sources said. New Delhi, May 11 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday stepped up his attack on the Congress over its leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's 'respect Pakistan because of its atom bombs' statement and said that the grand old party was trying to find new ways to scare own people, by underestimating country's strength. "Sambhal ke chalo, Pakistan ke pass atom bomb hai. Yeh mare pade log, desh ke mann ko bhi maar rahe hain, (They are trying to scare us by saying that Pakistan has an atom bomb)," PM Modi said, taking a searing jibe at Aiyar and Congress. Addressing a mega public rally in Odisha's Kandhamal, the Prime Minister also slammed Pakistan over its depleting economy and said that they want to sell their atom bombs but don't get any buyers because of its poor quality. PM Modi also hit out at Congress over its weak and timid response after 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. He said that the then UPA regime decided not to retaliate and act against the handlers of terror because they believed that this would alienate its vote bank. "Rather than cracking down on terror perpetrators, they decided to hold meetings with their masters," PM Modi said. He also said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been struggling for justice for decades because the previous ruling powers in Delhi would engage in dialogue with separatists. He blamed Congress' 'weak mindset' for the sufferings of the people of Valley. Notably, Mani Shankar Aiyar in an interview with a YouTube channel had said that Pakistan has atom bombs and hence India should give them respect to it, rather than flex its military muscle. Mumbai, May 11 : Actors Deepika Singh and Anchal Sahu have paid tribute to their mothers ahead of Mother's Day, speaking about the values and unconditional love they have received. Deepika, who portrays Mangal in the show 'Mangal Lakshmi', shared: "As an actor, I've had the privilege of stepping into various roles, but the role of being a mother is by far the most rewarding and humbling experience of my life. I admire the strength and infinite capacity of mothers." The actress, who is married to director Rohit Raj Goyal, has a seven-year-old son. "It wasn't until I held my child in my arms that I truly grasped the meaning of unconditional love. Every single day, my child teaches me invaluable lessons about finding joy in the simplest of moments. Motherhood has made me stronger and braver. Hereas wishing everyone a very happy Mother's Day," she added. Anchal, who portrays Parineet in aParineetiia, commented: "My mother has instilled in me values that have become the foundation of who I am -- the importance of staying true to myself and being kind to others. I recall moments from my childhood when my mother would lovingly prepare my favourite sweets as a celebration of any accomplishment, no matter how big or small." "My solution to most problems is to ask myself what my mother would do. Everything I do is about making her proud. On Mother's Day, I just want to urge all these superwomen to take care of their health too while they're taking care of others," she added. The show airs on Colors. Tel Aviv, May 11 : The Israeli army told Rafah residents to leave other areas in the east of Gaza's southern city on Saturday, in a call that suggests it plans to expand its military operation there, despite growing international demands to desist. The areas affected include two refugee camps, according to the message broadcast in Arabic on X and in text messages. People in the listed areas must immediately move to the village of Al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The order suggests that the IDF intends to expand its operation against positions and combat units of the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas in the city on the border with Egypt. Foreign leaders and the United Nations have called on Israel to halt the operation, which began earlier in the week, fearing mass casualties as people have fled to the city to escape fighting in other parts of the Gaza Strip, leading to extreme overcrowding. More than 1 million Palestinians are seeking refuge in Rafah, half of them children. "A massive ground attack in Rafah would lead to an epic humanitarian disaster and pull the plug on our efforts to support people as famine looms," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday. The United States, Israel's main ally, is also urging against a large-scale offensive, and US President Joe Biden has threatened to restrict the supply of weapons. But the Israeli leadership continues to insist on its aim to eliminate the last battalions of Hamas thought to be in Rafah. Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza since Hamas militants and other extremist groups launched a bloody raid on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 200. Israel responded to the massacre with massive airstrikes and launched a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 35,000 people, according to the Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza. --IANS/DPA sd/svn New Delhi, May 11 : After being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court and getting released from jail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the Hanuman temple in Connaught Place on Saturday, accompanied by his wife Sunita Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and MP Sanjay Singh. Kejriwal wasted no time in resuming his campaign activities on the very same day. However, as he stepped back into the political arena, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unveiled a new poster targeting the AAP chief. Labelling Arvind Kejriwal as "Bhrastachar ka betaaj badshah" (The uncrowned king of corruption), the official X handle of Delhi BJP shared the poster with the caption: "Bhrastachari jail ke andar ho ya bahar, Bhrastachari Bhrastachari hota hai! (Whether a corrupt person is in jail or out, a corrupt person remains corrupt!)" The BJP believes that, while out on bail, Kejriwal will attempt to influence the election campaign according to his style. Therefore, the party aims to confront AAP and Kejriwal on the issue of corruption. Moreover, BJP intends to highlight the issue of 'Khalistani funding' to AAP. Alongside Delhi, BJP will also seek to send a political message to Punjab regarding corruption and national security concerns related to AAP and Kejriwal. New Delhi, May 11 : As most organisations globally implement return-to-office (RTO) policies, there is still resistance among employees and one in three of the executives presented with a RTO obligation say they will leave their current employer for that reason. According to a Gartner report, mandating employees back to the office has key implications for talent attraction and retention. Caroline Ogawa, Director in Gartner HR practice, stated that while 58 per cent of executives said their organisation provided a convincing reason for the RTO decision, many senior leaders were unwilling to come back into the office. Another recent survey by the market research firm found that 63 per cent of respondents reported an increased expectation around employees spending days in the office. Retaining key talent has become harder due to mistrust between employees and employers, employee burnout and disengagement, and fiercer competition in the labour market, the findings showed. Caitlin Duffy, Senior Director, Gartner HR practice, said that organisations that force workers to come to office are likely to weaken their leadership bench and complicate succession planning. Kochi, May 11 : The arrest of a passenger coming from Dubai with 20 gold bars at the Cochin airport on Saturday shows that smuggling of the precious metal through this airport continues unabated. The passenger, Khader Maitheen, a resident of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, was picked up by the Air Intelligence Unit officials after they became suspicious on seeing him walk through the green channel. After a detailed inspection they detected 20 gold bars weighing around 2330 grams stitched to his clothes . The officials estimated the value of the seizure to be Rs 1.50 crores. In the first quarter of 2024, customs officials have seized 30.2 kg of gold worth close to Rs 10 crores in 36 different attempts at smuggling. Around 90 per cent of the seizures at the Cochin airport came from passengers who arrived from various Middle East airports. Another interesting aspect is that out of the 36 gold smuggling attempts , the carriers in 20 instances brought gold in the form of paste as itas believed that the metal detectors fail to detect gold in paste form, but the alert officials foiled such attempts. In most cases, those arrested are carriers who get a percentage of the smuggled gold for carrying it with them. New Delhi, May 11 : In an unprecedented move, the Delhi High Court exercised its suo motu revision powers to transform a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) into a revision plea against a trial court's decision to close a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) involving child pornography. A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora intervened due to what they deemed "manifest illegalities" and "miscarriage of justice" in the trial court's order. The court pointed out that the trial court failed to consider the definition of 'child pornography' under Section 2(da) of the POCSO Act while interpreting Section 15(2) of the same law. It said that any sexually explicit material involving or appearing to depict a child constitutes child pornography, warranting the invocation of Section 15. Moreover, the Bench noted the trial court's disregard for medical opinions confirming the presence of children in the videos/photos found on the accused persons' devices. Utilising its powers under Sections 397 and 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the Bench directed the PIL to be registered as a revision petition. The matter will now be presented before a single judge as per the roster. Furthermore, the court also appointed advocate Aashaa Tiwari as amicus curiae and issued notices to the discharged accused individuals. The PIL, filed by Tulir Charitable Trust against the Special Court-POCSO Shahdara District's order, contested the discharge of two individuals accused of possessing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Despite being chargesheeted under various Sections, including 15(2) of the POCSO Act, the accused were discharged by the trial court. Cairo, May 11 : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) lashed out on Saturday at a suggestion from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to join a potential civil administration in the post-war Gaza Strip. Netanyahu suggested in a recent interview that a civilian administration with Gazans and possibly with the aid of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries could run Gaza after the war. On Saturday, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed said his country denounced Netanyahu's call, adding that Gaza is currently under Israeli occupation. "The State of Emirates stresses that the Israeli Prime Minister has no legitimate capacity authorising him to take this step," the Emirati official said in an Arabic post on X. "The [UAE] state rejects being drawn into any plan aimed to provide cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip," he added. The UAE became the first Gulf state to establish diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020. However, the wealthy country has repeatedly criticised Israel's ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Earlier this week, the UAE condemned Israel's "control" of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing, an operation that has halted humanitarian aid deliveries via the facility into the heavily populated strip. Israel has been bombarding Gaza for months since Hamas militants launched unprecedented bloody attacks on Israel in October last year that included civilian massacres. --IANS/DPA sd/svn Gaza, May 11 : Some 1,50,000 Gazans have fled from Rafah since the start of the week, fearing an Israeli advance into the city, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) posted on X on Saturday. However, the Israel Defense Forces say an estimated 3,00,000 people had followed the evacuation orders since the beginning of the week, in a statement that could not be independently verified. Israel has now expanded its calls on residents of Rafah to include those in the centre and other parts of the city, telling them to move to the town of Al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast. The army seems set to expand its operation to eliminate Hamas, though calls are growing louder to desist, including from the UN and the US, Israel's main backer. Families are packing their belongings all over the city, a UNRWA employee wrote on X. "The streets are much emptier." UNRWA says 1,10,000 Palestinians had left the city on the border with Egypt by the previous day. Some 3,00,000 people are affected by Israel's latest evacuation orders, which also cover areas in other parts of the coastal strip, UNRWA says. --IANS/DPA sd/svn Patna, May 11 : Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that if the NDA secures over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, love jihad will be eliminated from the country. While addressing a rally in support of BJP candidate Giriraj Singh in Begusarai, Sarma said: "Terrorists from Pakistan were coming to India and exploding bombs. Now, no one is coming here after PM Narendra Modi threw two bombs on Pakistan. Similarly, love jihad will be eliminated from the country if the NDA wins more than 400 seats." "We need Narendra Modi's government to end whatever wrong things are happening in the country," he said. "Religion and sect have always been an issue in our country. Our country was also divided on the basis of religion. When the country becomes Sanatan, unemployment will also go away on its own," Sarma stated. Referring to a recent report, Sarma asked which community's population is increasing today? Whose population has increased by 45%? Hindus have not increased. If the country becomes Hindu then many of the problems will automatically be solved. Peshawar, May 11 : In yet another turmoil in Pakistan's politics, a strong war of words and counter-threats has begun between Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and newly-elected Governor Faisal Karim Kundi in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. While Gandapur has given an "open threat" of taking over the Governor's house, Kundi has warned that he would drag the Chief Minister to the streets if he tries the misadventure. Gandapur, who belongs to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has been very vocal about his opposition to the federal government and has issued strong statements against the possibility of imposing Governor's rule in the province. The Chief Minister recently stated that he would not sit quietly if the federal government tried to impose Governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and threatened to take over the Governor's house. "I will not remain silent and if Governor Raj is imposed, we will take over the Governor's house," said Gandapur. Kundi, who recently took oath as the Governor of the province, responded to the threats with even stronger words, daring Gandapur to take the step and test his strength. "Try taking over the Governor's house, you will be dragged through the streets," the Governor dared. "I know very well how to tackle my political opponents," he added. Kundi also rejected rumours of a possible Governor's Rule in the province, stating that the political opponents are spreading false news because "they are worried about their own incompetence". Gandapur was quick to respond to Kundi's stern warning, warning him to not go beyond his limits. "You should be very careful. Even the fuel of your car is sanctioned from my budget. This Governor's house is not your property. Don't push me to the level where I am forced to declare the historic Governor's house as a heritage property and throw it open to the public as a museum. I can shift you to an old two-room quarter, so you better stay within your limits," said Gandapur. "You are a Governor and have nothing to do with politics, so don't make political statements against the CM. The CM is an elected representative and not like you, who is the product of Form-47. I have come with a mandate. I am sparing you this time, but if you don't refrain from making such statements, I will come and throw you out," he added. The war of words is expected to aggravate further in the coming days, as the KP Governor will administer oaths to the members of the provincial assembly on the reserved seats. The election for the senator would be held only after the oath-taking ceremony. Till now, the CM has delayed the oath-taking of the reserved seat members in protest against what he terms a "false mandate" given to the federal government, claiming that majority seats were won by PTIas Independent candidates, who are now part of the political party Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). However, the new Governor can initiate the oath-taking of members of reserved seats in the KP Assembly, a step that would further escalate his ongoing rivalry with the Chief Minister. Jaipur, May 11 : Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra, another mosque in Ajmer, has joined the list of controversial monuments after a few Jain seers recently claimed that signs of mythological remains of Sanskrit school and temple are still visible there. Ajmer Deputy Mayor Neeraj Jain on Saturday also claimed that there has been a Jain temple at this premises and remnants of damaged statues have been found as well. "Earlier, this place was Saraswati Kanthbharana Mahavidyalaya, which the invaders tried to capture and demolish. In the past too, we had demanded conservation and promotion of this place," Ajmer Deputy Mayor Neeraj Jain said. He said that the visit made by Jain monk seer Acharya Sagar confirmed the fact that there was a Jain temple along with a Sanskrit school at this place. He demanded a survey to be conducted at the place on the pattern of Kashi Vishwanath, Ayodhya and Mathura. "Illegal encroachment should be removed," the Deputy Mayor demanded. Jain said that seer Acharya Sunil Sagar Maharaj during his visit here confirmed that more than a hundred idols were found inside the Parhwanath cave. "There is a need for a survey here too," said Jain. The Jain seers with other activists visited the monument two days back. While talking to the media, Sunil Sagar Maharaj claimed that when he went to the Parshvanath cave, where more than a hundred idols were kept there. "This means that there must have once been a Jain temple here. These issues should be resolved through mutual understanding. Where there are mosques, they should remain, but where temples etc. have been disturbed, they should be brought back in their ancient form," Sunil Sagar Maharaj said. Soon after the seers' visit, audio of Ajmer Dargah seer Syed Sarwar Chishti went viral in which he was heard saying, "How people went inside Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra without clothes, there is also a mosque inside." Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani has strongly condemned Chishti's statement and said that he will write a letter to ASI for a survey here. On January 9, 2014, Jaipur MP Ramcharan Bohra had written a letter to the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, in which he requested for consideration of converting it to its original form (Sanskrit school and temple). The monument has a long and quite controversial history behind it. Some historians say that earlier it used to be a huge Sanskrit college, where all the modern subjects were taught in Sanskrit. When Afghan ruler Mohammad Ghori passed through here, commander Qutubuddin Aibak demolished the Sanskrit college and built a mosque in its place on his orders. A mixed glimpse of Hindu, Islamic and Jain architecture can be seen in the complex. At present, both Jain and Hindu architectural arts of that time can be seen here. The building has many literary works engraved on the stones, including excerpts from Lalita Vigraharaja Natika and Harikeli Natika. On the southern tower, there is an inscription in the name of the construction supervisor Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Arid. There are 70 pillars 25 feet high, which even today give evidence of the existence of a temple. Alexander Cunningham who was appointed as Director General of ASI in 1871 has described the building in detail in four reports and said that upon inspecting the site, he found that it was built from the ruins of several Hindu temples. Its name 'Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra' reflects the astonishing speed of its construction and that it was possible only by using free materials found ready from ruins of Hindu temples. There is a belief that a part of the mosque was made in two and a half days and hence came its name Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra. A history student Ruchika says today the situation is that most of the temples, forts, and step-wells are victims of encroachment or are in ruins. "Although the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra has been preserved since 1919, no government has made any effort to return it to its old glory. Even today, it is testifying to the religious fanaticism of the Muslim invaders," she adds. The mosque is one of the oldest in India and is also the oldest surviving monument in Ajmer. Commissioned by Aibak in 1192 CE and designed by Abu Bakr of Herat, it speaks of Indo-Islamic architecture. Hanoi, May 11 : Jewelry stores in Vietnam have been crowded with customers looking to buy gold as prices kept soaring to an all-time high of over 90 million Vietnamese dong (3,536 U.S. dollars) in recent days, Xinhua news agency, quoting VnExpress, reported. A store on Cau Giay street in capital Hanoi even had to stop accepting walk-in customers, only serving those who had already fixed an appointment, the newspaper reported Saturday. Saigon Jewelry Company gold bullion price shot up 2.6 percent to 91.8 million dong (3,607 dollars) per tael on Friday morning after reaching a record 89.5 million dong (3,517 dollars) on Thursday afternoon. Gold ring prices slightly increased by 1 percent to 76 million dong (2,987 dollars) per tael on Friday. Since the central bank began auctioning gold bars in late April, the precious metal has seen its price skyrocket. A total of 6,800 taels of gold bars have been successfully auctioned during two recent sessions in Vietnam. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces. Berlin, May 11 : More than 1,000 environmental activists participated in a protest march against the Tesla electric car factory outside Berlin on Saturday, according to the police, following clashes and arrests the previous day. The demonstrators headed from a nearby railway station to US tech billionaire Elon Musk's only European Tesla production site, in Grunheide. Several organisations had drummed up supporters for the event, aimed at warning of environmental dangers but also criticising other car manufacturers. Some protesters chanted "Down with the shares, up with water protection." The mood was tense, following Friday's clashes between police and demonstrators. "It doesn't matter if it's Tesla, VW or Mercedes: Car companies and their political supporters are responsible for selling out our lifeblood," the spokeswoman for the Disrupt Tesla group, Lucia Mende, said ahead of a planned demonstration. "We must prevent this and we will prevent it," she added. A citizens' initiative in Grunheide accused the US e-car company and the Brandenburg state government of not paying enough attention to the interests of the people in the region. "They are going through with it, they are not listening to the sensitivities of the local people," said spokesman Steffen Schorcht. "It only serves the interests of Tesla." He showed understanding for the protests. "If you're fighting and keep hitting a wall and don't know what else to do, then sometimes the only thing left is civil disobedience." Another alliance is centred on concerns about the water supply. "Tesla's luxury cars pollute and consume scarce drinking water worldwide," said spokeswoman Karolina Drzewo. She criticised the fact that a planned expansion of the plant was due to go ahead, although the majority of citizens had voted against it in a survey in Grunheide. The alliance is calling for a move away from "inefficient and climate-damaging individual transport." Musk responded to the criticism late on Friday, posting on his platform X: "Something super weird is going on, as Tesla was the *only* car company attacked!" Tesla has been producing electric cars in Grunheide since 2022. The company has always rejected the environmental accusations, claiming that water consumption has fallen and is below the industry average. Local police were braced for Saturday's protest action. "We are sensitized," said a police spokesman. A local motorway junction was sealed off and drivers were advised to avoid the area. The situation had been calm during the night and in the morning, the spokesman added. On Friday, there were repeated clashes between protesters and police officers as activists tried to enter the site. The police used pepper spray and batons. According to the police, several participants in the protests and 21 police officers were injured. Sixteen people were taken into custody. No production took place at the plant on Friday. However, a company spokeswoman said this was because employees had been granted a day off following a public holiday on Thursday. The Grunheide protests began on Wednesday and are set to continue until Sunday. They are directed against Tesla's planned expansion, which is to include a freight depot and would require forest to be cleared, as well as criticizing the production of electric cars in general. Following the public consultation in GrAnheide, in which a majority voted against the expansion, the municipality and Tesla signalled that less forest should be cleared. Activists have set up a protest camp near the car plant, occupying tree houses there since late February. The US carmaker had to stop production at the Grunheide factory for a few days in March after an arson attack on an electricity pylon. A left-wing extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack. --IANS/dpa int/as/dan Jind : , May 11 (IANS) Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda on Saturday urged the voters to ensure Congress' victory in the state in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections to be held in the sixth phase on May 25. Addressing public meetings at Safidon and Julana towns on Saturday, Hooda, the Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, said all the workers have to put in their best efforts to ensure the victory of Satpal Brahmachari, the Congress candidate from Sonipat. "Your hard work in the next 14 days will bear fruit and the Congress will form the government at the Centre. The Congress has prepared a revolutionary manifesto for the people, which will ensure the participation of every section of society. It is the responsibility of every Congress worker to take this manifesto to the people. The Congress will fulfil all its poll promises," the veteran leader said. Brahmachari said that his entire life has been dedicated to the society, and he would show the same dedication towards the people of the Sonipat Lok Sabha constituency. "Seeing the enthusiasm and affection of all communities in Sonipat, even the opponents have understood that Congress is going to win from here by a huge margin," he said. Brahmachari also claimed that crime has increased so much in Jind and Sonipat districts under the BJP rule that no one feels safe anymore. "Illegal drug trade has reached every street and village. Eradicating crime and drugs will be my priority because a mega structure of development cannot stand on the foundation of fear," he said. The BJP has pitted Rai MLA Mohan Lal Badoli against Brahmachari. Both belong to the same community. The Sonipat Lok Sabha seat comprises nine Assembly segments. Of these, Jind, Safidon, and Julana fall under Jind district, while Gohana, Sonipat, Rai, Baroda, Gannaur, and Kharkhoda come under Sonipat district. While Brahmachari hails from Jind, Badoli belongs to Sonipat. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has nominated retired SP Anoop Singh Dahiya, while rival outfit Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), once an ally of the ruling BJP in the state, has fielded Bhupinder Malik. The Congress is contesting nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. As per the seat-sharing arrangement, the party has given Kurukshetra to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has fielded Sushil Gupta. Hyderabad/Amaravati, May 11 : The high-octane poll campaign in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh came to an end on Saturday. Polling for all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, and for all 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly is scheduled on Monday (May 13). Mikes fell silent at 6 p.m., after more than three weeks of hectic campaigning which saw top leaders of national and regional parties criss-crossing the two Telugu states. Election authorities in both the states heightened their vigilance to ensure that there are no violations of rules in the 48-hour 'silence period'. Chief electoral officers have asked district election officers and superintendents of police to deal firmly with any violation of the rules. On the last day of the campaign in Telangana, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra addressed a couple of public meetings each, making a last appeal to voters for support their respective party candidates. Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy also held a couple of roadshows besides accompanying Priyanka Gandhi for the meetings in Chevella and Zaheerabad constituencies. Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who completed his bus yatra on Friday, addressed a press conference on the last day of the campaign, stressing the need for having voice of BRS in the Parliament to protect the interests of Telangana. BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao and another key leader T. Harish Rao also held a few roadshows. Telangana is witnessing a three-cornered contest in majority of Lok Sabha seats. BRS, which lost power to Congress in Assembly elections held in November 2023, is trying hard to make a comeback. The ruling Congress is looking to continue the good show while BJP is confident of improving on its performance in the recent polls. The high-voltage campaign saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J.P. Nadda, Central ministers, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and other leaders campaigning for the party with public meetings and roadshows. For the Congress, party leader Rahul Gandhi and AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a few public meetings. However, the campaign was mainly led by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who addressed 57 public meetings and corner meetings in 27 days. He also campaigned for the party in Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The BRS campaign was led by party chief KCR with his bus yatra, covering 13 constituencies in 17 days. His son KTR and nephew Harish Rao were the other star campaigners for the party. The campaign saw no-holds-barred attack by leaders with some even making personal and derogatory comments against the rivals. Interestingly, every party accused the two others of having a secret understanding. The Congress attacked BJP over alleged plans to change the Constitution and end reservations for SCs, STs and Backward Classes. The BJP hit back at Congress and also targeted BRS over corruption, appeasement politics and Muslim reservation. Both BJP and BRS tried to corner the Congress over its failure to implement the guarantees given by it in Assembly elections. Leaders of both the parties reminded Congress leaders of their commitment to implement all six guarantees in 100 days. They questioned Congress over failure to implement promises like farm loan waiver, annual financial assistance of Rs 15,000 per acre to farmers, Rs 12,000 each for agriculture labourers and monthly Rs 2,500 for every woman. The Congress leaders highlighted the schemes launched to implement promises like free bus travel, enhancing coverage under Rajiv Arogyasri to Rs 10 lakh, cooking gas cylinders for Rs 500 and 200 units of free electricity. The Chief Minister promised farm loan waiver by August 15 and reiterated commitment to implement other promises. In Andhra Pradesh, ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and the NDA alliance are locked in a direct fight in both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena Party (JSP) and BJP have come together to take on YSRCP, which is contesting all the seats on its own. Congress party, led by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's sister Y.S. Sharmila Reddy, has also fielded its candidates but it is not likely to give a fight to rivals, except in a few constituencies. For the NDA alliance, PM Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda and some other central leaders of BJP addressed a few meetings. TDP president and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena leader and actor Pawan Kalyan addressed dais with PM Modi at a couple of public meetings. YSR Congress' campaign was single-handedly led by Jagan Mohan Reddy, who conducted a bus yatra and later undertook whirl-wind tour, covering all three regions -- north coastal Andhra, south coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. While Jagan Mohan Reddy sought a fresh mandate to continue welfare schemes implemented during the last five years, the NDA partners accused him of derailing the development and encouraging liquor and land mafia. YSR Congress' failure to develop a state capital despite promising three capitals, failure to complete Polavaram project, alleged lawlessness and 'destructive' policies were the key issues raised by the opposition. TDP-JSP, in their manifesto, promised several freebies including free bus travel for women, three free gas cylinders every year to each household, monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,500 to women aged 18-59 years, creation of 20 lakh jobs in five years and monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000. It also promised that Rs 15,000 will be given annually to every school-going student through 'Thalliki Vandhanam' scheme. The amount will be credited to the bank account of the student's mother. Farmers will get financial assistance of Rs 20,000 each in a year. Protected drinking water and sewerage connection to every house is another promise made by the alliance. If voted to power, the alliance will provide uninterrupted nine-hour power supply for farmers. Solar pump-sets will also be provided free-of-cost. The BJP did not associate itself with the manifesto line with its national policy. Pune : , May 11 (IANS) The Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, said on Saturday that whenever Sharad Pawar's party becomes weak, he joins the Congress and later leaves it. Pune (Maharashtra), May 11 (IANS) The Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, said on Saturday that whenever Sharad Pawaras party becomes weak, he joins the Congress and later leaves it. Clarifying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not made an 'offer' to NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, but 'advised' him to join the NDA, the senior BJP leader said, "From 1977 till date, we have seen that whenever Sharad Pawaras party weakens, he merges with the Congress and then exits. "Sharad Pawar had said that he contested the elections on five different symbols. If we look at his political career, whenever his party became weak, he joined Congress, corrected his position, and then left the party," Fadnavis said. He said that PM Modi has advised Pawar not to merge with the Congress, which is a sinking ship, but to join the NDA. "Sharad Pawar has realised that the Ajit Pawar-led NCP nominee will win the Baramati seat. So he made a statement that the regional parties should merge with Congress after June 4. So, he knows the outcome of the elections. Already you are drowning, and now you are going to a sinking ship," Fadnavis said. On his part, Pawar has ruled out the possibility of joining the BJP-led NDA, saying that there is no question of joining "such people who have no faith in democracy". Seoul, May 11 : The players struggled on a wet and difficult day, but the Indian trio of Pranavi Urs, Vani Kapoor and Diksha Dagar were likely to make the cut in the Aramco Team Series Korea on Saturday. Pranavi and Vani were among the 54 players who had finished their second round before play was suspended because of bad weather. Diksha Dagar still had seven holes to play and will return early on Sunday to finish the second round and then play the third and final round at the Par-71 New Korea Country Club. Pranavi (69-77) was Tied-14th, down from overnight Tied-second position, while Vani (77-74) was seven-over and T-55 and Diksha Dagar (79 and 1-under through 10) was 6-over and T-50 and had seven more holes to play. The cut was likely at 7-over. When play was suspended for the day Colombiaas Mariajo Uribe was sitting one shot clear on five-under par in Seoul. Team Kang held the clubhouse lead on 23-under par in the Team event. Only the players who teed off in the morning were able to complete their rounds and half the field a" 54 players - were yet to finish their rounds. Pranavi, who was tied for second after the first round, had a choppy round with two birdies, five bogeys and a double bogey in her 77. Vani Kapoor had three birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey in her 74. Pranavi shot 5-over 77 but was sure to make the cut as she was 2-over for 36 holes. Vani Kapoor (77-74) was seven-over at T-55 and on the cut line. Diksha Dagar, playing her 100th LET event, recovered from her first round 79 and was 1-under through 10 holes and provisionally was T-50. As the rain poured down during round two at New Korea Country Club the horn sounded at 4:15pm on Saturday calling the players in. Later a decision was made to suspend the action for the remainder of the day. Uribe, winner of the NSW Womenas Open, has eight holes remaining in her second round. The Colombian started the day one shot behind home star Hoo-Jyo Kim but leapfrogged the Major winner after chipping in for an eagle on the par-5 17th. Denmarkas Nicole Broch Estrup and Germanyas Carolin Kauffmann hold the clubhouse lead on one-under par having completed their rounds on Saturday morning. World No. 8 Charley Hull shares their score with nine holes remaining in round two. Chennai, May 11 : The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Tamil Nadu Police probing the mysterious death of Tirunelveli district Congress President K.P.K. Jeyakumar Dhanasingh has found certain similarities between the case and the murder of Ramajayam, the brother of state minister K.N. Nehru. Jeyakumar had gone missing since May 2, following which his son Jebrin filed a missing complaint with the local Uravi police station. The police recovered the charred body of Jeyakumar from his farmland near his home on May 4. His body was found with the hands and legs tied and a scrubber stuffed into his mouth. Before his death, Jeyakumar had reportedly stated that some senior Congress leaders owed him money, and he was receiving threatening calls while strangers were seen near his home. It may be recalled that on March 29, 2012, Ramajayam, the brother of DMK leader K.N. Nehru, was found murdered and his body was recovered from the Tiruchi-Kallannai road. He was also kidnapped a day before his body was found with a single injury mark on his head. His hands and legs were also tied with a steel wire, and his mouth was sealed with adhesive tape. Even after 12 years of investigation, there is no trace of the killers of Ramajayam, who was an influential figure in Tiruchi and surrounding areas, considered the support base of Nehru. The CBI investigation in the case has also not been able to achieve a breakthrough. The manner in which both the bodies were found has led the police to draw similarities between the two murders. Tirunelveli SP N. Silambarasan has constituted 10 special teams to investigate the death of Jeyakumar. The police are now waiting for the forensic report of his charred body. The police have also questioned senior Congress leaders Ruby Manoharan and former Union Minister K.V. Thangabalu in connection with the mysterious death of Jeyakumar. Both Manoharan and Thangabalu have denied any money transaction with Jeyakumar, as alleged by Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai, who has demanded a CBI probe into the matter. Agartala, May 11 : Eight Bangladeshi nationals headed for Pune, including seven women, were arrested on Saturday from the Agartala railway station for illegally entering the country, the police said. The Government Railway Police (GRP) and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in a joint operation arrested the eight Bangladeshi nationals along with an Indian middleman who were about to board the Kolkata-bound Kanchanjunga Express. The detainees told the police that from Kolkata, they planned to go to Pune in Maharashtra in search of jobs. Earlier this week, 11 Bangladeshi nationals, including two women and three children, were arrested from a village in Tripura's Dhalai district while on their way back to Bagerhat district in Bangladesh's Khulna Division. According to the police, they entered West Bengal without any passport or valid documents three years ago and went to Bengaluru from there in search of jobs. Chennai, May 11 : A woman was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Gudalur in Tamil Nadu on Saturday evening. The deceased has been identified as Nagammal (72). The woman, according to the police, had gone to the forest area when the elephant attacked her. The local people immediately took her to the Gudalur Taluk hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. Chennai, May 11 : The Tamil Nadu government will release the draft of the State Education Policy after the lifting of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), a source said on Saturday. The MCC will be lifted after the announcement of Lok Sabha election results on June 4. The Tamil Nadu government had announced in the Assembly in 2021 that it would bring out an "exclusive" State Education Policy. A panel was constituted in May 2022 with retired High Court judge, Justice D. Murugesan heading it. The panel comprises educationists and experts from different other fields. Sources in the Tamil Nadu Education Department told IANS that the draft of the State Education Policy was already prepared in November 2023. However, the state minister for higher education, K. Ponmudi resigned as a legislator and also quit his ministerial position after he was convicted in a case. While the minister was reinstated following favourable court order, the announcement of Lok Sabha polls led to the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct, thereby putting the release of the draft of the State Education Policy on a hold. Sources in the school education department told IANS that after the draft of the School Education Policy is released, the final document will take more than three months to be released. Dr. Mohammed Rashid, a retired Madras University professor, told IANS that the State Education Policy has to be released at the earliest as the decision was taken after the National Education Policy was announced. He said that the management of educational institutions were expecting the announcement of the new policy since a long time. Beirut, May 12 : A Syrian smuggler was killed, and another was injured in a clash with the Lebanese army on the border separating Lebanon and Syria, Lebanese military sources told the media. The sources, who spoke anonymously, said on Saturday that the Lebanese army's Land Borders Regiments exchanged gunfire with a group of four smugglers, who were spotted trying to smuggle goods from the Lebanese side into Syria through an illegal land crossing in the Deir El Aachayer on the east of Mount Hermon Heights, east of Lebanon. The wounded man was transferred to Rashaya Governmental Hospital, while the other two escaped, the source said as quoted by Xinhua news agency report. The border separating Lebanon and Syria has witnessed smuggling and infiltration activities through illegal crossings, despite persistent attempts by Lebanese authorities to control and combat smuggling. Smuggling occurs in both directions, but smuggling from Lebanon to Syria has become more common with deteriorating economic conditions in the two countries and the sanctions imposed on Syria. This includes smuggling basic goods subsidised by the Lebanese state such as flour, fuel, and medicine. Washington, May 12 : US President Joe Biden has emphasised the responsibility of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas about the negotiations in the Gaza war over a ceasefire and the release of hostages. "You know, there would be a ceasefire tomorrow if ... Hamas released the hostages, women, the elderly, and the wounded," Biden said on Saturday at a campaign event in Medina in Washington state, according to the press travelling with him. Israel says it is up to Hamas, Biden added. The 81-year-old then reportedly went on to continue talking about Israel. In the end, however, he decided against it, it was said. The Communications Director of the National Security Council, John Kirby, had made it clear on Friday that the negotiations were at an impasse. He said it was deeply regrettable that the most recent round of negotiations in Cairo had come to nothing. As Israel and Hamas are not negotiating directly with each other, Egypt, Qatar, and the US are acting as mediators. Egypt now wants the US to persuade the two parties to the conflict to be more willing to compromise. --IANS/DPA khz Anyone believing that a second Trump defeat in the 2024 presidential election will be the end of our eight-year nightmare is in for a very rude awakening. No matter who wins this time around it promises to be ugly! Trump himself has said as much. His most fervent fantasy is a second American civil war! If Joe Biden wins Trump will call upon his MAGA cult and militia groups to sow chaos in any way they can through vandalism of infrastructure and violent disruption of the running of government at all levels. If Trump manages a victory we can count on him to quickly diminish what was a functioning democratic republic metastasizing into an autocracy. He dreams of emulating Vladimir Putin in every way including the liquidation of all political opposition. All progress achieved during Bidens first term will be erased and replaced with policy choices that ensure our decline as a world power. Rights and protections of minorities, women and immigrants will be rolled back. Forget about voting rights, mitigating our carbon footprint, lowering prescription costs, education, and standing up to the worlds tyrants. Those aspirations will disappear with the rise of our own despot-in-waiting. What we call Trumpism actually started with Newt Gingrichs teachings to the young up-and-coming Republicans. He was the original bomb-thrower. His policy was (and is): Democrats are evil, never compromise, and never settle for anything less than their total capitulation. This spawned the extreme right-wing coalitions we see in our current do-nothing Congress ready and willing to tear down society to gain control. But his Extreme Court and assorted lickspittles should not rest easy should he sully the White House a second time. They need only review the history of Joseph Stalins handling of opposition and perceived disloyalty. It's now about six months to the next D-dayDefence of Democracy! Mark Hardy Tonawanda In The Language of Climate Politics (Oxford Univ., July), Guenther analyzes profossil fuel narratives in mainstream climate news. How did the climate narrative shift from alarmism to anti-alarmism? In 2017, David Wallace-Wells wrote a New York magazine article, The Uninhabitable Earth, that compiled worst-case climate change scenarios. It introduced a new way of talking about the climate crisisbefore, scientists had tried not to scare people. Then, in 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report that said even two degrees Celsius of warming would be a disaster. But some guys on Twitter started complaining that these alarmist scenarios werent taking into account decarbonization over time. Two scientists modeled a gentler, decarbonization-based scenario. Wallace-Wells wrote about their research in a 2021 article that said, We dont need to be so alarmed anymore. Wallace-Wells, to his credit, listens to the science, so he laid out this new, optimistic scientific story. So now anti-alarmism is mainstream. And its propagandistic? Right. The anti-alarmism position is that climate change is real, but its not going to be so bad, it just needs to be managed; that its even okay to keep expanding fossil fuels. Right-wing policymakers used this as a basis to start claiming the climate alarm of the past five years had been unwarranted, even though no new climate policy had been passed. What about the terms cost and growth? The prohibitive cost of decarbonization comes from economic modeling by Ted Nordhaus that makes a big assumption that GDP will continue growing no matter how hot the planet gets. That work is based on perpetual growth, which was modeled in the 1950s by Robert Solow, Nordhauss PhD adviser; that model was purely hypothetical, because it presumed the constant growth of land. However, Solow speculated that maybe you could substitute technological innovation for landand presume tech would grow indefinitely instead. All these assumptions dont match what were seeing: global heating will likely lower GDP, decarbonization will put money in most peoples pockets, and capitalism is working against the technological change we need. Energy companies are resisting decarbonization because they know they wont make the same profits. How can journalists avoid repeating interest groups talking points? Be more discerning of academics. Before, I thought that the IPCC, for instance, only reported hard earth science. Once I started researching, I was like, holy shit, some of these people are economists and engineers! And their assumptions go unexamined! Maria Sweeney offers candid glimpses of living with a disability in her graphic memoir Brittle Joints (Street Noise, June). You open up so vulnerably in this book about living with Bruck syndrome. What made you decide to dive into that? I think it is a personality trait: youre either going to put your heart on your sleeve through your art, or not. Bruck syndrome is so rarebut there are other people with it. When I was adopted, we knew I had some disabilities, but it wasnt until I was about 12 or 13 that we really got an accurate diagnosis. I also wanted to help clear the road for other disabled people. It makes it real to see it in media. It shows we have beautiful lives, and with an accurate diagnosis, we can have better lives. Why tell the story in vignettes? I was reading a lot of underground Philly zines, and I like the work of Ozu, a Japanese director, who used a lot of short vignettes. But trauma makes it much easier for me to break up the things that have happened. Crafting a story about my life has to be compartmentalizedI can structure a vignette, then take it away. How did creating this book help you reflect on your experience with pain? Because its a brittle bone disease, the pain is constant and the fractures dont always heal. When other people break their femur, its treated very seriously. I have concurrent fractures, my disease is ongoing, so you sort of have to pretend the breaks dont matter because if you really thought about it, itd be too much. But Ive been in a stable enough position to say to myself, your pain matters. I was able to access pain relief, physical therapy, and mental health therapy, which makes the experience of pain very real. Water, plants, and the natural environment are motifs. What does nature mean to you? Growing up in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, I was always surrounded by nature. Nature gives us everything we need, and being in water has so much healing for me. Cannabis has also helped me sustain myself, without more addictive medication, through a lot of my daily pain. When I use it, it just goes right to my joints. Its a very functional experience. What role does ableism play in your life? Most disabled people live in unique housing and employment situations. Theres no support system set up for families with disabled children. Ive had to deal with ableism at every stage of my life. Ive had to put my body at risk just to do normal thingsand that really weighs on you. When I wrote this book, I wanted to educate, and yell out my anger. My disabled community focuses on person-centered support: they might not have the answers, but they want to help you in ways that actually support you. A Rising Tide Journalist Erik Larsons The Demon of Unrest is the #2 book in the country. Larson recreates the five-month period between Abraham Lincolns 1861 election and the outbreak of the Civil War, focusing on the intensifying showdown over Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., per our starred review, in a mesmerizing and disconcerting look at an era when consensus dissolved into deadly polarization. One thing not up for debate: the author, whose earlier books include The Devil in the White City, maintains a hold on readers. TikTok Boom Thanks to the embattled social media platform, romantasy is as hot among YA readers as it is with adults. New this week: Powerful by Lauren Roberts, the #7 book in the country and a shorter volume set in the world of the planned trilogy she launched with 2023s Powerless. Roberts began making TikTok videos at age 16 and started writing Powerless two years later; Simon & Schuster acquired the series. I would not be where I am today if it werent for BookTok, she told PW in a prepub interview. By the time I self-published Powerless, I had amassed this group of fans for a book they hadnt even read yet, but they were there for the entire journey. In Clubland Rachel Khongs Real Americans, tapped by Audacious Book Club, B&N, PBS, and Read with Jenna, lands at #10 on our hardcover fiction list. Its an impressive family drama, per our review, which singled out the authors portrayals of differing cultural styles of parental love. In a prepub interview with PW, Khong explained why the theme resonates for her. My parents are Chinese but from Malaysia, and there is a disconnect in how we communicate with one another, she said. I think I just want to hear more positive reinforcement and they just want me to exist in the same room as them. NEW & NOTABLE King of Sloth Ana Huang #1 Trade Paperback, #1 overall The latest entry in Huangs Kings of Sin seriesseven interconnected novels, each starring a different billionaire bachelor who embodies one of the seven deadly sinssold 30K more print copies in its first week than its predecessor, King of Greed, did. The New Menopause Mary Claire Haver #2 Hardcover Nonfiction, #4 overall Obstetrician/gynecologist Haver delivers a primer on the biology of menopause and the available treatments for its symptoms. Readers will welcome the affirming tone, our review said, of this informative manual on an important yet underdiscussed health matter." Correction: A previous version of this story referred to Lauren Roberts's Powerful as the sequel to Powerless; it's a shorter volume that takes place at the same time as the first book. The article has been updated with a clarification. In his main segment last Sunday on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver took on the issue of book banning, and did a very good job capturing the state of play. Most notably, he talked about the issue for what it is: an organized right wing political attack. Plus, he took down Book Looks. And his conclusion was on point: our public libraries need support. If you missed the segment, you can watch it on YouTube here. But even if you've already see the clip, check out the YouTube post anyway just to read the comments. And yes, I can't believe I'm actually suggesting that anyone read the online comments. But in this case, it's worth it. As we reported in Publishers Weekly this week, a group of families and librarians have filed a federal lawsuit this week seeking to block the implementation of new library material policies enacted by the Autauga-Prattville Public Library Board of Trustees in Alabama. The suit was filed by the grassroots advocacy group Read Freely Alabama, the Alabama Library Association, and a group of families, with support from Democracy Forward, a nonprofit legal organization that works with local communities around the country to challenge book bans. "This is about who should get to decide what books our kids get to readparents or politicians," said Angie Hayden of Read Freely Alabama, in a statement. The suit comes amid a months-long drama which saw allies of right wing group Clean Up Prattville take over the library board and abruptly fire the Autauga-Prattville Public Library director Andrew Foster. It also comes amid a statewide effort to bar librarians from associating with the American Library Association and a battle over new statewide library materials policies for public libraries. EveryLibrary's John Chrastka has also weighed in on the suit. The post is (as always) on the mark, and it includes links to the court documents and various news coverage. "EveryLibrary affirms its commitment to supporting the plaintiffs in this critical lawsuit," it reads. "We call on the library sector, First Amendment stakeholders, and anyone concerned with anti-discrimination to pay close attention to this case. Together, we must stand vigilant against any attempts to erode our fundamental rights and ensure that our libraries continue to serve everyone without fear or favor." Also in Alabama, WAFF 48 reports on librarian reaction to a pending bill that would expose librarians to criminal charges for making allegedly obscene books available to minors. "Cindy Hewitt, the Executive Director of the Huntsville-Madison County library, said shes worried about what will happen to librarians across the state if House Bill 385 is passed. 'I mean, frankly, you know, every library in the state is looking at this and saying, we dont know how we can operate under this kind of law,' said Hewitt." In North Carolina, WUNC reports that Franklin County has proposed a budget that would would eliminate all librarian positions in the next school year, with "media assistants" proposed in the librarians' place. "The NC School Library Media Association (NCSLMA), which advocates for school librarians, called the decision 'unconscionable,'" the report notes. "Media assistants 'lack the Master's level education and specific state-mandated training essential for a licensed School Library Media Specialist. As certified instructional personnel, school librarians are specialists in information literacy, a competency increasingly recognized as critical to student success in higher education and the workforce,' the group said in a statement." And finally this week, at Book Riot, Kelly Jensen begins her weekly censorship news roundup with a primer on how to prepare for Pride month. "For libraries, Pride has traditionally been a month for joyful displays of queer books, with periodic and predictable complaints. But several years into surging book bans, escalating violence, and rising fascism now, it is important to prepare for the upcoming month of events to anticipate all that has, does, and might arise," she writes. "If youre not involved in libraries, let this be an opportunity to plan not only what to do when you see a Pride display in your local library, but also to take action and write your local library board about how important it is that the library offers LGBTQ+ books and centered programming." The Week in Libraries is a weekly opinion and news column. News, tips, submissions, questions or comments are welcome, and can be submitted via email. Previous columns can be viewed here. Amid a three-year nationwide surge in book bans, 2024 began on a hopeful note for freedom-to-read advocates, with legal victories in book-banning lawsuits in Iowa, Florida, and Texas. But after some early successes, several cases are poised to enter a critical next phase. As the wheels of justice grind on, PW rounded up the status of some of the more closely watched book-banning suits. In Texas Perhaps no lawsuit has generated more attention than the challenge to HB 900 in Texas, which, among its provisions, would have forced booksellers in the state to rate books for sexual content as a condition of doing business with Texas public schools. In January, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld district court judge Alan D. Albrights decision to block the most odious parts of the law. But a subsequent order from the Fifth Circuit has delivered something of wake-up call for freedom-to-read advocates. On April 16, the court declined the states motion to have their appeal reheard en banc by the full Fifth Circuit, letting Albrights decision stand. But the nine-to-eight vote was a little too close for comfort. Furthermore, five of the 17 Fifth Circuit judges filed a dissent suggesting they would have overturned Albright. The fight over HB 900 still may not be over. Despite the Fifth Circuit deciding the case in Januarywhich would put the case beyond the usual 90-day window to petition the Supreme Court for reviewlawyers told PW the Fifth Circuits delay in issuing a final mandate has extended the deadline to July 15. At press time, state officials have not said whether they intend to petition the Supreme Court. Another closely watched Texas case remains undecided before the Fifth Circuit, despite the appeal being heard nearly a year ago. The case, Little v. Llano County, was first filed by a group of library patrons in April 2022 and accuses Llano County officials of unconstitutionally removing allegedly inappropriate books from library shelves. In March 2023, a federal judge found for the plaintiffs and ordered the removed books to be returned to library shelves. Llano County officials then appealed to the Fifth Circuit, where oral arguments were heard last June. At the hearing, one of the panels conservative judges, Kyle Duncan (who also signed on to the April 16 dissent in the HB 900 case), extensively questioned why county officials couldnt just remove pornographic books from library shelves, even though that wasnt at issue in the appeal. Indeed, Llano Countys main argument was that the books were not removed because of their content but as part of a simple weeding exercise. For now, the books are back on library shelves. But court watchers told PW the lengthy wait for this decision is puzzling. In Alaska In another closely watched case featuring library books, federal judge Sharon Gleason is weighing whether to order dozens of books taken from library shelves in the Mat-Su Borough School District in Alaska returned while a lawsuit challenging their removal is heard. Filed in November 2023 by a group of eight plaintiffs, and supported by the ACLU of Alaska and advocacy group the Northern Justice Project, the suit accuses administrators in the Mat-Su district, located just north of Anchorage, of pulling 56 titles from school libraries without any formal review, based solely on a handful of complaints. The books include classics like Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye, a number of books by and about people of color and the LGBTQ community, and titles covering adolescent health. At an April 1 hearing, attorneys for the school board told the judge a review of the books was ongoing. Lawyers for plaintiffs noted that the districts review committee wasnt even assembled until after the books were removed. Gleason was expected to rule within two weeks, as the school year is winding down, but it has now been nearly six weeks since the hearing. In Iowa Freedom-to-read advocates celebrated a big win back in December when a federal judge blocked parts of Iowa state law SF 496, one of the nations most contentious book-banning bills. But the states appeal to overturn the block is heating up. Signed into law in May 2023, SF 496 seeks to ban from school libraries all books with depictions of sex as well as all materials and instruction involving gender identity and sexual orientation for students through sixth grade. But in his December 29 decision, judge Stephen Locher found the bill was unlikely to satisfy the First Amendment under any standard of scrutiny. In her March appeal brief, Iowa attorney general Brenna Bird told the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that Lochers injunction risks students irreversible exposure to inappropriate materials. In their response, filed last month, the plaintiffswhich include Penguin Random House, the Iowa State Education Association, a group of authors, a coalition of Iowa parents and students, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU of Iowacountered that any law that requires librarians to remove hundreds of award-winning, classic, and other educationally valuable fiction and nonfiction books has no constitutional justification. Meanwhile, in a show of solidarity, five more publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks) signed on to the suit in April. As of last week, the states appeal is now briefed and oral argument is set for June 11 in St. Paul, Minnesota. In Florida In January, federal judge T. Kent Wetherell ruled that a federal lawsuit over book bans in the Escambia County School District can proceeda significant win after the judge initially expressed skepticism about the viability of the suit. Filed in May 2023 by PEN America, Penguin Random House, a group of parents, and a group of authors including David Levithan, George M. Johnson, Ashley Hope Perez, and Kyle Lukoff, the suit alleges that school administrators are disproportionately targeting for removal books by and about the LGBTQ community and people of color. The case is now in discovery, which is proceeding, albeit slowly. And barring a settlement, this case is likely to hang around. Last month, Wetherell extended the discovery deadlines to mid-October. In Arkansas Last July, federal judge Timothy Brooks temporarily blocked two key provisions of Act 372, a controversial law that would have exposed librarians, teachers, and booksellers for exposing minors to allegedly harmful materials. On May 16, Tess Vrbin reported in the Arkansas Advocate that the plaintiffs are now seeking a permanent injunction. In his ruling, Brooks concluded that portions of the law are "too vague to be understood and implemented effectively" and that, if enacted, would "permit, if not encourage, library committees and local governmental bodies to make censorship decisions based on content or viewpoint, which would violate the First Amendment." The case was filed on behalf of a library-led coalition of 18 plaintiffs, including the Central Arkansas Library System and a powerful alliance of library, publishing, author, bookseller, and advocacy groups, including the Freedom to Read Foundation (the ALA's First Amendment Defense arm), the Association of American Publishers, the American Booksellers Association, the Authors Guild, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and Democracy Forward. The case is scheduled for trial in October. This article has been updated The fake relationship tropepretend lovers who wind up falling in loveis a beloved rom-com staple, equally at home in 90s movies like While You Were Sleeping and recent books including Ali Hazelwoods The Love Hypothesis. For as silly as it is, its such a hopeful trope, says author K.J. Micciche. It can make a reader feel like there are endless opportunities to fall in love. Micciches book is one of many this season that hinges on the enduring ploy. PW asked authors for their thoughts on its continued appeal. The pretenders In A Storybook Wedding (Sourcebooks Casablanca, May)Micciches sparkling sophomore outing, per PWs reviewlibrarian and aspiring YA author Cecily Jane Allerton and her MFA instructor Nate Ellis are caught kissing by Cecilys snobby classmates. To quiet the haters, avoid accusations of fraternizing by program administrators, and save Nates career, the pair fake-marry. Its an outlandish moment, Micciche says. The reader thinks, Whoa, thats crazy, and, I hope, is willing to follow along for the next 200 pages. Livy Hart, author of Great Dating Fake Off (Amara, Aug.), likewise enjoys the theatricality and preposterousness of the trope. What makes it so popular is the performance element, she says. Every fake dating book has that moment where two people are aware theyre putting on this show. Her new book features not one but two fake relationships: Nora and Reid, whove quietly burned for each other over dozens of meet-cutes in Noras bookstore, each end up fake-dating a friend in order to mollify that friends meddling family and must maintain their respective charades while managing their feelings for each other. As a writer, I can do things that arent realistic, Hart says, because theres that facade of performance. Deploying a popular trope, says author Sarah T. Dubb, allows writers to play to, and with, expectations. When theres a fake relationship plot, our readers know the characters are going to be at a party, playing it up for others. Theyre going to kiss to prove theyre a couple. Theyre both going to say, This is fake. It comes built-in with anticipated moments. In Dubbs Birding with Benefits (Gallery, June), recent divorcee Celeste Johanssen finds herself, through a series of miscommunications, playing fake girlfriend and field partner to birding enthusiast John Maguire. Both characters are in their 40s and have sworn off dating, Dubb says, but agree to a friends-with-benefits situation for the duration of a birding competition. PW calls Dubbs debut charming and praises its red-hot love scenes, adding, Dubb pulls off the fake-boyfriend trope with ease and mines her own experiences with birding in Tucson to add authenticity to Johns passion. Yours truly Were there any doubt that the fake relationship is having a moment, several seasoned romance writers are exploring the plot device for the first time. Dena Blake has written numerous tropey lesbian romancesenemies to lovers, second chance, amnesia, and othersbut Three Blissful Days (Bold Strokes, Nov.) is her first fake relationship story. To spite her ex, Kendall Jackson fake-dates Ivy Patterson, who just wants her mother to stop sending her on terrible blind dates. Kendall and Ivy dislike each other from the get-go, Blake says. They irritate each other. It was fun to write. The book has banter, a slow buildup to a first kiss, and a bit of angst. This facade isnt their whole selvesthey reveal their inner selves and make themselves vulnerable. In A Gamble at Sunset (Zebra, May), which launches Vanessa Rileys new Regency series, Georgina Wilcox and nerdy composer Lord Mark Sebastian are caught kissing and, in order to save their reputations, pretend to be engaged. With the fake relationship plot, Riley says, readers get to experience the thrill of, Theyre going to bust us and figure out that were fake. This is a romance. Theyre coming for that gamble. Theres also that moment of discovery, she says. When does it feel real? When will it become real? PWs starred review found much to appreciate: Riley renders the Regency in living color, with impressive historical detail and an admirably diverse cast. Jean Meltzer, whos published one romance per year since debuting with 2021s The Matzah Ball, had fake-dating trappings in mind when she conjured Magical Meet Cute (Mira, Aug.). After antisemitic flyers blanket Faye Kaplans hippie town in Upstate New York, targeting her and other members of her synagogue, the lonely potter attempts to summon a golem, an ancient Jewish protector. The next day, a mysterious man turns upand, hungover, she accidentally hits him with her bicycle. Faye cant help but wonder whether her drunken magic had anything to do with his appearance. In order to get the seemingly concussed and amnesiac manwho may or may not be a golemout of the hospital, Faye pretends hes her husband. Though the ruse doesnt last beyond the institutions doors, Meltzer leans on the built-in frisson of the trope. Theyre on the page, together, a lot, she says. Theyre debating every move and every sentence. Its an amped-up metaphor for the experience of falling in love, and it propels the writing. Fake dating stories are all drama and fun, Meltzer adds. Theres lots of swoony is-this-real, is-this-not tension. And for me, as someone who was surprised by love, theres something very human about falling for someone you never expected to fall for. Does he know? First-time authors, too, are finding inspiration in the fake dating trope. Aurora Palits Sunshine and Spice (Berkley, Sept.) weds the conceit to a cultural norm: arranged marriage. Dev Mukherjees formidable mother hires a matchmaker to find him a suitable bride but is thwarted when a potential match assumes that Naomi Kelly, who has grown up without ties to their shared Bengali culture, is his girlfriend. The immigrant experience is unique for each person and each family, Palit says. She wanted to explore the perspectives of someone who might feel completely out of touch with a culture and someone whos knee deep in it. Deploying the fake dating trope felt just right for this context. You dont always know what youre supposed to be doing or how youre supposed to be feeling or where you fitbut theres hope, and you deserve love. In The Next Best Fling (Forever, July), the first book in Gabriella Gamezs Librarians in Love series, bookish Marcela Ortiz and ex-NFL player Theo Young fake a relationship to heal their broken hearts. Real dating is just so hard, Gamez says. Better to start a relationship with fake dating. She attributes the tropes popularity to readers desire for escapism. Its fun to see characters flail when they start to catch feelingsOh no, this wasnt part of the deal!and be unable to resist. Theres a lot of that in this book. A former library employee herself, Gamez voraciously consumes Romance-landia BookTube and BookTok. Lately, she says, Ive heard influencers say theyre getting tired of the tropes. But she and other romance authors interviewed for this article revel in its infinite iterations. There are so many new and inventive ways that you can play with it. Pooja Makhijani is a writer and editor in New Jersey. Read more from our Romance feature: 3 of Hearts: Astrology and Tarot in Romance Novels A rising interest in astrology, tarot, and other divination practices is manifesting in forthcoming romance novels. 5 New Romance Novels with Older Protagonists These books embrace love in lifes second and third acts. 4 New Reality TV Romance Novels Authors mine the genre for all its drama, competition, and aspiration. Premium online access is only available tosubscribers. If you have an active subscription and need to set up or change your password, please click here New to PW? To set up immediate access, click here. NOTE: If you had a previous PW subscription, click here to reactivate your immediate access. PW site license members have access to PWs subscriber-only website content. If working at an office location and you are not "logged in", simply close and relaunch your preferred browser. For off-site access, click here. To find out more about PWs site license subscription options, please email Mike Popalardo at: mike@nextstepsmarketing.com. Congress recently approved a $60.8 billion package to address the war in Ukraine. While President Joe Biden has expressed that the United States will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, a specific strategy and end state for the war in Ukraine has not been articulated. More money, ammunition and weapons may provide support to forces at the tactical level of war, but they do not necessarily provide answers to vital strategic questions about the direction of the war in Ukraine. Is Ukraine waging an unlimited war to retake all occupied territory since 2022? Does its leadership also seek to retake Crimea? Or does it seek another strategic end state, such as locking in todays battlefield lines? Each of these courses of action describe in loose parameters what winning would look like under a theory of victory and would elicit unique strategic, operational and tactical responses. Unfortunately, at a time when the United States continues to pump more money into the war, a theory of victory has not been clearly described by Ukrainian or American leaders. It is also unclear how more weapons, money and ammunition on their own will substantially remake the war, as Ukraine has pushed past its culminating point with diminishing returns, even after the United States and allies have provided billions of dollars worth of aid to Ukraine. By summer 2022, Ukraine reached a culminating point. It achieved a string of victories against Russia, including by retaking significant territory in the Kherson region. However, Ukraine and American leaders, drunk on the victories of the summer of 2022, pushed past this culminating point, some even calling for the recapture of Crimea, and demanding regime change in Russia. By continuing past this culminating point, Ukraine runs the risk of diminishing returns. Carl von Clausewitz warns that to overstep this point, is more than simply a useless expenditure of power, yielding no further result, it is a destructive step which causesdisproportionate effects. While it is possible for a force to achieve multiple culminating points, it is unclear if another will materialize, even with more foreign assistance. Prior to this most recent tranche of aid and since the onset of the war, Congress enacted four separate packages of aid for Ukraine, totaling $113.4 billion in emergency appropriations. Last summer, Ukraines planned offensive met strong resistance, and could have achieved another culminating point, but did not. By November 2023, then Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi explained that the war had reached a stalemate. Within five months, Ukrainian forces had only managed to reclaim 17 kilometers, or ten miles, of territory. However, it seems that Russias forces appear to be strengthening, at least in size, with a plan to grow its force from 1.15 million people to 1.5 million people. Though Ukraine calls for more aid, it is arguably their lack of adequate manpower that is a more pressing concern. Ukraine lowered its age for draft-eligible men, but has yet to invoke it. Despite challenges faced by Ukraine, complex questions related to war termination have also not been answered. Specifically, it is unclear how Ukraine will rebuild after the war. Will the United States and the international community foot the bill or is Ukraine expected to rebuild on its own? Additionally, it's unclear if the US and allies will provide security guarantees to Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently suggested that Ukraine will join NATO. However, leaders have promised Ukraine membership into the alliance for over a decade. Any actualized entry of Ukraine into NATO may jeopardize a peaceful settlement, as Russia feels strongly that Ukraine should not be part of the alliance. It is true that the enemy gets a vote, which makes it unwise to disregard Russias perspective at the negotiating table. States have imposed wide-sweeping sanctions on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and its allies may need to address what conditions Russia will need to meet in order to remove those sanctions. States have seized Russian assets, some of which may be repurposed for the war in Ukraine. But out of what remains, what conditions will Russia need to meet in order to reclaim these assets? In addition to Ukraine and the United States, other members of the pro-Ukraine coalition, including European allies and partners, could play a role in war termination, simply because these states will need to live with the realities of a war-torn country in their neighborhood. This doesnt even take into consideration perhaps the most complex question of territorial claims. What will the actors in the conflict do with Russian occupied territory? Will the international community view it as it viewed Crimea after Russia took it by force in 2014? Would Ukraine and Russia accept a demarcation zone, similar to the one separating North and South Korea? Or would Ukraine and Russia seek another approach? The devil is in the details. Simply standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes is not a strategy. If the United States is investing another $60 billion of US taxpayer dollars in Ukraine, Americans deserve answers on the fundamental strategic approach of the war, as well as a theory on what will happen when it is over. Demri Scott Greggo is a Contributing Fellow at Defense Priorities. Disney announced Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires on the Disney Zombies YouTube channel in April. Chandler Kinney, who plays the werewolf Willa in the franchise, spoke to UPI from the set in New Zealand, with one week left in production. ADVERTISEMENT "We're bringing five new amazing cast members into our family," Kinney told UPI in a Zoom interview for her Max series Pretty Little Liars: Summer School. "I just can't wait for people to meet them." 2018's Disney Channel movie Zombies was a romantic musical about the love story between Zombie Zed (Milo Manheim) and human Addison (Meg Donnelly). 2020's Zombies 2 introduced werewolves, which was when Kinney joined the cast. 2022's Zombies 3 introduced aliens. Kinney said vampires still make an impression despite all the supernatural beings the characters have met. "They're somehow always surprised when they come across a new species," Kinney said. "They've never really had the opportunity to venture far outside of Seabrook. This movie, they get to." Kinney said Zombies 4 picks up at the end of freshman year in college. The gang is about to enjoy summer vacation when the new story kicks off. "They're going off to camp and get a little sidetracked," Kinney said. "[They] end up meeting some new friends along the way." Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires is due on Disney+ next year. UPI will present Kinney's Pretty Little Liars interview later this month. The paratroopers floated down after springing out of the C-17 Globemaster aircraft under a deep blue sky into swirling winds as they descended a thousand feet into a vast barren field before regrouping under treeline cover for the mission ahead. The air assault by British and American forces is preparing troops for frontline combat as part of Natos largest ever exercise since the end of the Cold War, aimed at confronting Russia in a European security landscape fractured by the Ukraine War. Britains 16 Air Assault Brigade and the USs 82nd Airborne Division will be part of a rapid reaction force if the confrontation between the West and the Kremlin spirals into open conflict. More than 90,000 troops are engaged in military drills in seven countries ranging from the Baltic to the Balkans in preparation for this dire scenario unfolding. After being pushed back following the initial invasion, Russian forces are on the offensive in the Donbas in Ukraine and attempting to open another front towards Kharkiv. Five villages have fallen near the countrys second city, with artillery and airstrikes hitting 30 other towns and villages. The Nato exercises over Estonia (Will Harrison) In Washington, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged: It is possible that Russia will make further advances in the coming weeks. But he insisted that a new arms package being delivered to Kyiv after being passed by the US Congress would prevent any major breakthroughs. Emmanuel Macron has raised the prospect of French and other Nato forces being deployed to help Ukraine a move not backed at present by other member states. But Exercise Steadfast Defender, of which the British led Swift Response in Estonia is a key part, is honing tactics in case an emboldened Kremlin seeks to use its military muscle in other countries which were once part of the Soviet Union. Paratrooper from the 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, ahead of the jump (Cpl Aaron J Stone/MoD) Brigadier Mark Berry, commander of the 16 Air Assault Brigade, wanted to stress that parachuting into combat remains an important and viable tactic. Speaking at Nurmsi, in north-central Estonia, where the air drop was taking place, he said: I think it is an extremely realistic capability. Not only does parachuting have a role in a combat situation, it also has a role in terms of reaching difficult areas to access for humanitarian disasters as well as combat. It allows us to project force very rapidly. So its as relevant today, in the context of potential Russian invasion, as it has ever been. In fact, it is relevant in any combat situation anywhere in the world. Moscow has invested significantly in airborne forces in recent times. Four years ago, Russian paratroopers carried out the first ever Arctic parachute descent, using oxygen and jumping from an Ilyushin troop transporter at 30,000 feet. The troops then carried out a three-day mock battle in the icy fastness. British and US paratroopers take part in the Swift Response military exercise near Nurms (Reuters) The feat was acknowledged by Western militaries, which also expressed alarm at what appeared to be plans for establishing further control in the High Arctic by the Kremlin. Since then, however, Russian airborne forces have suffered big losses in Ukraine having to go into battle as infantry with inadequate fire support, with commanders using the elite troops to carry out human wave attacks in the Donbas and the south. The last time British troops took part in an air assault in conflict was in 1956 when the UK, France and Israel attacked Egypt after the countrys leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, nationalised the Suez Canal. Troops of the Parachute Regiment successfully captured a military airfield, and then destroyed coastal defences. British army 16 Air Assault brigade commander Mark Berry (Reuters) The three countries, however, were forced to withdraw their forces when US president Dwight Eisenhower, whose administration had not been informed about the attack on Egypt, organised a UN resolution condemning the invasion and then forced a ceasefire agreement. Some of the British soldiers taking part in the jump in Estonia felt confident they would get a chance to show their skills in combat in the future. Corporal Thomas Skeld, of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, said: I certainly hope, think, that is the case. That is what we have trained for. Air assault gives us the opportunity to carry out operations in a fast and agile way. We are a fit lot and we can go in carrying on foot, carrying our kit, after we get on the ground. Bombardier Ryan Shaves, of the Royal Horse Artillery, added: It depends on what type of operation youre going into, theres every chance, I think, in a conventional operation. How will we do against Russia? I wouldnt like to say whether wed win or lose: but we are not on our own. We are a part of Nato. Our forces, together, are stronger than Russias. Insurance sector regulator IRDAI has given conditional approval to Hinduja Group firm IndusInd International Holdings Ltd (IIHL) for the takeover of debt-ridden Reliance Capital. Photograph: Kind courtesy, Hinduja Foundation "We are happy to acknowledge the receipt of approval from IRDAI yesterday (May 10, 2024) on the auspicious occasion of Akshay Tritiya. "The approval is subject to certain 'regulatory, statutory, and judicial' clearances/compliances," an IIHL spokesperson said in a statement. IIHL stands committed to working towards obtaining the same as soon as possible and aims to close this transaction by the NCLT's stipulated date of May 27, 2024, the spokesperson said. "We take this opportunity to thank all stakeholders including regulators and the administrator for their timely support," it said. IRDAI approval is crucial for the transfer of insurance businesses of Reliance Capital i.e. Reliance General Insurance and Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, to the IIHL. Reliance Capital is one of the promoters of Reliance General Insurance and Reliance Nippon Life Insurance. The National Company Law Tribunal on February 27, 2024, approved Hinduja Group firm IndusInd International Holdings Ltd's Rs 9,650-crore resolution plan for Reliance Capital. In November 2021, the Reserve Bank superseded the board of Reliance Capital on governance issues and payment defaults by the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company. The central bank had appointed Nageswara Rao Y as the administrator, who invited bids in February 2022 to take over the company. Reliance Capital had a debt of over Rs 40,000 crore, and four applicants had initially bid with resolution plans. However, the committee of creditors rejected all four plans for lower bid values and a challenge mechanism was initiated in which IIHL and Torrent Investments participated. In June 2023, the Hinduja Group firm was selected by the committee for its bid of Rs 9,661 crore upfront cash. Reliance Capital's cash balance of an additional Rs 500 crore would also go to the lenders. The deal to acquire the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's financial services arm for Rs 9,650-crore has already received all the other statutory approvals including from the banking and capital markets regulators and also fair play watchdog CCI. The Irdai had reportedly expressed certain concerns about the deal including potential violations of foreign direct investment caps in insurance companies, reliance on borrowings to buy insurance entities and also opacity in IIHL's structure. A few days ago, chairman Ashok Hinduja had said that the Mauritius-based IIHL will pay off lenders within 48 hours of getting the Irdai nod and had tied up debt funding of Rs 7,500-crore for the deal. The rest of the Rs 2,000 crore will come in as equity from IIHL, which has investments from 600 high net individuals including a 9.9 per cent stake by the Hindujas. A set of teams from IIHL are already interacting with RCAP businesses and formulating strategies, he had said, adding that all the talent at RCAP will be retained. There are retirements or end of terms of some senior officials in few of the entities within RCAP including board members, and the same will see replacements, Hinduja had said. Once the takeover is complete, IIHL plans to divest the real estate investments which also come along with the transaction, Hinduja said, adding that this will fetch it around Rs 250 crore. The near-term objective is to maximise the value for IIHL's shareholders, the chairman said, adding that he wants to grow the market cap of IIHL's listed financial services businesses to touch $50 billion by 2030. According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi with RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat at the Ram mandir pran pratishta ceremony in Ayodhya, January 22, 2024. All photographs: ANI Photo By telling the voters that the Bharatiya Janata Party won't win more than 150 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi might have paid back Narendra Modi in his own coin. At least Modi and his entourage, including the 'Modi family' on social media, have stopped talking about their party bagging 370 seats and their NDA partners another 30, taking the grand total beyond 400 in the 543-member House. Granting that Rahul's dreams come true, where does it leave his Congress party? Will the party get at least double the 52 seats in the current Lok Sabha, to become the natural claimant to the post-poll leadership of the Opposition INDIA combine and the prime minister's post? Or, will the party have to fight it out with allies, who might corner many of the seats that Rahul hopes that the alliance would take away from the BJP, for the top job and all that goes with it? Assuming the greatest of assumptions that the Congress gets all seats in party-ruled Karnataka (28) and Telangana (17), and also all 20 in Kerala, and the 10 seats under the ruling DMK's care in Tamil Nadu, the figure does not add up to, say, a hundred. If some reports are to be believed, INDIA combine leaders, especially Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, have a sympathetic voter upset with the BJP for splitting their parties in Maharashtra, but will it translate as votes for their Congress ally, too, in 18 of the total 48 seats that they are contesting? The same is true of the nine seats that the Congress is contesting under the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar (total: 40) and 17 in UP (80). No one is talking about the Congress making it big in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh (29) and Rajasthan (25), where it is a straight fight between the two parties. The question is also will the pro-AAP sympathy vote, if any, in the aftermath of Arvind Kejriwal's arrest help the party win its three of seven alliance seats in capital Delhi. It does not stop here. In states like West Bengal (42), Gujarat (26) and Odhisa (21), the Congress is nowhere in the race in the strict sense of the term. Then there are smaller states like Andhra Pradesh (25), Chhattisgarh (11) and Jharkhand (14), Punjab (13) and Haryana (10), where all the Congress can hope is to pick up one, two or a few more seats, almost at random. Do these figures add up to a hundred? IMAGE: RSS cadres march on the occasion of Gudi Padwa and RSS founder K B Hedgewar's birth anniversary in Nagpur, April 9, 2024. Yet, the Congress and Rahul may draw more support from among the ambitious leaders and parties in the INDIA combine, if at all they were to wrest power from the BJP-NDA and Modi. Tamil Nadu's DMK Chief Minister M K Stalin will be the first to endorse both, followed possibly by the Tejaswi Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav -- who may want to bury their ambitions for another day, and focus more on retaining their post-poll regional hold for a long, long time to come. Likewise, pending his court case, Kejriwal would have little choice but to 'kill' his prime ministerial ambitions. He will have little choice but to sail with the wind. That should leave West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, who will find it difficult to suppress her prime ministerial ambitions -- that is if she wins most of the state's 42 MP seats. What if neither the BJP-NDA, nor the INDIA combine makes the grade, and neither crosses the 273 threshold? What if the BJD in Odisha, YSR Congress in Andhra and smaller parties in the north east end up holding the dice? It would be an interesting proposition to watch unfolding, and no amount of crystal-gazing now is going to help. IMAGE: Mohan Bhagwat, left, with RSS Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale at the RSS's national executive board meeting in Prayagraj. If still, the Congress is in the news, it is more because Modi is talking about the party and Rahul Gandhi. After Sonia Gandhi left the poll scene to become a Rajya Sabha member, Modi and the BJP are unable to target her on the 'foreigner issue' centred on her Italian descent. Anyway, that campaign ended after Sonia's Aam Aadmi swept Atal Bihari Vajpayee's India Shining! campaign out of the voter's reckoning. Given the perceived mood of the voter today, especially the urban middle class that became the backbone of Modi voters in 2014 and 2019, the more Modi talks about and against the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, greater are the chances that they would go back to the blackboard to rework their own past calculations, and also the calculus and dynamics apart from the chemistry involved in those calculations. The outcome may not please the BJP as looking back dispassionately, especially the older generation of voters who had lived through the Nehru-Gandhi era or had heard of it first hand from their family elders of the time may begin to count also the benefits that accrued to them as citizens and as a nation during their regime as much as they had ticked off only their negatives through the past decades. This also owes to the fact that through the poll campaign this time, Modi and his BJP cohorts, including Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh -- others sound insignificant in the overall context -- have not talked anything substantially about their achievements in government through the past decade, particularly since re-election in 2019. Nor are they quoting from the BJP's poll manifesto as to what to expect. Why, they have all stopped mentioning 'Modi's Guarantees!', as the PM used to declare in the early stages of his campaign this time. Their talk of what all is in store in a third Modi reign is at best vague. Present-day voters, whether old or middle-aged, are unable to relate to the party's national goals for 2047. The younger voters anyway are unable to connect, as their concerns are about getting jobs and/or keeping them, especially if the latter class is now employed in the IT or related sectors. IMAGE: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra meets with block-level party workers in support of Rahul Gandhi, the party candidate for Raebareli. What does it all mean? Between the time Modi launched his campaign and at the end of the third phase of the seven-phase polling, Modi and his party campaigners have lunged into an entirely 'negative campaign' against the INDIA campaign, all of it targeting the Congress. Generally, it is the political Opposition that often resorts to negative campaigns while the ruling party would talk (only) about their achievements and promises for the future. So much so, even the seven-phase poll schedule, instead of helping Modi and the BJP, seems to be working in favour of the combined Opposition. Time was when the INDIA combine strategists were worried that they would not be able to sustain the last-leg campaign through nearly 45 days when Modi, flying out in an official aircraft, would have all the time and facilities (like choice of campaign venues and time) to himself. Today, yes, Modi has all this and more. But ingenuity has helped the Opposition, too. They are now spreading out their limited funds for the likes of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Mallikharjun Kharge, not to leave out Left leaders, to make targeted campaigns, as the BJP used to do while in the Opposition, under the Vajpayee-Advani duo in the late eighties and early nineties. Suffice to point out that the seven-phase poll with a staggered schedule for filing nominations only helped Rahul Gandhi to give a second seat in Rae Bareli only after polling in his existing seat, Wayanad, was beyond him. If he had been forced to file nominations from two constituencies at the same time, who knows, the voters of both constituencies could have felt hurt at what the BJP would have then tom-tommed as his cavalier approach. IMAGE: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar at an election meeting in Shivamogga. Because the Congress had been out of power for ten long years, the BJP has no new corruption or nepotism-linked charges to hurl at the other, as happened through the past decade. Their inability to conclude any of the corruption cases from the Congress past may -- or, may not -- have raised questions in the mind of 'neutral voters', who had swung the Modi way in the past. Likewise, Modi lost the leg to stand on his 'dynasty' charge against the Congress and the party's regional allies in states like Tamil Nadu, UP and Bihar, after the BJP hurriedly signed up with, among others, the Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka, the Pattali Makkal Katchi in Tamil Nadu, and the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh. The BJP lost its moorings on probity in public life when it aligned with Bihar's Nitish Kumar for the (n+1)th time. The man is the 21st century 'Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram' from the eighties, but a more dangerous one, as he is not an individual like the forgotten Haryanvi, but also heads a political party as a chief minister to boot. Maybe, it suited the BJP that polls in Tamil Nadu ended in the first phase on April 19. Else, it would have been embarrassed even more about talking against caste reservations than in and on Nitish Kumar's Bihar, as Tamil Nadu's PMK is all about caste politics and caste reservations -- for its Vanniyar constituency, whatever is the fate of other communities and their quotas. Yet, Modi's talk about abolishing the four per cent reservations for Muslims in Andhra Pradesh did not go down well with the BJP's TDP's ally. The reason? TDP boss Nara Chandrababu Naidu had introduced the 'Muslim quota' as chief minister and defended his decision in the Supreme Court too. Even without Modi's outpouring, the TDP was feeling uncomfortable as party insiders felt that they would do better in the twin polls to the Lok Sabha and state assembly sans BJP tie-up. IMAGE: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, S Danish Ali, the Congress candidate, and others at an election meeting in Amroha. Win or lose, where will Modi stand in the eyes of his ardent supporters who are not his blind followers -- at least not anymore? They had actually taken the personalisation of Modi's 'Vishwaguru' (global teacher) coinage for India that is Bharat seriously. His attacks on communities using the Congress manifesto as a peg, and his increasing level of decreasing levels in the poll campaign has left a bad taste in their mouths, too. They may still vote for him and the BJP, but he may have slipped in their eye, like never before in the past decade in particular. Most of them, it needs to be acknowledged, did not possibly approve of his handling of the Gujarat riots way back in 2002, mainly because that was the way they had seen the ruling Congress's handling of the Delhi riots after Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984. But they readily turned around to swear by Modi even when he had nothing to show beyond the new coinage of a 'Gujarat model' of development, when there was nothing by way of the present-day social media to propagate such an idea, whether true, half-true or not at all true. In the absence of that kind of trust in his leadership, this constituency especially would begin evaluating his post-poll performance if he gets a third term as PM, if only to surpass Jawaharlal Nehru's 12-year term as prime minister since the first general elections in 1951-1952. That Nehru did another five years after becoming interim prime minister in 1946 and as the Independent India's first PM is another story altogether. That way, maybe, there are more Modi bhakts from the past decade who may now be willing to listen to Nehru's contributions to India's growth, development and democratic traditions. Who knows, some of them may even want to read about Nehru on Google and Wikipedia, if not his works, beginning with The Discovery of India. IMAGE: Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav at an election meeting in Bhagalpur. That is not all. Whether or not he continues as PM, post-poll, if there are signs of Modi losing grip over his 'committed constituency' that is really vast, and as large as maybe that of Mahatma Gandhi and the early years of Nehruvian rule, then trouble for him may come from within. Faceless rebels from within, both in the states and at the Centre, could show up. They may want to speak, and they would want to be heard. Imagine what if the BJP's numbers hover around the 'golden figure' of 272 required to form a government, especially with its NDA allies? Would state BJP satraps like Yogi Adityanath in UP and even 'wronged' former CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan do, if given a chance? This is to keep out stand-alone prime ministerial prospects like Nitin Gadkari, who might have the potential of drawing in all 48 MPs from the state on Marathi asmita, or self-respect. Who knows, the list could include Congress MPs, leave alone those of the Sharad Pawar NCP and Uddhav's Shiv Sena. They would have had their sweet revenge on the Modi-Shah duo for splitting their once monolith parties, using their own confidants -- a trust-worthy nephew in the case of Pawar, Sr. But it is Adityanath who would draw greater media interest. After all, those who know, and care to recall, the one political sin that the Vajpayee-Advani duo committed while in power was to destroy their party's UP chief minister Kalyan Singh, who had accounted for all but one of the BJP's 50 MPs from a total of 80 in the state. Vajpayee was the only one to win his Lucknow seat. Even Murli Manohar Joshi in Allahabad counted on Kalyan Singh's support to win/retain his seat. IMAGE: Mohan Bhagwat with BJP leader Nitin Gadkari. But the place to watch will still be Nagpur, the RSS headquarters. Modi's arrival at the national scene upset and even more upturned the Sangh Parivar's top-down approach to leadership. If they do not wrest the initiative now, it may never ever happen the way the RSS has come to be perceived until about the edifice sort of began crumbling from within -- but without anyone acknowledging it. Modi first went to the party over the head of the existing BJP leadership of an ambitious Advani. He then went directly to the people over the head of the party. In both, the RSS parent was the ultimate loser. Even now, it has little choice but to attest to Modi's candidacy and election as PM, if they have to preserve a 'Hindu/Hindutva' government. According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground -- also because they are also from the opinion-making middle-class, and feel 'cheated' -- but in ways different from how others of the ilk feel. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm is going to return in the coming four phases of polling. It means if the BJP and Modi were to win -- whether 400, 300 or plain and simple 273-plus -- it would all be Modi's victory. At least in private, the Sangh parent might not have anything to claim ownership and authorship, as in 2014 and 2019 -- however remotely, as they all knew at the time and since. N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and author, is a Chennai-based policy analyst and political commentator. Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com Although the credit for acquiring the technological skill must be given to India's outstanding nuclear scientists, the decision to go nuclear was a political one that entailed clarity of vision, courage and resolve, points out Rup Narayan Das. IMAGE: Then prime minister Indira Gandhi with Homi Sethna, right, then chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, and K C Pant, then minister of state for defence, left, at the site of India's first nuclear explosion in Pokharan, Rajasthan. Between May 11 to 13, 1998, India conducted a series of three underground Peaceful Nuclear Explosions, proclaiming its status as a potential nuclear State undeterred by the demarche of the West and defying the threats of sanctions. Although the credit for acquiring the technological skill and wherewithal must be given to India's outstanding nuclear scientists starting from Dr Homi Bhabha to the dedicated team of nuclear scientists at the BARC, the decision to go nuclear was a political one that entailed clarity of vision, courage and resolve. The credit must be given to then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1974 and then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998. The government of the day all these years since 1974 till 1998 never felt it expedient to demonstrate to the world India's resolve to go nuclear in deference to the dictate of the West and pursued nuclear disarmament despite the deafening silence of nuclear states who repeatedly ignored India's legitimate security interest. India's position was that in the absence of universal and non-discriminatory disarmament, the country could not accept a regime that creates an arbitrary division between nuclear haves and have-nots. India held that it is the sovereign right of every nation to make a judgement regarding its supreme national interests and exercise its sovereign choice. India's decision not to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1967 was supported by Parliament. Despite India's abhorrence of weaponisation of nuclear energy, India enacted the Atomic Act in 1948 which created the edifice of the Atomic Energy Commission and related research infrastructures which developed the potential dual-use capability. Indian nuclear scientists developed the nuclear technology on their own without any outside support. India's calibrated response to the NPT was articulated by then prime minister Indira Gandhi in the Lok Sabha on April 5, 1968. She assured the House that 'We shall be guided entirely by our self-enlightenment and consideration of national security.' She highlighted the shortcomings of the NPT whilst re-emphasising the country's commitment to nuclear disarmament. She informed the House 'that not signing the Treaty may bring the nation many difficulties. It may mean the stoppage of aid and the stoppage of help. 'Since we are taking this decision together, we must all be together in facing its consequences.' The USA was hostile to India in the 1971 War and had deployed the Seventh Fleet in the Bay of Bengal. India had very little choice but to go nuclear in this situation amidst the China-Pakistan axis and threat from the US. It was against this backdrop that India conducted the Peaceful Nuclear Explosion (PNE) in Pokhran in Rajasthan in 1974. After India's nuclear test, a global regime of nuclear embargo was clamped around India. The US also created the Nuclear Suppliers Group -- NSG -- to punish India. Forced by the circumstances India exercised its nuclear option and announced itself as a nuclear weapon State. The US strongly reacted to India's tests and threatened to impose sanctions and cut off foreign aid and reliable supply of nuclear fuel if international safeguards were not applied. India felt it has been subjected to standards which were not applied to China and Israel. In fact, in 1974, President Gerald Ford withheld shipments to the Tarapur nuclear plant at Trombay until it was determined that American materials were not used in the detonation. When then prime minister Moraji Desai of the short-lived Janata government promised that India would not develop nuclear weapons or conduct further tests, the US Congress repealed the prohibition, and aid to India resumed. The end of the Cold War marked a watershed in the history of the 20th century. While it transformed the political landscape of Europe. It did little to address India's security concerns. The USA was indifferent to India's concerns. It was against this background of the double standard of the West and their indifference and insensitivity to India's security imperatives that then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government decided to conduct the underground nuclear explosion in May 1998. IMAGE: From left to right: May 20, 1998, then prime minister Atal Bihari with then defence minister George Fernandes and scientists A P J Abdul Kalam, then head of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, and R Chidambaram, then chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, at the Buddha site in Pokhran, Rajasthan, where India's nuclear tests were carried out in May 1998. Photograph: Sunil Malhotra/Reuters In a letter to President Bill Clinton which was published in The New York Times on 13th May 1998, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee explained the rationale for the underground nuclear test. 'We have an overt nuclear State on our border, a State which committed armed aggression against India in 1962. Although our relations with that country have improved in the last decade or so, an atmosphere of distrust persists mainly due to the unresolved border problem,' Vajpayee wrote. 'To add to the distrust that country has materially helped another neighbour ours to become a covert nuclear test.' Clinton reacted strongly to the news of the tests, avowing that 'India was on the wrong side of the history'. India was subjected to severe criticism by the West since the tests came after decades of India's vociferous advocacy of nuclear disarmament and the need for a nuclear-free world. There was criticism that the tests were a straightforward case of India's hypocrisy and deviousness. Clinton announced the imposition of economic sanctions on India. He also invoked the Glenn Amendment of the Arms Control Act which imposed extensive economic and military sanctions on both India and Pakistan. India-US relations were, however, transformed to a comprehensive global strategic partnership afterwards paving the path for the India-US nuclear deal. India-US Nuclear Deal Another milestone in India's nuclear policy was the India-US Nuclear Deal announced by President George W Bush in July 2005 during then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington, DC. In 2008 the deal, called the 123 Agreement, was formally signed by both sides. The nuclear treaty was aimed at ending India's nuclear isolation and nuclear apartheid. India was denied high technology in the field of nuclear energy. The India-US nuclear treaty envisaged enabling India to import nuclear reactors from France, Russia, Canada and other countries. It was also argued that the deal would enable India to have access to nuclear fuel from these countries. It had two broad objectives: India's strategic objective and providing energy security. IMAGE: Then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh and then US President George W Bush in the Oval Office on the day India and the US signed the nuclear deal, July 18, 2005. Photograph: Eric Draper/The White House Heated debate in Parliament The India-US nuclear deal triggered a stand-off between the ruling United Progressive Alliance government led by Dr Manmohan Singh and the Opposition including the left parties on whose support the UPA government was dependent. The Left bloc felt that India was bowing before the USA. The Communists were concerned that the US would bully India into submission with threats and warnings. The BJP was expedient, given that it was the Vajpayee government that initiated a dialogue with the US to get this very result. In Parliament, Dr Singh tried to allay the anxiety of the Opposition, particularly the Left parties, that there was a 'secret deal' behind the public one, and denied that India was entering into a military alliance with the US against China. He also assured Parliament that the negotiation with the US to work out the separation plan and other details would not hurt India's strategic programme. IMAGE: The first nuclear blast site is seen in this picture released May 17, 1998. India conducted five underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, not far from the Pakistan border. Photograph: Reuters Separation Plan A great challenge for the India-US nuclear deal was the separation plan that the two sides negotiated between August 2005 and February 2006. India had a total of 22 nuclear plants in 2005. The US suggested that India could classify four of these as required for its strategic programme. India wanted eight of these 22, including two research reactors, classified as part of its strategic programme, with 14 separated as civilian facilities that would be brought under International Atomic Energy safeguards. Outlining some salient features of the Separation Plan, Dr Singh, in a statement made in the Lok Sabha on March 7, 2007, said, '...that the Separation Plan will not adversely affect our strategic programme. There will be no capping of our strategic programme, and the separation plan ensures adequacy of fissile material and other inputs to meet the current and future requirements of our strategic programme, based on our assessment of the threat scenarios. 'No constraint has been placed on our right to construct new facilities for strategic purposes. 'The integrity of our nuclear doctrine and our ability to sustain a minimum credible nuclear deterrent is adequately protected. 'Our nuclear policy will continue to be guided by the principles of restraint and responsibility.' 'The Separation Plan does not come in the way of the integrity of our three stage nuclear programme, including the future use of our thorium reserves,' Dr Singh further assured the House. The India-US nuclear deal polarised Indian politics to such an extent that it forced the UPA coalition government to seek a Vote of Confidence in the Lok Sabha on July 21, 2008 following the withdrawal of support by the Left on the issue of the government's initiative of seeking international cooperation in the development of civil nuclear energy. The government, however, survived. IMAGE: Agni-V's first test flight on April 19, 2012 from the Integrated Test Range, Wheeler Island, Odisha. Photograph: Kind courtesy DRDO/Ministry of Defence, Government of India/Wikimedia Commons Civil Liability for Nuclear Liability Damage Act 2010 The Civil Liability for Nuclear Liability Damage (CLND) Act 2010, a legislation that was enacted by Parliament to ensure a speedy compensation mechanism for victims in case of a nuclear accident can be singled out as the biggest reason for the stalemate on the engagement between India and the US. Some provisions of the Act were perceived as the hindrance for the supply of equipment by the US reactor vendors and sub-suppliers. The significance of the Civil Nuclear Liability Act can be hardly overemphasised in the backdrop of India's disastrous experience with the Union Carbide gas leak tragedy in Bhopal. The Act envisaged prompt payment of compensation to victims in the case of an unforeseen nuclear accident. In recent years a lot of ground has been covered in India's march towards nuclear status. The country has acquired the nuclear triad status with formidable Agni-V missile with MIRV technology, not to mention the BrahMos missile which India has now exported to the Philippines. India's message is peace is contingent on hard power borrowing from the Gandhian dictum that non-violence is not the weapon of the weak, but the strong. Dr Rup Narayan Das is a former senior fellow of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and also Indian Council of Social Science Research. Views expressed are personal. Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com Suspended Congress leader Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to Bharatiya Janata Party winning the Surat Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat unopposed, resurfaced on Saturday after 20 days and alleged it was the grand old party that had betrayed him first in 2017. IMAGE: Nilesh Kumbhani. Photograph: Courtesy @INCGujarat/X Kumbhani said he was silent all these days because of his respect for state party president Shaktisinh Gohil and the party's Rajkot Lok Sabha candidate Paresh Dhanani. "Congress leaders are accusing me of betrayal. However, it was the Congress which betrayed me first in the 2017 assembly elections when my ticket for Kamrej Assembly seat in Surat was cancelled at the last moment. It was the Congress which made the first mistake, not me," Kumbhani told reporters in Surat. "I did not want to do this but my supporters, office staff and workers were upset because the party is being run by five self-proclaimed leaders in Surat and they neither work nor allow others to work. Though AAP and Congress are part of INDIA alliance, these leaders raised objections when I used to campaign with AAP leaders here," he claimed. Asked if the turn of events in the ongoing Lok Sabha poll was his revenge on the Congress, Kumbhani refused to give a direct reply and reiterated his charge about cancellation of ticket in the 2017 state polls. Kumbhani, who had earlier served as a Congress corporator in the Surat Municipal Corporation, fought the 2022 assembly polls from Kamrej but lost to the BJP. On April 21, Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming they had not signed on the document. Incidentally, the nomination form of the Congress' substitute candidate Suresh Padsala was also rejected, ending the party's presence in the fray. On April 22, BJP's Mukesh Dalal was declared elected unopposed from Surat after all other candidates, including one from the BSP, withdrew their nominations. Due to a pre-poll alliance with Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party had not fielded its candidate from Surat. Kumbhani had gone incommunicado since April 22. He was later suspended by the Congress, which blamed him for the rejection of the nomination form and also accused him of 'connivance with the BJP'. Lok Sabha polls were held in a single phase in Gujarat on May 7. Results for 25 out of the state's 26 seats will be declared on June 4. "Political leaders promised many things but has anything changed," asks Kamali Devi, who runs a small store in the Ghausina area in Lakhimpur Kheri. IMAGE: Members of Samyukt Kisan Morcha stage a protest march to demand justice for the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri case. Photograph: ANI Photo This appears to be a common refrain in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri Lok Sabha constituency where farmers want better prices for their produce and respite from the stray cattle menace and others want political leaders to talk about job creation instead of issues like the Ram temple and Article 370. The district came into the spotlight in October 2021, when four Sikh farmers and a journalist were run over by an SUV in the Tikunia area. Ashish Mishra alias Monu, the son of sitting Lakhimpur Kheri MP and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra 'Teni' was made an accused in the case. Ashish Mishra is currently out on bail. The BJP has renominated Ajay Mishra from the seat. The Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded Utkarsh Verma from the seat and the Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Anshay Kalra. Mishra enjoys popularity among the core upper caste voters in the constituency. His election campaign is focused on the development carried out in the region under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have held multiple rallies to garner support for Ajay Mishra. SP president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati have also held rallies in support of candidates of their parties. Locals say that even the traditional vote banks of political parties are looking for options this time. Ranvijay Pandey, a retired bank employee said, "The excitement of elections is missing this time. People have faced tough times in the past few years but they know who has steered the country through it and took it towards development." On the BJP raising issues like the Ram temple, removal of Article 370 and triple talaq, Kamal Pal Singh, a garment shop salesman, said, "All these issues, have not given me a job. I am turning 35 and still do not have a permanent job." Lakhimpur Kheri has over 18.6 lakh voters. Of these, around 7 lakh voters belong to Kurmi and other OBC communities. There are 2.5 lakh Dalit voters, 3 lakh Brahmins, 2.65 lakh Muslims and around 1 lakh Sikhs, according to internal surveys of political parties. Some farmer groups are upset with the BJP for renominating Ajay Mishra. "Naming a person whose son is accused of running over farmers with his vehicle as the candidate from the Lakhimpur seat is nothing but a slap on the face of farmers and the family members of those who were killed that day. We would urge the people of Lakhimpur to respond to this injustice," said Kulwant Singh, an office bearer of the Kisan Union (Tikait). Also known as Uttar Pradesh's sugar bowl, Lakhimpur Kheri is known for its sugarcane production. Farmers here have various concerns. "We get Rs 6,000 annually from the government but that money is not enough to even procure fertiliser for one crop season. The cost of everything has increased but the prices we get for our produce have not," said Farzan Khan a farmer, from the Nighasan area who had come to the 'mandi' to sell 80 quintals of wheat. For Deepak Mishra, another farmer at the mandi, the stray cattle menace is an issue. "Everyone in the BJP, from the block level leader to (Chief Minister) Yogi Adityanath and the prime minister had promised that the issue of stray cattle would be resolved but the problem has only worsened over the years. Our entire time is spent keeping stray cattle out of our fields," he said. Ashutosh Kumar, an office bearer of the local hotel association, wants better connectivity for Lakhimpur Kheri. "There is no air connectivity and rail connectivity with important cities is also limited. This hinders the growth of the tourism sector here despite its huge potential," he said. The Lakhimpur Kheri constituency has five assembly seats -- Palia, Nighasan, Gola Gokarnath, Sri Nagar and Lakhimpur. The BJP won all the seats in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. When contacted, Ajay Mishra 'Teni' refused to comment on the elections. SP candidate Utkarsh Verma claimed the BJP has lost ground among the poor, farmers, traders and backwards due to its policies. "These groups are with the INDIA alliance and will oust the BJP from here," he said. BSP's Anshay Kalra exuded confidence that he would win the seat. "The people of the district are tired of the BJP's loot. They also remember the goonda raj of the SP government and are choosing the BSP this time to safeguard their rights," he said. Since 1998, the SP has won the Lakhimpur Kheri seat thrice, the BJP twice and the Congress once. Polling in Lakhimpur Kheri will be held on May 13, the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Using the same methodology as the EAC-PM study, the fastest-growing religious population is, in fact, the Buddhists. The Buddhist population increased by over 1,600 per cent between 1950 and 2015. IMAGE: Priests perform evening aarti on the banks of the Ganga during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Kindly note the image has been posted only for representational purposes. Photograph: Jitendra Prakash/Reuters Interpretations of a recent paper from a government-linked body suggested that the share of the Muslim population has grown in the country, while the share of the majority Hindus has fallen between 1950 and 2015. India has added around five Hindus for every Muslim since 1950, according to a Business Standard analysis of the data from the same source as the study -- the Association of Religion Data Archives. Interpretations of an Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) working paper released recently suggested a significant rise in the Muslim population, even as the Hindu population has declined. The paper itself does not suggest this. It points out that the percentage change of the relative population share is higher for the Muslim population. The EAC-PM study, which analysed the population growth rates of religious majorities and minorities across countries, concluded that while the share of the Hindu population in India declined by 7.81 per cent between 1950 and 2015, that of Muslims increased by 43.15 per cent. According to the report, this assessment was worked out by subtracting the change in the share of religious population between 1950 and 2015, and then further calculating this difference in the share as a percentage change over the respective religious population share in 1950. A more conventional way of saying the same thing is that the share of Muslims in India's population rose 4.2 percentage points even as the Hindu population share fell 6.6 percentage points. Studies have pointed out that changes can be explained by differences in fertility, which in turn is strongly connected to the education levels of women. The Hindu population was roughly about 320 million in 1950, which has more than tripled in the past seven decades. In absolute figures, the Hindu population remains the largest religious denomination in the country. During the same period, the Muslim population has risen fivefold, from 37 million to 181 million. Among other religious minority groups in the country, the Christian and Sikh populations have also grown faster than the Hindu population. Moreover, while the share of Hindus in India's total population has declined from 85 per cent in 1950, they still account for around 78 per cent of the total population. The share of Muslims however, who made up 10 per cent of the total population in 1950, increased to 14 per cent in 2015. Other religious minorities in India, including Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists account for more than 5 per cent of the total population in 2015, slightly higher than the 4.5 per cent share of 1950. Total fertility rates (TFR) among Muslim women have seen the sharpest decline in the three decades after 1992 according to NFHS data. The TFR for Hindu women has dropped by 1.36 and those for Muslim women by 2.05. Educational attainment among Muslim women is likely to lag other religious denominations. Around 11.4 per cent of Muslim women have completed more than 12 years of schooling compared to 17.1 of Hindu women and 23 to 24 per cent of Christian and Sikh women. Interestingly, using the same methodology as the EAC-PM study, the fastest-growing religious population is, in fact, the Buddhists. The Buddhist population increased by over 1,600 per cent between 1950 and 2015, the Christian population by 5 per cent, and the Sikh population 7 per cent, according to Business Standard calculations. Akhilesh Yadav replaced his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav and decided to contest the Kannauj seat himself. IMAGE: Samajwadi Party candidate Akhilesh Yadav at a roadshow in Kannauj, May 7, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo Kannauj's perfume park is an expanse of 50 acres with a boundary wall that awaits the laying of gas pipelines for the town's local manufacturers to begin setting up their perfume, or itra, making units at a project first conceived a decade ago by Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government. The construction of roads in the complex and a substation was set up by the Yogi Adityanath regime. Although the pace of work over the last 10 years could have been swifter, it has still been steady enough for Kannauj's perfume manufacturers, divided in their political allegiance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and SP, to dream of owning a plot inside the perfume park and indulge in good-natured sparring over whether they should credit Akhilesh Yadav or Yogi for its construction. The arguments have become more heated in the run-up to the polling day in Kannauj (May 13), especially after Akhilesh Yadav reconsidered fielding his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav and announced his own candidature from the seat, which his wife Dimple lost by a mere 12,353 votes to the BJP's Subrat Pathak in 2019. She was elected unopposed in a by-poll from the seat in 2012 and struggled to win against Pathak by 20,000 votes in 2014. However, 2019 was the first instance of the SP losing the seat, which Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh have represented, since 1998. IMAGE: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav arrive for an election meeting in Kannauj, May 10, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo Pawan Trivedi, president of the Kannauj Attar and Perfumes Association, tells Business Standard that the project faced its fair share of challenges, including litigation, because of the SP government's poor decision-making. He credits the Adityanath government's intervention that expedited the process. With around 60-70 plots identified within the park, of which two dozen have already been allotted, the future of the perfume park looks promising and is awaiting the laying of gas pipelines. The park will have a museum, a hotel and a common facilities centre, including an itra bazaar. According to Trivedi, there are 350 perfume manufacturing units in Kannauj, known as India's Grasse, the French town famous for its perfumeries, which a delegation led by Akhilesh Yadav visited when work on the park in Kannauj was started. Apart from itra, or oil-based perfumes, Kannauj's manufacturers also make essential oils. Kannauj's perfume industry is included in the 'one district one product' (ODOP) scheme and has received a GI, or geographical indication, tag. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has popularised it by gifting itra from Kannauj to world leaders during the G20 summit," Trivedi, who also organised sending a "chariot load" of itra for the Ram temple in Ayodhya in January, says. The size of the industry, some put it at Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion), is difficult to assess since several manufacturers have shifted to Mumbai, Delhi, and Lucknow and source the product from Kannauj while packaging it elsewhere. Another manufacturer, who didn't want to be named, blamed the current BJP government for tardiness in completing the perfume park. "Akhilesh Yadav had only three years from the time he conceived it to acquiring of land, but this government has had seven years," he said, adding that the orthodox thinking of the manufacturers, such as resistance to switching from wood-fired stoves to CNG-fired ones to heat the raw material has contributed to the delay. IMAGE: Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav at the election meeting in Kannauj, May 10, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo At the SP office in Tirwa, a short distance from the perfume park, Samar Singh Yadav, a party worker, is marshalling workers to prepare for Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi's joint rally in Kannauj. "What you see here in Kannauj, including the roads, the perfume park, cold storages, the medical college, and the hospital, were all done by our government," Samar said. Another party worker, Anuj Yadav, is sure the youth will vote against the BJP because of the rising unemployment and "paper leaks". "Not just OBCs but Dalits will also vote for the SP because a full majority BJP government will change the Constitution," Anuj Yadav said. In Unnao, where the SP's Annu Tandon is contesting against the BJP's Sakshi Maharaj, a two-term MP, the locals point to better law and order and the inauguration of the Ram temple as reasons to vote for the BJP one more time, a refrain heard in the nearby seats of Akbarpur and Kanpur. A day after his release on interim bail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging he was on a 'one nation, one leader' mission to impose 'dictatorship' by putting all opposition leaders behind bars and 'politically finishing off' those in the Bharatiya Janata Party. IMAGE: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his wife Sunita Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and others offer prayers at Hanuman Mandir of Connaught Place in New Delhi on Saturday, May 11, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo Addressing a gathering at the Aam Aadmi Party headquarters in New Delhi, the party supremo said Modi is asking for votes for Union Home Minister Amit Shah, claiming the latter will be his successor after he 'retires' on turning 75. Later in the day, Kejriwal held his first roadshow for Lok Sabha election campaign along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann in the South Delhi constituency. He also held his second roadshow in East Delhi's Krishna Nagar. Standing through the sunroof of a car in Mehrauli, he asserted the Bharatiya Janata Party will not form the government on June 4 and said if the INDIA bloc comes to power, the direction and fate of the country will change. Full statehood will also be provided to Delhi, he promised. Excitement was palpable at Kejriwal's first roadshow. AAP supporters and workers danced to 'dhol' beats with pahadi music and bhangra performances setting the stage to welcome the chief minister in Mehrauli. "In the last 20 hours after release from jail, I talked to poll experts and people, and got to know the BJP is not going to form the government," Kejriwal told AAP workers and supporters at the party headquarters. Ahead of restarting his election campaign, Kejriwal along with wife Sunita and Mann offered prayers at the Hanuman temple in central Delhi's Connaught Place. On Friday, the Supreme Court granted Kejriwal interim bail in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam to enable him to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections and asked him to surrender on June 2, a day after the last phase of the seven-phase poll gets over. "These people (BJP leaders) ask INDIA bloc about their (PM) face. I am asking the BJP who will be their PM. Modi ji is turning 75 on September 17 next year. He had made the rule that people aged 75 would be retired. They retired LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan," Kejriwal said at the AAP headquarters. "Modi will retire next year. He is seeking votes for making Amit Shah the prime minister. Will Shah fulfil Modi ji's guarantee?" he asked. IMAGE: Kejriwal greets party workers and supporters at the party headquarters, in New Delhi on Saturday. Photograph: Mohd Zakir/ANI Photo Brushing aside Kejriwal's remarks, Shah told a press conference in Hyderabad that Modi will continue to lead the country and there is "no confusion in the BJP" on the issue. Hitting back at the BJP, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said Modi should come forward to clarify the BJP's '75 years retirement formula' which they have imposed on their senior party leaders. Singh said Kejriwal raised the "genuine" issue of '75 years age rule', which was made by Modi. "They (BJP leaders, including Shah) said whatever rule PM Modi has made, it will be implemented on other leaders but not on Modi," Singh said at the AAP office in New Delhi. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi also took a swipe at Kejriwal, saying his remarks about Shah are an acknowledgement that the BJP is set to retain power for a third straight term. He also said Kejriwal is speaking of the BJP's succession plan but could not have trust in any of his AAP colleagues to succeed him when he was jailed on money laundering charges. In his speech at the party headquarters, Kejriwal claimed if the BJP wins the Lok Sabha elections, all opposition leaders including Mamata Banerjee, Tejashvi Yadav, M K Stalin, Pinarayi Vijayan and Uddhav Thackeray, will be in jail. "The prime minister has launched a very dangerous mission. This mission is called 'one nation, one leader'. Modi ji wants to finish off all the leaders in the country. It is being run at two levels- all the opposition leaders will be sent to jail and the BJP leaders will be politically finished," Kejriwal charged. "If they win the election, they won't leave any BJP leader. They finished LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Sumitra Mahajan politically. They finished politics of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who won the Madhya Pradesh polls for them but they did not appoint him chief minister. They also politically finished Vasundhara Raje, Khattar, Raman Singh," he charged further. The next in line is Yogi Adityanath, Kejriwal claimed. "I can give in writing they will change the UP chief minister if they win the Lok Sabha polls. They will finish politics of Yogi Adityanath and also finish him politically," he alleged. "This 'one nation, one leader' is a dictatorship and only one dictator will remain in the country," said the AAP national convener. IMAGE: Kejriwal with wife Sunita, Punjab CM Mann and AAP candidate from the New Delhi seat, Somnath Bharti offer prayers at Shiv Temple of Connaught Place. Photograph: ANI Photo There were several occasions in the 4,000-year-old history of the country when the dictators emerged and tried to capture the country but people uprooted them, he asserted. Kejriwal said he will work tirelessly to campaign across the country to 'finish dictatorship' in the country. He alleged the prime minister gave a message to the country with his arrest that -- 'there will be no case and still I will get you arrested'. The BJP has been attacking Kejriwal for not stepping down from the chief minister's post despite being in custody for 50 days. Talking about why he did not resign, he said, "The chief minister's post is not important for me. I did not step down as the chief minister because a conspiracy was hatched to force me to resign on a fake case." Kejriwal also alleged that all 'thieves and dacoits' are inducted by the BJP. "If the prime minister wants to learn about fighting corruption, he should learn from Arvind Kejriwal. We sent the corrupt to jail and even our own ministers," he added. He also alleged that the 'prime minister has left no stone unturned to crush the AAP by sending its four top leaders to prison'. "They thought that the party would be finished. But AAP is not just a party, it is a thought, the more they destroy, the more our party will progress," he asserted. "No one expected that I would be able to come out in the middle of the elections, but because of your prayers and blessings of Lord Hanuman I am among you all," he said. "Prime Minister, learn how to fight corruption from Arvind Kejriwal. Narendra Modi has gathered the country's biggest thieves, bigwigs and dacoits in his party and says that I am fighting corruption," he said. "Kejriwal has fought against corruption. We have not spared even our ministers in corruption cases. They were sent to jail without the opposition and the media knowing about it," he claimed. Mann said Kejriwal is now a 'top' political leader of the country and added his party will wipe out the BJP and the Congress in Punjab and win all 13 seats there. At Mehrauli, Kejriwal said he was fighting against dictatorship with all his power. "I need your support. The country never accepted any dictator and people removed them. I have come to seek your support to fight dictatorship," he said. "They are losing seats everywhere, be it Karnataka, Haryana. In Punjab, they will not win anything and even in Delhi, all the seven seats will be won by the INDIA bloc," he claimed. While granting Kejriwal interim bail on Friday, the apex court, however, barred him from visiting his office or the Delhi secretariat, and signing official files unless absolutely necessary for obtaining the lieutenant governor's approval. The updated voter turnout figures for the third phase of polling in the Lok Sabha elections stood at 65.68 per cent, the Election Commission said on Saturday. IMAGE: Voters wait in queues to cast their votes during the third phase of Lok Sabha Polls, at a polling booth in Gwalior on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo The poll panel had given a similar voter turnout figure on May 8, a day after the third phase of voting took place. In a statement on Saturday, EC said 66.89 per cent of men, 64.4 per cent of women and 25.2 per cent of the registered transgender voters turned up at polling stations. In the third phase, 17.24 crore citizens, including 8.85 crore males and 8.39 crore females, were eligible to vote. Voting for the third phase was held on Tuesday in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories with stray incidents of violence. In phase three of the 2019 parliamentary polls, the turnout of voters was 68.4 per cent. Chinese authorities are stepping up pressure on the family members of U.S.-based YouTubers and other creative professionals in a bid to censor the content they make on American soil, according to recent video statements and interviews. "I really never imagined the police would come after me because I migrated along with my entire family," YouTuber Qiqi, who goes by one name, said in a video posted to her channel on April 25. "But now the police have gone and gotten in touch with relatives on my mother's side of the family." "They couldn't get a hold of me, so they went after my mother instead, which is the same thing," she said, adding that the order to find her relatives had come down from the provincial level of government. "I'm not going to say exactly who because the police are probably watching this." Qiqi's video comes amid growing concern over Beijing's long-arm law enforcement targeting overseas activists and students, as well as YouTubers who post content that is critical of the Chinese Communist Party and its leader Xi Jinping. "They kept calling my mother in the middle of the night, harassing her, calling again and again," Qiqi said. She said the police -- who want her to shut down her YouTube channel and delete all of her videos -- needn't bother calling any more. A cyclist prepares to be checked by police officers at a checkpoint near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, June 4, 2020. (Ng Han Guan/AP) "A big part of the reason I left China was that I wouldn't be able to speak freely until I got out," she said. "So why do you think I'll listen when you try to pursue me overseas?" Repeated attempts to contact Qiqi online went unanswered by the time of writing. Common problem Veteran U.S.-based journalist and YouTuber Wang Jian said the Chinese authorities often pursue and harass Chinese migrants overseas, or put pressure on their relatives back home. "Actually, it's not just YouTubers, but journalists, dissidents, human rights lawyers and anyone critical of the Chinese authorities have this problem," Wang said. "But YouTubers are more likely to get to the critical point where someone [in the Chinese government] feels hurt by what they do." He said the aim in contacting people's relatives was to show them that they aren't free from possible reprisals, even if they live overseas. A woman looks at a propaganda cartoon warning local residents about foreign spies, in an alley in Beijing on May 23, 2017. (Greg Baker/AFP) "[It means] you have a weakness, so be careful what you say," Wang said. "You can't express your thoughts freely -- the Communist Party has been doing this since it was founded." One of the videos police wanted Qiqi to take down was a Jan. 14 upload in which she discussed whether President Xi Jinping really would give the order to invade Taiwan. Complaints from people operating as part of Beijing's United Front overseas influence campaign are believed to have been behind the removal of at least two satirical YouTube channels taking aim at Xi in recent years. Drink tea Meanwhile, a group of rights activists who are currently making a small-budget satirical film taking aim at the Chinese government in Los Angeles said police back in China have hauled in a number of their family members back home to "drink tea," a euphemism for questioning or a dressing-down. Wang Han, who is directing the movie "The Emperor Vs. the Three Evils," said the police had managed to track down family members of all of the crew. "The police kept on calling the home of [one actor], telling [his parents] not to let him take part in this," Wang said. "The police keep trying to contact me as well." Wang said freedom of expression should be a universal human right that he and the rest of the crew aren't willing to let go, however. "People in China should have the right to express themselves freely, but if we can't do that in China, then at least we should get to do that in the United States," he said. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster. The move comes amid Chinese bans on using Tibetan among children. For several years now, Tibetan Calligraphy Day has been a way for Tibetans to keep their language and heritage alive amid China imposing restrictions and bans on use of the language. On April 30, Tibetans across the Tibet Autonomous Region, in northern India as well as in Chinese provinces where Tibetans live participated in competitions, festivals and displays of calligraphy to mark the day on April 30, sources told Radio Free Asia. The Tibetan Language Preservation Committee, a group based in Gangtok in northern India that is dedicated to preserving the Tibetan language, observed the day by organizing a calligraphy competition. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has consistently urged Tibetans in exile to safeguard and preserve our invaluable Tibetan language, said Tenzin Tsephel, president of the Gangtok Regional Tibetan Youth Congress. Tibetans throughout Tibet shared their writings and opinions on Tibetan calligraphy and the significance of the Tibetan language on social media platforms. Several monasteries and educational institutions in Tibet and in Tibetan-populated areas of China organized events to commemorate the day. Over 300 participants gathered in Barkham county of Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Sichuan province. Tibetan youth participate in a calligraphy contest on Tibetan Calligraphy Day, April 30, 2024, in Chamdo in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Citizen journalist) Videos posted on social media showed Buddhist monks in crimson robes who gathered with brushes, ink and paper to display their writing skills at the Tsangkor Sholma-gon Pel Ngedhon Tashi Choekorling Monastery in Qinghai province on April 30. The Labrang Calligraphy Association in Sangchu county of Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu province also organized calligraphy exhibitions in all county schools. Banning Tibetan Since 2020, the Chinese government has tightened its restrictions on the use and study of Tibetan, closing private Tibetan schools in Tibet and intensifying Chinese-language education in the schools in the name of promoting uniformity in the use of textbooks and instructional materials. Just recently, authorities banned students in schools in a Tibetan-populated area in Chinas Sichuan province from speaking their native language, following a similar case in another part of the province. Tibetan Calligraphy Day began in 2017 following a Tibetan calligraphy conference held at Qinghai Nationalities University in western China. The significance of the date April 30 lies in its numerical representation: The number four symbolizes the number of vowels in the Tibetan alphabet, while 30 represents the number of consonants. Various forms of Tibetan calligraphy, February 2020. (Citizen journalist) Given the importance of Buddhism to Tibetans, many traditions in Tibetan calligraphy come from religious texts written by monks in monasteries. Despite the absence of a dedicated Tibetan school for children in Gangtok, a youth congress there began a Sunday school program in 2018 to teach children how to read and write Tibetan. The day is more than just commemorating Tibetan calligraphy and hosting writing competitions, said Tsering Dhondup, a volunteer Tibetan teacher at the Sunday school. We must also consider Tibetan alphabets, vowels and the Tibetan language as a whole, given its vast richness in representing Tibet, he told Radio Free Asia. Preserving a culture Pema Tsultrim, a renowned Tibetan calligrapher based in Tibet, organized the Pema Golden Pen Competition in Chengdu, attracting about 100 Tibetan calligraphy experts, historians and writers from across Tibet who discussed the significance of Tibetan calligraphy. He said the contest aimed to preserve the rich heritage of Tibetan calligraphy and to provide participants with a platform to display their talent. Among the more than 1,200 calligraphy submissions from Tibetans various regions of Tibet, Dhondup Norbu, a resident of Lhasa, was chosen as the contest winner. Calligraphy holds significant importance in preserving Tibets unique traditions, said Geshe Lobsang Monlam, a Buddhist scholar, lexicologist and leading innovator of Tibetan information technology. Various forms of Tibetan calligraphy, February 2020. (Citizen journalist) Through various calligraphy styles, we can understand writings that date back over 1,000 years, he said. Despite the presence of numerous dialects within Tibet, our ability to communicate and understand one another is facilitated by these Tibetan calligraphies. The day was observed in Tibetan communities around the world. The Latse Project, a U.S.-based volunteer nonprofit group that promotes Tibetan language use and literacy, along with the Center for South Asia and the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison held an event on Tibetan calligraphic arts on April 26-27. In 2018, The Latse Project organized the first Tibetan Calligraphy Day to be held outside Tibet in New York City, and held subsequent calligraphy exhibits in Paris, France, and at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster. Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here. I'm Abubakar Siddique, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead. The Key Issue Afghanistan has briefly returned to the headlines as the United States heads toward a crucial November presidential election. Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for failing to conclude an orderly withdrawal to end the conflict in Afghanistan, the longest war in American history. In the September 10 presidential debate, Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris defended President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. She blamed her opponent, former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump, for concluding the 2020 Doha agreement with the Taliban, which "bypassed the Afghan government." In response, Trump defended the Doha deal as "a very good agreement." He blamed the Biden administration for losing soldiers during the withdrawal, leaving behind weapons, and not enforcing the terms of the agreement. On September 8, a new investigative report by House Republicans blamed Biden's administration for the chaotic final withdrawal from Afghanistan. Representative Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas), who led the probe as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Biden administration "had the information and opportunity" to plan for the inevitable collapse of the Afghan government. Still, it chose, "optics over security," he said. However, the State Department accused the committee of issuing partisan statements, cherry-picking facts, and obfuscating "the truth behind conjecture." Why It's Important: America's war in Afghanistan -- particularly its disastrous end -- is unlikely to vanish from public memory and from political debates on how the U.S.-led war on terrorism was conducted and how it ended. Another ongoing probe will likely shed even more light on the war, which lasted for over two decades, between 2001 and 2021. The Afghanistan War Commission, a bipartisan legislative body comprised of former U.S. government officials with experience of the war, is probing the conflict. Its report is slated to be released in 2026. Like the 9/11 Commission report, on which it is modeled, it is likely to attract a great deal of public interest and scrutiny. What's Next: Renewed attention on Afghanistan will likely increase amid the partisan rancor ahead of the November 5 presidential election. However, it is unlikely to prompt a significant change in Washington's policy toward the country in the short term. What To Keep An Eye On Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov inaugurated the construction of the Afghan section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline. On September 11, the Taliban held a groundbreaking ceremony for the long-delayed pipeline. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's top spokesman, said Ashgabat will invest in building the pipeline, money that will be returned, the group says, when his government begins collecting transit fees estimated to be more than $500 million per annum. Mujahid said that the pipeline inside Afghanistan will be built in three phases. The first phase, according to the spokesman, will connect the Turkmen border to the western Afghan city of Herat and will be built within two years from now. It will then begin supplying gas to the energy-starved country. The second phase will extend the pipeline to the southern province of Helmand. In the third phase, TAPI will go through the southern province of Kandahar and on to Pakistan. The 1,800-kilometer pipeline will carry 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually through southern Afghanistan to Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan Province. From there, it will go through Pakistan's eastern Punjab Province to Fazilka in India's northwestern Punjab state. Why It's Important: TAPI has long been touted as a significant regional energy project. But insecurity in Afghanistan and the lack of international investment has prevented it from taking shape. Given the Taliban's lack of transparency about significant infrastructure projects, it is still possible that TAPI will remain just a pipe dream. That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org Until next time, Abubakar Siddique If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin used a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Masud Pezeshkian, to cement their growing bilateral ties that have raised concern in the West as war rages in Ukraine and the Middle East. The two leaders met in Ashgabat on the sidelines of a conference in the capital of the tightly controlled Central Asian country of Turkmenistan on October 11. It was the first of two meetings between the men, with another scheduled at the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan that runs on October 22-24. It was the first of two meetings between the two, with another scheduled at the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan that runs on October 22-24. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters ahead of the meeting that while the talks will focus on bilateral relations, "the situation in the Middle East definitely will not be ignored and will also be on the agenda." The meeting was the first between the two since Pezeshkian assumed office on July 30 after winning an election to succeed his hard-line predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May. Relations between Moscow and Tehran have strengthened since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "Pezeshkian is trying to gauge to what extent Iran can rely on Russia for help," Touraj Atabaki, professor emeritus of Middle East and Central Asia social history at Leiden University in the Netherlands, told Radio Farda. "Russia wants to stand with Iran due to Iran's support in its war on Ukraine but Moscow doesn't want to darken its relationship with Israel further and cut all ties," he added. Since the early months of the Ukraine war, Russia has been accused of using Iranian-made Shahed and Mohajer-6 drones, many of which have been found after being shot down over Ukrainian cities and battlefields. Iran initially denied arming Russia before relenting and admitting that it had supplied a "limited number of drones" to Moscow before the war. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Tehran continues to deny that its drones are being used by Russia against Ukraine. That has not stopped the United States and the European Union from imposing sanctions on Iran for helping Moscow. Last month, the EU said it had "credible" information provided by allies suggesting that Iran has supplied short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to help Moscow wage war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East have been heightened since Tehran launched some 200 missiles at Israel on October 1, saying the attack was in response to the killing of Tehran-backed militant leaders and a general from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Israel has vowed to launch a "deadly, precise, and surprising" attack on Iran in retaliation, while it continues to pound targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip that it says are aimed at Iran-backed proxies. At least 30 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded on October 11 by Israeli strikes in Jabalia in northern Gaza, according to the territory's civil-defense agency. The recent spiral of violence was sparked by the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas that killed around 1,200 people and saw some 250 taken hostage. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. The fighting in Gaza prompted another Iran-backed group, Hezbollah, to fire missiles into Israel in support of Hamas. Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the EU blacklists its armed wing but not its political party. The Israeli military has launched massive air strikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon in response, as well as a ground incursion into southern Lebanon intended to destroy the Iran-allied militant group, whose political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament. Israel faced condemnation on October 11 after its forces fired at what it said was a threat near a UN peacekeeping position in Lebanon. Israeli soldiers had responded to "an immediate threat" around 50 meters from the UNIFIL post, the military said. "An initial examination indicates that during the incident, a hit was identified on a UNIFIL post...resulting in the injury of two UNIFIL personnel," the statement added. The army pledged to carry out a "thorough review." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the firing as "intolerable" and "a violation of international humanitarian law," while the British government said it was "appalled" by reports of the injuries. U.S. President Joe Biden said he was "absolutely" asking Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers, while the French, Spanish, and Italian leaders issued a joint statement expressing "outrage." French President Emmanuel Macron renewed his call for an end to exports of weapons used by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, while saying the UN peacekeepers had been "deliberately targeted." In Iran, more than three dozen hard-line lawmakers on October 10 demanded the government revise its nuclear doctrine to pursue atomic weapons. In a letter to the Supreme National Security Council, they said Western powers could not control Israel, thus making nuclear weapons "Iran's option to create deterrence." Iran has been hit with waves of crippling economic sanctions for its nuclear program, which has seen a sharp increase in its uranium enrichment capacity after the United States under former President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 landmark deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that restricted Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes, but government officials caused alarm recently by saying it could change its "nuclear doctrine" if it is attacked or its existence is threatened by Israel. With reporting by Reuters and AFP TBILISI Tens of thousands of Georgians converged on the capital's Europe Square as protests intensified against a so-called "foreign agent" bill that has alarmed the country's Western partners for its perceived chilling effect on media and civil society and following an announcement that the United States will send a top official to Tbilisi to discuss the situation. People began gathering around 7 p.m. on May 11 in three locations in the capital in Republic and Marjanishvili squares and near the 300 Aragveli subway station chanting "Yes Europe!" and "No to the Russian law." As planned, various protest groups converged at about 9 p.m. at Europe Square in the heart of Tbilisi's historic district for what could turn out to be another mass demonstration of the type seen in the capital over recent days. Reports of action by security forces were sketchy, and there were no immediate confirmation of arrests. At Europe Square, protest leaders called for a large-scale demonstration and an overnight stay on the streets starting on May 12 amid reports the parliament will conduct the third, and likely final, reading of the controversial bill on May 13 before its passage. "We've got to have this country united tomorrow. We need to be that and so much more tomorrow. Let the world see!" said poet Rati Amaghlobeli, one of the organizers. Activist Gia Japaridze called for the release of all those detained during the weeks of protests. "We must make our voices heard. We must demand the Russian puppet authorities release detained political prisoners," said Japaridze, a former diplomat and university professor and the brother of opposition leader Zurab Japaridze. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Embassy announced that Jim O'Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, will visit the Georgian capital, along with the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica, between May 14 and May 17. "In Georgia, he will meet with representatives from government, civil society, and the private sector to express the United States enduring commitment to the Georgian people and to Georgias desire for a peaceful, prosperous, and secure Euro-Atlantic future," the embassy statement said. The announcement came after dozens of members of the U.S. House of Representatives issued an open letter to Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze expressing "grave concern" and "strongly" urging his government to withdraw the bill. The bill's sponsors from the ruling Georgian Dream party have said it could be approved in a final reading as soon as May 13. The 29 U.S. lawmakers call it a "harmful bill" that would "undermine the will of the Georgian people who seek a future in the West," and they reject comparisons to decades-old U.S. legislation. They say "in no uncertain terms" that its passage and further moves toward "Russian-style authoritarianism...would cause the United States to fundamentally reassess the nature of our relationship." Their concerns are amplified by the Georgian Dream government's "response to peaceful protests," they say in the May 10 letter. Weeks of protests against what critics call "the Russian law" -- legislation pushed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, despite widespread anger from much of the country and criticism abroad -- have led to strong police actions, while roving bands of thugs have targeted demonstrators. Riot police have used tear gas and water cannons against demonstrators, and protesters and journalists have shown injuries consistent with the use of rubber bullets, despite officials' denials. WATCH: At a Europe Day celebration in Tbilisi, EU Ambassador Pawel Herczynski told a crowd of Georgians to "keep the course toward the EU." The bill's backers appear to control sufficient votes for passage and possibly to override a veto that has been promised by President Salome Zurabishvili. In a joint letter issued on May 10, the 18 media and rights organizations, including the International Press Institute, said the proposed legislation, which recently passed in its second reading in parliament, "provides the authorities with a powerful tool to discredit, pressure, and eventually silence independent voices, thereby threatening press freedom and freedom of expression." In an indication of dissent inside the Georgian government, the country's ambassador to France, Gotcha Javakhishvili, resigned in protest against the so-called foreign agent bill, becoming the first senior official to do so. "I no longer see my role and resources in this direction: the move towards Europe," Javakhishvili said on social media. The controversial bill says media outlets, NGOs, and other nonprofits must register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if more than 20 percent of their funding comes from abroad. EU officials have said the bill could be a significant setback to Tbilisi's membership bid. An earlier version of the bill was introduced by Georgian Dream allies last year but withdrawn amid public outcry. Critics say it is modeled after decade-old "foreign agent" legislation that Russian President Vladimir Putin has used to crush dissent and punish independent institutions. Kobakhidze's government insists the law is in line with EU standards and is only intended to increase "transparency" and prevent "harmful foreign influence" in the country's political scene. The 29 members of the U.S. Congress complain in their letter to Kobakhidze of "the proposed bill's similarities to a law against 'foreign agents' enacted in Russia by Vladimir Putin in 2012, which was also justified under the guise of 'transparency.'" "The situation in Georgia is clear," they warn. "The government can choose to listen to the voices of the Georgian people or continue down a dark road to Russian-style authoritarianism." Tens of thousands of Georgians marched through the capital, Tbilisi, on May 11 in the latest display of opposition to legislation that would affect the work of foreign-backed NGOs. Protesters have been in the streets for weeks over the bill, which they say would threaten media and civil society groups. Earlier demonstrations were met with a violent police crackdown, but the May 11 protest appeared to proceed peacefully. One year ago, Hamas -- the U.S.- and EU-designated Palestinian terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip -- carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, the deadliest in the countrys history. In response, Israel launched an aerial bombardment and ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave to destroy Hamas and rescue the 251 hostages taken by the group. Israel has expanded its war in recent weeks by invading Lebanon and launching air strikes targeting Hezbollah, the armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon. RFE/RL spoke to Lior Yohanani, manager of quantitative research at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based independent research center, which on October 7 released a wide-ranging survey of Israeli public opinion after one year of war. RFE/RL: Can you explain what your study found as to how Israelis view the past year since Hamas's October 7 attack? Lior Yohanani: Well, I think Israelis still don't see October 7 as an event that's over. Sure, the actual horrific events of that day ended, but Israelis are still living with the consequences. There are two main aspects to this. First, since October 7, Israel has been in this multifront war that doesn't seem to have an end in sight. And then, of course, there is the issue of the hostages still being held in Gaza. So, we're seeing a sharp drop in people's sense of personal security. Almost three quarters of the public feel less safe compared to before October 7, and that's despite a year of war and some significant military achievements. On the flip side, we're also seeing that most people say their lives have returned to normal when it comes to things like work, media consumption, and family and social gatherings. Another thing we're noticing is that the Israeli public is giving pretty low marks to all the political and military leaders for the performance since October 7. For example, almost two-thirds of Israelis are rating Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu's performance since then as poor or not good. RFE/RL: How has Israel's involvement in a two-front conflict, in both Gaza and Lebanon, as well as a confrontation with Iran affected public opinion among Israelis? Yohanani: It's tough to answer that question, because we're at the point where things could go in a few different directions. In the last few weeks, we've seen a major escalation in the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and just last week, Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, which Israel is expected to respond to. In a survey we just did recently, we asked whether Israeli society and the military could handle fighting on two or more fronts for an extended period of time, and the results were pretty striking. Over 70 percent believe that yes, both Israeli society and the military can handle that kind of prolonged fighting. So, while the situation is complex and evolving, there seems to be a strong sense of resilience and capability among Israelis, even in the face of these multiple threats. But of course, public opinion could shift depending on how events unfold in the coming weeks or months. RFE/RL: Is there support for Netanyahus response to October 7? Is there debate in Israeli society, as well as political circles, over Netanyahus strategic choices? Yohanani: First of all, it's important to say that the Israeli public has largely supported significant military operation against Hamas in Gaza. That said, the Israeli discourse around the October 7 events, the ongoing war, and especially toward Prime Minister Netanyahu, is very polarized between right-wing supporters on the one hand and left and center supporters on the other. People are hoping for a future where Israel can exist without constant threats, rather than expecting a harmonious relationship with its neighbors in the near-term." So, on the left and the center, there is a high level of distrust and suspicion toward Netanyahu and his government. For instance, Netanyahu's apparent reluctance to pursue a deal for returning the hostages in exchange for ending the fighting in Gaza is seen by large parts of the public, even on the right, as resulting from Netanyahu's dependence on far-right, ultranationalist members of his government who refuse any compromise or ceasefire. Now for a long time, Netanyahu and his ministers argued that only significant military force would lead Hamas to compromise and release the hostages. Now, with military attention and resources shifting to the north, people are asking, where is this massive military force that was supposed to bring the hostages home? One question we have asked several times since October 7 in our polls is what should be the main goal in Gaza: Dismantling Hamas or bringing back the hostages? And as time goes on, public opinion is increasingly supporting the return of hostages. In our current survey, 62 percent saw bringing the bringing back the hostages as Israel's main goal, while only 29 percent pointed to dismantling Hamas as the primary objective. RFE/RL: How do ordinary Israelis see the question of the remaining hostages amid the continued protests by the hostages' families? Yohanani: As I mentioned before, most of the public supports a deal to release the hostages, even if it means ending the war and withdrawing the military forces from Gaza. There's this widespread feeling that we've left the hostages behind, and that's really hitting at our sense of solidarity, which is a deep and fundamental value, I think, in Jewish history in general and in Israel society in particular. At the same time, the campaign run by the Hostages And Missing Families Forum has become very politicized. Many right-wing supporters see it as weakening Israel. As time goes on, we're seeing more and more harassment of protesters who support bringing the hostages back. There are cases of passersby cursing, even hitting and throwing eggs, at hostages' families. In our latest survey, we asked about the effectiveness of the protests and actions taken by the hostages' families. Despite most of the public feeling empathetic toward the hostage issue, only less than a third think these actions are actually helping to advance a deal for the hostages' release, while almost 40 percent think they're actually hurting the cause. So, you've got this complex situation where people want the hostages back, but there is disagreement and some backlash about how to make that happen. RFE/RL: Can you explain the reasons behind the apparent contradiction in views regarding prioritizing a negotiated return of the hostages, or destroying Hamas? Yohanani: You're right to point out that apparent contradiction. Let me break it down a bit. As I mentioned earlier, a clear majority of the public sees a deal to release the hostages as the main goal. But there is a big gap between political camps on this issue. In the center and left, about 80 percent support the deal for the hostages' release, while the opinions on the right are evenly split. So, for most of the left and center, the fighting in Gaza has run its course. They feel most military objectives have been achieved, and Hamas's military power has been significantly weakened. From their perspective, continuing the fight now only puts the hostages at greater risk. It's important to know that about half of the right-wing also shares this view of prioritizing the hostages' release, but the other half of those on the far-right thinks dismantling Hamas is more important. Why? For a couple of reasons. First, there's a security stance that Hamas must be wiped out and not allowed to recover. There is also a very strong sentiment of revenge, with minimal consideration for the cost, whether it's the lives of the hostages, soldiers, let alone innocent civilians in Gaza. Another significant component openly discussed in religious nationalist circles is the return of Jewish settlement to the Gaza Strip after Israel evacuated Jewish settlements from there in 2005. RFE/RL: Is there public confidence that Israel will ultimately be able to remove the threat of Hamas and Hezbollah and come out of this conflict with greater prospects for a peaceful and stable near-term future? Yohanani: Right now, the Israeli public isn't showing a lot of optimism. In our current survey, when we asked people if they're optimistic or pessimistic about Israel's future, we found more pessimists, 48 percent, than optimists, 45 percent. I also think it's important to note that a peaceful future, as you put it, or peace in general, isn't really a common concept in the current Israeli discourse. I would say the hope of Israelis is that the military actions against Hezbollah and Iran will lead to a situation where Israel's existence isn't in question, and that Israeli military superiority will prevent events like October 7 from happening again. So, it's less about peace in the traditional sense, and more about security and deterrence. People are hoping for a future where Israel can exist without constant threats, rather than expecting a harmonious relationship with its neighbors in the near-term. KYIV -- A suspected Ukrainian drone attack has caused a brief fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia's Volgograd region, according to a local official. 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. "The fire was extinguished. There were no casualties, regional Governor Andrei Bocharov said on Telegram on May 12. Telegram channels close to Russian security services posted images showing flames rising from what appeared to be an industrial building at the site of the incident. Neither the Russian energy giant LUKoil, which owns the refinery, nor Kyiv has commented on the incident. The attack came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy raised alarms about frontline conditions in the war against Russia. Zelenskiy said during his nightly video address on May 11 that the situation in the eastern Donetsk region was "especially tense." In the northeastern Kharkiv region, meanwhile, thousands of local residents have reportedly been forced to flee in the face of relentless Russian air assaults. "Today, the focus is primarily on the front line on the situation in our regions where the risks of the Russian offensive actions are the highest," Zelenskiy said. Zelenskiy stated that "defensive operations" were under way in the Kharkiv region, naming several villages near the border with Russia, and saying his forces were "bravely defending their positions." Russian shelling in the region led the Ukrainian military to declare an air alert over most of the country, and Kharkiv authorities said on May 12 that more than 4,000 people had been evacuated. The Ukrainian General Staff early on May 11 cited more than 100 areas of fighting in the previous 24 hours, in addition to overnight missile and drone attacks, hinting at the intensity of the Russian campaign 27 months into the full-scale invasion. On May 10, Russian troops attempted to open a new front by breaking through Ukrainian lines in the northeastern Kharkiv region, a move Kyiv said its forces repelled, though fighting was reported to be continuing. Ukraine's military was reportedly speeding reinforcements to the area, as local residents expressed shock over the scale of the attacks. Residents of the Ukrainian town of Vovchansk near the Russian border said on May 11 that overnight strikes caused shortages of food, water, and fuel. Vovchansk, with a prewar population of about 17,500 people, is northeast of Kharkiv and about 6 kilometers from the border. "It has already become really scary. All life is here: my grandchildren, children, Antonina Kornuta told RFE/RL. I don't want to evacuate." Valeriy Dubskiy told RFE/RL that water sources are far away and people must wait in long lines. You cannot get water after such bombardment. We are running away from the shelling, from the bombardment, from death -- from the Russian death." Another female resident said that "planes dropped a lot of bombs on the town during the night. It looked as if the sky had exploded. It was very scary, very noisy." Russia's Defense Ministry on May 11 claimed to have captured six border communities around Kharkiv -- Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylna, and Strilecha -- and the village of Keramik in the Donetsk region. But the Ukrainian side did not confirm such losses and RFE/RL could not independently verify the Russian assertion. Russia has expanded its use of advanced rockets and missiles in addition to barrages from unmanned attack drones and recently has specifically targeted power infrastructure even far from the front lines. Moscow denies targeting civilians, but Russian air strikes have frequently hit hospitals, schools, and residential areas with devastating effect. With reporting by Reuters and AFP Ukrainian authorities prepared an evacuation bus for residents of the town of Vovchansk and its surroundings on May 11. Vovchansk is just a few kilometers from Ukraine's border with Russia. Hundreds of residents have been urged to escape intensified Russian bombardment. Many have left on their own. "It has already become really scary," an evacuee told RFE/RL. KYIV Major Japanese, U.S., and Taiwanese companies rank among the Top 5 manufacturers on a list of more than 2,000 electronic components that Ukraine says Russia has used in five types of warplanes it has deployed in its full-scale invasion, Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, has found. Though the imports did not come directly from these manufacturers, they underline the vulnerabilities of the sanctions Western countries have imposed on Russia a recurring complaint for Kyiv as, handicapped by a deficit of weapons and ammunition, it watches Russian forces advance, hammering soldiers, civilians, and vital infrastructure. Ukraine has emphasized that stopping the import of such sanctioned dual-use products is crucial for Ukraine's defense against Russia. In an April 14 speech, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy remarked that "it is not opinions that curb the production of missiles and drones for terror." Schemes obtained a list of 2,000 electronic components that, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia used in five types of Sukhoi warplanes that were involved in attacks on Ukraine between the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 and the end of 2023. Using the list and publicly accessible import data, Schemes tracked two intermediary companies in European Union countries -- Cyprus and Hungary that shipped electronic components to Russian defense contractors involved in the manufacture of the Sukhoi jets that deliver those missiles. The list, provided by a Ukrainian intelligence source who monitors Russian military contractors' imports, identifies electronic components used for the "brains" of five Sukhoi jet models that Russia uses regularly in attacks on Ukraine the Su-27SM3, Su-30SM, Su-34, Su-35S, and Su-57. The parts facilitate the Russian planes' navigation and guidance systems for these missiles and bombs, as well as their radio-electronic warfare with Ukrainian forces and communications with their control centers. As an example, Valeriy Romanenko, a senior research associate at Kyiv's Ukrainian State Aviation Museum, cited radar that can simultaneously track and target dozens of sites more than 300 kilometers away, while monitoring the aircraft's location relative to enemy planes and anti-aircraft defenses. These systems, "built mostly with Western-made electronics, allow the Russians to inflict significant losses on us," Romanenko said. The Top Five Schemes reviewed the list along with the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (NAKO), a Kyiv nonprofit that monitors corruption in Ukraine's national security sphere. According to Schemes' calculations, Japan's Murata, known for its radio and filters technology, manufactured the highest number of components used by Russia in the aircraft 218 out of the more than 2,000 listed products. Russian customs data analyzed by NAKO indicates that Russian imports of Murata products from third parties increased by 38 percent in 2022, to $8.5 million, and reached $9.6 million in 2023. U.S.-based Texas Instruments ranked second, with 176 items. RFE/RL reported in June 2023 that Russia regularly imports products from TI and another U.S. Firm, Analog Devices, via Kazakh and Kyrgyz companies. U.S.-based Analog Devices and its subsidiary Maxim Integrated ranked third and fifth, with 163 and 60 items, respectively. Products from the Taiwanese-owned, U.S.-based company Kemet were the fourth-most-numerous import, at 71, according to Schemes' analysis of the list. The list also contains European companies as well as other U.S. and Japanese electronics and semiconductor manufacturers. The imports were not direct purchases from the manufacturers, but, as data from the online international-trade database Import Genius showed, sales by third parties to Russian buyers. Schemes contacted Murata, Texas Instruments (TI), Analog Devices (ADI), Kemet, and Maxim Integrated for comment. Kemet and Maxim did not respond. Analog Devices said that it "has complied fully with export laws." * "ADI has robust internal policies, controls, and practices to ensure sales of ADI products comply with export control laws in the U.S. and in other countries in which ADI operates," a spokesperson said in an e-mail. "Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and in compliance with U.S. and EU sanctions, ADI ceased business activities in Russia and the Russian-backed regions of Ukraine and Belarus, and promptly instructed all of our distributors to halt shipments of our products into these regions," the spokesperson said. A TI spokesperson e-mailed on April 30 that the company "strongly opposes the use of our chips in Russian military equipment and the illicit diversion of our products to Russia." "Any shipments of TI chips into Russia are illicit and unauthorized," the TI spokesperson added. "We require our distributors and customers to comply with export control laws and take action if we learn that they do not, up to and including termination," said the spokesperson, who did not provide a name. Two other manufacturers also have condemned sales of their products to Russia. In an undated statement on its website, Murata said that its policy is to comply with "export control laws and all regulations of each country where Murata operates." It asks customers outside of Japan to ensure the company's products are not used for weapons of mass destruction, including missiles, as well as "conventional weapons, or items specifically designed for them." In a statement to Bloomberg News in December 2023, Analog Devices said that "[a]ny post-sanctions shipment into these regions is a direct violation of our policy and the result of an unauthorized resale or diversion of ADI products." But the manufacture of Sukhoi warplanes continues. On April 5, for instance, the sanctioned, state-owned Russian defense industry conglomerate Rostec announced the delivery of an unspecified number of Su-34 "frontline bombers," described as "an important part of the attack power of Russian frontline aviation." Examining Russian customs data, RFE/RL's Russian investigative unit, Systema, found that aviation parts worth more than $8 million were imported to Russia from the start of 2022 until July 2023. The main recipient of those parts was Yakovlev, a maker of Sukhoi aircraft. How Russia Gets What It Needs Schemes and NAKO's joint analysis of Russian import data from Import Genius, an online international trade-tracking database, revealed several companies in countries including China and Turkey that exported electronic components to Russia between February 2022 and July 2023 that match the items included on Ukrainian intelligence's list. Schemes took a closer look at two of the companies registered in the European Union, which prohibits the evasion of sanctions against Russia but leaves enforcement to its 27 member states. Noratec Holdings, owned by Latvian citizen Vladimirs Boreckis, is registered in Cyprus, the recent focus of an international journalistic investigation into sanctions dodging. Matrix Metal Group, where Boreckis serves as managing director and is the sole listed shareholder, is registered in Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government is a critic of EU sanctions against Russia. Between 2021 and 2023, the two companies routinely shipped foreign electronic components made by the companies on Ukrainian intelligence's list to a private Russian firm called Eksiton. Founded in the Moscow suburb of Ramenskoye in June 2022, four months into the full-scale invasion, Eksiton describes itself in business registries as a wholesaler in "industrial electrical equipment, machinery, apparatus, and materials." Evidence indicates it is connected to the manufacture of Sukhoi warplanes. The man Russian government registries identify as Eksiton's majority owner, Yury Korchevsky, was, until 2015, the co-owner of a company, also named Eksiton, located in the western Russian city of Smolensk. This second Eksiton, according to a Russian business registry, supplies Yakovlev, the Sukhoi manufacturer formerly known as Irkut. It also provides products for two key Yakovlev suppliers -- the Central Design Bureau of Automation and the Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant -- as well as other companies owned by Rostec. The Smolensk Eksiton also owns another Smolensk-based Russian military contractor that has been sanctioned by Ukraine, Display Component, to which Noratec and Matrix Metal Group regularly shipped electronic components in 2021 and 2021-2023, respectively. According to Russian business registries, before the 2022 campaign against Ukraine, Display Component supplied electronics to a private Russian research institute, Ekran (Screen), that develops planes and helicopters' anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems. The Smolensk Eksiton's website is no longer accessible, but an archived version of the site mentions that the company has received "awards and letters of thanks" from the Russian Defense Ministry for its contribution to "the common cause of the country's defense." Consequences TI told RFE/RL that it "conducted a thorough, internal review" for records of sales to Eksiton, Matrix Metal Group, and Noratec Holdings and "can confirm we have not sold any products to those companies since we stopped sales to Russia in February 2022." Schemes e-mailed Boreckis about the evidence of sanctioned shipments of dual-use electronic components to Russia by Noratec and Matrix Metal Group but did not receive a response. In his LinkedIn profile, removed after the Schemes report was published in Ukrainian on April 17, Boreckis described himself as a "forward-thinking business accelerator" with a background in financial technology. The profile, which Schemes archived, stated that he is fluent in Russian and English and resides in the United Kingdom. Neither Noratec nor Matrix Metal Group has been sanctioned for exports of electronic components to Russia. On April 12, the European Council, which sets the EU's policy priorities, adopted a law that imposes criminal liability on individuals and companies or organizations for violating trade sanctions against Russia. Aside from other measures, individuals could face a prison term of at least five years, while companies could be shut down. Under a regulation adopted in December 2023, EU-registered companies must insert a "No Russia" clause into their contracts when trading with non-EU partners in goods, including "advanced technology," that have military applications. Enforcement, however, depends on EU member states. Ahia Zahrebelska, who tracks sanctions policies for Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention, believes that stricter EU measures against sanctions evasion will not dissuade Russia. Even if "one company that was useful to Russia" is hit by sanctions, she said, Russia can "immediately" create "10 new shell companies that will perform the same tasks." Nonetheless, enforced sanctions affect "the delivery time" and potentially the quality of Russia's military equipment, NAKO senior researcher Viktoria Vyshnivska emphasized. "[S]ome Chinese company created a week ago does not have the capabilities of a technological giant" whose products Russia can no longer use, Vyshnivska said. * This story has been amended to include comment from Analog Devices (ADI). Written by Elizabeth Owen based on reporting by Kyrylo Ovsyaniy of Schemes While most of the candidates running for office in Platte County are guaranteed to be on the November general election ballot, there are a couple of primary races with more immediate consequences. With incumbent Supervisor Jerry Engdahl not seeking reelection, the county board of supervisors District 6 seat is up for grabs on Tuesday with two candidates, both Republicans, vying to appear on the November 5 ballot. Honduras to Columbus Quelbin Izaguirre is the chief operating officer for Neighborworks Northeast Nebraska, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that assists lower income individuals and families get into affordable housing. Izaguirre told the Telegram in an interview that being born in Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, and spending much of his childhood living in the less affluent parts of Los Angeles County spurred his interest in being of service to others. I had a lot of people that, you know, went down there (to Honduras), a lot of missionaries, that helped out and I always admired that just because they were giving up a lot of their time, a lot of their comforts, if you will, Izaguirre said. There was no hot water in the village, it was freezing cold, and they were giving up a lot of comfort to be there helping people, and I think that kind of stuck with me and Ive always said, hey, I want to be able to help people somehow. Izaguirre came to the United States with his father when he was five to seek treatment for a terminal illness; his parents had divorced and his mother stayed in Honduras. Obviously Im here, he said. Spoiler alert, I survived. While living with his father in California, Izaguirre would spend summers with his mother back in Honduras where he got to see and experience the ubiquitous poverty. We had a pretty rough home, he said. I mean, houses are very common over there where they are dirt homes and dirt floors and dirt walls and everything like that. Just before Izaguirre was going to start high school, an aunt who lived in Nebraska passed away. His father came for the funeral and about two weeks later he was saying, make sure you guys pack up, were moving to Nebraska. Initially, Izaguirre reacted like any teenager would when being told theyre moving halfway across the country to a place theyve never seen I kicked and screamed and yelled at him as much as I could, rebelled in every way that I could but, ultimately, he feels grateful to his father for uprooting their lives. In Nebraska, Izaguirre first attended Central Community College in Columbus before transferring to Wayne State College, where he earned a bachelors degree in business administration and a masters in economics. He also got married, and when he and his wife were expecting their first child, Izaguirre went to Neighborworks for assistance in getting a house for his growing family. They kind of held our hand and told us, hey, this is what we need to do to get you to be able to own a home, and it helped my wife and I get a home, Izaguirre said. It took a couple months, but they held our hands, were able to help and I was like, well, this is awesome. After Neighborworks helped him get a home, Izaguirre started interpreting for the organization, translating for people who spoke Spanish, which led to being hired as the COO while still finishing his masters. With eight years of experience at Neighborworks and time spent serving on various committees and boards, including the CCC Foundation board of directors and his church board, Izaguirre decided to give politics a try. When this decision came up, I got curious about it and just started looking into it and I thought it would be something that I would be very qualified for, he said. I mean, being able to read a balance sheet, income statement and cash flows, to be able to predict what's going to happen in the future is actually a pretty good skill to have when it comes to resource allocation, which is essentially what you're doing as a board supervisor, so I thought I'd be pretty good at it. Should he be elected, Izaguirre hopes to use his economics background to assure residents that their taxpayer dollars are being used appropriately. I think what everybody wants is, first of all, they want someone honest, he said. And also they want someone who is diligent with their funds, with their money and is obviously caring and allocates the funds in an appropriate way and funds what we need to fund, right? Izaguirre said he would also look into trying to reduce taxes. I pay taxes, he said. I don't want to pay more taxes and I will definitely try to do that, but the resource allocation is my expertise and (I want to) make sure that we're taking care of those who are taking care of us. I should be giving back to the community Izaguirres opponent for the District 6 seat is retired Columbus postmaster Ron Reilly, who worked for the U. S. Postal Service for more than 30 years. After he retired in 2012, the 65-year-old Columbus native did some part-time work around town and tended a small farm west of town. At least he did until the 2019 flood washed it away. I kind of thought, well, I should be giving back to community a little bit, and now's the time, Reilly told the Telegram. With parents who both contributed to the war effort in World War II his father in the military and his mother at the Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant, now Offutt Air Force Base Reilly comes by his call to duty honestly. He joined the post office right out of high school, after graduating from Scotus Central Catholic High School. Reilly started as a mail carrier and worked my way up to be the boss. One of Reillys key issues is reining in government spending and, were he to be elected, I've got some ideas that Id like to share with the other supervisors and see if they agree with me. I think that the government, on a local level or on the national level, I believe, I really do, I believe they have an addiction and I think the drug of choice is actually spending, Reilly said. So I think we can cut back on some spending. Reilly points to Platte Countys various towns and townships as perhaps an area where money isnt being spent as wisely as it could be. There's townships that take care of the roads in the county and then there's fire districts, he said. You know, those things were established over 100 years ago and they were done when we had horses. And it's time to upgrade, maybe eliminate some things and combine some things, or even if nothing else, with 18 townships, maybe they can do some co-op buying with fuel and tires and things like that. I mean, they're just a lot of things that, you know, at least we can ask the questions. Reilly would also like to look at government processes that has led the East 29th Avenue viaduct project to be in the works since 2008 and still not be finished. It just makes you wonder how many times the cost of that has increased, he said. The biggest thorn in Reillys side is the countys property tax rate, so much so that he promises that if he is unable to reduce residents property taxes in his first term, he wont run for a second. If I cant get it done in four years, I cant get it done at all, Reilly said. The Museum of Sighisoara One of the oldest museum in Romania, documenting the history of a millenia-old city Credits: Agerpres Marius Tita and Steliu Lambru, 11.05.2024, 14:00 Sighisoara is one of the cities in Romania that has preserved an appealing medieval center. The name of the famous prince Vlad Dracula Tepes, born here in 1431, a medieval art festival, the fortified citadel, the Clock Tower and several other points of attraction are tied to the city. There is also a museum in Sighisoara which in 2024 will celebrate 125 years of existence. Today, Sighisoara is located where the Roman military settlement Sandava once stood. The city was founded later by German settlers from Franconia, deployed by the Hungarian king Geza II in the 12th century. The first documented records of the city, however, date from the late 13th century. In its 800 years of existence, Sighisoara went through periods of peace, but also through moments of fear and violence such as invasions, peasant uprisings, wars, sieges, plague epidemics, fires or social unrest. Sighisoaras millennia-old history can be examined today at the local museum. Its director, Nicolae Tescula, outlined some chronological milestones of the museum since its establishment. The 19th century is particularly known as a century of nationalism, of nation-making, and of course, every nationality wanted to preserve and express its national values. This should also be produced through the creation of museums, by preserving some artifacts that identify a nation with a certain territory. After the establishment of the Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu in 1817, local collectors made efforts to create new museums, such as the one in Sighisoara. Nicolae Tescula gave us more details. First of all, were talking about the collection of the German high school. The teaching staff of the Evangelical High School collected objects for school use. On the other hand, in 1879 Sighisoara hosted two events. The first was in early July, a general meeting of the Transylvanian Association for the Culture and Literature of the Romanian People, later known as ASTRA. Also that year, there was also a meeting of the Historical Science Society from the eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. One of the initiators of the organization of this session was theologian and historian Carl Fabritius, originally from Sighisoara and a teacher at the German high school. On this occasion, he collected several objects from Sighisoara and the surrounding areas and set up an exhibition. This somehow served as his legacy to the younger generations to organize a museum in Sighisoara in the future, considering the exceptional value of the citadel that preserved and still preserves these medieval values. The joint efforts of the Sighisoara elites in storing and exhibiting objects that remind us of the past were highly successful. Fabritius was the one who started the history of the museum and his effort would be continued by Josef Bacon. Nicolae Tescula explains. One of the volunteers who contributed to the exhibition was a young man at the time, Josef Bacon. Later, he studied medicine and returned to his hometown, becoming the city physician. At the end of the 19th century, a museum would be set up in the most representative tower of the fortress, the Clock Tower. Initially, this tower had been restored in 1894. Later, it seems that a small exhibition, the so-called patrician room, was organized on the ground floor of the Clock Tower in 1898, although there is not much available data on it. All good things usually progress and end well, and the same is true of the museum in Sighisoara. Nicolae Tescula. Later, more objects were added to the collection, basically, on June 25, 1899, the museum opened. It brought together a group of generous and history-loving people, and from 1905 it was linked to the Sibiu-based Sebastian Han Association. This association was specifically aimed at promoting historical and artistic values. It had two goals: on the one hand, the organization of exhibitions in different fortresses or fortified churches and, at the same time, the promotion of visual artists from the area, especially Saxons, who at that time were active in the centers of Transylvania, especially in Brasov and Sibiu. This Association administered the museum until 1925. After 1925, the museum came under the tutelage of the Evangelical Church, which started expanding its collections. In addition to the Clock Tower collection, which included the early history of Sighisoara, starting with the Bronze Age and ending with the First World War, there was also a small ethnographic museum set up in the monastery church, a small museum of church objects organized in the hill church and a school museum. They even tried to create a small dendrological park around the Clock Tower and the green area between the church and the tower, and starting 1933 Sighisoara has arguably had a genuine museum complex. The history museum in Sighisoara is today one with a century-old tradition, built with the enthusiasm, dedication and experience of a group of people who more often than not remain unknown to future generations. (VP) May 11, 2024 A roundup of local and international news. Newsflash Newsroom, 11.05.2024, 13:48 Elections. The Romanian foreign ministry is to set up 915 polling stations abroad for the European Parliamentary elections of June 9th, the ministry said in a statement. Most polling stations for the upcoming elections will be established in the countries with the largest Romanian communities, namely Italy, Spain, the UK, Germany, France and Monaco, followed by the Republic of Moldova, the United States, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, The Netherlands, Denmark and Canada. The foreign ministry recalls that Romanian citizens residing or who currently find themselves abroad can cast their ballots in the European Parliamentary elections at any of the polling stations set up abroad based on a valid Romanian ID card. Romania will also host the local elections on 9th June, to be followed by the presidential elections in September and the parliamentary elections in December. Solar storm. A severe solar storm began to hit Earth on Friday evening, producing northern lights visible around the globe. Scientists are fearing the storm may have negative effects on telecommunications. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US explained this geomagnetic storm is the result of a series of solar flares and eruptions during which a number of large explosions of plasma and fluctuating magnetic fields are noted. When eruptions are intense, as it is the case now, they may impact Earth, disrupting communications, the electric power grid and satellite-based navigation systems. This is the largest phenomenon of its kind recorded since 2003. Northern lights. As a result of the solar eruptions that disrupted the Earths magnetic field, the northern lights were visible in Romania on Friday night at an intensity never recorded in hundreds of years, dr. Adrian Sonka from the Bucharest Astronomical Observatory told Agerpres news agency. The aurora was particularly visible outside of cities, in areas not affected by light pollution. Dr. Sonka explained that the aurora is produced around the magnetic pole, but that it can also be seen at lower latitudes in certain situations. Gaza. The US State Department says Israels use of American weapons in its Gaza operation may have violated international law. A report presented in Congress also highlights the difficulties faced by Israel as Hamas fighters are hiding among civilians, whom they use as human shields. Israel has come under criticism from many international organisations and foreign governments for the large number of civilian casualties and the mass destruction it caused in Gaza. On Friday evening, France urged Israel to end without delay its military operation in Rafah, which risks creating a catastrophic situation for the population in Gaza. Some 1.4 million Palestinians live in the Rafah area, most of them displaced by war. Since Tuesday, the Israeli army has been carrying out raids into eastern Rafah and has taken over control of the border crossing with Egypt, blocking a key point of entry for humanitarian aid convoys. May 11, 2024 UPDATE A roundup of local and international news. Newsflash Newsroom, 11.05.2024, 19:14 Elections. The Romanian foreign ministry is to set up 915 polling stations abroad for the European Parliamentary elections of June 9th, the ministry said in a statement. Most polling stations for the upcoming elections will be established in the countries with the largest Romanian communities, namely Italy, Spain, the UK, Germany, France and Monaco, followed by the Republic of Moldova, the United States, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, The Netherlands, Denmark and Canada. The foreign ministry recalls that Romanian citizens residing or who currently find themselves abroad can cast their ballots in the European Parliamentary elections at any of the polling stations set up abroad based on a valid Romanian ID card. Romania will also host the local elections on 9th June, to be followed by the presidential elections in September and the parliamentary elections in December. Solar storm. A severe solar storm began to hit Earth on Friday evening, producing northern lights visible around the globe. Scientists are fearing the storm may have negative effects on telecommunications. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US explained this geomagnetic storm is the result of a series of solar flares and eruptions during which a number of large explosions of plasma and fluctuating magnetic fields are noted. When eruptions are intense, as it is the case now, they may impact Earth, disrupting communications, the electric power grid and satellite-based navigation systems. This is the largest phenomenon of its kind recorded since 2003. Northern lights. As a result of the solar eruptions that disrupted the Earths magnetic field, the northern lights were visible in Romania on Friday night at an intensity never recorded in hundreds of years, dr. Adrian Sonka from the Bucharest Astronomical Observatory told Agerpres news agency. The aurora was particularly visible outside of cities, in areas not affected by light pollution. Dr. Sonka explained that the aurora is produced around the magnetic pole, but that it can also be seen at lower latitudes in certain situations. Gaza. The US State Department says Israels use of American weapons in its Gaza operation may have violated international law. A report presented in Congress also highlights the difficulties faced by Israel as Hamas fighters are hiding among civilians, whom they use as human shields. Israel has come under criticism from many international organisations and foreign governments for the large number of civilian casualties and the mass destruction it caused in Gaza. According to the health ministry in Gaza, almost 35,000 Palestinians were killed and more than 78,600 wounded in Israels military offensive in the Gaza Strip that began on 7th October. The United Nations Security Council called for an immediate independent inquiry after the discovery, around hospitals in Gaza, of mass graves in which hundreds of people may have been buried, France Presse reports. Romania-Albania. The foreign ministers of Romania, Luminita Odobescu, and of Albania, Igli Hasani, on Saturday exchanged letters on the 30th anniversary of the signing of a treaty of understanding, collaboration and good neighbourly relations between Romania and Albania. Odobescu hailed the significant achievements in the field of bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation showing that the two countries play an essential role for the democracy, stability and security of South-East Europe. She also reiterated that Bucharest will continue to support Albanias European accession process and emphasise the strategic importance of the Western Balkans for the Euro-Atlantic region. A Ruckersville pastor charged with sexually violating children has been released from jail on bond. Rodney Martin Locklear, 47, was indicted in Madison County Circuit Court on March 4 on six crimes against children: abduction of a minor, sexually penetrating a minor with an object, three counts of indecent liberties with a child and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The charges stem from incidents that occurred in 2023, according to authorities. In February, the Greene County Sheriffs Office announced it was investigating Locklear after he was taken into custody and charged with abduction with intent to defile and two counts of aggravated sexual battery of a child between the ages of 13 and 14. According to the Greene County Sheriffs Office, Locklear led childrens Bible study classes at Victory Church on Wednesdays. He had been a pastor there for six years and, before that, a pastor at Abundant Life Church. Last week, the Madison County Circuit Court approved a motion transferring the Madison cases to Greene County Circuit Court. Madison County Commonwealths Attorney Clarissa Berry said this was done to prevent the victim from having to testify multiple times. Greene County Commonwealths Attorney Edwin Consolvo was appointed as a special prosecutor to the Madison cases. Madison County Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Wade Gelbert was approved as a special prosecutor in Greene. Locklears three charges in the Greene County Circuit Court have been certified to the June 10 Greene County grand jury. Locklear is currently out of jail on a $20,000 secured bond. He was previously being held at the Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange. Per the terms of the bond, he must remain in his home except for court proceedings and probation meetings; is on GPS monitoring; can have no contact with the victim or their family, household members or witnesses; cannot have any contact with a minor other than his son; can have no firearms or destructive devices in the home; cannot consume alcohol, drugs, marijuana or its derivatives; and cannot be on the internet or possess internet-connected devices. An investigation into Locklear is ongoing. The Greene County Sheriffs Office encourages anyone with information to contact authorities at (434) 939-7914 or (434) 566-2813. Chula Vistas top cop, a man known throughout the state and nation for his dedication to law enforcement, is retiring this month after 35 years of service. I love doing what Im doing but it just feels right that after a long and fortunate career to move on and do something else, said Chula Vista Police Chief David Bejarano. I have mixed feelings, but Im looking forward to it. While Bejarano is leaving public service to travel and spend more time with his wife and three grandchildren, hell keep many of his volunteer positions and consulting work. Bejarano, 60, was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. It was a tough neighborhood, he said. I frequently saw a lot of police cars and firefighters in my neighborhood, and the positive contributions they were making early on. Bejarano likened his neighborhood El Segundo Barrio or the second ward, to Logan Heights a mostly Hispanic, low-income community. He said many of his friends ended up in gangs and prison. Bejarano said he didnt because his older sisters kept him out of trouble. After graduating from high school he joined the U.S. Marine Corps with a good friend and served three years. He maintained a cross-country relationship with his girlfriend, and the two married after he left the Marine Corps in 1978. Bejarano later joined the San Diego Police Department where he would work for the next 25 years, leaving as police chief. I worked a lot of special assignments, gang investigations, internal affairs, he said. He was one of the original members of the Border Crime Prevention Unit, a task force of U.S. Border Patrol agents and San Diego officers. They patrolled the U.S./Mexican border looking for undocumented adults and children who were being victimized. He also served with the criminal intelligence unit in San Diego as a commander. That involved in a lot of protective details involving President Clinton and presidents from Mexico and working real closely with the Secret Service. He said career highlights include: Serving as president of the California Police Chiefs Association Becoming police chief in San Diego in 1999 and Chula Vista in 2009 Shaking hands with then President Bush in the Oval Office after being appointed to the U.S. Marshals Service in 2003. In more than three decades, Bejarano has worked with many distinguished leaders, including District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and Jerry Sanders, former San Diego police chief and later mayor. When he worked for me, Dave was an excellent assistant chief and then a great chief, Sanders said. Dumanis said Bejarano has a keen ability to engage the community and work with diverging viewpoints. Thats why he has been so successful as the police chief in Chula Vista, she said. During his tenure, Chula Vista was ranked the 10th safest in the U.S. with a population above 200,000, according to a report based on FBI crime statistics from 2012. Thats based on the quality of people we have in our department, Bejarano said. Bejarano had stepped down as president of Presidential Security Services when he became police chief. He also curtailed his duties at the firm and wanted his name removed from advertising, marketing and other public material. The following year he was in the spotlight again. Veritas Worldwide Solutions, which listed him on its website as the executive vice president for law enforcement training, was linked to a failed plot to smuggle Moammar Gadhafis son to a resort near Puerto Vallarta. Saadi Gadhafi was wanted by Interpol for alleged brutality in suppressing the Libyan uprising. Bejarano said the relationship with the company was that of arms-length, and he cut ties to it as well. Under his leadership, the Chula Vista Police Department became one of the first police agencies in the nation to begin to use body-worn cameras in the field. When you talk about being transparent, building the trust of our community, posting on a national website, officer-involved shootings, citizen complaints, we really embraced community policing, he said. Bejarano leaves the second largest city in the county to his second in command, Capt. Roxana Kennedy, who was appointed to the position earlier this month. She said following in his footsteps is a big responsibility and challenge. Basically I call him a rock star chief hes like a celebrity. For Bejarano, the career has been about service. For the community at large, I thank them for the opportunity to serve San Diego, federally and here in Chula Vista, he said. Employees, executives and their families had only the highest praise for Crutchfield Corporation at the companys 50th anniversary celebration Wednesday afternoon and not because the boss had covered the cost for all of the food trucks at the event. It doesnt seem real that it could be this good a place to work, Crutchfield training manager Adam J.R. Stoffel told The Daily Progress. The Charlottesville-based electronics retailer, which posted $436 million in sales last year, turned 50 in February, debt free and with its founder and sole stockholder Bill Crutchfield still at the helm. Roughly 400 Crutchfield employees with their families and in true Crutchfield fashion dogs came out to the celebrate the milestone outside of the companys call center near the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport. Dogs are a common sight in Crutchfield offices if employees cannot leave them at home. Crutchfield, known for his frugal business approach, loosened the purse strings for his companys golden anniversary. Eight food trucks were parked near a massive canopy allowing people to grab some Filipino noodles from Little Manila, a Jager Schnitzel from the Bavarian Chef or a cup of cake from Sliced Cake Bar before relaxing with colleagues in the shade. A band composed entirely of Crutchfield employees, all of whom have been playing in the Charlottesville area for decades, covered Grateful Dead hits. Bill tries to do these things on a very low-key basis, Chris Lilley, the companys chief human resource officer, told The Daily Progress. Hes run the business frugally for years, so this is a big spend for us, and its so worth it. Hes enthusiastic about having folks come out. Crutchfield has built a culture at his company based on five key tenets: exceed customers expectations, value each and every coworker, respect business partners, maintain a passion for excellence and promote a culture of innovation. And people like Lilley, who could point to random passersby and recall each of their names and personal histories, are a clear sign that employees take those tenets seriously. Crutchfield places an emphasis on hiring from within, Lilley said, so a majority of those now serving in the C-suite started out in entry-level positions in the call centers or distribution department. This was true of Lilley, who started out answering phones on March 1, 1994. After moving up through the ranks over the years, Crutchfield eventually approached him about taking charge of the human resources department. Lilley admitted his initial reaction was full of hesitation and doubt, until his CEO said something to convince him, words Lilley carries with him to this day. He said, Its really simple, Chris, you have one objective: Its to maintain and evolve the culture and to take care of the people here, said Lilley. Then he said, We have 400 families that were responsible for, thats my legacy here, we take care of the people that we work for, because it takes care of our community and they can take care of their families. On that theme, Crutchfield refused to take all of the credit for the companys prosperity at 50 years. The main reason for our extremely unique success is due to you, our wonderful employees, said Crutchfield to his company at the anniversary celebration. Crutchfield would not exist today were it not for your efforts and hard work. He set aside time to give people a chance to throw some questions at him, as we do with all these events. His employees asked for his insight on running a business, the role artificial intelligence might come to play in the corporation it is going to be an important part of our future and what the next half-century holds. We want to keep growing, we want to keep serving our customers, we want to keep being a great community citizen, Crutchfield answered. Its the same path weve been on for 50 years. I may be around to see it, I will try. Ill be 131 when were 100 years old. Crutchfield was not the only one who addressed employees at Wednesdays festivities. Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds, who's represented the Charlottesville area in Richmond for decades now, stopped by the event to present the CEO with a resolution honoring his stellar success from the General Assembly. Its a resolution commending Bill Crutchfield and Crutchfield Corporation for fifty years of life, fifty years of employment, fifty years of vitality for this community and for this commonwealth, said the Democratic senator. From my perspective, you all are a part of a unique experience in this world. How many people do one thing for fifty years and do it so well that they grow and grow and grow? Thats on you. The resolution received approval from both sides of the aisle, calling attention to the humble origins of Crutchfield Corporation, which Crutchfield launched in his mothers garage; Crutchfields service in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War; as well as his contributions to the commonwealths economy, specifically regarding the call center he constructed in Wise County. Back in February, Crutchfield told The Daily Progress the call center in the far reaches of Southwest Virginia is one of his proudest accomplishments. The branch was able to bring the unemployment rate in Norton, a city of 3,600 people today, from 23% down to 8%. However, Crutchfield, not one to rest on his laurels, is now looking to extend Crutchfield Corporations influence beyond the business realm. After receiving his framed copy of the General Assemblys resolution from Deeds, Crutchfield took to the podium once again. This time to unveil a personal project hed been developing, one he had presented to Gov. Glenn Youngkin at a dinner near Keswick the night before. Crutchfield proudly displayed a sign in the same style as the states iconic Virginia is for lovers catchphrase. Instead, hed altered it to read: Virginia is for civility. Part of Crutchfields success is our civil behavior, we have a set of core values that weve instilled in our organization, said Crutchfield. Much more can be accomplished when people work together in a civil way. Crutchfield told The Daily Progress after his announcement that he was very concerned by the recent decline in respect that he sees having infiltrated not only the countrys political environment, but business and academic institutions as well. His remedy: the Crutchfield philosophy. I would love to see our culture inculcated in greater society, said Crutchfield, who also mentioned that Youngkin totally agreed with the new concept and took a copy to put on his desk in Richmond. Despite already having a campaign slogan primed, Crutchfield laughed off any questions about dipping his toe in the turbulent waters of politics, saying he just plans to advocate for a more civil society. All rational people agree that we do more right if were civil and polite. Its the way politics used to be run, Crutchfield said. Wednesdays celebration was the first time the companys workforce caught wind of Crutchfields newest catchphrase, including Stoffel, who thought it was awesome. Its taking what I love about Crutchfield and applying it to just life in general, thats wonderful, he said. We would all be so much better off if everybody lived like we live internally here at Crutchfield. The former University of Virginia graduate student accused of three sexual assaults, including two local rape charges, was denied bail after the latest charge lodged against him. Derek Rodriguez-Contreras, 22, learned Monday that his visit to Charlottesville General District Court would be his closest brush with freedom for a while. My primary concern is the safety to the community, said Judge Andrew Sneathern. The bottom line for me is that I have allegations of three different instances in three different jurisdictions, so Im not going to set a bond at this time. Rodriguez-Contreras faces multiple charges in multiple jurisdictions. The judge seemed confused about the timeline of arrests and charges, until the attorney for the accused clarified it. Although the most recent arrest came April 21, it actually is the oldest of the three incidents. This happened over a year ago, Anthony Martin said. Sneathern was unmoved. Ditto for prosecutor Susan Baumgartner, who suggested that Rodriguez-Contreras might try to flee. As these charges stack up, how likely is he to stay in town? asked Baumgartner. He has no ties to the Charlottesville area except for UVa, and he has been suspended from UVa. Martin, making a motion for bail, said that Rodriguez-Contreras has his name on a lease at an Albemarle County apartment and still has friends at UVa who routinely attend his legal proceedings, though none seemed present in the courtroom Monday. We understand the charge is serious, said Martin. The recent arrest came three days after after Martin successfully got the young mans HEI, or home electronic incarceration, modified by the Albemarle County Circuit Court. Formerly barred from having any female visitors, Rodriguez-Contreras won permission April 18 for his mother and sister, who live in New York, to visit him at his apartment. Baumgartner revealed a previously undisclosed detail from the first arrest, which took place in Rodriguez-Contreras hometown of New York City. She said that he persisted so strenuously in some unwanted touching at a bar on the Lower East Side that police were promptly beckoned. Both sides noted that the two local allegations stemmed from Rodriguez-Contreras romantic pursuits. These were both women that he had flirtatious relationships with, said Baumgartner. Rodriguez-Contreras lawyer gave a hint of a possible defense in the courtroom Monday when he revealed that one of the local women lodging accusations sent a morning-after message in response to a Rodriguez-Contreras entreaty for romance. Yeah, Im sorry I messed with that, one of the women allegedly told him by text. Rodriguez-Contreras is slated to stand trial on rape, malicious wounding and sexual battery charges in Albemarle County court beginning July 8. Next time you're driving past an array of digital billboards on the highway, some of the public service messages you see may have come from the clever minds of Nelson County High School art and photography students. Paying attention to roadside wildlife hazards just got a little more interesting, thanks to Gavin Sisterman's "Wait! What?" approach; the artist's choice of a hippopotamus underscores the need to be both vigilant behind the wheel and prepared for surprises. Adreanna Bibb's depiction of a more frequently encountered Virginia creature, a fox, uses a combination of just enough detail and clean text to get the point across. Nyala Brown's "Stop Violence" message and crisp red hand graphic lend themselves well to vertical billboard displays, while Anna Wilkins' vibrant yellow flower, bee and bold pun offer a humorous take on a reminder to be kind. Kyle Mehring's beaming pups can encourage stressed-out drivers to smile while reminding them that adopting shelter pets is more than just a public service. Creating digital billboards in art teacher Terry Ward's class at Nelson County High School has reinforced the ways in which a clear, effective message can meet multiple needs at once and has shown students that there's more than one path to creating successful communication. His students learned how to make use of the GoogleDrawings app and other free Google-based products to fashion public service messages out of photographs they took on their phones or images they drew freehand and then apply the right amount of text in punchy fonts and sizes to get attention. There's a time and a place for professionals and serious hobbyists to shell out for more pricey software and equipment, but Ward wanted the students to see what they could accomplish with free apps that are accessible and effective. "When people are clipping by at 70 mph, you have to be clear," Ward told The Daily Progress. "Whether it's an image or text, we're looking for not a lot of clutter. If they crop in closely on the animal and the message is concise, people get the point not only with the words, but with the visual matter." The students began their public service campaigns by choosing positive community-building messages, such as preventing littering, avoiding smoking or keeping animals and people safe from harm. Then they learned how to use different apps to create images and combine them with text. The choices the students made could fine-tune their messages to be useful in a variety of settings. "Unconventional subject matter, or a great image, really stands out," Ward said. "It could become a print ad. It could be a poster. It could be on the side of a milk carton. There are situations when you have a captive audience and they have more time to read stuff, like in a stadium." It's as important to select the right words, and as few of them as possible. "Five words is chatty. Seven is really talking too much," Ward said. "You need to be concise." Ward selected "the best and the most billboard-y" of the completed assignments and sent them to billboard companies, which accepted work from about 15 students. There haven't been any local sightings yet, but Southeast Media Corporation and other companies' digital billboards in Lynchburg, Richmond, Norfolk and Virginia Beach have been inserting the Nelson County students' creations into their regular rotations. One disadvantage over print billboards is that it's hard to take a selfie in front of the finished product. Ward said his students accepted the ephemeral nature of the assignment, and he printed out certificates to make sure the students were recognized during the school's recent awards presentation. "The thing is, we don't know when they'll happen," Ward said of the digital billboards. "It might be at three in the morning. It might be during rush hour. They are rather ephemeral. If you drive by and see it, there it was." All the more reason to keep your eyes peeled for hippos. University of Virginia officials have cited a number of justifications for their decision to have state police wearing tactical gear break up a small encampment of anti-war protesters on May 4, arresting 27 people and deploying pepper-spray into a crowd of students, faculty and members of the public. But witnesses and video footage raise questions about the claims made by President Jim Ryan, UVa Police Chief Tim Longo and other top officials. Calling in state police was a very hard decision, Ryan said on Tuesday during a widely criticized virtual town hall. But we felt like we didnt have a safer option at that point, given the circumstances of an ever-growing crowd and defiant protesters who were continually calling for others to join them. While the troopers did not begin their march into the encampment until the afternoon of May 4, by which time hundreds had gathered to watch the spectacle unfold, it was a series of events the evening of May 3 and the morning of May 4 that led Ryan and Longo to determine that deploying state troopers on Grounds was the best option. Among their provided explanations: protesters refusal to take down tents, four mysterious individuals who UVa said posed a threat to the community joining the encampment, protesters using umbrellas in an aggressive manner and Longo himself feeling fearful upon approaching the group. It all culminated in a single decision that many in the university community and surrounding Charlottesville have said has broken their trust in Ryan and his administration. This is what UVa administration says happened in those crucial hours, and what the UVa community says didnt. Unpermitted tents and 'men in black' By May 3, the demonstration protesting Israels monthslong war in the Palestinian territory of Gaza had remained peaceful for four consecutive days. Protesters had spent those four days, singing, chanting, blowing bubbles, painting signs and discussing the war on a small patch of grass near the University Chapel just off the schools central Lawn. So said the university after the group held a Shabbat dinner, and even after a large crowd, including children, gathered the evening of May 3 for a vigil commemorating the estimated 34,000 Palestinians who have been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, since the war began on Oct. 7. With rain in the forecast, tents begin to go up around 7:20 p.m. It was not the first time. Protesters had erected tents on April 30, but voluntarily took them down after the university requested. Longo said he hoped they would do so again. The group did not speak directly to administration or media during the week. Instead, they used faculty members, working on the scene in shifts, as liaisons. As rain approached the night of May 3, Longo told liaisons that while the protesters were welcome to stay, the tents had to go. Would you like us to communicate that this can stay here as long as theres no more tents? a liaison asked Longo, according to a video presented by the faculty who organized an honest town hall after Ryans virtual town hall this past week. We might go there. Let me go someplace else first, Longo responded. What if three canopy tents were allowed to remain and personal pop tents come down? Faculty considers this evidence that there was still confusion and gray areas about UVas tent policy. You have my word, this is not a ploy to bring everybody off Grounds and well take the property. We just want the tents to come down. Thats all. And everyone can stay where they are. Its just that simple, Longo said. During the administrations town hall, Ryan recognized that tents were needed if protesters were to stay dry. He added that Kenyon Bonner, UVas chief student affairs officer, offered to stay at the site so protesters could go home, get dry, and return in the morning. The group refused, choosing to stay in their tents. By nightfall, the university estimates the number of tents had grown from six to 22. Earlier that evening, Assistant Police Chief Chris Easton had inquired as to the availability of state resources in the event we would need them, Longo said at the administrations town hall. That inquiry in fact resulted in their response. But based on his observations, the presence of children and the absence of an imminent threat of harm, I made a deliberate and conscious decision to stand down all law enforcement intervention, Longo said. Outside agitators What Longo found more troubling than the tents was the arrival of four men dressed in black and wearing helmets. The university says the outside agitators joined the encampment on May 3. Longo said law enforcement identified the four as people who had been associated with previous historical events that occurred in our community that resulted in violence. At that point, the encampment became a safety and security concern, according to Ryan. Especially when the four men came in on Friday night. So it wasnt just about enforcing what might seem like a silly bureaucratic policy, Ryan said, referring to the universitys stance on tents. It was about a safety risk. The university has not yet provided any additional information on the outside agitators, including how they were identified, why they were considered safety risks and whether they were among those arrested. Multiple people who were at the encampment told The Daily Progress they didnt know who the university was referring to. They maintain that most of the people in the encampment were students. Levi Vonk is a professor in the schools Global Studies department. He served as a liaison for the protesters since the demonstration began on April 30. He was one of the few faculty members who was behind police lines when state troopers marched on the encampment the afternoon of May 4, trying to get them to stop their advance. Vonk was at the vigil the night of May 3 and stayed at the site until 2 a.m. Hes confused by the universitys claim of outside agitators. I dont know who those people were, and frankly, I have no idea if its me, because I could fit that description that night. Im currently wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt. I have a bike and a bike helmet, Vonk told The Daily Progress. I have no idea who theyre referring to, but there are a lot of students who could fit that description, and its baffling to me they would assume theyre outside agitators. A graduate student in the School of Arts and Sciences, who was not with the protest but had been working alongside faculty liaisons for days, was also confused by the claim. Im not entirely sure who thatd be referring to, said the student who asked not to be named. Im not sure who is being implicated as these sort of shadowy figures. Robert Redick, a Charlottesville native, author and fourth-generation UVa graduate, visited protesters in the encampment on May 2. He wonders why state police would be needed to arrest the four people who UVa says posed a security threat. There were fifty or more state and county police in riot gear. Why did you need to walk in a phalanx to apprehend four individuals? Redick asked. It felt like an ambush Throughout the week, administration and liaisons had conversations about what would happen if protesters erected tents. Faculty say that what ultimately unfolded on May 4 is not what theyd been told in advance. I had a long conversation with Longo on Friday about the procedures that would be used to arrest people and what happened on Saturday wasnt the same, Walt Heinecke, a professor whos taught at UVa for 27 years told The Daily Progress. Heres what Heinecke was told on Friday, and what he relayed to students: If tents went up, students would be told to take them down. If they didnt, Facilities Management would enter with police and anyone with a tent would be given a no trespassing order. Students could choose whether or not to sign the order. If they did, they would have a certain amount of time to vacate the premises. If they refused, theyd be issued a citation and subject to arrest, but given time before the arrest happened. Facilities Management would ultimately take the tents down. That never happened, said Heinecke. Heinecke and the graduate student said they believe people in the encampment were aware of the consequences, or at least the consequences that had been spelled out by officials. Faculty say the incident did not unfold in the way administrators had described. At no point was anything communicated to faculty about anything near the level of response we saw, said the graduate student. Honestly, it felt like an ambush. Why are you pointing weapons at our students? It wasnt long after 6 a.m. May 4 that Longo came for the tents. Faculty recalls the university police chief had left the site around 10 p.m. the previous night after speaking to them about the weather forecast. Protesters had made it through another day without escalation and slept through a night of heavy rain and lightning. In discussing the impending storm with him, Heinecke saw some pretty reasonable resignation on Longos face. I felt like he wasnt going to go ballistic at that point on the rules he was trying to enforce, Heinecke said. Tomorrow would be another day, and I sort of expected the same procedure would happen. When Longo and administrators returned to the soaked patch of grass by the chapel the morning of May 4, they were intent on removing the two dozen tents they found. Longo spoke to faculty for roughly 45 minutes before he picked up a megaphone and spoke directly to students, issuing a series of warnings that the tents had to go. If they werent removed voluntarily, they would be removed by Facilities Management. The graduate student has video showing a Facilities Management truck on site, but doesnt recall anyone from Facilities Management making any efforts to remove the tents. Faculty says that during the morning theyd shown an official university document to administrators. It included a clause saying that recreational tents were exempt from the schools tent-permitting policy. They asked administration for clarity and showed them images of pop-up tents that had been placed near volleyball courts on Grounds, and which apparently hadnt drawn any attention from administrators or police. I was in fear Around 8:30 a.m., Longo and Easton approached the encampment to begin tent removal. At Tuesdays town hall, he estimated 45 people were in the group, but video evidence suggests it was closer to a dozen. With faculty walking behind him, and with the protesters in front of the tents, Longo can be seen trying to walk past the demonstrators. But the protesters shuffle along with him, their umbrellas open, trying to remain between the tents and the police chief. The group clustered tightly around the space that I was approaching, Longo recalled Tuesday. He takes a few steps back from the tents, as protesters stand before him with their umbrellas, some with their backs turned to him. There are several feet between him and the demonstrators. He stands with his hands in his pockets, with Easton to his right holding a megaphone. The graduate student, who shot the video, is behind and to the right of Longo. Two legal observers, clearly identifiable in their neon green hats, are behind him and to his left. At one point he peers over his left shoulder. Longo and Easton, as well as the protesters, stand in place as the protesters begin to chant. The chants were all pretty familiar, said the graduate student. We have nothing to lose but our chains, We have an obligation to love each other, We have a duty to fight for Palestine. After an uneventful, 80-second standoff, Longo says something to Easton and the pair calmly walks away as the group chants, Ceasefire now. Longo, Easton and an administrator stand on the brick pathway and Longo pulls out his phone. To us, it looked like he gave up, said the graduate student. He tried to go enforce this thing and students were able to kind of block him from being able to communicate in the way hes used to. He didnt know what to do, so he walked away. When recalling the incident on Tuesday, Longo said he was scared. My immediate fear was that they would encircle myself, the assistant chief and my Student Affairs colleague and so I stepped back, Longo said. I was in fear when that group surrounded that encampment, opened up the umbrellas, used words such as fight, win, nothing to lose, at all costs, Longo said. I was afraid at the time that myself and the deputy assistant chief and the Student Affairs colleague that was there would be surrounded and that we would be put in a position to have to defend ourselves. The graduate student said that in addition to the protesters directly in front of Longo, there were some faculty members behind him filming. Thats my assumption of what he means when he says he was encircled. Not that students encircled him but that there were people all around, the graduate student said. End the protests, clear the area On the ground, it appeared any risk of escalation had passed. Longo had approached students, told them to take the tents down, they refused. Longo left and things seemed to calm down, Vonk said. Basically we were told nothing is going to happen and you can go home so we left. Longo had left too. People sat around the encampment eating bagels and chatting. Students wanted to have a meeting at noon. It was all pretty chill and relaxed, Heinecke said. What they did not know was that back at the universitys command post, Longo and others were putting together a plan. He asked for university police and local law enforcement to secure the site, execute no trespass orders and make arrests if necessary. We made the decision to end the protests and clear the area. We felt like this is escalating and had the potential to get out of hand, said Ryan, who UVa says spent May 4 at the command center. The plan asked that local and some state police create a perimeter around the encampment, using the brick pathway around the wet grass as the police line in an effort to prevent anyone else from entering the site. As word spread of a police presence, a crowd poured in to see what would happen next. As soon as we left, we got word police were being called back in, said Vonk, who returned to the site around 10:45 a.m. By that time police officers had already surrounded the encampment. Bethany McGlyn, a PhD candidate in the History Department, had been in and out of the encampment since the night of April 30. By the time she arrived at 11 a.m. May 4, police had it surrounded. She estimated there were 15 students, four faculty liaisons and two legal observers inside. By the time it was surrounded, it was a very small group, McGlyn said, adding she is very confident they were students. Then university police made an announcement. Our intention was to issue a no trespass order and if met with noncompliance to effect a custodial arrest for trespass, Longo said on Tuesday. Global Studies professor David Edmunds was there as the police presence grew. He recalls that around 11:30 a.m., there were and would continue to be several more opportunities to deescalate the situation and to engage meaningfully with the demands of the encampment. Nonetheless, we can all feel tensions rising at this point, Edmunds said at the faculty town hall on Thursday. Around noon May 4, university police made two attempts to break up the group. In the first, the protesters stood in a line, linked arms and held open umbrellas in their hands. I think we were all scared immediately, a teaching assistant who had been tutoring undergraduate students in the encampment told The Daily Progress. None of us planned to resist, but by time police were approaching, I think my body was in shock. The TA, who also asked not to be named for fear of retribution, referred to Tuesdays town hall where administrators spoke of fear. Its enraging to hear that when you look at photos of how large police officers and troopers were in comparison to us. Its ridiculous to think they were afraid and we werent, said the TA. She recalls the first approach by police. Youre grabbing us and were frightened and were going to keep everyone we care about in this space here, she remembers thinking. She said protesters were flabbergasted by the event. Just the night before, faculty and undergraduates passed around an official university document saying that recreational tents were allowed on Grounds. The clause in that document was quietly removed on the morning of May 4, not long before police moved in. Some faculty and students believe the timing was not coincidental. University police were able to wrangle a protestor from the group in their first approach and arrested the individual. Longo said that when four of his officers approached the group again, they were met with the use of umbrellas in an aggressive manner. The university has said people were swinging objects. Thats not how others remember it. I saw students holding open umbrellas. I didnt see them swinging them, throwing them or hitting police with anything else, McGlyn said. Heinecke said protesters had their umbrellas out when police approached them. And when police start grabbing and pushing and that kind of stuff, there is some attempt to defend yourself, he said. Longo said that at least one of the protesters swung their hands in the direction of officers and that one officer was struck. As a photographer with the Cavalier Daily, fourth-year student Ryan Lanford tried to get a good vantage point near the University Chapel to snap photos of the incident. I remember their arms being linked and officers attempting to grab them, and I dont know if there was pushback to the grabbing, Lanford told The Daily Progress. But I dont remember there being fists thrown or really attempts to body anyone, other than the cops grabbing them and trying to break up their linked arms. His friend Margaret Berberian was never part of the protest and was among the many bystanders who watched police approach the group. The undergraduate student remembers protesters linking arms and holding umbrellas, but never swinging them or their hands. It struck me as odd, because all the aggression was happening by police, not the protesters, she told The Daily Progress. When both arms are linked, they cant physically jab anything. It would, in fact, be impossible. According to Longo, the commanding officer determined that his unit should back off because they were not wearing protective gear and he worried about the risk of injury. Multiple faculty members say it was around this time they sent messages to Ryan and administrators, asking that they engage with the protesters and deescalate the situation. Im begging you as a faculty member, citizen and fellow human to call off the troops and cops, a professor wrote to Provost Ian Baucom. Our students and colleagues deserve at the very least to be informed what is happening and on whose authority our students and their rights are being attacked, wrote another. The administration did not respond. Fears the encampment would grow Multiples times on Tuesday, Ryan and Longo mentioned that protesters had made calls on social media for more supplies and more people. They worried that the group would increase in size. The protesters had regularly put out calls for reinforcements throughout the week, but they largely went unheeded. UVas primary pro-Palestine student groups who had successfully organized large events earlier this year did not associate with the encampment and never promoted it on their social media pages. Ryan himself alluded to this on Tuesday. I dont believe there was any connection between those groups and the group protesting by the Chapel, he said. This disconnect raised questions about whether the encampment had full buy-in from the schools anti-war movement, and if it had legitimate attendance problems. The number of people kept dwindling, said the TA. People were getting tired. Some people were leaving, said the graduate student. According to faculty, liaisons told administrators on the afternoon of May 3 that the demonstration appeared to be shrinking. But with alleged fears the encampment would grow, and with a large crowd gathering to witness the moment, and with university police unsuccessful in their attempts to take down the tents, university administrators, sitting in a command center at an undisclosed location, made a choice on May 4. Thats when the decision was made to call on the state police, Ryan said. You have to own it Shortly after 12:30 p.m., Virginia State Police read out three dispersal orders. Two hours later, a long line of armored troopers began their march on the encampment, with several professors standing before them, pleading with them to not touch their students. These are our students, a video shows one professor saying. His hands are out before him with his palms flat, motioning for the officers to stay calm. Why are you pointing weapons at our students? He was arrested seconds later. What followed was a scene that will not be easily forgotten. Troopers pushed against the protesters with their riot shields, ripping umbrellas from their hands and tossing them into the air, dousing the group in pepper spray as members of the encampment screamed in fear and pain. Some students say they were struck in the face by riot shields. The TA has a sprained neck, minor concussion and wrist contusions. The decision to deploy state police is perhaps the most pivotal one of Ryans tenure. While some applaud it, many students say it exposed them to state violence. Faculty say they watched state police manhandle and brutalize the young men and women that fill their classrooms. Once you make a decision you have to own it, and you face the personal and professional consequences which I appreciate and fully accept, Ryan said on Tuesday. Even though his administration has tried to explain itself, members of the university still have questions. Ryan is accepting responsibility. But so far, the UVa community is not accepting his answers. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Fridays forecast called for a Red Storm with a chance of Thunderbird. More than 500 people turned out to say goodbye one last time to the St. Johns University campus on Grymes Hill, a site that holds the memories of countless hours of diligent studies, hearty parties, and lifelong memories. St. John's University, Staten Island Campus, Spring Fest Closing Party at St. John's University, in Grymes Hill, on Friday, May 10, 2024.. The announcement of the campus closure first came in August of 2022. At the time, the school blamed a steadily declining enrollment rate, making it difficult to justify the costs of operation. Its sad to see it closing down, said Steven Kaht, a graduate of the Class of 2022. A lot of good memories here. Its nice to see everyone together one last time, but its sad to see everyone again. Its like a bittersweet ending. Anyone who walked the quaint campus in recent years admitted the university became something of a ghost town - a shell of its former, pre-pandemic self. And yet, in something of a homecoming spanning generations, the spirit of St. Johns was alive once more on Friday. St. John's University, Staten Island Campus, Spring Fest Closing Party at St. John's University, in Grymes Hill, on Friday, May 10, 2024.. Professors embraced students, and students embraced friends. The overall sense of camaraderie, so familiar to many, was palpable once more. Its definitely sad, said Ang Brusgard, a graduating senior at the university and president of the Grymes Hill campus student-run multimedia platform The Bolt. Seeing here today so many people makes me realize what a college experience could have been, and thats something we definitely lost for a multitude of reasons. Its disappointing, but its also really nice that we can have something at this last bit and be able to come together as a family with alumni and current students and their families. It really feels like a family reunion. Live music drowned out the patter of rain. An assortment of activities provided Johnnies with an opportunity to make one last memory. St. John's University, Staten Island Campus, Spring Fest Closing Party at St. John's University, in Grymes Hill, on Friday, May 10, 2024.. While some tested their skills taming the mechanical bull, others captured the moment at the photo booth (a St. Johns staple). Still, others simply enjoyed a beverage with buddies and passed the time reminiscing or catching up. Although the sense of community ultimately persisted, another undertone prevailed. Its bittersweet seeing so many familiar faces and students and faculty here, said associate professor Roberta Hayes, director of the University Science Core. Hayes first began teaching at the campus in 2004. Its a beautiful campus and I wish that there had been more done to keep the campus open. ... I think we could have turned it around if we had given it a little more time. ITS REALLY SAD For many, the closing of the campus was bothersome to say the least, with one graduate from the Class of 1988 vowing to cease donations to their alma-mater going forward over the handling of the campus. Regardless if they were angry or sorrowful, the overall sense of finality was prevalent and nobody was happy to bid farewell. Even though the pandemic is blamed for the decline in enrollment, some students claim they saw signs of changing times prior. St. John's University, Staten Island Campus, Spring Fest Closing Party at St. John's University, in Grymes Hill, on Friday, May 10, 2024.. Its really sad, said Hanya Abdalla, Class of 2022 and former student government president. It was very lively before COVID, and then a lot of the opportunities we had as students of the Staten Island campus got taken away, one by one. Whether it was the shuttle buses that took us to Queens, or the shuttle buses that took us to the ferry at least. School housing was also removed, followed by the cafeteria. Its just really sad because it feels like there was so much potential for this campus and it seems like the attention was in the wrong place, Abdalla added. Some current students, like junior Karoline Holldorf, have reluctantly elected to transfer to St. Johns Universitys Queens campus. I have to say its a real shame that this campus is closing, said Holldorf, who plans to study abroad in Rome for a semester. My freshman year at St. Johns was so lively, there was so much going on all the time. Ive seen the campus kind of turn into a ghost town, which is really sad. St. John's University, Staten Island Campus, Spring Fest Closing Party at St. John's University, in Grymes Hill, on Friday, May 10, 2024.. Faculty, like Paulette Hughes a professor at the university since 2002 who has taught various subjects will retire from St. Johns University, but not out of a desire to do so. For me, at this time in my career, it was not my decision, Hughes said. I would have kept on and kept on until I couldnt do it (teaching) anymore. When its not your decision, you can be angry. I understand anger, and I understand the sadness, and the heartache, and the grieving. I have felt it since they told us two years ago. But now that its really happening, its heartbreaking. A VIDEO COMMEMORATION In emphasizing the voices of St. Johns University Staten Island, The BOLT developed a nearly hour-long documentary film titled, Sunset on The Hill SJU. The commemorative video captures the voices of those from the Grymes Hill campus. We hear a lot from Queens, but The BOLT, and myself as well, found it incredibly important to tell our stories with our voice, and thats what we aim to do and thats what I believe we succeeded in doing, said Brusgard. The sale of the Staten Island campus appears close to being finalized, representatives from the college noted during a recent Grymes Hill Estates Association meeting, but the school bound by real estate contingencies and non-disclosure agreements cannot yet disclose the identity of the potential buyer. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. The Richmond County Country Club played host to a sold out evening of elegance and celebration as the Staten Island Museum held its annual gala fundraiser May 10. More than 300 guests gathered in the Dongan Hills establishment to toast the evenings esteemed honorees, who for decades have made remarkable contributions to the Staten Island community and supported the museums mission of cultural enrichment and community engagement. The honorees were philanthropist and community stalwart Alice B. Diamond, mother of Staten Island Advance publisher Caroline Diamond Harrison, and wife of the late Richard E. Diamond, former Advance publisher; the Reid Family, comprised of Gabri, Vernon, and Idea; and the New York State Nurses Association. Janice Monger, president and CEO of the Staten Island Museum, thanked the attendees for supporting the gala, saying that the support allows Staten Islands youth to receive quality arts, history and science education programs, noting their newest major exhibition, Taking Care: The Black Angels of Sea View Hospital, which honors the legacy of the remarkable women who served during the tuberculosis crisis. The Museum is once again filled with the boisterous sound of curious students learning about Lenape Native Americans, animal homes, weather, the art of Clementine Hunter and Romare Bearden, the roles of community workers and more, Monger said. Your contributions ensures students get to visit their local borough museum, contributing to the development of their self-expression, critical inquiry about the world, and mental health. The Museum currently collaborates with more than 60 community partner organizations. The talented and thoughtful individuals of the Staten Island Museum staff team and Board of Trustees cannot be thanked and praised enough for carrying out the Museums mission to its fullest. In his welcome remarks, board chairman Daniel Jost congratulated the honorees and thanked individuals stewarding the Staten Island Museum into the future, acknowledging the staff and board, including its newest trustees, Kim Avilez, Timothy G. Boyland, and Joshua M. Rivera, and returning Henry A. Salmon. Thanks to the unwavering support of our members, donors, and supporters, the Museum has been able to advance its mission of sparking curiosity, Jost said. We are thrilled to announce progress on fulfilling the longtime vision of the expansion project into a state-of-the-art STEAM Education Center breaking ground this year. The dedication of the talented staff is evident through the dynamic exhibitions and experiences offered for thousands of visitors each year. From the left, Laurent Levasseur, Alison Diamond Levasseur, Mrs. Alice B. Diamond, Caroline Diamond Harrison, Timothy Harrison, Francesca Diamond, and Richard Diamond Jr. attend the Staten Island Museum Gala at the Richmond County Country Club on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Dongan Hills. (Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance)Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance MRS. DIAMONDS COMMITMENT TO CULTURE AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION When honoree Alice B. Diamond was introduced to a standing ovation, including her three children and their spouses Harrison and her husband, Tim; Richard and Francesca Diamond; and Alison and Laurent Levasseur her dignified elegance in her acceptance embodied a lifetime spent quietly enriching Staten Island, her quiet but effective leadership style, and her unwavering devotion to cultural institutions. When Alice received the Mayors Award for Arts and Culture from Mayor Bloomberg in 2011, the Staten Island Advance reported that upon receiving the plaque she graciously bestowed it elsewhere, saying to her Manhattan audience that it represented recognition for Staten Islands amazing culturals, said Monger, noting her deep commitment to culture and historic preservation, notably Snug Harbor as a Cultural Center, Staten Island Museum, the Greenbelt Conservancy, Alice Austen House, and the Carousel for All Children, among others. Alice also makes sure that others receive credit beyond herself; she wants their efforts to be known and remembered, Monger added. Her southern roots are evident when you speak with her and shine through in her humble manner. Her influence is tremendous, yet largely happens quietly, behind the scenes; she will often say, well I ought to do more. As a founding and current board member of the Staten Island Foundation and founder and director of Historic House Trust, she is a an influential voice for ensuring the funding support of numerous arts and social service organizations to improve the quality of life of Staten Islanders. Monger reflected on Diamonds comments on a recent Treasures of New York film about Snug Harbor, quoting her: This is oxygen for the world: Culture, creativity, gosh, theyve gone on forever those things, and we have to keep them going, Monger said. Alice helps keep culture going, helps keep me and my fellow leaders going, and with quiet insistence, ensures that the Staten Island Museum and numerous organizations on Staten Island, survive and thrive. Board members of the Staten Island Museum host a Gala honoring Alice B. Diamond, New York State Nurses Association, Gabri Christa, Idea Reid, and Vernon Reid at the Richmond County Country Club on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Dongan Hills. (Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance)Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance ABOUT THE HONOREES ALICE B. DIAMOND Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Alice B. Diamond later earned her degree from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. She ventured to New York City in 1962 to pursue her passion for art. It was in New York that she met and married Richard E. Diamond, with whom she had three children, and has six grandchildren. Mrs. Diamond has championed arts and culture and historic preservation citywide, including the Staten Island Museum, instrumental in the preservation and founding of Snug Harbor Cultural Center. She has served as a member of the City of New York Advisory Commission of Cultural Affairs, on the Board of the SI Chapter of American Red Cross, as President of Lynne Robbins Steinman Beautification Foundation, on the Board of the Historic House Trust of NYC, and as the Staten Island Trustee Representative to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was instrumental in the creation of the Carousel for all Children in Willowbrook Park as well as lend her support to the Alice Austen House, Greenbelt Conservancy, and the former St. Vincents Medical Center as a Board Member. She currently serves on the Board of the Staten Island Foundation. Recognized for her tireless efforts in philanthropy and volunteerism, Alice B. Diamond has been honored by the Historic House Trust of NYC, received the Mayors Award for Arts & Culture, the Staten Island Zoological Society Lifetime Achievement Award, and the YMCA Distinguished Service award, a testament to her unwavering commitment to making a positive impact. Gabri Christa and her daughter, Idea Reid, are honored at the Staten Island Museum Gala at the Richmond County Country Club on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Dongan Hills. (Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance)Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance THE REID FAMILY Gabri Christa-Reid makes original works for stage. Her work explores social issues through a transdisciplinary lens and aims to create understanding for humanity through the Arts. On Staten Island, she has taught dance at Curtis High School and the College of Staten Island and was the Artistic Director of Snug Harbor where she helped upgrade the dance studios, and started the PASS and Youth Matters programs. She is a professor of professional practice at Barnard College of Columbia University where she teaches dance and film and is the founding director of the Movement Lab and the Moving Body-Moving Image Festival. A Guggenheim fellow and a recipient of many awards, she is also on the advisory commission for Culture for New York City. Idea Reid is a Dance and Psychology Major at Barnard College. She co-founded an environmental justice club at her high school, leading rallies, workshops, and climate justice teach-ins with the former NYC Director of Sustainability. Idea fought for climate policy as an intern at the Climate Museum, bringing attention to the injustice facing Staten Islands North Shore. She conveys her passion for people and the earth through art as a member of the Young Lordes Collective and through her dancing and choreography. This summer she will be interning for Dance for Parkinson. Vernon Reid is a guitarist and songwriter best known as the founder of the rock band Living Colour. He has been a resident of Staten Island since 1990 and is on the board of Maker Space. Reid was named No. 66 on Rolling Stone magazines 2003 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time and in August 2023, was ranked No. 42 in Rolling Stone magazines top 250 Greatest Guitarists of all time. Critic Steve Huey writes, [Reids] rampant eclecticism encompasses everything from heavy metal and punk to funk, R&B and avant-garde jazz, and his anarchic, lightning-fast solos have become something of a hallmark as well. Members of the New York State Nurses Association were honored Staten Island Museum Gala at the Richmond County Country Club on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Dongan Hills. (Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance)Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance NYS NURSES ASSOCIATION The New York State Nurses Association is a union of 42,000 frontline nurses united together for strength at work, their practice, safe staffing, and healthcare for all. They are New Yorks largest union and professional association for registered nurses. Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, and president of the association, is a nurse and critical care expert who was first elected to the associations board in 2015. She was elected president in June of 2021, and National Nurses United co-president in 2022. Under Ms. Hagans tenure as president, NYSNA has helped members navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, win groundbreaking safe staffing legislation in New York state, and achieve historic contract victories for quality patient care, fair pay and benefits, and worker health and safety for NYSNA members throughout New York State. With her leadership, NYC public sector nurses won a historic contract victory for pay parity in 2023. A native of Haiti and longtime resident of Staten Island, Ms. Hagans has worked as a nurse for more than 30 years at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. She has received many awards for her contributions to nursing, labor, and politics, including the Haitian American Nurses Association Trailblazers Award in 2022, the Peggy Browning Fund Workplace Justice Award in 2023, Crains New Yorks Top 50 Most Powerful Women, and City & States Winners of the Year in 2023. Pat Kane, RN, CNORe, and executive director of the New York State Nurses Association, is a longtime member and leader of NYSNA. She has served as NYSNAs executive director since December 2019, and before that, she served as NYSNA director at large and as union treasurer. Ms. Kane is a passionate advocate for nurses and the nursing profession and spent more than 30 years of her nursing career at Staten Island University Hospital/ Northwell Health. She has been active in her North Shore Staten Island community for decades, working to address disparities in access to care, and fighting for social, economic and climate justice. Ms. Kane consistently ranks highly in citywide and statewide power lists. Her recent awards include City & States Health Care Power 100, Albany Power 100, and amMetro and PoliticsNYs Power Players in Health Care and Labor Power Players lists. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Its an ink-redible achievement! Claire Jimenez, a writer who grew up in Brooklyn and Staten Island and a former Staten Island Advance intern, has been named the winner of the prestigious 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her family drama-mystery, What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez, (Grand Central). The PEN/Faulkner Award is Americas most prestigious peer-juried literary prize. As the author of the winning book, Jimenez will receive $15,000. Hailing from West Brighton, Jimenezs work was chosen fom 445 eligible novels and short story collections by American authors published in the U.S. from 183 publishing houses, including independent and academic presses during the 2023 calendar year. The finalists consisted of: Jamel Brinkley, for Witness; Henry Hoke, for Open Throat; Alice McDermott, for Absolution; and Colin Winnette, for Users. Each will receive $5,000. With an astonishingly varied range of protagonists the ghosts of New York City, U.S. military wives in wartime Saigon, Staten Island Latinas, a virtual reality designer, and a mountain lion living under the Hollywood sign this years finalists offer definitive proof that fiction, to invoke Walt Whitman, contains multitudes, PEN/Faulkner Awards Committee Chair Louis Bayard said in a statement. FIRST AMONG EQUALS All five finalist books and their authors were honored at the annual PEN/Faulkner Award Celebration on Thursday, May 2, at 7 p.m. ET at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. This in-person event featured presentations by the judges, as well as original readings by the finalists. In addition, there was an appearance by 2024 PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion, David Baldacci, along with other special guests, including journalist Ron Charles and author Sarah Pekkanen. Our judges have accomplished the seemingly impossible task of finding a first among equals among five diverse and powerfully impressive titles, said Louis Bayard, PEN/Faulkner Awards Committee Chair in a statement of Jimenez prior to the awards ceremony. Claire Jimenez has crafted a visceral work of art full of nuance, humor, and humanity, through incisive and loving character work, the finely calibrated unspooling of narrative, and the exquisite deployment of language, ranging from poetic prose to Spanglish to the sociolect of working-class Staten Island. A marvelously rendered novel about women, dangers to women, and our strength, What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is a complex portrait of resilience, full of life: anger, laughter, sorrow, and love. ABOUT CLAIRE JIMENEZ Claire Jimenez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, grew up in Brooklyn and Staten Island, New York. She is the author of the short story collection Staten Island Stories (Johns Hopkins Press, 2019). Jimenez received her MFA from Vanderbilt University and her PhD in English with specializations in Ethnic Studies and Digital Humanities from the University of NebraskaLincoln. In 2019, she co-founded the Puerto Rican Literature Project, a digital archive documenting the lives and work of hundreds of Puerto Rican writers from over the last century. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina. I began writing this story a decade ago, a strange tale about the disappearance of a Puerto Rican girl from Staten Island and the women in her family who cannot stop looking for her, said Jimenez. This novel is not only about a missing girl but also missing stories. I am so grateful to the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and the judges for honoring the voices of the Ramirez women, and I cannot wait to celebrate the extraordinary books of my fellow finalists at the award ceremony in May. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee of the Advance/SILive.com is proud to announce it will be hosting its second panel discussion on Monday, May 13 at 3 p.m. The hour-long event, named Conversation with Community Giants: Womens Heart Health will feature two of Staten Islands top cardiologists: Supreeti Behuria, M.D., the Director of Nuclear Cardiology at Staten Island University Hospital/Northwell, and Fiona Shehaj, M.D., Chief, Womens Cardiovascular Health, Richmond University Medical Center. The conversation will be transmitted via the Staten Island Advance Facebook Live platform. Questions will be fielded from reporters and the public. It follows on the success of the committees inaugural panel discussion, Conversation with Community Giants: Celebrating Black History. The Advance/SILive.com newsroom staff will be in attendance in-person and virtually, and the event will be broadcast live via the Advance Facebook Live platform, where the public can tune in and ask questions. According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States and can affect women at any age, with more than 60 million women (44%) in the U.S. living with some form of heart disease. In 2021, it was responsible for the deaths of 310,661 womenor about one in every five female deaths. Despite this, only about half (56%) of U.S. women recognize that heart disease is their number one killer. Knowing the facts about heart diseaseas well as the signs, symptoms and risk factorscan help you take steps to protect your health and seek proper treatment if you need it. ABOUT THE PANELISTS Supreeti Behuria, M.D. is the Director of Nuclear Cardiology at Staten Island University Hospital, a member hospital of Northwell Health. She earned her BA in Mathematics and Biological Sciences at Northwestern University, and her MD at New York Medical College. Dr. Behuria completed her residency, chief residency and cardiovascular diseases fellowship at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York. She is particularly passionate about Preventive Cardiology and Womens Heart Health and involved in community outreach to promote health equity in Staten Island. Fiona Shehaj, M.D. is the Chief of Womens Cardiovascular Health at Richmond University Medical Center in Staten Island, NY. Her professional interests and focus include womens health, preventative cardiology, heart failure management, advanced cardiac imaging, and of course educating medical students, residents, and fellows. Dr. Shehaj completed her medical education, residency and fellowship at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine in Brooklyn, and brings a well-rounded health perspective across different socioeconomic groups and health disparities. A Staten Islander herself, she has returned to her roots and to serve the patient population among which she grew up. - The 2024 DEI Committee of SILive/Staten Island Advance is comprised of Kelli DeSantis, left, Jason Paderon, Dr. Gracelyn Santos (chair), Felicia Torres, and Shane DiMaio. (Staten Island Advance)Staten Island Advance ADVANCE LEADERSHIP/SILIVE DEI COMMITTEE Caroline Harrison, CEO of Advance Local and publisher of the Advance and SILive.com, Brian Laline, Advance/SILive.com executive editor, Gerardine Mobley, VP, Diversity & Inclusion at Advance Local, and Gail Lubin, senior content director, are scheduled to attend the conference at the Advances Bloomfield headquarters. The Advance/SILive.com DEI committee hopes the discussion will inspire ways we can best represent the communities we serve, foster relationships where everyone feels comfortable and included, promote awareness of different perspectives, and exchange ideas on ways to identify challenges of underrepresented groups, and identify opportunities for improvement. The 2024 Advance/SILive.com DEI committee is chaired by columnist Dr. Gracelyn Santos, and is comprised of committee members Kelli DeSantis, executive assistant to Laline; multimedia specialist, Jason Paderon; Felicia Torres, executive assistant to Harrison; and social media creator Shane DiMaio, who will be co-moderating with Santos. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. The end of the Staten Island campus of St. Johns University is near: Students had their last day at the end of April and faculty members will be wrapping up operations in mid-June. So, whats happening to the books, computers, televisions, chairs and desks being left behind? Thieves already allegedly snatched a TV from the campus game room on April 13, according to the NYPD. According to St. Johns University Spokesperson Brian Browne, The contents of the campus property will be negotiated as part of the anticipated real estate transaction. A look inside the Kelleher Center at St. John's University's Staten Island Campus before it closes its doors for good. Monday, April 29, 2024. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon) Jason PaderonJason Paderon The sale of the Staten Island campus of St. Johns University appears close to being finalized, representatives from the college noted during a Grymes Hill Estates Association meeting in April but the school bound by real estate contingencies and non-disclosure agreements cannot yet disclose the identity of the potential buyer, as detailed in previous Advance/SILive.com reporting. And while the potential buyer could not yet be named, Browne said in April that he is hopeful that the campus will be vacated within the next few months, and the transaction completed this summer. A look at the St. John's University's Staten Island Campus on April 29, 2024, before it closes its doors for good. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)Jason Paderon We are not there yet. Conversations are still ongoing, and our due diligence continues, he said. But St. Johns has a great commitment to Staten Island and intends to honor that. The history of the Staten Island campus was always about preserving Catholic higher education in the borough. Thats the conversation the university and Archdiocese had 50 years ago. But the campus was made for 3,000 students, and they just werent there anymore. St. Johns first announced that it would close the Grymes Hill campus in 2022, citing a 63% decline in enrollment, exacerbated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Staten Island institution, which originally opened in 1934 as Notre Dame College, a Catholic undergraduate institution for women, is equipped with enough classroom space to accommodate thousands, but as of fall 2023, enrollment totaled out to be 431 students: 338 undergraduates and 43 graduates. Johnny Thunderbird is pictured on April 29, 2024, at the St. John's University's Staten Island Campus before it closes its doors for good. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon) Jason Paderon The campus has served the borough and its bright minds for 53 years, conferring over 10,000 degrees throughout its history, the St. Johns University website says. Browne said in the meeting that the universitys real estate adviser, Savills Inc., has marketed the campus as a pre-assembled turnkey opportunity for the past 18 months, one that is specifically well-suited for an educational facility. But he also acknowledged that the schools zoning R3-1 is residential, and as of right permits building semi-detached one- and two-family homes, as well as detached homes. The desire for the campus to remain an educational institution burns brightly within the community. At the farewell mass and luncheon in April, Angela Randazzo, an alumna of the school, said she hopes that the campus will remain an educational institution so the buildings could stay, even though they might be used for a different purpose. A look at an art lab at St. John's University's Staten Island Campus on April 29, 2024, before it closes its doors for good. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon) Jason Paderon In the last couple of years, the dwindling student population has left the remaining pupils in what sophomore Carl Stair called a ghost town. Stair will be moving to the Queens campus come the fall. He falls into the category of students that are amped for the transition; the change, he said, was relatively easy. Going to Queens is really going to be my first experience of what real college is like, cause this is not it, clearly. I was going into college expecting what you see in the movies, he explained. A look at the grand entrance of DaSilva Academic Center, one of the newer buildings at St. John's University's Staten Island Campus on April 29, 2024. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon) Jason Paderon Other students accelerated their academic schedule to graduate this May, instead of trekking to the Queens campus come the fall. Their frustration and ire did not go unnoticed. Well, Im annoyed, not going to lie, Sophia Simpson, a senior criminal justice major said. Im going to do my masters [degree] after [graduation], and now I have to find another school If I knew that they were closing, I never wouldve went here. Simpson, who is graduating early, attended St. John Villa Academy prior to St. Johns University making her zero for two of surviving academic institutions. She, like Stair, has online classes. Everyones gone or in Queens, she said. All of the classes that I have to take, if theyre required, its someone in Queens, so they just do it virtually. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Its a mystery wrapped inside a whodunit. An exotic piece of guerrilla artwork on the beachfront at Lemon Creek Park appears to have been vandalized. But the question of how the mysterious sculpture came to be damaged has revealed a deeper puzzle: who created the unsanctioned artwork in the first place? What remains of the sculpture, which to some resembled an Easter Island totem, can be found a short walk down a sandy path from the Lemon Creek Park parking lot at the end of Seguine Avenue in Princes Bay. The sculpture, which included fierce fangs, penetrating eyes and a protruding tongue, looks to have been carved from an existing tree on the shoreline. Guerrilla artwork at Lemon Creek Park as seen in 2023. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance Its not known when the sculpture was done, but the totem has been on the beachfront at Lemon Creek Park since at least 2017, when it was photographed by the Advance for a feature on the park. It was also featured in an Advance/SILive.com story in 2023. Sculpture at Lemon Creek Park is shown in a photo from 2017. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance But the totem today bears little resemblance to the eye-catching work of art that it once was. Exotic sculpture on the beach at Lemon Creek Park appears to have been damaged by vandals. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance The sculptures distinctive and mesmerizing facial features appear to have been hacked or torn off and parts of the artwork appear to have been freshly burned. Chunks of the sculpture litter the sand around the totem. Sculpture at Lemon Creek Park appears to have been burned and otherwise damaged by vandals. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance The only recognizable piece of the totem that remains is a crown-like design at the top of the sculpture. Pieces of sculpture litter the ground near waterfront artwork at Lemon Creek Park in Prince's Bay. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance Those familiar with the artwork believe that vandals are to blame for the damage. Only a bona fide a-hole would do something like this, said City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore). Borelli said he would take his children to view the sculpture and recalled meeting the artist doing maintenance on the piece at the beach in March of 2020. Man identified only as Kevin is said to be the artist who created guerrilla artwork piece on the beach at Lemon Creek Park. (Photo courtesy of City Councilman Joe Borelli)Photo courtesy of City Councilman Joe Borelli The artist, identified by Borelli only as Kevin, told the councilman that he was sanding and staining the artwork in order to get it ready for the coming summer. Borelli said he hoped that the sculpture, which in an Instagram post he said was called Mambo, could be replaced. Artist identified only as Kevin sands and varnishes his sculpture at Lemon Creek Park in 2020 as Joseph Borelli, son of City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore), looks on.Photo courtesy of City Councilman Joe Borelli Staten Island artist Scott LoBaido was also familiar with the sculpture and said he had met the artist years ago but did not know the artists name. To destroy the tranquil, soothing work of this quiet genius breaks my heart, LoBaido said. Ill be the first to chip in and buy him the supplies to do a new one. The Advance/SILive.com has been unable to locate the artist. The city Parks Department told the Advance, This carving is not an official piece of artwork in the Citys collection. It was installed without permission of Parks and we are unaware of who initiated it. Artwork thats placed unannounced and anonymously in public locations or beyond art-sanctioned spaces is commonly called guerrilla art. Fred Nattboy alerted the Advance to the damage that the sculpture had endured. He said he was heartbroken by the vandalism. I just cant understand what goes on in the minds of these so-called human beings when they are destroying someones work of love, he said. Said Nattboy, Its very sad and a sign of the times of how society views the arts and our natural environment too. Lorraine Davi, a registered nurse, visits Lemon Creek Park regularly on lunch breaks from her job at Staten Island University Hospital, Princes Bay. She said the vandalism was unnecessary. We should enjoy our nice places and just relax, she said. If you know the artist who created the Lemon Creek Park totem, please contact Tom Wrobleski at wrobleski@siadvance.com. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. All three Staten Island Community Boards will host public meetings this week, with topics of discussion including Department of Sanitation safety plans and the Living Breakwaters Coastal Resiliency Project. The City of Yes zoning text amendment proposal will be discussed at two meetings this week. The City of Yes proposal, introduced by Mayor Eric Adams, seeks to adjust zoning regulations to allow for the development of 108,850 new homes in the five boroughs over the next 15 years. It is an effort to create more affordable housing in the city. Details of the meetings are listed below: Community Board 1 Community Board 1 will host a meeting of its full board on Tuesday, May 14, at 6:30 p.m. in St. Marys Episcopal Church, 347 Davis Ave., West Brighton. On the agenda is a New York City Economic Development Corporation presentation about the Staten Island North Shore Action Plan. Also two safety and improvement projects within Community Board 1 will be presented by the city DOT. The first is at Fingerboard Road and Narrows Road. The second is at Victory Boulevard and Corson Avenue. And a presentation about the City of Yes citywide zoning text amendment will be given by Rasika Deosthali, Catie Ferrara-Iannitto and Winnie Shen of the Department of City Planning. Community Board 2 Community Board 2 will host the following meetings this week in the third-floor conference room at 900 South Ave., Bloomfield. The Traffic, Transportation & Public Service Committees will meet on Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. The Youth Services Committee will meet on Wednesday, May 15, at 7 p.m. The Aging Committee will meet on Thursday, May 16, from noon to 2 p.m. The Steering Committee will meet on Thursday, May 16, at 7 p.m. Community Board 3 The Parks and Environmental Committee will host a virtual meeting on Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. At the meeting, the Office of Resilient Homes and Communities will provide an update on the status of the Living Breakwaters Coastal Resiliency Project in Tottenville. On Wednesday, May 15, at 7 p.m. there will be a Land Use Public Hearing in the board office, on the second floor of 1243 Woodrow Rd., Woodrow. On the agenda is a proposal to develop one-story warehouses at two locations on streets that are not duly placed on the official New York City map -- 61 Muriel St. and 35 Marjorie St., both in Charleston. The City Planning Departments City of Yes housing text amendment will also be considered. Those interested in attending the meeting must register by 9 a.m. on the day of the meeting by visiting the board website at www.nyc.gov/site/statenislandcb3. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC All Community Board meetings and meetings of their committees are open to the public. They provide an excellent opportunity for residents to learn about happenings in their neighborhood and surrounding areas. Below is more information about the Islands three Community Boards: COMMUNITY BOARD 1 Arlington Castleton Corners Clifton Concord Elm Park Fort Wadsworth Graniteville Grymes Hill Livingston Mariners Harbor New Brighton Port Richmond Randall Manor Rosebank St. George Shore Acres Silver Lake Stapleton Sunnyside Tompkinsville West Brighton Westerleigh. The board chairman is Nicholas Siclari. The district manager is Joan Cusack. The telephone number is 718-981-6900. COMMUNITY BOARD 2 Arrochar Bloomfield Bulls Head Chelsea Dongan Hills Egbertville Emerson Hill Grant City Grasmere High Rock Lighthouse Hill Midland Beach New Dorp New Springville Oakwood Ocean Breeze Old Town Richmond South Beach Todt Hill Travis. The phone number is 718-568-3581. The fax number is 718-568-3595. The chairman is Fred Guinta. The district manager is Debra A. Derrico. COMMUNITY BOARD 3 Annadale Arden Heights Bay Terrace Charleston Eltingville Great Kills Greenridge Huguenot New Dorp Oakwood Pleasant Plains Princes Bay Richmond Valley Richmond Rossville Tottenville Woodrow. The office phone number is 718-356-7900. The board chairman is Frank Morano; the district manager is Charlene Wagner. After a long week in court, Donald Trump is heading to the Jersey Shore. And hes being greeted by thousands of his friends. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, expects to draw what his team is calling a mega crowd to a Saturday evening rally in the southern New Jersey resort town of Wildwood. It was being held 150 miles (241 kilometers) south of the New York City courthouse where he has been forced to spend most weekdays sitting silently through his felony hush money trial. People line up on the beach in Wildwood on Saturday, May 11, 2024, for former President Donald Trumps beachfront campaign rally.Jim Lowney | For NJ Advance Media The beachfront gathering is designed to serve as a show of force at a critical moment for Trump, a presidential candidate known for drawing huge crowds. Hours before Trump was scheduled to take the stage, thousands of loyalists including Staten Island artist Scott LoBaido, who made a painting of Trump gathered on the sand between the boardwalk and carnival rides to greet the former Republican president. People walk on the boardwalk in Wildwood on Saturday, May 11, 2024, before former President Donald Trumps beachfront campaign rally.Jim Lowney | For NJ Advance Media Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said the tens of thousands expected attendees would be a notable contrast to the number that typically show up for President Joe Bidens political events, which Miller described as being only eight circles, two of which are empty. Edward X. Young, 64, of Brick, New Jersey, shows of buttons he's gotten from President Donald Trump rallies he's attended. Trump's rally on Saturday in Wildwood will be his 76th, he said.Eric Conklin Trumps gathering in deep-blue New Jersey comes less than six months before Election Day. The former presidents extraordinary legal woes, which include three other unrelated criminal cases, have emerged as a central focus of the campaign. Trump has repeatedly accused the Biden administration and Democratic officials in New York of using the legal system to block his return to the White House. Prosecutors allege the former president broke the law to conceal an affair with a porn actor that would have hurt his first presidential bid. And while Trump will almost certainly seize on his legal woes Saturday, a judges gag order and the threat of jail will limit Trumps ability to comment publicly on witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the New York trial, which is expected to consume much of the month. The judge in the case already has fined Trump $9,000 for violating the order and warned that jail could follow if he doesnt comply. People gather on the boardwalk n Wildwood on Saturday, May 11, 2024, for former President Donald Trumps beachfront campaign rally.Jim Lowney | For NJ Advance Media Trumps responsibilities as a defendant have limited his ability to win over voters on the campaign trail. He spent last weeks off-day from court in the general election battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan. And hes expecting to face a massive crowd Saturday in New Jersey, a reliably Democratic state. Parts of New Jersey have deep-red enclaves and the southern shoreline in particular draws tourists and summer homeowners from neighboring Pennsylvania, a key swing state. Saturdays visit to the New Jersey Shore resort isnt Trumps first. While president, Trump held a rally there in January 2020 to thank Rep. Jefferson Van Drew, R-N.J., the congressman who had just left the Democratic Party for the GOP as a rebuke for the former presidents first impeachment. People wait for speakers in Wildwood on Saturday, May 11, 2024, for former President Donald Trumps beachfront campaign rally.Dave Hernandez | For NJ Advance Trump drew a crowd at the time that lined the streets, filled bars and supported numerous vendors in what is usually a sleepy city in the winter. This time, the summer season is around the corner for the resort known for its wide beaches and boardwalk games and shops. Wildwood is in New Jerseys 2nd District, which Van Drew has represented for three terms and covers all or part of six counties in southern New Jersey. It went for Trump in 2016 and again in 2020 after earlier backing Barack Obama. Trump is set to return to the courtroom next week, when key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trumps fixer-turned-foe, is expected to take the witness stand. Last week, he was visibly angry at times as he was forced to sit through testimony from former porn actor Stormy Daniels, who described a sexual encounter with the former president in shocking detail. Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather for his beachfront campaign rally in Wildwood on Saturday, May 11, 2024Dave Hernandez | For NJ Advance Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records. The charges stem from paperwork such as invoices and checks that were deemed legal expenses in company records. Prosecutors say those payments largely were reimbursements to Cohen, Trumps attorney, who paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet. The prosecution could rest its case by the end of the week. Its unclear if Trump himself will take the stand when the defense presents its case. For Russias elite, passing on family wealth has become more complex than ever. With the war in Ukraine stretching into a third year and the rich getting accustomed to the idea that Russian citizens are no longer welcome in the West, the tried-and-true playbook for transferring fortunes has been effectively vanquished. Even Cyprus and Switzerland some of the favourite spots of old have introduced bans on providing management services to family trusts with Russian nationals as trustors or beneficiaries. The fate of this vast wealth has major implications for Vladimir Putin and Russia as it remains largely cut off from much of the rest of the world. Credit: AP While some of the rich still seek ways to keep family funds in the West, others look to relocate them in so-called friendly countries like the United Arab Emirates or end up transferring them to Russia particularly if their holdings are concentrated there. Most of the billionaires who were sanctioned have opted to move assets home. The country, for its part, has offered incentives for years for the wealthy to bring their money back and has created structures that it says will shield private assets. But concerns over state seizures remain, especially because theyve increased recently. A critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin warned there would be more coming. DM: God no! I thought they were bleak public displays of me losing my temper. And I would call Barrie Cassidy and beg him to let me on the show without Gerard. Gerard and I get along, and he made a very funny video obituary for my 75th birthday, with me jumping around the backyard on a Pogo Stick. Fitz: The mind boggles! All right, lets talk about the other thing, which is your extraordinary best-selling book, Killing for Country, concerning the atrocities committed by some of your forebears working for the Native Police in Queensland, killing people of the First Nations. Did you hesitate before embarking on that, and what was the background to going into it? DM: My 90-year-old uncle on my mothers side the Marrs were impeccably honest blacksmiths from Scotland said to me five years ago, Look, David, youre a journalist. Can you find out something about my grandmother? Her name was Maud Uhr. Id only done half a mornings work when I found a photograph of her father in the uniform of the notorious Queensland Native Police. He was a professional killer of Aboriginal people: a white officer leading Indigenous troopers killing Aboriginal people in a force that operated for over 60 years. I was shocked and shamed and bewildered. But Im a journalist. Im an explainer. Im a reporter. I knew at once I would write this story that had fallen into my lap. It was embarrassing in many ways, but a great story and as you know, you dont turn down a good story. Fitz: What had your forebears done, specifically? DM: Many things, going through the 1860s. My great-great-grandfather, Reg Uhr, a Kings old boy, led attacks up and down the colony from Maryborough to Cardwell. How many he killed isnt known. But his brother Darcy, in one operation alone, killed 59 over 10 days on the Gulf of Carpentaria a massacre so horrible that it was news across Australia and throughout Britain. Marrs latest book Killing For Country traces the history of two of his own ancestors, who killed dozens of Indigenous Australians. Credit: Fitz: Why had they done this? DM: Very often, the local squatters would call in the Native Police to avenge the death of a shepherd or simply to bust up a gathering of Aboriginal people on their land. Suspicion was enough. Prisoners were almost never taken. The squatters would call for the Native Police and often ride with them, troopers and vigilantes setting off to kill. Fitz: There are a lot of extraordinary Aboriginal stories that Im interested in doing myself, but many publishers run screaming from the room, broadly saying whitefellas cannot tell stories about blackfellas. DM: My book is a whitefellas book, about the atrocities committed by whitefellas from my own family. I make that clear. Fitz: Would you agree with publishers though, that, generally, whites should not write black stories? DM: [Long pause, reaching for the right words] Look ... no one ... has the authority ... to say who can tell what stories. Indigenous voices are, of course, best placed to tell Indigenous stories. They have authority. More than ever, we want to hear them. But Im not sympathetic to the notion that gatekeepers can declare any subject off-limits to the world. Australians write about everything under the sun including cultures a million miles from our own. If whitefellas act with decency and care and know what were talking about theres no point banning us from black subjects, is there? Fitz: In your case, not even from your own family, as you uncovered appalling secrets hidden for generations? DM: [Laughing, initially] It helps that Ive been embarrassing my family all my life. But this was a tough one. I kept them up to date with what I was finding. When I began in 2019, they were saying to me, David, must you do this? By the end they were saying, David, you must do this. What a team! In 1991, Marr was part of the Four Corners crew. Back row: Mark Colvin, Ross Coulthart and Paul Barry. Centre: Marr, Neil Mercer. Front: Deborah Snow, Andrew Olle and Chris Masters. Credit: ABC Fitz: Did you have moments of sometimes reading ancient documentation at midnight, reeling back and going, Im ashamed of my family? DM: I felt that kind of visceral shame most early on. After that, it became a professional investigation: researching, writing and working out how to make sense of the evidence that survives from that time. There were times I thought, Holy f---, this is just impossibly horrible. But you just keep going, and that disgust and anger drives you on. It becomes the fuel in the machine. Fitz: Having buried yourself in that subject matter, were you more than usually eager that the Voice referendum succeed? DM: Oh, yes. But what most amazed me in the month leading up to it was how the arguments being used against the Voice were, thematically, exactly the same arguments used against Aboriginal people in the 1830s, 40s, 50s and 60s, 70s and so on. Back then, white people who supported blacks were attacked as show-off humanitarians, as these days they are accused of virtue signalling. They were attacked as city folk who dont know the reality of life in the bush, rich people who are so insulated by their wealth they dont know whats going on. And it was always said back then that any money spent on the blacks is wasted. All of that could have been Peter Dutton in 2023. Marr pictured at his Camperdown home in 1994. Credit: Sahlan Hayes Fitz: Given the comprehensive failure of the Voice 40 per cent to 60 per cent is constitutional change now possible in Australia, or should we forget about it for a generation? DM: Constitutional change is quite straightforward so long as all major parties support the change, right? Thats a rule that has been established for over a century. And all that was needed to defeat the Voice was for Dutton to put up his hand and say no. He didnt have to overwhelm the country with hatred and lies and exaggerations. He won the minute he put up his hand. And thats whats so difficult to understand about Albaneses tactics. Labor has lost dozens and dozens of attempts to fix the problems of our Constitution. All of them were defeated by the opposition leader putting up his hand and saying no. Dutton did exactly that. And it worked. Fitz: What should Albanese have done? DM: He should not have announced the Voice referendum was coming in the flush of victory on election night. He should have tried to negotiate for bipartisan support. It was always unlikely from Dutton, so Albanese should not have put it up. Instead, in my view, he should have legislated the Voice and then approached the referendum after a few years. But the viciousness of oppositional politics in Australia at the moment is such that its perhaps impossible for any referendum to succeed. Fitz: All right. I have one last question. You were a very strong supporter of the marriage equality campaign. I cant help but notice, however, I have received no invitation to a wedding between you and Sebastian Tesoriero. Did you have it and not invite me, or have you not had it yet? DM: [Laughing] I am not sure how much of this story I should tell ... Fitz: Go on, tell me! DM: Well, years ago we were on the dance floor at Mardi Gras in the perfect sobriety that comes at 3am, and one of us said to the other we cannot now remember which We are married, arent we? And the other replied, Yes. So, weve decided that will do for us: marriage in the presence of about 10,000 ravers at Mardi Gras. Fitz: Nice try. But I know I speak on behalf of all your friends and family when I say we want a wedding and a reception, you cheap bastards! DM: [Laughs uproariously] Jewish and LGBTQ groups have backed a push to speed up the removal of hateful graffiti in Sydney, amid a surge in offensive slogans daubed around childrens playgrounds. City of Sydney Labor councillor Linda Scott wants hate-speech graffiti removed within one hour of it being reported to the council. Scotts notice of motion, which will be debated on Monday, said the council advised residents it would remove graffiti within two business days, with offensive or hateful graffiti prioritised. Glebe resident Ash Wood and City of Sydney councillor Linda Scott inspect a wall that had been daubed with hate-speech graffiti. Credit: Steven Siewert The reporting party is asked whether the graffiti is hateful or offensive, and they must explain why it is offensive, the motion said. The state and federal governments are at loggerheads over the planned phase out of live sheep exports by 2028, with WA Premier Roger Cook branding the move not good enough and demanding more industry support. Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt travelled to Perth on Saturday to confirm the federal government would legislate a ban on live exports by sea by May 1, 2028. The date aligns with that recommended by an independent panel in 2023, which undertook a six-month inquiry into the trade and considered more than 4000 submissions. Federal Agriculture Minister Murray announcing the ban in Perth today. Credit: Jesinta Burton. Watt said the government would support the industry through the transition to the tune of $107 million to execute the election pledge, half of which will be spent helping producers and the supply chain capitalise on untapped opportunities and expanding onshore processing. Discrimination against pregnant workers or those on parental leave is on the rise complaints about that issue and redundancy have increased by 15 per cent in the past year. Some employers directly told employees their pregnancy would bankrupt the business. Other employers were less explicit, excluding new mothers from meetings and handing their responsibilities to other staff members, making them redundant, then hiring the maternity cover into a permanent role. Pregnancy and parental discrimination are illegal, but experts say confidentiality clauses make knowing how common the issue is difficult. Credit: Stock On Friday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he wanted Australians to have more babies and pledged to make it easier for people to have larger families to address the declining birth rate. Australias current fertility rate is 1.63 births per woman. Employment rights community legal centre JobWatch, which operates in Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania, recorded 95 parental and pregnancy discrimination complaints in 2022, 110 in 2023 and 42 in the first four months of this year. Most related to redundancy and parental leave. A spokeswoman for the opposition leader said his office should be given the governments advice about Tahami before making any response. Until we can see that, we are unable to comment on an individuals case and the circumstances surrounding the individual, she said. The government has been under pressure on migration policy since the High Court ruled in November that people could not be held in immigration detention indefinitely if there was no prospect of their deportation in the foreseeable future, leading officials to release 153 people. Home invasion victim Ninette Simons. Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has referred decisions to a new group of advisers, the Community Protection Board, and his staff have claimed decisions have to be made at arms length from the minister. But Emergency Services Minister Murray Watt said on Saturday that government ministers were taking responsibility for their response to the High Court decision and this meant Dutton should do the same for decisions on his watch. What we havent seen from Peter Dutton is him even taking any responsibility for decisions that occurred while he was the home affairs minister, Watt said in Perth on Saturday. Its time for Mr Dutton to hold himself to the same standard. The release of Tahami under a Coalition government and Doukoshkan under a Labor government heightens the public policy debate about detainees who commit crimes after they are freed, turning their cases into matters of public interest. Both arrived in Australia during a surge in asylum seekers when Labor was in government. Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Doukoshkan, 43, was born in Kuwait and has Iranian citizenship. He came to Australia by boat in 2011 and was convicted in 2017 on charges of attempting to sell or supply drugs, resulting in a prison term. Upon his release he was transferred to immigration detention. He was one of the 153 people released after the High Court ruling. Tahami, 38, was born in Iran and was freed from detention several years before the High Court ruling. He arrived in Australia by boat in November 2011 and was granted a protection visa in December 2012. He was charged with the intent to sell and supply methamphetamine several years later and served time in prison before being transferred to immigration detention. The Coalition government released Tahami from detention on January 12, 2020, giving no public reason for the move. This masthead has lodged a Freedom of Information request with the Department of Home Affairs to gain access to documents that explain why he was released. Dutton was the minister for home affairs when Tahami was released. The acting immigration minister was Alan Tudge, who held the position while former immigration minister David Coleman was on leave. Department of Home Affairs records show that a delegate for the ministers made the decision, which means it did not need to be signed or personally approved by Dutton or Tudge. But Coalition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan argued on Friday that Immigration Minister Andrew Giles should own the decisions by officials about released detainees. Loading The minister is doing everything he can to hide behind bodies and decision-makers rather than fronting up and owning these decisions, Tehan said. Dutton has called on federal ministers to take responsibility for decisions related to the alleged assault of Simons, who suffered severe injuries that were shown in graphic images across the national media. The minister has responsibility here. The first charge of the prime minister of our country is to keep people safe, not to put them in harms way, and thats whats happened with Ninette, he said on May 3. If the minister doesnt have responsibility here, I dont know who does. Authorities sought to deport both Doukoshkan and Tahami because of their criminal convictions, but Iran does not accept people who are being returned to the country against their will. In a separate case, an Iranian asylum seeker known as ASF17 lost an appeal in the High Court on Friday after he sought to be released from detention. The government argued that he had refused to cooperate with their attempts to deport him. Records from the Perth Magistrates Court show that Tahami was charged with new offences within months of his release in early 2020, including a charge for the possession of methamphetamine in July of that year. He was fined $1000 for this offence. Tahami was charged with the possession of cannabis in January 2021 and again in May of that year, as well as in October 2023. He was charged in February 2023 with carrying an article with intent to cause fear, and was charged the following month with driving while under the influence of illicit drugs and with no authority to drive. He was fined for these offences. Almost a quarter of a century after the Kings Cross landmark Sebel Townhouse closed its doors to visiting rock gods of the 1970s and 80s, such as David Bowie, Elton John and Bono, the penthouse in the Mirvac-redeveloped building has sold for about $18 million. Such is the state of Sydneys high-end apartment market that a neighbourhood that for decades was best known for its red-light district, all-night bars and strip joints, is now among the most expensive real estate per square metre in the country. Tina Green has sold her penthouse in the Encore building for $18 million. Credit: The late veteran hotelier Maurice Green and his widow Tina were among the early buyers into the redeveloped hotel, known aptly as Encore, paying $3.95 million in 2003 when it was new. Iraq calls for UN mission's departure by 2025 United Nations, United States, May 10 (AFP) May 10, 2024 The government of Iraq has asked the UN to end its decades-long political mission to the country by 2025, stating that the force is no longer necessary, according to a letter seen by AFP Friday. In the document sent to the Security Council, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani described what he said were "positive developments and the achievements" by successive Iraqi governments as well as fulfillment of the UN mission's mandate. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), in existence since 2003, has overcome "great and varied challenges," he said, concluding that "the grounds for having a political mission in Iraq" no longer exist. Calling for an end date of December 31, 2025, al-Sudani specified that the mission in the meantime should focus only on issues pertaining to "economic reform, service provision, sustainable development, climate change and other development sectors." UNAMI was established in 2003 by a UN Security Council resolution at the request of the Iraqi government before being expanded four years later. It is renewed every year. The mission also advises the government on political dialogue and reconciliation, as well as helping with elections and security sector reform. The Security Council next week will debate renewal of the mission since the current mandate terminates at the end of the month. During the mission's last renewal in May 2023, the Council asked the secretary-general to launch a strategic review, which was overseen by German diplomat Volker Perthes. In a report issued in March, Perthes signaled that an end to the mandate could be appropriate, concluding that "the two-year period identified by the government for the mission's drawdown can be a sufficient time frame to make further progress." He also concluded that the period would provide sufficient time to reassure reluctant Iraqis that the transition "will not lead to a reversal of democratic gains or threaten peace and security." Hamas says Israeli-British hostage held in Gaza dead Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories, May 11 (AFP) May 11, 2024 Hamas's armed wing said in a video on Saturday that an Israeli-British hostage held in captivity in Gaza since the October 7 attack had died from wounds sustained from Israeli air strikes. Earlier on Saturday, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades released an 11-second clip showing captive Nadav Popplewell alive and identifying himself. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group identified him in a statement. In the video, the footage was superimposed with text in Arabic and Hebrew that read: "Time is running out. Your government is lying." The hostage had a black eye in the clip but showed no other visible signs of injuries. Wearing a white T-shirt and appearing to speak under duress, he introduced himself as 51-year-old Popplewell, from kibbutz Nirim in southern Israel. Later on Saturday, Hamas released what appeared to be a full version of the video from which the earlier clip was taken. Hamas claimed in the video that Popplewell had died on Saturday of his earlier wounds. "Nadav Popplewell, a British citizen, died today after being seriously injured a month ago (due to Zionist air strikes)," a superimposed text in English said in the video below a picture of the hostage shown in a white photo frame. "His health deteriorated because he did not receive intensive medical care because the enemy has destroyed the Gaza Strip's hospitals," Abu Obeida, the spokesman of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a separate statement. AFP was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the video. Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari did not mention Popplewell during a televised briefing, but said that troops were still seeking to bring the hostages home. "Even at this hour, every fighter (soldier) and commander on the battlefield envisions the hostages, sees them, thinks of them, and fights to bring them home," he said. - 'Cry of distress' - Popplewell was kidnapped from his home during Hamas's October 7 attack along with his mother, Hanna Peri, who was released during a one-week truce in November -- the only pause so far in more than seven months of war. Popplewell's older brother was killed in the attack. The video posted Saturday on the Telegram channel of Hamas's armed wing was the third time in less than a month that the group released footage of captives held in Gaza. On April 27 Hamas released a video showing two hostages alive -- Keith Siegel and Omri Miran. Three days earlier it broadcast another video showing hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin alive. The videos come amid growing domestic pressure on the Israeli government to secure the release of the hostages. "Every sign of life received from the hostages held by Hamas is another cry of distress to the Israeli government and its leaders," the families forum said in a statement earlier on Saturday. "We don't have a moment to spare! You must strive to implement a deal that will bring them all back today." Hundreds of protesters meanwhile gathered in the commercial city of Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem calling to strike a deal for the release of the captives. Hamas and Israel have so far failed to reach a deal despite repeated rounds of indirect negotiations. Some 250 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel. Israeli officials say 128 of them are still held captive in the Palestinian territory, including at least 36 who are dead. The attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. In Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza, at least 34,971 people have been killed so far, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. * FIRST NAME * LAST NAME * EMAIL Your email address * PASSWORD Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number Show * YEAR OF BIRTH You must be at least 18 years old to create an account 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1906 * Required fields I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice CREATE ACCOUNT I'LL TRY LATER Already have an account? SIGN IN By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. But then again you don't know what's going to happen on the night, you don't know what the viewers are going to be feeling, you don't know whether everyone will understand [my performance] but I mean the platform is incredible regardless and even having an online platform for people to see my abilities you know will hopefully do good things for my me, my life, my music, they continued. Through the Diplomatic Missions and Consular Offices of Romania abroad, the Foreign Affairs Ministry organises as many as 915 polling stations for the European Parliament elections on June 9, the ministry informs in a press release on Saturday. In this regards, minister Luminita Odobescu issued an Order in accordance with the relevant law regarding the organization and conduct of the elections for the European Parliament, on some measures for the organization and conduct of the elections for members from Romania in the European Parliament in 2024 and the elections for local public administration authorities in 2024. According to the MAE, 80 more polling stations will be organized for the June 9 election than those established in the 2019 presidential elections (835 voting stations), 167 more stations than those organized in the 2020 parliamentary elections (748 stations). and by 474 more than the polling stations organized in the 2019 European Parliament elections (441 stations). Most polling sections will be organized in the states where the largest communities of Romanian citizens are: Italy (150 sections), Spain (147 sections), the United Kingdom of Great Britain (104 sections), Germany (87 sections), France and the Principality of Monaco (67 sections), the Republic of Moldova (52 sections), the USA (45 sections), Belgium (24 sections), Austria (17 sections), Ireland (16 sections), the Kingdom of the Netherlands (16 sections), Denmark (14 sections), Canada (12 sections). The list of polling stations abroad and the addresses of their headquarters can be consulted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the section dedicated to elections (https://www.mae.ro/node/64518). The MAE reminds that in the European parliamentary elections on June 9, Romanian citizens with the right to vote who reside, have residence or are temporarily abroad can vote at any polling station organized abroad, on the basis of a Romanian identity document valid on the day of voting: the identity card; electronic identity card; temporary identity card; diplomatic passport; electronic diplomatic passport; service passport; electronic service passport; simple passport; simple electronic passport; simple temporary passport; in the case of students from military schools, the military service card. In the June 9 election, voting begins at 7:00 a.m. local time and ends at 10:00 p.m. Voters who are at the polling station headquarters at 10:00 p.m., as well as those queuing outside the polling station headquarters to enter the polling station, can exercise their right to vote until 11:59 p.m. local time. The Romanian police brought nine people to the country, on May 9 and 10, on whose names warrants were issued for the execution of custodial sentences or preventive arrest warrants, Agerpres reports. On May 10, another man, 29 years old, from Arad, was escorted from Germany, being pursued internationally for the crime of human trafficking. The Dolj Court issued a preventive arrest warrant on his behalf.At the same time, a 30-year-old man from Brasov, wanted internationally for committing traffic crimes, was brought. He was brought from Germany, having been issued by the Brasov Court, in his name, a warrant for the execution of the prison sentence of 3 years and 3 months.At the same time, on May 10, a Romanian Police escort brought a 61-year-old man, wanted internationally for the crime of cutting down trees. He was brought from Great Britain, having been issued by the Moinesti Court, in his name, a warrant for the execution of the prison sentence of 2 years and 8 months.Another man, 30 years old, from Suceava, was escorted from Great Britain, being pursued internationally for committing a traffic offence. The Radauti Court issued a prison sentence in his name, and he was sentenced to 4 years in prison.On May 10 this year, a 23-year-old man, domiciled in Tulcea, wanted internationally for the crime of participating in an organized criminal group, was escorted from France, being sentenced by the Braila Court to 3 years and 6 months prison.At the same time, a 31-year-old man from Botosani, wanted internationally for committing road crimes, was escorted from Austria, being sentenced by the Darabani Court to 2 years and 2 months in prison. At the same time, a 51-year-old man from Mehedinti, wanted internationally for committing traffic crimes, was brought from Italy, having been issued by the Orsova Court, in his name, a warrant for the execution of the prison sentence of 1 year and 2 months.Those in question were imprisoned, in order to execute the warrants. As many as 422,790 people benefited, in April 2024, from pensions and allowances provided for by special laws, according to data centralized by the National Public Pension House (CNPP), Agerpres reports. The largest number of people was registered in the case of beneficiaries of allowances according to Law no. 118/1990 - regarding the granting of rights to persons persecuted for political reasons by the dictatorship established since March 6, 1945, as well as to those deported abroad or made prisoners, with subsequent amendments and additions, respectively 187,108, The average compensation was 1,541 RON. Beneficiaries of allowances cf. Law no. 341/2004 - the recognition of heroes-martyrs and fighters who contributed to the victory of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 was 12,806, they received an average amount of 2,164 RON.Moreover, in April 2024, 573 beneficiaries were registered according to Law 109/2005 - Artists, the average allowance being 345 RON, 14,031 beneficiaries of allowances according to Law 8/2006 - Creative Unions, with an average allowance of 1,917 RON, and 78,590 beneficiaries according to Law 578/2004 - Surviving Spouse, with an average allowance of 128 RON.(1 euro = approx. 4.97 RON). Romania is still facing the measles epidemic, declared the minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, who recommended vaccination of both children and adults who have not been immunized or who have not been through the disease, Agerpres reports. "The measles epidemic continues to evolve in Romania. There are a few counties that are more affected. In general, these outbreaks appear where there are communities with a low degree of vaccination coverage. It evolves throughout the European Union, but in Romania probably more than in other countries and these things can be seen on the maps of the European Center for Disease Control. We encourage parents who have not yet vaccinated their children to do so, even adults who have not been through the disease or those who have not been vaccinated can do it. (...) Many times deaths have occurred in adolescents or adults who were not protected. Or, if such a person comes into contact with a child who has measles, the form is much more aggressive in adults, because we have other diseases and a different age and we react differently," the minister of Health said. The awards total $6,780,000 and were recommended by the Economic Advisory Council. The program, in its 50th year, is administered by Idaho Commerce with funds received annually from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Local entities that each received $500,000 awards include: Cottonwood, water system; Grangeville, water system; Idaho County, water system; Latah County, wastewater system; and Orofino, downtown revitalization. Chief Hospital Corpsman Daniel Douglass McCracken, a Navy reservist, died in a noncombat-related incident in the Middle East. (Shelby Thurman/U.S. Air National Guard) A Navy reservist, who worked as a police officer in Pennsylvania, died Monday in the Middle East in a noncombat-related incident, according to the service. Chief Hospital Corpsman Daniel Douglass McCracken died in the operational area of U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy said Friday. The Navy did not provide details about McCrackens death, saying the circumstances were under investigation. McCracken was a reservist recalled to active duty, the Navy said. He was from Pennsylvania and enlisted in July 1998, according to service records. The Chester Police Department confirmed Friday that McCracken was a police officer with the city in Pennsylvania. The Navy news release about McCracken was issued from Manama, Bahrain. Manama is the headquarters of a U.S. naval base that provides supplies and assistance to ships operating in the Middle East. Hospital corpsmen deploy in support of combat operations, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance missions ashore and afloat, according to a Navy website on military occupational specialties. They can serve with Navy or Marine units on land or ships. McCrackens death is the second due to a noncombat-related incident in the U.S. Central Command area of operations in the past two months. Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd Class Oriola Michael Aregbesola was reported to have gone overboard on March 20 while deployed on the destroyer USS Mason. Womens Army Corp members march with new recruits. () (Tribune News Service) Gladys Waters, 100, lives at the Waltonwood assisted living center in Royal Oak, but she is ready to step out and be the grand marshal for the citys Memorial Day Parade this month. Waters lived with her siblings and parents in Highland Park when she joined the Womens Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. She is in fairly good health nowadays, aside from some hearing trouble, and sometimes communicates with help from her daughter Ruth Gauci, or her two other children, Chris Waters of Royal Oak, and Beth Dempsey. Gladys Waters is so excited about being in the parade, Gauci said. She wants to get a new outfit and shes very proud of having been in the service. The family has an antique Ford Model-T car and Waters will ride in it during the parade on May 27, driven either by Gaucis husband or brother, Chris. With six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, Waters will take part in the parade with a large retinue of relatives walking behind her. Waters had two older brothers who were serving in the military during WWII. She had graduated from high school and attended junior college. When she decided to sign up for the military she was working as a secretary for Mills Bakery. Waters was the youngest child in her family, which also had a farm in Howell where they later settled. She was about 20 years old when she joined (the WAC) and she wanted to do her part, Gauci said. She was very proud of being in the service, and being able to serve her country. Waters served from the U.S. Army base at Fort Wayne in Detroit. The Womens Army Corp was established during WWII and WACs served in a variety of non-combat jobs. Waters became a driver of army trucks that were driven and delivered to cities and ports along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard to be shipped overseas. She drove large trucks with other women in convoys to points where they were going to be shipped, Gauci said. After serving four years in the WAC, Waters married her childhood sweetheart, Clyde Waters, a merchant mariner. Later, she shared some of her wartime experiences with their children. Once, going to the East Coast, the weather was foggy and the convoy ahead of them went (off the road) over the side of a mountain, Gauci said. Waters and the other women in her convoy pulled into a small town, asking if they could stay in the jail there overnight until the fog cleared. But they were told the jail was too dirty and denied any access. So, they drove through the fog over the mountain and got over safely, Gauci said. The Royal Oak Memorial Day Parade is organized by the citys Veterans Events Committee (VEC). Judy Davids, the citys community engagement specialist, serves on the VEC, which learned about Waters from a local veterans group. She and two other VEC members Cynthia Hergenroether and Frank Roche visited Waters after talking to her family. After meeting Waters, the VEC unanimously agreed she should be the grand marshal of this years parade. Shes delightful. Shes the first female grand marshal weve ever had and the first woman veteran, Davids said. Shes small in stature, but has a big personality and is excited to be in the parade. Were really looking forward to it. Gauci remembers that her mothers sense of service stayed with her years after her time in the Womens Army Corp. After all of us kids grew up and moved out she was a Red Cross volunteer, Gauci said. She was always active. Waters will celebrate her 101st birthday in August. (c)2024 Daily Tribune, Royal Oak, Mich. Visit Daily Tribune, Royal Oak, Mich. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (Gene Young/Stars and Stripes) South Vietnam, March 1967: The conductor of this symphony of dust is actually helping guide an 11th Aviation Battalion helicopter as it lands troops in War Zone C, near the Cambodian border. The dust was kicked up by the copters rotor blades. Looking for Stars and Stripes coverage of the Vietnam War? Subscribe to Stars and Stripes historic newspaper archive! We have digitized our 1948-1999 European and Pacific editions, as well as several of our WWII editions and made them available online through https://starsandstripes.newspaperarchive.com/ LEWISTON United Airlines and the city of Lewiston have reached tentative terms aimed at keeping the communitys nonstop Denver flights. The Lewiston City Council is scheduled to vote on a resolution approving an agreement Monday in which the city would pay United no more than $4.03 million, be retroactive to Oct. 1 and go through Sept. 30. The amount would be based on passenger numbers and has a mechanism to increase or decrease what United receives based on what happens with fuel costs, setting $3.50 per gallon as a baseline cost. At the same time, the city will work with United in good faith to market the flights in a mutually beneficial, cost-effective manner, and give United prominent placement in any marketing campaign it conducts, according to the proposed agreement. The agreement also references changes United made in its schedule April 1 for the arrivals and departures of the 50-passenger aircraft it uses on the route. The flights now depart from Lewiston heading to Denver early in the morning. The flights from Denver to Lewiston arrive in the evening. Those changes make it easier for passengers to catch connecting flights in Denver to other destinations. Part of the challenge is the aircraft United uses on the route can only carry 37 passengers when the temperature is 90 degrees or higher. The new flight times United introduced this spring are expected to mitigate that issue because the flights are happening at cooler times of day. Mexican National Guard troops protect Ochoas convoy as the candidate leaves Villa Las Rosas. (Victoria Razo for The Washington Post) VILLA LAS ROSAS, Mexico - This time, Willy Ochoa brought reinforcements. This time, unlike the last time, hed be ready for cartel attacks. He was accompanied by three truckloads of National Guard troops. Two state police cars with flashing red lights. He rode in his own bulletproof SUV, and had a complement of muscular bodyguards. One sat in the bed of a pickup truck, his eyes fixed on the sky. Hes making sure they dont fire a bomb from a drone, Ochoa explained. This is what its like to run for Senate today in Mexico. Youre at risk every minute, the candidate said. Organized crime groups are turning Mexicos elections into a literal battleground, making the campaign this year one of the deadliest in the countrys modern history. More than two dozen candidates have been killed leading up to the June 2 vote; hundreds have dropped out of the race. More than 400 have asked the federal government for security details. The campaign of intimidation and assassination is putting democracy itself at risk. The armed groups goal is to install friendly leaders in local offices so they can better exploit Mexican communities. Once largely focused on shipping drugs to the United States, the cartels now also smuggle migrants, extort businesses and win contracts for firms they control. They want to name towns police chiefs and public works directors. That makes controlling mayors offices crucial. But candidates for governor and Congress are at risk, too. In some areas, cartels wield so much power they can decide who can enter towns - or even what people may say out loud. They dont like it when you talk about the organized crime violence, the extortion, the people forced out of their communities, said Ochoa, running as the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate to represent Chiapas state in the Senate. When his campaign announces visits to strife-torn areas, he said, we receive threats and warnings to not come. Hed had his own brush with danger in February, when gunmen on motorcycles charged after him, following a campaign stop in a tense town. He wasnt going to leave himself so vulnerable again. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador accuses the opposition and media of exaggerating the violence in places such as Chiapas. Yet even Lopez Obradors protege, presidential front-runner Claudia Sheinbaum, was stopped by masked men last month in a region of the state controlled by the Sinaloa cartel. The men warned her to remember the poor people and waved her through their checkpoint. Assassins have targeted candidates from all of Mexicos major parties. In Maravatio, a municipality of 80,000 in the central state of Michoacan, three candidates for mayor have been killed - two from Morena, Lopez Obradors party, and one from the opposition National Action Party, or PAN. Carlos Palomeque, head of the PAN in Chiapas, says nearly two dozen mayoral candidates from the party have dropped out of their races. It used to be the cartels bought off voters, he says. Now, they force candidates from the race. Its cheaper. This year, a different campaign Ochoa, 45, grew up campaigning. His father, an activist for farmworkers and other social causes, served in Congress. Ochoa loved going to his rallies, traveling from town to town, being part of the sweating, cheering crowds. His own young sons arent getting that experience. Ochoa sent the pair out of state, along with his wife, earlier this year. I have to keep them safe, he said as his convoy rolled through the countryside. He pulled up their latest videos on his iPhone. Papa, I just prayed for you, chirped the 7-year-old. Only 30 more days till you come back, said the 9-year-old, smiling into the camera. I hope you win the election! My kids are adorable, said Ochoa, and his voice quavered, and he took a big gulp of water. Ochoas been a state lawmaker, a federal congressman and a top official in the PRI. Hes used to the rough-and-tumble of politics, and the long history of ties between Mexican politicians and cartels. But early in the campaign, he realized how different this race would be. In February, he gave a speech in Villa Las Rosas, one of a string of towns near the Guatemalan border used by traffickers to store drugs. As he left the stage, he said, he was surrounded by around 25 men, some armed. We have instructions to take you to the man who rules this plaza, or crime district, one said. Ochoa managed to slip away. But around 45 minutes later, as he stopped for lunch, he spotted a line of armed men on motorcycles gunning toward the restaurant parking lot. Gunning for him. His bodyguards cocked their automatic rifles. The motorcyclists paused, perhaps waiting for reinforcements, and Ochoa and his convoy sped away. Now, three months later, Ochoa was returning to Villa Las Rosas. The walkie-talkie clipped to the seat back started squawking. The vehicle in front of us is acting as a cartel lookout, one bodyguard was saying. That guy in a white cap is watching us. Do you see the motorcycle? Its 60 or 70 meters ahead. Theyre sending messages. They let different cartels in Chiapas, Mexicos poorest state, burst into the headlines in 1994 when Indigenous peasants launched an armed uprising to demand justice. Led by Subcomandante Marcos, a telegenic, pipe-smoking intellectual, the Zapatista rebels won international sympathy. Chiapas wasnt known for cartel violence. Mexicos lightly guarded southern border had long been a major entry point for U.S.-bound cocaine, and the states lush jungles provided cover for clandestine airstrips. But the Sinaloa cartel had a monopoly on drug trafficking, and kept things quiet. Thats changed in the last few years. Divisions have emerged in the cartel. Democracy has brought new political parties, which allegedly formed links with other trafficking groups. And the number of migrants crossing Mexico soared, fueling a lucrative people-smuggling industry in the border state. Ochoa, whose party ran Mexico for seven decades in the last century, blames todays violence on incompetent politicians. They let different cartels in, he said. They didnt draw the line. These days, around a dozen cartels operate in Chiapas. They include Mexicos two most powerful crime groups: The Sinaloa and the Jalisco New Generation cartels. Homicides and disappearances have soared. The casualties in recent months include six political candidates. Yet many residents are too frightened to even talk about the rising criminality. A schoolteacher who organized a march condemning narco-violence in the town of Chicomuselo was tortured and killed in front of his wife and children. Ochoa is determined to condemn the violence. Sure, its good politics - a main theme of the campaign of Xochitl Galvez, the presidential candidate backed by the PAN and PRI, the leading challenger to Sheinbaum. But theres another reason for his outspokenness, Ochoa says. I love Chiapas. You have no idea how much. Mexican Senate candidate Willy Ochoa walks with fellow Institutional Revolutionary Party candidates before a rally in San Juan Chamula, Mexico. (Victoria Razo for The Washington Post) This, my friends, isnt living Ochoa had started the day in the Indigenous community of San Juan Chamula. Hed walked the narrow main drag of Villa Las Rosas, shaking hands and chatting with shopkeepers. Now he sat in his SUV outside a whitewashed community hall on the other side of town as his security team inspected the site. Hundreds of people were inside waiting for him. Many were standing. It had been nearly impossible to rent chairs. One of Ochoas aides slid into the SUV and played a message from an event organizer turning down a request to provide chairs. He could have earned a few pesos, he said, but it could complicate my life. Ochoa strode into the hall to the booming carnivallike music typical of Mexican campaigns. Taking the mic, he denounced the plague of extortions, killings and highway robberies. This, my friends, isnt living, he said. I say to all the bad people, the political parties, our adversaries - Willy Ochoa will not give up, and will not drop out. Yet his campaign swing that day showed the scale of the challenge. In Villa Las Rosas, the opposition coalitions mayoral candidate had quit the race. She was replaced by a 28-year-old novice. In Ochoas next stop, the town of Socoltenango, the coalitions mayoral candidate would appear with him, defying warnings to stay away. That was crossing a line. The candidate, Arturo Navarro, received a death threat, and went into hiding. Mariana Morales in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, Lorena Rios in Monterrey, Mexico, and Gabriela Martinez in Mexico City contributed to this report. In the northern Philippines, residents are skeptical of pushing China away. (Lisa Marie David/Bloomberg) U.S.-Philippines ties are as strong as theyve been in decades, with soldiers from both sides just wrapping up three weeks of joint military exercises that resemble the kind of preparations necessary to help repel a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Yet in the northern Philippines, near a military base the U.S. recently won access to that is crucial to any defense of Taiwan, Beijing has made inroads with key politicians. Manuel Mamba, governor of Cagayan province, has traveled to China twice in the past 12 months and has four copies of President Xi Jinpings book The Governance of China. We were VIPS, treated very, very well, Mamba said of his visits to China. We stayed in five-star hotels. We were free to roam around all over, even at night. Governor Manuel Mamba. (Peter Martin/Bloomberg) In an interview at his office during the military exercises, he said he wasnt pro-China even though hes been a vocal critic of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.s move last year to give the U.S. access to four more military facilities under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, popularly referred to as EDCA, including two in his province. They treat you well if you treat them well if you go against them, like is happening now, they will not treat you well, Mamba said about China. The problem now is bullying. Remove the EDCA sites, there will be no more bullying. Strengthened U.S.-Philippines ties have generated optimism in Washington, where policymakers hope the Southeast Asian nation will become a reliable part of its defense strategy alongside Japan, South Korea and Australia. Beneath the surface, though, Washington and Beijing remain locked in a struggle for influence that is still playing out. While the U.S. has made gains in recent years, Beijing isnt giving up. Former President Rodrigo Duterte was deeply skeptical toward the U.S. and shifted the Philippines closer to China, and politicians like Mamba are worried the nation will be dragged into a war. The U.S.-Philippine relationship is the best its ever been, but there are questions over whether that can last, said Brian Harding, a former Pentagon official who is now a Southeast Asia expert at the United States Institute for Peace. Marcos needs to show that his pro-U.S. push can actually pay off economically for the Philippines. For now, the U.S. has a lot going for it: Just 10% of Philippine citizens said they favor a partnership with China, according to a survey conducted by Pulse Asia Research Inc. in December, while 79% said they favored cooperation with the U.S. Pro-U.S. sentiment has risen in recent years as the Philippines and China have clashed over a series of contested reefs and islands in the South China Sea. Those tensions have pushed many Philippine politicians, including Marcos, closer to America. The Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, funded by a loan from China Exim Bank. (Lisa Marie David/Bloomberg) The Chico River Pump Irrigation provides water to Philippines Cagayan governors hometown of Tuao, and two other nearby towns. (Lisa Marie David/Bloomberg) President Marcos is not pro-U.S. and hes not anti-China hes pro-Filipino, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said in an interview. It just so happens that the major challenge to our rights is China. A Chinese restaurant near the naval base in Santa Ana, Cagayan in May. (Lisa Marie David/Bloomberg) That tighter relationship has been most evident on the military side. The joint drills, which concluded Friday, saw more than 10,000 troops practice cyber warfare, live artillery fire and repel an amphibious assault on a beach. They culminated with the two nations bombarding a decommissioned, Chinese-made oil tanker, sending it to the bottom of the sea. The decades-old Balikatan, or shoulder-to-shoulder, exercises have increasingly come to resemble real combat. Theyre just one part of what U.S. officials describe as a historic shift in an alliance that helps safeguard a crucial shipping lane in the South China Sea and whose strategic location could prove decisive in a future war over Taiwan. But U.S. officials acknowledge that shoring up the U.S.-Philippine alliance in the long run will require Washington to deliver economic benefits, not just military exercises. During a recent visit, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo unveiled $1 billion in investments by American firms. In the northern Philippines, residents are skeptical of pushing China away. The Philippines makes a lot of money from the Chinese people, said Evangeline Raguindin, a teacher at the Taribubu Elementary School, where a Chinese foundation is paying for new school buildings. Asked about Manilas recent territorial clashes with Beijing in the South China Sea, she said, Were not affected here. Mamba has results to show for his relationships in Beijing. This year, a new $73 million irrigation project began pumping water near his hometown of Tuao. Mamba had pursued the project for years and, when funding finally arrived, it came in the form of a loan from China Exim Bank. Farmers praised the project, completed by China CAMC Engineering Company Ltd. Mamba described it as a dream come true that will put a lot of money in the pockets of my neighbors. While in Beijing, Mamba said, he held a 1.5-hour meeting with Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong. The Chinese official warned him of the consequences of hosting U.S. troops and told him to urge Marcos to resolve the dispute in the South China Sea on a bilateral basis. Upon returning to the Philippines, Mamba said he wrote Marcos a letter making that point. The last thing that he said is, Although we are neighbors and we are friends, if you will allow the enemies of China to stay with you, we will be forced to also engage you, Mamba said of Sun. Asked about Mambas trip and whether China views the U.S. as an enemy, officials at Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that the U.S. is triggering tensions in the region and jeopardizing regional peace and stability. The Philippine side should recognize the situation clearly and should not sacrifice its own security interests for the sake of others, thereby jeopardizing its own interests. But analysts say their courting of leaders like Mamba isnt a surprise. China is good at courting sub-national elites, promising them things from education opportunities to infrastructure, said Julio Amador, CEO of Amador Research Services, a political consultancy in Manila. These are not necessarily bad in themselves, but it shows that China understands that all politics are local. Mamba could be a short-term bet for China at this point. The governor is appealing an election commission ruling making him ineligible to run for office again and ordering his ouster over accusations that he misused public funds. But Chinas roots go deeper than a provincial governor. In 2018, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi opened a consulate in the Duterte familys political stronghold of Davao, where numerous Chinese cities have also established sister city agreements in recent years. China also maintains a consulate in Laoag, a city of just 110,000 people in a country of 115 million, thats also the political home of the Marcos family. In 2009, then-Congressman Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told U.S. officials that he had lobbied China to open the consulate, according to cables published by Wikileaks. Although Marcos turned more pro-US after taking office, Duterte has continued advocating for China since leaving the presidency. I do not think that America will die for us, Duterte said in an April 12 interview with the Global Times, an outlet affiliated with Chinas Communist Party. I would tell the Americans, you have so many ships, so you do not need my island as a launching pad. A Philippine official, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive issues, said the country benefits from competition between the two powers, pointing out that Dutertes pivot to Beijing helped get Washington to court Manila more aggressively. In the early months of his presidency, Marcos welcomed top officials including Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to the Philippines. The official added that China still has a lot to offer the Philippines when it comes to economic ties, pointing out that in the absence of US alternatives Chinese firms are still the most attractive option when it comes to processing the countrys large and mostly untapped nickel reserves. Vice President Sara Duterte, the former presidents daughter, offers one potential route to rapprochement with China. Despite serving as Marcoss vice president, she has largely refrained from publicly commenting on Manilas territorial disputes with Beijing. From her pronouncements, shes definitely not pro-America, Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine ambassador in Washington, said in an interview. Very often she says lines that are similar to her fathers in terms of how they feel about China. For Romualdez, the Philippines is just doing what it needs to do to stand up for itself. You have to choose between two bullies, and you choose the better one that would be your friend rather than one that would make you subservient to them, he said. If the United States is the bigger bully, then well bring in the bigger bully to go after the bully in town. --With assistance from Manolo Serapio Jr, Dan Murtaugh, Philip Glamann, Yuki Tanaka and Josh Xiao. The growing majority of Malaysias oil and gas is extracted from the South China Sea, where China has sought to project its power in recent years. (Alvin Lau for The Washington Post) BINTULU, Malaysia - In the open sea off the coast of Malaysian Borneo, industrial rigs extract massive amounts of oil and gas that fuel the economy of Malaysia. Slightly beyond that, in waters Malaysia also considers its own, Chinese coast guard vessels and maritime militia boats maintain a near-constant presence, say Malaysian officials. For 10 years, their country has done little to contest them. But Malaysia is running out of oil and gas close to shore. Increasingly, it has to venture farther out to sea, raising the likelihood of direct confrontation with Chinese forces in the South China Sea. As tensions rise throughout the South China Sea, one of the worlds busiest and most contested bodies of water, energy demands are drawing Malaysia deeper into the fray and testing the countrys long-standing reluctance to antagonize China, according to interviews with more than two dozen government officials, diplomats, oil and gas executives and analysts in Malaysia. Some of Asias biggest oil and gas reserves lie under the seabed of these disputed waters, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Since 2021, Malaysias state-owned energy company, Petronas, has awarded several dozen new permits for companies like Shell and TotalEnergies to explore new deposits here, many in so-called deepwater clusters more than 100 nautical miles from shore but still within the boundaries of what Malaysia considers its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). These developments are teeing up more confrontations with China, warn energy and security analysts. Already, federal and provincial officials in Malaysia have been beefing up military deployments around the industrial port town of Bintulu in the state of Sarawak, where much of the countrys oil and gas industry is based, and Malaysia has been increasing military cooperation with the United States, particularly on maritime security. For the first time later this year, a bilateral army exercise that Malaysia conducts annually with the United States will be held on Borneo, said a U.S. State Department official. At least since 2020, China has been harassing Malaysian drilling rigs and survey vessels, leading to standoffs that have lasted months, according to satellite imagery and data that track ship movements. For years, Malaysias response has been muted - a calculation shaped by reliance on Chinese investment and the relative weakness of the Malaysian military, said Malaysian security analysts and defense officials. Unlike the Philippines or Vietnam, Malaysia rarely publicizes Chinese intrusions into its EEZ, which extends 200 nautical miles off the coast, and withholds how often these incidents occur from journalists and academics. In an exclusive interview, the director general of Malaysias National Security Council dismissed concerns of Chinese harassment even as he acknowledged that Chinese vessels had been patrolling Malaysian waters nearly nonstop. Obviously, we prefer for Chinese assets not to be in our waters, said Nushirwan bin Zainal Abidin, who was ambassador to China from 2019 to 2023. But theres no need, he added, for the dispute to color Malaysias broader relationship with its largest trading partner. We can let sleeping dogs lie, Nushirwan said. Despite objections from countries in Southeast Asia, China has laid claim to almost the entire South China Sea, building artificial islands and deploying vessels to enforce what it calls the 10-dash line, delimiting on maps the boundaries of what China says are its waters, which come within 25 nautical miles of the Malaysian coast. While much attention in recent months has been paid to Chinas intensifying encounters in contested waters with Filipino fishermen and coast guard, tensions stirring farther south, where the worlds biggest oil and gas companies have deeper interests, have gained far less notice. Asked about Malaysias claims of Chinese incursions, Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Chinese vessels have been conducting normal navigation and patrol activities in areas under its jurisdiction. Malaysia has for decades sought to decouple the South China Sea dispute from trade and investment with China, said a high-ranking Malaysian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he had not been authorized to address the issue. But the countrys need for offshore oil and gas is starting to upset this delicate balancing act, the official said. He noted that Chinese coast guard vessels have repeatedly disrupted operations at the Kasawari gas field, which contains an estimated 3 trillion cubic feet of gas and where Malaysia has recently built its biggest offshore platform. For whats happening at Kasawari, I dont have a solution, the official said. Right now, no one does. Venturing into deeper waters In the 1970s, before Shell discovered large deposits of oil and gas off the coast, Bintulu was a small fishing village with a single stretch of road connecting a mosque to a market. Today, its a throbbing hub of industry, anchored by a 682-acre processing facility that produces 30 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year. In 2023, Malaysia was the worlds fifth-largest exporter of LNG, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Malaysia has relied on these resources to drive growth for decades, deriving 20 percent of its gross domestic product from oil and gas. But several years ago, industry analysts warned that the countrys era of easy exploration was ending. Oil and gas found in shallow waters, meaning at depths less than 1,000 feet, were running out. Companies knew there were more deposits remaining, said San Naing, a senior oil and gas analyst at BMI, a market research firm. They just had to go farther out. Nearly 60 percent of Malaysias gas reserves are located off the state of Sarawak, says the countrys energy regulator. Starting in 2020, Petronas ramped up exploration. Two years later, having reported a string of new discoveries, the company awarded 12 new licensing contracts to energy conglomerates looking to operate in Malaysia, the most since 2009. Petronas executives say this enthusiasm is a sign of investor confidence. But in private, investors have been fretting over the risks of operating in the South China Sea, said a veteran oil and gas analyst who researches Malaysia and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect business interests. What happens when the Chinese boats turn up? Thats always front of mind, said the analyst. In 2018, after harassment by Chinese vessels, Vietnam called off a major oil project midway through construction, leaving the companies involved with an estimated $200 million in losses. That incident was a shock to the industry and drove companies to reconsider investments in the South China Sea, said the analyst. Malaysias new discoveries are encouraging companies to return. But the risks now are arguably higher than ever. A handful of Chinese vessels patrol the waters at Luconia Shoals, about 60 nautical miles off the Malaysian coast, near major gas fields like Kasawari. But a much bigger fleet of hundreds of Chinese coast guard ships and maritime militia are based farther north, near the Spratly Islands, where Petronas has designated new clusters for oil and gas exploration. The closer Malaysias energy projects come to the Spratlys, the greater the likelihood of confronting the Chinese, said Harrison Pretat, deputy director at the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. In recent months, Chinese officials have said pointedly that the exploration of resources in the South China Sea should not undermine Chinas territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. Petronas rejected requests for interviews and did not respond to inquiries about the South China Sea. But last year, after Beijing released a new map of the waterway that expanded Chinese claims, Petronas chief executive, Tengku Muhammad Taufik Aziz, made an unusually strong statement of objection. Extracting offshore oil and gas is within Malaysias sovereign rights, he said. Petronas, he added, will very vigorously defend Malaysias rights. The U.S. government has rejected Chinas expansive claims in the South China Sea but has not formally endorsed Malaysias claims. A fundamental rethinking Three years ago, a fleet of 16 Chinese military planes conducting an exercise over the South China Sea entered Malaysian airspace, said Malaysian officials. The incursion elicited rare rebuke from the Malaysian air force, which called it a threat to national security, and prompted the Malaysian minister of foreign affairs to summon the Chinese ambassador. Writing for a think tank, a trio of Malaysian scholars said the incident had sparked fundamental rethinking within the Malaysian establishment about the countrys China policy. Chinese officials, however, denied that its planes had ever entered foreign airspace. A Chinese state-run think tank, the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said military aircraft were free to fly over the airspace of the South China Sea since its boundaries were unclear. By the end of 2021, Malaysia had announced that a new air base would be built near Bintulu. Soon after, an army regiment from a neighboring city was moved in and last year, defense officials said they had worked out a plan to establish a new naval base. Speaking in Parliament, Defense Minister Seri Mohamad Hasan said Malaysias oil and gas would be protected at any cost. Since 2021, Malaysia has also been increasing defense spending and strengthening military cooperation with the United States. Malaysia has received drones, communication equipment and surveillance programs, including long-range radar systems, installed on Borneo, to monitor the sovereignty of airspace over the coastlines, officials say. Later this year, Malaysia is set to get a decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutter and hold the annual bilateral army exercises with the U.S., called Keris Strike, on Borneo, according to the State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private negotiations. Little of this has been highlighted by Malaysia. It is eager to avoid becoming entangled in the geopolitical contest between the United States and China, said the high-ranking Malaysian official. He said he presumes that China sees everything happening in the South China Sea. The question is will they see what were doing and allow it. Christian Shepherd in Taipei, Taiwan and Desmond Davidson in Kuching, Malaysia contributed to this report. Maps by Laris Karklis. Patriot Launchers prepare for a live fire exercise in a central base in Israel on Mar. 19, 2018. (Jason Epperson/U.S. Army) The Biden administrations announcement Friday that it had accepted Israels assurances it is not using American-made weapons to violate international law came just days after the presidents striking admission that U.S. munitions had been used to kill civilians in the Gaza Strip. While the administration has repeatedly expressed alarm over civilian casualties in Gaza, some former officials say it has drawn out the implementation of laws and policies intended to prevent American weaponry from being used in violation of international humanitarian law. The breaking point for President Biden came Monday, when Israels military ordered the immediate evacuation of 100,000 civilians from the southern city of Rafah and seized the border crossing with Egypt, warning it would use extreme force against militants in the heavily populated area. I made it clear that if they go into Rafah Im not supplying the weapons, Biden told CNN on Wednesday. But in a landmark report released Friday, the State Department said that it was difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents, but said it had no direct indication of Israel intentionally targeting civilians. The United States has always been selective in how it invokes international law, experts say, and how it balances rights concerns with realpolitik. But its ongoing material support for Israels war in Gaza has led to a rare surge in public backlash from former officials, who say the administration is dragging its feet on enforcing laws meant to limit or condition military assistance to foreign allies. Rights groups and humanitarian organizations have spent months documenting alleged violations of international law by the Israeli military in Gaza - many believed to have been carried out with U.S.-made weapons - including attacks on civilian neighborhoods, health facilities, journalists and aid workers. Just from a legal perspective within U.S. domestic law, theres a much wider body of rules that is being ignored right now, said Josh Paul, who formerly worked on arms transfers at the State Department and is the most senior U.S. official to resign over the war in Gaza. The arms are just continuing to flow. U.S. weapons under scrutiny The administrations report to Congress was mandated by National Security Memorandum-20, or NSM-20, issued in February. It laid out the governments official position on the credibility of allegations that U.S.-provided weapons have been used in violation of international law - or in ways that do not mitigate civilian harm. It concluded that while there had been sufficient reported incidents to raise serious concerns, Israels overall commitment to IHL is not necessarily disproved by individual IHL violations, using an acronym for international humanitarian law. An analysis of several thousand distinct incident reports from Gaza, published by an independent panel of experts last month, found instead that Israels military has acted with a systematic disregard for international humanitarian law, with recurrent attacks launched despite foreseeably disproportionate harm to civilians and civilian objects. The report, echoing the findings of rights groups, also found that American weaponry was used in a significant number of cases. When you look at those collapsed buildings where people are trapped underneath, the odds are that that death and destruction is being caused by a United States-supplied weapon, said Charles Blaha, who worked as director of the State Departments Office of Security and Human Rights between 2016 and 2023 and contributed to the independent report. There is no remaining reason why the [NSM-20] report should not accurately reflect Israels misuse of U.S.-provided weapons, the authors said in a statement after Bidens comments Wednesday. An NSM-20 report that finds Israeli assurances about upholding international law credible would mean continuing the long-standing U.S. approach to providing support for Israel making the support unconditional, and endorsing the impunity, said Brian Finucane, a Crisis Group senior adviser who previously advised the U.S. government on counterterrorism and the use of military force, before the reports release. Nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in seven months of war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed 13,000 fighters but has not provided supporting evidence. Israeli officials blame the steep human toll on Hamas, saying the militant group embeds itself in populated areas and uses civilians as human shields. Yet international humanitarian law still requires that warring parties distinguish between civilians and combatants. According to a Washington Post analysis published last year, the Israeli military conducted repeated and widespread airstrikes near hospitals in northern Gaza over 2 months. In at least 10 cases, the craters suggested the use of bombs weighing 2,000 pounds, many of which are supplied by the United States. Multiple American-made 2,000-pound bombs were probably used in a daytime strike on the densely populated Jabalya refugee camp in November. The attack, which Israel said targeted a Hamas commander, killed more than 110 Palestinians. The Insecurity Insight monitoring group has logged 839 incidents of violence against health-care workers or obstruction of access to health care in Gaza since the conflict began. A Post investigation into one of them - the killing of paramedics dispatched to save the life of a 6-year-old girl - found that an ambulance appeared to have been targeted with an antitank round fired from a Merkava tank, an armored vehicle for which the United States has provided key parts and components. American weapons have also been linked to multiple attacks on aid workers and installations. A near-fatal Israeli strike in January on a residential compound housing international aid workers most likely involved the use of a 1,000-pound U.S.-made smart bomb, according to the findings of a multiagency United Nations investigation reviewed by The Post. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and an independent investigative team concluded that a Merkava tank was also used in a Feb. 20 attack on a guesthouse for MSF staffers, killing two of their family members. Its just inexplicable In one of his first acts as president, Biden authorized a temporary freeze on the transfer of stealth F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates and precision-guided missiles to Saudi Arabia, following widespread reports that the weaponry was linked to civilian casualties in the Saudi-led coalitions war in Yemen. The decision was made under the conventional arms transfer (CAT) policy, requiring the government to halt arms transfers where it is deemed more likely than not that the weapons will be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law. About 9,000 civilians in Yemen were killed over seven years of coalition airstrikes, according to the Yemen Data Project. The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 10,000 children have been killed in Gaza in just seven months. Halting arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Paul recalled, was a simple policy decision made by the Biden administration before they even took office and then communicated to us directly within 20 minutes of the swearing-in. The whole debate over Saudi arms certainly informed the discussion on the CAT policy. That updated policy guidance, issued by the Biden administration in early 2023, is in terms of human rights and international humanitarian law, the best conventional arms transfer policy ever, Blaha said. To see how it has not been implemented [in Gaza], when it is something that this administration put forward, its just inexplicable to me, he added. I dont think theres any such thing as an exception, said Oona Hathaway, who served for a year as special counsel to the U.S. Defense Department. When you allow a state to engage in actions that at least many people see as inconsistent with international humanitarian law this has an impact. Another set of U.S. laws, known as the Leahy laws, requires an automatic cutoff of security assistance to foreign military units credibly implicated in gross human rights violations until the perpetrators have been adequately punished - or remediated. In 2022, they were applied to U.S.-supplied units in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico and the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken weighs whether to withhold support for one such Israeli unit serving in Gaza, some former U.S. officials describe the administration as going out of its way to avoid making a decision. Two current U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations, said the unit in question is the Netzah Yehuda Battalion - notorious among rights groups and Palestinian civilians for its brutality in the West Bank. The Washington-based Democracy for the Arab World Now has documented 12 instances of serious abuse by the unit. They include two fatal shootings, two cases of subjecting detainees to electric shocks, five beatings and one case of sexual assault. While criminal charges have been brought against some lower-ranking soldiers, commanders have often been spared the worst of the consequences. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) obtained by The Post, Blinken said that while the unit was accused of committing gross violations of human rights and had not been appropriately punished, the United States would engage on identifying a path to effective remediation. Blaha described that wording as unheard of. The phrase identifying a path to remediation occurs nowhere in the Leahy laws, he said. I have never seen it used, ever. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Washingtons continuing support for Israels military campaign in Gaza, even as it condemns rights abuses in other conflict zones - from Ukraine to Sudan - undercuts U.S. credibility as it tries to promote international criminal justice efforts and accountability, Finucane said. It has also made diplomatic exchanges with other nations more charged in recent months, said one Western diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about sensitive discussions. Ive sat in conversations where the double standard just hangs heavy, he said. John Hudson and Michael Birnbaum in Washington contributed to this report. The stretch of Highway 1 along the Central Coast has for decades epitomized Californias reputation for scenic and rugged landscapes. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) BIG SUR, Calif. - Workers dangle from a crane, drilling into the vertical face of rock that holds up one of the most famous and picturesque stretches of road in the world. Theyre performing a delicate surgery on fragile geology in hopes that a single lane of traffic can safely flow to Big Sur before summer arrives. On this day, it had been nearly a month since a rockslide severed Highway 1, Californias beloved road-trip destination. Across this stretch of the Central Coast, landslides have repeatedly buried the highways undulating curves or sent pavement tumbling into the Pacific Ocean. They bring a steady drumbeat of road blockages, tourism disruptions and stranded communities. Now, some fear the landslides are getting worse, due to climate change and engineering missteps throughout the roadways 86-year life span. It was always a risky proposition to maintain a highway at the very edge of a continent. But now Big Sur is facing wetter storms that infiltrate and weaken cracked and porous rock. Wildfires leave behind extra debris for those floodwaters to carry downhill. Pounding waves from stronger storms and rising seas eat away at cliffs from beneath. Everything is working against Highway 1, said Gary Griggs, an oceanography professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz. The latest slip-out, known as the Rocky Creek slide, exemplifies the complexity of the problem. It stranded 1,500 people at the end of March as workers were making slow progress addressing three other slides. Californias transportation agency - known as CalTrans - estimates it will take more than $100 million to fix them all - if new slides dont come first. California is a national leader in confronting climate change, but making Highway 1 sustainable may be a challenge it cannot surmount. Despite spending a billion dollars a year to fix damage that climate-related stressors inflict on its roadways - plus $100 million in projects to make infrastructure more resilient to climate change - the state is struggling to fortify one of its most prized landmarks. Workers from Teichert Construction finish creating a temporary one-way roadway at the Rocky Creek slide April 6, 2024. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Since Highway 1 was closed by a landslide, Big Sur residents have been able to enjoy an empty Partington Cove Trail usually crowded with visitors. This sunbather enjoys the waves and wind April 6, 2024. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Some have suggested rerouting Highway 1 inland, but they dont understand its terrain, or its identity, said state Sen. John Laird (D), a former California natural resources secretary who represents part of the Central Coast in the state legislature. Barriers and boulders armor sections of the road and the cliffs against erosion, but extending those interventions along some 100 miles of highway isnt feasible, others say. That leaves few options: Get better at predicting and fixing the landslides, and preventing them when possible. Or else imagine the unthinkable: Giving up on maintaining a continuous 656-mile stretch of blacktop from Orange County to Mendocino County, and letting parts of Highway 1 become dead ends. CalTrans routinely patrols the cliffsides and deploys remote sensing for signs of movement to predict where the next slide might occur. It is repairing the latest section of crumbled highway with an eye toward the climate of the future, officials said. As we rebuild we have to do so with the knowledge that the conditions that have washed out sections of roadway will become more and more common in the future, CalTrans officials said in a statement. We have to prepare for that. But still, the agency did not expect the most recent slide would hit when and where it did. Its like a high-stakes game of whack-a-mole - one in which, Laird said, Mother Nature and climate change keep upping the ante. For now, there is no option but to keep knocking down the obstacles as they come. Nearly everyone interviewed for this article said California wouldnt be California without this road. Of course we have to keep it alive, Laird said. The most landslide prone stretch of Highway 1, from around Hearst Castle in San Simeon to Carmel-by-the-Sea and the Monterey Peninsula, has for decades epitomized Californias reputation for scenic and rugged landscapes. Its where road trippers can get a view of dense redwoods out of one window and crashing waves out of the other, often at the edge of cliffs as much as 500 feet above the beach. For decades, this region has attracted artists and others seeking beauty and isolation. As the author Henry Miller once wrote, Big Sur has a climate all its own and a character all its own. More recently, the rise of Instagram and selfie culture has helped fuel a crushing surge in tourists to its 33 bridges and postcard-like coastlines to look for whales, sea lions and elephant seals. Big Surs massive popularity is damaging the very scenic qualities and natural beauty that make the area so precious, said a 2020 CalTrans study of the highway. But now, its geology that is perhaps more threatening. CalTrans workers drill into the side of a cliff April 17, 2024, installing rock dowels aimed at stabilizing the southbound portion of Highway 1 in Big Sur, Calif. A section of the iconic highway has been closed since March 30 because of a landslide, one of several to strike the region in the last seven years. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) CalTrans employees and contractors prepare a worksite on Highway 1 on April 17, 2024. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) The ground has been shaky beneath this stretch of Highway 1 ever since it started carrying traffic in 1937, crossing over diverse rock formations that are still in their adolescence, geologically speaking. Deep down sits the hard crystalline base of the Sierra Nevada some 150 miles to the east. On top of that are layers of sedimentary rock left over from an older mountain range. And then, mixed within, there are shreds of shale like volcanic rocks that were scraped up from the ocean floor as two tectonic plates clashed. Its as if that area went through a blender, said Jon Warrick, a Santa Cruz-based research geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. In older parts of the continent, such as the East Coast, rock formations are older and denser, and therefore not prone to movement. But in Big Sur, gaps and joints still exist from when the rocks first came together along the nearby San Andreas fault, and other secondary faults in the area. This is the countrys steepest coastline outside of Alaska, according to Kevin Schmidt, another USGS geologist, and when these formations are exposed to the elements, their fragility becomes evident. Water trickles - and sometimes pours - into the cracks between rocks, reaching layers of clay-rich rock crushed as finely as flour. It turns them into a slick slurry - a recipe for landslides. Climate change has only juiced up those ingredients. Take what happened in 2017, when one of the regions wettest winters in a century interrupted an extended drought. Weeks of heavy January and February rains saturated a mountainside that was already imperceptibly sliding above Highway 1, until, by May, the instability became too much. In an instant, so much earth poured down steep slopes near Mud Creek, the USGS said, that it was enough to fill a line of dump trucks nearly a thousand miles long. It took more than a year and $54 million to reconnect Big Sur communities to points south. Though it took experts by surprise, Griggs said it shouldnt have. Two decades earlier, CalTrans had declared the area very active, with high landslide potential due to weaker bedrock and unstable construction. The slides often occur weeks, if not months, after rainy weather, with about 90 percent of the regions rain typically falling between November and April. Geologists add that the stormy pattern of the last two years - the 2022-2023 winter brought record-setting amounts of precipitation - has compounded landslide risks. Much of that increased rain is likely to come through juiced-up storms known as atmospheric rivers, which can pummel Californias coasts in winter months, sometimes one after another. But even without those, the state is seeing more thunderstorms typical in other parts of the country but less so in California, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. California, including Big Sur, is seeing precipitation events that are about 10 percent more intense statewide than they have been historically, he said. Add it all up, and it appears a trend of bigger and more frequent landslides is coming, Warrick added, if it isnt already here. The latest Highway 1 interruption feels all too familiar to Big Sur veterans, including Ben Perlmutter, whose family has lived in Big Sur for three generations. Ben Perlmutter recently moved back to Big Sur to take over the Big Sur River Inn from his father. With no tourists coming to town, he is unsure if he will break even in his first year. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Nicholas Leahy, center, plays with other musicians at Pfeiffer State Park on April 6, 2024. Community gatherings, with free pizza, are one way Big Sur residents are coping with the closure of Highway 1. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Now 33, Perlmutter has experienced or heard stories about decades of disasters. In 1995, the National Guard had to erect a bridge to reconnect Big Sur to the outside world after a washout. In 1998, Highway 1 collapsed in five places and an Army helicopter had to rescue his family. In 2008, a wildfire ignited nearby, forcing them out of their home for more than a week. In 2017, a landslide closed the highway again, leaving residents cut off for nine months. Now, we cant catch a break, he said, explaining how the latest slide brought business that was already slow to a grinding halt. Residents can leave and enter Big Sur only in convoys at 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tourists, the towns main source of income, are not yet allowed in - resulting in lost revenue that business owners say amounts to roughly $1 million a day. Perlmutter, who grew up behind the bar of his fathers restaurant, moved back home with his wife six months ago to take over the Big Sur River Inn from his 91-year-old father and is now unsure if hes going to break even his first year. He feels responsible for his 77 employees, 60 of whom are now unemployed. There is this fatigue level. You have to totally transform on a dime to prepare your businesses to respond to these disasters, Perlmutter said, noting that the inns financial situation is way worse than before. A lot of emotion goes into that. Even so, Perlmutter and other businesses owners have thrown themselves into community efforts since the latest slide. Within 24 hours, Perlmutter said his bar manager, a volunteer firefighter and EMT, quickly coordinated places for 1,500 stranded tourists to sleep. The Big Sur River Inn has also hosted a Taco Tuesday, practically giving away food and drinks so they didnt go to waste. Deetjens, another historic inn, has also been serving discounted community breakfasts. Musicians have been playing impromptu shows, for a distraction. Yet these charitable responses can endure for only so long. Costs of doing business keep rising in Big Sur, and bigger corporations continue to move in and subsume long-standing family operations. You feel like you are in a rodeo getting bucked continuously, said Kirk Gafill, who also grew up in a landmark restaurant that he now runs, called Nepenthe. You are constantly calling on reserves, never knowing what is going to happen. Preserving the Big Sur that residents and tourists love sometimes seems like a fantasy venture. To prepare for bigger storms and help water run off the cliffs, CalTrans officials told The Washington Post they are replacing and enlarging stormwater culverts. They are engineering ways to strengthen the roadway and the cliffs it sits upon. But sometimes such engineering isnt possible because of concerns for wildlife, such as an endangered snail known as the black abalone. And it cannot last forever. Longtime residents and officials say that along the rocky coast, walls built during the 1980s to stabilize the road have since eroded and withered away. CalTrans officials said they have no long-term scheme for maintaining the highway, other than tackling landslides as they emerge and preventing them whenever possible. But sometimes, there is nothing that could keep cliffs upright. There was a concrete wall at the base of a bridge over Rocky Creek, site of the latest slide, for example. Now, to get a single lane of traffic flowing again, workers are hammering vertical and horizontal supports deep within the cliff and reinforcing it with a sprayed-on material known as shotcrete. A permanent fix is unrealistic, Griggs said. Even if California turned Highway 1 into a toll road - like the famous 17-Mile Drive on the nearby Monterey Peninsula - all the money in the world could not eliminate landslides, he said. There are some problems we just dont have solutions for, he added. California received some $375 million to prepare its highways for climate change through the federal bipartisan infrastructure law passed in 2021. While such spending is vital, Laird said, his single Senate district - one of 40 statewide - has transportation needs that could easily consume billions of dollars. From his perspective, the state should be spending all it can to preserve Highway 1 and access to Bug Sur because it epitomizes what is so unique about California. Its a natural mecca, he said. Others foresee a day when such investment becomes foolish and preservation becomes impossible. Cheryl Hapke helped lead study of the geology beneath Highway 1, spending 22 years as a USGS research scientist working closely with CalTrans in studying landslide risks. By now, she said, communities continually finding themselves stranded may need to think about relocating. Im not saying do it tomorrow, but at some point, the conversation probably has to be had, said Hapke, now a Florida-based principal consultant in coastal resiliency for Fugro, an environmental consulting firm. Were living with what weve created in this changing climate, she added. Theres answers. Theyre not easy. Madlynn Kinzer at the age of 94 passed away in her sleep of age-related causes early Saturday, May 4, 2024, at Life Care Center in Lewiston. Madlynn was born Feb. 6, 1930, near Pullman, to Herold and Francis Boone Brewer. Madlynn was the youngest of six children. One of Madlynns passions when she was young was raising and showing livestock. She showed champion stock at all the local shows and traveled to Auburn, Wash., and Portland to participate in their Junior Stock Shows resulting in numerous champion trophies and ribbons. Madlynn married Ted Kinzer, of Uniontown, on Oct. 25, 1951. In 1953 they were able to lease a farm southwest of Genesee, which they were later able to purchase. She continued to raise livestock and sold eggs, milk and cream to customers in Genesee, Lewiston, Clarkston and Asotin. She was a 4-H leader of the Genesee Livestock 4-H Club for 25 years while teaching and helping hundreds of students with their projects. Leon Tonn (46) is accused of assaulting and injuring the man in an incident at his apartment after they had both been out earlier in the night. A man dislocated another mans elbow with a martial arts move that he used on him for an unknown reason, it has been alleged. Leon Tonn (46) is accused of assaulting and injuring the man in an incident at his apartment after they had both been out earlier in the night. Judge Monika Leech adjourned the case at Dublin District Court for the accused to decide how he intends to plead to the charge. Mr Tonn, with an address at Caulfield Gate, Griffith Wood, Dublin 9, is charged with assault causing harm to the man at that address. Garda Pearse OLoughlin told Judge Leech the Director of Public Prosecutions consented to the case being dealt with in the district court, subject to the issue of jurisdiction being considered. The judge asked for a summary of the proposed prosecution evidence. Outlining the allegations, the garda said that on September 14, 2022, he went to the Mater Hospital where he met the alleged victim who was being treated for his injuries. The man alleged the accused had used an MMA (mixed martial arts) wrestling move on his arm which dislocated his elbow. He alleged he had gone back to Mr Tonns apartment after they had been in town that night and the reason why he did it was unknown. When gardai detained and spoke to Mr Tonn about the incident, he told them he had defended himself in relation to the alleged victim. He was released and a file was sent to the DPP, with the direction returned that the accused should be charged with assault. Mr Tonn was later arrested and charged at Clontarf garda station. A medical report was submitted to court which confirmed a diagnosis of a dislocated elbow, with photographs and an X-ray also handed in to court. Judge Leech asked if the alleged victim had to undertake any other treatment. The court heard the elbow was relocated and set in the hospital on the day and there was no record of any further treatment. The alleged victim was unfit for work for 10 days after the injury but there was no long-term damage. Judge Leech accepted jurisdiction, allowing the case to remain in the district court instead of being sent to the circuit court, which has greater potential sentencing powers on conviction. The judge ordered disclosure of prosecution evidence to the defence and adjourned the case to June 7. Mr Tonn has not yet indicated how he intends to plead to the charge, which is under Section 3 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act Darragh OHare (33) was trying to pay off his own drug debt when he was caught throwing the drugs into Dublins Wheatfield prison from waste ground at the back of the complex. Darragh OHare was reportedly paying of a drug debt at the time of the offence. Photo: Douglas O'Connor A man caught throwing metal poles filled with cannabis and cocaine over a prison wall has been jailed for four months. Darragh OHare (33) was trying to pay off his own drug debt when he was caught throwing the drugs into Dublins Wheatfield prison from waste ground at the back of the complex. Judge David McHugh handed down the sentence when OHare appeared in Blanchardstown District Court. OHare, with an address at Moylaragh Rise, Balbriggan, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis and cocaine, and conveying them into a prison. Garda Sergeant Maria Callaghan told the court the incident happened on October 2, 2020. The accused was seen on CCTV entering wasteland to the rear of Wheatfield and throwing a number of items over the prison wall. When these were recovered they were found to be a number of metal poles containing 225 worth of cannabis, cocaine valued at 280 and 40 worth of tablets. The accused was arrested nearby and charged. OHare had previous convictions for a range of offences including burglary and criminal damage. He was in custody on remand when he appeared in court. OHare had a long-standing drug problem, his solicitor John ODoherty said. He was now drug free and had been doing well while on remand, he said. At the time of the offence, OHare had a drug debt and he was paying off that debt by doing what he did. He had young children and Mr ODoherty asked the judge to be as lenient as he could in the circumstances. The judge said the four months was to run from the date of conviction. Pamela Kennedy told the court that when Mr Whelan drove around the bend he was completely on the wrong side of the road A man who crashed head on into a mother and five young children while driving on the wrong side of the road around a bend claimed the reason for the accident was that his brakes were s***, a recent sitting of Fermoy District Court has heard. Court presenter Inspector Tony OSullivan said that the accident occurred on April 9, 2023 on a minor road in Knockananig near Fermoy, Co. Cork. Inspector OSullivan said that the injured party, Pamela Kennedy was driving home with her five children aged 13, 11, 10 and eight-year-old twins. As she approached a bend a car coming in the opposite direction at speed on the wrong side of the road collided head-on with her vehicle. As a result of the accident both cars were written off. Garda OShea from Mallow Garda Station attended the scene. Giving evidence he said that the accident occurred at about 8pm. He said that at the scene it was clear that Ms Kennedys Volvo XC90 had been struck by a silver Ford Focus that was on the wrong side of the road. The driver of the Focus, Jay Whelan, 20, of Liam McGearailt Place, Fermoy Co Cork admitted he was a learner driver and was unaccompanied at the time of the accident. Garda OShea said that the NCT on the Focus had expired and Mr Whelan had said that the brakes were s***e. Giving evidence Pamela Kennedy told the court that when Mr Whelan drove around the bend he was completely on the wrong side of the road. She added that the Focus coming towards her did not try to swerve or stop and crashed head-on into her car. Defence solicitor Killian McCarthy said that Mr Whelan was not present in court because he was working in Italy. He said that his client had previously been living in his car. Mr McCarthy said that it was a case of an inexperienced driver and driver error combined with the mechanical failure of the brakes. He said that his client was on the wrong side of the road because the brakes had failed. Judge Colm Roberts said that even if the brakes had failed it did not explain why Mr Whelan was going around a bend on the wrong side of the road. The judge said: He was an unaccompanied learner, the car had no NCT, he was driving on the wrong side of the road, he drove head-on into somebody else and he admitted his brakes were s***e. Can we return to the land of reality here for a moment, what part of that doesnt describe dangerous driving? He needs to be off the road. Judge Roberts convicted Mr Whelan of dangerous driving and disqualified him from driving for two years. He was also fined 200 and given two months to pay. For driving without a valid NCT he was fined 200 and given three months to pay. His bail was set at 16,000, and he appeared again yesterday at Dublin District Court. Jamie Smith, of Corballis Cottage, Donabate, Dublin pictured at the Criminal Courts of Justice(CCJ) on Parkgate Street in Dublin after he appeared before the District Court. Pic: Paddy Cummins Jamie Smith, of Corballis Cottage, Donabate, Dublin pictured at the Criminal Courts of Justice(CCJ) on Parkgate Street in Dublin after he appeared before the District Court. Pic: Paddy Cummins A PERSONAL trainer charged over a seizure of just over 3.9m worth of cannabis in Dublin has been sent forward for trial. Jamie Smith, 27, previously of Corballis Cottage, Donabate, Dublin, was arrested on May 26 last year at Junction five of the M1 southbound but denied knowing what was in the vehicle. Mr Smith is charged with possessing cannabis resin for sale or supply. His bail was set at 16,000, and he appeared again yesterday at Dublin District Court. The Director of Public Prosecutions directed trial on indictment and gardai served him with a book of evidence. Judge Treasa Kelly granted a return for trial order, sending him forward to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, where the case will be listed for mention on June 6. Jamie Smith, of Corballis Cottage, Donabate, Dublin pictured at the Criminal Courts of Justice(CCJ) on Parkgate Street in Dublin after he appeared before the District Court. Pic: Paddy Cummins Mr Smith, who was granted legal aid, has not yet indicated a plea. Detective Garda Liam Aherne told a bail hearing earlier that the accused "made no reply" to the charges. The detective cited the seriousness of the case and said the GNDOCB had carried out an operation in north Dublin. They stopped the rental van allegedly driven by Mr Smith. Gardai found 11 cardboard boxes and two sacks containing 187 kg of cannabis herb and 30 kg of cannabis resin, with an estimated value of 3,920,000, the court heard. The bail hearing was told that under interview, the accused maintained he did not know the contents of the boxes or packages and that he was "simply driving the van". The self-employed personal trainer did not address the court and agreed to obey several conditions. His bond stated that he had to surrender his identity card and not apply for a passport, provide gardai with a contact number, and reside at an address at Chieftain's Way, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. Lawlor was shot in north Belfast four years ago A 32-year-old man arrested in Liverpool by Merseyside Police on suspicion of murdering Dublin gang boss Robbie Lawlor in 2020 has been released on bail. Lawlor was shot dead outside a house in Etna Drive in north Belfast at around 11.50am on April 4 2020. The suspect had been taken to Musgrave Police Station for questioning on Thursday, but was on Friday released on bail to allow for further police enquiries. Two Belfast men have already appeared in court in January charged with Mr Lawlors murder. Patrick Teer (48) and Adrian Holland (40) have denied the charge, as well as a further charge of conspiracy to murder. Lawlor believed to be responsible for the gruesome murder of Keane Mulready Woods (17) -was shot and killed outside Hollands house. After the pair entered not guilty pleas to all three charges levelled against them, Mr Justice O'Hara was told that a trial is expected to last up to eight weeks. The senior Judge said he anticipated the hearing would be held in the autumn. Following the arraignment, both Holland and Teer were released on continuing bail. The man, who is originally from Sligo, was taken into custody by police in Merseyside earlier this week A source has described the arrest as extremely significant and said the Sligoman is suspected of playing an integral role in the murder of the feared gangland enforcer. In an update on Friday, police confirmed he had been transported to Belfast by plane from Liverpool. "In relation to how long police can keep someone in custody, they can be held for up to 36 hours before police need to approach the courts to request additional time, a PSNI spokesperson said. The arrested man is well-known to gardai in Sligo and has previously appeared before the courts on drugs charges. He is a known associate of drug trafficker Barry Young, who is currently serving an 11-year sentence for drug dealing. Robbie Lawlor was shot dead in Belfast in April 2020 in a complex plot involving a range of criminal gangs. At the time of his murder, Lawlor had become one of the most erratic criminals operating in Irelands underworld and was the chief suspect in a number of gangland murders. Lawlor became heavily embroiled in the Drogheda feud and inflamed the dispute after his release from jail in December, 2019. He was suspected of an active involvement in the murder and dismemberment of Drogheda teenager Mulready-Woods. The Guardia Civil said both vehicles were fully loaded with ceramic material from Villareal and if an accident had occurred the consequences could have been fatal Police footage of one of the trucks being stopped Two Irish truck drivers are each facing up to six months in prison after being caught driving two trucks while four times over the legal alcohol limit on the same stretch of Spanish motorway heading towards France on the same night. The Guardia Civil said both vehicles were fully loaded with ceramic material from Villareal so if an accident had occurred the consequences could have been fatal. The Teruel Guardia Civil said they became aware of reports of erratic driving of two articulated vehicles registered in Ireland on the A-23 highway near the town of La Puebla de Valverde between Valencia and Zaragoza on April 27. Patrol officers located the first truck on the highway while it was driving in an irregular, erratic manner and sometimes drifting into the left lane for no apparent reason. The second truck was located around 50km north of the first truck near the municipality of Monreal del Campo When they stopped the first vehicle the Irish driver had obvious symptoms of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to local media, and after he was tested came back at 0.69 and 0.58 milligrams per litre which is more than four times the limit. The second driver was also four times the limit with readings of 0.66 and 0.60 milligrams per litre. The two men were arrested for alleged crimes against road safety and brought to court. Both drivers face potential prison sentences of up to six months, a fine or community service and deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles for a period exceeding one year and up to four years. Thomas Kelly (62) had been told he could not split up an eight-pack of Dutch Gold and caused the damage to the candle as he left, a court heard. A shopper picked up a candle and smashed it on the floor when he got upset following a dispute over buying beer in the store. Thomas Kelly (62) had been told he could not split up an eight-pack of Dutch Gold and caused the damage to the candle as he left, a court heard. Judge Monika Leech applied the Probation Act after the accused said he would pay for the 20 smashed candle. Kelly, with an address at Briarfield Road, Kilbarrack, pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage. Dublin District Court heard Kelly got into a verbal dispute with staff at Centra in Greendale Shopping Centre, Kilbarrack, on February 4 this year. On the way out, he picked up a candle and threw it on the ground, smashing it. On the day, Kelly had gone to the shop to buy four cans of beer but they were only sold in packs of eight, his solicitor Murrough ORourke said. He wanted to pay half the price for four but the rule was they could not be split up. After the dispute, the accused was told he was barred and as he walked out of the shop he got upset and threw the candle which he very much regrets. Kelly was in poor health, the court heard. The judge discharged the accused under the Probation Act, conditional on him paying the compensation and not coming to garda attention. Enforcer Lawlor was gunned down in Belfast in 2020. An Irishman has been arrested in Liverpool and flown to Belfast where he is being questioned in connection with the murder of Robbie Lawlor. One of the most dangerous and feared criminals in Irish history, Lawlor was gunned down in Belfast in 2020. Niall talks to Irish Independent crime correspondent Ken Foy about the complex web of underworld figures who wanted Lawlor dead. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content MORE EPISODES Judge estimates retired Garda clocked up 40,000kms on vehicle in a year Judge Andrew Cody handed down the sentence after estimating retired garda sergeant Ciaran Whelan would have clocked up 40,000kms on the vehicle in the space of a year. Whelan, who was formerly based in Store St and who retired from An Garda Siochana on April 26th, appeared for sentencing before Portlaoise District Court on Thursday. The car, the court heard had been assigned to the Divisional Drugs Unit based at Store Street Garda Station in Dublin for intelligence gathering. Details of the charges included seven counts of unauthorised use of the vehicle at the Motorway Toll Bridge, Fatyharnagh, Mountrath between October 14th and 30th of 2020. Judge Andrew Cody had previously heard that Whelan took the vehicle on 350 km round trips home while leaving his own vehicle parked at Store Street garda station. In his defence, Whelan had claimed to the court that the car could not be parked at Store Street garda station due to the sensitive nature of the work it was used for. A member of Garda Siochana for 28 and a half years, he said he was one of the sergeants in charge of the Divisional Drugs Unit at Store Street Garda Station. They had two vehicles one was a large commercial vehicle and the other, the car in question in these proceedings. These two vehicles arrived in February or March 2019, and he said he was instructed to find a location to park them. He said as there was no designated parking for either vehicle, it was up to us to find parking for both of them. He said Superintendent Tomas Gormley asked him 15 or 20 times over the 6 to 7 months to get the car away from the station and Superintendent Gormley didnt care where he put it so long as it got away from the station. Sergeant Whelan said he tried everything that he could, but he couldnt find a suitable place to park it. He said he would leave his private car at the station and take this car home and he knew it could be seen as taking some sort of advantage. But he said there was no evidence of 1 cent of diesel being unaccounted for nor is there one cent of toll charges being unaccounted for. He said he was saving mileage on his own car but wasnt getting it for nothing he was paying for the diesel and paying for the toll bridge. Supt Gormley, in his evidence, acknowledged that he didnt keep a log of every time that somebody asked to leave the district in a covert car. But he said where any of the members attached to the unit were conducting official business outside of the district, they should have come to him noting whatever vehicle they intended to use. It was put to Superintendent Gormley specifically that on one occasion when the vehicle was seen in proximity to Store Street Garda Station, he told Sergeant Whelan to get that f****ng car out of here. He said he definitely did not say that, but he was aware of an instance where this particular car was parked in the compound at the back of the station which was reserved for Garda personnel and that he did say to Sergeant Whelan it should not be in the back yard of the station when it was a covert vehicle. Passing judgement, Judge Andrew Cody said Superintendent Gormleys evidence was clear that there was no authority, express or implied, to have this vehicle at the toll bridge on these dates. Having considered the evidence in its totality, I am satisfied that there were no grounds upon which Sergeant Whelan could reasonably conclude that there was no alternative but that he was required to take this vehicle home with him, he said. Accordingly, the court is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Sergeant Whelan was driving the particular vehicle without lawful authority in the dates in question, and accordingly convicts Sergeant Whelan on all charges. The court heard the defendant had no previous convictions. Judge Cody estimated that the car would have travelled approximately 1,000km per week. He said over a year that would be 40,000kms. He sentenced the defendant to four months in prison with the final two suspended. He also imposed a three year driving disqualification. Counsel for Whelan later lodged an appeal. Ronan Cadden from Largy House, Roslea Road, Clones, Co Monaghan, died following a tragic two-vehicle collision in Fermanagh on Wednesday. Tributes have been paid to a devoted father of one who was killed in an accident in Co Fermanagh on Wednesday. Ronan Cadden from Largy House, Roslea Road, Clones, Co Monaghan, who was in his 30s, died following a tragic two-vehicle collision in Fermanagh on Wednesday. Emergency services rushed to the scene of the collision, which occurred just after 6pm on Wednesday afternoon, involving a white Ford Connect van and a white Peugeot Partner van on the Clones Road. Locals described Ronan as a gentleman. One said: Sincere condolences to Ronans family and partner. Shocked and saddened to hear of Ronans passing. Many good fun memories from years ago and that cheeky smile and laugh. Another wrote: Shocked and saddened at the tragic death of our neighbour Ronan.May His gentle soul rest in peace. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his siblings and partner and his relations and friends at this sad and difficult time. In a cruel twist of fate Ronans partner Megan was due to give birth to a baby boy in a few months. Local priest Fr Jason Murphy said: "My sincere sympathies to you Megan and Jacob on the cruel loss of your beloved Ronan. "My heart goes out to you both and to Ronans family as a new life was about to start for your little family. "May the prayers of a community console your hearts at this dreadful time of pain. May Ronan rest in Eternal Peace. Ronan is survived by his partner Megan, son Jacob and extended family. His removal on Monday morning at 10.15am to arrive at The Sacred Heart Church, Clones for funeral Mass at 11.00am. Burial afterwards in St. Tierneys Cemetery, Roslea, Co. Fermanagh. PSNI Collision Investigation Unit Inspector Cherith Adair has appealed for anyone with information relating to the crash to contact authorities. Meanwhile a man who lost his life in Castleblaney on Thursday has been named as Asen Nadkov, Ashview Court, Castleblayney, Monaghan. Mr Nadkov was a native of Bulgaria and had loved in Ireland for a number of year. Mr Nadkov lost his life in a collision which took place shortly after 6am on Thursday. He lost his life in a fatal two vehicle collision involving a car and van at Moneygorbet, Castleblayney. Gardai are appealing for any witnesses to this collision to come forward. Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling in the area are asked to make this footage available to Gardai. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Castleblayney Garda Station on 01 666 5000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station. Whilst researching the Department of Foreign Affairs in the National Archives, I couldnt believe the document I came across Text exchange between Chris Mellon and US Govt. official submitted to Congress regarding UAP crash retrievals An Irish researcher has uncovered a confidential Irish Government memo from the 1950s regarding unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) as he awaits a decision on funding for an academic study of the subject. Chris Gaffney is an Irish representative for ICER the International Coalition for Extraterrestrial Research, an organisation comprised of academics and scientists. "Whilst researching the Department of Foreign Affairs in the National Archives, I couldnt believe the document I came across, Chris told the Sunday World. A private pilot, he has been studying UAP since the 1970s. In 2022, Chris created Project Morrigan, an approach to the Houses of Oireachtas to establish Irish institutions dedicated to the scientific study of UAP. Chris Gaffney with the confidential memo Mr Gaffney believes UAP represent technology which could become a new type of green energy used for earth. Everyone is suffering in terms of the energy crisis, he said. The Oireachtas acknowledged our project, which is for the scientific study of UAP as a solution to this problem. Mr Gaffney is hoping money will be allocated by Government in the near future to investigate UAP here in Ireland and the propulsion systems he believes are being utilised. "How much is it now for fuel? Everything is going through the roof. Yet at the same time, we can say with 100 pc certainty that there are objects in our skies defying the laws of physics, Chris said. Alleged UAP seen moving in 2 minute video "Project Morrigan has the backing of Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Intelligence, who has stated he is very interested in its outcome. "Dr Colm Kelleher an Irish scientist with top secret (TS/SCI) US Government clearance - has expressed interest. Astronomer Dr Eamonn Ansbro has colleagues very involved. The Dublin researcher spoke passionately about the positive breakthroughs he thinks could be uncovered. "Currently the best technology we have to get from sea level into orbit takes 300 seconds. "That energy could power 3,000 Dublin homes for one week. UAP are using technology light years ahead; somebody somewhere has that technology, Chris said. Project Morrigan "Morrigan is about a change of attitude. We need academic study of UAP in this country. We are doing a disservice to science by not properly looking into this. "The US Department of Defence has stated there are spheres doing Mach 2 in the atmosphere. Forget ET, theres no talk of ET. "Whoever is behind it; the fact is it is there. Is it a yet to be discovered natural phenomenon we dont yet understand? I want to see an academic, adult, mature conversations about this. All science is provisional, said Chris. In April, the Dubliner uncovered a confidential report written by Joseph D Brennan, Irish Ambassador to the US in the 1950s. In it, Mr Brennan wrote to Irish diplomat, Frederick H Boland on June 15, 1950, discussing UAP. Frederick H Boland The Department is, no doubt, aware of the many published reports in regards to flying objects which have been named as flying saucers, Mr Brennan wrote. There was published a book entitled The Flying Saucers Are Real. The conclusions of the author are that the objects are propelled from another planet. My newspaper friends tell me that the book is completely factual and that the references given are well authenticated. "I had lunch with Mr Wilbur of UP and he told me an American Airlines plane landing at Washington Airport was circled three times by one of these manifestations. The papers here carried the report and after that it was dropped out of every edition. General Claudio Graziano The State Department proposes to form a Scientific Branch for the exchange of information between all countries (which) is supposed to have something to do with this flying saucer scare. The Secretary of State announced he was going to recruit top-flight scientists to head up this Scientific Branch of the State Department, the Irish diplomat wrote. Chris said his jaw hit the floor when he learned Irish diplomats were discussing this 70 years ago. Last year, the Sunday World revealed a document from an EU General referencing UAP. "I was the guy who wrote to General Claudio Graziano, Head of the Chairman of the European Union Military Committee, Chris added. "He wrote back saying UAP are critical events that could affect air security in Europe, that EU countries are investigating and will bring it up with other Defence chiefs. I got recognition from the top General in Europe how seriously he takes the subject." Aero Digest Last Summer, US Government official, David Grusch, testified under oath about a military programme retrieving crashed UFOs, which brought the subject into the limelight. In the 1950s, mainstream US newspapers and magazines used to widely report the existence of gravity propulsion research. A March 1956 Aero Digest article stated: At least 14 United States research centres are at work cracking the gravity barrier. Backing the research with multi-million dollar projects is our aircraft industry. Recently, in August 2023, US army veteran DC Long came forward to describe an encounter with a hovering monolithic slab at an underground army base. Chris Mellon In April of this year, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence, Chris Mellon, posted details online of a Signal exchange with a senior Government official purporting to verify the truth behind UAP crash retrieval claims. "Were dealing with the recovered UAP that landed in Kingman, Arizona in the 50s, the text states. "We also know who recovers landed or crashed UAPs under what authorities. We also know that a still highly classified memo by a Secretary of the US Air Force in the 1950s is still in effect to maintain the cover on UAPs. Text exchange between Chris Mellon and US Govt. official submitted to Congress regarding UAP crash retrievals "We know the SES-2 (communication satellite) whos the Air Force gatekeeper. "People will be slack jaw if they found out what we now know. A recent Pentagon report claimed to have found 'no empirical evidence' for alien technology but that many UAP reports remain unsolved or unidentified. Regarding Project Morrigan, the Houses of the Oireachtas stated: In line with Standing Orders, the Oireachtas does not comment on private Committee business. Packy has an image of the Guildford Four member and human rights campaigner tattooed on his back. Patrick Packy McMahon is a former provisional IRA bomb maker who was jailed after being caught in the act of manufacturing a 1500 LB bomb. Punk fun Packy, is running a concert in June to mark the death of his former friend Gerry Conlon. Guilford Four member Gerry Conlon is released from the Old Bailey Former IRA bomb-maker Packy McMahon has a tattoo of republican hunger striker hero Bobby Sands emblazoned across his heart. But he also has an even bigger image of Guildford Four member and human rights campaigner Gerard Conlon tattooed on his back. Belfast-born Conlon, who died aged 60 on June 21, 2014, spent 16 years behind bars in England for a series of pub bomb attacks he didnt commit. Following his release and pardon, Conlon dedicated his life to exposing miscarriages of justice. And to mark the tenth anniversary of Conlons death, his friend Packy McMahon a convicted IRA bomb-maker is planning an all-star music event to raise funds for a charity close to Conlons heart. Gerry Conlon was my friend and he changed my life for the better. Gerry was a big influence on me and I just decided I needed to do something positive in Gerrys memory to mark his anniversary, said Packy this week. Like me, Gerry loved the rebelliousness of punk and I wanted to get a good punk band in place for the gig and Ive done that. Guilford Four member Gerry Conlon is released from the Old Bailey But topping the bill at the forthcoming concert in Voodoo the live music venue in Belfasts Fountain Street will be Alabama 3. Blues guitarist Karl Devlin is also on the bill as well as the Dublin-based punk band Menopause. Terri Hooley the legendary Godfather of Punk has also agreed to put in an appearance. Packy said: Gerry Conlon introduced me to the Alabama 3 many years ago and we clicked right away. We developed a friendship and when I told them I was organising a concert to mark Gerrys tenth anniversary, they immediately agreed to come over. Packy said Gerry Conlon was very close to Birmingham Six member Paddy Hill, who was also wrongly jailed. Just like Gerry, Paddy Hill was also a victim of a miscarriage of justice who spent years in prison. And following his release, Paddy set up MOJO, a charity which looks into the cases of people jailed in the wrong. I know MOJO was very close to Gerrys heart and we intend to raise money for it in memory of Gerry Conlon. West Belfast man Packy McMahon was arrested in 1992 when he was caught red-handed in the process of making a huge IRA bomb destined for Belfast city centre. Gerry Conlon spent 16 years in jail He was scooped from a house in Islandbawn Street off the Falls Road. Packy was stripped down to his underpants mixing a fertiliser bomb when the RUC smashed down the door. I was standing in my underpants and was dripping wet from sweat, because it was so hot. When the cops bust in I just laid down on the floor and I was arrested. I was handcuffed and taken to Grosvenor Road for questioning. I was eventually charged and when I appeared in court I was sent to prison for 12 years. McMahon believes his secret double life as an IRA bomb-maker only came to light because another IRA man squealed on him. He said: I later became friends with him and I dont hold it against him. Anyone can break under interrogation. McMahon is now totally opposed to violence and he believes the IRAs 25-year campaign should have ended long before it did. Packys charity concert in memory of Gerry Conlon will take place at Voodoo, Fountain Street, Belfast, on Friday, June 21 from 7pm. Wheelchair user accused of controlling and exploiting heroin-addicted women A disabled man accused of human trafficking, dealing drugs and pimping out women for prostitution is to stand trial later this year. Derek Brown appeared in the dock of Craigavon Crown Court earlier this week in a wheelchair, with friends and relatives of his alleged victims in the public gallery. The 60-year-old faces 32 charges, including paying for sexual services, controlling prostitution for gain, human trafficking, sexual assault, brothel keeping and voyeurism. He is also accused of a dozen drug offences, including supplying class A heroin and class C pregabalin and tramadol, and simple possession of pregabalin, tramadol and cannabis. The offences were allegedly committed on dates between October 8, 2016, and June 14 last year. Brown, a widower from Lisburn but now with an address c/o Maghaberry Prison, denies all the charges against him. One of the women he is alleged to have abused and controlled has since died, the hearing was told. When Brown first appeared in court last June, a prosecutor said he had exploited and manipulated drug-addicted women, ferrying them to have sex with other men and taking a cut of the money afterwards. According to defence lawyers, however, he was merely acting as a good Samaritan and helping the women to leave drugs behind and get their lives back on track. A detective constable told the earlier court hearing the charges followed a proactive investigation into the activities of the defendant for sexual exploitation of vulnerable females in the greater Belfast area. These females were homeless or residing in shelters or hostels and are, or were, heroin addicts, the officer added. According to the alleged victims, Brown took them for sex appointments in return for petrol money and on occasion would obtain sexual favours. There were also allegations of sexual assault. Asked how the accused had got to know the women, the detective said he had met them through other men at hotspots for sex workers and prostitution in Belfast. Those men are also before the courts on similar charges. The detective confirmed Brown had painted himself as a good Samaritan in police interviews, claiming he was only trying to help his alleged victims. Judge Patrick Lynch remanded him back into custody and set September 23 as the date for the start of the trial. Craig Revel Horwood relishes playing The Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz stage show He is Strictly Come Dancings pantomime villain and the judge audiences love to hate, but Craig Revel Horwood insists he only dishes out criticism to bring out the best in contestants. The Australian-British dance and theatre personality also heaped praise on Irelands singing star Daniel ODonnell who appeared on the 2015 series. At the time, Daniel told the Sunday World that Strictly was the most nerve-racking experience of his life. I couldnt believe how nervous I was, he said. Craig in costume as the Wicked Witch of the West As he gets set to star in the Wizard of Oz at Dublins Bord Gais Energy Theatre later this month, Craig looks back on Daniels Strictly journey and says he understood why it was so stressful for the Donegal crooner. Of course its going to be stressful because, not only are you on display to 12 million people, you are completely out of your comfort zone and theres a lot of rules youve got to follow. I was the same on Masterchef. I was the same on Maestro at the Opera that I won, but it was stressful because I was out of my comfort zone. I didnt know what I was doing. I applied myself on it for three months, took criticism every single day and took hit after hit after hit and you have to be able to do that. That would been my advice to Daniel pull your head in and do some hard work. Put another few hours in in the day. And I thought Daniel was great charming, generous, up for it, listened and really wanted it. And the reason he was probably stressed was because he was listening and really wanted to do it better. Hes a perfectionist and theres nothing bad about that, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesnt. Craig Revel Horwood on Strictly So is Craig (59), who admits he loves playing villains and will be starring as The Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz production, acting as a villain on the Strictly judging panel? No but yes, he tells the Sunday World when we meet in Dublin. No in the beginning. I was just telling people the truth and they didnt like it and I got booed. When you get up and you dance I tell you what was wrong with it. You might get all teary or something and take it to heart, or you might not be able to take criticism, but if you are being judged its my job as a judge to criticise. Thats why Im on the panel. Whats the point in wrapping people in cotton wool and lying to their faces and telling them that theyre good when clearly everyone is sat at home saying, thats rubbish! theyre rubbish and they need advice, they need to know whats wrong so they go back and prepare themselves for next week to be better. And any celebrity who thinks, or anyone that thinks, they can do it in a couple of weeks is having a laugh. Thats just not going to happen . Strictly judges give their scores I thought, in my life if I wasnt able to take criticism I wouldnt be where I am today. Im criticised constantly for my directing, my choreographing anything I do theres always someone going to write something about Craig Revel Horwoods book or theatre or play or musical. Craig, who describes himself as a workaholic and served as a waiter in restaurants in between acting and dancing roles in his early career, recalls that the first time he performed in Dublin was as a member of Cats in the Point Theatre, now the 3Arena. The first theatre I ever worked in in Dublin was the Point Theatre and that was doing Cats in 1989, he recalls. We were there for three months and we were all living as a cast in Donnybrook Manor. Wed get a bus in, all warm up together and go on and do the show. That was my first foray into the joys of Dublin. We fell in love with the city back then, working hard and playing hard as well because we were young. Irish audiences are in for a treat with the reimagining of the classic Wizard of Oz story He adds: As a child being terrified of the Wicked Witch of the West, I thought she was evil, she was horrible, and the thought back then that one day Id be greening up and playing her is quite extraordinary. Thats what I love about life. I love doing villains, I think they are great. I dont think Ill ever get an opportunity to do a love interest at this stage of my life, but Im pleased about that because it really is a lot more fun playing the villains. Whakaari/White Island eruption survivor Kelsey Waghorn has appeared on the podcast hosted by British TV personality and former SAS trooper Anthony Middleton to recount her horrifying ordeal. Kelsey was candid about her recovery and her challenges with PTSD during the Covid-19 pandemic. Twenty-two people mainly tourists on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship died when the volcanic island off the Bay of Plenty erupted on December 9, 2019. The death toll also included two Kiwi tour guides, Tipene Maangi and Hayden Marshall-Inman. Twenty-five others were badly injured in the disaster. Best known as the heavily muscled, military-trained host of SAS: Who Dares Win, Anthony had his own brush with death when he summited Mount Everest. He has spoken out about how it was his psychological understanding that helped [him] survive and now he hosts the podcast Head Game to help others share how they did the same. She says she was often referred to as the drill sergeant by her colleagues, which came to fruition during the eruption as she barked orders at the wounded. Someone says I am really hurt I cant move and I just yelled So am I come on. Because we survived the unsurvivable, it never crossed my mind that we could die. She was whisked to the nearest hospital and then again to Wellington Hospital where she was placed into an induced coma. Kelsey told Anthony - a decorated former British SAS soldier who has also written a series of motivational books - that for the next four weeks she was heavily medicated, hallucinating and unaware of the horrors that occurred on the island. She says she was only told a month later when she asked about a close friend and colleague Hayden, not making it off the island. Kelsey Waghorn was just 25 years old and working as a tour guide on New Zealands Whakaari White Island, when the volcano erupted and her life changed forever. Check the link below or link in my biohttps://t.co/eQU1IbJNDj#elitemindset #HeadGame pic.twitter.com/dGDCTfPAmX Ant Middleton (@antmiddleton) May 8, 2024 His body has never been recovered. But I made it, thats ridiculous, of course he made it, she told her mum in disbelief. Anthony asked about her mindset upon hearing the news while hospitalised with full-thickness burns to 45 per cent of her body. [I was] devastated, Kelsey says. I kind of had a feeling but I refused to believe it. She says Haydens funeral took place while she was still in her coma so his death didnt feel real. A light-hearted conversation she had on the morning of the fateful day about which group should go first haunted her while she recovered. I said I was fastest... I told him I doubted he could keep up with me and he said he would go second so he could push me if we were going to slow, Kelsey says. She says she suffered the most mentally when the Covid pandemic hit and she was separated from her family for three weeks. It destroyed me, Kelsey says. Then a year on from the eruption, she says PTSD started infiltrating her entire life. It had taken the wheel and taken over my entire life, Kelsey says. Uncontrollable fits of rage, I was just so absolutely numb... I was always prepared to run. Kelsey says the psychological injuries were much harder to recover from compared to the physical injuries, but she is making major strides in both areas after having her last surgery in July last year. Thankfully I found help and now I am the happiest I have been in my life. Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022. -Rachel Maher, NZ Herald International Nurses Day on Sunday, May 12, is an opportunity to celebrate the unseen heroes - the Healthline nurses that are helping take care of New Zealanders from behind a phone. Healthline telehealth nurses work from over 150 home offices across New Zealand. "Those telehealth nurses do an amazing job, and you dont see them. There could be a Healthline nurse on your street," says Whakarongorau Chief Operating Officer Brian OConnell. "And a Healthline nurse might deal with as many patients a day as a busy GP practice." Healthline is run by Whakarongorau Aotearoa / New Zealand Telehealth Services. Last year Whakarongorau Healthline nurses, paramedics, advisors, and doctors supported over 322,000 people, and answered over 432,800 calls. They help around 2,000 people a day. "Our Healthline nurses take care of Aotearoa every day, and we appreciate them every day, however, International Nurses Day calls for an even bigger celebration," says Brian. "Our Healthline nurses have great experience in all areas of the health sector and are trained to clinically assess people over the phone - its a specialist skill." Brian says a third of the people who speak to a Healthline nurse have their issue resolved in the call. "They help people stay at home and that means reducing the number of emergency department visits and ambulance callouts - leaving them for emergencies," says Brian. A New Zealand energy expert is calling for stronger incentives for smart energy devices in order to reduce the likelihood of power cuts. Evnex Founder and CEO Ed Harvey says a considerable part of the problem facing the system is about when New Zealanders are using power, rather than insufficient generation. Though we will continue to need more generation, a key factor in tackling energy shortages lies in reshaping consumer behaviour," says Ed. This will be increasingly important as our electricity supply becomes more variable as we move towards being 100 per cent renewable. We don't currently have compelling incentives for people to change the timing of when they use electricity. Changes to the electricity market would provide consumers with tangible reasons to shift their electricity usage habits and avoid the system struggling at peak times. Ed is calling for better consumer incentives to encourage the avoidance of energy usage during peak periods. Better time of use pricing would help to encourage consumers to adjust their usage patterns and alleviate strain during peak periods. This would also encourage more investment in things like home batteries and technologies like smart electric vehicle chargers which automatically schedule charging outside of peak periods. "Right now, there's not enough of a reason for people to invest in these smart technologies which are becoming increasingly popular in other parts of the world. Evnex was founded in Christchurch in 2014 and has chargers in more than 5,000 New Zealand homes and businesses. As night falls this evening, anticipation will be mounting amongst Tauranga's astronomers and skywatchers as they wait to see if the Southern Lights, known as Aurora Australis will be viewable. This rare display of shimmering lights dancing across the southern horizon is a spectacle rarely seen here. It is helped by an exceptionally large group of sunspots that have been active in recent days, unleashing several earth-directed Coronal Mass Ejections, also known as CMEs. The Aurora Australis is a celestial dance of light caused by the interaction of charged particles from the solar wind with interplanetary magnetic fields and atmosphere. These charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, collide with gases in the Earth's atmosphere, producing vibrant hues of green, pink, purple, and red that paint the night sky. Tauranga Astronomical Society president David Greig says these CMEs are expected to arrive over the weekend, potentially producing spectacular auroral displays in our southern skies. This is nothing to be concerned about, it is a good opportunity to possibly see the Aurora Australis. David says the sun spot cycle and solar activity peaks approximately every 11 years. And we are nearing maximum activity, says David. The creation of the sunspots leads to increased solar wind, resulting in the captivating aurora. The last solar cycle peak occurred in 2013, and the next peak, aligning with the 11-year solar cycle is happening from 2023-2025. The rare event comes as Transpower has issued a grid emergency notice due to a severe storm in space. A spokesperson for the agency, which operates the New Zealand power grid, says a geomagnetic storm is likely to affect Earth over this weekend because of significant solar activity. David says that Coronal Mass Ejections, also known as CMEs are unpredictable but occur more frequently when there are a lot of, or large sunspots visible. Aurora activity seems to be more likely around the equinoxes in March and September, says David. To possibly see the aurora, wherever you are, you will need to be looking south, preferably from a dark location away from any bright lights, says David. The aurora is best seen from further south, for example, the lower South Island. But during extreme aurora activity, it is possible to see, or at least photograph the aurora from much further north, including from the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Auckland. Local photographer John van der Broek of Vandi Photography photographed the Aurora Australis from his home in Maungatapu in November, 2023, capturing the Southern Lights above the lights of Tauranga city before dawn. He plans to wait for the next magical moment again, from the same location. SolarHam.com provides real time space weather news and data from various sources, and was created and is still maintained solely by amateur HAM radio station Kevin VE3EN. The site reported on Saturday morning, NZ time about the space storm it was tracking. "For the first time since the great Halloween Storm of 2003, the Extreme (G5) Geomagnetic Storm threshold has been reached," says a SolarHam.com spokesperson. On Saturday afternoon, David is following predictions on when the aurora activity is expected to be seen. "At this stage I'm still waiting to see if the predicted peak is still going to be between six and nine pm this evening. The auroral activity really started to kick off this morning at about 6am just before sunrise," says David. "You can find the very latest image of the sunspot group here, from the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory which orbits the Earth. "That big sunspot group is approx 200,000km in width. The Sun is 1.39 million km in diameter. For up to date info, I recommend following the NZ aurora Australis pages on Facebook," says David. Saturday's image of the sun showing the large sunspot group which is approximately 200,000km, taken by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory which orbits the Earth. Photo: NASA. David's recommendations to follow: Aurora Australis NZ Facebook page New Zealand Aurora Australis Group Facebook page Spaceweather website With ideal viewing conditions forecasted, tonight promises a breathtaking show as nature once again paints the heavens with vibrant hues. A Tauranga Lotto player and two Rotorua Lotto players will be delighted to learn they have each won $16,948 with Lotto Second Division in Saturday nights live Lotto draw. The winning tickets were sold at My Lotto and Lucky Lotto Shop in Rotorua. Powerball and Strike have both rolled over on Saturday night, meaning there is a combined prize pool of $22 million up for grabs on Wednesday. Powerball was not struck on Saturday and has rolled over to Wednesday night, where the jackpot will be $20 million. Lotto First Division will be $1 million and Strike Four also rolled over on Saturday night and will be $1 million on Wednesday, meaning it will be a Must Be Won draw. In a Strike Must Be Won draw, if no single ticket wins First Division, the prize pool is added to the next highest division with a winner. 24 Lotto players win Second Division As well as the three Tauranga and Rotorua players, another 21 lucky Lotto players will be over the moon after each winning $16,948 with Lotto Second Division in Saturday nights live Lotto draw. Three lucky players also won Powerball Second Division, taking their total winnings to $26,522. The winning Powerball Second Division tickets were sold at New World Broadway in Palmerston North, Balclutha Bookshop in Balclutha, and on MyLotto to a player from Auckland. The winning Second Division tickets were sold at the following stores: Store Location MyLotto Whangarei MyLotto North Shore MyLotto(x2) Waitakere Pak N Save Mt Albert Auckland MyLotto (x3) (+PB) Auckland Onehunga Office Supplies Auckland Porchester Road Superette Auckland Downtown Dairy Otahuhu New World Te Rapa Hamilton Nawton Stationers & Lotto Hamilton MyLotto Rotorua Lucky Lotto Shop Rotorua MyLotto Tauranga Lytton West Post & Lotto Gisborne The Market Waiouru Waiouru Four Square Mahora Hastings New World Broadway (+PB) Palmerston North MyLotto Wellington MyLotto West Coast MyLotto Otago Balclutha Bookshop (+PB) Balclutha Anyone who bought their ticket from any of the above stores should check their ticket as soon as possible in-store, on MyLotto, or through the MyLotto App. There are 75 extra prizes of $10,000 cash up for grabs with Lotto NZ's Mother's Day promotion. All Triple Dip tickets bought between Sunday April 28 and 7.30pm on Saturday May 18 will be in the draw to win. Lotto NZ exists to return 100 per cent of its profits to Kiwi communities through lottery grants programmes run by Te Puna Tahua NZ Lottery Grants Board. Join NY Cannabis Insider for its next industry meetup in Buffalo on May 14, 2024. Tickets available now. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced her administration will restructure New Yorks Office of Cannabis Management including the exit of the agencys current leader following an investigation that found inefficiencies and mismanagement have slowed the states legal marijuana rollout. Hochul, on Friday, said her administrations most pressing goals are to speed up the pace of licensing especially for retailers and crack down on illicit weed shops that have proliferated statewide. The action comes after a report by Office of General Services investigators led by Commissioner Jeanette Moy released a report detailing issues within the OCM. There are deep seeded issues at OCM, issues that have limited its ability to fulfill its licensing role, Hochul said in an afternoon press conference. I want you to know were starting to fix this right now. The governor said OCM Executive Director Chris Alexander will not continue as the agencys leader after his term ends in September. Hochul appointed Alexander, a former state Senate legislative staffer and advocate for cannabis legalization, as the OCMs inaugural leader in late 2021. Alexanders tenure at OCM has been a decidedly mixed bag of accomplishments and setbacks. Under Alexanders watch, regulators licensed hundreds of cannabis businesses, midwifing New Yorks current legal cannabis infrastructure into existence. Achievements notwithstanding, the agency has operated in a persistently opaque and inefficient manner, which played a role in slowing the industrys rollout. For years the OCM has released conflicting information about its own rules and licensing processes, and hasnt responded to applicants and licensees in a timely manner. Some of their missteps have resulted in a dizzying number of lawsuits against the OCM some of which the agency is still litigating. Moys findings from OGS 30-day investigation into OCMs processes include that the agency has invented its own systems of operating, rather than adopting existing processes used by other state agencies. Moys report found the OCMs senior staffers have limited professional experience with regulatory agencies leading to struggles prioritizing important tasks and that the licensing process the agency developed is overly complicated and lacks transparency. The findings in this report do show there are ways that we can shore up their operations, Moy said during Fridays press conference. Sign up for the NY Cannabis Insider Newsletter Enter your email address to get exclusive reporting on NY's cannabis market delivered to your inbox: The OCM must centralize its licensing process and ensure applicants have an accurate understanding of how it works, Moy said. Her investigation found license applications are reviewed by a mishmash of different units operating under an unclear hierarchy, with little to no accountability. At least five different groups which all report directly to the executive director review each license in a seemingly oblique way, Moys report found. Currently, there dont appear to be staffers in charge of handling the entirety of any single license, so few can answer applicants questions about the process. Hochuls most important goal in shaking up the OCM is to unclog the bottleneck of license applications and speed up the approval process, she said. In coming days her staff will be more closely involved with OCM operations, and intends to increase the agencys licensing staff by 40%. The governor also announced that on Monday, an enforcement task force led by Christopher West New York State Police Departments second in command will begin an intensive 90-day effort to shut down and padlock as many illicit cannabis shops across the state. Hochul acknowledged that injunctions stemming from two lawsuits have slowed the Empire States legal weed retail rollout, which she said were outside the agencys control. But some cannabis regulators appeared to have a different take on Friday. During a Cannabis Control Board meeting that was in progress when Hochul announced the OCMs restructuring, board member Adam Perry excoriated the OCM for the wide array of lawsuits that litigants have filed against the agency. As a business litigator for 30 years and as a public authority board member for 20 years I have never seen the volume and breadth and types of lawsuits that the office has faced in this short period, said Perry, who added that he thinks the lawsuits have interfered with operations. In fact, the lawsuit originally filed by service-disabled veterans who applied for cannabis licenses which held up the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary program for months was predictable. NY Cannabis Insider ran a story about a year before plaintiffs filed suit in which some legal experts warned that language in the MRTA makes the CAURD program which the OCM created vulnerable to legal challenges. Perry, on Friday, also noted the OCM doesnt have enough employees and that the CCB has approved measures to expand the agencys authority without providing them with the staff necessary to implement policy. During a press conference, Hochul said the lag time in general licensing prompted the review of OCM. The governors office was under the impression that most hopefuls who applied in November and December would be either approved or denied by January, and were surprised when the number of applications provided to CCB for final approval were a fraction of their expectations. It was this most recent fall to spring class of applications where I found a lot of inaccuracies and inefficiencies, Hochul said. I wanted to send in someone who had an eye toward organizational management, who understood the capabilities of government, and could find out what were missing. Hochul specifically mentioned the need to help applicants who are currently paying rent for locations where they intend to operate their businesses and have been waiting for months or years, in some cases for an approval or denial of their applications. That includes Jayson Tantalo, a CAURD applicant who operates Flower City Hydroponics in Rochester, and co-founded the New York Cannabis Retail Association. Tantalo applied for a CAURD license in 2022 and still hasnt received an approval or denial. He and his wife Britni also his business partner also applied for a retail license when the general licensing application period began. It took Tantalo about 18 months to find real estate for a prospective dispensary, and already put down a deposit. As hes waited for news on the CAURD application and general license, regulators have licensed hundreds of other applicants, Tantalo said. While peoples hearts may be in the right place, its unclear that New Yorks cannabis regulators as theyve been operating are capable of successfully overseeing the market, he said. When OCM was built out, was it built out for advocacy? Of course, Tantalo said. Was it built out by people who understand the industry? I dont know. Shanduke McPhatter also applied for a nonprofit CAURD license in 2022 for the Brooklyn-based nonprofit Gangstas Making Astronomical Community Change and for a general retail license in November. Hes lost two different locations he planned to use as storefronts while hes waited for either license, he said. The last McPhatter heard from the OCM regarding either license was a 2022 email notifying him that an injunction stemming from a lawsuit filed by Variscite NY One prevented the OCM from issuing licenses in Brooklyn, where he intends to operate. That lawsuit was settled nearly a year ago. Its been frustrating for McPhatter to see so many people get licensed ahead of him, especially cases in which, he said, licensees had also operated illicit stores which he avoided in order to remain in compliance with OCMs rules. Why were we not making sure that the people waiting respectfully, following the rules, get an opportunity? McPhatter, a former legacy operator, said. Weve paid attention to the fact that there are people who are running illicit stores that have been granted licenses. McPhatter said that based on how things have gone so far, the OCM restructuring announcement doesnt inspire much confidence. At the same time, he doesnt necessarily blame staff at the OCM or CCB members for the dysfunctional way cannabis licensing has played out. I dont want to point the finger at the [OCM] entirely, as if the people who are there havent been doing their job, McPhatter said. Its the governors job to make sure that they have the resources and everything they need to make sure that [licensing problems] would not happen. Moys report didnt mention or hold accountable the states Dormitory Authority, which played a key role in the plagued rollout of the CAURD program, nor did it scrutinize the CCB, which is the five-member board charged with overseeing the OCM. The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for a full year! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime. Amid escalating tensions between neighbors in urban areas, the growing pet trade exposes a critical regulatory gap, underscoring the urgent need for noise and cleanliness guidelines. Cao Thanh, a resident in Ha Dong District of Hanoi, has gone from keeping a few dogs as pets to trading the animals. Thanh now has 30 dogs as part of her commercial enterprise. Over her four years in the dog trading business, she has frequently clashed with her neighbors, and the conflicts have worsened over time. There was no issue initially when Thanh kept just a few dogs. However, as the number of dogs grew, so did the noise and odor, especially on days when she did not clean up adequately. "In the past, I only kept a few dogs because I loved them," she said. "But then gradually I became a dealer. When I had fewer, they were well taken care of and not noisy or smelly. But now, I sometimes do not have enough time to look after each of them." Thanh said that even if one dog defecates and she does not have enough time to clean it up promptly, odors quickly begin to resonate. Regarding the noise, Thanh said she currently has only poodles, which are small-sized dogs, but when one starts barking, the rest join in and the cacophony quickly turns into chaos, which is when the neighbors really get bothered. Thanh's neighbors have become increasingly irritated by the disruptions Thanhs business causes in their lives, with nonstop complaints about noise and mess. She acknowledges that urban life in the city is inherently noisy and chaotic compared to the countryside, but argues that her business's impact is only annoying, not harmful to health. Thanh remains committed to her enterprise despite the ongoing disputes and dissatisfaction expressed by those around her. Thanh admits she should be responsible for her neighbors' frustration, but expressed that she has felt wronged more than a few times when the neighbors rushed to blame her every time there is dog waste in the residential area's shared space. "They even told me if they see any of my dogs on their property, they'd kill it." On some of these occasions Thanh has picked up a quarrel with her neighbors, which has only ended up making things worse. "In general, it [this business] is a lot of pressure," she said. Thanh claimed that "my dogs are valuable, and I never let them out [to defecate]. I only take them out of my house once a month, and on those occasions, I always watch them carefully to make sure that if they defecate I clean up the mess immediately." Despite facing criticism and disapproval from most of those around her, Thanh says she's willing to "fight to protect her business," which she said brings in tens to hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong each month. (VND10 million = US$395). "Its a business, and I will just have to deal with it." She rationalized her business by saying that the nature of the city is noisy and if one wants peace, one can only find it in the countryside. "I admit I contribute to the noise, but I'm upfront about it: life here [in the city] is tough. There are also those factories out there affecting peoples lives for profit, too, but what can you do? At least the smell from the dogs is just annoying, not harmful to health," she said. Owners play with their pet dogs at a park in Hanoi in 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Tung Dinh In recent years, with rising income and living standards, the pet community in Vietnam has rapidly grown. Pets and related services have become a lucrative business sector. Data from international market research firm Euromonitor shows that Vietnam currently has about 28 million pets, including 11.8 million dogs and cats, with the number of dogs and cats growing by over 6.8% annually. The pet care industry in Vietnam produced a turnover of US$500 million in 2022, with an expected growth rate of 11% per year, Euromonitor said. Nguyen Van Dang, an expert in business administration and policy, noted that profits from the pet industry have driven the formation of a new urban trend: keeping pets in apartments for business purposes. He mentioned that recent incidents have shown that legal regulations may not yet be in place to address this emerging issue. "It is a new trend in cities today that people raise pets in apartments with the purpose of doing business. The trend has just appeared recently and so there might not be legal regulations yet." Profits vs. politeness Phat Dat in Da Nang City earns billions of dong each year from raising and selling pets, and said he accepts the pressure from his neighbors. "There are complaints about them being noisy, which disturbs people's sleep. Then there's the matter of their wastepeople smell it and also complain to me. They even threatened to report it to the authorities." "I have to clean the waste [of the dogs] every day. I do so not once but two or three times a day. It brings in an income for me, so I have to do it." Dat shared that he has a Corgi who gave birth twice with 12 puppies in one year. He sold one of such puppies at VND5 million (US$197), which means he can earn VND60 million raising just one Corgi. According to official statistics, Ho Chi Minh City currently has nearly 106,000 households raising about 184,000 dogs and cats, over 65% of which are in the inner-city districts with limited space. In several cases, people keep a large number of pets and claim that they are "rescue centers" or "animal foster agencies" to seek sponsorship. However, regulatory bodies have been unable to address such issues for decades. Regulatory ideas Dang said it is necessary to clearly define the regulations between keeping dogs and cats as pets and for business purposes, and to strictly limit the number of animals allowed for each. At the same time, people should be banned from raising pets for profits in residential areas, he argued. "When the common interest of the community is affected, the authorities have to step in and enforce regulations on how many dogs, chickens, birds, and turtles each family can have. For example, based on a four-person household, a family might only be allowed to keep no more than four dogs. If you want to do business, you have to rent a place elsewhere for that," Dang said. A man raises poodles for sale at a facility in Hoang Mai District of Hanoi in 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Anh Phu To limit the situation in which dogs and cats might create noise and affect public hygiene, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed in March that residents wishing to own dogs or cats must register the animals with their commune/ward People's Committee. In a proposal sent to the citys People's Committee, the department said pet owners must declare their pets with district authorities, and that declarations must be made twice a year. The proposal, which is still under discussion, also encourages pet owners to implant microchips or miniaturized integrated circuits in their pets to facilitate the management of breeding information, vaccinations, and quarantine transportation. According to policy expert Dang, the business of raising dogs and cats is becoming attractive while the law has not kept up with market trends, causing frustration in the community. "There are two issues: one is misusing the function of the house, and the other is seeking profit. I respect your business, but if it impacts others, forcing them to unwilling pay the price for your own benefits is unreasonable. "The function of an apartment building is for human habitation, not for business activities, especially not for breeding businesses. This is a distasteful matter, as the house is not a breeding facility." The issue here is that there are no legal or administrative regulations limiting the number of pets in an apartment, he said, adding the only current solution available is mediating between pet owners and neighbors to avoid conflicts. Struggling between personal interests and keeping those around him from getting fed up, Dat seeks reconciliation by sending gifts to his neighbors and inviting them for drinks. "It's partly our fault too, but if we [people earning profits from raising and selling pets] are friendly to everyone, then people are more tolerant and patient," he said. Russia's Roscosmos and China's National Space Administration (CNSA) have commenced development on a nuclear power plant intended for a joint lunar base, Reuters reports. This initiative represents a significant step forward in the countries' space exploration efforts to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon. Russia and China Collaborate on Lunar Nuclear Power Plant Development Roscosmos' Chief, Yuri Borisov, recently confirmed the project's initiation, highlighting the strategic partnership between the two nations. The plan involves deploying automated stations named "Smena-6," "Smena-7," and "Smena-8" to the lunar surface, serving as precursors for the establishment of a functional lunar base. Borisov outlined an ambitious timeline in March, targeting installing the nuclear power plant on the moon's surface by 2033 to 2035. The first mission, slated for 2026, will lay the groundwork for subsequent endeavors, with the overarching project set for completion by 2028. In addition to the lunar power plant project, Russia is also pioneering the development of a nuclear-powered "space tugboat" to transport heavy cargo needed to build their lunar base. Read Also : Nokia to Launch First LTE/4G Network on the Moon Later This Year Why Nuclear Power? The decision to pursue nuclear power for lunar settlements stems from the inherent limitations of solar energy. Borisov stated in March that nuclear energy on the moon would be capable of powering "future lunar settlements," as modern solar panels would ultimately be insufficient to provide enough electricity. As scientists explain, traditional solar panels may prove inadequate, particularly during the extended periods of darkness experienced on the moon. Therefore, integrating a nuclear power plant is a pragmatic solution to ensure uninterrupted power generation. Experts like Dr. Natan Eismont, a prominent figure in Russian space research, lauded the Russia-China partnership, emphasizing the combined expertise of both nations in propelling the project forward. Roscosmos' prior experience in space-based nuclear technology lends credibility to the endeavor. The development of TOPAZ-series fission reactors during the 1980s demonstrated the feasibility of nuclear power in space. With technological advancements over the decades, deploying a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface appears increasingly viable. Simultaneously, NASA's Fission Surface Power Project is looking to facilitate sustained human presence on the moon, with multi-million dollar contracts awarded for the design of autonomous nuclear reactors-a pivotal component for prolonged lunar missions. In Other News NASA's Chandra X-ray Telescope has discovered evidence of a venting process near the Milky Way galaxy's center. The findings show what appears to be an exhaust vent connected to a chimney that ejects hot gas from the area surrounding the galaxy's supermassive black hole. This newly discovered exhaust vent, located near the top of the chimney, is about 700 light-years from the center of the Milky Way. Stay posted here at Tech Times. A recent cryptocurrency scam involving a so-called address-poisoning phishing scheme saw the return of as much as 50 percent of the stolen Wrapped Bitcoin but as Ethereum. This is because the victim offered a bounty to the scammer, where they would get 10 percent of the total stolen crypto, originally amounting to 1,155 WBTC or around $70.5 million. Crypto Scammer Returns 50% of Stolen WBTC After Offered a Bounty In a recent incident, a crypto scammer decided in good faith to return the stolen coins to the owner after launching a phishing scam against them, with as much as 50 percent or $34.7 million already back to the victim. According to SlowMist, this was because the victim offered a 10 percent bounty to the scammer for the return of 90 percent of their Wrapped Bitcoin. Last May 3, the threat actor successfully tricked the victim into sending 1,155 WBTC, and immediately, the threat actor converted it into 22,956 Ethereum (ETH) and distributed it to various accounts, still in ETH. On May 10, the alert from PeckShield shared that the stolen funds were returned to the owner, but only half the original stolen coins, amounting to 11,446.87 ETH, were returned. Crypto Scammer Gets 10% and a Way Out This was because the victim posted a public callout to the threat actor on the blockchain (via Etherscan.io), promising that returning the stolen coins would reward them with a bounty (admin) of 10 percent of the total price. This would amount to $7.05 million, and the victim walked away with 90 percent, or $63,450,000. It also means a way out, as the victim claimed that they would not post this on Twitter (X), initially giving a deadline of May 6 at 10 AM UTC. However, as of this writing, it appears that the other 40 percent has not yet been returned to the owner. Crypto Scams in the Industry Crypto scams are common, as many are still searching for unknowing individuals who can be duped and tricked into various methods, including sending money to another account by the victims themselves or accessing their wallets. In 2023, the crypto industry saw as much as $1.8 billion worth of holdings stolen by hackers, but this is significantly lower compared to 2022's $2.8 billion and 2021's $3.1 billion. Hackers steal crypto in many ways, including phishing or malware attacks, tricking crypto investors, or creating apps that were made for theft. Earlier this year, Google launched a landmark case against crypto scammers for the apps they launched via the Play Store, which all center on fake promises or deceitful investment campaigns. However, there are still a lot of areas on the internet left unchecked where crypto scammers thrive, and they still get to launch their attacks through various methods that are hard to detect. The good thing is that there is a way to track these, and the recent WBTC phishing victim used it to their advantage, proposing a whitehatting solution where there's a bounty for the return of his $70.5 million stolen coins. Sam Altman has stepped forward to dispel rumors surrounding the alleged launch of a search engine ahead of Google I/O. While confirming an impending announcement from OpenAI, Altman clarified that it does not entail the introduction of GPT-5 or any search engine. Setting the Record Straight Amidst much talk, Altman has spoken up to clear the air about rumors concerning the supposed launch of a search engine before Google I/O. Altman disagrees with recent reports claiming OpenAI would reveal a search product right before Google's big event. Affirming that while an impending OpenAI announcement is scheduled for Monday morning, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman clarified that it does not involve the introduction of GPT-5 or a search engine. Altman teased something unexpected, suggesting it would be quite remarkable. However, the details from OpenAI are still unclear, only mentioning updates related to ChatGPT and the latest model, GPT-4. OpenAI is reportedly recruiting Google staff for a team dedicated to fast-tracking the product's release. Meanwhile, Bloomberg has separately covered the ongoing development of a search product at OpenAI, although an exact launch date remains uncertain. ChatGPT's New Search Capability OpenAI is developing a new capability for ChatGPT. This feature aims to enable ChatGPT to search the Internet and provide responses with proper citations, potentially positioning it as a competitor to Alphabet Inc.'s Google and the AI search startup Perplexity. Users could pose questions to ChatGPT and receive answers drawn from web content, complete with citations from sources like Wikipedia entries and blog posts. Additionally, one feature version incorporates relevant images alongside textual responses to queries. For example, if a user inquires about changing a doorknob, the result might include a visual diagram illustrating the process. As the AI landscape becomes increasingly competitive, OpenAI faces mounting pressure to enhance the functionality of its flagship product. The surge in chatbot development among competitors underscores the significance of search capabilities within the AI industry. Notably, Perplexity has emerged as a formidable player, attaining both popularity and a valuation of $1 billion through its AI-driven search engine, which prioritizes precision and proper citations. Meanwhile, Google has been intensifying its efforts to revamp its primary search offering with AI advancements. The tech giant is poised to unveil its latest Gemini AI models during its upcoming annual I/O event. Introducing this feature would significantly enhance OpenAI's existing offerings for select users. While ChatGPT currently provides automated online search results for specific inquiries, like the present weather in San Francisco, this functionality is currently accessible only to paying users. May 10, 2024 | 03:25 pm PT This week, France has been invited for the first time to participate in the commemoration of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, which resulted in the defeat of French troops in Vietnam and represented the country's final stand in colonial Indochina. Diplomatic relations between the two countries have changed significantly. Viewed through a "technocratic" lens, France's presence is notable as it aids Vietnam in its digital transformation, supports environmental transitions via the French Development Agency, consult anti-corruption policies and serves as a mediator between the European Union and ASEAN. Additionally, there are university exchanges facilitated by Campus France, military cooperation and Vietnam-France decentralized cooperation conference every year. But in terms of its overall influence, France has lost its way. I note a decrease in the influence of French soft power in Vietnam. I also see glimmers of hope thanks to the actions of new independent actors. The cultural influence of France in Vietnam is declining With the reopening of the country in the 1990s, France actively participated in the modernization of Vietnam through cooperation programs to train new lawyers, doctors, and journalists. In 1997, the Francophonie summit was held in Hanoi. But in 2024, France is no longer among the top ten investors in the 34th largest economy in the world with a population of 100 million nicknamed the "rising star." Has France's economic downturn coincided with a retreat from the Francophonie? Let's seek the perspectives of individuals outside the diplomatic circles who are acquainted with the circumstances. Linh K. Tran, Master of Public Policy candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said: "Other nations including the U.S., U.K., China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Russia and many others also consider Vietnam a strategic partner and are competing for Vietnamese peoples attention. My parents generation listened to French songs when they were younger, but young Vietnamese nowadays are willing to pay millions of dong to go to American and Korean artists concerts, even if they are held in a different country. Against this competitive backdrop, the French soft power is very much alive but needs rejuvenation and more creative bridges to make it more accessible, relevant, and compelling to modern Vietnamese." Combining all learning parameters, French is the fifth most practiced foreign language after English (86%), Japanese (16%), Chinese (15%), and Korean (11%). German (3%) is almost on par with French (4%). In 2023, the French Institute of Hanoi no longer has the funds to maintain its auditorium and relocates to a villa far from the city center... A profound change that perfectly symbolizes the decline of French soft power in Vietnam. A French professor in Vietnam recently explained to me that "if Hanoi is called 'the Paris of Southeast Asia,' it is undoubtedly because of the richness of its colonial architecture. The treatment reserved for the imposing yellow buildings with green shutters is, in my opinion, symptomatic of Vietnam's relationship with France. Sometimes restored, magnified by a park in which colossal and centuries-old trees grow, they house embassies or government institutions." This professor believes that "France still has this prestigious image, especially concerning its culture. The constant increase in the number of students enrolled in French high schools in Vietnam is proof of this. And yet, some of these beautiful mansions are left abandoned, gradually crumbling, and will eventually be replaced by new buildings." Vietnam National Museum of History, which was built by the French as the Louis Finot Museum, in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh There is a gap between the perception of our relationship with Vietnam and reality. Here in France, some media still view the country through the lens of historians and outdated headlines: it's unfortunate that Vietnam is only brought up in conversation during war commemorations in France. This discrepancy between the reality of contemporary Vietnam and French thought fragilizes our ties. Towards a new cultural diplomacy? In my country, there are nearly 400,000 French people of Vietnamese origin compared to less than 10,000 French people in Vietnam. Let's consider an inverted diplomacy with action focused on understanding the country rather than the one-way expansion of French culture. One might think that France has nothing to do in Vietnam and that we are already doing enough, that times have changed: this would ignore France's cultural diversity, its diaspora, and all the economic issues that require understanding. Connecting the two countries means bringing different French populations closer and improving coexistence. A new media called "Banh Mi Media" created by Linda Nguon is doing a great job about connecting French Vietnamese back with their roots. For over four years, I have been strengthening ties between our two countries through my documentary "Once upon a bridge in Vietnam." My grandmother is Vietnamese, and I have engaged with all the associations and actors in the Franco-Vietnamese community. I have screened my film at Harvard University, Columbia University and aired it on Vietnamese television. I organized my screenings in Vietnam with French High Schools in Hanoi and HCMC, and at BHD Vincom. We, creators from all backgrounds, continue to bring our two peoples closer together and await spontaneous support from diplomats to find funding and visibility. In my opinion, the main ambassador of French culture in Vietnam might be Will in Vietnam, the most famous Tiktoker food reviewer with millions of followers... based in Hanoi! *Francois Bibonne is a movie director and producer of the documentary "Once upon a bridge in Vietnam." Flash floods kill 50 in one day in north Afghanistan Kabul, May 10 (AFP) May 10, 2024 At least 50 people, mainly women and children, were killed Friday in flash flooding that ripped through northern Afghanistan, official said, in a country highly vulnerable to climate change. A disaster management official in the northern province of Baghlan said heavy seasonal rains sparked the flooding, and residents were unprepared for the sudden rush of water. "So far, the number of dead is 50 as per the hospital authorities of Baghlan-e-Markazi district," said Hedayatullah Hamdard, the head of the provincial natural disaster management department, adding the toll could rise. Emergency personnel were "searching for any possible victims under the mud and rubble, with the help of security forces from the national army and police", Hamdard told AFP late Friday. "The weather is very gloomy right now and it might pour again," he added. Dozens of tents, blankets and food were provided to those who lost their homes, the official said. Video footage seen on social media showed huge torrents of muddy water swamping roads and bodies shrouded in white and black cloth. In one video clip, children are heard crying and a group of men are looking at floodwaters, in which bits of broken wood and debris from homes can be seen. Since mid-April, flash flooding and other floods have left about 100 people dead in 10 of Afghanistan's provinces, with no region entirely spared, according to authorities. Farmland has been swamped in a country where 80 percent of the more than 40 million people depend on agriculture to survive. Rains on Friday also caused heavy damages in northeastern Badakhshan province and central Ghor province, officials said. - 'Heavy financial losses' - Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said authorities would provide support to those impacted by the flooding across the country. The government "expresses its deep sympathy with the families of dead and wounded, and instructs the ministry of natural disaster management, ministries of defence and interior, and provincial authorities to spare no resource in rescue efforts", he said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. The provincial director of natural disaster management in Badakhshan said the mountainous province had seen "heavy financial losses in several areas... due to floods". He added that casualties were feared in Tishkan district, where flooding had blocked a road and cut off access to an area where some 20,000 people lived. Afghanistan -- which had a relatively dry winter, making it more difficult for the soil to absorb rainfall -- is highly vulnerable to climate change. The nation, ravaged by four decades of war, is one of the poorest in the world and, according to scientists, one of the worst prepared to face the consequences of global warming. Afghanistan, which is responsible for only 0.06 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, ranks sixth on the list of countries most at risk from climate change, experts say. Half of Afghanistan's population lives under the poverty line, and 15 million people are experiencing food insecurity, according to the World Bank. abh-sw/sst Flash floods kill 62 in one day in north Afghanistan Kabul, May 10 (AFP) May 10, 2024 The toll from deadly flash flooding that ripped through northern Afghanistan on Friday rose to 62 people, mainly women and children, an official said, in a country highly vulnerable to climate change. A disaster management official in the northern province of Baghlan said heavy seasonal rains sparked the flooding, and residents were unprepared for the sudden rush of water. "The number of dead in today's flood in Baghlan province has risen to 62," Hedayatullah Hamdard, the head of the provincial natural disaster management department, told AFP. The toll "will probably increase" he said, adding that light rain had continued into the night in multiple districts of the province. Emergency personnel were "searching for any possible victims under the mud and rubble, with the help of security forces from the national army and police", Hamdard said earlier. Dozens of tents, blankets and food were provided to those who lost their homes, he added. Video footage seen on social media showed huge torrents of muddy water swamping roads and bodies shrouded in white and black cloth. In one video clip, children are heard crying and a group of men are looking at floodwaters, in which bits of broken wood and debris from homes can be seen. Since mid-April, flash flooding and other floods have left about 100 people dead in 10 of Afghanistan's provinces, with no region entirely spared, according to authorities. Farmland has been swamped in a country where 80 percent of the more than 40 million people depend on agriculture to survive. Rains on Friday also caused heavy damages in northeastern Badakhshan province and central Ghor province, officials said. - 'Heavy financial losses' - Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said authorities would provide support to those impacted by the flooding across the country. The government "expresses its deep sympathy with the families of dead and wounded, and instructs the ministry of natural disaster management, ministries of defence and interior, and provincial authorities to spare no resource in rescue efforts", he said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. Mohammad Akram Akbari, the provincial director of natural disaster management in Badakhshan, said the mountainous province had seen "heavy financial losses in several areas... due to floods". He added that casualties were feared in Tishkan district, where flooding had blocked a road and cut off access to an area where some 20,000 people lived. Afghanistan -- which had a relatively dry winter, making it more difficult for the soil to absorb rainfall -- is highly vulnerable to climate change. The nation, ravaged by four decades of war, is one of the poorest in the world and, according to scientists, one of the worst prepared to face the consequences of global warming. Afghanistan, which is responsible for only 0.06 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, ranks sixth on the list of countries most at risk from climate change, experts say. Half of Afghanistan's population lives under the poverty line, and 15 million people are experiencing food insecurity, according to the World Bank. abh-sw/sst Two UK octogenarians charged over Magna Carta stunt London, May 11 (AFP) May 11, 2024 Two environmental activists in their eighties have been charged with criminal damage after glueing themselves to a glass case containing the historic Magna Carta document at the British Library in central London, police said on Saturday. Anglican priest Sue Parfitt, 82, and retired teacher Judy Bruce, 85, held up a sign saying "The government is breaking the law" after attaching themselves to the display case on Friday, according to Just Stop Oil. London's Metropolitan police said two women had been charged with criminal damage and released on bail. The British Library said the damage to the glass case had been "minimal". "Magna Carta itself remains undamaged," it said, adding that the gallery that houses the display would remain closed until further notice. Magna Carta is seen as a precursor of democracy and the basis of legal systems across the world as well as human rights conventions. Dating from June 1215, the Great Charter -- considered one of the world's most important documents -- first put into writing the principle that the king and his government were not above the law. The two women will appear before magistrates in London on June 20. Just Stop Oil wants the UK government to end all new oil and gas exploration and has promised not to let up in its protests until it does so. Greater Bay Airlines to suspend Hong Kong-Singapore flights due to 'commercial reasons' A Greater Bay Airlines aircraft. Photo courtesy of the airline Greater Bay Airlines announced that it will suspend flights from Hong Kong to Singapore from June 1, just two weeks after it launched the service. The Hong Kong-based carrier said the suspension was due to "commercial reasons" after it analyzed recent market conditions, South China Morning Post reported. The airline said all affected passengers would be compensated with a free return ticket, according to The Straits Times. It has operated the service since April 26 with one-way airfares starting from HK$480 (US$61). Founded by Chinese property mogul Wong Cho Bau, who also owns the Shenzhen-headquartered Donghai Airlines, the carrier started flying in 2022. It operates flights from Hong Kong to Asian destinations including Ho Chi Minh City and Tokyo, with a fleet of seven single-aisle Boeing 737-800 aircraft. For Singaporeans, Hong Kong is famous as a food and shopping haven. The states wet streak has caused Sydneys major water supply, Warragamba Dam, to overflow for the second time this year. The dam, which is four times the size of Sydney Harbour, began spilling over at 7.30am on Sunday. Warragamba Dam tips over capacity on Sunday morning. Credit: Dean Sewell It was a slow build-up with lighter than expected rain over [Friday and Saturday] in the catchment area, a WaterNSW spokesman said. We expect the spill to go for a few days at least, but its not a very large spill. It wont be as large as the one last month, which peaked at 220 gigalitres a day. We were predicting this one would be 30 to 40 gigalitres a day, based on the lower end of the forecast. When Shae Bradshaw was admitted to the Werribee Mercy Hospitals Mother Baby Unit, it was a turning point for the 37-year-old who met other new mums who were feeling just like she did. Bradshaw had hoped that once her baby daughter was born, all the fears she had about being a failure as a mother would disappear. Shae Bradshaw and daughter Makenzie. Credit: Simon Schluter But when blue-eyed, red-haired Makenzie arrived last August, following a difficult pregnancy, Bradshaw began to unravel. Everybody expects that youve got this new baby, you should be so excited and so happy, and I wasnt, Bradshaw 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 Stargazers in southern Australia were treated to an awe-inspiring display of aurora australis on Saturday night. But if you missed it, dont worry theres another chance the skies will light up tonight. Stunning pink and green hues were seen dancing in the sky across Tasmania, outback Western Australia, and along coastal regions of Victoria and South Australia once night fell. The southern lights are usually only visible in Tasmania or Victorias far south. The southern lights were even visible in the cities of Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, although light pollution made the aurora less vibrant. Heavy cloud and rainfall hampered views across Sydney and Canberra. Aurora hunters will have another chance to spy the dazzling display on Sunday night, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with an intense geomagnetic storm forecast until Monday morning. Australia was treated to an amazing light show last night, thanks to the strongest geomagnetic storm in over 20 years, the bureau said on Facebook. Bright auroras were visible across most of southern Australia, and as far north as the Pilbara region of WA. Keep your eyes on the southerly night skies. Thats the advice from experts on how to see the breathtaking aurora australis, which was spotted across the south of the country on Saturday morning. The Bureau of Meteorology says our version of the northern lights could be visible after dark across the weekend. The southern lights are usually only seen in Tasmania, but now could pop up in major capitals including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The aurora Australis captured from Tasmania on Saturday morning. Credit: Luke Tscharke Auroras may also be visible from as far north as southern Queensland and other low-latitude locations, the bureau said. The current phenomenon is caused by the most extreme geomagnetic storm in the Earths atmosphere since 2003. A chronic shortage of family-friendly apartments in Sydney is fuelling calls for the Minns government to mandate quotas for three-bedroom housing in the suburbs targeted for medium and high-density unit blocks. Domain sales data shows fewer than one in 10 units recently sold in the Inner West and Canterbury-Bankstown, two of the Transport Oriented Development (TOD) programs target areas in Sydney, had more than two bedrooms. Philip Oldfield, the head of the University of NSWs school of built environment, said Sydneys planned housing largely ignored the needs of families, who make up 25 per cent of apartment dwellers. This mismatch needs to be tackled, or we face limiting opportunities for families with children in many of our neighbourhoods, he said, expressing concern families were being forced to move away from transport hubs, increasing lengthy commuting and congestion. The strategies promised to deliver more surgery than ever before by boosting staffing, resources and streamlining activity across the system. These investments will gradually build up to deliver a record 240,000 surgeries every year by 2024 an additional 40,000 procedures annually compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to media releases spruiking the investment. The government maintains its programs have boosted capacity, as shown by the reduced waitlist, even though the target remains unmet. The number of people waiting for surgery can also decline through providing alternative treatments such as physiotherapy. Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas tours a new surgery theatre at The Alfred Centre in January. Credit: Penny Stephens Speaking on the ABC in November 2023, six months before the targets were adjusted, Thomas said the government would not stop until it achieved 20,000 surgeries a month. It can be done, and we will work to deliver that 240,000 planned surgeries every year. We have a program in place in order to help us achieve that, and we will keep going until we do it, she said. Loading I cant accept anything less than those targets on behalf of the Victorian people. Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier accused Labor of breaking a promise. These cuts to health and elective surgeries will only worsen Victorias ongoing health crisis and lead to longer wait times and poorer outcomes for patients, she said. Anna Peretic has been languishing on the planned surgery waiting list for two years and lives in excruciating pain. The 69-year-old is deemed a category 2 patient and should have been operated on within 90 days, according to state government targets. I think they have given up on me, said Peretic, who lives in Ringwood North in Melbournes east with her 94-year-old mother, Franca. Peretic fell on the footpath outside a church in 2022 and has been waiting for shoulder and hip replacement surgery at her local public hospital. She said her mother now had to care for her because she was unable to stand or walk without pain and relied on painkillers to get through the day. I used to enjoy cooking and going out with friends, but that has been taken away from me, said Peretic, who relies on meal delivery kits because it hurts to stand in the kitchen and cook. I feel useless and hopeless. Budget papers also show 85 per cent of non-urgent category 3 patients in Victoria are expected to be admitted within 365 days this financial year below the target of 95 per cent. About 70 per cent of semi-urgent category 2 patients will be treated within 90 days, below the target of 85 per cent. All urgent patients, category 1, were to be treated within 30 days. The average wait time for a category 2 patient has fallen from 100 days to 65 since the COVID catch-up program began. Average category 3 wait times have moved from 164 days to 124. A state government spokeswoman said its reforms had cut the surgery waiting list by 30 per cent and sped up treatment times. The measures we put in place during a time of crisis have worked, and its now time to move on from crisis mode thats why we provided a massive funding boost to our hospitals, giving them the certainty they need to plan for their future, the spokeswoman said. Over the past two years we have reformed the way we deliver surgery opening 10 rapid access hubs, creating two public surgical centres and establishing patient support units, and were on track to deliver the most surgery in Victorias history this year. Hospitals, which are increasingly reporting major operating deficits, will receive an additional $8.8 billion over the next four years. But the budget also revealed two new hospital campuses at Arden will be relocated to Parkville because of the cost of managing electromagnetic interference from Metro Tunnel trains, and a cut of 75 per cent in funding to the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Alliance. Dr Jill Tomlinson, Victorian president of the Australian Medical Association and a plastic reconstructive surgeon, said the targets were always ambitious and it made sense to revise them to levels that health services could handle. Washington: The Biden administration said Israels use of US-supplied weapons may have violated international humanitarian law during its military operation in Gaza, in its strongest criticism to date of Israel. But the administration stopped short of a definitive assessment, adding that due to the chaos of the war in Gaza it could not verify specific instances where use of those weapons might have violated international law. Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Credit: Ramez Habboub The conclusion came in a State Department report to Congress required under a new National Security Memorandum (NSM) that President Joe Biden issued in early February. The findings risk further souring ties with Israel at a time when the allies are increasingly at odds over Israels plans to strike Rafah, a move Washington has repeatedly warned against. Barron Trump, former president Donald Trumps youngest son who has stayed out of the spotlight since his father entered politics, will not serve as one of Floridas delegates to the Republican National Convention, the office of Melania Trump has announced. In a statement released two days after Barron, 18, was selected to be an at-large delegate by the Florida Republican Party, Melania Trumps office said that Barron was honoured to be chosen but that he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments. Melania Trump and son Barron, who graduates from high school next week. Credit: Getty The Trump campaign referred a request for comment to a spokesperson for Melania Trump, who did not immediately respond to questions about what those commitments might be. Barron, who will graduate from high school next week and who plans to attend college in the fall, has largely not participated in his fathers political career. Houston: Asesinato de trabajador durante discusion en NW Harris County Co-worker killed during argument outside his home in NW Harris County as he was headed to work ... Tu opinion es muy valiosa para mi y me ayuda a crear mejor contenido para ti. Por favor, indicame que fue lo que no te gusto. El titulo es sensacionalista o falso Veracidad del contenido El contenido no esta bien redactado El formato es dificil de seguir La calidad de las imagenes Calificar Esta Nota Gracias por calificar mi nota! Nos ayuda mucho para crear mas contenido como este. Notas de Hector E. Internacional asesinato trabajador discusion Harris County arresto 10/05/2024 12:56 PM , Seccion Internacional Ultima edicion 10/05/2024 01:00 PM. Autor Hector E. el, Seccion Harris County deputies arrested Kevin Brown for the shooting death of Fidencio Romero. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez stated that the deadly shooting was the result of an argument between the two men at work. Romero was ambushed in his vehicle and shot multiple times with an AK-47-type weapon. The incident has been described as senseless and tragic. Cansado de leer y necesitas un respiro? Te invitamos a desconectar y a reirte con nosotros en "Risa Remedio Infalible" Haz una pausa y deja que nuestras risas y chistes frescos te devuelvan la energia. SPRING CREEK Mother-daughter duo Meisha Holden and Kaylee Thomsen bustle around the coffee shop trailer in the Spring Creek Khourys Market parking lot, pumping flavor shots, punching loyalty cards and spraying whipped cream. Open since July 1, 2023, Miners Java is a traditional espresso company, making all their coffee from scratch without using manufactured powders. Its something weve been wanting to do for years, Holden said. They moved to Elko County from Redding, California, five years ago, wanting a change from the high cost of living in California. While the California food truck scene is highly saturated and competitive, Spring Creek did not even have its own coffee trailer before Miners Java, Holden noted. Advertising and Facebook have been their main forms of expanding the customer base, Thomsen said. Engagement with customers has been integral as well, Holden added. However, most of the business growth has happened organically, through word of mouth, Holden noted. Customers are often eager to share their positive coffee-drinking experiences with others. A lot of our customer base pretty much advertises for us, Thomsen said. What menu items have proved most popular with customers? The most popular ones would be our coffee drinks. The Jackleg Latte is white chocolate caramel topped with caramel drizzle and whipped cream, Thomsen said. However, energy drinks have also become popular options. Miners Java sells chocolate mocha and Italian soda as well. What are Holden and Thomsens favorite parts of working in Elko? I like the community base. I like the smallness of it, Holden said. And everybodys always friendly. They always help you, Thomsen said. She said Daniel Ornelas from Kingdom Grub, as well as Katie Dudley and John Dudley from Nuts Under a Buck, have been a huge help, towing the Miners Java trailer when Holdens truck needed maintenance. Holden said Elko Countys food truck scene is like a small family. Both Holden and Thomsen are professionally trained baristas, with Thomsen receiving training from Peets Coffee and Holden receiving training from both Peets Coffee and Java City. We got our experience from our previous employment. I ran a bakery deli cafe in Redding. Our cafe had espresso. And it was corporate. The corporate company came down and had to train me to run, so thats how I became a barista, was through my previous job, Holden explained. They said one of their favorite places to bring the trailer to is the Pumpkin Festival in Lamoille, as well as the Fourth of July Freedom Festival in Spring Creek. Thomsen said she also particularly enjoyed the Hellooo Spring and Hellooo Fall events at the Igloo. Because of the different vendors they have, its really fun to go in there and walk around. It brings everybody kind of closer together. This year will mark their first time attending the Lamoille County Fair. Were mainly a Spring Creek trailer unless were at events or at the farmers market behind the Elko Chamber of Commerce, Holden said. We try to stay in Spring Creek because Mary Spealman with Boot Scootn Brew, shes got her little trailer in Elko. We love Mary, theres none of that competition stuff. But we always like to be here because we dont want to go over the summit if we dont have to, Holden said. Spealman has supported them as well, helping them figure out where to purchase cups, Thomsen noted. We just kind of want to be able to book more private events, maybe at corporations for corporate anniversaries or retirements or customer appreciations, Holen said. The schools book us for parent-teacher and teacher appreciation. Were booked all next week, she said. We have like three or four different schools were at. Holden said they have learned the importance of ordering. For instance, one recent day they ran out of coffee beans but managed to get a delivery of a new bag before too long, Holden said. It can be difficult to keep up with how many beans the coffee machine uses, she said. Being so rural, sometimes there are shipping issues being out here so you have to be vigilant about the shipping especially in the winter when theres snow, Holden said. Were also learning the more popular that we get, the more products we have, Thomsen noted. Big shoutout to Khourys for letting us park here, Thomsen said. The spot is ideal for business because shoppers can grab a coffee before entering the store, Holden noted. We just want to thank the community for being as supportive as they are, Holden said. Staff Reporter RAIPUR, With the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government, a renewed focus has been placed on improving the efficiency of registration offices across Chhattisgarh. Recognising the challenges faced by the public in registering land or property, particularly the prevalence of brokers in the registration process, the government has taken decisive steps to address these issues. State Finance Minister OP Choudhary has issued clear directives to officials, emphasising the need to liberate registration offices from the influence of brokers. It has been observed that both largescale builders and ordinary citizens encounter difficulties in completing registrations without the involvement of brokers. To tackle this issue head-on, Minister Choudhary has instructed officials to develop software for the registration process, enabling individuals to register their land or property without the need to physically visit the registry office. This initiative aims to streamline the registration process, making it more accessible and transparent for the general public. In response to the Ministers directives, the Secretary and Inspector General of the Registration Department have swiftly sprung into action. Plans are underway to study successful registration systems implemented in other states, such as Karnataka, where notable progress has been achieved in this area. Preparations are in motion to dispatch a team of officials from the Registration Department of Chhattisgarh to learn from the best practices employed in Karnataka. By leveraging insights gained from these experiences, Chhattisgarh aims to modernize its registration system, enhancing efficiency and reducing reliance on intermediaries. Congress won't win even 50 LS seats, will not get opposition party status after polls: PM Phulbani/Bolangir/Bargarh (Odisha), May 11 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday claimed that the Congress will not win even 50 seats in the Lok Sabha elections and will not be able to get the opposition party status after the polls. Addressing election rallies in Kandhamal, Bolangir and Bargarh Lok Sabha seats, Modi claimed that Odisha's 'asmita' (pride) is in danger and the BJP will protect it, while asserting that a "double engine" government of the saffron party will be formed in the state and a "son or daughter of the soil who understands Odia language and culture" will be made the chief minister. Attacking the BJD, he called for ousting from power "those responsible for keeping people poor despite the state having bountiful natural resources". "Congress will not be able to get 10 per cent seats to become principal opposition in the Lok Sabha. They will not win even 50 seats," Modi claimed. Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, without taking his name, the PM said, "The Congress 'shehzade' has been reading out the same script since the 2014 polls... Mark my words, NDA will break all records and will win over 400 seats this time." The 'shehzade' tearing a document of the Manmohan Singh cabinet was an insult to the Constitution, Modi said, referring to the 2013 incident. Recalling the achievements of the previous BJP government at the Centre under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said that on this day 26 years ago, Pokhran tests were conducted (in 1998), and it enhanced the image of the country across the globe. "The Congress always tries to scare the people of India... Due to this tendency, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed terrorism for so many years. Instead of giving befitting reply to terrorists, Congress used to hold talks with them to protect the party's vote bank," he alleged. "The Vajpayee government, on the other hand, showed to the world how India can ensure its security. Non-resident Indians felt proud of the moment (Pokran tests)... That day India showed its capability to the world," he said. Modi claimed that Congress always warns of taking action cautiously as Pakistan also has nuclear weapons. "These scared people (Congress) have killed the zeal of the people of our country. Today, Pakistan is in such a situation that it cannot handle the bombs it has. They are now trying to sell their bombs but are not getting buyers as people know their bombs are of poor quality," Modi claimed. He also asserted that his government ended 500 years of people's wait by building Ram temple in Ayodhya. "Everyone feels proud after visiting the Ram temple. We have blessings of Ram Lalla on one side and those of Lord Jagannath on the other," he asserted. Modi asserted that the BJP is fully devoted to the development of Odia language and culture. "I am here to invite you to the swearing in ceremony of the BJP chief minister in Bhubaneswar on June 10. A son or daughter of the soil who understands the state's culture, language and tradition will be made the CM," he said, in an indirect reference to BJD leader V K Pandian's assertion that he is the natural successor to all great values of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Further attacking Pandian, who hails from Tamil Nadu, without taking his name, Modi alleged that Patnaik has outsourced the Odisha government and the state is being run by outsiders. "There is a super CM, who wields more power than the chief minister chosen by elected MLAs. Are sons and daughters of Odisha not capable of running the government? Are people born here not capable of ensuring development?" he questioned. Referring to the sensitive issue of Lord Jagannath's 'Ratna Bhandar' (temple treasury), he said the last inventory of the valuables was made 40 years ago and key of inner chambers has been missing since the last six years. The state government constituted a judicial commission to probe the incident of the missing key but the report was not made public, he said. "I promise to the people of Odisha that the lost glory of 'Ratna Bhandar' will be restored once the BJP forms the government in the state. This is Modi's guarantee," he said. The PM claimed that after President Droupadi Murmu offered prayers at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a senior Congress leader held a press conference and sought purification of the temple. "This is an insult to the President, tribals, women and the country as a whole. Congress has no right to remain in politics. All Congress candidates must lose their deposits," he said. Modi asserted that on the other hand, the BJP made a tribal daughter of Odisha the President of India. The PM came down heavily on the BJD government for not implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme, "as a result of which people from Odisha working in other states were deprived of its benefits". Although the state has a huge tourism potential, the state government failed to promote it, he alleged. Modi also alleged that BJD leaders are involved in the "loot" of tribal lands, and promised that action will be taken against them if the BJP comes to power in the state. Launching a scathing attack on Patnaik, the PM alleged that the CM is unable to name all 30 districts of the state from memory. "A CM, who is unable to name all the districts and headquarters cannot understand the issues faced by the people. Can you leave the future of your children in the hands of such a person?" Modi said. "Give me a chance for five years. I will make Odisha the number one state in the country, given its abundant natural resources," he said. PUNE, NEARLY 11 years after rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead in Pune, a special court on Friday convicted his two assailants and sentenced them to life imprisonment for the murder, and acquitted three others, including alleged key conspirator Virendrasinh Tawde, for want of evidence. Reading out the order in a packed courtroom, Additional Sessions Judge (Special Court) P P Jadhav, presiding over UAPA cases, said the prosecution had proved the charges of murder and conspiracy against shooters Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar. The court sentenced them to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh each. The court acquitted three accused, ENT surgeon Tawde, Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave, for want of evidence. Dabholkar (67), an anti-superstition crusader, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne men while he was on a morning walk on Omkareshwar Bridge in Pune city on August 20, 2013. The court observed that some sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), an anti-terror law, were invoked in the case, but due to the competent officers negligence, these charges were not proved. The judge said though Tawde was charged as the conspirator in the case and there was ample scope for doubt against him, the prosecution had failed to convert the suspicion into evidence, which is why he was acquitted of all charges. In the case of Bhave and Punalekar, even if there is scope for suspicion, there is no evidence, and therefore, both have been acquitted of all charges for want of evidence, the judge said. Andure and Kalaskar were charged with shooting Dabholkar dead, and charges under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) were proved beyond doubt, he said. The judge further said there is a provision for capital punishment and life imprisonment for these sections and asked the defence and prosecution to put forth their arguments. Excise policy: EDs fresh chargesheet names Kavitha NEW DELHI, THE Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed a fresh chargesheet in the Delhi Excise Policy-linked money laundering case naming BRS leader K Kavitha as an accused, official sources said. The federal agency had arrested 46-year-old Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, from her Banjara hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15. The sources said the prosecution complaint was filed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Kaveri Baweja, the special judge for CBI, ED cases, is likely to take up the charge sheet for cognisance on May 13. A similar complaint against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is expected to be filed next week. This is the seventh charge sheet by the ED in this case in which it has arrested 18 people so far including Kejriwal, who was given interim bail by the Supreme Court on Friday. The ED has alleged that Kavitha was a key member of the South Group that has been accused of paying the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged kickbacks of Rs 100 crore in return for a big share of liquor licences in the national capital, as part of the excise policy for 2021-22 which has was scrapped following allegations of corruption and cartelisation of liquor traders. BIJAPUR, AS MANY as 12 Naxalites were gunned down in an encounter with security personnel in Chhattisgarhs Bijapur district on Friday, police said, taking the number of Left-Wing extremists killed so far this year in the State to 103. Two security personnel were also injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast triggered by Maoists during the operation, they said. This was the third major strike on Naxalites by security forces in the last one month and comes three weeks after 29 extremists were killed in an encounter in Kanker district. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai congratulated security forces and senior officials for the successful offensive. The latest gunfight took place in a forest near Pidia village when a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxal operation, a police official said. Personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG) from Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma districts, Bastar Fighters, Special Task Force (STF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) were involved in the operation, he said. The operation was launched based on inputs about presence of commander of PLGA (Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army) company No. 2 of Maoists Vella, and Gagaloor area committee secretary Dinesh Modiyam along with 100 to 150 cadres in the forest, the official said. The encounter broke out between the two side at around 6 am in the forest near Pidia, located over 450 km away from State capital Raipur, and then multiple exchange of fire took place in different places in the area, he said. After the guns fell silent, bodies of 12 Naxalites were recovered from the spot, he said, adding their identity was yet to be ascertained. Besides, a barrel grenade launcher (BGL), a 12 bore gun, a country made rifle, BGL shells, a huge cache of explosives, Maoist uniforms, bags, medicines and Naxal publicity materials and literature were seized from the gunfight site , he said. A search operation in the area was still underway, the official added. The two security personnel injured in the IED blast triggered by Maoists during the operation were shifted to a local hospital and will be airlifted to Raipur for further treatment, he informed. They sustained splinter injuries in the explosion. Talking to reporters here, Chief Minister Sai said, the exchange of fire between security personnel and Naxalites has ended in the Gangaloor area. Our security forces have achieved a major success as 12 bodies of Naxalites have been recovered so far. With this incident, 103 Naxalites have been killed so far this year in separate encounters with security forces in the States Bastar region, comprising seven districts, including Narayanpur and Kanker, according to police. Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the security forces for encounter operation in Chhattisgarh in which 12 Naxalites were killed and said, Government is determined to free the country of this menace. Shah said that Naxalism is the biggest enemy of development, peace and bright future of youth. Taking to social media platform X, Amit Shah said, Today, the security forces killed down a large Naxalites in Chhattisgarh. I congratulate all the security personnel who made this operation successful with their bravery and wish for the speedy recovery of the brave policemen who have been injured. Fraudsters swindle Rs 10 cr from 200 investors Staff Reporter The Nagpur Rural Police have uncovered a massive fraud exceeding Rs 10 crore and arrested directors of Ecorange Green Energy Solutions Pvt Ltd. More than 200 investors hailing from Nagpur, Amravati, Nanded, Wardha, and Madhya Pradesh have been duped in this fraudulent scheme since 2019. The arrested directors have been identified as Ishwar Seshrao Bhalavi, Shailesh Shankarrao Chaudhari, and Sachin Ramchandra Yawalkar, all residents of Nagpur district. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Anil Mhaske disclosed that the companys office, situated in Bramhani near Kalmeshwar, was established in 2019 with a purported focus on solar panel installation. Their modus operandi involved seeking a tie-up with the government and later securing a loan from a nationalised bank. However, prior to securing the tie-up, the accused launched a fraudulent scheme and recruited numerous agents. Under this scheme, investors were promised monthly returns ranging from 3 to 5 per cent, elaborated ASP Mhaske. Most of the investors are from Central India and they poured their hard-earned money into the scheme as they were buoyed by initial returns. After a brief period, the returns ceased which left investors empty-handed. Furthermore, the companys office ceased functioning which aroused suspicion among investors, who initiated inquiries. Despite their efforts, the company failed to reimburse any amount to the aggrieved investors, said ASP Mhaske. The investors lodged a complaint with the Kalmeshwar Police. ASP Mhaske meticulously investigated the case and registered the case under Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document as genuine), and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, in addition to Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881. Furthermore, proceedings have been initiated under Section 3 of the Maharashtra Protection of Depositors Act, 1999. ASP Mhaske appealed to other victims of this scam to step forward and report their grievances to Kalmeshwar Police officials. Law CET date changed For 4th time Staff Reporter The date of Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MHT CET) for Law has been changed again. This is fourth time that the examination got rescheduled. Now the examination will be held on May 30. Parents and students have expressed their anger because of rescheduling of the examination date. This time, Maharashtra Common Entrance Test Cell (Maharashtra CET Cell) has cited the reason that Law CET date is getting clashed with the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) UG 2024 law exam. Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test cell conducts the MAH LLB 5-year CET. The first date of the Law CET declared by CET Cell was May 17. It was postponed to May 18. Later on, the date was moved to May 22. The exam was postponed by the cell multiple times. The cell was asked to alter the date by the applicants taking the 5-year LLB exam. According to CET Cell, several candidates approached the office, brought to notice that the CUET 2024 legal test date is being clashed with LLB 5 years CET examination on May 22, 2024. National Testing Agency will conduct CUET UG 2024 examination from May 15 to May 24, 2024 in hybrid mode. Some parents called the decision of CET Cell of postponing the examination as a big disappointment. They pointed out while talking to The Hitavada, The tests for which Law CET is facing its rescheduling are already declared earlier. For example date, of CUET was already announced. The CET Cell too was aware of the date. Now changing that date is really frustrating. Family functions are scheduled as per the examinations of their wards. Such frequent changes disturb not only the candidate but the family too. The students prepare with an aim that they would write the examination on that particular date. And now, the date is changed again. Once again! PMAY embroiled in controversies in Bhopal By Bhavana Aparajita Shukla and Naman Atolia The Central governments housing scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), is a flagship programme that aims to provide shelter for the needy. However, in Bhopal, instances of irregularities in projects under this schemes are continue to emerge. In a recent one it has come to light that municipal corporation has ignored Governments guidelines and not registered its Bhauri Project with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). It is learnt that Bhauri Project is not the only one that has violated norms, other projects are also under scanner. RERA has taken action against the BMC. As per the regulatory bodys decision, it has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh against the Commissioner, Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC), for violating Section 3 of the RERA Act, 2016. In the judgement as passed by the quasi judicial body, it has been discovered that the PMAY Project in Bhauri which comprises 834 flats was being constructed without RERA registration. The corporation has also taken Rs 32,20,000 from the people in lieu of booking their dream home but after the order by the RERA, the money of the people is blocked. Additionally, the proposal for RERA registration of the PMAY Project at Rahul Nagar has been also rejected by the regulatory authority. Ironically, as per the information by the BMC, 288 flats have been booked by people as of March, aggravating the situation for the home seekers. The Hitavada carried out an investigations into allegations and spoke to the concerned authorities. The newspaper posed questions to the Urban and Housing Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya in the month of February. He had ensured smooth and transparent approach, if there is any lacuna. He stated Soon I will look in to the matter. But after passing two months nothing has been done. Except, transfer of BMC Commissioner and exasperating delays for home seekers. Prior to questioning Kailash Vijayvargiya, The Hitavada had raised the issue of irregularities before the then minister Bhupendra Singh during Shivraj Chouhan regime. However, Singh averted the question and later refused to answer. Even after shifting of power in the State and Mohan Yadav-led government formation, it seems that there is no improvement in this project barring peoples plight has aggravated. Those who have booked the flat paying hefty sum of money under this scheme are bound to wait for indefinite period. At several sites (for which even full payment has been made) any construction is yet to take shape. Interestingly, on being asked for providing the list of projects registered under RERA, an official of the Housing For All (HFA) Project, on the condition of anonymity said, though the list for the same is under process since various additions have to made there, but it can be confirmed that all the projects under the scheme are not certified by the RERA. Speaking on the same, petitioner in the case Nitin Saxena said, We filed a complaint regarding the issue. The BMC came up with a huge and ambitious project in Bhauri with more than 800 flats but the corporation had a RERA approval regarding the same which violated the provisions as specified under RERA Act 2016 and as a result of that a fine of Rs 1 lakh has been imposed on the BMC Commissioner. As per the act, a RERA registration is required for sale of any government, semi-government or private building project. But the corporation has sidelined all the rules thus leaving the people to suffer and wait for their homes. Also, the people who have submitted money for the project have also been reduced to a pendulum like situation, he said. As per the observations by RERA, under the PMAY Project, two projects named A and B are under progress in Bhauri. These include 504 houses of EWS (economically weaker sections) non-slum houses of 1 BHK and 331 projects of LIG (low income groups) row houses. The corporation has also received Rs 28,00,000 and Rs 4,20,000 from those who have booked their projects under LIG and EWS (non-slum) category. It is noteworthy that as per Section 3 of the RERA Act, No promoter can advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale, or invite persons to purchase in any manner any plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, in any real estate project or part of it, in any planning area, without registering the real estate project with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority. In Madhya Pradesh, a former minister had recently alleged that a major scam was brewing around the PMAY in nagar panchayats falling under the Bagli Assembly constituency. Stepfather convicted for murder of actress Laila Khan, 5 others MUMBAI, A MUMBAI sessions court on Thursday convicted the stepfather of Bollywood actor Laila Khan for the murder of the actor, her mother, and four others, including three of her siblings, thirteen years after they went missing. According to police, the accused, identified as Parvez Tak, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested in 2012. Another accused, who is also involved in the case, is still on the run. The Court has held Tak guilty of murdering his stepdaughter and actor Laila Khan, her mother Shelina Patel, three of her siblings, and her cousin in February 2011. Nearly 40 witnesses were examined during the trial. The court will hear the defense and prosecution on the quantum of punishment on May 14. According to officials, Laila and her family members were killed and buried at their farmhouse in Igatpuri in February 2011. Their bodies were exhumed by police after the arrest of Tak in 2012. In 2011, Laila Khan, who had appeared in a few Bollywood movies, went missing along with her mother, three of her siblings and her cousin. Her father, Nadir Patel, had approached the police and lodged a complaint about their disappearance. Following the complaint, police launched a probe, which continued for months. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) was also involved in the case suspecting a terror angle. However, in July 2012, the ATS announced that Khans matter was a murder case and there was no terror angle to it. Their murder came to light a few months later, when Parvez Tak was arrested. Tak was first apprehended by Jammu and Kashmir Police and was later handed over to Mumbai Police. Later, during questioning, Tak revealed the murder and led the police to the remains of the deceased, which he had buried in a pit at the farmhouse in Igatpuri. Juvenal Sakubu (3rd from left), a reputable entrepreneur in Burundi, has been appointed as the Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Bujumbura. (Photo: VNA) Speaking at the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Tanzania and East African countries Vu Thanh Huyen highlighted the significant role of the honorary consul in promoting economic, tourism, cultural, and people-to-people cooperation between Vietnam and Burundi, as well as in effectively implementing the protection of Vietnamese citizens in his consular jurisdiction. Huyen expressed confidence that Sakubu will fulfil his duties well, contributing to enhancing the two countries relationship. In response, Sakubu pledged to exert his utmost efforts to fulfil the tasks of an honorary consul, supporting the development of the Vietnamese community in the area while promoting bilateral collaboration in various fields for mutual benefits./. Stray dogs menace: Supreme Court disposes of petitions, leaves matter to respective HCs Staff Reporter The Supreme Court has resolved a batch of petitions related to the stray dog issue, affirming that, in light of the Animal Birth Control Rules of 2023, the matter is now within the purview of the respective High Courts. With this directive from the Apex Court, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court is poised to address the menace of stray dogs in the city. The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court had conducted extensive hearings on the stray dog issue and issued significant directives to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation. The Court had expressed dissatisfaction with the NMC, stating that while sterilisation measures may have a long-term impact, their effects may not manifest for several years. Concerns were also raised regarding the management of dog-bite incidents across the city. It should be noted that the order of the division bench, composed of Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice Anil Pansare, was challenged in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, in its order dated 20th October, 2022, stayed the following observations made by the Nagpur High Court: 8. ...If these so-called friends of stray dogs are genuinely interested in the protection and welfare of stray dogs, they must adopt them, take them home, or at least provide them with accommodation in reputable dog shelters, and bear all expenses for their registration with municipal authorities, as well as for their maintenance, health, and vaccination. During the hearing, Adv Firdos Mirza had represented the petitioners while Adv Ashwin Deshpande appeared for Dhantoli Nagrik Mandal and Adv S S Sanyal for an NGO Federation. At the Supreme Court on Thursday, a division bench comprising Justice J K Maheshwari and Justice Sanjay Karol stated, New legislation has emerged; we are concluding this matter. Refer to the Constitutional Courts We believe it should be left to the Constitutional Courts, parties, and authorities to act in accordance with the provisions of the 2023 rules. Previously, the Court had instructed counsel representing various states to examine these rules. It had orally remarked that if these rules could resolve the issue, then authorities could be directed to address the matters accordingly. Additionally, if further grievances arise, parties may approach the relevant High Courts. The Centre initially introduced the ABC Rules in 2001, which have now been superseded by the ABC Rules of 2023, formulated under Section 38 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. To provide context, the Supreme Court had before it five judgments from the High Courts of Bombay, Kerala, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh. In 2015, the Kerala High Court upheld the ABC Rules, ruling that Municipal Laws pertaining to the destruction of stray dogs must adhere to the ABC rules. Conversely, the High Courts of Bombay, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh held that local authorities possess discretionary powers to manage stray dogs and are not bound by the ABC Rules. Woman boarding train slips, run over at Madan Mahal Stn Staff Reporter Sensation prevailed at Madan Mahal Railway Station after a woman slipped on a platform and was run over by a train, on Friday. The deceased has been identified as Shaulat Khan (28), wife of Wahid Khan, native of Aishbagh in Bhopal. Madan Mahal GRP Post In-charge L P Kashyap informed that the incident took place when deceased was boarding Intercity Express Train at platform number-1 of Madan Mahal Railway Station. While boarding the train in a hurry she slipped at the platform and was dragged with the train and crushed under the wheels of train number 22188 Intercity Express. Onlookers of the horrifying incident panicked and GRP personnel rushed to the spot and found that the woman was dead on the spot. During further investigation, GRP learnt that the deceased had come to Jabalpur to attend a relatives marriage who lived in Garha area and was returning to Bhopal. GRP sent the body for post-mortem after conducting panchnama at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College and Hospital and registered a case for further investigations into the case. Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Nguyen Van Trung (R) and Representative of King Charles III in the Cook Islands (L) (Photo: VNA) During a reception in Avarua on May 8 for Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Nguyen Van Trung who was presenting his credentials, Marsters expressed his hope for the development of friendship, and equal and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two nations, striving for a world order based on the rule of law and collaborative efforts to combat climate change, manage and exploit marine resources sustainably. While in the Cook Islands, Trung met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration and the Minister of Marine Resources, held working sessions with several ministries and agencies, and engaged with several firms and diplomatic corps. Their discussions focused on avenues to strengthen relations and cooperation between the two countries. During meetings, he reiterated Vietnam's commitment to fostering friendly, equal and mutually beneficial cooperation with the Cook Islands and other Pacific island nations in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). He expected both sides to continue exploring the potential of collaboration in fisheries, trade, research, conservation and sustainable development of marine and ocean resources. He mentioned measures to raise mutual understanding via people-to-people exchanges, contributing to the development of tourism industry, which is a strength of both nations. The Cook Islands, with a total land area of just 266.7 sq.km, comprises 15 main islands scattered across a vast ocean territory of over 2.2 million sq.km./. Delegation members commemorate President Ho Chi Minh. (Photo: baothainguyen.vn) The activity aimed to celebrate the 134th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh (May 19) and 66th anniversary of the traditional day of the internal political security department of the Thai Nguyen Public Security. In a solemn atmosphere, the delegation respectfully offered incense, expressed their respect and gratitude to President Ho Chi Minh - the founder who took care of building, educating and training the heroic Vietnam People's Police forces. The delegation reported outstanding achievements in protecting internal political security, cultural and ideological security, information security; advising on state management in the fields of culture, education, health, labor and society, publishing, journalism, information and communication technology, and state secrets; and ensuring absolute security and safety for Party and State leaders, international delegations, and political and cultural events held in the area. The delegation members pledged to well implement Uncle Hos teachings, bringing peace and happiness for the people. The ATK special national relic is the place where President Ho Chi Minh, together with the Party Central Committee and Government members worked to lead the resistance war against the French colonialism (1946-1954), deciding important issues of the country, leading to victory, ending the war, and restoring peace in Indochina./. Tourists pose for photos near the Jokhang Temple - part of a UNESCO cultural heritage site in Lhasa, Xizang autonomous region. [Photo by Palden Nyima/chinadaily.com.cn] Lhasa, Southwest China's Xizang autonomous region, will run a series of cultural and tourism activities in the coming weeks to provide a cultural feast with traditional Tibetan cultures and unique plateau landscapes. According to a news conference held in Lhasa on Friday, the city will host activities from May 17 to 26, including a cultural and tourism industrial development conference, ethnic art performances, traditional dances, folk customs experience activities, an investment promotion conference, and an exhibition and sales fair for cultural tourism products. Lhasa is an ancient city with a history of over 1,300 years, surrounded by snow-capped mountains in the distance. It is home to famous cultural heritage sites such as the Potala Palace, the Norbulingka Park and the Jokhang Temple. According to official statistics, the city received nearly 37.6 million tourists in 2023, up 60.87 percent compared to 2019. Tourism revenue reached 46.4 billion yuan ($6.4 billion), an increase of 33 percent compared with the same period in 2019. In the first quarter of this year, the city received 3.5 million domestic and foreign tourists, an increase of 87.6 percent year-on-year, achieving a tourism revenue of 3.59 billion yuan with an increase of 132.64 percent year-on-year. 5 1 Editor: JYZ Visitors attend the launching ceremony of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. The launching ceremony of 2024 China Brand Day was held here on Friday. An exposition on brand development as part of the ongoing 2024 China Brand Day events is ongoing. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) SHANGHAI, May 10 (Xinhua) -- China Brand Day 2024 events kicked off in Shanghai on Friday as the country continues its efforts to promote brand building. The events, themed "better quality, bright future for Chinese brands," comprise of an opening ceremony, a forum on China's brand development, a China brands exposition and other brand-building activities. The exposition is being held both online and offline. The offline segment covers an area of nearly 70,000 square meters. "Brands not only carry people's yearning for a better life, but also reflect the comprehensive level of a country's economic development," said Wu Hao, a senior official with the National Development and Reform Commission. "Strengthening brand building is of great significance for promoting high-quality development and promoting Chinese-style modernization," Wu added. The events are being jointly held by the National Development and Reform Commission, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the China National Intellectual Property Administration. Established in 2017, China Brand Day is celebrated on May 10 every year, and aims to increase society's awareness of brand development and create a sound atmosphere for brand building. People visit the booth of CSCEC during the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. The launching ceremony of 2024 China Brand Day was held here on Friday. An exposition on brand development as part of the ongoing 2024 China Brand Day events is ongoing. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) A visitor walks past a BYD Yangwang U9 on exhibition during the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. The launching ceremony of 2024 China Brand Day was held here on Friday. An exposition on brand development as part of the ongoing 2024 China Brand Day events is ongoing. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) People visit an exposition on brand development as part of the ongoing 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. The launching ceremony of 2024 China Brand Day was held here on Friday. An exposition on brand development as part of the ongoing 2024 China Brand Day events is ongoing. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) Visitor look at a Xiaomi SU7 car on exhibition during the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. The launching ceremony of 2024 China Brand Day was held here on Friday. An exposition on brand development as part of the ongoing 2024 China Brand Day events is ongoing. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) People walk past an installation of 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. The launching ceremony of 2024 China Brand Day was held here on Friday. An exposition on brand development as part of the ongoing 2024 China Brand Day events is ongoing. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) Visitors look at a demonstration model of CRRC electrified highway and mine transportation system on exhibition during the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. The launching ceremony of 2024 China Brand Day was held here on Friday. An exposition on brand development as part of the ongoing 2024 China Brand Day events is ongoing. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) A visitor experiences a vehicle on exhibition at the booth of Dongfeng Motor during the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. The launching ceremony of 2024 China Brand Day was held here on Friday. An exposition on brand development as part of the ongoing 2024 China Brand Day events is ongoing. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) Visitors look at an explosion-proof intelligent refueling robot on exhibition at the booth of Sinopec during the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. The launching ceremony of 2024 China Brand Day was held here on Friday. An exposition on brand development as part of the ongoing 2024 China Brand Day events is ongoing. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) Editor: GSY Four rescued | IMPHAL, May 11: Assam Rifles, in a joint operation with Manipur Police com-mandos, rescued four persons who were allegedly abducted by unknown persons in Charangpat yesterday. The rescue operation was launched following credible intelligence that four persons have been abducted from Nambol, Bishnupur, said IGAR (South) in a statement. AR and Yairipok Police established a surveillance point to intercept the abductors and the joint team intercepted the suspected vehicles. On interception, the abductors panicked and abandoned the individuals and fled from the location. All four victims were safely rescued and handed over to the police`, said AR. Buoyed by the series of developments and the sting viral video on Sandeshkhali, the suspended Trinamul Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan, in judicial custody, today told news persons that more truth would tumble out after the election. On the alleged videos showing an alleged act of deceit allegedly done by the BJP to consolidate its position on momentum seized during the peak of Sandeshkhali stir to reap dividends in polls, the former Trinamul Congress strongman of Sandeshkhali, on queries of the news persons today, said, Its just the beginning. Wait for more to come out after the election. And more arrests will follow. The truth will prevail. Meanwhile, the Sandeshkhali Police today filed an FIR against BJP leader Gangadhar Koyal, BJP Basirhat candidate Rekha Patra and another leader. Advertisement Koyal, the BJP leader seen in the sting video, moved the court of justice Joy Sengupta of Calcutta High court today on the alleged fake video. The case is likely to come up for hearing on Monday. Meanwhile, the Sandeshkhali Police is believed to have moved Calcutta High Court seeking to vacate a legal shield to Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on the basis of an FIR filed against him. The woman former contractual employee at Raj Bhavan is set to write to President Draupadi Murmu requesting her intervention into the allegations of sexual harassment brought against the Governor C V Ananda Bose by her. The victim woman on Friday told the media that she is exploring the option of writing to the President. She could not expect much hope about prompt initiatives of the Kolkata Police, whose hands are tied considering the constitutional position of Mr Bose. Advertisement The employee raised her objection to the public screening of unedited CCTV footage where her identity was allegedly disclosed since her face wasnt blurred. The woman on last Friday lodged a written complaint with KP alleging that she was molested by Mr Bose in the Governors house, twice on 24 April and 2 May. On Thursday, amid allegations of sexual harassment against him by the woman, Mr Bose at Raj Bhavan released CCTV footage of the premises of 2 May to common people. The footage of two CCTV cameras installed at the main gate (north) at Raj Bhavan from around 5.30pm on 2 May were shown to several people, who were present at the show held at the Central Marble Hall. The CCTV footage was shown in three phases (5.31 pm to 5.42 pm, 5.32 pm to 6.32 pm and 6.32 pm to 6.41 pm) which took around one hour and nine minutes. On Wednesday, Mr Bose had announced that he would show the footage to 100 common people, excluding politician and police personnel. In the footage, the woman, dressed in blue jeans and top, was seen going to the police outpost, with a large number of policemen deployed on Raj Bhavan premises for the scheduled visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Trinamul Congress on Friday said they would move the Election Commission against National Commission of Women chairperson Rekha Sharma for forcing and deceiving women of Sandeshkhali into filing fake rape complaints to malign Bengal. The party also raised demands for a police probe and criminal proceedings against the NCW chief for misusing her chair and for being one of the main conspirators in the Sandeshkhali matter. This came after three women of Sandeshkhali on Wednesday said local BJP worker Piyali Das had deceived them into signing a white paper that was later used to file fake rape complaints. The victims added that they had been called by Piyali after the Mahila Commission chairperson from Delhi Rekha Sharma had come to meet them and asked them to raise their issues with her. Advertisement During a press conference today, TMC national spokesperson Dr Shashi Panja, launched a scathing attack on the BJP and NCW chief Rekha Sharma for misusing women and undermining the pain of actual rape victims. Trinamul Congress has taken cognisance of the concerns of these women, who mentioned Rekha Sharmas name. We will approach the Election Commission against the NCW chairperson, who coerced these victims to file fake rape complaints. The BJP ecosystem started false stories for political agenda and then, brought in various commissions. Now, it is becoming clearer that these commissions were a part of the conspiracy, she told the reporters. Women in Sandeshkhali have now alleged that NCW & @sharmarekha made them sign blank pages of paper & file fake rape complaints. Shame on this so-called institution which Rekha Sharma has turned into a wing of the BJP. It is disgusting that the NCW would promote fake rape cases for a political agenda. This makes it 100x difficult for real survivors who already face stigma & resistance from authorities when trying to file a case. Rekha Sharma should be prosecuted for this heinous crime, posted Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale on X. Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday evening held a road show along with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in South Delhis Mehrauli in support of Sahiram Pahalwan, the partys candidate from the South Delhi LS constituency. A large number of party workers, supporters and spectators gathered at the rally held by the AAP leader, a day after being released from Tihar jail on interim bail till June 1, which was granted by the Supreme Court in the money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. Addressing the gathering, Kejriwal said that he wanted to thank those millions who sent their blessings and prayers, to those women including mothers, sisters and daughters who sent emotional messages. With their blessings, this miracle took place that I am out on bail and am among you, he added. Advertisement He further said that his wife used to come and meet him in jail. Punjab CM Mann and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj used to come and meet him and enquire about his health. But I used to ask them about the people of the city. Whether things were taking place smoothly in the city or not, he said. He further alleged that when he was in jail, he was not given medicine for 15 days, adding that he is a diabetic and used to take 52 units of insulin daily when he was not in jail, and in jail, his insulin was stopped. My fault is that when the AAP government was formed in Delhi back in 2015, there used to be 10 hours power cut in the city but after coming to power, I made power available 24 hours. They (ruling dispensation at the Centre) wanted to end all this, Kejriwal alleged. There were elaborate arrangements made by the workers, while the entire stretch of the road was dotted with AAP flags, while the people cheered for the Delhi CM and AAP convener. Speaking on the occasion, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that It has not been even 24 hours since Kejriwal was released on interim bail from Tihar from jail, and he is standing right among the people to seek their blessings. Hitting out at the BJP, Mann alleged that they got AAP leaders arrested, adding that these are not just individuals, but ideas, and how ideas will be arrested. After the South Delhi road show, Delhi CM and Punjab CM also conducted a roadshow in Krishna Nagar, in support of AAPs East Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Kuldeep Kumar. Kejriwal has got interim bail under certain conditions from the SC until June 1 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. The AAP chief has to surrender to the jail authorities on June 2. In a heart-wrenching incident here, a mentally challenged man allegedly killed five of his family members and later committed suicide. Police said that the incident occurred at around 5 in the morning when Anurag Thakur (42), a resident of Palhapur village of Rampur Mathura police station area, killed his mother Savitri (65), wife Priyanka (40), daughter Ashwini (12), younger daughter Ashvi (10) and son Advaita (6). According to the incident, the accused first killed his wife by hitting her with a hard object and then shot dead his mother. Later he threw his 3 children from the roof of the house. Advertisement The accused committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol. Police claimed that the youth was a drug addict. The family wanted to take him to a rehab centre, a dispute broke out in the night regarding this. Heavy police force is deployed at the spot. SP Chakresh Mishra said that the accused is said to be mentally disturbed. After killing five members of his family, he also killed himself. The forensic team is collecting evidence. Known for his powerful performances in mainstream and offbeat films, Ashutosh Rana is now being seen in the Jio Cinema murder mystery series Murder in Mahim. Interacting with the media, the actor said he doesnt believe in competing with his co-actors, rather he believes in complementing them. The actor delved at length on working with capable actors such as Vijay Raaz on the show. He said, I believe in complementing my fellow actors. If one believes in this, then there is no competition to prove oneself better than the others. A good actor should complement his co-stars and not compete with them. Advertisement Talking about the series, which is based on a Jerry Pinto novel, the actor said, It is a murder mystery that starts with a crime. Through my character Peter Fernandes, you will get to know the journey from death to life. Continuing, he said, A murder happens in the show and through that murder you will get to know the issues of Mumbai at that time. The effect on society, family relations, generation gap, all these facets are touched upon in the show. Talking about his character, Peter Fernandes, Rana said, There are two kinds of journalists, those who are journalists by profession and the others who are journalists by nature. The journalist at the centre of the murder mystery belongs to this category, but he has taken an early retirement. When the murder takes place, however, it is he who solves the mystery. Set in the backdrop of a murder at Mahim station, the series follows Peters involvement in the inquiry into this diabolical act. The stakes rise when his own son, Sunil, becomes a suspect in the case. The show started streaming on Jio Cinema from May 10. Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor Khans book titled, Kareena Kapoor Khans Pregnancy Bible: The Ultimate Manual for Moms-To-Be has not gone down well with some members of the Christian community. Advocate Christopher Anthony has filed a petition in the Madhya Pradesh High Court asserting that the use of the word Bible in the books title has hurt the sentiments of the Christian community and should be removed forthwith. After hearing the petition, the MP High Court at Jabalpur issued notices to Kareena Kapoor Khan and other respondents, including Aditi Shah Bhimjiyani, the Amazon Online Shopping Bangalore, Juggernaut Books, the State government, the Jabalpur Superintendent of Police, and the in-charge of the Omti police station in Jabalpur. Advertisement The single judge bench of HC comprising Justice G S Ahluwalia issued the notices during the hearing of the petition on Thursday. According to advocate Christopher Anthony, the petition was filed in the High Court against a lower court order of February 26, 2022, that dismissed his petition seeking a ban on the book and removal of the word Bible from the title. The advocate said that the lower court dismissed the petition due to the polices failure to submit an inquiry report regarding the complaint lodged by him at the Omti Police station. The complaint aimed to register a criminal case against the actress and others for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the Christian Community. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is once again regrouping in Telangana to fight one of its toughest electoral battles following the debacle in the Assembly elections last year. It is leaving no stone unturned to prevent the Congress and the BJP from making the ongoing Lok Sabha polls a two-cornered fight. In an interview with Anindita Chowdhury of The Statesman, BRS Working President K T Rama Rao talks about his sister K Kavithas incarceration in the Delhi excise scam, change in Telangana politics after the elections, and why he thinks Hyderabad, with its large minority population, will become a Union Territory if the saffron party gets a third term at the Centre. Excerpts: Q: In Telangana, is this election bipolar or a triangular one? Advertisement A: It is clearly a triangular fight. But even in this triangle, there are several pockets where the Congress is our principal opponent and in others, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BRS is one party which is everywhere, and the BJP and the Congress seem to be playing a game where they are dividing the task to defeat the BRS through tacit understanding. In at least five to six seats, look at the candidates they (Congress) have fielded. Look at Secunderabad, Chevella, even Malkajgiri, Adilabad, Nizamabad in all these seats, the Congress has fielded candidates who are uninterested in that particular seat or some absolutely random people. Q. But didnt they poach leaders from your party? A: That is exactly my point. They took Patnam Mahender Reddy from the BRS. He wanted the Chevella seat for his wife. At the last minute, she was thrust into Malkajgiri because they did not have any candidate there. So this person now becomes a non-local, newbie and their heart is not into the campaign. Jeevan Reddy wanted to fight from Karimnagar, but he has now been fielded from Nizamabad. And they fielded a rank outsider and complete newbie in Karimnagar. In around seven constituencies, the Congress is, in fact, helping the BJP. This may sound incredible, but the Congress and the BJP had done this in the last Lok Sabha election as well because their objective in Telangana is to corner us the BRS. Q. But Congress is alleging you have cut a deal with the BJP to get your party MLA Kavitha released from jail? A: If we had a deal with the BJP, Kavitha would not have been in jail in the first place. It is quite foolish to even think like that. Let me ask a counter question. How come all party leaders fighting Modi are in jail and the Congress, which is fighting it tooth and nail, its leaders are not in jail? Every single regional party, their top leaders or family members have been attacked, starting from Kejriwal, KCR, Hemant Soren, Pinarayi Vijayan, to Stalin even Abhishek (Banerjee) is going through his ED cases. If you look at the entire country, barring the Congress, every major party fighting the BJP is under the scanner. Q. Since you are neither in the NDA nor INDIA bloc, what is the way forward? A: Neither NDA nor INDIA bloc looks like they are going to get the magic figure by themselves. So tomorrow, there can be a third formation as well. We have seen the Congress supporting a coalition government where a majority party supported a minority government. There are 13 political parties which are non-aligned to either NDA or INDIA such as the BRS, YSRCP and the BJD. What is the guarantee that parties which are in NDA or INDIA will stick with them? Q. You are raising local issues like misgovernance, water and power crisis in the ongoing parliamentary election. A: Absolutely. Our slogan to the people has been Give us 10-12 seats and KCR will rule the roost in state politics again. Q. How would that be possible? A: We will ensure the agenda of the BRS and that of the people is implemented once again. Also we foresee a lot of political uncertainty beyond June 4, both in Telangana and the Centre. The chief minister here is facing cases. He is himself on a razor thin edge. Therefore, in politics when a party like the Congress is at the helm of affairs, you have seen strange things happening in the past. Q. Are you referring to the cash-for-vote case against Chief Minister Revanth Reddy? A: Yes, the final hearing in this case is on July 24. Q. What is your take on the controversy surrounding the closure report in Rohith Vemula case? A: Revanth Reddy seems to be on a mission to defy Rahul Gandhi. He seems to be toeing the line of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has differed with Rahul on every count. Rahul says Adani is a fraud, Revanth says he is a friend. On Modiji, Revanth says he is Bade Bhai, while Rahul keeps calling the Prime Minister chor (thief). On the Gujarat model, Rahul says it is a golmaal (dubious) model but Revanth Reddy says bahut accha (good) model. On liquor scam, Rahul says there is no scam, while Revanth differs. About Rohith Vemula, Rahul says he wants to introduce an act to protect Dalit youth and students in large institutions, but the Revanth Reddy government went ahead and said he was not a Dalit. Q. You have been saying in your rallies that Hyderabad, after remaining the joint capital for 10 years, will be made a Union territory. Isnt it fear mongering? A: Not at all. I am talking about how Hyderabad (with one MP and 7 MLAs from AIMIM) will be made a Union Territory because the BJP has no presence here and I do not see any change in the status quo in the near future. Likewise, they (BJP) will go for lopsided delimitation so that the voice of the south is suppressed because they do not have a hold here. Look at what is happening in Delhi a UT state, how they are using the office of Lieutenant-Governor a non-elected, nominated fellow to hound a democratically elected government. This is a danger not only for Hyderabad, but also for Bengaluru, Chennai, and Mumbai. The reason is that other than Mumbai, none of these are under BJPs administration. They want a stranglehold on this country. The whole one nation, one election is just a ruse to control the entire countrys electoral process. Campaigning for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls in 13 seats in Uttar Pradesh ended this evening where polling will be held on Monday. Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav from Kannauj and Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni (Kheri) are among the 130 candidates whose fate would be decided in this phase. Along with 13 Lok Sabha seats, by-election of Dadraul Assembly seat in Shahjahanpur district would also be held. There are 10 candidates in the fray from Dadraul Assembly seat. Advertisement Campaigning in this phase was powered by Prime Minister Narendra Modis three rallies along with Union home Minister Amit Shah holding election meetings Kheri and other places. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath too intensively campaigned in almost all the 13 constituencies. On the other hand INDI alliance held joint rallies of Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav in Kannauj and Kanpur. On the last day of the campaigning today, Akhilesh Yadav held a road show in Kannauj. Almost all other candidates also held roadshows in their respective constituencies. The 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of the fourth phase include Shahjahanpur (SC), Kheri, Dhaurahara, Sitapur, Hardoi (SC), Mishrikh (SC), Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah (SC), Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur and Bahraich (SC). State Chief Electoral Officer ( CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said here on Saturday that after the end of the election campaign period, the presence of outside workers and officials of all political parties will be completely banned in these constituencies. Around 28 per cent of the candidates contesting in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections have criminal cases while 41 per cent are crorepatis. The CEO said that there are 2.46 crore voters in the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of the fourth phase, of which 1.31 crore are male voters and 1.15 crore are female voters. There are a total of 16334 polling stations and 26588 polling booths in these constituencies. There are a total of 3.72 lakh voters in Dadraul Assembly Constituency, of which 1.99 lakh are male voters and 1.72 lakh are female voters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a diatribe against the Congress party accusing it of siding with the terror outfits alleging that the grand old party is playing vote bank politics over the years. Modi, on a two-day whirlwind poll campaign in Odisha, addressing a public meeting said Congress again and again is creating fear psychosis saying that Pakistan has atom bombs while 26 years back, on this very day, Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led Government Vajpayee carried out nuclear test at Pokhran, making Indians proud internationally. It may be noted here that senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had triggered a controversy by saying that India should engage in dialogue with Pakistan or else the country could end up paying a heavy price. He had also warned Pakistan of having atom bombs which they could drop on India if our governments irked them. Advertisement Pakistans state of affairs is such that it has become beyond its control to maintain the bombs. They have now come out to sell the bombs. There are no buyers, he said, ridiculing the senior Congress leaders statement. Because of this enfeebled and weak stand of Congress, Jammu and Kashmir people suffered from terrorism for 60 years. These people (Congress leaders) were holding talks with terrorists outfits instead of solving the issue. After the horrifying 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, they did not muster courage to wipe out the terror network. Because, Congress was scared that its vote bank will go down if action is taken against them, he said. Taking an indirect dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said Congresss Shehzada is resorting to statements. If we go through his speeches in 2014, 2019 and again in 2014, he is reading the same scripts. Now voters have made up their minds and the NDA will cross 400 seats. BJP will cross all its past records with the maximum number of MPs in Lok Sabha. The Congress will win seats below 10% LS seats and will fail to get the recognition of an Opposition party. It will slip to below 50 seats. In Odisha, a double engine government will be formed for the first time. State BJP is committed to Odia language and culture. One who is from Odisha and knows, takes pride in the Odia culture will be made the Chief Minister. He will be the peoples chief minister. On 10th June, we invite the people to take part in the swearing-in ceremony of BJP chief minister, Modi added. Days after the National Conference leader and candidate for north Kashmirs Baramulla Lok Sabha seat, Omar Abdullah, complained to the Election Commission that he was unable to address an election rally in Sopore as the authorities withdrew the prior permission for this purpose, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday accused the administration of trying to fix the elections by selectively targeting and harassing her party activists. Speaking to media persons in Srinagar, Mehbooba alleged that the authorities have imposed restrictions in Pulwama district for 48 hours from 6 am on Saturday under Section 144. Pulwama is part of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat that will go to polls two days later on 13 May. This is unprecedented and never before restrictions were imposed where the polling is scheduled to take place, she said. Mehbooba said the administration is trying to harass people so that they do not come out to vote. Preparations are underway to manipulate the elections, she added. Advertisement The PDP chief alleged that her party activists engaged in campaigning have been detained ahead of the polling. In Srinagar, the PDP has fielded youth leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, who opposed the abrogation of Article 370 and was later jailed for about 19 months under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Such things are not restricted to Pulwama only. About 60 PDP activists have been detained in Surankote of Poonch district after an attack, she alleged. The PDP chief questioned, If the Election Commission intends to repeat what happened in the 1987 elections, then why this drama of elections? If they have to create Ikhwan (governments gunmen) or the party of Ikhwanis, their proxies whom they are supporting, then they should say that, she added. Mehbooba asked Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to stop this drama of elections. If you want to do fraud in the elections, then tell us, we will leave. Why would we put the lives of our party workers at risk, she added. Meanwhile, Pulwama district magistrate Basharat Qayoom took to X to address the peoples concerns, stating ECI guidelines stipulate specific SOPs for the last 72 hours and last 48 hours. Section 126 and Section 130 of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951, along with SOPs edition 2 Para 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, mandate the issuance of orders under Section 144 of the CrPc. The DM said: Such orders have also been issued by other districts that have already undergone polls or are scheduled to do so. The restrictions pertain to specific campaign-related activities during the silent period. These restrictions are specific and not blanket measures. The BJP on Saturday slammed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor has changed in 10 years. The Delhi Chief Minister has got interim bail from the Supreme Court till June 1 in a money laundering case connected to the alleged excise policy scam. Addressing a press conference here, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi took a jibe at the AAP national convenor and said, They talked about 20 years ahead and what has happened to their situation in 10 years. Advertisement Ten years ago, he (Arvind Kejriwal) said I will not enter politics; I will not take support from the Congress; I will not take a car, a bungalow, or security. How much have you changed in 10 years? In 10 years, he has shown how dangerous and distorted the experiment of new politics can be. Therefore, at the stage where India stands today, it is not the time to experiment with any new politics. It is time to bring a strong nationalist government under the leadership of tried and tested Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP national spokesperson said. Trivedi further hit out at Kejriwal, saying that the AAP chief was now a member of the club of jail return chief ministers. In Indian politics, there is a club called jail-Return. This is a very old club. Arvind Kejriwal has now been included in the elite club of jail Return Chief Ministers. In 1997, the then CM of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav got the membership; Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu in 1996, K Karunanidhi; in 2006, Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren had joined this club, Trivedi said. The person who used to talk about sending Sheila Dikshit (former Delhi Chief Minister) and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi to jail, after returning from Tihar, has changed his tone, Trivedi said. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday launched a blistering attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused him of taking the country towards one nation, one leader. Addressing a press conference at Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) headquarters in Delhi, Kejriwal declared that AAP is the only party that will give India a bright future. No other party has been harassed to this extent in 75 years Modi ji wants to crush us he also knows that only AAP is going to give a bright future to the country, Kejriwal asserted. Advertisement Calling out the Prime Ministers claim that he is fighting corruption, Kejriwal said that all the thieves are in the BJP. 10 days ago the one who was said to have committed a scam after they made them join their party was made the Deputy CM and Minister, he said. The Delhi CM further said that Modi should learn from him if he wants to fight corruption. After the formation of the government in Delhi, I myself dismissed one of my ministers and sent him to jail. In Punjab, we sent a minister to jail. You include all the thieves in your party and send Kejriwal to jail, this is not a fight against corruption, he stated. Refering to the retirement age limit purportedly set by the BJP, Kejriwal asked the saffron party who will fulfill the guarantees of Modi since he is turning 75 next September. I ask BJP, who is going to be your PM? He is turning 75 next September. He is the one who made the rule that those who turn 75 had to retire. He has to retire next year. I ask BJP, who is your PM pick? asked Kejriwal. He further added, Who will fulfil Modis guarantee? Will Amit shah do it? When you go out to vote, remember, you are not voting for Amit Shah, not for Modi. Kejriwal also claimed the if Modi wins the Lok Sabha elections 2024, he will remove UP CM Yogi Adityanath in an attempt to end popular leaders. If they win the elections, they will change the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath in 2 months they have tried to end all the popular leaders in their party. Look at Vasundhara Raje, Shivraj Chauhan he remarked. Modi ji has a very dangerous mission One Nation One Leader. They will send all the opposition leaders to jail and manage all other BJP leaders and undercut them, said the Delhi CM. Dismissing the claims of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union home minister and BJP leader Amit Shah on Saturday clarified that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue his post in the next term since the constitution of the BJP does not have any provision of retirement at the age of 75. The clarification came after Kejriwal claimed that Mr Modi will retire once he attains the age of 75 and Shah will become his successor. Shah also claimed that BJP will be the largest party in the five Southern states in this election after results get declared. Speaking at a media conference in Hyderabad Shah said I want to tell Arvind Kejriwal and the INDI Alliance. They should not be happy that Modiji is completing 75 years. There is nothing of this sort (of retirement at 75) in BJPs constitution. Modiji will complete his term and he will continue to lead the country. There is no confusion in BJP about this. Advertisement Kejriwal had said that the Prime Minister was turning 75 on 17 September and he had made a rule that leaders should retire after 75 due to which LK Advani, MM Joshi and Sumitra Mahajan had retired. Once this happens Shah will become the next Prime Minister after Yogi Adityanath steps down as chief minister. Shah also slammed the Opposition for spreading lies over reservation for SC, ST and OBC. They are so desperate that they are spreading lies. They are saying if Modiji gets 400 seats then he will scrap reservation. I want to tell everybody, particularly people of Telangana that for the past ten years BJP had full majority. Yet BJP has never touched the reservation. We have used it to abrogate Article 370 and to bring in Uniform Civil Code, scrap triple talaq and for the Ramjanmabhoomi Temple, he added. He also condemned the rival alliance for their comment on PoK.BJPs stand is that we will never give up our rights to Pakistan occupied Kashmir. PoK is a part of India, said Shah. Jammu and Kashmir Police, in south Kashmirs Shopian district, arrested two terrorist associates and recovered incriminating materials from their possession, police said on Saturday. Police along with Army (44 RR) and CRPF (14th BN), at a checkpoint established at Malik Chak Crossing, arrested two terrorist associates, police said in a statement. They have been identified as Suhaib Iqbal Malik and Tufail Yousuf Malik, both residents of Baba Mohalla, Shopian. Advertisement Incriminating materials have been recovered from their possession. Police said an FIR has been filed and an investigation has been initiated. As the political landscape continues to evolve in the United States, President Joe Biden finds himself walking a precarious tight-rope, balancing the demands of traditional alliances with the rising tide of activism among young voters. The surge of campus protests ~ now having reached some 140 campuses across 45 states and Washington DC ~ challenge Mr Bidens stance on Israels conflict with Hamas and are already beginning to force a rethink on American foreign policy. While Mr Biden is bound by longstanding foreign policy commitments, he cannot ignore the shifting values and priorities of a new generation. The challenge is clear: how to reconcile unwavering support for Israel with the growing discontent among progressive constituents who view that countrys actions in Gaza as unjust and disproportionate. The protests also reflect a broader frustration with the status quo and a desire for meaningful change. They are fuelled by a sense of moral outrage at the loss of life in Gaza and a belief that the United States should use its leverage to hold Israel accountable for its actions, while ensuring that funding to that country be curbed. Yet, they also pose a dilemma for Mr Biden and the Democratic Party, threatening to alienate key constituents and sow division within the ranks. Mr Biden must walk a tight-rope. On the one hand, he must condemn any acts of anti-Semitism that may arise in the course of the demonstrations, reaffirming his commitment to combating hatred and discrimination. On the other, he must also recognise the legitimacy of peaceful protest and engage with the underlying grievances driving the movement. The Presidents response has, by his lights, been measured, condemning anti-Semitism while expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. But his critics believe his policies reflect a confused mind. His reluctance to fully embrace the demands of the protesters has drawn criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. Republicans accuse him of weakness and indecision, while some Democrats warn that failure to heed the concerns of young voters could have dire consequences at the ballot box. In truth, Mr Biden faces a no-win situation. Advertisement No matter how he chooses to navigate the current crisis, he is bound to incur the wrath of one faction or another. Yet, therein lies the essence of leadership ~ the ability to make tough decisions in the face of adversity, guided by principle and a commitment to the common good. As the protests continue to unfold, one thing is clear: the stakes could not be higher. The outcome of this struggle will not only shape the future of US foreign policy but also define the soul of the Democratic Party for years to come. In the end, it will be up to Mr Biden and his allies to rise up to the occasion, forging a path that reflects the values and aspirations of all Americans, young and old alike. Irans leadership has been a direct beneficiary of the months-long war in Gaza. With every missile that Israel fires on Gaza, every US veto of a UN Security Council ceasefire resolution, and every arrest of an anti-war protester on American university campuses, Irans rejection of the US-dominated world order gains more credibility in the Muslim world. The ruling clerical regime in Iran has built its foreign policy on the pillar of anti-Americanism, rejecting what it frames as the injustice of US domination and bullying of other countries. Washingtons continued support for Israels war on Gaza in the face of an increasing international backlash has only reinforced this narrative. While the US has tried to backtrack and signal that humanitarian considerations should guide Israels conduct of the war, the damage to US credibility has been done. Many around the world and specifically in Muslim countries do not see the belated US warnings to Israel as genuine. And Tehrans message of antiAmericanism is resonating with large segments of the public in the Muslim world. In one regional opinion survey in late October, for instance, just 7 per cent of respondents said the US had a positive impact on the war, compared to 40 per cent who viewed Irans role as positive. And in December, the highly respected Arab Barometer reported that approval ratings for the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had surpassed those of the Saudi crown prince and Emirati president. This change in Irans standing in the region is being watched with concern by the political elite in the neighbourhood. Irans image has been further enhanced by the fact it is the only Muslim state to attack Israel against the backdrop of public outrage over the war in Gaza. The Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel on April 13 was calibrated to achieve two key objectives. First, Irans leaders sought to preserve the countrys image as the selfappointed head of the axis of resistance, comprised of its proxies in the region Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and other militia groups in Iraq and Syria. Advertisement Iran also wanted to demonstrate the effectiveness of its deterrence model, which is based on the threat of retaliation against Israeli aggression through its proxy actors and expanding missile and drone technology. Coming two weeks after the Israeli attack on its diplomatic mission in Damascus, Iran could not afford to outsource its response to its proxies. While Iran was clearly not ready to start a war with Israel, not responding in-kind to the Israeli attack would have made it look weak and seriously diminished its standing among its allies and proxy groups. But Irans leaders sought to minimise the damage and mitigate the risk of escalation by warning Israel of its attack in advance through intermediaries. This way, Iran could save face without getting embroiled in an all-out war. Irans second objective was to demonstrate to the world that it has the drone and missile technology to hit back at Israel, if it chooses. For more than a decade, Iran has showcased its missiles during annual military parades to support its claim it can hit Israel if threatened. Its attack last month involved more than 300 drones and missiles. Notwithstanding the fact the damage was minimal, the attack was proof Iran now has the capacity to inflict pain on Israel. Israels limited response to Iran suggests that war has been averted, much to the relief of neighbouring countries. But the long-term implications are more favourable for Iran. This show of strength has likely helped its rejectionist foreign policy find receptive ears in the Muslim world and beyond. When Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Pakistan on April 23, for example, he was greeted like a celebrity. This was ironic as, earlier this year, Iran and Pakistan had engaged in titfor-tat aerial attacks. The two countries agreed to boost bilateral trade to US$10 billion a year, about five times the current level. They also released a joint statement calling on the UN Security Council to take action against Israel, saying it had illegally targeted neighbouring countries and foreign diplomatic compounds. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also offered a message of support to Iran, saying: China noted Irans statement that its action was restrained and was an act of self-defence in response to the attack on its embassy. The implications of a more emboldened Iran for the region are severe. The Iranian authorities feel vindicated by the events of the last seven months. This means their antiUS and anti-Israel rhetoric will remain staunch as ever. Irans drone and missile research and development programme is also likely to receive a boost. And Irans support for its network of proxies and allies will remain firmly in place, as this enables the Iranian leadership to project power beyond its borders and retain its deterrence capability. None of this bodes well for Irans neighbours. An ideologically energised Islamic regime in Iran would be less accommodating to regional concerns, particularly those aired by governments that have already normalised relations with Israel (such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain), or are believed to be heading in that direction (Saudi Arabia). Moreover, the political credibility of many Arab leaders has suffered in the eyes of their citizens due to their perceived ineffectiveness in supporting the Palestinians in Gaza. Irans leaders did not plan the series of events that started with the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7. In fact, they were just as surprised by Hamas actions as the Israeli intelligence agencies. But they are the obvious beneficiary of the turn of events. The United States and Israel are gifting Iran and its message of defiance enormous appeal, well beyond the imagination of Iranian authorities. (The writer is Convenor of the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF), and Acting Director the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University. This article was published on www.theconversation.com) Upgraded China-Hungary ties boost bilateral cooperation and beyond Xinhua) 08:13, May 11, 2024 BUDAPEST, May 10 (Xinhua) -- China and Hungary on Thursday elevated their relations to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era. The decision was made during the talks between visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The upgrade will definitely spur the deepening of China-Hungary relations, observers say, believing the partnership will also further energize China's expanding cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC). CLOSER RELATIONS China-Hungary relations are currently the best in history as the comprehensive strategic partnership has seen robust and high-speed development. With deepening political mutual trust and fruitful cooperation in various fields, the two countries have set a model for building a new type of international relations, Xi said during the talks with Orban. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Hungary, ushering in a new and important opportunity for the development of bilateral relations, Xi said. Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) Elaborating on the decision to elevate bilateral relations at a joint press conference with Orban, Xi said he and Orban agreed that China and Hungary have always been good friends that trust and support each other as well as good partners that seek win-win cooperation over the years. It is natural for the two countries to further upgrade relations and enrich bilateral cooperation, said the Chinese president. The two sides should take the establishment of the all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era as an opportunity to inject new and strong impetus into bilateral cooperation and create a better future for the two peoples, Xi said. "The decision has further enriched China-Hungary relations, and further consolidated the foundation of and increased space for their future cooperation," said Wang Lei, associate professor at the School of Government of Beijing Normal University. In a joint statement on the upgrade of their relationship, both China and Hungary said the two sides are committed to enhancing synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Hungary's "Eastern Opening" policy. Leveraging mechanisms and platforms such as the China-Hungary Inter-Governmental Belt and Road Cooperation Committee and the Belt and Road Cooperation Promotion Center, the two sides will pursue deeper and more substantive progress in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, jointly ensure the safety and security and smooth progress of relevant cooperation projects between the two countries, and strive for more fruitful results in practical cooperation, the statement said. The Hungarian side is looking forward to further cooperating with China in terms of foreign trade, capital investment, infrastructure, logistics, artificial intelligence, and new energy, among others, said Hungarian Minister for National Economy Marton Nagy. STRONGER COOPERATION The upgrade of the partnership came one day after China and Serbia decided to build a community with a shared future, also an elevation of their relations from a comprehensive strategic partnership established eight years ago. Elevating relations with Serbia and Hungary, two important countries in Central and Eastern Europe, has highlighted China's dedication to fortifying win-win cooperation with the region. During his talks with Orban here on Thursday, Xi said that the cooperation between China and CEEC has a strong internal driving force, expressing the hope that Hungary will continue to play an important role in promoting the China-CEEC cooperation to better benefit people of various countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok at the Sandor Palace in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) Most countries in Central and Eastern Europe are emerging markets, holding substantial potential, notably in connectivity and energy investment. By synergizing their strengths, China's deeper cooperation with relevant countries not only enhances their economic and social development, but also fosters the European integration process. This strategic alignment has been strengthened by robust investment flows. From January to March 2024, China's investment in Central and Eastern Europe surged by 36.35 percent from one year earlier, reaching about 450 million U.S. dollars. As of March 2024, the cumulative total of Chinese investment in the region soared to 5.2 billion dollars. Take Hungary as an example. In 2023, Hungary attracted a total of 13 billion euros (about 13.86 billion dollars) in foreign direct investment, of which about 8 billion euros (about 8.53 billion dollars) were from China, said Nagy, Hungarian minister for national economy. That is also the case for Serbia. "During the past two years, China has emerged as the largest foreign direct investor in Serbia, bringing numerous benefits to the country," said Jelena Grubor Stefanovic, director of representative office of Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China. "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," she said. These investments, coupled with collaborative projects under the BRI, such as the Hungary-Serbia Railway, continue to benefit the people along the routes in the region. Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) Chen Fengying, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that China's growing cooperation with Serbia and Hungary has incented local economic growth and bettered people's livelihood. The success serves as a compelling example, showcasing the tangible benefits from closer partnerships with China and joint development, said Chen. Such achievements have also exerted a noteworthy inspirational and motivational influence on other countries in the region, she added. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing) Aresearch team comprising scientists from Macquarie University in Australia, Oxford University, UK, the University of Adelaide, Australia, the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology, did a focussed study on reticulated pythons (Malayopython reticulatus) and Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) and reported that snake meat is not only a good source of protein but also the best alternative for sustainable living. This appeared in the journal Natures 14 March 2024 issue under Scientific Reports (DOI:10.1038/s41598- 024-54874-4). The researchers studied more than 4,600 pythons and found that reticulated and Burmese pythons, in particular, required less food to produce, say, a pound of meat compared to conventional farm products such as chicken, beef, pork, salmon etc. Pythons grow rapidly to reach the slaughter weight within a year after hatching. According to Dr. Natusch, the first author of the paper, pythons outperform all mainstream livestock chicken and cattle when food to protein conversion is considered. Eating snake meat is nothing new. Snakes have long been consumed in Southeast Asia and China as a high-protein, lowsaturated fat food source. Hong Kong is famous for its snake soup which has been consumed for over 2,000 years in China. Scientists are not expecting the consumption of snake meat to be accepted worldwide easily, except maybe in some parts of Asia. But they are batting for it for serious environmental reasons ~ from the point of view of water conservation. When we consume one kg of meat, we are consuming 16,000 liters of water unknowingly ~ the amount of water needed to raise livestock to get that amount of meat. Or, when we have a cup of coffee in the morning, we consume 150 litres of precious water from the earth unknowingly. The cotton T-shirt that we wear is equivalent to about 2,000 litres of water wrapped around us. It was John Anthony Allan of the University of London who invented a method of estimating the amount of fresh water needed to produce different commodities, a metric he has christened virtual water. The amount of virtual water consumed through food and clothing is many times more than the amount that we consume for drinking and household purposes. Advertisement India exports about 20 million kg of coffee annually, and is, therefore, responsible for exporting about 420,000 million litres of virtual Indian water with it. Countries like Argentina, Brazil and the US export billions of litres of virtual water every year while countries like Egypt, Italy and Japan import billions of virtual water. It was Professor Arjen Hoekstra who introduced the concept of water footprint as a metric to measure the amount of water consumed to produce goods and services. In other words, the water footprint helps to comprehend how much water people consume daily in their lives, and is similar to the ideas of carbon footprint or ecological footprint that most of us are familiar with. It is ironic that while we are so concerned about greenhouse gases and their impact on the environment, we are more or less oblivious to freshwater consumption and its impact on the environment and population. In a world where one in every five persons does not have access to fresh water, and particularly when the demand for water resources in the whole world is increasing, the issue of water footprint needs to be taken seriously. The earth is indeed a closed system and the water cycle ensures that as a whole, it neither loses nor gains water, and so the water will never be depleted. It is jokingly said that it is quite possible that the water that you drank just now was once used by Mama Dinosaur to give her baby a bath! Critics have legitimately questioned the need to conserve water, given that all that we use will be returned. While that is certainly true for a closed system, with the dichotomy of increasing population and finite resources, resource management is crucial to maintain the minimum requirement of water per individual. An analogy may be seen in inheriting a fixed amount of money that can be used only for the benefit of ones children. However, the amount of money spent per child (per capita) will diminish if the number of children increases, and with more progeny, a time will come when money available per child will fall below what is needed to fulfill their basic needs. Being a little conservative in using water will help to avoid, or at least delay, any future catastrophe. The water footprint of a country is also an indicator of the efficiency of the nations water management and agricultural practices. According to the report of the World Health Organization (WHO), water scarcity impacts 40 per cent of the worlds population and 700 million people are at risk of being displaced as a result of the water crisis by 2030. By 2040, almost 1 in 4 children will live in an area of extremely high water stress. Among the many options suggested by WHO to mitigate the water crisis, attitudinal change is a prime one. Many conventional livestock fail to satisfy the criteria for sustainability, and there is an urgent need to explore alternatives. Snakes are probably the best alternative. Snakes require minimal water and can live with the dew that settles on their scales in the morning. They also need very little food and live off rodents and other pests that attack food crops. Although large-scale python farming is common in Asia, environmentalists suggest that the same is needed in other parts of the world too. Considering the potential benefits, this will be a bold move and the project requires encouragement from all corners of society. In the distant future, if a snake burger is served instead of a meat burger in a restaurant, do not get perplexed but think of the precious snake that helped save the enormous amount of precious water of Nature. SUPRAKASH CHANDRA ROY The writer is a Member, National Commission of History of Science, INSA and was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Science and Culture for about two decades Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that if the INDI alliance comes to power, the era of terrorism and Naxalism will be revived in the country. Yogi said that the Congress, which is spreading the rumours of Constitutional amendments to scare people, was the first to trample the freedom of expression by amending the Indian Constitution. While addressing a public meeting for Kanpur and Akbarpur Lok Sabha seats, the Chief Minister took potshots at the Samajwadi Party and said, The SPs agenda did not include development of Ayodhya, but rather withdrawing cases against terrorists who attacked Ayodhya. Advertisement In a bid to garner public support for BJP candidates Ramesh Awasthi from Kanpur and Devendra Singh Bhole from Akbarpur, Yogi remarked that Mother Ganga has blessed Kanpur with prosperity and entrepreneurship. Reputed for being the land of revolution, Kanpur also serves as the powerhouse for the countrys development, he added. The people of Kanpur have to make a crucial decision in the fourth phase. Currently, there is only one voice echoing across the country, Phir Ek Baar, Modi Sarkar and Abki Baar, 400 Paar. Kanpur and Akbarpur will also contribute to this tally of over 400 seats, he asserted. Yogi further said that in the past 10 years, PM Narendra Modi has served the nation tirelessly, without pause, fatigue, or retreat. Everyone acknowledges that Modi Ji has earned respect for the country globally, secured our borders, accelerated development, and brought about changes in the lives of citizens, especially for the welfare of the poor. Continuing his diatribe against the INDIA bloc, Yogi said that the alliance was losing its credibility due to its negative politics. They are more concerned about Pakistans interests. Instead of addressing the issues of terrorism and Naxalism, they encourage terrorists by withdrawing cases against them. They worked towards preventing the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya at all costs. Before 2014, innocent people and soldiers used to be martyred in terrorist attacks in the country. Now, this cannot happen because the Modi government has struck at the core of terrorism. This new India does not provoke, but if someone provokes, it doesnt spare them either, Yogi added. Yogi stated that in Kanpur today, in addition to highways, expressways, and metros, a defence corridor is also under construction. Kanpur has witnessed significant advantages from the efforts in the Namami Gange initiative. Kanpur has benefited the most from the work done in the Namami Gange area. The BJP government has effectively ensured the uninterrupted and clean flow of the Ganga in the Sisamau and Jajmau regions of Kanpur, he remarked. A first aid responder and a telecommunication technician were killed during an Israeli airstrike in Tayr Harfa, a town located in the southern border area of Lebanon, Lebanese military sources reported. The sources told Xinhua news agency anonymously on Friday that an Israel drone fired an air-to-surface missile toward a team comprised of the soldiers of the Lebanese army, first aid responders from the Islamic Message Scouts, a local paramedics organisation, as well as workers from Touch, a mobile operation in Lebanon. The team was carrying out maintenance work for a cellphone transmission station in Tayr Harfa when the attack occurred and one first aid responder and one technician from Touch were killed, the sources said as quoted by Xinhua news agency report. Advertisement Two other civilians were wounded and a military vehicle was damaged during the attack, the sources added. Moreover, the sources also noted that another Israeli airstrike destroyed a house in the village of Yarine, Tyre district, southern Lebanon, and killed a Hezbollah fighter, wounding a civilian. Meanwhile, Hezbollah said that it attacked several settlements and Israeli army positions with drones and heavy missiles. Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon. The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have killed 461 people on the Lebanese side, including 290 Hezbollah members and 85 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Mother's Day is a special day dedicated to remember, honour and celebrate mothers worldwide. As a wise saying goes, You don't have to give birth to a child to become a mother. This day is about cherishing the mother figures in your life who nurtured, protected and unconditionally loved you. This day is for all the mothers who never hesitated to give up on their comfort and happiness to bring a smile to their young ones' faces. Today, lets give a big hug to all the mothers in our lives and tell them how much they mean to us. Let the smiles of all the mothers shine this Mothers Day! A bit of history... In the early 20th century America, social activist Anna Jarvis sought to create an official day dedicated to mothers. In honour of her beloved mother, Ann Jarvis, who worked tirelessly to unite the mothers during and following the civil war, she held a memorial service in 1907. This act sparked a movement across the states in the US and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday of May a national holiday to celebrate Mothers Day. Jarviss vision of Mothers Day was a day of sincere and genuine appreciation of mothers, symbolised by a white carnation flower. Global traditions of honouring motherhood Long before gifting flowers and greeting cards, civilisations around the world held festivals in honour of mothers and mother goddesses. The Phrygians, an ancient Anatolian group, celebrated Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods, associated with fertility and nature. Similarly, the Greeks held festivals honouring Rhea, the Titan goddess who birthed the Pantheon of Olympian gods. These celebrations reflected the deep respect and love for motherhood, ingrained in many cultures around the world. ALSO READ | Motherhood on screen: 5 Bollywood movies to watch on Mother's Day Fast forward to the Middle Ages in Europe, a tradition emerged during lent, on Laetare Sunday, when people returned to their home parishes, often to reunite with their family. This came to be called Mothering Sunday and it became a time for people to visit their mothers and express their love and gratitude. In India, Shakti or power is worshipped as a goddess or the universal mother. Most of the festivals like Durga puja, Lakshmi puja and Navratri revolve around honouring and celebrating mothers in the form of goddesses. However, today, while commercialisation might overshadow the original intention, it's still a day used by many of us to express our love and appreciation to the mothers and mother figures in our lives. The true spirit of Mothers day lies not in the grandeur of gifts and celebration, but in the quiet moments of deep connection and gratitude. 10 Facts to Remember about the Evolution of Mothers Day Celebrations: 1. Mother's Day doesn't fall on the same date every year, but it is on the second Sunday of May. 2. Juliet Calhoun Blakely of Albion, Michigan, pioneered Mother's Day in the 1800s. She and her sons observed the day annually and encouraged others to join them. 3. Greeting Cards are consistently popular Mothers Day gifts. 4. Determined to make Mother's Day a national holiday, Anna Jarvis formed the Mother's Day International Association. 5. Durga-Puja, a ten-day festival held in India, around October, is a significant celebration honouring and celebrating the mother goddess, Durga. 6. Julia Ward Howe, a prominent American peacemaker and poet, is recognized for her contribution in marking Mothers Day with her work "Appeal to Womanhood Throughout the World," which later became known as the "Mother's Day Proclamation. 7. Anna Jarvis used carnations to honour the mothers in her church, and the tradition blossomed into the official Mother's Day flower. Today, the colours hold significant meaning: red carnations celebrate living mothers, while white ones honour those who have passed away. 8. Disheartened by the commercialisation that overshadowed the holiday's original sentiment, Anna Jarvis actively fought against it. She even criticised the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for using Mother's Day as a fundraising platform. 9. Mother's Day holds the record for most phone calls made in a single day in the United States. 10. Many mothers opt to dine out and enjoy a celebratory meal on Mother's Day, making it the busiest day of the year for restaurants. Lets celebrate this Mothers Day by appreciating the profound impact that mothers have on our lives. Their unwavering dedication, love, and strength are the cornerstones of every healthy and thriving society. To all the beautiful mothers, who get up everyday with the greatest lifetime responsibility-motherhood- one that never becomes less demanding and never leaves you, no matter how much time has passed or how grown your children have become, you have no retirement from this role. Thank you for being the greatest warriors who lead us in our path of life, whose hold tightens whenever we are about to fall, who carry us when we are tired of our responsibilities. To the amazing woman who buried her needs, fears, discomfort and was reborn to become a mother, who taught us the first letter, who was the proudest with our first step, who cried with us on the first day of our school, who stood by our side at each milestone covered, thank you for being our home and we are proud of you. Happy Mothers Day. State-owned Union Bank of India on Saturday reported an 18.36 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter to Rs 3,328 crore, helped by lower provisions. For the fiscal 2023-24, the lender reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 13,797 crore against Rs 8,512 crore in the year-ago period. In the quarter under review, its standalone net profit increased to Rs 3,311 crore from Rs 2,782 crore a year ago. The core net interest income grew 14.38 per cent to Rs 9,437 crore on an 11.7 per cent growth in advances and widening of net interest margin to 3.10 per cent from 2.97 per cent in the year-ago period. Its managing director and chief executive A. Manimekhalai told reporters that for FY25, it is aiming for a credit growth of 11-13 per cent and deposit growth to be between 9-11 per cent compared to 9.3 per cent in FY24. It, however, expects a fall in NIMs to 2.8-3 per cent, she said, adding that the targets will be reviewed midway through the year. The non-interest income declined by over 10 per cent to Rs 4,707 crore, primarily due to halving of recoveries from written off accounts. For FY25, the bank is targeting the overall recoveries to come at Rs 16,000 crore against over Rs 18,000 crore in FY24. The overall provisions declined to Rs 3,222 crore from Rs 4,041 crore in the year-ago period. The fresh slippages increased to Rs 3,202 crore from the Rs 2,687 crore a year ago, but the final stock of gross NPAs was lower because of help coming in on recoveries, upgradation and write-offs. The bank's gross NPA ratio declined to 4.76 per cent against 7.53 per cent in the year-ago period, and Manimekhalai said it will be targeting to close FY25 with the number under 4 per cent. The RBI's newly introduced proposals on the project finance front will not have a big impact on the bank's financials, she said, adding that the position will be "manageable" even if the draft is implemented in the present form. She said about 28 per cent of the corporate loan book is project finance loans at present, of which 68 per cent is to projects that have been completed. Also, the RBI is proposing for a phased implementation of the provisioning requirements, which will be of help. The bank has an overall pipeline of over Rs 40,000 crore, which will ensure that the credit growth aims are met, she said, adding that there is demand from sectors like data centres, real estate, steel and renewables. When asked about the tech side initiatives, Manimekhalai said it is revamping its mobile app at present, and exuded confidence about not being impacted by any challenges on the technology front. The overall capital adequacy of the bank stood at 16.97 per cent, with the core buffer at 13.65 per cent. Manimekhalai said the bank will not need any new fund infusion unless there is a huge private capex improvement, which ups the demand. The bank plans to open 250-300 branches in FY25, she said. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was granted interim bail till June 1 by the Supreme Court on Friday in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, will have a busy Saturday as he is expected to take charge of Aam Aadmi Party's Lok Sabha polls campaign. The AAP national convenor, who thanked Lord Hanuman as he walked out of Tihar Jail on Friday, will begin his action-packed day by visiting and offering prayers at the Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place in the national capital. Kejriwal's visit to the temple is scheduled to take place at 11 am. Kejriwal will then hold a press conference at the party office at 1 pm, before holding a road show in South Delhi. Kejriwal, on Friday, had asked his supporters to come in large numbers to the temple. "I am feeling great to be with you. I had told you that I would come out soon... First of all, I want to pay obeisance to Lord Hanuman. I am among you because of the blessings of Lord Hanuman," he had said. "There is a roadshow in South Delhi. I will participate in the roadshow with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann," Kejriwal had said. The AAP has fielded Sahi Ram Pahalwan from the South Delhi constituency. "You will find him campaigning from tomorrow. His only goal is that dictatorship in the country should end. His interim bail is perhaps a divine hint that the dictatorship in the country should go," senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi said after the Delhi CM's release from prison. Within hours of the interim bail granted to Kejriwal by the apex court, AAP was running its 'Jail Ka Jawab Vote Se' campaign, and its leaders started posting comments and videos on social media platforms using the hashtag #ModiCantStopKejriwal. The party had claimed that Kejriwal's bail would be a "game changer" in favour of INDIA bloc. Senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said Kejriwal will travel all over the country to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. Lauding the initiative for a public debate on the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said he or party chief Mallikarjun Kharge would be pleased to participate in such a discussion and expressed hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would also take part. "It would be a positive initiative for the major parties to present their vision to the country from one platform for a healthy democracy," Gandhi said in a post on X. He also added that the nation expects Modi to participate in the debate. The Congress leader shared on X his reply to Justice (Retd) Madan B Lokur, Justice (Retd) Ajit P Shah and N Ram, who had written to him and the prime minister earlier this week, inviting them to a platform for a debate on the key election issues. In their letter addressed to the country's leaders, the trio had stated that the proposal for the debate was non-partisan and in the broader interest of every citizen. Gandhi said he discussed the invitation with Kharge and they agreed that such a debate would help people understand "our respective vision and enable them to make an informed choice". "It is also critical to put to rest any unsubstantiated allegations attributed to our respective parties. As the principal parties fighting the election, the public deserve to hear from their leaders directly," Gandhi said in his letter replying to the invitation. "Accordingly, either myself or the Congress president would be pleased to participate in such a debate," he added. The former Congress chief also said he looks forward to participating in a productive and historic debate. "Please do let us know if and when the prime minister agrees to participate, following which we can discuss the details and format of the debate," he added. In his post on X, accompanied by the letter, Gandhi said, "Congress welcomes this initiative and accepts the invitation for discussion. The country also expects the prime minister to take part in this dialogue." At an event in Lucknow on Friday, answering a question from a member of the audience, Gandhi said he was "100 per cent" prepared to take on Modi in a debate and added that he knew the prime minister would not agree. Contrary to the expectation that the the NC and the Congress will field a joint candidate against the BJP in Ladakh, the region is now witnessing a triangular contest after the local Kargil leaders from the two parties decided to support Haji Haneefa Jan who contesting as an Independent candidate. The development has upset the plan of the NC and Congress to take on the BJP unitedly. With Sajjad Kargil and Kacho Mohammad Feroz opting out of the contest, only three candidates are now left in the race for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat, including Tashi Gyalson (BJP), Tsering Namgyal (Congress) and Jan. Gyalson and Namgyal are from the Buddhist-dominated Leh district, while Jan belongs to the Muslim- majority Kargil district. The poll for the lone Lok Sabha seat will be held in the fifth phase on May 20. Last week, the NC leaders from Kargil submitted en masse resignations in protest against the partys pressure on them to support the Congress candidate instead of Jan. Qamar Ali Akhoon, the NC Additional Secretary (Ladakh) and former minister in the erstwhile J&K state government, in a letter to NC President Farooq Abdullah, conveyed the Kargil units decision to resign en masse from the party's primary membership. The resignations came after the NC leadership directed its Ladakh unit, especially in Kargil, to support the Congress candidate. As per the seat-sharing agreement, the NC and the Congress shared three Parliamentary seats in J&K and Ladakh. The Ladakh seat had gone to the Congress as per the agreement. However, the NC Kargil unit revolted against the party decision and fielded its district president Jan as an Independent candidate with the backing of the Congress district unit. Several social and religious organisations of Kargil are also backing Jan. The NC high command was pressuring us to extend support to Tsering Namgayal, the official Congress candidate from Ladakh, but it was against the decision taken by Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which has put up Haji Hanifa Jan as its candidate, Akhoon said. The KDA is a coalition of political and religious bodies of Kargil that has joined forces with the Leh Apex Body, which represents religious and political parties of Leh backed by the influential Ladakh Buddhists Association (LBA), for statehood and Sixth Schedule for Ladakh. He said they have decided to resign from the basic membership of NC in the larger interest of Ladakh, especially the Kargil district. He said Jan is the choice of KDA but the party's top brass was pressuring them to support the Congress partys official candidate. They called me and I told them never. We made the sacrifice in the larger interest of Ladakh, especially Kargil, he said. He said Jan is a unanimous candidate of all political, social, and religious groups of Kargil, and we will do whatever is needed for his win. Jan had already submitted his resignation from the NC and we are resigning from the basic membership of the party and disassociating with it, he said. In his letter to Abdullah, Akhoon said Jan is supported by political and religious institutions in Kargil. The party high command is pressuring us (both telephonically as well on social media) to support the official candidate of INC (Congress) from Ladakh, which is unacceptable to us, including J&K NC and INC Unit Kargil, the letter read. Akhoon said this letter may be considered a mass resignation of all party functionaries from the primary membership of the J&K National Conference. The BJP, which won the Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency in 2019, is facing an angry electorate due to its refusal to grant Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh. The Centre has agreed to apply all provisions of the Sixth Schedule to Ladakh but refused to grant the region Sixth Schedule status or statehood. Ladakh was declared a Union Territory following the abrogation of Article 370 and the separation of Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019. The BJP also faced a crisis after its incumbent MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal from the region decided to contest as an Independent following the partys decision not to field him. Gaylson, who is the chairperson of Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), is now contesting for BJP. Namgyal agreed to back Gaylson after persuasion by senior BJP leaders who flew to Leh. A split in the votes among Buddhists, who form the majority in Leh, could benefit Jan, who has the backing of the people in Kargil. The Congress has submitted its 38-member list of star campaigners for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat to the Election Commission of India and Chief Electoral Officer Ladakh, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K.C. Venugopal, Ambika Soni and Sachin Pilot. In a groundbreaking move aimed at enhancing surveillance and curbing criminal activities, the Jammu & Kashmir Police have started using GPS tracker devices on individuals accused of terrorism and drug-related offences. This innovative approach marks a significant shift in law enforcement strategy in the region. GPS tracking of terror-accused individuals out on bail was introduced in November 2023. The Jammu and Kashmir Police, in collaboration with the Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jammu, decided to fit GPS tracker device on the ankles of individuals accused of terrorism. Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, a known terror operative linked to Hizbul Mujahideen and other extremist groups, became the first person to wear the anklet tracker. The decision to use GPS tracking technology follows an order from the Special NIA court, highlighting the legal framework surrounding the implementation of this measure. The consent of Bhat, who was previously convicted in an NIA terror case, to wear the anklet was recorded in court, emphasising the importance of due process in implementing such surveillance measures. In a parallel initiative aimed at addressing drug-related crimes, the police in the Kupwara district took decisive steps to combat drug abuse by utilising GPS tracking technology. The move came after a two-year legal battle involving Abid Ali Bhat and Abdul Majeed Bhat, who were apprehended in connection with the possession and distribution of brown sugar, a potent form of heroin. Upon their release, the police fitted them with GPS trackers to monitor their movements, making Kupwara the first district in the Kashmir zone to deploy GPS anklets on narcotics accused who have been granted bail. This decision underscores the commitment of law enforcement authorities to tackle the escalating issue of drug abuse in the region. Using GPS trackers represents a proactive measure by the Jammu and Kashmir Police to enhance surveillance capabilities and deter individuals involved in terrorism and drug-related crimes. Senior law enforcement officials, including the Superintendent of Police (SSP) in Kupwara, Shobhit Saxena, emphasised the importance of such measures in tackling these pressing societal challenges. The adoption of GPS tracking technology is part of a broader strategy aimed at curbing criminal activities and safeguarding public safety. While these initiatives mark significant milestones in law enforcement practices within Jammu and Kashmir, they may also set a precedent for future cases involving terrorism and drug offences. As the Jammu and Kashmir Police continue to explore novel strategies to combat crime, the implementation of GPS trackers on terror accused and drug offenders underscores their commitment to ensuring the safety and security of the region's residents. Chinese citizen journalist, Zhang Zhan, who was jailed after reporting on COVID-19 spread in Wuhan in the early days of the pandemic is set to be released after four years. Zhan's release is slated for Monday, reported The Guardian. In February 2020, Zhan travelled to Wuhan to document the Chinese government's response to the Covid-19 spread leading to a global pandemic. She has shared her reports on social media platforms including X, YouTube and WeChat. She was one among the handful of journalists present in Wuhan at the time of the spread and when China went into a lockdown. I cant find anything to say except that the city is paralysed because everything is undercover. Thats what this country is facing now They imprison us in the name of pandemic prevention and restrict our freedom...We must not talk to strangers, its dangerous. So without the truth, everything is meaningless," Zhang was quoted by The Guardian in one of the videos recorded in February. Among the many videos shared, there were also ones showing the hospital that was overflowing with patients. Zhang was arrested in May 2020 on charges of "provoking trouble". Later she was sentenced to four years in jail. While she was in jail, Zhang went on a hunger strike to protest against her conviction and treatment. Reportedly, her case was treated "particularly harshly". The very fact that she had collected the data and published it on social media irked the government. Several journalists and activists came to the forefront demanding her release from jail. "She must be allowed to move freely, to communicate with people inside and outside of China and to be reunited with her family," said Sarah Brooks, Amnesty Internationals China director. Viewed of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon on Friday launched a massive barrage of 35 rockets at Kiryat Shmona, kindling a huge fire. Some rockets fell in the city, sparking fires and damaging buildings, burning vehicles and even opening a crater in a road. About 15 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome. Other rockets fell in open areas outside the city, sparking a huge fire on Route 90. Ten firefighting teams were required to quell the flames. BChasdei Hashem, despite the extensive damage, miraculously no one was injured in the barrage. The IDF carried out airstrikes at the sources of fire. Hezbollah later claimed responsibility for the attack. (YWNs Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis haShabbos in Israel) The IDF on Motzei Shabbos announced the death of a soldier killed in a gun battle with Hamas on Friday in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. He was identified as Staff Sgt. Ariel Tsym, Hyd, 20, from Modiin. He fought in the Nachal Brigades 931st Battalion. He was killed near the site of the explosion that killed four soldiers earlier on Friday. His death increased the death toll of soldiers killed in the ground operation in Gaza to 272 and the number of soldiers killed since October 7th to 615. Yehi Zichro Baruch. (YWNs Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis haShabbos in Israel) Jaguar Land Rover has posted its biggest profit since 2015 after a record year of sales. Britain's biggest car maker, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, posted profits of 2.2billion for the full year to the end of March. This is the group's best haul in nine years. JLR's best revenues in nine years have been driven by the increase in sales of top-end models, like its new Defender SUV The Range Rover maker notched up annual revenues of 29billion, the highest ever for the group and up 27 per cent year-on-year. The bumper performance was driven by strong demand for its top-end models. The company sold 401,303 cars in the year, with its Defender model which costs around 55,000 making up more than a quarter of these sales. The order book was around 133,000 vehicles at the end of the year. Some 76 per cent of these orders were for Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender models, JLR said. Boss Adrian Mardell said: 'This has been a year of great strategic progress at JLR.' BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11. Negotiations between Azerbaijani and Armenian FMs Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan will continue today in the Kazakh city of Almaty, Trend reports. The ministers will continue discussing the draft "Bilateral Agreement on Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations" between the two countries. To note, the negotiations between the ministers began the previous day. The discussions lasted 4 hours during the first meeting. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11. Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov has congratulated Mikhail Mishustin on his reappointment to the post of Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, the press service of the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers said, Trend reports. In the congratulatory letter, Asadov acknowledged Mishustin's commitment to establishing comprehensive relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, based on friendliness, friendly neighborliness, and mutual respect. He also expressed optimism that Mishustin's government will continue to foster mutually beneficial cooperation and develop an Azerbaijani-Russian strategic partnership. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) signed Saturday a memorandum on cooperation in Shusha, Trend reports. The document envisages the exchange of experience in the domains of culture, science and education, as well as promotion of up-to-date technologies, and simultaneously, implementation of joint projects. Anar Alakbarov, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, Executive Director of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Salim bin Mohammed AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General, explored the bilateral cooperation and existing relations between ICESCO and the Foundation over the past period. The two highlighted the activities and contributions of Mehriban Aliyeva, President of the Foundation, as the ISESCO Goodwill Ambassador to the rapprochement of civilizations and intercultural dialogue. The sides also stressed the activities of the Foundation aimed at developing education and culture, humanitarian projects in Azerbaijan and abroad, as well as inter-religious dialogue. They underscored that the memorandum would pave the way for the successful cooperation. The meeting also focused on the importance of the works carried out by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in a short period of time to protect and restore of historical, religious and cultural monuments after the occupation in terms of preserving the cultural and historical heritage in Shusha, which was chosen as the cultural capital of the Islamic world for 2024. The two also discussed cooperation with ISESCO in this area. Then, Director-General of the ICESCO Salim bin Mohammed AlMalik visited the historical and religious monuments in Shusha and familiarized himself with the facts of Armenian vandalism committed here during the occupation. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11. On 10-11 May 2024 negotiations were held between Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Trend reports. The Ministers welcomed the progress on delimitation and agreements reached in this regard. The Ministers and their delegations continued discussions on the provisions of the draft bilateral Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The parties agreed to continue negotiations on the open issues where differences still exist. During the course of the visit, the Ministers met with Murat Nurtleu, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, both separately and in a trilateral format. Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has expressed appreciation to the Kazakhstan side for hosting the negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11. A meeting has been held under the leadership of the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, Trend reports via the Ministry of Defense. First, a minute of silence was held to honor the memory of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev and martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The minister delivered to the meeting participants the tasks arising from the speech of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Ilham Aliyev, made on May 10 at a meeting held within the opening of the first residential complex in Shusha with the first group of former IDPs who returned to the city. Noting the importance of bringing the speech of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to the entire personnel of the Azerbaijan Army, the minister gave relevant instructions on this matter. Then, the relevant order of President Ilham Aliyev, on the discharge of the Deputy Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan Commander of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Ramiz Tahirov, taking into account the last age of military service, was brought to the attention. Hasanov emphasized that the activities of the Air Force, as well as other types of troops of the Azerbaijan Army in the 2020 second Karabakh uar and other operations are always commended by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It was noted that, in accordance with the requirements of the head of state, important steps have recently been taken towards the development of the Air Force and its military potential has been further increased. Besides, it was mentioned that the adoption of new aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles that meet modern requirements, the training of professional servicemen and pilots are vivid examples of successful reforms aimed at army development. The Commander and personnel of the Air Force have been repeatedly presented with various awards and medals by the relevant orders of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the worthy performance of service duties. The leadership of the Ministry of Defense expressed gratitude to Lieutenant General Tahirov for his long-term impeccable military service in the Azerbaijan Army, and special merits in protecting the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and wished him success in his future life. Meanwhile, Tahirov thanked the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense for their trust and noted that he will remain faithful to the traditions of statehood in his future activities. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel One of our favorite readers sent this note that we want to share so that others will take notice and hopefully do more to protect youngsters across Missouri . . . An amazing woman, Amanda Householder, is coming to town Sunday. This fall, her parents face trial over 100+ felony charges for severely mistreating and abusing purportedly troubled kids at the two now-shuttered Christian reform/boarding schools they owned and ran in southern Missouri for years. Amandas suing her mom and dad for making her perform forced labor, beating her for their sexual gratification, and forcing her to impose punishments on other students at one of these remote, for-profit, largely under the radar and essentially unregulated facilities (Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Humansville). In fact, Amandas been called a Tik Tok influencer and her incredible drive to expose her folks and similar abusers is largely the reason so much awareness of and concern about these schools has surfaced recently. Amanda and several other survivors of these awful, essentially-unregulated, under the radar schools will conduct a series of news conferences across Missouri. Here is what Amanda and others will advocate: -- Encouraging AG Andrew Bailey to investigate these schools, use his bully pulpit to warn parents about them, and prod local law enforcement to crack down on them. --Push legislators to reform Missouris archaic, arbitrary, predator-friendly statute of limitations on child sex crimes. (More than 25 states have done this in recent years.) -- Inspire others who are being or have seen, suspected or suffered (or are now suffering) at these facilities to contact independent sources of help, like police, prosecutors, therapists, loved ones and support groups. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . Alleged Victims of All Girls Reform School In Missouri Share Harrowing Tales of Abuse: "It Was Hell" | Oxygen Official Site Learn more about the allegations that led to the shuttering of the Circle of Hope Girls Ranch. Girls alleged abuse at reform school for years. It stayed open until they got on TikTok. More than a dozen people reported abuse at Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch, a boarding school for troubled teens in Missouri, before the state shut it down. Developing . . . Another biz warns that it's getting harder to make a living in a town where criminals don't confront many or any consequences. However . . . WE NOTICE REBUKE AGAINST LOCAL BIZ OWNERS SPEAKING UP AGAINST RISING KANSAS CITY CRIME!!! Consider . . . Recently a Waldo chicken shack suffered scathing criticism for talking about their decision to shut down. Talker Pete Mundo summed up this situation perfectly: "It's no wonder local biz owners are afraid to speak up. They're more likely to get lambasted by the local newspaper than the criminals." That's exactly what happened . . . But we notice that social media critics also targeted the biz for simply telling the story of their departure. Accordingly . . . We hope these locals garner more sympathy given that their efforts to do biz in the urban core should be supported . . . "Owners, Armando Vasquez and Mike Hastings faced a break-in in their first year open, a vehicle crashing into the front of the store in 2022, people trashing their restrooms, others causing chaos inside the shop, someone setting the trash can on fire outside twice, and in the last six months, theyve had people steal the tips out of their tip jar." Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . True, KCMO has garnered a bit of progress this year against homicides. Last year at this date on the calendar there were already 60 homicides in what would be a record breaking year for killing inside city limits. However . . . The numbers can quickly add up as Spring/Summer is typically the most violent time of year and KCPD remains in desperate need of at least 300 more officers. Here's the latest report that police are sharing with media this morning . . Homicide 12th and Benton This morning just after 3AM officers were dispatched on reports of a disturbance involving a weapon in the area of 12th and Benton Blvd. The call was then updated to a shooting. When officers arrived, they contacted a person at a nearby business who stated their friend had been shot. Officers located an adult male inside of a vehicle unresponsive suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. EMS responded to the scene and declared the victim deceased. The circumstances surrounding this incident are currently unknown. Homicide detectives and crime scene personnel have responded to begin gathering evidence and collecting witness statements. Detectives are actively working on identifying a person of interest and police do not currently have anyone in custody. This is being investigated as a homicide and is ongoing at this time. If anyone was in or around the area at this time and saw or heard anything they are asked to contact Homicide detectives directly at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS there is a reward of up to $25,000 for information submitted anonymously to the TIPS hotline. We are committed to assisting victims of violent crimes through use of Missouris Protection Program for Victims/Witnesses of Violent Crime. Funding for temporary, or even permanent relocation, may be available but is subject to pre-approval by the States administering agency. We are working with Partners for Peace in all our homicide investigations to monitor risks for retaliation and provide social services to affected residents. ########## Developing . . . Kansas City records the second homicide so far this morning as our www.TonysKansasCity.com blog community notices the Spring/Summer 2024 rate of killing starting to quicken. As we noted previously, it's still too early to celebrate progress in the fight against crime given that arctic temperatures early in the year helped to lower the count just as much as anything else. Accordingly, here is the first report . . . Homicide 2600 E 29th St This morning just after 9 AM officers were dispatched to an apartment complex in the 2600 block of E. 29th St. on a reported sound of shots call. Officers were in route to the call when it was updated to a shooting. Officers arrived on scene and were summoned into a nearby apartment within the complex stating someone had been shot. Officers located an adult male victim, unresponsive, and suffering from apparent gunshot trauma. Medical aid was rendered until EMS arrived and could take over. The victim was declared deceased on scene. The preliminary investigation reveals this incident started over an argument. An adult male has been identified as a possible subject of interest and detectives are working to locate him. Homicide detectives and crime scene personnel have responded to begin gathering evidence and collecting witness statements. A department social worker has also responded to the scene to begin assisting with resources for those affected by this incident. This is being investigated as a homicide and is ongoing at this time. If anyone was in or around the area at this time and saw or heard anything they are asked to contact Homicide detectives directly at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS there is a reward of up to $25,000 for information submitted anonymously to the TIPS hotline. We are committed to assisting victims of violent crimes through use of Missouris Protection Program for Victims/Witnesses of Violent Crime. Funding for temporary, or even permanent relocation, may be available but is subject to pre-approval by the States administering agency. We are working with Partners for Peace in all our homicide investigations to monitor risks for retaliation and provide social services to affected residents. ############## Developing . . . Tonight we celebrate the end of an era as the shadow of WWIII that now looms over the planet seems more or at least equally as dangerous as the controversial pandemic. The local angle . . . "The University of Kansas Health System gave its last daily COVID count on its Morning Medical Update on May 1. The number of COVID patients in its health system had dwindled to four. At the height of the pandemic, the health system faced caring for some 250 COVID patients on a single day." More deets and the bigger picture . . . "THE END OF MANDATORY REPORTING comes as U.S. COVID hospitalizations are around the lowest levels since the start of the pandemic but as a new variant called KP. 2 is rapidly spreading in multiple regions. "Beyond COVID-19, the information helped guide prevention and response efforts to seasonal flu and RSV, which can also place a serious burden on emergency departments and ICUs. "The required reporting to the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network was scheduled to end with the COVID-19 public health emergency last May but was extended through this Tuesday, with fewer requirements. "Since the pandemic's start, there have been 6.9 million COVID-19 hospitalizations and almost 1.2 million coronavirus-associated deaths in the U.S., per the CDC." Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . . Hospitals can stop reporting COVID numbers. That worries some public health officials As COVID hospitalizations dip to record lows, the federal government stopped requiring hospitals to turn over COVID data. Some say that could sacrifice a national picture of the virus, but the flow of information from hospitals to the public won't be going away. Turning point: COVID-era hospital reporting set to end The May 1 sunset is a turning point in the real-time tracking of respiratory pathogens. Hospitals no longer must report COVID data to CDC, spotlighting clunky system As COVID-19 swept over Phoebe Putney Health System and Southwest Georgia in the first days of the pandemic, residents and public health officials were desperate to know what patients had and how far it was spreading. Developing . . . Right now we notice activist/artist and hottie Kehlani is having her pop diva moment and inspires us to check pop culture, community news and top headlines. Check TKC news gathering . . . Local Biz Of Equity Booms Mr K finalists: Diversity is a strength, but the vibes defining these Top 10 businesses don't stop there Yes, 80 percent of the finalists for this year's Small Business of the Year Award are ventures run by women, Karen Crnkovich acknowledged, but it's not just their owners' gender that put them in the top-tier of contenders for the coveted "Mr. K" honor. Old School Fare Shuts Down Backyard Burger closes in Independence, prepares for final week in Blue Springs For 27 years, Gene Scassellati has run his Backyard Burger restaurants out of Eastern Jackson County. But it is time for him to close the drive-thru. Rock Chalk Rules Tonight Kansas governor vetoes child support for fetuses * Kansas Reflector Gov. Laura Kelly used her veto pen on legislation that would have opened up a pathway for child support claims for fetuses. Show-Me Praise For Guv Cheers, Mike Parson. Rejecting AG Bailey's shameful stunt shows GOP how to beat MAGA | Opinion Missouri's governor is right: The state's highest law enforcement officer has no business defending three state senators who put a target on an innocent man. | Opinion Heartland Hit With Higher Taxes Study shows Kansas tax burden is the 12th highest in the nation - The Sentinel The tax burden is a measure of taxes paid compared to total personal income. The Dotte Demands More Convenience Unified Government reviewing plans for Buc-ee's store in Kansas City, Kansas The Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County says it is reviewing an application for a Buc-ee's convenience store near the Kansas Speedway. Crafting Local Hipster Culture A master ceramicist returns to Kansas City to teach students how to make art with meaning A world-renowned ceramic artist educated in Kansas City has made a career of injecting activism into the delicate teapots he crafts. Richard Notkin recently returned to the Kansas City Art Institute to teach a masterclass in making art with meaning. Single For Seedy Single Scene Kehlani is back with a new music video for the song of the summer It's time to spend our "After Hours" with Kehlani! Prez Confronts Worsening Probs Analysis: Tension with Israel represents only one of Biden's immense election challenges | CNN Politics If Joe Biden wins a second term later this year, he will have defied one of the most complex political environments for a president seeking reelection in years. Melania Makes MAGA Rules Trump's youngest son Barron 'declines' to be RNC delegate, his mother Melania says The former US president's youngest child, 18, has "prior commitments", according to his mother. Not So Friendly Political Fire More than two dozen House Democrats blast Biden holding back Israel military aid, say it 'emboldens' Hamas terrorists Twenty-six House Democrats led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer told National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday they were "deeply concerned" about President Biden's decision to withhold military aid from Israel. Nothing Going Right For Rudy Giuliani radio show canceled over 2020 election claims: 'He left me no option' Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's (R) radio show on WABC Radio has been canceled and he was suspended by the station over claims he made about the 2020 election, according to a report from The New York Times. "We're not going to talk about fallacies of the November 2020 election," WABC Radio owner... Holy Land Survey Seyz . . . U.S. weapons may have been used in ways "inconsistent" with international law in Gaza, U.S. assessment says The highly anticipated State Department report doesn't formally conclude Israel is in violation of U.S. or international law. Vlad Warpath Moves Forward Ukraine war briefing: Focus swings to Kharkiv as Russia mounts assaults Villages come under heavy fire, prompting evacuations; Ukrainians hit more Russian-controlled oil refineries. What we know on day 808 Big Picture Tonight . . . Strong solar storm could disrupt communications and produce northern lights in US A strong solar storm headed toward Earth could produce northern lights in the U.S. and potentially disrupt communications this weekend. Love Letter Of Law From Great White North Have your group sex parties but don't call it a club, Calgary judge rules | CBC News Group sex parties can continue to be hosted in a northwest Calgary home but the organizer is not allowed to use club branding for the events, a judge has ruled. Kansas City Hipsters Share Saucy Advice For Grown Ups Keep Them Coming: DIY during International Masturbation Month Taking a deep dive into all of the different benefits that DIY methods offer during International Masturbation Month. Lady Baller Party Planning CPKC Stadium to host The Women's Cup in August, featuring 4 teams, including KC Current CPKC Stadium will host The Women's Cup (TWC), a four-team tournament, in August, the Kansas City Current announced Friday. Home Team Momentum Debated How will the Royals balance short-term and long-term winning? Are the Royals in "win-now" mode? Gunfire Postscript 'We need to pay some bills': United Way donations will help family recover after Super Bowl rally shooting 'We need to pay some bills': United Way donations will help family recover after Super Bowl rally shooting Forecast For This Weekend Warm start to the weekend Next chance for rain late Sunday Kehlani - After Hours was the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now. No . . . Not the carb-y breakfast treat . . . This morning we tip our hat and glasses to author, actress, biz lady and hottie Emrata who won this week from our perceptive and inspires this peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines. Check TKC news gathering . . . Local Housing Stock Uptick As supply shifts, here's how home prices are trending in the Kansas City area - Kansas City Business Journal in Kansas City, new listings year-over-year increased about 3.9%, active listings climbed 4.5% since last year, and prices increased about 4%. Show-Me Secretive Cash Missouri legislature passes $51.7 billion budget with some complaints about lack of transparency Lawmakers had until 6 p.m. Friday to pass the budget. The final product is roughly $1 billion less than Gov. Mike Parson proposed. Rock Chalk Fight Over Life Persists Kansas anti-abortion groups are celebrating legislative wins. Here's what that means for patients New laws will force patients to report more personal information to officials, create a new felony and direct more money to anti-abortion groups. Community Conversation Cont'd 337: Sheffield Neighborhood Association With Mark Morales | Northeast News Welcome to the Northeast Newscast. Step into the vibrant streets of the Sheffield neighborhood with host Michael Bushnell and Sheffield Neighborhood Association President, Mark Morales, as they uncover the heart... Legal Eagles Discard Dead Trees With the rise of online research, this Jackson County library is getting rid of books The Jackson County Law Library, founded in 1871, will make a significant shift away from a printed collection as its downtown Kansas City location closes. Local Training Day Deets 'It's better to be prepared': Kansas City International Airport conducts aircraft emergency drill Kansas City International Airport conducted its first full-scale aircraft emergency drill since the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday. Ideas For Mum . . . Things to do in Kansas City this weekend May 10-12 Some of the highlights include KC Summer Beer Fest at Arrowhead Stadium, multiple musical acts and Mother's Day events. Fashionista Shares Heritage Emily Ratajkowski Reveals the Correct Way to Pronounce Her Last Name: 'I'm Polish' Ratajkowski explained how to pronounce her name backstage as she was getting ready to walk the Tory Burch fall 2023 fashion show in New York City White House Against The World The Memo: Biden takes fire from all sides after Israel arms move President Biden's decision to pause an arms shipment to Israel is his most dramatic move so far in the war in Gaza - and it may end up pleasing no one. Republicans have lambasted Biden for the decision, accusing him of abandoning Israel. Former President Trump has made that argument, as did several GOP senators... MAGA Plays Up Legal Drama A guilty verdict? Donald Trump and allies are bracing voters for the worst At political rallies, on social media, and to reporters, Trump is trying to persuade voters to disregard the outcome of his hush money trial. Republican Divisions Worsen GOP worries its problems will outlive Greene's ineffective motion Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) ineffectual effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was a big anticlimax, but one that could have reverberations much longer than the 35 minutes it took the House to dispense with her motion to vacate. The weighty consequences range from how Johnson can possibly lead his warring factions through the... Pr0n Star Defies Trolls To Tell Her Side Of Story Opinion | There's a reason Stormy Daniels' cross-examination was so aggressive The cross-examination this week of Stormy Daniels at the New York criminal trial of Donald Trump has been called "aggressive," and "heated." And it was. Supreme Perspectives Exposed Brett Kavanaugh speaks about presidential power, his Taylor Swift fandom and an expensive trip to see Caitlin Clark | CNN Politics Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh told an Austin judicial conference on Friday that his experience in the George W. Bush administration has made him more skeptical of presidential assertions of regulatory power. Social Media Mob Vs. Rich Lady Katherine Asplundh shuts down Instagram as Instagram users punish her Instagram bully Katherine Asplundh has shut down her account as users join forces to claim every available variation of her desired username. Vlad Starts Winning War Russia mounts surprise assault on northern Ukraine in most serious cross-border offensive in two years | CNN Russian forces launched a surprise attack on northern Ukraine, making small inroads, according to a Ukrainian military source, in the most serious cross-border ground offensive for nearly two years. Global Politics Gets VERY PERSONAL For Protesters Name and shame: Pro-Israel website ramps up attacks on pro-Palestinian student protesters Messages call for protesters to be deported or expelled, possibly r*ped or k*lled. Celebrate Middle-Class Brookside Hard Life Testimony You Can't Go Home Again - IN Kansas City Magazine My husband moved into my house after we were married. It's a great house in Brookside and provided a safe and nurturing landing spot following my divorce ten years ago. We've lived here together with our adult children coming and going for the past couple of years. Barista Serves Cultural Lessons Organizers explain significance of AANHPI Heritage Month festival being held at CPKC Stadium Business owners from across the Kansas City area will gather Saturday to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Home Team Improves Again Ninth inning home run Adam Frazier rescues Royals in 2-1 win The Royals move to eight games over .500. Never Discount Deliciousness Looking for ramen in Kansas City? You should eat at these restaurants The Kansas City region is full of great Japanese and Asian restaurants that take their own spins on ramen. No matter if you're shouting for shoyu, mad for miso, or tantalized by tonkotsu, you'll find plenty of exciting versions of the iconic comfort food. Sunny Day Forecast . . . A clear and sunny Saturday great for outdoor fun Saturday will have high temperatures around 79 degrees; rain is back in the forecast for Mother's Day evening Post Malone - I Had Some Help (feat. Morgan Wallen) is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11. ICESCO has remained true to its promise, proud of President Ilham Aliyev's patronage of our nationwide plans and programs, and determined to return the favor, said ICESCO Director-General Salim bin Mohammed AlMalik as he addressed the 7th Kharibulbul" International Music Festival in the city of Shusha, Trend reports. We at ICESCO are proud to have been the first international organization to dispatch a mission of heritage experts to the liberated territories in Karabakh, emphasized Salim bin Mohammed AlMalik. Actually . . . The Kansas GOP is fired up over a string of shut downs . . . But no so much that they would rally support amongst their Super-Majority. Check-it . . . "The Kansas House's top GOP leader accused Gov. Laura Kelly of apathy toward serious national security threats from China and other nations declared by the U.S. government to be adversaries of concern, including Cuba, Iraq, North Korea and Venezuela. The bill would have prohibited more than 10% ownership by foreign nationals from those countries of any non-residential property within 100 miles of any military installation or most of Kansas." Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . Governor Kelly vetoes bills for Kansas military installations, child support orders for unborn children Governor Laura Kelly vetoes bills for Kansas land and military installations and child support orders for unborn children. Kansas' governor has killed proposed limits on foreign land ownership Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed proposed restrictions on foreign ownership of land in Kansas In fairness, the meaning of this flag has "evolved" and become even more politically charged over the years. Meanwhile, as some of our readers note, LGBT flags now dominate the landscape across the metro. Here's a worthwhile report that's worth a look . . . The previously volunteer-led, and now city-led, event has been going on since 2006, and in 2018 added Thin Blue Line flags honoring KC-area and Kansas law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. It was the idea of a Merriam business owner who wanted to honor another business owners relative who died in the line of duty. But the city council has been formally asked to remove the Thin Blue Line flags from the display going forward, for fear of ambiguous messaging that honors law enforcement. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . The Balearic Islands have recently updated their tourism policies to combat excessive tourism. The new regulations target public drinking and party boats in key tourist hotspots like Ibiza and Mallorca. These changes aim to promote more responsible behavior among visitors and ensure the local communities continue to thrive alongside the tourism industry. New Tourism Regulations Take Effect in Balearic Islands Under the new rules, drinking alcohol on the streets is banned in specific areas, unless it occurs on licensed terraces or designated zones. Those caught breaking this rule could face fines between 500 and 1,500. According to CNN, the regulations also affect party boats, which are now prohibited from selling alcohol onboard if they are within one nautical mile of the regulated zones. This measure seeks to decrease the disruptive behaviors associated with excessive drinking, which have previously led to public disturbances and safety concerns. These stricter rules stem from the original 2020 decree, a response to media reports highlighting uncivil behavior by tourists, particularly the younger crowd. Such behavior has not only been a nuisance but has also resulted in serious accidents and, in some cases, fatalities. The goal of the revised decree is to reshape the islands' nightlife reputation into one that aligns with responsible and sustainable tourism. In addition to curbing negative behaviors, the Balearic Islands' government is investing in the future of tourism. They are using 16 million from a sustainable tourism tax to fund projects that encourage responsible tourism practices. These projects are crucial as tourism accounts for more than 45% of the region's GDP, making it vital to find a balance that supports the economy and the well-being of the Balearic Islands' residents and visitors. Related Article: Spanish Locals Tell UK Tourists to Go Home Amid Protests Spanish Island Enhances Harbor Bookings for Larger Yachts The Ports de Illes Balears (Ports IB), the harbor authority in the Balearic Islands, is launching a new booking website that accommodates larger yachts and catamarans. Starting May 22 at 12 noon CEST, the updated system will allow vessels up to 25 meters in length to reserve buoy spaces and harbor berths. With this, it marks a significant upgrade from the previous limit of 15 meters in length and 4.46 meters in width. As per Yacht, this enhancement comes just in time for the peak tourist season in the Balearic Islands, addressing the high demand for berths and making the booking process more inclusive for wider boats that were previously unable to secure spots. The changes aim to streamline the reservation experience during the busiest times, ensuring that visitors have secure and convenient mooring options. Additionally, Ports IB manages 12 harbors across the islands, offering guest berths that are more economical compared to those in private marinas. The buoy fields, available from June 13 to Oct. 15, are strategically positioned to support the diverse sizes and types of visiting vessels. This development is expected to boost the local tourism sector by accommodating a broader range of maritime visitors, enhancing their experience in the picturesque Balearic Islands. Just a short drive from the lively streets of Camden, Maine, you'll discover Norumbega Inn, a place that redefines the typical bed and breakfast. With its 1887 Queen Anne design, featuring stone walls and elegant black trim, this inn invites you to stay in this historical place with modern comfort. The owners, Will Tims and Brett Haynie, have revitalized this historic mansion into a space of old-world charm and today's design needs. They have opted for a global decoration influence inspired by the original owner, an inventor who traveled extensively, instead of the common nautical theme. So, what can you find at Norumbega Inn that you won't find anywhere else? Simply put, READ ON! History and Modernity at Norumbega Inn When you visit the Norumbega Inn, you feel like you are between two eras. This inn isn't just an ordinary bed and breakfast. It's an 1887 Queen Anne masterpiece that owners Will Tims and Brett Haynie have skillfully updated. They maintained its historical beauty while infusing it with contemporary comfort and style. Their careful design leaves no corner of this majestic stone mansion untouched. Every element at Norumbega Inn has its own story, making your stay comfortable and incredibly rich in historical texture. Design That Travels Beyond Maine The global touches in Norumbega Inn's design reflect the worldly spirit of its original owner, Joseph Baker Stearns, an inventor and not a sea captain. This choice to escape the typical nautical theme found in many New England inns gives Norumbega a unique atmosphere. Here, you encounter decor and artifacts that might have been gathered from around the world, yet everything feels right at home in Maine. The design firm, studiocake, worked closely with the owners to achieve a fresh look deeply rooted in the inn's history. The result is a novel setting and perfectly integrated with its environment. Related Article : Dog Park Inn Idaho Allows Visitors to Sleep Inside a Giant Dog [VIDEO] Rooms with Character Every room at Norumbega Inn has its own beauty, thanks to the unique design and attention to detail. The Library Suite, for example, features a secret staircase leading to a private library, complete with a stained glass rose window. Another room, the Arundel, offers a deck under an ancient oak, ideal for morning relaxation. The Penthouse boasts a massive picture window where you can observe the sailboats on Penobscot Bay. No matter which room you choose, you find comfort wrapped in elegance, with each space inviting you to explore and relax in style. More Than a Place to Stay Norumbega Inn provides experiences that extend beyond its walls. There are expansive grounds with a bocce court and croquet, perfect for leisurely afternoons. Or you can just relax in one of the cabanas, cocktail in hand, enjoying the peaceful environment. Inside, you can mingle with other guests at the bar, savoring a Negroni while a piano plays in the background. The inn creates an environment that encourages relaxation and engagement, making it hard to leave. The Perfect Base for Exploring Maine While the Norumbega Inn is a destination in itself, it also serves as the perfect base for exploring the Mid-Coast region. Just north of Camden, with its excellent shops and restaurants, the inn is ideally situated for day trips to places like Acadia National Park. The local area is rich with hiking trails, boutique shopping, and fine dining. After a day of adventures, returning to the comfort and beauty of Norumbega feels like coming home to a haven of peace and luxury. Title changed Details added: first version posted on 15:08 BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11. A meeting has been held under the leadership of the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, Trend reports via the Ministry of Defense. First, a minute of silence was held to honor the memory of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev and martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The minister delivered to the meeting participants the tasks arising from the speech of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Ilham Aliyev, made on May 10 at a meeting held within the opening of the first residential complex in Shusha with the first group of former IDPs who returned to the city. Noting the importance of bringing the speech of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to the entire personnel of the Azerbaijan Army, the minister gave relevant instructions on this matter. Then, the relevant order of President Ilham Aliyev, on the discharge of the Deputy Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan Commander of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Ramiz Tahirov, taking into account the last age of military service, was brought to the attention. Hasanov emphasized that the activities of the Air Force, as well as other types of troops of the Azerbaijan Army in the 2020 second Karabakh uar and other operations are always commended by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It was noted that, in accordance with the requirements of the head of state, important steps have recently been taken towards the development of the Air Force and its military potential has been further increased. Besides, it was mentioned that the adoption of new aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles that meet modern requirements, the training of professional servicemen and pilots are vivid examples of successful reforms aimed at army development. The Commander and personnel of the Air Force have been repeatedly presented with various awards and medals by the relevant orders of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the worthy performance of service duties. The leadership of the Ministry of Defense expressed gratitude to Lieutenant General Tahirov for his long-term impeccable military service in the Azerbaijan Army, and special merits in protecting the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and wished him success in his future life. Meanwhile, Tahirov thanked the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense for their trust and noted that he will remain faithful to the traditions of statehood in his future activities. Stay up-to-date with more news at Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11. A group of IDPs consisting of families temporarily settled in dormitories, sanatoriums, former pioneer camps, unfinished buildings, and administrative buildings in different districts of the republic left Garadagh district of Baku on May 9, Trend reports. According to the assignment of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the first group of former IDPs was sent to Shusha City and Sus village in Lachin district. At the first stage, 20 families (88 persons) were resettled to Shusha city and 20 families (75 persons) to Sus village in Lachin district. After 30 years, as a result of the victory gained by the valiant Azerbaijani army under the leadership of President, victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, the IDPs were able to return to their native lands voluntarily, safely, and with dignity. Residents of Shusha City and Sus village in Lachin district who returned to their native lands expressed gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva for all-around state care. They also expressed gratitude to the brave Azerbaijani army and heroic soldiers and officers who liberated Azerbaijani lands from occupation, prayed for the repose of the souls of the martyrs who died in this way, and wished patience to their families. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has invited the leaders of Argentina, Iceland and the Ecumenical Patriarch to the Global Peace Summit. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said this during a video address, Ukrinform reports. "Despite everything, we are preparing the Peace Summit, we are preparing a platform for the world majority to force Russia to peace. Today I personally invited the President of Argentina, the Prime Minister of Iceland and the Ecumenical Patriarch to the Summit. I am grateful to each of them for their desire to restore the full effectiveness of international law. We will be equally active in the future - all continents, all views of countries should be represented at the Peace Summit," Zelensky said. He added that a meeting had been held to prepare for the Summit. "The organisation of the Summit has already been worked out. We still have a task - for each leader to show their effectiveness for the sake of common interests. We are confident that this will happen. And this is what we have to take consciously now - Russia is trying to disrupt it. The more meaningful the Summit is, the closer peace will be. It is obvious that Putin does not want this. It is obvious that he will continue to try to disrupt our efforts - both by attempting to attack and by trying to undermine our agreements with other leaders. We must prevent this from happening. We have to do everything for this," the President stressed. As Ukrinform reported earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky invited the Presidents of Moldova, the Czech Republic and Ghana, as well as the Prime Minister of Ireland, to take part in the Peace Summit. The Global Peace Summit will be held on 15-16 June in Switzerland. It is expected to be attended by heads of state and government from all continents. The participating countries will develop a common negotiating position and submit it to Russia. The Ukrainian peace formula is a diplomatic mechanism proposed by Ukraine to achieve a just end to the war unleashed by Russia There are numerous cases in Russia when their aircraft accidentally lose ammunition on their territory when flying to attack targets in Ukraine, which indicates a systemic problem that poses a problem for civilians. This was reported by the British Ministry of Defence on social media platform X, citing intelligence data, Ukrinform reports. The ministry recalled several cases when Russian fighter jets accidentally dropped ammunition when flying to attack the territory of Ukraine. For example, on 4 May 2024, a Russian fighter jet accidentally dropped a FAB-500 munition on a civilian area in Belgorod. At the time, the governor of the Belgorod region confirmed that there had been an explosion, damaging 30 houses and 10 cars and injuring five people, without giving a reason. On 18 February, a FAB-250 was released at the Soloty test site in Belgorod Oblast, leading to the evacuation of 150 residents. The intelligence service cites media analysis that such releases are quite common: 20 munitions were accidentally dropped in Belgorod region alone between March and April 2024. "These incidents demonstrate Russia's continued failure to successfully use its munitions as intended. Such mistakes have devastating and deadly consequences for the Russian population," the ministry concludes. As Ukrinform reported, in April last year, a Russian Su-34 aircraft accidentally dropped a munition on the city of Belgorod, which led to an explosion and damage. And at the beginning of this year, Russian aircraft dropped two bombs on the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation: FAB-250 and FAB-500. Residents of one village had to be evacuated. A month later, Belgorod Oblast again experienced an "abnormal munitions drop" near the Ukrainian border, and an X59 missile was found in a field near the village of Krasne. Subscription to paid content Gain access to all that Trend has to offer, as well as to premium, licensed content via subscription or direct purchase through a credit card. ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, May 11. The Ministry of Energy of Turkmenistan, Turkmengaz State Concern, and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of the project 'Measures and political dialogue to combat climate change in 20242028', Trend reports. According to official data, the signing of the memorandum is planned in Ashgabat on May 14 during the '30 years of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the EU: working together for the future' forum. Thematic sessions will examine Turkmenistan-EU inter-parliamentary ties, security, trade, education, 'green' energy, and program implementation. Furthermore, in order to introduce the public to new projects that will be carried out in collaboration with the EU, a press conference is also being planned. Meanwhile, cooperation between the EU and Turkmenistan in the field of renewable energy is gaining momentum in light of the common desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diversify the energy portfolio. Discussions are underway between the two parties regarding the potential for joint investments, the development of renewable energy projects in Turkmenistan, and the sharing of knowledge and expertise in this area. The projects will make use of solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources. The University of Virginia (UVA) finds itself embroiled in controversy following a police crackdown on a pro-Palestinian encampment on its grounds. The incident, which occurred on Saturday, has sparked intense debate and raised questions about the university's response to peaceful protests and its commitment to free speech. The Incident: What Happened? On Saturday, a small group of protesters had set up an encampment on UVA's campus to demonstrate in support of Palestine. The protest was described as peaceful, with demonstrators chanting slogans and holding signs. However, the situation took a dramatic turn when university officials called in the Virginia State Police to clear the encampment. According to UVA administrators, their decision to involve law enforcement was based on concerns about the size of the encampment, the alleged presence of individuals in tactical gear, and reports of aggressive behavior by some protesters. Tim Longo, UVA's Chief of Police, stated that he felt threatened by the protesters and feared for his safety. However, videos and eyewitness accounts from the scene paint a different picture. Footage shows a calm scene with protesters holding umbrellas, some of whom were already using them to shield themselves from the rain. There is no evidence of the aggressive behavior described by Longo, and protesters can be heard chanting peacefully. The Fallout: Faculty and Community Response In the aftermath of the incident, faculty members and community members have raised serious concerns about the university's handling of the situation. Many have disputed the official narrative put forth by UVA administrators, accusing them of exaggerating the threat posed by the protesters and using excessive force. At a virtual town hall meeting, faculty members expressed their dismay over the police crackdown and questioned why UVA officials did not attempt to engage with the protesters before calling in law enforcement. They also criticized UVA President Jim Ryan for his absence during the incident, noting that his lack of involvement had further inflamed tensions. Some faculty members have called for an independent investigation into the incident, arguing that UVA's internal review is unlikely to be impartial. They have also demanded accountability from university officials, including Longo and Ryan, for their actions. Looking Ahead: Rebuilding Trust and Moving Forward As UVA grapples with the fallout from the incident, there are growing calls for the university to take concrete steps to rebuild trust with its faculty, students, and the broader community. Many believe that transparency is key and are calling on UVA to release all relevant information about the incident, including video footage and police reports. There are also calls for UVA to reevaluate its approach to protests and free speech on campus. Some argue that the university's response to the pro-Palestinian encampment is indicative of a broader trend of suppressing dissenting voices on campus and are calling for a recommitment to free speech and academic freedom. In response to the criticism, UVA officials have stated that they stand by their decision to involve law enforcement and have defended their handling of the situation. However, as the controversy continues to swirl, it remains to be seen whether UVA will be able to regain the trust of its faculty, students, and the community at large. A troubling trend has emerged in the vast landscape of the internet: counterfeit college websites, often dubbed "zombie universities," are on the rise. These websites resurrect the names and identities of defunct colleges, offering courses and degrees to unsuspecting students. Despite their convincing appearances, these institutions are not accredited and are not authorized to receive federal financial aid. This phenomenon raises serious concerns about identity theft, legitimacy, and the challenges of regulating online education. The Proliferation of Counterfeit College Websites At least nine shuttered colleges have had their names resurrected on the web, with Stratford University being a prominent example. Despite closing its doors in 2022, a new website bearing the same name and visual elements has emerged, luring prospective students with promises of education and career advancement. The original Stratford website has been taken down, leaving only the counterfeit site in its wake. Other institutions, such as Morrison University and Jones International University, have also been victims of this trend. These counterfeit websites not only deceive students but also potentially engage in identity theft by collecting personal and financial information through their application processes. Kari Kammel of Michigan State University suspects some of these sites may be using application information for nefarious purposes. READ MORE : Former UCSF Administrator Receives 20-Month Prison Sentence For Embezzling Tuition Funds Challenges and Responses from Authorities These counterfeit websites pose a challenge for authorities and oversight agencies. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been reluctant to intervene, stating that it does not oversee unrecognized accrediting agencies or schools ineligible for federal aid. Similarly, the Education Department has confirmed that the universities in question are closed and unaccredited but have limited authority to address the issue. Some efforts have been made at the state level. The North Carolina attorney general took action against King's College in Charlotte, which closed in 2018, but the imposter website remains online. In Colorado, the Department of Higher Education referred cases involving counterfeit universities to the Attorney General's Office for investigation. Uncovering the Operators Behind the Websites The operators behind these counterfeit websites are elusive. They often register domain names using .college, .university, or .education endings, which are cheap and do not require detailed registration information. Despite efforts to uncover the individuals or organizations responsible, their true identities remain shrouded in mystery. One individual, Teoh Tong Wah, CEO of American Education Inc., has been linked to several of these counterfeit universities. His company's address is often used as the mailing address for these institutions, raising questions about his involvement. However, Wah has denied any wrongdoing and claims to have only offered consultation services to some universities. The proliferation of counterfeit college websites presents a complex challenge that requires coordinated efforts from authorities, regulators, and internet providers. While some steps have been taken to address the issue, such as cease-and-desist letters and investigations, the underlying problem persists. Students and prospective applicants must remain vigilant and verify the legitimacy of institutions before providing personal information or financial details. The case of zombie universities serves as a stark reminder of the risks and challenges posed by the digital age, where deception and fraud can lurk behind seemingly legitimate websites. The intersection of global conflicts and campus activism has brought mental health to the forefront of college campuses nationwide. The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, coupled with divisive protests, has created a volatile environment, amplifying feelings of fear, vulnerability, and anxiety among students. As colleges grapple with these complex issues, the need for mental health support has surged, challenging institutions to address the growing mental health crisis on campus. The Impact of Global Events on Student Mental Health The COVID-19 pandemic has already taken a significant toll on the mental health of college students, leading to increased feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Now, recent events in Gaza and the ensuing protests have added another layer of stress and uncertainty for students. The conflict has sparked intense debates and activism on college campuses, with students organizing protests, sit-ins, and other forms of demonstration to voice their opinions and show solidarity with affected communities. For many students, these events have heightened feelings of fear and vulnerability. Reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia have surged, with incidents of discrimination and bias affecting students' well-being. According to the Anti-Defamation League, 73% of Jewish college students have experienced or witnessed antisemitism since the start of the academic year, up from 32% in the previous year. Similarly, the Council on American-Islamic Relations documented a 56% increase in bias reports, with nearly half of the incidents involving colleges and universities. Campus Responses and Challenges College and university administrators are facing a challenging task in responding to these events while supporting students' mental health. Some institutions have faced criticism for their handling of protests, with students accusing them of prioritizing academic schedules over student well-being. The Jed Foundation, a national organization that focuses on young adult mental health, emphasizes the importance of providing immediate support to students who are grappling with the impact of global events. Digital mental health services platforms have reported a significant increase in demand for counseling services. BetterMynd, a startup that provides online mental health services to colleges, noted a higher need for support since the conflict began. Similarly, Uwill, another digital platform, saw a 28% increase in appointments scheduled from September to October. Students are seeking therapists who can relate to their experiences, with more students asking for counselors who identify as Muslim or Jewish. Addressing the Mental Health Crisis on Campus To address the growing mental health crisis, colleges and universities must prioritize mental health support and resources for students. This includes providing access to counseling services, creating safe spaces for discussion and expression, and fostering a sense of community and belonging on campus. It also requires a proactive approach from administrators to listen to students' concerns and respond with empathy and understanding. One of the key challenges is destigmatizing mental health issues and encouraging students to seek help when needed. Many students may be hesitant to seek support due to fear of judgment or lack of awareness about available resources. Colleges and universities can combat this by promoting mental health awareness campaigns, offering educational workshops, and integrating mental health support into campus culture. The mental health impact of global events and campus activism cannot be understated. Colleges and universities must recognize the unique challenges facing students and take proactive steps to support their mental health. By prioritizing mental health resources and fostering a supportive campus environment, institutions can help students navigate these challenging times and promote well-being for all members of the campus community. (@Abdulla99267510) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says Pakistan and UK have long-standing ties which are getting stronger with time. ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed Pakistans keen interest in attracting investments from the UK and other countries. Talking to British High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott in Islamabad today, he said Pakistan has enormous potential in agriculture, food security, information technology, tourism, mining and other sectors. The Prime Minister said Pakistan and UK have long-standing ties which are getting stronger with time. Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan is moving towards institutional reforms and digitization of FBR is in final stages. The Prime Minister said measures are being taken at the macro and micro economic level to revive the countrys economy. The British delegation appreciated the governments education emergency initiative. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was also present on the occasion. (@Abdulla99267510) Malik Ahmad Khan has taken the decision on request of a SIC leader in light of the Supreme Courts decision. LAHORE: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-May 11th, 2024) In a significant development for the ruling alliance in Punjab, Provincual Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan took action by suspending the membership of 27 MPAs on reserved seats after a recent decision by the Supreme Court. The court had overturned the allocation of reserved seats by the Peshawar High Court and the Election Commission of Pakistan to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). Opposition lawmakers expressed approval of the decision, applauding the speakers decision. The suspension came after MPA Rana Aftab of SIC raised the issue in light of the courts ruling. Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan deemed the request valid and proceeded to suspend the membership of the 27 MPs. The ruling takes effect immediately, with the banned MPs barred from entry. The ruling alliance lost 24 female lawmakers and three minority MPs due to the courts decision. The suspended MPs represent various parties including PML-N, PPP, IPP, and PML-Q. The decision also alters the balance of power in the Punjab Assembly, reducing PML-Ns support from 226 MPs to 203. The decision stems from a March 4 ruling by the ECP, which aimed to fill seats through proportional representation based on parties electoral successes. The decision impacted the PTI-backed SIC, which lost 77 reserved seats across various assemblies. Besides it, the Peshawar High Court rejected SICs petitions regarding reserved seats, challenging the ECPs allocation decisions. ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th May, 2024) The Presidency for Religious Affairs at the Two Holy Mosques in Saudi Arabia extended a warm welcome to the first group of hajj pilgrims, providing them with gifts, informative materials, and a diverse array of enriching religious programs. This effort aims to enhance the spiritual journey of the sacred pilgrimage, Saudi Press Agency reported. The presidency reaffirmed its steadfast dedication to enhancing the pilgrim experience through the implementation of "top-notch enriching initiatives" that harness advanced technology, digital resources, contemporary media, artificial intelligence, and translation services to facilitate access to religious guidance and ensure pilgrims derive maximum benefit from the available services. Additionally, the presidency aims to "promote the moderate message of the two holy mosques on a global scale," aligning with the goals of the Saudi leadership, and to offer outstanding religious services that exemplify the principles of tolerance and moderation. NEW YORK, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th May, 2024) Police moved in to disband a number of pro-Palestinian student encampments on US campuses across the country as protests against academic ties with Israel stemming from the Israeli war against Gaza continued to roil academia, according to American media reports. On Friday, police dismantled pro-Palestinian encampments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Pennsylvania, the report said. Pennsylvania police officers in riot gear entered the campus around daybreak and arrested 33 protesters with the assistance of Philadelphia Police at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, police in riot gear arrived at MIT around before dawn, encircled the camp and gave protesters about 15 minutes to leave. At least ten students were arrested, the universitys president said. In the meantime, protesters outside the camp began chanting pro-Palestinian slogans but were dispersed by police officers. At the University of Arizona in Tucson, campus police in riot gear fired tear gas at protesters late Thursday. Two people were arrested, a university spokesperson said. Police also arrested 13 people at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. Protesters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison agreed Friday to permanently dismantle their two-week-old encampment, in return for the opportunity to connect with decision-makers who control university investments by July 1. The university agreed to increase support for scholars and students affected by the war in Gaza. At Harvard University, where protesters remain camped on Harvard Yard, at least twenty students were on involuntary leaves of absence for their involvement in the ongoing pro-Palestine encampment on Friday. The decision to place the students on involuntary leave comes just hours after protesters said they rejected an offer from the interim Harvard president to end the encampment. Students placed on involuntary leave will not be able to finish exams, stay in Harvard housing, and must cease to be present on campus until reinstated, Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in an emailed statement on Friday. The encampment has remained in the center of Harvard Yard since April 24. Since mid-April, students have been demonstrating against Israels war on Gaza at about 140 colleges in the United States. The demonstrators are demanding their universities cut direct or indirect financial ties with US weapons manufacturers and Israeli institutions. Many also want their universities to end academic relationships with the regimes institutions. The school Union Theological Seminary (UTS) said the Unions board of Trustees voted Thursday to divest from companies profiting from the regimes genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) a student group organizing around human rights for Palestinians described the move as the beginning of the domino effect and called on students to remain steadfast and refuse to capitulate in our demand for divestment. Ismael, a versatile journalist and social communicator, excels in print, radio, and TV, currently editing at VAVEL, presenting at Canal Trece, and commenting on Colmundo Radio, with extensive experience in live sports coverage and analysis. Rains returned to Rio Grande do Sul on Friday as the death toll from historic floods in Brazil's southernmost state reached 126, according to local authorities, climbing from 113 earlier in the day. The storms and floods battering the state, home to about 10.9 million people, also have displaced almost 340,000 while another 141 people are still unaccounted for, civil defense said. Heavy rains have caused several rivers and lakes in the region to hit their highest levels ever, while floods blocked streets and disrupted logistics, triggering a shortage of essential goods in certain areas. Almost 2 million people have been affected so far, civil defense said in their latest update Friday evening. Weather forecaster MetSul said that most Rio Grande do Sul cities should experience rain Friday, adding there is a high risk of storms. They should persist until Monday, it added in a statement. The state is at a geographical meeting point between tropical and polar atmospheres, which has created a weather pattern with periods of intense rain and others of drought. Local scientists believe the pattern has been intensifying due to climate change. In Canoas, one of most affected cities near state capital Porto Alegre, more than 6,000 people were staying in a college gymnasium turned into shelter. Aparecida de Fatima Fagundes said she had been struggling to sleep there as she could not stop thinking about "the worst day" of her life. "I keep remembering people saying, 'Help, help,'" she said. "It was horrible." The state government said more than 385,000 people had no water services, while some 20 cities were out of telecom services. On Thursday, the federal government announced a package of aid measures to help Rio Grande do Sul, which included bringing forward payment of social benefits and providing cheaper credit to farmers and companies. Governor Eduardo Leite said earlier this week that initial calculations indicate that Rio Grande do Sul would need at least 19 billion reais ($3.68 billion) to rebuild from the damage, which has extended into farm areas around the capital. Following Turkeys decision to halt all trade with Israel because of the war in Gaza, there are concerns that bilateral relations might deteriorate further. Experts speaking to VOA Turkish argue this is a dramatic change in ties, whereas previously the economic aspect was usually the last one to incur damage despite political tensions. Turkey announced last month it was restricting the export of 54 items to Israel, including steel, construction products and chemical fertilizers. And earlier this month, Ankara took the unprecedented step of halting all trade, sending Turkish and Israeli traders scrambling for alternatives. Turkish-Israeli ties have been strained since a 2010 incident in which Israeli commandos raided the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara aid ship sailing for Gaza in international waters. Despite tensions throughout their unsteady relationship, impacted at times by the domestic political dynamics of each country, the trade component of their relations largely remained intact. Nimrod Goren, Israeli affairs expert at the Middle East Institute, said the recent move was a game changer. One of the unique characteristics of the relations was every time there was political tension, the economic relations managed to continue. Now its a big-time change in the nature of relations, he told VOA in an interview via Skype. Gallia Lindenstrauss, from the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, is worried that diplomatic relations might also be in danger. Likening the trade component to oxygen for the bilateral ties, she said, Trade was in a way [an] insurance policy for the relations. When you take out trade, you are not left with a lot. Call to 'work through differences' Turkey and Israel appeared to be on a path of rapprochement until the war in Gaza reversed those efforts. Just a few weeks before the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in person for the first time on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The two leaders committed to mutual visits. Goren said that before the Hamas attack took place, relations between Turkey and Israel were good. The starting point this time for Turkey was a very good one. Turkey had good relations with Israel, and it had better relations with Egypt. Those were the two things that prevented Turkey from mediating in the Israeli-Hamas escalation in the past, he said. The United States called this week on Turkey and Israel to resolve their differences. When asked about Turkeys trade ban with Israel, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, They are both allies of ours and we would encourage them to work through their differences. Businesspeople in limbo Turkey and Israel conducted $6.8 billion in trade last year. A free-trade agreement between the two countries has been in place since 1997. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, or TUIK, Israel ranked 13th among the countries Turkey exported to the most in 2023. Israel imported vehicles, construction materials, steel and textile products from Turkey. There has been concern that the trade ban would have an impact on Azerbaijan oil shipped to Israel via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The oil tankers bound for Israel are loaded at Turkey's Ceyhan port. Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told VOA Turkish that Turkey's function is to transmit and load the oil. It continues to operate the pipeline as part of an international agreement, he added. Ankara says the trade ban will stay in place until there is a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. The talks in Cairo have yet to yield results amid concerns of a bigger military action by Israel in Gazas southern city of Rafah. The war is not in the same level of intensity. But it might prolong. Businesspeople dont like uncertainty. They are in limbo now. If its temporary, its one thing. But if its going to be prolonged, it will be very, very hard to get back to square one, Lindenstrauss told VOA. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted a tweet Thursday on X saying Turkey had retracted many of the trade restrictions, easing the trade ban. Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat dismissed his claim as absolutely fictional. However, the Turkish Trade Ministry reportedly introduced a three-month respite for firms to fulfill their existing orders via third countries. A source from the ministry told Reuters the move aims to protect Turkish traders, while another source denied any easing of the ban. This story originated in VOAs Turkish Service. Fierce battles continue for a second day in northeastern Ukraine, where the Russian Defense Ministry said its troops captured five villages a claim Kyiv contested. The ministry said Moscow's forces had taken the villages of Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylna and Strilecha in the Kharkiv region across the border from Russia's Belgorod region. Ukrainian officials didn't confirm the Russian gains, but the Institute for the Study of War on Friday said that geolocated footage confirmed at least one of the villages was seized. The Washington-based policy institute described recent Russian gains as "tactically significant." Kharkiv's governor Oleh Syniehubov said there was fighting around all five of the villages, which are within 3 to 5 kilometers of the border. "We clearly understand what forces the enemy is using in the north of our territory. Certainly, the escalation can grow, the pressure can increase, it can strengthen its military units, its military presence," Syniehubov said, according to Reuters. He noted that for now the regional capital of Kharkiv is not under imminent threat and there is no need to begin evacuating its roughly 1.3 million people, who continue to live there despite regular missile and drone strikes. "As of now the enemy keeps pressing in the north of our region. Our forces have repelled nine attacks," he said at a news conference on Saturday. Zelenskyy calls situation tense In his nightly video address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said fighting was going on around seven border villages in the Kharkiv region and he called the situation in the southern Donetsk region especially tense. Russian troops supported by armored units have moved into 1 kilometer into Kharkiv to try to establish a buffer zone that would prevent Ukrainian attacks into Russia's border regions, according to a high-ranking Ukrainian military source who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject. The Russian advances on the region have forced more than 1,700 civilians to flee the area, according to Ukrainian authorities. More than two years after its invasion, Russia has gained the advantage on the battlefield, opening a new front as Ukraine faces shortages of manpower, along with stocks of artillery shells and air defenses. In a statement earlier Saturday, Zelenskyy urged Kyiv's Western allies to expedite the supply of weapons they had pledged. "It is important that partners support our soldiers and Ukrainian stability with timely supplies. Really timely. The package that really helps is the weapons brought to Ukraine, not just the ones announced," he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in March he was considering creating a "sanitary zone" in Ukrainian territory adjoining Belgorod, a Russian region often hit by Ukrainian shelling. The White House said Russian forces may be preparing to mount a large-scale counteroffensive against the Ukrainian northeastern city Kharkiv after making incremental incursions into the area and opening a new front near Ukraine's second-largest largest city. "You're not going to do that if you're not also thinking about some other larger assault directly on the city," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Friday during a press briefing. US announces military aid The U.S announced a fresh $400 million military aid package of weapons and equipment for Ukraine as Ukrainian forces try to repel an intensified Russian armored ground offensive near the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Kirby said. The State Department said in a statement the emergency military package contains urgently needed capabilities, such as additional air defense munitions for Patriot and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems; Stinger anti-aircraft missiles; equipment to integrate Western launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine's systems; additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and ammunition; 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds; TOW and Javelin missiles and AT-4 anti-armor systems; Precision aerial munitions; High-speed Anti-radiation missiles; Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles; M113 Armored Personnel Carriers; Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles; coastal and riverine patrol boats; small arms ammunition and grenades; demolitions munitions; and spare parts. The package by the Presidential Drawdown Authority allows the U.S. president to transfer munitions and services from the Pentagon's U.S. stockpile without the U.S. administration needing to receive U.S. congressional approval. This is the third tranche of emergency military aid for Ukraine since the U.S. Congress passed a $95 billion aid bill, with $60.8 billion of that amount going to Ukraine. Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. A Brazilian horse nicknamed Caramelo by social media users garnered national attention after a television news helicopter filmed him stranded on a rooftop in southern Brazil, where massive floods have killed more than 100 people. About 24 hours after he was first spotted and with people clamoring for his rescue, a team in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state on Thursday successfully removed Caramelo, providing a dose of hope to a beleaguered region. The brown horse had been balancing on two narrow strips of slippery asbestos for days in Canoas, a city in the Porto Alegre metropolitan area that is one of the hardest-hit areas in the state, much of which has been isolated by floodwaters. "We found the animal in a debilitated state," Cap. Tiago Franco, a firefighter from Sao Paulo deployed to lead the rescue, was quoted as saying in a statement from that state's security secretariat. "We tried to approach in a calm way." Firefighters and veterinarians climbed onto the mostly submerged roof, sedated and immobilized the horse and then laid him on an inflatable raft all 770 pounds of him. The operation involved four inflatable boats and four support vessels, with firefighters, soldiers and other volunteers. The rescue was broadcast live on television networks that filmed from their helicopters. Social media influencer Felipe Neto sent out updates to his almost 17 million followers on X as the rescue was under way. Afterwards, he offered to adopt him. "Caramelo, Brazil loves you!!! My God, what happiness," he wrote. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's wife, Janja, posted a video of herself sharing the good news with the Brazilian leader, whispering into his ear at an official event. He smiled, gave a thumbs up and hugged her to him. Rio Grande do Sul's Gov. Eduardo Leite also celebrated the rescue, posting on X: "All lives matter, we stand firm!" Caramelo is recovering at a veterinary hospital affiliated with a university. Mariangela Allgayer, a veterinarian and professor at the institution, said Thursday afternoon on social media that the horse arrived very dehydrated. He is about 7 years old and, based on his characteristics, was likely used as a draft animal for a cart, Bruno Schmitz, one of the veterinarians who helped rescue and evaluate Caramelo, later told television network GloboNews. He's also very gentle, Schmitz added, which greatly helped with the administration of sedatives. "It was a very difficult operation, well beyond the standards even for specialized teams. I think they had never been through something like this before, but thank God everything went well," he said, then showed Caramelo standing up. The stranded horse is just one of many animals rescue workers have been striving to save in recent days. Rio Grande do Sul state agents have rescued about 10,000 animals since last week, while those in municipalities and volunteers have saved thousands more, according to the state's housing secretariat. Animal protection groups and volunteers have been sharing images of difficult rescues and heartwarming scenes of pets reuniting with their owners on social media. One video that went viral shows a man crying inside a boat, hugging his four dogs after rescuers went back to his home to save them. Heavy rains and flooding in Rio Grande do Sul have killed at least 107 people. Another 136 are reported missing and more than 230,000 have been displaced, according to state authorities. There is no official tally for the number of animals that have been killed or are missing, but local media have estimated the number is in the thousands. Not far from where Caramelo was rescued, pet owners in Canoas celebrated as they waited in line to get donations at a makeshift animal shelter organized by volunteers. "So much bad news, but this rescue does give people here some more hope," said Guilherme Santos, 23, as he sought dog food for his two puppies. "If they can rescue a horse, why not all dogs that are still missing? We can definitely do this." Carla Sassi, chairwoman of Grad, a Brazilian nonprofit that rescues animals after disasters, said she is meeting with state government officials in Canoas to discuss emergency measures to rescue pets. The leader of a recently formed Cambodian opposition party has been charged with inciting social disorder, his lawyer said Saturday, in the third major legal action this month targeting critics of the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet. Sun Chanthy of the Nation Power Party, established late last year, was formally charged Friday by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and sent to pre-trial detention in the northwestern province of Pursat, according to Choung Chou Ngy. He said his client could be sentenced to six months to two years in prison if convicted, and that on Monday he will seek his release on bail. Cambodia's government has long been accused of using the judicial system to persecute critics and political opponents. The government insists it promotes the rule of law under an electoral democracy, but political parties seen as mounting strong challenges to the ruling Cambodian People's Party have been dissolved by the courts or had their leaders jailed or harassed. Sun Chanthy, 41, was arrested Thursday at Phnom Penh International Airport after returning from a trip to Japan where he held a meeting with several hundred Cambodian overseas workers. He spoke there about the desire for the government to allow more freedom for opposition parties. In remarks shown on his Facebook page, he also criticized Hun Manet's government for policies that forced people to fall into debt to banks, while running up the nation's debt to foreign countries. Sun Chanthy also reportedly criticized the government's system of issuing special cards to poor families that allow them to receive social welfare handouts. The Justice Ministry said in a statement that he was charged for his remarks about the cards because he had "twisted information" to dishonestly suggest that they would only be distributed to those who join the ruling Cambodian People's Party. Sun Chanthy's Nation Power Party said his arrest was an act of intimidation that critically affected the country's process of democracy. It called for his unconditional release. Cambodia under its former Prime Minister Hun Sen, who held power for almost four decades, was widely criticized for human rights abuses that included suppression of freedom of speech and association. He was succeeded last year by his son, Hun Manet, but there have been few signs of political liberalization. Sun Chanthy's detention comes just days after labor union leader Morm Rithy was sentenced to 18 months in prison by the same court in connection with comments he made during a live broadcast on Facebook two years ago that criticized the arrest of a casino worker. On May 3, Cambodia's high court upheld the two-year prison sentence of a prominent female labor union leader. Chhim Sithar, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, had originally been convicted in May 2023 of incitement to commit a felony during a long-running strike of workers at a casino resort in Phnom Penh. Sun Chanthy had been a top leader of the former Cambodia National Rescue Party and was closely associated with its chief Sam Rainsy, the harshest critic and most popular opponent of the Cambodian People's Party for decades. Sam Rainsy has been in exile since 2016 to avoid serving prison sentences on defamation, treason and other charges, which his supporters consider politically motivated. The Cambodia National Rescue Party had been expected to present a strong challenge to the ruling party in the 2018 general election. But as part of a sweeping crackdown on the opposition before the polls, the high court dissolved the party, and the Cambodian People's Party subsequently won every seat in the National Assembly. Sun Chanthy joined the Candlelight Party, the successor to the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was barred from competing in last year's general election on a technicality. He left the Candlelight Party to help form the Nation Power Party in October last year. Chad says it has deployed combat-ready troops to stop armed attacks and maintain peace as the death toll increased to 12 people in post-election violence on Saturday. At least 90 people have sustained severe injuries in the capital, N'djamena. Chad state TV reports that keeping and using war weapons and firearms is prohibited until further notice by the central African state's military. It noted the prohibition of weapons was imposed after 9 people were killed and upwards of 60 were injured in shootings in N'djamena on Thursday night, after provisional results of the May 6 presidential elections were announced. Chad's police say three other injured victims died in two hospitals in N'djamena on Friday night. About 30 other civilians were injured in confrontations and shootings, and they were rushed to hospitals, where the government has ordered they be treated at no charge. Opposition and civil society say several hundred civilians who protested the May 6 presidential election results have been arrested and detained, especially in the capital city and in Moundou, Chad's second-largest city. Chad's elections management body, known as ANGE, has proclaimed transitional ruler General Mahamat Idriss Deby the winner, with more than 61% of the vote. His main challenger, Succes Masra, is second, scoring 18.53% of the vote. Masra claimed he won, but Deby stole his victory. Chad's military said among the shooters were armed supporters celebrating Deby's victory. They may have run into a confrontation with armed opposition supporters, Chad's military said Saturday, noting that illegal arms proliferation is rampant in the central African state. Mbairamadji Desire, president of the N'djamena headquarters of the Rainbow Youth Association for Social Stability in Africa, said he is pleading with armed civilians to drop their weapons and spare Chad from looming civil strife. Mbairamadji said all Chadians, especially youths, should put down their weapons they are keeping illegally because peace is priceless. He warned that Chad could descend into worsening chaos because it is very difficult for its military to be effective on multiple fronts, including seizing weapons hidden in homes, fighting Boko Haram terrorists who are infiltrating the Lake Chad basin, and stopping violence between farmers and nomadic herders that has worsened all over Chad in recent years. In a message after ANGE proclaimed the results, Deby said he is the democratically elected president of all Chadians, including opposition party leaders who are contesting his victory. Deby said he will do everything possible to strengthen Chad's internal security to guarantee threatened peace and stability. Hussein Abdoulaye, a political analyst and lecturer at the University of Ndjamena, spoke with VOA via a messaging app from N'djamena. He said civilians are increasingly aware that Chad's government has a tradition of rigging elections and using the military to crack down on the opposition, but that Chadians know their rights and may use violence if they think the opposition was deprived unfairly of victory. In several messages shared on social media, including WhatsApp and Facebook, Masra is calling on civilians to calmly mobilize and demonstrate peacefully for what he calls his stolen victory to be restored. Chad's government and the elections body say candidates have five days from the date of publication of provisional results to file complaints at the constitutional council. The action could cancel the elections if it establishes that there was massive fraud, including stuffing of ballot boxes and intimidation of civilians at polling stations as the opposition claims. Definitive results are scheduled to be declared by Chad's Constitutional Council on May 21. Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded his high-profile European tour Friday after signing dozens of agreements with France, Hungary and Serbia, while reiterating Beijings desire to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Europe. Some analysts say Xis trip to Europe is part of Beijings attempt to undermine European unity while deepening its foothold in the European Union through elevated economic ties with Hungary, a member of the 27-nation bloc. Beijing has identified France as a weak link in the EU that it could potentially influence because of French President Emmanuel Macrons efforts to prioritize his countrys strategic autonomy, and the Chinese government thinks they can use Hungary and Serbia to influence Central and Eastern Europe, said Sari Arho Havren, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in Brussels. Chinese state media outlets are framing Xis European tour as a success by highlighting the positive aspects of the trip. The state-run Global Times described the 18 deals that China and France signed this week as a positive signal for European entrepreneurs and a stabilizer to China-Europe trade ties against [the] decoupling push. Meanwhile, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said Chinas decision to elevate ties with Hungary marks the most recent stride in China's effort to deepen cooperation with Central and Eastern European nations. Judging from the substance of his trip, Arho Havren said, Xi did achieve some success in testing unity in Europe. Additionally, Arho Havren said Xis recent interactions with Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also expose a fault line between Germany and France the EUs top two economies regarding how to handle relations with China. Since Scholz prioritized German interests due to fear of Chinese countermeasures during his trip to Beijing, [its clear] that Beijing has been successful in influencing the German businesses and through them, the chancellor, she told VOA in a written response. Unlike Scholz, some experts said Macron tried to show that he supports the EUs common approach toward China by inviting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to join his initial meeting with Xi in Paris. I think conveying the sense that [projecting European unity] is the top priority for French diplomacy has been the successful part of Xis European tour for Paris, Mathieu Duchatel, director of international studies at the French policy group Institut Montaigne, told VOA by phone. Overall, Arho Havren said some European countries should understand they cant influence Chinas behavior by engaging with them individually. Rather, such practice runs the risk of creating disunity within the EU, which is what Beijing seeks. China will continue its efforts to keep the EU disunited by playing the target countries' vulnerabilities and egos against one another, she told VOA. EUs economic security agenda Some observers say one of Chinas initiatives to challenge the EUs unity is to slow down the blocs efforts to carry out key parts of its economic security agenda. In recent months, the EU has launched anti-subsidy investigations into several Chinese products, including green energy and security devices. During his meeting with Macron and von der Leyen, Xi said there is no such thing as Chinas overcapacity problem, and he urged the EU to develop the right perception of China and adopt a positive China policy. Despite Beijings denial, von der Leyen reiterated on Wednesday that Europe needs to stop China from flooding the European market with massively subsidized electric cars. We have to tackle this, [and] we have to protect our industry, she said during the party convention of the Christian Democrats in Berlin. Duchatel said China has not been very successful in slowing down the EUs economic security agenda. I dont think China can turn away that wave because when it comes to using [the economic security] instruments to reestablish some form of balance in our relations with China, there is a broad agreement across Europe, he told VOA. While there is a consensus across Europe that the EU should strengthen its capacity to defend its interests, Duchatel said there is a lack of unity in the bloc about how to build leverage against China. We are failing in terms of having a more offensive agenda to force some concessions [from Beijing], he told VOA. Countries may get some nuances in the Chinese language regarding Ukraine, or words regarding withholding tariffs on [French] brandy. [They] dont really get anything tangible [from Beijing], Duchatel said. Following his meeting with Xi and von der Leyen, Macron said he welcomed Chinas pledge not to supply arms to Russia, while Xi said he supports Macrons proposal for a global truce during the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. No major changes Despite Beijings attempt to portray Xis visit as productive regarding improving EU-China relations, some analysts say they dont expect the trip to reshape the dynamics between Beijing and Brussels. Justyna Szczudlik, deputy head of research at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, told VOA that since France is the most important stop for Xis trip and Macron showcased his support for the EUs approach toward China, she doesnt anticipate any huge change to EU-China relations following Xis visit. While the economic security agenda will remain the EUs main approach to handling trade relations with China, Duchatel said many European countries say that Chinas investment environment has become very risky and that Beijing has failed to persuade European governments that its partnership with Russia is not something that goes against European security. I dont think Xis words in Paris have changed this perception, so his visit [wont] make up for the trust lost over the last few years, he told VOA. Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia's fugitive former leader, stares confidently out the backseat window of a car, the sun illuminating his gaze in a campaign poster for Sunday's critical elections in the northeastern Spanish region. The image plays on another one imagined from six years prior when Puigdemont hid in the trunk of a car as he was smuggled across the French border, fleeing Spain's crackdown on a failed illegal 2017 secession attempt that he had led as Catalan regional president. Sunday's elections will be a test to see if Catalonia wants him back as leader or if the wealthy region has moved on from secession and has more pressing worries. Puigdemont is still technically a fugitive. But ironically, recent maneuvers by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have revitalized his political career. Sanchez promised amnesty to Puigdemont and other separatists facing charges in return for the support of separatist lawmakers in the national parliament to form a new government in Madrid. But that could now backfire and cause problems for the national government if Puigdemont, public enemy No. 1 for many Spaniards, is reelected. Sanchez's stake Either from conviction or necessity, Sanchez has spent huge amounts of political capital taking decisions embraced in Catalonia but largely lambasted in the rest of the country that were aimed at wooing back voters from the separatist camp. So far it seems to be working. The Socialists' candidate, Salvador Illa, is currently leading all the polls ahead of both Puigdemont and current Catalan regional president Pere Aragones, another secessionist from a different Catalan party. Illa won the most votes in the 2021 Catalan elections but could not stop Aragones from keeping the separatists in power. If the Socialists win Sunday, Sanchez, who has campaigned alongside Illa, can boast that his risky bets on Catalonia have paid off. "Carles Puigdemont is the past, we represent the future," Illa said at a debate this week, as he focuses on social issues and casts the debate about secession as stale. "If the Socialists have a strong showing, that will give Sanchez a boost, especially before European elections (in June)," Oriol Bartomeus, a professor of political science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona told The Associated Press. But Illa's chances of becoming regional president will, according to all election polling, still hinge on winning the support of other parties, including most likely Aragones' Republican Left of Catalonia. Puigdemont's pledge Puigdemont is running on the pledge that he will finally return home in theory under the protection provided by the amnesty when the newly elected lawmakers convene to form a new regional government. That investiture vote would come in the weeks after the post-election negotiations between parties. Puigdemont has moved, at least temporarily, from Waterloo, Belgium, where he has lived as a self-styled "political exile," to a French village just north of Spain where he has campaigned with rallies by followers who have crossed the border. He has said that if he is not restored to power he will retire from politics. Voter priorities The question Puigdemont, Illa, Aragones and the other candidates now face is how much Catalonia has changed. A record drought, not independence, is the number one concern among Catalans, according to the most recent survey by Catalonia's public opinion office. Some 70% of would-be voters now say that the management of public services, the economy and climate change would drive their choice at the polls, while 30% say the question of independence was still their priority. The opinion office said 50% of Catalans are against independence while 42% are for it, meaning support for it has dipped to 2012 levels. When Puigdemont left in 2017, 49% favored independence and 43% were against. Pablo Simon, political science professor at Carlos III University in Madrid, said that the secessionist movement was in a period of uncertain transition. "I would not dare say that the secessionist movement is dead, but I can say that we are in a period where we don't know what will come next," he said. A growing number of civilians and police officers are demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti's police chief as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince, seizing control of yet another police station early Saturday. Armed men raided the coastal community of Gressier in the western tip of Port-au-Prince late Friday, injuring people, burning cars and attacking homes and other infrastructure as scores of people fled into the nearby mountains following a barrage of gunfire overnight. It was not immediately known if anyone died. Videos posted on social media showed people fleeing into the early dawn balancing bags and suitcases on their heads as men clad in sandals and carrying heavy weapons celebrated with gunfire. "The town is ours," said one man who filmed himself with others who were armed, noting they were in Gressier. "We have no limits." The attack comes roughly a week after gang attacks in central Port-au-Prince forced more than 3,700 people to flee their homes. "The situation is critical and catastrophic," Garry Jean-Baptiste, a spokesperson for the SPNH-17 police union, told The Associated Press. He called Frantz Elbe, director of Haiti's National Police, incapable and incompetent: "Monsieur Elbe has failed." Jean-Baptiste said the union wants a newly installed transitional presidential council to demand Elbe's resignation and order justice officials to launch an investigation into the crisis. "Police continue to lose their premises and equipment and officers," he said, adding that at least 30 police stations and substations have been attacked and burned in recent months. He also accused Elbe and other high-ranking officials of being complicit with gangs. Elbe did not immediately return a message for comment. Jean-Baptiste said the officer who was stationed in Gressier "resisted for a while" but was unable to stave off the gang attack given a lack of staff and resources. "The police could not prevent the worst," he said. Jean-Baptiste said the attack was planned by gunmen who came from the neighboring communities of Village de Dieu, Martissant and Mariani. Gressier is in an area controlled by Renel Destina. Best known as "Ti Lapli," he is a leader of the Grand Ravine gang and considered a key ally of Izo, another powerful gang leader, according to the United Nations. The Grand Ravine gang has some 300 members and is accused of killings, kidnappings, rapes and other crimes. Those fleeing Gressier now join more than 360,000 other Haitians who have been forced to abandon their homes as gangs raze communities in rival territories to control more land. Tens of thousands of Haitians have squeezed into squalid, makeshift shelters, including schools and government buildings abandoned due to gang violence. The violence surged starting February 29, when gangs launched coordinated attacks. Gunmen have burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that remains closed since March 4, and raided Haiti's two biggest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates. Veteran politician Andre Michel wrote on the social media platform X that the most recent attack targeting Gressier shows "Haiti will not be able to get out from under the gangs without an international force. We will not be able to secure the country ourselves." A U.N.-backed deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti has been repeatedly delayed, although some believe the first officers might arrive in late May. Scores of U.S. military planes have been landing at the shuttered airport in Port-au-Prince in recent weeks, carrying civilian contractors, life-saving supplies, building materials and heavy equipment ahead of the anticipated arrival of a multinational mission. Iranians had the chance to cast ballots for parliament again Friday in regions where candidates failed to secure enough votes in March, when conservatives and ultra-conservatives won a majority. First-round voting saw a turnout of 41%, marking the lowest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Candidates needed at least 20% of all valid votes in their constituency to be elected in the initial round. Friday's vote was to fill the seats of 45 deputies, out of the 290 in parliament, in 15 of Iran's 31 provinces, including Tehran, officials said. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among the first to cast a ballot as voting began. "If God wishes, dear people, everyone should participate in these elections and vote. Greater participation signifies a stronger parliament," he said. In March, 25 million Iranians took part, out of 61 million eligible voters. The main coalition of reform parties, the Reform Front, had said ahead of the first round that it would not take part in "meaningless, non-competitive and ineffective elections." The vote was the first since nationwide protests broke out following the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, 22. Amini, an Iranian Kurd, had been arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Wednesday that participation in the second round was "as important" as the first. "Those with influence among the people should encourage the nation to participate in it," he said, according to Mehr news agency. In the 2016 parliamentary elections, first-round turnout was above 61 percent, before falling to 42.57% in 2020 when elections took place during the COVID pandemic. ASTANA, Kazakhstan, May 11. Kazakhstan has entered the ranking of countries in terms of effectiveness in combating climate change, Trend reports. According to the Climate Change Performance Index, Kazakhstan ranks 60th out of 67 countries. Kazakhstan jumped one spot from 2023 (61st). Coming in at number 48 with an index of 46.4, Uzbekistan is Central Asian country to make the cut. To note, rankings are based on each countrys overall score. This is calculated from the individual scores in four categories, consisting of 14 indicators. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's renewable energy installations generated 6.675 billion kWh of electricity by the end of 2023. This volume accounts for 5.92 percent of total electrical energy production in 2023. The country currently has 147 renewable energy facilities (over 100 kW) with an installed capacity of 2,903.54 MW: 59 wind power plants with a capacity of 1,409.55 MW; 46 solar power plant facilities with a capacity of 1,222.61 MW; 39 hydroelectric power plants with a capacity of 269.605 MW; and three biogas power plant facilities with a capacity of 1.77 MW. Furthermore, by the end of 2023, 16 renewable energy facilities with a total installed capacity of 495.57 MW had been operational: 12 wind farms with a total capacity of 437.1 MW in the Akmola and Zhetysu regions, 2 hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of 3.7 MW in the Almaty and Turkestan regions, and two solar power plants with a capacity of 54.77 MW in the Turkestan region. Hence, a total of 25 renewable energy projects with a combined 599.85 MW of capacity are expected to be commissioned by 2027. A man was rescued from the rubble five days after a deadly building collapse in South Africa in what Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said was "nothing short of a miracle." Officials said in a statement that of 81 people who were on site when the five-story building collapsed on Monday in the city of George, east of Cape Town, 13 were confirmed dead, 29 were alive and 39 were still unaccounted for. In a post on social media platform X, Winde said on Saturday the survivor had been successfully extracted from the debris after 116 hours. After Monday's collapse, rescuers used cranes, drills and their bare hands to try to reach those trapped. Rescue operations were continuing. Police made dozens of arrests as pro-Palestinian protest encampments were dismantled Friday at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hours after police tear-gassed demonstrators and took down a similar camp at the University of Arizona. Philadelphia and campus police at Penn took action around daybreak to remove protesters from an encampment in place for more than two weeks. School officials said protesters were given warnings and the chance to leave without being detained. About 33 people, including faculty members and seven students, were among those arrested and charged with trespassing, the school said. Protest camps have sprung up across the U.S. and in Europe in recent weeks as students demand their universities stop doing business with Israel or companies that support its war efforts. Organizers seek to amplify calls to end Israels war against Hamas in Gaza, which they describe as a genocide against the Palestinians. The top U.N. court has concluded there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza a charge Israel strongly denies. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, police in riot gear arrived at MIT around 4 a.m., encircled the camp and gave protesters about 15 minutes to leave. Ten students who remained were arrested, the universitys president said. A crowd outside the camp began chanting pro-Palestinian slogans but was quickly dispersed. At the University of Arizona in Tucson, campus police in riot gear fired tear gas at protesters late Thursday the day before the school's main commencement ceremony before tearing down an encampment that included wood and plastic barriers. The school said that police vehicles were spiked and that rocks and water bottles were thrown at officers and university staff. Two people were arrested, a university spokesperson said. Friday night's commencement will go forward, university president Robert Robbins said. And at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, police arrested 13 people Thursday night after they refused to leave a damaged and vandalized building. The charges ranged from misdemeanor trespass to felonies including battery on a peace officer, school spokesperson Amanda Bradford said. The building, Hadley Hall, was cleared and open Friday. Protesters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison agreed Friday to permanently dismantle their two-week-old encampment and not disrupt graduation ceremonies this weekend, in return for the opportunity to connect with decision-makers who control university investments by July 1. The university agreed to increase support for scholars and students affected by wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Graduates from Pomona College in Southern California will have to travel 40 miles (65 km) for their commencement ceremony Sunday, as administrators seek to avoid a current encampment. The college said it would provide transportation to the venue, a historic theater in Los Angeles. In April, protesters entered an administration building and police arrested 20 people. The protest movement began nearly three weeks ago at Columbia University in New York City. Some colleges nationwide cracked down immediately, while others tolerated the demonstrations. Some recently started calling in the police, citing concerns about disruptions to campus life and safety. The Associated Press has recorded at least 75 instances since April 18 in which arrests were made at U.S. campus protests. Nearly 2,900 people have been arrested at 57 colleges and universities. The figures are based on AP reporting and statements from schools and law enforcement agencies. Arizona State University on Friday confirmed that it had placed its campus police chief on paid administrative leave pending a review of complaints filed related to his actions two weeks ago when an encampment was removed and police made more than 70 arrests during a pro-Palestine rally on the campus in Tempe. The school said it was reviewing actions surrounding the establishment and removal of the encampment. Local news outlets reported earlier that ASU Police Chief Michael Thompson had been placed on leave after he had been seen out of uniform cutting and removing tents during the protest. The school told ABC15 Arizona earlier that he had left a meeting to respond to the rally. Although their encampment was cleared after two weeks, demonstrators at George Washington University vowed Friday to keep up their protest. Police arrested 33 people on Wednesday while ousting the initial encampment. The next night, a crowd of chanting demonstrators returned to the university about five blocks from the White House, setting up tents while a large Metropolitan Police Department force assembled. After multiple warnings to disperse, protest leaders ended the demonstration around midnight. One person was arrested for throwing water at a police officer. Vietnamese officials are hopefully anticipating an unannounced visit to Hanoi by Russian President Vladimir Putin, possibly as early as next week on his way to Beijing for meetings with Chinese leaders. Experts say such a visit would allow the Russian leader to show that Western efforts to isolate his government over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine have failed, while furthering Hanoi's efforts to navigate a middle ground between the United States and China. Vietnam could also be expected to seek an arms deal with its historical ally as its Soviet-era military equipment ages beyond its service life. During a phone call on March 26, the leader of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong extended an invitation to Putin to visit Hanoi. According to state media outlet Vietnam News Agency, "President Putin happily accepted the invitation and agreed for the two sides to arrange [the visit] at a suitable time." Ian Storey, fellow at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told VOA that the visit could take place this month, when Putin is expected to travel to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Putin confirmed at an April 25 congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs that he would visit Beijing sometime in May. He did not provide dates, but Bloomberg quoted unidentified sources saying it would take place on May 15 and 16. "Putin might use this opportunity to visit Russia's three closest partners in Asia: China, Vietnam and North Korea," Storey wrote in an email on April 10. "Putin would use this visit to signal to the world that his government's 'Turn to the East' policy remains on track and that the West has failed to isolate Russia." Balancing power Maintaining a close connection to Moscow is a priority for the Vietnamese leadership as they attempt to balance between the world's two leading powers, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at Honolulu's Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. "Vietnam has to balance its relationship between China and the United States, and it's like it's caught between a rock and a hard place," he told VOA during a Zoom call on April 13. Vuving said that Beijing is a threat to neighboring Vietnam's territorial integrity not only as it encroaches into the South China Sea but also as its power grows regionally. While the U.S. is the obvious counterbalance, Washington is seen as a threat to the country's regime by the ruling Communist Party. "Russia offers a very good middle ground for Vietnam," Vuving said. Moscow shares "regime affinity and their leaders still call each other comrades." Furthermore, Russian enterprises are key partners to Vietnam's oil and gas ventures in the South China Sea, he said. Storey said a meeting would be particularly significant after Hanoi upgraded ties with Washington in September 2023 and Xi visited Hanoi in December. "Putin has been invited to visit Vietnam twice now," first by President Vo Van Thuong in October 2023 and again in March by Trong, Storey wrote. "Now that the visits of Presidents [Joe] Biden and Xi have taken place, Vietnam might welcome a visit by Putin for two reasons: First, to demonstrate that it pursues a balanced foreign policy; and second, to show Moscow that despite the war in Ukraine, Russia remains a valuable friend." Arms and public perception Nguyen The Phuong, a doctoral candidate at the University of New South Wales Canberra, told VOA that an arms deal with Russia may be in the works. "If Putin visited it will be a very good chance for Vietnam to explore those kinds of possibilities of how they could somehow purchase weapons from Russia," Phuong said, speaking to VOA on April 8 over Zoom. Storey wrote that acquiring new fighter jets is a top priority for Vietnam "as its current inventory of Russian-made aircraft is reaching the end of its operational life." "We cannot rule out future purchases from Russia," he said, adding that any discussion of arms deals would be kept tightly under wraps amid sensitivity over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Although Vietnam's international reputation would be damaged if news of an arms deal with Russia was made public, it would likely be supported by the majority of the Vietnamese public, according to Phuong. "They would be welcoming of the upcoming visit of Putin," he said. "The Vietnamese public still has some sense of some support for Russian weapons it's a result of a historical narrative and propaganda." Still, that support is not universal. Tran Anh Quan, a Ho Chi Minh City-based social activist, said he has opposed the war on Ukraine since its outset. "If today I do not oppose Russia's invasion of Ukraine, then later, if China invades my country, who will speak up to support us?" he wrote over the messaging app Telegram in Vietnamese on April 13. Quan told VOA that he has faced pushback from Vietnamese authorities for his efforts to support Ukraine. "In March 2022, I created the Vietnamese Stand With Ukraine fanpage to launch a campaign to support the Ukrainian people. Then I printed and sold t-shirts with the slogan Vietnamese Stand With Ukraine to raise money to send to the Ukrainian embassy in Hanoi," he wrote. "In October 2022, security from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security came to my house to arrest me and interrogate me about my pro-Ukraine views. The police told me verbatim that 'supporting Ukraine is a plot to overthrow the Vietnamese state.'" In the face of threats, Quan said, he closed his initiative to support Ukraine. "They threatened to kill me if they met me in Ho Chi Minh City. So I had to close my business to be safe," he said. The United Nations and Taliban authorities said Saturday that the death toll from flash floods following heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistans northern Baghlan province had risen to a least 300. The U.N. World Food Program said the flooding destroyed more than 1,000 houses. It said that this has been one of many floods over the last few weeks due to unusually heavy rainfall. A senior Taliban official said in a social media video message that Fridays calamity had left at least 150 people dead in a single Baghlan district called Nahreen. Ghulam Rasool Qani said the death toll might rise and noted that military helicopters had arrived in the area to assist in local rescue efforts. Authorities said that rescue workers are bringing aid to hardest-hit Baghlan districts. The WFP said it was distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesperson, stated on social media platform X that the flooding had caused devastation in several other northern and western provinces, including Badakhshan, Ghor and Herat. Regrettably, hundreds of our fellow citizens have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries, Mujahid wrote. Moreover, the deluge has wrought extensive devastation upon residential properties, resulting in significant financial losses. Mujahid said the government had directed the Ministry of Disaster Management and other relevant authorities to mobilize all available resources expeditiously to rescue victims and bring them to safer areas, evacuate bodies, and provide timely medical treatment to those injured. We also urge our fellow citizens to assist the affected victims of this natural disaster to the best of their abilities and collaborate with the flood-stricken individuals, Mujahid said. Poverty-stricken Afghanistan also experienced heavy rains and flash floods across 32 of its 34 provinces in mid-April, resulting in the deaths of more than 100 people. According to international aid groups, the flooding destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and about 24,000 hectares (59,800 acres) of agricultural land, along with critical infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, and electricity supplies, which could hinder the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on the Afghan human rights situation, expressed his condolences to the victims families. "Recent floods in Afghanistan, including Baghlan, which claimed many lives, are a stark reminder of Afghanistans vulnerability to the climate crisis & both immediate aid and long-term planning by the Taliban & internal actors are needed, Bennett wrote Saturday on X. An estimated 80% of the more than 40 million people in Afghanistan depend on agriculture to survive. The war-ravaged South Asian nation is ranked sixth among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, which experts say is responsible for the unusually heavy seasonal rains. Aid workers had warned before Fridays devastation that any additional flooding would be detrimental for large swathes of the Afghan population, already reeling from an economic collapse, high levels of malnutrition and conflict. Three years of successive drought and the harshest winter in 15 years have exacerbated Afghanistans hunger crisis at a time when international support is falling, the U.S.-based International Rescue Committee, or IRC, said in its latest assessment, published last week. The report said that an estimated 15.3 million Afghans, or 35% of the population, continue to suffer from crisis or worse levels of food insecurity. Nearly half of the population lives in poverty and will continue to experience economic hardship, the IRC said. Afghanistans economy crashed after the Taliban militarily seized power in 2021 as the then-internationally supported government collapsed and U.S.-led international forces withdrew after 20 years of involvement in the Afghan war. The Taliban takeover led to the termination of foreign development funding for Afghanistan, and its banking system largely remains isolated over terrorism-related concerns, as well as sanctions on Taliban leaders. The head of the United Nations World Food Program 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, in an NBC interview broadcast Sunday, said 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 spokesperson later told The Associated Press that 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 United States 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 United States and other countries cannot meet the needs of Gaza's 2.3 million people, a growing number of them reaching the stage of malnutrition in which a child's 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, a global initiative that includes WFP as a partner. It said nearly a third of Gaza's 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 McCain's 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. Here's what is known about famine and the hunger crisis in Gaza. What a famine means 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 essentially are starving; at least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning they're too thin for their height; and two adults or four children per every 10,000 people are dying daily of hunger and its complications. In northern Gaza, the first condition of extreme lack of food has been met, senior WFP spokesperson Steve Taravella told The Associated Press. The second condition of child acute malnutrition is nearly met, he said. But 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. The causes of catastrophic hunger 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 U.S.-established Famine Early Warning Systems Network. Once inside Gaza, food and other aid doesn't 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 Israel's invasion and became the epicenter 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 6-year-old from northern Gaza with cystic fibrosis was taken to the United States on a humanitarian flight after his mother made a video pleading for help. Fadi Al-Zant's jutting ribs and thin arms showed advanced malnutrition. How to avert a famine Humanitarian groups say it will be difficult to deliver life-saving aid without a cease-fire. 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 U.S. Agency for International Development told the AP 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 official's anonymity, citing security concerns over his work in the conflict. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has welcomed Israel's recent steps to increase deliveries but stressed such moves must be sustained. That's not easy. Israel on Sunday closed its main crossing point for delivering aid after a Hamas attack killed soldiers. Voices from Gaza 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 scarce. As Brazils heavily flooded southern state of Rio Grande do Sul braces for a weekend of intense rain, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, is calling for greater support to help tens of thousands of refugees, who are among the most vulnerable people affected by the disaster. Those affected include some 41,000 refugees and others in need of international protection, including many Venezuelans and Haitians who live in the affected areas some of [whom] can only be reached by boat, William Spindler, UNHCR spokesperson, told journalists Friday in Geneva. According to local authorities, at least 126 people have died in the floods, 141 are missing, about 2 million people are adversely affected, and more than 400,000 are homeless. Spindler said the UNHCR, in coordination with local authorities, is distributing relief items such as blankets and mattresses, noting that additional relief items such as emergency shelters, kitchen sets, solar lamps and hygiene kits are being sent to Brazil. In the coming days, UNHCR will be supporting the issuance of documentation, where it has been lost or damaged, to guarantee refugees and asylum-seekers continue to access social benefits and public services, he said. Spindler noted that refugees do not live in camps separated from the population, but that they live with the host communities, under the same conditions in which the local inhabitants live. So, it is the host communities that is the focus of our support. We need to strengthen their capacity, so they can continue to host refugees. That means strengthening social services, access to education, to health, and so on for the local people, as well as the refugees, he said. The UNHCR estimates $3.21 million is needed to support the most urgent needs, including direct financial assistance to flood-affected people and the provision of essential relief items. Brazil is a country prone to natural disasters. It has been subject to more frequent and devastating extreme weather events in recent years, including droughts in the Amazon region and severe rains in Bahia and Acre states. A report issued this week by the World Meteorological Organization on the state of the climate in Latin America and the Caribbean highlights the vulnerability of the entire region to extreme weather and climate change impacts in 2023. The authors of the report say it is difficult to know whether conditions this year will be worse. But WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis observes that for those affected by the disastrous floods in Brazil, 2024 is an absolutely record-breaking bad year. She emphasized that the flooded area is huge. It is massive, and it really will undermine the socio-economic development in that entire area for a long time to come. She said El Nino, a weather phenomenon that warms ocean surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean, is playing a major role in the floods in Brazil, as it also is in the floods in Eastern Africa. On top of that, you have got climate change. It is a double whammy of El Nino and climate change. And that is what we are seeing in Brazil right now. Even when El Nino fades, which it will do, the long-term effects of climate change are with us, she said. Our weather is on steroids, Nullis said, adding that every fraction of a degree of global warming means our weather will become more extreme. The UNHCRs Spindler noted severe climate events disproportionately affect refugees and other people requesting international protection. Therefore, he said it is important to work on prevention and to focus on populations that are most at risk. The impact of climate change affects everybody, but some individuals and communities are in a more vulnerable situation, he said, noting that refugees and migrants are most imperiled because they are not from the country in which they are living. They come from other countries, and that means they do not have the same social networks, family and so on that nationals have. Often, they are living in areas that are more exposed to risks. So, they are impacted in a more disproportionate way by these events, he said, underscoring that not enough funding is available to address the impact of climate change nor to address the needs of those forcibly displaced, nor the communities hosting them. Without help to prepare for, withstand and recover from climate-related shocks, they face an increased risk of further displacement, he warned. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken submitted a report to Congress criticizing Israel's conduct in Gaza. However, the report says Israel is not currently stopping aid into Gaza and stops short of saying it is using U.S. weapons in ways that violate U.S. or international law. The findings follow Washingtons suspension of a bomb shipment to Israel over concerns that the Israeli prime minister plans to expand military operations in Rafah. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has the story. U.S. health and agriculture officials pledged nearly $200 million in new spending and other efforts Friday to help track and contain an outbreak of bird flu in the nation's dairy cows that has spread to more than 40 herds in nine states. The new funds include $101 million to continue work to prevent, test, track and treat animals and humans potentially affected by the virus known as Type A H5N1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said. And the aid includes about $98 million to provide up to $28,000 each to help individual farms test cattle and bolster biosecurity efforts to halt the spread of the virus, according to the Agriculture Department. In addition, dairy farmers will be compensated for the loss of milk production from infected cattle, whose supply drops dramatically when they become sick, officials said. And dairy farmers and farm workers would be paid to participate in a workplace study conducted by the USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, farmers have been reluctant to allow health officials onto their farms to test cattle because of uncertainty about how it would affect their businesses, researchers have said. Also, farm workers, including many migrant workers, have been reluctant to be tested for fear of missing work or because they didn't want to be tracked by the government. The National Milk Producers Federation, a trade group representing dairy farmers, said they welcomed the new resources. "Care for farm workers and animals is critical for milk producers, as is protecting against potential human health risks and reassuring the public," the group said in a statement. The incentives should help increase farmers' willingness to test their herds, said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, who has been monitoring the outbreak. "It provides the latitude and capacity to start going in the right direction," he said. The new spending comes more than six weeks after the first-ever detection of an avian bird flu virus in dairy cattle and one confirmed infection in a Texas dairy worker exposed to infected cows who developed a mild eye infection and then recovered. About 33 people have been tested and another 260 are being monitored, according to the CDC. As of Friday, 42 herds in nine states have confirmed infections in dairy cows. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that the outbreak has not spread more widely. "It's still in the same nine states and that's the most positive thing about where we are," he told reporters. Samples of grocery store milk tested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showed remnants of the virus in about 1 in 5 samples of retail milk nationwide, however, suggesting that the outbreak could be more widespread, scientists have said. Under a federal order issued last month, farmers are required to test lactating dairy cattle for H5N1 before the animals are moved between states. The Agriculture Department said Friday that 112 out of 905 tests conducted between April 29 and May 5 by federal animal health laboratories appeared to be positive. Officials could not say how many cows tested positive because multiple samples may have been collected from a single cow. Labs are conducting about 80 more tests per day than before the order took effect, an Agriculture Department spokesman said. About 50,000 dairy cattle typically cross state lines every week, Poulsen estimated. The FDA found that pasteurization, or heat-treating, killed the virus in the grocery samples of milk, cottage cheese and sour cream. The agency reiterated warnings that people should not consume raw, or unpasteurized milk, because of possible risk from the virus. Officials on Friday also said they expect results soon from tests of pooled raw milk samples sent to commercial processors to "determine potential levels of virus that pasteurization must eliminate." The USDA found no evidence of the virus in a small sample of retail ground beef. "The risk to the public from this outbreak remains low," Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said. JOHANNESBURG What's the future of artificial intelligence in Africa? When that question is entered into the AI platform ChatGPT, it answers that it "holds immense potential for transformative impact across various sectors," notably health care, agriculture and education. Human experts tend to agree, and AI is fast becoming the latest frontier in U.S.-China competition on the continent. "To advance in AI research and innovation, African countries will need significant investments in computing infrastructure," said Chinasa T. Okolo, a Center for Technology Innovation fellow at The Brookings Institution. "The U.S. and China could potentially be good partners to help with such initiatives." In the coming years, researchers predict AI companies will run out of data in English and Western languages but that is not the case in Africa where much more data is still needed, Okolo said. "Thus, by investing in Africa, companies from AI superpowers like the U.S. and China stand to gain valuable data that they could use to build services and systems to be sold back to African countries," she said. South Africa's AI drive One country on the continent that is rapidly pursuing AI is South Africa. At a government summit on AI in April, Mondli Gungubele, the minister of communications and digital technologies, said, "The era of generative AI is just beginning, and as a country and a continent we cannot and must not allow ourselves to be left behind." South Africa has already established the Artificial Intelligence Institute of South Africa, or AIISA, and it is rolling out "hubs" at universities across the country. It was created to ensure that the country's industries and sectors benefit from AI, said Hitekani Magwedze, spokesman for the ministry of communications and digital technologies. "Through the AIISA, we have now created AI hubs in manufacturing and services, farming and agriculture, automotive and transportation, and military and defense," with more sectors planned, Magwedze told VOA. "South Africa has global partnerships with major countries such as U.S. and China in the G20 and BRICS," he said. "These leading countries see South Africa as a gateway into Africa and the developing countries agenda." Magewedze said AI can help with unemployment, inequality and poverty in the country. In May, Tshwane University of Technology will launch a new AI Career Tech Center in collaboration with U.S. tech giant, Intel. "The AI hubs across the country are partnering with strong partners from the international community to achieve the objectives of the AI institutes," said Anish Kurien, Acting Director of the university's AIISA hub. Earlier this month, South Africa's Department of Defense launched a Defense Artificial Intelligence Research Unit at the country's military academy. "There is a need for African solutions to African challenges, and AI is an enabling technology of the [Fourth Industrial Revolution] which will play a role in solving many of the social issues facing our beloved continent," Wayne Dalton, the deputy director of the new research unit, told VOA. When asked about U.S.-China involvement, Dalton said, "South Africa's AI strategy and goals are in their infancy" but "there will be plenty of opportunities for the U.S. and China to help us achieve these goals." The increased focus on AI in South Africa comes at a time when public opinion has increased for China and slightly decreased for the U.S., according to a new Gallup report released in April. Trends in public opinion may not necessarily apply to collaboration on the AI front, and African nations will partner with parties that can offer the most value, said Okolo. "While the U.S. government has provided substantial aid to African countries, China took a different approach by leading with infrastructure investments, which will increasingly become important as African countries aim to bolster their telecommunications and data infrastructure," she said. China and US interest The U.S. has already invested in AI in Africa. Silicon Valley giant Google opened its first AI lab in Ghana, while IBM has research facilities in Kenya and South Africa. At an American Chamber of Commerce Business Summit in Nairobi last month, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced a partnership to enable U.S. companies to invest in AI and data centers in Kenya. SEE ALSO: Lisa Walker, managing director for Africa operations at Prosper Africa, a U.S. government trade initiative, told VOA the organization is advancing partnerships under U.S. President Joe Biden's Digital Transformation with Africa strategy. "Prosper Africa launched the Africa Tech for Trade Alliance in April of last year. Today, there are 24 private sector partners under this Alliance including industry leaders like Google, AWS, Intel, Cisco Systems, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, UPS, DHL, FedEx and others," she said. China also has taken an interest in AI in Africa. For over a decade, China has been investing in the continent's internet infrastructure and connectivity through President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative. In April, a China-Africa Internet Development and Cooperation Forum was held in the China's southeastern coastal city of Xiamen and attended by representatives from some 20 African countries. "Africa is an important participant in scientific and technological progress. The development and application of AI is of great significance to the developing countries, including China and African countries," Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA. As for U.S.-China competition in AI, Liu said, "China is willing to carry out communication, exchanges and practical cooperation with all parties, including Africa and the United States, on AI global governance to ensure that AI always develops in the direction of human civilization and progress." During their meeting in San Francisco last year and a recent phone call, Liu said, Chinese and U.S. leaders agreed to promote cooperation in the field of AI. Liu added that the two sides will soon hold the first intergovernmental dialogue on AI. Prosper Africa's Walker had a different take when asked about U.S.-China competition, saying U.S. companies had "incomparable brand value." "It's the focus on mutual growth, local job creation and shared prosperity that continues to set American tech companies apart from international competitors," she said. However, Brookings Institution fellow Okolo is more pessimistic about U.S.-China involvement in Africa. "While I've seen rising interest in Africa from the U.S. and China, I believe it's honestly hard to say how well these countries are interested in specifically working with African countries to advance AI innovation," said Okolo. "While American and Chinese researchers often collaborate with each other in academic AI research, these countries themselves are vying to be leaders within the 'AI race.'" According to the recently released AI Index Report from Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, the U.S. was the leading source of top computer programs known as AI models last year, with 61 compared to China's 15. However, it found that China led globally in terms of AI patents with 61.1%, while the U.S. accounted for only 20%. Most military experts warn of an imminent collapse of the Ukrainian army. The West hopes that the arrival of US weapons next month will reassure it. This is unlikely, because their problem is not a lack of weapons, but the extremely high rate of casualties and the lack of perspective. Under these conditions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has opened up a petition on his official website to ask NATO to send soldiers to the battlefield. On 8 May, he celebrated the Allied Victory Day over Nazism. The goal was to mark its proximity to NATO (which also celebrates it on May 8) and its difference with Russia (which celebrates Victory Day on May 9). President Volodymyr Zelensky was very careful not to mention the position of his countrys leaders during the Second World War, or the racial ideology of the Nazis. He simply accused Russia of showing the same cruelty as the Nazis, relying on unverifiable examples. During World War II, the followers of Dmytro Dontsov, under Stepan Banderas commandment, proclaimed Ukraines independence [from the USSR] together with the Nazis. The ceremony mixed portraits of Fuhrer Adolf Hitler and providnyk Stepan Bandera, with shouts of Slava Ukraini ("Glory to Ukraine"). This proclamation was followed by anti-Jewish pogroms. Subsequently, the Nazis clashed with each other. Stepan Bandera was arrested. He claimed to have spent the rest of the war in prison. It seems, on the contrary, that, protected by Alfred Rosenberg, he worked at the General Inspectorate of Concentration Camps near Berlin. In the end, he ended the war by commanding Nazi units against the Bolsheviks. As for Dmytro Dontsov, he was appointed administrator of the Reinhard Heydrich Institute in Prague (Hungary). There he was in charge of coordinating the "final solution of the Jewish and Gypsy questions". At the end of the war, Dontsov and Bandera were not tried, but were retrieved by the Anglo-Americans to fight against the Soviets. Contrary to what the integral nationalist propaganda claimed after the war, Banderas troops never fought the Nazis. On the contrary, they massacred 1.5 million Ukrainians (out of 17 million at the time). The chiefs of staff of the current Ukrainian army all claim the legacy of Dontsov and Bandera. In addition, Ukraine is putting the finishing touches to the preparations for the peace conference it is organizing on 15 and 16 June in Switzerland. It will be a matter of defining with all the Western Allies what a world at peace should be. The German Chancellor, the Prime Minister of Denmark, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe have already confirmed their participation. Compared to what was expected, the heads of state and government seem undecided to come and participate, especially since President Zelensky will no longer be legitimate when his term expires on May 21, and he has not called an election, but banned the eleven opposition parties. According to China, which declined the invitation, this conference refuses to take into account the security requirements of certain states. According to Russia, which was not invited, this conference refuses to take into account many elements of international law. President Zelenskys term ends on May 21. No election has been called to appoint his successor. The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (SVR) has communicated about its assessment of the situation in Ukraine. According to it, President Volodymyr Zelenskys popularity is in free fall. The population blames him for the war that is dragging on as well as his postponement of the presidential election. Ukrainian politicians are reportedly holding consultations to determine who will be the next president and how to legitimize him. Astana, Kazakhstan, May 11. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have signed a roadmap for the development of strategic cooperation in the field of transport and logistics for 20242025, Trend reports. The signing took place following a meeting between the Ministers of Transport of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Marat Karabayev and Ilkhom Makhkamov. At the meeting, the parties discussed the main areas of cooperation, the possibility of intensifying it, and joint projects in international transport corridor development, railway and road transport, and transport infrastructure construction. Today, work is underway to implement the project "Construction of a New Railway Line, Darbaza-Makataaral." The parties said the project will boost throughput between the two countries by 10 million tons. At the same time, Marat Karabayev noted that the Kazakh side supports the initiative of Uzbekistan to build the Termez-Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway. "Kazakhstan is ready to provide railway track superstructure materials for this project. Since it will open access to important South Asian seaports, the project will improve Central Asian communications and trade," Karabayev said. The ministers also noted the successful growth of road transport between countries. "The volume of export-import transportation by road over the past year increased by 6 percent and amounted to 1.8 million tons. In general, there is a positive dynamic in the development of cooperation in the field of road transportation," Marat Karabayev said. In addition, Karabayev and Makhkamov pointed out that civil aviation is the flagship of the transport and logistics hub. Currently, there are 37 flights per week between the cities of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan aviation officials met in Tashkent last year. The parties agreed to increase the number of permitted flights by more than two times on the routes Astana-Tashkent from 12 to 36 flights per week, Almaty-Tashkent from 20 to 36 flights per week, and other routes up to 4 flights per week during negotiations. According to the data from Uzbekistan's Statistics Agency, the trade turnover volume between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan amounted to $581.8 million from January through February 2024. The exports amounted to $166.2 million, while the imports were $415.3 million during this period. We publish Voltaire, International Newsletter every week, summarizing the facts and arguments of each side. We started in the summer of 2022 and have gradually built up a team of specialists covering the entire world. Although still perfectible, this newsletter is already unmatched. This wealth of information is only accessible by subscription: Yearly subscription: 150 Monthly subscription: 15 By subscribing you not only receive in-depth information, but you also support our action. You will receive an email every Friday with a link allowing you to download Voltaire, International Newsletter in PDF. Contents of N86 EDITORIAL 1175 Ukraine on the brink of the abyss AMERICAS 1176 The White House blocks arms shipments to Israel 1177 Amendment to the Census Act 1178 Fifty-nine journalism professors condemn New York Times article 1179 Special Operations Convention 1180 Congressional Interim Report on Censorship in the United States 1181 Two key witnesses against Boeing killed 1182 Trinidad and Tobago recognizes the State of Palestine 1183 Antigua and Barbuda authorizes a Chinese special economic zone 1184 Nicaragua abandons plans to compete with the Panama Canal 1185 U.S. Reportedly Preparing Regime Change in Bolivia 1186 Corrupt Jose Raul Mulino campaigns against corruption and is elected in Panama EUROPE 1187 Scottish paramedics told not to resuscitate Covid-19 patients over 50 1188 British Army Monitors Gaza 1189 What Emmanuel Macron means by "European defense" 1190 Exodus from Mali to the EU via the Canary Islands 1191 Polish judge Tomasz Szmydt granted political asylum in Belarus 1192 Xi Jinping in Hungary 1193 Josep Borrell admits that without EU weapons, Ukraine cannot resist 1194 EU removes AstraZenecas alleged anti Covid-19 vaccine 1195 The European Parliament recognizes Svetlana Tikhanovskaia as Belarusian Head of State 1196 Preparation of a Color Revolution in Georgia 1197 Serbia and China against the policy of blocs 1198 Russia issues arrest warrants for Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelensky 1199 Russia prepares for possible NATO attack AFRICA 1200 Ibrahim al-Organi in charge of cracking down on Palestinian infiltration in Egypt 1201 Russia reconnects with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ASIA 1202 Israel bans Al-Jazeera 1203 Two prisoners die under torture in Israel 1204 Ansar Allah announces that it is expanding its operations in the Mediterranean 1205 Turkiye joins South Africas complaint to the ICJ 1206 Iranian-Saudi economic relations 1207 Thailand to recriminalize cannabis 1208 China claims gentlemans agreement with Philippines on second Thomas Shoal 1209 China and the Ukrainian crisis 1210 Xi Jinping responds to Ursula von der Leyens accusations 1211 Xi Jinping calls on France to cooperate on international law and trade 1212 Fumio Kishida could agree to publish the use of political funds INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS 1213 Eurovision and ethnic cleansing in Gaza INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS 1214 International Criminal Court (ICC) warns Israel against pressure attempts Call it deja Who. After relaunching in 2005, Doctor Who has been reset for a second time. What wouldve been season 14 is now being billed as season one on Disney+, and Russell T. Davies is once again helming the rebrand. The first taste of Ncuti Gatwas season as the Fifteenth Doctor does plenty of hand-holding. To be fair, there is a lot of lore that could be intimidating to a first-time fan. The specials from last year alone introduced the first bi-generation and leaned into sci-fantasy elements. And thats on top of the standard spiel about the Doctor having two hearts and traveling through time and space in a police box. Still, it feels like the main focus of Space Babies was to create opportunities for the Doctor to share exposition, using a relatively straightforward plot as the means to this end. Longtime viewers might feel a little babied during this adventure but at least we get to see some cute babies? You cant be too mad while watching kids ask to be hugged for the first time in their lives. Were picking up right after the Christmas special, so Ruby (Millie Gibson) has just boarded the TARDIS for the first time. The Doctor launches into his backstory, from his adoption by a posh planet to the genocide of his people. We also need to establish some of the ground rules of time travel. The question of how you can go to the past without changing the future is answered with a nod to the classic sci-fi short story A Sound of Thunder; Ruby turns scaly after she steps on a butterfly while dinosaurs are roaming America, reminding the Doctor to activate a switch that compensates for inadvertent ripple effects. The bulk of the episode takes place in 21506, on a closed space station orbiting a human colony planet. Ruby and the Doctor have the misfortune of landing on the lower level, where an Alien-esque monster called the Bogeyman chases them down slippery, smelly hallways. Theres also a dangerous pressure buildup somewhere in these depths. On the upper level, Ruby gets a second to catch her breath and be awed by the fact that humanity made it to the stars, prompting the Doctor to offer a succinct explanation for why he travels with companions: Sometimes, it looks even better through your eyes. The station is a baby farm being run by babies (space babies, as Fifteen says at least a dozen times) in motorized strollers. The adult crew left the station because of a recession-induced government shutdown. But its also illegal to stop the birth machine. As Ruby puts it, the planet refuses to stop babies from being born yet doesnt look after them once they are. Real subtle allegory! Since the station cant move, theres no hope of getting to the nearest planet that takes in refugees. Anyway, Space Babies definitely fits in thematically. Weve got an entire crew of babies who, apart from a robotic nanny on the intercom, have been abandoned. Theyre a little confused about their identity, and thats something both Ruby and the Doctor can relate to. Ruby was left at a church as a newborn and hasnt been able to find any information about her birth family. Meanwhile, the Doctor was found as the Timeless Child and has now lost the Time Lords who adopted him. When the Doctor assures Captain Poppy that no one grows up wrong and that being unique is a superpower, I hope he takes that to heart(s). The feel-good moment abruptly ends once the babies are reminded of the Bogeyman, which is what they call the creature below. The Doctor annoys the nanny intercom into revealing the voice of Jocelyn (Golda Rosheuvel), an accountant-turned-makeshift-engineer who has been hiding in a separate room. Theres limited food and air, and she doesnt want to see the babies die or have them see her die. Before the Doctor and Ruby make it to her, they stop to chat about the mysteries around Rubys birth. The Doctor is thrown into a flashback of the night he was at the church, but the memory changes so that Rubys hooded mother turns and points at him. A grown-up Ruby also appears before were back at the station, which is somehow now snowing indoors. Its like a memory just came through from the day that you were born, the Doctor says. But weve got a different baby to worry about. Namely, Eric, who has decided to go confront the naughty doggo downstairs since Ruby said the Bogeyman isnt real. Ruby and the Doctor rush down, but its ultimately his fellow babies who rescue him with a flamethrower. The Doctor wants Ruby to follow the babies back to safety, but she just laughs. He sure knows how to pick people who will refuse to leave his side when theyre in danger. Ruby points out that this whole situation reeks of a childrens story coming to life. A nanny, babies, a bogeyman its an interesting observation, given that Doctor Who seems to be drawing more from the realm of fairy tales, folk tales, and mythology. The Christmas special even opens with the words once upon a time. Fittingly, the space stations out-of-control educational software apparently thought that, as in a good bedtime story, the babies needed a monster to be afraid of. So it created one that screams at a pitch that inspires fear. And it built it with bogeys (a.k.a. boogers), the snot collected from used tissues from above. Basically, the Bogeyman is the stations baby, too. Jocelyn hasnt picked up on this, though. Her loneliness has made her fearful. From above, she traps the Bogeyman in an airlock, hoping to expel it into space. But even the babies arent happy to see their favorite monster in pain. Thinking about how the Bogeyman is the only one of its kind, the Doctor throws himself into the airlock to close it. On the upper level, Ruby reminds a distraught Jocelyn to save them all. After the Bogeyman is safe, the Doctor realizes that the pressure buildup was actually caused by dirty diapers, so he makes the constipated space station shart itself out of orbit. Is this better or worse than the farting Slitheens? The sheer force of this cloud of poo is apparently enough to make up for the lack of an engine. Really, Doctor, you couldnt just take them on your TARDIS? He needs to receive some sort of citation for environmental pollution. Its not clear what will happen to the Bogeyman and the babies when they land, but the Doctor isnt sticking around to find out. Hes just passing by, after all. Its time for him to make his elevator pitch to Ruby so that she can take a TARDIS key and travel aimlessly with him. Hes all on his own, and he wants her to come with him. No job, no boss, just fun how could a 19-year-old resist? This one cant. The Doctors only stipulation is that he will never take her back to the night of her birth because it will cause a paradox. But weve already seen Ruby stepping into his memory, so it doesnt seem like were quite done with that night. Plus, snow falls in the TARDIS when he starts scanning her DNA I think we can rule out the possibility that Ruby is an alien, given that her DNA was already scanned in the Christmas special, and youd think Davina McCall wouldve noticed that. For all the mystery being placed around Rubys birth, though, its nice that the show has so far emphasized that her chosen family is just as important to her. I hope that even if she learns anything about her birth parents or this magical snow, it wont change her Christmases with Carla. Cut for Time (Lord) Poppy is a star. Theres something a little unsettling about the babies who we hear speak when their lips or facial expressions arent quite lining up, but she really stands out because she matches the mood of her voiceover lines, smiling and yawning in the appropriate places. When the TARDIS finally lands in the Sundays kitchen, it cracks the ceiling again. They cant catch a break, huh? As a new companion, one of Rubys main jobs right now is to be a bit panicked and confused, asking questions so the Doctor can dole out more backstory. But she does get some opportunities to showcase her own personality in this episode, like when the Doctor says he wishes they were the space babies parents, and Ruby immediately makes an uh-uh, speak for yourself face in the background. Another personal favorite is when she gets covered in snot but finds it more disgusting that the Doctor calls her Rubes. Def looking forward to getting to know her better! Generally, for a double premiere, Id recap both episodes in a single post. But The Devils Chord is so different from Space Babies that it doesnt feel right to lump them together weve gone from a creature made of baby boogers to a godlike being from another realm who can turn music into a physical weapon. With the help of the Beatles, the Doctor and Ruby must take on Maestro, a child of the elemental force known as the Toymaker. (In case you didnt catch the 60th-anniversary specials, the Toymaker was banished by the bi-generated Doctor, but not before ominously promising that his legions are coming.) Jinkx Monsoon is in her forte, pun intended, in this delightfully villainous role. The episode is still silly, but weve traded toilet humor for campy theatrics. Maestro is unleashed on the world via a lost chord discovered by musical genius Timothy Drake. After popping out of a piano (and informing us that they use they/them pronouns), Maestro puts all the muscles in their face to work, flipping between cackles, pouts, snarls, and shouts. They swallow Timothys songs with a satisfied moan. Its the start of their efforts to consume all music until only the Aeolian tones of nuclear fallout are left. Of course, the Doctor and Ruby dont know that yet theyre busy strutting across Abbey Road in 1963 to watch the Beatles record their first album. The pair quickly realize somethings wrong when they hear Paul, John, Ringo, and George in the studio singing lyrics that sound AI-generated. But the group cant even give the nonsense words a catchy melody. My dog is alive / Hes not dead is no Thats that me, espresso, thats for sure. The Doctor asks Ruby to play piano on the roof, and a few people poke their heads out of their windows to listen. But when Maestro appears and giggles the tune that the Toymaker used to control humanity, the Doctor realizes that Russell T. Davies is pitting him against yet another godlike creature. He just wants to run and hide, which makes sense! Maestro can tamper with the TARDIS through sound waves and can travel through space and time on their own. Realistically, how is the Doctor supposed to overpower or outsmart the living embodiment of music? When it comes to the gods, the Doctor feels he only gets one trick. He cant split himself in half again like he did when facing the Toymaker. This time, his trick is to use his sonic screwdriver to temporarily put the world on mute, prompting Maestro to treat us to a master class in silent acting. But after a few shots of soundless frustration, the Doctors best plan is rendered useless by a tuning fork and a puddle. The Doctor is out of ideas and feels like giving up. Seeing him admit this is (for lack of a better word, since he is an alien) humanizing. To get Ruby to understand how dire things are, the Doctor brings her back to 2024 to show her the world is in ruins. Without music, humans have descended into war and apparently ceased to exist. Maestro shows up and sings about their daddy issues, then lets slip that they were brought back by a chord. This helps the Doctor realize that Maestro could be imprisoned with the right combination of notes. Yes, its a bit of a far-fetched solution but that comes with the territory of introducing antagonists who are basically deities. Their immense power raises the stakes significantly but also makes it seem pretty convenient if theres a way for the Doctor to defeat them in a single episode. Lets not forget that the Toymaker transcended the laws of reality but was ultimately sent packing after agreeing to a game of catch. Back in 1963, Maestro targets Ruby because shes the last human who remembers music. But the song thats pulled out of her is a Christmas carol from the night she was born, which once again causes snow to fall. It looks like the secrets of her birth will continue to be a slow burn. Maestro releases her after vaguely noting that the song has power that is comparable to him, the oldest one. Theres little time to ponder who that might be because its finally time for a musical showdown. Ruby and the Doctor shoot notes off from the piano that the Beatles wrote their biggest hits on. Maestro isnt worried when their violin collapses because they doubt the Doctor has the musical genius to find the chord. But the Doctor argues that emotions are what drives music, and he has experienced everything. Maestro is whimpering on the floor at six out of the seven notes, but regains power when the Doctor flubs the last note. Ultimately, Paul McCartney and John Lennon have to stumble across the piano to find the final note, which frees Ruby and the Doctor from the instruments that Maestro has stuffed them into. The one who waits is almost here, Maestro warns before vanishing. We end with a massive musical number. Ruby does a great job singing and dancing, but Fifteen is electric. Some of the charm of previous Doctors comes from the fact that theyre a little awkward in their bodies and that they look a little silly while dancing. But Fifteen doesnt miss a beat. Hes practically vibrating with physical charisma while surrounded by dozens of extras, confetti, balloons, and streamers. After a long sequence that includes umbrella choreography in indoor rain, Fifteen and Ruby finally leave the studio. Theyre still hearing tunes when they cross Abbey Road, and the closing shot of the TARDIS doors is timed to instruments. Hey, if youre going to do an entire episode about how crucial music is to the survival of humanity, you have to throw a proper celebration once it comes back. Cut for Time (Lord) Loooved the scene where the Doctor and Ruby sprint to the TARDIS closet and strut out in their 60s fits. Please, please let Fifteen continue to deliver visual proof of his declaration that hes got wigs galore! Also, the costume department for this episode killed it in general. I want all of Maestros heels. At the beginning of the episode, Maestro looks directly into the camera and plays the Doctor Who theme. The Doctor winks at us and cues the closing musical number. I know some people dont like the fourth wall being broken, but I think its actually just right for the tone of this episode. The Doctor mentions in passing that a past version of himself is living in Shoreditch with his granddaughter Susan. Its nice to hear the First Doctor mentioned! But Fifteen suggests that the genocide of the Time Lords mightve killed Susan, too. The fact that he laughs and changes the subject right after saying that is a little jarring. He might not be quite as healed as hed like to believe. Maestro sent a son, Henry Arbinger, as a harbinger. Henry disappeared when Maestro initially arrived but is peeking out during the closing musical number. Perhaps thats a sign that the Maestro could be released again one day? It seems highly likely that the Doctor will meet more godlike beings in the lead-up to the reveal of the final boss. Who do we want to see while we wait for the one who waits? Photo: Alfonso Bresciani/AMC This article was originally published on May 10, 2024, before season two of Interview With the Vampire premiered on AMC. The first season is now streaming on Netflix. Anne Rices Interview With the Vampire took a bit to find itself, but one thing it has been from the beginning is self-aware. The series takes an interrogative approach to its source material, framing Rices iconic goth novel and its 1994 film adaptation as the previous version of its story, one in which the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) lies and deceives his interviewer, Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). The interview in the series, occurring decades later, is supposedly the real story, with Daniel, now a more seasoned journalist, picking through Louiss earlier account. But while Louis remains an unreliable narrator prone to bristling when Daniel points out contradictions in his narrative, Daniel realizes his own memory has a blank spot too one involving the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman). Beloved and infamous in Rices universe and integral to the sensual and resentful relationship between Louis and Lestat de Lioncourt, the 514-year-old Armand conceals his identity at first. Hes introduced to Daniel and to viewers as Rashid, Louiss seemingly human assistant who is rarely seen in their Dubai penthouse without a tablet in hand, organizing Louiss schedule, assisting Daniel with access to Louiss personal archives of centuries of collected ephemera, and doing his Muslim daily prayers in the sun. His presence isnt exactly trivial, but he seems innocuous until hes suddenly levitating above Daniel with glowing gold eyes and a self-satisfied expression in the final moments of season one. For both readers and viewers going in blind to IWTV: lots to unpack here! Lets discuss how the Armand reveal rewrites the seriess first season, and where season two could go now that Rashid is known to be an auburn-eyed, casually flying-around vampire who has protected Louis from himself, always have and whose hand Louis grasps like a giddy teenager. (We will not be doing age-gap discourse, however.) So what was Rashids deal in season one? In the first season of IWTV, Rashid is Louiss attentive, slightly snarky assistant, deferential to his boss on nearly all matters but obviously not 100 percent chill with Daniels interviewing Louis again. When Daniel describes the relationship between Louis and his maker and lover, Lestat (Sam Reid), as You played docent to the gentleman vampire, the implication is that Rashid is to Louis now what Louis was to Lestat then. Rashid lingers in the background until hes dismissed (often by Daniel, who wants to get Louis alone for his interviews), always calls Louis Mr. de Pointe du Lac, and demurs when Daniel tries to ask him questions about his own life, answering with I serve a god. It is my honor to serve. Daniels curiosity wont be abated, though, especially when he overhears Rashid performing Muslim prayers, or salah, in the penthouses main living room. Daniel is his typically sarcastic self (How does Muhammad feel about vampires? Is it Ashura every day here in the penthouse?) and adds What is his endgame? to a file hes keeping on Rashid. But what Daniel misses is how Rashids seeming obsequiousness is actually authority, even smugness. Rashid refers to himself and Louis as we, calls Dubai a child, and smirks when Daniel is horrified to read a journal of kills kept by Claudia (Bailey Bass), the vampire Louis begged Lestat to make for him as a daughter-companion. The reveal that Armand is no fawning human servant allowing Louis to feed on him but a committed lover actively engaged in Louiss rewriting of his own history goes against both our and Daniels assumptions. The first season also establishes that when Daniel interviewed Louis the first time, he was an addict who, despite hearing about Louiss decades of trauma, asks Louis to turn him into a vampire, leading to Louis nearly killing Daniel for missing the point of his tragic story. Daniel cant remember much from that evening until he realizes Armand was there, too, and Armand says he saved Daniel from the infuriated Louis. Armands past with Daniel (a backstory reworked for the series) factors into whatever power the vampires may hold over the journalist and his book about Louiss life in the episodes to come. The twist also raises the question of why the pair would hide Armands identity in the first place. Okay, I havent read the books. Why should I care about Armand? Because Armand is an exquisitely rich character, someone who has been alive long enough to dive into all the philosophical questions about being a vampire that Lestat didnt care about but that Louis obsesses over. Lengthy stretches of Rices novel involve Armand and Louis arguing about the moral nature of vampirism and whether there are gradations of evil, as Armand puts it. His teachings inspire differing reactions in Louis and Claudia that may tear apart the family they have worked so hard to protect after getting rid of Lestat. Its dramatic! The series willingness to tweak Louiss memories based on Daniels nitpicky questions about his experiences raises the exciting potential of Armand similarly being in Daniels crosshairs. In the novel, Armand is all in on his own ideology and supremacy, and we see some of that at the end of season one when he says of the sun, Whats a mediocre star to a 514-year-old vampire? Daniels poking and prodding at that will be fun to watch and a totally new experience for both book readers and show watchers. What does the Armand reveal mean for season two? The scrapbook Armand throws in Daniels lap after revealing himself includes various ads for the Theatre des Vampires, which hasnt yet been mentioned on the show but is positioned as important to the story to come. Some light book spoilers here: Its basically a vampire coven that puts on elaborate, unsettlingly sensual live shows mixing beauty, violence, sex, and death. If you were a tween secretly reading Rices novel at the public library so your parents wouldnt know, these scenes were when you would glance up and down the stacks to make sure no one you were related to was coming around the corner. Very curious to see how series creator Rolin Jones adapts the Theatre des Vampires and its insularity its not exactly welcoming to Louis and Claudia and characterizes Armands role within it. Maybe Antonio Banderas, who played Armand in the IWTV film adaptation (and whose character inspired What We Do in the Shadows Guillermo to want to become a vampire), can show up for a teeny, tiny cameo? That would be nice! If you were around for the 2016 queer-character decimation, then you will understand my pain caused by this episode. In 2016, if you were queer, fictional, and on TV especially if you were a woman your time was likely limited. So imagine my surprise when the show where everyone seems to be queer by default kills a queer woman character. Its not like were drowning in women over here in Jamesian England, either. Our count of women characters stands as follows: We have Mary, but shes Julianne Moore, so shes not going anywhere; Queen Anne, who also is now dead; Sandie, Georges wife whose name I forget because shes barely been in it; Frances, who has disappeared; Francess mother Lady Hatton, who has disappeared; and Georges sister, who has also disappeared. Oh, and Countess Somerset, who were led to believe died at the hands of the state but historically survived. So if youre saying we now have two women among our hordes of men, yes. I would like to be a Lady Catherine de Bourgh saying, I am quite put out, except Im more a Marianne climbing a hill in the rain, gazing forlornly at what might have been. Dont kill queer characters! Theyve suffered enough! Okay, moving on to the other events of the episode. Everyone in England is also mad about the killing of fictional queer women. Just kidding! Theyre super mad about Sir Walter Raleighs execution and the part Spain played in it. It being 17th-century England, they express this by dressing up a pig as King James and throwing it on the fire while chanting, King James, Spain fucker. Hmmm. James is meanwhile in his palace, being like, Well. Here we are. To be fair, I dont know how Id react to that either. It seems like a waste of a pig. James is experimenting with avoidant behaviors such as staying in his room, not governing, not burying his wife, and acting out Grecian tableaux with various court dandies. Theyre not even sexy tableaux; theyre just silly. Get it together, James (he will not). Meanwhile, Charles is losing it because his mother hasnt been buried yet because James is out of money and wont open Parliament because he hates it. To be fair, Parliament does seem very annoying, especially with the rise of the Puritans. But the king needs Parliament to levy taxes, and it hasnt been called for six years. James is in a pickle about burying the queen, not that hes really thinking about that. He hasnt even gone to pay his respects to Queen Anne (again, see avoidant behavior). James is also avoiding George, it seems, who now has long hair. I dont know how I feel about the long hair! Its Nicholas Galitzine, so he can pull it off, but its not my favorite. George has been icing Mary out as much as he can, but that doesnt stop her from telling him that hes being called the Marquis of Fuckingham in taverns. Thats pretty good. Everyone spends this episode telling Mary how little power she has, which is goading, and I would not goad someone as devoid of morals and good at scheming as Mary is. Have none of you noticed what she is capable of? Or how quickly reversals of fortune happen at court? And now youve removed the thing she cares about the most, so what does she have to lose? I imagine someone saying, Susan, and Mary saying, Who? Poor Susan. I had to look up her name because shes almost never mentioned. I hope she got to marry that guy. George and Charles have a talk about James, and George tells Charles that James needs constant reminding that he loves you or hell forget you. In accordance with this very unfortunate fact, George, Charles, and some other gentlemen carry the queens coffin into Jamess room and lay it on his bed, forcing James to deal with it. And he does he reopens Parliament, tells them theyre eagles pecking out Prometheus liver, but in a way they find funny, and everyone except Sir Edward Coke chants, God save the King. Theres a lot of political shenaniganery going on with Francis Bacon, George, and Diego Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador. Essentially, Diego has been paying both of them to keep James on Spains side, but now Sir Edward is leading an anti-corruption committee, so everyone is screwed, and by everyone, I mean mainly those two guys. Before Francis comes under threat from the committee, he imprisons Sandie for murder, which is fair because shes guilty, but also, no one wants that. Mary asks Sir Edward to release Sandie, and he basically tells her to fuck off. So Sandie might hang and Mary is feeling desperate, but also she currently has very little leverage. Until! Sir Edward comes for George and Kit (I love Kit). They escape out the back while Georges very pregnant wife, Katherine (I looked it up!), tries to seduce Sir Edward into letting George off the hook. It almost works, but then he gets all Puritan I will not succumb to the temptations of the flesh about it. Katherine really is a team player. Sir Edward is searching for evidence of corruption, and since there is a lot of it, George and Kit dont know what to do other than go see Mary. Mary makes both of them apologize, but especially George. As she should; he has been terrible. She says shell fix it if George can get a pardon for Miss Brooks (Sandie). The plan is to sacrifice Bacon by getting evidence from Diego that Diego paid him. This plan works, and Bacon confesses in front of Parliament and is stripped of his titles, land, and place in court. But then Bacon, now with pox, visits George and asks for one small act of personal vengeance, which George agrees to because MEN. This act, of course, is to murder Sandie. He pays the woman from the beginning who threw the king pig on the fire, and she stabs Sandie in the throat right when Sandie thinks she is on her way to being freed. JUST NOT COOL, SHOW. We have one episode left and not much time remaining in Jamess reign. Well find out Marys reaction to Sandies death, and for the sake of drama, I kind of hope she kills George. Can you imagine? But Ill settle for her tearing everything else down in the wake of her icy fury. That sounds pretty good, too. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11. The EU and Kazakhstan are poised for successful cooperation in the critical raw materials sector, Kestutis Jankauskas, EU Ambassador to Kazakhstan, told Trend. "EU Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement provides a legal base for cooperation in 29 areas. Over the last several years, trade cooperation between the EU and Kazakhstan has been growing. While energy, including renewables, remains the largest area of cooperation, there is a growing potential of cooperation in the area of critical raw materials as provided by the bilateral memorandum signed in November 2022," he said. According to the ambassador, agriculture and water management offer good investment opportunities. "Development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor is expected to attract cargo flows from all the countries of Central Asia and to provide not only for transit but also for transport and logistic hub development. The advancement of aviation will enable better people-to-people contacts in business, education, and tourism. Our Digital Satellite connectivity project will provide alternative connectivity and better internet to remote villages," he noted. Jankauskas pointed out that the EU and Kazakhstan established diplomatic relations 31 years ago, and since then, the sides are developing mutually beneficial partnership. Over the years, the EU has become Kazakhstans largest trading partner and the biggest investor in the country. "During the three decades, the EU has implemented a variety of projects to advance our mutual relations as well as security and stability of the countries in Central Asia: on border management, rule of law, fight against smuggling, water management, green transformation, energy efficiency, promotion of interregional trade and trade with the EU, SMEs, education, strengthening resilience and human capital development," he said. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's trade turnover with the EU countries amounted to $42.6 billion from January through December 2023. The volume of trade turnover increased by 1.7 percent compared to the same period in 2022 ($41.8 billion). At the same time, exports to the EU countries for the above period amounted to $31.7 billion, which is 6.4 percent less than from January through December 2022 ($33.8 billion). Kazakh imports from the EU countries in the reporting period increased by 36.1 percent and amounted to $10.9 billion. In 2022, imports amounted to $8 billion. The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome, was a series of four military assaults by the Allies against German forces in Italy between January and May 1944, in one of the bloodiest battles of world war two. The month of May 2024 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Monte Cassino, a significant moment in the WW2 Italian campaign. The final breakthrough on 18 May enabled the Allies to advance north to liberate Rome on 5 June 1944, marking the beginning of the end for the German occupation of Italy. This Sunday 19 May we will host a commemoration at the Monte Cassino @CWGC cemetery, part of the #MC80 activities. https://t.co/9SXURifj1o@UKDefenceItaly pic.twitter.com/CvSBqsE3CJ UK in Italy (@UKinItaly) May 13, 2024 Here we republish a feature article by eminent British archaeologist Richard Hodges, past president of The American University of Rome, written to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino in 2019. Driving past Monte Cassino many years ago with the late Mark Pluciennik, professor at Leicester University, and one of the most cerebral archaeologists I have known, I pointed out the Benedictine monastery. Mark replied with words Ive never forgotten: My father was with the Poles who captured the monastery, and my uncle, his brother, as fate would have it, was with the Germans on top. The battle unwittingly pitched brother against brother. His words have long lingered in my mind and over the years I have met many survivors of this historic battle between the Allied and Axis forces in 1944. Through them I have become familiar with oral histories and the battlefield archaeology. None spoke well of the experience, though all the Allied veterans recalled with pleasure and gratitude their encounters with the long-suffering Italians. Liberating them justified the struggle. The battle lasted from December 1943 until May 1944, led to the comprehensive destruction of the town of Cassino, and at the conclusion, the main objective defeating the formidable German army was eschewed in favour of the liberation of Rome. The impact of the battle has left an indelible mark on Italy and in the minds of many, while the performance of some of the generals was in the end reminiscent of the later rather than the earlier Roman empire. All of this can be discovered on the ground. There are archaeological remains galore but, unlike the Normandy battlefield of June-July 1944, it is not organised and really should be. The monastery at Monte Cassino The battle for Monte Cassino embraced the mountains from the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic Sea. One particular hotspot was, as it happens, where Mark Pluciennik and I were excavating the early mediaeval monastery (9th-11th centuries) in the 1980s and 1990s, S. Vincenzo al Volturno, due east of Monte Cassino. Here multi-national forces assembled to assault the Abruzzi mountains, known locally as the Le Mainarde. The excavations revealed only one possible legacy from this tumultuous era: the skeleton of a young woman interred in a shallow grave in the remains of the ninth-century refectory. Local workmen excavating with me clearly knew something about this homicide. Ignoring my instructions to record the individual, she was hastily removed without ceremony. Archaeology and history This act revealed how raw the bitter wartime struggle remained, 40 years afterwards. None more so than for the monks of Monte Cassino. As long as we stuck to archaeology and history, our relationship at S. Vincenzo with Monte Cassinos monks was fine (the monastery owned part of the land we were excavating). Mention the war, and they all but spat with a lingering distaste. The Allied bombing that destroyed the monastery of Monte Cassino on 15 February 1944 was a crime against humanity, I was told more than once. Any mention of the occasion, and the elfin and normally genial archivist, Don Faustino, was transformed; his deep-seated anger boiled over. So, on an occasion when in Monte Cassinos capacious archive a British diplomat friend asked Don Faustino about the battle, the learned monk snarled about the British and added, by way of taunt, how grateful the monks were to the Germans who transported the precious archive and library to safety long before the battle started. Startled, my friend was about to give as good as he had got when the old abbot, Don Martino Matrinola, slipped into the archive. Don Faustino visibly retreated a step. The abbot, bent and thin, conveyed an immediate eminence. Far from senescent, his beady eyes focussed upon me and he asked about a unique, ninth-century coin I had discovered at S. Vincenzo and which he had caressed the previous summer in his long, claw-like fingers. I responded and, gauging the twinkle in his old eyes, introduced my diplomat friend as someone who was curious about the infamous bombing. I was in the monastery, I was Abbot Damianos secretary, he said without a shift in tone. What would you like to know? I hastily shaped a simple question to evade Don Faustinos dismay. And so, Don Martino explained, the abbot and he and a handful of monks as well as hundreds of refugees had sought safety in the deep mediaeval bowels of the largely baroque monastery. As soon as the bombing had finished, they had fled down the mountain, guided by German officers. Were there Germans in the monastery and guns, tanks? my friend eagerly enquired. Ah, the old monk responded without missing a beat, you should read our report made that morning to His Holiness [the pope]. Its part of the papal record. There were indeed Germans here. With that his mind found sanctuary in his memory of my little silver coin and he muttered more about it before shuffling off into the cloister. I recall this moment in the archive because I had touched history. The Battle The battle pivoted around the monastery of Monte Cassino because the home of the Benedictines commands a high promontory over the old Roman road, the Via Casilina. This follows the valley from Rome to the Bay of Naples. At the foot of the hill sits ancient Casinum. Its most conspicuous monument is the over-restored Roman theatre next to the modern museum at the foot of monastery hill. Here in December 1943 the Germans commanded by General Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin, an Oxford Rhodes scholar, created a fortification that extended west to the Tyrrhenian Sea near ancient Minturnae (modern-day Minturno) and east over the mountains to the far Adriatic Sea. Close this road, von Senger rationalised, and the Allies would be unable to take Rome. The Allies were ill-prepared for the obstinate German tactics, prompting a bi-passing operation at Anzio. By landing troops near Rome on the beach at Anzio on 22 January 1944, the Allies hoped to encircle and eliminate the Germans and thereafter advance swiftly through Italy, Churchills so-called soft underbelly of Europe. The sea landings were unopposed and reconnaissance troops managed to drive into Rome. However the Allied commanders then prevaricated and dug in, and the Germans rapidly brought up troops to attack; what happened next was a grotesque battle in the marshland around the beach-head until May. The outline of St Martin's church excavated by Don Angelo Pantoni. The prevarication came at even greater cost. The Allied offensive against Monte Cassino was intended to suck German troops from Rome to Cassino, creating the vacuum the Anzio landings might exploit. The battle involved crossing the rivers immediately west of Cassino on 20 January on the eve of the landings. The British just succeeded in traversing the Garigliano river but the Texas Rangers were massacred while attempting to cross the Rapido river close to Cassino by the German Panzer division entrenched immediately beyond the river. It was a taste of things to come. This first battle successfully diverted German troops from Rome but the opportunity was eschewed and so started the slogging trench warfare. Allied troops pressed through Cassino town and began a cat-and-mouse battle with the enemy. Trapped in and around ancient Casinum in wet wintry conditions, the British commander of the 4th Indian Infantry Division, General Francis Tuker, who believed that parts of the hilltop monastery were occupied by Germans with armour, asked for aerial bombing to destroy the monastery. After a fierce debate among the Allied commanders the bombing was undertaken with very little warning by US planes on 15 February 1944. The aftermath, though, made the monastery an impregnable redoubt. Operation Dickens The third battle involved a frontal assault while a road the Cavendish Road was cut around the contours behind the monastery to facilitate a bold Allied pincer movement using armour. This battle Operation Dickens lasted between 15 and 24 March. Maori crews in Sherman tanks advanced in single file up the steep track. Terrified at first, the German defenders then realised that the American-built tanks were not supported by infantry. Boldly, the defenders knocked out the leading tanks, and so paralysed a dozen or so in their rear. The last battle in 11-23 May 1944 was colossal in scope. After an immense artillery barrage from Allied guns aimed at the monastery and Germans in its surroundings, Allied troops pressed on all fronts, still aiming to encircle the German army. The frontal attack was born by the Free Poles (including Mark Plucienniks father), who heroically overwhelmed the monasterys defenders. No less significant were the French colonial troops, who traversed the high mountain country above Minturnae (Minturno) west of Cassino, intending to descend upon the rear of the Axis army. Von Senger astutely recognised the threat and retreated. The view west and northwards from the monastery. His army should have been ensnared at Valmontone (below ancient Artena) by the Anzio divisions breaking out of the beach-head. Instead, General Mark Clark against the plans of the British commander of the Allied forces in Italy, General Harold Alexander sought his triumph and diverted his forces to Rome, parading like legions past the Colosseum, ensuring on the eve of D-Day that he was the first Allied commander to capture an Axis capital. This allowed von Sengers German divisions to retreat east of Rome and to resist the Allies through central and northern Italy until April 1945. The battle of Monte Cassino or rather the four battles was a Pyrrhic victory. Thousands perished and the ancient monastery of Monte Cassino had been blown to smithereens. Monte Cassino Monte Cassino attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. Poles, in particular, pay homage to the exquisitely arranged cemetery in the valley immediately east of the monastery that commemorates those who ultimately vanquished the German defenders. Few monuments exceed this cemetery in paying tribute to the heroism and tragic inhumanity of war. It is as well to pause in this mass graveyard before rediscovering a quotidian rhythm in the formidable monastery that overshadows it. There are also moving Commonwealth and German war cemeteries close to Monte Cassino. Looking down the steep steps first built in the 1060s by Abbott Desiderus. St Benedict founded his monastery in an ancient hilltop site. A massive Samnite (Iron Age) fortification encircles the crown of the hill, the mediaeval and later monastic walls nestle inside its great polygonal stonework. This fortress speaks volumes about the age when archaic Rome was vying for control over central Italy. Inside these cyclopean walls, in excavations made after world war two, remains were found of a Samnite and subsequent Roman temple, dedicated probably to Hercules. In time the temple became an outlier of Casinum, the affluent Roman roadside town at the foot of the hill that, with the defeat of the Samnites, succeeded the cyclopean fortress. Quite how Benedict made use of the earlier temple as he created his sixth-century monastery is not known. Numerous finds are on display in the monasterys museum. Post-war excavations, following the bombing, discovered the footings of one of Benedicts churches, believed to be St Martins. Its ground plan is discretely marked out with neat stones in the outer cloister immediately after entering the monastery today. On the far side of this first cloister lies the locked glass door down to the old ceremonial entrance. Peep through it and along the walls youll see some of the hundreds of early mediaeval tombstones found in excavations after the war. Post-war The post-war re-building programme is vividly described in a new exhibition held in an annexe to the museum, just off the monasterys cloister. It tells a remarkable story. Lasting over a decade in the 1940s and 1950s, with American support, the early modern monastery in all its baroque glory was lovingly restored. It was a miracle of sorts. A key person in this rebuilding was Don Angelo Pantoni, an engineer by training and passionate archaeologist. This restless monk had endured the siege and spotted his chance in the aftermath. With haphazard methods, but huge dedication, he excavated wherever he could and published a series of monographs on the monasterys origins. I knew Don Angelo in his 80s when he visited my excavations at S. Vincenzo. Deaf from birth, twinkling eyes, eccentric in every way in his dishevelled habit, his passion was making sense of the past. Thanks to his antiquarian exactitude, the destruction of Monte Cassino seems barely conceivable today as you climb the steep flight of steps, conceived originally by Abbot Desiderius in the mid to late 11th century, up to a closed outer atrium. The 11th-century bronze doors of the abbey. One great work of art survives world war two and from this abbots re-envisioning of the monastery: the central bronze door made in the 1060s by a Byzantine master in Constantinople. The upper 36 panels are inscribed with names of churches and lands, dependencies of the monastery. Below are two panels bearing dedicatory inscriptions, each flanked by a cross in relief. It bears witness to the abbey at its zenith, before the crusades began, on the main pilgrimage route from northern Europe to the Holy Land. Inside the basilica is a faux baroque church. This replicates the great church that Napoleon Bonaparte sacked in 1799. Before its post-war resurrection so to speak the indefatigable Don Angelo excavated in search of Benedicts first church. What he found were the foundations of the ninth-century abbey-church of Abbot Gisulf, one of the great figures of the age of Charlemagne. Around its outer walls were block-built tombs with bases made from tiles pierced with holes to permit the bodies to decompose gradually. Museum The museum is a treasure-house. Apart from the new, visually striking annexe dedicated to the bombing and re-building, there are rooms full of the monasterys copes, mitres, paintings, sacramental paraphernalia, and above all some of the great books that are the cornerstone of western civilisation. If you select just one, pause at the open page of the 11th-century encyclopaedia, De rerum naturis (On the nature of things), an opulent copy of the work by the 9th-century scientist and Benedictine abbot, Hrabanus Maurus. How did these treasures survive? Don Faustino, the archivist at Monte Cassino, was never slow to answer this rhetorical question. General von Senger, aware of the huge risk he was taking, had everything transported to Rome and Perugia a month before the Allied vanguard arrived on his horizon. Today the story of the bombing may seem like distant history in the modern monastery. Not so in the town of Cassino below. None of its historic churches survived the battle. Instead, the busy little town has an anonymous feel to it, the result of expedient post-war reconstruction. Only its museum, half a kilometre up monastery hill, and the refurbished mediaeval castle with its pencil thin tower come close to recalling the rich heritage of this place before 1944. Cavendish Road Take the SS 509 to S. Elia Fiumerapido Sora from the centre of Cassino and after 3 kms, immediately after crossing a river, turn left on the Via Orsala and follow the narrow lane to a sign that marks the beginning of the Cavendish Road. Made after the failure of the second (February) battle, it was the brainchild of the New Zealand division. Its engineers widened an existing mule-track to enable Sherman tanks to approach the monastery from the rear. This creative adventure on 19 March 1944 came to nothing, but today it is by far the best way to get a sense of the terrain that gave the German defenders a huge advantage. Sherman tank, May 1944, following the successful Polish attack on Monte Cassino. It is a three-hour round trip on a track to the monastery, which is flagged the whole way. The climb is steep and the track has been worn to rubble for the first two kms. But the views of the mountains to the east are peerless. The path passes through thick, low woodland, but press on because at the far end is a memorable piece of archaeology. A Sherman tank has been transformed into a memorial to the Polish 4th Scorpio Armoured Regiment who took the road in May 1944. Beyond is a farm where the monastery makes its own beer. It overlooks the formidable remains of the monastery of S. Maria dell'Albaneta. Founded in the 10th century, it was essentially an overspill monastery for Monte Cassino at its apogee. Young Benedictines like Thomas Aquinas were first initiated in this serene spot. Today American trucks from the battle occupy the spot where its cloister once was. The path is now a road, graced with stone memorials to the Poles. Fittingly, the Cavendish Road trail terminates at the Polish cemetery in the shadow of the monastery, a gleaming citadel. By Richard Hodges Richard Hodges, an eminent archaeologist, was president of The American University of Rome from 2012-2020 and director of the British School at Rome from 1988-1995. This article was originally published in the March 2019 edition of Wanted in Rome magazine. Gilmour returns to Circus Maximus after eight years. Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour will perform six sold-out concerts at Rome's Circus Maximus in September and October, his first live shows in Italy for eight years. Gilmour's concerts at the landmark Roman venue - where he played two nights in 2016 - are scheduled for 27, 28 and 29 September and 1, 2 and 3 October. The British singer-songwriter comes to Rome following the recent release of his new solo album Luck And Strange, his first album of new material in nine years. The Rome concerts - Gilmour's only scheduled shows in mainland Europe this year - will be seated in a specially-built arena. Romes Circus Maximus transforms into a concert venue for #DavidGilmour who will perform six live shows at the ancient Roman site between 27 September and 3 October. pic.twitter.com/owdMPJcdAK Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) September 26, 2024 There will be road closures and traffic restrictions in the area around the Circus Maximus on the days of the concerts, with a total of 90,000 people expected at the six shows. Rome's councillor for tourism and major events Alessandro Onorato said that 80 per cent of tickets for Gilmour's concerts at the Circus Maximus were purchased by people living outside the Italian capital. Onorato told news agency ANSA that 33 per cent of the concertgoers will come from abroad, especially from Germany, France and the UK, with 47 per cent coming to Rome from the rest of Italy. In recent years the Circus Maximus has hosted live shows by Maneskin, Bruce Springsteen, Guns N' Roses and, controversially, American rapper Travis Scott whose rowdy fans sparked earthquake fears at the ancient Roman site. Come and experience a tasty and delightful Home Restaurant in Rome ! Join me at Trionfale market, a bustling neighborhood market in Prati, a real mecca for foodies, located 300 meters from the Vatican Museum and San Peter. As we weave between stalls, selling farm-fresh eggs, colorful produce, and all kinds of seasonal produce, I'll talk about local food systems and foodways, point out local ingredients, and introduce you to my favorite vendors (you'll also get to taste a few things along the way!). We'll then come back to my cozy and characterful apartment (right in front of the market!), and we'll start the cooking session : we'll make homemade pasta (tagliatelle, maltagliati) and amatriciana or carbonara sauce all together while enjoying a glass of wine and well taste it. Well then cook and taste tiramisu all together. Included in the experience is the guided market tour (with some samples!), cooking session, lunch built around food we have prepared together, wine for the table and coffee. Info : Tel +39 366 6220291 Mail aleandlarry@gmail.com Instagram/Faceook : Larrys Fresh Pasta Home Restaurant Rome Ayla is among a skyrocketing number of Australian children who have had a tongue-tie release. The controversial procedure involves using scissors or a laser, often without anaesthetic, to cut soft tissue called a frenulum that connects the tongue with the floor of the mouth. She was screaming the whole time so they had to stop and start, she recalls. It was barbaric. Im traumatised just thinking about it, Jemma says of the 2018 tongue-tie procedure. Then the dentist got to work, pointing a laser into Aylas mouth to cut the delicate tissue that ran from the underside of her tongue to the floor of her mouth. The new mother watched as her daughter, Ayla, was wrapped tightly in a swaddle and held down on a table by a dental assistant while another prised her little mouth open. Its been five years, but Jemma Collins can still hear her three-week-old daughters screams echoing through the dental clinic. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. In the post, she detailed how Mack needed CPR, a blood transfusion and was put on a ventilator, before being transferred to the intensive care unit at Sydney Childrens Hospital. Mack is on a ventilator, Rees wife, Tori, posted about the harrowing experience on Instagram. Please give him so much strength for us. We are speechless. In 2019, the seven-week-old son of Australian comedian and childrens entertainer Jimmy Rees was rushed to Gosford Hospital, on the NSW Central Coast, by ambulance after a main blood vessel was accidentally cut during a tongue-tie procedure. In rare cases, the procedure can be life-threatening. While many parents swear by the procedure which is often promoted as a solution to breastfeeding issues such as nipple pain, fussiness at the breast and a poor latch others, including Jemma, say it made no difference and instead inflicted unnecessary pain on their babies. Its estimated that between 2 and 10 per cent of babies are born with a tongue tie, a congenital anomaly that can make it difficult for some babies to breastfeed because their tongue movement is restricted. Social media, intense pressure to breastfeed and poor breastfeeding support are fuelling the rise in tongue-tie surgeries, according to the medical practitioners interviewed for this article. The data also does not capture those performed in public hospitals. These figures are just the tip of the iceberg because they do not capture a large proportion of the procedures which are being performed by private dentists and dont attract rebates. One Melbourne dentist, who charges $900 for the procedure and aftercare, told this masthead he performed about 1000 tongue-tie releases every year. Last year, 8719 children aged four and under received Medicare-funded tongue and lip-tie releases (a condition where the skin of the upper lip is attached to the gums in a way that restricts movement). There were just 1097 procedures performed on this age group in 2003. The procedure has boomed in popularity, with the number of Medicare-funded tongue-tie releases for Australian children aged four and under increasing by almost 700 per cent between 2003 and 2023, according to an analysis of government data by this masthead. Mack is on a ventilator. Please give him so much strength for us. We are speechless. The term was coined in 2004 to refer to a tight, hidden band of tissue at the base of the tongue. It dramatically expanded the definition of what was considered a tongue tie. Douglas believes classic tongue ties should be snipped with scissors to give babies better movement of their tongues. But shes concerned about the unnecessary cutting of whats known as posterior tongue ties. While all the health practitioners interviewed for this article agreed that tongue-tie releases were necessary for some babies, there was a large divide in opinion about how often the procedure should be performed and what constitutes a tongue tie. None of this has an evidence base but it does have a movement, says Dr Pamela Douglas, a breastfeeding expert, GP and adjunct associate professor at Griffith University in Queensland. A 2017 Cochrane review concluded that while tongue-tie releases reduced womens nipple pain in the short term, investigators did not find a consistent positive effect on infant breastfeeding. But while scores of lactation consultants and dentists promote the practice, there is limited evidence that tongue-tie releases improve feeding. The rise in tongue-tie releases has coincided with a steady stream of complaints to the national health watchdog. It was really clear that the tongue-tie release at three weeks old did nothing, she says. His weight continued to drop. Nikki, a Melbourne mother who does not want to disclose her surname for privacy reasons, says she was blocked from this group after posting about her negative experience following her sons tongue-tie release. At the same time, Australian mothers and lactation consultants are spruiking the surgery as a miracle cure for everything from breastfeeding issues to sleep apnoea and reflux on one pro-tongue tie Facebook group that boasts more than 36,000 members. Desperate parents are flocking online for answers, with Google search interest in the term tongue tie almost quadrupling over the past decade in Australia. It misunderstands the anatomy, says Douglas. We are looking at normal anatomic variations. These breastfeeding problems require different solutions to surgery. The Australian Health Practitioner and Regulation Agency has received 42 notifications relating to either tongue or lip-tie procedures in the decade to February 2024. The bulk of these (23) related to dental practitioners followed by medical practitioners (seven) and then midwives (six). Most of these complaints have resulted in no further action, with two leading to regulatory action, and one practitioner is due to appear before a tribunal in coming months. Its an issue that has also caused rifts across the medical community. A 2020 consensus statement released by the Australian Dental Association, the Australian College of Midwives and 12 other medical associations urged families to seek professional advice to ensure a restricted frenum is actually causing a babys problems before resorting to surgery. It was really clear that the tongue-tie revision at three weeks old did nothing. Melbourne mother Nikki It said there was a lack of evidence supporting the term posterior tongue tie and it should not be used as a medical diagnosis. Use of this term can result in a normal lingual frenum being classified as abnormal, it said. It also warned practitioners against advising parents to stretch their babies wounds following surgery. This prolonged healing time, increased the risk of scarring and infection, and created a medico-legal risk for clinicians, according to the practitioners. Brisbane dentist Dr Marjan Jones and Melbourne dentist Dr Jeff Kestenberg, who run clinics specialising in tongue-tie releases, published a rebuttal accusing the Australian Dental Association of being biased, omitting key research and failing to consult dentists with experience in the field. These attempts have the potential of denying mothers and infants the care and assistance they need to overcome the very real challenges they face to sustain that most significant and life-giving practice of providing sustenance to their infants, they wrote. Kestenberg, who works at Coburg Dental Group in Melbournes north, says he performs laser tongue-tie releases on about 1000 babies every year. I think one to two weeks after birth, if you havent been able to establish appropriate breastfeeding, then you should be doing the treatment, he says. He says the quick procedure enables 90 to 95 per cent of patients to successfully re-establish breastfeeding. Parents arent allowed in the room where the procedure takes place because some have fainted in the past, according to Kestenberg. Hes concerned that waiting longer leads to babies moving onto bottle feeding, and then refusing to breastfeed. He rejects criticism that dentists arent well-placed to perform the procedures because they dont understand breastfeeding. I dont assess breastfeeding, he says. I work together with other practitioners who refer to me. Who better to do the actual tongue-tie release than the person who knows the best about the anatomy of the mouth? He also advises parents to perform the stretches on their babies wounds. When I have patients where the stretches werent done, or where they werent done as prescribed, we see reattachment or regrowth of the frenulum and we need to re-treat it. Loading Dr Mihiri Silva, who is chair of the Australian Dental Associations oral health committee and helped write the consensus statement, says non-surgical interventions, such as working with a lactation consultant to improve the positioning of a baby, reduced unnecessary tongue-tie releases. While most procedures are simple and safe, there are also serious risks that you want to avoid, she says. These risks, according to Silva, might include bleeding, infection and what is sometimes referred to as a feeding aversion. Its something that Anita Moorhead, a clinical midwife consultant from Royal Womens Hospital Melbourne, has witnessed. Every year, she sees a handful of babies who have been left with sore, uncomfortable mouths following tongue-tie surgeries. In some cases, the discomfort means that the babies have become reluctant to breastfeed. We cant undo what has been done, she says. Moorhead has been assessing babies for tongue ties for 17 years at the Royal Womens and teaches other nurse midwives to do the same. While rates of tongue-tie releases have skyrocketed in the broader community, the number of releases performed at the major maternity hospital has remained stable about two to three a week. She believes the procedure should be performed by people who are qualified to assess breastfeeding. We take it carefully and cautiously, she explains. We dont want to trivialise a procedure on a baby. But for some babies, we have exhausted all other avenues that we can to improve breastfeeding, and this is part of the puzzle. A recent tongue-tie release resolved breastfeeding issues for Amanda Jenkins and her five-week-old daughter, Charlotte. We were having issues with latching, she explains. She lost a lot of her birth weight. A Gold Coast GP performed the procedure last week with a pair of scissors and Jenkins noticed an immediate difference. The latching is much better, she says. It has made our lives a lot simpler, not having to do as much bottle feeding and expressing. We hardly noticed her little tongue sticking out before and now we can. Mother-of-three Jemma Collins believes that tongue ties are being overdiagnosed in Australia. Credit: Dan Peled In Jemma and Aylas case, a tongue-tie release was recommended when there were no obvious issues with breastfeeding. There was no pain and Ayla was a settled baby who was putting on weight. But a midwife from the Queensland maternity hospital where Jemma gave birth was concerned about a clicking noise that Ayla made when she fed. She said it could be a tongue tie and recommended that Jemma see a chiropractor. The chiropractor determined that Ayla had a tongue and lip tie and said this could lead to a reduction in milk supply, a gap between Aylas front teeth, speech issues and feeding issues when she started solids. The pair were then referred to the dentist who performed the procedure. Jemma Collins and her daughter, Ayla, in 2018. Jemmas daughter continued to make a clicking noise following the surgery, which she later discovered was due to her fast flow of milk. The dentist instructed Jemma to perform stretches on Aylas tongue, which involved running her finger over the babys wound four times a day for three weeks following the surgery. She was told this would ensure the tie did not grow back. Imagine having an open wound on your knee, she says. It wants to heal, and stick back together but four times a day you are pulling that wound apart. Thats what they want you to do with the tongue. She stopped the exercises after seeking the advice of another lactation consultant who said they could lead to feeding aversions. Lactation consultant Lois Wattis says an excessive number of tongue-tie releases are being performed on babies who dont need them. Theres been an enormous amount of over-treatment that has happened, primarily by dentists, she says. Confirmation bias, where people seek only evidence that supports their existing views, is a powerful force at play, according to Wattis. In all aspects of this treatment, you will have people wanting it to work, she says. Parents want it to work because they are struggling. Breastfeeding issues often resolve over time as babies grow and their mothers discover the best positioning for feeding, Wattis says. Jemma has since gone on to have two more children, including a now three-year-old who was also diagnosed with a tongue tie by a lactation consultant. Imagine having an open wound on your knee. It wants to heal, and stick back together but four times a day you are pulling that wound apart. Jemma I just did the watch and wait and she was fine: talking by 18 months, eating solids like a champion, no issues whatsoever, Jemma says. Her three-month-old son, Eric, also makes a clicking noise when he feeds and she suspects he also falls under the definition of a child with a tongue tie. Shed like to see tighter controls over who can assess and perform tongue-tie releases. In our case, it might not have been necessary in the first place. The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the days most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here. The vote confers additional rights on Palestine at the world body, allowing it to take part fully in debates, propose agenda items and have its representatives elected to committees. However, it will not be able to vote in the General Assembly after the United States used its veto power in the Security Council last month to block a bid for full Palestinian membership of the UN. Israels UN ambassador Gilad Erdan theatrically inserted a miniature copy of the UN charter into a transparent paper shredder. Credit: YouTube/United Nations Former prime minister Scott Morrison declared he was terribly saddened and disappointed by the vote, which he described as the most hostile act of an Australian government to the state of Israel in our history. In a day of high emotion at UN headquarters in New York, Israels UN ambassador Gilad Erdan said that the global community had rewarded Hamas for its October 7 terror attacks, which led to 1200 deaths. Erdan said the UN had opened up the United Nations to modern-day Nazis, to genocidal jihadists committed to establishing an Islamic state across Israel and the region, murdering every Jewish man, woman and child. It makes me sick, he said. Declaring that the nations supporting the resolution had shredded the UN charter, Erdan inserted a miniature copy of the UN charter into a transparent paper shredder during his speech. The resolution, which reaffirms the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine, was supported by 143 nations the overwhelming majority of UN member states. Nine countries voted against and 25 abstained. Loading Wong said many of Australias regional partners voted in favour, including New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea. However, Australias vote contrasted with its AUKUS partners, the United States and United Kingdom, which respectively voted no and abstained. The result underlies the growing strength of the Palestinian cause within Labor, which abstained from voting on a 2012 resolution granting Palestine observer status at the UN but has since incorporated support for Palestinian statehood into its policy platform. Israels ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said that expanding Palestines role at the UN without direct negotiations is counterproductive and would only reward Hamas for the atrocities they committed on October 7. He said it was disappointing that Australia had voted differently to like-minded countries with which it was usually aligned. Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has been laying the groundwork for a yes vote on such a resolution over the past month. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said the Labor governments support for the resolution risks harming long-term peace prospects and sends a shameful message that violence and terrorism get results. By advancing the wishes of terrorists while securing nothing in return, this vote has reduced the incentive for parties to negotiate and increased the risks of future attacks or bloodshed, he said. Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said Australia should have joined the UK by abstaining from the vote. One can only conclude that Australias vote was driven by domestic political considerations, and not by principle, which makes it a sad and shameful day for all Australians, he said. The Palestinian leadership is as autocratic, corrupt and divided as ever, and remains incapable of forming a single government with the capacity to rule over its claimed territory. Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni welcomed Australias vote as a favourable move towards a serious international commitment to Palestinian self-determination but lamented the watering down of previous drafts. Even with this successful resolution, the UN has still failed to recognise Palestinians basic, inherent right to participate in decision-making about issues that directly affect their lives and political aspirations, he said. Loading Dvir Abramovich, chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, said the vote could not have come at a worse time because he believed it would undermine efforts to convince Hamas to release Israelis taken hostage on October 7. I feel like I have been stabbed in the heart, he said. Wong began laying the groundwork for supporting such a resolution last month in a speech emphasising the case for Palestinian statehood, separate to a final peace settlement with Israel. Australias ambassador to the UN, James Larsen, told the General Assembly that Australia had been frustrated by the lack of recent progress towards a two-state solution. Larsen stressed that the resolution does not provide membership of the United Nations and retains the status of the permanent observer mission with a modest extension of additional rights. Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour addresses the UN General Assembly. Credit: AP The vote came as the war in Gaza entered its eighth month, with Israel expanding ground operations in the southern city of Rafah and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing that Israel would fight with its fingernails if necessary after the US withheld a delivery of bombs. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israels assault, according to health officials in Gaza. A second man accused of a brutal attack on a Perth grandmother, in a case that sparked a furore over the migration system, was released from federal detention in early 2020 when Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was minister for home affairs. The man, Seyed Younes Tahami, is accused of joining fellow asylum seeker Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan in the aggravated assault and robbery on April 16 that left Ninette Simons, 73, suffering severe injuries that were shown in graphic images across the national media. Tahami has been charged with aggravated assault occasioning bodily harm, aggravated robbery, aggravated home burglary, impersonating a police officer and detaining someone with intent to gain a benefit. Federal records reveal a key government decision in January 2020 led Commonwealth authorities to release Tahami into the community after he had spent time in prison and immigration facilities, raising questions about why he was not kept in detention. There was no reason given for his release. BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, May 11. Kyrgyzstan imported 145.940 million cubic meters of natural gas from January through February 2024, which is 9.3 percent more than 133.567 million cubic meters during the corresponding period of 2023, Trend reports. According to Kyrgyzstans State Statistical Committee, the value of the imports reached $21.891 million, rising by 9.3 percent compared to $20.035 million in January-February last year. In particular, 130.116 million cubic meters of natural gas were imported from Russia for $19.517 million and 15.823 million cubic meters from Uzbekistan for $2.373 million. Meanwhile, 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 reached $307.5 million, increasing by 18.4 percent compared to JanuaryFebruary 2023 ($259.726 million). Imports amounted to $1.947 billion, up 30 percent from $1.498 billion in the corresponding months of 2023. BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, May 11. Kyrgyzstan's Minister of Energy, Taalaibek Ibraev, met with South Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Ahn Duk-geun in Seoul to discuss collaboration prospects, Trend reports. The Kyrgyz ministry said the talks covered renewable energy, energy efficiency, innovative technologies, bilateral information exchange, and a memorandum of understanding with Korea. Kyrgyzstan, which provides over 80 percent of its electricity, has a prominent water resource in Central Asia and has tremendous solar and wind energy potential, according to Ibraev. In addition, the minister invited Ahn Duk-geun to Kyrgyzstan-organized the June 1011, 2024 International Energy Forum in Vienna. The ministers pledged to work together on climate change, energy security, and energy conservation programs, as these efforts will entail sharing knowledge and utilizing cutting-edge technology. If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit Pictured holding a copy of the ESB/Bord na Mona history, Powering the West, is 107-year-old Michael Coyne who worked on the construction of the Bellacorick power station during the 1950s. A native of Cloonfinglas, Fairymount, Castlerea, Michael was employed by the John Waldron construction company. While working on the project he stayed in digs with a local family in Bellacorick. The Bellacorick power station was a joint partnership between Bord na Mona and the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and a large number of workers were employed in the construction phase. Indeed, the construction of the power station was one of the biggest infrastructural projects in the West of Ireland at that time and people travelled from all over Mayo to see the giant cooling tower once it was completed. The power station closed in 2005 and the cooling tower was demolished in a controlled explosion in 2007. Michael was presented with a copy of Powering the West by PJ Lynn, who was a member of the Crossmolina-based committee behind the publication of the history. He was delighted to see his name recorded in the book as one of those workers employed in the construction. ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, May 11. President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov instructed to carry out work on the creation of an automated electronic information database for the pension fund, Trend reports. The President gave this instruction to Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Hojamyrat Geldimyradov during a meeting of the Government of Turkmenistan. The Deputy Chairman reported on the practical steps being taken to implement the 'State Program on Development of the Digital Economy of Turkmenistan for 2021-2025', including creating and commissioning automated electronic information databases and ensuring their accessibility and cybersecurity. In particular, it was reported on the draft technical conditions and technical specifications of an identical system in the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population and the Pension Fund of Turkmenistan. Meanwhile, in Turkmenistan, the digitalization process is actively developing in various fields, striving to contribute to the modernization of the economy and improve the quality of life of citizens. Government-supported programs are aimed at expanding access to the Internet and digital technologies, the introduction of e-government, and digital services in education, healthcare, and other sectors. Information infrastructure, including digital communications and platforms to better government and public services, is crucial to this process. ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, May 11. President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov has approved the composition of the state commission for the organized grain harvest in 2024, Trend reports. On May 10, during a meeting of the Turkmenistan Cabinet of Ministers, the head of state signed the relevant resolution 'in order to consistently strengthen the country's economic potential and increase wheat production'. The document instructs the Turkmenobahyzmat State Association to ensure efficient and uninterrupted operation of combine harvesters during the harvest season by setting up proper ground maintenance. Furthermore, the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan was also instructed, on a contractual basis with the Turkmengallaonumleri State Association, to ensure timely transportation of wheat harvested from the fields to reception points, warehouses, and elevators without losses, as well as uninterrupted and efficient operation of vehicles. The document permits the Turkmengallaonumleri State Association to transport wheat to reception points, warehouses, and elevators using contractually owned vehicles from other ministries and departments. Meanwhile, in early February of this year, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov signed a decree on a significant increase in public procurement prices for wheat. Compared with the purchase prices that have been set since 2019, the price per ton of wheat has been raised 2.5 times from 800 Turkmen manat ($229) to 2000 Turkmen manat ($572.5). TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 11. Korean companies plan to study the possibilities of localizing the production of green technologies in Uzbekistan, Trend reports. Uzbekistan's Ministry of Economy and Finance held a meeting with Korean companies to discuss the potential for cooperation in the field of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, the representatives of the Green Economy Development Department of Uzbekistan's Ministry of Economy and Finance, the CEO of the Korean Institute of Climate Change (KICC), a researcher at KICC, the Department Manager from Korea Investment and Securities (KIS), the Project Manager at KIS, and the Team Leader from Korea Western Power participated in the meeting. The Korean side also plans to implement a newly developed project to install modern heat pumps in Uzbekistans social facilities, in particular hospitals, greenhouses, and multi-story residential and non-residential buildings. The project is planned to be implemented for the first time in Uzbekistan, and the possibility of implementing a pilot project in the city of Urgench (Uzbekistans Khorezm region) is being studied. Meanwhile, trade turnover volume between Uzbekistan and Korea amounted to $544.1 million from January through March 2024. The volume of exports to Korea reached $10.9 million, while imports totaled $533.2 million during this period. TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 11. Uzbekistan has joined the list of nations evaluated for their effectiveness in addressing climate change, Trend reports. According to the Climate Change Performance Index, Uzbekistan now stands in 48th place among 67 countries. Hydropower remains the dominant renewable source in the electricity system, providing 1.85 GW of capacity, with other renewable sources accounting for no more than 1 percent. Overall, the share of renewable sources, including hydropower, is 8 percent of the energy balance. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan intends to build more than 20 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 and is currently working on 28 projects in this direction. The country is aiming to increase its share of the green energy balance to 40 percent. At the same time, the energy industry in Uzbekistan has already received $2.1 billion in foreign direct investment. Nearly all regions are constructing solar and wind power plants. Specifically, the Bukhara, Jizzakh, Kashkadarya, Navoi, Samarkand, and Surkhandarya regions have launched nine large solar and wind power plants with a capacity of 1.6 GW. The Andijan, Samarkand, Surkhandarya, and Tashkent regions put into operation a total of six large and small HPPs with a capacity of 183 MW. Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a welcome ceremony jointly held by Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok and Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi] BUDAPEST, May 10 (Xinhua) Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here Wednesday for a state visit to Hungary, the third leg of his six-day trip to Europe through Friday. The following are some highlights of Xi's remarks and statements, as well as important agreements reached between the two countries during the visit. On China-Hungary Relations Hungary is one of the first countries to recognize New China. Since the establishment of their diplomatic ties, China and Hungary have always respected each other, treated each other as equals, and pursued mutual benefit. China-Hungary relations have maintained steady development over the past 75 years. The two sides should sum up valuable experience and chart the course forward. First, both sides should treat each other as equals, follow a development path suited to their respective national conditions, and firmly hold their destiny in their own hands. China-Hungary friendship from generation to generation does not target any third party, nor should it be dictated by any third party. Second, the two countries should uphold mutual trust and mutual assistance, always understand each other, and firmly support each other in safeguarding their respective sovereignty, security, and development interests. Third, the two sides should adhere to win-win cooperation, expand cooperation in various fields within the framework of the Belt and Road cooperation, and synergize their respective development strategies. Both countries should also uphold fairness and justice, stand on the right side of history, and strive to make positive contributions to the cause of peace and development of mankind. Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok at the Sandor Palace in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. [Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan] China-Hungary relations are currently at the best period in history and their comprehensive strategic partnership has maintained high-level development. With deepening political mutual trust and fruitful cooperation in various fields, the two countries have set a model for building a new type of international relations. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Hungary, ushering in a new and important opportunity for the development of bilateral relations. China and Hungary have always been good friends that trust and support each other as well as good partners that seek win-win cooperation over the years. It is natural for the two countries to further upgrade relations and enrich bilateral cooperation. The two sides should take the establishment of the all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era as an opportunity to inject new and strong impetus into bilateral cooperation and create a better future for the two peoples. In order to enrich the China-Hungary all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era, the two sides are committed to enhancing synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Hungary's "Eastern Opening" policy. On Cooperation, Exchanges The traditional friendship has taken deep roots in the hearts of the people, and cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful outcomes. Leveraging mechanisms and platforms such as the Belt and Road Cooperation Promotion Center, the two sides will pursue deeper and more substantive progress in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, jointly ensure the safety and security and smooth progress of relevant cooperation projects between the two countries, and strive for more fruitful results in practical cooperation. The two sides should continue supporting the teaching of both countries' languages. China is willing to strengthen multilateral communication and coordination with Hungary. In recent years, the two sides have seen frequent high-level exchanges, deepening mutual trust, fruitful outcomes in Belt and Road cooperation, vibrant people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and close coordination and collaboration in international and regional affairs. China welcomes Hungarian friends to board the "express train" of Chinese modernization, and stands ready to work with Hungary to continuously deepen political mutual trust, promote greater synergy between Chinese modernization and Hungary's Eastern Opening strategy, tap the potential of practical cooperation, and continuously expand bilateral exchanges in various fields. China is willing to work with Hungary to continuously lead in the right direction of the Belt and Road cooperation as well as cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, and to deepen and substantiate bilateral cooperation. Hungary is welcomed to be China's companion on its path to Chinese modernization, which will surely bring more opportunities to Hungary and other countries in the world. China is willing to jointly forge greater synergy in development strategies with Hungary, make good use of mechanisms such as the China-Hungary Inter-Governmental Belt and Road Cooperation Committee, promote orderly cooperation in fields including infrastructure and green energy, complete the construction of the Hungary-Serbia Railway on schedule, and actively expand cooperation in emerging areas such as clean energy and artificial intelligence. The cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) has a strong internal driving force. It is hoped that Hungary will continue to play an important role in promoting the China-CEEC cooperation to better benefit people of various countries. (Source: Xinhua) An American soldier went missing in the Korean War. How his late mothers faith hed come home has finally been realized BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12. The Israeli army launched an operation against Hamas in the city of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said, Trend reports. According to him, the operation is being carried out to counter the return of Hamas to the city of Jabaliya. In recent weeks, we have observed Hamas attempting to rebuild its military capabilities in Jabaliya and are conducting operations in the region to eliminate this threat," he said. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the cross-border assault is part of "a new wave of counteroffensive actions" by Russia. This article is old - Published: Saturday, May 11th, 2024 rexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in their respective Parliaments and closer to home you can find them all here. In this months column Plaid Cymrus Llyr Gruffydd MS writes: Like a bad smell, the ongoing controversy about the First Minister accepting a 200,000 donation from a twice-convicted environmental polluter has continued to linger over the Senedd. Dodgy donations to individual politicians are bad enough. Dodgy donations that help get a First Minister elected are at a totally different level and potentially undermine the institution they want to lead. Despite numerous debates and cross-examination by myself and many other opposition MSs, as well as ongoing rumblings and embarrassment from his own backbenchers, the First Minister is sticking with the defence of no rules were broken. His failure to read the room, to understand the genuine anger that people feel about this matter and the damage it does to the Senedd as a whole if allowed to pass as acceptable is telling. Perceptions matter in politics. There is a growing realisation that this is a First Minister who is not in listening mode when the full facts are presented: David Neal has twice been convicted of environmental dumping on the protected Gwent Levels His company Dauson Environmental donated 200,000 to his election campaign, one tranche on the day they submitted a planning application for a solar farm to the Welsh Government Another company is at the centre of another environmental scandal in Pembrokeshire where the Withyhedge landfill site has been described as a stink bomb on steroids by local residents Dauson Environmental was given a 400,000 loan by the Welsh Government-owned Development Bank for Wales. That sort of money is substantial and undoubtedly helped Vaughan Gething in his campaign against Jeremy Miles, whom he eventually defeated by 51-49%. As we have seen from the various donations made to the UK Conservative party, the perception of cash for honours (with donors being ennobled to the House of Lords) is highly damaging for democracy. In response to growing pressure, the First Minister appointed Carwyn Jones, a previous Labour First Minister, to review the decision. It hardly feels like an independent inquiry and is again demonstrative of a certain arrogance that afflicts any party that has enjoyed political power for too long. Thats demonstrably the case for Labour in Wales who have been in control in Wales for the past century and have governed in the devolved parliament for the past 25 years. This week we celebrate that particular milestone for our young democracy. The celebrations are however muted because the First Minister seems to have taken a cue from Westminster when it comes to sleaze. We should leave the sleaze in Westminster and build a better democracy in Wales. Are you an Ann Arbor educator? Fill out the form at the end of this article for more information on joining the Michigan Educators Rank-and-File Committee. Ann Arbor educators rally before school board meeting Hundreds of teachers, paraprofessionals, parents and students packed a school board meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan Wednesday night to oppose planned job and pay cuts for public school employees. The Democratic Party-controlled school board plans to cut $25 million from next years budget through an undisclosed number of layoffs, cutting transportation, janitorial and other services, and pay cuts of up to $3 an hour for poorly paid teaching assistants. Like other school districts around the state and across the country, the budget crisis is primarily caused by the Biden administrations decision to let the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) expire this September. The ending of the federal COVID school funding program threatens the jobs of at least 5,100 Michigan teachers over the next two years, according to the Citizens Research Council of Michigan. More than 140 job cuts are projected for Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) alone. AAPS officials claim the crisis has been compounded by falling enrollment and a supposed $14 million accounting error, which mistakenly counted a one-time state payment to the pension fund as regular revenue. While rank-and-file educators want to fight, the Ann Arbor Education Association (AAEA) and its parent organization, the Michigan Education Association (MEA), have not proposed any strike action. On the contrary, AAEA President Fred Klein told educators before Wednesdays meeting that the district should use attrition and retirements to continue to reduce staff and right-size the district. Fearing that rank-and-file workers could begin to take matters into their own hands, Klein warned against frustration and anger leading teachers and paraprofessionals to turn against ourselves, by which he meant the MEA bureaucracy. He appealed for unity before he appealed to the district to stretch out the cuts over more than one school year to prevent an explosion. The attitude of the school authorities was summed up in an op-ed piece in the Detroit Free Press written by school board president Torchio Feaster who said the board would consider public input in formulating their budget-cutting plan, but it would undoubtedly require staff reductions. Educators were in a militant mood when they entered the meeting. They responded with anger to the efforts of board members to keep any discussion of the budget off the agenda, and then to limit public comments to 30 seconds. To maintain some semblance of credibility, several board members voted to put the budget on the agenda and limit remarks to one minute. Teaching assistant protests pay cuts More than 110 educators and supporters spoke or submitted comments. Many pointed to the devastating impact layoffs and budget cuts would have on students, and expressed their solidarity with teaching assistants, also known as paraprofessionals, for their indispensable work in the education process. Pay the parapros! one teacher said to widespread applause. One high school student said, The adults that are in charge of the district have excluded everyone when it comes to making important decisions, which has led us into this pitfall. All the teachers that Ive had the privilege to work with have not only guided me but supported me through my high school years. They are not the problem. My mom is an AAPS teacher and has to have a second job just to help with everyday expenses. She is not the problem. The TAs that were already underpaid and now below the poverty line because of your pay cuts are not the problem. She concluded: Seeing and hearing how this district treats our teachers and staff has taught me to never go into education because of the mistreatment. You are looking at a kid who had a mission, but you single-handedly ruined that. Jerry White, the Socialist Equality Partys candidate for US vice president, addressed himself directly to the educators in the audience. He said he had spoken at similar meetings in Flint and Wayne-Westland and pointed to the fact that more than 5,000 Michigan teachers faced the loss of their jobs because Biden had allowed COVID relief school funding to expire. Ive urged rank-and-file teachers to prepare for strike action to defend public education for your students. Politicians from both political parties claim there is no money for public education. But when it comes to bailing out Wall Street, when it comes to corporate tax cuts, when it comes to funding their endless wars, there is no lack of money. That is the future they are offering the children that you nurturea future of war and arrests for opposing it. As school board officials tried to stop White and cut off his microphone, the SEP candidate concluded, Stopping these budget cuts will not be done through backroom deals by the Michigan Education Association to right-size the district. You, the rank-and-file teachers, must take the initiative yourselves, and prepare a strike to defend public education, White declared to applause from educators. While the MEA officials did everything to prevent educators from seeing their struggle in these broader terms, several comments during and after the meeting connected the teachers fight with the fight against war, including the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza. Several speakers denounced the school board for doing business with the Sam Bernstein Law Firm because Mark Bernstein is a member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents, which has ordered the police state crackdown on anti-genocide protesters on the campus. Educators who spoke to the WSWS before the meeting also connected the fight against austerity and war. Ive taught my whole life, at a great cost not just financial but personal, because to be an educator and to do it well is to ask a lot of sacrifice from your family. Not supporting teachers hurts everybody, especially the kids. It is really messed up that we are spending money to go and kill people instead of helping the living. Asked what he thought about the arrests of more than 2,500 students for protesting the slaughter of the Palestinians, he said, What theyre quietly doing, or maybe not so quietly, is suppressing the most progressive spirit the most progressive spirit in our country. You saw it in Vietnam. You saw it during the so-called Persian Gulf War, I was part of those protests, and you dont silence those voices. I would love to see workers stand in solidarity with the students. As a single parent of three kids, taking a $3 [pay] cut is stressful. Its making things a lot harder. Im barely getting by right now. This is not just affecting teachers but literally our whole community. Our students are going to suffer. When asked about the nearly trillion-dollar military budget and the recent $95 billion bipartisan military funding package, she responded, Why do we even have to hear that? We have money available for war but we dont have money to put into our schools to help pay for classroom materials, to give our teachers the salaries they deserve. She concluded by defending the protesting students, saying, They should not be persecuted. Everyone should be able to speak their mind freely. A vote on the austerity measures could come as soon as the boards next meeting on May 15. In a statement issued on April 17, the Michigan Educators Rank-and-File Committee urged Ann Arbor teachers and support staff to join and build the committee to unify educators across the state, nationally and internationally to defend public education. For more information about joining the Michigan Educators Rank-and-File Committee, fill out the form below. Never before has the danger of a third world war been as great as it is today. Nuclear war is being normalised, runs the European election TV spot of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP), which was broadcast on public television for the first time on Tuesday. Since the broadcast of the election spot, there have been increasing signs that NATOs war against Russia is entering a new stage that could actually lead to the use of nuclear weapons. Earlier this week, the World Socialist Web Site published a Perspective on how leading NATO representativesincluding British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and French President Emmanuel Macronare threatening direct missile attacks on Russia and the deployment of ground troops in Ukraine. Russia is reacting to the increasingly direct NATO war preparations with the threat of counterattacks. Moscow has also announced military exercises in which the use of tactical nuclear weapons is to be simulated. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the planned exercises a reaction to an unprecedented level of escalation of tensions initiated by the French President and the British Foreign Secretary, including the intention to send armed contingents to Ukraine, i.e., to actually place NATO soldiers in front of Russian troops. With the NATO-armed troops in Ukraine having their backs to the wall, and the leading nuclear powers within NATO not ruling out the use of nuclear weapons in the event of war, Moscow even has to reckon with a possible pre-emptive nuclear strike against Russian targets. Despite the acute danger of a nuclear escalation, the imperialist powers continue to intensify their war offensive. German imperialism, which already waged a war of annihilation against the Soviet Union during the Second World War, causing almost 30 million deaths, is playing a particularly aggressive role. On May 8, the German government used the anniversary of the countrys liberation from fascism by the Red Army to launch aggressive war threats against Russia. At a press conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democrats, SPD) welcomed the accession of the country, which borders directly on Russia, to NATO and declared, All for one, one for all. What was true for the Musketeers also applies to the NATO states. They were committed to each other, would protect and support each other and would defend every square centimetre of the Alliances territory. To this end, they wanted to further strengthen the eastern flank of NATO in particular. Scholzs affirmation of NATOs duty to assist has potentially catastrophic consequences. Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an armed attack against one or more parties shall be considered as an attack against them all and the military alliance shall render assistance, including the use of armed force. In other words, if the war in Ukraine spreads to a NATO country, Scholz commits Germany, with the entire alliance, to go to war against the nuclear power Russia. In fact, the ruling class is preparing to do just that. At the end of January, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD), who is currently travelling to the US and Canada, declared that Germany must prepare for a direct war with Russia. He cited the next three to five years as a period that must be used intensively to arm ourselves and make Germany fit for war again. Since then, preparations for war are being driven forward even more aggressively. The Osnabruck Decree created the structural conditions for a war-ready army. At the same time, massive rearmament spending and the comprehensive militarisation of society is being accelerated. Pupils are taught war lessons in schools, the recent decision to introduce a Veterans Day to commemorate the infamous hero-worship of the Nazis and the planned reintroduction of compulsory military service are just a few examples. At the press conference with Stubb, Scholz boasted that he had increased defence spending to over 2 percent of gross domestic product. In addition, the coalition government had decided to permanently station a brigade in Lithuania and other extensive forces are on high alert. Germany was the hub in the heart of Europe so that allied forces can be deployed to the operational locations. The Steadfast Defender exercise is currently reaching its climax. With a total of around 90,000 soldiersincluding over 12,000 from Germanyand hundreds of tanks and aircraft, these are the largest NATO manoeuvres since the end of the Cold War. The exercise has the character of a veritable mobilisation for war against Russia. The official Bundeswehr (Armed Forces) website quotes Dirk Hamann, the colonel jointly responsible for the exercise, as saying they were rehearsing for an emergency and sending a signal to the Russian side. Earlier this week, Scholz himself visited German soldiers in the Baltic and attended part of the military exercise on a tank. Speaking at this years International May Day rally, David North, chairman of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site, said it was high time for NATO leaders 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. Scholz and the ruling class know exactly what consequences nuclear escalation would have for Germany in particular. As the much-vaunted hub of the NATO deployment against Russia, it would be one of the first targets and could be comprehensively destroyed in a nuclear war in the shortest possible timewith tens of millions of deaths. A Greenpeace study titled Effects of a nuclear bomb on Germany, published in 2019, provides an impression of the extent of the destruction. The report discusses the impact of a nuclear bomb on three potential targetsthe government district in Berlin, Germanys financial centre in Frankfurt and Buchel Air Base, where the US nuclear weapons stationed in Germany are stored. Effects of a 20-kiloton nuclear bomb in Berlin [Photo: Greenpeace-Studie] The first scenario describes the detonation of a 20-kiloton nuclear bomb on the lawn in front of the Reichstag (parliament) building. The study states: Everything within a radius of 260 metres (0.22 km) of the fireball is vaporised ... The parliament is located in this area. The radius of the area with severe explosion damage would be 590 metres. In this area, concrete buildings would be severely damaged or destroyed and the number of fatalities would be close to 100 percent. It goes on to say: Up to a distance of 1.41 kilometres from the explosion site and over a total area of 6.22 km... people outdoors would receive a radiation dose of at least 5 Sv [sievert] due to immediate radiation. This radiation dose is fatal for most people, especially due to the additional injuries caused by the pressure and heat waves. People would die within a month. It would be particularly catastrophic since Charite, a large hospital, is located in this area and therefore medical staff would no longer available. But Humboldt University, the Tiergarten and the government district are also within this radius. If the average population were taken as a basis, more than 25,000 people would be affected. In total, the resulting pressure and heat waves alone would cause 26,760 deaths and 73,550 injuries. In addition, there would be around 120,000 deaths from radiation fallout and over 50,000 subsequent deaths from cancer. Even more catastrophic are the effects described in the studys second scenario, the dropping of a larger 550-kiloton nuclear bomb on Frankfurt am Main. Here, around 500,000 deaths would be expected as a direct result of the attack and around 165,000 subsequent fatalities from cancer. For the third scenario, the detonation of a 170-kiloton nuclear weapon in Buchel, the study calculates 130,000 immediate deaths and 80,000 subsequent deaths from cancer. When leading politicians and the media provocatively declare that we should not be deterred by the Russian nuclear arsenal and such scenarios, it has an element of madness. But the madness of war, which goes hand in hand with massive attacks on the social and democratic rights of the working class, has an objective basis. Biden, Sunak, Macron and Scholz are not insane people, North said, But they are the leaders of a capitalist system riven by crises for which they cannot find progressive, socially reasonable, let alone humane solutions. The working class must oppose the imperialist logic of mass extermination, which is already culminating in a new genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, with a revolutionary socialist programme. The SGPs election appeal for the European elections states: The only legitimate conclusion that can be drawn from Nazi Germanys war of extermination and the Holocaust, the worst crimes in human history, is this: The working class must never again permit war and fascism, and must eliminate once and for all the root of this horror, capitalism. On the evening of Friday, May 10, explosions heard in the Russian city of Belgorod and Belgorod region. It was reported that one of many UAV hit of the enterprises in the Rakityansky District. ADVERTISIMENT This was written in local channels, and footage of hits in the Belgorod region was also published there. On the morning of May 11, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the region was allegedly attacked by dozens of RM-70 Vampire MLRS shells and nine drones. The governor of the aggressor country's Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, later said that the village of Proletarsky in Rakityansky District was attacked by the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the help of a UAV. According to him, the drone fell and detonated on the territory of an agricultural enterprise. "No civilians were injured. Three houses and two pieces of equipment were damaged on the territory. Operational services are working on the spot," Gladkov wrote. ADVERTISIMENT The network also published footage of the aftermath of the night attack on the Belgorod region. It is claimed that this video shows the moment of a hit in the Belgorod district. ADVERTISIMENT In the morning, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that nine UAVs had allegedly been shot down over the Belgorod region during the night. They also complained about "attempts by the Kyiv regime" to strike the region with the RM-70 Vampire multiple launch rocket system: 21 shells were "shot down," according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday demanded that the Senate quickly pass his Labor governments draconian immigration deportation bills after the High Court ruled that an Iranian asylum seeker, known only as ASF17, who has refused to be deportedfearing persecutioncan be detained indefinitely. Protesters stage a rally outside the Park Hotel calling for the release of refugees being detained inside, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. [AP Photo/Hamish Blair] Amid an ongoing witch hunt throughout the media and political establishment against immigration detainees, Albanese not only welcomed his governments victory in the High Court but seized upon it. He declared the Liberal-National Coalition should get on with it and pass the far-reaching bills, which include the power to repeatedly imprison people for up to five years for refusing to sign documents facilitating their deportation. Yesterdays High Court verdict unanimously backed the governments insistence that it must have the power to keep up to 200 asylum seekers and other immigration detainees, like ASF17, locked away indefinitely for refusing to be deported, even if they could face harm or even death. The ruling also effectively clears the way for the government to similarly imprison or forcibly deport at least 5,000 other people currently living in the community on bridging visas. This prospect has caused widespread concern and opposition throughout working-class immigrant communities. The judges yesterday revealed the narrow basis of their decision last November to partially overturn the courts previous approval of three decades of indefinite arbitrary detention without trial in immigration prisons. That ruling, in a case known as NZYQ, struck down as unconstitutional the indefinite detention of people for whom there was no foreseeable prospect of deportationoften because they were stateless or no country would take them. As a result of the NZYQ ruling, the government was forced to release 152 detainees, including asylum seekers. Ever since then the ex-detainees have been demonised relentlessly in the corporate media, and by the government itself, as dangerous criminals. Yesterday the judges declared that no limit on detention applied to detainees who supposedly made a voluntary decision not to cooperate with their deportation, even if the country they fled, such as Iran, refused to accept non-voluntary returns. ASF17 could be removed to Iran if he cooperated in the process of obtaining the requisite travel documents from Iranian authorities, the main judgment stated. He has decided not to cooperate. He has the capacity to change his mind. He chooses not to do so. ASF17s barrister, Lisa De Ferrari told the High Court he refused to cooperate with efforts to deport him because he fears for his life because he is bisexual, Christian, and a Faili Kurd. She described his option to return as akin to choosing to jump from a boat to swim with the sharks. She also told the court her client had repeatedly asked government officials to try to find another country to take him in, but they had refused to do so. But the judges said no refugee protection finding had been made in favour of ASF17, so he could be deported to Iran or kept in detention irrespective of whether that claim might be found on investigation to be genuine or well-founded. Like many others, he was denied refugee status by a fast-track assessment process. Immigration Minister Andrew Giles immediately welcomed the outcome, saying the government had fought strongly to defend our position in the High Court. Giles further embraced the corporate media scare campaign against the detainees, saying community safety continues to be our highest priority and demanded quick passage of Labors legislation. Labors Migration Amendment (Removals and Other Measures) Bill would hand a virtually unlimited power to the immigration minister to coerce any visa holder to assist with their own deportationand that of their children. Anyone who failed to obey a ministerial directive would face a mandatory one-year prison term and a $93,000 fine. They could be jailed for up to five years, and then imprisoned repeatedly, if they still did not obey. Being a refugee fleeing persecution would not be a reasonable excuse for failing to follow a directive. Moreover, the minister could overturn a previous finding that a person is a refugee to whom Australia has non-refoulement obligations. These are flagrant violations of the International Refugee Convention. The bill would also give the government the power to impose blanket travel bans, barring entry visas to people from designated removal concern countries. Those mooted by government sources and the media for listing include Iran, China, Russia and South Sudan. Such bans would have a devastating impact on the many families in Australia from these and any other listed countries, potentially barring them from ever seeing their relatives again. The Labor governments determination to proceed with its bill as fast as possible following yesterdays High Court ruling shows that its imprisonment and deportation plans go far beyond the up to 200 detainees directly affected by the verdict. Home Affairs Department officials told a Senate committee last month that Labors bills could apply to 4,463 people on bridging visas, 150 to 200 people in immigration detention, the 152 released detainees and another 99 people released before Novembers High Court decision. This may be a serious underestimate. According to human rights advocates, the victims could include almost 10,000 people who arrived in Australia in 2012 or 2013 and had their refugee claims rejected in a fast-tracked assessment process. The Albanese government has attacked the Coalition, as well as the Greens, for proposing amendments to the bill to place some limits or parliamentary oversight over aspects of the sweeping ministerial powers. Immigration Minister Giles accused the opposition of playing politics with national security and community safety. Giles dubbed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, a previous home affairs minister, a complete fraud, someone whos weakened our border protection and fundamentally undermined the integrity of our migration system. The Labor government is intent on displaying its national security and border protection credentials to the ruling class. That is despite overwhelming opposition by refugee, migrant and human rights groups, voiced in 102 submissions to the Senate committee hearing on the bill last month. That one-day hearing was convened after the government failed in its initial bid, just before Easter, to ram its bill through both houses of parliament in less than 36 hours, making a mockery of any pretence of democracy. Two previous bills seeking to thwart the High Courts NZYQ ruling were rushed through in record time. Those bills included 24-hour ankle-bracelet monitoring, curfews and other police-state measures imposed on released detainees, and a new preventative detention regime to re-imprison detainees on flimsy accusations of what they might do in the future. In addition, the government has reopened the notorious offshore detention camp on the tiny impoverished Pacific Island state of Nauru and forcibly transported asylum seekers there. These include another few who were reported to have landed on Australias northern coast this week. This has been accompanied by the maligning of non-citizens, falsely accusing immigration detainees, including refugees, of being murders and rapists, when even those with past convictions have long ago served their prison sentences. The Labor government is matching far-right and fascistic elements globally, including Donald Trump, the Conservative government in Britain, the Meloni administration in Italy and the AfD (Alternative for Germany) in witch-hunting and seeking to deport non-citizens. The US-backed Gaza genocide and the plunge into wider war in the Middle East, and against Russia and China, is being accompanied by a drive to divide working people, domestically and globally, and introduce police-state powers to suppress dissent. Foreigners are being blamed for the deteriorating social conditions being produced by capitalisms economic and cost-of-living crisis and the diversion of billions of dollars into military spending. Workers must come to the defence of immigrants, and basic democratic rights. Reactionary precedents are being set that can and will be used against workers and youth more broadly, not just asylum seekers and immigrants, as opposition grows to the worsening social crisis and war. In response to ongoing student-led protests against the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza, police departments across North America conducted violent, and, in many cases, tear gas-filled raids of anti-genocide encampments Thursday night and Friday. In addition to arrest, many students are facing suspension from their university for participating in demonstrations calling for an end to the mass murder of Palestinians and for their university to divest from war profiteers. A passer-by, right, uses a mobile device to record a barrier with placards at an anti-genocide encampment of tents on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. [AP Photo/Steven Senne] Since the initial arrest of 108 students in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University on April 18, police in the United States have arrested over 2,800 people, according to the AP, and over 2,900, according to a tracker maintained by The Appeal. Violent police sweeps of peaceful encampments are not confined to the US, however. On Thursday night, multiple people were arrested at the University of Calgarys Gaza encampment in Alberta, Canada after riot police deployed non-lethal munitions and tear gas on a crowd of less than 200. Justifying police actions in a press conference Friday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith declared that we have laws in the province, and you cannot block critical infrastructure, and in this case, its private property. Using the same smear employed by President Joe Biden and other war criminals complicit in genocide, the far-right demagogue Smith hissed: I dont want to speculate, but I have seen some of the slogans that are, have been waved around, and there should be no room for antisemitism and no room for hate crimes. At around 4:00 a.m. Friday morning, police swept the anti-genocide encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge. MIT campus police, assisted by the Massachusetts State Police, arrested at least 10 people, the New York Times reported. At least nine more people were arrested the night before while protesting inside a parking garage on campus. In line with other universities, an unspecified number of MIT students have been suspended for participating in protests against the genocide in Gaza. Prahlad Iyengar, a graduate student at MIT, said he had lost his housing and income after being suspended from the college. I dont know what comes next, Iyengar told the Times. I have friends and a community, and I can find a place, but there are people affected who are housing-and food-insecure, some with children. MIT president Sally Kornbluth, alongside Claudine Gay of Harvard and Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania, testified before Congress on the alleged rise of antisemitism on colleges in the wake of the Hamas assault on October 7. While Gay and Magill resigned in the wake of their testimony, Kornbluth has remained as president. Presaging the police raid, on May 6 Kornbluth wrote that she must now take action to bring closure to a situation that has disrupted our campus for more that two weeks. Following the police sweep, MIT graduate student Baltasar Dinis told 7NEWS: [T]he people in Gaza... are being exterminated by the Israeli regime And we want to end MITs complicity with this regime. Its shameful that MIT turns, in the cover of darkness, against its students with a very militarized police force completely disproportionate to the action, to the number of students that are here. While it has yet to be swept as of this writing, the only other encampment currently remaining in Cambridge and the greater Boston area is the Harvard encampment. Seeking to pressure encampment organizers to disband, on Friday the university began suspending students involved in the protest. Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Harvard, before it was shut down by the university. [Photo: Sent in by a reader] The Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee reported Friday that the suspensions were effective immediately. The committee added, Students are now at risk of degree withholding, eviction, food insecurity, and deportation. Elizabeth Ross, a fifth-year doctoral student at Harvard, told WGBH that she was placed on involuntary leave Friday morning for her role in the encampment. Asked by WGBH if she was fearful of police repression on campus, Ross replied, Were really just focused on the genocide. On Friday, dozens of riot police arrested 33 anti-genocide protesters at the University of Pennsylvania just before 6 a.m. Speaking to WHYY, Penn alum Zoe Sturges, who was at the encampment Friday morning, said the arrest of students was disgusting. I mean, to see cops in full riot gear with night sticks on a college campus. Its a dark sight to see, she said. At least six UPenn students have been placed on mandatory leave from the university for participating in the encampment. At the University of Arizonas Gaza encampment Thursday evening at least two professors were arrested by police. The encampment in Tucson, organized by the Students Against Apartheid, was the second one established at the university, after the first encampment was violently swept by the cops on May 1. As was the case last week, despite encountering no violence from protesters, police assaulted the encampment and liberally deployed less-lethal munitions. On-the-ground reporters for the Arizona Daily Star documented police using tear gas and rubber bullets against the crowd of over 100 people, mostly students, some of whom were wearing gas masks and using their plywood signs to protect themselves. Signs carried by protesters read: All Eyes on Rafah, Tucson P.D., KKK, IDF, Youre all the same, Free Gaza, and Free Palestine. Its unclear how many people, including students and faculty, were arrested in the police rampage. Nevertheless, the University of Arizona issued a statement on Friday fully backing the police. It read: University President Robert C. Robbins has initiated a zero-tolerance approach to enforcing its campus policy. The mass arrests and attacks on students have not stopped anti-genocide encampments and anti-war protests from forming. An analysis by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) found that pro-Palestine demonstrations involving students in the United States nearly tripled in April compared to March. Student protests since October, ACLED observed, have remained peaceful 99 percent of the time, with the only notable exception being the Zionist/fascist assault on the UCLA encampment on April 30 to May 1. Of the over 700 student-led protests tracked by ACLED, over 90% have shown support for Palestine. Despite police violence, protests calling for an end to the war in Gaza, including in Israel, continued this week. In solidarity with other encampments, on Thursday, students and faculty at the University of Haifa in Israel held a protest in favor of a ceasefire and end to the war. One demonstrator held a sign that read Stop the genocide. Dozens of students at New York University staged an anti-genocide protest at the Bobst Library on Friday. As of this writing, students were continuing to protest inside and outside the library. Israels Netanyahu regime further escalated its ethnic-cleansing war against Palestinians in Gaza this week with a series of attacks on the city of Rafah, home to 1.2 million people. The number of Palestinians killed during more than seven months of the Israeli onslaught now exceeds 40,000, the majority being women and children. Israels ongoing blockade of food, water and medical aid supplies to Gaza has created a massive human tragedy. The US and other imperialist powers have responded to growing anti-war protests by university and college students in the US, Canada, UK and several other countries by redoubling their support for Israels genocide. The Biden administration has also unleashed National Guard troops and police to attack students and lecturers involved in peaceful protests on university campuses resulting in the arrest of more than 2,500 students in the past three weeks. Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) members in Sri Lanka recently spoke to students, academics and university workers about the US student protests and Israels escalating barbaric military assaults. Chamath, from the Applied Science faculty at Jayawardenepura University I have seen that over 2,000 students protesting Israels genocide in Gaza have been subjected to brutal police repression and arrested in the US alone. I totally denounce these attacks and demand the immediate release of these students. Students everywhere face the same police brutalities whenever they come forward against governments anti-democratic attacks but what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. How can humanity tolerate such heinous crimes against innocent people, most of them women and children? It is high time for people all over world to collectively raise their voice against this criminal war. Prasadi, a final-year student at the University of Kelaniya The opposition of students and workers in America and Europe to the war against Palestinians in Gaza is encouraging. We must oppose the world from being dragged into a third nuclear world war for the interests of a handful of imperialists. America and the UK are providing Ukraine with massive amounts of weapons to wage war against Russia but theres a shortage of young soldiers to fight in this war and so people from poor countries are joining mercenary forces. Young people from Sri Lanka have gone to Ukraine and Russia to fight on the respective war fronts and many have died. They have been forced to go to war due to the huge economic problems they face in Sri Lanka (see: Hundreds of desperate Sri Lankans hired as mercenaries in Ukraine war). Shasra, a student from Peradeniya University What is happening in Gaza is a genocide with thousands of innocent Palestinians, mostly women and children, losing their lives. It is now clear that the October 7 Hamas attack was merely a pretext for Israels long-planned ethnic-cleansing operation in Gaza. Shasra It is shameful that the US government has fully backed this brutal war, which will only encourage global terrorism. Meanwhile, the US uses its veto power in the United Nations to impose its decisions on other nations. US imperialism has reduced the UN, which claims to be working for peace, into a handmaid. The UN has totally failed to stop Israels crimes against innocent people. Im glad to see our university brothers and sisters in the US, and internationally, come forward heroically against this brutality and their governments complicity with Israels genocide. I agree with the World Socialist Web Site analysis that the US government, like other world governments, has unleashed a massive military police crackdown on protesting university students because they are scared of these struggles further developing against their wars. It is time to collectively raise our voices against the state crackdowns on anti-war protesters and the bloodbath Israel is now carrying out in Rafah. Students should join with workers to build a worldwide anti-war movement to attain global peace. Samapath Weerasinghe, a non-academic worker at Peradeniya University The war against the Palestinian people is not just a barbaric act but is a genocide. I had some knowledge about the historical repression of the Palestinians by Israel, and which has been going on for decades, but Ive learnt more about this by reading the World Socialist Web Site. Sampath Weerasinghe War in Gaza is part of several imperialist war fronts that have been principally instigated by the US, with the danger of the world now being dragged into a nuclear war. As the WSWS explains, this can only be prevented in a fight against capitalism and the building of an anti-war movement of the international working class. I condemn the repression of anti-war protests of university students in the US and other countries. The working class must come forward to oppose this war and the repression of these students. Geethanjalee, a political science lecturer at Peradeniya University Its shocking to see whats happening in Gaza. Israels genocide has taken the lives of thousands of innocent Palestinians, most of them women and children. I was very shocked to hear that Gaza hospitals have been reduced to rubble by Israels bombings and that hundreds of doctors and health workers have been deliberately killed. Having forced millions of Gazans into Rafah, Israel has now set the stage for one of its worst war crimes. People all over the world need to raise their opposition to this bloody attack. Some commentators on the internet give different interpretations of the real roots of this war, but I realise that there is a political game behind this war, and that the main culprit is American imperialism which unconditionally backs Israel. At the same time, the Israeli government is promoting this war in order to crush the growing mass opposition inside Israel. Anybody who wants to seriously oppose this war should study WSWS articles. Kumara Wanninayake, a non-academic worker at Jayawardenepura University in Colombo Its regretful that most people dont know the real origins of this war. Israel was established with the backing of imperialist powers such as Britain and the United States to secure their interests in the Middle East. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the decades with the funding and backing of the US government to carry out these crimes against humanity. The WSWS coverage on this war provides a correct political analysis of what is being unraveled. Kumara Wanninayake We cannot allow imperialism to destroy humans to secure its interests. It is time for people all over the world to understand what is going on and come forward against this barbarism. It is encouraging that university students in the US, and in many other countries, have come forward against this barbaric war. The brutal police repression of these protests reveals that capitalist governments are terrified of the growing opposition within the population to war and they desperately want to crush that opposition. We are currently on strike to demand a wage increase but appealing to the Wickremesinghe government, which has implemented brutal IMF austerity measures, is useless. The trade union leaders always betray our struggles, and they will do the same this time. The working class has to be organised and mobilised through the formation of independent action committees. This is the way forward to stop war and austerity. Nadie, a student from Abu Dhabi The crackdown on student demonstrations, particularly the threatened deportation of students abroad, is deeply concerning and undermines the principles of freedom of expression. This is proven when you review history, particularly the Vietnam War, from which there are many lessons. Biden continues to support Israel, once again blatantly falsifying history and invoking the Holocaust to try and justify Israels invasion of Rafah, but we now have an enormous capacity to mobilise and express international solidarity through social media. The World Socialist Web Site condemns the developing Israeli assault on Rafah, which began this week, and calls for the mobilization of opposition throughout the world to the latest stage in the genocide in Gaza. For several days, Israel has been carrying out non-stop bombings of the city that have killed dozens of people, accompanied by ground attacks in eastern Rafah and the Rafah crossing into Egypt. Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. [AP Photo/Ramez Habboub] On Monday, Israel ordered over 100,000 starving and desperate people to evacuate eastern Rafah, without offering them safe passage or anywhere to go. All of this is preparatory to a massive and bloody onslaught. Over one million people are crowded into an area with four times the population density of Chicago, in a series of sprawling tent cities with no sources of running water or electricity. The city contains over 600,000 children, most of whom have already been displaced multiple times and all of whom have been deprived of clean water and starved of food for half a year. For six days, no food, water or medicine has been allowed into Gaza, most of whose population is currently suffering from full-blown famine. Gaza is home to 80 percent of the hungriest people in the world, according to relief agencies. Israels assault on Rafah completely exposes the Biden administrations efforts to publicly distance itself from the Gaza genocide. Last week, the White House temporarily put on hold a shipment of bombs headed for Israel, while US President Joe Biden declared, Theyre not going to get our support if, in fact, they go on these population centers. The purpose of these remarks was to provide the White Houses professional apologists in the media and the US political establishment with the opportunity to do the dirty work of presenting the sponsors of the Gaza genocide in Washington as paragons of morality seeking to restrain the Netanyahu government. U.S. Militarys Plea to Israel: Do More to Protect Gazans in War Zone, read a headline in the New York Times. The Times asserted that the US military, which has killed over one million people in its wars in the Middle East over the past quarter-century, is a model for protecting human lives in war. The assault on Rafah is being funded, armed and politically directed by US imperialism. Over the past six months, the White House has sent over 100 arms shipments to Israel. On top of the three billion dollars the US sends every year, Biden last month signed a $14.3 billion supplemental spending package to fund and arm the genocide. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, which serves as an apologist for US imperialism and the Democratic Party, called Bidens enforcing conditions on US military aid a historic shift and a just and responsible action that makes our values clear. What a contemptible fraud! The bombs that have been temporarily held up amount to just a tiny fraction of the ordnance already dropped on Gaza, which is the equivalent of more than three Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs. As White House spokesman John Kirby made clear on Friday: Weapons shipments are still going to Israel. Theyre still getting the vast, vast majority of everything that they need to defend themselves. Kirby added: We will continue to commit to spending every dime of the supplemental request that we got from Congress to get them the capabilities they need there is no weapons shipment cutoff here. Ocasio-Cortez is right about one thing. Bidens sponsorship of the Gaza genocide does make the values of American imperialism clear. These are the values of mass murder of women and children, covered over with absurd lies and moralizing platitudes. These values are upheld by the entire US political establishment, from the fascist-led Republican party to the pseudo-left apologists for genocide in the DSA. Every statement by the Biden administration about the genocide has the character of a self-indictment. In December, Biden declared that the Netanyahu government was carrying out indiscriminate bombing and seeking retribution against all Palestinians. The White House then proceeded to send billions of dollars in bombs to the government carrying out this indiscriminate bombing targeting all Palestinians. In addition to multiple arms shipments, Biden signed a bill that provided $14.3 billion in weapons, of which US officials have pledged to spend every dollar. Then, this week, Biden admitted that civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs that the United States sent to Israel. Finally, on Friday, a report by the State Department found it was reasonable to assess that US weapons were being used in ways that are inconsistent with international law, but that the arms shipments would continue regardless. All of these statements have the same content: Even as the representatives of US imperialism admit to funding and arming what are, at the very least, massive violations of international law, they proclaim themselves to be the global arbiters of peace and justice and make clear that they will continue to do exactly what they have been doing. The Gaza genocide has had a massive impact on the social consciousness of workers and young people all over the world. It has exposed the ruling class of the worlds democracies, the US and its NATO allies, as a gang of mass murderers and imperialist thugs, who see the deaths of tens of thousands of Gazans as a small price to pay for realizing their ambitions of global domination and the restoration of colonial rule. The escalation of the genocide in Gaza must be met with protests, demonstrations and strike action by workers and young people throughout the world. It is particularly critical for workers to understand that the genocide is part of an expanding global war, which is at the same time a war of the ruling elite on the working class at home. Opposition to the Gaza genocide must be connected to the fight of the working class against capitalist exploitation and transformed into a political movement against imperialist war and the entire capitalist system. A Florida deputy killed a US Air Force airman in his own home on May 3 after bursting into the wrong apartment, according to attorneys for the family. Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was in his off-base apartment when he was fatally shot by a deputy, who was responding to a disturbance call in a different apartment. People on bodycam footage talking to the deputy after he arrived at the apartment complex claimed a man and woman were involved in a domestic dispute. There was a notable lack of the latter in Fortsons apartment. Chantemekki Fortson, mother of Roger Fortson, a U.S. Air Force senior airman, holds a photo of her son during a news conference regarding his death, with Attorney Ben Crump, right, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. [AP Photo/Gerald Herbert] According to civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Fortson, who was black, was alone in his apartment on a Facetime call with a woman during the encounter. Crump says that, according to the woman, no one could hear the deputy announce himself nor was the deputy visible through the peephole of the apartment. Fortson attempted to ascertain who was knocking at the door, asking who was there but did not hear a response. Bodycam footage was released shortly after news of the killing went viral online, unlike the multiple months or even years delay typical when footage is incriminating of police. The deputy could be seen on the footage knocking on the door, then awkwardly moving to the left then repeating the same exercise, except this time moving to the right of the door, in both cases potentially moving beyond the line of sight of the peephole each timefor unexplained reasons. After this knocking, which from the perspective of someone inside the house could have been from anyone, including an attacker, the deputy shouts, Sheriffs office! Open the door! After the deputy shouted this again, Fortson opened the door with his legally owned pistol in hand aimed at the ground. The officer fired five shots in quick succession seconds after the door opened, fatally wounding Fortson, who was later declared dead at a hospital. The Okaloosa County Sheriffs Office claimed the officer, who shot first after barging into Fortsons home, was acting in self-defense. Fortson was based at the Special Operations Wing (SOW) at Hurlburt Field, Florida. He had just returned from serving in Kuwait and had recently celebrated his 23rd birthday. According to Crump, It is a harrowing tragedy that Roger dedicated his life to serving his country and defending our constitutional rights, and in the end, his constitutional rights were violated, leading to his death. This statement deserves scrutiny. If it is the case that over 1,000 people are routinely summarily executed by police forces each year with almost complete impunity, how is it that constitutional rights are being defended by the government or its armed forces? According to the Air Force, SOW is one of five Air Force active-duty special operations wings and falls under the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). As the Air Force notes, The 1st SOW is a pivotal component of AFSOCs ability to provide airpower to conduct special operations missions worldwide. The primary mission of the 1st SOW is to rapidly plan and execute specialized and contingency operations in support of national priorities. The wings core missions include close air support, precision aerospace firepower, specialized aerospace mobility, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations, and agile combat support. Among the SOW arsenal are MQ-9 predator drones, AC-130J Commando IIs, which specialize in aerial refueling and transporting special operation death squads around the world, and AC-130J Ghostrider gunships used in brutal neo-colonial counter-insurgency wars. Opponents of US-backed regimes around the world, including political opponents and their supporters are assassinated by US special forces death squads, some of which are transported by SOW, as well as missiles fired from MQ-9 predator drones. US imperialism increasingly brings the same brutal methods home to use, overwhelmingly against the working class and poor people, who furnish the overwhelming majority of military recruits. Reflecting this, recently the US Special Operations Command held its annual conference in Tampa, Florida, in which helicopters, military trucks, boats, all fitted with machine guns, and infantry fired blanks in a simulated urban warfare operation. The implication is that these same forces will be used in US cities. Like in imperialist operations overseas, a certain amount of collateral damage is viewed as necessary by the ruling class as part of its brutal police state methods which it seeks to use, alongside more subtle methods, such as the political charlatanry of the Democratic Party, to head off a revolutionary movement of the working class. Mapping Police Violence has tracked 384 deaths this year in the country, which is on track to meet or exceed the previous grim record reached in 2023 of 1,351 deaths by police. The past several years have seen total deaths of around 1,000 per year. Just a couple days before Fortson was killed, police shot and killed a 14-year-old Wisconsin student outside of Mount Horeb Middle School after receiving a report of someone with a weapon. The student had a 0.177 caliber pellet riflesomething widely regarded as a toy gun in America which uses either pressurized air, carbon dioxide or nitrogen. Police outside Mount Horeb Middle School, Wisconsin, May 1, 2024. While capable of shooting ones eye out, it is not regarded as a deadly weapon.Only two states, which does not include Wisconsin, treat BB or pellet guns as firearms. Hundreds of terrified children ran after hearing the shots fired from police at the student. At the time, the authorities claimed an active shooter had been neutralized outside of the school. It is now apparent the only active shooter was in fact the police. Canada Post reported last week in its financial report for 2023 that it had posted a pre-tax loss of $748 million last year, and that it expects to continue to lose money this year and in the years to come. The Crown corporation has posted losses every year since 2018, losing $3 billion over six years. Total revenue in 2023 exceeded $6.9 billion, but this marked a decline of 3.3 percent from 2022. A Canada Post worker walks to his truck in Richmond, British Columbia [AP Photo/Ted S. Warren] The company warns that if the current trends continue, without more borrowing and refinancing of its debt, Canadas postal service will run out of operating funds sometime early next year. The announcement comes as Canada Post is in the midst of negotiations with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) bureaucracy to finalize new contracts for 42,000 Urban Postal Operations (UPO) workers and 8,000 rural and suburban mail carriers (RSMCs). These workers make up the bulk of Canada Posts more than 68,000 employees and are responsible for delivering mail to more than 17.4 million addresses in every corner of the country. The contract for RSMCs expired on December 31, 2023, while the urban units agreement ended on January 31. The CUPW is determined to keep workers demobilized through sporadic updates and dragged-out talks. The union has yet to announce a strike vote, let alone set a date for job action. Workers report being overworked and underpaid, as they are pressured and bullied by management to meet unrealistic goals. Under current company proposals, the mounting losses are to be paid for by Canada Post workers through the further degradation of working conditions, and slashing of pay and benefits. Among the solutions which have been floated are the elimination of daily letter mail delivery and the expansion of parcel delivery to the weekends. The company is also seeking to slash pension and health care benefits. Exploiting the introduction of artificial intelligence, Canada Post wants to deprive postal workers of a regular route, switching instead to a constantly changing schedule based on maximum efficiency known as dynamic routing. We need to work with government to ensure the regulatory framework aligns with todays needs, Jon Hamilton, vice president of communications at Canada Post, said in a statement, according to CBC News. We were doing a number of things to be able to better compete, but we didnt expect our market share to drop that quickly and for the competitors to take that much of the volume, Hamilton told CBC. He said the company was having honest conversations with CUPW about expanding to weekend parcel services. In its 2023 annual report, Canada Post speaks jealously of the low-cost-labour business models for the delivery of e-commerce parcels that have grown rapidly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, clearly with an eye to expanding to the use of low-paid temps to cover routes and take on expanded services. The growth in online sales has been accompanied by the emergence of private courier operations that employ gig workers to deliver parcels outside the Canada Post system, including on nights and weekends. Parcel delivery, driven by the growth of online purchases through Amazon and other platforms, grew from 286 million pieces in 2022 to 296 million in 2023. Meanwhile, the delivery of letter mail has continued its precipitous decline, which began nearly two decades ago with the proliferation of email and smart phones, from a peak of 6.6 billion pieces in 2006 to just over 2.2 billion in 2023. While Canada Post is publicly controlled and overseen by the federal Minister of Public Services and Procurement, it does not receive public funding. Instead, it has been entirely reliant on generating revenue from the sale of postal productsmost important being stampsand services since the 1980s. Until then, Canadas postal service had been fully funded by the government, and postal workers were public employees. The justification for the establishment of a fully for-profit operation was that it would make the postal service more competitive with delivery services like UPS and FedEx. This drive for competitiveness has come at the expense of postal workers, who have been subjected to round after round of attacks. Canada Posts management has enjoyed the backing of the federal government at every step of this onslaught. Successive Conservative and Liberal governments have broken strikes through back-to-work legislation, including in 2011 and 2018. The CUPW bureaucracy has been fully complicit in these attacks, above all through its refusal to defy government intervention by taking up a political struggle to defend the interests of postal workers. After the Trudeau government intervened in 2018 to ban rotating strikes by postal workers, the CUPW helped enforce a rotten sellout agreement and claimed that postal workers would secure their right to strike in the courts. Six years on, the courts are still considering the question of whether the 2018 back-to-work law was legal, while postal workers continue to suffer its consequences. The CUPW is a close ally of the Liberal Trudeau government and insists that Canada Post must be run on a profitable basis. This approach aligns perfectly with the Liberals commitment to austerity to make working people pay for the massive spending on Canadas military and handouts to the super-rich. In a demonstration of their bitter hostility to workers rights and determination to enforce brutal exploitation at workplaces across the country, the Liberal government intervened this week to indefinitely block an upcoming strike by over 9,000 rail workers at CN Rail and Canadian Pacific Kansas City. Despite an overwhelming strike vote by rail workers, Labour Minister Seamus OReagan announced that the Canadian Industrial Relations Board would examine the issue of whether a strike could safely proceed, with all job action prohibited until this institution of the capitalist state issues its ruling. CUPW president Jan Simpson responded to Canada Posts latest report of losses by defending the companys right to profit off the backs of the workers she claims to represent. For us to deliver the mail to the door of every customer across this country thats the way Canada Post will get back, I feel, a lot of their profit which theyre claiming to have lost through different ways, Simpson declared. The union has proposed expanding the responsibilities of workers and services offered by Canada Post. Through its Delivering Community Power campaign, the union proposes solutions such as offering postal banking and social service check-ins for seniors. Postal workers have long known that transition is necessaryand have stepped up with solutions. The Corporations response, up to now, has been to cut and move to franchises. Postal workers believe that growing and innovating to meet the needs of people, who cherish our postal services, is the real solution. It may not be the easy way, but its the right way, Simpson said in a statement Tuesday. While Canada Post is posting massive losses and pleading poverty, the resources in fact exist to fully fund the postal service. Under its latest defence policy update the trade union-backed Liberal Trudeau government announced last month that annual spending on the military will increase from the current level of approximately $30 billion per year to $49.5 billion by 2029-30. At its current level, Canadas military spending would cover the Crown corporations losses over the last six years 10-fold. Rank-and-file Canada Post workers have made clear that they are determined to fight back against the massive concessions being demanded by the company and that they will not accept another sellout by the CUPW bureaucracy. A meeting of workers last month called for the establishment of the Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (PWRFC). The meeting unanimously endorsed the following resolution after extensive discussion: This meeting of Canada Post workers declares its support for the establishment of a Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee. Such a committee will be completely independent of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers bureaucratic apparatus, which divides and demobilizes us and enforces the dictates of management. By building the Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee, we can wrest control of our contract struggle from the CUPW and articulate demands to unite and defend the jobs and conditions of all workers at Canada Post. The independent mobilization of the rank-and-file is also crucial to waging a working class political struggle against the union, NDP-backed Trudeau government, which stands four-square behind Canada Post. This will require linking our struggle with those of all sections of workers, public and private, who are facing similar attacks across Canada and in other countries through the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees. All those who agree with this strategy and are interested in building the PWRFC should fill out the form below. This is the third part of a series of articles on the socially critical films of 1974. An introduction and Part 1 were posted May 6, Part 2 May 8, Part 4 May 13 and Part 5 May 16. US filmmaker Robert Altmans Thieves Like Us (1974) is a Depression-era film, with a script credited to Calder Willingham and Joan Tewkesbury, based on the 1937 novel of the same title by Texas-born Edward Anderson (1905-1969). The Anderson book is also the source material for the 1948 classic film They Live by Night, directed by Nicholas Ray. Altman, whose best work includes M*A*S*H (1970), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973), California Split (1974) and Nashville (1975), was one of the most insightful US filmmakers during the early to mid-1970s. Thieves Like Us The socially intriguing and historically authentic Thieves Like Us was an opportunity for the director to reveal his attitude towards American capitalism during the Great Depression, one of its greatest crises, which inflicted massive human suffering. Altmans strong sense of period aptly captures Mississippi in the 1930s, where poverty was widespread and the conditions were some of the worst in the country. The youthful Bowie (Keith Carradine), found guilty of killing a man in a hold-up at 16 (It was him or me. Hed come around the car after me with a gun), escapes from a prison farm and robs banks along with two former fellow convicts. Bowie, the alcoholic sociopath Chicamaw (John Schuck) and the aging lecher T-Dub (Bert Remsen) hide out with T-Dubs sister-in-law Mattie (Louis Fletcher) and her children, including her older daughter Lula, the object of T-Dubs attentions. While hiding from the law, Bowie meets and falls in love with a young woman named Keechie (Shelley Duvall), embarking on a rawboned relationship doomed from the start. Their involvement is touching and genuine. Altman and his screenwriters make a considerable effort to portray the manner in which feelings develop between two naive, shy, inexperienced but nonetheless sensitive and receptive souls. They engage in small talk, they size one another up, they go round and round Want a Coke? No, thanks. Ill go get you one if you want. Its okay. I dont want one. You cut your hair. I dont know. I just sort of evened it off. And: Whos your fella? Why do you ask that? I dont know. I was just asking. Yeah, but why? I dont know. Its none of my business. Its just most girls have a fella, thats all. I dont know what most girls have. You never have had a fella? No. Not even just to walk you to church or something like that? No. Why? Do you think I shouldve? No. I was just wondering. Thats your own business. Their budding, star-crossed romance plays out against the background of a radio production of the most celebrated love story of all literature. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, portions of which we hear. Three times the radio announcer informs us, Thus did Romeo and Juliet consummate their first interview by falling madly in love with each other. The counterpoint is not subtle, but its still effective. This is a love affair in the face of everythingpoverty, the police, society as a whole. In a harsh, dirty world, Bowie and Keechie develop deep affection and feeling for one another. There is a purity in their relationship, despite its coarseness, which is smashed up by the social orders economic and social imperatives. John Schuck, Bert Remsen and Keith Carradine in Thieves Like US (1974) Eventually, Bowie is treacherously ambushed and gunned down by the police. His slaughter is witnessed by Keechie, who is restrained by Mattie, her lovers betrayer. Bowies bullet-ridden corpse is laid out in the mud. In the final scene, a pregnant Keechie is at the train station, bitter that Bowie never shook off his criminal ways. (Im pretty deep in this business, Bowie affirms at one point.) A central theme of Thieves Like Us is summed up by T-Dub in the novel (although for some reason not in Altmans film), in which he refers to those in respectable professions, such as bankers, politicians and police officers, as just thieves like us. This brings to mind the line from The Threepenny Opera of Brecht and Weill, What is robbing a bank compared with founding a bank? Why did Altman choose to make such a work in the 1970s? In an obituary in 2006, we suggested that aspects of his history and personality made the filmmaker, who grew up in the Depression, the appropriate chronicler, up to a point, of the growing economic and political uncertainties that beset the US in that period [the 1970s], bound up with the end of the postwar boom, the beginning of a long industrial decline, the loss of prestige and power to the advantage of Asian and European rivals, the deterioration in the living conditions of millions. At the same time, the studio system in Hollywood had gone into irreversible decline. All in all, the old American postwar narrative had broken down. Thieves Like Us is Altman in his strongest period: progressive, provocative and forthright. He once asserted: What I saw in the film was: You really liked these people and you really felt sorry for them and their dilemma. I thought it was a real look at the society thirty years from [McCabe and Mrs. Miller], the way it developed with free enterprise It was just the beginning of communications, radio was just coming into its own. Advertising was coming in. People were starting to behave the way they were told to behave, and yet there was no way out from poverty for those people, who were poor and uneducated With Bowie and Keechie, when they are together there is safety, and although it wasnt happiness, at least it was the absence of unhappiness. The film was made at a time of upheaval and convulsion, even chaos, qualities that the master improviser Altman thrived on. The periods rebelliousness undoubtedly played a role in making Thieves Like Us one of his most compelling films. It is a realistic picture, an anti-Bonnie and Clyde, without the latters somewhat glamorized depiction of gangsters and the Depression (and also less lyrical than They Live by Night.). Unlike the beautiful stars Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, Bowie and Keechie are uncouth and awkward; Schucks Chicamaw is a drunken brute and Remsens T-Dub a lascivious pawer of young women. The inebriated crooks act out robberies with Matties bored children. A recurring joke adds flavor to the general effort to puncture pretensions: Hey, you know what the Mississippi state tree is? Its the telephone pole. You know what the Mississippi state animal is? Its a squashed dog in the road. And the state flower is a weed. In an essay in Cinema: A Critical Dictionary (1980), critic Robin Wood noted that Altman made artistic sense of the dominant technical devices of modern cinema, the telephoto and zoom lenses.... Screen space today, instead of appearing stable and three-dimensional, is a matter of flattened or shifting perspectives as background and foreground move into and out of focus and distance is squeezed into flatness. Such technique lends itself to the expression of a sense of dream-like unreality, of instability and loss of control. Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall in Thieves Like Us (1974) Wood went on to suggest that Altmans films reveal a consistent recurrent pattern to which these stylistic strategies are peculiarly appropriate. The protagonist, initially confident of his ability to cope with what he undertakes, gradually discovers that his control is an illusion; he has involved himself in a process of which his understanding is far from complete and which will probably culminate in his own destruction. To be perhaps more socially concrete, Altmans protagonist in his early films is often an individualist, a small operator with values of one sort or another, who comes into head-on conflict with more powerful, amoral interests and tragically loses out. Altmans critique of American capitalism did not envision a social force that could overcome it. He tended to a certain ambivalence and even condescension toward his working-class characters (the latter quality became far more pronounced as his discouragement and cynicism grew in the 1980s and 1990s). The wavering leaves the door open to comments such as these by New York Times critic Vincent Canby in February 1974: Society doesnt destroy these men [in Thieves Like Us]. The Depression may have given them a push into their chosen professions, but they are, at heart, so self-destructive that Im not at all sure they wouldnt have wound up much the same had they been farmers. The WSWS obituary argued that Altman belonged to a generation of film artists who no longer believed that America, warts and all, was synonymous or could be made to be synonymous with democracy, justice and freedom, but were far less clear about an alternative perspective. His works suggest the processes of chaos, dissolution, fragmentation. He said, I look at a film as closer to a painting or a piece of music, its an impression. In one fashion or another, he often repeated the following thought: I have nothing to say, nothing to preach. Its just painting what I see, and Ill equate it with painting, an impression of character and total atmosphere that I am in. What happens because of what. The filmmaker asserted that the idea for 3 Women, for example, came to him fully formed in a dream. This tendency toward intuition and spontaneity, with the accompanying formal means (a loose narrative or none at all, several distinct storylines, overlapping dialogue), produced important results in the 1970s. Ultimately, the directors impressionism proved an insufficient resource with which to make sense of the turbulence of the late 1970s and beyond. He was discouraged by the receding wave of radicalism. More profoundly, Altmans views no longer resonated with sections of the middle class shifting toward Reaganite selfishness and conformism. It is difficult to make a persuasive film about historical and social questions when ones understanding of history and society is not up to the task. Altman accomplished his most interesting work, such as Thieves Like Us, because he had a considerable feel for film, art and literature, and also understood certain things about American society. In a review of 3 Women, critic Andrew Sarris commented justly: He wants his audience above all to remain restless and unsettled. He is the sworn enemy of happy endings and comforting morals. By all accounts, wrote the WSWS, Altman was a warm and sociable person, for whom actors loved to work. His weaknesses and failings are largely bound up with the period in which he matured and made films. His anti-establishment sentiment was as vague and unformed for the most part as it was sincere and deeply felt. His best films will endure. An article published May 7 in Foreign Affairs, one of the most prominent mouthpieces of the US political establishment on international relations, lays out what amounts to a blueprint for escalating economic warfare against China, integrated with planning for a military conflict. Foreign Affairs [Photo: Foreign Affairs, May 2024 ] As the World Socialist Web Site has explained, the US-NATO war against Russia, the military backing for Israeli genocide in Gaza, the attacks on Iran are not isolated developments. They are components of the ever-expanding war front directed at securing the domination of US imperialism over the Eurasian landmass where China is the central target. The article began by criticising as insufficient the widespread and ever-expanding sanctions against China, especially in the area of high-tech with the imposition of bans on the export of computer chips. The author Emily Kilcrease is a senior fellow at the Centre for New American Security who has been centrally involved in framing measures directed against China. Pointing to where US policy should go, she said the economic warfare measures should be greatly expanded. The United States has many powerful sanctions at its disposalincluding those that could eject major Chinese firms from the global financial system, and weaponize the central role of the US dollar in it. However, she continued, the US had opted for a more limited approach only using sanctions on technology and the imposition of tariffs. This approach could be dangerous as it might encourage China to think it would not face harsher measures if conflict broke out over Taiwan, the South China Sea, or other potential flashpoints. This issue was becoming more pressing, Kilcrease wrote, as the United States grows increasingly concerned about Chinas support of Russias industrial defence base, an issue that was at the top of Secretary of State Antony Blinkens agenda on his recent visit to Beijing. Underscoring the integrated character of the Ukraine war and the offensive against China, she said Washington had to decide whether to ramp up the use of its most powerful sanctions on Beijing now, as part of the broader effort to support Ukraine or to preserve them for use in a direct confrontation between the United States and China. It is significant that such a confrontation is taken as a given. It is not a question of if it will happen, but when and how will the US be best positioned to undertake it. In the past a Foreign Affairs article might well have been dealing with how such a confrontation should be averted. Those days are well and truly gone. In order to enhance its position, she wrote that together with its partners, the US had to urgently devise a clearer sanctions strategy that keeps China within the global financial system in order to maintain a key US advantage. This use of economic and financial sanctions, however, is not an alternative to war but an integral component in its preparation as Kilkrease went on to make clear. The US had to transform its policy through a strategic process that is integrated with military planning and carried out with key international partners. War planning must be embedded within the economic agencies, critical supply chains delinked from China, and this strategy must also clearly convey Washingtons willingness to impose serious sanctions, when warranted. The United States must also work to strengthen its economic resiliency. As well as that of its partner countries around the globe, to withstand the economic shocks that would follow from a military conflict with Beijing. Such comments reflect the blase attitude in US imperialist circles to the danger of nuclear war. A military conflict between two nuclear-armed powers would not only produce economic shockson an unimaginable scale in the form of the collapse of the global economy and its financial systembut threaten the very future of civilisation. Any belief that economic and financial sanctions represent some alternative to outright war ignores the lessons of historythe war in the Pacific in World War II got underway as a result of the sanctions imposed by the US against Japan in the 1930s. The key ban was on oilthe lifeblood of economic development at the timeas computer chips and high-tech are today. As far as the ban on chips was concerned, Kilcrease made clear she wanted them vastly extended. Having already denied the export of goods with direct military application, the United States now faces the difficult task of slowing the growth of Chinas commercial technology ecosystems that might have military use, regardless of whether the technologies are designed specifically for military purposes. At present, she noted, US export control policy is focused in denying China access to chokepoint technologies of which the US and its allies are the dominant producers. But this was insufficient. Focusing solely on chokepoint technologies, however, is too narrow a perspective as it does not eliminate Chinse leverage to exert its own coercive economic pressure on the United States at other points in the supply chain. Kilcrease raised the prospect of a ban on energy supplies. Recognising that many countries would not comply with US sanctions in this area, more aggressive measures, such as secondary sanctions that threaten third-party countries that sell energy to China, could be considered. But in the final analysis if the US really wanted to halt energy supplies economic tools alone will be insufficient. In other words, war would be necessary. Her conclusion was that Washington had to institutionalise a strategic planning process for economic statecraft, as well as planning for a range of potential crisis or conflict scenarios with China. Such planning would mature economic statecraft strategy, enable greater integration of economic tools with military options and facilitate deeper conversations with our international partners. Once again, underplaying the real dangers to humanity in the present situation, she said, war with China would be an economic catastrophe but sanctions can help avoid it provided the US played its hand well. However, as her own article made clear, the expanded sanctions regime being proposed is not a means of avoiding war but another major step towards it, indicative of the kind of war planning discussions now taking place daily in the agencies of US imperialism. A Boeing 737-300, attempting to take off from Blaise Diagne International Airport in Dakar, Senegal, caught fire and skidded off the runway on Wednesday evening. Of the 85 passengers and crew on the Air Senegal Flight HC301, 10 were injured, including the pilot, according to the Transport Minister El Malick Ndiaye. Fire-suppressing foam is seen on the ground after a Boeing 737 passenger jet skidded off the runway and crashed at Dakars Blaise Diagne International Airport in Senegal on May 9, 2024. All were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, with four in critical condition. The flight was operated by TransAir, a regional airline based in Senegal that provides service from Senegals capital of Dakar to as far south as Brazzaville, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. HC301 was headed to Bamako, the capital of Mali. TransAirs fleet consists of Embraer ERJ-145, Embraer EMB-120, Beechcraft 1900C jetliners, in addition to the Boeing 737-300. The 737-300 Classic is one of Boeings oldest operating planes. Its development began in 1979 and first began operations in 1984. The aerospace giant made 1,113 of the planes during its production run, which lasted from 1981-1999. While no further information has been released from the Senegalese government as to the immediate cause of the fire, it is likely that the sheer age of the aircraft played a role. The 737-300, -400 and -500 aircraft have also some of the companys most accident-prone designs. Boeings own data in a report from September 2023 shows that the aircraft series has suffered 62 hull losses, where the plane was unrecoverable, of which 20 resulted in fatalities. The older 737 models stand alongside the 737 MAX as among the most deadly commercial airplanes currently flown. Two crashes of the 737 MAX-8 in October 2018 and March 2019 killed a combined total of 346 passengers and crew, the direct result of Boeing executives pushing for a new aircraft to bring to market while ignoring numerous known safety issues. To date, no executives or senior leadership have been charged for the deaths. The same day of the fire in Senegal, another Boeing plane, a 767 model, was forced to land without its landing gear in Istanbul, Turkey. The plane was a freight variant operated by FedEx that was coming from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The pilot reported to air traffic control that the landing gear had not deployed and was instructed to land without them while emergency vehicles stood by. There were no reported injuries, though the pilot was forced to leave the plane via the cockpits window. Another accident occurred in Turkey on Thursday, when a tire burst on one of Boeings 737-800 aircraft. The plane was coming from Cologne, Germany and landed at Gazipasa Airport, near the coastal town of Alanya, Turkey. It was carrying 184 passengers and six crew, none of whom were injured. This photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows the door plug from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Portland, Oregon. [AP Photo/National Transportation Safety Board] These new incidents of Boeings aircraft failures are only the latest in a series of other accidents and near disasters this year that began in January with the door blowout of a US-based Boeing 737 MAX 9 flight shortly after takeoff. The company is currently under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for faulty production, quality and safety practices, as well as a criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Since then, there have been more than a dozen different reported incidents on Boeing planes this year, including engines catching fire, panels falling off and a technical event on a 787 Dreamliner headed to New Zealand which saw the plane unexpectedly nosedive. Paramedics treated 50 people after the plane landed, and four had to be rushed to a hospital. Given the latest string of accidents, it is only a matter of time before more people are killed on Boeing planes, repeating or exceeding the tragedies of the two 737 MAX 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019. Boeing has faced a slew of whistleblowers coming forward about internal safety and quality failures, both at Boeing and its main supplier, Spirit AeroSystems. The most recent is Santiago Paredes, a former quality manager for Spirit who worked for about 10 years doing final inspections of the fuselages for 737 aircraft before they were shipped to Boeing. In an interview with CBS News, Paredes described how he was finding hundreds of defects every day. It was very rare for us to look at a job and not find any defects. He was pejoratively nicknamed Showstopper by management and asked to be less specific in his reports to stop production delays. Many of the issues he found were in the same area of the January door blowout. I was put in a place where I had, if I say, no, I was gonna get fired, Paredes told CBS News. If I say yes, I was admitting that I was gonna do something wrong. He was eventually stripped of his team leadership role and then resigned in 2022. A damaged car is seen in an airport parking lot after debris from a Boeing 777 landed on it at San Francisco International Airport on March 7, 2024. [AP Photo/Haven Daley] The drive to increase production reported by Paredes mirrors comments from other Boeing whistleblowers about the internal culture of the company. Boeing whistleblower Sam Salehpour testified before Congress in April, asserting that Boeing is knowingly putting out defective airplanes. The companys response to Salehpours attempts to correct the issues internally was retaliation and threats of violence. He testified, I was told to shut up, I was sidelined, I received physical threats. He continued, My boss said, I would have killed someone who said what you said in a meeting. Salehpour was testifying on the safety of the Boeing 777 Triple Seven and 787 Dreamliner aircraft. All told, the 737, 767, 777, and 787 aircraft lines are the vast majority of Boeings commercial airlines currently in service, and all have seen safety and quality issues. In addition to Paredes and Salehpour, two other Boeing whistleblowers were in the process of exposing the ongoing and dangerous practices within the company and are now dead. John Barnett, 62, was a Boeing quality manager who was forced out in 2017. He was slated to give a third day of testimony in a civil lawsuit against Boeing about his attempts to correct Boeings ongoing defects, when he was found dead on March 9 in a hotel parking lot in Charleston, South Carolina. Barnett had raised serious concerns about the production of the 787 Dreamliner. Initial reports from the coroner declared his death was self-inflicted, but it has emerged from close family friends and family members that Barnett warned, If anything happens to me, its not suicide. A Spirit Aerosystems whistleblower, Joshua Dean, 45, died last week after a sudden illness in which he was hospitalized and intubated. Dean had been a quality auditor for Spirit and was in the middle of a deposition alleging serious and gross misconduct by senior quality management of the 737 production line. Dean had reportedly been in good health and having a healthy lifestyle in the lead-up to his death. Workers, speak out against the genocide and the crackdown on protests! Send us your statement by filling out the form below. All submissions will be kept anonymous. Across the United States, workers are speaking out against the Gaza genocide and the police attack on students being conducted by both pro-war parties. There are growing calls for industrial action to halt the war. On Monday, May 13, 48,000 graduate student workers in California begin voting on strike action over the violent police crackdown at UCLA, where cops also stood by as right-wing Zionists attacked the protest encampment. Yesterday, socialist autoworker Will Lehman issued a statement calling on industrial workers to support the students. If they can get away with banning protests against genocide, next they will send riot cops against the picket lines, he warned. Lehman added: The only way to stop the war and defend our rights is by taking matters into our own hands as the working class, who create all of societys wealth. That is why Im calling on my fellow UAW members to demand immediate strike action by the entire 400,000-strong membership. We must begin fighting for this now. Hold mass meetings at your workplace to discuss actions. In the face of inevitable opposition from the UAW bureaucracy, organize rank-and-file strike committees to enforce your democratic will. The World Socialist Web Site is publishing below a number of statements from workers from the past few days. To send your statement, fill out the form at the bottom of this article. Industrial workers GM Flint Assembly workers leaving shift on November 7, 2023 A Dana auto parts worker said: Wars only serve the rich. The protesters were clean and tidy but also exercising their constitutional rights in an orderly and righteous fashion. Then the government stepped in as usual. First, we must question the governments intentions and then what happened afterwards. I do not think the protesters for the most part left the mess and graffiti! We have seen these falsifications before. We as workers [have to] stand for our rights as humans, let alone our constitutional rights! But if we band together, we can make an inevitable difference and change! A railroad worker warned of the role of the union bureaucracy against the protests, stating: The union bureaucrats will only defend their cushy jobs. They will not defend workers. In 2022, we were pushing for a national strike. In response to the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee, Tony Cardwell, the president of the BMWED, sent out a letter warning railroad workers that we would be fired and suffer legal action in case of a wildcat strike and that the Teamsters would not back us. This was immediately after selling workers out to the demands of the railroad companies and capitalist state. Today, the UAW is demonstrating their allegiance to the state by assisting police in dispersing worker and student protesters at UCLA. A General Motors worker from Flint, Michigan pointed to a pro-war pamphlet put out by the United Auto Workers: The Truck News is a jointly-produced publication by UAW 598 and General Motors that is handed out to workers. This issue is promoting the war, boasting about how we once made military planes and vehicles, influencing workers to be proud of these past contributions, but not explaining that the war kills and has horrible effects on the working class, with no benefit to us. The UAW is promoting sweatshirts with war planes on them, influencing us to be proud of whatever coming participation in the war we will be [doing], foreshadowing the possible future. [UAW President] Shawn Fain is promoting war, which literally kills working class people, and influencing working class people to support it. Its absurd. The working class has to seize production and join in the fight with the students and the rest of the world to stop the bloodbath, genocide and potential nuclear war. With students recently coming together in large numbers protesting on campuses in almost every city, that is helping us develop collective consciousness, [to] see eye to eye and stand up for what is morally correct. Its the working class turn to stop business as usual and demand change. What stops us is the fear of losing our jobs, which we rely on to survive and make money, but the power for change is with us all together standing up at once. History is repeating itself [like the] Kent State massacre. If the Flint sit-down strike were today, it would be denounced as terrorist because it stopped production. This new principle is terrorist in itself, and we need to take the power back by stopping production and showing who really is in charge. Educators Ann Arbor educators rally before school board meeting Teachers across the country have spoken out in defense of students. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, where particularly brutal crackdowns have taken place at the University of Michigan, public school teachers are fighting against massive budget cuts. Educators who spoke to the WSWS connected the fight against austerity and war. One teacher said: Ive taught my whole life, at a great cost, not just financial but personal, because to be an educator and to do it well is to ask a lot of sacrifice from your family. Not supporting teachers hurts everybody, especially the kids. It is really messed up that we are spending money to go and kill people instead of helping the living. Asked what he thought about the arrest of more than 2,500 students for protesting the slaughter of the Palestinians, he said: What theyre quietly doing, or maybe not so quietly, is suppressing the most progressive spirit in our country. You saw it in Vietnam. You saw it during the so-called Persian Gulf War. I was part of those protests, and you dont silence those voices. I would love to see workers stand in solidarity with the students. Another teacher, when asked about the nearly trillion-dollar military budget and the recent $95 billion bipartisan military funding package, responded: Why do we even have to hear that? We have money available for war, but we dont have money to put into our schools to help pay for classroom materials, to give our teachers the salaries they deserve. She concluded by defending the protesting students, saying, They should not be persecuted... Everyone should be able to speak their mind freely. At a protest against school cuts this week in Los Angeles, California, teachers Cindy and John spoke to the WSWS. John said: Are the students going to get financial aid? Its already hard. And were working for schools that are primarily low-income, Hispanic, and theyre first-generation college students. We need our school counselors. So fund our school counselors! Fund all of our students needs! Currently, there is such a shortage, Cindy explained: We have one counselor for 750 students. Anything below that we have to pay for them. So were paying for an extra one. And were losing one. Our students need all the resources. When this reporter asked what they thought of the working class coming to the defense of the students protesting the Israeli genocide, John said, I personally support a ceasefire. I support life for those who live in Gaza. A music teacher from eastern Ohio told the WSWS: I oppose the assault on Gaza because Gaza and its citizens are guilty of nothing more than being Palestinian. They are not guilty of the Hamas attack on Israel, any more than the people of Israel are guilty of the Israeli governments attack on Gaza. The pretense of self-defense is a sham. You do not bomb and starve children for self-defense. Democrats, and Biden is no exception, have supported imperialist war and war upon the international working class for generations. Instead of truly being the party of peace and workers, Democrats are capitalist shills who prove their allegiance with every lie that they tell and with every bit of legislation they pass. The Democrats are absolutely not a viable alternative to the Republicans. The accusations that the protests are antisemitic, he said, is ludicrous. He continued: Biden, Pelosi and all of their ilk have spread this lie. And university presidents, in order to protect their lucrative role in the capitalist bureaucracy, follow suit, spouting the same lies about protesters. The attacks on protesters are disgusting, he said. While upwards of 40,000 Palestinians have been murdered, students on campuses nationwide have been beaten, trampled, and robbed of their constitutional right to free expression. Adding insult to injury, university presidents tout their love of the First Amendment, while, in the same breath, demonizing campus protesters for exercising the rights guaranteed by this amendment. He concluded: The international working class is the only body capable of calling and bringing to fruition just such a call [to end the war]. Weve seen so-called peace treaties in the Middle East before. They were all capitalist lies. The only true peace will come when the workers of the world have seized control of the means of production and overthrown the capitalist nation-state system. Rank-and-file committees spanning all industries are the legitimate organ of the international working class. These bodies are, therefore, the only legitimate collective through which such a task can be accomplished. Union bureaucrats, corrupt to their core, wont do it because they serve the interests of capitalism. Democrats, the so-called party of the people, wont do it because they too serve those same capitalist interests. Whats left is the people themselves, who collectively, in rank-and-file committees, can exercise their power to end all class-based society. Snakes escape from predators by pretending to be dead, and make their performances even more convincing by smearing themselves with their own blood and feces. This behavior is known as death simulation or thanatosis. ADVERTISIMENT Such play is common in the animal kingdom. In an article published in the journal Biology Letters, researchers described how dice snakes (Natrix tessellata) take their "Shakespearean theater" to a new level. When snakes encounter a predator, they spew feces and musk, a putrid byproduct of digestion. Then they fall on their backs and pretend to be dead, and sometimes they start bleeding from the mouth. This is probably an attempt to make themselves less attractive to prey. Risky behavior "Imitating death is a high-risk, high-reward behavior. If you fake death, you are completely helpless. Therefore, it would be good if you had some kind of protection against being instantly eaten," Vukasin Bjelica, lead author and a biologist at the University of Belgrade, said. ADVERTISIMENT Dice snakes reach a maximum length of about 1.2 meters. They are nonvenomous, so they have few defenses against large mammals and birds in their native range in Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. But by using a set of behaviors known as a "defense portfolio," dice snakes can make themselves appear unappetizing. The stench of feces and musk, as well as the bloody saliva flowing from the mouth, gives the impression that the snake is a rotten carcass rather than a fresh piece of meat. The disgust and confusion that this gruesome sight causes in a potential predator can give the snake enough time to escape or even encourage it to abandon its efforts entirely. Scientists have been monitoring populations on Lake Prespa on the island of Golem Grad in North Macedonia. Snakes were more prone to thanatosis here. The reason for this is a peculiar set of circumstances in which the local reptiles live. ADVERTISIMENT "Firstly, it is the intense pressure of bird predation. Secondly, these snakes are quite large compared to their mainland relatives. Being big is only good when you're facing a predator with a small open mouth," Bjelica explains. Scientists tested 263 snakes on the island. They handled the animals to simulate how a predator might approach its prey: grabbing, holding and stretching their bodies. Of these snakes, 124 smeared their bodies with feces. Twenty-eight bled from the mouth. This is a phenomenon called autohaemorrhaging or reflex bleeding. Bjelica believes that individual characteristics of snakes can determine their behavior. ADVERTISIMENT "Some individuals are more daring and risk-taking, while others are shy, so they are less likely to behave this way," he said. Only one young dice snake was bleeding from the mouth, indicating that thanatosis is more common in adults. For smaller ones, it may be too much of a risk. Snakes are not the only animals that pretend to be dead. Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) can defecate and salivate to simulate death, which suggests that this evolutionary strategy has proven useful across the entire spectrum of the animal kingdom. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! ADVERTISIMENT University students in Japan have created encampments and held protests on at least seven different campuses over the past two weeks in opposition to Israels ongoing genocide in Gaza. The camps are the expression of significant anti-war sentiment in Japan. Tokyo University students Gaza solidarity camp. The sign in Japanese says, "Stop the invasion of Rafah" [Photo: X/Twitter @ViaMedia1946] The encampments were set up alongside those by protesting students in the United States and around the world to oppose the genocide that has killed more than 40,000 people, a large number of whom are women and children. Japanese students have also expressed solidarity with protesters on campuses in the US who have faced a wave of vicious police crackdowns. The first encampment appeared on April 27 at the University of Tokyo (UTokyo), the countrys most prestigious university. This was quickly followed by four others in Tokyo: Waseda University, Sophia University, Tama Art University, and the International Christian University. Outside the capital, students have erected protest camps at Kyoto University and Hiroshima University. At the UTokyo camp, students placed placards and banners around their tents reading Ceasefire now!, Dont turn your back on Gaza! and Disclose! Divest! We will not stop. We will not rest! The demands have been limited to calling on the university administration to end its partnerships with Israel and support the BDS movement, which promotes the boycott of Israeli products. Students are also calling on the university to allow refugee students and academics from Gaza. Yuka Okamura, one of the student leaders at the encampment, spoke with Al Jazeera regarding their demands. She explained: We are demanding of the University of Tokyo, like other university students in the US, an academic boycott to begin with, and to disclose, divest, declare, and also to defend the students and faculty. Shiki Yasojima, the founder of the UTokyo encampment, said: I knew I had to do something with all the things going on in Gaza, and also the situation in the United States. I think we have responsibilities as we have the privilege as students, especially of the University of Tokyo. At Waseda University, a demonstration was held last weekend of around 100 students. One of the speakers at the rally, student leader Sho Toda, raised the support given for the Israeli genocide by the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. According to Arab News, he asked: Do you know about Israels selling of high-tech weapons? They say those weapons have been tested in actual battles. This means that those were developed in Palestine and used in Gaza to kill Palestinians. Without a doubt, the Japanese government is participating in genocide. We are fighting for Palestinian students, Toda continued, who have lost their schools, their futures, and even their lives. If many people participate in demonstrations and express their opposition, the political powers will have no choice but to listen to us. If we do nothing, violence for vested interests will not stop. In fact, the governments of Japan, the US and other imperialist powers have all lined up with Israel behind its barbaric war despite occasional expressions of concern about the humanitarian disaster facing Palestinians. Increasingly they have resorted to police repression in answer to the anti-genocide protests. Protests have taken place in Japan since Israels genocide began last October. These protests have grown in recent weeks alongside the student encampments. A May Day rally, organised by labour unions, involved an estimated 12,000 people marching under the banner, Labor Day Against War. The protesters gathered in front of the Israeli Embassy. Other demonstrations have taken place in high-profile locations like Tokyos busy shopping district of Shibuya. In addition to the US and Japan, the student encampments and demonstrations have also spread to several other major world centres of imperialism: Germany, France, Canada, and Australia, despite the repressive measures that have been used by the bourgeoisie to silence protesters. In the US, the Biden administration has attempted to falsely brand the protests as antisemitic, paving the way for a full mobilisation of the state to suppress them. Over 2,000 students and staff have been arrested in violent scenes at universities from New York to Los Angeles. The Japanese encampments are also not only an expression of the ongoing outrage felt among young people over the imperialist-sanctioned mass murder in Gaza. The current outpouring of anti-war and anti-militarist sentiment occurs as the Kishida government is rapidly expanding Japans armed forces in preparation for a US-led war with China. This includes a de facto doubling of Tokyos military spending and the expansion of military alliances. Kishidas visit to Washington last month marked a further turning point in the development of these imperialist war plans, which includes the most significant update to the US-Japan military treaty since 1960 as well as Tokyos push to join the anti-China AUKUS military pact. This US-led war drive, of which the genocide in Gaza is only one component, is taking place with the support of both the right-wing ruling Liberal Democratic Party as well as the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), regardless of the latters phony anti-war pretensions. An April 9, the CDP released a statement attempting to exploit the anti-genocide movement, by supposedly calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. It began by saying, On October 7, 2023, armed groups such as Hamas in Palestines Gaza Strip carried out attacks and kidnappings targeting Israeli civilians, and in response, Israel launched airstrikes, ground invasions, electricity, fuel, supplies, etc. in the Gaza Strip. The statement continues: The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan once again strongly urges all parties to the conflict to strictly abide by international law, including international humanitarian law, and to act toward an immediate ceasefire. The CDP, in other words, is equating the victims of longstanding oppression and now mass murder with the perpetrators of this horrific crime. It was the Zionist regimes brutal decades-long treatment of the Palestinian people that caused the October 7 uprising, and was seized on as the pretext for a war of annihilation. The war in the Middle East as well as the US-led war against Russia in Ukraine and the intensifying military build-up against China are the emerging fronts in a global war that stems from the profound crisis of world capitalism. Youth and students in Japan and internationally need to turn to workers on the basis of a socialist perspective to build a unified anti-war movement of the working class to abolish the profit systemthe root cause of war. SSU officers prevented terrorist attacks planned by the Russian GRU in Kyiv on May 9. The perpetrators were detained red-handed. ADVERTISIMENT This was reported by the SSU spokesman Artem Dekhtiarenko in a comment to OBOZ.UA. The special service is not disclosing details of the operation. "The SSU was proactive, and the perpetrators of the terrorist attack were detained red-handed. We have also collected evidence that unequivocally confirms the Russian trace," Dekhtiarenko said. In India, inside the Qutb Minar New Delhi complex, visitors immediately notice a 7.2-meter, six-ton iron column with a decorative top, which is even older than the complex. However, it is not the column itself that is surprising but its appearance. ADVERTISIMENT The column, which is now 1600 years old, looks the same as the day it was forged. Its appearance is unaffected by age or the environment, including the high temperature in the Indian capital and increasing pollution, CNN writes. How does it resist corrosion for so long? Generally, structures made of iron and iron alloys that are exposed to air or moisture oxidize over time, causing them to rust, unless they are covered with layers of special paint, like the Eiffel Tower. Scientists both in India and abroad began studying the iron pillar in Delhi in 1912 to try to figure out why it had not corroded. It wasn't until 2003 that experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the northern city of Kanpur solved the mystery by revealing the answer in the journal Current Science. ADVERTISIMENT The experts found out that the column is mostly made of wrought iron, has a high phosphorus content (about 1%) and does not contain sulfur and magnesium, unlike modern iron. In addition, ancient craftsmen used a technique called "forging welding". This means that they heated and forged the iron while maintaining a high phosphorus content, an unusual method for modern practice. "A thin layer of 'misavit,' a compound of iron, oxygen, and hydrogen, was also found on the surface of the column. This layer is formed catalytically due to the high phosphorus content in iron and the absence of lime, which further increases the durability of the column," archaeo-metallurgy expert R. Balasubramaniam commented. The scientist praised the metallurgists for their ingenuity, describing the column as "a living testament to India's ancient metallurgical skills." ADVERTISIMENT Its durability is attested to by historical accounts, including an incident in the 18th century when a cannonball fired at the column reportedly failed to break it, demonstrating the exceptional strength of this ancient monument. Today, the pillar serves as the emblem of scientific organizations such as the National Metallurgical Laboratory and the Indian Institute of Metals. Cultural significance and preservation efforts According to one legend, if you stand with your back to the pillar and embrace it with your arms, making sure your fingers touch each other, your wish will come true. This is a tradition that endows the pillar with a spiritual significance that exceeds its historical value. ADVERTISIMENT However, the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) has placed a fence around the pillar to minimize human impact. Conservation architect and cultural heritage expert Pragya Nagar believes that the pillar has been perfectly preserved within the complex despite the demolition and reconstruction around it over the years. "If we do look at the technique that was used to create the column from a new perspective, beyond simply recognizing its ancient origins, we may discover ways to use similar techniques to develop sustainable alternative materials, given the environmental damage associated with processes such as metal mining. It is crucial to look at history not only as relics and monuments to be preserved and marveled at but also as a repository of traditional knowledge and local practices. This holistic approach can pave the way for a more sustainable future," she commented. ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information is available on OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! What is Eurovision? Everything to know about the biggest song competition in the world The Oscars this year were a spectacular affair with Oppenheimer taking home Best Picture amongst six other wins. But what made the Academy Awards such a party this year was Ryan Goslings live performance of Im Just Ken from Barbie. Now, if you enjoyed that performance, youll surely love the Eurovision Song Contest. Camp, glittery, spectacle. But what is the Eurovision Song Contest, you may ask? Well, heres a complete guide to fill you in and get you ready for the big event. What is the Eurovision Song Contest? The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition organised every year by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The contest is made up of various European countries that perform a song and compete for the publics votes in each country as well as the points of the judges (more on that later). More from GoldDerby The first edition of the contest was held in 1956 and was won by Switzerland with the song Refrain by Lys Assia. Since then, 70 songs from 27 countries have won the contest as of 2023 (in 1969, four countries won Spain, UK, Netherlands, and France). Sweden won last year and, as a result, tied the record for most wins with seven victories. They are joint with Ireland in that regard. France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the UK have five wins each. Where does the Eurovision Song Contest take place? The contest takes place in the country that wins the competition the year previously. So, Azerbaijan won in 2011 and then hosted the 2012 edition of the contest, for example. Last years winner was Sweden who won with the song Tattoo by Loreen. This years edition will be held in Malmo as a result. Sometimes, however, mitigating circumstances dictate that the years winner cannot host the next years event. The 2022 winner was Ukraine, for example, who couldnt host the 2023 edition due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. Instead, that contest was held in the UK, which is where Sweden won. Who is in the Eurovision Song Contest? The previous years winner automatically qualifies for the next years competition while the Big Five also qualify automatically. The Big Five are made up of France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the UK and they get this privilege because they are the highest-paying EBU members who contribute the most money to funding the event every year. The rest of the countries have to compete in two semi-finals. The top 10 countries from each semi-final then qualify for the final. Australia is also in the Eurovision Song Contest, which might not make much sense given that, well, they arent in Europe. The country was allowed to compete in 2015 to commemorate the 60th Eurovision Song Contest and theyve remained in the contest ever since, although they do have to qualify like all the other countries bar the Big Five and the previous winner. How does the Eurovision Song Contest final work? Once all the countries have qualified from the semi-finals, they each perform in the final in a lengthy, colourful, and often hilarious broadcast. Once everyone has performed, the phone lines for voting are opened in every country. Then, a representative from each country (usually a celebrity) appears on the broadcast to announce the voting results from that country. The results are made up of a combination of the publics votes and a jurys decision. Each country awards 1-8, 10, and 12 points to its favorite song from the competition. The most favorite song is awarded 12 points. Once every participating EBU country has voted (and this counts for all EBU members, not just the countries that qualified for the final), the votes are tallied up and made into a league table. The league table is updated constantly as the points come in, so it makes for tense viewing. Last year, there were 26 countries competing Sweden finished top of the table with 583 points, Finland finished second with 526, and Israel finished third with 362. If there happens to be a tie at the end of voting, the country that received the most public votes is declared the winner. When is this years Eurovision Song Contest? This years competition will be held in Malmo in Sweden. The two semi-finals took place on May 7 and May 9, respectively. The grand final will take place on Saturday, May 11 at 20:00 BST. Stay tuned for more Euro updates. Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Dont miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why? SIGN UP for Gold Derbys free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Jenny and Dave Marrs s berry farm is hosting its annual festival next month, and fans wont want to miss it. Whether youre a longtime follower of the Fixer to Fabulous stars or have recently become acquainted with their home renovation work, weve laid out everything you need to know about their upcoming extravaganza that takes place at their berry farm and supports a good cause. What Is Berry Fest? The Marrses founded The Berry Farm in their hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas, not only to provide their family and local area with fresh fruit but also to encourage agricultural training and a sustainable food source for orphaned children in Zimbabwe. Next month, the farm is hosting its annual Berry Fest. All proceeds from the event will be donated to support the nonprofit Help One Now 's community care efforts in Zimbabwe and Belize. We have a chance to gather families once again at the farm to pick berries to benefit the good work being done across the globe, Jenny recently shared on Instagram . We will listen to music and eat food and laugh with friends in the fields. Attendees are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or picnic blanket to relax and listen to live music by local artists. The festival promises the opportunity to support local businesses by visiting the vendor village and food truck area, fun activities, and a play area for kids. The Marrses originally planted their blueberry fields in the spring of 2015. It boasts 1,500 blueberry plants that "are carefully tended to by hand and contain zero added chemicals," according to the farm's website. Jenny recently revealed that they also have grape plants (500, to be exact) in a deleted scene from Fixer to Fabulous: Italiano that she shared on Instagram. In the caption, she wrote: "Last year, we planted a little blueberry patch at Campo Sasso in order to bring a piece of our farm to Tuscany and, we actually planted grapes here at the Berry Farm in order to bring a piece of Tuscany to Bentonville!!" When Will Berry Fest 2024 Take Place? Berry Fest will take place on June 22, 2024, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Berry Farm in Bentonville, Arkansas. How Can You Attend? Tickets are $30 for adults, $10 for people ages 5 to 18, and free for children under the age of 5. A VIP tent is also available to book for $2,000. It includes admission for 10 people, three VIP parking passes, a tent with seating for 10, chilled water, swag bags, five baskets for berry picking, specialty drink tickets for 10, a concierge service, and more. Plus, VIP guests can access the event grounds early at 3 p.m. for a private meet and greet with Dave and Jenny. Tickets are available for purchase here through June 10. And if youre not able to make it IRL, there will be virtual tickets anyone can buy to donate. In a comment on Instagram, Jenny confirmed shell be sharing a link to that option soon. Stay tuned! Follow House Beautiful on Instagram and TikTok. You Might Also Like They hold national hearings and craft legislation. They represent millions of constituents across the country and are some of the biggest decisionmakers in the world. This week, they voted on whether to vote to oust the government official who is second in line to the presidency. But even members of Congress say they are closely following the bitter battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake in their spare time. Theres no question that Kendrick is the victor, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) told The Hill on Wednesday. I mean, hes the better artist overall. Hes a pillar of the culture. Bowman started the Congressional Hip Hop Power and Justice Task Force with a coalition of Democrats earlier this year. The task force wasnt structured to cover rap beefs, as Bowman noted in an interview, but he called it a platform and a pathway to policy discussions that people in the community care about. Hopefully, it inspires others to keep the culture going in the most in the best ways possible, Bowman said of the rap battle, which he also said is bringing attention to the culture and showing the creative brilliance of emcees. The battle between Kendrick and Drake, which has roots going back to 2013, came to a head in recent weeks shortly after the release of Future and Metro Boomins Like That, on which Lamar took aim at Drake and fellow rapper J. Cole, rejecting the notion that they are raps Big Three. Drake and Cole were also among a list of artists Lamar called out in his verse on Big Seans 2013 song Control, along with Big K.R.I.T.; Pusha T; Jay Electronica; Tyler, the Creator; Mac Miller; Meek Mill; and others. Lamar later remarked on the firestorm set off by that verse in which he figuratively said he wanted to murder his rivals and make sure their fans never heard of them and stressed that those bars were written for fun and in hip-hops spirit of competition. I mean, this is a big part of hip-hop that hasnt been around in a while, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), the first member of Generation Z to join Congress, said in an interview. Frost said he thinks Lamar teed up that first shot for the culture for hip-hop to bring that back. I think they both brought it to hell, and I think it went somewhere maybe it shouldnt have. But thats also part of the nature of this is they can go that low. So, I think nows a good time to end, Frost said. As for the victor, Frost says, theres no question. Im going to back the American, as a congressman, Frost said of Lamar, adding that the Toronto-born Drake has waved the white flag, as Lamars latest diss track, Not Like Us, climbs streaming charts. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), another member of the hip-hop task force, said Tuesday that while she wasnt caught up on the entire beef, she was leaning toward Lamars side, though shes a Drake fan. She also noted her colleagues have been coming up to her on the House floor to ask her who she is siding with in the battle as fans across the globe are still clamoring over the back-and-forth. This also reminds us, I think, of the power of communication through music and why hip-hop is so important, right? Ramirez told The Hill on Tuesday, noting how hip-hip discourse has dominated social media in the wake of the battle. Youve got members of Congress in a particular moment, when were fighting so many things really asking ourselves, Who is in the right? Is it Kendrick Lamar, or is it Drake? While the congressional debate over the rappers may just be kicking off, diehard fans of Lamar and Drake have feuded for more than a decade over which is the true GOAT the greatest of all time of the genre. Fans have long pitted the two against each other on the grounds of lyricism, hitmaking and overall commercial success. Drake had also been known for his acting chops prior to dropping his debut album, Thank Me Later, in 2010. Additionally, his 2009 mixtape, So Far Gone, had also seen action on the music charts. Section.80, Lamars first studio album, released in 2011. The accolades have only piled up for both artists over the years. Drake, 37, has released eight studio albums, won five Grammys, had 13 songs hit No. 1 in the country and over 70 songs hit Top 10 on Billboards Hot 100 chart. Lamar, 36, has released five studio albums, has also had three No. 1 hits on the chart, 13 songs in the Top 10, won 17 Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for one of his critically acclaimed albums, Damn. By 2016, even then-President Barack Obama had weighed in on the long-running debate about the two, after being pressed in an interview with Adande Thorne, a YouTuber known as Swoozie, for his thoughts on which rapper would win in a hypothetical match-up. Gotta go with Kendrick, Obama said at the time. I think Drake is an outstanding entertainer. But Kendrick, his lyrics. And while Obama has not yet publicly weighed in on the fight, recirculated clips of his response have fetched thousands of likes and millions of views in the past few weeks as many fans argue his years-old assessment has held up as the smoke clears. President Bidens camp has also chimed in. This week, his campaign seized on some of the fanfare around the battle with a video hitting at former President Trump on issues like immigration and abortion rights, while featuring one of Lamars diss tracks, Euphoria, in the background. With rap beefs now reaching the highest levels of government, the formation of a congressional hip-hop task force may seem obvious to some. Hip-hop, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last August, has often been a political tool for Black and brown Americans to highlight topics such as racial injustice and economic inequity. At the time of its launch in February, the task forces founders said they wanted to continue to use hip-hop as a tool to advance current efforts in Congress. At this moment in particular, when you consider the Black Lives Matter movement to the cease-fire movement and the fight that continues for freedom, justice and equality now its time to build political power at a level thats never been done before, Bowman said at the time. But Lamar and Drakes current feud has also spurred the conversation in other directions, including who is allowed to claim Black culture and which parts of the culture and how misogyny plagues the genre. While the recent battle between Lamar and Drake has certainly hit new heights and pulled in big numbers in terms of streaming, fans have expressed concerns over allegations of child abuse and domestic assault the two have launched at each through their songs. The authenticity of the allegations remains up for debate, and theres a history of rappers exaggerating claims in rap battles to hurt their opponents. In the past, conflict between artists have also become dangerous, with the 1990s slayings of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. both indicating how the violence of a song can sometimes translate to violence in person. Fans expressed some concerns this week after a shooting outside Drakes Toronto mansion left a security guard wounded. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who is likely the highest ranking hip-hop enthusiast in the House, wouldnt say Tuesday whom he sided with but stressed the importance of the battle staying within the four corners of lyricism and music. Jeffries, whose district covers much of Biggies home borough of Brooklyn, has paid tribute to the rapper from the House floor in the past and referenced his lyrics during Trumps 2020 impeachment trial. Weve seen rap battles in the past most tragically as it relates to the conflict between Death Row and Bad Boy spill outside of the musical landscape and onto the streets, Jeffries said, referring to Tupac and Biggies record labels, respectively. Thats not something that we want to ever see happen again. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Miss USA Noelia Voigt competes in the national costume competition at the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in San Salvador, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. The reigning winners of Miss USA, Noelia Voigt, and Miss Teen USA, UmaSofia Srivastava, handed back their crowns within days of each other this week in a shock to the Miss Universe Organization, which runs both. | Moises Castillo Former Miss USA Noelia Voigt cited her mental health to explain why she was leaving the job early, but her resignation letter highlighted a number of additional concerns, according to The New York Times. The Times obtained the eight-page letter on Friday and reported that it raised concerns about a toxic work environment within the Miss USA Organization. She also complained in her letter that the organization had delayed making good on her prize winnings and argued that the organization had not supported her after an incident of sexual harassment late last year, The New York Times reported. Representatives for Miss USA did not respond to the Times request for comment. The New York Times noted that Voigt, who is from Park City and represented Utah in the Miss USA pageant, is subject to a nondisclosure agreement. Since Miss USA announced her resignation on Monday, Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava and Miss Colorado USA Arianna Lemus have also left their posts. After careful consideration, Ive decided to resign as I find that my personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization, Srivastava said in a statement, as the Deseret News previously reported. The Miss USA first runner-up, Savannah Gankiewicz, agreed to step into the role of Miss USA on Thursday, according to Today.com. Before The New York Times posted its story on the resignation letter, Voigt shared a new statement in an Instagram story asking people not to attack Gankiewicz for her decision. I do not condone bullying or hate of any kind, she wrote. Voigt added that its OK if not everyone agrees with a decision. My decision was about my health moving forward and hoping for positive change, she wrote. Best lookout points in New Mexico, according to Tripadvisor (STACKER) Visit any given lookout point near you on a Saturday afternoon, and youre likely to be joined by several other people angling to get a glimpse of the view. Humans have always been drawn to vista points, whether for practical reasons such as surveying a large swath for scouting or simply to enjoy the natural (or human-made) landscape. This has led to local and federal governments investing in parking, platforms, and public binoculars to better manage crowds gathering at lookout points across the United States. Arizonas Horseshoe Bend, where the Colorado River snakes around sandstone rock, gets 2 million visitors per year. The city of Page, Arizona, where Horseshoe Bend is located, has spent more than $5 million in parking and safety improvements due to the growing crowds. More than 2 million people visit 30 Rockefeller Plaza to get a panoramic view of a landscape thats a little different than Horseshoe Bend: the concrete-laden skyline of New York City. Since visitors get an 850-foot-high-up view on the buildings observation deck named Top of the Rock, it attracts everyone from out-of-town visitors to people ready to propose a wedding engagement. There are thousands of lookout points across the United States that offer special views like these, which means there are beautiful vistas near you. Stacker compiled a list of the best lookout points in New Mexico using April 2024 data from Tripadvisor to help you find your next great view. Tripadvisor ranks businesses using a combination of metrics, including overall rating, reviews, and number of page views. As a result, a business with a 5 out of 5 overall rating might rank lower than one with a 4 out of 5. #6. Windy Point Vista Rating: 5/5 (2 reviews) Address: Nm-532 Ski Run Road Alto, New Mexico Read more on Tripadvisor #5. Tunnel Vista Observation Site Rating: 5/5 (3 reviews) Address: Us-82 La Luz, New Mexico Read more on Tripadvisor #4. San Agustin Pass Rating: 4/5 (20 reviews) Read more on Tripadvisor #3. Anderson Scenic Overlook Rating: 4.5/5 (42 reviews) Address: Highway 502 coming West into town Five Miles out of Los Alamos Los Alamos, New Mexico Read more on Tripadvisor #2. State Route 244 Rating: 4.5/5 (35 reviews) Address: 103-199 New Mexico 244 Cloudcroft, New Mexico Read more on Tripadvisor #1. White Rock Overlook Park Rating: 4.5/5 (312 reviews) Read more on Tripadvisor For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. From bobcats to black bears. Smile. You are on Andrew West's remote sensor camera! Earlier this month, award-winning photographer Andrew West produced another stunning photograph of Southwest Florida wildlife with his remote sensor camera. This time it was a bobcat. Before the sun rises above the horizon, a bobcat strolls by a remote sensor camera set up by News-Press photographer Andrew West at Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed on Saturday, April 13, 2024. The amazing thing about West's vast collection of photos of critters in the wild is that the subjects often look like made an appointment with him to have their portrait taken. But nothing is "posing" here. The magic of the remote sensor camera, also known as a camera trap, is that it is activated by the movement of the animal, producing these uncanny moments in the natural world. West invests hours of his time checking on his remote sensor camera, maintaining it, readjusting it, replacing the batteries and frequently hiking out to its location to see if the camera has been triggered and by what. Here is just a sampling of the array of breath taking wildlife photos West has been able to produce through the years with the remote sensor camera, which is set up in an undisclosed location in eastern Lee County: A family of racoons (2022) A family of raccoons stroll past a fallen tree at Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed in June of 2022. Photographed with a remote camera trap system set up by News-Press photographer Andrew West. Limpkin (2023) A limpkin strolls past a camera trap set up by News-Press photographer Andrew West in Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. The birds can be seen in fresh water swamps and marshes in Florida. Its diet consists of mostly apple snails including the large exotic apple snails that inhabit Florida. They have piercing wail that is often heard at dawn or dusk. White-tailed deer (2023) White tailed deer feed at Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed on Monday, March 6, 2023. Captured using a camera trap set up by News-Press photographer, Andrew West. Sandhill cranes (2019) Sandhill cranes stroll past a camera trap set up by News-Press photographer Andrew West at Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed in 2019. A fawn with its mother (2023) A fawn and its mother stroll by a camera trap set up at Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed in Collier County on April 12, 2023. Endangered Florida panther (2019) A Florida panther strolls past a camera trap set up at the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed at 4:15 p.m. on January 15, 2019. According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission panthers are generally crepuscular mammals that travel and hunt at dawn or dusk. The camera trap is set up by News-Press photographer Andrew West. This is from FWC panther biologist Dave Onorato: That is a young panther, likely just about a year old and perhaps still traveling with Mom. That panthers is in fine shape, good coat, etc. This animal surviving to year 1 is already beating the odds (33% survival rate for kittens to year 1). But, there is still the process of surviving to year 2 that will involve facing a lot of hurdles (dispersal, finding a home range, encountering competitors). Bobcat (2022) A bobcat uses a fallen tree as a bridge to cross standing water at Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed in June of 2022. Photographed with a remote camera trap system set up by News-Press photographer Andrew West. Alligator (2022) An alligator uses a trail at Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed in Collier to move between bodies of water on July 4, 2022. The reptile was photographed using a camera trap system. Gray fox (2019) Black bear (2018) News-Press photographer Andrew West has set up a camera trap at several locations throughout the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed over the last seven months. One of his best image is of a black bear captured on July 18, 2018. Three turkeys (2019) Checked the #camera trap this afternoon. These #turkeys tripped the sensor this morning. Didn't get anything else besides my dog from the last trip out there. The original exposure is a little over exposed because I have it manually set for lower lighting conditions or at night because I am looking for a specific picture. These are just a bonus, but I have to tweak the exposure a little in photoshop. Who is Andrew West? Andrew West has been a photographer/multimedia journalist at the News-Press in Fort Myers since 1997. He covers general news, the environment and documentary assignments for the newspaper and the USA Today Network-Florida. He is a graduate of the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. More: Deep in the woods: Watch photographer Andrew West set up his wildlife camera He has won numerous awards, which include many National Press Photographers Association awards, Best of Gannett, and multiple commendations from the Society of Professional Journalists including a Sigma Delta Chi award for the work done in Haiti, the Society of News Design among others. Besides journalism, Andrew loves to photograph wildlife, and he finds Southwest Florida the perfect place to live and work. This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Florida wildlife photos produced through remote sensor camera In Belarus, the militants of the private military company Wagner continue to prepare newly mobilized Russians for deployment to the front line. They teach the occupiers the basics of military topography, artillery, medical training, command and control, and communications. ADVERTISIMENT Particular attention is paid to training operators for drones, primarily for FPV drones. The details were disclosed by the National Resistance Center. The CNS emphasized that Russia continues to actively use the territory of satellite countries, primarily Belarus, to train and educate Russian occupiers. In Belarus, Wagner mercenaries train mobilized invaders in local training centers. "It is here that Wagner PMC instructors teach the mobilized military topography, artillery, medical training, command and control, and communications for two weeks. But the main focus of the two-week courses is on mastering the operator's skills of UAVs, in particular FPV drones. After these express courses, they will go to war in Ukraine," the Center said. At the same time, the Center added, the mercenary instructors are not satisfied with the work and the amount of payment for the services provided. Therefore, the number of instructors in Belarus is constantly decreasing: militants choose "business trips" to Africa, where they are paid much more money. ADVERTISIMENT "According to the Center for National Resistance, the number of Wagnerians in Belarus has recently decreased from 500 to 400. Soon, those 'willing' to fight in Ukraine will be sent to the front line right from the military registration and enlistment office. And we remind you that if you have information about the enemy, its location, and equipment, help bring the time of the liberation of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine from the occupier closer, send the data via this link," the National Center for National Security summarized. Earlier, the National Center for National Security told how Russians recruit young people to Shahed assembly plants. They do this not only in Russia but also in the temporarily occupied territories through so-called "youth movements" and under the guise of "competitions." ADVERTISIMENT It was also reported that the occupiers are forming a register of undesirable residents of Mariupol. Their invaders are seeking to deport them from their hometown. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber . Do not fall for fakes! I grew up in a church whose custom was to honor mothers on Mothers Day. More than simply a cursory mention of the day in the morning announcements or as an illustration in the sermon, the church offered red or white carnations to pin on our clothing, depending on whether your mother was living or was deceased. As a child, I recall appreciating any novelty in the predictable rhythm of worship week to week, but this ritual seemed a little uncomfortable to me. For all my childhood, my father always had a white carnation as his mother had died when I was a baby. My mother always had a red carnation as her mother lived until I had children of my own. It was sad for me to look around at the adults in the church, who like my father, were remembering mothers no longer living. In our death-denying culture, it felt somehow like too much information to know this status about my Sunday School teachers, choir leaders, and missions directors. The official flower of Mother's Day is a carnation chosen by Anna Jarvis, chose because rather than dropping its petals as it dies, it hugs them to its heart as do mothers. The opening hymn we sang every Mothers Day, as our childrens choir processed down the aisle of the church where we could see the telling flowers on each chest, was a grand one that our organist played with great skill. The melody was beautiful, and I still remember the lyrics to this day. Beginning, We offer thanks and praise to God for our mothers whose devoted love, through all the changing years has been as faithful as the stars above, it went on through three stanzas to honor the sacrificial love of mothers. Emotional holiday What I did not know then is how complex Mothers Day can be and how whether your mother is living or deceased is only one of the ways the day can stir deep emotions. In her helpful book, Motherhood, Facing and Finding Yourself, Jungian therapist and author, Lisa Marchiano, challenges the idealized depiction of perfect motherhood as pure selfless love and devotion, recognizing that women have their own needs. She encourages mothers to be truly present to their own life, with all its heartaches, disappointments and joys as they mother their children. Reading her book, I am gaining insights into my relationship with my mother, my daughters as youth and now mothers themselves, and myself, hopefully helping me to become a more whole person. Connections between mothers and their children of all ages whether deeply loving, painfully complicated, or some mixture are profound. It is a relationship that throughout the ages of humanity people have found ways to honor. Ways of honoring mothers In the modern era, the day that we have come to call Mothers Day in the US originated with Philadelphian Anna Jarvis, who on the second Sunday of May in 1908, held a service honoring all mothers in memory of her beloved mother, in her mothers home church of West Virginia. Her mother, Anne Reeves Jarvis, created the Mothers Day Work Clubs, which provided a place for women to learn about childcare strategies. These clubs became a source of reconciliation during the Civil War, as wives of both Confederate and Union soldiers came together to hone their mothering skills, and no doubt grieve. In keeping with the days origin of a remembrance service, some years ago now the Community Relations Department at Big Bend Hospice, in conjunction with the bereavement counselors and chaplains, offered the community an annual opportunity near the date of Mothers Day to remember deceased mothers. At the original service, we were not sure how many to expect and were overwhelmed at the response. What we thankfully did understand in planning, is that not everyone has or had a positive relationship with their mother, and not all mothers have been able, for whatever reasons, to nurture their children as they had hoped. We believed allowing for the broader scope of motherhood to be remembered would best serve those who came. And that proved true. Celebrations sweet and bittersweet I am reminded of a profound statement made by author and psychologist Mary Pipher, praising a journalist and father for his courage in sharing the story of his sons addiction. Pipher writes, When one of us tells the truth, he makes it easier for all of us to open our hearts to our pain and that of others. Thankfully, many will have a joyous celebration on Mothers Day at one of the many restaurants around town hosting special brunches, or in their own homes as children prepare breakfast on a tray to serve to mothers in bed or as families gather to honor a matriarch. The websites,tallahasseefoodies.com and fun4tallykids.com offers many possibilities for celebration. But there will also be those who struggle with the day whose hearts are opened to pain, because the carnation they would wear is white, not red. Grief is the natural reaction of so primal a loss as the loss of a parent. And as priest, Henri Nouwen, writes in the book, In Memoriam, which he penned after the loss of his own mother, we are different without our mothers, but their loss can be the beginning of something new in us. Some struggle with the day because they do not have enough money to make ends meet and may be separated from their children, or because of some hurt long ago that still lingers and interferes with their relationship today, or because of not being able to have children or not being in the position to do so. Tender love amid loss The stories are many and varied, and our sensitivity to open our hearts to our own pain and that of others creates the sacred space for healing on this sometimes difficult holiday. I will be celebrating this Mothers Day in North Carolina with the daughter of a dear friend who died too soon at the age of 61. Since Carols loss, I have had the honor of loving, and at times mothering, my friend, Erin. Dr. Sley will graduate and be hooded at a ceremony in Chapel Hill this Saturday, a remarkable accomplishment that I am so honored to see. We will not only celebrate her resilience and hard work on Saturday, but also Mothers Day, a tender day for us both. I am praying it will be a day of healing and hope. I also pray for all those who are mothers, who are missing mothers, who are hoping to be mothers, and who have been mothering toward others, that the day will be a reminder of the power and beauty of motherhood. May we who owe a debt of gratitude to those who have nurtured us find meaningful ways to express that thanks. Happy Mothers Day. The Rev. Candace McKibben The Rev. Candace McKibben is an ordained minister and pastor of Tallahassee Fellowship. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Power beauty and complexity of Mother's Day Did you know the Fountain of Youth exists in Pennsylvania? PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WHTM) Achieving eternal youth might not be possible, but you can still visit the Fountain of Youth, which happens to be located in the Keystone State. There is no need to travel to South America or recruit the League of Adventurers to locate this Fountain of Youth. Its located in a public park north of Pittsburgh. In Allegheny County, on the side of Kummer Road in North Park, sits the abandoned watering hole. Yes; people actually used to drink from the Fountain of Youth. The fountain looks a little ominous and otherworldly. It appears suddenly in the thick of the trees and is a large stone structure with a grand entrance into a darkened room. Above the opening of the structure is a circular sign that says Fountain of Youth in all capital letters. Inside there is a part where it is clear there once used to be something located inside. This rectangular void in the ground and on the back wall is where a pump used to be. According to PABucketList.com, the pump is no longer there because the water was not safe for consumption. The pump was removed in 1955 after there was found to be a high level of bacteria in the water. Until then, the Fountain of Youth was a popular place for locals to get water. The Fountain of Youth was originally built in 1938 by the Work Progress Administration with the design taking inspiration from Roman spring houses. Although it is abandoned now, most of the architectural elements are still intact. If youre planning to visit this unique attraction, park on the side of the road and take the path that leads down the hill to a stream. Walk over the stream and then up to the abandoned Fountain of Youth. For GPS, the address is 10127 Kummer Rd, Wexford, PA 15090. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27. There was just something about Little Haiti that Edouard Duval-Carrie couldnt escape. It was the early 1990s and the Haitian artist had decided to move from Paris. A canceled flight allowed him to spend some extended time in Miami and Little Haiti, among all places, just enthralled him. He loved that everyone spoke Creole. He loved seeing the spires of the Caribbean Marketplace. He loved that it felt like home. Within two years, Duval-Carrie had purchased the very same studio he currently occupies nearly three decades later. I felt like it was the only place in the world that had Haiti attached to it other than Haiti itself, Duval-Carrie said, surrounded by a towering bookshelf and his artwork. He never predicted gentrification that would began in the early 2010s I said Ill be in the ghettos for the rest of my life, he quipped, And thats the idea that I loved and has since begun to chip away at the neighborhoods identity. Or maybe he did just subconsciously. I would tell other Haitians that you should be investing here. Duval-Carrie is one of the many artists featured in the new exhibition, I Am Little Haiti, which seeks to reframe the narrative of the historic neighborhood. On display from May 11-Aug. 10 at Green Space Miami, the show combines essays, mixed-media art, photography and videos to demonstrate not only Little Haitis multilayered history but provoke meaningful conversations about its future amid the ongoing changes. There is this need for the people who see the importance of Little Haiti to unite not for their own personal gain but because of what theyve been given needs to be protected, exhibit curator and Miami Herald photographer Carl-Philippe Juste said. The exhibition title itself, he added, is a declaration rooted in the perpetual existence of this space. Juste has a unique personal connection to Little Haiti. It was his father, Viter Juste, who moved to Miami in 1973 and coined the name Little Haiti. The senior Juste also played a very active role in Miamis fight for immigrants rights, founding Haitian Florida, the first local newspaper for the growing Haitian community, and successfully advocating for the children of undocumented immigrants to attend public schools. And thanks to Duval-Carrie, the younger Juste was able to rent part of the artists studio in 2007, effectively giving him a voice in the changing neighborhood that his father worked so hard to help build. A lot of Haitians are being pushed out because they dont have long term leases, Juste said, later adding that Haitians alone cant save Little Haiti. The exhibit therefore embodies one of his fathers biggest philosophies: although Little Haiti provided a somewhat familiar environment for many immigrants to start fresh, the neighborhood is still just a part of the rich tapestry that makes Miami such a magical place. My father understood that Miami was cosmopolitan, Juste said. It was a place that was unique. It was not an American city. It didnt belong to the United States; it belonged to the world. If the Cubans could have Little Havana, the Haitians can have Little Haiti. He understood the coexistence that were not blending into a soup but were more like a salad. We have our distinct ingredients and those ingredients needed to be valued. Still, its no secret that the areas Haitian population has steadily shrunk as developers pounced. A few aspects made Little Haiti rather desirable: its proximity to popular neighborhoods like Design District and Wynwood; high elevation above sea level; cheap land. Small mom and pop shops began to move out due to raising rents. Younger relatives began to sell their family homes to start anew elsewhere. Even the future of the beloved Caribbean Marketplace was recently in question. The result: the Haitian population of Little Haiti has dropped a third between 2000 and 2020, according to the latest Census data. I Am Little Haiti, the final chapter in a multiple-year initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation through Florida International Universitys Commons for Justice: Race, Risk, Resilience project, thus seeks to coalesce the disparate elements that make the neighborhood more than just a collection of streets and structures. Its not a matter of saying Hey come in and destroy these iconic, historic structures, said Rebecca Friedman, the director of FIUs Public Humanities Lab who helped curate the show. But rather, Even if you try, were still here. And the we in that may not be limited to Haitians its them and allies. But the places are important: As visitors walk through the gallery, they can read about the importance of Toussaint Louverture Elementary School, read about the importance of Chef Creole, read about the importance of Notre Dame dHaiti Catholic Church. Those are very real things, Black Miami historian Nadege Green said, referring to the potential loss of Little Haitis iconic structures. Green penned an immersive essay that interweaves Creole and English as she chronicles growing up in Notre Dame, an experience that helped lay the foundation for her work Black Miami-Dade, a multimedia history archive. Its important not just whats happening to the neighborhood but the need to archive these memories, who do we remember, how do we remember. The other elements of the show serve as a time capsule of sorts. Theres a collection of various ornaments that immigrants brought from Haiti to serve as a reminder that nostalgia always played an important role in the neighborhoods existence. Duval-Carries portrait of Toussaint Louverture entitled Toussaint en Saumon pays homage to revolutionary spirit of Haitians. And the collection of photographs, many of which show the faces of the community, depict the people who give the enclave its rhythmic heartbeat. Little Haiti is a gift to Miami-Dade County, Juste said. Its a place where Haitians can flee persecution and be in a place where their past and present is valued. IF YOU GO WHAT: I Am Little Haiti Exhibit WHEN: noon-6 p.m. Wednesdays- Sundays from May 11- Aug. 10 WHERE: Green Space Miami, 7200 Biscayne Blvd., Miami TICKETS: Free Info: https://commonsforjustice.fiu.edu LAS VEGAS (KLAS) The North Rim of the Grand Canyon opens Wednesday, May 15, after the regular seasonal closure. From Las Vegas, its faster to get to the South Rim. But ask anyone who has been there, and theyll tell you the North Rim experience is one you shouldnt miss. The crowds at the South Rim are nowhere in sight. From Las Vegas, take Interstate 15 north just past St. George, Utah, and Highway 9 to Hurricane. Then take Highway 59 to the Arizona border, where it becomes Highway 389. Follow that to Fredonia. From there the road heads south and changes designations several times before you get to North Rim. Its 258 miles. The National Park Service announced the 6 a.m. reopening date and said Grand Canyon Lodge and Grand Canyon Trail Rides will also start operations for the summer on May 15. The North Rim will be open for day use until Nov. 30. Visitor services, including the campground, Grand Canyon Conservancy bookstore and the Backcountry Information Office will open at 8 a.m. Information on daily Park Ranger programs will be available at the Roaring Springs Overlook Kiosk through Oct. 15. Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim operations, including lodging, groceries, retail, food and beverage services, shower and laundry and the gas station, will also open May 15. The lodge dining room will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with reservations required for dinner service. The last day of the 2024 season for most commercial services will be Oct. 15, 2024. Lodging reservations for North Rim facilities are available by contacting Aramark Destinations at 877-386-4383 or by visiting their website at grandcanyonnorth.com. For information on mule rides into the Grand Canyon, please call Grand Canyon Trail Rides at 435-679-8665 or visit their website at canyonrides.com. Reservations for the North Rim Campground must be made by calling 877-444-6777 or online at Recreation.gov. Campground reservations outside of the park at Demotte Campground, located on the Kaibab National Forest, can be made online through Demotte, Kaibab National Forest Recreation.gov. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS. While they have yet to hit the U.S. market, a few predesigned plans could provide a starting point to create your own idyllic indoor/outdoor retreat. Frontal facade - Street view Welcome to Prefab Profiles, an ongoing series of interviews with people transforming how we build houses. From prefab tiny houses and modular cabin kits to entire homes ready to ship, their projects represent some of the best ideas in the industry. Do you know a prefab brand that should be on our radar? Get in touch! Andres Garcia and Marcelo Mederos were tired of inefficient, traditional home construction processes. Located in Montevideo, Uruguay, the c0founders created iHouse Estudio in 2013 with the ambition to bypass the logistical and economic challenges typical of traditional construction techniques. At the same time, they wanted to avoid cookie-cutter designs that had no regard for their environment or their owner. So the founders came up with a detailed design process and a steel-frame construction style to deliver both pre-designed and customizable homes. Here, Garcia and Mederos share how iHouse Estudio works to deliver "better buildings in less time," whether its a tiny cabin near the beach or remote home in the middle of the countryside. Frontal facade - Street view Whats the most exciting project youve realized to date? Our most exciting project to date is the Mazzini House. Nacho, the owner, came to us with one condition: make something out of the ordinary. The home stands out as a pavilion with two of the largest facades completely covered with glass, so it feels like youre immersed in the forest. Nachos favorite thing about his home is that it was completed without the typical headaches of a traditional process. From one day to another the house was fully installed and functioning in the middle of the forest, without disturbing it. What qualities make your prefabs stand apart from the rest? With over 60 iHouses delivered in the past 10 years, our personalization of each house makes the best result for our clients. Each of our homes are specially designed for each costumer, taking care of all their needs and making a home specifically suited for its environment. This makes every project unique, which is distinct from other prefab companies that only allow you to choose between a few predesigned projects and finishes. Frontal facade - Social area What does your base model cost, and what does that pricing include? We dont really have a base model. We have a portfolio that clients can take inspiration from, or they can start from scratch. Pricing varies fromproject to project because each one is unique. Where are the prefabs currently available? Were currently developing different ways to ship our iHouses worldwide. For now, we only deliver within Uruguay, but were looking forward to having all the planning and logistics sorted in the nearby future so that iHouse can be available anywhere in the world. Interior - Kitchen and living view See the full story on Dwell.com: iHouses Customizable Prefab Homes Have Huge Glass Sliders That Connect Them to Their Setting Related stories: Massive ranch is where the buffalo roam in SLO County. But how did they get there? The Camatta Ranch has been in the news with a landmark preservation deal announced with the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County. With that deal, an area in eastern San Luis Obispo County nearly the size of San Francisco has been placed under a conservation easement. If you have seen American bison grazing beside Highway 58 on the way to the Carrizo Plain then you are at the Camatta Ranch. This story by Chuck Bolcom was published in the then Telegram-Tribune May 6, 1993. Unfortunately the original images from that story are lost in the files, but there are images from more recent times. Bison graze at the Camatta Ranch next to Highway 58 west of the Carrizo Plain on April 1, 2017. This bull had an itch that the sign was happy to assist with. Where the buffalo roam The image is so startling people pull off the road and stare. They point. They snap photos. They cant believe theyre seeing a herd of buffalo grazing on the green hills of San Luis Obispo County. This is, after all, the Central Coast, not the great plains of South Dakota. But if you head out on Highway 58, at the right time, youll see them yourself: 16 North American bison, munching on the green grass of the Camatta Ranch. Some motorists are so shocked they dont even bother to pull off the road. Ive seen people park in the middle of the road and take a picture, said ranch manager Mark Morrison. With a veterinarian for a father and a zoo guide for a mother, its only natural that Mark Morrison would love animals. Photo from May 6, 1993, article. Morrison acquired his first bison about six or seven years ago at the Templeton Livestock Market. A buffalo for sale is unusual and as soon as he saw the male yearling, Morrison knew he had to have him. I wanted that buffalo, Morrison said. It was something different, and you have to remember, this is a ranch. Not his ranch, mind you. His parents actually own the spread. But with 32,000 acres, the family has a little more room for their animals than most. Morrison stated the herd because he loves animals, all kinds of animals. His wife, Felicia, says her husband comes home with new animals all the time. Ive always said one of these days Im going to put out a sign outside that says Marks Ark, she said. Longtime ranchers Felicia and Mark Morrison own the majority of the Camatta Ranch and worked with the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County to establish a conservation easement on the property that spans from the Los Padres National Forest on Highway 58 to Shandon. Through the years, Morrison has acquired aoudad (a North African sheep), Barbado sheep, Jacobson four-horn sheep, fallow deer, Ankole-Watusi cattle, snow geese, greater Canadian honker geese, several types of ducks, various hens and birds, horses, goats, a black swan and a water buffalo named Biff. Biff has a problem. He still hasnt figured out who he is. When he runs around with horses, he thinks hes a horse. When he runs around with the sheep, he thinks hes a sheep. Most water buffalo like water. Not Biff at least, not at first. I remember a couple of years ago it began raining and a lot of the animals ran into the shed, Morrison said. When I went to check on them, theres Biff behind everybody else trying to keep dry. But Biff is still in one piece, which is more than can be said for Bent Horn. She weighs 800 pounds and she has a bent horn from running after a horse and crashing into a fence post. She just doesnt like horses, he said. She must have been really abused by someone on horseback because none of the other buffalo hate horses. The other bison have their quirks. Some are friendly. Some are shy. There were other bison along Highway 58, but this one seemed to prefer the solitary shade of an oak tree in 100-degree weather Sept. 3, 2009. According to the Defenders of Wildlife web page, it is the bison (sometimes incorrectly called buffalo) largest land mammal in north America, up to 2,000 pounds in weight. Some of them will check you out, at first, Morrison said. Theyre just as curious about us as we are about them. Rank has its privileges in the buffalo world. The older, bigger buffalo eat when they want. The younger ones have to wait their turn. And one bull is boss. Morrison doesnt have a name for him, but hes the largest one in the herd. All he as to do is start walking toward the younger males and theyll start running, Morrison said. Buffalo are known to be temperamental. If someone starts running around, waving their arms and making a lot of noise, they will run, Morrison said. And when that happens look out. Bison run like deer, he says; some can outrun horses. Morrison developed his love of animals at a young age. His mother used to give tours at the Los Angeles Zoo and he often came along. It was kind of like my backyard, he said. I was fascinated with animals. When he wasnt at the zoo, Morrison was often helping out his dad, a veterinarian who ran a 24-hour emergency animal clinic in Woodland Hills. People would hit a deer and bring it in saying, Do whatever you have to do to save it, Morrison said. So my dad would take care of it. Sometimes he would bring the animal home while it was mending. Morrison isnt the only buffalo owner in the county, but he may have the largest herd. Every once in a while, youll see a buffalo in San Luis Obispo, he said. Actually its kind of sad because theyre usually in a small pen and they cant run around. At the ranch, the buffalo have 300 acres to roam as they please. They dont share their space with anyone. Bison graze at the Camatta Ranch next to Highway 58 west of the Carrizo Plain April 1, 2017. Morrison keeps his animals apart for good reason. He also raises cattle on the ranch and if a cow were to meet up with a male bison. Well the two could produce a beefalo. There is such an animal, Morrison said, but hes never tried to create one because the cow might have trouble giving birth. But some people do raise buffalo for their meat. Buffalo cuisine is a growing market. McLintocks Saloon and Dining House even serves a buffalo burger. Its good, Morrison said. Its really hard to tell the difference between a buffalo burger and a regular burger. Raising buffalo isnt cheap. Although the herd is eating of the land right now, Morrison usually feeds his bison once a day with alfalfa and oat hay. With some bison weighing up to two tons, the food bills alone are enormous. How much? Morrison wont say. Thats between me and my accountant, he said. Despite the cost, the family plans to keep building the herd. Theyve got the space and theyre offering ranch tours for anyone who wants a closer look at the buffalo. Perhaps you dont really care about the buffalo, but you would love to see the wildflowers or the fossils at the ranch. The family will arrange for a hike and picnic. Maybe feeding the animals sounds more exciting. You can tag along for the early morning feeding and enjoy a breakfast afterward. Maybe a drive at sunset suits your fancy. The point is theres plenty to do. The family only requests you call in advance and make a reservation. Despite the cost, Morrison says hell keep building his herd. Hes got the space. Buffalo cuisine could become the latest rage. Besides, theres nothing quite like owning your own herd. Theyre just part of the family, he said. You raise a lot of animals and they grow on you. And then you want more and more. Stop me if youve heard this one. After a long day welding underwater naval mines off the Gulf coast of Florida in 1984, a six-foot-something Alabama bombshell walks herself into a saloon on a hot July night to sing with the band. And there she sees a 20-year-old Kentucky boy, tabletop-dancing right out of his Army fatigues. Nine months later atop America's largest presumed stockpile of Cold War nukes, four alleged alien spacecraft and an 8,000-year-old Native American burial mound a military midwife delivers her of a screaming girl who grieves her to this day. Especially this day. They call us motherless daughters. Or more clinically, female maternal orphans. And for us, Mothers Day is a painful communion with the unknowable. She was one of many, my mother. How many exactly, I dont know. If the US Census Bureau has an exact count of dead mothers whove left behind living daughters, then the strands of its URLs are so awash in a sea of pages and jargon that neither my editor nor myself could reasonably fish it out. Our 11th-hour data trawl came on the heels of my other trawl. Having searched at length for quantitative research into the particular long-term trauma faced by motherless daughters, Id resurfaced with only a thin stack of close-enough studies. Research on the sex-specific impact of father loss abounds in pediatric literature, as does sex-unspecified parental loss but finding useful research on the unique needs of female-sexed children and women drowning in mother loss takes the kind of work most laywomen shouldnt have to do when sobbing with grief. Too many peer-reviewed studies are outdated, removed from our readers Western experiences, or simply useless to me behind journal paywalls. You can imagine how little material I found addressing our sister-orphans who are trans. Even the most recent studies acknowledged the dearth of sex-distinct pediatric research. Finding research on adult orphan daughters is harder, and even good work is mostly parental-sex unspecific. Some of it reads with attunement. But more of it approaches insult, blind to repeated findings on mixed-sex adolescent bereavement which chart higher rates of suicidality, premature death and employment struggle along with worse education and health outcomes, earlier and more frequent sexual, drug-related and criminal encounters. The majority of children overcome the loss of a parent during childhood without experiencing increased mental health problems, reduced functional limitations or a greater need for mental health services during adulthood, reads one from 2006. Feminist researchers havent let us down, though. Their qualitative work on the severed mother-daughter dyad has yielded wholly nuanced theories and praxis rooted in the unique self-in-relation analysis model. Even skimming a summary feels like quenching life-long thirst. Just last year, Australian women conducted whats thought to be the largest known study of motherless daughters. Searching for answers, the researchers put out the all-call and hoped to get 100 responses. They got that many within two hours. By October, more than 2,000 women came to them, searching for answers where mothers once were. I didnt know my mother was dead until I was in my 20s. The last time I saw her, I was three and she was buckling my seatbelt in the back of my fathers car. Later, still much too young to hear it, hed say this was his clever cross-country rescue after tracking her down. She was wild-eyed and feral, I was told, dangerous as she was beautiful. Gravid with me in her ninth month, shed thrashed as if possessed, and had to be pinned down to keep from lunging into an obliterative cocaine frenzy. Wed lived on a little fishing trawler then, as it goes, and it wasnt long after my first lungful of squall met the air, that a squall far bigger found us at sea. Towering waves, taller in each retelling, bashed us broadside amid a merciless downpour. My father was clambering to get us leeward against capsize when my mother took to the starboard bow. He says he heard my screams above the storm and turned to see her there, cradling me in her arms for a moment before she flung me overboard jetsam into the devouring mouth of the sea. He dove into the waves and wrenched us back aboard somehow. More than 20 years later, my setting out to find her took some gall. And tracing her paper trail took some journalism. Months of records work ended in an online archive with a grainy newspaper clipping. Shed died while I was a teenager. No one had come looking for me. I couldnt find a grave, nothing about ashes. Caught between antidepressants and the bottle, shed flipped her car three times before she stopped moving. But shed left something behind for me in Alabama a baby brother. I counted the years on my fingers to 18, dove back into records, and didnt resurface until I fished him out. Shed named him Strongheart. We both drove all night to meet in Tennessee. Last time he saw her, he was three years old. Hed fought to graduate, an outcast with nowhere to go but our cousins couch. He hugged me hard and frantically. His hands were the same size as mine. I have a sister, he cried. Im gonna take care of you, I told him. Id spent most of Thursday evening diving deep into the narrows of archived reports and dead-end URLs for fractions of percentages that might give me a headcount of my sister-orphans in the Dead Mom Club. Diving like there was a bottom I could hit. Like shed be there if there was. But all I found was more sisters and brothers mixed together, our sibling-count growing as the world moves on. In the wake of COVID-19 deaths, an estimated 300,000 children were orphaned by one or both parents. Between April 2020 to June 2023, that number rises to 379,000 when you include primary or secondary caregivers, according to research from Imperial College London. As reported by the Guardian, Imperials collaboration with the Center for Disease Control notes Black children in the U.S. are twice as likely as white children to be orphaned under similar conditions. Worldwide in the same period, the Global Reference Group on Children Affected by COVID-19 and medical journal BMJ peg that number at about 10.5 million orphans. Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon's weekly newsletter Lab Notes. In a pre-print study from a powerhouse line-up of academic and government health researchers, the spike in orphan numbers from COVID-19 arrived as the rate of US orphanhood was already growing, accounting for a roughly 50% overall rise in the number of orphaned kids. From 2000 [to] 2021, orphanhood and custodial/co-residing grandparent caregiver loss annual incidence and prevalence trends increased 49.2% and 8.3%, respectively. By 2021, 2.9 million children (4% of all children) had experienced prevalent orphanhood and caregiver death, the researchers wrote. 1.7 million of those 2.9 million were aged 10 to 17 kids far less likely to be adopted. Now add those 300,000-plus COVID orphans to the data published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, concluding an estimated 321,566 children lost a parent to drug overdose in the U.S. from 2011 to 2021. 129,000 of those kids lost their mothers. If half of all children are girls, we have 64,500 more motherless daughters now. It was just a month or so after Id found my teenage brother, and time to fetch him home for good, when he died with our cousin. Caught between a bender and the bottle on a hot July night, theyd reached highway speeds before passing out behind the wheel. My race to Alabama is still a blur. Behind the chainlink fence of the impound lot, I saw his car crumpled bloody. The relatives that had cast him out never shed a tear, and they hid his ashes from those who did. I still didnt know where theyd hid hers. In a motel for days, I scoured databases and worked phones. Still diving, still searching. An angel in some distant judicial call center happened to be from the same town I was sitting in; she slipped me his fathers number so I could tell him his son died. Before I hung up to write the eulogy, she prayed a blessing on me thats never come off. It took intervention, but the relatives broke down and revealed where my brothers ashes were. Theyd put him with our mother flung him into the water. After nearly 30 years searching, there would be no finding her among the numbered, no archive of her bones but my own. A lady at the gas station helped me draw a map to the spot. Down an old country road, off a winding gravel trail, I found the little swamp marsh that will someday be devoured by the rising sea. It was close to sunset when I took my shoes off and waded deep past the bank of reeds and cattails. There is nowhere you can not be now, I thought when the rain started. The human heart is 73% water, and mine is 50% you, and ours are these salt tears near identical to our shared blood, thats near identical to sea water. I washed my feet that were her feet. Anointed, Id done what I could. This is my body, this is my blood. I cupped a handful to my mouth and drank them both. An earlier version of this article originally appeared in Salon's Lab Notes, a weekly newsletter from our Science & Health team. No matter how you look at it--some things are simply meant to be. Whether it's meeting your spouse in an inevitable act of serendipity or making a new friend who feels like they've always been in your life, special moments and relationships like these are worth holding onto. And that's exactly what one dog discovered after wandering onto a local ranch in North Carolina. Leia's Happily Ever After began on Saturday, May 4, when she wandered into the driveway of Wildway Ranch. When she met the couple who call the ranch home, it didn't take long before everyone knew it was meant to be. It took some time and TLC before Leia was feeling more like herself, but her story is the perfect proof that love can change everything. It's a breath of fresh air to see a stray dog being cared for and loved with no hesitation. These kind ranchers gave her food and water, cleaned her up, and even removed over ten ticks from her body. Whether she's always been a stray or whether she once had a home, there's no doubt that she's going to thrive with just a little bit (or a lot!) of love. Related: Stray Mother Dog and Her Pups Instantly Trust Woman Who Came To Save Them She's already so bonded with her brand new friends, even if she couldn't come inside the house yet due to the other dogs. It didn't take long before she left pawprints on the dog rescuers' hearts, and I'm sure the deal was sealed the moment they saw her lying on their front porch. Even if she doesn't like being confined, she seemed to say 'this is my home now!' Luckily, the owners of Wildway ranch felt the same way. Over the next two days, they took her to the vet and got to know her better--and now, they know that she is home for good. Welcome home, Leia! You seem like the perfect addition to the family, and it will get even better as you get to know the other furry friends on the ranch. As for your new parents--they are wrapped around your paw! Leia was brought to the veterinarian, where they confirmed that she had no microchip with identification. They learned that this girl is about one year old and is battling some skin infections and intestinal parasites, but she's also strong, smart, and incredibly loving. What Is a Carolina Dog? One trip to the vet helped the new dog and her family get better acquainted, but the most fascinating thing the vet revealed may actually be this dog's breed. Thanks to a clever twist of fate, the dog who made herself at home on a Carolina homestead is actually from a breed called the Carolina dog! According to the American Kennel Club, the Carolina dog--also known as the American Dingo--is an ancient sighthound breed that decends "from the canines that accompanied the Paleo-Indians who traveled from Asia to North America over the Bering land bridge." They are still found as wild dogs in much of the eastern United States, but they can also make loyal, loving pets--just like Leia! Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips. Owner of new Shop of Horrors & Curiosities hopes to transport customers to another world Summer is just getting started but Halloween is creeping around the corner sooner than you think. If you are a Halloween enthusiast, you may be doing your The Most Wonderful Time of the Year song and dance now that pumpkins and fall decor are already starting to fill shelves in some retail locations. Terror 29's Mystery Shop of Horrors & Curiosities held its grand opening on May 10, 2024, in Brandon, SD. One of those locations includes the new Mystery Shop of Horrors & Curiosities in Brandon, as part of Terror 29s Halfway to Halloween celebration. Owner Zac Tenneboe assists part-owner Trevor Nash-Keller on May 10, 2024, at the new Mystery Shop of Horrors & Curiosities in Brandon, SD. The Terror 29 store or hub is located at 1420 East Cedar Street, near 212 The Boiling Point bar and grill. A grand opening and ribbon cutting with the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce were held Friday afternoon. More: Sioux Falls first Nekter Juice Bar hosts grand opening in May Chamber Executive Director Rachael Nieman commended Terror 29 for its hard work and dedication and expressed gratitude for opening a store in Brandon. The Chamber presented a plaque to Terror 29 owner and founder Zac Tenneboe, welcoming them to the community. The Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce welcomes Terror 29 to the community and holds a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new store on May 10, 2024. We're not just here to peel back the veil on our brand-new mystery shop of horrors and curiosities," Tenneboe said. "We're actually celebrating six years filled with screams, chills and a whole lot of community spirit." All merchandise such as clothing, accessories, collectibles and more, was 13% off for the first hour of the event. Free Caseys pizza and cookies were available for people to grab a quick bite. The Mystery Shop of Horrors & Curiosities in Brandon, SD has plenty of items for horror fans or those who just love all things spooky. To add to the creepy ambiance, various scare-actors lurked among the shadows for those hoping to take meet and selfies to commemorate the occasion. Sioux Falls resident Kitty Miller said she and her friend came to the grand opening for their love of all things horror. Miller mentioned she even does gory and special effects makeup for others on Halloween. Thats really my thing," Miller said. "Im big into horror movies." Miller said she enjoyed what the store had to offer. I want to buy everything Theres a giant skull I want, Miller said smiling. The goal, Tenneboe said, is to gauge enough interest to be open more throughout the year instead of only October. We're just always trying to make a more immersive experience filled with spine-tingling surprises, Tenneboe said. But it's not just about this shop. It's about entering into a portal into another world. Inside Terror 29's new storefront Mystery Shop of Horrors & Curiosities. The store is open until 10 p.m. and will be open again Saturday at the same time. For those who cant get enough scares, Terror 29 will offer a preview of their infamous haunted house from 7 to 10 p.m. 38.MondayMostlyFriday and Saturday night. Tickets for this occasion were available for purchase during the grand opening for a reduced price of $15 each (normally $18 a piece). Tickets are also available to snag online at terror29.com for $18. Terror 29 Haunted House events are held every year in October in Brandon, SD. Advertised as Sioux Falls scariest haunted house, Terror 29 began in January 2019 in an abandoned warehouse at the Crooks/Renner Exit on I-29. The events became so popular they needed more space. In October 2022, they moved to their current location in Brandon. Growing up in Sioux Falls, Tenneboe said he was always into horror and spooky elements. My dad was a magician, so I grew up as a magician and in a magic household, Tenneboe said. We've always liked the strange and unusual and the goofy things, and I think being a magician kind of just led into that direction. As a kid, my favorite show was The Munsters. Founder and owner of Terror 29 Zac Tenneboe on May 10, 2024, at his new storefront in Brandon, SD. That led Tenneboe to aspirations of not only creating an immersive and scary experience for the spookiest time of the year but also fostering a community of Halloween enthusiasts bound by screams and scare, according to terror29.com. More: Its about the people: Sioux Falls thrift store owners say they're seeing a resurgence Like horror movies, Terror 29s Haunted House events allow guests to experience many different emotions from scared to even a bit a humor. All scare-actors and others involved with the events are volunteers. Haunted house tours take approximately 15-20 minutes to walk through. Normal hours are 7-10 p.m. every Thursday and 7-11 p.m. every Friday and Saturday in October. General age guidelines are 13 years and up, but Tenneboe said its up to the parents. Tenneboe said they see an average of 400-500 people a night at the Haunted House events, with numbers reaching up to 5,000 for the entire season. Tenneboe said there are also two other year-round aspects Terror 29 is working on, one having to do with Brandons notorious Spook Road. These events wont be operating in October though. More: 'Semi-Viking' style Big Lost Meadery & Brewery breaks ground ahead of 2025 opening Aaron Krumholtz aka "Krum" poses on May 10, 2024, during the grand opening of Terror 29's Mystery Shop of Horrors & Curiosities in Brandon, SD. Aaron Krumholz (aka Krum), a Terror 29 scare-actor and someone Tenneboe describes as his right-hand man, said they also want to create a niche that the Sioux Falls area doesnt really have right now. It's something that wasn't there for me (growing up), Krumholtz said. Well, let's make it for someone that needs it now. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Terror 29 opens Mystery Shop of Horrors & Curiosities in Brandon Russian occupants occupied several villages, which are difficult to hold due to their geography and terrain, in the Kharkiv region. At the same time, the invaders failed to break through the defense line. ADVERTISIMENT Fighting in the region is now much less active than the day before, on May 10. The situation has been stabilized. This was reported by the soldiers of the Gostri Kartuzy unit of the National Guard of Ukraine. At the same time, according to the DeepState map, the battlefield in the Kharkiv region has expanded. The villages of Strilecha, Pylyna, Hatyshche, and Pletenivka are under enemy control. ADVERTISIMENT According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainian defenders repelled attacks near the settlements of Strilecha, Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliynykove, Lukyantsi, Ohirtseve, Hatyshche, and Pletenivka. ISW believes that in the event of a large-scale offensive, it will be difficult for the Russian occupation forces to capture Kharkiv, if they want to do so. To do this, they will be forced to withdraw from other critical frontline areas and redeploy a significant number of forces to the international border. President Zelenskyy assured that the Ukrainian military understands the occupier's plan and the size of its forces. He announced additional reinforcement of the Kharkiv direction. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber . Do not fall for fakes! ADVERTISIMENT Owners of new Sheboygan shop hope to give local vendors a space to sell handmade goods The exterior of 3Elephants and Company at 1503 N. 8th Street, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Sheboygan, Wis. SHEBOYGAN Jewelry, wood art and sweet treats are a few goods displayed at a new vendor space in Sheboygan. 3Elephants & Company, 1503 N. Eighth St., is planning to host a soft opening May 11. The shop offers goods from more than 25 vendors. Co-owners Jackee and Andy Kaiser are vendors themselves. She makes natural essential oil products, and he makes custom wood flags and art. It's not a Walmart or Target, Andy said about the shop. It's all handmade stuff. And that's important because you know these people work hard, Jackee said. I love it. I just love all neat stuff. Andy and Jackee Kaiser, owners of 3Elephants and Company, pose inside their firm at 1503 N. 8th Street, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Sheboygan, Wis. Jackee said vendors may travel to craft shows across the state, up to several hours, and face expensive fees. This can be challenging for them, especially because its a gamble if they will make a profit, she said. I was going to do one in Milwaukee, but it (the rental fee) was $150 per day, Jackee said. And I'm like, I can't guarantee I'm going to sell even that much product. Vendors at 3Elephants & Company can choose between paying a rental fee for shelf space or opting in for commission only. The shop can also market their products, too. We wanted to give an opportunity for other small businesses to help them grow, she said. El Camino building has new business: New bar and banquet hall takes El Camino's spot on Michigan Avenue in Sheboygan. Here's what to know. In addition to selling products in several stores in the state, Katie Hintz said she travels to more than 30 shows a year for her family business Me & CHEA and Company. It sells laser-engraved gifts and home decor, like koozies and decorative boards. Over the next five years, Hintz hopes to transition to selling more through stores like 3Elephants & Company, only going to a few big shows. This can give her more of a routine, stocking shops during the week and having weekends free. I want to be able to do a little bit more family time, Hintz said. A laser engraved wood sign by Me & CHEA and company, as seen, Wednesday, May 8 in Sheboygan, Wis. Vendor shop will host a grand opening May 25 3Elephants & Company will be open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. A grand opening will be May 25. Contact the shop at 920-917-3377 or 3ec.sheboygan@gmail.com. Have a story tip? Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @alexx_garner. This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: 3Elephants & Company vendor shop opens near downtown Sheboygan The Quad Citians Affirming Diversity (QCAD), a long-time partner of Western Illinois University, will host a QCAD Meet and Greet at WIU-QC from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, May 16, in Riverfront Hall, Moline. (wiu.edu) QCAD has been working on an ongoing project with WIU called SafeConnect. The goal of this project is to recognize businesses that are owned, operated, employ or serve LGBTQIA+ in the Quad Cities area to create a network of supportive and safe spaces for patrons. As Quad Citians Affirming Diversity (QCAD) which operates from the WIU-QC campus, we are deeply appreciative of the universitys support in providing space for our diverse range of events and activities, WIUs Student Services Specialist Shelbee Bradley said. We also recognize the importance of the LGBTQ+ youth that we work with in the QCA in connecting with spaces of higher education. We know WIU is safe and inclusive, so were happy to highlight that for our community. By having a presence at WIU-QC, it shows LGBTQ+ current and future students as well as faculty and staff that WIU-QC is a welcoming and inclusive community for those that come to campus. We want to be able to foster inclusivity within the community through providing education and valuable resources, she said. Our newest project, QCAD SafeConnect, actively promotes queer-welcoming businesses and advances our mission to expand our support network and foster more community building throughout the Quad Cities. For more information, contact Bradley at sm-bradley@wiu.edu. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. When you think of chicken farming, what do you envision? While you might hope that the nuggets in your Happy Meal started out as a fluffy white bird gracefully pecking around a pastoral landscape, that's probably not the reality and, for some, that's the furthest thing from their minds when they think of chicken farming. Instead, they envision rows upon rows of caged birds crammed together in dark and depressing confinement. However, the truth of chicken farming isn't all horrible, nor is it all great. Like most industries, chicken farming is doing some things right and some things very wrong. To get the skivvy on the secret side of chicken farming that most consumers aren't familiar with, we conducted exclusive interviews with five poultry insiders representing an array of backgrounds and various styles of chicken farming. These are the facts about chicken farming that they think you need to know. Read more: US Foods You Surprisingly Can't Find In Canada The Majority Of Chicken Farms Are Small, Family Farms Chickens in grass - Dewald Kirsten/Shutterstock Chicken farming isn't always a massive, corporate operation. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as of 2020, most of the country's poultry products, including eggs, were produced by small farms. Overall, the USDA said that family farms accounted for 98% of all farms and 88% of all production. Small family farms specifically accounted for about 50% of all farms (The USDA defines a "small" family farm as one with less than $350,000 in annual gross revenue). Furthermore, according to the National Chicken Council, which responded to a request for comment for this article and which represents the broiler chicken industry (or chickens raised for meat versus eggs), about 95% of all broilers are produced on family farms and that's a lot of chicken. In 2023, the industry produced nearly 10 billion broiler chickens, and the United States boasts the largest broiler industry in the world, frequently exporting chickens to other countries. Sometimes Family Farms Work For Big Corporations Chickens in cages - celio messias silva/Shutterstock That said, it's worth noting that while family farms produce a majority of the country's chickens, these farms are not always working independently. Don't automatically assume that these family farms are peddling their chickens at the local farmers' market as their main source of income. Instead, many work for "big chicken." According to the National Chicken Council, about 25,000 family farmers have contracts with larger companies, to produce chickens on their behalf and while this can produce much-needed income, it can also come with downsides. Julia Johnson, U.S. head of food business for Compassion in World Farming explained, "The chicken industry is vertically integrated, meaning that the large chicken companies own everything but the barns they control the feed, the processing plants, and even the chickens themselves. Farmers are contracted to grow birds for these large companies but do not have any say in how to manage these animals, leading them to lose their autonomy as farmers and [become] beholden to these chicken corporations." The Average Factory-Farmed Chicken Only Lives About 40 Days Hatched chickens - Budimir Jevtic/Shutterstock How old do you think the average chicken is when it makes its way from the farm to the freezer? It's probably a lot younger than you think. Johnson told us that the typical factory farm chicken only lives to be a little more than a month old 40 days, on average. However, these chickens have been genetically selected to grow quickly over that time span, so the growth rate is far disproportionate to the actual age of the chicken. As Johnson said, "At this expedited growth rate, this would be [as] if a human toddler was 300 pounds!" Initiatives to counter this practice are in the works (like the Better Chicken Commitment). Changes to chicken genetics could mean that the chickens grow more slowly but just slightly so and therefore live better lives (Johnson noted that the 40-day chickens "can barely stand or walk"). The farmers might have to wait about a week longer for the chickens to be ready for harvest, but the difference in animal welfare would be significant. The Biggest Health Risk Caused By Eating Chicken Can Be Mitigated By Thoroughly Cooking It chicken legs in casserole dish - Rudisill/Getty Images What's the biggest health risk that comes with eating factory-farmed chicken? While you might point to the various antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals that chickens are treated with before processing (and these are definitely worth consideration), Giovana Vieira, senior animal welfare scientist at The Humane League, pointed primarily to a risk that we're all likely familiar with: food poisoning. "Consuming chicken carries certain health risks, mostly associated with the consumption of chicken that was not cooked properly or if cross-contamination occurs during handling. Raw poultry products frequently contain pathogenic organisms such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Clostridium perfringens, all of which are among the top five pathogens causing foodborne illnesses," she said. About a million Americans become ill each year due to eating contaminated poultry, and poultry accounts for the highest number of foodborne illness outbreaks and hospitalizations. Luckily, avoiding this risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is as simple as ensuring your chicken is thoroughly cooked and avoiding cross-contamination from raw chicken. Working On A Large-Scale Chicken Farm Can Be Dangerous Woman working with chickens - Georgijevic/Getty Images When we consider the chicken farming industry and the health risks posed, we often think of risks to the chickens and consumers but what about risks to the employees? Working on a large-scale chicken farm can be dangerous for myriad reasons. Dayne Alexander, senior corporate research lead at The Humane League, pointed to a few of the hazards that poultry production workers face. For one, poultry facilities produce dust filled with feather and skin debris from the chickens, dried feces, and more. When inhaled, this dust can raise the risk of a range of issues, from asthma to lung disease to organic dust toxic syndrome, an illness that comes with flu-like symptoms and is heavily prominent in the agricultural industry, with up to 40% of workers having developed the illness at some point (via Iowa Health & Human Services). Exposure to poultry manure also poses a risk and can lead to respiratory disorders and disease. Poultry Factory Farms Are Bad For The Environment Chicken egg farm - sergey kolesnikov/Shutterstock Both Vieira and Alexander from The Humane League pointed to a variety of negative impacts poultry factory farms have on the environment. While this might not be exactly news to you, you may be surprised at how far-reaching the environmental impact is. For starters, they explained, poultry farming requires a large amount of land not just for the actual farm facilities, but also to produce the food for the poultry. Johnson said that factory-farmed chickens are mostly fed corn and soy, which require certain agrochemicals to grow, which then causes further environmental issues, including unhealthy topsoil that is easily washed away, taking those agrochemicals with it into our water supply. As this land is claimed, deforestation and habitat loss occurs. Factory poultry farming requires a large amount of water as well, and waste runoff from these farms can contaminate the nearby soil and water sources. Meanwhile, emissions from poultry waste negatively impact air quality in the nearby surroundings, and poultry farms emit greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Vieira and Alexander noted, "The estimated environmental impact of chicken production adds up to an annual per capita cost of 404 pounds carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e); 1,690 square feet [of] habitat loss; 15,500 gallons of water; and 117 pounds of manure." The Chicken Industry Is Working To Reduce Its Environmental Footprint Chicken eating feed - sergey kolesnikov/Shutterstock The chicken industry is working hard to reduce its environmental footprint. In fact, Tom Super, senior vice president of communications for the National Chicken Council, told us that reducing that footprint is one of the industry's biggest achievements. While chicken production already has the least impact on the environment when compared to other animal agriculture, a 2020 study found that, when looking at the broiler industry, land use in the industry has been reduced by 13%, greenhouse gas emissions are down 18%, water consumption is down 13%, fossil resources usage is down 22%, and particulate-forming emissions are down 22%. Additionally, small chicken farmers (so those not in league with so-called "big chicken") are even more conscientious of their environmental footprint, as is the case at the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association, where the more than a thousand active member farms use a process known as the pastured poultry model that reduces farming's impact on both land and chickens. More Than 500 Chicken Companies Have Signed The Better Chicken Commitment Chicken in grass - Marjorie Anastacio/Getty Images The chicken farming industry is working to improve via initiatives like the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC). According to Julia Johnson, the BCC is a set of standards that helps better the lives of chickens, touching on their living environments, welfare genetics, and eventual ends. Thus far, more than 230 North American companies and more than 300 European companies have committed to the BCC. The benefits aren't just for the chickens, though. The family farmers who have contracted with major chicken companies also appreciate the initiative. Johnson said, "By giving birds a bit more space to move around and play, enrichments to engage with or perch on, and brighter barns, often with windows to allow for natural light, these healthier birds can have a better quality of life and express their natural behaviors. We have been told consistently by farmers that they appreciate growing these chickens because the barns are dryer, there are lower mortality rates, and it is more enjoyable to see birds running and playing, rather than barely being able to stand up." She said that she and the Compassion in World Farming team are confident that the BCC can become adopted across the entire U.S. poultry farming industry. Bird Flu Isn't A Food Safety Concern For Consumers Vet vaccinating a chicken - Pordee_Aomboon/Shutterstock You may have seen a lot of headlines recently about the bird flu and could be worried about the possible health effects. However, "it is not a food safety concern," said Super, of the National Chicken Council. "All flocks are tested prior to leaving the farm. If a flock tests positive, it does not enter the food chain. Regardless, proper cooking would destroy the virus, and according to the CDC, the risk of humans contracting avian influenza is very low." That said, that doesn't mean you should completely ignore bird flu. According to Mike Badger, of the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association, bird flu outbreaks require entire flocks to be euthanized, and that can lead to disruptions in the chicken supply chain, which can lead to price increases. However, shopping from independent farmers who are less likely to be as highly impacted by industry disruptions, whether that be a bird flu outbreak or even something like the COVID-19 pandemic, can mitigate these concerns. The Label On Your Chicken Matters chicken roasting in oven - Gmvozd/Getty Images Not all chicken is raised equally, and the label on your chicken matters. Different terminology can mean different living conditions and treatment for animals, so brushing up on the various categories of chicken i.e., "organic" vs. "pasture-raised," etc. can be helpful. For example, according to Badger, while pastured poultry producers do not have a specific regulatory arm like certified organic products might, there are still differences and standards across the board. He said, "For us, our idea of 'pastured' is going to [mean], essentially, in broad terms, the bird is living the majority of its life on pasture. They're going to be moved frequently to fresh pasture, and the pasture is going to actually consist of vegetation that has roots. In some cases, with organic [chicken], there may be porches that constitute [chickens'] outdoor access, and it might have wood chips or cement. [Organic] doesn't stipulate that, but we want pasture that is vegetative and rooted." Demand For Healthier Chicken Is Up Woman holding pack of chicken in store - Nastya_ph/Getty Images According to Johnson, demand for healthier, more humane chicken is up. She pointed to proof that the organic chicken market has grown "by double-digit percentages in four of the past five years," and that the market is expected to reach $14.5 billion in value in the next 10 years. "Consumers want antibiotic-free chicken and we would encourage all chicken producers to see this trend as the future, only treating animals when they are sick, rather than routinely giving them subtherapeutic antibiotics," she said. In some cases, though, this demand for organic chicken isn't necessarily all about humane treatment or antibiotic-free products. Some feel that the growing popularity in organic chicken is due to increased beef prices, which could persuade shoppers to look at their other options. Others point to a growing focus on healthy living overall, which drives demand for organic products of all types. The National Chicken Council likewise points to the growing buying power of younger consumers, who are more likely to value organic and antibiotic-free labels than their parents might have. The Biggest Challenge For Small Chicken Farmers Is Consumer Awareness Women shopping at farmers market - Jmichl/Getty Images For small chicken farmers who produce pastured chicken independently, without a contract from a large corporation, Badger said one of the biggest hurdles is consumer awareness. In addition to finding the right consumers for their products, they also have to find consumers who value what they produce and who are willing to pay a higher price for that value. He compared pastured chickens to craft beers not only are pastured chickens produced on a more limited scale, but they also boast differences in flavor. "You have mass-produced beers," he described. "They're one price, and you have artisan and handcrafted [microbrews] that are a different price ... Pasture-raised poultry is more like that artisan handcrafted [beer] because it's [produced] in smaller quantities. A typical [pasture-raised poultry] farm might produce 5,00010,000 chickens a year...but on average, a typical contract farm might [produce] 20,000 chickens every six to eight weeks. The scale is radically different and that's part of the price." Both Factory-Farmed Chicken And Chicken Raised Locally On Small Farms Have Benefits Woman shopping in grocery store - Carlofranco/Getty Images Speaking with all the experts for this article, it was clear that, while the chicken farming industry isn't perfect, there are some benefits to both factory-farmed chicken and chicken raised on a smaller scale, via local, independent farmers. With the latter, obviously, consumers enjoy an often higher-quality product, raised more humanely and with less of a significant impact on the environment. However, all of those admirable qualities come with a price and that's where factory-farmed chicken swoops in. Factory-farmed chicken is just more affordable and more convenient. You swing by the poultry case at your grocery store, toss your purchase in your cart, and move on with your day. Depending on what cut of chicken you buy, you could have multiple meals at a cost of just a few dollars. When compared to beef and pork, the price of chicken is just a fraction of what you'll pay for other proteins and during a time in which affording groceries is a struggle, that matters. There's Probably An Independent Chicken Farmer Near You Farmer holding a chicken - Kali9/Getty Images The good news is that if you don't want to purchase factory-farmed chicken, you don't have to. There's probably an independent chicken farm located closer to you than you might think. To help you find them, the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association created a website called Get Real Chicken with educational videos on pasture-raised chicken and a directory map that lists hundreds of producers located throughout the United States. In addition to finding chicken farmers close to you, you can also find farmers that will ship to you. "I think the best approach," Badger said, "regardless of what you're buying, is to get as close to the source as possible ... so that you can ask questions. You can make a list of things that are important to you. Are you concerned with what the chicken eats? If so, you can ask the farmer who grew that chicken exactly what they feed their chicken. Are you concerned with having birds that were raised in a pastured model? ... It's much easier to go to your local grocery store ... However, the pasture-raised product inside the grocery store, at least the mainstream ones ... isn't going to live up to a pastured ideal." Read the original article on Mashed Shenandoah National Park is a playground for the Appalachian Mountains, and everyone has an invitation. Those who are more daring can tackle challenging rock scrambles or summit hikes. Others can enjoy the beauty of the mountains without exiting the car via the famously scenic Skyline Drive. Along the winding 105-mile drive which is also the only road in the park visitors can spot wildlife, such as deer or black bears, and take in sweeping vistas at one of its 75 overlooks. Even furry friends are welcome to Shenandoah, one of the few national parks that allow pets on trails. The Virginia park has over 500 miles of trails and many campgrounds open to curious dogs. When you arrive here, theres just a wide range of activities to choose from, said Allysah Fox, Shenandoah National Parks Public Information Officer. The park is home to over 200,000 acres of protected lands and 60 peaks, allowing for adventures like waterfall hikes, fly-fishing, white-water rafting and more. From Acadia to Zion: What travelers should know about each of America's national parks What makes the park even more accessible is that its on the East Coasts back door a quick hour-and-a-half drive from Washington, D.C., she said. Heres everything travelers should know about Shenandoah National Park. What is so special about Shenandoah National Park? Spring colors in foreground at Thornton Hollow Overlook at sunrise. Shenandoah National Parks proximity to Washington, D.C., and other major Virginia cities makes it special for nature lovers. Were fortunate to be in a location that we are, Fox said. The park is also nestled within several smaller, charming communities worth exploring, like Front Royal. Driving along these towns allows travelers to drive parallel with the mountains and get a good view of the landscape. From forests to wetlands and rock outcrops, the rich, diverse biodiversity of the Appalachian Mountains and Shenandoah Valley also provides a wide variety of natural beauty for parkgoers to explore. There are so many hikes that allow for all sorts of skill levels with different viewpoints, like waterfall hikes, summits and rock scrambling, said Fox. What is the best time to visit Shenandoah National Park? Autumn is the most popular time for visitors to Shenandoah. Anytime, actually. (Shenandoah) has something for parkgoers every season, Fox said. Fall is by far the most popular time for visitors when the mountains transform into shades of amber, yellow and orange. It goes into full technicolor, she noted. Spring also attracts many visitors to the park when the valleys and mountains burst with over 850 species of colorful wildflowers starting in late March. In the spring we have wildflowers coming into bloom, lining the hiking trails, lining Skyline Drive, Fox said. Dont forgo the summer or winter either. The park is worth a visit during the summer since the mountains are about 10 degrees cooler than in the valleys, offering a nice retreat into shady, lush forests, Fox said. In the wintertime, the park becomes a place of peace and solitude, and is also one of the best times to witness wildlife. A winter sunrise at Hazel Mountain. What is the most beautiful part of Shenandoah National Park? Fox recommends most travelers start their journey in Shenandoah at Limberlost Trail, a fully accessible, gentle stroll through an old grove of hemlock trees. At just 1 mile long, the trail is a good leg stretcher, Fox said. The paved path makes it accessible for wheelchairs and strollers. The shady trees are also home to various birds. Hawksbill Summit is Shenandoah's highest peak. For one of the absolute best views, hikers can tackle Shenandoahs highest peak, Hawksbill Summit, standing tall at 4,000 feet. The platform at the end of the hike offers an epic 360-degree vista of Shenandoah Valley, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Virginia Piedmont. There are two ways to hike the summit, which is located in the central portion of the park by Skyland and Big Meadows. The hike is brief at around 2 miles roundtrip but moderately difficult, according to NPS. You can bring your leashed dog too. Can you drive through Shenandoah National Park? Skyline Drive takes park goers through the stunning foliage of the park. Yes. In fact, thats one of the biggest attractions in the park. Skyline Drive is the only road going through the entire park. The road has four entrances, which run north and south along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains Blue Ridge Mountains. On a day with good weather, it takes approximately three hours to drive through the park. What shouldnt I miss at Shenandoah National Park? It may seem like a no-brainer, but exploring Skyline Drive is a must-do at Shenandoah, according to Fox. Driving the length of Skyline Drive is going to give you a lot of perspective from what you might see from the summit, you can see from the comfort of your vehicle, she said. Along the drive, Fox recommends travelers stop at Camp Rapidan, the historic summer retreat of President Herbert Hoover and first lady Lou Herbert and the first presidential retreat in the nation. Hikers up for the challenge can traverse the Mill Prong trail, a 7.4-mile loop that passes the camp and also crosses three streams. Parkgoers should bring their appetite, too, as the park is famous for its blackberry ice cream pie, which can be found at the Skyland and Big Meadows dining lodges. Its the crown jewel of the park, Fox said. What airports are closest to Shenandoah National Park? Travelers to Shenandoah can fly into any of the airports near Washington, D.C., such as Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which is only about 72 miles from the park. Another option is Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, about 50 miles away. How many days is enough for Shenandoah National Park? A black bear peeping over a rock wall. Three to four days gives you the best bang for your buck, Fox said. That way, visitors can enjoy a waterfall or summit hike and still make the Skyline Drive including stops at the lodges and vantage points along the way. Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at kwong@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shenandoah National Park is your ticket to the Appalachian Mountains Tornado safety tips to prepare for before, after a tornado in Lubbock, Texas Tornado season is here in Texas. Even before the sirens start to wail, warning of an impending event that many West Texans pray they never have to experience in their lifetime, Lubbock officials are encouraging citizens to create a plan before disaster strikes. "Be actually aware of your surroundings," said Clint Thetford, Emergency Management Coordinator for Lubbock County. "On bad severe weather days, be monitoring and pay attention to what's going on." As the skies grow dark and the winds start to howl over the South Plains, here are some tips information about how to be prepared this season. When is tornado season in West Texas? May is the middle of tornado season for Texas and it has historically seen the most devastating tornadoes in the region. "We typically think of tornado season out here in West Texas anytime from April 15 to June 15 or so," said Justin Weaver, meteorologist-in-charge for the National Weather Service in Lubbock. West Texas is unique for having a well-defined tornado season, but that does not mean tornadoes cannot happen outside this time frame. What's the difference between a watch and a warning? What's the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning? Understanding the difference between a tornado watch and a warning is vital to staying alert when severe weather comes. "A tornado watch means that conditions are favorable for the development of tornadoes," Weaver said. "It doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to have tornadoes, but this means conditions are favorable." Individuals should start preparing to seek shelter when a watch has been issued. A warning means a tornado has been seen or indicated by weather radar, and individuals should seek shelter immediately. How can I stay alert when it comes to severe weather? Having multiple ways of getting weather warnings is beneficial for individuals during a severe weather event. "Everybody thinks they're gonna get their warning on their cell phones, and they might, but they might not," he said. Weather radios, monitoring local TV and media and other apps can provide people with enough ways to receive vital information. Individuals can also sign up for LBK Alerts to be informed about severe weather in the City of Lubbock. Thetford said another resource is the RUAware.us regional mass notification system, which is operated by the Lubbock County Office of Emergency Management in cooperation with the South Plains Association of Governments. Does Lubbock have tornado sirens? A crew from Lubbock Power & Light works to raise the city's newest tornado siren on Tuesday morning at 30th Street and Elgin Avenue. This is the 16th of 45 sirens the City of Lubbock plans to install. Yes. In late 2021, the City of Lubbock started putting up tornado sirens in 45 locations. How do I prepare for a tornado? "You want to build what we call a Go Kit have basic emergency supplies in there," Thetford said. Ready.gov recommends to have the following in the kit whenever individuals go into their shelters: Water and non-perishable food for several days Extra cell phone battery or charger Battery-powered or hand crank radio that can receive NOAA Weather Radio tone alerts and extra batteries Flashlight and extra batteries First aid kit Whistle to signal for help Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for Personal sanitation Non-sparking wrench or pliers to turn off utilities Can opener (if kit contains canned food) Local maps Thetford also recommends that individuals pack a few days worth of their prescription medication in their kits as well. What should I do after a tornado strikes? When a tornado strikes, Thetford said the biggest issues individuals face are loss of power and loss of communications such as cell towers. "If you know, communications goes down, or cell towers get overloaded or something, there's a couple of options: amateur radio or ham radio," Thetford said. The Lubbock County OEM also put up three General Mobile Radio Service repeaters with backup power generators: Chanel 17: 462.600 MHz Chanel 20: 462.675 MHz Chanel 21: 462.700 MHz Thetford said families should also create a plan on what to do and where to meet after a tornado. "If we can't communicate here locally, ask 'Where can we meet to make sure everybody's safe?'" Thetford said. "Have a couple of alternate locations where if one is compromised by then, you can go to the uncompromised place and check in and find each other." Thetford also said individuals should register their storm shelters with local fire departments so that in case their neighborhood gets hit, search and rescue teams can locate them. Citizens in Lubbock can register their shelters with Lubbock Fire Rescue via the city's website. This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Safety tips to prepare for before, after a tornado in Lubbock, Texas In an occasion both momentous and deeply disturbing, scientists downgraded a glacier in the Venezuelan Andes to just an ice field. This change in status of the Humboldt Glacier also called La Corona makes Venezuela the planets first contemporary nation to lose all its glaciers. Other countries lost their glaciers several decades ago after the end of the Little Ice Age, but Venezuela is arguably the first one to lose them in modern times, Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian, told The Guardian. He added that Indonesia, Mexico, and Slovenia are likely next up for the dubious honor. While the ice field formally known as the Humboldt Glacier is still two hectares in area, being a glacier isnt about size or at least not size alone. Glaciologists often use a criteria of 0.1 sq km [10 hectares] as a common definition, but any ice mass above that size still has to deform under its own weight [to count as a glacier], glaciologists James Kirkham and Miriam Jackson explained to the BBC. And thats definitely no longer happening to La Corona. Last man standing The Humboldt Glacier was somewhat of the last man standing in Venezuela. Located above 5,000m in the Sierra Nevada de Merida range, La Corona kept company with five other glaciers. By 2011, all five of its companions had already vanished. A glacier has to flow downhill under its own weight. La Corona isnt doing that anymore. Photo: Hendrick Sanchez/Wikimedia Commons That prompted officials and scientists to keep a close eye on the Humboldt. The Venezuelan government even recently installed a thermal blanket over what was left of it in an attempt to halt or reverse the melting process. There was some optimism that the Humboldt might make it to 2030 or beyond. El Nino But a nasty El Nino combined with some political turmoil in Venezuela dashed those hopes. By the time the turmoil settled and scientists could resume monitoring the Humboldt, its inherent glacier-ness had vanished. In the Andean area of Venezuela, there have been some months with monthly anomalies of 3-4C above the 1991-2020 average, Herrera noted. Mark Maslin, an earth scientist at University College London, says that the melting of small glaciers such as the Humboldt wont contribute to sea-level rise. But such occurrences represent an ongoing trend. And there are wider implications as well. The loss of [the Humboldt Glacier] marks the loss of much more than the ice itself, it also marks the loss of the many ecosystem services that glaciers provide, from unique microbial habitats to environments of significant cultural value, said Caroline Clason, a glaciologist at Durham University. That Venezuela has now lost all its glaciers really symbolizes the changes we can expect to see across our global cryosphere under continued climate change. An ice field (or ice cap, if its on top of a mountain), like the one above on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, just sits there, dwindling and eventually disappearing. It doesnt flow like a glacier does. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko The post Venezuela Becomes First Modern Country to Lose All Its Glaciers appeared first on Explorersweb. Break out the flip-flops, SPF and your favorite Frisbee, it's summertime! And we've got you covered, Delaware, from that trendy cocktail and great show on the Riverfront to that kick-back beach bar or lazy paddle in Slower Lower. Welcome to our 2024 Summer Guide, a user-friendly pit stop anytime you want intel on where to go and what to do (and eat and drink!) for quick jaunts, nights out, daytrips and family vacations. Stick with us through Labor Day weekend for heaps of updates on beach events, dining options, boardwalk fun, water sports and so much more. All you need to do is kick back and do the hard work of deciding what's on your Bucket List! Besides dancing the night away at a concert, what else is there to do for fun in Delaware in July? From festivals to theatrical performances and other activities, here are several exciting ways to enjoy the First State this month. Visitors exit the Wave Swinger on day 2 of the 10-day Delaware State Fair in Harrington, Friday, July 21, 2023. The Delaware State Fair celebrates its 105th anniversary this month, but don't let its age fool you this fan-favorite event still has new surprises up its sleeve. The fair returns to Harrington on Thursday, July 18, to Saturday, July 27. "Pizza is a staple of a beach diet," a city of Rehoboth Beach Facebook post says. Facts. But if you've enjoyed a pizza in Rehoboth Beach, there's a good chance you've also spent some time trying to fit the box into an overly full trash can. So the city is trying something innovative: pizza box disposal bins. The Delaware beaches are always a good time. But maybe you got a little too much sun and a day in the sand doesnt sound appealing. Or maybe youre one of those people who can only sit still for so long, and a few days of lounging around has you antsy. No matter the reason for your departure, these day trips all within driving distance of the Delaware beaches will give you a temporary break from the salt and sand. A drone's view of the southeastern end of Assawoman Canal, where Bay Venture Outfitters is offering kayaks and stand-up paddleboards to rent. Kayaks and stand-up paddleboards are now available to rent on the Assawoman Canal just outside Bethany Beach. Just in time for the holiday weekend, Bay Venture Outfitters is celebrating their grand opening at 38635 Muddy Neck Rd. in Frankford. It's owner Kelly Benson's second location, with the first being in North East, Maryland, on the North East River. The southeastern end of the Assawoman Canal, where Bay Ventures operates, leads to the saltwater marshes of Assawoman Wildlife Area and, beyond that, Little Assawoman Bay. Assawoman Wildlife Area, described by Southern Delaware Tourism as "one of the best kept secrets along the Delaware-Maryland Coast," is an over 1,600-acre state-managed preserve, chock full of shorebirds and other wildlife. Looking for a good brunch spot at the Delaware beach? We have 5 suggestions, including spots frequented by President Biden and a former University of Delaware/Notre Dame basketball coach. Dig in. Filmmaker Ti West visits the Apple Store Soho on April 25, 2009 in New York City to promote his film "The House of the Devil." He's from Wilmington. He made his first two films in Delaware. And nearly two decades later, he's one of the top horror directors in Hollywood and about to drop the most anticipated fright films of the year. Wilmington's own Ti West is about to close out his beloved horror trilogy ("Pearl," "X") with the nationwide release of "MaXXXine" on Friday, July 5. Are you prepared for the pressure of grilling the perfect burger at your gathering? Are you beginning to think, should I leave the grill top open or closed? How often should I flip the burgers? Should I press them? What's the best temperature for the grill? Do I need to let the burgers rest? It's almost enough to make you want to boil hot dogs or make hoagies. There's no reason to panic. Fresh corn can be found in Delaware from about May through the end of October. One of summer's greatest delights is picking up a dozen ears of sweet, locally grown corn. Gnawing steamed, grilled or boiled cobs is as much a part of the season as juicy, red tomatoes. "Knee-high by the Fourth of July is an old farmer's saw about corn that no longer rings true given modern-day farming practices. Customers can often purchase fresh corn from area grocery stores, markets, local farm stands and farmers markets well before the July holiday. So where are the best places to get fresh local corn to enjoy at a Fourth of July picnic, upcoming summer meal or gathering? Poison oak leaves have three leaflets like poison ivy but with rounded tips. The undersides of the leaves are fuzzy and lighter in color than the top, the Cleveland Clinic said. Meanwhile, poison sumac looks different because it has clusters of seven to 13 smooth leaflets arraigned in pairs. It grows as a tree, and when fully grown, it can reach up to 20 feet tall. Delaware's historic small towns boast a wealth of cultural offerings. In the town of Bellefonte, beloved restaurant, the Bellefonte Cafe, features a cozy bohemian interior and a whimsical outdoor patio. The cafe offers nightly live music performances year round. May 1, 2024 Despite their small size, many towns in Delaware offer plenty of cultural activities and things to do in the summer. Dating back to the earliest encounters between indigenous inhabitants and European arrivals, the Diamond State's small towns are among the oldest settlements in America. The evolution of villages that later became the incorporated areas of The Ardens, Bellefonte, New Castle, Delaware City and Milford have left enduring legacies to be explored and enjoyed all summer long. Whether it is community theater productions, lively festivals, colonial history or natural wonder, these towns invite visitors to immerse themselves in the timelessness of old and new. Here is a sampling of Delaware destinations and what you can look forward to discovering. What better way to celebrate summer than with your BFF (best furry friend)? The peak summer season at the Delaware beaches may restrict some of the places where pets will be allowed to roam free, but new legislation loosened constraints in some beach towns, allowing dogs year-round access to the sand and waves. Here's your guide to taking your dog to the beaches this summer. Some people expect to see snakes on a plane, but in Delaware, they can usually be found under rocks, high grass, wooded areas and even in your yard. And there is another place people should be aware of them lakes. Kids cool off in the wave pool at Jungle Jims in Rehoboth Beach. Wether cooling off in the shade, under and umbrella, or just floating and sitting in pool water, the weather has definitely been hot in July and the 1st part of August in Rehoboth Beach. While the scorching heat might feel like the devil is partying in your kitchen, you can beat the heat by finding a little slice of heaven at several Delaware swimming destinations statewide without navigating the beaches. Although locals know of other places where you can take a dip, not all of them are necessarily legal or safe. So, here are six places where you can swim safely. Paradise Tiki Tours is a new Riverfront based tour and party boat offering an island style getaway on the Christina River. The temperature is up, birds are chirping and the need for sunblock is here. While that means many residents of northern Delaware start leaving for the state's beaches or summer vacations, there's still plenty of us looking for fun at home. And over the years, Wilmington's Riverfront has emerged as a favorite summer destination with outdoor beer gardens, mini golf, boat tours, music festivals, food festivals, museums and more along the Christina River all within a few blocks. Here are 12 fun spots to check out and what they have planned for this summer. Be a tourist in your own state. Here's what's happening at some local museums and attractions in and around Delaware this summer. India Colon-Diaz of the Boriken Nation of Puerto Rico applauds after a dance during the Powwow of Arts and Culture at the Delaware Art Museum, Saturday, July 23, 2022. Summer is typically defined by its lack of school, the beach by its lack of work or responsibility. But Delaware offers a host of ways to learn while you explore the state and have fun this summer, at the beaches and nearly everywhere else. Here are some ideas to get you started. Now that summer is in full swing, it may be time for an impromptu vacation. While there have been route changes afoot out of the Wilmington Airport, Avelo Airlines is still offering round-trip service to six southern destinations all summer long. Delaware Online/The News Journal checked out some of the cheapest routes to take advantage of to each spot, plus some tips on how to book your next trip. From left: the Amish Outlaws cover band features Big Daddy Abel, Eazy Ezekiel, Hezekiah X, Snoop Job, Jakob the Pipeplayer, Amos Def. Get ready for 10 weeks of musical bliss as the Lewes Concert Series kicks off on Wednesday, June 12. Tickets are on sale now at rockingthedockslewes.com. Kids aged 12 or younger get in free. "Rocking the Docks" features food trucks, beer from Dogfish Head, and notable music acts like The Record Company, The Amish Outlaws, Lower Case Blues (who just dropped their new album, "Take it For a Ride"), Carbon Leaf and more. Dewey Beach Watersports also offers paddleboard and kayak rentals. (Photo provided by Dewey Beach Watersports) The weather is warm and the sun is out, so your paddles should be, too. If you havent been taking advantage of all the kayaking fun a coastal state like Delaware has to offer, youve been missing out. Dont worry though, weve got a complete guide to kayaking in Delaware to help you jump on the wave. A Cape May-Lewes Ferry is set for another run as people take advantage of Savannah Beach in Lewes, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023, during the unofficial end to summer, Labor Day weekend. A sunny day is the perfect reason to enjoy the outdoors, and what better way to do that than a trip on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry? If your ferry knowledge is a bit rusty or if youve never taken a ride on it, dont worry. Heres everything you need to know about the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, including what to see and do in Cape May, New Jersey, and Lewes, passenger fare and what to expect on board. Need to cool off this summer, or just craving a sweet treat? Luckily, Delaware knows how to do ice cream just take it from President Biden. Plenty of local family farms based in Delaware have spoiled the state with high quality, homemade ice cream and other treats perfect for summertime. Here's a short guide to just some of ice cream spots in Delaware you just can't miss this summer. Earth's position in relation to the sun's rays at the June solstice. The summer solstice marks the first day of summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, it typically occurs in late June. In the Southern Hemisphere, it occurs in late December. This year in the U.S., the summer solstice is celebrated on June 20, according to Almanac. During the middle of January when freezing winds cut to the bone, we begged for the warmth of summer. Well, you asked for it and Mother Nature is about to deliver. According to AccuWeather.com and the National Weather Service, summer will be hot and wet. Actress Margot Robbie poses on the pink carpet upon arrival for the European premiere of "Barbie" in central London on July 12, 2023. You might have 99 problems this summer, but finding a free movie in Delaware isn't one of them. With screening locations from Wilmington to the beaches, we've highlighted dozens of free movies that you can check out after Memorial Day and into September. People gather at Swift Bicentennial Park and the surrounding sports fields for the Hockessin Fourth of July fireworks. It's not too early to ask this super serious question that Delawareans will soon flood Google with: "Where can we see Delaware fireworks for the Fourth of July?'' You have questions. We have answers. Here's a guide on where to see the sparks fly for Independence Day in the First State, and in Maryland: The Makers Alley Team grills burgers before going on to win the People's Choice runner up for The Miso Machine at the sold out 9th annual Delaware Burger Battle held at the Rockford Tower in Wilmington, Del., Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022. Approximately 650 people were in attendance at the first post-pandemic contest, featuring 9 competitors representing Wilmington, Greenville, Newark, Hockessin and New Castle. No matter what you're itching to do this summer, there's probably a Delaware festival that will scratch it. Do you want a summer festival dedicated to dessert, another all about Phish, or one that encourages you to dress up like your favorite superhero or villain? Here's a diverse mix of 14 festivals across the state you can dive into through August, including a preview of the Delaware State Fair. The Amish Outlaws feature a band that includes members who left the Amish church and now play full-time around the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond, covering tunes from 50 Cent to System of a Down. Get ready for 10 weeks of musical bliss as the Lewes Concert Series kicks off on Wednesday, June 12. Tickets are on sale now at rockingthedockslewes.com. Kids aged 12 or younger get in free. "Rocking the Docks" features food trucks, beer from Dogfish Head, and notable music acts like The Record Company, The Amish Outlaws, Lower Case Blues (who just dropped their new album, "Take it For a Ride"), Carbon Leaf and more. Boat parade participants on the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal at Go Fourth Lewes July 4, 2023. There is so much to do at the Delaware beaches in the summertime. Most towns have weekly outdoor concerts. The Freeman Arts Pavilion, the Milton Theatre, Clear Space Theatre and Dickens Parlour Theatre have entertainment almost daily. Then there are the dozens of festivals, concerts and other events that are happening everywhere, all the time. It's tough to find time to go to the beach. It can be hard to decide which of Delawares beaches is the perfect fit for your next trip, but now that one of the First States beach towns has been listed as a top small town in the United States for a summer vacation, the choice is much easier to make. Memorial Day weekend at Rehoboth Beach marks the start of the summer season, drawing visitors to the beach and boardwalk to enjoy warm and sunny weather. Families rode bikes, indulged in French fries and ice cream, and had a great beach day. Traffic on Coastal Highway was heavy and parking was crowded on Rehoboth streets. We can all benefit from following the golden rule, even on the beach. The Delaware beaches are a place to play and relax, but even on vacation, being considerate of others is important. Everyone has the same right to enjoy the sand and surf. A little civility assures the experience is pleasurable for all. Some things might not be obvious. Who doesn't enjoy a game of catch on the beach? Well, the person getting hit by the ball. About to shake out your towel? Wait! Who's downwind and not asking for a sand shower? But we can't believe we have to tell people, in 2024, to Stay. Off. The. Dunes. Check out these etiquette tips to ensure you'll be courteous and considerate at the Delaware beaches this summer. As school is almost out and the weather is getting hotter, these zoos in and near Delaware have something to offer for everyone this summer, from new animals to beer fundraisers. The Brandywine Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo and Cape May County Zoo have plenty of events planned for families and adults only. Here are some of the events being held by both, and how to get tickets. A selection of VIP cards from The Starboard in Dewey Beach over the years. Just as you might expect, the details about some of The Starboard's history is a bit hazy. The popular Dewey Beach bar, best known for their pounder cups of Oranges Crushes, has been offering VIP cards to a select few regulars customers for years. But how far back does it go? Singer Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday will gig at the Bottle & Cork in Dewey Beach on Sunday, Aug 11, 2024. If you're looking for original national acts in Dewey Beach, the Bottle & Cork (1807 Coastal Highway) is still the go-to spot in between their traditional Jam Session Saturdays featuring a cavalcade of cover bands. Whether you frequent the beach during the summer or have a few short trips to visit friends planned, paying for parking can be just as much of a headache as finding it. While most parking areas at the Delaware beaches require payment or passes to park, some spots are offering limited free parking for whoever gets to it first. If you want to save some cash this summer, heres how you can enjoy free parking in Delaware beach towns. People visit the church interior during the second day of six-day Greek Festival at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Wilmington, Tuesday, June 6, 2023. The festival runs through Saturday. Are you looking to indulge in a food festival this summer through the fall? Here are some upcoming events heavily focused on food: Delaware Seashore State Park attracts surf fishers on July 2, 2012. DNREC has changed its rules for parking on drive-on beaches, requiring people to park in single-file lines. Everything you need to know about surf fishing at the Delaware beaches this summer Line in the water. Toes in the sand. Kids frolicking nearby. Beverage in hand. As summer approaches, so does the busy season for one of the Delaware beaches' most popular activities: surf-fishing. Once you're oceanfront on Delaware State Parks' seven miles of drive-on beaches, it's bliss, but getting there takes some work. Driving onto the beaches without getting stuck is hard enough for most people, much less navigating the somewhat complex surf-fishing permit and reservation system. This guide to surf-fishing at the Delaware Beaches will simplify and consolidate everything you need to know. Bookmark it. A baby turtle, about the size of a thumb, is in the care of Hilary Taylor, a rehabilitator who is a part of the Delaware Council of Wildlife for New Castle County, on March 23, 2024. Delawares sandy beaches and pristine walking trails are perfect for a summer getaway, but theyre also home to thousands of animal species that are sharing the land. Every year, hundreds of seals, turtles, birds and other animals are found on Delawares beaches and trails, some critically injured. Luckily, hundreds of volunteers and expert organizations specialize in wildlife rehabilitation and are ready to step in to help them. Here is how to enjoy the Delaware outdoors this summer while being mindful of the creatures that live there and what to do if you encounter an injured animal. Purple shading shows Deauville Beach, north of Rehoboth Beach and south of North Shores and Cape Henlopen State Park. Entry fees and annual passes have been approved for Deauville Beach and will be enforced in late May. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced on May 14 that proposed user fees for Deauville Beach have been approved by the Parks and Recreation Council and DNREC secretary Shawn Garvin. Rates for entry fees and passes were considered using input from the community. Metered beach parking is back in effect this month, and itll cost you more, too. Free offseason parking has ended for Delaware beaches, and beach towns have now reinstated pay-to-park fees through meters and permits. Prices for beach parking also have increased from last years rates, so take note of new costs to avoid any surprises at the parking kiosk or in the ParkMobile app. Looking for the best places in Delaware to roll out your sleeping bags and snooze under the stars? Whether you prefer a rugged camping adventure or a cozy glamping weekend, the First State is brimming with camping options sure to fit your needs. Heres your guide to camping in Delaware, including tips to keep in mind and where to pitch your tents. People stroll the nearly deserted beach at Fenwick Island State Park after sunset, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023, during the unofficial end to summer, Labor Day weekend. Getting ready for summer vacation? You have the dates set, but the family is still wondering what to do. Well, if you want good summer weather, the Pacific Northwest is looking good as is the northern Plains of the country. Farmers' Almanac released its predictions for the summer, and it's looking hot and wet. Rehoboth Beach's boardwalk is shown on Memorial Day weekend in 2022. A summer vacation at the beach on a budget can be difficult, but here are tips on how to save money on hotels and motels. A billboard overlooking I-95 North advertising Avelo's service in Wilmington Summer is almost here, and if youre planning on a weekend getaway out of Wilmingtons Airport, a new flight schedule has debuted to get you where you need to go. After permanently and seasonally suspending certain flight routes, Avelo Airlines, Wilmington Airports sole commercial airline, has confirmed the return of select flight destinations, as well as some route changes to familiar routes which will last until Nov. 5. Here are all the destinations that can be traveled to from the Wilmington Airport this summer. Eating outside, or with a great view of the outside, is a summer rite of passage. You can enjoy your meal on a beautiful day or under the stars all around the state. The backyard barbecue vibes are strong at the Crooked Hammock Brewery with locations in Lewes and Middletown. The Summer House in Rehoboth Beach has just opened a new "summer garden" adjoining the Rehoboth Avenue restaurant with chairs, tables with umbrellas, a large fountain and seats at a long counter that faces the town's main thoroughfare. Downtown Newark offers plenty of al fresco dining at stalwarts like the Deer Park Tavern and Klondike Kate's, which has a new retractable awning, and up-and-comer Hamilton's on Main. Wilmington has Columbus Inn's popular patio, and picnic table seating at Constitution Yards' seasonal beer garden and Makers Alley, the 5,000-square-foot beer garden, complete with a sleek silver Airstream food truck. And don't be surprised if you catch a glimpse of the Kalmar Nickel tall ship floating down the Christina at Bank's Seafood Kitchen & Bar, Docklands Riverfront or Iron Hill Restaurant & Brewery. Here are some more suggestions for dining outdoors: Renderings of Nylon Capital Center, a $60-million, 22-acre renovation of a legacy shopping center in Seaford, Del, that will include pickleball courts and public space, a community college, a health care center, co-working office space, retail and restaurants. As nicer weather sets in, another pickleball season commences. If you and your friends havent picked up a paddle and a ball yet, youre missing out. But luckily for you, Delaware is home to a growing population of pickleball players and courts. Whether youre a seasoned pro or a newbie eager to see what all the hype is about, heres a guide to playing pickleball in Delaware. As temperatures climb and cherry blossoms fade, it's that time of year again: farmers market season. Delaware has plenty of farmers markets to explore, covering all three counties. Here are Delaware farmers markets, many opening up in early May, with many accepting EBT/SNAP and FMNP benefits. Wilmington Blue Rocks pitcher Brendan Collins (31) winds up for a pitch against the Brooklyn Cyclones during the 2024 South Atlantic League baseball season opener at Frawley Stadium in Wilmington Friday, April 5, 2024. Blue Rocks won 4-1. The Wilmington Blue Rocks began their 31st season in Daniel S. Frawley Stadium on Friday, April 5, against the Brooklyn Cyclones. Club officials said they were ready to welcome fans with a fresh-looking park, new food options and one of the largest promotional schedules in recent history. If youre looking for an easy, low-cost summer day-cation, try the nature centers throughout the state. They provide indoor and outdoor education and recreation, with displays and exhibits some with live animals along with places to hike, special programs with nature experts and even picnics and concerts. For this story, we focused on nature centers operated by the Delaware Nature Society, state parks and the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. Most of them are free but many at state parks require a fee to get into the park before you can visit the nature center. Heres a list of those centers with the information you need to know, plus a few examples of special programs this summer. The Delaware River seen from Fort DuPont State Park. The weather is warming up and its time for Delawareans to set its sights on local outdoor adventures. Whether youre looking for a chill place to enjoy views of nature, a hike through the forest or a spot to lay out with your beach towel and book, Delaware has plenty of state parks to help you out with that. Seventeen of them, to be exact. With so many options, it can be difficult figuring out which state park would be best for your activity of choice. Use our guide to Delaware State Parks to make your choices and navigate your way through all the First State has to offer. Crooked Hammock Brewing in Lewes, Delaware. As seen April 2024. The Southern Delaware beaches are the birthplace of modern craft brewing in Delaware, ever since Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione decided to open a little brewpub serving chicory stout and maple-vanilla ale. The zone surrounding the state's southern beaches remains true to these roots, a suds-dense area with more than a dozen brewpubs within a half hour's drive of each other, some of which named among the best in the mid-Atlantic and the country. Here's a little guide to the breweries and brewpubs of Delaware's Southern beaches, from Lewes to Rehoboth to Dewey to the Inland Bays to a little river town en route to the beach. From the rocky hills of the Brandywine to the flat woodlands of Trap Pond, Delaware offers a variety of options for hikers. But hiking in the summer heat is a bit of a different animal. It takes planning and preparation. Then there are the bugs: ticks, chiggers and mosquitoes, to name a few. Anyone who's so much as opened their car door a crack at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in the summertime knows the flies make it nearly impossible to hike there at that time of year. With a little bit of research, though, there are plenty of places to hike in Delaware in the summertime that will satisfy your urge for nature and exercise. Here are a few. Courtesy of Great Wolf Lodge Looking for an amusement or water park to visit this summer? The USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards released its list of the theme and water park award winners. There are a few in driving distance of the First State. The USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards highlight the very best in travel, food and drink, and lifestyle. Every week, USA TODAY 10Best invites a panel of industry experts to nominate their favorite points of interest and attractions across a wide range of categories. 10Best editors then vet these nominations and select a final set of nominees to be presented to the voting public for four weeks. The indoor water park at an existing Great Wolf Lodge. Looking for a staycation close to Delaware for the family this summer? Great Wolf Lodge in Maryland has deals lined up for the summertime ready for the taking that can save you money and win some cool prizes along the way. Heres your guide to booking your stay at Great Wolf Lodge. This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware Summer Guide: Updates on beaches, fireworks, festivals & more West Branch High School junior James Mincks, left, took first place, and junior Mitchell Hofmann was the runner-up in the recent Builders Associations of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania's Adirondack Chair Competition. West Branch High School juniors James Mincks and Mitchell Hofmann were sitting pretty after the recent Adirondack Chair Competition hosted by the Builders Associations of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Mincks took first place, earning a $1,000 gift card to Power Tool and Supply, and Hofmann took second, winning a $500 gift card. Mincks and Hofmann, in the construction class under the guidance of their instructor Rodger Sharp, spent countless hours during class and beyond crafting their chairs. Utilizing treated dimensional lumber and adhering to the blueprint outlined in their class Project Book 2, Mincks and Hofmann poured their creativity and expertise into their first participation in the contest. The young men will retain their chairs, and said they plan to use their winnings to invest in new power tools. This article originally appeared on The Repository: Sitting pretty: WB juniors win adirondack chair building contest Woman to celebrate first Mother's Day at home since emerging from 5-year coma Dowagiac, Michigan For Peggy Means, every Mother's Day had been just another day without her daughter, Jennifer Flewellen, who was critically injured in a 2017 car crash at the age 35. Flewellen, Means' only daughter, was in a coma with virtually no chance of ever coming out of it, doctors told her. And yet, Means refused to let them pull the plug, a decision she said she "never" questioned. "I just couldn't let her go," Means told CBS News. One by one, Means' friends stopped visiting. Even her husband moved on with his life. Yet, almost every day, Means was there to comfort and care for Flewellen. Means always talked to her, as if Flewellen could understand, which of course, she couldn't. Until one day, in August 2022, she could. It started with a laugh. Jennifer had been off life-support, but still in a coma, when her mother said something funny, and that was it. About a year later, Flewellen came home. Although she still cannot walk and struggles to speak, her mind is sharp, and her heart is filled with joy. Jennifer especially loves visiting with her sons. As for Peggy, the mother who made these moments possible, this Mother's Day may be her best one ever, because even though she won't be getting flowers or candy, Jennifer can now muster those words that matter most, and deliver them as sincerely as they have ever been spoken. "I love my mom," Jennifer said. New details emerge after series of resignations rock Miss USA organization Decade-long search for Texas mom's killer takes stunning turns Bodycam video released of deadly police shooting of U.S. airman in Florida The Siverskyi Donets-Donbas Canal remains under the control of the Ukrainian army, despite the enemy's attempts to break through it. Ukrainian troops are also preventing the occupiers' attempts to move beyond the Chasiv Yar line. ADVERTISIMENT This was reported by the press officer of the 26th Artillery Brigade, Oleh Kalashnikov, on the air of the United News telethon. According to him, the Ukrainian army controls the channel, and the occupiers cannot cross it. "The enemy cannot go beyond the line of the town of Chasiv Yar itself, that is, they are trying to break through, but they are stopped (by the Ukrainian military ed.). The situation is the same near the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal," said the military. Kalashnikov noted that in these areas, Russia is advancing and attacking in the area of Ivanivske, Klishchiyivka, and Andriivka. In general, Russian troops in the Bakhmut sector are trying to concentrate between Bohdanivka, Ivanivske and Chasovyi Yar. They are also preparing assault groups, mainly among the airborne troops. ADVERTISIMENT Earlier it was reported that during the day on May 10, the Russian terrorist army launched artillery strikes on dozens of settlements in the Kharkiv region. As a result of Russian war crimes, there are dead and wounded among civilians. As reported by OBOZ.UA, the Russian occupiers in the Kharkiv region have occupied several villages, which are quite difficult to hold due to their geography and terrain. At the same time, the invaders failed to break through the defense line. ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber . Do not fall for fakes! WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) An 18-year-old was hurt in a Friday evening shooting in Wyoming. Around 10:20 p.m., officers with the Wyoming Police Department were sent to the area of 32nd Avenue and South Division Avenue after receiving reports about shots fired in the area. Responding officers found an 18-year-old Wyoming man who was hurt. He was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. No suspect information has been released. Anyone with information is asked to contact Wyoming police at 616.530.7300 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345. This embedded content is not available in your region. The shooting remains under investigation. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com. 1 person dead, 1 in custody in domestic dispute EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) One person is dead and another is in custody after a domestic dispute turned into a deadly shooting on Friday night, May 10 in El Pasos East Side, El Paso Police said. Police were called out at about 9:45 p.m. on Friday to an apartment complex along the 6800 block of Bellrose Drive. Thats near Burges High School. Photos by Andra Litton/KTSM Police said it was a domestic dispute that turned into a shooting. No information was given on the ages or the genders of the people involved in the incident. Police also did not provide any other information about what led up to the incident. This is a developing story and we will update it when we learn more. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. Thousands took to the streets in Malmo, Sweden to protest the Israel-Hamas war and the decision to allow Israels contestant Eden Golan to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest and its Saturday final. Some estimates said there were more than 15,000 protesters, though police pegged the demonstration at between 6,000 and 8,000 demonstrators. Israel and Golan ended up finishing in fifth place, with Switzerland ultimately taking home the victory, though Israel took a brief lead with a strong showing in the fan vote as the votes were announced. In video shared on social media, protesters chanted We will crush Zionism and Theres only one solution Intifada revolution. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (C) wearing the keffiyeh scarf is removed by police during a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Malmo Arena venue ahead of the final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest (Getty Images) Protestors in Malmo include Greta Thunberg, who previously joined thousands of people in the citys streets on Friday. Photos and video of Thunberg being arrested by police was shared on social media by news account Visegrad 24. The account captioned a photo of Thunberg being pulled away by two officers, Greta Thunberg being dragged away by the Swedish police to one of their police cars. Greta is a repeat offender and had been detained and sentenced multiple times over the pasts year and a half. Greta Thunberg being dragged away by the Swedish police to one of their police cars. Greta is a repeat offender and had been detained and sentenced multiple times over the pasts year and a half. (2/2) pic.twitter.com/T9L3Ny1N4a Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) May 11, 2024 On Friday, Thunberg tweeted, Malmo says NO to genocide! People from all over Sweden are gathering in Malmo this week, where Eurovision is taking place, to protest against Israels participation in the competition and to demand a #FreePalestine and #CeasefireNow! Yesterday we were tens of thousands people flooding the streets of Malmo. We will not accept that a country currently committing genocide is allowed a platform to artwash themselves. The world cannot remain silent in a genocide. Everyone who can must use their voice and speak up against Israels crimes and occupation, she continued. You can watch the music video for the Eurovision winning song from Switzerlands Nemo, The Code, below: Golan is not without supporters. Ahead of her performance on Saturday night, Israeli actress Gal Gadot video chatted with the young singer. In a video shared by author Hen Mazzig, Gadot told Golan, Just give love, love, love and get on stage just like yesterday, strong, and you dont lose yourself. Youre amazing! Thats our victory. Youve already won. You know, I faced so many haters and my movies being boycotted in some countries who didnt want the movies because of me. It doesnt matter. It doesnt matter at all, the Wonder Woman actress continued. The haters are the ones losing. We have the entire world to win over. Israeli actress @GalGadot on a video call to 20-year-old Israeli singer Eden Golan ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest today: Just love. The haters have everything to lose, we have everything to gain. pic.twitter.com/aEl3jnbG30 Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) May 11, 2024 Despite protests that saw more than 10,000 people turn out against Israel ahead of Golans performance Thursday, Israel advanced to the finals and is currently one of the favorites to win the event, with bookers ranking her second behind Croatias Baby Lasagna. Golan was met with boos before, during, and after her performance in the semi-finals and again Friday night during rehearsals. BREAKING: Around 15 000 anti-Israel protesters are marching through Malmo right now in protest against Israel being allowed to compete in Eurovision Song Contest. They are chanting: We will crush zionism Theres only 1 solution. Intifada revolution Sweden 2024 pic.twitter.com/fXxC4cKgo7 Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) May 11, 2024 The finale round will begin at 9 p.m. Central European Summer Time (3 p.m. EDT). Though organizers of the 68th Eurovision contest have attempted to keep politics out of the event as per usual, tensions have been simmering since Eden Golans song October Rain was approved for the competition. This years Eurovision has taken place as the Israeli-Hamas war has continued to bring devastation to Gaza. Israels security agency Shin Bet ordered Golan to remain in her hotel room on Saturday ahead of the final after thousands of people staged a protest outside. Golan has also been met with disdain from her fellow contestants. On Friday, Greek contestant Marina Satti pretended to fall asleep as Golan answered questions from reporter about her song. TV journalist Miha Schwartzenberg shared a video online and tweeted, This is Greece representative singer at @Eurovision , @marina_satti .An embarrassment for Greece and for every decent #Greek person. Pretending to fall asleep while the Israels contestant is speaking is not just bad education or pure jew-hatred,but also a stain over the greek nation she represents in front of the world, Schwartzenberg added. This is Greece representative singer at @Eurovision , @marina_satti .An embarassment for Greece and for every decent #Greek person. Pretending to fall asleep while the Israels contestant is speaking is not just bad education or pure jew-hatred,but also a stain over the greek pic.twitter.com/FSZQylPPKg miha schwartzenberg (@mihaschw) May 10, 2024 Irish contestant Bambie Ray Robinson, known by their stage name Bambie Thug also complained about commentary from Israels Kan, the countrys public broadcasting corporation, only hours before Saturdays final. They wrote in an Instagram Story, There was a situation while we were waiting to go to stage for the flag parade rehearsal which I felt needed urgent attention from the EBUthe EBU have taken this matter seriously and we have discussed about what action needs to be taken. On Tuesday, Kan had warned its viewers that Bambie Thugs performance of their song Doomsday Blue would be the most scary of the night. There will be a lot of spells and black magic and dark clothing, Satanic symbols, and voodoo dolls, like we are at Cats Square in Jerusalem in the mid-90s, the commentator said in reference to a public square in Jerusalem that was home to goth culture in the 1990s. The commentator added that Bambie Thug liked to speak negatively about Israel. On Saturday, Bambie Thug told RTE News, Im angry with other teams breaching their rules of the EBU, and still being allowed in. So theres definitely a war drum sounding in my heart to push the performance even more than I have done before. The post Switzerland Wins Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Finals as Thousands March Against Israel in Malmo appeared first on TheWrap. There is "no evidence of foul play at this time," according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Matthews Police Department Olivia Bruce An 18-year-old North Carolina high school student was found dead at a movie theater parking lot in Charlotte on Thursday, May 9, two days after her disappearance. The Matthews Police Department identified the deceased female as Olivia Bruce in a Facebook update. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers discovered Bruce's body. According to a news release, officers responded to a call at the 7800 block of Rea Road in Charlotte shortly before 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 9. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department confirmed that a "female subject" who "was initially reported missing to the Matthews Police Department" was found dead at the scene. "Sadly, a deceased female was located today in the 7800 block of Rea Road in Charlotte and was identified as Olivia Bruce. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Detectives are now conducting an investigation into her death," the department said. They added there is "no evidence of foul play at this time." PEOPLE has reached out to authorities for comment. Getty Images Stock image of crime scene tape blocking off an area Related: 2 Skiers Killed in Utah Avalanche, 1 Rescued After Digging Himself Out: 'Tragic Accident' Aerial footage from outside the Regal Stonecrest at Piper Glen movie theater, captured by WSOC-TV, showed the parking lot blocked off by crime scene tape and multiple patrol cars. According to the Matthews Police Department, Bruce was last seen leaving Providence High School on Tuesday, May 7. The Matthews Police Department identified Bruce as a "black female, 5'06" tall, weighing 120 lbs., with blue hair and brown eyes," who was "wearing light gray sweat pants, a multicolored shirt, and possibly Converse shoes" and driving a 2017 gray Chevrolet Volt the time of disappearance. A letter from Providence High School principal Tracey Harrill was sent out to families after Bruce's death, according to WSOC-TV. Related: Missing California Couple Found Dead on Experts-Only Climbing Route Matthews Police Department Olivia Bruce I am deeply saddened to inform you that one of our students, 18-year-old Olivia Kathleen Bruce, a senior here at our school, has died. We are praying for her family and friends as they grieve this loss of life," said Harril, per WSOC-TV. "Death can be difficult for us to understand, especially when it is sudden. We may feel a variety of emotions: shock, sadness, or confusion. What is most important is that we care for and support each other." 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. According to the outlet, the letter ended with Harril advising families that a crisis response team would be available to assist with crisis counseling. PEOPLE has reached out to Harril for comment. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. In 1968, protests forced Columbia University to change graduation. Heres what happened next. Columbia Universitys graduating class of 1968 was no stranger to protests. The college years of its student body were marked by the anti-Vietnam War movement and the fight for civil rights. In the spring of that year, a series of events including the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inflamed long-simmering tensions between students and school administrators and in April, the campus erupted as students occupied buildings during a strike that lasted more than a week. In the fallout of the strikes, then-university president Grayson Kirk moved the 1968 commencement ceremony from its traditional location on campus to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, a few blocks away. It is spring once more, 56 years later, and Columbia finds itself at a similar crossroads now that the administration canceled the class of 2024s university-wide graduation ceremony in response to student protests over Israels against Hamas in Gaza. Where Columbia goes from here could depend on whether it hears the echoes of past protests. Graffiti on a blackboard at some point after protests began on April 23, 1968 at Columbia University in New York. - Neal Boenzi/The New York Times/Redux When movements collide Columbia Universitys library details the events that led to 1968s controversial commencement in an online exhibit called 1968: Columbia in Crisis. In the months leading up to graduation, protests roiled the universitys campus as students from various groups led demonstrations against what they perceived to be the administrations racist policies and pro-war stance. In April 1967, a dispute at a US Marine Corps recruitment event sparked an hour-long melee of fist fights and name-calling, according to the Columbia Spectator. The brawl led Kirk to ban all demonstrations and protests within campus buildings. Students who violated the ban faced disciplinary action and possibly dismissal, according to the Spectator, but it didnt stem the growing tide of disillusionment and frustration among Columbias student body. Activist Mark Rudd, center, president of Students for a Democratic Society, addresses students at Columbia University on May 3, 1968. - Hulton Archive/Getty Images Throughout 1968, students and members of the surrounding Harlem community protested the universitys plans to build a gym in nearby Morningside Park, decrying the racism they saw in the separate and unequal access to the facilities, according to the university archive. Students and faculty also continued to oppose the universitys involvement with the military, including Kirks seat on the board of the Institute for Defense Analyses, a coalition of universities and government agencies conducting military research thats still in operation today. Then on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. As the nation reeled from Dr. Kings murder, the university held a memorial in his honor. During the service, the chairman of Students for a Democratic Society, a progressive student group, accused administrators of upholding a policy of racism and committing a moral outrage against Dr. Kings memory, according to the Spectator. He then led dozens of students in a walk out, the Spectator reported. A professor finds an entrance blocked by a student sit-in, at one of four buildings taken over by demonstrations on Columbia University in April 1968. - Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Campus implodes as students strike In the weeks after Dr. Kings assassination, students from various on-campus groups united around the opposition to the Morningside gym. On April 23, organizers held a Sun Dial Rally that featured a demonstration and march to the gymnasium site. Students then staged a sit-in at Hamilton Hall the same university building protesters occupied this year and made their demands known. They included ending construction of the gym and demanding President Kirk sever ties with the Institute for Defense Analyses. Word of the demonstration spread like wildfire through Columbias student body and students began to occupy other buildings across campus. The occupation would last for more than a week, as administrators tried in vain to negotiate with the student groups to find a resolution. Police grab a youth as he tries to help a wounded man lying on the ground, after students holding a sit-in at Columbia University buildings were removed on April 30, 1968. - AP Then, in the early hours of April 30, 1968, the administration sent the New York City Police Department to remove students from the buildings on campus. More than 700 students were arrested and nearly 150 were injured as police cleared the campus, according to the universitys archive. The arrests only enflamed tensions between students and the Columbia administration. The strike continued through the remainder of the semester as students called for the resignation of President Kirk and the universitys provost. Students supporting the Columbia University sit-in and counter-demonstrators engage in a short-lived free-for-all outside Low Library at Columbia University on April 29, 1968. The counter-demonstrators sealed off Low, and other buildings occupied by demonstrating students, in an effort to cut off the students inside from food and prevent other students from getting in. - Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Commencement becomes chaotic Columbias class of 1968 graduated on June 4 and in a departure from tradition and perhaps in acknowledgement of the tensions between students and his administration Kirk did not deliver the commencement address. Instead, Richard Hofstadter, a history professor, spoke at a ceremony a few blocks from campus. As Hofstadter began to speak, about 300 members of the graduating class silently walked out. They marched to the universitys Low Plaza, where nearly 2,000 people participated in a counter-commencement, according to the university archive. Those who remained to hear Hofstadters speech that day were presented with a question: What kind of university do we want to be? Here at Columbia, we have suffered a disaster whose precise dimensions it is impossible to state, because the story is not yet finished, and the measure of our loss still depends upon what we do, Hofstadter said. Professor Stephen Smale of Berkeley, a guest lecturer in Topology and Structural Stability, holds a class in front of Columbia's University's Low Memorial Library. The library, at left rear, and the mathematics building, right, were both held by student demonstrators. - Bettmann Archive/Getty Images How can Columbia go on after this terrible wound? I can only answer: How can it not go on? The question is not whether it will continue but in what form, he said. Although it took Columbia University years to recover and reestablish trust between the administration and the student body, several key changes emerged after the 1968 protests. In March the following year, after working with Black student-leaders, Kirk agreed to suspend construction on the Morningside Gymnasium, according to the universitys archive. Students and faculty also overwhelmingly approved the creation of a University Senate that spring. The senate, according to the universitys archives, was composed of faculty, students and administrators and is an outlet to address all matters of University-wide concern. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com (Bloomberg) -- 1Malaysia Development Bhd. is among companies that are suing the wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak for allegedly obtaining over $346 million worth of luxury goods through misappropriated funds. Most Read from Bloomberg The companies including SRC International Sdn Bhd are asking Rosmah Mansor to give up the luxury goods in her possession and pay $346 million, or a sum determined by the court, according to a May 9 court filing. Funds were channeled from six of the 11 plaintiffs through various offshore entities before being paid out to 48 different vendors based in no less than 14 jurisdictions for the purchases of the luxury goods, according to the filing. The various offshore entities include the other five plaintiffs. About 320 payments totaling over $346 million were made, they said, adding that the luxury goods included thousands of items of jewelry, watches and handbags. Shabnam Naraindas Daswani was named as a second defendant, according to the filing. The latter allegedly procured luxury goods on behalf of Rosmah. The Edge newspaper cited Rosmahs lawyers as saying they have not received a statement of claim, and had only gotten a copy of the writ. Najib was prime minister from 2009 until 2018, when his role in the 1MDB scandal cost the Barisan Nasional coalition the election and ended its six-decade rule. Shortly after his downfall, police seized about 1.1 billion ringgit ($232 million) worth of items in raids linked to the former leader and his wife. He and Rosmah have denied wrongdoing but still face trials for multiple criminal charges related to the troubled state fund. --With assistance from Kok Leong Chan. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. For 1st time in 20 years, Kennewick Republican Brad Klippert wont be on the ballot For the first time since 2004, Brad Klipperts name will not appear on a ballot. The well-known Kennewick Republican did not file to run for Washington states top school post, Superintendent of Public Instruction. Filing week ended Friday, May 10. Hed indicated more than a year ago his plan to run and maintained a website to support his bid. The site was still active Friday evening as filing week wrapped up. Friday evening, Klippert told the Tri-City Herald he had looked forward to running for OSPI. However, he felt duty-bound to honor his commitment to the Washington GOP not to run if he was not endorsed. The party endorsed Peninsula School District board member David Olson at its Spokane convention. My word is my honor, he said. Klippert has appeared on every even-year ballot since he was first elected to represent the 8th Legislative District in the state House of Representatives. The 8th is concentrated in the Tri-Cities. His brand of congenial, conservative politics served him well in local races but previously kept him from succeeding in bids for statewide office, including U.S. Senate, when he challenged Patty Murray and also Maria Cantwell. He served seven, two-year terms in Olympia, until he gave up his seat in 2022 to challenge U.S. Rep. Dan. Newhouse for his 4th District seat in Congress. He did not make it past the primary. Newhouse easily defeated his Democratic challenger in the general election that year. Klippert signaled his plan to challenge Chris Reykdal, the current superintendent of public instruction, in early 2023 by registering his campaign with the state Public Disclosure Commission, the states election regulatory agency. While he had been quiet on the subject, his campaign reports to the PDC were updated until spring. He stopped updating a related Facebook page in 2023. PDC documents indicate he raised about $8,300 for his campaign and spent a little more than $5,000. Klipperts day job is as a Benton County Sheriffs deputy, assigned as a school resource officer to the Kiona-Benton City School District. And hes previously served in the U.S. National Guard and Washington State Guard. Demonstrators hold up signs with the words "Forbidden" and "Censored" at a rally organized by the Islamist network Muslim Interactive entitled "Against censorship and the dictation of opinion" in Hamburg's St. Georg district. Gregor Fischer/dpa Some 2,300 people joined a demonstration called by the Islamist group Muslim Interaktiv in the northern German port city of Hamburg on Saturday, according to police estimates, after the rally only got the go-ahead from authorities under strict conditions. The demonstrators gathered in the city's Sankt Georg district near the central railway station on Saturday afternoon amid a heavy police presence. Most of the participants were men, according to a dpa reporter at the scene. The protest comes after more than 1,000 people attended a rally in Hamburg called by Muslim Interaktiv last month which passed off peacefully but participants had made calls for a caliphate. The protest sparked nationwide outrage in Germany and denunciations from leading politicians. Muslim Interaktiv is classified as an extremist group by the German authorities. As a result, authorities only let Saturday's rally, held under the motto "Against censorship and the dictatorship of opinion," go ahead under strict conditions, including a ban on inciting hatred or violence. At the beginning of the protest, the conditions were read out aloud in German and Arabic. In addition, Israel's right to exist may not be denied and Israeli flags may not be burnt or damaged, police said on Friday. It is also forbidden to call for a caliphate in Germany in word, image or writing. At the previous demonstration on April 27, the words "Caliphate is the solution" could be read on signs. Speeches also called for a caliphate as a solution to social problems in Islamic states. A caliphate is a religious state under a spiritual leader, a caliph, who claims succession from the Muslim prophet Mohammed. There have been several historic examples in the Islamic world, but the most recent and controversial one was created by the terrorist organization Islamic State in large parts of Syria and Iraq. It was widely condemned, including by Muslim scholars. Contrary to the organizer's wishes, Saturday's event was only allowed to take place as a stationary rally, with no march planned, according to the police. The assembly authorities reported a counter-demonstration with 100 participants. Demonstrators hold up signs with the words "Forbidden" and "Censored" at a rally organized by the Islamist network Muslim Interactive entitled "Against censorship and the dictation of opinion" in Hamburg's St. Georg district. Gregor Fischer/dpa Demonstrators hold up signs with the words "Forbidden" and "Censored" at a rally organized by the Islamist network Muslim Interactive entitled "Against censorship and the dictation of opinion" in Hamburg's St. Georg district. Gregor Fischer/dpa Two California hikers who went missing earlier this week on Mount Whitney have been found dead, authorities said. The Inyo County Sheriffs Office dispatch received a call on Tuesday around 8:30 p.m. PT regarding the overdue hikers, according to a news release from the sheriffs office on Thursday. The hikers had intended to descend to the Notch area on Mount Whitneys Mountaineer Route with plans to ski or snowboard from there back to their camp at Upper Boy Scout Lake, authorities said. The person who reported the hikers missing had been hiking along with them and waited several hours at camp for their return before contacting the sheriffs office. Inyo Countys search and rescue team looked for the hikers by helicopter and by foot, according to the release. Tragically, both hikers were later discovered deceased in Tulare County, California, the sheriffs office stated in the release. CNN has contacted the Tulare County Sheriffs Office for more information. Mount Whitney is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, according to the National Park Service. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A crash in the northwest Las Vegas valley left two metro police officers injured, according to police. It happened on Friday shortly after 3:30 p.m. near 215, and Cheyenne Avenue. According Las Vegas Metro police, officers were traveling westbound on Cheyenne over the 215. A vehicle driving eastbound on Cheyenne made a left turn to go northbound 215 in front of the officers. The patrol vehicle struck the citizens vehicle. The citizens vehicle then rolled over, police said. The two officers inside the patrol vehicle were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The citizen requested to take themselves to the hospital, according to police. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS. 2 taken to hospital after shooting, car accident in Midtown Atlanta, police say The Atlanta Police Department had an intersection blocked in Midtown early Saturday morning responding to a car accident and shooting incident in Midtown. According to police, two people were shot at the intersection of Peachtree Street NE and Beverly Road NE. At the scene, a Channel 2 Action News photographer saw that there were two crashed cars as well and multiple officers at the scene investigating. Police said both shooting victims were taken to the hospital. According to APD, the shooting remains under investigation. In terms of what happened, preliminary information from officers determined that one of the people shot crashed into a second vehicle after being shot at. He was able to take himself to Piedmont Hospital with a graze to the head, according to APD. Neither person shot in the incident has been identified yet, and police are still working to learn more about what happened. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday for the murder of a toddler in Westwood. Officers responded to a home in the 2700 block of Erlene Drive on Friday, May 3 for an unresponsive child, WCPO reported. Kareem Keita, a 21-month-old, was found unresponsive. >> Police investigating shooting in Dayton First responders gave life-saving measures and transported him to Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center, but he later died due to his injuries, according to WCPO. Police did not say what injuries caused Keita to be unresponsive. Edward Murray was arrested by police on Friday for Keitas murder. Police have not said what relationship Murray has with Keita, if any. He is currently being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center. This week, 25 Investigates revealed the results of our exclusive survey on teacher safety. We teamed with our sister stations across the country to ask educators how safe they feel inside their schools. More than a thousand Massachusetts teachers responded. Now, anchor and investigative reporter Kerry Kavanaugh is hearing directly from some who took the survey about what it revealed. She recently brought them together for a panel discussion. Kavanaugh: I know you get a lot of surveys. When you saw this one, why did each of you want to participate? Chris Santos: You caught me at the right time. I had just been on the end of one of those assaults. Punched four times, twice in the face, twice in the stomach. Too darn old to be doing this. Chris Santos is a middle school teacher in Berkley, in southeastern Massachusetts. Brett Iarrobino: I really gravitated towards the survey because I see whats going on with our young people in this country. I really see it as a really a public health emergency and crisis. Brett Iarrobino teaches middle and high schoolers in Worcester. He says hes never been subjected to physical abuse, but hes seen it. Brett Iarrobino: Anything we can do to sort of ring that alarm bell and really let the public know that we are in the trenches. Elaine Antonellis: All teachers should have the de-escalation training. And here we have more and more of these kids in the classroom. Elaine Antonellis is a school adjustment counselor in Watertown. Elaine Antonellis: When people dont know how to do those things, behaviors escalate. Kavanaugh: As educators, is this your top concern right now? Is it top three? Donna Grady: For me and colleagues that I deal with across the state I would say yes it is a top concern Donna Grady teaches kindergarten in Franklin. Donna Grady: A lot of kids are coming to us now with trauma that we havent seen before. And people just feel youre not handling your classroom management. What is their food stability? Home stability? We can only deal with the child that comes to us. Kavanaugh: When there is a dysregulated child in a room, how does that affect all the other kids in their learning experience? Brett Iarrobino: Oh my goodness, it disregulates everyone else, teachers included. The whole culture of a classroom can shift because one student isnt having their needs met. Thats why we have school adjustment counselors. Thats why we have school psychologists. Kavanaugh: 71% of teachers who took our survey said they had been subjected to violence by a student at least once. Do those numbers surprise you? Donna Grady: I actually thought that was low. I just hear more and more people saying, you know, I just need to be done. Chris Santos: Its the respect thats lost. Its ownership. No ones taking ownership of their children. No ones taking ownership of their childrens actions, and theyre not taking ownership of their actions. Thats what it comes down to. Elaine Antonellis: Were not talking now that theres just one kid in the class, right? Its not anymore Oh, thats that child that has a hard time, Theres multiple. You could have the best classroom management. Chris Santos: Oh no. You have no chance. Kavanaugh: 61% of the teachers who responded here in Massachusetts said they have considered retirement, and we already have a teacher shortage. Donna Grady: I am going to push back a little bit. I dont think we have a teacher shortage. I think we have a shortage of teachers willing to not be respected anymore. Kavanaugh: Whats going to make things better? Donna Grady: We need to entice people in. We need kids to see themselves reflected in the educators. And to do that, we need to have funding so that we have appropriate staffing levels. Kavanaugh: What do you want to tell state leaders Elaine Antonellis: Come. Nobodys in this because we hate kids. Brett Iarrobino: And yet decisions are made that sort of reflect that mentality or just reflect a distrust. Elaine Antonellis: Kids will do well if they can. Chris Santos: You just got to be the good human in their life. And the teachers told Kavanaugh despite everything schools are up against, they think kids are mostly doing ok. But they stressed the importance of resources for kids and teachers to keep it that way. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Friday evening marked the deadline for county, statewide, and federal candidates in Washington state to declare their candidacy for the 2024 elections. The 5 p.m. cutoff time brought several last-minute candidates vying for some big offices along with some interesting surprises. As of the deadline, 30 gubernatorial candidates declared their intent to run for the office, including two other candidates named Bob Ferguson. That brings the total to three candidates named Bob Ferguson, including Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who are running for governor. All three are registered as Democrats. The two newest candidates are registered to the same address in Olympia. According to reporting by King5 news, a spokesperson with the Secretary of States Office confirmed that the two other candidates are registered voters with the same name as the state AG. Derrick Nunnally, deputy director of external affairs for the office, told McClatchy in an email that the SOS has reached out to all three candidates to ask their occupation to help determine if listing that information on the ballot as authorized by (state law) would alleviate voter confusion. AG Fergusons campaign told McClatchy that he would address the issue on Monday. The campaign also provided a statement from former Democratic Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, who called the last-minute filing by two unknown candidates an effort to confuse Washington voters. Its nothing less than an attack on our democracy, Gregoire said in the statement. Washington voters are smart and will see through this highly deceiving and potentially illegal effort to mislead them. Glen Morgan, a conservative political activist in Washington state, took credit for the filings in a Facebook post Friday evening. Yes, I am the volunteer campaign manager for two of the Bob Fergusons running for Governor, Morgan wrote. They are both superior in every way to the AG running for the same office, and I believe they can provide better choices for the Democrats in our state for that office. When asked if the move by Morgan was illegal, Nunnally responded by saying filing papers can be delivered or mailed. Washington state law notes that a person can be guilty of a class B felony for filing for public office using A surname similar to one who has already filed for the same office, and whose political reputation is widely known, with intent to confuse and mislead the electors by capitalizing on the public reputation of the candidate who had previously filed. Some statewide offices will be more crowded with candidates than others. Voters will decide between seven insurance commissioner candidates, seven candidates for the commissioner of public lands seat, five candidates for Lt. Governor, four superintendents of public instruction candidates, four secretary of state candidates, and three candidates for state attorney general. In addition, 11 candidates have filed to unseat longtime incumbent U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, D-WA, who first assumed office in 2001. Primaries will be held Aug. 6, and the top two candidates from each race with the most votes will move forward to the Nov. 5 general elections. Two offices will have only two candidates who will automatically appear on general election ballots: state treasurer and state auditor. Each office will have a Democrat and Republican competing against each other for the office. More than 1,000 candidates total filed for various Washington state offices. There were some other election-related surprises this week during a McClatchy interview with Washington State GOP Chairman Jim Walsh. On April 24, the state GOP donated $20,000 to former House Rep. Jesse Young, a Gig Harbor Republican who was voted out of the 26th Legislative District in 2022. Young filed for office earlier this week to run again as a state House Representative. It is the largest donation from the organization to a candidate so far during the primary cycle this year, and is definitely on the larger side Walsh confirmed with McClatchy Friday. For comparison, the state GOPs contribution so far to gubernatorial candidate Bird was $5,000. Bird also took home the GOP endorsement in April. Walsh added that while money from the party isnt earmarked for specific candidates, the money comes from major contributors in the party who support Young. Walsh said that the GOP has from time to time made larger contributions to candidates, and that he expects and hopes to see more donations of the same scale later. Walsh said that the donation does not necessarily mean an endorsement, and that the GOP decided not to do legislative endorsements during the convention in April because it made more sense logistically. So far 11 other Republican House lawmakers have endorsed one of Youngs opponents, Jim Henderson, who is also running as a Republican for the position. Young and Henderson will also face Democrat Adison Richards, a staff attorney for Thurston County Volunteer Legal Services, in the primary. The full list of candidates for all offices can be found on the Secretary of State website. The website crashed for more than an hour on Friday evening right as the filing deadline hit, but was back online more than an hour later. Former Thurston Sheriff files for office Former Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza has announced his bid for a seat in the 2nd legislative district that will be left open by Rep. J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, who first took office in 2011. Wilcox is also the former House Minority Leader, a position he stepped down from last year. Snaza, a three-term Sheriff, was voted out of office in the 2022 race against Derek Sanders. Three other candidates have also declared their run for the office. Matt Marshall is the former president of the Washington Three Percenters, an anti-government extremist group that are part of the militia movement, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Marshall previously tried to run against Wilcox in 2020, but lost in the primary that year. Two Democrats will also compete for the seat: Yanah G. Cook, a registered lobbyist who previously ran for Pierce County Council, and Michael Holloman, a candidate who is not accepting donations or endorsements according to his website. Several state lawmakers will run unopposed in their districts Legislative District 1 Sen. Derek Stanford, D-Bothell Legislative District 1, position 2 Rep. Shelley Kloba, D-Kirkland Legislative District 2, position 1 Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia Legislative District 3, position 2 Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane Legislative District 8, position 1 Stephanie Barnard, R-Pasco Legislative District 9 Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville Legislative District 11 Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Tukwila Legislative District 11, position 1 Rep. David Hackney, D-Seattle Legislative District 13, position 1 Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake Legislative District 13, position 2 Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy Legislative District 17, position 1 Rep. Kevin Waters, R-Stevenson Legislative District 20 Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia Legislative District 20, position 2 Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama Legislative District 29, position 2 Rep. Sharlett Mena, D-Tacoma Legislative District 35, position 1 Rep. Dan Griffey, R-Allyn Legislative District 36, position 1 Rep. Julia Reed, D-Seattle Legislative District 37, position 1 Rep. Sharon Tomiko-Santos, D-Seattle Legislative District 40, position 1 Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Anacortes Legislative District 40, position 2 Rep. Alex Ramel, D-Bellingham Legislative District 44, position 1 Rep. Brandy Donaghy, D-Mill Creek Legislative District 45, position 1 Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland Legislative District 48, position 2 Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) The U.S. Coast Guard Station St. Petersburg crew made five rescues within only a few hours on Saturday in the Tampa Bay area. The first call came in at 11:13 a.m. from four men near the Gandy Bridge whose 24-foot boat was sinking. Crews arrived to find their partially submerged boat and took the boaters to the Gandy Boat Ramp. No injuries were reported. Largo police introduce first-ever therapy K-9 for employees, victims Around 1 p.m., the Coast Guard received a second call near Shell Key regarding a woman suffering a head injury while driving a personal watercraft. Tierra Verde and St. Pete fire crews provided first aid and took her to EMS at Fort DeSoto Boat Ramp for medical care. USCG USCG Coordination between partner agencies led to the successful rescue of five boaters in approximately 3 hours, Chief Petty Officer Jean Latimer, a Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg Command Duty Officer said. We are honored to work alongside such professional and efficient local partners and want to take this time to remind boaters to have a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket readily available at all times. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA. About 50,000 opponents of a foreign agents bill marched peacefully in heavy rain through the Georgian capital on Saturday, after the United States said the country had to choose between the Kremlin-style law and the peoples Euro-Atlantic aspirations. We are deeply alarmed about democratic backsliding in Georgia, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan wrote on X. Georgian parliamentarians face a critical choice whether to support the Georgian peoples Euro-Atlantic aspirations or pass a Kremlin-style foreign agents law that runs counter to democratic values, he said. We stand with the Georgian people. The bill, which would require organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence, has touched off a rolling political crisis in Georgia, where thousands have taken to the streets to demand the bill be withdrawn. The crowd on Saturday waved Georgian, European Union and some Ukrainian flags and in a break with the past, included more older protesters as well as the many young people who have thronged the streets over the past month. Demonstrators protest against the foreign agents bill in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 11, 2024. - Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters The government should hear the free people of Georgia, said one protester in her 30s who gave her name as Nino, waved a large Georgian flag and led one of three columns that converged on the city center, which blocked many of the citys roads and filled the cobblestoned heart of Tbilisis old town. We want to enter the European Union with our proud nation and our dignity, she said. Anuki, a 22-year-old student of acting, said it was her generations responsibility to make sure that our future and the future of generations after us are safe, that they have freedom of speech, and they are free, basically. And we dont want to be part of Russia, she added. We never wanted to be part of Russia. And it has always been and always will be our goal to be part of Europe. Parliament, which is controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party and its allies, will begin committee hearings on the bills third and final reading on Monday. Opposition groups had called for a fresh wave of protests from Saturday. The crisis has pitted the Georgian Dream ruling party against a coalition of opposition parties, civil society, celebrities and the countrys figurehead president, with mass demonstrations shutting down much of central Tbilisi almost nightly for more than a month. Georgian opponents of the bill have dubbed it the Russian law, comparing it to legislation used to target critics of President Vladimir Putins Kremlin. The European Union, which granted Georgia candidate status in December, has said that the bill will pose a serious obstacle to further integration if passed. Georgian Dream says the bill will promote transparency and Georgian national sovereignty. Demonstrators protest against the foreign agents bill in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 11, 2024. - Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream, has said the law is necessary to stop the West trying to use Georgians as cannon fodder in a confrontation with Russia. Sullivan said that Georgian Dream appeared to be deliberately trying to break with the West, even as both the ruling party and Georgian public opinion has traditionally been in favor of the country joining the EU and the US-led NATO military alliance. Sullivan wrote: Georgian Dreams recent rhetoric, proposed legislative changes, and actions go against the aspirations of the Georgian people and are designed to isolate Georgians from the United States and Europe. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com The worlds first conference on the abolition of torture drew more than 300 delegates representing over 70 countries and international organizations. It opened with the news that the United Nations General Assembly had passed a resolution condemning torture, along with a personal message from the U.N. secretary general. Amnesty International, the nonprofit human rights advocacy group that organized the conference, preceded it by releasing a report documenting torture in 65 countries and collecting over a million signatures of citizens from 91 countries asking the U.N. to outlaw torture. The conference ended with an ambitious plan to end torture, including identifying the institutions and individuals responsible for torture, learning how and why torture happens, developing legal solutions, creating an International Court of Criminal Justice and providing medical treatment for torture survivors. That conference took place 50 years ago, in 1973. And still people torture each other. As a sociologist who studies torture, I have spent years trying to learn what causes torture and how to prevent it. During my first career as a legal advocate for survivors of torture seeking asylum in the United States, I saw the terrible effects of torture on my clients. Physical scars were rare most torturers are careful not to leave marks but psychological scars were common, making it difficult and retraumatizing for survivors to tell their stories to the immigration judge. Since then, I have studied how people become torturers, whether torture works, how it affects its victims and how to prevent it. Five decades after that first anti-torture conference, a lot of work remains, particularly in preventing torture from happening in the first place. But there has been some progress, too. People fill a Mississippi courtroom on Aug. 14, 2023, to watch six former police officers plead guilty to charges related to their torture of two Black men. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis An international effort In 1973, the world was just beginning to learn how widespread torture actually was. Governments of all types used torture: the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland, the U.S. military in Vietnam, communist governments such as the Soviet Union and China, and right-wing dictatorships such as Argentina, Greece and Chile. Soldiers used torture against guerrilla opponents, police used torture against criminal suspects, and security forces used torture against political opponents. The stated purpose of torture was to get information and obtain confessions, but the real purpose of torture was to maintain power through fear. Then, as now, common torture methods included beatings, electric shock, rape, suspension from the ceiling and asphyxiation. In 1984, after years of work by Amnesty International and other groups, the United Nations approved the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, placing an absolute ban on torture, with no exceptions, and providing legal protection for victims. Today, 173 countries of the worlds 195 have signed it, including the U.S. Several U.N. entities, including the U.N. Committee Against Torture, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture and the U.N. subcommittee on prevention of torture, visit places of detention to document when torture happens and urge governments to prevent it. Amnesty International and many other human rights groups publish reports documenting torture and lobby governments to cease its practice. The U.N. established special tribunals to try perpetrators of torture and other atrocities in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and in 2002 it established a permanent International Criminal Court. A host of treatment clinics, both in the United States and throughout the world, provide medical and psychological services to survivors. But there are few signs that the situation is getting much better. While making an accurate estimate of the number of people tortured in the world is impossible, because torture is illegal and occurs in secret, the best available evidence suggests that torture has decreased over the past two decades, but only slightly. What actually stops torture? The United Nations and human rights organizations have tried many strategies to stop torture over the years. At the highest level, human rights organizations have lobbied elected officials in the United States and Europe to put diplomatic pressure on countries that use torture, including withholding trade rights and military aid. At the ground level, human rights workers have given human rights training to police officers, defense attorneys and judges, informing them of their obligations under international law. It is difficult to say which strategies work best, because there is no good data to work with. Since torture happens in secret, accurately measuring the level of torture before and after an intervention is nearly impossible. Taking effective action against torture might even cause the number of reported torture incidents to increase, as human rights workers get better at detecting it and the news media does more to publicize it. Human rights scholars differ in their opinions on what strategies work, or even whether anti-torture strategies work at all. When scholars study individual countries in depth, they often see that interventions by human rights nonprofits have a positive effect. But when comparing many countries statistically over time, scholars often see little effect of anti-torture advocacy. The act of signing on to the U.N. Convention Against Torture seems to have little effect. Torturing governments may sign the convention as a way of gaining international approval, with no intention of changing their actual practices. This is easy, because the convention has no binding enforcement system and does not require countries to permit independent monitoring. Instead, countries report their own actions. However, some countries have signed an optional additional part of the convention, which commits them to accepting U.N. monitoring visits. Those countries do seem to reduce their use of torture. While most countries in Europe and Latin America and many in Africa have signed this optional protocol, the United States has not. Many human rights organizations follow a strategy of naming and shaming documenting and reporting torture in well-researched reports and calling out the countries that allow it to happen. Studies differ in their assessment of whether these efforts work, and some have even found negative side effects, as governments may reduce their use of torture but increase other human rights violations, including political imprisonment, extrajudicial executions and restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly. The naming-and-shaming strategy seems to work in some circumstances, such as in countries making the transition from autocracy to democracy, countries that have an active domestic human rights movement, or in cases where the governments of powerful countries provide additional pressure. Alice Jill Edwards, U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, held a press conference during her September 2023 visit to Ukraine. Kirill Chubotin / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images Some progress The news is not all bad, however. In 2015, the international anti-torture nonprofit Association for the Prevention of Torture funded a team of researchers to analyze the effectiveness of a number of torture prevention strategies. They found that some basic changes in the practices followed after an arrest of a criminal suspect can make a big difference, such as outlawing unofficial detention, notifying family members about arrests, providing access to a lawyer, mandating timely presentation of the suspect before a judge, performing medical exams and recording interrogations. Sending independent observers to visit places of detention, launching criminal prosecutions of torturers and establishing an independent human rights ombudsmans office helped as well. In conclusion, efforts by the U.N. and human rights nonprofits have not ended torture. But that doesnt mean their work is not worthwhile. Documenting torture and bringing it to the attention of policymakers and the public is an important first step. Scientific research is now helping us learn what causes torture and evaluate what strategies work to prevent it. The end of torture still lies far in the future, but it is achievable with sustained and informed effort. 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: Christopher Justin Einolf, Northern Illinois University Read more: Christopher Justin Einolf 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. From the time she was a child, Angela Barrett only knew her father one way. He had long struggled with a mental illness. Warren Barrett was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when he was just 19 years old. Family tragedy pushed him to move his family to the Orlando area from South Florida. We ended up moving up here because my dad was very distraught over the death of his mom. For several months, he had tried committing suicide, Angela Barrett told Channel 9 Anchor and Investigative Reporter Daralene Jones. Read: UCF Board of Trustees member, Sheriffs Office employee among 4 arrested in sex stings at parks In 2005, the family made the difficult decision to have him committed under the states Baker Act Law, at the advice of local authorities, and after various suicide attempts. The law allows loved ones to get emergency mental health services and temporary detention for people who are impaired because of their mental illness, and who are unable to determine their needs for treatment. He went back and forth from hospitals to local treatment programs. Read: What Florida teachers told 9 Investigates about violence in the classroom Warren Barrett was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when he was just 19 years old. Family tragedy pushed him to move his family to the Orlando area, from South Florida. Somehow, he ended up being put in a motel on John Young Parkway and 50, kind of by himself, with a social worker, his case workers coming by once a week to make sure he was taking his medication. One day, he tried walking into traffic to kill himself and thats how he ended up at Northeast Florida State Hospital, for the second time, and the last time, unfortunately, Barrett said. Northeast Florida State Hospital is about 2 hours northwest of Orlando. Barrett was a civil patient housed in a room with a forensic patient, Mark Stone, who killed him. Forensic patients are under the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families when a court determines they are unfit to stand trial for criminal charges or theyre found guilty by reason of insanity. Lake County court records show Stone had been charged with attempted second-degree murder, after he sliced his mothers throat in 2001. But he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to hospitalization for treatment. I was in shock; I couldnt believe it. They had actually stated who it was so just wondering why was he at that hospital cause I never knew they had criminal patients at that hospital at all, Barrett said. Read: Black men speak up about mental health barriers and resources on Capitol Hill Forensic patient Mark Stone is accused of killing Warren Barrett. Stone had been re-committed to the state hospital in 2019. He had beaten Barrett so badly, according to his arrest affidavit, Barrett suffered a traumatic brain injury, requiring a highly skilled nurse for the rest of his life, and he would have no mental awareness. He died days later. I really didnt find out the extent of his injuries until the hospital he was transferred to called me and said essentially his brain activity is not there, he doesnt have any and they needed, suggested I should just take him off the respirator and let him pass, Barrett said. Nine Investigates has asked DCF questions about Barretts case and others, dating back to mid-March, because it oversees the state mental health hospitals. After repeated follow-ups, a spokesperson sent a short email on May 8 stating: The Department is continuing to work on your request. The Department does not have a specific time on when your request will be completed. I will continue to update you as I get more information on your request. The Baker County Sheriffs Office expressed concerns in records that we reviewed about the delay in the beating being reported to the law enforcement agency. It was 17 hours before deputies were dispatched to the state hospital to investigate, and the crime scene had mostly been cleaned up, according to law enforcement records. Read: Regency Gardens Homeowners look to oust condo board that demanded $22k for special assessment fee The sheriffs office report notes that the security staff at NEFSH told detectives that there was no protocol in place to remove Stone, away from other civil patients, but a request had been put in to have him transferred to a different facility for forensic patients, and that would take several days. One of the employees interviewed described the bloody scene as horrific. His face, you could tell it was badly beaten, it was already purple. He had like blood on his face, busted lip, his eyes were closed. I actually thought he was dead, she told a detective in one of nearly a dozen recorded interviews 9 Investigates obtained. Read: Data shows road rage incidents on the rise in Florida Warren Barrett was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when he was just 19 years old. Family tragedy pushed him to move his family to the Orlando area, from South Florida. A NEFESH psychologist, who had ongoing interactions with Stone told investigators he didnt belong at the civil hospital. He needs to be in a secure forensic environment, where they can better manager him because in those environments, they dont have roommates, typically. Its a little bit closer to a jail setting, she said. A pending lawsuit against the Florida Department of Children and Families and Northeast Florida State Hospital details a similar attack seven months earlier between a patient here for mental help, and another here for criminal charges. Fearful of retaliation, the victims mother asked us not to use his name or reveal her identity. When my son went to a civil hospital, I thought my son was safe. I didnt know that his life was in jeopardy, she said to Jones. He was being treated for a traumatic brain injury, requiring one to one supervision 24-7, according to the lawsuit. Read: Deputies will work crashes after sheriffs office receives complaints about waiting for FHP Her son was attacked, according to law enforcement and court records by Markeith Loyd Jr., the son of convicted cop killer, Markeith Loyd, whos currently on death row for the murder of Orlando Police Lieutenant Deborah Clayton. And hes also serving time for the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon. Markeith Loyd, Jr. is serving time for the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, and lawsuits had been filed against him. Loyd Jr. was supposed to have two employees supervising him, attacked her son, while he was sleeping, hitting him in the face multiple times with a closed fist. Nobody even knew if any of the individual had someone with them at the time, the victims mother said. According to law enforcement records, her son was attacked while he was sleeping, Loyd Jr. hitting him in the face multiple times with a closed fist. Loyd Jr., according to the same sheriffs office report, attacked an employee the day before. And the lawsuit the family has filed alleges Loyd Jr. had attacked several staff, including a nurse who suffered facial disfiguration including permanent injury, at another state hospital shortly before he was transferred to NEFSH, where civilly committed patients are treated. Whats unfortunate for anyone who has a loved one they want to get help at one of these hospitals is that nothing has changed, Attorney Ryan Andrews stated. At the time, according to the lawsuit Andrews filed, DCF had a forensic waitlist that increased from 150 in 2020 to 450 at the end of 2021. We have requested updated numbers, but the agency has not responded to those requests, either. The hospital told the family of the man who Loyd Jr. attacked, that he died from COVID, but in April of this year, the state Bureau of Vital Statistics re-issued a death certificate, after his mother fought for it, and its now listed as pneumonia and complications of blunt trauma to his chest. Loyd Jr. remains in custody for treatment at the state hospital, according to records we reviewed through the Baker County Clerk of Courts. Last month, 9 Investigates reported that for the third time in the last year, Loyd had been granted a home pass, allowing him to return home to Orange County under the supervision of his mother. Though, the same judge who originally granted the request in April, reversed the decision after 9 Investigates started asking questions and the family pushed back. Mark Stone was convicted in February to 21 years in state prison for Angelas fathers death, but she says theres only one explanation for what led to it. I dont think the right people were held responsible. How do you put people who are criminals with people who are there to receive treatment. I blame the hospital; I blame the state of Florida because the only reason Mark Stone was in that room was because of them, Barrett said. Warren Barrett was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when he was just 19 years old. Family tragedy pushed him to move his family to the Orlando area, from South Florida. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. She was going to be a pianist, but ended up changing course, studying biology and ecology instead. She was in her thirties when she published her first novel. And, since then, Barbara Kingsolver, 69, has published 17 books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her best-known works include The Poisonwood Bible (1998) the story about a family of American missionaries in the Congo, where she lived for several years as a child (her father worked there as a doctor) and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (2007), about a project that she undertook with her husband and daughters. For a year, they only fed themselves with the food obtained from either their farm or their own neighborhood. Adored by millions of readers and honored with numerous awards, the authors piano skills didnt fall entirely on deaf ears: she performed as a keyboardist in an amateur band Rock Bottom Remainders alongside novelists Stephen King and Amy Tan, among others. It was [columnist] Kathi Kamens idea. She accompanied [us] when we were on tour in San Francisco. Since she was a musician, she ended up discovering that many of the writers played instruments. I didnt last very long, but I had a great time, she recalls, during a videoconference with EL PAIS from her farm in West Virginia. Kingsolver has just concluded a long promotional tour through Europe for Demon Copperhead, her latest novel. It won her the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (Hernan Diaz also won, for his novel Fortuna). This time around, her European trip didnt take her to Tenerife, the Spanish island where she spent a year in 1991 (its rumored that she decided to go there when the United States entered the first Gulf War). However, Kingsolver speaks enthusiastically about her visit to Cadiz, a city that shes been intrigued with ever since she read books about trade between Spain and North America. That place was alive in my head, she says, with a broad smile. In her latest novel, however, the writer hasnt traveled to any distant place. Rather, she has put the magnifying glass on the impoverished region where she was born and where she still lives today, the Appalachian Mountains. Once a mining hub, Appalachia is one of the American regions with the highest poverty rates. The opioid crisis has had the greatest impact in this area, making it the central nerve in the story of Demon, the red-haired protagonist of the book. While writing Demon Copperhead, Kingsolver took David Copperfield the monumental work by Charles Dickens as a guide, adapting it to the present-day. Its a mountainous region a place more culturally than politically united, because its distributed across many states (13 in total, including Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi). It has a long history of exploitation: its inhabitants have seen their opportunities to prosper completely curtailed. When the mines were active, everything was set up so that there was no other business, no possibility of employment in another sector, no opportunities in education. Those of us who live here are looked at with disdain: were what they call hillbillies. [Were] the rednecks who are always laughed at, she notes. Does she live in Trump country? Rural people tend to be more conservative, she shrugs. Here, many feel ignored, left out, without trains or buses, with closed hospitals. [It takes] more than two hours by car to get to the doctor. Many of my neighbors vote for Trump, yes. And I understand why, because theyre very frustrated, the author explains. Theyre the forgotten and punished, whose misery [is separate from] racial injustices. In the United States, we talk about structural racism, but never about the structural classism suffered by the working class. Here, the myth persists that this is a classless society. But people who start out with nothing dont get ahead and they feel ashamed. The victims are blamed for their poverty, she emphasizes. View of the Appalachian Mountains. NurPhoto (NurPhoto/Getty Images) Kingsolver remembers that her encounter with Dickens goes back to childhood, with A Christmas Carol (1843). Shes read all the classic British novels, but David Copperfield didnt particularly stand out in her imagination until she set out to write a great saga of my people and my place, that had a context. She wanted to talk about the brutal opioid epidemic and suddenly remembered Dickens, who wrote about rough lives, misery and children who had to work. I decided to relocate his book here, to make it that same hard story of love, humor and growing up. David Copperfield would be my template. I was passionate about the challenge it was like fitting a puzzle with many pieces, she notes. Kingsolver is often called a political writer, perhaps because she always places her pen on the side of those who suffer injustice. What does she think of this label? I never understand what they mean and I dont think it makes any sense. I dont write fantasy books, but my stories are located in this world full of inequalities, machismo, and racism. In the past, there was anxiety within artistic circles about social realism, but it has now been overcome, she reflects. My writing isnt domestic. I leave the house behind [when I write] my books and address issues such as, for example, child abuse. Perhaps women are more harshly judged for having ambition and not limiting themselves to an intimate universe. Before turning to voluminous novels and intricate stories, Kingsolver studied science and worked as a freelance journalist. Did this formation help her literary career? Im introverted and shy. Journalism forced me to call people up and ask them questions. It gave me tools that I later used in fiction. With Demon Copperhead, I investigated the childcare system and drug addiction. A lot of people who are hooked only started taking these pills after their doctor gave them a prescription, she explains. Science, she says, allowed her to approach writing by starting from a hypothesis, to try to reach a conclusion. But, Kingsolver emphasizes, its essential to never tell the reader what to think. You buy a book to take a break, not to be taught a lesson. I think of novels as windows and mirrors. When youre little, they allow you to see whats happening outside. And, when you grow up, you see them as a reflection of what you feel. I hope that the people who read my books see another world and feel compassion. Translated by Avik Jain Chatlani. ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) A local woman was shocked to discover that the City of Abilene charged her close to a million dollars for a monthly water bill. What would you do? Abilene woman receives water bill for nearly $1 million Debbie Vicary discovered the $911,116.46 bill earlier this week when she received a paper copy of the statement in the mail. When she attempted to call the customer service number to resolve the issue, she did not receive the answers she was hoping for. I said, I need to talk to someone about my almost million-dollar water bill. Can you tell me what I really owe? She put me on hold again and came back and said, We cant tell you. We dont know what you owe. Abilene residents express concerns over high water bills, smart meter accuracy Using an auto-pay method that takes the money directly from your bank account when your bill is due, Vicary was charged for more than 99 million gallons of water for a month. When Vicary called the water company before that massive charge hit, she was informed that the city could not reverse the charge. Im calling you two days before its supposed to be drafted, so why cant we do it now? She said, [Customer Service Representative] I dont know. Thats just what they told me, Vicary recalled. Abilene couple shocked after receiving $800 water bill after smart meter install The charge eventually hit Vicarys account and overdrafted it by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Luckily, Vicary was able to communicate with her bank to get that charge bounced back. The debt is out of my account now. It still happened, and its not over. I have yet to speak to a person of authority, and thats what bothers me. I just hope that it gets to the people it needs to get to so that this doesnt happen to somebody else, Vicary said. KTAB and KRBC have also reached out to the City of Abilene for clarification, but as of the publication of this article, no official comment has been released. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com. Environmental activists walk past the Tesla plant during a protest against Tesla. After sometimes violent clashes on May 10, 2024 at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, new protests are currently underway against the US company. Patrick Pleul/dpa More than 1,000 environmental activists participated in a protest march against the Tesla electric car factory outside Berlin on Saturday, according to the police, following clashes and arrests the previous day. Police also reported isolated clashes between participants and officers on Saturday and pyrotechnics were also set off, a spokesman said. Overall, however, the march had largely passed off peacefully, it said. The police did not initially provide any information about possible injuries or arrests. The demonstrators headed from a nearby railway station to US tech billionaire Elon Musk's only European Tesla production site, in Grunheide. Several organizations had drummed up supporters for the event, aimed at warning of environmental dangers but also criticizing other car manufacturers. Some protesters chanted "Down with the shares, up with water protection." The mood was tense, following Friday's clashes between police and demonstrators. "It doesn't matter if it's Tesla, VW or Mercedes: Car companies and their political supporters are responsible for selling out our lifeblood," the spokeswoman for the Disrupt Tesla group, Lucia Mende, said ahead of a planned demonstration. "We must prevent this and we will prevent it," she added. A citizens' initiative in Grunheide accused the US e-car company and the Brandenburg state government of not paying enough attention to the interests of the people in the region. "They are going through with it, they are not listening to the sensitivities of the local people," said spokesman Steffen Schorcht. "It only serves the interests of Tesla." He showed understanding for the protests. "If you're fighting and keep hitting a wall and don't know what else to do, then sometimes the only thing left is civil disobedience." Another alliance is centred on concerns about the water supply. "Tesla's luxury cars pollute and consume scarce drinking water worldwide," said spokeswoman Karolina Drzewo. She criticized the fact that a planned expansion of the plant was due to go ahead, although the majority of citizens had voted against it in a survey in Grunheide. The alliance is calling for a move away from "inefficient and climate-damaging individual transport." Musk responded to the criticism late on Friday, posting on his platform X: "Something super weird is going on, as Tesla was the *only* car company attacked!" Tesla has been producing electric cars in Grunheide since 2022. The company has always rejected the environmental accusations, claiming that water consumption has fallen and is below the industry average. Local police were braced for Saturday's protest action. "We are sensitized," said a police spokesman. A local motorway junction was sealed off and drivers were advised to avoid the area. The situation had been calm during the night and in the morning, the spokesman added. On Friday, there were repeated clashes between protesters and police officers as activists tried to enter the site. The police used pepper spray and batons. According to the police, several participants in the protests and 21 police officers were injured. Sixteen people were taken into custody. No production took place at the plant on Friday. However, a company spokeswoman said this was because employees had been granted a day off following a public holiday on Thursday. The Grunheide protests began on Wednesday and are set to continue until Sunday. They are directed against Tesla's planned expansion, which is to include a freight depot and would require forest to be cleared, as well as criticizing the production of electric cars in general. Following the public consultation in Grunheide, in which a majority voted against the expansion, the municipality and Tesla signalled that less forest should be cleared. Activists have set up a protest camp near the car plant, occupying tree houses there since late February. The US carmaker had to stop production at the Grunheide factory for a few days in March after an arson attack on an electricity pylon. A left-wing extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack. Environmental activists walk to the Tesla plant during a protest against Tesla. After sometimes violent clashes on May 10, 2024 at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, new protests are currently underway against the US company. Patrick Pleul/dpa Environmental activists walk past the Tesla plant during a protest against Tesla. After sometimes violent clashes on May 10, 2024 at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, new protests are currently underway against the US company. Patrick Pleul/dpa Environmental activists walk past the Tesla plant during a protest against Tesla. After sometimes violent clashes on May 10, 2024 at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, new protests are currently underway against the US company. Patrick Pleul/dpa Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw Shines a Light on the Refugee Crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Exclusive) The 'Lift' star and Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency penned a personal essay on a cause close to her heart UNHCR/Caroline Irby UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw visits the home of Vicky and her family, who live in a resettlement site in Kalehe and have just received a distribution of NFIs (non-food items) from UNHCR. Eighteen months since my journey to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a disturbing truth lingers despite a worsening situation, this humanitarian crisis remains conspicuously absent from the headlines. I reflect on some of the incredible individuals I had the pleasure of meeting Vicky, Veronique, Cadette and Amelie. Their faces, stories and surroundings replay in my mind. Has Cadette had her baby? How is Vicky's son? Has Veronique turned her shelter into a home? As a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, I was privileged to be welcomed into their lives in a country entangled in one of the world's most complex humanitarian crises and holding the largest internally displaced population in Africa. While there, I bore witness to the unthinkable challenges these women and their families faced as a result of being forced to the flee violence. Leaving their homes with few or no belongings, exposed to the elements and vulnerable to human rights violations. Their narratives painted an emotional picture, making it impossible to conceive that their situations could deteriorate further. UNHCR/Caroline Irby UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Maliyetu Shamavu, known as Cadette, 25, pregnant with her seventh child, at home in a transitional settlement site. Just in recent months, more than 398,000 people have been forced to flee a dramatic resurgence of the conflict in North Kivu Province, joining millions of innocent civilians who have already found themselves trapped in dire and deteriorating humanitarian circumstances. This, in a year of natural disaster which has known the worst levels of flooding of the Congo river since 1961. Related: Bezos Earth Fund Teams Up with the Jane Goodall Institute and Provides $5M Grant (Exclusive) Vicky's face reappears in my thoughts. The formidable challenges she already faced in a resettlement site in Kalehe, South Kivu Province, where making ends meet was a daily struggle, forcing agonizing choices about which child could go to school. The prospect of Vicky and her family being uprooted again or, worse yet, harmed, deeply saddens me. I think of her children, and of this young generation who have known only disaster and displacement. UNHCR/Caroline Irby UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Maliyetu Shamavu, known as Cadette, 25, pregnant with her seventh child, at home in a transitional settlement site. Reports of killings, kidnappings and the burning of homes also flood the news, and again, the faces of those I encountered flash before my eyes. The significance of a safe home to those who are displaced is colossal. Many of the women I met had been victims of sexual and gender-based violence during previous conflicts, and their new homes symbolized safety, security and a space to heal. I recall teenage Amelie, who shared with me her ordeal of gender-based violence and the daughter she now struggles to raise as a consequence. She has carried this unsought role of motherhood with strength and resolve, but I think of her many sisters in DRC who are embarking on a similar journey, in all its psychological and emotional complexity, and my heart breaks. Related: Prince William's Conservation Award Winners Speak Out on His Impact: He Honors 'Unsung Heroes' (Exclusive) In addition to 7.2 million Congolese citizens displaced by conflict and natural disaster, there are more than half a million refugees who fled insecurity in Central African Republic, South Sudan and other countries. As the violence in North Kivu Province again reaches fever-pitch, there is a growing concern that tens of thousands of people are facing the harrowing prospect of displacement for a second time. UNHCR/Caroline Irby UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Cadette, 25, pregnant with her seventh child, in her home in a resettlement site in Kalehe. Forced to flee their homes once is tragic, but twice is devastating. I think of how desperately hard this would be for Cadette, whose situation when I met her was already challenging. Cadette lived in a small house with two rooms, with her six children (and at the time, was pregnant with her seventh), her husband, grandmother and her seven siblings, who she also looks after. She confronted impossible choices on a daily basis, like sourcing food for her family or fixing the walls of her home which leaked in the rain. I think of her new babys future. The ongoing conflicts, or worse, their escalation, would cast a very dark shadow over the child's upbringing, painting a bleak picture of uncertainty. However, some reassurance can be found in UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations working on the ground. In collaboration with local authorities, UNHCR and partners plan to deliver shelter assistance to over 911,000 displaced people in 2024, nearly double that of last year. Additionally, they are implementing programs to address the urgent needs of displaced people, including access to education, healthcare and livelihoods opportunities to mitigate the impact of prolonged displacement. UNHCR/Caroline Irby UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw with Cadette in the plot of land where she grows vegetables by her home in a resettlement site in Kalehe. UNHCR and its partners are actively addressing immediate needs, but this sustained effort demands greater support. As the situation continues to unfold, additional assistance is essential to ensure that families like Cadette's can rebuild their lives in an environment of stability and hope. The stark juxtaposition of worsening conditions and media silence compels reflection on the unseen struggles of these brave and resilient faces. As their untold stories echo, we confront the question: How can we turn away? UNHCR/Caroline Irby For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. From left, Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready, Treasurer Todd Russ and Attorney General Gentner Drummond are pictured Feb. 5 before the State of the State speech. Just days after a district judge issued a temporary injunction against the enforcement of the Oklahoma Energy Discrimination Elimination Act of 2022, Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced he was firing the attorney hired by state Treasurer Todd Russ and taking over the case himself. Drummond made the announcement in a media statement Thursday. Drummond said he was extremely disappointed with Russ the defendant in the case and the treasurers hand-picked legal counsel, Cheryl Plaxico. Records show that Plaxico is the ex-wife of former Attorney General Mike Hunter. Plaxico was also the attorney for the Oklahoma State Department of Educations lawsuit against ClassWallet, a company criticized for improperly spending federal COVID relief funds sent to the state. In addition, she represented the state Education Department in several other matters, including the agency's efforts to create a state-funded virtual Catholic school. Drummonds actions come after a ruling by Oklahoma County District Court Shelia Stinson. Stinson issued a temporary injunction this week, halting enforcement of the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act. Russ, who is charged with enforcing the law, is being sued by former Oklahoma Public Employee Association President Don Keenan, who argued that enforcement was harming his pension. More: District Court judge halts enforcement of 'blacklist' law that restricts investments It is extremely disappointing that the counsel hired by Treasurer Russ was unable to secure a favorable ruling in defense of Oklahomas anti-ESG law, Drummond's statement said. Because of this failure, the law is now on hold and at risk of being struck down entirely. Oklahomans deserve better. Drummond said he had initially chosen a separate firm to serve as outside counsel on the matter, but deferred to Russ after the treasurer insisted on selecting his own attorney to defend the law. The attorney general said he now regrets extending that professional courtesy. Treasurer Russ was insistent that he be allowed to choose his own counsel to defend the lawsuit, and I acquiesced, Drummond said. No longer will I allow professional courtesy to influence my decisions on this matter. Effective immediately, I have terminated Treasurer Russs hand-picked counsel and removed the treasurer from any decision-making role in the lawsuit. My office will handle all elements of the case moving forward. Russ, in a media statement that followed Drummond's, said his first request for legal counsel was made to Drummond's office. He said after offering the case to Drummond, he was informed by Trebor Worthen, the attorney general's chief of staff, that he was declining to take case, but would recommend outside counsel. Russ said he approached Drummond again, asking Drummond to be his defender for the lawsuit. "However, his office only engaged in recommending a different choice in counsel," Russ' statement said. When asking the Attorney General to take my case, he refused," Russ said. "So, I was left with no other choice but to choose who I was most comfortable representing me. My constitutional office as the State Treasurer makes me party to the lawsuit, and therefore I dont believe my decision-making authority can be removed. Certainly, I am disappointed with the outcome but have several facts for appeal. I had hoped to have the Attorney General as my defender all along. However, a email from Drummond to Russ dated Nov. 28, shows the AGs office did, in fact, agree to take the case and had secured counsel from one of the state's largest law firms. "Based on your request and our conversations this and last week, my office accepted legal representation of the Office of the Oklahoma State Treasurer in Keenan v. Treasurer," Drummond wrote to Russ. "We engaged the services of outside counsel, McAfee & Taft, at our expense, for initial legal representation and response." For that reason, Drummond wrote, "...your November 27th letter requesting legal representation from the Plaxico Law Firm PLLC, is ill-timed as additional legal services are not required or necessary." What to know about the anti-ESG law, and the companies impacted Passed in 2022, Oklahoma's energy discrimination law was the result of a push by the State Financial Officers Foundation, a Kansas nonprofit that promotes anti-ESG legislation and several local oil and gas representatives. The law is part of an ongoing effort by many Republicans on the state and national level to push back against companies that have environmental and social governance polices. Critics say those policies are an attempt to push a climate change agenda at the expense of the oil and gas industry. At least 20 states have adopted some type of anti-ESG legislation. Stinson, the district judge, said the law could be harmful to pensioners. In addition, a study from the University of Central Oklahoma showcases the detrimental impact of the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act on Oklahoma communities and taxpayers, said the Oklahoma Rural Association, which also opposes the law. The study said state cities and towns were forced to pay more than $180 million in extra expenses because of the law. "It is clear that the EDEA has caused an unnecessary increase in municipal borrowing rates, increasing costs, harming taxpayers, and resulting in municipalities paying more for less or canceling projects altogether. These unintended consequences are causing significant harm to Oklahoma communities and our economy," study author Travis Roach said. "(The) Plaintiff has established by clear and convincing evidence that the threat of injury outweighs any threatened harm to the defendant, and further that a temporary injunction would serve the public interest," Stinson wrote in a 15-page court order announcing the decision. Stinson's order prevents Russ, his employees, agents and his successors in office "from enforcing the provisions of the Oklahoma Energy Discrimination (Elimination) Act of 2022 until and unless the court orders otherwise." This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma AG Gentner Drummond taking over company 'blacklist' lawsuit Ill have a pumpkin spice latte, and make it snappy! Thats what we assume the alligator who wandered into a Starbucks drive-thru in North Port, Florida, last week was trying to say. The java-seeking reptile was unceremoniously removed from the premises by first responders, after someone called for help. On the hunt for a snappuccino. North Port Fire Rescue Just another day on the job! North Port Fire Rescue wrote on social media last Saturday. The emergency response agency had quite the surprise after getting a call about the gator, which The Miami Herald estimated to be between four and five feet in length. Authorities used a catch pole to wrangle the alligator, then relocated the animal to a pond near the fire station, Fire Rescue Chief Dave Ingalls told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. In a follow-up comment on its Facebook post, North Port Fire Rescue said police officers did an amazing job ensuring the alligator was released unharmed. "Hey, there's no coffee in here!" North Port Fire Rescue Related... CONCORD, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) How long could you last without oxygen at high altitudes? If youve been to places like Aspen, Colorado, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, your body most likely needed time to adjust to the thinner air. The higher you go, the air has less pressure, with less oxygen available in each breath. That may not be a big deal on the ground, but for pilots flying aircraft at higher altitudes, the lack of supplemental oxygen can be deadly. Avelo Airlines adds cheap nonstop flights to the northeast from Concord airport At 25,000 feet, the normal time for useful consciousness ranges between five to seven minutes. Up to 34,000 feet and higher, range from 15 to 30 seconds, that is, if no oxygen mask or supplemental oxygen is available, warns FAA Instructor and Aviation Physiologist J.R. Brown. Brown is training pilots for oxygen emergencies by putting them through the wringer a chamber that simulates an altitude of 25,000 feet that has pilots starving for air. Were not trying to kill then. We dont want them to pass out, Brown explains. Brown is at Victory Lane Aviation at Concord-Padgett Regional Airport. Its one of his nationwide stops with the traveling PROTE Chamber, a portable remote oxygen training enclosure capable of producing a reduced oxygen environment at ground level. Its an altitude simulator that helps pilots recognize the signs of Hypoxia- better known as altitude sickness before its too late. Its a dangerous condition that happens when your body doesnt get enough oxygen. If a pilot has never experienced hypoxia before, the wrong time to discover it is when they are flying the aircraft, so we want them to discover it in a safe simulated environment before they get in the aircraft, so they experience the symptoms and always know what to look for, says Brown. Boeings first astronaut launch is off until late next week to replace a bad rocket valve While there are Federal Aviation Regulations that require pilots of unpressurized aircraft to use supplemental oxygen at certain altitudes, often altitude sickness affects aviators at lower heights. Recognizing the signs, before they turn dangerous- is key. In the PROTE Chamber, the pilot wears a pulse oximeter on their finger, which normally reads 98% blood oxygen saturation. As they breathe in the chambers reduced oxygen at 25,000 feet, the pilots well-being deteriorates rapidly. Within 3 minutes, their blood oxygen drops to 65%. Thats when they are required to don an oxygen mask before passing out. In those few minutes, they have time to notice the symptoms that are unique to hypoxia. Lack of oxygen can have a dangerous effect- impairing a pilots judgment, focus, and response time. The onset of Hypoxia is insidious. Symptoms may develop so gradually they are already established before you recognize them. FAA Instructor J.R. Brown. Brown says the most common symptoms include slowed fuzzy thinking, euphoria, tingling, dizziness, headache, nausea, anxiety apprehension, and air hunger or starving for air. Pilot Stacy Engelmohn, a PROTE participant says, I got light-headed, tried to do math, for the life of me I couldnt do simple math, even. Eventually, as levels of oxygen fall, they can drop so low, they are not enough to sustain bodily function. Flight Instructor and PROTE experiencer Dillon Ratkowski notes Its one thing to read about Hypoxia in a textbook, and quite another to experience it first-hand. An invaluable real-life lesson. Brown says once a pilot observes their symptoms, they will always be the same for that individual, appearing in the same order. This can help them recognize the urgent need to use supplemental oxygen if available or descend the aircraft. These are the only cures- and the only way to prevent the eventual loss of consciousness that could lead to death. The PROTE Chamber is part of a free pilot safety program made possible by the FAA Safety Team. The FAAs mission is safety through education, keeping the airways safer for everybody, concludes Brown. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News. SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) American white pelicans have once again returned to a local nesting colony they abandoned last year, as well as nested on Hat Island the first time the majestic birds have done so since 1943, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. The pelicans abandoned their nesting colony at Gunnison Island last year, officials said. The island, along with Hat Island, is located in the Great Salt Lake and both are owned and managed by the Division of Wildlife Resources. These islands, which are no longer technically islands due to low water levels for many years, are now wildlife management areas that primarily serve as protected bird rookeries breeding colonies typically seen as a collection of nests high in a clump of trees, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Lehi High School teacher hospitalized after tragic accident during class American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, Salton Sea, California. (Photo by: David Tipling/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) The islands are closed to visitors, and it is reportedly illegal for people to go within a mile of them. That includes by land, air or water, officials said. While people may not be able to visit, predators like coyotes have been able to get to the islands using land bridges, officials said. Because pelicans are extremely susceptible to disturbances while nesting, they stopped nesting at Hat Island with the last confirmed reports of nesting there in 1943 and biologists believe they abandoned the Gunnison Island nesting colony last year due to repeated disturbances from predators, a release from the DWR states. So why have the birds returned to Hat Island? DWR officials said as far as they can tell, the pelicans might have chosen to return to the island because they are a little gun-shy about nesting at Gunnison Island, given the disturbances that led to the colony abandonment last year. Hat Island is reportedly still close to the rich food sources in the wetlands of the Great Salt Lakes eastern shore, offering the birds a place to find some possible refuge. And they have good reason to choose their nesting location wisely. Because pelicans are particularly large birds, their nesting period takes a long time, according to the DWR. It reportedly takes a week for them to court, build a nest and lay eggs; a month to incubate the eggs; and three weeks to feed a nestling. Then, it reportedly takes nine to 10 weeks to care for a pre-fledgling. In total, this process takes about four months or longer, so pelicans need a protected space for a long period of time, and remote islands provide that protection, DWR Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program Manager John Luft said. Pelicans are very gregarious birds, and they not only cooperate when feeding, but they also benefit from one another in these nesting colonies. DWR officials said they dont have a final number of how many pelicans are nesting on each island yet, but that their monitoring surveys of the white pelicans are still ongoing, and that the pelicans are continuing to arrive. However, estimates at this time are around 800 birds on Gunnison Island and around 1,300 on Hat Island. To learn more about these pelicans and how the DWR monitors their populations, visit the DWR website here. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah. Angelo State University celebrates over 1,000 Graduates walking across the stage SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) Angelo State University students walked across the stage tonight for the first of two days of spring commencement ceremonies. More than 1,000 A-S-U students will be graduating this spring. Students in education, health, and human services and graduate studies received their diplomas tonight at the junell center. Tomorrow business, arts and humanities, and graduate studies. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ConchoValleyHomepage.com. Protesters took to the streets of several cities across Israel on Saturday, demanding the release of all hostages held in Gaza ahead of Israels Memorial Day. They demanded the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and for early elections to be held. Families of hostages held in Gaza also took part in anti-government protests, including in Tel Aviv, Caesarea, Rehovot, and Haifa. The protests come as Israel gears up to mark Memorial Day starting Sunday evening. Many waved Israeli flags and held up signs with images of the Israeli hostages, calling on the government to bring them home alive. Around 240 people were taken hostage and moved to Gaza during Hamas October 7 attack on Israel that also killed more than 1,200 people. A little more than 100 were freed during a release deal in November, but the Israel Defense Forces believes there are still 132 hostages being held in Gaza, 128 of whom were taken on October 7. The believes that, of those 128, only 92 are still alive. Among those at the protests Saturday was Yael Adar, the mother of Tamir Adar, who was abducted on October 7 and whose death was announced in January. She said all she wanted was to bring back the body of her son so she could hold a proper burial. For 90 days, we fought for his return alive, 90 days of hoping that Tamir would return to us, to the bosom of the family a hope that vanished with the news that he was no longer alive, Adar said during a rally. Israeli mounted police deploy during a rally calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza outside the defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on May 11, 2024. - Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images Since then, all we ask is to bring Tamir and all the murdered hostages back for burial, here in the land they loved. To grant Tamir the burial he deserves. To grant us closure, to have a grave where we can be with his memory, she added. Hagit Chen, mother of Itay Chen, who was killed on October 7 and whose remains were taken into Gaza, said she wanted to bury her son in peace. I have been invited to take part in many ceremonies for Israels Remembrance Day, but the only ceremony that I ought to be in, with my family and with the memory of my own son, is a ceremony that the country has not enabled me to have, Chen said. How much more suffering can one take? I turn to the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu: It is time that you bring them all back! The living for rehabilitation and the fallen for a respectful, appropriate Jewish burial, she added. Hostage died a month ago, Hamas says The protests came as the Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, claimed that one of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza died more than a month ago. Abu Obaida, the military wings spokesperson, said on Telegram that Nadav Popplewell, who was 51 years old when abducted, had died of wounds he sustained after an Israeli airstrike hit the place where he was held. His health condition deteriorated and he died because he did not receive intensive medical care, Obaida said. Popplewell, who has dual British-Israeli citizenship, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nirim on October 7, 2023. His mother, Channah Peri, was also abducted but was released as part of the hostage deal on November 24. His brother Roi was killed on October 7. The Israeli Prime Ministers Office told CNN it did not know whether Popplewell was alive or dead. The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment. The United Kingdoms Foreign Office said it is seeking more information about Popplewell. The UK government has been working with partners across the region to secure the release of hostages, including British nationals. We will continue to do all we can to secure the release of hostages, the office told CNN. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Opinion articles written in the style of their author. These texts are to be based on verified facts and must be respectful towards people, even though their actions may be criticized. All opinion articles written by individuals from outside the staff of EL PAIS shall feature, along with the authors name (regardless of their greater or lesser renown), a footer stating their office, academic title, political affiliation (if any) and main occupation, or the occupation related to the topic being assessed The BBC documentary Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator is centered around the man who liquidated the Roman Republic. Caesar has enjoyed historical prestige ever since the second century AD, when Plutarch put him at the level of Alexander the Great in Parallel Lives, his series of biographies. Centuries later, through Shakespeare and Hollywood, the Roman general and statesman became further universalized. Even in the Asterix comics, in which the Gauls resisted him, he was treated as a respectable figure and a worthy enemy. This three-episode British miniseries pulls no punches: it shows Julius Caesar as a cunning, calculating, unscrupulous man a prisoner of excessive ambition who didnt give up his efforts until he became dictator for life. He is clearly defined as a figure who destroyed five centuries of republican tradition. A system that if it cannot be called completely democratic was at least participatory, had a Senate and used elective procedures for its consuls, who had limitations on their power. What followed was something entirely different: five centuries of despotic empire. In the series, Julius Caesar is referred to as brutal, ruthless [and] genocidal on a large-scale, as well as dishonorable, immoral, anti-religious and [tyrannical]. Its noted that he massacred more than 400,000 people in his conquests of Gaul, in violation of Roman laws. The production is a docudrama, a genre thats experiencing a sudden boom. However, in this case, the historians and politicians who participate in it including Thomas Holland, Rory Stewart and Shami Chakrabarti take the lead, while the dramatized scenes are silent, offering an attractive background image for the narrative. The entire documentary is firmly attached to Caesars political career. There arent many details about his private life: not even his relationship with Cleopatra is mentioned, which worked so well in the 1963 production. His daughter Julia is only talked about because he married her off to Pompey, and her death during childbirth broke the link between the two men. Nor is Caesars legendary aptitude for military strategy analyzed. The focus is more on how he came to power over the course of 16 years, as the lessons from that era are still considered to be valid. All of the secondary characters in the production are either his rivals or political allies, which are very fickle categories. They include the aforementioned Pompey, Crassus, Cato, Cicero, Mark Antony, Cassius and Decimus. And, of course, Brutus, who, while claiming to be a defender of the Republic, found no other way to overthrow tyranny than by killing the tyrant. Caesars dirty tricks are thoroughly detailed, as are his ever-shifting alliances and the violence that he exercised without hesitation, either directly or through gangs of thugs that he sent to intimidate or assassinate his political enemies. He had a capacity to unleash chaos and present himself as the only salvation. The film also explains Caesars charisma: how he became a hero to his people thanks to his military triumphs, and how he convinced the masses that he was with them and against the elites. He created a motto around the notion of freedom. Some of his merits that are recognized include the promotion of infrastructure, improved food distribution and lavish shows, elements of the expression bread and circuses, which referred to how Romes rulers kept the population complacent. The central thesis of the BBC documentary is that Julius Caesar was a populist capable of corrupting an entire state. This is what links him with the world of today, in which democracies showing signs of decadence are producing leaders with authoritarian traits who violate the spirit and rules of the system. Donald Trump is cited in the film several times, as is Jair Bolsonaro, because both men, in the 21st century, instigated assaults by their followers on the legislative branches of their respective countries, in the same way that the Roman Senate was attacked by Caesars faithful before it was converted into a veritable puppet theater. Italys Silvio Berlusconi and Russias Vladimir Putin are also mentioned in passing. From Caesar came the term Caesarism, which, in political science, defines an authoritarian ideology. Clearly, many Caesars now abound in this hyper-connected world of ours poisoned by tension. A second Trump term would be much more dangerous than the first for the most powerful country on the planet: he no longer needs to deceive anyone, but can go about his business without a mask. He recently noted that, if he wins, there will be no violence, but, if he doesnt win, it depends. Trump isnt the only contemporary leader with short-term prospects for victory. There are many people around the world who surrender to the pull of the strongman. The experts who have portrayed Caesar in the BBC documentary warn viewers that they shouldnt take democracy for granted, nor should they lose sight of other, modern Caesars. Nothing is happening today that couldnt have happened in the ancient world. In a case examining the dangers created by someone fleeing police, an Illinois appellate court has ruled that a new detention hearing be conducted for a 46-year-old Troy man accused of possessing a stolen vehicle and aggravated fleeing police. Matthew J. Delaney initially had a detention hearing in January when Madison County Associate Judge Emily Johnson Nielsen ruled he should be released before his trial. Prosecutors appealed Nielsens decision, and the Fifth District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon on Wednesday overturned Nielsens order. It stated a new detention hearing should be held for Delaney. A new hearing has not been scheduled for Delaney, and as of Friday he was being held in the Centralia Correctional Center related to a 2014 charge of aggravated methamphetamine manufacturing in Madison County. As part of the states revamped criminal justice system that ended cash bail on Sept. 18, judges now conduct detention hearings to determine whether someone should remain in jail until their trial on serious charges. The process of detention hearings fall under the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, or SAFE-T Act. Charging documents allege Delaney possessed a stolen 2010 Ford van registered in Arizona and that on Jan. 16 he fled from a Madison County Sheriffs Office deputy who tried to stop the van. Delaney was accused of driving 87 mph in a 55 mph zone, according to a petition for a detention hearing filed by the Madison County States Attorneys Office. At one point the van hit a spike strip and eventually went into oncoming traffic where another vehicle was struck head-on. The person in this vehicle declined medical treatment. Prosecutors alleged that Delaney should not be given pretrial release on the charge of aggravated fleeing because he posed a real and present threat to any person or the community while fleeing police, according to the appellate courts opinion. This type of threat is one of the provisions in which prosecutors can ask a judge to hold someone in jail before their trial. The Illinois State Appellate Defenders Office argued that there was no evidence to support the idea that Delaney contemplated his actions would harm anyone and no one was, in fact, harmed, according to the appellate court opinion. Three judges on the appellate court, Justices Barry Vaughan, John Barberis and Mark Boie, ruled in favor of the Illinois States Attorneys Appellate Prosecutors Office, which argued the case on behalf of the Madison County States Attorneys Office. Our interpretation would not require every felony or charge of aggravated fleeing to be considered a forcible felony, the appellate courts opinion states. Rather, under our interpretation, a forcible felony occurs only when the circumstances of a particular case show that the defendants actions actually threatened or inflicted great bodily harm, permanent disability, or disfigurement. Representatives of the Illinois State Appellate Defenders Office and the Illinois States Attorneys Appellate Prosecutors Office could not be reached for comment Friday. Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine couldnt be reached for an interview but he released a statement noting in part, This Appellate Court Opinion, which clarifies one of the many ambiguities in this new law, is an important win for the safety of police officers, motorists, highway workers and pedestrians across Illinois. As with any new law, the courts have been tasked with interpreting the SAFE-T Act and making rulings on its application, Haine said. Prosecutors from across the state have appealed various court decisions regarding the SAFE-T Acts application, with a goal of making the SAFE-T Act less harmful to law-abiding citizens. Arizona Republicans aren't giving you the full story on their 'border security' bill The Arizona lawmakers pushing for a Texas-style law authorizing local officers to go after illegal border crossers insist nobody will be racially profiled because of it. Thats a myth and they know it. Theres no such thing as an immigration crackdown without racial profiling not in Arizona or any place else in America. Reality is that most asylum seekers and border crossers fleeing poverty and other calamities come from countries where darker skins predominate. What the ballot measure would do A proposed ballot measure doesn't limit immigration enforcement to areas immediately around the border. Until a few years ago, most people crossing the southern border came from Mexico. Now theyre mainly from elsewhere, including Central America, Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, Iran, Turkey and other war-zone countries like Ukraine. Thus, putting a target on these immigrants is a target on anyone with dark skin, unless enforcement is geographically limited to the borderline, which the Arizona proposal doesnt do. The Republican-sponsored House Concurrent Resolution 2060 is largely similar to the legislation that Gov. Katie Hobbs recently vetoed. They now want to skip the governor and send it directly to the November ballot to rally voters against Democrats whom they blame for the uptick of border crossers. The Arizona proposal, which mimics Texas immigration law being litigated in federal court, would make it a state crime to enter the country illegally, punishable with jail time and longer prison sentences for repeat offenders. Its also stacked with a range of penalties designed to crack down on illegal immigration anywhere in the state not just at the border, as proponents maintain. Those include: Making it a state crime to submit false documents in applying for federal, state or local benefits, Requiring agencies to use the federal E-Verify program to determine public benefits eligibility, and Imposing a minimum 10-year prison sentence on adults caught selling fentanyl that results in a death. Supporters insist it's about border security This is truly a border security bill, Republican Sen. President Warren Petersen told Fox News, insisting that it is different than the infamous Senate Bill 1070 that led to racial profiling of Latinos and which cost Arizona hundreds of millions of tourism dollars and legal fees. What Petersen says and what the proposal spells out dont entirely match. It allows law enforcement to, if they see somebody crossing the border illegally, theyre able to arrest them, detain them and put them through the judicial process, Petersen said. GOP looks for job security: In fake border bill Thats right. But a crucial detail he and others leave out of their media soundbites is the fact that the proposal doesnt specifically limit law enforcement along Arizonas 370-mile shared border with Mexico. Technically, any law enforcement officer anywhere in the state could turn any traffic stop into an immigration interrogation, as Democratic Rep. Analise Ortiz puts it. Republican Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes admitted as much during this weeks legislative hearing, saying theres a lot of questions to be answered. Speaking on behalf of the Arizona Sheriffs Association, Rhodes said border counties would bear the brunt of arresting undocumented immigrants but still wouldnt say enforcement is strictly limited to the border. This is important because border enforcement at the border is Republicans selling point to voters, leaving out the sweeping ramifications this kind of law would inflict on Arizonas labor market, immigrant families of mixed-immigration status and Latinos in general. These provisions would target brown people Nobody can deny that SB 1070 put a target on brown people. Police data and court documents prove it. Anecdotally, countless U.S. citizens were targeted under the show me your papers provision of SB 1070. Some of them told lawmakers as much, yet Republicans dismissed the narrative as nothing more than politicking. Yet, proponents cant admit the fact that the legislation as written gives local enforcement anywhere in the state the authority to enforce immigration law and that it would be up to them to carry it out and how. No word yet on how much of taxpayers money it would take to enforce any of the provisions. Or on how local law enforcement would differentiate illegal border crossers from legal residents and U.S. citizens making a wrong turn in traffic. What would give local cops the probable cause to question the immigration status of somebody they encounter other the initial suspicions because of their skin color? Presumably, none of the supporters have ever been racially profiled and truly believe the practice doesnt exist. But these people are smart enough to know exactly what has happened under SB 1070. They know exactly what theyre doing. Theyre counting on Arizonans to merely take their word for what they say the ballot measure would do whether thats true or not. Elvia Diaz is editorial page editor for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona border security bill all but guarantees racial profiling Arizona State professor seen verbally attacking woman in hijab barred from teaching at university An Arizona State University (ASU) professor, who was seen verbally attacking a woman in a hijab, has been barred from teaching at the institution, according to the schools president. ASU President Michael Crow said that Jonathan Yudelman, a postdoctoral research scholar, will never teach at the school again, following a viral video of Yudelman confronting a woman wearing a hijab at a pro-Israel protest near campus last weekend. He is no longer permitted to be on campus and will never teach here again, Crow said. Yudelman was a scholar at ASUs School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. He was identified in the viral video, which circulated on multiple social media platforms, that showed him cursing at a woman wearing a hijab. Im literally in your face thats right, Yudelman said as the woman stepped back. The woman told him Youre disrespecting my religious boundaries, The professor fired back while using profane language. You disrespect my sense of humanity, b, he said. The school said the professor was put on leave and was not permitted to come to campus, teach classes, or interact with students or employees. Prior to the incident, he resigned from his post effective June 30, according to the university. He was not scheduled to teach courses over the summer, according to ASUs spokesperson. The institution referred the matter to the Tempe Police Department to conduct a criminal investigation, according to the ASU spokesperson. Arizona State University protects freedom of speech and expression but does not tolerate threatening or violent behavior, the school said in a statement. While peaceful protest is welcome, all incidents of violent or threatening behavior will be addressed. The Sunday rally featured around 100 people. The incident comes as pro-Palestine protests have popped up on college campuses around the country. Students are protesting President Bidens handling of the Israel-Hamas war and are pressuring institutions to divest from Israel. Encampments have been set up at a variety of colleges nationwide. In response, some schools have called on law enforcement to remove them which has led to clashes. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Shari Bales (center), a member of the Arkansas State Library Board, addresses her fellow board members, including Lupe Pena de Martinez (left) and Jo Ann Campbell (right), at the board's quarterly meeting on Friday, May 10, 2024. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) The Arkansas State Library Board on Friday voted down two motions to withhold state funding from public libraries that board member Jason Rapert put forth in his ongoing opposition to the presence of certain books on library shelves. The former Republican state senator from Conway reintroduced a motion he proposed at Februarys board meeting to suspend funding for libraries suing the state until the litigation is concluded. The proposal died for lack of a second in February. On Friday, the other six members of the board voted against the motion while Rapert was the only one to vote for it. Rapert also moved to withhold funds for any library that allows unrestricted access to books or materials that contain sexually explicit, obscene or pornographic materials to minors, based on the results of a survey he requested in February. The motion failed with the same results. State Library Director Jennifer Chilcoat circulated Raperts request to find out whether a list of books he considers inappropriate for minors are available on library shelves statewide, and Rapert said the survey revealed the presence of 352 objectionable books. He did not say how many of the states dozens of library systems responded or did not respond to the survey. The board does not have any way to determine which libraries might be knowingly making obscene materials available for children, board Chairwoman Deborah Knox of Mountain Home said. Former state Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway (Dwain Hebda/Arkansas Advocate) Im having a hard time believing that any of our public libraries are doing that, and I would hate to approve a motion inhibiting distribution of funds to those libraries when we have no way of knowing if those libraries even exist, Knox said. Rapert said the survey results prove otherwise. You can claim all this stuff, going around and around in circles, acting like you dont know that theres explicit material teaching kids how to give oral sex to each other, he said, raising his voice. I hope every community in the state watches this [meeting]. I am appalled that any adult would try to stop us from taking a stand against this junk on library shelves. Both of Raperts motions would have applied to distributions of funding at future board meetings, since they were introduced after the board voted to give public libraries their allotted share of state money for the final quarter of fiscal year 2024. Rapert was the only member to vote against the disbursement. Shari Bales of Hot Springs, who was confirmed to the board by the state Senate along with Rapert in December, asked who is responsible for determining whether a books content is sexually explicit or pornographic. Rapert responded by amending his motion to specify sexually explicit, obscene or pornographic materials as described in Act 372. The 2023 law in question would alter Arkansas libraries processes for reconsidering material and create criminal liability for librarians who distribute content that some consider obscene or harmful to minors. The law mentions the word obscene several times but does not define it, and it does not include sexually explicit or pornographic in the text at all. The laws first section does include the phrase furnishing a harmful item to a minor, defining item as a material or performance that depicts or describes nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse. A federal judge temporarily blocked two portions of Act 372, including the first section, in July before it went into effect. U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks wrote in his preliminary injunction order that the two sections could lead to arbitrary interpretation and content-based restrictions that violate the First Amendment. The case is scheduled for trial in October. The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), the Fayetteville Public Library and the Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library are among the 19 plaintiffs challenging the law. Raperts amended motion died for lack of a second before the original motion failed. Over the last few years, hard-right conservatives in Arkansas have tried to tie library funding to whether certain books are available on shelves. In November 2022, a narrowly-approved ballot measure cut Craighead County libraries funding in half after protests over an LGBTQ+ book display and a transgender authors visit to the library. Republican state Sen. Dan Sullivan of Jonesboro, the seat of Craighead County, was the primary sponsor of Act 372 in the Legislature. In October, he said the state should withhold funding from the Arkansas Library Association (ArLA), a nonprofit trade association that does not receive state funding. Many local Arkansas libraries are ArLA members, and the organization is among the plaintiffs challenging Act 372. Board discussion Bales said she thought Raperts motion about explicit content sounds a lot like legislation and was outside the boards purview. She emphasized that her opposition to the motion did not mean she wanted her children to read dirty books. I think we should err on the side of staying in our lane and wearing the hats that have been assigned to us, she said. It may be a really good idea, but sometimes really good ideas are not always really good policies. Bales also repeated her concerns from February about Raperts proposal to withhold funding for libraries suing the state. Rapert argued again that a state entity should not provide money to plaintiffs that could use it to pay their attorneys. Bales said the plaintiffs might be using private funds for this purpose, which would make withholding public funds a moot point and possibly coercion. Rapert said it was an exaggeration that his proposal might be coercive to the entities that the board funds. He also said the state Legislature can dissolve state boards that do not do their jobs. Need to get in touch? Have a news tip? CONTACT US Were the ones that decide how the money is disbursed, and if you dont understand that maybe you need to revisit what youre on the board for, he said. Rapert asked Chilcoat to place an item on the agenda for the boards next meeting in August to assess and handle the presence of pornographic books in libraries. He did not name any of the books in question, which he did in February, but he mentioned a book with an incest scene that shocked him. Board member Lupe Pena de Martinez of Mabelvale said she recently read six of the books Rapert opposes, including the one with the scene he mentioned. She said her 13-year-old child is not currently allowed to read the books but will someday be mature enough to read them. Books that depict sexual abuse of children by adults, including incest, are intended as resources for children who have experienced this, Pena de Martinez said, and making these books unavailable to minors across the board is exercising the privilege of a much more comfortable life. I am repulsed by whats in those books, but not because Im upset with the authors, she said. Im repulsed at what children are victim to If we read the books cover to cover, its not about exposing children to lewd content. Its about saying, This is not right, and there are adults who love you and want to protect you. Pena de Martinezs comments received applause from the librarians in the audience. Rapert acknowledged that these issues are real but said some books are actually grooming children, and that is another problem. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Arkansas State Library Board rejects proposals to withhold funds based on content, litigation appeared first on Arkansas Advocate. More than two decades after authorities discovered a University of Georgia law students body at her apartment, where they say a fire was set intentionally, a man has been arrested and charged in connection with the cold case. Tara Louise Baker was found dead in her Athens, Georgia, home by Athens-Clarke County firefighters on January 19, 2001, a day before her 24th birthday, according to a news release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. On Thursday, state and county investigators said Edrick Lamont Faust, 48, was arrested and faced several charges in connection with Bakers death, including felony murder, aggravated assault, arson and aggravated sodomy, the news release says. Faust, a resident of Athens, remains in jail on a $15,000 bond, according to Clarke County Sheriffs Office jail records. CNN could not determine whether Faust has an attorney. Biological evidence and DNA science led to the arrest, Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said at a press conference Monday. Hosey declined to comment on what led them to Faust, only saying, investigative work by the cold case unit and local investigators led to this update. No connection was discovered between the victim and suspect, he added. Tara Louise Baker was a hardworking student with a bright future ahead of her, Hosey said in a statement Thursday. Taras life was stolen from her in a horrific act of violence. Baker, a first-year law student from East Point, Georgia, was last seen alive by a friend at the UGA Law School Library on January 18, 2001, around 7:30 p.m., according to GBIs unsolved homicide webpage on the case. Authorities say Baker, while still at the library, called the same friend around 9:46 p.m. to make sure they had arrived home safely. Baker told her friend she planned to leave the library around 10 p.m. The homicide investigation into Bakers death ran cold for 23 years. The victims mother, Virginia Baker, speaking through tears, with a large photo of her deceased daughter just behind her, said she was so grateful for the arrest. I am Taras mother. I always will be Taras mother, she said Monday. She thanked everyone for their prayers and told other families whose loved ones have been killed to hold onto hope. The GBIs Cold Case Unit partnered with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department in September 2023 to conduct an in-depth review and analysis of the ongoing investigation into Bakers death, according to the news release. Athens-Clarke County police chief Jerry Saulters, who was an officer at the crime scene in January 2001, said in a statement that hed hoped for years Bakers family would find justice. I remember being there during that horrific time, Saulters said. Seeing this case now full circle, I appreciate the hard work of the detectives, from then and now. Knowing that the evidence collected at that time contributed to the arrest today gives me tremendous pride in all the officers who worked this case over the years. Meredith Schroeder, Tara Baker's sister, speaks at her memorial service the UGA campus on Jan. 20, 2021. - Joshua Jones/Athens Banner-Herald/USA Today Network 2023 act named for Baker helps her case The Baker family says they have long waited for an arrest announcement, but it is not a day without grief and unanswered questions, they said in a statement provided by Athens true crime podcast host Cameron Jay Harrelson, who covered the students story in a series on the Classic City Crime podcast. Our family is eternally grateful to the Cold Case Unit with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation for their dedication and diligence in bringing us closer to the truth that has eluded us for 23 years, the familys statement read. Harrelson, who connected with Bakers family four years ago through a mutual friend with Bakers sister, said the family has long advocated for progress in the cold case. A mothers heart never gives up, she never gave up on seeking the truth, Harrelson told CNN of Virginia Baker, Tara Louise Bakers mother. The late law student, who in May 2003 was posthumously awarded her law degree from UGAs School of Law, is remembered by family, friends, colleagues and classmates as a champion of justice who was fiercely loyal, according to Harrelson, who said he interviewed hundreds of those who knew Baker for the podcast series. She believed in the application of the law. She believed in fighting for people that were less fortunate or whose society might consider to be underdogs, or the left behind and forgotten, Harrelson said. Ive heard many stories of how she was never afraid to say what she felt, but always with kindness, he added. Georgias Coleman-Baker Act, which established a new cold case unit within the GBI, according to CNN affiliate WRDW, was passed last year and named in honor of Baker and Rhonda Sue Coleman, an 18-year-old high school student who was killed in Jeff Davis County, Georgia, in 1990. The arrest of Faust in Bakers case makes it the first case solved by the GBIs new cold case unit, a GBI spokesperson told CNN on Saturday. Loved ones of Tara Louise Baker honored her in Athens, Georgia, with a flower memorial on January 20, 2021. - Joshua Jones/Athens Banner-Herald/USA Today Network Harrelson says he along with the Baker and Coleman families advocated for the law. We did not have any knowledge that this bill would ever affect change for the Baker family themselves, Harrelson said. The way we spoke about it often was that even if this doesnt help Taras case, there are countless families out there that with a second look, (the bill) could help. He added: I could not have thought of a better way to honor Tara Bakers life and legacy, a legacy of fighting for justice and believing in the law, than for this bill to have not only been named after her but to have brought about justice for her. CNNs Devon M. Sayers and Christina Zdanowicz contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com An asylum-seeker who died in ICE custody was sick for months. Advocates fear other ill people are not getting proper care. A man who died earlier this year in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody had been sick for months, his condition seeming to worsen as he was held at a troubled detention center in Louisiana, advocates say and ICE records show. Ousmane Ba, a 33-year-old man from Senegal, died Feb. 23 after being hospitalized for nearly a month, according to a statement from ICE. He had been detained at the Winn Correctional Center, in rural Winnfield, since early September, after entering the United States in late August, ICE said in a Feb. 26 statement. The Winn facility has for years been the subject of complaints about inadequate medical care, filthy accommodations and mistreatment of detainees. Immigrant rights advocates held a small candlelight vigil outside ICEs New Orleans field office Friday for Ba and others who have died in ICE custody and called for the federal government to end its contract with the troubled facility where, they say, other seriously ill people remain in custody. There will be another death. Its only a matter of time, Sarah Jones, the co-chair of the organizing committee of the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition said as she stood near a banner that read ALWAYS MOVING FORWARD in Spanish and an altar surrounded by candles and photos of people who have died in ICE custody. The coalition is calling for the federal government to not renew Winns contract this month and to release the 1,455 detainees held there, according to ICEs most recent data from April 15. No one should be at that detention center any longer, Jones said. ICE said Friday that it continues to need the Winn facility and intends to extend its current contract. "The use of private detention contractors is a vital piece of the national detention system enabling ICE to successfully execute its mission," an ICE spokesperson said in a statement. "The ability for the agency to remove individuals to their home countries, hold those in custody who require detention and are a public safety threat is directly dependent on location and availability of detention space." But advocates argue that ICE facilities like Winn are not safe. The thing thats really just upsetting and heartbreaking is we were really just finished protesting another death last summer. It hasnt even been a year and someone else died, said Mich Gonzalez, the associate executive director for Freedom for Immigrants, referring to the death of Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra, a 42-year-old Nicaraguan migrant who died June 23 while in ICE custody at a facility in Jena, Louisiana. His preliminary cause of death was cardiac arrest, ICE said. Glenda Perez and her fiancee Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra. (Courtesy Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra) Weve been raising the alarm about this entire field office for years. We basically said it was only a matter of time, he said. Ba began experiencing health issues in November, about two weeks after he was transferred to Winn, according to ICEs detainee death report. His symptoms, which included vomiting and bleeding from the nose and mouth, persisted for months. Ibrahim Diongue, a family friend in St. Louis who wanted to sponsor Ba if he was released, said he desperately needed outside medical attention. Ba frequently complained about being sick when they talked on the telephone, Diongue told NBC News. I could hear it in his breath and his voice that he was not doing better, he said. I think if he was not in ICE custody, he would be walking around now, no matter what country, and not going in the ground, Diongue said. Before he was admitted to the hospital where he died, Ba was treated by medical staff at Winn and nearby medical facilities more than a dozen times during his time at the detention facility, including a hospitalization in November, according to ICEs detainee death report. During his time in custody, ICE officials noted Bas symptoms, including coughing up large amounts of bright red blood with clots, nausea and vomiting and feeling like food was getting stuck in his chest, according to the report. Shortly before he was transferred to CHRISTUS St. Francis Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria, Ba was bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth with abnormal blood pressure and oxygen levels, the report said. A spokeswoman for CHRISTUS Health, which runs the hospital where Ba was treated and died, said privacy laws prevented her from providing any information about his case and his autopsy report, and referred questions to the coroners office. The Rapides Parish Coroners Office previously told NBC News that it does not know who does the hospital autopsies and did not immediately respond to a follow-up request for comment. The Winn facility has been the subject of reports of abuse, lack of proper medical treatment and filthy conditions in recent years. Following multiple complaints of inhumane conditions at the facility and a formal investigation into the matter in 2021, the Department of Homeland Securitys Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties wrote in a memorandum to the acting director of ICE at the time that it had serious concerns for the health and safety of the detainees and recommended the facility be closed or drawn down until several critical health and safety concerns could be addressed. Winn housed 602 people in September of that year, according to ICE. ICE announced in March 2022 that it was limiting use of three facilities, including Winn, but since then Winns population has only grown. An ICE inspection report in January graded the conditions at Winn as acceptable/adequate, finding more deficiencies than in fiscal year 2023, when it received a rating of good, according to the report. Adequate is one step above failure on the scale, with the highest grade being superior. The ICE Office of Detention Oversight noted 32 deficiencies at the Winn facility in the report. The office said that the facilitys overall compliance had trended downward since its inspection the previous year. The inspection report noted problems with the heating and cooling system and roof damage, which resulted in significant condensation forming on the housing units walls, ceilings and floors. Three House Democrats on Friday requested the Government Accountability Office conduct a review of emergency medical procedures and major surgeries performed on people in ICE and Customs and Border Protection custody. Specifically, we request that GAO review the process for detainees receiving approval for major surgery and emergency medical care, including how major medical care is authorized and approved, whether people can access surgery and emergency services when experiencing an acute medical issue, and whether people give informed consent before undergoing major medical procedures, including emergency surgeries, Reps. Jamie Raskin, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Robert Garcia wrote in the letter to Gene Dodaro, the comptroller general. The letter does not mention Winn, but notes that detained people have reported incidents of poor or improper medical care while in ICE custody and difficulties obtaining authorization and referrals for appropriate medical care, especially in urgent situations. ICE has said that it provides medical, dental, and mental health intake screenings to people within 12 hours of their arrival at a detention facility and provides full health assessments within 14 days of their entering ICE custody. The agency has said that all detainees have access to medical appointments and no one is denied emergent care. For detainees, Bas death and months of suffering cast a long shadow over the Winn detention center. There are other people who are literally hanging on for dear life and they know how close they are to death. We dont want to see another death at Winn, Jones said. Gonzalez, from Freedom for Immigrants, said that since Rocha-Cuadras and Bas deaths, advocacy groups have repeatedly contacted ICE officials to call out the medical neglect and deaths that they say have resulted from the conditions at Winn. Nearly 40 advocacy groups also wrote a letter to the secretary of DHS late last year calling on the government to not renew Winns contract, in part because of what they called a deliberate deprivation of appropriate medical care. Among the people immigrant rights advocates are hoping to see released from Winn is Jose Lara Castellanos, 32, a migrant from Honduras. Lara Castellanos said he has been vomiting up blood, feeling dizzy and weak, and experiencing other medical issues for months. Ive been detained for a year and now I have all these health problems, Lara Castellanos said in Spanish, breaking into tears during a phone call from the detention center. He began throwing up while on the call and said he vomited blood and foam. As he apologized for not reaching the bathroom in time, a voice could be heard telling him to clean it up. Jose Lara Castellanos (Courtesy family of Jose Lara Castellanos) Gonzalez and others who have been advocating for Lara Castellanos release and fighting his immigration case fear something worse will happen to him if he remains in custody. Dr. Kate Sugarman, a family medicine specialist who has not treated Lara Castellanos but has reviewed his medical records at the request of advocates, said she believes his case is critical. I know when a patient is critical, I know when a patient has an emergency, I know warning signs. He has all the warning signs, Sugarman said. He is repeatedly vomiting blood, he has repeated episodes of blood and diarrhea. Anytime somebody has that, they need immediate specialty care, she said. In an email exchange in late March, Gonzalez called on ICE to review Lara Castellanos urgent request for release from custody, based on serious medical concerns. Gonzalez wrote in the March 27 email that Lara Castellanos was in urgent need of specialist care. He is at grave risk of premature death if specialized care is not provided or in the alternative, if he is not released so his sponsor and family can secure him this care, Gonzalez wrote. The ICE Office of the Senior Reviewing Official wrote back two days later, according to emails shared with NBC News by Gonzalez, that it had reviewed the case and concurs with the Field Offices decision to continue detention. The agency later said Lara Castellanos would be considered for release, but would have to pay a bond of $25,000. The immigrant advocacy coalition has raised about $20,000, Gonzalez said. The positive update is that were getting close to raising the full $25,000 for his release, he said. In a recent phone call, Lara Castellanos said hes afraid he will die at Winn, despite having a potential sponsor waiting for him, a pastor in California. The pain is constant, he said, his voice breaking down as he spoke. My friends tell me I look so weak, Ive gotten so skinny. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Attorney for Doctor Who Drove Wife, Kids Off Cliff Says He's a 'Good Man' as Defense Seeks Mental Health Treatment Both Dharmesh Patel's legal team and his wife have advocated against jail time Facebook Dharmesh A. Patel and his family pose for a photo An attorney for Dharmesh Patel the man accused of driving his Tesla off a California cliff with his family inside called him a "good man" and "decent human being" with "zero criminal history" as his legal team continues to argue against jail time. Patel was charged with three counts of attempted murder in January 2023 after allegedly driving his family's car off a 250-foot cliff at Devils Slide with his wife Neha Patel and their two children an 8-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son inside. (Authorities previously told PEOPLE that both parents were injured in the crash, their daughter was hospitalized and their son was left with "bumps and bruises, but no injuries.") Both his wife and his legal team have advocated against jail time and instead want mental treatment for Patel. During a hearing held in Mental Health Diversion Court in a San Mateo County courtroom on Friday, May 10, Patel's family and a judge heard closing arguments as his defense attorney Joshua Bentley argued why he shouldn't face criminal charges, per KRON 4. Related: Wife of Doctor Who Drove Tesla Off Cliff Asks Court to Spare Him Prison: 'We Need Him in Our Lives' Uncredited/AP/Shutterstock; Sgt. Brian Moore/San Mateo County Sheriff's Office via AP Dharmesh Patel, Tesla Crash Stating that "not everyone who commits a crime is a criminal," Bentley further argued why the judge should rule in favor of a mental health diversion. Mr. Patel is a good man, a good husband and a good father. He is beloved by his community. He has zero criminal history. [The crash]was 100 percent a mental health episode. He has been receiving treatment for 16 months. Every case has a risk factor," he said, according to KRON. Per Mercury News, Bentley also mentioned that 47 letters of support were written for Patel. Bentley reiterated, that if granted the treatment, his client would be placed under an intensive program and monitored with a GPS bracelet featuring a siren, KRON reported. That was not him. It was 100% a mental health episode, the attorney said, per the San Francisco Chronicle. Mr. Patel is a decent human being with zero criminal history. The law calls for this very exact situation, and it allows the court to divert. Deputy District Attorney Dominique Davis argued Friday that the case should not qualify for mental health diversion, stating that the defendant will pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety. She cited testimony from Dr. Yan Chan and said Patel was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, KRON said. The illness is "marked by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression or mania," according to the Mayo Clinic. He was hearing footsteps at night," the prosecution said, per KRON. "He feared his children would be sold into sex slavery. He carried a knife around for three days. None of this was based on reality and the defendant felt compelled to act. He drove his entire family over a cliff. Its a very high and deathly drop." What is most frightening is, no one saw this coming, Davis added, stating that Patel was able to mask his mental illness. Davis also cited Patel's reported concerns over Russia and Ukraine, child sex trafficking and Jefferey Epstein around the time of the crash. Related: Father Who Drove His Family Of 4 Off Cliff Suffered Psychotic Break, Doctors Say Patel was diagnosed with major depressive disorder by experts for the defense team, Dr. James Armontrout and Dr. Mark Patterson, per KRON. His team, which denies he suffers from schizoaffective disorder, argued he would benefit from an outpatient treatment program via El Camino Health Hospital. According to KRON, Patel faces decades in prison if he's convicted and if his case heads to criminal trial. Judge Susan Jakubowski has said she will not make a ruling until June 20. I wouldnt be doing my job unless I took the time I need to go through this case, she said, per the Chronicle. 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. Patel's wife has advised that her husband get mental health treatment which would have him released from jail and put on a two-year treatment plan, if granted. I dont want to see Dharmesh prosecuted with any of his charges, Neha told the judge on May 2, via Zoom, per various outlets. I am pleading with the court to grant him his mental health diversion. Seeing my kids in constant pain is one of the hardest things Ive had to endure, she continued. Once I tuck my children into bed at night Im reminded of my own solitude. I really miss my best friend. I really miss my partner in my life. Neha also argued that the treatment "will not only restore him back to himself, but will restore our family." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. The iconic fashion editor Suzy Menkes was the first person who dared to outline an epic rivalry. She established a simile about it, using one of the great (and frequently denied) historical legends of artistic envy: Karl was Salieri going up against Mozart, who was Saint Laurent. Exchanging the imperial Vienna of the 18th century for the Paris of the 1970s and swapping out music for fashion the truth is that the recent history of style cannot be understood without the well-documented antagonism between Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent. The two fashion geniuses crossed paths when they were almost teenagers: in 1954, they both shared first prize at the International Wool Secretariat (IWS). Although Lagerfeld popularly known as the Kaiser, due to his German roots maintained that they had been friends for a long time, the truth is that the dazzling success of the Algerian-born Saint Laurent starkly contrasted with Lagerfelds discreet beginnings. Each man had an ego as big as his own work, which helped separate their trajectories. However, along with their differences, theres one person who played a key role in creating distance between the two designers and whose influence had a big role on their respective lives. In the upcoming Hulu miniseries Becoming Karl Lagerfeld which focuses on the designer who, for a time, was the creative director at Chanel the figure of Pierre Berge is revealed. For years, he was known as the pitbull of French fashion. Karls problem is the following: its like two starlets in the theater or cinema, when one becomes Marilyn Monroe and the other is a nobody. I like Karl a lot Ive known him forever. Hes really cultivated and very intelligent. Karls big problem is that hes never been successful with his own label. And he hasnt been able to reach the same level of success as under the name of Chanel. Its sad, Berge told Vogue in 2015. The man who was Saint Laurents right-hand man co-founder of the eponymous brand and the designers romantic partner for decades was never a friend of political correctness. The auditions to succeed Yves as creative director of his own firm offer evidence of Berge's severity and dogmatism: after describing Tom Fords tenure as a fiasco and pure marketing, he went on to dismiss Stefano Pilati, calling his time at the fashion house nothing at all. Berge was lying when he said that he liked Karl. The antipathy between them was such that according to the Kaiser himself they went 40 years without speaking a word to each other. Hes from another era, Lagerfeld told WWD, in response to the accusations leveled against him by the businessman. The times arent the same. He has to adapt to the times. The times dont have to adapt to him. If he doesnt like them, he should shut up and retire. Comparisons with Saint Laurent always gave Lagerfeld a complex. When he finally managed to succeed in the industry, he attacked him without remorse: That particular Yves I dont like, because I know another one. Hes one of the funniest people alive, with an incredible sense of humor but he only had one desire: to be rich and famous. This is probably where it all started: when Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld met at the International Wool Secretariat (IWS) awards, in 1954. Keystone-France (Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images) Lagerfeld and Berge started out as friends. They shared Berge's love of books, but their relationship deteriorated over time. Berge saw Yves Saint Laurent as an artist and a genius, but not Lagerfeld. And he made him feel that way. He also despised his German roots, in contrast to Yvess French taste. Karl told me that he felt that his friendship with Yves had been destroyed by Berge and that he probably played a role in his estrangement from him. For Berge, there was only one place at the top of the pyramid and it was for Yves, explains Marie Ottavi, a journalist and biographer of Lagerfeld, in an interview with EL PAIS. The main reason for their enmity is a love triangle that Berge never approved of, with the dandy Jacques de Bascher at the center of it. For two decades, this Parisian aristocrat maintained a platonic relationship with Lagerfeld, until his death from AIDS in 1989. They were two opposite personalities: while the couturier was a working man a puritan who was allergic to parties the enthralling De Bascher enjoyed alcohol, drugs, and orgies on a daily basis. He was the funniest and most different person Ive ever met. Wild, chic, and fun. He had all the flaws and all the qualities. For me, he was divine but others found him diabolical, the German designer alleged. During one of those nights of hedonism and debauchery, De Bascher would meet Saint Laurent, a tormented genius who also made excess his way of life. This was much to the chagrin of Berge, who broke off his romantic relationship with Yves when he found himself unable to channel the designer. In her book The Beautiful Fall, Alicia Drake wrote that Yves had a brief affair with Jacques de Bascher (with the full knowledge of a non-possessive Lagerfeld). And it was precisely Lagerfeld who realized that Berge always thought that he had been the instigator behind the union of two souls with a tendency towards self-destruction. I had been close friends with Yves for more than 20 years Pierre smashed that to bits. He said I engineered their liaison to destabilize the house of Saint Laurent, the German told W Magazine. In Paris, circa 1978, during the wedding of Paloma Picasso and Rafael Lopez-Sanchez: Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent and, behind them, Pierre Berge. WWD (Penske Media via Getty Images) The relationship between them was devastating, because Yves fell madly in love with Jacques. It had an impact on his work, Ottavi adds, underlining the extreme vigilance that Berge exercised over Yves excesses, so as to protect his textile empire. If the romance had become serious, it could have disrupted the entire YSL [fashion] house, and also Berge's authority. But the story was purely sexual. Although Berge thought that Lagerfeld had orchestrated everything, seeing him as the organizer of the romance is going a bit far. He just found it amusing to see the chaos he caused, Ottavi shrugs. Be that as it may, the friendly relationship between the creatives perished forever when De Bascher joined the equation. This passionate episode will be one of the dramatic pillars of the Becoming Karl Lagerfeld series. Actor Daniel Bruhl plays the Hamburg-born designer during the years he spent struggling to reach the top of haute couture and become head of Chanel. His relationships with Saint Laurent, De Bascher and Berge the axes of that professional journey are also depicted. Even after the death of the first two, Berge and Lagerfeld didnt bring an end to their long confrontation. That their mutual hatred became public only accentuated the resentment between them. In my books, I describe the atrocities that were said it was very cruel, Ottavi notes. Yves Saint Laurent was a pioneer and invented pieces that will go down in fashion history. Yet, his genius closed on him like a trap. Karl remained connected to the times: he reinvented himself and breathed new life into Chanel, that sleeping beauty that he managed to modernize. Each one had their own strengths Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition AUSTIN (KXAN) On Friday, the Austin Police Department released its five-year plan, which sets the agencys priorities and is a way to stay engaged with the community in the process, the City of Austin said in a news release. During the process, which began in 2022, APD gathered input from various parts of the City and from all levels of the agency to better establish the core focus of the plan, the release said. All the input and feedback we have received has been helpful in fostering continuous improvements, shaping our future accomplishments, celebrate our collective successes and continue to engage our workforce and community to make Austin the safest city in America, said APD Interim Chief Robin Henderson in the release. The strategic plan includes five focus areas: Protect Austin Engage our Community Develop our Workforce Foster Leadership Excellence Enhance Organizational Capacity Henderson said this plan is a way to help shape a brighter future where APD is more innovative, transparent, community-focused, and highly trained, according to the city. The full strategic plan can be read below: APD-Strategic-Plan-5-7-24Download For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Saturday the country's support for a Palestinian bid to become a full United Nations member was part of building momentum to secure peace in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Australia voted on Friday with the overwhelming majority of the U.N. General Assembly in backing the resolution that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state. It recommended the Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably". The United States had vetoed a recommendation that "the State of Palestine be admitted to membership" in a Security Council vote last month. The question of Palestinian membership is one of the few diplomatic issues where close allies Washington and Canberra differ. "Much of our region and many of our partners also voted yes," Wong told a press conference in Adelaide. "We all know one vote on its own won't end this conflict - it has spanned our entire lifetimes - but we all have to do what we can to build momentum towards peace." Friday's General Assembly vote - 143 in favour, nine including the U.S. and Israel against, and 25 abstaining - was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid. The Palestinians are a non-member observer state. Their push for full U.N. membership comes seven months into the war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza and as Israel expands settlements in the occupied West Bank that the U.N. considers illegal. "Australia has long been an unwavering supporter of a two-state solution", Australia's ambassador to the U.N., James Larsen posted on X. (Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard) Authorities are investigating the slashing of a girl in East Harlem Authorities are investigating the slashing of a girl in East Harlem NEW YORK (PIX11) Authorities are investigating the slashing of an 11-year-old in East Harlem. Police say a little girl was attacked on 115th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues and that the aggressor ran into this subway station on East 116th and Lexington Avenue. Teen, 16, shot to death in SoHo was killed trying to break up fight: police It happened Friday afternoon at around 2. Parents around the neighborhood, like Yves Pierre, say they are very concerned this happened to a child. I have an 11-year-old myself, so it is kind of a mess thats going on out here. New York used to be a safe city, but now it is kind of hectic, he said. Mario Barber, an MTA security guard at the subway station, claims he encountered the alleged Aggressor. He seemed kind of delusional, he said. Barber also described the man as being erratic and that he was unarmed. I asked him what happened he said a group of people were chasing him and trying to kill him. I kept him, but he started running, and someone yelled he stabbed someone, so I immediately grabbed him and held for the police, he added. The alleged perpetrator managed to get away. He ran upstairs, said Barbed. There was heavy police presence following the slashing; police took a man into custody steps away from the train station. I Am very concerned because I also have a 3-year-old daughter that I have to raise, and I dont want her to witness this, concluded Pierre. The child was taken to Harlem Hospital, where she is expected to survive. The reason behind this attack remains unknown. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department is asking for public assistance to aid in locating a missing woman. Authorities say 36-year-old Nicole Cabral was last seen around 5:30 p.m. on May 9 near the 1000 block of Baldwin Park Boulevard in the city of Baldwin Park. Cabral is described as Hispanic, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing approximately 220 pounds, with short brown hair and hazel eyes. She has a tattoo that says Nalani on her back and tattoos of stars on her right and left shoulders. LASD says Cabral was last seen wearing a white t-shirt and sweatpants. The missing woman requires medication and her family is extremely concerned for her well-being. Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departments Missing Persons Unit at (323) 890-5500. If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call Crime Stoppers by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477), use your smartphone by downloading the P3 Tips Mobile APP on Google Play or the Apple App Store, or by using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA. A Baltimore County judicial primary election has become unexpectedly contentious, with negative mailers, inflammatory Facebook posts and appeals to law and order appearing in a normally staid race. The race to choose four Circuit Court judges positions that appear on both parties ballots under the heading judicial rather than with a party affiliation has highlighted the process of trial judge elections, which some say politicizes what should be a nonpartisan position. I agree with people who dont think there should be judges running for election, Baltimore County States Attorney Scott Shellenberger said. It takes a job thats very nonpolitical and for a very brief period of time makes it political. Shellenberger, who supports the sitting judges, emphasized the value of the double process of vetting by both a commission that includes a member of his office and then the governor. Four sitting judges, three appointed by Gov. Wes Moore and one appointed by then-Gov. Larry Hogan, are facing challenger Rob Daniels, an assistant attorney general who has said he would be the countys first LGBTQ judge and derided Baltimore City crime-fighting policies. Some people believe I am burning down my own career, Daniels said, which is just insanity to think that someone exercising their constitutional right to run for public office would be doing that. The sitting judges, Michael Barranco, Marc A. DeSimone Jr., Patricia DeMaio and James Rhodes, are running as a single slate. DeSimone, DeMaio, and Rhodes joined the bench in January 2024, while Barranco was appointed in September 2022. Judges serve 15-year terms. To join the bench, judicial candidates apply and undergo a grueling vetting process that involves interviews with bar associations and a judicial nominating commission, along with a detailed questionnaire. The nominating committee sends names of qualified candidates to the governor, who appoints judges before they face voters in the next election. Baltimore County voters can select up to four names in Tuesdays primary. The question of how much say to give voters was brought into sharper focus this month when the Maryland Supreme Court removed Prince Georges County Circuit Judge April T. Ademiluyi from her position, citing egregious misconduct. Ademiluyi also ran as a challenger to the slate of incumbent judges. Rhodes cited the Prince Georges upheaval as an example of what happens when judges are elected without proper vetting but said its still important for the voters to have a say. The process for choosing appellate judges in Maryland is different: Outsiders cant enter their names for the ballot, but voters can choose whether or not to retain a sitting judge. You cant just get someone who enters because their last name appears higher than the other judges on the ballot, Rhodes said. Daniels, a former prosecutor now working as a civil litigator at the Maryland Attorney Generals Office, has criticized the judicial nominating process, which he has now been through three times, as flawed and subjective. It doesnt select lawyers who are necessarily known to the local bar, the local attorneys, he said. The Maryland State Bar Association supports the retention of all sitting Circuit Court judges, including the four in Baltimore County. These judges have been evaluated, selected and appointed by the Governor because of their judicial merit, the bar association said on Facebook. The sitting judges slate sent out a mailer featuring a woman throwing up her hands in confusion, accompanied by text detailing Daniels past financial troubles. Rob Daniels claims to have the character to be a judge. HUH??? it read. Daniels said on his Facebook page that the mailer, which listed his two foreclosures and a bankruptcy amid the mortgage crisis, proved that his opponents hate poor people. Also on Facebook, Daniels has described two of his opponents as people who have pulled guns on other people and who have actively opposed law enforcement for most of the last decade. Rhodes said the gun claim stems from an encounter where a man threatened his son with a large pipe in a road rage incident, but the man swore out charges with a court commissioner saying Rhodes threatened him first. Rhodes said he is licensed to carry a firearm. Court records show the man was convicted of second-degree assault in 2021 in connection with the incident. Rhodes said he had the complaint against himself expunged. Daniels also accused DeMaio, a former administrative law judge and prosecutor in the Baltimore City States Attorneys Office, of being anti-police and sought to link her unfavorably to former Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn Mosby. DeMaio was deputy of operations and deputy of the major trial division under Mosby. Did I agree with everything that was done? No. But in my position, you enforce the policy, DeMaio said of her time in the office. She said she led joint command meetings between police and prosecutors while at the states attorneys office. DeSimone, like Daniels, also applied multiple times to be appointed as a judge before he was chosen. A longtime public defender and professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, DeSimone said he never considered running in an election to become a judge. Who am I to say that Im superior to the candidates that the attorneys and all the respected individuals of our community have in good faith evaluated and found to have superior credentials, judgment and integrity? he said. Donald Trump gestures towards then first lady Melania Trump and his son Barron Trump after his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination on the South Lawn of the White House in front of 1,500 guests, on Aug 27 2020 - Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America Donald Trumps teenage son gives him political advice but wont serve as a delegate to vote for his father at the Republican National Convention. The former president and presumptive GOP nominee said his youngest son, Barron, 18, will often act as one of his political advisers. Hes a little on the tall side. I will tell you, hes a tall one, but he is a good-looking guy, Mr Trump told Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. And hes really been a great student. And he does like politics. Its sort of funny. Hell tell me sometimes Dad, this is what you have to do, Mr Trump added. Mr Trumps comments came hours before it emerged Barron would not take part in the Republican National Convention as a Florida delegate in July. In a statement released two days after Barron was selected, Melania Trumps office said while he was honoured to be chosen he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments. Barron Trump walks to the Marine One helicopter with his parents as they depart for Florida from the South Lawn of the White House on Nov 26, 2019 - Loren Elliott/REUTERS Its now unclear if he will attend the convention, in Milwaukee July 15-18. Unlike Mr Trumps older children, Barron, whose mother is a staunch protector of his privacy, has largely stayed away from the spotlight. The teenager was not often seen during Mr Trumps administration. He would travel in a separate car from his father when he rode in the presidential motorcade and would board Air Force One via the back stairs of the plane so he would not be photographed. Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump both campaigned for their father during this years Republican primaries. An audience member wears a Keep America Trump! Barron 2052 badge at Fox News Channel Studios on March 15, 2023 in New York - Roy Rochlin/Getty Images North America They and their sister Tiffany Trump were among the 41 at-large delegates chosen by the Florida Republican Party for the national convention in July. Ivanka Trump, who has appeared to distance herself from her fathers political ambitions since she left the White House, was not named as a delegate. All four of Barrons siblings gave speeches at the partys conventions in 2016 and 2020. Mr Trumps New York hush money trial is not sitting on Friday so Mr Trump is able to attend Barrons high school graduation. The former president had complained that the ongoing trial for allegedly falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels would prevent him from attending the graduation of his wonderful son. Mr Trump also said his son will be attending university next year, although he has not disclosed where. 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. After the Trump campaign confirmed soon-to-be-graduate Barron Trumps role as an RNC delegate, and his dad awkwardly forgot his age while reacting to the news, hes turning down the role, according to his mom. In a statement from former First Lady Melania Trumps office, the 18-year-olds prior commitments are blamed for his upcoming and unforeseen absence from the July convention. While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments, the statement reads. Donald Trumps fifth and youngest child has perhaps been the least public of any, taking a minimal role in past campaigns and White House duties. Barrons older half-sister Ivanka has similarly distanced herself from Trump since the end of his term. Barron was slated to be one of three of the former presidents sons representing Florida and sealing his nomination at the Republican National Convention, per a list released by the Florida Republican party Wednesday. The move from Melania Trumps office comes in line with reports that she doesnt want to hit the campaign trail, now signaling that she seemingly doesnt want her only son involved, either. Barron graduates from Oxbridge Academy on Friday, with his dad expected to attend at least some of the festivities before jet-setting to Minnesota for a GOP fundraiser, after falsely bashing the judge in his hush money case for not giving him the day off. Barron Trump may vote for his father in November, but he won't be casting a ballot for Republican nominee Donald Trump at this summer's Republican Convention. On Friday night, his mother, former first lady Melania Trump, issued a statement through her office saying that while the 18-year-old was "honored" to have been offered the opportunity, he has declined the offer. The statement cited Barron's "prior commitments" for the decision but did not elaborate. Barron, a senior at Oxbridge Academy just west of West Palm Beach, is scheduled to graduate May 17. The sole child of the former first couple was to have been part of a Trump family affair at the mid-July convention in Milwaukee. Youngest delegate? Barron Trump to cast vote as Florida delegate at GOP convention nominating his father More: Barron Trump, Donald Trump's youngest son, turns 18. Five things to know about him Barron's older half-brother, Eric Trump, will serve as the state delegation's chairman, as announced by the Republican Party of Florida this week. Donald Trump Jr. is a delegate, as are half-sister Tiffany (Trump) Boulos and her husband, Michael Boulos. Kimberly Guilfoyle, fiance of Donald Jr., will be on the platform committee. Eric's spouse, Lara, is vice chair of the event's host, the Republican National Committee. The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee said in an interview with the Spanish-language Telemundo 51 network, owned by NBC, that he supported the inclusion of his youngest son in the delegation. "Hes pretty young, I will say. Hes 17," Trump said, albeit misstating Barron's age. "But if they can do that, Im all for it." The Rev. Tim Schenck of the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea speaks briefly with (l-r) Barron Trump, Viktor Knavs, former President Donald Trump, and Melania Trump, following the funeral for Melania's mother, Amalia Knavs, in January. No mention of Ivanka Trump, or role for Melania The one Trump daughter not mentioned in convention attendance was Ivanka. She and her husband, Jared Kushner, live in Miami but have publicly stated they are focused on non-political activities. Both served as advisers on Trump's White House policy staff. What role Melania Trump will play at the convention has not been revealed. In 2016, she delivered a speech that drew scrutiny, and criticism, for similarities to the one Michelle Obama gave at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Melania also spoke at the 2020 event. So far, the former first lady has been largely absent from the political arena. She has not attended her husband's campaign rallies, or his court appearances. She did, however, join him for the Trumpettes fan club gala in February at their Mar-a-Lago estate and cast their ballots at a Palm Beach community center for the Florida presidential preference primary on March 19. She attended a dinner for Hungarian leader Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago, and the reportedly record-setting fundraising dinner at the Palm Beach home of financier John Paulson last month. She also hosted a gathering at the Trumps' private club for the Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative LGBTQ+ organization. Earlier this month, she posted on X, formerly Twitter, a Mothers' Day necklace she is selling for $245. Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Barron Trump will not be a Florida delegate at GOP convention in July Former President Donald Trump's youngest child, Barron Trump, is declining an opportunity to serve as Florida's GOP at-large delegate to the Republican National Convention due to "prior commitments," former first lady Melania Trump's office confirmed to ABC News. "While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments," the Office of Melania Trump wrote in a statement to ABC News. The Florida Republican Party announced earlier this week that the former president's son was selected as one of the state's delegates, along with other members of the Trump family who have played more active role in Trump's campaign -- including Trump's older sons, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Trump's youngest daughter, Tiffany Trump. MORE: Melania Trump announces initiative to woo gay voters during fundraiser, organizer says Barron Trump, who is set to graduate from high school next week, has yet to join his father on the campaign trail this cycle, maintaining his distance from the political spotlight. PHOTO: In this Aug. 27, 2020, file photo, Barron Trump stands on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, D.C. (Evan Vucci/AP, FILE) Since the revelation that Barron Trump was selected as one of Florida's GOP delegates, Donald Trump has been in the media touting his son's interest in politics. During an interview with a local Philadelphia radio, Donald Trump said Barron likes politics and suggested he even offers him political advice. MORE: Trump faces major financial disadvantage against Biden as legal bills eat into allies' cash: Filings "He does like politics. It's sort of funny. He'll tell me sometimes, 'Dad, this is what you have to do,'" the former president said of Barron, saying his son is smart and doesn't need much political advice from him. PHOTO: In this Nov. 15, 2022, file photo, former President Donald Trump greets people after announcing he is running for president for the third time as he speaks at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla. Son Barron Trump watches. (Andrew Harnik/AP, FILE) Speaking with Telemundo 51 in Miami, Donald Trump said it's "very cute" that his son is entering the Florida political sphere, and offered full support while emphasizing that he's still "very young." "To me, that's very cute because he's a very young guy," Trump told Telemundo 51. "And he's graduating from high school this year. He's a very good student, very smart and I think that's great." "I'm all for it," Trump continued, again stressing that his son is very young. The Daily Mail was the first to report Barron Trump was declining the role. Barron Trump declines Florida GOP delegate position due to 'prior commitments' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Feminism has also arrived to diplomacy. Gloria de la Fuente, 47, is Chiles undersecretary of foreign affairs and the face of feminist foreign policy in Gabriel Borics progressive government. The initiative for a feminist foreign policy was launched in 2014 by Sweden and has since been joined by Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Canada, Luxembourg, Germany and France. The political scientist and academic was recently in Madrid for a whirlwind 24-hour visit during which she met with members of the Spanish government to continue promoting an egalitarian international relations agenda. The daughter of an attorney and a hairstylist, De la Fuente is a firm believer in merit and in the fight for equal opportunities. Female leadership tends to be more inclusive, she says in an interview that took place in the Spanish capitals Casa de America. Question. What is feminist foreign policy? Answer. It has to do with Chiles foreign policy commitment to democracy and human rights. Its very difficult or even impossible to think about democracy in the 21st century without gender equality, which involves more than 50% of the population. International conflicts and climate change impact women and young girls in an unequal way, which in many cases, leads to forced migrations. In President Borics government, we have looked to promote and give visibility to this feminist agenda in order to consolidate important advances made in recent years. Q. What would be the feminist approach to the two current conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine? A. We assume that, when conflicts like this exist and cause many deaths or the displacement of many people, they will affect men, women and children unequally. We are focused on the role that women play, not just on how they suffer from international conflicts, but also on the role that they play in the search for peace, as the United Nationss Resolution 1325 proposes. For example, with regard to Gaza and the Russian invasion in Ukraine, what we do is direct our international cooperation towards humanitarian aid that goes to their vulnerable populations: in the case of international donations, we turn to institutions like UNICEF and in the case of Gaza, to the UNRWA. Q. There have been powerful women with very distinct profiles: Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, Michelle Bachelet, Dilma Rousseff, Hillary Clinton and Sanna Marin. Do they have characteristics in common? A. In general, female leadership tends to be more inclusive. When Bachelet assumed power, I was just over 20 years old, and up until that moment, it was impossible to think that a woman in Chile could be president of the republic. The day she won, there were many young girls celebrating her victory wearing a presidential sash. That is a symbol that demonstrates that it is possible for women to rise to the highest levels of power and that, additionally, in politics, failings and virtues can be distributed equally. Q. Have you had difficulties in your career due to being a woman? A. People always ask who is taking care of my daughter or where my husband is. I dont see them asking men that. And to clarify, I am a happily dedicated mother and wife. We are, first and foremost, a team. But rather than difficulties, I prefer to focus on challenges; in my current position, I feel a tremendous responsibility to open doors for other women, because I know that that the road weve traveled hasnt been easy for me nor for the others. In its more than 150 years of existence, our ministry of [foreign relations] has only had two women ministers and three undersecretaries, and those in the most recent quarter-century. Q. Do you believe in meritocracy? A. I believe in merit, but for that to be a reality, there needs to be a basic starting point for developing ones life project. Mine has been a story of effort, but in the schools I attended and the rest of my life, I saw a lot of talent wasted from a lack of material conditions and educational and socio-affective resources. Merit is possible when the conditions to develop talent are equal for all. Q. Is more demanded from women in politics? A. The fact that there are women in politics or other spaces of representation in society levels the playing field, no more and no less. I say this because women in politics or with power are often asked to possess extraordinary qualities much more than men. The demand for excellence should be equal for both, and not just for women. Virtues and failings are equally distributed. To demand that women have more qualities than men seems to me to be a mistake. Excellence is a must, independent of a persons gender or orientation, particularly when it comes to public officials. Q. Feminist foreign policy is an idea that was born in Europe. How does it apply to a region as unequal as Latin America? A. The concept of the Global South is often debated, which is good. But its important to be conscious that women face more exaggerated inequality and other glass ceilings in Latin America. Many women are in charge of the care of sick people and children, and that imposes limitations on their development projects. In welfare societies, where there is greater state support, this tends to be mitigated. (The Hill) Barron Trump, the youngest son of former President Trump, has declined the offer to serve as a delegate for Florida at this summers Republican National Convention (RNC). While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments, former first lady Melania Trumps office said in a statement. The Florida GOP earlier this week said Barron Trump, who is 18, would join three of the former presidents other children Eric, Tiffany and Donald Trump Jr. as delegates, with Eric Trump serving as the states delegation chair. It would have marked Barron Trumps first foray into politics in the public spotlight. The Republican convention will take place in Milwaukee, Wis., in mid-July. The Daily Mail first reported that Barron Trump was bowing out as a delegate. Barron Trump, who was 10 when his father was elected to the White House in 2016, was mostly kept out of the public spotlight while the former president was in office. He is the son of Donald and Melania Trump. Trump said in a radio interview Friday that his youngest son has gotten into politics. He does like politics. Its sort of funny. Hell tell me sometimes, Dad, this is what you have to do. So anyway, hes a good guy. Hes a senior now in high school, and hell be going to college, the former president said on Philadelphias Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News. Barron Trump will not attend Florida RNC as delegate after all The office of former first lady Melania Trump said her son Barron Trump will not attend the Florida Republican National Convention due to "prior commitments." File Photo by Erin Scott/UPI May 10 (UPI) -- Donald Trump's youngest son Barron Trump has turned down an offer to serve as a delegate for Florida at this year's Republican National Convention. "While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments," the office of former first lady Melania Trump said in a statement to news media Friday. The announcement came a day after the former president expressed approval of his son's involvement in the RNC, which is scheduled for July 15-18 in Milwaukee. "He's pretty young, I will say. He's 17," Trump told Telemundo. "But if they can do that, I'm all for it." The 18-year-old Barron Trump was just 10 when his father first announced his campaign in 2016. He has so far stayed out of the political spotlight. This year's RNC would have been his first public foray into politics. The Republican Party of Florida on Thursday announced it tapped the youngest Trump son to join his siblings, Eric, Tiffany and Donald Jr., as delegates with Eric Trump serving as chair of the Florida delegates. Trump's high-profile hush money trial will recess next Friday so he can attend his son's high school graduation ceremony. The former first lady said that although Barron is turning down the offer to represent Florida at the GOP convention, he was honored to have been chosen GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty (Left to right): Melania Trump, Barron Trump and Donald Trump in January 2024 Barron Trump will no longer be serving as a delegate at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. After being chosen as an at-large delegate to represent Florida at the convention in July, the 18-year-old son of Donald Trump has declined to participate. While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments, the Office of Melania Trump said in a statement to PEOPLE on Friday, May 10. Related: Donald Trump Says He Needs to Pause His Criminal Trial So He Can Attend Son Barron's High School Graduation JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Former US President Donald Trump (L) walks with First Lady Melania Trump and their son Barron, 2020 The role would have been Barron's highest-profile political one to date. While the teen, who is set to graduate from the private high school Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Friday, May 17, may have witnessed many of his fathers past duties in the Oval Office, Barron has kept a relatively low profile since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. The high school senior has lived with his mother Melania, 54, in Florida since the family left Washington, D.C. Hours before the high school senior declined the delegate role, the former president, 77, spoke fondly of his youngest sons love for politics during a Philadelphia radio interview. Trump admitted that Barron, who was just 10 years old when he won the 2016 presidential election, sometimes gives him advice. "It's sort of funny. He'll tell me sometimes, 'Dad, this is what you have to do,'" Trump said during an appearance on Kayal and Company on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. Sean Rayford/Getty Former U.S. President Donald Trump, February 2024 "He's a little on the tall side, I will tell you, he's a tall one, but he is a good-looking guy," Trump said of the 6-foot-7-inch Barron. "And hes really been a great student." While Melanias statement about prior commitments on Friday was brief, Trump said in his interview that Barron would be "going to college." Related: Barron Trump Celebrates 18th Birthday as College Decision Looms Ahead He also added that "a lot of these choices of colleges are changing because you see what's going on in the last month," likely referring to pro-Palestinian protests that have disrupted classes at some campuses. Meanwhile, Trump is on trial in Manhattan for over 34 felony counts of falsified business records. 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. His older children Don Jr., Eric and Tiffany, as well as Don Jr.'s fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Tiffany's husband, Michael Boulos have also been selected as delegates to represent Florida at the convention. The delegates will attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July to cast their votes to support Trump and ultimately solidify his place as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Ismat Mansour, who has said he does not regret his part in the 1993 murder of an Israeli in the West Bank A Palestinian jailed for his part in murdering an Israeli man is used as a regular contributor by the BBCs Arabic channel without his conviction being disclosed. Ismat Mansour has been interviewed by BBC Arabic at least seven times in the first seven months of the war in Gaza, billed as a Palestinian political analyst and Palestinian author and researcher. But critics say BBC Arabic has failed to point out to its audience that Mansour was sentenced to 22 years in jail following the murder of 30-year-old Haim Mizrahi and has since spoken of having no regrets over his role in the killing. Mansour was among 26 Palestinian prisoners freed early from prison by the Israeli authorities in August 2013, as part of a gesture to the Palestinian Authority in peace talks brokered by the US. He had been jailed at 16 after helping two older teenagers stab Mr Mizrahi to death near the West Bank settlement of Beit El in October 1993, a month after Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords. Mr Mizrahis wife was pregnant at the time. Though Mansour denied doing the stabbing himself, an Israeli judge found that he held the Israeli down during the stabbing. Mansour said on his release from prison: I have no regrets. I was part of the struggle of my people, I dont reconsider my contribution. A year after his release, he told an Israeli interviewer: That person [the victim] is a settler, he is on my land and it is not his place. I dont feel sorry. Lets say that today I would not have done the same, but I dont regret what had happened, either. I did something that is good for everyone. This promotes peace. Ismat Mansour is interviewed during one of his appearances on BBC Arabic Mansour has appeared on BBC Arabics Talking Point programme six times since the Oct 7 massacres, appearing as a Palestinian political analyst on Nov 7, and a Palestinian author and political analyst the following month. In January, he appeared on the programme as a researcher in the Madar centre of Israeli studies. Speaking from Ramallah, he commented on an attack in the Israel city of Raanana in which a 79-year-old woman was killed. He attributed it to the atmosphere in the West Bank and Israels actions there. On another occasion that month, he was asked by the BBC Arabic website about the assassination in Lebanon of Saleh Arouri, a Hamas official. The website reported that Mansour had spent 20 years in Israeli prisons and accompanied Arouri for long years. However it stopped short of specifying the allegations against him. Mansour also appeared on Talking Point in March, April and May this year, when he was presented as an author and researcher in Israeli affairs. After being approached by The Telegraph, the BBC admitted it should have provided additional context about Mansour for its viewers. The corporations use of Mansour as a pundit has been criticised by the Campaign for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera), which lobbies for accurate and balanced coverage of Israel. A Camera spokesman said: As though repeatedly featuring unrepentant terrorists without due disclosure were not enough, Talking Point once sought Ismat Mansours so-called expert take specifically on Israels alleged responsibility for Palestinians murdering a Jewish civilian an attack just like the one he himself had taken part in and later suggested promotes peace. This programme alone speaks volumes about how seriously UK licence fee payers should take the BBCs statements about its Arabic service covering the war accurately, impartially and diligently. BBC Arabic has come under repeated criticism over claims its coverage of the Gaza war is biased against Israel and that a number of its presenters and journalists are sympathetic towards Hamas. It rejects the claims, maintaining that its coverage meets the BBCs editorial standards and is balanced and accurate. A BBC spokesperson said: Esmat Mansour is widely used as a commentator across media including The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel. BBC News Arabic is committed to hearing from a range of voices and perspectives, and although at times when we have heard from Mr Mansour we have referenced his 1993 conviction, we recognise that, when appropriate, further details should be given to provide additional context for our audience. 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. BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) The Beckley community turned out to celebrate a welcome addition to the City of Beckley on Friday, May 10, 2024. The Chris and Cameron Cline Center for Service and Worship, the new headquarters for the Beckley Salvation Army, hosted a grand opening celebration at the Robert C. Byrd Drive facility. Confetti flew, and Beckley Common Councilwoman (Ward 5) Janine Bullock led a prayer. Those gathered sang hymns before entering the facility, which had been under construction since March 2022. Plans had begun around 15 years before the doors officially opened on Friday. When the doors opened, the community got its first, long-awaited glimpse inside of the completed Chris and Cameran Cline Center for Service and Worship, which is named in honor of a late Beckley businessman and his daughter who perished in a plane crash in July 2019 in the Bahamas. Two Beckley clinics now offer TMS therapy for depression, but Medicaid doesnt cover it For Captain Liz Blusiewicz, the open door was the end of a journey. We cut the ribbon, opened the doors, said Captain Blusiewicz. We are now here for the public to come, to receive food boxes, utility assistance, rental assistance. We want to the be a place where the community knows, if I need help, the Salvation Army is the place I can go. Local community organizations gathered inside the gymnasium to celebrate and to offer crafts and activities to local kids who were able to attend. Veteran owned business booms in Raleigh County The center will offer after school activities for youth, and Captain Blusiewicz said the new Salvation Army headquarters hosts a Boys and Girls Club. Its after school, and folks can sign up now on our website, or they can come in person, pick up an application and sign your kids up, she said on Friday. We only have a couple spots left, so dont wait. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WVNS. Biden calls Trump unhinged and says something snapped in former president after he lost 2020 election President Joe Biden on Saturday called Donald Trump clearly unhinged and claimed that something snapped in the former president after he lost the 2020 election. Its clear that when he lost in 2020, something snapped in him, Biden told supporters just outside Seattle at a private fundraiser Saturday, according to reporters in the room. Hes not only obsessed with losing in 2020, hes clearly unhinged. Just listen to what hes telling people. Even though Biden thinks the presumptive GOP presidential nominee is unhinged, he said he believes the November election will be close. We feel good about the state of the race, but we know the race is close, Biden said, pointing to recent polls. Trump continues to hold an advantage over Biden, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS last month. Trumps support in the poll among registered voters held steady at 49% in a head-to-head matchup against Biden, the same as in CNNs last national poll on the race in January, while Bidens stood at 43%, not significantly different from Januarys 45%. As Trump has spent much of recent weeks in a Manhattan courtroom amid his hush money trial, Biden has kept a robust schedule of policy speeches and campaign events, finding plenty of ways to needle the former president. By the way, remember when he was trying to deal with Covid, he said just inject a little bleach in your veins? Biden told a crowd of builders last month. He missed. It all went to his hair. Saturdays Washington state fundraiser was held at the home of former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley, who introduced the president. As Biden was concluding his remarks, he told donors, Ill try my best not to disappoint you. This story has been updated to reflect that Bidens private fundraiser was in Medina, Washington, outside Seattle. CNNs Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Biden raises millions on West Coast as he says his campaign is underestimated President Biden raised millions of dollars for his reelection bid in Silicon Valley on Friday as he poked at former President Trump and argued that his campaign was being underestimated. The press doesnt want to write about it, but the momentum is clearly in our favor, with polls moving toward us and away from Trump, he said, noting that 1.6 million people have donated to the campaign, nearly all less than $200 each. He said his campaign has opened 150 offices in battleground states and Trump has opened zero offices. And its not just because hes on trial. California donors bankroll presidential campaigns on both sides of the aisle, and Biden and Trump have both raised more in the state for their reelection bids than anywhere else, according to the Federal Election Commission. The president is expected to return to Southern California for a fundraiser in June. Biden's Friday trip to California was his first since a February fundraiser at the Beverly Park estate of media mogul Haim Saban. The Israeli American billionaire prompted scrutiny this week because of an email he sent to senior Biden aides criticizing the administration's decision to put a shipment of weapons to Israel on hold because they could be used in an offensive against a densely populated city in southern Gaza. Read more: Hollywood mega-donor Haim Saban slams Biden's decision to halt weapons shipment to Israel Biden encountered protesters on both sides of the issue in the Bay Area, as well as in Seattle, where he flew after the California visit. As the president's motorcade drove to a Palo Alto fundraiser hosted by Marissa Mayer, the former chief executive of Yahoo, it encountered people holding Palestinian flags and signs that said Defund Israel" as well as another group waving Israeli flags. On Saturday, Biden addressed the conflict. There would be a cease-fire tomorrow if Hamas released the hostages women, the elderly and the wounded, Biden said. Israel said its up to Hamas if they wanted to do it, we could end it tomorrow. And the cease-fire would begin tomorrow. Biden made the comments at a fundraiser at the Medina, Wash., home of Jon Shirley, a former president and CEO of Microsoft, and his wife, Kim. At Friday's event hosted by Mayer, tickets cost up to $50,000, according to the news website Puck. An earlier fundraiser Biden headlined at the Portola Valley home of Vinod Khosla, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, cost up to $100,000. The two events were expected to raise $4 million. California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom attended the Mayer event. Biden called the two women a source of inspiration and noted his efforts to create a diverse administration. These two ladies here in my view and I mean this sincerely are emblematic of how America is changing, the president said. Theyre incredibly competent and theyre incredibly capable and theyre changing the whole emotion of what constitutes success and what can be done. Silicon Valley has grown into a fundraising juggernaut for political candidates and overwhelmingly favors Democrats. In the 2024 presidential election, Biden and associated groups backing his campaign have raised $17.1 million from the communications and electronics industry, which includes tech companies, according to an analysis of FEC data released April 22 by the nonpartisan nonprofit Open Secrets, which tracks electoral finances. Trump has raised $1.7 million. Trump did receive the backing of some notable tech leaders in his successful 2016 campaign, such as billionaire Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-founder who made history that year who said from the podium of the Republican National Convention that he is gay before Trump was nominated as the GOP candidate. Thiel and some other tech leaders backed away from Trump after the tumult of his presidency and in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that attempted to halt the certification of the 2020 election results. In the 2024 Republican primary, some backed other GOP candidates but have reportedly returned to the fold since Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee. "President Trump is building a historic and unified political movement to make America great again, receiving more than 90% approval from Republican voters, winning Independents by double digits, and picking up historic gains with longtime Democrat constituencies," campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "Anyone who believes in securing the border, rebuilding the economy, restoring American energy dominance, and ending the wars Joe Biden has created around the world is welcome to join President Trumps movement to make America great again, Leavitt said. National GOP leaders predicted Biden would lose in November dispute his fundraising prowess. Everyone is worse off under Joe Biden, but instead of correcting his failed Bidenomics agenda or securing the border, Biden is rubbing elbows with donors to save his flailing campaign, Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement. It wont work voters know that Biden is wrong on the issues, and theyll vote President Trump back in to the White House on November 5." First Lady Jill Biden was also in California raising money for her husbands reelection campaign in Marin County on Thursday and in Beverly Hills on Friday at the home of John Emerson, the U.S. ambassador to Germany under President Obama, and Kimberly Marteau Emerson, the spokesperson for the U.S. Information Agency under President Clinton. The event raised more than $450,000, John Emerson told attendees, who included media mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, a co-chair of Bidens reelection campaign. After recounting how Biden proposed marriage five times, Jill Biden laced into Trump. "Donald Trump is dangerous to our families and to our country," she said. "We are the first generation in half a century to give our daughters a country with fewer rights than we had. We simply cannot let him win." The president, speaking in Portola Valley, repeated jokes he has previously made about the former president. Not everyone is feeling the enthusiasm these days. The other day this guy walked up, said, 'Im in real trouble, short on cash, I dont know what to do.' I said, 'Donald, I cant help you,' Biden said. 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. Irina Vega had always been very curious about porn. From the first time I saw a video when I was young, I was really struck by the people who work in it, recalls the director and producer of Altporn4U.com. At the age of 24, she was living in Barcelona, where she was studying electronics and working in the hospitality industry. At that time, she started an open relationship in which she met people from the porn industry. She was encouraged to give it a try. Seventeen years have passed since then. Currently, there are those who think that the industry is evolving toward less sordid, more open, transparent and inclusive places, although there are also those who have doubts about it and those who believe that porn, by its very nature, is and always will be a source of exploitation. Now, its easier to find feminist porn, ethical porn... People who are curious and have a certain sensitivity can look for porn that is much more aligned with their tastes and values now, says Vega, 41, who has fought for the existence of alternative porn in Spain. I dont rely on statistics to produce porn, but I try to do something authorial, creative and with values, she says. Vega describes her feminist porn as films in which equality is considered both in front of and behind the camera: In front of the camera it should be clear that women also have a role as subjects and not as objects. Her website hosts dozens of pay-per-view films. In the manifesto section, they explain that their ethical values are diversity and feminism, which includes acceptance of all kinds of body shapes, gender identities, ages (as long as they are of age) and ethnicities. The pleasure of all performers matters. Before filming, performers choose who their sexual partners will be, discuss their tastes and agree on practices. Performers can choose whether they want to use a condom or not, providing up-to-date STD testing, reads the text. In addition, it explains that payments are fair and that each director or studio that performs is licensed or paid a commission for the sale of their content. There are other companies, such as PinkLabel.tv, Hardwerk, Lust Cinema, Pink & White and Wild Galaxies, among others, that are dedicated to this type of production. A subscription to PinkLabel costs 10 ($10.67) per month. Vega explains that for some years now, platforms have emerged, such as the ones mentioned above, that help independent producers and performers self-manage and upload their own content. However, this type of porn is still only a very small part of what is made within the industry. One need only type the word porn into a search engine and, in a matter of seconds, there are over 5.7 billion results on the internet, from which you can access websites that offer free content. The porn director and producer Paulita Pappel has secured grants from the German government to produce a pornography that invests in this more diverse type of product. They uploaded it on the internet for free so that anyone could watch it. I think its wonderful to see that a government is open and creates such interesting offerings for the public, Vega says proudly. For her part, Paulita explains that, since she was a child, she has been conflicted by feeling fascinated by porn while society always instilled in her that it is bad because it exploits women and has a markedly misogynistic character. Later on, I met feminist women who made a different kind of porn and sought to change it from within the industry. This movement began to emerge in the United States in the 1980s. In this type of production, consent and transparency always come first when filming. We make porn for women because until now porn has been defined as being for men, she explains. She notes that in her films she aspires to celebrate sexuality, desire and diversity, not only for women but for everyone. Although she describes what she does as feminist and ethical porn, she has stopped saying so because she no longer wants to reproduce the idea that mainstream porn is wrong. Today, most porn is done by people who sell it to platforms that distribute it, she says. For her, the kind of audiovisual content she makes is just like any other genre you can watch on Netflix. Ive been doing porn for the last 20 years and trying to change the way society sees it, offering something beyond the basics. She explains that she does not just try to create sexual excitement, but that her work seeks to make it a more complete experience and fulfill peoples fantasies in front of the camera. Before each shoot, she sends a questionnaire to all the actors so that they are the ones who choose which positions they want to perform in, their limits and their sexual preferences. There is and there has to be porn for all tastes, there should be no distinction between genders, she reflects. Against the concept of ethical porn Not everyone supports porns progress. In Spain, more and more pornography is being consumed and less and less actual sex is being had, sexologist Alejandro Villena Moya explains. For almost a decade, Villena has been treating patients with pornography addiction as the clinical director of the Darle Una Vuelta Association. For Villena, there is no such thing as ethical porn because the very concept is impossible to separate from prostitution. Villena is the author of the book POR que NO?: Como prevenir y ayudar en la adiccion a la pornografia [Why Not? How to prevent and help porn addiction]. He says that porn consumption is a digital escape route where the desire to share is lost. It has been proven that the higher the consumption of porn, the more cases of erectile dysfunction there are among men. The body is developing a preference for porn because it gets a rush of excitement that is so great that, when you have a real sexual relationship, it becomes boring and you need something else. Although they are trying to go off script, its not healthy, Villena opines about ethical porn directors. He is not the only academic to question the concept. The University of Dayton study But What about Feminist Pornography: Examining the Work of Tristan Taormino concluded that there are no healthy effects on its consumers sexual and relational lives. The intention is good, but that does not justify the fact that they are ultimately profiting from an unregulated industry that is known to abuse women and exploit minors and where there is a very high risk of addiction, observes Villena, who says that the focus should not be on improving pornography for women, but on improving sex education in society. Vega agrees: I wish sex education were promoted in schools so that, among other things, people would know how to consume this type of content and enjoy it just like everyone else without having to fall into an addiction. For sexologist Ivan Rotella, a member of the State Society of Sexology Professionals, there is no such thing as porn for women because women do not have a different desire from men: In any case, it should be called ethical porn. Rotella warns that increasingly more men are constructing their erotic imaginary through porn, and that is where they receive the sexual education they are not given at school or at home. I see it in my high school when I ask them and they believe that sexual relationships work like they do in porn, where women dont see themselves reflected. Conventional porn is made so that everything revolves around genitals, male pleasure and the penis. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Since 7th October Joe Biden initially trod an uncommonly clear path on the conflict in Israel and Gaza. While some Republicans hoped he would misstep, from the beginning he was a loyal and vocal ally to Israel. He expressed support for Israels war to return the hostages and defeat Hamas. And he provided the country with much-needed armaments, sometimes in emergency packages that allowed him to bypass the Congress and Senate. This is despite the fact that since the beginning the far-Left of his party have tried to pull him in a different direction. Israels response to Hamass atrocities sparked murmurings in the Democrat party that a prolonged war in the Middle East could hurt the partys electoral prospects in the election later this year. In an election year everything even matters that ought to be above the electoral cycle fall into the remit of the electoral cycle. At first Biden rejected these calls from his extremes. He knew that while there is a vocal minority of Americans who are fervent opponents of Israel, most Americans retain a strong support for the Jewish state and recognise it as Americas best ally in a troublesome region. To go by Bidens rhetoric you would have thought that his support was strong and indeed resolute. Then as the months went on that resolution wavered. In recent weeks he started to suggest that the war was going on too long or was being handled wrongly. The joke in Washington became that Biden was for a two-state solution: the two states in question being Minnesota and Michigan (two states with a relatively large Muslim electorate for the US). It is true that an increasing number of members of the Democrat party started to worry that Bidens full-throated support for Israel might lose them these two states in November. But still Biden continued the arms shipments. For some weeks his strategy seemed to be to increasingly placate the extreme left of his party while continuing to arm Israel as usual. Then this past week something changed. On Tuesday he gave a speech that suggested his unwavering support for the Jewish state, only to then that same evening withhold two shipments of munitions to the country. It is the first time since the conflict began that Israel faced a real weapons supply problem. Biden switched from saying critical things about Israel while supporting it, to saying nice things about Israel while abandoning it. The ostensible reason is that Biden is unsupportive of the IDFs move into Rafah. In military and strategic terms this makes no sense. The campaign to return the remaining Israeli hostages and destroy the leadership of Hamas cannot be achieved unless Israel goes into Rafah. To borrow a phrase from Israeli centrist minister Benny Gantz, there is no point in putting out three quarters of a fire. To destroy three quarters of the leadership of Hamas is not enough. If Hamas is left partly intact then not only will this war not be won by Israel, the fire will simply erupt again at some point in the very near future. There are criticisms from across the international community that the war is affecting too many of the civilians in Gaza. That is inevitable. Hamas operates from a densely populated area and deliberately embeds its military infrastructure in civilian buildings, as well as mosques, hospitals and other sites that the laws of war normally preclude from being military sites. But Israel is stuck in the situation of having to go into these densely populated areas anyway. If it stops at the outskirts of Rafah, much if not all of the war to date will be for nothing. So why is Biden doing this now? One reason is the simple matter of domestic electoral politics. But another is the seeming desire of Democrats in Washington to shift the power structure in Israel. Earlier this year the Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer the most senior Jewish leader in the Democrat party declared that Benjamin Netanyahu should be removed from office. It was an extraordinary intervention in Israeli affairs. Netanyahu is an elected leader of a democracy. His countrys allies and friends may disagree with him, but it is not normally deemed politic to demand that an ally replace a democratically elected leader. It is as outrageous for Schumer to declare a change of leadership in Jerusalem as it would be for Netanyahu to demand the removal of Chuck Schumer in Washington. It is an intolerable intervention in the affairs of a democratic country. But the idea seems to be gaining ground in the Democrat party that a change of leadership in Jerusalem would change the facts on the ground including the conduct of the war. Perhaps Bidens move against Israel is meant to shift the chess pieces of the coalition government in Jerusalem. If so it is a fantastic miscalculation. Having spoken to most, if not all, of the politicians from all sides who might one day replace Netanyahu, I can say with considerable certainty that there isnt a major figure of Left, centre or Right who would be conducting this war distinctly differently from Netanyahu. All are agreed on the objectives. All know the importance of returning any surviving hostages and winning a military victory against Hamas. Perhaps President Biden is hoping that Netanyahu will misstep. But for narrow domestic reasons and partisan politicking abroad it is Biden who has trodden badly. Betraying an ally is one thing. Breaking your word is another. In the space of a single week Biden has managed to do both. Douglas Murrays most recent book is The War on The West 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. Bidens whiplash messaging: My opponents a dictator, and Im battling 'shrinkflation.' Illustration: Benjamin Currie/HuffPost, Photos: Getty PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. My opponent wants to end our democracy, rule as an autocrat and by the way, did you notice my administration is cracking down on those outrageous airline luggage fees? Such is the whiplash-inducing messaging from President Joe Bidens White House and campaign as he seeks reelection, veering from warnings that his coup-attempting opponent would literally end the constitutional republic to boasts about how he is taking on snack food manufacturers who shrink their packages but charge the same price for them. Often both elements the small-ball and the apocalyptic are present in the same speech, as they were in December, when Biden spoke before an audience of donors in a living room overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Biden mentioned his expansion of the Affordable Care Act, his work to eliminate lead pipes from homes and the building of a high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles and then, minutes later, warned that the United States as we know it could end next year. I truly believe the future of American democracy is at stake, he said. Not a joke. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an authoritarianism researcher at New York University, acknowledged the seeming discordance of emphasizing more mundane issues when the countrys core principles are on the line. Maybe he fears fatigue in the public, she said. Michael Fanone, one of the 140 police officers assaulted by Trump supporters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, said Bidens team is failing to explain to Americans the gravity of the situation. Donald Trump is not just a threat to democracy because he talks about grabbing pussies and speaks in hyperbole he is a threat to democracy because of the things he tried to do as president of the United States, Fanone said. All those other issues are important, but theyre meaningless unless we have our democracy. Both the White House and Bidens campaign say Biden has, in fact, made the ongoing assault on democracy the organizing principle of his tenure to date. An animating feature of this presidency has been about the preservation of democracy and our democratic, small-d institutions, said White House communications director Ben LaBolt. But its important to be responsive to the day-to-day needs and wants of the American people. Typical voters are deeply frustrated by things like access to health care and the junk fees charged by banks and airlines, he said. They want to see corporations who take advantage of consumers held accountable. And to a senior paying $35 a month for insulin, rather than several hundred dollars, drug price cuts arent small ball, he added theyre a major quality of life improvement. That analysis, in fact, is shared by political consultants across the spectrum, who say that Biden must show Americans what he is doing for them, not just warn what Trump will do to them, if he wants to win in November. When it comes to putting democracy on the ballot, does it resonate with the typical voter? No, said Gunner Ramer, political director for the anti-Trump group the Republican Accountability Project. Swing voters arent particularly happy with the economy. Left unstated in such advice, of course, is a disquieting understanding: that a significant slice of Americans, likely not a majority but certainly enough to swing an election, would not be that bothered if the United States were to transition to an autocracy, run by a strongman promising to just get things done. A significant share of the electorate is sympathetic to autocracy maybe 20 to 25% or, at a minimum, doesnt have a problem with it, said Jonathan Weiler, a University of North Carolina political scientist and co-author of Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics, a 2009 book that predicted the rise of someone like Trump. And on this question, Weiler is joined by the only American president who tried to remain in power after losing his election: Trump himself. Asked in a recent interview whether he understood why Americans were so upset by his talk about a dictatorship, Trump flatly rejected that premise. I think a lot of people like it, he told Time magazine. From Charlottesville to Jan. 6 In his 2020 campaign, Biden made Trumps anti-democratic impulses and his open admiration for dictators a key part of his argument against the Republican incumbent. Biden cited Trumps assertion that there were very fine people on both sides of a violent, neo-Nazi protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 as the moment that spurred his decision to run, and portrayed the remark as an example of what he called Trumps fundamentally anti-American values. In a January 2020 essay published in Foreign Affairs, Biden used the word democracy 16 times, promising to reinvigorate our own democracy in order to reclaim Americas role in countering autocracy around the world. Just one year later, after having lost reelection by 7 million votes, Trump gave stunning proof to Biden and other critics most dire warnings: He attempted a coup, which failed when his vice president refused to go along with it and the police and National Guard eventually wrested control of the Capitol away from the mob Trump had riled up into attacking it. From that day forward, Bidens warnings about Trump and his allies continuing threat to American democracy became not merely speculative, but grounded in historical fact, with abundant archival video. Yet as Bidens reelection effort has coalesced, the existential peril that the countrys foundational principles continue to face has not been the singular foundational pillar of the campaign. Bidens recent speeches have instead focused more on his various achievements in office: passage of major legislation like a $1.2 trillion infrastructure law and a $280 billion package to invest in high-tech research and manufacturing, capping the cost of Medicare insulin prescriptions and going after airlines for charging travelers extra to check bags or seat families together, among other kitchen-table policies. Campaign spokesperson Charles Lutvak said Biden has spoken about the threat to democracy repeatedly, and that it is a key part of his message. We are running against a would-be dictator pledging to cut taxes for the billionaires and shiv the middle class, while gutting womens freedom to make their own health care decisions on the way, he said. We can, will, and must talk about the full range of threats Trump poses to the very core values that our country was founded on. Lutvak and others note that Biden has, indeed, given several landmark speeches focused almost exclusively on American democracy. On the first anniversary of the Capitol assault, Biden spoke from the scene of the insurrection and told America: Were engaged anew in a struggle between democracy and autocracy. Eight months later, heading into the 2022 midterms, Biden gave a prime-time address from Independence Hall in Philadelphia, in which he sounded the alarm about Trump and the cadre of election-denying candidates he had recruited for Senate and governors races. Too much of whats happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic, the president said. And in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on the third anniversary of Trumps coup attempt, Biden told his audience: This is not rhetorical, academic, or hypothetical. Whether democracy is still Americas sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time, and its what the 2024 election is all about. In his everyday speeches, though, Biden has been more likely to talk about everything but the threat to democracy. At a March 19 campaign speech in Phoenix, Biden referred to Trump four times, attacking him for the way he disparaged Latinos, his tax cuts and his openness to Social Security cuts without a word about Jan. 6. In an April 24 speech to the Building Trades union, Biden hit Trump for having inherited his wealth, for favoring tax cuts that benefit the rich, for opposing unions, for claiming that wind turbines cause cancer, for mismanaging COVID, for denying climate change, for increasing the national debt and for leaving office with fewer jobs than when he entered. But he never brought up Trumps attempt to remain in office despite losing the 2020 election. And in a speech the following day in Syracuseto tout a resurgence of microchip manufacturing in the United States, Biden only mentioned Trump a single time, and that was to mock him for perennially touting infrastructure week but never delivering. Soft-selling democracy That lack of singular focus incenses former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh. After all, the Republican-turned-independent says, if, in a constitutional republic, your opponent is now currently talking about ruling as an autocrat, should not that be the one overriding message, all day and every day? This is a one-fucking-issue campaign: I am your one line between our country and the end of democracy, said Walsh, who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2020. Win or die with that. The vast majority of Americans dont want authoritarianism. Social scientists who study autocracies, though, arent quite so confident that Americans would straight-up reject a potential dictator who promises lower gasoline and grocery prices, and other tangible benefits. Indeed, a recent Pew poll found that a quarter of Americans believe that an autocracy is a very good or somewhat good form of government, while another 28% think its only somewhat bad. Going even further, 15% of Americans surveyed said they think military rule would be good, and another 23% believe it would be only somewhat bad. Weiler said the ones in the somewhat bad camps most likely have not thought the question through and are probably not that attuned to politics to begin with. For this group, the Biden campaign believes that showing them how government can deliver in concrete terms to make their lives better is the best way to appeal to them, a kind of pocketbook approach to campaigning, he said. Boston College historian Heather Cox Richardson said that younger Americans have struggled through the Great Recession and then the COVID-19 pandemic, and that Biden may, as a starting point, need to persuade them about democracys intrinsic benefits. People who are under 50 have never seen a democracy that actually works for them. He is trying to emphasize that democracy can work for ordinary Americans, and also to remind everybody that this is a flight for the existence of democracy, she said. And Ben-Ghiat, whose book Strongmen, analyzes Trump in the context of the notorious dictators of the 20th century, said she, too, understands that many voters do not engage in intellectual comparisons between democracy and autocracy, which is why it is critical for Biden to reach them in other ways. Hes not somebody who doesnt get it. He does get it, she said of Biden. We know that voters sometimes dont think about big abstract things. They think about the price of gas and other things. That tactic is one Biden himself appreciates. In an October interview with ProPublica, the president noted that he won his first race for the Senate in 1972, the same election that saw Richard Nixon win reelection to the White House in a national landslide. The lesson he took away was that Democrats had a tendency to engage too much with party elites, and not enough with their core voters. A lot of the guys that I grew up with in Claymont, Delaware, in Scranton, Pennsylvania they feel like theyre not being respected. Not so much by policy just by the failure to talk about their needs, he said, explaining his rationale to speak about basic economic matters. At the same time, Biden continues to make the hard sell on democracy for its own sake paired with warnings about looming authoritarianism to select audiences including the journalists who cover him and Trump. Every single one of us has roles to play, a serious role to play in making sure democracy endures American democracy. I have my role, but, with all due respect, so do you, he told journalists gathered at the White House Correspondents Association dinner late last month. So, tonight, Id like to make a toast: to a free press, to an informed citizenry, to an America where freedom and democracy endure. The next pandemic could be starting up in American dairies, according to investigative journalist and fast food expert Eric Schlosser. The Fast Food Nation author, who is also producing a documentary about the fast food system in America, told Bill Maher that the sudden prevalence of bird flu in dairy farms was cause for alarm during his appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night. We have avian influenza being spread by cows, and scientists had no idea until a few weeks ago that this influenza could even be in cows at all, Schlosser began. According to the CDC, a multi-state outbreak of bird flu in cows was first reported on March 25. As of Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported 42 herds across nine states had been affected. Bird-to-mammal transmission is rare, the CDC said, but its appearance in cows could put more humans at risk of contraction. Only one person, a Texas dairy worker, has tested positive for bird flu since the outbreak and suffered mild symptoms. But there are a number of reasons why other cases might go unreported. Whats very concerning is right now, the federal government is not allowed to go into these mega areas that have ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand cows and test them for influenza, Schlosser said. The federal government cant go into these mega dairies and test the workers, many of whom are undocumented and quite fearful of if they test positive. Schlosser added that the real problem with outbreak prevention was the resistance of big agriculture to allow federal health officials to investigate on their farms. You have big ag and big dairy companies preventing the CDC from investigating what could be a life threatening illness eventually to people, Schlosser continued. And its a perfect example of how public health is being threatened by private interests. Though the CDC has said the risk to the public is low, federal authorities on Friday put $200 million toward prevention to incentivize dairy farms to control the spread. That money would go toward testing dairy cows and dairy workerswho are most at risk of contracting the diseaseas well as to provide a financial bubble to cover losses farms may take from contaminated milk. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Bill Taylor looks back on his broadcast journalism career on the eve of his retirement from Milwaukee's WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) on June 27, 2001. Taylor, who launched "Positively Milwaukee" during nearly 30 years at Channel 4, has died at age 79. Bill Taylor, the longtime Milwaukee news broadcaster who launched the "Positively Milwaukee" segment at WTMJ-TV (Channel 4), has died, according to his former station. He was 79. Channel 4 published a statement from Taylor's family on May 9: "We are deeply saddened by the passing of our father, grandfather, husband and friend William A. Taylor, also known as Bill Taylor. Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the legacy of this Vietnam veteran, news giant, 29-year journalist, radio personality, historian, speaker, community activist and Pan-Africanist. After battling a range of health issues, he succumbed to pneumonia." Taylor died the night of May 8, according to his longtime friend and colleague Clayborn Benson. Taylor was living in the Augusta, Georgia, area at the time of his death. Channel 4 said Taylor's family asked for privacy and said that plans for a memorial of his life would be announced later. Taylor grew up on Chicago's south side. After he was drafted and worked with the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network, he decided to go into broadcasting. In 1970, he came to Milwaukee's WNOV-AM (860) as a DJ spinning "Taylor made soul," according to a 1971 Milwaukee Journal story and later program director. There, he quickly became a familiar voice in the community. Bill Taylor (right, with Bob Perry, Bill Kenner and Cecil Hale) was hired as a DJ by Milwaukee's WNOV-AM (860) in 1970. He became program director of the station before switching to TV news. He joined Channel 4 as a reporter in 1972. While he covered a range of local subjects at the Milwaukee NBC affiliate, Taylor also went on reporting assignments overseas, from Israel to Somalia. In 1974, Taylor and Channel 4 photojournalist Clayborn Benson spent several weeks in Ghana for a four-part series on life in the western African nation, including talking with Black Americans who had moved to Ghana. "It was a special moment in both of our lives," said Benson, who went on to found the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum in Milwaukee. " It was part of Ghana's back-to-Africa philosophy, encouraging African Americans to return home and we were part of that movement." "That's why I'm at the museum now," said Benson, the museum's executive director. "We found our identity through our African brothers and sisters. Of course, much of what I found was through him. We spent a lot of time in the car talking about African thinking and Kwanzaa celebrations and what it means and from where it comes "I mean, that's why I am (who I am) today, because of rich conversations we had about our African roots." Meanwhile, Taylor's steady on-camera presence quickly made him a fixture on Channel 4 newscasts, and a familiar face in the community. "He brought a calmness to the conversation when it was in crisis, and people liked him," Benson recalled. "Whenever we went on stories, he was inclusive. He allowed people to bring their self into the picture." Taylor became a fill-in news anchor and briefly led the station's 6:30 a.m. newscast before being named anchor of Channel 4's noon news in 1989. Around that time, Taylor began a recurring news segment focusing on more upbeat stories in the community. The segment and its name, "Positively Milwaukee," came about by accident. Searching for a signature line to end his midday newscast, Taylor came up with, "Do something positive today." "I did it at first as a way to have something to endear the program to viewers," Taylor told Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane in 2001. "Then the phones started ringing, people would call up to say, 'I took some kids out for ice cream,' or they volunteered at a local shelter. "They would ask me, 'Is that positive?' There were so many calls like that, we decided to show some of the faces behind these suggestions." So Taylor began seeking out stories about people doing good things in the community, and "Positively Milwaukee" was born. The recurring segment became a signature for Taylor and for Channel 4. Taylor shifted to anchoring the station's weekend newscasts in 1991, and then in 1995 was moved to co-anchor Channel 4's then-new 11 a.m. weekday news program. Bill Taylor talks about his broadcasting career on the eve of his retirement from WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) on June 27, 2001. When he announced his retirement in 2001 at age 56, he had been in Milwaukee broadcasting for more than 30 years. As with the rest of his career, Taylor left on his own terms. "When he decided he was going to quit, he quit," Benson remembered. "He didn't look back." After leaving Channel 4, Taylor and his wife, Daphne, moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where their youngest daughter was starting college. They later moved to Georgia. Taylor came back to Milwaukee a couple of few times after his retirement, and he was scheduled to be grand marshal at the city's Juneteenth parade in 2020 before it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. "I was fortunate enough to work with Bill Taylor for a couple of years before he retired," Gregg Schraufnagel, station manager at Channel 4, said via email. "Bill cared deeply about Milwaukee and sharing the good things that happened in our city. He was a champion of unsung heroes. In addition to creating the 'Positively Milwaukee' segments and stories, he would often go out with a photojournalist and just ask people, 'What are you doing that's positive today?' It was an unexpected question for a lot of people and challenged them to focus on things that are right with the world. What a legacy that is." This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bill Taylor, TV anchor who started 'Positively Milwaukee,' dies (Reuters) -Billionaire investor Kenneth Griffin called on his alma mater Harvard University on Saturday to embrace "Western values", saying that the turmoil across college campuses was the product of a "cultural revolution" in U.S. education. Griffin, founder of U.S. hedge fund Citadel, told the Financial Times in an interview that the U.S. had "lost sight of education as the means of pursuing truth and acquiring knowledge" over the past decade. "Harvard should put front and centre (that it) stands for meritocracy in America...," Griffin said, adding that schools should "embrace Western values that have built one of the greatest nations in the world." Griffin who has donated more than half a billion dollars to Harvard University said in January that he has halted donations to the school over how it handled antisemitism on campus. "What you're seeing now is the end-product of this cultural revolution in American education playing out on American campuses, in particular, using the paradigm of the oppressor and the oppressed," Griffin told the FT. "The protests on college campuses are almost like performative art..," he said. "Freedom of speech does not give you the right to storm a building or vandalise it," he added. "That's not freedom of speech. That's just anarchy." Griffin's remarks come amid arrests of dozens of pro-Palestinian activists at universities across America in the latest crackdowns on demonstrations roiling U.S. campuses. The protesting students are demanding a cease-fire in Israel's incursion into Gaza and have demanded their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel. Since the first mass arrests at Columbia University on April 18, at least 2,600 demonstrators have been detained at more than 100 protests in 39 states and Washington, D.C., according to The Appeal, a nonprofit news organization. Griffin, who started trading in his Harvard dormitory, spoke at the Managed Funds Association conference in Miami in January about America's elite universities and criticized the education at the universities blaming the "DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) agenda." (Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft) A nurses station is seen in an undated image. A bill that would allow nurses with lapsed state licenses to get temporary permits, one of three health bills that won final passage on Friday, is seen as a way to help address Alaska's nursing shortage. (Photo by FS Productions/Getty Images) The Alaska Senate on Friday passed a trio of bills broadly aimed at improving delivery of health care, granting final approval to the measures. All three, which originated in the House, are now headed to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for his consideration. One measure, House Bill 228, would set up a state task force to recommend regulations for use of psychedelic medicines that the federal government is expected to approve soon. The first of those medicines expected to be approved, called MDMA, is considered useful for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is anticipated within months. Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, who carried the bill on the Senate side, pointed out that it does not legalize or take any position on psychedelic medicines. Instead, it creates a task force designed to prepare Alaska and our regulatory framework should the FDA approve the medical use of these substances, which some folks are anticipating could happen as early as August this year, he said. Alaska is well-positioned to benefit from psychedelic therapies, Dunbar said. Among all U.S. states, Alaska has the highest percentage of military veterans, some of whom have suffered post-traumatic stress, he said. Alaska also has high rates of suicide and large numbers of residents who have endured domestic violence and other traumatic events that lead to mental health problems, he said. Psychedelic-assisted therapy can help some of those people. Not everyone, but some. And that means everything in the world, he said. He referred to powerful supportive testimony from military veterans and health experts that senators heard in committee. Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, speaks on Friday in support of a bill that would establish a task force to make recommendations on how the state should regulate psychedelics that are expected to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of mental disorders. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon) The bill was also guided by input from Indigenous experts, Dunbar said. In addition to calling together experts from public health and the Alaska Psychiatric Association and the registered nurse alliance and more, this bill also has voices from the Alaska Native and traditional healing communities, he said. They have been using some of these naturally occurring medicines for thousands of years. And it was important to myself and the sponsor in the other body that those Indigenous voices were heard, as they perhaps havent been in other states that have gone down this path and are tackling this issue. The Senate passed the bill by an 18-1 vote. Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, cast the lone vote in opposition. The House had passed the bill on May 2 by a 36-4 vote. In floor comments leading up to that vote, Rep. Jennie Armstrong, D-Anchorage, the main sponsor, also referred to military veterans mental-health challenges. And she pointed to results from clinical trials. The Phase 3 trial data for the MDMA therapy that is currently under review found that 71.2% of patients who completed this therapy no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. If I could drop this mike, I would, Armstrong said. I just cannot stress how much of a miracle that is for folks who went from having severe PTSD who are unable to lead normal lives and many of whom are suicidal to having their lives completely changed and be so radically healed in just a few months. Temporary nursing permits and changes to the medical review system The second health bill approved by the Senate on Friday would allow nurses with lapsed state licenses to be granted temporary permits valid for up to six months. Such temporary permits are already granted to nurses who are applying for their initial state licenses, lawmakers pointed out. Giving the same opportunity to nurses who previously had licenses will help encourage some to return more quickly to service in Alaska from retirement or other breaks, they said. The measure, House Bill 237, is a technical fix to a problem that we should have addressed a long time ago, said Sen. David Wilson, R-Wasilla, who carried the bill on the Senate side, where it was approved unanimously. Sen. David Wilson, R-Wasilla, speaks on Friday in support of a bill that would grant temporary permits for nurses with lapsed licenses. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon) Granting a temporary license to those seeking reinstatement of lapsed licenses poses no more risk to the public than does the current temporary licensing of first-time applicants, he said in floor comments. A person with a lapsed Alaska nursing license is a person that meets all the nurses licensing requirements back when they first applied, he said. The bill is one way the state can address its nursing shortage, Wilson added. A similar pitch was made when the bill passed unanimously in the House on March 13. There, House Majority Leader Dan Saddler, R-Eagle River, praised the bill in comments just before the vote was taken. Having known a nurse for many years, I know that I can speak confidently that once a nurse, always a nurse, at heart if not necessarily in the eyes of the law, Saddler said, referring to a family member. Given the significant needs for health care workers at all levels in our state and the paucity of nurses to fill them, I think this bill is an innovative, creative and eminently good bill to help retired nurses who want to return to full licensed status to help provide for the health care needs of Alaskans. The bill will do more than shorten the time needed to get nurses back to work, Saddler added. It may save six months, but it may also save lives. The third health measure approved by the Senate on Friday, House Bill 371, makes changes to the way groups in Alaska that review patient deaths are organized and managed. House Bill 371 will improve the review committee process for the medical review organization to better prevent and reduce avoidable deaths, illnesses and injuries for Alaskans, Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, said in floor comments preceding the vote. Bjorkman was carrying the bill on the Senate side for the sponsor, a fellow Kenai Peninsula legislator, Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna. Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks to House Clerk Krys Jones on Wednesday. Ruffridge sponsored the bill that allows for more expansive membership on medical review boards. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) The organizations review deaths and bad outcomes to make recommendations for improvements, Bjorkman said. The bill expands the pool of professionals who can participate in review committees by replacing a list of specific types of providers with a broader definition that encompasses more of the industry, Bjorkman said. The bill also allows for inclusion of other professionals who might have relevant knowledge, such as state troopers, first responders and social workers, he said. It transfers committee approval duties to the state Department of Health chief medical officer from the state medical board, a change expected to improve efficiencies, he said. And it clarifies the way nonconfidential information and summary data may be released, he said. The bill passed the House on March 25 by a 33-7 vote. Another health bill that has moved forward is a measure, House Bill 285, that would bar insurance companies from requiring patients to share costs of diagnostic breast examinations, procedures that are more thorough and specialized than the basic screening mammograms that most patients use. That bill, sponsored by Rep. Zack Fields, D-Anchorage, passed the House by a 37-1 vote on April 26 and was pending in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee as of Friday. The post Bills on psychedelics, temporary nursing permits and medical reviews pass in Alaska Legislature appeared first on Alaska Beacon. NEW YORK (PIX11) A turkey call is not a typical midtown sound but one distinct bird has made an appearance among the high rises of Park Avenue and perched at Saks Fifth Avenue. The turkey has been seen walking among the cars and flying between the medians. NYC wild animals are New Yorkers too: Give them plenty of space A network of birdwatchers and photographers have been looking out for her. David Barrett hosts Manhattan Bird Alert on social media. Heavy traffic and people on foot, its a chance to glimpse a magnificent wild bird that they normally wouldnt see, he said. The turkey has been nicknamed Astoria. Earlier reports had the bird in Queens. She may have crossed the East River via a stop on the Queensboro Bridge or Roosevelt Island. Turkeys can quickly fly shorter distances, as shown in some of the video that has been posted on social media. Cruise ship sails into NYC port with 44-foot dead whale across bow Its challenging to do a rescue of a wild bird thats healthy. Generally, rescues take place with birds that are ill or injured. This turkey can fly. Thats making it hard to catch, Barrett said. Staten Island and the Bronx have wild turkey flocks. Wild Bird Fund is a wildlife rehabilitation and education center. They are monitoring the situation. A rescue attempt was made but the healthy bird flew away. She seems healthy and very strong. At this point we hope shell find a safer place to be such as a park, a Fund representative said. Zelda was a famous turkey who lived in Battery Park for a decade. Its believed she traveled down from the Bronx. They have been spotted in Central Park. Sightings are considered rare in Manhattan. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11. CHICAGO Julie Harris had never been tested for lung cancer. A low-dose CT scan, the only recommended screening for adults at risk of developing lung cancer, was not something shed ever found time to do. But when her primary care doctor recently suggested a new blood test to help look for signs of the disease, Harris was intrigued. She had her blood drawn the same day, in the same building as her doctors appointment. It was something that was accessible at the moment, so it was like, Sure, lets go ahead and do that and see how the results are, said Harris, 67, of Pekin. Harris, who is a longtime smoker, said if the results are positive, shell get a low-dose CT scan next to screen for the disease. Science just keeps moving forward, she said. Harris is among the first group of patients in Illinois to get the blood test as part of a pilot program at health system OSF HealthCare, which is offering the test at 18 locations. OSF leaders hope the blood test will improve early detection of lung cancer, which kills more people in the U.S. than any other single type of cancer. OSFs adoption of the blood test is part of a growing movement in medicine to use less invasive screenings to look for signs of cancer in patients, especially patients who may be reluctant to undergo more traditional, involved tests. A number of blood tests to help detect various types of cancer are now in development, according to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Some health systems, such as OSF, are starting to offer the blood tests to patients, while others are waiting with cautious optimism for more long-term data on the tests. This is the future, said Dr. Jared Meeker, a pulmonologist at OSF, said of the new blood test. The blood test being used at OSF is not meant to replace a low-dose CT scan, which involves lying on a table that slides in and out of a type of X-ray machine. The FirstLook Lung blood test, developed by Delfi Diagnostics, based in California and Maryland, cannot diagnose lung cancer. But doctors hope that patients who might not want a CT scan perhaps because it would require too much time, travel or effort will consent to undergoing the blood test. If the blood test comes back positive, indicating a possibility of lung cancer, OSF leaders hope patients will then be more likely to agree to a low-dose CT scan. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that people at higher risk of developing lung cancer get low-dose CT scans annually. Higher-risk patients are those who are between the ages of 50 and 80 who have been moderate to heavy smokers, who are current smokers or who quit within the past 15 years. But only about 4.5% of those people actually got low-dose CT scans in 2022, according to an American Lung Association report. If everyone who was eligible for low-dose CT scanning was having it already, our test wouldnt be helpful, said Dr. Peter Bach, chief medical officer at Delfi. The problem we have is theyre not, so what were trying to do is accelerate the conversations between them and their doctors about low-dose CT and inform them. The blood test works by looking for patterns of DNA fragments in the blood that could indicate lung cancer. If a person has lung cancer that would be detectable on a low-dose CT scan, theres an 80% chance the blood test will come back positive, while if the blood test is negative, theres a 99.8% chance the person does not have lung cancer, Bach said. Delfi is seeking approval of its test from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which in recent weeks announced it plans to more tightly regulate laboratory developed tests. Until now, its primarily been the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regulating laboratory testing. Delfi says the blood test has breakthrough designation from the FDA, which is a designation meant to help speed up the development, review and assessment of certain devices and products. The blood test is not covered by health insurance, and Delfi declined to give a price. OSF leaders say they are still working out the pricing but are aiming to make the test as accessible as possible to patients. Neither OSF nor Delfi would say whether patients now undergoing the test at OSF are being charged. Low-dose CT scans are covered by health insurance. Blood tests made by other companies to help detect cancers have list prices of about $900 to $950. OSF doctors hope the blood test will lead to earlier detection for patients with lung cancer. The five-year survival rate for people with very small tumors that havent spread to the lymph nodes is 90%, but the five-year survival rate for people with lung cancer that has spread to other organs is only 7%, according to the Cleveland Clinic. No one wants to diagnose Stage 3 and Stage 4 lung cancer, Meeker said. Its devastating. Patients might not always fully understand the implications of late diagnosis, said Dr. Tim Vega, chief population health officer at OSF. People think, Im smoking, if I get it, Ill just check out very quickly, Vega said. They dont realize it could be years of difficulty for them and their families. At OSF, about 33% of eligible patients already receive low-dose CT scans far better than national numbers but still not as high as doctors would like, Vega said. OSF leaders are looking toward the success of Cologuard as a model of how the new blood test might help patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Cologuard about 10 years ago as an at-home screening test for colon cancer. Patients mail a stool sample to a lab, which then analyzes it a much quicker and less invasive task for patients than undergoing a colonoscopy. As with the Delfi blood test, a positive result from Cologuard is not a cancer diagnosis, but means a person may have it and needs further testing. OSF started offering Cologuard to patients a few years ago and found that when patients get positive test results, they almost always agree to have a colonoscopy next, Vega said. OSF isnt the only health provider with high hopes for the blood test. The White House recently noted, in an announcement about President Joe Bidens Cancer Moonshot, that Delfi is working with the Indigenous PACT Foundation to improve lung cancer screening among American Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest. Delfi is also working with City of Hope on a clinical study, funded by the American Cancer Society, to improve lung cancer screening in underserved Los Angeles County communities. Doctors are keeping an eye on other types of blood tests as well, watching how they perform. Companies Grail and Guardant Health also offer blood tests to help detect various types of cancer. University of Illinois Cancer Center is now involved in a clinical trial to help study Grails blood test, which screens for a cancer signal shared by multiple cancers. I still think that we have a long way to figure out how these types of tests fit into the broader context of cancer prevention and screening, but its very exciting, said Dr. Ameen Salahudeen, an assistant professor of medicine at University of Illinois at Chicago, a member of the UI Cancer Center and an investigator in the trial, which is sponsored by Grail. I never want to see someone with advanced cancer that could have been caught sooner, so personally, I believe that tests like these will have a role in the future. Dr. Rajat Thawani, an assistant professor of medicine at University of Chicago Medicine and thoracic oncologist, said such blood tests are promising, but before theyre adopted widely, more long-term data is likely needed about whether the tests can help lead to better quality and length of life for patients. Theres a lot of excitement in the utility of how its going to play out in the future, but I think right now we have to make sure it actually leads to a meaningful change in the longevity of patients, Thawani said. If the Delfi blood test makes a difference at OSF, leaders hope to offer it throughout the health system within a year, said Ryan Luginbuhl, OSF service line vice president for oncology services. OSF HealthCare has nearly 160 locations, including 16 hospitals, in Illinois and Michigan. Most of its locations are in central and northern Illinois, and the system includes OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park as well as primary care, practices and urgent care centers in the Chicago area. We will do everything we can when we hope this proves to be effective to get this to as many patients as possible, Luginbuhl said. ____ From a flaky skull, found as flat as a pizza on a cave floor in northern Iraq, the face of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman named Shanidar Z has been reconstructed. With her calm and considered expression, Shanidar Z looks like a thoughtful, approachable, even kindly middle-aged woman. She is a far cry from the snarling, animalistic stereotype of the Neanderthal first created in 1908 after the discovery of the old man of La Chapelle. On the basis of the old man and the first relatively complete skeleton of its kind to be found, scientists made a series of presumptions about Neanderthal character. They believed Neanderthals to have a low, receding forehead, protruding midface and heavy brow representing a baseness and stupidity found among lower races. These presumptions were influenced by prevailing ideas about the scientific measurement of skulls and racial hierarchy ideas now debunked as racist. This reconstruction set the scene for understanding Neanderthals for decades, and indicated how far modern humans had come. By contrast, this newest facial reconstruction, based on research at the University of Cambridge, invites us to empathize and see the story of Neanderthals as part of a broader human history. I think she can help us connect with who they were, said paleoarchaeologist Emma Pomeroy, a member of the Cambridge team behind the research, while speaking in a new Netflix documentary, Secrets of the Neanderthals. The documentary delves into the mysteries surrounding the Neanderthals and what their fossil record tells us about their lives and disappearance. It was not paleoanthropologists, however, who created Shanidar Z but well-known paleoartists Kennis and Kennis, who sculpted a modern human face with a recognizable sensibility and expressions. This drive towards historical facial reconstruction, which invokes emotional connection, is increasingly commonplace through 3D technologies and will become more so with generative AI. As a historian of emotion and the human face, I can tell you there is more art than science at work here. Indeed, it is good art, but questionable history. Technologies like DNA testing, 3D scans and CT imaging help artists to generate faces like Shanidar Zs, creating a naturalistic and accessible way of viewing people from the past. But we should not underestimate the importance of subjective and creative interpretation, and how it draws on contemporary presumptions, as well as informing them. Faces are a product of culture and environment as much as skeletal structure, and Shanidar Zs face is largely based on guesswork. It is true that we can assert from the shape of the bones and a heavy brow, for instance, that an individual had a pronounced forehead or other baseline facial structures. But theres no scientific evidence about how that persons facial muscles, nerves and fibers overlaid skeletal remains. Kennis and Kennis have attested to this themselves in an interview with The Guardian in 2018 about their practice. There are some things the skull cant tell you, admits Adrie Kennis. You never know how much fat someone had around their eyes, or the thickness of the lips, or the exact position and shape of the nostrils. Its an enormous imaginative and creative work to invent the skin color, forehead lines or half-smile. All these features suggest friendliness, accessibility, approachability qualities defining modern emotional communication. If we have to make a reconstruction, Adrie Kennis explained, we always want it to be a fascinating one, not some dull white dummy thats just come out of the shower. Doctor Emma Pomeroy with Shanidar Z in the documentary 'Secrets of the Neanderthals.' Netflix Overlaying skeletal remains with modern affect reasserts the recent re-envisioning of Neanderthals as just like us rather than club-wielding thugs. Only in the past 20 years have Neanderthals been discovered to share modern human DNA, coinciding with the discovery of many similarities over differences. For instance, burial practices, caring of the sick and a love of art. This reimagining of Neanderthals is historically and politically interesting because it draws on contemporary ideas about race and identity. But also because it recasts the popular narrative of human evolution in a way that prioritizes human creativity and compassion over disruption and extinction. The neglected history of the human face It is creativity and imagination that determines the friendly facial expression that makes Shanidar Z sympathetic and relatable. We dont know what kinds of facial expressions were used by or were meaningful to Neanderthals. Whether or not Neanderthals had the vocal range or hearing of modern humans is a matter of debate and would have dramatically influenced social communication through the face. None of this information can be deduced from a skull. Facial surgeon Daniel Saleh told me about the cultural relevance of Shanidar Z: As we age, we get crescentic creases [wrinkles] around the dimple this changes the face but there is no skeletal correlation to that. Since facial expressions like smiling evolved with the need for social communication, Shanidar Z can be seen an example of overlaying contemporary ideas about soft tissue interaction on the bones, rather than revealing any scientific method. This matters because theres a long, problematic history of ascribing emotions, intelligence, civility and value to some faces and not others. How we represent, imagine and understand the faces of people past and present is a political, as well as social activity. Historically, societies have made the faces of those they want to be connected to more emotionally empathetic. When cultures have determined, however, certain groups they dont want to connect to and, in fact, want to marginalize, we have seen grotesque and inhuman ideas and depictions rise around them. Take, for example, anti-Black caricatures from the Jim Crow era in the U.S. or cartoons of Jewish people made by the Nazis. By representing this 75,000-year-old woman as a contemplative and kindly soul who we can relate to, rather than a snarling, angry (or blank featured) cypher, we are saying more about our need to rethink the past than any concrete fact about the emotional lives of Neanderthals. There is nothing inherently wrong with artistically imagining the past, but we need to be clear about when that happens and what it is for. Otherwise, we ignore the complex power and meanings of the face in history, and in the present. Fay Bound Alberti is a Professor in Modern History and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, Kings College London. This article was originally published in The Conversation. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition (KRON) The Brentwood Police Department is searching for a 15-year-old girl who has not been seen since she was dropped off for school on Wednesday. Demari Powell, 15, was dropped off at Heritage High School, located at 101 American Ave., at 9:12 a.m. but did not attend class on Wednesday. She is known to frequent downtown Brentwood, but police believe she may be in San Francisco. BPD described her as a runaway. New details revealed on doctor who drove family over Devils Slide cliff Demari is 5-foot-2, 120 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. She has a scar on her forehead, a cross tattoo on her right forearm and an evil eye tattoo on her right hand, police said. She was last seen wearing a red crop top, blue jeans, a black-and-white polka dot belt and a Buddha necklace. California Highway Patrol issued an Ebony Alert for Demaris disappearance, which is used to draw attention to missing Black women and children. Anyone with information about Demaris whereabouts is asked to call (925) 809-7911. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4. Adrian Kozakov is raising funds for Fund a Life of Brighton to celebrate his birthday and graduation from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. BRIGHTON Adrian Kozakov doesn't want gifts for his birthday or college graduation. He wants you to donate. Kozakov is raising funds for Fund a Life of Brighton to celebrate his birthday and graduation from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Anyone interested in supporting Adrians 22 for 22 can donate online at fundalife.org. Kozakov is hoping to raise $22,000. I want to raise as much as possible to help support Fund a Life, said Kozakov, a 2020 graduate of Brighton High School. Fund a Life provides grants to individuals and families going through life-altering challenges, according to its website. It was founded by Mark Howell, a local resident diagnosed with cancer in 2012. The community raised $200,000 to support Howell and his family, and he created the nonprofit to have a similar impact on others. Howell and Kozakov connected through Brightons Senior Survivor in 2020. Inspired by Fund a Lifes message, Kozakov created the Drive to Survive fundraiser in 2020. Roughly 75 classic vehicles drove 80 miles from Brighton High School to the M1 Concourse in Pontiac to support the cause. Since then, I just try to help in any way I can whether its leaving a donation, fundraisers or volunteering, Kozakov said. This years Drive to Survive is set for Saturday, June 29. Kozakov said this years route will include different starting points meeting at M1 to enjoy dinner, drinks, a live band and other activities. Subscribe: Get all your breaking news and unlimited access to our local coverage Kozakov said he feels joy seeing so many people with the same hobby give to a cause he cares deeply about. It really goes full circle its a great feeling, he said. Fund a Life has awarded more than 160 grants totaling more than $1 million, according to its website. Contact reporter Evan Sasiela at esasiela@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @SalsaEvan. This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton college grad raising funds for local nonprofit Dame Carol Black fears too many people are being consigned to an 'inexorable journey into worklessness' - Paul Grover Sick notes issued by GPs are no longer fit for purpose as Britains overstretched health service is allowing more people to drift into worklessness, the Governments new occupational health tsar has said. Dame Carol Black, who oversaw the creation of the current fit note system, said its failure risked condemning millions of people with manageable health conditions to a life on benefits. The former president of the Royal College of Physicians played a crucial role in the construction of the current system. Her independent reviews in 2008 and 2011 led to the sick note being rebranded a fit note. However, Dame Carol said the programme was failing because an increasingly fragile NHS left doctors with no choice but to issue repeated sick notes that left people who may be able to work stranded outside the labour force. Almost 94pc of the 7.5 million people who saw a GP or other qualified medic regarding a fit note last year were signed off work. Many are not required to return to work for up to 12 weeks at a time, or longer in some circumstances. Dame Carol, who has previously been commissioned by both Labour and the Tories to examine the causes of health-related economic inactivity, warned that both parties had failed to create a safety net that enabled people to keep working. The rheumatologist accused successive governments of stopping mid-flight on the roll-out of key policies, branding a flagship scheme introduced in 2015 to help people deal with health conditions as little more than a call centre. She warned that too many people were being consigned to an inexorable journey into worklessness. Benefits paid to people of working age currently cost the taxpayer 69bn a year and Rishi Sunak has vowed to overhaul the system and tackle what he has called a sick-note culture. The Prime Minister also wants to transform the fit note system designed by Dame Carol and introduced by Labour in 2010 to reduce the burden on GPs issuing them. Ministers changed the law last year to allow fit notes to be issued by any physician, including nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Dame Carols reforms were meant to keep more people with health problems in work by suggesting how employers could make adjustments to accommodate them. It would help make people fit for work. Dame Carol, who worked as a doctor for three decades, says her 'fit note' system was supposed to keep more people in work - Eleanor Bentall She said: The intention was that the fit note would be the beginning of a journey that would try to keep as many people as close to the labour market as possible and get them back into work as quickly as possible. However, Dame Carol said an overstretched NHS was unable to properly use the system because of pressure on the system. Sadly, less than 10pc are actually fit notes. Its very low. Therefore, I have to come to the very sad conclusion that we didnt succeed. Britain is currently in the grips of the worst sickness crisis on record, which is fuelling worklessness. The share of working-age people who are economically inactive owing to long-term sickness has climbed relentlessly over the past four and a half years from two million in the summer of 2019 to 2.8 million today. Overall, there are now 9.4 million people of working age who are economically inactive, the highest level in a decade. Dame Carol, who is now chairman of the British Library, said the current process of being signed-off was allowing people to lose contact with the idea of going back to work. NHS data shows more than 30,000 people were signed off work for between five to 12 weeks for mental and behavioural disorders in December 2023 alone. Dame Carol, who worked as a doctor for three decades, said people should not be given a sick note for more than four to six weeks without having a thorough assessment of the next steps. If you let someone go beyond six weeks with a medical certificate, we know that you start going on a trajectory where you will not return to work. One in six people who drop out of the workforce because of ill health return to work in the first year after leaving. After 12 months, however, the rate drops to just one in 20. When youve been out of work for 20 weeks or more, very few people manage to make that journey back. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates more than half of the 2.8 million people of working-age who are inactive for health reasons have been out of work for more than three years, while half a million have never had a job. The recent surge in sick notes is being fuelled by a mental health crisis and a sharp rise in back and neck problems. Of the 30,000 signed off in December, most were off for conditions related to anxiety, depression or stress. Almost 13,000 were related to musculoskeletal conditions. Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has raised concerns that health professionals may be labelling the normal ups and downs of human life as medical conditions which then actually serve to hold people back and, ultimately, drive up the benefit bill. While Dame Carol stressed that anxiety was not a medical condition, she said it was the responsibility of doctors and policymakers to show compassion. When you train as a doctor, what youre taught is first to do no harm, and also to listen to the patient. If you tell me youve got back pain or that youre anxious, stressed and a bit depressed, that is what you feel and it is my job to take that seriously. Dame Carol has only been off sick once in her career for a prolonged period of time. It was a daunting experience. I had some surgery. And by the third week I began to wonder if I could use my stethoscope properly. I started to wonder if I would be as good as I used to be at this job. And that was just three weeks. Imagine if youve been out of work for 20? People can be fearful of going back. Its not an easy journey. Dame Carol returned to the idea that early intervention is vital. It is that waiting game of leaving you going down this inexorable journey into worklessness that is really harmful. And if you are not well educated and you dont have lots of options, youre fighting a very difficult battle, because many of these people are what are called deconditioned. Theyre not work-ready. Theyre a long way from the workplace. And theyre probably by now a bit depressed. Dame Carols report in 2008 put the economic cost of working-age ill health at around 100bn a year. It must be much more now, she said. I think every trend is now worse than it was in 2008. The OBR has estimated the increase in health-related inactivity alone was likely to cost the taxpayer an extra 6.8bn in 2023-24 as the benefits bill rises. This is in addition to 2.2bn in lost tax revenues. Every individual who gives up looking for work for health reasons costs the NHS between 900 and 1,800 a year, the OBR has said. Last week, the Government announced it was rolling out WorkWell to tackle the spiral of sickness and help people stay in work instead of being signed off for prolonged periods. The scheme aims to offer joined up local services to support people to stay in jobs rather than getting signed off. A government spokesman said ministers were overhauling policies to create a benefits system thats fair on the taxpayer, and makes sure those who can work, do work. Despite concluding that the fit note system has failed, Dame Carol is still optimistic. Citing the success of Individual Placement and Support, a programme that helps people with drug addiction and mental health issues back to work, she insists anything is possible. If we can help people who have serious mental health problems, surely we can find a way of helping people whove got anxiety, stress and depression. We must move away from the idea that the answer is to move away from the world of work. 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 stipulation in the British Museum Act 1963 is preventing Greece from signing a permanent deal over the Elgin Marbles - TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS The British Museum could repatriate more contested artefacts despite legal restrictions that hamper a permanent deal for the Elgin Marbles. Treasures were returned last week to Otomfuo Osei Tutu II, the king of the Asante in Ghana, in a joint project with the V&A, which marked the first time high-profile British institutions had sent artefacts back to Africa. Bosses at the British Museum have said that more repatriation deals could be done and legal constraints, which have frustrated any arrangement for the Elgin Marbles, could be worked around. The British Museum Act 1963 currently bars the institution from handing over legal ownership of its artefacts, a red line for Greece that will not accept a loan deal. Representatives of the museum believe that this constraint is not the be all and end all and more objects could be legally returned if nations involved in repatriation rows are willing to accept favourable loan deals. Royal regalia was looted from Ghana by British soldiers in wars of 1874 and 1896 - NIPAH DENNIS/AFP Prof Chris Gosden, a British Museum trustee, spoke to The Telegraph in the Asante capital of Kumasi, Ghana, where he formally handed over golden items of royal regalia on behalf of the museum. He said that the landmark deal shows what can be done without fixating on legal ownership and suggested that other campaigners for repatriation could create an arrangement akin to the Asante kings to ensure some sort of engagement and movement of objects. He added: The 1963 act is not quite irrelevant but not quite the impediment that it might be seen as being. Its about the relationship and what is possible within the relationship. The British Museum has a long-standing relationship with the king or Asantehene of the Astane, dating back to a deal with his predecessor in the 1970s. It is hoped that similar relationships could be established. Otumfuo Osei Tutu II signed a landmark deal that resulted in royal regalia being returned to Ghana on a three-year loan - NIPAH DENNIS/AFP The Asantehene has accepted the British Museums legal ownership of the royal regalia looted in wars of 1874 and 1896 in order to see them returned to Ghana for a three-year period to mark a string of anniversaries. The British Museum Act ensures the institution cannot give artefacts away permanently but they can go out on loan, so long as the recipient of the treasures signs a contract accepting the museums legal ownership, something the Asante king pragmatically accepted. The Greek governments position regarding the Elgin Marbles, however, has always been that they were stolen by Lord Elgin in the 19th century and sold to the British Museum. The country maintains that the marbles are not the legal property of the museum and successive governments have refused to countenance a loan deal that would require accepting the museums claim to ownership. The British Museum hopes that other artefacts like the Benin Bronzes may benefit from a deal similar to Ghana - MARK THOMAS/ALAMY LIVE NEWS The constraint has also frustrated other attempts at repatriation, including for the Benin Bronzes, but British Museum experts have suggested more artefacts could go overseas within the current legal framework. Julia Hudson, the curator of African collections at the British Museum, told The Telegraph: Whats important is that weve done something. We havent been hampered by those restrictions. The Asantehene has been able to see that and be diplomatic in helping us to bring those objects to Ghana for this homecoming to do something is so much more positive than to do nothing and hide behind the act. British Museum sources previously said the institution was working to replicate with the Greek authorities the level of engagement we have with museums in other countries and exploring if there is an arrangement that would allow some of the Parthenon sculptures to travel to Greece. George Osborne, the chairman for the British Museum, has been pushing for a partnership with Greece that could see the Marbles returned to Athens. 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. Operation Swift Response - Estonia 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment Battlegroup conduct a Joint Forcible Entry (JFE) from US Army C-17 aircraft - parachuting onto a field in Central Estonia - JULIAN SIMMONDS for The Telegraph You follow the man in front of you - your training takes over. I just shut my eyes and hoped for the best. Corporal Thomas Keld was up at 1am on Saturday to begin his final checks for a low-altitude parachute jump into battle, not far from the Russian border. Seven hours later, alongside 141 other British and American airborne troops, he hurled himself into space from a C-17 Globemaster, barely a thousand feet above the ground, trusting in nothing more than the Parachute Regiments meticulous standards of preparation to save his life. Once the canopies opened and the soldiers began their short descent, it swiftly became obvious how dangerous their line of work can be. There was a fierce Baltic wind barreling in from the north and it scattered the jumping troops across the drop zone like rag dolls. Even on the ground, it wasnt over - many were dragged large distances across the hard Estonian earth as they struggled to get their parachutes under control. One of them collided with a telegraph pole upon landing. Luckily - this time - it was the inanimate object that came off worse. Corporal Thomas Keld of 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment after his jump - JULIAN SIMMONDS for The Telegraph Its like being in a little car crash, its pretty rough, said 35-year-old Cpl Keld, a section commander in 3 Para Battlegroup, part of the Colchester-based 16 Air Assault Brigade, which could be mobilised within a couple of days in the event of a Russian invasion. Its quite violent because [with a static line parachute] you are connected to the plane. Im quite sore in places. Britain has not parachuted soldiers into battle since the Suez crisis of 1956. During the long campaign in Afghanistan, for example, they were typically dropped at their forward operating bases in Helmand Province by Chinook helicopter, or driven overland. However, commanders are convinced that the capability is worth preserving - now more than ever, given the Russian threat. On Saturday the men of the 3 Para Battlegroup jumped from three aircraft of the US 8th Air Wing, alongside American soldiers of 82nd Airborne, and a small detachment of combat engineers from the US Navy. In doing so they even used the American TIC parachute in order to qualify for their US wings, a useful accreditation given the intense integration that defines the Nato stance in Eastern Europe. Flying at approximately 130 knots, the C17s have, at most, a 20-second window over the drop zone. The Parachute Regiment Battlegroup conduct a Joint Forcible Entry (JFE) from US Army C-17 aircraft - parachuting onto a field in Central Estonia - JULIAN SIMMONDS for The Telegraph One of the hallmarks of a gold-standard drop, achieved on Saturday, is the ability to drop groups of soldiers, referred to as sticks, from both port and starboard doors simultaneously. However, unlike this drill, part of Natos massive Swift Response exercise, the transport aircraft would be likely to approach a real battle wingtip to wingtip, rather than one after the other, to get all the troops on the ground as quickly as possible. Had the soldiers been using British parachutes, they could have jumped even lower than 1,000 feet, because they are quicker to open than the American model. At a real push, the troops could jump from 500 feet, according to Squadron Leader Si Huntley, who was helping to coordinate the exercise. I dont like jumping really, said Cpl Keld, who has completed nearly 20 jumps. The build-ups the worst - hours of planning and putting on the kit and getting checked. But when the doors come open and you get hooked up and the lights come on, its show time. Everyones hyped up; theres a nice energy in the plane; the atmosphere changes. These non-steerable parachutes - in truth not radically different from those used at Arnhem in 1944 - can safely support about 160 kg. It means the lighter paratroopers tend to get lumbered with heavy equipment such as mortars and machine guns when they jump. Washing machine effect Bombardier Ryan Shaver, of 7 Para Royal Horse Artillery, jumped alongside his infantry colleagues. Responsible for coordinating with fast jets and attack helicopters once on the ground, he has to show the same physical and mental stamina as the Paras. Describing the jump, he said: You have this washing machine effect when you leave the aircraft and then everything goes completely silent. Then youre looking around, seeing who youre closest to and trying to get the best landing you can possibly get. I got twisted around a bit today, the 29-year-old added. I felt like a rag doll. Once on the ground you spend about five seconds thinking, am I ok. Then you think, ok, what next?. Whilst it has always been an elite skill in which they were fiercely proud, the reality is that for generations of paratroopers, particularly those involved in counter-insurgency warfare, jumping has had little relevance to their operational lives. But with escalating tensions in Europe, the focus is changing. I wouldnt say it will never happen, because we dont know what will happen, said Bombardier Shaver. But with a conventional operation, theres every opportunity that it could. 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. In this Sept. 2, 2006, file photo, "The Man," a stick figure symbol of the Burning Man art festival, is silhouetted against a morning sunrise in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. (Ron Lewis / Associated Press) The debates and protests sparked by Israels war in the Gaza Strip have worked their way into seemingly every corner in the world even the free-spirited desert festival in Nevada known as Burning Man. Organizers of the festival, where radical self-expression is one of its guiding principles, found themselves embroiled in controversy this week over the approval of a canopy-sized sculpture of a sliced watermelon titled From the River to the Sea. The 8-foot-by-14-foot sliced fruit red pulp, green-and-white rind and black seeds has the same colors as those on the Palestinian flag and has become a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian cause. The sculpture was among the dozens of art installations expected to be on display just outside the festival's center camp, but it was taken off the website when an online petition to remove it began circulating, according to the San Francisco Standard. Although the art installation is no longer listed on the website, it's unclear whether it will be on display at Burning Man, which is scheduled from Aug. 25 to Sept. 2. Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley, a spokesperson for Burning Man, said in a written statement to The Times that the art piece was submitted using an anonymous profile, which violates the terms of the event's art placement submission process. "Additionally, the listings content contained language understood by some to be hate speech," Debucquoy-Dodley said. "We do not tolerate the use of violent, hateful, or incendiary language on our platforms." The spokesperson said the people who submitted the art installation to the website can appeal. "Based on the circumstances around the way the listing was submitted, we believe that this is likely not an actual art piece coming to Black Rock City, but that the listing was instead intended to stir an emotional response within the Burning Man community," Debucquoy-Dodley wrote. Read more: Silenced USC valedictorian walked the stage and the crowd reaction was anything but silent An archived version of the website includes an image and description of the sculpture. The artist was identified only as "Decolonize Now." "The watermelon is a powerful symbol for Palestinians. In 1967, when Israel seized control of the West Bank and Gaza and annexed East Jerusalem, the Israeli government made public displays of the Palestinian flag a criminal offense throughout the land," the description reads. "To circumvent the ban, Palestinians began using the watermelon because, when cut open, the fruit bears the national colors of the Palestinian flag red, black, white, and green." But at the heart of the controversy was the phrase From the River to the Sea, according to the petition. It says that the phrase has been condemned as antisemitic and recognized as a call for the destruction of Israel,'' and that the slogan perpetuates the falsehood that Jews have no historical connection to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. However, historical records demonstrate that Jewish civilization has been present in the region for over 3,000 years. Read more: Jewish families say anti-Israel messaging in Bay Area classrooms is making schools unsafe The festival is the latest to be caught up in the heated debate over the Israel-Hamas war, which started after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas militants in which hundreds of Israelis were killed or taken hostage. The U.S. designated Hamas as a terrorist organization in the 1990s. The war, however, has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, including many children, according to the U.N . The death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza have sparked antiwar demonstrations across the U.S., including at universities. So far, the online petition to remove the watermelon sculpture has collected slightly more than 1,000 signatures, and it includes comments from people who signed it. Burning Man should not be allowing an installation of a watermelon representing political statements against another group, one person wrote. This is just crazy that this art was approved after whats going on in the world after Oct. 7, it needs to be removed ASAP, another wrote. 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. Jane Jordan was Burns Harbors town clerk for 20 years and her husband, Kurt, started his first term on the town council in January. The two, both Democrats, submitted their letters of resignation, effective immediately, to the Porter County clerk on Wednesday. The nearly identical letters, save for the name of office, state simply, This letter is to notify you of my resignation effective immediately. What precipitated the resignations has left some officials puzzled at least off the record, but, according to the Jordans and town officials, began brewing back in February. There was conversation about (the Jordans resigning), maybe in mid-February, but it was all whispers through the town, said Roseann Bozak, vice president of the five-member town council, which is elected at-large. Jane Jordan said she resigned and Kurt said he followed because she was concerned that the fire department was billing residents for services provided by their tax dollars and couldnt get the records she needed from fire officials to see what the billing was for or where the money was going. Fire officials said the bills, sent to insurance companies for semi-trucks and similar accidents that require cleaning up spilled oil and other materials, have been going out since the early 2000s from the towns fire corporation, with funds being used to reimburse the volunteer fire department for material and other costs. The billing is permitted under state statute, said Ryan Nowacki, who started as fire chief in January and cited Indiana Code. Any requests we did get (for records about the fee), I believe we filled them or are looking into them, he said. We have nothing to hide. In an email follow-up to a phone interview, Bozak said Jane Jordan had the councils support as well. To the best of my knowledge there was not any pushback to Jane and she did have the support of the council and the fire department during her investigation, she said. Jane Jordan took office in January 2004 and Kurt Jordan did so in January. Kurt Jordan said he ran for one of the council seats last year because he was concerned about a new trash fee, when property taxes paid for trash removal and taxes didnt go down accordingly, and because of how much the towns redevelopment commission was spending on consultants for projects that never came to fruition. He served on the RDC after he was elected but stopped going to both council and RDC meetings after February because he was frustrated with how the council handled his wifes look into fire department spending. We tried to get the council to take some action and they declined, he said. I could not, with a clean conscience, stay there. It was unacceptable what happened. In addition to the billing, Kurt Jordan said the fire department dragged its feet in supplying information about department salaries needed to comply with a workmans comp insurance audit. Jane Jordan said the atmosphere in the town had evolved to a point where she didnt feel she could continue to work there because of a hostile environment. I took an oath of office to follow the law and it has caused me to have to make some difficult decisions, she said, adding employees have refused to provide the documents she needs to perform her job duties, including investigating billing by the fire department. Billing by the fire department for calls can only be done in certain circumstances and through procedures established by state statute, she said, and requires approval of the town council as well as an annual report of that billing and how the department used the funds. Theyre refusing to do that, Jane Jordan said of the fire department, adding the town council refused to address the matter. Jordan said she first learned about the billing when Nowacki took over as fire chief earlier this year after Bill Arney stepped down in the fall. I have been asking for other documents that werent provided. This is multiple things that were going on, she said. She confirmed her concerns were never discussed in a public meeting, though the minutes for the Feb. 14 council meeting, the last one her husband attended, reflect at least a mention of what was going on. Under the heading Volunteer Fire Department Incorporation communications was the following: Councilman Jordan explained he requested this matter be added to the agenda several weeks ago. Since then, Attorney Patton has asked that Councilwoman (Lisa) Draves and Interim Fire Chief Nowacki meet to discuss the matter. He was good with that. Firefighters in Burns Harbor work as contractors to the town through the Volunteer Fire Department Incorporation, Nowacki said. Jane Jordan said she didnt know if the fire department was billing residents for fire calls or if the billing was for something else. She and her husband informed the town council and the fire chief that they wanted the billing reports and never received them, despite repeated requests for them. Additionally, the Jordans said the fire department had not followed proper procedure for approval by the council for the billing. I cannot stand by in good conscience while our taxpayers may be billed for something they shouldnt be billed for, she said. After the February town council meeting, Jane Jordan said the majority of the council didnt feel her concerns were anything of interest and she and her husband decided to resign. That was short-lived, she said, because she wanted to make sure employees got paid and representatives from the State Board of Accounts were coming for a routine audit. She remained at her post to give them the documents they needed and that task is now complete. If I have to request pertinent information multiple times to do my job and do not get cooperation, that in itself is a hostile environment. Are there other issues? Yes, but I wont go into them, she said. State statute allows the fire department to bill for the cost of cleanup, Nowacki said, and those bills are sent through the fire department corporation to an insurance company. It can rack up in cost really, really quick, Nowacki said, adding residents are not billed for routine fire calls, though they could be under Indiana Code. If a large house fire took the department out of service for 12 hours, for example, Nowacki said the fire department could recoup those costs. It could be considered but weve never done it that Im aware of. Nowacki, the liaison between the town council and the fire corporation, said he had been working with Jane Jordan and the town council about her requests and received emails from her about her concerns that state statute wasnt being followed, but those discussions were open-ended. If there was stalling or it wasnt quick enough getting back to the clerks office from the fire corporation, thats out of my hands, he said. Adam Friday, president of the fire corporation, said that to his knowledge, all that information that was requested by (Jane Jordan) was provided by the incorp. The fire department and the incorp is working very well with the town and at this point in time I have no comment on the Jane Jordan situation, Friday said. The remaining town officials said they will handle municipal responsibilities until Porter County Democratic Party Chair Don Craft selects replacements; since Burns Harbor is one precinct, Craft said there wont be a caucus. He hopes to have that done before the councils June meeting. In the interim, Town employees, with the support of the Town Council, have stepped up to fulfill the duties of the Clerk-Treasurers Office, Clay Patton, the town attorney, said in a release. The town hired a new deputy clerk-treasurer in December after the previous one, Corrine Peffers, resigned because she was elected as the town of Porters clerk-treasurer, Bozak said. Shes still getting her feet wet but shes been a great help to the team, she said. Regardless of what precipitated the split, Bozak and McHargue lauded the Jordans for their work for the town. I appreciate all the years of service from Jane Jordan but change isnt always a bad thing and I am looking forward to moving forward with our new Clerk-Treasurer and new council member, Bozak said in another follow-up email. I am hopeful that we can get these seats filled quickly and, in the meantime, the Town Council will continue to work with Town employees to get over this hurdle. The Town of Burns Harbor will surely miss the experience and wisdom that Jane Jordan provided, and I would like to thank both Jane and Kurt Jordan for their years of service to the Town of Burns Harbor, McHargue said in an email to the Post-Tribune. Residents who more information or the forms to apply for the Burns Harbor Town Council or clerk-treasurers post can email Craft at don@pcindems.org, or McHargue at jenmchargue@burnsharbor-in.gov. The forms, also available on the Secretary of State website, are due to Craft by May 17. alavalley@chicagotribune.com A surfing competition in Huntington Beach, Calif., has reversed its decision not to allow Sasha Jane Lowerson, a transgender and intersex woman from Australia, to participate in the womens division. Lowerson decided to enter the Huntington Beach Longboard Pro contest, to be held Saturday, after seeing a call online for more women contenders, she told The Inertia. She had previously contacted the events organizer, Todd Messick, but hadnt heard back from him. Then Messick posted a video to Instagram April 25 saying, Right now were going to support biological males and biological females in their divisions respectively. If you are born a female, you enter into the womens. If you are born a male, you enter into the mens. You guys can live however you want to do in life. Thats not for me to decide. It is for me to decide whats fair and not fair for the American Longboarding Association. That is in keeping with the International Surfing Associations policy, he added. However, the ISA allows trans women to compete in womens events if they meet certain criteria, including that their testosterone is below a certain level. Lowerson was really disappointed and surprised by her exclusion, she told the BBC. You cant cherry-pick the rulebook. If youre going to use the rulebook, you use all of it. Sabrina Brennan, an activist with Surf Equity, contacted Messick about the policy but didnt get a response, so she notified the California Coastal Commission and met with some of its members. I didnt have to make a big scene about it or present a bulletproof case, Brennan told The Inertia. [Commission members] understand the coast is for everyone. The ocean is for everyone. Some guy cant block access based on somebodys gender identity. Commissioners spoke to Messick and then sent a letter to him. In our conversation, you committed to following the ISA transgender policy rule and allowing transgender women to compete in the womens division if they can demonstrate they meet the criteria outlined in the ISA policy, it reads. Following through with this commitment and ensuring an inclusive and safe competition space for all competitors will allow for equitable access to coastal waters and will ensure that the event is consistent with the public access, recreation, and environmental justice policies of the Coastal Act. It will also qualify the event for a temporary event exemption under the Coastal Act. Thus no additional authorization will be required from the Commission. It cited a portion of the Coastal Act, a state law: No person in the State of California, on the basis of race, national origin, ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, color, genetic information, or disability, shall be unlawfully denied full and equal access to the benefits of, or be unlawfully subjected to discrimination under any program or activity that is conducted, operated, or administered pursuant to this division. Messick was surprised by the amount of anger around his decision, he told the BBC. But there were a lot of people very appreciative of me speaking up, he added. For me, I was trying to do the right thing, he said. It wasnt something I ever expected to have to deal with, really, not in our little longboard community. Lowerson has decided not to enter the Huntington Beach competition after all. But she has found acceptance in other surfing organizations, she said. Three years ago I had just started my transition, and I made a phone call to Surfing Australia, she told the BBC. I was really well-received. They were very forthcoming on being inclusive and being progressive. She helped the group craft rules allowing trans women to compete in womens events. She was born intersex, something she didnt know until many years later and just revealed last year. I kept that to myself for a few years because I felt that it would muddy the waters, she told The Inertia. She worried it might lead to policies that let her participate in womens events, but not trans surfers who werent born intersex. Huntington Beach, a Los Angeles suburb known as Surf City USA, has become well-known for far-right politics over the past few years. Its City Council passed a law in February banning the display of any nongovernmental flag, including the Pride flag, on city property unless there is a unanimous council vote to raise a given flag. The council has also removed language condemning hate crimes from government documents and created a new board to regulate public library materials. Lowerson told the BBC she would continue to enter womens events. Ive inadvertently become a poster child for trans women in surfing, she said. Not that I wanted to do that, but it just kind of happened. To The Inertia, she added, I dont go in [events] to win. I go in them to hang out and meet people. But theyve kind of become pretty shit now. I can surf good enough, and I just go in the events when it suits. By Siti Rahil, KYODO NEWS - May 11, 2024 - 14:50 | World, All, Feature At Lakeside Primary School in Singapore, a trolley full of laptops is wheeled to the door of a fifth grade classroom where 30 or so students rush out to a hallway to retrieve them to learn mathematics using artificial intelligence. A teacher wearing a headset tells the students to set their own goals for the lesson they will learn that day on devices they use for some hours of their lessons each week. She writes on a whiteboard that the lesson will focus on "the conversion of measurements involving decimals" such as how 10 meters and 5 centimeters can be converted to 10.05 meters. Using their laptops, the students swiftly access an AI enabled "Adaptive Learning System" embedded in an online learning portal, developed by Singapore's Education Ministry for fifth and now sixth grade mathematics. The ALS, introduced in June last year, enables the students to choose their own difficulty from three levels, while the AI generates questions based on previous learning data and other factors. Lovelle Ng Bo Yee, one of the fifth graders at Lakeside school, was looking at the laptop screen guided by the ALS system on how to convert 0.062 m into 6.2 cm by multiplying by 100. This is done visually with a small arrow on the screen pointing to how the decimal point in 0.062 m should shift two spaces to the right in order to get the answer of 6.2 cm. Ng, 11, who opted to take on a challenge, said she likes using ALS as it motivates her to study math. "When we get the question wrong, it will give us an easier question," she said, adding the system explains why an answer is wrong and how she can improve. "When I get it correct, it will give more challenging questions," she added. Cynthia Goh, the school's mathematics head, said the students have the option to decide what they want to learn on a given day. They can make revisions, receive further guidance when uncertain, or take on a challenge, while the teacher observes the students and sometimes helps them. The ALS collects data on each student's mastery of a new topic and compiles a report on their performance. Teachers benefit as they can save time on grading, get data on students' areas of weakness, enhance lesson content and provide more individualized instruction. "I value this system because it gives us (teachers) enough feedback and we can cater to individual need," said Goh, a veteran teacher with 23 years of experience. Goh said, however, the students spend only part of their five hours per week of math lessons using the AI system, adding "It can't replace the teacher." The use of AI in schools has become more and more widespread globally, but there are differences among countries in terms of readiness to embrace the technology. In Asia, countries and regions such as South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan announced plans in recent years to incorporate AI in their education systems. Singapore's Education Ministry adopted AI for the teaching of math in public primary schools nationwide last year after a two-year pilot project involving 33 schools. The ministry is expanding AI to other subjects such as English language. Under a basic strategy promoting the use of AI technology in education, the ministry set a vision dubbed "Technology-transformed learning, to prepare students for a technology-transformed world." Education is the key to survival for Singapore, a small country with no natural resources that depends on attracting foreign companies for growth. The promotion of AI in education, one of five national AI projects unveiled in 2019, came also as the city-state has been ranked among the top in international tests of the Program for International Student Assessment conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The results of the triennial tests last year taken by 15-year-old students showed that Singapore led in mathematics, reading and science among 81 economies. Yet the ministry has said "students of diverse learning needs, as well as low-progress learners, will be better supported" through AI and can raise their achievement level. The Lakeside school's head of the Information and Communications Technology department, Chan Kok Hong, said teachers can adapt the ways they use AI while they teach based on the national curriculum. He is the IT educator for about 120 fellow teachers. "The experience that the students here have in this school could be different from children from other schools," Chan said. Advanced technologies which have captivated the world have at the same time raised concerns about their biased output and impact on privacy, copyright and other areas. Singapore has taken the position that generative AI such as ChatGPT can be a useful tool to complement learning, and the ministry last year said it should be used only under the supervision of teachers. Some public schools have already adopted it. Chan himself uses ChatGPT to create handouts to explain the concept of "an average" in math. To give proper supervision and instruct students about the technologies, teachers must learn the technology. "The definition of a teacher will have to change," Chan said. "It's about continual professional development. We have to keep up with the times." Looi Chee Kit, research chair professor in the Education University of Hong Kong, said many AI technologies are "black boxes," referring to a fact that most people do not understand how they work. As uncertainty has increased concerns about AI being biased, governments should develop guidelines and regulatory frameworks and consider ethical implications and other issues, taking cybersecurity measures to safeguard sensitive educational data, said Looi, also a professor emeritus at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. Singapore released a draft governance framework for generative AI in January by revising a 2020 AI framework, making proposals that ensure fair treatment in using potentially contentious data and enhancing transparency regarding safety. It is expected to establish the framework later this year. Related coverage: FEATURE: Muslims in Japan serve up curry for quake-hit Noto residents FEATURE: Same-sex marriage turns 10 in Britain: two couples reflect FEATURE: Japanese-founded NGO helps mold Filipino kids' character Canada will participate in the upcoming global peace summit for Ukraine, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on May 11. The summit will be held in Switzerland on June 15-16 and will focus on peace in Ukraine under the terms of President Volodymyr Zelensky's 10-point peace formula, a plan that calls for a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from occupied Ukrainian lands. "The First Peace Summit for Ukraine is in June and Canada will be there," Trudeau wrote on X. "I look forward to joining other world leaders to advance our shared goal of just and lasting peace for Ukraine." Some 160 national delegations were invited to the peace summit, and numerous countries have confirmed their participation. Participants of the global peace summit will formulate a common negotiating position on the outcome of the war and submit it to Russia, presidential spokesperson Serhii Nykyforov said on May 3, according to Deutsche Welle. Read also: Zelensky: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to attend Switzerland peace summit Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair, said military aid to Israel should continue, through the war conduct report released by the State Department on Friday raised concerns. Cardins remarks on transferring military aid to Israel are different than that of the White House, as President Biden withheld sending over some bombs to the U.S. ally last week and said earlier this week the U.S. would stop supplying weapons like artillery shells and bombs if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) goes forward with a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah, the city in the south of the Gaza Strip where over a million are sheltering. Despite having a different stance on weapons transfers, the Maryland senator acknowledged the concerns the war conduct report released on Friday, which found it was reasonable to assess that Israel, in its war operation in Gaza, violated international humanitarian law. The assessment did not definitively find the country breaching laws in the report, with U.S. officials acknowledging that it was difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents. While the most recent report regarding Israel under the NSM-20 has raised concerns, I agree with its assessment that Israel has not violated International Humanitarian Law and that military assistance to support Israels security remains in the U.S. interest and should continue, Cardin said in a statement following the release of the report on Friday. In this regard, I differ with President Bidens recent decision, he said. The Foreign Relations Commitee chairman stated that Israel, which is currently ordering new evacuations in Rafah and is expanding its operation in the area, should not perform the full-scale incursion into the city in the south of Gaza without having a plan to safely evacuate civilians. Going into Rafah without a credible plan to deal with the humanitarian situation is not the right way, Cardin said. Any operation must take all measures to protect civilian lives. There must be safe passage for innocent civilians currently displaced inside Rafah. He stressed that aid for Gazans needs to flow without delays as the population already faces a humanitarian crisis. They need to have the necessary food, water, shelter, medical care, and all other humanitarian provisions, he said. It is in the interest of Israel and the US that there be sustained, effective humanitarian assistance available to those at risk in Gaza, and it needs to be provided without delay or interruption. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. TOPEKA (KSNT) Topekans can kick off summer by heading down to Evans United Shows Carnival later this month. The Stormont Vail Event Center says the carnival is set to make a reappearance in Topeka on Thursday, May 23 and stick around until Sunday, June 2. Guests can expect to find carnival-style food, games and more than 50 different rides. The carnival will be open daily starting at 6 p.m. during the work week and open at 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. It will also open at 1 p.m. on Memorial Day. Ride coupons are $1.25 apiece with discounts available for those who buy coupons in bulk. All rides take three or more coupons. You can also purchase an armband for unlimited rides at the cost of $30. New Topeka city manager chosen, $255,000 contract For more information on this event, click here. To see what last years carnival was like, click here. 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. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News. Cheap getaways for less than $200 from Sacramento airport? We found 6 flights to US spots Looking to get away this summer? You can find direct round-trip flights out of Sacramento International Airport for less than $200 starting in June. Travelers can head down south to the sunny beaches of San Diego for $162, or escape the heat by heading to Seattle for $169. We see a busy and exciting summer for the airport! Scott Johnston, Sacramento County Department of Airports spokesman, told The Sacramento Bee. Around 1.2 million total passengers per month are expected to pass through the Sacramento airport June through August, Johnston wrote in an email. Although the number of flights scheduled is down slightly from 2019, the planes are generally larger, which means full flights, Johnston said. As you plan your summer travel, here are six options for cheap, nonstop round-trip flights from the Sacramento airport. Where can I fly from Sacramento for under $200? The following flights are available at Sacramento International Airport through Southwest Airlines starting in June: Round-trip flights to Las Vegas start for as low as $126. Nonstop direct flights to Los Angeles are available for $159. You can fly directly to and from Portland, Oregon, for $197. Direct round-trip flights to Seattle are available for $169. Nonstop round-trip flights to San Diego are available for $162. Direct round-trip flights to Denver are available for $177. Which nonstop flights are new for summer? We have several new nonstop flights beginning over the next two months, Johnston said. Starting in May, you can fly directly from Sacramento to Kailua-Kona and Kaui in Hawaii. In June, nonstop flights to and from Baltimore will become available, he said. Direct flights to Detroit start in July. It wasnt clear Friday which airlines will offer those flights. 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. Justice Clarence Thomas took the opportunity during a judicial conference in Alabama on Friday to criticize the nastiness and lies hes faced following bombshell reports that conservative megadonor Harlan Crow had funded the justices lavish lifestyle for decades. According to Politico, while addressing a room of judges, attorneys and other court personnel in the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference at the conference, Thomas repeatedly denounced his critics and called Washington a hideous place. When asked about working in a world that appeared mean-spirted, the justice replied, I think theres challenges to that. Were in a world and we certainly my wife and I the last two or three years its been just the nastiness and the lies, its just incredible. As ProPublica reported as part of a series that won a Pulitzer Prize this week Thomas received and failed to disclose a series of luxury gifts over two decades from Crow. The stories included the Texas billionaire businessman providing free private jet and superyacht trips to Thomas and his wife, buying a house owned by Thomas and allowing his mother to live there for free, and covering at least two years of boarding school tuition for Thomas grandnephew, whom the justice says he raised as a son. Conservative dark money man Leonard Leo reportedly steered consulting payments to Thomas wife, Virginia Ginni Thomas. Leo helped assemble the Supreme Courts conservative supermajority as President Donald Trumps judicial adviser, and runs a dark money network that works to confirm justices and helps support conservative cases at the high court. Then theres the RV, which Thomas mentioned Friday, when he said in Washington, people pride themselves on being awful. It is a hideous place as far as Im concerned. He added: Its one of the reasons we like RVing. Thomas friend loaned $267,000 to the Supreme Court justice to pay for the luxury RV and then forgave all or most of the loan. In the wake of the scandals, the Supreme Court has adopted its first-ever code of ethics last November. However, the extremely vague language was riddled with loopholes and lacked mechanisms to enforce its codes. Upon the Courts announcement that justices would subject themselves to the new code, the non-profit Brennan Center for Justice remarked that the Supreme Court has been the only court in the country without a binding ethics code. Now it has one of the countrys weakest. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone (WFXR) On Friday, May 10, it was graduation day for thousands of students in our area. On Friday, both Virginia Tech and Liberty University held their commencement ceremonies, thousands flocking to the campuses as they celebrate the new alumni. For many, its their first time walking the stage. For others, its the end of a journey disrupted. I started this process in 2018, and then of course Covid came and it did a lot to affect my path. But Im here, I finally graduated with my masters in divinity, said Gerald Edwards, a Liberty University 2024 graduate. Theres a lot of community on campus through that and then to see things change over the years and now get to be done is great, echoed another graduate, Logan Hancock. RELATED STORY: Virginia Tech celebrates nearly 8,000 Hokies in 2024 graduation ceremony On Friday, Liberty University celebrated its 51st graduating class. Over 10,000 students registered for the ceremony. However, Liberty was not the only university welcoming new graduates into its alumni ranks. Early Friday morning, Virginia Tech honored nearly 8,000 graduates with a ceremony of their own. Im very excited, but Im also very sad. I only spent two years here, I transferred here. So, its very sad that its getting kind of cut short for me, said Paris Todd, a Virginia Tech 2024 graduate. Students from both schools say they are ready to take their next steps, saying goodbye to what they know to take on the world. Both universities will continue with their graduation ceremonies for individual colleges into Saturday, May 11. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFXRtv. KYODO NEWS - May 11, 2024 - 14:12 | All, Japan A 25-year-old man was served with a fresh arrest warrant Saturday on suspicion of murder after being arrested last month in connection with the burned bodies of a married couple that were found on a riverbank north of Tokyo in April, police said. Ryoken Hirayama is the first to face a murder charge among six people who have been arrested on suspicion of damaging the corpses of Ryutaro Takarajima, 55, and his wife Sachiko, 56. They suspect Hirayama acted as an intermediary as he has said he received instructions to kill the couple in early April and asked two people to carry out the crime. The police also plan to serve the remaining five with fresh arrest warrants for murder, including Seiha Sekine, the 32-year-old common-law husband of a daughter of the couple, who they suspect played the leading role in the crime. Hirayama is suspected of colluding with others to kill the couple sometime between the night of April 15 and the early hours of the following day in the garage of a vacant house in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward, according to investigators. The police believe Hirayama purchased gasoline and adhesive tape, among other items, after being instructed by Hikaru Sasaki, 28, to deal with the couple's bodies. Hirayama also allegedly lent his vehicle on April 15 to Kang Gwang Gi and Kirato Wakayama, both 20, who have also been arrested. The couple died of suffocation, and the wife had wounds to her head and face. The house is managed by a real estate company in which another suspect, Ryo Maeda, 36, serves as an executive. Traces of Sachiko Takarajima's blood were found in the garage and on a hammer in Hirayama's vehicle. Hirayama was arrested on April 21 after he turned himself in at a police box in Tokyo following the discovery of the bodies in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, on April 16. He has told investigators he received a payment of 9 million yen ($58,000). As only Sekine and Maeda were acquainted with the couple, Tokyo police believe the others took part in the crime for money. Related coverage: Japan police arrest common-law husband of burned couple's daughter Another man arrested in case of 2 burnt bodies found outside Tokyo 2 Japanese gangsters wanted over killing of man in Thailand: report CANTON, Ohio (WJW) One of two people now in police custody allegedly attacked a dollar store clerk with a hammer in Ohio, striking her several times, including on the head, according to a police report. Police responded on May 8 to a Dollar General store in Canton, Ohio for a report of a woman wielding a hammer and a man who was assaulting people inside the store, according to the report. How to see the sunspot today that could cause northern lights tonight in Ohio By the time police arrived, the suspects had fled in a hatchback. The clerk told police the female suspect hit her with the hammer multiple times on her body and head. The woman, who police noted had cuts and a bump on her head, was transported to a nearby hospital. She was expected to undergo testing, according to the report. Another victim told police the man struck her multiple times in the back of the head. She also showed police her cell phone video of the alleged hammer attack. A third victim said she tried to intervene and calm the male suspect, but the man poured a beer on her head and slapped her across the face, knocking her glasses off, according to the report. Ohio man sues BMV for rejecting vanity plate what does F46 LGB mean? The fourth victim recorded the suspects fleeing the store, then went outside to capture their cars license plate. The male suspect then tried to hit the man with his car, according to the report. Other police officers later spotted the vehicle in another area of town and arrested both suspects. The hammer suspected as the weapon was also found in the car, according to the report. Payton Valentine, 21, and Mannon Valentine, 20, both of Canton, are now each charged with one count of felonious assault and are being held on a $75,000 bond. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News. COLBERT COUNTY, Ala (WHNT) The Colbert County Board of Education has voted to cancel the contract of the Colbert County High School Principal after a called meeting Friday. Board Attorney Jon McGee told News 19 the board voted to cancel Principal Melcha Satchels contract, effective immediately, after an extended called meeting. Alabama lawmakers adjourn session without final gambling vote McGee said the board called the meeting after Superintendent Chris Hand recommended canceling Satchels contract. The attorney declined to comment on the nature of the allegations that led to that recommendation. The board attorney said the school board heard testimony and reviewed documents for two hours during the meeting and deliberated for an hour before finally voting to cancel the contract. They went above and beyond, he said. McGee said Satchel now has 10 days to contest the boards decision. If he does so, the matter will go to the Colbert County Circuit Court for an appeal hearing. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHNT.com. BOGOTA (Reuters) - A court in Colombia granted conditional release to former paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso, his defense team confirmed on Saturday. Mancuso, a former top commander of the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), was sent back to Colombia from the United States in February after serving a drug trafficking sentence there. The AUC was the main paramilitary organization during Colombia's six-decade internal conflict, which left more than 260,000 dead and millions displaced. Mancuso's defense lawyers confirmed the ruling by Bogota's high court for his release and shared a copy of the decision, which was dated May 10 and seen by Reuters. Mancuso, who is accused in Colombia of war crimes and human rights violations, was being held in preventive detention in La Picota prison on the outskirts of the capital since his return to Colombia. Far-right paramilitary units surged in the 1980s with support from farmers, land owners and others who sought to defend themselves from attacks by leftist guerrillas amid state absence. The groups became involved in drug trafficking, massacres and sexual violence, among other crimes. (Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Oliver Griffin; editing by Diane Craft) A 29-year-old man was sentenced to 12 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections Friday for three unprovoked assaults in the Pueblo County jail. The 12-year sentence for Adre "Psycho" Baroz will run concurrently with the five consecutive life sentences plus 140 years Baroz received for the 2020 kidnappings and murders of five people. Baroz pleaded guilty in Pueblo District Court to second-degree assault on a peace officer in connection with the separate assaults of a detention sergeant and an inmate in 2022, and two detention deputies in 2023. Baroz was being held in the Pueblo County jail on a courtesy hold from Alamosa County when the assaults occurred. Pueblo Justice Plaza located at 909 Court Street. Baroz was sentenced last week in Alamosa County for five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of tampering with a deceased human body, among other crimes. His victims' dismembered and burned bodies were found in rural Conejos County, according to the PCSO. Todays sentencing was a matter of principle because we know Mr. Baroz is going to spend the rest of his life in prison, said Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero in a Friday news release. However, we are very pleased that our district attorneys office was willing to take these cases seriously and move forward with charging Baroz and seeking a fair sentence for our deputies and the inmate involved in these senseless acts. In 2022, Baroz assaulted an inmate in the Pueblo County jail, causing serious bodily injury. That same year, he assaulted a detention sergeant, who was coming to the aid of another deputy from whom Baroz had taken a Taser and was attempting to use on the deputy. The sergeant suffered only minor injuries, PCSO officials said. In early 2023, Baroz assaulted another detention deputy in an unprovoked incident. According to the PCSO, Baroz ran up behind the deputy and punched him in the face. A second deputy arrived in the wing to assist, and Baroz turned and began assaulting that deputy as well. Both deputies were eventually able to put distance between themselves and Baroz. One of the deputies deployed pepper spray, allowing them to gain compliance and place Baroz in hand restraints. Both deputies were treated at a local hospital for injuries sustained in the assault. One of the deputies suffered serious bodily injury. Baroz was moved to another countys jail after the 2023 assaults. Barozs sentencing comes as the nation recognizes National Correctional Officers Week, which was started in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan to thank and celebrate correctional officers for their service, according to the PCSO. I want to thank all of our detention deputies for their commitment and dedication to serving and protecting this community in the behind-the-scenes role they perform day-in and day-out, Lucero said. More Pueblo public safety news: Colorado State Patrol to crack down on impaired drivers in Pueblo, Fremont counties 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: San Luis Valley killer gets 12-year sentence for Pueblo jail assaults Columbia janitor reveals secret plans left behind by anti-Israel protesters who took over Hamilton Hall armed with zip ties, chains Columbia University janitors were gripped with sheer terror as a mob of violent anti-Israel protesters stormed Hamilton Hall and took over the building on April 30 armed with hand-drawn floor plans and supply lists, says a longtime custodian for the Ivy League university. As dozens of rioters busted through glass and barricaded the entrances to occupy the historic university building, four janitors found themselves trapped inside and afraid, Henry Clemente, a head custodian for Columbia, told The Post. If you have masked people running through the building with zip ties and chains, you dont know what theyre going to do if theyre going to take you hostage, if youre going to be tortured, if youre going to be made an example, Clemente said. Columbia University janitors were gripped with sheer terror as a mob of violent anti-Israel protesters stormed Hamilton Hall and took over the building. Henry Clemente Afterward, as he and his colleagues started to clean up the hall after NYPD cops busted up the occupation, Clemente discovered secret plans left behind by the highly organized rioters. These included hand-drawn floor plans and supply lists noting locations of barricading equipment; a task list with items including setting up a pulley system and security shifts and even a schedule listing the times of the Muslim call to prayer. The documents show that the protesters had insider knowledge of the campus and plotted the takeover in advance, he said. Ive been working there a long time, so we know where the tunnels are, but they mapped everything out, said Clemente, who has worked at Columbia for 17 years. They had a food room, a prayer room, the smoking roomthey were in there for the long haul. The left-behind documents were first reported by Gothamist. As dozens of rioters busted through glass and barricaded the entrances to occupy the historic university building, four janitors found themselves trapped inside and afraid, Henry Clemente, a head custodian for Columbia, told The Post. Henry Clemente The facilities boss, who was off work at the time, received a call that his workers had been stuck inside the building. Even if its two minutes, two minutes could feel like an eternity just faced with the massive numbers [of protesters] charging into the building. I could imagine the sheer terror that they had gone through, he added. Clemente said the day the police went into Hamilton Hall was the most fearful day of the weeks-long protests at the Ivy League school, but understood the need to get the demonstrators out of the building fast, particularly in todays post-9/11 world. We have a lot of enemies in the world, like Russia, and China, he said. Theres proxy wars and different things going on, so we dont know who was in the building. Mayor Adams and NYPD officials have said outside agitators were behind planning the university protests. Afterward, as he and his colleagues started to clean up the hall after NYPD cops busted up the occupation, Clemente discovered secret plans left behind by the highly organized rioters. Henry Clemente Of the roughly 44 arrested inside Hamilton Hall, 13 were not affiliated with Columbia. Since NYPD cops stormed the building and arrested the protesters, Clemente has been in charge of cleaning up the mess left behind by the privileged rioters, one of whom is allegedly the 40-year-old son of wealthy ad execs who lives in a $3.4 million Brooklyn townhouse. The protesters managed to disable the elevator, and threw hundreds of chairs from the classrooms down the stairs before zip-tying them together. They also removed tabletops from desks and drilled them into windows as barricades. Clemente estimates that it will cost the university millions to fully repair Hamilton Hall. A graduation ceremony at North Carolina Central University on May 4, 2024 in Durham. (DeAndres Royal/North Carolina University via Getty Images) Following the wave of protests over the war in the Gaza Strip, several U.S. universities have decided to cancel or ramp down commencement ceremonies. More are expected to follow. Announcing their decision, these institutions cited security concerns related to the turmoil and division that followed the protests. This, however, may simply make a bad situation worse. As an anthropologist who studies the human need for ritual, I have spent two decades investigating the role of collective ceremonies in creating meaning and belonging. I have also seen the flip side of that: Depriving people of meaningful rituals can lead to disillusionment and social disengagement. Rites of passage From the cradle to the grave, the most important moments of our lives are ritualized. From personal milestones such as birthdays and weddings to societal changes like the transfer of government power, all major transitions are shrouded in ceremony. The fact that these rituals occur without exception in all human societies highlights their importance. The anthropologist Arnold van Gennep called these ceremonies rites of passage. He noted that across cultures, they have a similar structure and achieve similar outcomes. Rites of passage typically involve three stages. First, participants are separated from their previous way of life, physically or symbolically, and move toward a new status and identity. For instance, civilians may give up their familiar routines and move away from their friends and family to join the army. Students do the same when they leave behind campus life to join the labor force. The second phase is the liminal period between stages. It is characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty, as initiates leave their former status behind but have yet to assume their new role. During that period, a cadet may feel as neither a civilian not a soldier; a bride neither single nor married; and candidates neither pupils nor graduates. In the third and final stage, the transition is complete and the initiate is reintegrated into society with new status. As a military initiation turns civilians into soldiers, a commencement turns apprentices into qualified professionals. Rituals can shape social reality Rites of passage do not merely celebrate the transition to a new state they actively create this new state in the eyes of society. Research shows that people unconsciously perceive ritual actions to cause actual changes in the world. This is why even minor changes in protocol may leave the impression of failure. When Barack Obama uttered the words to the presidential oath of office in the wrong order, the legitimacy of his power was questioned. Eventually, he had to retake the oath. Moreover, when an action is ritualized, it feels more special and appealing. This is why ritual accompanies all special transitions in our lives. And the more significant the moment, the more pomp is required. The grandeur and formality of the ceremony activate psychological processes related to how we appraise the world. Good things require expenditures of effort and resources. A ritual loaded with opulence signals that this is a moment worth remembering. The opposite is also true. Stripped of a meaningful rite of passage, an important transition may feel less real and its significance diminished. Imagine that no one remembers your 50th birthday; or that, as the clock strikes midnight on New Years Eve, you find yourself on a deserted island. Assuming you had a clock with you, would that transition feel the same? A passage without a rite Not everyone cares about a graduation ceremony. Indeed, some graduates choose not to attend theirs. But those are the rare exceptions. The vast majority of graduating students do care, and so do their families, as is evidenced by packed auditoriums and stadiums across the country. In the spring of 2020, the University of Connecticut, where I teach, announced that it was suspending all campus activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That day, the first question my students asked me was Will we be able to have a graduation ceremony? As with most colleges around the world, the answer was no. I still remember the disappointment in their faces. Most high schools canceled their graduations in 2020, too. And now, many of those students are having a deja vu. Once again, they will be deprived of an opportunity to celebrate their accomplishment. Graduating from college can be one of the most important transitions in a persons life. Unless they are going to graduate school, it involves radical changes in their lifestyle, social relations and overall role in society. The lack of a symbolic act to demarcate that change can leave graduates in Van Genneps liminal space, a feeling that the transition has not been properly completed. In the words of the anthropologist Victor Turner, they are caught betwixt and between. In addition to their personal importance, rituals also play important roles in shaping group identities. One might even argue that the only times a conglomerate of individuals truly becomes a group is during the performance of collective rituals. After all, the members of an extended family tend to gather together only at events like weddings and funerals. Religious adherents only congregate to perform a sacred ceremony. And a student body only comes together as one to partake in a commencement. Graduation ceremonies embody not only the sacredness of education and the importance of student achievements, but also graduates bonds to their institution and fellow students. In that capacity, such gatherings may be needed more than ever in a context fraught with division. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Dimitris Xygalatas is an anthropologist and cognitive scientist who studies some of the things that make us human. Most of his work has focused on rituals and their ability to soothe, excite, unite and divide us. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here. The post Commencement isnt just about degrees. Cancellations leave students disconnected, disillusioned appeared first on Kansas Reflector. Adult film actor Stormy Daniels arrives for the opening of the adult entertainment fair Venus in Berlin in 2018. (Markus Schreiber / Associated Press) When Donald Trumps attorney Susan Necheles tried to discredit the adult film actor Stormy Daniels on the stand during Trump's hush money trial earlier this week, she took this absurd position: Assume a sex worker has no integrity. You have a lot of experience making phony stories about sex appear to be real? Necheles asked. Wow, Daniels said. Thats not how I would put it. The sex in the films is very much real, just like what happened to me in that room. Daniels response was smart and quick and left Necheles trying to catch up after her question backfired. The defense attorney should have known it would. The trademark of porn is real sex. And the idea that working in porn automatically makes you a liar or some amoral person is deeply offensive a vestige of antiquated attitudes about sex work and what women, in particular, should and should not do with their lives. Read more: Stormy Daniels is shameless and it's wonderful That room Daniels mentioned referred to the Lake Tahoe hotel room where, she says, she and Trump had consensual sex in 2006. At issue in the court case is whether Trump falsified business records to cover up what prosecutors say are reimbursements of hush money payments made to Daniels in an illegal attempt to influence the 2016 election. Trump denies the whole thing, including that he had sex with Daniels. So her credibility is something his lawyer wants to chip away at. Daniels has been successful as an actor, a director and a writer in the adult film industry, and she is unapologetic about her work and her ambition. Her integrity doesnt rest on whether her industry is liked or despised. Hopefully the jurors will get that. I hold her in higher regard than I do the CEOs in respected industries whom we have assumed, based on the prestige of their position, were honest and honorable only to find out they weren't. Disgraced and imprisoned CEOs Elizabeth Holmes and Sam Bankman-Fried come to mind. So much for assumptions. Read more: Former tabloid publisher testifies about scheme to shield Trump from damaging stories Daniels did try to sell her story to news outlets before Trump and his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, allegedly, came along with a hush money offer of $130,000. So she's transactional. (So is Trump.) That isn't evidence of lying. Necheles is also drilling down on supposed inconsistencies in Daniels accounts of the evening she spent with Trump. Thats fair game. Accusing Daniels of concocting the whole sex story with Trump because she's a porn star who has sex on screen for a living is not. 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. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) As negotiations over the citys upcoming budget continue, a coalition of San Diegos elected officials and community groups gathered at the Civic Center on Friday to push for changes to proposed cuts that would gut or completely eliminate a slew of equity programs. The coalition behind the event, called the Community Budget Alliance, argued the proposed cuts to close a $171 million deficit up $34 million from the initial projection would come at the expense of vulnerable San Diegans needs, increasing racial and economic inequities in the city. They added that the budget, as it was drafted by Mayor Todd Gloria, fails to adequately fund efforts to address the root causes of homelessness or take needed action to mitigate the local impacts of climate change. Housing Commission, mayor in conflict over $23M cut to homeless services The citys Office of the Independent Budget Analyst similarly noted in a recent analysis of the current proposal for the next fiscal years budget that it could have unintended consequences that create disproportionate inequity for Communities of Concern. About $40 million of the citys proposed $100 million in cuts would target these programs, according to the IBA. Among the programs set to see their budgets slashed are Youth Care and Development Program, homelessness prevention programs overseen by the San Diego Housing Commission, and youth programming through the Parks and Recreation Department. The Office of Immigrant Affairs is also currently slated to see significant cuts to its budget, and the city will contribute less money than needed to its community and climate equity funds. Some of these programs that have been in the works for years, like the community equity fund and cannabis equity program, would be effectively eliminated before they could get up and running. Mayor Todd Glorias choice not to find better solutions and confront the issues San Diego residents face favors wealthy people, businesses, and corporations, said Keara OLaughlin, a policy analyst with the Center on Policy Initiatives. The center is one of the groups with the Community Budget Alliance. We need a city that works for all residents, which is why we are calling on the City Council and the Mayors office to stand in solidarity with us and reverse the cuts to all equity-focused programs, OLaughlin continued. During recent meetings on the budget, several San Diego City Councilmembers echoed this concern about proposed cuts to equity programs. City Council President Sean Elo Rivera was among those critical of the budgets changes, saying he understood why cuts were necessary in a Tuesday meeting but that its hard to digest that theses are the things that needed to go given the years of work put into getting them off the ground. New study finds major disparities in water, bathroom access in San Diego-Tijuana region Elo Rivera joined City Councilmembers Vivian Moreno and Henry L. Foster III at Fridays event. Dozens of community members have also gone to public meetings over the last week to voice opposition to the cuts to programs designed for underserved communities. Nearly 100 people signed up for public comment in a meeting on Wednesday to protest these changes. We deserve investment, not divestment, one commenter, Dr. Lashae Sharp Collins, said during the meeting. We deserve opportunities, not obstacles. We deserve programs and not regression. Glorias office is scheduled to provide a revised budget proposal to the city council by May 15. The city council then has until mid-June to pass a finalized version. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. Above: A May 18 report from KUSIs Dan Plante on a rally of Coronado students to stop the sewage. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) San Diegos congressional delegation is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to launch an investigation into the public health impacts of the Tijuana River sewage crisis. The delegation joined California Sens. Laphonza Butler and Alex Padilla in a joint letter to the CDC director on Friday requesting an immediate examination of the contaminants in the water, soil, and air of San Diego Countys southernmost communities. The overburdened wastewater infrastructure in Tijuana, Mexico frequently results in raw sewage being released into the Tijuana River and off the coast of Baja California, ultimately contaminating waters off of southern San Diego, the letter read. Tijuana River designated as endangered due to sewage crisis Taking into consideration the environmental justice implications of these transboundary flows, as well as their direct impact on federal workers, we ask that you approach this public health assessment with the highest level of urgency, it continued. Understanding the full scope of the crisis health impacts has been a focus of local officials, with the county recently launching new tools to track air conditions of communities along the Tijuana River and illness sustained by beachgoers who come into contact with contaminated water. Over the course of the decades-long crisis, residents in Coronado and South Bay neighborhoods many of which are low-income communities of color have reported developing respiratory and skin conditions after exposure to the pollution. Beachgoers have come to regularly experience nausea, vomiting, rashes and other symptoms following contact with South Bays coastal waters, whether it was direct or inadvertent through aerosolized sea spray. The delegations letter also noted that federal workers, like the servicemembers stationed at U.S. Naval Bases in Coronado and Point Loma, have been among those to see health impacts. Earlier this year, Congress took a big step towards addressing one of the root causes of these flows: The International Boundary and Water Commission received nearly triple its typical annual funding to put towards failing infrastructure at its South Bay International Water Treatment Plant. Coronado students rally to stop the sewage The treatment plant, which was built to catch sewage flows from Mexico, is one of the facilities on the U.S. side of the border contributing to the crisis, due to decades of mismanagement that has left the facility in an effectively inoperable condition. State elected officials are also pursuing new laws aimed at reining in those who engage in deliberate dumping of waste into the Tijuana River. This pollution has hurt our communities for far too long, U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas, who represents communities in southern San Diego, said in a statement on Friday. Understanding the full scope of their health impacts is critical. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. ISLAMABAD, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan expressed condolences over losses caused by flash floods in Afghanistan, according to the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The government and the people of Pakistan express their heartfelt condolences on the tragic loss of life and widespread damage to property caused by heavy rains and flash floods in several provinces of Afghanistan," the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. It added that Pakistan stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan during this difficult time. TOPEKA (KSNT) Newly released court documents are providing new information about a shooting death at Resers Fine Foods, Topekas third homicide of 2024. Eddie Holmes, 65 of Topeka, was arrested for the April killing of Reginald Privette, 39, of Topeka. Holmes is awaiting trial on charges of second degree murder and criminal possession of weapon by a felon. According to the court documents, officers with the Topeka Police Department responded to Resers Fine Foods in east Topeka near I-70 at around 4:30 p.m. on April 11, 2024. They arrived to find the Privette dead on the property. He had been shot multiple times. Clothing believed to belong Holmes was found nearby. Helicopter crash at Fort Riley leaves 2 soldiers injured During their investigation, Topeka police reported no one witnessed the murder take place. Officers interviewed people on the scene who reported Privette and Holmes worked the same job during different shifts with a couple hours of overlap, according to the affidavit. Coworkers told police they were not aware of of any specific threats or acts of violence by Holmes. Police said surveillance video showed Privette working on the trash compactor before collapsing out of view of the camera. According to the affidavit, within a minute of Privettes collapse, Holmes walked away from area, got into a vehicle and drove off. Just before 6 p.m. that same day, a Topeka police detective located Holmes car in the 500 block of Southwest Buchanan Street. A few days later, on April 13, police arrested Holmes after an officer spotted him walking in southeast Topeka. Police searched Holmes and found a magazine containing ammunition that matched what was found on scene, according to court documents. 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. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News. Getty Images Updated, 2:26 p.m., 5/13/24 Pandemic relief money that has prevented thousands of Michiganders from being evicted will run out at years end, with legal advocates concerned that tenants will once again find themselves on the short end of the lease. Since July 2020, legal aid programs in Michigan have received additional funding as part of the statewide eviction diversion program funded through the COVID Emergency Rental Assistance (CERA) program. The funding significantly increased legal aids ability to provide representation to tenants facing evictions, and currently funds 107 full-time staff. However, CERA funds for eviction prevention will lapse at the end of 2024. That has created an inflection point for advocates who say that despite millions of dollars already spent to alleviate the issue, the full depth of the problem makes it imperative that a stable funding source be created to make sure renters are able to utilize all of their legal rights. Otherwise, increasing rates of eviction can result in negative health outcomes that help perpetuate a cycle of poverty. Meanwhile, lawmakers hope a package of bills will address more than just the financial aspect of the problem, but the systemic deficits as well. Ann Routt | Courtesy photo Ann Routt is the executive director of the Michigan Advocacy Program (MAP) in Ypsilanti, one of the regional legal services programs that receives the funding from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), which is then administered by the Michigan State Bar Foundation in the form of grants. Losing 107 advocates statewide could hardly come at a worse time, Routt told the Michigan Advance. Housing costs continue to increase, making safe and affordable housing out of reach for many people. Routt said that when a tenant is facing a non-payment case, they get a notice about how much rent they owe, with as little as seven days to pay it in certain cases, and up to 30 days if they are in subsidized or federally related properties. If they dont pay in that time, then the landlord files a lawsuit against them, and if the landlord wins a judgment, the tenant can be evicted 10 days after that. However, she said what is not clear to many tenants is that if they have counterclaims, they can raise those as an affirmative defense and potentially prevent an eviction. That was the case for Haneen, a single mother of two who lives in Ypsilanti. She asked not to be fully identified out of fear of being blacklisted. She said she had been to court previously in a case where her landlord at the time had failed to make needed repairs, including removing mold and water that was leaking through her bathroom light fixture. I had lots of concerns, especially since I had kids, she said. I wanted to make sure that it was a safe area to live with my kids, but nothing was done. I kept asking. I called, I made requests. Nothing happened. And so when I decided to stop paying. They took me to court for non-payment of rent. Haneen said she represented herself at the time in front of Washtenaw County District Court Judge Cedric Simpson, who asked Tracy Jensen, an attorney working for the advocacy program who was in court that day representing other clients to assist Haneen. Tracy actually helped me a lot because we got into details of what was supposed to be done, she said. I remember that we found out that they didnt have any certificates of occupancy there. Just kind of seeing everything on paper was very helpful because I wouldnt have found that information easily accessible. And that is exactly the type of representation that tenants need, but generally do not receive, said Jensen. Just to kind of give context, [Haneen] had her first case during the time of COVID when there was always a legal services person in the courtroom, said Jensen. Shes a great self-advocate, so she was able to use what we gave her and do really well, but that she even got to us was because we were in the courtrooms. The bathroom wall in Haneens old apartment, which she said was so soft that it caved in when she put her finger into it. | Courtesy photo Jensen said even the most sophisticated tenants need direction as to what they can bring up in court and when they should do so. In the end, [they] cant do what lawyers can do. We know the situations, we know the laws, we know how to realistically resolve and we can sort of weigh peoples issues, she said. But I think for many tenants, the stress on health is significant. The depression of people being evicted. Im not a clinician, but it is significant. So I think the service that we can provide, if we can help people the most possible, has holistically positive effects. Routt said the pandemic laid bare the true extent of the problem. There were always a great number of evictions and people would be going through, it was almost like a treadmill because we didnt have enough resources to help them, she said. But having this big infusion of funding so we could help all these folks really helped us identify a lot of underlying problems that we knew were there. Because the courts have to be neutral, Routt said even if judges sensed that tenants facing eviction might have complicating factors, there wasnt much more they could do than offer tenants an opportunity to present them. But most of those individuals simply are not aware of what defenses they have in any given situation, and often end up being evicted regardless. It was a problem that was aggravated during COVID because people lost jobs and couldnt work, so there was this big infusion of funds to help pay the back rent, said Routt. But it didnt address all of those underlying problems of complexes that had multiple repair problems or people who lived in public or subsidized housing who needed to have their rent recertified so that it reflected what their actual income was. So we see lots of repair problems, and were able to help a lot more of those folks, but we still dont have enough to help everyone who needs it. Routt said in order to maintain what she said has been a very successful program beyond 2024, the Michigan State Bar Foundation would need $8 million annually, although its estimated that it would take $12 million to fully address the problems statewide. In 2023, legal aid programs did not have enough resources to assist 8,800 of the individuals who qualified for assistance, states a fact sheet provided by MAP. While current resources do not allow legal aid programs to fully represent all tenants facing eviction, advice and counsel is often provided to help litigants understand the court process and represent themselves. In 2023, that amounted to 26,251 cases that were handled by legal aid programs including everything from advice to full representation. MAP said that from 2019 to 2020, the number of tenants who received full representation increased by 385% to 7,909, which was only made possible with the covid rental assistance funding. However, even though that emergency funding is ending, the number of tenants in need remains at pandemic-era levels with 7,862 individuals receiving full representation in 2023. With that situation in mind, several bills have been proposed in Lansing to provide legal reforms that will better assist tenants in knowing their rights as well as providing legal assistance when needed. House Bill 5236, sponsored by state Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor), would require the State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) to provide tenants with a form summarizing their rights and responsibilities, as well as a list of legal resources that are available to them, including the United Ways 211 information system. House Bill 5237, sponsored by Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing), goes a step further and would create the Eviction Legal Services Act, which would provide certain income-eligible individuals with access to legal services during eviction procedures. It would also ensure landlords also had access to legal services if needed. The Economic Development and Small Business Subcommittee heard testimony on both bills April 25, where Dievendorf noted the devastating consequences evictions can have for families. Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) attends a The Rent is Too Damn High rally at the Michigan Capitol on September 5, 2023 | Anna Liz Nichols Evictions increase the probability of applying to a homeless shelter by 14%, yet nationally, only about 3% of tenants facing eviction have access to legal representation, she told the committee. This imbalance of power and self versus attorney representation in the courtroom often leads to unjust outcomes. A right to counsel mitigates the harm that can come from eviction. Dievendorf said that in New York City, the right to counsel has resulted in 84% of represented renters facing eviction remaining in their homes, while 93% are able to do the same in Cleveland. By providing legal representation to those who cannot afford it, we can ensure that all parties in an eviction proceeding have a fair chance to represent their case. This not only benefits the individuals, but also contributes to the overall integrity of our judicial system, she said. Dievendorf also said that by providing tenants with basic legal representation, the legislation should not be seen as hampering landlords, especially the mom and pop operations that rent out just a few units for passive income. Good landlords arent impacted by this legislation; they just arent, said Dievendorf. When asked about the cost of creating such a program, Dievendorf noted that representation of this type is already being provided through legal advocacy groups (such as MAP), but there is currently no guarantee tenants can access it. She said when they asked MSHDA what the top line cost would be to meet the full needs of Michiganders, that number was $40 million. That is not what we need to authorize every year in order to make sure that we are supporting some legal services organizations and building up capacity, but it does really demonstrate that this is very much needed and that we do need to provide consistent, ongoing support, said Dievendorf. So rather than thinking of it as tying future legislators hands, I would think of it as allowing a real opportunity for future legislators to ensure we are keeping people in their homes andultimately saving money at the local level and at the state level because it is less expensive to keep people in their homes, even with a public right to counsel than it is to continue to try to shift people out. There is research to back up that assertion. Stout, a financial analysis company, did a study estimating the costs and benefits of providing a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction in Detroit. There were always a great number of evictions and people would be going through, it was almost like a treadmill because we didn't have enough resources to help them. But having this big infusion of funding so we could help all these folks really helped us identify a lot of underlying problems that we knew were there. Ann Routt, executive director of the Michigan Advocacy Program (MAP) in Ypsilanti The estimated economic benefits of a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction in Detroit is 352% greater than the estimated costs of providing representation, stated the report. For every dollar invested in a right to counsel for low-income tenants facing eviction in Detroit, Stout conservatively estimates an economic benefit to Detroit of at least $3.52. Significant additional cost savings are likely to be recognized by Wayne County and Michigan without any incremental investment. The report, one of several looking at major U.S. cities, determined that the economic benefit was due to avoided costs around shelters, health care, foster care, and other social safety net services. In 2022, Detroit City Council voted to provide lower-income residents with free legal representation when facing eviction, one of 16 cities nationwide to do so. Initially funded with more than $20 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), those funds are only available until mid-2026. Detroit corporation counsel Conrad Mallett told the Detroit Free Press it would likely cost the city between $15 million and $18 million a year to fund the program on its own. Two other bills are also being promoted as assisting tenants. House Bill 5238, sponsored by Rep. Jimmie Wilson Jr. (D-Ypsilanti), would allow a court to expunge records of summary proceedings if it was determined that an action by a plaintiff, usually the landlord, is sufficiently without a basis in fact or law, or were due to circumstances beyond the control of the tenant that led to the eviction..or other extenuating circumstances under which the order of eviction was granted. Routt notes that bill has a direct connection to cases like that of Haneen, who has several default judgments on her record regardless of why they occurred or how they were resolved. Some landlords might look at that and say, Oh she gets evicted, she doesnt pay her rent. Well she was withholding her rent for good reasons, Routt said. House Bill 5557, sponsored by Rep. Kristian Grant (D-Grand Rapids), would require a master plan of a locality to include promotion of a range of housing types, costs, affordability, attainability, ages, and other characteristics, including single- and multiple-family dwellings, to serve the housing demands of a diverse population. Lansing Tenants Union protest at Gov. Gretchen Whitmers residence during the COVID-19 pandemic, May 1, 2020 | Audrey Matusz While the bills address the underlying procedural deficits that have impacted the current situation, Routt said they dont provide the funding they and other legal advocacy groups are hoping to obtain in order to keep legal advocates like Tracy on the job. That will require a direct appropriation from next years budget, which is in the process of being hammered out now. The Legal Services Association of Michigan, which is all the directors, have been meeting with members of the legislature just to let them know that if this money ends, there are 107 advocates who will not be there to help tenants, she said. So we have been educating members of the legislature about this loss of funding and how it will impact all our communities. Routt said its important for both lawmakers and the public to keep in mind that the vast majority of these cases are not simply about tenants who dont want to pay rent, but instead about disputes over issues like health and safety and whether the landlord is keeping up their obligations under the lease. People can withhold rent if they have significant repair problems. If you have a lip in your carpet, thats not something you can withhold for. But if you have a significant repair issue and it affects the value of the apartment or your ability to use your bathroom, you cant use your sink, waters leaking everywhere, sewage is coming up, these kinds of problems you can withhold rent for, and advising people on how to do that is a useful tool, said Routt. The landlord has an obligation to provide a safe, habitable apartment, and the tenant has the obligation to pay their rent, but they also have the right to live in a place thats safe for their kids, she said. Correction: This story has been updated to reflect newly provided information on how quickly eviction can occur once tenants receive a notice for nonpayment of rent. The post COVID-era funding thats prevented thousands of evictions is set to expire. What happens next? appeared first on Michigan Advance. A new Covid variant has taken over, and experts predict a small summer wave A new Covid variant has taken over, and experts predict a small summer wave Disease experts anticipate a small uptick in Covid cases this summer, as a new variant spreads. People, some wearing masks, walk on the boardwalk (Nina Westervelt / Bloomberg via Getty Images) The KP.2 variant represents 28% of Covid infections in the U.S., up from just 6% in mid-April, according to data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. KP.2 became dominant at the end of April meaning it accounts for the largest share of new cases outpacing the JN.1 variant, which took over in the winter. Some scientists collectively refer to KP.2 and another variant called KP.1.1, which shares the same key mutations, as FLiRT a reference to their amino acid changes. Both are descendants of JN.1, which is part of the omicron lineage, like all versions of the coronavirus that have gained dominance in the last couple of years. But KP.2 has three additional mutations in its spike protein compared with JN.1, which disease experts said could make it easier for the virus to bypass protection from vaccines or prior infections. It looks like those additional mutations make it more immune evasive, so its not a surprise that it would then dominate, said Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Laboratory research from Japan, which was published as a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed, suggests that the Covid vaccines currently recommended in the U.S. may be less effective against KP.2 than against JN.1. However, KP.2 might be less efficient at infecting cells, the research suggests, which could mean that a higher dose of the virus would be needed to infect someone. People who were infected with JN.1 should still have some protection against KP.2, experts said. The CDC does not collect regular data on how Covid symptoms are evolving over time, so its hard to assess whether illnesses caused by KP.2 look any different. Covid symptoms have generally been consistent over the last two-plus years. Experts predict a small rise in cases this summer Covid cases have spiked every summer in the U.S. since 2020. If KP.2 continues to gain prevalence, that pattern may repeat but not as dramatically, experts predict. The U.S. is in a good place with Covid heading into the summer, according to Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins University. Hospitalizations reached record lows at the end of April, the last data available before the CDC stopped requiring hospitals to report Covid admissions numbers. We see a late summer, early fall surge of cases, and then we see a second surge of cases right around the Christmas holidays, the New Year, Pekosz said. That pattern has been sort of reproducing itself for a couple of years now. The important thing, though, is the magnitude of the cases has been consistently dropping. Several factors could help the KP.2 variant spread this summer. When the weather gets very warm, people tend to congregate indoors to escape the heat, creating new opportunities for transmission. Many people also havent been vaccinated recently; less than a quarter of U.S. adults have received the updated Covid shot. I think that theres going to be a significantly large susceptible population out there, from that combination of waning immunity and viral evolution, that were going to see a number of cases this summer, said Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. But he added that since most people have some immunity to Covid, its possible that the wave wont be as great as in previous years. Barouch said past summer waves have coincided with the arrival of new variants, so this year could be similar. The increases in the summertime have often been in the context of new variants, such as the original Delta wave, for example, or the BA.5 wave, he said. So I wouldnt be surprised if there is another summertime surge. Will KP.2 affect vaccine recommendations? KP.2s rise creates questions for the public health experts who decide which variants to target with new Covid vaccines. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday postponed an advisory committee meeting that was meant to decide which strains to include in the updated vaccine formula for the fall. "We have recently observed shifts in the dominant circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2," an FDA spokesperson said. "The additional time will allow the agency to obtain more up-to-date surveillance data and other information on the circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2 to better inform the committees discussions and recommendations." The most recent vaccine-related recommendations from the CDC came in February, when it suggested that people ages 65 and up should get an additional dose and younger people could consider one. People who havent received the updated shot and feel like they need it "should get the vaccine thats currently available, Barouch said. But Pekosz said people who are not immunocompromised could probably hold off until the fall. With case numbers being relatively low right now, I think the prudent thing is to try to wait till September and get the new formulation, he said. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com An illustration of two black holes, one much smaller than the other. Black hole week reaches its conclusion today (May 10), and there's no better way to mark the occasion than with some "eggs-traordinary" black hole science. Using gravitational wave measurements by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), based in the U.S., and the Virgo and KAGRA detectors, located in Italy and Japan, respectively, scientists have found that the orbits of some binary black holes could be egg-shaped and exhibit a curious wobble. This research is more than a mere curiosity (and an "eggs-cuse" to crack some bad egg-related puns). The discovery of these oval-shaped orbits in binary black hole systems could help researchers determine how each of these systems was formed. Related: Fall into a black hole in mind-bending NASA animation (video) "We find that the majority of binary black holes are expected to be in whats called 'quasi-circular' orbits. The 'quasi' just means that the separation of the black holes is decreasing over time due to the emission of gravitational waves," study lead author Nihar Gupte, of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany and the University of Maryland, told Space.com. "Our study shows that a few of the binary black holes observed could be in 'eccentric' orbits," Gupte added. "This means that the black holes orbit in an oval or 'egg' shape." The team also discovered that the tip of that egg-shaped oval orbit could rotate as the black holes orbit each other, the researcher said. "We also found that if you analyze these events using a non-eccentric model, you will overestimate the masses of the black holes," Gupte added. What can we learn from egg-shaped black hole orbits Gupte and his colleagues examined 57 binary black hole pairs detected via gravitational waves by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration. Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time that were first predicted by Albert Einstein in his famous 1915 theory of general relativity. General relativity suggests that objects with mass create a curvature in the very fabric of space and time, united as a four-dimensional entity called "space-time." Gravity arises from this curvature, which gets more extreme as the masses of the objects increase. That's why stars have more gravitational influence than planets, and galaxies have more gravitational influence than stars. Einstein also predicted in this revolutionary theory of gravity that, when objects accelerate, they send tiny ripples radiating out through space-time gravitational waves. These ripples are insignificant, however, until the domain of ultradense objects like neutron stars and black holes is reached. When binary neutron stars or black holes swirl around each other, they constantly emit gravitational waves, which carry energy away from the system in the form of angular momentum. The loss of angular momentum causes the orbits of these bodies to tighten, drawing them together until their gravitational influence takes over. Eventually, they collide and merge, sending out a final high-pitched screech of gravitational waves. Einstein thought that even these gravitational waves would be too faint to be detected on Earth. Fortunately, in September 2015, LIGO proved the great scientist wrong, detecting GW150914, a gravitational wave signal from a black hole binary merger over 1 billion light-years away. Related: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO): Detecting ripples in space-time illustration showing two small black balls surrounded by widening gray spirals As detections of gravitational waves have continued to ripple in, scientists like Gupta are learning how to use them to reveal details about the objects that create them, as this new research demonstrates. Gupta explained that using gravitational waves to understand the orbits of binary black holes is akin to paleontologists studying bones to reconstruct how dinosaurs may have lived. Thus, physicists can study the properties of merging binary black holes to understand how binary black holes come together in the first place. This can happen in two distinct ways. Dynamical interactions occur when a black hole binary encounters and interacts with another black hole, or even another black hole binary system. On the other hand, binaries could be isolated and form more simply from two stars already circling each other that become black holes, or from one black hole wandering too close to another and forming a binary before they collide and merge. diagram showing how black holes, represented by orange and black balls, orbit each other and merge "The key idea is that if we observe a binary with eccentricity, it probably comes from a dynamical interaction," Gupta said. "These chaotic interactions can break apart the binary and shoot their constituent black holes out of their host galaxies and galaxy clusters. But sometimes, they can also shrink the distance between the two black holes, induce eccentricity and cause them to merge on short timescales." In addition to using orbital eccentricity to tell the story of black hole binaries, the scientist and his team are also interested in considering what the oval nature of orbits does to the gravitational wave emissions of these systems. "When you have eccentricity, this means at some points in the orbit, the black holes are closer to each other," Gupta explained. "When black holes are closer to each other, they have a larger acceleration, which means they emit more gravitational waves. On the other hand, if they are far away, they have smaller acceleration, which means they emit fewer gravitational waves. "So you end up seeing little blips in the amplitude of the waveform [the total pattern of gravitational waves], which occur from the black holes moving closer and further away from each other!" diagram showing five stars near black holes, each pair represented by a red and white figure-8 pattern The nature and history of binary black holes would be incredibly difficult to determine without the use of gravitational waves. An alternative method to understanding the origin of binary black holes is to look for so-called "common envelope" events with standard light-based astronomy. These events kick off with a star and a black hole orbiting each other, with that star growing into a red giant. The outer layers of the swollen puffed star create a common envelope around both occupants of the binary, generating friction between the black hole and the star. This shrinks the orbit of the binary, and eventually, after the red giant has become a black hole, this leads to a binary black hole merger. "The problem is that observing this critical period is hard with electromagnetic observations. This is because massive stars are rare and short-lived, so the critical evolutionary phases of compact object mergers occupy a small fraction of these systems," Gupta said. "By studying gravitational waves, on the other hand, we can understand the final moments of the binary merger. This can allow us to trace back the history of the merger and hypothesize what could've formed it." He added that gravitational waves are especially useful in this respect because they are an "extremely clean probe" or distant events. This refers to the fact these ripples through space-time can travel vast distances without interference from whatever is between the binary and Earth. Related: The universe is humming with gravitational waves. Here's why scientists are so excited about the discovery RELATED STORIES: How do some black holes get so big? The James Webb Space Telescope may have an answer Brightest quasar ever seen is powered by black hole that eats a 'sun a day' Record breaker! Milky Way's most monstrous stellar-mass black hole is sleeping giant lurking close to Earth (Video) "While we don't claim these to be definitive detections of eccentric binary black holes, these results point towards eccentricity [in the] existing population," Gupte said. "This is an important consideration for the current Earth-based gravitational wave detector observing run, as well as future ground and space-based gravitational wave detectors. "At present, we dont have enough data to determine the origins of binary black holes conclusively. However, if we observe more eccentric binary black holes in the future, we can start to put constraints on which mechanisms form these systems." The team's paper has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. You can read a preprint of it at the online repository arXiv. (COLORADO SPRINGS) An art piece dedicated to WWII veterans from Colorado is now on display at the Colorado Springs Airport (COS). The Wall of Heroes features white ribbons bearing the names and ranks of 144 soldiers from Colorado who died fighting in WWII. The piece was given to the airport by the Colorado Springs Chorale, who visited France in June of 2022 to perform at the International Ceremony at Normandy American Cemetery. The ceremony was held for heads of state and a few surviving D-Day veterans on the 78th anniversary of D-Day. The Chorale was so honored to take part in the Commemoration of D-Day in Normandy, and we were also able to place Colorado flags on the graves of all those brave men, said Chorale Board Treasurer and singing Chorale member Sandra Damron. The airport is the perfect location for the permanent display of these names because of the number of service men and women and their families who regularly travel through our airport. An installation ceremony was held on Thursday, May 9, 2024, at 2:30 p.m. at COS. Music performances were provided by the Chorale, and local leaders, including Government and Military Engagement Senior Advisor for Community Affairs, Sallie Clark, and former State Senator Bernie Herpin, gave speeches. We are honored to host the Wall of Heroes so that thousands of travelers can pay their respects to our fallen heroes, said Greg Phillips, Aviation Director for COS. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX21 News Colorado. (COLORADO SPRINGS) The Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) announced the second of three planned Living With Wildfire town hall meetings to address wildfire danger in our community. The second meeting is planned for Tuesday, May 14, 2024, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. At the meeting, experts will discuss the ongoing threat of wildfire and will explain how people can best prepare their homes for wildfires. Emergency evacuation plans and notification systems will also be discussed. Neighbors will also be able to sign up for Peak Alerts and the Wildfire Mitigation Neighborhood Chipping Program if eligible. Visit www.coswildfireready.org for more details. The second town hall meeting will be held at Heart of the Springs Church at 2776 N. Union Blvd. in Colorado Springs. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX21 News Colorado. (PUEBLO, Colo.) Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, May 10, to celebrate the completion of phase one of renovations for its Technology, Education, and Engineering Building. The project started with funding from a senate bill signed by Governor Polis in 2021, allocating $17.1 million to the university for the first phase of the renovation. Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist, Dez Rowe Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist, Dez Rowe Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist, Dez Rowe Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist, Dez Rowe This project will ensure that all students can access cutting-edge instructional spaces, according to CSU Pueblo leadership. This is an amazing space. Educators, engineers, the future of our workforce in Southern Colorado and the United States theyre going to be learning in a top-notch facility, right here at CSU Pueblo, really interacting with one another, with their faculty, and we couldnt imagine a better outcome for everyone, said Dr. Souder Hodge, Vice President of Operations and Advancement at CSU Pueblo. The second phase will begin soon with $14.3 million in funding recently appointed by the state to complete the renovation of the north wing. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX21 News Colorado. Representatives from the Chinese construction giant, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), and Ethiopia's Oromia regional state administration, sign a memorandum of understanding for the development of the Lume Free Trade Zone within the Gada Special Economic Zone, in Ethiopia, May 10, 2024. Ethiopia launched the construction of the Chinese-contracted Gada Special Economic Zone project in the country's Oromia region on Friday. (CCECC/Handout via Xinhua) ADDIS ABABA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia launched the construction of the Chinese-contracted Gada Special Economic Zone project in the country's Oromia region on Friday. During the launching ceremony, the Chinese construction giant, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), and Ethiopia's Oromia regional state administration, signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of the Lume Free Trade Zone within the Gada Special Economic Zone. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, addressing the event, said that the Lume Free Trade Zone, which will become the second one of its kind after Ethiopia's maiden Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone, will contribute to the East African country's socio-economic development. "We aim to replicate the successes of our agricultural sector in the industrial domain, and the Gada Special Economic Zone serves as a pivotal platform to realize this vision, unlocking the vast potential of our region and nation," Abiy said. The free trade zone, once finalized, will be a major source of employment for the country's burgeoning youth population while also attracting foreign direct investment into Africa's second most populous nation, he said. He added that the economic zone will "amplify opportunities for economic growth and development." "The Lume Free Trade Zone will work in unison with other industrial parks in Ethiopia to produce synergies, especially in industries such as coffee processing, bamboo and timber processing, machinery manufacturing, and bio-pharmaceuticals," said Dai Hegen, chairman of China Railway Construction Corporation, the parent company of CCECC. For the success of the Lume Free Trade Zone, Dai also pledged to bring the best technologies and management skills in the world, combine them with available local resources, and build a comprehensive free trade zone that excels in manufacturing, trade, research and development. Motuma Temesgen, director-general of Gada Special Economic Zone, said that the free trade zone, situated just 65 km southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, envisages boosting exports, establishing a trade logistics center and attracting foreign investments into Ethiopia. WASHINGTON Donald Trumps last vice president was called upon to defend the Constitution and American democracy by refusing to overturn the results of an election. Then his boss turned against him, whipping up an angry mob of supporters so intensely that they constructed a gallows and chanted for him to be hanged. But Florida Sen. Marco Rubio still wants the job. So do Sens. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Tim Scott of South Carolina. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (yes, even after the story about shooting a dog) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are also still in the mix to become Trumps running mate. Why? Because if youre an ambitious Republican with an eye on higher office, becoming Donald Trumps vice presidential running mate could be the quickest path to the Oval Office. Whoever Trump picks to join his ticket will become the immediate favorite to become the next GOP presidential standard-bearer, whether the 77-year-old ex-president wins in November or not. Thats why so many Republicans are not-so-secretly vying for the position with appearances at Trumps campaign events and on cable news programs in recent weeks, seemingly hoping to out-do each other on who can be the most obsequious MAGA messenger. But winning Trumps affection often requires unquestionable loyalty, and that means defending even his most shocking actions including his unprecedented effort to overturn an election he lost, his vow to pardon rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, his 88 felony charges and his personal conduct, such as his alleged extramarital affair with an adult film star. Besides its not like theyll end up in the same position as former Vice President Mike Pence, right? After all, Republicans who want the job say the Constitution limits presidents to serving two terms. An attempt by the incumbent to stay in power past 2028 is not going to be an issue for the next vice president, right? Rubio told HuffPost. No matter whos elected president now, they cant run again. Vance, meanwhile, said that what happened between Trump and Pence was a result of the political consequences of what happened at the time. I think Mike Pence [and] Donald Trump had a very strong disagreement, he added. And Mike Pence, you know, hes fundamentally just was never really on board with the underlying agenda. Vance has also said he doubts that Pences life was ever in danger on Jan. 6. Rubio and Vances decision to downplay the threats to Pence, who said in March he could not support his former boss for president in 2024, are just the latest example of the efforts running mate contenders will go to prove their loyalty. Scott, for example, last week refused to commit to accepting the outcome of the 2024 election, echoing Trumps own refusal during an earlier interview with a Wisconsin news outlet. Pressed several times for a direct yes or no, Scott dodged, maintaining there wont be any issues, since Trump will be the inevitable victor. At the end of the day, I said what I said, said Scott, who made a failed run against Trump in the 2024 primaries, on NBCs Meet the Press. 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. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) this week refused to commit to accepting the outcome of the 2024 election. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) via Associated Press Prior to dropping out of the presidential race, the South Carolina Republican had previously defended Pence for certifying the 2020 election. When asked at a GOP primary debate last year whether Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6, Scott said he absolutely did. Vance also defended Trumps claim to absolute immunity from prosecution during a combative interview on CNN an argument that would essentially put the ex-president above the law. Rubio, who Trump once derided as Little Marco, faces a key hurdle to getting the job: The Constitution states that electors in the Electoral College may not cast votes for both a president and vice president from their own state. Since Trump is also a resident of Florida, and since Republicans dont want to cede a crucial swing state to Joe Biden in the 2024 election, either Rubio or Trump would have to change their residency before the election. And it almost certainly wont be Trump. Noem, meanwhile, continued to make the rounds promoting her book on cable news programs this week, drawing fire from all sides for dodging questions about both her dog and her telling of a meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that never happened. Trump allies scratched their heads at Noems decision to write a tell-all memoir that volunteered so much damaging information but they maintained getting on TV to fight with the press and defend Trump was a good way to stand out. I think its important he sees you in action and how well you do in front of the public, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told HuffPost, when asked what criteria would help prospective VP candidates. Hes finding out that having multiple people vying for the job means that hes got a lot of proxies out there promoting his message, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) added of Trump. Democrats lamented the GOPs subservience to the ex-president, calling the jockeying to be his vice presidential pick another embarrassing display of sycophancy. Its a cult, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. Logic doesnt prevail in a cult. You just want to get as close to the leaders as you can. Thats what every day is about. How many invites do I get to Mar-a-Lago? How many phone calls do I get from him? Does he look at me kindly? Thats all that matters. Whoever Trump picks for vice president this time around will likely be more aligned with than Pence on talking points about the 2020 presidential election and his false claims of fraud. Trump has made glorifying the Jan. 6 attack on Congress a cornerstone of his campaign, embracing rioters as heroes and saluting them at his campaign events. Another contested election could play out similarly, given Trump could face prison time if he is not elected president. Most of the people who he would seriously consider to be VP will do whatever he asks, so they wont have that conflict this time, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said when asked why anyone would want to be Trumps running mate, given what happened with Pence. Would they volunteer to put their heads into a loop? a reporter asked. Absolutely, he responded. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) warned against joining the ticket, pointing to former Trump backers, including some former top Trump administration officials, who have since offered strong criticism of the former president. History has a very profound lesson about the people who become associated with Donald Trump, which is it ends badly, Blumenthal said. There is virtually no one that has escaped the Trump gravity for malign impact on their lives. Even when they sought to disassociate themselves from [him], theyve still been tarred in some way. Theres some good people who found out the hard way that Donald Trump is toxic. Russia does not seek cooperation with Europe, and if European countries want to ensure peace and prosperity, they must set "clear boundaries" for Moscow, Czech President Petr Pavel said in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Die Presse published on May 11. Tensions between Russia and Europe have been mounting since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion against Ukraine in 2022. According to the Czech president, Russia continues to see itself as a superpower with the right to dictate rules. Europe's support for Ukraine is therefore in its own interest, he added. "If we want to maintain security and prosperity in this part of Europe, we must set clear boundaries for Russia," Pavel said in the interview. "Should we fail, it could lead to serious complications in the future." Pavel noted that peace with Russia cannot be achieved by accepting its goals. He warned that Moscow seeks to restore the power and influence from the era of the Soviet Union and will not be a peaceful partner. Europe should prepare for a long-term confrontation with Russia, according to the president. KI Insights Visit KI Insights to learn more and subscribe to the insider weekly newsletter visit ki insights Once Moscow behaves in a constructive manner, Europe should as well, but "if Russia acts against our interests, we must face it. Because otherwise, our lifestyle and our values will be under threat," the president said. Czech authorities recently finished an investigation into deadly ammunition depot blasts on Czech soil in 2014, concluding that Russian operatives were behind the sabotage. According to Pavel, there is still the possibility that Russia realizes it cannot achieve a military victory in Ukraine, which could lead to negotiations. The president nevertheless said that it is unlikely that Kyiv could liberate all of its occupied territories in the foreseeable future. Except for unsuccessful negotiations in early 2022, there have been no direct peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow throughout the full-scale war. Russia has not been invited to the upcoming June peace summit in Switzerland. Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine's military intelligence deputy head, said peace talks are possible at the earliest in the second half of 2025. Read also: Italian defense minister calls for truce in Ukraine, peace negotiations with Russia Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Czech President says Europe has to set out clear boundaries for Russia Czech President Petr Pavel has said that Europe has to set out clear boundaries for Russia, because peace cannot be achieved by accepting Russias goals and demands. Source: Pavel in an interview with Die Presse, as reported by CTK and European Pravda Details: Pavel believes that Europe is currently experiencing the dawn of a long-term confrontation with Russia, though it will not necessarily lead to a military confrontation. Pavel said that if European countries want to support their own security and flourishing, they have to establish clear boundaries for Russia. "Failing to do so could lead to significant difficulties in the future," Pavel said, adding that peace cannot be achieved by accepting Russias goals and demands. Pavel stressed that Russia wants to renew the imperial might of the Soviet Union, including regaining its sphere of influence, and talks openly about it. "We have to be prepared that Russia will not be our peaceful partner [] When Russia is undermining our interests, we have to resist it. Because otherwise our way of life and our values will be in danger," the Czech president said. He noted that when Europe supports Ukraine, it is investing in its own security. Pavel also believes that there is still a chance that Russia will realise that it cannot secure a military success in Ukraine, which would lead to diplomatic negotiations rather than an "insane waste of resources and human lives". However, Pavel thinks it is not very likely that Ukraine will be able to regain control over all of its territory in the foreseeable future. Though he said that no one is denying the possibility that Ukraine might at some point join NATO, Pavel said it was important to make it clear that this will not create a direct threat to Russia. When asked about the possibility of Donald Trump being elected as the president of the United States, Pavel said that Europe has for a long time behaved like a "spoiled child" towards the US and now it has to be prepared to take on more security responsibilities in the event of Trumps election. Background: On 9 May, Pavel announced that the first 180,000 shells purchased for Ukraine under the Czech-led initiative will arrive in Ukraine in June. In mid-April, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that Czechia had signed contracts to supply 180,000 artillery rounds for Ukraine as part of a new initiative and is currently working on contracts for another 300,000 rounds. Fiala later said that 1.5 million artillery shells could potentially be procured for Ukraine in this way within a year. Meanwhile, Czech President Pavel does not think that Western countries have lost hope that Ukraine will win the war. Support UP or become our patron! Czechia is allocating 750,000 euros (about $809,000) to the support and improvement of Ukraine's forest monitoring systems, Viktor Smal, the head of the State Forest Resources Agency, announced on May 10. The funds are part of a broader initiative known as "Strengthening Ukraine's Forest Monitoring Capacity to Align with EU Standards." Smal met with Czech Forestry Institute Director Marek Mlkusek to discuss the details of the project. "The goal of this project is to support the quality and comprehensiveness of the forest monitoring system in Ukraine and thus contribute to improving the quality of data," Smal said. One of the project's aims is to develop software for data collection during forest management using remote sensing and data processing methods, such as Copernicus and Landsat satellite data. Other goals include providing computer equipment and training for specialists, and creating updated training modules. According to Smal, the next step in the project is to sign a memorandum of understanding between the State Forest Resources Agency, the H.M. Vysotsky Ukrainian Research Institute of Forestry and Agricultural Reclamation, the State Forest Management Planning Association, the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences, and the Czech Forestry Institute. The State Forest Resources Agency estimates that almost 30% of Ukraine's forests have suffered some kind of damage due to Russia's full-scale invasion. The war has destroyed more than 60,000 hectares of forests, with the cost of damages amounting to at least Hr 14 billion ($360 million), according to an investigation by NGL Media published on April 8. Read also: PM Shmyhal: Russias damage to Ukrainian environment amounts to nearly $60 billion Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. I think theyve just given up, said a friend, an academic specialising in esoteric aspects of the 17th century world of scholarship. He was referring to the British Library, whose systems were hacked in early October, with hundreds of thousands of files of user and personnel information stolen and, as the library refused to pay the 600,000 ransom the hackers demanded, sold on the Dark Web. Even worse for the global circuit of scholars, students and the simply curious who depended on the library the largest and best research facility in the world, home to astonishing and eclectic items in its 170 million-strong collection its digital catalogue was largely destroyed. The ability to search and order books, manuscripts, ephemera, treatises, music and everything else online went kaput just like that, leaving the lions share of the library collection in its storage facility in Yorkshire, stuck in the darkness of an analogue world long left behind. My friend had popped out to speak to me, but he hardly needed to: the Rare Books and Music reading room, formerly the preserve of the most hardcore scholars (and me; I wrote my PhD in there) with a culture of shushing those who dared whisper, has slowly become a more of a hangout spot for teenagers who play on their phones more than they consult books. My friend told me how he had asked the security guards if they couldnt keep some lid on the teenage babble, and theyd merely shrugged. Meanwhile, the many reading room staff sit behind Covid-era screens twiddling their thumbs, helplessly telling the few readers who try to get certain books that theyre all up in Yorkshire and because of the outage cant be got. I stopped going to the library shortly after the hack because it seemed futile. Seven months on, digital services remain largely out of service and will for some time, and the library now just a shell with a few cafes and the occasional paid-for event in its atrium is developing a flyblown, forgotten feeling. Meanwhile its chief executive, Sir Roly Keating, has resigned, and will leave in April next year. Officially he says he was only ever going to stay for 12 years, but one cant help suspect hes been utterly deflated by the apparent death of the once-great library he ruled over. The death of the British Library feels symbolic seismic in itself, but also redolent of a sense of a great age coming to an end and the dawn of a much darker one, more Handmaids Tale than Cool Britannia. This feeling oozes off the way our hallowed museums rush to send back treasures, caption wonderful old paintings with woke garbage, and sit victim to nasty young brats whose form of green activism is simply destroying beauty, chucking paint on everything from Van Gogh to the Mona Lisa. The final death of the Cambridge I loved gives me a similar feeling. Just as it would have been unthinkable in the past for the Library to simply succumb, Cambridges hallowed lawns have also always remained inviolate, subject to highly specific rules, as ancient and important as the institution itself, and synonymous with the specific special world of Oxbridge. It is easy for the chippy or the entitled to laugh at the rules The right to walk across the College lawns are limited to senior members and fellows only but they are an essential part of the whole. It isnt clear whether the encampment on Kings Parade, on the lawn in front of Kings College, falls into this set of rules. I wrote to the college to ask, but didnt receive a reply. This is no surprise, given that the Universitys statement is a simpering and non-specific endorsement of the anti-Israel mobs right to protest, plus a watery reminder to protesting students and those who might be impacted by [the protests] of the pastoral and therapeutic care they can call on within the university. The ideological rot has of course been place for years, of course, as Oxbridge has been busy ridding itself of researchers asking verboten questions about race, promoting the most appalling woke maniacs, like now-Professor Priyamvada Gopal of Kings College, Cambridge (Gopal seemingly makes allegations of British racism the core of her lifes work) and decolonising its once-splendid and canonical curriculum. White students, especially those from prosperous backgrounds or private schools, are penalised by admissions officers, as the universities try to replicate US-style affirmative action policies. The students themselves spend their lives not in pursuit of understanding the great cultural inheritance all around them, but locked in a dreary spiral of bad-tempered protests revolving around the phantom of systemic racism, from Rhodes Must Fall to Palestine. All of this has eaten away at the utterly unique brilliance of our ancient universities. But there is something especially newly chilling about the hideous Gaza-solidarity encampments, reminiscent of wilful homelessness and the squalor that goes with all that, plus the unavoidable death-cult aspect of it all, given that the protesters who, in lionizing Hamas, seem to be in favour of more October 7th. The local elections capped off the sense of encroaching darkness, as Sadiq Khan won his third term as mayor of an ever-dirtier, poorer and more crime-ridden London, and the once-formidable Tories were utterly obliterated by a Labour still full of batty loons, whose true plans are lost under the penchant for flip-flopping. I used to scoff when people cried apocalypse soon and Handmaids Tale particularly after Trumps election. Trump or no Trump, the past year has taught me theres nothing funny about that fear anymore. 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. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) described the Biden administrations review of Israels war conduct in the Gaza Strip which acknowledged the likely violation of international humanitarian law using U.S. weapons as woefully inadequate, but did not indicate a ban on arms transfers. If this conduct complies with international standards, God help us all, Van Hollen said in a call with reporters shortly after the State Department transmitted its report to Congress. Because that would set a very low bar for what is allowed, it would set a very low bar for the rules of war, it would set a very low bar whats required to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance. The Biden administration delivered a report to Congress late Friday afternoon, in which it determined it was reasonable to assess that Israel had violated international humanitarian law (IHL) in its conduct in Gaza. The report was mandated by National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM20), which Biden issued in February. NSM20 required foreign governments receiving U.S. military assistance, and engaged in active combat, to provide written assurances to Washington that American-provided weapons are being used in accordance with IHL, and further was not hindering the delivery of humanitarian assistance. The memo also requires the State Department and Department of Defense to scrutinize credible reports of IHL violations. NSM20 was an outgrowth of a push by Van Hollen to get President Biden to recognize a large-scale Palestinian civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israels war against Hamas, and the challenges on the Israeli side hindering the delivery of humanitarian aid. Van Hollen called the Biden administrations report woefully inadequate and demonstrated a big gap in the assessment of reports from international NGOs that have scrutinized Israels war against Hamas over the course of seven months. While the administration has made some important general findings in this report, including the finding that its reasonable to conclude that Israel has violated international law in the use of American weapons, they all fall short of making difficult determinations in specific cases, he said. But the administration ducked all the hard questions about making the actual determination, Van Hollen continued. As I read this report, the Biden administration is taking at face value many the representations made by the Netanyahu government, the senator said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The administration indicates in its report that Israel has engaged on investigations into the reports of violations of IHL. Van Hollen said the findings may galvanize voices to restrict weapons transfers to Israel. President Biden held back sending more than 3,000 heavy bombs to Israel this week and warned of restricting more arms transfers in opposition to Israeli military action in the southern Gazan-city of Rafah. This report does not dig deep because I think by digging deeper you will not just reach a general conclusion about the likelihood of violations of international humanitarian law, youd have to make judgments about specific cases, Van Hollen said. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, speaks Friday at a news conference after passage of the $51.7 billion state budget, accompanied by House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). When the final budget votes were over Friday and the constitutional deadline was met, Missouri House Republicans crowed about holding the line on spending while Democrats accused the GOP of failing the states most vulnerable citizens. A budget process that had the least public input in years with just a pro-forma public hearing in the House and no calls for public testimony by Senate budget writers left no one pleased with the process. But House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith said he was proud of the $51.7 billion plan that spent less than the $52.7 billion Gov. Mike Parson proposed in January. While we have a very good final product, the process left something to be desired, Smith said at a news conference with other Republicans. The final votes were taken with about three hours to go before the constitutional deadline for passing a budget. The details of the final 17 spending bills one to fund programs through June and the remainder to fund next years operations and construction only emerged Thursday when the Senate began voting. Factional warfare among Senate Republicans meant that chamber never debated the bills produced by the Senate Appropriations Committee. There was no formally appointed bipartisan, bicameral conference committee to negotiate differences between the chambers. Instead, Smith and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Lincoln Hough ironed out the details in days of private negotiations. There are usually preliminary talks like that before the conference committee, but the decisions are then aired one at a time and other members can question the result or seek a change. This years budget process was a complete disaster and a terrible precedent to be set, House Democratic Leader Crystal Quade of Springfield said at a news conference after the House adjourned. We cannot allow the new normal for spending taxpayer money to become just two guys writing a budget and secret and then jamming it through the process at the very last minute, full of pork and appeasing lobbyists, but the most vulnerable among us are everyday citizens not being included. The budget plan taps the states accumulated surplus to spend $15.3 billion in general revenue. By putting a one-time designation on $1.35 billion of the $14.6 billion allocated for state operations in the coming year, Smith was able to say the budget uses no more for ongoing programs than the state expects in tax receipts. The designation is on the $363.7 in general revenue that will be put in a fund for improving Interstate 44, a project Smith, a Carthage Republican running for state treasurer, inserted into the budget. It is also on $336.2 million that funds the Medicaid managed care program. There are also one-time designations on $580 million in spending from federal and other funds. The smallest is $1,613 for the expense and equipment needs of the Department of Social Servicess Division of Legal Services, paid from federal funds. The designation of anything one time is just a signal to the world that were paying for it this year and we may not be doing it next year, Smith said. Democrats, however, said in many instances it is a false economy. House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, surrounded by other Democrats, speaks Friday about the $51.7 billion state budget approved in the House (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). Several lawmakers running in Republican primaries for statewide office want to be able to claim credit for imposing big cuts in state spending, said Quade, a candidate for governor. But all they really did was lowball the estimated costs of several state programs that everyone who is being honest about the situation knows will require substantially more spending authority to fully fund. Before Senate votes on the budget began Thursday, Parson said his budget staff had no idea what was in the final budget crafted by Smith and Hough. If the budget fails to adequately fund state operations, Parson said he would not leave it to his successor to fill in the gaps. The majority of the cuts to Parsons January budget proposal were in three departments Health and Senior Services, Mental Health and Social Services. Total funding for those agencies is $829 million below the amounts requested by Parson. One cut was to funding for personal care assistance intended to help elderly people and people with disabilities remain in their home, reduced by $86 million. Another was to the overall managed care budget, which is about $500 million below Parsons request. While those cuts were being made, the budget includes almost 300 new earmarked items, costing more than $2 billion, sprinkled throughout the 16 appropriation bills for the coming year. The largest is $727.5 million Smith inserted for I-44 improvements Lobbyists got paid and poor people got screwed, said the Houses second ranking Democrat, Rep. Richard Brown of Kansas City. On many of the bills, large numbers of Democrats voted present to protest the process that produced the budget. On the floor, state Rep. Deb Lavender said cuts to those departments and the rejection of increases included in the bills never debated in the Senate will hurt people with developmental disabilities, leaving many stranded on waiting lists or housed in hospitals and jails. You offer to pay $17 an hour to someone and you cant find anyone to do the work, she said. When the budget debate opened, state Rep. Peter Merideth, ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said it was the worst process in his eight years in the House. Weve seen the budget process get worse and worse, Merideth said. Weve put in less hours each year. When I started we were here all through the session till midnight or later working on the budget. Smith said he agreed the process used this year should not be repeated, but he defended his openness, saying he never heard from any Democrats while he was in talks with Hough. I detect that the other side of the aisle is very grumpy about the way that this has unfolded, Smith said. And thats something I understand from their perspective. The votes on all bills were concluded in about four hours. The motion to shut off debate, used regularly in the House, was called for on nine of the bills. On one, Lavender, the ranking Democrat on the appropriations subcommittee for the three departments with the deepest cuts, was left at the microphone without a chance to speak. On the next bill, state Rep. Patty Lewis of Kansas City summed up the feelings of many Democrats. Grumpy is an understatement, Lewis said. Frankly, I am outraged. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Democrats say final Missouri budget pads special interests with state cash appeared first on Missouri Independent. PARK TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) Deputies say a woman was critically injured and a man was seriously injured Friday in a Park Township crash. It happened around 7:55 p.m. on Ottawa Beach Road near 152nd Avenue, according to the Ottawa County Sheriffs Office. Deputies say a car was heading east at a high rate of speed when it lost control and went off the roadway. The car hit the curb, rolled multiple times, hit a tree, came to a rest in the road and then caught fire, according to the sheriffs office. Arriving deputies removed the two occupants. Deputies say the passenger, a 45-year-old Holland woman, was airlifted to the hospital with critical injuries, while the driver, a 46-year-old Holland man, was taken by ambulance to the hospital with serious injuries. This embedded content is not available in your region. Ottawa Beach Road is closed Friday evening as deputies investigate. Drivers are asked to seek an alternate route. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com. A Leon County circuit judge has dismissed Gov. Ron DeSantis office from a lawsuit filed by the Washington Post over access to DeSantis travel records. WATCH CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS Judge J. Lee Marsh this week issued a nine-page ruling that said DeSantis office is not the custodian of disputed records held by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. As a result, Marsh ruled that the Post doesnt have standing to sue DeSantis office. The Post filed the lawsuit in July against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and an amended version in December that also named the governors office as a defendant. Read: UCF Board of Trustees member, Sheriffs Office employee bond out after sex sting arrest It alleged that the state violated a public-records law by withholding records about a 2022 DeSantis campaign event and plane records. In part, the amended version of the lawsuit contended that DeSantis office has taken control over FDLEs compliance with the Posts requests. But Marsh wrote that the amended lawsuit does not allege that the Post submitted a public records request to the EOG (executive office of the governor) for the records. Instead, the Post argued that its public records request to the department, combined with the alleged exertion of control over the response to the records, was sufficient to assert a cause of action against EOG for unlawfully withholding the records because EOG took legal or constructive custody of them. Read: Thursday: Give input and get ice cream in DeLand But a public records request to a different agency is not a substitute for a request to the agency for whom the requester seeks records. Marshs ruling, issued Sunday, did not dismiss the case against the law-enforcement agency. It said the Post can obtain complete relief for any alleged violation of the law and any award of attorneys fees from the department. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. NEW DELHI, May 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 Naxals were killed and two government forces wounded in a fierce gunfight in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, police said Saturday. The gunfight between Naxals and joint contingents of police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) broke out Friday in a forest near Pidia village of Bijapur district, about 460 km south of Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh. According to police, contingents of government forces cordoned off the area on specific intelligence information suggesting the presence of Naxals. "In the stand-off, 12 Naxals were gunned down and their bodies have been recovered," a police official said, adding that two government forces were injured in a blast. According to police, a huge quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from the gunfight site. This was the third major strike against Naxals in the state since April 16 when government forces killed 29 Naxals, including a top commander. Currently, Naxals are active across the central and eastern parts of India. The insurgency reportedly has claimed hundreds of lives besides rendering thousands of poor inhabitants homeless. Did you miss the northern lights, Boise? New forecast says South Idaho has another shot Idahoans kicking themselves for missing the spectacle of the overnight light show brought by the aurora borealis Friday into Saturday appear as though theyll be treated with a second chance. Saturday afternoon forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center indicate a second coming in and around the Gem State, including around the Treasure Valley. The extreme geomagnetic storm continues and will persist through at least Sunday... pic.twitter.com/GMDKikl7mA NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 11, 2024 Friday evening already marked the first Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch since 2005. The agency now expects those similar rare weather event conditions to continue into Sunday. And if late Saturdays display is anything like it was late Friday, South Idaho is in for another unforgettable experience, if not once-in-a-generation. The historic geomagnetic storm continues NOAA wrote in a Saturday afternoon post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The northern lights appear north of Lucky Peak State Park near Boise, Friday, May 10, 2024. The phenomenon was made possible by a large solar storm interacting with the Earths magnetic field, creating glowing atmospheric gases. Sarah A. Miller/smiller@idahostatesman.com Weather conditions should be similar to Friday into early Saturday, David Groenert, a meteorologist with the Boise office of the National Weather Service, told the Statesman by phone. Overnight temperatures into Sunday may even be a tad warmer, he said. It should be the same as last night, not any cloud cover for tonight, so clear skies, Groenert said. The skies shouldnt be an issue, just a matter if they show up. It peaked around midnight to 2 a.m. (Saturday), and, in that case, it will still be in the low-60s in Boise, and Bogus Basin will be around 50 degrees. Recommendations are to get to areas of the region with low light pollution for the show. Around midnight and after may again prove to be the sweet spot for the skyward exhibition. Get your popcorn and cameras ready. MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) The 2023-2024 regular session of the South Carolina General Assembly has ended, and supporters who want the state to implement a hate crimes law will have to wait a little bit longer. The bill, known as the Clementa C. Pickney Act, would have enhanced penalties for violent crimes fueled by hate. Its named after a state senator and one of the nine victims of the 2015 church shooting in Charleston. The bill previously passed the house in March of 2023, where it then went to a Senate committee and sat undebated on the chambers calendar for nearly a year. This March, that committee approved the bill and sent it to the full Senate, where it later died without a floor vote for the second legislative session in a row. Calls for the bills passage had a new push in November, after a racially motivated cross burning incident in Horry County. News13 spoke with those victims, Monica and Shawn Williams, who said not passing the bill causes a trickle-down effect. It sends a clear message that you are not understanding the priority of passing a hate crime bill, said Monica Williams. Those weary of the bill suggest many crimes are caused by hatred, and that its dangerous to try and discern someones thoughts. The governor (Henry McMaster) has always said, hes very leery of how you legislate what somebodys thinking, said South Carolina Lt. Governor Pamela Evette. And so, he has always said he would need to see whats coming out of the General Assembly before he could say if he would be for it or not. All 170 General Assembly members are up for election, so bills could face a different legislative environment in the 2025 session. Were going to stay hopeful that this does come to fruition and that they will dig deep in their hearts and souls and know the importance of passing hate crime bills and hate crime law, said Monica. Were continuing to work with agencies such as the NAACP, the National Action Network, and other organizations who would want to join us in the march towards justice. In the end, the people of South Carolina will benefit from it, said Shawn. McMaster will hold a press conference to talk about the end of the legislative session on Monday. Count on News13 for updates. * * * Savannah Denton joined News 13 in July 2023 as a reporter and producer. Savannah is from Atlanta, Georgia, and is a graduate of the University of Alabama. Follow Savannah on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of her work here. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW. Buffalo's Fire Publisher Jodi Spotted Bear and Bismarck Documenters Program Manager Alicia Hegland-Thorpe discuss the Bismarck Documenters on Prairie Public's Mainstreet. (Photo contributed by Buffalo's Fire) A nonprofit online news outlet is working to put the public back in public meetings. Buffalos Fire, a Native-led news organization based in Bismarck, and the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance are bringing a program called the Documenters Network to North Dakota. The program involves training (and paying) community members to attend local government meetings and take notes, with summaries of meetings published online. This really does put the power back into the peoples hands to hold our elected officials accountable, said Alicia Hegland-Thorpe, Bismarck Documenters program manager. For more information, visit: www.buffalosfire.com/bismarck-documenters Hegland-Thorpe is recruiting community members to cover meetings in the Bismarck-Mandan area as well as meetings of tribal councils. Organizers would like to expand to covering state meetings in the future. A free orientation is set for 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, at 122 N 4th St., Bismarck. Additional orientation sessions will be held in the future. Once participants complete the training, they can look at a list of upcoming meetings and select which ones they want to cover. Documenters are paid $17-24 an hour to cover a meeting, depending on complexity and distance, with an average assignment expected to be 2 to 3 hours, Hegland-Thorpe said. The training will prepare participants to focus on fact-based reporting rather than opinions, Hegland-Thorpe said. Notes from the meetings will be edited before they are published. We also want it to be objective, she said. Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, publisher of Buffalos Fire, said this will be the first rural and first Indigenous-led cohort to participate in the Documenters Network. It is open to anyone who wants to participate, she said. Its a chance to engage the community and help open the door for them to be a part of meetings that impact their lives, Spotted Bear said. The Documenters Network was established in 2018 by City Bureau, a nonprofit civic journalism lab. The organization, which operates in 18 other cities, centralizes information about public meetings in a searchable location. Many of the meetings the Documenters cover are local meetings that dont typically get media coverage. For example, a participant in Akron, Ohio, last week covered a meeting of the Vacant Buildings Board and published detailed notes, along with an audio recording from the meeting. The Bismarck Documenters website has more information about how to participate, plus a link to area local meetings ranging from the Bismarck School Board to the Mandan Architectural Review Commission. The post Documenters group wants more eyes on local governments appeared first on North Dakota Monitor. DOE never investigated Kill the Jews chants at Brooklyn HS, despite Banks claims to the contrary: lawyer Schools Chancellor David Banks testifying at left; top right inset of student giving nazi salute, caught on surveillance camera; bottom right outside of Origins High School complex in Brooklyn City schools Chancellor David Banks denied reports of heinous Death to Israel and Kill the Jews chants at a Brooklyn high school during a congressional hearing this week but critics say Department of Education never investigated. We have found no evidence that that actually happened, Banks told House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of the alleged chants at Origins High School, where Jewish teachers and students say they have been terrorized by antisemitic teens. Just because something was written on the front page of a tabloid doesnt it make it true . . . we have to investigate, Banks said later in his testimony. We have found no evidence that that actually happened, Banks said of the alleged hateful chants at Origins High School on Oct. 11. AP The chants were among many disturbing incidents at the embattled Sheepshead Bay school first exposed by The Post and now part of a lawsuit on behalf of campus manager Michael Beaudry and former Origins teacher Danielle Kaminsky. Their lawyer, Jim Walden, says his clients havent been contacted for any investigation and that Banks is talking the talk and not walking the walk. The whole notion that the Origins allegations were investigated is ridiculous, Walden told The Post following the House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing. An Origins High School student allegedly painted a Hitler mustache on his face and went door to door giving the Nazi salute. Courtesy of Sidney Southerland Banks is not calling anyone to actually get a real understanding of what happened at Origins, or talk about these grandiose solutions that he professed, he said. Banks told Stefanik that the DOE has found wide ranging, deeply troubling antisemitic things at the school but not Kaminskys claim that students chanted the hateful rhetoric during an Oct. 11 march, just four days after the Hamas attacks on Israel. She wasnt hallucinating, Walden said. Why the DOE couldnt find evidence to corroborate that is highly suspect. Jim Walden of Walden Macht & Haran LLP is the attorney for teacher Danielle Kaminsky and campus manager Michael Beaudry. Natan Dvir From Oct. 8 through March, students showed aggressive antisemitism at Origins including marching through campus chanting fk the Jews, and Death to Israel! and drawing swastikas on school grounds, the suit claims. Helayne Seidman If asked, she could have provided the names of students who participated and who likely filmed the activity on their phones, Walden noted. Its going to be pretty embarrassing for them when I serve discovery very soon. The April 3 suit recounts the chronic hostility Kaminsky and other Jews at the school experienced, including her being called a dirty Jew and given the Nazi salute, and an email to teachers that said, All Jews need to be exterminated. Campus manager Michael Beaudry and teacher Danielle Kaminsky are suing over antisemitism and retaliation at Origins High School. Marc Armas The administration failed to address the complaints and retaliated against Kaminsky and Beaudry, according to the suit. At the hearing on Wednesday, Banks said a number of students were suspended but that he couldnt comment further because of the lawsuit. I had visited that school after these allegations have come up, he said. Ive met with parents, families, staff, students. Im deeply troubled by what has happened there and were going to get to the bottom of it. A DOE spokesperson referred questions from The Post back to Wednesdays hearing. Additional reporting by Susan Edelman Dog Rescued After Falling Off 50-Foot Cliff at Quarry in Connecticut: He's 'Very Lucky' The animal, a 30-pound terrier mix named Rippy, had been lost for days NorthCanaanAnimalControl/Facebook Rippy the dog A dog has been rescued after falling off a 50-foot cliff at a quarry in Connecticut. The North Canaan Animal Shelter received a phone call earlier this week from a man who said he heard a dog barking while he was walking near the quarry, according to a Facebook post from the organization's Animal Control Officer Lindsay Burr. Joined by her sister and a group of quarry workers, Burr went to the bottom of the area to locate the pup, and although they could hear him barking, he was unable to be found. The shelter then got in touch with a local resident, who used a drone to see if they could detect the canine's heat signature. The attempt, however, was unsuccessful, Burr wrote. The North Canaan Animal Control was later contacted by the dog's owner, who revealed that the canine a 30-pound terrier mix named Rippy recently disappeared in the area. 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. NorthCanaanAnimalControl/Facebook Rippy being rescued Related: Dog Rescued After Being Found Hiding in Small Cutout on Side of Mountain in Arizona Eventually, workers near the quarry reported hearing the barking again while on their lunch break, Burr wrote, and called Animal Control to retrieve the animal. Alongside the North Canaan Animal Shelter, members of the Northwest Rope Rescue Team, the North Canaan Fire Company and the North Canaan Ambulance assisted in the rescue. Two members of the Rope Rescue Team, Burr said, "repelled roughly 50 ft down to the dog." NorthCanaanAnimalControl/Facebook Rippy being rescued Rippy was then caught and safely brought back up the cliff, and his owner was later called to bring him home, per the social media post. "I want to thank everyone who was involved in this crazy rescue," Burr wrote. "Rippy's mom thanks everyone as well!!" "He is one very lucky dog to have survived a fall off one of those cliffs!! Other animals have not been that lucky!" she added. "He would not have made it home safe without all of you!!" For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking a 40-year sentence for the man who assaulted former Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) husband in 2022. Prosecutors said that David DePape, the man who broke into Pelosis home and assaulted her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, should face maximum penalties for both counts he was convicted of in 2023. The sentence imposed must accomplish both specific and general deterrence, the prosecutors said in a memorandum filed Friday in a U.S. District Court in San Francisco. At a time when extremism has led to attacks on public and elected officials, this case presents a moment to speak to others harboring ideologically motivated violent dreams and plans, they said. This case presents strong deterrent value to say that violent ideological attacks will be punished to the full extent of the law. DePape was found guilty of assault and kidnapping charges in November last year. He entered Pelosis home in the early morning of Oct. 28, 2022, and was looking for then-speaker of the lower chamber. He hit Paul Pelosi with a hammer before being apprehended by law enforcement. The former speaker was in D.C. at the time of the incident. Her husband was in the hospital for several days, suffering from a skull fracture and injuries to his arms. He offered an apology while in court, and said Pelosis husband was never his target. Prosecutors are seeking to label his crime as terrorism. Defendant intended to promote a federal crime of terrorism and therefore, the terrorism enhancement should apply here, the prosecutors said. DePapes sentencing is set for May 17. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Federal prosecutors seek up to 40 years imprisonment for the Canadian citizen who broke into the home of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer in October 2022. File photo by Ting Shen/UPI May 11 (UPI) -- The Department of Justice asked a federal judge to sentence David DePape to 40 years in prison for his hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in San Francisco in 2022. A jury on Nov. 16 found DePape guilty of one count of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and one count of assault on an immediate family member of a federal official. U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey on Friday asked the U.S. District Court of Northern California to sentence DePape to a maximum sentences of 20 years for the attack on Paul Pelosi and 30 years for his attempted kidnapping of Nancy Pelosi. Ramsey asked the court to require DePape to serve 10 years for the assault conviction and allow the remaining 10 years for that offense to be served concurrently during a 30-year sentence for the kidnapping conviction for a total of 40 years. DePape, 43, "was convicted of attempting to kidnap then-speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and of violently assaulting her husband, botjhon account of the performance of Speaker Pelosi's official duties," Ramsey said. Nancy Pelosi was House speaker when DePape illegally entered the Pelosis' San Francisco home about 2 a.m. on Oct. 28, 2022, attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer and wanted to kidnap Nancy. "He planned to hold Speaker Emerita Pelosi hostage and break her kneecaps if she lied to him," Ramsey said. When Nancy Pelosi wasn't home, DePape assaulted Paul Pelosi and threatened to "tie him up and 'take him out.'" Paul Pelosi, 84, suffered a skull fracture and was hospitalized for six days due to the attack that was recorded by police body cameras, ABC News reported. Ramsey says DePape never accepted responsibility or showed remorse for the attack. Instead, on the same day police body cam footage was made available to the public, DePape called KTVU-TV in Oakland while in lockup and awaiting trial. He told the TV station the body cam footage shows "the tree of liberty isn't dying. It's been killed, systematically and deliberately." "The people killing it have names and addresses," DePape told the TV station. "So I got their names and addresses, so I could pay them a little visit and have a heart-to-heart chat about their bad behavior." DePape said he was "so sorry I didn't get more of them" and he "should have come better prepared" to carry out his planned attacks, Ramsey says in the sentencing request. While on trial, DePape said his freedom of speech and freedom of the press were violated by a mandated removal of his website. Ramsey says DePape's actions rise to the level of terrorism and he should be sentenced accordingly. DePape is a Canadian citizen, who entered the United States as a temporary visitor in 2008 and illegally stayed more than six months, according to the Department of Homeland Security. DePape is scheduled for sentencing Friday. The offer certainly sounds inviting. With his new Startup Party, Dominic Cummings plans to focus on reducing immigration, closing tax loopholes for the 1 per cent, investing in public services, and reforming the Civil Service. Giving his first interview since leaving No 10 in 2020, Boris Johnsons former advisor-turned-nemesis explained how he wants his new party to be completely different from the other parties, friendly towards all the amazing talent in the country, people who build things in private and public sector and ruthlessly focused on the voters not on Westminster and the old media. Notwithstanding the irony of him announcing all this to the old media of the i newspaper (as well as his Substack blog), he made it clear that the whole point of the Startup Party is to say were not oriented towards The Daily Telegraph and the Today programme. Which is odd, when you consider that his description of the Tories representing nothing except a continuation of the s---show: higher taxes, worse violent crime, more debt, anti-entrepreneurs, public services failing, immigration out of control could have been written by one of this publications columnists, or indeed, any of its readers. Cummings doesnt appear to have delved into these pages since The Telegraph started questioning why on earth a man who these days boasts of drinking till 3am ... with AI people advocated draconian lockdown measures and apparently on the basis of very little scientific evidence. Even Prof Neil Ferguson, who incorrectly predicted 4,000-6,000 deaths a day in an email to Ben Warner, the Vote Leave data scientist who was brought into Downing Street by Cummings, had the self-awareness to caveat his doomsday scenario with the words: This event is in the natural disaster category and the cure (eg massive social distancing, shutdowns) could be worse than the disease. Oddly, no one, including the genius that is Dominic Cummings, thought to model this at the time. Before he attempts to fix Britain, Barnard Castles own tinpot authoritarian might perhaps want to consider owning up to being part of the reason why the country is in such a mess. 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. Former President Donald Trump is dismissing a report that he is considering his GOP primary opponent Nikki Haley as a running mate. Trump wrote on his social Media platform Truth Social Saturday that "Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well!" Axios, citing "two people familiar with the dynamic, reported that Haley was in the running to be Trump's nominee for vice president. Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said on March 6, 2024, a day after Super Tuesday, she is suspending her campaign. Haley spoke to media and some campaign staff, doubling down on not supporting former President Donald Trump. The two had a contentious primary battle and Haley has not endorsed Trump. Many of her supporters also continue to be wary of the former president, a warning sign as he seeks to consolidate Republicans ahead of the general election. Haley continues to get a significant share of the vote in primaries across the country. Haley garnered 22% in Indiana's primary this week, despite having dropped out of the race more than two months ago. Selecting a running mate that could appeal to the GOP voters who favor Haley could help Trump in November, and Haley herself might be the best person to do it. Many of Trump's MAGA followers soured on Haley during the primary, though, and having her on the ticket could upset his base. While ruling Haley out as his running mate, Trump's "wish her well" comments seem to be a sign that he's ready to mend fences and get her voters on board with his campaign. "Only President Trump will rule a contender for Vice President in or out, and anyone claiming to know who he will choose is lying," said Trump spokesman Brian Hughes. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump says he isn't considering Nikki Haley for vice president GAZA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Hamas said in a statement Friday that it will hold consultations with the leaders of other Palestinian factions to reconsider its negotiating strategy on reaching a ceasefire to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. The statement added that Israel's "effective rejection" of the ceasefire offer has undone all efforts to reach a ceasefire. It also accused the Israeli side of "evading" a ceasefire deal, citing the fact that Israel continued military actions in the Palestinian city of Rafah and took control of the Palestinian side of Rafah's border crossing, even after Hamas accepted the mediators' proposal. The Hamas movement, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, said while it was "positively" dealing with the proposal made by Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. mediators, the "Israeli leaders insisted on failing all those efforts." On Thursday, the Hamas delegation left Egypt's capital and headed to Qatar's Doha after a round of three-day negotiations failed to produce any positive results with Israel. "Our delegation adheres to its position of approving the proposal it received from the Egyptian and Qatari mediators," Ezzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said in a press statement announcing the delegation's departure. Israel said the Hamas proposal contained elements it cannot accept. Meanwhile during the talks, the Israeli military launched an operation in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah crowded with more than 1 million internally displaced Palestinians and took control of the Palestinian side of the key Rafah crossing. DOTHAN, Ala. (WDHN) People in Dothan and other parts of the Wiregrass and Alabama report seeing Northern Lights in the skies Friday evening. They should be visible until around 4 a.m. Saturday morning. An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth is producing northern lights in the U.S. this weekend and could potentially disrupt power and communications. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For most people here on planet Earth, they wont have to do anything, said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center. Thats really the gift from space weather the aurora, said Steenburgh. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye. Snap a picture of the sky and there might be actually a nice little treat there for you, said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center. The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii. We are not anticipating that but it could come close, said NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl. An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa. Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted. The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption known as a coronal mass ejection can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the suns outer atmosphere, or corona. The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot thats 16 times the diameter of Earth, according to NOAA. Its all part of the solar activity thats ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle. NASA said the storm posed no serious threat to the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The biggest concern is the increased radiation levels, and the crew could move to a better shielded part of the station if necessary, according to Steenburgh. Increased radiation also could threaten some of NASAs science satellites. Extremely sensitive instruments will be turned off, if necessary, to avoid damage, said Antti Pulkkinen, director of the space agencys heliophysics science division. Several sun-focused spacecraft are monitoring all the action. This is exactly the kinds of things we want to observe, Pulkkinen said. ___ 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. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDHN - wdhn.com. As police cracked down on anti-war protests on college campuses across the US in recent weeks, among those arrested were a pair of silver-haired 65-year-old professors armed only with their cell phones. Annelise Orleck was knocked to the ground and restrained with plastic handcuffs at a protest at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. She later complained of whiplash. Steve Tamari was tackled by officers and taken into custody at a demonstration at Washington University in St. Louis, an attack he said resulted in multiple broken ribs and a broken hand. Each had been filming the protests in the moments before they were arrested. Both Orleck, who is Jewish, and Tamari, who is Palestinian American, said they were motivated to attend in part by a desire to support student protesters exercising their right to free speech. Their stories illustrate a facet of the student-led protests that has received comparatively little attention: The role professors have played in the demonstrations, and the response by their administrations and police. Orleck and Tamari are among at least 50 professors arrested at campus protests across the country, according to a CNN review of police records, court filings, and news reports. (Since April 18, more than 2,400 students have been arrested amid protests on more than 50 campuses.) In some cases, professors said they were actively participating in protests based on their own beliefs. Others said they attended to show support for their students. In recent years, universities across the US have come under increasing pressure from conservative politicians and donors criticizing them as liberal bastions of wokeness. That pressure has heightened following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians and the subsequent Israeli war on Hamas. Many conservative politicians and donors have accused campuses of tolerating or abetting antisemitism by allowing protests against the war, even as student protesters accuse the universities of ignoring what they call genocide. While university administrations uniformly say they are trying to allow free speech on campus while maintaining order and keeping students safe, critics say many schools too quickly turned to police action, suspensions, and other disciplinary measures to shut down protests. At Emory University in Atlanta, an economics professor who attempted to intervene in the arrest of a protester was physically subdued by police when she did not immediately comply with an officers command to get your asson the ground. In video of the incident, Caroline Fohlins glasses fall off as she is forced to the sidewalk and she can be heard telling officers, You just hit my head on the concrete. Fohlin was charged with disorderly conduct and simple battery against a police officer. In New York, a newly retired Japanese history associate professor at Columbia University told the New York Times he had merely been taking photos of police officers assembling before raiding Columbias campus when he was arrested. Gregory Pflugfelder told the paper he didnt comply with officers demands he go back into his building, but played no role in the protest. Dr. Isaac Kamola, the director of the American Association of University Professors Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, said professors being hauled off in handcuffs are the viral moments that garner attention, but that the threats to academic freedom on college campuses are more nuanced and run much deeper. Faculty of Columbia University link arms to protect students inside threatened with suspension if they refused to voluntarily dismantle the pro-Palestine encampment on campus. - Alex Kent/Getty Images You dont see the moments that are more subtle, of faculty being removed from teaching, being sanctioned without due process, he said. Theres a chilling effect where faculty are not sure what they can and cant say. The problem is exacerbated, he said, by the increasing number of non-tenured faculty members who feel incredibly vulnerable about taking a public stance on a controversial issue such as the war in Gaza. Increasingly, Kamola said, university administrators are calling in law enforcement to sort out what should be internal debates about the parameters of academic freedom. Theres been a normalization of having cops on campus, he said. Officials from several universities where professors were arrested in connection with recent protests declined to comment on individual cases. Broadly speaking, officials have said they are committed to free speech on campus, but that there are limits when it comes to safety and when it encroaches on the rights of other members of the campus community. At Emory, which said May 6 it would move its commencement ceremonies off campus, President Gregory Fenves wrote to faculty members and students promising to review the events of April 25, when police removed a protest encampment. Fenves said the review would include reexamining how Emory engages external law enforcement agencies. But at the same time, he said that while Emory supports students and faculty in expressing their views peacefully, We will not tolerate conduct that undermines those efforts. Some faculties have pushed back against leadership. On Wednesday, the University of Southern Californias faculty senate voted 21-7 to censure USC President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman over the removal of a protest encampment from campus and the use of Los Angeles police to arrest protesters, among other issues. On April 26, Columbia Universitys senate stopped short of censuring President Minouche Shafik, but passed a resolution saying her administration had undermined academic freedom and violated due-process rights in calling in police and shutting down protests on that campus. On April 29 a group of faculty members donned yellow safety vests and linked arms to block the entrance to the students encampment on campus. Joseph Howley, an associate professor of Classics, said they did so to de-escalate tensions and to keep students safe from troublemakers and police. In Los Angeles, associate professor Graeme Blair told CNN he was among a line of 15 faculty members at UCLA who joined a demonstration to support their students rights to protest. All the professors, Blair said, were expecting to get arrested. Though Blair himself was not arrested, at least four other UCLA professors were that day. Got grandma Orleck, the Dartmouth professor arrested earlier this month, said she was stunned to see the large police presence on campus on the evening of May 1. It was like it was an armed invasion, Orleck, who is Jewish, recalled in a telephone interview with CNN. She described this line of riot cops with helmets and batons, and said shed never seen anything like it in her more than three decades as a professor. Orleck had attended what she described as a small, peaceful protest earlier in the day over a labor dispute that had been sponsored by the faculty and Students for Justice in Palestine at Dartmouth. But after leaving for dinner, a colleague reached out to let her know things had grown more tense. When she returned to the campus College Green that evening at about 8:30 p.m., she was joined by several other older women faculty. She said they believed police would never hurt them, and that they could safeguard student protesters by standing between them and the officers. And boy was I naive, she said. I wont make that mistake again. Video captured at the event shows Orleck approaching police officers, saying leave our students alone, theyre not criminals! Orleck is then dragged beyond the police line and forced to the ground. She was zip-tied and arrested with 89 other people, including one other professor. In a letter addressed to the Dartmouth community, university president Sian Leah Beilock stood by her decision to involve the Hanover Police Department, but wrote that she was sorry for the harm this impossible decision has caused. In an Instagram post three days after the protest, Orleck wrote that officers called out got grandma as she was taken into custody. Though Orleck did not consider herself an active participant in the protest, she said she shared the demonstrators concerns about the plight of Palestinians in the ongoing war. She was adamant that the entire demonstration was peaceful. Annelise Orleck is seen confronting police during a protest at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire on May 1, 2024. - WMUR She said the student protesters were respectful and never engaged in antisemitic comments. She told CNN she was glad she was there, saying that she hoped her story brought attention to how violent the police response was to a peaceful demonstration of students. I want to say some of my colleagues, particularly at Emory and Washington University, were treated much more brutally. I mean, really, really brutally. Yeah, I have I have injuries, but, you know, mine will heal. One of the colleagues Orleck was referring to was Tamari, a Palestinian-American professor who was arrested April 27 during a protest at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Tamari did not respond to an interview request from CNN. His wife said in a post on X that he was not granting media interviews and that we are asking for time to rest and heal. Tamari, however, described his ordeal in a detailed statement his wife also posted on X. The professor, who teaches at a university just across the state line from Missouri in Illinois, said he joined the April 27 protest at Washington University in hopes of both ending the war in Gaza and to support and protect the students, according to the statement. Once there, he wrote, he was body slammed and crushed by the weight of several St. Louis County police officers, resulting in multiple broken ribs and a broken hand. He assailed Washington University for paying lip service to free speech, while they trample anything that might rattle the military-industrial complex to which they are so beholden. Police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters attempting to camp on Washington University's campus, Saturday, April 27, 2024, in St. Louis, Mo. - Christine Tannous/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP Protesters that day had been demanding that the university divest from Israel and cut ties with the Boeing Company, a defense contractor that has provided bombs used by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza. The universitys chancellor, Andrew Martin, responded to queries from the student newspaper about divestment with the single word, No, in an interview published March 6. The university hasnt commented publicly on the demands since then. Dont hurt him As police swarmed Tamari that afternoon, a lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis, recorded the confrontation with his phone. Dont hurt him, Michael Allen, who teaches American cultural studies, can be heard yelling. Theyre being extra brutal today out here, Allen says aloud to himself. He also chided police with chants of fascists go home, and shame on you, as he continued to document the scene. As Allen followed one zip-tied detainee being led toward a police van, a pair of officers told him to stay back. Alright, Ill stay back, Allen said, adding, Im a faculty member. Im concerned about my students getting arrested. Seconds later, Allen himself was taken into custody. He told CNN he was following the officers orders to back up when he bumped into two other officers and was immediately arrested. The encounter was partially captured as his phone fell to the ground. Allen said he received a letter from university officials two days later outlining various allegations against him and placing him on paid administrative leave, effective immediately. According to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, Allen was summarily relieved of all job duties and prohibited from being on any part of the University campus. He was even barred from meeting with students off campus, the letter states. Among the allegations was that he helped set up an encampment on university grounds and ignored multiple warnings by police to disperse, resulting in his arrest for trespass. He denied both allegations in an interview with CNN. Steve Tamari is seen being taken into custody during a demonstration at Washington University in St. Louis. - Courtesy Michael Allen I not only had no involvement in creating the encampment, he said, I never set foot in the encampment. As for trespassing, Allen said, the orders to disperse given by the police were directed at people who did not have university IDs. Since he had one, he said, he did not believe the order pertained to him. Allen said he felt blindsided and completely unsupported by the university. There was no attempt to even hear my side before writing that letter, he said. Chancellor Martin, who this semester co-taught a course on free speech at the university, issued a statement May 3 saying Washington University in St. Louis took the steps it felt necessary to keep our campus safe and will not comment publicly about any of the specifics of its discipline of students, staff or faculty. Some professors have been arrested willingly. Bikrum Gill and Desiree Poets, both assistant professors at Virginia Tech, were among at least five faculty members supporting the student encampment on their campus who opted not to leave when police warned students the night of April 28 to clear out or face arrest. As faculty, what do you do? We decided to stay with them so they wouldnt be on their own at that moment, said Poets. Both she and Gill have been teaching at Virginia Tech since the fall of 2018 and will come up for tenure soon. But they agreed they couldnt let that affect their support for the protests. Students see whats happening in Gaza and theyre saying we dont want to normalize this. That informs us, Gill told CNN. If the price of tenure is to stay silent on Gaza, its not worth it. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com I dreaded going on a month-long trip with my mother. But after some fights, the trip helped us form a stronger bond. I dreaded going on a month-long trip with my mother. But after some fights, the trip helped us form a stronger bond. My mother asked me to drive her around the UK for a month to visit our ancestral sites. I dreaded going, and we did end up fighting some on the trip, but it was mostly fun. Toward the end of the trip, we bonded in a whole new way. Take it!" shouted my mother, throwing me her backpack. "We can use the rope inside to get to shore." We'd been exploring the Brough of Birsay, an island in Scotland, but we'd left too late; high tide had arrived. The 2,000-foot-long stretch of pavement that separated us from the mainland was now underwater. To boot, eddies and currents had formed around our ankles, threatening to sweep us off our feet. Would we make it to shore? Would I have to save both of us? To make matters worse, my mom had started saying things like, "Well, this is it!" and "I didn't even get to finish watching 'A Discovery of Witches!'" In response, I began dictating my will. Luckily, we made it to higher ground. A small group of geologists even gathered at the shore to wonder why my mom and I were loudly preparing for the afterlife just because our shoes were underwater. However, the barely-near-death-experience still wasn't the fantasy that I had envisioned when my mom had invited me on a month-long excursion in the UK. We had different ideas about what our trip should be When my mom had initially invited me to "visit stone circles in the UK," I had misunderstood this as "taking a selfie at Stonehenge." To my confusion and horror, however, she instead wanted to visit obscure stone circles that no one had heard of circles with names like "Waun Mawn" that were in random people's backyards. Essentially, she wanted to connect with her ancient ancestry while taking many pictures of plants since she is a botanist. Oh, and she wanted me to do all the driving. I was a bit nervous at the thought. Even when my mom and I were in good moods, we had a unique ability to drive each other insane. A month was a long time. I worried we'd fight about me being queer or my career choices frequent subjects of conflict for us. I also worried about my general anxiety or my mom's persistent fear that I would get us into a car wreck every time I drove her anywhere. But still, we were close overall and what was the worst that could happen? So, I decided to go along. After all, I planned just to pretend that the car had broken down anytime we were in a fun city like Edinburgh. Our journey became a mix of squabbling, misadventures First, there was the whole "driving on the left side of the road" thing. Add to that the UK's distressing amount of one-car-wide (but somehow two-way) roads. Oh, and I had a passenger who loved white-knuckling the grab handle and shrieking dramatically every time I went over 35. At one point, I had to contend with all the above, but at night and in the middle of a rainstorm and while descending Scotland's largest mountain. Moreover, owls were flying at us in what appeared to be a coordinated attack. We screamed for three hours straight. Then there were the stone circles. Of course, there were many fun stone-circle-related excursions, such as when we followed a Cornwall farmer's folksy, circuitous directions to locate a hidden circle called the "Nine Maidens." Still, by the time we arrived in Wales, I was tired of staring at ancient rocks. Then, through our differences, we bonded To visit one of our last "Lambert family heritage sites," we drove to an unremarkable medium-sized stone in a remote Welsh forest where the last true Prince of Wales, a.k.a. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, had died. When we stopped, my inexplicably excited mom hopped out of the car. She shuffled up to the blank stone which was larger than I thought it would be and stared at it in awe. "Stand in front of him," she said. I rolled my eyes and begrudgingly walked up the hill to stand before the stone. "The last Prince of Wales," murmured my mom, suddenly choking back emotion. Then she snapped a picture of Llywelyn and me. I felt the weight of the moment. We fought only about small matters during this trip, such as my driving abilities and the best times of day to see reindeer. We never fought about my queerness or the fact that I was never going to attend medical school. That was all in the past. Connecting with our ancestry and doing it together made us see each other in a whole new way. Thus, at that moment, in front of Llywelyn, I realized that I'd gotten closer to my mom on this trip. She'd accomplished her goal of teaching me about my heritage, whereas I'd realized that, to her, I was the Prince of Wales. From that moment on, I decided I would never begrudge seeing ancient rocks again. Read the original article on Business Insider The driver who allegedly ran a red light and caused a five-car Sarasota crash has been arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol, troopers said. The crash left one person dead and seven people injured, including a 2-year-old girl. Aramis Harrison, 38, from Bradenton was arrested on April 30 after failing to stop at a red light in the right turn lane of US-301, north of Northgate Boulevard, according to a crash report from the Florida Highway Patrol. At the time of the crash on April 23, Harrison had several warrants out for his arrest. At 1:43 p.m. Harrison failed to stop at the red light, and at the time of impact, an Electronic Data Recorder said that the car was traveling at 96 to 100 mph in a 50 mph zone, investigators said. The front of the Nissan Rogue Harrison was driving collided with an SUV that was entering the intersection. As of May 4, there have been 6,821 crashes in Sarasota County. Among those, there have been 58 deaths and 4,026 injuries. In Manatee County, there were 6,420 crashes with 72 deaths from all crashes and 4,613 injuries, according to the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles crash dashboard. In case you missed it: Car failed to stop at red light, 1 person killed, 7 injured in 5-car Sarasota crash, troopers say Minutes before the crash, Harrison fled from Bradenton Police officers. Officers were tracking the car he was driving using a cell phone ping for a suspect in alleged shooting. After the car was stopped, Harrison switched with the woman who was driving initially and drove away. Due to the agencys policy, no pursuit was initiated after Harrison fled, and the red Nissan Rouge was seen driving recklessly with no law enforcement in pursuit. A witness told investigators that the Nissan Rogue even ran a traffic signal near DeSoto Road, investigators allege in an arrest report. More: Sarasota deputies nab man in fatal pedestrian crash, second hit-and-run arrest in week Meredith Censullo, Bradenton Police Public Information Officer, said that the traffic stop was made just north of the Sarasota-Manatee County line. Officers didn't follow the car into Sarasota County, as they only conduct police chases within their own jurisdiction, Censullo said. The SUV that Harrison crashed into rotated multiple times, as the Nissan Rogue continued to travel south in the intersection. The Nissan Rogue overturned, and its rear collided with the front of another stopped SUV that was waiting in the left-turn lane of US-301. The second SUV that was hit while stopped was propelled backward, hitting the front left of another car. The initial SUV involved in the crash collided with the rear of another car. Harrison and the woman in the passenger seat were pulled out of the overturned car and were in surgery and intubated throughout the night of the crash. The passenger of the SUV that was hit in the intersection was pronounced dead by Sarasota County EMS which arrived at the scene of the crash. Investigators later identified her as Carolyn A. Willis, 71, of Bradenton. She was just one month shy of her 72nd birthday. Carolyn A. Willis, 71, was killed in a car crash on April 30. She will be remembered by family and friends as someone who loving, caring and would help anyone in need. Her 2-year-old great-granddaughter, who was in the car with her during the crash, had serious injuries, but she has since recovered. Willis leaves behind two sons, one daughter, her sister and brother, eight grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. Willis worked as a certified nursing assistant and retired 15 years ago. Paul Williams, Willis' son, said that she was one of the most loving and caring people. She loved going to church and would help anyone in need. His mom stuck by him throughout his addiction recovery, as he now celebrates five years of sobriety. "She didn't see color or your situation," Williams said. "If she could help you, she would help you. The world needs more people like her." Those who were seriously and critically injured include: a 38-year-old man from Mississippi, a 39-year-old woman from Sarasota, a 30-year-old woman from Parrish, the 2-year-old from Bradenton, a 72-year-old woman from South Carolina; a woman from South Carolina with an unlisted age and a man from South Carolina with an unlisted age. While officers were interviewing Harrison on April 26 for a separate investigation, he told officers that he thought that he was being pursued by officers before the crash occurred. Harrison told officers that he wanted to apologize to the family, and he admitted to officers that he was driving and was remorseful for his action, investigators said in the arrest report. Williams said that his mom would forgive Harrison; that was the kind of woman she was. She would want Harris to make something better of his life, he added. "That (forgiveness) is hard to do, but that's what she would want us to do," Williams said. "She believed that everyone deserved to be loved." Harrison has a history of fleeing from law enforcement, according to court records from Sarasota and Manatee County. He fled from law enforcement and began a high-speed chase on October 2014 with Manatee County Sheriffs Office, and in May 2011 he engaged in a high-speed chase with the Sarasota County Sheriffs Office. Harrison faces charges of vehicular homicide and non-premeditated homicide during another felony, both second-degree felonies. Harrison is pleading not guilty for each charge. An arraignment hearing for Harrison was set for June 14. This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Driver in 5-car Sarasota crash arrested by troopers, victim identified Drone strikes targeted Russia's Belgorod and Kursk oblasts on May 10, damaging agricultural buildings and equipment, Russian officials claimed. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that air defense units shot down 17 Vampire multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) shells, 13 drones, and five guided aerial bombs over Belgorod Oblast. One of the drones fell on an agricultural enterprise, damaging three buildings and two pieces of equipment, according to Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. The governor of Russia's Kursk Oblast, Roman Starovoit, also reported that 12 settlements in the region were attacked by drones on May 10. One drone caused damage to an infrastructure facility, he said. Subscribe to newsletter War Notes Subscribe Ukrainian authorities have not commented. The Kyiv Independent could not verify the Russian officials' claims. Russia has been reporting drone attacks against its border regions for several months. Belgorod Oblast borders Ukraine's Sumy, Kharkiv, and Luhansk oblasts. Claims of rocket or drone attacks against the region have recently become a common occurrence after anti-Kremlin Russian militias' incursions into the border areas. Earlier this week, Gladkov reported that attacks against Belgorod Oblast on May 6 and May 9 resulted in civilian casualties. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia launches new offensive targeting Kharkiv Oblast Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. FILE PHOTO: Tourists take photos in front of Victoria Harbour, in Tsim Sha Tsui, in Hong Kong HONG KONG (Reuters) - Eight more Chinese cities have joined a scheme allowing their residents to travel to Hong Kong on their own, rather than as part of a tour group, as part of efforts to boost Hong Kong's economy. Hong Kong is battling to revive its economy following a national security crackdown and COVID-related controls, which led to many local and expats leaving the city and caused tourist numbers to dwindle to a fraction of pre-pandemic levels. The "Individual Visit Scheme" (IVS) began in 2003 as part of a cooperation agreement between mainland China and Hong Kong to boost the city's economy by allowing Chinese residents to apply for individual travel, rather than in a tour group. Fifty-one cities have already joined the programme and will be joined by Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, Hohhot in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Harbin in Heilongjiang Province, Lhasa in Tibet Autonomous Region, Lanzhou in Gansu Province, Xining in Qinghai Province, Yinchuan in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Urumqi in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Hong Kong city leader John Lee said: "These eight cities are all provincial capital cities with large populations, significant economic growth and high spending power". Although recent official figures showed the territory growing 2.7% in the first quarter compared with the year before, local businesses have described shopping malls as "dead", with low foot traffic and shops covered with "for lease" or "coming up soon" signs. One lawmaker recently told the city's legislature that more than 20,000 companies had deregistered in the first quarter of 2024, up more than 70% from the same period last year. China imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020 after months of pro-democracy protests in 2019. In March, authorities enacted another set of security laws that some foreign governments say further undermine rights and freedoms. The Hong Kong and Chinese governments have repeatedly said the security laws have brought stability. (Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by David Holmes) AKRON, Ohio (WJW) An elderly man was taken to the hospital after a shooting in downtown Akron on Saturday morning. According to police, the 70-year-old man was shot multiple times at or near a bus stop in front of the Akron-Summit County downtown library on S. Main Street. The shooting took place shortly before 10:30 a.m. Deadly shooting inside Stark County movie theater According to police, officers arrived on the scene and administered first aid to the victim while others swarmed the area searching for the shooter. This embedded content is not available in your region. As the investigation unfolded, officers gathered additional information, which included a physical description of the suspect, and began combing the surrounding area. About 5 minutes after the shooting, officers tracked the suspect to the area of Park and Summit Streets, where he was taken into custody without incident, read a Saturday morning press release. Bar fight ends in murder charge: Police The names of the victim and suspect have not yet been released. The victim is described as having serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect is said to be a 30-year-old male. Its not clear yet what led up to the shooting. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. The Maury County Office of Emergency Management has issued debris recovery guidelines for those affected by Wednesday's storms, with pickups beginning Monday. More than 100 structures were reported damaged after Wednesday's storms, with about 40 considered a total loss. The storms also resulted in one fatality and about a dozen others injured. More: Columbia tornado: One death confirmed in tornado near Bear Creek Pike, shelter to open Multiple response teams both local and from around the state have been hard at work assessing the damage, assisting recovery efforts, while also providing shelter, food and other necessities for displaced families. As recovery efforts continue into next week, the Maury County OEM is asking affected residents to separate debris into certain categories for pickup. Residents with sidewalks should also place their debris in front of the sidewalk, as no debris from the sidewalk to the home will be picked up. Maury County Emergency Management has issued guidelines for debris pickup, urging those affected by Wednesday's storms to separate debris into certain categories. Pickups are scheduled to begin Monday by the Maury County Highway Office and Maury County Solid Waste. Categories for debris separation include: Normal household trash and bagged debris - will not be picked up and should follow the normal garbage removal schedule. Vegetative debris - leaves (not in bags), logs, plants and tree branches Construction & demolition debris - building materials, carpet, drywall, furniture, lumber, mattresses or plumbing Appliances & white goods - air conditioners, dishwashers, freezers, refrigerators, stoves, washers/dryers and water heaters Electronics - computers, radios, stereos, televisions and other devices with a cord Household hazardous waste - cleaning supplies, batteries, lawn chemicals, oils "Our community has experienced the unwavering support and exceptional efforts of the Maury County Fire Department, Columbia Fire & Rescue, the Maury County Sheriff's Office, Maury Regional EMS, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and many additional agencies that offered support and resources," a Maury County OEM Director Jeff Hardy stated in a press release issued Saturday. "The OEM team commits our most profound support and sympathy to the victims of the tragic incident." More: Tennessee tornado paths: Count rises to 6 this week so far. Learn more about them, damages Maury County Office of Emergency Management Director Jeff Hardy speaks about the damages caused by Wednesday's storms during a press conference Thursday, May 9, 2024. On Monday, the Maury County Highway Office will begin pickups starting with vegetative debris. "We have sent out, posted and published some guidelines," Hardy said. "These guidelines are extremely important, and we urge you to become familiar with them in order to expedite the collection process." More: Gov. Bill Lee visits Columbia: 'It's heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time' For more information, contact Maury County Solid Waste at (931) 375-6401. New pass system available for blocked areas Volunteers distribute water and other supplies to impacted families at Randolph Howell Elementary School, now a tornado recovery hub, located less than a mile from where an EF-3 tornado hit on Friday, May 11, 2024 in Columbia, Tenn. In addition to debris pickups beginning next week, Maury County OEM will also implement a new pass system for access to affected areas, many of which remain blocked. "The disaster area is being diligently protected by barricades and law enforcement to ensure the safety of Maury County residents, volunteers, and individuals involved in the crucial disaster clean-up," the press release states. More: Columbia tornado clean-up: Volunteers invited to sign up at Randolph Howell Elementary "For this reason, OEM will be implementing a pass system where individuals wishing to gain access to the affected areas can check in and out, ensuring a controlled and secure environment. To obtain a pass, please visit Randolph Howell Elementary School. We also have some donations and provisions at Randolph Howell as well." More: Hundreds flock to aid families impacted by Columbia tornado: 'Volunteer State for a reason' Randolph Howell, 653 Bear Creek Pike, is also open for volunteers and contractors to sign up for assistance in recovery efforts. "Again, we extend our deepest gratitude to every volunteer, and every person who has extended a helping hand," Hardy said. "The comradery is the very essence of Tem Maury and while we are heartbroken, we cannot help but be prideful of our county." Jay Powell is a general reporter for The Daily Herald. Get up-to-date news in your inbox by subscribing to The Daily Herald newsletter at www.ColumbiaDailyHerald.com. This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Emergency Management issues guidelines for debris pickup beginning Monday Update: Rocco Joseph Argento has been found and is reported to be safe. KANSAS CITY, Mo. The Missouri Highway Patrol issued an Endangered Silver Alert for a missing adult man with dementia on Friday afternoon in Liberty, Missouri. According to the Liberty Police Department, Rocco Joseph Argento, 85, was last seen traveling in an unknown direction from 438 North Missouri Street in a black 2016 Chevrolet Trax. The Chevrolet has a Missouri license plate that reads KD44F. KC Star Press Pavilion owner looks at options other than a stadium Argento is a white man who is reportedly 56 and weighs around 248 pounds. He has white hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a white and black Kansas City Chiefs jacket with brown corduroy pants. According to police, Argento has not arrived at his intended destination in the Kansas City area. Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android If you or anyone you know has seen Argento, his vehicle or know of anyone who might have information related to this Silver Alert, please immediately call 911 or call the Liberty Police Department at (816) 439-4701. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. TOPEKA (KSNT) An energy company is planning a giveaway for nature enthusiasts to do their part in helping the environment. According to a social media post from Evergy, the companies Green Team is hosting a bee hotel Giveaway. This event is a way to protect these small, but necessary pollinators. Evergy said these habitats are critical, as they create a protective space for native bee species in Kansas and create safe places for these bee colonies to grow. Three bee hotels will be up for grabs. Whats Inside: Each bee hotel is lovingly crafted by Evergy Green Team volunteers. Weve used non-toxic wood from recycled power poles to build these cozy abodes. The small tunnels inside mimic traditional bee habitats, providing a safe space for our buzzing friends. Excerpt form Evergy social media post Tap That Topeka will be back in the Capital City this summer You can enter the giveaway between Friday, May 10 and Monday, May 20 for your chance to win one of three bee hotels. To enter and try to be one of the winners, follow the steps below: Like the Facebook post from Evergy Comment on the post why you want a bee hotel Fill out this Google Form from Evergy Evergy will announce the winners on Friday, May 24. 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. HONG KONG, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Friday said it deplored and opposed U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong Gregory May's biased remarks as well as slanders and smears about the HKSAR's work in safeguarding national security. An HKSAR government spokesperson said that the U.S. side has ignored the large-scale and incessant riots during the "color revolution" in Hong Kong that occurred in 2019, which devastated Hong Kong's society, livelihood and economy. The U.S. ignored the fact that it is an international practice and an inherent right and responsibility for sovereign states to enact laws safeguarding national security, and it blatantly attacked the HKSAR in safeguarding national security dutifully, faithfully and in accordance with the law, the spokesperson said. "Such positions fully exposed Washington's double standards," the spokesperson said, adding that the HKSAR government urges the United States to discern the fact that the national security law in Hong Kong has enabled the livelihood and economic activities of the Hong Kong community at large to resume as normal. The spokesperson noted that the laws safeguarding national security in the HKSAR including the national security law in Hong Kong and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance are precisely for safeguarding national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and the laws ensure the full and faithful implementation of the principle of "one country, two systems," under which the people of Hong Kong administer Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy. Regarding the economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between Hong Kong and the United States mentioned by May at a forum recently held by a U.S. think tank, the spokesperson said that the United States enjoys significant economic benefit in Hong Kong, with more than 1,200 U.S. companies having set up businesses in Hong Kong. It also enjoyed a trade surplus of 271.5 billion U.S. dollars with Hong Kong over the past decade, the largest among its global trading partners. The spokesperson urged Washington to take concrete actions to stop all wrongdoings that undermine economic and trade relations between the two places, and make efforts to foster mutual benefit in various areas, including promoting economic and trade relations and cultural exchanges. Hong Kong commands irreplaceable standing with the distinctive advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world. There lies a plethora of opportunities ahead, the spokesperson said. EU envoys reportedly agree on draft security agreement with Ukraine, to be finalised by July EU ambassadors have already agreed on a draft bilateral security agreement between Ukraine and the EU as a follow-up to the G7 declaration on security guarantees, and it is expected to be completed by the end of June. Source: Die Welt; European Pravda Details: The Welt am Sonntag stated that it had a draft negotiated by Kyiv and the European External Action Service. Ambassadors of the 27 member states have supposedly already agreed on the 11-page document. The article notes that the EU wants to finalise the agreement by early July at the latest. The draft contains provisions stating that the EU undertakes to hold consultations on Ukraine's needs within 24 hours of new aggression against it. The EU also promises to provide further military aid, help with military training, mine clearance, defence sector reforms, cooperation in countering hybrid threats and cyberattacks, and assistance with reconstruction. There is supposedly a separate provision that excludes direct participation in combat actions by "EU countries military." Background: To date, 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. The President's Office recently announced that it hopes to finalise the text of the agreement with the US by the end of May and that it has agreed to start negotiations with neutral Ireland. On Friday, it was announced that negotiations with Belgium had begun. Support UP or become our patron! Night watchmen from 30 different towns and four countries stand together for a group photo after a procession through Duelken. Organized by the "Night Watchmen and Tower Keepers' Guild," the parade marked the highlight of the meeting that has drawn members from Germany, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands, among others, and is set to last until Sunday. Henning Kaiser/dpa Donning historical costumes, medieval polearms and lanterns, night watchmen and tower keepers from across Europe marched through the western German town of Viersen on Saturday as part of their annual gathering. Organized by the "Night Watchmen and Tower Keepers' Guild," the parade marked the highlight of the meeting that has drawn members from Germany, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands, among others, and is set to last until Sunday. Until modern times, it was the night watchman's job to report fires or robberies, settle disputes and protect sleeping people from evildoers. Today, night watchmen in many European cities uphold the tradition of their profession for the benefit of tourists and offer guided city tours. A total of 74 guild members had registered for the meeting, according to a spokesman for the town of Viersen. After marching through the town on Saturday afternoon, night watchmen performed their calls as well as poems and songs as part of a stage programme in front of 1,500 and 2,000 spectators, according to a dpa photographer at the scene. The gathering is set to end on Sunday when the night watchmen are bid farewell with an ecumenical service. Afterwards, the guild's standard is handed over to representatives of next year's venue, in the western German city of Oberhausen. Night watchmen from 30 different towns and four countries stand together for a group photo after a procession through Duelken. Organized by the "Night Watchmen and Tower Keepers' Guild," the parade marked the highlight of the meeting that has drawn members from Germany, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands, among others, and is set to last until Sunday. Henning Kaiser/dpa The Netherlands' representative for the Eurovision Song Contest missed Friday's dress rehearsal as origanisers investigated an "incident" involving the performer. Joost Klein was set to sing the Netherlands' official entrant track 'Europapa' during the show on Friday night (May 10), but an announcement was made to the live crowd that Klein would not appear. A spokesperson for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has told Sky News: "We are currently investigating an incident that was reported to us involving the Dutch artist. He will not be rehearsing until further notice. "We have no further comment at this time and will update in due course." Reni van Maren/BSR Agency/Getty Images - Getty Images Related: Why is the UK performing in the Eurovision semi-finals? There is no official word yet on whether Klein will perform during Saturday's grand finale in Malmo. Klein had been present on stage at the beginning of Friday's rehearsal at Malmo Arena for the flag parade before a decision was made to cancel the artist's live performance. Instead, organisers replayed Klein performing 'Europapa' from the semi-final earlier in the week. Klein was also present during a press conference on Thursday where Israeli entrant Eden Golan was asked whether her involvement was causing a security risk for other contestants. Swedish presenter Jovan Radomir interrupted to tell Golan she didn't have to answer the question before Joost Klein could be heard asking: "Why not?" Related: Bambie Thug becomes Ireland's first Eurovision finalist in 6 years Controversy continues to envelop this year's Eurovision Song Contest due to the humanitarian crisis unfolding between Israel and Palestine. The long-running conflict between Israel and Palestine reignited following Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2024, which has led to recurring attacks by Israel. Ongoing calls for a ceasefire continue including from the UK, which voted for a ceasefire at the UN Security Council in March. Some have called for the expulsion of Israel from Eurovision 2024, and some fans have boycotted the event entirely. JESSICA GOW/TT/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images Eurovision competitors including UK's Olly Alexander made a statement calling for a ceasefire, and other celebrities have made similar calls, including Mean Girls Renee Rapp, Euphoria star Hunter Schafer, and Marvel actor Mark Ruffalo. In February, Mark Ruffalo told Deadline: "We've come to understand this bombing isn't working, we're not going to bomb our way to peace, and all we're saying is, what's wrong with giving a ceasefire a chance? Writer/director Jonathan Glazer also spoke out at the Oscars in March during his acceptance speech for Best International Feature for The Zone of Interest, which depicts a family living next door to a concentration camp in Auschwitz. The grand finale of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will air on Saturday at 8pm on BBC One, following the two-part season premiere of Doctor Who. You Might Also Like Russian President Vladimir Putin may use his upcoming visit to China as a chance to visit regional allies Vietnam and North Korea, Voice of America (VOA) reported on May 10, citing expert analysts. Putin confirmed on April 25 that he will visit China in May, though he did not provide dates. Reuters reported that the visit would likely take place in the latter half of the month. Experts told VOA that a visit to Vietnam would let Putin demonstrate that Western sanctions following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine have not isolated Russia, while Hanoi could continue to pursue a middle ground between China and the United States. Vietnam might also be interested in pursuing an arms deal with Russia, as Kremlin ally North Korea has already done. "Putin might use this opportunity to visit Russia's three closest partners in Asia: China, Vietnam, and North Korea," Ian Storey, a fellow at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told VOA via email on April 1o. "Putin would use this visit to signal to the world that his government's 'Turn to the East' policy remains on track and that the West has failed to isolate Russia." Sign up for our newsletter WTF is wrong with Russia? Sign up The state media outlet Vietnam News Agency reported that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the leader of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam, invited Putin to visit during a phone call on March 26. Putin reportedly accepted the invitation and agreed to arrange a suitable time. Nguyen The Phuong, a doctoral candidate at the University of New South Wales Canberra, said that Hanoi might also be negotiating a weapons deal with the Russian government. "If Putin visited it will be a very good chance for Vietnam to explore those kinds of possibilities of how they could somehow purchase weapons from Russia," Phuong told VOA on April 8. Vietnam's arsenal of Soviet-era equipment is reportedly aging out of functionality. Storey told VOA that Vietnam may look to acquire new military planes "as its current inventory of Russian-made aircraft is reaching the end of its operational life." Putin's visit to China will be his first trip abroad since winning his fifth term in the widely-denounced Russian presidential election in March. Putin previously visited China last October to attend the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. Read also: While Xi tours Europe, China feeds Russias war machine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Explosions were heard in occupied Donetsk on 11 May. Residents reported the sounds of Russian air defence deployment preceding the blasts. Source: Novyny Donbasu Telegram channel; Kremlin-aligned news agency RIA Novosti Details: The Russians, as usual, blamed Ukraine for the attack. They claim there was a missile strike from the HIMARS system in the Leninskyi district of Donetsk, where preparations were underway for an automobile rally to mark the 10th anniversary of the DPR [Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic terrorist organisation ed.]. Russian media also reported damage to the local restaurant Paradise. Novyny Donbasu Telegram channel, citing residents, writes that they heard the operation of Russian air defence systems before the attack. According to the so-called law enforcement agencies, one person was killed. Support UP or become our patron! Anti-Israeli groups attempt to shut down the Elbit factory in Leicester that produces drones for the country - PALESTINE ACTION The Governments political violence tsar is proposing a new proscription-light label to tackle groups like Palestine Action. An official review by Lord Walney, the Governments independent adviser on political violence and disruption, will call on ministers to clamp down on organisations which have a policy of conducting criminal acts. His report is currently being pored over by Home Office officials and is due to be published this week. One of his recommendations is for ministers to set up a new legal classification to curtail the activities of groups which interfere with the rights of others or impede the proper functioning of democratic institutions or business. This would fall short of the restrictions that are in place when a group is proscribed on terrorism grounds but it is a kind of proscription light, according to Lord Walney. Earlier this year, the policing minister warned police that Palestine Action is inciting activists to smash up businesses with sledgehammers. Chris Philp said he has personally reported the group to the authorities over their manual which gives advice on smashing windows and exterior equipment, blocking companies pipes, and breaking into your target and damaging the contents inside. Since October 7, Palestine Action has repeatedly targeted UK defence manufacturers which it claims have links to Israel. A member of the group was also videoed slashing and spray-painting a portrait of Lord Balfour, a former prime minister, at the University of Cambridge. Criminal methods The group also boasted of having daubed red paint over the front of the London headquarters of a bank it said had investments in an Israeli weapons firm, and smashed the glass entrance to the building. Lord Walney told The Telegraph that groups which use avowedly criminal methods, but fall below the threshold of terrorism, need to be dealt with under new powers because they are currently acting as though they have legal impunity. At the moment, Palestine Action is free to call meetings and advertise activist sessions where they instruct people who turn up on how to commit sabotage, he said. In his report, he recommends that his new proscription-light category would mean that such groups are restricted from fundraising and assembling. Lord Walneys report urges ministers to improve their understanding of extreme Left-wing groups. While the Government clearly has taken steps in recent years to improve understanding of the extreme Right to bring it up to the level and depth of its understanding of Islamist and jihadist activities it has not done the same with the far-Left or single-issue threats, violent or non-violent, the report says. He also recommends that ministers go further on face masks than their current measures, whereby demonstrators can be arrested if they fail to comply with a police officers instruction to remove a face covering. Lord Walney recommends that ministers should allow police to impose a blanket ban on face coverings as a condition of a protest going ahead, if they have reasonable grounds to believe the masks may be used by protestors to conceal their identity while committing illegal acts. Palestine Action was approached for comment. 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. Family of doctor who drove kids off California cliff say he has schizoaffective disorder REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KRON) A doctor who intentionally drove his entire family over a 300-foot cliff at Devils Slide in California, and crashed their Tesla onto a rocky beach below, still has full support from his family, prosecutors said. Dharmesh Patels wife and young children miraculously survived the January 2, 2023 crash off Highway 1 between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay. Inside a San Mateo County courtroom on Friday, Patels siblings and his wifes parents sat in the gallery for closing arguments to show their support, even despite the terrifying incident. New details about the high-profile case were revealed at the hearing held in Mental Health Diversion Court. Sam Rubin, KTLA 5 Morning News legend, dies at 64 Patel never spoke in the courtroom, he was dressed in orange inmate clothing, and his feet were shackled with chains. The doctor has been held in jail with no bail for more than 16 months. Defense attorney Joshua Bentley outlined his final arguments for why he believes Patel should face no criminal charges, and instead be diverted into a two-year mental health outpatient treatment program at a South Bay hospital. The Patel familys mangled Tesla is searched at the crash scene below Devils Slide in San Mateo County on January 2, 2023. The victims were airlifted in helicopters. (Image courtesy SMCSO) Bentley began his closing argument Friday stating, Its important to understand why we are here. Not everyone who commits a crime is a criminal. There is no question this is a very serious case. But the law encompasses this very situation. The defense says Patel qualifies for the court to grant mental health diversion under California law. Patel will not pose a danger to the community because he will be under an intensive psychiatric treatment program, as well as monitored with a GPS bracelet equipped with a siren, Bentley said. The District Attorneys Office asserted that the case should move forward to a criminal trial. If convicted of three attempted murder charges, Patel would face decades in prison. Judge Susan Jakubowski said she will not make a ruling until June 20. The victims in the case are the doctors wife, 8-year-old daughter, and 5-year-old son. The case should not qualify for mental health diversion, Davis said, because the defendant will pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety. On Friday, Bentley and Deputy District Attorney Dominique Davis sparred over Patels mental health history and diagnosis. Dharmesh Patel is seen in a January 2023 mugshot provided by the San Mateo County Sheriffs Office. Citing previous testimony from Dr. Yan Chan, Davis said Patel was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. The defense teams experts, Dr. James Armontrout and Dr. Mark Patterson, diagnosed Patel with major depressive disorder. Florida school seeks donations to replace fencing after 29 student show animals killed Davis said the evidence shows Patel was experiencing paranoia and delusions in the weeks leading up to the triple attempted murder, which are symptoms of schizoaffective disorder. He was hearing footsteps at night. He feared his children would be sold into sex slavery. He carried a knife around for three days. None of this was based on reality and the defendant felt compelled to act. He drove his entire family over a cliff. Its a very high and deathly drop, the prosecutor said. CHP video of the crash scene can be viewed below. What is most frightening is, no one saw this coming, Davis told the judge. In December 2022, the Patel family had traveled from their home in Pasadena to his parents house in the Bay Area for the holidays. During the visit, Patel seemed sad and less social during the holiday visit, not homicidal nor suicidal, family members told investigators. Patel felt like the world was caving in because of Russias war in Ukraine, the fentanyl crisis, child sex trafficking, and Jeffery Epstein, according to prosecutors. His wife told investigators that he sent her news articles about those topics, and he struggled to sleep at night. You may get an extra Social Security payment this month: Heres why In the days immediately after the crash, Patel told California Highway Patrol officers and doctors at Stanford hospital that that cliff crash was an accident. Patel was in the throes of psychosis, but he was able to mask his mental illness from doctors and law enforcement, Davis told the judge. He tells the same lies, she added. Davis said Patel only admitted that he intentionally drove over the cliff at Devils Slide when he thought it would help his case. Dharmesh Patel and his Defense Attorney Joshua Bentley appear inside a courtroom in Redwood City on February 9, 2023. (Pool photo) Patels wife, who suffered severe spinal injuries in the crash, testified for the hearing last week that she does not want her husband prosecuted. The wife said her children miss their father and she wants Patel to be freed from jail so he can return home. Prosecutors argue that Patel is not only a danger to his family, he could also pose a danger to the public if he slipped back into a psychotic state. The high-profile case has been highly publicized in the media. While a KRON4 reporter and four other journalists wrote notes in the courtroom on Friday, Bentley implored the judge to not let pressure from the press sway her decision. (Aerial image of the crash scene courtesy California Highway Patrol) If the judge rules in favor of mental health diversion, Patel would be immediately released from custody and allowed to live in San Mateo County. A court-ordered domestic violence restraining order protecting his wife and children would remain in place. Bentley said, Mr. Patel is a good man, a good husband, and a good father. He is beloved by his community. He has zero criminal history. (The crash) was 100 percent a mental health episode. He has been receiving treatment for 16 months. Every case has a risk factor. Big stakes for doctor charged with attempting to murder his family Bentley said his clients major depressive disorder is currently in remission, and he will continue to be stable under an outpatient treatment program through El Camino Health hospital. The defense denied that Patel suffers from schizoaffective disorder. Davis said the proposed mental health treatment plan is woefully inadequate. If Patel experiences another rapid psychiatric breakdown, law enforcement will not be able to detain him in time, she said. Before the judge makes her ruling, Davis told the judge, You are the gatekeeper for this program. And this whole program is based on, lets let him out (of jail) and then lets figure it out later. Judge Jakubowski will announce the ruling when Patel returns to court on June 20 at 9 a.m. in the San Mateo County Hall of Justice. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11. BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong on Saturday extended festive greetings to all nurses in the country ahead of International Nurses Day, which falls on Sunday. Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during a visit to Beijing Children's Hospital in the country's capital. He called on all nurses to actively participate in the advancement of the Healthy China Initiative, improve their professional skills and conduct, and work wholeheartedly to protect the people's health and well-being. Wads of $64,000 in cash, gold jewelry from Dubai and a brand new Tesla and Porsche. All were items FBI agents seized when they raided the home of a Shakopee businessman on trial in the Feeding Our Future case, an agent testified Friday one of hundreds of law enforcement officers who searched more than two dozen locations in 2022 connected to the massive fraud scheme. The unsealing of search warrants on that day, Jan. 20, 2022, publicly revealed the FBI's investigation, leading to charges and indictments of 70 people seven of whom are on trial this month. While many of the details about what FBI agents seized have been reported in court documents since then, Friday's testimony gave the jury their first look at the evidence as prosecutors seek to tie the defendants' lavish lifestyles during the COVID-19 pandemic to the millions of dollars they allegedly stole in federal reimbursements intended for feeding kids in need. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Bobier showed the jury photos of the inside of Abdiaziz Farah's two-story Savage home, and the piles of cash and paper trail of bank records and meal program forms that agents found. He asked FBI special agent Richard Frank about the evidence of "fruits of a crime" for which agents scoured the home, along with other businesses and homes in the case. Prosecutors said more than $250 million was stolen from U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that reimburse day-care centers, nonprofits and schools for feeding low-income kids after school and during the summer one of the largest pandemic-related fraud schemes in the country. Farah, 35, who was charged in September 2022, owned Empire Cuisine and Market in Shakopee. The other defendants on trial include his brother, Said Shafii Farah, as well as Mohamed Jama Ismail, Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, Abdiwahab Maalim Aftin, Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff and Hayat Mohamed Nur. The seven defendants collectively claimed to serve more than 18 million meals during the pandemic, receiving more than $40 million in federal reimbursements. They've been charged with wire fraud, money laundering and other crimes. Defense attorneys have argued they served real food, giving out seven days' worth of meals at once and allowing their clients to rapidly escalate the numbers of meals doled out and earning a fair profit, which they could spend as they like. Prosecutors have alleged the defendants served little food at all, submitted fake invoices and grossly inflated meal count forms to claim millions of dollars in federal money. The defendants' businesses were overseen by St. Anthony nonprofit Feeding Our Future and St. Paul nonprofit Partners in Nutrition, which administered paperwork for hundreds of meal distribution sites. Feeding Our Future's offices were also searched by FBI agents in January 2022, as was the Rosemount home of executive director Aimee Bock, who has pleaded not guilty to charges and denied any wrongdoing. After two weeks of testimony from more than a dozen witnesses, including a Feeding Our Future employee who recalled a "booming" fraud scheme, prosecutors called FBI agent Frank to the stand Friday. He testified he was on a 14-member team that searched Abdiaziz Farah's home for seven hours on a chilly January day, seizing two iPhones, a laptop, purses and passports, among other items. Bobier showed photos of more than $64,000 in cash that agents found inside the home and cars. He displayed photos of other luxury purchases including plane tickets to Turkey, gold jewelry Abdiaziz Farah's wife bought, and four cars including a brand new Tesla and Porsche all of which agents took as evidence. Bobier also showed financial documents for the $1.1 million Prior Lake property Abdiaziz Farah bought to build a custom 8,000-square-foot house on the lake. Bobier asked Frank about the meal forms that agents found in the house and the bank records that showed large wire transfers from Empire's business accounts in 2020 and 2021 to banks in China and Kenya. On cross-examination, defense attorneys questioned Frank about his limited knowledge of the case, which was confined to the search of Abdiaziz Farah's home and not their clients' homes, in an effort to distance their clients from his testimony. Andrew Mohring, who represents Shariff, asked if Frank knew that entities in the case bought $5 million worth of food. He said he didn't. Mohring asked if he was aware the execution of search warrants generated significant publicity. Frank answered he was aware that a $250 million fraud scheme generated a lot of publicity. The case has drawn hundreds of news articles in the last two years, which made it difficult to find impartial jurors in the case. Ian Birrell, who represents Said Farah, asked Frank if any of the evidence they found was hidden, perhaps in secret compartments. Frank said it was just left out in the open. The cars, cash and bank accounts FBI agents got in 2022 are part of more than $66 million the federal government has seized in the case so far. Of the 70 people who have been charged or indicted, 18 have pleaded guilty. Prosecutors have said they expect to file additional charges. The trial, which started April 22, continues next week, Other FBI agents and forensic accountants are expected to testify. Its been one year since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, Opill, and less than two months since it hit store shelves. Advocates celebrate its availability but say access is still lacking in terms of cost barriers and insurance coverage. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Sriha Srinivasan remembers how surprised her mom was two years ago when she learned that birth control pills werent sold in stores without a prescription in the United States. My parents are immigrants from India, and its been over the counterStories there since my mom can remember, said Srinivasan, a recent graduate of University of California Los Angeles. More than 100 countries were already selling birth control without a prescription before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration one year ago as of Thursday approved Opill. Though the hormonal, over-the-counter birth control pill was approved in May 2023, it didnt reach online retailers or the shelves of major drug stores across the country until a couple of months ago. Opill is a progestin-only birth control pill, which is slightly different from the typical prescription of a progestin and estrogen combination pill. Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an OB-GYN in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said that means the oral contraceptive is still very safe and 98% effective, but the user has to be more diligent about making sure its taken at the same time every day. If the time window is missed by three hours or more, there is a higher chance of unintended pregnancy, so she recommends that people use a backup form of protection for the next 48 hours while they get back on schedule. Srinivasan, 21, gets health care coverage through her parents private insurance, but she said when she called clinics to see if she could get a birth control prescription last year, the first appointment that was available was six months out. She happened to be working with Free the Pill, a group of reproductive health advocates and health care providers, on getting Opill approved by the FDA, so she decided to hold off. Almost out of spite, I was like, Im going to wait and get this over the counter. On March 22, just after Opill hit the U.S. market, Srinivasan drove with a friend to a nearby Walgreens to buy their first packs, which cost about $20 each. The two recorded a TikTok of themselves taking their first doses. It was a very joyous and empowering moment to be able to take that for the first time, Srinivasan said. Contraception access is key post-Dobbs, researcher says Dr. Daniel Grossman, director of research at the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health program at the University of California San Francisco, has been at the forefront of the effort to get FDA approval for an over-the-counter birth control pill since 2004, leading Free the Pill. His research efforts included a study showing that women who had direct access to the pill in areas like Texas border towns where people could cross into Mexico to get it directly stayed on it longer than those who needed a prescription. His research also found that people generally didnt support age restrictions, and the FDA approval for Opill does not have an age restriction. Grossman said more access to contraception is important for overall reproductive health, but its especially important in the wake of the Dobbs decision in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade and led 14 states to enact near-total abortion bans. Improved access to contraception isnt going to solve the crisis of abortion access that were currently facing, but that said, in this moment when people in half of the states have very limited options for abortion care and there are growing threats on access to contraception I think its important that we do everything we can to expand access to all methods of birth control where thats possible, Grossman said. Aside from a few expected and manageable side effects, including headaches and light bleeding, Srinivasan said shes had a good experience with the pills and their availability so far. But theres room for improvement, she said, and Free the Pill is advocating for more cost assistance support and coverage from national private insurance companies. Free the Pill launched an online petition this week to pressure President Joe Biden and his administration to require insurance plans to include coverage for Opill. It had 35,000 signatures as of Thursday afternoon. Srinivasan said she tried to apply for assistance but wasnt able to because she has insurance, and only those without any form of private or public insurance can apply. Qualifying applicants also have to have a household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty line, which is $15,060 for a single person. A 2022 survey from Advocates for Youth found that 1 in 3 of those surveyed cited affordability as one of the biggest barriers to accessing contraception. At a $20 price point, its something I can afford because I have a job and I live in California, where the minimum wage is over $17 an hour, but its definitely not something my peers in other states can afford that easily, Srinivasan said. I hope they adjust that, because its definitely not reaching the people that it should be reaching right now. The post A year after FDA approves over-the-counter birth control pill, advocates push for more access appeared first on Pennsylvania Capital-Star. A view of a camp for internally displaced Palestinians near the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa The Israeli army has called on people in Rafah to leave further areas of the city, increasing concerns about an expansion of its military operation in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip. Families are packing their belongings all over the city, a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) employee wrote on X. "The streets are much emptier." At the beginning of the week, Israel launched a deployment of ground troops in the eastern outskirts of Rafah in order to expand the fight against the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement. Some 150,000 Gazans have fled from Rafah since the start of the week, fearing an Israeli advance into the city, UNRWA wrote on X on Saturday. However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say an estimated 300,000 people had followed the evacuation orders since the beginning of the week, in a statement that could not be independently verified. Israel's military action in the part of the sealed-off coastal strip bordering Egypt is highly controversial internationally. More than 1 million Palestinians have crowded into Rafah, half of them children, seeking refuge from Israeli military operations in other parts of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army occupied the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing at the beginning of the week. On Saturday, it called on Palestinians to leave large parts of Rafah for the Mediterranean coast, in a call that suggests it plans to expand its military operation to the densely populated city centre. Aid organizations fear that an expansion of the Israeli offensive could lead to hundreds of thousands of civilians being caught between the fronts. The already precarious supply of aid to the people could also collapse completely. Calls are growing louder to desist, including from the United Nations and the United States, Israel's main backer. US President Joe Biden recently even threatened to restrict the supply of weapons. The fighting has not yet reached the densely built-up centre of Rafah, which is dotted with improvised refugee camps. On Saturday, however, the Israeli army called on the population to leave other areas in the east and, for the first time, in the centre of the city. In a message that the military disseminated in Arabic via X, in the form of text messages and on leaflets, the armed forces listed the affected areas, including two refugee camps. The approximately 300,000 people affected had to move immediately to al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast, they said. Aid organizations doubt that a large number of people can be adequately cared for there. According to employees, the Kuwait hospital, the last reasonably functioning health centre in Rafah, is also located in the zone in question. Employees confirmed to dpa by telephone that the hospital's management had also received an evacuation order from the Israeli military. So far, however, the management has refused to comply. Instead, efforts are being made to obtain guarantees from the Israeli military via international partners that it will not attack the hospital. However, the prospects of success are uncertain. Israel justified the military action in Rafah, which it had threatened months ago, by claiming that it wanted to destroy the last Hamas battalions and destroy the smuggling tunnels suspected under the border with Egypt. After moving in during the night, the troops continued to take action against the Hamas militias at specific locations in the east of Rafah, the military announced on Saturday. In the last 24 hours, the forces there had "eliminated numerous terrorists in close combat and destroyed the terrorist infrastructure in the area." Israeli troops are also still active on the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing. The information could not initially be independently verified. Meanwhile, the Hamas-controlled health authority announced that 34,971 Palestinians had been killed and a further 78,641 injured since the outbreak of the Gaza war. In the last 24 hours, 28 people have been killed and a further 69 injured. These figures could not be independently verified either. The authority does not differentiate between civilians and armed fighters in its figures. Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza since Hamas militants and other extremist groups launched a bloody raid on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 200. Israel responded to the massacre with massive airstrikes and launched a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip. A view of a camp for internally displaced Palestinians near the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa A Shelby Township doctor unlawfully prescribed hundreds of thousands of opioid pills that had a street value of more than $6 million, federal prosecutors said. This week, U.S. District Judge Judith Levy sentenced the 75-year-old doctor to 12 years in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of 20 charges in December, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office and federal court records. Prosecutors said Dr. Lawrence Sherman illegally distributed more than 270,000 opioid pills worth more than $6.3 million. They said in a release that the pills included three of the most addictive prescription opioids, including Oxycodone, Oxymorphone and Percocet, which also have a high street value. Authentic oxycodone. The charges stemmed from Sherman's involvement in the operation of Tranquility Wellness Center Inc., from the spring of 2020 through June 2021, where he worked part-time. The center first operated in Dearborn and later in St. Clair Shores, according to the release. This is where they alleged Sherman unlawfully prescribed the drugs. Federal agents executed search and arrest warrants against Sherman and the center in June 2021, with four others connected to the clinic charged. The other defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced, according to the release. It stated that evidence during the trial showed that Sherman conspired with the other defendants to illegally authorize more than 3,000 opioid prescriptions for supposed "patients" who did not have legitimate medical need for the drugs and who were brought to the center by "patient recruiter/marketers." Prosecutors said the center only accepted cash and charged "patients" on the quantity, type and dosage of prescription opioids they received. It also created fraudulent medical records for the "patients," they said. The jury also heard evidence and testimony that Sherman issued more than 270,000 dosage units of Schedule II opioid prescriptions, which had a street value of more than $6.3 million, according to the release. While the unlawful controlled substance prescriptions were paid for in cash, it stated, controlled and noncontrolled "maintenance" medications were billed to health care benefit programs by pharmacies. Billings to Medicare and Medicaid programs for medically unnecessary prescription drug medications and maintenance medications during the conspiracy exceeded $500,000, according to the release. Prosecutors believe Sherman received nearly $168,000 in proceeds from his role in the conspiracy, per their sentencing memorandum filed with the court, which stated Sherman "did not practice actual medicine at Tranquility. He was a drug dealer via prescriptions." Before Sherman began a part-time job at Tranquility, he worked as the medical director at the Macomb County Jail in 2014-17, according to the sentencing memorandum. It also states he and his wife, a retired nurse, own a home in Michigan; a $650,000 second home in Florida; a retirement account with almost $1 million, and have a net worth of more than $1.1 million. Prosecutors recommended more than 16 years in prison. They stated Sherman "traded his medical license for the easy money that came with illegally injecting about 270,000 highly addictive prescription opioid pills into the community he was supposed to serve," according to their sentencing memorandum. It stated he did a "short, cookie-cutter office visit with each "patient" during their first visit, for which Sherman was paid $100, if he prescribed the "patient" an opioid and he was not paid if he did not prescribe an opioid, even though he had done the "visit," according to the memorandum. After that, Sherman electronically issued additional, monthly opioid prescriptions in the names of "patients" as requested and paid for by the "patient" or recruiter, it states, without interacting with the "patient" or checking any drug urine screens. More: Michigan doctors tossed in jail for fueling opioid epidemic: They're 'killing us' Sherman's attorney, Summer McKeivier, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Sherman, who was listed as age 74, spent decades of his life devoted to treating traditionally underserved communities and made contributions to medicine. That memorandum requested that a sentence of three years in custody was sufficient, but not greater than necessary. "Although Dr. Sherman challenges the jury's verdicts, he does not question the seriousness of the offenses," McKeivier wrote in the memorandum. "Dr. Sherman entered medical school nearly fifty years ago. Since then, he has witnessed the pitfalls of the medical system and worked to redress those issues while also treating the patients and follow his duty to 'do no harm.' Dr. Sherman has immense knowledge of the horrors caused by the opiate epidemic and understands the seriousness of the matter." Sherman's DEA registration will be revoked as a result of his convictions, McKeivier wrote, and he will not be allowed to prescribe controlled substances. If the court imposed prison, Sherman requested the Bureau of Prisons designate him to the FCC Coleman Camp, a low-security institution in Florida, to place him close to home and which provides the vocational and rehabilitative programs in which he would like to participate, according to his sentencing memorandum. McKeivier could not be immediately reached Friday. U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in her office's release that health care professionals "have both an opportunity and a duty to help address the terrible impact the opioid epidemic has had on our community, but Dr. Sherman chose to only make it worse." Cheyvoryea Gibson, special agent in charge of the FBI in Michigan, agreed, saying Sherman's actions "endangered countless lives, which goes against the oath he took as a doctor." Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X: @challreporter. Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Free Press. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Shelby Twp. doctor to spend 12 years in prison, distributed in opioids Eighty-four Republicans in seven states falsely claimed to be Donald Trumps presidential electors in December 2020. Three and a half years later, dozens of them are facing criminal charges that could land them in prison for years. Dozens of others have not been charged at all. Even though the fake electors all participated in the same scheme, some have been charged as dangerous criminals while others have been treated as mere dupes. These disparities depend almost entirely on where they live. In Arizona, Michigan and Nevada, every fake elector is facing felony charges except one, whose charges were dropped in a cooperation deal. Their counterparts in New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin arent facing any charges. And in Georgia, three fake electors have been charged alongside Donald Trump, while others struck immunity deals. Meanwhile, an architect of the scheme across all seven states, Wisconsin lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, has only received what some experts call a slap on the wrist after he reached a plea deal in Georgia, and he hasnt been charged in any other state. The attorneys general in Georgia and Arizona are the only state prosecutors to charge any of the alleged organizers of the scheme. At the federal level, special counsel Jack Smith cited Trumps involvement in the fake electors project in his Washington, D.C., case against him. The wildly varying legal consequences for the fake electors have generated discomfort in some corners especially since it appears many of the people Chesebro supervised may face much stiffer consequences than he will. In many instances, I actually think that the state-level electors themselves were the dupes in the fraud, rather than the fraudsters themselves, said Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University who has closely tracked the issue. Its so unusual to have this situation whereby its as though Kenneth Chesebro, the principal, is flipping on the subordinates rather than the normal prosecutorial strategy of going up the chain of command. Its the direct result of Americas unusual election system, according to Derek Muller, a professor at the University of Notre Dames law school. The presidential elections are really run by the states, he said. They are really decentralized. So as a result, you can have parallel behavior across different states and yet its not really governed by federal law; its really governed, at its heart, by state law, with all of the vagaries that state law might offer. A lawyer for Chesebro, meanwhile, said some of the fake electors went further than hed wanted them to enthusiastically claiming to be the real electors when they in fact werent. You can say hes the architect or the planner, said Robert Langford, who represents Chesebro. But he never intended that these people would purport to be the real electors. In Michigan, Nevada, and Arizona, thats exactly what they did. And that was the line that was crossed that resulted in criminality. In talking with the prosecutors, that was it. Chesebro, however, wrote a Dec. 6, 2020 memo arguing that Trump could use the existence of false slates of electors to foment challenges to Congress certification of the results on Jan. 6, 2021 even if the slates werent certified by legislators or backed by court rulings. A seven-state scheme In the weeks following the 2020 election, Trump egged on by Chesebro and other fringe advisers helped assemble slates of Republican activists in seven states won by Joe Biden. In the midst of calling local election officials to pressure them to reject certification of the election results, Trump also checked in with then-RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to enlist her help in the elector effort, and he connected her with attorney John Eastman, an architect of the strategy. Under the Trump camps guidance, the would-be electors then prepared certificates claiming to be the states legitimate representatives in the Electoral College. In two states New Mexico and Pennsylvania the electors included conditional language stating that the validity of the certificates depended on court challenges. Trump and his allies then pressured state lawmakers to endorse these fake slates in hopes of derailing the transfer of power to Biden a desperate gambit that failed. And even after lawmakers refused to sign on, Trump allies promoted the alternative slates as a reason for then-Vice President Mike Pence to block Bidens victory during the Jan. 6, 2021, session of Congress. Investigators have since homed in on the elector strategy as a key piece of Trumps effort to seize a second term he didnt win. And the results have been mixed. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged all 16 fake electors in her state, though she later dropped charges against one of them. Its unclear when the rest will go to trial. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford leveled charges against the six fake electors in his state, and a trial is scheduled for January 2025. Neither Nessel nor Ford have charged any of the people who assembled the slates or crafted the strategy. But in Michigan, Nessels prosecution team recently revealed in court that they consider Trump himself to be an unindicted co-conspirator in the case. Its unclear if that statement has any legal significance. In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis used her states general racketeering statute to charge Trump and more than a dozen of his national and state allies in a broad criminal conspiracy to overturn his defeat in the state. Only three of the states 16 fake electors were charged. Willis offered immunity to at least eight others in exchange for their cooperation. Theres no trial date yet. Arizona forged a middle path last month, with Attorney General Kris Mayes charging all 11 false GOP electors, as well as seven of Trumps national and state allies. But Mayes stopped short of charging Trump himself. Instead, her indictment named him as an unindicted co-conspirator in the scheme. In Pennsylvania and New Mexico, Trumps would-be electors insisted that the paperwork they signed included a caveat that said it would only become effective if a court ruled in their favor. That hedge shielded them from criminal charges. Wisconsin stands alone in the process. In recent days, the states attorney general Josh Kaul gave a vague statement to USA Today saying he believes that those who committed crimes in an effort to unlawfully subvert the outcome of an election should be held accountable. But unlike Mayes in Arizona and Ford in Nevada, Kaul was attorney general in January 2021 meaning he has had more than three years to decide whether to bring charges, and so far, he has not done so. Lester Pines, a Wisconsin attorney who has worked for a host of liberal clients and causes, said no one in Madisons close-knit legal community expects Kaul a Democrat to charge the fake electors with crimes. Why that is, none of us know, Pines said. He does not seem to be in the least bit motivated to do so, to the great disappointment of people who vote to elect attorneys general to enforce the law and to our Democrats. Kauls indecision is particularly notable because the longshot legal strategy behind the fake elector plot was hatched in Wisconsin, where Chesebro first drafted memos on it. Chesebro used his relationship with then-Trump campaign attorney Jim Troupis another Badger Stater to reach Trumps national orbit and help lead the scheme. Architect remains mostly unscathed Most of the prosecutors who have investigated the aftermath of the 2020 election have taken a hands-off approach to Chesebro. Smith, the special counsel helming the Justice Departments probe, identified Chesebro as one of six unindicted co-conspirators in his indictment charging Trump with trying to steal the election and deprive Americans of the right to vote. Experts have told POLITICO they dont expect Smith to bring charges against any of those co-conspirators at least not anytime soon. In Arizona, Chesebro also received unindicted co-conspirator status. And in Georgia, he was indicted but negotiated a plea deal that wont result in jail time. Chesebro has reportedly cooperated with prosecutors in Arizona and Nevada, which is not unusual for criminal suspects seeking leniency. But according to Goodman, the NYU law professor, its quite odd for prosecutors to enlist apparent ringleaders in order to charge the people they supervised. Instead, prosecutors generally work with a criminal schemes foot soldiers to build cases against the people who organized it in other words, they go easy on the small fish so they can bag the big ones. That appears to be the strategy adopted in Georgia, with Willis using the cooperation of numerous fake electors to indict Trump and many of his top allies. But prosecutors in other states have not seemed to follow suit. How the prosecutors can justify using Kenneth Chesebro to go after the smaller fish is one of the lingering questions and, I think, concerns about how this has all proceeded, Goodman said. Chesebros attorney, Langford, told POLITICO that the fake electors face more political risk than his client because they went further than he wanted them to. A lot of behavior after Dec. 14, after they signed those ballots especially in Nevada and Arizona, where theyre like, Were the real electors, those Democrats, theyre all fake, the election was stolen, and were the real ones! that was not his plan, Langford said. The fake electors who have now been charged may face severe penalties. In Arizona, they could face more than 12 years in prison, according to defense attorney Omer Gurion, who doesnt have any clients in the case. He added that first-time offenders in the state usually get probation. But, he continued, the fake electors case is extremely unusual. So I think its a bit of a crapshoot in predicting a sentence, he said. In Georgia, the three fake electors who were charged could face 20 years for their role in the alleged racketeering conspiracy, though sentences well below the maximum are most likely for defendants with no prior criminal record. They also face charges with maximum penalties of five, 10 and 15 years for signing the false documents. Thats left Georgia with the widest range of potential outcomes, from modest jail time to decades behind bars. The Nevada defendants, meanwhile, could face five years in prison at the most. But, according to former Nevada U.S. Attorney Greg Brower, its most likely that a judge would sentence them to one year in prison but suspend that sentence and let them out on probation. Theres no victim in the traditional sense, theres no restitution to be paid, its not a crime of violence, he said. In Michigan, according to defense lawyer Maurice Davis, the fake electors could face a maximum of 14 years of incarceration. Davis added that the judge handling the proceedings will have broad discretion to decide whether to hand down jail time or just probation. But he said he expects some incarceration. The conduct was pretty egregious, he said. It was a conspiracy to subvert an election in the highest form. I dont think weve ever seen anything like this in the history of our democracy. Given the unique nature and the potential consequences had they been successful, I would be surprised if a judge did not give them some form of jail time. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported late in the evening on 10 May that fighting for Strilecha, Pylna, Borysivka, Oliinykove and Ohirtseve is ongoing. Counteroffensive measures also continue in and around the settlements of Lypky and Vovchansk. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook Quote: "As of now, defensive battles are ongoing in Kharkiv Oblast against the Russian occupiers attempts to conduct offensive actions and advance deep into the territory of our state. Counteroffensive measures continue in and around Lypky and Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast. The enemy is using infantry and equipment. Fighting is also ongoing for the settlements in the border areas which were effectively in the grey zone Strilecha, Pylna and Borysivka, as well as in the area of Oliinykove and Ohirtseve." Details: The General Staff reported that the Ukrainian Defence Forces are operating on prepared defensive lines. Firing is being carried out to disrupt the Russian offensive and destroy the occupier who has broken through the Ukrainian defence. Decisions to reinforce our combat units will be implemented. Background: Support UP or become our patron! Finding objective ways to talk about religion in the classroom is tough but the cost of not doing so is clear Religious strife is common in many places. While the United States has a great deal of litigation and controversy over religions place in public life, it has largely avoided violence. Yet our society often seems unprepared to talk constructively about this contentious topic, especially in schools. According to the IDEALS survey of college students on 122 U.S. campuses, conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University, Ohio State University and the nonprofit Interfaith America, just 32% of students said they had developed the skills to interact with people of diverse beliefs. Although almost three-quarters of students spent time learning about people of different races, ethnicities or countries, less than half of them reported learning about various religions. Most students received C grades or below on the surveys religious literacy quiz. Objective education about the worlds religions has the potential to foster tolerance and understanding, and various research groups provide guidelines for religious literacy education. Yet the study of religion may be hindered by hesitation about what is and isnt legal in public classrooms a topic I write about often as a professor of law and education, with a particular interest in these fields relationships to religion. Other countries also face challenges in deciding what kind of religion-related instruction can or cant be legally taught in public schools, and each deals with the question in different ways. Students attend their last class before mid-term holidays begin in April 2023 in Ankara, Turkey. Ercin Erturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images US legal landscape Though there have been many Supreme Court cases over issues of church and state in public schools, most deal with the First Amendment freedoms of students, staff and parents rather than whats officially taught in class. There has been relatively little litigation about what teachers can and cant instruct students in matters that touch on religion. Two of the exceptions involved lessons about evolution: one decided in 1968, the other in 1987. In both cases, the Supreme Court upheld educators right to teach evolution, rather than the biblical accounts of creation, to explain human origins. Federal trial courts in Mississippi and Florida banned courses in the 1990s that included instruction about the New Testament, ruling that the way they were taught crossed a line and violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, this was because the courts determined instruction was being given from a Christian perspective. The court in Florida did allow teaching about the Hebrew scriptures, because the focus was on the texts cultural and literary significance. In the Supreme Courts closest response to the question of teaching about religion in public schools, 1963s School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, eight of the nine justices agreed that state-sponsored prayer and Bible reading in public schools violates the establishment clause. Yet the court recognized that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment. The courts decision plainly does not foreclose teaching about the Holy Scriptures or about the differences between religious sects in classes in literature or history, Justice William Brennan added in a concurrence. Thus, consistent with religious literacy programs approach, public schools can teach about religion, but not in ways that seek to instill systems of belief. International perspectives To place the issue in perspective, it is worth highlighting other countries approaches to teaching about religion in the classroom the focus of a book I recently edited. At one end of the 18 countries examined in the book, educators in Mexico impose significant restrictions on what can be taught about faith-based beliefs. According to the Mexican Constitution, State education shall be maintained entirely apart from any religious doctrine. However, it does allow religious institutions to provide faith-based education through the private schools they sponsor. Most nations the book analyzes are more open to teaching about religion in public schools as long as instruction remains objective and does not indoctrinate students. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa and Sweden all adopt this approach in varying degrees. For example, according to the Brazilian Constitution, optional religious education should be offered during the day for elementary students. The countrys National Education Act describes this as a way of ensuring respect for Brazils religious cultural diversity, and any form of proselytism is prohibited. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (in tan suit) and Minister of Education Camilo Santana attend the launch of the literacy program for schoolchildren. Mateus Bonomi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Australia allows nondenominational classes about religion to help students understand the influence of religion in life and society and the variety of beliefs by which people live. In addition, it permits faith-based student clubs, as well as religious seminars that amount to no more than one half day per term. Parents can ask that their children be excused, or students may participate in ethics courses instead. At the other end, England, Malaysia and Turkey mandate teaching about religion in public schools, though British parents may exempt their children. Englands Department for Children, Schools and Families strongly encourages that instruction include multiple religious perspectives, while classes in the other two countries are allowed to be more from faith-based perspectives. Malaysia, which declares Islam the official religion, mandates faith-based instruction on Islam for Muslim students. Non-Muslims must attend moral studies classes. Turkey, meanwhile, requires religious culture and moral knowledge courses for grades 4-12 that focus on Islam. Parents who belong to other religions have the right to exempt their children from these classes. What happens in public schools in the U.S. today will significantly shape tomorrows society. I believe encouraging teaching about religion can help Americas rapidly diversifying population to understand and respect others beliefs or lack thereof. Discussing religions in an inclusive, objective and academic way can certainly be challenging in a classroom, as there is a fine line between teaching about it and proselytizing but not doing so has risks as well. 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: Charles J. Russo, University of Dayton Read more: Charles J. Russo 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. (KRON) Fire officials responded to a fire on a church property in Santa Clara on Thursday, the Santa Clara Fire Department said. Gilroy woman accused of $300K high-rise fire has history of arson Fire officials responded to the fire at Marks Episcopal Church property on Pruneridge Avenue in Santa Clara. Upon arriving at the scene, a black column of smoke could be seen several blocks away, fire officials said. The fire was mainly seen in the central courtyard before growing toward the back of the building. Photo Courtesy: Santa Clara Fire Department After a fire attack was initiated, crews extinguished the fire and protected buildings nearby where embers were seen landing on the roof, fire officials said. No injuries were reported, and the fire is under investigation, fire officials said. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4. Their first baby came with medical debt. These Illinois parents wont have another. Andrew and Heather Crivilare in the yard of their home in Jacksonville, Illinois, with their 2-year-old daughter, Rita, on April 30. (Neeta Satam for KFF Health News) JACKSONVILLE, Ill. Heather Crivilare was a month from her due date when she was rushed to an operating room for an emergency cesarean section. The first-time mother, a high school teacher in rural Illinois, had developed high blood pressure, a sometimes life-threatening condition in pregnancy that prompted doctors to hospitalize her. Then Crivilares blood pressure spiked, and the babys heart rate dropped. It was terrifying, Crivilare said. She gave birth to a healthy daughter. What followed, though, was another ordeal: thousands of dollars in medical debt that sent Crivilare and her husband scrambling for nearly a year to keep collectors at bay. The Crivilares would eventually get on nine payment plans as they juggled close to $5,000 in bills. It really felt like a full-time job some days, Crivilare recalled. Getting the baby down to sleep and then getting on the phone. Id set up one payment plan, and then a new bill would come that afternoon. And Id have to set up another one. Crivilares pregnancy may have been more dramatic than most. But for millions of new parents, medical debt is now as much a hallmark of having children as long nights and dirty diapers. About 12% of the 100 million U.S. adults with health care debt attribute at least some of it to pregnancy or childbirth, according to a KFF poll. These people are more likely to report theyve had to take on extra work, change their living situation, or make other sacrifices. Overall, women between 18 and 35 who have had a baby in the past year and a half are twice as likely to have medical debt as women of the same age who havent given birth recently, other KFF research conducted for this project found. You feel bad for the patient because you know that they want the best for their pregnancy, said Eilean Attwood, a Rhode Island OB-GYN who said she routinely sees pregnant women anxious about going into debt. So often, they may be coming to the office or the hospital with preexisting debt from school, from other financial pressures of starting adult life, Attwood said. They are having to make real choices, and what those real choices may entail can include the choice to not get certain services or medications or what may be needed for the care of themselves or their fetus. Best-Laid Plans The young couple settled in Jacksonville, in part because the farming community less than two hours north of St. Louis was the kind of place two public school teachers could afford a house. They saved aggressively. They bought life insurance. And before Crivilare got pregnant in 2021, they enrolled in the most robust health insurance plan they could, paying higher premiums to minimize their deductible and out-of-pocket costs. Then, two months before their baby was due, Crivilare learned she had developed preeclampsia. Her pregnancy would no longer be routine. Crivilare was put on blood pressure medication, and doctors at the local hospital recommended bed rest at a larger medical center in Springfield, about 35 miles away. I remember thinking when they insisted that I ride an ambulance from Jacksonville to Springfield Im never going to financially recover from this, she said. But I want my baby to be OK. Heather Crivilare and her daughter, Rita. (Neeta Satam for KFF Health News) For weeks, Crivilare remained in the hospital alone as covid protocols limited visitors. Meanwhile, doctors steadily upped her medications while monitoring the fetus. It was, she said, the scariest month of my life. Fear turned to relief after her daughter, Rita, was born. The baby was small and had to spend nearly two weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit. But there were no complications. We were incredibly lucky, Crivilare said. When she and Rita finally came home, a stack of medical bills awaited. One was already past due. Crivilare rushed to set up payment plans with the hospitals in Jacksonville and Springfield, as well as the anesthesiologist, the surgeon, and the labs. Some providers demanded hundreds of dollars a month. Some settled for monthly payments of $20 or $25. Some pushed Crivilare to apply for new credit cards to pay the bills. It was a blur of just being on the phone constantly with all the different people collecting money, she recalled. That was a nightmare. Big Bills, Big Consequences The Crivilares bills werent unusual. Parents with private health coverage now face on average more than $3,000 in medical bills related to a pregnancy and childbirth that arent covered by insurance, researchers at the University of Michigan found. Out-of-pocket costs are even higher for families with a newborn who needs to stay in a neonatal ICU, averaging $5,000. And for 1 in 11 of these families, medical bills related to pregnancy and childbirth exceed $10,000, the researchers found. This forces very difficult trade-offs for families, said Michelle Moniz, a University of Michigan OB-GYN who worked on the study. Even though they have insurance, they still have these very high bills. Nationwide polls suggest millions of these families end up in debt, with sometimes devastating consequences. About three-quarters of U.S. adults with debt related to pregnancy or childbirth have cut spending on food, clothing, or other essentials, KFF polling found. About half have put off buying a home or delayed their own or their childrens education. These burdens have spurred calls to limit what families must pay out-of-pocket for medical care related to pregnancy and childbirth. In Massachusetts, state Sen. Cindy Friedman has proposed legislation to exempt all these bills from copays, deductibles, and other cost sharing. This would parallel federal rules that require health plans to cover recommended preventive services like annual physicals without cost sharing for patients. We want healthy children, and that starts with healthy mothers, Friedman said. Massachusetts health insurers have warned the proposal will raise costs, but an independent state analysis estimated the bill would add only $1.24 to monthly insurance premiums. Tough Lessons For her part, Crivilare said she wishes new parents could catch their breath before paying down medical debt. No one is in the right frame of mind to deal with that when they have a new baby, she said, noting that college graduates get such a break. When I graduated with my college degree, it was like: Hey, new adult, its going to take you six months to kind of figure out your life, so well give you this six-month grace period before your student loans kick in and you can get a job. Rita is now 2. The family scraped by on their payment plans, retiring the medical debt within a year, with help from Crivilares side job selling resources for teachers online. But they are now back in debt, after Ritas recurrent ear infections required surgery last year, leaving the family with thousands of dollars in new medical bills. Crivilare said the stress has made her think twice about seeing a doctor, even for Rita. And, she added, she and her husband have decided their family is complete. Its not for us to have another child, she said. I just hope that we can put some of these big bills behind us and give [Rita] the life that we want to give her. ABOUT THIS PROJECT Diagnosis: Debt is a reporting partnership between KFF Health News and NPR exploring the scale, impact, and causes of medical debt in America. The series draws on original polling by KFF, court records, federal data on hospital finances, contracts obtained through public records requests, data on international health systems, and a yearlong investigation into the financial assistance and collection policies of more than 500 hospitals across the country. Additional research was conducted by the Urban Institute, which analyzed credit bureau and other demographic data on poverty, race, and health status for KFF Health News to explore where medical debt is concentrated in the U.S. and what factors are associated with high debt levels. The JPMorgan Chase Institute analyzed records from a sampling of Chase credit card holders to look at how customers balances may be affected by major medical expenses. And the CED Project, a Denver nonprofit, worked with KFF Health News on a survey of its clients to explore links between medical debt and housing instability. KFF Health News journalists worked with KFF public opinion researchers to design and analyze the KFF Health Care Debt Survey. The survey was conducted Feb. 25 through March 20, 2022, online and via telephone, in English and Spanish, among a nationally representative sample of 2,375 U.S. adults, including 1,292 adults with current health care debt and 382 adults who had health care debt in the past five years. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample and 3 percentage points for those with current debt. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher. Reporters from KFF Health News and NPR also conducted hundreds of interviews with patients across the country; spoke with physicians, health industry leaders, consumer advocates, debt lawyers, and researchers; and reviewed scores of studies and surveys about medical debt. The post Their first baby came with medical debt. These Illinois parents wont have another. appeared first on Iowa Capital Dispatch. HANGZHOU, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The 2024 World Brand Moganshan Conference opened Saturday in Deqing, east China's Zhejiang Province, drawing more than 4,000 participants from around the world. Speaking at the event, Lyu Yansong, editor-in-chief of Xinhua News Agency, said that strengthening brand building is an important way to meet people's needs for a better life. In today's world, brands have also become important bonds for promoting international exchanges and cooperation. Xinhua will tell more stories about brands to audiences at home and abroad and provide high-quality professional services and decision-making reference support for brand building in China and the world, Lyu said. The conference is being co-hosted by Xinhua's brand work office and the website of China National Brand. Lian Yimin, chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said in his speech that Zhejiang will vigorously improve quality and cultivate brands, and strive to promote "Made in Zhejiang" and move up the value chain. Gao Dekang, chairman and president of Bosideng Group, a popular Chinese down jacket manufacturer, said at the conference that their secret to going overseas is the integration of design featuring Eastern and Western cultures and the technological functions, thereby showing the strength and creativity of this Chinese brand. Two years ago, Bosideng relaunched a flagship store in London as part of its renewed efforts to expand overseas. On the opening day, a long queue of customers lined up outside the Bosideng store -- a sign of recognition and trust. Bosideng is one of the Chinese consumer goods brands that have expanded abroad over the years. "Go overseas, or you're out." In recent years, this view has been echoed and become a consensus among Chinese companies. The result is that more Chinese companies are optimizing their products and improving their competitiveness in efforts to tap overseas markets. Data shows that in the past 10 years, the number of Chinese brands on the World's 500 Most Influential Brands list has risen from 29 to 48, a sign of the growing global reputation, influence and awareness of Chinese brands. "China is now progressing to more and more complex, high-value products," said Joe Weinman, founder of Cloudonomics and a 5G and digital transformation strategist. "If you look at 5G technology and beyond, China has been like the major innovator and research force in extreme high technology." Flash floods kill more than 300 people in northern Afghanistan after heavy rains, UN says People are seen near to their damaged homes after heavy flooding in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan Saturday, May 11, 2024. Flash floods from seasonal rains in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan killed dozens of people on Friday, a Taliban official said. (AP Photo/Mehrab Ibrahimi) ISLAMABAD (AP) Flash floods from unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have killed more than 300 people and destroyed over 1,000 houses, the U.N. food agency said Saturday. The World Food Program said it was distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors of one of the many floods that hit Afghanistan over the last few weeks, mostly the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of the deluges Friday. In neighboring Takhar province, state-owned media outlets reported the floods killed at least 20 people. Videos posted on social media showed dozens of people gathered Saturday behind the hospital in Baghlan looking for their loved ones. An official tells them that they should start digging graves while their staff are busy preparing bodies for burial. Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government, posted on the social media platform X that "hundreds ... have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries. Mujahid identified the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Ghor and Herat as the worst hit. He added that the extensive devastation has resulted in significant financial losses. He said the government had ordered all available resources mobilized to rescue people, transport the injured and recover the dead. The floods hit as Afghanistan is still reeling from a string of earthquakes at the beginning of the year as well as severe flooding in March, said Salma Ben Aissa, Afghanistan director for the International Rescue Committee. Communities have lost entire families, while livelihoods have been decimated as a result, she said. This should sound an alarm bell for world leaders and international donors: we call upon them to not forget Afghanistan during these turbulent global times. The IRC said that apart from the lives lost, infrastructure including roads and power lines had been destroyed in Baghlan, Ghor, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Samangan, Badghis and Takhar provinces. It said the agency is preparing to scale up its emergency response in affected areas. The Taliban Defense Ministry said in a statement Saturday that the countrys air force has already begun evacuating people in Baghlan and had rescued a large number of people stuck in flooded areas and transported 100 injured to military hospitals in the region. Richard Bennett, U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, said on X that the floods are a stark reminder of Afghanistans vulnerability to the climate crisis and both immediate aid and long-term planning by the Taliban and international actors are needed. At least 70 people died in April from heavy rains and flash floods in the country. About 2,000 homes, three mosques, and four schools were also damaged. Gov. Ron DeSantis stopped by the Hope Florida bus, which was at Sabal Palm Elementary, to help those in need after the May 10 storms that devastated the capital region. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stopped by a Tallahassee elementary school on Saturday to help distribute supplies for those hit hard by Friday's storms and tornadoes that wreaked havoc across a swath of north Florida. "I surveyed the damage today in Tallahassee from the severe weather we experienced yesterday," he posted on X. "State agencies have been deployed to assist the local officials with relief and recovery efforts. I also stopped by the Hope Florida bus, which is at Sabal Palm Elementary to help those in need; distribute supplies such as food, water, diapers, and wipes; and provide a place to charge phones or access the internet," he added. The governor's tour was not open to the press, but a photo showed him touring the school with Leon County Commission Chair Carolyn Cumming and Commissioner Christian Caban. I surveyed the damage today in Tallahassee from the severe weather we experienced yesterday. State agencies have been deployed to assist the local officials with relief and recovery efforts. I also stopped by the Hope Florida bus, which is at Sabal Palm Elementary to help those pic.twitter.com/62ORPkQQuI Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 11, 2024 The Hope Bus is operated by the Department of Children and Families, in partnership with Volunteer Florida, to help those in need. Gov. Ron DeSantis stopped by Sabal Palm Elementary after the May 10 storms that devastated the capital region. He was accompanied by Leon County Commissioners Christian Caban and Carolyn Cummings. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Gov. DeSantis visits Tallahassee school to help distribute supplies A Florida woman was arrested Wednesday in connection with the death of a 4-year-old boy she adopted in Haiti and brought to the United States last year, the Polk County Sheriffs Office announced. Patricia Saintizaire, 36, is facing charges of murder, aggravated child abuse and tampering with a witness in the death of her son, Bryan Boyer, who died May 2 of a liver injury that hospital staff considered suspicious, according to the announcement from the sheriffs office in central Florida. Speaking at a news conference in Winter Haven following the arrest, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Bryan, born in Haiti, was adopted by Saintizaire last year. A photo of Bryan Boyer released by the Polk County Sheriff's Office in Winter Haven, Florida. Polk County Sheriff's Office According to the sheriffs announcement, Bryans adoptive brother came home from school that day and was told to bring him food. The brother reportedly noticed that Bryan was struggling and unable to walk or sit up on his own. Saintizaire told Bryans brother that he was faking it and to feed him, but Bryan became unresponsive, according to the sheriffs office. The brother attempted to revive Bryan with CPR but then told Saintizaire they needed to take him to the hospital. When a detective went to Saintizaires home after the boys death, the mother said Bryan had complained of feeling weak and tired the day before he died, according to a probable cause statement obtained by HuffPost. In the initial interview with Saintizaire, detectives reported that she repeatedly denied ever physically abusing Bryan, and the teenage brother told a detective that he never witnessed any abuse, according to the probable cause statement. A search of the home reportedly revealed blood on the door of one of the bedrooms and on the rug in the bathroom. Detectives also reported that they observed freshly plastered holes in the wall of the bedroom. Emergency surgery at the hospital could not stop Bryans abdominal bleeding, and he was pronounced dead after his condition continued to decline, the sheriffs office announced. Detectives said they learned from Bryans autopsy that he had fresh scarring on his back and that his liver had a deep laceration caused by a targeted blunt force trauma injury, according to the document. The medical examiner saidBryans injuries were consistent with ongoing abuse and ruled his death a homicide. Bryans older brother was placed in protective custody. He later told detectives his mother directed him that, when they ask you something, say nothing so I dont get in trouble, according to the sheriffs announcement. Bryans brother allegedly also told detectives that Saintizaire made threats against both children, including once stating, If I had a gun you would both be dead already, according to the probable cause statement. The arrest document also alleged that a search of Saintizaires phone revealed a video clip, dated Oct. 20, 2023, that showed her striking Bryan multiple times. The video,which was obtained by HuffPost, appears to show an unresponsive Bryan on the ground as Saintizaire continues to hit him. Another video taken two daysafter and also obtained by HuffPost, appears to show Saintizaire throwing Bryan into a pool while his hands were tied behind his back. During the interaction the victim is seen to be in a terrified posture consistent with him trying to stop her from throwing him in, the sheriffs office reported in the probable cause statement. The videos were taken at the familys home, according to the document. The Polk County School District issued a statement to local news station Bay News 9 addressing Bryans, death calling it tragic news for the community. No child should lose their life in this way, the statement read. Our hearts go out to Bryans friends, loved ones, and all who knew him. Saintizaire is set to appear in court on June 6. A public defender listed as her attorney did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment. Related... This Fond du Lac woman scored $50K in this year's Agnesian Samaritan Cash Raffle, and more news in brief FOND DU LAC Brianna St. Louis, of Fond du Lac, has won the $50,000 Agnesian HealthCare Foundations Samaritan Cash Raffle grand prize. Nearly 3,800 tickets were sold in this years raffle with the cash raffle raising approximately $120,000. All money raised by the foundation stays local. The SSM Health Samaritan Clinic, now in its 32nd year, provides health care to around 500 underinsured patients annually. Other prize winners include: $10,000: Anne Kirk, Berlin; $5,000: Kathy Gravelle, Fond du Lac; $2,500: Lynn Wellens, Fond du Lac and Dawn Freund, Fond du Lac; $1,000: Deborah Ashenfelter, Fond du Lac; Diane Retzlaff, Randolph; Jamie Neuman, Fond du Lac; Barb Justman, Mayville; and Whitney Nimmer, Fond du Lac; and $500: Amanda Saegert, Brownsville; Jim Paulson, Fond du Lac; Sherri VandeStreek, Waupun; Charleen Roen, Fond du Lac; Kim Veley, North Fond du Lac; Theresa Eimerman, Fond du Lac; Paul Schmitz, New Holstein; Shelli Milbrath, St. Cloud; Elizabeth Wulff, Fond du Lac; and Kathy Standke, Pardeeville. Free leadership workshop offered by Ripon, Green Lake The Ripon and Green Lake chambers of commerce will host a Leadership Lab workshop May 14. The free workshop, led by Anna Oosterhouse, will focus on customer service. Oosterhouse has more than 20 years of guest service experience and 13 years of leadership growth and development at Websters Marketplace. The workshop, designed for both customer service professionals and trainers, will focus on identifying and elevating guest engagement experiences; navigating tough customer interactions; and determining your why in customer service. To register for the workshop, visit ripon-wi.com. For more information, contact the Ripon Chamber at info@ripon-wi.com or 920-748-6764. Fond du Lac history: Remember when bowling was a favorite pastime for Fond du Lac? Here's a look at some of its most popular lanes. Learn about Wisconsin Indian tribes during library program Learn more about the 12 Tribes of Wisconsin during a 6 p.m. program May 14 at the Fond du Lac Public Library, in the McLane Room. The program will be presented by Dr. Renee Gralewicz, who is of Brothertown and Mohican descent. Her presentation will be a short look into the histories of Wisconsins 12 tribes. The library is at 32 Sheboygan St. The program is free and registration is not required to attend in person. To view at home via Zoom, visit calendar.fdlpl.org. Red Cross seeks blood, platelet donors to keep supply up American Red Cross asks the public to give blood or platelets during Trauma Awareness Month in May to keep hospitals prepared for all transfusion needs. Type O blood donors and donors giving platelets are especially needed. A blood donor card or drivers license or two other forms of identification are required. Individuals 17 years old (16 with parental consent), who weigh at least 110 pounds and are in general good health may be eligible to donate blood. Donors younger than 18 also have to meet certain height and weight requirements. Upcoming blood drives: May 14: 1 to 6 p.m., Peace Lutheran Church, 124 S. Main St., Rosendale; May 17: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., VFW Hall, 420 N. Wisconsin St., Berlin; May 18: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Mount Calvary Fire Station, 999 Fond du Lac St., Mount Calvary; May 24: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Fond du Lac Public Library, 32 Sheboygan St.; and May 24: Noon to 5 p.m., Fire Department Station 1, 815 S. Main St., Fond du Lac. To make an appointment, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 800-733-2767. Variety of programs offered for adults, children at Ripon library Ripon Public Library has a variety of programs on deck for the second half of May, including game night, a movie and a book club discussion. A game night for patrons 16 and older will be held 6 to 8 p.m. May 15. Attendees can play tabletop board games with staff on hand to help. The event is held the third Wednesday of each month in the Silver Creek Room. Enjoy a movie, shown at 2 p.m., during Classic Movie Monday. The Adult Book Club will discuss The Lighthouse Keepers Daughter by Hazel Gaynor from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. May 20. Books are available for check-out prior to the meeting. Participants also may attend via Zoom. Visit the website for more information. May 18, a Discovery Zone will be held from 10 a.m. to noon for kids with their caregivers. The program is aimed at youth 4-8 years old, but others are welcome. Activities include a book nook, yoga, building blocks, games, puzzle and more. The library is at 120 Jefferson St. For more information, visit riponlibrary.org or call 920-748-6160. Shepherd of the Hill gears up for first Spring Picnic Shepherd of the Hills Catholic Church will host its first Spring Picnic May 19. It will run noon to 3 p.m. in the school gym at W1562 County B, Eden. Meals available include hot turkey or pulled pork with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and relishes. Meals are $8 a plate. Individual turkey or pork sandwiches or hotdogs for children are $5. A dessert bake-off also will be held. The best desserts will be selected by judges and picnickers can sample. Categories are tortes; pies; cakes and cupcakes; and bars and cookies. To enter the bake-off, visit sothparish.org. DJ music, a 50/50 raffle and a raffle with a $10,000 grand prize will also be included. Tickets for the main raffle are $100 each and can be purchased by calling the church office at 920-477-3201, ext. 2, or in person at Dotyville Hardware, American Family Insurance in Campbellsport, and Baumhardt Sand and Gravel in Eden. Only 300 tickets will be sold. You do not have to be present to win. Learn about audition process at theater workshop Ripon Area Community Theatre will host an audition workshop from 2 to 4 p.m. May 19 in the Fellowship Hall at First Congregational Church, 220 Ransom St. Learn about the audition process, including what most directors expect and tips for giving your best audition. Participants can perform practice audition scenes and information on auditions for RACT's summer musical, The Wizard of Oz, will be available. The workshop is open to the public ages 8 through adult. There is no fee to attend. SSM Health St. Agnes donates $20,000 to Fondy CARES Katherine Vergos, center, SSM Health St. Agnes Hospital president, presents a $20,000 donation to the Fondy CARES Mental Health Navigators Patti Shippee, right, and Melissa Schepp. Fondy CARES (Community Access Responding and Empowering Students), a school-based mental health program offered through the Fond du Lac School District, has received $20,000 from SSM Health Greater Fond du Lac. Through the Fondy CARES program, the district offers expanded mental health services. The services are provided by licensed therapists during the school day at all Fond du Lac schools. According to a news release, funding will help Fondy CARES eliminate financial barriers to therapy, expand group therapy, expand therapy professional field placement internships, expand community partnerships (especially bilingual support), address waitlists and build mentorship programs. For more information, call Fondy CARES at 920-906-6733 or visit fondycares.org. UWO Fond du Lac closure: UW Oshkosh Fond du Lac campus is closing in a few weeks, but its impact and history in the community lives on First-grade students take part in READ-4-LIFE at Marian First grade students from the Fond du Lac School District visited Marian University on April 30 as part of the READ-4-LIFE program. First-grade students from the Fond du Lac School District visited Marian University April 30 as part of the READ-4-LIFE program. It was organized by Fond du Lac Morning and Noon Rotary, Marian University, and the school district. The goal of the program is to encourage reading in youth. Volunteers worked with the children by reading stories, playing games and scavenger hunts, along with other activities. The students also had lunch at Marian. Each first-grade teacher received eight books from Morning Rotary last fall. At this session, students were asked what their favorite book was with each student receiving a copy of that book. This was the second year of the READ-4-LIFE program in Fond du Lac. Contact Mara Wegner at mwegner@gannett.com or 920-996-7241. This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Fond du Lac woman wins $50,000 in Agnesian Samaritan Cash Raffle Following summer 1935s worst heatwave, cloudbursts on July 8 and 9 caused significant destruction in the Finger Lakes. The steadily rising Chemung River threatened cottages from West Elmira to Big Flats. New York State troopers advised residents and cottagers to abandon their buildings and possessions. As water inundated the campground at Clarks Glen (on Forest Hills Drive), a band of traveling gypsies got out just in time. Newtown Creek was one foot short of overflowing on Elmiras Eastside at 1 p.m. Roads were impassable to Ithaca and Binghamton. According to the Star-Gazette on July 8, there was no imminent danger to Elmira. However, millions of gallons of water poured over the [Record] dam [in Elmira]. The south end of the dam was lined with great cracks and was being washed away. The night before, at the top of Watkins Glen State Park in Watkins Glen, a deluge undermined the main span of the New York Central Railroad trestle, and it crashed into the gorge. The wall of water roared through the tunnel entrance at the bottom and washed away picnic tables and benches. The sudden rush of water uprooted whole trees and destroyed the stone firepits. The mud on Franklin Street was four feet thick. Two houses had their sides ripped away. The highway leading to Watkins Glen was washed out and, in some spots, caved in. The wall of water hit Franklin Street with tremendous force washing away 50 cars. Reports from Watkins Glen claimed "every home in the village was damaged, some being carried entirely away, and others torn apart." From page 2 of the Star-Gazette on July 9, 1935: Cottages at the foot of Cleveland and Westmont Avenues were abandoned before residents could gather personal items as floodwaters quickly swept through the area. The Pennsylvania Railroad sent an urgent request for 100 men to come and help. Also, they immediately requested 1,000 carloads of cinders to establish through service again. The Erie Railroad temporarily carried Pennsylvania Railroad passengers on its routes. Owego storm reports in Tioga County echoed heavy damage to its downtown pavements. Raging waters swept several homes at Glenora on Seneca Lake into the lake. Hornell, Painted Post, and Bath also reported significant destruction. The Chemung River was 17 feet at 5 a.m. on July 9. A boater in Elmira lost control of his rowboat as he tried to salvage some floating timbers in the Chemung River. He was able to climb to safety east of the Lake Street bridge. Elmira suffered the least. Water stood knee-deep on Winsor Avenue. Newtown Creek flooded as far as East Fifth Street and as deep as seven feet. The river was forced back up Hoffman Creek to West Church St. The dike near the Brand Park pool had leaks. More minor leaks were reported on West Hudson Street. The water eventually overtopped the dike at Harmon Street and Connelly Avenue. With no real damage, water also came over on Elmiras northside between Lake and Madison Avenue. From page 2 of the Star-Gazette on July 9, 1935: Residents were removed from their homes via rowboats due to flooding on Winsor Avenue. Hay crops in Big Flats were ruined. Cows swam through the raging currents to reach higher ground. Crop loss was estimated at $200,000. Elmiras WESG radio station could not broadcast because of a severed connection at Ithaca. Bridges in the Spencer-Van Etten area were out, and automobiles were stranded in the ditches and huge boulders covered the highway. More Buckled bridges, destroyed homes: 1972 flood transformed Elmira, Corning into 'war zone' Thirty-seven people died from this storm. The US Army Corps of Engineers proposed flood control projects in 1940 but the Senate voted no to the $30 million needed. In 1942 the proposed flood wall from downtown Elmira to Elm Street was erected. Other projects were put on hold until after World War II. In October 1945 Army Engineers expected to resume projects along the Chemung River, Newtown, Hoffman and Seeley Creeks. On May 24, 1946 a Star-Gazette headline read, Flood Work to Start in Two Weeks. Four days later on May 28, 1946 Elmira suffered its second-worst flood. -- Elmira historian Diane Janowski writes a monthly column. This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: How Elmira area weathered 1935 'forgotten flood' that claimed 37 lives A former Massachusetts prison is the newest location for an emergency shelter for families experiencing homelessness. The former site of the Bay State Correctional Center in Norfolk will be transformed into a welcoming space to accommodate slightly under 150 families. Governor Maura Healeys Office tells Boston 25 News the facility is in great shape and will be able to hold around 140 families in dorm rooms, with each floor having its own bathrooms and showers. The former minimum security prison also sports a cafeteria, a gymnasium, a large common room and offices that will be used for case management and administrative activities. The site will be set up with play areas for children, as well as classroom spaces for adults to engage in activities that support pathways to stability such as ESOL classes, job training courses, and housing search workshops, Emergency Assistance Director Scott Rice said in a statement Healeys office says the shelter site is expected to be up and running next month. Staffers will be on-site 24/7 and provide families with transport on and off-site. The razor wire fence surrounding the property will be taken down. The Bay State Correctional Center shut down in 2015. According to Massachusetts Representative Marcus Vaughn, the shelter will strain the school systems in Norfolk and at King Philip Middle and High School and will likely impact public safety infrastructure. While assurances were given regarding on-site security, I intend to meet with Chief Heinz to explore avenues to mitigate the burden on our towns public safety departments. Acknowledging the financial strain on our schools, I conveyed our concerns about reimbursement to the Governors office, who assured us of ongoing dialogue with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to address these challenges, Vaughn wrote to residents in a letter obtained by Boston 25. Healeys office says the government is providing funding to cover the average full per-student cost. This support is designed to cover the gap until students show up in the normal state aid program when the cost will return to a shared responsibility. As a result, many municipalities end up paying less than they otherwise would, the Governors office said in a statement. Massachusetts schools are receiving this emergency aid for enrollment and other extra costs incurred that are associated with educating students in emergency shelters at a rate of $104 per student per day. Additionally, the state has made grants of $1,000 per student available to districts serving students in emergency shelters in their districts. In February, 25 Investigates obtained state data showing the emergency assistance caseload nearly doubled from 3,618 families in December 2022 to 7,543 in December 2023. That included about 3,650 families staying in traditional shelters and 3,832 families staying at hotels at year end 2023. 25 Investigates: Thousands of local MA families among those in overwhelmed emergency shelter system This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Adele Graham, center, wife of U.S. Sen. and two-term Florida Gov. Bob Graham, arrives with her daughter Gwen, left, for a public celebration of life service for Bob Graham, Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Miami Lakes, Fla. About 200 people gathered for a memorial service at the Miami Lakes United Church of Christ for Graham who died last month at the age of 87. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) MIAMI LAKES, Fla. (AP) Family and friends remembered former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham on Saturday as a politician who usually avoided rancor, enjoyed meeting regular Floridians and always behaved civilly, even behind closed doors. About 200 people gathered for a memorial service at Miami Lakes United Church of Christ for the two-term governor and three-term senator, who died last month at 87. They were greeted with recorded music by fellow Floridian Jimmy Buffett, who died last year. The program featured a photo of Graham smiling in a tie, his suit coat thrown over his shoulder, his pant legs rolled up as he stood calf deep in Everglades muck. A painting of Graham stood on an easel at the front of the chapel, his wife of 65 years, Adele, dabbing her eyes as she sat in the first pew with their family. Robin Gibson, a lifelong friend who was Graham's general counsel as governor, said in his eulogy that Graham's friendly and civil public demeanor was not a charade he behaved that way even in important and stressful meetings. Graham, a Harvard University-educated lawyer whose family built Miami Lakes, was governor from 1979 to 1987. There was no macho profanity. There was no agenda. There was no pettiness. There was no gossip. It was, How do we get to make the best decision for the best reason? It was that simple, Gibson said. Two practices Graham was known for were his penchant for taking meticulous notes after many interactions and his workdays, where as both a governor and senator he would spend a shift at a different ordinary job each month. Buddy Shorstein, a longtime friend who became his chief of staff, said Graham looked forward to each workday shift, eager to learn what the average Floridian went through to make a living, He did more than 400, including teacher, bellhop, construction worker and farm laborer. After each, Graham would return to his office refreshed and rejuvenated," Shorstein said. The most important, consistent lesson he taught was good public policy makes good politics." Shorstein bristled at how some political reporters considered Graham's note-taking to be quirky, which he adamantly said his former boss was not. He wondered if that public perception played a part in Graham being passed over by Democratic presidential nominees Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton and Al Gore as their vice-presidential pick. Shorstein speculated that Gore would have won in 2000 if he had picked Graham because the race was decided by a 537-vote margin in Florida. That, he said, would have prevented the second Iraq war. Former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, the eldest of Graham's four daughters, joked about how she was a college student in Washington, D.C., in 1987 when her father was elected to the Senate. He became her roommate so her mother could stay in Florida as the youngest daughter finished high school. She said that one night she found her father in the kitchen stirring something that looked inedible in a pot. She asked him what it was. He replied proudly, Pumpkin. I spotted the empty can and offered to get him something more substantive and tasty for dinner. But he said, Nope, nope. This is great. That sums up Dad, so easy going. The pumpkin met his needs. Plus, it did not cost him a penny. Dad was notoriously frugal, she said, drawing laughs. But then she turned serious, saying her father was always her inspiration and role model. There has never been a day I havent been proud to be Bob Grahams daughter. __ Spencer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This week, Carmen Phillips, the former school office manager of Heritage High School on the Tulalip Reservation was charged with First Degree Sexual Misconduct with a minor. Heritage HS is in the Marysville School District. Phillips allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old male student last school year. The student reported the alleged sexual assault to the school resource officer on October 17, 2022. At the time the allegations were made, Phillips was placed on leave. She no longer works for the district. Phillips initially denied having any relationship with the student, but in September of 2023 pled guilty in Tulalip Tribal Court of Communication with a Minor for Immoral Purposes. In January she was sentenced to 60-days in jail. The new case is in Snohomish County Superior Court. According to court documents there are sexual images and text messages between the two. The court documents also say that Phillips admitted to certain sex acts with the teen in an October 2022 police interview. Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, speaks at a consultation session on promoting the high-quality development of population to underpin Chinese modernization in Beijing, capital of China, May 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Gao Jie) BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, held a consultation session on Saturday to discuss promoting the high-quality development of population to underpin Chinese modernization. Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, attended the session and delivered remarks. Emphasizing the importance of population matters for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, Wang said the CPPCC should provide insights on major issues related to the population's high-quality development to facilitate Chinese modernization. He called for strengthening theoretical support, research and substantiation, as well as practical effectiveness of consultation and deliberation, by applying Marxist Population Theory to analyze new population trends, characteristics and problems facing China. Nearly 100 CPPCC National Committee members joined the session. Officials from the Committee of Population, Resources and Environment of the CPPCC National Committee briefed on the research findings, while 23 political advisors and experts spoke. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also made remarks at the event. Editor's note: This is a developing story. George Fosdick, the former Ridgefield Park mayor who stepped down in 2020 after serving almost 30 years in office, died on Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 82. Fosdick served on the Board of Commissioners for 36 years, 28 of those as mayor. "At some point, you realize it's time to move on," Fosdick told NorthJersey.com when he retired in May 2020. "Whatever time I have left, I'd like to spend some more time with my family and friends." A post on the village's Facebook page said Fosdick's "passion for Ridgefield Park was boundless." Ridgefield Park Mayor George Fosdick He had a role in the development of Overpeck Park, the post said, and provided support for the Ridgefield Park Nature Preserve. In 2018, Fosdick advocated for a pedestrian bridge to be built over the New Jersey Turnpike to give residents access to Overpeck Park. "His vision shaped the very fabric of our town," the post said. Mauro Raguseo, the Little Ferry mayor, called Fosdick "a mayor's mayor," and a friend and mentor. "When I became mayor of Little Ferry 17 years ago, he gave me great advice and by example, showed me how to be a true public servant," Raguseo said. "And throughout the years I would continue to seek his opinion because I valued it so much." Fosdick was a volunteer firefighter with the Ridgefield Park Fire Department Truck Co. 2 for almost 60 years, was a Master Mason at Masonic Lodge No. 194 F&AM Ridgefield Park and an Eagle Scout. He was a history teacher in Ridgefield Park and was known as the village's historian. He also owned NJ Fire Equipment for 40 years. "George's booming voice and commanding public speaking were fixtures at countless town events, capturing the community's attention," the post said. "Many will fondly recall his weekly hosting of RPTV, complete with a beloved local trivia contest that not only showcased his passion for Ridgefield Park's history but also fostered a profound sense of unity among residents." Ridgefield Park Mayor George Fosdick speaks during the Gloria Jean Popp Memorial Walkway dedication ceremony in Ridgefield Park on Nov. 7, 2019. Raguseo mentioned his voice. "I always had the difficult task fo speaking after him in a program," Raguseo said. "His booming voice and his message usually with a history lesson always captivated his audience." The village's post praised Fosdick's dedication to Ridgefield Park, saying he showed what it meant to be part of a community and how important it was to get involved. The former mayor left "an indelible mark on the lives he touched," the post added. One of Fosdick's favorite activities was to walk through the village and talk with residents. "So many Little Ferry residents knew and respected George, and we all mourn his loss. But we also celebrate his extraordinary life and contributions," Raguseo said. "Our hearts go out to his beloved family and his extended family, the entire village for whom he dedicated so much of his life." Fosdick met his wife, Susan, on a blind date in 1967 at a fire department dance. They got married the next year, eventually having three children. Visitation will take place from 2 to 8 p.m. Monday at Vorhees-Ingwersen Funeral Home, 59 Main St., Ridgefield Park. This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Former Ridgefield Park mayor George Fosdick has died A man suspected of masterminding an elaborate intercontinental kidnapping and murder of his wife in Spain was denied bond in Miami federal court Friday by a judge who said his wealth and connections abroad made him a flight risk. Federal magistrate Edwin G. Torres called it a difficult decision in a case that was based on circumstantial evidence and in which no body has been found. Making it tougher, he said, was defense attorney Jayne Weintraubs argument that keeping David Knezevich locked up on a kidnapping charge was dubious because prosecutors didnt know where, or were even certain that a kidnapping occurred. The judge said his decision to keep Knezevich behind bars was based on given the means he has to flee and given the seriousness of the charge. Knezevich arrested after a return flight to Miami International Airport earlier this week and handcuffed at his lawyers side Friday hasnt yet been charged with the murder of Ana Knezevich, 40, his wife of 13 years. He is likely to be, if Spains National Police or the FBI recover his wifes body. David Knezevich FBI handout As of now, its not even known if shes dead. READ MORE: We miss her: Brother of Fort Lauderdale woman who vanished in Spain pleads for help Federal prosecutors believe Ana Knezevich was so frightened by her husband that the Fort Lauderdale couples relationship essentially ended when she boarded a flight for Madrid the day after Christmas. Once there, they say, she messaged friends and family of the troubled relationship and began to date several men. Disappears in February Ana Knezevich disappeared on Feb. 2 and all contact with friends and family ended. After worried relatives contacted Spanish and U.S. investigators about the woman, federal prosecutors pieced together David Knezevichs movements before and after his wifes disappearance and came up with a twisted flight log and a series of strange circumstances. First, they said, David Knezevich flew from Miami to Istanbul on Jan. 27, then made his way to Serbia, where he rented a Peugeot 308 for two weeks. During those two weeks, they said, Knezevich, who has ties to Serbia, drove the car 7,677 kilometers, or about 4,800 miles, about four times the distance from Belgrade, the Serbian capital, to Madrid. Buys paint, duct tape in Madrid Along the way, they claim, David Knezevich stole a license plate and was seen clearly on video surveillance buying paint and duct tape at a Madrid store while Ana Knezevich was in the city. Then, they said, video surveillance captured him entering and leaving his wifes Madrid apartment building while spray-painting a surveillance camera to block the view. Spains National Police claims to have matched the rare type of spray-paint believe purchased by David Knezevich to the store in Madrid where he was seen making the purchase. The worker there also told police he recalled seeing the man a few days before. At one point, investigators said, David Knezevich was seen with a suitcase on Feb. 2, entering and leaving the apartment building where Ana Knezevich was staying. What they havent said: If they believe David Knezevich killed, then stuffed his diminutive wife in the travel case. A federal complaint against David Knezevich also includes a series of messages between him and a Colombian woman that prosecutors claim is his girlfriend. During one exchange, he asked the woman to translate a message into perfect Colombian for a friend in Serbia writing a script. David Knezevich told the woman he wanted the writing to sound authentic, according to the complaint. Strange text to friends The day after Ana Knezevich, who is Colombian American, disappeared, three friends told investigators they received the same strange message from her: 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, was the message on Ana Knezevichs cellphone. Investigators have yet to recover her cellphone or any other electronics. Ana Knezevichs brother, Juan Felipe Henao, said Wednesday he last talked to his sister in late January, and she was excited about her new life in Spain. The couple did extremely well financially. State records show they managed a company named EOX Capital LLC, a Deerfield Beach home rental business with 15 homes in Florida valued at more than $15 million, according to court records. Court records also show that in December and January, David Knezevich sold seven of the homes to a single buyer for nearly $7 million. Court records show the couple had agreed to split their assets equally in a soon-to-be-filed divorce. The federal judge overseeing a pregnancy discrimination case against Donald Trumps 2016 campaign approved a bid by the ex-president and his team to switch to new legal counselbringing in a Maryland law firm where a top partner stands accused of bilking millions belonging to the nation of Somalia. Judge Katharine Parker signed off Wednesday on the replacement of the Trump camps old representation, LaRocca, Hornik, Greenberg, Kittredge, Carlin & McPartland, with a lawyer from the firm Schulman Bhattacharya, LLC. The previous defense team asked to abandon the ex-president and his former top advisers in the lawsuit earlier this month, citing an irreparable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship in the suit, which GOP operative Arlene A.J. Delgado first brought in 2019, alleging that campaign leadership stripped her of responsibilities after married adviser Jason Miller impregnated her. Parker initially rejected the law firms abdication, but ultimately allowed the campaign to swap in Schulman Bhattacharya, LLC, which did not respond to The Daily Beasts requests for comment. But while the firms attorney Jeffrey Gavenman will be defending Trump, Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, and Sean Spicer, one of the founding partners at his firm will be fighting to keep himself out of prison. In late 2020, the Department of Justice charged Jeremy Schulman, half the eponymous team behind the firm, with using forged documents to gain access to $12.5 million in Somali state assets that the East African nations central bank had ordered frozen amid the countrys incessant civil war. The feds allege that, beginning in 2009, Schulmanthen a shareholder in a different firm cooperating with prosecutorsand his co-conspirators used these falsified materials to persuade financial institutions and the New York State Comptroller that they could legally take possession of the nations sovereign investments as representatives for its transitional government. In the process, prosecutors say Schulman skimmed off $3.3 million in fees and expenses for his firm. Today, Schulman Bhattacharya LLCs webpage unabashedly touts Schulmans work for, in, and around Somalia. And Gavenman, the new Trump campaign attorney, ferociously defended his colleague and his firm in a court filing from Delgados allusions to the partners legal problems in an objection to the substitution. Plaintiff attempts to smear, by association, an entire law firm and the undersigned. This insinuation, based on mere allegations against one member of Schulman Bhattacharya, LLC, is unprofessional and borders on incredulous, Gavenman wrote in a letter to the judge. Notwithstanding what may come of the allegations in the indictment, Mr. Schulman is presumed innocent, and his immaculate professional reputation and record show such presumption is not only mandatory but well-earned. Gavenman additionally highlighted Schulmans latest bid to get the indictment dismissed based on claimed misconduct by prosecutors, who the partner alleges presented false and misleading testimony to the grand jury. Schulman has continued to practice law while under indictment. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Dora Moutot and Marguerite Stern say their country has been 'closing its ears to what's going on' - SKY NEWS France is failing to learn from Britains transgender mistakes, two French feminists who received support from JK Rowling after receiving death threats have told The Telegraph. Dora Moutot, 36, and Marguerite Stern, 33, have been thrust into the spotlight after releasing Transmania, their bestselling gender-critical book. It denounces what the pair call the greatest conceptional heist of the century by trans-affirmative activists, whose ideology is infiltrating every sphere of society and seeks to transform our relationship with reality. Making simple assertions such as women are Homo sapiens females and men are Homo sapiens males has become impossible without coming under attack or being censored, they wrote. After a first run of 15,000, its publisher has printed a further 20,000 copies. However, critics, including Pariss Socialist town hall, have branded the pair transphobic. Both strenuously deny the accusation. I think its a kind of anti-woke vote, a popular vote by certain people who saw the incredible censorship surrounding this book and bought it out of a spirit of resistance, Ms Moutot told The Telegraph. The book has been given a second print run, owing to demand This week Ms Rowling, the Harry Potter author, leapt to the authors defence after a group of protesters in the eastern city of Strasbourg called for Ms Moutot to go to the bottom of the Rhine. The pair remain defiant and have urged their compatriots not to put their heads in the sand. Its as if France were in a bubble, completely closing its ears to whats going on internationally, and the mistakes made in the UK, the countries of Northern Europe, Ms Moutot said. France is always behind the curve on Britain on such issues, she added. When Ive spoken to English people, theyve told me, In France, youre not going to fall for that. Well, in fact, its even worse here because we should know better. In the book, the reader is guided through the maze of transgender theory and practice by trans militant Robert, a fictional character who begins by telling his wife Chantal after 40 years of married life: I need to tell you. Im a woman. Ive always felt like a woman. Im trapped in a body that isnt mine. It notably details the recent landmark review in the UK by paediatric consultant Dr Hilary Cass, which warned that children who think they are transgender should not be rushed into treatment they may regret. The review called for the unhurried care of those under 25 who think they may be transgender, an end to the prescribing of powerful hormone drugs to under-18s and early help for primary school children who want to socially transition. Transmania also cites the Tavistock clinic controversy that prompted the report, asking: Why hasnt this health scandal been widely reported in France? There is an omerta for now, except that one day politicians will have to justify their choice to adhere to this ideology, Ms Moutot said, citing Nicola Sturgeon, Scotlands former first minister, who resigned last year amid controversy over her gender reforms. Rejected by the Left Among those turning a blind eye were many feminists and the Left, which, unlike in the UK tolerates, virtually no gender-critical dissenters, they said. Were branded Right or far-Right, but it is the Left that rejected us. We have to thank the Right for giving this issue the exposure it deserves and for taking the measure of considering it an important issue, Ms Stern said. She was referring to a draft law by the conservative Republicans party that aims to ban the medical transition of minors in France being treated for gender dysphoria. Critics argue the bill will bring back conversion therapy treatment intended to change someones sexual orientation outlawed in France since 2022. Beyond the Left, the authors accuse President Emmanuel Macron of paying lip-service to the trans debate. His womens rights minister, Aurore Berge, for example, received them warmly but has said she will not back the Republicans bill. It is a double discourse that may well come back to haunt him, Ms Stern said. Paying the price for speaking out Both women had long been feted as high-profile, Left-wing feminists. Ms Stern, a former militant with the Femen protest group, became the darling of womens rights for running a national awareness campaign over femicides, in which city walls were papered with the names of victims and the dates of their deaths. Ms Moutot, who has French-American nationality and studied fashion communication at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, was known for her Instagram account Tas joui (You came), which discussed sex feminism and boasted half a million followers. However, both authors say they were gradually cancelled and labelled transphobic for asserting that being a woman is a biological reality. Ms Moutot said she received messages telling me that I couldnt continue to use the word woman in my blog, that I had to say person with a vulva and that I had to include trans people in my discourse. And at that point I said, No, in fact my account doesnt talk about that. For me, being a woman is a biological reality. Thats where everything fell apart. Tran activists went to all the brands I was working with and they managed to get the contracts cancelled, one by one. Ms Stern said she was in talks over a documentary but when I started to take these positions, the discussions stopped, and I lost a lot in my personal life too. I lost some of my dearest friends. But I dont regret it because I dont think I could have done otherwise. I felt it was the right thing to do morally and ethically. Censored and criticised Down but not out, they decided to investigate the transgender universe in depth and write a book about their findings. While sales have surged, they say they have been censored by many French bookshops and attacked by Pariss Socialist town hall, which pressured the capitals billboard company JCDecaux to pull posters advertising the book. Sexual orientation and gender identity are not an ideology, said Pariss deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire, for whom the dissemination and promotion of such discourse runs counter to the values espoused by the city of Paris. Transphobia is a crime. Hatred of others has no place in our city. Paris must not be used as a platform for this intolerance. Ms Moutot denounced an act of censorship based on suppositions rather than on an analysis of the content, as well as an obscurantism that seeks to muzzle all critical thought. Our book is not transphobic, and in no way does it advocate hatred of others or of trans people, she added, describing it as a well-sourced investigation into certain players who push gender transitions and make money from them. Accused of inciting hatred The pair have been sued for incitement to hatred by two LBGT+ rights groups, including SOS Homophobie, which has received 350,000 in funding from Paris and has hijacked the struggle of women to submit to trans dogma, they assert. Ms Moutot has also been charged with incitement to anti-trans hatred after appearing on a chat show in 2022 beside Frances only trans local mayor, Marie Cau, who she refused to call a woman and instead described as a trans-feminine male. She faces a four-month suspended sentence. Ms Cau has likened the authors to Nazis. If Im found guilty, itll be the last straw, Im leaving France, said Ms Moutot, who added that the art of contradictory debate, once a source of Gallic pride, was in danger of dying out. Last Sunday, a group of leading French figures released a tribune slamming their work as hate-filled and promoted by the whole of the political far-Right. The books publishing agent, Diane Ouvry, is also press attache to hard-Right polemist and politician Eric Zemmour. Signatories included Left-wing parties, Nobel-prize-winning author Annie Ernaux and publisher Vanessa Springora, who penned Consent a landmark post #Metoo book on how she fell under the sway of French author Gabriel Matzneff as a child and had underage sex with him. Ms Moutot said it was ironic that Springora, a staunch defender of child protection, failed to see parallels with minors consenting to sex reassignment surgery, only to regret it later. Support from Rowling On Sunday, chants calling for Ms Moutot to be thrown into the Rhine in the Strasbourg protest one of several around France against transphobia were picked up on by Ms Rowling. As someone whose death has been demanded on placards for exactly the same reason (knowing woman isnt a feeling in a mans head), I send @doramoutot love and solidarity, she tweeted to her 14.1 million followers. I admire her for her courage. I agree with everything she says. She must have had a very comfortable life before, which is not at all the case now, said Ms Stern. She got the same treatment as we did. When we realised that an international figure like that was getting such a pummelling by the French media, with so little nuance, we knew what to expect. As someone whose death has been demanded on placards for exactly the same reason (knowing 'woman' isn't a feeling in a man's head), I send @doramoutot love and solidarity. (Btw, Strasbourg is the city of my maternal ancestors and has a long history of being overrun by despots). https://t.co/xdElMXiTmf J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 5, 2024 The pair faced even more direct threats on Monday when they turned up to give a talk on their book at Pantheon-Assas University, in Paris. Protected by 15 vans of riot police upon arrival at the university, the pair were branded Terfs (trans exclusionary radical feminists) by protesters chanting: A Terf, a bullet, social justice. I cant stay at home, they have my address and I have received death threats, so Ive moved out temporarily, Ms Moutot told the Telegraph. But the pair have no regrets over writing the book, which has struck a nerve. Ms Stern said: There are a lot of people out there today who feel that theres an issue with transgender ideology, but who find it hard to put words to it, who are really seeking information. Well be sending this book to ministers, MPs, people who have the power to change things. They will be warned. 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. From fraudster to divorcee to eunuch maker: The makings of mastermind behind human butchery enterprise Marius Gustavson, 46, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years (Met Police) A fraudster whose marriage broke down spiralled into a gruesome, lucrative addiction to extreme body modifications that has now ended in him being jailed for life. Marius Gustavson, who already had two previous fraud convictions in his native Norway, descended into a subculture centred around male castration, penis removal and other grisly procedures as he sought empowerment at the end of his 11-year marriage in 2016. Five years on, a court heard, the 46-year-old had become the mastermind of a large scale and extremely dangerous enterprise, involving the sharing of sick footage of amputations carried out in peoples homes as well as the trade of trophy body parts, some of which he stored in his freezer. A knife used by Damien Byrnes, 36, from Tottenham, to remove Gustavsons penis (Metropolitan Police/PA Wire) Gustavsons Eunuch Maker pay-per-view website was operating on an unprecedented scale, with a staggering 22,841 registered users, and raking in almost 300,000 between 2017 and 2021 the year he, the ringleader, and some of his acolytes were arrested, and the site shut down. At the Old Bailey on Thursday, Gustavson, of Haringey, north London, who had previously admitted charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years. Sentencing Gustavson and six other men who had admitted their part in the conspiracy, HHJ Mark Lucraft KC said their grisly and gruesome actions amounted to little more than human butchery in some cases, and concluded that all were motivated by a mix of sexual gratification as well as financial reward. Gustavson had not participated in any body modification before the end of his marriage, Rashvinderjeet Panesar, defending him, previously told the court. It had kept him stable, and its breakdown was a trigger for his extreme activities. Ashley Williams, 32, of Newport, Gwent, was jailed for four years and six months (Metropolitan Police/PA Wire) When it came to an end it sent him into a spiral, Mr Panesar said. He had a desire to be the architect of his own body. His modification led him to feelings of empowerment. It appears at face value to be something thats become an addiction for him. The lawyer said Gustavson had also been diagnosed with body identity integrity disorder, which accounted for his desire to have body parts removed. Extreme body modification is linked to a subculture where men become nullos, short for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed. Prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said Gustavson was linked to at least 29 procedures: There is also, we say, clear evidence of cannibalism. Peter Wates, 67, of Purley, Surrey, a retired former member of the Royal Society of Chemists, was sentenced to 12 years in prison (Metropolitan Police/PA Wire) According to court documents, body parts were put up for auction online with a buy it now button. Subscribers paid to access videos on the Eunuch Maker website, which operated in plain sight, not on the dark web, with varying levels of membership from free to VIP, which cost 100. Ms Carberry said the defendants employed a wide variety of tools such as clamps used for animal castration. The court heard Gustavson offered to sell the severed penis of one of his victims for hundreds of pounds. His arrest came after he used a red hot iron to brand a mans calf with the letters EM for Eunuch Maker. In a victim impact statement, the man who complained to police, described Gustavson as a lunatic who had put together a slick, professional website. There were 13 victims of the conspiracy overall, the youngest of whom was 16 years old. Stefan Scharf, 61, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four years and six months in jail (Metropolitan Police/PA Wire) The police investigation led to the arrest of 10 men in London, Scotland and South Wales. During raids, officers found Gustavsons penis in a drawer in his home four years after it had been amputated. Gustavson also had to have his leg amputated in February 2019 after getting a man to freeze it, and claimed 18,000 in disability payments up until 2021. Gustavson now wishes to return to his native Norway, where he believes his views are more likely to be accepted, Mr Panesar told the court. He had moved to the UK from Norway in 2012, having already been convicted twice of fraud offences. David Carruthers, 61, of Newport, Gwent, was jailed for 11 years (Metropolitan Police/PA Wire) Gustavson pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm, five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of making an indecent photograph of a child, one count of distributing an indecent photograph of a child and possession of criminal property contrary to Section 329(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The other six defendants had admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. Peter Wates, 67, of Purley, Surrey, a retired former member of the Royal Society of Chemists, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Janus Atkin, 38, of Newport, Gwent, who had been completing a veterinary course, was jailed for 12 years. Ion Ciucur, 30, of Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, was sentenced to five years and eight months (Metropolitan Police/PA Wire) Ion Ciucur, 30, of Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, received five years and eight months imprisonment, and Stefan Scharf, 61, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail. David Carruthers 61, and Ashley Williams, 32, of Newport, Gwent, were jailed for 11 years and four years, six months respectively. In January, three men were sentenced after admitting causing grievous bodily harm to Gustavson. Janus Atkin, 38, of Newport, Gwent, who had been completing a veterinary course, was jailed for 12 years (Metropolitan Police/PA Wire) Damien Byrnes, 36, from north London, was jailed for five years for removing Gustavsons penis with a kitchen knife on video at his home on 18 February 2017. Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 23, from Epsom in Surrey, was jailed for three years and eight months for freezing Gustavsons leg leading to the need for it to be amputated in February 2019. Nurse Nathan Arnold, 48, from South Kensington, west London, received a two-year suspended sentence for the partial removal of Gustavsons nipple with a scalpel in the summer of 2019. FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) A Fresno home is described as a total loss after a fire there Friday afternoon. Firefighters responded at around 3:20 p.m. to the scene in the area of Fowler and Dakota Avenues. When they arrived, crews saw large plumes of black smoke coming from the home. The fire ended up spreading to another structure, prompting a second fire. Both fires were quickly brought under control. These volunteers make sure Fresno firefighters stay cool Firefighters say they had to request additional assistance due to the heat. According to the Fresno Fire Department, there were power lines down in the middle fence of the property, causing a challenge for firefighters. Nobody was home at the time of the fire; the home is considered a total loss. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Friday evening the Natural State skies were lit up more beautifully than normal as the aurora borealis was visible as far south as El Dorado. The aurora borealis, more commonly known as the northern lights, are a natural light display that occur in the Earths high latitude areas close to the North and South poles. When certain space weather reaches our magnetic fields, it sends particles rushing to the poles, NOAA explains. When those particles interact with oxygen and nitrogen, they can create auroras. Arkansas Storm Team Blog: Northern Lights forecast how far south could the Aurora be seen? On Thursday, the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center issued a severe (G4) geomagnetic storm watch. This was the first time one has been issued since almost two decades ago, in 2005. The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center expects at least 5 Coronal Mass Ejections to occur Friday and into the weekend. A Coronal Mass Ejection, or CME, is when a large cloud of solar plasma is ejected from the sun. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK. Russian forces attacked Ukraine in eight areas of the front line over the past day, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on May 11. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed earlier reports on May 10 that Russia was carrying out new offensive operations in Kharkiv Oblast, opening another area of the front to heavy fighting. The General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces had repelled nine attacks in Kharkiv Oblast over the past day. The report indicated that the heaviest fighting took place in the Avdiivka area of the front, where Ukrainian forces repelled 24 attacks, followed by the Bakhmut section, where Ukrainian troops repelled 18 attacks. According to the General Staff's report, there were 104 combat engagements across the entire front line on May 10. More than 120 settlements in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Mykolaiv oblasts came under artillery fire, and Russia launched 108 air strikes, the General Staff said. Read also: Ukraine pins hopes on international pressure to conduct all-for-all prisoner exchange Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. General Staff: Russia has lost 481,030 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022 Russia has lost 481,030 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on May 11. This number includes 1,320 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day. According to the report, Russia has also lost 7,449 tanks, 14,353 armored fighting vehicles, 16,755 vehicles and fuel tanks, 12,442 artillery systems, 1,064 multiple launch rocket systems, 796 air defense systems, 349 airplanes, 325 helicopters, 9,868 drones, 26 ships and boats, and one submarine. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia launches new offensive targeting Kharkiv Oblast Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday expressed support for the UN Security Council (UNSC) to reconsider Palestine's application to join the world body. China's permanent representative to the UN Fu Cong emphasized the need for Palestine to be granted full UN membership in his address at the Tenth Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly. Fu highlighted that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been cyclical for decades, causing generations of Palestinians to "lose their home and live in displacement under occupation." He described the situation as a "wound of the world that is constantly ripped open and bleeding." Fu stressed that "independent statehood has been a long-cherished aspiration of the Palestinian people" and full UN membership is a crucial step in this historic process. He insisted that "Palestine should have the same status as Israel," and it is the international community's "common responsibility to support and advance the process of Palestine's independent statehood" to ensure the "implementation of the two-state solution and lasting peace in the Middle East." Reflecting on recent developments, Fu expressed regret that "Palestine's application for full UN membership was mercilessly vetoed by the United States in the Security Council on April 18." He criticized the United States for using its veto power to obstruct efforts to correct historical injustice against Palestine, stating that this is "not commensurate with the role of a responsible major country." The General Assembly's emergency special session adopted a resolution by an overwhelming majority, reaffirming the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, recognizing Palestine's qualification for full UN membership, and recommending that the Security Council reconsider its application. "China welcomes this historic resolution, which reflects the will of the international community," Fu said, noting that China co-sponsored the resolution and hoped that "the relevant country will not create further delays or hurdles." The resolution also includes provisions for Palestine's participation in UN activities, granting additional rights and privileges. Fu explained that these are "special modalities decided on for a lack of other options as a remedy for the historical injustice long endured by Palestine" and as a correction to the U.S. abuse of its veto power. He said that these modalities, adopted within the limits permitted by the UN Charter, will "enable the international community to listen more adequately to the voice of Palestine" and assist in facilitating dialogue and negotiations with Israel on a relatively equal footing. Fu emphasized that these arrangements are exceptional and not a precedent, expressing confidence that one day Palestine "will become a full UN member and enjoy full and equal rights in the UN like other member states." Fu concluded by addressing the ongoing conflict, identifying the lack of implementation of the two-state solution as the core issue. He urged Israel to "stop the collective punishment of the Gaza population," halt its military actions in Rafah, and remove all restrictions on humanitarian goods entering Gaza. In the West Bank, Fu called for an end to settlement activities and a reduction in settler violence. He reaffirmed China's commitment to playing a constructive role in achieving an immediate ceasefire, revitalizing the two-state solution, and promoting peaceful coexistence and lasting stability in the Middle East. The Georgia Republican Partys State Committee voted to remove the state partys First Vice Chairman , Brian K. Pritchard from his official position in the state GOP. Pritchard was previously asked to resign after a Georgia administrative judge found he had voted illegally nine times in Gilmer County. Party officials said Friday that he refused to resign, kicking off a 32-day process to formally remove him from his elected position within the Georgia GOP. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The vote occurred Friday evening, with the State committee voting 146 to 24 to remove him from office. Todays vote demonstrates how serious we take election integrity. We look forward to getting back to the business of the Georgia Republican Party next weekend at our state convention in Columbus, Josh McKoon Georgia Republican Party Chairman said in a statement after the vote. TRENDING STORIES: As previously reported by Channel 2 Action News, Pritchard was found to have voted illegally in the state multiple times while serving a felony sentence for check fraud from when he lived in Pennsylvania. State investigators were asked to investigate Pritchards votes in Gilmer County in 2021. The investigation found that he had voted without legal authority due to his felony sentence, though Pritchard maintained through the investigation that he believed he had served the sentence already. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks alongside Eva Quadbeck, editor-in-chief and head of the capital city editorial office of the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND), and Henry Lohmer (R), editor-in-chief of the Maerkische Allgemeine newspaper, at a talk round in the Orangery of the Biosphaere Potsdam. Carsten Koall/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned Israel against expanding its military operation in the Gaza Strip to include the southern city of Rafah. "We consider an offensive on Rafah ... to be irresponsible," Scholz said on Saturday at a talk show organized by the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) media group in Potsdam just outside Berlin. "We warn against this, and we do not believe that there is any concept that will ultimately lead to this happening without incredible human losses in terms of innocent civilians," he said. Scholz also emphasized that Israel had the right to defend itself and fight the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas. Humanitarian aid must also be brought to Gaza and there must be a perspective for peaceful coexistence in which two states can exist side by side, the German chancellor added. The Israeli army has called on the people in Rafah to leave further areas of the city, increasing concerns about an expansion of the military operation in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip. Israel's military action in the part of the sealed-off coastal strip bordering Egypt is highly controversial internationally. Until recently, more than 1 million people who had fled from other parts of the Gaza Strip were crowded together there seeking a refuge from the fighting. The United States, Israel's most important ally, is warning the country against a large-scale offensive. US President Joe Biden recently even threatened to restrict the supply of weapons. Scholz said that Germany does not have the weapons that the US is now considering not supplying. Maximilian Krah, lead candidate of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) for the European elections, speaks in front of a crucifix during an election campaign event in Holzkirchen. Stefan Puchner/dpa German legislator Maximilian Krah, the top candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in June's European elections, says he is set to return to the campaign trail despite being embroiled in a foreign influence scandal. German police arrested his former assistant Jian Guo on suspicion of espionage on April 22, and Krah fired him following the allegations that the parliamentary aide was spying for China. Krah himself is currently the subject of a preliminary investigation by German prosecutors into potential payments from Russia and China, and whether any payments might have influenced his work in the European Parliament. The second candidate on the party's election ticket, Petr Bystron, has also come under intense scrutiny for alleged links to pro-Russian networks. The AfD's lead contender Krah, who sits on the European Parliament's trade committee, again rejected the accusations during an event in the Bavarian market town of Holzkirchen on Saturday. "We are moving in the realm of speculation and defamation," he said, referring to the scandals. His parliamentary immunity had not been waived, Krah, whose European Parliament office was raided in connection with the probe into Jian Guo earlier this week, pointed out. After having cancelled several public appearances in recent weeks, Krah said he was set to attend campaign events throughout Germany again. Saturday's event was originally due to take place at a pub in the nearby town of Miesbach. However the landlord cancelled at short notice, citing threats and hostility over his plans to host an AfD event. An estimated 30 AfD supporters came to the new venue in a Holzkirchen pub, while around 20 people took part in a counter-rally on the opposite side of the street, which passed off peacefully. Maximilian Krah, lead candidate of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) for the European elections, speaks in front of a crucifix during an election campaign event in Holzkirchen. Stefan Puchner/dpa Maximilian Krah, lead candidate of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) for the European elections, gestures next to two women on the sidelines of an election campaign event in Holzkirchen. Stefan Puchner/dpa Some German lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties supported the idea of allies defending the airspace over western Ukraine from NATO territory, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported on May 11. FAZ wrote that some experts like Nico Lange from the Munich Security Conference or Lieutenant General Heinrich Brauss, a former NATO deputy secretary general, had suggested shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine's border regions from Poland and Romania. Polish officials have also mentioned the possibility, but no concrete decisions have been presented. "Defending the airspace over Ukraine from Poland and Romania should not be ruled out in the long term," said Anton Hofreiter from the co-ruling Green Party. The lawmaker nevertheless added that the matter is currently "not under discussion" as allies focus on supplying additional defense aid to Kyiv. Berlin has proven itself a leader in air defense support for Ukraine, launching an allied initiative aimed at securing additional air defense systems and pledging its third Patriot to Kyiv. Subscribe to Ukraine Daily newsletter News from Ukraine in your inbox Subscribe Agnieszka Brugger, Hofreiter's colleague from the Green Party, also said it would be correct to "station air defense systems at the borders of the neighboring countries so that the western parts of Ukraine can also be protected." Roderich Kiesewetter from the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) commented that Western countries could shoot down Russian unmanned aerial vehicles launched at Ukraine. "This would relieve the burden on the Ukrainian air defense and allow it to protect the front," Kiesewetter said, comparing it to when the U.S. and other Western countries protected Israel's airspace without becoming a party to the conflict. Marcus Faber from the ruling coalition's Free Democratic Party (FDP) also concurred that, in principle, the "airspace over the Ukrainian border regions" could be "protected by air defenses on NATO territory." Faber noted, however, that air defense systems and missiles are already in short supply, and long-term munition supplies must be ensured. "Under these conditions, I think it's possible," Faber added. Any form of involvement of Western forces in the Russo-Ukrainian war remains highly controversial. When French President Emmanuel Macron said that the deployment of Western troops should not be ruled out, several leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, emphatically rejected the option. Read also: Macron says he would consider sending troops to Ukraine in case of Russian breakthrough, Ukrainian request Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann has dismissed Islamist support for the caliphate as a form of rule as absurd, but does not necessarily consider it a judicial issue in Germany. His comments came ahead of an Islamist demonstration in Hamburg later on Saturday, called by the organization Muslim Interaktiv, and in the wake of controversy following a similar rally last month. "Purely expressing sympathy for a caliphate is something that I consider politically absurd," Buschmann told dpa. But, he said, Germany's Constitutional Court had found that as long as people simply express an absurd opinion - even one that runs counter to the country's Basic Law - this must be tolerated as part of the intellectual battle of opinions, so long as no efforts are made to overthrow the legal order or violate legal interests. A caliphate is a religious state under a spiritual leader, a caliph, who claims succession from the Muslim prophet Mohammed. There have been several historic examples in the Islamic world, but the most recent and controversial one was created by the terrorist organization Islamic State in large parts of Syria and Iraq. It was widely condemned, including by Muslim scholars. Buschmann said it would be different if a terrorist group or an extremist organization were to adopt a slogan such as "The caliphate is the solution." "We would then ban such an organization or take action against it if the relevant legal requirements were met," he said. "But that is not - or not yet - the case today." At the Hamburg rally last month, some people carried signs saying "Caliphate is the solution" and others gave speeches touting a caliphate as an answer to social problems in Islamic states. The protest sparked nationwide outrage in Germany and denunciations from leading politicians. After the rally, some campaigned for the law to be changed so anyone publicly calling for the establishment of a caliphate in Germany could be punished. The authorities have permitted Saturday's demonstration to go ahead but imposed a ban on inciting hatred or violence. Israel's right to exist may not be denied and Israeli flags may not be burnt or damaged, police said on Friday. The police are expecting around 1,000 participants at the demonstration being held under the motto "Against censorship and the dictatorship of opinion." Germany is a steadfast supporter of Israel and has been wrestling with how to handle demonstrations against the war in Gaza and support for people in Palestine. Israel has been fighting the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas in Gaza since Hamas militants and other extremist groups launched a bloody raid on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 and kidnapping around 240. Israel responded to the massacre with massive airstrikes and launched a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 35,000 people according to the Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza. Leaders around the world have become increasingly critical of Israel's devastating attacks on Gaza where famine looms, according to humanitarian organizatons and the United Nations. Buschmann said he took a different view of the slogan "From the river to the sea," which some have called out at pro-Palestinian rallies. The slogan is taken to mean that there should be a free Palestine in an area reaching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea - which includes the area where Israel is located. This was a slogan of Hamas, which is banned from operating in Germany, Buschmann said. Depending on the individual case, the use of the slogan could therefore constitute the use of propaganda by a banned organization - which is punishable by law. The members of the German Parliament from the Greens and Free Democrats parties, as well as the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, are in favour of deploying NATO countries air defence systems to protect Ukraines western regions. Source: German MPs in a comment for FAZ, a German media outlet, as reported by DW and European Pravda Details: Agnieszka Brugger from the Greens party, said she believes it would be best to "deploy air defence systems on the borders of countries [that border Ukraine] so that they could also protect Ukraines western regions." Anton Hofreiter, also from the Greens, said that the possibility that Ukraines airspace will be protected by systems located "on the territory of Poland and Romania should not be ruled out in the long run". Meanwhile, Free Democrats Marcus Faber said that the number of air defence systems and missiles is already limited, which is why he believes it is important to ensure there are enough of them in the long term. "Under those circumstances, I think it would be possible [to deploy Western air defence systems to protect the sky over Ukraine]," he said. Roderich Kiesewetter of the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party also spoke in favour of NATO forces shooting down Russian drones over Ukraine. "This will ease the burden on the Ukrainian air defence and allow it to protect the front," Kiesewetter said. He mentioned the example of Israel, which in April was assisted by the US, France and the UK to repel an aerial attack by Iran and its proxies. Kiesewetter said this showed that countries that provide assistance under such circumstances do not automatically become parties to the conflict. FAZ reported that the idea to shoot down Russian drones over the west of Ukraine with NATO air defence systems based in Romania and Poland was first put forward by Nico Lange, an expert at the Munich Security Conference, and Lieutenant General Horst-Heinrich Braus, former Assistant Secretary General of the Alliance. Background: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he did not understand why Ukraines NATO allies could intercept Iranian missiles and drones over Israel but could not do the same in Ukraine for fear of drawing NATO into the war with Russia. The White House has said that the US had no plans to take part in hostilities in Ukraine, which is why it will not shoot down Russian drones supplied by Iran in the skies over Ukraine the way they intercepted Iranian drones over Israel. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron also said that the UK will not help Ukraine shoot down Russian drones despite having helped Israel intercept Iranian drones. He said deploying NATO forces in this way might lead to an "escalation in terms of a wider European war". Support UP or become our patron! Activists gather at the protest camp on the fringes of protests against Tesla. After violent clashes at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, the police are preparing for further demonstrations on Saturday. Carsten Koall/dpa Activists protesting against an expansion of Tesla's electric car factory near Berlin said they want to warn of dangers to the environment, but also criticized other car manufacturers at a press conference on Saturday. "It doesn't matter if it's Tesla, VW or Mercedes - car companies and their political supporters are responsible for selling out our lifeblood," said the spokeswoman of the Disrupt Tesla group, Lucia Mende, ahead of a planned demonstration. "We must prevent this and we will prevent it," she added. A citizens' initiative in Grunheide, where US tech billionaire Elon Musk has built his only European Tesla factory, accused the US e-car company and the Brandenburg state government of not paying enough attention to the interests of the people in the region. "They are going through with it, they are not listening to the sensitivities of the local people," said spokesman Steffen Schorcht. "It only serves the interests of Tesla." He showed understanding for the protests. "If you're fighting and keep hitting a wall and don't know what else to do, then sometimes the only thing left is civil disobedience." Another alliance is centred on concerns about the water supply. "Tesla's luxury cars pollute and consume scarce drinking water worldwide," said spokeswoman Karolina Drzewo. She criticized the fact that a planned expansion of the plant was due to go ahead, although the majority of citizens had voted against it in a survey in Grunheide. The alliance is calling for a move away from "inefficient and climate-damaging individual transport." Tesla has been producing electric cars in Grunheide since 2022. The company has always rejected such accusations, claiming that water consumption has fallen and is below the industry average. The activists were planning to demonstrate against the Tesla plant in the afternoon. On Friday, activists had attempted to enter the site but police prevented them. Local police were braced for the further protest action on Saturday. "We are sensitized," said a police spokesman. The situation had been calm during the night and in the morning, he added. On Friday, there were repeated clashes between protesters and police officers as activists tried to enter the site. The police used pepper spray and batons. According to the police, several participants in the protests and 21 police officers were injured. Sixteen people were taken into custody. The Grunheide protests are directed against Tesla's planned expansion which is to include a freight depot and would require forest to be cleared, as well as criticizing the production of electric cars in general. Following the public consultation in Grunheide, in which a majority voted against the expansion, the municipality and Tesla signalled that less forest should be cleared. Activists have set up a protest camp near the car plant, occupying tree houses there since late February. The US carmaker had to stop production at the Grunheide factory for a few days in March after an arson attack on an electricity pylon. A left-wing extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack. Two officers of the mounted police are on the road with their horses on the Tesla factory premises. After violent clashes at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, the police are preparing for further demonstrations on Saturday. Patrick Pleul/dpa Several police vehicles are parked in front of the main entrance to the Tesla factory for safety reasons. After violent clashes at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, the police are preparing for further demonstrations on Saturday. Patrick Pleul/dpa Germany is considering introducing conscription for all 18-year-olds, as it looks to boost its troop numbers in the face of Russian military aggression. Military planners in Berlin are in the final stages of discussing three options, two of which involve a form of conscription, according to leaked plans reported in the German media. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is set to go public with the official plans by June. In one of the options being discussed, Germany would bring back a compulsory military year for young men once they turn 18, which was suspended in 2011, and apply it to women as well. This would require a change to the German constitution, but is seen inside the ministry as most likely to receive societal approval. Another option would only apply to 18-year-old men, but would not see everyone selected. They would be required to fill in an online form and could then be chosen for service, according to details leaked to Die Welt newspaper. This is seen by the defence ministry as a strong signal to both allies and rivals. The third option would avoid compulsory service, focusing instead on optimising the current system by engaging in more proactive recruitment campaigns. However, Mr Pistorious is believed to be against that route. During a trip to Washington this week, he said: Im convinced that Germany needs a form of military conscription. Mr Pistorius has stated his belief that his country needs to reintroduce conscription - FOCKE STRANGMANN/AFP Mr Pistorius, who polls regularly show to be the countrys most popular politician, has previously described the decision to suspend conscription as a mistake. Its possible reintroduction comes as Germanys ageing society means the number of soldiers heading into retirement is outstripping the number of new recruits joining up to replace them. Meanwhile, Berlin has also set a target of raising the size of its armed forces from some 180,000 today to more than 200,000. The defence ministry is believed to be sceptical that this target can be met without some form of conscription. Opposition within government Mr Pistorius is likely to face considerable resistance to his plans from inside the German government, however. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has previously voiced his opposition to such a move, while ministers from junior coalition partners the Free Democrats and the Greens have also stated they would oppose it. Nonetheless, momentum for reintroducing conscription is growing. At its party conference this week, the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), Germanys main opposition party, reversed its stance by voting for a motion to support the reintroduction of conscription in a step-by-step process. Mr Pistorius has signalled an openness to working across party lines, saying he was pleased that the CDU is on a similar path to the one I have been working on. 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. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giulianis (R) radio show on WABC Radio has been canceled and he was suspended by the station over claims he made about the 2020 election, according to a report from The New York Times. Were not going to talk about fallacies of the November 2020 election, WABC Radio owner and host John Catsimatidis said, according to the Times. We warned him once. We warned him twice. And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning that he refuses not to talk about it. So, Catsimatidis added, he left me no option. I suspended him. In a thread of his own posts on the social platform X Friday, Giuliani said that Catsimatidis and WABC fired me for refusing to comply with their overly broad directive stating Im, prohibited from engaging in conversations relating to the 2020 Presidential Election. This directive is a clear violation of free speech, Giuliani said in his thread. WABCs decision comes at a very suspicious time, just months before the 2024 election, and just as John (@JCats2013) and WABC continue to be pressured by Dominion Voting Systems and the Biden regimes lawyers. Giuliani has been a common spreader of false claims about fraud in the 2020 presidential election, for which he has faced financial consequences. He filed for bankruptcy at the end of last year shortly after a jury ordered him to pay $148 million to former Georgia election workers that he inaccurately alleged had committed fraud in the 2020 election. In a filing earlier this week, lawyers for the former New York City mayor said that he is struggling with finding someone to assist in accounting duties for his bankruptcy case. He has contacted a number of accounting firms for help, however, no one seems interested in taking the assignment. The Hill has reached out to WABC Radio. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The Louisiana State Capitol (Wesley Muller/Louisiana Illuminator) A boost to Louisianas state income projections will give lawmakers more money to spend over the next 14 months, even as the post-pandemic financial surge continues to taper off and a fiscal downturn edges ever closer. The states forecasting panel, called the Revenue Estimating Conference, increased its predictions for Louisianas tax and fee collections for the 2023-24 budget year that ends June 30 and the upcoming budget year that starts July 1. The adjustments will give the Louisiana Legislature $197 million more in state general fund money for this year and another $89 million in the upcoming 2024-25 year. The general fund contains the flexible, unearmarked dollars that lawmakers can spend on any area theyd like to prioritize. While those arent the kind of huge increases seen last term in the immediate recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak, the brightened financial picture should give lawmakers enough money to avoid backpedaling on education investments and other state priorities. With Thursdays forecasting action, legislators have $920 million in short-term cash they can spend on infrastructure projects, debt payments or other items or deposit into savings accounts for use in later years. That includes surplus money from last year, previous forecasting adjustments and state general fund dollars that agencies wont need because they found other funding sources or had fewer expenses than expected. In addition, dollars available for drawing up next years budget have grown larger. The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana hopes senators, who currently have control of the budget bills, prioritize early childhood education and coastal restoration work with some of the money newly available. They also should continue a focus on paying down debts, such as retirement debt, to lessen the fiscal cliff on the horizon when a temporary 0.45% state sales tax expires on July 1, 2025. Anything lawmakers can do now to shrink the shortfall will lessen the pain of next years budget negotiations. The House-crafted version of the budget cut $24 million from a program that provides quality child care and education for children from birth to age 3. House lawmakers used that money to instead pay for an increase in the K-12 public school financing formula sought by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for tutoring, student apprenticeship programs and targeted stipends for teachers in high-need areas. PAR would like senators to use the extra dollars available for next years budget to reverse that House-proposed cut to an early learning program that helps parents stay in the workforce and children become better prepared to enter school. Senators also will consider undoing a House reduction to public school teacher and support worker stipends. The Legislature provided $198 million for those stipends in the current school year, but the House proposed shrinking that amount to $166 million next year. Thats an unnecessary cut that could weaken teacher recruitment and retention. Meanwhile, Gov. Jeff Landrys administration is suggesting steering some of the new money available for next years budget to the Department of Children and Family Services to combat staffing shortages. For the short-term money available, PAR would like to see legislators allocate some of the new money to the states vital coastal restoration and protection work. A trust fund for those efforts currently has significant sums, with some additional dollars annually flowing into the account. But that money is nowhere near the amount needed to fulfill the states coastal master plan. A chart showing the state general fund balance since 2020 and projected through 2027 Lawmakers face a complication if they want to spend all the new money recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Office said lawmakers would need a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate to breach a constitutionally set cap limiting annual growth in government spending if they want to spend more than $86 million of the $197 million added to this years general fund forecast. Such a vote caused angry debate and legislative infighting last year and nearly kept the budget from being passed in the regular session. So far, the Landry administration and legislative leaders are showing little interest in breaching the cap, preferring to stockpile some of the largesse for lawmakers to spend in future years when they face tighter budgets. Following PARs recommendation, they could steer dollars to the coastal fund for use in later years without exceeding the spending limit. If lawmakers decide to set aside money in various accounts for the future, they should only withdraw the cash later to pay for one-time expenses not to fill gaps in ongoing programs and services. Its never advisable to pay for recurring expenses with short-term dollars because that simply continues the budget problems rather than fixing them. The expenditure limit, however, wont cause problems for using the $89 million in general fund money newly recognized for the budget that begins July 1 because lawmakers have more wiggle room under the cap next year. The four-member estimating conference increased this years forecast because the state is collecting more than expected from corporate, personal income, sales and severance taxes and from interest earnings on sizable sums Louisiana has locked up in savings accounts. Next years forecast increase was driven largely by those better-than-expected interest earnings. The conference bumped up its projections by even larger amounts than the state general fund numbers suggest, but much of the money is earmarked to trust funds and dedications. For example, the $2.3 billion Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund, created to lessen Louisianas reliance on volatile tax collections tied to corporate activity and oil and gas drilling, is projected to get another $1.1 billion in deposits over the next 14 months. As lawmakers decide how to use all the newly recognized money, PAR urges the House and Senate to keep their focus on priorities that will improve the long-term trajectory of the state while acknowledging the fiscal headwinds they will soon face. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Good times keep rolling for the state treasury for one last year appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator. Palestinian children evacuated from Rafah are seen on a beach in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on May 10, 2024. Around 110,000 people have fled Rafah in search of safety as Israeli bombardment intensifies in the city, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on social media on Friday. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua) A drone photo taken on May 10, 2024 shows the construction site of the Lami River bridge along the Guiyang-Pingtang expressway in southwest China's Guizhou Province. The bridge, with a total length of 206 meters, saw its arch ribs closed on Friday. (Xinhua/Tao Liang) An aerial drone photo taken on May 9, 2024 shows a night view along the Weihe River in Baoji, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Located at the foot of the Qinling Mountains and along the Weihe River, Baoji of northwest China's Shaanxi Province has continued to make efforts to create a livable urban environment. In recent years, a total of 36 small city parks have been built, providing citizens with activity space for leisure and sports, and improving the ecological environment of the city as well. (Xinhua/Shao Rui) Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, addresses the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 10, 2024. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday adopted a resolution supporting the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending that the Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) Wang Manyu (L)/Chen Meng of China react during the awarding ceremony after the women's doubles final at WTT Saudi Smash 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 10, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Haizhou) This photo taken with a mobile phone shows the site where a bus fell off a bridge into a river in St. Petersburg, Russia, May 10, 2024. The number of fatalities as a result of a passenger bus falling into a river in St. Petersburg has increased to seven, the Russian Investigative Committee press office said Friday night. (Xinhua/An Xiaomeng) A coffee exhibitor shows coffee products during the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) in Africa (Kenya) 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya, May 9, 2024. The CAETE in Africa (Kenya) 2024 kicked off on Thursday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi as trade and investment between the two sides continue to expand. The event in Kenya attracted a high-level delegation from central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Li Yahui) SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) At Goodfellow Air Force Base today a special signing celebration for Concho Valley students planning careers in the US military. For the second year on base, goodfellow commanders held a Signing Day event. Its to celebrate high school seniors whove made commitments to enlist in a branch of the u-s Military Service Academy or college with R-O-T-C scholarships. Today about a dozen seniors from across the Concho Valley. Master sergeant retired Leroy Petry Medal of Honor recipient says, I was very fortunate I had a great drill sergeant when I was going in, I had great leadership throughout my military career. They taught me how to be successful at being a leader. Leadership is one of the greatest things you can possess from the military or society in general. Kristin Donaldson school liaison program manager for GAFB says, Wherever theyre going no matter what service we want them to know that were supporting them and that they are walking into a family, a military family. Each graduating high school senior today received a certificate And stole to wear during high school graduation ceremonies. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ConchoValleyHomepage.com. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., speaks during a press conference on border security at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Thursday, December 7, 2023. Britt on Friday announced she was co-sponsoring a bill that would boost resources for pregnant women but that critics argue would create a database for the government to monitor them. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI May 10 (UPI) -- A group of Republican senators on Friday introduced legislation aimed to steer women away from abortion by boosting access to resources for pregnant women. Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., are co-sponsors of the More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed Act, which would provide support for women during prenatal, postpartum and early childhood development, according to a statement on Britt's website. "As a mom, I know firsthand that there is no greater blessing in life than our children and understand the types of challenges that women face during their pregnancy journeys and while raising their kids," Britt said in a statement. "This legislation is further evidence that you can absolutely be pro-life, pro-woman, and pro-family at the same time." The MOMS Act would establish a grant program for nonprofits to support women in carrying their pregnancies to term and caring for their children after birth, according to Britt. It also would institute a grant program to purchase medical equipment and technology for pre- and post-natal telehealth to serve rural and otherwise medically underserved areas. "Being pro-life means being pro-mother. We need to work towards passing legislation that helps mothers before, during, and after pregnancy," Rubio said in a statement. The bill also proposes the establishment of Pregnancy.gov, which the bill's sponsors said is a "federal clearinghouse of resources available to expecting and postpartum moms, as well as those with young children." Opponents to the bill, however, see it as a database to collect data on pregnant women. The website would direct women to "pregnancy resource centers" that have been criticized as fake clinics that use deception and coercion to try to pressure women out of seeking an abortion. In Britt's state of Alabama, the state supreme court caused an administrative cataclysm for in vitro fertilization clinics in February when it ruled that frozen fetuses count as human children. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey in March signed legislation to protect providers of in vitro fertilization from civil and criminal liability, but only after every IVF clinic in the state suspended operations over fear of legal repercussions. More than a third of Alabama's 67 counties have no access to birthing or maternity care facilities, according to Britt's website. Three Alabama hospitals last year closed their labor and delivery departments. After the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe vs. Wade, Alabama enforced a near total abortion ban with criminal and civil penalties. Gov. DeSantis and first lady visit Panama City Beach to help nonprofits Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a press conference about the "Hope Florida Fund" on May 9 at Beachside Fellowship Miracle Center in Panama City Beach. He was accompanied by his wife, Casey, and their children. Casey DeSantis, the first lady of Florida, speaks on May 9 during a press conference about the "Hope Florida Fund." An attendee records Casey DeSantis on May 9 during a press conference about the "Hope Florida Fund" at Beachside Fellowship Miracle Center in Panama City Beach. During an event on May 9 in Panama City Beach, Gov. Ron DeSantis and first lady Casey DeSantis discussed the state's Hope Florida Initiative and announced the awarding of $20,000 each to the following Panhandle nonprofits: St. Andrew Christian Care Center, Food for Thought Outreach, A Bed 4 Me Foundation, Caring & Sharing of South Walton, BeGenerous and Vision of Hope, according to a news release from the governor's office. Another $20,000 was granted to First Baptist Church of Pensacola, described in the release as "one of the top five needs-meeting Hope Florida CarePortal churches in Florida." "Hope Florida funding awards are made possible by the generosity of the Florida private sector," the release says. "Hope Florida utilizes Hope Navigators to guide Floridians on an individualized path to prosperity and economic independence by focusing on community collaboration between the private sector, faith-based communities, nonprofits, and government entities." This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Hope Florida Initiative is topic of Gov. Ron DeSantis and Casey DeSantis visit Gov. Kathy Hochuls cannabis agency ripped as offices head is ousted over confusion, difficulties, and delays: damning report This is some blunt criticism. The top leader at the states Office of Cannabis Management is being ousted as a damning internal report from the Hochul administration has ripped the agency to shreds. The report found that the office was staffed with inexperienced leadership, lacked a transparent process for licensing new dispensaries and had virtually no customer service for licensees. Hochul promised to overhaul the states cannabis regulator after a blistering report found massive disfunction in the agency. Office of Governor Kathy Hochul/Flickr It has struggled to make the transition to a mature regulatory agency, says the report, which was produced by Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy, and obtained by the Post before being released publicly Friday. The report highlighted implementation challenges that resulted in confusion, difficulties, and delays for well-intentioned line staff as well as applicants. In the wake of the damning study, Hochul confirmed Friday that OCM Director Chris Alexander will not be reappointed after his term is up in September, saying that he plans to pursue other opportunities. Alexanders exit comes after the licensing process for shops, processors and growers was continuously hampered by an onslaught of legal challenges and missteps, including a proliferation of gray-market shops flooding the state. The offices Chief Equity Officer Damian Fagon is also still on administrative leave pending an ongoing internal investigation that he retaliated against a Hudson Valley cannabis processor who was vocally critical of OCM. Hochul acknowledged that the investigation is ongoing, but would not confirm any separate actions being taken to remove Fagon. Chris Alexander, OCMs first executive director, will not be reappointed when his term runs out in September, Hochul confirmed. Paul Martinka The new report blasted OCMs leadership for not focusing on its core responsibility of issuing licenses for the budding legal cannabis market. And it said many officials in the organization had little knowledge of the market. The majority of OCMs most senior leadership has relatively limited experience in leading regulatory entities, and the agency has experienced significant turnover in executive roles, the report reads. OCM lacks a suitable internal mechanism to track applications and even the agencys staff are confused by the complicated hoops a potential licensee has to jump through leading the office to have little credibility. This lack of transparency contributes to deep public mistrust, applicant frustration, and an inability to easily dispel concerns of potential impropriety, and confusion about the process, the report reads. Applicants are also dont have clear ways to communicate with OCM. This differs from other states, such as New Jersey, where pot sellers are assigned a single person at the agency to handle their paperwork. OCM currently goes out of its way to conceal staffers phone numbers, forcing applicants to direct all their inquiries through a hellish bureaucratic black box thats monitored by entry level staffers who relay messages. The rollout of New Yorks cannabis market has been dogged by bureaucratic dysfunction and other delays like lawsuits over the last three years. REUTERS Despite the past mistakes laid out in the report, Hochul tried to put the focus on the future Friday. Today is not about pointing fingers, its about pointing [the Office of Cannabis Management] in the right direction, Hochul said at a quickly arranged briefing in the mostly empty capitol. Hochul has committed to what she deems an overhaul of OCM, including clearing licensing bottlenecks, implementing customer service in the application process, and beefing up staff within the agencys regulatory arm. Critics say Hochul is deflecting blame after not taking a more active hand in the agency until this point. Office of Governmental Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy led the investigation into OCM. Governor Kathy Hochul/YouTube I believe Chris [Alexander] is being made out into a fall guy, after Hochul tried to make Andrew Cuomo the fall guy, this after she tried to make the legislature the fall guy, Aaron Ghitelman, OCMs former deputy communications director opined to the Post. Sooner or later shes going to have to run out of fall guys, he added. Alexander didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Ghitelman who also touted the successes of OCM, such as ramping up the number Black-owned dispensaries was disappointed to see Hochul frame the sectors rollout as a complete disaster. I dont see this as being in service to the licensees and applicants who make up this market, he said. State Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), who sponsored the legislation creating the new legal cannabis market in New York, told the Post much of this could have been avoided. I wish the governor had asked for the review a year ago, since I know that OCM leadership was begging for more staff and guidance and was ignored, she added. Gov. Stitt on why he signed controversial immigration bill: 'We have to be a law and order state' "It was a path too far," said Gov. Kevin Stitt, explaining why he vetoed a strongly supported domestic violence bill. And, "we have to be a law and order state," he said as to why he signed another bill opposed by the Latino community, some law enforcement officials and others. Both topics were addressed Friday at the weekly news conference Stitt holds most weeks the Legislature is in session. The session will wrap up at the end of the month. Senate Bill 1470, known as the Oklahoma Survivors Act, which Stitt vetoed, would change how criminal courts weigh domestic violence during sentencing. If defendants experienced abuse, that could be considered as a mitigating factor. But even though Stitt said "we're absolutely for protecting domestic violence victims ... it was a path too far." More: Five takeaways from Gov. Kevin Stitt's Friday press conference For example, you could have your fourth DUI going the wrong way on 35 and kill a man, a wife and two of their kids, and then you could have brought up some psychological trauma from their childhood that was totally unrelated to that specific crime, he said. Thats what the current bill did and thats why I vetoed it. He noted the bill had been opposed by the state's district attorneys. Supporters of the bill said it was a step in the right direction for advocates of incarcerated people following acts of self-defense against their abusers. The Senate overrode the veto 46-1, but the House has not acted. A better bill, Stitt said, is on the way under the guidance of Rep. Jon Echols, R-OKC, the House floor leader. The governor said Echols was "working with some criminal justice folks to specifically help those domestic violence victims." Gov. Kevin Stitt explains why he signed HB 4156, the controversial immigration bill The governor also addressed the controversial House Bill 4156, which targets undocumented people in Oklahoma and would allow state law enforcement officials to arrest and remove those they determine are in the country without proper legal authority. Stitt said most of the bills intent is to put pressure on the Biden administration and put more tools in law enforcements toolbelts. Stitt signed the bill into law after it passed the House and Senate by wide margins, but critics said border enforcement was the federal government's job and the law could lead to racial profiling. Earlier in the week, Oklahoma City Police Chief Wade Gourley told a local television station his department was "pretty much caught off guard" by passage of the bill and unclear about expectations as to how the law should be enforced. Stitt said the Oklahoma Highway Patrol had issued statements "trying to alleviate fear. They're not going door to door, rounding people up." But, he said, "They are trying to slow the flow coming into the state of Oklahoma. They are trying to make sure we're a law and order state." Stitt noted as part of signing the bill he had created the Oklahoma State Work Permits and Visas Task Force to figure out how to match up the state's workforce with employers who need more workers. There's a great Hispanic population, and there's hard-working people that are paying taxes that are trying to get a documentation status and the court systems are just failing them quite frankly, he said. In response to Stitts approval of the bill, the Latino Caucus announced changes to their annual Hispanic Cultural Day at the Capitol. A day usually full of advocacy, visual art exhibits, food tastings, folkloric dancing, exhibitor booths and visits from foreign dignitaries will now include a large rally, organized advocacy and some cultural celebrations. This change in format is a direct result of the frustrations of folks not only in the Latino community," said Sen. Michael Brooks, D-OKC. "That is why I am proud to announce that we have invited the Oklahoma Asian, Native American and Middle Eastern communities to stand with us, as well as many faith leaders and law enforcement professionals from across the state. Everyone is welcome at our table." The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 15 at the state Capitol. Admission is free and no ID is required for entry into the building. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Gov. Stitt talks border security, domestic violence at Capitol Rishi Sunak's controversial Safety of Rwanda Act aims to facilitate the removal of many who have arrived on boats - Chris J Ratcliffe/REUTERS The Government has admitted that removing asylum seekers to Rwanda could put the UK in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The admission that the UK could be in breach of international law has come in submissions in response to a legal challenge by the FDA union, which represents top civil servants. Ministers have previously maintained that they would not be breaking international law if they were to ignore rule 39 orders issued by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), one of which blocked the first flight to Rwanda in June 2022. This is because they have enshrined the power for ministers to ignore rule 39 orders in legislation through Rishi Sunaks controversial Safety of Rwanda Act. Civil servants have been instructed in guidance that they should obey ministers but the FDA is challenging this because it claims this would be a breach of the Civil Service code which requires officials to act in accordance with international law. In a submission to the court, the Government has admitted that failure to comply with a rule 39 injunction could breach article 34 of the ECHR. Rishi Sunak aims to get the first flights off to Rwanda as early as June 24 - TOBY MELVILLE/AFP This allows individual applications to the ECtHR by people who allege there have been violations of their human rights. Article 34 says that high contracting parties which means states, including the United Kingdom undertake not to hinder in any way the effective exercise of this right. Whether it is a potential breach of international law and so places civil servants in breach of the civil service code will be determined by the High Court at a hearing of the FDAs challenge at the beginning of next month. If the union is successful with its legal challenge, it could see the Government ordered to remove the conflict between civil servants duty under the Civil Service Code and the potential breach of international law. This could require the Government to hold a parliamentary vote to either specify in law that the UK will ignore the injunctions rather than simply giving ministers the power to do so or to amend the Civil Service Code to remove officials obligations to comply with the law. Fresh divisions Such votes could open up fresh divisions between Tory moderates, who believe it would be a step too far to enshrine a requirement to breach international law legislation, and Right-wing MPs, who would back a strengthening of the legislation. This could lead to further delays in Rishi Sunaks ambition to get the first flights off to Rwanda as early as June 24. He has made clear that he will not allow a foreign court to block the Rwanda scheme. The case is being heard by Mr Justice Martin Chamberlain who disclosed the Governments admission after receiving a letter from the Governments lawyers setting out ministers position. The lawyers argued that the FDA claim was hypothetical on the basis that any migrants appealing their deportation would have to exhaust all avenues in UK domestic courts before submitting any claim to Strasbourg judges. Reforms Ministers believe that reforms of the rule 39 process after lobbying the court will make it harder for Strasbourg to injunct the flights for a second time. The threshold for an injunction to be granted has been raised. However, Mr Justice Chamberlain said the Government lawyers had acknowledged the issue raised by the FDA would crystallise if an injunction was issued and a ministerial decision is taken not to comply with that measure in circumstances where that constitutes a breach of article 34 of the ECHR. Legal experts say it is not clear whether the Government is accepting that all or just some decisions not to comply with interim measures would breach article 34. In summing up the case, Mr Justice Chamberlain indicated that the prospect of a rule 39 order being issued was not hypothetical. Rwanda removals The Judge said: It would not be right to say anything about the merits of the claim at this stage. However, it appears from the claim that some civil servants believe (or have been advised) that it would be contrary to their terms and conditions to comply with a ministerial decision to proceed with Rwanda removals in the face of a rule 39 measure. The prospect that they will be asked to act contrary to a rule 39 measure, whilst far from certain, is also not hypothetical, given the Governments public statements on this subject. That being so, there is a powerful public interest in the determination of this claim in advance of the point when any rule 39 measure might be indicated. 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. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A Portland high school is putting their foot down on cell phone use in the classroom, leaving many of its students frustrated. Grant High School recently sent a letter to parents detailing a new policy for the campus. Every student will be required to secure their phone and smartwatch in a personally assigned pouch when they arrive at school. They will not be allowed to have access to it until the end of the day. Portland Water Bureau finds disease-causing microorganism in drinking water source School leaders say they made the decision to restrict cell phones because their use has become a source of distraction, disruption and disrespect in the classroom. The letter sent to families shared the following: While we believe that phones have great utility, we have found that learning and social behavior improve significantly when students are fully engaged with their teachers and classmates. This new Grant High School policy will require every student to secure their phone and smartwatch in a personally assigned lockable Yondr pouch upon arrival at school. At the end of their school day, students will have access to unlocking stations to open the pouches. Students are responsible for bringing their assigned Yondr pouch to and from school each day. However, students dont feel this is the most effective plan I understand the principle and why its happening, but I dont think this is the right way to achieve the goal, freshman Ezra Falk said. The rule will not go into effect until next year, and there will be exceptions to the policy based on specific medical needs. According to the National Center for Education, nearly 77% of U.S. schools ban cell phones. Portland Water Bureau finds disease-causing microorganism in drinking water source Teachers say phone restrictions promote socialization, but some students at Grant High say they dont use their phones in class anyway. I dont use my phone in class unless the teacher meeting, freshman Ezana Wolday said. We have to use it for an assignment or something. In fact, freshman Yael Siegel said it could be a security issue. In an emergency, itll be really hard to get everyone to be able to unlock their phones quickly enough and to be able to contact their parents, Siegel said. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com. Simba, a male African lion residing at the Detroit Zoo, will be transferred to the Great Plains Zoo's newly built lion habitat "in the near future," the zoos announced Thursday. The King of Pride Rock will soon call the Queen City his new home. Great Plains Zoo announced Thursday it plans to house Simba, a male African lion who has lived at the Detroit Zoo for more than a decade, at its state-of-the-art lion habitat. The transfer, which is expected to take place "in the near future," according to Great Plains Zoo, is thanks to a partnership between The Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the two zoos. "He'll arrive at our zoo to begin acclimating to his new surroundings and care team," Great Plains Zoo staff wrote in a Thursday Facebook post. "This is a process that cannot be rushed, as the wellbeing, safety, and comfort of our animals is our top priority." Simba, once owned by the royal family of Qatar, first arrived at the Detroit Zoo in October 2012, according to The Detroit News. The AZA recommended the move to support the sustainability of a healthy, genetically diverse and demographically varied lion population in zoos. According to the World Wildlife Fund, African lions, though not currently endangered, are considered "vulnerable" to extinction, with only an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 wild lions left in the wild. The Great Plains Zoo is also working with AZA to bring a recommended female lion to the zoo as a potential mate for Simba. "We look forward to introducing you to these incredible cats when the new habitat opens this summer - with plenty of space to grow our pride!" Great Plains Zoo staff stated. Great Plains Zoo's lion habitat is set to open this summer. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Great Plains Zoo to welcome Detroit Zoo's Simba the lion WASHINGTON - When former president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump claims that the judicial system wants to put him in jail, he's not just protesting the ongoing hush money trial. Trump is also bracing voters for the possibility of a guilty verdict. At political rallies, on social media, and to reporters gathered at the courthouse in New York, Trump's attacks on the trial are designed in part to persuade voters to disregard a bad verdict, according to aides, legal analysts, and a review of his remarks. "The New York judicial system has been absolutely abused," Trump told reporters Friday. "The whole world is watching." Trump is accused of improperly influencing the 2016 presidential election by paying hush money to women, seeking to keep them from publicizing sexual liaisons. He has pleaded not guilty. Trump targets moderate voters Trump has not explicitly said he expects a guilty verdict, and occasionally expresses public optimism about the outcome of the trial. "Many good things are going on in the case," the former said Thursday. But he has spent much more time claiming political bias by the judge, prosecutors and the jury pool, and argues without evidence that his political opponents will do anything to put him behind bars. Trump and supporters have also predicted that a guilty verdict would be reversed on appeal, a step that would not be necessary if he is acquitted or if there is a hung jury. Legal experts said Trump has little choice but to brace for a guilty verdict, given how it might affect his campaign against President Joe Biden. In claiming the trial is unfair, Trump's targets include moderate and independent voters who have long been skeptical of his behavior. "His base will believe everything he says," said Bradley P. Moss, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who specializes in government transparency issues. "The question is independents." GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN - APRIL 02: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event on April 02, 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Trump delivered a speech which his campaign has called "Biden's Border Bloodbath", as recent polls have shown that immigration and the situation at the U.S. Southern border continue to be top issues on voters' minds going into the November election. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Trump appeals to New Jersey Trump's latest effort to brace supporters for bad legal news comes Saturday at a campaign rally in Wildwood, N.J. This will be Trump's first campaign rally since a May 1 airport event in Freeland, Mich., where he went on at length about his legal concerns. While discussing the ongoing New York trial, Trump said "we haven't had a decision here, but the decision here can probably only be one thing, I guess ... 'cause ... this whole thing - it's a rigged deal; it's a rigged deal." Trump also equated the hush money trial to the major civil cases he has lost, one over bank loan fraud and two others regarding defamation and sexual abuse of writer E. Jean Carroll. Altogether, civil courts have ordered Trump to pay more than $500 million in damages. "Hopefully, we'll win all of that stuff easily on appeal," Trump said at one point in Michigan. 'Orchestrating Trump's conviction' Trump is also trying to discount the New York verdict by citing legal analysts who agree with his criticisms of the case. Some of them say they believe Trump is bound for a guilty verdict because of the way the trial is being conducted by New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan. In a Truth Social post on May 5, Trump cited comments by former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy that described "how Judge Merchan is orchestrating Trump's conviction." Trump also attacks the gag order against him, describing it as an attempt to fix the case. Merchan has found Trump in violation of the gag order ten items over attacks on witnesses and court personnel. In reading out criticisms of the case on Friday, Trump said he has to be careful because of the gag order: "If I mention the wrong word, they'll come out here and they'll take me out to jail some place, because that's the way it is with this judge - he wants to show how tough he is." In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, stacks of boxes can be observed in a bathroom and shower in The Mar-a-Lago Clubs Lake Room at former U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on 37 felony counts in the special counsel's classified documents probe. Rerun: Trump previously warned of indictments The political world has seen this kind of courtroom drama previously, back before Trump was first indicted. In late 2022 and early 2023, Trump braced supporters for the likelihood of indictments, and sought to taint them ahead of time by decrying the investigations as politically motivated. In June of 2023, three months after the hush money indictment, Trump told a Republican group in New Hampshire that "there could be others coming," and described them as "election interference." Trump wound up under indictment in four separate criminal cases. In addition to the New York hush money case, the former president faces trial in South Florida on charges of mishandling classified information, and two cases in Washington, D.C., and Georgia on federal and state charges respectively of trying to steal the 2020 election from Biden. Trump is seeking to delay the latter three trials to beyond Election Day on Nov. 5. He may succeed, leaving the New York case as his only trial during the election campaign. Politically, the indictments may have helped Trump, at least with hardcore Republican voters who fueled his drive toward the 2024 presidential nomination. Polls and primaries also reflected skepticism of Trump from moderate and independent voters, some of whom continued to support former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley even after she dropped out of the race. Stormy Daniels leaves Manhattan Criminal Court after testifying at former US President Donald Trump's trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, in New York City, on May 9, 2024. Adult film actress Daniels returned to the witness stand on Thursday at Trump's hush money trial for another round of grilling by attorneys for the former president. Political impact In the meantime, Trump is preparing for an actual verdict in the New York case - and a political impact that is unknowable. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University who is often cited by Trump, said the former president's complaints about a "weaponized justice system" are legitimate. Even if Trump is convicted, Turley said, he has a good chance to have the case reversed on appeal because "the entire case is becoming a dumpster fire." Turley also said "no one would bet on an acquittal from a New York jury on Trump," but it's possible that jurors will deadlock and be unable to render any verdict. Trump could legitimately celebrate a hung jury as a victory, he said. Whatever the merits of the case, Moss said Trump has been treated fairly by the justice system. For example, Moss said that any other defendant would be in jail now for violating gag orders the way Trump has. "If anything," he said, "he's been handled with kid gloves." Moss also said that, while Trump's base will stick with him no matter what, it's hard to see how a guilty verdict would help him. "I don't see anything good coming out of this for Trump," Moss said. "The question is how much damage it does." Contributing: Bart Jansen This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: If Trump is found guilty, then what? He's bracing voters for the worst GAZA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said that the new evacuation order by the Israeli army on Saturday has affected some 300,000 people in the Gaza Strip. "We're extremely concerned these evacuation orders have come both towards central Rafah and Jabalia in northern Gaza," the agency said on social media platform X, mentioning that around 150,000 people have fled Rafah so far since Monday in search of safety, while there is no safe place in the enclave. Earlier in the day, the Israeli army ordered further evacuation of Rafah, citing upcoming military operations targeting Hamas militants in those areas. The UNRWA noted that "all decisions have a real impact on people here on the ground, especially children," emphasizing the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the territory has risen to 34,971, according to the Hamas-run health authorities on Saturday. During the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 28 Palestinians and wounded 69 others in the coastal enclave, bringing the total death toll to 34,971 and injuries to 78,641 since the current conflict broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, according to a statement. Donald Trump will receive a boost of support in four key swing states if he is found guilty in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial, a new poll for The Telegraph has found. Voters in several of the battleground areas for Novembers presidential election said they would be more likely to vote for Mr Trump if he is found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal an alleged sexual encounter with Ms Daniels, an adult film star. The former president has been in court this week to hear testimony from Ms Daniels, who gave evidence about the incident she claims happened in 2006. Mr Trump is facing a sentence of 20 years in prison if he is found guilty of covering up hush money payments to Ms Daniels to prevent her revealing details about their alleged liaison in the run-up to his first presidential bid in 2016. However, a poll for The Telegraph conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies found that many voters would be more likely to vote for him if there is a guilty verdict. Boost highest in 2020s closest state In Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, more voters said they would be more likely to vote for Mr Trump if he is found guilty than said they would be less likely. In Georgia, the closest state in the 2020 presidential race, 35 per cent of voters said they would support Mr Trump more if he is convicted, versus 27 per cent who said they would support him less. Thirty per cent of those polled in Georgia said their preferences would be unaffected In Arizona, one of the closest states in the last election, voters were split evenly between being more likely or less likely to vote for Mr Trump in the event of a guilty verdict. Voters surveyed in Pennsylvania were slightly less likely to support the former president if a jury finds against him. If he is convicted, Mr Trump would be the first former president to be found guilty of a felony. In total, across four pending criminal cases, he faces 91 felony charges. Despite the allegations of criminal activity, Mr Trump is leading Joe Biden in national polling. The Telegraphs poll puts him ahead in six of the key battlegrounds, with leads in several major policy areas including the economy and defence. Excluding voters who said they were unsure, a majority of voters in the six states said they believed Mr Trump would receive a fair trial in the Stormy Daniels case, despite his repeated claims that the trial is rigged and corrupt. The case is set to resume on Monday, when Mr Trumps former associate Michael Cohen is scheduled to testify against him. Philip van Scheltinga, the director of research at Redfield & Wilton Strategies, said: Our polling makes it clear that American voters want an election that is decided by themselves, not by the courts. Conviction would raise the stakes It is not that surprising that more voters say theyd be more likely to vote for Trump if he is convicted, given what has been happening over the last several years. For most Americans, this case is yet another instance of the many fraught battles between Trump and his opponents. A conviction wouldnt change voters perceptions, but it would raise the stakes for this election to another level. Mr van Scheltinga added: The investigations into Trump helped secure his nomination, by sucking the air out of other campaigns, and making it difficult to criticise him when he was being seen as being attacked. Now, they might just propel him into the White House. 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 powerful politician in Guyana has been accused of sexual assault for the second time in less than a year, following his resignation last July over separate allegations. The accuser, economist Sarah Aneesah Hakh, told an online press conference held in the capital Georgetown that former Minister Nigel Dharamlall sexually assaulted her in 2020 and 2021. Hakh said the first alleged incident occurred during a business meeting when Dharamlall was Guyanas senior minister of regional development. The fact that he is still in that party is mind boggling to me, Hakh said. Dharamlall, a Guyanese politician seen as a power broker in the country, was recently appointed to the executive committee of Guyanas ruling Peoples Progressive Party. He has been photographed recently with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo. Dharamlall rejected the allegations in a statement posted on his Facebook page, saying I wish to categorically and most vehemently deny each and every one of the allegations made. He accused Hakh of being on a campaign to tarnish my reputation, claiming that her demeanor towards me changed fundamentally after I rebuffed her advances and spurned her attempts to engage in an intimate relationship. CNN has reached out to Dharamlall for comment and has contacted the office of Guyana President Irfaan Ali. Dharamlall resigned from Guyanas cabinet and parliament last year after an indigenous teenage girl accused him of rape in an unrelated incident, which he has denied. The girl later withdrew the claim according to officials and no charges were filed, President Ali said in a video statement last July. He emphasized at the time that his government had allowed the system to work. We have not intervened; from day one, apparently referencing public criticism over how the girls case was handled by authorities. Her withdrawal however was seen by some as a sign of government corruption, with the public speculating her family had been paid off. In a March statement, Guyanese womens rights group Red Thread criticized officials for failing the accuser. It is of great concern that the public nature of this complaint, the powerful political status of the suspect, the discontinuance of the matter at this early stage and the haste with which this investigation was ended, will reinforce the perception of impunity, and inevitably discourage other victims of sexual violence from coming forward, it wrote. Violated against my will Hakh, who was seen as a rising star in Guyana, said she was first assaulted by Dharamlall during what was supposed to be a meeting about her taking a role as a regional executive officer in September 2020. She alleged that Dharamlall took the then-25-year-old into his bedroom, disrobed and forcibly performed oral sex on her without her consent in the Anna Regina State House, a town on the countrys coast. Hakh told reporters on Friday that she told Dharamlall to stop several times, saying she is a lesbian and this is not something I came here expecting to do and cant offer anything. I was violated against my will by a man who exploited my situation and tried to entrap me in a compromising situation due to my future contract with the ministry, she said. Hakh also alleged that a second incident took place in 2021, in the Cummings Lodge neighborhood on the outskirts of Georgetown, when she says she met Dharamlall to discuss several grievances she had with the ministry of local government. During their meeting, Hakh alleges Dharamlall tried to remove her clothes. Hakh told CNN she didnt file a police report in 2020 or 2021 due to fears of police corruption and that she would be shunned publicly and within her family, which she says did business with Dharamlall. I knew I was going up against something that was dangerous and my whole strategy was that if I made a report that was preemptive, and it didnt go anywhere, I automatically had no credibility, she told the press conference on Friday, adding that she finally filed a police report on May 9. Hakh said she also filed cyberbullying charges against Dharamlall on May 8. CNN has contacted Guyanese police for comment. Hakh said she decided to go public with her allegation because I need to give victims the strength to know that theyre not alone, and that there is no shame in what happened to them. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) Habitat in Humanity of Franklin County is hosting a fundraising event, Brick by Brick: Creating stability that builds brighter futures, for the non-profits friends and extended family at the Skelton 4H Educational Conference Center on Thursday, May 16. The program will include a dinner, stories from people who have received assistance from Habitat for Humanity, and a look at the organizations future projects. Melrose Plaza searching for artist to design community mural in Roanoke The purpose of this event is to build and strengthen the relationships within the community who want to make a difference and extend the opportunity to become a part of Habitat for Humanitys Capital Campaign. For more information, visit the Habitat for Humanity of Franklin Countys website. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFXRtv. Nadav Popplewell was kidnapped on Oct 7 by Hamas - Ayelet Svatitzky Hamas on Saturday claimed that a British-Israeli hostage had died in Gaza, shortly after releasing a video appearing to show him alive. A brief 11-second clip was posted by Hamass armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, on Saturday morning showing Nadav Popplewell, 51, confirming his name and his home in Kibbutz Nirim in southern Israel. Mr Popplewell was born in the town of Wakefield in Yorkshire but had lived in Israel for at least two decades. It was not clear when the video was taken or what state of health he was in. In it, he can be seen with a bruise on his right eye. The footage is superimposed with text in Arabic and Hebrew that reads: Time is running out. Your government is lying. The Telegraph is not showing the video or images from it as it was made under duress. Popplewell didnt receive intensive medical care It was originally interpreted as a first sign of life for the 51-year-old, who was kidnapped by the terror group on October 7 along with his mother, who was later released. But the group later said in a statement that he had died of wounds that he sustained in an Israeli airstrike more than a month ago. Mr Popplewell was being detained with a female hostage when the place they were being held was targeted by an Israeli missile, Hamas claimed in a statement. He died because he didnt receive intensive medical care at medical facilities because of the enemys destruction of hospitals in Gaza, spokesman Abu Ubaida said. The Israeli military did not offer immediate comment on the latest video. It has referred to previous videos of hostages released by Hamas as psychological terror and has also denied some of the previous accusations by the terror group that hostages were killed by Israeli fire. Popplewell captured from safe room Described as an avid reader and a fan of science fiction, Mr Popplewell is a family man who liked playing bridge with friends in the kibbutz and enjoyed watching TV series, according to Bring Them Home Now, an Israeli organisation set up by hostages families. He was captured from a safe room at his home along with his mother, Hanna Peri, a dual South African citizen. She was later released during the first ceasefire pause in November. Mr Popplewells older brother, Roi, was killed in the attack. His sister, Ayelet Svalitzky, who has campaigned in London after the terror attacks for her familys release, has spoken of how she lost her whole family on Oct 7. The video is the third of a Hamas hostage released in less than a month. On April 27 the group released a video showing two people alive - Keith Siegel and Omri Miran. Three days before that it broadcast another video showing hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin alive. In that footage, Mr Goldberg-Polin said that around half of the remaining Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas have been killed during the fighting in Gaza. He claimed at least 70 of the remaining 128 hostages had been killed in Gaza by Israeli bombings, likely repeating a line given to him by his captors. The official Israeli forensic committee has put the number at 36. A US intelligence assessment seen by the Wall Street Journal last month concluded that over half of the hostages may well now be dead. Some 252 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip on Oct 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel. The attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. In Israels retaliatory military campaign in Gaza, at least 34,971 people have been killed so far, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run territorys health ministry. 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. Whats happening with the pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Washington A list of demands at UW's Popular University for Gaza Liberated Zone, an encampment at the UW Quad. Thursday, May 9, 2024. (Grace Deng/Washington State Standard) Update: On Friday night, the University of Washington issued a statement calling for the campus protesters to dismantle their encampment voluntarily, citing security concerns ahead of a pro-Israel counter-protest being organized on Sunday. The university said the counter-protest gives us significant concern because of the likelihood for confrontations and that every day the encampment remains, the security concerns escalate and become more serious for our UW community and for the people in the encampment itself. We have repeatedly conveyed our concerns about these risks to encampment organizers and to those who organize counter-protests. We are grateful to all, including leadership in the Jewish community, who are working to deescalate the situation. We also welcome the efforts of Muslim and Palestinian leaders who are working to deescalate, the statement said. The university also said that its response to students call for change will not be based on an encampment. It will be through constructive engagement on issues that are important or meaningful to our students and broader campus community. The full statement from UW can be found here. The original article continues below. Its been 11 days since students began an encampment at the University of Washington that theyre calling the Popular University for Gaza Liberated Zone. Theyre not the only pro-Palestinian encampment thats appeared in Washington to protest Israels actions in its war against Hamas in Gaza and the treatment of Palestinians over the past 75 years: Evergreen State College in Olympia and Puget Sound University in Tacoma have also seen encampments. Israels assault on Gaza has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing local health officials in Gaza. Israels assault followed the militant group Hamas Oct. 7 attack on the country, which killed about 1,200 Israelis. Hamas also took around 250 hostages. The encampments in Washington are part of a student movement against Israels offensive in Gaza that began with Columbia University and has reached over 100 colleges and universities in the United States. The movement has recently gone international, spreading to the United Kingdom, parts of Europe, Lebanon and India. Heres what you need to know about the encampments. A person wearing sunglasses and a green scarf around their head holds a sign that says "stop bombing children" and a Palestinian flag. A protester holds a sign that says stop bombing children. May 9, 2024. (Grace Deng/Washington State Standard) What are students protesting? Simply put, theyre protesting their universities ties to companies that supply arms to Israel and what they say is their universities complicity in the deaths of Gazan civilians. Students are demanding universities call for a ceasefire and divest from Israel in other words, withdraw any investments made in companies linked to Israel. Is it fair that I have to stand here begging my university to cut ties with those who have actively profited off of the murder of my family? asked Hanady Shaqur, a 21-year-old Palestinian student, at a Thursday meeting in front of the UW Board of Regents. Shaqur said shes lost 159 family members in Gaza. The students in Washington want their administrators to cut all ties with Boeing, a major arms supplier to the Israel Defense Forces. In 2020, Boeing estimated that Israel will buy $10 billion worth of military products from the company in the next decade. Boeing is close to an $18 billion deal with Israel, CNN reported in April, and was awarded a $927 million contract with Israel in 2022. These deals are often facilitated by the United States government, which is by far Israels largest arms supplier. According to Amnesty International, theres evidence Israel has used Boeings weapons in attacks that have killed civilians. Boeing has donated more than $100 million to the University of Washington since 1917. It breaks my heart to know that my university is so closely tied with Boeing, said Anaelle Enders, an undergraduate student studying Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. That we are, by association, fueling and funding the genocide, not only in Palestine, but in destruction around the world. A United Nations expert said in March that theres reasonable grounds to believe Israel is committing genocide, but its still being debated among genocide scholars and under international law. Is this only about the Israel-Hamas War? University of Washington students say Israels assault on Gaza did not begin with Oct. 7, and theyre also protesting the 75 years of oppression, of ethnic cleansing, of ongoing occupation, and a legal system now recognized by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as a system of apartheid. Look up Nakba, said one sign at a Thursday protest ahead of the UW Board of Regents meeting. The sign refers to the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation. Palestinians call it Al-Nakba, which translates to The Catastrophe. During the Nakba, an estimated 700,000 Palestinians were violently displaced from what is now Israel, expecting to return after the war. At least 15,000 were killed. 75 years later, those who survived still havent been allowed back. University of Washington students also want administrators to end study abroad programs with Israel and the anti-Palestinian oppression of students, workers and faculty. That last demand includes amnesty for students participating in pro-Palestinian protests. What has UWs response been? University of Washington administrators have not called police on the encampment, unlike at some encampments across the country. However, that doesnt mean university administrators are conceding to the students demands. There may be no other school in the country that has as much to lose from corporate divestment, writes Seattle Times investigative reporter Mike Reicher. In February, UWs president said the university will not divest from Boeing. A media liaison for the UW United Front for Palestinian Liberation, Oviya who identified themselves only by their first name said the protesters will not move until their demands are met, and that they still have hope the university will concede. I believe that the increase in student support and community support for the divestment from Boeing will motivate [UW president] Ana Mari Cauce to change her stance and not to stand with morally reprehensible companies such as Boeing, said Oviya, a UW senior. A protester with brown short hang and bangs wearing a keffiyeh (black and white scarf) holds a sign that says "divest from genocide" among a crowd of people. A protester at the UW Board of Regents meeting on Thursday holds a sign that says divest from genocide. May 9, 2024. (Grace Deng/Washington State Standard) I really want to emphasize that this is possible and it has been done before, they added, pointing to the University of Washingtons divestment from South Africa in 1986 during apartheid. The University of Washington has had at least four conversations with representatives of student organizers and is open to continuing those conversations, said spokesperson Victor Balta. Our goal in these conversations is to better understand the groups concerns and our hope, of course, is to eventually reach a conclusion and an end to the encampment in order to maintain the safety of everyone involved, Balta said in an emailed statement. Meanwhile, the Associated Students of the University of Washington, elected by the student body, passed a divestment resolution 46-6 in support of the United Fronts demands. Its time for us to take a stand against the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people, said Yoseph Ghazal, a Palestinian law student, speaking on the resolution passed in front of the UW Board of Regents Thursday. Why are students calling their encampment the Popular University for Gaza Liberated Zone? What happens at these encampments? The Popular University for Gaza is what the National Students for Palestine movement is labeling the student movement. Students across the country say theyre claiming their universities in solidarity with Palestine because there arent any left in Gaza. Israel blew up Gazas last standing university in January. We will reclaim our education and decide what we learn and how we gather until our universities divest, writes the UW United Front for Palestinian Liberation on Instagram. Encampments across the country, including at the University of Washington, are holding daily events, teach-ins and workshops related to Palestine, safety while protesting and other political issues. The University of Washingtons encampment, which has grown to around 150 tents, also has a mutual aid tent, where students share water, food and other resources, and a disability justice tent, which offers free masks, earplugs and other supplies meant to make protesting more accessible for students with disabilities. A photo showing several signs referring to disability justice and Palestine's connection to disability justice. One sign says the tent has disability resources, including masks, earplugs and other supplies to help make protesting more accessible for disabled students. The disability justice tent at the UW Popular University for Gaza Liberated Zone. May 9, 2024. (Grace Deng/Washington State Standard) Videos on social media have shown some confrontations between students and counterprotesters most notably during a visit from conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Tuesday. The Standard has not independently verified any videos of confrontations. The Standard did not see any counter-protesters during a peaceful Thursday visit. The Pursuit NW, a non-denominational church with campuses in Seattle, Kirkland and Snohomish, is planning a United for Israel rally at the University of Washington on the afternoon of Sunday, May 12th. What are Washingtons politicians saying? Gov. Jay Inslee is getting regular updates on the situation at the University of Washington, according to spokesperson Jaime Smith. Given the volatile outcomes on other campuses nationally, the governor believes the safety of protesters, counter-protesters, observers, and the public at large is paramount, Smith said. While free speech needs to be maintained, it is absolutely vital that the universitys basic functions are not disrupted for other students and the broader community, she added. Inslees office also told KUOW that the governor is hoping for a durable ceasefire. His office declined to comment on Washingtons close relationship with Boeing. Several gubernatorial candidates, including Democrat Mark Mullet and Republican Dave Reichert, have said theyre concerned about the safety of Jewish students and anti-semitism on campus. What about concerns of antisemitism? Local Jewish organizations have reported a staggering rise in antisemitism since Oct. 7 and the Council on American Islamic Relations Washington chapter has reported skyrocketing Islamophobia. At the University of Washington, Jewish students and parents have voiced worries about antisemitism and campus safety. Muslim students, too, have voiced concerns about their safety: One Black and Muslim student reported having a knife pulled on her while she was praying. Some Jewish groups, including the international Jewish advocacy group the Anti-Defamation League, define anti-Zionism as anti-semitism, and thus see the student protests as anti-semitic. Zionism is the belief that Judaism should be a nationality, as well as a religion, and that Jews deserve a homeland in Israel. The phrase from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, which is often chanted by protesters, has also been deemed anti-semitic by some who interpret the phrase as a call to eradicate Israel. Others say the phrase historically gained traction to call for a secular, Democratic and free Palestine. Students at the encampments reject a definition of anti-semitism that conflates it with anti-Zionism and point to support from Jewish students and Jewish anti-Zionist groups like Jewish Voice for Peace. University of Washington students, alongside encampments across the country, have held Shabbat led by Jewish Voice for Peace. Signs across the University of Washingtons encampment declare things like genocide is not a Jewish value, not in our name with a Star of David and never again means never again for anyone, comparing the Holocaust to whats happening in Palestine. A Palestinian flag hangs in front of a tent. Below, signs say things like "never again means never again for anyone" and "Jews say divest." A tent at the UW encampment. May 9, 2024. (Grace Deng/Washington State Standard) Who do I follow to learn more about whats happening? Student journalists across the country are providing some of the most up-to-date information on their respective campus encampments. That includes UW Daily, the University of Washingtons student paper. The post Whats happening with the pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Washington appeared first on Washington State Standard. 'Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go!' Chants ring out from crowd during UC Berkeley commencement UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ opened her comments at the universitys commencement ceremony Saturday by addressing recent student protests on the campus with a long and deeply influential legacy of student activism. Im saddened by how this conflict has divided students, faculty and staff, Christ said. While most of our campus community has engaged peacefully, political positions have bled over too easily and quickly to antisemitism and anti-Palestinian harassment. We have lost the ability to talk with one another, she added. It is my hope that we can soon find a way to recognize our shared humanity. Whistles and applause rang out from the crowd gathered at the California Memorial Stadium. Eventually, as some people began to chant and shout, Christ continued her remarks over all the noise. A few minutes later, Sunny Lee, the universitys dean of students, asked the crowd to quiet down. If you continue to disrupt the event, Lee said, we will have you leave. A livestream of the event showed several law enforcement officers walking briskly behind the podium. A few minutes later, as louder chants began to ring out from the crowd including a chorus of Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go!" Lee again asked for quiet. Moments later, the livestream of the event cut out for several minutes and instead music, including Journeys Dont Stop Believin'," played in the background. Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, universities across the state and nation have grappled with how to respond to both protests on campus and students' commentary about the war at off-campus sites and online. In April, a dinner for graduating UC Berkeley law students at a dean's home devolved into a tense confrontation and accusations of anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish hatred a scene that captured national headlines after video spread of the dean shouting at a student, Please leave. No. Please leave." Later in the month, Dan Mogulof, an assistant vice chancellor at the university, put out a statement saying UC Berkeley would "take the steps necessary to ensure the protest does not disrupt the universitys operations." At USC, President Carol Folt's decision to rescind the valedictorian's speaking slot after undisclosed threats sent the campus into two solid weeks of protest and controversy. Many classes moved online and the university canceled its main stage ceremony, instead offering an alternative celebration at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On Friday, Asna Tabassum, the Muslim valedictorian whose speech was canceled amid controversy over her pro-Palestinian views, received her diploma during the Viterbi School of Engineering graduation ceremony. Wearing a sash bearing her academic achievements, including her minor in resistance to genocide, Tabassum beamed, and her entire class and some spectators stood to applaud her. Earlier this month, amid questions about why UCLA was so poorly prepared to stop a recent attack on a pro-Palestinian camp formed at the heart of campus, the university announced it had launched an internal probe and implemented new security procedures. And Pomona College where, last month, police in riot gear arrested several people who occupied the college president's office announced recently that it was moving its Sunday commencement ceremony off-site to the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Read more: 55 years after Reagan took on Berkeley, Newsom stays in the background amid roiling campus protests But Berkeley has a uniquely long and influential role in the history of campus protests. In the winter of 1964, students protesting free speech restrictions occupied the campus' Sproul Hall and, at one point, thousands of students surrounded the police car in which a student leader had been detained. Protests went on for months, garnering national headlines, and eventually many of the restrictions were lifted a step that paved the way for later movements in opposition of the Vietnam War and in support of environmentalism and women's rights. A decade ago, the campus that once tried to censor many of the student leaders invited them back to campus, lauding them as heroes. In May 1969, on the sixth day of demonstrations over plans to develop land known as Peoples Park, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan called in more than 2,000 National Guard troops and hundreds of highway patrolmen, who descended on campus with weapons. A helicopter hovered overhead, spraying protesters with tear gas. More than half a century later, Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken a decidedly different approach, keeping largely in the background as universities across the state struggle with how to respond to current protests. During Berkeley's graduation Saturday, momentum grew among a group of protesters who gathered in part of the stadium. Dressed in caps and gowns, some carried Palestinian flags and others waved black-and-white keffiyehs in the air. In video clips posted on X by the San Francisco Chronicle, protesters chanted "End, end the occupation!" and "Free Palestine!" Mogulof, the assistant vice chancellor, noted in an email that the protesters eventually "left voluntarily and the ceremony proceeded and was completed as planned without further disruption." Earlier in the ceremony, Sydney Roberts, the student body president, addressed the crowd, saying that, like many others gathered, she had chosen the university for its academic excellence but also to be part of a place that strives to make a difference in the world. As Roberts spoke, a few shouts rang from the crowd and eventually Lee, the dean of students, walked to the lectern and interrupted. Many see your pain. We hear you, Lee told the chanting members of the crowd before, again, asking them to quiet down out of respect for the student body president. Roberts returned to the microphone. "This wouldn't be Berkeley without a protest," she said. 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. Las Vegas residents may have recently spotted red and yellow billboards offering a $1 million reward for information regarding a drugging at MGM Grand on Dec. 10, 2021. "WHO DRUGGED A PLAYER'S DRINK AT MGM MANSION BAR DECEMBER 10, 2021," can be read on the billboards. The billboards allude to a federal lawsuit filed in November 2022 by Dwight Manley, a Southern California real estate developer and former sports agent who claims he was drugged with Ketamine while playing blackjack in the high-limit area of the MGM casino. Due to the effects of the Ketamine, Manley "was so disoriented that he left $500,000 in gaming chips on the blackjack table" and was extended $3.5 million in casino credits without his knowledge, according to the complaint filed in the District of Nevada. "Upon getting up from the blackjack table, (Manley's) friends quickly realized something was seriously wrong with (Manley) and took him back to his villa, keeping him from leaving the hotel (instead of traveling to the Venetian)," the suit said. "(Manley) was so disoriented that he could not stand or walk without assistance." Pictured is a billboard in Las Vegas, Nevada offering $1 million for anyone with information leading to the arrest or conviction of the person who drugged Southern California real estate developer Dwight Manley at MGM Grand on Dec. 10, 2021. 'He's got about 14 of them around town' Manley hired De Becker Investigations, a private investigation and consulting firm in Las Vegas, to look into his case, Hal de Becker, III, the firm's president, told USA TODAY. "(Manley) is paying for the billboards," de Becker said. "He's got about 14 of them around town displaying the same signage for a $1 million reward for any information leading to the arrest of the person that drugged him in MGM." The billboards have been up for a week, according to de Becker. Pictured is a billboard in Las Vegas, Nevada offering $1 million for anyone with information leading to the arrest or conviction of the person who drugged Southern California real estate developer Dwight Manley at MGM Grand on Dec. 10, 2021. How was Dwight Manley drugged? Manley had traveled to Las Vegas on Dec. 10, 2021, with his girlfriend and a few friends to enter a poker tournament being held at MGM, the complaint says. Once he sat down at the blackjack table, he drank an Old Fashioned cocktail and eventually began to feel disoriented, the file continued. The real estate executive became so incapacitated he "shattered an ashtray, cut his hand and was bleeding onto the blackjack table's felt," the suit says. Manley did not "recall cutting his hand, did not feel any pain and was unaware that he was bleeding," according to the complaint. In less than three hours, Manley said MGM increased his credit and "extended him credit in an amount significantly higher than it ever had extended (him) in more than 30 years of the casino (and) patron relationship." The MGM's motion to dismiss counters Manley's claim and says he requested and executed three credit increases totaling $3.5 million. Despite Manley the next day notifying MGM of the drugging and filing a police report, the hotel and casino said he owed them $2 million for the casino credits and an additional $440,000, according to the complaint. What are casino credits? During Manley's visits to the MGM casino, he would often gamble with credit, according to a motion to dismiss filed in April by MGM Grand. Casino credits are repaid with funds from the player's checking account, generally in 15 to 45 days, Global Gaming Business magazine said. The case is still ongoing with the most recent court action occurring on May 9. USA TODAY contacted MGM Grand, the hotel and casino's attorneys and Manley's attorneys but did not receive a response. How to claim the $1 million reward? People who visit the website displayed on the billboard will see more information about the reward, including how to claim it. Anyone with information or tips can email De Becker Investigations, according to the website. "We're intercepting the inquiries that come in," de Becker said regarding his firm's role. "We're getting a lot of them." The individual submitting the information must agree to 15 conditions listed on the website, such as allowing LVReward LLC to reserve the right "to cancel, suspend or modify the terms of this offer before a reward is earned." LVReward LLC is an LLC that Manley and the firm are using for the reward, according to de Becker. The reward was originally $500,000, but it has been doubled to $1 million. It is unclear when and why Manley doubled the reward. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dwight Manley offering $1 million reward to find out who drugged him A piece of history rolled the rails into the QCA. The Empress is a 2816 steam engine dating back to 1930, and a large crowd gathered as it made a stop at Quinlan Court in Davenport. The stop was part of Canadian Pacific Kansas Citys (CPKC) Final Spike Anniversary Steam Tour. Attendees had a chance to see the locomotive close up and learn about its history. The tour started at CPKCs headquarters in Calgary and ends in Mexico City. For more information, click here. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. Hope Breakfast chef tries to clear the air after questions raised about his charitable giving Chef Brian Ingram, owner of Hope Breakfast Bar locations in the Twin Cities and the Apostle Supper Club in St. Paul, has built a reputation around donating proceeds from his restaurants to community causes through a nonprofit, Give Hope. Over the past four years since he started Give Hope, Ingram has given away tens of thousands of pounds of food and free meals, and has donated significant amounts of money to the families of Daunte Wright, a Black man fatally shot by a Brooklyn Center police officer in 2021, and of first responders who were slain in Burnsville earlier this year. Give Hope has been operating since summer 2023 without an active 501(c)(3) designation, the federal status that allows nonprofit donations to be tax-deductible. Meanwhile, Ingram is working to change the legal structure behind the organization so its no longer a nonprofit at all and is instead a private C-corporation, which he said is better suited to being able to give on-the-spot donations to people in need whom he encounters in his personal and professional life. To be clear, nonprofits may legally operate without an active 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS, and it is not unlawful for such nonprofits to accept donations, said Simon Trautmann, an attorney who specializes in business and nonprofit law. Ingram confirmed Give Hopes 501(c)(3) determination lapsed in the summer of 2023 because the organization did not file renewal paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service, which Ingram said was an intentional but misinformed choice: He intended to shut down the nonprofit as part of the shift toward a corporate structure, but had previously received bad advice and was not fully aware of the often lengthy legal processes necessary to dissolve an organization with 501(c)(3) status. Ingram said a new team of attorneys and accountants are currently working to refile Give Hopes 501(c)(3) paperwork for the express purpose of winding down the organization properly. To remain in good legal standing, Give Hope is also in the process of clarifying details about its charitable fundraising activities with the Minnesota attorney generals office. In February, the Charities Registrar, an office under state Attorney General Keith Ellison, sent Give Hope a warning letter outlining the terms of the Minnesota Charitable Solicitation Act, a law that requires entities to register with the state if they meet certain criteria involving making public fundraising requests for benevolent purposes. The letter, reviewed by the Pioneer Press, does not make a determination as to whether Give Hope is bound by the Charitable Solicitation Act. It states in general terms that, if Give Hope does indeed meet these criteria, the organization may need to register with this Office. Ingram told the Pioneer Press he filed registration paperwork in early May, to remain compliant as per the terms of the letter. However, as of May 10, according to a spokesperson for Ellisons office, Give Hope is not, nor has ever been, registered as a charitable organization. On May 9, the attorney generals office sent a follow-up letter noting that Ingram had neither registered nor claimed an exemption. Ingram said that, as of May 10, he had not received this letter. Letters such as these are meant as good-faith reminders and are not in and of themselves an accusation of wrongdoing, Ellisons spokesperson said. The A.G.s office does not comment on whether active investigations exist and is unable to confirm or deny whether it believes Ingram has run afoul of finance laws. Trautmann does not have direct knowledge of Ingrams financial dealings and cannot provide specific legal determinations, he said. But if any organization without an active 501(c)(3) status were to have solicited funds under the false guise of having that tax-exempt status, he said, the organization could be liable to face fraud charges. It may also be unlawful, per the letter from the A.G.s office, for an organization to have solicited charitable funds from the public without having first been registered with the state. Ingram told the Pioneer Press that Give Hope did accept donated funds after the 501(c)(3) status had lapsed in summer 2023, but Ingram said he did not, to his knowledge, present the organization to donors as having 501(c)(3) status when it did not, nor did he knowingly offer tax benefits when he was not legally permitted to do so. Additionally, Ingram said his accountants are currently working with the IRS to refile the organizations tax documents for the 2023 calendar year in addition to renewing the 501(c)(3) determination, to ensure that we dont have anybody that may have gotten caught up in us not being a 501(c)(3) for the second half of 2023, he said. Ingram said he is not aware of any active legal investigation against him. Hope to donate more easily As for the shift in the legal structure of Give Hope, Ingram framed the switch from a nonprofit to a private corporation as a practical necessity, to be able to respond to community needs as quickly and frictionlessly as possible. He posted a note on the organizations website explaining the change in response to questions from a reporter from KSTP-TV. Ingram said: Folks facing urgent needs cannot necessarily wait for nonprofit leaders in a boardroom to debate whether theyre worthy of aid. Ingrams viewpoint, he said, is that if someone needs help, you find a way to help them. We need to react to the world around us, right now, Ingram said. I cant ask someone for their Social Security and bank information and tell them well make a decision about whether we can help them in a few weeks. Legally speaking, money controlled by nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status is a public asset, Trautmann said. Therefore, these organizations must disclose financial information through IRS Form 990, he said, and funds flowing outward from nonprofits are obligated to align with the organizations specific tax-exempt purpose and not create a private benefit for key stakeholders or employees. This, Trautmann said, is why its best practice for nonprofit leaders to vet the recipients of their funds to ensure their organizations compliance. Private corporations are subject to different IRS tax-filing requirements, Trautmann said. Going forward, as the head of the version of Give Hope that operates as a private corporation, Ingram has direct discretion over where that corporations money goes. Ingram said he understands that this giving model appears less transparent, and he emphasized that the move is not an attempt to dodge legal rules or evade accountability. In fact, he said, because hell no longer be able to claim 501(c)(3)-related tax benefits, hell ultimately incur a greater personal financial burden in order to give back in the way he sees as most fulfilling. The states statutes surrounding charitable solicitations are also meant to provide a degree of public oversight over fundraising efforts and donation campaigns, per the attorney generals office. Ingram admits that this structure necessitates more trust trust from the public that Ingram is disbursing the money in good faith, and trust from Ingram that the recipients of his funds are truly in need. This is our purpose, to give back to our community, Ingram said. Thats why were Purpose Restaurants. Im just hoping people will continue to walk with us in that. Related Articles GAZA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army on Saturday ordered further evacuation of Palestinian residents in eastern Rafah, citing upcoming military operations targeting Hamas militants in those areas. "The residents of the camps of Shaboura and the Al-Adari, Al-Jeneina, and Khirbet Al-Adas neighborhoods in Blocks 6-9, 17, 25-27, and 31 must leave their houses immediately," Avichai Adraee, spokesperson of the Israeli army, said in a press statement. Adraea claimed that Hamas militants used the mentioned areas for military activities against the Israeli people, which forced the army to expand its military operations there to eliminate the fighters of Hamas. Adraee told the residents to head to al-Mawasi, a zone between the west of Rafah and Khan Younis. Palestinian security sources said the evacuation means that the Israeli army "is gradually implementing its plan of evacuating the residents to prepare for a large-scale military operation and invasion in the city." Rafah, with more than 1 million displaced Palestinians seeking refuge from intensive Israeli strikes on Gaza elsewhere, has been facing a dire humanitarian crisis due to the lack of basic necessities, including water, food, electricity, and medical treatment. CORBETT, Ore. (KOIN) Summer arrived quickly in Oregon. You may want to take a dip in the water to begin your summer fun. However, you must be aware the temperatures warmed up but the waters havent. The water temperature in the Sandy River right now is around 42-43 degrees. So it might be hot right now on shore, you might be feeling 85 degrees. That water is very cold. Its colder than the ocean right now, said Lt. Jasmine Zimmer Stucky with the Corbett Fire Department. A man walks in the Sandy River in Corbett, May 11, 2024 (KOIN) On Friday night, a man who became disoriented after entering the cold water was rescued from the Sandy River near Lewis and Clark State Park. Another swimmer rescued the man, pulling him to safety. Hes expected to make a full recovery, Zimmer Stucky told KOIN 6 News. Man rescued from Sandy River after getting disoriented in cold water From 2019 to 2022, nine people lost their lives to drowning in the Sandy River. This river is colder than it looks, its faster than it looks, there are steep drop offs, she said. Its a serious river that requires everyones attention. Temperatures may be warming up this weekend, but lakes and rivers are still cold enough to shock and immobilize even the strongest swimmers, Clark County health officer and Public Health director Dr. Alan Melnick said in a statement. There are, of course, safety tips to keep you and your family safe this year and every year. Among them: Know your limits Dont swim alone Avoid fast-flowing water Keep a close eye on your kids Wear a life jacket Dont dive into shallow waters or jump off bridges or cliffs Dont drink or use marijuana when swimming or boating. Lt. Jasmine Zimmer Stucky holds a life jacket along the Sandy River, May 11, 2024 (KOIN) There is so much water moving down this river right now and people need to be careful theyre not swept down the river or getting their feet stuck in the rocks, getting caught up in the currents and taken way downstream, Zimmer Stucky said. Shannon Crawford of Gresham said she makes sure she stays close where I can touch and stay out of the hard currents. Those can pull you out in a heartbeat without you even noticing, no matter how strong of a swimmer you are. There are 5 different spots along the Sandy River where life jackets will be placed for anyones use, she said. Three spots are at Dabney State Park with the others at Lewis & Clark State Park, including a spot at the boat ramp. A child in a small boat with a life jacket on the Sandy River, May 11, 2024 (KOIN) And if you see someone struggling in the water there is one thing that you should definitely do. If you witness a drowning incident, the first thing is to call 911, she said. I wouldnt recommend making a second victim. If you, yourself, have been drinking, if youre not a strong swimmer, if theyre far out in the current, dont take that risk. KOIN 6 News will have more information later in the day. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com. HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) Hampton University is partnering with Virginia lawmakers to host an education forum in honor of the 70th Anniversary of Brown V. Board of Education ruling. The forum is scheduled on Thursday, May 16, from 4:15-6 p.m. at the Hampton University Student Center. The event is free and open to the public. The historical ruling declared segregation in schools to be unconstitutional. The forum honors Virginians who helped in the case and continue to support education equality. Hampton University President Darrell K. Williams is partnering with Attorney General Jason Miyares, Congressman Bobby Scott, and former Gov. Bob McDonnell. The 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education is an opportunity to remember the courage of Virginias own75% of the plaintiffs were Virginians, said Attorney General Jason Miyares, in a release. Their relentless pursuit of justice, guided by legal giants like Oliver Hill and ignited by the bold spirit of Barbara Johns and the Moton students, didnt just challenge segregation; they moved mountains. Their determination resulted in the lawsuit against Prince Edward County merging with Brown v. Board of Education, forever changing the course of Civil Rights history. Check with WAVY.com for more updates. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com. Human remains discovered in woods bring end to search for missing SC woman, sheriff says A South Carolina woman who had been missing for more than six months was found dead, the Aiken County Sheriffs Office announced Friday. The investigation led authorities to a wooded area in the 2100 block of Silver Bluff Road, where a search ended with the discovery of human remains. Aiken Coroner Darryl Ables identified the remains as belonging to 30-year-old Jamilla Smith and ordered an autopsy. Her family was notified. Smith was first reported missing in December 2023. The sheriffs office was assisted by the Aiken County Coroners Office, the Aiken Department of Public Safety and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division in recovering Smiths body. Three people have already been arrested in the case: Daniel Gabriel Harmon, Bryan Alexander Hampton Jr and Clyde Hendley II, according to the sheriffs office. But a news release did not specify what charges they face. The investigation is ongoing and more information will be released as it is available, officials said. Anyone with information regarding the case is encouraged to contact the Aiken County Sheriffs Office at 803-648-6811, or send a message by going to www.aikencountysheriff.net. Mom of 2 boys, Amy Anderson remembers quickly getting one last look at the sky and quickly rushing to the door before an EF-3 tornado hit Columbia on Wednesday. She had experienced tornados before, but never one in her own community. I remember seeing those dark storm clouds and thinking, this is going to be disastrous," Anderson said. I was terrified but had to put on my mom face because I couldnt let my kids know how scared I truly was. More: Tennessee woman killed in Columbia tornado remembered as a 'free spirit' Volunteers Rileigh Reaves, 12, and dad Matthew Reaves, load supplies into a vehicle at Randolph Howell Elementary School tornado relief center on Friday, May 10, 2024 in Columbia, Tenn. The Columbia natives house sustained minor damage, but the she said that fear she felt will last a lifetime. Led by Destiny Church in Columbia, Randolph Howell Elementary School is serving as the tornado relief hub, in Columbia, which is located less than a mile from where the tornado touched down. Roads like Lasea, Cranford Hollow, Blackburn and Joe Brown sustained much damage, including destroyed homes. Tornado: Drone footage shows impact of tornado in Columbia, TN Im so thankful to Destiny Church because theyre providing resources to help families feel some sort of normal, she said. Were called the Volunteer State for a reason because no matter the circumstance, we always come out to help. Since Wednesday churches from all over including Destiny Church, C1, Belonging Coast, Connection Church, Cowboy Church and Graceland Church in Franklin reached out with resources and volunteers. The violent tornado one of six twisters in Middle Tennessee damaged 105 structures in Maury County and destroyed 40 homes Wednesday evening as night fell, resulting in one fatality and four injuries. Gov. Bill Lee stepped through the rubble during a visit to Columbia on Thursday, spreading hope amid heartache by praising the community support being given to affected families. Volunteers distribute water and other supplies to impacted families at Randolph Howell Elementary School, now a tornado recovery hub, located less than a mile from where an EF-3 tornado hit on Friday, May 11, 2024 in Columbia, Tenn. Almost a dozen cars in a steady stream entered the parking lot of Howell Elementary as residents shared stories about what they experienced, horrors they faced and how they will continue to rebuild. Piles of necessities were neatly lined up as volunteers swiftly loaded materials and supplies into the cars of those affected. Towards the back of the parking lot, a Salvation Army food truck offered meals to those in need. More: Gov. Bill Lee visits Columbia: 'It's heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time' Tornado eyewitness: Columbia woman says tornado that destroyed home was 'scariest moment of my life' Cars enter the recovery site at Randolph Howell Elementary to collect supplies on Friday, May 10, 2024 in Columbia, Tenn. Among the chaos, elementary school-aged volunteers, use their imagination as they play with the discarded boxes that once held the tools to help Maury residents rebuild. Michael Baker, executive pastor of Destiny Church, serves as director of the makeshift relief center. We usually have help for any type of relief effort or cause because its planned. We have signs up and a lot of our Church community comes out to help," Baker said. However, this is the largest amount of volunteers Ive seen for something like this. Yesterday we had over 100 volunteers. Weve seen a steady stream of people come in all day and we are here and ready to help them in whatever way we can. By the end of the day, Baker said almost 300 volunteers showed up to help. Supplies are stacked high on tables at Randolph Howell Elementary School, a recovery hub for those impacted by the tornado on Friday, May 10, 2024 in Columbia, Tenn. People have donated everything from food and water to sanitary products, suitcases and cleaning supplies, he said. Weve had people from all over donate whatever they can to help. One man even drove from Delaware to donate supplies. Michael Baker, executive pastor at Destiny Church in Columbia, leads the tornado relief recovery site at Randolph Howell Elementary School on Friday, May 10, 2024 in Columbia, Tenn. Three meals a day are also being offered by the Salvation Army at the location out of a food truck. 'Pass system' implemented for access to affected areas Shane Petty, Chief Operations Officer for Maury Countys Emergency Management office, helped to coordinate relief efforts. "The emergency shelter is working like a drive-through. Residents pull up to the entrance and community volunteers ask what they need and begin to fill their cars," Petty said. Gov. Bill Lee surveys a storm damaged home on Blackburn Lane Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Columbia, Tenn. Severe weather and tornadoes caused damage in Tennessee on Wednesday. Volunteers fall into two categories: contractor and volunteer, he explained, who are given a special pass to enter affected areas. "Wristbands are given to everyone who enters affected residential areas to ensure looting doesnt occur. We want to keep everyone safe while making sure we those who want to help can do so in a safe manner. Colored wristbands help us to know who were letting in to aid with the clean-up efforts. A pass can be obtained at the school. Maury County Mayor Shiela Butt speaks at Fire Station No. 3 on Thursday, May 9, 2024 following Columbia's first day of recovery after Wednesday's damaging storms, which resulted in a tornado, many homes destroyed and one fatality. Maury County Mayor Sheila Butt visited the recovery site on Friday. Maury County is a strong, independent, resilient community," Butt said. "We call ourselves Team Maury and that's exactly what we are. Disaster brings out the worst for the best in people. And in Maury County, it brings out the best in people." We will rebuild together. We have things in place because we knew that this kind of day would come. We have an outstanding office of emergency management and county offices so within the next two weeks, we will be executing that plan and we hope to rebuild quickly, but we want to rebuild well. How to help or get help: Relief at Randolph Howell Elementary School, 653 Bear Creek Pike, will stay open as supplies keep coming, Baker said. More donations of water are needed at Randolph Howell as well as toilet paper, paper towels, big trash bags and diapers. Tennessee Children's Home is accepting in-kind donations at its main campus at 2225 Dr. Robertson Road in Spring Hill from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. A shelter for displaced families will be at West Seventh Church of Christ, 405 W. 7th St. in Columbia. Gabrielle Chenault is a reporter at The Tennessean. This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Volunteers show up in hundreds in Columbia to aid recovery efforts Keir Johnston, the man behind the dress that broke the internet has pleaded guilty to endangering his wife, Grace Johnston, after admitting to strangling her (TheEllenShow/ YouTube) The man behind the white/gold-blue/black dress that broke the internet has pleaded guilty to endangering his wifes life, and admitted to strangling her. Keir Johnston 38, appeared at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday, where he pleaded guilty to a terrifying attack on his wife, Grace Johnston, that left her fearing for her life, but alive, according toThe Daily Record. Johnston, from the Isle of Colonsay, off the west coast of Scotland, was remanded in custody until his sentence next month, scheduled for June 6. Johnston received global attention for #TheDress after an image of his mother-in-laws dress during his wedding in 2015 was shared online by a guest at the event. The debate over the dresss true colors - black and blue or white and gold - broke the internet, headlines said at the time, and drew thousands of comments including from celebrities. Reality star Kim Kardashian posted that she had argued about it with her then-huband Kanye West. The photo dress posted on social media divided opinion as to whether it was white/gold, or black/blue (Swiked / Tumblr) Ellen DeGeneres invited the Johnstons on to her talk show, where they were given $10,000 and a trip to Grenada. This week, the Scottish court heard that behind closed doors Johnston left his wife fearing for her life, and had a history of domestic abuse towards her. Chris MacIntosh, prosecutor for the Crown, told Lady Drummond and the court how Grace lived in fear of her abusive husband, The Record reported. "There is no permanent police presence on the island, and she was in a situation where she felt trapped, he said. The court heard that Ms Johnston had once refused her husbands demands not to attend a job interview on the mainland. Days later he told her he was leaving her before the pair got into an altercation where Johnston grabbed his wife and threw her to the ground. "Johnston woke up and said that he was going to leave her. She went outside the property to stop him leaving. He followed her and pinned her to the ground, Mr Macintosh said, according to The Record. Keir Johnston, left, admitting to strangling his wife Grace Johnston, right, during a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday (TheEllenShow/ YouTube) He placed both knees on her arms, so she was unable to move. He then began strangling her with both his hands. "She was initially able to scream and feared for her life and believed Johnston intended to kill her as he was very forceful." Mr Macintosh said that despite suffering severe bruising, Ms Johnston did not require medical treatment. Lawyers for Johnston said he had accepted responsibility for the assault. Per The Record, Lady Drummond denied Johnston bail and placed him in custody, telling him: "I have no need to tell you that this is a serious and violent offence. "You repeatedly strangled her, injured her and put her life in danger in what must have been absolutely terrifying circumstances for her. "I am afraid, Mr. Johnston, that your status has now changed, you have been convicted of a very serious crime and you will be remanded meantime." It is unclear whether the Johnstons have separated following the incident. This Idaho gold mine just had air permit withheld by environmental review board. Heres why A state environmental board on Thursday withheld an air quality permit issued for a proposed gold and antimony mine near McCall. The Idaho Board of Environmental Quality, a seven-member advisory body at the Department of Environmental Quality, issued a decision that the agency had not followed the law when it analyzed the health effects that arsenic pollution related to the mine could have on people nearby. Perpetua Resources, an Idaho company, has proposed to mine for gold and antimony, a critical mineral used in batteries, at a mountainous location in west-central Idaho, which the company says is the largest known deposit of antimony in the U.S. Gold mining began in the area at the tail end of the 19th century and degraded the nearby environment, but the company said it would clean that up as part of its operations. Complaints about the large-scale mining operations air quality permit were brought by the Nez Perce Tribe, as well as the Idaho Conservation League and Save the South Fork Salmon, two environmental groups. After DEQ issued an initial permit in 2022, the opponents filed an administrative appeal, which made its way to the Board of Environmental Quality. Though the board upheld DEQs decision on four matters related to the permit, members unanimously had doubts over the agencys calculations about increased arsenic levels from the mines operations. The board remanded the permit back to an administrative hearing officer at DEQ to be addressed, according to the order. Its validating to know that others agree with us on our concerns, Will Tiedemann, a regulatory conservation associate at the Idaho Conservation League, told the Idaho Statesman by phone. Arsenic, which is carcinogenic, is a regulated pollutant that DEQ analyzed as part of its review of the Stibnite projects environmental impact. Mine operations such as ore blasting and heavy use of dirt roads can stir the heavy metal into the air, which could injure hikers, hunters and other people who are nearby. DEQ conducted modeling of the amount of arsenic that would potentially be released by the mine, which is evaluated using a complex formula that examines the daily added risk of cancer over a persons lifetime, or roughly 70 years. The agency calculated that even with mitigation measures in place, the mine was likely to exceed the allowable cancer risk. DEQ then calculated that because the mine is expected to operate for 16 years, the cancer risks could be diminished to acceptable levels because the impacts would not continue for a 70-year period. The agencys advisory board disagreed. Nowhere in the air rules does it provide that a project that will operate more than 5 years but less than 70 years may be adjusted in proportion to the amount of time it will operate, the board wrote. The board added that it cannot find sufficient evidence in the record to support the proposition that a higher exposure to arsenic for a shorter period of time is equally or more protective than a lower annual lifetime average exposure. The boards chairman, Mark Bowen, told the Statesman by phone that DEQ had not provided sufficient evidence to back up its approach, which led the board to remand the permit. He said he expects the agency will need to provide more justification for its decision or turn to a different approach to reduce the risks from arsenic. Bowen said the permit will need to be approved before any construction can begin. At a public meeting earlier this month, the boards vice chair, Randy MacMillan, said DEQs calculations would have created a new, higher level of cancer risk for 16 years, according to Boise State Public Radio. By applying the, what I would call short-sighted, project-specific adjustment factor to the Stibnite Gold project DEQ created a misleading risk analysis that greatly underestimates the actual cancer risk, he said. A spokesperson for the agency could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. Tiedemann said he expects the proceedings over the permit could take several months. Perpetua Resources is awaiting several other permits related to its mine, which it aims to begin construction of next year. We hope this sets an important precedent to the way those permits will be examined, Tiedemann said. A spokesperson for Perpetua, Marty Boughton, said in an email that the dust control issue has been thoroughly studied. The permit underwent three years of rigorous review, three extended public comment periods, numerous proposal improvements, and thousands of pages of technical review, Boughton said. IDEQs permit imposes incredibly robust air quality compliance controls on the Stibnite Gold Project. Creating a project that is protective of human health and the environment has always been at the heart of Perpetuas mission and vision for the Stibnite Gold Project, and well continue working with IDEQ to respond to this narrow additional review, she added. The same two environmental groups involved in the air quality permit appeal also recently sued the U.S. Forest Service over its approval of an exploratory project near the mine site they believe would cause ecological damage to the area. Boughton said that endeavor is a soil sampling project that is expected to take less than six weeks and would temporarily disturb less than one acre of land, after which all investigation sites areas will be restored. She said the project was appropriately approved and is of minimal size and scope. A spokesperson for the Forest Service could not immediately be reached for comment. Reporter Kevin Fixler contributed. LINDSAY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) The man shot and killed at a Lindsay gas station Friday has been identified by the Tulare County Sheriffs Office. Deputies say they were called to a report of a shooting victim at the TripCo Gas Station located at Spruce Avenue and Avenue 232 in Lindsay around 11:30 a.m. 1 hospitalized after gas station shooting in Lindsay Upon arrival, the Sheriffs Office says its deputies provided medical aid to 23-year-old Andrew Gonzalez, who was suffering from a single gunshot wound. He died after being transported to an area hospital. Homicide detectives say they identified 23-year-old David Vielma as the suspect, and took him into custody near Poplar around 10:30 p.m. Friday. He was booked into the South County Detention Facility on suspicion of homicide and weapon law violations. Deputies also arrested 21-year-old Jasmin Valencia on suspicion of accessory to murder. She was booked into the Bob Wiley Detention Facility. Investigators have not disclosed what led up to the shooting. This remains an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information regarding this case is encouraged to contact the Tulare County Sheriffs Office at 559-733-6218. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47. Authorities said Shadbar had harassed Robertson and her sons for years. Authorities said Shadbar had harassed Robertson and her sons for years. Photograph: Steve Skjold/Alamy An Illinois man is facing accusations of a hate crime after he allegedly shot his next-door neighbor while hurling racist slurs at her sons, who are Black. Prosecutors charged John Shadbar, 70, with nine charges, including attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery, unlawful use of a weapon and a hate crime. Shadbar is being held in jail without bond after authorities said he had harassed his neighbor and her sons for years. Related: US woman charged with concealing bleach in husbands coffee avoids jail Investigators allege that Shadbar shot his neighbor, Melissa Robertson, 45, in the back yard of her home in Lockport Township, Illinois, a suburb outside Chicago. Robertson was taken to the hospital in critical condition, and was still recovering from her injuries. Robertsons family said she had reported to the Will county sheriffs office multiple times that Shadbar had been harassing her family, shooting blanks and fireworks from his back yard and using racist slurs. Robertson, who is white, has two sons who are Black. On 7 May, Robertson was outside with a friend and two children, including Robertsons eight-year-old son, when Shadbar started revving his motorcycle engine, according to court documents seen by ABC News. Robertson blew an air horn in his direction, prompting him to yell Theres gonna be dead [N-word] today and throw a bottle over the fence. The friend took the two children inside while Robertson walked toward Shadbar, thinking he was shooting blanks from a gun. Shadbar ultimately shot Robertson twice, in her chest and stomach, police said. After the shooting, Shadbar barricaded himself inside his home, coming out after speaking with a crisis negotiator with the sheriffs office. While speaking to the crisis negotiator, Shadbar made several incriminating statements, the sheriffs office said in a Facebook post about the incident. With a search warrant, officers found five guns in Shadbars home, including some that were hidden in the walls. Shadbars gun-ownership rights had been revoked after he was arrested for a felony in 1979. On Facebook, the sheriffs office said that over the last year, it had responded to a few calls to the victims home that were minor, non-related issues and were resolved on scene. One call had reported that Shadbar was acting agitated and yelling at Robertson and her children. A second call was about Shadbar shooting fireworks and possibly a gun over Robertsons fence. The victim states that she had ongoing issues with Shadbar. Deputies spoke with Shadbar, conducted an initial investigation, and due to lack of evidence no arrest was made at the time, the sheriffs office wrote. Mikeal Johnson, Robertsons stepson, said that his mother had surmised such an attack would eventually occur. Shes been telling me something like this was bound to happen because the cops wont do anything they cant do anything, Johnson told CBS News. Jeanne Beyer, Robertsons aunt, told the news outlet that nothing was ever done, noting that Shadbar didnt have a firearm owners identification (FOID) card. I dont care if he was shooting blanks if hes in his front yard waving a gun and doesnt have a FOID card, Beyer said. I mean, I have a FOID card. I cant go stand in my front yard and wave my gun around without some consequences. Talking to NBC News, Johnson recalled Shadbar calling me the N-word straight to my face and coming out of his house with a gun. Its disheartening that it takes something like this to finally be heard, Johnson said. I dont want anyone else of color, people of color, feeling like this, like they dont deserve to be where they are because theyre Black and in the wrong neighborhood, so to be speak. I wish we could all be treated equally. A passenger checks in for a flight to Mexico City at Shenzhen Baoan International Airport in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, May 11, 2024. A direct air route linking south China's Shenzhen with Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, was launched on Saturday. The first flight on the route took off from Shenzhen Baoan International Airport at 9 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Saturday, and the flight time will be approximately 16 hours, the airline said. The flight, covering over 14,000 kilometers and running twice weekly, is currently the only direct passenger route from China to Mexico, and from China to Latin America. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian) SHENZHEN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A direct air route linking south China's Shenzhen with Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, will be launched on Saturday, China Southern Airlines has announced. The first flight on the route will take off from Shenzhen Baoan International Airport at 9 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Saturday, and the flight time will be approximately 16 hours, the airline said. The flight, covering over 14,000 kilometers and running twice weekly, is currently the only direct passenger route from China to Mexico, and from China to Latin America. Outbound flights will depart from Shenzhen at 9 p.m. local time every Tuesday and Saturday, and arrive in Mexico City at 11 p.m. local time. Inbound flights depart from Mexico City at 1 a.m. local time every Wednesday and Sunday, and arrive in Shenzhen at 12:20 p.m. local time the following day. Mexico is China's second-largest trading partner in Latin America. With its long history and rich tourism resources, Mexico is also a popular destination for Chinese tourists. This file photo shows an Airbus A350 aircraft serving the direct air route linking south China's Shenzhen with Mexico City at Shenzhen Baoan International Airport in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province.(Xinhua) A passenger checks in for a flight to Mexico City at Shenzhen Baoan International Airport in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, May 11, 2024.(Xinhua/Mao Siqian) Guests attend an event celebrating the launching of a direct air route linking south China's Shenzhen with Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, at the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, on May 12, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Mengxin) Crew members of the first flight on a direct air route linking south China's Shenzhen with Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, arrive at the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, on May 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Mengxin) Passengers of the first flight on a direct air route linking south China's Shenzhen with Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, arrive at the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, on May 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Mengxin) A passenger of the first flight on a direct air route linking south China's Shenzhen with Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, arrives at the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, on May 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Mengxin) Illinois Man Charged with Hate Crime, Attempted Murder in Shooting of Mother of 2 Whose Sons Are Black The Will County Sheriff's Office said that the incident "appears to be racially motivated Will County Sheriff's Office An Illinois man has been charged with attempted murder and a hate crime, among other offenses, for allegedly shooting his female neighbor who has two Black sons. The Will County Sheriff's Office said in a social media post that officers responded to a report of shots fired in a neighborhood in the Unincorporated Lockport Township area on Tuesday, May 7, at approximately 5:30 p.m. local time. Witnesses reported told officers that the suspect, John P. Shadbar, 70, had fired dozens of rounds of ammunition with an assault-style rifle at the 45-year-old woman, who had been walking outside his property at the time. Deputies arrived and provided life-saving measures to the woman, and she was then transported to the hospital in critical condition after suffering gunshot wounds to her chest and hand, according to authorities. Police said that she had undergone surgery for her injuries and is recovering. Will County Sheriff's Office A mugshot of John P. Shadbar from the Will County Sheriff's Office. Related: Girlfriend of Slain U.S. Airman Roger Fortson Releases FaceTime Video of Fatal Police Encounter Police also said that Shadbar had barricaded himself inside his home after the shooting. A crisis negotiator was sent in and convinced him to surrender to police, and he was taken into custody without incident," per authorities. Police seized two AK-47 style rifles one of which they believed was used in the shooting along with "a shotgun and two handguns from his home, they added. Detectives also said they obtained video evidence of the shooting from neighbors' surveillance cameras and stated that the incident appeared "to be racially motivated. In a Facebook post on Friday, May 10, police said that Shadbar was charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery, hate crime, criminal damage to property, aggravated discharge of a firearm and three counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. 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. The womans family identified her to NBC Chicago as Melissa Robertson. They told the outlet that Robertson, who is White, has two sons that are Black, and that Shadbar had harassed the family and spewed racial slurs at them since they moved into the area about 10 years ago. This did not need to happen at all. Not just our lives, but his life and his wifes and our neighbors are all affected by it, Robertsons son Mikeal Johnson told the news outlet. GoFundMe A photo of Melissa Robertson and one of her sons. Related: Police Searching for Angry Customer Accused of Killing Houston Attorney at McDonald's A GoFundMe has been started for the family to help pay for Robertson's medical bills. The fundraising page noted that Robertson "shattered several ribs" due to the shooting and would need "reconstructive hand surgery" as a result of her injury. In their update post, the Will County Sheriff's Office said that Robertson had made two complaint calls about Shadbar to police in March 2024. The first call was about Shadbar acting very agitated and yelling at the victim and her children. Deputies responded and resolved the issue, police said. They said that a second call was about Shadbar shooting fireworks and possibly a gun over the victims backyard fence. The woman had told police at the time that she had ongoing issues with Shadbar, but due to lack of evidence, no arrest was made at that time. Shadbar is currently being held at the Adult Detention Facility without bond, the Will County Sheriff's Office said. It is not immediately clear if he has legal representation to comment on his behalf. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. I'm a millennial who moved his family from Houston to Tulsa after getting accepted into its $10,000 relocation program. We plan on staying for at least 10 years. I'm a millennial who moved his family from Houston to Tulsa after getting accepted into its $10,000 relocation program. We plan on staying for at least 10 years. Jhonathan Vazquez moved from Houston to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2021. The first-generation immigrant was seeking a more affordable cost of living and less traffic. Vazquez said he's fallen in love with Tulsa's thriving entrepreneurial scene and arts offerings. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jhonathan Vazquez, 34, the cofounder and COO of Titan Intake, a healthcare referral startup. He moved from Houston, Texas, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2021 as part of the latter's incentive program to entice more remote workers. I'm a first-generation immigrant. My mother came to this country when she was seven months pregnant with me and I was blessed to be born here in the USA. We lived in my aunt's garage for a couple of years until my father was able to get us a small home in Houston. It was a very humble upbringing. I was the first in my family to have a corporate job. I met my wife in my early 20s. We moved to downtown Houston. Both of our jobs were in the city, so we lived in a high-rise apartment. But there's a big homelessness issue in Houston, and I wanted something a bit safer for my wife to be able to walk the dogs. So we moved again, this time to a Houston area called River Roads. I started spending a lot of time commuting to work. We wanted to buy a house in Houston, but finding one that suited our lifestyle that we could also afford would have been tough. We would have had to move outside the city. During COVID, my wife's company went under. I was working in healthcare doing joint ventures and acquisitions, and my boss allowed me to go completely remote. My wife found a program called Tulsa Remote, which is a $10,000 stipend to bring remote workers to the city. The goal is also to increase diversity in the city's talent pool. To be honest, we had never heard much of Tulsa before. The extent of my Tulsa knowledge was when Chandler moved there in a "Friends" episode. I saw the acceptance rate for the Tulsa Remote program was low, but I figured we had nothing to lose. I went through the interview process and got accepted The Tulsa Remote program wanted people who wanted to be a part of Tulsa's community. It isn't just a stipend. It also sets you up with all these events in the city. My wife and I love going to the opera, soccer, baseball, and basketball games. When we came and toured Tulsa we saw the city had many things we liked, including museums and a great ballet. We made the move in January 2021. The cost of living in Tulsa is ridiculously low. The city is a lot smaller than Houston but still has everything a big city has to offer. And there's no commute. Everything's within 10 to 15 minutes of driving. Jhonathan Vazquez said he and his wife love that Tulsa has all the offerings of a big city while maintaining a small city charm. Courtesy of Jhonathan Vazquez One of my favorite things is that Tulsa has all four seasons. In Houston, it's just hot and humid. But here, there's a real winter, summer, spring and fall. Here in Tulsa, we rent a house with a backyard. We just open the door, and the dogs have a yard. My wife got pregnant two years into our Tulsa journey and had our beautiful daughter. We would have had to move outside the city if we were still in Houston. But in Tulsa, we can afford to stay. We also pay much less for gas because we don't have to drive 20 miles to get anywhere like we did in Houston. We also have noticed big savings in our housing, too. We're really happy where we're renting, but now that we have our daughter, we're looking to buy a house. The entrepreneurial community in Tulsa is great Tulsa Remote helped set me up with the connections to start my company. About a year and a half after we moved here, I saw something special happening in the entrepreneurship scene and wanted to be a part of it. I met my company's cofounder, and we started Titan Intake in May 2022. We use AI to automate referrals. We've been able to create something special because of the community that exists here. We raised our friends and family around here in Tulsa. An incubator in the city helped us acquire our first clients. Since then, the sky has been the limit, and we've continued to grow. Thanks to our app, about 76,000 patients have been seen, and more than 100 doctors use it. We recently closed our pre-seed round of $1.3 million. Jhonathan Vazquez and his wife moved from Houston, Texas to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2021. Courtesy of Jhonathan Vazquez Tulsa has a lot of programs to help entrepreneurs with non-dilutive capital, from their first idea to the MVP (minimum viable product) phase. That community is really strong here, especially for minority founders like myself. The community is about collaboration and not competition. Tulsa is also taking steps to become a thriving tech scene. It was designated a tech hub earlier this year. There are a lot of programs that are trying to push it in that direction. If people want to start an innovative venture, Tulsa is a great place to do that. The city really helps minority founders get their feet off the ground. We love it here In my wildest dreams I never thought I would live in Tulsa and have a startup and a daughter born here. I definitely miss the cuisine in Houston. It's so diverse, and things actually stayed open past midnight. I miss my family, too. And we miss the easy access to flights. Now, we have to drive to Dallas when we want to visit my family in Mexico. But we see ourselves staying in Tulsa for at least five to 10 years. We want to continue to grow here. Read the original article on Business Insider Scapegoating immigrants is easy. Looking in the mirror? Not so much. But nows the time for introspection. Inflamed by a Mein Kampf-quoting former (and possibly future) president, immigration ranks as the top issue on voters minds, surpassing the economy, deficit and crime in Gallups February survey. Immigration has never ranked this high in Gallup polls stretching back to 1981. Whether rising fears of immigrants are rational, the surge at the southern border is unprecedented. The number of immigrants apprehended there in December exceeded any other month in more than two decades, per a February Pew Research study. No states frontier has seen more strain than Californias. More migrants were arrested crossing San Diegos border than anywhere in the country in April. Opinion Relative to prior decades, what separates this wave of immigrants isnt just their quantities. It is where they are coming from, and why. While immigration from almost every region in the world has risen in recent years, the fastest growth has come from Central America, per a November Pew report. Between 2017 and 2021, more immigrants came from what is known as the Northern Triangle that is, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador than anywhere, including Mexico, per Pew. In 2022, nearly one in four encounters with Border Patrol agents involved migrants from these countries. What do Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans have in common? The immigrants, whom Americans fear most, have fled failed states torn apart by gangs armed with American guns fighting to supply Americans drugs. Nearly 50 million Americans have a substance abuse disorder, and were dying from overdoses 500% more often than two decades ago, per federal data. Our spiraling addictions to shooting heroin, smoking fentanyl, dabbing marijuana, snorting cocaine and selling guns have turned the whole hemisphere into de facto narco-states. Per the UN, all but three of mainland Latin Americas 21 countries are significant producers of, or corridors for, cocaine. Few areas have suffered more than Central America. Violence has long plagued the Northern Triangle, but homicide rates rose rapidly in the 2000s as the region became the primary transit corridor for South American narcotics bound for the U.S., per a November Congressional Research Service report, noting transnational organizations have sought to secure trafficking routes through Central America by battling one another and by intimidating and infiltrating government institutions. When Central Americans are raped, kidnapped and shot dead by drug cartels, theyre looking down barrels of American guns. More than half the firearms used in crimes in Central America and later recovered by authorities originated here, per a 2023 ATF report. Immigrants from Central America arent here to steal jobs. Theyre running for their lives. President Joe Biden has tried treating the disease our supply of weapons and demand for drugs. The same cant be said for Republicans. Trying to expand access to drug treatment, Biden proposed raising the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations budget by $3.3 billion, or 44 percent, last year. House Republicans didnt like that, so they proposed cutting drug treatment access, deleting funding by $234 million. As president, Donald Trump put more weapons in drug traffickers hands when he eased export rules for gun makers in 2020. Biden has used federal power differently, leveraging the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to aggressively reduce firearms trafficking south of the border. In October, his Commerce Department imposed a pause on exports of most civilian guns and ammo. Predictably, Senate Republicans objected. In November, nearly their entire caucus signed a letter bemoaning the rules impact on firearm industry revenues. As Americans fears of immigrants keep swelling, they must know that beneath the surface of this external crisis lies its root causes addiction and profit, gluttony and greed. Max Taves is a concerned Californian, a former columnist at The Wall Street Journal and CBS CNET and an award-winning former reporter at LA Weekly and Law.com. LEE COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) An infant was critically injured following a drive-by shooting in South Carolinas midlands region. Officials with the Lee County Sheriffs Office said a woman was shot multiple times and her 9-month-old was shot at least once Thursday night at the H&B Mobile Home Park off Springhill Road. Queen City News is tracking CRIME in your area >> Latest stories here Lee County Sheriff Daniel Simon said the woman and her four children left the residence after the shooting and discovered that the mobile home was on fire. She then called 9-1-1 to report that she and her child had been shot. The infant was airlifted to a Columbia hospital in critical condition while the mother was taken to a hospital in Florence with non-life-threatening injuries. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Divisions (SLED) crime scene and arson units were asked to assist Lee County in the investigation. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) An initiative petition from the Portland Police Association was ruled unconstitutional by a Multnomah County judge on Thursday after the ACLU of Oregon challenged the proposal. Circuit Judge Katherine von Ter Stegge found that initiative petition PDX-24-OL-02 violated the Oregon Constitution because it is administrative and not legislative in nature, according to court documents. The initiative petition would have amended the city charter to increase police patrol officers, detoxification centers, and street response services. Best places near Portland to catch the Northern Lights The ballot text, cited in court documents, said if the measure were approved, the City Council would be required to increase and maintain the number of sworn police officers in patrol services and create and maintain 24-hour drug and alcohol detox drop-off and treatment centers. Additionally, the council would be required to increase and maintain street response services including social workers working with police and fire personnel to connect people to services and would also be required to issue an annual report. The ACLU of Oregon argued the initiative petition violated the Oregon Constitution on two grounds. Oregon Supreme Court sides with woman alleging Kotek caused her wrongful imprisonment First, the ACLU argued the initiative violated a requirement for initiatives to be truly legislative in nature, rather than administrative, according to court documents. Second, the ACLU argued the initiative violated the Constitutions single-subject requirement. This initiative clearly seeks to increase the size of the PPB patrol division within the existing administrative framework for officer allocation and the transfer of individual officers from other divisions into patrol. For this reason, the Court finds that the Initiative proposes an impermissible administrative change in the consideration about how and whether to transfer PPB officers from other positions into the patrol division, the ruling said. VIDEO: 82-year-old woman rescued from Devils Punch Bowl Regarding the single subject provision, the ruling stated, because this Court determined that the Initiative is impermissibly administrative and cannot appear as drafted on the ballot, there is no need to reach the single subject analysis. Now, the initiative, as written, will not appear on the November ballot, according to court documents. In a statement, PPA President Sgt. Aaron Schmautz said Our goal with the measure was to give Portlanders a voice in the future of their City: more police, more street response, more detox centers. We are dismayed that a single court has blocked the opportunity for all voters to have a say in their own Citys affairs. We will continue to engage with Portlanders in every way we can to improve public safety for all. El Ninos end is imminent: What it means for Portlands summer weather Kelly Simon, legal director of the ACLU of Oregon, told KOIN 6 News, The law applies equally to everyone, including the Portland Police Union. As the court found, the initiative petitions attempt to dictate an increase in police cannot move forward because it was not a proper legislative act under the Oregon Constitution. ACLU Oregon Executive Director Sandy Chung added, The Portland Police Unions initiative did not propose real solutions to issues like homelessness, drug addiction, and mental health. These are top-of-mind issues for Portlanders, but arresting and jailing people do not solve them. If the police unions petition were permitted to go to the voters, we would have risked taking our limited tax dollars away from real solutions that do not involve police. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com. Plasma centre in the Louisiana prison was run by inmates who were paid $3 per day and overlooked basic safety - GILES CLARKE/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA Inmates bribed their way onto a scheme to donate infected blood, documents seen by The Telegraph have revealed. Plasma used to create a medical treatment used on NHS patients was collected from US prisons. Donors used bribes to bypass checks that should have screened out those who tested positive for hepatitis, used intravenous drugs and had unsafe tattoos. The compromised plasma is at the heart of the infected blood scandal, in which thousands of people in Britain in the 1970s and 80s were given blood transfusions or blood products that were infected with viruses such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV. The high-risk plasma was used in a miracle treatment for the genetic blood-clotting disorder haemophilia, called Factor VIII. Prisoners at Louisiana State Penitentiary admitted to bribing fellow inmates to get a lucrative spot on a prison plasma scheme, which paid donors $15 (12), according to court documents first published in The Poison Line: Life and Death in the Infected Blood Scandal, which were later taken into evidence by the Infected Blood Inquiry. Richard Vincent, a former inmate at Louisiana State Penitentiary in a legal deposition, said: You can bleed twice a week, thats $30. Back then you could buy a carton of Camels for $6. And you could give that to one of the plasma workers... Then they didnt care what you had. Companies including Bayer, Baxter and Armour pooled tens of thousands of donations together. Only one donor needed to have a virus for the whole batch to be contaminated. Some 1,250 people with haemophilia in the UK contracted HIV from Factor VIII and up to 5,000 more with hepatitis C. In a parallel scandal, as many as 26,800 NHS patients were exposed to hepatitis C from blood transfusion; hundreds of whom could still be undiagnosed. Survivors and bereaved family members are seeking compensation and an apology from the UK government, which oversaw the imports, when the Infected Blood Inquiry delivers its final report on May 20. The plasma centre in the Louisiana prison was run by inmates who were paid $3 per day and overlooked basic safety. It wasnt nothing to see people having sex in the bathroom before they go on the table to bleed, said Vincent. They had oral sex and anal sex then five minutes later theyre on the table giving blood. Vincent said he had hepatitis B and C, which he could have contracted from tattoos in prison or drug use. Tom Mull, a retired lawyer who uncovered the plasma centre at Louisiana State Penitentiary and interviewed Vincent, said: It was so outrageously irresponsible that it was hard to believe they had actually done it. Lorraine Mull, Mr Mulls wife and legal partner, added: It changed my whole view on some pharmaceutical companies. The sheer greed of it, corporate profits above the safety of people with haemophilia. David Grillette, another prisoner, told Mr Mull: They knowingly let me donate blood plasma with hepatitis B. Grillette said staff knew about his drug use, which makes the plasma people that much more at fault. He added, If someone has become ill because of it, I feel awful. Vincent said he was told the plasma would be used for cosmetic products, not a medical treatment. The US Food and Drug Administration licensed plasma centres in prisons in Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Tennessee and Mississippi. Plasma collected at Louisiana State Penitentiary was used by Baxter Healthcare. A public inquiry in Canada in 1997 found Factor VIII made with plasma collected in Arkansas prison had infected more than 1,000 Canadian people with HIV. Cutter, a subsidiary of Bayer, paid inmates $12 per week to work in that plasma centre. In Britain, it is illegal to pay donors for plasma but as the country didnt produce enough of its own Factor VIII it relied on imports from the US, where people could sell their plasma twice a week. Financial reward encouraged donors at higher-risk of blood-borne diseases, including intravenous drug users and sex workers. Pharmaceutical companies also sourced plasma from nightclub districts and impoverished areas of US cities. Adverts from the early 1980s show pharma companies calling for gay men to donate plasma to help create an immune treatment for hepatitis B. Those men were at greater risk of contracting HIV and their plasma was also used to make Factor VIII. Worst epidemics in history Michael Baum, lawyer at Wisner Baum who worked with Mr Mull, said: It was as if all these haemophiliac kids were sharing needles with intravenous drug users and prisoners during one of the worst epidemics of blood borne diseases in history. That to my mind is a crime. Using evidence from Louisiana State Penitentiary and the advertisements for hepatitis B positive donors, the Mulls and Mr Baum won a $100 million settlement for 124 families from four pharmaceutical companies, Baxter, Bayer, Armour and Alpha. The lawyers proved Bayer and Armour knowingly sold Factor VIII that contained hepatitis and HIV. The Infected Blood Inquiry heard those two companies and Baxter maintained a cosy relationship with NHS doctors in the Aids crisis through monetary rebates and research grants. A spokesman for Bayer said it is cooperating with the Infected Blood Inquiry and it would be inappropriate to comment in detail before the report. They said: Bayer is truly sorry that this tragic situation occurred and that therapies that were developed by Bayer Group companies, and were prescribed by doctors to save and improve lives, in fact ended up causing so much suffering to so many. A spokesman for Baxter said: We sympathise with anyone impacted by infected blood in the 1970s and 1980s. Baxter is committed to providing the highest quality products to its patients and customers, and to conducting its business ethically and compliantly. 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. The Arizona grand jury that recently indicted 18 people for their roles in former President Donald Trumps scheme to subvert the 2020 election cast a far wider net than state prosecutors had publicly foreshadowed. The panel of 16 Arizonans displayed unusual independence from the prosecutors supervising the investigation, according to a rare inside look at the secret proceedings based on interviews with eight people familiar with the probe and documents signed by a top prosecutor. The grand jury took aggressive steps to haul in witnesses and even brought charges against some who had been told by prosecutors they were not under investigation. It ultimately produced a 58-page indictment last month that charged national and state Republicans including one of Trumps current top advisers and several former members of his inner circle with felonies for their alleged roles in the effort to overturn Joe Bidens victory in the state. Trump himself was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator. Documents reviewed by POLITICO reveal that at least two of the 18 people charged former Trump lawyers Jenna Ellis and Christina Bobb were assured by prosecutors that they were not targets of the probe, only to learn that the grand jury indicted them anyway. In fact, a letter that a prosecutor sent to Ellis just days before the indictment appeared to significantly understate her legal jeopardy. One witness who testified before the grand jury said a faction of the panel drove intense questioning that exceeded the limited scope that prosecutors had publicly acknowledged. The probe was led by the office of Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. Arizona law tightly restricts any discussion of grand jury proceedings, and most of the people interviewed by POLITICO were granted anonymity to describe the inner workings. Though Republicans have accused Mayes, a Democrat, of bringing an unfair and politically motivated case, the people who described the investigation to POLITICO said the grand jury was surprisingly independent of prosecutors and sometimes even hard for them to predict. The State Grand Jury was given leeway to conduct an independent investigation, as it is entitled to do by law, Mayes spokesperson, Richie Taylor, said in a statement. I cannot confirm or deny the specifics of grand jury proceedings, and I will note that the investigation remains open and ongoing. I will have to decline to comment further. Grand juries, like trial juries, consist of ordinary people who are randomly called to serve. By law, they are independent empowered to conduct their own lines of questioning and to reach conclusions that may not align with the wishes of investigators but in run-of-the-mill criminal cases, they are often wholly deferential to the prosecutors who empanel them. In newsworthy or politically sensitive probes, however, its more common for grand juries to take on an independent role, according to Paul Charlton, a former Arizona prosecutor. Every high-profile case that Ive ever had, which is cases that have necessarily attendant publicity, or a public corruption case, or anything else, grand jurors become interested, he said. Ultimately, the Arizona grand jury investigating the 2020 election indicted former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, and close Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn. It also indicted the 11 Arizona Republicans who falsely claimed to be the states rightful presidential electors. Arizona is the fourth state after Georgia, Michigan and Nevada to bring criminal charges stemming from the efforts of Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 results in states that Biden won. At the federal level, special counsel Jack Smith has also charged Trump himself for the scheme. An aggressive grand jury Mayes succeeded a Republican in January 2023 after campaigning on a promise to investigate the so-called fake electors that falsely claimed Trump had prevailed in Arizonas 2020 contest. Her office began the probe early in her term, and Mayes confirmed her focus on the elector scheme repeatedly in interviews throughout 2023. I have been clear that we are conducting an investigation into the fake elector situation here in Arizona, Mayes said in an August 2023 radio interview. But a year into her tenure, as the grand jury fired off a series of subpoenas, there were signs that the scope of the probe was broader than that. For months, the panel met regularly in a drab, white-walled basement room of the Maricopa County Superior Courthouse. There, grand jurors and prosecutors discussed which witnesses to summon, which subpoenas to issue and the lines of inquiry the investigation should pursue. When witnesses appeared, jurors would sit in desks arranged in a U-shape to face witnesses, who sat alongside a court reporter and prosecutors. The jurors toted binders of evidence and notebooks, and prosecutors would display exhibits on a television screen. People familiar with the investigation noted that the grand jurors had a range of political and ideological viewpoints. There appeared to be a faction that drove the most aggressive questions, while others inquired from different points of view. Occasionally, some would roll their eyes or sigh audibly during others inquiries. Not a target Several months after Ellis, one of the Trump lawyers, pleaded guilty in Georgia to aiding Trumps quest to subvert the 2020 election, Mayes prosecutors approached her with questions of their own. They asked her to appear for an interview in their office to determine whether they might benefit from her cooperation, a so-called free talk interview. Ms. Ellis is not a target of the States investigation, a prosecutor in Mayes office wrote in the Feb. 20 letter to Ellis lawyer that also proposed terms for an interview. On April 19, the prosecutor followed up with another version of the same letter working to arrange an interview, reiterating that Ellis was not a target of their probe. Four days later, the grand jury indicted her. The interview never happened. Ellis and her legal team declined to comment. Omer Gurion, a Phoenix criminal defense lawyer who does not have any clients connected to the probe, said the events regarding Ellis were unheard of, given that she could have sat for a free-talk interview under the false impression she wouldnt face charges. I have never seen anything like that in any Arizona criminal case that I can think of, he said. Not one. He added that for a person to go from being untargeted to indicted in just four days is technically possible but pretty unusual. Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, concurred. Its bad form, and something I would never do as a prosecutor, he said. That said, Ive practiced criminal law across this country and gone up against prosecutors of all stripes, and Ive learned there are many prosecutors who do things I would not do. Charlton, the former Arizona prosecutor, also agreed that the Ellis episode was unusual. It is peculiar, he said. It may have a very reasonable explanation you certainly hope it does. But at the end of the day, the prejudice that she suffers seems marginal, only because she never participated in the discussion with them. Bobb, a lawyer who worked on Trumps efforts to fight his 2020 defeat and now works for the RNC on election integrity issues, also received a letter from prosecutors two months before the indictment. Hers, dated Feb. 28 and reviewed by POLITICO, said she was not a person under investigation by the State Grand Jury. Her lawyer, Thomas Jacobs, confirmed she received the letter attached to a subpoena for testimony. Less than two months after receiving the letter, Bobb was also indicted. Gurion was skeptical that prosecutors didnt know she was under investigation just two months before her indictment. I cannot imagine that they didnt know that she was being investigated and was going to be mentioned to the grand jury two months prior, he said. That doesnt make sense. This timeline is troubling, he added. Mariotti also said he had never seen anything like it. In my over 20 years practicing criminal law, Ive never encountered someone who was a witness being indicted less than two months later, who was told in writing that theyre a witness and not under investigation, he said. Charlton, meanwhile, said the prosecutors could have gathered new evidence between the date of the letter and the indictment that resulted in their decision to charge Bobb. I assume these are prosecutors who are acting in good faith, he said, and absent any proof to the contrary, thats what I would say they were doing. A grill session One of the witnesses who spoke to POLITICO underscored the divergence between the grand jurors and prosecutors. The witness, who received an immunity agreement over the winter, was told to expect roughly an hour of questioning on some boilerplate details of the probe. Instead, grand jurors grilled the witness for three hours, sometimes in pointed and accusatory ways a level of aggression that caught me off guard. The witness recalled a juror who seemed to be the leader of the indict them all crowd and asked pointed but specific questions. Another grand juror asked more high-level questions like, How could you even talk to these people? What were you thinking? with long preambles that made his views of the case known, the witness said. Another smaller faction of grand jurors consistently reframed the questions of the more aggressive jurors and seemed to be more skeptical of the angle they were taking, the witness recalled, noting that this group was visibly rolling their eyes, heavy sighing, shifting uncomfortably." One grand juror also wanted to know what the witness could possibly have been thinking in the weeks after Trumps defeat. The witness wasnt a target but left the room surprised by the tenor of the grand jurys questions and feeling like a punching bag. And after the grilling was over, the witness said, a prosecutor offered a sheepish apology for its unexpected intensity. Charlton said grand jurors tend to listen passively while prosecutors question witnesses during their sessions. You could present them with 100 bank robbery cases and get nothing but yawns, he added. But when they are investigating public corruption and newsworthy events, they are much more likely to take a hands-on approach. In the months before the indictment, the grand jury subpoenaed many of the people who would later be charged for signing false documents claiming to be legitimate presidential electors. Lawyers for those people told the prosecutors that their clients would assert their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if required to appear before the grand jury declining to share anything at all of substance. Typically when witnesses say they plan to invoke a constitutional privilege, prosecutors will excuse them from appearing. But in this case, grand jurors insisted that fake electors appear in person to plead the Fifth, so prosecutors ordered them to do so. The jurors pressed them on whether they had evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential race and witnesses asserted their rights to remain silent. Israel is ordering new evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians are sheltering, as the country is preparing to expand its military operations. People in Rafah were told by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to head north to the Al Mawasi area. They were also instructed to head west of Gaza City as the IDF looks to brace for what they say is a Palestinian militant group Hamas rebuild in the area, according to IDFs Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraees early Saturday post on social media platform X. The call for Palestinians to flee the area comes as Israel has faced opposition internationally in its quest to perform a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah. President Biden said earlier this week that he would withhold sending bombs to Israel if the country does go ahead with a full-blown operation in Rafah. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), one of the major aid agencies providing food, shelter and medicine to Palestinians, said that at least 300,000 people are affected by the new notifications to move out. The agency estimated that around 150,000 people have fled Rafah since Monday. Over 100,000 people already displaced from Rafah are facing dire shortages of shelter, food, water and sanitation services, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The calls for new evacuations in the area come shortly after the State Department released its highly-anticipated report, stating it was reasonable to assess violated humanitarian international law in its war operation in the Gaza Strip, but the review did not find specific examples of violation to pin wrongdoing to the U.S. ally. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said the report, released on Friday, was woefully inadequate. While the administration has made some important general findings in this report, including the finding that its reasonable to conclude that Israel has violated international law in the use of American weapons, they all fall short of making difficult determinations in specific cases, he said Friday. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Israel ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians to leave Rafah on Saturday a second evacuation order for the centre of the heavily populated city as Israel prepares to expand its military operation. Rafah is considered the last refuge in Gaza, and is sheltering half of the population an estimated 1.4 million people. The United Nations has warned a full-scale invasion of the southern city would cause a disastrous level of civilian casualties, while US president Joe Biden has said he will not provide weapons to be used in the city. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has rejected pressure to resist attacking the city, saying that Hamas has based most of its top leaders and remaining forces there. The Israeli army said rockets were launched Saturday from Rafah in southern Gaza towards the Kerem Shalom crossing, which it has seized. Four launches were identified that crossed from the Rafah area, the military said in a statement. Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the entry of aid into Gaza from the Rafah crossing due to Israels unacceptable escalation, Egypts state affiliated Alqahera News satellite TV reported on Saturday, citing a senior official. The official also said that Egypt held Israel responsible for the deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip. On May 7, Israeli forces seized the main border crossing at Rafah, closing a vital route for aid into the besieged enclave. The Israeli army issued its first evacuation order for parts of eastern Rafah on Monday, saying it was in preparation for a widely anticipated ground assault. The evacuations are forcing people to move to areas largely destroyed in the north or expanded humanitarian zones. What should we do here? Do we wait until we all die on top of each other? So weve decided to leave. Its better, Hanan al-Satari, a Rafah resident, told the Associated Press. However, many people have already fled the humanitarian zones which have been designated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) due to horrific conditions, according to aid workers. We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the UN humanitarian agency in Rafah. The IDF said it was also moving into an area in northern Gaza, where it said Hamas had regrouped. Avichay Adraee, Israeli army spokesman, told Palestinians in Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and surrounding areas to leave their homes, warning that people were in a dangerous combat zone and that Israel would strike with great force. 10:03 AM BST Australia says Palestinian UN membership bid builds peace momentum Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said on Saturday the countrys support for a Palestinian bid to become a full United Nations member was part of building momentum to secure peace in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Australia voted on Friday with the overwhelming majority of the UN General Assembly in backing the resolution that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state. It recommended the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably. Much of our region and many of our partners also voted yes, Ms Wong told a press conference in Adelaide. We all know one vote on its own wont end this conflict - it has spanned our entire lifetimes - but we all have to do what we can to build momentum towards peace. 09:58 AM BST Leaflets ordering evacuation Israeli military drops leaflets ordering around hundreds of thousands of people to leave the city - IDF 09:30 AM BST UAE hits out at Netanyahu for saying Gulf state could help run Gaza The United Arab Emirateshas hit out at Benjamin Netanyahus after the Israeli leader said the Gulf state could be involved in aiding a future government in Gaza after the war. The prominent and influential Gulf state, is one of few Arab states with official diplomatic ties to Israel, which it has maintained through Israels more than six-month war in Gaza, although relations appear to have become frayed. Foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan rebukedMr Netanyahu in an early morning post on X, saying Abu Dhabi denounced the Israeli leaders comments. The UAE stresses that the Israeli prime minister does not have any legal capacity to take this step, and the UAE refuses to be drawn into any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip, he said in an Arabic post. Sheikh Abdullah said the UAE would be prepared to support a Palestinian government that met the hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people, which he said included independence. 09:27 AM BST Pictures from Rafah Palestinians transport their belongings on the back of a van as they flee Rafah - AFP via Getty Images Smoke rises above buildings during an early morning Israeli strike - AFP via Getty Images 09:25 AM BST UN assembly approves resolution granting Palestine new rights The UN General Assembly voted by a wide margin yesterday to grant new rights and privileges to Palestine and called on the Security Council to reconsider Palestines request to become the 194th member of the United Nations. The world body approved the Arab and Palestinian-sponsored resolution by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions. The United States voted against it, along with Israel, Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Papua New Guinea. The vote reflected the wide global support for full membership of Palestine in the United Nations, with many countries expressing outrage at the escalating death toll in Gaza and fears of a major Israeli offensive in Rafah, a southern city where about 1.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge. It also demonstrated growing support for the Palestinians. A General Assembly resolution on Oct 27 calling for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza was approved 120-14 with 45 abstentions. That was just weeks after Israel launched its military offensive in response to Hamas Oct 7 attack in southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people. 09:20 AM BST Israel may have violated humanitarian law with American weapons, US says Israel may have used American weapons in ways that violated international law, the US State Department has found. In a highly-critical report, it concluded it was reasonable to assess US arms had been used in Gaza in instances inconsistent with international humanitarian law. However, it stopped short of a specific finding on whether the Jewish state had broken international law which would justify Washington withholding military aid. A finding that Israel had violated international law would have enabled Joe Biden to restrict arms deliveries, since it would represent a breach of US laws governing arms transfers to foreign militaries. The conclusions are made in a State Department report which was ordered by Mr Biden in February, a declassified version of which was delivered to Congress and released late on Friday afternoon. It is unrelated to Mr Bidens decision to delay a delivery of heavy bombs and other weaponry to Israel amid a public rift between the US president and Benjamin Netanyahu over his planned ground invasion of Rafah. The Israeli Prime Minister has remained defiant in the face of Mr Bidens hardening stance, declaring: If Israel needs to stand alone, it will stand alone. Read more here 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. BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping has stressed efforts to continuously break new ground in ideological and political education at schools in the new era. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in an instruction on the development of ideological-political courses for schools. Xi said that the CPC Central Committee has always made developing ideological-political courses in schools a priority for education since the 18th CPC National Congress and the Party's leadership in this regard has been fully strengthened. Developing ideological-political courses on the new journey of the new era should follow the guidance of the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and the fundamental mission of fostering virtue should be carried out, Xi said. He underscored the importance of developing a system of textbooks with a focus on the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and integrating political education across all levels from elementary schools to universities. Xi stressed the need for efforts to uphold fundamental principles and break new ground to develop ideological-political courses, and to make the courses more targeted and appealing. He stressed that Party committees and leading Party members groups at all levels should make it a priority to develop ideological-political courses. Schools of various types should consistently break new ground in ideological and political education in the new era, and foster talented individuals who are loyal to the Party, patriotic and dedicated, and capable of shouldering the mission of realizing national rejuvenation, he said. Xi's important instruction was conveyed at a meeting on boosting the development of ideological-political courses for schools held in Beijing on Saturday. Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Ding, who is also vice premier, called for thorough study and implementation of Xi's important instruction and urged continuous efforts to push forward the reform and innovation of ideological-political courses. Stressing the importance of helping students better understand national conditions and consolidate their ideals and faith, Ding said the mechanism for guaranteeing proper status and salaries for teachers of the courses should be improved. JERUSALEM - Israel called on Saturday for Palestinians in more areas of Gaza's southern city of Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, in a further indication that the military is pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah. In a post on social media site X, a military spokesperson also called on residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, and 11 other neighbourhoods in the enclave to go immediately to places west of Gaza City. The Palestinian health ministry said at least 37 Palestinians, 24 of them from central Gaza areas, were killed in overnight airstrikes across the enclave, including in Rafah. War in Gaza: Biden administration acknowledges possible Israeli weapons misuse in report to Congress Palestinians pile their belongings on a vehicle as it drives to safer areas in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 10, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas. "They threw fliers on Rafah and said, from Rafah to al-Zawayda is safe, people should evacuate there, and they did, and what has become of them? Dismembered bodies? There is no safe place in Gaza," Khitam Al-Khatib, who said she had lost at least 10 of her relatives in an airstrike on a family house earlier on Saturday, told Reuters. Al-Zawayda is a small town in central Gaza Strip that has been crowded by thousands of displaced people from across the enclave. The Israeli military said its aircraft struck tens of targets across the Strip over the past day, adding its ground troops had eliminated fighters in Zeitoun in recent hours. An Israeli airstrike killed at least seven people in a house in Beit Lahiya town in the northern Gaza Strip, all from the same family, medics said. In Rafah, residents told Reuters the new evacuation orders by the Israeli military covered areas in the centre of the city and left little doubt Israel planned to expand its ground offensive there. "The situation is very difficult, people are leaving their homes in panic," said Khaled, 35, a resident of the Shaboura neighbourhood, an area where the new orders to leave have been issued. The Israeli military said it was continuing operational activity against Hamas fighters in eastern Rafah and on the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing. Despite heavy U.S. pressure and alarm expressed by residents and humanitarian groups, Israel has said it will proceed with an incursion into Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced people have sought refuge during the seven-month-old war. Israeli tanks captured the main road dividing Rafah's eastern and western sections on Friday, effectively encircling the eastern side in an assault that has caused Washington to hold up the delivery of some military aid to its ally. Colleges and universities: What's the latest on pro-Palestinian campus protests? More arrests as graduations approach Israel says it cannot win the war without rooting out thousands of Hamas fighters it believes are deployed in Rafah. About 300,000 Gazans have so far moved towards Al-Mawasi, according to Israeli military estimates released on Saturday. The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's military operation in Gaza has killed close to 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The bombardment has laid waste to the coastal enclave and caused a deep humanitarian crisis. Two crossing points vital for delivery of aid to Gaza were still closed on Saturday: the Palestinian WAFA news agency said the Rafah crossing was closed for a fifth day, while another crossing, Kerem Shalom, has been shut for around a week. The latest evacuation orders came hours after internationally mediated ceasefire talks appeared to be faltering, with Hamas saying Israel's rejection of the truce offer it had accepted returned things to square one. The Palestinian militant group also hinted it was reconsidering its negotiation policy. It did not elaborate on whether a review meant it would harden its terms for reaching a deal, but said it would consult with other allied factions. Israel says it wants to reach a deal under which hostages would be released in exchange for the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, but that it is not prepared to end the military offensive. 'Exhausted' In Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands were sheltering, Palestinians mourned relatives during funerals on Saturday. "Here they are, in pieces, here is my sister-in-law, without a head, my aunt is without a head, what is this injustice? Until when will this go on? We are exhausted, by God we are exhausted, I have lived in tents for the past seven months," said Khatib, sitting near bodies wrapped in white shrouds bearing the names of the dead men and women. Tents are set up by displaced Palestinians in al-Mawasi near the border with Egypt in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 9, 2024. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is under increasing pressure over its military campaign, including from longtime ally the United States. The Biden administration said on Friday Israel's use of U.S.-supplied weapons may have violated international humanitarian law during its Gaza operation, in its strongest criticism to date of Israel. But the administration stopped short of a definitive assessment, saying that due to the chaos of the war it could not verify specific instances where use of those weapons might have been involved in alleged breaches. (Reporting by Maytaal Angel in Jerusalem and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo. Additional reporting by Hatem Khaled in Gaza. Editing by Mark Potter and Frances Kerry.) This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel orders Palestinians to evacuate more areas in Rafah, Gaza Palestinians inspect damaged houses after Israeli warplanes bombed a home for the Al-Shaer family, leading to widespread destruction in the Al-Salam neighbourhood, east of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa The Israeli army is continuing its operation in the eastern part of Rafah, the military said on Saturday. Israeli troops were continuing to target Hamas fighters at specific locations in the east of the city in the southern Gaza Strip and had killed several militants over the past 24 hours, it said. Israeli soldiers are also still active on the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, according to the statement. It was not possible to independently verify the claims. The Israeli army seems set to expand its operation against positions and combat units of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas in Rafah, although calls are growing louder to desist, including from the United Nations and the United States, Israel's main backer. More than 1 million Palestinians are seeking refuge in Rafah, half of them children. However, more than 150,000 people have now fled from the city, fearing an Israeli advance into Rafah. The Israeli army occupied the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing at the beginning of the week. On Saturday, it called on Palestinians to leave large parts of Rafah for the Mediterranean coast, in a call that suggests it plans to expand its military operation to the densely populated city centre. Palestinians inspect damages following an Israeli air strike on Al Maghazi refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip. Omar Naaman/dpa A view of a camp for internally displaced Palestinians near the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa The Israeli army told Rafah residents to leave other areas in the east of Gaza's southern city on Saturday, in a call that suggests it plans to expand its military operation there, despite growing international demands to desist. The areas affected include two refugee camps, according to the message broadcast in Arabic on X and in text messages. People in the listed areas must immediately move to the village of Al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The order suggests that the IDF intends to expand its operation against positions and combat units of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas in the city on the border with Egypt. Foreign leaders and the United Nations have called on Israel to halt the operation, which began earlier in the week, fearing mass casualties as people have fled to the city to escape fighting in other parts of the Gaza Strip, leading to extreme overcrowding. More than 1 million Palestinians are seeking refuge in Rafah, half of them children. "A massive ground attack in Rafah would lead to an epic humanitarian disaster and pull the plug on our efforts to support people as famine looms," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday. The United States, Israel's main ally, is also urging against a large-scale offensive and US President Joe Biden has threatened to restrict the supply of weapons. But the Israeli leadership continues to insist on its aim to eliminate the last battalions of Hamas thought to be in Rafah. Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza since Hamas militants and other extremist groups launched a bloody raid on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 200. Israel responded to the massacre with massive airstrikes and launched a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 35,000 people according to the Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza. A view of a camp for internally displaced Palestinians near the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa Israeli guards strapped wounded Palestinian detainees to their beds wearing diapers and fed them through straws, report says A CNN report exposes alleged abuse of Palestinians at an Israeli Sde Teiman detention center. The facility operates under Israel's Unlawful Combatants Law, allowing detention without due process. Over 9,000 Palestinians are held in deteriorating conditions since October 7. An Israeli detention center is subjecting Palestinians to abuse, strapping detainees down to their beds, blindfolding them, and holding them in diapers, a new CNN report alleges. The Sde Teiman camp in the Negev desert in southern Israel is also a military base. It has been the site of abusive conduct against some of the 70 Palestinian detainees, three Israeli whistleblowers told CNN. Medical personnel at the facility are alleged to have performed amputations on prisoners due to injuries sustained from prolonged handcuffing, with some procedures carried out by underqualified staff. Guards are accused of using excessive force as a form of punishment, while detainees endure routine humiliations, including being attacked by dogs and subjected to aggressive searches, CNN reported. The Israel Defense Forces detained the prisoners during the on-going invasion of Gaza, that began after Hamas militants surged into southern Israel on October 7 committing massacres and atrocities that left 1,200 people dead, and 230 hostages kidnapped to Gaza. Israel's siege of Gaza that followed has killed 34,000, including thousands of children, says the Hamas-run Ministry of Health. One whistleblower told CNN that beatings were "not done to gather intelligence. They were done out of revenge. It was punishment for what they did on October 7 and punishment for behavior in the camp." Guards strip them down of "anything that resembles human beings," a whistleblower said. In a field hospital, wounded detainees were strapped to beds, dressed in diapers, and fed through straws, CNN reported. Palestinians who were detained during the Israeli army attacks on Shifa Hospital are brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for treatment after their release in Deir Al Balah, Gaza on March 24, 2024. Anadolu | Getty Images Dr. Mohammed Al-Ran, headed the surgical unit at Gaza's Indonesian hospital, a former prisoner in the Sde Teiman camp, told CNN: "When they removed my blindfold, I could see the extent of the humiliation and abasement, I could see the extent to which they saw us not as human beings but as animals." The facility operates under the Unlawful Combatants Law, granting the military broad powers to detain individuals without due process, raising concerns about transparency and accountability. The law permits the military to detain people for 45 days without an arrest warrant, after which they must be transferred to Israel's formal prison system (IPS). Satellite images reveal a significant expansion of the Sde Teiman facility since the conflict began. Accounts of detainee abuse are not unique to the Negev. In November, Business Insider's Alia Shoaib reported on graphic videos appearing to show IDF soldiers abusing Palestinian detainees in the West Bank. The videos depict IDF soldiers dragging blindfolded and bound Palestinian men on the ground, many half or completely naked. Last week, a Palestinian doctor died in an Israeli prison after more than four months in detention, Palestinian prisoner associations said, per BBC News. Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, 50, was the head of orthopedics at al-Shifa Hospital. Israeli prison authorities said they were investigating the incident. No cause of death was given. The UN's stance on the treatment of prisoners entails that "all prisoners shall be treated with respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings." The IDF responded to CNN's report with the following statement: "The IDF ensures proper conduct towards the detainees in custody. Any allegation of misconduct by IDF soldiers is examined and dealt with accordingly. In appropriate cases, MPCID (Military Police Criminal Investigation's Division) investigations are opened when there is suspicion of misconduct justifying such action." Business Insider contacted the Israeli government for comment. Currently, over 9,000 Palestinians are being held in conditions that rights groups say have drastically deteriorated since October 7. Read the original article on Business Insider Israeli whistleblowers alleged abuse of Palestinians at a military base in Sde Teiman that also serves as a detention center, according to a CNN report. Three Israeli individuals who worked at the base, in which Palestinians are detained amid the war in Gaza, alleged that at the facility, doctors have occasionally amputated prisoners limbs and performed medical procedures they were not qualified to conduct. Doctors amputated prisoners limbs due to injuries from consistent handcuffing, according to the whistleblowers. The facility is made up of two parts one has enclosures where about 70 Palestinian detainees are put into intense physical restraint. The other is a field hospital, where injured detainees are strapped to beds, wearing diapers, and are fed via straws, according to the report. They stripped them down of anything that resembles human beings, one of the whistleblowers who worked in the field hospital said, according to CNN. Another whistleblower said (the beatings) were not done to gather intelligence. They were done out of revenge, the second whistleblower continued, per CNN. It was punishment for what they (the Palestinians) did on October 7 and punishment for behavior in the camp. Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, carried out the October 7 attacks on Israel, which left more than 1,100 people dead. In response to the CNN report, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the outlet that it ensures proper conduct towards the detainees in custody. Any allegation of misconduct by IDF soldiers is examined and dealt with accordingly, the IDF said, according to CNN. In appropriate cases, MPCID (Military Police Criminal Investigations Division) investigations are opened when there is suspicion of misconduct justifying such action. Detainees are handcuffed based on their risk level and health status, the IDF continued. Incidents of unlawful handcuffing are not known to the authorities. The Hill has reached out to the IDF. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. ANNAPOLIS, Md. Democratic voters in Marylands state capital and affluent suburbs south and west of Baltimore have a tough decision when choosing their likely next member of Congress on Tuesday. They can elect a former police officer launched to national stardom after defending the Capitol during the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot, or one of their state legislators who has passed bills focused on local bread-and-butter issues like health care, green jobs, flooding and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. After Jan. 6, Harry Dunn became one of the faces representing the hundreds of police officers who put their lives on the line to protect the Capitol when it was attacked by supporters of then-President Donald Trump seeking to stop the certification of Joe Bidens 2020 election victory. Dunn gave emotional testimony during the televised committee hearings investigating Jan. 6, became a fixture on the cable news circuit, and wrote a book last fall about the ordeal and his life. Id be a liar if I didnt tell you I was anxious and a little stressed out about this whole process. I mean, I literally walked away from a long-term career in the federal government, Dunn, 40, said in an interview with NBC News on Friday. Yard signs. (Scott Wong / NBC News) But at the end of the day, I could not live with myself if I had an opportunity to try to do something to stop the agenda that Donald Trump has, Dunn continued, adding: He said that he wants to be a dictator, and you have members of Congress that will back him in that. So I think at this moment, we need fighters right now, and I think Im the right person for the job. A Maryland native, Dunn doesnt live in the states deep-blue 3rd Congressional District he says he lives about 9 miles outside of it and has family who reside there but the former cops national stature and celebrity have helped boost his fundraising to staggering levels. The political newcomer has raked in roughly $4.6 million since announcing his bid in January to replace retiring nine-term Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes, dwarfing the cash raised by his two top primary rivals, state Sens. Sarah Elfreth and Clarence Lam. As Trump seeks a political comeback this fall, Democratic voters here are wrestling with the question of whether they want to be represented by a man who literally battled rioters seeking to keep Trump in power or choose from experienced legislators who have a track record of delivering in the district. Elfreth has a lot of goodwill. Shes worked really hard in the General Assembly, so shes kind of the inside, said former Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md. And then youve got Harry Dunn, whos captured the national imagination. And he has to figure out how to turn that into a political win. I voted for her, not against him Outside an early-voting site at the Broadneck Library in Annapolis, Kathryn Schulke said she and her husband had cast their votes for Elfreth, who tried to help her family find vaccines during the pandemic. I actually called one day and she actually answered the phone, which completely caught me by surprise, Schulke, a retired registered nurse, said Thursday. Shed had trouble getting a vaccine for her son, who has cystic fibrosis. Sarah Elfreth. (Scott Wong / NBC News) She couldnt actually solve the problem for me, Schulke continued, but her compassion and her ability to listen and her ability to understand and then to further tell me what she was doing, Im probably a Sarah Elfreth voter for life. I voted for her, not against him, she added. Moments later, Elfreth arrived at the library with a campaign aide to thank voters for showing up. Foot traffic was light at the early-voting site, but a mother and her two young daughters spotted Elfreth and walked over. The mother noted that one of Elfreths priorities is protecting the environment, and the state senator pointed out that Democratic Gov. Wes Moore earlier that day had signed her bill into law that expands solar energy in Maryland. The folks that I talk to on the trail really want somebody who has a track record of getting things done. Legislating isnt easy. Its an art form to negotiate and work with others who oppose you, Elfreth, 35, said in an interview. These are people who are on opposite sides of an issue, and how do you bring them together and work through the details and find common ground and get things done on behalf of your constituents. Its not an easy feat, and I love that part of the job; I do it well. I pass more bills at the statehouse than any of my colleagues. Clarence Lam. (Pamela Wood / TNS via Getty Images file) Lam, 43, a physician on faculty at Johns Hopkins University, is the only physician and only Asian American in the state Senate. Hes also touting his legislative record, specifically his work on health policy, including capping the cost of insulin and expanding Medicaid to ensure all mothers get greater access to prenatal and postnatal care. When it comes to a lot of the work that Ive done, much of it has been in the health care and public health space, Lam said. Pro-Israel group spends big Elfreth has raised nearly $1.5 million through late April, while Lam has pulled in roughly $736,000. The 19 other candidates in the crowded field, including state Delegates Mark Chang, Terri Hill and Mike Rogers, are far behind. Despite Dunns huge fundraising advantage, the spending dynamics have shifted in recent weeks. United Democracy Project, a super PAC tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel group, pumped more than $4 million into the race backing Elfreth most of that in TV ads airing in the Baltimore market. It sucks, to be blunt, said Dunn, who has repeatedly expressed support for Israel. Because, yes, I have been doing the work. Ive been out there [getting] grassroots support. Its disheartening to see that our democracy is now up for sale for whatever interests are able to dump in millions of dollars behind their preferred candidate, added Lam. Harry Dunn. (Jacquelyn Martin / AP file) Under federal law, Elfreth cant coordinate with the super PAC, and she said she has no idea why shes getting air cover from UDP, which did not respond to a request for comment. She said her and Dunns positions on Israel and the Gaza war are not very different: I believe in a long-term, two-state solution, a lasting two-state solution, an end to the violence, a return of the hostages, very similar to everyone else. In a recent ad, dubbed Choice, Dunns campaign knocked Elfreth for receiving support from a right-wing super PAC funded by Trump donors and voting 44 times with Republicans. Some of UDPs largest donors typically give to GOP campaigns and groups. Elfreth said shes unapologetic about her bipartisan record and working across the aisle. Its funny, because Ive been called a lot of names in my life, she said. But MAGA Republican isnt one of them. Sarah Elfreth. (Sarah L. Voisin / The Washington Post via Getty Images file) Is this America? For 15 years, Dunn was a familiar face in the halls of the Capitol, and a hard-to-miss one at that, standing at 6-foot-7. But he rose to national prominence after delivering powerful congressional testimony about Jan. 6. The bipartisan panel investigating the riot held an initial hearing with four law enforcement officers, including Dunn, to mark the start of its fact-finding mission. I sat down on a bench with a friend of mine who is also a Black Capitol Police officer, and told him about the racial slurs I had endured, Dunn told the panel, recollecting his experience during the Capitol riots. I became very emotional and began yelling, How the [expletive] can something like this happen? Is this America? Dunn went on to attend nearly every hearing the committee held. Throughout the process, he grew closer with members of the panel and with Democratic members of House leadership several of whom endorsed his candidacy, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland. But Dunn said there is more to his candidacy than his actions on Jan. 6. I care about, you know, affordable health care. I care about affordable housing, I care about banning assault rifles, AR-15s. I care about those things. I care about voting rights. I care about codifying Roe v. Wade into federal legislation, he said. Theres so many things more than just Jan. 6 Harry Dunn. Dunn added that he surprised a lot of people on the campaign trail. When they say, Oh, wow, youre more than just a Trump hater I mean, I wear that as a badge of honor, he joked. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com A roofer is seen working on a condominium in Canterbury Crossing on a hot day Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 in Latham, N.Y. Lori Van Buren/Getty Images Michael Bodei, a seasoned construction business owner, is struggling to find skilled labor amid a national shortage. The US construction industry is short about 500,000 workers due to limits on immigration and disinvestment in trade schools. Despite high wages, stigma around the building trades and more flexible job alternatives are deterring new workers. When Michael Bodei went into construction 31 years ago, it was a faster way to make the kind of salary he wanted than becoming a lawyer, the other career option he was weighing. Bodei's family has been in the construction business for generations, so he'd seen how lucrative it could be to build and renovate upscale single-family homes in affluent suburbs. At 22, Bodei started his own general and building contracting company, Bodei Contracting, in Morristown, New Jersey. By 25, he'd done well enough to buy a lake house, a boat, a new Corvette, a motorcycle, and two trucks, he said. "It wasn't because I was a genius, it was because it was that easy to get into my business and be successful," Bodei told Business Insider. "Houses were cheaper, everything was more abundant. It was just an easier place in time to do business than it is now." One of the keys to his success: "more skilled less expensive labor," Bodei said. Most of his employees a core group of about a dozen people that expands to around 30 in busy times have worked for the company for decades. Their projects are largely six-figure kitchen and bathroom renovations and additions on $2 million to $5 million homes. And because of the nature of this high-end work, Bodei generally doesn't hire anyone without at least 10 years of experience, he said. But with a national shortage of construction workers, it's become increasingly difficult to find new workers, from electricians and plumbers to those with specialty skills in fiberglass work and cabinetry, Bodei said. A pipeline of younger skilled workers just isn't there. "There is no one to replace us," he added. He worries that as older workers retire, their skills will be lost. "It's unusual for anybody under 40 to be working for us, people under 50 are unusual," he said. "One of our carpenters is in his 70s." While the rising cost of housing is in large part a result of restrictive zoning laws and building regulations , the construction worker shortage is also pushing up home costs. Fewer construction workers means less and slower residential construction, which in turn leads to higher home prices. Story continues Bodei has seen even affluent customers balk at prices, which are also elevated by the rising costs of construction materials. "There's a limit to what anyone's going to pay," he said. "Even wealthy people get to a point where it becomes ridiculous." Sam Laureto adds finishing touches to the front door of the new River Oaks multimillion-dollar mansion under construction on June 25, 2014, in Houston, Texas. Mayra Beltran/Getty Images A labor shortage years in the making The US has faced a severe shortage of construction workers of all sorts for years. When the financial crisis crushed the housing market in 2008, the construction industry took a massive hit. But even though demand for housing and infrastructure has surged since then, the workers haven't come back. This year, the construction industry is short about 500,000 workers and that's "on top of the normal pace of hiring," according to a January 2024 news release from the trade group Associated Builders and Contractors. Part of the issue is limits on immigration. But a perhaps more structural cause is the gradual disinvestment in technical and trade schools in favor of colleges and universities. "We need to get more people interested in construction as a career," Ken Simonson, chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America, recently told Business Insider. Adding that everyone from the federal government to school guidance counselors needs to "get the message to kids that there are lucrative rewarding both financially and in satisfaction careers in construction. You don't have to go to college to have a good career." Wages are quite high in the industry, especially for skilled tradespeople. Most of Bodei's employees make at least $100,000 a year, he said. But construction has lost some of its edge as compensation in other industries, including restaurants and hospitality, has risen, and remote and hybrid jobs offer cushier, more flexible alternatives, Simonson said. And there's long been a widespread stigma around working in the building trades, despite the relatively high salaries they offer. "Even when I was in school, you were discouraged from going because that was where the stupid kids went, which is hilarious because you could go make six figures as a plumber in your mid-20s," Bodei said. Bodei would be worried about the future of construction, but it won't be his problem for much longer. He's planning to close his business next year and relocate to South Florida, where he also has real estate investments and easy access to the beach. "I'm gonna go relax for a while," he said. "And then figure out what my next thing is." Read the original article on Business Insider The Jersey Shore was swamped with Maga supporters as Donald Trump hit the stage in Wildwood for a sunset rally on the beach. The former president arrived an hour-and-a-half late on Saturday at about 6.30pm local time for the event which was attended by 80,000 supporters, according to his campaign officials. Thousands of fans gathered on the beach and along the boardwalk throughout the day wearing Trump masks and American flag-themed outfits. They pitched giant Trump 2024 flags as conditions remained on the cooler side after several days of rain. Long lines formed and bars and restaurants were busy in the town at a typically sleepy time in the off-season. Trump is attempting to kick-start a campaign in the Democrat-held state (AP) Kicking off his speech Mr Trump vowed to win the long-time Democrat-held state of New Jersey. We love Wildwood. Weve been here many times we love this place and is [there] nowhere else Id rather be this beautiful evening. It is a nice one, right? he said, to cheers from supporters. As you can see, today, were expanding the electoral map because we are going to officially play in the state of New Jersey. Were going to win the state of New Jersey. His speech was filled with jibes including for President Joe Biden who he dubbed a total moron. There was a festival atmosphere before the rally began (AP) You could take the 10 worst presidents in the history of our country, and add them up... and they havent done the damage to our country that this total moron has done, Mr Trump said. He got even nastier when he turned his attention to Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor overseeing his hush-money case in New York, and trial judge Juan Merchan. He slammed Mr Bragg as Fat Alvin, corrupt guy and called the judge highly conflicted. Mark Bellini, 63, of Brick, New Jersey, told the Daily Mail that he had been holding on to his 12th place in line since 5pm on Thursday. It was cold, it was raining. Yeah, it was wet. I used a plastic bag over my head in order to keep my spot, he said. The rally in New Jersey comes as a welcome break for Mr Trump, who has spent much of the last three weeks inside a New York courtroom (AP) Jodi Derstine, a 62-year-old nurse from Morristown, New Jersey, also told The Mail that she had arrived at 5am on Friday, and said that Mr Trump was gonna save America. A spokesperson for the city of Wildwood told the Associated Press that she estimated between 80,000-100,000 people had attended the rally of Mr Trump. However, the Trump campaign has been known to exaggerate crowd sizes in the past, and reporters on the scene questioned the numbers. The former president has been packing his weekends with campaign events as he has spent much of the past four weeks inside a Manhattan courthouse where he is on criminal trial over alleged hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. He is facing ongoing criminal and civil cases, some related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Some fans even donned Trump costumes and American flag-themed outfits for the rally (AP) Mr Trump, the presumed Republican presidential candidate, is expected to face-off against Mr Biden in this Novembers election. Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said that the tens of thousands expected attendees would be a notable contrast to the number that typically show up for Mr Bidens political events, which he described as eight circles, two of which are empty. The former president last appeared in New Jersey in January 2020, when he attended an event with congressman Jefferson Van Drew, a former Democrat who had switched to the GOP as a rebuke for Mr Trumps first impeachment. Jewish people had every right to be offended by Miami Beach artwork. It had to come down | Opinion Miami artist Vu Hoang Khanh Nguyens artwork on display at a Miami Beach Walgreens was removed by arts nonprofit Oolite Art after recieving complaints about a portion of the work referencing the pro-Palestinian phrase from the river to the sea. The work was removed after it had been on view sinch March 27. An image of the work was shared on a written statement Vu posted online about the incident. Its hard to make a plea for artistic expression when a public artwork displayed at a major pharmacy chain store in one of South Floridas busiest cities alludes to a phrase many Jews consider a call for their destruction. Several local artists are describing local nonprofit Oolite Arts decision to take down the piece that was on display in the window of a Miami Beach Walgreens as censorship. There are very limited instances when works of art as provocative as they may be should not be exposed publicly. This might be one. The work by visual artist Vu Hoang Khanh Nguyen, who goes by Vu, titled How we live like water, makes a subtle reference through the use of words and images of the Jordan River and the Atlantic Ocean to the pro-Palestinian phrase from the river to the sea. That is widely considered a call for Israels extermination, even though that doesnt appear to have been the artists intent. The phrase has been used by some protesters opposing Israels invasion of Gaza after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. To be clear, artists and citizens should be free to criticize Israels government and actions or demand accountability for the death of more than 34,000 Palestinians killed since the conflict started, according to Gazas health ministry. Its a threat to freedom of expression to bundle legitimate support for Palestinians with antisemitism. But word choice matters. And some words, especially from the river to the sea, also represent a threat to many people. Should works of art that allude to it be exhibited in a space thats visible to the public, including Jews living or visiting Miami Beach? As much as some supporters dont consider it a demand to exterminate a Jewish state, thats exactly how how many Jews interpret it and that matters. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free is a reference to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which covers the state of Israel. A Palestine free from the river to the sea is often understood as the elimination of Israel. Organizations like the Anti-Defamation League classify it as antisemitic. The phrase gained traction in the 1960s as a call for the creation of a free Palestine following the mass exodus of Palestinians from what is today Israel during the 1948 war surrounding the countrys creation, the Washington Post reported. Some describe it a cry for a peaceful land for Palestinians. Yet supporters of Hamas who murdered 1,200 people on Oct. 7, including Israeli children and families have also adopted the phrase. Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north, Khaled Mashaal, the Hamas former leader, said in 2012, according to the Associated Press. There will be no concession on any inch of the land. Whenever people in American utter similar words, a Hamas terrorist probably cheers. So why give them a platform? Vu wrote in an Instagram post that From the river to the sea, is a reminder to viewers that water is a precious, borderless resource that connects us all, Oolite Arts approved the installation on Oct. 5, 2023, two days before the Hamas attacks, according to the post. Vu, who uses they/them pronouns, also wrote that Oolite Arts didnt notify them before removing the artwork, and that they did not get a chance to clarify its intention. The decision stemmed from a letter from Jewish lawyers saying the artwork was offensive and political, according to the Instagram post. Oolite Arts wrote in a statement to the Herald that it is committed to evaluating our decision-making in this matter and to put in place policies so that artists we work with have clear guidelines and expectations. A letter signed by more than 300 South Florida artists is calling for greater transparency from the nonprofit. Perhaps if Oolite had handled this issue more openly, a controversy could have been avoided. Regardless of how it was handled, this moment is a reminder that, when it comes to horrendous things like antisemitism, words have a powerful impact, no matter what their intentions are. Click here to send the letter. UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Host to 500,000 refugees from neighboring Sudan, Chad needs food security and nutrition aid for one-third of its own 18 million population, UN humanitarians said on Friday. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the situation across the nation is being exacerbated by climate change, insecurity and the rise in food and fuel prices. "Since March, the country is also facing torrential rains and floods in the south," OCHA said, adding that the refugees have significantly strained the humanitarian situation in the east of the country, and attacks by non-state armed groups in the Lake Chad Basin are driving further displacement. The UN agency said that a UN-backed analysis found that 2.4 million people are currently food insecure in the country, 300,000 of whom are severely food insecure. If no substantive assistance is provided, this number could grow during the lean season to 3.3 million. It said the 1.1 billion U.S. dollar Chad Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for 2024 is just 6.6 percent funded, with nearly 74 million dollars received. The UN's emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has already allocated 15 million U.S. dollars from the world body's Central Emergency Response Fund as part of a larger allocation in February to support underfunded emergencies. Pro-Israeli supporters march at the "United for Israel" rally at USC on Wednesday in Los Angeles. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) Standing at a cloth-draped table where the Torah is read, Rabbi Sharon Brous delivered her Saturday sermon, recounting her experience at a recent UCLA protest. Demonstrators draped in Israeli flags screamed at students in keffiyehs. The rhetoric was hateful, laced with threats of violence, she said. It felt like everyone was drowning in opposite ends of a raging sea, a sea of grief and fury, she told nearly 250 members of her congregation, IKAR, gathered in their place of worship, a high school gymnasium on Fairfax Avenue earlier this month. She described feeling heartbroken by what she witnessed on April 28, by the language and the vitriol that came from our own Jewish community language that I have to say matched some of the worst language that weve heard against Jews in the last several months. Thousands demonstrate in support of Israel as pro-Palestinian counterprotesters surround them at UCLA on April 28. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Two days later, pro-Israel counterprotestors attacked pro-Palestinian students at UCLA, descending upon their tent encampment, hurling objects, swinging sticks and sending more than two dozen to the hospital. Since that assault on April 30, unrest on university campuses around the nation has escalated even further, with more arrests, protests and canceled commencements. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and Israels invasion of Gaza, have torn open long-standing divisions within the American Jewish community over questions of Zionism, nationalism and Palestine. Brous and other progressive Jewish leaders are seeking a middle ground that respects the humanity on both sides of the conflict as elusive as that goal may seem. They decry a zero-sum mentality that pits one group against another and deepens the ideological divide so that in the rhetoric of the moment to be pro-Israel is to be anti-Palestinian, to be pro-peace is to be anti-Israel. These are false dichotomies, they say. Understanding the experiences of both Israelis and Palestinians is precisely what is needed right now, they argue to grasp more than one truth at a time. But the loss of life about 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7 and more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip has caused many to double down on one side. At universities such as UCLA, where students from diverse backgrounds live, study and debate together, the clashes have been particularly extreme, leaving both Jewish and Muslim students feeling unsafe. Johanna Israel, daughter of a longtime UCLA professor, attends a demonstration in support of Israel while surrounded by pro-Palestinian counterprotesters at UCLA on April 28. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) A recent survey of college students and American adults released in March by the University of Chicago documents an escalation of fear, antisemitism, Islamophobia and support for political violence since Oct. 7. A majority of Jewish students, for instance, understood the chant from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free to mean the expulsion and genocide of Israeli Jews. (Most pro-Palestinian students interpret its meaning differently: that Palestinians and Israelis should live side by side in two separate countries.) Muslim students and those who sympathize with the Palestinian cause reported being called terrorists, having their kaffiyehs ripped off and even being threatened with rape, according to the survey. Tempers flare after violence breaks out May 1 at the pro-Palestinian encampment, hours after the university declared that the camp "is unlawful and violates university policy" at UCLA. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) As pro-Palestinian tent encampments have sprung up on campuses across the country, outside activists have either joined the demonstrations or attacked the protesters, as happened at UCLA. I understand fully and connect to the immense trauma of Oct. 7 and I understand fully the sense of devastation and fear and suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, said David Myers, a professor of history at UCLA, who found himself feeling very much alone last fall as lines were quickly being drawn. But it seemed that not many people could show empathy for both sides. Over the last seven months, Myers has met regularly with students some Jewish, some not in an attempt to bring understanding to the violence in Israel and in Gaza. He has helped organize a peace vigil and a teach-in, and in the winter, he taught a class in the history of antisemitism. Graffiti at the Powell Library at UCLA where pro-Palestinian demonstrators erected an encampment in Dickson Plaza last month. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Despite these efforts, Myers said that he had never seen anything so terrifying in his 33 years on campus as the April 30 attack on the pro-Palestinian encampment. Leaders of the Jewish community must not only condemn the unprovoked attacks of last night, he wrote in an opinion piece in the Forward, they must also call out the malign actors from within who purport to defend Jewish students but engage in the very heinous acts of which they accuse the other side, referencing the aggression of the pro-Israel faction. While distancing themselves from the demonstrators, the students of Hillel at UCLA issued a statement on May 1, calling for solidarity among Jewish students over shared feelings of anger. As for those who sought to exploit the moment: We cannot have a clearer ask for the off-campus Jewish community: stay off our campus. Do not fund any actions on campus. Do not protest on campus. Your actions are harming Jewish students. Pro-Israeli supporters gather at the "United for Israel" rally at USC on May 8. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) Hillel, which has long provided many Jewish students with a sense of community through Shabbat dinners and other gatherings at campuses around the country, has itself become a target, with pro-Palestinian students calling for it to be banned at UC Santa Cruz. Everything that everyone has been worried about and fearful of is happening, said Andrea Hodos, associate director of NewGround, a nonprofit fellowship program that seeks to facilitate conversations between Muslims and Jews based on shared values. Its all happening, and the fear and anger are narrowing our vision. That goes just as much for anti-Muslim hate as for antisemitism, which are both on the rise in the U.S. We strongly believe that if you only look at antisemitism without understanding how Islamophobia and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias and hate are embedded in our society, you make it less safe for both Muslims and for Jews, Hodos said. Hodos argues that the expression once coined by Facebook move fast and break things is precisely the opposite of what is needed at this moment. One of the questions we have been asking ourselves is how do you in a moment with so much urgency move slowly, she said. With starvation on the horizon, with hostages who are still being held what does it mean to heal slowly and heal while the trauma is compounding? A protestor in support of Israel waves an Israeli flag while surrounded by pro-Palestinian counterprotesters at UCLA on April 28. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Estee Chandler, a Jewish supporter of Palestinian equality, was at UCLA on April 28, where she witnessed threats and taunting from pro-Israel protestors wearing stars of David and necklaces with the chai symbol. The violence on campus two nights later was soul crushing," she said. Chandler, who founded the Los Angeles chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, is a critic of Zionism and calls Israels invasion of Gaza genocide. In her work, Chandler has seen a focused and concerted effort to frame the quest for Palestinian rights and freedoms and the support for it as antisemitic, to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism, even though Jewish anti-Zionism has been around as long as there has been Jewish Zionism. Calling for an immediate, complete and permanent cease-fire, Chandler argues that Jews will never be safe in a world so long as we have a state that oppresses people in the world. Destruction of Palestinian land and homes does not make Jews safer. It is making us less safe. As the tenor of the protests become louder and as the war continues the search for a note of reconciliation and peace has become more urgent. Rabbi Sharon Brous stands in front of a photograph by Kim Silverstein that illustrates what she says her congregation IKAR in Los Angeles is striving for community. Brous has decried the hateful rhetoric surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Near the end of her Saturday sermon, Brous described a moment at UCLA, when a leader of Standing Together an alliance of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel began to chant. In Gaza, in Tel Aviv, all children deserve to live. In Gaza, in Tel Aviv, all children deserve to live. As remarkable as the message was, even more remarkable, Brous said, was hearing the voices of the demonstrators who joined in those who had just been shouting at each other. It seemed that those protesters, each of whom is driven by own grief and their righteous desire for justice, did not know that such a collective call was even imaginable. 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. First lady Jill Biden was met with applause and cheers as she took the stage to give the keynote speech to Mesa Community Colleges graduating class on Saturday. More than 600 graduating students filled Arizona State Universitys Desert Financial Arena in Tempe to mark the end of their time at the community college. Bidens remarks focused on congratulating the students perseverance to finish their degrees amid hardships. She called the class of 2024 strong, courageous, and full of hope. She praised the flexibility and opportunities community colleges offer to first-time students, those in the workforce or others older in age. I teach at a community college for the same reason students go to community colleges. Theyre flexible and meet people where they are. And, as my husband, President Biden, says, they provide the 'best career training in America,' she said. She has been a teacher for more than 30 years and continues to teach English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College. Not only did she praise the students but also the friends and family who supported the students on their path to graduation. "Theyre feeling excitement. Relief. But most of all, pride. Chest-swelling, cheek-aching pride," Biden said. The speech marks Bidens second appearance at an event for the local community college. She previously visited Mesa in 2023 to call attention to the citys scholarship program that offers some local high school students two tuition-free years at Mesa Community College. First lady of the United States Jill Biden speaks at Mesa Community Colleges commencement ceremony at Desert Financial Arena on May 11, 2024, in Tempe, Arizona. She again praised the program during Saturdays speech and as an example of the administration's goals to make higher education attainable for more. That program was recently expanded to adult learners who live in Mesa to tap into the scholarship funding. Community colleges should be free in America, she said, which was met with a roar of cheers and applause. The statement calls back a campaign promise to slash student debt. Pressure grows on the Biden administration to fulfill that call to action amid a bid for a second term. The state is poised to be a hot spot for campaign visits ahead of the 2024 presidential election. In 2020, Joe Biden won Arizona with a slim margin. On Friday, she addressed a group of educators in Phoenix at the Arizona Education Associations annual meeting. Before leaving the graduation stage, Biden called on the students to drown out the voices that cast doubt on their abilities to pursue their goals. Let the world feel your thunder, she told the sea of students dressed in royal blue graduation gowns. Reporter Maritza Dominguez covers Mesa, Gilbert and Queen Creek and can be reached at maritza.dominguez@arizonarepublic.com or 480-271-0646. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @maritzacdom. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jill Biden calls for free community college at Mesa graduation event BRENTWOOD Former state Sen. Jon Morgan, a Democrat from Brentwood, plans to run in the 2024 election for the New Hampshire Executive Council District 3 seat currently held by Republican Janet Stevens of Rye. Morgan announced his intent to run May 4 at the Rockingham County Democratic Committees 20th annual clam bake. Were in a really scary time for our country. I think a lot of people are scared and don't know really what to make of it, there's a lot of lack of trust, we see a lot of lack of integrity at so many different levels of government, and it's just really disheartening, Morgan said of his decision to run. If we acknowledge that someone needs to stand up and we are people that can stand up, we can make it work professionally and personally, then then we have to. That's an obligation. New Hampshires Executive Council is made up of five people representing five districts. They work with the governor to oversee the administration of state affairs and vote on nominations and state contracts. Stevens, who is a Republican, has represented the third Executive Council district since 2020. She won reelection in 2022 against Democrat Katherine Harake with 53.2% of the vote. Stevens confirmed she intends to run again this year. The district includes the city of Portsmouth and stretches along the coast south to Pelham. Its northwest border includes the towns of Newington, Newmarket, Epping, Raymond, Chester, Derry, and Windham. According to a 2022 analysis of the district by the ACLU of New Hampshire, District 3 leans Republican. But Morgan said he knows how to win in districts where were not supposed to win. Jon Morgan Who is Jon Morgan? In 2018, Jon Morgan defeated incumbent Sen. Bill Gannon, R-Sandown, to be elected as a New Hampshire state senator who represented District 23, which at the time included the towns of Epping, Exeter and Fremont. That was a race he didnt have any business winning, Morgan said, as the district leans red. The next election year, 2020, he lost re-election to Gannon. Now, hes running again to make sure that voters know that they have a choice, even in an aggressively gerrymandered district like this. Morgan is currently a Brentwood selectman and works in cybersecurity. Who is Janet Stevens? Stevens was first elected to the Executive Council in 2020, defeating Democratic candidate Mindi Messmer with 52.7% of the vote. Executive Councilor Janet Stevens I have a record of delivering much needed services to District 3 municipalities and I intend to continue the progress I have made, Stevens said of her decision to run again. She added that she has consistently advocated for the allocation of federal funds to municipalities in her district. Stevens said some of her accomplishments as executive councilor include transportation projects in District 3, like repairs for seawalls and the replacement of the red-listed bridge connecting Hampton to Seabrook, supporting the InVestNH housing program, and helping to get additional school infrastructure safety funding for District 3 school systems. Stevens has lived in the Seacoast for 30 years. She said she is "fiercely competitive" and "protective" of her constituents, but also advocates for all New Hampshire residents. Morgan says current executive councilors put 'politics first' Morgan emphasized his disappointment with certain Executive Council votes over the past few years; specifically on reproductive health care centers and on federal money for COVID vaccination efforts. The four Republicans on the Executive Council have voted five times in the last three years to reject funding for three reproductive health care centers that provide low-cost basic reproductive health care, like cancer screenings, STD testing, and contraception for low-income women because the centers also provide abortions, despite audits showing the state and federal funds aren't used for abortions. Gov. Chris Sununu, a fellow Republican, urged the councilors to approve the funding, but they did not. It's really been upsetting to see that happen over and over and over again, Morgan said. We have thousands of Granite Staters who really rely on those health clinics for many things, not just their reproductive health, and they're now really struggling to keep the doors open. Stevens said she knows access to health care is critical, and she will continue to support funding for womens health clinics and expanded healthcare access for Granite Staters. She also said she supports New Hampshires current abortion law, which allows abortion up to 24 weeks. Morgan also criticized Stevens directly for her vote to reject $27 million of federal money for COVID vaccination efforts in the state, and then for her flip flop when she later joined four members of the Council in voting to accept the funds. Sununu criticized the GOP councilors for the vote to reject the funds. The current Executive Council has made the disastrous decision of putting politics before the health of Granite Staters, Morgan said. Were going to make sure that we dont do that. Stevens said her hesitancy on the initial vote was to ensure that the funds were not with requirements by the federal government such as school closures, business closures, and requirements beyond our state recommendations. It would be akin to signing a lease, loan agreement, or mortgage without knowing the terms, Stevens said. Morgan and Stevens share their top issues Morgan said some of the big issues hes focused on are cost of living and womens health care. As a father of three young kids, he said his family understands the struggles many people in the state face with the crisis of affordability, including housing, health care, and food costs. Folks have a really hard time finding jobs that can keep them here in New Hampshire because the cost of living here is so extraordinary, and that's really upsetting. I think that's a perspective that I will help to bring to office, Morgan said. For various reasons, the vast majority of folks who are serving in Concord on the Executive Council simply don't have that perspective. Morgan added he wants to make sure that large out-of-state corporations are footing their fair share of the bill as part of a way to stop increasing property taxes, saying that a lot of costs are falling on Granite Staters. Top priorities for Stevens include affordable workforce housing, behavioral healthcare, transportation, and drinking/wastewater infrastructure. She said she has already worked to find solutions for all these issues, saying her commitment to constituent service has been described as unprecedented. Morgan, Stevens look to election in fall 2024 Morgan said one of the biggest drivers behind his decision to run for office comes from his late father, Michael, who was the superintendent for SAU 16, the Exeter area school district. He had this big thing my entire life growing up about always leaving the woodpile higher than you found it, Morgan said. I want to set that example for my kids. I want to leave the woodpile higher for my community, for the state, and I think that that's what we're going to be able to do by winning this race and the Executive Council for District 3. The filing period for all candidates running for state offices is June 5-14. The primary election is Sept. 10 when either candidate could face a challenger for their party's nomination. The general election is the same day as the presidential election on Nov. 5. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Jon Morgan to challenge Janet Stevens for NH Executive Council seat A federal judge has delivered a legal blow to the Ann Arbor Public Schools by refusing to dismiss a lawsuit that alleges the district tried to cover up the bus assault of a boy with autism an incident that was captured on video, concealed from the child's mother for weeks and landed the abusive bus aide in jail. Ann Arbor schools tried to get the lawsuit thrown out on multiple grounds, including governmental immunity. But U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh concluded this week that there's enough evidence to send the case to trial for alleged disability discrimination, citing the plaintiff's claim that this case "is about an assault motivated by animus to students with disabilities." Steeh also noted in his ruling that a principal knew about the videotaped incident, yet instructed the mother to continue putting her child on the bus. "The school principal advising a parent that their autistic child should continue to ride the bus with an aide that presents a known danger is an affirmative act for purposes of surviving a motion to dismiss," Steeh writes, adding the principal "potentially created or increased the risk of harm" to the boy by the bus aide" if for no other reason than that (the boy) became increasingly agitated at the end of the day when he had to ride the bus." Steeh also writes: "(The bus aide) lacked proper training in how to calm (the boy), so it was foreseeable that her physical and verbal responses would increase proportionately with his behavior." Jaime Nelson-Molnar, 44, of Ann Arbor, sits in her attorney's office in Royal Oak on July 14, 2023. Anyone should help a child saying help! I dont know how someone has it in their body to hear a child saying help and stand by and watch, said Nelson-Molnar, whose son with autism was assaulted by a school bus aide when he was 7-years-old. Nelson-Molnar is now suing the Ann Arbor Public Schools over the incident. The case involves Jaime Nelson, a 45-year-old mother who is suing the Ann Arbor schools over a 2020 bus incident during which an aide pinned down, smacked and restrained her then 7-year-old son as he frantically yelled for help and flailed his arms. The boy was a second-grader at Carpenter Elementary during the incident, and no longer attends school there. In a story first reported by the Free Press, Nelson said she was kept in the dark about the incident for five weeks and didn't know exactly what happened to her child until four months later, when a detective showed her a videotape of the incident at the Pittsfield Township police station. Jaime Nelson-Molnar, 44, of Ann Arbor, shows an old photograph of her son who has autism, around the age he was when he was assaulted by a school bus aide. Nelson-Molnar is now suing the Ann Arbor Public Schools over the incident. 'I can't forgive myself' "It was like an out-of-body experience. He's screaming 'Help! help! help!' that sound will always be with me," Nelson said through tears in a Free Press interview. "The part that I can't forgive myself for is that I wasn't protecting him because I didn't know what was going on." The bus aide, 48-year-old Rochanda Jefferson, was convicted last year of fourth-degree child abuse and sentenced to 30 days in jail. I would like to apologize to Ms. Jaime or whatever you know, the harm I did whatever, Jefferson said at sentencing, during which she asked for no jail time to avoid losing her job. The judge wasn't having it: He gave her double the jail-time recommended by the probation department. You have no remorse, you have no understanding for what youve done, Judge J. Cedric Simpson told Jefferson, adding: I dont really care if you lose your job. I really dont. Because what you did to that child that day ... in my mind is inexcusable." School district: We followed 'appropriate procedure' In court documents and in a statement to the Free Press, the school district has defended its handling of the bus assault, arguing, among other things, that the plaintiffs failed to exhaust administrative remedies and that the school followed proper protocol. In the motion-to-dismiss filing, attorneys for the school district argued that the boy's mother failed to describe how the principal and bus company "were deliberately indifferent" to her son's rights, and urged the judge not to adopt the mother's narrative as truth, specifically that the district's conduct was "egregious" and "outrageous." "On a motion to dismiss," the school lawyers write, citing case law, courts are not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as factual allegation. "Staff at Carpenter Elementary and the transportation team followed appropriate procedures in responding to this unfortunate incident," the district Director of Communications Andrew Cluley said in a prior statement. "AAPS and Durham Transportation team removed the offending individual from duty on the day the incident was observed on the video and contacted Child Protective Services immediately. There was no delay in removing the individual from duty, and AAPS and Durham teams dutifully followed through on this case up to and including a member of the Durham staff testifying at a hearing." Durham Transportation, the school district's bus vendor, is also a defendant in the lawsuit. "Safety is our priority, and we can confirm that we took prompt action by removing the former aide on the same day the incident was observed on the video," Durham has previously stated, adding the company "immediately" contacted Child Protective Services after reviewing the video and "fully cooperated" with authorities. In allowing the lawsuit to proceed, the judge did dismiss various counts against the school district, including that it created a danger for the student, failed to report child abuse and intentionally inflicted emotional distress. All of those counts were dismissed, but the Americans with Disabilities Act claims were allowed to proceed. 'Teacher broke ranks to tell the truth' Nelson's attorney, Megan Bonanni, has long argued the school district could have and should have looked at the bus video earlier and suspended the aide right away pending an investigation, but instead kept the aide on the bus and let a traumatized child ride it 17 times before the aide was finally removed. (The) decision to dismiss AAPSs motion to dismiss and allow our case to proceed corroborates what we already know to be true: AAPS acted discriminatorily in their failure to protect a disabled student from repeated verbal and physical abuse from an AAPS employee," Bonanni said in a statement Friday. "We look forward to further litigating our clients claim and holding AAPS accountable for their negligence and discrimination. The school bus video, obtained by the Free Press, shows that during the ride home, the boy had moved between different seats and crawled on the floor while the bus was in motion. At one point, he swiped his arm at the bus aide, who responded: "I'm gonna hit you back I whoop kids." The video also shows the bus aide throwing the boy into an illegal harness, partially buckle him in, and strike him with her right hand about four times as he screamed. According to the lawsuit, "Nelson only learned of the physical abuse through a teacher who broke ranks to tell the truth." It was the boy's classroom teacher, who wrote this email confirming what Nelson and her lawyers maintain was a cover-up: I am concerned that I am going to lose all credibility with mom when she finds out that I knew about these allegations and didnt tell her, the teacher emailed the principal and others on Jan. 18, 2021 more than a month after the assault. I also dont feel comfortable keeping this from mom. According to Nelson's attorney: "That's the smoking gun." Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ann Arbor schools headed to trial over bus assault of autistic boy Prosecutors are recommending a 40-year sentence for the man found guilty of using a hammer to attack former House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband, Paul, inside their San Francisco home in October 2022. David DePape was convicted in November of one count of assault on the immediate family member of a federal official, with the jury determining that he used a dangerous weapon, and a second count of attempted kidnapping of a federal official. According to a memorandum filed Friday, the Department of Justice argued DePapes actions constitute a federal crime of terrorism, which the DOJ states is calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct and includes the attempted kidnapping of a Member of Congress. DePapes attorney, Jodi Linker, conceded during the trial that her client attacked the then-82-year-old Paul Pelosi, but argued that his motivation for the assault did not match the charges against him. This case here is about the why the why matters, Linker had argued to the jury. This case is about whether David acted because of, on account of, Nancy Pelosis duties as a member of Congress. He didnt, and he only struck Paul Pelosi in a quick moment of despair because the police arrived and his larger plan was thwarted. CNN has reached out to Linker for comment. During the trial, DePape, who described his political leanings as right of center, told the jury that he was focused on Nancy Pelosi and that her husband was not on his list of targets. He was surprised and confused, he said, when he found the congresswoman was not home. In his testimony, Paul Pelosi recounted how he awoke the night of the attack to see a man with a hammer in his home. That man, later identified by police as DePape, asked where his wife was, he said. Shes not here. Shes in Washington, Pelosi recalled answering. He later came to in a pool of blood after being violently struck in the head following a struggle with DePape, Pelosi said. Pelosi, who underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and injuries to his hand and arm, told jurors that his recovery has been difficult. Ive made the best effort I possibly can to not revisit this, he said. The DOJ argued in the memo that Both crimes are an assault on our democracy and fundamental values, and therefore should serve as a deterrent to others. At a time when extremism has led to attacks on public and elected officials, this case presents a moment to speak to others harboring ideologically motivated violent dreams and plans, the Justice Department said. DePapes federal sentencing date is set for May 17, and he still faces charges at the state level in California. He has pleaded not guilty to state charges including attempted murder, burglary and assault. CNNs Veronica Miracle, Jeffrey Kopp and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Federal prosecutors are seeking a maximum sentence for the man who was convicted of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home and attacking her husband Paul with a hammer in 2022. The Department of Justice filed a sentencing memorandum Friday in anticipation of next week's sentencing of David DePape, saying he should be held in prison for 40 years for his crimes. DePape was convicted in November for the Oct. 28, 2022, break-in and attack of Paul Pelosi. PHOTO: In this Dec. 14, 2022, file photo, Paul Pelosi attends a portrait unveiling ceremony for his wife, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall, in Washington, D.C. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP, FILE) Paul Pelosi, 84, suffered a skull fracture and was hospitalized for six days. The attack was captured on police body camera footage by officers who responded to the scene. MORE: David DePape found guilty in federal trial over Paul Pelosi hammer attack Federal prosecutors contend that the crime was an act of terrorism and that DePape should get more than the guidelines. "The defendant planned a violent hostage-taking of the Speaker Emerita, and then nearly killed her husband. The defendant planned and unleashed violence and has stayed true to his belief that the actions were necessary," prosecutors said in the sentencing memorandum. The attempted kidnapping charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison while DePape's second charge carries a maximum of 30 years in prison. Federal prosecutors asked that 20 years of the second charge run consecutively with the first count instead of concurrently. PHOTO: In this screen grab from police body cam footage released by the San Francisco Police Department, Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, is shown with his assailant, David DePape. (San Francisco Police Dept) DePape admitted on the stand that he broke into the home because he wanted to speak with Rep. Pelosi about what he claimed was Russian interference in the 2020 election. He claimed that Paul Pelosi was not his target. DePape told investigators if she told the truth, he said he "would let her go, and if she 'lied' he was going to break 'her kneecaps,'" according to the criminal complaint. MORE: Paul Pelosi takes the stand in trial against man charged in 2022 home invasion, attack "The violent lessons that the defendant wanted to teach are not permitted in this country, and the sentence that this court imposes must reflect the nature and circumstances of the offense," federal prosecutors said in the memorandum. PHOTO: In this Oct. 28, 2022, file photo, a pair of FBI agents work outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi in San Francisco. (Eric Risberg/AP, FILE) In addition to the 40-year prison sentence, federal prosecutors want eight years of supervised release when DePape does get out of prison. DePape's attorney did not immediately comment on the government's recommendations. DePape is also facing state charges in connection with the attack including attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. Justice Department seeks 40-year sentence for Paul Pelosi attacker originally appeared on abcnews.go.com KANSAS CITY, Mo. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly vowed on Thursday to veto the latest tax cut package from lawmakers, but still no word on when. But in a 4 The People interview airing Sunday, the deciding vote in sustaining her earlier veto may take a different position in a special session. Man charged in Tuesday KCK homicide, shooting gun at KU Hospital The Kansas House and Senate approved and sent the governor a revised tax package in the early morning hours of the final day of the wrap up session. It retained the two-tiered tax bracket system, but reduced the cuts. Its cheaper than earlier plans she vetoed, and Kansas City, Kansas, Senator David Haley says that has him considering voting to override this time. I will say that Im very much thinking about it with this tax package. I just dont want to drag this out. Were already going into a special session. Weve all gotten our appraisals at home, and weve gotten higher taxes across the board. People are really demanding relief, Sen. Haley told FOX4. Read more Politics stories from FOX4 Senator Haley also talks about his bid to have a Wyandotte County Port Authority included as part of a stadium STAR bonds package. Watch our entire conversation Sunday morning at 10, right after FOX News Sunday. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. A Kansas City, Kansas, police officer fatally shot a person who fired a gun at him along Interstate 35 late Friday evening, a police spokesman said. The shooting occurred around 11:15 p.m. Friday in the area of 7th Street and Interstate 35. The officer found a stolen vehicle stopped in the roadway. As he was pulling up behind it, three people who had been inside ran from the vehicle, said Officer T.J. Tomasic, with the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department. The officer chased after them up the entrance ramp to southbound Interstate 35, and at the top of the ramp, one of the people who ran from the vehicle pulled a handgun and fired at the officer, Tomasic said. The officer fired back and hit the shooter, who was later pronounced dead at the scene. One of the other people who ran from the vehicle was taken into custody, and the third person was not found. Two handguns were located at the scene. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident. Anyone with information that may be relevant to the incident may contact the Crime Stoppers TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS. Update: The Kansas City Police Department identified the victim as 27-year-old Zachary H. Trivitt. KANSAS CITY, Mo. One person was killed in a shooting in Kansas City, Missouri early Saturday morning, according to police. Around 3 a.m., KCPD responded to a disturbance involving a weapon near 12th Street and Benton Boulevard a few blocks north of Interstate 70. According to police, the call was updated to a shooting not long after. One killed in officer-involved shooting in Kansas City, Kansas Police said, upon arrival, they talked to a person at a nearby business who said their friend had been shot. Officers then found an unresponsive man suffering from an apparent gunshot wound inside a car. EMS pronounced the victim dead at the scene. According to officers, the circumstances surrounding the shooting are currently unknown. However, investigations are underway and homicide detectives are gathering evidence and witness statements, and are actively trying to identify a suspect. Police have not taken any suspects into custody. If you or someone you know was in the area or heard anything around the time of the crime, contact homicide detectives directly at (816) 234-5043 or the TIPS hotline anonymously at (816) 474-8477. Worker fired after alleged child abuse incident at Overland Park daycare Police said a reward of up to $25,000 could be given to someone who submits anonymous information to the TIPS hotline. This is a developing story. Tune into FOX4 News for the latest updates and information. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. Upgraded China-Hungary ties will spur the deepening of the bilateral relations, observers say, believing the partnership will also further energize China's expanding cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries. BUDAPEST, May 10 (Xinhua) -- China and Hungary on Thursday elevated their relations to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era. The decision was made during the talks between visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The upgrade will definitely spur the deepening of China-Hungary relations, observers say, believing the partnership will also further energize China's expanding cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC). CLOSER RELATIONS China-Hungary relations are currently the best in history as the comprehensive strategic partnership has seen robust and high-speed development. With deepening political mutual trust and fruitful cooperation in various fields, the two countries have set a model for building a new type of international relations, Xi said during the talks with Orban. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Hungary, ushering in a new and important opportunity for the development of bilateral relations, Xi said. Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) Elaborating on the decision to elevate bilateral relations at a joint press conference with Orban, Xi said he and Orban agreed that China and Hungary have always been good friends that trust and support each other as well as good partners that seek win-win cooperation over the years. It is natural for the two countries to further upgrade relations and enrich bilateral cooperation, said the Chinese president. The two sides should take the establishment of the all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era as an opportunity to inject new and strong impetus into bilateral cooperation and create a better future for the two peoples, Xi said. "The decision has further enriched China-Hungary relations, and further consolidated the foundation of and increased space for their future cooperation," said Wang Lei, associate professor at the School of Government of Beijing Normal University. In a joint statement on the upgrade of their relationship, both China and Hungary said the two sides are committed to enhancing synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Hungary's "Eastern Opening" policy. Leveraging mechanisms and platforms such as the China-Hungary Inter-Governmental Belt and Road Cooperation Committee and the Belt and Road Cooperation Promotion Center, the two sides will pursue deeper and more substantive progress in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, jointly ensure the safety and security and smooth progress of relevant cooperation projects between the two countries, and strive for more fruitful results in practical cooperation, the statement said. The Hungarian side is looking forward to further cooperating with China in terms of foreign trade, capital investment, infrastructure, logistics, artificial intelligence, and new energy, among others, said Hungarian Minister for National Economy Marton Nagy. STRONGER COOPERATION The upgrade of the partnership came one day after China and Serbia decided to build a community with a shared future, also an elevation of their relations from a comprehensive strategic partnership established eight years ago. Elevating relations with Serbia and Hungary, two important countries in Central and Eastern Europe, has highlighted China's dedication to fortifying win-win cooperation with the region. During his talks with Orban here on Thursday, Xi said that the cooperation between China and CEEC has a strong internal driving force, expressing the hope that Hungary will continue to play an important role in promoting the China-CEEC cooperation to better benefit people of various countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok at the Sandor Palace in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) Most countries in Central and Eastern Europe are emerging markets, holding substantial potential, notably in connectivity and energy investment. By synergizing their strengths, China's deeper cooperation with relevant countries not only enhances their economic and social development, but also fosters the European integration process. This strategic alignment has been strengthened by robust investment flows. From January to March 2024, China's investment in Central and Eastern Europe surged by 36.35 percent from one year earlier, reaching about 450 million U.S. dollars. As of March 2024, the cumulative total of Chinese investment in the region soared to 5.2 billion dollars. Take Hungary as an example. In 2023, Hungary attracted a total of 13 billion euros (about 13.86 billion dollars) in foreign direct investment, of which about 8 billion euros (about 8.53 billion dollars) were from China, said Nagy, Hungarian minister for national economy. That is also the case for Serbia. "During the past two years, China has emerged as the largest foreign direct investor in Serbia, bringing numerous benefits to the country," said Jelena Grubor Stefanovic, director of representative office of Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China. "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," she said. These investments, coupled with collaborative projects under the BRI, such as the Hungary-Serbia Railway, continue to benefit the people along the routes in the region. Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) Chen Fengying, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that China's growing cooperation with Serbia and Hungary has incented local economic growth and bettered people's livelihood. The success serves as a compelling example, showcasing the tangible benefits from closer partnerships with China and joint development, said Chen. Such achievements have also exerted a noteworthy inspirational and motivational influence on other countries in the region, she added. (Video reporters: Li Shuyan, Liu Chunhui, Li Yaguang, Chen Hao, Yuan Hengrui; Video editors: Hong Ling, Hui Peipei, Li Qin, Wei Yin, Cao Ying, Shi Peng, Wang Han) Krispy Kreme Doughnuts coming back to the Jersey Shore after nearly 20 years LAKEWOOD - Are you ready for a hot Original Glazed Doughnut? Krispy Kreme Doughnuts is coming back to the Jersey Shore. A Krispy Kreme Factory, which will include a drive-up window, is slated to open this fall at the Home Depot-anchored Town & Country Shopping Center at 1900 Route 70 in Lakewood, said David Townes, retail market lead for New Jersey at Jones Lang Lasalle, who represents the tenant. A Krispy Kreme franchise group, which is expanding in New Jersey and has stores in Paramus, Springfield, East Rutherford and Jersey City, has signed a lease for the 4,000-square-foot restaurant, a former McDonald's with a drive-through, Townes said. "They're going to completely transform the building, not just interior work but exterior work," Townes said. "They're going to turn it into what they call a factory store." It will include Krispy Kreme's "glaze waterfall' and conveyor belt used to make the doughnuts. Krispy Kreme is moving into this Route 70 spot in Lakewood formerly occupied by McDonald's, which closed in 2020. What else do we need? Waffle House, Bojangles, Whataburger among chain restaurants missing at Jersey Shore "My client really wanted to plant a flag at the Jersey Shore and they can access a big population of New Jersey from this location on Route 70," he said. "It's a great location right off the Parkway." It's been nearly two decades since Krispy Kreme had a store in Ocean County. In 2003, a different franchisee opened a store on Route 70 in Brick, but the shop closed in 2005. The July 23, 2003, opening of a Krispy Kreme store in Brick. What's Going There? New supermarket, stores filling holes at revitalized Bellcrest Plaza in Toms River Mayor Ray Coles said he was happy to hear Krispy Kreme was coming to Lakewood. "It's a unique business," he said. "There is going to be a real appetite for it." Krispy Kreme is home of the self-described Original Glazed Doughnut. The stores are known for their Hot Doughnuts sign which lights up when the freshly-made glazed doughnuts are on the conveyor. "Yes, the rumors are true, Krispy Kreme is coming to Lakewood NJ," the company said in a statement. "We are honored and humbled to announce the Grand Opening of a Krispy Kreme Factory in Lakewood NJ this upcoming Fall 2024." David P. Willis, an award-winning business writer, has covered business, retail, real estate and consumer news at the Asbury Park Press for more than 25 years. He writes APP.com's What's Going There column and can be reached at dwillis@gannettnj.com. Please sign up for his weekly newsletter and join his What's Going There page on Facebook for updates. This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts opening in Lakewood NJ this fall Kristi Noem now banned from over 90 percent of tribal land in South Dakota after sixth tribe bars entry South Dakota governor Kristi Noem is now barred from entering six of the nine Native American reservations within the state, after a vote Friday by the Yankton Sioux Tribe. Most of the tribes within the state have voted in recent months to bar the Republican leader from their territory, leaving her unable to access more than 90 per cent of the states tribal lands and more than 16 per cent of South Dakotas total landmass. The bans come in response to controversial recent comments from Ms Noem, accusing tribe members of being absentee parents and in cahoots with drug cartels. Their kids dont have any hope, the governor said at a town hall in March. They dont have parents who show up and help them. They have a tribal council or a president who focuses on a political agenda more than they care about actually helping somebodys life look better. Weve got some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefitting from the cartels being here, and thats why they attack me every day, she added. Indigenous leaders condemned Ms Noems statements. As Tribal leaders, it is our duty to honor the voice of our people, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Council wrote in a statement earlier this week after a ban vote of its own. Although, it is always a goal to engage in constructive dialogue with our political counterparts at the federal and state level. It is equally important we take actions that protect our values, ensuring a safe and inclusive environment, and preventing further marginalization of tribal nations. Governor Kristi Noems wild and irresponsible attempt to connect tribal leaders and parents with Mexican drug cartels is a sad reflection of her fear-based politics that do nothing to bring people together to solve problems, Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council Janet Alkire said in a statement earlier this year. Rather than make uninformed and unsubstantiated claims, Noem should work with tribal leaders to increase funding and resources for tribal law enforcement and education. In addition to the Yankton and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribes, the Oglala, Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, and Rosebud Sioux tribes have all voted to bar the governor from their reservations in South Dakota. Banishing Governor Noem does nothing to solve the problem, a Noem spokesperson said in response to a past vote. She calls on all our tribal leaders to banish the cartels from tribal lands. The Friday vote is the latest complication for Ms Noem, whose seen her reputation as a national rising star severely damaged in the wake of controversy over her new memoir No Going Back, which features a highly dubioous (and now-removed) claim she met Kim Jong UN, and a story about shooting a misbehaving farm dog. The Independent has contacted the governors office for comment. Ky. 4-H agent arrested, accused of sending inappropriate photos of himself to a juvenile A Lexington man who works in the 4-H youth program in Bath County has been arrested after being accused of sending inappropriate photos of himself to a juvenile. Terence L. Clemons, 50, was arrested Friday, after Kentucky State Police in Morehead said they began investigating a complaint about the photos, according to a news release. Clemons was being held Saturday in the Fayette County Detention Center. He is charged with four counts of prohibited use of electronic communication to procure minor. Clemons is a 4-H agent in the Bath County office of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, UK spokesman Jay Blanton confirmed. The safety of participants, volunteers, staff and community members is the top priority of the Kentucky 4-H program, Blanton said in a statement Saturday. Once learning of this, the program took immediate action and suspended the extension agent in question. It is unclear whether the charges are connected to Clemons work at 4-H. We are unable to speak to the charges or any additional details as Kentucky 4-H follows strict Client Protection protocols in order to safeguard the privacy of all involved, Blantons statement said. Kentucky State Police Trooper Scott Ferrell said he had no further information about the circumstances of the case. L.A. prosecutors say recording of racist City Hall conversation was a crime but refer case to city attorney The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor building at the intersection of James M. Wood Boulevard and Lake Street in Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) A crime was committed by at least one former employee of the L.A. County Federation of Labor in connection with the recording of a racist conversation that rocked City Hall, according to L.A. County prosecutors. But the prosecutors declined to file felony charges, and it will now be up to City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto's office whether to charge the employees with misdemeanors, according to a memo made public late Friday. In the memo, which explains their decision, prosecutors said Santos Leon and Karla Vasquez lived at a residence tied to an internet service provider address that was in turn linked to an email account associated with social media posts that highlighted the audio, according to the memo. Leon and Vasquez are married and worked at the labor federation. The covert recording captured racist and derogatory remarks during a 2021 conversation at the labor federation's offices between City Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon, and labor federation boss Ron Hererra. Martinez, Cedillo and Hererra have all since left those roles. According to the memo, dated April 26, Los Angeles police brought a case to prosecutors in January, requesting that they charge Vasquez and Leon with illegally recording a conversation and wiretapping. Recording conversations without a persons consent is illegal under California law, with rare exceptions. Search warrants were served at Vasquez and Leon's Eagle Rock home last July. According to the memo, the LAPD investigation found that between Sept. 19 and Oct. 6, 2022, the recording was posted on Reddit and then amplified on Twitter by accounts that had been recently created. Both accounts were connected to a Gmail handle "laupolitic@gmail.com," which police then linked to the IP address at Vasquez and Leon's home. While prosecutors determined that "a crime was committed by one or both of these individuals," police could not determine how the audio was made, identify a device used to make it or determine who uploaded it to Reddit. "Neither suspect was willing to provide a statement and each are represented by separate counsel," the memo stated. The memo states that the LAPD recommended charges over the Oct. 18, 2021, conversation involving Herrera and the council members and a Sept. 30, 2022 phone call with Herrera and another individual that involved wiretapped communications. Last year, The Times reported that a forensic investigator hired by the Federation of Labor discovered sound-editing software on Leons computer and turned the findings over to police. Neither Vasquez or Leon spoke to investigators, according to the memo. "Neither suspect has any criminal history and similar charges have not been pursued by our office as felonies in the absence of such history or other counts relating to fraud or corruption," prosecutors wrote of their decision to refer the case to the city attorney's office. The city attorney's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "Quite frankly, a referral to the City Attorneys office is not surprising," Vasquez's attorneys, Michael Goldstein and Hagop Kuyumjian, said in a statement. "Our position has always been, and remains, that Ms. Vasquez has not committed any crime associated with the leaked recordings." Leon's attorney, Bob Schwartz, said his client was very relieved and gratified. This was never felony conduct, said Schwartz. He is denying that he did anything wrong." Leon was placed on leave by the federation last year, and it was not immediately clear whether he was still employed by it. The leak of the 2021 conversation effectively ended Martinez's political career and sparked Herrera's resignation. Cedillo lost his bid for reelection to current Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez before the release of the recording, and De Leon is now locked in a tough November runoff as he seeks reelection. 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. Tanweer Khan was reinstated in April following the investigation and immediately began canvassing for Sadiq Khan A Labour councillor who was suspended over claims he published anti-Semitic posts attacking Jewish-owned social media outlets went on to campaign for Sadiq Khan. Tanweer Khan was reinstated in April, following a two-month investigation into the claims. The councillor for Redbridge, east London, immediately resumed his activities as a Labour member, canvassing for Sadiq Khans campaign to be re-elected as Mayor of London. Photographs of Mr Khan campaigning for the mayor and Labours London Assembly candidates were posted by local party members on X, formerly Twitter. Following his reinstatement Mr Khan was re-listed on his Labour branch website as chairman of Mayfield Labour Party and chairman of the councils pension fund committee. His name had been removed following his suspension. Mr Khan, who has been tipped as a future Labour MP, denied that he wrote or posted anti-Semitic statements on his social media accounts, claiming the people responsible for them were disgruntled former Labour Party members. Zionist billionaire The statements claimed Facebook was under the control of the Israeli government and allegedly described Mark Zuckeberg, its owner, as a Zionist billionaire, using what is widely seen as an anti-Semitic trope. In May 2021, a statement was posted on Labayk the social media app Mr Khan set up aimed at Muslims that said: I dont understand why people are asking others on this platform to join their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp groups etc. These are pretty much all Jewish-owned platforms. The following month, after Labayk was forced to close because of insufficient support from subscribers despite more than 150,000 being invested, a long statement again condemning rival platforms as Jewish-owned was posted under Mr Khans name. It said: If you use Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp, do not forget that you are directly strengthening the position of the Israeli government in killing innocent Muslims. This entire platform is owned by the Zionist billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, who has also time and time again helped the Israeli government by giving them funds so they can take illegal actions against innocent Muslims. It was later deleted but had by then been re-posted by several Facebook users. Mr Khan said: The national executive committee has concluded its investigation into the complaint against me in accordance with the Labour Partys disciplinary procedures. The NEC has determined that I did not post the statement on the Labayk website (which was the subject of the investigation). The NEC has therefore decided to take no further action and my administrative suspension of Labour Party membership has been lifted. Trying to bring me down Mr Khan had earlier denied writing or posting the anti-Semitic statements, telling The Telegraph: None of these comments were made or posted by me. When I first became aware of these, back in late 2021, I immediately reported them to the Labour Party myself. These comments were posted through the nefarious actions of some disgruntled former Labour Party members in Ilford South. I was able to provide the Labour Party with evidence to substantiate this. Mr Khan also denied previously posting a disturbing image that appeared on Labayk showing Emmanuel Macron, the French president, with a boot print on his face. There were fears this would be interpreted by some as a call for violent action against Mr Macron, especially in the context of recent terror attacks in France. Mr Khan said: These were not posts made by me. There were so many people trying to bring me down, and went to the length of posting fake stuff pretending to be me on Labayk. Just because the posts may have my name/photo on them doesnt mean that I created them. It was one of the many reasons we decided to shut the platform down as it became a vehicle for people to spout the kind of hate other platforms wouldnt accept and neither would we. Labour sources said this week that they could not comment on the outcome of its investigation or on Mr Khans readmission to the party as the process was confidential. Mr Khan stood unsuccessfully for nomination as the Labour parliamentary candidate in Pendle and Clitheroe, Lancashire, last October. He has previously campaigned alongside Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary and MP for Ilford North. Tanweer Khan had previously campaigned alongside Wes Streeting The complaint over anti-Semitic statements followed an earlier Labour investigation into Mr Khans behaviour over allegations that he had made racist comments at a meeting of the Ilford South Constituency Labour Party in March 2019. It was claimed that in a reference to Fiona Onasanya, the former Peterborough MP who was jailed after being found guilty of lying over a speeding ticket, Mr Khan told the meeting: We didnt want to be like Peterborough that elected a black woman MP who turned out to be a criminal. Mr Khan denied that he made the comments. He said that false allegations had been made against him and a complaint was lodged with the Labour Party. He said he fully cooperated with the complaints procedure, the case was closed in January 2020, and he was informed that he had no further case to answer. A letter from Labours head office seen by The Telegraph states that Mr Khan was issued with a formal warning in June 2019, over previous content he was stated to have posted on social media, which was found to be incompatible with the partys rules and code of conduct on anti-Semitism and other forms of racism. Mr Khan said: I have not received any formal warning by Labour, in June 2019 or at any other time, about anything whatsoever. 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. Even by the dismal standards of the Welsh Labour government, plans to deploy satellites to spy on home-owners must mark a new low. In a possible attempt to squeeze yet more council tax from homeowners, aerial and street-view photography will be used to verify the size of houses, with those living in areas with good schools or lower crime rates also likely to be punished under the new regime. Given Labour has been in power in Wales for years, should the British electorate expect similar measures to be rolled out across the nation if it wins the next general election? The Welsh government brings in 2.4 billion annually in council tax receipts, with the average band D rate increasing by 47 per cent over the past decade. Last year, it handed local authorities the power to hike council tax for second homes to 300 per cent, despite warnings from small businesses over its potentially devastating impact on local economies. Proponents of the new scheme may argue that the current bands, based on 2003 prices, require an urgent update. Yet the administrative costs would be vast and practical hurdles near insurmountable. The last revaluation left some properties placed in the wrong bracket and many households facing higher bills. Local taxpayers will not take kindly to being punished once again for councils failure to find efficiencies, cut down on waste or balance their own books. Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has rightly criticised the plans as Orwellian, though they may come as little surprise to those who lived under Mark Drakefords rule in the pandemic period. During lockdown, outdoor exercise was limited to once a day, with a maximum fine double that in England, while supermarkets were banned from selling non-essential items. After 25 years of Labour control, Wales lags behind the UK on a range of metrics. Its economy has shrunk by 1 per cent since 2018, while Englands has grown by 2 per cent. Its productivity rate is lower than in most other regions. NHS patients consistently wait longer for treatment in Wales, while its schools produce among the worst results in the UK. At the same time, it has become a petri dish for some of the most unpopular, ill-conceived policies imposed by a modern government. Last September, millions were spent introducing blanket 20mph speed limits. Now the measure is set to be rolled back. It is eyeing a four-day week pilot for the public sector, and has already trialled a basic income, where people are paid regardless of whether they do any work. Many voters worry they are still in the dark as to Labours plans for government. Those who believe in growth, low taxes and efficient public services may find scant solace in Sir Keir Starmers insistence that Wales offers a blueprint for what his party can do across the UK. 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. Lake City Police Department uses license plate readers to help catch suspect in stolen vehicle case The combined use of Gunshot Detection Systems and License Plate Readers (LPRs) in Lake City has recently proven highly effective in law enforcement, marking a significant breakthrough in crime prevention. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Since their implementation in October 2023, the Gunshot Detection System and LPRs have been crucial in enhancing law enforcement efforts. The systems have notably increased leads in cases involving gunshots and vehicle-related crimes, streamlining the process of identifying suspects and locating stolen vehicles. A notable success story emerged on May 3, 2024, when the Lake City Police Department responded to a stolen vehicle report at Regal Inn on W US Hwy 90. Following standard procedures and entering the stolen vehicle information into national and state databases, an alert was triggered through the LPR system. Just two days later, a deputy received an alert matching the stolen vehicles license plate. Through coordinated efforts between the Columbia County Sheriffs Office and the Lake City Police Department, law enforcement swiftly located the stolen vehicle and apprehended the driver. Chief of Police Gerald Butler expressed pride in the early outcomes of the new systems, emphasizing the rapid pace of technological advancements not only for citizens but also for law enforcement. The LCPD said in a released statement. He highlighted the importance of collaboration among local agencies, stating that its instrumental in safeguarding citizens and their property, as well as in building solid cases to remove criminals from the streets. The successful apprehension serves as a testament to the efficacy of integrated technological solutions in enhancing public safety and combating criminal activity. Authorities announced the arrest of Victoria Grace Mcleod, born on April 8, 1991, residing at 801 SW Daisy Road, Lake City, FL 33024. Mcleod was wanted for Grand Theft of a Motor Vehicle, Petit Theft, Violation of Probation, Possession of less than 20 grams of Marijuana, and Driving with a Suspended or Revoked License. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] 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. composite image: man with horse, left; horse in barn on right; inset horse's hoove This aging animal must have a lucky horseshoe. A former Central Park carriage horse headed to the slaughterhouse has been saved, animal activists claim. Bernard, thought to be at least 14 years old, was dumped at an infamous Pennsylvania livestock auction in February, but is now living the good life at an animal sanctuary in Dittmer, MO. Bernard was put on the chopping block in February. Julie Copper, whose organization, Copper Horse Crusade, saves and rehabilitates slaughter-bound horses, said she paid $1,400 for Bernard Hes a pleasant horse, an attractive horse . . .he stood out amongst the 60 others in the pen, she recalled. Recently, Edita Birnkrant, executive director of animal advocacy non-profit NYCLASS, which has long fought NYCs carriage horse industry, was alerted to Coppers Facebook post, which sought a permanent home for Bernard. Birnkrant immediately realized Bernard was once a carriage horse, recognizing the faded, four-digit identification number etched into one of his hooves. The carriage horse industry was sending him to slaughter, alleged Birnkrant. They left this horse for dead they threw him away because he couldnt make them any more money. Im so horrified. This 4-digit number helps the industry keep track of carroage horses. NYCLASS She contacted Copper, and the two worked together to find Bernard his new home at the Gentle Barn Sanctuary, where hell have other rescued carriage horses to herd with. Birnkrant told The Post Pennsylvanias auctions largely attract killer buyers from Mexico and Canada, where slaughtering equines is legal. Older, lame, and unfit horses are sold at these auctions by the pound and their meat is sold in parts of Europe and Asia for human consumption. Its a death sentence, she said of the auctions. They just wanna squeeze every last dollar out of these horses. Bernard has a whole host of medical issues. NYCLASS Birnkrant said when carriage horses are retired, generally around age 27, they should be sent to horse sanctuaries to live out their last days. Department of Health records show Bernard was previously owned by Atakan Aktay, the Rutherford, NJ operator of NYC Fancy Rides, and was used as a carriage horse between 2020 and 2023. The animal was stabled at Clinton Park Stables in Hells Kitchen. Aktay told The Post he retired the horse last fall, but did not say why. He claimed he sent Bernard to an Amish farm in Lancaster, Pa. According to Aktay, the farmer mustve brought the horse to the auctions. Weiner will keep Bernard at his sanctuary in Missouri. Aktay was unable to name the farm or farmer. Copper, who said veterinarians confirmed Bernard has lame legs, said horse carriage rep Christina Hansen drove to her Ohio home, and tried buying the horse back from her. Copper, who refused to sell, was told Bernard was accidentally sent to the auction. Sending a horse to an Amish farm is like sending it to the slaughter auctions through a third party, Birnkrant claimed. Alina Felicies, a spokeswoman for Transport Workers Union, Local 100, which represents carriage horse drivers and owners, said NYCLASS is distorting the truth. His owner decided to retire him, filing paperwork with the Health Department in November, she said. The owner put him up for sale at an auction with a reserve explicitly stating the horse should be sent to a private buyer and not for any other purpose. Felicies confirmed the union tried buying Bernard back. Were glad that Bernard apparently has found a stable home. In addition, we have looked at property upstate and have had discussions about establishing our own retirement home for our beloved horses, she said. Additional reporting by Susan Edelman Latvia to provide Ukraine with domestically-produced drones and radar systems Latvia will soon be providing Kyiv with domestically-produced drones and radar systems, Ukraine's ambassador to the country said on May 11. In an interview with Ukrinform, Anatolii Kutsevol, said military-technical cooperation between Ukrainian and Latvian businesses was increasing. "I think that over time we will have more media reports about the transfer of drones and radar defense systems manufactured in Latvia to Ukraine," he said. "There are other areas of cooperation, but they cannot be named now for security reasons," he added. Latvia has been one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters since the outbreak of the full-scale war and annually allocates 0.25% of its GDP to provide military aid to Ukraine. Silina said earlier in April that Riga's military aid for Kyiv amounted to 392 million euros ($419 million) since February 2022. Latvia also established the international drone coalition for Ukraine together with the U.K. in January to bolster Ukraine's arsenal of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Latvia's latest military aid package to Ukraine was announced by Prime Minister Evika Silina on April 30 and aims to "improve both Ukraine's air defense and intelligence capabilities." The package included anti-aircraft guns, tactical unmanned surveillance systems, and "other essential material and technical assets to the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Silina said on X. Each shipment of aid affirms the relationship between Latvia and Ukraine and "its fight against the aggressor Russia, which is the biggest threat to world peace and security," Silina added. Subscribe to Ukraine Daily newsletter News from Ukraine in your inbox Subscribe Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. WARSAW, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday announced a partial government reshuffle, after accepting the resignations of four ministers who will be running in the upcoming European Parliament elections. According to the reshuffle plan, outlined by Tusk at a press conference, Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration Marcin Kierwinski, Minister of State Assets Borys Budka, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz and Minister of Development and Technology Krzysztof Hetman will be replaced by Tomasz Siemoniak, Jakub Jaworowski, Hanna Wroblewska and Krzysztof Paszyk respectively. "I expected these ministers to act efficiently, sometimes toughly. The first months were months of 'crashing the wall'. Now is the time for tidying up," said the Prime Minister. Although Tusk initially said that the reshuffle would also affect ministers who had not "optimally utilized" their first few months in their departments, a few days before the announcement he decided that the changes would only apply to candidates for positions in Brussels. The official inauguration ceremony for the new ministers will take place on May 13 at the Presidential Palace. A sign in downtown Juneau informs readers that the land is called Lingit Aani, or the land of the Tlingit people on May 7, 2024. In 2018, Gov. Bill Walker signed A.O. 300, which recognizes a linguistic emergency for Alaska Native languages, which was a recommendation of the Council for Alaska Native Languages. It promotes, among other efforts, the use of Alaska Native place names in signage. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon) A sign in downtown Juneau informs readers that the land is called Lingit Aani, or the land of the Tlingit people on May 7, 2024. In 2018, Gov. Bill Walker signed A.O. 300, which recognizes a linguistic emergency for Alaska Native languages, which was a recommendation of the Council for Alaska Native Languages. It promotes, among other efforts, the use of Alaska Native place names in signage. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon) Lawmakers added four Alaska Native languages to the states official language tally and renamed the council that advocates for their survival and revitalization on Friday. Members of the Senate approved their version of House Bill 26 with a unanimous vote on Monday. State Representatives concurred with the changes on Friday, which means it goes to Gov. Mike Dunleavy next. The House passed the original bill, sponsored by Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, last year with a 37-1 vote. Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, was opposed. In addition to adding official languages, the bill contains other changes to the council. Its name was changed to the Council for Alaska Native Languages from the Alaska Native Languages Preservation and Advisory Council, with a goal of doing more than just preserving the 23 languages. The number of members on the council will increase from five to seven. And the council will now reside in the Department of Education and Early Development rather than the Department of Commerce, signaling the importance of education to its work. Sen. Donny Olson, D-Golovin, carried the bill in the Senate. He said the changes reflect the councils mission, which is to increase the usage of Alaska Native languages. These minor changes will have a major impact on the Council for Alaska Native Languages and will help carry languages from our past into the future for generations to come, he said. Xunei Lance Twitchell, the councils chair, spoke in support of the bill in a January Senate Finance committee meeting, where he called Alaska Native Languages the states oldest living resource. Twitchell reminded the committee that Alaska Native languages are no longer spoken as a result of assimilation policy and the states history of boarding schools and said the state had not yet shown that the languages are a priority despite their worth: Every single Alaska Native language is sacred and irreplaceable. It contains concepts that cannot be translated, it contains things that cannot be replaced, and that give a sense of fulfillment and wholeness and health to Alaska Natives and to non-natives in Alaska. The councils biennial report was published this year. It calls for lawmakers to implement systemic reforms to support the languages, many of which are in danger of dormancy. House Bill 26 adds Cupig, Middle Tanana, Lower Tanana and Wetal will join English, Inupiaq, Siberian Yupik, Central Alaskan Yupik, Alutiiq, Unangax, Denaina, Deg Xinag, Holikachuk, Koyukon, Upper Kuskokwim, Gwichin, Upper Tanana, Tanacross, Han, Ahtna, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian as official state languages. Middle Tanana and Lower Tanana were previously listed as one language. Last year, Rep. Maxine Dibert, D-Fairbanks, said she supported the bill in part because one of the languages to be added is endemic to the Middle Tanana region her family is from. Eastman, the sole vote against the legislation in 2023, contended that dormant languages, such as Wetal, should not be considered for status as state languages because they are not regularly spoken. Reps. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, and Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, defended the languages inclusion and pointed to language revitalization efforts in communities where they have lived. Its important to recognize that, although a language may have not been spoken for quite some time, that there is still a memory of that language. And we would do well to remember that there is a history there, and that that may come back at any time, Ruffridge said. The post Lawmakers boost Council for Alaska Native Languages with new name, more languages and members appeared first on Alaska Beacon. You'll soon get more opportunities to eat like The King. Blaze Pizza penned a deal to open five more locations in Greater Cincinnati, the company announced in a press release. Basketball star LeBron James is a well-known co-owner and investor in the "Fast-Fire'd Pizza" franchise. A 2022 "Mashed" article reports James' equity stake in the Pasadena-based company is roughly $40 million as of 2020, and he also owns 19 franchise locations. NBA star LeBron James is a well-known co-owner and investor of Blaze Pizza, a "Fast-Fire'd Pizza" franchise. Blaze Pizza offers customers make-your-own, oven-fired pizzas that are ready in minutes. There are currently two locations in Greater Cincinnati one in Mason and the other at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, commonly known as CVG. The five new pizzerias will open in Blue Ash/Kenwood, West Chester/Liberty Township, Oakley/University of Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and the Miamisburg/Dayton area, owner Sanjay Patel told The Enquirer. The 45-year-old entrepreneur, who already owns the location in Mason, plans to open one pizzeria each year for the next five years. Blaze Pizza will open five more locations in the Greater Cincinnati area. Patel purchased the Mason pizzeria from the previous owner in February and "completely renovated" it, he said. This location played a large role in why he decided to become a franchise owner of the pizza company. When he visited the restaurant with his family in 2015, he thought to himself, "Wow, can I ever dream [of] something like this? ... Will I ever have something like this?" Nine years later, his dream came true. "Something about Blaze is very special," Patel said. He elaborated by saying there are four doughs and over 40 toppings to choose from. "People who make [a] pizza here ... will never get this pizza anywhere else. Because every pizza is unique." "(Blaze) gives you choice," Patel said. "And choice is something people really enjoy. They have freedom." This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Blaze Pizza to open 5 more locations in Greater Cincinnati Rudy Giulianis daily talk show on WABC a New York radio station was canceled Friday, after he ignored repeated warnings about denying the legitimacy of the 2020 election on air. WABCs owner and GOP donor John Catsimatidis, who runs his own talk show on the station, said he repeatedly warned him, prior to cutting him loose. We warned him once. We warned him twice. And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning, that he refuses not to talk about it, Catsimatidis told the New York Times. So, he left me no option. I suspended him. Catsimatidis, who co-chaired a massive April fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, told Giuliani not to speak on the legitimacy of the election results, allegations of fraud effectuated by election workers, and your personal lawsuits relating to those allegations in a letter read aloud by Giuliani on his podcast Friday night. Once a powerful attorney and the mayor of New York City, he was canned from one of his few remaining jobs, deep in financial woes and reportedly overspending on a $43,000-a-month budget set by a bankruptcy court. He will still be able to broadcast his daily podcast, on which he continues to spew election misinformation. Charged with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia and Arizona, Giuliani also lost a slew of civil cases involving false statements, including a defamation suit from Georgia election officials. What John Catsimatidis has done is disgraceful, Giuliani said on his podcast. You cant tell somebody not to talk about the 2020 presidential election and tell me that you have a respect for free speech. He has repeatedly denied being aware of a policy prohibiting him from discussing the election, but said he had been issued a warning letter. Maria Ryan, a regular co-host on Giulianis show, was also reportedly fired. The Legal Marijuana Now Party will no longer be recognized by Minnesota as a major political party following a Friday ruling by the state Supreme Court. Now the state is left with two major parties with automatic ballot access the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and the Republican party. Thats down from four just two years ago. Justices of the high court unanimously rejected an appeal from the pro-marijuana legalization party to stop a petition by the DFL to strip them of their major party status. As a result of the ruling, Legal Marijuana Now will no longer be granted automatic ballot access, so their candidates will have to gather signatures in order to appear. Court agrees party failed to meet standards In their ruling, justices agreed with the DFL, who had argued the legalization party had failed to meet major party standards set by Minnesota law, including having a statewide central committee thats ultimately under the control of a statewide convention a new rule the state adopted last year. The LMNP has failed to articulate any burden, much less a severe burden, upon its associational rights that is specifically created by the requirements, justices wrote in their opinion, rejecting the partys claims the law violated its Constitutional rights. The DFL filed a petition to strip LMNPs major party status in February. Party leadership said they were pleased with the courts decision to uphold a court referees March ruling in their favor. Major party status comes with major party responsibilities, and only the Minnesota DFL and Minnesota GOP have consistently met that standard, DFL Chairman Ken Martin said in a Friday statement. New rules for major party status Legal Marijuana Now Party Chairman Dennis Schuller said the DFL was frightened and trying to eliminate his party, and alluded to a potential action in federal court. Legal Marijuana Now became a minor party in 2014 and gained major party status in 2018. Another pro-legalization party, Grassroots Legalize Cannabis Party, enjoyed major party status but lost it after failing to meet the 5% statewide vote threshold in 2022. Minnesota legalized marijuana in 2023. Last year DFL and GOP lawmakers passed legislation to create new rules for major party status in Minnesota. Opponents at the time, including former Gov. Jesse Ventura, who won as a third-party candidate in 1998, said the change would shut out alternative voices in state politics. The spiritual successor to Venturas Reform Party persists today as Minnesotas Independence Alliance Party, albeit in a significantly diminished form. Supporters said the changes would help combat electoral shenanigans. In the past, the GOP has been accused of backing spoiler candidates to siphon votes from Democrats, including those running for the legalization parties. Since LMNP is no longer considered a major party, they will have to collect petition signatures during the candidate filing period between May 21 and June 4. The deadline for presidential candidates is Aug. 30. Secretary of State Steve Simons office said the party will have to file notice that it no longer meets the requirements. Legal Marijuana Now joins Grassroots Legalize Cannabis, the Independence-Alliance Party and the Libertarian Party as the states fourth recognized minor political party. Related Articles LEHI, Utah (ABC4) A Lehi High School teacher was taken to the hospital after what school district officials are calling a very unfortunate accident during a class Friday morning, according to Lehi City. Just before 11:40 a.m. on May 10, a teacher at Lehi High School was injured in a tragic, very unfortunate accident during a class, according to a press release from Lehi City. Our home, falling apart: Large, mysterious cracks in Eagle Mountain home causing concern Lehi Police and Lehi Fire responded to the accident, and the male teacher was taken to the hospital for treatment. No students were injured in the event, officials said. The area was secured and there are no additional risks to students or others who may be visiting the school, the release states. According to the city, parents of all Lehi High students have been made aware of the incident, as well as the support services and crisis counseling available. We extend our deepest concern to the teacher involved and their family during this difficult time, officials said. We are grateful that no students were injured in the accident and we appreciate the swift and professional response from Lehi Fire and Police. We are also grateful to our outstanding school administrators, who always lead their faculty, staff, students, and families with sensitivity and compassion, the release from Lehi City states. This incident is currently under investigation. This a developing story. ABC4 will update this post as more information becomes available. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah. Letters to the Editor: I was at Kent State in 1970 when my friend was killed. Why are we still using force against college protests? To the editor: I was a student at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4, 1970. I was with my friend Sandy in the parking lot that day protesting the war in Vietnam, when she was shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard. The feelings from that time run deep and personal, and they have once again come back in light of all of the turmoil on college campuses in recent days over the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Vietnam War raised questions having to do with politics, honesty and morality. It was not primarily a question of ethnic conflict between two peoples. Protests are part of the American heritage we can be proud of, and they can force needed change but those that descend into violence are no longer accepted forms of expression. I am truly amazed that the leaders of American universities have seemingly not learned anything from history on how best to address protests in which participants on all sides have complex, strongly held beliefs. Sending in the National Guard at Kent State was not the solution then, nor is a similar response to protests the solution now. In their song "Ohio," Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young asked, "What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground? How can you run when you know?" I knew her and found her dead on the ground. I would like to think I haven't run from my responsibilities as a global citizen. Doug Guthrie, Manhattan Beach This letter is part of our Hear Me Out video series. Visit latimes.com/hearmeout for more videos based on reader letters. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. To the editor: Don't invoke, as Seth Greenland does, solemn Holocaust remembrance to tar the college protesters as antisemitic and privileged. Rather, acknowledge the difference between 1,200 Israeli victims of Hamas terror on Oct. 7 and the more than 34,000 dead Palestinians in Gaza since then. Remember the Israeli bombardment underway in Rafah, a final killing field in what had been the last refuge for Palestinians fleeing the destroyed north. Student protesters see war crimes happening in Gaza instigated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing cabinet on whose watch the Hamas attack happened. Student protesters want the United States to end our annual gifts to Israel's military. Students want their universities to divest from companies doing business with an Israeli state hostile to Palestinian rights. Students want America to stand with the wretched and the poor on the right side of history, not with criminals. Frances O'Neill Zimmerman, La Jolla .. To the editor: I am the child of a Holocaust survivor. I am also a retired psychologist. These difficult days, with some protesters telling Jews to "go back to Poland," I experience California as filled with casual hate. The news is filled with a normalization of lies. A near-total absence of a sense of common community pervades the environment here, with everyone shouting at the same time. My own inner world is as peachy as it's been in a long time. A tad lonely, but mostly content. But the world outside seems to be in an accelerating process of disintegration. I can't do much about it. I write and try to educate when I think I can add something useful. Sometimes I challenge the most egregious untruths that I cannot avoid. But it feels like shooting randomly into a vast open sky. America feels ever smaller and less safe every day. I see my son more often and talk to my mom. I keep refocusing on what makes me feel grateful. The island of safety feels smaller every day. Here, I will make my stand. Steven Tenenbaum, Berkeley .. To the editor: Greenland makes several good points showing that most protesters supporting Gaza do not know or appreciate the impacts of the Holocaust. It's "ancient history" to them. What is also "ancient history" to Greenland is the real history of Zionism. It is more than his belief that "Jews deserve a state where they can be safe." In 1925, an early Zionist leader, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, wrote that "Zionism is a colonizing venture and, therefore, it stands or falls on the question of armed forces." That is how Zionists were able to form the state of Israel in 1948 and displace Arab Palestinians. Who invited these refugees to negotiate their futures? How did the United Nations defend their rights? The Palestinians deserve recognition as their own state without asking Israel's permission to get it. Peter Zschiesche, San Diego This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Little Rock group deliver letters to Governor Sanders asking for an end to gun violence in their neighborhood Little Rock group deliver letters to Governor Sanders asking for an end to gun violence in their neighborhood LITTLE ROCK, Ark. A group demanding their voices are heard delivered more letters to Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders Friday asking for an end to gun violence in their neighborhoods. The group, led by Reverend Benny Johnson said it has lost too many family members and its becoming too hard to bare. Arkansas Stop the Violence Movement speaking out after Sunday afternoon shooting leaving one injured They said just recently someone opened fire at a park where children were playing. They believe the governor can do more to get illegal guns off the streets. We want to be seen, we want to be heard, we want our family on that beautiful picture and knowing that we can put our kids to sleep at night get them to school the next morning and know that they are going to come home safely. we want that same safety and security that she has with her family, Lakesia Wilbon-Aycock said. The letters were received and stamped. The folks in this group say theyre anxiously waiting to hear back from Governor Sanders. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK. SYDNEY, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government announced on Saturday that the country will stop exporting live sheep by sea from May 1, 2028, while unveiling a package of 107 million Australian dollars (71 million U.S. dollars) to help the industry transition. Australian Minister for Agriculture Murray Watt said the government was taking these measures to protect the welfare of Australian sheep, according to a media release by the minister. "The community expects Australia to have the world's best animal welfare practices," Watt said. "I understand that some in the community will want to see the trade stopped tomorrow, and others not at all." "This approach strikes the right balance, based on extensive industry and community consultation," he said. Legislation enacting the phase out will be introduced in this term of parliament, which is due to expire in July 2025. "We are giving certainty to sheep producers and the supply chain by legislating the date, and putting 107 million dollars on the table to enable an orderly and well-planned transition away from the trade," Watt said. While the live sheep export industry has been in decline for many years, down from 415 million Australian dollars in 2002-03 to 77 million Australian dollars in 2022-23, the demand for processed sheepmeat both in Australia and overseas has been rapidly expanding, according to the media release. This presents an opportunity for more processing to occur onshore in the state of Western Australia, which will mean more local jobs, the minister said. (1 Australian dollar equals 0,66 USD) LITTLE ROCK, Ark. The fiscal session may be concluded but Little Rock School Districts Student Legislative Summit was just gaveled in. LRSDs 2024 Student Legislative Summit was held at the Arkansas Capitol on Friday. During the summit, students dug into topics and directions the district is taking that work, and what changes theyd like to see when it comes to the future of their education. Little Rock Central High hosts topping out ceremony for new science wing The students get the chance to connect with educators and legislators and vice-versa to work on topics that are a concern to all involved to bring positive changes. Parkview Arts and Science Magnet 9th grader India Smith is the chair of the strategic planning committee and president of her freshman class. I think maybe I could run for office, she said. And I believe I would have a great support system and I would make the world a better place for everybody. Maumelle Charter High School student overcomes cancer, becomes National Merit finalist The summit also serves to inspire the future generation. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK. Long Beach man started petition to ban unhosted short-term rentals in his neighborhood. It worked First came the all-night parties and music blaring from a neighbors house in Long Beach that kept Andy Oliver up at night. Then there were the smoke outs, when visitors enjoying refuge from hostile cannabis laws in their home states blazed marijuana throughout the day, sending clouds of hazy smoke into Olivers sanctuary, his house in the city's College Estates neighborhood. The final straw was on Jan. 2, when a shooting victim climbed over his fence, bleeding and looking for shelter. In each case, the source of Oliver's grief was tourists staying in an unhosted short-term rental next door. Such rentals are listed by homeowners who are not present during the guest's stay, as with Airbnb. All this happened over a years time, and it was beginning to be too much, Oliver, 50, said. This is a residential area, and something had to be done. Fast-forward four months, and Oliver has successfully petitioned Long Beach's Community Development Department to ban short-term rentals within College Estates. His win spawned nine similar petitions around the city. I dont have the final count, but there are something like 755 homes, and we just got enough signatures, Oliver said. I heard it was close and I dont have confirmation of the final vote, but I was informed [last week] that we succeeded. Olivers victory was the culmination of nearly a year of work, which included trying the city's complaint hotline, speaking with a council member and, ultimately, founding an online advocacy group, the Long Beach Safe Neighborhood Coalition. Jean Young, pictured at her home in Long Beach, has used Airbnb for years. (Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times) For months, coalition members commiserated on the social media site Nextdoor over their frustrations with the short-term rentals, gathering momentum for a ban. The common theme that we kept running into was that this was a big deal for many residents and almost all of us got the runaround from the city of Long Beach, Oliver said. They didnt seem to care. As short-term rentals have spread, the responses across Southern California have varied. Read more: Crackdown on Airbnb and other short-term rentals likely coming to unincorporated L.A. County In Palm Springs, short-term rentals were capped in specific, high-demand neighborhoods, leading to a local drop in home prices. In Orange County, Anaheim requires a minimum stay of three nights to avoid frequent disturbances, while Seal Beach has limited short-term rentals to 31 units in the citys coastal zone south of Westminster Boulevard. Last year, Lakewood banned them altogether . Similarly, Long Beach originally banned unhosted short-term rentals in the early days of the pandemic. But that ordinance was loosened to allow for 800 non-primary-residence short-term rentals, meaning people could use their second properties within the city as an Airbnb. Currently, there are 626 non-primary short-term rentals registered in the city, according to the Community Development Department. Jean Young, a 67-year-old technical writer, is among those with a short-term rental. Im a part-time writer, and the income from rentals just smooths out the rough edges and has been wonderful, she said. Young splits her time between her three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Long Beach's affluent Bixby Knolls neighborhood and one in the sprawling senior living community at Leisure World in Seal Beach, where she spends three or four months out of the year. She began renting out a part of her Long Beach home 11 years ago to JetBlue and Southwest flight attendants in town between shifts, then turned it into a place of refuge for traveling nurses during COVID-19. Now Young hosts physical therapists and medical residents. Sometimes, she rents out the entire place. My son has since moved on to college and my mother passed away, so theres all this room in my house to share, she said. It would be sad to lose that ability. Young said she understands the backlash from community members. The Jan. 2 shooting next to Oliver's home on Kallin Avenue was horrible and an abomination," she said, but a citywide ban would ultimately be "damaging." Oliver said he initially tried other means. He called the citys hotline to complain about his neighbors rental, but nothing was ever enforced. He reached out to a City Council member and the city attorney. Eventually, he had to go grassroots. There were two previous petition drives that failed," he said, "so I wasnt sure if we would have success. But whenever he was discouraged, he would think back to his encounters with rowdy neighbors. In December, he said he spoke with a bunch of 20-somethings from Texas staying at his neighbor's house, because the insane amount of marijuana they were smoking was floating into his home. They said recreational marijuana wasnt allowed in Texas and they were going to take advantage of their time here, he said. Just a few weeks later, on Jan. 2, a man standing in front of a rental in the 800 block of Kallin Avenue was shot in the lower body by an unknown gunman, according to Long Beach police. The home had been listed on Peerspace, an online marketplace for hourly rentals, Oliver said. The shooting is still under investigation. The victim tried to climb Olivers fence and smeared blood on the gate as he crossed into the yard. My house was closed for hours due to an investigation, he said. Read more: Maui looks to cut back on Airbnbs, vacation rentals as early as next summer As momentum for Oliver's petition grew, help came from unexpected places. Better Neighbors LA , a self-described coalition of hosts, tenants, housing activists, hotel workers and community members, footed Oliver's $1,050 petition ban fee with the city. BNLA is happy to support neighbors like Andy in Long Beach as well as people and groups across Los Angeles County who want reasonable regulations on an out-of-control industry that affects their neighborhoods," the group said in a statement. Oliver said the group is also funding efforts to ban unhosted short-term rentals in nine other Long Beach communities, including El Dorado Park, Naples and South of Conant, where resident Stephen Carr is leading an effort. Carr, a freelance photographer, said the ban was necessary after his neighbor's home listed on Airbnb turned into a hotel. He said one weekend last summer, guests in town for an electronic dance music festival stayed up every night. The music is blaring. Theres screaming and drunkenness spilling out into the front and back lawns till 3 a.m., he said. One of the guests actually apologized the next day, but then they partied again till 4 a.m. Carr said he called the police, but they would only issue warnings. He also tried the citys complaint hotline but never received a call back. Eventually, he found Oliver on Nextdoor and linked up with Better Neighbors LA, which he said funded his $1,050 petition fee. Theres no regulation, no help coming from anywhere, Carr said. The sites that host in Long Beach such as Airbnb, Peerspace and Vrbo say they have outlets for residents to voice their concerns and point out problems. Airbnb cited a city report in April that said the majority of its operators were meeting compliance standards and that there was proactive and reactive enforcement against violations. Read more: Opinion: Airbnb and short-term rentals drive up L.A. housing prices. Here's how we can push back The hosting site has a Community Disturbance Policy that bans parties and events that are disruptive, open-invite and draw excessive noise, visitors, trash, littering and smoking, among other issues. Neighbors witnessing issues or violations are encouraged to reach out to Airbnb's support staff, a company spokesperson said. Peerspace, meanwhile, said its sites rent out venues on an hourly basis including homes, photo studios, storefronts and banquet halls. Unlike Airbnb and Vrbo, the company does not permit overnight bookings. The company said it takes neighbor concerns seriously and asks anyone experiencing complications to reach out to its Trust and Safety team. It also said it had no listing for the home on Kallin Avenue on Jan. 2, when the shooting victim climbed into Oliver's backyard. Vrbo recommends that neighbors with complaints first address any issues with the host. They then suggest filling out a Stay Neighbor complaint form if a resolution can't be found. 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. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) weighed in on the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, dubbing it Biblical warfare. Israel doesnt occupy the land, they own it. The promised land is theirs, Mace posted on social media platform X. Its Biblical warfare, plain and simple. Mace, like many other Republican lawmakers, has been supportive of Israels right to defend itself after Hamas attacked on Oct. 7. In a December interview, Mace sharply criticized her Democratic colleagues in the House for not speaking out against the acts of sexual violence that Hamas inflicted on Israelis that day. I cant think of anything more shameful to see these womens groups, to see woman on the left, women in the House, my colleagues on the left who refuse to say what this is, which is shameful. Its disgusting. Its barbaric, she said. And we ought to be condemning it from every corner of our country. Every woman should be condemning this. And I think its shameful. Mace is an outspoken advocate against sexual violence, having been a victim of rape herself. She used her own experience in expressing grief about the violence Israeli women suffered. I mean, we know now we know now that Hamas in their battle plan was to go in and systematically rape, mutilate, and murder these Israeli women, Mace said. And Im Im a survivor of rape, but the difference is that I survived. But many of these Israeli women didnt, and they were mutilated, and murdered while it was happening. The Hill has reached out to Maces office for further comment about her post and the war. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. French President Emmanuel Macron again did not rule out the intervention of the French military on the side of Ukraine, against which the Russian Federation is waging a war of conquest, but at the same time expressed hope that his country will not have to fight. Source: European Pravda; Emmanuel Macron on X, answering questions from Internet users; Le Figaro Emmanuel Macron says that at some point, the Europeans should be ready to stop Russia from moving further forward in Ukraine, but he most sincerely hoped "that we will not have to fight." "If we want peace, we must protect it. That is why we must arm ourselves, and that is why we must be a deterrent and be persuasive to our opponents, telling them: "If you go too far and threaten our interests, my security, then I do not rule out interference," Macron said. He stressed that Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity are at stake, but at the same time, the rule of law and general rules are also under threat. "And if we leave everything as it is in Ukraine, then the right of the strongest will win. And we can't be safe because it's happening 1,500 kilometres away... So, our future and our security are at stake in Ukraine," the French president concluded. Background: Macron recently resumed discussions about opportunities to deploy foreign troops in Ukraine. Earlier,Russia summoned the French ambassador to Moscow to condemn Paris's "provocative" policy. France condemned the summons of its ambassador to the Russian Foreign Ministry, saying that Moscow uses "intimidation tactics". Support UP or become our patron! The vehicle was damaged after the mama bear jumped in front of it in a Japanese forest A mama brown bear gave two men driving on a forest road in Japan the scare of a lifetime after a sudden attack. According to the Japanese newspaper The Mainichi Shimbun, the attack took place around 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 28, on a road in Hokkaido prefecture as the men attempted to pick Allium ochotense, a type of wild onion. The men reported seeing the brown bear, thought to be female, and its cub on each side of the road. In recently released dashcam footage, the men are seen driving down the road as the bear jumps out of the woods and immediately begins running toward their truck. Within seconds, the bear arrived at the truck's windshield and hit its wiper. After giving it one strike, the wiper is seen dangling off the window. Hokkaido Police via Storyful Bear attacking truck in Japan Related: Would You Rather Be in the Woods with a Bear or a Man? Women on TikTok Weigh In on Viral Debate As the vehicle attempts to back up, the bear takes a few steps back before charging at it once again, cracking the windshield. The video then cuts to a photo of the truck displaying additional damage near its front bumper and rear door. According to NHK Japan, the men were not injured. As for what might have caused the bear to attack, Masami Yamanaka, a special researcher at the Shiretoko Nature Foundation, explained to The Mainichi Shimbun, "The car got between the parent and cub. Since the car approached before the parent bear could escape with its cub, the bear likely decided that it had no choice but to attack." Police are urging residents to take precautions when going to the mountains, reports NHK Japan. Hokkaido Police via Storyful Bear running toward truck in Japan Related: Tourist Mauled After Rolling Down Window to Take Selfie with Bear "Prefectural officials say more than 12,000 brown bears were estimated to inhabit Hokkaido as of the end of 2022. The figure increased 2.3-fold over the past three decades," the outlet explains. According to CBS News, 2023 was a record year for bear attacks in Japan. Out of the 193 bear attacks that were reported, six of them resulted in fatalities, the most since 2006. 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. National Park Service advises that one of the best tips to avoid being attacked by a bear after an encounter is to avoid any surprising movements and to keep at a safe distance. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Police officers at the scene of the stabbing - NIGEL HOWARD MEDIA A man has been charged with the murder of a 66-year-old woman in north London, police have said. The woman died after being stabbed on a busy street, in Edgware, on Thursday. Jalal Debella, 22, was due to appear at Willesden Magistrates Court on Saturday, charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon, the Metropolitan Police said. Debella was arrested on suspicion of murder, in the Colindale area on Thursday. Graphic footage shows members of the public rushing to the womans aid in the aftermath of the stabbing, at about midday. The woman can be seen lying motionless and unresponsive in the middle of the road. A group of people surround her trying to stem the bleeding with gauze from a first aid box, garments and towels. Darling, are you here? Can you hear me? someone asks the woman, as others call the emergency services and manage the traffic, gesturing for cars to slow down. Land and air ambulance officers treated the woman, but she died at the scene. Speaking on Friday, Supt Tony Bellis, of the North West Command Unit, responsible for policing Edgware, said: A family has been left devastated by this shocking attack and my thoughts are with them at this unimaginably difficult time. 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. MEMPHIS, Tenn. Two Raleigh women are afraid to sleep in their beds after a man walked into their bedrooms in the middle of the night. Police said Shaun Coleman, 32, broke into at least three homes in a neighborhood near New Allen and Ridgemont over a two-month period. Investigators said Coleman was arrested after he was caught on camera near one home and admitted to pleasuring himself while he watched women sleep. They called him cat burglar because he was so good at what he was doing, said one of the victims. A woman who lives on Merlcrest Cove said Coleman broke into her house and her neighbors home twice in late March. She said he got in through the sliding glass doors in her kitchen. The first time, he ran in and out of her home, and the second time, she said he made it all the way to her bedroom. I was asleep when he opened my door. He didnt stand over me. He was on his knees, she said. He was coming toward me. 3 charged including ex-DCS employee after TN children found living in filthy conditions She said she yelled at him to get out of her house and implied she had a gun. I did act like there was someone behind him in the other room, and I continued to yell shoot him, shoot him, and eventually he crawled out the back door, said the woman. On Friday, the woman was moving out of her rental home on Merlcrest. She said she was relieved Coleman was caught but no longer feels safe there. Im moving far away, she said. I quit my job because I had to go out in the middle of the night, and I could no longer do my job. Her neighbor has also had some sleepless nights. She said Coleman broke into her house twice through a back window. She said he stood over her bed for what seemed like several minutes. She said she pretended to be asleep and waited for him to leave. Two former Memphis police officers indicted after deadly wreck during pursuit If you are coming at this time in the morning, do you have a weapon? Do you have a knife? Do you have a gun? I didnt know what to do. Im just lying there, she said. Its spooky. Police said early Tuesday morning, a man fitting the same description broke into a house on Braycrest Cove and stood over a woman while she was sleeping. The woman was able to scare him away. Investigators said two days later, Austin Peay Station taskforce members located Coleman at a gas station nearby and said he admitted to being inside the Braycrest Cove home. Another victim was able to identify him. Coleman was charged with two counts of aggravated burglary, sexual battery, and indecent exposure. Court records show Coleman was arrested for sexual battery in 2013. In 2016, he received a three-year suspended sentence after he pled guilty to aggravated burglary. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. Bond was set at $65,000. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com. DENVER (KDVR) A man was arrested for allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl on her way to the bus stop in Aurora. According to investigators, the events took place at about 7:12 a.m., Friday. Investigators say that an adult man approached the girl, grabbed her arm and took her to his apartment which was nearby. Once there, it was reported that he sexually assaulted the girl. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox The girl was able to escape the apartment and found a community member who helped her call 911. When officers arrived, they found probable cause to search his residence at the 1400 block of Macon Street. Shukurani Mulenda, 31, was arrested on charges of second-degree kidnapping and sexual assault on a child. He is a registered sex offender. The Aurora Police Department reported that it is unknown if Mulenda has further victims, but the department has stated it is looking for possible additional victims. Shukurani Mulenda, 31, was arrested on charges of second-degree kidnapping and sex assault on a child by Aurora Police on Friday, May 10, 2024. There is no known connection between the sex offender and the girl, according to the Aurora agency. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver. The launch ceremony of Chinese Enterprises Volunteer Project in Ethiopia is held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 10, 2024. A special ceremony was held on Friday in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to mark the fifth anniversary of the establishment of China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD) Ethiopia Office and the launch of the Chinese Enterprises Volunteer Project with attendees of senior Ethiopian government officials, Chinese diplomats and representatives of Chinese enterprises. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde) ADDIS ABABA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD) has won acclaim for intensifying humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia as it marked its five years of operation in the east African country. A special ceremony was held on Friday in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to mark the fifth anniversary of the establishment of CFRD Ethiopia Office and the launch of the Chinese Enterprises Volunteer Project with attendees of senior Ethiopian government officials, Chinese diplomats and representatives of Chinese enterprises. Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Women and Social Affairs Ergogie Tesfaye said with its school feeding, water and sanitation, poverty alleviation and women's economic empowerment programs, CFRD has extended a helping hand to 320,000 people in Ethiopia. "Today I am filled with joy to witness the accomplishment of the China Foundation for Rural Development in Ethiopia whose dedication and contributions are commendable in bringing significant change on the lives of people in Ethiopia," Tesfaye said. With its "Smiling Children Program", CFRD has been working jointly with the Ethiopian government and local NGOs to meet its target of "zero hunger" scheme in Ethiopia, mainly through school feeding and poverty alleviation programs. "It is really pleasing to see smiles on the faces of children who benefited from CFRD's project. It is all about humanity and this project shows that humanity does not have borders," she said. Noting that the CFRD's humanitarian services have expanded to nearly all regions of Ethiopia, Tesfaye said China and Ethiopia are enjoying "all-weather" strategic partnership with deepening political trust and fruitful economic collaborations. Highlighting that CFRD has done a great job in strengthening relations between the peoples of China and Ethiopia, Yang Yihang, minister counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, said the CFRD has been addressing the diverse needs of poor communities in Ethiopia over the past five years. "CFRD has been undertaking a lot of charitable projects in Ethiopia through the school feeding program, panda pack project and solar lamp project among others," Yang said. According to information obtained at the event, CFRD has invested over 10.5 million U.S. dollars to undertake its humanitarian services in Ethiopia. Currently, CFRD is undertaking school feeding and food items distribution program in selected primary schools, aiming at meeting nutritional needs of disadvantaged school children and addressing delayed growth problems in the east African country. The foundation also launched a water, sanitation and hygiene project as part of its effort of helping the east African country meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). CFRD also started the pilot panda light project involving provision of solar powered lamps to primary school students learning in off-grid areas of Ethiopia. So far, the foundation has distributed 9,000 solar lamps to primary school students in the Oromia region of the country. Ethiopian Minister of Women and Social Affairs Ergogie Tesfaye speaks at a ceremony in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 10, 2024. A special ceremony was held on Friday in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to mark the fifth anniversary of the establishment of China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD) Ethiopia Office and the launch of the Chinese Enterprises Volunteer Project with attendees of senior Ethiopian government officials, Chinese diplomats and representatives of Chinese enterprises. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde) Man who confessed to murder at Kansas hospital also opened fire in the emergency room A man who walked into KU Medical Center and confessed to killing a woman has also been charged with firing a gun in the hospital, according to court documents. The victim of the killing has been identified by police as LaToya Seamster, 42. Seamster lived in Kansas City, Kansas. Court documents identify the shooter as Jessie Wayne Buchanan Jr., 33 of Kansas City, Kansas. Buchanan entered KU Medical Center on Tuesday around 11:45 p.m. and told police there that he had killed someone, according to a KCKPD spokesperson. After hearing from Buchanan, officers responded to a home on North Hallock St., where they found Seamster dead with a gunshot wound. When he got to the hospital, Buchanan shot his gun into the ceiling at the security entrance to the emergency room, according to a KU Med internal email obtained by The Star. KCK Police indicated to employees that the shooting was likely not a targeted threat against the hospital. Buchanan, who made his first appearance in court on Friday morning, is charged with felony murder in the second degree, criminal discharge of a firearm, and two counts of criminal property damage. Buchanan is also charged with animal cruelty as it relates to torture or murder of an animal. He is being held at a cash bond of a quarter million dollars. Seamsters death was the tenth homicide in Kansas City, Kansas, this year, according to police data. At this time last year, there had been seven homicides in the city. The Stars Bill Lukitsch contributed reporting. CASTLE DALE, Utah (ABC4) A man was arrested for child kidnapping after grabbing a young girl by the waist at Emery High School on Friday, according to the Emery County Sheriffs Office. Quintin Howard Drollinger, 37, was arrested in Emery County on one first-degree felony count of child kidnapping. An Emery County sheriffs deputy received a report on Friday of a man, later identified as Drollinger, who had grabbed a little girl by the waist and covered her mouth at Emery High School in Castle Dale, Utah, according to a statement of probable cause. The sheriffs office then obtained a photo of Drollinger. Lehi High School teacher hospitalized after tragic accident during class Deputies responded to the school and found an individual who pointed out Drollinger, who was sitting on the north end of the bleachers by himself, the statement reads. Deputies approached Drollinger and detained him. The deputies also found the victim, who stated that Drollinger had grabbed her near the school bathrooms. The victim told authorities that Drollinger only let her go when her friend noticed what was happening. The victim also stated that she did not know Drollinger. While talking with the victim she was highly upset and had obviously been crying. After the totality of the investigation the determination was made to arrest Quintin Drollinger, the affidavit states. The arresting deputy requested no bail, saying that because the crime was committed at a public school event, if Drollinger is let out, he is likely to attend another school event with classes coming to an end for the summer. Drollinger was booked into Emery County Jail on the charges previously stated. Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah. Man sentenced to 15 years in prison for starting deadly fire at Butch's Bar in Door County Firefighters battle an early morning blaze on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022 at Butch's Bar in downtown Sturgeon Bay. The building also housed nine occupied apartments. Two tenants died in the fire and another was hospitalized. STURGEON BAY At his sentencing hearing Friday afternoon, a Sturgeon Bay man convicted of reckless homicide for starting the fire at Butch's Bar and its upstairs apartments that killed two people in 2022 claimed he does not believe he was responsible for the flames. Anthony Gonzalez, 60, was found guilty at a jury trial in January of two counts of second-degree reckless homicide and five counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety for starting the fire at 112 S. Third Ave. in Sturgeon Bay in the early morning hours of Feb. 22, 2022. Two tenants of the apartments above the bar, Victor Jurss and Gary Heise, died in the fire. Another tenant, who was halfway out a second-floor apartment window when fire crews arrived, had to be treated at the Milwaukee burn center and continues to deal with long-lasting impacts of his injuries. At the trial, Gonzalez did not deny that he started the fire which he told investigators on the day of the fire that he accidentally did, while attempting to refill a butane lighter and light a cigarette. Instead, Gonzalez's defense attorney Aileen Henry argued the fire was not a result of criminally reckless actions, but because the building did not have adequate fire safety equipment. But Gonzalez shared a different opinion at the sentencing. "I do not believe my fire started Butch's Bar on fire. I don't," Gonzalez said when given the chance to make a statement. "And that's why it makes it hard to me to accept what I'm getting charged with. But I do have remorse." Door County Judge D. Todd Ehlers pointed out that Gonzalez has blamed others for the fire, including the building's landlord and Sturgeon Bay city officials, and for the conviction, including his attorney and the jury. "I am concerned about your lack of responsibility and remorse regarding the situation," Ehlers said. Ehlers sentenced Gonzalez to the recommendation given by Door County District Attorney Colleen Nordin: 15 years in prison followed by 15 years of extended supervision. With over 800 days credit from sitting in Door County Jail during court proceedings, Gonzalez will be in prison until he is about 73 years old. Anthony Gonzalez looks back at the gallery during a sentencing hearing on Friday at the Door County Justice Center in Sturgeon Bay. Gonzalez was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision after being convicted of seven felony counts related to starting a fire that destroyed a Sturgeon Bay bar and killed two people living above it on Feb. 22, 2022. At the sentencing, two siblings of Jurss read victim impact statements, describing the pain of losing their brother in such a tragic way. "The hardest thing I've ever done in my life and I served 14 years in the military, two wars was tell our mom that her son was dead. I don't wish that upon anybody," Jurss' brother said. Jurss' sister said their mother was in a nursing home, and died in July, before the case concluded. "The only solace I get out of this is that my mom and Vic are in heaven together," Jurss' brother said. A letter written by Gonzalez's sister was also read at the sentencing, describing Gonzalez's difficult upbringing and attesting to his character. During his statement to the court, Gonzalez also apologized to the families of the victims. "Victor was my friend. He was my next-door neighbor, I mean, he gave me rides to work whenever my car wouldn't start," Gonzalez said. "He was always there for me. He was a good man. ... It wrecks me to know that he lost his life. And for the kids that lost their father, I don't know what to say, but I'm so sorry." Gonzalez finished his statement with a verbal jab to the district attorney. "And Miss Nordin, you don't know me at all." Anthony Gonzalez has words with Door County District Attorney Colleen Nordin (not pictured) after a sentencing hearing on Friday at the Door County Justice Center in Sturgeon Bay. Gonzalez was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision after being convicted of seven felony counts related to starting a fire that destroyed a Sturgeon Bay bar and killed two people living above it on Feb. 22, 2022. Ehlers said "in spite of" Gonzalez's expression of remorse at the sentencing, Ehlers believes Gonzalez is not taking responsibility for the horrors he caused. "Two people undoubtedly suffered a frightening and horrible death," Ehlers said. "We all, those of us that were here for the trial, saw the flames coming out of that building. I can't imagine a more horrific way to die." Ehlers noted that Gonzalez told the pre-sentence investigation writer he put out the fire he started on his mattress, then noticed a second electrical fire he believed to be caused by a blown fuse. Ehlers said that was the first time he had heard Gonzalez mention a second fire. "This strikes me, and I can only reach one conclusion, as another effort to deflect your responsibility from yourself. And I find that offensive," Ehlers said. The courtroom was filled with close to two dozen family, friends and community members. Ehlers told loved ones of the victims he hoped the conclusion of Gonzalez's case could help them find a sense of peace. "I am hoping and praying on behalf of all of you that with this sentencing today and the end of this criminal case, that it'll allow you to move on with your lives. I mean, your lives will never be the same, I'm not naive enough to think that," Ehlers said. RELATED: Anthony Gonzalez found guilty of reckless homicides in fatal Butch's Bar fire in Sturgeon Bay Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli. This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Man sentenced for starting deadly fire at Butch's Bar in Door County PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) The Prince Georges County Police Department said a man was shot and killed at the MGM National Harbor parking lot. MGM National Officers said that at about 4:50 a.m., they responded to the 100 block of MGM National Avenue for the report of a shooting. Car thefts on the rise again in Prince William County in 2024 When police arrived at the scene, they found a man in the parking lot who had been shot. He died there. Officers are working to determine the circumstances and a motive. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC. #TheDress debate took over the internet in 2015, and nearly 10 years later, the man who started the entire thing pleaded guilty to attacking his wife. The dress belonged to the Mother of the Bride, but little did she know it would divide the world. White And Gold Or Black And Blue? A photo of a dress circulated online, but people couldn't agree on its color. Some saw it as blue and black, while others saw it as white and gold. The debate became a global sensation, but there is a science behind it. After the world was divided, scientists revealed that factors like the lighting in the photo and variations in color perception influenced what people saw. Those who claimed the dress was blue and black were victorious in the end. Scientific analysis confirmed the dress's colors and said the photo's lighting was believed to be the main reason for the perceived color variations. The Science Behind The Dress Debate 9 years ago today, taylor posted about "the dress" and said its BLUE AND BLACK!! "I don't understand this odd dress debate and I feel like it's a trick somehow. I'm confused and scared. PS it's OBVIOUSLY BLUE AND BLACK" february 27, 2015 pic.twitter.com/DYRaoWCDSL Taylor Throwbacks (@ThrowbackTaylor) February 27, 2024 According to scientists, our brains perceive things as having a consistent color despite changes in lighting. For example, a white shirt appears white under sunlight or indoor lights because our brains automatically adjust for the lighting difference. So, when looking at the viral dress photo, researchers say it lacked clear lighting cues as the background was gray, and the dress was lit up by an unknown light source. This ultimately confused our brains' color constancy mechanisms. Man Who Started The Dress Debate Pleads Guilty were not doing the dress debate again ?? its just the lighting, pic on the right is the actual colours pic.twitter.com/JYRXFrPK9g char ? (@_vivalariva_) February 16, 2024 Keir Johnston, the man who started the debate, has now been sentenced to jail for trying to strangle his wife. According to documents obtained by PEOPLE, the 38-year-old was indicted on assault charges stemming from a domestic violence incident on March 6, 2022. According to the documents, he admitted to pinning his wife to the ground and sitting on her. The indictment also claims that Keir strangled his wife by placing his hands around her neck, which caused her to have difficulty breathing. He also made death threats and held out a knife during the assault. During the attack, Keir reportedly said, "Somebody is going to die," which was read in court, per United Kingdom's The Guardian. His wife was able to dial for help and said, My husband is trying to kill me," according to the report. There is no permanent police presence on the island, and she was in a situation where she felt trapped," prosecutor Chris Macintosh told the judge. What Prompted The Assault? During the trial, it was alleged that the wife went against Keir's demands regarding a job interview, prompting the argument. According to Macintosh, Keir said that he was going to leave her" and "she went outside the property to stop him leaving." "He followed her and pinned her to the ground. He placed both knees on her arms, so she was unable to move. He then began strangling her with both his hands," he continued. She was able to scream. She feared for her life and believed Johnston intended to kill her. He was very forceful." Keir Johnson Is Convicted Today's "First Disney NFT" debate is equivalent to the black/blue and white/gold debate in 2015 ?? Except this time, we're all holding shares of the company that made the dress ?? pic.twitter.com/H5NoxUJSw7 Nidrina? (@DNidorina) November 9, 2021 The judge told Keir, I have no need to tell you that this is a serious and violent offense. You repeatedly strangled her, injured her and put her life in danger in what must have been absolutely terrifying circumstances for her." I am afraid, Mr Johnston, that your status has now changed, you have been convicted of a very serious crime and you will be remanded meantime," the judge continued. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A man has been arrested and is suspected of burglarizing multiple downtown businesses in the Downtown Las Vegas Arts District. Jacob Emmanuel Williams, 33, was identified by police as the suspect in the case. Police arrested him on May 9, he was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on four counts of burglary to a business. 2 small businesses hit by thieves in Las Vegas Arts District Anyone who may have information about these burglaries is urged to contact detectives at 702-828-4314. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 702-385-5555. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS. A Scottish man linked to the black and blue dress that took the internet by storm pleaded guilty in Glasgow High Court on Thursday to attacking his wife in March of 2022, multiple outlets report. Keir Johnston, 38, and his wife, Grace, shot to fame in 2015 over the dress that Graces mother wore to attend their wedding. A photo of the black-and-blue dress made it look white and gold to many viewers. The image went massively viral after a BuzzFeed post, with people around the world arguing over the color. (BuzzFeed is HuffPosts parent company.) The couple eventually made an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres talk show to discuss the uproar. In this Feb. 27, 2015 file photo shows the black and blue dress in a window display at a Roman Originals shop in Lichfield, England. AP Photo/Rui Vieira The partnership took a dark turn. Johnston was accused of a number of instances of domestic violence against his wife taking place over the course of 11 years, ultimately leading to an incident on March 6, 2022, that caused her to fear for her life. There is no permanent police presence on the remote Isle of Colonsay, where the Johnstons lived, and Grace was in a situation where she felt trapped, prosecutor Chris Macintosh told the court, according to The Guardian. In the days before the attack, Grace Johnston had ignored Keirs demands to not attend a job interview on the mainland, The Guardian reported. He was drinking in a pub on the day of the incident and sent several messages to Grace, including one that read, You should support me but you do not. Grace Johnston returned home to Keir that day and he told her he was going to leave her, The Telegraph reports. She went outside, but he followed her and pinned her to ground before strangling her. She was initially able to scream. She feared for her life and believed Johnston intended to kill her. He was very forceful, Macintosh said in court, according to The Telegraph. According to the BBC, a witness who heard Grace scream attempted to pull Keir Johnston away from her. Johnston stopped, but returned shortly after with a knife, threatening to finish [her] off, according to the outlet. Grace sent text messages to her friends asking for help and called authorities, stating, My husband is trying to kill me. Judge Lady Drummond has remanded Johnston in custody until his sentencing. You repeatedly strangled her, injured her and put her life in danger in what must have been absolutely terrifying circumstances for her, Drummond said in court, per media reports. According to Glasgow High Courts Rolls, Johnston is expected to appear in court on June 6. Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Related... A man clears off ruins at the flood-affected Laqia village, Baghlan-e-Markazi District, north Afghanistan's Baghlan Province, May 11, 2024. More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. (Photo by Mehrabuddin Ibrahimi/Xinhua) KABUL, May 11 (Xinhua) -- More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. The UN agency said Saturday on social media that more than 300 people have been killed in northern Baghlan province alone, with more than 1,000 houses destroyed. "WFP is now distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors," it said. Local officials said on Saturday that at least 160 people have been killed and 117 others injured as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of war-ravaged Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been experiencing heavy rain and floods in the past month, leading to casualties and property damage. A man clears off ruins at the flood-affected Laqia village, Baghlan-e-Markazi District, north Afghanistan's Baghlan Province, May 11, 2024. More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. (Photo by Mehrabuddin Ibrahimi/Xinhua) A man clears off ruins at the flood-affected Laqia village, Baghlan-e-Markazi District, north Afghanistan's Baghlan Province, May 11, 2024. More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. (Photo by Mehrabuddin Ibrahimi/Xinhua) A man checks the destroyed gate of his house following floods in Shahrak Muhajireen village, Baghlan-e-Marzaki District, north Afghanistan's Baghlan province, May 12, 2024. More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. (Photo by Zahir Khan/Xinhua) People stand in the mud following floods in Shahrak Muhajireen village, Baghlan-e-Marzaki District, north Afghanistan's Baghlan province, May 12, 2024. More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. (Photo by Zahir Khan/Xinhua) A man stands in front of the gate of his house following floods in Shahrak Muhajireen village, Baghlan-e-Marzaki District, north Afghanistan's Baghlan province, May 12, 2024. More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. (Photo by Zahir Khan/Xinhua) A man fortifies the bricks mended for his house following floods in Shahrak Muhajireen village, Baghlan-e-Marzaki District, north Afghanistan's Baghlan province, May 12, 2024. More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. (Photo by Zahir Khan/Xinhua) People clear ruins following floods in Shahrak Muhajireen village, Baghlan-e-Marzaki District, north Afghanistan's Baghlan province, May 12, 2024. More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. (Photo by Zahir Khan/Xinhua) A man stands in front of the gate of his house following floods in Shahrak Muhajireen village, Baghlan-e-Marzaki District, north Afghanistan's Baghlan province, May 12, 2024. More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. (Photo by Zahir Khan/Xinhua) A man clears ruins following floods in Shahrak Muhajireen village, Baghlan-e-Marzaki District, north Afghanistan's Baghlan province, May 12, 2024. More than 330 were killed as rainstorms and flash floods hit major parts of the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan and Ghor of Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan office of the World Food Programme and local Afghan officials. (Photo by Zahir Khan/Xinhua) WASHINGTON (DC News Now) The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said two people were shot in Southeast D.C. on Saturday morning. Police said that at around 11:30 a.m., they were dispatched to the 1500 block of Alabama Avenue for the report of a shooting. Man shot, killed wife in Prince William County, police say When officers arrived at the scene, they found a man and a woman who had been shot inside a car. They were taken to the hospital while conscious and breathing. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC. BALTIMORE Marylands primary on Tuesday features a wildly expensive U.S. Senate election, a rematch for Baltimore mayor that pits incumbent Brandon Scott against former Mayor Sheila Dixon, and a hotly contested 3rd Congressional District race for a rare open seat. Despite the drama and a relentless sea of campaign ads, analysts say overall voter turnout will likely lag behind other presidential election years which often attract peak interest. Thats because the 2024 Democratic and Republican chief executive nominees are all but decided on. President Joe Biden is the presumed Democratic nominee, while former President Donald Trump is the anticipated Republican pick. People vote for the top of the ticket. When there is no presidential race at the top, turnout goes down precipitously, said University of Baltimore professor John Willis, who was secretary of state in the administration of Democratic Gov. Parris Glendening. Senate, Congress and mayor will have some impact, but theyre not driving massive numbers, he said. Willis said statewide turnout may pale compared to the 2020 primary, when 48.7% of Democrats and 35.6% of Republicans voted. Biden had not quite clinched the nomination at the time of Marylands primary in June 2020. Meanwhile, a record number of mail-in ballots used by voters because of the pandemic particularly drove turnout that year. Evidence of less enthusiasm this year was present in preliminary turnout numbers for mail-in voting and the states eight-day early voting period, which ended Thursday. As of Thursday, just 151,503 Marylanders had cast ballots at early voting locations just over 4% of the states nearly 3.7 million eligible active voters. Voting by mail, which has remained a frequently used option since the pandemic, has proved again to be a popular choice. As of 6 p.m. Thursday, local election boards across the state had received 275,529 mail-in ballots, although that was a little less than half of the 593,155 mail-in ballots delivered to voters. Jared DeMarinis, Marylands election administrator, said its too soon to fully analyze turnout, but the state board continues to see voters shifting their voting habits, particularly since the pandemic. Early voting may be slow this year, but the state is on pace to see record use of mail-in ballots, he said. For the 2022 gubernatorial general election, Maryland sent out 640,000 ballots, the most ever. As of Thursday, Maryland had 637,000 requests for mail-in ballots, he said. Its getting close, he said. Were definitely going to shatter it in November. DeMarinis cautioned that the sluggish return of those mail-in ballots, however, could mean slower election results. Only 120,000 mail-in ballots have been counted, or canvassed, so far, he said, because election officials switched gears to run early voting operations from May 2 through Thursday. While voters may be slow to cast their ballots, its not for a lack of action in some contests. The pace of the U.S. Senate race, in particular, has quickened as each candidate increasingly challenges the others credentials. David Trone, a third-term U.S. representative who is largely self-funding his campaign, has generated voter attention by spending $57 million so far in the Democratic primary a massive sum for a state Marylands size. Certainly the deluge of Trone ads may increase turnout, if nothing else, just by reminding more people when Election Day is, said Flavio Hickel, an assistant political science professor at Washington College on the Eastern Shore. While early polls showed Trone ahead, the race has become close, according to a poll released Thursday. The May 6-8 survey by Emerson College Polling/The Hill/DC News Now found 42% of 1,115 registered voters supported Prince Georges County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, while 41% supported Trone. Twelve percent were undecided. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. Thats compared with Emerson Colleges February poll, which showed Trone leading Alsobrooks 32% to 17%. Alsobrooks has slammed Trone for having donated money to Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, which has one of the nations most restrictive abortion bans. Trone, co-founder of the Total Wine & More retail chain, says the contributions were for business rather than political reasons and that he has contributed heavily to Democrats. On April 29, Trone lent his campaign an additional $3.1 million, according to Federal Election Commission records, and he has since stressed in the strongest terms yet that he believes he has a better chance of being elected in November than Alsobrooks. Either Trone or Alsobrooks is expected to face Republican Larry Hogan, a former two-term governor, in the November election. Trone will beat Larry Hogan, Trones campaign said in a recent mailer to voters. Alsobrooks will lose, it said. The rising tensions have led to fears that the party will have a harder time uniting after the primary, when the real unpredictability starts in the matchup against Hogan, former Maryland Democratic Party Chair Yvette Lewis said. She is one of four former state party leaders backing Alsbrooks. On Wednesday, those former leaders called out Trone during a Montgomery County event for what they see as divisive campaign tactics. Hogan, a former two-term governor, was a surprise entry into the race in February after Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell encouraged him to run. He is expected to easily win in a seven-candidate GOP field. With majority control of the U.S. Senate hanging in the balance in November, Hogans entry may be inducing Democrats to pay more attention to the primary than they might have otherwise, Hickel said. Alsobrooks would be Marylands first Black U.S. senator. There are no women among Marylands congressional delegation of two senators and eight representatives. Trone, Alsobrooks and Hogan are vying for the seat being left open by the retirement of Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, who did not endorse in the Senate primary. The 3rd Congressional District race has also heated up as the election draws nearer. It pits Harry Dunn a former U.S. Capitol Police officer who helped defend the building when supporters of Trump stormed it on Jan. 6, 2021 against a wide field that includes two state senators and three delegates. Dunn, author of a book about his Jan. 6 experiences, has raised more than $4 million. State Sen. Sarah Elfreth, an Anne Arundel County Democrat, has raised $1.5 million, the second-highest total in the race. Dunn has attracted national media attention and been endorsed by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but he has not sought elected office before. The district is split between Howard and Anne Arundel counties, with a piece of Carroll County, as well. Like the 3rd District race, the outcome of the contest between Scott and Dixon at the head of a 12-person field is difficult to predict. The leading pair are in a rematch of sorts of the 2020 mayoral race, when they also vied for the office. Scott topped Dixon in the primary that year by about 3,100 votes amid a crowded field of 24 Democrats that included an incumbent mayor. This time, the field is half that size and even the upper tier of candidates has shrunk. Former prosecutor Thiru Vignarajah dropped out of the race last week. A poll conducted in April for The Baltimore Sun, University of Baltimore and FOX45 showed Scott and Dixon to be the top contenders. Of likely voters surveyed, Scott had 38% to Dixons 35% with the margin of error at plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. Roger Hartley, dean of UBs College of Public Affairs, said the smaller field makes the matchup feel fresh, particularly given that Scott won last time with just 29.6% of the vote. Its a two-person race versus being a 12-person race, Hartley said. That can make it very, very different than the last one where they faced each other. As is often the case with Baltimore mayoral races, the 2024 contest is heavily focused on crime. Scott touts the citys reduction in homicides in 2023 fewer than 300 people were killed for the first time in nearly a decade. Dixon argues Scott has allowed quality-of-life crimes to go unaddressed. Democratic States Attorney Ivan Bates joined Dixons cause, endorsing the former mayor and calling Scott out for what Bates said was a lack of partnership between the prosecutors office and Scotts City Hall. Scott has led in fundraising and spending, dropping almost $1 million on the contest since the start of the year. Dixon has spent $653,100 since January. A PAC supporting Dixons campaign (funded in large part David Smith, a co-owner of The Baltimore Sun and chairman of Sinclair Broadcasting Group) supplemented Dixons effort, running ads that try to paint Scott as an inexperienced leader. Scotts ads seek to remind residents of Dixons criminal past. She was forced to leave office in 2010 after an embezzlement conviction. For Lisa McKay, 52, a city resident casting an early ballot Thursday, Dixons conviction was less of an issue than McKays concerns about juvenile crime in recent years. Baltimore suffered its worst mass shooting last summer when two people were killed and 28 more wounded, many of them children. McKay, a Maryland Transit Administration claims adjuster, listed addressing crime as one of her priorities. Even with the gift cards, I thought she was a pretty good mayor, McKay said, referring to the scandal that led to Dixons removal. I know we have to give the candidates time, but I havent seen the changes I was hoping for with Scott. Renee Johnson, another early voter at Mount Pleasant Church and Ministries in northeast Baltimore, said she voted for Alsobrooks in the Senate race, but was more focused on the mayoral matchup. The nursing assistant, who lives in the northeast Baltimore neighborhood of Belair-Edison, said she voted for Scott due to the connection shes had with him since he worked as a liaison for then-Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. He did a lot for the district, she said. Hes a positive person. He still does a lot. When I cant get ahold of him, his secretary always sends a message to him for me. Baltimore voters saw the race for mayor likely tighten May 1 with Viganrajahs exit. Running his fourth campaign for citywide office in the last seven years, Vignarajah threw his support to Dixon, granting her a much-talked about endorsement one day before the start of early voting. Hartley said the movement of Vignarajahs voters will be a factor, but is one of several likely to impact the mayoral race. He also pondered how turnout efforts, including those driven by the up-ballot Senate candidates, could potentially sway Baltimore voters. Voting may have gotten off to a slow start, but the election is now in the spotlight, he said. I do think city voters are paying attention as much as in any primary, he said. Its a tight race and certainly with the movement of endorsements and everything else, youve got a lot more city residents taking a look at this election. (Baltimore Sun reporter Lia Russell contributed to this article.) The farmers market in this suburb of Washington, DC, was a ripe crowd for Angela Alsobrooks, whos locked in an increasingly contentious Senate Democratic primary on Tuesday. I would really like to see a Black woman in the Senate. Its about time, 68-year-old Kathy Pruitt of Takoma Park said as she stood in the pickle line last Saturday. If elected in November, Alsobrooks, the executive of Prince Georges County, could become only the third Black woman ever elected to the Senate. (The one Black woman currently serving Californias Laphonza Butler was appointed and isnt running to stay beyond this year.) Alsobrooks would also add a woman to Marylands 10-person congressional delegation, which is all male. First, though, shed have to defeat one of those men Democratic Rep. David Trone, the co-owner of Total Wine & More, who has poured about $60 million of his own money into the election so far. I think its going to be a tight race, and I think they both have a path to victory, said Mileah Kromer, who oversees the Goucher College Poll, noting the potential power of Alsobrooks endorsements and Prince Georges County base vs. Trones enormous spending advantage. The race has divided Congress, with nearly all of the Maryland delegation backing Alsobrooks and key members of House Democratic leadership backing Trone. The eventual nominee will likely face off against former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, whose popularity in the state could jeopardize Democrats chances of holding the seat and with them, the Senate majority. The potential history-making aspect of Alsobrooks candidacy isnt her central pitch to voters, and many of her female supporters stressed that this isnt about identity politics. If I didnt like everything else about her, it would not be enough, Pruitt said. And yet in a contest with few distinct policy differences between the candidates on big federal issues, Alsobrooks is making her lived experience a point of contrast with Trone especially in a race where protecting abortion rights is a key part of the argument for keeping the seat in Democratic hands. Trone is also pointing to the stakes of November, making an electability argument about having the resources to defeat Hogan. In this October 2022 photo, then-Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan speaks at a "Politics and Eggs" forum at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. - Brian Snyder/Reuters/File But here in Maryland, a state where Kromer estimates the Democratic primary electorate is about 40 to 45% Black, the primary isnt as simple as coalition politics vs. money. Trone, for example, has his own support from Black women, including some prominent local leaders from Alsobrooks backyard who have appeared in his attack ads. Asked if electing a Black woman to the Senate mattered to her, one Prince Georges County voter coming out of a Target in Bowie Monday night was frank. Not at this point. I, like, need a job done. There were times when it did. At this point, Im voting for whoever I think is going to do the best job, the 49-year-old French teacher said, noting that would not be Alsobrooks because she was disappointed with her record as county executive. Ive seen many buildings go up with nothing else, said the teacher, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution in the school system, which she said has crumbled. But in a hint of the challenges that lie ahead for Democrats, she paused after saying she was leaning toward Trone noting that she was very pleased with Hogan as a pandemic governor then added, However, I have to look at the long term. A historic opportunity to elect a Black woman, but its not a motivator for everyone The women who walked with Alsobrooks through the drizzle last Saturday from her downtown Silver Spring campaign office to a local early voting location nearby, with a marching band alerting farmers market foragers along the way easily rattled off their candidates accomplishments for schools and the local economy before they talked about her being a woman. But it was an undeniable part of Alsobrooks appeal when she talks about her experience as a domestic violence prosecutor, for example, or when she or her allies attack her businessman opponent for having donated to GOP governors who have since signed abortion restrictions. (Hes chalked those contributions up to business expenses and touted the millions hes donated to Democrats.) Electing women is not just good for Maryland, Alsobrooks told supporters assembled outside her campaign office. Its good for America to make sure that the voices of women are included at these tables as were making important decisions. Ellen Malcolm, the founder of EMILYs List whose affiliated super PAC recently made a $2.5 million investment in the race told the crowd, We are going to make history again, noting how the powerhouse Democratic group burst onto the scene by helping elevate Marylands Barbara Mikulski to the Senate in 1986. The former senator has backed Alsobrooks, as have the Washington Post, Gov. Wes Moore and every other Democratic member of the states current congressional delegation, with the exceptions of one House member who backed Trone and of retiring Sen. Ben Cardin, whos remaining neutral in the race to replace him. Alsobrooks allies are looking at this seat as an opportunity not only to maintain the status quo of one Black woman in the Senate, but also to potentially grow the ranks. After California Rep. Barbara Lee failed to advance to the November election, attention turned to Delaware, where Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester is running for an open Senate seat, and, now, to Maryland. Pamela Luckett, 67, of Silver Spring said Maryland should play a role in diversifying the chamber. As a leader in democracy across the country, its very important that we do that with a qualified person, she added. Its not just about identity. She is qualified, and she is the most qualified candidate in that race. But experience and whose is more relevant has become a flashpoint thats also brought the conversation back to race. Trone, first elected to Congress in 2018, leans into his voting record and argues that hell be able to get 10 Republicans to sign on to legislation in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. Thats what really matters is getting things accomplished, and not being beholden to any special interests, he said. His campaign has taken heat, however, for an attack ad in which a local lawmaker said the Senate is not a place for training wheels. More than 750 Black women leaders wrote a letter saying Trones ads echo tones of misogyny and racism. This attempt to undermine Ms. Alsobrooks candidacy is deeply troubling and emblematic of the obstacles Black women face in political spheres, they wrote. That comment was edited from the ad, but Trone himself told a local NBC affiliate, This job is not for someone on training wheels. Alsobrooks hasnt hesitated to call him out, trying to contrast their tones. That kind of disparaging remark is what weve seen too much of in Washington; people are sick of it, she told CNN last weekend. And it shows also what is in his mind that he has a very low opinion of women. Asked about the training wheels comment by CNN Tuesday night, Trone denied he had said it, pinning the words on the local lawmaker, but added, Frankly, she doesnt have the experience at the federal level. And he has some powerful local Black women surrogates making that argument for him too. You cant learn this stuff overnight you got to know this stuff on Capitol Hill, state Sen. Joanne Benson told the crowd at a Women for Trone event in Bowie Monday. Do you understand the person whos going on Capitol Hill has to deal with the likes of Donald Trump? Speaker after speaker at the rally in Alsobrooks home county praised Trones hiring of formerly incarcerated people and his backing from the teachers union, for example. His record, many Black women here said, trumped any potential history Alsobrooks might make. Its not that simple, because it matters what you believe, said Prince Georges County councilmember Krystal Oriadha, who argued that playing identity politics was a GOP tactic her own party needed to beware of. They elevate someone because they think because of identity politics, if youre a woman, or youre Black, youre gonna forget the issues and youre gonna be blind to if they actually align with whats best for your community. Self-funding, a badge of independence for some voters, turns off others Trone whos also spent millions of his own money on his House campaigns doesnt go around talking about how much hes spent, but his ability to self-fund is a big part of his pitch. We know all the good things that need to happen often dont happen because of special interest money, he told an audience at the AFI Silver Theatre on Tuesday, arguing that he can stand up to the NRA and the pharmaceutical industry. Not accepting money from PACs, and special interests, I save about 30% of my time to have time instead to build connectivity, he added, touting his work across the aisle. Trones supporters draw a distinction between his humble roots he often talks about not having an indoor toilet when growing up and politicians who have inherited their wealth. Lets be clear about this: He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Benson told attendees at the Women for Trone rally, praising his rags-to-riches story and recounting how hed written a $10,000 check for a scholarship fund she wanted to set up for her late sister. Besides giving him an advertising and operational advantage, Trone also sees his money as a selling point to Democrats worried about holding this seat in November. Alsobrooks hasnt lacked resources she had raised nearly $7.8 million by the end of the pre-primary reporting period on April 24. Shes risen to the fundraising challenge thats often been a barrier to Black women in politics, said Glynda Carr, the president and CEO of Higher Heights for America, whose PAC works to elect Black women and is supporting Alsobrooks. The new barriers, though, if you follow the data, are self-financed candidates, Carr said. But Alsobrooks supporters point out that Trones spending, while it has certainly gotten his message out, hasnt put the race away for him. And for some, his ability to fund is itself a turn-off. Back at the pickle stand, Pruitt said: We dont need another millionaire, billionaire in the Senate. I do feel kind of strongly about that. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com The Public House in Davenport delivered a check worth $16,300 to the University of Iowa Stead Family Childrens Hospital. The funds were allocated directly to the Mollie Tibbetts fund, which helps raise awareness to the mental health of children. Tibbettss mother Laura Calderwood shared with us how much it means to keep her late daughters memory alive. It means everything to me, Calderwood said. I think its something Mollie would be proud of. She wanted to help children, thats how Austin Chesney and I got to know each other because that was her goal. Im so grateful the public is still interested in donating to the fund. The donation is the most the Public House owned by Austin and Johnna Chesney has raised since it begun sending checks to the childrens hospital back in 2016. For more Hawkeyes coverage, follow @BlakeHornTV and @HawkeyeHQ on Twitter and Facebook. You can find Hawkeye Headquarters at HawkeyeHQ.com all season. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. Barron Trump's political debut has seemingly suffered a setback as reports from his mother's office revealed he has declined a chance to serve as a Florida delegate at the Republican National Convention. Barron was initially chosen alongside 40 other Florida delegates to formally nominate Donald Trump as the Republican candidate for November's presidential election. Why Barron Trump 'Declined' To Be RNC Delegate MEGA Donald Trump's youngest son had been tipped to begin his political career when he was selected to stand as a delegate for the state of Florida in the upcoming Republican National Convention. The convention is scheduled to be held from July 15 to 18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Trump even reacted to Barron's selection, noting that he was "all for it." According to the DailyMail, reports from his mother, Melania's office, have now revealed that the high school senior will not be taking the role of a delegate because of "prior commitments." A spokeswoman for the former first lady said in a statement that "while Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments." The 18-Year-Old Would Have Served Alongside His Siblings MEGA Barron's selection as a delegate marked his foray into the world of politics, just like many of his family members. He was chosen alongside his half-siblings, Donald Jr., Eric, and Tiffany, to serve as delegates for the state of Florida, where Trump now resides and votes. His other half-sister, Ivanka, who has since resigned from politics, once served as a senior advisor to her father during his tenure as president. Donald Trump Said He Was 'All For' Barron Being A Delegate MEGA During a recent interview with Telemundo 51, the former president misstated his youngest son's age as he reacted joyfully to news about his selection. "He's pretty young, I will say. He's 17," Trump said in an interview with the Miami-based news outlet. "But if they can do that, I'm all for it." Barron turned 18 in March and is set to graduate high school next week. His father had rued the possibility of missing out on the event due to his ongoing New York hush money trial, but that seemingly won't stop the show as Trump requested a break from his criminal trial so he can attend the graduation on May 17. Judge Juan Merchan has approved Trump's request. Melania Trump Is Prepared To Give Barron Some Space To Be His Own Person MEGA Barron has notably been out of the public eye, thanks to his mother being very protective of him. After turning 18, and with the possibility that he'll follow in his father's footsteps, sources shared that his mother is now prepared to let go of her tight grip on his life. Not much is known about the high school senior, especially considering he has never spoken out in public. Reports suggest he's an ardent supporter of his father's 2024 reelection bid and is keen to create his platform and publicly share what he stands for, something Melania had kept him away from. Per the Mirror, a source close to the family shared that Melania is ready to give him more space and let him do his thing but will continue to keep a close watch over him as Trump's legal battles continue. "While he was still a minor, she zealously protected him, and we knew very little about the details of his daily life," a source told the DailyMail. "I think he's allowed to make more decisions for himself now. He can invite anyone to dinner he wishes. He's slowly becoming more public." Melania Trump Is Helping Her Son Choose A College MEGA Whether or not Barron's political career will start soon is still a matter of debate, but efforts are in place to ensure he gets the best possible college experience. Since she already renegotiated her prenuptial agreement with Trump, Melania is reportedly helping Barron choose what college he'll go to after his high school graduation, with his father's alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, being considered as a potential choice. According to a source, it is also highly probable that the mother of one would relocate to the state where his potential college choice is situated. "Melania's main job is taking care of Barron, and I think it's possible that she will follow him wherever he goes to school," a source told People Magazine. "Barron is shy and reserved, and she has been a good mother to him all of these years." "Melania is all about Barron and her family. She has always been family-oriented... staying ahead of family issues is her priority," the tipster added. Barron Trump has declined Florida's offer to serve as a Republican National Convention delegate. Florida Republicans had chosen Barron to nominate his father, Donald Trump, at the RNC. Other Trump children, including Eric and Tiffany, will be delegates. Barron Trump, 18, has declined Florida's invitation to serve as a delegate at the Republican National Convention (RNC) this summer, Melania Trump's office confirmed to the Daily Mail. Florida Republicans had selected Barron Trump as a delegate to the RNC in Milwaukee this July, where he would have nominated his father as the presidential nominee. The former first lady's office expressed her son's regret at not being able to participate in the convention due to undisclosed prior engagements. Melania Trump sits in the front row with her son, Barron Trump, and her mother, Amalija Knavs, as Donald Trump announces that he will once again run for president in the 2024 US presidential election during an event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, November 15, 2022. JONATHAN ERNST "While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments," a spokeswoman for Melania Trump said in a statement first reported by the Daily Mail. Other members of the Trump family, including Don Jr., Eric, Tiffany, and their partners, are delegates for the state of Florida. Donald and Melania Trump moved their primary residence to Mar-a-Lago in Florida in 2019. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, had senior roles in the previousTrump administration, are notably absent from the RNC delegation. The Trump family connection at the RNC doesn't stop at Florida delegates. Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was elected co-chair of the RNC in February this year. Lara Trump, married to Donald Trump's son Eric, was endorsed by her father-in-law before her election and vowed to prioritize the "number one and the only job of the RNC that is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country." Barron's family has protected his privacy. He is rarely seen at official White House events and often travels separately from his parents. The young Trump's upcoming graduation from high school and the process of selecting a college amid campus protests have taken precedence in his decision-making process. As he graduates from Oxbridge Academy in suburban West Palm Beach, Barron's role in shaping the Trump dynasty's political narrative remains to be seen, but the Republican presidential candidate trusts his son's advice. "He is a smart one," Trump said of his youngest, per The Hill. Donald Trump is getting a day off from his hush-money criminal trial to attend Barron's graduation ceremony. Melania Trump has been largely absent from her husband's campaign trail and his hush-money criminal trial in New York. She made a rare public appearance as a guest of honor at a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBT+ political faction, at Mar-a-Lago last month. Business Insider contacted Melania Trump's office for comment. Read the original article on Business Insider President Bidens decision to pause an arms shipment to Israel is his most dramatic move so far in the war in Gaza and it may end up pleasing no one. Republicans have lambasted Biden for the decision, accusing him of abandoning Israel. Former President Trump has made that argument, as did several GOP senators who held a news conference on the issue Thursday. Israeli politicians have voiced their displeasure though how much that matters in U.S. domestic politics is questionable given the growing disapproval among the American public for the military actions directed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government. Key figures on the left welcomed Bidens decision, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). But Sanders argued the arms delay should be the first step in a shift toward more vigorous opposition to Netanyahus horrific war against the Palestinian people. In a CNN interview this week, Biden said that if Israel presses ahead with a full-scale invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, were not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells. The shipment that has been paused includes 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs ordnance that causes major devastation and, in built-up areas, all but guarantees a significant death toll. The issue is literally a matter of life and death. But the politics are also dizzyingly complicated. There seems only a slim chance Biden will ratchet up his restraint of Israel further, though that could change if Netanyahu presses ahead into Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltered. Bidens earlier, more vigorous support for Israels actions may mean that die is already cast with some voters. Thats especially true of young people, progressives and Black voters demographic groups that are more sympathetic toward the Palestinians. Polling underlines the dilemma. An Economist/YouGov poll released this week showed a clear plurality of the American public sympathizing more with Israel (32 percent) than with the Palestinians (15 percent), while 30 percent said they sympathized with both sides equally and 23 percent said they werent sure. But that picture was reversed among adults younger than 30, who sympathize more with the Palestinians by more than 2-to-1. Democrats and Black Americans also favor the Palestinians over the Israelis. Many of those voters have recoiled at Bidens backing for a seven-month Israeli assault on Gaza that has killed around 35,000 Palestinians, displaced about 80 percent of the population and created a humanitarian crisis. Cindy McCain, head of the World Food Program and the widow of 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), recently described the situation in northern Gaza as a full-blown famine. The Israeli assault is in reprisal for the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, which killed more than 1,100 people, mostly civilians. Around 250 hostages were taken, of whom about 100 are estimated to still be held captive and alive. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller, asked at a Thursday media briefing by The Hill about the criticism that Biden should have taken action at an earlier stage to rein in Israel, said: Our policy responds to the facts on the ground. We made clear at the outset of this conflict we wanted to see Israel defeat Hamas. We wanted to see Israel dismantle Hamas and prevent its ability to launch the terrorist attacks of Oct. 7 again. Theyve largely succeeded in that goal. But Miller added, We also respond to the increasing civilian death toll and while weve seen the daily count come down because of steps that Israels taken that we have urged it hasnt come down enough. Answers like that underline what a complicated knot Biden is trying to unpick. His own affinity for Israel he has at times called himself a Zionist clashes with an activist base that is vastly more skeptical of Netanyahu. If Biden moves toward the more pro-Palestinian side of his own party, he alienates their pro-Israel counterparts and leaves himself open to the charge, from Republicans, of being soft on terrorism. If he doesnt, he stirs more internal dissent among Democrats and further inflames the campus protests that recently spread across the U.S. Novembers election looms large, as does the possibility of disorder at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. As if all that wasnt complicated enough, Biden has to contend with the fact Netanyahu heads a coalition government almost universally seen as the most right-wing in the history of the state of Israel. In the wake of Bidens arms announcement, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a three-character tweet: Hamas, a heart symbol and Biden. Ben-Gvir has prior criminal convictions for inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization. He received an implicit rebuke for his tweet from Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Those complexities dont unduly bother Bidens GOP critics. On Thursday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) contended that Bidens de facto position is for a Hamas victory over Israel. The contention is dismissed as absurd by many on the left, who note Bidens vigorous support for the foreign aid package passed through Congress last month that provided around $17 billion in aid for Israel. There is no sign of events on the ground helping Biden get out of the political fix in which he finds himself. Talks in Cairo aimed at a cease-fire have broken up without agreement in recent days. Israeli forces are reported to be pressing further into Rafah. And on Friday, the State Departments delayed report into Israels conduct in Gaza emerged. The document found that it was reasonable to assess that Israel had violated international law in Gaza. Yet it also found that it is difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents a caveat that seems to clear away roadblocks to continued military aid. It looked like one more example where the Biden administration had given almost everyone grounds for grievance. The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Joyful conversations filled a packed Miami Lakes church on Saturday afternoon as family members, friends and politicians celebrated the life of two-term Florida Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham. As Grahams wife, Adele, walked down the center aisle of the Miami Lakes United Church of Christ with a smile, a cane and the help of family members, conversations about the populist former governor came to a halt. Only the steps of his family could be heard as people stood in silence. Among the elected officials attending were U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. Wasserman Schultz said that while she was sad, she also felt glad to be able to honor Grahams memory. Bob was one of our states and nations greatest elected officials, Wasserman Schultz said. Arva Suzanne Graham Gibson, one of Grahams daughters, said her grandfather was a role model for his descendants and the entire state. READ MORE: Bob Graham, former Florida governor and U.S. senator, dies at 87 If we live and lead like Bob Graham, the Florida sunshine will glow brighter than ever, Graham Gibson said. My hope is that we have caught some of that light. Adele Graham arrives to the public celebration of life service for her husband, former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham at the Miami Lakes United Church of Christ on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Miami Lakes. Grahams life and legacy Graham, born Daniel Robert Graham on Nov. 9, 1936, lived much of his life in Miami Lakes, where his family owned vast acres of land, initially farmland for cows. He attended Miami Senior High School in the 1950s, and was student body president his senior year. He graduated with a bachelors in political science from the University of Florida in 1959, the same year he married Adele Khoury, of Miami Shores, with whom he had four daughters. After earning a law degree from Harvard University in 1962, Graham entered politics four years later. Graham spent nearly four decades in public service, first serving in both houses of the Florida Legislature before becoming governor and then a three-term U.S. senator. Known for pushing for school-competency testing, protecting the Everglades and focusing his political campaigns on the working class, Graham, who died last month at 87, became a tough act to follow. Graham dealt with several crises as governor, including when then-Cuban dictator Fidel Castro opened the floodgates for masses of Cuban refugees who wanted to escape to Florida in the 1980s. TAKE A LOOK: Photos from Bob Grahams Work Days, the jobs the late-governor loved most The Coral Gables native pushed for greater transparency around the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and became one of just 23 senators to oppose then-President George W. Bushs request to invade Iraq in 2003. Graham won over fans and critics alike, with most detractors begrudgingly acknowledging his successes. He never lost an election. According to Levine Cava, Grahams ability to reach across the political aisle is what she will miss most. I think he was truly one of the last statesmen that could work across the aisle, said Levine Cava, who added that she considered Graham a role model. From left, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Marleine Bastien, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz attend a public celebration of life service for former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham at the Miami Lakes United Church of Christ on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Miami Lakes. Grahams notebook Graham was known for carrying a spiral notebook almost everywhere he went to take notes when speaking with people, from constituents he would stumble upon on the street to his staff and other officials. Sarah Logan, one of his grandchildren, said it was because her grandfather was so attentive to what others said that sometimes his family would have to wait a long time for him to spend time with them. Logan calls her grandfather Doodle, a nickname she coined for him as a child. If there is anything that I will take from my time with Doodle, it is the importance of listening to and understanding others, Logan said. According to Samuel Buddy Shorstein, one of Grahams friends, this particularity which some reporters and critics called a quirk cost him being vetted or considered but never selected to be the running mate of Democratic presidential candidates such as President Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Shorstein also served under Graham as the governors chief of staff. One would wonder whether some reporters characterization of him using the notebooks discouraged the candidates running for president from selecting Bob, Shorestein said. He added that if Gore had selected his friend as vice president, he would not have lost the presidential bid by a few votes and a Supreme Court decision. Suzanne Graham Gibson speaks during the public celebration of life service for her father, former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, at the Miami Lakes United Church of Christ on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Miami Lakes. Grahams unconditional love Shorstein said that watching Grahams deterioration for the last three-and-a-half years was painful, but seeing his familys unconditional love for him was encouraging. On April 16, Graham died of old age with his family by his side in a Gainesville retirement community. Graham is survived by his wife of 65 years, former First Lady Adele Graham, children Gwen Graham, Cissy Graham McCullough, Suzanne Graham Gibson and Kendall Graham, 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. U.S. Senator Bob Graham on Saturday, Oct. 15, 1998. Miami Heralds David Smiley contributed to this report. ISLAMABAD, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday that global collaboration should be made to mitigate the effects of climate change by adopting environment-friendly technology and promoting afforestation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the President's office said in a statement. In a meeting with the Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources and president-designate of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) Mukhtar Babayev, who is on a visit to Pakistan, Zardari said that his country is doing its best to address the challenges posed by climate change. Zardari, whose country ranks among the top 10 most severely impacted by climate change in the world, said that global warming and climate change are triggering excessive rains and floods in Pakistan, affecting glaciers and causing water scarcity. He highlighted that Pakistan had planted mangrove forests over hundreds of thousands of hectares that would help protect the environment, besides earning carbon credits for Pakistan, the statement said. The president conveyed his best wishes for the successful hosting of COP29, saying that Azerbaijan would play its role in securing the interest of developing countries in meeting their financing needs for climate adaptation, the statement added. Babayev expressed hope to further enhance bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Azerbaijan, particularly in the culture and tourism sector. Michael Cohen keeps posting bizarre TikToks, despite repeated pleas from prosecutors ahead of testimony in Trump hush money case Former attorney for former U.S. President Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, attends the Trump Organization civil fraud trial Michael Cohen keeps posting bizarre TikToks including a livestream that showed Donald Trump behind bars despite Manhattan prosecutors repeatedly pleading with him to stay quiet about the hush money case, it was revealed in court Friday. The former presidents lawyers griped to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan that Cohen should be muzzled as their client is after he went live on the social media app Wednesday night wearing an anti-Trump shirt. Hes wearing a white T-shirt with a picture of President Trump behind bars, Trump attorney Todd Blanche said about the footage after jurors in the criminal trial were sent home for the day. Its becoming a problem every single day that President Trump is not allowed to respond to this witness, but this witness has continued to talk, he said. Michael Cohen keeps posting bizarre TikToks despite Manhattan prosecutors repeatedly pleading with him to stay quiet about the hush money case. REUTERS Prosecutors admitted that they have pleaded with their star witness to stay quiet about the case but that hes blabbed about it anyway. Weve repeatedly, repeatedly asked the witnesses not to do that, Assistant District Joshua Steinglass said after Blanche asked the judge to expand the cases gag order to stop Cohen from speaking out about the charges. The fact of the matter is, these witnesses are not subject to the gag order and we have no remedy if they engage in those activities, Steinglass added. At Trumps lawyers request, Merchan directed prosecutors to communicate to Mr. Cohen yet again that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements about this case or about Trump. That comes from the bench and you are communicating that on behalf of the bench, the judge added. The edict comes as Cohen, 57, is expected to take the stand Monday to detail his role in paying allegedly at Trumps behest $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, to silence her story about having sex with the Republican. Trump, 77, is barred by the courts gag order from bashing Cohen, and has been fined $10,000 for publicly disparaging his ex-fixer, Daniels and the jury as a whole. Cohen who has done prison time for a campaign finance crime based off the same hush money payment has repeatedly blasted Trump during the trial. The now-disbarred lawyer worked as one of Trumps closest advisors and eventually his personal attorney for 12 years. Jurors, earlier on Friday, got a glimpse of how quickly their relationship soured in 2018 after Cohen as part of a plea worked out with federal prosecutors claimed that the real estate mogul had directed him to make the Daniels payoff. Prosecutors admitted that they have pleaded with their star witness to stay quiet about the case but that hes blabbed about it anyway. POOL/AFP via Getty Images Prosecutors showed an April 2018 tweet in which Trump defended his longtime loyal fixer, writing that the New York Times and its reporter Maggie Haberman are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will flip. In a follow-up, Trump praised Cohen for being a fine person with a wonderful family who I have always liked & respected. But Trump changed his tune months later when Cohen pleaded guilty to a federal campaign finance crime for his role in the hush money scheme. If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you dont retain the services of Michael Cohen! Trump wrote in an Aug. 21, 2018 Twitter post. The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg who observed part of Fridays proceedings wearing a pinstriped suit in the second row of the courthouse gallery says it will call Cohen and one other witness next week, before resting its case. Trump will then be able to put on a defense case if he so wishes, and will have the right to testify. At Trumps lawyers request, Merchan directed prosecutors to communicate to Mr. Cohen yet again that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements about this case or about Trump. AP On his way out of court, Trump lamented the gag order that bars him from speaking about witnesses and jurors. Everybody can say whatever they want, he said. But Im not allowed to say anything about anybody. Its a disgrace, he added. Michael Gill hadn't thought too much about Rochester's unhoused community until he heard a city crew bulldozed a tent encampment beneath the Douglass-Anthony Bridge days before Christmas in 2014. A Bobcat front-end loader tore through tents, blankets, and a single Christmas tree within minutes. Gill's sense of outrage and injustice grew just as quickly, leading him to a decade of fierce grassroots advocacy that sought to address homelessness by working directly with those it impacted. Gill, 68, died suddenly on May 7, his daughter Casi Barend said. Though family members had noticed his health declining, Barend said Gill's death was unexpected. He was still doing street outreach as recent as last month and had plans to travel to celebrate another daughter's graduation soon. "To know him was to love him ... and he loved everyone back," Barend said. Michael Gill spent the last decade entrenched in advocacy and street outreach for Rochester's unhoused population. Michael Gill: Decade of homeless advocacy in Rochester Gill focused his outreach on unhoused individuals who can't or won't seek refuge from area shelters. "A lot of people would say they should (go)," said Amy D'Amico, a volunteer with Recovery All Ways who worked closely with Gill. "Mike would say, 'But they don't so let's keep them alive.' Some people want them to behave a different way. Michael took people as they were and tried to help them on their path." Soon after the city razed the South Avenue tent city in 2014, Gill started visiting encampments and area parks with hot meals in tow. He called these visits "potluck in the park," D'Amico said. It was a true grassroots effort: Gill would call some friends and ask them to bring a dish to pass. Then, he'd show up the next week to do more of the same. In 2018, the rebuilt South Avenue site was torn down again. This time, Gill was instrumental in advocating for a city-sanctioned encampment, which came to be known as Peace Village, off Industrial Street. The site became home to a collection of small wooden sheds built and donated by volunteers. In its early days, Gill, scruffy in worn clothing and with a long white mustache, slept at Peace Village himself not because he didn't have a house of his own, but because he wanted to keep order and mediate conflict to avoid any unwanted interference from the city if things went awry, D'Amico said. One of the huts in Peace Village, a homeless encampment in downtown Rochester. He was gruff and argumentative at times, able to push back on those who tested him, but led by examples of kindness. D'Amico recalled an outreach event where a volunteer accidentally spilled the soup they were serving, soaking the two cigarettes a woman had carefully lined up along the edge of her tray. Without saying anything, Gill pulled two replacements from his pack and kept the woman moving. There was no argument. No show of heroics. Just good will. "He understood people, that they were stressed, and a little generous gesture like that means everything sometimes," D'Amico said. "He understood that you could start a conversation over a cigarette." In this way, he earned the community's trust and was able to help people reintroduce discipline into their lives whether by pushing them to get to their appointments or to maintain a regular supper time. He worked with several outreach groups, including Person Centered Housing Options, Recovery All Ways and The Vineyard Farm, and ran his own Facebook page: HOMES 4 the HOMELESS. In 2020, Gill was honored with an ESL Jefferson Award, recognizing his efforts to improve the Rochester community. "He had a little piece of a lot of people's hearts," D'Amico said. "Grateful Dad" was a dad to strangers Michael Gill had three daughters, but became a "dad" to strangers, his daughter Casi Barend said. Many called him "Grateful Dad" for his love of the rock band Grateful Dead and Rochester's local music scene. To Barend, Gill was a fun-loving storyteller who built community everywhere he went. He was born in Corning and moved to Rochester in his 20s. Gill spent half of his career as a security guard and the other half as a secretary at School of the Arts, where he tried to use his brief interactions with students to guide them toward good, she said. He always had a story: About the student he helped, about the antics he got into flirting with girls in his youth, about the backpacking trip to New York City he led his daughters on without anywhere to stay. Barend said Gill always introduced her and her sisters, Chevonne Ritter and Chauna Gill, as his greatest accomplishments. He had an "Irish heart" with love that felt endless, she said. The local music scene felt it, too. "He was always behind the scenes at every show, somehow, someway," Barend said. "Talking to the band about their inspiration and where they needed to take their music. He saw the potential in every musician and didn't have any trouble or mind telling them exactly what they needed." His love of the rock band Grateful Dead evolved into a nickname: "They called him 'Grateful Dad' because he was a dad to strangers," Barend said. "Everybody." Memorial service for Michael Gill Gill's loved ones are working with the city to host a memorial party in Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park on June 16 Father's Day. More details will be shared soon. His family and friends are asking for donations to Peace Village (through Person Centered Housing Options), REACH Advocacy or the House of Mercy, to help keep the encampment and those who live there alive, even in Gill's absence. Kayla Canne reports on community justice and safety efforts for the Democrat and Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter @kaylacanne and @bykaylacanne on Instagram. Get in touch at kcanne@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Advocate for Rochester unhoused community Michael Gill dies at 68 Ukraine has identified Russian Air Force personnel responsible for carrying out Kinzhal missile strikes on civilians, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) announced on May 11. The advanced air-launched Kinzhal missile, which Russia claims is hypersonic, is difficult to intercept and shoot down. Ukraine's Air Force said in January that air defenses had intercepted 25 out of 63 Kinzhal missiles since the start of the full-scale invasion. Ukraine's military intelligence agency identified 29 people working as the command, flight, and technical staff from the 44th Separate Long-Range Aviation Regiment of the Russian Air Force, based at the Savasleyka airfield in Nizhny Novgorod. Seven officers from the regiment's technical staff were also identified, as well as 11 MiG-31K aircraft numbers, Ukraine's military intelligence service said. Up to 24 MiG-31K aircraft are attached to the regiment, according to Ukrainian military intelligence. Kinzhal missiles are launched from MiG-31K aircraft and have an operational range of some 2,000 kilometers, which means that all of Ukraine is at risk if the missile is launched from Russian airspace. In August 2023, a Kinzhal attack killed an eight-year-old child in Kolomyia in the west of Ukraine, and in March, Kinzhals were used to attack energy infrastructure in Lviv Oblast. "There will be a fair retribution for every war crime committed against Ukraine," Ukraine's military intelligence agency said. Subscribe to Ukraine Daily newsletter News from Ukraine in your inbox Subscribe Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russian forces involved in the new offensive operation targeting Kharkiv Oblast are contained and have not advanced further, Ukraine's military said on May 11. Speaking to national TV, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of forces, said Moscow's troops were being held back in the so-called "gray zone," border settlements that lie along the oblast's border with Russia. "The enemy is contained in the gray zone, and it is not expanding," he said. Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported on May 10 that Russian forces launched an attempt to break through in Kharkiv Oblast. The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces later that day reported Ukrainian troops were fending off Russian forces in the Lyptsi and Vovchansk directions in the north of Kharkiv Oblast as Moscow deployed infantry and heavy equipment. Voloshyn said fighting was continuing in the Lyptsi and Vovchansk directions and Ukrainian forces were hunting down Russian troops he said were hidden in forested areas. It remains to be seen if the Russian offensive is a limited action or the prelude to a larger attack on the city of Kharkiv itself. Read also: Partisans: Russian unit refuses to attack Kharkiv Oblast On May 10, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the White House had assessed the latter was a possibility. "It is certainly possible that the Russians are setting themselves up for a larger assault on Kharkiv," Kirby said, citing signs that Russia appears to be preparing to use long-range fire within the range of the city. Kirby also said that Russia may achieve some advances in the coming weeks, but breakthroughs are unlikely as the influx of U.S. assistance will help Ukraine withstand the attacks, AFP reported. Washington "is working around the clock" to provide Ukraine with defense supplies, Kirby added. Over the past day, 1,775 civilians in Kharkiv Oblast have been evacuated from their homes amid renewed Russian attacks on the region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on May 11. Russian forces failed to take Kharkiv in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion despite the fact that the city lies less than 30 kilometers from the Russian border. Russia "would need years" to occupy Kharkiv, Oleksandr Pivnenko, the commander of Ukraine's National Guard, said amid the looming threat of renewed attack. Subscribe to Ukraine Daily newsletter News from Ukraine in your inbox Subscribe Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. As millions lose federal help to pay for internet, some areas aim to fill the gap An 8-year-old girl completes a level of a learning game on a laptop in her bedroom in the Brooklyn borough of New York. As more than 23 million households nationwide lose federal aid to pay for internet services, some states and localities have stepped up by expanding their broadband initiatives and programs. (John Minchillo/The Associated Press) In the small North Carolina town of Bryson City, just outside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Kathleen Wain raises two grandchildren in her subsidized-rent apartment, taking them to sing in a church choir on weekends. For the past year and a half, Wain has received a discount on her internet service through a short-term federal program, allowing her grandkids to do online schoolwork and her to do remote banking. Her bill decreased from $52 a month to about $20 a month. I said, Cool, I dont have to worry about it anymore. But Wains discount ended in April, after Congress did not extend the pandemic-era Affordable Connectivity Program. Shes paying $30 a month since Frontier, her internet provider, has reduced the cost for now. Theres a lot of people that need it [internet] for a lot of things, said Wain, 75. I cant even imagine being without it I really cant. The federal Affordable Connectivity Program, launched at the end of 2021, has provided a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible low-income households and up to $75 for households on qualifying tribal lands. Now, without additional funding from Congress, more than 23 million households across the country have begun to lose the aid. April was the last fully funded month, with some households receiving partial benefits from their internet service provider through May. Several congressional bills have been introduced to extend the program, but none has advanced yet. So, what were going to end up with is a piecemeal kind of approach where some communities figure out solutions most of them will not have solutions. Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance In response, some states and localities have expanded their broadband initiatives and programs to help those no longer receiving the federal boost. That could leave disparities in access across the country, experts say, and many households will slip through the cracks as they become unable to afford internet service. Because of the high cost, theres no alternative to a dedicated federal benefit program like the Affordable Connectivity Program to solve the problem of affordability, said Angela Siefer, the executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, which advocates for broadband access. So, what were going to end up with is a piecemeal kind of approach where some communities figure out solutions most of them will not have solutions, she said. While some states are bolstering programs to help residents afford broadband, others are boosting their infrastructure initiatives to reach those who still cant connect to the internet. And some local officials are offering ACP-like benefits through county funds. Americans pay more for broadband than almost every other nation in the world. U.S. internet bills average $89 each month, according to a survey of 2,500 Americans late last year by U.S. News & World Report. The federal Lifeline program, started in 1985, is the only other national initiative giving low-income households a discount on phone and internet service. Lifeline, which residents were allowed to use at the same time as the ACP aid, provides a monthly benefit of up to $9.25 for eligible households and up to $34.25 for those on tribal lands. States try to fill the gaps Last year, nearly all 50 states considered legislation to expand broadband access and affordability for communities nationwide, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At least 45 enacted legislation. This year, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Oregon, Utah and Washington passed legislation related to state broadband grant programs and initiatives to help with access and affordability, many using federal funds. Nick Batz, the director of the Oregon Broadband Office, said now that the federal Affordable Connectivity Program is gone, his office has shifted its focus to building up broadband infrastructure through the federal $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, known as BEAD, created under the 2021 infrastructure law. BEAD provides grants to expand broadband access through statewide development projects. The challenge ahead of us is tremendous, Batz said. And its not something that I can accomplish on my own. Its not something that my team can accomplish on our own. Really, we need engagement from local governments, cities, counties and tribes. Although BEAD isnt a benefit program, Aaron Wheeler, the director of the Washington State Broadband Office, is hopeful that it will be able to at least get the 7% of households in the state who are without internet connected. While his office has multiple programs to help households at a statewide level, the federal BEAD program will be especially helpful in identifying the areas most in need, Wheeler said. Everyones really invested in making sure that BEAD goes well, and that the money goes to the places that it needs to, Wheeler said. Getting people plugged in is No. 1, and then making sure people can still continue to afford it is No. 2. But with elections drawing nearer, some state officials expect theyll be working under new administrations. Washington state will have a new governor next year, meaning more negotiations for broadband funding, said Devin Proctor, the policy and communications manager for the Washington State Broadband Office. Local governments and nonprofits step in On the local level, some governments have been able to carve out funds to help households pay for broadband. Albemarle County, located in the Piedmont region of Virginia with about 114,000 residents, has invested $1 million in public broadband expansion by partnering with internet service providers that are deploying fiber throughout the county. That, in addition to about $60 million in state, federal and private funding, means the county is on track to have universal broadband coverage where every household in the county can access the internet by the end of 2025, said Jason Inofuentes, the program manager at the countys Broadband Accessibility and Affordability Office. Before the Affordable Connectivity Program ran out of funding, Albemarle County officials created the ACP Bridge program, an additional county benefit for households to use alongside the federal ACP aid. Those enrolled in the program could get an additional $20 per month toward internet services. Right now, the ACP Bridge has enough funding to last through the next fiscal year, thanks to a $500,000 boost from the county Board of Supervisors, Inofuentes said. Still, with the federal program at its end, affordability will continue to be an issue, he said. And some residents who need the help may not be aware of the available programs. I think that there is a distinct reality that there are going to be households in our community and all over the country that are going to lose coverage because of this, said Inofuentes. The way that we see it, we have to work tirelessly to get people enrolled in other programs they can afford. In some communities, local nonprofits are raising awareness and providing support, said Sean Gonsalves, the associate director for communications at the Community Broadband Networks Initiative, a nationwide project of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a national nonprofit that works to build local power to fight corporate control. Despite the Biden administrations push to prioritize funding for municipal broadband, nonprofits and other nontraditional internet providers, these types of providers are restricted in many states, Gonsalves said. The broadband market is dominated by regional monopoly providers and that pretty much answers the question as to why broadband in the United States is so expensive, he said. Some nonprofits are helping residents afford broadband. DigitalC, a technology nonprofit based in Cleveland providing affordable internet for underserved communities, is offering internet for $18 a month under its own Canopy internet service for city residents. Project Waves, a program fiscally sponsored by the Digital Harbor Foundation based in Baltimore, has been able to offer free internet to low-income residents of the city. Lawmakers and state officials at all levels have been aware for more than a year that the federal Affordable Connectivity Program would run out of funding, Gonsalves said. But theres a lot of uncertainty about how to help now. With ACP where 23 million households were beneficiaries we still dont have a clear sense of what those folks will do when the benefit expires, Gonsalves 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 As millions lose federal help to pay for internet, some areas aim to fill the gap appeared first on Utah News Dispatch. Minnesota trades 'Ragged Old Flag' for new one: Here's what you need to know The new Minnesota flag will officially be flown for the first time Saturday. Statehood Day, May 11, will be the first day the newly designed flag will take to the sky above the Capitol Building and Mall. The current design used since 1983 will be retired. The new flag replaces an emblem long described as outdated and received criticism for its negative depiction of Native Americans. The new design's dark blue color represents the shape of the state, and the light blue represents the over 10,000 lakes that Minnesota is known for. The white star represents the "North Star" motto. Here's what you need to know about the new design. How was the new design chosen? From loons to a Labrador: Minnesota's state flag ideas do not disappoint The new flag was adopted in December by the State Emblem Redesign Commission. After more than 2,500 entries were submitted by the public, the commission spent months whittling down options and eventually tweaking some top designs. The designer, Luverne artist Andrew Prekker said in a statement that he hopes the new flag brings the state together. Andrew Prekker designed the new Minnesota state flag. "It's such a rare privilege to be able to contribute to our states history in such a special way like this," the 24-year-old said in a statement. "Its an achievement that I hope brings a lot of unity and pride to our land, and I will hold that fact with great honor for the rest of my life." The commission was created by the state legislature in 2023. More: Minnesota has a new state flag: See the design crafted by a resident Why did Minnesota need a new flag? Many activists, and lawmakers have raised concerns over the years about the current flag's depictions of Native Americans. The flag's design portrays a Native American person on a horse riding away as a white settler farms the land, with rifle close by. The flag has been updated and revised numerous times since the early 1960s, although has maintained its depiction of Native Americans since its creation in 1893. What do Minnesotans think? The St. Cloud Times asked our readers for their reactions on the flag. We received more than 100 responses, ranging from excitement and pride to disappointment and apathy. Some responses were in favor of the inclusivity of the flag and the symbolism of the colors and shapes. Others wished there were more literal depictions of Minnesota icons, like designs of the state bird, a loon, or a walleye. Joe, a 37-year-old St. Cloud resident said the new flag sets itself apart from other states. "Our old flag was one of over a dozen that were hard to tell apart," he wrote in the form. Many older respondents expressed a desire to keep the original flag, saying that replacing it amounted to "erasing history." Others said changing it symbolized Minnesota's progressiveness and mending relationships with marginalized communities. "Dated references to the Indian Wars of the 19th century are also something we can move forward from," Joe said. Not all of the thousands of submissions to the flag commission were serious contenders. Some fan favorites included a loon with laser eyes, another with a mosquito, and one was just a photo of someone's dog. Find the full list of submissions at https://serc.mnhs.org/flags. Though a number of respondents to the Times form questioned why the public wasn't able to give their input in the voting process, some, like Jesse from Minneapolis, said in the form that the new flag is "worthy of our great state." "As soon as it was available for purchase, I got a physical flag and proudly started flying it outside of my house!" said the 43-year-old. Sam Woodward is the Minnesota elections reporting fellow for USA Today. You can reach her at swoodward@gannett.com, on X @woodyreports, or on Threads @samjowoody This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Minnesota's new flag to fly this week Missing teen last seen near York County Chick-fil-A, police say YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) Police are asking for the publics help in locating a missing teenager on Friday in York County. Southern Regional Police posted on Facebook, Jerusalem Mesos, 18, was last seen walking away from the Chick-fil-A in Shrewsbury at about 8 p.m. She was reportedly wearing black pants and a gray jacket. Police say that Mesos is not from the area. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now This Week in Pennsylvania Anyone with information or may have seen Mesos is asked to contact police at 717-235-3944 or call 911. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27. Aimee Dunkle often ruminates about the call that could have saved her son's life. A friend was with her 20-year-old son when he was in the grips of a heroin overdose in 2012, but the young man never called 911 for fear he'd be locked up for violating the terms of his drug diversion program. Ben suffered a catastrophic brain injury as a result of the delay in getting medical help. He died after eight days on life-support. More than a decade later, as fatal opioid overdoses are skyrocketing across the U.S., Dunkle, 63, and other grieving family members have joined forces to call for compassionate treatment rather than criminalization of drug users like Ben's friend. These types of punitive drug laws, Dunkle said, cost my boy his life. Opioid crisis: Fueled by fentanyl, drug overdose deaths have quadrupled in past 2 decades As more than 100,000 people died from overdose deaths for a second consecutive year, lawmakers proposed a slew of bills aimed at doling out harsher sentences including murder charges for people who sell or distribute drugs such as fentanyl, a synthetic opiate that's exponentially stronger than heroin. Families who have lost children to overdoses say such policies won't reduce deaths like those their relatives suffered. Instead, they'll push chronic health issues of addiction into prisons. They will perpetuate but not curtail the countrys decades-long war on drugs, the families said. Aimee Dunkle, of Rancho Santa Margarita, California, lost her 20-year-old son, Ben, to a heroin overdose in 2012. She has worked since then to provide treatment to people with addition, including offering the first naloxone distribution program in Orange County. We all want to see a reduction in overdose deaths, but punishment is not the answer, Dr. Tamara Olt, a mother from Peoria, Illinois who lost her 16-year-old son Josh to an opioid overdose in 2012, said at a recent news briefing. Olt serves as executive director of Broken No More, an organization founded by families and friends of people with substance use disorders. The organization held a virtual news conference this month to share their support for drug policies informed by evidence-based public health practices, rather than punitive approaches. In September, hundreds of grieving family members issued an open letter to lawmakers to call for lifesaving health responses to the overdose crisis. They pushed back on laws that establish murder charges for drug-induced homicide if someone sells or shares drugs that result in a fatal overdose and on mandatory minimum sentences and increased punishment for drug use. Instead, the letter urged lawmakers to find ways to decriminalize drugs and work on providing better access to needle exchanges and overdose-reversing medications like naloxone, and focus on evidence-based treatment options and broadening education on opioid use disorder. States shift approach on fentanyl Several states have changed the penalties for distributing or manufacturing fentanyl, according to an August analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures. This includes new laws in Arkansas and Kansas that impose life imprisonment for manufacturing fentanyl that could appeal to a minor through shape or packaging. Tennessee also allows prosecutors to charge people with murder if they give fentanyl to a person who dies from an overdose. While these laws have cropped up in Republican-led states that traditionally embraced tougher drug laws, advocates at the briefing this week warned that Democratic-leaning states are embracing similar approaches at the peril of people suffering from substance use disorder. In 2021, Oregon became the first state to decriminalize illicit drugs. The policy, backed by the American Pharmacists Association, would allow people using illegal substances to retain their employment while involved in treatment. But following the recent explosion in synthetic opioid deaths, the blue state brought back criminal punishment for use and possession of narcotics in 2024. The law never had a chance to work, Jeffrey Bratberg, clinical professor in the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, told USA TODAY at the time the law was reversed. A person in Paterson, New Jersey, drops off used syringes to be exchanged for clean ones in this file photo. Needle exchange programs are a harm reduction tool intended to reduce people's risk of infection or illness from contaminated needles, and a way to provide resources to treat substance use disorder. Related: These two moms lost sons to opioids. Now theyre on opposite sides at the Supreme Court. California, where Dunkle lives, has also shifted its drug policies, cracking down harder in recent years on people who perpetuate use. In her son Bens memory, in 2015, Dunkle founded the nonprofit Solace Foundation of Orange County, the first naloxone distribution program in her region of Southern California. Dunkle also began distributing fentanyl test strips and worked with a needle exchange until Santa Ana city officials shut it down in 2018. After that, Dunkle said, "I took to the streets of Santa Ana with a backpack to hand out supplies and naloxone." In the years she's been focused on these issues, she's seen a push for punitive measures fueled by other grieving families. She has thought long and hard about that. But she's seen that, all too often, the people who give someone a drug that causes a fatal overdose are also users. Fentanyl a drug far more powerful than heroin that replaced it on streets in the U.S. in recent years poses even greater danger to people with substance use disorders. They didnt choose fentanyl, she told USA TODAY. Fentanyl was chosen for them. One instance of families pushing for harsher laws is a bill by California State Senator Tom Umberg, D-Orange County, whose legislation Alexandras Law requires educating people convicted of distributing opioids publicly within the court setting. The bill requires a judge to read a fentanyl admonishment to anyone convicted of a fentanyl-related drug offense, stating, "You are hereby advised that all illicit drugs and counterfeit pills are dangerous to human life and become even deadlier when they are, sometimes unknowingly, mixed with substances such as fentanyl and analogs of fentanyl." The bill is named after a 20-year-old Temecula, California woman, Alexandra Capelouto, who died from a fentanyl overdose. Several families who lost loved ones to fentanyl overdoses, including Capelouto's family, backed the bill. The admonishment is similar to statements judges must read to people convicted of a DUI. The current draft language for "Alexandra's Law" says that if a convicted person sells or administers fentanyl in the future that results in someones death, they could be charged with murder. The bill is stuck in the state Legislature. While any purchase of drugs from the street or black market inherently carries a risk, what we are seeing today is the unprecedented poisoning of young Americans, Umberg, a former prosecutor, said in a statement to USA TODAY. There is no fear of addiction, or need to ask for help when a victim dies almost immediately of a substance they never assumed would kill them. Dunkle said such legislation doesnt address the overdose problem in its entirety, especially for young people like the man who was with her son when he overdosed. Umberg, a lawmaker in Dunkle's county, said in his statement that he knew Dunkle and felt for her family and others who have lost loved ones to the opioid crisis. However, he refuted the notion that California is prosecuting fentanyl users by applying harsher penalties, and putting them behind bars instead of offering treatment. To suggest so and equate it to the War on Drugs is dangerously misleading and borderline irresponsible, Umberg said. This epidemic requires an all in/every tool approach to the crisis, including prevention, education, treatment and stopping repeat sellers. Arresting and prosecuting fentanyl dealers alone is an insufficient response to meet this crisis, he said. In this file photo, Narcan, the brand name for naloxone, is available in a One Stop Health Box harm reduction vending machine near downtown Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 23, 2024. The machine also offers free pregnancy tests, condoms and fentanyl testing strips. Dunkle said she understands the anger that families feel. She felt it, too, after Bens death. But it changed a few weeks after his death. Her younger son, then 17, bumped into Ben's friend who had refused to call for help the day of the overdose. The friend looked terrible, her younger son said. She wanted people to look for light out of the darkness, she said. Fentanyl overdoses happen quickly. People should feel assured that saving their friends is not just the right thing, it's something they can safely do without being punished. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amid opioid deaths, overdose victims' moms back compassionate policies Mount Union logo COLUMBUS University of Mount Union has received Ohio Department of Higher Educations Ohio Reach Postsecondary Designation. The Carnation City school was among 40 colleges, universities and technical centers to be honored for their ability to work with students who have experience in foster care or kinship. Mount Union is listed in the state departments second cohort of Ohio institutions. Students with foster care experience often approach higher education with different life experiences and unique needs in mind, ODHE Chancellor Mike Duffey said. Ohio Reach schools have demonstrated a willingness to invest in these students and commit to shared success. We appreciate this commitment to Ohios youth. Since the initial cohort was announced in August 2023, 111 Ohio Reach students have been identified through the designation to receive support services. The program also offers scholarship opportunities to eligible students at ohioreach.org/scholarship, with a May 31 application deadline. There are many amazing resources that campus can offer students to help prepare them for fulfilling lives, meaningful work, and responsible citizenship, said Alexis Hedrick, director of student accessibility services at Mount Union. The Ohio Reach Support Team at Mount Union is looking forward to making meaningful connections with students and is ready to support them through their college journey. More information about the designation and a map of Ohio Reach schools can be found at highered.ohio.gov/ohio-reach. This article originally appeared on The Repository: Mount Union nets Ohio honor for foster student efforts Multi-vehicle crash causes traffic backup on I-25 near Larkspur DENVER (KDVR) A multi-vehicle crash caused major traffic backups on northbound Interstate 25 near Larkspur on Saturday afternoon. All northbound lanes of I-25 were closed at the point of the crash as of 12:30 p.m., and Colorado Department of Transportation cameras showed traffic backed up several miles south of the crash. Colorado State Patrol told FOX31 that several vehicles were involved, and multiple people were transported. The severity of the injuries was not known. All of northbound I-25 was closed for a period of time but as of 1 p.m. all lanes were reopened. FOX31 is working to gather additional information. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver. PHNOM PENH, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Confucius Institute of the Royal Academy of Cambodia on Saturday organized the 23rd "Chinese Bridge" Chinese proficiency competition for Cambodian university students. A total of 10 Cambodian finalists, shortlisted out of dozens of candidates from various universities and institutes in the Southeast Asian country, were contested in the final round held at the Royal Academy of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. Among the tests set for the participants were a quiz, delivering keynote speeches and a talent show with each participant presenting performances related to Chinese culture including songs, music, dancing, drawing and martial arts, among others. As a result, the top winner was awarded to Kol Sovathanak, a 22-year-old student from the Confucius Institute of the Cambodia-China University of Technology and Science. Speaking to Xinhua after the contest, Sovathanak said this annual event has become an important platform for young students across the world to learn Chinese language and culture. "The contest helps improve our knowledge in Chinese language, Chinese culture and civilization, and it is also a platform for Cambodia-China cultural exchanges," he said. He added that the program is really good for Cambodian students because it provides them new experience, making them overcome fear and anxiety and feel self-confidence. "I'm really excited and proud to win the first place in the contest because although I'm a Cambodian, I can do well in the Chinese proficiency contest," he said. Sovathanak, who has studied Chinese for more than three years, said Chinese language has gone popular in Cambodia thanks to close ties between the two countries in politics, economics, trade, investment, tourism, culture and education. "Learning Chinese is not only easy to find a job, but also helps us to gain insights into Chinese culture, civilization and daily life," he said. "I recommend that Cambodian students, if they have time, should learn Chinese because there will be more Chinese people coming to Cambodia." Looking into the future, Sovathanak said he wants to pursue his master's degree in China. Koem Keamheang, a student at the Confucius Institute of Cambodia-China University of Technology and Science, who won the second place in the competition, said the contest is very useful for Chinese-learning students because it allows them to better understand about Chinese arts and literature. "Currently, more and more people have learned Chinese," she told Xinhua. "I think Cambodian students can learn Chinese if they have time because it will help them get good jobs in the future." Keamheang said she wants to become a teacher of Chinese in the future, so she can share her knowledge about Chinese literature, culture and civilization with others. The 20-year-old student is also eager to pursue her study in China, saying that she has fallen in love with China since she was a child. Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said the "Chinese Bridge" Chinese proficiency competition has not only helped students improve their Chinese proficiency, but also served as a bridge of friendship among Chinese-learning college students. He said more and more Cambodian students have sought university degrees in Chinese literature as the Cambodia-China relations have been expanding rapidly in all areas. "China has been emerging as a global economic power and is a very important player in the region, so learning Chinese will help further strengthen economic and trade ties between the two countries," he told Xinhua. (NBC News) On Fridays all-new two-hour Dateline, unpacks the murder of Tiffany Pugh, a young mother and successful businesswoman, who was gunned down in her bed. The victims husband, Andre Pugh, was a famous Atlanta DJ. Police needed to determine whether Tiffanys murder was connected to a case of another DJ who worked at the same club as her husband and was gunned down at home too. Here is a preview of Stephanie Gosks report: Coroner makes strange discovery after body reported at Ohio road work site As dawn broke over Atlanta, word began to spread. KENYA WHISENANT: It was a home invasion, and Tiffany was killed. Her friends couldnt shake one horrifying image: Tiffanys son AJ in her arms crying hysterically and trying to wake her. KARMETRIA BURTON: Knowing that the kids were in the house said to me there was no heart, no regard for life, a monster. CAPT. ALLYN GLOVER: We needed to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible. Tiffanys husband Andre told investigators he wondered if her murder might have something to do with his job as a DJ at Club Onyx. Andre mentioned there had been trouble not long before Tiffany was killed. CHRISTINA LEE: Its way too coincidental that there are two DJs having these incidents happen to them. The people working at the clubs were on edge. NICK LOVE: Wait, people are killing us? Firm that investigated sexual abuse claims at Ohio State must hand over interview notes, witness names The detectives still didnt have any answers. But they were about to get some because Atlantas nightlife was about to give up its secrets. Watch the new two-hour Dateline: Sound and Fury Friday at 9 p.m. on NBC4. About Dateline Dateline NBC is the longest-running series in NBC primetime history and is in its 32nd season. Dateline is anchored by Lester Holt and features correspondents Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz, Keith Morrison and Dennis Murphy. The stories range from compelling mysteries to powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. When major news breaks, they go to the scene, putting the pieces together to bring the viewer the full picture. And in every story they tell, they help the real people who lived the events share their journeys with the viewer. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV. By Gabriella Borter, Joseph Ax and Andrew Hay WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Weeks after attending a pro-Palestinian demonstration, Egyptian-American student Layla Sayed received a text message from a friend drawing her attention to a website dedicated to exposing people it says promote hatred of Jews and Israel. "I think they found you from the protest," the friend wrote. When Sayed visited the site, called Canary Mission, she found a photo from the Oct. 16 rally at the University of Pennsylvania with red arrows pointing to her among the demonstrators. The post included her name, the two cities she lives in, details about her studies and links to her social media accounts. Canary Mission later posted a photo of her on its X and Instagram accounts labeled "Hamas War Crimes Apologist," a reference to the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which around 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. In response to that raid, Israel launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. Comments about Sayed from social media users poured in. "No future for that c.nt," one X user wrote. "Candidate for deportation to Gaza," wrote another. Although Sayed has long supported Palestinian causes, she said it was the first time she had participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Penn, and Canary Mission did not flag any other activities. "My initial reaction was just absolute shock," Sayed, a 20-year-old sophomore, told Reuters. "I wasn't there to say I supported Hamas. I wasn't there to say I hated Israel. I was there to say what's happening in Palestine is wrong." She said she did not realize at the time that a chant Canary Mission took issue with, "When people are occupied, resistance is justified," is considered by some as an expression of support for Hamas' killings. She joined in the chants, she said, to show support for demonstrations. Responding to an inquiry submitted via its website, Canary Mission said it has been "working around the clock" to combat a "wave of antisemitism" on college campuses since Oct. 7, including by exposing people who endorse Hamas. Canary Mission did not respond to questions about Sayed's profile or the online abuse directed against its targets, according to the comments from the site provided by a spokesperson from a Tel Aviv-based public relations firm, Gova10. While Canary Mission relies on tips, it said it verifies what it publishes, drawing from publicly available sources. Canary Missions profiles include links to its targets' social media posts, public speeches and interviews with journalists. Penn officials did not respond to questions about Sayed's case. "Penn is focused on the well-being of all members of the community," a university spokesperson, Steve Silverman, told Reuters, adding that staff reach out to offer support when aware of concerning situations. Canary Mission is one of the oldest and most prominent of several digital advocacy groups that have intensified campaigns to expose Israel's critics since the war broke out, often leading to harassment such as Sayed experienced. The people behind the site have kept their identities, location and funding sources hidden. Reuters reviewed online attacks and abusive messages directed at scores of people targeted by Canary Mission since Oct. 7. The site has accused over 250 U.S. students and academics of supporting terrorism or spreading antisemitism and hatred of Israel since the start of the latest Gaza conflict, according to the Reuters review of its posts. Some are leading members of Palestinian rights groups or were arrested for offenses such as blocking traffic and punching a Jewish student. Others, like Sayed, said they had just stepped into campus activism and were not charged with any crimes. Reuters spoke to 17 students and one research fellow from six U.S. universities featured on Canary Mission since Oct. 7. They include other students who chanted slogans during protests, leaders of groups that backed statements saying Israel bears sole responsibility for the violence and people who argued in social media posts that armed resistance by Palestinians is justified. All but one said they had received hate messages or seen vitriolic comments posted about them online. Messages reviewed by Reuters called for their deportation or expulsion from school or suggested they should be raped or killed. Several pro-Palestinian groups that use similar tactics to call out Israel's defenders have emerged in recent months. They include an X account called StopZionistHate and Raven Mission, a website launched in December that emulates Canary Mission by spotlighting people it accuses of Islamophobia or helping perpetuate atrocities against Palestinians. Raven Mission did not respond to requests for comment. StopZionistHate said it wanted to "ensure that the American public is aware of the threat posed by Zionist extremism." ACCUSATIONS OF CYBERBULLYING Some critics accuse sites on both sides of cyberbullying or doxxing, which they note can have a chilling effect on free expression. Tensions have been mounting on U.S. college campuses, where Israel's war in Gaza has unleashed an outpouring of student activism. Some of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been met with counter-protesters accusing them of fomenting anti-Jewish hatred and intimidating Jewish students on campus. Both camps have clashed with police. The U.S. Department of Education has opened investigations into dozens of colleges since Oct. 7, noting an "alarming nationwide rise" in reports of antisemitic, anti-Muslim and other forms of discrimination and harassment. It declined to provide details about these investigations, including whether any concern Canary Mission, Raven Mission or StopZionistHate, or incidents these groups have highlighted. Across the U.S., pro-Palestinian student groups are advising followers to wear masks at protests, to avoid drawing unwelcome attention. Canary Mission and its defenders argue that those who promote hatred and bigotry should be held to account. On its site, Canary Mission provides academic and employer details for the people it profiles, calling on its tens of thousands of followers to ensure "today's radicals are not tomorrow's employees." Ten of the students interviewed by Reuters feared that appearing on the site could derail their careers. Canary Mission is often at the top of its targets' Google search results, and its social media posts can draw hundreds of comments. For those targeted, there are few options to seek redress, lawyers and advocacy groups say. Much of what Canary Mission publishes is protected by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment on free speech, three lawyers told Reuters. It generally isn't illegal to publish information about someone without consent when the information is accurate and was acquired lawfully from the public domain, said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. The legal standard for defamation is high, with the burden on claimants to prove the site made false statements about them, added Dylan Saba, an attorney at Palestine Legal, which represents pro-Palestinian activists. He could recall only a handful of cases where students succeeded in getting Canary Mission profiles changed or removed by threatening defamation suits. The low profile of Canary Mission's principals poses an additional hurdle. "If you're going to sue somebody, you have to know where you're serving them," Saba said. Canary Mission says on its site that it will remove profiles of people who "recognize their earlier mistakes" and reject what it describes as "latent anti-Semitism" in groups that campaign for boycotts against Israel over its policies in the Palestinian territories. It publishes what it says are their apologies on an "ex-canary" page but does not identify the individuals. Canary Mission told Reuters the site was established in 2015 to counter rising antisemitism on college campuses. It did not answer questions about its leadership and funding. LINKS TO ISRAELI NONPROFIT A 2016 tax filing by a prominent Jewish American philanthropic organization, the Helen Diller Family Foundation, revealed a financial link between Canary Mission and an Israeli non-profit called Megamot Shalom. That year, the Diller foundation gave $100,000 to the Central Fund of Israel earmarked "Canary Mission for Megamot Shalom," according to the document, which was first reported by the U.S. Jewish news outlet the Forward and reviewed by Reuters. The Central Fund is a U.S.-based group that acts as a conduit for Americans to make tax-deductible donations to Israeli charities. Its president, Jay Marcus, told Reuters his organization only supports registered charities but would not confirm whether Megamot Shalom or Canary Mission were among them, citing the privacy of its donors and recipients. Despite several attempts, Reuters could not reach a representative of the Diller foundation. The organization that oversees the Diller foundation's giving, the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund of San Francisco, referred Reuters to a 2018 statement confirming the donation was to support the work of Canary Mission and saying neither group would fund the site further. The statement said the federation had determined that the Central Fund did not comply with its giving guidelines but did not respond to requests to elaborate. Canary Mission did not respond to questions about Megamot Shalom or its connection to the nonprofit. Megamot Shalom was founded in 2016 "to preserve and ensure the national strength and image of the State of Israel" through media initiatives, according to documents obtained from Israel's corporations registry. As of 2022, the most recent year for which records are available, it employed 11 people, including four content writers. The only donor identified in the registry documents is the Central Fund, from which it received 13.2 million shekels ($3.5 million) between 2019 and 2022, the records show. Reuters was unable to reach Megamot Shalom's founder, Jonathan Bash, or any other listed employees. When Reuters visited the group's registered address in Beit Shemesh, a city 23 km (15 miles) southwest of Jerusalem, it found a locked one-story building with no sign of activity. "A TARGET ON MY BACK" Canary Mission has targeted at least 30 Penn students and academics since Oct. 7. The university is one of several elite campuses that have been at the center of unrest over the Gaza war. Its former president, Liz Magill, resigned in December after coming under fire for her handling of accusations of antisemitism on campus. On Friday, police dismantled an unsanctioned pro-Palestinian encampment on Penn's main lawn and arrested about 33 people following accusations of harassing and threatening behavior by protesters and the defacement of campus landmarks. After finding her profile on Canary Mission, Sayed consulted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group. Ahmet Tekelioglu, executive director of CAIR's Philadelphia branch, said the group offered her help to remove information from the internet but advised that it would be hard to take legal action against a group that isn't registered in the U.S. Despite the "blatant negative framing," Canary Mission's comments were presented as quotes or opinions, which typically cannot be the subject of a defamation claim, Tekelioglu told Reuters. Fearful for her safety, Sayed said she removed the Palestinian keffiyeh scarf she had tied to her backpack, which she said felt like "a target on my back." She avoided walking alone on campus and put her LinkedIn profile in hibernation. Canary Mission also profiled seven Georgetown University School of Medicine students after they were featured in a Dec. 21 article by the conservative Washington Free Beacon news site headlined, "At Georgetown Med, the Doctors of Tomorrow Aren't Hiding Their Support for Terrorism." One of them, Yusra Rafeeqi, 22, said the websites published a screenshot of a post she said she had shared privately with her Instagram followers showing a man atop an Israeli tank waving a Palestinian flag on the day Hamas militants broke through the border fence between Gaza and Israel. The image was captioned, "No more condemning Palestinian resistance. Radical change requires radical moves." "Fire her immediately," an X user commented on a Canary Mission post that tagged her school and a clinic where she volunteers. Rafeeqi told Reuters she reposted the image to support resistance to what she described as Israel's "violent occupational forces" and noted she did not comment on Hamas' killing of Israelis. A Georgetown representative referred Reuters to a statement issued by Edward Healton, the medical school's executive dean, calling the leaking of students' private information and reports of retribution against those believed responsible "unacceptable." Healton said the school condemns antisemitism and Islamophobia, and encouraged students to report potential threats. Rafeeqi said she has had "massive anxiety" about how this might affect her ability to pursue a career in medicine and continue advocating for Palestinians. "I no longer feel safe in this country I once called home," said Rafeeqi, whose parents immigrated from Pakistan. Canary Mission and the Washington Free Beacon did not respond to questions about Rafeeqi's case. ($1 = 3.7291 shekels) (Gabriella Borter reported from Washington, Joseph Ax from New York and Andrew Hay from Taos, New Mexico. Writing by Gabriella Borter. Editing by Paul Thomasch and Alexandra Zavis) GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) National Train Day is May 11 and the Friends of the Grand Junction Union Depot are hosting a fundraiser. Funds raised will go towards the renovation of the Grand Junction Union Depot. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Friends of the Grand Junction Union Depot Bill Wade tells WesternSlopeNow he is excited the group is moving forward. Were excited about this. Were excited about the fact that the restoration is actually taking off and beginning to make some progress. For now, renovations are focused on repairing the stations aging windows. While the windows are refurbished murals will take their place. Emily Adamson, one of eight mural artists chosen for the project, tells WesternSlopeNow about her mural. I have columbines, pine trees, kind of a mountainscape just to kind of signify Colorados natural beauty. The Depot, built in 1906 for around $60,000, was designed by world-renowned architect Henry Schlacks of Chicago. Its one of only two railroad stations Schlacks designed. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The groups ultimate goal is to bring the Grand Junction Union Depot back to life and re-home Amtraks ticketing terminal and waiting area back to the historic Union Depot. Amtrak moved into a newer building back in the 1970s. Saturdays event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 119 Pitkin Ave in Grand Junction. Click here for more information on the Grand Junction Union Depots official website. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WesternSlopeNow.com. Nearly 1,000 civilians evacuated from north of Kharkiv Oblast in 2 days A total of 970 people were evacuated from three hromadas in the north of Kharkiv Oblast on 10 and 11 May. (A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories ed.) Source: the National Police of Ukraine Quote: "The police evacuated 970 people on 10-11 May 2024: 299 from the Tsyrkuny territorial hromada, 183 from the Lypetsk hromada, and 441 from the Vovchansk hromada. Kharkiv Oblast police evacuation crews are working under extremely difficult circumstances. The Russians have significantly ramped up attacks on frontline areas. Details: The police said that a number of settlements near the Ukrainian-Russian border are currently uninhabitable. Kharkiv Oblast police are evacuating civilians from the Tsyrkuny, Lypetsk and Vovchansk hromadas. Previously: On 11 May, two civilians were killed and two others wounded by Russian forces in the Vovchansk hromada of Kharkiv Oblast, where the Russians launched a new wave of offensive operations on Friday, 10 May. Background: On 10 May, it was reported that Russian forces had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, with fights taking place there. During a briefing with Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Russian troops had launched a new wave of offensive operations on the Kharkiv front. Ukraine's Defence Ministry said that reserve units had been sent to the north of Kharkiv Oblast. Russian forces resumed assault operations near the village of Hlyboke in Kharkiv Oblast on the morning of 11 May, and Ukraines Defence Forces are expecting the Russians to ramp up shelling in the area. The Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group has said that the grey zone in Kharkiv Oblast was not expanding and that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were not letting Russian forces advance further into Kharkiv Oblast. Support UP or become our patron! Netanyahu says there were failures by Israel on Oct. 7 in Dr. Phil interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Thursday interview with Dr. Phil McGraw that there were failures by his country on Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel. There were failures, obviously, Netanyahu said. First of all, government. The governments first responsibility is to protect the people. Thats the ultimate enveloping responsibility. And the people werent protected. We have to admit that. The Oct. 7 attack left nearly 1,200 people dead, and more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israels current war in Gaza following the attack. In the interview with McGraw, Netanyahu also said that there is a need for a thorough explanation for what happened in Israel during October 2023. I think were gonna have to have a thorough examination, once the war ends, of exactly what happened, how it happened, and who you know, who made it happen? the Israeli prime minister continued. Netanyahus interview came a day after President Biden warned that he would stop giving offensive weapons such as bombs and artillery shells to Israel, if its forces begin an invasion into Rafah. Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers, Biden said Wednesday to CNNs Erin Burnett. I made it clear that if they go into Rafah they havent gone in Rafah yet if they go into Rafah, Im not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities that deal with that problem, Biden added. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. MAGA cable network Newsmax exploded onto the national scene by parroting 2020 election denialism and going all-in on Trump propaganda. But at times, the network has seemingly tried to curry favor with the Biden administration. In one such instance, the channel appeared to order its weeknight hosts to lay off the unrelenting criticism of President Joe Biden for one evening, ahead of a Newsmax interview with First Lady Jill Biden, three sources familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast. The fall 2022 edict, which was reviewed by The Daily Beast, came from Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy and was handed down by the VP of programming, Chris Knowles, on the day of the first ladys interview. The missive pissed everybody off, as one Newsmax source told The Daily Beast. For the most part, the networks vociferously anti-Biden primetime lineup cooperated, with a Daily Beast review of transcripts revealing that hosts who normally spent their nights railing against the president had found ways to avoid mentioning him at all. The first ladys office and Newsmax did not respond to requests for comment. Newsmaxs Ratings Have Crashed From Its Post-Tucker Carlson Sugar High The brief detente was unusual considering Newsmaxs branddespite what their press office may claimas a doggedly pro-Trump outlet that never misses an opportunity to bash Biden and his family. While that model benefited the network as it picked off MAGA viewership from Fox News, it has recently shown cracks. Over the past year, Newsmaxs viewership has plunged, and many of those conservative eyeballs have returned to Fox News. With the potential for Trump to become a two-time election loser this fall, Newsmax may need to rethink its strategy altogether. Just weeks ahead of the 2022 midterms, Newsmax surprisingly scored a sitdown with Mrs. Biden to discuss the administrations moonshot initiative to cure cancer. The friendly conversation, which was first reported on by The Daily Beast, was conducted by Newsmax weekend host Nancy Brinker, who is also the founding chair of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and a former George W. Bush administration official. While the interview first aired on Oct. 17 during the networks 9 p.m. ET time slot, it was recorded two days prior in Florida. It followed an event the first lady held for the cancer initiative to commemorate National Mammography Day. The Daily Beast asked Brinker that week how she managed to convince Biden to sit down with the aggressively pro-Trump network, and although she was eager to chat, Newsmax brass would not allow her to talk, offering no specific reasons. Instead, the network sent over a transcript of the interview along with bullet points arguing Newsmax is not MAGA and that it has supported the current administrations vaccine rollout and aid to Ukraine. The same was not true of Fox News, a spokesperson wrote at the time. Newsmax Trashes Florida GOP Bills Targeting the Liberal Media More than a year later, it now appears that Ruddy went out of his way to make sure not to anger the Biden administration after nabbing the rare interview with the first lady, even if it left the conservative firebrands in his weeknight lineup miffed. They wanted to be able to brag about it. They didnt want anything to take away from the moment if you will, one source familiar with the directive said, adding that Ruddy just wanted to get through that single day before the interview aired. In a message reviewed by The Daily Beast, Knowles reminded production staff in the morning that Brinkers interview would air during the 9 p.m. hour and that Ruddy is asking primetime to lay off criticizing either the president or his wife for the rest of the evening. While primetime is generally regarded as 8 p.m.-11 p.m. ET, sources emphasized that the network regarded that span as beginning at 5 p.m. ET. It pissed everybody off and embarrassed everybody, one current network staffer said, noting that decidedly MAGA host Rob Schmitt was pissed about being expected to refer to the first lady as Dr. Jill Biden, openly declaring his refusal to use the honorific phrase. (Conservative media has long chafed at calling the first lady a doctor.) Schmitt did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Newsmax is not a real news organization, a Newsmax producer told The Daily Beast, expressing derision for the 2022 directive. Its a bush-league sandbox for Chris Ruddy and his friends to play news. The Daily Beast reviewed each of Newsmaxs programs that night, beginning with the 6 p.m. broadcast of ex-Fox News anchor Greta Van Susterens show, which steered completely clear of criticizing the president by name. (Van Susterens program is arguably the least antagonistic towards Biden. Shes hosted White House spokesperson John Kirby on multiple occasions.) Newsmax Looks to Copy Fox News Again While Gloating About Tucker The following hour, hosted by Schmitt, a fellow Fox News refugee, took only semi-direct swipes at the commander-in-chief, largely in defense of Donald Trump and a Truth Social post he made at the time, which criticized American Jews for voting Democrat. The point of the post was Trump pointing out how painfully liberal American Jews have become, and with the Biden team on the verge of dumping billions of dollars on Iran, American Jews need to appreciate having a Jewish state before it is too late, Schmitt said. The Biden White House and Democrat Party actively work with some of the most antisemitic people in this country. Eric Bolling, yet another former Fox News star who landed at Newsmax, also avoided criticizing the Bidens by name during his 8 p.m. broadcast. Instead, his show settled for maligning Democrats and liberal policies in more general terms. The only direct mention of the Bidens was to promote the upcoming interview with Jill. Former One America News star Jenn Pellegrino, who at that time hosted Newsmaxs 9 p.m. hour, offered up a glowing monologue before introducing the pre-taped interview. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and as we know, cancer is a disease that doesnt discriminate and affects us all, regardless of social status, gender, religion or sexuality. Cancer doesnt care if you are a Republican, an Independent or a Democrat, she told Newsmax viewers. The disease crosses political lines and unites those who disagree politically, like Floridas first lady Casey DeSantis, who battled the terrible illness, and First Lady Jill Biden, who experienced the devastation of losing a son to cancer, who both support policies on cancer research. This evening, we come together as Americans on a mission to end cancer. Following the 20-minute interview, Pellegrino sat down with Brinker for a segment gushing over the first ladys commitment to fighting breast cancer, a mission that is near and dear to Brinker. As the Associated Press reported at the time, the two women have known each other for years and worked together months before the interview at a cancer screening event. Greg Kelly, the networks cartoonishly MAGA host, also completely avoided going after the president by name during his 10 p.m. show. Instead, he spent his program ranting about Black Lives Matter and black-on-black crime while going after Democratsspecifically those running in the midterms. Tim Ryan, oh yeah, he wants us dead, he wants anybody in the MAGA movement dead, he said at one point. While the networks stridently pro-Trump stars have gone so far as to declare that they wish Joe Biden no success as president and even recently melted down over him eating salad, Ruddy himself has on occasion vocally praised the Biden administration. In fact, the Newsmax chief absolutely gushed over the presidents COVID vaccine rollout in an astonishing June 2021 op-ed. The column, which featured Ruddy declaring his network was pro-vaccine, came at a time when the conservative media universe and Trump allies were increasingly embracing anti-vax rhetoric. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. No, the Biden administration isnt paying rent for immigrants in the country illegally A political action committee supporting former President Donald Trumps reelection launched an ad that falsely claims President Joe Biden is paying rent for immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. Statement: President Joe Biden is paying rent for immigrants illegally in the country. A political action committee supporting former President Donald Trumps reelection launched an ad that claims President Joe Biden is paying rent for immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. The online video ad shows an actor playing the role of a Biden campaign worker on the phone with a voter. "Bidens helping pay rent for newcomers to America," the supposed campaign worker says. The video then focuses on a script the campaign worker is reading, which partly says, "do not say immigrants." "You mean illegal immigrants?" the supposed voter on the phone responds. "Im struggling to pay my bills, but Bidens paying rent for illegals?" MAGA Inc.s 30-second ad cites a Daily Mail article about Michigans Newcomer Rental Subsidy program, which the Office of Global Michigan runs under the states Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. The program provides certain eligible immigrants up to $500 per month in rental subsidies for up to a year. (The subsidies are directly provided to the landlords.) But federal funding for the program cannot be used to help people in the U.S. illegally, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told PolitiFact. What Michigan says about program eligibility The website for Michigans Newcomer Rental Subsidy program says beneficiaries "must have an eligible immigration status as defined by the Office of Refugee Resettlement," which is part of the U.S. Health and Human Services. This includes refugees, Ukrainians and Afghans allowed into the U.S. under humanitarian parole programs and asylees people who have been granted asylum in its list. People in these categories are in the U.S. legally. The Office of Global Michigan approves only residents who are in the country legally as determined by the federal government, said Jason Moon, communications director for Michigans Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. However, on its website, the Office of Global Michigan lists additional groups that are also eligible for the rental subsidies (these groups are not included in the Office of Refugee Resettlements eligibility list): Beneficiaries of a humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans: Every month, the U.S. Homeland Security Department let up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela enter the U.S. legally under humanitarian parole. This permission lets people live and work legally in the U.S. for up to two years. People with pending asylum applications: People who cross the U.S. border illegally and are apprehended by immigration officials can seek "defensive" asylum in immigration court. This means they are defending themselves against a formal deportation order and are trying to stay in the U.S. by getting asylum. But this isnt a group that is eligible for Michigans program, the Office of Global Michigan told The Washington Post and the Detroit Free Press. This distinction isnt mentioned on the state offices website. And when PolitiFact asked the office for the information, a spokesperson pointed us to the other outlets articles. People with "affirmative" asylum applications are the ones eligible for the rent assistance, the Detroit Free Press reported. People apply for asylum affirmatively when they are not in official deportation proceedings. MAGA Inc.s argument, and why it doesnt prove the claim to be true Alex Pfeiffer, MAGA Inc.s communications director, told PolitiFact that letting people with pending asylum applications and with humanitarian parole qualify for Michigans program is evidence that Biden is subsidizing the rent of people in the U.S. illegally. Pfeiffer said the Homeland Security Department said people allowed into the U.S. under the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela parole program were considered "inadmissible" into the country. He referred to a Homeland Security Department document responding to a House Committee on Homeland Security subpoena. The subpoena requested the number of parole program applicants who received a travel authorization, traveled to the U.S. and were found inadmissible at a port of entry. "All individuals paroled into the United States are, by definition, inadmissible" under the U.S. immigration system, including those paroled under the program for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela nationals, the document said in response to the subpoena. But that doesnt mean that the parolees are here illegally. The immigration parole gives people who otherwise wouldnt be allowed to enter permission to temporarily enter the U.S., said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. "People allowed into the U.S. through parole are legally entering, and they are allowed to stay for the parole period," Bush-Joseph said. "After that, they need to apply to renew their parole or for another status such as asylum." Therefore, that beneficiaries of the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela humanitarian parole program qualify for the Michigan rental subsidy is not evidence that Biden is paying rent for immigrants in the U.S. illegally. What about people with pending asylum applications? Michigans program allows affirmative asylum seekers to apply for rent assistance. Just because someone applied for affirmative asylum does not necessarily mean that person is in the U.S. legally, immigration law experts told PolitiFact. However, this alone isnt evidence that Biden is subsidizing rent for immigrants in the U.S. illegally; thats because federal funding cannot be used on asylum applicants. Michigans program began in October 2023. So far, none of the 1,200 immigrants who have benefited have pending asylum applications or entered the U.S. under the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela humanitarian parole program, according to data The Washington Post and the Detroit Free Press received from the Michigans Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Most beneficiaries are refugees or Afghan arrivals. The Michigan agency did not share this data with PolitiFact but referred us to the other outlets reporting. How Michigans program is funded Federal and state dollars fund Michigans Newcomer Rental Subsidy program. Federal funding comes from the U.S. Treasury Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. State funding for the program comes from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority Housing and Community Development Fund. The federal funds cannot be used on asylum-seekers, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told PolitiFact. We dont have a breakdown of how Michigans agencies are using the federal money. But MAGA Inc.s spokesperson also didn't provide evidence proving that federal dollars were used to subsidize rents for people here illegally. For decades, the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement has funded nonprofit and state-run assistance programs for eligible immigrants, such as refugees and asylees. These services include job training programs, English classes and child care. A White House spokesperson told PolitiFact there is no federal government program that provides rental assistance to asylum-seekers. PolitiFact's ruling A MAGA Inc. ad, citing a Michigan rental subsidy program, claimed Biden is paying rent for immigrants illegally in the country. A Michigan agency told PolitiFact that only people in the U.S. legally qualify for a rent assistance program thats funded with state and federal money. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told PolitiFact that federal funds cannot be used for people who entered the U.S. illegally, or who have pending asylum applications. Beneficiaries of a humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans are also eligible for the rent subsidies. People under that program entered the U.S. legally. No beneficiaries from that parole program or people with pending asylum applications have benefited from the rental subsidy program so far.MAGA Inc. provided no evidence directly linking federal funds to rental assistance for people in the U.S. illegally. We rate MAGA Inc.s claim False. Our sources This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Michigan program assists legal immigrants with rent subsidies Kristinn Bjornsson, project manager of Business Iceland, speaks during a promotional event for the 7th China International Import Expo(CIIE), in Reykjavik, Iceland, May 10, 2024. A memorandum of cooperation was signed on Friday between Business Iceland and the China International Import Expo Bureau, tapping the potential for a record number of Icelandic companies participating in this year's CIIE. (Xinhua/Chen Jing) REYKJAVIK, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A memorandum of cooperation was signed on Friday between Business Iceland and the China International Import Expo Bureau, tapping the potential for a record number of Icelandic companies participating in this year's China International Import Expo (CIIE). The memorandum was signed during a promotional event for the 7th CIIE, which took place in the capital city of Reykjavik. The event was hosted jointly by the China International Import Expo Bureau, the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and the Chinese Embassy in Iceland. In a speech, Dai Ke, counsellor of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Iceland, said the two countries have enormous potential for cooperation in clean energy, digital economy and green development. He hoped Icelandic companies would seize opportunities at the CIIE to further expand trade with China. Zhang Weimin, assistant president of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), said the CIIE has become an important platform for Icelandic products to enter the Chinese market and for Icelandic companies to explore the Chinese market. Iceland has participated in the CIIE for six consecutive years. After signing the memorandum of cooperation, Kristinn Bjornsson, project manager of Business Iceland, told Xinhua that several companies have reported outcomes worthwhile from participating in the exhibition. Business Iceland is responsible for promoting Icelandic exports. Bjornsson added that considering Iceland's small size and China's enormous market, more and more Icelandic companies are interested in participating in the CIIE, a growing testament to the countries' relationship. China is Iceland's largest trading partner in Asia. Staff from the China International Import Expo Bureau also introduced the exhibition areas of the 7th CIIE to the Icelandic guests at the symposium and answered questions from Icelandic company representatives. This year, the 7th CIIE will be held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to Nov. 10. Above the clouds and facing north, the aurora borealis was visible Friday night along Highway 2 in Angeles National Forest. (Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times) The northern lights dazzled across California skies late Friday night even as far south as Los Angeles County. The stunning nighttime display of pink and purple lights across the sky was mostly visible in the high desert and along Highway 2 in the Angeles National Forest. Several viewers posted their photos on social media. "Never wouldve dreamed of seeing #aurora here, much less capturing it with an iPhone. Breathtaking," one person wrote on X. Typically confined to polar regions, the aurora borealis is making an appearance in the continental United States this weekend thanks to an unusually strong solar storm. The dazzling phenomenon, also known as the northern lights, is caused by supercharged collisions of solar energy into the gas of Earth's atomosphere. For the first time since January 2005, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch , warning that a concentration of energy flaring from the sun could disturb Earth's electromagnetic field. A geomagnetic storm happens when energy from solar wind is transferred into the electromagnetic field around Earth. Most of these atomic particles are usually deflected, except for those in the polar areas, which create the northern lights. But unusually strong bursts of energy can cause geomagnetic storms large enough to disrupt communications, and NOAA said there have already been "reports of power grid irregularities" and disruptions to GPS signals. The storms also create colorful nighttime displays in the sky much farther south. Those that missed last night's performance may still be able to catch a glimpse the storm is expected to persist through Sunday. Simply look north. Times staff writers Corinne Purtill and Jaclyn Cosgrove contributed to this article. The northern lights appear Friday above Highway 2 in Angeles National Forest. (Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times) Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The northern lights danced across the US last night. It could happen again Saturday. Amazing auroras sparked by a massive solar storm the strongest in decades set the world abuzz Friday night as colorful glowing light radiated into the skies as far south as Florida and the Bahamas, to the surprising delight of many who waited up and kept watch. And good news for anyone who missed it: You may get another chance Saturday night or Sunday. "Overnight, aurora were visible across much of the United States. Weather permitting, they may be visible again tonight," the Space Weather Prediction Center said in a Saturday morning update. A later update suggests the possibility of widespread viewing in the U.S. on Sunday too. (A word of caution, experts have previously told USA TODAY that forecasting space weather is difficult. Researchers must rely on observations of the 93-million-miles-away sun to make their predictions.) The extreme geomagnetic storm continues and will persist through at least Sunday... pic.twitter.com/GMDKikl7mA NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 11, 2024 Northern lights are only visible at night time, and experts say it's best to view them away from the hustle and bustle of city life to get the best show. Still, Americans in cities said they could see the lights overnight, including in metro Detroit. Wisconsinites got to see the lights dance across the sky in green and purple hues. Even residents of downtown Milwaukee caught a glimpse despite the bright city lights obstructing the view. See photos: Northern lights on full display across US, Europe on Friday Will the aurora be visible this weekend? It could be. The Space Weather Prediction Center offers an experimental forecast map that showed on Saturday the aurora may be visible Saturday in a wide swath of the U.S., possibly in states including Oregon, Nebraska, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York. But visibility will depend on shifting factors that include weather. For Sunday, space weather forecasters said the aurora could become visible again over the northern half of the country, with sights extending as far south as Alabama and northern California. The effects of that storm are expected to arrive Sunday morning ET. What is the cloud forecast Saturday night? Will clouds block the northern lights? If you missed the aurora borealis Friday night, you might still catch a glimpse on Saturday or Sunday, depending on where you live. But not if clouds get in the way. The cloud forecast for Saturday night is generally good for most of America, but some of the people who missed their chance last night due to clouds may have a similar problem Saturday, said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tom Kines. Areas that are likely to be cloudy include New England and Mid-Atlantic regions, as well as parts of the Southern Plains, including Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado. Even just a few breaks in the clouds will allow the aurora to be visible, Kines said. Theres always hope. Peak visibility time Saturday night will be between 9 p.m. and midnight, with some chance until 2 a.m., Kines said. The best views will be in dark areas away from the light pollution of cities, he said, though some reported seeing the auroras Friday night from metro areas like Milwaukee and Detroit. Sunday night, if there is any aurora to see, those in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic can rejoice, because Kines said the skies should be clearer. What is causing the northern lights this weekend? The spectacle is being caused by geomagnetic storm that erupted from a sunspot cluster on the sun. The storm was unusually strong classified as "extreme" (or a G5) storm, the highest level, the Space Weather Prediction Center said Friday evening. It's the first G5 storm to hit our planet since 2003. The geomagnetic storm's effects (which aren't all as pretty as the northern lights) are likely to linger through the weekend. The Space Weather Prediction Center said the storm is likely to continue through Sunday. "There have been reports of power grid irregularities and degradation to high-frequency communications and GPS," the Space Weather Prediction Center said in a Saturday morning update. The northern lights as seen from the Stormville Mountain rest stop on Interstate 84 in East Fishkill, NY, early Saturday morning May 11, 2024. Where were the northern lights seen on Friday night? Across much of the United States and Europe where skies were clear as far south as Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona. To the great disappointment of many in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, cloud cover dimmed or obstructed the stunning display altogether. Although it's unusual, auroras have been seen in the far southern United States in the past. This happens when a particularly large coronal mass ejection arrives in the Earth's outer atmosphere, triggering a geomagnetic storm, NOAA reports. People look at the Northern lights near Cashion, Okla., Friday, May, 10, 2024. On the night of Nov. 5-6, 2001, aurora displays were seen in Texas and Arizona. What causes the aurora? NASA describes an aurora as an "intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and the Earth." The Sun's activity creates strong electrical currents known as geomagnetic storms. These eruptions are mostly happening at a large, complex sunspot cluster, NOAA'S Space Weather Prediction Center said. Sunspots, which increase and decrease on a 11-year cycle, are areas where the magnetic field is about 2,500 times stronger than Earth's. NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare on May 10. A subset of extreme ultraviolet light highlights the extremely hot material in flares. The reason the auroras move is because of how the Sun's ionized gases interact with the Earth's magnetic field. The northern lights appear over Dexter Reservoir before midnight on Friday, May 10, 2024 in Lowell, Ore. If you took a great photo, NASA wants to know In a collaboration with the National Science Foundation and the New Mexico Consortium aurora sightings and photos are being collected at the Aurorasaurus web page. The Sun is super active right now! The video below shows a series of flares that erupted over the past seven days not counting another X-class flare that happened this morning! pic.twitter.com/O5jwUBmMDT NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) May 10, 2024 Why was the aurora borealis so red on Friday? Mike Theiss, an extreme nature photographer and hurricane storm chaser, who lives in Florida was shocked to see posts Friday night about how far south people were seeing the auroras. To his amazement, he was able to step out of his front door in Key Largo in the Florida Keys and see and photograph the aurora. Hours later he was still incredulous, and surprised at the colors in the aurora. "Ive documented the Northern Lights in Iceland, North Dakota, Arctic Circle in Canada but never this red color," Theiss said. "This is the first time Ive seen red." The multiple colors seen in auroras are related to the types of gas being bombarded at various levels above the Earth. Auroras occur within one of Earth's upper atmosphere layers, the thermosphere, according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Solar particles trapped there interact with various gas molecules, such as nitrogen and oxygen, according to the research corporation's website. Oxygen gives off green and red lights, while nitrogen glows blue and reddish purple. For example, nitrogen gas glows blue at 75 to 110 miles altitude. The less common red auroras form from interacting with higher altitude oxygen molecules, the website explains. Sharing my out of focus #Auroraborealis shots because this was one of the coolest things ever. IN SOUTHERN KENTUCKY!!! #aurora pic.twitter.com/lXjbbZp7Eu Megan Schargorodski (@ouwxschargo) May 11, 2024 The northern lights appear over Dexter Reservoir before midnight on Friday, May 10, 2024 in Lowell, Ore. 'Two incredible spectacles of the universe': Northern lights come about a month after eclipse Seeing the aurora amazed Antonella Fruscione, an astrophysicist at Harvard University. She sent photos of the sight as well as the April total solar eclipse to her friends in Italy. "And I sent them the picture that I took at the solar eclipse and I said, 'Can you imagine how fortunate I was this year, one month apart, I see these two incredible spectacles of the universe,'" she recalled telling them. The phenomena seen Friday and possibly Saturday night is unusual, she said. "It's a very rare occurrence, especially because last night it was really visible," Fruscione said. What was the Halloween storm in October 2003? Over two decades ago in late October 2003, three massive sunspot groups appeared on the sun's surface with little warning, accompanied by 17 major solar flares, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. View from my rooftop nest cam in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/XGu85gZvfL Jared Rackley (@jaredrackley) May 11, 2024 Satellites, radio and GPS systems went on the fritz around the world, causing some major disruptions. But it also offered a stunning view of the auroras as far south as California and Florida. People in Australia and Mediterranean countries even caught a glimpse. Contributing: Doyle Rice and Krystal Nurse, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Northern lights forecast: Where will they be visible Saturday? The northern lights dazzled Idaho skygazers. See photos from Boise and beyond In Boise and throughout the state, Idahoans pursued dark overnight skies Friday into Saturday for the opportunity to spot a phenomenon that hasnt presented itself in nearly two decades. The aurora borealis visited the states southern reaches starting around 8 p.m. Friday, with the strongest solar storm activity lasting through 8 a.m. Saturday. The sun didnt set in Boise until almost 9 p.m., and then the colors of the northern lights began to emerge and dance above the ridgelines. The northern lights pay a rare visit to Lucky Peak in Boise, Idaho, early in the morning on Saturday, May 11, 2024. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch for Friday night, as the Idaho Statesman previously reported. It was the first time NOAA had done so since January 2005. As NASA reports, the skyward anomaly is caused by solar storm particles colliding with the Earths upper atmosphere, with the planets magnetic field sending the particles north and south. The interaction creates an illuminated exhibit usually only seen near the North and South poles. The aurora borealis, when particles from the sun collide into the Earths upper atmosphere, as seen above the Boise Bench in the early morning hours of Saturday, May 11, 2024. From the hill above Horseshoe Bend, the magentas and neon greens came to life and dazzled those who stayed up past their usual bedtimes. The northern lights appear in Idaho, from the hill above Horseshoe Bend in the early morning hours on Saturday, May 11, 2024. Similarly unique sights could be found in other areas of the Treasure Valley with lower light pollution, including up Bogus Basin Road in Boise County. The norther lights in Idaho, from Bogus Basin Road in Boise, on Friday, May 10, 2024. Here are some other views of the northern lights from elsewhere around Idaho. Aurora from American Ridge, Idaho pic.twitter.com/6HfSCkVvnk Orphan Espresso (@Orphanespresso) May 11, 2024 aurora is still at it gem county, idaho pic.twitter.com/zCIg3EXmDB tami (@reflectivity) May 11, 2024 Stunning night in Lewiston. Started in the front yard, street lights were a problem. Drove a few blocks and got some interesting shots of the #northenlights over Clearwater Paper (Potlatch), then drove above Lewiston Hill to find a darker area. Arms were amazing for a while. pic.twitter.com/QLPK8GjTow Colleen Fellows (@ColleenFellows) May 11, 2024 Back in the Treasure Valley, Idaho Statesman photographer Sarah Miller headed to near Lucky Peak to take in the colorful display. The northern lights appear north of Lucky Peak State Park near Boise, Friday, May 10, 2024. The phenomenon was made possible by a large solar storm interacting with the Earths magnetic field, creating glowing atmospheric gases. Meanwhile, Idaho Statesman visuals editor Darin Oswald trekked up to Shafer Butte in the Boise National Forest and produced this selfie and dubbed the stunning image Aurora Idahoalis. A rare view of the northern lights appeared near Boise, Friday, May 10, 2024. The phenomenon was made possible by a large solar storm interacting with the Earths magnetic field, creating glowing atmospheric gases. And, as luck would have it, a second chance to catch the northern lights in Idaho is predicted for Saturday starting around nightfall and into Sunday. Boiseans wont even have to travel north toward Riggins, as was initially predicted to get another shot. People gather to take pictures of the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, in New Brighton in northwest England late on Friday night - Paul Ellis/AFP Stargazers hoped for a second chance to witness the Northern Lights on Saturday after an extreme geomagnetic storm caused them to be seen further south than usual on Friday, although relatively few sightings with the naked eye were expected. The rare phenomenon saw swathes of the sky turn pink and green as far south as Suffolk on Friday night following the most powerful solar storm in almost 20 years to hit Earth. Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said there were sightings from top to tail across the country. Many took to social media to share rare displays as they appeared above their homes. In Europe, the phenomenon could be seen from Prague, Czechia, and Barcelona, Spain on Friday. Some 6,000 miles away, people near San Francisco, America, also enjoyed the rare display. Mr Snell said there was a good chance the lights, also known as the aurora borealis, will be seen again across parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England and Wales from around 10.30pm. Sightings in southern parts of the UK are less likely, although Mr Snell said the lights may be visible through a strong camera lens, and advised people to head to an area with low light pollution for the best chance of catching the display. The Northern Lights were on display in Minster on Sea in Kent on Friday - Alamy/James Bell The G5 geomagnetic storm, which is considered extreme and the strongest level of solar storm, hit Earth on Thursday. The cause of this storm was a large, complex sunspot cluster, 17 times the diameter of the Earth, according to US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There had been warnings it could cause power outages, affect communications, GPS and power grids. A spokesperson for the Energy Networks Association agency said it had been monitoring the solar storm and that the UKs electricity network continued to operate as normal on Saturday morning. Starlink, the satellite arm of Elon Musks SpaceX, which owns around 60 per cent of the 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth, reported a degraded service as a result of the storm on Saturday. Musk said in a post on X: Major geomagnetic solar storm happening right now. Biggest in a long time. Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far. It comes as the UK is expected to experience its hottest temperatures of the year so far this weekend, with highs of 27C predicted on Sunday before giving way to thunderstorms. Thunderstorms on the way The UK recorded its highest temperature of the year on Thursday, with a peak of 24.6C in Londons St Jamess Park. But thunderstorms and heavy rain are forecasted to hit parts of the country next week, with three yellow thunderstorm warnings in place for parts of the UK on Sunday. The Met Office said there is a slight chance of power cuts and have advised to expect travel disruptions and sudden flooding that could lead to difficult driving conditions. Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earths atmosphere around the magnetic poles. In the northern hemisphere, most of this activity takes place within a band known as the aurora oval, covering latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees. When activity is strong, this expands to cover a greater area, which explains why displays can be occasionally seen as far south as the UK. Prof Carole Haswell, head of astronomy at the Open University, said the different colours seen within the Northern Lights are formed by different gases above the Earths surface. Green comes from oxygen which is about 80 to 250 miles above the Earths surface. The purple, blue and pink comes from nitrogen and when you get a very strong aurora sometimes you see a sort of scarlet red, and that comes from oxygen, which is higher in the Earths atmosphere, at an altitude of about 180 miles, she said. 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. This 2019 image from the SkunkBayWeather.com camera in Hansville shows a view of the northern lights. Forecasters say that aurora borealis may be visible in the Pacific Northwest Friday through Sunday nights, with best viewing around midnight. Washington state residents may get a glimpse at the northern lights through the weekend starting tonight, thanks to unusually strong solar activity and clear skies in the forecast across the Northwest. On Thursday NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) reported that one of the largest and most powerful clusters of solar flares witnessed since 2005 erupted from the Suns surface, and that the resulting geomagnetic storm it produces is expected to sweep across earths northern latitudes for the next two days. The northern lights, or aurora borealis, may be seen as far south as northern California and even Alabama, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center. "This is an unusual and potentially historic event," Clinton Wallace, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center, said in a statement. The northern lights are the most benign result of solar activity, according to USA TODAY. Strong solar storms including the rare category of G4s, which are possible for May 11 can also disrupt some radio communications, harm satellites and even knock out power systems, forecasters warned. The Space Weather Prediction Center only rarely issues "severe" storm watches. The last time such an alert was issued was January 2005. "Watches at this level are very rare," the center said. The colorful aurora forms when particles flowing from the sun get caught up in Earth's magnetic field. The particles interact with molecules of atmospheric gases to cause the famed glowing green and reddish colors of the aurora. The best aurora is usually within an hour or two of midnight, looking to the north from a location that is further away from city lights, according to NOAA. The best viewing conditions for the aurora are expected across the northern Plains and the Pacific Northwest, where mainly cloud-free conditions will lead to great views of the night sky, AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Lada said. Reporting from USA TODAY was used in this report. This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Northern lights may be visible over Washington this weekend TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) All across the United States, people looked out into the night sky Friday and got to see an amazing sight: the Northern Lights. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the lights were caused by a massive solar storm that were expected the Earth Friday through Sunday. Couple who appeared on Property Brothers sues production company, claims they did poor job This is an unusual and potentially historic event, said Clinton Wallace, director of NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center. These northern lights were created by coronal mass ejections, explosions of plasma and magnetism from the Sun. The geomagnetic storms caused by the ejections can cause communication and power disruptions, but they also create the lovely aurora that people saw Friday night. Photos taken by Floridians showed a purple-pink aura over the state, with the hue varying from location to location. Chirleen Evans of Palm Coast took photo of the aurora, which cast a pink glow among the stars. Photo credit: Chirleen Evans One St. Petersburg man posted a photo of the lights as he took off from Tampa International Airport. Never in my wildest dreams did I think Id see the Northern Lights from Florida!!! Chase Nawrocki wrote. This is just after takeoff from Tampa over the Gulf of Mexico!!! (Credit: Chase Nawrocki) (Credit: Chase Nawrocki) (Credit: Chase Nawrocki) The City of Venice also posted photos from citizens showing the northern lights visible from the Venice Fishing Pier. Do you have a photo of the lights? Send us a photo and location by going to our Report It page! For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA. Millions of Americans were able to see the magical glow of the northern lights on Friday night when a powerful geomagnetic storm reached Earth. The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, were predicted to be visible as far south as Alabama and Northern California. People reported seeing the lights as far south as Florida and Oklahoma. Some areas, like New York City, were impacted by cloud cover and missed out on the spectacular show, but the phenomenon is expected to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. Experts said the aurora borealis will likely be visible in some parts of the U.S. Saturday night, with the best chance to see the northern lights between 10 p.m. Saturday and 2 a.m. Sunday. "The aurora is when we get energized particles that have left the sun in more quantities than usual, and they interact with Earth's magnetic barrier," Shawn Dahl, senior space weather forecaster for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, explained to CBS News. The geomagnetic storm reached Earth Friday evening as an "extreme" G5, according to the NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. Geomagnetic storms are ranked from G1 to G5. "This one is pretty large, It think it's pretty extreme, we got to the G5, which is the highest in terms of strength," said Dr. Nour Rawafi, an astrophysicist with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. It marks the first G5 geomagnetic storm to reach Earth since October 2003. A G5 is so large it can disrupt satellites we rely on for communications and GPS. Elon Musk's Starlink satellites were reporting "degraded service." Dahl explains a G5 storm can potentially disrupt the GPS we use on our phones. "It could, because most of our phones are single-frequency GPS systems," Dahl said. The aurora borealis has the capacity to impact power grids and cause blackouts. In 2003, the G5 storm caused some power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa, according to the NOAA. This year, however, utility companies took precautions. "It seems like, this time around, certain steps were taken, and we avoided that so far," Rawafi said. Photos of the northern lights Photographers and videographers nationwide captured images that show the northern lights streaking the sky in shades of blue, green, and even purple. Northern lights illuminate the night sky in Middletown, California on May 11, 2024. / Credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images The northern lights could also be photographed from the air, with photos of the phenomenon from airplane windows circulating on social media. Photos of the northern lights taken as a plane landed at Chicago's Midway Airport. / Credit: Linda Blanco Even in places where the northern lights could only be seen faintly with the naked eye, photographs captured stunning details. The northern lights illuminate the sky in Rochester, New York. / Credit: Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images Northern lights predictions for the rest of the weekend If you missed the northern lights on Friday night, there are still some chances to catch the phenomenon again. The geomagnetic storm is expected to last through the weekend. The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center released a forecast map for Saturday night suggesting that the lights would be visible in parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and more. A map from the Space Weather Prediction Center shows the aurora forecast for the U.S. on May 11, 2024. / Credit: Space Weather Prediction Center Though the lights will be more limited, don't despair if your area isn't illuminated on the map. It's possible to observe the northern lights from as far as 620 miles away, according to the National Weather Service. And remember, a camera can help pick up details that the naked eye might otherwise miss. What's the best way to see the northern lights? The National Weather Service's St. Louis office said that people who want to see the northern lights should get away from light pollution and cloud cover. "Get away from city lights into a dark, rural surrounding and look north," the office said on social media on Friday morning. Northern Lights around the world The U.S. wasn't the only place to see incredible light shows on Friday. In the United Kingdom, the phenomenon was seen as far south as London and southern England. The aurora borealis glows on the horizon at Crosby Beach in Liverpool, England. / Credit: Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images In parts of Germany, the entire sky appeared to be lit pink at times. Northern lights in the sky over Bavaria, Germany. / Credit: Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images Other incredible images showed the sky over Austria lit in blue, green, and pink, with stunning photos catching them over the country's mountains. Northern lights or aurora borealis illuminate the night sky in Austria. / Credit: JFK/APA/AFP via Getty Images Michael George contributed to this report. New details emerge after series of resignations rock Miss USA organization Decade-long search for Texas mom's killer takes stunning turns Bodycam video released of deadly police shooting of U.S. airman in Florida SINGAPORE, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Singaporean police arrested 319 suspects for scam offenses during an operation from April 26 to May 9, according to the latest statement from police. The suspects were involved in over 1,100 scam cases, including e-commerce scams, friend impersonation scams, investment scams, internet love scams, and job scams. Police said the victims lost over 9 million Singapore dollars (6.6 million U.S. dollars). The suspects were under investigation for cheating, money laundering, or providing payment services without a license. NYC teacher fired after texting student 28K times, sex allegations, is now teaching at different school: Cant fking touch me teacher fired for texting students inappropriately and school where she works A defiant French teacher is still in the classroom after being fired by the Department of Education crowing that the city cant touch me despite the sexually-charged accusations that got her sacked, including making nearly 30,000 late-night texts to a schoolgirl. Dulaina Almonte, 33, lost her job at Harry S. Truman High School in The Bronx in 2020 after the Special Commissioner of Investigation substantiated claims of her creepy behavior with teens. I cant be guilty if Im still a teacher, Almonte who now teaches at a Bronx charter school boasted to The Post this week. Dulaina Almonte, a French teacher at Harry S. Truman HS in the Bronx, sent a student a staggering 28,075 late-night texts over 14 months as kids gossiped that she was giving the boy oral sex. FaceBook Dulaina Almonte I cant be guilty if Im still a teacher, Almonte who now teaches at a Bronx charter school boasted to The Post this week. tiktok @mijea121 Its not a crime, but still got fired, which is honestly why the DOE can suck a big prk, she continued. Still a teacher! Cant touch me! she bragged. Still a teacher working elsewhere. Like, you really cant fking touch me. Her audacity comes despite a damning 2022 SCI report which found her excessive contact and behavior with the students demonstrates that she has no place in the New York City Schools. Phone records showed Almonte sent a 17-year-old female student a staggering 28,075 late-night texts over 14 months 66 messages a day and traded nearly 1,900 texts with a male 12th-grader. The NYPD also investigated a Truman HS students claim that she and a former pupil were involved in a sex act in a classroom, according to a police report. Almonte denied the accusation which according to SCI included the allegation that she and a student had made out and had oral sex all the time in school and no arrest was made. A damning 2022 SCI report found Almonte excessive contact and behavior with the students demonstrates that she has no place in the New York City Schools. tiktok @mijea121 But the incident led to a lengthy SCI probe documenting her thousands of late-night and weekend chats with students, along with encrypted WhatsApp and Snapchat calls, and the teens multiple visits to her Bronx home. The report, the result of a year-long investigation, was completely false, Almonte insisted. Almonte is now teaching Spanish at the publicly-funded, privately-run AECI 2: NYC Charter High School for Engineering and Innovation, where teachers on average earn about $74,000, according to Indeed.com. Her pay in 2019 from the DOE was $71,963. Brazen New York City public school teachers like Almonte are flouting Department of Education rules forbidding sexual and other inappropriate contact with their students because even if theyre caught, their predatory behavior almost always remains hidden within the DOE, critics say. And theyre reaping the benefit of a cumbersome city and state discipline process that allows many educational predators to keep on working with kids and teens, even after SCI investigators have substantiated sexual offenses. While some states maintain public databases exposing proven cases of educator sexual misconduct in an effort to end so-called pass the trash policies that shield problem teachers New York is not among them, experts told The Post. No paper trail follows teachers state to state unless theyre convicted and it shows up in a [criminal] background check, said Billie-Jo Grant, a researcher and consultant for SESAME, a group which targets educator sexual abuse. However, fewer than 5% of school administrators nationwide report sexual misconduct to law enforcement, Grant has found. Theres a lot of motivation to not have it on the front page of the paper, Grant said. Over the last five years, SCI has substantiated 254 allegations of sexual or inappropriate misconduct by DOE employees and vendors but only four of those cases, less than 2%, resulted in criminal charges, according to a Post review of the watchdogs annual reports. The NYPD also investigated a Truman HS students claim that she and a former pupil were involved in a sex act in a classroom, according to a police report. KEVIN C DOWNS A criminal conviction on sex abuse charges means instant revocation of an educators state license. But in the vast majority of sexual misconduct cases, the UFTs contractual rules require at least two arbitration hearings before a teachers state license can be yanked. Short of that, the DOE shares no incriminating information on a fired teacher with other districts or private, religious or charter schools and if an offender resigns before he or she can be axed, no trace of the investigation is easily visible to employers outside the city school system. Almonte is now teaching Spanish at the publicly-funded, privately-run AECI 2: NYC Charter High School for Engineering and Innovation. J.C. Rice In Almontes case, SCI findings were sent to the state Education Department, which can revoke a license if the person is convicted of a crime or found to be of immoral character. But there is no record of any disciplinary hearing, according to a state website. Almontes state teaching license expired in August 2019, according to the state Education Department. The educator was terminated by the DOE, according to spokesman Nathaniel Styer, who declined to give more details. Im not going to get into personnel items beyond she was terminated. If others come to us for background checks, we respond, he said. Styer didnt say whether AECI reached out about Almonte. Its unclear what kind of background check AECI 2 did before hiring Almonte in 2022. Derick Spaulding, the CEO of AECI 2, said the school conducts background checks and employees have to pass a fingerprint authorization. All employees have to get fingerprinted. If there was something in a persons background that was worthy of not hiring them, that would show up there, he said, claiming, Thats the states way of stating this persons allowed to work with children. Spaulding said he wasnt familiar with the details of Almontes hiring and declined to answer further questions about the teachers expired license, the schools background checks, or whether the school reached out to DOE before hiring Almonte. The accusations substantiated by SCI would not have been revealed with a fingerprint check because there were no criminal charges. Daniel Schiels began working as a special education teacher in Stamford, Conn. public schools while SCI was probing him for allegedly grooming a female student over three years, starting from age 15. YouTube Dan Schiels Some disgraced DOE teachers move out of state. Daniel Schiels began working as a special education teacher in Stamford, Conn. public schools while SCI was probing him for allegedly grooming a female student over three years, starting from age 15. Investigators documented Schiels suggestive Instagram messages to the girl years after she left his classroom, asking how big her boobs were now and Do you have piercings? Schiels, through his attorney, refused to cooperate with the investigation, the report stated. Schiels wasnt reachable and his mother-in-law hung up on a reporter. Cloonan Middle School in Stamford, Conn., where Schiels said in a January social media post he taught a sixth grade special education class, didnt respond to a request for comment. Nor did the Stamford Public School System. Others, like Almonte, stay in NYC but leave the DOE system. Melanie Roth, a former DOE social worker, took a job counseling kids at the New York City Children Center in November, according to her LinkedIn account. Melanie Roth, a former DOE social worker, took a job counseling kids at the New York City Children Center despite accusations of once hitting on an 18-year-old male student. https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-roth-lmsw-a6711a22 The NYCCC referred questions to the state Office of Mental Health, which didnt return a message. Roth left after the SCI found evidence she hit on an 18-year-old male student with text messages like I love you and I miss you, and even completed the boys tests and assignments for him. Gilbert Bayonne, Roths attorney, said she denied the SCI findings. She was never informed of the allegations, nor was she given a chance to defend herself in a hearing, he said. Roth is suing the DOE and the state Education Department to regain her school social worker credentials. With additional reporting provided by Tina Moore and Susan Edelman A teen anti-Israel protester accused of shamefully vandalizing a hallowed war memorial during a violent rally later shaved his head to hide his identity as media scrutiny around the demonstration grew, police said Friday. The 16-year-old suspect a Tottenville High School student already known as a regular at protests held by the anti-Israel Within Our Lifetime showed up to Manhattan court Friday with a buzz cut, which he adopted after he and other demonstrators were photographed and videotaped scrawling graffiti including GAZA on war memorials in Central Park on Monday, police and law-enforcement sources said. The teens family used a keffiyeh to try to hide him from photographers as they left court after he was arraigned on felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor graffiti charges and freed. The suspected teen vandal wears a buzzcut as he is escorted at the courthouse Friday. Robert Miller A vandal scrawls graffiti on a World War I memorial in Central Park on Monday. Getty Images Hes a very good kid, thats it, thats all Im going to say, the teens father said outside the familys Staten Island home after court. The boy was IDd as one of the vandals who defaced the WWI memorial dedicated to Manhattans 107th Infantry Regiment by spray-painting GAZA and Free Palestine on it, authorities said Friday. He allegedly vandalized a statue of Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, too. Hes accused of spray-painting the word Gaza. Hes seen with the spray paint clearly on video writing out the word Gaza, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters at a briefing Friday afternoon. The teens family shields him from cameras outside court Friday. Robert Miller He shaved his head when he found out he was wanted, Kenny added. The incident itself was posted on multiple, multiple social platforms, and we were able to use facial identification recognition. The teenager was taken into custody Thursday evening after he and his family engaged in a more than three-hour standoff with cops at their Staten Island home, according to a neighbor and police sources. The suspected student, whose Instagram account has been yanked down, posted a picture of the cops outside his house yesterday, and it said something like, NYPD get out, said a ninth-grader at Tottenville HS who saw the post. The neighbor, who didnt want to give her name, added to The Post, The police were here for three or four hours, from about 4 oclock to 7 oclock. The boys dad insists his son is a very good kid. Robert Miller Some police wore suits, others had vests. Everybody in the neighborhood was watching, she said. Hes a normal kid. Hes a nice boy. The parents are nice, the neighbor insisted of the suspect and relatives, who police sources said are Palestinian. He must have got caught up in the moment and followed a bad crowd. The teen, whose name is being withheld by The Post because of his age, is suspected of taking part in what authorities called despicable vandalism. He was accused in a post on X by NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry on Thursday night of having taken part in the vandalism of a historic World War I memorial an act considered so offensive that Mayor Eric Adams even donated $5,000 of his own money toward the apprehension and conviction of the culprits. The NYPD public information office said a few hours later only that the teen was charged with defacing the Sherman statue. It then back-tracked Friday and said the teen was only charged in the desecration of a bronze statue of a Union Army soldier from the Civil War. In the later briefing with reporters, Kenny said the teen had allegedly defaced the WWI monument and Sherman. The teen suspect covers his head with a towel outside court Friday. Robert Miller The crimes occurred Monday night as a mob tried to storm the star-studded Met Gala at the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art to protest Israels war in Gaza. The teen was identified by authorities four days later, including with the help of tips to the NYPDs Crime Stoppers hotline, law-enforcement sources said. A caller told police the name and date of birth of the suspect, as well as the school he went to, sources said. The cops then called Tottenville, where a school safety agent confirmed the teens ID, sources said. Police went to the boys home and spent hours negotiating with his parents, who refused to hand him over or even let the officers inside, sources said. It was finally agreed that the parents would walk the teen the two blocks to the 121st Precinct station house, where he was arrested, sources said. The suspect sits outside the court, cuffed to the bench. @NYPDDaughtry Its not really a surrender when were at your front door and you dont have a lot of options, a source said. It was the easy way or the hard way, and this was the reasonable way. Kenny added, We were at his residence trying to make an apprehension, the father came out, asked what was going on and basically retained an attorney and worked out his surrender. We had Hate Crimes investigating just in case it went that way. It was deemed not to be a hate crime, the top cop said. The ninth-grader at Tottenville said the suspect is sweet and also very involved with social justice. He is really political. Hes always posting about Palestine on Snapchat and Instagram, always posting Free Palestine, the student said. He goes to the protests a lot. Another neighbor, Simone Bullard, said the family has lived here maybe eight or 10 years. Its horrible. Hes a good kid who must have been caught up in the wrong crowd, Bullard said. Theres a lot of bad things going on in the world right now. NYPD releases pic of keffiyeh-wearing protester wanted for setting US flag on fire in front of WWI memorial composite image: left protester in red shirt with black bag across their chest with their face covered; upper right protester holding the american flag; lower right the flag burning on the ground while the protester stands over it Police released a photo of a keffiyeh-wearing protester wanted for lighting a U.S. flag aflame at an pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of a WWI memorial in the city earlier this week. The unidentified male is wanted for allegedly snatching the flag from a woman, 48, as she waved it, before he lit it on fire during the unruly demonstration at Fifth Avenue and East 67th Street around 6:30 p.m. Monday, cops said. The male in the photo is hardly visible as the Palestinian scarf covers most of his face. Police have released images of the protester wanted for burning the American flag at a demonstration earlier this week. Jack Morphet/NY Post The protester, whose face was covered, was caught on camera. Jack Morphet/NY Post The flag-burning suspect is described as a male with a light complexion and medium build. He was last seen wearing a red shirt, black shorts and a black book bag, according to cops. A 16-year-old, anti-Israel protester who allegedly vandalized the 107th Infantry Memorial at the same protest was arrested Friday, cops said. He was charged with criminal mischief in the third degree, a felony, and making graffiti, which is a misdemeanor. The person in the photo is hardly visible as a scarf covers most of his face. Jack Morphet/NY Post The bronze memorial depicts seven WWI foot soldiers in battle. Several other protesters were caught on video climbing on top of the infantrymen while waving Palestinian flags. Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPDs Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. NEW YORK New York University students protesting for Palestinians took over the lobby of the Bobst Library building Friday afternoon, unfurling banners and demanding that the institution divest from Israel. The move came one week after police cleared a nearby encampment of NYU students, and is the third such occupation led by NYU students since April 21. School officials did not say how many students were occupying the building, The library is not only a place for study (it is our finals period), it is a setting in which we hold exams, including exams scheduled for this afternoon. It is impermissible under the Universitys rules to disrupt academic activities or to interfere with other students academic work, NYU spokesperson John Beckman wrote in a statement. All students involved would be subject to disciplinary proceedings, Beckman added. We are disappointed that a group of students would be so insensitive to the rights of other students. We are working to bring the situation to a close as quickly as possible. Pine Ridge is located in southwestern South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The town has a population just under 3,000 and is the headquarters of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) The Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety is funded at 15% of its needs, its acting chief told appropriators with the U.S. House of Representatives this week. John Pettigrew testified that the funding shortfall over which his tribe has twice sued the federal government means a force at less than half strength and causes tribal members to wait 30 minutes to an hour on average for non-emergency service. Emergency calls can sometimes take just as long if officers are tied up with another incident miles away on the reservation, which is larger in area than the state of Delaware. Five minutes is a lifetime when youre fighting for your life, let alone 30 minutes, Pettigrew told members of the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee on Wednesday. Pettigrew was one of six South Dakota-based tribal leaders to speak during two days of hearings on the needs of Indian Country. Each spoke of the gulf between federal funding and need in law enforcement and education, the latter of which is funded on a per-student basis at less than a third the rate for the children of active-duty military families, according to information presented during the hearings. Native American tribal nations in South Dakota derive most of their funding for basic public services from the federal government, through treaty provisions dating to the 1800s. In addition to the statistics on wait times, Pettigrew told the committee that his agency fielded nearly 30,000 more calls for service last year than the year before, that his departments evidence room holds more than 100 weapons seized from Oglala reservation schools, and that his officers are overworked, underpaid and on the verge of burnout. That can be a tough pill to swallow for tribal police, he said, particularly when officers with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Federal Bureau of Investigation and state-level agencies make more money. What were asking for is a budget correction to bring us up to par with our federal and state counterparts, Pettigrew said. To be real, I know this will never happen, but something needs to, because 15% is a crazy number. We are not asking for more than we need. Fifteen percent is a joke. Rosebud: 15 police, 20 more needed Law enforcement was also the lead story for Shere Wright-Plank, vice chair of the tribal council for the Oglalas neighboring Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe has half the tribal police officers, with twice the population and three times the violent crime suffered back in the year 2000, she said. It is evident that the current funding allocated to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the tribal police, approximately $565 million nationwide, falls significantly short of meeting the real law enforcement needs in Indian country. Last year at this time, Rosebud Tribal Chairman Scott Herman reminded the committee that BIAs law enforcement budget should be at least at $1.2 billion. Wright-Plank said the shortfall indirectly affects non-tribal law enforcement. While the country grapples with increased drug and human trafficking, tribes remain a gap in the law enforcement effort, a gap that the federal government is obligated to close, she said. Rosebud recently declared a state of emergency for public safety, she said, as Oglala did late last year. On her reservation, Wright-Plank said, there are 15 tribal police officers, and we urgently require an additional 20 officers and detention personnel. While we strive for economic development, the pervasive issue of drug and alcohol abuse continues to hinder our progress, she said. Educators: State schools come out ahead Cecilia Fire Thunder is president of the Oglala Lakota Nation Education Coalition, president of the Little Wound School Board and a member of the board of directors for Oglala Lakota College. In her written testimony, Fire Thunder compared federal and state funding for schools. The Oglala Lakota County School District is her reservations only state-funded school system, while other schools are either federally or privately supported. Per-student funding for the state schools is about $16,080, she wrote, citing a 2023 study from EducationData.org. The federal government funded Indian students at $6,910. Indian student funding is dwarfed compared to the only other fully funded federal education system, the Department of Defense Education Agency, which is funded at $25,000 per student, she wrote. Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs have shown promise in Indian Country, according to Troy Lunderman of Rosebuds St. Francis Indian School. Lunderman is human resources director for the school, which launched a CTE program this year. Absenteeism among CTE students is half the rate it was for them the year before, he told the committee, and the school has seen increases in 90% of the students GPAs. In some cases, some of them had Fs, and now some of them are on the honor roll, he said. CTE programs can work for students like those he used to meet in his former role as a social worker, he said. He spoke of one dropout he worked with in that role who struggled with algebra and science in the classroom setting. That student never returned to school. If CTE was available back then for this student in particular, who enjoyed being a mechanic, with different types of math and different types of science, he probably would have succeeded, Lunderman said. But the federal Perkins program, he said, allocates just $16 million nationwide for tribal CTE programs. Federal funding is also lacking for school resource officers, he said. The St. Francis school gets money through the Indian School Equalization Program (ISEP), but Lunderman told the committee that schools too often need to tap into that funding to pay officers, maintenance and nutrition staff. In his written testimony, Lunderman said BIA schools need at least a 50% increase in that funding source. Without a significant increase in ISEP funding, Indian students will continue to fall further behind their non-Indian peers, he wrote. South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com. Follow South Dakota Searchlight on Facebook and Twitter. The post Oglala police chief calls tribal law enforcement funding a joke in congressional testimony appeared first on North Dakota Monitor. TROUP, Texas (KETK) The Smith County Emergency Services District 2 has reported that an oil tank exploded at a site on County Road 4703 near Troup on Saturday afternoon. 5 injured in Longview apartment complex shooting Smith County ESD2 responded with six career firefighters, six volunteer firefighters and a battalion chief, along with with New Summerfield and North Cherokee County Volunteer Fire Departments. No injuries were reported from the explosion but the exploded tank was giving off black smoke. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KETK.com | FOX51.com. Jamie Polk, whos served as the assistant superintendent for elementary education in Oklahoma City Public Schools since July 2019, was chosen Saturday morning as the next superintendent of the states second-largest school district. The district school board voted 7-0 during a special meeting to elevate Polk into the top role, effective July 1. She will replace Sean McDaniel, who resigned in February but is serving in the position until June 30. The board gave Polk a three-year contract that will run through June 30, 2027. Polks selection drew two standing ovations from those gathered at the Clara Luper Center for Educational Services for the meeting once when board Chair Paula Lewis made the motion, and again after the board voted. It is a good day for kids in OKCPS, Lewis said immediately before the vote. In a message to The Oklahoman, McDaniel also expressed happiness with Polks selection: I couldnt be more pleased. Dr. Polk is exactly what OKCPS needs and I have great confidence in her and in her ability to lead the district. She is wise and student-centered. I believe we can all expect great things under her guidance and leadership. Big congratulations to Dr. Polk and to her family! Board Chair Paula Lewis congratulates Dr. Jamie Polk after the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education selected Polk as the district's next superintendent. The board voted unanimously to approve the hire of Polk as superintendent effective July 1. The majority of Polks education career was spent working for Lawton Public Schools. Her final position during her 25 years in that Comanche County district was as its assistant superintendent of educational services. She previously served as a site principal and assistant principal within that district. Polk also spent time as a board member for Bishop Public Schools, a tiny dependent district in Lawton. From Waterloo, Iowa, Polk graduated with a bachelors degree from Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She received a masters degree in elementary education from Cameron University in Lawton in 2010 and an administration certification from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. She earned her doctoral degree in education policy and leadership from the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Polk said she wanted to build upon the leadership that has already been established within the district. This is an exciting time for us. I love school! Many will hear that I enjoy data, and digging in data, but whats most important to me is I enjoy helping people and empowering them to be the best that they can be, be it the students or the teachers or the leaders. Through this journey, we will excel and we will be the first-choice district in Oklahoma. What was the search process like for district leaders? The Oklahoma State School Boards Association assisted the district with its search for a new superintendent. Board vice chair Lori Bowman said the district received 20 applicants for the job. Of those, Lewis said 10 were highly qualified applicants. The board interviewed seven candidates in the first round before narrowing the field, but Dr. Polk was a leader from the beginning of the process, because shes been a leader here for five years, Lewis said. The board is very proud of that (search) process, Lewis said. We hustled it through, because we knew we needed to get it done. It was a little bit of a short turnaround, but the board committed many hours to it. I respect my board members for giving that time. A tear rolls down the face of Dr. Jamie Polk after she was named the Oklahoma City Public School district's next superintendent. Polk said her husbands job in the military brought them to Fort Sill, near Lawton, and they put down roots there. But as her husband prepared to retire, he said hed follow her to a job, just as she had followed him years earlier, and she joined McDaniels leadership team in 2019. Lewis said Polks work has led to significant improvements to the culture and academic achievement within the district. Lewis noted that 11 Oklahoma City schools that once received Fs on the Oklahoma State Report Card have come off that list and said Polks work has enabled the district to retain qualified educators during the midst of a teacher shortage in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City district had 10 schools on the F list on the most recent Oklahoma State Report Card for the 2022-23 school year, but that number has dropped from 30 such schools in the 2018-19 school year. I believe Im a systems leader, Polk said. I look for systems and I look for where, perhaps, it has broken down and thats where we plug in. Thats what we have done in the elementary department is looking at systems in order for teachers to look at the data and then look at what each individual child needs, and then go from there. McDaniel's surprise resignation started the process that led to Polk being selected as his successor Polk will succeed McDaniel, who submitted his surprise resignation on Feb. 26. McDaniel said then an irreconcilable difference of opinion with a board member led him to the decision to step down after six years in the position. Although that board member never has been publicly identified, emails obtained by The Oklahoman indicated an increasing level of disagreement over the last few months between McDaniel and board leaders, including Lewis and Bowman, especially concerning issues regarding charter schools sponsored by the district. Board members Jessica Cifuentes, left, and Juan Lecona, right, congratulate Dr. Jamie Polk on May 11. The Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) Board of Education selected Polk as the district's next superintendent. McDaniel is the longest-serving Oklahoma City Public Schools superintendent since Arthur Steller, who held the job from 1985 through November 1992. Since 1985, the Oklahoma City district has had 16 superintendents, including McDaniel. Oklahoma City Public Schools has about 33,000 students and is second only to Tulsa Public Schools in size among Oklahomas brick-and-mortar school districts. Polk will inherit the responsibility of being the ultimate administrator of projects included in the $955 million bond proposal approved by district voters in November 2022. Controversy has swirled around some of those projects, most notably at historic Capitol Hill High School. There has been no action item to demolish it, so we are not there, Lewis said. We are moving forward with communication. I believe Dr. Polk will have more engagement on that (project) and look at that. But that was one of the pieces that was in a holding pattern until we got a new superintendent in place. When Polk's new contract takes effect on July 1, she will have a base salary of $250,000 plus insurance and retirement benefits, a vehicle and a technology allowance of $10,000. She'll also be eligible for annual performance bonuses of up to 10% of her salary. McDaniel's current base salary is $278,300 after he received a raise last October, making him Oklahoma's highest-paid district superintendent. When Polk ascends to the district's top job, that will mean Oklahomas two largest school districts will be led by Black women. Earlier this year, the board for Tulsa Public Schools selected Ebony Johnson as its superintendent. State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, who tried to insert himself into the Tulsa boards superintendent-selection process, appeared to not do the same thing as Oklahoma Citys board went through its process. Walters issued a statement not long after Polks selection on Saturday. I want to congratulate Dr. Jamie Polk as the new Oklahoma Public Schools Superintendent, Walters said. She has big challenges ahead of her, but she has shown herself to be extremely capable and hyper-focused on outcomes for the district. Im excited as we will be working together for the parents and kids of the district. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC school board selects Polk as district's next superintendent OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) The Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) Board of Education selected the new superintendent on Saturday. Dr. Jamie C. Polk was unanimously voted in by the board on Saturday, May 11, to lead the public school district beginning July 1, 2024. Polk will take over as superintendent for the district after Sean McDaniel submitted his resignation in February. OKCPS has selected their new superintendent for the school disctrict, Dr. Jamie C. Polk. Polk joined the school district as Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education in 2019 and has 33 years of educational experience. Her achievements during her education tenure includes the removal of 11 schools from the F list, 12 schools made eligible to exit state designation, and has retained highly skilled educators through times of district staffing shortages according to Board Chair, Paula Lewis. As OKCPS remains steadfast in its commitment to providing a world-class education for every student, the Board looks forward to collaborating with Dr. Polk to ensure that our policies reflect the diverse needs of our community and prioritize the success of our students and families. With Dr. Polks leadership, we are confident in the bright future of Oklahoma City Public Schools. Board Chair, Paula Lewis During her acceptance of the position, Dr. Polk expressed her eagerness and the opportunity given to lead the district. I truly believe that our previous success will be the recipe for our future endeavors. I am looking forward to the journey together. I need YOU. Families, I need your support as we guide your child through this pathway for them to find their unique purpose. I need our staff. I need them to continue with the promise and expectation that every child can succeed. Its a village and it will take all of us. Dr. Jamie Polk For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City. Jamie Polk speaks at a news conference on Saturday after being hired as the superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY A longtime school administrator credited as a catalyst for positive change in Oklahoma City Public Schools will take on the districts top job. Jamie Polk, the districts assistant superintendent of elementary schools, will succeed departing Superintendent Sean McDaniel on July 1. The Oklahoma City Board of Education voted unanimously on Saturday to hire Polk through June 30, 2027. Her contract states she will earn a base salary of $250,000, along with insurance benefits, a vehicle, a $10,000 technology and vehicle stipend, and the possibility of an annual performance bonus worth up to 10% of her salary. Board members and administrators of Oklahoma City Public Schools applaud with family members of Jamie Polk as she is announced as the next district superintendent on Saturday at the Clara Luper Center for Educational Services. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) Polk joined McDaniels team of senior administrators in July 2019. She came from Lawton Public Schools, where she spent 25 years as an assistant superintendent, principal and teacher. Oklahoma City, the states second-largest school district with about 33,000 students, is where Polk will step into the superintendent role for the first time. She didnt appear daunted by the responsibility while speaking with reporters after Saturdays board meeting. Polk said shes been at the table for all of the districts major challenges and decisions since she came to Oklahoma City five years ago, a period that saw significant school consolidations, the COVID-19 pandemic and the passage of the districts largest-ever bond issue. Whats exciting is because I have been here for the last five, almost six years, I have had the opportunity to see behind the curtain, Polk said. Born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa, Polk came to Oklahoma by following her husband to Lawton, where he was stationed at the Fort Sill U.S. Army base. She earned her undergraduate degree from Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and holds a doctorate from the University of Oklahoma. Board Chairperson Paula Lewis said Polk was a lead applicant for the superintendent position from the beginning. She said the board received 20 applications, interviewed six or seven candidates, and believed three or four besides Polk could have stepped in and done the job well. Jamie Polk, right, speaks at a news conference on Saturday with Oklahoma City Board of Education Chairperson Paula Lewis after being hired as the superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) They just wouldnt have known the inner workings of the job, Lewis said. Lewis credited Polk as a catalyst for improving the culture, staff retention and academic achievement in the districts elementary schools. During her tenure, 11 schools have elevated off of the F list, which designates the lowest-performing schools in the state. The district has placed heavier emphasis, particularly in struggling elementary schools, on boosting teacher and principal training and helping students track their individual academic progress. I look for systems and I look for where perhaps it has broken down and thats where we plug in, Polk said. Thats what we have done in the elementary department is looking at systems in order for teachers to look at the data and then look at what each individual child needs and go from there. Polk said she spoke with McDaniel before applying to be his successor. She described their relationship as solid. Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel speaks at a school board meeting to address his resignation at the Clara Luper Center for Educational Services on Feb. 29. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) McDaniel didnt attend Saturdays meeting. He announced in February he will leave the district after six years in charge. The superintendent cited irreconcilable differences with an unnamed school board member as his reason to leave. His tenure, one of the longest of any Oklahoma City superintendent over the past three decades, will end June 30. McDaniels departure came as a shocking disappointment to many in the school district and wider community, but the vote on Saturday carried a more cheerful tone. Several district administrators and local residents joined Polks family in celebrating her promotion. The boards newest member, Jessica Cifuentes, said she was incredibly excited to see Polk step into the top role. You have shown nothing but excellence, Cifuentes told Polk before voting in favor of her contract. You are data driven. You have been so incredibly kind, and I am excited to have somebody who really cares for everybody in the district. State Superintendent Ryan Walters issued a statement congratulating Polks hiring. She has big challenges ahead of her, but she has shown herself to be extremely capable and hyper-focused on outcomes for the district, Walters said. Im excited as we will be working together for the parents and kids of the district. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Oklahoma City Public Schools promotes Jamie Polk to superintendent role appeared first on Oklahoma Voice. Oklahoma man indicted, accused of throwing pipe bomb at Satanic Temple in Salem A federal grand jury indicted an Oklahoma man on Friday who allegedly threw a pipe bomb at The Satanic Temple in Salem in April. Sean Patrick Palmer, 49, of Perkins, Oklahoma was indicted on one count of using fire and an explosive to damage and attempt to damage a building used in interstate or foreign commerce, according to Acting United States District of Massachusetts Attorney Joshua Levy. In the early hours of April 8, Palmer allegedly walked towards The Satanic Temple wearing a black face covering, a tan-colored tactical vest, and gloves before igniting a pipe bomb and throwing it at the entrance. Investigators say the pipe bomb was made from a section of plastic pipe covered with metal nails, with insides filled with smokeless gunpowder. Palmers DNA was allegedly found on the outside of the IED. The pipe bomb caused a minor fire and damage to the outside of the building, but there were no reports of any injuries. Investigators also say they found a six-page handwritten note in a flower bed near the temple, stating: DEAR SATANIST ELOHIM SEND ME 7 MONTHS AGO TO GIVE YOU PEACEFUL MESSAGE TO HOPE YOU REPENT. YOU SAY NO, ELOHIM NOW SEND ME TO SMITE SATAN AND I HAPPY TO OBEY. AND ELOHIM WANT ME TO CONTACT YOU TO TELL YOU REPENT. TURN FROM SIN. ELOHIM NO LIKE THIS PLACE AND PLAN TO DESTROY IT. MAYBE SALEM TOO? ELOHIM SEND ME TO FIGHT CRYBABY SATAN, BUT WANT ME TO MAKE HARD EFFORT SO NO ONE DIES. I OBEY. Palmer was initially arrested on April 17 in Perkins, Oklahoma. He was transferred from a federal court in Oklahoma to Boston shortly thereafter. Palmer will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date. The charge of using fire or an explosive to cause damage to a building used in interstate or foreign commerce provides for a sentence of at least five years and up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The number of registered nurses in China reached 5.63 million by the end of 2023, according to data released by the National Health Commission (NHC) on Saturday. The figure represents a ratio of four registered nurses to every 1,000 people, the NHC told a press conference ahead of International Nurses Day, which falls on Sunday this year. Over 80 percent of nurses in China hold academic qualifications equivalent to or above the college degree level, NHC data shows. Highlighting a notable enhancement to the overall caliber of Chinese nurses in recent years, NHC official Xing Ruoqi said that specialized training initiatives targeting nursing shortages in sectors such as geriatrics, pediatrics, intensive care and infectious disease management have been carried out in various regions. The official pledged further efforts to strengthen the country's nursing workforce and optimize related services. LITTLE ELM Viola Ford Fletcher sat on a leather couch dressed in her favorite color, yellow. Inside the Little Elm home, the elderly woman greeted what looked like a receiving line of family, friends and loved ones on her 110th birthday. "I am real proud to be at this age," Fletcher said. The mother of three is heading into Mother's Day weekend with videos of well-wishes from around the world, a small store of flowers and having gathered more than $6,200 for her foundation. Fletcher said, "Sure," when CBS News Texas asked her if she thought 110 years was possible. The grandmother of six is the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, where a deadly attack happened in the thriving Greenwood community. What was known as "Black Wall Street" was torched down after stories stemming from a white girl and a Black boy on an elevator-inspired rage. At least 300 Black residents were killed, and thousands were left homeless. "You don't forgive someone for them," said Flether's grandson, Ike Howard. "It takes a lot of energy to hate a situation or to hate an experience." Howard said his grandmother taught him it takes more muscles to frown than to smile. He said the family is concentrating on seeing Fletcher continue to live her days, remembered and helping others through her foundation at 110. Regarding the secret of living such a long life, Fletcher cannot attribute just one thing. "I have many...so many I can't mention," she said. "But it's a blessing to live this long and easy. If I can do it, others can." New details emerge after series of resignations rock Miss USA organization Decade-long search for Texas mom's killer takes stunning turns Bodycam video released of deadly police shooting of U.S. airman in Florida One in five food app delivery workers are assaulted on the job: study composite image: left food delivery worker in bright neon yellow jacket with a backpack on upper right people on bicycles with warm coats on lower right a food delivery worker on an orange bike with a blue box of food strapped to his back A surprising number of food delivery workers have been hurt or assaulted while criss-crossing the city to bring people meals, a new study found. Nearly 21% of delivery drivers reported being attacked while working for food-ordering apps such as GrubHub, DoorDash and Uber Eats, while 22% claimed they were seriously injured on the job, including from assaults and accidents, according to a team of CUNY researchers. Workers who depended on the apps as their primary source of income were more susceptible, according to the study, which was published in April in the Journal of Urban Health. These delivery drivers were 61% more likely to be injured, and 36% more likely to be assaulted. Workers who depended on the delivery apps as their main source of income were more susceptible to injury or assault, the study found. Stefano Giovannini The food delivery apps algorithms, which seek to maximize profit and worker productivity, are partly to blame because they encourage risky behavior, said lead study author Zoey Laskaris. When youre fully dependent on the app, youre more heavily influenced by those features, Laskaris, who is a research assistant professor at Queens College, told The Post. You may decide to take that delivery if youre in a snowstorm . . . you may decide to deliver in a neighborhood, down a sketchy alleyway where someone tries to steal your bike. The findings demonstrate a need for stronger laws to protect the delivery workers and for companies at minimum to track their workers injuries and fatalities, Laskaris added. While waiting for his next order in Midtown, delivery worker Atkhana Diop, 32, said a number of his friends in the industry have been assaulted and robbed of their gear or cash. One in five food app delivery workers said they have been assaulted on the job, a new study found. AP They will attack you and they will take your bike, your money, said Diop, who refused to pick up orders at night out of a fear for his safety. The researchers findings relied on data from 1,650 respondents to a 2021 survey commissioned by the citys Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Some of the survey data was later released in a 2022 report used to help determine a minimum wage for the Big Apples roughly 60,000-plus app-based delivery workers. Surveillance video captured an assault on a food delivery worker as he checked his cellphone. DCPI Last year, the city implemented a law requiring a $17.96 hourly minimum wage for app-based delivery workers, up from an roughly $4.03 an hour excluding tips, according to the 2022 DCWP report. The Adams administration hiked the minimum pay rate to $19.56 last month, which factors in workers compensation costs. Spokespeople for the delivery apps emphasized their drivers safety as being a top priority, but criticized the study as being flawed for using old data that doesnt represent the people who work for the apps. One person hurt after fight breaks out at Fairmont Heights high school PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) The Prince Georges County Police Department said a person was injured after a fight broke out at a high school on Saturday afternoon. Fairfax County police say man injured in shooting Police said that at about 4 p.m., they received a call for a large fight At Fairmont Heights High School in the 6500 block of Columbia Park Road. There is no information on the age or condition of the person. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC. One of three men facing criminal charges in fatal rock-throwing incident pleads guilty One of three men charged in the killing of a woman on a Colorado highway last year after allegedly throwing rocks at cars, has pleaded guilty, prosecutors say. Nicholas Karol-Chik, Joseph Koenig and Zachary Kwak each originally faced more than a dozen charges, including murder, in the death of Alexa Bartell, 20, who was found dead in her car just northwest of Denver. They were also charged with injuring three others as multiple moving vehicles were struck by rocks on April 19, 2023. Alexa Bartell was killed after a rock struck her vehicle - Jefferson County Sheriff's Office The three were 18 at the time of their arrests. Kwak, now 19, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and criminal attempt to commit assault in the second degree on Friday, according to a news release from the Colorado First Judicial District Attorneys Office. As part of todays plea, Kwak agreed that with regard to the death of Bartell, the defendant acted knowingly, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, by engaging in conduct which created a grave risk of death, the district attorneys office said. Authorities said Kwak, who allegedly threw the rock that killed Bartell, said, We have to go back and see that and took a photo of the crash. He told investigators he thought the other two men would want it as a memento, according to an affidavit. Kwak faces 20 to 32 years in prison, the release said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 3 after the separate trials of Karol-Chik and Koenig, the release said. CNNs Andy Rose contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Opal Lee, the 97-year-old grandmother of Juneteenth, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Southern Methodist University at a Saturday commencement, Star-Telegram media partner, WFAA-TV reported. This marks her eighth honorary degree, according to WFAA. Having Ms. Lee join us at commencement and share her work through a symposium is a signal honor for our University, said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. Her lifes work is most deserving of this recognition, and she will inspire our students. Her commencement comes after she was among the 19 recipients awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian honor, at the White House on May 3. Lee, who moved to Fort Worth when she was 10, symbolically walked 1,400 miles from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., in 2016 to raise awareness of the importance of Juneteenth. She attended the signing ceremony at the White House in 2021 when Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday. Lee was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. On March 21, work began on building a new home for Lee on the exact spot in the Historic Southside neighborhood where a racist white mob trashed her familys home more than 80 years ago. Lee said when she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize that she believes her mission to serve is not done yet. You got to help people if you can, she said. And I can. I still can. SMU also held a symposium honoring Lees achievements, according to WFAA. Her granddaughter, Dione Sims, the founding executive director of the National Juneteenth Museum, was also in attendance. The symposium is free to the public and reservations can be made online. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters just after lawmakers pushed a $95 billion national security aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies closer to passage, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, April 19, 2024. | J. Scott Applewhite Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Act II, Scene ii Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., of the United States House of Representatives, rose to the stature deserved of his office and decided to put what he considered right for his nation and the world, today and even more so tomorrow, in voting to support aid for Ukraine along with Israel. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., Johnsons predecessor as speaker in the 1990s and a highly combative conservative, has publicly urged the aid and praised Johnson highly, with a paraphrase of the statement about courage from Shakespeares play. Johnson, generally unknown before becoming speaker last fall, demonstrated skill along with courage in securing approval for his move from former President Donald Trump along with President Joe Biden. In the actual vote, House Democrats voted 210 in favor (three not voting), while Republicans split 101 in favor and 112 against. The aid for Israel passed with much greater Republican support. Extreme-right House Republicans have vowed revenge, with the predictable Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., vowing to bring Johnson down with a vacate vote just as Matt Goetz, R-Fla., abruptly ended Speaker Kevin McCarthys, R-Calif., career last year. However, Democrats now promise to table any such effort. Speakers John Boehner, R-Ohio, 2011-15, and Paul Ryan, R-Wis., 2015-17, had relatively turbulent terms in office. By contrast, the first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was able to maintain relatively strong party discipline during her two stints from 2007-11 and 2019-23. A group of House Republicans are fundamentally opposed to government, period. Even shutting down government is welcome, no matter how inconvenient for working people in government and the wider economy. Right-wing Republicans threatened to oust Boehner if he permitted a federal budget to be passed which included funding for Planned Parenthood. Controversial videos, which alleged a callous attitude by that organization regarding use of fetuses, greatly stoked the always-emotional debate over abortion. In 2013, Republicans managed to shut down the government for sixteen days as part of the effort to derail the Affordable Care Act. Democrats led by President Barack Obama turned that campaign to their political advantage. Boehner retired under this pressure and thereby headed off another shutdown. The practice of holding the federal budget hostage to controversial partisan party maneuvers has now gone on for many years. In 1994, Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives after forty years in minority status. Their majority was led by new Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who dramatically accelerated the trend of shifting that office from a relatively nonpartisan to a highly partisan pulpit. Publicly cool and politically cunning, Clinton moved ahead in the public opinion polls. He was helped by emphasizing fiscal restraint. In the 1996 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee Senator Bob Dole, R-Kan. Democrat Sam Rayburn of Texas remains a remarkably durable, successful Speaker of the House. From the 1940s into the 1960s, he skillfully practiced bipartisanship, despite the difficult politics of that era. Rayburn was speaker for seventeen years over three terms in the post: 1940-47, 1949-53 and 1955-61. That was not a less partisan time than today, but ideological divisions between the two major parties were less stark. Rayburn was also politically masterful. After World War II, House members of both parties used their own money to buy Rayburn a new car. Arthur I. Cyr is the author of After the Cold War (Palgrave/Macmillan and NYU Press). Contact him at acyr@carthage.edu A dozen blocks uptown from Donald Trumps trial stands a black behemoth that New York University named after a hedge-fund billionaire the former president has admiringly nicknamed Money Machine. John A. Paulson Center read the white letters affixed to the black glass facade at the buildings main entrancesname-checking an alum who is bankrolling Trumps terrifying attempt to retake the White House. While many of the students walking in and out of the center had no idea who it is named after or what that person stands for, the building has acquired a nickname among neighborhood preservationists. [It] has been nicknamed the Death Star because it really looks like its some sort of alien presence thats come to conquer and subjugate everything around it, Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation told The Daily Beast. Berman described the building as a particularly egregious kind of finger in the eye to the community. Of Paulson, he said, I think his history and reputation speaks for itself and NYU chose to name one of their most prominent structures after him. I think [it] sort of really says a lot about their priorities, he added. Ultimately, they are looking for money. And if you give them enough money, they will, they will honor you. John Paulson welcomes Donald and Melania Trump to his home in Palm Beach, Florida, where a fundraiser raked in more than than $50 million. Alon Skuy/Getty And in fact, the university bestowed the honor on Paulson, 68, in recognition of a $100 million donation towards the $1.2 billion structure. Paulson, who graduated from the NYU Stern School of Business, made the gift in 2012, before anybody imagined Trump would someday become president. The university only publicly acknowledged the gift at the buildings dedication in December 2022. NYU spokesman John Beckman says the delay was unrelated to community protests sparked by the project at its inception. The naming went ahead even though Paulson was by then a major Trump booster. It seemed to make sense to make the announcement at a benchmark point in the construction of the building, such as a groundbreaking oras ultimately turned out to be the caseas the building was opening, Beckman said. It seems entirely fitting. Paulson went on to become an even bigger booster of a former president whose words and deeds are often contrary to principles the university sets forth in its Code of Ethical Conduct. These include respect for and compliance with the law, and respect for the rights and dignity of others, and conducting business practices with honesty and integrity. There is also this one in contrast to Trumps unending desire for vengeance: promise of no retaliation. Trump was following his usual code of unethical conduct during a 45-minute speech at an April 6 Inaugural Leadership Dinner that Paulson hosted in his $110 million Palm Beach home that raised more than $50 million to put the four-times indicted philanderer back in the White House. The presumptive GOP nominee twisted the story of Americas immigrants and told the guests that migrants are coming in from prisons and jails. Theyre coming in from just unbelievable places and countries, countries that are a disaster, he said, according to The New York Times. Why cant we allow people to come in from nice countries?... You know like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway? We can assume the irony of those remarks was lost on Paulsonwhose father was born in Ecuador, arrived in America in 1944 as a 16-year-old orphan, enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and was wounded in Italy. He changed his surname to Paulson and settled in Queens, where John was born. John got his start in business there when he was 6, selling Charms candies in the local schoolyard. Buying the candy in bulk, he sold each piece at a profit and saved his earnings in a treasure chest, a Harvard Business School alumni publication notes.By the time he was 19, he was employing 50 people in his fathers home country, Ecuador, and importing clothing and decorative items to Bloomingdales and others. Paulson went on to become valedictorian at NYUs Stern School of Business and receive a Harvard MBA. He made his big score by betting against the subprime mortgage market in the lead-up to the 2008 financial meltdown. He walked away with more than $3 billion as 3.1 million American homes were foreclosed on. Donald Trump is interviewed by John Paulson at the Economic Club of New York luncheon in 2016. Mike Segar/Reuters Paulson put some of that astonishing wealth to good use in 2010, when he announced that he was donating $15 million toward a new maternity hospital in his fathers hometown of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The facility, the biggest of its kind in Latin America, was named after Paulsons father. My father embraced his Ecuadorian roots and remained close to his family and friends in Guayaquil throughout his life, Paulson told Forbes at the time. My father also cared deeply about improving the quality of life for those in need, especially those from less fortunate backgrounds. Dedicating this hospital in his memory continues his legacy. The Alfredo G. Paulson Maternity Hospital opened in 2016, and recorded 12,900 births in its first year. Some of them are possibly among the migrants whom Trump has called vermin. As reported by the Migration Policy Institute, an annual average of more than 3,500 Ecuadoreans were apprehended by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol between 2012 and 2018. The number spiked to 97,000 in 2021. Roughly half the apprehensions involved adults with minor children. As ever more Ecuadoreans followed his fathers route to greater opportunity, Paulson remained a fan of Trump, who gave him his nickname in January after winning the Nevada GOP primary. So, Money Machine, Trump said to Paulson in his victory speech. Maybe well put, you know what, put him at Treasury. You want to make a little money? Other billionaires who supported Trump in 2016 had withdrawn their support for him over the travesty of the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2020, and his persistence in furthering the fiction that the 2020 election was stolen. Not Paulson. The 2020 election is in the past, but I do believe there were legitimate concerns raised about election integrity, Paulson told The Financial Times last month. Going forward, its very important that people believe in the fairness and integrity of elections. Billionaire John Paulsons Divorce Gets Even Nastier As for Trumps indictments, Paulson followed the MAGA line, saying, I never thought it would be happening in the U.S. that our judicial system would be used for political purposes. He even suggested the prosecutions were a plus. When people understand the nature of these cases, they feel that Trump is being politically prosecuted, he said. Instead of harming him, its creating enormous support for Trump. The April fundraiser at his Palm Beach mansion near Mar-a-Lago was described in the New York Post as a come-home-to-Trump moment for the uber-wealthy. Tickets went for as much as $814,600 for those who wanted to sit at Trumps table. Melania Trump made a rare appearance and posed for a group photo outside the mansion with her husband, plus Paulson, and the nutritionist he is expected to marry after he secures a divorce from his wife. At one point in his remarks, the man whom Paulson so strongly supports told the gathering that he might not be able to use the Resolute Desk when he returns to the Oval Office. He actually suggested that President Joe Biden had defecated on it. Its been soiled, Trump said, according to an account in The New York Times. And I mean that literally, which is sad. The Trump campaign proudly announced the Palm Beach event raked in $50.5 million, an all-time record for a single political fundraiser, and nearly double what the Biden campaign reported from a New York City event that included former President Barack Obama and Former President Bill Clinton. According to Bloomberg, Paulson and fellow billionaire Howard Lutnik are hosting another big fundraiser on May 14 in New York City. Paulson will no doubt again live up to the moniker Money Machine. Meanwhile, at NYU, there are at least a handful of students who are disturbed that the school honored Paulson, who did not respond to a request for comment. In the view of Molly Koch, a 20-year-old NYU junior from Maryland who writes for the student newspaper, Washington Square News, many students are unaware that the building is named the Paulson Center even though they stride past the name in white letters whenever they enter or exit. They call it the Mercer building because its on Mercer Street, she reported. Koch was looking for something to write about for the paper earlier in the semester and decided to research the names adorning the universitys buildingsincluding the Paulson Center. I just came across who its actually named after and realized hes just a terrible person, Koch told The Daily Beast. The John A. Paulson Center is named after one of Donald Trumps wealthiest and biggest backers. Kidfly182/Wikimedia Commons Washington Square News published an opinion piece by Koch titled The case for renaming The Paulson Center. The Paulson Center is one of many examples of universities catering to wealthy donors in an effort to secure financial stability, even when those donors go against what these academic institutions stand for, Koch wrote. Koch added that Trumps aggressive immigration policies, record of xenophobia and racism, and history of sexual misconduct should make him someone the university wants to stay far away from. Paulsons allegiance to these ideas goes against NYUs mission of building an inclusive university community. Speaking to The Daily Beast, Koch allowed that the university had the right to name the building after Paulson, since they were given all this money for this building. It just sucks that he is the person that it is, Koch said. Sounds like NYU could learn a thing or two from one of its students. There is plenty of precedent for removing donor names from buildings. Princeton stripped Woodrow Wilsons name from its public policy school for racist thinking and policies. The Sackler family name was pulled by Yale after its role in the opioid epidemic was revealed. Princeton took Ron Perelmans name off a dorm when he didnt pay what he promised. NYU, which has an endowment of almost $6 billion and costs $87,000 a year to attend, should also consider whether Paulsons $100 million is a price worth paying to turn its back on its own code of ethics. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. People inspect destroyed buildings after Israeli bombardment at Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, May 11, 2024. (Xinhua) GAZA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 31 people were killed and others injured on Friday by Israeli bombardment in various areas of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported. Israeli fighter jets targeted several areas in the central Gaza Strip, killing at least 24 persons, the news agency added. Seven others were killed after Israeli aircraft targeted dozens of homes in Jabalia, north of the Strip. Israel has ramped up strikes on Rafah after the talks on the Israel-Hamas truce held in Egypt's Cairo collapsed on Thursday. Around 110,000 people have fled Rafah in search of safety as Israeli bombardment intensifies in the city, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on social media on Friday. Ten out of 34 UNRWA medical points in Rafah were forced to close and its three operational health centers in the area were operating at reduced capacity, it added. People inspect destroyed buildings after Israeli bombardment at Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, May 11, 2024. (Xinhua) This photo taken on May 11, 2024 shows destroyed buildings after Israeli bombardment at Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. (Xinhua) People inspect destroyed buildings after Israeli bombardment at Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, May 11, 2024. (Xinhua) People inspect destroyed buildings after Israeli bombardment at Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, May 11, 2024. (Xinhua) People inspect a destroyed building after Israeli bombardment at Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, May 11, 2024. (Xinhua) UPDATE @ 10:00 P.M. Chickasha Police responded to a shooting near South 6th Street and Washington Avenue around 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning. When they made entry inside, they found three deceased persons inside, said Hunter McKee with OSBI. Its extremely sad. Two women and one man were shot and killed. Agents with OSBI were called in by local law enforcement to help with the investigation. We are looking for a person of interest, and that is 22 year old Jacob Mayhugh, said McKee. According to the Grady County Sheriffs Office Mayhugh was seen driving a 2000 GMC Yukon SUV to his parents house. However he never showed up and hasnt been seen since Friday afternoon around 4:30 p.m. We are working to do everything we can with all of the agencies involved in this to locate that person, said McKee. Crime Scene investigators looked at two homes, one was where the bodies were found and another was a house next door. It is still unclear how those two houses might be connected. McKee said a triple murder is very rare in a town like this. This doesnt happen here very often, so our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, said McKee. Amanda Shaw has lived in the area for 20 years and she said her neighborhood is very tight. I know all my neighbors, close knit. This is not a troubled neighborhood, said Shaw. Im devastated for the family. Shaw along with her neighbor Shunn Garett said they are stunned to hear what happened. Its sad, its really sad, said Garrett. Neighbors said its unnerving to know that three people from their close knit community are gone. I hope they catch whoever it is, added Garrett. The OSBI did not call Mayhugh a suspect, nor did they refer to him as a missing person. It is still unclear if or how Mayhugh is related to the three people killed. News 4 is working to identify the victims. Anyone with information is asked to contact OSBI. UPDATE @ 5:00 P.M. OSBI has confirmed that three people are dead after a triple homicide. Authorities are now working to locate 22-year-old Jacob Mayhugh who is a person-of-interest in the case, according to OSBI. If anyone has any information or know of his whereabouts, you are asked to call OSBI at 1-800-522-8017 or contact them by tips@osbi.ok.gov ORIGINAL STORY CHICKASHA, Okla. (KFOR) Authorities are investigating a suspected homicide in Chickasha. According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) they were called to the area near South 6th Street and West Washington Avenue to assist Chickasha Police Department with the possible homicide investigation. This is a developing story. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City. NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) The University of Oklahoma Police Department informed students of a rape that happened during the early morning hours on Saturday outside of a campus apartment complex. At 3:45 a.m., authorities responded to the Traditions East Apartments, near Asp. Avenue and Imhoff Road. Police said that the victim reported that they were raped in a vehicle by an unknown male suspect in the parking lot of the apartment complex. There is no other information at this time. The investigation is ongoing. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City. Over the past day, 1,775 civilians in Kharkiv Oblast have been evacuated from their homes amid renewed Russian attacks on the region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on May 11. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed earlier reports on May 10 that Russia was carrying out new offensive operations in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting reported on the Ukraine-Russia border, 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv. The Prosecutor General's Office reported that Russian attacks killed three civilians and injured four others in the region during the day. According to Syniehubov's morning report on May 11, 1,048 people had been evacuated from Chuhuiv district, located southeast of Kharkiv. Subscribe to newsletter War Notes Subscribe Another 440 people were evacuated from Kharkiv district, which encircles the city of Kharkiv to the southwest and northeast, and 12 from Bohodukhiv district, located northwest of Kharkiv. Volunteers evacuated another 275 people across the region, Syniehubov said. Following claims in the media that Russian troops had captured four villages on the border, Syniehubov said on May 10 that hostilities are ongoing in border areas but that no ground had been lost so far. The General Staff reported on the morning of May 11 that Ukrainian forces had repelled nine attacks in Kharkiv Oblast over the past day. Read also: Military: Russias Kharkiv Oblast operation aims to divert Ukrainian forces from Donetsk Oblast Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. The Owyhee Canyonlands in Oregon have been called the state's version of the Grand Canyon, where Western sagebrush landscapes meet rock formations reminiscent of the Colorado Plateau. (Courtesy of EcoFlight and Inside Climate News) This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here. OWYHEE CANYONLANDS, Ore. Drive 50 miles from Boise, past the suburbs, exurbs and farms into Oregon, and youll find yourself in the largest conservation opportunity left in the continental U.S. In the Owyhee Canyonlands, Western sagebrush landscapes surround rock formations reminiscent of the Colorado Plateau, leading some to liken it to the Grand Canyon. It stretches across roughly 7 million acres of high desert in Oregon, Idaho and Nevada. Roughly a third of that landscape is high-quality wilderness more land than in many existing national parks with no roads or cell service. Some of the last pristine sections of the rapidly declining sagebrush habitat that once dominated much of the Western U.S., the Owyhee Canyonlands named for the phonetic pronunciation of Hawaii after three island natives were lost in the wilderness and never found have remained wild despite little federal protection. Its remoteness protected it, said Ryan Houston, the executive director of the Oregon Natural Desert Association, an environmental group leading efforts to protect the area. But the Owyhee is under threat. The population in Idahos Treasure Valley and Boise to the north of the canyonlands is growing, with suburbs expanding into the area. The south is home to a new mining boom, with the second approved lithium mine in the U.S. now under construction just over the Nevada border. In between, invasive weeds have invaded the area, sparking bigger and hotter wildfires that are turning portions of the region from sagebrush to grasslands, threatening the entire ecosystem and the cultural sites found throughout the canyonlands that are important to local Indigenous tribes. For decades, groups have pushed to protect the Owyhees and come up short. Current legislation introduced by Oregons senators to protect the area has broad local support but stalled in Congress. So a growing grassroots coalition is taking matters into its own hands, urging President Joe Biden to designate just over 1 million acres in the Owyhee Canyonlands as a national monument under the Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to protect naturally or historically significant places without Congress. It used to be you could find a place like this, write a bill and protect it, said Aaron Kindle, the director of sporting advocacy at the National Wildlife Federation, who has helped lead the conservation groups involvement in the monument push. But times have changed, he said, so communities and conservationists are turning to the nations highest office, rather than just representatives from their state. They believe now is their best chance to protect this stretch of land in eastern Oregon. In his first few weeks in office, Biden issued an executive order tasking his administration to conserve 30 percent of Americas lands and waters from development by 2030, establishing conservation as key to addressing the climate crisis. That led to the America the Beautiful initiative, which outlined how to work with local community stakeholders to protect biodiversity, the natural resources needed to address climate change and Americans access to wild spaces. The initiative has signaled to local communities, tribes and environmental groups a willingness of the Biden administration to work with them to protect culturally and environmentally important spaces from unwanted developments like mining for uranium and lithium, fossil fuel production and the development of renewable energy projects, all of which are possible in the Owyhee Canyonlands, where the federal government owns much of the land. Since 2021, the Biden administration has established five new national monuments, but advocates worry the time is running out for the nation to conserve more land in an election year. If somebody other than Biden is elected, the opportunity for a monument is lost, Houston said. Its a sentiment shared across the country, with local advocates urging Biden to designate nine national monuments in seven states. On May 2, Biden expanded the size of the San Gabriel Mountains and Berryessa Snow Mountain national monuments in California, the latest in his conservation efforts. All but two of the proposed new monuments would be in the western half of the country, which holds most of the conservation opportunities remaining in the continental U.S. in the vast undeveloped federal lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. Proposed Owyhee Canyonlands National Monument map of Oregon, Idaho and Nevada As Congress has become more polarized over the past decade, less land has been protected, with conservation becoming a hot-button topic despite broad public support. Republicans often oppose protections that might limit grazing, mining and drilling on public lands. That has led to presidents, typically Democrats, conserving more land using the Antiquities Act, with Biden on pace to set the record for the most new national monument proclamations by a first-term president. Congress is just not a very effective tool for protecting land anymore, legislation is not working as well as it used to for conservation, said Kate Groetzinger, the communications manager for the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation and advocacy organization focused on Western public lands that has tracked Bidens climate and conservation efforts in the West. So national monuments really are the most effective tool that we have as a country to protect biodiversity and ward off this extinction crisis. A lot of culture and a lot of bloodshed Karl Findling doesnt mince words. The former firefighter has lived, hunted, fished and hiked in the Owyhee his whole life. The reality on the ground is that its not in good shape, he said. Its a point he drives home when guiding visitors through the canyonlands and speaking at public meetings throughout the region. Hes seen the land change firsthand. After college, Findling worked on the BLMs fire crew in the area during the summer. The biggest fires he ever saw then burned little more than 30,000 acres in the Canyonlands. They now reach 10 times that size. To the untrained eye, it all appears to be a vast untouched landscape, with rolling hills covered in reddish-purple grass in the spring. But those like Findling who have lived here for decades see the rapid change the Owyhee is undergoing. The verdant hills show an invasive species cheatgrass has invaded the area, outcompeting native vegetation by fueling bigger and hotter wildfires that enable them to spread further into the Canyonlands a story common across the West, from the sagebrush country in the north to the Sonoran and Mojave deserts in the south. In the Owyhee Canyonlands, sagebrush landscapes meet rock formations. Credit: Wyatt Myskow/Inside Climate News In pockets of the Owyhee, you can still find seas of sagebrush rising like small trees amid a proliferation of native bunch grasses and wildflowers, vital habitat for 350 different species. But every year, the country loses around 1 million acres of sagebrush to wildfires, cattle grazing, invasive grasses and human development. Where wildfires have burned, much of the sagebrush is gone. Gone, too, are the pockets of dirt providing space for the native vegetation to grow, replaced by invasives like cheatgrass and medusahead a succulent with green snake-like branches that extend from its base and grow yellow flowers. The disappearing sprawls of sagebrush in the high desert of Oregon means fewer uninterrupted migratory corridors that animals like pronghorns, elk and mule deer depend on to move between their summer and winter ranges, and less crucial habitat for the species that are only found in it, like the sage grouse. In the Owyhees alone, there are 28 endemic species found nowhere else in the world. Ryan Houston (left) and Aaron Kindle, the director of sporting advocacy at the National Wildlife Federation, look for sage grouse The region has long been viewed as nothing more than a desert, said Reginald Sope, a councilman for the Shoshone-Paiute of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. That was why the U.S. government put reservations there, he said. But now mining operations are looking to dig lithium and uranium minerals needed for the renewable energy transition in the southern edge of the Owyhees, near the Duck Valley Reservation, he said. This might be a desolate area to [other] people, but to us thats home, Sope said, noting that the Shoshone-Paiute of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation trace their peoples inhabiting the area to the beginning of time. But protecting the area has grown increasingly difficult over the years, said Buster Gibson, the director of the Fish and Game Department for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe in northern Nevada, whose homelands are in the Owyhee and support new protections for the area. Every year, off-road vehicles exploring the region cut new roads there, he said, threatening not just the ecological intactness of the landscape, but also the tribes historical sites. For years, those sites have been robbed, he said, akin to an ethnic cleansing of our history. It contains our battlegrounds, our prayer sites, our burial sites, Gibson said. Theres a lot of culture and a lot of bloodshed here. A monument designation and the resources that come with it might help to save whats left before its too late. Southern Utah dipped in chocolate For decades, groups have advocated for the protection of the Owyhee Canyonlands. Oregon has broad support for conserving the states natural resources, but the state has lagged behind its neighbors in the amount of land it has protected, conserving just 172,600 acres over the past 10 years, according to an analysis by the Center for Western Priorities. The rural divide is real, said Houston, with the Oregon Natural Desert Association. Much of the states population and environmentalists are centered in cities far to the West, hundreds miles away from the Owyhee, while the county that holds the greatest portion of the canyonlands has a population of just over 30,000. That divide has halted previous attempts to protect the area. Not long after a 2015 effort to have the Owyhee Canyonlands designated a national monument, a group of armed right-wing militants occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge not far from where the monument would be for 41 days in 2016. Led by Ammon Bundy of the ranching family that helped to kill the previous years monument proposal, the group promoted the idea that the federal government is required by the constitution to turn over most federal public land to individual states. The idea of a national monument received strong pushback from local ranchers, who have for decades grazed their cattle on public lands in the area. At the end of the day, [this land] belongs to the people of America, and it shouldnt be just whoever picks up the sword and has control in the White House to be able to designate something unilaterally, said Elias Eiguren, a local rancher who is the treasurer of the Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition, which formed to fight the push to make a national conservation area there. So our group came together and our message was no monument without a vote of Congress. Despite the coalitions opposition to the monument push then, they recognized land management in the Owyhee needed to change. Eiguren has lived his whole life in the Owyhee, and the invasive grasses and wildfires are impossible to ignore, he said, so the coalition began working with the environmental groups. They found common ground with the help of Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, who worked with the various interests in the area to craft a proposal everyone could get behind. It led to a bill proposed in Congress by Wyden and Jeff Merkley, Oregons other senator, also a Democrat, which would designate the most intact parts of the canyonlands in Oregon just over 1 million acresas wilderness areas and form a group comprised of 18 appointed members who would guide projects relating to the natural resources in the area and their management. It would also convey about 30,000 acres to the Burns Paiute Tribe and establish flexible grazing management of the area aimed to better balance conservation and the needs of ranchers. But some fear the likelihood of the bill passing is slim given partisan politics in the House of Representatives. Thats led the coalition of environmental groups, tribes, local businesses and towns many of which were involved in the bills crafting to lobby Biden to designate the area outlined in the proposed legislation as a national monument if the bill cannot pass. Eiguren said the coalition prefers the legislation as many of the other groups involved do and is not supportive of the current monument push because it bypasses Congress. Were opposed to a monument, he said. But if a monument is imposed on us, we still want an opportunity to be involved in how it is actually applied in the future. Presidential use of the Antiquities Acts to conserve landmarks is nothing new. Since the acts passage in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt, all but three Republican presidents have used the act to establish new national monuments. Many have been designated after Election Day before a new president takes office. In total, 17 presidents since 1906 have used the act to designate 163 national monuments. The use of the act, however, is often controversial. Bears Ears National Monument was created in southern Utah by President Barack Obama before he left office, but it was radically shrunk in 2017 by President Donald Trump, then restored to its original size by Biden in 2021. Last year, after years of advocacy from local tribes, communities and environmentalists hoping to protect the area around the Grand Canyon from increased uranium mining, Biden created the Baaj Nwaavjo Itah Kukveni Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in northern Arizona surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. But lawsuits, including one from Arizona Republicans, seek to reverse the designation. Proponents of the proposal in Oregon recognize the risk of legal action against the designation of a monument there but are confident they can avoid it. In terms of conservation for the Owyhee Canyonlands, the bill in Congress or a monument designation would achieve largely the same goals, protecting around 1.2 million acres of land from further development and allowing for current livestock grazing operations to continue. But the monument designation would not be able to transfer land to the Burns Paiute Tribe or enact the flexible grazing plan, leading advocates of the monument designation to call for Congress to pass separate bills focused on just those aspects. If the Owyhee Canyonlands are designated as a national monument, the average visitor wouldnt notice the change. And thats the point, Houston said. It would stay a place where people could get lost in the high desert wilderness. But they would notice if the landscape is not protected, he said, as new mines break ground and the sagebrush habitat vital for so many iconic species of the West disappear. Aaron Kindle, the director of sporting advocacy at the National Wildlife Federation, Perhaps the biggest change the monument would bring is how people view it, said Kindle with the National Wildlife Federation. Once youve said monument, the collective soul of the country says this is a special place, he said. It changes the mindset. To those advocating for the Owyhees protection, that change in mindset is vital. Places like the Owyhee Canyonlands arent made overnight, Kindle said, and intact landscapes like it are shrinking. Tim Davis, executive director of Friends of the Owyhee, likens the canyonlands to southern Utah dipped in chocolate. The proposal impacts Oregonians, but many of them have never seen its canyons bearing the shapes of animals like frogs or its lush sagebrush-filled ranges. The people who recreate in it largely come from Boise, only a few hours away, and have little say in what happens in Oregon. For now, the Owyhee Canyonlands remain intact. Flying above them, the only sign of human impact is the occasional herd of cattle or a two-track road. But growth is eating around the regions edges, and nearly all the land in between remains leasable to developers. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post How should the Owyhee Canyonlands be protected? One coalition urges action on monument designation. appeared first on Idaho Capital Sun. Bill Thompsons wife had never seen him smile with confidence. For the first 20 years of their relationship, an infection in his mouth robbed him of teeth, one by one. I didnt have any teeth to smile with, the 53-year-old of Independence, Missouri, said. Thompson said he dealt with throbbing toothaches and painful swelling in his face from abscesses for years working as a cook at Burger King. He desperately needed to see a dentist but said he couldnt afford to take time off without pay. Missouri is one of many states that do not require employers to provide paid sick leave. So, Thompson would swallow Tylenol and push through the pain as he worked over the hot grill. Either we go to work, have a paycheck, Thompson said. Or we take care of ourselves. We cant take care of ourselves because, well, this vicious circle that were stuck in. DeMarco Davidson addresses supporters from the Missourians for Health Families and Fair Wages, a group that submitted signatures in favor of a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage and guarantee paid sick leave for Missouri workers. In a nation that was sharply divided about government health mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, the public has been warming to the idea of government rules providing for paid sick leave. Before the pandemic, 10 states and the District of Columbia had laws requiring employers to provide paid sick leave. Since then, Colorado, New York, New Mexico, Illinois, and Minnesota have passed laws offering some kind of paid time off for illness. Oregon and California expanded previous paid leave laws. In Missouri, Alaska, and Nebraska, advocates are pushing to put the issue on the ballot this fall. The U.S. is one of nine countries that do not guarantee paid sick leave, according to data compiled by the World Policy Analysis Center. In response to the pandemic, Congress passed the Emergency Paid Sick Leave and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion acts. These temporary measures allowed employees to take up to two weeks of paid sick leave for covid-related illness and caregiving. But the provisions expired in 2021. When the pandemic hit, we finally saw some real political will to solve the problem of not having federal paid sick leave, said economist Hilary Wething. Wething co-authored a recent Economic Policy Institute report on the state of sick leave in the United States. It found that more than half, 61%, of the lowest-paid workers cant get time off for an illness. I was really surprised by how quickly losing pay because youre sick can translate into immediate and devastating cuts to a familys household budget, she said. Wething noted that the lost wages of even a day or two can be equivalent to a months worth of gasoline a worker would need to get to their job, or the choice between paying an electric bill or buying food. Wething said showing up to work sick poses a risk to co-workers and customers alike. Low-paying jobs that often lack paid sick leave like cashiers, nail technicians, home health aides, and fast-food workers involve lots of face-to-face interactions. So paid sick leave is about both protecting the public health of a community and providing the workers the economic security that they desperately need when they need to take time away from work, she said. The National Federation of Independent Business has opposed mandatory sick leave rules at the state level, arguing that workplaces should have the flexibility to work something out with their employees when they get sick. The group said the cost of paying workers for time off, extra paperwork, and lost productivity burdens small employers. According to a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research, once these mandates go into effect, employees take, on average, two more sick days a year than before a law took effect. Illinois paid time off rules went into effect this year. Lauren Pattan is co-owner of the Old Bakery Beer Co. there. Before this year, the craft brewery did not offer paid time off for its hourly employees. Pattan said she supports Illinois new law but she has to figure out how to pay for it. We really try to be respectful of our employees and be a good place to work, and at the same time we get worried about not being able to afford things, she said. That could mean customers have to pay more to cover the cost, Pattan said. As for Bill Thompson, he wrote an op-ed for the Kansas City Star newspaper about his dental struggles. Despite working nearly 40 hours a week, many of my co-workers are homeless, he wrote. Without health care, none of us can afford a doctor or a dentist. That op-ed generated attention locally and, in 2018, a dentist in his community donated his time and labor to remove Thompsons remaining teeth and replace them with dentures. This allowed his mouth to recover from the infections hed been dealing with for years. Today, Thompson has a new smile and a job with paid sick leave working in food service at a hotel. In his free time, hes been collecting signatures to put an initiative on the November ballot that would guarantee at least five days of earned paid sick leave a year for Missouri workers. Organizers behind the petition said they have enough signatures to take it before the voters. This story was first published at KFF Health News. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Paid sick leave sticks after many pandemic protections vanish Pair of storms to renew the risk for flooding from Texas to Florida this week An already-soggy spring is about to get even wetter in the South. AccuWeather meteorologists are warning that a pair of storms moving from the Plains to the Atlantic Coast will again bring a risk of torrential downpours and flooding this week. The threat for heavy rain comes on the heels of deadly major flooding that has impacted eastern Texas in recent days and weeks, leading to flood emergencies and swelling area rivers since early May. The prospect of more rain from thunderstorms as the two storms move through is raising eyebrows. "Several inches of rain falling quickly, especially in areas north of Houston, could cause flooding issues yet again," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski. "It is imperative for people to heed warnings from local officials to evacuate and get to safety if told to do so." Following a relatively quiet start to the weekend, in the wake of the storm responsible for the most recent multiday outbreak of severe weather, the next storm moved in from the Rockies and Southwest on Sunday. This will be the first storm to renew the risk for flooding, as well as severe weather, first in the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley. GET THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP "Rounds of heavy rain into Monday can impact portions of northern Louisiana and eastern Texas," said Pydynowski. "These areas have been hit hard recently with devastating flooding." In eastern Texas, up to 20 inches of rain has fallen since the beginning of May. "With this first round of rain, a general 2-4 inches of rain is forecast, though there will be a zone where rainfall of 4-8 inches will occur," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said. The AccuWeather Local StormMax for the rainfall is 12 inches. The heavy rain will spread eastward over the Southern states into Tuesday. It will not take much to cause flooding issues in the region, as the soil remains saturated, and rivers and streams are near or above bank full. "This amount of rain alone is enough to trigger new small stream and low-lying area flooding and reverse recession along the secondary rivers," Sosnowski said, "And, with additional rounds of rain coming this week and next weekend, the situation could get very serious. Not only are there concerns for renewed problems in northeastern Texas, but there are also flash flooding concerns for the Interstate 35 corridor, and general river and small stream flooding farther to the east along the I-10 and 20 corridors of the Southern states." Accompanying the heavy rain will also be severe thunderstorms, as AccuWeather's severe weather experts say that the risk will reach its crescendo farther east toward the Mississippi Valley on Monday. These thunderstorms will be capable of producing localized damaging wind gusts, hail, and even some tornadoes. For much of the Southeast, toward the Atlantic coast, the threat for heavy rain and flooding from thunderstorms will be delayed, but not denied. "Though much of the Southeast enjoyed a dry Mother's Day weekend, the weather pattern will begin to change as the week progresses," said Pydynowski. "Moisture gathering farther west will make its way eastward into Alabama, Georgia, the Florida panhandle and the Carolinas by later Monday and Tuesday." This area of the country has also been hit hard recently by heavy rain and severe weather. In the Tallahassee, Florida, area, at least one person died, and a few tornadoes touched down early on Friday. The cleanup efforts in the wake of those storms will be slowed by yet another round of drenching storms in the new week, including another risk of potentially severe storms on both Monday and Tuesday. "The soggy weather could make for a slow drive between Atlanta and Charlotte along the Interstate 85 corridor on Tuesday," added Pydynowski. "Torrential downpours can reduce visibility and leave standing water on some roadways." Several inches of rain is expected in the Southeast, as well, before the first storm moves off the East Coast by Wednesday. After the first storm soaks the South into early week, there will be little rest for the waterlogged and weary, as AccuWeather meteorologists will be tracking yet another storm expected to arrive on the scene in the Plains midweek. While the exact locales that receive the heaviest rain remain to be determined, the storminess should impact many of the same areas along the Interstate 10 corridor from Texas to Georgia and Florida in the period from roughly Thursday through early Friday. Several more inches of rain will likely fall on top of what has already been received this month from this second storm. "It's conceivable that some locations will pick up close to a foot of rain from the combination of the two storms that affect the region this week," Sosnowski said. Not only will that heavy rain renew the risk for flooding, but there can also be another risk for a few strong thunderstorms. "We are watching the potential for yet another dose of drenching rain to erupt along the same saturated corridor of the Southern states next weekend," Sosnowski said, "I would be very surprised if there were not renewed flooding on some of the rivers that have had very high water recently as well as flooding along some of the rivers that have escaped flooding in the South-Central and Southeast states so far this spring." While the rain is unwelcome in the corridor that has been dealing with flooding as of late, it would be welcomed in parts of southern Texas and South Florida, where there are currently drought conditions, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor released on Thursday. Unfortunately, it appears that the heaviest rain will miss these areas to the north. 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. Panama's next president says he'll try to shut down one of the world's busiest migration routes FILE - Migrants cross a river during their journey through the Darien Gap from Colombia into Panama, hoping to reach the U.S., Oct. 15, 2022. President-elect Jose Raul Mulino said Thursday, May 9, 2024, he will shut down the migration route used by more than 500,000 people last year. Until now, Panama has helped speedily bus the migrants across its territory so they can continue their journey north. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File) PANAMA CITY (AP) Panama is on the verge of a dramatic change to its immigration policy that could reverberate from the dense Darien jungle to the U.S. border. President-elect Jose Raul Mulino says he will shut down a migration route used by more than 500,000 people last year. Until now, Panama has helped speedily bus the migrants across its territory so they can continue their journey north. Whether Mulino is able to reduce migration through a sparsely populated region with little government presence remains to be seen, experts say. Panama and our Darien are not a transit route. It is our border, Mulino said after his victory with 34% of the vote in Sundays election was formalized Thursday evening. He will take over as president on July 1. As he had suggested during his campaign, the 64-year-old lawyer and former security minister said he would try to end the Darien odyssey that does not have a reason to exist. The migrant route through the narrow isthmus grew exponentially in popularity in recent years with the help of organized crime in Colombia, making it an affordable, if dangerous, land route for hundreds of thousands. It grew as countries like Mexico, under pressure from the U.S. government, imposed visa restrictions on various nationalities including Venezuelans and just this week Peruvians in an attempt to stop migrants flying into the country just to continue on to the U.S. border. But masses of people took the challenge and set out on foot through the jungle-clad Colombian-Panamanian border. A crossing that initially could take a week or more eventually was whittled down to two or three days as the path became more established and entrepreneurial locals established a range of support services. It remains a risky route, however. Reports of sexual assaults have continued to rise, some migrants are killed by bandits in robberies and others drown trying to cross rushing rivers. Even so, some 147,000 migrants have already entered Panama through Darien this year. Previous attempts to close routes around the world have simply shifted traffic to riskier paths. People migrate for many reasons and frequently don't have safe, orderly and legal ways to do it, said Giuseppe Loprete, chief of mission in Panama for the U.N.'s International Organization for Immigration. When the legal routes are not accessible, migrants run the risk of turning to criminal networks, traffickers and dangerous routes, tricked by disinformation. Loprete said the U.N. agency's representatives in Panama would meet with Mulino's team once its member are named to learn the specifics of the president's plans. If Mulino could be even partially effective, it could produce a notable, but likely temporary, impact. As with the visa restrictions that unintentionally steered migrants to the overland route through Panama, if the factors pushing migrants to leave their countries remain they will find other routes. One could be the dangerous sea routes from Colombia to Panama. In a local radio interview Thursday, Mulino said the idea of shutting down the migration flow is more philosophical than a physical obstacle. Because when we start to deport people here in an immediate deportation plan the interest for sneaking through Panama will decrease, he said. By the time the fourth plane loaded with migrants takes off, I assure you they are going to say that going through Panama is not attractive because they are deporting you. Julio Alonso, a Panamanian security expert, said what Mulino could realistically achieve is unknown. This would be a radical change to Panamanian policy in terms of migration to avoid more deaths and organized crime using the route, he said. Among the challenges will be how it would work operationally along such an open and uncontrolled border. In Panama, there is no kind of suppression with this situation, just free passage, humanitarian aid that didn't manage to reduce the number of assaults, rapes, homicides and deaths along the Darien route, Alonso said. Mulino's proposal is a dissuasive measure, yes, (but) whether it can be completely executed we will see. It's also unlikely that much could be accomplished without a lot of cooperation and coordination with Colombia and other countries, he said. Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, said that without considering the risk of returning migrants to dangerous situations, in mathematical terms I don't know how they hope to massively deport" migrants. "A daily plane, which would be extremely expensive, would only repatriate around 10% of the flow (about 1,000 to 1,200 per day). The United States only manages to do about 130 flights monthly in the entire world, Isacson said. Nine members of a family are pictured sitting on a wooden platform with clothes hanging on a washing line above. Their smiling faces can be seen looking at the camera. Woodland can be seen in the background of the image on the right-hand side. The group appear to be sat in front of a building. . Papua New Guineans, who have been genetically isolated for millennia, carry unique genes that helped them fight off infection and some of those genes come from our extinct human cousins, the Denisovans . The research also found that highlanders and lowlanders evolved different mutations to help them adapt to their wildly different environments. "New Guineans are unique as they have been isolated since they settled in New Guinea more than 50,000 years ago," co-senior study author Francois-Xavier Ricaut , a biological anthropologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), told Live Science in an email. Not only is the predominantly mountainous terrain of the island country particularly challenging , but infectious diseases are also responsible for more than 40% of deaths . Locals therefore had to find a biological and cultural strategy to adapt, which means that the population of Papua New Guinea is a "fantastic cocktail" to study genetic adaptation, Ricaut said. Related: Modern Japanese people arose from 3 ancestral groups, 1 of them unknown, DNA study suggests Modern humans first arrived in Papua New Guinea from Africa around 50,000 years ago . There, they interbred with Denisovans who'd been living in Asia for tens of thousands of years . As a result of this ancient interbreeding , Papua New Guineans carry up to 5% Denisovan DNA in their genomes. In the new study, published April 30 in the journal Nature Communications , scientists analyzed the genomes of 54 highlanders from Mount Wilhelm who lived between 7,500 and 8,900 feet (2,300 and 2,700 meters) above sea level, and 74 lowlanders from Daru Island, who lived less than 330 feet (100 m) above sea level. They found that mutations lowlanders probably inherited from Denisovans boosted the number of immune cells in their blood. The highlanders, meanwhile, evolved mutations that raised their red blood cell count, which helps reduce hypoxia at altitude. That's not unusual, as people from several other high-altitude environments have evolved different mutations to combat hypoxia . RELATED STORIES India's evolutionary past tied to huge migration 50,000 years ago and to now-extinct human relatives More than 275 million never-before-seen gene variants uncovered in US population Natural selection has been acting on hundreds of human genes in the last 3,000 years The Denisovan gene variants may affect the function of a protein called GBP2 that helps the body fight pathogens that are only found at lower altitudes, such as the parasites that cause malaria . These genes may therefore have been selected during evolution to help people fight off infection at lower altitudes where pathogens are rife, the team said. Going forward, the team wants to uncover how these mutations bring about changes in the blood of Papua New Guineans, Ricault said. To decipher this, they'll need to investigate how these mutations impact the activity of the genes in which they are found. Ever wonder why some people build muscle more easily than others or why freckles come out in the sun ? Send us your questions about how the human body works to community@livescience.com with the subject line "Health Desk Q," and you may see your question answered on the website! My parents gave me an unusual name. As a kid, it gave me social anxiety, but now I love it. The author has social anxiety while in school because of her uncommon name. Courtesy of the author My parents named me Eibhlis, pronounced "eyelish." They taught me how to spell my name with foam letters in the bathtub. Having an uncommon name give me social anxiety. If you've got an unusual name, you know "the phase.'' The time when, as a gangly teen with acne and zero social skills, you absolutely dread explaining how to pronounce your name. My dad's family is Irish, and my mom and dad were watching a documentary on Siamese twins one called Katie and one called Eilish while she was pregnant with me. They decided to nab the latter name, pronounced "eyelish," just slightly adapting the spelling. I always thought it was beautiful, but the difficult pronunciation left me crippled with anxiety for years. It's hard to spell To be fair to them, I wasn't totally in the deep end; I could spell my name at 4. My mom bought foam letters that I stuck on the side of the bath each evening. Perhaps in sympathy, she had helped me almost nail the spelling before school. However, the first day at school had still been confusing. I'd come out asking my mom why the teachers couldn't say my name. It was a curveball among the Sophies and Matthews, and nobody else in my first primary school class had a non-English name. It felt isolating when teachers knew everyone else's names straight away. It amplified my social anxiety in my school years In high school there were others with unusual names, so I wasn't the only one having to explain pronunciations at registration. However, at around 12 years old, my social anxiety tripled. Public speaking, or basically speaking to anyone more than on a one-to-one basis, could bring uncontrollable shaking, dizzy spells, and stuttering words that refused to flow. I dreaded speaking up and explaining my name to yet another supply teacher in front of a class of over 30 people. The start of the new school year was a nightmare, too, explaining my name to each teacher repeatedly until they cracked it or I finally accepted a slightly remixed version. Heaven forbid I ever got called on in assemblies when nearly 300 pupils crammed into a single hall. Having that constant worry amplified my already lurking social anxiety. It also added to the usual teenage angst of struggling to find myself. You'd think having to explain pronunciation constantly would have helped me forge a more solid identity, but it actually did the opposite. It worsened my people-pleasing tendencies when I'd just accept wrong pronunciations; I was called "Eeblis" for about two years by one science teacher. Instead of embracing my name, I found myself shrinking it to avoid the potential anxiety. Some days, I wished the floor would swallow me up, most notably when my geography teacher somehow got "Elvis" from my name on the register, and everyone burst out laughing. It took me a long time to realize that my name was an identity, not a butt of a joke. Now I love my name and its nod to my heritage Gradually, though, something shifted. I learned my name's meaning "God is my oath" and an Irish Gaelic adaptation of the name Elizabeth. I realized how endangered the Irish language was and how proud I was to carry that symbol of my heritage. I began to embrace the story it held from the twins to my family history and, eventually, how it pushed me out of my comfort zone in those formative school years. Most of all, my name never let me sit quietly in the back of a classroom, even when that's all I wanted to do. And for that, I'm very grateful. Read the original article on Business Insider One division of a Russian motorized rifle battalion refused to participate in the assault against Kharkiv Oblast, the partisan group Atesh reported on May 10. Russian forces launched a new offensive against Kharkiv Oblast on May 10. Fighting continues in the region, though Ukrainian troops held off the initial attempt to break through Ukraine's defensive lines. A member of Atesh, who serves in a motorized rifle battalion of the 44th Army Corps of the Russian Armed Forces, said that one division in his unit outright refused to participate in the offensive against Kharkiv Oblast. The Atesh member said that soldiers in his unit were wary of the high-quality fortifications had been build along the Russian-Ukrainian border. He also said the soldiers had witnessed Russian sabotage and reconnaissance operations in the region that were unsuccessful. "In view of this, when ... the order was given, part of the unit refused to carry out the criminal will of the command," Atesh reported. Atesh said their members continue to work with Ukrainian forces to repel Russian attacks in Kharkiv Oblast. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on May 10 that the Russian military had launched a new offensive in Kharkiv Oblast. He said that the Ukrainian command had known about a potential assault in this direction and had been preparing. Moscow recently intensified attacks against Kharkivamid reports thatRussia might plan to attack Kharkiv as part of a wider offensive in the coming months. The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported that fighting is ongoing in the Lyptsi and Vovchansk directions in the north of Kharkiv Oblast as Moscow deploys infantry and heavy equipment in the region. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia launches new offensive targeting Kharkiv Oblast Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visits Beijing Children's Hospital and extends festive greetings to all nurses in the country ahead of International Nurses Day, which falls on May 12, 2024, in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong on Saturday extended festive greetings to all nurses in the country ahead of International Nurses Day, which falls on Sunday. Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during a visit to Beijing Children's Hospital in the country's capital. He called on all nurses to actively participate in the advancement of the Healthy China Initiative, improve their professional skills and conduct, and work wholeheartedly to protect the people's health and well-being. Liu noted that nursing work plays a unique role in the building of a healthy China and the country's response to major emergencies. With joint efforts from all parties, China has seen substantial development in nursing work, with its nursing workforce growing and nursing capabilities improving. With the improvement in people's living standards in China and the aging of the population, the public's need for quality nursing services continues to grow, said Liu. He underscored the need to improve the cultivation of professional workers and to enhance the nursing services for the elderly, children and patients with severe illnesses. He also noted the need to improve the incentive and payment mechanism for nurses, improve their working environment, and expand their career prospects. Triple Team Traffic says that for Mothers Day Weekend, drivers need to know that some overnight lane closures could slow things down in parts of Fulton County. Triple Team Traffics Mike Shields is warning drivers that overnight weekend lane closures on Interstates 75 and 85 at University Avenue are closing for a bridge rehabilitation project. Depending on weather conditions, the closures will run from Friday night to 5 a.m. on Monday, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] GDOT said theyll be installing lane closures on I-75 and I-85, with three right lanes closed at the southbound overpasses at University Avenue and four left lanes on the northbound part of the same stretch of interstate. A left lane will also be closed on the Washington Road overpass northbound between North Commerce Drive and I-285, as well as one of the right lanes southbound between Carmel Drive and I-285, according to GDOT. TRENDING STORIES: The overnight closures are related to a $2.7 million bridge rehabilitation project aimed at raising the height of the bridge in the area, preserving the bridge deck with a polymer overlay and painting the steel beams. Joints on the bridge will also be replaced where needed as work crews stabilize the superstructures and substructures, GDOT said in a release. The overall rehabilitation is expected to finish in late fall 2024. Message boards will give drivers advance notice of the upcoming traffic pacing and lane closures. Motorists are advised to expect delays and use signed detours, exercise caution, and reduce their speed while traveling through work zones, GDOT said. Full project details can be found online. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: A rendering shows a conceptual plan for a 192-acre technical park in the northwest corner of Pataskala. Pataskala City Council unanimously rejected rezoning the site, which would have paved the way for the development. Pataskala City Council has denied a rezoning request that would have transformed nearly 200 acres in the city's northwest corner into a technical park. Council members unanimously rejected rezoning three properties totaling 192 acres from rural residential and medium-low density residential to planned manufacturing district at a Monday meeting. A technical park developed by Fair Lady LLC and Greenbriar Licking LLC was planned for the land, which is bordered by Clark State Road to the northwest, Summit Road to the east and Graham Road to the south. The Pataskala Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended denying the request at an October meeting because of too many unanswered questions about traffic, water and sewer service and other factors. The 192 acres abut Beech Road and New Albanys growing innovation district, which is home to tech giants Google, Facebook and Amazon. Developers previously planned to build the tech park in phases, with numerous buildings that would have totaled more than 1.2 million square feet of industrial space. The rezoning request, which garnered significant push back from neighbors, stalled for months as the city and developer tried to create a landscape solution that would have protected nearby residents, City Administrator Tim Hickin said in a Tuesday interview. Hickin said they tried various ideas but in the end could not come up with a compromise the city felt it could enforce. Clark State Road resident Vicki Gigliotti, one of a handful of residents who spoke against the project during the meeting, said developing the site presents numerous challenges because of limited access points, insufficient roads to handle additional traffic and a lack of water, sewer and electric utilities. When you add all of those together, she said, this was a lousy proposal for the residents and the city. "We all realize the land is going to be developed, but it's become painfully obvious that this is not the right development," she said. Al Weinberger, a New York-based developer with the project, said during the meeting that if the city did not approve the rezoning, the properties would detach from Pataskala and would go back to being a township property. Council member Tom Lee said that from the beginning, this project has been ill-prepared. He said he's not against developing the site but was against this particular plan. "I don't appreciate people coming in here and threatening us with de-annexation," he said. Council member Mary Hite, who represents the ward where the properties are located, said there is no township to which the properties could go back. The site was previously in Lima Township, which no longer exists after the then-village of Pataskala and the township merged in the late 1990s. If the three properties do detach from the city, Weinberger said they would join Jersey Township. A fourth adjacent property also owned by the developer is in Jersey Township. Jersey Township Administrator Rob Platte said he has spoken with the developer about the 18-acre property in Jersey Township and that the township wants it to develop in a way that benefits neighboring residents, such as with commercial retail. He said it is possible but not ideal for the Pataskala properties to detach and join Jersey Township, adding that it's better if the city and township work together to develop the site. "Legitimately, there is a benefit that can be derived by both entities if we work together. That would be our preferred path," he said. mdevito@gannett.com 740-607-2175 This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Pataskala council rejects 192-acre rezoning for technical park Pentagon does everything possible to quickly deliver weapons to Ukraine The US Department of Defense has ensured the delivery of some weapons to Ukraine's Armed Forces positions from the previous military support package, and it has been making efforts to deliver the remaining weapons and equipment, including those from the new aid package. Source: John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House; Ukrinform Quote: "Some items from the first defence assistance package, which we announced under the law for supplemental funding on the same day the president signed it, have made it to the battlefield, into the hands of Ukrainian military personnel. The [US] Department of Defense is literally moving heaven and earth to make this happen as quickly as possible. And work is still ongoing on the deliveries of what remains from the previous package." Details: Kirby emphasised that he would not specify what exactly has been delivered due to operational security considerations. However, he said that rapid delivery had been achieved by pre-positioning military aid in European warehouses. Some equipment will take more time to reach Ukraine. He also pointed out that the Pentagon is working at the same rapid pace to provide Ukraine with a new US$400 million military aid package. He believes that this package is quite serious. The variety of systems it contains is impressive. Background: Support UP or become our patron! Nikki Haley keeps racking up votes in final stretch of the GOP primary, and Donald Trump keeps ignoring them In late April, staffers at Joe Bidens headquarters fixated on votes for Nikki Haley rolling in during the Pennsylvania primary, as she pulled 20 to 25 percent support in the largely upscale, suburban collar counties around Philadelphia. Most remarkable: Haley had dropped out more than six weeks earlier. Within a day, the Biden campaign dropped an additional six-figure TV and digital ad buy in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties, explicitly targeting Haley voters with an ad featuring former President Donald Trump bad-mouthing his former U.N. ambassador and her supporters. The ads are part of a much larger and mostly behind-the-scenes strategy to reel in anti-Trump Republicans, who continue to show up everywhere from Arizona to Wisconsin. The Biden campaign views Haley voters as a core part of its coalition this fall, especially as polls show some erosion among traditional Democratic groups such as young voters. Top campaign officials continue to court major Haley donors and possible anti-Trump GOP endorsers while honing their messages for bringing in Haley voters. Trump, meanwhile, has made no such moves to bring Haley voters back into the GOP tent. Two months after she dropped out of the primary, Trump has yet to contact Haley to ask for her support, according to a person familiar with their relationship, granted anonymity by POLITICO because they were not authorized to speak on the record. A lot of these voters will come home by November, but his future is in his hands, said former Indiana GOP state Rep. Mike Murphy, who had been working to organize a fundraiser for Haley before she dropped out of the race. If he fucks up more in court, gets convicted and makes an ass of himself like he continues to do, then these people are going to continue to be disgusted with him. As the now-settled presidential primary enters its final weeks, the anti-Trump protest vote is expected to keep rolling in. The Trump campaign has rebuffed the idea that a lingering opposition to Trump in the primaries will be a factor for him come November, but Bidens campaign is betting it will play a sizable role. The warning signs for Trump are striking because of the geography of where those voters live: suburbs, the place Trump warned in 2020 were under threat in a Biden presidency, are still getting bluer. The latest example came this week in barn-red Indianas primary, where Haleys zombie campaign won 22 percent overall. The numbers were even higher in the suburban donut counties like Hamilton, the wealthy Indianapolis suburb of gated communities with manicured lawns, where Haley won 34 percent of the vote. Similar patterns unfolded in key battleground states across the country. In Georgias primary, Haley won about 13 percent of the vote; she performed 10 points higher in suburban Cobb County, north of Atlanta. In crucial and swingy Arizona, Haley won 21 percent in Maricopa County, gaining more than 1 in five votes in the Phoenix suburbs. And in Wisconsin last month, Haley took as much as 17 percent of the vote in the counties surrounding Milwaukee. In every swing state, except for Nevada, the number of Nikki Haley [primary] voters far outpaces the [margin] between Trump and Biden in 2020, said Robert Schwartz, executive director of the Haley Voters Working Group and an adviser to the Haley Voters for Biden super PAC. In all those places, if you can get 20 percent to vote for Biden and another 5 to 10 percent who dont vote at all, thats going to be the difference-maker in this election. Trump isnt doing anything to court Haley and her supporters Haley is hosting dozens of top donors at a retreat Monday and Tuesday in Charleston, S.C., according to a spokesperson. She is not expected to endorse Trump or encourage donors to give to any other candidate during the event, which the Wall Street Journal first reported. Newly installed at the conservative Hudson Institute, Haley has focused her public criticism on Biden in recent weeks. Her former campaign aides, meanwhile, have taken to publicly mocking the Trump campaign and calling attention to Haleys continued vote shares. We are well past the primary, said Haleys former spokesperson, Olivia Perez-Cubas posted on X while sharing Haleys near-35 percent vote total in Marion County, Indiana, which includes Indianapolis. If youre not paying attention yet, you should. Trump dominated the GOP primary. Haley only won contests in Washington, D.C, and Vermont, where the GOP electorate skewed moderate and anti-Trump, unlike much of the Republican base. When she dropped out of the race, she declined to put her support behind Trump as most of her primary rivals had done. Instead, she called on Trump to give her supporters a reason to come back to the fold. It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond who did not support him, a defiant Haley said from her Charleston-area campaign headquarters March 6, as she announced she was ending her bid. Trumps campaign is both sensitive to the narrative that there is a suburban protest movement afoot and dismissive of it. A spokesperson noted that Indiana had an open primary and no major Democratic contest. As we saw in earlier open contests, Dems were more than happy and at times encouraged through liberal funded campaigns to vote for Haley, the spokesperson said. We clinched the primary weeks ago and have spent no money or resources on a primary campaign. Haley voters are crucial for Trump and Biden in November, especially given how important swing counties and states are to winning the election. Trump world should do, in my opinion, everything they can to get them, said a Republican strategist who supported Haleys bid, granted anonymity to assess the campaign frankly. Trump and his team are denialists for not doing anything to earn Haley supporters votes, said the strategist, who also noted that Biden has his own weakness with voters. Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the Trump campaign is building a historic and unified political movement to make America great again, noting Trumps high approval rating among Republicans and gains with longtime Democrat constituencies such as African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and union workers. She did not describe any specific efforts to bring Haley supporters into the fold. Anyone who believes in securing the border, rebuilding the economy, restoring American energy dominance, and ending the wars Joe Biden has created around the world is welcome to join President Trumps team, Leavitt continued in a statement. Bidens looking to poach Haley voters as the final primaries provide a last look at the protest votes While the Trump campaign downplays any challenges with Haley voters, the Biden campaign has been engaged in a months-long effort to bring these supporters into its camp. Biden campaign finance chair Rufus Gifford and campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg are leading private efforts to bring in her high-dollar donors like billionaire Mark Cuban, once a top Haley donor, who showed up at a Biden fundraiser in March. Theyre also quietly reaching out to potential Republican endorsers, as they did during the 2020 campaign. Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said this week that he plans to vote for Biden this fall. The Biden campaign is also researching messages that reach Haley voters, an effort which they touted to their top donors earlier this spring. There are some groups of voters where Biden is seeing erosion young people, men of color who are not going to turn out in [the] same numbers as they did in 2020, so you have to make up with that somewhere, said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who has worked with the Biden campaign. Some of that is with seniors, another is with Haley voters, Lake said. For Biden, Trumps failure to win over those voters represents an opportunity if he can seize it. Of particular concern for Haley voters, according to Schwartz, is Bidens stance on the border and Israel. If they view him as too far to the left for them to stomach, then theyll vote Trump or stay home, said Schwartz. Thats the predominant narrative that Im hearing from Haley supporters, that seems dangerous to me for the Biden campaign. But Biden faces his own protest vote in upcoming primaries that he cant shake. Since January, pro-Palestinian groups have urged Democrats to cast ballots for uncommitted, in states where thats an option, in a rebuke of the presidents handling of the Israel-Hamas war. In Michigan, uncommitted earned 13 percent of the vote, and in Minnesota, 19 percent. There are still 10 states that will hold their presidential primaries between now and the first week of June, offering voters more opportunities to register their displeasure with each party's presumptive nominee. Biden's next headache could come next week in Maryland, where there's an effort to get Democratic primary voters to use the "uncommitted" ballot line to express disapproval of the president's policies in the Middle East. Haley, meanwhile, is on the ballot in all three states voting Tuesday: Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia. Unlike Indiana, all three have partisan voter registration, and only one (West Virginia) even allows unaffiliated voters to participate in a party primary factors that could all dim Haleys performance in them. Both parties will also be carefully monitoring the votes from Nebraska's Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District for signs of discontent with the base. Biden carried the district in 2020 and it could again deliver him an electoral vote, so long as Nebraska state legislators do not change the state into a winner-take-all state before November. Meridith McGraw and Steven Shepard contributed to this report. BOSTON, Mass. (KFOR) A Perkins man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston after being arrested for allegedly throwing a pipe bomb at The Satanic Temple (TST) in April. Sean Patrick Palmer. Image courtesy Payne County Sheriff's Office. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Sean Patrick Palmer, 49, was indicted on one count of using fire and an explosive to damage and attempt to damage a building used in interstate or foreign commerce. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: FBI arrests Perkins man for allegedly throwing pipe bomb at Satanic Temple On April 17, Palmer was initially arrested and charged by the FBI at his home in Perkins, Oklahoma, after surveillance video captured a man matching his description throwing a pipe bomb at TST in Salem, Massachusetts. Based on evidence gathered at the scene of the incident, investigators identified Palmer as a suspect in the case. Palmer could face a sentence of at least five years and up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City. MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines said on Saturday it has deployed ships to a disputed area in the South China Sea, where it accused China of building "an artificial island" in an escalating maritime row. The coast guard sent a ship "to monitor the supposed illegal activities of China, creating 'an artificial island'," the office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said in a statement, adding two other vessels were in rotational deployment in the area. Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela told a forum there had been "small-scale reclamation" of the Sabina Shoal, which Manila calls Escoda, and that China was "the most probable actor". The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Philippine assertions, which could deepen the bilateral rift. The Philippine national security adviser called on Friday for expelling Chinese diplomats over an alleged leak of a phone conversation with a Filipino admiral about the maritime dispute. Beijing and Manila have been embroiled for a year in heated stand-offs over their competing claims in the South China Sea, where $3 trillion worth of trade passes annually. China claims almost all of the vital waterway, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2016 that Beijing's claims had no basis under international law. China has carried out extensive land reclamation on some islands in the South China Sea, building air force and other military facilities, causing concern in Washington and around the region. A Philippine vessel has been anchored at the Sabina Shoal to "catch and document the dumping of crushed corals over the sandbars", Tarriela said, citing the "alarming" presence of dozens of Chinese ships, including research and navy vessels. Tarriela said the presence of Chinese vessels at the atoll 124 miles (200 km) from the Philippine province of Palawan coincided with the coast guard's discovery of piles of dead and crushed coral. The coast guard will take marine scientists to the areas to determine whether the coral piles were a natural occurrence or caused by human intervention, he said. He added it intends to have a "prolonged presence" at Sabina Shoal, a rendezvous point for Philippine vessels carrying out resupply missions to Filipino troops stationed on a grounded warship at the Second Thomas Shoal, where Manila and China have had frequent maritime run-ins. (Reporting by Karen Lema in Manila; Editing by William Mallard) New plan: Broward wont close any public schools. But changes are still coming After many voices were raised in protest against Broward County closing public schools to address student underenrollment, the school district now says its not planning to close any. But, Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburns new recommendations, to be discussed at a School Board Workshop on Tuesday, do not leave all schools unaffected. Following community input, Superintendent Hepburn has revised his considerations for the Board on redefining BCPS, BCPS Chief Communiations Officer John J. Sullivan said in a Friday night statement. School closures are no longer proposed at this stage. Instead, he will recommend grade and program reconfigurations, explore partnerships and sell property to regain students and bolster capital reserves. He will continue assessing BCPS with community feedback to shape the next phase of redefining our schools. The two plans released to the public in April involved shrinking the number of available seats by closing 42 unnamed schools (32 elementary, eight middle, two high schools). But under the plan, Broward public school students and parents stood to lose magnet programs, school choice or reassignments. READ MORE: Close 42 schools or three? The two plans for Broward public schools future The other plan involved closing Olsen Middle School in Dania Beach, Broward Estates Elementary in Lauderhill and Oakridge Elementary in Hollywood. The first two schools operated at less than half capacity. Oakridge carries a D state grade while operating in a building that, according to county property records, was built in 1967. The city of Hollywoods entire political power structure opposed Oakridges closing via resolution and a letter from City Manager George Keller that said, The City would like to explore opportunities to strengthen this school and work in tandem with BCPS to come up with alternatives that preserve this campus. READ MORE: Hollywood wants BCPS to rethink Oakridge Elementarys closing The new plan The new plan, according to what was put on the BCPS website, alters schools in five groupings of high school zones. Miramar Everglades High, Pembroke Pines Flanagan High, Pembroke Pines West Broward High group of zones: The boundaries will change for Silver Palms Elementary and Silver Lakes Elementary. Pines Middle School, which is operating at 34.5% of capacity, will house a middle school and high school. Silver Shores Elementary, which is at 44.6%, will be a full choice (any parent can apply there) elementary and middle school. Panther Run Elementary will take over a program run at Silver Shores Elementary. Pines Middle School, at 200 Douglas Rd. in Pembroke Pines, will be one of the schools changed by the Broward County Public Schools Superintendents new plan for redefining BCPS schools. Hallandale High, Hollywood Hills High and Hollywood South Broward High group of zones: Hollywood Central Elementary will go from 46% of capacity to 100% by becoming an elementary and middle school. A proposed boundary change would drop Olsen Middle School from 49.6% to 42.9%. Fort Lauderdale Dillard High and South Plantation High pair of zones: Sunland Park Academy, already at 91.7%, will have a grade reconfiguration and a boundary change. Thurgood Marshall Elementary, now at 43%, will have a boundary change that would increase enrollment to an estimated 53.9%. Fort Lauderdale High and Fort Lauderdale Stranahan pair of zones: A program will be added to Bennett Elementary, now at 54.2% of capacity. North Side Elementary and Walker Elementary, at 47% and 52.8% respectively, will get boundary changes expected to raise enrollment to 67.1% and 54.9%. North Fork Elementary will become a full choice school and is expected to go from 55.4% to 100% capacity. Deerfield Beach High and Coconut Creek Monarch High pair of zones: Quiet Waters Elementary, Deerfield Beach Elementary and Tedder Elementary will be part of an undefined public-private partnership. Real estate for sale? Among the places listed as under consideration for repurposing, sale or lease are the Broward County School Boards headquarters at 600 SE Third Ave. and the Technology & Support Services Center Annex, 7720 W. Oakland Park Blvd. Police: 10-year-old girl has been found in good health Update: The Orlando Police Department said Princess has been found. Previous: The Orlando Police Department is searching for a missing 10-year-old girl. The Police Department said Princess Saintasses was last seen at 3 p.m. on Friday. Saintasses was last seen wearing a peach-colored hoodie, black jeans, purple slippers, and a black purse. She is described as 4 feet, 10 inches tall, 100 pounds, with black and pink highlights, OPD said. Read: NASA set to launch advanced weather satellite into orbit for NOAA from Floridas Space Coast Police said she frequents the Clear Lake and Kara West apartment complexes and that she likes to hang out at Dezerland Park on International Drive. If anyone who sees Saintasses or knows of her whereabouts is urged to call Orlando Police at 321-235-5300. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. Seattle Police Department (SPD) released a picture of a missing and endangered 79-year-old woman on Saturday, May 11. The missing woman, Jonette, is described as 51, thin build, brown/gray hair, and brown eyes. Officers are unsure of her clothing. According to the Silver Alert issued by Washington State Patrol, Jonette walked out of her apartment in the 4700 block of 42nd Avenue Southwest in West Seattle on Saturday around 10:40 a.m. and has not been seen since. Jonette has dementia and does not have access to a car. SPD asks the public to call 911 with any information. Missing Endangered: Jonette, 79 y/o, White female, 5'1, thin build, brown/gray hair, brown eyes. Has dementia. Unknown clothing. Last known location: 4700 block of 42nd Avenue Southwest. If seen please call 911. pic.twitter.com/ZGMUTves4a Seattle Police Department (@SeattlePD) May 11, 2024 ISLAMABAD, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Five soldiers were killed in a clash with terrorists in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, official sources said. The clash broke out at about 8:30 a.m. local time (GMT 0330) after a military vehicle carrying a bomb disposal party was hit by an improvised explosive device in the North Waziristan district of the province, the sources told Xinhua. Following the blast, terrorists ambushing the vehicle opened fire at the troops, triggering an exchange of fire, the sources said. Two troops and two terrorists were injured in the clash, while a soldier went missing following the incident. The identities of the attackers and their affiliations were not revealed. Police officers patrol tents at the protest camp on the edge of protests against Tesla. After violent clashes at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, the police are preparing for further demonstrations on Saturday. Carsten Koall/dpa Local police were braced on Saturday for further protests at the Tesla factory site in Grunheide near Berlin, following violent clashes the previous day. "We are sensitized," said a police spokesman. The situation had been calm during the night and in the morning, he added. A citizens' alliance is planning a protest march from a nearby railway station to the Tesla factory in the afternoon. According to the police, the local A10 motorway junction has been closed in both directions. The police advised drivers to widely avoid the area. On Friday, there were repeated clashes between protesters and police officers as activists tried to enter the site. The police used pepper spray and batons. According to the police, several participants in the protests and 21 police officers were injured. Sixteen people were taken into custody. Tesla did not initially comment on the protests. No production took place at the plant on Friday. However, a company spokeswoman said this was because employees had been granted a day off following a public holiday on Thursday. A large contingent of police was deployed, including hundreds of reinforcements brought in from other German states. Two spokespeople for various protest groups involved criticized the "disproportionately brutal" actions of the police. The protest, which began on Wednesday, is set to continue until Sunday. The Grunheide car plant is the only Tesla plant set up by Elon Musk in Europe. The protests are directed against Tesla's planned expansion which is to include a freight depot and would require forest to be cleared, as well as criticizing the production of electric cars in general. During a public consultation in Grunheide, a majority voted against the expansion, after which the municipality and Tesla signalled that less forest should be cleared. Activists have set up a protest camp near the car plant, occupying tree houses there since late February. The US e-car manufacturer had to stop production at the Grunheide factory for a few days in March after an arson attack on an electricity pylon. A left-wing extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack. Activists gather at the protest camp on the fringes of protests against Tesla. After violent clashes at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, the police are preparing for further demonstrations on Saturday. Carsten Koall/dpa Environmental activists walk to the Tesla plant during a protest against Tesla. After sometimes violent clashes on May 10, 2024 at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, new protests are currently underway against the US company. Patrick Pleul/dpa Berlin police are preparing for further protests on Saturday at the Tesla factory site in Grunheide near Berlin, after violent clashes on Friday. Friday's actions will be taken into account in operational planning, said a police spokesman. The activists have planned fresh actions over the weekend. Initially, a protest march from Fangschleuse station to the Tesla plant is planned for around midday on Saturday. Further actions by the demonstrators around the Tesla plant are to be expected. On Friday, there were repeated clashes between protesters and police officers. The police used pepper spray and batons. According to the police, several participants in the protests and 21 police officers were injured. 16 people had been taken into custody. A spokeswoman and a spokesman for various protest groups involved criticized the "disproportionately brutal" actions of the police. A large contingent of police was deployed, including hundreds of reinforcements brought in from other federal states. Water cannons and an armoured personnel carrier were also deployed, but were not used at first. During a demonstration on Friday, several activists attempted to enter the Tesla factory premises. They scaled a fence in the forest on the edge of the factory site. According to the police, they were prevented from entering the factory premises. At an airfield in Neuhardenberg, demonstrators made it onto the site, set off pyrotechnics and damaged Tesla vehicles with paint. According to a spokesman, the police had also tried to protect this area. However, the sheer size of the airfield had made this difficult. The starting point of the protests was the protest camp set up near the car plant in Grunheide. Activists have been staying there in tree houses since the end of February to protest against the planned expansion of the Tesla site and the clearing of the forest. The police want the tree houses to be dismantled. A legal dispute is ongoing. Tesla opponents have been calling for days of action against the car manufacturer since Wednesday. "The fight against this car factory is a fight against every car factory," said the Disrupt group involved on Friday. "In order for the earth to remain our home in the long term, we should be brave enough to creatively redesign this factory. Whether we build buses, ambulances or cargo bikes here is something we have to decide together." The police had attempted to cordon off the site of the only Tesla plant in Europe, and several motorway exits were closed. The railway line between Berlin and Frankfurt an der Oder was also temporarily closed at Fangschleuse station. There was also a sit-in blockade on country road 23 near the plant on the fringes of the demonstration marches to the site. In Berlin, activists held a banner with the slogan "Clean cars are a dirty lie" in front of the Mall of Berlin shopping centre, where a Tesla showroom is located. "There is nothing wrong with peaceful protest and citizens must be able to express their opinions," said Brandenburg's Minister of Economic Affairs Jorg Steinbach, explaining the events in Grunheide on Friday. "This is a central component of our democracy," he said in response to an enquiry. If the freedom of assembly is abused by radical groups and the protests escalate, this damages democracy and not least the reputation of the people who demonstrated peacefully and without violence, he added. Tesla did not initially comment on the course of the protests. There was no production at the plant on Friday. However, a company spokeswoman emphasised that this had to do with the bridge day after Ascension Day public holiday and not with the demonstrations. The US car manufacturer had to stop production at its factory for a few days in March after an arson attack on an electricity pylon. A left-wing extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack. In addition, parked Teslas had repeatedly gone up in flames at various locations. Environmental activists walk past the Tesla plant during a protest against Tesla. After sometimes violent clashes on May 10, 2024 at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, new protests are currently underway against the US company. Patrick Pleul/dpa Environmental activists walk past the Tesla plant during a protest against Tesla. After sometimes violent clashes on May 10, 2024 at the Tesla factory site in Gruenheide near Berlin, new protests are currently underway against the US company. Patrick Pleul/dpa PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) The Seat Pleasant Police Department said it has arrested a man after he stabbed someone multiple times on May 8. Police said that at around 6:30 p.m., the suspect was in the 5900 Block of Martin Luther King Jr. Highway when he got into a verbal argument with a man which resulted in the suspect stabbing the man multiple times. The man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Man hurt in Seat Pleasant stabbing The suspect was identified as 40-year-old Maurice Green Jr. of Washington, D.C. Officers placed Green under arrest and charged him with first-degree assault. He is being held without bond. The weapon used was recovered by police. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) One person died following a rollover crash in the west Las Vegas valley Friday night. The crash took place shortly after 8 p.m. at Jones Boulevard and Cromwell Circle near Charleston Boulevard, police said. According to investigators, a sedan was speeding on Jones Boulevard, maneuvering around traffic before losing control, colliding with a cinder block, and flipping onto its roof. The driver, identified Monday as Ricky Hall, Jr., 37, of Las Vegas, was partially ejected from the vehicle, police said. One person has died following a rollover crash in the west Las Vegas valley. The crash took place shortly after 8 p.m. at Jones Boulevard and Cromwell Circle near Charleston Boulevard, police said. (KLAS) One person has died following a rollover crash in the west Las Vegas valley. The crash took place shortly after 8 p.m. at Jones Boulevard and Cromwell Circle near Charleston Boulevard, police said. (KLAS) One person has died following a rollover crash in the west Las Vegas valley. The crash took place shortly after 8 p.m. on Friday, May 10, 2024, at Jones Boulevard and Cromwell Circle near Charleston Boulevard, police said. (KLAS) The fatal crash represents the 64th traffic-related crash of 2024 for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Departments jurisdiction. It remains under investigation by LVMPD. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS. A Shelby man died in a shooting Friday, making it the second gun death this week, according to Shelby Police. Chief Brad Fraser said the two incidents are unrelated. On Friday, at 11:59 a.m., officers from the Shelby Police Department responded to the 600 block of East Warren Street in reference to reports of someone being shot, according to a press release. Once on scene, officers found a man suffering from a single gunshot wound at 605 E. Warren St., the release said. Cleveland County Emergency Medical Services and medical first responders responded to the scene and transported the man to Atrium Health Cleveland where he was later pronounced dead, according to police. Shelby Police are withholding the man's name, pending family notification. The Shelby Police Department Criminal Investigations Team is actively investigating this incident. At the time of therelease, no arrests had been made. On Monday, Shelby Police said 62-year-old Sarah Chambers was killed outside her home on Live Oak Street when gun shots were fired at a neighboring house. On Friday, Shelby Police said they had two 15-year-olds in custody and both had been charged with murder.Anyone with information concerning the incident on Warren Street is encouraged to contact the Shelby Police Department at 704-484-6845 or report information anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers of Cleveland County at 704-481-TIPS. This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Police say man killed in Shelby's second fatal shooting this week KANSAS CITY, Mo. The Kansas City Police Department responded to a shooting on Saturday morning that left one person dead at an apartment complex. According to KCPD, officers were dispatched to the 2600 block of East 29th Street and Prospect Avenue about a half-mile to Highway 71 just after 9 a.m. One killed in officer-involved shooting in Kansas City, Kansas When officers arrived on the scene, they were taken into one of the apartments units where they found an unresponsive man suffering from a gunshot wound. Police said they provided medical aid to the victim until EMS arrived, however, he was later pronounced dead on the scene. The victim was identified as 47-year-old Alvin L. Neal. According to KCPD, preliminary investigations indicate that the shooting happened over an argument. Detectives have identified an adult male as a potential suspect and are working to find him. Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android This is an ongoing investigation, police said. If you or anyone you know was around the area during the shooting or heard anything, KCPD asks that you call homicide detectives directly at (816) 234-5043 or reach out to the TIPS hotline anonymously at (816) 474-8477. Police are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information submitted anonymously through the TIPS hotline. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. MELROSE, The Bronx (PIX11) Police are searching for a man who allegedly used his belt like a lasso and choked a woman until she was unconscious and then raped her on a street in the Bronx last week. Late Friday afternoon, detectives identified the man as Kashaan Parks, 39. He has five prior arrests, according to the NYPD, and now they seek him in relation to the crime that cops describe as heinous. Its described similarly by residents in the area where it happened, near East 152nd Street and Third Avenue. I was really shocked to see someone take a belt thats a weapon and to use it around somebodys neck and just pull it like that, said Darlene Jackson, who said that shes lived in the area for 40 years. You have no defense against it, she continued, especially if youre going backwards. A man wrapped a belt around a womans neck and dragged her unconscious body between two parked cars before raping her on a Bronx street, according to police and a viral video. (NYPD) The woman who was targeted in the sex crime, which was captured on surveillance video, fell backward after her attacker came up from behind her with a wide belt that he threw over her head, and used to choke her. In the video, shes seen trying to remove the belt from around her neck, as the man pulls her to the ground. She passes out, and the man drags her between two parked cars, where he then sexually assaulted her, according to detectives. It happened around 5 a.m. on May 1. You could be going to work at that time in the morning, said Minnie Williams, another local resident. So I feel really sad. Williams was among many women in the area who said that they feel much less safe with the suspect still out there. Manhunt on after woman, 71, killed, another injured in Bushwick hit-and-run After I saw the video, said a Melrose resident who gave only her first name, Joannie, I was like, Im not going outside because I dont know whats going to happen to me, like what happened to this lady. Police said late on Friday afternoon that the woman, 45, knows the man who she says attacked her. Theyre familiar to each other from the neighborhood, said investigators. They also said that after the woman regained consciousness, she made her way to Lincoln Hospital, a trauma center four blocks away. That move was praised by advocates for survivors of sexual assaults. Cynthia Amadeo is the CEO of Barrier Free Living, a Bronx-based support network for survivors of violence. To go to the hospital, and tell the police, and seek out resources for herself, said Amadeo, that was an amazing thing that she was able to do for herself. Detectives said that the woman got help, but didnt report the crime at first. Instead, they said, she was arrested recently for petit larceny, and thats when she told investigators about what had happened. They said the video of her being pursued, lassoed, choked, dragged and raped shows just how intensely violent the crime was. That video can also be instructive, said Amadeo, the head of the survivor advocacy organization. She said that it shows what survivors can and should do. This person sought help, this person spoke up, Amadeo said. It can send a message to other survivors of sex crimes, who are many times less willing to come forward about what has happened to them, according to survivors advocate. She said that the message to fellow survivors about coming forward is, Maybe I can too. Maybe theres justice out there for me. She said that its vital that after a sex crime even months afterward, or longer survivors contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (800) 656-HOPE (4673). For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11. Pomona College has moved Sunday's commencement ceremony 30 miles away to the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, after pro-Palestine protesters set up an encampment this week on the ceremony stage. Tickets will be required to attend the 6 p.m. event, which the college said will include additional security measures. The college will provide transportation services to graduates. "We are deeply grateful for your patience in this extraordinary situation and we look forward to honoring our graduates on Sunday. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience of these changes made to ensure that the Class of 2024 can graduate with their loved ones in attendance," Pomona officials wrote in a statement on their website. The decision follows a decision by USC to cancel the traditional main campus commencement ceremony and instead hold an alternative celebration at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum this past Thursday, which featured fireworks and a drone show. As at USC, pro-Palestine protests have roiled the Pomona campus, with student activists demanding that the college publicly call for a cease-fire and divest college endowment funds from corporations tied to Israels war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the occupation of the West Bank. In April, police wearing riot gear arrested 19 protesters who had occupied the college presidents office. "Pomona is feeling the pressure. Admin would rather spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to move graduation instead of engaging with student demands," activists with Pomona Divest From Apartheid wrote in an Instagram post following Pomona's announcement. "What we are doing is working. We are strong and united!" 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. Residents watch as excavators and bulldozers bring down their homes in the Mathare area of Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, May. 8, 2024. The Kenyan government ordered the evacuation of people from flood-prone areas, resulting in the demolition of houses and the loss of at least one life in the melee caused by the forced evictions. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga) NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) Winnie Makinda, 35, says she is facing the worst crisis and lowest moment of her life because of the Kenyan government's response to floods that devastated her poor community in the capital of Nairobi. The floods and mudslides swept away people and inundated homes, killing at least 267 people and impacting more than 380,000, according to government statistics. The floods are fueled by unusually heavy rainfall during Kenya's rainy season which starts in March and sometimes extends up to June. Hardest hit are people living close to rivers, including the Mathare River running through Nairobi. In order to save lives in the future, the government last week ordered evacuations and the demolition of structures and buildings that had been built illegally within 30 meters of river banks. Officials say at least 181,000 people have been moved since last week and that measures have been taken to provide temporary shelter, food and other essentials. But the demolitions have only led to more suffering as those affected say they are being carried out in a chaotic and inhumane way. At least three people have died in the past week when bulldozers brought down structures on top of them, according to rights groups, family members of the deceased and residents who spoke to The Associated Press. Among those killed was Makinda's 17-year-old Ian Otieno, who was crushed to death when an excavator brought down a wall of the Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa church while he was inside helping save property. The driver of the excavator refused to listen to the pleas by the women that there were children inside the church, Makinda said amid sobs. Otieno was the only one of her eight children attending school and he carried the familys hopes for a better future. A single parent of four sons and four daughters, Makinda faces forceful eviction this week from the $15-a-month tin shack she calls home in Kenyas populous Mathere slums. One of her children is suffering from sickle cell anemia that often leaves her bed-ridden and in need of costly treatment and her youngest needs frequent medical attention after being scalded by boiling water around the torso. Overwhelmed by her situation Makinda tried to jump into the raging waters of the Mathare River to end the stress." Luckily, her neighbors stopped her on Wednesday and calmed her by giving her a local moonshine called Changaa popular in rural and low-income areas of the capital. Makinda makes $2 day washing other peoples clothes and says she can barely afford one proper meal a day for her children let alone pay hospital bills. And now she has to raise money for her son's burial, a costly exercise for most people in western Kenya, and move to a new house. My son's body is lying in the mortuary without preservation because I have not paid. I cannot even afford transportation to the morgue, she said. Like hundreds of poor Kenyans whose houses are being demolished, Makinda feels betrayed and abandoned by the government. Some say they were evicted without the legally recommended three-month notice period that should be given before action is taken. They also say they have not received the $75 in aid to look for alternative accommodation that President William Ruto has pledged. Millicent Otondo, 48, a mother of three, lost both her home and her 20-year-old business during this week's demolition. The caretaker of a five-story building that was brought down, Otondo recounted how engineers marked the building housing her shop and home for demolition, which prompted people to break into it and steal her entire stock. I am really bitter because police stood by as people looted my belongings, Otondo said from a local primary school where she has received temporary shelter. Otondo says she has not received the $75 and even if she did, it wouldn't cover her rent and is a drop in a bucket compared to the $6,000 in losses from her property that was looted. She also wondered why the building was demolished despite having been found not to be in within 30 meters off the river bank. The government has defended itself against opposition accusations it was ill-prepared for the impact of the floods despite early warnings. The magnitude of the weather extremes we are facing, I don't think anyone would be prepared for the weather extremes we are seeing, Environment Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya said in an interview with local broadcaster Citizen TV. Some parts of this country have never seen floods before. Experts say the devastating rains are a result of a mix of factors, including the countrys seasonal weather patterns, human-caused climate change as well as natural weather phenomena. However, observers point out that the government received early warnings of the floods from the metrological department in October. This is hypocrisy, and insensitivity of the highest order, said rights activist Boniface Mwangi. The government knew the floods were coming, and even set aside 10 billion ($76 million) to prepare a nationwide response. What happened to those funds? He said the government also abdicated its responsibility by allowing the building of houses on land near rivers and swamps. Greed is the reason people are dying. Corrupt civil servants approved, and issued title deeds for riparian lands, he said. And amid the death and destruction caused by floods, the government is demolishing houses in the name of bringing development through a government affordable housing program, he said. Demolishing peoples homes in the name of affordable housing is a sign that we have a tone deaf government. People living in shanties cant afford to pay for houses costing millions. Their entire life's wages cant buy any of the houses the government is building, Mwangi said. But it is the bulldozing of people's homes during a rainy season that he calls the most inhumane. Why would you kick someone out of their home in this season? Mwangi asked. Poor people have been violated by the weather, and brutalized by their government. Pro-Israel protesters call on traitor Chuck Schumer to resign: Chuck the Chuck Dozens of Israel supporters protested outside traitor Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumers office in Manhattan on Friday, calling on him to resign for backstabbing Israel and allegedly staying silent as antisemitism rages across college campuses. The demonstration came days after the New York senator told reporters he has faith in President Bidens decision to withhold weapons for Israels invasion of Rafah, a move the protesters strongly condemned. Schumer, the doomer! Its time to resign! yelled the crowd of about 40 protesters outside his Midtown office. Dozens of pro-Israel protesters rally outside Sen. Chuck Schumers Manhattan office Friday. Steve Vago/NY Post Upper East Side resident Silvia called Schumer a sniveling coward for not supporting Israels looming siege in Rafah. Start with the arms, the bottom line, she told The Post. Send as much arms to Israel as they do to Ukraine. Schumer is like a rock, nothing will move him. He is what he is, a putrid human being, said the 80-year-old. A rep for Schumer pointed out that the senator recently helped pass $14 billion in direct aid to Israel. These statements are lies. The senator just delivered $14 billion in aid Israel last week without conditions, the spokesman said. And he immediately spoke on the Senate floor the moment Columbia protesters came into the building, the rep added, referring to the storming of a campus building at Columbia University earlier this month. But Manhattan real-estate worker Joseph Borgen said Schumer was backstabbing Israel for supporting Bidens position on Rafah. I would like to see him step up and stand up to President Biden, he told The Post while draped in an Israeli flag. Attendees also held signs reading, Schmuck you dont represent American Jews, and Keffiyeh Chuckie is a disgrace. Chuck the Chuck! they screamed while waving Israeli and American flags. Schumer is a traitor! Schumer is a traitor! Protester Vivace Maxvictor was one of several demonstrators to call for Schumers resignation. Steve Vago/NY Post Schumer recently slammed anti-Israel rioters at Columbia University. AP The harsh words were in response to Schumer voicing support for Bidens controversial decision as the Israel-Hamas war reached nearly seven months. I believe that Israel and America have an ironclad relationship, and I have faith in what the Biden administration is doing, Schumer said Wednesday, according to a a report in The Hill. Demonstrators were also angered by the ongoing antisemitism that has has rocked college campuses, including a number of Big Apple schools. Antisemitism on college campuses has been blowing up out of control, Syrian Jewish refugee Abraham Hamra, 36, told the demonstrators. Out of control, and Schumer has been silent! Not a word! Hamra claimed. The Schumer rep noted that the senator publicly condemned the anti-Israel looting at Columbia University. Smashing windows with hammers and taking over university buildings is not free speech, Schumer said last month. It is lawlessness, and those who did it should promptly face the consequences that are not nearly a slap on the wrist. It is also unacceptable when Jewish students are being targeted for being Jewish, when protests exhibit verbal abuse, systemic intimidation or glorification of the murderous and hateful Hamas with violence of Oct. 7, he added. DAR ES SALAAM, May 11 (Xinhua) -- At least five artisanal miners were killed and four others injured after a gold mine collapsed in the Morogoro region of eastern Tanzania, police said Friday. The gold mine, named Alcaeda, collapsed on Wednesday at 4 p.m. local time (1300 GMT) following torrential rains that hit the Ulanga district, said Alex Mkama, the Morogoro regional police commander. Mkama said police have launched an investigation to confirm whether the mine was legally licensed. According to government data, Ulanga district is home to several minerals, including gold and graphite. Vengeful vandals spray-painted the $3.4 million Brooklyn townhouse house of a wealthy Columbia University protester. The front of James Carlsons three-story Park Slope home was peppered with black Stars of David, along with 7-10 and Never Again, both references to Hamas terrorists Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Vengeful vandals spray-painted the $3.4 million Brooklyn townhouse house of a wealthy Columbia University protester. J.C. Rice James Carlsons Park Slope home was graffitied with Stars of David and references to Hamas Oct. 7 attack. Carlson participated in the April 30 anti-Israel takeover of Columbias Hamilton Hall. REUTERS The graffiti, which likely was done Monday night and removed late Tuesday morning by workers renovating the posh protesters residence, was clearly some sort of revenge, one neighbor told The Post. Carlson, the son of millionaire ad execs Richard Dick Tarlow and Sandy Carlson Tarlow, participated in the April 30 anti-Israel takeover of Columbias Hamilton Hall. The longtime radical and outside agitator was caught on camera tussling with university janitor Mario Torres as rioters stormed the building. Carlson was charged with burglary, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, conspiracy and criminal trespassing. Carlson is the son of millionaire ad execs Richard Dick Tarlow and Sandy Carlson Tarlow. Zillow Additional reporting by J.C. Rice Idaho State Police arrested an adult woman in Boise on Friday night on suspicion of resisting or obstructing officers as pro-Palestine demonstrations continued near the Idaho Capitol. State police ordered protesters to vacate the grass adjacent to the Capitol for maintenance by 6:30 p.m. Friday, according to Aaron Snell, ISP spokesperson. At about 9:45 p.m., some protesters who have called for an immediate ceasefire still had not left when police returned, and tents, tables and food were confiscated, Snell said in a Saturday text message to the Idaho Statesman. The woman who was arrested initially refused to identify herself to police, Snell said. Boise police were called to assist ISP and provided support from the street near the downtown former courthouse, Boise police spokesperson Haley Kramer said in a Saturday email to the Statesman. Boise police made no arrests, she said. The female protester was booked into the Ada County Jail on a misdemeanor charge of resisting officers, according to the jail log. By Saturday afternoon, she was no longer listed in custody. Fridays arrest represents the latest escalation in state and local efforts to curb some anti-war protest near the Capitol in Boise over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Local demonstrations date to November after Hamas militants attacked Israeli border towns near the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7. The surprise invasion led to the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians and Israels military response that has lasted seven months and counting. More than 34,000 Palestinians have since been killed, local Gaza health officials have reported, according to the Associated Press. Protesters in Boise first established an encampment on the grounds near the Capitol last week. Theyve clashed with police in recent days, including over the tearing down of symbolic tents, the Statesman previously reported. On Thursday, Idaho Gov. Brad Little warned of stepped-up actions to detour demonstrations in the state capital that brush up against state law. My administration is committed to enforcing the law and protecting our Capitol and public from the dangers of illegal encampments. Idaho is not Portland, LA, San Francisco, or Seattle where public officials tolerate unsafe and destructive public camping, Little said in a statement. Idaho cherishes and protects our First Amendment rights to speech popular and unpopular alike but I will not tolerate any groups efforts to establish encampments that damage state property, create health and safety risks and interfere with other forms of public access. I am grateful for the prompt and consistent efforts of the Idaho State Police and Department of Administration, he added. UNC celebrates class of 2024 as pro-Palestinian protesters turn up on campus, at graduation UNC-Chapel Hills class of 2024 listened to an astronaut in Kenan Stadium on Saturday night, but first they heard, throughout the day, from the pro-Palestinian demonstrators who have brought national attention to their campus. Protesters turned up at a series of campus landmarks Saturday. At the UNC Bell Tower near the stadium, they established a new encampment, one that quickly disappeared as protesters moved to just outside South Building, which houses the chancellors office. They splattered red paint on South Buildings steps; maintenance workers later arrived to pressure-wash the steps. At the commencement ceremony Saturday night, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, a two-time graduate of the school, delivered a keynote address that she said was scarier for her than the prospect of her first space flight that will soon take her to the International Space Station. UNC graduates toss their mortar boards into the air at the conclusion of UNC Chapel Hills commencement ceremonies at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, May 11, 2024. Ethan Hyman/ehyman@newsobserver.com Then, as interim Chancellor Lee Roberts said, Youre Tar Heels, forever in the final moments of his charge to graduates, several people started moving up the center aisle carrying two Palestinian flags. The protesters were quickly met with boos, people shouting this is America and USA! USA! Within moments, police had ushered them off the turf. Immediately after, Roberts thanked the university staff. Palestinian flags are taken from protesters as they walk out of UNC Chapel Hills commencement ceremonies at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, May 11, 2024. Ethan Hyman/ehyman@newsobserver.com Protesters and police at the Old Well It has been a tumultuous few weeks for UNC and other schools across the country, with protests of Israels ongoing war against Hamas in response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. Protesters have called for UNC to disclose any investments tied to Israel in its endowment and then divest from them. Theyve also called on UNC to end study-abroad programs that send students to Israel and acknowledge the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Unlike schools such as the University of Southern California and Columbia University, UNC chose to press on with commencement despite the protests. The university did adopt a policy limiting bags that could be brought into commencement ceremonies to clear bags or small clutches. Additionally, the school required graduates to present their student identification cards to access the seating area. Protesters on Saturday, including two in graduation robes, chanted behind graduates taking pictures near the Old Well. Around 5:15 p.m., a group of about 100 protesters circled the Old Well. UNC police officers tried to keep a break in the circle so that a handful of remaining students who wanted pictures at the landmark could get them. Then, shortly after 5:30, Orange County Sheriffs Office deputies arrived. When a handful of protesters climbed onto the Old Well, deputies and UNC police wrestled them off. Nobody was arrested. After that, police and deputies gathered on the sidewalk near the well while protesters climbed onto it and gathered around it. Protesters placed a tent with the Palestinian flag draped on it on the wells granite base for a moment. Carolina doesnt belong to you A previous encampment was broken up by UNC and other police from UNC system schools in the early morning hours of April 30. That led to charges for 36 people, with 30 of them cited with trespassing for refusing to leave Polk Place, UNCs main quad, The News & Observer previously reported. Later that afternoon, there was a clash between pro-Palestinian protesters and university police after protesters brought the American flag down and tried to replace it with a Palestinian flag. Ultimately, Roberts led UNC police to the chaotic scene and worked to re-hang the U.S. flag. In his welcome address to Saturdays graduates, Roberts said, Being the university of the people means that we contain all that is great and all that is troubling about our society. He continued, It means that Carolina doesnt belong to you. It sure doesnt belong to me. It doesnt belong to any one person or group. The university is something we share. Boos that initially punctuated Roberts remarks turned to cheers as he concluded his thought. Antisemitism legislation Some Jewish groups said the timing of the encampments coincided with Passover, a major holiday for Jewish people that celebrates the liberation of Jews from slavery in Egypt. This past week, the N.C. House of Representatives backed legislation adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances working definition of antisemitism. That definition would be used to provide training on antisemitism and to report and track antisemitic incidents, according to the bill. The IHRA defines antisemitism as a certain perception of Jews that can includes rhetorical and physical manifestations of hatred toward Jewish people or their property. Some have criticized the definition, saying it could chill constitutionally protected speech, particularly critiques of the government of Israel. The bill passed with a near-unanimous 105-4 vote. It will now head to the Senate. In his recent interview with Time magazine, Donald Trump shared a litany of false grievances and real promises should he return to the White House. His promises include, among other things, authoritarian power grabs, administrative cronyism, mass deportations of the undocumented, harassment of women over abortion, trade wars and vengeance brought upon his rivals and enemies. Meanwhile, even before getting creamed in court this week, the pestilent juvenile delinquent redirected his grievance to avoid the courtrooms gag order . to his nemesis, special counsel Jack Smith, who indicted Trump in both the federal election interference case. and the classified documents case.. So late last Friday evening on Truth Social, the former president first posted, ARREST DERANGED JACK SMITH. HE IS A CRIMINAL. Then, over that weekend at a Mar-a-Lago retreat for his biggest donors, he once again referred to Smith as deranged and an evil thug. Wrapping up his truculent remarks, as reported by the Washington Post, the projector-in-chief then called Smith a f***ing a**hole, adding that Biden and the Democrats were running a Gestapo administration. During dinner at the same fundraiser, Trump slamed environmental protection rules and asked big oil for $1 billion. In return, the corrupt Boss promised them more tax breaks. He would also on day one if re-elected, Trump vowed, do away with Bidens executive order regulations and scrap his policies on electric vehicles, according to The New York Times. Project 2025 is a coalition of 100 organizations under the leadership of the far-right Heritage Foundation with the goal of institutionalizing Trumpism. Last fall the Washington Post wrote: Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term; with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on the first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrators. Authoritarian expert and author of Strongman: Mussolini to the Present Ruth Ben-Ghat describes Project 2025 as a plan for an authoritarian takeover of America that goes by a deceptively neutral name. It brings together all of the ideological strands that supported Trump during his first presidency, and more who have joined the battle since then, such as white Christian nationalists and far-right Catholics who favor the lessening or abolition of the separation of Church and State. In discussing the history of autocracy, Ben-Ghat explains that conservative elites have always played a big role. These elites may also be extremists themselves hiding behind a veneer of respectability or they may ally with ordinary extremists striking an authoritarian bargain with the demagogue of the hour who they believe will save their own status in society and advance their ideological agendas. The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Steven Hahn in his latest book, Illiberal America: A History, reminds us that in the United States the beliefs in illiberal democracies, if not authoritarianism, are as American as apple or cherry pies. In opposition to the ideals of liberalism and justice for all, Americans have long been animated by competing values, equally deep-seated in which the illiberal will of the community overrides individual rights, and often protects itself by excluding perceived threats, whether on grounds of race, religion, gender, economic status or ideology. As many others, myself included, have argued Trump was not the first politician and he wont be the last one to capitalize on American anti-democratic sentiments, state criminality, and klan-like community mob violence. Although the insurrectionist-in-chief, four times criminally indicted former president, and presumptive three-time nominee for commander-in-chief by the GOP is unequivocally the most successful authoritarian in U.S. history. In a recent Raw Story commentary, Inside the Trump Crime Syndicate and MAGA cabinet of knaves and rogues, I compared the damages of Donald Trumps 2020 election interference and failed coup on Jan. 6 with the damages of Richard Nixons 1972 re-election campaign and the failed Watergate break-in and coverup. I also assessed the accountability of the associates of the Trump Crime Syndicate and MAGA kitchen cabinet with those indicted and convicted members of Nixons inner circles whose crimes were either directly or indirectly ordered by the president. Among other things, I underscored that the Trumpian world has to a large extent already normalized the abuse of executive power as well as the abuse of legislative and judicial power, which all seem to be beyond incrimination. The executive abuse of power and the accountability of the perpetrators was not difficult to compare. The legal and political reactions of the American people or the body politic to Nixon 50 years ago and Trump today are as different as night and day. Politics aside in 1974, Democrats and Republicans alike, officials and non-officials, elites and everyday people were in agreement that what the POTUS had done was criminal and that he should be held liable for his abuse of power. Everybody was united against President Nixon and we were all pleased by his resignation from office. Mostly, because he was obviously guilty as charged and we wanted to believe that no person is above the law. Nixon had no defenders to speak of lunatics or otherwise like Trump does. With respect to the presumptive 2024 presidential candidate and man currently on trial for 34 felonies in a Manhattan courthouse, Americans could not be more divided or polarized about what constitutes a crime and who the real criminals are, then when it comes to the prosecution versus the persecution of Donald Trump. As for the two other branches of power, there were neither the widespread abuses of the legislature nor a Supreme Court without any delay in calling out and sanctioning Nixon tout de suite in response to the Watergate break-in and coverup. Both Nixon and his associates were held accountable in a reasonably short period of time unlike Trump and his associates who have committed far worse crimes that threaten then and now American democracy and the rule of law. I finished my comparative examination of presidential immunity, politics, and punishment as follows: Paradoxically, it may seem strange given the reaction of the Republicans and the Department of Justice to Nixon and Watergate, that Trump and his election interference crimes have been given a free pass by the Supreme Court. With respect to Trumps inner circles, a few have already pleaded guilty and many more will be held to account regardless of whether Trump is, although this is certainly a reflection on a man who boasted of surrounding himself with the best and brightest the nation has to offer. With respect to Trump and the balance of powers scheme of things, I was able to scrutinize the accountability of the executive abuse of power. I could not, however, do the same with respect to the other two branches of political power: legislative and juridical. In the case of Congress, there has been no accountability of any kind for those GOP House of Representatives who immorally and without any legal justification refused to certify the election of Joe Biden. Simultaneously, there were also other more deeply involved Republican power players participating in the plot to overturn the 2020 election. They have yet to be criminally investigated aside from the House Select Committee for their co-conspiring roles to interfere with the results of the 2020 election. These unaccounted for individuals are not limited to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-OH, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI. In the case of the Supreme Court, there will likely never be any accountability. Unless those blameworthy, anti-14th Amendment justices, are impeached for the first time in U.S. history for obstructing justice. Not unlike the reasoning of Trump who has complained about witch hunts and overzealous prosecutors, the conservative justices who during oral argument the week before last were skeptical of the Jan. 6 prosecution of Trump. Chief Justice John Roberts went so far as to slam the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that unanimously denied the former presidents immunity claim. Likewise, professor of law at Harvard, Jack Goldsmith, writing for Lawfare maintains, no, the justices were not normalizing the president as a crime boss. I beg to differ. I understand perfectly well the excuse Goldsmith is making on behalf of the justices. Sure, there were other issues related to immunity that the court had a right to take up. Even so, these had nothing to do with Trumps crimes or his criminal behavior as president. For their part, the justices were playing dodgeball as they zig-zagged around refusing to acknowledge, let alone, deal with the rogue elephant that on appeal should never have been granted entree into their courtroom in the first place. Meanwhile, their diversionary hypotheticals were not only insulting to the office of the presidency and to American Democracy, they were also totally irrelevant or off the legal mark. Talk about a lame and corrupt Trumpian court of law. Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. The political lack of accountability for the roles played by actors in the legislative branch before and after Jan. 6 and by the Supreme Court three years after the failed coup are massive derelictions of both constitutional duty and commonwealth responsibility. As for Trumps fraudulent patterns of electioneering, these began in 2016 and have never stopped. The first time he ran for president, Trump engaged in election interference while colluding with the Russians and manufactured false stories about his political opponents while catching and killing sexual dalliances with America Media, Inc. and its publication the National Enquirer. Once before and once after the 2020 presidential race, the U.S. House of Representatives impeached Trump for election interference. The first case involved President Trump extorting President Zelensky of Ukraine to find some dirt on Joe Biden, or at least, to say out loud that there would be some kind of investigation. The second case was for Jan. 6. Both times the presumptive 2024 GOP nominee escaped culpability because of jury nullification carried out by the Boss Republican knaves in the Senate. Presently, according to Rolling Stone magazine, Trump and the Republicans are doing everything to rig the 2024 election. Similarly, J. Michael Luttig who served for 15 years as a conservative judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District, maintains that should the Republicans lose to Biden for a second time, they have a new and improved blueprint in place to steal the 2024 presidential election just as they had one in place to steal 2020. Rolling Stone claims that Trump and his allies have been working since his 2020 defeat to game the system in his favor ahead of a third run at the White House. These include auditioning lawyers to challenge the 2024 election; working to stop states from using data provided by Electronic Information Center (ERIC) to spot voting irregularities and identify unregistered voters''; and trying to promote a MAGA version of ERIC as some kind of alternative. Judge Luttig states that January 6 was never about a stolen election or even about actual voting fraud. It was always and only about an election that Trump lost fair and square, under legislatively promulgated election rules in a handful of swing states that he and other Republicans contend were unlawfully changed by state election officials and state courts to expand the right and opportunity to vote, largely in response to the Covid pandemic. Since 2020 more than 560 new laws governing elections have gone into effect. According to voting rights experts, a slate of new voting rights laws in red battleground states could serve as a preview for how changes to ballot access may offset the outcome of the 2024 general election for president. So far in 2024, 40 states have passed new voting laws. Fourteen of those have enacted laws that will make it harder to vote. For example, targeting voter registration, enforcing stricter voter ID laws, and loosening up on restrictions for poll watchers to make intimidation easier. Provisions such as these, according to the Brennan Center of Justice, create burdens on voters of color, and advantages for the Republicans. Finally, these new restrictive voting laws are undermining the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was passed into law during the height of the civil rights movement in order to prohibit racial discrimination in voting. And to finally make good on some of the empty promises of the 14th amendment as the U.S. was about to celebrate its hundredth anniversary. Federal jury convicts a man in hammer attack on former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, in San Francisco By Steve Gorman (Reuters) - The man who broke into former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home and clubbed her husband with a hammer should serve 40 years in prison for his conviction on federal offenses that amount to a crime of terrorism, prosecutors urged on Friday. In a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, prosecutors said David Wayne DePape has shown no remorse, deserves no leniency and should receive the statutory maximum penalties for each of the two counts on which he was convicted last year. "At a time when extremism has led to attacks on public and elected officials, this case presents a moment to speak to others harboring ideologically motivated violent dreams and plans," the memorandum said. Sentencing is set for May 17. In November, a federal court jury found DePape guilty of attempting to kidnap Pelosi, then speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and assaulting her husband, Paul Pelosi, both on account of her official duties as a member of Congress. Prosecutors recommended that DePape receive the maximum jail term for each count - 20 years for attempted kidnapping and 30 years for assault - with 20 years of the second count consecutive to the first, for a total of 40 years behind bars. Although he was not convicted of committing terrorism, DePape's offenses - a week before the 2022 congressional midterm elections - met the federal definition of terrorism as a crime "calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion," prosecutors argued. Prosecutors counted that circumstance as a sentencing "enhancement." DePape forced his way into Pelosi's San Francisco home in the early hours of Oct. 28, 2022, confronted her husband and clubbed him over the head with a hammer before police who were called to the scene managed to subdue the intruder. The House speaker, second in the constitutional line of succession to the presidency, was away in Washington at the time. Paul Pelosi, then 82, was hospitalized for several days with skull fractures and injuries to his hands and right arm. Evidence at trial showed that DePape, a Canadian citizen who had been in the United States illegally for 14 years at the time of the attack, was driven by far right-wing conspiracy theories, embracing the fictions spread by the extremist QAnon movement. The sentencing memorandum cited DePape's own trial testimony, in which he acknowledged his intention was to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, interrogate her and break her kneecaps if she were found to be lying. The jury also heard the recording of an interview DePape gave to a television station in 2023, saying he was "sorry I didn't get more of them. ... I should have come better prepared." In addition to asserting DePape's lack of remorse, prosecutors said the toughest possible sentence was warranted because of the gravity of the crime and to deter similar acts by others. DePape still faces separate state charges stemming from the Pelosi break-in and attack, including attempted murder, that carry a potential sentence of 13 years to life in prison. He has pleaded not guilty. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Whats happening As pro-Palestinian protests have spread to college campuses across the country, students involved have made one specific demand more than any other: that their universities divest from all financial ties with Israel. Chants like Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest! have been heard consistently at demonstrations on dozens of campuses throughout the U.S. over the past several weeks. Though the specifics vary, in general the students want colleges to reveal where theyre investing their endowment funds which in some cases amount to tens of billions of dollars and sell off any stakes they have that could be seen as supporting Israels assault on Gaza. Collectively, American universities have an estimated $840 billion in endowment funds, which they invest in a variety of ways to expand their holdings and cover expenses. Most of that money goes into investment funds or other complicated financial instruments, but some of it is also invested in individual companies. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement At certain schools, the protesters demands are relatively narrow. At Brown University, for example, a group of students is asking the administrators to divest from a small number of companies, including weapons manufacturers with close ties to the Israeli military. At other schools, the calls for divestment are much more ambitious. Columbia University protesters want their college to pull out of any investments in firms they believe are supporting Israel, reportedly including massive companies like Google, Amazon and Airbnb. Most universities have either ignored protesters divestment demands or rejected them outright. So far, it appears that only one school has acceded. On Tuesday, Sacramento State University pledged to divest from corporations and funds that profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights. Why theres debate There is some precedent for universities altering their investments in response to political pressure. In the 1980s, the anti-apartheid movement successfully convinced more than 100 colleges to cut ties with South Africa. More recently, some schools have divested from controversial industries like tobacco, private prisons and fossil fuel production. Some Israel supporters view divestment along with the protests in general as inherently antisemitic. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement But even among those who are less ideologically opposed to the idea, there is a lot of skepticism that the push for divestment from Israel will make much of a difference. First, protesters would have to have the leverage to convince their schools to actually change their financial strategies and take on any losses that may come from doing so. Even then, many financial experts say modern investing is so complex and interwoven that it would be unfeasible, if not impossible, for colleges to untangle themselves from any company doing business with Israel. Others say that the entire debate is centered around an amount of money that is simply too small to matter, regardless of what colleges do. Advocates say divestment is still important despite all of its limitations. They argue that students have a right to have a say in where schools invest. Some also believe that winning concessions on divestment could be a powerful symbolic victory for the broader pro-Palestinian movement and also create a stigma against doing business with Israel that could eventually grow to a point where it does make a measurable impact. Whats next While it seems extremely unlikely that Americas universities are going to start divesting from Israel en masse any time soon, there are a handful of examples showing that even small concessions on the part of administrators in some cases, nothing more than a promise to consider the proposals in the future can be enough to bring the protests on their campuses to an end without violent police intervention. Perspectives Divestment would be challenging, but its not impossible Divestment from Israel would not be straightforward. It might not be immediate. But it is certainly possible. Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Calls for divestment are nothing but wasted breath Resisting magical thinking about how financial markets work would help [protesters] better direct their efforts today. The Economist Protesters should put their energy toward getting their schools to help Gazans directly I wish there would be more demands from the protesters for university endowments and other actors to spend money in Gaza, rather than to divest from Israel. Gaza is in need of an unprecedented rebuilding effort, after the massive destruction resulting from the war. Dany Bahar, Forward Divestment is more of a political message than a tangible goal Whether universities ultimately divest and whether that has any material financial impact on Israel might be less important to the protesters than whether their calls for divestment alone can make the status quo politically untenable. Nicole Narea, Vox ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement It doesnt matter whether colleges divest from Israel or not You can do this, but it wont make much difference. By holding a few shares bought on the secondary market, Columbia University isnt helping Israels war effort, and divesting wouldnt hinder it. John Authers, Bloomberg Divestment is a strong issue for protesters to rally around Divestment appears to be more of a rhetorical demand by those seeking an end to the Israel-Hamas war than it is a pragmatic strategy to bring about that end. Dan Primack, Axios Small-scale divestment is possible, but anything more is a fantasy We are so much more entwined than we were 50 years ago. If you said, I do not want any investment in any company that has anything to do with Israel, theyd have to sell pretty much everything. It would be a nightmare. But if you want just those with the most exposure, that might be more possible. Ray Hill, finance professor at Emory University, to Atlanta Journal-Constitution ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Theres zero chance that divestment will change the course of the war Its harder still to translate divestments small effect on companies into a change in the policies of the countries where those companies are headquartered. Countries such as Russia and Iran have persisted for years in the face of sanctions far more punishing than anything that the Columbia endowment, or all university endowments, could possibly impose. Megan McArdle, Washington Post If colleges divest, other firms will have to answer why theyre not doing the same Divestment itself doesn't really influence the companies or the industries being targeted directly. It's more the stigma created and drawing attention to the issue more broadly. Todd Ely, professor of public affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, to NPR The public is invited to join Partners of Scott County Watersheds (PSCW) to celebrate the opening of the Crow Creek Wildlife Management Area Boat Ramp, according to a news release. The Improving Public Access and Usability at Crow Creek Wildlife Management Area project was completed in October of 2023 with partnership from Iowas Department of Natural Resources, River Action, Inc., Iowa American Water, and Scott County Regional Authority. The goal of the project was to improve the sustainability, accessibility, usability, safety, water quality, biodiversity, aquatic habitat, and stewardship of Crow Creek Wildlife Management Area. This was completed by establishing a boat ramp, undergoing trail improvements, adding educational signage, and the continuation of water quality monitoring three times a year. On June 1, PSCW will have a work day to continue removing invasive species, cleaning up trash, and working on further improvements from 9 a.m.-noon at Crow Creek Wildlife Management Area, 21111 Scott Park Road, Davenport. The public is invited to a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. by the boat ramp. To participate in the work day, register here. Contact Liv Humphrey, watershed coordinator, for more information at liv@nahantmarsh.org. For more information about the project, visit here. You can learn more about Partners of Scott County Watersheds and the Crow Creek WMA project here. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. I remember the first time I listened to Drake. I was in high school and he had just released his first studio album in 2010, Thank Me Later. I got to the fourth song, Over and was hooked. I had never heard anyone as clever with rhymes or as smooth and elegant while presenting them. Before that moment, I didnt feel connected to any artist but as a mixed-race person, I felt represented by Drake, who is also biracial. I not only enjoyed his music but identified with his personal experiences that were the inspirations for his art and showed me the beauty and power of music. Opinion This is one reason why the public battle between the 36-year-old Drake, a Canadian, and fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar has tested my loyalty to Drake, aka Drizzy. The two Rap stars have accused each other of some pretty heinous things. Lamar, the 36-year-old from Compton has released numerous diss songs about Drake, accusing him of having an 11-year-old daughter and of being a pedophile. (For the uninitiated, a diss song is a personal expression of disrespect from the artist to the songs subject.) The other day, I overheard a gentleman in Midtown giving his opinion of the lyrical fight. Man, Drake lost that battle, one person said. Hes a predator. It took everything in me not to turn around and give this guy a piece of my mind. This battle doesnt carry the weight of entire regions like the East Coast vs West Coast beef of the 90s, but it features two men who are the current faces of modern hip-hop. It also signifies a rupture between two styles and subcultures that had coexisted begrudgingly until this conflict The rappers had a rigid relationship for some time, but then Drakes song First Person Shooter, from the album For All the Dogs, was released last October. In the track, featured guest J. Cole referred to himself, Drake, and Lamar as the big three. Lamar took exception in March when featured on Futures Like That by rejecting that Drake and J. Cole were on his level. Lamar is a significant cultural figure who became the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize for music, in 2018, for his album DAMN. In total, there have been nine diss tracks between Drake and Lamar in the last three weeks. It could go down as one of the most polarizing beefs in hip-hop history and not just because of the high viewership. Euphoria, one of Lamars diss tracks, set the record, previously held by Drake, for the most streams in a single day for any solo rap song in the first 24 hours after it dropped. In this song, Lamar aimed at Drake for being biracial by questioning his sexuality and just downright hating on him. I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress, Lamar rapped. As a long-time fan of Drake, even I can say, he was not ready for this onslaught of disses. Watching my favorite rapper go toe to toe with no holds barred Lamar evoked Rocky Balboa standing helplessly while Ivan Drago killed Apollo Creed in Rocky IV. At some point, the towel must be thrown. On May 7, days after Drakes latest response to Lamars disses, police responded to a reported shooting outside the rappers mansion in Toronto. One of his security guards were seriously wounded by gunfire. The security guard has not been identified and Drake has not made a public statement on the subject. A line in the sand The vitriol between Lamar and Drake demonstrates the influence of hip-hop culture for better and worse. Lamar chose to attack Drake by mocking his mixed-race heritage, and family. And calling him a pedophile was the uppercut in a brutal and quick combo. This wasnt just to win a match, but to end Drakes credibility and potentially his career. Lamar believes himself to be a torch bearer for hip-hop, a lyrical poet molded by a rough upbringing that included abuse and violence. This experience is a far cry from Drakes, a former child actor living in the suburbs of Toronto. The optimist in me hopes that these men and their divergent life experiences can coexist in hip-hop. These two different paths, as contrasting as they are, both led these artists to stardom. One does not define hip-hop better than the other. We shouldnt try to exclude people from hip-hop based on who they are, we should accept them. There is also irony in Lamars attacks on Drake. In a previous song, The Heart Part 5, he rapped In a land where hurt people hurt people, [expletive] calling it culture. Now hes attacking another artist, calling him a pedophile. If this beef continues, which all signs say it will, the real victim in this is the hip-hop culture. These two are giants currently in the industry. They dont just rap, but they embody a style, a vibe. As a mixed person, I felt that Lamars willingness to attack Drake for being biracial sets our culture back. Putting someone down for their background creates a culture of gatekeeping. Hip Hop should respect individuality and accept everyone who takes part in it. Russia was launching constant shelling against Kharkiv Saturday, according to a readout from the National Police. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has had two briefings from his Commander-in-Chief, Alexander Syrsky, on Saturday. Russia attacked with airstrikes in Vilcha, Liptsy, Liman, Izbitskoye, Veseloye, Petrovka, Kazachya Lopan, Sinelnikovo, Volchansk in Kharkiv, according to an assessment from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The situation is incredibly difficult, the head of the Vovchansk military administration, Tamaz Hambarashvili, said, according to the AP. Russia has primarily focused its war effort on Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, with only marginal gains. But in recent weeks, Russia has been focusing attacks on energy infrastructure in what may have been an attempt to prepare for further assault, the AP reported. The timing is sensitive for Ukraine, which has been suffering from a thinly stretched military and resources in recent months. The focus of the attack is likely aimed at bogging Ukrainian resources down in Kharkiv to dilute Ukraines focus on thwarting Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said. So far, the operation had given Russia tactically significant gains, the ISW said. Russia claimed it had captured five villages between Kharkiv and Russia. Russia began its surprise offensive in the Vovchansk community on Friday three miles from the Russian border, killing at least two civilians, Oleg Sinegubov, the head of the regional administration, said in a post on Telegram. Ukraine had won Vovchansk back from Russian occupation early in the war. Nearly 1,000 residents had evacuated Kharkiv between Friday and Saturday, according to figures from the National Police According to AP journalists on the ground, buildings were destroyed and others were on fire Saturday. Sky News reported smoke billowing out from buildings. Ukraine was working to strengthen its positions in Kharkiv, Zelensky said in an address on Saturday. Our defense operations continue in the Kharkiv region, Zelensky said. Disrupting Russian offensive plans is now the number one task. Accomplishing this task depends on every soldier, every sergeant, every officer. The onslaught comes weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted that he may seek to establish what he called a buffer zone between Russia and Ukrainebut on only Ukrainian territory. Analysts at the time believed that his statements could be laying the groundwork to force a zone on Ukrainian territory that is painted like a peaceful buffer between Ukraine and Russia, when in actuality it may be a cover for forced annexation of Ukrainian territory by another name. The operation is also likely aimed at pushing Ukrainian forces back from Belgorod in Russia as well, according to the ISW. Russian forces will likely leverage their tactical foothold in northern Kharkiv Oblast in the coming days to intensify offensive operations and pursue the initial phase of an offensive effort likely intended to push back Ukrainian forces from the border with Belgorod Oblast, ISW analysts said. Ukrainian forces have been waging attacks for months against Belgorod that have put Russia on the backfoot, evacuating residents as Ukraine takes the fight to Russian soil. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhua) -- China will host a series of events from May 17 to 19 to commemorate International Museum Day, with the Qin Han Museum of the Shaanxi History Museum serving as the main venue, according to the country's cultural heritage authority. On May 18, which coincides with International Museum Day, the Qin Han Museum of the Shaanxi History Museum will officially open. In the meantime, a series of major exhibitions highlighting the Qin and Han civilizations, as well as a museum night activity, will be launched, said Luo Wenli, deputy head of the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA), at a press conference on Friday. This year's celebration will center on the role of museums in education and research, showcasing the latest achievements in the development of museums, and strengthening the connection between museums and the public. Additionally, a range of celebration events will also be held across the country under the guidance of the NCHA. China officially joined the International Council of Museums in 1983 and has organized International Museum Day events every year since then. HARARE, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called for an increase in child-centered climate investments to reduce the risk of shocks caused by climate change on children in the country. With Zimbabwe currently facing the effects of climate-induced El Nino, many children in the country, among other vulnerable groups, are exposed to the impacts of the drought, UNICEF said in a statement on Friday. "We are launching a petition to urge government entities, development partners, and the private sector to prioritize children in their climate investments. We are also calling for more funding of climate resilient programs to ensure continued access to health, education, water and sanitation services, nutrition, and child protection services, and for programs to strengthen the resilience of households to deal with the climate-related emergencies," UNICEF said. The UN agency noted that Zimbabwe's children have not been spared from the risks posed by climate change-induced events, with the country ranking high risk in the 2021 UNICEF Children's Climate Risk Index. The current El Nino crisis affecting large parts of Zimbabwe highlights climate-related emergencies that are impacting the lives of children at a time when the country is also faced with public health emergencies related to cholera and polio, putting Zimbabwe into a complex, multi-dimensional humanitarian crisis, the UNICEF said. Already, UNICEF, in partnership with the Zimbabwean government and other development partners, is scaling up programs to develop climate-resilient programs to empower children as catalysts for change and environmental guardians. "With the escalating impact of climate change on children's well-being, there is a pressing demand for increased investment in child-centered climate strategies. This is essential to amplify climate-resilient programs, enhance household and caregiver resilience to climate shocks, and mitigate the long-term effects of climate change on future generations," UNICEF added. Rudy Giuliani was suspended from WABC radio on Friday and had his show canceled, according to station owner John Catsimatidis. Catsimatidis, a billionaire and major GOP donor, told NBC News that Giuliani had been warned twice by station management about his on-air comments questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election on his daily talk show, which he's hosted for three years. Giuliani's suspension and show cancellation was first reported by The New York Times. In a letter addressed to Giuliani and obtained by NBC News, Catsimatidis said that Giuliani, who is Donald Trump's former lawyer, was "prohibited from engaging in conversations relating to the 2020 Presidential Election" on his WABC programs. "These specific topics include, but are not limited to, the legitimacy of the election results, allegations of fraud effectuated by election workers, and your personal lawsuits relating to those allegations, Catsimatidis wrote in the letter dated Thursday. The letter cited a recent news article about two Georgia poll workers who were awarded $148 million in damages last year in a defamation lawsuit against Giuliani and are accusing him of making fresh false statements. "You are now once again stating that there was fraud. You may not do so on our airwaves. This is a clear condition of your continued relationship with WABC. We do not condone these actions, and do not want to be subject to the ramifications of your conduct under any circumstances," Catsimatidis wrote. The cancellation of the former New York City mayor's show was not preplanned, Catsimatidis told NBC News, adding that he feels very bad, because he is still Americas mayor, but we need to know where to draw the line. Giuliani blasted WABC's actions in a statement Friday. "This directive is a clear violation of free speech," Giuliani said, arguing that he had not been informed previously about restrictions. "Obviously I was never informed on such a policy, and even if there was one, it was violated so often that it couldnt be taken seriously, Giuliani said. Giuliani is facing charges in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia and Arizona. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Georgia but has not yet entered a plea in Arizona. His suspension from WABC comes after some news organizations have been hit with lawsuits from voting machine companies over false statements regarding the 2020 election and the integrity of its results. Last month, Smartmatic settled its defamation suit against One America News Network out of court. In 2023, Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems reached a $787.5 million settlement agreement over a 2021 lawsuit that claimed the voting machine company was defamed by hosts and guests on Fox News and Fox Business. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Raging Harlem mob surrounds suspect in attack on 11-year-old, woman as NYPD cops protect him Cops prevented a raging mob of Harlem locals from attacking a maniac accused of slashing an 11-year-old girl in the head on a spree through Manhattan Friday afternoon leaving the youngster now afraid to go outside, her distraught mom said. Shaquan Cummings, 30, allegedly preyed on the girl outside the 116th Street 6 subway station, then fled underground around 2:15 p.m. moments after allegedly punching an unsuspecting 43-year-old woman around the street corner, according to sources. The fiend who has a lengthy rap sheet knifed the youngster in the back of the head and cut her ear as she walked down the street holding her moms hand, sources said. The suspect punched a 43-year-old woman before setting his sights on an 11-year-old girl. James Messerschmidt The child felt something on the back of her head, and when her mom turned around, she saw a box cutter before the suspect fled into the subway, sources said. Her brave mother tried to chase down her daughters attacker, even hailing a conductor to stop a train from departing, but the Cummings still managed to get away, she recalled. It was traumatizing, Gorzata Sladek told The Post Friday evening. Terrible. Its terrible to see a little girl with her head cut, sliced in half and its just terrible. A UPS worker said the young victim was scared and crying while she was being treated by medics near a juice bar. Her head [was] bloody. Bleeding cant stop. [She was] bleeding in her hand and her shirt she was crying. Scared, he added. The girl has since undergone surgery that required multiple stitches and staples to fix the gash, but the emotional scars remain, according to her mother. Shaquan Cummings, 30, allegedly preyed on the girl after flying through the 116th Street 6 subway platform around 2:15 p.m. A UPS worker said the young victim was scared and crying while she was being treated by medics near a juice bar. Citizen Photos obtained by The Post show one of the blood-soaked victims sobbing as shes gurneyed into the back of an ambulance. Timothy Fadek Shes not doing well emotionally. She doesnt want to go back to school. She doesnt want to go outside anymore, Sladek said. Photos obtained by The Post show one of the blood-soaked victims sobbing as shes gurneyed into the back of an ambulance. Cops ultimately tracked Cummings down just a block away, back to the spot where he allegedly punched his first victim of the afternoon. Wild video posted on social media shows the moment the accused attacker is surrounded by cops as the outraged mob tries to mete out street justice. Timothy Fadek In the clip, one man appears to poke him with a cane as the alleged assailant cowers behind cops. Citizen Wild video posted on social media shows the moment Cummings is surrounded by cops as the outraged mob tries to mete out street justice. In the clip, one man appears to poke him with a cane as the alleged assailant cowers behind cops. Back up! police shout at the crowd. You fking piece of st! one man yells. Dont let him go! says another man as police hold back the bloodthirsty mob. Back up! police shout at the crowd. James Messerschmidt Dont let him go! says another man as police hold back the bloodthirsty mob. Citizen Cops finally took Cummings into custody, who sources say has more than 20 prior arrests, including assault, criminal mischief and fare evasion. Cummings last arrest was just two months earlier. He was given a desk appearance for an assault charge, according to law enforcement insiders. He was charged Friday night with two counts of assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child. The NYPD recovered a box cutter from the uptown train tracks in the station where the madman fled. James Messerschmidt Sladek only hopes for justice in the case, and for the streets to longer be a place where New Yorkers need to constantly look over their shoulder. You should be able to walk on the street and not worry that somebody will attack you and attack, actually, my daughter not even attacking a dog, but a little kid, she said. This ad was placed n the Camden New Journal by the Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association The advertising regulator has declined to investigate a pro-Palestinian charity that published a local newspaper advertisement accusing Israel of genocide and apartheid. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association (CADFA) was entitled to freedom of expression under the law. The charity placed the quarter-page advert which declared Ceasefire now! End the genocide! in the Camden New Journal two weeks ago, despite the north London borough having the third-highest Jewish population in the capital. Advertising the charitys Palestinian-themed cafe, it added: Come and hear Palestinian speakers, learn more about Palestine, discuss local work for human rights and an end to apartheid in Israel/Palestine. The regulators decision not to take action sparked anger among MPs and campaigners, who accused it of ignoring blood libel and putting Jews at even more risk of hate crime. One of the oldest anti-Semitic tropes Andrew Percy MP, the vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-Semitism, said: The promotion of the smear of genocide against Israel plays into one of the oldest anti-Semitic tropes. It is a blood libel and these have been used for centuries to justify attacks on Jews. It is especially offensive to promote this libel, this smear, in an area with a high Jewish population. I am frankly staggered that the regulator has chosen to ignore these concerns and has instead decided to ignore something that could inflame tensions and put Jews at even more risk. Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, said the advert was misleading as well as offensive and therefore breached chapters three and four of the ASAs non-broadcast advertising code. The complainant should request a review by the Independent Reviewer of ASA Rulings on the ground that the ASA has not considered the misleading character of this advertisement, he said. Complaint dismissed by editor When a reader made a complaint about the adverts spurious claims of genocide and apartheid, the newspapers editor, Richard Osley, dismissed it. We do not think this advert on p12 of the CNJ has led to an increased community tensions in Camden, but we will monitor any wider effect that this booking has caused, he wrote in an email seen by The Telegraph. He added: In our editorial decisions, we believe we have stepped sensitively through this issue, which clearly invokes very contrasting opinions, and our hope is for local community cohesion. Camden has the third-highest Jewish population of any London borough, according to the 2021 census. The 10,079 Jews who live there mean it is third only to Hackney (17,426) and Barnet (56,616). The east and south of the borough is in the Holborn and St Pancras constituency of Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader. The reader then escalated their complaint to the ASA, which in November 2022 banned a Ministry of Justice advert that showed a real black prisoner and a white guard for perpetuating a negative racial stereotype. ASA declines to investigate But the regulator has chosen not to investigate the complaint. We received a complaint about an ad in a local newspaper, for meetings hosted by Palestinian speakers, a spokesman said. The complainant argued that the words the ad used describing the current situation in the region were offensive. We recognise that, while there are many opinions about this issue, advertisers have rights of freedom of expression under the law. We have to carefully balance protecting the public from ads likely to cause serious or widespread offence with the importance of not unduly restricting the expression of views on matters of public debate. Following a review, weve determined that there isnt a case for us investigating these ad claims further. A double standard The complainant said the regulators response showed there was a double standard at play. I was shocked to see a newspaper advert referring to genocide, as if this is a completely unremarkable claim, the complainant said. Im also disappointed that the ASA do not feel it worth investigating claims which are rooted in antisemitism theres a big double standard at play here when it comes to forms of racism. The Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association and the Camden New Journal were approached for comment. 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. 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 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 lay people 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. 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 Alabama Reflector. Remains of missing Aiken County woman, Jamilla Smith, found in the woods FILE - Jamilla Smith, 30, of Jackson, South Carolina, was reported missing on Dec. 2. Aiken County Sheriff Michael Hunt announced Friday the human remains of missing Jackson woman, Jamilla "Millie" Shanae Smith, 30, were found in the woods. Investigators searched a wooded area on the 2100 block of Silver Bluff Road and found human remains, according to a news release from the Aiken County Sheriff's Office. The Aiken County Coroner's Office, Aiken Department of Public Safety and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division assisted with the recovery efforts, according to the release. An autopsy has been scheduled and the family has been notified. The investigation began in December after Smith was reported missing. Initially, police said she was likely kidnapped by her boyfriend, according to previous reporting. Arrests in the case Smith's boyfriend, Daniel Gabriel Harmon, 34, of Jackson, was arrested on Dec. 23 and is charged with murder, kidnapping and domestic violence in the second degree, according to previous reporting. Just a month prior to Smith's disappearance, Harmon allegedly strangled Smith on Nov. 10 with two hands at the same Beech Island address where she later went missing, according to arrest warrants. She had injuries to her neck and an obstructed airway. There was a child nearby during the incident who saw the strangling, according to warrants. Bryan Alexander Hampton Jr., 35, of Augusta, is charged with accessory after the fact to murder, according to previous reporting. Clyde Hendley II, 46, of Bath, South Carolina, is charged with accessory after the fact to murder, according to a news release from the sheriff's office. This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Deputies find remains of missing Aiken County woman in the woods The Mamas First Act would make the pregnancy and postpartum services from doulas and midwives reimbursable through Medicaid. (Getty Images) Originally published by The 19th Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, both Democrats, have introduced legislation that would allow Medicaid coverage of doulas and midwives. The bill, called the Mamas First Act, aims to improve access to care before, during, and after pregnancy to under-served and under-resourced communities as an OB-GYN deficit looms and the high rates of pregnancy-related deaths persist. The nonprofit March of Dimes in 2020 classified 1,119 counties in the U.S. as pregnancy care deserts, lacking a hospital or birth center that either offers obstetric care or has an obstetric provider. More than a quarter of Native-American babies and 16 percent of Black babies were born in areas with limited or no access to pregnancy care services, it found. The ongoing loss of obstetric providers, in particular, has impacted counties access to care. Even as parts of the United States, particularly rural areas, grapple with a current lack of access to pregnancy care, the Department of Health and Human Services projects 3,360 fewer OB-GYNs will be in the workforce by 2030 than there were in 2018. Simultaneously, 3,120 more certified nursing midwives will be in the workforce by 2030 than in 2018. If enacted, the Mamas First Act would amend Title XIX of the Social Security Act to add services and care, including prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care, that is provided in a culturally congruent manner by doulas, midwives, and tribal midwives to the list of services eligible for reimbursement through Medicaid. Some of these services are already covered by states and Washington, D.C.: According to the National Academy for State Health Policy, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Virginia already offer doula services as an optional benefit through the states Medicaid program. Similar legislation has been introduced at the federal level before and not made it into law. Americas ongoing maternal health crisis magnifies the need for federal interventions that can save lives, Moore said in a statement. Moore previously introduced the Mamas First Act in 2019 with 11 cosponsors, all Democrats, and again in 2022 with only four cosponsors, this time all Democratic women. The Mamas First Act is an important effort because it will expand access to providers who can offer emotional and physical support during and after the birthing process comprehensive beyond the hospital setting where nearly all U.S. births occur. Research shows that birthing people who received care from a doula, or someone who is there to support them throughout their birthing experience, had 52.9 percent lower odds of having a cesarean delivery and were 57.5 percent less likely to develop postpartum depression or anxiety. Now is the time to use all available tools to combat the maternal health crisis. The Mamas First Act will take care of our mommas and babies, and will help us root out the deep disparities and systemic racism in our healthcare system, Warren said in a statement. In 2022, there were 817 pregnancy-related deaths, down from 1,205 in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black birthing peoples pregnancy mortality rate continues to outpace the national average, though it did decrease from 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021 to 49.5 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022. Warren first introduced this bill in the Senate in 2022 with seven co-sponsors, two of whom, Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Robert P. Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, returned to co-sponsor this bill. Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Lauren Underwood of Illinois, Alma Adams of North Carolina and Debbie Dingell of Michigan are the sole co-sponsors on the House bill, and all of them are returning co-sponsors from the 2022 legislation. Underwood and Adams lead the bipartisan Black Maternal Health Caucus. Maternal mortality remains significantly higher in the United States than in other comparable countries, especially for Black mothers. This legislation addresses the maternal mortality crisis by expanding Medicaid to include doula and midwifery care, because having trusted partners in the birthing process saves lives, Adams said in a statement. Several organizations, such as the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, the National Birth Equity Collaborative and the African American Breastfeeding Network, have expressed their support for the legislation. Many states, especially in the southern region of the U.S., are in significant need of high-quality, holistic, and comprehensive maternity care. Passage of the Mamas First Act can help strengthen maternity care workforce efforts, Angela D. Aina, the executive director of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, said in a statement. The post Theres a renewed push in Congress for Medicaid to cover doulas and midwives appeared first on Utah News Dispatch. Russia says it has captured 5 villages in northeast Ukraine as more than 1,700 civilians flee Tetiana, 82, cries with her daughter as she is evacuated from Vovchansk, Ukraine, Saturday, May 11, 2024. Her husband was killed in their house after a Russian airstrike on the city. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) VOVCHANSK, Ukraine (AP) Moscow's forces captured five villages in a renewed ground assault in northeastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday, and Associated Press journalists in the city of Vovchansk described multiple buildings destroyed after Russian airstrikes and barrages of Grad rockets. Ukrainian officials didn't confirm whether Russian had taken the villages, which lie in a contested gray zone on the border of Ukraine's Kharkiv region and Russia. Ukrainian journalists reported that the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha were taken by Russian troops on Friday. Russia said the village of Pletenivka was also taken. In an evening statement Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said fighting was still ongoing in the settlements of Strilecha and Pletenivka, as well as Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove, Lukyantsi and Hatyshche. Our troops are carrying out counterattacks there for a second day, protecting Ukrainian territory, he said. The Institute for the Study of War said Friday that geolocated footage confirms at least one of the villages was seized. The Washington-based think tank described recent Russian gains as tactically significant. The renewed assault on the region has forced more than 1,700 civilians residing in settlements near the fighting to flee, according to Ukrainian authorities. It comes after Russia stepped up attacks in March targeting energy infrastructure and settlements, which analysts predicted were a concerted effort by Moscow to shape conditions for an offensive. On Saturday, Russia continued to pummel Vovchansk with airstrikes and Grad rockets as police and volunteers raced to evacuate residents. At least 20 people were evacuated to safety in a nearby village. Police said that 900 people had been evacuated the previous day. AP journalists who accompanied an evacuation team described empty streets with multiple buildings destroyed and others on fire. The road was littered with newly made craters and the city was covered in dust and shrapnel with the smell of gunpowder heavy in the air. Mushroom clouds of smoke rose across the skyline as Russian jets conducted multiple airstrikes. The AP journalists witnessed nine air attacks during the three hours they were there. The situation in Vovchansk and the settlements along the border (with Russia) is incredibly difficult. Constant aviation strikes are carried out, multiple rocket missile systems strikes, artillery strikes, said Tamaz Hambarashvili, the head of the Vovchansk military administration. For the second day in a row, we evacuated all the inhabitants of our community who are willing to evacuate, he said. I think that they are destroying the city to make (local) people leave, to make sure there are no militaries, nobody. To create a gray zone.'" Evacuees bade tearful goodbyes to their neighbors as they were taken away from their homes. You lie down and think whether they will kill you now, or in an hour, or in three, said resident Valentyna Hrevnova, 75. I hope that they (Russians) will not come, but ours (Ukrainians) will be here. Vera Rudko, 72, was among those who left. We drove through Vovchansk in the city center, Rudko said. I cant look at this without tears. Everything is trembling. We didnt sleep these two nights at all. Russia's recent push in Kharkiv seeks to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front line, and pin down Ukrainian forces in the northeast and keep them away from heavy battles underway in the Donetsk region where Moscow's troops are gaining ground, analysts said. Russian military bloggers said the assault could mark the start of a Russian attempt to carve out a buffer zone that President Vladimir Putin vowed to create earlier this year to halt frequent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions. Fears also mount that without adequate supplies, Russia might even be able to cut supply routes and besiege the city of Kharkiv, where 1.1 million people reside. Ukrainian officials have downplayed Russian statements about captured territory, with reinforcements being rushed to the Kharkiv region to hold off Russian forces. On Telegram, Kharkiv region Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said that heavy fighting continued in the areas around Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Oliinykove, but that the situation was under control and there was no threat of a ground assault on the city of Kharkiv. In the meantime, artillery, mortar and aerial bombardments hit more than 30 different towns and villages in the region on Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring five others, Syniehubov said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Friday evening that Russian forces were expanding their operations. He also called on the countrys Western allies to ensure that promised deliveries of military aid would swiftly reach the front lines. It is critical that partners support our warriors and Ukrainian resilience with timely deliveries. Truly timely ones, he said in a video statement on X. A package that truly helps is the actual delivery of weapons to Ukraine, rather than just the announcement of a package. The attack was launched from two areas in the Kharkiv region early Friday, Ukrainian officials and analysts said. Russian assault groups attempted to break through Ukrainian defensive lines in the city of Vovchansk and in the region north of the village of Lyptsi. Separately, Ukrainian forces also launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Friday night, Russias Ministry of Defense said, with air defense systems downing 21 rockets and 16 drones over Russias Belgorod, Kursk and Volgograd regions. One person died in a drone strike in the Belgorod region, and another in the Kursk region, local officials said. Another strike set ablaze an oil depot in Ukraines Russian-occupied Luhansk region, killing four people and wounding eight more, Leonid Pasechnik, the regions Moscow-installed leader, said on the messaging app Telegram on Saturday. There was also shelling in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region Saturday, where three people died when an explosion hit a local restaurant, said Denis Pushilin, the area's Kremlin-appointed leader. Eight more people were wounded, including a child. In the war's early days, Russia made a botched attempt to quickly storm Kharkiv but retreated from its outskirts after about a month. In the fall of 2022, seven months later, Ukraines army pushed them out of Kharkiv. The bold counterattack helped persuade Western countries that Ukraine could defeat Russia on the battlefield and merited military support. ___ Katie Marie Davies contributed to this report from Manchester, England. U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar won the DFL's stamp of approval during an endorsing convention in Minneapolis on Saturday, giving her the party's backing as she heads into a highly anticipated primary election rematch against Don Samuels. Omar's voice broke with emotion Saturday afternoon as she thanked convention goers for supporting her. The Minneapolis congresswoman won the DFL endorsement on the first ballot of voting, the first time she's ever done so. "It tells me that we should stop listening to the naysayers that talk about the silent majority and listen to the loud majority," Omar said. "We have a lot of work to do to win the primary in August, and I know that we are going to do it." Samuels said he's still optimistic he will defeat Omar in August. Two years ago, the former Minneapolis City Council member didn't win the endorsement but came within about two percentage points of defeating the nationally known congresswoman. "We expect that time is on my side and the second run is in my favor," Samuels said, noting this campaign will be twice as long as his last. Samuels and his campaign entered Saturday with the goal of blocking not winning an endorsement. They hoped that doing so would attract more attention from voters and donors. The upcoming rematch between Omar and Samuels is expected to be one of the most closely watched Democratic primary elections in the country. Omar and Samuels have developed a heated rivalry since their close first race. Dozens of campaign signs bearing the two candidates' names were planted in the ground outside South High School in Minneapolis on Saturday, where hundreds of DFLers gathered for the convention. Inside a crowded auditorium, Omar told the crowd that "we have changed the arc of what is possible" during her time in Congress. She said mainstream Democrats are now embracing ideas she's long championed, such as student debt cancellation and concern for Palestinian human rights. "My promise to you was to have your back, and I will forever keep that promise," Omar said, before exiting the stage as scores of her supporters trailed behind chanting, "Ilhan!" Samuels touted himself as a leader who can bring people together during divisive times. He suggested that Omar is among a current political class that "champion a segment of the population and alienate the rest." "That can't happen anymore," Samuels said to cheers from his supporters. He added that many Americans have stopped speaking to family members or friends because of politics: "There's an exhausted majority looking for a new kind of leadership that's just tired of the drama." Two lesser-known Democrats, Air Force veteran Tim Peterson and attorney Sarah Gad, are also running. Peterson and his supporters were at the convention early while Gad's campaign had no presence. Peterson, a South High School graduate, described himself as a "proud Hubert H. Humphrey Democrat." He told the Star Tribune he's worried about the direction of the Democratic Party, particularly in Minneapolis, where he said, "the extreme left wants to silence people with political violence." Peterson said he was committed to ensuring the defeat of Omar, whom he believes has only inflamed political tensions in the district: "She's put fuel on the fire and watched it burn." He withdrew from seeking the endorsement Saturday afternoon and announced he was backing Samuels. The winner of the August primary between Omar and Samuels will almost certainly be elected in November to represent Minnesota's reliably blue Fifth Congressional District, which covers Minneapolis and nearby suburbs. Omar has maintained a fundraising lead over Samuels, pulling in nearly $1.7 million in the first quarter of this year to his $400,000. The congresswoman has said this election will not be as competitive as the last. Omar said her attention was divided in the last election and that it's squarely on Samuels this time around. An outspoken critic of Israel and advocate for a cease-fire in Gaza, Omar believes she's on the right side of an issue that many of her constituents deeply care about. Her supporters hung up signs inside South High School bearing the message, "Ilhan for ceasefire." The conflict in Gaza was top of mind for Lexy Courneya, a 25-year-old convention delegate alternate who's backing Omar. She said she appreciates the congresswoman's longstanding advocacy for Palestinians. "I personally believe that Israel is perpetrating a genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, and that genocide is being funded with American tax dollars," Courneya said. Courneya was among a group of young people who hoped to speak with Omar about the war in Gaza on Saturday. They wanted to pressure Omar to retract her endorsement of President Joe Biden, whom they believe has enabled Israel's actions. "It's really important to us that whoever she endorses for president espouses the same views on human rights as she does," Courneya said. "Right now, we see a little bit of a disconnect between her encouragement of a cease-fire and her endorsement of Joe Biden." Samuels has argued that Omar is a polarizing figure in her district. He's criticized her for making what he views as mostly one-sided statements about the war in Gaza that don't take into account "the sensibilities of the Jewish community." After hammering Omar two years ago for supporting a failed ballot amendment to replace the Minneapolis Police Department, Samuels has shifted his criticism toward her more relevant stance on Israel. Ethan Litman, an 18-year-old delegate for Samuels, said he can't support Omar's position toward Israel and criticized the congresswoman for recently referring to Jewish students as "pro-genocide or anti-genocide." "That doesn't sit right," said Litman, a first-time voter and Armstrong High School senior. "Her remarks over the years, it's too inflammatory, too borderline antisemitic for me." The demands of military life can make it hard for civilian spouses to juggle work with other responsibilities. They often face frequent moves, overseas deployments, and a partner with irregular work hours. WATCH CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS This can make it difficult for spouses to find and keep a job, especially a full-time one. Megan Brown has been a military spouse for more than a decade. She has three kids with her husband who is serving in the Army. You become the default house manager. So, youre taking care of all of those things and that can really impact your ability to work, said Brown. Read: UCF Board of Trustees member, Sheriffs Office employee among 4 arrested in sex stings at parks Brown says her family is now getting ready to move from Georgia to Northern Virginia in just a few weeks. One of her biggest concerns: access to affordable childcare. Childcare is a huge barrier to military spouse employment, said Brown. We cant really talk about one without talking about the other. Those barriers to employment for military spouses are the focus of a new watchdog report. The findings from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) say about one-third of employed civilian military spouses worked part-time in 2021. Many pointed to childcare needs as a major reason. Read: Troopers find car involved in deadly hit-and-run crash in Orange County Nearly all military spouses we interviewed said they worked part time because they were the primary caregivers for their children, the report said. They said they needed flexible jobs with reduced hours because their service member spouse was not consistently or predictably able to contribute to childcare. The report points out that part-time work often means they arent earning as much and arent getting retirement benefits. Military spouses also reported a lack of opportunities for career advancement. There are some proposals in Congress aimed at helping this issue. We told you how Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is leading a bill with Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) to cover the cost of fees to transfer professional licenses or certificates for military spouses when they move. Read: Front brings widely scattered downpours to Central Florida tonight This is one of the top concerns that I hear about from military families, Ossoff told our Washington News Bureau in March. Congress is also considering proposals to expand childcare access for military families. Its something Brown says is critical for parents stuck on long wait lists. Brown said shes fortunate to have a full-time job with remote work opportunities. But she knows thats not always the case for everyone and is urging lawmakers to invest in these needs for military spouses. How can we make sure that they are ready and able to get employment when they want to? said Brown. The report says there are around 540,000 U.S. military spouses. Around 90 percent are women. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. Divers determine stolen van pulled from river on North Shore was unoccupied A team of divers determined nobody was in a stolen van pulled from a river on the North Shore on Friday morning, law enforcement officials said. Officers and firefighters responding to a report of taillights visible in the Saugus River in the area of Ballard Street around 11:30 p.m. Thursday launched a search with the help of Massachusetts State Police and Cambridge Fire Department dive teams, according to the Saugus Police Department. Due to the tides and sediment in the Saugus River, divers are still trying to determine if a person was in the vehicle, a department spokesperson said in a statement. The Cambridge Fire Dive Rescue Team described the response as an extensive search. Saugus Polic told Boston 25 News the van was reported as stolen and was unoccupied. Video from the scene showed heavy police activity and a water search as crews scoured the area near Toms Bait & Tackle. There were no additional details immediately available. The investigation is active and ongoing. This embedded content is not available in your region. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW NAIROBI, May 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 267 people have been killed by flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains in Kenya since mid-March, the government said on Friday. According to the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, 188 people have been injured and 75 are missing. In addition, 281,835 people have been displaced, and 380,573 have been affected by persistent heavy rains and flooding. Hefty rains have been pounding several parts of the country, exacerbated by the 2023-24 El Nino climate phenomenon, highlighting the urgent need for humanitarian assistance. Nearly 10,000 livestock have been lost. Over 41,000 acres of cropland and dozens of roads have been damaged. Nearly 900 businesses and 2,000 schools along with water sources and health facilities have been damaged in 11 out of 42 counties affected by the floods, according to authorities and the Kenya Red Cross Society. According to the ministry, 30 public health officials have been deployed to assess the risk in all 167 internally displaced camps and evaluate nutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene points. The government has announced a package worth 7.5 million U.S. dollars to rehabilitate schools affected by the floods before they reopen on May 13. Heavy rainfall is forecasted to persist, possibly with decreased intensities, according to the Kenya Meteorological Department. Kenyan officials and humanitarian agencies have called on the population to avoid flooded areas, move to higher ground and avoid driving during heavy rain. 'My responsibility.' Cape lawmaker points to his lack of oversight for campaign errors Editor's note: This story was updated on May 13, 2024, with a response from state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro. A leading Cape Cod Democrat has said state Rep. Christopher Flanagan made serious mistakes, as reflected in violations cited by the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, but that Flanagan is a "strong advocate" for his constituents. Flanagan has directly paid $9,000 in fines, the state office confirmed, among other penalties. Cape Cod Republicans found fault. "I take it as a compliment he had to cheat to win," said Tracy Post, Flanagan's Republican opponent in the 2022 state representative race. Flanagan should resign his position and withdraw from the upcoming race for the two-year seat, David J. Sampson, president of the Cape Cod Republican Club, said. "I don't believe the representative is in a position to effectively serve the constituents of his district," Sampson said. Flanagan won the 2022 race for the 1st Barnstable District. He received 12,401 votes to Post's 10,352 votes. The district includes the town of Brewster, the town of Dennis and Precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8, of the town of Yarmouth, all in Barnstable County. Currently Flanagan is running unopposed for a second term. The primary election is Sept. 3. "Oversight of the campaign is my responsibility," Flanagan said in an email to the Times. "It is important for me to share with you how truly sorry I am that this occurred and have taken steps to ensure that it never happens again." Flanagan made "some serious mistakes, Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, said on Monday. Hes taking responsibility for those mistakes, and hes resolved them with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Like everyone else, I expect Chris will continue to work hard on behalf of the people of the First Barnstable District. Hes been a strong advocate and reliable partner since joining the legislature." "I also think its noteworthy that Chris is the only incumbent from either party on the Cape and Islands who does not have an opponent who filed papers to run against him in this election year," Cyr added. State Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, did not return two calls from the Times for comment. Peake is the House's second assistant majority leader and the dean of the Cape Cod delegation. She has announced she is not running for reelection. State Rep. Christopher Flanagan, D-Dennis, was elected to the 1st Barnstable District seat in 2022. He was photographed in 2021 along Route 28 in Dennisport. What were the findings? The six-page letter dated April 19 from Office of Campaign and Political Finance Director William Campbell laid out findings following an investigation into a campaign mailer entitled Conservatives for Dennis that supported Flanagans run in 2022 for the two-year office. The office received a complaint about the mailer, which started the investigation. Flanagan did not respond for months to the state offices questions. He finally responded when the state office said it would send the matter to the Attorney Generals office for review, according to the letter. The mailer went out to Dennis residents prior to the Nov. 2, 2022 election. The purported group, Conservatives for Dennis highlighted Flanagans service, honesty and integrity, and read in part, Vote the person, not the party. Attacks against Post were printed on the back of the mailer. The statements read Post was "unfit for office," and that she had cost Dennis taxpayers thousands in two lawsuits. The state office determined the mailer was a campaign committee expense, not a third-party expense as the campaign claimed. Had it been properly disclosed and reported, the public would have known Flanagan's campaign paid for it, according to the office. What happened in the 2022 race? Flanagan ran against Post and Independent Abe Kasparian. Tim Whelan, a Republican from Brewster, had held the seat since 2015, but he did not run for reelection. Flanagan touted his public service experience during the campaign. He worked for two U.S. senators from Massachusetts, John Kerry and William Mo Cowan. He was on the Dennis Select Board during the pandemic. Coastal resiliency, economic development, housing and education were some of the issues he wanted to focus on as state representative, he said. During his campaign, he said that as an executive officer on the nonprofit Homebuilders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod he understood the connections between the environment, housing and the economy. On Oct. 18, 2022, 1st Barnstable District state representative candidate Christopher Flanagan, a Democrat, reaches to shake hands at the end of a candidate forum with Republican Tracy Post. We the People candidate Abraham Kasparian, Jr. is in the middle. Excess contributions After the investigation into the mailer, the state office turned to Flanagan's campaign finances. The Flanagan campaign committees bank records revealed $10,580 in excess contributions for 2022 and 2023, according to the state office. One was a $10,000 check reported as a loan from Flanagan to the committee. "The law only allows cashiers checks for $100 or less," Jason Tait, communications director with the Office of Political and Campaign Finance wrote in an email. "The $10,000 was deposited by cashiers check, an excess of $9,900." As a result of errors, the committee has paid $6,000 in penalties to the commonwealth, and Flanagan has paid $9,000, according to the office. Flanagan had to forgive $13,992 in outstanding loans the committee owed him. The committee also purged $10,580 by making a charitable contribution, according to the letter. The committee donated $10,580 to the nonprofit Family Table Collaborative in South Yarmouth, according to cofounder and director Jeni Wheeler. Tait said the donation to a nonprofit was part of the agreement the state office made with Flanagan. The Family Table Collaborative, founded in March 2020, distributes prepared meals to families and seniors on Cape Cod. In total, the fines and penalties for Flanagan and his campaign committee totaled $39,572. Penalties for violations of the state law governing campaign expenditures and contributions can include civil and criminal penalties, disqualification from races, restitution, and public disclosure. What is Flanagan's response? In his statement, Flanagan said in part that as "someone who serves you, I take to heart my role, my duties to the public, and owning up to mistakes." The state office of campaign and political finances has issued fines and required a donation to a nonprofit, he said. During the state review, Flanagan said he "accepted responsibility for the mistakes that led to this outcome." "This mailer should never have happened," he wrote. In the spirit of good governance, he wrote, "I agree with OCPF that the corrective measures they had me undergo to resolve the matter are in the best interest of the public." Possible write-in campaign against Flanagan Cape Republican officials are weighing their options for the upcoming primary. Should at least 150 voters choose a write-in candidate in the primary election, that person could go on the ballot for the Nov. 5 general election. When Post was asked if she might consider running as a write-in candidate for the seat, she said she was focused on the Yarmouth Select Board race. Post, Wheeler and three other candidates are running for one open seat on the Yarmouth Select Board. Denise Coffey writes about business, tourism and issues impacting the Capes residents and visitors. Contact her at dcoffey@capecodonline.com . Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Rep. Flanagan pledges to prevent future campaign errors Rev. David de Vries is stepping down as senior pastor of historic Christ Presbyterian Church in downtown Canton after 21 years of service. His final day will be May 19. CANTON On May 19, the Rev. David de Vries will officially step down as senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church after serving the historic congregation since 2003. "I'm tired," de Vries said. "COVID changed a lot of things. But the No. 1 factor is, the church needs new leadership and a new direction. And that's not a dig on me; it's a sign of the times. The church simply needs new direction, and I'm not at the stage of my life where I can do that. When I got here, this church was pretty conflicted; it was also living in fear; they had lost a lot of people. My job was to come in and rebuild a loving community, and I think that's been accomplished." The church's current assistant pastors, the Revs. Michael Wallace and Ben George, will succeed de Vries, serving as co-pastors. On May 18, de Vries, Wallace and George will give a joint sermon. "They're very talented. The way the work together is a marvel to me," de Vries said. "Leadership has become much more collegial. I wasn't brought up in an age where staffs did that. I was raised in a top-down administrative structure, and that's all wonderfully changed. And I'm frankly a little envious of it. I had a great relationship with my first pastor, my first boss. He's my best friend in this very day." George said he's known de Vries as a boss, as a mentor when he entered seminary, and, finally, as a colleague when George got his own church in Minerva. "Dave has always been a spiritual leader in the sense that he is deeply connected to God through spiritual practices," he said. "His prayers are heartfelt and reflect an intimate relationship with scripture and the brokenness that runs throughout the world. Dave sees people for who they can be and gives them the tools and room to grow into that image. Ultimately, I am in ministry because of Dave de Vries. He met me when I was in my early 20s, trying to figure out life. He articulated the gifts he saw in me and invited me to use them to serve the church and help others. I give thanks to God for Dave and the many ways that he has guided me through life." Dr. Elizabeth Prosser Pansino credits de Vries with infusing the church with new life. Established in 1821, Christ Presbyterian at 530 Tuscarawas St. W hosted President William and Ida Saxton's wedding in 1871. Saxton's grandfather, Canton Repository founder John Saxton, was one of the church's founding elders. "Pastor Dave has transformed our congregation," she said. "With his humble approach to the pulpit, he accomplished a healing of the divisions that had occurred prior to his arrival. This was illustrated last week in his sermon entitled 'Forgive Me,' in which he spoke to his humanity in his 21 years with us." Spirit & Grace Prosser Pansino said de Vries has introduced such initiatives as Small Groups, and encouraged them to embrace the cause of social justice. He also spearheaded the "Spirit & Space" capital improvement project, introduced "Future Story" study curriculum, and fostered more interfaith interaction and community outreach, particularly the Tiqvah Hands of Hope after-school program located in the church. Part of Christ Church's mission Church-based program offers Canton students hope, growth She concluded with a joke: "Lastly, he demonstrated that something good can come out of Michigan." Congregation member Tom Okonak admires de Vries' gift for teaching and making faith relatable. "He has a wonderful way of reflecting the life and teachings of Jesus in the way he interacts with members of his congregation and those in the community at large," he said. "Always kind and considerate, never boastful but not bashful. He has strong opinions about faithfulness, Presbyterian Reformed Theology, the wonder of grace, and the importance of knowing the history of the Bible and the times in which Jesus lived in order to understand who he was and how he lived his life. Because of this insight, he is a wonderful preacher and an even better teacher. His sermons are provocative and his Bible studies are informative, sometimes surprising, and always challenging." Okonak said de Vries also can be fun, and proudly wears his "maize-and-blue" team gear during Ohio State-Michigan week. Richard Milligan's family has attended Christ Church for generations. "Dave has been a compassionate pastor/friend to our family for many years," he said. "He has a knack of being friend first, pastor second, as needed. He has long believed that his role and the role of our church is bigger than our membership. So Dave has been very active in the community, working with community leaders to improve the lives and well-being of everyone." 'Keep your ears open to the word of God' De Vries, who was ordained in 1986, said he felt called to the ministry during his junior year at the University of Michigan, which has been a source of fun teasing during his time at Christ Church. He earned a master of divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, and took courses at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, and at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Prior to Canton, he served churches in Natchez, Mississippi, and Traverse City, Michigan, where he spent 13 years. The Revs. Mike Wallace, Ben George and David de Vries in the sanctuary at Christ Presbyterian Church in Canton. de Vries will retire this month, to be succeeded by Wallace and George, as co-pastors. (Credit: Photo courtesy of Dr. Sarah Pozderac-Chenevey.) Wallace, who joined Christ Church in 2016, describes de Vries as a man with "a rich and deep faith." "Most pastors with his many years of dedicated service would struggle to find a balance between work and life; however, Dave has many hobbies and passions, outside of work, that keep him energized and grounded," he said. "Dave has the ability to see the best in his church staff, and has given us all room to grow by collaborating and expressing our creativity he is not a micromanager. With over 35 years of ministry experience, he has a store of wisdom and experience. This is most clearly seen in his calming pastoral presence in hospital visitation and emergency situations." He added that de Vries' leadership was crucial in healing tensions at Christ Church. "Under Daves leadership, the church healed, and those tensions faded," he said. "One major contributing factor is that, to start our monthly (leadership board sessions), Dave started the practice of having us share a meal together and hold a short worship session before delving into the business portion of the meeting. This set the tone for the leaders and reminded them what it means to be the church." Today, membership stands at about 700, with regular weekly attendance about 150, and another 50 who watch online. "It ain't perfect, but these are good people who are truly dedicating themselves to ministry in imitation of Jesus Christ," de Vries said. "And they're trying to do that in the city center of Canton." What advice would he give to Wallace and George? "Keep your ears open to the word of God, to the voice of your Lord, and to the needs of your people," he replied. "If you do that, everything is going to be OK. It's when you stop listening that things begin to go wrong." On May 11, de Vries will deliver his final solo sermon, based on Acts: 1:24, "Lord, you know everyone's heart." "Basically, it's a sermon that's based on gratitude, and specifically my gratitude for this congregation," he said. A native of Detroit, de Vries and his wife, Jeanne, are returning to Traverse City, where their children were born. He said he's looking forward to spending more time with his wife, who retired from nursing in November. "My wife and I made a pledge to each other that we will not, for one year, take on jobs in our professions so that we can find ourselves and really take prayer time to see where God is leading us," he said. "Right now, I don't see myself as a 'preaching' pastor anymore. I enjoy teaching, specifically the scriptures, and I am really, really eager to use my time voluntarily with Habitat for Humanity and shelter work. Those are the kind of things I would like to devote my time to, in time." Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP. This article originally appeared on The Repository: Rev. David de Vries to retire from Canton's historic Christ Presbyterian Church Richie Rich Columbia protester sent antisemitic message to Park Slope dad with Israeli flag in profile pic composite image: left carlson dressed all in black at columbia including his face nearly fully covered; right carlson in a grey suit and dark red tie kissing his apparent bride kim as they stand in a field; inset a screenshot of the bizarre exchange A Park Slope dad got an eye-popping preview of James Carlsons anti-Israel ideology months before the wealthy advertising heir joined the violent protests at Columbia University. Simeon Climo reached out to Carlson a trust fund baby and the most violent of the Columbia protest leaders, dubbed Richie Rich on the front page of The Post on the neighborhoods Buy Nothing Facebook page, where Carlson posted he was giving away a free baby crib. I put my name in to be considered, and lucky me, I was chosen to receive the crib, Climo, who is Jewish, told The Post. James Carlson being led by cops after his arrest. William Farrington James Carlson joined the anti-Israel protests. Facebook Kim Heyrman But the October exchange, which took place 10 days after Hamas violent attack on Israel, quickly went south. Climo then followed up with Carlson, only to get a message that shocked him. Hey Simi, sorry if this seems petty but the flag on your profile pic seems to be celebrating the internment and genocide of my people, so I really dont feel like doing you any favors, Carlson wrote, according to a screen shot. Climo, who had posted an Israeli flag on his profile page, shot back: Oh you are an anti-Semite. Got it. Best of luck to you too. Carlson replied with another surprise. Im half-Jewish, dont speak for me, Carlson wrote. Wishing you compassion and understanding. Hitler was part Jewish as well, Climo retorted. I am compassionate and I understand you are angry/hateful and looking for a place to put that hate and anger. Glad I could help. Screenshots of a Facebook conversation between Cody Carlson and someone who was going to get. FaceBook More screenshots from the text exchange. FaceBook You know who else is part Jewish? Rod Stewart, Carlson bizarrely replied, according to Climo. The rock star isnt Jewish. Carlsons Facebook account is now private and he didnt answer messages there from The Post. About six months after the exchange, Carlson was busted as one of the protesters who broke into Columbia Universitys Hamilton Hall. Carlson, aka Cody Tarlow, is a longtime anarchist, a high-ranking police source said. James Carlson (left) seen during the protests. Getty Images He was charged with burglary, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, conspiracy and criminal trespassing after the Columbia arrest. He struggled with a janitor at the school during the Hamilton Hall takeover and broke a camera inside a cell at One Police Plaza after he was detained. Carlson was also arrested for a hate-crime assault for lighting a counter-protesters Israeli flag on fire last month at Columbia. The provocateurs activities go beyond street protests. Carlson wrote a letter to a Wisconsin federal judge in January gushing over his friend Hridindu Roychowdhury, who pleaded guilty to firebombing the office of the pro-life group Wisconsin Family Action on Mothers Day in 2022. In the letter, Carlson insisted the arsonist sees the world with nuance and sophistication, calling Roychowdhury a compassionate young person with tremendous potential. A mugshot of Carlson after he was arrested at Columbia. Roychowdhury was sentenced to 7-and-a-half years in prison. Carlsons own arrests date back to 2005. He is the son of late advertising execs Richard Dick Tarlow and Sandy Carlson Tarlow. A lawyer by trade, Carlson has a baby mama who is a model and his stepmother dates rocker John Cougar Mellencamp. James Carlson being led by cops after his arrest. William Farrington The violent demonstrator has made several campaign donations in recent years totaling $1,525 to far-left Big Apple Democrats, including former Mayor Bill de Blasio, state Sens. Jabari Brisport and Julia Salazar, and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. The Transport Workers Union, which represents the Columbia custodians, plans on suing the university as well as protesters who attempted to block its members from exiting Hamilton Hall, according to the labor groups president John Samuelsen. The Richland County Sheriffs Office is going to have new body cameras for all its deputies. The county commissioners Thursday approved a five-year, $361,080 contract with Axon Enterprise Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona, that will provide 50 body cameras for law enforcement personnel and eight cameras for deputies who do prisoner transport as well as unlimited digital evidence storage. This a complete turnkey package to the point where we also have a refresh as part of this so halfway through the contract they will replace our equipment and we get the newest version of whatever that is, said Operations Capt. Jim Sweat. It covers all data storage unlimited. Richland County Sheriff's Office Capt. Jim Sweat says a state grant will pay for nearly half of the cost of a new contract that will provide 50 body cameras for law enforcement personnel, eight cameras for deputies who do prisoner transport, and unlimited digital evidence storage. Sweat told commissioners that the Sheriffs Office has received a $152,885 state grant that will pay for a little just under half of the total cost. He noted that the board appropriated a total of $66,000 in this years budget to pay for the local share as part of a five-year planned expenditure. With that $66,000, we have money in our revolving fund and our crime lab fund that we can pay the remainder of the upfront (cost) without having to ask the commissioners for any additional money and once the reimbursement comes back from the state we would reimburse those funds, Sweat explained. He did not say how long it would take for the body cameras to come in and have the digital evidence system operating. New contract for Dayspring workers Commissioners also voted Thursday to approve a new three-year contract with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Ohio Council 8 Local 3014, which represents about 25 employees at Dayspring, Richland Countys assisted living facility. Membership includes licensed practical nurses, cooks, resident care attendants, drivers, custodians and activities personnel. County Human Resources Director Kelley Christiansen said the pay raises vary with a 75-cent-per-hour increase in starting pay and a 6% increase the first year for all other employees except LPNs, who will get a 9% raise the first year. These increases bring them in line with comparables in these areas of work, Christiansen said, adding that increases in the second and third year of the contract will be 3.5%. The Dayspring contract runs from June 10, 2024, through June 9, 2027. Natural gas aggregation contract extended Commissioners also agreed to amend the length of the contract with the County Commissioners Association of Ohio to handle natural gas aggregation services from the current five years to 10 years. The county made a similar change last year to the electric aggregation contract with the CCAO. Under the agreement, the CCAO provides services to collectively negotiate rates for natural gas used at county-owned facilities for a fixed period. Amy Hoffman, a representative of Palmer Energy Company of Toledo, which is the energy consultant for the CCAO, said the change will allow the company to seek supplier contract that are longer than five years. Right now we only do supplier agreement for a few years, but thats not to say thats always going to be the case. Its going to be whatever the market dictates and I dont see that changing, she said. Hoffman cautioned that while natural gas prices are at an all-time low right now, that probably is not how they are going to stay because of supply and demand. Weather is a large part of it. We had a mild winter. Well see where the summer goes because gas is being used more and more for the production of electricity, she said. They had a lot of drilling going on and, because of the weather, we have more in storage underground than weve had in a very long time. Hoffman told the board that producers are continuing to export gas and that it is anticipated that prices will go up as that continues. Palmer is the energy consultant for the CCAO and currently negotiates electric aggregation and building usage rates and natural gas facilities rates for Richland County. Franklin, Sandusky and Mifflin Townships are the only subdivisions participating in the electric aggregation program, although Hoffman said she is reaching out to subdivisions that previously had been with the CCAO program to remind them about what the program is doing. This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Commissioners OK new contract for body cameras for sheriff's deputies Of all the streets in Fresno to traverse by foot, Blackstone Avenue wouldnt be anyones first option. Perhaps thats why I chose it. Stretching from River Park to the edge of downtown, Blackstone is both the citys signature commercial main drag and enduring testament to poor land use and visual blight. Fresno has streets longer than Blackstone Fresno Street, Herndon and Shaw avenues, just to name three. But none so archaic and in such obvious and dire need of re-imagining. For a true immersive experience, I placed a few essentials (i.e. water, sunscreen, extra shirt) in an old day pack, laced up comfortable shoes and set out from Park Crossing Shopping Center near Woodward Park. Even though Friant Road doesnt officially become Blackstone until the Highway 41 overpasses, I figured what the heck. Opinion Almost immediately that decision nearly backfired. While crossing the freeway exit after waiting for the pedestrian signal, a silver SUV failed to stop (or slow down much) for the red light and proceeded to make a right onto Friant from the far left turn lane at about 40 mph. This happened 15 feet in front of me. But at least the driver was kind enough to mouth Sorry through the passenger window as she sped past. That was the closest I came to becoming a traffic fatality. Otherwise, the percentage of drivers who waited at crosswalks (a couple even nodded and smiled) to those who barreled through them without even a glance in my direction was roughly 50-50. Besides completing the walk 9 miles according to Google Maps the itinerary was somewhat loose. It included lunch at the original Taqueria Don Pepe, stops at a few unique local businesses and talks with people I encountered along the way. On his urban hike along Blackstone Avenue, Fresno Bee columnist Marek Warszawski, left, encounters Steven Smith who was selling his girlfriends art Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Fresno. Smith said he expected to see more trees along Blackstone.. Just for fun, I kept a running tally of fast food restaurants (anything with a drive-thru), auto repair shops (including smog and collision), car dealerships (new and used), tire and wheel businesses and furniture stores. Basically, everything Blackstone boasts in abundance. I also counted the number of doughnut shops and gave myself silent kudos for strolling right past Krispy Kreme. Even though Blackstone was clearly designed for cars and getting people from their cars and into business theres pretty much always a sidewalk. As one might expect, the nicest and widest sidewalks run alongside River Park. Strangely, though, I didnt encounter any fellow pedestrians, nor people on bikes and skateboards, until south of Herndon. Revisiting old outdoors haunt My first planned stop, mostly for sentimental reasons, was a small shopping center that used to be home to a specialty outdoors store owned by Shane Krogen, a dear departed friend. The space where California Outfitters used to be is vacant just like it has been for all but a brief period since Krogen shut the doors in the years preceding his untimely death in 2013. That bit of information came from Moira Orsi, who manages Elsmore Swim Shop next door. Orsi said the stores local customers used to appreciate its central location and convenient access from both Herndon and 41. (Until a couple years ago it was known as Swimsuits West.) Today, she hears the opposite. People dont do Blackstone anymore, wouldnt you agree? asked Orsi, a Fresno native who has worked at the store since 2006. People only travel Blackstone if they have to travel Blackstone. Fresno Bee columnist Marek Warszawski hikes from north Fresno to downtown along Blackstone Avenue Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Fresno. Dana Bentley, owner of Bentleys Drum Shop on Blackstone south of Gettysburg, offered a different perspective. I like being on Blackstone, and customers dont have any trouble getting here, said Bentley, whose store is looking extra spiffy thanks to city-funded new signage and facade improvements. A north-south arterial, Blackstone cuts through Fresnos well-documented socioeconomic layers, but in some respects is quite egalitarian. By that, I mean even though the buildings are newer and nicer on the north side, and the names on commercial storefronts more recognizable, that doesnt mean the streetscape is any prettier. If anything, the ugliness is shouldered evenly. It was somewhat a surprise to see the prettiest tree medians (with decades-old pines growing in them, as opposed to recently planted sprigs north of Herndon) around Shields and Olive avenue. Old commercial to new housing The south end of Blackstone is also where most of the redevelopment is occurring. The largest, most prominent new building is the close-to-finished Fresno City College science building across from Ratcliffe Stadium. Half a mile to the south, the massive grade separation project near McKinley Avenue is just getting underway. At the same intersection stands an 88-unit senior living facility with an attached health-care clinic (The Link @ Fresno) that represented the first new housing project on Blackstone in decades when it opened in 2022. Since then, two more have been built (The Clinton Avenue Apartments and The Arthur at Blackstone) along with the conversions of motels into homeless shelters. To address their housing needs, several California cities are busy converting vacant commercial buildings and dilapidated shopping centers into apartments and townhomes a process streamlined by recent legislation. In Fresno, despite zoning changes and planning strategies designed to transform Blackstone into a high-density mixed-use corridor, the economics of sprawl hold sway. Infill development isnt as profitable, and theres always more land for sale on the outskirts of town. That isnt to say we dont need commercial businesses on Blackstone. Its that we dont need a 9-mile stretch surrounded by parking lots, and little else, taking up so much real estate. By the time I reached the FAX station at Eaton Plaza, five hours after setting out, the final tabulation was 53 auto repair shops, 46 car lots, 21 tire and wheel shops, 36 fast food restaurants, 17 furniture stores and five doughnut shops. Plus two tired legs. Fresno Bee columnist Marek Warszawski celebrates his hike along Blackstone Avenue Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Fresno. Editors Note: Soldiers and military medics are introduced by first names and callsigns only due to security reasons. DONETSK OBLAST A sunflowers-painted bus drives fast toward Dnipro, clearing the way with sirens. From the front line to the rear, from death to life, it carries wounded Ukrainian soldiers, and its mission is to get them to hospitals alive. The Hospitallers volunteer medical battalion operates the bus. Its name is "Avstriika" (Austrian in Ukrainian) in memory of a fallen military medic. Natalya Frauscher, nicknamed "Austrian," was a member of the battalion. She died in a car accident at the end of June 2022. Members of the Hospitallers Medical Battalion carry a wounded soldier into the bus to evacuate him from the front line in Donetsk Oblast to a hospital in Dnipro city on April 25, 2024. (Serhii Korovayny/The Kyiv Independent) One of the volunteers with the Hospitallers Medical Battalion writes down the medical data of the wounded soldier inside the evacuation bus that brings wounded Ukrainian soldiers from Donetsk Oblast to a hospital in Dnipro city on April 25, 2024. (Serhii Korovayny/The Kyiv Independent) On April 25, the bus left the base at 5 a.m. The team of four volunteer medics and a driver made all the preparations to collect wounded soldiers from the stabilization points in Donetsk Oblast and safely transport them to the hospital in Dnipro, a city located about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the front line. They picked up 33 wounded Ukrainians, most of whom were from the Avdiivka area, one of the hottest segments of the front line at the moment. On their way, hospitallers treated soldiers with necessary medications, provided water and snacks, and completed their paperwork. "That's the difference between us (Ukraine and Russia), Oleksiy, callsign Feb, Avstriikas team commander, said. We treat every life with dignity. Every person matters to us." In two years, this bus has evacuated more than 4,000 wounded service members. It doesn't have a schedule and operates on a demand basis. In busy times, like the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive or battles of Bakhmut or Avdiivka, the bus makes two or three daily trips, each taking up to eight hours. Oleksiy, callsign Feb, the commander of Avstriika evacuation bus team of the Hospitallers medical battalion, poses for a portrait at the battalion's base in Dnipro region after a 9-hour trip. (Serhii Korovayny/The Kyiv Independent) It is quiet inside the bus. The wounded soldiers are sleeping, chatting via messengers, or simply resting with their eyes half-closed. For many, it is the first opportunity to take a well-deserved break. They came straight from hell, fighting for days or weeks without rest. Bohdan, a machine gun operator from Zaporizhzhia, said that his group was surrounded by Russians near the village of Novobakhmutivka. They had to run 700 meters on the open ground to escape. Three out of nine of their group members died. "I can't comprehend the loss fully now, Bohdan said. Later, the grief will catch on to me." Novobakhmutivka was recently occupied as part of Russias major push west and northwest of Avdiivka, a city that had been captured earlier in February. Ukrainian serviceman Bohdan gets out of the Hospitallers evacuation bus near a hospital in Dnipro city on April 25, 2024. (Serhii Korovayny/The Kyiv Independent) Two other servicemen with callsigns Lito ("Summer") and Kipish ("Chaos") were holding positions against Russian soldiers in Berdychi village. They saw Russian infantry just 15-20 meters from their base. Russian artillery hit the group and wounded four people, two of them severely. Their position was soon occupied. On April 28, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi confirmed that Ukrainian troops had retreated west from the villages of Berdychi, Semenivka, and Novomykhailivka in Donetsk Oblast. Lito said that Ukrainian troops are significantly outnumbered and that additional reinforcement is needed. One of the wounded Ukrainian soldiers get treatment at the Hospitallers evacuation bus as they are being transported from Donetsk Oblast to a hospital in Dnipro city on April 25, 2024. (Serhii Korovayny/The Kyiv Independent) The view on the road from Donetsk Oblast to Dnipro on April 25, 2024. (Serhii Korovayny/The Kyiv Independent) Medics cruise between bed bunks on the bus, checking medications and talking with the wounded. As they arrive in Dnipro, hospital staff awaits for patients. Those soldiers who can walk take a quick smoke and follow nurses inside the building. The heavily wounded are being carried inside by the medics. On their way back to the base, Hospitallers are resting or sleeping. Their work is done until the next group of wounded soldiers needs them. Wounded Ukrainian servicemen rest inside the Hospitallers evacuation bus driving from the front line in Donetsk Oblast to Dnipro on April 25, 2024. (Serhii Korovayny/The Kyiv Independent) Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. JOHANNESBURG, May 11 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Presidency said Saturday that the country has on Friday approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek an urgent order from the court for the protection of the Palestinian people in Gaza amid Israel's ongoing military assault on Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city. South Africa has requested the ICJ to adopt additional provisional measures against Isreal, including ordering Isreal to immediately withdraw and cease its military actions in Rafah, and take measures to facilitate the access of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, the Presidency said in a statement. South Africa also asks Israel to submit an open report to the ICJ on all measures it has taken to give effect to all previous provisional measures indicated by the ICJ, according to the statement. "The urgent application follows the escalation of Israel's assault on Rafah, which poses extreme risk to humanitarian supplies and basic services into Gaza, the survival of the Palestinian medical system, and the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza as a group," the Presidency said. The attack on Rafah further worsens the prevailing situation and causes irreparable harm to the rights of Palestinians in Gaza and that the situation has changed significantly since the ICJ's Order of March 28, 2024, the Presidency said. "South Africa is calling for urgent interventions and investigations of all actions that continue to cause irreparable prejudice to the rights of Palestinians, including the use of Artificial Intelligence for targeted killings." "We call on the international community, including the allies of the State of Israel, not to turn a blind eye to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The gross human rights violations perpetuated by Israel have scaled to incomprehensible levels of cruelty, hate and extreme violent oppression. The world must do more to end the persecution of Palestinians, including that of many innocent women and children," the Presidency said. South Africa is greatly encouraged by the adoption of the UN General Assembly draft resolution that recommends to the Security Council to reconsider favorably the application by Palestine for full membership of the UN. The support to this resolution shown by 143 countries is a further demonstration that the world is listening to the cries of the Palestinians, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was quoted by the statement as saying. WASHINGTON Rudy Giuliani was suspended from WABC radio on Friday over discussing false claims about the 2020 presidential election on his daily talk show, which was also canceled. John Catsimatidis, a billionaire Republican businessman, told the New York Times, which first reported the firing, that Giuliani was given several warnings before he made the decision to terminate him from the radio station. We warned him once. We warned him twice. And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning that he refuses not to talk about it, Castimatidis told the New York Times. He left me no option. I suspended him, Castimatidis said. Giluliani served as former President Donald Trumps former campaign lawyer. Giuliani, one of the former presidents top allies, has repeatedly espoused false claims of fraud in the 2020 election. A federal jury ordered him in December to pay $148 million in damages to a pair of Georgia election workers for defaming them. Giuliani declared bankruptcy not long after the decision and is currently seeking to appeal the ruling. Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani speaks with the media after being processed at the Fulton County Jail. A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia indicted Donald Trump. The indictment includes 41 charges against 19 defendants, from the former president to his former attorney Rudy Guiliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The legal case centers on the state's RICO statute, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Giuliani, also a former mayor of New York City, is additionally currently facing criminal charges in Arizona and Georgia for his role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. John Catsimatidis and (WABC radio) fired me for refusing to comply with their overly broad directive, Giuliani said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, pushing back against his firing, calling it a clear violation of free speech. Among the topics that Giuliani was barred from discussing on his show, according to a letter obtained by NBC News sent on Thursday, included, but are not limited to, the legitimacy of the election results, allegations of fraud effectuated by election workers, and your personal lawsuits relating to those allegations. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rudy Giuliani suspended from WABC radio station, talk show canceled It just got a little harder for Rudy Giuliani to pay his titanic legal bills and judgments: He was yanked off his radio show by fellow Trump pal and station owner John Catsimatidis for flogging the Big Lie. Giuliani, who reportedly made $15,000 a month inflicting himself on WABC listeners, ran afoul of the rules by falsely claiming on air that the 2020 election was stolen. The former New York City mayor, who declared bankruptcy last year after being ordered to pay $148 million to two Georgia poll workers he defamed, is now locked in a war of words with Catsimatidis, the billionaire supermarket mogul. He did it to himself, Catsimatidis told the New York Post. This is a major screwing! Giuliani retorted. In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Giuliani said, This directive is a clear violation of free speechsuggesting, perhaps, that he needs to brush up on constitutional law. WABCs decision comes at a very suspicious time, just months before the 2024 election, and just as John and WABC continue to be pressured by Dominion Voting Systems and the Biden regimes lawyers. Unlike Newsmax, One America News Network, and Fox News, Catsimatidis media companies have not been sued by Dominion Voting Systems for airing claims the 2020 election was stolen. As The Daily Beast reported, Newsmax has tried to drag Catsimatidis into its case and force him to testify about why it escaped the same fate. John is now telling reporters that I was informed ahead of time of these restrictions, which is demonstrably untrue, Giuliani said in his statement. How can you possibly believe that when Ive been regularly commenting on the 2020 election for three and a half years, and Ive talked about the case in Georgia incessantly ever since the verdict in December. Catsimatidis could not be reached for further comment. Giuliani, who once worked as Donald Trumps attorney, has been charged twice in connection with his alleged attempts to overturn President Joe Bidens 2020 election victory. He is also being sued by Dominion, Hunter Biden, and a former associate who claims he assaulted her during a sexual relationship. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Russian forces attacked nine settlements along the Sumy Oblast border on May 10, killing one civilian and injuring two others, the regional military administration reported. Artillery shelling in the community of Esman killed a 64-year-old woman and injured her 17-year-old granddaughter, the administration reported earlier in the day. A resident of the village of Seredyna-Buda was also injured in artillery shelling on May 10, the administration said. Russian forces also targeted the communities of Velyka Pysarivka, Khotin, Bilopillia, Znob-Novhorodske, Krasnopillia, Shalyhyne, and Hlukhiv. The attacks caused 139 explosions in the area. Shelling is a daily occurrence for the communities near Ukraine's northeastern border with Russia, with residents in the region's vulnerable border settlements experiencing multiple attacks per day. Russian strikes against Sumy Oblast have become increasingly destructive in recent months. Amid intensified attacks, Ukrainian authorities ordered increased evacuations from the region. Read also: Sumy Oblast fortifies amid looming threat of Kharkiv attack Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A large-scale Ukrainian attack hit Belgorod and the surrounding region on the evening of May 11, inflicting damage and casualties, claimed the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov. Ukraine does not usually comment on reported attacks against Belgorod. The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims made by Russian officials. Gladkov reported a missile attack alert in the oblast at around 8:15 p.m. local time. Russian Telegram channels published footage of burning cars and smoke rising over Belgorod soon after. According to Gladkov, a woman was killed in the attack, and 29 people, including a child, were injured and hospitalized. Several apartment buildings, commercial enterprises, cars, and medical and educational facilities were allegedly damaged. Damage was also reported in the nearby village of Dubovoye, Gladkov said on his Telegram channel. The governor did not specify whether the damage and casualties resulted from direct hits or falling fragments of downed projectiles. Belgorod Oblast borders Ukraine's Sumy, Kharkiv, and Luhansk oblasts. Claims of rocket or drone attacks against the region have become a common occurrence in recent months. Russia reportedly often uses Belgorod Oblast as a launching ground for cross-border missile strikes against Ukraine. Read also: Russia claims 6 killed, 35 injured in drone attack on Belgorod Oblast Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Moscow's Defense Ministry on May 11 said its forces had taken control of five Ukrainian villages in Kharkiv Oblast near the border with Russia. In a briefing, it said Russian troops were now in control of Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylna and Strilecha, Reuters reports. Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported on May 10 that Russian forces launched an attempt to break through in Kharkiv Oblast. Kyiv Independent could not verify the Russian Defense Ministry's claims but on May 11, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of forces, said Moscow's troops were being held back in the so-called "gray zone" and had not advanced. Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov speaking to journalists on May 11 said the situation was "fully controlled" and fighting was ongoing in four of the five villages claimed by Moscow Strilecha, Pylna, Borysivka and Ohirtseve. As fighting continues, it remains to be seen if the Russian offensive is a limited action or the prelude to a larger attack on the city of Kharkiv itself. On May 10, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the White House had assessed the latter was a possibility. "It is certainly possible that the Russians are setting themselves up for a larger assault on Kharkiv," Kirby said, citing signs that Russia appears to be preparing to use long-range fire within the range of the city. Kirby also said that Russia may achieve some advances in the coming weeks, but breakthroughs are unlikely as the influx of U.S. assistance will help Ukraine withstand the attacks, AFP reported. Washington "is working around the clock" to provide Ukraine with defense supplies, Kirby added. Over the past day, 1,775 civilians in Kharkiv Oblast have been evacuated from their homes amid renewed Russian attacks on the region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on May 11. Russian forces failed to take Kharkiv in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion despite the fact that the city lies less than 30 kilometers from the Russian border. Russia "would need years" to occupy Kharkiv, Oleksandr Pivnenko, the commander of Ukraine's National Guard, said amid the looming threat of renewed attack. Subscribe to Ukraine Daily newsletter News from Ukraine in your inbox Subscribe Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russia's deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, recently visited Sudan, where he met Gen. Abdul-Fattah Burhan, commander of the Sudanese armed forces and ruler of the country, to conveyed Russia's support. Burhan badly needs it. This was one recent example of Russias newfound strategy of intervention in Africa: Military druzhba, or friendship. By most accounts, there have been at least seven military coups in West and Central Africa since 2020, in Gabon, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Guinea, Chad and Mali. The Russians have been eager to exploit almost all of them, not merely because the Kremlin regime knows how to deal with dictators, but, also because almost all the civilian governments that were toppled had been friendly with the U.S. and other Western nations. Indeed, some in West Africa offered military bases Western powers like France and the U.S. in exchange for aid in their wars against violent Islamists. For more than a year, Burhans army in Sudan has been fighting a rival militia led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, who was formerly Burhan's deputy and ally. Hemedti's forces have established control over almost half the country, including the capital, Khartoum, forcing Burhan and his generals to flee to Port Sudan which was where Bogdanov flew to meet him. Russias support for Burhan represents a change in policy. For several years, Moscow appeared to support Hemedti, mostly through the Wagner Group, the infamous private militia partially funded by the Russian government. That is, until last year, when President Vladimir Putin broke with Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagners leader, who launched a short-lived rebellion sparked by conflicts over Russias war strategy in Ukraine. In an ironic parallel, both Burhan and Putin abruptly broke with militia leaders that each had supported and supplied. Soon after Prigozhin attempted rebellion against Putin, he was killed in a mysterious plane explosion that most assume was the work of Russian military intelligence. Burhan likely would have had Hemedti killed, but the latter's forces overpowered him, forcing Burhan and his officers to flee Khartoum. Putins new policy seems to be pursuing direct military intervention in Africa, without using the disgraced Wagner Group as an intermediary. But there's no question that Wagner served Putin well in Africa for the previous five years or so. In Mali, for instance, Wagner allied with a military regime that toppled an elected civilian government in 2020. Russian soldiers and arms arrived, replacing French forces in a country whose historical, cultural and military ties to France go back to the colonial era. In neighboring Burkina Faso, another former French colony, Wagner arrived after a military coup in 2022 that toppled another civilian government. Last year, a third military coup took place in neighboring Niger, toppling another elected civilian government. This time, the stakes were considerably higher because of a decade-long U.S. military presence. Despite a flurry of visits from U.S. officials, including Molly Phee, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and Gen. Michael Langley, chief of the U.S. Africa Command, the Nigerien junta forced American troops to leave the country this March. In April, Russian troops arrived. In Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, special port facilities were awarded to the Russian navy, and Wagner troops participated in years-long government efforts to crush an Islamist insurgence. In the nearby island state of Madagascar, a former French colony, Wagner's involvement accompanied efforts by Russian companies to gain access to important minerals such as chromium. Another important mineral, uranium, is known to be abundant in Niger, a likely reason for Russia's intense interest in the country. Last April, a report by the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute warned that the withdrawal of the U.S. from Niger would not only be a disaster for its counter-terrorism initiatives in the region but would also hinder its efforts to counter the rise of powers like Russia and China, who are striving to expand their influence in the region, across the continent, and globally. Russia's intervention in Africa is largely not financial. Chinese business in Africa since 2005 amounts to more than $2 trillion, and Beijing has $300 billion in current African investments. Russia simply cannot compete, since every day of the war in Ukraine costs the Russian government about $500 million. Nor is the intervention ideological. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with its global ambitions, is long gone. In the mid-20th century, Sudans Communist Party was the strongest in Africa, and it still commands some support. But it has long been an enemy of the Sudanese military, and cannot have welcomed Bogdanov's visit. The new Russian strategy, that military druzhba, has a more straightforward ideological goal in its battle with the West: Tearing down elected civilian governments. Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. A week before Bogdanov arrived in Sudan, the French arranged a conference, largely for Western countries, which agreed to donate about $2 billion to help the Sudanese as they enter the second year of fierce fighting between Burhan's military and Hemedti's militia. The conflict has killed hundreds of civilians, destroyed many cities, forced millions to leave their homes and threatened tens of millions with starvation. France refused to invite the Sudanese military government, declaring it illegitimate for toppling a partially civilian government in 2021 (while declared the above-mentioned military governments illegitimate as well). A week later, Bogdanov was in Port Sudan to offer Russias support to Burhan. Russia's next step is expected to be a call for solidarnost" or solidarity, suggesting that its African military allies should work together to challenge the nearby civilian governments that oppose them. Indeed, this has already begun to happen: In February, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger left the Economic Community of West African States, known as Ecowas, in response to criticism from the group's civilian governments. Russia attacked the Vovchansk community in Kharkiv Oblast on May 11 with aerial bombs, rocket launchers, artillery, and drones, killing two civilians and injuring two others, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported. As Russian forces launched new offensive operations in the north of Kharkiv Oblast on May 10, Vovchansk, a town only some five kilometers (three miles) south of the Russo-Ukrainian border, has come under heavy strikes. At 11:30 a.m., a Russian attack hit a house in Vovchansk but inflicted no casualties, the governor said. 0:00 / 1 Later during the day, at around 3:45 p.m., Russian attacks against a nearby village of Vovchanski Khutory set ablaze a house, reportedly injuring a 64-year-old man. Russian bombs also injured another man and killed two men aged 50 and 48, Syniehubov said. Russian forces reportedly dropped more than 20 KAB guided aerial bombs against Vovchansk and the surrounding settlements over the day. As residents of Vovchansk continue to suffer Russian strikes, battles are ongoing in the nearby settlements. Ukraine's military said that Moscow's troops had been contained in the "gray zone" border villages, while Russia alleged the capture of five local settlements, including Pletenivka and Ohirtseve just north of Vovchansk. Read also: Military: Russian forces in Kharkiv Oblast contained, fighting continues Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. NAIROBI, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Saturday issued a public alert warning against sale of a false batch of cancer medicine that poses immense health risks to civilians. Fred Siyoi, the chief executive officer of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, a state-owned regulatory body, said that the batch of Herceptin 440mg (Trastuzumab 440mg), a medicine product that has been detected in the market is suspicious and falsified. "It is not authorized to be in the market and is a falsified product in view of the falsified contents, packaging and labeling aspects which have been confirmed by the brand owner," Siyoi said in a statement issue in Kenya's capital of Nairobi. Siyoi said that the specific product batch number C5830083 is a confirmed counterfeit that is claimed to be manufactured in Germany by Roche Products Ltd, bearing the Batch number C5830083, Mfg. Date: 12/2021, Exp. Date: 11/2024. Herceptin is a medicine that is recommended to cancer patients to prevent growth and spread of cancer cells in the body. It is also approved for the treatment of early stage breast cancer that is human epidermal growth that has spread into the lymph nodes. Siyoi cautioned the public against the use, supply, sale or distribution of the product batch number C5830083 as their safety, quality and efficacy cannot be assured. He added that the regulator has instituted legal actions against individuals suspected to be circulating fake medicine in contravention of the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Cap. 244). Siyoi noted that Kenya has initiated a rapid response and heightened surveillance of the market to ensure that safety and public health is protected. He said that Kenya has established robust market surveillance and control systems that continuously monitor the quality and safety of medical products in the local market. Siyoi called on members of the public and healthcare providers to report and volunteer information on suspicious activities that may be related to such acts of falsification as well as all suspicious, substandard, and falsified medical products. The Russians attacked civilian settlements in Kherson Oblast from the air on the night of 10-11 May, claiming the life of a man and injuring a woman. Source: Kherson Oblast Military Administration Details: The authorities noted that one of the Russian guided aerial bombs had struck a private house in the village of Tiahynka, Beryslav district. A man has been killed at the site of the impact. In addition, a woman has been injured in the attack. Medical workers treated her on the spot. Support UP or become our patron! A Russian missile attack against the outskirts of the northeastern city of Sumy on May 11 killed a woman aged around 37, the regional military administration reported. The strike was aimed against local infrastructure, the administration said without providing further details on the target or the consequences. Russian attacks are a daily occurrence for the communities near Ukraine's northeastern border with Russia, with residents in the region's vulnerable border settlements experiencing multiple attacks per day. Russian strikes against Sumy Oblast have become increasingly destructive in recent months. Amid intensified attacks, Ukrainian authorities ordered further evacuations from the region. Overnight, Russia attacked nine communities in Sumy Oblast, killing one person and injuring two. Read also: Why is Russia intensifying attacks on Ukraines Sumy Oblast? Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russian offensive operations along the border in Kharkiv Oblast likely have the strategic goal of engaging and consolidating Ukrainian forces on this axis to enable Russian advances into other areas in Ukraines east. Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW) Details: ISW reported that Russian forces had launched an offensive along the Russia-Ukraine border in the northern Kharkiv Oblast on the morning of 10 May and achieved significant tactical gains. Russian troops are likely conducting an initial offensive phase in northern Kharkiv Oblast, which has limited operational objectives but is aimed at achieving a strategic effect of diverting troops and equipment from other critical areas of the front in Ukraines east. As of now, Russian forces have initiated two limited operations in this area, including one to the north of Kharkiv towards the village of Lyptsi and another to the north-east of Kharkiv near the city of Vovchansk. Ukraines Defence Ministry reported that Russian armoured assault groups consisting of an unknown number of people and weapons attempted to break through Ukrainian defences near Vovchansk early in the morning. They added that fighting in the area continued after Ukrainian forces repelled the Russian attacks. NASA Fire Information for Resource Management (FIRMS) data as of 10 May indicate that intense fighting may have taken place in and around the settlements of Strilecha, Krasne, Pylna and Borysivka. Reuters reported that a high-ranking Ukrainian military source had stated that Russian forces had advanced at least a kilometre into the area around Vovchansk. ISW assesses that the Russian troops have advanced towards Vovchansk but has not seen sufficient evidence to assess the approximate extent of the fighting in the immediate area. Russian forces are likely to use their tactical foothold in the northern part of Kharkiv Oblast in the coming days to intensify their offensive operations and conduct the initial phase of their advance, presumably aiming to push Ukrainian forces away from the border with Belgorod Oblast and advance to the extent that their artillery can fire on Kharkiv. However, the limited efforts currently employed by Russian forces do not indicate that they are conducting a large-scale offensive operation to encircle and occupy the city of Kharkiv. To quote the ISWs Key Takeaways on 10 May: Russian forces began an offensive operation along the Russian-Ukrainian border in northern Kharkiv Oblast on the morning of 10 May and made tactically significant gains. Russian forces are likely conducting the initial phase of an offensive operation north of Kharkiv City that has limited operational objectives but is meant to achieve the strategic effect of drawing Ukrainian manpower and materiel from other critical sectors of the front in eastern Ukraine. Russian forces will likely leverage their tactical foothold in northern Kharkiv Oblast in the coming days to intensify offensive operations and pursue the initial phase of an offensive effort likely intended to push back Ukrainian forces from the border with Belgorod Oblast and advance to within tubed artillery range of Kharkiv City. The limited efforts that Russian forces are currently conducting do not suggest that Russian forces are immediately pursuing a large-scale sweeping offensive operation to envelop, encircle, and seize Kharkiv City, however. Russian offensive operations along the Kharkiv international border likely have the strategic objective of drawing and fixing Ukrainian forces to this axis to enable Russian advances in other areas of eastern Ukraine. ISW continues to assess that Russian forces will likely struggle to seize Kharkiv City should they aim to do so. Russian forces likely decided to launch offensive operations along the international border area to take the best advantage of the relatively brief time left before Western aid arrives at the Ukrainian frontline at scale. Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk stated that the war in Ukraine will enter a critical phase in the next two months and commented on recent Russian advances around Chasiv Yar and Avdiivka. US President Joe Biden approved up to US$400 million worth of military assistance for Ukraine as part of the Presidential Drawdown Authority Fund on 10 May. Ukrainian forces conducted a drone strike on the night of 9 to 10 May against an oil refinery in Kaluga Oblast that Ukrainian forces previously struck in March 2024. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is retaining his position in the Russian government for Russian President Vladimir Putin's new term of office, and there have been speculations but no confirmations of changes to Putin's cabinet. US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb stated that US defence officials had partnered with SpaceX to stop the Russian military's unauthorised use of Starlink internet terminals in frontline areas of Ukraine. Russian forces recently marginally advanced near Donetsk City and in the Donetsk-Zaporizhzhia Oblast border area. Russian and Belarusian authorities continue to illegally deport Ukrainian citizens, including children, to Russia and Belarus. Support UP or become our patron! Girding Russia for war, Putin gives extra duties to two top officials By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday gave extra duties to two key government officials who oversee the defence industry and energy sectors, as the Kremlin chief girds the world's second-largest oil exporter for a longer war in Ukraine. Putin, who rose to power just eight years after the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, proposed extra powers for Denis Manturov, 55, the only first deputy prime minister in the new government of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Putin's energy point man, Alexander Novak, 52, will remain as deputy prime minister overseeing energy but will get additional duties for running the economy, according to the government. Manturov oversees the Russian defence and civilian industry, which has surprised the United States and its European allies by ramping up artillery production faster than the whole of the NATO military alliance combined despite sanctions. "The increase in the status of the deputy prime minister in charge of industry is due to the importance of ensuring technological leadership," the Russian government said. Russia said it aspired to "technological leadership in all areas," such as aircraft manufacturing, machine tool building, radio electronics and the military-industrial complex. Novak has implemented Russia's key relationship with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. MANAGERIAL EXPERIENCE "Novak has the necessary managerial experience," the government said. "For a long time, he coordinated economic and financial issues in various positions, both in business and in municipal and public service." The proposals, formally made by Mishustin, have to be confirmed by the lower house of parliament. Dmitry Patrushev, formerly agriculture minister, will become a deputy prime minister overseeing the agricultural sector. Oksana Lut will become agriculture minister. Putin left Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov in their jobs, but proposed Sergei Tsivilev, governor of Kemerovo region, as energy minister instead of Nikolai Shulginov. Anton Alikhanov, the 37-year-old governor of Kaliningrad, was proposed as trade and industry minister. Putin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine has touched off the worst fall-out in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, according to Russian and U.S. diplomats. The West casts the invasion as an imperial-style land grab and has vowed to help Ukraine defeat Russian forces. Putin casts the war as a battle with the West which he says tried to encroach on Russia's sphere of influence, which he considers to include Ukraine. Russia controls 18% of Ukraine. Its economy has grown despite the West's sanctions and Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine despite hundreds of billions of dollars in Western support for Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly warned that Western support for Ukraine - including Western weapons that have been used to hit Russian territory - risks escalating the conflict into a broader European war, and says it will achieve all of its aims in Ukraine. Other major appointments, such as proposals for the defence, foreign and key security services, are likely to come on Monday. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Alex Richardson and David Holmes) An air alerts map as of 21:22 Russian troops attacked a suburb of Kharkiv on Saturday evening. Source: Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov on Telegram; Ukraine's Air Force Details: At 21:10, Terekhov reported that an explosion was heard in Kharkiv. Later, he reported a "strike in the outskirts". The Air Force warned of the threat of ballistic missile attacks from the east, and an air-raid warning was issued in a number of regions. Support UP or become our patron! The town of Vovchansk and the suburbs. Screenshot: DeepStateMap Two civilians were killed, and two others wounded by Russian forces in Vovchansk hromada of Kharkiv Oblast on Saturday, where they launched an offensive on Friday. (A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories ed.) Source: Oleh Syniehubov, the Head of Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Quote: "Vovchansk hromada is under intense enemy fire. More than 20 KABs (guided aerial bombs ed.) were dropped on the town and surrounding settlements. The enemy is also using MLRS, artillery, and UAVs. 11:30, the town of Vovchansk. The enemy hit a private house. No casualties. 15:45, the village of Vovchanski Khutory. A private house caught fire because of Russian attacks. Meanwhile, a 64-year-old man was wounded in Vovchansk as a result of the attack. Additionally, a civilian man was injured as a result of KABs being dropped on houses, a 50-year-old and a 48-year-old civilian were killed." Details: Syniehubov also stressed that the situation on the northern and northeastern borders of Kharkiv Oblast is fully under control. Quote: "Heavy fighting continues in Strilecha, Pylna, Borysivka, near Oliinyky and Ohirtseve. Fighting continues in the area of those settlements that were basically in the grey zone. The enemy tried to attack on other fronts within the oblast: enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups (SRG) searched for weak positions on the border, but all the attempts were stopped by the Ukrainian Defence Forces. There is no threat of a ground operation for Kharkiv. The Defence Forces are doing everything they can to hold their positions." Background: On 10 May, it was reported that Russian forces had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting taking place there. During a briefing with Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy confirmed that Russian troops had launched a new wave of offensive on the Kharkiv front. Ukraine's Defence Ministry reported that reserve units had been sent to the north of Kharkiv Oblast. Russian forces resumed assault operations near the village of Hlyboke in Kharkiv Oblast on the morning of 11 May, and Ukraines Defence Forces are expecting the Russians to ramp up shelling in the area. The Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group has said that the grey zone in Kharkiv Oblast was not expanding and that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were not letting Russian forces advance further into Kharkiv Oblast. Support UP or become our patron! Russians lose over 1,300 soldiers amid offensive operations in Kharkiv Oblast Ukrainian soldiers. Photo: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine The Russians have lost over 1,300 soldiers, 15 tanks and 55 artillery systems in a day. Source: General Staff of Ukraines Armed Forces on Facebook Details: The total combat losses of the Russian forces between 24 February 2022 and 11 May 2024 are estimated to be as follows [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses ed.] 481,030 (+1,320) military personnel; 7,449 (+15) tanks; 14,353 (+40) armoured combat vehicles; 12,442 (+55) artillery systems; 1,064 (+2) multiple-launch rocket systems; 796 (+1) air defence systems; 349 (+0) fixed-wing aircraft; 325 (+0) helicopters; 9,868 (+42) strategic and tactical UAVs; 2,193 (+1) cruise missiles; 26 (+0) ships and boats; 1 (+0) submarines; 16,755 (+64) vehicles and tankers; 2,040 (+9) special vehicles and other equipment. The information is being confirmed. Support UP or become our patron! Russian forces resumed assault operations near the village of Hlyboke in Kharkiv Oblast on the morning of 11 May, and the Defence Forces are expecting increased fire by the Russians. Source: Ukrainian Pravda source in military circles Quote: "The enemy resumed assault operations this morning in certain areas near Hlyboke. They fired using artillery towards Starytsia. Further escalation of fire is expected in other areas, in particular near Strilecha-Hlyboke." Details: The source added that the Russians had not yet conducted any assault operations on the Vovchansk front. Background: It became known on 10 May that Russian occupation troops had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, and battles were ongoing there. During a briefing with Slovak President Caputova, President Zelenskyy confirmed that Russian troops had launched a new wave of offensive actions in Kharkiv Oblast. Ukraine's Ministry of Defence reported that reserve units had been sent to the north of Kharkiv Oblast. Support UP or become our patron! Sacramento State President Luke Woods response to the pro-Palestine encampment on campus has ended a potentially explosive situation. His advances for both these protesters and the universitys Jewish community provide lessons that the presidents of Columbia University, Cal Poly Humboldt and UCLA could learn from. The university is one of the first in the nation and a leader in the 23 campus California State University system to agree to investigate socially responsible investment strategies amid national and international student protests concerning the ongoing war in Gaza. The war has resulted in the killing of more than 34,000 Palestinians living in Gaza, and has seen the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Opinion A group of students and concerned citizens in Sacramento lived in an encampment on the universitys campus commons for just eight days, while protests across the country and, notably, on other campuses within the CSU system were raided by police, and students and faculty were assaulted and arrested. The peaceful conclusion to Sacramento States protest is an example of good governance and respect for the student bodys concerns. Sacramento State says that it currently has no direct investments in violation of this approach to socially responsible investing. Wood, notably, is going a step further. In an update to the universitys policies, signed by Wood, Sacramento State and its five auxiliaries are directed to investigate a socially responsible stance for indirect investments (e.g., index funds, mutual funds). The universitys five auxiliaries are the Associated Students, University Enterprises Inc., University Union, University Foundation at Sac State and Capital Public Radio. Woods presidential memo, released Tuesday, states in part: CSU Sacramento opposes and condemns all acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, terrorism and other activities that violate fundamental human rights. Student protests and political action are cornerstones of higher education and democracy, and we unequivocally condemn hate and bias in all forms. This is a marked difference in response compared to the handling of student protests by administrators at Columbia University and the City University of New York on April 30, when the New York Police Department raided both campuses costing the NYPD $150 million in overtime, not to mention millions of dollars in unresolved lawsuits stemming from the evenings assault. Hundreds of NYPD officers made violent mass arrests of students and faculty. At a another CSU campus, Cal Poly Humboldt, a violent clash between protesters and police led to more than 30 arrests, millions of dollars in damage and a shutdown of the campus until May 10, affecting graduation for hundreds of students. In contrast, Sacramento States response has been extremely measured and is commendable for that alone. Protesters, including those at Sacramento State, have called for divestment and disclosure at universities. Granted, such demands often yield only symbolic victories that do little to punish the companies targeted. Wood and the protesters identified a process to ensure socially responsible investing, which is a win for all sides. The needs of the universitys Jewish community, meanwhile, are being addressed as well. Wood has announced the opening of a Jewish Life and Resource Center, the first of its kind on campus. This safe space is part of a broader effort to raise awareness and understanding of anti-Semitism among faculty and staff. The balanced response at Sacramento State shows respect to the breadth of campus perspectives. Now, if only the rest of the nations universities would follow suit. HANOI, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Jewelry stores in Vietnam have been crowded with customers looking to buy gold as prices kept soaring to an all-time high of over 90 million Vietnamese dong (3,536 U.S. dollars) in recent days, VnExpress reported. A store on Cau Giay street in capital Hanoi even had to stop accepting walk-in customers, only serving those who had already fixed an appointment, the newspaper reported Saturday. Saigon Jewelry Company gold bullion price shot up 2.6 percent to 91.8 million dong (3,607 dollars) per tael on Friday morning after reaching a record 89.5 million dong (3,517 dollars) on Thursday afternoon. Gold ring prices slightly increased by 1 percent to 76 million dong (2,987 dollars) per tael on Friday. Since the central bank began auctioning gold bars in late April, the precious metal has seen its price skyrocket. A total of 6,800 taels of gold bars have been successfully auctioned during two recent sessions in Vietnam. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces. Sacramento, California Earlier this week, Sacramento State University President Luke Wood oversaw a peaceful end to a campus protest over the Israel-Hamas war, one of the many that have taken place at universities nationwide in recent weeks. Sacramento State's encampment came down, not with violence, but with dialogue. "We want to take the time to thank Luke Wood for not following suit after other administrations, and not calling Sacramento police," one student said in a news conference Wednesday. "That's what a lot of students are really looking for, is to take a moral stance about what is taking place in the world," Wood told CBS News. The 42-year-old Wood, who says he tries to lead with empathy, grew up in foster care, suffered bouts of hunger and homelessness, and received his degrees at the school he now oversees. "I did 92 listening sessions, 75 minutes each, with over 1,500 of our students, faculty, staff," Wood said. The pro-Palestinian encampment on the school's library quad began on April 29. "I got to first tell you how I feel as a person, as an individual, and really as a Black man, I get a heightened level of anxiety," Wood said. "When people are in fear, they respond in a protected mechanism, which doesn't always lead to the best outcomes." The protest ended Wednesday, as the university shared a new policy in which it "directs its auxiliaries...to investigate socially responsible investment strategies which include not having direct investments in corporations and funds that profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights." Wood reiterated to CBS News that "we're not investing in students' future by engaging in relationships with companies that profit from war." While he is concerned about the possibility of losing support from some donors and state lawmakers, Wood is confident in his decision to support the new policy. "I very much care what our donors think," Wood said. "I very much care what our legislators think. But ultimately, my responsibility is for the health, the safety, and the learning and development of this campus." Political science major Sarah Bukhari, who was inside the encampment, said she not only raised her voice, but also found her voice. "I do feel heard," Bukhari said. "I'm not going to lie to you. I cried a couple times. I'm 29, and my whole life, no one's asked me what I thought about the U.S.-Arab relations." That is exactly the sentiment that Wood hopes to foster. "The message here is to create an environment where people can engage in honest and open dialog, without being vilified or canceled," Wood said. New details emerge after series of resignations rock Miss USA organization Decade-long search for Texas mom's killer takes stunning turns Bodycam video released of deadly police shooting of U.S. airman in Florida Over two years into Russias invasion of Ukraine, President Putins aircraft still use U.S., Japanese, and European components. A forthcoming report from the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission, a Ukrainian think tank known as NAKO, found shocking evidence that components from hundreds of foreign companies are present in Russian military planes. Of those foreign-made components, over 60 percent came from American manufacturers such as Texas Instruments and Intel. The products themselves, such as circuit boards and semiconductors, sound mundane but are vital to aircraft manufacturing. Many are listed as highest priority by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security due to a heightened risk of being diverted illegally to Russia because of their importance to Russias war efforts. Even amid sanctions and export controls, NAKOs report found that Russia has increased its imports of western-made electronic components since 2021, in some cases by more than 500 percent. In 2023 alone, they found that Russia imported over $4 billion in components connected to aircraft manufacturing. These components make it possible for the Russian air force to maintain its role in Ukraine. NAKO has published numerous authoritative reports on components in Russian weapons. The problem extends beyond Russias planes. Western components are found in Russian weapons such as drones and missiles, but Russias ability to maintain its aircraft and build new ones is a key part of its war effort. Russia enjoys a large advantage in airpower over Ukraine, which makes it hard for Kyiv to hold ground and even harder to reclaim it. Russia relies heavily on glide bombs launched from aircraft to pound Ukrainian positions. The U.S. and other countries have made some efforts to stop the flow of components and technology to Russia. The Biden Administration implemented rules in 2021 requiring export licenses to ship a variety of components to Russia or Belarus. More restrictions have come into place since, such as new restrictions on Russian entities after the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in February 2024. However, many components key to Russias war effort are not regulated to the same extent. The U.K. and other countries have their own sets of restrictions, though what constitutes dual usean item that is banned because it could be used for civil or military purposesvaries from country to country. In the vast majority of cases, the manufacturers themselves are not aware that their components are heading to Russia. For instance, early in the conflict Texas Instruments released a statement saying that it had halted sales to Russia and that any shipments of TI products into Russia are illicit and unauthorized. Intel has made similar statements. The report notes an alarming tendency for rapid and rather sudden growth of exports into the countries bordering the Russian Federation in Central Asia. To get around restrictions and sanctions, a large number of intermediary companies in countries like Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan are buying components and moving them on to Russia. The Daily Beast reached out to Texas Instruments and Intel for comment. China is another avenue by which Russia gets war material and dual use components originally made in the U.S. and elsewhere. Hong Kong in particular has emerged as a major hub for trans-shipping components to Russian companies, where entities likely supplied hundreds of millions of dollars worth of U.S. and European-made goods in 2023. The Financial Times reported last year that a U.K. company shipped equipment that included electronics from companies like Intel to Russia, though its unclear if those components ended up in Russian aircraft. Identifying specific firms engaged in illegal activity is no easy task for western companies that do business all over the world, and there are insufficient incentives and mechanisms by which companies can work with governments and civil societies to monitor their supply chains. In addition to components inside the aircraft, the report also outlined Russias reliance on American and European machine tools to produce aircraft. In all, researchers identified machine tools from 52 companies based in countries like Japan, the U.S., and Italy and found that many of the smaller Russian companies that use these tools to support Russias aircraft production are not sanctioned to the same extent as the larger firms. Stopping the flow of components and machine tools to Russia is no easy task. It requires a dedicated effort across multiple countries. Given the scale of the challenge, what can Western governments and companies do to halt the flow of components to Russia? The report recommends a few approaches. The most obvious are greater trade and manufacturing oversight, but other entities have a proactive role to play as well. NAKO argues that governments could create mechanisms for information exchange with governments and civil society groups to better investigate existing illicit networks. Doing so would make it more challenging for Russian companies to use shady intermediary companies to hide what theyre up to. Even with stronger due diligence, Russia may never entirely lose access to some components. Many are already in Russia or in the hands of intermediaries in Hong Kong and elsewhere. However, making it more difficult to get components in large numbers and reducing the flow of components overall will impact Russias ability to manufacture, repair, and upgrade its aircraft and other weapons. If western governments put more resources into busting middlemen and controlling the true destination of spare parts, Russia could find itself relying on a dwindling stockpile of quality components. The full report Wings of War: Analysing the Western Parts in Russian Fighter Jets is set for release at the end of May. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Sanders, Welch, Balint say FEMA must do better responding to future disasters Vermont's Congressional delegation is not happy with the job the Federal Emergency Management Response Agency did in the wake of the historic flooding in Vermont in July 2023. The Great Vermont Flood of 2023, as the National Weather Service dubbed it, took two lives. More than 350 family farms were affected by the storms, suffering an estimated $45 million in total losses. The flood caused millions of dollars of destruction in urban areas as well, with 125 businesses damaged by flooding in Montpelier alone. Dozens of roads were damaged and two bridges were destroyed. Vermont's capital city, Montpelier, was flooded after torrential rains caused the Winooski River to overflow its banks on July 11, 2023. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint begin a two-page letter to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell by acknowledging support from the agency, including IA, or individual assistance, has been "crucial to the state's recovery efforts." Altogether, FEMA provided more than $25 million in individual and household assistance to more than 3,600 households in Vermont. Vermont's experience recovering from the July 2023 floods also, however, "highlighted areas of improvement for FEMA's (Individual Assistance) process," the delegation writes, including the following: Inadequate Direct Housing Assistance. Only 11 households in the state ultimately received Direct Housing Assistance, and many Vermonters struggled to access the assistance they needed, according to the delegation. More: 'She was the rock': Vermont native praised for help she coordinated after Montpelier flood Unclear application process. Despite a revamp in 2022 following a 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office, which found FEMA's determination letters were a barrier to disaster survivors accessing assistance, the delegation says reports they received from constituents showed the process is still confusing, and still a barrier. Insufficient technical assistance. It took more than three months after the flooding to receive federal funding to set up a Disaster Case Management program. As a result Vermonters relied on volunteer organizations across the state for help, according to the delegation. A "Montpelier Strong" photo exhibit, shown Dec. 15, 2023, decorates the window of an empty storefront five months after flooding devastated the city's downtown. Questions about FEMA's response to Vermont flooding disaster that congressional delegation wants answered The delegation also posed a series of 14 questions to Criswell, asking her to provide answers by no later than May 29, 2024. The questions include: What steps, if any, should Congress consider to better streamline the provision of case management funding? What challenges, if any, does FEMA face in housing disaster victims under the Direct Housing Assistance program in a timely manner? What metrics does FEMA use to determine whether Direct Housing Assistance is needed following a disaster, and in what timeframe is that determination made? In the second quarter of 2023, immediately prior to the flooding, the rental vacancy rate in Vermont, as determined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was just 1.8 percent. What steps, if any, could FEMA take to expedite providing housing for those with housing damage to ensure that victims are not living in damaged homes? Please provide examples of determination letters sent to Vermonters in 2023, including determination letters that include final details of (Individual Assistance) assistance and determination letters that inform individuals they can appeal their determination. What improvements could FEMA make to ensure survivors are receiving consistent and accurate information, provided across disparate outlets, such as the national call center, local recovery centers, and field representatives? Welch tells fellow senators their communities could be next to get hit with disaster On Wednesday, Welch delivered remarks on the Senate floor, calling for Congress to pass long-term disaster relief funding for Vermont, following the July 2023 flooding. U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch during a March 18, 2024 press conference about federal funding. "What is more important, more essential for the Senate than to acknowledge that all of us as Americans, there but for the grace of God goes our communities when a natural disaster occurs," Welch said. Contact Dan DAmbrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosi@gannett.com. Follow him on X @DanDambrosioVT. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Sanders, Welch, Balint wants FEMA to improve disaster help Santa Rosa man receives life sentence for attempting to murder wife with scissors (KRON) A Santa Rosa man, Adrian Cervantes-Alvarez, 38, received a life sentence for attempting to murder his wife with a pair of grooming scissors, Santa Rosa District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said on Friday. The victim showed amazing courage in holding Mr. Cervantez-Alvarez accountable. This was an extremely violent act committed by a man with a history of extremely violent criminal conduct, Rodriguez said. 2-alarm fire burning at family residence in San Jose The incident happened on August 4, 2020. While they were both seated in a car, Cervantes-Alvarez violently attacked the mother of his children, allegedly stabbing her with a pair of grooming scissors up to seven times, prosecutors said. According to prosecutors, Carvantez-Alvarez stabbed his wife while his children were present in the car and only stopped when a neighbor intervened. After the neighbor intervened, Cervantez-Alvarez then fled the scene, prosecutors said. Cervantes-Alvarez was sentenced on Monday and was convicted of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and injuring a co-parent. The jury also found that he clearly suffered two prior convictions under Californias Three Strikes law, Rodriguez said. Cervantez-Alvarez qualified for a life sentence under the Three Strikes Law, and the judge imposed the maximum sentence possible. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4. Some Indian government websites have allowed scammers to plant advertisements capable of redirecting visitors to online betting platforms. TechCrunch discovered around four dozen "gov.in" website links associated with Indian states, including Bihar, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Mizoram and Telangana that were redirecting to online betting platforms. Some of those websites belong to state police and property tax departments in the respective states. The scammy links were indexed by search engines, including Google, making the ads easy to find online. The redirecting websites, touted as "Asia's most popular" online betting platform and "the number one online cricket betting app in India," claim to allow betting on games, including cricket tournaments such as the Indian Premier League. It's not clear how the scammers planted the ads on Indian government pages or for how long the links were redirecting to the online betting platforms. After spotting the issue earlier this week, TechCrunch alerted India's Computer Emergency Response Team, known as CERT-In, to the lapse and provided a few affected state government website links for reference. Shortly after, the Indian cyber agency acknowledged the receipt of the email, and on Thursday CERT-In confirmed it escalated the matter. "We have taken up with the concerned authority for appropriate action," the agency said in an email response. It is not clear if the flaw allowing the backdoor access to state government websites has been fixed. Last June, TechCrunch reported that scammers had published ads for hacking services on U.S. government websites by way of a security flaw in the government's web content management system software. Some of those ads appeared to be available online for years. Scholarship set up to honor life of Fresno teacher, police officer who passed away FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) A scholarship has been set up to honor a former member of the Fresno Police Department and teacher at Washington Unified, Darrik Graef. According to his obituary, Darrik Graef passed away on May 8 following a long battle with cancer. He served for 24 years with the Fresno Police Department before retiring in 2021. He then went on to teach at Washington Union High School. My brother was sick: Daughter of Sanger man allegedly killed by son speaks out In a statement, the Fresno Police Department writes that they are truly saddened by the news. He was loved by all at the department, and his larger than life personality was missed when he retired in 2021. Our hearts go out to his family, friends and students. Fresno Police Department The superintendent of Washington Unified School District echoed that sentiment in another statement sent to YourCentralValley.com. We are all saddened by the passing of Darrik Graef. Darrik was a beloved member of our staff teaching in our Law and Justice Institute. You could also hear Darrik announcing at our sporting events. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. Washington Unified School District Superintendent Randy Morris To honor Darriks memory, a GoFundMe online fundraiser has been set up to support the memorial scholarship fund set up in his name. A link to that fundraiser can be found here. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com | KSEE24 and CBS47. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks at a panel discussion organized by the RND Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland and the Maerkische Allgemeine Zeitung in the Orangery of the Biosphaere Potsdam Carsten Koall/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on citizens to take a stance against violence following a series of attacks on politicians in the lead-up to the European elections in June. "Violence threatens democracy, and that is why we must stand together as citizens against it," the Social Democrat told around 180 guests at a talk organized by German media organization Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) in Potsdam near Berlin on Saturday. The chancellor's comments come following a brutal attack on the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) leading candidate for the European elections in the state of Saxony, Matthias Ecke. On May 3, Ecke was putting up posters in the eastern city of Dresden when he was beaten so badly he had to be taken to hospital. Just moments earlier, a lawmaker from the Green Party was also assaulted while putting up posters in the same neighbourhood. On Tuesday, a man hit Berlin's top economic official, Franziska Giffey of the SPD, on the back of the head in a public library, while the leading Green Party candidate for city council, Yvonne Mosler, was jostled and threatened while putting up election posters in Saxony's capital Dresden. "All of this is unacceptable under any circumstances - regardless of which party it is directed against," Scholz said at Saturday's event. "We must not shrug our shoulders and think it won't be so bad," he warned. While admitting that the security services must play their part, he said that it was also important for civil society to take a stand. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks at a panel discussion organized by the RND Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland and the Maerkische Allgemeine Zeitung in the Orangery of the Biosphaere Potsdam Carsten Koall/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks at a panel discussion organized by the RND Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland and the Maerkische Allgemeine Zeitung in the Orangery of the Biosphaere Potsdam Carsten Koall/dpa Racial segregation in classrooms edged upward over the past three decades, according to the work of two prominent sociologists. Across Americas largest school districts, the expansion of school choice and the winding down of court-mandated desegregation decrees have resulted in white students being more racially isolated from their non-white peers, the authors find. Timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Courts landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education to end legal segregation in public schools, the research offers further evidence that integration hit its peak during the 1980s, only to recede somewhat in the time since. But it also poses questions about the true scale of that backsliding nationally, as well as the solutions that could be reasonably embraced to counter it. Related Brown v. Board at 65: Will Schools Ever Be Integrated? Notably, the trend toward isolation has been underway even as Americans of different races and national origins are living in increasingly close proximity to one another. Ann Owens, a professor at the University of Southern California and one of the co-authors of the analysis, said that public policy was undoing the decline in residential segregation. While its true that school segregation is higher in places where residential segregation is higher, it cant explain the increase over the last 30 years because residential segregation has not been increasing over that time, Owens said. Owens and her co-author, Stanford professor Sean Reardon, have spent years chronicling demographic changes in school through the lenses of both race and class. Their latest study has not yet been made public, though its findings were presented at a conference at Stanford in early May. The duo has also unveiled a new interactive data tool, the Segregation Explorer, which allows users to investigate patterns of segregation across schools, districts, cities and counties. Its also true that white kids attend school with fewer white kids because there are fewer white kids around. Ann Owens, University of Southern California Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the analysis measures childrens exposure to peers of different racial backgrounds, comparing the average African American students proportion of white classmates with the average white students proportion of African American classmates in the same district. The difference between the two figures, measured on a 01 scale, is deemed the districts segregation level. As previous historical studies have shown, after falling dramatically in the wake of federally led integration efforts in the 1960s and 70s, school segregation began creeping back up in the late 1980s. Between 1991 and 2019, Owens and Reardon calculated, the segregation level rose by over one-third in the 541 U.S. school districts that enroll at least 2,500 African American students. But Owens cautioned that, even accounting for that shift, schools are vastly more racially mixed than in the days before Brown. When examined over the last half-century, the growth in segregation is much harder to perceive. The total increase in segregation levels amounts to less than five percentage points since the presidential administration of George H.W. Bush. I don't know if I would look at the trend from 1990 to 2020 and characterize that as 'resegregation.' Brian Kisida, University of Missouri Brian Kisida, an economist at the University of Missouri, said that it was critical to monitor changes in cross-racial exposure over time. In his view, however, existing evidence did not constitute anything that sets off alarm bells compared with the history of this issue. I think segregation is an incredibly important problem, and one weve had terrible trouble with in this country, Kisida said. But I dont know if I would look at the trend from 1990 to 2020 and characterize that as resegregation. The charter factor Kisida added that the papers evidence of charter schools role in driving racial isolation made for a very solid finding that dovetailed with his own prior work. In 2019, he co-authored an article examining the same phenomenon, incorporating an even wider swath of data than Owens and Reardon. That study showed that charters exerted a meaningful, if modest, impact on the racial composition of the surrounding districts; eliminating the charter sector entirely would lead to a 5 percent decrease in the segregation of Hispanic and African American students, they found. (Kisida added that the effect was substantially counteracted by charters propensity to draw students into more integrated environments than their residentially zoned school, lessening segregation between districts.) The newer research estimates that total growth in segregation would have fallen between two and three percentage points from around 19 percent on their exposure index to a little under 17 percent had charter schools not rapidly expanded after the year 2000. Related 12 Things to Know About School Segregation and How Integration Helps Students Another, smaller factor in pushing back integration, the authors argue, was the gradual eclipse of desegregation orders that began in the 1990s. As federal courts released one district after another from injunctions requiring them to evenly balance racial groups across schools, campuses became about 1 percentage point more segregated than they otherwise would have been. Boston College professor Shep Melnick, who published a book last year on the halting efforts toward desegregation that began in 1954 with Brown, said that the lifting of injunctions accelerated during the early 2000s, eventually releasing more than half of the districts that had previously been under court oversight. In some instances, though, local enforcement or even awareness of the orders was so paltry that their sunsetting would not have made much difference. Some of these schools that were formerly under court order didn't even realize they were under court order. So the effects of the orders in those cases probably were not that great. Shep Melnick, Boston College Some of these schools that were formerly under court order didnt even realize they were under court order, said Melnick. So the effects of the orders in those cases probably were not that great. Melnick and Owens agreed that the public needed to be conscious of the differing definitions of racial segregation that underlie research studies. For example, multiple waves of immigration from Asia and Latin America have made the U.S. population significantly more diverse than it was in the middle of the 20th century. Efforts to quantify desegregation simply as the exposure of African American students to white classmates must account for the fact that white students represent a much smaller share of the total student body. When you say, Black students attend school with fewer white kids than they did 50 or 60 years ago, thats true, Owens concluded. But its also true that white kids attend school with fewer white kids because there are fewer white kids around. This photo taken on May 11, 2024 shows people setting up steel chains to elevate a damaged bus after an accident at Palasari Village in Subang regency, West Java, Indonesia. Ten people were killed and more than 10 others wounded in a bus accident in Subang regency of Indonesia's West Java province on Saturday, a rescuer said. (Photo by Septianjar Muharam/Xinhua) JAKARTA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Ten people were killed and more than 10 others wounded in a bus accident in Subang regency of Indonesia's West Java province on Saturday, a rescuer said. The accident occurred at 18:45 Jakarta time at Kampung Palasari street, said the province's head of search and rescue office Hery Marantika, whose personnel had been involved in evacuating the victims. "I got reports that 10 people were killed and more than 10 others were wounded," he told Xinhua via phone. Those with serious injuries had been rushed to Subang General Hospital for treatment, while those with minor injuries had been sent to nearby health clinics, he said. The bus was carrying over 40 people, most of whom were students returning from visiting a recreational destination, he said. Senior police officer Asep Setia Permana said the bus driver could not control the vehicle after a brake failure occurred. The bus had hit two motorcycles before it rolled on, he added. The cause of the accident is still under investigation. This photo taken on May 11, 2024 shows damaged vehicles after a bus accident at Palasari Village in Subang regency, West Java, Indonesia. Ten people were killed and more than 10 others wounded in a bus accident in Subang regency of Indonesia's West Java province on Saturday, a rescuer said. (Photo by Septianjar Muharam/Xinhua) This photo taken on May 11, 2024 shows people working around a damaged bus after an accident at Palasari Village in Subang regency, West Java, Indonesia. Ten people were killed and more than 10 others wounded in a bus accident in Subang regency of Indonesia's West Java province on Saturday, a rescuer said. (Photo by Septianjar Muharam/Xinhua) This photo taken on May 11, 2024 shows rescue workers operating inside a damaged bus after an accident at Palasari Village in Subang regency, West Java, Indonesia. Ten people were killed and more than 10 others wounded in a bus accident in Subang regency of Indonesia's West Java province on Saturday, a rescuer said. (Photo by Septianjar Muharam/Xinhua) This photo taken on May 11, 2024 shows rescue workers operating inside a damaged bus after an accident at Palasari Village in Subang regency, West Java, Indonesia. Ten people were killed and more than 10 others wounded in a bus accident in Subang regency of Indonesia's West Java province on Saturday, a rescuer said. (Photo by Septianjar Muharam/Xinhua) A woman embraces her son, a passenger who has survived a bus accident, as he arrives in Depok, West Java, Indonesia, on May 12, 2024. Ten people were killed and more than 10 others wounded in a bus accident in Subang regency of Indonesia's West Java province on Saturday, a rescuer said. (Photo by Rahmat Dian P./Xinhua) The science behind Northern Lights in Middle Tennessee & prediction for next showing NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) A rare solar storm hit Earth Friday, prompting Northern Lights to be seen all across the country, reaching as far south as Tennessee and Alabama. Scientific expert David Rives, often studies and photographs solar activity and even this rare phenomenon in Middle Tennessee caught him off guard. GALLERY: Northern Lights across Middle TN Rives, the planetarium director and founder of the Wonders Center and Science Museum in Dickson, joined Good Morning Nashville to discuss the wonder and dangers behind the beautiful light show, often referred to as a coronal mass ejections. (Courtesy: David Rives) (Courtesy: David Rives) (Courtesy: David Rives) (Courtesy: David Rives) While beautiful to witness, Rives said the severe geomagnetic storms can disrupt satellite communication in some instances. Will the Northern Lights be visible again in Middle TN? The storm could produce Northern Lights as far south in the U.S. as Alabama and Northern California, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Rives said Middle Tennessee could have another opportunity to see the Northern Lights again Saturday, but it will come down to timing with the sun and how soon night falls. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2. Scientist develops biomimetic concept inspired by fish to tackle microplastic problem and it starts with our laundry machines Ongoing, fish-inspired research from Germany's University of Bonn could soon make our washing machines more planet-friendly. Professor Alexander Blanke's lab work has been awarded more than $161,000 from the European Research Council to prove that his microplastic filter concept for washers can be scaled for commercial use. Initial findings suggest that pollution from the problematic tiny plastic particles in our laundry could be reduced by 80% thanks to the gill-like sieves. Astoundingly, the whole innovation, dubbed SuspensionFlow, is based on natural filters inside fish that allow them to separate food from water as they swim. The latest funding award builds on $1.62 million in research started in 2017, according to a Bonn press release. "Filter feeding fish have a so-called 'gill raker system' in their mouths that is specially adapted to filtering plankton," Leandra Hamann, who helped with the research, said in the statement. In-depth measurements and 3-D models were used in the analysis. A photo shared by Bonn of the natural fish filter on which the project is based shows a complex network of tines inside the fish's mouth. It could easily be the inspiration for an alien costume design in the next science-fiction thriller. For now, the biomimicry project could be the answer to our earthbound plastic pollution problem. "We were able to show that the filtration principle could also work in a technical context," Hamann said. Microplastics are prolific bits of pollution that have invaded our bodies found in our blood and even placentas. PBS reported that washing machines are one of the biggest sources because our clothes are made from plastic microfibers that fall off our garments during cleaning. One load can contain millions of plastic particles. Last year, scientists urged European Union leaders to mandate new washing machines to be outfitted with filters to help collect the pollution. They think adding filters to individual machines is the best way to catch as many of the particulates as possible, per a Forbes story. Blanke's research might provide the solution. "Our microplastic filter could be installed in every household washing machine. Moreover, this new technology could be integrated into production chains quickly and inexpensively," he said in the Bonn summary. Biomimicry is a technique already used successfully for architecture and even battery tech, utilizing nature's hacks to improve our lives. Preventing plastic pollution might be among the innovations with the biggest impact. In 2023, the Washington Post reported that there are 170 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans, not counting the microplastics. Avoiding plastic use to begin with is a great way to keep the trash from piling up. Switching to reusable bottles and containers will prevent pollution and save you cash, as well. About $285 in savings can be realized by nixing throwaway bottles and sandwich bags from your routine, minus the cost of reusable containers. At Bonn, Blanke and his team now have the investment to continue the work on their fish-inspired washer filters. He said that "sustainability" will be a keyword throughout the process. "We also plan to use sustainable materials in the design of this non-clogging filter and thus achieve a positive environmental footprint," Blanke said in the lab report. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the coolest innovations improving our lives and saving our planet. "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Weve seen glimpses of it over the years, with presidents Johnson, Reagan, or Bush inside it during national emergencies, or Barack Obama watching the Osama Bin Laden raid unfold. They were in the Situation Room, the high-security White House command complex where presidents go when things get complicated. It was until recently an unbelievably unremarkable physical space, says George Stephanopoulos, who was communications director for Bill Clinton and whose book The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis will be published next week. Last year the complex got a $50 million makeover, and now, Stephanopoulos says, it looks the part. It has interior glass dividers that can go opaque and wall screens that can automatically be wiped of classified information if somebody without clearance walks in. Still, one aspect remains the same: Its like being in a capsule where thought is concentrated and the closest calls have to be made. You feel that when youre in the room. Shop Now The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis amazon.com The book offers much more than a description of the evolving physical spaces and technology that comprise the Sit Room, as its called for short. It is a history of how the room has been used over the years told by the people who relied on it to do their jobs. It includes first-person accounts by cabinet members, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who describes working with the Sit Room team during 9/11. President Johnson recorded his conversations and the book includes transcripts of some of the nightly calls he made asking about casualty counts during the Vietnam War. Equally illuminating are Stephanopouloss many interviews with people who staffed the room. Stephanopoulos spoke to T&C about his own experiences in the Sit Room and how he researched his book. Did the idea for the book come to you when you worked for President Clinton? No. It wasnt until a few years ago when I found out, much to my surprise, that no one had ever really done a comprehensive history of how presidents and their staffs have used that room to handle the crises that have defined our times. The White House - Getty Images Who did you interview and why? Everyone from cabinet officials to secretariesit really ran the gamut. What was most exciting to me was being able to find so many people who had actually worked in the Sit Room as duty officers and directors. They're really the heart and soul of the room and their stories haven't been told before. Were you surprised to learn how other administrations used it? I've covered six presidents as a reporter, but I still learned something I didn't know about each president who used the room, about how it was used, and about the crises they handled. And I got many of these details from the perspective of apolitical officers who serve the presidency, not just the president who happens to be holding the office. Universal History Archive - Getty Images Tell us about the rooms staff. The Sit Room is really three things. A place; a process that people use to handle crises; and the people who do it. Twenty-four hours a day, the staff and officers are taking in information from all over the world, public and private intelligence, digging through it,and figuring out what needs to be brought to the attention of the president and his top aides. And they're also the communication center for the White House. If the President is going to talk to a foreign leader, it all goes through the situation room. It just got a big, $50 million upgrade. Do you think the Sit Room will continue to change? It will have to because technology is moving so quickly. One of the people I interviewed for the book was Eric Schmidt [the former CEO of Google], who talked about the challenges and the opportunities that artificial intelligence both poses and offers to the Situation Room. On the one hand, because you can create so many kinds of deep fakes, it makes the job of those in the Situation Room harder. On the other hand, the job of many of those duty officers is sifting through mountains of information and that now can be done so much more quickly by computers, which don't need to sleep. Jeffrey Markowitz - Getty Images Are there any protocols about how the room is used? Where does the President sit? Usually at the head of the table but sometimes in the middle. When the President is there, the principals, meaning the cabinet secretaries, the national security advisor, etc., sit at the table. Usually there's a handful of staffers, the plus ones, who are seated on the perimeter. Also, it's the ultimate no phone zone. You have to put your phone in a locker when you go in. And there are enough detection devices so that when somebody does bring their phone in, they're inevitably caught. A version of this story appears in the April 2024 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW You Might Also Like Security Footage Shows 'Disturbing' Moment Man Is Run Over, Kissed and Stabbed by His Attacker The victim was hit by a car twice and stabbed nine times in broad daylight while picking up mail, according to video Getty Stock image of a crime scene A man in Houston, Texas, was murdered in broad daylight on May 3, and his final moments were captured by a nearby surveillance camera. In security footage of his murder obtained by local TV station KTRK-TV, the victim, 64-year-old Steven Anderson, can be seen walking on Houstons Woodridge Square Drive to pick up mail when he is suddenly hit by a car. The driver, whom police have identified as 20-year-old Karon Fisher, then reverses the car, running over Anderson, as several eyewitnesses in the residential area attempt to get him help. One neighbor also emerges from a building holding a pillow, seemingly to give to the injured man, when the driver comes back, this time outside of the vehicle, while wielding a knife. Houston Police Department/Facebook Karon Fisher's booking photo The following portion of the security video was blurred by KTRK-TV but, according to the outlet, it shows the driver flipping the victims limp body, straddling and kissing him, and then stabbing him a total of nine times. The driver then walks away from the scene of the murder with neighbors still watching, according to KTRK-TV. 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. After officers arrived at the scene of the fatal collision and stabbing, which occurred around 7:50 p.m. local time, the victim was found unresponsive in a driveway, according to a press release from the Houston Police Department. He had suffered multiple stab wounds and was pronounced deceased at the scene, police said. Thanks to information provided by eyewitnesses, authorities were able to locate Fisher, and they were subsequently detained and questioned by detectives. Fisher was booked into Harris County Jail and charged with murder, where they are being held on a $2 million bond. They were also charged with assaulting a hospital personnel, as well as evading arrest with a vehicle, jail records show. Neighbors who witnessed Andersons murder told KTRK-TV that they are traumatized by the events. Broad daylight. People around every time and it happened right under our noses, one neighbor said, while another called the situation is very disturbing. I have kids here, the neighbor added. They could have been out here playing, and imagine them. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. This next week, I hope New Hampshire Senate Republicans choose to pass House Bill 1711. Otherwise, they can name this past session Opportunities Squandered," as they will have once again blocked all efforts towards gun violence prevention. HB 1711 was filed in direct response to the shooting that took place at New Hampshire Hospital in 2023, and it authorizes the state to report mental health data that will be cited in firearms background checks. Further, it establishes processes for confiscation of firearms following certain mental health-related court proceedings. HB 1711 is vitally important, and frankly, something we should have passed before the shooting at New Hampshire Hospital took place. This week, Senate Republicans serving on the Judiciary Committee voted it down. New Hampshire state Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham. More: NH mental health records bill for gun checks opposed by some Republican state senators When the mass murder in Lewiston, Maine, happened, Republican legislators seemed to have woken up momentarily there were some wringing of hands, thoughts, prayers and then nothing. So far this year, there have been 150 mass shootings in America, but that is not the only kind of gun violence we face. We often think of gun violence only through the lens of high casualty events; of calamities like what took place in Lewiston, Sandy Hook, or Uvalde, but the reality of gun violence is perversely so much more. In New Hampshire, just this year, we have had shootings in Rochester, Manchester and Berlin. A credible threat to shoot up Portsmouth High School last year was thankfully interrupted, and the perpetrator is behind bars. Another threat in Lebanon was interrupted. Our students and teachers have faced dozens of lockdowns. Gun violence in New Hampshire is real. Amidst all this chaos, we also have a suicide epidemic in the Granite State. Within our state, 88% of all firearm deaths are suicides, while the national average is 67%. It is a known fact that the availability of firearms makes someones attempt at suicide exponentially more likely to result in their death than when attempting suicide by other means. We also have instances of domestic violence where an individual uses a gun to intimidate and control their partner, accidental gun discharges that result in death and injury, and children living in homes where safe storage is not practiced. These tragedies happen all too often in the Granite State. So, what have we done as legislators to address gun violence in New Hampshire? In 2024, I filed and fought for three bills to mitigate gun violence in our state. One bill to implement extreme risk protection orders (SB 360), one to require a background check prior to any commercial firearm sale (SB 571), and one to impose a waiting period between the purchase and delivery of a firearm (SB 577). I was happy to join my Senate colleague, Sen. Donovan Fenton, on the effort to create gun free school zones (SB 593), and join with my House colleague, Rep. David Meuse, on a bill to establish a voluntary waiver of the right to purchase a firearm (HB 1050) and one to repeal limited liability for manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms or ammunition (HB 1037). All of these bills have been rejected by the Republicans in both the House and Senate. They have staunchly refused to join us in any efforts of gun violence prevention. We are about to close the chapter on our ability to bring forward legislation until 2025. I am deeply disappointed, incredulous actually, that almost every single effort to address gun violence in New Hampshire has been thwarted, save HB 1711. HB 1711 had strong bipartisan support in the House and showed that it is possible to balance the rights of the Second Amendment and the right of individuals to live safely in their communities. But this past Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Republicans recommended this bill be voted down like all of the others. Next week, when the bill comes to the floor, will the other eleven Republican Senators recognize the vital need for this bill and vote to pass it? We are anxiously awaiting to see who courageously joins this bipartisan, bicameral bill to address this gap in our current law. Stay tuned. Gun violence prevention takes work; gun violence doesnt just go away on its own. I hope that as we head towards the summer, Granite Staters days are full of community events, family gatherings, and celebrating the common ground of our core values. I sincerely hope the tragedy that took place at New Hampshire Hospital never happens again. I believe in us, and I believe we can change for the better. HB 1711 would be that positive change we need to make our communities safer. I hope that all of my colleagues in the Senate recognize this next week, and vote with me to pass HB 1711. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, is the New Hampshire state senator for District 24 in the Seacoast. Editor's note: Sen. Altschiller is the wife of Howard Altschiller, executive editor of Seacoast Media Group. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Sen. Altschiller: When will NH take action on gun violence? WASHINGTON, D.C. (WRBL) Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) made a bipartisan effort to introduce a bill that would strengthen relocation support for military service members and their families. The Relocation Assistance for Military Families Act of 2024 would The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to evaluate current relocation assistance programs, receive feedback from family support advocacy organizations, and publish a best practices guide for families to access. Senator Rubio and I are introducing this bipartisan bill to strengthen relocation assistance programs and ensure they maximally benefit our heroic servicemembers and their families. Sen. Ossoff said. This legislation would require a review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to ensure service members and their families are receiving the maximum benefits. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WRBL. *The above video shows the most dangerous highways in Ohio* (Ohio) (WJW) The Ohio Department of Transportation reports that a crash has closed a stretch of eastbound lanes on the Ohio Turnpike east of SR 57 in Lorain County. A separate accident has closed eastbound lanes of the Ohio Turnpike east of SR 8 in Summit County. Man dead after shooting inside Stark County movie theater: Police As of 3 p.m., ODOT said theres a traffic back-up of nearly 3-miles regarding the Summit County crash. Stay with Fox 8 News as we work to get more details on this story. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. Does anybody know what a political argument is anymore? Or a political principle? Or even a political idea? There was a time, within living memory, when ideas and arguments were the proper business of democratic life. There were philosophical debates about the power of the state versus the freedom of the individual, and on how much government should intervene in the creation and distribution of wealth. It was always thought to be necessary for serious contenders to make it clear where they stood in this great discourse. There was even a profound, and dangerous, dispute between international powers about whether the temporary dictatorship of the proletariat might be necessary to deliver social justice. What began with the revolutionary republican movements of the 18th century the notion that governing must be based on a set of moral principles had become, by the middle of the 20th, the only acceptable motive for political activity. Parties and their leaders had to be about something larger than personal ambition or inherited power. World wars both hot and cold were now fought on ideological grounds and justified on the basis of moral precepts. We are supposed to believe that this rule still holds: no one running for office (or even seizing power without an election) can be credible without offering a doctrine of beliefs and idealistic objectives. Parties and their members should expect to be judged on how consistent and rigorous their basic convictions are. That is why managerialism the idea that the only requirement of governing parties is to tinker with the running of an existing system is such a damaging accusation. Politics is supposed to be about more than this. You may have difficulty reconciling this picture of political life with what you see around you at the moment. While talk of moral principle has never been bandied about with more aggressive gusto, there is a bizarre absence of any apparent understanding of the logic of argument: of the consequences, for example, of supporting an idea which is diametrically opposed to the other issues for which you stand. Absurdly contradictory positions (Queers for Palestine) are endorsed by all-purpose rebels for whom civil disruption is a self- indulgent hobby. In the name of compassion, terrorists financed by tyrannical regimes are supported by the free citizens of countries who know nothing at all of the fear and loathing in which less fortunate parts of the world may live. What exactly are the pro-Palestinian activists in the West defending? Nationalism? Iranian authoritarianism? Presumably not since they see themselves as liberal progressives. Most importantly, do they ever ask themselves these questions? Do they understand what it means to examine the consequences of a political action? Would they, in other words, be prepared to engage in argument or be capable of defending their position if they did? If not, then this is just demagoguery: they have left rational politics, as we have known it, far behind. Even more insidious, how can parties supposedly dedicated to one cause effectively become fronts for entirely different ones which should, on any rational grounds, be anathema to them? How did the Green Party accept into its ranks a candidate in the local elections who identifies himself as a supporter of Hamas? Leave aside whatever the Greens view on the Gaza conflict might be, Hamas is sponsored by Iran, a state whose economy depends on the sale of oil. And how can a Tory MP, Natalie Elphicke, who was until ten minutes ago regarded as too right-wing by many of her own Conservative colleagues, be described by Sir Keir Starmer, as a natural fit for his Labour Party? What can this possibly mean? Is he trying to imply that Labour in its new incarnation is now to the Right of many Tories? Or that he believes such labels to be meaningless? If it is the latter, that is tantamount to saying that the most important political debate of our time is over. There is no more substantive disagreement between the parties about principles and goals: there is only a difference of opinion on the policies that will be effective in achieving those goals. It is worth noting that Sir Keirs plan for dealing with the small boats crisis entirely relies on reconfiguring government agencies (a supercharged Border Control) and improving the performance of the Home Office on asylum processing. In other words, he would be a superior manager of established agencies and procedures. But our small domestic troubles are insignificant on the global stage where the failure to engage with what would once have been considered genuine political debate will be catastrophic. In the United States, Republicans in Congress put up a relentless campaign of resistance against arms shipments to Ukraine which might have irreparably damaged its resistance to the Russian onslaught. But they reacted furiously against President Bidens threat to stop providing Israel with weapons for its fight in Gaza. Do they not see that Russias assault on Ukraine and the threat Hamas poses to Israel are part of the same anti-Western campaign: that Iran and Russia are allies in the new Cold War, along with China and North Korea and must be seen as aligned in their interests? No, obviously they dont. Because they do not understand and are not actually interested in politics. Their only concerns now are for economic self-interest and the opportunities for trade which that involves. Maybe the twentieth century was an anomaly with its grand pretensions to clashes of ideals and competing value systems. Certainly, international conflict is not about ideology anymore: socialism vs capitalism, or totalitarianism vs liberal democracy. It has returned to a darker past. The confrontations once again are between blood-and-soil nationalism accompanied by a sense of mystical destiny, and a crass commercialism which turns government into a merchandising opportunity. The most important insight of the modern era that politics and economics were inextricably intertwined is evaporating. Economics has now simply become a matter of useful fiscal arrangements, and political differences are a sham. The people are beginning to suspect what they have lost. 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. ZARANJ, Afghanistan, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Police discovered illicit drugs, including opium poppy and heroin, and arrested two alleged drug smugglers in Zaranj city, the provincial capital of west Afghanistan's Nimroz province, provincial police spokesman Gul Ahmad Qudrat said Saturday. According to the official, police arrested two drug smugglers and confiscated 108 kg of opium poppy from their possessions on Saturday. The case has been referred to the judiciary for further investigations, he added. BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) New Yorks governor, Kathy Hochul, says she regrets saying black children in the Bronx do not know what the word computer means. Immediately, political leaders from the Bronx called the statement harmful and appalling. Teen who defaced WWI monument shaved head to avoid getting arrested: police Now, students, activists, and educators are also up in arms. These are the words that have caused such controversy. Right now, we have young black kids growing up in the Bronx who dont even know what the word computer is, Governor Kathy Hochul, Democrat from New York, said. They dont know, she added. New Yorks governor commented while being interviewed at the Milken Institute global conference in California to discuss increasing economic opportunities in artificial intelligence for low-income neighborhoods. For a public official, someone who is the highest ranking official in New York State, to say that to a room full of billionaires, it was heartbreaking, Chivona Newsome, co-founder of Black Opportunities Inc., told PIX11 News. We had to console our elementary school children here, she added. At a news conference at a Bronx charter school, educators from Black Opportunities Inc., Black Lives Matter, the New York chapter, and students themselves talked about what they called Kathy Hochuls racist and insensitive remarks. When I first heard what Governor Kathy Hochul said, I was speechless, Rhaki Robinson, Black Opportunities Youth Coalition Leader, said at the news conference. I thought it was AI. I thought someone was trying to make her look bad, but she did it herself, he added. Robinson is one of close to 100 students who participate in an afterschool program called Black Opportunities. The program has a 100% graduation rate, and most of the students get full scholarships to college. What she did was diminish everybody who learned and picked up a computer to try to learn JavaScript or codes, Naheem Sophas, another Black Opportunities Youth Coalition leader, said at the news conference. The governor has repeatedly apologized for her words, but activists say thats not enough. I chose the wrong words. I know I hurt many people and take full responsibility for it, Hochul said at a news conference. What we demand is that Governor Hochul invest in the Bronx and make it the tech hub of New York State, Hawk Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, the New York Chapter, told PIX11 News. They should build partnerships with tech companies, he added. The co-founders of Black Lives Matter, the New York chapter, and Black Opportunities want to meet with the governor at Wildflower Community Charter School to show her all the great work being done there. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11. She won a case challenging imprisonment of Japanese Americans. She still hasn't gotten her Medal of Freedom. In 1941 after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government rounded up and incarcerated Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. While World War II raged overseas, four American citizens individually challenged the constitutionality of the Japanese American incarceration. But the only person to win her Supreme Court case is the lone member without a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi is also the only woman of the four challengers to be excluded from the nations highest civilian honor. Her posthumous nomination for the Presidential Medal of Freedom received a swell of support from community leaders who formed a nomination committee, wrote letters of support, and circulated a petition calling for Endo Tsutsumi to be honored. On May 3, President Joe Biden presented 19 of the awards at a White House ceremony Endo Tsutsumi was not among the honorees. Wayne Tsutsumi felt disappointed by the news, but he holds out hope that his mother will get another opportunity to be honored at a future ceremony. Being nominated is an honor she deserves, said Tsutsumi, 75. He thinks it would have been great to have his mom recognized during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Legal scholars credit Endo Tsutsumis landmark 1944 Supreme Court case with forcing the U.S. government to close the camps and release Japanese Americans from incarceration. Her case along with the legal challenges brought by Gordon Hirabayashi, Min Yasui and Fred Korematsu helped pave the road to the U.S. governments apology and monetary compensation in 1988. Of the four legal cases, Endo Tsutsumis was the only successful one. But her legacy is lesser known. I think thats acknowledged, said Kathryn Bannai, 73, a member of Endo Tsutsumis Presidential Medal of Freedom committee, about her relative anonymity. I think that it relates in two parts: the fact that shes a woman [and] I think it relates in part to the fact that her case hasnt been elevated. Endo takes on the U.S. During World War II, Endo Tsutsumi and her family were forcibly removed from their Sacramento home and incarcerated at Tule Lake and then Topaz, two of the 10 main U.S.-run camps built to imprison Japanese Americans. She was a 22-year-old former Department of Motor Vehicles employee and a second-generation Japanese American who decided to challenge the WWII incarceration in court. I think about myself at that age, said Peggy Nagae, a committee member. Would I do that? Put my liberty and life and profession on the line? Im not sure. The case, Ex parte Endo, took years to wend through the court system. During that time, the government offered Endo Tsutsumi early release from the Utah-based concentration camp, which she refused until her case was heard by the Supreme Court. She was willing to stay the course to seek justice for everybody, said Nagae, 72. On Dec. 18, 1944, the Supreme Court sided with Endo Tsutsumi. We are of the view that Mitsuye Endo should be given her liberty, wrote Justice William O. Douglas in the unanimous decision. On the same day it ruled in favor of her case, the Supreme Court ruled against Korematsu, who along with Hirabayashi and Yasui had been convicted of violating WWII military orders. The three men all lost their legal cases, which were later revisited and overturned in coram nobis cases (which are used to correct errors in court decisions) led by young Japanese American lawyers. Nagae was the lead attorney on Yasuis coram nobis case and Bannai was the lead counsel on Hirabayashis. Now they are co-leading the campaign to get Endo Tsutsumi a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Shes deserving, said Nagae. Shes the only woman, and I think thats significant. The Presidential Medal of Freedom recognizes civilians who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors. Korematsu received his medal in 1998 while Hirabayashi and Yasui received their honors posthumously in 2012 and 2015, respectively. Not just a legal case Her name was on the court case, but Endo Tsutsumi rarely talked about it. Everybody says, Well, your mom was quiet, said Tsutsumi. I saw a side of my mother that a lot of other people didnt see. After the war, she settled in Chicago with her husband, Kenneth Tsutsumi, raised three children, and worked on the Mayors Commission on Human Rights. Like so many moms, said Tsutsumi, she was the glue that held the family together. When she died in 2006, her unassuming obituary did not cite her historic case just a list of beloved family members. She was 85. In the 1999 book, And Justice for All: An Oral History of the Japanese American Detention Camps, Endo Tsutsumi said the decision to take part in her legal case was awfully hard for me, but I agreed to do it at that moment, because they said its for the good of everybody, and so I said, well if thats it, Ill go ahead and do it. Endo Tsutsumi was first nominated for the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Although the White House has not made an official announcement, committee members are hopeful for another ceremony. The process for getting a Presidential Medal of Freedom changes with each president. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on Endo Tsutsumis nomination or the possibility of another medal ceremony. Tsutsumi thinks his mom would be humbled by the support. I think my mom would just be glad that she was able to persevere and see her case to the successful ending, said Tsutsumi. I think that was the reward for her. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com The Yankton Sioux Tribal Headquarters in Wagner. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) Six of the nine Native American tribes in South Dakota have now voted to ban Gov. Kristi Noem from their lands. The Yankton Sioux Tribe Business and Claims Committee voted unanimously on Friday to ban the governor, citing her comments about drug cartels, Native American children and what one tribal council member characterized as performative rather than substantive efforts to engage tribal leaders. The committee is the primary elected body for the Yankton Sioux Tribe, whose lands are situated in southeastern South Dakota. Its about standing in solidarity together, all the Oceti Sakowin, said Council Member Ryan Cournoyer, referencing the name for speakers of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota languages. Earlier this week, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate voted to bar the governor from the Lake Traverse Reservation for similar reasons. Previously voting to ban Noem were the Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes. Calls and messages to the leadership of the remaining tribes in the state the Flandreau Santee, Crow Creek and Lower Brule Sioux tribes were not immediately returned Friday. Gov. Noems spokespeople also did not offer an immediate response to the Yankton Sioux Tribes vote. Noem has been busy reacting to the fallout from her new book, No Going Back, in which she sparked a national backlash by revealing she had fatally shot a dog and a goat. Noem also faced criticism for claiming in the book that she had met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un a claim she and the books publisher ultimately retracted. Beyond tribal solidarity, Cournoyer told South Dakota Searchlight that the governors comments during town halls in Mitchell and Winner earlier this year were particularly offensive. In Mitchell, speaking of tribes, Noem said, Their kids dont have any hope. They dont have parents who show up and help them. They have a tribal council or a president who focuses on a political agenda more than they care about actually helping somebodys life look better. Comments suggesting that Mexican drug cartels have set up shop on the states reservations have been a sticking point since her delivery of a speech about the U.S. border with Mexico on Jan. 31. Since the speech, delivered to a joint session of the South Dakota Legislature, the governor has written an op-ed column titled banish the cartels and claimed without offering evidence that tribal leadership is personally benefitting from the cartels. Noem also angered some tribal leaders during a meeting between the tribes and the federal government in early April in Rapid City. The meeting was about Pe Sla, a stretch of prairie land in the Black Hills considered sacred by the tribes. She hadnt been invited, and Oglala Sioux Tribal Council President Frank Star Comes Out criticized her surprise arrival as an unwelcome distraction and a publicity stunt meant to bolster her chance at becoming Donald Trumps vice presidential running mate. Cournoyer was at that meeting, and said the governor charging in there with her team made her words about working with tribes to solve problems ring hollow. It was more for the media than to show she wanted to work with us, he said. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Sixth tribal nation bans Noem for comments on cartels, Native children appeared first on South Dakota Searchlight. The amount of land covered by woodland has increased in recent years, the UK still lags behind its European neighbours - DOUGAL WATERS Ministers should slash red tape to make it easier to plant trees and kick-start a massive expansion of forests, Conservative MPs have said. In a manifesto to be launched this week, the Conservative Environment Network say that fast tracked access to government cash for tree planting could lead to the mass afforestation of the north of England. While the amount of land covered by woodland has increased in recent years, the UK still lags behind its European neighbours. In 2022, 10 per cent of England, 15 per cent of Wales and 19 per cent of Scotland were covered by woodland. The figure was 9 per cent for Northern Ireland and 13 per cent across the UK as a whole. In comparison, 39 per cent of land in the EU was covered by forests in 2021. In its manifesto, the CEN calls for the establishment of Forestry Creation Zones in target locations around England, modelled on the Governments investment zones which offer tax reliefs to attract businesses to set up within their bounds. While recent efforts by the government to designate new national forests are certainly welcome, the entrepreneurial action we require for tree-planting objectives will require a less prescriptive approach, the manifesto says. Taking a leaf out of its own book, the government should copy the model it has created with investment zones to establish a joined up approach to tree planting in areas of the UK most suited to it, catalysing private sector action and investment in the process. Tree planters, commercial and otherwise, wishing to work in these designated Forestry Creation Zones would benefit from a streamlining of the much-maligned application process for woodland creation and be fast-tracked toward the relevant funding pots across the forestry supply chain. The manifesto calls for proactive identification of the most suitable areas for new woodland and outreach to land managers located within them to promote the available grants and financial opportunities. It says that the zones would likely skew towards parts of the north of England where the land is most suited to mass afforestation and less suited to agriculture. Vital habitats Endorsing the plan, the former environment secretary Theresa Villiers said: Trees and woodlands are integral to so much of what makes this country the great place it is, from being vital habitats for our precious wildlife to their natural beauty. They are also a key component of our efforts to tackle climate change and restore nature, which is why the government has rightly adopted ambitious targets to boost tree planting and forest cover across the country. But we are falling short of hitting those targets and current efforts to meet them are insufficient. Its time for a bold new approach. Stripping away red tape and making it much easier for landowners to access funding for planting the millions of trees we need would really boost our environmental mission. Trudy Harrison, the Tory MP for Copeland in Cumbria, said: By designating many more areas as suitable for mass tree planting and woodland creation and streamlining funding applications for these areas, we can take a big step towards boosting biodiversity and locking up millions of tonnes of carbon. A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: We are making good progress towards ambitious targets to increase tree canopy and woodland cover in England to at least 16.5 per cent by 2050. Last year we planted 3,600 hectares of new woodland and trees outside of woodland, the highest planting rate for nearly a decade. Since the publication of our Environmental Improvement Plan last year we have funded the planting of almost five million trees across England. We continue to work with landowners and managers in establishing newly-planted trees which are resilient, as well as taking action to address pests, pathogens and tree diseases. 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. NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) South Carolinas emergency management leaders are refreshing the states coastal evacuation zones ahead of hurricane season. State and local emergency management officials joined Governor Henry McMaster and law enforcement in North Charleston on Thursday morning to unveil the new evacuation zones. Its the first major change to the zones in roughly 10 years. Very active Atlantic hurricane season expected Officials said the update better reflects the evolving landscape of potential hazards and population distribution across the region. Storm surge risk, flooding susceptibility, and best routes to ensure an effective evacuation effort were top factors in planning the new zones. With the new zones, weve actually shrunk the entire evacuation area by about 250 square miles. Main thing that we want to do is we want to ensure that people are out of harms way, that were not putting them at risk, but at the same time, we want to make sure that we dont evacuate people that dont need to be evacuated, explained Kim Stenson, the director of the South Carolina Emergency Management Division. Evacuation zones are categorized A through F with areas in red designated as the highest risk. Areas along the immediate coast, including the barrier islands, are listed in Zone A. West Ashley, the peninsula, Mount Pleasant and Daniel Island are in Zone B. Portions of North Charleston and areas of Wando and the Francis Marion National Forest along US 17 are in Zone C. Central region evacuation zones | Map courtesy SC Emergency Management Division Southern region evacuation zones | Map courtesy SC Emergency Management Division Northern region evacuation zones | Map courtesy SC Emergency Management Division Coastal evacuation zones | Map courtesy SC Emergency Management Division State and local officials will announce evacuations by the designated zone based on the severity of approaching storms. You have to have a plan on what you gon do if it happens. Because the time to plan is now. The time to plan is not when its coming cause it is too late, Governor McMaster said. Officials with the South Carolina Department of Transportation said theyve recently reviewed all 35 evacuation routes which included checking cameras and message boards. A lane reversal exercise will take place on June 5 along I-26. Were going to be prepared for hurricane season, we encourage residents to be ready for hurricane season. That means having a plan, knowing your evacuation routes, which way you would go if an evacuation order comes, SCDOT Secretary of Transportation Justin Powell said during the news conference. Know your zone, prepare your home, and remember your route are the three points leaders in the Palmetto State want residents and visitors to keep in mind as we approach what they said is expected to be a very active hurricane season. Hard copies of the 2024 South Carolina Hurricane Guide can be found at Walgreens, welcome centers across the interstate, and coastal DMV offices. Hurricane season begins on June 1 and runs through November 30. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News. MEMPHIS, Tenn. A woman is in critical condition after a shooting Friday afternoon in southeast Memphis. Police say they responded to 3755 Ironwood Drive for a shooting at 4:48 p.m. The victim was taken to Regional One in critical condition. The suspect is not in custody, but is known by the victim. Police are investigating. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com. Three candidates are vying for the State Board of Education's District 2 seat currently held by Lisa Fricke of Omaha, who declined to seek reelction. From left: Maggie Douglas, Karen Morgan and Linda Vermooten. (Photos courtesy of the candidates; School bus photo by Rebecca Gratz for the Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN Three educators with backgrounds in mental health and nursing are looking to succeed a two-term board member who declined to seek reelection this year. (Courtesy of Legislative Research Office) Three candidates are looking to succeed District 2 board member Lisa Fricke of Omaha, who was first elected in 2016 and declined to seek reelection in 2024, as did all three other board members who could have run again this year. The candidates to replace Fricke are: Maggie Douglas of Bellevue, Linda Vermooten of Bellevue and Karen Morgan of Alvo. The district consists of Sarpy, Cass, Otoe, Johnson and Nemaha Counties. Voters will decide during the officially nonpartisan May 14 primary election which two candidates will compete one-on-one in the November election for a four-year term. Douglas Maggie Douglas Age: 42 Political party: Democrat Education: Bachelors degree in elementary education (Creighton University); masters degrees in secondary education with an emphasis in math and mental health counseling (University of Nebraska at Omaha) and math education (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) Work experience: Teacher (Omaha Public Schools), adjunct math instructor (Metro Community College), student teacher supervision (UNO) Political office: None Douglas taught for 10 years in public schools and for five in parochial school. She graduated from high school in Scottsbluff before coming to Creighton University for her undergraduate degree in elementary education. She taught in Omaha Public Schools and soon learned that math was her forte, earning masters degrees from the University of Nebraskas Lincoln and Omaha campuses. Douglas said she then got more concerned about students well-being and mental health so she earned a third masters degree in clinical mental health counseling. [I] made the decision to put my energy and efforts towards helping our schools, our students and our teachers, Douglas said of why shes running. From both her personal experiences and those of teachers shes spoken to, she said there is still not the ideal amount of respect toward educators and thats one thing she wants to improve by working with superintendents, administrators, teachers and families. We can all get on the same page and know that our best interest is for the students, she said. Douglas added that, while a registered Democrat, she does not have a political agenda, just experience in the states education system that she wants to improve. Morgan Morgan has a wide range of teaching experience, including internationally, in Nebraska, Hawaii, Texas, Florida, Iowa, California and Brazil and concluded each had a culture that needed to be valued. Karen Morgan Age: 80 Political party: Democrat Education: Bachelors and masters degrees in education with emphasis on English, speech and language; registered nurse license, as well as bachelors and masters degrees in nursing with emphasis on adult education; teaching certificates in first aid, CPR, EMS and nursing education Work experience: Teacher (English, speech and theater); mental health counselor Political office: None When you come across the culture thats different and start saying theres something wrong with this culture because its not my culture, youre defeating the whole purpose of education, she said. One of her main reasons for running is to restore balance through her more progressive and liberal ideas, she said. A registered Democrat, she holds strong feelings about teaching truth in history. Some students are learning inaccurate information, she said, involving, for example, the national governments actions against Native Americans or the Civil War being about slavery, not states rights. Were lying to our students, and by lying to them, were undermining our own educational process, because once our kids who are smart discover that weve been lying, all credibility is gone, Morgan said. She wants the State Board of Education to use its power to enforce anti-discriminatory laws and rules, such as for transgender students, and to fight against censorship that removes books from classroom and library shelves because somebody doesnt find them to their liking. Morgan has multiple undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as teaching certificates, in nursing or related fields. Vermooten Vermooten, who grew up in South Africa and spent time in the Netherlands before finding a home in the United States, said she has always been passionate about education even though she was one of those kids who got left behind in school. I was told that Im not smart enough to go to university or college and get any kind of degree. Now, clearly, that was not accurate, Vermooten said. Linda Vermooten Age: 64 Political party: Republican Education: Doctorate, Forest Institute of Professional Psychology Work experience: Registered nurse, midwife, clinical psychology, Grace University department chair Political office: None She is now armed with a doctorate degree and said her personal experiences could help students who face similar struggles. She also wants to help students who may be facing mental health challenges in a world that is rapidly changing. I want to make sure that we dont do any disservice to our students but that we ensure that we help every student achieve their fullest potential, Vermooten said. Understanding there are eight people on the board, Vermooten said, she wants to bring a fiscal responsibility perspective that provides greater parity between taxpayer dollars and student achievement test scores and general success. Vermooten, a registered Republican, noted the race is designed to be nonpartisan for a reason and she wants to appeal to all voters. Teacher retention and recruitment Among the top issues for all three candidates is teacher retention and recruitment. Morgan suggested a first-year or first-semester probationary program for new teachers who could have a guide or mentor available to them should they get stuck or have questions. Once they get past that, theyve got the option of going full time, and you raise their salaries, Morgan said. Teacher contracts could also be restructured to be multi-year commitments within districts, instead of schools, coming with the option for renewal and promotions at the end, Morgan said. Douglas said she wants to build on the states current, positive trajectory that includes multiple incentives and pathways toward licensure for teachers. I still think theres more work we can do, Douglas said. Douglas noted that high schools and colleges already have many programs that create pathways into the profession, which should be continued and could provide greater representation among teachers so students see teachers who look like them. Vermooten said the state must retain long-term teachers and build interest, such as by strengthening retention bonuses or boosting entry-level teacher salaries so they are more equitable when compared to administrators salaries. However, some of that work is outside the boards control. She also wants the board to work beside teachers, such as on a subcommittee or working group, to ask,You in the trenches: What do you think would work to retain teachers and were not yet doing? We have to become innovative and look at things differently than we have looked at them before, Vermooten. Curriculum changes Douglas said she wants to ensure that experts are being involved in the field when it comes to crafting curricula, noting there is a pretty good balance, which she would ensure stays. We need to hear from our teachers, and we need to hear from the experts in the fields, Douglas said. Morgan said much of her teaching experience has been at the secondary level and suggested more blue-collar-type classes, such as home economics and welding, are critical. Why dont we prepare our kids who are not going to be going to the post-secondary education system, who have declared theyre not going to, and offer them something that would be available for immediate hire as soon as they graduate from high school? Morgan said. Vermooten noted that the board and the Legislature have emphasized work with phonics and reading and said that work should continue, as should work to strengthen the basics of a school day English, reading, writing, math, science and geography. She also wants strong civics courses so students know that the United States is the best country in the world with the best educational system, even if its not perfect. Every nation has good and bad as they say, the good, bad and ugly, Vermooten said. Cant hide the ugly part of our history, its part of our history, but what do we learn from that as we move forward? And how do we embrace who we are as Americans? Parental involvement and library books Vermooten said she is hearing from voters, particularly parents, who are concerned that they dont have a say over their children and about whats happening in schools. Parents need to be kept in the loop, Vermooten explained, seeing the board as a possible tool to provide parenting skills training. You buy a brand-new piece of technology, you get this amazing guidebook, Vermooten said. You get married, you have a baby, you go to the hospital and you come home, well, theres not a manual that goes home with you. Vermooten said content policies should be age-appropriate. Asked how to create those, she said it comes back to having a right mix of backgrounds on the board, arguing she understands brain development and how inappropriate content affects children. She is a regular testifier at the Nebraska Legislature, supporting proposals that, for example, sought to address obscenity in schools and expand criminal liability for providing obscene materials to children. Morgan said she also wants age-appropriate standards, stating she would not have books about being gay or about same-sex relationships in elementary schools, and likely not in middle schools. Students are discovering their identities in high school, Morgan said, so putting a stigma on such books and telling students not to read those books would likely have the opposite effect. Telling high school kids that they cant do something, its just a trigger that says thats what theyre going to do, Morgan said. Douglas said that policies involving school books should remain at the local level and that the state board shouldnt be deciding which books are available. People that are closer to the students know the students and their needs better than we would at the state, she said. I dont think that there is a one-size-one-book-fits-all rule that would work. Douglas is seeking to maintain a positive attitude toward parental involvement and said it could help to encourage parents or community members to engage at local school events or to thank teachers, such as by donating supplies. Everything we can do to make our schools feel appreciated is going to create a better morale and a better education setting for our students, Douglas said. The post Southeast Nebraska state school board race highlights mental health, teacher retention appeared first on Nebraska Examiner. A man from Hesperia was arrested after he allegedly tried to engage in sex acts with a minor, but instead was talking to an undercover detective. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department says 65-year-old Thomas Patrick Hannett reached out to what he thought was a 14-year-old girl on an anonymous chat website. Hannett was instead messaging with a detective who was conducting undercover operations. Authorities say Hannett arranged to continue communication with what he thought was a young girl off the chat site. During their communication, Hannett agreed to meet with the undercover persona to engage in sexual acts. The Hesperia native was arrested on May 9 and has been charged with lewd acts with a minor, contacting a minor for lewd purposes, and arranging to meet a minor to commit a sex crime. Hannett is being held in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail. Detectives believe there may be other victims. Anyone who may have been in contact with Hannett, or has more information is Anyone with information regarding this incident is being asked to contact Detective Wendy Winegar of the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department, Crimes Against Children Detail at 909-890-4904. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463) or leave information on the We-Tip website at www.wetip.com. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA. A man from Orange County has been found guilty of soliciting investors for a bogus COVID-19 cure. The US Department of Justice says 56-year-old Keith Lawrence Middlebrook of Huntington Beach was convicted of 11 counts of wire fraud. He remains free on $150,000 bond. Authorities say Middlebrook began posting fake advertisements on social media sites, and reaching out to investors from California, Nevada, New York, Colorado, and Texas via text message in March of 2020 about an opportunity to make money through his purported COVID-19 cure. Middlebrook, who was also a part-time actor, called his pretend cure for the virus QC20, and he came up with a fake treatment that he labeled QP20. The DOJ says the 56-year-old claimed that he had a patent pending for the cure, and would lie to potential investors about many things, including that Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson was a director with his company. Middlebrook would promise his victims enormous returns and even told them that an interested party from Dubai would pay him $10 billion for his company. The FBI arrested Middlebrook in 2020, after an undercover sting where he delivered his fake COVID-19 cure pills to an undercover agent who was pretending to be an interested investor. Middlebrook is facing up to 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud account. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA. Spark has grown into a flame for educational opportunities at Ashland County Career Center The Thursday evening celebration at the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center was a dynamic event combining commemoration of 50 years of progress with a ceremonial groundbreaking preparing for the next 50 years. A $45 million project beginning this summer will change the entire building combining renovation and additional square footage to build for the future. "Thanks for supporting the levy and getting us to this point," said Superintendent Rod Cheyney to those who gathered for the groundbreaking. The 1.1-mill permanent improvement levy approved in November 2021 will be used to fund the project. Before official remarks began, attendees mingled to examine the architectural renderings of what the reconfigured building will look like. Ashland County- West Holmes Career Center Board of Education members pick up their shovels for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the renovation and new construction project. Location change in store for just about everything Principal Rick Brindley summarized the major overhaul, noting the multi-purpose space in which the event was held just inside the main entrance will be demolished to make room for a new front entrance. Cosmetology and culinary arts will be located in the front of the building, providing enhanced access for the public and increased security. The reconstructed area will offer additional academic space. "We will have regular-sized classrooms," Brindley said, noting the average high school classroom totals 800-900 square feet, while "our average is 475 square feet." Construction technology with extra square footage will be moved to the northwest corner of the building, early childhood education with its own entrance to the southwest corner and criminal justice with a lab and more square footage to the southeast corner. Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center senior Amasa Maynard studies a rendering of the project to renovate and add new construction to the 50-year-old facility. The second floor will be dedicated to the LPN and STNA programs, as well as two science rooms biology and chemistry. It will house a phlebotomy lab and a training room that looks like a typical hospital room, Brindley said. The Ashland County Service Center, located next door and purchased by the Career Center from the Ashland County commissioners, will be used for academic classes and two labs for the next two school years while work on the Career Center takes place. A continuation of a 'spark' started 50 years ago Mike McDaniel, former superintendent of the Career Center, said, "I'm looking at what you've got planned. That's been a long-time dream. You've kept the promise. I wish you well for the future." David Hunter, board president, said, "Fifty years ago a spark started in Ashland County. For the last 50 years the flame has been growing," fulfilling the purpose of a high school education and skilled trades training for students and adults. The plan for the future answers the question, "What can we do to offer more?" Melanie Miller, Ohio House representative for the 67th District, who is a graduate of career and technical education in the Cleveland area, called it "a great pathway" for college or the work force. "Ashland County is growing," Miller said. "This (Career Center) expansion is truly needed. (We) have been anxiously awaiting (its improvement and expansion." Career Center Principal Rick Brindley takes items out of a time capsule at the groundbreaking and 50th anniversary celebration as Superintendent Rod Cheney and Ohio Statehouse Rep. Melanie Miller look on. Current student and alum tout their educations Senior Amasa Maynard said attending the Career Center gave him a focus and the opportunity to meet "people who knew what they wanted to do." He "grew a large skill set" and "real-world experience and knowledge in my field," as well as multiple skill certifications. Following graduation, he will begin a CNC planner apprenticeship at Schaeffler in Wooster and attend the University of Akron. One of the attendees, Joseph Smith, graduated from the Career Center in 1987 in architectural drafting under the tutelage of Andy Hawkins. Smith has worked in construction ever since and is self-employed with his own company. "It's a team effort. Everyone is doing their part," Cheyney said, praising staff members for "packing," "purging" and marking separate boxes of materials for storage or for teaching at the former Service Center building which houses the adult education program. Following the event, Forrest Chanay, a member of the Career Center board for all of its 50 years, complimented the school's consistent administrative leadership and "good, sensible leadership from the board." Board members' work experience, knowledge and background have always been respected in planning and decision-making, he said. "It is why we've been successful in anything we have wanted or attempted to do," Chanay said. "There have been times we have created programs of our own," such as survival skills. "Other schools have copied some things we have developed here. "Technology-wise, we've stayed on top of it," he said, adding fiscal management has been a top priority. Additionally, Chanay praised "great partnerships with industry and business" and "well-staffed advisory boards for programs." This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland Career Center on road to new buildings, enhanced education HANOI, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam aims to have 2 million firms by 2030 which will contribute to 65-70 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), 32-38 percent of the total number of jobs and 98-99 percent of the total import-export turnover by 2030. The target is part of the newly-issued government action program to implement the Politburo's Resolution on building and promoting the role of the contingent of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the new era, Vietnam News reported Saturday. According to the program, Vietnam aims to have about 20-25 percent of businesses owned by women, and 30-35 percent having female directors or leaders. At least 10 Vietnamese businessmen will be on the list of world billionaires, and five voted as the most powerful businessmen in Asia by prestigious organizations by 2030. This year Vietnam has six billionaires listed by the U.S. magazine Forbes. WORCESTER It took several blocks of walking, opening gates and climbing up and down stairs before letter carrier Marvin Gonzalez found bags of donated food Saturday, the second in May when the U.S. Postal Service holds its annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive. Mail carrier Marvin Gonzalez sorts through the delivery items for a Walworth Street resident before picking up a bag full of groceries Saturday during the national letter carrier food drive Stamp Out Hunger, sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service. Juggling the blue bags that were stuffed with cans, boxes and pouches that he had picked up off porches, Gonzalez made his way back to his truck and placed the groceries carefully in the back. He had handed out hundreds of the blue bags with the food drive logo along his route in the past weeks. Now he was collecting his bonanza. The food will be donated to the Worcester County Food Bank for distribution to local residents. As he walked, Gonzalez could almost predict which of the residents along his route would be making donations, picking out two houses along Walworth Street. Shes so nice, she always has water for me, says hello, Gonzalez said of the residents at number 45. He had similar kind words for the residents at number 24. Gonzalez, who has been a letter carrier for seven years, said he collected a good amount of donated groceries in the 2023 food drive and hopes to match it this year. Mail carrier Marvin Gonzalez grins after picking up a bag full of groceries during the national letter carrier food drive Stamp Out Hunger, sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service. The drive benefits local food pantries and food banks across the nation. There are so many nice people along the route, Gonzalez said as he walked, making his way among the single-family homes and well-manicured lawns of Brownell and Lovell streets and ending up on Walworth. His route is primarily a walking route, with mail delivered through slots in front doors or into mailboxes on porches. While the big collection day is the second Saturday in May, Gonzalez expects to be picking up the blue bags for the next few days. Groceries collected across US benefit local food pantries The groceries that are left for the carriers are collected from stoops, porches, front lawns and at mailboxes around the city, state and country. Stamp Out Hunger is a national program that focuses on local needs and billed as the largest food drive in the U.S., according to Tim Garvin, president and CEO of United Way of Central Massachusetts. "We hope to surpass 400,000 pounds of good, quality food in Greater Worcester, Garvin said. The program, he pointed out, replenishes local food pantries as summer approaches and children might not have access to free or reduced school breakfast or lunch. Early morning at the main post office in Worcester, as carriers collected items for delivery, they were cheered on by organizers and volunteers and had a special visit from U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Mass., who cheered on their collection efforts. Mail carrier Marvin Gonzalez stashes the bag of groceries he picked up from a residence on Walworth Street in the back of his truck Saturday during the Stamp Out Hunger food drive. "In the richest country in the world, there are 40 million Americans who are food insecure," McGovern said. One of his stated missions as a congressman is to end hunger in America through changes in federal policy. But in the meantime, McGovern said "we all have a role to play." Massachusetts is steps ahead of many states on mitigating hunger. The state has continued to fund a federal pandemic era program that offered free universal school meals. The federal allotment was terminated in June 2022 but Massachusetts is one of eight states that have continued funding the initiative. It became a permanent program in the Bay State this year when Gov. Maura Healey presented it as a line item in her fiscal 2025 budget. Both branches of the Legislature have also included the $172 million program in their budgets. Free universal school meals in Massachusetts is good. However, kids still get hungry on weekends, McGovern said. The pandemic-era measures enacted by the federal government lifted many U.S. citizens and children out of poverty and lessened food insecurity. However, policy decisions made since the declared end of the pandemic have reversed many of those gains. Need greater than ever McGovern noted that federal food aid SNAP benefits increased during the pandemic from $1.40 per person per meal, to $2.40 per person per meal. With the expiration of the aid program, those benefits have fallen to $2.08. The need is greater than ever, McGovern said, adding that residents are making more and more demands on local food banks and food pantries as food costs rise. We need to do better as a country. He called hunger a political policy decision, noting that the United States has the resources and infrastructure to grow, process and deliver the food. However, it lacks political will to eradicate hunger. There is no city, no town, no community in the United States that is hunger-free, McGovern said, adding the food drive will benefit many people at local levels. This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: US Postal Service conducts annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive New Hampshire's law says it clearly, that our first-in-the-nation presidential primary is to be held on a date "which is 7 days or more immediately preceding the date on which any other state shall hold a similar election." Our secretary of state is required to follow that law, and has done it well for decades. It works. Through the years, numerous states and both the Democratic and Republican national political parties have tried to come up with schemes to end our lead-off status, but our law has stood the test of time. They haven't been able to get around those words. Jim Splaine In the most recent election cycle, national Democratic Party leaders attempted to stop New Hampshire from being first. They tried to forbid candidates from filing for president here. But several did. They even declared that they wouldn't allow our delegates to attend the August Democratic National Convention. But they will. Two weeks ago, after losing their battle with New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley and other leaders, the national Democratic Party admitted it failed in its nearly two-year crusade to disenfranchise our voters. They will seat our delegates at the convention. Our state law was repeatedly referred to as the reason for that failure. More: NH's delegates for Biden will count in 2024. But will NH primary be first in 2028? I've been involved in every New Hampshire presidential primary since 1960. At age 12, I distributed flyers for John F. Kennedy. I got involved doing the manual work because my mom and dad thought he'd be a good president, and they bought me ice cream. In every primary since then I've been active in one way or another, and seen some amazing moments. Those are stories for another time. That early involvement got me interested in New Hampshire's special role of holding the first presidential primary, and in 1975 led me to sponsor the law to guarantee it, when we came close to losing it. We haven't lost it. But we could. New Hampshire state Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, is at the center of a celebration of President Joe Biden's write-in win in the New Hampshire primary in Manchester Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. That's why the fight goes on, because more efforts will be made to stop New Hampshire. It's likely that both major parties will come up with new plans. While our state law protects our right to go first we pay for our primary election so we can hold it when we want we may have to engage in battle again. It was on a snowy day on Tuesday, March 9, 1920 that our state's voters traveled to polling places in big and small towns and cities to state their choice as to who should lead our nation. Since then, many people who became president had to first meet with New Hampshire voters. Even today, we can meet them in our towns and neighborhoods. And unlike other campaign events that they hold in other states, here they seldom charge for tickets. The Portsmouth Athenaeum in Market Square has had an excellent display of much of the 100 years of New Hampshire presidential primaries, and the involvement of our citizenry. Titled "Political Engagement in New Hampshire: Past & Present," it has included a speaker's series from participants in past campaigns. Discussions like those at the Athenaeum, and in our schools, are critical at emphasizing the unique purpose of our primary in promoting real democracy. Here, candidates have to engage voters close-up, one-to-one, unlike when they get to larger states, hide behind podiums, and have to spend vast amounts of money. Is New Hampshire important? Throughout the years, Republican presidential candidates have made must-do visits with Portsmouth's Evelyn Marconi and Ruth Griffin, along with other local Republicans. And Democratic presidential candidates have done sit-downs with Portsmouth's Eileen Foley and Martha Fuller Clark, and many other local Democrats. You can bet that the candidates listened and learned from them. And that our Portsmouth leaders and citizens had something to tell the candidates who may become president. That's the power of the New Hampshire first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Question: If we can't abolish the Electoral College nationwide, what if New Hampshire splits the state's four votes by awarding two in each congressional district to the candidate who wins most votes? NH primary history: Go to the secretary of state website: The Story of the 1975 Law Requiring the New Hampshire Presidential Primary to be First in the Nation. Next time: Long-ago memories of Market Square. Variously since 1969, Jim Splaine has been New Hampshire state senator for six years, representative for 24 years, Police Commission and School Board member, Portsmouth assistant mayor for 12 years and city councilor for 18 years. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Splaine: Why New Hampshire primary is still first in nation Editor's Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated who appointed Chavez to the Ohio Senate. Republican Senators picked Chavez for an empty Senate seat in 2023. Injection wells owned by Ohio Sen. Brian Chavez leached brine, an often toxic liquid byproduct of fracking, underground in Noble County miles past where it was permitted to for years, according to state records. On five occasions since 2010, that liquid burst to the surface through other companies' dormant oil and gas wells in one instance contaminating a stream, killing wildlife and requiring a $1.3 million state cleanup effort according to records from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Jake Zuckerman of Cleveland.com first reported this month on the leaks attributed by ODNR to one of Chavezs multiple oil and gas companies, Deeprock Disposal Solutions, and how Deeprock has not been asked to foot the $1.3 million bill for a January 2021 cleanup. A long-idled oil well in January 2021 in Noble County owned by Genesis Resources sprayed brine, a toxic byproduct of fracking, that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources would later determine came from a nearby injection well owned by Ohio Sen. Brian Chavez. The Department of Natural Resources has ordered Genesis Resources, the company that owned the dormant well that leaked, to pay. Genesis Resources appealed the department's order to the Oil and Gas Commission, a five-member panel appointed by the governor. After arguments before the commission earlier this year, a decision on that appeal is pending in the coming weeks. Hydraulic fracturing, often called fracking, involves injecting liquid mixtures at high pressure thousands of feet underground to create cracks in rock formations, allowing gas or oil, as well as trapped water (brine) to flow. That brine can be toxic and contain radioactive elements and Ohio prohibits well operators from allowing brine to pollute the surface. While production wells, like Genesis idled Noble County well, produce oil and gas, injection wells, like the two wells Deeprock owns in Noble County, dispose of fracking waste like brine deep underground. More on fracking: Ohio OKs accepting bids for fracking under state park, wildlife areas John Fortney, a spokesperson for the Senate Republicans, told The Dispatch that questions about responsibility and liability for the 2021 leak are better suited for the party ODNR has found responsible for brine reaching the surface. As an expert in the field, a former member of the Oil and Gas Commission, and as a responsible operator, public and environmental safety are paramount to Senator Chavez, Fortney said in an email. From petroleum engineers to the welders on a platform, these hard-working professionals have families who also want clean air and water. And as someone who works and lives around these wells, Senator Chavez demands the same for his family, neighbors, and constituents. Chavez, of Marietta, sat on the state Oil & Gas Commission after Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him in June 2021 until Ohio Senate Republicans chose Chavez for a vacant Senate seat in December 2023. In motions filed with the Oil and Gas Commission, lawyers for ODNR have argued the origin of the fluid that erupted from (Genesis) well is irrelevant. Regardless of where the fluid came from, Genesis was and is still obligated to either maintain or plug its own (well) to prevent a surface leak from occurring. Having failed to do so, Genesis must reimburse the Division for cleaning up the leak from its well, ODNR lawyers wrote. Kevin M. Maloney, a Columbus-based attorney representing Genesis Resources and its insurer, conceded that Genesis had not plugged its inactive well as required by Ohio law. Maloney told The Dispatch the owner could not afford to and Genesis was not the primary cause of the 2021 leak. (Genesis) is not totally clean and Im not claiming they are, Maloney said. But why isnt the responsible party being held responsible? Its clear to me theyre protecting Deeprocks owner. Five leaks at Deeprock's Noble County wells since 2010 In 2010, 2013, 2019, 2021 and 2023, idled production wells near Deeprocks two Noble County injection wells leaked brine, according to ODNR records. The leaks happened between about 1.5 miles and 5.5 miles away from Deeprocks two wells in Noble County. Deeprocks permits only allowed its wells to dispose of brine and other fracking byproducts within a half-mile radius. After the fifth area well leaked in January 2023, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources attributed all five incidents to Deeprocks two wells in Noble County and suspended its operations there, according to an order by ODNR. The leak in January 2021 through Genesis well was particularly disastrous. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of brine sprayed through Genesis well to the surface, contaminating a nearby stream and killing 400 fish and other wildlife, according to records from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. ODNR spent nearly $1.3 million plugging the leak and mitigating the damage, including by removing more than 362,000 gallons from the stream. Karina Cheung, an Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokesperson, said there is no reason to believe any drinking water in Noble County has been contaminated by any of the leaks as there are no mapped groundwater wells within a half-mile radius of the dormant wells that leaked. In January 2023, ODNR formally ordered Genesis to reimburse the state agency for the cleanup and a month later, Genesis appealed that order to the Oil and Gas Commission, which Chavez sat on at the time. In June 2023, the commission decided 4-0 to deny Genesis Resources request to stay the order while the commission reviews the case. Chavez recused himself for that vote. jlaird@dispatch.com @LairdWrites This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio state senator's fracking waste wells leaked brine for years FILE - In this frame grab from cellphone video provided by Celena Morrison, her husband, Darius McLean, is handcuffed by a state trooper during a traffic stop, in Philadelphia, March 2, 2024. The state trooper is no longer employed by the Pennsylvania state police, officials said Friday, May 10, 2024. (Celena Morrison via AP, File) PHILADELPHIA (AP) The state trooper who arrested two LGBTQ+ leaders after a contentious traffic stop in Philadelphia is no longer employed by the Pennsylvania state police, officials said Friday. Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Adam Reed said the trooper, who has not been named, no longer works for the agency, though it's unclear whether he was fired and when he left the job. I can say as of today, hes no longer employed. I cant offer any additional information, as we dont comment on personnel matters," Reed said. In March, Celena Morrison and husband Darius McLean were arrested after a traffic stop on an elevated stretch of highway in the city, part of which was captured on video. Morrison heads the citys Office of LGBT Affairs and McLean runs an LGBTQ+ community center in the city. The arrests led Mayor Cherelle Parker to weigh in, calling the exchange between the trooper, who appears to be white, and the Black couple very concerning. The Pennsylvania State Troopers Association criticized the state police for not standing behind the trooper. This decision is reprehensible, Union President Stephen Polishan said in an statement. This young trooper, on the job for only six months, deserved better from our department. Lawyer Kevin Mincey, who represents the couple, declined to comment. He is preparing to file a suit against the state police and the trooper on their behalf. The couple were detained for about 12 hours after the 9 a.m. March 2 traffic stop in which they were driving separately to take a car for repairs when a trooper pulled Morrison over after maneuvering himself between their two vehicles, according to their lawyer. Morrison took a video on her cellphone of the trooper handcuffing McLean after he stopped his car behind the trooper. In the video, McLean is lying in the rain on the shoulder of the highway. The trooper knocked the cellphone from her hand, ending the recording, Morrison's lawyer's have said. The couple's lawyers have also questioned the reason for the stop, saying the trooper would not have had time to run the registration before he wedged between them and pulled Morrison over. The trooper, on the video, said he stopped her for tailgating and failing to have her lights on. I dont know why hes doing this, McLean cries to his wife as she recorded him being handcuffed. Its cause Im Black, McLean says. Its not cause youre Black, replies the trooper, who leaves McLean handcuffed on the highway shoulder and then moves to arrest Morrison. Israels genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza has galvanized vociferous opposition across the globe, most recently on college campuses throughout the U.S. and in other countries as well. Support for Palestine has also grown dramatically within Jewish communities evident by massive actions from the take-over of public spaces and the blocking of business as usual, to the many young Jews part of the campus encampments in solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza, happening right at this moment. But we also know that part of the Jewish communityand mainstream Jewish organizationscontinue to support the genocide (as does the U.S. Administration). One of its main points of attack is accusing the movement for Palestinian justice of antisemitism. This attack is an act of desperation. It always has been, and that is true at this moment, too. There is nothing remotely antisemitic in holding a nation-state including the Jewish nation-state accountable for egregious abuses and violations of human rights. There is nothing antisemitic in standing against a genocide happening in real time. There is nothing antisemitic in protesting U.S. complicity in that genocide. And there is nothing antisemitic in protesting Jewish organizations standing on the wrong side of justice. Letters: Why blame Israel alone and cast no criticism on Hamas atrocities? For this Jew, I consider it my obligation in every part of my being to join with Palestinians and others across the world who are saying no to the unconscionable destruction of Palestinian society and no to the enormous brutality against the Palestinian people of Gaza. Pro-Palestinian protests miss the point: Israel is fighting for its existence Donna Nevel At this moment, Israel has killed close to 35,000 Palestinians and is deliberately starving the population in Gaza. Israel has destroyed Gazas healthcare system, its basic infrastructure, its cultural and academic institutions, and its humanitarian aid distribution systems. Just recently, the bodies of over 400 Palestinians, showing signs of torture and executions, have been uncovered in mass graves at hospitals in Gaza. This alone should stop the world in its tracks. Does it not seem obvious that hurling charges of antisemitism at those protesting this brutality reflects a breathtaking level of inhumanity? Donna Nevel, a community psychologist and Jewish activist living in South Florida, is co-director of PARCEO, which has created a curriculum on antisemitism from a framework of collective liberation. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: I'm Jewish. Wanting Israel to stop its Gaza genocide isn't antisemitic May says pubs are 'not monuments' - JACK HILL/TIMES MEDIA LTD TV presenter and publican James May believes Britain is oversubscribed with watering holes and the sectors struggles are simply a cull that will eliminate bad pubs. The former Top Gear host, who owns a half-share in The Royal Oak, in the village of Swallowcliffe in Wiltshires Nadder Valley, criticised efforts by the Government to prop up the trade. He said: I did a thing on TV a week or two ago about pubs on Newsnight, because another one of those surveys had shown another five million pubs had closed, or whatever. I took the view I often take, which is were slightly oversubscribed with pubs in the modern world and theres a bit of a cull going on, and its the bad pubs that tend to disappear. Really good pubs will always survive because they do nice food, theyve got a nice atmosphere, theyre clean, they serve nice beer, theyve got decent wine all that sort of stuff. He added: One of the things I said, and people got very annoyed with me about it, is that we shouldnt think of pubs being an essential part of our heritage or an important tradition, or part of our national identity, because theyre not monuments, theyre pubs and they have to work. Good food, clean toilets Speaking as he launched his own range of spirits, called James Gin, May said The Royal Oak, which he co-owns with a businessman friend, was 85 per cent restaurant and 15 per cent drinking establishment. Aside from a few corner-of-the-street boozers that have survived and do well, most pubs have to do decent food to be successful, he said. That and clean bogs and all the basic stuff, really. For a long time pubs got away with being a bit tatty and were due a bit of an update. He warned against the Government stepping in to save pubs because it doesnt really know what its doing. For example, their advice on car-buying all turned out to be b-------, really, so I dont think I want them trying to work out what would save the pub, May said. The good pub will save itself, but I acknowledge it is a massive struggle. All pubs are good However, a spokesman for the Campaign for Real Ale said there was no such thing as a bad pub. A remarkable statistic around community-owned pubs is that, to date, they have a 100 per cent success rate, he said. A few have been sold on to the private sector once the business was re-established, but all the rest have survived and thrived. In other cases, successful pubs have been converted into housing or shops, simply because owners can cash in by selling to developers. The rate of hospitality closures is slowing down, from a loss of eight sites per day in 2023 to four a day in the first quarter of 2024, according to new data from industry statistics firm CGA. But one in 40 venues has closed over the past 12 months, with family-run venues suffering a 22 per cent decline. And in March, figures from accountants Price Bailey revealed that pub closures had hit a decade high of more than two per day in 2023. Some 769 hostelry operators went bust up from 518 in 2022. In total, there were 38,175 pubs in the UK at the end of last year down from 41,015 a decade earlier, Price Bailey said. 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. After the storm: Indianhead neighbors gather for community cookout and share stories, help As day turned to night in Tallahassee's Indianhead neighborhood, dozens of residents Friday gathered in Optimist Park for an impromptu cookout to grill food that otherwise would have spoiled in powerless freezers and fridges. Most were relieved that being without electricity or having their driveway blocked by a tree was the worst of their problems. The early Friday storms otherwise scoured central Tallahassee, snapping trees and utility poles like pencils. Others weren't as lucky. "I have four trees on my house," said Angel Hirai, who's lived in the neighborhood since 2006. "The back wall is missing and there's water and trees inside. We've seen neighbors' houses damaged (in past storms) but nothing like this." She said she already made a claim with her insurance company, the state-backed Citizens, and hopes to have the trees removed by next week but doesn't expect to be back in her home for another year. She and her family hope to find a rental in the neighborhood in the meantime. As reported previously, the Friday storms may go down as the citys worst tornado outbreak, with wind gusts as high as 100 mph and as many as three different tornadoes damaging or destroying homes and businesses. One woman was killed when a tree crashed into her home. Uprooted trees in Indianhead Acres from the storm May 10, 2024. As the storms passed over Indianhead, Hirai said her family sat in an interior hallway "and listened to trees fall on the house. Every time one fell, the whole house shook." Longtime Tallahassee resident Penfield Newell, carrying a plate of food, said she lost eight trees on her property in the storms, with two landing on the Indianhead house where she's lived for 11 years. "The water was just pouring in," she said. The good news: Half of her house is still livable. Another tree hit her car. Indianhead neighbors were helping other neighbors 'as soon as the thunder stopped' Marie-Claire Leman, a board member of the Indianhead Lehigh Neighborhood Association, said neighbors were out helping neighbors "as soon as the thunder stopped," checking on the elderly, using chainsaws to cut gaps through fallen trees on roadways. Kevin Sansom, left, and Laura Floyd, seen on the roof, clean up around their place on West Indianhead Drive. "This is quite a sight, isn't it?" Sansom asked. "It's going to take quite a while to clean this up." Friday's cookout was borne of the same sense of community, she added: Another board member, Eli Wilkins-Molloy, had the association's vibraphone-sized charcoal grill it uses for big events, such as the annual Nene Fest (many street names end in "Nene," the Muscogee Indian word for "trail"). "We didn't think we would need it after a tornado, but Eli texted me, 'Should I take the grill out?' " she said. The tornado that likely passed through the area actually did one neighbor a favor. Daniel Mendez, who recently moved from Denver with his family, said he had arranged for a dead tree in his back yard to be removed, coincidentally on the morning of the storms. "Now I don't know where the tree is," Mendez said, wondering whether it was splintered into nothingness. "It disappeared. I have been asking neighbors, 'Did you see my tree?' " Even those who had it much worse were making the best of it. Hirai said she "lives in an amazing community and we have had so many offers of shelter and food, so we're very grateful." But for now, "we're homeless so we may as well make it fun. We're musicians so we're thinking about going on a 'Tornado Tour,' " she added with a laugh. News Director Jim Rosica can be reached at jrosica@tallahassee.com. Follow him on X: @JimRosicaFL. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Indianhead neighbors share storm stories of loss, relief at cookout Demonstrators at University College London have added to a growing number of tent camps protesting against the war in Gaza - Jamie Lorriman The National Union of Students (NUS) has been accused of peddling a dangerous Leftist ideology that Jews dont count after it emerged that some of its delegates called for the expulsion of the main Jewish representative body. At the NUS annual conference in Blackpool last month, a group of delegates voted to sever ties with the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) at a workshop where members were told that Israel is a racist project of colonialism. The NUS said that the non-binding vote was a temperature check rather than a formal commitment by the organisation. A spokesman for the NUS said it ensured that the democratic volunteers issued a swift apology for the incident and issued a statement afterwards making clear that questioning UJSs place here is at odds with our policies. At the same conference, anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered and reported to the police, which the NUS also apologised for. The details emerged as pro-Palestinian protests spread across British universities, with students attempting to replicate the occupations that have swept through US campuses. US protesters are reportedly sharing advice about tactics and logistics with students involved in encampments at British universities. The Government suspended engagement with the NUS two years ago, amid allegations of anti-Semitism, and said the organisation will not receive any taxpayer funding. A tent camp protesting against the war in Gaza in Oxford - Meghana Geetha In recent months, the NUS approached officials at the Department for Education to ask if communication channels could be reopened, but they were turned down by Education Secretary Gillian Keegan. She didnt feel they had made enough progress and her caution has been proven right, a government source said. They added that the incident at the conference last month shows a warped agenda and a dangerous Leftist ideology, which is more than a blind spot for anti-Semitism. It is a conscious attack on Jewish people. Demonstrators at University College London have added to a growing number of tent camps protesting against the war in Gaza, which have been seen at universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Warwick, Swansea and Bristol. The scenes have been a far cry from confrontations in the US, where there have been thousands of arrests and riot police have stormed campuses, but British student protesters are refusing to budge until universities meet their demands to cut ties with Israeli organisations and make commitments on Gaza. Goldsmiths University of London has agreed to student demands by offering scholarships for Palestinian students, renaming a lecture hall after Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-US journalist killed in an Israeli military operation in 2022, and reviewing how anti-Semitism is defined on campus. Were deeply sorry An NUS spokesman said that it condemns racist anti-Semitic incidents that took place during its conference last month. Disciplinary action was taken and continues to be taken against some delegates due to unacceptable language and the drawing of anti-Semitic graffiti, they said. We take such incidents seriously and we are in contact with the police and Community Security Trust. We remain committed to ensuring NUS is a safe and welcoming place for all students and we are reviewing all aspects of the conference to ensure that is the case. Were deeply sorry to Jewish students and we wont stop taking action until anti-Semitism is rooted out of all corners of our movement. 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. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) As San Diego contends with an affordable housing crisis, a new study from UC San Diego and San Diego State University highlights the implications of another shortage disproportionately impacting the regions unhoused residents: public restrooms. The study, which was published in the International Journal for Equity in Health last month, looked at water, sanitation and hygiene access in San Diego and Tijuana at the height of the pandemic a time when access to these resources were critical to public health and safety. They specifically zeroed in on whether people who use injectable drugs, as well as those who are unhoused, had reliable water and lavatories. They interviewed hundreds of people in Tijuana and San Diego between 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 infections were at their peak. Coronado students rally to stop the sewage Unsurprisingly, researchers found that the vast majority of people interviewed did not have access to an acceptable toilet or hand washing station at the time. More than half of respondents also said they did not have a place where they could regularly shower. Only 38 percent of participants reported regular access to a bathroom, either to relieve themselves or to wash their hands, while only about 46 percent said they had regular access to a shower. [Water, sanitation and hygiene] access among [people who inject drugs] in the Tijuana-San Diego metropolitan area was low by international standards and lower than the national averages in both countries, the report read. Meanwhile, nearly all participants reported drinking less water than is medically recommended for proper hydration, although a smaller percentage about 11 percent said they had insufficient access to drinking water from 2020 to 2021. Even in Southern California one of the wealthiest parts of the world people who use drugs often go without access to water, showers and toilets, said Alheli Calderon Villarreal, the studys lead author. Villarreal conducted the research as part of her doctoral dissertation for the UCSD-SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health. The lack of these basic services also places people who use drugs at risk of serious, but preventable, illnesses, and poses risks to society at large, she continued. For those who use injectable drugs, this includes the development of injuries ranging from abscesses or vascular damage that, if it is not treated properly with safe water, could lead to possibly life-threatening infections. Irregular access to public restrooms or clean water can also give way to outbreaks of infectious diseases like hepatitis A. Last year, San Diego County saw an uptick in hepatitis A cases in the unhoused population, killing two people and prompting a public health advisory. Four consecutive grand jury reports, including one issued while the hepatitis A cases were spiking last year, have reached similar findings as the recent UCSD and SDSU study: The city of San Diego, in particular, does not have enough clean, public bathrooms. It recommended the city develop plans to maintain its existing facilities, as well as create new ones for unhoused and housed residents to use. In an October meeting, San Diego City Councilmembers acknowledged it was a big issue, but expressed belief that efforts to expand its portfolio of shelters would be a better use of city resources since the existing public restrooms are most often used by homeless residents. According to the study, participants who use injectable drugs but had housing between 2020 and 2021 faced less difficulty attaining clean water sources. More of San Diegos most vulnerable grappling with homelessness Unsheltered participants were three times more likely to report being unable to access clean water sources for cleansing wounds, and two times more likely to say they did not have clean water to prepare drugs for injection. These respondents were also twice as likely to say they were unable to access basic drinking water, bathing opportunities and sanitation. The researchers recommend leaders in both Tijuana and San Diego should continue working to reach the long-term goal of providing safe and secure places for people to live with access to safe water and sanitation. They added that the two cities should look towards expanding mobile hygiene services and public restrooms in the meantime whether that is extending hours of operation for existing facilities, creating more public restrooms or increasing the number of providers offering water, sanitation and hygiene opportunities. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. Sudanese Children suffering from malnutrition are treated at an MSF clinic in Metche Camp, Chad, near the Sudanese border, Saturday, April 6, 2024. Many people here fled the fighting in Sudan's vast western region of Darfur, where attacks by the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces on ethnic African civilians have revived memories of genocide. The United Nations says close to 9 million people have fled their homes. (AP Photo/Patricia Simon) CAIRO (AP) Sudans military and allied armed groups staved off an attack by a paramilitary group and Arab militias on a major city in the western region of Darfur, officials and residents said Saturday. The attack Friday was the latest by the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces against el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, where hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering, many of them having fled fighting elsewhere in Darfur. The RSF, which has been at war with the military for more than a year, has built forces up in recent months to wrestle control of el-Fasher, the last city that is still held by the military in the sprawling Darfur region. Sudans conflict began in April last year when soaring tensions between the leaders of the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. The conflict wrecked the country and pushed its population to the brink of famine. It killed more than 14,000 people and wounded thousands more amid reports of widespread sexual violence and other atrocities that rights groups say amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Darfur witnessed some of the worst atrocities in the war, with the RSF taking control of many cities and towns across the region. Human Rights Watch said in a report last week that RSF attacks constituted a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the regions non-Arab population. The RSF and their allies launched the attack on el-Fashers eastern side early Friday and clashed with military forces and other armed groups defending the city, said resident Amany Mohamed. She said the military and allied forces have repelled the attack. Yesterday was a very difficult day, she said over the phone on Saturday. There were fierce clashes that lasted for six hours. Another resident and an activist, Ibtisam al-Doum, fled with her family to a school-turned-shelter on the southern side of the city during heavy fighting Friday. She said she saw hundreds of people escaping on foot to safer areas. The situation is catastrophic. We dont know when this will end, she said, speaking from the Jiser al-Jinan shelter. Whats happening is senseless. The military-led camp and the RSF blamed each other for initiating Fridays fighting. Local media reported heavy clashes in parts of the city including its power planet. Footage on social media platforms showed army troops and allied forces celebrating and captured fighters in RSF uniform being paraded in the streets. Reports of intensifying clashes in the city are deeply alarming, Martin Griffiths, the United Nations relief chief, wrote on X and called for warning parties to de-escalate. The people of Darfur need more food, not more fighting, he said. The International Organization for Migration said the military launched airstrikes Saturday on the RSF positions in the northern and eastern parts of el-Fasher. It said Fridays fighting had forced about 170 households, or about 800 people, from their homes. The agency said there were reports of civilians killed and wounded in the clashes, without providing a casualty tally. The Doctors Without Borders humanitarian group, however, said a hospital it supports in the city on Friday received 160 wounded, including 31 women and 19 children. Patients continue to reach us in critical conditions and in urgent need of treatment," it said Saturday. The United Nations last month said the RSF had encircled the city and warned an attack would have devastating consequences on its 800,000 people. The RSF and allied Arab militias have launched a series of attacks on el-Fasher and its surroundings in recent weeks, taking several villages on the northern side. Such attacks resulted in horrific reports of violence, including sexual violence, children injured and killed, homes set on fire and destruction of critical civilian supplies and infrastructure, Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, said earlier this month. The fighting and growing fear of ethnically motivated violence has driven many families to overcrowded displacement camps such as Zamzam camp and informal gathering sites in and around el-Fasher city, she said. MOSCOW, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine has launched a missile attack on an oil depot in Lugansk city of Rovenky, killing three people and injuring eight others, a local official said on Saturday. "As with the recent attacks on Lugansk, today's strike on Rovenky was presumably carried out with U.S.-made ATACMS missiles equipped with cluster munitions," local leader Leonid Pasechnik wrote on his Telegram channel. As a result of the strike, the oil depot was engulfed in fire, and houses around it were also damaged. The death toll has risen to three, with eight more hospitalized, including six with mine-explosive injuries and two with poisoning from combustion products, he said. Residential homes, agricultural machinery, and civilian vehicles were also damaged. President Bidens declaration this week, warning Israel that if it invades Rafah the United States will not supply it with weapons, sparked outrage with the Republican Party, which will likely be the focus of this weeks Sunday talk shows. In an interview with CNNs Erin Burnett on Wednesday, Biden said if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continue with their planned invasion of Rafah, the southern Gaza city where hundreds of thousands of people are taking refuge, he would stop supplying offensive weapons like bombs and artillery shells. The war, and Bidens warning, has splintered Congress. Republicans accused Biden of abandoning Israel with his latest moves, which are his most dramatic since the start of the war. The Biden administration delivered a report to Congress late Friday, which determined it was reasonable to assess that Israel had violated international humanitarian law in its war in Gaza. Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said the review was woefully inadequate. He said if Israels conduct complies with international standards, it would set a very low bar for the rules of war. Van Hollen is set to join CBS Face the Nation on Sunday, where he will likely discuss the administrations growing concern for Israels actions. On the other side of the aisle, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) slammed Bidens threat, saying it could ruin potential stability in the Middle East. He said he trusts Israel more than Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Graham will appear on NBCs Meet the Press, where he will likely speak about his years-long efforts for Saudi Arabia and Israel to negotiate and Bidens warning. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) laid into Biden, calling him part of the pro-Hamas group and saying the warning is disgusting. Scott is set to appear on Fox News Sunday, In the House, Bidens message has drawn even more criticism. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), along with House Armed Services Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), said in a statement that they were appalled the administration would pause crucial arms shipments to Israel. McCaul is set to join ABCs This Week where hell likely expand on his statement. Heres the full list of appearances on this weeks Sunday shows: ABCs This Week Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.); Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas). NBCs Meet the Press Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). CBS Face the Nation Blinken; Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). CNNs State of the Union Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and JD Vance (R-Ohio); Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell. Fox News Sunday Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.); Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.); Rachel Goldberg, the mother of an Israeli American hostage taken by Hamas. Fox Newss Sunday Morning Futures Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah); Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.); former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.); Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake. NewsNations The Hill Sunday with Chris Stirewalt Reps. Steve Horsford (D-Nev.) and Michael Waltz (R-Fla.). NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Supreme Court says Cook will be on the ballot, GOP attorney asks for reversal of sanctions Rep. David Cook, R-Globe, speaks to the press in 2019 about the concerns of farmers in Pinal County about a drought contingency plan. He's now running for state Senate. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy Republican David Cooks name will be on the primary ballot for the Arizona Senates Legislative District 7, the Arizona Supreme Court decided on Thursday. His opponent, Republican incumbent Wendy Rogers, attempted to get him kicked out of the race by challenging the majority of the voter signatures he gathered to make it onto the ballot, but both the trial court and the states highest court dismissed her claims. Cook, a state representative from Globe, and Rogers differ greatly in politics, even as members of the same party. Rogers built a national profile on election denialism after former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, while Cook is more of a throw-back to what Republican elected officials were like before Trump dominated the GOP. Candidates for elected office in Arizona must collect a certain number of nomination petition signatures from registered voters they hope to represent to qualify for the ballot, but then those signatures can be challenged in court, most often by their political opponents. Most of the signature challenges filed this year have already been resolved, when the challenger dropped the case, the candidate who was challenged dropped out of the race or a judge dismissed the case. But after Rogers challenge, in which she initially claimed that almost all of the signatures 1,033 of 1,344 that Cook gathered were invalid, was dismissed by a trial judge, she appealed it to the Arizona Supreme Court. Rogers had accused one of Cooks petition circulators of forging voter signatures, saying all of the signatures the circulator gathered should be thrown out. And she claimed that 132 additional signatures gathered for Cook were from voters who live outside the district, making them invalid. But the panel of four Supreme Court justices ultimately agreed with the trial court, saying that Rogers and her attorney Tim La Sota never proved that the circulator engaged in signature forgery, even though some of the signatures were from voters who said they didnt sign the petitions. (T)he trial courts finding that (Rogers) failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that (the circulator) committed forgery was not clearly erroneous, and it therefore did not err in failing to invalidate any further signatures collected by (the signature gatherer) Chief Justice Robert Brutinel wrote in the decision. Another signature challenge saga Bryan Blehm, one of the lawyers who represented Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake in her challenge to the results of the 2022 governors race that she lost, has asked a judge to reconsider sanctioning him for a candidate petition challenge that the court found to be groundless. Blehm brought the challenge to the candidacy of Kelli Butler, a Democratic candidate for state House of Representative in Legislative District 4, on behalf of Shelby Busch, head of the far-right election denier group We the People Az Alliance. But the Scottsdale divorce attorney and Busch were both hit with sanctions for bringing the challenge based on a residency requirement that doesnt actually exist. On April 23, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Danielle Viola sanctioned Busch and Blehm by ordering them to pay $4,500 in Butlers attorney fees, as well as almost $300 in additional costs. In the initial challenge, Blehm wrote that the Arizona Constitution requires legislative candidates to live in the district they seek to represent for at least a year before running for office, and that Butler had not done so. But the state Constitution contains no such requirement, and the court chastised Blehm for his failure to properly research the law on which he based the challenge. Blehm included in his request seemingly unrelated information about his background teaching government classes at a private high school, with part of the curriculum based on the study of political philosophy from Socrates as written by Plato through the Federalist Papers and Brutus. He added that his lectures relating these philosophies to the Arizona government included theoretical discussion on the importance of residency requirements like those stated in Arizonas Constitution for representative governments. Blehm also told the court that until it was sent to him by Butlers attorney, he was unaware of one of the previously decided cases that challenged legislative residency requirements, the results of which made it clear his residency challenge was invalid. Plaintiffs counsel asks that this Court reverse the fee award as Counsel has a long history with this subject and parties can rightfully bring claims when the law is confused and works an injustice, Blehm wrote. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Supreme Court says Cook will be on the ballot, GOP attorney asks for reversal of sanctions appeared first on Arizona Mirror. For Ukraine, May is turning out to be the cruellest month. The town of Vovchansk in the northern Kharkiv region, liberated from Russian occupation more than 18 months ago, awoke Friday to intense shelling and aerial bombardment. Russia has found another way of stretching Ukraines already thin blue line. President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials said that Russian efforts to advance towards the town had been thwarted, but the Russians have since tried to cut road links with Vovchansk. The Russians launched battalion-strength attacks along a 60-kilometer stretch of the border on Friday, claiming to occupy several villages in what is known as the gray zone along the frontier, after focusing much of their offensive capabilities this year on a grinding advance in Donetsk in the east that has seen incremental but significant progress. As of Saturday, it appeared the Russians still held a handful of Ukrainian border villages, with intense aerial bombardment continuing in the Vovchansk area. The cross-border attack is yet another example of whats going wrong for the Ukrainians this year. Their forces are thinly stretched, with much less artillery than the Russians, grossly inadequate air defenses and above all a lack of soldiers. Their plight has been worsened by dry weather, allowing Russian mechanized units to move more easily. The deputy head of Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, Major-General Vadym Skibitsky, told the Economist last week: Our problem is very simple: we have no weapons. They always knew April and May would be a difficult time for us. Ukrainian intelligence estimates that despite immense losses since the full-scale invasion began, Russia has more than half-a-million men now inside Ukraine or at its borders. It is also generating a division of reserves in central Russia, according to Skibitsky. The northern border assault follows the creation of a new Russian military grouping called Sever [North]. George Barros at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington told CNN that Sever is an operationally significant group. Russia sought to generate 60,000-100,000 troops for its group to attack Kharkiv and we assess its closer to 50,000, Barros says, but it still has a lot of combat power. Its from this new force that units of armored infantry tried to cross the border. The available evidence suggests they were expected and suffered significant losses. But if more elite units join (there are reports that elements from other divisions may do so) Russias ambitions could grow. As a Ukrainian special forces unit told CNN this weekend, This is only the beginning, the Russians have a bridgehead for further offensives. One former Ukrainian officer who writes about the conflict on the blog Frontelligence says that Manpower shortages compel Ukraine to avoid deploying large units along the border continuously, with fully stocked and ready for immediate-use artillery. He expects the situation to evolve, with Russian forces deploying more units to penetrate additional border areas or to reinforce initial successes. Gunners fire at Russian positions in the Kharkiv region, on April 21. - Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images Several analysts expect the Russians to broaden the border attacks westwards to Sumy region, which has seen months of raids by Russian special forces. The Sever grouping could not attack and occupy a city the size of Kharkiv, but thats likely not the goal. Barros says that it is instead to compel Ukrainian forces to pivot from Donetsk to Kharkiv region. The Russians seek to thin Ukrainian forces out along the 600-mile frontline and create opportunities, specifically in Donetsk oblast, which is Russias main operational objective for 2024, Barros says. The latest cross-border assaults may also divert Ukrainian units from the defense of Kupiansk, also in Kharkiv region, where a Russian assault has stalled for months, as well as create a buffer zone inside Ukraine that the Kremlin says it wants to reduce attacks on Russian cities like Belgorod. Upping the tempo Whats happening in Kharkiv is not isolated. The Ukrainian military acknowledged this week a spike in combat engagements (more than 150 on Thursday alone), coming on top of a marked increase from March to April. In effect, the Russians have the manpower to stretch Ukrainian defenses through multiple points of attack hundreds of kilometers apart, forcing Kyiv to guess where and when an anticipated early-summer offensive will focus. The increased tempo of attacks exacerbates Ukraines two critical vulnerabilities: insufficient manpower and sparse air defenses. Russia is exploiting both in a hurry, keen to establish facts on the ground before a new wave of Western aid can help. That is at least weeks away in any meaningful amounts. Manpower remains a core challenge, and Ukraine is working to restore its existing degraded brigades as well as from about 10 new maneuver brigades, Barros says. An apartment building in Sumy, eastern Ukraine, heavily damaged by a Russian drone strike. - Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Reuters Only in the last month has a law been passed to expand mobilization, nearly two years after Russia mobilized some 300,000 additional troops. The process was bogged down in the Ukrainian parliament for months, and President Zelensky was wary of both the cost and the political fallout of a more extensive mobilization. The numerical inferiority has sharply worsened across the frontlines, providing Russian commanders with a growing number of opportunities to probe for weaknesses. Western analysts believe that in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk, for example, the Ukrainians may be outnumbered by 10:1, as well as suffering a chronic imbalance in shells and a complete lack of air cover. One Ukrainian military blogger this week estimated that elements of as many as 15 Russian motorized rifle brigades (each of which would have up to 1,000 men) were operating in the Chasiv Yar direction alone. Lose the high ground around Chasiv Yar and an important belt of industrial towns and cities: Slaviansk, Kramatorsk and Kostyantinyvka, becomes much more vulnerable. Skibitsky told the Economist that losing Chasiv Yar was a distinct possibility - not today or tomorrow, of course, but all depending on our reserves and supplies. North-east of Chasiv Yar, a soldier called Stanislav told Ukrainian television this week that after a month of very active hostilities the Russians are advancing from the direction of Kreminna, where they are accumulating great reserves. Huge numbers of Russian infantry are attacking day and night, in large and small groups, the soldier said. Gunners fire at Russian positions in the Kharkiv region on April 21. - Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images Besides the shortage of trained soldiers, Russia is leveraging Russian airspace as a sanctuary to strike Kharkiv oblast, highlighting the urgent need for the US to provide more long-range air defense assets and to allow the Ukrainians to use them to intercept Russian aircraft in Russian airspace, says Barros. The United States announced Friday a $400 million package of air defense munitions and other weapons, but much more will be needed. Ukraines losses are compounded by a lack of prepared defensive positions behind the front lines. where they could fall back. In Krasnohorivka, for example, Ukrainian units were able for months to use apartment buildings and a brick factory as defensive positions. Slowly they have been obliterated with one Russian military blogger claiming that artillery fire had buried them under the rubble of their own shelters. President Zelensky and others have talked more about active defense having better defensive fortifications as a building block to turn the tide on Russian advances. Zelensky himself has toured such fortifications. But they are too few and too late in critical areas, especially in Donetsk. Zelensky asserted this week that we will be able to stop the [Russians] in the east when the aid arrives. But he acknowledged that the situation there is really difficult and contended that the aid thats arrived so far is not the volumes that were voted for. We need everything to come faster, he added. Every day that it doesnt, the Russians edge forward and the Ukrainians lose soldiers they cant afford to lose. Barros says the Russians were prepared for the hiatus in military aid. The recent Russian gains we see now are not merely opportunistic; the Russians prepared for it and are now exploiting it. Ukraine may need to make difficult decisions due to slowness of US action and the dilemma that is now causing. That may amount to trading territory for time. And ultimately accepting that much of the territory now lost may not be recovered. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Survivors of domestic and sexual violence can break their leases early in some states A domestic violence survivor sits with her son for dinner in their new, sparsely furnished apartment in New York. A domestic violence survivor sits with her son for dinner in their new, sparsely furnished apartment in New York. Housing is among the biggest challenges for people leaving abusive relationships, and many cities and states are looking to help survivors by allowing them to break their leases early and in other ways. (Bebeto Matthews/The Associated Press) New Hampshire state Rep. Ellen Read remembers how trapped she felt as an 18-year-old in her native Tennessee, enduring the physical and emotional toll of an abusive relationship. The abuse Read suffered which included being held captive in an apartment for days and hit by her abusers car lasted years after she left the relationship, while her abuser stalked her. In 2016, Read won election to the New Hampshire House of Representatives. That same year, she recalled to Stateline, her abuser died by suicide after 16 years of prolonged stalking. Now, a bill authored by Read would allow victims of domestic and sexual violence including stalking to break their rental lease agreements early if they provide a police report or are in the process of obtaining documents such as a protective order following an incident. My hope is that this increases the boldness of people living in these abusive situations and that they know if they leave, there will be a path forward for them and they wont be forced to stay with their abuser or at the home they were abused in, said Read, a Democrat. The bill has been sent to Republican Gov. Chris Sununu after passing both chambers. The pandemic lockdown that began in March 2020, coming alongside the nations worsening housing crisis, has prompted state lawmakers to help victims of assault who are struggling to move away from their alleged abusers. Domestic violence incidents in the United States increased by 8.1% in the months following the imposition of pandemic lockdown orders in 2020, according to a 2021 report released by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, a group launched by the Council on Criminal Justice, a think tank. More than a dozen states have passed measures in the past five years bolstering rental protections for survivors by allowing them to break their leases if they provide evidence of stalking, sexual assault or an abusive domestic relationship. Many of those laws, which were enacted or strengthened during the pandemic, give victims more leeway in how they can document the abuse. Many cities and states are looking to help survivors with new housing in other ways, such as by obtaining grants to develop transitional housing or offering housing vouchers to victims. It is deeply traumatizing and harmful to force survivors to continue to live in the same home where the harm occurred, said Kate Walz, associate director of litigation at the National Housing Law Project, an advocacy group that trains legal services organizations. It can retraumatize and compound the harm over years, if not decades. Several states are addressing the issue this session. Efforts to add early lease termination laws for victims in Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina have yet to either make it past committees or both chambers. A driving factor for survivors of domestic violence is making sure that there is somewhere safe for them to go. Nicole Molinaro, president and CEO, Womens Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh While Pennsylvanias effort to pass these protections statewide has stalled, the Pittsburgh City Council approved a bill in October that requires landlords to allow domestic abuse victims to exit their leases without penalty, and also change a tenants locks upon request, though at the tenants expense. Nicole Molinaro, president and CEO of the Womens Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, one of the countrys first domestic violence shelters, called the legislation monumental. Molinaro hopes the state will eventually enact similar protections. She said that the trauma of domestic and sexual violence can be crippling, and that some victims may need to leave their neighborhood or cities altogether if their abuser also has roots there. A driving factor for survivors of domestic violence is making sure that there is somewhere safe for them to go, Molinaro told Stateline. And that often means a survivor cannot move back to the neighborhood they were in if the abuser still has connections there. The post-separation journey When New York City resident Stephanie Woodbine and her adolescent daughter left a two-year abusive relationship in 2017, she wasnt sure where they were going to live. Woodbine told Stateline that on top of emotional abuse, she also suffered economic abuse a form of abuse that New York City last year officially recognized as domestic violence. She found housing, then was evicted after losing her job. I really didnt have a lot of money to pay for housing because the mental trauma made it hard to live a normal life, keep a job, Woodbine said. She didnt qualify for the domestic violence shelters because she wasnt in an active domestic violence situation, she recalled, so she stayed in hotels and lived a life of hidden homelessness with her daughter. Stephanie Woodbine Stephanie Woodbine struggled to find housing for her and her daughter when she left an abusive relationship in 2017. They now have a permanent home, and Woodbine has become a preschool teacher. She also has earned a public speaking certification from a local advocacy group. (Courtesy of Stephanie Woodbine) There are so many decisions that make leaving any abusive situation hard, but when you leave you find out just how hard it is to survive when you feel your options are limited, said Woodbine, who eventually received an emergency housing voucher and has secured permanent housing. Theres a lot of post-separation abuse that is also contributing to survivors instability and their mental trauma, added Woodbine, who now sits on the Mayors Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence. Its why we want to expand protections for survivors post-separation, and that includes providing permanent housing. Intimate partner violence is a major driver of homelessness, and researchers have found that housing is among the most common needs for survivors. Currently, 10% of shelters and transitional housing are targeted to domestic violence victims and their families, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of homeless camping and outdoor sleeping bans, cities that have passed bans argue that outside encampments are dangerous not just for the public, but also for people staying there. But Walz, of the National Housing Law Project, fears that if these bans are deemed constitutional, theyll have a major impact on women and children fleeing domestic violence situations. Gender-based violence is both the cause and consequence of housing instability. Housing instability increases your risk of it, and housing instability comes as a result of it, said Walz. If we dont recognize that and craft our policies to be responsive to it, we are guaranteeing continued violence and increase of it. More cities are working to include housing as a key service for survivors. Woodbine credited city-based nonprofits for navigating her through the emergency voucher process an intimidating process for those in need of housing. New York City is hoping to provide such protections and, most importantly, housing through a pilot program funded with a $300,000 grant from the NYC Fund to End Youth & Family Homelessness that aims to help 100 families affected by domestic violence find homes. Saloni Sethi, acting commissioner of the Mayors Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, told Stateline that the pilot program addresses the need for safe and stable housing for survivors in a place where secure housing can be scarce. Survivors are often sort of faced with this really impossible choice of, do I give up my own safety or do I destabilize myself and my entire family by leaving home? We anticipate this pilot can finally provide that stable, fresh start, Sethi said. Many cities and states have become more intentional about building or reserving housing for survivors, with increasing support from the federal government. Last year, the U.S. Department of Justices Office on Violence Against Women awarded 81 grants, worth $43 million, to programs offering housing for six to 24 months for survivors. Breaking the lease If Reads bill is signed by Sununu, New Hampshire would become one of 40 states to have early rental lease termination protections for victims of domestic or sexual abuse. In post-lockdown years, Oklahoma passed early termination laws for domestic violence victims. Utah amended its early termination law in 2023, reducing the termination fee from 45 days of rent one of the highest in the nation at the time to a months rent. Reads bill, which she based on a similar one in Tennessee, stalled in committee when she first introduced it last year. During early debate, New Hampshire landlord groups raised concerns about the financial burden they carry when tenants break their lease early a position that irritated Read. Nobody will say in todays society here that they are in favor of domestic violence, Read said. But put your money where your mouth is when it comes to allowing them to make that decision to exit their lease early even at a financial loss, or else its just lip service. But every time a new tenant comes in, it costs money to clean up and turn over the home, said Nick Norman, a real estate owner who serves as government affairs chair for the Apartment Association of New Hampshire. The bills original language also could have left a landlord responsible for things left behind, including damages. The legislation now on Sununus desk is drastically different, Norman said. The housing provider advocates and tenant advocates came together as we usually do to find a solution that works best for both parties. Read likewise credited the Senate for adding measures that would make qualifying for an early termination lease easier. Some states, including Kansas, North Dakota and Utah, may allow landlords to charge fees or forward payment of rent for breaking the lease early in cases of intimate partner violence. And many states require documents from an outside source, such as a police report or court protective order. Many landlords see such requirements as a necessary step in good faith to break a lease early. However, Walz thinks that these requirements are a barrier for survivors, given how underreported domestic and sexual violence is and how hard it can be for victims to obtain a report without escalating violence from their abuser. First and foremost, we must believe survivors. This means in action taking their own stories and experiences to be true and not requiring any form of third-party proof, Walz said. Assumptions, stereotypes and bias towards not believing survivors and perceiving that it could be made up in order to exit a lease play into state policy responses and often result in a litany of requirements, including orders of protection, police reports, third-party statements, she said. SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE This report was first published by Stateline, part of the States Newsroom nonprofit news network. Its 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 X. The post Survivors of domestic and sexual violence can break their leases early in some states appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator. Target has announced it will eliminate items from its LGBTQIA+ merchandise line after receiving backlash and customer confrontation. This comes one month before Pride Month, which takes place in June. Target Employees Receiving Threats Due To Pride Collection MEGA Last year, Target felt that it had no choice but to remove some of the LGBTQIA+ merchandise line from stores after some customers confronted and threatened workers, as well as destroyed displays. In 2023, Target released a statement regarding the backlash the company received and the threats made towards its employees. "For more than a decade, Target has offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month," the company said at the time. "Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and well-being while at work. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior." Target added, "Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year." Target To Cut Back On LGBTQIA+ Line MEGA After receiving threats and backlash, the company said it had no choice but to continue cutting back and eliminating some items from the LGBTQIA+ merchandise line. This year, Target's Pride collection will be more limited, with "adult apparel" and home goods in select stores, based on historical sales performance. This marks a significant change for Target, as the store sold the items in many U.S. stores for the past 10 years. According to Bloomberg, Target will offer a selection of Pride-themed products in roughly half of its U.S. stores and online at Target.com. A Target spokesperson, who spoke to CNN, claimed the company is committed to supporting the LGBTQ community during Pride month. Target Will Still Celebrate Pride Month MEGA While Target announced it would remove some of its LGBTQIA+ merchandise line, the company says it will still celebrate Pride Month. "Our Pride+ Business Council will host internal events and experiences where interested team members can learn, reflect, celebrate and connect. Its complemented by the year-round resources and benefits we provide to our LGBTQIA+ team members, reflecting our culture of care for all 400,000 people who work at Target," the company said. "Were joining local Pride events in our hometown of Minneapolis and around the country. Were offering a collection of products, including adult apparel and home and food and beverage items, curated based on consumer feedback," the company added. "The collection will be available on Target.com and in select stores based on historical sales performance." "We continue to support LGBTQIA+ organizations year-round, including Human Rights Campaign, Family Equality and more," the company continued. "Target also spotlights LGBTQ-owned brands in our assortment during Pride Month and throughout the year in our stores and online." The Human Rights Campaign Fires Back MEGA The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) criticized Target's decision, claiming that offering Pride merchandise means something" since the LGBTQ community makes up 30% of Generation Z. "Companies need to understand that community members and allies want businesses that express full-hearted support for the community," it said. Targets decision is disappointing and alienates LGBTQ+ individuals and allies at the risk of not only their bottom line but also their values, HRC President Kelley Robinson said. Target Teams Up With LGBTQIA+ Designers MEGA In 2022, Target announced the company teamed up with LGBTQIA+ designers, entrepreneurs and Target team members to design its 10th annual Pride merchandise line to "authentically celebrate the community." "The 250+ piece collection, which is available at every Target store and Target.com, features apparel and accessories, home goods, food & beverage items and more designed by and for the LGBTQIA+ community, whether joining Pride celebrations this summer or showcasing the products proudly year-round," the company said in a statement. The company also supported its community partners who support the LGBTQIA+ community by donating $250,000 to GLSEN "to advance its mission of creating affirming, accessible and antiracist spaces for LGBTQIA+ students." "This marks our 11th year of partnership, with a total of $2.1 million in support to date," Target added. "Were also awarding a grant to PrideLive, a New York City nonprofit creating a Stonewall National Monument Education & Visitors Center at the NYC Stonewall Inn." The University of Texas has received a donation of 68 acres near Samsung in Taylor to be used as a research center. A foundation has donated 68 acres for a new University of Texas research facility in Taylor near a new Samsung plant, officials said. The University of Texas-Taylor Center will be built on land adjacent to Taylor High School on U.S. 79, according to a news release from the city. It is a gift from the Temple College at Taylor Foundation, a nonprofit established by Taylor residents to provide higher education in the city, the release said. More: Why Samsung semiconductor plant in Taylor is receiving $6.4 billion from federal CHIPS Act The center will be near Samsung, which is building a $17 billion semiconductor facility in the area. UT announced the donation Thursday. Advancing innovation, growing education and cultivating leadership in the semiconductor space is a major area of focus for the University of Texas, and we are excited to have a presence in the burgeoning Taylor community and the opportunity to further shape the expanding footprint of the semiconductor ecosystem in Central Texas, UT President Jay Hartzell said in a news release. The Texas Institute for Electronics is considering using the site for training and research with semiconductor partners, the release said. The university is working on the master plan for the center that will initially focus on research, said Amanda Irving, UT's vice president of philanthropy. More: Downtown developments in Taylor, including hotels, get grants from city corporation The former director of the Taylor Economic Development Corporation, John B. Nelson, was instrumental in buying the land where the center will be located, the city news release said. Nelson helped start the Temple College at Texas Foundation, which bought the land around 2004, said Nelson' wife, Rosemary Hauser, who is board member of the foundation. "We purchased that land years ago for the sole purpose of having a higher education center adjacent to the high school," Hauser said on Friday. "Having UT as a partner is a dream that has come true. They are such a first-class university." Taylor Mayor Brandt Rydell presents a plaque Thursday to John B. Nelson, a former economic development director who initially bought the 68 acres donated last week to the University of Texas. Taylor Mayor Brandt Rydell said the center was a "fitting legacy" for Nelson's efforts. Dr. Nelson really was a visionary for our citys future," Rydell said in the release. "The city is thrilled to welcome the University of Texas at Austin. UTs presence in our vibrant, growing community with the Taylor Center will provide even more opportunities for future generations and help solidify the Citys place as a center for progress and enrichment in Williamson County and the State of Texas." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Foundation gives 68 acres to UT for facility near Samsung in Taylor EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) Socorro Independent School District (SISD) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are inviting the community to celebrate their 10 million book giveaway milestone. The celebration will take place from 11 to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 11 at the SISD Technology Building, at 12440 Rojas Dr. In partnership with First Book, AFT will be giving away over 10 million free books to schools, communities, health centers, faith-based institutions and union halls across the nation, according to the news release by AFT. Socorro is among one of the five simultaneous celebrations nationwide. Events will also be held in Ohio, Illinois, New York and Florida, according to AFT. At the event, AFT will be gifting SISD 40,000 free books. AFT and First Book are planning to distribute 150,000 free books in a single day to celebrate their historic milestone of having given out 10 million books over the years. According to AFT, guests can enjoy free food, activities for the children, live performances by mariachis and more, along with their free books. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. Teen, 16, shot to death in SoHo was killed trying to break up fight: police Teen, 16, shot to death in SoHo was killed trying to break up fight: police Editors note: The story in the video player aired on May 7, 2024. SOHO, Manhattan (PIX11) A 16-year-old boy was acting as a peacemaker while trying to break up a fight when he was shot and killed in Manhattan on Tuesday, police said. The shooting happened around 2:30 p.m. in Urban Plaza, a courtyard located across from 233 Spring St. between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue in SoHo. Mahki Brown, a 16-year-old from Brooklyn, was shot and killed during the incident, according to the NYPD. Man identified in rape of unconscious woman on Bronx street: NYPD Brown stepped in to try and deescalate an argument between two groups that stemmed from an ongoing dispute between two teenage girls, according to police. The students attend Broome Street Academy Charter High School, police said. Police are searching for two suspects who may have fled the scene on Citi Bikes, police said. Investigators believe the suspects are members of a gang. No arrests have been made. 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). 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. OTTAWA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- An evacuation alert was issued Friday night for two communities in Canada's western province of Alberta due to an out-of-control wildfire. The two communities were Fort McMurray and Saprae Creek Estates. The fire is currently 25 km southwest of Fort McMurray, and smoke could impact visibility on Highway 63 south of Fort McMurray. Residents in the affected area were asked to be ready to evacuate on short notice. A total of 117 fires were actively burning nationwide on Friday with 33 fires categorized as out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. The Canadian government warned Thursday that above-normal temperatures nationwide could lead to greater wildfire risks. Canada's wildfire season in 2023 is the most destructive on record. According to the Canadian National Fire Database, there were 7,131 fires recorded nationwide in 2023, burning a record 17,203,625 hectares of land. Alexa Bartell was killed when a rock was thrown through her window as she drove Jeffco Sheriff/Twitter Alexa Bartell One of three Colorado teens charged in connection to a series of rock attacks, one of which killed a 20-year-old woman last year, has pleaded guilty to assault. Alexa Bartell died on April 19, 2023, when a large rock was thrown through her windshield as she drove on a highway in Jefferson County, Colo., authorities said at the time. That night, multiple other cars were also struck by rocks in a series of attacks. Joseph Koenig, Nicholas "Mitch" Karol-Chik, and Zachary Kwak, who were all 18 at the time, were arrested in connection with the attacks, and were initially charged with murder, PEOPLE reported at the time. CBS News, The Denver Gazette and The Denver Post all reported that on May 3, Kwak, now 19, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, second-degree assault and criminal attempt to commit assault as part of a plea agreement that saw his original charges, including murder, dropped. Related: Colo. Driver, 20, Killed on Road When Someone Threw Rock at Her Car in Spate of Attacks According to the outlets, prosecutors and the defense agreed to a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum of 32 years. Kwak will be sentenced following the conclusion of the cases against the other two defendants, CBS reported. JEFFERSON COUNTY Zachary Kwak 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. CBS also reported that prosecutors said Bartell's parents agreed to the plea deal, and plan to speak at the sentencing hearing. Online court dockets show that Karol-Chik is scheduled to go on trial in June, while Koenigs trial is currently slated for July. NBC reported last year, citing court documents, that after the rock attacks, the three teens allegedly returned to the crime scene to take a picture as a memento." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Teen Arrested After Tipping Over Porta-Potty While Woman and Her 4-Year-Old Daughter Were Inside: Police Aiden Studer, 18, allegedly pushed the mother and daughter inside the portable toilet after getting into an argument with the mother, according to police Manchester Police Aiden Studer mugshot An 18-year-old teen allegedly tipped over a portable toilet while a young mother and her 4-year-old daughter were inside on Wednesday, May 8, in Manchester, N.H., police said. Aiden Studer pushed the porta-potty in Derryfield Park after getting into an argument with the mother, the Manchester Police Department said in a press release. He was subsequently arrested and faces charges of criminal restraint, criminal mischief and simple assault on a police officer. After the argument, the mother went inside the portable toilet to assist her daughter. Then, Studer allegedly pushed it over from behind while they were still inside, witnesses told investigators, police said. Getty Two portable toilets in a park. Related: Woman Rescued After Trying to Retrieve Her Apple Watch From an Outhouse The port-a-potty then landed on its door and trapped the mother and daughter. The two remained uninjured but were covered in bodily fluids and feces. The two were rescued by the Derryfield Park bystanders who overturned the port-a-potty. Once authorities arrived on the scene, Studer allegedly threw something at a reporting officer. Manchester Police report that Studer did not know the mother and daughter. 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. Manchester Police did not immediately respond to PEOPLEs request for more information on Friday. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. NEW YORK (PIX11) The 16-year-old boy arrested for vandalizing a World War I memorial by writing Free Palestine in Central Park was immediatley released by a family court judge on Friday, according to police sources. The police informed PIX11 News that the teen had shaved his head to avoid getting arrested and was charged with criminal mischief and making graffiti on Friday morning. Police seek Kashaan Parks, 39, suspected of using belt to choke, rape woman in Bronx Police tracked the suspect using facial recognition. Investigators also spoke to school safety agents, and the boys face was not covered and could be seen in multiple social media posts, police said. When police arrived at his residence to arrest him, the teenagers father secured an attorney who facilitated his surrender. Although he was due in criminal court as a juvenile offender, his case was moved to family court due to his age. Police said he was released on his recognizance. Police declined to comment more on the case, as other individuals associated with defacing the monument during a pro-Palestnian protest are still at large. The teens name has been withheld because he is a minor. 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. Zachary Kwak pictured in court in May 2023 (Copyright - 2023 The Denver Post, MediaNews Group.) One of three Colorado teens charged in the killing of a driver who had a rock smash through her windshield, has pleaded guilty after reaching a deal with the prosecution. Zachary Kwak, 19, appeared in court on Friday a year after he, Joseph Koenig and Nicholas Mitch Karol-Chik, threw landscaping rocks at passing cars on 19 April 2023, injuring multiple drivers and killing 20-year-old Alexa Bartell. Kwak pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault, one count of second-degree assault and an added count of criminal attempt to commit assault, according to Fox31. He was previously charged with murder but pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal which requires him to cooperate. The two other teens are still being prosecuted on first-degree murder charges. Karol-Chik and Koenig have both pleaded not guilty. Zachary Kwak (far left), pleaded guilty in the deadly Colorado rock throwing, while Joseph Koenig and Nicholas Karol-Chik have both pleaded not guilty (Jefferson County Sheriffs Office) Prosecutors allege that the three teens, who were all 18 at the time, drove around in Karol-Chiks pickup truck, loading it up with landscaping rocks they took from a Walmart. Bartells friend told police she was on the phone with her while she was driving when the young woman abruptly stopped talking, according to the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office (JCSO). After the call went silent, the friend tracked Bartells location with a phone app and found the suburban Denver woman dead in her car, which had crashed into a field. Alexa Bartell, 20, was killed after she was hit in the head with a rock that was thrown through the windshield of the car she was driving (JCSO) After noticing they had struck the victims windshield with a rock, the three suspects turned around and drove by her crashed vehicle while Kwak allegedly took a picture of her car as a memento, prosecutors said. The teens were arrested several days later. In exchange for Kwaks guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped other more serious charges against him, including first-degree murder. Kwak faces between 20 and 32 years in prison and will be sentenced after 3 September, when Karol-Chik and Koenig are scheduled to be tried separately. A teen said a deputy threatened him as he filmed his moms arrest. A jury awarded him $185,000. ACLU says a sheriffs deputy threatened DeShaun Johnson with a Taser when the then 14-year-old began recording the arrest NEW ORLEANS (AP) A teenager who video-recorded his mothers forceful arrest by Louisiana sheriffs deputies in 2020 has been awarded $185,000 by a federal jury in a lawsuit filed over one deputys attempt to interfere with the recording. DeShaun Johnson was 14 when deputies arrived at his familys home in St. Tammany Parish to question his mother, Teliah Perkins, about allegations she had ridden a motorcycle without a helmet a charge her attorneys said was baseless and that was never prosecuted. The confrontation turned physical, and video showed the woman being forced to the ground. A lawsuit against the deputies was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm of Reid Collins & Tsai as part of the ACLUs Justice Lab project, aimed at addressing allegations of police abuses. A federal appeals court largely sided with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Office on many of the allegations, squelching much of the lawsuit over the deputies use of force. But it allowed the litigation to continue over allegations that one deputy interfered with Johnsons use of his phone to film the arrest. The ACLU said the deputy stepped in front of Johnson when he began recording the arrest and threatened Johnson with a Taser. Teliah Perkins stands in front of the federal appeals court building in New Orleans, May 3, 2023, following a hearing on her lawsuit against two St. Tammany Parish, La., sheriffs deputies stemming from her arrest in May 2020. (AP Photo/Kevin McGill, File) On May 1, after a federal court civil trial in New Orleans, a jury said evidence showed Deputy Ryan Morings actions constituted intentional infliction of emotional distress and awarded the teen $185,000. We are thrilled to see justice served for DeShaun, Nora Ahmed, the ACLU of Louisianas legal director, said in a news release after the verdict. The jury voted in the deputys favor on an accompanying issue, rejecting a finding that Moring violated Johnsons First Amendment rights by blocking Johnson from continuing to film his mothers arrest. The Sheriffs Office didnt immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment. But Sheriff Randy Smith, through a spokesperson, told The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate that an appeal of the verdict against Moring was planned, calling the emotional harm finding meritless. The post A teen said a deputy threatened him as he filmed his moms arrest. A jury awarded him $185,000. appeared first on TheGrio. Teenage boy dies after getting into difficulty in open water A teenage boy has died after getting into difficulty while swimming in open water, Northamptonshire Police said. Ronalds Abele, 17, was swimming at the Embankment, in Wellingborough, on Friday, and was pulled from the water by emergency services after he got into difficulty. He was pronounced dead in hospital. A police statement posted on social media said a 17-year-old Wellingborough boy has tragically died following a drowning incident in the town. It added: Police, paramedics and fire crews were called just after 1.45pm on Friday May 10 after reports that a teenager had got into difficulty swimming in open water at the Embankment. Firefighters from Rushden and Irthlingborough and a specialist unit from Mereway recovered the boy and he was airlifted to Northampton General Hospital where, sadly, he was pronounced deceased. Police have named the teenager as Ronalds Abele. A Northamptonshire Police spokesman said: This was a tragic incident and Ronalds family have requested privacy at this very distressing time. 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. Tennessee boy, 10, pulled into a storm drain to be taken off life support The father of the 10-year-old Tennessee boy who was pulled into a storm drain following dangerous weather in the area has announced that his son has officially passed away and will be taken off life support. Jimmy Sullivan, a superintendent at Murfreesboros Rutherford County Schools, has been sharing updates about his son, Asher, after the boy was found in a storm drain May 8. Ten days later, the Tennessee dad shared the heartbreaking news that his son is already gone. Asher Sullivan in a photo shared by his father. (Jimmy Sullivan / Facebook) Asher officially passed away this afternoon around 1:20 pm. I say officially because of the events of the last 36 hours, Sullivan began in a Facebook post uploaded May 18. Asher had one brain stem reflex remaining the last few days that kept him from officially being declared brain dead/deceased. The doctors had told us that they didnt expect that reflex to go away, but that further improvement beyond maybe a finger moving was not possible. That left Kaycee and I with an impossible decision that deep down we knew we wouldnt make, he explained. Sullivan said he and his wife asked for another MRI and spoke to neurologists about Ashers condition. He said the results of the MRI revealed further progression of brain damage over the last five days. While we were away, Ashers vitals crashed, Sullivan continued. His pulse and blood pressure became erratic, he lost the ability to control temperature, and the eye response ceased. Our sweet boy did what Asher has always done, he put others first. No longer did Kaycee and I have to make an impossible decision. Instead, he made it for us while we were out of the room. He said doctors performed two more tests as he and Kaycee waited for an update. No parent should have to watch this, but we knew for our hearts, we had to. The results showed us what we already knew, that our sweet Asher was already gone, he wrote. Sullivan said that he and Kaycee are broken-hearted, mad, and every other emotion at the same time. He explained that their son is still on life support at Vanderbilt University Medical Center because he will be an organ donor. Its 100% an Asher type thing to do in continuing to be selfless. He will have an honor walk at the hospital in the next few days and be celebrated as he is, a hero! Sullivan praised. Thousands of Facebook users expressed their condolences and prayers for Asher's family in the comments. Sullivan shared an additional statement about his son beneath the post. Asher lived more of a life in ten years than most do during a full lifetime. He visited all 50 states (something he was so proud of), visited four countries, played every sport imaginable, was the kindest/gentless soul Ive ever met, loved EVERYONE, and lived his life on GO at all times, he wrote. Sullivan said that he and his son would refer to each other as papa squirrel and squirrel because they both were always on the go and thinking about multiple things. He loved his brother and wanted to be just like him. He was obsessed with his mom and worshiped the ground she walks. His mom was his hero, the proud dad wrote. Sullivan ended his second message by asking for privacy as the family mourns Asher's death. He said they will hold a private ceremony to say goodbye to Asher with their immediate family and close friends. Please keep our family in your prayers as we navigate a world without the purest one of us in it, he concluded. Sullivan had previously posted to Facebook May 12 with an update about Asher. The dad said when Asher was initially found, his heartbeat was restored following CPR. But after being taken to the hospital, recovery did not seem possible. The worst case scenarios seemed to have come true, Sullivan wrote on Facebook May 12. On May 9, Sullivan shared on the social media platform that his son was playing with other children in the water after a storm cleared out of the area. The community was helping clean up debris in the area as the neighborhood children played. However, Sullivan explained in his Facebook post that his son was pulled into the storm drain. He eventually came out in a drainage ditch and CPR was administered for quite some time, the original post read, and while his heartbeat returned, the damage is substantial. When he was first admitted to the hospital, the father shared that the family had hope after Asher showed small signs of activity, including a response to pain in one of his arms. But he later wrote the neurological signs we were seeing as positives have stopped. TODAY.com previously reached out to Sullivan for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication. On May 9, the school district where Sullivan works held a vigil, saying in a Facebook post on the districts page that what the family truly needs right now is tons of prayers. After the vigil, the district shared that more than 500 people attended to pray for the family. Thank you to the 500-plus community members who attended Thursday's prayer vigil for RCS Director of Schools Dr. Jimmy... Posted by Rutherford County Schools on Thursday, May 9, 2024 Murfreesboro is located roughly 34 miles southeast of Nashville. Tennessee has been just one of the areas hit by severe weather in early May. NBC News reports that one person was confirmed dead in Columbia, Tennessee, after a suspected tornado touched down, while NBC affiliate WSMV reported that a 22-year-old died in Knoxville after a tree fell on his car. This article was originally published on TODAY.com Tens of thousands rally in Tbilisi to protest Georgia's 'foreign agents' bill Around 50,000 protesters marched through Georgia's capital on May 11 in the latest of the series of demonstrations against the government's "foreign agents" bill, Deutsche Welle reported. The bill, which is yet to be passed in its third and final reading, would require organizations that receive foreign funding to be labeled as "foreign agents." The law mirrors repressive Russian legislation used to crack down on Kremlin regime critics, earning it the nickname "Russian law" by its opponents. The protesters arrived at Europe Square and said they would spend the night from May 12 and 13 at the Georgian parliament building, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. Lawmakers are expected to discuss the bill in its third reading between May 13 and 14. The parliament, dominated by the ruling Georgian Dream party, has already passed the bill in the previous two readings. KI Insights Visit KI Insights to learn more and subscribe to the insider weekly newsletter visit ki insights The fresh wave of protests came shortly after Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said the government would push ahead with the bill despite opposition. The proposed law drew heavy criticism from both domestic opposition and civil society groups and from abroad. "We are deeply alarmed about democratic backsliding in Georgia," U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said. "Georgian Parliamentarians face a critical choice - whether to support the Georgian people's EuroAtlantic aspirations or pass a Kremlin-style foreign agents' law that runs counter to democratic values." The EU has also condemned the bill, and some members of the European Parliament called for the suspension of Georgia's EU candidate status. 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. I was terrified. NC woman captures time-lapse video of funnel cloud near her home Birds circled confusedly in the sky. Mokie, an Australian shepherd-poodle, jumped up and down on a couch, more hyper than ever, though she never whimpered or barked. Animals know before we do, Cramerton resident Patricia Ollie Frye told The Charlotte Observer on Friday about the instincts of animals for bad weather. Cramerton resident Patricia Ollie Frye Then her daughter, 11th-grader Lilian Givens, called from South Point High School in nearby Belmont. They wont let us leave, Lilian said. The school was on lockdown after a tornado warning Wednesday afternoon. Frye also saw the warning, which included parts of Gaston County. Instead of immediately running for cover she did that with Mokie moments later Frye placed smartphones on windowsills in her living room and dining room and pointed their cameras outside. She figured shed send the clips to the National Weather Service as evidence of a tornado. Plus, she enjoys filming such outdoor scenes. Certainly seemed like one to me, she said. I was terrified. Winds felt hurricane-ish Frye stood on her screened back porch, and thats when I saw it, she said. It was coming at me. It was a funneling cloud, with rotation, she said. You could see the sky rotating. She opened her basement door, beside the living room.Mokie, lets go. And down they went. She felt the house shake, but she and Mokie made it only a few down when suddenly it was gone, she said. The cell came right over the house, Frye said. When it came past me, I could not see anything outside. Sheets of rain continued to fall after the cloud passed, she said, and the winds felt hurricane-ish. They felt like Hurricane Hugos, a little bit. Frye grew up in neighboring Belmont and lived there when the deadly 1989 category 5 hurricane caused destruction across the Charlotte area and the Carolinas. Frye also sent copies of her video to the Observer. Weather service to review the video National Weather Service meteorologist Jake Wimberley said Friday that his office, in Greer, South Carolina, received Fryes email with the video clips attached. The NWS will review the film, he said. The NWS on Thursday confirmed two EF-1 tornadoes in Gaston County during Wednesdays storms that killed two people in the Charlotte region. Neither tornado path entered Cramerton, Wimberley said. The nearest one dissipated near McAdenville, 2.3 miles north of Cramerton, he said. Was the rotation captured by Frye a separate funnel cloud? That will be part of the NWS investigation, Wimberley said. He complimented Frye for the safe way she captured the images, keeping herself from the windows. Always avoid windows during storms, Wimberley said. Thats following the best protocol, Wimberley said about Fryes actions. During severe thunderstorms just before 4 p.m. Wednesday, a tree fell on a car, killing a person inside, at the intersection of Dixon and South New Hope roads, according to an NWS report. Thats a mile southeast of downtown Gastonia. And a 24-year-old woman died early Thursday when she was driving too fast for weather conditions and crashed in Caldwell County, the State Highway Patrol reported. On Friday, the weather service confirmed a third tornado. That one formed just after midnight Thursday in rugged terrain between Cullowhee and Glenville in Jackson County in the N.C. mountains, according to an NWS report. Related to a king of England Fryes family came from Scotland as part of the Stewart clan and has lived in Belmont since before the Revolutionary War, she said. King Edward III of England is her 18th (generation) great-grandfather, she said her search on Ancestry.com revealed. Head in the clouds I love nature, Frye said. But Id never seen anything like this before. She works as a moving-light technician with local chapter 322 of the IATSE union International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. She tours nationally three times a year with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. The rest of the time, shes a local stage hand with the union, helping on such productions as Charlotte Ballets current Swan Lake. Performances continue through Sunday, May 12, at Knight Theater in uptown Charlotte. She likes spending her off-work hours with my head in the clouds, she quipped. Graduates take a selfie prior to the University of Texas at Austin Latinx Graduation on May 9, 2024 in Austin. The graduates received orange chords, a nod to the color of monarch butterflies that symbolize the resilience of Latinx immigrants. Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune Liany Serrano Oviedo crouched in her yellow graduation dress, stared at the mirror and carefully blotted her tears with a wipe. It was a rare moment for the 22-year-old University of Texas at Austin senior to be alone and gather her composure. Serrano Oviedo had been in high-performance mode all Thursday morning, making laps to get everything ready for the Latinx graduation ceremony she planned, sometimes breaking out into a jog to get from one side of the venue to another. But she had a moment of frailty while talking with a donor who helped sponsor the event. All of her hard work in the last four years getting her degree and organizing Thursdays ceremony was for her Venezuelan parents, she said. This graduation is a big deal because a big chunk of it is bilingual, Serrano Orviedo said. And my mom's English isn't that great. And so this ceremony is one where I know 100% she's understanding everything that's being said. For decades, subsets of Texas college graduates from Latinx to LGBTQ students have organized intimate events separate from the larger commencement ceremony to celebrate the completion of their degrees in the context of their identities and cultural heritage. But this is the first year UT-Austin and other Texas public universities cut funding and staff support for such ceremonies in response to Senate Bill 17, a new state law that bans diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Students across the state like Serrano Oviedo fought tooth and nail to rescue cultural graduations, often taking on the burden of planning and finding funding for the ceremonies. The Latinx graduation ceremony took place days before UT-Austins commencement, which will be held Saturday. It doesn't matter how many obstacles you're going to throw at our community, said Serrano Oviedo. We're still going to thrive and we're going to find other ways. Liany Serrano Oviedo assigns roles to organizers prior to the ceremony as she was helping guide and organize the graduates at the ceremony. This really, really is a big deal because they're joining a cohort of Latinos who pretty much faced all odds to be able to get into higher education and stay there, she said. Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune Subsets of Texas college graduates from Latinx to LGBTQ students have organized intimate events separate from the larger commencement ceremony to celebrate the completion of their degrees in the context of their identities and cultural heritage. Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune Students take the lead For years at UT-Austin, thousands of Latino family members would pack the on-campus Gregory Gymnasium at the end of the school year to see their graduates walk the stage. Some graduates used to wear serape soles made of traditional Mexican cloth. It was the only ceremony where the program was read in English and Spanish. The now-defunct Multicultural Engagement Center would also pay for surprises for the families, like live Latin bands and food and floral decorations that matched the serapes. But to comply with SB 17, public universities in Texas have shuttered the multicultural centers that used to organize cultural graduation ceremonies like the Latinx celebration. Lawmakers who supported the passage of SB 17 last year argued that DEI programs and training were indoctrinating students with left-wing ideology and forced universities to make hires based on their support of diversity efforts rather than on merit and achievement. The ban did not stop students in the graduating class of 2024 from organizing their own event. Serrano Oviedo and other seniors raised $9,000 with help from Latino leaders across the state. Austin City Council Member Jose Chito Vela secured a local performing arts center for the students to host the ceremony off campus. The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Latino civil rights group in the U.S., stepped in to pay for that venue. Students graduating this year have already been shaped by a unique set of global and political forces. Many of them graduated high school and entered college in the thick of the pandemic, which means they missed out on a formal ceremony back then. And now theyre leaving at a time where pro-Palestinian protests have broken out across campus, including UT, leading to dozens of student arrests. On Thursday, as UT-Austin history professor Emilio Zamora adjusted the satin hood for one student at the Latinx ceremony, he called the survival of the tradition a declaration of independence from public institutions. These students are demonstrating they will have the final say, he said. It is a demonstration of our resilience. The university has failed us, but we have risen to the occasion with our youth. Family and friends of graduates cheer during the ceremony. To comply with SB 17, public universities in Texas have shuttered beloved multicultural centers that used to organize cultural graduation ceremonies like the Latinx celebration. Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune A decorated cap of the Mexico flag done in rhinestones sits on top of a graduates head during the ceremony. For some students and faculty, celebrating the accomplishments of Latinx students is a critical recognition of the hard road that they journeyed on to get their degree. Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune A nod to family Under the pink and purple lighting of the nearly-full auditorium, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles clapped, cheered and clapped again. Cultural ceremonies often elevate themes that are important to those groups of students like family to the Latinx community and arent always part of university-wide graduations. Gracias a mi mami y papi Thank you to my mother and father in Spanish one students graduation cap read. Another one read, Sus sacrificios y apoyo son la razon por la cual lo logre: Your sacrifices and support are the reason I made it. For some students and faculty, celebrating the accomplishments of Latinx students is a critical recognition of the hard road they journeyed on to get their degree. Latino college students are often the first in their family to get a college degree. That makes cultural ceremonies, which acknowledge the generational sacrifices and obstacles that families have overcome, all the more significant. Theyre also an important gesture if Texas universities want to continue to recruit, retain and graduate Latino students, supporters say. Despite being designated a Hispanic-serving institution, UT-Austins enrollment still lags behind in representing the states makeup. Hispanic residents represent the biggest share of Texas population 40% but only about 25% of students at UT-Austin are Hispanic. The cornerstone of a successful Texas is to be doing all of [these cultural events]. In essence, its going to affect academics and how people of color perceive the state, said Katherine Ospina, a UT senior who raised the funds to pay for the ceremony. Texas is an extremely diverse state and we need to capitalize on that diversity. Domingo Garcia, the president of LULAC, the Latino civil rights group that covered the cost of the venue, said he worked two jobs to be the first in his family to graduate from college. Preserving cultural graduations in the face of the DEI ban sends a signal that Latino culture has a place in the state, Garcia said. People don't understand the sacrifices that parents, many of them working class, have made to have that son or daughter attend UT and what they've gone through to get to that place, said Garcia, who is a former state representative. To not be allowed to celebrate your culture, to celebrate who you're from and what your family's from, it's really immoral. Ospina said she could not let the class of 2024 be lost in the ether of a post-SB 17 reality. On Thursday, as the last few family members filtered out of the venue with their graduates at the end of the ceremony, Serrano Oviedo balanced a stack of leftover orange cords and a plastic H-E-B bag. Serrano Oviedo said she is trying to secure funding from the city of Austin for future ceremonies. A new round of students will have to step in to do the work of organizing, but shes hopeful the tradition will continue. Everything the state Legislature and university threw our way, we overcame, Serrano Oviedo said. Ikram Mohamed contributed to this report. The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Disclosure: H-E-B and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. 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. BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Three items from China have been listed as documentary heritage on the Asia Pacific regional register of UNESCO's Memory of the World (MOW) Programme, the National Archives Administration of China said Thursday. The listed items include archives relating to traditional teahouses in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, genealogical records of the communities of Huizhou in east China's Anhui Province, and printing blocks housed at the Dege Sutra Printing House in Sichuan. The decision was approved at the 10th General Meeting of the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific, convened from Tuesday to Wednesday in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The collection of documents that record the tea-drinking business entrepreneurship in Chengdu comprises 6,345 items, spanning from 1903 to 1949. These materials take a wide range of forms, such as manuscripts, business documents and photographs. The Huizhou genealogy archives consist of 2,235 files spread across 427 volumes, documenting the genealogical culture that spans nearly a millennium. Built in 1729, the Dege Sutra Printing House preserves in good condition 325,520 woodcut printing plates containing significant Tibetan classics dating back to the 11th century. The majority of the blocks were carved between the 18th and mid-20th centuries. To date, China has 17 items of documentary heritage inscribed on the MOW regional register for Asia and the Pacific. UNESCO launched the MOW in 1992 with the intention of safeguarding documentary heritage worldwide and increasing awareness of its significance. Liberty Media chief executive Greg Maffei has confessed that Formula 1 has been able to take advantage of the strong global demand for race franchises to play promoters off each other and lift race fees. Formula 1 currently operates at near capacity with a 24-race calendar, just one shy of the maximum allowed by the sports Concorde Agreements. Grand Prix racings global growth has ensured a steady demand for new additions to F1s calendar. But this has also created a sense of scarcity among potential promoters which Formula One Management (FOM) has cleverly leveraged to maximize the value of existing races. For a long time, it was perceived that the growth and promotion would come from incremental races, explained Maffei in a conference call with Wall Street analysts earlier this week. We obviously went from 18 or something to up to this 24 level, which is where we do not anticipate growing any more races. But, it actually creates a great incentive scarcity, to be able to play promoters off against each other and not to try and take advantage of them but just given the amount of demand we have, both among fans to attend and among promoters to host an event. We've been able to find attractive pricing and good uplifts. And we continue to find new venues and new locations, which find it very attractive, given the amount of demand we have and given the opportunities they've seen others pursue, he added. So, so far, so good on promotion. I do think it continues to be a growth area. While FOM believes that its calendar is currently optimized with 24 races, CEO Stefano Domenicali foresees new venues joining its schedule in the future. However, this expansion will inevitably come at the expense of existing races on the docket. There continues to be huge interest and demand for our races around the world, Domenicali said. Our focus is to maintain the right strategic balance of locational opportunities while being clear we currently believe a 24-race schedule is the optimal number of events. What you have seen and what we have seen happening in the course of the last years, because of the strong demand of our products and because of the standards we are asking and working together with our promoter, we are seeing everything going up in terms of the quality of the events of course economically but for both the promoter and our side, he added. And the strong demand we are receiving just shows really the strategy is right now. The other point is the balance between the different continents that are requesting the different grands prix. I would say in the next couple of years, I'm expecting to see and we expect to announce also some new venues that that could be very attractive to grow the business of Formula 1, the Italian concluded. Several venues have solidified their F1 future with significant contract extensions. Leading the pack is Australia, securing its spot on the calendar all the way through 2037. Bahrain, a mainstay since 2004, has extended its contract until 2036. Silverstone, the historic of the British Grand Prix, is locked in until 2034, ensuring the continued roar of F1 engines across its iconic grounds. Qatar and Hungary round out the long-term commitments, both extending their hosting rights until 2032. Singapore and Japan, established favorites with passionate fanbases, have five years remaining on their current deals. Adding to the excitement, the Spanish capital, Madrid, is poised to join the prestigious lineup in 2026, with a ten-year contract already signed. However, eight events face potential uncertainty as their agreements are set to expire next year. This group includes some of Formula 1's most historic circuits, raising concerns among fans. The fate of legendary tracks like Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, Monza in Italy and Zandvoort in the Netherlands remains to be negotiated, prompting speculation about a possible regional rotation scheme between events. Negotiations for these races will be crucial for F1 to maintain a healthy balance between established favorites and the allure of new destinations. Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter Thieves steal 2 cash registers during crash-and-grab burglary on Far South Side Thieves steal 2 cash registers during crash-and-grab burglary on Far South Side CHICAGO An investigation is underway on Saturday after an early-morning crash-and-grab burglary at a business on the citys Far South Side. According to Chicago police, it all unfolded just before 5 a.m. on Saturday in the 9300 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue, in Burnside. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines Officers say a group of individuals crashed a light-colored SUV into a business in the area before they entered and stole two cash registers and some property. The group then fled the scene in the SUV and two other vehicles that were waiting nearby. Chicago police say no arrests have been made and officers did not provide a description of the individuals involved. An investigation into the burglary is now underway. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Anyone with information is asked to contact CPD Area Two Detectives at 312-747-8273 or dial 911. Those with information that could help authorities in their investigation can also leave a tip at CPDtip.com. Tips can be filed anonymously. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV. Things that only happen in dreams. Ky. man who found trove of gold coins shares story on KET A man who found a cache of more than 700 rare gold and silver coins from the Civil War era in a Kentucky cornfield last year is sharing his story for the first time on KET. A special episode of Kentucky Life, scheduled to air on KET for the first time at 8 p.m. May 11, takes a closer look at what has been called the Great Kentucky Hoard. I initially found the 1856 Seated Liberty Half Dollar probably 20 to 30 feet from where the hoard was located, KET says the farmer told Kentucky Life. I would have never believed what came next. Things that only happen in dreams. When I continued walking and saw the glint of gold a thick reeded edge. When I pulled the coin from the ground, I was astonished when I realized I was holding a $20 Double Eagle from the 1860s. After I flipped the first clump of dirt over the next 45 minutes to an hour, the coins kept coming. I knew it was hundreds. The identity of the man who unearthed the coins has not been publicly divulged, nor has the location of his find. Chip Polston, host and producer of Kentucky Life, said in an interview he felt it was important for his show to respect that. I completely understand why he wants to remain anonymous, said Polston, who for years was the face of the Kentucky Lottery and said he knows the pressures that come with sudden wealth. He doesnt want to open up his front blinds some Saturday morning and there be 70 people with shovels and metal detectors. ...What would happen to his farm? It could be a huge mess for him. The Great Kentucky Hoard, more than 700 gold coins dating to the Civil War era, was found in a Kentucky field. The exact location has not been made public. Jeff Garrett, a Lexington-based expert on rare coins, worked with the man who found the treasure to help bring the Great Kentucky Hoard to retailer GovMint.com for sale. The trove included $1, $10 and $20 gold coins, including rare 1863 Double Eagles. Polston said he initially reached out to Garrett, who granted an interview in which he told how the farmer first sent him a grainy photo of a coin, and how they arranged to fly with the multi-million-dollar collection to Florida, where the coins were prepared for sale last year. Garrett, who founded Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries in Lexington, helped Polston connect with the farmer. Polston said he sent the farmer six written questions, not knowing if hed get an answer. After a few months of going back and forth, Polston said the farmer ultimately sent him three single-spaced typewritten pages in which he told how the whole thing came together. Its a remarkable story, Polston said. He said the man told him he was walking in a newly-plowed field when the sun hit a coin in the dirt just right. He caught a glimpse of something gold and metallic, Polston said. After finding the first coin or two, Polston said the farmer pulled out his phone and began filming as he discovered more and more coins. Hes digging through the ground and these gold coins are literally spilling out, Polston said of the footage. He said the farmer has very vivid memories of he and his grandmother walking creek beds in search of arrowheads and other interesting things. This is something he had been doing as a kid, Polston said. Polston said that when the story of the treasure broke last July, he knew it was perfect for our show. There was just so much imagination that was captured by this story, he said. I just knew we had to try to tell it. Polston said the Kentucky Educational Television Facebook page will ask viewers to weigh in on how they think the gold came to be buried in the ground in the first place. He said Kentucky Life interviewed five people for the episode, and every single one of them has a different answer. The dates on the coins, between 1840 and 1863, coincide with the time when raiders led by Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan were active in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. One theory, Polston said, is that a wealthy landowner buried his coins to keep them safe. Or maybe, he said, the money was stolen and buried by someone who intended to come back and get it but never did. Polston said the man who found the coins sold most of them but kept a few, including one with the faint imprint of a burlap bag. After it airs Saturday, Polston said the episode of Kentucky Life will be available on YouTube and will be shown again on KET, KET2 and KETKY multiple times over the next week. Chip Polston, host of Kentucky Life on KET For most high school students, forgotten homework or gym clothes might entail a text to a parent. In Jose M. Vazquez's case, one forgotten item in particular his birth certificate meant no school that day. Vazquez, 24, now a senior at San Diego State University Imperial Valley, has been crossing the U.S-Mexico border into California to attend school for around nine years. On May 12, he will graduate during a convocation in Mexicali, Mexico. His mother is attending the ceremony, put together by his college, something she would otherwise be unable to do because she can't get a visa to enter the United States. Transborder student Jose Vasquez (R) graduates college after 9 years of commuting. / Credit: Courtesy Jose Vasquez Vazquez is one of tens of thousands of transborder students, some as young as kindergarteners, who cross the border from Mexico into California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to pursue an education in the United States. Transborder students have documentation that allows them to cross into the U.S. for school, like a passport, birth certificate or naturalization certificate, but living in Mexico is often more cost-effective and allows them to stay with their families. Students crossing the border during middle and high school often use a U.S. address, sometimes of a friend or family member, to avoid scrutiny from the school district. Some students are U.S. citizens who have lived in Mexico the majority of their lives, while others return to Mexico after living in America for economic reasons or family reunification, said Laura Dicochea, a Ph.D candidate at Arizona State University, who researches transborder students. "It's like a circular migration," Dicochea told CBS News. The first in his family to graduate college, Vazquez reflected on his and so many others educational journey. A transborder school commute After his father was deported from the United States in 2006, Vazquez who was born in Arizona moved to Mexicali, Mexico when he began crossing the border a few years later to attend Central Union High School in El Centro, California. Although he is a U.S. citizen, for Vazquez, like many transborder or transfronterizo students, living in Mexico with his family made sense because it is "so part of my culture, of me, that I think it's going to be so hard for me if I have to leave that," he said, noting that he's grateful to study in the United States. During high school, Vazquez would wake up at 4:30 a.m. local time, wait at the border for around two hours, and arrive at school before his first class at 8 a.m. In 2019, he enrolled at Imperial Valley College, a community college 15 miles from Mexicali, before landing at San Diego State University Imperial Valley. Transborder students graduate college this year after crossing the border from Mexico to the U.S. / Credit: San Diego State Imperial Valley Vazquez's story mirrors that of Diana Lara Zamora, 21, now a senior at Arizona State University, who crossed into the U.S. from eighth grade through high school. "I would cross three different states: Baja California, Sonora and Arizona every single day," Lara Zamora said. She began attending school in the U.S. at 14, living with a family friend in San Luis, Arizona, at times. A typical school day for Lara Zamora began around 4 a.m. local time. Her mom would drive 30 minutes to the border to drop off her and her younger sister, where they would wait among other students before walking 25 minutes or taking a cab to PPEP TEC High School in San Luis. During the winter, when seasonal farmworkers cross into Arizona, the wait at the border could be up to two hours. "They're freezing," she said of the mornings. "I remember my nose being red." Transborder student Diana Lara Zamora is set to graduate Arizona State University. / Credit: Courtesy Diana Lara Zamora When Lara Zamora became a student at ASU in 2020, she secured on-campus housing, a meaningful experience that allowed her "to get to know people from around the world," Lara Zamora said. Javier Melara, 21, who will be graduating alongside Vazquez in Mexico, has been crossing the border to attend school in California since he was 11. "You have to face a lot of challenges," he said. "You have to face a lot of fear, a lot of pushback from some people." Melara said that up until college, he would not share with his friends that he crossed the border daily out of concern that the school district might find out. "I lived with the fear because some people were kicked out of school," he said, noting that it was something he saw happen to several classmates including a friend. Lara Zamora told CBS News it doesn't "feel like for me transborder means the border itself." "For me, it's more about having two cultures in yourself." For transborder students, the benefits of living in Mexico mean regularly confronting the challenges of crossing the border: long wait times, tense interactions with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and backlash from community members all against the backdrop of a nationwide migration debate centered on the border. This week, CBS News reported that illegal crossings along the U.S. southern border dropped by more than 40% this year to 129,000 crossings in April, defying historical trends. Though transborder students cross into the U.S. legally, the act of crossing the border makes them vulnerable to scrutiny. Scrutiny, fear and then graduation Another source of unease for Melara was his interactions with Customs and Border Protection officers. "I feel like we have this ingrained fear, this constant fear, like flight or fight," Melara said of being sent often for secondary inspection, which allows officers to conduct additional questioning. Transborder student Javier Melara is set to graduate college this spring. / Credit: Courtesy Javier Melara Lara Zamora, noticing that her male friends were often pulled into secondary inspection, said that she was careful about her interactions with customs officers. Vazquez said that he felt that CBP personnel sought to intimidate a consistent issue that tarnished his commute. "They think you're a criminal," he said. CBS News reached out to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents for comment but didn't receive a response before publication. Some students are put under a microscope by residents of their school district. For Lara Zamora, the frustration of community members who felt their taxes benefitted non-residents resulted in her transferring to a different high school. "I felt like that was really unfair because it's not my fault," Lara Zamora said. "My parents don't want to be illegal immigrants here." Lara Zamora, Vazquez and Melara graduate this month. Lara Zamora, plans to enroll in graduate school. Vazquez is taking a gap year to pursue his passion of performing as a drag queen. Melara plans to pursue a master's in education, someday achieve a doctorate degree and "dream without barriers," he said. Vazquez's mother, who has attended his drag performances, will have the opportunity to see him on a different stage in the coming days at SDSU's graduation convocation in Mexicali. Since she was unable to cross the border to attend his high school graduation, Vazquez said having her at the ceremony in Mexico is important particularly given that he is the first in his family to graduate. Lara Zamora, also a first-generation student, says the realization that millions of other students have experienced similar challenges inspires her to help students like herself. "First generation means that you are the first one, but hopefully you won't be the last one," she said. Nature: Mustangs in South Dakota Bill Maher on humor in politics: "Don't be tribal" Meet Stan Herman, elder statesman of American fashion Three Bob Fergusons now running for governor as race takes turn for the weird Attorney General Bob Ferguson speaks to a reporter as his 2024 gubernatorial campaign launch event gets underway in Seattle, on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. ( Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard) The number of Bob Fergusons running to be Washingtons next governor grew to three on Friday. A conservative Republican activist threw a monkey wrench into the race by recruiting two last-minute Democratic candidates who share the same name as the partys presumed front-runner. The newcomers, one from Yakima and the other Graham, will now share the Aug. 6 primary ballot with Attorney General Bob Ferguson. In all, 30 candidates filed in the race. Glen Morgan, a political conservative who has a knack for annoying elected Democrats and their progressive allies, cooked up the maneuver that immediately drew flack from the attorney generals camp as an attempt to confuse voters. Morgan said this had been in the works for a while as he contacted some of the 53 Washington residents named Bob Ferguson. Not every one of them wants their name associated with the guy running for governor, he said. Deciding to file on their behalf was pretty impulsive and he said he had to scramble to raise money to cover the filing fee of $1,982.57 for each of the two Fergusons. Morgan provided few details about the individuals. Bob Ferguson from Yakima is a retired state worker and the one from Graham is a military veteran, he said. Neither is politically experienced but both share a distaste for the state executive with the same name, Morgan said. Ferguson, the attorney general, declined Friday to comment. Former governor Christine Gregoire issued a statement on behalf of his campaign calling the last-minute filing a highly deceiving and potentially illegal effort to mislead voters. Its nothing less than an attack on our democracy, said Gregoire, a former attorney general who served as governor from 2005-2013. Morgan countered that the only dishonesty is on the part of Ferguson for campaigning as one who will bolster public safety when everything hes done in office makes people less safe. The next important move is in the hands of Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. Typically, in races for partisan offices, ballots contain only candidates names and their preferred party. Under state law, if two or more candidates file for the same office with names similar enough to confuse voters, information can be added on the ballot to help differentiate them. Additional information will not be provided for any other candidate. Hobbs must decide what extra wording to add. Occupation is one example he is considering. A decision is expected late Monday, after the deadline for candidates to withdraw. Meanwhile, state election officials set the ballot order Friday through the random drawing of numbers. The late-arriving Bob Fergusons will be the second and third listed on the ballot. The attorney general landed 13th. The post Three Bob Fergusons now running for governor as race takes turn for the weird appeared first on Washington State Standard. Are the Thunderbirds joining the Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show? What we know A vague Facebook post put out by Naval Air Station Pensacola Thursday afternoon seemingly points to another popular demonstration squadron joining the lineup of the Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show in Pensacola. NAS Pensacola posted a 17-second video of a single photo three F-16 Fighting Falcon jets flown by the 3600th Air Demonstration Unit Thunderbirds on each side of the Blue Angels' famous Delta formation, forming the "Super Delta" formation. The photo then transitions to a logo that says, "NAS Pensacola 2024 Homecoming Air Show." In a statement to the News Journal, NAS Pensacola Air Operations Officer and 2024 Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show Director Lt. Cmdr. David "DP" Padgett neither confirmed or denied whether the Thunderbirds will fly with the Blues in November. "The 2024 Naval Air Station Pensacola Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show is currently being planned," Padgett said in the statement. "We're looking forward to what will be a remarkable experience and encourage individuals interested in learning more about the Air Show to continue monitoring the NAS Pensacola Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn pages. More information will be posted as it becomes available." The Thunderbirds' final scheduled event is the Oct. 26 and 27 Atlanta Air Show in Peachtree City, Georgia. The Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show is scheduled for Nov. 7 and 8. Who are the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds? The Thunderbirds is a U.S. Air Force flight demonstration squadron that performs about 75 annual demonstrations. They are based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The Thunderbirds fly the Air Forces premier multi-role fighter jet, the F-16 Fighting Falcon and perform in solo and formation routines. The United States Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds, streak across the skies over Pensacola Naval Air Station Monday April 24, 2017. When were the Thunderbirds created? The U.S. Air Force became its own branch of the military in 1947, and six years later on May 25, 1953, the Thunderbirds became the Air Force's official air demonstration team. According to the Air Force, the Thunderbirds were activated at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Who fly the Thunderbirds F-16 Fighting Falcon jets? Here are the six pilots who fly for the Thunderbirds in the 2024 season, according to the Air Force: Lt. Col. Nathan Malafa Commander Maj. Zachary Taylor Left wing pilot Maj. Tyler Clark Right wing pilot Maj. Jake Impellizzeri Slot pilot Maj. Eric Tise Lead solo pilot Maj. Jeffrey Downie Opposing solo pilot Blue Angels vs. Thunderbirds What's the difference? While the Thunderbirds are the premier flight squad for the Air Force, the Blue Angels are the flight demonstration squadron of the U.S. Navy and its jets are flown by naval and marine aviators. Current Department of Defense policy states the use of military aviation demonstration teams is for recruiting purposes; therefore it is unusual for the two squads to fly within 150 miles of one another without special permission, according to the Blue Angels website. "Each demonstration team showcases U.S. military aviation capabilities to the public separately to maximize Navy or Air Force recruiting efforts," the website says. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds practice a joint formation over Imperial Valley, California. Have the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds ever flown together? In Late April 2017, the Flying Blues and Thunderbirds combined for a rare joint training in Pensacola, and the two teams combined again three years later in 2020 for another joint training in Pensacola. They later debuted the "Super Delta" formation during the 16th annual National Memorial Day Parade in 2021. The "Super Delta" is created when three of the Thunderbirds' F-16 Fighting Falcon jets flank each side of the Blue Angels' traditional Delta formation, creating a 12-jet formation. Both teams performed in the Point Mugu Air Show in 2023 at Naval Base Ventura County in California. This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Blue Angels Thunderbirds may team up at Homecoming Air Show MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Ala. (WRBL) The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) shared through a press release that a two-vehicle crash on May 5 resulted in the death of two people and injured another. ALEA says the crash happened around 11:30 p.m. on Alabama 110 in Montgomery County. Both 32-year-old Jerad Swartz from Roanoke, Virginia, the driver of a 2006 Scion XB and Jalisa Smart-Haynes, from Union Springs, Alabama, a passenger in a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu were killed in the accident. ALEA reported that both vehicles collided head-on and both Swartz and Haynes were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. The driver of the Chevrolet Malibu, 36-year-old Jeremy Humphrey was injured during the crash and taken to the Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery for treatment. Humphreys current condition is unknown. As of now, ALEA says the crash is still under investigation. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WRBL. A man in Cherokee is dead after a train hit and killed them on its route from Charlotte on Friday night, Cherokee County coroner says. The Norfolk-Southern train was en route to Atlanta around 9:30 p.m. when the trains engineer said they saw a person lying on the outside rail of the track in Gaffney. Train slams into tractor-trailer stuck on tracks in west Charlotte The engineer says they blew the horn multiple times, but the person didnt move. The train hit the person, who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the coroner in Cherokee County. The coroner identified the victim as 43-year-old Furman Edward Henderson, Jr. The victims identity is being held until their family is contacted. No one on the train was injured. An autopsy will be performed to assist officers in the investigation. Channel 9 reached out to Norfolk-Southern for a comment. (WATCH: CMPD, victims family asks suspect to come forward for CMS volunteers killing) One of the inadvertent effects of the blistering cold in dangerous hiking areas like Mount Everest is that human bodies are usually preserved for much longer, leaving people who discover the remains to learn more about the deceased. It turns out that that preservation is so good it's teaching scientists about a traveler who died possibly hundreds of years ago. In 1984, a hiker was traversing Theodul Glacier in the Swiss Alps when he stumbled upon a person's remains sticking out from the ice. Over the next few years, scientists continued to return to the site as more of the glacier began to melt and more of the body began sticking out, such as a skull with auburn hair on it and various items like knives, coins, jewelry, glass buttons, a shaving razor, a dagger, a sword, and a pistol all scattered nearby. Researchers have been able to draw some conclusions about who the traveler was based on what he was found with. Pierre-Yves Nicod, a curator at the Valais History Museum in the alpine town of Sion, explained to Business Insider that this particular subject's status can possibly be determined by what he was carrying. He was first believed to be a soldier, but now it doesn't appear that way. "They're not combat weapons. These are fencing weapons. These are ceremonial weapons that the rich had on them," Nicod said. "And then the clothes are not combat clothes. They are also the clothes of a wealthy person, of a gentleman." The lack of signs of trauma imply that the man possibly died by accident. The items he had with him can be traced to approximately 1600 C.E. In the thousands of years after the last Ice Age, melting ice has revealed things like mummified mammoths and squirrels as well as ancient human artifacts like skis and arrows. This has all become part of the new scientific field of glacial archaeology. The Swiss Alps are a great place to look for things like these, though it remains difficult to pin many finds to an exact time frame. "It's one of the difficulties of glacial archaeology that we find these objects in the ice, and therefore out of all archaeological context," Nicod said. Nicod and archaeologist Philippe Curdy published some of their theories in a 2022 report. As for how they determined the century the frozen traveler came from, they cited a 1643 illustration depicting a caravan of merchants climbing to an Alps mountain pass. "In the background, there are the mountains and then a merchant with all these loads who has his mules, who's climbing up to the peaks," Nicod said. Interestingly, the remains of two mules were also found near the Theodul traveler. Nicod noted that the man in the drawing "has the same type of clothes with the same type of buttons and the same sword." Traversing mountain passes, especially to sell your wares in other towns, was a common practice for hundreds of years. Local archeologist Romain Andenmatten explained to Business Insider that they really had no other options in those days. "We see that the passage over the glacier was used all the timeBronze Age, Iron Age, Roman time," he said. "The simplest way is to go over the glacier." It turns out the adage that every frozen corpse on Mount Everest was once a highly motivated person can apply to other frigid parts of the world too. A Tri-Cities doctor has been fined $5,000 and ordered to take continuing education classes after he prescribed ivermectin for treatment or prevention of COVID-19. The Washington Medical Commission investigated as it learned of five patients Dr. Wei-Hsung Lin, who works at a Kadlec Regional Medical Center clinic in Richland, had prescribed ivermectin related to COVID-19 in 2021. The sanctions are part of an order agreed to by Lin and the medical commission . Lin is one of two Tri-Cities doctors known to be the subjects of Washington Medical Commission investigations after prescribing ivermectin related to COVID-19. Ivermectin is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of COVID-19, although it is approved for other uses. Merck & Co., which is the primary manufacturer of ivermectin in the United States, has concluded there is no scientific basis for using ivermectin related to COVID-19 and a lack of safety data in clinical studies conducted with COVID-19 patients. The Washington Medical Commission was particularly concerned that Lin gave one patient a double prescription of ivermectin so his wife, who was not Lins patient, could take half of the pills. It also noted an apparent lack of remorse by Lin. However, it said there was a good chance that moving forward Lin could correct the issues it identified. In 2021, Lin was one of many speakers at a rally with hundreds of Hanford nuclear site and other workers on federal projects who had been given a December deadline to show they were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. He opposed mandatory vaccination then, questioning whether it was safe and effective. He immigrated from China at age 24, and he likened the COVID-19 vaccine mandate to Chinas former policy of allowing couples to have only one child, with enforcement that ranged from fines to abortions and sterilization. Kadlec said in a statement that it fully cooperated with the Washington state Department of Health investigation once it was aware of the alleged violation by one of its doctors. While Kadlec does not recommend or allow ivermectin for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19, we respect the rights of patients and physicians to discuss and explore all available treatment options, based on patients unique health and medical situations, it said. It is pleased the matter is resolved, it said. Lins ivermectin cases In the cases detailed by the agreed order, Lin prescribed ivermectin to a man, age 69, with congestive heart failure who was taking an anticoagulation prescription. Combining the two medications can increase the risk of internal bleeding. He was the same patient who Lin prescribed a double dose of ivermectin so the mans wife, who had apparent COVID-19 symptoms, could also use it. The couple discussed the prescription with their son, who cautioned them against taking ivermectin, and neither took the medication. Lin prescribed ivermectin treatment for five days to another patient who had tested positive for COVID. After taking the pills for four days her symptoms had not improved and she was hospitalized for several days with respiratory issues due to COVID pneumonia. A different patient had a rash and other symptoms such as chest pain, palpitations, weight loss, pain and fatigue after COVID vaccinations. Lin prescribed ivermectin without considering other reasons for her symptoms, according to the agreed order. In most of the cases, Lins notes did not indicate an adequate discussion with his patients of alternative treatments to ivermectin or an adequate discussion of ivermectin and its possible risks, according to the agreed order. In addition to paying the fine, Lin must take continuing education courses on prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and on physician-patient relationships and maintaining a medical record. He must submit papers of at least 1,000 words on what he learns about both topics. Annual compliance audits and reports from Lin every six months are required. After three years he may petition the medical commission to end the additional oversight. 2nd Tri-Cities doctor Dr. Michael Kwame Turner of the Tri-Cities also has been charged with unprofessional conduct for prescribing ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19. Turner is among four doctors who have filed a lawsuit against the Washington Medical Commission with the help of the Silent Majority Foundation based in Pasco over the medical commissions policies on COVID, including prescribing ivermectin. Enforcement action against Turner is pending after a statement of charges was filed about a year ago, according to the Washington state Department of Health website. A hearing was held recently. Pete Serrano, an attorney who also is the Pasco mayor and a director of the Silent Majority Foundation, represented Lin in his agreed order with the medical commission. The Washington Medical Commission, the state agency that investigates physicians and physician assistants for unprofessional conduct, has adopted a position statement that says the commission relies on the FDA approval of medication for COVID-19 treatment as the standard of care. Trio broke into Gwinnett gas station to steal tobacco, police say Police in Gwinnett County are searching for a trio of suspects who broke into a gas station. They say three people broke into the Chevron on Buford Highway, but all they took were tobacco products. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Surveillance photos from inside the store show the suspects dressed in all black, but one is carrying a bright yellow backpack. One of the suspects was also wearing Timberland-style boots. TRENDING STORIES: Police believe all three are between five feet, five inches and five feet, eight inches. Anyone who recognizes these suspects should call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Trudeau says he will attend Ukraine's Peace Summit in Switzerland Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that he will attend the Ukrainian Peace Summit in Switzerland in June. Source: Justin Trudeau on X, as reported by European Pravda Quote: "The First Peace Summit for Ukraine is in June and Canada will be there. I look forward to joining other world leaders to advance our shared goal of just and lasting peace for Ukraine." The First Peace Summit for Ukraine is in June and Canada will be there. I look forward to joining other world leaders to advance our shared goal of just and lasting peace for Ukraine. Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 11, 2024 Background: During a phone conversation on 7 May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed the Peace Summit in Switzerland and the work undertaken to bring Ukrainian children forcibly taken to Russia back to Ukraine. On 9 May, European Council President Charles Michel also confirmed he would take part in the Peace Summit during a phone conversation with President Zelenskyy. Polish President Andrzej Duda has also confirmed his attendance. The Global Peace Summit will take place in Burgenstock, Switzerland, on 15-16 June. More than 160 countries and international organisations have been invited to attend, but not Russia. Support UP or become our patron! Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during his campaign rally in Wildwood, N.J., Saturday, May 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) Sandwiched between his appearances in court, Donald Trump headed on Saturday to the Jersey Shore, where he repeatedly blamed President Joe Biden for the criminal charges hes facing as the presumptive nominees prepare to face off in the November election and called his New York hush money case a Biden show trial. Blasting the Democratic president a total moron, Trump before a crowd of tens of thousands repeatedly characterized the cases against him as politically motivated and timed to harm his ability to campaign. Hes a fool. Hes not a smart man, Trump said of Biden. I talk about him differently now because now the gloves are off. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, drew what his team called a mega crowd to a Saturday evening rally in the southern New Jersey resort town of Wildwood, 150 miles (241 kilometers) south of the New York City courthouse where he has been forced to spend most weekdays sitting silently through his felony hush money trial. Lisa Fagan, spokesperson for the city of Wildwood, told The Associated Press that she estimated a crowd of between 80,000 and 100,000 attendees, based off her own observations on the scene Saturday, having seen dozens of other events in the same space. Trump was joined on stage by several high-level endorsers including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who is still listed as a registered sex offender after pleading guilty in New York in 2011 to misdemeanor criminal charges of sexual misconduct and patronizing an underage prostitute. The beachfront gathering, described by Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., as the largest political gathering in state history, was designed to serve as a show of force at a critical moment for Trump, who is facing dozens of felony charges in four separate criminal cases with the election less than six months away. Hours before he was scheduled to take the stage, thousands of Trump loyalists donning Never Surrender T-shirts and red Make America Great Again hats crowded onto the sand between the boardwalk and carnival rides to greet the former Republican president. The everyday American people are 100% behind him, said Doreen ONeill, a 62-year-old nurse from Philadelphia. They have to cheat and smear him and humiliate him in that courtroom every single day, ONeill said. This country is going to go insane if they steal the election again. Trumps extraordinary legal woes, which include three other unrelated criminal cases, have emerged as a central issue in the campaign. Trump has repeatedly accused the Biden administration and Democratic officials in New York of using the legal system to block his return to the White House. Prosecutors allege the former president broke the law to conceal an affair with a porn actor that would have hurt his first presidential bid. The hush money case was filed by local prosecutors in Manhattan who do not work for the Justice Department or any White House office. The Justice Department has said the White House has had no involvement in the two criminal cases against Trump brought by special counsel Jack Smith. On Saturday, Trump posited that even those whom he accuses of politically motivated prosecutions didnt bring every case they could have, pointing to the boosts his campaign has sustained with each wave of charges. I heard they were going to do a couple of other things and they said from Washington ... were indicting him into the White House, Trump said. They said, Dont do it. While Trump seized on his legal woes Saturday, a judge's gag order and the threat of jail limit Trump's ability to comment publicly on witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the New York trial, which is expected to consume much of the month. The judge in the case already has fined Trump $9,000 for violating the order and warned that jail could follow if he doesnt comply. The order doesn't include references to Judge Juan M. Merchan, whom Trump called highly conflicted or District Attorney Alvin Bragg, both of whom Trump said are doing the bidding for crooked Joe Biden. Trump's responsibilities as a defendant have limited his ability to win over voters on the campaign trail. He spent last week's off-day from court in the general election battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan. And he was campaigning with tens of thousands of voters Saturday in New Jersey, a reliably Democratic state. Parts of New Jersey have deep-red enclaves and the southern shoreline in particular draws tourists and summer homeowners from neighboring Pennsylvania, a key swing state. Biden, meanwhile, opened his weekend with a series of fundraising events on the West Coast. He avoided Trumps legal challenges as he has done consistently while addressing donors in Seattle. Instead, the Democratic president focused on Trumps recent interview with Time magazine in which the Republican former president said states should be left to determine whether to prosecute women for abortions or to monitor their pregnancies. Saturdays visit to the New Jersey Shore resort wasn't Trumps first. While president, Trump held a rally there in January 2020 to thank Van Drew, the New Jersey congressman who had just left the Democratic Party for the GOP as a rebuke for the former presidents first impeachment. Trump drew a crowd at the time that lined the streets, filled bars and supported numerous vendors in what is usually a sleepy city in the winter. This time, the summer season is around the corner for the resort known for its wide beaches and boardwalk games and shops. Wildwood is in New Jerseys 2nd District, which Van Drew has represented for three terms and covers all or part of six counties in southern New Jersey. It went for Trump in 2016 and again in 2020 after earlier backing Barack Obama. Trump is set to return to the courtroom next week, when key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trump's fixer-turned-foe, is expected to take the witness stand. Last week, he was visibly angry at times as he was forced to sit through testimony from former porn actor Stormy Daniels, who described a sexual encounter with the former president in shocking detail. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records. The charges stem from paperwork such as invoices and checks that were deemed legal expenses in company records. Prosecutors say those payments largely were reimbursements to Cohen, Trump's attorney, who paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet. The prosecution could rest its case by the end of the week. It's unclear if Trump himself will take the stand when the defense presents its case. Back on the Jersey Shore, 65-year-old Pat Day said she felt some urgency to see Trump in person on Saturday. We want to see Trump before they take him out, said Day, who was visiting from the Florida Keys. I'm worried. They're going to do everything they can so he doesn't get elected again. ___ Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina. FILE - Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to supporters during a campaign event, April 13, 2024, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Former President Donald Trump is known for leveling constant and often personal attacks on top rivals such as Joe Biden. Lately, he's increasingly turned that same caustic approach toward Kennedy Jr. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File) COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Donald Trump is known for leveling constant and often personal attacks on top rivals such as Joe Biden. Lately, he's increasingly taking that same approach against independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Among the recent jabs, Trump this past week posted a roughly four-minute video online in which he called Kennedy fake, a Democrat Plant' and Radical Left Liberal whos been put in place to help the Democratic president. Trump railed against Kennedy's family as a bunch of lunatics. He is not a Republican so don't think you're going to vote for him and feel good, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee told supporters in the Truth Social post. Directing such fierce attacks at Kennedy may signal concern from Trump and his campaign about the independent's bid in what's expected to be a tight November election, when a third-party hopeful siphoning even a small amount of support could sink one of the major candidates. Six months out from an Election Day in which many Americans have voiced their dissatisfaction at a rematch between Trump and Biden, Kennedy has been offering himself as an alternative. Some of the issues Kennedy focuses on stalwart support for Israel and criticism over COVID-19 lockdowns could appeal more to conservative voters than Democrats. Polls at this point show far more Republicans than Democrats have a favorable opinion of Kennedy, although many Americans dont know who he is. A February Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that about half of Republicans, 53%, had a favorable view of him, compared with 30% of Democrats. About one-quarter in each case said they didnt know enough about Kennedy to say. Kennedy's campaign argues that he threatens both Trump and Biden, who boasts support from several members of Kennedys own family and called the endorsements an incredible honor. The president has largely ignored Kennedy, who previously challenged him for the Democratic nomination before launching an independent bid. Kennedy has gone after Trump as well, challenging him to a debate when both men speak on separate days at the Libertarian Party convention later this month. Kennedy claims Trump's backers are wavering in their support. But Kennedy faces steep challenges. As an independent candidate, his name appearing on ballots isn't automatic. He has had to work to secure ballot access across the 50 states, a process that Kennedy has said will be completed by this summer. According to his campaign, he has achieved that marker in five states California, Delaware, Michigan, Oklahoma and Utah with enough signatures collected for eight others. Officials haven't verified those numbers in some states. Kennedy has argued that his fairly strong showing in a few national polls gives him a reason to consider himself competitive, though horse-race polls are generally unreliable this far out from an election. This isnt a new trend for third-party candidates in presidential elections. During the 2016 campaign, early national polls showed libertarian Gary Johnsons support in the high single or low double digits; he ultimately received only about 3% of the popular vote. Supporters flocking to Kennedys events, including a recent comedy showcase in a Detroit suburb, describe themselves as coming from across the political spectrum, from those who traditionally back third-party presidential efforts to disaffected Democratic and Republican voters. That included those who have previously backed both Biden and Trump, but are either jaded by or unenthusiastic about them now. Ben Carter, a registered nurse from White Lake, Michigan, said that he supported Trump in 2016 but couldnt do it again, opting for Biden four years later. This year, Carter said he admired Kennedys willingness to take on difficult topics, seeing the independent candidate as willing to voice unpopular opinions but doing so in a way more palatable than Trump. I just dont hear Kennedy going out, lying about things. Trump, he just stands up in front of the camera and baldfaced lies about stuff that we know are true, Carter said. He has his opinions that you might not agree with, but I havent seen him stand up in front of a crowd and just lie to people. Trumps supporters admit they are curious about Kennedy's bid, even if they remain fiercely loyal to Trump. Hes super interesting, Kim Hanson, a financial consultant from Hartford, Wisconsin, said on the sidelines of Trumps recent rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin. I love hearing from him. But Hanson, a Trump supporter, said she worried that the novelty appeal of voting for Kennedy could detract from Trumps support. I am concerned about people voting for people they think arent going to get in, and they arent voting for Trump, she said. There are some issue areas where Kennedy and Trump seem aligned. Like Trump, Kennedy has been a fierce defender of Israel in its war with Hamas. In April, he suggested that the prosecution of rioters who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, might be politically motivated, partly aligning himself with the false portrayal being pushed by Trump and his allies. Kennedy levied some criticism on Trump, saying the attack on the Capitol happened with Trump's encouragement and in the context of his delusion that the election was stolen from him." But Kennedy also said that as president, he would appoint a special counsel to examine whether Trump allies were unfairly singled out for prosecution. Kennedy has also blamed Trump for economic damage to the middle class. Kennedy called pandemic-era lockdowns the worst thing that he did to this country, while acknowledging in that same speech that Trump gets blamed for a lot of things that he didn't do. Like Trump, Kennedy a lifelong Catholic who has described himself as pro-choice has taken conflicting stands on abortion. He supported, then retreated, from the idea of a 15-week federal abortion ban, but says he disagrees with Trump that the matter should be left to state governments. Bernard Tamas, a Valdosta State University professor who studies third-party presidential campaigns, pointed out that Kennedys policy positions, such as his vaccine skepticism and adamant support of Israel in the war with Hamas, are more likely to appeal to conservative voters, an apparent threat to Trump at this stage. It is quite possible that RFK will damage Trump more (than Biden), especially since there is unlikely to be any other moderate independent candidate for the never-Trumpers to vote for, Tamas said. Tamas said that even single-digit support for Kennedy could affect the general election outcome. Losing even a small percent of votes to candidates like RFK Jr. could easily flip the election from one major party candidate to the other, Tamas said. Brian Schimming, chair of the Wisconsin Republican Party, said he expects Kennedy to draw support away from Trump and Biden, perhaps from Trump earlier in the campaign but more from Biden down the stretch. He said Republicans have greater enthusiasm for the former president than Democrats do for the incumbent. But what does an incidental voter, or a voter who says to themselves consciously that they dont feel strongly enough about either of these candidates, do? said Schimming, a veteran Republican operative in Wisconsin. In the end, they peel off votes from the weaker candidate because they're dissatisfied, who in my mind is Biden. Desiree Sherdin, a small business owner from Germantown, Wisconsin, said at Trump's rally in her state that Kennedys views tend to go left of her preference even though she agreed with his skepticism of vaccines. She said she was sticking with Trump, and imagined many others would, too. People who are loyal to Trump are fiercely loyal, she said. ___ Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, Linley Sanders in Washington, and Scott Bauer in Waukesha, Wisconsin, contributed to this report. ___ Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP Trump responds to rumors of Haley on VP shortlist: Not under consideration, but I wish her well Former President Trump responded to reports that former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is on his vice presidential shortlist by saying that she is not under consideration, but that he wishes her well. Trump stated in a Saturday post on Truth Social that Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well! The post on the platform came following a Saturday report from Axios, which reported Trumps campaign was considering Haley, his former rival for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, as his possible VP, citing two people familiar with the situation. The report described the relationship between the two as chilly, but that the former president could pick the former South Carolina governor if he were convicted, shed help him win the presidency. If anyone other that DJT says they know who, when, or where he is on VP, theyre not telling the truth, a Trump campaign official told The Hill. Haley ran in the Republican primary and was the last candidate standing opposite Trump, before dropping her White House bid in March. She has not endorsed the former president. As he looks to get back into the Oval Office in November, Trump is considering a bevy of candidates for the VP spot. Republicans in the mix include Sens. Tim Scott (S.C.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and others. After ending her presidential run, Haley joined the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, to be their next Walter P. Stern chair. She is set to meet with around 100 donors on Monday and Tuesday in Charleston. The Hill has reached out to Haleys spokesperson. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Former President Donald Trump on Saturday shot down reports that he was weighing Nikki Haley as his running mate. Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well! Trump posted on Truth Social. Trump threw cold water on the idea after Axios reported Saturday morning that his campaign was actively considering Haley to help the former president in his bid to win back the White House, both by attracting college-educated voters and helping repair his fundraising disadvantage with President Joe Biden. But the relationship between Trump and Haley has remained icy since the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor dropped out of the race after Super Tuesday. Haley has yet to endorse Trump and has continued to pick up notable support in primary races, most recently capturing more than 21 percent of votes in Indianas primary and nearly 17 percent in Pennsylvania. Her steadfast voters could play a key role in determining the presidential election in November, yet theres been little effort from the Trump campaign to pick up her supporters. For his part, Trump still hasnt reached out to Haley since she left the race. The jockeying for Trumps No. 2 spot has been ramping up in recent weeks, with vice presidential hopefuls Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik hitting the airwaves as they vie to be Trumps running mate. The former president has also been weighing the contenders for Cabinet positions while watching closely to see how they perform with crowds during rally appearances. In Charleston next week, Haley is set to meet with donors who supported her campaign as a thank you. Haley is not expected to endorse Trump, nor is she expected to ask her donors to support him. Haley, when exiting the race, said it was up to Trump to win the support of moderate Republicans and independent voters who backed her across the country. The Biden campaign has continued to seize on Haleys support as an example of Trumps trouble in the suburbs and has tried to reel in these subsets of voters. After Haley picked up support in Pennsylvanias suburbs, the Biden campaign dropped a six-figure TV and digital ad buy across several counties, targeting Haley voters with an ad featuring Trump attacking his former U.N. ambassador and her supporters. Top campaign officials are also still working to recruit major Haley donors. Trump would make US education system less fair, first lady Jill Biden argues in Phoenix First lady Jill Biden speaks during an "Educators for Biden-Harris" campaign mobilization event at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Phoenix on May 10, 2024. First lady Jill Biden criticized former President Donald Trump, her husbands rival in this years presidential election, for his efforts in office to direct public money toward private education. Speaking in Phoenix on Friday, she connected the topic to the former president's wider platform on education and labor policy. In a world "where Donald Trump is reelected, we get chaos and division. A world in which public schools are privatized and their funding is gutted. Teachers' unions are marginalized. Lesson plans are censored. And books are banned, she said at the Arizona Education Associations annual meeting at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel. Governed mostly at the state and local level, education policy has not been a major focus of the 2024 presidential campaign so far. But the two candidates have starkly contrasting visions and track records on the issue. Candidates differ widely in education policy While in office, Trumps Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, sought to create federal vouchers for private schools and boost funding for charter schools, though Congress nixed some of her most far-reaching proposals. Republicans have pursued similar policies at the state level, leaving Arizona with one of the largest school voucher programs in the nation. Voucher supporters have argued that competition from private schools improves the quality of education overall, and that offering poor families the opportunity to choose to attend a private school is a matter of social justice. Critics say it drains public resources and fails to address disparities in public schooling. Donald Trump does not want to strengthen our public education system. He wants to destroy it. Just look at who he appointed to be Education Secretary, the first lady said, pointing to DeVos' longtime advocacy for school voucher programs. "Here in Arizona, you're battling against school vouchers and a state legislature that's more interested in dividing educators and parents than addressing things like educator pay or classroom size," she said. Trumps campaign did not immediately return a request for comment. Trump has called for closing the U.S. Department of Education altogether. He wants to turn over education to the states, which already control funding and school curriculum, and give parents more of a say in running schools. President Joe Biden, on the other hand, has steered the countrys education system more through federal action and investment in public schools. One of his signature priorities while in the White House has been addressing student loan debt. With his effort challenged or blocked in court, he has said alternative actions by his Education Department have resulted in $160 billion in debt relief for nearly 4.6 million borrowers as of May 2024. That includes more than 50,000 people in Arizona, his administration has said. Trump has argued those measures are unfair to people who already have paid back their student loans. Biden has also proposed expanding free community college, and his administration has partnered with the countrys community colleges to meet rising labor demand for his manufacturing-oriented policy agenda. On Saturday, the first lady, who herself teaches English and writing at a community college in northern Virginia, will be a special guest speaker at Mesa Community College's graduation ceremony. 'I desperately need your help': President Joe Biden launches Latino outreach campaign in Phoenix At the Friday event, hosted by Arizona's union for public school employees, she also connected education policy to the administration's stance on labor unions and wealth inequality. "In what world should a schoolteacher pay a higher tax rate than a billionaire?" she said. Arizonas Grand Canyon University has become a flashpoint in the partisan conflict over federal education governance. The U.S. Department of Education has announced a $37.7 million fine against the school for "deceiving" students in its marketing of doctoral degrees. School officials and some Republican lawmakers have charged it based on the schools religious affiliation, despite the agencys investigation finding that the vast majority of students in the program paid an additional $10,000 to $12,000 more than the advertised cost in tuition alone. How many times has Jill Biden visited Arizona? The first lady is one of many White House surrogates who have recently visited Arizona, a swing state in this years presidential election. In 2020, Biden defeated Trump in Arizona by less than half a percentage point. She visited Mesa last year to highlight a scholarship program that offers some local high school students two tuition-free years at Mesa Community College. In March she visited Tucson to argue Trump is dangerous to women in a speech that was interrupted by protests over U.S. support of Israels military campaign in the Gaza Strip. USA TODAY contributed to this report. Laura Gersony covers national politics for the Arizona Republic. Contact her at lgersony@gannett.com or 480-372-0389. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump would make US education less fair, Jill Biden says in Phoenix BRENTWOOD, NY - JULY 28: President Donald Trump speaks at Suffolk Community College on July 28, 2017 in Brentwood, New York. Trump, speaking close to where the violent street gang MS-13 has committed a number of murders, urged Congress to dedicate more funding to border enforcement and faster deportations. Trump spoke to an audience that included to law enforcement officers and the family members of crime victims. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) If theres no criminal accountability of police for criminal behavior, then were living in a country thats becoming a police state, Maya Wiley, an advocate and civil rights attorney, told theGrio. Donald Trumps vow to give police officers immunity from prosecution if elected back into the White House signals danger for Black and brown communities, legal experts and advocates warn. The Republican presidential candidate has on more than one occasion vowed to empower law enforcement to do their jobs without limits, a stark contrast to the movement for Black lives in 2020 comprised of mass protests demanding police accountability in the wake of George Floyds murder and other police-involved deaths. Were going to give our police their power back, Trump told supporters during a rally last week in Waukesha, Wisconsin. We are going to give them immunity from prosecution. The twice-impeached and four-times-indicted former president made a similar statement in December 2023 during a campaign event in Iowa, where he promised to indemnify police officers to shield them from prosecutorial harm. If theres no criminal accountability of police for criminal behavior, then the fox is guarding the henhouse, and were the hens, and were living in a country thats becoming a police state, said Maya Wiley, an advocate and civil rights attorney who served as counsel for New York Citys Civilian Complaint Review Board, a police watchdog. Wiley told theGrio that if Trumps vision for America were a reality, it would cause particular harm in Black and brown communities, which are already overpoliced and experience constitutional violations and police misconduct disproportionately. However, she noted, Trump wouldnt have the authority he claims to have if elected president in November. She explained, The president of the United States has no power to tell states that they must exempt their state-controlled police forces from crime. Maya Wiley speaks at a rally the evening before the Democratic primary on June 21, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Wiley, a civil rights attorney who worked as Mayor de Blasios legal counsel before her run, is running as a progressive. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) However, critics warn that a U.S. president endorsing police immunity does not bode well for already vulnerable communities that have been historically overpoliced and mistreated. Trump characterizes the darkest periods of police brutality and mass incarceration as a hallmark of the good old days, and hes intent on bringing them back, said Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way. He has made clear his preference for state violence to silence dissent or achieve his political goals. Batchelor highlighted Trumps penchant for embracing police brutality and violence, including encouraging violence at his rallies, ordering the military to assault peaceful protesters and inciting the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Hes made clear his plans for unchecked police power in our cities, mass detention at the border, and politicizing the Justice Department against his opponents, he told theGrio. Anyone playing off Trumps threat should believe what they see. Michael Blake, a former Obama White House staffer and former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, told theGrio that Trumps statements on policing put law enforcement above the communities they are sworn to protect and serve. You are literally saying that a badge and a gun have more power than your liberties, than your democracy, than your humanity, said Blake, who currently serves as CEO of KAIROS Democracy Project. To any Black person that is even entertaining the nonsense of Trump and RFK [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] and Cornel West, you are being reminded again, that our livelihood is at stake. While some police officers have faced convictions for the abuse or murder of unarmed, innocent Black victims in recent years most notably six Mississippi officers who abused and brutally tortured two Black men in January 2023 legal experts point out that law enforcement already possesses significant legal protections. Recommended Stories We are still in a system that is not sufficiently holding police accountable, said Wiley, a former New York City mayoral candidate who ran on a platform to reform the police department. As a nation, we have to do a lot more work and a lot more confronting what we were all saying we were willing to confront after George Floyds murder. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill aimed at addressing police accountability, failed in the United States Congress in 2021 as a result of Republican lawmakers refusing to budge on reforming specific legal protection for police officers known as qualified immunity. Given the Republican Partys lacking appetite, Democrats will have to win back a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, maintain control of the U.S. Senate, and reelect President Joe Biden for any viable chance for federal police reform. Despite the Floyd bills failure in Congress, Biden has taken executive actions to address police accountability, including establishing a nationwide database to log police misconduct, banning chokeholds and restricting no-knock warrants. However, the presidents actions are only enforceable on federal law enforcement. The Department of Justice under the Biden administration has filled in the gaps on the state and local level by opening misconduct probes known as pattern-or-practice investigations. Since Biden entered office, the DOJ launched 11 such probes into police departments, including the Minneapolis Police Department (responsible for Floyds murder), the Louisville Metro Police Department, the Louisiana State Police, and the Memphis Police Department, following the brutal death of Tyre Nichols in 2023. Criminal justice advocates are concerned Trump would undo the work of the DOJ to hold police accountable. Especially considering Trumps vow to order the historically independent agency to prosecute his political enemies if reelected, and proposals for the next Republican president to replace career federal workers with political appointees. He would absolutely close [the investigations], said Blake. This is a man who is saying that he should be above prosecution himself. Why on earth would we believe that he would want greater investigations on the local level? Surrounded by members of law enforcement, U.S. President Donald Trump holds up an executive order he signed on Safe Policing for Safe Communities during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House June 16, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump will signed an executive order on police reform amid the growing calls after the death of George Floyd. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Wiley reminded that while in office, Trumps Department of Justice under Attorney General Jeff Sessions stopped police oversight and the kinds of reporting about patterns and practices and systemic police misconduct in departments. She said Trump wants to be an authoritarian and everything he has proposed as it relates to law enforcement suggests he wants to be the monarch and not a president who will protect the constitutional boundaries of government. In a statement provided to theGrio, the Biden-Harris campaign slammed former President Trump as a racist who does not respect Black lives. Donald Trump is the same racist who came into public life by falsely accusing the Central Park Five and pushed for stop and frisk during his time in the Oval Office, said Jasmine Harris, the campaigns director of Black media. In 2020, while the rest of the nation was heartbroken and came together demanding justice for George Floyds family, Donald Trump questioned his humanity. By contrast, Harris said, In the four years since Black voters sent Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House, they have delivered real progress. Batchelor told theGrio, Theres no comparison between Trump and Biden on justice reform and policing. The justice department has had the room to go after patterns of abuse and seek justice for victims. The federal bench is being filled with fair-minded judges to offset Trumps disastrous impact on the courts, he explained. The Biden administration has also been a reliable partner to communities leveraging the resources to innovate and invest in solutions that secure safety long-term, beyond policing. The post Trumps vow for police immunity could spell trouble for Black communities appeared first on TheGrio. A mercenaria pearl. Couple Sandy Sikorski and Ken Steinkamp found the pearl while dining at a restaurant in December of 2021. The couple later turned the pearl into a ring and got engaged on July 6, 2023. A Rhode Island couple that found a pearl inside a clam and turned it into a shining, eye-catching engagement ring tied the knot last month surrounded by family and friends. Ken Steinkamp and Sandy Sikorski were eating clams at a restaurant in Westerly, Rhode Island on Dec. 27, 2021 when Sikorski tasted something pretty odd. It turned out to be a pearl, and she liked it so much that Steinkamp turned it into a ring for her. They had a jeweler wrap the ring in 18 karat gold and add diamonds on the side. Once the ring was completed, they got engaged on July 6, 2023. A mercenaria pearl wrapped in gold. A Rhode Island woman, Sandy Sikorski, found the pearl in December of 2021 and liked it so much that she decided to turn it into a ring. Her partner proposed to her with this very ring on July 6, 2023. Just over nine months later on April 14, the pair wed at a small ceremony at Avondale Chapel in Westerly. Following their nuptials, they had a reception at Ocean House, a resort a few miles away, surrounded by 25 friends and family members. The couple made pearls part of their special day as well with a pearl-themed wedding cake and shoes outfitted with pearls for Sikorskis granddaughter, they told USA TODAY Friday morning. Sikorski wore a strapless gown with crystals. It has lace down the bottom, she said, adding that it was quite heavy. It was like walking around with a weight the whole night Beautiful dress. I got a lot of compliments on it. How it all began: She found a pearl inside of a clam. Now, it's her engagement ring. Sandy Sikorski and Ken Steinkamp's wedding cake. Support of loved ones got the couple through their special day The day of their nuptials, there was quite a storm brewing outside, the couple told USA TODAY, adding that Sikorskis brother ushered her safely from the house to the car so they could head to the chapel. We parked the car, literally, on the grass in the front yard, she recalled. He put towels down so I could get into the car So I get in the car and it is pouring buckets. Her brother accidentally tipped the umbrella and got her dress wet, but she was able to clean it up just fine, she said. Steinkamp and Sikorski laughed and said they heard rainy days mean good luck during weddings. And in addition to her brother coming to her rescue, there was another family member whose participation was vital in the festivities: her 93-year-old father, Louis Bald. He set out to walk her down the aisle and was determined to make it happen despite having his own health issues, she said. Up until two days before, we didn't know whether or not he would be able to walk her down the aisle, Steinkamp said. We had hired an assistant or a CNA to help him down the aisle in case anything happened. With the CNA sitting in the back row ready to respond, Bald walked his daughter down the aisle with a cane. He normally uses a walker but his daughter had him practice with the cane a few days before the wedding to get him comfortable. I think I hung on to him, she said. He was a trooper. He did great. Planning the big day: Couple who found pearl inside clam, turned it into engagement ring discuss wedding journey Sandy Sikorski and her father on her wedding day, April 14, 2024. Nothing says I love you like a poem The couple also tapped someone to read an Apache wedding poem at the ceremony. Once they said I do, they took photos and headed to Ocean House to make their grand entrance, walking down a stairway where everyone was having cocktails and applauded. It is just unreal, she recalled. Downstairs has this gorgeous sweeping staircase which we were able to go down, and right at the bottom of the stairs was my family I thought that was very special with everybody there, my dad sitting in the wheelchair waiting for me. A Watch Hill, Rhode Island resort called Ocean House. Ocean House, a resort in Rhode Island where Sandy Sikorski and Ken Steinkamp got married on April 14, 2024. For their first dance, Steinkamp and Sikorski danced to Everything I Do (I Do It for You) by Celine Dion and Bryan Adams. Sikorski said the reception venue was very classy and she loved the finishing touches such as champagne, flowers, and more. The reception area at Sandy Sikorski and Ken Steinkamp's wedding. The pair wed on April 14, 2024 at Ocean House in Westerly, Rhode Island. Once the festivities were over, the couple stayed at Ocean House where they had a beautiful view of the ocean. As they celebrated, Steinkamp gave a speech he was pretty proud of and worked in their pearl theme. This was a million in one pearls, but you are the real pearl, he told her. Sandy Sikorski and Ken Steinkamp on their wedding day, April 14, 2024. Honeymooners spent a few weeks in the city of love The newlyweds left for Paris a few days after the wedding. They went to Paris for a week and then Nice, they said. Sandy Sikorski and Ken Steinkamp in April 2024. The pair got married on April 14 and then went to Paris, France. We went and visited the Louvre, Steinkamp said, adding that they returned on April 29. Now that theyre back stateside, they want to check out Quahog Week, a celebration from May 11 to 18 in honor of clams, restaurants and fishermen that help Rhode Islands local food economy expand. Place cards at the pearl-themed Steinkamp wedding in April 2024. After all, their ring was made from a clam they came across by chance. Its quite the conversation starter and people notice it all the time, calling it beautiful. Ive had so many compliments about my ring even though they dont know the story, Sikorski said. Sandy Sikorski's wedding ring, made of a pearl she found inside of a clam. Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Couple turns rare discovery into ring, weds in pearl-themed ceremony Two inmates were killed and more than 30 others were injured Friday during a group fight at the Lawton Correction and Rehabilitation Center, The Oklahoman has learned. Corrections officials said at least two of the inmates sustained serious injuries and were transported to the hospital one via medi-flight and one via ground vehicle. "We had a group disturbance at LCRF which resulted in multiple inmates injured and two deaths," Corrections Department Spokesperson Kay Thompson said in an email. "Its unknown at this time how many had minor injuries that were treated at the facility." The incident, which is currently being investigated by the corrections department's inspector general, was described as a "group disturbance" by Thompson. She said visitation at the facility was cancelled this weekend. Kay Thompson Chief of Public Relations for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. Photo Provided by Oklahoma Department of Corrections "This was an operational error by the prison," Thompson said. Emily Barnes, founder of criminal justice advocacy group Hooked on Justice, said the incident involved two gangs who were supposed to have been kept separate. One of the gangs, she said, was let into the yard which started the fight. Earlier this year, Thompson said the DOC had expanded its Contraband Interdiction Unit to keep items such as cellphones and drugs from entering facilities. She said the department works with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control to help fight drug operations on the streets, which reduces the number of drugs in the facilities. She said the department's strategy was working and DOC has seen "a significant decrease in violence" between security threat groups. Earlier this year, she said the department is making data-driven decisions to decrease the violence inside the facilities. Thompson said the department's operations team is working closely with The Geo Group to understand how it occurred and what corrective actions need to be taken. "ODOC is always concerned for the health and safety of those in our care and those incarcerated in contracted facilities," she said. The Geo Group said they were aware of the incident and one officer sustained minor injuries during the incident. "The health and safety of all those in our care has always been our number one priority, and we have zero tolerance for any acts of violence," a spokesperson said. Thompson said the number of violent incidents had decreased in state prisons since October, after the department revised its misconduct policy and took strategic moves to house certain security threat groups together, which reduces the violence between gangs. Barnes said she was first notified from inmates the facility was on lockdown on Friday evening. She said inmates didnt eat until about 1 a.m. because of the lockdown. Barnes said people inside the facility told her they think the fight was deliberate because the two gangs are not supposed to share the same space. This is considered a mini riot because it was more than 30 people involved and more than 30 people hurt, Barnes said. DOC is letting this stuff go on, and something needs to be done. The incident drew a harsh rebuke from state Rep. Justin Humphrey, who heads the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee. Humphrey has been critical of the management of the corrections system and previously has called for policy changes to better protect both DOC staff and inmates. Rep. Justin Humphrey talks Monday about what is on a report. An Oklahoma House committee holds a hearing later this month about a former Oklahoma Department of Corrections employee who raised concerns about how the agency handled allegations that guards illegally had sex with inmates. "I am very disappointed that the Department of Corrections has ignored the overwhelming evidence that our prison system is primed for disaster," Humphrey said. "I have been publicly warning how the violence in Oklahoma prisons has been escalating. Just this week we have a prior report of a stabbing at Lawton, a stabbing at Hinton resulting in death and a stabbing at Holdenville. Now we have a report of a possible riot with reports of multiple injuries and possible three deaths. I hope the governor and our legislators will take notice and take proper actions to prevent more lives from (being) lost." Humphrey said it was time for state officials to declare a state of emergency within the corrections system. The killings are the latest in a number of violent incidents at the Lawton facility, which is owned by The Geo Group. Last October, inmate Raymond Bailey was attacked and killed at the LCRC. Bailey's body, which wasn't discovered for hours, was found in a garbage bin covered by a plastic bag with four small milk cartons tossed on top. Both the Lawton Correctional Facility and the Allen Gamble Correctional Center in Holdenville (formerly Davis Correctional Center) reported eight homicides during the past five years, those numbers are the highest in the state system which continues to struggle with inmate violence. Records obtained from the corrections department show at least 29 inmates died by homicide from 2019 to 2023. Corrections Department officials said Saturday they were waiting for the medical examiners office to determine the official cause of death for another 28 inmates who died in 2023. Homicide is the fourth-leading cause of inmate death in Oklahoma prisons, excluding executions. Corrections Department officials previously said that staffing levels aren't causing prison violence. They attribute homicides and injuries to gang activity and contraband, something they say they are working hard to reduce. Those efforts include revised policies and procedures, new technology, regular sweeps of inmate cells, and separating rival gang members have eased the risk and located weapons, drugs and cellphones. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Two inmates killed at Lawton prison, more than 20 injured The Talkeetna spur road leading into community's downtown district is seen on March 9, 2024, with Denali and other Alaska Range mountains in the backdrop. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) The Talkeetna spur road leading into community's downtown district is seen on March 9, 2024, with Denali and other Alaska Range mountains in the backdrop. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) On Saturday, the Alaska Beacon will mark the second anniversary of its May 11, 2022, launch. Just like this week, the launch week was the last of the legislative session, and the Beacon connected from Day One with Alaskans thirsty to know more about their state government. Since then, the four-person staff has made it their business to keep Alaskans informed about what Alaska politicians are doing and why they are doing it. Theres been a lot of talk about the future effect of artificial intelligence on news and other industries. The Beacon looks forward to making use of AI tools. But AI-driven computers dont know which public records are most vital to track down. They dont ask elected officials questions they dont want asked. And they wont put in the time getting to know Alaskans across the state. The Alaska Beacon does and will continue to do so. The Beacon journalists arent the only Alaskans that make the Beacon happen. The readers who value independent and illuminating state-level journalism support the Beacons work through donations. Reader donations assist in purchasing the equipment the Beacon staff needs to bring readers to the scene of government action, including the photo lens reporter James Brooks uses inside the Capitol in Juneau. Thats the lens I use every day to document the Legislature, and without that, Id be reduced to using my own cell phone to take pictures, he said. The Alaska House of Representatives is seen in action on Thursday, May 2, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) In a state where internet connections even in some urban areas can be slow, Beacon supporters have also made a difference. In the past two weeks, a mobile hotspot device allowed Beacon reporters in Juneau to report and file stories quickly. Weve used it to connect to the internet when cruise ship traffic has made the connection we have in the Capitol too slow to work on our stories, senior reporter Claire Stremple said. The support of people inside and outside Alaska make it possible for Beacon reporters to report on this massive state. For example, Claire recently visited Ben Eielson Junior-Senior High School near North Pole to report first-hand about the impact of the schools impending closure on the community. And reporter Yereth Rosen has made multiple trips to Utqiagvik, Fairbanks and Juneau, allowing the Beacon to have three reporters in the Capitol during crucial periods of the legislative session. Experience has taught her how vital it is to report in person. Its so expensive, but you have to go theres no substitute for being there in person and seeing things on the ground. And especially in rural areas, Yereth said. You know, you cant do everything by phone, you have to actually see things. You have to see permafrost crumbling; to really understand that you have to talk to people in person, and we cant always expect them to come to you. And Alaska is not like a state where we can just go drive and take a day trip, and see all we need to see and come back home. Alaska Beacon staff members James Brooks, Yereth Rosen, Andrew Kitchenman and Claire Stremple hold up the 13 awards the staff won in the Alaska Press Clubs 2023 contest, on April 20, 2024 in Anchorage. (Photo by 49th State Brewing staff) Reader support doesnt just help inform those who visit the Beacons website. Many readers find Beacon content in other news sources they trust, including daily and weekly newspapers, as well as public media and radio stations. When the Beacon staff does its reporting, it helps other news organizations stretch their reporting to accomplish more. Undergirding the Alaska Beacons service to Alaska is the support of its national parent nonprofit, States Newsroom. The organization recently marked having a presence in all 50 states, including 39 outlets like the Beacon directly operated by States Newsroom and 11 partners that share their content. Just next week, Alaska Beacon readers will be able to learn about the last actions of this legislative session. And for the six months after that, the Beacon staff will help readers understand 50 legislative races, two statewide ballot measures and a U.S. House race thats expected to be hotly contested. Please consider donating to support the Alaska Beacon. And spread the word about the value of subscribing to The Morning Light, the Beacons free daily email newsletter. With reader support, the success of the Alaska Beacons last two years can continue for the next two years and many more beyond. Thank you, Andrew Kitchenman, editor-in-chief SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE The post Two years in, the Alaska Beacon is going strong appeared first on Alaska Beacon. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hosting public meeting in Buxton for new project BUXTON, N.C. (WAVY) The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the help of Dare County Board of Commissioners, is inviting the Buxton community to a public meeting Tuesday, May 14, at 6 p.m. in the Fessenden Center, located at 46830 N.C. Highway 12 in Buxton, North Carolina. The meeting provides an opportunity the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers team to meet with the community to discuss the process, the limitations, and the way forward for the Formerly Used Defense Site at the former Naval Facility on Buxton Beach. Col. Ron Sturgeon will open the meeting and discuss the FUDS Program, as well as the property at Buxton, updating attendees on the plans. At the end of the briefings, attendees are welcome to ask questions. The meeting is set to end at 8 p.m. Check with WAVY.com for more updates. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lights a candle during a ceremony marking the Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Knesset. Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO/dpa The United Arab Emirates (UAE) lashed out on Saturday at a suggestion from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to join a potential civil administration in the post-war Gaza Strip. Netanyahu suggested in a recent interview that a civilian administration with Gazans and possibly with the aid of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries could run Gaza after the war. On Saturday, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed said his country denounces Netanyahu's call, adding that Gaza is currently under Israeli occupation. "The State of Emirates stresses that the Israeli prime minister has no legitimate capacity authorizing him to take this step," the Emirati official said in an Arabic post on X. "The [UAE] state rejects being drawn into any plan aimed to provide cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip," he added. The UAE became the first Gulf state to establish diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020. But the wealthy country has repeatedly criticized Israel's ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Earlier this week, the UAE condemned Israel's control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing, an operation that has halted humanitarian aid deliveries via the facility into the heavily populated strip. Israel has been bombarding Gaza for months, since Hamas militants launched unprecedented bloody attacks on Israel in October last year that included civilian massacres. Excellent, magnificent, fantastic! All of these superlatives (and more) describe Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) performance in recent years as it has delivered market-crushing returns and strong regulatory progress. Though the stock might peak eventually, we aren't there yet, as the pharmaceutical giant proved with its latest quarterly update. There remains substantial upside for Eli Lilly, and given its prospects, it's hard to pass up on the drugmaker. Strong financial results Eli Lilly is still riding the wave of brand-new approvals. Diabetes treatment Mounjaro earned the green light about two years ago; Zepbound, an obesity medicine, was launched late last year as were cancer therapy Jaypirca and Omvoh, a treatment for ulcerative colitis. The drugmaker also has older products that are still driving top-line growth. Those include immunosuppressant Taltz and cancer drug Verzenio. With a lineup that deep -- and the adverse effects of coronavirus-related sales gone -- it's no surprise that Eli Lilly is delivering strong financial results. In the first quarter, the company's revenue increased by 26% year over year to $8.8 billion. Eli Lilly's adjusted earnings per share of $2.58 was 59% higher than the year-ago period. Of note, Eli Lilly did encounter some issues during the quarter. The company had trouble meeting demand for Zepbound, which experienced shortages. Eli Lilly is working on increasing its manufacturing capacity. It expects the most significant production increases in the second half of the year, something that should eventually positively affect revenue growth. Several catalysts on the way Eli Lilly should see more clinical progress in the next year. It recently reported positive results from two phase 3 clinical trials for tirzepatide (the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound) in treating sleep apnea in people with obesity. That's one more indication that could meaningfully move the needle for a medicine that looks unstoppable. The drugmaker also resubmitted an application for lebrikizumab as a treatment for atopic dermatitis in the U.S. after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) flagged manufacturing issues with the medicine when first evaluating it for approval last year. Then there is donanemab, Eli Lilly's potential therapy for Alzheimer's disease (AD) that the FDA is currently considering. An approval here could jolt the stock price given that AD therapies have been difficult to develop. However, donanemab's situation looks tricky. The FDA decided to delay the review process while requesting help from an independent panel. It's not unusual for the agency to request the advice of outside experts, especially in the field of AD, which has been incredibly hard to navigate for drugmakers and regulators. Story continues However, the timing of this decision by the FDA was unusual. It happened right before the FDA's stated PDUFA goal date (the latest that it was supposed to complete the review), and the agency had to delay ruling on the matter to wait for the committee's decision. At the very least, it indicates that the FDA likely has concerns regarding Eli Lilly's application -- specifically, the design of the clinical trial it used to support donanemab's efficacy. Could the health regulatory body deliver bad news regarding donanemab to Eli Lilly? The medicine's safety and efficacy both seemed reasonable in the late-stage study the company used to support its request for approval. At worst, the FDA might request an additional study, which would certainly complicate matters for Eli Lilly. But even without donanemab, the drugmaker will be fine -- in fact, better than fine. Its lineup is incredibly deep, and its pipeline is equally exciting. Analysts expect the company's earnings per share to grow by an average of almost 54% in the next five years (those are incredibly strong projections for a pharma giant), while the company's dividends have doubled in the past five years. These are all reasons Eli Lilly is a no-brainer pharmaceutical stock to buy. Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now? Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, 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 Eli Lilly wasnt one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $543,758!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of May 6, 2024 Prosper Junior Bakiny has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 No-Brainer Growth Stock to Buy and Hold was originally published by The Motley Fool Police clash with pro-Palestinian protesters last week after an order to disperse was given at UCLA. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) UCLA Chancellor Gene Block is facing faculty calls for his resignation and motions of no confidence and censure as criticism mounts against his leadership in the wake of a violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters and a sweeping police takedown of their encampment that resulted in more than 200 arrests last week. Representatives of the 3,800-member UCLA Academic Senate made up of tenured and tenure-track faculty are preparing to vote on separate motions for censure and no-confidence, both stating that Block "failed to ensure the safety of our students and grievously mishandled the events of last week." The vote was scheduled for Friday but has been postponed to next week. The vote has no legal power to force action, but it marks a grave moment for Block. The leader of the nation's top public research university is completing the final months of his 17-year tenure, after steering the Westwood campus through a financial crisis and global pandemic to reach new heights by expanding enrollment, diversity, philanthropy and research funding. Last year, Block announced he planned to step down on July 31 and return to faculty research. Other university leaders also have been criticized for their handling of campus protests, sparked last October when Hamas militants launched a deadly surprise attack on Israel and Israel retaliated with a massive bombardment of Gaza. Earlier this week, USC's Academic Senate voted to censure the universitys president, Carol Folt, and provost, Andrew Guzman, after the widely criticized decision to cancel the valedictorian's commencement speech due to unspecified "threats" and controversy over an aggressive police takedown of a pro-Palestinian encampment. Read more: USC's faculty senate censures President Carol Folt and provost over commencement UCLA declined to comment on the upcoming faculty vote. Three weeks of turmoil at UCLA started April 25, when students set up an encampment in the campus' grassy quad to express solidarity with Palestinians, condemn Israel's actions in Gaza and demand that UCLA divest from firms that make and deliver weapons and services to Israel. The encampment was initially free of violence, with protesters engaged in teach-ins, art builds, yoga and other activities. Many of us have personally witnessed the vibrant, respectful and highly disciplined learning [at the encampment], Chicano Studies department chair Charlene Villasenor Black said. And university administration have gotten it wrong every time. But UCLA Police Chief John Thomas said he advised campus leadership against allowing the encampment, as it violated rules against overnight camping. Inna Faliks, a professor of piano, said she and some other Jewish campus members felt targeted by protest chants, graffiti of expletives against Jews and blocked access to public walkways and buildings. UCLA declared the encampment unlawful on April 30. Later that night, a violent mob attacked the encampment and students were left to fend for themselves against beatings, pepper spray and fireworks for three hours. Law enforcement in riot gear moved in during the early morning of May 1, but it took hours to quell the violence. Police later took down the encampment and arrested more than 200 people. Read more: 'Shut it down!' How group chats, rumors and fear sparked a night of violence at UCLA Since then, a number of people have been blamed for the debacle. Before the Academic Senate meeting Friday, more than 900 faculty and staff members throughout the University of California system issued a list of demands. They included a call for Block's resignation; amnesty for students, staff and faculty who participated in the encampment and peaceful protests; university disclosure of all investments and divestment from military weapon production companies. Following the violent and aggressive police sweep of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on May 2, 2024, resulting in more than 200 students, faculty, and staff arrested while peacefully protesting, it has become obvious that Chancellor Block has failed our university, the demand letter said. Faculty who signed the letter represented various departments including those of mathematics, American Indian Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Asian American Studies, history, Chicana/o and Central American Studies, African American Studies, and anthropology. They spoke out about their demands Thursday, joined by a group of volunteer medics representing about 100 UCLA medical students, nurses, residents and emergency medical technicians who raised concerns regarding police brutality and the absence of medical help from the university after the attack. They said more than 150 students were attacked with pepper spray and bear mace, and at least 25 students were hospitalized for head trauma, fractures and severe lacerations. "UCLA Chancellor Gene Blocks and UC President Michael Drakes statements minimize the severity of both the physical and psychological impact of their actions while attempting to justify the force they authorized against their students," a medic said in a statement. Read more: Police report no serious injuries. But scenes from inside UCLA camp, protesters tell a different story When police took down the encampment, medics said, more than a dozen students were evaluated for rubber bullet injuries and others showed contusions and musculoskeletal injuries. "We strongly feel that Chancellor Block endangered the lives of our students, faculty and staff," said Michael Chwe, a political science professor who helped organize the demand letter. Judea Pearl, a computer science professor, said Drake was ultimately responsible for the campus security failures. He said Block should not be blamed for failing to bring in a stronger police presence because he was a "victim" of UC systemwide guidelines that direct campuses to rely first on communication with protesters and bring in law enforcement as a last resort. "He was trying to protect the campus but had to follow the directive ... not to bring in police," Pearl said. Another source, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Block was in an "impossible situation." "It's impossible to square all of the circles of adhering to UC policy, shared governance with faculty and bitterly competing agendas still playing out nationwide," the source said. "To his credit, he's taking swift action on everything that's in his control." Other critics have blamed Thomas, the police chief. Three sources not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that campus leadership, even before the mob attack, had wanted to beef up security and authorized Thomas to bring in external law enforcement to assist UCLA police and private security with as much overtime pay as needed. But he failed to do so, they said, and also did not provide a security plan to campus leadership despite multiple requests. Others said that Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck, who oversaw the police department and Office of Emergency Management at the time of the mob attack, should step aside. Previous lapses are now being scrutinized, including his responsibility for not stopping the LAPD from using the UCLA-leased Jackie Robinson Stadium as a staging area for action against Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020 which Block, Beck and others called a mistake and a violation of university values. Beck's duties also include management of Bruin Woods, the university's Lake Arrowhead facility, where two counselors alleged they were hazed and sexually assaulted by other counselors in 2022. Beck did not respond to requests for comment. Read more: 'Are you a Zionist?' Checkpoints at UCLA encampment provoked fear, debate among Jews There is much debate on campus leading up to the Academic Senate vote. Pearl said a censure and no-confidence vote would send the wrong message to Block's successor to refrain from strong leadership and instead pander to campus political sentiments, which he said would represent a "caving in" to demands to cut business and academic ties with Israel. Chwe, however, said it would signify faculty's strong views that the chancellor must be held responsible for student safety. Drake has announced an external investigation into UCLA's response, which Block says he welcomes as he conducts his own internal review. Drake has helped guide campus protest responses and was in the UCLA command center as law enforcement began taking down the encampment last week. UCLA also has moved swiftly to improve security by creating a new chief safety officer position to 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, is leading the new Office of Campus Safety as associate vice chancellor. Some critics, however, said the move would further "militarize" the campus. UCLA deployed a larger law enforcement presence earlier this week, when campus police arrested 44 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in a parking structure before a planned demonstration. Police said they carried equipment that could be used to unlawfully enter and barricade a building. Some students decried the arrests as harassment and intimidation. Classes were moved online for the rest of the week as a security precaution. Read more: UCLA alleges protesters arrested Monday had tools to barricade buildings Differing opinions among faculty over the universitys response to student protests have created small rifts within departments, according to multiple faculty members. Chwe said they are working to combat misinformation being spread to faculty members surrounding recent events and continue to hold conversations with their colleagues. Its not only about dialogue with the university but also with our colleagues, he said. Caroline Luce, a UCLA historian and member of University Council-American Federation of Teachers, which represents more than 3,000 non-senate faculty and several hundred professional librarians, called the atmosphere for UCLA faculty, particularly those not tenured like lecturers, dicey with lots of risk. There are reputations and interpersonal dynamics in departments that they have to navigate, she said. John Branstetter, a UCLA lecturer in political science, was one of about 10 faculty arrested after police took down the encampment. He said the universitys crackdown on free speech on campus has not only made him fear for his students safety but for his own. I do feel threatened by the general atmosphere that the administration is fostering through this continuing quasi-criminalization of free speech on campus, so I dont know if they will try to get rid of me or the protections I have will be abided by, he said. 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. Ukraine's 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade shot down another Russian Su-25 fighter jet, the unit claimed on May 11. It did not specify where the downing occurred but the brigade is known to be operating in the Avdiivka direction in Donetsk Oblast. Kyiv Independent could not verify the unit's claim. The Su-25 is used to provide close air support for Russian troops on the ground, helping them carry out intense attacks in multiple sections of the eastern front, which covers much of Donetsk Oblast. After it captured the city of Avdiivka in February, Moscow shifted its focus toward Chasiv Yar, an elevated town that potentially opens the way to further advances into the region. Just last week, the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade shot down another Su-25 in Donetsk Oblast. Russia's total losses during the all-out war amount to about 674 aircraft 349 planes and 325 helicopters, Ukraine's General Staff said on the morning of May 11. If confirmed, the latest Su-25 will make it 350 planes. Subscribe to Ukraine Daily newsletter News from Ukraine in your inbox Subscribe Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A fresh wave of invading Russian forces have been contained by the border near Kharkiv, Ukraines military said after Vladimir Putins forces claimed to capture five villages. Moscows troops were being held back in a militarily contested gray zone, a spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of forces told national TV. The enemy is contained in the gray zone, and it is not expanding, Nazar Voloshyn said. The Ukrainian military said reinforcements were sent to the region to help stabilise positions and limit Russias advances after it launched its new offensive on Friday. Artillery, mortar, and aerial bombardments hit more than 30 different towns and villages, killing at least three people and injuring five others, said Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. As of now the enemy keeps pressing in the north of our region, he said. Follow the latest updates below and join the conversation in the comments section 05:03 PM BST Thats all for today Thank you for following our coverage. The key developments from the day were: A fierce battle is underway in the Kharkiv region, with nearly two thousand people forced to evacuate from villages near Russia after Moscow launched a surprise cross-border ground offensive. Vladimir Putins forces have taken five border villages in Ukraines Kharkiv region, its defence ministry has claimed. Russian troops have also taken the village of Keramik in the eastern Donetsk region, where Moscow has made slow but steady advances in recent months. Kharkivs governor Oleh Syniehubov said there was no imminent danger to the regional capital of Kharkiv, Ukraines second largest city. Russia has made tactically significant gains in its offensive along the Russian-Ukraine border in northern Kharkiv Oblast, the Institute for the Study of War has said. A Ukrainian artillery attack hit a restaurant in central Donetsk hosting a party celebrating the 10th anniversary of an illegal referendum to separate from Ukraine. A Russian fighter aircraft accidentally released a FAB-500 munition on a civilian area in Belgorod, Russia, on May 4, according to the UKs Ministry of Defence. Latvia will soon provide Kyiv with domestically-produced drones and radar systems, Ukraines ambassador to the country has said. 03:54 PM BST Latvia to provide Ukraine with drones and radar systems Latvia will soon provide Kyiv with domestically-produced drones and radar systems, Ukraines ambassador to the country has said. In an interview with Ukrinform reported by the Kyiv Independent, Anatolii Kutsevol, said military-technical cooperation between Ukrainian and Latvian businesses was increasing. I think that over time we will have more media reports about the transfer of drones and radar defense systems manufactured in Latvia to Ukraine, he said. There are other areas of cooperation, but they cannot be named now for security reasons, he added. Latvia has been one of Ukraines staunchest supporters since the outbreak of the full-scale war and annually allocates 0.25 per cent of its GDP to provide military aid to Ukraine, amounting to a total of 392 million euros ($419 million). 03:50 PM BST Attack on Donetsk restaurant hit celebration of illegal referendum to separate from Ukraine A Ukrainian artillery attack hit a restaurant in central Donetsk hosting a party celebrating the 10th anniversary of an illegal referendum to separate from Ukraine. Denis Pushilin, the Russia-installed governor of the region which was formally annexed by the Kremlin in 2022, said that three people were killed in the attack. It was a direct hit on the Paradise restaurant in the Kirovsky district of Donetsk, he said. Video showed people sprinting away from a large explosion in central Donetsk. Mr Pushilin also said that the attack was carried out by a Himars, a US long-range artillery gun supplied to Ukraine. Donetsk has been an important administrative and military centre for Russia since its initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and also for its full-scale invasion since 2022. Other missile and rocket strikes on the city have killed Russian and separatist officials meeting at restaurants. 03:14 PM BST Pictured: Missile strike on Donetsk restaurant Employees leave a restaurant building hit by recent shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike - REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko Russian military investigators work in the restaurant hit by recent shelling - REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko 03:08 PM BST Ukrainians flee Lyptsi One 61-year-old woman, Lyubov Nikolaieva, told AFP she had fled the border village of Lyptsi along with her 81-year-old mother. Its impossible to live there, said Ms Nikolaieva, adding that her family stayed there until the last moment. There is constant incoming fire: those guided aerial bombs and mortar shells whistling overhead. It became very scary, she said. 02:19 PM BST No imminent danger in Kharkiv city Kharkivs governor Oleh Syniehubov said there was no imminent danger to the regional capital of Kharkiv, Ukraines second largest city, amid active fighting in the region. He added that there was no need to begin evacuating its roughly 1.3 million inhabitants who continue to live there despite regular missile and drone strikes. We clearly understand what forces the enemy is using in the north of our territory. Certainly, the escalation can grow, the pressure can increase, it can strengthen its military units, its military presence, he said. As of now the enemy keeps pressing in the north of our region. Our forces have repelled nine attacks, he told a news conference. 01:43 PM BST Three killed and eight wounded by strike on restaurant in Donetsk A missile strike on a restaurant in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, killed three people and wounded eight, the head of the regions Russian-backed administration wrote on Telegram. As a result of a direct strike on the Paradise restaurant in Donetsks Kirov district, three civilians were killed: a woman who worked at the restaurant and two diners, Denis Pushilin said, adding that currently we know of eight injured. 01:35 PM BST Report from the frontline Our photographer Simon Townsley is on the frontline. He reports: Weve just visited Kostyantynivka which potentially is next in line should Chasiv Yar fall an increasingly likely prospect. There is an empty feel to the town. No evacuation is taking place, and shops are open, but there are few people in town. Nobody has any real idea what is happening. It is very much a wait-and-see moment. 12:49 PM BST Russian forces contained Russian forces in Kharkiv have been contained and not advanced further, Ukraines military said on May 11, reported by the Kyiv Independent. Speaking to national TV, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of forces, said Moscows troops were being held back in the so-called gray zone, border settlements that lie along the oblasts border with Russia. The enemy is contained in the gray zone, and it is not expanding, he said. 12:01 PM BST Russia has made tactically significant gains Russia has made tactically significant gains in its offensive along the Russian-Ukraine border in northern Kharkiv Oblast, the Institute for the Study of War has said. This is likely the initial phase of an offensive operation north of Kharkiv City that has limited operational objectives but is meant to achieve the strategic effect of drawing Ukrainian manpower and material from other critical sectors of the front in eastern Ukraine, it said. It added that the Russian forces do not seem to be immediately pursuing a large-scale sweeping offensive operation to envelop, encircle, and seize Kharkiv City. 11:46 AM BST Ukrainian school children rehearse for prom This is Kharkiv! Rehearsal for the school prom at 5:30 am this morning. pic.twitter.com/Y7eh7BGxYU Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) May 11, 2024 11:38 AM BST Fierce battle underway in Kharkiv A fierce battle is underway in Kharkiv, with nearly two thousand people forced to evacuate from villages near Russia after Moscow launched a surprise cross-border ground offensive. Russian forces has made advances in the area it was pushed back from nearly two years ago the latest in a series of gains as Ukrainian forces find themselves outgunned and outmanned. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said a fierce battle was under way in Kharkiv, adding: We must disrupt Russian offensive operations and return the initiative to Ukraine. A total of 1,775 people have been evacuated, Kharkiv governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on social media, adding that Russian artillery and mortar attacks had affected 30 settlements over the past 24 hours. The Kharkiv region has been mostly under Ukrainian control since September 2022. 11:25 AM BST Russia says it has taken five villages in Ukraines Kharkiv region Vladimir Putins forces have taken five border villages in Ukraines Kharkiv region, where Russia launched an offensive on Friday, its defence ministry has claimed. In a briefing, the defence ministry said that Russian forces had taken the villages of Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylna and Strilechna, all of which are directly on the border with Russias Belgorod region. The briefing also said that Russian troops had taken the village of Keramik in the eastern Donetsk region, where Moscow has made slow but steady advances in recent months. It comes after Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky said a fierce battle was under way, and evacuated almost 2,000 people. 10:46 AM BST Ukrainian attack kills three at oil depot in Luhansk region 10:27 AM BST Russia accidentally fires on its territory, says MoD A Russian fighter aircraft accidentally released a FAB-500 munition on a civilian area in Belgorod, Russia, on May 4, according to the UKs Ministry of Defence. Thirty houses and 10 cars were damaged, with five individuals requiring hospital care. The Belgorod Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed the explosion and damage on Razdobarkina street, Belgorod without identifying the cause, the MoD said in a post on X. This is not an isolated incident. On 18 February a FAB-250 was reportedly released on Soloti in the Belgorod area which led to the evacuation of 150 residents. Media outlets suggest that such discharges are fairly common with 20 lost munitions accidentally dropped in the Belgorod region alone between March to April 2024. Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine 11 May 2024. Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/fm0UBRirHg #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/H9ld1CzQZ9 Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) May 11, 2024 10:10 AM BST Pictured: Residents evacuate border towns Residents from Vovchansk and nearby villages wait for buses amid an evacuation - Reuters/ Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy Firefighters work at a site of a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv - REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy 09:50 AM BST Its impossible to stay: Ukrainians evacuated from border towns Residents of Ukrainian border towns were evacuated from their homes on Friday, and spoke to Reuters news agency about leaving. We are leaving because we are dying from the Russian world, said Valerii Dubskyi, 60, referring to a Russian concept of extending Moscows influence beyond its borders. It can go to hell, together with (Russian president Vladimir) Putin and their authorities. They are our enemies. They tested all types of weapons on us, except for the nuclear bomb. Dubskyi said he had not eaten for 24 hours. Even fetching well water was impossible under an unending torrent of shelling. During the bombardments, you either rush to the basement or out of the basement, he said. There and back. Groups of evacuees sat on benches clutching handfuls of possessions, tightly packed bags alongside them on the ground. Halyna Ukrainyk, clutching a cat while waiting for her bus, said the shelling started the previous day at about 3 am She and others were confined to a cellar. A street is totally destroyed. Shelling, she said. Its horrible what is going on there. Its impossible to stay there. 09:43 AM BST Ukraine ground force commander expects Russian push ahead of arms supplies The commander of Ukraines ground forces has said he expects the 26-month-old war against Russia to enter a critical phase in the next two months as Moscow tries to exploit delays in supplying weapons to Kyiv. Russia knows that if we receive enough weapons within a month or two, the situation could turn against them, General Oleskander Pavliuk told The Economist magazine. Supplies of US weapons slowed for months while an aid package proposed by president Joe Biden was held up by wrangling in Congress. The measure was passed late last month. President Volodymyr Zelenski said on Friday that Ukraine still needed timely future supplies of key weapons. The Economist said Mr Pavliuk believed Moscow would stay focused on its slow advance through Luhansk and Donetsk regions in the east. Ukraine needed more air defence, he said, and would get a boost with the anticipated delivery of F-16 fighter jets. 09:41 AM BST One killed in Ukrainian drone strike in Russias Belgorod region One man has been killed and another injured after a drone hit a parked truck in the border village of Novostroyevka-Pervaya, according to the governor of Russias Belgorod region. Belgorod borders Ukraines Kharkiv region, and has come under regular attack since Moscow ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in Feb 2022. Separately, Russias defence ministry said on Saturday that it had repelled a string of Ukrainian attacks on its territory, using drones and rocket artillery. In a statement posted on the Telegram messenger app, the ministry said its forces had downed 21 rockets and 16 drones across Russias Belgorod, Kursk and Volgograd regions. 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. Ukraine will get Latvian-made drones and radars Ukraine's ambassador to Latvia Ukraines Ambassador in Latvia Anatolii Kutsevol has said that Latvia will soon be able to send to Ukraine drones and radar defence systems manufactured in Latvia. Source: Anatolii Kutsevol in an interview with Ukrinform Details: Kutsevol said that Latvia never forgets that it has taken on the coordinating role in the Coalition of Drones for Ukraine, in particular when it comes to cooperation between Ukrainian and Latvian firms in the realm of military equipment. "I think that as time passes, we will have more media reports about drones and radar defence systems made in Latvia being sent to Ukraine," Kutsevol said. He also shared details about the Ukraine-Latvia cooperation on producing 155-mm shells. "There are other areas where were cooperating in, but we cant share them now in the light of security concerns," Kutsevol said. He said that Latvia is currently looking for ways to welcome more Ukrainian soldiers for treatment and rehabilitation; the number currently stands at 150-200 soldiers. Kutsevol said that Ukraine has reached a preliminary agreement with the Latvian Health Ministry. Background: Andris Spruds, Latvian Minister for Defence, has said that Ukraines Coalition of Drones might expand. In mid-April, the Latvian government voted to send the first batch of drones to Ukraine as part of the Coalition of Drones initiative. Latvia heads the Coalition of Drones alongside the UK; the coalition was created as part of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (also known as the Ramstein Group). Support UP or become our patron! Ukraine was a magnet for foreign fighters. After 2 bruising years, many are disillusioned or dead. Ukraine's International Legion was born in 2022, a home for foreigners eager to fight Russia. Ukraine said 20,000 signed up, though experts said 4,000 was a more realistic peak figure. In 2024, the legion is depleted by years of harsh reality and casualty rates extreme even for Ukraine. Three days after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a clarion call for "friends of peace and democracy" to join the fight from abroad. Zelensky's International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine (ILDU) was born, echoing the International Brigades that fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. Many answered. Outside Ukraine's embassy in London Business Insider found men lining up to serve. "If they need to shove a rifle in my hands and put me on the front, then that's what they need to do," said one, a nightclub worker. "It's better than sitting with my thumb up my ass." The Legion emerged from these recruits some with military experience, some without. It has been deployed across the front lines in some of the war's toughest battles, where any of its members died. Carl Larson, a US veteran who served in Iraq, spent three months fighting around Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv in the summer of 2022. He told BI his comrades' motivations were mixed. "Many of us were there for the right reasons, to defend democracy," he said. "Lots of others," though, "were there for the wrong reasons: adrenaline junkies, people looking for a surrogate family, or because they had personal problems back home." Studies from in July and September last year by the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) reached a similar conclusion. Some parleyed their postings into fame on social media, issuing impassioned dispatches from the war zone. BI's coverage of the International Legion since its inception found that recruits were a mixed bag of qualified veterans, glory-seekers and people trying to give their often chaotic live meaning but totally unsuitable for a military role in a war zone. In one case, a Legion volunteer from Alabama even defected to Russia. Some volunteers barely lasted a week. A Russian missile strike in March 2022 hit a base near Lviv being used for foreign fighters. According to Ukrainian officials, dozens of Ukrainians were killed and more than 100 foreign volunteers injured, ending their campaigns before they began. Marco Bocchese, assistant professor of international relations at Webster Vienna Private University and an author of the September RUSI study, called the attack a "watershed moment" for many foreign volunteers. Soldiers walk amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 3, 2022. AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File Ukraine originally said 20,000 foreign volunteers had signed up to fight. Bocchese told BI that this figure was "pure propaganda." In January last year, The Washington Post estimated that the figure was likely closer to 3,000. Four experts contacted for this report estimated the May 2024 strength of the legion at between 1,000 and 2,000. Some foreigners have found other homes in the Ukrainian military: in the intelligence services, or in separate Ukrainian units, such as the elite Chosen Company a reconnaissance and assault unit composed of US and Australian volunteers within the 59th Motorized Brigade. This video from 2023 shows the Chosen Company at work: Matteo Pugliese, a researcher at the University of Barcelona who authored the July study, told BI that Ukrainian intelligence coordinates its own branch of foreign volunteers. "This includes three Russian groups, Belarusian units, the Georgian Legion, and Western veterans with better combat skills," he said. All told, this might add another 1,000 or 2,000 soldiers, for a total of 3,000-4,000 foreigners fighting in Ukraine. They are at best a small fraction of Ukraine's 800,000-strong military. Killed in action International fighters proved "more expendable than Ukrainian soldiers for high-risk operations," Pugliese said. Indeed, Larson, who headed a 25-man platoon of legionaries in 2022, said he and his men were a "sacrificial unit." "We were a speed bump," he said. "If the Russians had come, we could have held them up for maybe an hour." Larson said that many foreign volunteers, especially those who had fought in places like the deserts of Iraq, struggled to adapt to both the terrain in Ukraine as well as the weapons used there. "We lost many guys to drones," he said. The Legion's press service declined to comment on its strength, citing security reasons. A spokesman, Oleksandr Shahuri, said that more than 100 nationalities had joined up. A report by Task and Purpose in February of this year concluded that at least 50 of those who died were US citizens, a figure that is likely an undercount. Of those 50, most had served in the US military, including 20+ Army veterans and 12 ex-Marines. There was a Green Beret and a Navy SEAL. Some had conventional military careers, others left after getting into trouble. A US State Department spokesperson said there is no official tally. "Our ability to verify reports of deaths of US citizens in Ukraine is extremely limited," they said. "In addition, not all US citizen deaths may be reported to US authorities. For these reasons, we are unable to provide a definitive number of all US citizens who have been killed." The Legion's future Earlier this year, Zelenskyy issued a decree allowing foreign nationals legally in the country to enter its National Guard. He also proposed legislation making it easier for foreigners defending Ukraine to receive citizenship. That could prove "very enticing" for some foreign volunteers, Bocchese said. "Many want to make Ukraine their future home." In some states, fighting for Ukraine means giving up your freedom back home. Austria, Montenegro, Kosovo, and India made it illegal to join up. "Some will be facing criminal sanctions upon returning home for the fact that they enlisted in a foreign unit," Bocchese said. For that reason, many hope to gain citizenship and "put roots down," said Larson, the US veteran. Ukraine's efforts to draft its own men mean the Legion is "no longer decisive or relevant in strategic terms," Pugliese said. An April 2024 increases payments for Ukrainian volunteers, adds new punishments for draft dodging, and seeks to compel Ukrainian men living abroad to come home. According to Larson, who continues to help recruiters for the Legion, sign-ups have dwindled by two thirds since the flood of March 2022. "Half the signups are from Latin America now," he noted, a big shift. Colombian veterans who joined the Ukrainian armed forces to help fight Russia, seen in Lyman, Ukraine, in January 2024. AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky In the fall of 2023, the Legion began admitting Spanish-speaking applicants, many of whom were inadmissible before, Pugliese told BI. Some had made it in but were mistreated by their officers, he said. The new Bolivar Battalion, for example, was formed by fighters from Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, and Colombia and was is led by a Venezuelan anti-government fighter. Many are former professional soldiers from Colombia, battle-hardened fighting drug cartels and rebel groups in their homeland. Experienced non-commissioned officers can earn four times as much as back home, or even more, the Associated Press reported. Latin Americans "have different motivations from typical Western soldiers," Larson told BI. "They're there for the money." Read the original article on Business Insider Ukraine's Interior Minister comments on work of police in Kharkiv Oblast where Russians advance video Screnshot: video by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine's Interior Minister, has said that teams of the ministry's department in Kharkiv Oblast not only kill the Russians but also evacuate the civilian population. Source: the Ministry of Internal Affairs with reference to Ihor Klymenko Details: The ministry reported that during the fighting in the border hromadas of Kharkiv Oblast, soldiers of the Special Operations Center Omega of the National Guard of Ukraine destroyed at least ten Russian armoured vehicles along with troops, automobiles and special equipment (Hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories). Border guards, along with other soldiers, repelled a number of attacks on different fronts and continue to conduct defensive battles. Quote from Klymenko: "As part of the Security and Defence Forces, the servicemen of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and National Guard of Ukraine are holding their positions and fighting against the Russians. Police officers continue to serve in hromadas that are under fire. During the day, more than 30 war crimes were documented in [the city of] Vovchansk. Now, the police have evacuated more than 300 people. Evacuation measures continue and teams work in tough conditions. The enemy is trying to spread panic among the population, spreading fake news." Background: On 10 May, it was reported that Russian forces had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting taking place there. During a briefing with Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy confirmed that Russian troops had launched a new wave of offensive on the Kharkiv front. Ukraine's Defence Ministry reported that reserve units had been sent to the north of Kharkiv Oblast. On the morning of 11 May, the Russian invaders resumed assault operations near the village of Hluboke in Kharkiv Oblast, and the Defence Forces expect an increase in the number of attacks. Support UP or become our patron! Ukraine's pilots are flying high-risk 'wild-weasel' missions first developed in the Vietnam War by the US Air Force, defense analyst says Ukraine's pilots are flying high-risk 'wild-weasel' missions first developed in the Vietnam War by the US Air Force, defense analyst says Ukrainian pilots fly dangerous "wild-weasel" missions to suppress Russian air defenses. Advanced US-supplied missiles have played a critical role in these missions. The arrival of F-16 fighter jets will help level out Russia's air superiority. Pilots in Ukraine's air force, which is a fraction of the size of Russia's, are using a tactic first deployed by the Vietnam-era US Air Force to contest the skies above the 600-mile frontline. In recent months, videos have emerged that appear to show Ukrainian pilots conducting so-called "wild-weasel" missions. The strategy involves jet pilots luring enemy antiaircraft defenses into targeting them with their radars. The radar waves are then traced back to their source and the Ukrainian pilots retaliate with weapons like the US-made AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missiles, or HARMs, before the Russians can lock onto them with their surface-to-air missiles, or SAMs. Eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 Wild Weasel fires off an AGM-88 HARM towards a Russian radar. pic.twitter.com/5MGYcfaRmt OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 15, 2024 The US has supplied Ukraine with HARMs since 2022, which have provided Ukrainian pilots with suppression of enemy air defenses, or SEAD, and destruction of enemy air defenses, or DEAD, capabilities. New footage showing an early Ukrainian SEAD mission using US-supplied and integrated AGM-88 HARMs. UkrAF Su-27 Flankers would fly at near treetop level behind the front before launching off their HARMs. (Summer 22) pic.twitter.com/IOeu7hzUxW OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) February 8, 2024 The US Air Force pioneered SEAD tactics in the Vietnam War. So-called wild-weasel aircraft were tasked with destroying enemy air-defense radars to clear the way for attack aircraft to fly through. The wild weasels had radar receivers to locate enemy air defenses; they were armed initially with bombs and later with special missiles that could target radar. The term "wild weasel" originated from Project Wild Weasel, a US Air Force anti-SAM strategy that used direct attacks to suppress enemy air defenses, according to the National Museum of the US Air Force. US fighter jets during the Vietnam War. Stuart Lutz/Gado/Getty Images These missions, originally called "Project Ferret" a reference to the small predatory mammal that enters its prey's den to kill it were renamed Project Wild Weasel to not be confused with the code name "Ferret" that was used during World War II for radar countermeasures bombers. HARM is the latest of these air-to-surface missiles: a projectile of about 770 pounds, with a range of around 90 miles. These missiles can locate and strike enemy radar even after the radar systems have been turned off. HARM has been used in wars in Libya, Iraq, and former Yugoslavia, The Economist previously reported. US Marines remove a HARM from a fighter jet. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Anthony N. Hilkowski/Released This experience is being put to use in Ukraine. "Ukraine clearly is learning from Western military thought," Frederik Mertens, a strategic analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, told Business Insider. "Ukraine is putting great emphasis on SEAD and DEAD missions." These missions can be "very dangerous," he said, especially for wild weasels. But the Russian air defenses are a "key target." "This game is worth the candle," Mertens said. He added that Ukraine's tactics "go far beyond the classic wild-weasel missions of anti-radiation missile-equipped aircraft." From special-forces raids to land-launched missiles, "Ukrainians use all weapons, troops, and systems they have at their disposal to suppress and destroy Russian air defenses," Mertens said. Adapting Western weapons for use in Ukraine HARM can be difficult for Ukraine to adopt because its old Soviet-era jets, such as the MIG-29 and the Su-27 fighters, are often incompatible with modern war technology. Last month, William LaPlante, the US under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters at a Washington, DC, conference that Ukraine had been using iPads in an attempt to make Ukrainian jets compatible with Western weapons. He said that Ukraine's aging fighter planes could now take many Western weapons and get them to work on their aircraft because they were "basically controlled by an iPad by the pilot. They're flying it in conflict like a week after we get it to him," he said. Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 Flanker Wild Weasel operations, seen here conducting multiple low level standoff strikes against Russian radars with US-supplied AGM-88 HARMs. pic.twitter.com/7CosjXFNkO OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 21, 2024 Since making the necessary adaptations, Ukrainian pilots have fired hundreds of HARMs at Russian air-defense radar systems. But Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow for airpower and technology at the Royal United Services Institute, told BI that its technique has changed. "While they initially achieved a number of successful kills against Russian SAM systems and radars when first introduced, Russian SAM operators quickly adapted their tactics," Bronk said. Now, HARM launches serve "a suppressive rather than a destructive purpose." When launched, "the missiles force Russian SAM operators to turn off their radars and relocate to avoid being hit by them," he said. "This leaves a short window within which other strike systems like HIMARS rockets or Storm Shadow missiles can get through to nearby targets with much less risk of being intercepted by the Russian SAMs." Awaiting F-16s While modified Soviet-era fighter jets allow the Ukrainian military to use HARM missiles, the modifications mean it can't take full advantage of their features. "It doesn't have all the capabilities that it would on an F-16," Gen. James Hecker, a commander of United States Air Forces in Europe, said previously during a roundtable at the Air Force Association's Air, Space & Cyber conference. The delivery of F-16s will be crucial for increasing Ukrainian air control. An F-16 aircraft. Photo by OLE BERG-RUSTEN/NTB/AFP via Getty Images Earlier this week, Kajsa Ollongren, the Netherlands' defense minister, said during a press briefing in Vilnius, Lithuania, it would start delivering its F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine this fall. Denmark previously said it would begin transferring its aircraft in the summer. "Dealing with Russian GBAD will be crucial to enable future Ukrainian air strikes once the F-16 fighters arrive," Mertens told BI, referring to Russia's ground-based air defense. While the delivery of such a small number of F-16s should not be overestimated, Mertens believes they could significantly impact Crimea. "Crimea is vulnerable. The Russians have relatively limited maneuver space on the peninsula, resupply is dependent on the Kerch bridge, and here Putin has a lot to lose both politically and militarily," he said. "If a limited number of fighters can have a real impact, it is here." Read the original article on Business Insider The Security Service of Ukraine has detained Russian intelligence agents who had been preparing terrorist attacks in Kyiv for 9 May. Source: Artem Dekhtiarenko, spokesman for the Security Service of Ukraine, in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda Details: The Security Service of Ukraine stated that the instigators of the attack were the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). No details are available at this time, but the Security Service promised to provide them later. Quote from Dekhtiarenko: "The Security Service of Ukraine was proactive, the perpetrators of the terrorist attack were caught red-handed and arrested. We have also collected evidence that unequivocally confirms Russian involvement." Support UP or become our patron! Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries may be proving the Biden administration wrong, experts say Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries may be proving the Biden administration wrong, experts say Ukraine has been targeting Russian oil refineries in recent months. The Biden administration has criticized the strikes, warning of global energy price rises. However, some experts say Ukraine should continue the attacks. Here's why. Ukraine has been ramping up attacks on Russian oil refineries in recent months as it seeks to hamper Russian export revenues and curtail fuel supplies to Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces. In one of the latest attacks, Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in Russia's Kaluga region, setting it on fire, the RIA state news agency reported on Friday, per Reuters. Ukraine also hit Gazprom's Neftekhim Salavat oil refinery, one of Russia's largest oil refineries, earlier this week, Radiy Khabirov, the head of Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan, said in a post on Telegram. However, the Biden administration has previously slammed such tactics, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin saying in April that it risked impacting global energy markets and urging Ukraine to shift its focus onto military targets. "Those attacks could have a knock-on effect in terms of the global energy situation," Austin said. "Quite frankly, I think Ukraine is better served by going after tactical and operational targets that can directly influence the current fight." However, some experts believe such criticism is misguided. Writing for Foreign Affairs magazine, Michael Liebreich, the founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and Sam Winter-Levy, a doctoral candidate in political science at Princeton University, argued that Ukrainian strikes on Russian refining facilities would not lead to spikes in global energy prices. The experts said that Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries would only hinder Russia's ability to turn its oil into refined products such as gasoline and would not impact the volume of oil it can extract or export. "In fact, with less domestic refining capacity, Russia will be forced to export more of its crude oil, not less, pushing global prices down rather than up," they added. And such strikes will likely continue to affect those within Russia, where prices for refined products like gas or diesel are soaring meaning Ukraine's attacks are achieving the aims of failed Western economic sanctions, they continued. The West has attempted to impose a number of sanctions on Russia to limit its income from energy, with the US and the UK banning Russian oil and gas and G7 leaders agreeing to set a price cap on Russian crude oil at $60 per barrel. But Russia has largely managed to get around such measures, with its Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, saying in December last year that Russia had shifted almost all of its oil exports to China and India. Russia's oil revenue in April more than doubled year on year, Bloomberg reported, highlighting its success in rediverting operations. Its total oil and gas revenue for the month hit 1.23 trillion rubles, up almost 90% from April last year, per the report. Reuters reported in April that Russia also appeared to be able to quickly repair some of the key refining facilities affected by Ukrainian strikes, reducing impacted capacity to roughly 10% from nearly 14% at the end of March, per the agency's calculations. Ukraine has since launched a series of new attacks on refining sites, however, and it is as yet unclear how these have affected Russia's repair efforts. Read the original article on Business Insider This article takes a look at the 15 best places in Montana for a couple to live on only Social Security. If you wish to skip our detailed analysis on Un-retiring and choosing the Big Sky Country, you may go to 5 Best Places in Montana for A Couple to Live On Only Social Security. On Unretiring It is no secret that the retirement landscape for todays retirees has drastically changed. Changing retirement realities indicate that seniors no longer have the luxury of retiring to their dream abode at a predetermined age. In fact, a recent survey conducted by F&G Annuities & Life, Inc. (NYSE:FG) reveals that 44% of US retirees or former retirees have either returned or are considering returning to work. Moreover, 64% of those who haven't yet retired are considering or have already taken action toward a retirement delay. "Many retirees either choose to work or need work to be included in their retirement lifestyle. The decision can have many powerful positive effects, not least of which is financial well-being." - Judith Ward, CFP, a thought leadership director at T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW). The primary concern for retirees today is how inflation is lessening the value of their savings and how rising prices have been making it difficult for them to save altogether. A retirement study by Schroders, an asset management company, reveals how only 44% of Americans believe they have saved enough for retirement. The more pressing revelation, however, is that 24% of respondents are unsure and 32% are convinced that they do not have adequate savings. 89% of the respondents in the Schroders 2024 US Retirement Survey are also concerned that inflation has lessened the value of their assets, 85% are worried about the higher-than-expected healthcare costs, while 76% fear that a major market downturn may significantly reduce their assets. "Whether it's a trip to the gas station, grocery store, or pharmacy, prices in the U.S. have increased noticeably in recent years, and that is particularly challenging for retirees living on fixed income sources". - Deb Boyden, Head of U.S. Defined Contribution at Schroders What we gather from these findings is simple: retirees have little to their names and are scared for their future. A study by T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) affirms this notion, stating that 64% of baby boomers have moderate to high levels of stress regarding their retirement savings. Sadly, the T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) study also reveals how more than 38% of these respondents over 50 dont have enough money saved, the most prominent obstacle towards their journey in starting retirement planning. "Amid inflation, changing workforce dynamics post-COVID, and overall generational shifts, Americans are rethinking retirement and extending their time working or, for some retirees, unretiring altogether -Chris Blunt, President & CEO of F&G Annuities & Life, Inc. (NYSE:FG) Choosing The Big Sky Country Whether it's BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK), F&G Annuities & Life, Inc. (NYSE:FG), or T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW), findings revolving around retirement paint a picture that is more or less the same. Many retirees are in turn choosing a new kind of retirement, the kind where they receive their Social Security checks and work either part, or full-time. Retirement settings like these are increasingly helping retirees settle down to their dream destinations or places where they can be close to friends and family. In turn, sound financial planning and adequate homework can even help them retire to places on their Social Security checks. Yes, it is possible to live on just Social Security, provided youve done your homework. For couples who are solely reliant on their social security checks, some of the best states to retire on Social Security include Mississippi, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Iowa. These states offer the best combination of tax-friendliness and cost of living, which is why its easier to survive on a smaller retirement income. You can live comfortably on your Social Security checks in most cities and towns of these states, stretching your retirement income even further. While the above are all promising options to choose for a sound retirement, not everyone has the heart or resources to move to these states. In turn, they choose to retire to where they've lived their entire lives, a process known as "Aging in Place". One such state many retirees are choosing for their retirement is that of Montana. In our previous study, Montana came at number 17 in our list of worst states to retire for cost of living and taxes. While the cost of living isn't that crazy high in the state, a mere 3% higher than the national average, it is the taxes that are one of the cons of retiring to Montana. The moderately tax-friendly state of Montana is one of the few states that still tax Social Security in 2024. However, retiring to Montana isnt all bad news. The Treasure State is one of the few states that doesnt have a general sales tax. Other pros of retiring to Montana include its natural beauty, featuring breathtaking landscapes, forests, and national parks. Retirees who wish to lead active lives will love it here for the countless recreational activities it offers them. The state is also regarded for its good quality healthcare, an important prerequisite for retirees when choosing a destination to settle. All in all, many retirees live quite happily in the state of Montana and are making it work. If you have a small retirement income and wish to live here, continue reading to find out some of the best places in Montana for a couple to live on only Social Security. 15 Best Places in Montana for A Couple to Live On Only Social Security Pixabay/Public Domain Methodology To compile the list of best places in Montana for a couple to live on only Social Security, we have used several lists of our own including best places to retire in Montana, external sources such as Movoto and World Atlas, and forums such as Reddit and Quora. A consensus approach was used to list down all the best places in Montana for a couple to live on only Social Security. Next, these places were ranked on their cost of living index, livability scores, average rents (2 bedrooms), and median home prices. Livability scores have been taken from Area Vibes, rents are from Zillow and Zumper, while home prices are from Redfin and Realtor. Places were scored and summed up to generate a unique Insider Monkey score. The top 15 places are presented below. 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 a professional one looking for the best stocks to buy, you can benefit from the wisdom of hedge funds and corporate insiders. Here are the best places in Montana for a couple to live on only Social Security: 15. Townsend Insider Monkey Score: 12 IM Cost of Living Index: 96.1 Livability Score: 72 Average Rent: $1,719 Median Home Price: $645,000 The welcoming community of Townsend offers retirees a cost of living 3.9% lower than the national average. While home values are expensive, seniors living on their Social Security checks can choose to rent here. 14. Troy Insider Monkey Score: 18 IM Cost of Living Index: 91.5 Livability Score: 65 Average Rent: $1,322 Median Home Price: $589,000 Troy isnt just a retiree-favorite for its affordability, but also entices retirees with its scenic beauty. This hidden gem is located in proximity to the Kootenai River and surrounding natural forests, offering everything from fly fishing to camping for seniors. 13. Helena Insider Monkey Score: 26 IM Cost of Living Index: 98.6 Livability Score: 80 Average Rent: $1,116 Median Home Price: $625,000 Next on our list of best places in Montana for a couple to live on only Social Security is Helena. Helena offers retirees a good quality of life owing to its low population density, laid-back atmosphere, and affordable cost of living. 12. Billings Insider Monkey Score: 27 IM Cost of Living Index: 95.8 Livability Score: 77 Average Rent: $1,356 Median Home Price: $454,900 Situated in southern Montana on the Yellowstone River, Billings is best known for its good quality healthcare system, affordable cost of living, and access to recreational areas in proximity. 11. Big Timber Insider Monkey Score: 29 IM Cost of Living Index: 92.4 Livability Score: 78 Average Rent: $1,400 Median Home Price: $587,000 This senior-friendly town is one of the most affordable places to retire in Montana. Seniors can explore the historic Crazy Mountain Museum or unwind amidst the natural beauty of Natural Bridge Falls. 10. Dillon Insider Monkey Score: 31 IM Cost of Living Index: 87.0 Livability Score: 70 Average Rent: $1,041 Median Home Price: $469,000 Also featured on our list of best places to retire in Montana, Dillon is the ideal place for seniors looking to live a laid-back, slow-paced life. 9. Lewistown Insider Monkey Score: 34 IM Cost of Living Index: 84.5 Livability Score: 67 Average Rent: $918 Median Home Price: $589,000 Next on our list of best places in Montana for a couple to live on only Social Security is the agricultural community of Lewistown. Living in Lewistown means having access to mountains, rivers, lakes, and streams that offer abundant activities for seniors. 8. Libby Insider Monkey Score: 36 IM Cost of Living Index: 92.0 Livability Score: 73 Average Rent: $950 Median Home Price: $368,000 Huddled in the heart of the Kootenai National Forest, having the Kootenai River running through it, the city of Libby is another sight for sore eyes. Couples can manage to live on their Social Security checks due to its affordable rents and cost of living. 7. Havre Insider Monkey Score: 44 IM Cost of Living Index: 86.4 Livability Score: 71 Average Rent: $804 Median Home Price: $295,000 This Montana gem has been nicknamed the crown jewel of the Hi-Line. Serving as its gateway, seniors love Havre for its mountains and plains, and all the year-round activities they bring along. 6. Roundup Insider Monkey Score: 44 Cost of Living Index: 86.1 Livability Score: 74 Average Rent: $900 Median Home Price: $385,000 This city in Musselshell County is a close-knit community offering numerous recreational activities for seniors. The cost of living here is 13.9% lower than the national average, placing it at number six on our list of best places in Montana for a couple to live on only Social Security. Click to continue reading and see the 5 Best Places in Montana for A Couple to Live On Only Social Security. Suggested Articles: Disclosure: none. 15 Best Places in Montana for A Couple to Live On Only Social Security is originally published on Insider Monkey. A Russian Su-25 jet has been destroyed. Photo: the 110th Separate Mechanised Brigade named after Lieutenant General Marko Bezruchko Ukrainian soldiers from the 110th Separate Mechanised Brigade have shot down a Russian Su-25 attack aircraft on the Avdiivka front. Source: 110th Separate Mechanised Brigade named after Lieutenant General Marko Bezruchko Quote: "Russian aircraft continue to fall. The anti-aircraft gunners of the 110th Brigade have done a great job again. They hit another Su-25 today. The invaders still haven't realised that they have no business flying in our skies. They will keep going down." Background: Exactly one week ago, on 4 May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the 110th Separate Mechanised Brigade had shot down a Russian Su-25 attack aircraft in Donetsk Oblast. Support UP or become our patron! A view of a camp for internally displaced Palestinians near the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa Some 150,000 Gazans have fled from Rafah since the start of the week, fearing an Israeli advance into the city, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) posted on X on Saturday. However, the Israel Defense Forces say an estimated 300,000 people had followed the evacuation orders since the beginning of the week, in a statement that could not be independently verified. Israel has now expanded its calls on residents of Rafah to include those in the centre and other parts of the city, telling them to move to the town of Al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast. The army seems set to expand its operation to eliminate Palestinian militant Islamist Hamas, though calls are growing louder to desist, including from the UN and the United States, Israel's main backer. Families are packing their belongings all over the city, an UNRWA employee wrote on X. "The streets are much emptier." UNRWA says 110,000 Palestinians had left the city on the border with Egypt by the previous day. Some 300,000 people are affected by Israel's latest evacuation orders, which also cover areas in other parts of the coastal strip, UNRWA says. A view of a camp for internally displaced Palestinians near the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa After weeks of threats, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., failed earlier this week. The majority of representatives sided against her, choosing to reject her efforts in order to prevent the House from falling into what several called chaos. As Greene spoke on the floor about her call for a vote on the motion to vacate the chair, many lawmakers booed her. The Georgia Republican pushed back: This is the uniparty, for the American people watching. This term uniparty originally surfaced in a 1944 editorial in a Pennsylvania newspaper in reaction to fabricated news that Franklin D. Roosevelts Republican rival in the 1940 election was handpicked by his adviser Harry Hopkins, according to Politico Magazine. In the modern day, its used by some members in the Republican Conference to imply Democrats and Republicans are working together and against the interests of the American people. Sen. Mike Lee told the Deseret News he uses the word most frequently in the context of spending bills, including the most recent $95 billion foreign aid supplemental package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Typically, these bills, largely unvetted by the public and lawmakers, are introduced on the House floor, and this almost mysterious force, steps in and unifies enough members of both houses and local political parties to support them, he said. More recently, Lee said he saw another instance of this uniformity, when Congress took on the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. After encouraging calls from Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, lawmakers passed it without an amendment requiring intelligence agencies to get a warrant to spy on Americans after calls from Democratic and Republican congressional leaders to do so. I heard someone say that sometimes the battle really isnt about left versus right, about liberal versus conservative, about Democrats versus Republicans. Sometimes the battle was about Washington, D.C., versus everyone else, he said. Lee clarified that bipartisanship is still important and he routinely works with Democrats. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was in a meeting with Pramila Jayapal on the House side, and shes a member of the squad, he said. It would be a mild understatement to say that she and I dont always agree on everything. The Utah senator said he and Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, managed to find common ground: FISA reform. But, he said, theres a difference between bipartisanship and uniformity. Very often the uniformity is marked by a collusive agreement between the elected leaders of the two political parties in the two chambers, Lee said. He said Utah voters often ask him why their elected officials are voting in favor of a bill they previously opposed. These questions inspired his efforts to teach the masses about the uniparty phenomena in creative ways. On May 2, Lee said he was attaching the symbol of the unicorn to the uniparty. While other options exist, none get the job done like this one, he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Its a symbol. Its a nickname. Its the Uniparty Unicorn. In a separate post, he came up with a Haiku, a Japanese poem with seventeen syllables. Unicorns are nuts. They steal the souls of many. Sapping our freedom, Lee wrote. Another Haiku from May 1, said, Printing money fast. Unipartys grip tightens. Americans pay. He said he has always been intrigued by the Haiku style and likes using different ways of getting the point across. But, as Lee says, not every effort to reach across the aisle is evidence of a grand collusion. In many cases, it can represent different areas of agreement, and the different points of view held by members of the same party. When the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards in late April asked Republican Rep. John Curtis, who represents Utahs 3rd District, his thoughts on the idea of a uniparty, he called it hypocrisy to criticize bipartisanship, especially when a handful of GOP lawmakers relied on House Democrats to strip former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., of his gavel last year. Matthew Burbank, a political science professor at the University of Utah, said given the maneuvering Johnson had to go through to pass several foreign aid bills, the use of the word could feel justified if American politics wasnt as highly polarized as it is now. If you go back to the 80s, the 70s or the 60s, the American party distinctions were just not nearly as sharp and clear ... as they are today, he said. U.S. voters also think there are greater differences between the two parties, as evident through polling, said Burbank, adding he doesnt think the word describes the reality of politics. As far as he can tell, its designed to be a pejorative term against so-called Washington insiders. Demonstrations continued and new encampments were erected at universities across the country as commencement ceremonies took place Saturday following weeks of pro-Palestinian protests that have led to nearly 3,000 arrests, according to an NBC News tally. Dozens of students walked out of the Virginia Commonwealth University ceremony Saturday morning as Gov. Glenn Youngkin delivered the commencement address, video posted on X showed. After several people were arrested last week at the school as police dismantled encampments on college campuses, VCU said on its website ahead of commencement that disruptions at the ceremony were strictly prohibited. But student groups, including the VCU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, moved forward with a silent walkout to protest Youngkins policies and his role in the arrests of pro-Palestinian student protesters in April. On Saturday, students dressed in caps and gowns quietly marched toward the back of the Greater Richmond Convention Center, prompting some people in the crowd to erupt in cheers. The Commonwealth Times, the universitys student newspaper, said in a post on X that the walkout was in protest of Gov. Glenn Youngkin appearing as the keynote speaker. Other footage posted on X showed a group of people, including some graduates, outside the convention center chanting and holding signs, including one that read, No graduation as usual. Palestinian insignia in a graduate. (Ryan Sun / AP) Attendees who left the convention center after the ceremony began would not be allowed to re-enter, the school said. The university declined to comment Saturday. The University of Southern California in Los Angeles has held weeklong commencement events after canceling its main stage ceremony due to safety concerns over student protests. It also scrapped Muslim student Asna Tabassums valedictorian speech after complaints about pro-Palestinian content on her Instagram page from at least two pro-Israel and Jewish groups. USC Provost Andrew Guzman said they canceled Tabassums speech because of safety concerns amid tensions related to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Tabassum, who said the universitys decision was thinly veiled racism, walked the stage in a commencement ceremony Friday night and received loud applause from students and spectators, the Los Angeles Times reported. Joel Curran, senior vice president of communications, told the newspaper that the ceremony was joyful, celebratory, with no disruptions. Also on Saturday, students waved Palestinian flags at Claremont College's Pitzer College graduation ceremony in Claremont, California, video posted to social media shows. Students wearing "keffiyeh stoles" handed the flags to President Strom Thacker as they shook his hand after receiving their diplomas. Protests disrupted commencement ceremonies on Friday and Saturday at the University of California, Berkeley. As Sydney Roberts, the school's student body president, addressed her fellow graduates Saturday, a group of people in the crowd began chanting. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that soon after, about 20 students stood up and waved signs and Palestinian flags while chanting Free Palestine! Security guards escorted them to the back of the venue, according to the news outlet. About 300 other graduates then got up and moved to a section of the venue and began chanting, prompting some people to counter-chant Kick them out, the Chronicle reported. During Fridays ceremony, there was a similar disruption when students removed their gowns to reveal white shirts with UC Divest written on them at UC Berkeleys law school graduation, according to the Chronicle. The university responded Friday, saying in a statement that the interruption "did not impact the proceedings, prevent us from honoring the hard work and accomplishments of our students, or necessitate the premature conclusion of our ceremony. The University of Pennsylvanias Wharton Executive MBA Program, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Texas at Austin will hold ceremonies throughout Saturday. Officers in riot gear descended on the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia at dawn on Friday to arrest and remove demonstrators who defied earlier orders to disperse. Police said nine of those arrested were students while the other 24 had no affiliation with the school. Like other universities, the schools implemented additional safety measures and said disruptions would not be tolerated. Officials at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said graduates had to present their student ID card to enter Kenan Stadium and reminded students of free speech laws and policies that include a range of disciplinary actions for those who substantially interfere with another persons protected free speech. This includes protests that limit the ability of others to hear a speaker, the school said on its website. The University respects the rights of peaceful protesters. While anyone including students, faculty and staff may gather and exercise their rights to free speech, state law and the Board of Governors policy prohibit significant disruption of University operations. The school which has seen several campus protests and subsequent arrests warned that anyone who does not comply will be subject to arrest. Hours before Saturday evening's graduation ceremony, some pro-Palestinian demonstrators defaced a campus building with red paint and chalk amid a protest, WRAL reported. Protesters left red handprints with messages that said "UNC has blood on its hands" and covered the South Building's steps in red paint. A new encampment was also erected Saturday on UNC's campus, WRAL reported, featuring tents and protesters holding signs that said "Stop Genocide" and "End the Siege." Earlier Saturday, protesters held a "people's graduation" for students who were suspended following a different protest two weeks ago, according to WRAL. University of Texas at Austin President Jay Hartzell, who has been under fire from faculty and students for calling in state troopers to arrest protesters, said in a video message that the 2024 class of about 10,800 graduates deserves to have a commencement but warned that there will be no tolerance for any disruption to your special and hard-earned achievement. UT would not say if it was increasing security ahead of the celebration and issued a detailed guideline on its clear-bag policy and what items would be strictly prohibited. Brian Davis, UTs spokesman for issues and crisis communication, said those rules have been in place for previous graduations but that the university was being more explicit about them this year. Video showed a handful of protesters wearing keffiyehs walking around outside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium while carrying signs calling for divestment and Palestinian freedom. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com The US Department of State has approved the urgent sale of three HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems to Ukraine for approximately US$30 million. Source: European Pravda, citing the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency Details: In a statement, the agency said that Ukraine has requested to purchase three HIMARS missile systems, which will be funded by the German government. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that there is an emergency that requires the urgent sale of these systems to Ukraine, which will come from the United States Army's stockpile. Background: Earlier, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced Germany's intention to purchase three HIMARS missile launchers from the United States and transfer them to Ukraine. US President Joe Biden signed a decree allocating up to US$400 million in military aid to Ukraine from US Army stockpiles. The new US package includes additional ammo for Patriot and NASAMS systems, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, more HIMARS systems with ammunition, 155-mm and 105-mm artillery shells, and "equipment for integrating Western launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukrainian systems". On 24 April, US President Joe Biden signed a package of legislation passed by Congress that includes nearly US$61 billion in aid to Ukraine and other US allies. Immediately afterwards, the US announced a US$1 billion military aid package for Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! US cites concerns about Israeli weapons in Gaza but skirts around saying it violated international law The Biden administration once again pulled its punches when it comes to Israel. Despite pressure from Democratic lawmakers and his efforts to stop a major Israeli ground operation in Rafah, President Joe Biden did not use a much-anticipated report on Friday to declare that Israel has violated international law in its war with Hamas. Instead, the State Department document, mandated by a Biden-backed review policy, punted on one of the most controversial issues in the presidents support for Israel. It is reasonable to assess that Israel used American-provided weapons in ways that are inconsistent with international law, per the report obtained by POLITICO. It goes on to say that Israel didnt give the U.S. enough evidence to adjudicate whether those arms were used to violate human rights in Gaza, the West Bank or East Jerusalem. There have been sufficient reported incidents to raise serious concerns, the report continues, flipping between criticism of Israels conduct without explicitly calling it out for human rights violations. Put together, the U.S. offered fodder for both critics and supporters of Israel. There was a whiff of accountability but ultimately no greater reprimand, allowing the Biden administration to continue sending weapons to Israel as it fights Hamas while gingerly appeasing vocal critics. The findings could also be used as a precedent to keep supplying Israel with arms, so long as not enough evidence is produced to clearly prove violations of international law were committed with American weaponry. The Biden administration promised months ago to issue the report amid growing pressure from Democrats. The goal of the report was to review whether American-provided weapons are being used in conflicts in ways that violate international laws. The document was originally slated to be released Wednesday, but it was updated right up until it was sent to lawmakers on Friday. Tensions have been mounting since Biden decided to pause a shipment of weapons to Israel containing thousands of warheads over concern about Israels plans to invade Rafah without a credible plan to protect civilians. In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Biden threatened to halt additional weapons sales if Israel launches a major ground operation in the southern Gaza city. But Israel is already conducting operations in Rafah, where more than a million civilians are sheltering. Satellite imagery indicates the Israeli forces have already moved beyond the Rafah crossing and into the main area of the city. Biden also recently acknowledged that U.S.-made bombs had killed civilians in the conflict. The new report has already incensed many members of Congress, especially Republicans who saw it as harsh and unnecessary. The administration has given Israel a politically damaging assessment while publicly announcing it is withholding a select set of precision weapons, Idahos Jim Risch, the Senate Foreign Relations Committees ranking member. He added that the president and his administration are attempting to placate voters on the far left at the expense of a close ally in the midst of its justified war with Hamas terrorists. The findings also were outraging to Democratic lawmakers, human rights activists and leaders of non-governmental organizations who say the U.S. cannot keep assisting Israel as it bombards Gaza to root out Hamas militants. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a leading critic of Israels conduct in the war, said the administration fell far short of its difficult mandate. It fails to do the hard work of making the assessment and ducks the ultimate questions, he told reporters Friday evening. They are staring at all these trees yet concluding that theres no forest. It reads like a factual analysis and a politicized conclusion, said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International. It is clear that Israel is violating international law and obstructing aid into Gaza. In turning a blind eye, the administration is allowing Israel to continue to do so without consequence, said Abby Maxman, president and CEO of Oxfam America. The war began Oct. 7 after Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage in Gaza. But Israels overwhelming response has left some 35,000 Palestinians dead, according to Hamas-controlled Gazan health authorities who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel insists that it is following the laws of war and principles of humanitarian aid while doing its best to minimize civilian casualties, even though Hamas militants have embedded themselves and their arsenal within Gazas civilian population. Still, there have been cases where Israeli actions in this war have infuriated U.S. officials. This includes imposing severe restrictions on humanitarian aid allowed to flow into Gaza where U.S. officials say famine has started to take root as well as an Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen workerslast month. White House spokesperson John Kirby declined to confirm the reports contents earlier on Friday. We make clear to any ally or partner who is receiving U.S. military assistance, make sure they understand our expectations for how those weapons are going to be used in the battlefield, Kirby said. Asked by POLITICO if the administration purposefully tried to bury the report right before the weekend, Kirby replied: The eventual submission of this report is based on the speed work that had to get done to get it ready and not some nefarious effort to make it harder for you guys to report on it. FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) The U.S. Department of Labor found a Fort Smith restaurant illegally fired a worker who used federally protected medical leave, according to a news release. The release, posted on May 7, said the U.S. Department of Labors Wage and Hour Division found Mi Casita Mexican Restaurant Inc., operating as El Lorito, failed to reinstate a worker after they left and returned from medical and family leave. The department said the employer fired the worker after they refused to work at a different restaurant in another town. Dillards settles retaliation EEOC lawsuit for $70,000 The division determined the employer owed the former employee lost hourly wages and wages from tips for the more than five months they spent obtaining another job, the department said. The five months of back wages totaled $11,706 and were given to the former employee. The owner of the restaurant was fined $204 for the violations, according to the release. An employers compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act is never optional. An employee eligible for this protected leave must be allowed to exercise their right to use it without fear of losing their job, Wage and Hour District Director Hanz Grunauer in Little Rock said in the release. The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring that employees rights are protected and will use all available remedies when violations are found. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KNWA FOX24. US energy secretary to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE next week, officials say (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates next week to work on "climate co-operation" and other issues, two Biden administration officials told Reuters on Friday. The visit will run from Tuesday through Thursday, with Granholm visiting the UAE first, one of the officials said. It will be her first trip to the region as secretary. "The visit is a continuation of long-standing engagement between the U.S. and this region," the officials said. "Specifically, for the Department of Energy, it will move forward work both countries are doing on climate cooperation and to diversify the energy economy." Granholm will participate in a meeting of the Net-Zero Producers Forum, a group of countries representing 40% of global oil and gas production, including the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the sources said. The group, which works on ways to cut emissions such as abatement of methane and deployment of clean energy, was formed in 2021. Saudi Arabia and UAE are both members of OPEC, which is debating whether to extend output cuts. The Net-Zero meeting was planned long in advance and Granholm does not plan to discuss oil policy with counterparts on the trip, one of the sources said. The Biden administration and Saudi Arabia are nearing an agreement for U.S. security guarantees and civilian nuclear assistance, even as an Israel-Saudi normalization deal envisioned as part of a Middle East "grand bargain" remains elusive, sources told Reuters this month. Those talks are being led on the U.S. side by White House officials and the State Department, but not Granholm. (Reporting by Steve Holland and Timothy Gardner; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Eric Beech and Clarence Fernandez) US F-16s could play a vital role in isolating Crimea and humiliating Putin, says defense analyst US F-16s could play a vital role in isolating Crimea and humiliating Putin, says defense analyst US F-16s will have a big impact in helping Ukraine reclaim Crimea, an analyst told BI. The first F-16s are expected to be in Ukraine within weeks, according to reports on Friday. Crimea holds great symbolic significance. Retaking it would be a major blow to Putin. The delivery of US-made F-16s could play a crucial role in Ukraine's attempts to take back occupied Crimea, a defense expert told Business Insider. Frederik Mertens, a Strategic Analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, told BI that by striking Russian ground-based air defense (GBAD) systems, Ukraine is "preparing the ground" for future air strikes once F-16 fighters arrive. The first F-16s are expected to be in Ukraine within weeks, according to reports on Friday. Denmark previously said it would begin transferring its aircraft in the summer. Norway and Belgium have also pledged F-16s to Ukraine. Denmark, the US, the UK, France and Romania are helping train Ukrainian pilots. "We should be careful not to overestimate the impact of the limited number of F-16 fighters," Mertens said, adding that "the land front is vast, and there are a lot of Russians to kill." But Crimea was "vulnerable," especially when it comes to attacks from F-16 fighters, he said. "The Russians have relatively limited maneuver space on the peninsula, resupply is dependent on the Kerch bridge, and here, Putin has a lot to lose both politically and militarily," he said. "If a limited number of fighters can have a real impact, it is here and above the Black Sea that becomes fully accessible once the GBAD on the Crimea are dealt with." Despite facing a series of tough setbacks on the Eastern front, where the latest reports say Russian forces have launched a new front to capture Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Ukraine has repeatedly embarrassed Russian forces in and around the Crimean peninsula. With advanced US weapons, Ukraine's ambition to cut off the territory from mainland Russia and put it in a military stranglehold becomes more likely. In addition to the F-16s, long-range ATACMS provided by the US to Ukraine have the potential to make Crimea "militarily worthless" to Russia, according to one defense analyst. In April, The New York Times reported that the US had secretly shipped about 100 Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS, to Ukraine, which has reportedly already put them to use. Crimea is now more symbolic than strategic Ukraine has consistently said it hopes to recapture Crimea, though some commentators have called this a pipe dream, and has damaged Russian forces with a series of successful operations. Crimea continues to carry considerable emotional value to Putin , who considers its 2014 annexation as one of his greatest achievements and to Ukraine, which sees it as a detested symbol of Russian occupation . Russian warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet sail while taking part in naval drills in the Black Sea. Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP Throughout the war, Ukraine has sunk ships of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, bombed the port of Sevastopol, and targeted the strategic Kerch Bridge that connects the peninsula to Russia. In the latest blow on Monday, Ukraine used an exploding naval drone to destroy a Russian military speedboat in Crimea. Crimea also serves as a crucial logistics hub and military supply route to occupied southern Ukraine, and it is the launchpad for several Russian missile and drone attacks. In mid-April, Ukraine claimed to have struck the Dzhankoi military base, in northern Crimea, including a prized S-400 air defense launcher. Last year, in July, a series of massive explosions roared through a Russian ammunition storage facility on the peninsula, forcing thousands of residents of nearby areas to flee. Explosion causes fire at the Kerch bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea on October 08, 2022. A fire broke out early Saturday morning on the Kerch Bridge -- preceded by an explosion -- causing suspension of traffic and bringing bus and train services to a halt. Vera Katkova/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images The Kerch bridge, which connects the peninsula to Russia, has also been significantly damaged twice by Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. 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. There are signs that these attacks are forcing Russia to rethink its use of the peninsula and the Kerch bridge. In an examination earlier this month 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 its report. Read the original article on Business Insider In this article, we will take a look at the 15 fastest-growing cities in Canada. If you want to skip our discussion on the country's population trends, you can go directly to the 5 Fastest-Growing Cities in Canada. Canada ranks as the world's second-largest country by land area, following Russia. Despite its vast area, the country's population stands at around 40.7 million. The country maintains one of the lowest population densities globally, with only 11 people per square mile. Since late 2020, there have been changes in demographic patterns across Canada. The fertility rate hit an all-time low of 1.33 children per woman in 2022. Meanwhile, millennials have surpassed baby boomers in population numbers. Moreover, the labor landscape has evolved in the country, with certain industries facing workforce shortages. Canada has also welcomed a substantial influx of both permanent and temporary immigrants, including workers and international students. As of January 1, 2024, Canada's population reached 40,769,890 individuals, marking an increase of 1,271,872 people over the last year. This increase represents the highest annual population growth rate in Canada since 1957, standing at 3.2%. The bulk of Canada's 3.2% population growth rate in 2023 can be credited to temporary immigration. Excluding temporary immigration and relying solely on permanent immigration and natural increase, Canada's population growth would have been nearly three times lower, at approximately 1.2%. In 2023, around 333,000 Canadians relocated from one territory or province to another. This marked the second-highest figure since the 1990s and the third consecutive year that interprovincial migration surpassed 300,000. Alberta experienced the most significant net gain in interprovincial migration in 2023, with an increase of 55,107 individuals. Calgary is among the fastest-growing cities in Alberta. Even though Ontario experienced an overall decrease of 36,197 people in 2023, certain cities within the province have been witnessing population growth. Among the fastest-growing cities in Ontario are Barrie and Oshawa. Ontario is also home to Toronto, which is one of the fastest-growing cities in North America. Meanwhile, Kelowna is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in Canada. Between 2016 and 2021, Kelowna has seen an annual population growth rate of 2.4%, surpassing the national average of 1.1% across Canada's 35 Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs). Economic Outlook Despite facing challenges during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian economy is now on a path to recovery, albeit with steadily increasing interest rates to control inflation. While the economy slowed down, it managed to avoid recession, with real GDP increasing by 1.1% in 2023, exceeding the forecasted 0.3% growth in the 2023 budget. This growth was driven by global demand for Canadian exports and sustained household consumption. Story continues Economic indicators for 2024 are also promising, with real GDP gains of 7.4% (annualized growth) in January and 4.9% in February. The government expects a 3.5% annualized growth for Q1 2024, aiding the economy in managing higher interest rates and domestic inflation. Canada's largest stock exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange, hosts numerous large businesses, many of which are also listed on US stock exchanges. Some of the prominent companies in Canada include Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY), Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP), and Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ). Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) is a leading Canadian financial services firm. It is the largest bank in Canada in terms of market capitalization. The bank has a rich history of over 150 years. It serves more than 17 million clients worldwide and employs over 97,000 individuals. Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) is a Canadian oil and natural gas company that mainly operates in the Western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The company is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. It is the largest producer of heavy crude oil in Canada. Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) employs over 10,000 individuals and achieves a production output exceeding 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d). Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP) offers a platform to consolidate all e-commerce activities into a single interface. The company also offers features such as inventory management and synchronization of customer information across multiple channels. Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP) supports millions of businesses across more than 175 countries. Renowned brands such as Mattel, Netflix, Kylie Cosmetics, SKIMS, and Supreme, among others, rely on Shopify's platform to drive their online operations. Here's what Brown Capital Management said about Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP) in its Q4 2023 investor letter: Among the top contributors for the fourth quarter were Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) and Manhattan Associates (MANH). Shopify is the second-largest cloud-based e-commerce software platform in the U.S., with 10% market share. Shopify provides upstarts and Fortune 500 companies alike with turnkey solutions to help individuals and businesses run their online stores. The range of services includes web design, inventory management, payment processing, analytics and reporting, among others. We believe the company is the most attractive alternative to Amazon and has an addressable market greater than $150 billion. Shopify released stellar results this quarter, growing revenue 25% with meaningful margin expansion and management indicating more to come. Notably, the third quarter was Shopifys first full quarter after deciding in May 2023 to abandon its in-house fulfillment and logistics ambitions which put significant pressure on margins. Additionally, competitive concerns from Amazons Buy With Prime initiative that launched in April 2022 also abated. The feature allows merchants selling outside of Amazon to access its fulfillment network and enjoy Prime benefits such as free deliveries and returns, posing a threat to Shopifys payment-processing revenue. Instead of duking it out, Shopify and Amazon reached a partnership agreement in September that preserves customer choice and, to our knowledge, keeps Shopifys payment revenues intact. With these key concerns in the rear-view mirror, Shopify should have a clear path to double-digit revenue growth and margin expansion for years. 15 Fastest Growing Cities in Canada Pixabay/Public Domain Our Methodology To shortlist the top 15 fastest-growing cities in Canada 2024, we used the latest data from Statistics Canada. The cities have been ranked in ascending order of their population growth rates between 2018 and 2022. The list includes some of fastest-growing major cities in Canada. By the way, Insider Monkey is an investing website that tracks the movements of corporate insiders and hedge funds. By using a 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 Fastest-Growing Cities in Canada 15. Fredericton, New Brunswick Population Growth Rate: 7.79% Fredericton serves as the capital of New Brunswick and is situated along the Saint John River. As one of the key urban centers in New Brunswick, Fredericton ranks as the province's third-largest city, following Moncton and Saint John. 14. London, Ontario Population Growth Rate: 7.85 % London, located in southwestern Ontario, has a population of around 422,324 individuals. It's roughly 120 miles from Toronto and about 140 miles from Buffalo, New York. The city serves as a regional center for healthcare and education, with institutions like the University of Western Ontario, Fanshawe College, Victoria Hospital, University Hospital, and St. Joseph's Hospital. 13. Summerside, Prince Edward Island Population Growth Rate: 8.26 % Summerside is the second largest city in Prince County, Prince Edward Island. It acts as the primary service center for the western part of the island. The city has one of the lowest utility, sewer access, and property taxation rates in Canada. According to the 2022 census, Summerside had an estimated population of over 18,000 residents. 12. Chilliwack, British Columbia Population Growth Rate: 8.33 % Chilliwack, located in the Canadian province of British Columbia, is home to a population of 121,800 people. It lies about 100 km east of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley. The city's economy is driven by key sectors such as dairy, poultry, and greenhouse operations. 11. Calgary, Alberta Population Growth Rate: 8.41% Calgary is a cosmopolitan city that has grown rapidly owing to its position as the epicenter of Canada's oil industry. Calgary has a lower cost of living compared to many other large Canadian cities. Calgary (CMA) had a population of 1.61 million people in 2022. 10. Barrie, Ontario Population Growth Rate: 8.99% Barrie is in Central Ontario, about 90 kilometers away from Toronto. The city is located in Simcoe County and lies along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. The city serves as both a summer and winter resort destination, with an economy reliant on tourism and manufacturing. Barrie is among the top 10 fastest-growing cities in Canada. 9. Winkler, Manitoba Population Growth Rate: 9.01% Winkler ranks as the fourth largest city in the province of Manitoba. It is located about 100 km away from Winnipeg and is the largest city in the Pembina Valley. Winkler maintains a crime severity index significantly lower than the Canadian average, earning it the distinction of being one of Canada's safest cities. 8. Kitchener, Ontario Population Growth Rate: 9.62% The Waterloo Region is a metropolitan area in Southern Ontario. It is officially known as the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. It contains the Tri-Cities of Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo. Kitchener is the largest city of the three and is the seat of government. The region is experiencing significant economic growth. 7. Kelowna, British Columbia Population Growth Rate: 10.12% Kelowna is one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada due to its appealing blend of food, weather, accessibility to nature and outdoor activities, and natural scenery. It is the third-largest metropolitan area in British Columbia, following Vancouver and Victoria. Kelowna is on the seventh position on our list of the fastest-growing cities in Canada. 6. Oshawa, Ontario Population Growth Rate: 10.18% Oshawa is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario, approximately 60 km east of Downtown Toronto. It is the largest municipality in the Regional Municipality of Durham. Oshawa's population is on the rise as individuals relocate from Toronto in search of larger homes in suburban settings. Click to continue reading and see the 5 Fastest-Growing Cities in Canada. Suggested articles: Disclosure: None. 15 Fastest-Growing Cities in Canada is originally published on Insider Monkey. By Nidal al-Mughrabi CAIRO (Reuters) - Washington said it was trying to keep Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas engaged "if only virtually" in Gaza truce efforts as a U.N. agency warned that humanitarian aid stocks in the devastated enclave have hit "the bottom of the barrel." Hamas said on Friday it would consult with other militant Palestinian factions on its strategy to negotiate a halt to the war triggered by its Oct. 7 onslaught into Israel. The United Nations warned that aid for Gaza could grind to a halt within days after Israel seized control of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, closing the vital route on which the enclave of 2.3 million Palestinians depends. Talks on a ceasefire and a release of hostages held by Hamas ended in Cairo on Thursday without agreement after Israel said a proposal by Qatari and Egyptian mediators included elements that were unacceptable. Hamas, which said it had accepted the proposal, said in a statement that Israel's "rejection ... returned things to the first square." The White House called the end of the talks, which CIA Director William Burns was helping to mediate, "deeply regrettable," but said the U.S. believed the differences were surmountable. "We are working hard to keep both sides engaged in continuing the discussion, if only virtually," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. Despite heavy U.S. pressure, Israel has said it will proceed with an assault on the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced people have sought refuge and Israeli forces say Hamas fighters are dug in. Israeli tanks captured the main road dividing Rafah's eastern and western sections on Friday, effectively encircling the eastern side in an assault that has caused Washington to hold up delivery of some military aid to its ally. The White House said it was closely watching the Israeli operations "with concern," but they appeared to be localized around the shuttered Rafah crossing and did not reflect a large-scale invasion. "Once again, we urge the Israelis to open up that crossing to humanitarian assistance immediately," said White House national security spokesman John Kirby. Israel's plan to assault Rafah has ignited one of the biggest rifts in generations with its main ally, the United States. In a report to Congress, President Joe Biden's administration on Friday said Israel's use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Gaza may have breached international humanitarian law, stepping up criticism of its key ally. But the administration also said that due to the chaos of the war it could not verify specific instances where the use of those arms might have violated international law, falling short of making a definitive assessment on the issue. The French foreign ministry also called on Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing in a statement urging "Israeli authorities to cease this military operation without delay and return to the path of negotiations." Nearly 35,000 people have died in the war, according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza. Some 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 253 taken hostage in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the conflict, according to Israeli tallies. "VIRTUALLY NO HUMANITARIAN AID" Residents described almost constant explosions and gunfire east and northeast of Rafah on Friday, with intense fighting between Israeli forces and militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Hamas said it ambushed Israeli tanks near a mosque in the east of the city. Israel has ordered civilians out of the eastern part of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek shelter outside the city, previously the last refuge of more than a million who fled other parts of the enclave during the war. Israel says it cannot win the war without rooting out thousands of Hamas fighters it believes are deployed in Rafah. Hamas says it will fight to defend it. Supplies were already running short and aid operations could halt within days as fuel and food stocks are used up, U.N. aid agencies said. "For five days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip, and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel," said the UNICEF Senior Emergency Coordinator in the Gaza Strip, Hamish Young. Aid agencies say the battle has threatened hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians. "It is not safe, all of Rafah isn't safe, as tank shells landed everywhere since yesterday," Abu Hassan, 50, a resident of Tel al-Sultan west of Rafah told Reuters via a chat app. "I am trying to leave but I can't afford 2,000 shekels ($540) to buy a tent for my family," he said. "There is an increased movement of people out of Rafah even from the western areas, though they were not designated as red zones by the occupation." Israeli tanks have sealed off eastern Rafah from the south, capturing and shutting the only crossing between the enclave and Egypt. An advance on Friday to the Salahuddin road that bisected the enclave completed the encirclement of the "red zone" from which they ordered residents out. The Israeli military said its forces in eastern Rafah had located several tunnel shafts, and troops backed by an air strike fought at close quarters with groups of Hamas fighters, killing several. It said Israeli jets had hit several sites from which rockets and mortar bombs had been fired towards Israel in recent days. The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full U.N. member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the U.N. Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." (Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in Jerusalem, Maggie Fick and Dominique Patton; Writing by Jonathan Landay; Editing by David Gregorio and Chris Reese) Today, Asna Tabassum, a first-generation Muslim student and USCs valedictorian, would have delivered her speech before thousands of her peers at this years graduation ceremony. Instead, amid pressure from pro-Israeli groups citing her social media support for Palestinians, university leaders chose to cancel her commencement speech, citing safety concerns. In place of what would have been her address to the class of 2024, Tabassum released a largely redacted version of the speech she had hoped to give at 8 a.m. on Friday, around when she would have taken the stage at the nixed main-stage ceremony. Published by Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan, USCs student-run publications noted in an Instagram post that Tabassums speech is published as was written and shared by Tabassum. Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan did not write, edit or change the speech or its presentation. President Folt, Provost [Andrew] Guzman, faculty, staff, families and fellow Class of 2024: It is my honor to stand before you today as your valedictorian, it begins before being cut off by several redacted paragraphs. Congratulations, Class of 2024, the speech ends, before more blacked-out text. Thank you. On Friday, as Tabassum a biomedical engineering major whose sash included her minor in resistance to genocide was honored with a standing ovation as she received her diploma during the Viterbi School of Engineering graduation ceremony, the Los Angeles Times reported. Although the university pointed to safety issues as the reason behind the valedictorians speech cancellation last month, it declined to give details as to what threats drove the security concerns. I am both shocked by this decision and profoundly disappointed that the University is succumbing to a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice. I am not surprised by those who attempt to propagate hatred. I am surprised that my own university my home for four years has abandoned me, Tabassum wrote in a statement following the decision, adding that there remain serious doubts about whether USCs decision to revoke my invitation to speak is made solely on the basis of safety. As USC reeled from the backlash over the cancellation, student protests demanding the university divest from companies with ties to Israel threw the school further into controversy. Soon after, USC announced that it had canceled its main-stage graduation ceremony for students, but that individual school ceremonies would still take place with additional security measures implemented. Collegiate demonstrations have erupted across the country as some students call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and demand their universities divest from companies profiting off Israels war in Gaza. The protests have added to existing pressure on President Joe Biden and his administration to cut off military aid to Israel as the threat of an Israeli invasion of Rafah looms. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Campus outlets at the University of Southern California (USC) published a speech on Friday from graduating student Asna Tabassum, a Muslim-American valedictorian whose remarks were canceled last month over security concerns, sparking a free speech debate. The biomedical engineering student was set to offer the traditional valedictorians speech today during the universitys commencement, but the school canceled her remarks amid a hail of criticisms surrounding her positions on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The remarks, published today in the Daily Trojan, were virtually all redacted. This speech is published as was written and shared by Tabassum. Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan did not write, edit or change the speech or its presentation, the universitys media centre said online. President Folt, Provost Guzman, faculty, staff, families and fellow Class of 2024, Ms Tabassums speech began. It is my honor to stand before you today as your Valedictorian. I am filled with gratitude to have the privilege of, followed by 10 paragraphs of redactions. The speech ended with Congratulations, Class of 2024. Thank you. In April, USC announced it was canceling Ms Tabassums speech, citing unspecified security concerns. After careful consideration, we have decided that our student valedictorian will not deliver a speech at commencement, university administrators wrote in a statement at the time. While this is disappointing, tradition must give way to safety. To be clear: this decision has nothing to do with freedom of speech, it added. Ms Tabassum, who beat out numerous other high-achieving applicants to be top of her class, came to public attention after she was selected as valedictorian. Jewish groups on campus and beyond pointed to her past activity on social media and declared it was antisemitic. USCs Chabad chapter, for example, accused the student of supporting material that was antisemitic and hate speech. Trojans for Israel, meanwhile, accused Ms Tabassum, who completed an inter-disciplinary minor studying issues around genocide, of calling for the complete abolishment of Israel. At issue was a link on Ms Tabassums private Instagram, from before the 7 October conflict began, linking to an online repository of information about the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The page refers to Israel as a Jewish ethnostate and calls Zionism a racist settler-colonial ideology that advocates for a Jewish ethnostate built on Palestinian land. Elsewhere on the page, which Ms Tabassum did not author, the repository expresses a hope that both Arabs and Jews can live together without an ideology that specifically advocates for the ethnic cleansing of one of them. Ms Tabassum has said she stands by her remarks, arguing she was advocating for the kind of social justice values she learned in part at USC. Absolutely not. I stand by exactly what I stand by, she told KABC-TV. It is the very values and the very lessons USC taught me that I stand by. She has been critical of USCs decision to cancel her speech. I am a student of history who chose to minor in resistance to genocide, anchored by the Shoah Foundation, and have learned that ordinary people are capable of unspeakable acts of violence when they are taught hate fueled by fear, she previously wrote in a statement. And due to widespread fear, I was hoping to use my commencement speech to inspire my classmates with a message of hope. By canceling my speech, USC is only caving to fear and rewarding hatred. Critics of USCs decision argued the canceled speech is part of a larger wave of actions silencing pro-Palestinian perspectives, including the banning of pro-Palestinian groups on multiple US college campuses in recent months, and represents a double standard on free speech about Israel. Lets be very clear: if Tabassum were pro-Israel and her Instagram linked to any of the very many genocidal things that the Israeli government had said about Palestinians, there is little chance her speech would have been cancelled, Arwa Mahdawi argued last month in The Guardian. Many students appeared to be on the silenced speakers side. A standing ovation for Asna Tabassum, USC valedictorian, and cheers for her resistance to genocide minor today at the USC student awards ceremony pic.twitter.com/HJ6pAvaNH2 Jaweed Kaleem (@jaweedkaleem) May 10, 2024 During Fridays commencement ceremony, she received a standing ovation. 'We used to need dump trucks:' Volunteers scour Grand, Red Cedar rivers in annual cleanup LANSING About 200 people put on gloves and raincoats Saturday morning to remove trash and debris from the Grand and Red Cedar rivers along the 10.2 mile Lansing River Trail. The effort was the 30th Lansing Board of Water and Light and Impression 5 Science Center's 30th Adopt A River event. "If stuff gets in the river, it can hurt the creatures," Arkeith Branson said. The eight-year-old was attending the event with his grandmother, Kim Wheeler. Volunteers clean up debris along the Lansing River Trail, Saturday morning, May 11, 2024, while other plant plants s part of the 30th Annual BWL Adopt a River cleanup. "We wanted to get out here to participate in the community events, help clean up the river," Wheeler said. She and several other people who work at University of Michigan Health-Sparrow came to the event together. After three decades of the event, Lansing Board of Water & Light CEO Dick Peffley said he's proud of the progress the volunteers have made. "We used to need dump trucks for all the debris we'd pull out, now we usually just need a few pickup trucks," he said. "We've started magnet fishing to see what we can pull out because we've cleaned up most everything you can see." About 45 members of the Michigan State University women's rowing team attended the event. "We practice on the river," junior Haley Reinhart said. "So we think it's important to come out here and clean it up so we have a nice place to practice." Members of the UAW Local 602 pick up debris along the Grand River, Saturday morning, May 11, 2024, as part of the 30th Annual BWL Adopt a River cleanup. Some of the volunteers said that they were there because they were concerned about the environment and wanted to make sure the river was clean for the plant and animal life around it. "We saw trash and things that can really hurt the animals," Dusty Prater said. "We wanted to be able to give a little back to the Earth, that's why we're here." Prater is a member of UAW Local 602, and attended the event with other members of the union and their families. Serena Kyser, 13, the granddaughter of one of the union members, said she felt like she needed to clean up the river because of how little other people cared. "People don't care about the Earth anymore," she said. "They don't know how to treat it." Volunteers could also choose between five different types of trees to plant at home. Aivenn Allen, 11, of Lansing, right, and grandmother Lisa Phifer pick up debris along the Grand River, Saturday morning, May 11, 2024, as part of the 30th Annual BWL Adopt a River cleanup. The trees, at no cost to the volunteers, are part of BWL's ongoing Plant a Tree in the Right Place program, which tries to spread awareness of the importance of planting trees while making sure they're not in the way of power lines, said Vice Chair of BWL's Board of Commissioners David Price. Peffley sees at least 30 more years of the event, and said that planning for next year's starts Sunday. "The time to do this is less than it used to be," he said. "We take less and less of volunteers' Saturdays... Maybe we start covering more of the river." Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@lsj.com, or follow her on X @sarahmatwood. This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Volunteers scour Grand, Red Cedar rivers in annual BWL Adopt a River cleanup An estimated 100 Virginia Commonwealth University graduates walked out as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin delivered the commencement address Saturday morning. File photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI May 11 (UPI) -- Dozens of graduating students protested Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's commencement address by walking out during Virginia Commonwealth University's commencement Saturday morning. About 100 of the university's 1,200 graduating class members walked out of the Greater Richmond Convention Center as Youngkin delivered the commencement address, The Washington Post estimated. The graduates were protesting Youngkin's support for breaking up campus protests, his opinions regarding LGBTQ+ rights and his opposition to a proposal requiring VCU students to complete a racial literacy course. Several students objected to Youngkin delivering the university's commencement address during a recent Board of Visitors meeting and sought his removal from the commencement program, WTVR-TV in Richmond reported. "VCU has a bipartisan tradition of inviting gubernatorial speakers to commencement," one student told board members. "But progress has never been made without challenging tradition." Many of those students were members of the university's NAACP chapter, an ad hoc "Not Welcome at VCU" group and other student organizations. Many other colleges and universities across the country have graduation ceremonies scheduled Saturday, including at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Texas at Austin. Those universities and others heightened their security measures as pro-Palestinian protests erupted recently at campuses across the nation. Students at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) walked out of their commencement ceremony to protest an address by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.). About 100 of the 1,200 graduates at the graduation ceremony Saturday quietly filed out of the Greater Richmond Convention Center, some wearing kaffiyeh scarves and signs reading Teach Black history and Book bans [do not equal] respect for learning, The Washington Post reported. Youngkin, who won election in 2021, continued on with his speech. The Hill has reached out to Youngkins office for comment. The Post reported that the Richmond university has a long history of having the sitting governor give a commencement address. Earlier this week, the Virginia NAACP VCU chapter sent a letter to the Board of Visitors and the university president demanding that Youngkins invitation to speak be rescinded. Your administrative decision to continuously postpone the racial literacy requirement as well as comply with Governor Youngkins demand to view the syllabi is anti-democratic and anti-intellectual, the organization said in the letter, reported by 13 News Now. These actions not only undermine academic freedom from intellectual inquiry, they also perpetuate a narrative that overlooks the intricate nuances of racial history. The university handed out cards to attendees congratulating the graduates but also said if anyone disrupts the ceremony, they would be subject to removal, the Post reported. The walk out follows many other demonstrations at university commencement ceremonies and the nationwide pro-Palestinian protests happening on college campuses. More than 2,000 people have been arrested at demonstrations across the country. Police used pepper spray to disperse a crowd at VCUs on-campus demonstration and 13 people, including six students, were arrested, according to the Post. Students spoke to WWBT 12 On Your Side, saying theres a lot of distress about Youngkin being chosen to speak. They were opposed to multiple of Youngkins principles, including the LGBTQ+ community and critical race theory. Youngkin criticized the college protests for crossing the line when you begin to build encampments which are not allowed on college campuses, you intimidate other students, youre trying to disrupt the operations of the school, that will not be allowed. Last week, students interrupted the graduation ceremony at the University of Michigan, protesting the schools investments to companies with ties to Israel. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. BEDFORD, Va. (WFXR) The Bedford Fire Department responded to a vehicle that crashed into a building on Friday, May 10. According to the fire department, crews from the Special Operations Command Task Force responded to the 1200 block of West Lynchburg Salem Turnpike. Crews arrived to find a vehicle drove through the front left side of the structure. Crews immediately began shoring operations and worked for two hours to ensure that the building was secure. (courtesy, Bedford FD) (courtesy, Bedford FD) For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFXRtv. Dutch Bros (NYSE: BROS) made some incredible progress in the first quarter. If you've been looking for a great growth stock to add to your portfolio or have been concerned about Dutch Bros' performance, let me walk you through three reasons it looks like an excellent stock to buy right now. 1. Massive expansion opportunities Dutch Bros runs a coffee shop chain, and it had 876 locations in 17 U.S. states as of March 31. The company opened 45 stores last quarter and plans to open 150 to 165 total this year. That includes a gradual eastward expansion into new states. Its drive-thru-focused concept and products have proven popular in existing markets, and management sees the opportunity to reach 4,000 stores long term, a huge growth driver on its own. In the first quarter, sales increased 39% year over year, and management raised its full-year outlook slightly to a range of $1.200 billion to $1.215 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, deprecation, and amortization (EBITDA) guidance also increased from $190 million to $200 million (both figures at the midpoint of their respective ranges). 2. Popular products will drive future growth Since revenue growth is expected with new store openings, investors should be closely watching Dutch Bros' same-shop sales, or comparable sales (comps). The company has grappled with inconsistent comps growth over the past two to three years. It was even negative for several quarters between 2022 and 2023. Management has attributed this comps weakness to its fortressing strategy, which has the company open up a blitz of new stores in one area to establish the brand. That can weigh on comps growth in the near term with the long-term result of a strong brand presence and higher comps. Same-shop sales growth is important because its underlying components -- customer traffic and ticket size -- give investors insight into how well Dutch Bros is retaining its customers and increasing their spending. It's also important for profitability because higher sales per store means fixed costs are going further. Comps made a huge comeback in the first quarter to reach 10%. This marked the fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating same-shop sales growth, though management is still guiding for low-single-digit growth for the full year. 3. Scale is leading to profitability Young companies typically need to invest heavily to grow their businesses, and it's important to see that initial high-investment, high-growth phase eventually evolve into a profitable one. Dutch Bros' adjusted EBITDA increased 120% in the first quarter to $52.5 million. Net income also surged from a $9.4 million loss a year ago to $16.2 million. The company is still posting occasional quarterly losses, but it's moving toward sustainable profits. Story continues Taken together, Dutch Bros is delivering in the three core areas that should be most important to a growth investor. But that doesn't mean there's no risk. Not all geographic expansions are successful, especially in the ultra-competitive restaurant industry. Management also cautioned this was a strong start to the year, but the business may experience pressure in the coming quarters due to tough year-over-year comparisons and rising expenses. However, the opportunities still look much more compelling than the risks. Growth is never linear, and long-term investors will see overall trends instead of focusing on short-term volatility. Dutch Bros stock jumped on the first-quarter report, and it could just as likely drop if the next earnings report falls short of expectations. But its outlook remains promising, and if you buy now and hold for years, not months, you'll likely thank yourself later. Should you invest $1,000 in Dutch Bros right now? Before you buy stock in Dutch Bros, 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 Dutch Bros wasnt one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $550,688!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of May 6, 2024 Jennifer Saibil has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Reasons to Buy Dutch Bros Stock Like There's No Tomorrow was originally published by The Motley Fool Virginia students walk out of graduation in support of Gaza as Republican governor speaks Virginia Commonwealth University students walk out of graduation as Republican governor speaks on Saturday (National Students for Justice in Palestine) Dozens of Virginia Commonwealth University students walked out of their graduation ceremony during Governor Glenn Youngkins commencement address on Saturday. Some students who walked out toldThe Washington Post that they were protesting the Republican governors educational policies while others said they wanted to demonstrate support for Palestine. Protests have erupted on college campuses across the country in recent weeks as students demand that their schools financially cut ties from Israel amid the Israel-Gaza conflict. Photos and videos posted to social media showed students filing out of the Greater Richmond Convention Center as Gov. Youngkin began his address. Students who walked out were told they would not be able to come back inside. Virginia Commonwealth University students walked out of their graduation ceremony during Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkins commencement address on Saturday (National Students for Justice in Palestine) Despite the walk out, and a brief round of applause for the protesters, Mr Youngkin finished his address. He later posted a message on X offering his congratulations to students but did not address the protests. The choice of Gov Youngkin as commencement speaker drew criticism from some for his opposition to a racial literacy requirement being considered by the school, as well as his comments that encampments on college campuses should not be allowed, according to the BBC. A number of universities at the centre of the Gaza protests are holding graduation ceremonies this weekend while others have been cancelled. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin gave the commencement address at VCU on Saturday (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) According to The Associated Press, there have been at least 75 protests since 18 April in which arrests were made on US campuses. Nearly 2,900 people have been arrested at 57 colleges and universities. At Virginia Commonwealth, there were 13 people, including six students, arrested when the encampment there was cleared by police on 29 April. The protests began nearly three weeks ago at Columbia University in New York City. Some colleges nationwide cracked down immediately, while others tolerated the demonstrations. Some recently started calling in the police, citing concerns about disruptions to campus life and safety. RICHMOND, Va. (WFXR)Virginia State Troopers will be increasing patrols and conducting traffic safety details on U.S. Route 58 from Emporia to Danville starting Monday, May 13. This initiative aims to enhance safety throughout this stretch of the highway and to decrease traffic crashes and deaths by increasing safe driving behaviors for all traveling. We know Route 58 is a popular alternative to Route 460 and Interstate 64, especially during the upcoming summer travel season, said Sgt. S.C. Leslie, Virginia State Police Area 22 Commander. Reinforcing the need for all motorists to share the road responsibly and comply with posted speed limits is imperative for everyones safety. Route 58 is a limited-access highway, so excessive speed and driver distraction put everyone at risk, especially our local residents pulling out from a parking lot or driveway or crossing at an intersection. VSP conducting Operation DISS-rupt throughout I-64 This operation marks is a part of the national Click it or Ticket campaign. According to DriveSmart Virginia, seatbelts reduce the risk of critical injury to moderate injury by about 50%. Also, death rates are eight times higher when someone in a vehicle is not buckled in or restrained. The initiative will be finished on Friday, May 18. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFXRtv. Weekend humor from Celia Rivenbark: Zombie cicadas are having the time of their lives Cicadas are already leaving behind their shells en masse -- much to the interest of this North Carolina feline (Photo: Lisa Sorg) If some chipper soul greets me with Its a good day to have a good day! I usually just punch em in the throat and keep moving. Not today, Satan. Today is a good day becausewere not cicadas. Yes, the underground creatures we love to complain about (so noisy!!) and whose sad husks we flick off tree bark with zero ceremony. Cicadas dont inspire much of anything except a grudging appreciation for their lacy wings. Yep, thats about it. We dont have a lot good to say about the cicadas, whose emergence from underground after 13 to 17 years (depending on where you live) is dutifully documented by scientists. At best, cicadas are a freak of nature, something to be tolerated until its merciful end, rather like RFK Jr.s presidential campaign. Yes, yes, we think. It will all end soon enough. Naturalists tell us that very soon billions of cicadas will emerge from underground, noisily seek a proper mate for procreationjust like they always doand, well, one more thing: This time, more than a few will have a fungus that makes their genitalia fall off their bodies leaving in its place a whitish globby gumdrop of spores that scientists have compared to a childs pencil eraser. Wait. What?!?!? Despite this, scientists told CNN, the infected cicadas still attempt to mate with gusto! Apparently, this is because the fungus makes them hypersexual. The fact they no longer have any, er, functioning parts seems not to matter a whit. And heres where, unlike RFK Jr.s presidential campaign, it gets really interesting. Dr. John Cooley, an associate professor of evolutionary biology at UConn told CNN: Periodical cicadas have interlocking genitalia. So when they pull apart, guess what happens? Rip! And then theres a cicada walking around with someone elses genitals stuck to them. Ha! And you thought YOU had a bad Tinder date. Not only does the cicada lose its naughties, but also it gains an abdomen full of fungal spores! Through it all, the cicada is basically high on the fungus and flies about spreading spores as one scientist observed like a saltshaker of death. One can only assume this works in tandem with a pepper grinder of selfishness and greed but thats purely non-scientific conjecture on my part. The scientists repeatedly describe the infected blissed-out and junk-free cicadas behavior as zombie like. Although they lack the equipment to mate, the males chase the females with vigor and flirt with males to quickly spread the fungus to all concerned. Zombie style, the infected seek out others to infect and so it goes. The cicadas buzz about in a high haze making bad decisions owing to their depleted condition. They are, as Aunt Verlie used to say, happy as if they had good sense. (If they were humans, theyd be the ones snapping up Melania Trumps new fake gold Mothers Day necklaces for $245.) Plenty of folks enjoy eating cicadas and other insects but scientists warn that you may want to pass on dead ones that appear to have a pencil eraser where a stomach used to be. You dont want to put those in your mouth, said Dr. Matt Kasson, who teaches forest pathology at West Virginia University. Dr. Kasson is, I imagine, the author of a number of useful scholarly articles such as Dont Use a Hair Dryer While Taking a Bath and Dont Give Your Social Security Number to A Nigerian Prince No Matter How Charming He May Seem. Actually, I think Dr. Kasson sounds like a hoot. His explanation for how these brutally injured and extremely high cicadas could still have the zest for procreation was priceless: Everyones having a good time while theyre infected so I dont imagine theres much painmaybe a desire to listen to the Grateful Deadbut no pain. The post Weekend humor from Celia Rivenbark: Zombie cicadas are having the time of their lives appeared first on NC Newsline. 'As if it were my own child missing': DPS Special Agent receives Lifesaving Award A special agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety recently won a Lifesaving Award for his actions in finding a missing child from Corpus Christi. Henry J. Schultz, a special agent in the Criminal Investigations Division of DPS, was recognized by the Texas Public Safety Commission and DPS Director Steve McCraw at the PSC meeting in April for investigative work conducted on a case regarding a 16-year-old who went missing on June 10, 2023. In his office, Special Agent Henry J. Schultz, with the Texas Department of Public Safety, holds a Life Saving Award he received from DPS for a criminal investigation that led to the location of a missing Corpus Christi minor who was in a life-threatening situation in July last year. Schultz was recently promoted and will join the Texas Ranger Division at the beginning of June. The agent began working the case two days later. Through in-depth analysis involving forensic digital evidence and examination of video surveillance from surrounding businesses near the victims last location, he uncovered critical details that led law enforcement to find the missing minor on July 25, 2023, in Gainesville, Florida, along with the two suspects. Schultz, who sat down with the Caller-Times for an interview Wednesday, recounted the countless hours that he spent on the case. Im very appreciative and proud to have received the award although the extensive efforts that were conducted were not for recognition but for the victim and family, he said. I saw a distraught mother and family, and being a parent of three children, approached it with the mindset and put in the effort as if it were my own child missing. Schultz started with DPS in 2006 as a Highway Patrol trooper and was promoted to the CID in 2013. He said he became involved in the case when he was called in to assist the Corpus Christi Police Department. Special agents in the CID Organized Crime Section where he works collaborate with internal and external stakeholders from across the state, as well as international partners, according to the CID division website. They work together to identify, investigate, disrupt or dismantle drug trafficking, human trafficking and criminal gang organizations. While Schultz said he had investigated cases involving runaways, narcotics, gangs, organized crime and fraud, among other areas, this was his first time working a missing persons case as an agent. He credited his ability to obtain video footage of the minor, the suspect and the suspect's vehicle to the cooperation and understanding of business personnel who were concerned about the missing juvenile and gave immediate consent for him to view video captured by their surveillance systems. Digital evidence produced through a cell phone extraction and account analysis were also key to pinpointing the offender. I worked at a fast pace and dedicated all hours to the days and nights to follow up on every lead that came in, he said. I sometimes worked into the night hours and the middle of the night. A lot of leads were coming in from other cities as far as Laredo, so I had to pull videos from Laredo where people thought they had spotted the juvenile. Family members supplied the most leads, he said. Many other leads were shared by members of the public and posted and shared on social media. He said he reviewed video footage from six different locations in Corpus Christi, as well as other cities that turned up false leads of suspected sightings of the juvenile. It was a family effort, he said. I met each family member and developed a relationship with them, a rapport and a trust. They saw how dedicated I was, and I told them, Im going to need yalls help. We developed a group chat that was open 24/7. Video evidence from businesses surrounding the missing person's last location led Schultz to track the minor's movements to a spot where the suspect was shown picking up the minor in an SUV, corroborating that the case was not an abduction or kidnapping, the special agent said. From there, Schultz coordinated with the police department and reviewed city traffic cameras to identify the vehicle, but there were no new leads without a license plate number. The missing persons phone had been turned off, and the direction of travel was unknown, he said. With the willingness of the victims mother, the agent was able to obtain an old Wi-Fi cellular phone on June 14, 2023, and conduct two extractions that eventually hit upon the crucial bit of information in the case one month later the IP address leading to the suspect in Florida. Florida law enforcement agencies were not aware of the case when DPS contacted them to obtain a search warrant on July 25, 2023, Schultz said. But by compiling evidence on the case and working with counterparts and agents with whom hed developed relationships while patrolling the border through Operation Lone Star, he was able to obtain a search warrant in Florida and have it executed in five to seven hours. On July 25, 2023, officers with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Alachua County Sheriffs Office who were investigating the reported disappearance of the child from Texas executed a search warrant at the suspects residence in Alachua County, Florida, according to an April 2, 2024, press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Northern District of Florida. The report stated that the child was rescued and two suspects, 40-year-old Timothy Frederick Murphy-Johnson of Gainesville and 21-year-old Olivia Henn of Orlando, were arrested. Murphy-Johnson faces a sentence of 15 years to life imprisonment and five years to life on supervised release. Henn faces a sentence of 15 to 90 years in prison and five years to life on supervised release. They each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce child pornography and two counts of production of child pornography. Murphy-Johnson also pleaded guilty to transporting the child from Texas to Florida for the purpose of sexual abuse. The two will be sentenced at 11:30 a.m. June 25 at the U.S. Courthouse in Gainesville. Schultz said he flew to Florida after the search warrant was executed and spent six days there working jointly with all agencies involved, including the Department of Homeland Security in Florida, the Texas DPS and Homeland Security Investigations in Gainesville. He appreciates the coordinated effort of all law enforcement. When he looks back on the investigation, Schultz said the most difficult things to overcome was the lack of leads to help press forward, and the delay in obtaining the needed account information while waiting on close to 50 subpoenas once the leads developed through digital extractions and analytical workups. He said that he knew he would find the victim eventually, and that he keeps in close communication with the victim's family. This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: DPS Special Agent receives Lifesaving Award for finding missing teen Try a little thought experiment. Imagine that, instead of protesting against Israel, student demonstrators were demanding a crackdown on immigration. Suppose that, in place of Palestinian flags, they were waving St Georges Crosses. How do you think the university authorities would respond? We are peculiarly susceptible to the fads of Americas identitarian Left. Just as BLM protests in Minnesota catalysed the risible spectacle of white British protestors shouting hands up dont shoot at unarmed Met coppers, so it was only a matter of time before the anti-Israel unrest that has disfigured US campuses spread to our universities. As I write, there have been sit-ins at Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, Sheffield and various London campuses. There is evidently an element of co-ordination. The identical pop-up tents and keffiyehs seem to come from the same source, and it was reported this week that the protesters had signed a common statement of aims. So, to return to the opening question, how would our universities react to anti-immigration protests? We can guess the answer, cant we? They would claim that the demonstrators were creating a hostile atmosphere for ethnic minority students, and send in the police. They would not care if there were non-white students among the demonstrators (just as the pro-Palestine crowds sometimes include anti-Zionist Jews). Nor would they be swayed by the argument that being anti-immigration doesnt make you anti-immigrant. No, they would declare that their EDI policies were being violated, and press for expulsions so that no student should feel unsafe. Why dont these concerns apply to Jewish students? Again, we can guess the answer. Anti-racism, in its campus form, is not about treating people equally; it is about treating people differently. The essence of wokery is that, rather than seeing society as a community of individuals, it categorises us by sex, sexual identity and, above all, race, slotting us into an imagined place in a pyramid of hierarchy. A century ago, Jews might have been categorised as an oppressed minority. But the success of the state of Israel means that, to the woke mind, Jews are now white colonisers. Campus activists insist that they are anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic, and most of them mean it. But the distinction has been tougher to maintain since the massacre of 7 October, which prompted crowds on the other side of the world to start chanting gas the Jews. Yes, it is possible to oppose anti-Semitism while critiquing Israeli policies. But those of us who are not Jewish should observe the same norms and courtesies that we would with any other minority. We should acknowledge, in other words, not just that Israel is central to Judaism as a religion, but also that, even for the most secular Jews, Israel represents a safe space, a last-ditch sanctuary from persecution. We have the right to free speech. We are free, if we want, to criticise religions and say all sorts of things that others would find insulting. But civilisation depends on understanding that some things are legal while still being profoundly anti-social. Now consider the behaviour that American campus authorities have allowed on grounds of free speech. Protesters have stopped Jewish students and asked them to disown Zionism. They have shouted Go back to Poland. They have chanted Globalize the Intifada. (What can that mean except carrying the fight against Jews outside Israel?) A woman at Columbia stood next to a group of Jewish students with a sign reading Al-Qasams Next Targets a reference to Hamass military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, which carried out the 7 October abominations. Now you might argue that students should toughen up. Sticks and stones and all that. Unless the pro-Palestine protesters cross the line into actual violence, should they not be allowed to be as obnoxious as they wish? OK, fine, Id be on board with that if there were the slightest prospect of it becoming the rule on campus. But there isnt. These protests are happening in institutions that have spent a decade insisting that antiquated language, inappropriately directed laughter or asking where someone is from are forms of violence. In 2014, Columbia sternly warned its students against the racial insensitivity of dressing up in foreign costumes. Thats how woke works. You go in one decade from banning sombreros to being nervous about wearing kippahs. There is, Im afraid, every sign that this unequal application of the law is crossing the Atlantic. And not just in our universities. On St Georges Day, the police used batons and horses against nationalist demonstrators who had strayed beyond their designated course a response that it is hard to imagine being used against pro-Palestine crowds, whatever their behaviour. Laws, observed Hayek, with admirable economy, must be general, equal and certain. When, for example, we cracked down on anti-lockdown protests while allowing BLM protests, we undermined, not just the police, but the legitimacy of the state. Something similar is happening with anti-Israel protests. More than two months have passed since a woman deliberately destroyed a portrait of Arthur Balfour, the former Conservative prime minister, in Trinity College, Cambridge, methodically spray-painting the canvas before slashing it to ribbons. Still no prosecution. Again, imagine if equivalent damage had been done by inebriated rowers after a bump supper. Or that an angry white man had defaced an image of George Floyd. There would have been immediate retribution from both the college and the police. Which brings us to the nub of the problem. The students think they are demonstrating against university authorities, but those authorities are with them in spirit. Indeed, our institutions of higher education inculcate the world-view that lies behind the demonstrations. I visited the protest site in Oxford earlier this week. It was (as these things usually are) smaller and tamer than when seen through a camera lens. Most of the students were ducking out to attend tutorials and to eat in hall. What was interesting was their choice of venue. Their encampment was outside the Pitt Rivers museum, which houses a collection of anthropological curios. They had picked the spot, partly for reasons of convenience, and partly because the Pitt Rivers symbolises the colonialism they believe they are protesting against in Gaza. Lets leave aside the flaws, both in seeing Israel as a settler-colonial state, and in the whole notion of restitution by museums. Listen to how the museum itself sees things: At the Pitt Rivers Museum, we condemn racism in the strongest terms; we work towards becoming an anti-racist institution and stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. We express our solidarity and our recognition of how museums like ours, and collections like ours, cannot be separated from the ongoing violence and systemic racism happening in Oxford, in the UK, in the US, and elsewhere. As in the US, universities are rushing to appease the protesters. Some American colleges have promised to disengage from Israel and offer scholarships to students from Gaza. Trinity College Dublin says it will boycott selected Israeli companies and academics. How long before British universities follow suit? This is not really about Gaza, whose agonies should disturb every person of conscience. It is about the intolerant, illiberal and ultimately violent doctrine of identity politics as expressed through state-funded EDI. Sooner or later, the government whose cash underpins our universities will have to cut deep and extract the tumour. There is no other way to preserve our successful multi-racial society. 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. What's the history of 'outside agitators'? Here's what to know about the label and campus protests FILE - People gather to protest against the Israel-Hamas war at a plaza at the University of Texas at Dallas, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Richardson, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) Historically, when students at American universities and colleges protest from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter there's a common refrain that outside agitators are to blame. College administrators and elected officials have often pointed to community members joining protests to dismiss the demands of student protesters. Experts say it's a convenient way for officials to delegitimize the motivations of some political movements and justify calling in law enforcement to stop direct actions that are largely nonviolent and engaging in constitutionally protected speech. This tactic shifts focus away from genuine grievances and portray radical movements as orchestrated by opportunistic outsiders," said Shanelle Matthews, a professor of anthropology and interdisciplinary studies at the City University of New York and a former communications director for the Movement for Black Lives. Over the last few weeks, students on campuses across the country have built encampments, occupied buildings and led protests to call on colleges and universities to divest their endowments from companies profiting from the Israel-Hamas war. Several college and city leaders have pointed to the threat of outsiders when describing the protests and some have responded by cancelling or shifting plans for commencement ceremonies. Here's what to know about the phrase outside agitators used during historic student movements. THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (1960s-1970s) Protest movements are typically comprised of local community members and organizers from other parts of the state or country that work together toward a common goal. In the 1960s, state and local officials often focused on this hallmark of community organizing and suggested that civil rights protests were organized by people outside of a given community. In 1960, a group of Black college students took out a full page ad in Atlanta newspapers called An Appeal for Human Rights that expressed solidarity with students everywhere protesting for civil rights. Segregationist politician and then-Georgia Gov. Ernest Vandiver suggested it was created by foreigners and called it a calculated attempt to breed dissatisfaction, discontent, discord and evil." It did not sound like it was prepared in any Georgia school or college; nor in fact did it read like it was written even in this country, he told the press. The idea that outside agitators were involved in civil rights protests became so common that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out against the label in his letter from the Birmingham Jail in 1963. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, King wrote. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial outside agitator idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. Former President Richard Nixon hoped to tie the 1970 shooting deaths of Kent State students by the National Guard to outside agitators, but the FBI was unable to provide such a link. The students had been protesting the Vietnam War. During the Civil Rights Movement, the label was used as a weapon against community members who spoke up or provided support to protesters and organizers, said Dylan C. Penningroth, an author and historian who teaches law and history at the University of California, Berkeley. It delegitimizes internal dissent against the status quo. So anyone who speaks up against the status quo, whatever that is, is by definition an outsider, he said. It also ignores the fact that local civil rights organizers often take cues from other protest movements, Penningroth said, and building solidarity with others around the country is often an important part of enacting change. BLACK LIVES MATTER (2013-present) Nearly a half-century later, the 2014 killing of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked widespread protests against police brutality. Again, outside agitators were frequently invoked and blamed for destruction, looting and the burning of buildings. The same language was used to describe protests in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, which resulted in over 10,000 arrests nationwide. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz suggested that 80% of those who participated in the unrest that followed in Minneapolis were from out of state. But an Associated Press analysis found that 41 of the 52 people cited with protest-related arrests had Minnesota drivers licenses. PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTS (2024) The number of people arrested in connection with protests on college and university campuses against Israels war in Gaza has now topped 2,800. The Associated Press has tallied at least 70 incidents on at 54 schools since the protests began at Columbia on April 18. Official have used outside agitator rhetoric in a handful of examples nationwide. After dozens of students were arrested in May 4 demonstrations at the University of Virginia, a top law enforcement official suggested outsiders had bull horns to direct the protesters on how to flank our officers. Were receiving intelligence that outside agitators are starting to get involved in these campus protests, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares told Fox News on May 6. In anti-war protests on campuses at Atlantas Emory University, Bostons Northeastern University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, school officials and law enforcement have made inaccurate claims about the presence of non-students. NYC PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTS (2024) On April 30, New York City police officers in riot gear entered Columbia Universitys campus and cleared an encampment, arresting more than 100 people. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly cited the presence of outside agitators to justify the use of police force. There is a movement to radicalize young people and Im not going to wait until its done and all of a sudden acknowledge the existence of it, Adams said at a May 1 news conference. Pressed for specifics, though, the mayor and police officials have had little to say. Adams has repeatedly said that he decided police intervention was necessary in Columbias demonstrations after learning that the husband of one agitator was arrested for federal terrorism. But the woman referenced by the mayor wasnt on Columbias campus that week, isnt among the protesters who were arrested and has not been accused of any crime. Nahla Al-Arian told The Associated Press she was visiting the city last month and briefly stopped by the campus to see the protest encampment. She also said Adams was mischaracterizing the facts about her husband, a former computer engineering professor who was charged two decades ago with giving illegal support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in the 1980s and 1990s. Students involved in the Columbia protests have told The AP it is true that some people not affiliated with the university have been on campus and played an active role in the demonstrations, but they have vehemently denied that those allies were leading or radicalizing the students. While it's true that people with nefarious intentions crash protests, it's the exception rather than the rule, Matthews said. Given that, people should be wary of this narrative. ____ AP writers R.J. Rico in Atlanta, Steve LeBlanc in Boston, David B. Caruso in New York and Jim Vertuno in Austin contributed. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A Clark County School District Board of Trustee who has missed dozens of meetings may actually not be living in Nevada full-time. The absent trustee is Katie Williams and she may be living in a town more than 1,200 miles away. However, if thats the case what does it mean for her seat and the area she represents? CCSD trustee misses 14 in-person school board meetings Williams, first elected in 2020, told 8 News Now in March she has no plans of running for re-election. Yet, there are questions on whether or not she even lives in the county, and if shes able to carry out her duties. Ive never opened a car door on a date, and I lived in big cities. Like Springfield, Illinois is not super big, but I lived in Las Vegas. I was up in Chicago a couple of times. I lived in St. Louis for a time, Williams said in a TikTok video. Williams said the past tense when mentioning Las Vegas. Shes very active on social media, and looking through her accounts, she has made several posts about Nebraska. In one LinkedIn post, she wrote, Pray for Nebraska. In another, she mentions tornadoes on the ground while working. These posts were made when severe weather battered the state. Her Pinterest page, which was updated four days ago, has a section dedicated to Nebraska. When asked about this, Williams told 8 News Now in a text, I work remotely for a company in Utah, Nebraska, and California and travel between the three. If you want to hold elected office, you also have to be an actual resident, because people sometimes have multiple homes. Maybe they travel to work, David Orentlicher said. Hes a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law. Orentlicher said two statutes govern election eligibility. One law states a seat can become vacant if an official has moved, or has failed to carry out their duties. If theres somebody whos just not doing their job, then the district attorney could also bring a proceeding to vacate their position, Orentlicher said. Williams represents schools from the far Northwest valley to rural Clark County. Since January of last year, Williams has not attended in person at least 15 board meetings, including on Thursday when her chair sat empty. According to property records, Williams believed-to-be fiancee bought a house in La Vista, Nebraska, which is a suburb of Omaha, back in March. Since March, 8 News Now has emailed CCSD for comment on the issue, even as recently as Friday afternoon. But the district has ignored those requests. According to Nevada statute, if a school board seat is vacated, its the board of trustees who appoints a new member who must then run in the general election to complete the unexpired term. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS. Where Are Madeleine McCanns Parents Now? A Look at Their Lives After Their Daughter's 2007 Kidnapping 3-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared while on vacation with her family in Portugal LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Kate and Gerry McCann pose with an artist's impression of how their daughter might look now at the age of nine on May 2, 2012. Madeleine McCann has been missing since May 3, 2007 but her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, have never given up hope of finding her. The British family were on vacation in Praia da Luz, Portugal, when Madeleine vanished from their rental apartment toward the end of their trip. At the time of her disappearance, Gerry and Kate were having dinner with a group of friends at a restaurant on the resorts property. The couple left Madeleine, then 3 years old, and her 2-year-old twin siblings sleeping in a bedroom and periodically returned to the apartment to check on them. After several check-ins, Kate returned around 10 p.m. to discover that Madeleine had gone missing while her brother and sister slept nearby. Police were quickly alerted, beginning a worldwide search for the toddler. With the recent 17th anniversary of Madeleines disappearance, detectives continue to search for leads in the case. German authorities still consider Christian Brueckner to be the prime suspect, and in June 2024, authorities discovered an email account belonging to Brueckner that is related to the killing of Madeleine. Through it all, Gerry and Kate have continued to advocate for their daughter and believe that they will one day be reunited with her. Its 17 years since Madeleine was taken from us. Its hard to even say that number without shaking our heads in disbelief. Whilst we are fortunate in many ways and able to live a relatively normal and enjoyable life now, the living in limbo is still very unsettling, they shared on the Find Madeleine website. They continued, Your support continues to encourage us and bolsters our strength to keep going. We know the love and hope for Madeleine and the will to find her, even after so many years, remains, and we are truly thankful for that. Thank you again for remembering Madeleine and all missing children. So, where are Madeleine McCanns parents now? Here's everything to know about Gerry and Kate McCann and the latest developments in their daughter's disappearance. Who are Gerry and Kate McCann? JOE GIDDENS/AFP/Getty Kate and Gerry McCann during an interview with the BBC's Fiona Bruce on April 28, 2017. Prior to Madeleines disappearance, Gerry and Kate lived a quiet life with their small family in Leicestershire, England. The couple married in 1998 and went on to welcome Madeleine on May 12, 2003. Soon after, her twin younger siblings, Sean and Amelie, were born. We were a perfectly ordinary family. Boring, even. Since settling down to bring up our longed-for babies, Gerry and I had become such strangers to the fast lane that we were often the butt of good-natured teasing from our friends. Wed give anything to have that boring life back now, Kate wrote in her book Madeleine: Our Daughters Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her. While raising their three children, both Gerry and Kate worked in the medical field. Throughout her career, Kate was involved in obstetrics, gynecology and anesthetics before moving to general practice. Meanwhile, Gerry has primarily worked as a cardiologist. What happened the night of Madeleine McCanns disappearance? Steve Parsons - PA Images/PA Images/Getty Gerry and Kate McCann in Luz, Portugal. On April 28, 2007, Gerry, Kate and their three children arrived in Praia da Luz, Portugal, for a week-long holiday. They were joined by a group of friends as well as their children. During the trip, the McCann family stayed at a privately owned two-bedroom apartment on the ground floor of a building, a part of the citys Ocean Club resort. The family's location meant that they were close to their friends and restaurants but also on an easily accessible road. Over the next few days, they spent time at the pool, restaurants and the resorts childrens club. After putting the kids to bed in the evenings, the nine adults on the trip would eat dinner at a local outdoor tapas restaurant. Per Madeleine, the families had requested a specific table that overlooked the apartment building, alerting hotel staff that their children were sleeping inside. Unbeknownst to them, the note about their kids was in a book accessible to all staff and potentially passerbys. On the second to last night of the trip, May 3, the group once again headed to the restaurant around 8:30 p.m., arranging for the parents to periodically return to the apartments and check on the children. Behind a gate and a small flight of stairs, there was a back door, which could only be secured from the inside that was left unlocked so that Gerry and Kate could enter during their check-ins. Per Vanity Fair, Gerry stopped by the apartment and saw Madeleine sound asleep around 9:05 p.m. He later noted that at the time, the door to the childrens room was wide open despite having left it only slightly ajar, and closed it again. When Kate headed over at 10 p.m., she discovered the front window had been opened and quickly realized Madeleine was gone. What happened during the initial police inquiry into Madeleine McCanns disappearance? Collect/Handout/Alamy Madeleine McCann. Following Kates discovery that Madeleine was gone, Gerry sent a friend to alert the hotel and call the police. By 10:30, the resort had begun its missing child search protocol, with staff and guests searching the property for any signs of Madeleine. Police arrived shortly after with search dogs but have since been criticized for mistakes made in the vital hours following the disappearance. According to The Guardian, it was hours before the border and marine police were provided with descriptions of Madeleine, and authorities reportedly did not go door-to-door looking for the little girl. Meanwhile, Kate shared in Madeleine that it was 12 hours before roadblocks were put in place, and many people who may have been potential witnesses were allowed to leave without being interviewed. Additionally, it would be five days before Interpol, or the International Criminal Police Organization, shared a global alert about Madeleine. Then, when DNA samples were later tested from Madeleines room and the surrounding area, it was realized that since the crime scene had not been immediately secured, samples could have been compromised from the number of searchers entering the area, per BBC. In the months after Madeleines disappearance, the Portuguese police began their initial inquiry. Several leads were followed, including two separate sightings of men carrying a child through the resort around the time Gerry and Kate were having dinner. One of those instances was reported by their dinner companion, Jane Tanner, who claimed to have seen a man carrying a child while she was on her way back from checking on her own daughter around 9:15 p.m. Although the unidentified man was later ruled out as a suspect, according to BBC, it did lead to the police naming the first person of interest. With the initial information that a man had been walking away from the McCanns apartment, police believed he could have been on his way to the home of Robert Murat. The British-Portuguese man lived nearby, and several witnesses claimed to have seen him shortly after Madeleines disappearance. He also began involving himself in the case, offering translation services and had spoken to several media outlets, according to a BBC profile. After interviews and searches, his suspect status was eventually dropped. In October of that year, Chief Inspector Goncalo Amaral was removed from his position and Paulo Rebelo, deputy national director of the Policia Judiciaria, took over, Reuters reported. With an expanded group of detectives, a case review and interviews were conducted. By July 2008, it was determined that Murat nor the McCanns were involved in Madeleine's disappearance, and the first inquiry was officially closed, according to The Guardian. Were Gerry and Kate McCann ever suspects? CLEMENS BILAN/DDP/AFP/Getty Kate and Gerry McCann at a press conference on June 6, 2007 in Berlin, Germany.. During the first inquiry, Gerry and Kate were briefly considered suspects involved in Madeleines disappearance. In the summer of 2007, a trained canine detected body odor in the couple's apartment and car, the latter of which they rented several weeks after Madeleine went missing. After the dogs alerted officers to the presence of DNA, samples were taken for testing. Before the results were available, though, authorities officially named Gerry and Kate suspects. According to The Guardian, it was later revealed that the sample from the car was inconclusive and could not be determined to belong to Madeleine. While it did contain some components that could be a part of her DNA, scientist John Lowe said the result is too complex for meaningful interpretation or inclusion. As suspects, police accused Gerry and Kate of hiding Madeleines body after she died in an accident while the couple was at dinner, according to NBC News. In the following months, the investigation delved into potential charges of abduction, homicide, exposure or abandonment of a child, and concealment of a corpse, per The Telegraph. Although the review continued, in July 2008, Portugals attorney-general, Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro, said the police had found no evidence linking the McCann to Madeleines suspected abduction. They were declared no longer suspects, coinciding with the end of the first inquiry. Its hard to describe how utterly despairing it was for us to be named arguido [suspects] and to subsequently [be] portrayed in the media as suspects in our own daughters disappearance, Gerry and Kate said in a statement. Its been equally devastating to witness the detrimental affect this status has had on the search for Madeleine. What happened during further police inquiries into the case? Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Kate McCann and Gerry McCann before the start of the 'Miles for Missing People' charity run on April 2, 2011 in London, England. In the years since the conclusion of the first inquiry, authorities and private investigators have followed numerous leads and conducted searches for Madeleine. In 2011, British authorities took an invested interest in the case, and Prime Minister David Cameron announced a British inquiry called Operation Grange. Since then, a team of detectives have investigated 60 people of interest, taken over a thousand statements and looked into countless potential sightings of Madeleine around the world, per The Guardian. Through their investigation, many potential leads were uncovered. In 2013, it was revealed that in the months leading up to Madeleine going missing, there had been an increased number of burglaries in the immediate area, according to BBC. Two incidents occurred on the same block as the McCanns rental apartment within 17 days before their arrival. There were also other reports about home invasions in the years prior. Apart from British and Portuguese inquiries, German authorities have delved into the case. In 2020, they identified German prisoner Christian Brueckner as a suspect in Madeleines disappearance. Brueckner, previously called a sexual predator who committed crimes against little girls, was in Praia da Luz at the same time as the McCann family while he traveled around Portugal in a camper van. German prosecutors believe Brueckner may have killed Madeleine but have not charged him because, although they have findings that suggest his involvement, they don't have enough evidence to convict him. A suspect was formally named in 2022, although authorities have not revealed if it is Brueckner or someone else. How did the media respond to Madeleine McCanns disappearance? MELANIE MAPS/AFP/Getty Gerry and Kate McCann read a statement to the press outside on May 11, 2007. Madeleines disappearance immediately drew massive attention from the media. For months following the incident, the McCanns made front-page news and were featured across numerous websites and social media platforms. In 2008, Vanity Fair reported that newspapers selling copies with the family on the first page sold an extra 30,000 copies a day. In order to manage the press attention and utilize it to help the search for Madeleine, Gerry and Kate hired public relations consultants a few months after their daughter's disappearance. They often made media appearances, sometimes traveling to different countries to follow leads. Still, being so prominently featured in the media, the couple faced harsh criticism about their decisions, particularly their choice to leave their children alone while they had dinner. Viewers criticized Kates cold demeanor which they later said was something that was advised by British police. That was one of the things they were told right from the beginning, Justine McGuinness, an early spokesperson, told Vanity Fair. Dont show any emotion, because whoever took the child could get off on that, and take it out on the child. Or the abductor might find tears stimulating in some way. In 2011, Gerry and Kate faced more scrutiny when Portuguese detective Goncalo Amaral, who had previously served as the inquirys coordinator, published a book about Madeleines disappearance. In Maddie: A Verdade da Mentira, Amaral said he believed that the little girl had died in an accident in the apartment and her parents had covered it up by faking an abduction. Kate and Gerry filed a libel lawsuit against Amaral, and they were awarded 500,000 in damages, per The Guardian. Was Madeleines kidnapper ever found? While there have been several people of interest in Madeleines kidnapping through the years, no one has ever been charged in connection with the crime. There are several theories about what happened to Madeleine, with various experts believing she may still be alive. One theory presents the idea that Madeleine could have been kidnapped into a sex trafficking ring. Since her body has never been found over the past 17 years, its possible she is still out there. Some investigators say that as a white child from a wealthy country, she would have been seen as high value for both traffickers and pedophiles. Trafficking is on the rise in Portugal, and because of its location, it offers abductors easy escape routes to other countries. Others believe that the little girl may have disrupted an attempted burglary and was kidnapped and later murdered by her captors. Christian Brueckner remains the prime suspect in the case. In June 2024, authorities discovered his Hotmail account, which they say is directly related to Madeleine's disappearance. Where are Gerry and Kate McCann now? JOE GIDDENS/AFP/Getty Kate and Gerry McCann during an interview with the BBC's Fiona Bruce on April 28, 2017. Gerry and Kate have continued to advocate for their daughter and search for answers regarding her disappearance. The couple say they have not given up hope for finding their little girl, who would now be in her early 20s. All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice. We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know, as we need to find peace, they said in a statement in 2020. In an update shared on the 17th anniversary of Madeleines disappearance, Gerry and Kate said they were grateful to be able to live a relatively normal and enjoyable life now, despite still living in limbo about Madeleines fate. Gerry currently serves as a research professor in experimental medicine and a professor of cardiac imaging at the University of Leicestershire. Meanwhile, Kate shared in Madeleine in 2012 that she had not returned to her job as a doctor, spending more time with the couples other children and focusing on the search for Madeleine. In 2017, they said they were still buying gifts for Madeleine on special occasions, continuing to make her a part of their life. I think every kind of event that we do, whether it be a birthday or a family occasion or even an achievement or something, that is kind of when you really feel her absence, Kate shared. Gerry added, So, we are marking the anniversary. I think its been good for the general public to hear police say theres no evidence that shes dead, and that there is still an active investigation, and there is still hope. So certainly from my point of view, somebody knows whats happened. While the pair does not often make public appearances and opted not to be featured in the 2019 Netflix docuseries The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, they are typically seen at an annual vigil in their village to honor Madeleine. They were notably absent in 2024, which could have been related to a message shared in 2023 about their younger children, who do not wish to be in the spotlight. As we do every year, we gathered in our village yesterday evening to mark the anniversary of our daughter Madeleines abduction, Kate wrote on the Find Madeleine website in 2023. I was dismayed, however, that this sadly provided an opportunity for a local journalist to exploit the presence of our younger daughter who does not wish to be photographed or interviewed and was made to feel uncomfortable, especially at such a special moment of hope for Madeleine. If you have any information about Madeleine McCanns whereabouts, please send an email to investigation@findmadeleine.com or call the official investigation line at +44 845 838 4699. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Why are social media users blocking celebrities and influencers on TikTok? A look at the #Blockout movement Each year the Met Gala marks the intersection of Hollywood and the fashion industry, with stars like Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian taking their typical red carpet looks to new heights. But not everyone was thrilled about the so-called Hollywoods Prom this year, with dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters outside the event hoping to get those inside to acknowledge Israels war in Gaza. Now, more people are taking their protests to social media and those behind the movement say the results could impact the money stars and influencers make from these platforms. Why are people angry with the Met Gala attendees? While many people applauded the looks, social media users called out the Met Gala this year for its bold display of wealth and opulence while the Israeli war in Gaza still raged. Social media users have since been cutting off celebrities from their bread and butter (aka, online capital) in the wake of the Met Gala, with the help of widely spreading digital campaigns. "The Met Gala was a bit of a hyperbolic moment that got a lot of people's attention," Marcus Collins, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan, told NPR of the digital campaigns. "The celebrity boycotts had existed, but they weren't really at the top of the social zeitgeist. But then you have a moment like the Met Gala that wasn't really related to the conflict, but the pieces were all at play. When the attacks [in Gaza] were happening the same day, the juxtaposition just got people talking and moving." What #Blockout2024 means After the Met Gala, TikToker @BlockOut2024 posted a video encouraging users to block celebrities on social media, preventing them from making money from ad revenue, as a way to offer pushback to their silence on the crisis in Gaza. He noted that he had blocked Kim Kardashian (a Met Gala staple) back in December 2023. Social media users quickly picked up on the trend, posting videos of who they were specifically targeting to block alongside the hashtags #blockout, #digitine and #celebrityblock. And @BlockOut2024 wasnt the only user who created a digital campaign to cut off celebrities online. What does Marie Antoinette have to do with this? At a hotel prior to the Met Gala, for which she was hired as a host, TikToker Haley Kalil who boasts 9.9 million followers on the app posted a TikTok using audio of the phrase Let them eat cake from the 2006 movie Marie Antoinette. The real French queen Marie Antoinette (to whom the phrase is often attributed but who probably never actually said it, per historians) was ultimately beheaded by guillotine during the French Revolution primarily due to her association with the monarchy, which was seen as out of touch with the needs of the people. Kalils video sparked the creation of the digitine, or digital guillotine, coined by TikToker @LadyFromTheOutside. Its time to block all the celebrities, influencers and wealthy socialites who are not using their resources to help those in dire need, she said in her video, which received more than 500,000 likes on the platform, as well as hundreds of encouraging comments. Who is being blocked? Based on social media posts, users are blocking a wide range of stars like Harry Styles, Jojo Siwa, Ellen DeGeneres, Kevin Hart, Shakira, Kylie Jenner and Taylor Swift. However, people share thoughts on the different stars they are blocking daily. What impact has this unfollowing had on celebrities? Thus far, any real impact has yet to be seen. However, #Blockout2024 claims celebrities have been losing a significant amount of followers. In theory, celebrities (as well as influencers, who are also on these lists) will be impacted by a lack of users engaging with their content, as well as the drop in followers if people who blocked them previously followed their content online. In this article, we will be looking at the 36 countries where gay marriage is legal. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, you can go directly to 5 Countries Where Gay Marriage Is Legal. Changing Acceptance: Vatican's Shift & Global Statistics The LGBTQ+ community has been historically marginalized and the target of hate crimes. However, over the past couple of decades, there has been a growing acceptance with many countries legalizing same-sex marriages. On April 8, Reuters reported that the Vatican considers the criminalization of homosexuality a pertinent issue. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez has opposed the criminalization of the community. Furthermore, Pope Francis has condemned laws punishing LGBT individuals, labeling them as sinful and unjust. The church has also allowed blessings for same-sex couples. The change of stance by the religious leaders is catalyzing the shift towards greater acceptance. On February 15, Reuters reported that Greece's parliament passed a bill legalizing same-sex civil marriage. The law grants same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt children, following years of activism in the traditionally conservative nation. This move makes Greece one of the first Orthodox Christian countries to allow same-sex unions. The legalization of same-sex marriage in the country marks a significant victory for LGBT rights advocates. The legalization process varies among countries. One of the main channels for legalization is through legislation. Countries including Ireland and Switzerland made same-sex marriage legal after receiving significant numbers of nationwide votes. Another main track for the legalization process is through court decisions. Countries including the United States and South Africa have legalised same-sex marriages through court decisions. The courts have the power to mandate the countries to follow a certain law including the law to legalize same-sex unions. Regardless of the road traversed for the legalization process, it is important to note that a greater cultural shift is required for the gay community to live safely and peacefully. However, with time and proper legislation same-sex couples can exist and enjoy their rights like heterosexual couples. Gay marriage has been legal in the United States since 2015 and has a significant number of same-sex couples. According to the data from the United States Census Bureau, in 2022 the total number of same-sex couples in the US was 1,277,000 and married opposite-sex couples was 60,180,000. 608,000 out of the total were male-male couples and 669,200 were female-female couples. In 2022, the median household income for same-sex couples was $110,600, and for the opposite-sex couples was $109,700. 62.6% of the same-sex couples living in the US in 2022 owned a house and 37.4% rented a house, whereas, 81.9% of the opposite-sex couples owned a house and 18.1% rented a house. The data implies that same-sex couples in the US have access to a lifestyle similar to opposite-sex couples. Story continues Shifting Perception and Dating Trends The growing acceptance of same-sex marriage was reflected in surveys conducted by Gallup. In May 2023, an astounding 71% of the respondents said that same-sex marriage should be considered valid in law compared to only 55% a decade ago, in 2014. 64% of the respondents in 2023 said that same-sex marriages were morally acceptable in their opinion. For a question regarding what most Americans feel about homosexual behavior, in 2019, 55% said that it was acceptable and 41% said it was unacceptable. Despite the legal status of same-sex marriage in the country, the data implies that the public has mixed perceptions towards the couples. Amidst the growing acceptance of same-sex couples, especially with the legalization of marriage, the community is still faced with a large number of challenges. One of the biggest challenges is meeting potential partners in a safe environment. Online dating apps provide an alternate experience to the daunting offline dating arena. According to a Pew Research Center Survey conducted in 2022, lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals in the US are more likely to use online dating apps. The percentage of homosexual people who have used dating apps at least once was a staggering 51%. 13% out of the 51% said that they are still actively using online dating apps. The number of heterosexual people who have used a dating app was only 28% in the US. The greater user base has led to the emergence of several specific online dating apps for homosexual individuals. You can also check out the 15 Best Gay Dating Sites and Apps of 2024. Noteworthy Online Gay Dating Apps Many online dating apps have introduced features that enable users to select their preferences. People with diverse sexual orientations can connect with the people of their choice. Tinder is one of the most popular apps among homosexual individuals. According to the survey, six in ten individuals said that they have used Tinder at least once. Tinder is owned by Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH). The company also owns popular online dating platforms including Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and OurTime. Archer by Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH) is an online dating platform targeted at gay men. On June 1, 2023, the company announced the launch of the app. The app aims to ensure user safety and community building. The app by Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH) has enhanced safety features including selfie verification and customizable profile viewing options. The app also has AI-powered moderation and has been developed in collaboration with LGBTQ advocates. Grindr Inc. (NYSE:GRND) is another popular gay online dating platform operator. Grindr is a location-based social networking and online dating application specifically designed for gay, bisexual men, and transgender individuals. It was launched in March 2009. The app allows users to create personal profiles, utilize GPS positioning to display nearby profiles, and engage in various interactions. Grindr offers both free and premium versions. The premium version of the app provides a variety of additional features such as enhanced search capabilities. Grindr has more than 13 million active users and is constantly introducing new features to enhance user engagement. On March 13, Grindr Inc. (NYSE:GRND) announced its plans to integrate AI into its platform to enhance user experiences and foster deeper connections. The company has been planning AI features for over a year and is now actively testing them. To ensure ethical usage and mitigate risks it is establishing guidelines, oversight structures, and rigorous testing protocols. Grindr Inc. (NYSE:GRND) is initially testing AI features internally before gradually rolling them out to select users. Here are some comments from the earnings call of the company: "In 2023, we also laid a strong foundation for long-term growth, such as developing a robust product roadmap, which includes some great work we are doing on AI and adding outstanding, highly accomplished leaders to our team. In November, we completed a landmark step for Grindr with the refinancing of our debt, closing a new $350 million facility with some of the worlds leading financial institutions. At refinancing the [indiscernible] business world, but when the first public company serving the LGBTQ community can execute this several transaction, partnering with ALS institutions in a tough interest rate environment, it highlights then only the strength and credibility of our business, but also signals that we can help drive a more open and welcoming financial ecosystem." Bumble Inc (NASDAQ:BMBL) is a prominent name in the online dating industry. The app is not limited to heterosexual users. Bumble Inc (NASDAQ:BMBL) is committed to providing a safe and empowering platform for its LGBTQ+ members. In same-gender matches, matches with two non-binary people, or matches between non-binary people and men, either person has the power to make the first move. This feature is in contrast to the traditional design of the app that allows women to initiate contact first in heterosexual connections. The other person then has 24 hours to respond, or the connection expires. Bumble Inc (NASDAQ:BMBL) offers a variety of gender identity options, including men, women, and nonbinary individuals. Users can select the gender of the people they would like to match with on Bumble Date. Meeting a new person and initiating a relationship is a daunting experience. Dating apps provide a way to move through several options quickly. Another alternative can be moving to a city that has a larger gay population or is more gay-friendly. However, for the longer run, being in a location that has legalized same-sex marriages is a good option. We have made a list of the countries that have legalized gay marriage in the past couple of years. You can also read the 25 Affordable Gay-Friendly Cities in the US. 36 Countries Where Gay Marriage Is Legal Our Methodology To make our list of the countries where gay marriage is legal, we consulted CNN, Pew Research, and the Human Rights Campaign. As of May 2024, 36 countries have legalized same-sex marriages. It is important to note that many countries have active and ongoing legalization efforts and the number of countries is expected to change over time. We have used the date of legalization as our primary metric. The date of legalization refers to the day on which the law for same-sex marriage was passed in a country. The legalization date has been extracted from the official government sites and news sources including Reuters, Forbes, and Bloomberg. The list has been arranged based on the primary metric moving from the oldest date to the latest one. 36 Countries Where Gay Marriage Is Legal 36. The Netherlands Date of Legalization: April 1, 2001 The Netherlands was the first country to legalize same-sex marriages. The legalization took place after the parliament passed the law. Same-sex marriage is legally recognized throughout the Netherlands, including in the Caribbean territories. Same-sex couples in the country also have the right to adopt children and access IVF services. 35. Belgium Date of Legalization: June 1, 2003 Belgium is one of the countries where gay marriage is legal. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Belgium since June 1, 2003. Belgium has also granted same-sex couples the right to adopt children. 34. Spain Date of Legalization: July 3, 2005 Spain is one of the countries where gay marriage is legal. Same-sex marriages have been legal since 2005 when the Cortes Generales passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage and adoption. It was the third country to officially recognize same-sex unions in the world. 33. Canada Date of Legalization: July 20, 2005 Same-sex marriages in Canada have been legally recognized since the federal Civil Marriage Act came into force on July 20, 2005. The process began in 2003 when Ontario and British Columbia became the first two provinces to legalize same-sex marriage. 32. South Africa Date of Legalization: November 30, 2006 Same-sex marriage was legalized in South Africa when the Civil Union Act of 2006 came into force. The Civil Union Act allows for the legal recognition of same-sex marriages providing them with equal rights and responsibilities. It was the first African country to recognize same-sex marriages. 31. Norway Date of Legalization: January 1, 2009 Norway is among the countries where gay marriage is legal. The gender-neutral Marriage Law that took effect in January 2009 secured equal marriage and parenting rights for same-sex couples. This legislation replaced a previous law on Registered Partnerships that was introduced in 1993. 30. Sweden Date of Legalization: May 1, 2009 Same-sex couples in the country have been allowed to register for civil unions since 1995. However, the legalization of gay marriage took place in May 2009. Swedish parliament voted to legalize same-sex marriage with the majority of the parties supporting the proposal. 29. Portugal Date of Legalization: June 5, 2010 Portugal is one of the countries where gay marriage is legal. The legislation for the legalization of same-sex unions was passed by the parliament. The Constitutional Court of the country also approved the movement. The country allows same-sex couples to get married and adopt children like heterosexual couples. 28. Iceland Date of Legalization: June 11, 2010 Iceland legalized same-sex marriage on June 11, 2010. The parliament approved the bill for the legalization of gay marriage in the country. The bill replaced the existing practice of registered partnerships for gay couples. The new law made marriage gender-neutral. 27. Argentina Date of Legalization: July 22, 2010 Argentina is one of the countries where gay marriage is legal. It was the first country in Latin America to legalize gay marriage. The Chamber of Deputies passed the bill earlier in the same year. Same-sex couples can also adopt children in the country. 26. Denmark Date of Legalization: June 15, 2012 Denmark was the first country to pass a law recognizing same-sex unions in 1989. The law was later amended in 2012 to allow same-sex couples to get married. The proposal was initially announced on March 13, 2012, and was approved on June 15, 2012. 25. Uruguay Date of Legalization: April 10, 2013 Uruguay legalized same-sex marriage on April 10, 2013. It is the third country in the Americas that allowed same-sex marriages. The bill was passed after receiving overwhelming support in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The legislation enables gay couples to get married and adopt children. 24. Brazil Date of Legalization: May 5, 2013 Brazil is one of the countries where gay marriage is legal. Marriage for gay couples was made legal after a nationwide court ruling. The ruling ordered all civil registers to perform same-sex marriages and convert existing civil unions into marriages. 23. France Date of Legalization: May 18, 2013 The legalization process for same-sex unions in France was met with a lot of debate and counter-opinions. However, the legalization took place when the then-president signed his approval. 22. England Date of Legalization: July 17, 2013 England is one of the countries where gay marriage is legal. The Marriage Act 2013 legalized same-sex marriage in England. The initial wedding ceremonies took place in March of 2014. The legalization took place after royal assent was granted to the Marriage Act. 21. New Zealand Date of Legalization: August 19, 2013 Same-sex marriage has been legal in New Zealand since August 19, 2013. It was the first country in the Asia Pacific region that allowed same-sex couples to wed. The legalization took place through legislation in the form of the Marriage Amendment Act. The Act changed the definition of marriage encompassing gay couples as well. 20. Luxembourg Date of Legalization: June 18, 2014 Luxembourg is one of the countries where gay marriage is legal. Luxembourg legalized same-sex marriage in 2014. The legalization took place after the Luxembourg House of Representatives approved the bill. The law guarantees marriage equality and aims to diminish discrimination based on sexual orientation. 19. Ireland Date of Legalization: May 22, 2015 Ireland legalized same-sex marriage on a national level through a popular referendum. The results showed that almost 62% of the voters were in favor of gay marriage. The referendum led to an amendment in the constitution that allowed marriage recognition irrespective of the sex of the partners. 18. United States Date of Legalization: June 26, 2015 Same-sex marriage in the United States was legalized after a Supreme Court ruling. The law granted same-sex couples in all fifty states the right to full, equal recognition and protection under the law. The country has a long history of gay rights movements that played a significant role in the legalization process. 17. Colombia Date of Legalization: April 28, 2016 Colombia is one of the countries where gay marriage is legal. Same-sex marriage was legalized after a ruling by the Constitutional Court. The first gay marriage took place in the country in May 2016. The legalization took place based on a 6-3 vote. 16. Finland Date of Legalization: March 1, 2017 Same-sex marriage in Finland has been legal since March 1, 2017. The legalization took place after the parliament passed a law. The campaigns and initiatives played a vital role in attaining the legal marriage status for same-sex couples. 15. Germany Date of Legalization: October 1, 2017 In Germany, same-sex marriage has been legal since October 1, 2017. The legislation was passed by the Bundestag, the German federal parliament. Christian Democratic Union was the ruling party at the time. 14. Australia Date of Legalization: December 9, 2017 Gay marriage has been legal in Australia since December 9, 2017. The legalization took place after an amendment to the federal Marriage Act. The amendment was done based on a nationwide non-binding referendum. 61.6% of the voters were in favor of allowing same-sex couples to get married. 13. Malta Date of Legalization: July 12, 2017 Malta is one of the countries where gay marriage is legal. Same-sex marriage became legal in the country after the law was passed by the parliament of the country. The bill had received significant support in the form of votes from almost the entire parliament. 12. Austria Date of Legalization: January 1, 2019 In Austria, same-sex marriage has been legal since January 1, 2019. The Austrian Constitutional Court ruled in December 2017 that the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional which preceded the official legalization in 2019. Before the legalization of same-sex marriage, Austria had registered partnerships, which were introduced in 2010. 11. Taiwan Date of Legalization: May 24, 2019 The Enforcement Act of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748, a special law legalizing same-sex marriage in Taiwan, took effect on May 24, 2019. The law made it one of the first countries in Asia to legalize same-sex marriages. Taiwan's legalization of same-sex marriage was a significant milestone in its democracy. 10. Ecuador Date of Legalization: July 8, 2019 Ecuador legalized same-sex marriage on July 8, 2019, following a Constitutional Court ruling issued on June 12, 2019. The ruling took effect upon publication in the government gazette. Ecuador is the fifth country in South America to allow same-sex couples to marry, after Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Colombia. 9. United Kingdom Date of Legalization: January 13, 2020 Gay marriages became legal in all parts of the United Kingdom on January 13, 2020. England and Wales led the way with legalization with the first same-sex marriages in England and Wales taking place in March 2014. Scotland legalized same-sex marriage in the later part of 2014. Northern Ireland was the last one to join in January 2020. 8. Costa Rica Date of Legalization: May 26, 2020 Costa Rica legalized same-sex marriage on May 26, 2020, becoming the first country in Central America to do so. This followed a ruling by the country's Constitutional Court in August 2018, which declared that laws preventing same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. The decision is a major step forward for LGBTQ rights in the country. 7. Chile Date of Legalization: December 7, 2021 Chile is one of the countries where gay marriage is legal. Chile legalized same-sex marriage on December 7, 2021. The legalization also entailed the scrapping of the requirement that married transgender people divorce if they want to have their gender legally recognized. The law also allows same-sex parents to have parental rights over the biological or adopted children. 6. Switzerland Date of Legalization: July 1, 2022 Switzerland legalized same-sex marriage on July 1, 2022, making it one of the last countries in Western Europe to do so. The new law allows same-sex couples to marry, adopt children jointly, and inherit a deceased partner's pension. The change was the result of a nationwide referendum in 2021. Click to continue reading and see the 5 Countries Where Gay Marriage Is Legal. Suggested Articles: Disclosure: None. 36 Countries Where Gay Marriage Is Legal is originally published on Insider Monkey. Why did early presidents not campaign? Its all modern presidents seem to do A version of this story appeared in CNNs What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. When he talks to reporters outside the New York courtroom where he is on trial for falsifying business records, former President Donald Trump usually complains hed rather be with voters. They want to keep me off the campaign trail, he said on Tuesday, suggesting the trial is part of an election interference conspiracy, for which there is no evidence. It was a similar story last week, when Trump said he should be campaigning in battleground states. Were at a courthouse instead of being in any one of I would say 10 states where Id like to be right now, he said to TV cameras that beamed his remarks around the country. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has been folding trips to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida into his schedule. Trump chose not to campaign when court was out of session Wednesday, but he will appear in New Jersey this weekend. Both major candidates obviously perceive value in the act of campaigning being on the trail and speaking directly to voters. Its hard to believe that early American presidents did no personal campaigning whatsoever. They thought it was beneath them and the office they held. I talked to Brendan Doherty, a professor of political science at the United States Naval Academy and author of the books, The Rise of the Presidents Permanent Campaign and Fundraiser in Chief: Presidents and the Politics of Campaign Cash, about why early presidents stayed off the trail and how this became the permanent campaign. Our conversation, conducted by email, is below: WOLF: Why didnt early presidents personally campaign? DOHERTY: In the early decades of the republic, presidential candidates adhered to the norm that they should not actively campaign for office. It was seen as unseemly to seek the office to which they hoped to be elected. But that didnt stop them from finding other ways of communicating with voters. WOLF: How did these early non-campaigning presidents get their message out? DOHERTY: While early presidential candidates didnt actively campaign, their supporters got the word out on their behalf. Newspapers were openly partisan in the early republic, and many of their articles openly praised or criticized various candidates. While candidates did not attend political conventions in the 1800s, supporters made the case for their preferred candidates in ways that drove news coverage. In the late 1800s, some presidential candidates mounted what were called front porch campaigns. They would speak to supporters at or near their homes, and newspapers would cover these speeches and spread their messages across the country. WOLF: What are some key moments in the rise of the current model of campaigning? DOHERTY: In 1866, President Andrew Johnson broke from precedent and actively campaigned in the midterm elections. His travel to give a series of speeches was called the Swing around the Circle, and he was criticized both for actively campaigning and for using inflammatory rhetoric while doing so. Two years later, the House of Representatives impeached Johnson for, among other things, giving these campaign speeches that brought Congress into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt, and reproach. In 1896, Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan actively campaigned across the country, while the eventual winner, Republican William McKinley, conducted a front porch campaign. In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt became the first presidential candidate to appear at a convention to accept his nomination in person. And in 1948, Harry Truman actively campaigned across the country, giving speeches from the back of a train in what became known as his whistle-stop campaign. President Harry S. Truman speaking during his whistle-stop campaign in 1948. - George Skadding/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock WOLF: Who was, in your view, the best natural campaigner who ran for president? What did they do differently? DOHERTY: While its hard to pick out a single best campaigner, two who come to mind are John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Kennedy actively campaigned in the primary elections in 1960 at a time when leading candidates often skipped active campaigning during the nomination contest. But he wanted to demonstrate his electability to party leaders who might be skeptical that a Catholic could win the White House after the only other Catholic major party nominee had lost in a landslide to Herbert Hoover in 1928. Kennedy was widely seen as charming and eloquent on the stump, and his wins in the Wisconsin and West Virginia primaries helped him win his partys nomination and then the White House. Reagan channeled his years of performance as an actor and his sense of humor to campaign effectively for the presidency. His voice, his timing, and his telling of stories and jokes to connect with his audiences won him much praise. When questioners implied that being an actor wasnt adequate preparation to be president, Reagan would respond that he didnt know how someone could be an effective president who hadnt been an actor. President Ronald Reagan waves from the back of his limousine to a line of people on the street as he heads toward a campaign stop in Fairfield, Connecticut, on October 26, 1984. - Ronald Reagan Library/Archive Photos/Getty Images WOLF: Is active campaigning holding rallies and flying from stop to stop effective in a country of more than 335 million people? A candidate can only shake so many hands. Plus, most people already lean toward one party or the other. What does putting a candidate on the trail accomplish? DOHERTY: While presidential candidates can only meet a relatively small sliver of the American population and, more importantly, of the population of the small number of Electoral College battleground states that will decide a presidential election their campaigning can drive news coverage, which has a multiplier effect when it comes to getting their message out. Political science studies have shown that local news coverage is often more favorable to presidents and presidential candidates than national news coverage is, so candidates campaign in part so that local media outlets will amplify their campaign messages. While its increasingly difficult for candidates to grab and hold the publics attention given our increasingly fragmented media landscape, that certainly doesnt stop presidential hopefuls from trying. WOLF: I suppose the inverse of candidates who dont campaign is our current system, in which they only briefly stop campaigning to govern. Why is the permanent campaign a problem, and how could it be fixed? DOHERTY: Modern presidents campaign for themselves and for their fellow party members throughout their term in office. They raise campaign funds and they travel to key electoral states. While presidents used to try not to appear to be overly focused on campaigning too early in their term in office, thats no longer the case. In the summer of his third year in office, Ronald Reagan refused to tell an interviewer whether or not he would run for another term because he said that he didnt want everything he did as president to be seen through a political lens. In contrast, Donald Trump filed paperwork establishing his reelection campaign committee on the day in 2017 when he was inaugurated as president, and he held his first reelection fundraiser less than six months later, in June of his first year in office. When presidents begin their explicit campaigning earlier and earlier in their term in office, they are responding to the incentives of our electoral system. But time is the presidents scarcest resource, and time spent campaigning is time not spent doing the important job to which he, and someday she, was elected. For better or worse, there are no readily apparent realistic fixes that could stop a reelection-focused president from campaigning for reelection throughout his term in office. WOLF: If transportation and technology have helped candidates directly reach more and more people, where do you see campaign methods heading next? DOHERTY: Technological advances have helped candidates connect with the American people, from the radio to television, the internet, and now social media. These developments, along with advances in campaigns ability to micro-target voters in key states with messages designed to appeal to issues they care about, have led campaigns to shift away from broadcasting appeals in favor of narrow, targeted outreach to potentially persuadable voters. In an era in which so much of what voters do online is tracked and can be used to build profiles of voters interests and preferences, I expect that this micro-targeting will become ever more precise, allowing campaigns to tailor increasingly specific messages to the voters they are trying to reach. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Right-wing populists are set to make unprecedented gains in the elections to the European Parliament taking place next month. As European officials brace for a new-look parliament, there are growing concerns that the 27-nation bloc could become more vulnerable to adversarial states seeking to do the union harm. Polling data suggests that far-right Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) could have enough seats to, together, block the passage of European Union legislation, creating a massive headache for the union as a whole. As important as this shift may become in influencing the most powerful people in Brussels and the direction of the bloc, officials are now concerned about the impact this will have on the EUs security. The recent arrest of a German national working as an aide to a far-right MEP on suspicion of spying for China has fueled fears that a substantial influx of Euroskeptic, anti-establishment figures who have lived lives on the fringes of mainstream politics will mean a lot of sitting ducks for adversarial states to target. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is seeking re-election this summer. - Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters Elected populists are uniquely attractive to malign actors for two reasons, said James Shires, co-director of the European Cyber Conflict Research Initiative. First, they are anti-establishment figures who dont trust the institutions or structures they now work inside. It is hard to make the jump from believing there is an establishment conspiracy against you to cooperating with those institutions to counter security threats, he said. Second, in many cases, there is instinctive alignment with states like China or Russia. They agree with them in certain areas and are happy to put forward views, and even spread misinformation, on their behalf. While hostile actors attempting to influence politicians is hardly new, an influx of populists to an institution like the European Parliament at this precise moment in time is particularly concerning. One point European security officials make is that these smaller, newer parties dont have much experience of working with security services, or even have much experience or indeed interest in vetting their own candidates or staffers. The European Parliament itself does not have a unit set up to screen parliamentarians and relies on the 27 EU member states who send MEPs to Brussels and Strasbourg. For some countries, that is a six-month process, in others it can take two years, a senior European Parliament source told CNN. Large parts of the EU treaties dont apply to security services, so we have very little central oversight and countries are not obliged to send us sensitive information. We can do criminal record checks but, youll be shocked to learn, most spies dont have active criminal records. What damage could an MEP actually do once elected to the European Parliament? There are multiple opportunities to wreak havoc from inside the system, but two in particular stand out. Populism is nothing new in Brussels. Britain's Nigel Farage used his seat in the European Parliament to promote Brexit. - SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images The first is more innocuous on the surface. MEPs are allowed to make speeches in parliament that are recorded, clipped and promoted on social media. Many British former MEPs used these speeches to great effect between 2010 and 2016 as a way of spreading Euroskepticism in Britain. This ultimately played into Britains departure from the EU. If MEPs want to stand up and spread misinformation or disinformation that aligns with the objectives of states who are hostile to the EU, they are perfectly entitled to do so. They can stand up and denounce Europes support for Ukraine, rail against equal marriage and climate change, all to undermine Western ideas and sow disunity. Knowingly or unknowingly, it doesnt matter: If it aligns with the interests of a hostile state, it aligns with the interests of a hostile state. This is difficult for the EU because, unless an MEP is being paid directly by a foreign state to lobby and lie on its behalf, its perfectly legal. One can be Putinist, or Xist, and that is OK in the sense that they have a right to their opinion. It only becomes an issue if they are working with foreign powers to advance their agenda, an EU security source told CNN. Otherwise, it is democratically legitimate for them to have an opinion and express it in the Parliament. The second major way an MEP or member of their staff could hurt the EU to the benefit of a hostile state is through illegal means. Leaking sensitive information to which they have access, aiding in cyberattacks, stealing documents and handing them over to foreign actors what is considered more classic espionage. Between the 27 member states all of whom have embassies, multiple institutions, hundreds of elected officials and thousands of members of staff Brussels is a place where lots of sensitive information is flying around. Quite a bit of it gets leaked. Anything from future EU plans to the personal details of individuals could be valuable to those who wish to do the EU harm. One senior EU diplomat told CNN that this was of particular concern now that Europe is taking more serious and direct action in security and defense policy in response to Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. With Brussels seeking to be taken ever more seriously as a diplomatic player, its own security will come under increasing pressure from international rivals. Whether it takes sufficient measures to stop those who want to do it harm rests solely with the EU and its member states. And failure to do so could scupper those grand ambitions of greater global relevance. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Holly Thompson Rehder was a sophomore when she dropped out of high school and married her 21-year-old boyfriend. Today, shes a GOP state senator and the sponsor of a bill that would ban child marriage in Missouri a bill that she has been surprised to see blocked by her Republican colleagues who argue there is nothing wrong with the practice. I know firsthand. I was married at 15. My sister was married at 16. My cousin was married at 16, Rehder says. I understand how a teenage girl being married off is harmful to her life, and sometimes thats hard for others who havent seen that, up close and personal, to understand. Marriage is currently legal in Missouri at age of 16 with at least one parents consent. Thats a relatively recent development: Missouri lawmakers only banned marrying children who were 14 years old or younger in 2018. Fifty lawmakers 38 Republicans and two Democrats voted against that bill at the time. Before the 2018 legislation passed, Missouri had one of the laxest child marriage restrictions in the country, which, some argued, made the state a refuge for sex trafficking. Rehder, along with state Sen. Lauren Arthur (D), introduced a bill that would outlaw marriage for anyone under the age of 18. The bill, which passed the GOP-controlled Senate 31-1 earlier this year, has stalled in House the Government Efficiency and Downsizing committee, specifically where half of the committees 14 members have opposed it. Among the bills opponents is Rep. Hardy Billington (R), who told the Kansas City Star he believes that ending child marriage in Missouri would encourage abortion. My opinion is that if someone [wants to] get married at 17, and theyre going to have a baby, and they cannot get married, then chances of abortion are extremely high, Billington said. (Missouri bans abortion at any stage, except when the life of the pregnant person is at stake.) This argument that child marriage must be preserved to prevent abortion seems to be gaining currency with Republicans across the country as they consider laws to raise the marriage age. The United States does not have a federal law setting the age of marriage. The marriage age is set by states, and only 12 of them have banned child marriage. (Those states: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.) A 2021 study by the advocacy group Unchained at Last found that 300,000 minors were married between 2000 and 2018 in the United States. According to the group, 60,000 of those marriages involved an age difference that would have otherwise been considered a sex crime. The vast majority of these minors were 16 or 17 years old, and most were girls wed to adult men who were four years older than they were, on average. There were five documented instances of children as young as 10 married in the U.S. in the period studied. Several states legislatures have recently considered bills that would raise the marriage age recently but they have run into opposition from Republican men who often cite abortion as the reason. On the New Hampshire House floor last week, state Rep. Jess Edwards (R) argued against raising the marriage age from 16 to 18, by asking whether a law preventing people of ripe, fertile age from getting married would thus make abortion a much more desirable alternative than being pregnant out of wedlock. The bill, which had already passed the state Senate unanimously, narrowly made it through the House, with 192 votes in favor and 174 against. It now awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Chris Sununu. Last year in West Virginia, a bill that would have raised the minimum age to obtain a marriage license passed the House of Delegates with overwhelming support, was defeated in the Senate Judiciary committee. Among the bills opponents was Republican state Sen. Mike Stuart, who shared that his mother married at age 16, and gave birth to him six months later. Im the luckiest guy in the world, he said. The proposal, which raised the marriage age to 16 with parental consent, was ultimately resurrected and signed into law. In Wyoming last year, when state lawmakers were considering a bill to raise the minimum marriage age to 16, the Republican Party sent out an email citing talking points from the religious group Capitol Watch for Wyoming Families that asserted: Since young men and women may be physically capable of begetting and bearing children prior to the age of 16, marriage MUST remain open to them for the sake of those children. (The bill ultimately passed.) Missouris Rehder, who became pregnant shortly after she was married at 15, doesnt accept this argument. I think there is no correlation between child marriage and abortion, she says. As a woman who was married at 15, who was pregnant at 15, youre either pro-life or pro-choice. Your marriage status doesnt have anything to do with either being pro-life or pro-choice. Another thing Rehder wont accept? The possibility of her legislation dying in committee. While the bill that would raise the marriage age to 18 remains stalled with one week left in the legislative session, Rehder who is currently running for lieutenant governor has a plan to see it voted on next week. Im tenacious, and I dont give up until the last bell rings, Rehder says. Ive got a bill that Ive been working on [about] sex trafficking and foster children benefits. Ive got it moving in the House, and Im working to try to get this language for the marriage age added [as an amendment] to it. Rehder expects that bill, which has already passed out of committee, to come to the House floor on Monday, where she believes it might succeed. Proposing it as an amendment on the floor, she says, will give us a larger pool of votes to pull from, and more women voting on it, she says. My hope is that we can still make this happen. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Why soaring numbers of migrants are risking death to flee Xis dictatorship for US When the police came knocking on Wu Lixins door one day, he knew it was finally time to flee China. He had already been forced to shut his previously successful water-purifying factory in Shenzhen, southeastern China, due to mounting bureaucracy, making 200 staff redundant in the process. But it was after he converted to Christianity that things became really bad. I dedicated my home office to church services. I had to report to the police station every week and was harassed, Mr Wu told The Telegraph. In April 2021, about 50 officers detained 10 of us for questioning. In 2023, he sent money to a rights activist using the WeChat app and the next morning, the police were at my door. I could not stay in a country that was becoming intolerable. I left everything to my family and left China with nothing, he said. I hoped that as Chinas economy developed, it would bring its people towards democracy and freedom. However, since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the government has been outrageous and arrogant to deal with. Record numbers of Chinese people are arriving at the US border with Mexico - GREGORY BULL/AP Rather than seeking asylum somewhere else in Asia, Mr Wu set his sights on the US. He now works as a forklift truck driver in Los Angeles. And Mr Wu is not alone. Around 37,000 Chinese migrants were detained at the southern US-Mexico border last year, according to American figures. That number is nearly 10 times the 2022 total and more than double that of the entire previous decade. Of those 37,000, at least 25,000 had arrived via a deadly overland journey across the 165-mile-long Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia, making the Chinese the largest group from outside of the Americas to take the notorious people-smuggling route, and the fastest growing migrant group to do so. The phenomenon is known in Mandarin as Zouxian, or walk the line, and has become so prolific that it has even spawned a meme on Tik Tok and Chinese social media sites such as Douyin, where people can solicit advice on the journey. Mr Wu is a perfect example of why a growing number of Chinese are opting to take such a long and dangerous route into the US. The dramatic uptick stems from several factors, from the suppression of rights by the Chinese regime to the weak economic recovery from stifling Covid-19 lockdowns, according to Prof Meredith Oyen, an expert in the history of Sino-American relations at the University of Maryland. You see a lot of examples of people who have combinations of those factors, like small-business owners who find they lose their business and in the political environment there is really no recourse for them, she said. There are people who were once beneficiaries and would have been held up as models of the Chinese dream. It seems like a lot of these people are the ones taking the risk to leave. Although numbers are small compared to the overall Chinese population, there is a sense that it is a little bit of the canary in the coal mine, Prof Oyen added. The number of Chinese nationals arriving at the USs southwest border in March 2024 increased by more than 8,000 per cent compared to March 2021, according to the House Committee on Homeland Security. It has triggered suspicion on the American Right and added to an already contentious migration debate ahead of the election, even though the group makes up a fraction of the record half-a-million migrants who crossed the Darien Gap last year, most of whom were Latin Americans. With the deterioration of our border security and the spike in Chinese national apprehensions, the US is at a higher risk of compromise to CCP aggression, said the America First Policy Institute in a February briefing titled: The Trojan Horse at the Southern Border: Malign CCP Infiltration. Asked on Fox News last month what he thought the Chinese nationals were doing at the southern border, former President Donald Trump said: Theyre probably building an army from within. There is no evidence to suggest that they are. But there are strong political headwinds. This week it was reported that Beijing and Washington had quietly resumed cooperation on the deportation of Chinese immigrants who are in the US illegally. To start a new life in the US, Chinese migrants must first survive the journey there. The 2,300-mile overland route towards the US-Mexico border begins in Ecuador, where Chinese citizens can enter without a visa, before many make their way to small Colombian towns near the Panama border, which mark the gateway to the Darien Gap. Here, migrants are at the mercy of ruthless smuggling gangs and risk robbery, rape and murder by criminals stalking the remote jungle paths. There are also bites from deadly snakes, steep clifftops and fast-flowing rivers to contend with. More cash can buy a quicker VIP passage, using boats or horseback rides along the Caribbean or Pacific coasts, but most cannot afford that option. High probability of being murdered Herman Huang, 40, a restaurant worker in New York, described a harrowing two-month journey that left him looking 10 years older, after he fled China in December 2022. [The Darien Gap] is very rugged, with rivers, mountains, and cliffs you can die if you accidentally fall off, he said. An Afghan was robbed on a spot a few minutes before our group arrived. The guide and the local gang were said to be colluding, he added. The most difficult and dangerous route costs $100-200. There is a high probability of robbery and murder. There are often dead bodies along the way. Migrants walking in the Darien Gap in the hope of reaching the US - IVAN VALENCIA/ASSOCIATED PRESS Even after escaping the jungle, Mr Huang faced frequent extortion by Mexican police officers and gangs on his way to the US. The police threatened to arrest us, and I almost died when my motorcycle overturned due to fear of being caught. My hands and feet were fractured, he said. Despite his serious injuries, Mr Huang ran from the hospital to avoid deportation. It took him months to recover. Leaving China, especially his wife and two small children, had been difficult but the fear of prison for his anti-government views was greater. Many of my friends had been detained, he said. After Mr Huang left, the police showed his phone records to his family, accusing him of unspecified crimes. The pressure was so great his wife considered divorce. Why do so many people risk taking this route? Many I know see Chinas political condition clearly and escaped the oppressive environment to pursue freedom in the US, he said. Jailed and tortured Democracy activist Wang Jun, 33, escaped last May after being imprisoned in China for three years and tortured after attending a rights meeting in Shenzhen in 2016. They tortured us to force confessions We were denied sleep, meals and any semblance of freedom, he said, describing being permanently handcuffed and ordered by armed guards to write self-incriminating statements. If I refused, they withheld food and sleep. They also made me wear a hood for self-reflection It was a terribly painful time. He eventually chose to flee via the Darien Gap and arrived two months later in the US. I had heard about the dangers of this route, but I never hesitated because I had no other options, he said. Along the way, he met plenty of other Chinese people in search of a more hopeful future. Leaving China is a way of voting with their feet, he said. 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. In our Reality Check stories, Wichita Eagle journalists dig deeper into questions over facts, consequences and accountability. Story idea? tips@wichitaeagle.com. Some Wichita City Council members were surprised Thursday night when Mayor Lily Wu and City Manager Robert Layton announced to a large crowd the citys commitment to multiple initiatives that havent been voted on. One such commitment was to implement a municipal ID program, an initiative started by previous Mayor Brandon Whipple as early as 2022 that stalled when the state Legislature passed a law limiting how municipal IDs can be used. A lack of identification can be a major obstacle for homeless people. Federal and state ID cards require a permanent address while photo IDs are required to access services, get hired, find housing or vote. Vice Mayor Maggie Ballard said she supports municipal IDs but expressed frustration about a lack of communication before the announcement. She said it was her understanding that the ID cards had been dropped from the citys plans after the Legislature moved to ban municipal IDs as valid forms of state proof of identity and removed them from a list of IDs that could be used to vote. Its important, but I want to make sure we arent making commitments that we cant keep, Ballard said. And Im a little disappointed that we havent done it yet if we could have been doing it the whole time. Wu and Layton also committed to providing a $600,000 operating budget for a homeless multi-agency campus center, or MAC, in 2025. They also committed to a program to offer free bus passes for people with mental health needs. None of those issues have been approved by the City Council. They announced the commitments at Justice Togethers Nehemiah Assembly at Century II Convention Hall. Justice Together is an interfaith religious coalition working to address policy issues connected to mental health and homelessness. Sedgwick County officials also attended. The coalition asked the officials in attendance to commit to several of their policy initiatives. Thank you very much for the opportunity to make a commitment regarding this ID card, Wu said. Immediately after having that question, I reached out to my partners and friends in Kansas City regarding their Fountain Cards, which they just launched in 2024 through their health department. So yes, we are emphatically yes. At an agenda review meeting Friday, Ballard said she was shocked to learn about the commitment while sitting in the audience. Im tired of learning about plans after the fact, Ballard said. We need to do something better to improve our communication, maybe during the weekly agenda review. Because when things are told only to the mayor in public meetings, this council cant follow along. Wu responded to Ballard that Kansas open meetings law prevents her from discussing city business with more than two other council members at a time outside of a public meeting, such as the agenda review. And its opportunities like this where we are able to talk and (be) open, Wu said. And we want to be this open and transparent, and, again, we dont do anything behind closed doors. Were just trying to get things to a workable situation where we can have discussions about things. Wu also sought to clarify that she and Layton committed only to talk about developing a municipal ID card, and it would likely ultimately be issued by Sedgwick County. Our commitment is to be at the table to talk about a municipal card, Wu said. And again the Fountain Card itself up in Kansas City requires that you submit proof of identification, proof of residency and a completed application provided by the health department. And as you know, our health department is with Sedgwick County. So, again, it does require conversations between the city and the county. Because we dont have anything from our end, it was really a commitment that we will sit together between city and county to talk about this. So, council members will know about what we would like to do together as two bodies to help out with again the challenge that the Nehemiah Assembly has identified as homelessness and mental health in our community. Council member Brandon Johnson proposed that council members and the mayor could establish a new process for making commitments to constituents: Whenever they make a commitment on behalf of the city, they should tell the rest of the council at the next agenda review meeting. And I only say that because as an activist, a group of us forced (the) city manager and Mayor (Carl) Brewer to commit to body cameras for law enforcement, and they were the only two up there, Johnson said. And I know they had conversations afterwards but if a mayor and a city manager were to make a commitment, I think if we have a process set up where we talk about it at agenda review later, that way council was presented with the commitment that was made and then we could discuss it. And I only say that because we had some other actions in mind if a commitment was not made, and sometimes that may be the case. Ballard and council member Becky Tuttle pushed back on that idea. Could we have it before the commitment is made? Ballard said. Yeah, youd want to discuss it before, Tuttle said. That was my concern because what if that commitment was made and like four of us dont support it, Ballard said. We just made this huge commitment to the public that we dont have four votes on. And Im not saying thats the case, I just dont want to put ourselves in a weird situation. I think that the commitment is if youre going to do it, thats a little different rather than work on it, Johnson said. ... I think it just depends on the wording but I would hate to box anybody in to not committing to something to a group. Council member Mike Hoheisel said he agreed with Johnson and Ballard. I think there is a point to be made there as to are we making a commitment, or are we making a commitment to pursue something and discuss something? I do think maybe theres a distinction that should be made, maybe not in this particular case or anything, but just overall that well look at this, well work on it, here are some ideas, and well run it by council because Vice Mayor (Ballard) is right. We do need four votes for any policy that we pursue and just making sure that we actually have the backing to adhere to any commitments that are made. Related video: TGH suffers cyber attack in July 2023, with data of up to 1.2 million possibly compromised WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (WFLA) A breach at Winter Haven Hospital was caused by an accidental email attachment sent by an employee, according to their Notice of Privacy Incident. On March 15, the hospital said one of its employees was emailing a patient when they mistakenly attached a cardiac rehabilitation department file that included other patients information. Couple who appeared on Property Brothers sues production company, claims they did poor job Included in that file were the patients names, birthdays, procedures, and service dates, with some also including their phone numbers and email addresses. The notice said once the employee noticed their mistake, they contacted the recipient who said the file would be deleted. We have taken corrective actions to help prevent a re-occurrence of this type of incident, which included adding additional access security to the file, the hospital said. You may get an extra Social Security payment this month: Heres why On Wednesday, Winter Haven Hospital began mailing letters to the affected patients. Anyone who believes they could be involved in this breach can contact the hospital at 1-855-466-6677 during the hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. Winter Haven Hospital also included steps to take for those experiencing Identity Theft Protection, which can be viewed here. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA. Woman attacked in NYC Whole Foods sues store for not keeping shoppers safe Whole Foods Market sign, top left inset; cops waking Michael Howell handcuffed, bottom left; EMTs wheeling Arkin in a wheelchair outside Whole Foods in Midtown, right. A woman bashed in the head with a glass bottle while shopping at Whole Foods claims in a lawsuit that the Midtown store failed to keep its customers safe. Cassidy Arkin, 49, was grocery shopping at the Sixth Avenue supermarket in October when she was blindsided by a rampaging maniac, authorities said. Michael Howell, 33, allegedly attacked a 24-year-old man outside the store with a glass bottle, then went into the shop, got another bottle and slammed Arkin with it in front of a food counter. The October attack left Arkin struggling physically and mentally, according to the suit. William C Lopez/New York Post Whole Foods failed to provide adequate at the time of the assault, Arkin charges in the lawsuit. GC Images He then fled into a nearby subway, rode the train one stop to Rockefeller Center and rocked a 55-year-old passenger there with yet another bottle, authorities said. Arkin suffered a severed earlobe and staples in her scalp, and was pulling shards of glass out of her body. Whole Foods failed to properly hire, supervise and train employees tasked with protecting shoppers, she contended in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit filed Wednesday. The Harlem-based producer and director, who is seeking unspecified damages, said she suffers from permanent physical injuries and mental anguish following the attack. A 24-year-old man outside Whole Foods was attacked first, followed by Cassidy Arkin, 49, and then a 55-year-old woman on the subway. William C Lopez/New York Post Before the October attacks, Michael Howell was arrested for a string of thefts and another assault in August, The Post reported. James Messerschmidt for NY Post Howell, an eight-time offender, is locked up on Rikers Island on assault charges. The criminal case is pending. Arkin and her lawyer declined to comment. Whole Foods did not respond to a message seeking comment. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) A gas station employee was arrested in South Nashville Friday after she reportedly beat a customer with a broom until it broke. Metro police were called to the victims apartment around 10:30 p.m. Healthy alligator spotted in Tennessee The victim told officers he went to a gas station on Linbar Drive and when he paid, the cashier threw his change at him. He said he got upset and threw the change back, which is when Cassandra Johnson grabbed a wooden broom, according to court documents. Metro police reported Johnson hit the victim on his shoulder near his neck, which caused the broom to break in half. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com Officer reviewed surveillance video footage of the assault and charged Johnson with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She was booked into the Metro jail on a $10,000 bond. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2. In this article, we will explore 50 digital nomad visa countries in 2024. You can skip our comprehensive analysis and proceed directly to the Top 10 Digital Nomad Visa countries in 2024. A question commonly asked on Reddit is, 'What do digital nomads do?' Essentially, digital nomads employ digital tools such as cloud-based applications, collaborative software, and communication platforms to carry out their professional tasks from anywhere in the world. The popularity of this concept surged dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to technological advancements that have made remote work more accessible and efficient. A "workation," a portmanteau of "work" and "vacation," is a popular trend among digital nomads. These individuals often embrace a minimalist lifestyle, finding comfort and satisfaction in living with fewer possessions. To learn more about the best countries for remote working, visit our article here. Most Common Digital Nomad Jobs Digital nomads work in a variety of professions that are conducive to remote work, each adapting uniquely to this lifestyle. Here are some examples: Graphic Designers: They specialize in creating visuals to communicate messages. Web/App Developers: Help in designing, building, testing, and deploying functional software. Writers (Journalists, Bloggers, Copywriters): They produce content, from articles to marketing copy. Photographers and Videographers: They capture visual narratives, often integrating lifestyle elements like vlogging. Marketing Professionals : They manage remote campaigns and develop strategies to engage global audiences. Community Managers and Customer Support Agents: They ensure continuous engagement and support for clients remotely. E-commerce Entrepreneurs : They operate online stores, reaching customers worldwide. Educators and Coaches: They deliver courses online, making education accessible globally. Consultants: They offer specialized advice across various fields. Translators: They help bridge language barriers, essential in a globally connected world. Virtual Assistants: They handle administrative tasks, supporting businesses from any location. These roles demonstrate the versatility and adaptability central to the digital nomad lifestyle, allowing professionals to work effectively from anywhere in the world. The Rise of Remote Working In the 2023 report by MBO Partners, 58% of digital nomads were found to be from the younger generations, with 21% from Generation Z and 37% from Millennials. This surge is mainly attributed to Generation Z individuals (born between 1997 and 2012). Back in 2019, when the eldest members of Gen Z were just 22, barely any were engaging in digital nomadism, accounting for less than 1% of all digital nomads at the time. Story continues Over the past four years leading up to 2023, Generation Z matured and entered the workforce, with their representation accounting for about 1 in 5. This proportion is expected to grow even further. The report expected this trend to continue upward, as Generation Z represents a large cohort. With only about 70% of them over the age of 18 last year, more are anticipated to join the workforce and potentially adopt a nomadic working lifestyle in the next seven years. A chart within the same report illustrates the distribution of digital nomads across different age cohorts in 2022 and 2023. Notably, the percentage of Gen Z digital nomads rose from 16% to 21%, indicating an increasing trend among the youngest cohort. Conversely, Millennials, who had the highest percentage in 2022 at 47%, saw a decrease to 37% in 2023. Gen X saw an increase from 23% to 27%, and Baby Boomers also experienced a slight rise from 13% to 15%. These shifts reflect changing dynamics in the workforce and possibly varying attitudes towards remote work and lifestyle across the generations. Fully Remote Companies: Digital Nomads Paradise Certain NYSE and NASDAQ-listed companies work on fully remote work models, showcasing the increasing flexibility in workplace arrangements across various industries. For instance, Workiva Inc. (NYSE:WK) offers cloud-based solutions to simplify compliance reporting and operates fully remotely. Similarly, Gitlab Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLB), renowned for its DevSecOps platform, supports an all-remote workforce aimed at fostering flexibility and inclusivity. Other examples include Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV), Toptal LLC, Zapier Inc., Buffer Inc., among others. These companies are leveraging the power of technology to manage teams distributed around the globe, effectively challenging traditional office setups and paving the way for a new era of digital workplaces. This shift not only benefits employees by providing freedom of location but also helps organizations tap into a wider talent pool and reduce overhead costs. On April 30, Workiva Inc. (NYSE:WK) revealed that 81% of companies not governed by the European Unions Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are planning to adopt its reporting requirements either in part or fully, as per their survey. This third annual 2024 ESG Practitioner Survey collected insights from more than 2,000 professionals engaged in corporate reporting, spanning finance, accounting, sustainability, risk, and internal audit sectors across North America, Europe, and Asia. On April 18, Gitlab Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLB) announced the launch of GitLab Duo Chat. This new feature integrates the GitLab Duo suite's AI capabilities into a single, user-friendly natural language chat interface, enhancing connectivity across DevSecOps workflows throughout the software development lifecycle. Included in the GitLab Duo Pro add-on, this platform combines AI functionalities to boost developer efficiency and collaboration within a unified DevSecOps framework. Key features of GitLab Duo Chat include aiding users in understanding unfamiliar code, modernizing legacy code through refactoring, and automating test generation to identify bugs early. On April 18, Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) launched the Veeva AI Partner Program, designed to equip partners with the necessary technology and support to integrate Generative AI solutions with Veeva Vault applications effectively. The program features training and support for the Vault Direct Data API, which allows for up to 100 times faster data access compared to traditional APIs and ensures transactional consistency across large datasets. Additionally, the program offers a Vault Application Sandbox for developing, testing, and supporting partner applications that are integrated with Veeva Vault applications. These developments at Workiva Inc. (NYSE:WK), (NASDAQ:GTLB), and Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) exemplifies the transformative impact of remote work models and technological innovation. Now that we've covered the basics, let's list the 50 countries offering digital nomad visas in 2024. 50 Digital Nomad Visa countries in 2024 A modern student in a classroom with a laptop, symbolizing the modern education environment. Methodology To compile the list of countries with digital nomad visas in 2024, we identified relevant sources such as government immigration websites, digital nomad blogs, and news articles. The conclusive list is arranged in ascending order, prioritizing countries based on the duration of their digital nomad visas. The country offering the lengthiest validity of the digital nomad visa claims the top position on the list. Note: The validity of visas mentioned are accurate as of the publication date of this article but may change in the future. 50 Digital Nomad Visa Countries in 2024 50. Iceland Visa Validity: 180 Days The duration of Icelands digital nomad visa varies depending on the applicant's location during the application process. If applying from the home country and entering Iceland after visa approval, the visa remains valid for around 180 days. However, if entry into any Schengen country occurs before visa approval, the validity of the long-term visa decreases by the number of days spent in the other Schengen country, subtracted from the initial 180-day period. 49. Argentina Visa Validity: 180 Days Argentina's remote visa is valid for 180 days, with the possibility of extending it for an additional 180 days, allowing a maximum stay of one year in the country. 48. Japan Visa Validity: 6 Months Japan's remote visa grants a maximum validity of six months. It enables individuals from 49 countries and territories to engage in remote work while temporarily residing in Japan. This initiative reflects Japan's efforts to draw in global talent and promote cultural exchange within its borders. 47. Canada Visa Validity: 6 Months Canadas digital nomad visa allows individuals to live and work in Canada for up to six months without needing a work permit. If a digital nomad finds a job with a Canadian employer, they can apply for a temporary work permit and stay in Canada for an additional 3 years. 46. Uruguay Visa Validity: 6 Months The Uruguay Digital Nomad Visa is valid for an initial period of six months, with the possibility of renewal for an additional six months. 45. Belize Visa Validity: 6 Months Known as the "Work Where You Vacation" program, Belizes remote visa allows workers to live and work in Belize for up to 6 months. 44. Cabo Verde Visa Validity: 6 Months The Cabo Verde Remote Working Program allows remote workers to have a temporary work and tourism visa for six months, with the option to renew it for another six months. 43. Namibia Visa Validity: 6 Months The Namibia Remote Work Visa is initially valid for six months, with the option of renewal for another six months at a time. 42. Panama Visa Validity: 9 Months The Panama Digital Nomad Visa, also known as the Short-Stay Visa for Remote Workers, is initially valid for 9 months. This visa can be extended for the same period, allowing remote workers to stay in Panama for up to 18 months. 41. Malaysia Visa Validity: 3- 12 Months Malaysias remote visa, also known as the DE Rantau Nomad Pass, allows remote workers to live and work in Malaysia for an initial period of 3 to 12 months. 40. Estonia Visa Validity: 3-12 Months The Estonia Digital Nomad Visa allows remote workers to live and work in Estonia for up to one year. There are two types of visas available: a short-stay visa (C-Visa) valid for 90 days and a long-stay visa (D-Visa) valid for one year. 39. Mexico Visa Validity: 6 Months - 4 Years The Mexico temporary resident visa allows digital nomads to stay in Mexico for anywhere between 6 months to 4 years, depending on their nationality 38. United Arab Emirates Visa Validity: 1 Year The UAE Remote Work Visa grants a one-year validity period. After the initial one-year period, individuals may opt to renew the visa through re-application. 37. Spain Visa Validity: 1 Year Spains digital nomad visa provides an initial validity of up to 1 year, extendable for a maximum total of 5 years. Initially granted for 12 months, upon arrival in Spain, holders can apply for a 3-year residency permit, which can later be renewed for an additional 2 years, allowing for a potential stay of up to 5 years in total. To maintain the visa, individuals must not be absent from Spain for more than 6 months per year. After 5 years of continuous residence, holders of the digital nomad visa become eligible to apply for permanent residency in Spain. 36. Romania Visa Validity: 1 Year The Romania digital nomad visa grants remote workers the opportunity to reside in the country for an initial one-year period, with the option for a renewal extending their stay for another year, contingent upon ongoing fulfillment of the initial eligibility criteria. 35. Hungary Visa Validity: 1 Year The Hungary Digital Nomad Visa, also known as the White Card, is valid for one year from the date of issuance, with the possibility of extending it for an additional year if the applicant remains eligible. 34. Brazil Visa Validity: 1 Year The Brazil remote worker visa is a temporary residence permit that is initially valid for one year, with the possibility of extending it for an additional year. 33. Peru Visa Validity: 1 Year The Peru remote visa, specifically the digital nomad visa, allows remote workers to stay in the country for one year with the possibility of renewal. 32. Malta Visa Validity: 1 Year The Malta remote visa, specifically the Malta Digital Nomad Visa, provides temporary residency rights for up to one year in Malta to non-EU, non-EEA, and non-Swiss individuals capable of working remotely with a fixed internet connection and whose current employment source is outside Malta. 31. Saint Lucia Visa Validity: 1 Year The Saint Lucia digital nomad visa, also known as the "Live It" program, allows remote workers to live and work on the Caribbean island for up to one year. It is a multiple-entry visa, meaning you can come and work remotely from Saint Lucia several times during the 12-month period. The visa validity is 12 months from the date of approval. 30. Costa Rica Visa Validity: 1 Year The Costa Rica digital nomad visa offers an initial one-year validity, with the opportunity for extension for an additional year. This means that holders of the visa can enjoy the benefits of living and working remotely in Costa Rica for up to two years. To qualify for the extension, applicants must fulfill the requirement of spending at least 80 days in Costa Rica during the first year of their visa. 29. Latvia Visa Validity: 1 Year Latvias remote visa is initially granted for a year; this visa can be extended for an additional year. After living in Latvia for two years under this visa, individuals may apply for permanent residency, and after five years as a permanent resident, they can apply for Latvian citizenship by naturalization. 28. Germany Visa Validity: 1-3 Years The German freelance visa, also known as the "Aufenthaltserlaubnis zur freiberuflichen oder selbstandigen Tatigkeit," is typically valid for 1 to 3 years, depending on the applicant's business plan and financial stability. 27. Cyprus Visa Validity: 1 Year The Cyprus remote visa is initially valid for one year, with the option to renew for an additional two years. 26. Barbados Visa Validity: 1 Year The Barbados remote work visa, known as the Barbados Welcome Stamp, allows individuals and families to work remotely in Barbados for up to 12 months. 25. Grenada Visa Validity: 1 Year The Grenada Digital Nomad Visa is typically valid for one year and can be extended for an additional 12 months. 24. Italy Visa Validity: 1 Year Italys remote visa is valid for up to 12 months and is renewable each year if eligibility conditions continue to be met. The visa allows third-country foreign nationals to reside in Italy and perform highly-skilled work as a freelancer or for an employer outside of Italy. 23. Croatia Visa Validity: 1 Year The Croatia digital nomad visa (or residence permit) is valid for up to 1 year. After that year is up, you must leave Croatia for at least 6 months before applying for a new permit. 22. Czech Republic Visa Validity: 1 Year The Czech Republics digital nomad visa is also known as the "Zivno visa," allowing digital nomads to work as freelancers in the Czech Republic for up to one year. 21. Bahamas Visa Validity: 1 Year The Bahamas offers a digital nomad visa called the Bahamas Extended Access Travel Stay (BEATS) program, which allows remote workers to live and work from the Caribbean country for up to one year. 20. Albania Visa Validity: 1 Year Albanias Unique Permit grants a one-year validity with the option for renewal for an additional year. Specifically, this visa allows for a residence period of up to 90 days within each entry, not exceeding a total of 180 days calculated from the initial entry date. This permit permits one, two, or multiple entries and exits. 19. Armenia Visa Validity: 1 Year Armenia offers a residency permit that can serve a similar purpose to a digital nomad visa, allowing remote workers to live and work in the country for an extended period. The permit is valid for up to 1 year and can be renewed annually. 18. Mauritius Visa Validity: 1 Year Mauritiuss Premium Travel Visa allows remote workers to live and work in Mauritius for an extended period of up to one year, with the option to renew for another year. 17. Greece Visa Validity: 1 Year The Greece digital nomad visa is valid for 1 year initially, with the possibility of extending it for up to 2 years. This visa offers benefits such as a residence permit, reduced income taxes, and a quick processing time of just 10 days. 16. Turkey Visa Validity: 1 Year Turkey's "Turquoise Card" enables remote workers to reside and work within the country for a maximum of one year. The visa initially grants a one-year validity period and can be renewed subsequently. 15. Seychelles Visa Validity: 1 Year The Seychelles remote visa, officially known as the Workcation Retreat Program, allows digital nomads to live and work in Seychelles for up to one year. This visa can be extended for an additional six months or longer. 14. Georgia Visa Validity: 1 Year The Georgia digital nomad visa, also known as the "Remotely from Georgia" program, offers a validity period of up to 1 year. 13. Sri Lanka Visa Validity: 1 Year The Sri Lankan remote visa is valid for one year and is renewable annually as long as the applicant continues to meet the monthly income requirements. There is currently no limit to the number of renewals for the Sri Lanka digital nomad visa. 12. Dominica Visa Validity: 18 Months The Dominica remote work visa, known as the Work in Nature (WIN) program, has a validity of 18 months. 11. Portugal Visa Validity: 2 Years The Portugal Digital Nomad Visa offers two options: a Temporary Stay Visa valid for up to 12 months, and a Residence Visa valid for 24 months with similar requirements to the D7 Residency Program, accepting active/salaried income and providing the opportunity to obtain a renewable residency permit for an indefinite stay, extendable in 36-month periods after the initial term. Click to continue reading and see the Top 10 Digital Nomad Visa Countries in 2024. Suggested articles: Disclosure: none. 50 Digital Nomad Visa Countries in 2024 is originally published on Insider Monkey. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A woman is facing multiple charges, including arson, menacing and criminal mischief, after Portland police say she stabbed two cars and ignited another on fire in Southwest Portland on Thursday. Neighbors told KOIN 6 News that 42-year-old Elishama Mathews allegedly ran into traffic with a knife, stabbed two passing cars, eventually lighting an empty parked car on fire, leaving scorched earth and bushes in her wake. Man shot by passerby after disturbance in downtown Portland The explosions. Thats the part that really scared everybody, said witness Daniel McNab. We just want her to get the help. McNab added he rushed home just before noon Thursday after his wife called, warning that Mathews was trying to stab the cars on Southwest Barbur and Southwest 26th Avenue. The cars that she stabbed, the people that she tried to stab, he continued. My wife looked at her and said, Come sit down with us and just talk. She said, No, no, no, I have people I need to kill today.' McNab claimed he watched Mathews calmly put on her jacket and walk away after lighting the parked car on fire. PPB Bike Squad expands in downtown Portland Believing Mathews to be experiencing a mental health crisis, members of PPBs Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team (ECIT) then stepped in to de-escalate the situation, convincing her to toss over the knife and surrender. No injuries were officially reported, but McNab stated he sustained some cuts while trying to help. Sgt. Kevin Allen with Portland police told KOIN 6 News that all officers have some crisis intervention training. But ECIT officers take on an additional 40 hours to help them intervene in calls like this where a person is believed to be experiencing a crisis. We had a happy ending. We got her into custody, he said. And certainly, she committed a serious crime but were also advocating for her to get some help. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com. Seattle Fire Department (SFD) responded to a water rescue in the early hours of Saturday morning near Pier 59 in Seattle. SFD was dispatched to a report of a person in the water near the 1400 block of Alaskan Way at around 3:15 am. Crews found a woman in the water and threw her a floatation device before pulling her onboard a fire boat. She was then taken to Station 5 to be seen by medics before being transported to Harborview in stable condition. Crews are responding to a report of a person in the water near the 1400 block of Alaskan Way, Pier 59. Please avoid the area. Seattle Fire Dept. (@SeattleFire) May 11, 2024 SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) A woman who tried to smuggle drugs into a San Diego County jail was sentenced Monday to three years behind bars. Katherine Smothers, 34, was arrested last April after authorities discovered she had tried to send drug-laced letters to an individual at the George Bailey Detention Facility in Otay Mesa, according to a release from the county sheriffs department Friday. Man sentenced for false imprisonment of child in Ocean Beach The letters were intercepted by deputies at the sheriffs mail processing center between December 2022 and April 2023. They said they noticed that the letters appeared to have been soaked with an unknown liquid and then dried. Authorities later found they had been soaked in liquid methamphetamine and fentanyl, the release said. Smothers was arrested in Santee following an investigation by the sheriffs department and the Homeland Security Investigations Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team. She was charged with bringing drugs into a jail, trying to sell a controlled substance to an individual in custody and conspiracy to commit a crime. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. New Yorkers suffered serious FOMO from missing out on the Northern Lights that everybody else got to see Some New Yorkers apparently mistook the light reflecting off the Kosciusko Bridge for the Northern Lights during a powerful solar storm Friday night and into Saturday morning. Thanks to a rare extreme solar storm, tens of millions of people around the world got a spectacular view of the Northern Lights on Friday night. But in New York, the only thing in the sky was pea soup even though weather experts said they might have a second shot briefly Sunday just after sunset. New Yorkers, though, are chronic FOMO sufferers and some posted pics of the supposed light show late Friday and early Saturday. In reality, the images just showed the lights of local landmarks shining on the low-hanging cloud cover. My favorite genre of tweet tonight: people who think theyre seeing the aurora in NYC but in fact are just seeing the lights from the Kosciuszko Bridge reflected in the clouds, Rebecca Seidel posted on X. Some on X posted photos from NYC they swear were the Northern Lights; others werent so sure and say they are reflections off bridges. X/@BeccaHope24 Photos and videos of the Northern Lights came in from all over the world, from Ukraine to south Florida and Switzerland, where the lights looked like a painting over the Jungfraujoch. It was considerably less stellar in the five boroughs. It took me hiking to the darkest corner of Inwood in upper Manhattan and using a six second exposure and Im still not convinced it isnt just Hudson County reflecting off the haze, Matthew Kael posted on X. While a people on X insisted they had glimpsed the Northern Lights from NYC, the majority were pretty sure they hadnt. My favorite genre of tweet tonight: people who think theyre seeing the aurora in NYC but in fact are just seeing the lights from the Kosciuszko Bridge reflected in the clouds pic.twitter.com/gtpv65ECks Rebecca Seidel (@BeccaHope24) May 11, 2024 While some said this photo may have been a reflection off a bridge, its possible that this was small glimpse of the Lights. X/@BeccaHope24 Im starting a support group for people who didnt see the Northern Lights last night, posted one user named Helen Nettleship. We are valid. Stop erasing our existence Any joiners This is our flag The flag was a photo of street lights. A few slapped up the hashtags #NororaBorealis and #ignoraborealis. Some were good-natured about seeing the spectacular light display everywhere but New York. Others, not so much. Me seeing everyones northern lights photos but Im stuck in this filthy fking bright ass city called NYC, one person griped. Ive never hated/regretted living in NYC until this moment scrolling through everyones pics of the northern lights, an X user called Max commented. Said another poster: No northern lights in nycthanks Eric Adams. (Adams, of course, was in Rome and does not control the weather.) The light show was set to continue on Saturday night but the weather forecast offered more bad news for New Yorkers. Though Saturday began with sunny skies, clouds were expected later in the day with some showers predicted for overnight. Weather forecasters say New Yorkers may have a small window for when they might glimpse the lights just after sunset, shortly after twilight ends. There was no mistaking the celestial phenomenon in this photo of the Northern Lights taken on the shores of Fern Ridge reservoir west of Eugene, Oregon. Chris Pietsch/The Register Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK One option for New Yorkers is to simply watch the livestream of the aurora, sponsored by Explore.org. The aurora was originally expected to be viewed across a massive arc spanning North America: from Virginia to southern Alabama, covering Colorado and ending in Northern California, with the clearest visibility available to the more northern states. Geomagnetic storms are caused by strong energy pulses released from the sun that slam against our planet.The source of this storm has been traced to a vast sunspot cluster thats 17 times the diameter of Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. An organization in Chicago has spent the last 100 years helping young people overcome obstacles and succeed in school and life. CEO of Youth Guidance Michelle Morrison and Director of Program Administration at WOW Shykira Richards join WGN Weekend Morning News to celebrate the organizations 100-year milestone in helping women. Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV. Volodymyr Zelenskyi, President of Ukraine, speaks during at the presidential palace. Ukraine intends to regain battlefield momentum with the arrival of promised Western weapons, Zelensky said on 09 May. "As soon as the arms supplies arrive, we will stop their initiative," Zelensky said of Kiev's plan to halt the Russian advances in eastern Ukraine. Kay Nietfeld/dpa Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said disrupting the Russian offensive near the north-eastern city of Kharkiv is the army's "number one task" at the moment. "The accomplishment of this task depends on every soldier, every sergeant, every officer," he said in his daily video address published on Saturday evening. Russian troops have occupied five Ukrainian border villages north of Kharkiv, the Defence Ministry in Moscow announced on Saturday, largely confirming unofficial Ukrainian reports. The villages named were Strilecha, Krasne, Pylne and Borisivka, located around 30 kilometres north of Kharkiv near the town of Lyptsi, as well as Ohirtseve near the city of Vovchansk. The Russian army claimed to have eliminated a large number of Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed their equipment in the offensive, which began on Thursday night. This has not been independently confirmed, however. In his address, Zelensky mentioned defensive operations near the villages of Strilecha, Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove, Lukyantsi, Hatyshche and Pletenivka. "For two days now, our troops have been conducting counter-attack actions there, defending Ukrainian territory," the Ukrainian president said. Moscow reported that 34 Ukrainian soldiers had been captured. The number could not be verified, but pictures of some of the alleged soldiers were published on Russian Telegram channels - despite this being prohibited under international humanitarian law. The Ukrainian authorities said many residents of the border area were brought to safety. Ukraine has been expecting a Russian attack near the north-eastern city of Kharkiv for some time. According to official information, its lines of defence are holding. Military observers do not yet assess the Russian offensive as a direct attack on Kharkiv. The Russian army wants to tie down Ukrainian troops and at the same time advance its artillery so far that it can fire on the city, according to military observers. Earlier, the Ukrainian general staff said fighting was occurring in nine places along the front line in the Kharkiv area. The latest battles come after the general staff reported that the enemy was deploying "ground troops and technology." The widely expected summer offensive was evident in a recent build-up of many tens of thousands of Russian soldiers near the border. Russian President Vladimir Putin also threatened an offensive back in March, although military observers in Ukraine, Russia and abroad had not expected the target to be Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) referred to "limited operational objectives" aiming to draw Ukrainian forces away from "other critical sectors" of the front, while bringing Kharkiv back into the range of Russian artillery. The limited deployment does not suggest "that Russian forces are immediately pursuing a large-scale sweeping offensive operation to envelop, encircle, and seize Kharkiv City, however," the ISW wrote. Russian troops entered Kharkiv at the very beginning of the war in spring 2022, but were repelled. Meanwhile, Ukraine has attacked the Russian border region of Belgorod to the north of Kharkiv, sending rocket artillery and drones, according to Russian reports. In Belgorod, rocket sirens could intermittently be heard in the morning. In Rovenki, in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of Ukraine, shelling caused a fire at an oil depot. Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine more than two years ago. After a rapid advance by the Russians in the first few weeks, Kiev was later able to push back the troops sent from Moscow in some parts of the country. In the meantime, however, the pendulum has swung back in the other direction: The Ukrainian military is having enormous problems with the supply of weapons, ammunition and soldiers amid daily Russian missile and drone attacks. Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine's territory, including Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been briefed by Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on Saturday, 11 May, and said that Ukraine was reinforcing its positions in Kharkiv Oblast, where defence operations are currently underway. Source: President Zelenskyys video address Quote from Zelenskyy: "Today we are focusing our attention on the front, namely the situation in those areas where there is the greatest risk of Russian assault operations. Our defence operations in Kharkiv Oblast are underway in the vicinity of Strilecha, Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove, Lukiantsi, Hatyshche and Pletenivka. These villages are situated near the [Ukrainian-Russian] border. Our forces have been undertaking counteroffensive measures there for two days now, defending Ukrainian territory [...] I heard two reports from Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi, one this morning and one just now. We are reinforcing our positions, especially in Kharkiv Oblast, transferring additional forces there. Our artillery forces are doing exactly what we need them to be doing." Details: Zelenskyy also said that the situation in Donetsk Oblast continues to be particularly intense, especially on the Pokrovsk front, in the vicinity of Semenivka and Netailove, where more than 30 clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces take place everyday. "Its extremely difficult there," Zelenskyy said about the Pokrovsk front. Background: On 10 May, it was reported that Russian forces had intensified their activities in Kharkiv Oblast, with fighting taking place there. During a briefing with Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Russian troops had launched a new wave of offensive operations on the Kharkiv front. Ukraine's Defence Ministry said that reserve units had been sent to the north of Kharkiv Oblast. The Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group has said that the grey zone in Kharkiv Oblast was not expanding and that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were not letting Russian forces advance further into Kharkiv Oblast. A total of 970 civilians were evacuated from three hromadas in the north of Kharkiv Oblast on 10 and 11 May. (A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories ed.) Support UP or become our patron! As OpenAI preps for a major news conference Monday, Apple is reportedly planning its own announcement on a major boost to Siri, an early voice assistant which has lagged behind other AI chatbots for years. OpenAI, the ChatGPT maker and generative AI leader whose data collection policies have faced scrutiny for their use of copyrighted material, will unveil new features in a Monday event, per founder Sam Altman. [The announcement is] not GPT-5, not a search engine, but weve been hard at work on some new stuff we think people will love! Feels like magic to me, Altman, who was fired and quickly reinstated from the non-profit research company last November, said in a post on X. OpenAI, which has the backing of Microsoft, is reportedly still working on a search feature, which Bloomberg reports will be able to crawl the web and provide sources in results. On the other side of the San Francisco Bay, Apple plans to completely overhaul the underlying technology beneath Siri, moving to a ChatGPT-like generative language model which can better engage in conversation rather than simple prompting, the New York Times reports. In Apples forthcoming June 10 developers event, the company is set to announce the update, a key component of its effort to catch up with competitors in the generative AI space. Apples launch of new chips this week made a splash in the AI world, signaling to investors that its becoming serious in the development of chips amidst an "AI arms race," per the Wall Street Journal. Google is similarly hosting a Tuesday event, which will likely spotlight its own chatbot, Gemini. Which has struggled to capture market share from ChatGPT and OpenAI's embedded generative AI features in Bing. Chinas tech secrets are being stolen by foreign spy agencies targeting overseas entities, Chinese Ministry of State Security warns China has warned that foreign spy agencies are targeting its citizens working overseas in a string of quite deceptive campaigns to steal hi-tech industrial secrets. Overseas workers may be vulnerable to foreign espionage, especially when separated from friends and family and sent to a different country, the country's government has warned. The Chinese Ministry of State Security says that foreign adversaries are targeting its overseas workers in a three part campaign initiated as a helpful friendship at first, which then transitions to an attempted gain of trust through dinners, conversations and establishing a deeper friendship. Report suspicious activity The ministry warned on social media that overseas workers should stay on guard about the motivations others may have when they make friends, have a strong awareness to keep secrets and resist temptations. Once the friendship is secured, the targets are then threatened or tricked into selling state secrets to their so-called friends, with the ministry stating that these tactics have been used in a number of classic examples. In 2019, China sentenced an overseas worker to death for stealing and selling state secrets over the course of several years. China has been stepping up its involvement overseas as part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in which China seeks to rival the US and establish new trade relationships across Asia, Africa and Europe. Distributing warnings via social media has become a regular practice for the Ministry of State Security, with warnings on consultants conducting espionage, overseas students being targeted to hand over information and regular reports of underwater spyware being found in water that China claims ownership over. Via SCMP More from TechRadar Pro Take a look at our guide to the best anonymous browsers US announces further crackdown on firms selling technology to Huawei These are the best firewalls gpointstudio / Getty Images/iStockphoto There are few things in life as stressful as not being able to pay your rent. Its a scary, impotent feeling and its easy to fall into a loop of worst-case scenarios. Find Out: 16 Tips To Live Well on a Low Salary, According to Dave Ramsey Read More: 5 Unusual Ways To Make Extra Money (That Actually Work) But rather than stay paralyzed, its crucial you take action. Getting behind on rent can be a daunting situation, but there are practical steps to mitigate this issue, said Dennis Shirshikov, head of growth at Go Summer. Fortunately, experts outlined some ways to get back on track if you get behind on your rent. Communication Is Key First, communicate, advised Melanie Musson, finance expert with Clearsurance. Just because you havent voiced your problem doesnt mean your landlord hasnt noticed. They most definitely have noticed if youve missed a rent payment or two. Talk to them and tell them your problem. Thats why before beginning a worry spiral experts say communicating is essential. If you find yourself in this situation, the first step is to communicate openly with your landlord, said Rhett Stubbendeck, CEO and founder at Leverage Planning. Its best to approach them early, explain your circumstances, and propose a realistic repayment plan. For example, one of our clients successfully negotiated to split their rent into more manageable payments over two months. Martin Orefice, CEO of Rent To Own Labs, said one of the most important steps you can take here is to maintain a positive relationship with your landlord as you work to get back on track. Reach out to them to let them know that youre struggling, and try to make at least token rent payments on a regular basis even if you cant afford the full amount. This will hopefully give you the grace you need to figure out your finances. Learn More: Im a Self-Made Millionaire: Heres My 4-Step Payday Routine Ask For Temporary Relief You can also ask for temporary relief, Stubbendeck said, like a reduction in rent or the waiving of late fees. Ive seen landlords agree to these adjustments, especially if youve been a reliable tenant. Make sure to outline how and when you plan to catch up fully on payments. Negotiate a Payment Plan Its important to approach this conversation with honesty and propose a realistic payment plan, Shirshikov said. Many landlords are willing to work with tenants to avoid the eviction process, which is costly and time-consuming for both parties, he explained. For example, a tenant might negotiate to pay half the overdue rent immediately and spread the remainder over the next few months. Story continues When negotiating with your landlord, Ethan Keller, president of Dominion, advised to offer a structured partial payment plan in addition to the normal rent. For instance, if someone forgot to pay $1,000 in rent, they might offer to spend an extra $200 every month for five months to make up for it. This shows that you are serious about getting caught up and paying your rent on time. Do Your Homework: Look Up Eviction Laws in Your Area Its also important to recognize that not all landlords will be understanding of your struggles, Orefice said. Make sure to look up eviction laws in your area. He said this will help you understand exactly how much time you have before youre evicted, and outline steps your landlord will have to take before they can throw you out. Its also a good idea to get in contact with tenants rights organizations, who may be able to help you with this process and put you in contact with support resources. Find Ways To Make Extra Money The key here is to find a way to come up with extra money to make rent, Orefice said. The two ways to do this are to cut your expenses or boost your income. Ideally, he said you should pursue both strategies. A major step that will help the most, if you have room in your apartment, is to bring in another roommate. If youre living by yourself, this will cover half of your rent right there, he explained. This isnt always possible, though. Finding extra work is a good idea, but this can also trap you in a cycle of low-income jobs. He advised making sure youre spending at least a little time every day looking for a higher-paying job. Even one application a day can be a big help. Keller equally suggested making extra money by starting a side business or freelancing in an area where you have experience. This could mean providing skills like graphic design, tutoring or organizing your home. The extra money made from these activities can be used to pay off rent debts and avoid future financial problems. Seek Out Government Assistance or Local Charities Those who are behind on their rent should look into and apply for local or national rental assistance programs, Keller said. He said these programs can help by providing money to cover late rent payments, which can relieve immediate stress and make it easier to catch up. Shirshikov also agreed that this can be another option. Explore local government programs or charities that offer one-time financial assistance to prevent eviction. These programs often fly under the radar but can be lifesavers in times of need. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 6 Ways To Get Back on Track If You Get Behind on Your Rent Your doctor (and ChatGPT) will see you now. A peek into AI-assisted medical visits. BOSTON Dr. Rebecca Mishuris remembers her mother, also a doctor, bringing home her patients' medical charts every night and working on them long after she'd gone to bed. For years, Mishuris, a primary care physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, repeated the ritual herself. But no more. Since last summer, she's been piloting two competing software applications that use large-language models and generative artificial intelligence to listen in on, transcribe and summarize her conversations with patients. At the end of a patient visit it takes her just two to three minutes to review the summary for accuracy, cut and paste a few things into the patient's health record and hit save. "I look at my patients now (during a visit)," said Mishuris, who oversees the pilot project across 450 Mass General--Brigham-affiliated providers and plans to expand to 800 within the next month. "It's a technology that puts me back in the room with my patient as opposed to putting up a barrier between me and the patient." Mishuris, chief medical information officer and vice president of digital at Mass General Brigham, is among the earliest adopters of artificial intelligence in medicine, a field known for being slow to adapt to change. ("Legit, there's a fax machine at the front of my clinic," she said.) Brigham and Women's Hospital Internist Dr. Rebecca Mishuris meets with 30-year-old Rachel Albrecht of Boston on April 26. While some other doctors have incorporated AI and large-language models, such as ChatGPT that analyze reams of online language, into their practices, Mishuris and a team 200 miles away at NYU Langone Health are among the few who have opted to study its use. They want to ensure the technology improves overall care before they adopt it more widely. "We're not racing to get this out there. We really are trying to take a measured course," said Dr. Devin Mann, strategic director of digital innovation at NYU Langone's Medical Center Information Technology. "We really like to understand how these tools really work before we let them loose." The much-maligned electronic health record No one wants to make a mistake that will lose the trust of patients or doctors when using this technology. After all, digital technology has disappointed both before. Electronic health records have become essential tools in medicine, replacing the rooms full of paper documents that were hard to maintain and subject to fires and other losses. But patients hated the shift to electronic health records. Rather than building a relationship with a physician, they felt they were now talking to the back of a caregiver's head as they listened to clacking fingers rather than making eye contact and listening to the murmurs of someone paying close attention. Doctors disliked them even more. Dr. Rebecca Mishuris, chief medical officer of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, is piloting the use of an app to record and then generate a written summary of a patient's visit. Dr. Christine Sinsky, vice president of professional satisfaction at the American Medical Association, calls the shift to electronic health records the "great work transfer." Physicians, rather than nurses, medical assistants or clerical workers, were suddenly responsible for recording most of their patients' data during clinic visits. In a 2016 study, Sinsky and her colleagues showed that after "the great work transfer," doctors were spending two hours on desk work for every hour face-to-face with patients. "It is time on (electronic health records) and particularly time on physician order entry that is a source of burden and burnout for physicians," she said. Burnout hurts everyone Burnout leads to medical errors, increases malpractice risk, reduces patient satisfaction, damages an organizations reputation and reduces patients loyalty, according to Sinsky, who worked as a general internist in Iowa for 32 years. She calculated the cost of a doctor leaving the profession due to burnout at $800,000 to $1.4 million per physician. The lost funds include the cost of recruitment, a sign-on bonus and onboarding costs. In a recent survey of doctors, nurses and other health care workers conducted by the AMA, nearly 63% reported symptoms of burnout at the end of 2021, up from 38% in 2020. Inbox work also contributes to burnout, Sinsky said. The volume of inbox work rose 57% in March 2020, as the pandemic set in, "and has stayed higher since that time," Sinsky said. Meanwhile, the rest of their workload hasn't dropped to compensate for the increase, so physicians are working more during their off hours, she said. Dr. Rebecca Mishuris, an internist, edits a note generated by artificial intelligence before adding it to her patient's electronic medical record. The amount of time doctors put in during their personal time commonly called "work outside of work" or "pajama time" is often a good predictor for burnout. Doctors in the top quarter of pajama-time workers are far more likely to feel burnout than those in the lowest quarter. Among the other new requirements adding to burnout is the expectation doctors will be "texting while doctoring" typing throughout a medical visit. This experience is as deeply unsatisfying for the doctor as it is for the patient, Sinsky said. Note-taking means synthesizing Still, she's not convinced that generative AI and large-language models are the only or best solution to all these problems. In her former practice, Sinsky said, what worked well was having a nurse in the room with the physician, sharing information, pulling up additional information from the electronic health record and entering orders in real time. That way, the doctor can focus on the patient and the nurse will be familiar enough with the patient's care to answer most follow-up questions that may arise between visits. "When we build systems that synthesize care and consolidate care and prioritize the relationships among the people between the doctor and the patient, between the doctor and the staff that's when the magic happens. That's when quality is better, cost is lower," she said. "I see AI as a technology solution to a technology problem and its balance of risks and benefits hasnt yet been determined." Sinsky said she worries that something will be lost when doctors completely stop dictating or writing their own notes. As anyone who writes regularly knows, it is in the act of writing that you truly begin to understand your subject, she said. Without that connection, that requirement to synthesize the material, Sinsky worries doctors will miss clues about their patients' health. "How much (AI) is going to help and how much it's going to distract us, that's TBD," she said. "I fear that some physicians may just accept the AI output and not have that pause and that reflection that then helps you consolidate your understanding." Offers of hugs and other signs of promise Still, early responses to the AI notetaking technology from Mass General Brigham and NYU Langone have been positive. "Some people say it's okay, but maybe not for them," Mishuris said, while most are more effusive. Many have reported "drastic changes in their documentation burden," saying in some cases that they've been able to leave their clinic for the first time without paperwork hanging over them, she said. "I've had people offer to hug me." Mishuris' study also measures how much time doctors spend on their visit notes, in the electronic health records after clinical hours, and how much they change the AI-drafted notes. If the doctor makes a lot of changes, it suggests they are unhappy with the drafted note. Each doctor participating in the study fills out a survey after using one of two technologies for two weeks, then after eight weeks and again at three months. At this point, participants are just about to hit the 8-week mark, so the data about burden and burnout is coming soon, Mishuris said. She hopes studies like hers will determine whether the technology is useful and for whom. "It might be that the technology is not right for an oncologist yet," she said, or maybe it's not appropriate for every visit, "but that is what we're trying to determine." At NYU Langone, where the AI experiment is happening on a smaller scale, early results show the technology was able to translate visit notes, which doctors typically write at a 12th grade level or above, to a 6th grade level which is more understandable to patients, said Dr. Jonah Feldman, medical director of clinical transformation and informatics for Langone's Medical Center Information Technology. When the doctors wrote the notes, only 13% broke the content into simple chunks, while 87% of the Chat-GPT4 notes were written in easy-to-understand bits, he said. Feldman said the goal of using AI is not to put anyone out of work typically the greatest fear workers have about artificial intelligence but to get more done in the limited time allotted. That will allow doctors to spend more quality time with patients hopefully improving interactions and care and reducing burnout, he said. Were focusing on making the doctor more efficient, making the experience in the room better, Feldman said. Internist Rebecca Mishuris measures 30-year-old Rachel Albrecht's vital signs during a recent visit. Mann, who oversees digital innovation at NYU Langone, said he hopes to avoid AI-written notes that read awkwardly and waste clinicians' time on "double-work," spending more time rewriting notes than they would have spent writing them in the first place. For this to work, he said, "It's got to be a lot better, a lot easier." The Langone team is also experimenting with using AI to respond to patients' emails. Mann said providers want the email to sound personalized, so a doctor who previously would have sent patients "haikus" doesn't suddenly start sending "sonnets." Next, the team wants to expand to home monitoring, so that someone who has been instructed, say, to check their blood pressure at home every day and upload that information to their doctor, can get questions answered via AI, rather than "chasing us down with phone tag," Mann said. "A lot of quick answers can be done faster, so we can put our limited time and energy into more complicated things." He's also focused on providing these kinds of services first to people with limited resources since they are often the last to receive technological advances. Ultimately, the success of this kind of technology will come down to whether doctors are willing to adopt it and patients are comfortable with it. A recent Mishuris patient, Rachel Albrecht, had no problem with AI listening in on her medical appointment. "It sounds like a good tool," Albrecht, 30, an accountant from Boston, said at the end of her appointment. She liked the idea of getting an easy-to-understand summary of results after a visit. "I'm pro-AI in general." Karen Weintraub can be reached at kweintraub@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: AI, ChatGPT show promise in making medical visits more effective SpaceX will have to clear another regulatory hurdle before ramping up work with its Starship megarocket on Florida's Space Coast. The company currently builds, tests and launches the 400-foot-tall (122 meters) Starship, which is still in development, at its Starbase site in South Texas. But SpaceX wants to add Florida to the mix as well: It aims to fly the giant vehicle from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), which already hosts liftoffs of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. In 2019, a NASA-led environmental assessment (EA) concluded that Starship operations at KSC wouldn't significantly affect the surrounding ecosystem. However, SpaceX's plans for the site have changed since then, and a more in-depth review an environmental impact statement (EIS) is therefore now in order, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today (May 10). "While the 2019 EA prepared by NASA provides an analytical baseline, the environmental impacts of these proposed changes to Starship-Super Heavy LC-39A development and operations will be specifically analyzed in this EIS," FAA officials wrote in a statement today (May 10). Related: Relive SpaceX Starship's 3rd flight test in breathtaking photos Starship consists of two elements, both of which are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable a giant first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 m) upper stage known as Starship, or simply "Ship." SpaceX views the vehicle as potentially revolutionary, saying it could make Mars settlement and other ambitious exploration feats economically feasible. A fully stacked Starship has launched three times to date. The first occurred in April 2023, the second in November 2023 and the third on March 14 of this year. Each of those flights lifted off from Starbase, and each of the latter two lasted longer and notched more milestones than its respective predecessor. Proposed Starship activities at LC-39A that were examined by the 2019 EA involved infrastructure development, as well as approximately 24 launches per year, FAA officials explained. "SpaceX now proposes to construct additional launch infrastructure not previously contemplated in the 2019 EA; launch an advanced design of the Starship and Super Heavy vehicle; operate at a projected higher launch tempo; and land the Super Heavy booster at LC-39A in support of the reusability concept. Starship landings are no longer proposed to occur at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station," the officials wrote in today's update. (Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is next door to KSC.) The revised plan envisions up to 44 Starship launches from LC-39A per year, FAA officials added in an emailed statement today. RELATED STORIES: SpaceX launches giant Starship rocket into space on epic 3rd test flight (video) Starship and Super Heavy: SpaceX's Mars transportation system FAA to oversee investigation of SpaceX Starship's 3rd test flight SpaceX is responsible for preparing the EIS, under the supervision of the FAA. The agency is inviting input on the matter; it will hold two in-person public meetings on the Space Coast on June 12 and a third on June 13, as well host as a virtual meeting on June 17. Public comments can also be submitted from today through June 24. If you're interested in attending or contributing to these meetings, you can learn more here. A positive result on the EIS would not clear SpaceX to start launching Starship from KSC, by the way; the company would still need to obtain a vehicle operator's license from the FAA. Here's how airlines are using AI to make flying less of a nightmare Here's how airlines are using AI to make flying less of a nightmare Some airlines are using artificial intelligence to improve travel. United Airlines uses ConnectionSaver, an AI-powered tool that helps manage connecting flights. And Smart Gating technology helps American Airlines flights find the nearest available gate. Artificial intelligence might take your job. But at least you'll be less likely to miss a connecting flight. Industry leaders like United Airlines and American Airlines are using AI tools to create a smoother travel experience, a welcome effort for passengers who experienced an average flight delay of 53 minutes last year. One of the most impactful ways airlines are using AI according to The New York Times is helping determine whether a plane should wait for its connecting passengers. United Airlines, for example, uses ConnectionSaver, now enhanced with AI, to better manage its connecting flights. The company told Business Insider that the technology helps some 2,000 travelers make their connections every day. United Airlines. Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images ConnectionSaver "identifies departing flights that can be held for connecting customers, while ensuring those who have already boarded the aircraft arrive at their destination on time," the airline said in a press release in 2019 when the first iteration of the software was first released. The tool can also send passengers who opted to receive notifications a personalized text detailing where the gate for their connecting flight will be and how long it will take to get there. "United's ConnectionSaver technology automatically scans flights for customers who are making tight connections to determine if the connecting flight can be held without inconveniencing other customers," the press release says. American Airlines has also jumped into the AI game, developing Smart Gating technology. Smart Gating technology automatically assigns arriving American Airlines flights to the nearest available gate with short taxi times, which means aircrafts spend less time waiting on the tarmac. American Airlines. Joe Raedle/Getty Images A December 2023 press release said the tool is intended to avoid gate conflicts, reduce ramp congestion, and limit late-minute changes. American Airlines first used Smart Gating technology at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in 2021, and it has since been implemented at six other airports, according to the Times. The Department of Transportation announced last month that airlines must now provide passengers with automatic refunds in response to delayed and canceled flights. Passengers experiencing delayed baggage return and who paid for extra services they did not receive are also eligible. "Without this rule, consumers have to navigate a patchwork of cumbersome processes to request and receive a refund searching through airline websites to figure out how to make the request, filling out extra "digital paperwork," or at times waiting for hours on the phone," a press release read. Read the original article on Business Insider NASA's forthcoming Nancy Grace Roman Telescope could use the grisly death of stars ripped apart by black holes to hunt the universe's first population of stellar bodies. These early stars, referred to (somewhat confusingly) as Population III (Pop III) stars, were very different from the sun and other stars seen in the cosmos today. That's because the universe wasn't yet filled with "metals," the term astronomers use to describe elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. Pop III stars arose just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang and were "metal-poor," composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. They were also believed to be much larger and hotter than the sun. This means that Pop III burned through their fuel for nuclear fusion faster than smaller stars, and these short lifetimes make them elusive targets for astronomers. Because these earliest stars are responsible for forging metals that would become the building blocks of the next generation of less-metal-poor stars, studying them is key to understanding cosmic evolution. New research suggests that the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope (or Roman for short), set to launch in 2027, could have a unique way of doing this. Related: Astronomers witness 18 ravenous black holes ripping up and devouring stars Rather than looking for intact Pop III stars, Roman will search for what remains of them after they have strayed too close to black holes and been destroyed in occurrences that astronomers call tidal disruption events, or TDEs. "Since we know that black holes likely exist at these early epochs, catching them as theyre devouring these first stars might offer us the best shot to indirectly detect Pop III stars," study team member and Yale University scientist Priyamvada Natarajan said in a statement. Roman will watch the destruction of the first stars When a star passes close to a black hole, the tremendous gravitational influence it encounters generates immense tidal forces within it. This causes the star to be squeezed horizontally while being stretched vertically. The matter that composes the star is transformed into a "noodle" of star-stuff, in a process called "spaghettification." The matter that once comprised the doomed star can't immediately fall into the black hole, however. Instead, it gathers in a flattened cloud around the black hole called an accretion disk. As this material spirals around and toward the black hole, it heats up, emitting a glow that in some cases can be seen over billions of light-years. TDEs themselves are transient events. This means that as the star is destroyed, there is a brief but intense flare in X-ray, radio, ultraviolet, and optical wavelengths of light. This is how TDEs appear in the local universe, where Pop III stars no longer exist. But these violent events look quite different when seen across vast distances of 13 billion light-years or so. That's because, as the light from these events travels, the expansion of space causes its wavelength to lengthen, pushing it into the infrared part of the spectrum a phenomenon called "redshift." Additionally, the transient nature of TDEs is changed as their light travels across the cosmos. This is because redshift causes a Pop III-destroying TDE to brighten over the course of hundreds to thousands of days and then fade over a time period as long as a decade. "The evolution timescales of Pop III TDEs are very long, which is one feature that could distinguish a Pop III TDE from other transients, including supernovas and TDEs of current-generation stars like our sun," said study team leader Rudrani Kar Chowdhury, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hong Kong. Related: Black holes: Everything you need to know An artist's depiction of a supermassive black hole devouring material from a star. By providing a panoramic field of view of the cosmos that is 200 times larger than that provided by the Hubble Space Telescope, and by surveying the sky 1,000 times faster than this ionic telescope, Roman should be the ideal instrument to find these early TDEs, team members said. While NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has the kind of power that would be needed to see these distant and early TDEs, its field of view is also much smaller than that of Roman. That means it is not as effective a TDE hunter as the forthcoming space telescope. Particularly promising in the search for destroyed Pop III stars will be Roman's High Latitude Wide Area survey, which will have a 2,000-square-degree view of the sky outside of the plane of the Milky Way. "Roman can go very deep and yet cover a very big area of the sky," said team member Jane Dai, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Hong Kong. "That's what's needed to detect a meaningful sample of these TDEs." RELATED STORIES: Black hole announces itself to astronomers by violently ripping apart a star Black hole shreds star in a cosmic feeding frenzy that has astronomers thrilled NASA X-ray observatory reveals how black holes swallow stars and spit out matter That doesn't mean that JWST won't play a role in the search for TDEs involving Pop III stars. When Roman spots such an occurrence, the powerful infrared view of JWST will be able to zoom in on it and use its spectroscopic instruments to determine the presence of metals. This will determine if the TDE actually involves the destruction of a Pop III star. "Since these stars are only made up of hydrogen and helium, we will not see any metal lines in the spectrum of objects, whereas, in the spectra of TDEs from regular stars, we can see various metal lines," Kar Chowdhury said. This tag team of Roman and JWST could, therefore, unlock the secrets of the universe's earliest stars and how they have influenced the evolution of the next generations of stars and the galaxies that host them. The research was published online May 8 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Unsuspecting suburban home has LEED Platinum certification for its remarkable passive living features: 'The model for how we need to live, now and in the future' Residents at Oregon's Pringle Creek Community don't live in a typical neighborhood. Instead of big yards requiring hours of mowing, residents enjoy a 12-acre shared space. A steady hum of traffic is replaced with the pleasant bubbling of Pringle Creek. There's no garbage pickup. The community members carry their trash to a shared bin for disposal, a move that saves them $100 each annually. A crowning achievement for the community is the LEED Platinum certified net-zero home, which was the first of its kind in the state, all per a description from Oregon Home magazine. LEED is a stringent, green building rating system. It looks like most other dwellings, at least in the photos shared by Oregon Home. There is a modern kitchen and plenty of lighting. The solar panels on the roof are one obvious sign of some of the sustainable options included. "We are not making a lot of compromises to live like this," Pringle development director Jonathan Schachter, a three-year resident, told the magazine. "But we are evolving continuously." The four-bed, three-bath craftsman-style home costs $484,000. It's roomy, at 2,100 square feet. Bamboo floors and counters made from recycled paper products round out sustainable features. More value comes via savings realized by its efficiency. Community-wide geothermal water is 400% more efficient than gas heaters. Altogether, the home can provide up to $1,900 a year in utility savings, all per Oregon Home. The community has hidden sustainability gems in unique places. Porous pavement allows stormwater to absorb back into the ground. The houses in the community can be designed uniquely, depending on the owner's taste. The intent is to avoid cookie-cutter living. "Every time we move households, we release more carbon," Schachter told the magazine. "To us, a healthy, sustainable community is one where neighbors stay in place because they like where they are." The description of the idyllic setting might sound familiar, as even billionaires are investing in neighborhoods that provide for better living. Sometimes, as is the case with a "city of the future" in Malaysia, the hype falls short of reality. But Pringle Creek seems to be living up to the billing, joining designers around the country who are incorporating passive building principles into their projects. The goal is to maximize airflow, sunlight, and other natural features. Mostly anyone can take part in the spirit of this concept, even if they don't plan on building a new home or moving to a community like Pringle Creek. By mulching your leaves, for example, you can prevent organic waste from being bagged and dumped in a landfill. The compost can also improve your yard. Switching to electric yard tools can result in hundreds of dollars in savings on gas and maintenance costs needed to keep dirty energy burners chugging. Using an electric mower and blower can prevent around 260 pounds of air pollution from hitting the atmosphere, if used for a half-hour apiece weekly. Or, if you are feeling motivated, you could find a group of like-minded people and start a community like the Pringle Creek founders did about a decade ago. They consider the accomplishment to be "the model for how we need to live, now and in the future," as noted on the project's website. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the coolest innovations improving our lives and saving our planet. Santiago Ochoa's reporting for the Yakima Herald-Republic is possible with support from Report for America and community members through the Yakima Valley Community Fund. For information on republishing, email news@yakimaherald.com. BUDAPEST, May 10 (Xinhua) -- China's technology and economic growth would bring benefit to Hungary, Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) CEO Istvan Joo said. Hungary has been bringing together German carmakers and Chinese battery producers, Joo told Xinhua in a recent interview. Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD has announced its plan to build a new energy vehicle production base in the southern Hungarian city of Szeged. "It is a special joy for us that BYD eventually chose Szeged," he said. The automotive industry and the supply chain associated with it are crucial for the Hungarian economy, he noted. Joo also highlighted that Hungary's "Eastern Opening" policy has yielded fruitful results. Since adopting the policy, Hungary has been eager to foster much more intensive economic cooperation with Eastern countries, primarily with China, he said, adding that the excellent political relations between the two countries have laid a solid foundation for such cooperation. On Thursday, China and Hungary announced the decision to elevate bilateral relations to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era. A joint statement on the partnership said the two sides are committed to enhancing synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Hungary's "Eastern Opening" policy. Last year, Hungary received a record volume of 13 billion euros (about 14 billion U.S. dollars) in foreign direct investment, including over 7.6 billion euros (around 8.2 billion dollars) from Chinese investors, according to a HIPA report. In 2023, China became the largest investor in Hungary once again after 2020, the report said. Joo said his agency is currently working to direct new investors to the parts of the Eastern European country where "significant labor reserves are still available." He said he would be pleased to see more Chinese investors in the southern regions of the country. Investors are often guided by the idea of discovering 'the next big thing', even if that means buying 'story stocks' without any revenue, let alone profit. Sometimes these stories can cloud the minds of investors, leading them to invest with their emotions rather than on the merit of good company fundamentals. Loss making companies can act like a sponge for capital - so investors should be cautious that they're not throwing good money after bad. So if this idea of high risk and high reward doesn't suit, you might be more interested in profitable, growing companies, like Advanced Drainage Systems (NYSE:WMS). While this doesn't necessarily speak to whether it's undervalued, the profitability of the business is enough to warrant some appreciation - especially if its growing. See our latest analysis for Advanced Drainage Systems Advanced Drainage Systems' Earnings Per Share Are Growing If a company can keep growing earnings per share (EPS) long enough, its share price should eventually follow. Therefore, there are plenty of investors who like to buy shares in companies that are growing EPS. Advanced Drainage Systems' shareholders have have plenty to be happy about as their annual EPS growth for the last 3 years was 38%. While that sort of growth rate isn't sustainable for long, it certainly catches the eye of prospective investors. One way to double-check a company's growth is to look at how its revenue, and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins are changing. Unfortunately, Advanced Drainage Systems' revenue dropped 9.4% last year, but the silver lining is that EBIT margins improved from 23% to 25%. That falls short of ideal. In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings and revenue, over time. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart. In investing, as in life, the future matters more than the past. So why not check out this free interactive visualization of Advanced Drainage Systems' forecast profits? Are Advanced Drainage Systems Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders? We would not expect to see insiders owning a large percentage of a US$13b company like Advanced Drainage Systems. But we are reassured by the fact they have invested in the company. Notably, they have an enviable stake in the company, worth US$188m. Holders should find this level of insider commitment quite encouraging, since it would ensure that the leaders of the company would also experience their success, or failure, with the stock. It's good to see that insiders are invested in the company, but are remuneration levels reasonable? Our quick analysis into CEO remuneration would seem to indicate they are. For companies with market capitalisations over US$8.0b, like Advanced Drainage Systems, the median CEO pay is around US$14m. Story continues Advanced Drainage Systems offered total compensation worth US$7.0m to its CEO in the year to March 2023. That is actually below the median for CEO's of similarly sized companies. While the level of CEO compensation shouldn't be the biggest factor in how the company is viewed, modest remuneration is a positive, because it suggests that the board keeps shareholder interests in mind. It can also be a sign of a culture of integrity, in a broader sense. Is Advanced Drainage Systems Worth Keeping An Eye On? Advanced Drainage Systems' earnings per share have been soaring, with growth rates sky high. An added bonus for those interested is that management hold a heap of stock and the CEO pay is quite reasonable, illustrating good cash management. The strong EPS improvement suggests the businesses is humming along. Advanced Drainage Systems is certainly doing some things right and is well worth investigating. However, before you get too excited we've discovered 2 warning signs for Advanced Drainage Systems that you should be aware of. While opting for stocks without growing earnings and absent insider buying can yield results, for investors valuing these key metrics, here is a carefully selected list of companies in the US with promising growth potential and insider confidence. Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Today Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. Hot. High 102F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight Clear skies. Low 69F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow Sunny skies. Hot. High around 100F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) First Quarter 2024 Results Key Financial Results Revenue: US$987.0m (up 7.8% from 1Q 2023). Net income: US$175.4m (up 81% from 1Q 2023). Profit margin: 18% (up from 11% in 1Q 2023). EPS: US$1.16 (up from US$0.62 in 1Q 2023). All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period Akamai Technologies EPS Beats Expectations Revenue was in line with analyst estimates. Earnings per share (EPS) surpassed analyst estimates by 16%. Looking ahead, revenue is forecast to grow 7.0% p.a. on average during the next 3 years, compared to a 9.2% growth forecast for the IT industry in the US. Performance of the American IT industry. The company's shares are down 8.5% from a week ago. Risk Analysis It's still necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Akamai Technologies, and understanding these should be part of your investment process. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. The U.S. Congress has finally passed the necessary legislation to facilitate the 61 billion Ukrainian bill. Initial shipments of military material should be making their way to Ukraine as we speak. Can you assess what kind of change we can expect from these shipments? Are they capable of triggering a strategic change and not just a tactical one? I'm glad the package was finally approved. It took eight months, which is about eight months longer than it should have taken. You can blame it on our own internal political issues, but also the president could have done a better job at explaining why this is important for the United States. Strategically, it's important because it tells the Kremlin that the US is not going to turn its back on Ukraine. I don't believe that Russia has the ability to knock Ukraine out of the war. So, their only hope is that the West would quit. This is not the case. The provided capabilities will help buy a few months of time for the Ukrainian side, but by itself it's not going to be enough to win the war. I never liked the phrase 'game changer'. But it will definitely help buy a few months for Ukraine to stabilize and also to grow the size of their own military as well as continue to improve their own defense industry. What's missing is the very important clarity from the White House about a strategic outcome. The only messaging I saw was 'this will help Ukraine stay in the fight', whichwhy is that the aspiration? Why isn't the aspiration much more clear, such as 'help Ukraine win'? So, I'm glad it's done, but I'm not satisfied. This was one of the objections that GOP representatives raised during the House debate on the bill. There are no clear objectives as to what needs to be achieved with 61 bn of U.S. taxpayer's money. And what comes next. You've raised the same objection in interviews to other media. The USA, Europe and NATO still do not have clear objectives as to what they want to achieve and when. Yet, money keeps pouring in. There's a reluctance to say that we want Ukraine to win. There's an excess of fear in the White House that if Russia looks like they're about to lose or that they might lose Crimea that they will use a nuclear weapon or escalate somehow. I think it's absolutely not going to happen. But, there's this excess of fear which causes us to self-deter, to stop short of doing what needs to be done, which is to commit to help Ukraine win. I can't rule it out, but it's extremely unlikely that Russia would use a nuclear weapon. There's no upside to it. All of their benefits come from just the threat. By threatening, they lose nothing and they gain everything, because we hesitate. Is this idea of letting Ukraine win without bringing the war into Russia proper even achievable? Of course, it is. Winning is ejecting Russia back to their own border. Which means that Putin's regime and the whole industrial base that fuels this war and is inside Russia proper, survives and the war is somehow going to be over with Russia surviving? Can this even be called the end of the war, should it somehow happen? The Ukrainian government has said that their war aim is the restoration of their own sovereignty. So, ejecting Russia back to the 1991 border. That includes Crimea. To do that is going to require the USA, Germany and other Western countries to continue to help Ukraine, but also to make sure that the sanctions in place are properly enforced. Russia's economy and defense industry is already in bad shape. Which is why they have to import ammunition and drones from North Korea and Iran and parts from China. If we're serious about winning, that means we have to be serious about the economic sanctions as well. We still have banks, like Deutsche Bank and Kommerzbank, two big German banks that paid hundreds of millions in taxes to Russia. We have too many problems enforcing sanctions. But defeating Russia does not mean having to land a ground assault that goes to Moscow. Putin stops when he realizes he can't win. We don't want to end up in some frozen conflict with Russia still in control of Crimea or parts of Ukraine. That only guarantees that they will resume in a couple of years, once they see that we have turned our backs. Quite a few people have raised the idea of an EU or pan-European military. Could something like this deter Russia? Even if the nations agree to put a few billion or even trillion dollars on the table, politically, strategically, does this make sense to you? Zero. What would an EU military do that would be better than NATO? And why do we think that any country would spend one Euro more if there was an EU army? To create a parallel military structure would be a total waste of administrative effort. No country in Europe has the resources to fulfill NATO requirements and then put people and resources to fulfill a parallel EU structure. Nations can always do what they want, but to think that the EU by itself would be able to have something that's capable of effectively deterring Russia, is laughable. The U.S. provides so much of the logistics, the airlift, the intelligence, the communication support, that there's no country in Europe capable of doing that. There is no benefit in trying to create a separate European military. Europe is in a place where it's clear that its industrial capacity hasn't been keeping up with the demands of the war in Ukraine. Its dependence on the U.S. seems to be vital. The Czechs are trying to repurchase ammunition from third nations. What's the immediate challenge Europe should address more efficiently than building a European military? Especially, given the option that the U.S. may not always be available regardless of who becomes the next president. First, it should get serious about it. The economic potential of the EU dwarfs Russia. Russia's economy is about the same as Italy or Spain. So, the ability to make ammunition is there, but there just isn't enough political will. A lot of the ammunition that's being produced in Europe goes outside Europe, to customers in Africa or the Middle East. The best way to help with the defense of Europe is, number one, help Ukraine defeat Russia. That keeps the threat away. Number two, each nation should live up to what it said it would do as part of NATO's family of plans approved at the Vilnius NATO summit last summer. Those plans lay out requirements for every nation. Can they deliver what they're required to deliver? That's a place to start. Are we talking about the 2 percent of GDP investment into defense or some additional money or efforts to build new industries from scratch? Not just manufacturing but research and development as well? For example, the plans tell Slovakia what it has to do in terms of forces and host nation support as to what might be coming to Slovakia or through Slovakia as part of NATO plans. And then, there's not enough air missile defense for any of us. If you see what Russians have done in Ukraine using multi-million-dollar precision weapons against civilian infrastructure, you can be sure that they will do the same to us if they make the terrible decision to attack a NATO country. The two percent is a metric that everybody agreed to and most nations are doing it now, but, obviously, not all, including Slovakia (ed. Note: As of 2023, Slovakia's defense budget was just above 2% of its GDP). A part of the 2 percent is a commitment to invest in research and development. There's no mystery as to what nations should be doing. If we've learned anything from this conflict, it's the need for logistics. The ammunition, the fuel, the ability to move quickly. These are all things that your minister of defense, your general staff know what needs to be done. Now it's all about political will. Creating a new organization will only distract. Does that mean physically building more railroad capacity, more strategic airlift? The ability of NATO forces to move as fast or faster than Russian forces would definitely be a part of it. It's an important part of deterrence, but I'm talking about building it before the crisis starts. Right now, it's pretty difficult. One nation that's been investing in its defense a lot has been Poland. They've ordered fighters and tanks. Recently they've been contemplating building their own nuclear deterrent. Sharing U.S. weapons, specifically. Is this something that could increase Europe's strategic deterrence or is it just unnecessary escalation or a politically un-viable idea? Unfortunately, former president Trump was disruptive towards NATO's cohesion and there's a possibility of him coming back. So of course, NATO's worried that if there's another Trump administration, they may not be able to count on the U.S. providing their nuclear deterrent. So, the Poles are talking about it openly and seriously. In Germany people are not willing to talk about it openly yet, but I think there are some smart people realizing that if they don't have a nuclear deterrent capability of their own and if they can't count on the U.S., what will they do? There will be ways to do it. If the Russians see that we are so terrified of them using a nuclear weapon that we stop doing what we know we need to do, then they will be emboldened to keep doing that against NATO countries. So, Europe needs a nuclear deterrent. Whether that's of the U.S. or France or the U.K. or something else, is going to require a lot of thinking and debate and a lot of money. It's very expensive to maintain a nuclear deterrent. But, overall, is it the right kind of direction? You must have a nuclear deterrent. Whoever provides it. You've talked about the Vilnius NATO summit. NATO has a new summit coming up in Washington, DC. What do you expect from it? I hope that the mood will be very serious. Focused on helping Ukraine and on continuing to increase deterrence. It's the 75th anniversary of NATO, but the tone should not be one of celebration. There's a massive war happening in Europe, both on the ground and in the air in Ukraine, but also in several European countries where you've got Russia jamming GPS, which is very dangerous. You've got Russia infiltrating political parties, violating sanctions, exporting stolen wheat from Ukraine. There's a conflict that's already underway. So, the mood in Washington needs to be one of "we have a lot of work to do". It needs to be about readiness. Unfortunately, they're not going to extend an invitation to Ukraine, which is a huge mistake. But, hopefully, they'll come up with something that is more definite than what we've seen in the past. Going back to the U.S. aid package, how much more is going to be necessary for Ukraine to win this war? The three things that Ukraine needs from the United States, Germany and the rest of the West are - a commitment that we want Ukraine to win. That needs to be voiced very clearly to everybody, that it is in our strategic interest that Ukraine defeats Russia and ejects it out of Ukraine. Number two, they need air and missile defense. Number three, they need long range precision strike capability. Such as ATACMS, Taurus, Storm Shadow and SCALP, that will enable Ukraine to destroy Russian logistics and headquarters and make Crimea untenable. That's how you neutralize Russia's only advantage of mass. ATACMS is an example of a weapon that can help do that with almost every square meter of Russian-occupied Ukraine that can be hit. That can help stabilize the situation and buy the time necessary for Ukraine to grow their army and increase the number of brigades that they have. Update: Venue change: Latinovits Gundel Kuria Visegrad. New venue on the map 20 years ago, Hungary joined the European Union, and to mark the occasion, the Europe Connection Party was held in Visegrad. In the memory of the 20th anniversary, we are now returning to the site of the large-scale psychedelic event, this time at the foot of the Visegrad Royal Palace, which offers a breathtaking view in itself. With invited European artists, we will celebrate a fantastic "outdoor vibe" party! The castle going to have a visual light show, and the dance floor will be decorated by European decorative artists. Program: Main stage: Hatikwa Xonica records DE E-Mov Dacru records GR Atma Dacru records RO Alezzaro IonoMusic AT Oleg - Solar United Natives Psytom - Y-Production Djane Goblin - Y-Production Toge - Iono Music Hruscsov - Y-Production Alternativ stage: James Cage / Melodic Techno/ Bellegance & Fraser / Indie Dance / Wape / Psychedelic Minimal / Intertribe / Ethno Tribal / Djane Era / Psychedelic Chill / Janszky / Ethno Tribal / Tickets: Early bird: 6.000Ft Presale: 7.000Ft At the gate: 8.000Ft YORK On Thursday afternoon York community members gathered at Nebraska Public Power District for a tour of its facility as part of York Countys celebration of Economic Development Week. Before touring the plant, the group of about 30 people heard a presentation about NPPD and economic development. Rick Nelson, a senior economic development consultant at NPPD, shared that NPPD has a full-time economist on staff as part of its economic development services, which Nelson said the York County Economic Development Corporation often takes advantage of. NPPDs York operations center is a hub for statewide operations, which benefits York economically in a variety of ways, said Scott Walz, vice president of energy delivery. For instance, NPPD handles all of its materials for the state of Nebraska in York, Walz said, which means NPPD pays York sales taxes on those goods. In 2022 NPPD paid $272,073 in York city sales tax, NPPD shared at a city council meeting earlier this year. Patrick Hanrahan, general manager of retail, meanwhile, discussed the longstanding agreement with the City of York to lease the citys energy infrastructure. In 2023 NPPD paid $1.8 million to the city of York for the lease. NPPD staff also discussed some of the challenges they are facing, chief among them a dramatic increase in demand for energy in recent years. Though significant load growth is not unique to Nebraska, NPPD staff said companies find Nebraska attractive because it has low rates, thanks in part to the fact that it is the only state in the country served only by public power. After the presentation, Walz said he was planning to meet with a company looking to open a facility in Nebraska that would require 400 megawatts. Another company looking at Nebraska would need 1,300 megawatts. For comparison, Walz said the the entire city of York was only 33 megawatts. Unsurprisingly, NPPD is looking at new generation, though in response to a question Walz said they must do so with caution: the energy market is volatile and companies that express a need for power at a new facility dont always follow through. In response to another question from the audience, Walz said NPPD is looking into small modular nuclear reactors, but said it was at least 10 years out from implementing the technology. He also shared that NPPD, which is currently 56% carbon free and has a goal of being 100% carbon free by 2050, does not plan to shut down its coal plants anytime soon. After the presentation the group split up into three smaller groups to tour the facility. The tour was full of information about NPPDs operations everything from how the facility tests its protective equipment to how the facility trains its staff using on-site infrastructure. Visitors also got to peek at the facilitys network operations center, where they monitor statewide telecom networks, including the radio system the state patrol uses. So, if youre ever pulled over by the state patrol, you have NPPD to blame for the state patrols smooth radio connection. Towards the end of the tour, Bob Sautter, executive director of the York County Visitors Bureau, noted most York residents probably dont realize all that is happening at NPPD. DONIPHAN Theres more than one way to turn a profit on marginal farm ground and the Happold brothers have found theirs. Nick and Ryan Happold, who operate a row crop and cattle operation east and south of Doniphan, had a combined 58 acres between them that, historically, has been underwhelming for corn production. The low spot, said Nick, who spoke for the brothers during a recent interview alongside the wet ground, would flood out despite a large concentration pit, since filled in and fail to produce anything most years. In rare years when it made a harvestable crop, yields were limited. Income was sketchy to say the least as annual input costs for fuel, fertilizer and tractor time went down a rat hole. Even nitrogen didnt help much, Happold said. But no longer. The brothers and cooperating agencies and active partners of the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture took a step back. A step toward a return to nature and profitability. Happold said the project idea grew from seeds of what they saw with their own eyes and things they heard from neighbors who had completed similar projects. The need was apparent he said, because only a couple years in 10 did we get a crop which added up to a frustratingly negative Return on Investment (ROI). If it didnt flood on a yearly basis, it was kind of surprising, he acknowledged. Enter the wetland specialists of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Joint Venture where substantial cost-share dollars and, of equal importance, scientific habitat expertise is available. Working together, the farmers and their new-found associates have solved a host of problems while affecting real change. The wetland is now bordered by a stout barbed-wire fence. The power lines overhead are fitted with small, shiny warning devices that move with the wind to help birds, primarily cranes, avoid fatal crashes as they enter and leave the habitat. As the accompanying panoramic photo illustrates, recent heavy rains in excess of three inches created more of a small lake than a wetland, however Happold knows it will dry in time: Thats when the operational advantage will kick in. The brothers retain full ownership of the acres that were enrolled in the conservation easement. They are permitted, even encouraged, to graze cattle there at least part of the year, which in turn enhances habitat values for the birds it attracts. A custom seed blend has been planted including grass varieties designed to grow in both wet and dry times. These species drop their seeds to the ground after the growing season and in turn provide a banquet for waterfowl and shore birds in spring when the ground is flooded. Happold is especially pleased to have a new solar well. That would have been prohibitive for the brothers to fund by themselves, he said. We wont have to haul water to the cows. We can get those cow-calf pairs out of our lot and put them out here. Now the former problem child is essentially a hands-off farm asset that demands little expense or time. They paid for a good share of the improvements, he said of the program, to pretty much do everything. As for advice to fellow ag producers, he said, Taking acres out of production is something you need to weigh. Look at your options he suggests, and also at your ROI. Maybe its something you need to look at. A happy side benefit? Happold said it lowers property taxes, too, going to this type of production from rows of corn. Looking back, he admitted its been quite a challenge at times mostly because we have never done it before, he said, adding with a chuckle there are things we wished we knew from the outset. The chuckle was remembering a significant check from someplace hed never heard of that was headed for the junk mail pile, which is what the envelope appeared to be until he peeked inside. The best part of all Is seeing it go back to the way Mother Nature intended, He said the arrival of waterfowl and pheasants, his favorite game bird as a lifelong upland hunter, is real exciting. Why go to the trouble? Because of the benefit to me, he said, and the benefit to nature itself. Look into it, its worthwhile he counsels his peers. It might look like it doesnt benefit you, but it does. As for his beloved pheasants, arguably once Nebraskas most prized and abundant upland species statewide, his feelings are evident: Its so sad to see this bird population almost decimated. To bring that back is near and dear to me. Were seeing birds almost year-round now as long as it has water. New Delhi: With fearless determination and unwavering boldness, this individual embodies the essence of a true alpha. Despite facing formidable challenges early in life she fearlessly seized every opportunity, turning adversity into triumph. In todays success story we will be talking about Chinu Kala, the director of Rubans Accessories. With only Rs 300 and a bag of clothes, Chinu left her home at the tender age of 15 due to family hardships. Despite facing such adversity including spending two nights sleeping at a Mumbai train station she persevered and took on the role of a salesgirl, earning just Rs 20 a day. Early days and Struggle Chinu Kalas journey led her through various occupations, from working as a waitress to serving as a receptionist and even seeking coaster sets and cutlery door-to-door all in pursuit of making ends meet. Eventually, she found herself employed in a clothing store where she gained invaluable insights into customer behavior and the importance of delivering exceptional service. Even though her life was undoubtedly challenging, Chinu vibrant spirit remained unbroken. (Also Read: Social Commerce Platform Meesho Raises $275 Million) Got married in 2004 Chinus life took a significant turn when she landed a role as a telemarketing executive at Tata Communications in Mumbai. There she crossed paths with her future husband Amit kala who held a MBA degree. They tied the knot in 2004 and with Amits expertise and support she honed her entrepreneurial skills. This gave her the confidence to venture into taking big risks. (Also Read: RBI Appoints R Lakshmi Kanth Rao As New Executive Director) Top 10 in Mrs. India Pageant After getting married, Chinu relocated to Bengaluru where her passion for modeling propelled her into the spotlight of the 2008 Gladrags Mrs. India Pageant. There, she achieved a notable position in the top 10. It was during her foray into modeling that Chinu discovered her entrepreneurial drive. Ventured into fashion sector After her breakthrough with Gladrags, Chinu identified a gap in the Indian jewellry market and its importance within the fashion industry. In 2014, she took a bold step by departing from corporate merchandising and ventured into the fashion sector. Chinu launched her own company using her personal savings of Rs 3 lakh., Rubans Accessories. Starting with a modest 36-square-foot shop in Bengaluru's Phoenix Mall, both Rubans and Chinu experienced rapid growth. Within less than a year the brand expanded its retail presence to multiple cities across India. Rubans Accessories: Revenue of Rs 104 Cr By 2018, Rubans Accessories had expanded its presence to five outlets located in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Kochi. When faced with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic Chinu Kala demonstrated remarkable adaptability by transitioning her business online, a move that resulted in increased sales. Today, Rubans Accessories stands as a flourishing fashion jewelry brand boasting a revenue of Rs 104 crore. This success is a testament to Chinu Kala's resilience and astute business acumen. GSEB Board Result 2024: The Gujarat Board of Secondary Education (GSEB) has announced the release of the GSEB 10th Result 2024 today, on May 11th, at 8 am. Aspirants who appeared for the examination can now access and download their results from the official website, gseb.org. To obtain the result, candidates are required to input their roll number and seat number. Check GSEB 10th result 2024 direct link and steps to download the marksheet below. Gujarat Class 10th Result 2024: Direct Link Gujarat Board 10th Result 2024: Steps To Check Scores - Visit the official website of the Gujarat Board - www.gseb.org. - Locate and click on the Gujarat Board 10th Result 2024 link displayed on the homepage. - Enter your seat number on the login page that appears. - After entering the details, submit them to access the GSEB results. - The Gujarat Board GSEB Class 10 Result 2024 will be displayed on the screen. - Proceed to download the result and print it for future reference. This year, the overall pass percentage for GSEB Class 10 results 2024 stands at 82.56%, marking a significant increase of 18% from the previous year's 64.62%. Among the candidates, the pass percentage for girls is 86.69%, while for boys, it is 79.12%. Last year, there was a slight decrease in the pass percentage by 0.56%, dropping to 65.18% from the previous year's figure. In 2021, due to the cancellation of exams amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the state recorded a 100% pass percentage. Gujarat SSC 10th Result 2024: Girls Lead The Way The gender-wise analysis reveals that out of the total registered students, 385,437 were male, and 382,182 were female. While the pass percentage among male students stands at 79.12%, female students have shown slightly better performance with a pass percentage of 86.69%. New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart, Bhagwant Mann, will participate in a roadshow in South Delhi on May 11. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor was granted interim bail until June 1 by the Supreme Court earlier that day in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. This will be Kejriwal's first roadshow since walking out of Tihar Jail on Friday. The chief minister arrived at his residence in the Civil Lines area around 8.20 p.m. from the prison complex. Kejriwal To Begin Campaign With Hanuman Temple Visit Kejriwal ahead of his visit to the Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place today said he is happy to be back with the prayers of crores of people and justice of the Supreme Court. CM Kejriwal taking to X (formerly Twitter), "With the blessings of Hanumanji, the prayers of crores of people and the justice of the Supreme Court judges, I am very happy to be back amongst you all." "See you today- 11 am - Hanuman Temple, Connaught Place 1 pm - Press conference, party office 4 pm - Road Show - South Delhi - Mehrauli 6 pm - Road Show - East Delhi - Krishna Nagar You all must come," Kejriwal said. Kejriwal's Packed Election Campaigning Schedule Arvind Kejriwal has a packed schedule for his first day after receiving interim bail from the Supreme Court, which will begin with a visit to the Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place. He will then proceed to the Party Headquarters in Delhi to hold a news conference The Aam Admi Party national convenor will also take part in a road show in South Delhi in the evening. Sahi Ram, the AAP-Congress alliance candidate in South Delhi, faces off against Ramveer Bidhuri, a BJP MLA. AAP is expected to project Mr Kejriwal in their nationwide poll campaigns now, with the fourth phase of voting scheduled for May 13. Voting for all seven Lok Sabha seats in New Delhi will take place on May 25. The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have agreed to share seats in Delhi, with the former fielding candidates for three Lok Sabha seats and the latter contesting the remaining four. Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister has urged the Naxals to come together and engage in dialogue with the administration in order to find answers. His plea was made just hours after a Friday encounter in Bijapur resulted in the deaths of twelve Naxalites. "I appeal to them (the Naxals) to join the mainstream and have discussions with our government, which is ready to provide very good facilities, more of which will be announced in the future," Sharma told ANI. "The solutions to the issues should be found through talks. Development should reach every village. Why should the people of Bastar be kept hostage?" he added. Talking about the operation of the security forces, he said, "Around a thousand soldiers of the DRG, STF and Cobra battalions of Bijapur and Dantewada had set out for the joint operation. Fortunately, in the operation, none of our soldiers were injured." Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai congratulated the security forces after the operation. "An encounter broke out between Naxals and the Security forces in the Gangaloor area of Bijapur district. 12 dead bodies of the Naxals have been recovered. I congratulate our jawans and senior officers. Ever since we came into government, we have fought strongly against the Naxalites. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah also want Naxalism to end in Chhattisgarh. We are benefiting from the double-engine government," CM Vishnu Deo Sai told ANI. On Friday, an altercation broke out in the Chhattisgarh jungle close to Pidiya village between Naxals and security personnel. Earlier this month, in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh's Kanker, 29 Naxals were killed and three security officers were injured in an encounter. Delhi Weather Update: Dust storms, strong winds, and rain swept through parts of the national capital on Friday. Nine flights were diverted from Delhi's airport late in the evening due to inclement weather, officials reported. An official confirmed that some of the flights were diverted from the airport to Jaipur. The MeT department issued an advisory for the dust storm, urging people to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel. "Residents are advised to stay indoors, secure their windows and doors, and avoid unnecessary travel," the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated in its advisory. The IMD advised people to seek safe shelter and avoid hiding under trees. The Delhi Traffic Police have issued a traffic alert for Dharam Marg and Janakpuri after a large broken tree blocked the road at B2 Janakpuri.In a post on X, traffic police asked commuters to avoid the stretch. There have been numerous reports of trees falling in various areas of the city as a result of the strong winds. The weather service had previously predicted generally cloudy skies with the possibility of dust storms and thunderstorms on Friday, with light rain and hailstorms in isolated areas.Squally winds with speeds of 60-70 kmph were also expected on Friday night. "Due to the new active western disturbance, the capital will experience drizzle late Friday night," news agency PTI quoted Kuldeep Srivastava, head of the Regional Meteorological Centre as saying. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 10, 2024 Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. isn't one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here). Operator: Hello and welcome to the Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Brian Chin, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Brian Chin: Thanks, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on our first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Speaking on the call today will be Chris Huskilson, Chief Executive Officer; and Darren Myers, Chief Financial Officer. Also joining us this morning for the question-and-answer portion of the call is Jeff Norman, Chief Development Officer; and Johnny Johnston, Chief Operating Officer. To accompany today's earnings call, we have a supplemental webcast presentation available on our website, algonquinpower.com. Our financial statements and management discussion and analysis are also available on the website, as well as on SEDAR+ and EDGAR. We would like to remind you that our discussion during the call will include certain forward-looking information and non-GAAP measures. Please note and review the related disclaimers located on Slide 2 of our earnings call presentation at the Investor Relations section of our website at www.algonquinpower.com. Please also refer to our most recent MD&A filed on SEDAR+ and EDGAR and available on our website for additional important information on these items. On the call this morning, Chris will provide a business update, including brief comments on the Company's strategic transition and renewable sale. Then Darren will review key highlights pertaining to our regulated and renewable business groups and our first quarter financial results. We will then open the lines for a question-and-answer period. We ask that you kindly restrict your questions to two and then re-queue if you have any additional questions to allow others the opportunity to participate. And with that, I'll turn it over to Chris. Christopher Huskilson: Thank you, Brian, and good morning, everyone. Before we jump into quarterly results, let me address our leadership announcement included in our press release. It's an honor to be appointed as permanent CEO of Algonquin. It's an exciting time to lead the company. After serving as interim CEO for the last nine months, I'm more convinced than ever that we are on the right path. I see opportunity throughout the business to improve our consistency and profitability as we look to successfully execute on the sale of our renewables business and elevate our utility platform. 2024 will no doubt be a year of transition. As we execute on the sale of the renewables business, the company, for the first time, will be focused on a single regulated business model to create value. Algonquin is in a unique position to capture cost improvements through simplification and better execution while continuing to serve our customers. This is a key reason why I've agreed to accept this role. I'm excited to help Algonquin capture that opportunity, create long-term value and ultimately become the premier mid-cap regulated utility platform in North America. I'd also like to touch on recent and upcoming changes to our Board. We are pleased to welcome Brett Carter, who most recently worked at Xcel Energy as Group President of Utilities and Chief Customer Officer; and nominee Chris Lopez, the outgoing Chief Financial Officer of Hydro One. Each of these individuals brings seasoned regulated utility experience and senior leadership capabilities to the company. Their past experiences and insights will complement the strengths of the current Board of Directors and support Algonquin's ongoing strategic transformation to the pure-play regulated utility. These developments reflect our recently signed cooperation agreement with Starboard in which they proposed Board nominees. Our Board reviewed the nominees and agreed that Brett Carter and Chris Lopez were exceptional additions. We believe these developments reflect our appreciation of investor dialogue, our receptivity to stakeholder input and our decisiveness. In further news, Ken Moore, the current Chair of the Board, has announced his intention to retire and not stand for reelection. And as part of the company's ordinary course nomination cycle, current Board member, Masheed Saidi also indicated she does not intend to stand for reelection. We thank Ken and Masheed for their commitment, dedication and leadership during the respective 14 and 10 years of distinguished service to the company. I personally worked with Masheed since 2005 and Ken since 2009. Masheed and I worked on transmission projects in New England and Ken and I helped to make the Emera Algonquin relationship a success for both companies. I will miss each of them on this Board. Let me now turn to our quarterly update with a few brief comments before handing the call over to Darren. In the first quarter, we continued our efforts to simplify the business and transition towards a pure-play regulated strategy. Our renewables business ended the quarter on target, and we continue to make progress on the renewable sale. Our timetable for sale continues as we expected. As I've said in the past, no news is good news. Moving to our Regulated Services Group, we are pleased that our regulated net utility sales and divisional operating profit organically grew year-over-year. That said, one of my initial key priorities has been to focus on the Regulated Services Group as a stand-alone business. We are making strides here, including simplifying how we operate the business, having recently rolled out the last leg of our enterprise IT platform. But we have plenty more work and opportunity as we raise up our utilities within Algonquin. With the SAP system rollout, we are positioned to focus on the cost structure of the business and continued service to our customers. An engineer in a control room monitoring a massive system, demonstrating the capabilities of rate-regulated utilities. In the coming quarters, this will become the primary focus for the business. Lastly, it was also a busy quarter on the capital markets front, having closed financings with a value of approximately $2.3 billion. This is the largest non-M&A related quarterly financing in the company's history. We are extremely pleased by the investor interest and confidence in the company and the momentum of our actions to create long-term value for our shareholders. And with that, I'll turn things over to Darren for an update on the business. Darren Myers: Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. I'll start with the Regulated Services Group. In the midst of our ongoing transition, we remain steadfast in our commitment to our customers to deliver utility services in a safe and reliable manner. We are pleased to announce Liberty is the recipient of the 2023 American Gas Association's Employee Safety Award for medium-sized combination utilities in the United States. We have now been awarded this honor for the third time in four years. Moving to our operation. I'm pleased to say that we've now completed the rollout of our enterprise-wide technology system. This system called Customer First, will enable us to run the organization on a single integrated platform, provide better service for our customers and allow us to gain more insight into our business and performance. Like many others that have gone through major system implementations, it will take time to leverage the capabilities and adjust our organization and processes. We are at the normal part of the curve where we are spending more to run the system, but we are confident we will continue to see improvements in that over the long-term, this will provide a competitive advantage for Algonquin. Turning now to an update on regulatory proceedings. During the first quarter of 2024, new rates became effective at our Empire Electric Utility in Arkansas following an order approving the settlement agreement authorizing a revenue increase of $5.3 million late last year. In the quarter, we also filed $36 million in revenue requirement increases adding to an already busy regulatory slate. Our Regulated Services Group currently has pending 15 rate reviews. Our Liberty Utilities pending rate request totaled $129.4 million at the quarter end. This quarter represents the most active concurrent rate case period in the company's history. While we are not going to provide our overall earned ROE at this moment, we note that our active rate case schedule, combined with the investments we've made on our customers' behalf, has caused our earned ROE lag to increase by roughly 20 basis points to 30 basis points over the same period last year. Turning now to an update on our Renewable Energy Group. In alignment with our goal of simplifying the business, we wound down our renewables development joint venture and monetized our interest in three small solar development assets in Spain. We also purchased the remaining 50% equity interest in the Sandy Ridge II Wind Facility, representing an increase of 44 megawatts to our net economic ownership. As a minor update, we also sold our 100% equity interest in Windsor Locks, a 74.9 megawatt thermal facility in Connecticut for $17.7 million. The net effect is that at the end of the first quarter, we continue to hold 2.7 gigawatts of net economic ownership in our renewable assets. The next two major projects, the construction group continues to develop are Carvers Creek and Clearview Solar, where site preparations and panel installation are well on their way. Turning to our financial results. Our performance reflects the transition year we are in. On a consolidated basis, our combined Q1 net utility and energy sales were $519.9 million, up 5.7% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was $344.3 million, up slightly from the same period last year. Adjusted net earnings were $95.6 million compared to $119.9 million reported last year, a decrease of 20%. On a per share level, our first quarter adjusted net earnings per share was $0.14, an 18% decrease year-over-year. Our adjusted net earnings per share was down $0.03 year-over-year as continued growth in our regulated business was offset by an expected decline in our renewables business which was primarily due to our simplification efforts and the wind down of our development joint venture. Breaking it down further, our regulated business grew by $0.02, primarily due to new rate implementations at several of the company's electric and gas utilities. Renewables declined $0.01 driven primarily by our planned consolidation of development venture activities, as we discussed on our last earnings call this past March. It's worth highlighting that our renewables business ended the quarter on budget. Rounding out our year-over-year adjusted net earnings per share performance, our depreciation increased by our typical run rate, lowering adjusted net earnings per share by $0.01. Our borrowing cost to fund growth netted against the planned reduction to minority interest expense lowered adjusted net earnings per share by $0.02 year-over-year. And finally, our tax credit recoveries returned to a more normalized level from last year, lowering adjusted net earnings per share further by another $0.01. Let me now provide an update on our capital markets activity. We had a very successful quarter on the capital front. We closed financings of $2.3 billion with the issuance of unsecured senior notes and securitized utility tariff bonds as well as the successful remarketing of our senior notes related to our green equity units. On average, our financings were 4x oversubscribed. We see these results as evidence that in the midst of our transition, investors share our view of a bright future for Algonquin. And finally, let me briefly comment on our near-term outlook. As stated before, this is a transition year for Algonquin, and as such, we have not provided guidance for the year. As a quick reminder for the second quarter last year, we had unfavorable weather across both businesses and a onetime CalPeco net earnings benefit of $11.2 million. And as for more recent activity, we're in the midst of one of the busiest rate case calendars we've ever tackled. This means rising depreciation and funding costs will continue to weigh on the regulatory lag until we reach constructive resolutions to more of our filings. We would like to thank our investors for your continued support as we transition the company and create long-term value for all of our stakeholders. With that, I will now turn the call over to the operator to open the lines for questions. Operator? See also 25 Cheap Places to Travel in the U.S. with Beaches and 15 Best Places in Missouri for a Couple To Live on Only Social Security. To continue reading the Q&A session, please click here. Union Home Minister Amit Shah blasted the Congress on Friday for "raising question marks" about Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and insisted that India owned every square inch of the region and that no force could take it. "Mani Shankar Aiyar is telling us to respect Pakistan as it possesses an atomic bomb. Few days ago, INDIA alliance leader Farooq Abdullah said do not talk about PoK as Pakistan has an atomic bomb. I want to tell the Congress and INDIA alliance that PoK belongs to India and no force can snatch it," Shah said at an election rally in Jharkhand's Khunti. He said, "I do not know what has happened to the Congress. A resolution was passed unanimously in Parliament that PoK is part of India. You (Congress) are now putting a question mark on PoK by talking about the atom bomb. BJPs stand is clear that every inch of PoK belongs to India and it will remain with India." He claimed that although the Congress upheld Article 370 for seventy years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made sure it was repealed. Shah urged people to support the BJP, claiming that the JMM-led coalition in Jharkhand was rife with corruption. "JMM-led alliance indulged in Rs 300-crore land scam, Rs 1,000-crore mining scam, Rs 1,000-crore MNREGA scam, Rs 40-crore liquor scam. We will not allow the JMM-led alliance to digest poor people's money," he said. He said that the money that was "being looted by Rahul Baba's party" belonged to the people of Jharkhand and would be returned to the masses, referring to the recovery of approximately Rs 350 crore from the premises connected to a Jharkhand-based Rajya Sabha MP and Rs 35 crore from the domestic assistance of an official linked to Jharkhand-based Congress Minister Alamgir. He accused the JMM and Congress of doing "vote-bank politics". "Congress created obstacles in building Ram Mandir in Ayodhya for 70 years whereas PM Modi constructed the temple in five years...Rahul Baba did not come to Ram Mandir consecration as he was afraid of his 'vote bank'," he said. "I want to ask Rahul Gandhi why the Congress failed to appoint any tribal President during its rule", he said while taking a jibe at the grand old party and INDIA alliance. Shah said under the Congress regime, Maoists exercised rights on "jal, jungle and jameen (water, forest and land) in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. "After you made Modi Prime Minister, he wiped out the Maoist menace and ushered in development," he said. The Home Minister said the credit of freeing Jharkhand and Budha Pahad from the clutches of Maoists goes to BJP and PM Modi. He said it is the BJP regime that ensured respect and dignity for tribals and the Prime Minister has already announced to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda as 'Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh' in 2025. Birsa Munda waged a war against the British and its effect reverberated across India, but the Congress and JMM governments did not give tribals their due, he said. "Now, the tribal population faces the biggest threat from infiltrators who are building homes in tribal villages and marrying local girls. If anyone can stop them, it is only the BJP," he said. "Under Prime Minister Modi, the tribal welfare budget was enhanced to Rs 1,33,000 crore from Rs 29,000 crore in the previous Congress regime," he said and added that 40,000 teachers will be appointed for Eklavya Model schools across the country. A total of one lakh children are enrolled in 740 such schools," he said. The Home Minister emphasised that Rs 88,000 crore under DMFT (District Mineral Foundation Trust) was being spent across the country for development of tribal areas. The Modi government is building 10 tribal museums in various parts of the country at a cost of Rs 200 crore, he said. Shah urged people to vote for BJP candidate and Union Minister Arjun Munda. The minister is contesting against Congress's Kalicharan Munda whom he had defeated by a slender margin of 1,445 votes in the 2019 elections. Khunti will go to polls on May 13 alongwith Lohardaga, Sinbhum and Palmu seats. The Andhra Pradesh police on Friday found Rs 7 crores in cash stashed in seven boxes inside a car in the East Godavari district, After being struck by a lorry, a car overturned in Anantapally, Nallajarla Mandal. Locals alerted the police after observing that the car was moving seven cardboard boxes filled with cash. The car was travelling to Visakhapatnam from Vijayawada. After suffering injuries, the driver of the overturned car was taken to Gopalapuram Hospital for medical attention. #WATCH | Andhra Pradesh: Rs 7 Crores cash, kept in seven boxes, seized in East Godavari district. A vehicle had overturned after being hit by a lorry at Anantapally in Nallajarla Mandal. Locals noticed that 7 cardboard boxes, containing cash, were being transferred in that pic.twitter.com/KbQmb5M175 May 11, 2024 Cash Worth Rs 8.36 Crores Seized In Andhra On Thursday A truck containing PVC pipes was seized by the AP Police on Thursday at an interstate checkpoint in the NTR district for Rs 8.36 crore. At the Telangana and AP inter-state checkpoints, police found the money, making it one of the biggest single cash seizures in the lead-up to the 2024 elections. "We seized Rs 8.36 crore cash hidden in a cabin behind the driver's seat in the truck coming from Hyderabad and bound for Guntur," news agency PTI quoted a police officer as saying. The truck from the Chittoor district is registered in Shaik Aziz's name, according to the police. P Sekhar Reddy, 24, a cleaner, and Ch Shanmugan, 40, a truck driver, are being questioned by police in the meantime in order to gather more information. The police official said that following the cash's submission to the Treasury Department, a case has been filed under CrPC Sections 41 and 102 by the police. New Delhi: A 63-year-old doctor was allegedly killed by robbers at his home in southeast Delhis Jangpura area on Friday, police said. The deceased was identified as Dr Yogesh Chander Paul who also had a private clinic in the Jangpura area. Police said that a police control room (PCR) call was received at 6.50 p.m. at Hazrat Nizamuddin railways station regarding murder on the upper Ground floor of C-14, Jangpura Extension, Delhi following which a police team rushed to the spot. The deceased was a general physician. He lived at the above address with his wife Dr Neena Paul who is also a Delhi government doctor, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Rajesh Deo. The DCP said that the dead body was found in the kitchen and the forensic team along with the crime team was called. There are also signs of robbery as rooms have been ransacked Prima facie, It appears that the accused persons robbed the house and brought fatality to Dr. Paul, the DCP added. An official privy to the probe said that Dr Paul's hands were tied and it is suspected that he was smothered to death. New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the BJP-led NDA needs to secure victory on over 400 seats in Lok Sabha elections to implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and build a temple on Krishna Janmasthan in Mathura. Sarma was addressing a campaign rally for BJP leader Giriraj Singh in Bihar's Begusarai. He also criticised the INDIA-block for spreading doubt on the status of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). He said, "The NDA under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to win 400 plus seats to implement the UCC in the country, for the construction a grand temple at Krishna Janmasthan in Mathura and also to ensure PoK, which is a part of India, returns to India," reported PTI. Sarma drew a comparison of his government in Assam, he said, "I have made it quite clear that Muslims must reject child marriage and polygamy and accept women's education. In Assam, being married twice or three times is forbidden. It's very simplethey (Muslims) cannot have three wives. He remarked that action has been taken against 6,000 people who belong to a particular community, who indulged in child marriage. Sarma slammed the Congress government of giving religion-based reservation and alleged that the party is doing appeasement politics. "They (INDIA alliance leaders) are indulging in politics of appeasement and raise issues that support Pakistan, he added. Responding to the Atomic bomb remarks of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, he said, Even if Pakistan has a nuclear bomb, I am confident that it must have passed its expiry date. Sarma said that the people need to give a third term to PM Modi to ensure that the PoK comes back to India. "Our government at the Centre has made it clear that PoK belongs to India and no force can snatch it, he added. Sarma also advocated the abrogation of article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. Union Minister Giriraj Singh is vying for another term as the NDA candidate from the Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency. He faces competition from Awadhesh Rai, the Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate and nominee of the Mahagathbandhan coalition. The fourth phase of elections on May 13 will decide the outcome in constituencies including Begusarai, Darbhanga, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, and Munger in Bihar. More than 300 people reportedly died on Saturday due to flash floods in Afghanistan that destroyed over 1000 houses, according to AP, citing the U.N. Food Agency. The floods primarily struck the northern province of Baghlan; the region has suffered the most damage. The World Food Programme announced that it is distributing fortified biscuits to individuals affected by recent floods in Afghanistan. A state-owned media outlet in neighbouring Takhar province reported that the floods killed at least 20 people. The chief spokesman for the Taliban government, Zabihullah Mujahid, posted on the social media platform X that "hundreds... have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries. Mujahid said that the extensive devastation has led to significant financial losses. He added that the worst-hit provinces were Badakhshan, Baghlan, Ghor, and Herat. He said that the administration has been ordered to mobilise all available resources to rescue people, transport the injured, and recover the dead. As per the Associated Press, the Taliban Defence Ministry said in a statement Saturday that the countrys air force has already begun evacuating people in Baghlan and has rescued a large number of people stuck in flooded areas and transported 100 injured people to military hospitals in the region. In April, at least 70 people died from heavy rains and flash flooding in the country. Around 2,000 homes were also damaged. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reacted to Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyars 'Pakistan has atomic bombs remark. At a rally in Odisha, the PM accused the Congress party of trying to scare Indians and kill their spirit. He further mocked Pakistan by saying that economic issues are pushing India's estranged neighbour to sell its nuclear arsenal. PM Modi remarked that these weaklings are attempting to destroy India's spirit. Congress has always been like this. Pakistan's situation is so bad that they are unable to handle their own bombs. They are trying to sell their bombs, but due to their subpar quality, nobody is even interested in purchasing them. Modi added that the people of Jammu and Kashmir had to put up with terrorism for more than 60 years because of the Congress's weak attitude. #WATCH | While addressing a public meeting in Odisha's Kandhamal, PM Narendra Modi says, "Time and again Congress try to scare its own country. They say 'sambhal ke chalo Pakistan ke pass atom bomb hai. Ye mare pade log, desh ke man ko bhi maar rahe hain'. They talk about pic.twitter.com/DmbBWnZpfX ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2024 Mani Shankar Aiyar, in an old viral video, was heard saying that India should respect Pakistan as the sovereign nation holds atomic bombs. He said that if ever a mad person comes to Pakistan, they could use these bombs on India. However, the Congress party has distanced itself from Aiyars remarks, calling them the BJPs tactics of deflecting attention from PM Modi's flabs. New Delhi: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday of trying to fix the Lok Sabha elections by "selectively targeting and harassing" her party and their supporters. While addressing a press conference at the PDP headquarters here, Mufti also alleged that the authorities had imposed a 48-hour restriction starting from 6:30 pm on Saturday under Section 144 in Pulwama, which is part of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat going to polls on Monday. "From 6:30 pm today, Section 144 has been imposed in Pulwama district, which is unprecedented. It has not happened before that restrictions are imposed in the area where the elections are to take place," she said. The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister also alleged that active workers of her party, who have been organizing its meetings, have been detained ahead of the polling. "This is not restricted to Pulwama only. Some days back, there was an attack in Surankote (in Poonch district of Jammu). After that, 50-60 of our workers have been detained, and a strange atmosphere is being created," said Mufti. "If the Election Commission of India has to repeat the 1987 elections, then why this drama of elections? If they have to create Ikhwan (government gunmen) or the party of Ikhwans, their proxies whom they are supporting, then they should say that" she added. Mufti said the administration is not openly coming out in support of their proxies yet, as they are waiting for the elections to conclude in two seats in Srinagar and Baramulla. "After that, they will declare their support in Rajouri-Poonch (part of the Anantnag-Rajouri seat). The election was delayed there only because of their party, the party of suited-booted ikhwans. They have created political ikhwans whom they support fully, the whole government machinery supports them," Mufti said. Reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on PoK, Mufti said that the government should first address the problems in this part of Kashmir. "Let them talk to the people here first. There are 22 crore Muslims in our country and the BJP calls them infiltrators and termites," Mufti said. New Delhi: BJP leader and Advocate G Devaraje Gowda was arrested on Friday in connection with the case of sexual assault registered with Holenarasipur Town Police, reported PTI. He was held near the Gulihal toll gate in Chitradurga district following a notification from the Hassan Police requesting his cooperation in the investigation. Who is Devaraje Gowda? Gowda is the leader of the Bhartiya Janta Party and an advocate by profession. He ran for the 2023 assembly election as a candidate of the BJP but was defeated. He lost to JD(S) MLA and former minister H D Revanna. Devaraje is accused of leaking the sexual abuse videos, but he has denied these allegations. The BJP leader is an advocate by profession. He claims that he had earlier warned the BJP leadership regarding the sexual abuse of several women. However, the saffron party has denied any such claims. The BJP state president rebutted Gowda's assertion that he sent a letter regarding the videos. Revanna is the grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda and is the BJP-JD(S) Lok Sabha poll candidate from Hassan. The BJP has formed an alliance with the JD(S) for the current general elections. Molestation Case Against Gowda Gowda has been accused of sexual harassment in an FIR lodged by a woman. The complaint alleges that Gowda and others physically harassed and threatened her. Gowda faces charges under various sections of the IPC and the Information Technology Act, including assault or force against a woman with the intent to outrage modesty, sexual harassment, voyeurism, house trespass, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, and criminal intimidation. The FIR, filed on April 1, pertains to an incident on February 4 at the victim's residence in Holenarasipura. Besides Gowda, three others have also been named in the FIR. New Delhi: When it comes to leaving an indelible mark on the international stage, these Indian actors have not only conquered hearts at home but have also dazzled audiences worldwide. From gripping dramas to thrilling action flicks and charming romantic comedies, they've showcased their exceptional talent and versatility, proving their mettle alongside international co-stars. Let's take a closer look at these stars who have aced their roles on the global platform, earning admiration and applause from audiences around the world. Anil Kapoor's portrayal of the charismatic game show host in "Slumdog Millionaire" captivated audiences worldwide. The film, directed by Danny Boyle, went on to become a global sensation, winning multiple Oscars. Priyanka Chopra added her signature charm to the romantic comedy "Isn't It Romantic," starring alongside Rebel Wilson. Her performance as a no-nonsense yoga ambassador was widely praised, contributing to the film's success. Randeep Hooda showcased his intense acting prowess in the action-packed thriller "Extraction," sharing the screen with Chris Hemsworth. His portrayal of a ruthless crime lord garnered acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Deepika Padukone made her Hollywood debut opposite Vin Diesel in "XXX: Return of Xander Cage." Her portrayal of the fearless and skilled Serena Unger showcased her action chops and garnered praise worldwide. Arjan Bajwa headlines the action-comedy "Demon Hunters," alongside JC Lin. The film, set to debut at Cannes Film Festival, promises high-octane action and comedic moments, raising anticipation among audiences For the big release. New Delhi: Chinese electronic brand Infinix has officially confirmed the launch date of the gaming-focused GT 20 Pro smartphone and the first-ever gaming laptop GTBook in the Indian market. Both the GT line-ups are designed for gaming and come with distinct cyber mecha design elements to reflect the same. Both devices are set to make their debut on May 21. Notably, these products will be a part of the GT Verse gaming ecosystem and sold through the e-commerce giant Flipkart. Apart from these devices, there are also gaming accessories launching on the same day, including a MagCase, Finger Sleeves, a cooling fan, an RGB mat, RGB headphones, and an RGB mouse in the GT Verse ecosystem.. (Also Read: Realme GT Neo 6 Smartphone With Android 14 And Dual Microphones Launched; Check Price, Specs) Infinix GT 20 Pro Expected Specifications: The phone could feature a 6.78-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, 1,300 nits of peak brightness. It might be packed with a Pixelworks X5 Turbo gaming display chipset. The handset is expected to be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8200 Ultimate processor paired with Mali-G610 MC6 GPU. The handset could sport a 5,000mAh battery with 45W fast charging technology. It can run on Android 14-based HiOS 14 custom skin out of the box. In the camera department, the smartphone is rumoured to house a 108MP OIS-enabled Samsung HM6 sensor, 2MP depth, as well as, a 2MP macro sensor with mini LED. For selfies and video chats, there could be a 32MP sensor on the front. (Also Read: Samsung Galaxy F55 5G Smartphone Launch Date Confirmed In India; Check Expected Specs) Infinix GT Book Expected Specifications: The Infinix GT Book is expected to feature a 16-inch screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate. The gaming laptop could be powered by upto 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900H processor, paired with Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. The device is expected to comes with a 70 Wh battery with support for a 190 W power adapter. The laptop is rumoured to house a ICE Storm 3.0 dual-fan cooling system. The laptop is said to weigh 1.99 kilograms. (Bloomberg) -- The National Labor Relations Board dismissed the most serious allegations against Apple Inc. in a high-profile case involving fired retail store employees, though officials still maintain that the company mistreated workers. Most Read from Bloomberg Last year, the company terminated five workers who helped organize union activity at its store in Kansas City, Missouri. The workers were let go for missing work, showing up late and failing to properly mark their attendance, Apple said. But the Communications Workers of America, or CWA, alleged in charges filed with the NLRB last year that the workers were actually fired for their unionization efforts. NLRB prosecutors originally dismissed the firing allegations last October, but the union filed an appeal in November. On Thursday, the NLRB rejected the appeal, telling the CWA that the evidence was insufficient to show that the employer discharged the employees because of their protected activities rather than the legitimate business reasons relied on by the employer. Still, the general counsels office determined that Apple did violate the law in other ways, including by coercing employees to waive their legal rights, threatening them with worse working conditions because they supported a union, and interrogating them about their labor activism, NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado said Friday. The general counsels office also found that Apple violated the law by holding mandatory captive audience anti-union meetings, Blado said in an email. Absent a settlement, the NLRB plans to issue a complaint against the company. We strongly deny these claims and look forward to providing the full set of facts to the NLRB, Apple said in an emailed statement. Complaints issued by NLRB prosecutors are considered by agency judges, whose rulings can be appealed to labor board members in Washington and from there to federal appeals court. The agency lacks authority to make companies pay punitive damages for violations or hold executives personally responsible for violations. Apple has clashed with union groups and the US labor board over the last two years as retail stores in the US push to unionize. So far, only two locations Oklahoma City and Towson, Maryland have successfully unionized. A store in Short Hills, New Jersey, is voting this weekend to determine if it should take that step. Story continues Also this weekend, the Towson location will vote on whether to authorize a strike ahead of new bargaining talks with Apple. The two sides have reached a series of agreements, but none of the terms represent a big change from Apples existing policies. The union told employees that there are ongoing negotiations regarding pay, overtime, unpaid leave of absences, time-away benefits and scheduling. Earlier this month, the US National Labor Relations Board ruled that Apple illegally interrogated staff at its World Trade Center store in New York City. (Updates with additional NLRB allegations fourth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. New Delhi: South Korean giant Samsung has started rolling out a software update that brings select Galaxy AI features to older flagship models, which include the Galaxy S21 series, Galaxy Z Flip 3, and Galaxy Z Fold 3. The company also announced that the Galaxy S21 series wont get all the Galaxy AI features such as Interpreter, Live Translate, Note Assist, Browsing Assist, Generative Edit, and other features that are available for the S24, S23, and the S22 series. Notably, the older flagship models will only receive two AI features: Circle to Search with Google and Chat Assist. The 'Circle to Search' feature allows users to take a screenshot and select specific items for a quick search or information. Meanwhile, the 'Chat Assist' feature seamlessly translates both incoming and outgoing chats in real-time. (Also Read:Apple iPad 10th Gen (2022) Receives Massive Price Cut In Indian Market; Check Discounted Price). It supports a wide range of languages, offering assistance in 13 languages to ensure effective communication and support for users worldwide. To recall, the Galaxy AI feature was first rolled out with the Samsung Galaxy S24 series earlier this year. Now, these features have been expanded to the S23 series, Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5, and Tab S9 series. Adding further, Samsung has started rolling out the One UI 6.1 software update, which brings Galaxy AI features to Galaxy S22 series, Galaxy Z Flip 4, and Galaxy Z Fold 4 users in the U.S., as well as the Tab S8 series users in the U.S. (Also Read: Infinix GT 20 Pro Gaming Smartphone, GTBook Laptop Launch Date Confirmed In India; Check Expected Specs) The Austin school districts 2024-25 school year budget is now facing a deficit of $89 million, officials say. The Austin school districts budget deficit for the 2024-25 school year has ballooned by nearly 50% from officials' initial estimate growing from $60 million to $89 million district leaders told the school board Thursday night. Officials expect to slash the deficit to $59 million after $30 million in planned cuts, but more trims could be coming for the $956 million budget. Low property value growth and lower than expected student attendance rates hit the districts budget assumptions during a year that districts across the state are already pinching pennies and being crippled by funding shortfalls. We're at a point now where almost nothing is not going to be impacted given the magnitude of cuts we have to take across the district, Superintendent Matias Segura said. District officials have pledged to keep budget cuts from affecting classrooms as much as possible. The change in calculations also means the district will end the 2023-24 school year with a $62 million deficit, higher than originally forecast. The district took on a $52 million deficit for the current school year, but it had expected to reduce that shortfall to $31 million by year's end through planned cuts. We are in a really tight spot, school board member Noelita Lugo said Thursday. This is as serious as it gets. How AISD's budget deficit swelled Last year, property values in the districts taxing area grew by 19%, so officials had predicted 14% growth for this year, Chief Financial Officer Eduardo Ramos said. However, values only grew by 5%, according to new data from the Travis Central Appraisal District. The districts attendance numbers which determine how much state funding a district receives also came out shorter than expected: 64,250 students instead of the 67,786 that had been projected, Ramos said. The district enrolls about 73,000 students, but the state only provides funding for average attendance which was 90.6% in the 2021-22 school year, the latest annual breakdown available from Texas Education Agency data. The TEA also counts pre-K students and some high schoolers who are taking reduced schedule loads as less than a full student when it comes to per-pupil state funding, Ramos said. Austin school board blames state for budget crunch The district will have to explore unusual and creative ways to save and generate money if it wants to give students the services they need, said school board Vice President Kevin Foster. It's time for us to adopt a vision of autonomy for us to reduce our dependence on the state wherever and however we can, Foster said. Story continues Most school board members slammed Texas lawmakers Thursday for the financial woes districts across the state are facing. During the 2023 legislative year, proposed increases to public education funding became embroiled in a political battle over school vouchers, a controversial program that would use public money to pay for students private school tuition. In a threat that held true, Gov. Greg Abbott said he wouldnt sign any bill to increase per-student allocations the basic building block for Texas public education funding until lawmakers passed a voucher package. The measure never passed, however, as Democrats and rural Republicans in the Texas House blocked "school choice" proposals for fear the program would draw money away from public schools. This is a choice that has been made by our state, board member Lynn Boswell said. The $30.7 million in proposed budget cuts for the 2024-25 school year include chopping $14 million in contracts spending and eliminating 41 positions at the administration building for $3.7 million in savings. Some, but not all, of those positions are currently vacant, officials said. The board is also weighing calling a November tax rate election for voters to decide whether to increase school property taxes from $0.8377 per $100 of valuation to $0.9287 a difference of $35 per month to the average $563,069 Austin home. If approved, the extra revenue would bring the district an additional $41.1 million to increase staff members' pay and reduce the deficit. More cuts are likely to be proposed, but the district wants to keep any downsizing as far from affecting the classrooms as possible, Segura said. As the constraints get tighter and tighter and tighter, there are fewer things that we can cut, he said. The school board plans to adopt the district's budget in August. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin ISD's budget deficit swells to $89 million, cuts to follow BRANCH COUNTY The Chambers of Commerce plan to celebrate the local telephone area code, 517, May 17. That's not something usually done. Coldwater Chamber Executive Director Lori Hunt explained that the idea is to bring residents to "Buy Local" at 517 local businesses. Hunt said, "Businesses are encouraged to offer a product or service for $5.17 or $517. We have already heard from local restaurants that will offer $5.17 food or drink specials throughout the day." The idea is to celebrate the local community, attract customers and clients to each business, and for businesses to promote each other. Those participating will post flyers announcing their participation and the specials. The Chambers of Commerce plan to celebrate the local telephone area code, 517, May 17. Any business, whether a member of any local chamber or not, is welcome to offer 517 specials. Branch County Association of Realtors, Bronson Chamber of Commerce, Coldwater Area Chamber of Commerce, Quincy Chamber of Commerce, and Union City Village Leaders are cooperating with the idea. Hunt suggests businesses use the day to build a customer base with the specials. "We encourage business owners to create some kind of gift to be given away at the end of the day for which your customer must register." The chambers suggested that the business use the registration forms to create or add to their email or direct mail list. Hunt said, "The giveaway gift could be a gift certificate to your store, a gift basket, or an item from your business." Sucribe Support local news. Subscribe to the Daily Reporter. The idea came after the success of the "Love Local" February promotion in Coldwater. Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Branch County Chambers 517-area code sales promotion Friday May 17 Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) is Warren Buffett's longest-held stock and one of his favorites. His holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, first bought shares of Coke stock in 1988 and owns 400 million shares. The big news revealed at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting last week was that it had sold 13% of its stake in Apple. While that sounds significant, and is, Apple remains the company's largest position by far, moving down from around 50% to 40% of the total portfolio. However, even though Buffett said Apple was a better business than Coca-Cola and American Express, his other longtime favorite, he has never sold a share of Coke or American Express. Let's see what he said about Coca-Cola and how that might influence your opinion of it as an investor. A trio of forever stocks Buffett often groups Coca-Cola and American Express together. He praises their dominance and how they've carved out exceptional niches in their industries, with strong moats and leadership. Recently, he's added Apple to create a trio of favorite stocks, or as he would say, businesses. He reiterated that he invests in businesses, not stocks, and explained that longtime partner Charlie Munger, who passed away last year, helped him shift his mindset to investigating a business instead of paying attention to the market. "And that's sort of the story of why we own American Express, which is a wonderful business," he said. "We own Coca-Cola, which is a wonderful business, and we own Apple, which is an even better business." He gave a further explanation for what it is about Coca-Cola that he finds so compelling: No company hardly does business around the world like Coca-Cola. I mean, they are the preferred soft drink. You know, something maybe like 170 or 180 out of 200 countries. Those are rough approximations from a few years back, probably, but that degree of acceptance worldwide is, I think it's almost unmatched. Coca-Cola's global acceptance means that it enjoys high sales and makes it very hard to beat. That's a moat that ensures its survival, and so long as the company keeps it strong, Coca-Cola should continue to perform well, keep up its dividend, and grow. Where is Coca-Cola holding today? Coca-Cola remains the largest beverage company in the world, with $46 billion in trailing-12-month revenue. It has successfully raised prices on many of its products because loyal customers are willing to spend for their favorite drink. That's the kind of brand Coca-Cola has developed over time. It has forged relationships with customers that lead to reliable sales, providing it with resilience during rough times. This is the quality that Buffett is describing. Story continues Management recently made some changes to become an even stronger company. It removed half of its brands, about 200 in total. These were mostly local brands that accounted for less than 2% of volume and 1% of revenue. Consider that: Half of its brands were accounting for less 1% of sales. No wonder management decided to do away with them and refocus resources on better-performing brands. This is what Buffett is talking about when he mentions that Coca-Cola is a global company. The stronger a company's global brand presence, the harder it is to topple from its perch. The more Coca-Cola focuses on its large, global, core brands, the stronger it becomes. Invest like Buffett Investors can talk about quarterly earnings and profitability and change their positions accordingly. Or you can think about the business the way Buffett does. "It's such a simple approach that it's almost deceptive," he said. "Most things, if you keep working harder and harder at it ... but investments, you don't really have to do that. You really have to have your mind set properly." This is a useful paradigm when considering any stock. It can help investors think outside of the near-term box and focus on the long term, where investors can reap the real gains of successful investing. Should you invest $1,000 in Coca-Cola right now? Before you buy stock in Coca-Cola, 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 Coca-Cola wasnt one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $543,758!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of May 6, 2024 American Express is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Jennifer Saibil has positions in American Express. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Should You Buy Coca-Cola Stock? Read What Warren Buffett Just Said About It. was originally published by The Motley Fool BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) A cement manufacturer said theyre disappointed after Boulder County took action to terminate their right to operate a Lyons cement plant. The company, Cemex, is now calling for the decision to be reversed. This comes after the Boulder County Community Planning and Permitting director sent a notice to the company in April pointing to the significant increase in traffic as the main reason for terminating the companys operations at the site. It took an hour for school to call police after playground kidnapping attempt The county and the Colorado Department of Transportation began investigating the plant back in 2022 after people living in the area complained. Our concerns are the air pollution and the safety concerns that come with the trucking, and its just their blatant disregard for public safety, said Sarah Lorang, a Lyons resident. The county claims the increase in traffic happened because the plant expanded without the proper permission, creating dangerous traffic conditions around the plant. According to a traffic study, the average daily truck trips coming in and out of the plant more than doubled in just one year. Cemex submitted its response to Boulder County on May 9 regarding the notice of termination. The Departments conclusion did not take into account the historical trucking of material to and from the Lyons cement plant, relying instead on a study Cemex voluntarily undertook for the Colorado Department of Transportation for a different purpose and that considered only three days of traffic data in each of two consecutive years. The determination also failed to apply applicable precedent that a nonconforming use does not terminate when traffic occurring off-site changes. Cemex letter to Boulder County The company also points to the statewide implications of closing one of three cement plants in Colorado and the loss of 100 good-paying blue-collar jobs. The Community Planning and Permitting Director will now review the additional evidence brought forth by Cemex and issue an additional determination. Depending on the outcome, Cemex will have the option to appeal the decision to the Boulder County Board of Commissioners. Colorado set to offer 2 years of free college The Board of Commissioners told FOX31 they do not comment on quasi-judicial matters prior to a proceeding. The full media statement from Cemex is below: On May 9, 2024, Cemex submitted its response to the Boulder County Community Planning & Permitting Departments April 10, 2024, Notification of Determination Regarding Termination of Nonconforming Use. Cemex is disappointed by the Departments assertion that a continuation in historical truck traffic should result in a loss of Cemexs long-standing and unrefuted right to continue operation of its Lyons cement plant. The Departments determination is not only factually and legally incorrect but threatens the livelihoods of Cemexs local workforce and their families and would set a concerning precedent for any business operating as a legal, non-conforming use. Story continues As part of the recent proceedings on Cemexs application to extend the life of the Dowe Flats quarry across the highway from the cement plant, Cemex offered Boulder County an opportunity to agree on a future cessation of operations at the Lyons cement plant, which would have limited the permissible truck traffic that is now being used in an attempt to terminate the cement plant operations. The Departments conclusion did not take into account the historical trucking of material to and from the Lyons cement plant, relying instead on a study Cemex voluntarily undertook for the Colorado Department of Transportation for a different purpose and that considered only three days of traffic data in each of two consecutive years. The determination also failed to apply applicable precedent that a nonconforming use does not terminate when traffic occurring off-site changes. The attempt to shut down our plant, one of only three cement plants in Colorado, has statewide implications: making it more expensive to build a home during an unprecedented housing crisis. Ninety-five percent of the cement made by Cemex in Lyons stays in Colorado. Cement is a vital component of concrete, giving it strength and durability. Concrete literally is the foundation for the tens of thousands of single- and multi-family homes that Colorado so desperately needs. When the cost of building materials goes up, all Coloradans are hurt, to say nothing of the loss of 100 good-paying blue-collar jobs. Cemex looks forward to providing the Department further information and analysis confirming the determination should be reversed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver. Dozens of business and government officials, including Gov. Wes Moore, celebrated the grand opening Friday of the Conair distribution center along Downsville Pike a distribution center Conair officials said they believe is the largest in the state. Conair President and CEO Kristie Juster said "wow," as she shared a statistic she learned Friday that at more than 2.1 million square feet, every NFL team plus two practice fields would fit in the facility. The facility, across Downsville Pike from the headquarters for Washington County Public Schools, began operations in March. Conair is expected to create about 700 new full-time jobs over the next decade at this distribution center. Hagerstown business news: With liquor board's blessing, Hub City Brewing is one step closer to opening day Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Dan Kochenash, Conair's senior vice president of distribution, at the start of a tour Friday of Conair's new distribution center near Hagerstown. To the right in the gray blazer is Conair President and CEO Kristie Juster. The facility had 115 Conair employees on Friday, and about 150 total workers when including out-sourced jobs such as security and maintenance, said Dan Kochenash, Conair's senior vice president of distribution. Kochenash said pay for the local jobs is "market rate, competitive." The number of employees is projected to be around 700 in about four to five years or a little longer, Kochenash said. The facility is a partnership with GXO Logistics, which oversees the site for Conair and manages operations. Jorge Guanter Galtes, president of GXO Logistics for North America, said this facility will be the largest of hundreds the company manages in the U.S. Construction began in 2021 and was completed this spring. Governor stresses Conair's importance to Port of Baltimore "Conair is a very important tenant and member of the Port of Baltimore family," Moore said after the ribbon-cutting. "We have such a deep respect for the fact that Conair is one of those companies that, even after the Port of Baltimore experienced one of the greatest both human and economic challenges and tragedies that we have seen in a generation, Conair was one of those companies that said, 'We're staying, no matter what.' "Them being here, this grand opening, is a very big deal. Not just to the county and not just to the state, but it's the statement that was made that in this moment, they are going to be Maryland tough and Baltimore strong." Some of the many tall racks of pallets inside the new Conair distribution center southwest of Hagerstown. Visiting officials and media toured the facility via golf carts. The Francis Scott Key Bridge, southeast of Baltimore, collapsed in the early hours of March 26 after a large cargo ship struck the bridge. The bodies of the six construction workers who were on the bridge and were killed in the collapse have been recovered. Among the economic impacts from the bridge collapse has been getting cargo ships to and from the port with the bridge and ship wreckage blocking a main channel. Some temporary channels have been established since the collapse. Story continues Conair gets incentives from Maryland, Washington County to open distribution center near Hagerstown Kochenash said company officials were looking for a spot for an East Coast distribution center and looked in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Hagerstown area, he said, offered programs and incentives as well as a labor pool. The state approved a $2 million conditional Advantage Maryland loan for Conair that will turn into a grant if the company meets employment targets within 10 years, said Jayson Knott, senior director for business attraction with the Maryland Department of Commerce. Gov. Wes Moore and Conair President and CEO Kristie Juster cut the ribbon Friday during the grand opening of Conair's more than 2.1 million-square-foot distribution center southwest of Hagerstown. Those targets include hiring at least 500 full-time workers by Dec. 31, 2027. The company must maintain that employment level for the loan's full 10-year term, The Herald-Mail has previously reported. Washington County also provided a similar conditional loan for $200,000 that will turn into a grant if conditions are met, Commissioners President John Barr confirmed. "I think it's wonderful," Barr said of the facility. Barr said he knows there's "a lot of dissension in the community about warehouses." He says he calls them "big buildings." Those built like this one, he said, can offer a lot of opportunities over the years because they can easily be adapted to house different types of operations, including light manufacturing, Barr said. Moore told the crowd he looks at the facility and sees "all this opportunity, all this hope." What's in the Conair distribution center? The facility, which is actually two connected buildings, contains rows and rows of tall stacks that can hold pallets of products. There also is a long conveyor system that was moving boxes, and numerous "Cobots" or collaborative robots that help employees, were on the move. The Cobots look like double-stacked audiovisual carts one would see in a school. They seemed to move around on their own among rows of racks where some Cuisinart products were sitting. A worker at the new Conair distribution center near Hagerstown explains to Gov. Wes Moore how Cobots or collaborative robots assist employees. The Cobots look like double-stacked audiovisual carts. Conair is a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of health and beauty products. The Conair facility will handle incoming and outgoing product brands including Conair, Cuisinart, Waring, Scunci, BaByliss and BaBylissPRO. Kochenash said Waring is a professional/commercial brand of kitchen appliances for restaurants, while BaBylissPRO offers product versions like hair dryers and razors for professionals. Scunci products are hair accessories like scrunchies. Federal case: Hagerstown teen indicted in cyber 'swatting' conspiracy for incidents around the country During a tour of the facility, one of the presenters said 7,000 containers will come through the facility a year. These are large containers, the type that comes off a ship. An estimated 21.3 million cartons are expected to be received this year, with a projected 26.3 million cartons in 2028. Much of the storage racking in the facility remained empty as the center is just ramping up operations. During his visit to Washington County, Moore also stopped at the new Meritus Park on Thursday for a Flying Boxcars game and toured the Washington County Public Safety Training Center on Friday. This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Largest distribution center in Maryland is near Hagerstown British American Tobacco (NYSE: BTI) has a massive 9.9% dividend yield. If it can sustain that dividend, investors will basically get the average return of the market over time from dividends alone. If the stock price goes up, all of that gain would be gravy. That sounds like a recipe for long-term investment success. But read this before you jump in thinking British American Tobacco is set to make you a millionaire. Getting British American Tobacco's bad news out first The problem with British American Tobacco is that the main product it sells is cigarettes. Demand for cigarettes has been in decline for years. For example, in 2018 the company produced around 700 billion cigarettes. In 2023 the figure was just 555 billion. So in just five years the company's production of cigarettes fell by roughly 21%, which is a hugely troubling figure for a consumer staples business. Image source: Getty Images. Notably, in 2023 British American Tobacco changed the way it accounted for its U.S. cigarette operations. It shifted from expecting them to have value in perpetuity to expecting them to end up worthless within 30 years. That's a complex accounting issue that required an immediate write-down and necessitates higher ongoing depreciation expenses, which will be an ongoing drag on profits. But the real statement here is that the cigarette maker sees pretty clearly that its core business is in terminal decline, at least in the United States. Cigarettes are the company's bread and butter right now. The revenue and profits from this segment of the company are what's supporting the huge dividend yield. The company has so far been able to offset volume declines with price increases, like most of its peers, but that's a troubled path to walk down. At some point, higher prices are likely to start exacerbating the decline more than they are helping the bottom line. This little bit of backstory should be enough to worry more conservative investors, particularly if they are trying to build a dividend portfolio to live off of in retirement. British American Tobacco has time, but how much? To be fair, there doesn't appear to be an imminent threat to the dividend, given that the cigarette business is still throwing off lots of cash. So it would be understandable that income-focused investors would want to dig into the story here. And then there's the potential share price upside if the company actually manages to find new products to sell, effectively offsetting the decline in cigarettes. British American Tobacco is, in fact, doing just that. And its so-called "new categories" are performing even better than expected. The new categories group achieved category level profitability in 2023, two years ahead of schedule. Products in this group include vapes, heated tobacco, and oral offerings. Although not every new category is doing great, the overall effort to shift away from cigarettes is clearly going reasonably well. The company's goal is to generate 50% of its top line from noncombustible products by 2035, roughly 11 years from now. Story continues BTI Chart Given the solid progress it is making as it shifts away from cigarettes, there's good reason to believe it can achieve its desired result. And if it does, the stock would likely be revalued in a positive light by investors. In other words, there's upside potential here, noting that the stock is down around 60% from the highs it reached in 2017. Add in the huge dividend yield and there could be material returns ahead... if the company succeeds in shifting its business away from cigarettes. British American Tobacco is high-risk/high-reward At the end of the day, British American Tobacco's efforts to update its business for a future without cigarettes could, indeed, lead to millionaire-maker gains in the stock (particularly when you add in the fat dividend yield). But there's a long way to go before the company is anywhere near the point where it can say it has achieved its diversification goals. And there are a lot of things that could still go wrong along the way. So, yes, British American Tobacco could help make investors rich, but an investment here comes with a lot of risk. Only more aggressive types should be looking at it. And if you buy it, you probably won't want to bet the house on it, just in case it falls short of its goals. Should you invest $1,000 in British American Tobacco right now? Before you buy stock in British American Tobacco, 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 British American Tobacco wasnt one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $543,758!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of May 6, 2024 Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends British American Tobacco P.l.c. and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $40 calls on British American Tobacco and short January 2026 $40 puts on British American Tobacco. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Could This Undervalued Stock Make You a Millionaire 1 Day? was originally published by The Motley Fool UN General Assembly backs Palestinian bid for UN membership Xinhua) 08:15, May 11, 2024 Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, is greeted after the General Assembly adopted a resolution at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 10, 2024. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday adopted a resolution supporting the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending that the Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday adopted a resolution supporting the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending that the Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." The resolution was adopted with 143 votes in favor and nine against, including the United States and Israel, while 25 countries abstained. China voted for the resolution. The resolution states, "The State of Palestine... should therefore be admitted to membership" and "recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably." The resolution "determines" that a State of Palestine is qualified for membership - dropping the original language that in the UN General Assembly's judgment it is "a peace-loving state." It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request "favorably." Saudi Arabia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Abdulaziz Alwasil, said that "the resolution presented today is fully in line with those resolutions. It seeks to implement the will of the international community and contribute to building true peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution." "It is high time for the international community to re-establish the truth because the world can no longer ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people that has lasted for decades," he said after the vote. Alwasil further noted that Israel, the occupying power, has perpetrated "all sorts of crimes" against the Palestinian people, scorning international law. "Israel is convinced that they are above these resolutions and that they enjoy a certain level of immunity...which explains their ongoing hostile and brutal policies," he said. UNGA President Dennis Francis opened the continuation of the 10th Emergency Special Session (ESS), which last convened on Dec. 12, 2023, against the backdrop of a worsening crisis in Gaza. Francis stated that peace has remained elusive, and the situation has become untenable, deteriorating "at an alarming speed." This crisis is "bringing countless innocent victims into its deadly fold and pushing the region further to the brink of full-scale catastrophe," he said. He urged the international community not to look away from the dire situation that has unfolded since the new round of conflict began on Oct. 7, leading to significant Israeli devastation in Gaza. The resolution, proposed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on behalf of 22 Arab countries and co-sponsored by about 65 states, asserts that "the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter and should therefore be admitted." UAE's permanent representative to the United Nations, Mohamed Abushahab, addressed the General Assembly before the vote, emphasizing the broad recognition of the legitimacy of Palestine's bid. He stated, "The vast majority of countries in the General Assembly are fully aware of the legitimacy of the Palestinian bid and the justness of their cause, which faces fierce attempts to suppress it and render it meaningless today." He further noted that granting Palestine full membership would send a "powerful message" in support of the two-state solution, adding, "Fulfilling the UN's historic obligation towards the Palestinian people is long overdue, but it is never too late." Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations, Munir Akram, told the General Assembly that there will come a day when Israel will be held accountable for the crimes committed against Palestinians, especially in Gaza. The insults hurled today are "the arrogance of the aggressor" reflecting the impunity of the occupier, he said, explaining his delegation's position ahead of the vote on the draft resolution. He also expressed hope that the international community will appropriately respond in that regard. Akram underscored that the resolution's adoption will determine the widespread support for Palestine to be accorded full UN membership. Also, before the vote, Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, told the assembly that "no words can capture what such loss and trauma signifies for Palestinians, their families, communities and for our nation as a whole." He said Palestinians in Gaza "have been pushed to the very edge of the strip, to the very brink of life" with Israel besieging Rafah. "We want peace, we want freedom," Mansour said. "A yes vote is a vote for Palestinian existence, it is not against any state ... It is an investment in peace." "Voting yes is the right thing to do," he stated, receiving applause from the assembly. Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, accused the assembly, after the vote, of trampling on the UN Charter, and put the cover of the UN Charter into a mini portable electric document shredder. In the Security Council vote on April 18, the Palestinians received significant support for full UN membership, with 12 votes in favor. Britain and Switzerland abstained, while the United States voted no and vetoed the resolution. The 10th ESS convened for the first time in April 1997 following a request from Qatar. It followed a series of Security Council and General Assembly meetings regarding the Israeli decision to build a large housing project in an area of East Jerusalem. The General Assembly on May 1 announced that it would resume the 10th ESS, after Palestine's UN membership bid was blocked by the United States at the Security Council in April. Francis had informed member states that he would convene a plenary meeting of the ESS on May 10. According to the UN Charter, prospective members must be "peace-loving," and their admission requires a recommendation from the Security Council to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine has held the status of a UN non-member observer state since 2012. Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, addresses the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 10, 2024. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday adopted a resolution supporting the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending that the Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis (L) strikes his gavel to signal the adoption of a resolution during the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 10, 2024. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday adopted a resolution supporting the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending that the Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) Voting results are displayed during the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 10, 2024. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday adopted a resolution supporting the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending that the Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing) BUDAPEST, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said here Thursday that his country does not identify with the rhetoric of so-called "overcapacity" or "de-risking." He made the remarks during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is on a state visit to the European country. A couple says moving 15 times between Taiwan and Canada was challenging on their finances but made their relationship stronger. Becky Martin A Gen X couple moved 15 times in 25 years, bouncing across Canada and Taiwan. They said Taiwan was much more affordable than Canada, but that they missed their families. The costs of moving took a toll on their finances, but they said it helped them grow as a couple. Becky Martin and her husband, Craig Schmidt, recently set a record as a couple: They've lived in the same place for nearly five years. In the roughly 25 years they've been together, they've moved 15 different times across Canada and Taiwan, Martin, 45, told Business Insider via email. It's had a mixed impact on their finances and well-being. Early on, moving was great for the couple from a financial perspective. In the early 2000s, when they were based in Burlington, Ontario, Martin said they were "drowning" in student loan debt, working intense hours, and struggling to save any money. But then they were presented with an idea. An old college roommate of Martin's had moved to Taiwan and recommended she do the same to take advantage of the country's lower cost-of-living. They took the leap and paid off roughly $30,000 ($40,000 in Canadian dollars) in combined debt in just one year, Martin said. However, the couple decided to return to Canada after two years. Several moves and over two decades later, Martin said relocating so often took a significant toll on their finances. "The financial impact is continually burning through the money you've saved to start again," she said. "It's a vicious cycle. The loss you sustain selling all your possessions for a fraction of the cost, the cost of flights, moving fees, VISAs, first and last month's rent, buying a new vehicle, and furnishings. The result is you never really get ahead." In recent years, the flexibility of remote work and high housing costs have motivated many Americans to move to areas with lower costs of living. But Business Insider has spoken with several individuals who, for a variety of reasons, came to regret their moves. Many others have looked at the financial and emotional costs of moving and decided they're not worth it. In 2022, 8.7% of Americans lived in a different residence than they did a year ago, only up slightly from the record low rate of 8.4% in 2021. There are many explanations for this trend, but in recent years, some people have been hesitant to give up their low mortgage rates, childcare support, and current employment. The cost of moving can be a deterrent as well. Martin and Schmidt shared why they moved so often, how they balanced finances with other priorities, and whether they regretted relocating as much as they did. Business Insider viewed several documents to verify their moves. Story continues Moving to Taiwan was great for their finances but came with downsides Moving to Taiwan helped the couple pay off debt, but being far from Canada came with some challenges. Becky Martin Martin is a child and youth worker, while Schmidt is a graphic designer. When they lived in Taiwan, they both worked as English teachers. In 2004, after two years in Taiwan, during which they moved three times, the couple decided to return to Canada, in part so they could return to their careers and families. The couple bounced around to several different residences over the next few years but set out to live a "traditional married life" in which they excelled at their jobs, found a home, had kids, and lived "happily ever after," Martin said. But they found this dream difficult to accomplish, in part because their finances began to strain again, and debt started piling up. So in 2009, the couple decided to move back to Taiwan. Martin said they paid off about $33,000 in debt ($45,000 in Canadian dollars) in a year-and-a-half and lived in an apartment with a beautiful view for less than $1,000 a month. "We knew the job, the culture, the weather, expectations, and how much money we could make and save," she said. This time, they stayed in Taiwan for over seven years, moving twice during this span. But they eventually found themselves missing family and friends. "Being over 12,000 kilometers away from people meant that you couldn't share your life with those important to you," Martin said. "With aging parents and some deaths in the family, we decided to move back to Canada for good." She said the "hidden costs of moving," which included having to say goodbye to meaningful relationships, had become apparent to them. "Every time we left, our foundation would crumble," she said. "We had to start making a solid foundation if we wanted a solid life." The best places to live in Asia from a financial perspective Martin said it took them some time to transition back to Canada and figure out where they wanted to settle down. They initially moved back to Stratford, Ontario before moving to Kitchener, where they've resided for about the last five years. Martin said Kitchener is close enough to Toronto to enjoy the city but far enough away to avoid the high costs and congestion. From a financial perspective, Martin said she doesn't think there's a "good place" to live in Canada you just have to find a way to make it work. "Canada is expensive and the only cheaper places are far north," she said. "The further north you go, the cheaper it gets, but it's far away from most people, job opportunities, and nicer weather." Based on Martin's personal research and experience, she said Taiwan is one of the few places in Asia that checks two boxes: low cost of living and relatively high pay. "Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and big cities in China are all very expensive places to live you make more but pay more," she said. "If you decide on places like the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India, are all exciting and beautiful places, but pay little. The cost of living is low, but so is your salary." Martin said the language barrier was one of the main downsides of living in Taiwan. She said Mandarin, a common language in Taiwan, is a very difficult language to learn. Despite the stress and financial challenges that came with moving so often, Martin said she has "no regrets." "I've learned so much about myself by starting over again and again," she said. "My relationship with Craig has only gotten stronger and we have a million stories and experiences to talk about and revisit." Schmidt agreed. "It strengthened our marriage and gave us opportunities to reinvent ourselves," he said. "Each time we moved, it was for a good reason." Have you recently moved and are willing to share your story? Reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com. Read the original article on Business Insider I'm going to cut to the chase here. Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) is a buy, provided you share management's view on its capital allocation policy. That's the key to the investment decision here, so here's an outline of everything you need to know before buying the stock. Devon Energy's capital allocation policy The company's policy is to return 70% of its free cash flow (FCF) to investors, with the remaining 30% used to reduce debt and build its cash balance. The company's adjusted FCF in the first quarter was $623 million. You can think of the 70%, or $436 million, in the first quarter in terms of three buckets: The fixed dividend of $0.22 per share accounted for $143 million in the first quarter. The variable dividend, which was only $0.13 per share in the first quarter, accounted for $82 million. An ongoing share buyback program accounted for $205 million in the first quarter. Given that the last two are discretionary, it's clear that management is prioritizing share buybacks over the variable dividend right now. Indeed, CEO Rick Muncrief believes that the market is making that decision easy for him. According to Muncrief on the recent earnings call, "Given that the equity market is still heavily discounting valuation to the energy sector, we plan to continue to prioritize share buybacks over the variable dividend to capture the incredible value that Devon offers at these historically low valuations." What you have to believe to agree with this strategy In other words, management believes the best use of shareholders' cash is to buy back stock, increasing the share of the claim on future cash flows for existing shareholders. As the chart below shows, management has steadily reduced the outstanding shares in issue by following a share buyback program. Since the $3 billion buyback program was initiated in 2021, Devon has repurchased $2.5 billion in stock. DVN Shares Outstanding Chart It's a worthy strategy, but you should also believe a few things to support it. First, you have to believe that the current price of oil is sustainable. If it isn't, and the price of oil drops to around $33 a barrel as it was in 2016, buying back stock using cash flow generated at the current price of oil to increase a claim on oil only valued at $33 a barrel doesn't make sense. Second, you have to believe that Devon Energy will be able to increase reserves and production in the future. By using cash to make buybacks, you're still investing in the belief that the company will produce the oil and gas to benefit from increased prices. Story continues If you aren't comfortable with both of these beliefs, the best use of FCF generated at the current price of oil is to return it through dividends and pay down debt. Why Devon Energy stock is a buy for energy bulls It's not easy to predict the future direction of the price of oil. It suffices to argue that if you aren't comfortable with the oil price outlook, then it makes no sense to hold the stock. Some investors may well be buying Devon under the enticement of its trailing 4.8% dividend yield and potential to pay more, given its excellent FCF generation. Still, management has made it clear that it believes buybacks are the priority at the current stock price. Image source: Getty Images. As for Devon's future production growth, the company pleased investors by raising its full-year production forecast to 655,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBoe/d) to 675,000 MBoe/d from a previous estimate of 650,000 MBoe/d on the back of a successful investment in improving well productivity in its core Delaware assets. Equally impressively, the production forecast increase doesn't imply any increase in its planned capital spending budget of $3.3 billion to $3.6 billion. Is Devon Energy stock one to buy? At the time of the earnings report, management estimated it was on track to generate 9% of its market cap in FCF in 2024. Buying back stock on this FCF yield is a significant investment for shareholders and makes more sense than returning it through the variable dividend. After all, investors buy into stocks expecting management to generate better returns on the money than they (investors) can. Moreover, if you are bullish on the price of oil and gas and Devon's ability to produce it, then Devon's assets will be worth more in the future, so it makes sense to increase your claim on them by having the company buy back stock. Should you invest $1,000 in Devon Energy right now? Before you buy stock in Devon Energy, 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 Devon Energy wasnt one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $543,758!* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of May 6, 2024 Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Devon Energy Stock: Buy, Sell, or Hold? was originally published by The Motley Fool This story was originally published on Utility Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Utility Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: The U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office will focus for the next several years on research, development and demonstration projects that improve the efficiency, durability and cost effectiveness of clean hydrogen production systems, according to a new Multi-Year Program Plan released on Monday. The plan centers the DOE's Hydrogen Shot goal of cutting the cost of clean hydrogen production to $1 per kilogram by 2031. It also aims to cut the cost of electrolyzer systems to $250-500/kW, the cost of fuel cell systems for heavy duty transportation to $80/kW, and the final dispensed cost of hydrogen fuel to less than $7/kg. While the hydrogen industry is already well on its way to meeting the Hydrogen Shots central goal, others will require ambitious advances in industry scale or technology, according to Frank Wolak, president and CEO of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association. Dive Insight: The new Multi-Year Program Plan for the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office may not cover a lot of new ground for the industry the DOE established the headlining Hydrogen Shot goal in 2021 but it should help the department and the industry focus future research and development efforts on areas that will advance the adoption of hydrogen, Wolak said. DOE is really looking to put its shoulder to the grindstone and get some things done that make improvements, he said. We have tax credits, but we have to find ways to make hydrogen more efficient and lower the cost of the end product, and a lot of [this plan] seems to be focused on driving down cost and increasing performance. Beside the hydrogen shot, the Multi-Year Program Plan prioritizes research into more affordable and reliable systems for transporting and dispensing hydrogen in order to cut the ultimate cost to end users to less than $7/kg by 2028. The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office would also like to see the cost for heavy-duty transportation fuel cells drop to $80/kW by 2030, with 20,000 fuel cell stacks manufactured per factory per year. Low temperature electrolyzers, ideally, would cost $250/kW with 65% efficiency by 2026, while high-temperature electrolyzer systems would run $500/kW at 76% efficiency, according to the plan. DOE has given a signal that it wants to act aggressively, Wolak said. Reaching the goals outlined in the plan, he said, will require advances in technology and in the overall scale of the hydrogen industry. Story continues However, he noted that several of the plan's goals are already within the industry's line of sight, including the $1 production costs target. The DOE noted in its plan that previous efforts have already cut the capital cost of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer systems by 80% since 2005. Fuel cell systems for automotive applications cost 70% less than in 2008, and the cost of compressed onboard hydrogen storage systems has fallen 30% since 2013. While the progress in clean hydrogen today is encouraging, it is also clear that more is needed and the actions taken must be well-planned, deliberate, carefully executed with measurable outcomes, and they must come without delay, Sunita Satyapal, director of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, said in a forward to the program plan. Photo 55347617 Goory | Dreamstime.com America's tax code is notoriously convoluted, but the complexity really sparkles when it comes to the federal government's approach to alcohol taxation. Wine, beer, and liquor are all subject to varying tax rates based on intricate calculations, but the so-called "bubble tax" for hard cider is the star of this regulatory circus. Unbeknownst to most Americans, the tax rate for alcoholic cider is based on, among other things, the amount of carbonation the drink contains. Yes, America technically already has a carbon tax and the feds have literally found a way to tax air. Craft cider makers are being flattened by an arbitrary system that is strangling the industry's long-term potential. Under the federal code, alcoholic cider is taxed as either hard cider, still wine, or sparkling wine, and the implications of which category applies are not insignificant. Hard cider is taxed at a modest $0.226 per gallon, while sparkling wine is taxed at a whopping $3.40 per gallona staggering 1,400 percent increase. For every 100 gallons of cider produced, Uncle Sam either takes $22 in taxes or $340 in taxes. What determines how cider is categorized and taxed? A ridiculous three-part formula based on a) what type of fruit is used to make the cider, b) the alcohol content of the cider, and c) what carbonation level the cider contains. Imagine you're a cider maker aiming for the lower tax rate to apply to your product. You need to produce a cider that is made from apples or pears (with no other fruit additions), is less than 8.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), and has less than or equal to 0.64 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per 100mL. However, if you decide to add some blackberries or grapes, it's considered a still wine and taxed at $1.07 per gallonbut only if it has less than 0.392 grams of CO2 per 100mL. If you go over that carbonation threshold, you've unlocked sparkling wine status and with that the $3.40 per gallon tax rate. Confused? It gets worse. If your pear or apple cider is over 0.64 grams of CO2, it gets the sparkling wine rate. But it's knocked back down to the still wine rate if it's less than 0.392 grams of CO2 and the ABV level is 8.5 percent or higher. Whether the bubbles are added via "force carbonated" or "bottle conditioned" carbonation creates another tax delineation for the sparkling wine category. A flow chart is needed just to unpack all the potential permutations and combinations: (American Cider Association) The implications of this tax labyrinth extend to consumers. A report from Wine Enthusiast notes that modern drinkers have grown to expect beer-like carbonation levels in their alcoholic beverages, thereby creating pressure for cider makers to add more carbonation to their products. Story continues One cider maker from Oregon reported that he receives frequent emails from consumers complaining about flat cider, which they incorrectly blame on him rather than the government. If adding more carbonation could financially cripple a small business, it's little wonder many cider makers feel that their hands are tied. The disparity is glaring when compared to beverages like beer, hard seltzer, and regular soda, which face no such carbonation-based tax penalties. It's a clear disconnect from market realities and consumer demands, which increasingly favor diverse flavors and more carbonation in ciders. Craft cider makers are doing their best to diversify the carbonation levels and fruits in their ciders to respond to consumer demand, but it's clear the industry has a hard ceiling on its growth due to these tax rules. This is why many cider makers state that their ability to expandand the ability of the industry as a whole to thriveis being pointlessly inhibited. The bubble tax is now getting more attention due to a recent bipartisan bill introduced in Congress, which aims to level the playing field between apple and pear ciders and those made with other fruits. While promising, the best reform would be to convert the entire system of alcohol taxation to one based simply on a drink's ABV level rather than arbitrary classifications. Craft cider, a beverage steeped in American history, deserves better. Another Michigan cider maker made it even simpler: "It's not expressing the free market. The government needs to get out of the way." The post The Federal Government is Literally Taxing Air appeared first on Reason.com. The new home of the Middle Village Micro Market, pictured Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at its new location in downtown Lansing. LANSING - When customers visit the five retail shops in Middle Village at its new home inside the historic Atrium Building Julie Reinhardt hopes it gives them a feel for what the century-old space should be an "exciting retail space." Nonprofit Downtown Lansing Inc. started Middle Village at 112 S. Washington Square in 2021. It has been home to 15 small businesses in the last three years. Most now operate in storefronts throughout the Lansing area. Earlier this month the micro market, which now includes three new retailers, moved about a block away and across Washington Square, to the ornate Atrium Building at 215 S. Washington Square. Built in the 1920s, it was once the Strand Theater. Paul, John and Tony Gentilozzi own it and aim to maintain its character by connecting it via a 1-acre parking deck across Grand Avenue to the Tower on Grand. The 300,000-square-foot proposed building, planned for a lot adjacent to the Grand Tower at 235 S. Grand Ave., would include up to 308 units, including studio, one- and two-bedroom, and penthouse configurations. A peek inside the Middle Village Micro Market's new storefront in downtown Lansing's Atrium Building. "Right now is a good time to make the leap to activate that beautiful historic building," said Reinhardt, director of downtown community development for Downtown Lansing Inc. "We thought by putting Middle Village there we can kind of lead that charge so people could envision what it could be." Middle Village opened there on May 2, featuring five retail shops that sell everything from vintage and upscale clothing to home decor, jewelry and accessories. Here's a closer look at each business sharing the space. Black Rose Designs Middle Village Micro Market artist Oscar Pena of Black Rose Designs works on his clothing line, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in downtown Lansing. Owner: Oscar Pena The details: Pena, 29, created a clothing brand "aimed at bringing back a piece of history in quality, manufacturing and design." He originally set out to create quality workwear "and then it became this mission to help provide people with high-quality jeans, and various other accessories like jackets and shirts and bags." The store specializes in custom-fitting clothing for clients, Pena, an East Lansing High School graduate, said. Learn more: Visit www.ablackrose.design. CoCoBella Fashion Boutique Beeka Monique of CoCoBella organizes clothing racks at the Middle Village Micro Market, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in downtown Lansing. Owner: Beeka Monique The details: Monique, 47, worked as a medical assistant for two decades before starting her boutique. "When my kids got grown and I started to become an empty nester I thought it was time to do me," she said. She's been interested in fashion and has styled family and friends for years. The clothing collections at CoCoBella are carefully curated and meant to offer a full-service experience for the customer. "We're all about having chic, transcending celebrity-inspired fashion and we have personal styling services. We cater to everybody," Monique said. Story continues Learn more: Visit www.sheiscocobella.com. READ MORE: Over 35 restaurants to offer $7 dishes for Lansing Restaurant Week. What you need to know Longtime Lansing military surplus and camping goods retailer to retire, close business Hoddy Collective Middle Village Micro Market artist and entrepreneur Amara Hoddy of the Hoddy Collective poses for a picture on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in downtown Lansing. Owner: Amara Hoddy The details: Hoddy, 22, aims to offer customers variety at her business. It carries classic rock T-shirts, flowy summer dresses and accessories. The unique second-hand retail shop includes "a really big variety of styles and prices for everybody and we're always running sales," she said. "We have just a large selection of styles to go through." The Grand Ledge School school graduate strives for on-trend fashion. "We always sort of stick to things that are really trending and things that people are always looking for," she said. Learn more: Visit www.middlevillageshops.com/the-shops/hoddy-collective. Ornamaloo A peek inside the Middle Village Micro Market's new storefront in downtown Lansing's Atrium Building. Owner: Mary Toshach The details: Toshach sells items with a story. "It's a museum-inspired boutique for decorating your home and yourself with vintage goods, adorning your life, so to speak," she said. The vintage pieces include jewelry, pottery, and a set of dinnerware from the 1950s still in its original box. Toshach, 69, looks for her inventory when she travels, aiming to find "conversation pieces." Learn more: Visit www.ornamaloo.myshopify.com. Sedona Wanderlust Middle Village Micro Market artist Ashleigh Rogers of Sedona Wanderlust, right, pictured Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in downtown Lansing. Owner: Ashleigh Rogers The details: Rogers, 36, stocks her shop with "unconventional" fashion. "We're kind of a bohemian community and each of our pieces is inspired by the free-flowing and free-spirited lifestyle of Sedona, Arizona," she said. The shop also carries Heaven Scent, a line of vegan body products that Rogers makes herself. Her father, Ellis Quainton inspired her to start her shop. He died less than a year ago at age 67. "He was always a person that encouraged me to be as free-spirited as I could be, and just to be a very spiritual person." Learn more: Visit www.sedonawanderlustboutique.com. Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ . This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Five retail shops have opened up in downtown Lansing's Atrium Building This Florida retiree says everyones looking for a job because seniors cant survive on Social Security alone Ricky Bowman didnt expect to return to the workforce at 66 years old but hes hoping to get back to painting in order to cope with the rising cost of living. Everything is almost doubled I mean, $8 for a box of cereal? Bowman asks in an interview with ABC Action News Tampa Bay. Don't miss Cost-of-living in America is still out of control use these 3 'real assets' to protect your wealth today, no matter what the US Fed does or says Car insurance rates have spiked in the US to a stunning $2,150/year but you can be smarter than that. Here's how you can save yourself as much as $820 annually in minutes (it's 100% free) These 5 magic money moves will boost you up America's net worth ladder in 2024 and you can complete each step within minutes. Here's how Bowman told ABC hes just getting by with food assistance and his Social Security benefits at about $1,400 a month, but hes had to cut out some things that he really loves, like fishing. [Getting a job] would make a huge difference because Ill have enough to do things like go out to dinner once a month, he says. Just go places and do things. More seniors are coming out of retirement to make some extra cash amid inflated prices but despite a strong labor market, experts say theyre having a hard time actually landing a job. Seniors are concerned they cant make ends meet Many older Americans are finding their savings and Social Security arent enough to cover the rising cost-of-living. Of course, Social Security benefits on their own cant compensate with the Social Security Administration noting theyre only supposed to account for 40% of your annual pre-retirement earnings. But there are many seniors who are facing sticker shock at the grocery store and finding theyre running through their nest egg faster than they anticipated. A lot of them are just really nervous, case worker Melissa Heid told ABC Action News, noting that many of these older Americans dont have families to support them either. They are afraid that they arent going to be able to live and survive. A recent report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies reveals one-third of older adult households were cost-burdened in 2022, with nearly half of these households being severely cost-burdened. Read more: Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now use $100 to cash in on prime real estate without the headache of being a landlord. Here's how Older Americans struggling to find work While the latest employment data seems to indicate the job markets still holding fairly strong, some job seekers, including seniors, are struggling to find work. Story continues Non-profit organization One Community Now in New Port Richey, which helps people in need, reports its seen an increasing number of seniors coming in who are seeking a job. So far, the organization has found work for just one senior at a Dunkin Donuts. However, Heid adds fast-food industries are looking to hire younger folks who might be quicker on their feet. [Seniors] are having a hard time even finding a receptionist job somewhere, she says. What to read next Car insurance premiums in America are through the roof and only getting worse. But 5 minutes could have you paying as little as $29/month Most investors are not aware the secret to keeping your retirement portfolio stable amid a volatile market Baby boomers bust': Robert Kiyosaki warns that older Americans will get crushed in the 'biggest bubble in history' 3 shockproof assets for instant insurance now This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Stillwater, Minnesota Wirestock / Getty Images Melinda Binkley, 56, struggles to afford basics but earns 'too much' for assistance, she said. Binkley is part of a growing group who live above the poverty live but can't afford necessities. The federal poverty line doesn't account for cost-of-living differences, leaving many without help. Melinda Binkley, 56, has tried to apply for safety net programs before like SNAP but she's told her household makes too much money, usually by less than $100. "I go through all that legwork, and I get everything that's on the application," Binkley said."Then, within days, they are either emailing me or calling saying 'you're too high' I feel like it wastes my time." Binkley lives in Stillwater, Minnesota and said she receives around $1,499 a month in Supplemental Security Income benefits, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider. She doesn't currently work due to medical reasons, but has in the past. BI verified that her husband brings home about $1,200 every two weeks from his job at a medical supply company, but Binkley said his income varies because he has health issues and can't always work a full-time schedule. The couple is part of a growing number of Americans who live above the federal poverty line but struggle to afford basic necessities. The poverty line isn't adjusted to reflect cost-of-living differences in individual cities or states and is set at $20,440 a year for a family of two. About 29% of US households are now ALICEs people who are asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. This compares to 13% of Americans who live below the federal poverty level, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey data and cost-of-living estimates analyzed by United Way's United For ALICE program. "There is nothing in between that allows people to get assistance or help of any sort," Binkley said, referring to the gap between the poverty line and middle class. "We always tend to fall right in that part of the economy." Binkley hopes to move one day Primarily, Binkley said she struggles with her rent and utility bills. She has worked out a deal with her landlord where she can make different payments for rent whenever she and her husband have the funds, but she worries that they might face eviction if they fall any further behind, she said. Binkley said extreme temperatures in Minnesota and limited insulation in her home also mean she can pay almost $5,000 dollars anually in electricity bills to keep the heat on. Story continues For food, Binkley said she is especially thankful for her local food pantries, where she often goes to pick up canned goods. However, she said there used to be more food pantry options available during the pandemic when "everybody was having issues." Binkley added that she can afford to go to the grocery store sometimes, but only for basic, perishable goods like milk and bread. Although Binkley is enrolled in Medicare and her husband gets a basic healthcare plan through work, she estimates they pay at least $350 a month out-of-pocket for medications and it's often more. "My husband will go without his meds, especially the more expensive ones," she said. "He will go without to make sure that I have mine, and I don't like that." Binkley hopes she can leave Minnesota soon for Idaho. Her sister, whom she says is her biggest supporter, lives there and Binkley wants to be closer. She's slowly trying to prepare herself and her husband for the move by sorting through their belongings and trying to stabilize finances. In the meantime, she's doing her best to "make ends meet." "That is one thing that keeps driving me to make my payments, get things caught up, and set a little bit aside each week or each month, Binkley said. "Being able to use a big UHaul and finally get out of here." Are you making above the poverty line but still struggling to afford daily life? Reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@insider.com . Read the original article on Business Insider Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of the hedge fund Citadel, waded deeper into the national debate about American colleges and the protests that have consumed many campuses over Israel's war in Gaza. In an interview with the Financial Times, the Harvard alum and mega-donor decried the social justice "narrative" at some schools. What youre seeing now is the end-product of this cultural revolution in American education playing out on American campuses, in particular, using the paradigm of the oppressor and the oppressed, Griffin said, comparing protests to "performative art" that doesn't help Palestinians or Israelis. Campuses nationwide have been roiled since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and Israels response in Gaza. In the U.S., thousands have been arrested at colleges, while presidents at Ivy League schools have stepped down, including at Harvard, and graduation ceremonies have been canceled. Griffin and others on Wall Street have been weighing in on the protests, especially at elite colleges. In January, he called Harvard students whiny snowflakes and halted his donations to the school, which have topped $500 million. On Monday, he said the protests were the result of a failed education system, adding that the situation at Harvard looked better than at Columbia, where police raids last month cleared out protesters and their encampment. When asked by the Financial Times what Harvard should do next, Griffin replied, Harvard should put front and center [that it] stands for meritocracy in America and will educate the next generation of leaders in American business, government, healthcare, and the philanthropic community. Harvard will embrace our Western values that have built one of the greatest nations in the world, foster those values with students, and ask them to manifest these values throughout the rest of their life. Harvard did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment. Fellow hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has similarly been critical of college protests as well as diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. But at the Milken Institute Global Conference this past week, he reportedly faced sharp backlash from both panelists and audience members, who told Bloomberg that his views were detrimental to the progress of women and people of color in America. Some businesses have already vowed that they wont hire students who participated in the protests, while others have voiced their support. Recently, recruiting experts who spoke to Fortune were split on what effect the protests will have on students ability to get hired, if any. Story continues Meanwhile, President Joe Biden earlier this month defended the right of students to protest peacefully but rejected their demand to change his approach on Gaza and also said "order must prevail" at schools. A forthcoming White House report on the use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza is expected to be critical of Israel but doesn't conclude that Israel violated the terms for their use. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com Himax Technologies (NASDAQ:HIMX) First Quarter 2024 Results Key Financial Results Revenue: US$207.6m (down 15% from 1Q 2023). Net income: US$12.5m (down 16% from 1Q 2023). Profit margin: 6.0% (down from 6.1% in 1Q 2023). The decrease in margin was driven by lower revenue. EPS: US$0.072 (down from US$0.086 in 1Q 2023). All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period Himax Technologies Revenues and Earnings Beat Expectations Revenue exceeded analyst estimates by 2.0%. Earnings per share (EPS) also surpassed analyst estimates by 37%. Looking ahead, revenue is forecast to grow 4.5% p.a. on average during the next 3 years, compared to a 17% growth forecast for the Semiconductor industry in the US. Performance of the American Semiconductor industry. The company's shares are up 13% from a week ago. Risk Analysis You should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Himax Technologies. 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. Over the past year, many Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) insiders sold a significant stake in the company which may have piqued investors' interest. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying versus if they selling is usually more beneficial, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more. Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. Check out our latest analysis for Intercontinental Exchange Intercontinental Exchange Insider Transactions Over The Last Year Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Founder, Jeffrey Sprecher, for US$1.6m worth of shares, at about US$108 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$134. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. This single sale was just 1.2% of Jeffrey Sprecher's stake. In the last year Intercontinental Exchange insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Intercontinental Exchange Insiders Are Selling The Stock The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Intercontinental Exchange shares. Specifically, Chief Financial Officer A. Gardiner ditched US$296k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the insiders think that the shares are a bargain. Does Intercontinental Exchange Boast High Insider Ownership? I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It's great to see that Intercontinental Exchange insiders own 0.8% of the company, worth about US$636m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders. Story continues So What Does This Data Suggest About Intercontinental Exchange Insiders? An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But it is good to see that Intercontinental Exchange is growing earnings. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Intercontinental Exchange (1 doesn't sit too well with us) you should be aware of. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests. 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. Currently, Hungary and China engage in comprehensive strategic cooperation, and the future looks bright, former Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy has said. BUDAPEST, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is "a fantastic initiative that opens up good prospects" for cooperation with China, former Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy has said. This has many facets, including cultural and research cooperation, but a very important aspect is economic cooperation, Medgyessy told Xinhua during a recent interview, adding that as cooperation with China moves forward, it helps "achieve all that we have envisioned." In projects including the Belgrade-Budapest railway line, "I see a lot of opportunities," he said, stressing that connectivity and regional integration into the commercial networks and the system of trade relations are very valuable. Currently, Hungary and China engage in comprehensive strategic cooperation, and the future looks bright, he said. Medgyessy said the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school project, which was launched during his term in office, has helped an increasing number of Hungarian students travel to China and learn about Chinese culture. Such exchanges provide opportunities for people of the two countries to get to know each other and learn about each other's culture, which "far exceeds traditional economic, cooperative and other types of relations," he said. In a world full of regional conflicts, it is very important for major countries to think about how to cooperate, find common solutions, and extend globalization, he said. Longtime farm gives way to rare Tri-Cities riverfront project. What makes it different? At the dawn of the U.S. entry into World War II, Lura and Fred Harris owned land the government wanted for the war effort. It gave them 30 days to vacate their east Pasco dairy, citing military needs. Diversity Farm Dairy became a supply depot. Today, it forms the heart of Big Pasco Industrial Park, all traces of the former dairy obliterated. The Harrises adapted. In 1942, Lura and Fred hauled themselves, their family and even their farmhouse down Court Street to the far western end. They established a new farm at the former Wexler Ranch, 118 bucolic acres adjacent the Columbia River in unincorporated Franklin County. Family lore holds that a family meal was still on the table when the house arrived at its new spot. The move was by all accounts a success. Eight generations of Harrises grew up on the new farm and countless Tri-Citians bought fruits and veggies from their farm stand. Eight decades on, its all changing again. The old Harris Farm is gone. A 500-unit neighborhood called Columbia Shores is taking its place. Graders began sculpting the site, which borders Pascos Broadmoor area, about a month ago. Developers and the Pasco Chamber of Commerce kicked it all off with an official groundbreaking on May 9. Construction is beginning on a townhome and housing development along the picturesque Columbia River on the site of a longtime family farm in west Pasco. Time to sell Lura and Fred Harris, their children, their childrens children and more made the curve on Court Street their home for generations. One Harris grandson still lives nearby, on a separate parcel. But by 2019, they were wrestling with the family legacy. Historic photos from the Harris family. The farm was down to 45 acres. The land was held in a trust with a large number of beneficiaries. Developers were knocking on their door, offering astonishing sums as fast-growing Pasco sparked demand for ever more places to build. The family decided it was time to simplify. They hired a local auction house, Musser Bros., to handle the sale. Historic photos from the Harris family farm. Its time to settle the trust, Lurene Harris Fleshman, who grew up at the farm and raised her own children there, told the Tri-City Herald on the eve of the auction. It was a sensational listing. The federal government controls much of the Tri-Cities shoreline, making it off-limits to development. The Harris parcels came with 450 feet of waterfront and room for up to 600 homes. Musser Bros. anticipated it would sell to a home or condo developer eager to capitalize on the picturesque location, the Tri-City Herald reported in a run-up to the auction. And thats what happened. SG Land Management of Kennewick, held by Ruslan Gorbatyuk and Peter Strizhak, paid $5 million in a deal that closed in 2020. Columbia Shores will install 498 townhomes and three single family homes at the former Harris Farm, on West Court Street in Pasco. Graders move past a blue house that once belonged to the Harris family that farmed there for generations. The I-182 Glenn C. Lee/Sam Volpentest bridges are visible in the background. In the intervening years, SG worked with RP Development, led by Steve Bauman, and Pro Made Homes (PMH) to create a plan for the prized site. Bauman is also a current Franklin County commissioner. Columbia Shores began working its way through the planning process in 2021. The first grading permits were issued this spring. Jacob Gonzalez, Pascos community and economic development director, said the city worked closely with the developer and is pleased by the balance of homes and open space. Farm to neighborhood Columbia Shores will feature 498 two-story townhomes and three single-family homes on the waterfront. West Court runs through the property and Harris Road serves as its northern boundary. Interstate 182 is to the east. Traffic crosses the Columbia River between Richland and Pasco on the I182 bridges. A mix of public and private roads and walking trails will knit the neighborhood together, along with dog parks, a fitness center and other amenities, according to both marketing materials and environmental review documents. The site plan includes 86 townhouse buildings, with five to six units per building. About 18% of the property is reserved for walking paths and common areas, which will be owned and maintained by a homeowners association. The neighborhood will develop in four phases. The first, will see construction of 106 townhomes and the luxury three houses, followed by 117 townhomes in the second phase, 125 in the third and 150 in the fourth. Development will take about five years and should wrap by 2030. The city of Pasco will provide water and sewer service, and Franklin PUD will provide power. PMH is collecting names of potential buyers for townhomes, which will be priced in the $300,000 range. Individual homes will range from 1,600 to about 2,300 square feet and will have three or four bedrooms and 2-1/2 bathrooms. The initial round of construction will include a model home at West Court Street and Harris, named for the farm. Construction begins this fall and the first homes will be ready for buyers by the end of the year. Colin Hastings, executive director for the Pasco chamber, said Columbia Shores is the kind of development the community needs to keep up with growth. Theres a need for affordable, nice housing, he said. Pascos westward march When the Harris family first arrived on West Court Street, the area was very isolated and very difficult to reach. There were no city utilities or streets offering easy access to Kennewick or Richland. Historic photos from the Harris family farm. Crossing the Columbia meant taking a ferry or circling back to Pasco to use the old (and long ago demolished) green bridge. The blue bridge opened in 1954 and the cable bridge in 1978. Both improved connections with Kennewick, but west Pasco remained off the beaten path. That changed in late 1984 when I-182 opened and connected Pasco and Richland via two bridges. The new freeway made it possible for people to live in Pasco and commute to Richland, and vise versa. Fred Harris, it should be noted, was delighted by construction of the Glenn C. Lee and Sam Volpentest spans near his farm. The 90-something haunted the construction zone. Workers nicknamed him sidewalk superintendent. The Harris patriarch lived to see the bridges open to traffic and died shortly after his 100th birthday, in 1987. The transformation of a mid-century farm into a dense neighborhood with hundreds of townhomes fits into the larger picture for Pasco, long one of Washingtons fastest growing communities. Pascos current population stands at 81,800, with four out of every five Franklin County residents calling it home. It is expected to grow to 116,000 by 2040, according to the Benton Franklin Council of Governments, the regional planning agency. The Broadmoor area, which borders the Harris/Columbia Shores property, is being remade to accommodate growth. A $4 million city sewer project is enabling dense development. The Broadmoor Boulevard Interchange is getting a $7 million makeover, part of a larger $40 million investment by the city in the area to encourage residential, retail, recreational and other development. Sign Up: Boom Town Tri-Cities Stay up to date on Tri-Cities growth and development with our weekly business newsletter. Get the latest on restaurant and business openings and closings, plus the regions top housing and employment news. Click here to sign up. In your inbox every Wednesday. DENVER (KDVR) Americans have lost $311 million to wire transfer scams, according to the Federal Trade Commission, and those looking to buy their dream home are common targets. One homeowner told FOX31 that he and his wife saved nearly $100,000 for a down payment on their new home, but it only took a matter of seconds for scammers to steal all of it. This is peoples livelihood that youre messing with, people spend their whole lives saving to be able to afford a house, he said. Like other victims across the nation, the couple received a realistic-looking email from the bank requesting the wire transfer to complete their home purchase. It even included accurate account information. The homeowner suspects his emails were hacked. Some of that stuff was happening outside of, you know, an encrypted system, so they were able to get into emails, he said. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox Once the money was transferred to the scammers, it was gone and could not be recovered. The FBI received more than 2,000 wire fraud complaints per day in 2023, a 10% increase over the year before. Real estate consultant Grant Muller of Compass Real Estate said the swift development of faster and easier ways to complete home sales has presented some challenges for buyers. Technology is an incredible way to save time. We no longer have to run across town with paper checks, but at the same time, we need to understand what the weaknesses are, Muller said. How homebuyers can avoid getting scammed Muller has a firm policy when it comes to down payments sent through wire transfers. Do not send any money unless youve heard from me or had a conversation with me, he said. Muller said clients should be educated about wire fraud as part of the home purchase process. We send out wire fraud disclosures and wire fraud warnings in our emails, so were trying to cover all of the bases, he said. Muller advises all homeowners to investigate security options at banks and title companies. Great title companies will have secured the online portals and theyll use those portals for secure confirmations, secure communications, and that often adds another layer of protection, he said. Aurora seen around Denver and Colorado The FTC advises homebuyers to talk to the intended recipient of any funds being transferred before completing a transfer, including while using Zelle and other payment transfer services. Always look up the banks phone number for yourself. Scam emails requesting a money transfer can include a phone number to call, which is fake and will only lead victims to yet another scammer who will answer the phone and pose as a legitimate bank employee. Story continues Report all scams to the FBI and Colorado Attorney Generals Office. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver. svetikd / iStock.com Social Security benefits were never meant to provide complete retirement income and they dont. As of March, the average Social Security payment is $1,864.52 per month. That wont quite cut it for retirees looking to settle down in states like Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Virginia and Wyoming, which continuously rank among Americas most popular retirement destinations. Even the states that arent particularly expensive require at least some supplementary income to back up your benefits, a fact that Marty Burbank knows well. An estate planning and elder law attorney and the founder of OC Elder Law in Orange County, California, Burbank sits on several prominent boards and has been recognized for his work helping veterans and retirees plan for their financial futures and hes come up with some impressively accurate numbers for the following five retirement states. Be Aware: Social Security 2024: 6 Changes That Impact Your Benefits Try This: 5 Unusual Ways To Make Extra Money (That Actually Work) From my professional experience guiding numerous families through elder law issues and estate planning, these figures incorporate a broad yet realistic view of what to expect across these varying state dynamics, he said. With careful planning, retirees can secure a financially stable and enjoyable retirement. Heres how much youll need to supplement your monthly Social Security benefit in five of Americas most popular retirement destinations. cdwheatley / Getty Images/iStockphoto Florida Florida remains the No. 1 retirement destination in America, but high demand can make for high prices. In Florida, retirees often face higher costs in areas like health care and housing due to its popularity as a retirement destination, said Burbank. Based on my interactions with clients from this area, Id estimate an additional $1,500 to $2,000 per month is typically necessary to maintain a comfortable lifestyle while covering these costs. According to Forbes, the average cost of living in Florida is $40,512 per year or $3,376 per month. When you add in Social Security, that leaves $1,511 for the average retiree to cover out of pocket in the Sunshine State, which validates Burbanks math. Find Out: Why Floridas Retirees Are Fleeing And Where Theyre Going Instead Learn More: Suze Orman: 5 Social Security Facts Every Soon-To-Be Retiree Must Know skibreck / Getty Images/iStockphoto Arizona Thanks to its sun-soaked climate, natural beauty and endless opportunities for activities, Arizona is also a perennial favorite for Americas retirees. At $39,856 per year or $3,321 per month, the price of daily life is a bit more forgiving than in Florida. Story continues Arizonas cost of living is somewhat lower, said Burbank. However, due to increasing temperatures and the resultant high utility expenses, I advise planning for an extra $1,200 to $1,600 monthly. With $1,456 still outstanding after Social Security, Burbanks estimation is right in the sweet spot. This estimate helps address both living and occasional health care costs, which frequently concern our elder clientele, he said. Explore More: 8 States To Move to If You Dont Want To Pay Taxes on Social Security AscentXmedia / Getty Images Colorado and Virginia Two popular states on opposite sides of the country draw legions of retirees for different reasons, different climates and different cultures but the living costs in both are similar. For Colorado and Virginia, the combination of higher property values and recreational opportunities can increase monthly expenses significantly, said Burbank. Clients in these states might need between $1,800 and $2,400 additional per month to sustain a quality of life that allows for enjoyment of the local amenities without financial strain. Colorado is the more expensive of the two only 10 states have higher living costs, which average $45,931 per year or $3,828 per month in the Centennial State. That means youd need a supplemental income of $1,964 after Social Security, putting Burbank right on target once again. In Virginia, living costs are $43,067 annually or $3,589 monthly. After Social Security, thats $1,724, which means you might have a little to spare with Burbanks cautious estimate. MR. Pockets / Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA 4 Wyoming Wyoming joins Colorado as one of the Mountain Wests most popular retirement destinations. The Equality State has the countrys No. 28 highest living costs, which puts it just over the edge in the more affordable half of states. Wyoming presents a unique advantage with its no-state-income-tax policy, leading to lower overall living costs, said Burbank. Here, additional monthly supplementation might range from $1,000 to $1,500, particularly attractive for those looking to maximize their fixed incomes. With living costs averaging $37,550 per year, or $3,129 monthly, retirees need to come up with $1,264 after Social Security, which puts Burbanks calculations squarely on point once again. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Much You Need To Supplement Social Security in These 5 Popular Retirement Spots Every item at Dunia Marketplace has a story. Baskets handwoven in South Africa were made of leftover telephone wire, explains JamieLou Delavan, the markets director. A selection of purses and crossbody bags were made of recycled rubber tires and stitched by a group of paraplegic patients under rehabilitation at a hospital in Nepal. The bags provide a source of income for their makers and help prevent tires from being burned or dumped, a tag on the items said. Green vases and candleholders costing $29.99 apiece were made by artisans at a glass-blowing business in the West Bank. A set of wooden serving spoons were carved by members of a tribe in Kenya. Canvas bags, $35, were sewn by refugees in Idaho. Dunia Marketplace is perhaps the only place in Boise where one could peruse such an array of wares from around the world in a single shop. But the small, nonprofit fair trade store is closing down its storefront in West Downtown by the end of May. The shop was founded in 1995 by members Hyde Park Mennonite Fellowship. In addition to jewelry and other crafts, it sells coffee, tea, spices, chocolate and olive oil. For over two decades, the shop operated in an old green house in Hyde Park, a historic district in Boises North End neighborhood. It was forced to move out in March 2023 when rent for the space tripled, Delavan said. Dunia Marketplaces storefront at 1718 W. Main St. in Boise will close May 26. Angela Palermo/apalermo@idahostatesman.com After months of searching for a new location, the store reopened at 1718 W. Main St. in August. The space is next to Black Eagle Tattoo and a string of other small shops just past the intersection with the Cabana Inn at the corner. Business has stalled since the move. Its very, very different from Hyde Park, but we love this space. We love all the light, Delavan said, gesturing toward the glass door and windows. She noted the bus stop out front and the proximity to the stores old customer base a few blocks north. But were just not making ends meet. More money is going out than is coming in. The store will close Sunday, May 26. Many of its items, sourced from over 80 countries, will remain available on Dunia Marketplaces website. Delavan also plans to do pop-ups and special events. She said shell miss the chance encounters with people, often refugees, who stroll in after the reading the stores name. Dunia, also spelled dunya, originates from the Arabic language and means world or earth. Delavan lived in Zimbabwe as a child and moved to Boise in 1994. She said the shop has allowed her to connect with a number of people from other cultures. JamieLou Delavan, director of Dunia Marketplace, said the shop has been losing more money than its making. Angela Palermo/apalermo@idahostatesman.com The woman who just came in, she said, Dunia I had to come in because of the name, Delavan told the Idaho Statesman. Weve had this happen several times. Just recently, there was a gentleman waiting at the bus stop and he came in and said, I saw Dunia. Do you know what this means in Swahili? Boise resident Jan Hanson stopped into the store with her mother Thursday afternoon to look for a wedding or bridal shower gift for her future daughter-in-law. She ended up buying a soapstone sculpture resembling a loose knot and a proofing basket for sourdough bread, which her daughter-in-law likes to bake, she said. Hanson said she spent about 15 years in Papua New Guinea as a missionary. There, she said many women would make bags by hand knotting, rather than by knitting or crocheting. I dont know how to explain it, but everyone did it, Hanson said. They walked down the streets chatting and working on the bags. She said shed bring some of the bags home to the U.S., sell them and bring the money back to the village for fair trade. She left the country nearly a decade ago. Hanson said she enjoys coming into Dunia Marketplace to browse and learn more about where the handicrafts came from. I want to support the shop but I also want to support the people who made these products, Hanson said. I think fair trade is very important. Dunia Marketplace sells goods from artisans around the world. Angela Palermo/apalermo@idahostatesman.com Hand towels on display Thursday for $12.99 each were made in India from reclaimed saris, a brightly-colored traditional garment. And a small notebook with a purple cover branded Mr. Ellie Pooh was made in Sri Lanka with a mixture of sanitized elephant dung and post-consumer paper. The farmers their farmland would get trampled by the elephants, Delavan said. They were always trying to find a way to keep the elephants away from the crops, until they came up with this idea to take recycled paper and elephant dung and make journals. It helps offset the loss of income from the elephants. All regular priced items in the store, except for food, are now 20% off. Even the fixtures are for sale. Delavan said the store has two employees and one regular volunteer. Shes sad to see the storefront go but hasnt ruling out the possibility of another physical location in the future. We havent given up, she said. Maybe we will find a partner and set-up a kiosk in an existing space or have regular monthly pop-ups. In some ways we are going back to our fair-trade roots, bringing cultural handicrafts to where people already gather. Boise treasure hunt furniture shop to close after 75 years. Liquidation sale begins Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) just released its first-quarter report and things are looking bullish. It was overall a positive result, with revenues beating expectations by 6.9% to hit US$15b. Pfizer also reported a statutory profit of US$0.55, which was an impressive 61% above what the analysts had forecast. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year. See our latest analysis for Pfizer Following the latest results, Pfizer's 22 analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$60.4b in 2024. This would be a solid 10% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Pfizer is also expected to turn profitable, with statutory earnings of US$1.44 per share. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$60.1b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.41 in 2024. So the consensus seems to have become somewhat more optimistic on Pfizer's earnings potential following these results. The consensus price target was unchanged at US$31.94, implying that the improved earnings outlook is not expected to have a long term impact on value creation for shareholders. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Pfizer at US$45.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$27.00. These price targets show that analysts do have some differing views on the business, but the estimates do not vary enough to suggest to us that some are betting on wild success or utter failure. One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. We can infer from the latest estimates that forecasts expect a continuation of Pfizer'shistorical trends, as the 14% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2024 is roughly in line with the 13% annual growth over the past five years. Compare this with the broader industry, which analyst estimates (in aggregate) suggest will see revenues grow 9.4% annually. So it's pretty clear that Pfizer is forecast to grow substantially faster than its industry. Story continues The Bottom Line The biggest takeaway for us is the consensus earnings per share upgrade, which suggests a clear improvement in sentiment around Pfizer's earnings potential next year. Fortunately, they also reconfirmed their revenue numbers, suggesting that it's tracking in line with expectations. Additionally, our data suggests that revenue is expected to grow faster than the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates. Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Pfizer going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.. That said, it's still necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Pfizer , and understanding them should be part of your investment process. 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. (KRON) District Attorney Pamela Price is suing multiple car insurance companies, including Progressive and the United Services Automobile Association (USAA), and their affiliated software developers. The lawsuit alleges both parties worked together to create and use valuation software to systematically undervalue totaled vehicles and pay insurance consumers less than the actual value owed under the policies, the Alameda County DA announced on Thursday. The civil complaint alleges this undervaluation scheme violates numerous California laws and demands civil penalties, restitution for California consumers, injunctive relief, and associated fees and costs. Many residents live paycheck to paycheck and go deeply into debt just to buy a car, DA Price said. When an insurance company underpays its customers for a totaled vehicle That can lead to job losses and even homelessness. Jury awards $500K to boys forced out of Santa Clara school over alleged blackface The 69-page complaint filed on April 26 alleges that multiple car insurance companies including the Progressive Corporation (Progressive Insurance), USAA and its affiliates owed duties of good faith and fair dealing to hundreds of thousands of California residents and businesses each year, the complaint said. Despite these legal duties, the complaint alleges the insurance companies use specially designed car valuation software to undervalue totaled cars to pay owners less money than they are owed, the complaint said. The complaint further alleges that the software developers (including CCC Information Systems and Mitchell International) worked with these insurance companies to build the means to lower the reported actual cash value of the totaled vehicles and that the modified software is sold exclusively to automobile insurance companies. After reporting the actual cash value, the insurance companies then allegedly made lowball settlement offers to their customers and refused to negotiate in good faith, relying on the independent software-generated actual cash value, the complaint said. Once the insured owner accepts the lowball offer, the insurance companies can allegedly resell the same car at auction to minimize its losses further, the complaint said. San Jose city contractor found dead at animal care facility The complaint believes the scheme impacts all Californians, but more specifically, seniors and veterans. The complaint alleges that the scheme impacts California businesses as well, including: Car manufacturers and dealers (by systematically lowering the market value of their vehicles) Gap insurance providers (whose gap insurance policies must make up the difference between an outstanding loan amount and an undervalued amount paid) Car loan institutions (i.e. when underpaid car owners can no longer pay their car loans) Car repair facilities (that lose out on potential repair business when vehicles are systematically totaled instead of repaired) Story continues 58753417_04_30_2024_Amended_Complaint-Progressive-CorpDownload Public safety includes protecting consumers from powerful companies that seek only to maximize profits, Price said. We are seeking to level the playing field for vehicle owners who face what looks like a rigged game when their car or truck is totaled because a loss of a vehicle can destabilize a persons life. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) Where are retirees moving to post-career? According to a recent collection of data, retirees are flocking to two Tennessee cities to spend their golden years. SmartAsset, a personal finance website, said it analyzed Census Bureau data in 182 of the largest cities across the U.S. to determine which areas are considered most attractive to those aged 60 and older. Heres how much the average American has in retirement savings by age According to the study, the Sunshine State remains a popular retirement site and gained a massive influx of seniors in 2022. In fact, Florida saw a net influx of more than 77,000 of new retirees that year. Meanwhile, Tennessee wasnt too far behind and ranked eighth on the list where retirees are moved to the most. Approximately 31,253 seniors moved to the state in 2022, according to SmartAsset. However, the numbers show that retirees have their eyes set on two cities when it comes to spending their golden years in the Volunteer State: Murfreesboro and Chattanooga. | READ MORE | Latest headlines from Murfreesboro and Rutherford County According to data, Murfreesboro landed fifth on the top 10 list among places where seniors moved to the most. The city located in Rutherford County gained 1,514 retirees and 28.4% of the population is reported to be aged 60 or older. Chattanooga wasnt too far behind, ranking sixth on the list. SmartAsset said 1,917 seniors from out of state moved to the city that has a population of 42,253 people aged 60 and older. Top 10 cites that gained the most retirees: Mesa, Arizona San Antonio, Texas Henderson, Nevada St. Petersburg, Florida Murfreesboro, Tennessee Chattanooga, Tennessee Houston, Texas Fort Worth, Texas Atlanta, Georgia Clearwater, Florida Read todays top stories on wkrn.com To see the full study, click here. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2. SAF-Holland SE (ETR:SFQ) shareholders are probably feeling a little disappointed, since its shares fell 6.3% to 17.00 in the week after its latest first-quarter results. It was a credible result overall, with revenues of 505m and statutory earnings per share of 0.58 both in line with analyst estimates, showing that SAF-Holland is executing in line with expectations. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year. View our latest analysis for SAF-Holland Taking into account the latest results, the five analysts covering SAF-Holland provided consensus estimates of 2.02b revenue in 2024, which would reflect a small 5.3% decline over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to accumulate 9.3% to 2.09. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of 2.02b and earnings per share (EPS) of 2.01 in 2024. The analysts seems to have become more bullish on the business, judging by their new earnings per share estimates. The consensus price target was unchanged at 23.70, implying that the improved earnings outlook is not expected to have a long term impact on value creation for shareholders. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. Currently, the most bullish analyst values SAF-Holland at 31.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at 19.50. This shows there is still a bit of diversity in estimates, but analysts don't appear to be totally split on the stock as though it might be a success or failure situation. Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. These estimates imply that revenue is expected to slow, with a forecast annualised decline of 7.0% by the end of 2024. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 12% over the last five years. Compare this with our data, which suggests that other companies in the same industry are, in aggregate, expected to see their revenue grow 5.6% per year. So although its revenues are forecast to shrink, this cloud does not come with a silver lining - SAF-Holland is expected to lag the wider industry. Story continues The Bottom Line The most important thing here is that the analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards SAF-Holland following these results. Fortunately, the analysts also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, suggesting that it's tracking in line with expectations. Although our data does suggest that SAF-Holland's revenue is expected to perform worse than the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates. Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. We have estimates - from multiple SAF-Holland analysts - going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here. It is also worth noting that we have found 2 warning signs for SAF-Holland that you need to take into consideration. 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. Beijing's western Mentougou district welcomed 32 diplomats from 23 countries across five continents on Tuesday to experience the area's high-tech achievements and green development. As a former coal town and current ecological conservation area designated by Beijing's overall urban plan, Mentougou, located at the western gateway to the capital, is renowned for its lush greenery and pristine waters. International guests visited the millennium-old Tanzhe Temple to explore the beautiful countryside and attractions, including Snow Peak's first store in Beijing and the Xitan Hotel. At the Zhongguancun Mentougou Park, diplomats and business representatives visited the Science and Technology Innovation Center exhibition hall, the pharmaceutical achievement transformation center and the AI showcase area, according to Beijing Daily. In the AI area, the Namibian Ambassador to China, Elia George Kaiyamo, said he was deeply impressed by the innovative achievements he witnessed in Mentougou. He believes that these accomplishments hold promise for playing a role in the new era. This was Kiyamo's first visit to Mentougou, despite living in Beijing for years. "I would love to introduce these innovative products to Namibia and discuss them at the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in September, looking forward to promoting cooperation between Namibia and Mentougou," he said. Through its transformation from a "Green Valley" to a "Healthy Valley", "Intelligence Valley" and "Leisure Valley", Mentougou has demonstrated immense development potential. "Beijing is striving to introduce technology, drive investment, and promote community development," said Antonio Portilla, the Education and International Cooperation Affairs Manager at the Mexican Embassy in China. During the visit, he found the cooperation showcased in Mentougou particularly intriguing, as it provided the necessary technological capabilities for development and infrastructure construction. "It is these technologies spanning various fields like healthcare, artificial intelligence and manufacturing that offer Mentougou better economic development opportunities," he said. "I have witnessed astonishing technological progress today," said Evgenios Kalpyris, the Greek Ambassador to China. He emphasized the inseparable relationship between technological progress and natural ecology, saying that the former is also a part of nature. The Beijing People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Mentougou district government co-hosted the event. Zhang Qian, executive vice president of the association, introduced Mentougou to the visiting diplomats using three words: "momentum, toughness, and glamour." She mentioned that in July last year, Mentougou experienced an unprecedented flood, with the entire district of 400,000 people uniting with fearless courage to search for missing villagers and repair infrastructure. As various reconstruction efforts progress, the area's production and living order have largely returned to pre-disaster levels. "This persistent spirit is Mentougou's resounding calling card and will be the most convincing reason for everyone to choose Mentougou as a partner for cooperation." The board of Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc. (TSE:ZZZ) has announced that it will pay a dividend of CA$0.237 per share on the 30th of May. This means the annual payment is 3.6% of the current stock price, which is above the average for the industry. View our latest analysis for Sleep Country Canada Holdings Sleep Country Canada Holdings' Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage A big dividend yield for a few years doesn't mean much if it can't be sustained. Based on the last payment, Sleep Country Canada Holdings was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business. If the trend of the last few years continues, EPS will grow by 5.6% over the next 12 months. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 48%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend. Sleep Country Canada Holdings' Dividend Has Lacked Consistency Looking back, Sleep Country Canada Holdings' dividend hasn't been particularly consistent. Due to this, we are a little bit cautious about the dividend consistency over a full economic cycle. The dividend has gone from an annual total of CA$0.52 in 2015 to the most recent total annual payment of CA$0.948. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 6.9% per annum over that time. We like to see dividends have grown at a reasonable rate, but with at least one substantial cut in the payments, we're not certain this dividend stock would be ideal for someone intending to live on the income. We Could See Sleep Country Canada Holdings' Dividend Growing Growing earnings per share could be a mitigating factor when considering the past fluctuations in the dividend. Sleep Country Canada Holdings has impressed us by growing EPS at 5.6% per year over the past five years. Shareholders are getting plenty of the earnings returned to them, which combined with strong growth makes this quite appealing. In Summary Overall, we think Sleep Country Canada Holdings is a solid choice as a dividend stock, even though the dividend wasn't raised this year. While the payout ratios are a good sign, we are less enthusiastic about the company's dividend record. The dividend looks okay, but there have been some issues in the past, so we would be a little bit cautious. Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. As an example, we've identified 3 warning signs for Sleep Country Canada Holdings that you should be aware of before investing. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. SprayWorks Equipment co-owners Jeremy Davidson and his sister Jennifer Hristovski talk about their move to the company's new Canton facility, the former Amster Kirtz Co. building. CANTON A family business that began in Canton is moving back and doubling its footprint. SprayWorks Equipment, a spray foam insulation and coating supplier, already moved about 80% of its operations from Kent to a warehouse at 2830 Cleveland Ave. NW, said Jeremy Davidson, one of five family members who own the business. All that's left is the fabrication division. "So we're basically moved with everything that's customer-facing," he said. The company left Canton in early 2021 for more space in Kent when it couldn't find a suitable local location. Davidson said that move largely was prompted by supply chain disruptions and the need to keep more products on-site. SprayWorks Equipment, a family-owned business, is nearly finished moving to its new Canton facility, the former Amster Kirtz Co. building. His sister and co-owner Jennifer Hristovski said the business quickly "maxed out" in Kent. The former Amster Kirtz Co. building in Canton was vacant when they purchased it with the help of a state-backed loan, which involved a commitment to create 27 new jobs and retain 37 full-time positions. "Now we have a lot of room to grow," Hristovski said. SprayWorks Equipment outfits trailers with spray foam and industrial spraying equipment in the company's new Canton facility. The new facility can comfortably fit 15 trailers and the former site could just fit eight, Davidson said. The trailers are insulated with spray foam and outfitted with industrial spraying equipment, which is sometimes customized to the client. Customers primarily are contractors that use spray material in residential construction and roofing or polyurea coatings for floors and truck beds. SprayWorks serves clients across the United States, Canada and Mexico. "This is a big part of our business right here," Davidson said. "This is probably 40% of what SprayWorks does." SprayWorks Equipment, a family-owned business, has moved about 80% of its operations to its new Canton site. The company also sells drums of spray material from various manufacturers and the "barrel blazer" drum heater patented by James Davidson Jeremy and Jennifer's father. On-site training classes are offered in spray foam application. Historical items on display at SprayWorks Equipment, a multi-generational family business. About two years ago, the family acquired Trail Sprayer and Service which provides paint sprayers, pressure washers and other equipment that operates alongside SprayWorks. They also purchased Dobosh Service Center, a lawn equipment company in Pittsburgh, last year. The move to Canton is expected to increase the number of employees. Davidson said about 32 employees will work at the warehouse to start, and he expects to have a staff of 50 within two years. Reach Kelly at 330-580-8323 or kelly.byer@cantonrep.com SprayWorks Equipment, a family-owned business, is moving to its new Canton facility, the former Amster Kirtz Co. building. This article originally appeared on The Repository: SprayWorks returning to Canton COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) One day before results will be announced in the latest election for the board of the state teachers retirement system, yet another investigation was launched into STRS. The governor and the attorney general already announced they are looking into governance issues at STRS. Now, Secretary of State Frank Larose said his office is investigating whether candidates for STRS board seats, who are teachers, failed to report campaign donations as required by state law. Video shows miles-long chase that ended with crash at Cooper Stadium Someone whos running to serve on that board seeking the votes of their fellow STRS members is required to disclose their campaign fundraising and their campaign spending if they raise and spend over $1,000, LaRose said. LaRose said he launched his investigation because of a tip from a concerned citizen. The governor and attorney general said an anonymous letter warned of a hostile takeover of STRS through board elections, hence their investigations. But, no one investigated complaints from retirees about a lack of investment transparency, lavish bonuses for the investment staff and an end to promised cost of living adjustments. They say its why theyve been trying to vote reformers onto the board. Weve got a governor, and now apparently an attorney general, and secretary of state even saying, oh, sorry, all the things youve been voting for had been wrong and were not going to let were not going to let it come to fruition, said David Pepper, a law professor at the University of Cincinnati. NBC4 asked LaRose if he found it odd that all at once, multiple state leaders are looking into STRS when retirees have been begging for an investigation for six years. Well, as you know, the secretary of states office doesnt have a role in looking into STRS beyond this one narrow thing about if a candidate for the STRS is spending money, LaRose said. But, teachers and retirees said the investigations seem like roadblocks. The current election is expected to put another reformer on the board. Reformers already hold a majority after a court order was granted to return Wade Steen to his seat. The governor kicked the investment specialist off the board last year. Mike Dewine broke the law, not because Im saying it, or a teacher said it because the court said it, Pepper said. So my question is, when someone breaks a law as powerful as the governor, wheres that investigation? The Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association (ORTA) is backing reform candidates and said there is nothing hostile about it. Story continues The democratic process is never hostile, said Robin Rayfield with ORTA. Im sure Mr. Yost was elected to his position. Im sure the governor was elected to his position. Neither of those were hostile takeovers, electing people in a fair, democratic election is never hostile. Thats what makes America great is the fact that we can pick our leaders and the membership of STRS. Both actives, and retirees have picked their leaders, and were ready to move forward with our selected elected leaders. The results of the STRS board election are supposed to be released tomorrow. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV. The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio oversees about $90 billion invested on behalf of 500,000 teachers and retirees. Reformers seeking control of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio won another seat on the 11-member board Saturday when Michelle Flanigan was elected. Flanigan, a government teacher at Brunswick City Schools, soundly defeated Sandy Smith Fischer, an intervention specialist at Streetsboro City Schools, for a seat representing active teachers. Flanigan received nearly 23,000 votes to Fischer's nearly 4,000 votes, according to STRS. Flanigan had the backing of groups pushing for sweeping changes to the system. She'll replace Dale Price, who currently serves as board chairman. Her term starts Sept. 1. Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association, which backed Flanigan, applauded the win. "For years, our educators have been cheated and dismissed by a STRS culture that resists transparency and thrives on power and self-enrichment," the group said in a written statement. "Reformers now have a clear and convincing mandate to institute real change and restore trust. Ms. Flanigan's voice and stewardship will be critical in that effort."STRS Ohio, which oversees about $90 billion invested on behalf of 500,000 teachers and retirees, is at a crossroads. Its executive director, William Neville, has been placed on administrative leave through mid-May. A national consulting firm hired to help the board with governance issues severed its contract early. The governor removed appointee Wade Steen from the unpaid board, prompting Steen to successfully sue to get his seat back. Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association has been publicly critical of the pension fund leadership. And a new firm, QED, pushed board members and STRS staff to hire QED to pursue a new investment strategy. Last week, Gov. Mike DeWine received documents that allege the system is facing a hostile takeover by private interests. The documents point to current and former board members, saying they're working with QED and the retiree group. DeWine shared the records with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who opened an investigation. State law allows the attorney general to bring a civil case to remove public pension board members if they failed to act in the best financial interest of the system. When the 10th District Court of Appeals ruled in April that the governor lacked the authority to remove Steen, Steen promptly returned to the board meeting. That gave the reformers majority control. Flanigan joining the board this fall will briefly add to that majority. Steen's term ends in late September and the governor will not reappoint him. The board meets Wednesday and Thursday. Story continues Laura Bischoff 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: Teachers elect reformer to STRS Ohio pension board Key Insights TELUS International (Cda) will host its Annual General Meeting on 17th of May Total pay for CEO Jeff Puritt includes US$850.0k salary The overall pay is 54% above the industry average Over the past three years, TELUS International (Cda)'s EPS fell by 15% and over the past three years, the total loss to shareholders 78% The results at TELUS International (Cda) Inc. (NYSE:TIXT) have been quite disappointing recently and CEO Jeff Puritt bears some responsibility for this. At the upcoming AGM on 17th of May, shareholders can hear from the board including their plans for turning around performance. It would also be an opportunity for shareholders to influence management through voting on company resolutions such as executive remuneration, which could impact the firm significantly. The data we present below explains why we think CEO compensation is not consistent with recent performance. Check out our latest analysis for TELUS International (Cda) How Does Total Compensation For Jeff Puritt Compare With Other Companies In The Industry? According to our data, TELUS International (Cda) Inc. has a market capitalization of US$1.7b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth US$8.7m over the year to December 2023. We note that's a decrease of 17% compared to last year. While we always look at total compensation first, our analysis shows that the salary component is less, at US$850k. On comparing similar companies from the American Professional Services industry with market caps ranging from US$1.0b to US$3.2b, we found that the median CEO total compensation was US$5.7m. This suggests that Jeff Puritt is paid more than the median for the industry. Moreover, Jeff Puritt also holds US$3.2m worth of TELUS International (Cda) stock directly under their own name, which reveals to us that they have a significant personal stake in the company. Component 2023 2022 Proportion (2023) Salary US$850k US$850k 10% Other US$7.9m US$9.6m 90% Total Compensation US$8.7m US$10m 100% Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 14% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 86% of the pie. TELUS International (Cda) sets aside a smaller share of compensation for salary, in comparison to the overall industry. If total compensation is slanted towards non-salary benefits, it indicates that CEO pay is linked to company performance. A Look at TELUS International (Cda) Inc.'s Growth Numbers Over the last three years, TELUS International (Cda) Inc. has shrunk its earnings per share by 15% per year. It achieved revenue growth of 4.9% over the last year. Few shareholders would be pleased to read that EPS have declined. The fairly low revenue growth fails to impress given that the EPS is down. It's hard to argue the company is firing on all cylinders, so shareholders might be averse to high CEO remuneration. Moving away from current form for a second, it could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future. Has TELUS International (Cda) Inc. Been A Good Investment? The return of -78% over three years would not have pleased TELUS International (Cda) Inc. shareholders. Therefore, it might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously. In Summary... Along with the business performing poorly, shareholders have suffered with poor share price returns on their investments, suggesting that there's little to no chance of them being in favor of a CEO pay raise. At the upcoming AGM, management will get a chance to explain how they plan to get the business back on track and address the concerns from investors. CEO compensation is an important area to keep your eyes on, but we've also need to pay attention to other attributes of the company. We did our research and identified 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit concerning) in TELUS International (Cda) we think you should know about. Switching gears from TELUS International (Cda), if you're hunting for a pristine balance sheet and premium returns, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look. 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. Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Thomson Reuters Corporation (TSE:TRI) is about to go ex-dividend in just three days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. Accordingly, Thomson Reuters investors that purchase the stock on or after the 15th of May will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 10th of June. The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.54 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$2.16 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Thomson Reuters has a trailing yield of 1.3% on the current stock price of CA$229.48. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing. See our latest analysis for Thomson Reuters If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Fortunately Thomson Reuters's payout ratio is modest, at just 39% of profit. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. It distributed 46% of its free cash flow as dividends, a comfortable payout level for most companies. It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously. Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends. Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing? Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. That's why it's comforting to see Thomson Reuters's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 117% per annum for the past five years. Earnings per share have been growing very quickly, and the company is paying out a relatively low percentage of its profit and cash flow. This is a very favourable combination that can often lead to the dividend multiplying over the long term, if earnings grow and the company pays out a higher percentage of its earnings. The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Thomson Reuters has delivered an average of 3.8% per year annual increase in its dividend, based on the past 10 years of dividend payments. Earnings per share have been growing much quicker than dividends, potentially because Thomson Reuters is keeping back more of its profits to grow the business. To Sum It Up From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Thomson Reuters? Thomson Reuters has grown its earnings per share while simultaneously reinvesting in the business. Unfortunately it's cut the dividend at least once in the past 10 years, but the conservative payout ratio makes the current dividend look sustainable. Overall we think this is an attractive combination and worthy of further research. So while Thomson Reuters looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Thomson Reuters (including 1 which is a bit concerning). Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Victor J. Blue - Pool/Getty Images Donald Trump tried to shake down a group of top oil industry executives for a whopping $1 billion dollar donation, providing a glimpse into the cash-strapped nature of his 2024 campaign. The former president, who led a vast rollback of environmental protections and safety regulations on the oil and gas industry, invited executives to Mar-a-Lago last month to pass the hat around, per the Washington Post. The potential quid-pro-quo isnt as far-fetched as it may seem, as Politico notes that the oil industry has already put together a slew of executive orders for Trump to sign if he wins re-election in November. Such policies include a reversal on a Biden-administration pause on natural gas export permits and new drilling expansions. Though the solicitation isnt explicitly illegal, given that he reportedly didnt tie the donation to exact policy actions, it raises major red flags into just how Trump would make decisions, critics say. At a high level, it perfectly captures so much of whats wrong with our big money campaign finance system, Erin Chlopak, former Federal Elections Commission attorney, told Politico. Executives present at the April dinner from Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Continental Resources, ExxonMobil, EQT and more, as well as American Petroleum Institute lobbyists, could give the Trump Campaign a much-needed boost, though a billion dollar donation would likely have to go through a Super PAC, as it far exceeds the campaign finance contribution limit. Trump, who is currently on the hook for hundreds of millions in legal bills and payouts, is seriously lagging behind his opponent, President Joe Biden, in fundraising, and struggling to make time to seek out donations in between his court dates. Key Insights Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, TT Electronics' stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business If you want to know who really controls TT Electronics plc (LON:TTG), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 87% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk). Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait. In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of TT Electronics. See our latest analysis for TT Electronics What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About TT Electronics? Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index. TT Electronics already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see TT Electronics' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don't have many shares in TT Electronics. Our data shows that BlackRock, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 11% of shares outstanding. With 10.0% and 6.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, Fidelity International Ltd and Aberforth Partners LLP are the second and third largest shareholders. We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat. Story continues While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too. Insider Ownership Of TT Electronics The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves. Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances. Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of TT Electronics plc in their own names. It appears that the board holds about UK1.7m worth of stock. This compares to a market capitalization of UK288m. Many investors in smaller companies prefer to see the board more heavily invested. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling. General Public Ownership The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 11% stake in TT Electronics. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. Next Steps: It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand TT Electronics better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for TT Electronics you should be aware of, and 1 of them can't be ignored. But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. NEW MEXICO (KRQE) Residents at the University of New Mexico Hospital are raising new questions about how much theyre getting paid. Meanwhile, lawmakers directed the state to use Medicaid funding to pay residents, those residents have yet to see that in their paychecks. Especially with the rising cost of living the last few years, our salary does not go as far as it used to, said UNMH Pathology Resident, Dr. Alisha Berry. Story continues below Each year, medical residents employed by UNM have to negotiate their wages for their work in the hospital. Last year, the Committee of Interns and Residents Union negotiated a 5% pay increase. The group is continuing to look for more this year. Residents said they understood lawmakers allocated up to $3.4 million in this years budget for resident compensation. According to union leaders, the university has yet to use that money. UNMH has said that they want to get us to the median, but they never get us to that point, said Berry. The residents said the university offered a 1% raise recently. According to the union, UNM should be able to pay as much as 7.5% more in pay with all that extra funding from the state budget. However, a UNMH spokesperson told KRQE there was not a legislative appropriation for the residents wage increase. The New Mexico Legislature did, however, direct the New Mexico Health Care Authority to pay $3.4 million from Medicaid funding for residents salaries. The hospital said changes to the Medicaid program to pay the residents wage increases has not been approved. Union leaders said the wait is hurting the employees who continue to face shortages. Residents have been fleeing the state because after we graduate, we dont want to stay somewhere where were not appreciated, said Berry. A UNMH spokesperson told KRQE News 13 they are not allowed to discuss ongoing contract negotiations. According to the union, the next negotiation meeting is scheduled to happen on May 16. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. United States Senate candidates John Curtis, Brad Wilson, Jason Walton and Trent Staggs speak at the Utah Taxpayers Association Annual Taxes Now Conference at The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City on Friday, May 10, 2024. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News The four Republican U.S. Senate candidates on the June primary ballot all agreed during a panel discussion Friday that former President Donald Trumps nearly $4 trillion tax cuts should not be allowed to expire next year. Appearing together at the Utah Taxpayers Associations annual Taxes Now conference, Congressman John Curtis, former Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson, businessman Jason Walton and Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs were united in their support for extending the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. Throughout what was billed as a lunch hour forum on the expiration of the tax cut passed by Congress in 2017, the contenders still in the race for the seat held by retiring GOP Sen. Mitt Romney after last months state Republican Party convention vote, largely remained agreeable even as they attempted to highlight their differences. The winners of this years congressional and presidential elections are facing what will be a tax increase for most individual taxpayers if the tax cuts set to end in 2025 are not addressed. A Utah family of five that earns $90,000 annually would see their tax bill go up just over $2,300, Utah Taxpayers Association President Rusty Cannon said at the start of the forum. Extending all of the cuts due to expire, which include lower tax brackets and increases in the standard deduction and child credit for individual taxpayers but not the reduction in the top corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, would add an estimated $4.6 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. These are important things that we wish this election cycle was about. Unfortunately, at least on the presidential side, its not actually about that. Its more about personality. Maybe that will change, Cannon said. The major party presidential candidates are split on continuing the tax cuts, with President Joe Biden, a Democrat, insisting they stay expired. Biden posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the cuts overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and biggest corporations and exploded the federal debt. His administration is calling for higher taxes on the wealthy as well as corporations; revenues then would be used to fund tax cuts for workers and families. Trump not only backs making his 2017 tax package permanent, the Republican has talked about making another round of tax cuts if he wins in November. Rusty Cannon, president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, moderates a discussion with United States Senate candidates John Curtis, Brad Wilson, Jason Walton and Trent Staggs at the Utah Taxpayers Association Annual Taxes Now Conference at The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City on Friday, May 10, 2024. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News During the forum, Curtis said the elephant in the room is what he described as an $8 trillion increase in the national deficit under the former president and suggested candidates need to ask themselves if theyre willing to say no to President Trump when he submits a budget that spends trillions of dollars that we dont have. Story continues Saying he voted against legislation that would have boosted the debt despite being personally lobbied by Trump, Curtis added, If were honest as Republicans, we own as much of this as the Democrats. The best we can say is we dont spend as much as they do. But we own a lot of this. In reality, President Trump owns a lot of this. Staggs, who has Trumps endorsement in the race, said a theme of his campaign is going against the grain, standing up to the establishment. Its the establishment thats got us in these problems. He said COVID-19 efforts account for a lot of the $8 trillion deficit and called Bidens infrastructure bill a fig leaf for the green new deal that will add trillions more to the national debt. Burdening future generations with that debt, which currently amounts to more than $34 trillion or just under $103,000 per person, is the height of immorality, Staggs said. Weve got to be able to turn it around, the Riverton mayor said, citing the backing hes received from conservative members of Congress as well as the former president, who he said will likely win. Wilson talked about the value of his experience managing the state budget and providing an environment where tax cuts become the norm or at least part of the conversation, calling those the kinds of lessons, the practical Utah experience, that we can take to Washington to try to fix things back there. The former speaker said he wont be an echo chamber for anyone, Republican, Democrat, whatever. Because I know whats right. I know what we have to do to get our fiscal health back in line. Wilson said the Senate race will have big consequences for Utah, with whoever is elected likely serving two or three terms, but hopefully, not longer. Walton, who said tax collections should add up to only enough money to fund the legitimate purposes of government, called the need for a balanced federal budget the main reason for getting in the race. These are things I think traditional career politicians run from. This is what Im running to. The reason the deficit hasnt been addressed is people who have a sense of self-preservation go along with congressional leadership and what polling tells them voters want in the hopes of being reelected, Walton said. Thats why I say now more than ever, we need to elect more business people. Whataburger has withdrawn its application to open a 24-hour restaurant close to downtown Greenville and has opted instead for a site on Woodruff Road, a busy area flush with other restaurants and retail. It is a renovation of a TGI Fridays. Initially the hamburger chain wanted to locate on Laurens Road in a former Title Max but met with stiff resistance from nearby homeowners who bristled at the idea of noise, lights and smells overnight. The Greenville Board of Zoning Appeals denied the request for midnight to 5 a.m. operation. Whataburger then sued the city. The Woodruff Road location won easy approval Thursday night by the zoning board. In its application for the Woodruff Road site, Whataburger said, The extended hours of the drive-through will allow the restaurant to serve those in the community that keep the residents safe and well such as hospital staff, police officers, EMTs, the fire department and any other member of the community involved in shift work. The business is projected to bring in $3.4 million a year. Whataburger is in the midst of a rapid expansion including nine in South Carolina this year and has announced plans for four more in 2025. A location farther south on Woodruff Road from the one approved Thursday will be the first to open. The restaurant is expected to open this summer on the site of a closed KFC. The chain plans to open in Mauldin, Boiling Springs, Anderson, Spartanburg, Columbia, Lexington and Irmo. Next year, Whataburgers are expected in Easley, Duncan, Columbia and Lexington. The city of Greenville shared the news of the Woodrufff Road location on Instagram. The response was mixed from its a blessing to great, more fast food. And then there was this: Wake me up when its In-N-Out. (NEXSTAR) Sometimes, the hardest part of any project whether it be creative or professional can be deciding on a name for it. Just as there are regulations on what you can and cant name a baby, so, too, are there rules about what you can and cant name your business. In order to even name a business, an entrepreneurs choice must be approved by the Texas Secretary of States Office, which provided much of the below information, except where noted. Potential business owners can even search name filings on the Texas Secretary of States website though each search will cost a minimum of $1. Forbes declares these Texas schools new Ivy Leagues But for starters, here are a few pointers for naming a company or business in the Lone Star State. Restricted words Certain words that may give the impression that a business or entity is educational, including: college, university, health science center, and medical school Words that may give the impression that a business or entity is a financial institution, including: bank, trust, and trust company Words that may give the impression that a business or entity is related or deals with war veterans and their families, including veteran, legion, foreign, and disabled Words like engineers or engineering may only be used if the services performed are related to engineering performed by a licensed Texas engineer, as explained by Dallas-based attorney Zachary Copp, Esq., founder of The Copp Law Firm, PC Words like Olympic, olympian, and Olympus may give the impression that the business is affiliated with the United States Olympic Committee, which must authorize any use of these terms for business use Words that might imply affiliation with local, state or federal government. For instance, a new apartment building likely couldnt call itself State of Texas Tower This list is by no means exhaustive and there are/can be exceptions made at the discretion of the SOS office. How do energy drinks affect your body? You might not think you can use these, but you can Symbols that can be reproduced on a standard English keyboard. For example, !, $, %, ( ), *, ?, #, =, @, [], +, and & Words in a different language, even if the English word is already in use by another company with exceptions, obviously. For example, Casa Blanca Productions would be considered different from White House Productions, the SOS explains, so long as the Spanish words remain in Spanish In all naming regulations, there is also consideration given to whether businesses would be operating in the same industry or in close location of each other. Story continues For further information on starting a business in Texas, visit the Texas Economic Development and Tourism section at the Office of the Texas Governor site or the general information section for new and existing Texas businesses by the Texas Secretary of State. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 The Gazette family of newspapers Denver Gazette, The Gazette of Colorado Springs and Colorado Politics earned dozens of journalism awards, including 11 first place finishes and the contest's most prestigious honors, from the Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies 2024 Contest. A federal judge in Colorado has ordered John C. Eastman, the alleged legal architect of former President Donald Trump's plan to remain in office despite losing the 2020 election, to explain why he should not be removed as the plaintiff's attorney in an ongoing civil lawsuit. A former Fort Carson soldier is facing a slew of charges in the 4th Judicial District related to defrauding women he met online. A police affidavit outlines how Gavin Pobst, a former sergeant, is suspected of manipulating women he meets online into giving him money and using some of it to gamble. The police investigation found more than 200 text message threads on Pobst's phone where he asks women for money. "There are numerous text messages from females asking Gavin for their money back like he promised because they need it to pay their bills," an investigator wrote in an affidavit. In one case, a woman told police Pobst owed her more than $5,000, an affidavit said. He has been charged with theft, money laundering, identity theft, criminal impersonation and unauthorized use of a financial transaction device, court records show. The investigating El Paso County sheriff's officer states in the arrest affidavit that even after learning he was under investigation Pobst "continued his criminal activity up until the day before he was arrested and placed in military confinement." Sign Up for free: Military Brief Your weekly local update on local military news and events, sent straight to your inbox. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. He is still in the El Paso County jail. He would need to post two $10,000 bonds to leave custody. The civilian charges follow a court-martial that ended in Pobst pleading guilty to eight counts of theft, one count of wire fraud and violating a general order during his court-martial. The Army investigation into Pobst's conduct identified "upwards of 60 victims." He had been facing 14 specific accusations of theft ranging from stealing $20 to $1,000 during 2022 and 2023. He was also facing two accusations of wire fraud. A military judge sentenced Pobst to 270 days confinement, forfeiture of $1,000 per month for two months and a bad conduct discharge. Before his discharge, Pobst served with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team in the 4th Infantry Division. He had served for six years and five months. For as long as she could remember, Hitcel Hernandez wanted to be a leader. Now, as she graduates from Pikes Peak State College this year, shes leaving with more than just business savvy. The first-generation college graduate leaves behind a legacy that includes a revitalized student honor society, a resurrected Black Student Union and a new annual festival celebrating the schools Hispanic student body. Hernandez never envisioned any of this growing up, but always looked up to the leading women in the telenovelas she watched as a child and the strong characters they portrayed. Just from the dress suits that they wore to the way they carried themselves and how people looked to them, I knew thats what I wanted, Hernandez said. Despite her personal dream and exceptional grades throughout her academic career, she admits she lacked the self-confidence to fully pursue any type of leadership role herself for most of her life. It wasnt until she was encouraged to join the campus Phi Theta Kappa honor society that the seed was planted in her. My adviser asked if I knew about it and I said, Oh, yeah. Thats that one scam, right? she laughed looking back. Hernandez was eventually persuaded to join upon learning how the society's benefits would outweigh any fees or dues one pays. She quickly rose to become its president and saw the potential it provided to increase student involvement on campus. With the schools ever-growing Hispanic population, its Office of Equity and Inclusion approached her about how they might be able to generate more engagement with its Latino, Latina, Chicano and Chicana students. A Chicana herself, someone who was born in the United States with parents born in Mexico, Hernandez agreed to get involved after becoming convinced that that office was taking serious considerations toward improving their efforts on campus. Once I saw that they were specifically talking about Chicanos and Chicanas, I was like All right, these people did their research, and they really know what theyre talking about, she said. Pulling from her own family upbringing and the local Latin American communities in Colorado Springs, the idea of an authentic Hispanic heritage festival on campus quickly developed. Working with the department, along with fellow PTK students and business students, Hernandez led the charge for a funding and budget plan for the festival. Before she knew it, Hernandez found herself presenting a proposal to PPSCs vice president of instructional services. Impressed with the amount of detail, intention and respect to the culture presented, the university signed off on the festival granting Hernandez and her team relative autonomy. Whenever we worried about raising the budget or making any significant changes, they just told us that the money was no big deal, Hernandez said. The effort would ultimately take a proverbial village to pull off, with additional funding coming from the Pikes Peak State College Foundation for decorations, authentic Mexican cuisine provided by 3 Margaritas, live music from La Illucion Nortena, and informational booths by the Colorado Springs Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Latina Equity Foundation and other local organizations for the Hispanic communities. The inaugural festival was held last September and turned out to be a resounding success, with 250 expected attendees becoming 400 throughout the city and last-minute accommodation needing to be made. Amid the swirl of events and activities, friends and family members of Hernandez noted her demeanor and sense of urgency throughout the day as she tended to the festivals various tasks. They told me later that they didnt want to interrupt me or bother me, she said, because they said I looked like I had had this serious, boss-like demeanor. Actually, I was just really anxious running around checking on everything. Featured Local Savings Building on the positive reception by students, community members and PPSC staff, the festival looks to continue in the years to come with Hernandez's blueprint now in place. Although she wont be a part of it going forward, Hernandez said she felt her own confidence and leadership skills grow exponentially through the entire experience. When it ended, I discovered that I could do more, she said. Hernandez would continue applying these newly refined skills across other areas on campus. Following a conversation with a friend on campus who was struggling low self-esteem, she worked with the PTK to resurrect the school's former Black Student Union for her friend and other Black students at the school. According to Hernandez, who acted as vice president, over 30 students attended the unions first meeting. The union has already sponsored its first celebration event for Black History Month earlier this year. During her tenure as PTKs president, Hernandez and the society has received numerous accolades and recently acquired their own dedicated office space on campus. Because of their work developing PPSC's Hispanic Heritage Festival, the society was invited to the national Phi Theta Kappa Annual Catalyst in Orlando, Fla., and Hernandez to the Latina Equity Foundations LaTEENa Conference as their keynote speaker at UCCS. It was following her speech at the conference, Hernandez found herself being viewed as she viewed her childhood idols: admired by the younger Latinas in attendance. They all were so excited to meet me, and they were all asking to take pictures with me, she recalled. As for as her family, whose cultural background prioritized entering the workforce over continuing education, they were proud of Hernandezs accomplishments, but still largely misunderstood them due to their lack of familiarity with postsecondary education. It wasnt until they heard it from their own community that it dawned on them the impact she was making. Tigre 94.7 FM, the prominent Spanish-speaking radio station in Colorado Springs, has been called one of the largest driving forces for Hispanic culture in the Pikes Peak Region. Leading up to the Hispanic Heritage Festival, Hernandez conducted interviews with multiple local radio stations to promote the event. Hernandezs parents, in particular, held Tigre in such high regard that they never imagined hearing their own daughter on the airwaves. They were trying to be funny with me and asked me Well, whens your interview with Tigre? and I told them with a straight face, Its on Monday, she said. And they laughed, thinking I was joking at first, but I just kept the same face and told them again, Its on Monday. Hernandez will continue her education in business administration with a focus in accounting over at UCCS, but shes already made notable strides in her career having already received offers to work with the Latina Equity Foundation and other organizations she met through the festival. Regardless of the role she ultimately decides on, her focus probably will stay local. I want to stay here in Colorado Springs, because its my home and I want to continue to work in these communities, she said. Pikes Peak State College's commencement ceremony will be held Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at The Broadmoor World Arena. Promising to delve "deep into the harsh reality that is the fentanyl epidemic," a film funded by one of Colorado's prominent political spenders is set to premiere at several Cinemark theaters across the state this month. "Devastated: Colorado's Fentanyl Disaster" features voices that include 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen discussing the effects of the synthetic opioid on Colorado. According to the film's website, "Devastated" also features the perspectives of parents of overdose victims, recovering addicts and former drug dealers. The film is funded by Steve Wells, a Weld County rancher whose personal fortune is behind multimillion-dollar campaign donations to GOP candidates in recent years. On the film's website, Wells is quoted saying he "funded the film because someone had to do something." But everyone from parents to kids, teachers to politicians have to get educated about just how deadly this drug is. Its like swallowing a hand grenade in a tiny pill form, he said. The film is directed by Steffan Tubbs, a former Denver-based radio host and filmmaker now listed as a media spokesperson for the Rocky Mountain Division of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. His production company, Mountain Time Media, produced the film. "If we can get someone anyone to discuss the fentanyl epidemic with others after seeing this film, weve accomplished our goal, Tubbs says in a quote on the film's website. Featured Local Savings The film's website links to Colorado House Bill 24-1306, which proposed increased penalties for possession of synthetic opiates but did not move past the House Judiciary Committee this legislative session. Allen has spoken out recently about his office's commitment to increased prosecution of fentanyl-related crimes. At a District 11 town hall at Sabin Middle School in Colorado Springs in February, he said the District Attorney's Office prosecuted 504 cases in 2023, a 113% increase from 2022 to 2023. He also said his office was pushing for and receiving harsher sentences for certain drug offenses. "I really view the governor's efforts on fentanyl to be half-hearted at best," Allen says in a clip from the film's trailer, interplayed with footage of Gov. Jared Polis. Fentanyl-related deaths in El Paso County doubled each year until 2022, according to El Paso County Coroner Dr. Leon Kelly. The county counted 41 fentanyl-related deaths in the first half of 2023. "Devastated" is set to premiere in Colorado Springs at the Cinemark Theater Tinseltown on May 18 at 3 p.m. Tickets and information can be found here. Samuel Knopp, one of two people shot and killed in a Colorado Springs dorm room earlier this year, was awarded a posthumous degree during the University of Colorado Colorado Springs's commencement ceremony Friday morning. His twin sister, Ellie Knopp, received a standing ovation as she accepted his diploma at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs. Samuel Knopp, a UCCS senior at the time of his death, along with Celie Montgomery, were shot to death in Knopp's UCCS dorm on Feb. 16, 2024. Knopp, 24, was a talented guitar player who studied music at the university. During a livestreamed memorial service at Crossroads Community Church in Parker last month, Knopp was remembered as a compassionate 'old soul' with an 'infectious sense of humor' and a 'genuine love for people' who made others happy with his music. Also last month, former bandmates of Sam held a memorial concert to honor him, raising over $1,000 for the victim's families. A record-number of graduates walked across the stage at Friday morning's commencement. Read more here. As University of Colorado Colorado Springs graduate Eriqa Hallam prepared to receive her bachelor's degree in inclusive education, standing in the tunnels of the Broadmoor World Arena Friday morning, she said her freshman self wouldnt believe it. If I could go back and tell my freshman self, who was taking all online classes, that youre going to make it, youre going to make it across that stage, I would have said, youre lying, Hallam said. Hallam, along with the over 1,380 graduating students walking at the 2024 UCCS commencement ceremonies Friday experienced far from an average college education, embarking on their academic careers amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. For a second straight year, UCCS has broken a record for the largest commencement ceremony in university history, with an additional 400-plus students receiving degrees this year who werent able to attend Fridays commencement ceremony. Ellie Knopp, twin sister of slain UCCS senior Samuel Knopp, received a standing ovation as she accepted his posthumous diploma. Samuel Knopp, along with Celie Montgomery, were shot to death in Knopp's UCCS dorm on Feb. 16, 2024. Despite the presence of Pro-Palestinian protesters on-campus in the weeks leading up to the UCCS commencement ceremony, no demonstrations in support of the movement were seen inside the arena during the Friday ceremony. An estimated half-dozen protester with signs were seen in the parking lot. Roughly a dozen pro-Palestinian student protesters who identified themselves with the group "Students for Justice in Palestine" were seen on the UCCS campus demonstrating Wednesday afternoon. UCCS spokesperson Chris Valentine released the following statement in wake of the on-campus demonstrations: UCCS supports our campus communitys right to peacefully protest, as protected by the First Amendment and university policy. Under Colorado law, the open outdoor areas of campus are student forums available for student expression, so long as the expression is not materially disruptive and complies with the campus policies for the use of buildings, grounds, and facilities. Officials with the university confirmed they did not receive any notice of planned demonstrations at the Friday ceremony, or know of any students that were not in attendance due to a "potential disruption." For some graduates, this is your first in-person graduation since the global pandemic, Dr. Jane Rigler, UCCS Associate Professor of Flute, Composition, and Interdisciplinary Arts said at the Friday morning ceremony. Many graduations looked a little different four years ago than today's ceremony, so I hope for those of you for whom this is your first in-person graduation that it is filled with extra celebration for you and your family. Featured Local Savings Forced online learning and lack of social connection with peers were among the unwelcome elements of the college experience current graduates faced in their academic careers during the turmoil of the pandemic. Things are possible, even when you feel like its not. Having gone through this, I can truly tell my students that you can do hard things. You just have to push yourself, Hallam continued, as she plans to teach the third grade locally in Colorado Springs following graduation. Friend of Hallam and fellow graduate in inclusive education Colton Haase relayed feelings of gained tenacity during an unpredictable time to be a student. Going to school during the pandemic, it gave us perseverance. It showed us, even through the hard days, that we can do it, Haase said. Im really proud of our graduating class. We have gone through a lot. I know its been a challenge, but we made it. Were here, were walking in graduation, we did it. For Rachel Correia, who graduated from UCCS with a Master of Education in Clinical Health and Counseling, Fridays commencement felt to be, a long time coming. I didnt get to walk for my undergrad because COVID hit right in my senior year, but I would say it made this day so much more special. Correia said although she faced a slew of challenges for her higher education, tackling part of her master's degree online during the pandemic taught her lessons in her field she may not have otherwise learned. I would say that the political climate that came from COVID turned out to be a huge piece of counseling. (The pandemic) came at a time when we were able to learn more about the field had it not happened, Correia said. UCCS President Todd Saliman addressed the Class of 2024 at Fridays ceremony, speaking toward the "hard work and perseverance, that went into receiving the diplomas Friday. You all have worked very hard to get here, and youve learned more than youve probably even realized, Saliman said. Youve learned about your field of studies of course, but youve also learned about life. Youve learned how to think critically. You've learned the developed skills that make you ready for the workforce and the world, and you've learned that hard work and perseverance pay off. Colorado Springs weather: What's going on with the geomagnetic storm; More showers possible Re: In April 1841, medical missionary Reverend Peter Parker, M.D., address [ #permalink 9 Kudos 2 Bookmarks 1. Hua T'o is mentioned in the following context: "In his talks, Parker described the state of medical and surgical knowledge--or, rather, scientific ignorance--in China. Despite the surgical feats of legendary ancient doctors such as Hua T'o of the third century A.D., surgery did not develop to any great extent in China." (A) CORRECT. The fact that, by the nineteenth century, Chinese surgical knowledge had not developed beyond that of an "ancient" doctor underscores the need to modernize nineteenth century Chinese medicine. (B) Hua To is the only Chinese medical figure mentioned in the passage, so the author does not mention him to trace the history of such figures. (C) The topic sentence of the second paragraph concerns the lack of medical and surgical knowledge, not the lack of leading physicians in nineteenth century China. (D) While the author recognizes Hua Tos achievements, citing the surgical feats of legendary ancient doctors, the overall context reveals that the point was not to celebrate such achievements, but to indicate how little had been achieved since. (E) The author does not defend Chinese medicine against criticism; in fact, the author uses the example of Hua To to support Parkers opinion about the state of scientific ignorance in China in the nineteenth century. 2. This question asks which of the statements about Peter Parker is not true. Four of the statement can be verified in the text, allowing us to select the correct answer by process of elimination. (A) In the last paragraph, the passage states that Parker "acquired a reputation as a surgeon of such skill that the hospital quickly became a general hospital." (B) In the first paragraph, the passage states that Parker "offered free treatment for both rich and poor, so he must have believe that all deserved quality medical treatment. (C) CORRECT. While Parker did not feel that that nineteenth century Chinese medical practices were advanced, the passage never mentions an emotion similar to "disdain" in describing Parker's feelings towards these practices. (D) In the second paragraph, the passage states that Parker "returned to the United States to raise money and interest in his operations." Additionally, Parker "and his British colleagues formed the Medical Missionary Society of China to coordinate the efforts of all the western hospitals springing up in the trading ports of Asia." (E) The second paragraph opens with the statement that Parker had, at best, modest success attracting converts to Christianity," suggesting that he did not completely achieve his missionary goals. 3. The question asks for the primary purpose of the passage. In other words, what was the author's agenda in writing the passage? The correct answer must take the entirety of the passage into account without misrepresenting the author's intent. Typically, the opening paragraph and the topic sentences of each paragraph will reveal the focus of the passage. (A) The passage focuses primarily on the medical activities of Peter Parker in China and on behalf of China, not on the status of the medical profession in China before his arrival in the country. (B) The author summarizes the contributions of Peter Parker, ending the passage with the statement that Parker has thus been credited with bringing Western medicine to China, but does not argue that China could not have gained modern medical knowledge without the influence of Peter Parker. (C) The passage focuses on the introduction of Western medicine into China, not the state of medicine in China before the nineteenth century. (D) The only view of nineteenth century Chinese medicine presented in the passage is that of Peter Parker, who spoke on the subject in his talks once back in the West. The passage does not challenge Parkers view. (E) CORRECT. The passage as a whole concerns the activities of Peter Parker and his influence in bringing Western medicine to China in the nineteenth century. Should I get an MBA in Canada? [ #permalink 2 Kudos 2 Bookmarks After having spent considerable time in Canada, I have had the opportunity to learn about its education system and interact with many business school graduates. University of Torontos Rotman School, Western Universitys Ivey Business School, and Queens Universitys Smith School of Business are generally considered the top schools. All of them are located in Ontario, and feature state-of-the-art campuses in downtown Toronto; Ivey and Smith have satellite campuses in which they run EMBA, Accelerated MBA and other executive and Masters programs. I have had the privilege of visiting the facilities of each one of these schools, which, by any global standards, are topnotch. Other well-reputed schools outside of Ontario are McGill in Montreal, and University of British Columbia in Vancouver. With respect to the quality of education, curriculum and instruction, I was impressed with how responsive and current the Canadian system is. All Schools offer an array of specializations and concentrations, and boast star faculty, whose published books have made way into classrooms even at top American programs. The Schools also feature well-known research institutes and innovation hubs that are at the forefront of new-age thinking, such as AI. One such lab is the Creative Destruction Lab. Housed within the Rotman School, it is a dream workspace for budding entrepreneurs wishing to incubate and commercialize their ventures. Location is definitely an advantage at many of these schools. Toronto is a fast growing commercial and tech hub. It is home to large multinationals, many startups, and the financial industry, all of which are a stones throw from these campuses. As examples, Rotman is within minutes of Mars Discovery District, the largest urban innovation center in the world, and Iveys downtown campus is located inside the Exchange Tower at Kings Street. It cant get any better than this! My goal from these articles is to answer the question in an unbiased way so that you can make the best decision for yourself, given your circumstances and future goals. Lately, interest in Canada has risen, in part due to insecurity associated with post-MBA work authorization in the US, and relatively easier routes to Canadian residency. I hold a Diploma in Canadian Immigration and can well comprehend the attraction of a global and multicultural ticket. A two-year program in Canada gives you a work-permit for three years, or in other words, makes you eligible for the Post Graduate Work Permit Program, which is a path towards residency. Further, any Masters degree from Canada will give you additional points on your Express Entry application, making education a worthwhile endeavor if residency is your goal. Having said that, in Canada, post-MBA salaries are lower, and the exchange rate is weaker. If you check placement reports of Canadian business schools, the average starting salaries are lower than those posted by their American counterparts; $80k to 90k Canadian is nowhere near $140+ American posted this year by some top US schools, especially if you take into account exchange rates. Reported Canadian salaries may also be slightly inflated because American companies, such as consulting firms and tech giants, pay higher than domestic companies to maintain parity across borders. Also, it is no surprise that in Canada, underemployment is high. Studies have also indicated that first generation immigrants face challenges, and make lower than local residents, although in the long run these gaps taper; I have interacted with many immigrant professionals making upwards of 300k. So should you get an MBA in Canada? Absolutely! We have worked with many candidates who are now in business school, or settled in Canada, and all of them are very satisfied with their decision. Many of them have made it to multinationals and other top companies, which would not have been possible without a top academic program. I continue to maintain that education is the best route to the Canadian dream as time spent in University gives you exposure to the market and helps build important connections, both important for your job search. Given the effects of Globalization, and Canadas growing position, this may very well be the right time for a Canadian degree. In a few years, as Canadian firms make way into the rest of the world, the stamps brand equity is likely to be comparable to that of top American schools. For now, in case you weigh the possibility of residency and a great education over short-term salaries, consider Canada. On the other hand if you want a stamp from a top global brand, one you can flash (today) anywhere in the world, consider the US or Europe (I would argue that all top schools provide a great academic experience, and a multicultural environment). Please feel free to reach out to me in case you have any questions. Abhishek K Mohunta Woman to discuss recovery at NAMI Helena event NAMI Helena is bringing Stephanie Taylor-Thompson to Helena 7 p.m. May 23 to All Saint's Hall in the Carroll Commons to speak about addiction, mental illness, the criminal justice system and recovery. The event is free and the public may attend. She will co-present with former Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office Detective Dan O'Malley, who played a part in her arrest for bringing illegal drugs to Montana. Taylor-Thompson was found guilty in both Idaho and Montana. She received full pardons from both states in 2017. She graduated from Idaho State University with degrees in sociology and criminology and is pursing her Master of Social Work. Taylor-Thompson is a former Reentry Specialist for the Idaho Department of Correction and a former AmeriCorps VISTA. She serves as director of reentry transformation for Workbay, and prison ministry manager for Prison Fellowship. Helena music teachers award funds to students These Helena-area piano students and a cello student were recently awarded money from the Helena Music Teachers Association for use toward summer music experiences or continued private lessons: Declan OLeary, 10th grade pianist, $800 for two UM summer music camps Natalie Russ, ninth grade pianist, $750 for UM piano camp Alice Townsend, 10th grade cellist, $400 to play a tour through Europe Davi Garcia da Silva, fourth grade pianist, $300 for continued lessons Meiela Sanchez, fourth grade pianist, $200 for continued lessons Alexa Kuxhaus, fifth grade pianist, $100 for the Sweeney summer piano camp Melanie Kuxhaus, second grade pianist, $100 for the Sweeney summer piano camp. These local musicians had to submit a written application plus a video recording of their skills to the Helena Music Teachers Association. The scholarship chair sent the materials to master teachers in the state of Montana to be judged on numerous criteria, and allot points on a scoresheet for a committee of local teachers to review before awarding the funds. Funds used for scholarships are raised through donations given at teacher recitals and the annual Pancake Breakfast/Silent Auction, as well as an annual Practice-a-Thon. Anyone interested in learning more about the teachers and events of the HMTA should visit http://Helenamta.org. Helena's June ballot topic of meeting Want to know about whats on the June 4 ballot in Helena and ask questions? Attend the League of Women Voters of the Helena Area public meeting 4:30-6 p.m. May 13 at the Lewis & Clark Library, 120 S. Last Chance Gulch. To join the meeting on Zoom, register in advance at: https://go.helenair.com/0hqdk1 Helena Fire Chief Jon Campbell and Police Chief Brett Petty will speak about their departments current needs and the related mill levy and bond issues on the ballot. The proposed mill levy and bond would fund additional police and fire department staff and equipment and construction of a third fire station. The League will also give an overview of the 10-year local government review process guaranteed to Montana citizens in their state constitution. On the June ballot, citizens will get an opportunity to vote on whether they support forming a Local Government Review Commission to study the current form of local government and whether it should be changed. The May 13 meeting gives voters an opportunity to be ready to vote on the once-a-decade choice of whether to review their government and also to hear from both chiefs about their ballot issues, says Mary Harlow, co-chair of the LWV study committee. To arrange a presentation on the local government review process, or if you have additional questions about it email lwv.helena@gmail.com. For more LWV information, visit https://my.lwv.org/montana/helena Bair family topic of meeting The Bair Family a tale of one of Montanas wealthiest but little-known families will be discussed at the May 20 meeting of the Last Chance Gulch Corral. A Montana legacy founded in the Klondike, sheep and Hollywood, the Bair Family left Montana with Montanas grandest private museum and one of its largest ranches. Tis the tale of Charles Bair and his daughters Alberta and Marguerite. Your presenter knew both Alberta and Marguerite. Visit the large Bair ranch home, for example, featuring solid gold plumbing fixtures in the guest suite and an entire home decorated with handmade wallpaper specially created in Paris for the Bairs. The Bair legacy is available for all to see just 90 minutes from Helena. Come and meet these incredible people. The dinner will be 6 p.m. May 20 at the Delta Hotel - Natatorium Room. The menu is Montana Steak Sandwich or chef salad. Each is $35. Email your reservation at historycorral@gmail.com or call 406-475-3406. Email is preferred. Reservations must be in before noon on May 13. If you cancel after that date, you will be charged for your meal. If you make a reservation in your name but someone else will be using it, please let them know. Checks are preferred in payment for meals, but they do take cash. Please make payable to Last Chance Gulch Corral. It is helpful during registration if your check is already filled out. They do not accept credit cards. Meet the Therapy Pets Event Does your pet love meeting and connecting with all kinds of people? Are they calm and well-behaved and have good social skills? You and your pet might be interested in volunteering with Intermountain Therapy Animals. To learn more about this unique kind of volunteering that yields great satisfaction and reward, please join us at a Meet the Therapy Pets Event on 3 p.m. May 11 at Dee-O-Gee pet supply store, 2030 Cromwell Dixon Lane in Helena. Please do not bring your pet to this event. Call Shannon to reserve your spot 406-438-1243. CHICAGO State officials this week kicked off the private renovation of the building that once served as the state governments Chicago headquarters. The James R. Thompson Center, as it was known under state ownership, was sold in 2022 to a development firm that is renovating the building for its to-be occupant, Google. In exchange for the building, the state received $30 million and a $75 million office building on LaSalle Street in Chicago. The Silicon Valley-based tech giant intends to use the building for its Chicago offices after the $280 million renovation project is complete, which is expected to take several years. As of Monday, construction fencing had been erected, debris littered parts of the buildings 17-story atrium and parts of the buildings first-floor curtain wall were already gone. It already looks better than when we owned it, Gov. J.B. Pritzker quipped on Monday. The Thompson Center, built in 1985, gained a reputation for being difficult to maintain. At the time of its sale, the governors office said the state spent $17 million annually on the building due to operational inefficiencies and that bringing it up to standard would have cost more than $325 million. The building, which housed offices for the secretary of state, governor, attorney general and other state agencies, was known for being an unusual and, at times, uncomfortable place to work due to its open design and difficult temperature regulation. I can guarantee you there is no one more excited about today than me, Raven DeVaughn, head of the states Department of Central Management Services, said Monday. Because I know now that when I have a property management issue at CMS, it is not the HVAC system at the Thompson Center. The renovation design is being handled by Jahn, the architecture firm founded by the buildings original architect, Helmut Jahn, and now led by his son Evan Jahn. Renderings released by Google in December show that it will retain its atrium, although its ground-floor colonnade will be redesigned. The building will also be LEED Platinum certified, according to Karen Sauder, Googles Chicago site lead. Over its 39-year history, the building has gained fans despite its operational problems and polarizing design. The postmodern building featured uncommon colors meant to evoke the red, white and blue of the U.S. flag, new-age materials, and a design that radically reinterpreted traditional elements of other civic buildings. Paul Gapp, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, called it the most cerebral, the most abstract, yet easily the most spectacular building ever constructed in the Loop when it opened in 1985. Architectural historian Elizabeth Blasius co-founded Preservation Futures, a Chicago-based preservation firm, after her experience as part of the James R. Thompson Center Historical Society. Blasius was part of the team behind a 2020 push to place the building on the National Register of Historic Places. You have this really nice encapsulation of an era of architecture, when governments were sort of building really grand public buildings, Blasius said. James R. Thompson, who championed the design of the Thompson Center, was a Republican administration that wasn't really afraid to spend money on a building that was really supposed to say something very clear about state governments presence in Chicago. Blasius noted that while her efforts to grant the building legal protections through either a national or local historic designation were unsuccessful, she views the current project as a win for preservation, citing the early looks at the renovation plans and the fact that building demolition is often harmful for the environment. Still, she will be watching what the buildings developers and Google do with what was once public space, such as the buildings plaza, food court and other public amenities. While Sauder reaffirmed Monday that passengers will continue to have access to the train station that runs through the building once Google moves in, much of the publics use of the building remains uncertain under private ownership. Kimberly Perry lined up with her three graduating daughters at Catawba Valley Community Colleges Tarlton Complex. Its been challenging to keep up with three schedules, but its good to get it all done at one time, Perry said. Two of her daughters, Marie Katherine and Issabelle Perry, received their associate degrees in arts on Friday. They plan to go to Liberty University where Marie Katherine will study marketing and Issabelle plans to get a degree in science. Madeleine Grace received her degree in arts and science and plans to go to Unity Environmental College in Maine to study animal behavior and health care. Like the Perrys, many graduates said they planned to continue studies at other colleges to get a four-year degree. Ben Vazquez received an associate of applied science degree in mechatronic engineering. He said he plans to go to UNC-Charlotte to get a masters degree in electromechanical engineering. This is just the first milestone, Vazquez said. Theres lots of journeys, lots of milestones ahead. This isnt the last. William Dunaway, 56, received his associate degree in science. A U.S. Navy veteran, Dunaway said he plans to attend Lenoir-Rhyne University and pursue a degree in sociology. He said he wants to provide peer support to veterans. I dont know what to think, Dunaway said when asked how he felt about graduating. Theres been some hard times, but the last two and a half years have been pretty good. Some graduates, like Anisha Moore, plan to go into the workforce after receiving their degrees. Moore said she will look for a job in a medical office after graduating with an associate degree in medical office administration. I feel amazing, Moore said when asked how she felt about graduating. She said she spent the last two years as a working mother while taking classes. Bridget Grice said she is not sure what is next. Grice received an associate degree in information technology-information systems. Im going to do my damnedest to live life and get something going, Grice said. At the end of the day, you dont have a choice to fail. You have to succeed. Graduates walked across the stage at the complex and received their diploma covers from CVCC President Garrett Hinshaw. Graduates will receive their actual diplomas in the mail in about four weeks. The college said 810 students graduated. Of those, 148 graduated with honors, and 176 graduated with high honors. 'New starting point' for 75-year ties 08:21, May 11, 2024 By Mo Jingxi and Xu Wei ( China Daily President Xi Jinping speaks during his joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban following their talks in Budapest, Hungary, on Thursday. XIE HUANCHI/XINHUA When President Xi Jinping arrived at Budapest Airport on Wednesday night for a state visit to Hungary, he received a bouquet of flowers from Tamara Olah, a 21-year-old woman who had presented him with flowers 15 years ago during the then vice-president's trip to the country. "She was only 6 years old back then, and now she has become a young woman. It was touching to me because her growth from a child to a beautiful young woman symbolizes the growth of the friendship between China and Hungary," Xi said during talks with Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok on Thursday. The friendship became even more mature on Thursday as the two countries decided to elevate their ties to new heights into an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era. Speaking at a farewell ceremony held by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday, Xi said that he and Orban have fully conducted in-depth communication and reached many important consensuses during the trip, although it was not long enough. "I look forward to maintaining close communication with Prime Minister Orban and guiding our two countries to carry forward our friendship and translate the consensuses into tangible cooperation results to continuously benefit the two peoples," Xi said. After briefing the Chinese president about the history and development of Budapest, Orban said Chinese enterprises have made important contributions to his country's economic development and the city's construction. Many projects with the participation of Chinese contractors have become flagships of cooperation and symbols of friendship between the two countries, he said. Hungary expects to carry out more cooperation with China and introduce more advanced technologies from China in order to facilitate the country's development and the well-being of its people, Orban said. Hungary is the first European country to sign a Belt and Road cooperation document with China. Bilateral trade between the two countries has witnessed remarkable growth in recent years. Last year, their total trade volume exceeded $13 billion, according to Hungarian data. Xi said both sides agreed that the Belt and Road Initiative and Hungary's Eastern Opening policy are highly compatible. "We will connect our development strategies more closely, deepen economic, trade, investment and financial cooperation, and advance the Budapest-Belgrade railway and other key projects," he said. Xi also said that China and Hungary will expand cooperation in emerging industries and foster new quality productive forces to empower and facilitate the economic and social development of the two countries. "The relationship is now at its best in history," he said, noting that he has full confidence in the future of bilateral ties after concluding "friendly and productive talks" with Orban on Thursday. Orban said that the success of China-Hungary relations proves that large and small countries can respect each other and cooperate for mutual benefit. He rejected rhetoric about China's so-called "overcapacity" or attempts at "de-risking", saying that Hungary is committed to deepening cooperation with China, and it is undeterred by any external influences. China's development is an opportunity, not a risk, for Europe, Orban stressed. After their talks, Xi and Orban witnessed the signing of 18 documents, as outcomes of the visit, to deepen cooperation in areas including Belt and Road projects, scientific and technological cooperation and nuclear energy. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday it is important that there will be common projects between the two countries in the field of road and railway transportation, as well as energy infrastructure. "I think it's great news that we have extended our relationship to the field of nuclear energy, which has not been the case so far," he said, noting that the best way to generate electricity for the huge demand in the future in a cheap, safe and effective way is through nuclear power. Szijjarto said the newly established all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era between the two countries is an honor for Hungary. "I think it reflects the rightfulness of our China policy. We are among those countries in Europe, which consider the cooperation with China as an opportunity and not as a risk," he said, adding that Hungary rejects de-risking, decoupling and all kinds of such approaches. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Zhong Wenxing) A 22-year-old suspect from North Carolina a former employee at Hollywood Pets in Danville is facing an animal cruelty charge after videos surfaced of an incident from earlier this year. Cassidy Gill of Roxboro, North Carolina, was arrested Friday, the Danville Police Department reported. On Thursday, authorities "were made aware" of the complaint at the Hairston Street business that provides pet grooming and kennel services. "This complaint included videos of the employee striking a dog in January and February of 2024, which was shared by the complainant to social media and other sources," a news release from the police department stated. "Animal Control investigated the incident with the assistance of detectives with the Criminal Investigations Unit." That investigation resulted in the arrest. There are no other criminal charges expected, police wrote in the release. As the videos circulated, Derek Holley, of Hollywood Pets, spoke out about the incident on the Facebook page for the business. Holley said he received the videos April 26 from the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, commonly called PETA. The next time the employee came to work April 29 Holley said he spoke with the worker who was "terminated immediately." "Apparently the videos had been recorded some time ago but were not presented to me when the incidents occurred," he wrote in the Thursday post. "Only after our previous groomer (who captured the videos) was terminated on April 15th did she decide it was in her best interest to release them to PETA." Holley explained he plans to install cameras to monitor grooming activities in the future. "We deeply regret any of this occurred and I assure you these were isolated incidents," he wrote in the post. "We have served Danville and the surrounding areas for 16 years and our reputation is excellent." Close These products all contain substances called methylxanthines, which are found in cacao seeds, the fruit of the plant used to make coffee and in the nuts of an extract used in some sodas. When ingested by pets, methylxanthines can cause vomiting and diarrhea, panting, excessive thirst and urination, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rhythm, tremors, seizures and even death. Note that darker chocolate is more dangerous than milk chocolate. White chocolate has the lowest level of methylxanthines, while baking chocolate contains the highest. Alcoholic beverages and food products containing alcohol can cause vomiting, diarrhea, decreased coordination, central nervous system depression, difficulty breathing, tremors, abnormal blood acidity, coma and even death. The leaves, fruit, seeds and bark of avocados contain Persin, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea in dogs. Birds and rodents are especially sensitive to avocado poisoning, and can develop congestion, difficulty breathing and fluid accumulation around the heart. Some ingestions may even be fatal. Macadamia nuts are commonly used in many cookies and candies. However, they can cause problems for your canine companion. These nuts have caused weakness, depression, vomiting, tremors and hyperthermia in dogs. Signs usually appear within 12 hours of ingestion and last approximately 12 to 48 hours. Although the toxic substance within grapes and raisins is unknown, these fruits can cause kidney failure. In pets who already have certain health problems, signs may be more dramatic. Yeast dough can rise and cause gas to accumulate in your pets digestive system. This can be painful and can cause the stomach or intestines to rupture. Because the risk diminishes after the dough is cooked and the yeast has fully risen, pets can have small bits of bread as treats. However, these treats should not constitute more than 5 percent to 10 percent of your pets daily caloric intake. Raw meat and raw eggs can contain bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli that can be harmful to pets. In addition, raw eggs contain an enzyme called avidin that decreases the absorption of biotin (a B vitamin), which can lead to skin and coat problems. Feeding your pet raw bones may seem like a natural and healthy option that might occur if your pet lived in the wild. However, this can be very dangerous for a domestic pet, who might choke on bones, or sustain a grave injury should the bone splinter and become lodged in or puncture your pets digestive tract. Xylitol is used as a sweetener in many products, including gum, candy, baked goods and toothpaste. It can cause insulin release in most species, which can lead to liver failure. The increase in insulin leads to hypoglycemia (lowered sugar levels). Initial signs of toxicosis include vomiting, lethargy and loss of coordination. Signs can progress to recumbancy and seizures. Elevated liver enzymes and liver failure can be seen within a few days. These vegetables and herbs can cause gastrointestinal irritation and could lead to red blood cell damage. Although cats are more susceptible, dogs are also at risk if a large enough amount is consumed. Toxicity is normally diagnosed through history, clinical signs and microscopic confirmation of Heinz bodies. An occasional low dose, such as what might be found in pet foods or treats, likely will not cause a problem, but the ASPCA recommends that you do NOT give your pets large quantities of these foods. Because pets do not possess significant amounts of lactase (the enzyme that breaks down lactose in milk), milk and other milk-based products cause them diarrhea or other digestive upset. Large amounts of salt can produce excessive thirst and urination, or even sodium ion poisoning in pets. Signs that your pet may have eaten too many salty foods include vomiting, diarrhea, depression, tremors, elevated body temperature, seizures and even death. In other words, keep those salty chips to yourself! 12 people foods your pets should never eat Chocolate, macadamia nuts, avocados these foods may sound delicious to you, but theyre actually quite dangerous for our animal companions. The nutrition experts at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have put together a handy list of the top toxic people foods to avoid feeding your pet. As always, if you suspect your pet has eaten any of the following foods, please note the amount ingested and contact your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435. These products all contain substances called methylxanthines, which are found in cacao seeds, the fruit of the plant used to make coffee and in the nuts of an extract used in some sodas. When ingested by pets, methylxanthines can cause vomiting and diarrhea, panting, excessive thirst and urination, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rhythm, tremors, seizures and even death. Note that darker chocolate is more dangerous than milk chocolate. White chocolate has the lowest level of methylxanthines, while baking chocolate contains the highest. Alcoholic beverages and food products containing alcohol can cause vomiting, diarrhea, decreased coordination, central nervous system depression, difficulty breathing, tremors, abnormal blood acidity, coma and even death. The leaves, fruit, seeds and bark of avocados contain Persin, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea in dogs. Birds and rodents are especially sensitive to avocado poisoning, and can develop congestion, difficulty breathing and fluid accumulation around the heart. Some ingestions may even be fatal. Macadamia nuts are commonly used in many cookies and candies. However, they can cause problems for your canine companion. These nuts have caused weakness, depression, vomiting, tremors and hyperthermia in dogs. Signs usually appear within 12 hours of ingestion and last approximately 12 to 48 hours. Although the toxic substance within grapes and raisins is unknown, these fruits can cause kidney failure. In pets who already have certain health problems, signs may be more dramatic. Yeast dough can rise and cause gas to accumulate in your pets digestive system. This can be painful and can cause the stomach or intestines to rupture. Because the risk diminishes after the dough is cooked and the yeast has fully risen, pets can have small bits of bread as treats. However, these treats should not constitute more than 5 percent to 10 percent of your pets daily caloric intake. Raw meat and raw eggs can contain bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli that can be harmful to pets. In addition, raw eggs contain an enzyme called avidin that decreases the absorption of biotin (a B vitamin), which can lead to skin and coat problems. Feeding your pet raw bones may seem like a natural and healthy option that might occur if your pet lived in the wild. However, this can be very dangerous for a domestic pet, who might choke on bones, or sustain a grave injury should the bone splinter and become lodged in or puncture your pets digestive tract. Xylitol is used as a sweetener in many products, including gum, candy, baked goods and toothpaste. It can cause insulin release in most species, which can lead to liver failure. The increase in insulin leads to hypoglycemia (lowered sugar levels). Initial signs of toxicosis include vomiting, lethargy and loss of coordination. Signs can progress to recumbancy and seizures. Elevated liver enzymes and liver failure can be seen within a few days. These vegetables and herbs can cause gastrointestinal irritation and could lead to red blood cell damage. Although cats are more susceptible, dogs are also at risk if a large enough amount is consumed. Toxicity is normally diagnosed through history, clinical signs and microscopic confirmation of Heinz bodies. An occasional low dose, such as what might be found in pet foods or treats, likely will not cause a problem, but the ASPCA recommends that you do NOT give your pets large quantities of these foods. Because pets do not possess significant amounts of lactase (the enzyme that breaks down lactose in milk), milk and other milk-based products cause them diarrhea or other digestive upset. Large amounts of salt can produce excessive thirst and urination, or even sodium ion poisoning in pets. Signs that your pet may have eaten too many salty foods include vomiting, diarrhea, depression, tremors, elevated body temperature, seizures and even death. In other words, keep those salty chips to yourself! Mothers Day is Sunday, so were running this answer a day early, so you still have time to get Mom a gift. Q: When did the idea of Mothers Day start?N.B. Answer: Anna Jarvis is generally recognized as the founder of a national day to recognize mothers. Before Jarvis, there were other people in the United States who started celebrations honoring mothers in their towns. Mothers Day is celebrated in other countries, too. Julia Ward Howe suggested a Mothers Day in 1872 and picked June 2 as the day. Howe was horrified by the carnage of the Civil War and hoped that the idea of a day for mothers would promote peace. For several years, Howe held an annual Mothers Day observance in Boston. Mary Towles Sasseen, a Kentucky schoolteacher, started Mothers Day celebrations in 1887. Frank E. Hering of Indiana started a campaign for a national observance in 1904. But Anna Jarvis gets most of the credit for establishing an official Mothers Day. Jarvis, of Grafton, West Virginia, who later moved to Philadelphia, campaigned for a national Mothers Day in 1907. She chose the second Sunday in May and began the custom of wearing a white carnation. Jarvis was inspired by her own mother, a religious and community activist who encouraged people in her West Virginia community to provide relief to both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. After her mother died, Jarvis began writing to political leaders, asking for their help in establishing an official day to honor mothers. In 1912, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church recognized Jarvis as the founder of Mothers Day. Governors in a few states proclaimed a Mothers Day in 1912 and 1913. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mothers Day as a national observance. Thats not the end of the story. Jarvis spent the rest of her days fighting against what she saw as the commercialization of Mothers Day. Many of the subjects Jarvis complained about continue to this day. In criticism of florists, she wrote, What will you do to route charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and other termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations? She didnt like the gifts, greeting cards or candy, either. A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world, she remarked. And candy! You take a box to Mother and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment. The selling of flowers got her goat, in particular, because she suggested the idea of people wearing a carnation on Mothers Day to honor their mothers. The police had to be called when Jarvis stormed a groups meeting to protest its sale of white flowers for Mothers Day. The group was the American War Mothers. Jarvis never became a mother herself. She was confined to a nursing home for the last few years of her life and died alone at the age of 84. Forgiving florists paid her nursing-home bills. What's NewSCOTUS: Conference scheduled for May; How has the Pulitzer Prize Committee helped Second Amendment supporters by awarding this year's prize to the Washington Post for their multipart series on the AR-15; Adrian Dominican Sisters v. Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., Judge Hardy dismisses lawsuit. SCOTUS According to Second Amendment scholar Mark W. Smith: "The Supreme Court will NOT grant cert on May 16. What we want is for the AR/Mag cases to be 'relisted,' and then subsequently heard at a future conference. If SCOTUS is inclined to grant cert, then they will relist the case once or twice as the law clerks study the potential case very carefully looking for any procedural flaws like standing, mootness, etc." Conferences are scheduled for May 9, 16, 23, and 30. The orders from each conference will be issued on the following Monday at 7 a.m. EDTMay 13, 20, 28, and June 3. How has the Pulitzer Prize Committee helped Second Amendment supporters by awarding this year's prize to the Washington Post for their multipart series on the AR-15? ..... 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 Eleven months after its previous owner retired and closed Gloria Jeans Coffees in La Crosses Valley View Mall, two new owners of the franchised coffee shop plan to reopen it this weekend. Meanwhile, a new Dollar General store opened last week in Trempealeau. And Rolling Trees, a store that opened in 2019 near the University of La Crosse, has moved to downtown La Crosse. At press time for this column, owners Jasmine Parlow who also is the coffee shops general manager and Dave Polansky expected to reopen the local Gloria Jeans Coffees on Saturday. It had closed last June after 30 years, when owner Al Miner retired while his lease was ending. Miner had owned the store for about 10 years and had worked there for about 12 years. We did a complete demo and remodel and have installed all-new equipment, Parlow said Wednesday. Gloria Jeans will offer a variety of coffee beverages, as well as teas, frozen drinks, refreshers, panini sandwiches and grab-and-go food and beverage items, she said. I was a committed customer (of the malls Gloria Jeans) and was sad when Al was retiring, said Parlow, a Tomah native who received a bachelors degree in business management from Colorado Technical University in Colorado Springs last June. She managed a Gloria Jeans in Ohio for three months before returning to the Coulee Region to run the mall location. Polansky also owns the High Society store, which relocated within the mall in February. It originally opened in August 2021 as Hemp Plus, selling CBD and other products made from hemp. Im glad to be able to get this back open and see everybody be happy again, Parlow said of past and new Gloria Jeans customers. Gloria Jeans hours will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and a grand opening celebration will be held soon. The coffee shops Facebook page is expected to be operating soon. For more information, visit www.gloriajeans.com. A new Dollar General store opened May 2 at 23449 Hwy. 35, at the east entrance to Trempealeau. Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based Dollar General Corp. says that its 20,022 (as of March 1) Dollar General, DG Market, DGX, pOpshelf and Mi Super Dollar General stores in the United States and Mexico provide everyday essentials including food, health and wellness products, cleaning and laundry supplies, self-care and beauty items, as well as seasonal decor. Among other things, the Trempealeau store has an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as the companys new home decor and an expanded party preparation selection, a Dollar General spokesperson told me Tuesday. Each Dollar General store has about six to 10 employees, depending on the individual needs of the store, the spokesperson said. Hours at the new Trempealeau store are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. For more information, call the store at 608-791-5705 or visit www.dollargeneral.com. Rolling Trees opened April 21 in its new location, Suite 103 on the basement level of the City Square building at 444 Main St. in downtown La Crosse. Owner Allan Andonegui moved the store there from 1910 Campbell Road, where it first opened in 2019. Rolling Trees sells a variety of industrial hemp, CBD and THC products. Andonegui said his business also has partnered with a new company, The Jungle Co., to offer exotic climbing plants and many other kinds of plants that are not found in this area. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. A grand opening celebration will be held on June 8, Andonegui said. For more information, call the store at 608-519-5770 or visit https://rolling-trees-llc.myshopify.com or Facebook. Press Release May 10, 2024 Bong Go to join launch of 165th Malasakit Center in Rosales, Pangasinan Together with the local government of Pangasinan and the Department of Health, Senator Christopher "Bong" Go will join the inauguration of the 165th Malasakit Center in the country located at the Conrado F. Estrella Regional Medical and Trauma Center in Rosales on Friday, May 10. As the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health, Go has been instrumental in advancing healthcare access and services across the Philippines through the Malasakit Centers Law which he principally authored and sponsored in 2019. "Ang bagong Malasakit Center dito sa Pangasinan ay simbolo ng ating walang tigil na paglilingkod at malasakit para sa bawat Pilipino. Layunin nating gawing mas accessible ang serbisyong medikal para sa lahat, lalo na sa ating mga kababayang higit na nangangailangan," said Go. Republic Act No. 11463, or the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019, institutionalized the Malasakit Centers program. Malasakit Centers bring together representatives from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. These one-stop shops aim to support impoverished patients in reducing their hospital costs to the least possible amount. The DOH reports that the Malasakit Centers program has aided over ten million Filipinos. Declared as an adopted son of Pangasinan, Go mentioned that there is also another Malasakit Center in the province located at the Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan City. "Sa pagbubukas ng bagong Malasakit Center na ito, mas mapapabilis natin ang pagtugon sa mga pangangailangang medikal ng ating mga kababayan dito sa Pangasinan. Hindi na nila kailangan pang pumunta sa malalayong lugar para humingi ng tulong pampagamot," Go added. Go has consistently advocated for the establishment of new medical facilities and upgrading the capabilities of public hospitals in various provinces throughout the country. Earlier, he also principally sponsored R.A. No. 11558 or An Act Establishing a General Hospital in the Municipality of Rosales, Province of Pangasinan to be known as the Conrado F. Estrella Regional Medical and Trauma Center. This is where the new Malasakit Center will be launched. To further address the healthcare access gap for Filipinos in need, Go also championed the establishment of more Super Health Centers across the country. These centers are intended to provide primary care, consultations, and early disease detection, making these crucial services more accessible to communities nationwide. Through the concerted efforts of Go, fellow lawmakers, the DOH, led by Secretary Teodoro Herbosa, and local government units, adequate funding was allocated for more than 700 Super Health Centers nationwide, including 26 in the province. On this day, Go is also expected to provide additional support and assistance to displaced workers and local cooperatives in Rosales in partnership with key government agencies and the LGU. Pro-Palestinian student protesters at UW-Madison agreed Friday to dismantle their illegal encampment on Library Mall and refrain from disrupting this weekends commencement after campus officials agreed to several of their demands, including helping students present their concerns to decision-makers about how the universitys endowment is invested. The agreement was the result of a week of week discussions between UW-Madison administrators and representatives of Students for Justice in Palestine at UW-Madison. According to the document, the administration affirms that it supports peaceful student protest and that it appreciates that the encampment, named by SJP the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, although in violation of Chapter 18, was motivated by understandably passionate feelings about the devastation in Gaza. The SJP group also has committed to following UWMadison rules in its future activities, said the statement, which also acknowledged the support they received from their faculty liaisons. Camping on university property is prohibited by campus rules and state law. The mood was somber midafternoon Friday as a few dozen students their group much diminished from the hundreds that at times filled the mall since the tents started to go up April 29 to protest the war in Gaza began to take down the encampment and looked for places to dispose of trash. Still, many tents still remained as students held a 5:30 p.m. press conference to discuss the agreement with the university. As the 6 p.m. deadline approached, representatives pulled the tent poles from 11 tents, dropping them one by one as they named 11 Palestinian universities that had been bombed or destroyed during the conflict. We are taking down our encampment slowly and deliberately to ensure we can responsibly redistribute our materials, which are generally donated by our grassroots coalition of supporters to community members in need, said student Dahlia Saba, one of the protest organizers, at the press conference. We are making a plan to donate our remaining funds to support the people of Gaza. From this encampment, we have learned the importance of keeping our university accountable to the broader community, both locally and internationally. Saba said the group would continue to fight for divestment, although the immediate agreement did not accomplish that. We are committed to using the gains and the knowledge weve established through this process to grow the strength of our movement going forward, she said. Fridays agreement with administrators did not include some of the demands previously voiced by student protesters, as well as separate demands from a group of Jewish and Israeli students who met with UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin earlier in the week. The agreement In exchange for students removing all tents and materials associated with the encampment by Friday evening and agreeing not to disrupt any university activities, the university administration agreed: To facilitate access to relevant decision-makers at the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association by July 1 for SJP to present student concerns about how the universitys endowment is invested. If SJP so wishes, Chancellor Mnookin will attend a meeting with those decision-makers solely to emphasize the importance of listening to your concerns and requests, according to the agreement. To work with SJP to enhance its engagement with and support for scholars and students impacted by war, violence, occupation and displacement, including in places such as Gaza and Ukraine. Specifically, by the end of the fall semester the International Division will conduct a review of existing projects, such as experiential learning, study abroad and internship programs that engage with places and people impacted by war, violence and displacement and look for ways to grow those engagements. To invite at least one scholar from a Palestinian university for each of the next three academic years to UW-Madison; to provide more support for students impacted by war, violence and displacement; and to add a staff member to the Division of Student Affairs to focus on that population. The agreement states that campus administrators will ask University of Wisconsin Police to use discretion in its review of individual cases related to the May 1st law enforcement efforts to remove the encampment. More than 30 people were arrested May 1 as the pro-Palestinian encampment on Library Mall was largely dismantled by police. Protesters returned to erect even more tents on the same site just a few hours later. University administrators also agreed to ask the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards to consider the students agreement to end the encampment and to follow rules regarding protests in the future as a favorable mitigating factor when considering possible discipline of students. Long road to deal Graduating senior Ben Newman, a journalism student who describes himself as an active member of the Jewish community on campus, said Friday that he and many students he knows are grateful that the agreement contains no major concessions to the encampment organizers. However, this agreement comes from a chain of events in which the university really refused to enforce existing policies, said Newman, who was among the Jewish and Israeli students who met with Mnookin earlier this week. We are deeply disappointed that the university allowed the encampment to go on for as long as it did, and failed to use their power of moral suasion as they have in the past when there were other incidents, such as last spring where there was an incident of a student who used a racist word, the n-word, off campus. The university was very quick to condemn that, he said. With the encampment, Ten days in and with very clear examples of antisemitic harassment, we have heard no such equivalent accommodation and were left to wonder if the university cares less about us, Newman said. In a message sent to UW-Madison students and employees Friday, Mnookin praised staff and students who negotiated the agreement as well those who shared diverse viewpoints. The chancellor also addressed balancing free speech with university procedures, stating that we must hold on to our commitment to free speech, which does and must include our adherence to the rules, laws and policies that ensure that the space of dialogue is open to all. The full text of the UW-Madison agreement with SJP is at go.madison.com/uw-madison-SJP. Astronomers have searched for years for rocky planets outside our solar system. They have finally found one with an atmosphere. Scientists believe that a rocky planet with an atmosphere is key to sustaining life. But the planet that astronomers found offers no hope for life. Its surface is made up of molten rock. Researchers recently called the planet a super-Earth. It is a rocky world much larger than our planet but smaller than the gas giant in our solar system, Neptune. The planet orbits extremely close to its star. The star is less bright and smaller than our own. Observations using two devices aboard the James Webb Space Telescope suggest there is an atmosphere. But the atmosphere may not be able to support life. It could be continuously filled up by gases that large areas of molten rock release. Renyu Hu is a planetary scientist with NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology. He was the lead writer of the study, which appeared recently in the publication Nature. Hu said, The atmosphere is likely rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, but can also have other gases such as water vapor and sulfur dioxide. He added that current observations cannot tell what the exact atmospheric makeup is. The Webb data also did not make clear the thickness of the atmosphere. Hu said it could be as thick as Earths or even thicker than that of Venus. Venus has a toxic atmosphere that is the densest in our solar system. The planet is called 55 Cancri e. Scientists also call it Janssen. It is about 8.8 times more massive than Earth and about two times as wide. It orbits its star at one-25th the distance between our solar systems innermost planet Mercury and the sun. As a result, its surface temperature is about 1,725 degrees Celsius. One side of the planet probably always faces its star. Four other planets, all gas giants, are known to orbit the same star. The planet is found in our Milky Way galaxy, about 41 light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, or 9.5 trillion kilometers. The planets star is gravitationally tied to another star in the system. Having two stars in the same system is called a binary system. The other star is a red dwarf, the smallest kind of an ordinary star. The distance between these two stars is 1,000 times the distance between Earth and the sun. Light from one star takes six days to reach the other star. Although the rocky planet does appear to have an atmosphere, scientists say it probably should not even have one. Being so close to its star, any atmosphere should be taken away by the effects of the star. But gases dissolved in the planets large ocean of molten rock may continue to fill up the atmosphere, Hu said. The planet cannot be habitable, Hu added. That is because it is too hot to have liquid water, which is also considered necessary for life. Scientists have found other planets with an atmosphere outside our solar system. But they have all been gaseous planets, not rocky ones. As the James Webb telescope pushes the limits of space exploration, the discovery of a rocky planet with an atmosphere is a sign of progress. On Earth, the atmosphere warms the planet. It contains the oxygen people breathe and protects against the effects of the sun. It also creates the pressure needed for liquid water to remain on the planets surface. Brice-Olivier Demory is a scientist at Switzerlands University of Berns Center for Space and Habitability. He helped write the new study. He said, On Earth, atmosphere is key for life. He added that the findings create hope that the Webb telescope may one day find cooler planets that could support liquid water on their surface. But, he said, we are not there yet. Im Gregory Stachel. Will Dunham reported this story for Reuters. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. ____________________________________________ Words in This Story solar system n. our sun and the planets that move around it molten adj. melted by heat vapor n. a substance that is in the form of a gas or that consists of very small drops or particles mixed with the air giant adj. very large galaxy n. any one of the very large groups of stars that make up the universe habitable adj. suitable or fit to live in Tirotto is a traditional Italian dish. It looks like the well-known focaccia but with a lot of onions. In the process of making the dough, it is best to use melted fat or lard, thanks to which onion reveals its flavor well, turns out to be slightly sweet and not bitter. ADVERTISIMENT Food blogger Yulia (juli_co.ok) shared a recipe for Italian onion bread called tirotto on her Instagram page. Ingredients: flour - 500 g water - 300 ml dry yeast - 3 g or wet - 8 g onion - 500 g melted fat/lard - 100 g salt - 10 g Method of preparation: 1. Cut onion into half rings. 2. Dissolve salt and yeast in water. Stir. 3. Add melted butter and flour. Mix a little. ADVERTISIMENT 4. Add the onion and knead the dough until smooth. It will be a little sticky. Leave it at room temperature for 1 hour. 5. Grease a baking sheet with oil. Spread the dough evenly. Leave for 30 minutes. At the same time, preheat the oven to 200 degrees. 6. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Villanueva Highlights Teachers' Role in Addressing Challenges in PH Education Sector Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva underscored the pivotal role of educators in tackling the challenges within the Philippine education sector during the Dangal ng UST awarding ceremony held on Thursday, May 9, 2024. In attendance were University of Santo Tomas (UST) officials, led by Acting Rector Reverend Fr. Isaias Antonio Tiongco, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Professor Cheryl Peralta, alongside the 368 awardees. As a distinguished alumnus and guest speaker at the event, Villanueva conveyed his deep appreciation and admiration for Thomasian educators, acknowledging their significant contribution to molding the minds of past, present, and future generations. "Malaki po ang papel ng mga guro sa paghubog ng kinabukasan ng kabataang Pilipino at ng ating bayan," Villanueva said. In his address, Villanueva highlighted one of the key challenges facing educators: ensuring the employability of graduates amidst the rapidly evolving workplace landscape. "Mahalaga po na mas magkaroon pa ng mga experiential learning para siguruhin na ang mga estudyante ay may mas mahabang panahon para makapagsanay sa loob ng kanilang napiling industriya," Villanueva, the principal sponsor and author of the Enterprise-Based Education and Training (EBET), said. Senate Bill No. 2587, one of the priority measures of the Marcos administration, seeks to address the problem of job-skills mismatch and employability of Filipino workforce by bridging all enterprise-based education and training modalities, including existing programs on apprenticeship, learnership and Dual Training System (DTS). Villanueva, one of the Commissioners of the EDCOM2, stressed the importance of educators adapting to the emergence of artificial intelligence and robotics. "It is important for teachers to step out of their comfort zones because of these developments. It is the state's responsibility to provide them with opportunities for continuing professional development through microcredentialing," he said. Villanueva concluded his speech by reaffirming his commitment in championing initiatives that elevate the teaching profession and empower educators to address the evolving needs of the education sector. A Madison man was arrested Friday night after allegedly threatening to kill a student earlier in the week, UW-Madison police said Saturday. The man, who is not affiliated with the university, allegedly approached a student on Library Mall Tuesday and threatened to kill him if the student didnt put his phone away, according to UW-Madison police spokesperson Marc Lovicott. The student reported the altercation around 3:50 p.m. Tuesday and told officers that the man had continued following him and harassing him after the student walked away. UW-Madison officers took the man into custody around 7:30 p.m. Friday, Lovicott said. The man was booked into the Dane County Jail on tentative charges of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed knife. From the archives: Images from the 1974 UW-Madison commencement ceremony A former Twin Falls man sentenced Wednesday on two counts of lewd conduct with children will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. Robert Kolb Sr., 66, repeatedly molested two girls beginning in 2010, and the abuse continued for more than five years. A jury trial was underway in February when Kolb took the unusual step of pleading guilty mid-trial. Prosecutors allowed him to plead guilty to two charges of lewd conduct instead of the 12 he was facing, with the elements of all the cases combined into the two. District Judge Michael P. Tribe sentenced Kolb to a fixed 10 years prison term for each count, with the terms running consecutively. Tribe, his head turned toward the two victims as they sat on the front row in the courtroom, made sure they understood that Kolb would serve 10 years for the first count, then another 10 years for the second except for the minimal seven days of jail time credited before he posted a $100,000 surety bond. But Kolb might not live that long. He suffers from multiple medical problems, said defense lawyer Peter Hatch, who said prior to Tribes decision that even two years custody might be the equivalent of a life sentence. Kolb told the judge he was flown by air ambulance to a hospital in April after a heart attack. His wife suffers from a disease similar to Alzheimers. Old age and health problems, however, are not adequate reasons that Kolb should be allowed to escape justice, Deputy Prosecutor Suzanne Ehlers said. Tribe agreed with Hatch that the crimes, even if Kolb were to be allowed to go free, likely wouldnt happen again, but said the sentence needs to reflect the serious nature of the crimes. Kolb tried to justify his actions, Ehlers said, including insisting that it was the 6-year-old girls who first initiated the sexual contact, and he allowed it to continue because it felt good. Even after confessing to the crimes, he told an examiner conducting a pre-sentence investigation that he had a difficult time believing what the victims accused him of, she said. But Kolb has now taken responsibility for the pain he caused, Hatch said. I am sincerely sorry for the girls, theyve been wonderful to me, said Kolb, in his address in court. For me to do that is inexcusable. Ehlers compared the girls each having to testify in court twice, in the preliminary hearing and during the trial, as a form of torture. Hatch disagreed with the characterization, saying that his client had a right to go to trial. Regardless, Ehlers said testifying made the victims relive the horror of abuse all over again, she said, even though they wanted to block it out. The girls suffer from a number of mental health issues, including PTSD and depression, she said. Kolb had his share of supporters, Ehlers said, and for the girls, their pain was compounded when they told the truth, but were not believed. While the girls testified, Kolb had never taken the stand under oath, Ehlers noted. Tribe appeared surprised that Kolb previously had no criminal history not even a traffic citation. In addition to the prison sentence, Kolb was ordered to pay $12,000 in fines. Ehlers has 45 days to submit a request for restitution for the victims, which will include expenses paid to mental health counselors. Tribe said he didnt have profound advice to give the two victims, while admitting he had no idea of the torment they have had to deal with. The girls, now adults, have the rest of their lives ahead of them, he noted. Dont let it define you, Tribe said. Shortly afterward, Kolb, wearing a dark suit, stood and put his hands behind his back as law enforcement officers put handcuffs on his wrists. He took a quick glance toward the packed gallery, and was led through a door toward the jail. Hugs between the victims family members followed. Your news on your smartphone Your story lives in the Magic Valley, and our new mobile app is designed to make sure you dont miss breaking news, the latest scores, the weather forecast and more. From easy navigation with the swipe of a finger to personalized content based on your preferences to customized text sizes, the Times-News app is built for you and your life. Dont have the app? Download it today from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Eden Turner Education/Politics Reporter Follow Eden Turner 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 childs brain is a malleable wonder. As children grow older, they learn new social skills, gain emotional intelligence, and absorb more information about the world around them. Early education creates a foundation for these skills and promotes growth that allow children to excel in the future, as reported by First Things First. This is why early developmental programs are important, according to Hannah Sharpe and Melissa Garza. The two work at the College of Southern Idahos Head Start as a childrens services specialist and center supervisor, respectively, and experience the full realm of childhood curiosity firsthand. Although the two didnt originally plan to pursue a career in early education, over time, theyve discovered an appreciation for watching the youngest members of their community grow into strong and proficient forces of nature. Theyre so smart at such a young age and they adapt very well, Garza said. Just seeing their development, emotional or social, (is great)... Theyre really smart kids. I love seeing childrens brains work, Sharpe said. They are capable of so many things, and its amazing to be able to watch them on a day-to-day basis and watch their growth and their development. Knowing the science behind how their brains work is so fascinating to me. According to First Things First, a childs brain grows at a faster rate from ages 0-5 than any other age group, and by the time a child enrolls in kindergarten, their brain is already 90% developed. Even though a newborn baby has all the brain cells that theyll need to grow over the years, the keys to a childs successful development are the brain connections they will create during their early mental, physical, social and emotional experiences. This knowledge is essential for Kelsey Skinner, the project manager of the Magic Valley Early Learning Collaborative, and her colleagues. The collaborative partners with United Way to curate and distribute educational material to young students and their families. It falls under the state-wide Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC), an organization with 25 sectors that identify educational gaps, develop materials, and train educators to provide solutions for the challenges that each area faces. Skinner considers herself and other early education professionals brain architects. If you look at education as building a house, she says, then a childs early years become the foundation, and most often, thats the place where educators spend the most time. We know that we build creativity, ingenuity and critical thinking not only through the right support, but also the right materials that have to be open-ended. (It) allows for children to create and problem solve, and to learn how to think instead of what to think, she said. In 2021, the State Board of Education and Idaho AEYC received a $6 million federal grant that would have supported Gov. Brad Littles literary initiative, helping students ages 0-5 enhance their language and literacy skills before kindergarten. House Bill 226 would have allocated the funds to both agencies. Despite Littles support of the grant, the bill failed to pass in the State House of Representatives following a 36-34 vote, with the majority of representatives in dissent. Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and Indiana remain the only states that do not offer state-funded preschool programs, according to the First Five Years Fund. Not a lot of people know this, and when you think about it, said Nicole Criner, the Idaho AEYC marketing and communications director, it puts a lot of pressure on communities to solve for the early childhood care and education needs of the families within them. It impacts rural communities differently than how it impacts Boise, Twin Falls or Coeur dAlene, and so its (about) navigating what each community needs. Thats kind of the big thing we do through our early learning collaboratives. Because of this, the Idaho AEYC and other local programs go the extra mile to support young children, their families and early education professionals. The Idaho AEYCs Ready for Kindergarten program provides a set of three workshops for the first five years of a childs life. With the help of instructors, families can learn the best practices of how to teach their children the essential skills theyll need in elementary school. Additionally, Idaho AEYC offers certifications for aspiring educators through the Idaho STARS program, which is also sponsored by the University of Idaho. The program is essential, ensuring that teachers know how to create accessible, high-quality childcare and education for their future young learners. Were building an ecosystem for early childhood, Criner told the Times-News. Not every child grows at the same pace as their classmates, and knowing this, the Twin Falls School District offers two developmental preschool programs that gives students more time to catch up to their educational milestones. The program offers eight classes for 3- and 4-year-old children at two schools within the district. The younger students meet in the morning, and the older students have class time in the afternoon. Students are screened to detect developmental challenges, and if accepted, they will be classified under an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that outlines a plan to instill the students success as they matriculate through the program. Educators follow state milestone guidelines, which identify a set of qualities that a child should be able to do by the time they reach a certain age. The classes are really focused on getting students skills kindergarten ready, Angie Gilbert, the programs consulting teacher, said. That way, when they come to kindergarten, they arent coming in behind their typical peers, but they can have an equal chance to be on the same level as them. Idaho suffers from low literacy rates. As reported by the World Population Review earlier this year, Idaho has a 16.4% literacy rate overall. In 2020, the State Department of Education reported that only 49.6% of students in kindergarten through third grade were reading at or above their grade level, according to the fall 2020 Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) scores composed of individual testing for listening comprehension, letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, alphabetic decoding, comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, and text fluency. Since then, this number has improved, with 57.9% of students reading at or above their grade level, as reported by the fall 2023 IRI scores. Yet, theres still more progress to be made. CSI Head Start also works with children that need extra development before kindergarten with a goal to strengthen families in the community through health and education. The program uses the HighScope teaching method, a research-based curriculum that prioritizes play and values academic learning. Literacy is a curricular objective for the nationwide Head Start programs, and Sharpe and Garza explain that the program has made changes along the way to reflect this. Every day, students and instructors participate in an interactive read-aloud, which is a part of the day set aside for students to read books, interact with vocabulary, and see how the stories can affect their lives. Often, reading can be treated like the broccoli of the day, so were really trying to shift that focus, Sharpe said. Some of my most precious memories of being a child involve being read to. Were trying to create those intimate moments so children can have a positive experience with reading and literacy. Additionally, the program gives families books that explain the lessons that students learn during class time. Each book is offered in multiple languages, including Spanish, Swahili and Arabic, because the program understands that some students speak a different language at home. Gilbert explains that the solution to these low rates is early intervention. By introducing these skills to younger children before they begin school, she says, then they will be able to get on the right track to meet state milestones in literacy. Your brain is so interesting, she told the Times-News. Youre born with the ability to speak and hear language, thats just how your brain is wired. You arent born with the ability to read or process print. If you can imagine that part of your brain has this beautiful ability to hear and understand language, and then, how do we connect those pathways to help a child know that the letter A sounds the same when they say it and when they see it? She views these pathways as worn roads with deep grooves that are easily retrievable, allowing a child to grasp the skills they learn over time in any situation. These skills are established through early developmental programs and with the help of parents instilling what their children have learned in school. Early intervention in a preschool program really helps those pathways develop in your brain... As children are in kindergarten and in first grade, when they are reading, you can say, Look how much theyve learned! If they come in behind, then theyre going to be behind because they dont already have those pathways started in their brains... Early intervention (offers) so much success, especially for students with disabilities. Ultimately, its all about the connections that these programs can create with the community. As children learn more about themselves and the world around them, their knowledge will lead to future success. Each program is geared toward uplifting children, which can positively affect the community as a whole. CSI Head Start supports local low-income families, and in Garza and Sharpes experiences, being able to see the impact that the program has on both children and their families is rewarding. ...Its really nice to see it all come full circle for families, Garza said. It takes a community, Sharpe said. In our culture, there arent many opportunities to see that in action, and here, you really get to see people build connections, see families build connections with each other, see children build connections, in that (community-centered) approach. Your news on your smartphone Your story lives in the Magic Valley, and our new mobile app is designed to make sure you dont miss breaking news, the latest scores, the weather forecast and more. From easy navigation with the swipe of a finger to personalized content based on your preferences to customized text sizes, the Times-News app is built for you and your life. Dont have the app? Download it today from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Linda Brugger On The Other Hand, Consider This Follow Linda Brugger 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 If you enjoy interacting with Facebook like I do, I have only one request. Do not complete those personality tests that have started to pop up again. Yes, they are cute. Its fun to know which Disney Princess you resemble. You may even wonder how right they seem to be when they talk about your personality. You are eager to explain part of yourself to the world. Dont do it. I was guilty of doing them a few times during the Trump/Clinton election run-up. I thought they were a time waster and abandoned the effort. Then we had the Russia scare. It was a complex story, and bits of news dribbled out until the Mueller probe ended. Both campaigns engaged in parts of it, but the most significant was the notion that candidate Trump colluded with Putin and his propaganda machine to swing the election to him. The beginning of Facebooks participation threw up no red flags. Advertising has always been known as a way for social media and many websites to offer content without charge. A company called Cambridge Analytica contacted Facebook and said they wanted to experiment with gaining marketing data when users answered game-like posts. Part of the companys ownership was in England, where Cambridge University is found. No one employed by Facebook seemed worried about them. However, there was also a threatening use for all this advertising data. A former IBM employee named Robert Mercer, a genius at constructing algorithms was able to process gigantic databases and mine them for the personal psychological characteristics of the person(s) at the receiving end of every IP address in America. Their specific use during the campaign showed your preference for Trump or Clinton. The dark data concerned whether you were persuadable. Further, what type of information (advertising campaign) would likely cause you to change your mind? The Ted Cruz campaign used the company during the primary election. When Cruz dropped out, his campaign sold the information to the Clinton campaign along with what became known as the Steele Dossier. a story for another time. However, what few people knew at the time was that Russia also paid for the databases. They were building a campaign to destabilize Western Democracies and sell them on the idea of the superiority of an Autocratic government. At the same time, they planned to unseat the United States dollar as the reserve currency. Other than the fact that Steve Bannon, Trumps campaign advisor, had countered Russia during his career in naval intelligence and knew of Russias capabilities, there was no evidence that Trump ever promised Putin anything for the help he gave. The Russians could mathematically identify which swing states would have persuadable voters and vote for Trump. He didnt have to win the popular vote. He just had to win the Electoral College. When someone answers the psychological information in a Facebook quiz and then posts the answers to all their followers, the app accesses all your data and your recipients data for deep data collection. Any new information filed with your existing identifying data will be filed by name and IP address. Your file is worth some money. The naive among us, me included, have understood the simple advertising/marketing angle, and are not bothered. However, new brain research shows how our minds are manipulated, and our personalities can change over time. No one wants to think that our present anger, fear, discontent, depression, or trigger temper might stem from information weve absorbed through our interactions on the internet, But. They. Are. Despite how witnesses have instructed Congress about this, there is a reason no regulatory action is in place. Some power-hungry politicians and others plan to use this technology to their advantage. By design, enemies of any government of the people are working to make you confused, angry, and numb toward participation in government. Even individuals like me, who have loved the public arena for sixty or more years, have been influenced. We must win this Third World War. Any autocratic government suppresses dissent. I refuse to surrender my freedom to think for myself and influence governance to any one partyeven one I agree with when I vote. Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, released from prison in December after serving 16 years for crimes against humanity, said on Friday he had been diagnosed with a malignant tongue tumor. President from 1990 to 2000, Fujimori has been in poor health and was freed for humanitarian reasons after only serving part of his 25-year sentence. - Advertisement - Fujimori, now 85, was sent to prison in 2009 over massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992 in which 25 people, including a child, were killed in supposed anti-terrorist operations. Now that Ive regained my freedom, I face a new battle, Fujimori said in a video posted on social media platform X. Fujimori has undergone surgery several times for a cancerous lesion on his tongue and also suffered from a lung tumor reported in 2018, as well as heart problems. The results confirm a new tumor diagnosed as malignant. So, Im going to start treatment alongside my family, Fujimori said. Fujimori, who is of Japanese heritage, divided Peruvians like few other leaders of the Andean country of 32 million people. To some, he is remembered for bolstering economic growth through his neo-liberal economic policies, while crushing left-wing insurgencies, including the Shining Path rebels. Others recall his ruthless, authoritarian governing style. He asked for forgiveness in 2017 for the actions of his administration. Press Release May 11, 2024 Villar embarks on ALAB for carabao industry' s growth To alleviate the lives of farmers and further spur the development of the carabao industry, Senator Cynthia Villar is embarking on the so-called Accelerating Livelihood Assets Buildup (ALAB) Karbawan program. In her speech in the opening of the training on "Capacitating Coconut Farmers on Dairy Buffalo Production for Increased Income," held at the Villar SIPAG Farm School in Las Pinas-Bacoor, Cavite last May 7, Villar called on participants to apply back to their own communities the knowledge they will gain from the three-day training to help provide better future for the Filipinos. Villar said her support for the dairy buffalo enterprise was inspired by a visit to a barangay in Pagadian City. She saw local families managing dairy herds, processing, and selling dairy products locally. Curious about the economic viability of such enterprises, she thought of the the need for 50 carabaos per operation. Because of this, the following year, she allocated a PHP170 million budget to the DA-PCC to expand this model to 17 provinces. "Under ALAB, each province receives PHP10 million to buy 50 carabaos and a processing facility. The fund will also be used for other miscellaneous expenses," said the the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food. The ALAB Karbawan is an umbrella program for the province-wide Carabao-based Enterprise Development projects- the Carabao-based Business Improvement Network (CBIN) and Coconut-Carabao Development Project (CCDP). "Its primary goal is to establish robust carabao-based enterprises in recipient provinces to generate livelihood opportunities for farmers," said Villar. The training initiative is a collaborative effort between the DA-PCC and the DA-Philippine Coconut Authority (DA-PCA), in partnership with the Villar SIPAG Farm School. It focuses on educating coconut farmers about proper dairy buffalo production and management and enterprise development through a combination of lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on activities. The training is part of the CCDP, funded by DA-PCA. Dr. Liza G. Battad, DA-PCC executive director, thanked Villar for her continuous support to carabao-based enterprise programs. PCA Administrator Dr. Dexter R. Buted also thanked the senator, citing the crucial role of coconut-carabao farmers in sustaining the country's agricultural productivity. Villar, isinusulong ang ALAB para sa paglaki ng carabao industry Upang mabawasan ang kahirapan ng mga magsasaka at mapaunlad ang carabao industry, itinutulak ni Senator Cynthia Villar ang tinaguriang "Accelerating Livelihood Assets Buildup (ALAB)" Karbawan program. Sa kanyang pananalita sa pagbubukas ng training ng "Capacitating Coconut Farmers on Dairy Buffalo Production for Increased Income" na idinaos sa Villar SIPAG Farm School sa Las Pinas-Bacoor, Cavite, noong May 7, tinagubilinan ni Villar ang mga kalahok na gamitin sa kanilang komunidad ang mga makukuhang kaalaman mula sa three-day training. Sinabi ni Villar na ang kanyang suporta sa dairy buffalo enterprise ay hango sa pagbisita sa isang barangay sa Pagadian City. Nakita niya ang mga lokal na pamilya na namamahala sa mga nagpoproseso at nagbebenta sa lokal na merkado. Sa paniniwala sa economic viability ng buffalo enterprises, sinabi ni Villar na dapat bigyan ng 50 kalabaw ang bawat operasyon. "The combination of backyard dairy production and the Department of Agriculture- Philippine Carabao Center (DA-PCC) Dairy Box branding impressed me," ani Villar. Bunga nito, naglaan siya ng PHP170 million budget sa DA-PCC para palawigin ang modelong ito sa may 17 probinsiya. "Under ALAB, each province receives PHP10 million to buy 50 carabaos and a processing facility. The fund will also be used for other miscellaneous expenses," ayon pa sa chairperson ng Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food. Ang ALAB Karbawan ang umbrella program sa province-wide Carabao-based Enterprise Development projects, Carabao-based Business Improvement Network (CBIN) at Coconut-Carabao Development Project (CCDP). "Its primary goal is to establish robust carabao-based enterprises in recipient provinces to generate livelihood opportunities for farmers," sabi pa ni Villar. Ang training initiative ay collaborative effort ng DA-PCC at DA-Philippine Coconut Authority (DA-PCA) sa pakikipag-partner sa Villar SIPAG Farm School. Tinututukan nito ang pagbibigay ng edukasyon sa coconut farmers tingkol sa tamang dairy buffalo production at management at enterprise development sa pmamagitan ng mga lecture, demonstration at hands-on activities. Bahagi ang training ng CCDP na pinopondohan ng DA-PCA. Pinasalamatan ni Dr. Liza G. Battad, DA-PCC executive director, si Villar sa patuloy niyang suporta sa carabao-based enterprise programs. Nagpasalamat din si PCA Administrator Dr. Dexter R. Buted sa senator at tinukoy ang mahalagang papel ng senador sa coconut-carabao farmers upang mapanatili ang agricultural productivity ng bansa. Missoula Public Library Memory Cafe: Live music with Anything But Suzy Memory Cafe is a welcoming and supportive space for individuals experiencing memory loss and their caregivers and family members held on the second Tuesday of every month. On May 14 from 2 to 3 p.m. in Cooper Room B on Level Four of the library enjoy a lively blend of songs from the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s, played by Anything But Suzy! Western Montana Genealogical Society The Western Montana Genealogical Society will host a meeting on May 14 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Blackfoot Room on Level Four of the library. Join the members of this group for general genealogy discussions and tips on making your family history research more productive. Tales from the Trails: Wilderness storytelling and discussion The wilderness areas of the Northern Rockies are vast and beautiful, and they provide profound opportunities for recreation. However, many have not had the chance to experience the backcountry firsthand. On May 15 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Cooper Room A/B on Level Four of the library, join the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation for an evening of live storytelling from those who have spent their lives living, working in and protecting the wilderness that surrounds the Missoula community. Speakers include: Nick Hazelbaker, Erika Leister and Eva-Maria Maggi, Ph.D. Tales from the Trails will regale you with insightful and humorous stories followed by a 30-minute discussion and Q&A session. Free YMCA Yoga class at the Library Missoula Public Library is thrilled to partner with Missoula Family YMCA to offer free yoga at the library! On May 16 from noon to 1 p.m. in Cooper Room A on Level Four of the library we will focus on basic yoga postures, alignment principles, and breathing techniques that help balance, strengthen and stretch the body beginners are welcome! Missoula Scholastic Chess Club at MPL Join the Missoula Chess Club for this meeting held the first and third Thursdays of each month throughout the school year. Students from grades 2-12 are welcome to come play and learn new moves and beginners are welcome. The next club meeting will be held on May 16 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Cooper Room B on Level Four of the library. Friday afterschool meals at the Library Afterschool meals are available at Missoula Public Library! MPL will serve meals to kiddos 18 and under, courtesy of the Missoula Food Bank & Community Center, every Friday in the Imaginarium on Level Two of the library from 2:30 to 5 p.m. The next afterschool meal day will be available on May 17. This service will run until June 7. Western Montana Genealogical Society Work Day The Western Montana Genealogical Society will host a Work Day on May 18 from noon to 4 p.m. in the Blackfoot Room on Level Four of the library. Bring a part of your genealogical project to the gathering. Other genealogists will be working on their projects and can lend a hand if needed, and share websites and advice on research problems. Introduction to Ethical Wi-Fi Hacking & Self Defense This Wi-Fi hacking self-defense course offers hands-on instruction using a unique, cat-shaped Wi-Fi hacking microcontroller. Designed to engage participants in practical learning, the course covers essential skills for defending against four common Wi-Fi attacks. Students will explore topics like detecting Wi-Fi leaks, the risks of QR codes leading to hidden networks, spotting phishing networks and defending against advanced Wi-Fi karma attacks. This class is held on May 18 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the MakerSpace on Level One of the library and is suitable for all experience levels. Registration is required by emailing makerspace@missoulapubliclibrary.org or by filling out this form: forms.gle/zhoU66hoDPBiJrxK8\. American Red Cross blood drive at Missoula Public Library Give hope this spring by donating at one of Missoula Public Library's blood drives! May is Trauma Awareness Month and the generosity of donors like you ensures that blood products are available at a moments notice for emergencies. The next drive at the library is held on May 21 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Cooper Room A/B on Level Four of the library. To help encourage donations around the Memorial Day holiday, all who come to donate from May 20 to June 9 will receive an exclusive Tetris and Red Cross T-shirt, while supplies last. Make an appointment at RedCrossBlood.org and enter sponsor code missoulalibrary or ZIP code 59801, or call 800-733-2767. Together, we can save lives! MCATs All About Podcasting Distribution Join Missoulas Community Media Resource on May 21 from 5:45 to 7 p.m. in the MCAT Studio on Level One of the library to learn great audio storytelling techniques with tech-savvy instructor Kathleen Shannon. Kathleen gives great tips on how to use the art and craft of audio to make compelling stories and podcasts. You can also learn how to distribute your podcast on Apple Music, Spotify and more. Kathleen will show you how to conform your podcast to the standards used by all the popular podcast platforms. Communist Party of India (Marxist) Maharashtra State Committee May 10, 2024 Press Statement Dr. Narendra Dabholkar Murder Verdict: Incomplete and Unsatisfactory Two accused, Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, who shot anti-superstition crusader Dr. Narendra Dabholkar dead, have been given a sentence of rigorous life imprisonment by a Special Court in Pune today. While hailing this verdict, the Maharashtra State Committee of the CPI(M) expresses its sense of anguish and dissatisfaction at the prosecutions failure to convince the Court of the culpability of the three other accused, viz., Veerendra Tawade, Adv. Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave. Consequently, the latter three have been set free on account of the prosecutions inability to prove their guilt in the dastardly murder of this warrior for a scientific temper. Those convicted and those set free for lack of convincing evidence are the sadhaks (followers) of the notorious Sanatan Sanstha. The Maharashtra Police initially, and the CBI later, dragged their feet for over a decade and finally ended in abject failure to apprenend the masterminds of this heinous crime. It may be recalled that it was the Karnataka Police that first cracked this case while investigating the murder of the fearless and indomitable journalist Gauri Lankesh and scholar Dr. M. M. Kalburgi. Their investigation opened a trail that led the Maharashtra Police and the CBI to the terrorist gang, who planned, in their conspiracy to establish the so-called Hindu Rashtra, to fell those intellectuals and activists who swore by the Constitution of India. In spite of the solid leads provided by the Karnataka Police, the investigators in the Narendra Dabholkar and Com. Govind Pansare murder cases failed miserably to go to the roots of this anti-national conspiracy. It is anybodys guess whether the administration buckled under the duress exerted by the Sanatan Sanstha and the forces behind it. By this imperfect justice the clouds of suspicion about the intention of the governments, both Union and State, have thickened rather than dispersed. The case of the series of murders in Maharashtra and Karnataka cannot be said to have been satisfactorily concluded until all the culprits, identified and left unidentified by the investing agencies, are apprehended and ruthlessly brought to book. It is a telling comment on these agencies that they have not even claimed that the hands of the law have reached the masterminds of this terrorist crime. The CPI(M) expresses its deep dissatisfaction about the investigators gross incompetence. The CPI(M) calls upon the Government to challenge this incomplete verdict in the Bombay High Court in proper earnest. It also appeals to the investigators to show their sincerity in bringing to justice all those culprits involved in the as yet unsolved case of the murder of Govind Pansare. Uday Narkar State Secretary The Butte Central Catholic School Board has voted to adopt a four-day school week for the 2024-25 school year. Beginning Aug. 26, classes will be held Monday-Thursday for most of the school year. The decision was made after a process that included parents questionnaires and forums and several months of feedback from the school community. We are excited about this innovative change in our school system, said Don Peoples Jr., Butte Central Catholic Schools president and superintendent. We believe it will strengthen our academic programs and foster our community of faith. According to a news release, Butte Central has already initiated a comprehensive development program for its teachers which will encourage project and learning opportunities, faculty collaboration, and the implementation of diverse instructional techniques. Our goal for the new schedule will be to maximize instructional time and continue to provide outstanding learning opportunities, said Peoples. The 2024-25 school year will end June 6, 2025, and will mark an additional week in the traditional school year calendar for the school system. Peoples said the four-day school week is gaining popularity in Montana and nationwide. The Montana Office of Public Instruction website states there are currently more than 220 schools across Montana that have already adopted the four-day week. Last month, Anaconda weighed in on changing their schools schedule, with the noard of trustees with the Anaconda Public Schools unanimously voting down the four-day week proposal. The daily schedule will begin at 8 a.m. at the elementary school with staggered dismissal times from 3:25 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Currently, school begins at 8:15 a.m. and ends at 3:10 p.m. This school year at the high school, classes begin at 8:10 a.m. and end 3:10 p.m. Next year, the school day will still start at 8:10 a.m., but conclude at 3:40 p.m. The time between classes will be shortened as well, said Peoples. In addition, there will be five Fridays throughout the school year during which classes will be held in the entire school system. Those additional days will ensure that Butte Central High School continues to exceed the required OPI instructional minutes. The school year will also include honoring the mission, vision, and values of a Catholic education, Peoples said. Butte Central also plans to provide day care opportunities, academic enrichment and tutoring, social activities, and community service projects on Fridays. The Friday program is called Empower Day, and stands for Encouraging growth, More family time, Promoting health and wellness (for staff and students), Outdoor opportunities, Welcoming community service, Enriching academics, and Remembering our faith. As for the upcoming new schedule, Peoples said it will help the school system retain its best teachers and attract outstanding candidates when openings occur. Because teachers have the single most important impact on learning, we believe the change will strengthen academics, said Peoples. We are excited about it. Butte Central Elementary Principal Dawn Ann Peterson agreed, citing the benefit of additional planning time for teachers as a major plus of the four-day week. Our teachers will have more time to plan and prepare, which will lead to outstanding learning in our classrooms, she said. Should Montanans expect their legislators to be political show ponies, angling for the limelight and guided solely by personal self-interest and political calculation? Or should they be workhorses who serve their communities and thoughtfully and deliberately solve complex issues? Thats what repeated calls for a special session come down to too many political show ponies. Designed with the state's best interests in mind, Montana's Legislature meets 90 days every other year. Our system is built for citizen legislators who serve their communities not for career politicians who serve themselves. Lawmakers take care of pressing issues during those 90 days every two years. Ninety days is plenty of time for serious lawmakers to do the serious work. Legislators may call for a special legislative session, but its generally reserved for an emergency not for political grandstanding. In the last 16 years, theres been only one special session to address an immediate budget crisis. Lets be clear special sessions arent cheap and come at the expense of Montana taxpayers. A three-day special session would cost Montana taxpayers more than $200,000, nearly $175,000 of which would go to legislators. How did we get to a place where three costly special sessions have been proposed in under a week? In May 2023, 10 Republican senators and all Democrat senators shut down the Senate early and left town before finishing their work. Since then, there have been seven attempts to reconvene in Helena for political shows. Ironically, many who voted to leave early now push for a return. Yet here we are, facing three calls for a special session on different topics in under a week. No emergency justifies this. Its nothing more than a few political show ponies blatantly grabbing for political limelight during a campaign. Its pure politics at its worst. We understand the crisis at the southern border touches every Montanan, either through illegal immigration or with cartels profiting off pushing drugs across the open border. Its only gotten worse under President Joe Biden. Our immigration problems, whether across the country or here in Montana, rest with Biden. Biden stripped away what President Donald Trump put in place to secure our border. Biden could reverse course, but he hasnt and wont. The best way to secure our border is to vote out Joe Biden. A brief, but expensive, special session will not solve the problem, thus calls for a special session are nonsensical in terms of beneficial outcomes. Furthermore, weve seen no real plan from those calling for a special session. No proposed legislation. No course of action. Unfortunately, this is nothing new. The same lack of a plan, lack of legislation, and lack of an actionable course from those calling for a special session are why they failed to address this issue when they could have in 2023. The southern border was in crisis in 2023, but they failed to do anything. So what changed? Whats different now? The answer is simple. Its 2024, and political show ponies are playing political games in the middle of political campaign. Calls for special sessions are designed to mislead voters and are nothing more than political campaigning on the taxpayers dime. Dysfunction, grandstanding, and wasteful, self-serving spending are part of whats wrong with Washington, DC. We dont need that in Montana. Real solutions require real work. In just six months, the legislature will reconvene. Let's commit to substantive work then. As senior legislators done because of term limits, we could choose to come to Helena, collect extra taxpayer-funded checks for a political pony show, and indulge in one last steak dinner and drinks paid for by lobbyists. We, however, choose principle over political pomp, and well vote 'no' to these special sessions that are nothing more than unnecessary, costly, taxpayer-funded political carnivals. Muscatines search for a new tagline may be narrowed down to a final few options by the end of the summer. During the Muscatine City Councils in-depth meeting Thursday, communications director Kevin Jenison reported he had compiled a list of possible taglines from three different sources. He asked the council to go over the list to see if any stood out or if they had any other suggestions to add to the list. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, and some of them are in between, he said. I would really appreciate you looking those over and judging which ones you might favor. Jenison said the city is trying to create a memorable tagline as part of branding that people will recall when thinking of Muscatine. The goal is to drive people to Muscatine and give them reasons to stay. He said the city is working with the Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry to brand the city, and the tagline is the first step. He also said the taglines will help people who live in Muscatine to take pride in their community. We have so much to be proud of, he said. Our history. Our culture. The current industrial presence. The workforce. The small business owners. We just cant say enough about the people and the operations we have here. Jenison showed the council a slide of a possible logo with the tagline The Hidden Gem of the Midwest. He said there are no plans to change the Muscatine sunburst logo, but he showed the logo with different colors. He said after gathering the councils input, he plans to create a list of possible taglines and survey the public. He hopes to have the final list by the end of the summer. He also stressed this does not mean all the logos already in town would be changed. Many of the council members indicated they were happy with the current tagline Pearl of the Mississippi but said that some department specific taglines would be fine. The food on your table, brought to you by prison labor The food on your table, brought to you by prison labor Community Action of Napa Valley on May 7 celebrated the grand opening of its new CANV Food Bank and Pantry, with over 150 people in attendance from the Napa community, legislative leaders, and partner nonprofits from around the county and state. The Food Bank and Pantry is now located at 938 Kaiser Road in south Napa. During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, presented a certificate of recognition to CANV Executive Director Drene Johnson and Doug Hawker, CANV's board chair. The event included tours of the new 18,000-square-foot Food Bank warehouse and Food Pantry, allowing attendees to see firsthand how volunteers and the CANV team work to help those in need throughout Napa County. At the Napa ceremony, Wilmer Brown Jr. from the state Office of Community Services, Administration for Children and Families, spoke about the importance to the community of CANV's work with the food bank, Meals on Wheels, and CANV Kids child care programs. "We are thrilled to officially open our new Food Bank and Pantry, which will allow us to expand our services and reach more people in need in our community," said Lisa DeRose-Hernandez, program director of food resources for CANV. "We are grateful for the support of our volunteers, partners and the entire Napa community, who have made this new facility possible." Representatives from Feeding America, the California Food Bank Association, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, Napa County Health and Human Services Agency, Napa Valley COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster), Puertas Abiertas Community Resource Center, Providence Health & Services, Napa Valley CanDo, the Salvation Army, and others were also in attendance. For more information, visit canv.org or call 707-253-6100. Photos: Napa Valley Faces and Places, May 11, 2024 Bahrain's Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) has signed an agreement with Thales, a global technology leader, to comprehensively revamp Bahrains ID card system. This comes following the directives of General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, the Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Information and Communication Technology (MCICT). The agreement was signed by iGA Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Ali Al Qaed and Thales Vice President and Head of Identity & Biometric Solutions Domain (Middle East and Saudi Arabia) Yousaf Ghous in the presence of iGA directors and senior officials. Al Qaed said this agreement highlights iGA's dedication to the governments vision to develop Bahrains digital infrastructure, and the authoritys keenness to partner with international tech leaders in support of the kingdoms development. The agreement, he stated, comes following an extensive study by the Authority on ID card system renewal procedures, which are aimed at providing more efficient services. The study emphasized the necessity of adopting modern and sustainable technology which will offer cost-reduction benefits, including to printing system support and maintenance expenses. These benefits will help secure medium and long-term savings, he added. According to him, the agreement will see comprehensive changes to ID card printing systems. "In addition to improving the design and quality of ID cards, premium features such as biometric and security features will be enhanced," explained Al Qaed. The upgraded ID card system will align with the latest technologies and meet global standards for digital transformation, he added. On the deal, Ghous said the iGA partnership aligns with our mission to develop advanced solutions and products for public and private entities, enhancing their service quality. "The ID card system revamp is one of many digital initiatives the iGA anticipates this year to improve customer satisfaction among citizens, residents, business owners, and organizations," he noted. "This project reflects Thaless unwavering commitment to a safer and more sustainable world with secure identities for all. We proudly support Bahrain's 2030 Economic Vision to transition towards a more digitally driven, knowledge-based economy," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Kopargaon (Maharashtra) [India], May 11: In a momentous occasion for Maharashtra's cooperative sector, Vivek Bipindada Kolhe, the Chairman of Sahkar Maharshi Shankarao Kolhe Co-operative Sugar Factory, has been elected as a director of IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertilizers Co-op Ltd.) New Delhi. IFFCO, the cornerstone of India's agricultural landscape, stands as a beacon of support for farmers nationwide. Kolhe's representation of Maharashtra, Telangana, and Goa on the esteemed board of directors signifies a bright future for cooperative endeavors in these regions. Kolhe's extensive experience in the cooperative sector, coupled with his past role as RGB of IFFCO, positions him as a formidable advocate for farmers' rights and interests. With Kolhe assuming his new responsibilities, the future of cooperative farming in Maharashtra looks bright. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) The Tajikistani musician, known for his vibrant online presence, revealed that he got engaged to his fiancee, Amira, on April 24, 2024. The engagement ceremony, held in Sharjah, UAE, seems to be an intimate event for the couple. In the series of photos shared by Rozik, the couple exuded happiness as they exchanged rings with each other. https://www.instagram.com/p/C6yyc7tvxkg/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Clad in traditional attire, Abdu presented the ring to his fiancee, who looked resplendent in a white ensemble with a veil. The heartfelt caption accompanying the post expressed gratitude and joy for the momentous occasion. The announcement garnered widespread attention and congratulations from various quarters. Celebrities like actor Elli Avram and musician AR Rahman's daughter, Khatija Rahman, extended their warm wishes to the couple. Earlier, Abdu Rozik, in an Instagram post, expressed his profound gratitude for finding a life partner who respects and supports him unconditionally. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6v-60KPzbe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== As per the information shared by Rozik, the couple is slated to tie the knot on July 7, with the wedding ceremony taking place at an undisclosed location in the UAE. Rozik, brimming with excitement, conveyed his eagerness to embark on this new chapter of his life with his beloved fiancee. For those unfamiliar with Abdu Rozik, he is not only a popular figure on social media but also a talented musician hailing from Tajikistan. (ANI) Former Hollywood producer, whose name became synonymous with the #MeToo movement, will continue to be detained in New York as he awaits a retrial for rape charges. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the decision was reached on Thursday, as the courts deliberate whether Weinstein should remain in New York or be extradited to California, where he faces another conviction. Weinstein's retrial, scheduled after Labor Day, is the result of the overturning of his 2020 conviction on rape charges by the New York State Court of Appeals on April 25. The court must now determine whether he should stay in New York or be transferred to California to serve his 16-year sentence for a separate conviction. During a brief court hearing, Weinstein's legal team denied consent for his extradition to California, effectively keeping him in New York for the time being. As per The Hollywood Reporter, Attorney Diana Fabi Samson stated that California must produce a warrant signed by the governor before any extradition can take place. Weinstein, who recently left a New York hospital, appeared in court in a wheelchair wearing a dark suit. Samson emphasized his need for medical care while in custody and underscored the procedural requirements for extradition. Following his conviction in 2022, Weinstein was initially sent to an upstate New York prison but was transferred to the Rikers Island jail complex after the recent appellate court decision. His next court appearance in New York is scheduled for May 29, with another appearance related to the Los Angeles case set for August 7. (ANI) Australian filmmaker Peter Weir, acclaimed for his directorial prowess in cinematic gems like 'Dead Poets Society,' 'The Truman Show,' and 'Master and Commander,' is set to be honoured with the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the upcoming 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival. This announcement was made by the board of la Biennale di Venezia, acting upon a proposal put forth by festival director Alberto Barbera, as per The Hollywood Reporter. Reflecting on this significant recognition, Weir expressed his gratitude, acknowledging, "The Venice Film Festival and its Golden Lion are part of the folklore of our craft. To be singled out as a recipient for a lifetime's work as a director is a considerable honour." Barbera, lauding Weir's remarkable contributions to cinema, stated, "With a total of only 13 movies directed over the course of 40 years, Peter Weir has secured a place in the firmament of the great directors of modern cinema." He highlighted the pivotal role Weir played in revitalizing Australian film during the late 1970s, notably with works like 'The Cars That Ate Paris' and 'Picnic at Hanging Rock.' Weir's international acclaim soared with subsequent films such as 'Gallipoli' and 'The Year of Living Dangerously,' propelling him into the forefront of Hollywood. Barbera commended Weir's ability to seamlessly merge personal reflections with broad audience appeal across a diverse array of themes. "Despite the diversity of the topics he addresses, it is not difficult to discover a constant in his daring, rigorous, and spectacular film opus," noted Barbera, citing Weir's exploration of nature, societal crises, and the human condition, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Essteemed actor Isabelle Huppert will serve as the jury president for this year's edition, adding another layer of anticipation to the cinematic extravaganza. (ANI) Actor Adarsh Gourav, who was seen in the streaming film 'Woh Bhi Din The', and released two albums, 'Kho Gaye' and 'Ishq Nachaawe', shared how music gives him solace amidst the tight shooting schedules of the Alien prequel series. While talking about his passion for music and acting, he said, "Amidst the chaos of filming 'Alien' and striving for perfection in my craft, music has been my constant companion. It's where I find refuge and rejuvenation amidst the demanding schedules. The ability to express myself through both acting and music is truly a blessing." He is all set to be seen in the highly anticipated TV series 'Alien'. Earlier, he expressed his excitement for the project and said, "I am thrilled to be part of 'Aliens' and embark on this exciting journey with such a talented cast and crew. The opportunity to work alongside renowned creators like Noah Hawley and Ridley Scott is truly humbling, and I look forward to bringing this gripping narrative to life." "I'm excited to shoot for the project after a brief schedule we had last year. There's a great energy amongst the team and the cast and we can't wait to put all the energy into making the series as iconic as the franchise is," he added. Adarsh is working with the international cast and crew to bring the captivating story of Aliens to life. The shooting is happening in Thailand. Adarsh received a positive response for his work in 'Kho Gaye Hum Kahan'. Helmed by debutant director Arjun Varain Singh, 'Kho Gaye Hum Kahan' is a 'coming-of-digital-age' story about three friends in their mid-20s navigating life in the world of social media. (ANI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has termed the Supreme Court's decision to grant interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a resolute response to the BJP's "covert attempts to undermine democracy through abuse of power." "This verdict would leave a lasting impact on the nation's democratic fabric and shape the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections," Pinarayi Vijayan said on Friday. He said that it is impossible for an authoritarian regime to perpetually stifle dissent. The BJP's move to imprison a chief minister for "opposing" the central government undermined democratic principles, he alleged. Furthermore, Vijayan criticised the Narendra Modi government's reluctance to engage directly with the electorate, suggesting that the Supreme Court's ruling exposed the fallacy of the BJP's belief that public sentiment could be manipulated through "divisive tactics and suppression of opposition voices." With each passing day of the election campaign, the BJP's position is diminishing which is attributed to their evident desperation, the CM said in a statement. He said that the verdict not only invalidated the central government's "questionable actions" but also cautioned against the "misuse" of agencies like the ED for political ends. In conclusion, Vijayan expressed hope for Arvind Kejriwal's strengthened commitment to the democratic struggle upon his release, further emphasising the importance of safeguarding democratic values in the face of authoritarian tendencies. Kejriwal was released from jail after spending over 50 days following his arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement on March 21, in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.Kejriwal has been granted interim bail till June 1 with conditions that he shall not visit the Office of the Chief Minister or the Delhi Secretariat. As per the court order, Kejriwal shall furnish bail bonds of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the like amount, also, he shall not visit the Office of the Chief Minister and the Delhi Secretariat. While granting Kejriwal interim bail, the apex court said he would not interact with any of the witnesses or have access to any official files connected with the case. He will not "make any comment with regard to his role" in the present case, the bench ordered. The bench also made it clear that the grant of interim bail will not be treated as an expression of opinion on the merits of the case or the criminal appeal which is pending consideration before it. (ANI) BJP leader and advocate Deveraje Gowda, who has been accused of molestation and sexual harassment, was taken into custody near Hiriyur in the Chitradurga district on Friday night, police said. Deveraje Gowda has been in the news recently in connection with the alleged obscene video case involving Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna. Gowda had in December last year flagged the matter with the BJP central leadership before it joined hands with Janata Dal (Secular). The Special Investigation Team, which is investigating the Prajwal Revanna sex scandal case, had asked Deveraje Gowda to appear before it. As per police sources, he will be taken to Hassan district, where the sexual harassment case against him was registered on the complaint of a woman in April, for further investigation. Gowda has been booked under sections 354 (A), 354C, 448, 504, 506, 34 of the IPC and 66(E) of the Information Technology Act, 2008. The offences include assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty, sexual harassment, voyeurism, house trespass, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation. In her complaint, the victim alleged that she was physically harassed and threatened by Devaraje Gowda and others. As per the police FIR, the case was registered on April 1 for the offence that took place on February 4 at the victim's house in Holenarasipura town of Hassan. The FIR has named three others in the case apart from Deveraje Gowda. Earlier on May 6, Devaraje Gowda had come out against the ruling Congress government in Karnataka, accusing it of "trying to frame the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi" in Prajwal Revanna's case. However, the Congress party has trashed all the allegations made by Deveraje Gowda terming it a "bundle of lies". Devaraje Gowda also claimed that the Karnataka government is attempting to suppress evidence and manipulate the investigation, describing the SIT as "remote-controlled" by the state government. 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. Devaraje Gowda had earlier claimed of writing to the BJP central leadership regarding the Prajwal Revanna matter, while the Karnataka BJP leadership dismissed the claims, calling it "patently false." Prajwal Revanna and his father, HD 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 has been sent to judicial custody until May 14 in a kidnapping case linked to the "obscene video case," while Prajwal Revanna is in another country. HD Revanna was arrested by the special investigation team (SIT) on May 4 in connection with an alleged kidnapping case registered against him at KR Nagar police station in Bengaluru. (ANI) EPPCO Lubricants, the joint venture between Enoc and Chevron, signed an agreement with SKF, a global leader in bearing and seal manufacturing, to introduce SKF RecondOil technology to the UAE. Based on a ground-breaking double separation system, SKF RecondOil filtration technology cleans the oil in service by removing harmful nano-particles that are known to cause varnish and wear of mechanical components. According to the company, by increasing the lifespan of lubricant, this technology supports circular economy making industrial lubricant a reliable asset instead of a costly consumable. EPPCO Lubricants, recognised for its lubricant expertise, is the sole distributor of SKF RecondOil filter across the UAE. After two years of rigorous technical evaluation, EPPCO and SKF have ensured that RecondOil delivers unparalleled value by providing users with enhanced system longevity and reduced carbon emissions. The agreement was signed by Rashid Al Ameeri, General Manager at EPPCO Lubricants and Nihad Dzinalija, Regional Manager, Middle East, EMEA, at SKF Eurotrade, in Dubai in the presence of executives and employees from both entities. Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO, Enoc, and Chairman, Eppco Lubricants board said: We invest in next-generation and clean technologies through our focus on acquiring innovative solutions that add to our operational efficiency. Our latest partnership with SKF will offer our growing base of customers access to a revolutionary lubricant filtration technology that is sustainable and will prevent the oil from aging, ensuring optimal performance. We are confident that this strategic partnership will fulfil the current market requirement providing customers with reliable oil solutions. Sandro Chervatin, Director Sales Italy, Iberic, Turkey & ME, SKF, said: RecondOil is a proven innovative technology, a patented double-separation nanoparticle technology for oil filtration that re-uses used oil and reduces environmental impact. This cutting-edge technology involves a comprehensive understanding of lubricant industry, precise matching of oil with the filter, and an ongoing oil analysis program to monitor filtration performance. EPPCO Lubricants, a joint venture between Enoc, a Dubai Government conglomerate and Chevron Al Khaleej, part of Chevron, distributes Enoc & Caltex branded lubricants and greases in the UAE, providing top quality lubrication products and services to various industries ranging from the automotive to industrial, manufacturing, and marine businesses. SKF is a Swedish bearing and seal manufacturing company founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1907. The company manufactures and supplies bearings, seals, lubrication and lubrication systems, maintenance products, mechatronics products, power transmission products, condition monitoring systems and related services globally. --OGN/ TradeArabia News Service Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma has appealed to the Naxals to join the mainstream and find solutions through talks with the government. His appeal came hours after 12 Naxalites were killed in an encounter in Bijapur on Friday. "I appeal to them (the Naxals) to join the mainstream and have discussions with our government, which is ready to provide very good facilities, more of which will be announced in the future," Sharma told ANI. "The solutions to the issues should be found through talks. Development should reach every village. Why should the people of Bastar be kept hostage?" he added. Talking about the operation of the security forces, he said, "Around a thousand soldiers of the DRG, STF and Cobra battalions of Bijapur and Dantewada had set out for the joint operation. Fortunately, in the operation, none of our soldiers were injured." Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai congratulated the security forces after the operation. "An encounter broke out between Naxals and the Security forces in the Gangaloor area of Bijapur district. 12 dead bodies of the Naxals have been recovered. I congratulate our jawans and senior officers. Ever since we came into government, we have fought strongly against the Naxalites. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah also want Naxalism to end in Chhattisgarh. We are benefiting from the double-engine government," CM Vishnu Deo Sai told ANI. An exchange of fire broke out on Friday between Naxals and security forces in the jungle near Pidiya village in Chhattisgarh. The place where gunfights broke out between the forces and Naxals falls under the limits of Gangaloor Police Station. Earlier last month, 29 Naxals were killed and three security personnel sustained injuries in an encounter that broke out in Chhattisgarh's Kanker, which lies in the Bastar region. (ANI) Elaborating on the difference between the Hindutva of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena (UBT), Maharashtra former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday asserted that their brand of Hindutva "lights the stoves" in people's homes and the BJP's Hindutva "burns their homes." "There is a vast difference between the Hindutva of the BJP and ours. Our Hindutva lights stoves in houses, but the BJP's Hindutva burns houses," Uddhav said on Friday while addressing a gathering in Maharashtra. He further alleged that the Prime Minister was exerting pressure on the judiciary while appealing to the Supreme Court to ensure "legal equality" for everyone. "The Modi government had also used the Election Commission of India against his party. "Our bow and arrow were snatched away. You (PM Modi) took away my party, my symbol, and my men, but you still fear Uddhav Thackeray?" he said. The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief talked about the government report claiming the Muslim population had increased in the country. "Narendra Modi has been the Prime Minister of this country for the past decade, he should clarify if this increase in the Muslim population is his achievement or failure. We are all confused if we should appreciate or criticise him for the increase in Muslim population in the country in the past 10 years," he added. Uddhav claimed that the BJP government has snatched all the powers from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "Kejriwal got bail, everyone knows, the Modi government snatched all the powers of Kejriwal. Modi ji's drama will go on till 4th June. After June 4, he will not be known as Prime Minister Narendra Modi but just Narendra Modi," he said. Earlier on April 29, the Prime Minister took a veiled dig at Nationalist Congress Party (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar saying that Maharashtra has been a victim of a "Bhatakti Atma" for a long time which has led to political uncertainty in the state as well as created a split in his party and his own family. The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief responded to PM Narendra Modi's accusations that Congress has received "tempo loads of black money" from Adani-Ambani and asked why the BJP government did not hold a probe into whether businessmen Adani and Ambani sent black money to his party. "You say whatever comes to your mind, 'you said that why Rahul Gandhi stopped speaking against Adani and Ambani because he collected a tempo-full of money'. Modi ji, you are the Prime Minister. What were your ED, income tax department and CBI doing when tempos stashed with cash were moving? Were they busy with the traitors? If PM Modi had the input about it, the agencies should have acted on it. The PM should have acted on the black money, which he claims has gone from Ambani and Adani to Congress," he said. On Section 370, Uddhav said it was not scrapped by the BJP government, but it has been put on hold to allow [Businessman Gautam] Adani to purchase large tracts of land consisting of unexplored lithium and make money before taking the business to Gujarat. Thackeray also questioned the lathi charge, firing off bullets and pellets on reservation activist Manoj Jarange and the villagers, while alleging that "a phone call from the top made the police to commit all the excesses." He further urged the Prime Minister to stay calm and asked him to stop politics in the name of Hindus and Muslims. "Prime Minister, the kind of language you are using does not suit the post of Prime Minister; the name of your country is getting spoiled all over the country. PM Modi, please stay calm. Take Patanjali oil on your head from Baba Ramdev and do Kapal Bharti. Take rest. Just don't do the work of spoiling my country now. Every time they (the BJP) just talk about Hindus and Muslims, it is not acceptable to give the command of the country to such people," he said. The voting for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections will take place on May 13. The counting of votes will take place on June 4. (ANI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit the Hanuman Temple at Connaught Place today a day after he walked out of Tihar Jail after being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court. The Chief Minister is also scheduled to hold a press conference later in the day at the Aam Aadmi Party office in Delhi. The Aam Admi Party national convenor said on Friday that he would also participate in a road show in South Delhi in the evening. Kejriwal spent over 50 days in Tihar Jail after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy case on March 21, days after the election schedule for the general elections was announced. The bail is applicable till June 1 and Kejriwal has to surrender to authorities on June 2. The Delhi CM can participate in the poll campaigning but can not attend his office as Chief Minister. "I had promised to come back soon, here I am," Kejriwal said while addressing supporters enroute his residence from jail on Friday. "I want to thank all of you. Crores and crores of people across the country prayed for me. I want to thank the Supreme Court because of whom I'm standing here with you. I just have one request to make with all of you we should together save the country from dictatorship. I'm fighting and protesting against dictatorship with everything I have. But the 140 crore people have to fight against dictatorship," he added. Kejriwal's wife, Sunita Kejriwal, termed his bail as the victory of democracy. "Hanuman ji ki jai. This is the victory of democracy. It is the result of the prayers and blessings of millions of people. Many thanks to everyone," she said in a post on X. Opposition parties belonging to the INDIA bloc across the country welcomed the Supreme Court's decision. In a post on X, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata said, "I am very happy to see that Shri Arvind Kejriwal @ArvindKejriwal has got interim bail. It will be very helpful in the context of the current elections". Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, "He was arrested at the time of elections and now the court has given this relief. Hope the government will not make such a mistake in the future." However, BJP leaders criticised the opposition and said that CM Kejriwal is not proven innocent but is out on bail till June 1. Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said, "He has been granted bail for the election campaign till June 1 but what after that? Getting interim bail does not mean that you have been proven innocent. It will not affect the elections, BJP will win all 7 seats of Delhi." Supreme Court lawyer Shadan Farasat representing Arvind Kejriwal said that the order is operable till June 2 adding that there are no restrictions on what he can say or not say in his election campaigning. The AAP supremo is likely to participate in the election campaigns of the party in the run-up to the general elections in Delhi scheduled to be held on May 25. (ANI) Ahead of his visit to the Hanuman Temple at Connaught Place in the National Capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he is happy to be back with the prayers of crores of people and justice of the Supreme Court. https://x.com/ArvindKejriwal/status/1789136395539476605 In a post on X, CM Kejriwal said, "With the blessings of Hanumanji, the prayers of crores of people and the justice of the Supreme Court judges, I am very happy to be back amongst you all. "See you today- 11 am - Hanuman Temple, Connaught Place 1 pm - Press conference, party office 4 pm - Road Show - South Delhi - Mehrauli 6 pm - Road Show - East Delhi - Krishna Nagar You all must come," Kejriwal added. On his first day after securing interim bail from the Supreme Court, Arvind Kejriwal has a packed schedule which will begin with a visit to the Hanuman Temple at Connaught Place. He will then head to the Party Headquarters in Delhi and address a news conference. However, as per the terms of his bail, the Delhi CM cannot make any comment about his role in the Delhi Liquor scam case. The Aam Admi Party national convenor will also participate in a road show in South Delhi in the evening. In South Delhi, the AAP-Congress alliance candidate is Sahi Ram who is up against Ramveer Bidhuri a BJP MLA. Kejriwal spent over 50 days in Tihar Jail after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy case on March 21, days after the election schedule for the general elections was announced. The bail is applicable till June 1 and Kejriwal has to surrender to authorities on June 2. The Delhi CM can participate in the poll campaigning but can not attend his office as Chief Minister. "I had promised to come back soon, here I am," Kejriwal said while addressing supporters enroute his residence from jail on Friday."I want to thank all of you. Crores and crores of people across the country prayed for me. I want to thank the Supreme Court because of whom I'm standing here with you. I just have one request to make with all of you we should together save the country from dictatorship. I'm fighting and protesting against dictatorship with everything I have. But the 140 crore people have to fight against dictatorship," he added. Kejriwal's wife, Sunita Kejriwal, termed his bail as the victory of democracy."Hanuman ji ki jai. This is the victory of democracy. It is the result of the prayers and blessings of millions of people. Many thanks to everyone," she said in a post on X. Opposition parties belonging to the INDIA bloc across the country welcomed the Supreme Court's decision. In a post on X, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata said, "I am very happy to see that Shri Arvind Kejriwal @ArvindKejriwal has got interim bail. It will be very helpful in the context of the current elections". Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, "He was arrested at the time of elections and now the court has given this relief. Hope the government will not make such a mistake in the future." However, BJP leaders criticised the opposition and said that CM Kejriwal is not proven innocent but is out on bail till June 1. Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said, "He has been granted bail for the election campaign till June 1 but what after that? Getting interim bail does not mean that you have been proven innocent. It will not affect the elections, BJP will win all 7 seats of Delhi." Supreme Court lawyer Shadan Farasat representing Arvind Kejriwal said that the order is operable till June 2 adding that there are no restrictions on what he can say or not say in his election campaigning. (ANI) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini said that party workers will reach out to people by going door-to-door to help Narendra Modi become the Prime Minister for the third time with a huge majority. "Our party workers will meet every person by going door-to-door to help PM Modi become the PM for the third term with huge majority...," CM Saini told reporters here. "There is excitement among people in India and abroad with the Narendra-Modi-led government. Modi ji has worked sincerely (for the people in the last ten years)...In the last ten years, the government worked more and talked less," CM Saini added. He added that PM Modi abrogated Article 370 and built a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, "and a lot has been done in these 10 years..." CM Saini also lashed out at the Congress. "During the Congress time, there used to be only announcements but no work. In 1970, Indira Gandhi gave the slogan of 'Garibi Hatao' (remove poverty), but for 35 years, Congress kept on taking votes but poverty did not end," he said. "When Narendra Modi became the PM, he sent Rs 1 from Delhi and our double-engine govt made it to Rs 1.25 and spent for the welfare of the people, " CM Saini said. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the state, the BJP swept the state, capturing all 10 seats. 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. The Lok Sabha elections for the 10 parliamentary constituencies of Haryana are going to be held in a single phase on May 25. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases running from April 19 to June 1. The counting and results will be declared on June 4. (ANI) Deputy Commissioner Doda Harvinder Singh flagged off a batch of 45 Haj pilgrims of Doda District to Srinagar. SSP Doda Javaid Iqbal ACR Doda Sunil Butyal were also present at the event. The event marked the beginning of their journey to undertake the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca. The group of pilgrims included 23 pilgrims from Doda, 4 from Bhaderwah, 7 from Thathri, and 11 from Gandoh. The list includes 31 males and 14 females. The District Administration Doda ensured all necessary arrangements and facilities for the pilgrims to travel safely and comfortably to Haj House Srinagar and will take an international flight to Saudi Arabia today from International Airport Srinagar. "The first batch of 45 pilgrims from Doda are leaving for Srinagar today. Another batch of 18 pilgrims will go via Delhi. Their health checkups and mandatory vaccinations have been done," DC Singh told ANI. Nasir Qayoom Zargar a Haj pilgrim from Doda told ANI, "We wait with patience to complete the Haj. May God accept it. And bless everyone with it. We hope that God fills our life with faith after performing the Haj. We will pray for peace and security". Interacting with the pilgrims, the DC Doda congratulated them for getting the opportunity to perform Haj. He also wished them a safe and secure pilgrimage and appealed to them to pray for peace and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir and the District as well. He emphasized the significance of the Haj pilgrimage and the importance of upholding the values of peace unity and brotherhood. The event was attended by the District Administration and police representatives from the religious community and well-wishers who came together to bid farewell to the pilgrims and pray for their well-being during their sacred journey. Besides a large number of people were present to see off the pilgrims. A total quota of 1,75,025 pilgrims from India has been finalised for Haj this year after India signed the Bilateral Haj Agreement 2024 with Saudi Arabia (KSA) at Jeddah in January this year. The Bilateral Haj Agreement 2024 was signed between Union Minister for Women and Child Development and Minority Affairs Smriti Irani accompanied by V Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs with Dr Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, Minister of Hajj and Umrah of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in January this year. "A total quota of 1,75,025 pilgrims from India has been finalised for Haj 2024 with 1,40,020 seats being reserved for pilgrims to proceed through Haj Committee of India which will greatly benefit the common first-time pilgrims intending to undertake the Haj pilgrimage in 2024 whereas 35,005 pilgrims would be permitted to proceed through Haj Group Operators," the Ministry of Minority Affairs said in an official press release earlier. (ANI) After Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole stirred controversy with his remarks that the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir will be purified when the INDIA bloc comes to power at the Centre, several priests have opposed and condemned the statement and called it an insult to the people. Mahant Narayan Giri, Juna Akhara spokesperson said, "Nana Patole has given a very absurd statement. This is an insult to all the Sadhus of the country... The way he talked about purification after the President (Droupadi Murmu) worshipped the Ram Temple is an insult to the backward communities. He is also insulting the Hindus. It is necessary to punish people like him. The statement by Nana Patole is very bad and we strongly condemn it." Spiritual leader Swami Dipankar also condemned the remarks of Nana Patole and said, "I am very surprised by the statement of Nana Patole on Ram Mandir... I cannot understand what purification is he talking about. I cannot understand what kind of mindset is this... I would say that this is the Mandir of Ram and it has no place for this kind of mindset." He added further, "I believe that this is a very cheap mindset. This is a mindset of dividing the society on the basis of caste... I believe the time has come to boycott this kind of thinking that divides the society." Acharya Dr. Chandranshu, National storyteller and Hindu religious leader in Ayodhya said, "The statement of Nana Patole on the purification of Ram Temple is an insult to the 140 crore of Indians. The construction of Ram Mandir was done by people of all castes... The invitation was extended to Congress as well but they didn't like it... The statement comes after President Droupadi Murmu visited the Garbhagriha and worshipped Ram. Does Congress want to say that this purification is required because Droupadi Murmu visited the place?" Nana Patole triggered a political storm with his controversial statement that the Shankaryacharyas would be purifying the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir following religious protocols when the Congress-led INDIA bloc comes to power at the Centre. Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole had said, "We are going to purify Ram Mandir in Ayodhya after INDIA Alliance comes to power. Shankaracharyas were opposing this (Pran Pratishtha), all four Shankaracharyas will purify the Ram Temple. Ram Darbar will be established in that place. It is not Lord Ram's idol there, but the child form of Ram Lalla. Narendra Modi has acted against protocol in Ram Temple construction. We will do it through rectifications and religion." The 'Pran Pratishtha' of Shri Ram Lalla at Ayodhya's historic temple was held on January 22, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi performing the Vedic rituals, led by a group of priests. The ceremony was attended by representatives of all major spiritual and religious sects in the country. People from all walks of life, including representatives of various tribal communities, attended the ceremony. The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Mandir is constructed in the traditional 'Nagara' style. Its length (east-west) is 380 feet; width is 250 feet and height is 161 feet; and is supported by a total of 392 pillars and 44 doors. (ANI) Mehbooba Mufti is contesting from the seat. She called the development "unprecedented" and alleged that her party workers are being detained. "Section 144 has been imposed in Pulwama district, which is unprecedented and has never happened before..The PDP workers are being detained...," Mehbooba, the former Chief Minister told ANI. Mehbooba also took a dig at the Election Commission of India. "I don't understand if the Election Commission of India wants to repeat what happened in 1987, then why this drama of elections is being created..All the government machinery is being used to support the proxy groups propped by them...," alleged the PPD chief. "A bizarre kind of environment is being created. PDP workers are selectively called and harassed at the police station. Azam Khan, a 70-year-old, party worker was recently detained. He was released after two days," she further said. She also invoked former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. "He announced from the Red Fort in 2002 that free and fair elections were held in the Jammu and Kashmir. The people of Kashmiri are clinging to this paper of vote (democracy). If you want to rig the elections, we will withdraw and leave the fray". Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency is headed into Lok Sabha polls in the sixth phase on May 25. Jammu and Kashmir has a total of 5 Lok Sabha seats, including Baramulla, Srinagar, Anantnag-Rajouri, Udhampur and Jammu. The voting in Jammu and Kashmir is being held in five phases. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases, running from April 19 to June 1. The counting of votes and results will be declared on June 4. (ANI) Weighing in on the Supreme Court granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with alleged money laundering linked to the now-withdrawn excise policy, apex court advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai on Saturday said the verdict "would set a dangerous precedent". Speaking to ANI on Saturday, Dehadrai expressed concern over the apex court allowing the ruling AAP chief to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections while granting him interim bail, saying that even Amritpal Singh, the chief of pro-Khalistan outfit Waris Punjab De can now move court citing the Kejriwal precedent saying he wants "to contest the elections". Significantly, the separatist leader, who is currently lodged in the high-security Dibrugarh jail in Assam, has filed nomination as an Independent candidate from the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency of Punjab. "I respectfully disagree with the reasoning and the rationale behind the Supreme Court's decision to grant interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal. In the eyes of the law, it really doesn't matter whether you're a CM, Union Minister or any other person. You're just (like) any other person before the court and this particular person (Kejriwal) had been served 9 summons and he had been evading these summons," Dehadrai told ANI. He said the AAP supremo "did not deserve" an interim bail since he "allegedly destroyed certain evidence" relevant to the liquor policy case. "There is material to indicate that he allegedly destroyed certain evidence, and did not cooperate with the investigating agencies. So given these antecedents of this person, I don't think he was deserving of an interim bail, especially for the reason that the general elections are going on," the Supreme Court advocate added. Stressing that an interim bail is granted for 'humanitarian reasons', Dehadrai said it could only be considered "if a family member is unwell or if you are unwell". Earlier, on Friday, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to the AAP national convenor till June 1 in the liquor policy case. However, as per the terms of his bail, the Delhi CM cannot make any comment about his role in the case. "In this case, participating in an election is a privilege and in a democracy, it is a privilege that should not loosely be granted," Dehadrai noted. Stressing that a person facing 'corruption charges' cannot claim to be allowed to contest or campaign for elections, the Supreme Court advocate said, "If a person is accused of corruption, has been investigated for corruption, certainly then... that person should not claim as a right that I must be allowed to go and contest the election. It sets a dangerous precedent. Because now anti-nationals, even separatists such as Amritpal...we have seen...is coming forward and saying that I want to contest in the elections." Kejriwal spent over 50 days in Tihar Jail after being arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in the excise policy case on March 21, days after the election schedule for the general elections was announced. The interim bail would remain in effect till June 1 after which he would have to turn himself in before the authorities on June 2. The CM can take part in election campaigning but cannot visit the Chief Minister's Office (CMO). (ANI) In his first address to party workers and supporters after being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in the excise policy case, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi who he said had "left no stone unturned" to crush the Aam Admi Party. "...Our Aam Aadmi Party is a small party, spread over two states. But the Prime Minister left no stone unturned to crush our party and sent four leaders to jail simultaneously. If four top leaders of big parties go to jail, the party ends. The Prime Minister wants to crush AAP...PM Modi himself believes that AAP is the one that will give future to the country...," alleged Kejriwal at a press conference at the party headquarters here. Kejriwal visited the Hanuman temple and at Sri Navgrah Temple in the national capital and will hit the campaign trail addressing a mega roadshow later this evening. "I am coming straight from jail to you. It feels great to be with you after 50 days. I just went to Hanuman temple with my wife and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Bajrang Bali's blessings are on our party and us. It is by his grace that I am among you today...," Kejriwal said. "No one had expected that I would be out of jail amid the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," he said in his address, in which Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Aam Admi Party leaders including Atishi, Gopal Rai, Sanjay Singh and Saurabh Bhardwaj were present. The Supreme Court on Friday gave interim bail to the Aam Admi Party convenor till June 1. However, as per the terms of his bail, the Delhi Chief Minister cannot make any comment about his role in the Delhi liquor scam case. Kejriwal spent over 50 days in Tihar Jail after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy case on March 21, days after the election schedule for the general elections was announced. The bail is applicable till June 1 and Kejriwal has to surrender to authorities on June 2. The Delhi CM can participate in the poll campaigning but can not attend his office as Chief Minister. (ANI) Dana Gas, the Middle Easts largest regional private sector natural gas firm, has seen a 24% fall in first-quarter net profit to AED139 million ($38 million) compared to Q1 2023 earnings of AED183 million. This was mainly due to lower realised hydrocarbon prices during the period compared to Q1 2023. The firm had generated revenue of AED356 million in Q1. The Egyptian Cabinet, in early March, approved a draft law authorising the Minister of Oil and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co (EGAS) to enter into a new Concession Agreement with Dana Gas, as a key part of its consolidation plan. The company expects parliamentary ratification of the law in the coming weeks. Drone attack On April 26, a condensate storage tank at Khor Mor was struck by a drone attack leading to an immediate suspension of production. Production was fully restored in a matter of days following concrete actions by the Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), including firm commitments to significantly enhance security and strengthen defences at the Khor Mor site. This incident may potentially impact the completion schedule of the KM250 project. The Company continues to monitor the situation and will provide further updates to the market in due course. Richard Hall, CEO of Dana Gas, said: It saddens me greatly to report the tragic fatalities and injuries following an incident at our Khor Mor field. We express our deepest condolences to the families. The gas plant was temporarily taken offline as we sought commitments for additional security measures from the Governmental authorities before fully restoring production. Improving receivables Prior to the incident, we realised profits during the quarter despite lower condensate prices and reduced output from Egypt. In the KRI we posted strong production numbers as our plant continues to produce above the 500 mmscfd level it had reached at the end of last year. We have also made significant progress in improving our receivables in the KRI as a result of the new payment mechanism registered last year, which continues to operate seamlessly. This has allowed Pearl to resume dividend payments to the company. Operations & production Group production in Q1 2024 averaged 56,750 boepd, a 10% decrease compared to 62,900 boepd in Q1 2023, and a 2% increase on a quarter-on-quarter basis. KRI production was flat year-on-year at 38,600 boepd, continuing the momentum from the end of last year when it achieved record gas output of 520 mmscfd. Production in Egypt declined 25% to 18,150 boepd in Q1 2024 from 24,200 in Q1 2023 due to natural field declines. Liquidity The companys cash position as of March 31 stood at AED513 million, including AED425 million held at the Pearl Petroleum joint venture. The group collected a total of AED279 million during the first quarter, with the KRI and Egypt contributing AED246 million and AED33 million respectively. The company has been receiving dividend payments from Pearl in the first quarter following the implementation of the new payment mechanism with the KRG last year. This has ensured timely payments to Pearl and gradual settlement of past receivables. The companys receivables in KRI stand at AED334 million and in Egypt at AED209 million at the end of the quarter.--TradeArabia News Service While addressing a public rally in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a scathing attack against Samajwadi Party over Ram Temple in Ayodhya. "This new Bharat not only speaks but accomplishes. BJP said 'Ram Lalla hum aaenge mandir wahi banaege' but the Samajwadi party used to fire bullets at the Ram devotees," Yogi said. Lashing out further he said, "There was a terrorist attack in Ayodhya under the rule of SP. It is the character of the Samajwadi party to fire bullets at Ram devotees and withdraw cases against terrorists." Appreciating the voters for voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said, "You have contributed towards forming the governments in both Delhi and Lucknow. That is why Lord Ram is now seated at the grand temple in Ayodhya, this is an unprecedented event in the past 500 years." Hailing the BJP over Ram Temple in Ayodhya, he said, "For the last time in 500 years, Lord Ram played Holi on 'janmabhoomi' and celebrated his birthday..." He added that we are fortunate enough to witness the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Slamming the Congress and SP, he said, "They want to win elections for their own families but the BJP wants to register victory for the sake of the country." "During the regime of the Samajwadi Party, the anti-social elements were so active that women and businessmen were so unsafe. Today there is no space for mafias and criminals in the state," he added. It is noteworthy that earlier in the 2019 elections, proving all the arithmetic of the SP-BSP 'mahagatbandhan' in Uttar Pradesh wrong, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal(S) won 64 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats. The alliance partners, Akhilesh Yadav's party and Mayawati Party's, won 15 seats. Voting for phases one, two and three were held on April 19, April 26 and May 7. Next, the state will once again poll in and four on May 13. The Uttar Pradesh electorate will also vote in phases five, six and seven on May 20, May 23 and June 1 respectively. The votes will be counted on June 4. (ANI) Claiming that the Opposition bloc--INDIA--had no prime ministerial face, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said if there was anyone who could take the country forward, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a public meeting at Vikarabad in Congress-ruled Telangana on Saturday, the Union Home Minister said, "They (INDIA) have no consensus candidate for the prime minister...no one they can project as an alternative to PM Modi. When a reporter asked them to name their PM candidate, they said their leaders would take turns to holding the country's most powerful post. I want to ask them: who would be their leader to save us from another pandemic like Covid-19? Who would put an end to terrorism? Who will lead the country as PM Modi during the G20? They have no candidate for the office of the prime minister. PM Modi led the country from the front when we hosted world leaders and top dignitaries at the G20 summit. It was also under his leadership that we put Chandrayaan (3) on the moon (lunar south pole). He made India the 5th biggest economy in the world. So, if there's anyone who can take this country forward, it is our leader Narendra Modi." The Union Home Minister was campaigning for Dr Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, the BJP candidate from the Chevella Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana. Drawing a direct comparison between INDIA and the BJP, Shah said the partners in the former majorly indulged in corruption and scams when they held top public offices. "The ongoing elections are majorly between two alliances. On one side is the NDA, which is taking the country forward under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On the other is the INDI alliance under Rahul Gandhi. On one side, there is corruption worth Rs 12 lakh crore...by the Congress and its allies. On the other side is a leader who didn't have a single taint of graft on him in his 10 years as PM and 23 years as chief minister (of Gujarat). He is our leader Narendra Modi," the Union Home Minister said. In a swipe at Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, Shah said, "On one end of the political spectrum stands Rahul Gandhi, who typically jets off to vacation in Thailand or elsewhere when the temperature rises back home. At the other end is PM Modi who hasn't taken a single off day in 23 years, not even on Diwali when he was at the border celebrating the festival of colours with our jawans." "At one end is the appeasement politics of the INDI alliance and on the other, there is the BJP and leaders who talk about the sacrifices they have made and are making for the country. You have to choose between the two." Voting for all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana will take place on May 13, the fourth phase of the ongoing general elections. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the daughter of Odisha commands all three wings of the military, adding that they are the pride of the nation and shaping the direction of the nation. "Today, the daughter of Odisha commands all three wings of the military. The daughter of Odisha is the pride of the nation and shaping the direction of the nation. Today, a daughter of Odisha holds the highest position in the nation. It's all happening due to the strength of your vote, Modi is just a medium," the Prime Minister said while addressing a public meeting in Odisha's Balangir on Saturday. He asserted that under the BJP government, a tribal daughter became the President of the country for the first time. "It was our government that approved the Paika Sangram Memorial, symbolising Odia's bravery. We also issued a coin and a postage stamp in honour of Paika Sangram. Under the BJP government, a tribal daughter became the President of the country for the first time," he said. PM Modi said that the BJD never did anything for the state and never questioned Congress. "After witnessing all the love I am receiving in Odisha, I can say that the countdown for the farewell of the BJD government has begun. Odisha has existed for a long time, but the Congress has always shown pictures of poverty (of the state). BJD never did anything for that and never questioned Congress," he said. Expressing his concern for the farmers, the PM expressed his disregard towards the current faltering state of Odisha, "The BJD government has betrayed our farmers on a massive scale. Here in Odisha, paddy farmers are denied their MSP, and market scams are rampant. A significant portion of the farmers' earnings is spent on harvesting and threshing. The MSP for paddy is fixed at around Rs 2200, but our farmers are deprived of this rightful compensation. The Odisha BJP has pledged to ensure that paddy farmers receive an MSP of Rs 3100, with the money reaching their accounts within 48 hours." Highlighting the BJP government's efforts, the Prime Minister said that the BJP government is already running a nutrition campaign for mothers and sisters. "Thanks to the efforts of the BJP government, in the last 10 years, 10 crore sisters have joined self-help groups. PM Modi has pledged to make 3 crore sisters from these groups "Lakhpati Didis." Odisha BJP has announced the Subhadra scheme for the sisters in the state, which will provide significant support to them. This guarantee will be fulfilled with the blessings of Mahaprabhu Jagannath. The Modi government is already running a nutrition campaign for mothers and sisters. During pregnancy, Rs 6,000 is sent from Delhi to the bank accounts of every sister. However, sisters from Odisha are unable to receive this money because the Odisha government has banned this scheme," he said. Prime Minister Modi also spoke of the 'wheel of Konark' in Odisha occupying a pride of place during the G20 event in Delhi. "During the G20 event in Delhi, I took Odisha's pride to Bharat Mandapam. The global leaders stood in front of the Wheel of Konark Sun Temple and got their pictures clicked... Today, many leaders have a picture of the Konark Wheel in their homes. To honour the Paika Rebellion, the BJP government released a postal coin," he said. He asserted that the countdown to bid adieu to BJD has begun in Odisha. "The 4th of June is the expiry date of the BJD government! I have come here to invite you all to Bhubaneswar on June 10. It's because, on June 10, a BJP CM will take oath. We will give you a CM who was born in Odisha, and who knows and values the tradition of this land. The entire Odisha is saying in unison, 'Double-engine government for Odisha," he said. PM Modi emphasized the importance of a double-engine government in Odisha, urging every voter to support BJP's allies in both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The state of Odisha will hold Assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections in four phases from May 13 to June 1, with vote counting scheduled for June 4. In the 2019 Assembly election, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) won 112 out of 146 seats, while Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) won 23 seats and Congress won 9. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) won the majority of seats in the state, while the BJP and the Congress brought up the rear. The BJD won 12 seats, the BJP finished a close second at 8, and the Congress bagged just a lone seat. (ANI) The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in Ranchi has arrested three more individuals in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land grab in which ED had earlier arrested former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren. The accused identified as Sanjeet Kumar, Md Irshad and Tapas Ghosh were arrested on May 9 under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). "Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Ranchi has arrested three accused persons namely Sanjeet Kumar, Md Irshad and Tapas Ghosh in case of Bhanu Pratap Prasad and Others, one of the cases of land scam being investigated under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 on 9/5/2024," the agency said in a press release. These persons have been arrested for their role in forgery, tampering and fabrication of land records, thus changing the nature of lands which are designated as non-saleable under Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act (CNT Act), a legislation with objective to protect the land rights of tribal and marginalized communities. "During investigation, active involvement of government officials of land revenue department located in Ranchi and Kolkata has surfaced. Sanjeet Kumar and Tapas Ghosh worked as contractual employees at the Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata. The original records maintained at Kolkata which were identified to be forged and tampered have been produced upon the order of Hon'ble Special Court (PMLA), Ranchi for forensic examination," the agency said in the release. Investigation also revealed that some of the lands acquired through such falsification and forgery by the above stated accused persons are under illegal possession of Hemant Soren, ex-CM of Jharkhand. "ED initiated investigation in five cases of land scam with similar modus operandi on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by Jharkhand Police & Kolkata Police against several persons including government officials," the Enforcement agency said in the release. ED investigation revealed that a racket of land mafia is active in Jharkhand which is involved in tampering of the land records in Ranchi and Kolkata. Original land records of ownerships are either tampered or concealed to facilitate unlawful acquisition/possession/use of landed properties. Subsequently, on the basis of forged land records, such land parcels are sold to other persons. "ED had earlier carried out 55 searches & 9 surveys in such cases and incriminating evidences like forged seals of Land! Revenue Department, forged land deeds, records of distribution of Proceeds of Crime among them, photographs doing forgery, evidences of giving bribe to Government officials etc. were seized," the ED stated in the release. Searches have resulted in recovery and seizure of Rs.1.27 Crore (approx.) of cash and further freezing of Rs. 3.56 Crore of bank accounts' balances. In the cases of land scam, ED has provisionally attached tainted land parcels worth Rs. 266 crore (Commercial Value). "Further, 25 accused persons including Hemant Soren, Chhavi Ranjan, IAS (Ex-DC, Ranchi), Bhanu Pratap Prasad (Revenue Sub-Inspector), Amit Kumar Agarwal, Prem Prakash, etc. have been arrested so far and three Prosecution Complaints have been filed by ED in the cases of land scam presently under investigation," the agency said in the release. Earlier in the said case, Hemant Soren, Ex-CM of Jharkhand and Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a Revenue Official at Ranchi and custodian of original government records, were arrested for acquiring, possessing and concealing the proceeds of crime in the nature of an immovable property admeasuring 8.8 acres at Bariyatu, Ranchi. "Prosecution Complaint was filed on March 30, 2024, against them and four other accused persons for their roles in aiding and abetting Hemant Soren in his unlawful acquisition and possession of the said property," the agency said in the release. The afore-said property worth Rs 31 crore (Govt. Value) was also provisionally attached by the ED. Subsequently, Saddam Hussain, Afshar Ali, Priya Ranjan Sahay, Bipin Singh, Antu Tirkey and Irshad Akhtar were also arrested for their involvement in forgery and falsification of land records. Further investigation is underway. (ANI) Indore police arrested an executive engineer, Abhay Rathore, posted in Indore Municipal Corporation in connection with the corporation's drainage scam case, an official said on Saturday. Accused Rathore was carrying a reward of Rs 25,000 on his head and he was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's Etah district on Friday evening. After the arrest, he was brought to MG road police station in the district on Saturday, the police added. According to the police, a scam of crores of rupees came to light in which money was withdrawn from Indore Municipal Corporation in the name of different private firms for drainage work without performing the actual work. When the matter was exposed, the municipal corporation lodged an FIR at MG road police station in the district. So far nine people were arrested in the case which include five accused from five different private firms and four employees of the IMC. "A case related to withdrawing money by presenting fake files in the Municipal Corporation was registered in M G Road police station in the district in which one accused Abhay Rathore was arrested yesterday. Rathore was working as an executive engineer in the Municipal Corporation," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Pankaj Pandey said. The accused was arrested from Etah district in Uttar Pradesh on Friday evening. He was hiding at his relative's place there and a reward of Rs 25,000 was announced on his arrest, he added. "Currently, the accused is being interrogated. The police will take his remand and further interrogate about his involvement, documents and money withdrawn from the corporation into the matter," the officer further said. "In the preliminary interrogation, it is revealed that accused Rathore used to create fake files and documents of works of the municipal corporation in cooperation with the contractors and withdraw money from the corporation. Around Rs 30 crores were withdrawn as of now and files of around Rs 60 crore were put up for the payment," he added. The investigation into the matter is underway. The amount of the scam and the number of accused also is likely to increase further, DCP Pandey added. (ANI) Following the orders of the Election Commission of India, voting is underway again at this booth amidst tight police security. Last week, a video featuring Vijay Bhabor, the son of BJP leader Ramesh Bhabor with the EVM machine, went viral on social media, prompting demands from Congress candidate Prabhavben Taviyad for re-polling in the area. The district administration has ensured impartiality for voters and taken measures to secure the voting process. The police forces raised awareness among the public to vote again. "Re-polling is being held at booth no. 220 of Parthampura. People are exercising their right to vote. Collector mam and the police staff together created awareness among the public of repolling in the area. We had confidence-building measures yesterday and visited different areas to talk to people. All security arrangements are in place," said ASP Mahisagar, Vivek Bheda. Vijay Bhabor, son of BJP leader Ramesh Bhabor was detained by the Police on Wednesday after his video of live-streaming from inside a polling booth under the Dahod Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat went viral on social media. Voting for 25 out of 26 seats in Gujarat was held in the third phase of the ongoing general elections on May 7. The third phase included constituencies from Kutch, Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad East, Ahmedabad West, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Anand, Kheda, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Chhota Udaipur, Bharuch, Bardoli, Navsari, and Valsad. Earlier, Repolling at four polling stations under Multai Assembly constituency of Betul Lok Sabha in Madhya Pradesh was held on May 10. The Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered repolling at four booths in Madhya Pradesh's Betul Lok Sabha seat on May 10 after electronic voting machines (EVMs) were damaged when a bus ferrying them and polling officials caught fire. The repolling was held at Rajapur, Kunda Raiyat, Chikhlimal and Dudar Raiyat of the Multai assembly segment of the parliamentary seat. (ANI) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attacked the Congress party on Saturday, claiming that the party's approach towards terror has always been "weak and soft" and that terror incidents were tolerated during the Congress' tenure without a serious response. Sitharaman said, "You saw it during the ten years of Congress rule how terror attacks were tolerated, proper response was not given. They believed in sending dossiers to Pakistan. The attitude and approach of the Congress party towards terror has always been weak and soft." Earlier on May 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the previous UPA government accusing it of giving "dossiers" to terrorists while alleging a partnership between Congress and Pakistan. Calling it a "coincidence", the Prime Minister said that the Congress party is weakening in India adding that Pakistan leaders are offering "dua" (prayers) for the party to return to power. Referring to the UPA rule as 'shaasankaal' (reign) and the current NDA rule as 'sevakaal' (service period), PM Modi accused Congress of trying to divide the country. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Friday asked questions from the government over the Pulwama terror attack in 2019. The Chief Minister accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to reap "political benefits" from the Pulwama incident after Indian Air Force carried out air strikes at a terror camp in Pakistan. He also raised questions over the air strikes.The terror attack on a CRPF convoy killed 40 personnel."Modiji attempted to extract political and electoral benefits from the airstrikes after the Pulwama incident. I want to ask him: What were you doing? Why did you let it happen? What did you do to boost the country's internal security? Why did you not take the help of the agencies at your disposal such as the IB and R&AW? It was your failure. Nobody knows for sure if the airstrike, as was claimed, took place. If the responsibility of ensuring the country's internal security was with us, we wouldn't have left it in anyone's hands," Reddy wrote on X. Earlier on May 4, Sitharaman accused the Congress Party of politicising the alleged obscene video case of the sitting MP and candidate from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, Prajwal Revanna. While replying to a question about whether the row over Prajwal Revanna would affect the BJP in Karnataka during the Lok Sabha election and the ticket given to Brij Bhushan Saran's son in UP, despite Brij Bhushan facing an inquiry over allegations of sexual harassment by women wrestlers, Sitharam said that the BJP strongly stands against dynastic politics. The Finance Minister further alleged that the case regarding the Revanna is with the state government, which is governed by Congress, which did not act on the case for an entire year. She also said that the Karnataka government, by targeting the BJP, is now writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the case, asking to issue lookout notices against Revanna and bring him back. Speaking about Brij Bhushan Saran's son- Karan Singh getting a ticket from BJP from Kaiserganj, the Finance Minister said that the allegations have not been proved against Brij Bhushan. (ANI) In the first incident, a longstanding dispute was triggered when unidentified gunmen fatally shot Bashir Ahmed before escaping in Dera Murad Jamali. The police immediately reached the incident spot, transferring Ahmed's body to the hospital for forensic examination and later releasing it to his family. In another incident reported in Dakki, unknown assailants on a motorcycle opened fire on a shepherd in the Ganderi area, resulting in his immediate death, The Balochistan Post reported. The victim, identified by Dakki levies as Raheem Baksh, son of Murad Baksh. After attacking them, the perpetrators abandoned the motorcycle at the scene and fled. Moreover, levies officials suggested that the Dakki shooting stemmed from a familial dispute. Later, the shepherd's body was taken to the hospital for post-mortem procedures before returning to his family, reported The Balochistan Post. Meanwhile, in a separate incident in Panjgoor, Mir Balach Khan of the National Party was shot and wounded by unidentified armed assailants. Following the attack, Balach Khan was transported to Karachi for advanced medical treatment. Balochistan has been witnessing such crimes, including enforced disappearance, atrocities on people, firing incidents and attacks by security forces. Earlier this week, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Sheikh Jaffar Mandokhail sworn in as the new governor of Balochistan in a ceremony at the Governor House on Monday, Geo News reported. "The problems and difficulties of the province will be discussed with the federal government. There is room for improvement in terms of governance in the province," Mandokhail said, speaking with journalists following the oath-taking ceremony. (ANI) In a strong display of outrage, Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan shredded the UN charter at the United Nations General Assembly just before it passed a resolution for supporting full membership of Palestine. The UNGA on Friday voted overwhelmingly for a resolution asking the Security Council to make Palestine, which has UN observer status, a full member. The resolution was passed by a resounding majority of 143 votes in favour including by India while 25 countries abstained, and nine nations, including the United States and Israel, voted against it. The Israeli envoy Erdan called the resolution a "clear violation" of the UN Charter and said that it subverted the US veto in the Security Council last month. Erdan said he is "holding up the mirror" for General Assembly members while shredding the UN Charter. "This day will go down in infamy. I want the entire world to remember this moment, this immoral act...today I want to hold up a mirror for you, so you can see what exactly you are inflicting upon the UN Charter with this destructive vote. You are shredding the UN Charter with your own hands," he said. He also alleged that the resolution opens up the UN for "modern day Nazis" referring to Hamas. "Today, you are also about to grant privileges and write to the future terror state of Hamas. You have opened up the United Nations for modern day Nazis, to the Hitler of our times...So here it is. I present to you the future outcome of today's vote...the soon-to-be President, Yahya Sinwar, President tyrant of the State of Hamas, sponsored by the UN, and he owes his deepest gratitude to you, the General Assembly," the Israeli envoy added while holding up an image of Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza. "At the end of my speech, I tore the 'UN Charter' to pieces, to illustrate what the assembly is doing in its support for the entry of Palestinian terrorism into the UN," Erdan later posted on X. The text, put forward by the United Arab Emirates, grants new privileges to the Palestinian Authority in its current capacity as a non-member observer state and calls for the UN Security Council - which must rule on Palestinian membership -- to "reconsider the matter favourably," as reported by CNN. Israel foreign minister Israel Katz also condemned the resolution's passage, describing it as an "absurd decision" that highlights "the structural bias of the UN" and rewards the actions of Hamas on October 7, CNN reported. "The message that the UN is sending to our suffering region: violence pays off," he said. "The decision to upgrade the status of Palestinians in the UN is a prize for Hamas terrorists after they committed the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust." Meanwhile, the Palestinian envoy, Riyad Mansour, stated that the Palestinian Authority will now request full membership from the Security Council. However, the US has already warned that it will likely veto such a request in the Security Council - a replay of its April veto of an earlier Palestinian membership request. Last month, the United States used its veto power to block a United Nations Security Council resolution on granting statehood to Palestine. In the vote 12-1, the one being the US veto and two abstentions, the UNSC did not adopt a draft resolution that would have recommended the General Assembly to hold a vote with the broader UN membership to allow Palestine to join as a full UN Member State. For a draft resolution to pass, the UNSC must have at least nine members in favour and none of its permanent members--China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US--using their veto power, according to the UN document. (ANI) In addition to TikTok, China uses numerous other social media platforms including online games to monitor internet users globally, Voice of America reported, citing an Australian study. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a research organisation that receives funding from the Australian government and others overseas, said in a May 2 report that "Beijing's propaganda chiefs are forging ties with Chinese tech companies to gather personal data from a wide range of social media apps or platforms and popular online games." They include the ride-sharing app DiDi, the action game Genshin Impact, and Temu, the popular online marketplace. China is "working to extend its influence abroad to reshape the global information ecosystem...to strengthen its grip on power, legitimise its activities and bolster China's cultural, technological, economic and military influence," the report stated. However, there has been no response from the Chinese authorities so far. Beijing has previously accused the Australian government of "anti-China hysteria" over various geopolitical and trade disputes, according to VOA. Samantha Hoffman, the lead author of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute report, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation this week that data obtained from apps, platforms and games could be valuable to China. "That could be data on the way that users make decisions. [With] Temu, it could be preferences that indicate the likes and dislikes of particular demographics," she said. "If China is trying to shape the way that the world perceives and understands truth and reality, then this data will help to make those efforts more successful over time." The report urged policymakers to "develop robust defences and countermeasures to safeguard against future information campaigns orchestrated by Beijing." It also asserts that much attention has been given to the Chinese-owned platform TikTok because of concerns that the user data it collects could be shared with Chinese authorities. It cautions, however, that the problem "runs much deeper than just TikTok." TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, has said it will mount a court challenge in the United States to what it called an "unconstitutional" law making its way through Congress that could require the platform to be sold or banned in that country, as reported by VOA. ByteDance has denied collusion with the Chinese government. Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, told VOA she thinks the Strategic Policy Institute report is exaggerated. "[The] Chinese propaganda machine is huge, but to link all social media apps [to] this propaganda machine is a bit of overstretching," she said. Zhang said she believes technological collaboration, and not confrontation, is in China's best interests. "If segregation is going to happen and if reports like this [are] going to happen, China will be isolated from the rest of the world," Zhang said. "So, we do not want to see a total technological decoupling between China and the West in terms of not just applications but also eventually in technological infrastructure. That is not going to be good for anybody." Last year, Australia said it would ban TikTok on government devices, including cell phones, because of security and surveillance fears. (ANI) First Guizhou-Vientiane train route arrives in Laos Xinhua) 08:54, May 11, 2024 VIENTIANE, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The first train traveling from Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, to Lao capital Vientiane, arrived on Thursday, carrying over 200 Chinese tourists and making stronger links between Laos and China. The train marked an important step in the development of high-quality tourism between China and Laos, with the China-Laos Railway being a pivotal link in the process. The Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, in collaboration with the Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd. (LCRC), and the Lao National Art Troupe organized an impressive show to welcome the tourists arriving at the Lane Xang EMU train station, which the group enjoyed with some dancing to the music. After arriving in Vientiane, the visitors will take a tour of the capital, followed by a trip to Vangvieng district in Vientiane province, and then to northern Laos' Luang Prabang province and other places of interest. Initially, the tours on this route will be scheduled once a month. The LCRC and tourist authorities may increase the number of train trips depending on passenger demand. The China-Laos Railway is a landmark symbol of the friendship between Laos and China and has been a great boost to the success of Visit Laos Year 2024. Since the end of 2023, the LCRC and the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism have sought to bolster tourism in Laos through greater use of the railway. The number of tourists coming to Laos via the China-Laos Railway is increasing, helping to fulfill the Lao government's ambition to rejuvenate the economy through tourism. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing) At least 50 people have been killed and dozens more are missing in severe flooding that followed intense rain in north Afghanistan's Baghlan province, TOLO News reported. Hedayatullah Hamdard, the head of Natural Disaster Response in Baghlan, told TOLO News that floods have occurred in the districts of Burka, Nahrin, and central Baghlan. He emphasised that search operations to find the victims are ongoing and that the death toll may rise. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Public Health announced that rescue teams have reached the affected areas. Sharafat Zaman stated that the injured and bodies have been transferred to the central hospital; however, due to the severity of the floods, the exact number of casualties has not yet been determined. Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, also expressed condolences to the victims of the floods in Baghlan, Badakhshan, Ghor, and Herat through a statement. He added that orders have been given to the Ministries of Defence and Interior, as well as provincial officials, to use all available resources for the rescue of the people. In the statement, compatriots are also asked to assist the flood-affected people to the best of their ability. Meanwhile, local officials in the provinces of Takhar and Ghor have reported the death of four more people due to the floods, as reported by TOLO News. Notably, similar episodes have rocked the country lately. Earlier this month, heavy downpours, followed by floods, claimed the lives of at least 14 people and has also resulted in widespread destruction across the nation Last month, nine people were killed after their houses collapsed due to heavy rainfall and flooding in the Greshk and Kajaki districts of Afghanistan's Helmand province. (ANI) This includes 7.4 million Jews (73.2 per cent of the population), 2.08 million Arabs (21.1 per cent), and 564,000 others, such as Druze, Circassians, Armenians and others (5.7 per cent) Since last year's Independence Day, the population grew by 189,000, an increase of 1.9 per cent. According to the CBS, this included about 196,000 births, the arrival of about 37,000 immigrants, and the deaths of around 60,000 citizens. At the time of Israel's establishment in 1948, the population was 806,000, a growth of a factor higher than 12. Since Israel's founding, more than 3.4 million immigrants have arrived in Israel, of whom 1.6 million (47.1 per cent) arrived after 1990. (ANI/TPS) In a bid to strengthen defence ties, India and France will conduct the 7th edition of the Joint Military Exercise 'Shakti' from May 13-26 in the Umroi region of Meghalaya. The exercise aims to enhance the joint military capacity of both sides to undertake Multi-Domain Operations in a Sub Conventional scenario, the Indian Army said. Additionally, the joint exercise will facilitate the development of interoperability bonhomie, and camaraderie between the Armed Forces of both nations. Indian Army shared details of the upcoming exercise saying, "Exercise #Shakti 2024 The 7th Edition of Joint Military Exercise between #India & #France will be conducted from 13 to 26 May 2024 in #Umroi, #Meghalaya. The aim of the exercise is to enhance joint military capability of both sides to undertake Multi Domain Operations in a Sub Conventional scenario. The joint exercise will facilitate developing #interoperability, #bonhomie and #camaraderie between Armed Forces of both the Nations." The sixth edition of Indo-France joint army exercise Ex Shakti 2021, occurred at the Military School of Draguignan, France in November 2021. The Indian Army contingent was represented by a composite team of three Officers, three Junior Commissioned Officers and 37 soldiers from a battalion of Gorkha Rifles and support Arms. The training was focused on aspects of joint planning, mutual understanding of conduct of operations and identification of coordination aspects required for jointly operating in a Counter Terrorism environment under United Nations mandate. The participating contingents had also been put through paces of combat conditioning and tactical training which included firing drills and 'battle hardening' work sessions. The exercise was conducted in two phases which culminated with a grueling 36 hours exercise to validate the standards achieved during the two phases. Earlier, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan visited France from April 22-25. The visit was aimed to reinforce further the robust defence ties between the two nations, which have gained considerable momentum in the last few years. (ANI) Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence issued a statement on Saturday revealing that a significant presence of Chinese military aircraft and vessels has been detected in the vicinity of Taiwan. According to the ministry, as of 6 am (UTC+8) that day, a total of 15 China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and 6 China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels were observed operating around Taiwan. Of particular concern is the revelation that 9 of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, breaching Taiwan's Southwestern Air Defence Identification Zone (SW ADIZ) and entering its airspace. This development underscores escalating tensions between Taiwan and China, as such airspace violations are viewed as provocative actions. In response to the detected presence, Taiwan's Armed Forces, represented by the Republic of China Armed Forces (ROCArmedForces), have closely monitored the situation and initiated appropriate responses. The nature of these responses was not detailed in the statement. The increased activity in the Taiwan Strait region comes amidst growing geopolitical tensions between Taiwan and China. Taiwan has long been a point of contention for Beijing, which considers the island a renegade province and has repeatedly expressed intentions to reunify it with the mainland, even if by force. "15 PLA aircraft and 6 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 9 of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's SW ADIZ. #ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and responded accordingly," said Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence on Saturday. 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) Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will not join the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led federal cabinet before or after the presentation of the budget in parliament, The Express Tribune reported citing PPP sources. This comes amid reports of the PPP being invited by the ruling party to join the coalition and also offered ministries for the same. Sources also added that during a recent meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal, there was no discussion on joining the federal cabinet. Instead, the sources said Bilawal, during the meeting, stressed the need for making the purchase of wheat mandatory. However, there were other insiders, who had recently revealed that the ruling PML-N and PPP were close to finalising a power-sharing deal and Bilawal was likely to return as the country's foreign minister. They claimed that Bilawal, who was initially reluctant to join the cabinet, had agreed to become the foreign minister for the second time. The two sides were now working on the details and the timing of the PPP's formal induction into the federal cabinet. Earlier this month, the premier and Bilawal had met at the PM's House to finalise the names of the governors for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. According to an official statement, PM Shehbaz and Bilawal discussed the overall political situation in the country. However, a PPP leader maintained that even though the prime minister and other parties in the ruling coalition wanted the PPP in the cabinet, the party leadership had had not yet decided to change its previous stance on the matter. The leader termed the reports suggesting that the PPP was joining the cabinet after the budget "speculative", saying that no such discussion had taken place during the meetings between the two sides. (ANI) International Nurses Day is celebrated across the world, every year on the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale to mark the contributions of nurses towards society. The International Council of Nurses has declared the theme for this year as 'Our Nurses Our Future, The Economic Power of Care' and the theme was unveiled by Maj Gen ID Flora, Addl DGMNS. To commemorate the occasion, a debate on 'Artificial Intelligence in Nursing: Boon or a Bane' and a panel discussion on the theme were conducted. The eminent panellists discussed various aspects, including challenges in the nursing profession, approaches to empower nurses, the leadership role of nurses, nursing education, digitalization in health care, nurse burnout, etc, the release also said. The Chief Guest felicitated the panellists and awarded the meritorious nursing officers with appreciation certificates. Capt Deepa Shajan was awarded the Pushpnaranjan Award. The Chief Guest also addressed the gathering and motivated them to uphold the professional standards and ethos set by military nursing officers. He complimented the MNS officers for working tirelessly in endless shifts and taking care of patients with the utmost compassion and empathy, the release added. (ANI) Efforts are underway to negotiate the presence of US forces in Niger, amidst broader discussions surrounding the withdrawal of American troops from the West African nation. While a broad withdrawal order has been issued for the majority of the less than 1,000 US troops in Niger, officials are exploring the possibility of leaving behind a small contingent, according to US officials, CNN reported. Discussions have commenced with the military junta that took control of Niger last July, with the aim of reaching an agreement on troop presence. Although some initial conversations have begun, detailed discussions with Niger's civilian leadership are pending, focusing primarily on the logistics of the withdrawal. Chris Maier, assistant secretary of Defence for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, emphasised the significance of aligning with Niger's preferences. "We'll make the most out of the situation that was presented to us but the intent is in Niger, to draw down to a level that the Nigerians can live with," Maier told CNN. However, negotiations must address key issues such as permitting US military flights in and out of the country, with airspace restrictions imposed since the coup last July. A phased withdrawal plan is underway, with non-essential equipment and personnel being gradually removed from Niger. Despite ongoing discussions, the possibility of retaining a small troop presence remains uncertain, as Niger's government has expressed a clear desire for the complete departure of US forces. The volatile situation in Niger reflects broader concerns about growing instability across Africa, marked by a wave of military coups in recent years. This instability has provided opportunities for rival powers like Russia to expand their influence on the continent. The termination of Niger's military agreement with the US in March further underscores the shifting geopolitical dynamics. Russian forces have been operating alongside US troops in Niger, signalling Moscow's increasing presence in the region, as reported by CNN. Additionally, Chad's threat to cancel its agreement with the US poses further challenges to American interests in Africa. Although the number of US troops in Chad is relatively small, the potential withdrawal could have significant implications for stability and American influence across the continent. General Michael Langley, head of US Africa Command, warned of the growing influence of the Russian Federation in Africa, citing their dissemination of misinformation. The allure of immediate security assistance offered by Russia poses a challenge to American efforts to maintain partnerships with African governments. Concerns about growing instability extend beyond Africa, potentially affecting U.S. strategic interests in regions like the Mediterranean. The evolving geopolitical landscape underscores the need for strategic responses to rival powers' overtures in Africa. While the US faces challenges in maintaining its influence in Africa, there remains an opportunity to demonstrate the limitations of alternative partnerships. However, the growing presence of rival powers like Russia presents a formidable challenge to American interests in the region, CNN reported. (ANI) The sole ruling party of China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could attempt to disrupt President-elect Lai Ching-te's May 20 inauguration by hacking into websites and electronic billboards and sabotaging the southern power grid, Taiwan News reported. An official told 'Liberty Times,' a local Taiwanese newspaper on May 9 that Chinese hackers could target government websites and public screens on May 20, potentially inserting sarcastic congratulatory messages or pro-CCP propaganda to embarrass Lai. China has intensified pressure on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after the January elections, as per Taiwan News. An official revealed that China has been seeking information about the content of Lai's inauguration speech through academics based in Hong Kong and Macau. According to Taiwan News, the official further assessed that China is unlikely to conduct significant military exercises before May 20 but may attempt to disrupt the inauguration. He also stated China could try and disrupt power in Tainan, where the presidential banquet will be held. The official warned relevant units should be prepared to respond accordingly. He emphasized that if China is not satisfied with the content of Lai's inaugural speech, further actions could be taken. Tariff reductions for specific items under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) could be suspended. On the diplomatic front, in the first year of the new president's tenure, as is customary, there may be overseas visits, and the CCP may once again entice allies to sever ties with Taiwan to undermine Lai. Meanwhile, recently Taiwan detained businessmen, and retired officers suspected of spying for China Chinese security officials allegedly asked the businessman, surnamed Wen, to invite retired military officers over to China for meetings, the report said quoting Central News Agency (CNA). A former officer named Chu agreed first and then recruited Chiang to join him, Kaohsiung prosecutors said. During a visit to China, the three reportedly agreed to expand their organisation and persuade more serving and retired officers to join and provide information to Beijing. After completing their investigation, prosecutors raided Wen's home on May 9 and detained all three suspects, Taiwan News reported. While the three accused have denied the allegations, the investigators said they were highly likely to have broken the National Security Act. (ANI) The meeting, held on Friday within the halls of the Austrian Parliament in Vienna, marked a pivotal moment in European support for Tibet's struggle against cultural oppression and political suppression. Penpa Tsering, on a diplomatic mission across Europe for the past ten days, has been advocating for international awareness regarding China's systematic violations in Tibet. His visit to Vienna saw him engaging with members of the Austrian People's Party and the GREENS, shedding light on China's egregious targeting of Tibetan children, and Buddhist monks, and the relentless assault on Tibetan cultural heritage. During the parliamentary rendezvous, Penpa Tsering underscored two critical concerns: the grave implications of China's operation of state-controlled boarding schools in Tibet and the urgent need to safeguard Tibetan religious freedom and Buddhist heritage. He laid bare the reality of China's tight grip over the Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan-populated areas, stifling political dissent and trampling on cultural and religious expressions. In his impassioned plea, Penpa Tsering called for a nuanced understanding of China's behaviour, emphasizing its ramifications not only for Tibet but also for Europe's own interests. He urged recognition of Tibet's historical independence and endorsed the middle-way approach for autonomy as a viable solution. His words resonated with the Austrian Parliamentarians, who acknowledged the imperative of sustained international support for Tibetans in their quest for fundamental rights. Gudrun Kugler, MP from the Austrian People's Party and spokesperson for human rights and displaced persons, along with Faika El-Nagashi, MP from the GREENS, joined forces with a delegation from Save Tibet, Austria, and Friends of Tibet, Austria, in reaffirming their commitment to upholding human rights. They pledged to amplify the Tibetan cause in various multilateral forums to hold the Chinese government accountable for its transgressions. (ANI) TOKYO, May 11 (News On Japan) - In Japan, where women's salaries remain at about three-quarters of men's, the government initiated a new project team on April 24 focused on rectifying gender pay disparities. The challenges differ across industries, and to delve deeper into this issue, Megumi Niwano from the Gender Desk and Shota Shiroma from the Economic Section, who covers corporate pay rises and business economy, engaged in a detailed discussion. Niwano from the Gender Desk shared, "On April 24, the government launched a new project team dedicated to addressing the wage disparity between men and women." "Among the 19 members, surprisingly, 13 are women, which is unusual for such government meetings. It just so happens that those handling this issue currently are predominantly women, which also signifies an increase in female executives in central ministries," Niwano explained. Shiroma recalled, "When I covered Kasumigaseki's ministries about 5-6 years ago, the impression was that meeting members and experts were predominantly male." Niwano added, "The gender pay gap essentially means that even within the same company, where men and women perform the same job, men earn what is equated to 100 while women earn about 70 to 80." In 2023, American economist Claudia Goldin, a Nobel laureate in Economics, clarified that the main factors of labor market disparities are not due to different occupations between genders, but even within the same job and status as regular employees, the wages differ based on gender. Shiroma mentioned, "The Japan Business Federation has also acknowledged the gender wage gap, leading to a revision in July 2022 by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare that mandates businesses with over 301 employees to disclose their pay disparities. Subsequent surveys showed that pre-determined salaries for women were about three-quarters of those for men. The question remains, why does this wage gap occur?" Niwano pointed out, "There are several factors, but the primary one is the lack of implementation of 'equal pay for equal work.' The reality that strikes first is the wage difference between non-regular employees and regular employees. Women often fall into the non-regular category, hence ending up with lower wages." "Some women work part-time within their husband's dependency range to avoid paying into pensions and other insurances, keeping their income low. Additionally, there are young women who would prefer regular employment but end up in non-regular jobs due to circumstances, which can lead to 'women's poverty,'" explained Niwano. Shiroma noted, "The employment rate 'M curve' that dips during childbearing phases is decreasing, but the 'L curve,' where regular employment drops after the late twenties, persists. Once a woman's career is interrupted for childbirth or childcare, returning to regular employment becomes challenging." Niwano concluded, "Certainly, the high number of women in non-regular roles is problematic. However, according to Goldin's analysis, even among men and women who continue to work as regular employees, pay differs. The reason is that those available for long hours or sudden night calls are paid more, typically men, and in the absence of the husband, the wife might switch to a lower-paying job to manage the household." Shioma mentioned, "Recently, there's been an increase in men from corporate communications saying they're taking paternity leave. If male paternity leave becomes more common, it might reduce the gendered division of roles." Niwano added, "Another factor is the low number of women in management positions. Despite women in Japan highly advancing in education to universities and professional schools, they rarely make it to higher positions due to enduring practices like 'lifetime employment' and 'seniority-based promotions,' making it hard for women who step out for childcare to return to high-paying managerial roles." Shioma concluded, "While industry norms are slowly changing, with banks like Mitsubishi UFJ, Mitsui Sumitomo, and Mizuho reporting equal pay for identical positions, the rate of women in management roles remains low, around 20%. This situation highlights the subtle, yet persistent wage inequalities even within the same position requiring nationwide relocation typically filled by men." Niwano reflected, "A deeper look reveals that the background varies by industry." Shioma added, "In recent years, efforts have been made to eliminate the traditional separation between general and comprehensive positions, and to strengthen the hiring of women into comprehensive roles. As women from this generation approach managerial levels in the next few years, significant improvements are expected." Niwano remarked, "According to Takumi Fujinami, a senior researcher at the Japan Institute of Comprehensive Research, in industries like hospitality and food service where non-regular female workers are prevalent, women in positions like store manager do not have much wage difference compared to men." "The response measures differ by industry, so officials from ministries responsible for each industry are part of this new project team. They will compile ways to change outdated practices from May onwards, and then approach businesses and industries to implement these changes," explained Niwano. Shiroma humorously concluded, "If women are promoted more in the future, perhaps I won't rise as quickly, and my female peers might advance ahead of me. How do you think men feel about that?" Niwano concluded, "I hope that wages will be based on ability and performance without gender bias." "With Japan's aging population and the ongoing labor shortage, the capabilities and motivation of educated women are essential for sustaining the national economy and industries, and this also contributes to personal happiness," Niwano expressed. Source: NEWS May 11 (News On Japan) - As the club members diligently practice, Mayu, who has recently transferred schools, struggles with feelings of guilt about participating in the audition and performing on the competition stage. Kumiko, who advocates for a meritocracy within the Kitauji High School Music Club, argues that ability should be the sole criterion for selection. However, Mayu is not convinced by this argument and remains conflicted. The day of the fateful audition arrives, bringing with it a mix of tension and determination among the members. "Sound! Euphonium 3" continues the compelling journey of the Kitauji High School Music Club as they strive for excellence in the competitive world of high school band competitions. This season delves deeper into the personal and musical challenges facing the ensemble, particularly focusing on new and returning members who must find harmony both musically and interpersonally. The story picks up with the band coming off a season of significant achievements, now setting their sights on the national competition. Kumiko Oumae, now a more seasoned member, takes on a mentorship role, guiding the new members and dealing with the pressures and responsibilities that come with her position. The narrative introduces new characters, such as Mayu, a transfer student whose arrival at Kitauji adds new dynamics to the groups interactions and challenges the clubs established norms and values. Related: TV Anime 'Hibike! Euphonium 3' Episode 5 'Twilight for Two' Preview Source: KyoaniChannel KOBE, May 11 (News On Japan) - The Oji Zoo in Kobe's Nada Ward held a memorial service on May 10th for Tantan, the female giant panda who passed away at the age of 28 at the end of March, making her the oldest panda in Japan at the time of her death. Approximately 160 zoo staff and members of the public, selected through a lottery, gathered to pay their respects. Attendees offered flowers at the memorial stand, bearing heartfelt messages like "Thank you for the smiles" and "We will never forget you." Source: Kyodo TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after plowing across Florida, where it knocked out power to more than 3 million customers and whipped up 150 tornadoes. The storm caused at least four deaths and compounded the misery wrought by Helene while spa The Bayt Mal Al Quds Asharif Agency signed, on Friday in Rabat, a partnership and cooperation agreement with the Moroccan Association for the support of reconstruction in Palestine, providing for the launch of a series of reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in the Holy City of Al Quds. The reconstruction and rehabilitation operation, concerning 100 targeted interventions in a number of properties, will be carried out under an annex to the convention on old neighborhoods. The operation worth one million US dollars is financed by Morocco. Managing director of Bayt Mal Al Quds Asharif Agency, Mohamed Salem Cherkaoui, one of the signatories of the agreement, said that the operation is intended to restore and rehabilitate historic buildings in Al Quds Asharif that require upgrading through localized interventions with the aim of preserving them after assessing the level of damage incurred, while respecting the architectural character of the old city of Al Quds. According to Cherkaoui, this involves 100 interventions spread over 10 properties in the old town, including roofs, green spaces, doors, supporting walls, and damp treatment. The projects are also designed to maintain and rehabilitate five buildings in various parts of the Holy City, from the entrance to the University campus to Beit Hanina, and to set up an outreach social service within Al-Makassed charity hospital, he added. Despite the constraints, he underlined, the Agency continues to implement its action plan for the year 2024, in line with the vision of King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, to carry out concrete projects with a direct impact on the Palestinians and institutions of the Holy City. The other signatory, president of the Moroccan Association for the support of reconstruction in Palestine, Mohamed Jamal Bouzidi, praised the efforts made by Bayt Mal Al-Quds Asharif Agency to support the Palestinians in Al-Quds Asharif and preserve the historic monuments of the Holy City. Palestinian ambassador to Morocco, Jamal Choubki, noted that the restoration operation in the city of Al Quds aims to preserve its Arab-Islamic-Christian identity, pointing out that the city, despite being listed by UNESCO as Arab-Islamic-Christian heritage, is threatened by the occupations attempts to obliterate its identity. The diplomat welcomed the Kings speech to the fifteenth summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held recently in the Gambian capital Banjul, in which the Sovereign called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities in order to break the cycle of violence in the region. The 3rd edition of the annual Sahara Forum, organized by Maroc Diplomatique, kicked off on Friday in Rabat under the theme Atlantic Facade 2030: A Royal Vision for a New Era of Transcontinental Connection and Prosperity. The two-day forum, a platform for exchange and reflection, is attended by eminent Moroccan and foreign personalities from diplomatic, economic and cultural backgrounds.Speaking on this occasion, Maroc Diplomatique Co-founder and Publishing Director Hassan Alaoui welcomed the holding of this event as part of the efforts deployed for the development of Moroccos southern provinces. He noted that the thematic chosen for this years edition highlights the strategic geopolitical position of Morocco, between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. In this context, Alaoui emphasized the undeniable maritime vocation of Morocco along with its maritime history, marked by audacious travels to the Americas since 1737. Morocco has never turned its back to the sea. Our history and our development stand witness, he explained, noting that the move by King Mohammed VI to renovate a marine cemetery in Cape Verde after his enthronement in 1999, constitutes another proof of the Kingdoms attachment to its maritime heritage. The MD Sahara Forum forms part of the sovereignist royal vision, encompassing diplomatic, economic and security aspects, he added, noting that it is imperative for Africa to master the Atlantics management, in view of current challenges, particularly in maritime security. For her part, the Co-founding Director General of Maroc Diplomatique, Souad Mekkaoui, underlined that in these times of major transformations and global challenges, the Royal Vision for the Atlantic Facade transcends borders to embrace a Pan-African ambition, weaving innovative strategies for a shared prosperity and extended connectivity. The initiative, announced by King Mohammed VI in a speech marking the 48th anniversary of the Green March, marks the start of a new era of African cooperation, defining an ambitious future for a united and prosperous Atlantic Africa, she noted. This vision, a true catalyst for change in the geostrategic overview of our continent, stands out not only as a directive for Africa but also as an engagement towards an integrated and inclusive development, fueled by audacity and innovation, she added. According to Mekkaoui, the Moroccan Royal Initiative inaugurates a new chapter in African development as it launches an audacious strategy which includes economic integration, regional cooperation, and security. By offering a privileged access to Moroccan infrastructure to Sahel countries, this project is destined to revolutionize these countries economies, by breaking the geographical barriers and easing their integration to the world economy. With an avant-garde policy, Morocco is transforming its Atlantic facade into a gateway to deeper African integration, but also as a prelude to an enriched transcontinental dialogue, she said, adding that the Atlantic Facade 2030 vision goes beyond the conceptual to anchor in the strategic, promoting innovation, sustainable development and economic inclusion. The annual MD Sahara Forum aims to highlight the potential of the Atlantic coastline, stimulate a multi-sectoral dynamic, and explore the challenges and opportunities presented by the Atlantic seaboard, a subject at the heart of the Kingdoms and Africas development strategy. The Forums program includes a ministerial round table, a diplomatic round table, a panel entitled The Atlantic seaboard 2030: the promise of a strategic turning point, another entitled The Atlantic seaboard 2030: a pillar of security, cooperation and development for a shared future in Africa, and a third panel entitled Atlantic vision: Morocco at the heart of the African renaissance: shared growth, peace and prosperity. According to the organizers, the MD Sahara is a vision for the future, symbolizing a resolutely modern, inclusive and flourishing Morocco, where economy and culture intertwine to move towards a promising future. Morocco on Friday welcomed the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution supporting the admission of the State of Palestine as a full-fledged member of the United Nations. Through this resolution, the UN General Assembly confers additional rights to the State of Palestine within various bodies of theworld organization, Moroccos Permanent Mission to the UN said, noting that the Kingdom was among the first co-sponsors of the text. The text also urges the Security Council to give favorable consideration to full Palestinian membership. Morocco, whose Sovereign, King Mohammed VI, chairs the Al-Quds Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, will continue, as it has always done, to push for the achievement of the two-State solution, with the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, on the borders of June 4, 1967, with Al Quds East as capital, underlined the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom to the UN on X. The United States is supporting Moroccos efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking with a $2.5 Million donation aimed at reinforcing the detection, identification, protection, return and rehabilitation of victims of this serious crime. The announcement was made Friday by U.S. Ambassador to Morocco Puneet Talwar in presence of Director of Moroccan National Commission for the Coordination of Measures to Combat & Prevent trafficking in Persons Hicham Mellati, UN Resident Coordinator Nathalie Fustier, IOM Morocco Chief of Mission Laura Palatini, UNODC Head of Office Siham Al Figuigui, and ILO Morocco Focal Point Aurelia Segatti. The grant was made by State Departments Office to Monitor & Combat Trafficking in Persons, to IOM with its implementing partners, UN Office on Drugs & Crime and the International Labor Organization. The U.S. fund will be used by the UN Agencies to support the Moroccan government to open the countrys first shelters with specialized care for victims of human trafficking, thus ensuring that survivors have access to comprehensive and specialized services. These are important steps toward implementation of Moroccos 2023-2030 National Plan to Combat and Prevent Human Trafficking, and the National Referral Mechanism for Victims of Human Trafficking. Ambassador Talwar praised Moroccos efforts to hold sex and labor traffickers criminally accountable, identify trafficking victims and prevent this heinous crime. Ms. Nathalie Fustier thanked the United States for the financial contribution, voicing commitment to further support Morocco in its efforts to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, protect and assist victims, and prosecute perpetrators. The project aims to improve the protection of human trafficking victims, while helping them recover from the trauma and ensuring that they are integrated into their communities. The Consul General of Senegal in Dakhla, Babou Sene, has formally denied the information circulating on social networks and relayed by certain media alleging that Senegalese would-be migrants are stranded in the Moroccan desert. This is unfounded information that I formally deny, Sene told MAP news agency, stressing that the Senegalese authorities are aware that there is a lot of manipulation on social networks. The Senegalese would-be migrants, who are usually rescued by the Royal Navy, are always accommodated in reception centers in Dakhla and not in tents in the desert, he stressed. The Senegalese Consulate General in Dakhla is informed by the Moroccan authorities as soon as a pirogue is rescued by the Royal Navy, and immediately dispatches a team to the site to observe the living conditions of the would-be migrants, he noted. The Senegalese are very well received in Morocco, said Babou Sene. The diplomat praised, in this regard, the efforts made by the Moroccan authorities to welcome in good conditions migrants from sub-Saharan African countries in general and Senegal in particular, noting that last year alone, over 300 Senegalese were hospitalized in Dakhla for a period ranging from 3 days to two months at the expense of the Moroccan authorities. Sene also commended the reception and living conditions of Senegalese nationals in Morocco, noting that thousands of his fellow citizens live in the Kingdom in excellent conditions, with residence permits and decent jobs. Rhode Island announces its vote at the virtual Democratic convention of 2020. This scene was not in Milwaukee. Photo: DNCC/Getty Images The recent wave of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses has conjured up many nostalgic images of antiVietnam War activism, some (as at Columbia University) self-consciously promoted by protesters whose parents werent yet born when those antiwar rallies convulsed the country. The legendary size and influence of the venerable Vietnam War protests is both an aspiration and an inspiration for todays activists. So its not in the least bit surprising that plans are underway for large protests at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago as a sort of homage to the huge and violently suppressed demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and as the climax of months of protests principally aimed at Joe Bidens support for Israels war in Gaza. Such protests, of course, are extremely unwelcome to the Democratic pols planning the August convention. Aside from disturbing the desired harmony of the quadrennial gathering, which will be counted upon by Team Biden to generate a crucial burst of momentum heading toward November, signs of disorder will play into Republican law-and-order rhetoric, just as they did in 1968. One stratagem convention planners reportedly may use is to reduce the number of targets for demonstrators by holding certain key events virtually, as Democrats did in 2020, Politico reports: Trumpeting the success of their Covid-era convention four years ago, some in Bidens orbit are aggressively pushing to make the 2024 conclave a hybrid production. That would mean in-person speeches from the president, party luminaries and rising stars to draw television attention alongside a mix of pre-recorded testimonials and videos from other parts of the country. The goal: drive maximum viewership on television and the internet while minimizing live programming and openings for protest in Chicagos United Center. This would mean moving party business, such as rules and platform votes, off the floor and denying would-be demonstrators a chance to seize on contentious debates. Decentralizing convention events or even moving them out of Chicago would frustrate the hopes of protesters for a dramatic 1968-style confrontation in close proximity to delegates, party officials, and Joe Biden himself. As protest planners have made clear, they want to be within sight and sound of the DNC and share in its media coverage. Dispersed and recorded convention events will make that more difficult. If convention planners do move in this direction, it will undoubtedly spur complaints that Team Biden and other Democratic wire-pullers are suppressing dissent in order to paper over very real internal party differences over U.S. support for Israels war in Gaza. Indeed, those complainers might include the progressive mayor of the host city, Brandon Johnson, who has been jockeying with Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker and national law-enforcement and political figures for control over preparations, as Politico notes: If theres any mayor that understands the value of protest and demonstration, its me, Johnson told reporters earlier this week at a groundbreaking, dismissing a question about Sen. Dick Durbins (D-Ill.) concerns over unrest in the city during the convention. Johnson said, Without protests and real demands of a government, people of color and women do not have a place in society. What these disputes over parade permits and demonstration sites may obscure, however, is the extent to which the old-school convention staging that protesters crave had already become painfully obsolete before the pandemic conditions of 2020 made junking them obligatory. Comparisons to the 1968 Democratic convention should suffice to make it clear how very much has changed since then in ways that make a three-to-four-day live event with debates and deliberations absurd. In 1968, there was still some doubt eventual nominee Hubert H. Humphrey (who did not enter a single presidential primary) would win the prize when the opening gavel fell, and many delegates and delegations were free to push the party in a different direction. Three other active candidates (including future Democratic nominee George McGovern) had their names placed in nomination. In 2024, every delegate will be either a product of the primaries (all won by Biden other than in American Samoa) or an ex officio delegate from the Democratic Establishment (i.e., membership in the DNC or in major elected office). All but six delegates will likely be pledged to Biden. The rituals of nomination speeches and roll-call votes are entirely empty beyond their value as Biden infomercials, like the entire convention itself. One of the emotional high points of the 1968 convention, and the event that connected the convention hall with the protests on the street, was the intense debate over competing Vietnam planks. When the antiwar plank lost, the New York delegation put on black armbands and sang We Shall Overcome as cameras whirred. Nowadays, platform disputes rarely occur, and when they do, they are invariably resolved before the convention, with the presumptive nominee determining the outcome. And finally, the 1968 Democratic convention was among the last to be given gavel-to-gavel coverage by what were then three dominant broadcast television networks. Now, coverage of conventions is widely dispersed among media and mostly very condensed. Theres simply very little news value in prefab deliberations that arent deliberative at all. So if the Hamas attacks of October 7, the Israeli invasion of Gaza, and U.S. support for Israels conduct of the war had never happened, Democrats would have been fully justified in refusing to go back to a pre-pandemic model of conventions that no longer make any sense. Indeed, some of us publicly hoped that conventions as we knew them would die a natural death once Democrats made the leap to a purely artificial, made-for-TV event that wasnt held at all in the supposed host city of Milwaukee. Now, thanks to the struggle for and against the right to protest at the DNC, we could, ironically, see young antiwar protesters champion a return to the baby-boomer era of national political conventions, even as Old Joe Biden and his team try to move things along into the 21st century. Rick Scott rushes to Donald Trumps defense in Manhattan. Photo: Joseph Frederick/AP U.S. senator Rick Scotts appearance this week outside the Manhattan courthouse where Donald Trump is on trial in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case was initially pretty puzzling. Scott is well known for his fervent MAGA views, which sometimes seem designed to out-Trump Trump. But Scott does have a day job in Washington and is also running for reelection in Florida this year, so schlepping up to New York just to give the Boss moral support seems a bit excessive. Scott soon revealed he had an ulterior motive for this show of solidarity, as the Miami Herald reported: In a press conference outside the courthouse in Manhattan where Trump is on trial, Scott compared the criminal charges against Trump to the federal Medicare and Medicaid fraud investigation that resulted in $1.7 billion in fines against Columbia/HCA, the healthcare company that helped make Scott the United States wealthiest U.S. senator. Earlier, in an interview on Fox & Friends, Scott claimed that the charges against Trump whos accused of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to a porn star amount to political persecution. He said that he too had been a victim of a politically influenced justice system more than two decades ago. By the way, I saw this. It happened to me, Scott said. I fought Hillarycare, and guess what happened when I fought Hillarycare? Justice came after me and attacked me and my company. You have to wonder at the wisdom of Scott bringing up this stain on his career just as hes running for reelection. Though he was never personally charged with criminal misconduct in the big-time bust of Columbia/HCA for ripping off Uncle Sam, and indeed secured a huge golden parachute on his way out the door, Scott has been unable to dispel the odor of corruption. It probably says something about his political skills and/or the incompetence of Florida Democrats that hes never really suffered politically from this episode, even in the the highly Medicare-sensitive Sunshine State. But apparently, Scott has looked at Trumps ability to turn multiple criminal prosecutions into a base-pleasing badge of honor and decided to try it himself. He may not need the kind of legal immunity Trump is demanding. But he wants political immunity for the past misconduct of the company he founded on grounds that the entire Medicare fraud investigation was a piece of political jobbery trigged by his opposition to the never-enacted Clinton health-care proposal. The suggestion is more than a bit outlandish. Many prominent people from both political parties opposed Hillarycare and somehow didnt find themselves or their businesses under investigation for criminal fraud. Theres also the little matter that the record fines imposed on Columbia/HCA were part of a settlement in which the company admitted all sorts of wrongdoing, as a news report from 2001 indicated: HCA admitted to a long list of charges, including submitting inflated bills and expenses to the government for payment; exaggerating the seriousness of diagnoses to increase Medicare reimbursement; illegally structuring business deals so that Medicare picked up the cost of corporate expenses; and providing doctors with kickbacks for patient referrals. HCA also gave other inducements to win favour from doctors, such as free rent and office refurbishment and free drugs from hospital pharmacies. One of HCAs most controversial business practices involved providing partnership investments in company hospitals for doctors, who could then refer patients to them. The programme was abandoned in 1997 when Thomas Frist Jr, the brother of US Republican Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, took over as chief executive from Richard L Scott, the founder of Columbia/HCA. Even if you believe Scotts (unsupported) claims that prosecutors influenced by political motives abused their discretion to go after one suspect rather than others, the underlying facts dont seem friendly to his company just as they dont seem friendly to Donald Trump in his various cases. Whether youre a health-care executive, a former president of the United States, or a yahoo storming the U.S. Capitol, posturing as a victim of political persecution shouldnt wash away ones sins. Its telling and disturbing that Rick Scott believes his argument has merit in the court of public opinion. The Fuel Alabama, a talent attraction and retention program, has partnered with the Auburn-Opelika communities to offer professional development, service opportunities, mentorship, and social events to interns. The City of Opelika announced on Monday that they're now accepting applications from college juniors and seniors as a part of the FuelAL and Innovate Alabama Summer Intern Experience Program. The initiative shows interns the experiences they can have in the Auburn and Opelika communities following graduation. This program is a great way for our communities to showcase all we have to offer to the newest generation of the workforce, said Griffin OConnor, the project manager of Opelika's Workforce Development. It also puts our local businesses a step ahead in retaining college talent. The FuelAL and Innovate Alabama Summer Intern Experience Program will host three different types of events: professional, networking and activities. Up to 20 interns from Auburn and 20 interns from Opelika will be accepted into the program. The deadline for applications is May 31. Applications can be submitted through a google form available through https://edpa.org/talent. Talent retention is a priority in an area with an asset like Auburn University, said Amy Brabham, the director of Auburn's Workforce Development. We want to train and retain as much young talent as possible through programs like FuelAL. This is the second time that the program through FuelAL has been offered by the City of Auburn. The first was done last year with Montgomery, while this year's partnership is with Opelika. Any business in the Auburn-Opelika area that has an internship program that is offered to college students is encouraged to nominate their intern for the program. We need to be very intentional in our efforts to expose future Auburn University graduates to all the great career opportunities available here in our community, said John Sweatman, Opelika's Economic Development director. Thanks to partnerships with EDPA and Innovate Alabama, who established the FuelAL initiative, we are able to do just that. For more information on the program, visit the EDPA website or contact contact OConnor at goconnor@opelika-al.gov. or Brabham at abrabham@auburnalabama.org. fashion houses don't make white actresses who are built like zendaya (tall and skinny) jump through that many hoops to be photographed in their clothes at events lbr Reply Parent Thread Link yeah, how many white ingenues that literally never arrived have been dressed by these designers? probably lots Reply Parent Thread Link Exactly Reply Parent Thread Link Euphoria was the first thing she did that people cared about ehhh not quite. The first Spider-Man she was in came out in 2017, which was her official big break. By the time Euphoria started airing in 2019 she had more than enough name and brand recognition to have worked with the established houses. Edited at 2024-05-11 12:06 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link She was already a fashion/makeup/beauty girly before Euphoria tbf. Cause I know she wore Vivienne Westwood to her first Oscars back in 2015 and that's a pretty big label. Prior to Euphoria, her red carpet looks and Spiderman were pretty much her only source of relevance which is why some people will occasionally critique her with the "is she talented or is she just tall and skinny". Reply Parent Thread Link Chanel is currently partnered with Teresa Palmer who hasn't had a serious credit to her name in her 20-year career. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link In what realm is Euphoria her first the first "thing she did people cartes about"? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i don't think it's surprising. was this in her disney time or what? pre-euphoria. makes sense. Reply Thread Link Zendaya shouldn't want to wear Chanel right now anyway. Everyone who wears it on the carpet looks a mess. I never see any positive comments when Margot was wearing a lot of chanel at events because of her deal with them. Reply Thread Link I wonder why Riley partnered with them. Why does anyone partner with them? Reply Parent Thread Link Riley said her mom was a Chanel girlie so I assume that's a big part of it for her. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Ugh they put her in the ugliest shit! Reply Parent Thread Link Interesting. I understand that she was green but Zendaya has always looked like a model lol. I'm surprised they wouldn't even want to dress her for major events like the oscars. Reply Thread Link Was she going to major events/oscars when she was 14? Reply Parent Thread Link Not at 14 but she went to one when she was 19 when she was still on Disney channel. Reply Parent Thread Link The infamous "she looks like she smells like weed and patchouli" crack from the "Fashion Police" was when she was 18 and walking the Oscars red carpet. I'd imagine it was at that point in her career, and absolutely fuelled by racism. Reply Parent Thread Link A blessing in disguise bc those houses are putting out nothing beautiful. Reply Thread Link I need Law Roach and TS Madison to be the permanent judges on Drag Race. Reply Thread Link I think Law Roach should do a Rachel Zoe type reality show Reply Parent Thread Link I've dreamed about it Reply Parent Thread Link Dodged a bullet with Chanel Reply Thread Link How early in her career though? Reply Thread Link This is the kind of pettiness I like. Reply Thread Link lolll same, it's very relatable Reply Parent Thread Link It's the same shit I'm on. People asking me shit 15 years later and I'm like :)))))))) Reply Parent Thread Link Same lol I wish everyday people had the power to do this Reply Parent Thread Link We all know why, not understanding the comments saying this was pre-Euphoria. Pre-Euphoria Zendaya still had DWTS, Spiderman and The Greatest Showman under her belt. That should have been enough to at least get some red carpet looks from these fashion houses. Zendaya even had some red carpet hosting gigs at big award shows back then so that's even more glaring now looking back. White actresses with less credits to their name don't have to wait that long. Just to compare, Bella Thorne who did not have nearly as many on-screen credits as Zendaya did at the time was already walking in Gucci and Chanel before she did. Reply Thread Link Big mistake, Gucci! Big. Huge. Reply Thread Link shes too green I don't think they don't say that about white it girls. Reply Thread Link What do they mean by too green? Reply Parent Thread Link She hasnt grown to be a household name, which is silly because shes a Disney kid thats always been responsibly working. Even before euphoria, she was still leading in films and notably slaying carpets Reply Parent Thread Expand Link inexperienced Reply Parent Thread Link I took it as she wasn't a-list enough, but they don't say this about white celebs so.... Reply Parent Thread Link inexperienced in general but in her case it's a not famous enough issue. Reply Parent Thread Link Kate Bosworth kept getting designers tripping over themselves to dress her while being completely forgettable Reply Parent Thread Link Exactly. And honestly? Blessing in disguise because shes killing the red carpet no thanks to the Big 5. Reply Parent Thread Link Saint Laurent in particular really feels rude because they've been throwing clothes and bags at influencers for ages. Reply Thread Link mte. And Dior too. They are always working with influencers and YouTubers. Reply Parent Thread Link Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ Reply Thread Link it would be hypocritical for me to judge, i can hold a petty as fuck grudge too. i'm glad he named names too, tired of people being vague and not calling assholes out on their shit Reply Thread Link Same. I will hold a grudge for as long as I damn well please. Reply Parent Thread Link Not only that but I *loved* that he said Zendaya doesn't rent clothes for the red carpet. She buys them. If it is vintage and in a shop she buys it. If she is wearing a designer on the red carpet she owns that outfit. (I'm 1000% sure she is paid to wear some outfits and get some gratis. Not the point I'm making) I imagine most Hollywood isn't the same way Reply Parent Thread Link Chinese EVs are projected to reach a 20% market share in Europe by 2027, up from 0.4% in 2019. Despite EU investigations and jawboning from within the industry, it looks as though Europe has faced the inevitable: it needs to "face up" to the fact that Chinese EVs have arrived, and probably aren't going anywhere, anytime soon. Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Paris on Sunday to ease trade tensions with a wary Europe. Accompanied by a business delegation focused on the electric vehicle industry, including Envision Group, SAIC Motor, and Xpeng Motors, the visit served as both a shopping trip and networking opportunity, Nikkei reported. "We want to welcome more Chinese investors to France," President Emmanuel Macron said during the visit. As we have been writing about extensively for the last 6 months, the shift to electrification has changed the global auto industry's dynamics, which were once dominated by European brands. Now, China now leads in EV production, compelling European automakers to address the growing Chinese competition. According to Nikkei, with the EU set to ban combustion engines by 2035, China plans to expand exports and production, maintaining a significant lead in affordable EVs. As consumers shift to EVs, European manufacturers fear losing market share. Chinese brands, which made up only 7.9% of EU's electric vehicle sales in 2023, up from 0.4% in 2019, are projected to reach a 20% market share by 2027, according to Transport & Environment. Felipe Munoz, senior analyst at JATO Dynamics told Nikkei: "When we're talking about these mass market segments, it's mainly about price ... and when you look at [Chinese brands'] price positioning compared to European rivals, there is always an advantage." Gregor Sebastian, a senior analyst at Rhodium Group, told Nikkei Asia: "I don't think in Europe there's the necessary capital at the moment to really do this without China, and on top of that ... in terms of the technology we're also behind China." Europe remains divided over the potential influx of Chinese EVs. The European Commission has launched an investigation into Chinese EV subsidies, potentially leading to preliminary duties in May and permanent tariffs in November. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently visited Beijing to ease trade relations, advocating for fair competition. While brands like Volkswagen and BMW welcome Chinese investment, others remain cautious. Despite concerns, Europe is the largest destination for Chinese EV-related FDI, attracting $7.6 billion in 2023 following $11.8 billion in 2022. Chinese automakers like SAIC and BYD are investing in local factories to build tailored cars for European consumers. Xi Jinping's trip includes a visit to Hungary, where BYD and Great Wall Motor are expanding, and Chery recently announced a joint venture plant in Spain. "The student has overcome the teacher," Munoz added. He said Chinese cars are now "at the same level or even more in terms of quality, in terms of design, in terms of appeal, and in price." Recall back in March we wrote about Mercedes CEO slamming the idea of import tariffs on Chinese EVs. Dont raise tariffs. Im a contrarian, I think go the other way around: take the tariffs that we have and reduce them," Mercedes-Benz boss Ola Kallenius said at the time. Kallenius said that the increased competition would "help Europes carmakers produce better cars in the long run" and that government protectionism is "going the wrong way", Financial Times reported this week. He called Chinese companies looking to export to Europe a natural progression of competition and it needs to be met with better product, better technology, more agility. That is the market economy. Let competition play out," he added. We did not ask for this [probe]. We as companies are not asking for protection, and I believe the best Chinese companies are not asking for protection. They want to compete in the world like everybody else. If we believe protectionism is the thing that gives us long-term success, I believe history tells us that is not the case," he added. We live in a pragmatic world and realize there are some expectations to the general market economy rule . . . but if we seek our fortune in increased protectionism, we are going the wrong way. Recall back in September 2023 we wrote that the EU was opening an investigation into Chinese EV subsidies. At the time, we noted that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was taking exception with the fact that "the global market is flooded with cheap Chinese cars". By Zerohedge.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Countries around the globe are racing to decarbonise in pursuit of a green transition. Several governments have created national policies to encourage a shift away from fossil fuels towards renewable alternatives, in a bid to achieve their Paris Agreement climate pledges. Yet, some have been more successful than others at transitioning. The countries with the highest proportion of electricity coming from renewable energy are all endowed with abundant natural resources, such as geothermal, hydro, and wind power, and most have relatively small electricity grids. The countries with the highest proportion of electricity generation coming from renewable sources are constantly shifting, as governments increase funding to accelerate their states green transition. In addition, several countries are producing higher levels of renewable energy to contribute to larger power grids. In 2023, those with the cleanest grids were Paraguay, Bhutan, Lesotho, Nepal, Ethiopia, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Albania, showing that the green transition is not concentrated in any singular region of the world. 5) Ethiopia: 98.1% Ethiopia, in the Horn of Africa, produces most of its electricity from renewable resources including hydropower, biomass, solar, wind and geothermal energy. Ethiopia is the biggest producer of hydropower in Africa, with the energy source contributing around three-quarters of the countrys electricity. The Omo-Giber River Basin provides around 45 percent of this hydropower, through three major dams. In recent years, Ethiopia has become increasingly vulnerable to climate change, as long periods of drought have had a detrimental impact on its hydropower production. Ethiopia has the potential to generate more than 60,000 MW of electric power from hydroelectric, wind, solar, and geothermal sources. Ethiopia has struggled to tap into its natural energy sources due to a lack of investment in the past. At present, it has 5,200 MW of installed generation capacity, which the government aims to increase to 17,000 MW within the next decade, but there are fears that demand may outpace supply as both the economy and population continue to grow. 4) Nepal: 98.4% Nepal derives the vast majority of its electricity from hydropower, at around 97 percent. This is made possible thanks to Nepals abundant natural resources, including mountains, glaciers and rivers that provide falling water for hydropower production. Nepal produces around 2,200 MW of hydropower and has the potential to produce an estimated 50,000 MW of hydropower, which would make it one of the worlds biggest producers. The South Asian country has increased electricity access to its population significantly in recent years, from 19 percent in 2000 to 94 percent in 2023, supported strongly by Chinese investment. Nepal continues to rely heavily on biofuels and waste, with around 21 million people continuing to use traditional biomass for cooking. In 2021, biofuels and waste contributed around 67.2 percent of Nepals energy mix. 3) Lesotho: 99.3% Lesotho in southern Africa produces most of its electricity from hydropower resources, with solar and wind power contributing a small amount of energy, as well as relying on biomass for cooking and heating needs in rural areas. It is home to one of the worlds smallest power grids, with a capacity of just 73 MW. Around 72 MW of the countrys hydropower comes from the Muela Hydropower plant. The government has approved the development of the Polihali Dam, expected to be operational by 2028, which will add 8 MW of hydropower to the grid. Only around 47 percent of households in Lesotho have access to electricity, and this is mainly in the countrys urban hubs. The government previously announced a plan to expand this coverage to 75 percent of households by 2022, but this has not yet been achieved. 2) Bhutan: 99.8% Bhutan in southern Asia also generates most of its electricity from hydropower, around 99.7 percent. Its vast forests have helped the tiny Asian country to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, making it one of three carbon-negative countries worldwide, alongside Suriname and Panama. In April 2024, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced plans to lend $160.2 million to Bhutan to help the country develop its renewable energy sector, including solar and hydropower projects in remote regions. The development of Bhutans solar power industry will help the country avoid spending on energy imports during the dry months of the year, as well as support energy diversification. 1) Paraguay: 100% Paraguay has the cleanest power grid in the world, achieving a 100 percent clean electricity supply at the end of 2021. Hydropower contributes 100 percent of the South American countrys electricity supply, with a hydropower output of around 9 GW a year, making it the third-largest hydropower producer globally. Most of this power comes from the Itaipu Dam, which contributes 70 percent of the countrys electricity supply as well as energy exports to neighbouring Brazil. Despite having already achieved 100 percent clean energy production, Paraguay has plans to diversify its renewable energy mix. Earlier this year, the government passed a law on Non-Conventional Renewable Energies (NCRE), to regulate the promotion, generation, production, development, and use of electric energy from non-conventional renewable energy sources other than hydropower. The Minister of Public Works (MOPC) Claudia Centurion stated, Through regulation, we can involve the private sector in this generation of electric energy to take giant steps towards innovation and the promotion of new industries that will bring us employment and, above all, more sustainability. By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: While Xis trip dealt with everything from trade ties with the European Union to Chinas relationship with Russia amid the war in Ukraine, the tour can be boiled down to one overarching message from China: Xi leads a rising global superpower that cant be contained and its influence in Europe is here to stay. The Chinese leader received opulent red-carpet welcomes in Paris from French President Emmanuel Macron and from China-friendly leaders like Serbias Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade and Hungarys Viktor Orban in Budapest. In France, Macron looked to hammer home some tougher European positions on Ukraine and trade subsidies -- particularly over the ongoing EU probe into Chinese electric vehicles on the European market -- while still looking to charm Xi on other issues. Ahead of the visit, Macron had argued in public statements for Europe to establish a more balanced trade relationship with China, and that issue was tackled on May 6 during three-way talks with Xi and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. As Theresa Fallon, director of the Center for Russia Europe Asia Studies, told me ahead of the visit, this would allow for Macron to play good cop and von der Leyen to play bad cop in dealing with Xi. However, Xi looked effective at deflecting concerns and driving a wedge between Macron and von der Leyen by either flatly denying any problems, misrepresenting Chinas position, or offering concessions that were only rhetorical. In Belgrade and Budapest, meanwhile, Xi looked triumphant and received highly choreographed welcomes that reinforced Chinese messaging about deep divisions within Europe over how to engage with China. Xi left both countries after announcing new strategic partnerships and investments that will further cement Chinas relevance in Central and Eastern Europe. Why It Matters: Public opinion on China across much of Europe has soured dramatically in recent years, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe. When Xi last visited Europe in 2016, he was warmly embraced in Prague by then-Czech President Milos Zeman amid a wave of high-profile investments and visits to the Czech Republic, Serbia, and Poland. Poland has since slowed its engagement with Beijing, and the Czech Republic, under new leadership, has become one of Europes more hawkish governments on China. Only Serbia has continued to deepen its ties out of that 2016 grouping. While that marked a notable step back in the region, along with the irrelevance of the 14+1 Chinese format for engaging with Central and Eastern Europe, this recent visit shows that China cant be blocked and that Beijing has plenty of new cards to play in its broader relations with Europe. Reflecting this Chinese view, Renmin University Professor Wang Wen wrote in a recent column that the strategic scales look set to tilt in Chinas favor because Europe is eager for economic recovery more than ever. Europe is having a rethink: After losing Russia, it can't afford to lose China, too, Wang wrote. Three More Stories From Xi's Visit France: Wining And Dining Can Only Go So Far Macron, who has sought to develop Europe as a strategically autonomous military and economic power, tackled a host of issues with Xi, but was hoping that this independent line could shine through when discussing the war in Ukraine. What It Means: During joint statements to the press, Xi announced that he backed Macrons call for an Olympics truce, which the French president saw as an opportunity to work toward a sustainable resolution [of conflicts] in the full respect of international law. The comments and behind the scenes talks reportedly left some in Macrons circle cautiously upbeat that Xi could be receptive to curtailing some of Chinas backing for Russia amid the war in Ukraine. But Xi also conceded very little, at least publicly. He reiterated that China will not deliver weapons to Russia and would strictly control exports of dual-use equipment, both of which are positions that his government has already vowed to enforce. Xi also made no acknowledgement of Western concerns that China is helping to keep the Russian economy running by giving it access to goods sanctioned by the West, and he then accused Washington and other Western countries of hypocrisy by fueling the conflict through weapons deliveries to Ukraine. We oppose using the Ukraine crisis to cast blame, smear a third country, and incite a new Cold War, Xi said on May 6. While some French officials may have walked away with some glimmers of hope, that assessment is not widely shared. As I reported ahead of Xis visit, EU officials said that China was looking to bargain its participation this summer in a peace conference on Ukraine as a way to pave the way for Moscow's participation in similar meetings in the future, one official told RFE/RL. Xis true stance is also borne out in Russia and on the battlefield in Ukraine. A U.S. intelligence assessment said that, in 2023, about 90 percent of Russias microelectronics came from China, which Russia has used to make missiles, tanks, and aircraft. The same research said that nearly 70 percent of Russias approximately $900 million in machine tool imports in the last quarter of 2023 came from China. Serbia: Reverence, Shared Grievance, And A Dose of Caution Greeted by cheering crowds, Xi and Vucic praised their countries ironclad friendship with one another, as they signed 28 new cooperation agreements and announced a new deal that would deepen and elevate the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Serbia. The Details: The visit to Serbia touched on both substance and symbolism. Serbia under Vucic has remained solidly pro-Chinese and still looks to China for billions of dollars in investment, something that Vuk Vuksanovic, a senior researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, told RFE/RLs Balkan Service has turned Beijing into Serbias most important partner in the East at the moment, even surpassing Moscow now that Russian-Serbian ties are under constant scrutiny because of Ukraine. The elevated strategic partnership reflects that trend, as does a new free-trade agreement signed before the visit that Vucic said would allow Serbia to export 95 percent of its goods duty-free to China. Belgrade and Beijing also signed 28 documents that would continue to deepen their ties. While most of the agreements were vague and did not have dollar figures attached, they covered a range of issues, from ministerial exchanges to state media agreements, that chart a course for a larger Chinese role in the Balkan country. When it came to the symbolism of the visit, Xi arrived on the 25th anniversary of NATOs accidental 1999 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. In an article published on May 7 by Politika, a Serbian newspaper, Xi said that NATO flagrantly bombed the Chinese Embassy, which will stay in the shared memory of the Chinese and Serbian peoples. But Xi also decided to skip the former embassy site during his visit, which is now a large Chinese cultural center that also includes a memorial for the bombing. While the Chinese Foreign Ministry used the occasion to criticize NATO, the move shows a cautious approach from Xi when it comes to exciting anti-Western bombast at home and abroad, where it could have overshadowed other aspects of his visit. Hungary: A Risky Gamble That's Paying Off Xi finished his Europe trip with a stop in another friendly nation, touching down on May 8 in Budapest, where he inked new investments and elevated Hungarys relationship with China to new heights. What You Need To Know: Xis visit marks a capstone for Orbans embrace of China that positions Hungary as a bridgehead for Chinese influence in Central and Eastern Europe. In an article in Magyar Nemzet, which is controlled by Orbans governing Fidesz party, Xi called for Hungary to lead the regions relations with Beijing and said that China wanted to work closely with Budapest on Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects. The Chinese leader also promised to speed up construction of a high-speed train line between Budapest and Belgrade that has been delayed for years. During the visit, Xi and Orban also pledged to elevate their ties to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership -- a Chinese classification that denotes the highest possible type of relationship that Beijing can have with another country. Only Belarus, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan are labeled as all-weather partners. The move is sure to further strain Hungarys already fraught relationship with Brussels, as will the 18 joint projects with China that were announced by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. While the announcement of the deals lacked details, they would include a high-speed rail project to Budapests international airport from the city and a new rail line across the country to transport electric cars, batteries, and other products from Chinese factories planned to be built in eastern Hungary. Budapest and Beijing also vowed to cooperate on nuclear energy projects. The focus on electric vehicles is noteworthy as Hungary is looking to Chinese investment to establish itself as Europes premier manufacturing hub for electric vehicles, batteries, and other new technologies. Chinas electric vehicle giant BYD announced in December that it would build an assembly plant in Hungary, its first production facility in Europe. Great Wall Motor, another major Chinese electric vehicle maker, is also looking into building an even bigger factory in Hungary. More From Xis Europe Trip Taiwan and Kosovo: During his shared remarks with Xi, Vucic used the occasion to tie Serbias territorial claims with Kosovo to Beijings own claims over Taiwan. Just as we have clear positions on the issue of Chinese integrity -- that Taiwan is China -- so they support the territory of Serbia without any reservation, Vucic said. Xi later said that China supports Serbias efforts to preserve its territorial integrity regarding Kosovo. The Next Issue: Ahead of Xis visit and amid a slew of Chinese espionage and trade scandals in Europe, my colleagues and I looked at the spread of Chinese-made surveillance cameras from Dahua and Hikvision, two partially Chinese state-owned companies, across Central and Eastern Europe. An RFE/RL survey of nine countries in the region shows that governments have purchased millions of cameras over the last five years, despite the devices security vulnerabilities and the manufacturers lax data practices. No Presser: After their talks on May 9, Xi and Orban held what was billed as a news conference, but was instead just both leaders reading statements without taking any questions. Xi famously avoids any unscripted media encounters. MTVA, a state-owned and financed Hungarian channel, had the exclusive broadcast rights to Xis visit, and my colleagues in RFE/RLs Hungarian Service were not granted accreditation from the Hungarian prime ministers office to attend. Prime Time: As Xi arrived at Belgrade's airport on May 7, Serbias state-owned television station even interrupted a broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest to make way for coverage of the welcoming ceremony for the Chinese leader. One Thing To Watch Now that Xis big Europe trip is a wrap, attention will turn to Russian President Vladimir Putins upcoming visit to China. The dates for the Russian leaders trip have not yet been confirmed, but Bloomberg quoted Kremlin sources saying that it would take place May 15-16. By RFE/RL More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Pembina Pipeline Corp (PPL.TO) of Canada is veering away from considering a substantial investment in the recently expanded Trans Mountain oil pipeline (TMX), primarily due to lingering uncertainties surrounding shipping tolls, a top company executive revealed on Friday. While Pembina initially formed a partnership with the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group (WIPG) in 2021 to explore the possibility of acquiring a stake in the Canadian government-owned pipeline, recent months have seen a notable shift in their stance towards investing in the project. In 2021, Indigenous-led group Project Reconciliation and Chinook Pathways, a partnership between Pembina and WIPG, expressed interest in bidding to own either the whole or part of Trans Mountain. At the time, high financing costs and institutional investor reluctance to be associated with fossil fuels projects were limiting the pool of potential buyers. According to Cameron Goldade, Pembina's Chief Financial Officer, significant uncertainty continues to cloud the asset's prospects from their perspective. Consequently, the TMX doesn't currently command much attention as an investment opportunity within Pembina's strategic focus. Despite Trans Mountain commencing commercial operations just last week, Ottawa has announced plans to initiate a divestment process for the pipeline later this year. However, analysts are skeptical about the government's ability to recoup its substantial investment. The pipeline's shippers have been vocal about their concerns regarding the high tolls imposed for oil transportation, especially given the considerable cost overruns that saw construction expenses soar to C$34 billionmore than four times the original estimate. Canadian regulators are slated to conduct hearings this year to finalize the toll rates, a decision that could significantly impact the project's financial viability. TMX's expanded capacityset to transport an additional 590,000 barrels per day from Alberta's oil sands to the west coast of Canadaholds the promise of enhanced market access, particularly to lucrative markets in Asia and the U.S. West Coast. By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Another year of drought caused Nebraskas groundwater levels to continue to decline. But recent rains have provided a small ray of hope. A recently published study from the University of Nebraska-Lincolns School of Natural Resources showed that 85% of the 4,822 wells measured across the state recorded declines in groundwater levels from spring 2022 to spring 2023. That continued a trend from the previous year, when about three-fourths of 4,787 observation wells recorded declines. A large part of the decline can be traced to drought, which Aaron Young, a survey geologist who co-authored the study, said has affected much of the state going back to mid-2020. Over the past four years, weve seen cumulative decline of a little over 3 feet, he said. Drought creates a two-pronged problem for groundwater levels. The lack of rain leads to aquifers not being recharged. The lack of rain also means Nebraskas crops cannot grow without irrigation. Irrigators pump out groundwater, further depleting aquifers. As previously reported last year by The World-Herald and recently reiterated by UNL, changes in groundwater levels since irrigation began have varied greatly across Nebraska, ranging from increases of more than 120 feet to declines of about 130 feet. For most of the state, the net change in groundwater levels since before development began has been less than 20 feet. Parts of Chase, Perkins, Dundy and Box Butte Counties in southwest Nebraska have experienced significant and sustained declines in groundwater levels. Irrigation wells are particularly dense in those counties, annual precipitation is low, and there is little or no surface water to recharge groundwater. Our aquifers kind of get hit from both directions, Young said. But that doesnt mean warning lights are flashing. Young said no massive parts of Nebraska, which is part of the High Plains aquifer system that covers parts of eight states, are in any danger of running out of water. Nebraskas groundwater resources are still significantly higher than other High Plains states, including parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Young said Nebraska accounts for 36% of the area covered by the High Plans aquifer. With that portion of the aquifer, Nebraska has about 69% of the aquifers volume. Recent rains have given some signs of hope that groundwater levels may start to recover. Nearly 4 inches of precipitation has fallen in the Omaha area since the April 26 Arbor Day Tornado Outbreak to May 9, according to National Weather Service data. The 2.33 inches of precipitation recorded in the Omaha area for Mays total has outpaced the normal amount by an inch. Other places in Nebraska have also seen monthly precipitation totals matching or exceeding their normal totals, weather service data shows. There is some evidence that precipitation is easing drought levels. The U.S. Drought Monitor map published by the National Drought Mitigation Center, which is housed at UNL, shows slightly more than three-fourths of the state is no longer experiencing drought. Areas of eastern and southeastern Nebraska are covered in moderate drought. The current drought decline in Nebraska mirrors the drought decline in the contiguous United States. Denise Gutzmer, a drought impact specialist with the drought mitigation center, wrote on X (formerly Twitter), that drought conditions cover just over 15% of the lower 48 states. That, she added, is the least level of drought afflicting the U.S. in four years. Young said it will take a couple of years of near-average to above-average precipitation to increase groundwater levels. Before precipitation gets to the aquifers, it will be redirected to other elements affected by the drought. Mark Svoboda, a UNL School of Natural Resources professor and director of the NDMC, said precipitation will need to saturate the dry soils from the top to bottom before precipitation makes its way to the aquifer. Were not going to come back to sort of long-term average on these wells after just a couple of rains. But this is a good start, Young said. If we have a wet season or two, hopefully we can come back to more seasonable long-term groundwater levels. Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of May 2024 Much as state governments have spoken in the past three years of the need to focus more attention on growing their Internally Generated Revenues (IGR), there is unfortunately no evidence as yet to suggest the preparedness of most states to embrace the challenge. As reported in The Punch, four states, Lagos, Rivers, Ogun and Delta- collectively account for N2.71trn (60.22 per cent) of the N4.5tn IGR raked in by the 36 states, leaving the remaining 32 states with a paltry N1.79tn. (39.78 per cent) in the period between 2013 and 2017. Lagos, with N1.72tn (38.22 per cent) of the entire IGR generated came top followed by Rivers State which came a distant second with N433.9bn (9.64 per cent).It is followed by Ogun State with N286.67bn (6.37 per cent), while Delta State is in the fourth position with N273.84bn (6.09 per cent). On the bottom rung are Yobe with N18.48bn, Borno with N18.76bn and Ekiti, N20.05bn. We must admit that the figures are not particularly surprising. If they are any revealing, it is of the ingrained culture of dependence on the distributable pool by the states and the lack of innovation by those charged with running their affairs. The situation is what has reduced those states to a little more than leeches on the federation account. It explains why most of the states are practically insolvent to the point that the Federal Government has had to bail them out on such routine matters as paying salaries of workers and pensions of their retirees in the last three years. We just might well state the matter upfront: the current situation is neither desirable nor can it be sustained. In fact, the culture of the indolence and the lack of fiscal responsibility that the monthly conclave for revenue sharing has bred, which is at the heart of citizen alienation, should be dispensed with forthwith. In any case, with production caps as set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to contend with, and disruptions associated with militancy and sabotage in the Niger Delta also a constant factor, not to talk of the continuing volatility in oil prices itself an ever present danger, these are by themselves enough to make any further thought of counting upon the central source tantamount to living in fools paradise. Of course, the deficit gaps created by the dwindling oil receipts can only mean that those states which fail to shore up their IGRs risk further insolvency, or in the extreme case, fiscal collapse. That is the point where majority of the states are today. It is precisely the reason the states need to do something urgent about their IGRs. After all, making citizens to pay their fair share of the cost of delivering basic services and keeping their government running is as old as modern governments. In fact, there is abundant evidence to show that the first republic not only thrived on tax revenues, most of iconic landmarks of that era were funded from tax revenues. It is about time state governors found the wisdom to return to that era. They should also come together to fight for states control of resources in their domain. Many states are sitting on valuable resources yet they are complaining of lack of funds. This should not be. Moreover, the fact that some states are already achieving modest results in IGR performances would seem to underscore the vast possibilities if only the leadership of the laggard states will put their minds to work. We urge the latter to enlist the technical support from a state like Lagos and others that have proven their mettle in this regard, just as the Federal Government should come up with measures to help build their capacities to collect their tax revenues. At this time, the Federal Government should send the message out that bailout cannot be substitute for sound fiscal strategy. Prof. Wole Soyinka and President Muhammadu Buhari Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has faulted the Department of State Securitys (DSSs) classification of the planned protest of the #RevolutionNow group as treasonable. Soyinka, in a statement yesterday, said: Deployment of alarmist expressions such as treason, anarchist, public incitement etc. by Security forces have become so predictable and banal that they have become meaningless. Beyond the word revolution, another much mis-used and misunderstood word, nothing that Sowore has uttered, written, or advocated suggests that he is embarking on, or urging the public to engage in a forceful overthrow of the government. Nothing that he said to me in private engagement ever remotely approached an intent to destabilise governance or bypass the normal democratic means of changing a government. I, therefore, find the reasons given by the Inspector-General, for the arrest and detention of this young ex-presidential candidate totally contrived and untenable, unsupported by any shred of evidence. His arrest is a travesty and violation of the fundamental rights of citizens to congregate and make public their concerns. This is all so sadly deja vu. How often must we go through this wearisome cycle? We underwent identical cynical contrivances under the late, unlamented Sani Abacha, when he sent storm-troopers to disrupt a planning session for a similar across-nation march at Tai Solarin School, Ikenne. This was followed up by a personalised letter that was hand-delivered by the State Security Services to me under their summons, at their Abeokuta so-called Annexe with near-identical wording to the threats contained in todays release from the desk of the Chief of Police. At least, I was summoned, not subjected to a terrorist midnight arrest. Some irony! The same pattern Pavlovian conduct manifested itself under yet another supposed democratic ruler who personally declared that the gathering of civilians to deliberate on, and propose a constitution for the nation was high treason, and would be resisted by the full rigour of state power if we persisted. The Inspector-General of Police mobilized his forces and issued inflammatory proclamations, but PRONACO went ahead despite all the thundering from Aso citadel. Can the police ever learn anything also their tear-gassing and brutalizing of grieving mothers who marched peacefully to protest the deaths of their children in a plane crash inferno? Their mission, under that same regime, which was simply to deliver a letter to the government house in Lagos, demanding greater safety in airline operations, yet such a rational intent, born of traumatic circumstances, was quashed on the sidewalks of a supposed twentieth-century nation. And yet again, even a faceless cabal under yet another civilian regime refused to be left out of the insensate play of power. A march on Aso Rock calling for an end to governance by a ghostly entity was slated to be crushed, but fortunately, a conflicting balance of interests decided in favour of a reduced trajectory of protest. And so on and on and on, in a nation which continues to speak at once through both sides of the mouth, spewing out the same Treason monotone as if this was a magic incantation that could substitute for the venting of mass feelings, even as collective therapy! May I invite the Inspector-General to wade through the daily journals of the past few weeks and months, read and digest the calls by numerous sectors of society across professions and national groupings for demonstrations against the parlous conditions of society, all identifying ills to which attention must be drawn, and urgently, through mass action? Demonstrations and processions are time-honoured, democratic ways of drawing not only the attention of the government to ills but of mobilising the public towards a proactive consciousness of their condition, and thereby exhorting civil society also to devise means of ameliorating their condition through their own efforts? Religious bodies have urged such remedies, so have civic associations. The ready recourse to arrests, incarceration and threats to civilians are ultimately counter-productive. They alienate the citizens, erode their confidence in governance responsiveness, and thereby advance the very extremist nightmare that security agencies believe they are acting to thwart. If we cannot learn from the histories and experiences of other societies, let us at least learn from ours. Freedom is not so glibly qualified. It cannot be doled out like slops of charity from soup kitchens. Let the Police stick to their task of protecting and managing protests, not attempt to place their own meaning and declaration of intent on bogey words like revolution! Heres a playful paranormal puzzler: How far back does using a ghost as a theatrical stock character go? Well, it conveniently and maybe not-so coincidentally goes back at least 400 years, where it was famously employed by one William Shakespeare, Esquire, in a little tragedy he wrote that gained some notoriety. Hamlet, anyone? Thats right, Hamlets father is a ghost who visits him, informing his son not only who murdered him that rat Claudius but also swearing his boy to vengeance. I admit its not exactly the warm Fathers Day fuzzies of something like Field of Dreams, but I mention all of this because a father-figure ghost factors heavily into the comedy I Hate Hamlet. The bewitching production, written by Paul Ruddick, is the latest show now playing at Community Players Theatre. It runs through May 19. In the beginning of the story we meet a young television actor, Andy Rally (Ben Croft), at a crossroads in his career. His series L.A. Medical, where he played the dashing Dr. Jim Corman, has been canceled. He loved being a West Coast celebrity. California is just one big hug, he ruefully recalls. Andys German-immigrant agent Lillian Troy (Diane Walker) has convinced him to give New York theater a try. His fashion-forward real estate agent Felicia Dantine (Opal Virtue) has found him a garishly decorated brownstone available for a short-term rental. The place used to belong to none other than John Barrymore, whose portrayal of Hamlet was the stuff of legend in the 1920s. Lillians even got Andy an audition to play Hamlet in New Yorks summer park production. Thanks in part to his celebrity, Andy gets the role, but he is not at all convinced this is the direction he wants his career to take. His devoted and over-the-top enthusiastic girlfriend Deirdre (Cassie Adelman) is thrilled for him. She hints this role may finally be the sign her vow of chastity for the couple should expire. This should be all the convincing he needs, right? Alas. This deal needs a closer. Who ya gonna call? Did I mention the digs used to be owned by the legendary John Barrymore (John Bowen)? Felicia declares shes a psychic and, during a short, perfunctory seance, Andy unashamedly admits I hate Hamlet! Lightening crackles, thunder claps and, viola, our ghost appears and we are off to the races. The play is a little slow to build, but when Bowen hits the stage, the energy shift is perceptible. John Barrymore needs to be larger than life and Bowen fills the character with charm, charisma and the perfect mix of pomposity and puffery. When Andy points out the obviousness of being deceased, Barrymore retorts, Am I dead? Or just incredibly drunk? Ghosts can go on benders? Who knew? Without giving a lot away, much of what follows is Barrymore making the case for Andy to play Hamlet. Shakespeare is the ultimate aphrodisiac, Barrymore argues, pointing out that women of his era appreciated the fit of his tights clear from the second balcony. With arguments like that, we wonder why Andy is so resistant, and why Barrymore continues to be so persistent. We soon learn, though, Barrymore has his own reasons for this humorous haunting. Director Sally Parry has cast the show well. I particularly liked Jake Marshall, who plays a kind of lovable sleazy producer type named Gary. He pops in to sow more seeds of doubt in Andys mind and share his contempt for the bard. Shakespeare, he scoffs, is like algebra on stage. Marshalls portrayal of Gary is funny, self-assured and memorable. Parry uses the large set, designed by Brandon Pence, to great effect. Shes got these actors moving all over the place. Opal Virtue pulls double duty in the show as an actor and as costume designer. I particularly liked Barrymores Seinfeld-esque poofy shirt. Lighting designer Dan Virute gets a few opportunities for some feature lighting in scenes. T Bixby is the shows fight choreographer and theyve put together a dandy sword fight sequence for Croft and Bowen. Special mention to Sound Designer Rich Plotkin. In my opinion, the sound was practically flawless. This is attributable to a cast who showed their skill in enunciation and projection, and in Plotkins microphone deployment. Using a combination of choir mics hung from above and boundary mics placed on edge of the proscenium, the audience gets a great sound experience with nary a single body mic in use. I Hate Hamlet is a lot of giggly fun. Even if you truly do hate "Hamlet," I think youll find theres more than a ghost of a chance youll like this show. There are a few naughty words here and there, so it should probably be considered a PG-13-rated show. IF YOU GO What: "I Hate Hamlet" Where: Community Players Theatre, 201 Robinhood Lane, Bloomington When: 7:30 p.m. May 11, 17 and 18; 2:30 p.m. May 12 and 19 Running time: 2 hours and 15 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission 20 iconic rock songs written on the spot 20 iconic rock songs written on the spot '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' by the Rolling Stones 'Yesterday' by the Beatles 'My Generation' by the Who 'I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better' by the Byrds 'White Rabbit' by Jefferson Airplane 'Fortunate Son' by Creedence Clearwater Revival 'American Woman' by The Guess Who 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath 'Life on Mars?' by David Bowie 'Dust in the Wind' by Kansas 'Barracuda' by Heart 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' by Queen 'Rock the Casbah' by the Clash 'Here Comes the Rain Again' by Eurythmics 'Every Breath You Take' by the Police 'Running Up That Hill' by Kate Bush 'Sweet Child O' Mine' by Guns N' Roses 'Losing My Religion' by R.E.M. 'Black Hole Sun' by Soundgarden 'Doll Parts' by Hole 20 iconic rock songs written on the spot SPRINGFIELD State officials told lawmakers Friday that they "intend" to keep Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln open during the three- to five-year construction of a new facility in Will County but there is a caveat. Prison officials also confirmed plans that, if approved, would lead to temporary closure of Stateville Correctional Center in suburban Chicago as soon as September. The new details were revealed during at a Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability hearing on the state's proposed $900 million plan to demolish and rebuild both facilities, which were described in a 2023 state-commissioned report as nearly "inoperable" due to their advanced age and hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance. Gov. J.B. Pritzker's administration unveiled broad strokes of the plan in March. And last month, IDOC submitted its recommendation to the commission that Logan, the state's only multi-level women's correctional facility, be shuttered in Lincoln and rebuilt more than 140 miles away on the same site as Stateville, a maximum-security men's prison. The bicameral, bipartisan state legislative commission is expected to issue a non-binding recommendation on the plan next month after public hearings that will be held near both facilities. Though a decision could effectively already be made by that point if appropriations for the proposed projects are included in the fiscal year 2025 state budget that lawmakers are expected to approve by the end of May. IDOC director Latoya Hughes told legislators on Friday that the department will keep Logan open in the interim "as long as it is safe to do so." But her answer was more ambiguous than firm, adding that "in the event of Logan's continual deterioration or (if) a part of its critical infrastructure fails," then "the department may need to consider relocating some or all of the individuals in custody at Logan prior to completion of the rebuild." A report from Miami-based CGL last year identified $116 million in deferred maintenance at Logan, a number that would likely double in five years if left unaddressed. The report found the women's prison "to be inefficient, ineffective, and unsuitable for any population," adding that "IDOC should find a more suitable location for housing its incarcerated women." Logan employs 450 people and has an incarcerated population of 1,081, according to the latest IDOC data. It is one of the largest employers in Logan County, leading to significant concerns about the local economic impact should the facility shutter and be rebuild more than 100 miles away. Mike Newman, deputy director of AFSCME Local 31, which represents corrections officers, told lawmakers that the union supports a rebuild of Logan and Stateville but "is strongly opposed" to IDOC's proposal. Moving forward with a plan that does not involve building the new facility at or near its current location will cause extreme disruption in the lives of individuals in custody and correctional staff," Newman said. The facility is less than 40 miles from the the state's other women's prison, Decatur Correctional Center. In its April report detailing its recommendation to rebuild the facility elsewhere, IDOC cited a desire to better distribute the facilities across the state. Officials said that this would allow incarcerated people from the Chicago area to be closer to family, create more access to educational programs and give the department a greater pool of potential employees to choose from. Hughes said that all current Logan employees should be able to stay with IDOC if they want to. The department estimates that 850 positions will be available at other facilities within a 90-mile radius of Logan, including Decaturs womens prison and the neighboring mens facility, the Lincoln Correctional Center. "It is not lost on this department that any relocation creates disruptions for employees and their families as well as for the individuals in custody and their loved ones," Hughes said, adding that the plan would be "phased" in a way to "minimize" disruption as much as possible. However, lawmakers said Friday that expecting Logan employees to commute more than 100 miles round-trip in some cases was asking a lot. "They have jobs, they have homes," said state Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason, whose district includes Logan. "And we can't expect them to drive 70 miles (with) $4 gas to try to work somewhere else." State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, added that the "stability of the workforce is important" to a community and that this plan would be "extremely disruptive" to Lincoln. "We all agree on the end outcome: We need new facilities," Koehler said. "Thats not in dispute. Now the question is how do we do that?" Koehler said that he is working for a two-week extension to the deadline for a recommendation, which would allow more time for community feedback and push it after the conclusion of the spring legislative session. But Newman questioned why the plan was being presented to the commission at all since the department at this point "is considering" moving Logan but has not yet made a final decision. "(IDOC) is simply asking the commission for pre-approval well in advance of whenever the department comes up with an actual plan sometime within the next five years," Newman said. Lawmakers were skeptical of IDOC's timeline. "It's very hard for me to believe we're going to build a secure facility quicker than we could build a build a bridge," said state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville. Additional meetings, though not yet scheduled, are expected next month. NPP parliamentary candidate for Adentan, Akosua Manu has eulogized her party's flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, over his good works as Vice President and has implored Ghanaians to elect him to be Ghana's next President. Akosua Manu, speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, touted some achievements by Dr. Bawumia since the inception of the incumbent government under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Aside the digitally transformative programs introduced by the Vice President, the Adentan parliamentary aspirant reminded Ghanaians of the government's Zipline project which uses drones to swiftly deliver medical supplies to health facilities and patients ensuring quick recovery of the sick. The Zipline project is said to have made great strides by hitting a 1 million delivery mark which, to Akosua Manu, is very impressive; hence Dr. Bawumia deserves to emerge victor in the December 7 polls. "Hitting a 1 million mark, literally, is profound in the sense that you've touched the life of more than a million people", she told Kwami Sefa Kayi on "Kokrokoo" morning show on Peace FM. She described the Zipline project as a "masterstroke of ingenuity" initiated by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The continuous destruction of the countrys land and water resources through illegal mining activities, popularly called galamsey, is a blot on the national conscience and all duty-bearers must bow their heads in shame an international evangelist, Rev. Dr Lawrence Tetteh, has stated. Rev. Dr Tetteh, the President of the Worldwide Miracle Outreach (WMO), said the situation where the ruling political class, chiefs and security agencies turned a blind eye to the menace was unacceptable and condemnable. It is such a shame that we continue to pay lip service to something that is destroying our current and future generations. If you are a Ghanaian and you are not concerned about this monster called galamsey, then you must bury your head in shame, he stressed. The evangelist added that the time had come for all Ghanaians, irrespective of their social status, to rise up and help to expose all persons who were perpetrating galamsey. He made the call at a press conference in Accra yesterday as part of the national prayer rally by WMO and the Lawrence Tetteh Ministries (LTM). The 31-day national prayer rally, which started on May 1, is on the theme This Nonsense Must Stop and brings together religious leaders to pray for the wellbeing of the country, especially as the December 7 elections beckon. Galamsey nonsense Rev. Dr Tetteh, who is also an economist, described galamsey as one of the major nonsenses that must stop if Ghanaians wanted to live long and sustainably manage the countrys resources. I call out the presidency on this issue of galamsey. Where are our chiefs and security personnel? If we do not stand up and stop this nonsense, we will all die, he stressed. The clergyman stressed that as custodians of the land, chiefs in particular must take a principled stance not to allow illegal mining to be carried out in their areas of jurisdiction. Rev. Dr Tetteh added that if chiefs exercised the power they had over their subjects in the fight against galamsey, persons behind the menace could be brought to book with ease. Children are being born with defects; it is estimated that Ghana risks importing water because our water-bodies are contaminated, causing infections and diseases to our communities. This is why we must expose the people behind this wickedness, he said. Corruption, nepotism Rev. Dr Tetteh also underscored the need for conscious efforts to be made to purge the country of corruption, favouritism and nepotism, stressing that such tendencies were anti-developmental and nation-wrecking. He observed that galamsey and other developmental challenges the country was grappling with were deeply rooted in corruption and nepotism. Unfortunately, many of the anti-corruption strategies and efforts tend to target the symptoms of corruption instead of the main causes and perpetrators of the act, he said. The evangelist called on the mandated state anti-graft institutions to live up to the constitutional mandate to help nip corruption in the bud. Source: graphic.com.gh Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Organisers of the Dumsor Vigil, Accra version, have submitted a notice letter to the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, notifying him and the Ghana Police Service of their intention to hold their event on May 25, 2024. Details in a copy of the letter presented to the IGP, the group, led by actress Yvonne Nelson, Selorm Dramani Dzramedo, and Henry Osei Akoto, indicated the groups desire to use the Revolution Square, right opposite the Jubilee House, for the event. The group said the reason behind the vigil is to demonstrate our frustrations over the unacceptable erratic electricity supply (Dumsor) and that the special event will be like a vigil. Providing explanations for the choice of venue, the group said that it is to amplify the significance of history and also because of the proximity to the official seat of government. We have carefully chosen the Revolution Square as the venue because of its historical significance and its proximity to the seat of government to give the president an ocular evidence of the debilitating effects of the erratic power supply (Dumsor) on us, the letter said in part. The group added that participants would gather after 8 am and disperse by midnight. It will be recalled that the organisers and patrons of the successful Kumasi edition announced plans to hold a Dumsor Vigil in Accra as well. Explaining the reason behind the decision to replicate the same vigil that took place in Kumasi on April 17, 2024, Henry Osei Akoto, one of the leaders of the event, said it is not enough to have only Kumasi featured. He explained, in an interview, that moving the vigil around is to mount further pressure on the government, and to bring its attention to the debilitating effects of the power outages on businesses and livelihoods. He further said that the group would soon mobilize Ghanaians to protest against the erratic power supplies, commonly known as Dumsor. We will mobilise Ghanaians on the streets soon if you don't resolve DUMSOR; the inconveniences is just too much. You promised Ghanaians you were going to give us an uninterrupted POWER SUPPLY; see where you've brought us, he said. The Dumsor Vigil is organized by Ashanti Democrats, which is led by Jerry James Sukkah, and is a demonstration against the erratic power supply across the country. Actress Yvonne Nelson, who was one of the main faces behind the #DumsorMustStop demonstration a few years ago, joins this as an answer to several calls on her to reignite that activity. 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. Featured Video Gunmen have kidnapped nine university students in Kogi State, central Nigeria. Local reports say the gunmen attacked the Confluence University of Science and Technology late on Thursday night. They entered classrooms where students were preparing for upcoming examinations and reportedly started shooting sporadically into the air. They then gathered a group of students and whisked them away. The Kogi state government confirmed that there were nine abductees but there are fears this number could be higher. The state government said it has mobilised security forces in a search and rescue operation. Hundreds of local hunters who understand the terrain, as well as the conventional security agents, are currently combing the area to ensure safe rescue of the abducted students who were kidnapped in the classrooms," a statement said. Nigeria has experienced a rise in kidnappings - hundreds of people, including children, have been abducted in recent months. Some families said they were made to pay ransoms running into thousands of dollars before their loved ones were freed. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The General Superintendent of Assemblies of God, Ghana, Rev. Stephen Yenusom Wengam has cut the sod to kick start the construction of Legacy Temples for the church at a ceremony in Adansi Asokwa in the Ashanti Region. The Legacy Temple Project is an initiative withinthe vision of the General Superintendent dubbed the Transformation Agenda. This is aimed at championing the construction of church buildings to be called Legacy Temples in newly planted churches especially in rural communities. The plan is for individuals, groups of persons and agencies within the church to put up these buildings in places of their choice. The ceremony coincided with the sod cutting for the construction of one such legacy temple at Adansi Asokwa in the Ashanti Region. Addressing the gathering to cut the sod for the project, Rev. Wengam recounted the genesis of Assemblies of God in Yendi in 1931, which was then within a rural area of the Northern Region. He noted that most Assemblies of God churches in rural areas are not blessed with decent places of worship, hence his vision to encourage members of the church to build temples in rural areas. He hoped that people would respond to build thousands of church buildings for Assemblies of God churches in Ghana. He cited the example of the Centurion in Luke Chapter 7 who built a synagogue for the Jews and King David who had purposed in his heart to build a temple for God, saying, such persons have a special place in the heart of God. Rev Wengam noted, that there is no such time as the perfect time, and called on members to begin to exercise faith and take the step to do it. He stressed the point, that no church deserves to worship under trees, and that every church deserves a decent place to worship. He announced that church members who take the initiative to build temples for churches shall be honoured at General Council meetings. They shall receive special awards, and have their names immortalised on the walls of the church buildings. The General Superintendent and his wife showed the way for the construction of legacy temples, when they sponsored the construction of a 300 seater Chapel at Goaso in the Ahafo region. They are currently sponsoring the completion of the temple of the first Assemblies of God Ghana Church in Yendi, where missionaries first set up the church in Ghana in 1931. Rev Wengam paid special tribute to the Adansi Asokwahene, Nana Ofori Kusi Ampofo II, for giving the land free of charge for the purpose of building the temple. In response Nana Kusisaid the land belongs to God and so, he could not refuse to give it back to him for the building of the temple. Special prayers were said for the chief and the people of Adansi. The Lead Sponsor of the project, Deacon Kwabena Adu-Boahene said the decision to build the temple came from an observation made by his mother during the funeral of his late father. He said upon realising that the temple was in a bad shape, his mother pledged to find sponsors to build a new one. He said the vision of the General Superintendent gave further impetus to the plan to put up a decent place of worship for the people of his native land. On why he would not rather invest his money in ventures that would result in direct financialreturns only, Deacon Kwabena Adu-Boahene said he has had some difficult times in his lifewhich took only the miraculous hand of God to intervene. These have taught him that it is better to put his interests and investments in the things of God as well. He recounted, that even when he did not have the money to undertake a project for God, once he takes a step of faith, God provides the needed resources. He expressed the hope, that God would provide the resources to complete the Adansi Asokwa project as well. The 500 seater auditorium has an office, an upper terrace and childrens chapel. It is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Present at the ceremony were, the Assistant General Superintendent of Assemblies of God Ghana, Rev. Tito Adjei and his wife, the General Treasurer, Rev. Simon Abu Baba and his wife, and the President of the Ministers Wives Association of Assemblies of God Mrs. Monica Wengam. Also present was the Regional Superintendent of the Ashanti West Region of Assemblies of God, Rev. Kofi Bempah. The Secretary of the Legacy Temple Commission, Deacon Aguriba also addressed the gathering. Source: Assemblies Of God 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. Featured Video Standard Chartered has inducted 20 new female start-ups into the 4thCohort of the Standard Chartered Women in Tech incubator programme. The programme is implemented by Ashesi Universitys Ghana Climate Innovation Centre and is dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs. With a renewed focus on sustainability, this year's programme reflects the Bank's commitment to fostering environmentally and socially responsible business practices. Mansa Nettey, Chief Executive, Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC, emphasized the importance of the programme, stating, "The Bank is deeply passionate about our communities and continues to create opportunities that will help the youth to have a brighter future. To advance gender diversity in tech for entrepreneurs, we need sheroes and changemakers to drive innovation and shape the future. She also shared nuggets of advice with the inductees, inspiring them to be authentic, confident and ambitious. The Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator programme speaks to the Banks strategy of investing in women- owned businesses to bring greater prosperity and diversity to the communities in which they operate with emphasis on supporting innovation, infrastructure and technology. Through this initiative, women entrepreneurs have a platform to build capacity and realize their full potential in the world of business. Additionally, six entrepreneurs will receive grant of USD 10,000 (equivalent in GHS) each at the culmination of the programme, highlighting the bank's commitment to nurturing growth and innovation in the tech industry, with a strong emphasis on sustainability. Ruka Sanusi, Executive Director of the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, highlighted the achievements of previous cohorts, stating that in three cohorts, the Standard Chartered Women in Tech programme had incubated 54 businesses, with these enterprises generating over GHC2M in revenues during their incubation period of 6 months, and employing over 400 people. In her address, Janet Sunkwa Mills, Marketing Consultant, Board Member of the Executive Women Network, (EWN), and CEO of Jane'M Salon & Spa, issued a call-to-action to the inductees to reimagine and reinvent solutions that foster meaningful global impact. Georgette Barnes Sakyi-Addo, founder and Executive Director of Georgette Barnes Ltd., a Ghanaian drilling and mining supplies company, charged the twenty female business owners to work towards overcoming any gender issues they may face in their business journey, citing her own experiences to encourage them. Launched in 2014 in New York, Standard Chartered Banks Women in Technology Incubator programme is now a global programme and implemented in 9 markets in Africa and Middle East including Ghana. 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. Featured Video Former President and flagbearer for the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has expressed shock and displeasure over the loss of $190 million negotiated by the NDC government for the private sector participation in electricity distribution under the United States Millennium Compact. On his official X(formerly twitter) page, John Mahama attributed the loss of the fund to what he describes as 'yenkyendi' and cronyistic governance practiced by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government. Mr. Mahama wrote, Dear fellow Ghanaians, Its disheartening to learn that the $190 million we negotiated for private sector participation in electricity distribution under the US Millennium Compact has been lost due to Nana Addo and Bawumia's corrupt, yenkyendi, and cronyistic governance practices. According to John Dramani Mahama, the incessant corruption that has ensnared the government in recent times is one thing every Ghanaian should abhor, adding that such an activity is unacceptable. This is unacceptable, and we deserve better as a people. As I gear up to assume the presidency in January 2025, thanks to your votes and endorsement in this years election, I want to assure you that I will work diligently to enhance private sector efficiency in the electricity distribution system, including metering, revenue management, and fault response. My administration will prioritise accountability and ensure a thorough investigation of the PDS scandal to hold those involved accountable. We can work together to build a brighter future for Ghana's power sector that benefits citizens and businesses. He, therefore called on Ghanaians to stand together to vote for the NDC in order to deal with the issue with corruption that has become a canker in the Ghanaian public space, especially amongst government officials. Let's stand together, fight against corruption and cronyism, and work towards building the Ghana we want. Source: Kobina Darlington/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. Featured Video The immediate past Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Henry Kwabena Kokofu has urged the general public to get committed to the ongoing limited voter registration exercise. The Electoral Commission, as a way of capturing all persons who were not able to get registered during the last registration exercise and persons who turned the eligible age of eighteen (18), has decided to embark on a limited voter registration exercise across the country. Although the exercise has been charaterised by a number of challenges, the Environmental Scientist has called on all Ghanaians who are eligible to cease the opportunity to do so. Everyone who has to take part in the ongoing registration exercise must endeavor to do so. This is a collective effort that everyone must endeavour to make. Speaking on Friday's edition of Peace FM's 'kokrokoo' programme, Dr. Kokofu said, I was very perturbed when I heard that a certain parliamentary candidate has travelled out of the country when this all important national exercise is ongoing. I pray it is not an NPP candidate. If it is, then I am urging him or her to come back and ensure that all persons in your constituency who was not able to get registered during the last edition to do so in this exercise. It is part of your responsibility to ensure that persons whose names have not been captured in the system of the Electoral Commission is done without fail. Reacting to IMANIs petition to CHRAJ to investigate the Electoral Commission over the disposal of the obsolete BVDs, and the Commissions refusal to release the serial numbers of the BVDs and BVRs to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Kokofu mentioned that, they are schemes devised to distract attention from the upcoming elections. According to him, it is a deliberate attempt made by these organisations to say that the election was rigged when the NPPs flagbearer is declared winner after December 7. This is not the first time a registration exercise is being conducted and it is not the first time an election is going to be held. So where from the demand of serial numbers of BVRs and BVDs. This is ridiculously disheartening and should not be encouraged, he said. He stressed, We in the NPP are working so hard to win the marginal seats. We are not relenting on hard work. We are not going to bus anyone from anywhere but we shall work within the constituencies to make sure that everyone who has not registered gets registered. We are not as desperate as the NDC. We need to protect the free SHS policy so we shall encourage all the batches of the free SHS students who couldnt register at the time to do so and vote for the NPP so that the policy can be protected. We are not taking any chances. Watch video below Source: Kobina Darlington/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. Featured Video Prof. Smart Sarpong has slammed the opposition National Democratic Congress for demanding that the Electoral Commission should share the serial numbers of their biometric machines with the party. The National Democratic Congress accuses the Electoral Commission (EC) of trying to connive with the ruling New Patriotic Party to rig the December polls and retain them in power. They also hold the position that the EC is manipulating the ongoing limited registration exercise, therefore they demand the serial numbers of the Biometric Voter Registration(BVR) kits currently deployed in the field but the Commission has refused to share the numbers with the party, stating it will compromise the integrity of the registration exercise. The commission, in a response to the NDC said; The commission wishes to highlight that the integrity and security of our electoral process are paramount. Each BVR kit, as a critical component of this process, is assigned a unique serial number. This number plays a crucial role in the operation of these devices, particularly in the generation of activation codes essential for their functionality as well as tracking their location and movement." Commenting on the issue during a panel discussion on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show, Prof. Smart Sarpong, a Senior Researcher, sided with the EC for refusing to share the numbers with the NDC. He noted that releasing the numbers is akin to giving the NDC the BVRs to operate in their homes. He argued that the machines whether missing or not, I think the NDC is demanding too much if they go for the serial numberbecause having the serial number of the gadget is just as having the machine. Prof. Sarpong urged the opposition party not to interfere with the work of the Electoral Commission, stressing give the EC some independence to do their job. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video 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: Theres a mindboggling number of planets out there. Credit: NASA/James Webb telescope Artificial intelligence (AI) has progressed at an astounding pace over the last few years. Some scientists are now looking towards the development of artificial superintelligence (ASI)a form of AI that would not only surpass human intelligence but would not be bound by the learning speeds of humans. But what if this milestone isn't just a remarkable achievement? What if it also represents a formidable bottleneck in the development of all civilizations, one so challenging that it thwarts their long-term survival? This idea is at the heart of a research paper I recently published in Acta Astronautica. Could AI be the universe's "great filter"a threshold so hard to overcome that it prevents most life from evolving into space-faring civilizations? This is a concept that might explain why the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has yet to detect the signatures of advanced technical civilizations elsewhere in the galaxy. The great filter hypothesis is ultimately a proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox. This questions why, in a universe vast and ancient enough to host billions of potentially habitable planets, we have not detected any signs of alien civilizations. The hypothesis suggests there are insurmountable hurdles in the evolutionary timeline of civilizations that prevent them from developing into space-faring entities. I believe the emergence of ASI could be such a filter. AI's rapid advancement, potentially leading to ASI, may intersect with a critical phase in a civilization's developmentthe transition from a single-planet species to a multiplanetary one. This is where many civilizations could falter, with AI making much more rapid progress than our ability either to control it or sustainably explore and populate our solar system. The challenge with AI, and specifically ASI, lies in its autonomous, self-amplifying and improving nature. It possesses the potential to enhance its own capabilities at a speed that outpaces our own evolutionary timelines without AI. The potential for something to go badly wrong is enormous, leading to the downfall of both biological and AI civilizations before they ever get the chance to become multiplanetary. For example, if nations increasingly rely on and cede power to autonomous AI systems that compete against each other, military capabilities could be used to kill and destroy on an unprecedented scale. This could potentially lead to the destruction of our entire civilization, including the AI systems themselves. In this scenario, I estimate the typical longevity of a technological civilization might be less than 100 years. That's roughly the time between being able to receive and broadcast signals between the stars (1960), and the estimated emergence of ASI (2040) on Earth. This is alarmingly short when set against the cosmic timescale of billions of years. This estimate, when plugged into optimistic versions of the Drake equationwhich attempts to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Waysuggests that, at any given time, there are only a handful of intelligent civilizations out there. Moreover, like us, their relatively modest technological activities could make them quite challenging to detect. Wake-up call This research is not simply a cautionary tale of potential doom. It serves as a wake-up call for humanity to establish robust regulatory frameworks to guide the development of AI, including military systems. This is not just about preventing the malevolent use of AI on Earth; it's also about ensuring the evolution of AI aligns with the long-term survival of our species. It suggests we need to put more resources into becoming a multiplanetary society as soon as possiblea goal that has lain dormant since the heady days of the Apollo project, but has lately been reignited by advances made by private companies. As the historian Yuval Noah Harari noted, nothing in history has prepared us for the impact of introducing non-conscious, super-intelligent entities to our planet. Recently, the implications of autonomous AI decision-making have led to calls from prominent leaders in the field for a moratorium on the development of AI, until a responsible form of control and regulation can be introduced. But even if every country agreed to abide by strict rules and regulation, rogue organizations will be difficult to rein in. The integration of autonomous AI in military defense systems has to be an area of particular concern. There is already evidence that humans will voluntarily relinquish significant power to increasingly capable systems, because they can carry out useful tasks much more rapidly and effectively without human intervention. Governments are therefore reluctant to regulate in this area given the strategic advantages AI offers, as has been recently and devastatingly demonstrated in Gaza. This means we already edge dangerously close to a precipice where autonomous weapons operate beyond ethical boundaries and sidestep international law. In such a world, surrendering power to AI systems in order to gain a tactical advantage could inadvertently set off a chain of rapidly escalating, highly destructive events. In the blink of an eye, the collective intelligence of our planet could be obliterated. Humanity is at a crucial point in its technological trajectory. Our actions now could determine whether we become an enduring interstellar civilization, or succumb to the challenges posed by our own creations. Using SETI as a lens through which we can examine our future development adds a new dimension to the discussion on the future of AI. It is up to all of us to ensure that when we reach for the stars, we do so not as a cautionary tale for other civilizations, but as a beacon of hopea species that learned to thrive alongside AI. More information: Michael A. Garrett, Is artificial intelligence the great filter that makes advanced technical civilisations rare in the universe?, Acta Astronautica (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.03.052 Journal information: Acta Astronautica This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Researchers at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) have released a road map to help the global fishing industry become more sustainable. The five-step plan outlines how the fishing industry can use population genomicslarge-scale comparisons of a species' DNAto prevent overfishing. The road map, recently published in the Annual Review of Animal Biosciences, can also be used to monitor the genetic diversity of any speciesnot just fish. "Fishing is a very important component of our food security" said Dr. Leif Andersson, a professor in the VMBS' Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences. "The marine food chain is also very interconnected, so having low numbers of one type of fish can be detrimental for many other species. "Unfortunately, over a third of the world's fish populations are in decline due to factors like overfishing and global warming," he said. "Our road map can help the fishing industry keep a closer eye on fish populations so we know when to stop fishing them and also when they may need conservation help to restore their numbers." Using population genomics will allow the fishing industry to know the exact details of the fish they harvest, including where they spawn and where the population moves at different times of the year. "Different populations of the same fish can have important distinctionsfor example, even in an abundant species like the Atlantic herring we have many subpopulations," Andersson said. "One type of herring may be adapted to live in warmer waters and another in colder temperatures. If you deplete one population, that specific variety may not return, and that can have consequences for people, other animals, and the environment." But the techniques in the road map aren't specific to fishthey can be used by any scientists looking to monitor genetic diversity. "If you are managing an area with many wolf populationsor even local beesand you want to know how many types there are, you can use the same road map," Andersson said. "It's useful to anyone." Putting population genomics to work According to the new plan, monitoring a fish stock begins with sequencing the genome for that species, a process that reveals to scientists exactly what each section of an organism's DNA does. "The first step is to create a reference genome, which shows the function of each gene on each chromosome as completely as possible," Andersson said. "Genes are significant because they determine everything from physical featureslike scale colorto complex systemslike the immune system. "We're very fortunate to live in what I call the 'Golden Age' of genetics research, because technology is making the results more complete and the process less expensive," he said. "For a long time, complete reference genomes were difficult to achieve because there are very long, repetitive sections of DNA. However, we have the ability now to read these long sections using better sequencing technologies and bioinformatics." Once population scientists have a reference genome of the species that they want to monitor, they need a way to tell the difference between regional populations. "Step two is figuring out where the fish are spawning; you need to know where the population that you want to monitor is reproducing," Andersson said. "Once you know that, you have to take samples of fish at the spawning point and sequence their DNA. Then you can compare the population's DNA to the reference genome and see the differences." Step three is measuring the frequency of genetic variation in the population. "You need to know how different populations of the same fish are," Andersson said. "For example, if you take 100 DNA samples from eels in England and the same amount from the Nile River in Egypt, you will see that there is no significant genetic difference. That's because all eels are part of the same populationthey have the same spawning area in the Sargasso Sea. "But herring are different," he said. "If you take samples of herring from different regions of the Atlantic Ocean, you will find hundreds of places in the genome where there are differences. Each population of herring has adapted to its geographic location and will need a different management plan." According to Andersson, the last two steps involve using information from the previous steps to determine exactly how many different populations of a species there are. "You can even focus your analysis further and use specific genetic markers to map out where each stock is at each point in the year," he said. "It's like having a genetic fingerprint that allows you to create a management plan that is specific to each stock." Entering the future of population management Fishery authorities in Europe have already begun using the management road map laid out by Andersson and his research collaborators to monitor key populations of fish that are important to both the economy and local biodiversity. While Andersson and his team won't be collecting population data into a single database, he hopes that more people in the global fishing industry, from fishing companies to government fishing authorities, will also begin using the road map so that they become best practices for the entire industry. "This kind of analysis would be valuable all over the world," he said. "Fish are important to our planet's marine ecosystems, and they're also a healthy source of protein for humans. But many populations of fish depend on regional and seasonal factors that haven't been well-understood until recently. We hope that population genomics can become a powerful tool for assessing and maintaining biodiversity, not just for fish, but for many species." More information: Leif Andersson et al, How Fish Population Genomics Can Promote Sustainable Fisheries: A Road Map, Annual Review of Animal Biosciences (2023). DOI: 10.1146/annurev-animal-021122-102933 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: Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights are seen in Fredericton, Saturday, May. 11, 2024. Credit: Hina Alam /The Canadian Press via AP A powerful solar storm put on an amazing skyward light show across the globe overnight but has caused what appeared to be only minor disruptions to the electric power grid, communications and satellite positioning systems. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said extreme geomagnetic storm conditions continued Saturday, and there were preliminary reports of power grid irregularities, degradation of high-frequency communications and global positioning systems. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that, so far, no FEMA region had reported any significant impact from the storms. The U.S. Department of Energy said Saturday it is not aware of any impact from the storms on electric customers. NOAA predicted that strong flares will continue through at least Sunday, and a spokeswoman said via email that the agency's Space Weather Prediction Center had prepared well for the storm. On Saturday morning, SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service said on its website that service had been degraded and its team was investigating. CEO Elon Musk wrote on the social platform X overnight that its satellites were "under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far." Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, China, England, Spain and elsewhere. A person takes a photo of Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, May. 11, 2024. Credit: Ethan Cairns /The Canadian Press via AP In the U.S., Friday's solar storm pushed the lights much farther south than normal. The Miami office of the National Weather Service confirmed sightings in the areas of Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers, Florida. Meteorologist Nick Carr said another forecaster who lives near Fort Lauderdale photographed the lights and was familiar with them because he previously lived in Alaska. People in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and other Midwestern states were able to capture photos of bright colors along the horizon. With the solar storm persisting through the weekend, Saturday night offered another chance for many to see the spectacle. NOAA issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The agency alerted operators of power plants and orbiting spacecraft, as well as FEMA, to take precautions. People view the northern lights, or aurora borealis, as they glow over Lake Washington, in Renton, Wash., on Friday evening, May 10, 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson "For most people here on planet Earth, they won't have to do anything," said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. "That's really the gift from space weather: the aurora," Steenburgh said. He and his colleagues said the best views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye. Snap a picture of the sky, and "there might be actually a nice little treat there for you," said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center. The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii. This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people's homes, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth. The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, is visible over Homestead, Iowa, early Saturday, May, 11, 2024.Credit: Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP The Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, illuminate the night sky over the Lake Balaton, near Fonyod, Hungary, late Friday, May 10, 2024. Credit: Gyorgy Varga//MTI via AP In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, are seen near Nanshan scenic spot in Urumqi in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Saturday, May 11, 2024. An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth produced stunning displays of color in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere early Saturday, with no immediate reports of disruptions to power and communications. Credit: Chen Shuo/Xinhua via AP The Northern lights fill the sky at the Bogus Basin ski resort on Saturday, May 11, 2024 in Boise, Idaho. Credit: Kyle Green (AP Photo/Kyle Green Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights are seen in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, May. 11, 2024. Credit: Ethan Cairns /The Canadian Press via AP In this image taken with a long exposure, people look at the night sky towards the northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Estacada, Ore. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. Credit: AP Photo/Jenny Kane The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, is visible over Ann Arbor, Mich., early Saturday, May, 11, 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin In this image taken with a long exposure, cars pass by as people look at the night sky towards the northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Estacada, Ore. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. Credit: AP Photo/Jenny Kane In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, are seen near Nanshan scenic spot in Urumqi in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Saturday, May 11, 2024. An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth produced stunning displays of color in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere early Saturday, with no immediate reports of disruptions to power and communications. Credit: Chen Shuo/Xinhua via AP An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa. Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted. The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona. The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot that is 16 times the diameter of Earth, NOAA said. It is all part of the solar activity ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle. 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump is hosting a rally Saturday on the beach in Wildwood. 7:55 p.m.: Trump concludes speech 6:20 p.m.: Trump takes the stage in Wildwood. Trump says that he is going to win the state of New Jersey. During his speech, Trump promised "the biggest tax cut" if he's reelected. "We're gonna win the state of New Jersey" -- Trump pic.twitter.com/hnUEHQlXWp Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 11, 2024 5:40 p.m.: Donald Trumps motorcade has arrived in Wildwood 4:15 p.m. : Jeff Van Drew said 80,000 people are at the rally. Van Drew also said it was the largest political event in the history of the state. About an hour until Donald Trump takes the stage. A crowd of 80,000 was just announced and a big roar was heard throughout it when his plane flew overhead. @ACPressHuba pic.twitter.com/ScN3xwM20O John O'Connor (@ACPressOConnor) May 11, 2024 3:30 p.m.: U.S. Rep Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, talks about Trump's Wildwood rally. 2:20 p.m.: The crowd is filling in under the amusement rides. Artist Scott LaBaido is the first on stage, painting while the national anthem plays. The crowd is filling in under the amusement rides. Artist Scott LaBaido is the first on stage, painting while the national anthem plays. pic.twitter.com/vbDUaRnr4V Bill Barlow (@Jerseynews_Bill) May 11, 2024 Now its time to wait, with a significant crowd packed in to the beach venue. The music is blasting, leaning heavily on classic rock anthems. pic.twitter.com/KIXiKlsgXL Bill Barlow (@Jerseynews_Bill) May 11, 2024 1:40 p.m.: A look inside the Trump Wildwood Rally site. 1:05: Friends Andre Tarasov and John Elias traveled from Baltimore, Maryland, for todays Trump rally. Its their first time at a Trump rally and so far they have been enjoying the experience of the Jersey Shore. 1:00 p.m.: Parking in Wildwood today is in demand, and some lots are charging up to $50 to park for the rally and other events. Close to the Wildwood Boardwalk, parking runs from $20 to $50, with a significant malti its way toward the Trump rally on the beach. Multiple other events are also underway today as well. pic.twitter.com/72IF8qyvZR Bill Barlow (@Jerseynews_Bill) May 11, 2024 12:35 p.m.: As Trump prepares to make remarks at his Wildwood Rally, Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said that former president is focused on himself and not the American people. 12:00 p.m.: Some people in line began to chant We Want Trump! as the gates have now opened and people are beginning to make their way onto the beach. WOW, THANK YOU WILDWOOD, NEW JERSEYSEE YOU AT 5:00PM! pic.twitter.com/MzPCvmf6ZL Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) May 11, 2024 11:45 a.m.: No protesters are at the designated protest area. While there could be some later on today, there are currently no protestors within the designated area city police had outlined @ACPressHuba John O'Connor (@ACPressOConnor) May 11, 2024 11:20 a.m.: Crowd is growing 40 minutes before doors open. 10:45 a.m.: People have traveled from as far away as California for the rally. As I wait in traffic now due to the drawbridge here on 47, I have noticed cars from as far away as California with Trump stickers and flags. Other states Ive noticed include Florida, Delaware, and New York. @ACPressHuba John O'Connor (@ACPressOConnor) May 11, 2024 10:30 a.m.: Trump supporters still heading into Wildwood. On my way down to Wildwood for the Donald Trump rally. Saw a handful of people in a rest stop wearing Trump gear and have seen a few vehicles going down the parkway with Trump flags. @ACPressHuba John O'Connor (@ACPressOConnor) May 11, 2024 7:30 a.m.: Approximately 100 people camped out on the beach last night in order to secure the best seats for the rally. 7:15 a.m. : Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Michael Suleiman weighs in on today's rally A few Friday night thoughts on former President Trump's rally tomorrow in Wildwood. 1/ Michael Suleiman (@MSuleiman) May 11, 2024 EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE RALLY WHEN: May 11. Doors will open at noon, and Trump will begin speaking at 5 p.m. WHERE: On the beach in Wildwood WHO IS RUNNING THE EVENT?: Trump's presidential campaign ROAD CLOSURES: As of now, no road closures have been announced. During Trump's 2020 rally, the blocks surrounding the Wildwoods Convention Center were closed to traffic. DESIGNATED PROTEST AREA: A designated protest area has been established at the Roberts Avenue beach. HOW DID WE GET HERE?: The Wildwood Board of Commissioners approved an agreement between the city and the Trump organization for the rally April 15. TRUMP'S SOUTH JERSEY SUPPORTERS: U.S. Rep Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, who is running for reelection this year, said he remains close with Trump. Elected as a Democrat, Van Drew changed parties, becoming a Republican and pledging his support for Trump in the White House in 2019. TRUMP'S HISTORY IN WILDWOOD: In January 2020, before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was felt in the United States, Trumps visit to the Wildwoods Convention Center on the Boardwalk a rare visit to southern New Jersey by a sitting president drew thousands to the beach resort in the winter. People started lining up to get in 12 hours before the event began. WHAT IS AT STAKE IN NEW JERSEY?: Van Drew has indicated the rally could have an impact in Pennsylvania, typically described as a swing state, and in New Jersey, which has not supported Trump in previous elections. He said recent polls show the gap closing in traditionally blue New Jersey. Chinese and foreign scientists in Fujian province have discovered large dinosaur tracks, which they said are the largest known Deinonychosaur tracks ever found and have led to the establishment of a new footprint genus species. A paper on the discovery was published in the academic journal iScience last month. The research team found that at the large Late Cretaceous (110.5-66 million years ago) dinosaur track site discovered in Shanghang county, Longyan, there are some large Deinonychosaur tracks, with the extinct species estimated to be at least 5 meters in body length and nearly 2 meters in hip height, comparable in size to the South China Tyrannosaur and the Utahraptor, two fearsome dinosaur species previously discovered. A team of Chinese and foreign scientists led by the China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and the Fujian Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum announced the discovery on Monday. In 2020, the museum and the university worked as a joint scientific expedition team to search for dinosaur fossils in Fujian. Last year, the expedition team named the large Late Cretaceous dinosaur track site discovered in Shanghang as the "Fujian Longxiang Dinosaur Track Group", and the related paper was published in the academic journal Cretaceous Research. Xing Lida, an associate professor at the university, said that the footprint site has a large area, good preservation and strong diversity. Currently, at least eight dinosaur species have been identified, including large sauropods, theropods and others. Among them, there are 12 two-toed theropod dinosaur footprints, which can be clearly divided into two types of Deinonychosaurs based on their size and morphology. Deinonychosaurs lived from the Jurassic period (199.6-145.5 million years ago) to the Cretaceous period (145-66 million years ago). Their second toe on the hind foot has a large sickle-shaped claw, and the killing claw is usually lifted up during movement, leaving a two-toed footprint composed of the third and fourth toes on the ground. Xing said that among the discovered two-toed footprints, the larger two-toed footprints have an average length of about 36.4 centimeters and a width of 16.9 cm far exceeding the length of the previously discovered Shandong Deinonychosaur footprints, which are 28.5 cm, making them the largest Deinonychosaur footprints ever found. "From a morphological perspective, the large two-toed footprints of Longxiang do not match the characteristics of all previously established Deinonychosaur footprint genera," he said. Based on research needs, the team established a new footprint classification group and named this type of footprint Fujianipus yingliangi, which is likely a footprint left by a large megalosaurid dinosaur. Renowned dinosaur expert Stephen Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom said: "In mid-Cretaceous Asia, large allosauroids gradually disappeared, and the iconic dinosaur groups of Tyrannosaur and large Deinonychosaur seemed to be vying for the crown of medium-sized predators. The maker of the Fujianipus yingliangi footprint was one bold attempt in this competition." Niu Kecheng, director of the Fujian Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum, believes that the discovery of Fujianipus yingliangi greatly expands the size range of Deinonychosaur footprints, demonstrating the research potential of the Fujian Longxiang Dinosaur Track Site and its significant importance for the study of Late Cretaceous dinosaur fauna in China. Teller Wildlife Refuge is holding the annual free Youth Education and Conservation Expo from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 18. Education Director Nicole Ballard said the Teller Youth Expo will have 30 organizations in attendance. They are conservation groups from all over the valley, Ballard said. They will be sharing messages of conservation at their booth as well as advertising any youth programming they may have going on. The main mission and goal of the event is to introduce conservation and recreation related opportunities. Hopefully, they get involved with it in the future. The expo will have live animals, a climbing wall, a live trout pond where kids can fish, face painting, archery stations, stations to make pollinator seed bombs and a Forest Service fire truck with an active hose. Ballard said there will be a boat on the river and youth will learn about water safety on the river. They will get to throw life preservers and do many smaller activities like fly casting, art and nature journaling, Ballard said. The focus is on youth age 18 and under. "It is a great opportunity for older kids to find new recreational opportunities and give them the chance to talk to different groups and maybe find a career path, Ballard said. For younger kids it gives them the opportunity to try some of these new hobbies and ideas. A fun part of the event is a raffle room. Every youth, age 18 and under, who shows up will get 10 raffle tickets for free at the registration booth, Ballard said. We are giving away recreational and conservation-based items. Items include outdoor gear, clothing and youth camps. Kids just need to show up for a chance to win these items, Ballard said. The Teller Youth Expo will have three live presentations throughout the day. At noon the Wind River Bear will give a Karelian Bear Dog demonstration. At 1 p.m. Animal Wonders will bring in Montana native wildlife beavers, salamanders and other fun critters. At 2 p.m. will be the Northern Rockies Nature Journaling. They will be doing a nature journaling demonstration and everyone who comes will get a nature journal and learn to draw in it, Ballard said. Well have llamas and pack mules at the event too. The event runs from 10 to 3 and people can come and go as they please. Horns, Fins and Feathers will be the food truck on site and there will be an ice-cream stand. It will be a lot of fun, Ballard said. Teller will have free buses running throughout the day from Ravalli County Fairgrounds North parking lot. Parking is limited, Ballard said. People can still come and park at the event. We will have parking along the road and on a little property next to the barn, but for folks who dont want to drive we will have bus rides. So, for people who dont want to drive they can still get here and be part of the event. The first bus leaves Hamilton, fairgrounds parking lot, at 10:30 a.m. and every half hour. Buses will leave Teller at the top of each hour with the last bus leaving Teller at 3 p.m. Enjoy Teller Wildlife Refuges annual free Youth Education and Conservation Expo from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, at The Barn, 1180 Chaffin Lane in Corvallis. China is preparing to commemorate this year's International Museum Day on May 18 with a series of engaging activities, as announced by the National Cultural Heritage Administration during a recent news conference in Beijing. Established by the International Council of Museums in 1977, International Museum Day has been an annual celebration embraced by China since its council membership in 1983. Each year, the country orchestrates diverse events in honor of this occasion, with a notable venue selected as the focal point for nationwide festivities since 2009. The spotlight for this year's celebrations will shine on the inauguration of the Qin-Han Civilization Museum, a new branch of the Shaanxi History Museum located in Xixian New Area, Shaanxi province. Scheduled to open its doors to the public on May 18, the museum will host four exhibitions showcasing the rich legacies of the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD 220) dynasties in China, alongside artifacts chronicling the ancient Silk Road. Deputy Director Luo Wenli of the National Cultural Heritage Administration revealed that the venue's opening ceremony will feature the unveiling of the latest statistics on China's museum development, followed by engaging museum-themed forums and seminars. Embracing this year's theme of "Museums for Education and Research", the celebrations aim to highlight the strides made in China's museum landscape and strengthen the connection between museums and the public. Simultaneously, a plethora of diverse activities will unfold nationwide, including the launch of new exhibitions, informative lectures, and the introduction of cultural and creative products, fostering a vibrant cultural tapestry that engages and educates audiences across the country. On a day that students and their families typically reserve for pomp and circumstance, some Virginia Commonwealth University graduates instead marked it with protests and dissent. Youre not welcome, dozens of graduates chanted regarding Gov. Glenn Youngkin as they marched down West Leigh Street in Jackson Ward after staging a walkout of the governors commencement address. The protesters made their way from the Greater Richmond Convention Center to Abner Clay Park, loudly informing Youngkin that they oppose his presence on campus and at school functions. At issue, they said, was more than the debate on college campuses nationwide over the conflict in Gaza. More than 100 students left the convention center the moment the governor began delivering his keynote speech, and dozens walked to the park, where the group shared drinks and snacks while several graduates addressed the crowd. Were on the right side of history The protesters walked roughly a half-mile from the convention center to the park, where they passed around Gatorade and fruit snacks and celebrated the graduates accomplishments while criticizing both Youngkin and the university. The April 29 clash between police and pro-Palestine protesters was a primary grievance. Members of the group condemned VCU President Michael Rao for his decision to send in law enforcement to clear a makeshift encampment on the grounds outside the James Branch Cabell Library on campus, and denounced Youngkin for his subsequent support of police officers tactics. Payton Van Winkle, who graduated from VCU with a degree in psychology, would have preferred to be in the convention center still celebrating, but felt unable to do so. Van Winkle said staying and listening to Youngkin was not an option after the university had used its communications apparatus to suppress free speech on campus. Calling the peaceful protest for a cease-fire in Gaza ... a violent protest is wildly inappropriate, Van Winkle said. Sereen Haddad, a sophomore at VCU and an organizer in Richmonds pro-Palestine movement, thanked the graduates for showing their support, and blasted Youngkin and VCUs administration for brutalizing students and refusing to disclose potential investments in Israel or companies that support Israel. Its unacceptable leadership, Haddad said. Transgender issues, race also factors The protesters said transgender issues and race were also factors in their campaign. Siatta, a graduate who declined to share their last name, said they were transgender and characterized Youngkins policies as both transphobic and racist. I identify as agender (and) Im Black, obviously, Siatta said. Im not going to sit through a commencement thats supposed to be for me and sit through a speech by somebody who is anti-me. These universities will prop us up and use us as representation on their own behalf, but the moment that we start to speak out about the things that we believe in, were repressed, Siatta added. Sam, who graduated with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and did not give her last name, said VCU has asked students to care for ... and fight for their community. Thats exactly what (were) doing here today, she said. Everyone whos here is here because theyre standing up for trans youth, for Black youth, for youth in Palestine ... were on the right side of history, and everyone will know that. Kay Coghill, a doctoral graduate and adjunct faculty member, joined the walkout to support the students. A lot of faculty can be afraid of losing their job, and I understand that thats their livelihood, but I believe that I would rather live on my knees than die on my feet, Coghill said. Its really important for us to show up for the students. It wasnt that noticeable Despite the protest, the ceremony appeared to go on as normal. One couple, who declined to give their names, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that they came to see their daughter graduate from the VCU School of Pharmacy, and did not even notice the walkout. They said they found out about the protest when they were asked what they thought about it. Another person, who said she also graduated from the School of Pharmacy and also declined to give her name, said the commencement was largely undisturbed. It wasnt that noticeable, she said. I think maybe a couple of people walked out. With school out for the year and many students headed home, it is not immediately clear whether the protests will continue with the same fervor. I do not expect anything to slow down, Haddad said. Everybody that is part of this movement is strong-willed and consistent, because (they) understand the urgency of this movement. Gallery: Protesters and police clash on VCU campus A Colonial-era farm in Virginias tobacco belt is an emblem of Jewish survival at a time when much of the world now gripped by an Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that, depending on ones perspective, was caused by, or is causing, antisemitism was clueless that a huge swath of the Jewish world was doomed. Hyde Park Farm in Nottoway County, about an hours drive south of Richmond was for several years immediately preceding World War II a peaceful sanctuary for about two dozen German-Jewish teenagers and several adults who fled there as Adolf Hitlers murderous persecution of European Jews was beginning in earnest. Largely self-supporting because of these tireless refugees, some of whose relatives would perish in the Holocaust, the farm thrived from 1938 until 1941. It was testimony to a handful of Virginians horrified by the institutionalized hatred of Jews. More than 80 years on, as antisemitism flares in other forms, it is an issue over which Democrats and Republicans now bitterly quarrel seemingly for political advantage. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, was elected in 2021 after briefly invoking a baseless conservative trope that candidates of the Democratic Party the traditional home of American Jews, many of them center-left are captive to the Jewish financier George Soros. But since taking office, Youngkin has spoken out against antisemitism. His administration, early days, conducted a study of its causes and possible remedies. Youngkin also won legislation to combat antisemitism. And since the Gaza war erupted in October, Youngkin who is anything but shy about national ambitions that these days demand unflinching support of Israel by Republicans, if only to spotlight divisions among Democrats has underscored his view that antisemitism is not just a factor in the continuing conflict but is seeping into occasionally violent campus debates over the crisis. Youngkin endorsed police conduct in battles with protesters over pro-Palestinian encampments at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat seeking a third term this year, has seen what initially appeared to be a cakewalk to reelection become a perilous path one that demands he constantly fine-tune his views to simultaneously accommodate both sides: older Democrats who unhesitatingly say Israel has every right to defend itself and retaliate for Hamas atrocities, and younger Democrats, including Arab Americans, who allege Israeli brutality against long-displaced Palestinians. This past week, Kaine a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees said, in practically the same breath, that he supported President Joe Bidens decision to delay delivery of offensive weapons to Israel that could lead to further civilian casualties; that more must be done to accelerate the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and that Israel is justified in maintaining its security. Kaine has also been dogged by protesters advocating for Palestinians. Antisemitism has been part and parcel of politics and culture in Virginia since the first Jews arrived about a decade after its founding as Great Britains first permanent colony in the New World in 1607. There were unfounded complaints during the Civil War about supposedly usurious Jewish businesses supplying the Confederacy. A century later, conservative voters were warned that a liberal candidate for governor, Henry Howell, was bankrolled by wealthy Jews. This apparent constant contributed to a widespread emphasis on assimilation among Jews in Virginia and across the lopsidedly Christian South. Indeed, Jewish support in Virginia for the nascent state of Israel founded in 1948, triggering a war with surrounding Arab nations and leading to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians was often measured. Jews were uncomfortable with Zionism, fearing it would arouse suspicions about their loyalty and hasten antisemitism. Though wary of Zionism, the Jewish business leader behind Hyde Park Farm was absolute in his fury over the torment inflicted on European Jews. William Thalhimer Sr. of Richmond, a member of the merchant family that owned and operated a network of popular department stores absorbed by the Hechts chain in 1992, purchased Hyde Park Farm, envisioning it as a safe place where those 25 Jewish adolescents, lifted from a communal farm in Germany, could survive and thrive. As Thalhimer said in a letter to the refugees, cited by Rabbi Myron Berman in his 1979 book, Richmonds Jewry, 1769-1976: Shabbat in Shockoe: I do not agree with the Zionist idea of a Jewish national home in Palestine because I am regarding Jewry not as a nation but solely as a religion. ... But what I am admiring in those Jews in Palestine is the spirit they are applying in their work. ... They know, they are working less for themselves than for future generations. This is the right pioneer spirit. And this is the very spirit I would like you to have. In Virginia, with an estimated 150,000 Jewish residents among the largest in the nation an open courtship of the Jews by the political class emerged in the early 1980s. Democratic governors Chuck Robb and Jerry Baliles, respectively, embraced Israel as the cornerstone of U.S. security interests in the Middle East and established formal trade ties between Israel and Virginia that continue to this day. Virginia Jews, too, became pillars of politics, as important campaign underwriters and policy advisers, and winning elective posts, as Democrats and Republicans, that had seemed off-limits. A Jewish woman became speaker of the House of Delegates; Jews are among the leaders of the Democratic majorities in the House and Virginia Senate. A Jewish Republican from suburban Richmond was within striking distance of the speakership of the U.S. House of Representatives until his defeat in a 2014 primary that presaged the election of Donald Trump for president two years later. That Trump refused to condemn the antisemites and white nationalists who descended on Charlottesville in a deadly melee in 2017 was widely perceived as a signal that bigots were and remain welcome in the Republican Party. Plus, conservative Christians such as Youngkin they are a crucial element in the GOP coalition are adamant in their support for Israel. But some Jews consider such religious voters as allied with Israel for the wrong reason: that Jews are placekeepers there, defending the Holy Land until the return to Jesus Christ, when even Jews would be transformed into Christians. Wrenching events in Virginia seven years ago and in Israel last October are evidence that antisemitism an ancient hatred remains a contemporary reality. So, too, are the political complications that it spawns be it shifting alliances within and between the parties, the elevation of individuals as targets for collective anger as well as frightening ignorance. Said Ric Arenstein, a former aide in the Baliles governorship whose family has been active in Jewish causes for four generations, 2017 was a wakeup call for Jews that antisemitism is not as much on the periphery as we thought. Antisemitism began to raise its ugly head before Oct. 7. But on Oct. 7, a fire was lit and it has burned ferociously ever since. More than 1.2 million attend Mexican Jaguar exhibit at Chinas Liaoning Provincial Museum Riviera Maya, Q.R. More than 1.2 million people have attended Mexicos Mesoamerican cultural exhibition at the Liaoning Provincial Museum in China. The exhibition addressed the symbolism of the jaguar in Mesoamerican cultures over three millennia. During its exhibition at the Hunan and Liaoning Provincial museum, it attracted over 1.2 million visitors. The international exhibition The Jaguar, A Totem of Mesoamerica, is composed of 154 archaeological and ethnographic objects from various Mexican museum collections. Residents in the city of Shenyang visited the Mexican exhibition from October 26, 2023 to May 6, 2024. The Liaoning Provincial Museum has reported 1,123,761 visitors to the exhibition, according to the National Coordination of Museums and Exhibitions (CNMyE). Given that the exhibition proposal balances the playful with the aesthetic, the attendees have seen, touched, listened to and tasted the exhibition. This has generated a comprehensive experience in which they have learned about the figure and symbolism of the jaguar in the cultures Mesoamericans over three millennia, says the CNMyE. Among the archaeological objects presented, a tombstone with a low relief of a jaguar of Mayan affiliation, and a Zapotec urn stand out, protected by the national museums of Anthropology and World Cultures, respectively. All Photo: CNMyE / INAH May 2024. The sculpture called The Prince from the Museum of Anthropology of Xalapa, a zoomorphic Olmec sculpture carved in basalt stone from the Regional Museum of Chiapas, and the mural Reticulated Jaguars discovered in the Archaeological Zone of Teotihuacan. The tour is divided into four modules: the first is an introduction to the monumental pre-Hispanic figure of a jaguar with human characteristics, which explains the sacredness of this feline, the most important in Mesoamerica. The second covers the symbolic relationship between this animal and water in the different Mesoamerican religions. The third is dedicated to this animal and corn, and to the ceremonial life of the indigenous peoples, which was marked by agriculture. To close this ancient journey, the last section exhibits various plastic manifestations in which the bond of this feline with the human body is represented, in a religious sense that, in turn, is combined within a system of values and beliefs that give meaning to his worldview. The exhibition was organized by the federal Ministry of Culture, through the INAH and the Beijing Kunyuan Culture and Museum Exhibition Co., Ltd., under the curatorship of the ethnologist Natalia Gabayet Gonzalez, the anthropologist Alejandro Alfredo Gonzalez Villarruel and the archaeologist Jose Luis Rojas Martinez. Other museums that collaborated in the exhibition include the Templo Mayor, Anthropology Carlos Pellicer Camara, Guillermo Spratling and Amparo. The exhibition is scheduled to continue its journey through the Peoples Republic of China. The next headquarters of The Jaguar, a totem of Mesoamerica, will be the Chengdu Museum, located in the province of Sichuan, where it will be from June 8 to August 26, 2024. Its first exhibition was held at the Hunan and Liaoning Provincial Museum. Nautical Association says public boat ramps needed in Cancun, Riviera Maya Cancun, Q.R. With the current forecast for an active hurricane season, the Cancun Nautical Association is lobbying for an inner-city boat ramp. Its president says in the event of a hurricane, a centrally located ramp would be more efficient to remove its 600-plus boats out of the water. Francisco Fernandez Millan, President of Asociados Nauticos de Quintana Roo says in the past when boats have been pulled out of the sea, many of the trailers failed while traveling Kukulcan Boulevard in the Cancun Hotel Zone. These broken down trailers, he said, caused traffic chaos. However, a centrally located boat ramp would avoid such chaos in the event of a hurricane. Millan says their Association has between 600 and 1,000 boats docked in marinas in the Cancun Hotel Zone and currently, the only way out is via Kukulcan Boulevard since there is only one public boat ramp. He said that while there are seven boat ramps in the Cancun Hotel Zone, six are private. He says there is a need for a public inner-city ramp along the coast that can be used to extract the boats in the event of a storm. That is exactly why we want the ramps to be on the coast near the city, so if there is a problem, not to affect the roads of the Hotel Zone, he said. At the moment, the only other public ramp is being utilized by CIA, the company building the Nichupte Lagoon bridge, to load construction material. Millan explained that that ramp used to belong to Fonatur and was supposed to be donated to the city of Cancun who in turn, was to donate it to the Nautical Association, but that did not happen. Millan says the need for additional public ramps is not only in Cancun, but also in Riviera Maya due to growth. In the event of a hurricane, more than 600 boats would need to be removed from the sea. Photo: Riviera Maya News It is an issue that is urgent, not just in Cancun. It is an issue that is being asked of me in Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos. The number of boats is growing. It is not just addressing the issue of the ramps in Cancun, it is addressing it at the state level, he said. Political contender in upcoming June elections gunned down in Cancun Cancun, Q.R. UPDATED: A man reported to have been a political contender in the upcoming June elections was gunned down in Cancun early Saturday. The deadly shooting happened early Saturday morning in SM 519 by suspects traveling in a taxi. Authorities were made aware of the deadly shooting by witnesses who were able to provide police with the license number of the Cancun taxi involved. The man, identified by local authorities as Manual Santiago N, died en route to hospital. According to early information, he was shot several times by subjects traveling inside a Cancun taxi. In a public statement, the FGE (Fiscalia General del Estado) said an investigation has begun. The FGE reports that it has opened an investigation file for the crime of homicide qualified to the detriment of a male person, identified as Manuel Santiago N, who lost his life as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. This unfortunate event occurred during the early hours of this Saturday, in Superblock 519 of Cancun. Personnel from this autonomous body, in coordination with municipal security authorities, carry out the corresponding investigations to find the person or persons responsible for this event. UPDATE: Late Saturday, the FGE reported revenge as the likely reason for the deadly shooting of Manual Santiago N. According to their latest report, one of two people in a taxi got out and shot the man repeatedly. Six shell casings and a 9 millimeter caliber warhead, were found at the scene. Manuel Santiago N worked as Campaign Coordinator for a local candidate. The most solid line of investigation indicates that it was a personal vendetta, they said. The victims body had injuries to the chest, abdomen, right thigh and forearm. It should be noted that he served as Campaign Coordinator for a local candidate, however, it is completely ruled out that the reason for the attack is related to the current electoral process, they said in their statement. Visitors attend the launching ceremony of the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] A special exhibition to mark the 8th China Brand Day kicked off in Shanghai on Friday. The event showcases Chinese brands' latest achievements in technology and business model innovation. It is expected to pave the way for companies' business expansion both at home and abroad. Spread over some 70,000 square meters, the five-day exhibition has attracted participation of nearly 1,000 companies. Many technologically advanced enterprises have made their exhibition debut this year. Electric vertical takeoff and landing or eVTOL companies comprise a large part of the first-timers. They are helping China to develop the low-altitude aviation business. One of the participants is the local eVTOL company Vertaxi, which has put its latest M1 model on display. According to Vertaxi's senior vice-president Liu Xingyu, the M1 eVTOL model, with a cruising speed of 200 kilometers per hour, can complete a three-hour road trip in 30 minutes. The model's battery, motor, electrical control system and carbon fibre composites are all domestically produced. "As a revolutionary transportation product, eVTOLs are a representative of China's new quality productive forces. We will stick to self-reliant production, and research and development so that the overall supply chain will be upgraded and major breakthroughs can be made regarding the domestic substitution for key parts. This is a path that Chinese brands should take to realize high-quality development," said Liu. A visitor walks past a BYD Yangwang U9 on exhibition during the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] During a business matchmaking meeting held as part of the exhibition on Friday, Guo Yuehua, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said the province will soon roll out an action plan to develop the low-altitude aviation business. This frontier technology can be applied in various fields or scenarios like tourism, urban management and emergency management. The application can in turn facilitate the maturity of technologies, nurturing new products and even industries, he said. For the first time, a special robot exhibition area has been added to the show this year. Shanghai-based Jaka Robotics has availed this opportunity to display its robots that can be used in various scenarios like technology museums, university laboratories and machine tools' loading and unloading in automobile production. According to Jaka's executive vice-president Chang Li, robots cover the whole industrial chain of parts, complete machines, system integration, inspection and testing. The technologies, efficiency and quality in the robotics industry have pointed to the one major path that Chinese brands should take to become well known, she said. Visitors look at a demonstration model of CRRC electrified highway and mine transportation system on exhibition during the 2024 China Brand Day events in Shanghai, east China, May 10, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Apart from pioneering technologies, traditional brands are also taking part in the exhibition. They are demonstrating how they are revitalizing themselves with novel business models. Shanghai-based Qiaojiashan, a 115-year-old traditional Chinese pastry brand, is one of them. In 2019, Qiaojiashan opened a cafe in central Shanghai to provide local snacks and special coffee infused with Chinese flavors. It followed up with two other cafes in the city, its general manager, Cao Fengying, said. "The idea of the cafe is to attract younger consumers with coffee and retain them with Chinese pastry items, which have been passed on through many generations. Such a combination has been well received. The coffee shop can clock up to 40,000 yuan ($5,536) in sales revenue during peak days like the Spring Festival holiday," she said. DARLINGTON, S.C. Sundays Goodyear 400 will mark Justin Haleys seventh NASCAR Cup Series start at Darlington Raceway. While a host of other drivers will honor the grassroots of motorsports with their respective racecar paint schemes, Haleys will honor four heroes who gave their lives making a difference in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community. The hood Haleys Rick Ware Racing No. 51 Ford Mustang bore the emblem of North Carolina Fraternal or Of Police Lodge No. 9 Charlotte-Mecklenburg County. Along with the emblem are the names of the four law enforcement officers Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Police Department Officer Joshua Eyer, N.C. Department of Adult Corrections Investigators Samuel Poloche and William Alden Elliott, and Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas M. Weeks, Jr. who died in the line on duty on April 29. The officers were attempting to serve a felony warrant when a suspect opened fire from inside the house. Four additional officers were injured. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge No. 9 Foundation established a fundraiser to honor the fallen officers. All donations made will be split equally between the four families of the fallen officers to help with necessary expenses. Rick Ware Racing, along with Haley and his family, have agreed will match donations made through the end of Sundays race. Its been super special, said Haley following qualifying on Saturday. We brought some of the families down to the race shop the other day and let them sit in the race cars. We just wanted to do something for them. A lot of them will be at the race this weekend. Its not Charlotte but is within driving distance. We know its a hard time for them and this may be a way to lift their spirits a little. We also want to let them know that their husbands and fathers were true heroes. A group of 25 people comprised of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Police officers and family members, were in attendance at the Sundays race. Four of those guests Dan Redford, president of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police; Kelly Weeks, wife of fallen U.S. Marshall Thomas Weeks; and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers Jack Blowers and Blaine Hill. Blowers was wounded during the April 29 incident. Hill was one of the officers who responded to the scene. This is just one way that we can honor these individuals who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe, said Haley. Hopefully we can honor them with a strong finish. Haley started Sundays race in 28th position. His two best Darlington finishes came in the two most recent May races at the legendary 1.366-mile track. In May 2022, he charged to a third-place finish from a 29th starting position. He followed that up in May 2023 with an eighth-place run. Going into Sundays race Haley was 32 in the NASCAR Cup series. His best finish this year was 17th at Bristol Motor Speedway in March. SIOUX CITY Semehar Ghebrekidan said her name has been "drug through the mud" since the City of Sioux City placed her on paid administrative leave in February, pending the outcome of an investigation. Ghebrekidan, Sioux City's first community inclusion liaison, is accused of violating multiple city work rules and administrative policies, as well as sections of Iowa Code. The allegations include sharing portions of a confidential investigation report with outside individuals, attempting to log into City Manager Bob Padmore's International City/County Management Association account and representing herself as a city official on a private consulting business' website. She has been ordered to remain at home during her assigned work hours to ensure she is available to Padmore, who is her supervisor, and investigators. Ghebrekidan told The Journal she hasn't been doing any work over the last 11 weeks, since her city-issued equipment and accounts were confiscated by city staff on Feb. 21. Although Ghebrekidan said the situation with her employer has caused her to "suffer in silence," she said she doesn't want to voluntarily quit her job. "I'm not going to sit down and roll over. I have a baby coming," said Ghebrekidan, who is expecting a son with her husband. "I hope the one thing that comes out of this is he knows that I was a strong lady and I was standing up for principle and myself and our family name." Semehar Ghebrekidan responds to accusations Semehar Ghebrekidan presents evidence as she responds to accusations made about her leading to her suspension from her role as community inclu Ghebrekidan, a 30-year-old whose parents came to the United States from Ethiopia as refugees and settled in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was hired by the city in 2021 to oversee the Inclusive Sioux City Advisory Committee. The committee provides guidance to the Sioux City Council on matters relating to diversity, equity and inclusion. "The reason I think I'm in trouble right now with them is because I filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Office for fraud," Ghebrekidan said, claiming city funds are being misused. Ghebrekidan, who is not a department head, also submitted a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Ghebrekidan wrote in her EEOC filing, which has a submission date of Feb. 13, she has faced "multiple types of issues," including discrimination, retaliation, defamation and a hostile workplace environment. "Despite my repeated attempts to bring attention to the harassment, discrimination and retaliation I have faced, the responses from our management have been inadequate, allowing the toxic environment to persist," she wrote. When asked to respond to Ghebrekidan's allegations, City Attorney Nicole DuBois wrote in an email, "The City does not discriminate against its employees based on protected class, and is consistent with its policies and procedures under applicable law in addressing alleged employee misconduct and internal complaints. The City does not comment on confidential internal employment matters." 'Waste of taxpayer money' The afternoon of Feb. 21, Ghebrekidan said Amber Hegarty, assistant city attorney, and Assistant City Manager Mike Collett walked into her office and handed her an internal memo informing her she was being suspended with pay pending the completion of an investigation concerning "violations of city work rules." Ghebrekidan said they confiscated her work-issued phone, computer and credit card. Since that day, she said she hasn't had access to her city email account or her office. Ghebrekidan said Anne Westra, the city's communications and public engagement specialist, has been maintaining the "City of Sioux City: Diversity" Facebook page. "I've been at home now 11 weeks as of tomorrow, and I haven't worked this entire time. I'm not allowed to represent the City of Sioux City," Ghebrekidan said Tuesday. "There have been multiple people who say to the public, 'Oh, she's working from home.' I do not have access to anything work-related, aside from Facebook, and I don't post on there." Semehar Ghebrekidan responds to accusations Semehar Ghebrekidan presents evidence as she responds to accusations made about her leading to her suspension from her role as community inclu The internal memo, which was obtained by The Journal, stated that during Ghebrekidan's paid suspension, her residence essentially serves as her "assigned work area" and her "hours of work" will be 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday with a 30-minute unpaid lunch. Ghebrekidan's suspension is in effect until she is notified by her supervisor to return to work, according to the memo. Ghebrekidan said she is "literally incarcerated or on house arrest" because she is not allowed to leave her home during those hours without her employer's authorization. She said she believes the city is using this "tactic" to try to get her to quit her job. If she would leave her house during the time frame the memo stated she needs to be there, Ghebrekidan assumes she would be fired. "I'm being paid to do nothing at my house, which is weird. It's just a waste of taxpayer money," she said. "Especially since I could be working from home, at least. But they're not even allowing me to do that." Ghebrekidan said she expects to be terminated at an upcoming pre-disciplinary hearing, which was initially slated for May 9. As of Thursday, Ghebrekidan said the hearing had not been rescheduled. She is seeking an accommodation to appear remotely, rather than in person, due to her high-risk pregnancy. She said she has diabetes and hypertension. "I think a lot of the things that are in that hearing is due to negligent supervising by Bob Padmore. I have recordings of 90% of my meetings with Bob. Every meeting I ask the same question, 'Anything to improve upon, anything I should be doing less of?' He always told me I was great and good and everything was good," she said. "It's very confusing to come three years out of my first-time meeting with him to be in this space now." Accusations against Ghebrekidan Ghebrekidan provided The Journal with a May 6 internal memo from Collett, which lays out the city's reasons for considering disciplinary action against her, including "possible suspension/termination." When asked who initiated the investigation, Ghebrekidan named Padmore, Sioux City Human Rights Commission Executive Director Karen Mackey and Human Resources Director Janelle Bertrand. "First, I am neither part of nor can I discuss any personnel matters involving the City which may be pending at this time," Mackey wrote in an email to The Journal. "Secondly, I will be carefully reviewing the allegations made by Ms. Ghebrekidan and I will be taking appropriate legal measures to address the patently false and defamatory statements directed at me personally by Ms. Ghebrekidan verbally and in the written statements that she has been widely and intentionally circulating within the community." The memo stated that on or about Feb. 7 to 9, Ghebrekidan allegedly "exceeded the scope" of her employment authority, training and knowledge by assisting potential Iowa Civil Rights complainants with preparing Iowa Civil Rights Commission documents for "a matter arising in the State of South Dakota." The document also stated Ghebrekidan has been accused of obtaining personnel records from a private business in South Dakota with a release bearing the city manager's stamped address information without the city manager's permission or authority. Semehar Ghebrekidan responds to accusations Semehar Ghebrekidan responds to accusations made about her leading to her suspension from her role as community inclusion liaison for the City Ghebrekidan told The Journal the complainants are from Sioux City. They said they were afraid of their boss and asked her to get their personnel files from the North Sioux City company. She said she went to the business, provided a release form and was given the records. Ghebrekidan noted she also helped the complainants create a timeline of events, which she said she did for others 20 times before. "They said that was a liability thing. Well, I didn't know that. I apologize. Please write me up if I did something wrong in that regard and do some training with me on what I'm allowed and not allowed to do anymore, because I've done this 20 times, just not the personnel file I have not done," she said. Ghebrekidan refutes allegations Ghebrekidan is part of IDEA Diverse Business Solutions, a private business, according to the memo. The business' website contains language alleged to be in violation of Iowa Code 68B.2A, which covers prohibited outside employment activities -- conflicts of interest: "She is the first ever Eritrean & Ethiopian-American city official in the Midwest. Her work as the first Community Inclusion Liaison at the City of Sioux City include, identifying structural & institutional barriers to social equity barriers and developing solutions. She has also created numerous programs, initiatives and social change movements that have been replicated throughout SD and IA." Ghebrekidan described IDEA Diverse Business Solutions as her "consulting side gig," which she said the city was aware of and "approved." "Them saying that is weird. And, really, it's just a word thing. They wanted me to use 'government employee' instead of 'government official.' I think of myself as a government official, and that's just maybe a language barrier thing," she said. "I am one of the only people in my community -- Eritrean, Ethiopian -- who work in government in the Midwest. That's true." The memo stated Ghebrekidan has also been accused of representing herself in an official capacity as the inclusion liaison for the city with employees at Western Iowa Tech Community College (WITCC) when inquiring about security concerns related to a friend who was employed at the college and sharing portions of a confidential investigation report prepared by Melissa Schilling, an attorney hired by the city, with individuals associated with WITCC. Ghebrekidan said she was on her lunch break and wasn't representing the city when she spoke with WITCC security. "They said, 'Well, you tried to use your power as a city person to go into the security office and get footage.' I have never done that," she said. Semehar Ghebrekidan responds to accusations Semehar Ghebrekidan responds to accusations made about her leading to her suspension from her role as community inclusion liaison for the City Ghebrekidan is accused of attempting to log into Padmore's International City/County Management Association (ICMA) account to "apply for an award without his authorization" and placing a Blink camera in her office at City Hall without Padmore's permission, a potential violation of Iowa Code 727.8. "The camera has been operating on the City of Sioux City Wi-Fi system continuously for a period of months potentially recording individuals without their permission and within range to record confidential communications of the Sioux City Police Department," the memo stated. Ghebrekidan declined to comment on the allegation involving the Blink camera. As far as the claim involving Padmore's ICMA account, Ghebrekidan denied breaking into it. She explained that Padmore gave her his account information not long after she was hired so she could get the member rate to attend a racial equity conference. She said Padmore told her she could still use his account for "reading and things like that." "It doesn't make any sense to me, and taking that and perverting it and making it like, 'Oh, she broke into my account to get the city an award.' It wasn't even a bank account or something like that. I would get that. It's not that," Ghebrekidan said. Documentation Ghebrekidan provided to investigators also indicated she made recordings of legal advice being provided to city employees by the city attorney on at least two occasions. She also recorded an assistant city attorney, according to the memo. An additional employee complaint was filed against Ghebrekidan, alleging she "engaged in harassing conduct towards Human Resources" and "inappropriately shared confidential information regarding employee accommodations." Those allegations were "dismissed as unfounded," according to the memo. Conflict between Ghebrekidan and Mackey Ghebrekidan said issues with Mackey, who has been in her position with the city since 2004, first arose on June 2, 2021, when Mackey asked her if she participated in protests. Ghebrekidan said she found the conversation "weird" and asked Padmore if protesting was in her job description. She said he told her it wasn't. Padmore reports to the City Council, while Mackey reports to the Sioux City Human Rights Commission. Padmore does not have authority over Mackey. "And so, from that point forward, Bob had advised me to keep (my) distance from her," Ghebrekidan said of Mackey, whom she has accused of harassment, defamation, "reverse ageism" and having "her hand" in her suspension. Karen Mackey Human Rights Commission (copy) Karen Mackey, executive director of the Sioux City Human Rights Commission, is shown in the commission's offices at City Hall in 2022. In fact, some of Ghebrekidan's allegations against Mackey prompted an investigation, which was also conducted by Schilling. Ghebrekidan provided The Journal with a copy of Schilling's executive investigation summary, which is dated Oct. 2, 2023. The document noted there are "significant issues between Ms. Ghebrekidan and the Human Rights Commission." The investigator placed blame on both Ghebrekidan and Mackey for "those issues." During a Feb. 4, 2023 budget session, the City Council raised concerns about Ghebrekidan and the Human Rights Commission duplicating programming. In effort to encourage communication and collaboration, Padmore requested a meeting with Ghebrekidan and Mackey on Feb. 8. Ghebrekidan provided The Journal with a 52-minute audio recording of that meeting. The investigator found it "unclear" whether Mackey's comments alone about Ghebrekidan being young, which she made throughout Ghebrekidan's employment, created an offensive environment. "Nevertheless, the investigator finds that the comments violated the City's Conduct Unbecoming Policy and Work Rules because they are unprofessional and disrespectful," the investigator wrote. The investigator also found it "concerning" that Padmore "did little to correct the communication and collaboration issues" between Ghebrekidan and Mackey. Ghebrekidan said some city department heads "truly care about their employees." She called the library, fire and police departments and neighborhood services good places to work. "I can't recommend anything else," she said. In What Its Like, people tell us, well, what its like to have experiences many of us have not even imagined. In this entry, we spoke to Maggie McCart, an administrative assistant at an Illinois university, who suffers from an extremely rare disease called prosopometamorphopsia, which inflicts patients with a variety of wild hallucinations when they look at someones face. If you were to look through McCarts eyes, youd experience a world where faces appear to be made of tree bark, or are unnaturally contorted, or, perhaps, completely swapped out with a mythical creature. We asked McCart how she manages to live life while looking through a fun-house mirror. I have always struggled to recognize peoples faces. Sometimes, even my own face. Its been happening for as long as I can remember. It wasnt like I just woke up being face blind. As a kid, I remember being at the mall, staring into a mirror with a bunch of friends, and not being able to identify which reflection was my own. As I grew older, the problem got worse. Sometimes, a person might look exactly like someone I used to know, maybe even someone I havent seen in over a decade. Say Im riding the bus and looking out the window. There, on the street, will be a girl I went to school with in third grade. Except its not themthey just happen to be wearing their face. Other times, these disorders can get truly bizarre and hallucinogenic, like a bad acid trip. The skin texture on a face can change, or their noses or eyes seem to be stretched and exaggerated in grotesque, plastic-y ways. Sometimes a persons face and mouth are replaced by geometric shapestriangles, hexagons, and so on. When that happens, I call it going Picasso because they remind me of his cubist paintings. Ive had faces appear to be made of potato skin, or tree bark, like the talking apple trees in Wizard of Oz. And Ill never forget that time I looked at a manager, and he gazed back at me withno jokethe head of a dragon, complete with matte, black skin. (Thankfully, that distortion has only happened once.) The condition Im suffering from is called prosopometamorphopsia (I knowI can barely pronounce it myself). Those who have it sometimes experience bizarre visual hallucinations when they look at someones face. Its extremely rarethere have been only 75 cases ever reported, and Im one of the unlucky ones. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosopometamorphopsia is sometimes referred to as demon face syndrome. Nobody knows what causes itgenerally the disorder is linked with various brain traumasand for a long time, I couldnt get a diagnosis myself. My early interactions with doctors werent helpful. Years ago, I explained my symptoms to a neurologist. I reported what I was seeing, and they scanned my brain and didnt find anything suspicious. The neurologist said something like, Well, theres nothing wrong with your brain. And I thought, I beg to differ. But again, its not like they can see through my eyes. Its not a simple situation, like asking a doctor to investigate a rash on your skin. So for most of my life, I did my best to ignore the symptoms and go about my day. I learned to recognize people by their shoes, or their clothes, or the way they walked. When Id go on trips with friends and Id get separated from them, Id stay where I was and wait for them to find merather than walking off with someone who simply looks like them. I could manage. But my prosopometamorphopsia became an issue at an old job at an AV company, which was filled with a bunch of men in their 20s, whoto meall blended together. Id think I was talking to Tim, when really I was talking to Joey. So I visited an ophthalmologist, who treats vision conditions, and they basically told me that these problems were all just a result of trauma, and because of a rough childhood, I struggled to look people in the eye. That was true. I do struggle to look people in the eye. But when I did, in the past, I could count on at least seeing someones actual face. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thankfully, my sister, who works as a biologist, was the person to tell me that I might be dealing with a more significant glitch in my brain. We went down the rabbit hole of prosopometamorphopsia together, which is how I first came into contact with Brad Duchaine. Duchaine studies brain science at Dartmouth and has done a lot of work on my specific ailment. On our first call, he said, What are your symptoms, what are you going through? Duchaine was the first person I ever told about the dragon thing. Its not something that comes up in polite conversation, and I know that it might make me sound like Im on drugs. But he said, Yeah, that happens. I no longer felt alone. I was like, Wait, other people deal with this, too? Advertisement Related From Slate I Got Gobbled Up by a Whale. I Kinda Liked It. Read More Weve been working together since 2022. Hell send me pictures that Ill look at, and hell ask me how they appear to me, and hell compare that to other people who have prosopometamorphopsia. Hell have his research assistants make certain faces, or turn a certain way, and Ill let them know if theyre distorted to me. Its so hard to describe exactly how these hallucinations appear, but sometimes it can feel like my brain displaces my inner thoughts into my visual field. For instance, one time I was going to see a doctor and when I looked at his photo, he reminded me of Mr. Weatherbee, from Archie Comics. After entering his office, his head was replaced with the cartoon visage of Mr. Weatherbee, animating against the background. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ive never been able to determine the cause of my prosopometamorphopsia, and it doesnt kick in with every face I see. I did get diagnosed with autism a few years back, and Duchaine has told me that the disorder can be a side effect. There is also what I like to call the Sulfa Incident. Years ago, to treat a weird cyst on my leg, I was diagnosed with a sulfa antibiotic that my body reacted poorly to, and I was later told that I might have a sulfa allergy. The point is, afterward, my prosopometamorphopsia was further exacerbatedbeyond face blindness and toward Why does that person have a hexagon over their nose? Ive come up with some ways to alleviate those symptoms. Sometimes sitting down and drawing simple doodles of human faces helps me, like a way to remind myself what people look like. But you know what? At this point, the distorted faces I see dont scare me anymore. Im used to it. Ive made peace with it. Yes, when I first saw that dragon it was truly terrifying. Stuff like that would make me gasp. But now Im able to relax, take a deep breath, remember that its just my stupid brain acting up. People dont look like dragons, and thank God for that. The Senate spent this week working to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, in a major bill tweaking airline policy to ensure (ideally) that all the planes stop falling apart during flights. The five-year bill eventually passed the Senate by an 88-to-4 vote Thursday night, with the four opposing senators being the pairs from Maryland and Virginia who are furious about more flights being added out of Reagan National Airport, just outside D.C. (More on that here.) But one of the delights for senators over the past several days was watching Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the bill manager on the GOP side, have to play a pragmatic role rather than screaming in opposition from the sidelines. It was Ted Cruz who had to plead with his colleagues not to insist on amendment votes that could unravel the entire coalition supporting the bill. It was Ted Cruz who was frustrated by the obstinance of his fellow senators. And with this new territory came an awful lot of hazing from his colleagues. Cruz, according to the Hill, has been on the receiving end of numerous jokes from colleagues during weekly Senate GOP luncheons each of the past two weeks. Cruz himself told the Hill that one moderate member was having great joy giving me grief during Wednesdays party lunch and that he just laughed and said, Im not even going to fight back. Itll all be worth it. Cruz is one of the only vaguely vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection this year, and now hell have a bipartisan bill under his belt to balance his reputation as an annoyer of colleagues. Remember to complain to Cruz if you have a flight delay in the next five years. Standard Chartered Bank to fund green Chinese firms in Africa Xinhua) 09:05, May 11, 2024 NAIROBI, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Standard Chartered Bank is keen to provide significant financing to Chinese firms that uphold green ethos to expand their footprint in Africa, an executive said on Friday. There is a growing demand on the continent for sustainable consumption and production technologies to achieve a climate-resilient future for local communities, said Richard Li, the head of wealth and retail banking at Standard Chartered Bank China, in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. "I can see opportunities and capabilities we can bring in as Standard Chartered Bank to support our clients to respond to this trend between China and Kenya that will accelerate the green transition in Africa," Li said. He added that the multinational lender will also assist Chinese companies in leveraging their involvement in the Africa-China trade corridor to boost the continent's capacity to produce green products to meet the growing market demand. "We will also respond to the new trend where goods that were previously made in China are now made in Kenya," Li said. Economic experts have noted that Kenya needs to accelerate its green transformation efforts to respond to the effects of climate change, such as the recent raging floods that have killed more than 260 people in the country. Li said that Standard Chartered Bank already provides sustainable finance in the supply chain in the green space along the Africa-China trade corridor. Kenya is already a leader in green energy, with more than 80 percent of electricity production from renewable energy sources such as hydropower, geothermal, wind and solar, he said. Li added that Standard Chartered Bank has developed many financial products that will ensure Africa can benefit from China's new energy industry, which has grown rapidly. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing) A visitor tries an intelligent health service at a special exhibition of the 5th Digital China Summit in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, July 22, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua] China will take solid steps to bolster reforms related to the market-oriented allocation of data elements and speed up the construction of digital infrastructure, including industrial internet and computing power networks, as part of its broader push to advance the building of a "Digital China", the country's top data governance regulator said on Friday. Liu Liehong, head of the National Data Administration, said more efforts should be made to establish and improve a data property rights system, formulate policies to promote the efficient circulation and trading of data in a compliant manner, and establish a revenue distribution system and a security governance system for data. Liu said China will accelerate the research of data security technologies, bolster the digital, intelligent and green transformation of industries, strengthen international cooperation in the digital economy domain as well as continuously optimize the regulations concerning the cross-border data flow. Liu made the remarks at a news conference for the seventh Digital China Summit, which is scheduled to be held in Fuzhou, Fujian province, from May 24 to 25. He said the administration has unveiled a guideline to expand the application scenarios of data elements in more fields, foster new growth drivers and give birth to new industries and new business models, adding efforts will be further stepped up to press ahead with the utilization and development of data elements. With the theme of unleashing the value of data elements and developing new quality productive forces, the summit will focus on giving full play to the multiplier effect of data, and building digital infrastructure and data resource systems. China rolled out a plan for the overall layout of the country's digital development last year, vowing to make important progress in the construction of a Digital China by 2025. The NDA, which was inaugurated in October 2023, is responsible for advancing the development of data-related fundamental institutions, coordinating the integration, sharing, development and application of data resources, and pushing forward the planning and building of a Digital China, which includes a digital economy and society. Liu also urged efforts to accelerate the establishment of a national computing network and data circulation infrastructure. Lin Wenbin, vice-governor of Fujian province, said digital technologies are finding a wide range of applications across various industries in the province. Joseph "JoJo" Arthur Bowles, Jr., 66, of La Plata, MD, peacefully passed away on May 3, 2024, surrounded by loved ones. JoJo was born on April 11, 1958, in Charles County, MD. After graduation, he worked in construction as a carpenter and performing all types of home improvement projects. He enjoyed what he did for a living and continued to work on side projects up until he passed. JoJo was blessed with two children, Joseph "Joey" Bowles of Mechanicsville, MD, and Charity Bowles of Waldorf, MD. In his free time, JoJo enjoyed going fishing, oystering, being out on the boat, and making homemade wine and eggnog. To JoJo, life was one big party and he enjoyed every minute of it. Whether it was the tranquility of a quiet day on the water or the laughter-filled gatherings with friends and family, JoJo embraced every moment with gratitude and a contagious zest for life. His enthusiasm was infectious, spreading a sense of celebration wherever he went, turning even the simplest of moments into cherished memories. JoJo was predeceased by his father Joseph Bowles, Sr. He is survived by his children, mother Peggy Bowles of La Plata, MD, sisters Sandra Yandell of Faulkner, MD, Crystal Bowles of La Plata, MD, grandchildren Desirae Marshall, Kaden Marshall, Jake Bowles, Abel Marshall, and significant other Joyce "Bootsie" Dent. On Saturday, May 11, 2024, the family will receive friends for the visitation from 10:00 am to 11:00 am with the service beginning at 11:00 am at Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A., 30195 Three Notch Road, Charlotte Hall, MD 20622. Interment will follow at All Faith Episcopal Church Cemetery, 38885 New Market Turner Rd, Mechanicsville, MD 20659. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Joey Bowles or Charity Bowles. Lynn Buonviri, age 77, of Leonardtown passed away comfortably on May 2nd at the MedStar St Mary's ICU. Loving family members were at her bedside throughout her time there. Lynn taught briefly at Great Mills High School, where she met her husband Mike. They were together for 40 years. She left to work for a contractor at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, followed by a job working for the St Mary's Board of Education as an IT. She loved history and genealogy. She served as Registrar for the Major William Thomas chapter of the DAR, working diligently to help prospective members with the necessary and intense research to become a member. But her most impactful pursuit involved our own local witch, Moll Dyer. Lynn spent 6 years researching online to find the real identity of Moll Dyer. The results appear in her book, available on Amazon and in local shops, called "Moll Dyer and Other Witch Tales of Southern Maryland." The relocation and enhancement of the Moll Dyer rock in downtown Leonardtown is due largely to Lynn's determined efforts. Many attempts, over many years' time, failed to generate enough interest in improving the rock's presentation. But her persistence prevailed, and now it rests in a site of appropriate prominence. Incidentally, every penny of proceeds from the sale of the book went into helping pay for the rock's improvement. Lynn was also an avid doll collector and sewed her own realistic Civil War clothing that she wore to various shows and talks that she gave. She was a docent for many years at the Surratt House Museum in Clinton, MD and was involved with the Dr. Samuel Mudd House in Waldorf, MD. Lynn had 2 sons, David and Thomas Wagner, and 2 grandchildren. Both sons attended St. Mary's county schools. David now lives in Georgia while Thomas resides in Florida. Lynn fought lung infections for almost 20 years. They were like TB but not curable. She was unrelenting in a daily regimen of activities aimed at minimizing the impact of these bacteria and fungi. Her dedication to this effort was exemplary. Her doctor at Johns Hopkins even asked her to speak to a large audience of young doctors to give them insight into the patient's perspective of handling this type of disease. In lieu of a funeral service, donations in Lynn's honor may be made to the NTM https://ntminfo.org/, an organization working toward a cure for the diseases she had. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240510/palestinian-leader-welcomes-unga-resolution-granting-palestine-new-rights---reports-1118380406.html Palestinian Leader Welcomes UNGA Resolution Granting Palestine New Rights - Reports Palestinian Leader Welcomes UNGA Resolution Granting Palestine New Rights - Reports Sputnik International Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed a UNGA resolution expanding the rights of Palestine in the organization and recommending that the Security Council grant it member status. 2024-05-10T22:08+0000 2024-05-10T22:08+0000 2024-05-10T22:08+0000 world palestine israel the united nations (un) un general assembly mahmoud abbas https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/107740/89/1077408965_0:11:2957:1674_1920x0_80_0_0_67e3d9126402900821e53f431500f9dd.jpg Earlier in the day, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution recognizing Palestine as qualified to join the world organization in a 143-9 vote with 25 abstentions. Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, accused the UN General Assembly of encouraging terrorism in response to the resolution on Palestine. Katz also described the vote as "a reward for Hamas terrorists," arguing it harmed Israel's efforts to release the hostages still held by the Palestinian movement and made the ceasefire prospects in the Gaza Strip even more distant. In April, the United States vetoed an Algerian resolution at the UN Security Council recommending that the General Assembly admit Palestine to the UN. The United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained. The remaining members of the UN Security Council voted in favor. Palestine has held permanent observer status at the UN since 2012, while Israel has been a full member of the organization since 1948. palestine israel Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International palestinian president mahmoud abbas, un general assembly resolution expanding the rights of palestine in the organization, palestine in un, un assembly on palestine https://sputnikglobe.com/20240511/chasov-yar-will-be-liberated---head-of-the-donetsk-peoples-republic--1118384497.html Chasov Yar Will Be Liberated - Head of the Donetsk People's Republic Chasov Yar Will Be Liberated - Head of the Donetsk People's Republic Sputnik International Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Head Denis Pushilin told Sputnik that he is optimistic about the advance of Russian forces toward the city of Chasov Yar and that Russian fighters have already penetrated the city's boundaries. 2024-05-11T10:24+0000 2024-05-11T10:24+0000 2024-05-11T10:47+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine russian armed forces russian army donbass denis pushilin https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/08/0e/1099568697_0:333:909:844_1920x0_80_0_0_ce4b1c9645b1811d3ce39e590890ed69.jpg Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Head Denis Pushilin told Sputnik that he is optimistic about the advance of Russian forces toward the city of Chasov Yar and that Russian fighters have already penetrated the city's boundaries.Earlier, political analysts explained to Sputnik that Chasov Yar is key to ending Ukrainian occupation of the Donetsk Peoples Republic. The town served as a key logistics hub for the Ukrainian Army since 2014 and its elevated location offers control of the surrounding area for many miles.However, the liberation of Chasov Yar will also have deep political significance since it was earlier described by Volodymyr Zelensky as "an impenetrable fortress." Capturing this city will deal another psychological blow to Ukrainian troops, sending their morale even lower. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240503/why-chasov-yars-fall-could-become-turning-point-in-ukraine-conflict-1118242585.html donbass Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russia's special military operation, ukrainian crisis, russian armed forces, liberation of donbass, denis pushilin, chasov yar battle, chasov yar liberation https://sputnikglobe.com/20240511/poland-unveils-new-fortifications-on-belarus-border-1118384157.html Poland Unveils New Fortifications on Belarus Border Poland Unveils New Fortifications on Belarus Border Sputnik International Poland fortifies its borders in the wake of migrant fears and threat inflation. 2024-05-11T10:32+0000 2024-05-11T10:32+0000 2024-05-11T10:32+0000 world poland belarus european union (eu) donald tusk alexander lukashenko refugee crisis refugee policy https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/07/15/1112042035_0:0:2355:1324_1920x0_80_0_0_731a8772e170e1a08f9d435e43619ec9.jpg Poland has started to build new anti-migration structures on its border with Belarus, Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated during his visit to the area.Tusk urged the EU to team up with Poland to fund the developments, saying it is a part of European security on the eastern borders.In 2021, thousands of migrants heading to EU countries crowded on the Polish-Belarusian border. Warsaw blamed Minsk for the migration crisis, but Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko debunked these accusations, saying that Poland escalates the refugee crisis by expelling migrants from its territory.Poland has already built a barrier wall on the Belarus border worth $400 million. The construction is 186 kilometers long and five meters high. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240430/poland-submits-application-for-participation-in-natos-nuclear-sharing-scheme---defense-official-1118192401.html poland belarus Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sergey Lebedev Sergey Lebedev News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sergey Lebedev poland-belarus border, belarus poland border migrants, tusk border, migrants border poland, threat inflation, eastern security https://sputnikglobe.com/20240511/russias-electronic-warfare-creates-problems-for-us-precision-weaponry-in-ukraine---reports-1118382017.html Russia's Electronic Warfare Creates Problems for US Precision Weaponry in Ukraine - Reports Russia's Electronic Warfare Creates Problems for US Precision Weaponry in Ukraine - Reports Sputnik International Russia's electronic warfare has created problems for US-made HIMARS-fired GMLRS and air-launched Joint Direct Attack Munitions in Ukraine, Business Insider reported. 2024-05-11T01:52+0000 2024-05-11T01:52+0000 2024-05-11T01:52+0000 military russia ukraine business insider gmlrs high mobility artillery rocket system (himars) joint direct attack munition (jdam) electronic warfare electronic warfare system radio-electronic warfare https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/03/06/1117162703_23:0:965:530_1920x0_80_0_0_6d7e7151c0e11a0e09bd37e2075fe314.jpg Russian electronic warfare decreases the effectiveness of such weaponry as the HIMARS-fired Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) and air-launched Joint Direct Attack Munitions, it said. Russia has been conducting a special military operation in Ukraine since February 24, 2022. President Putin has said the operation aims to "protect people subjected to genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." According to the president, the ultimate goal of the operation is to liberate Donbas and create conditions that guarantee Russia's security. Russia earlier sent a note to NATO because of arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240415/second-to-none-how-russia-masters-its-electronic-warfare-1117947049.html russia ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russian electronic warfare, us himars gmlrs in ukraine, ukraine uses us weaponry, us high precision munition https://sputnikglobe.com/20240511/scott-ritter-predicts-how-ukraine-will-end-1118382169.html Scott Ritter Predicts How Ukraine Will End Scott Ritter Predicts How Ukraine Will End Sputnik International Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter told radio Sputnik on Friday that he believes Ukraine will sue for peace sometime this summer. 2024-05-11T03:23+0000 2024-05-11T03:23+0000 2024-05-11T03:23+0000 analysis scott ritter joe biden ukraine russia kharkov russian ministry of defense donetsk peoples republic https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/02/1118220626_0:0:3073:1730_1920x0_80_0_0_4db197785e59147d07caa9f31adf6c48.jpg On Friday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Russia liberated Novokalinovo in the Donetsk Peoples Republic and Kiselevka and Kotlyarovka in the Kharkov region, the latest in a string of villages to fall, this rapid deterioration of the frontline was the result of the consistent work of Russian forces to grind the Ukrainians down until they had no reserves to stabilize the front line.As we speak, the attritional warfare model has Ukraine losing around 1,500 troops a day. This number is going up now because Russia's expanded its operations into the Kharkov region. So, you can expect this number [to] easily top 2,000 a day, Ritter told Sputniks Fault Lines on Friday.What the Ukrainians have had to do is pull in reserves and take forces out from other fronts, including the Kharkov front and the Odessa front, to come into the battlefield where they've been eliminated, or they've been worn down and there are no replacementswhat's going to happen is Ukraine will be compelled to withdraw reserves from the Kiev region and from Odessa, to go to Kharkov to fill that gap. While they do that, the Russians will then launch a second major attack somewhere in the Zaporozhye area, and Ukrainians are going to be put to the classic horns of a dilemma where if they go north they lose, they go south they lose, if they stay in the middle they lose - there's no good option for them, Ritter explained, adding that we will then see the total collapse of the Ukrainian army and the rapid withdrawal beyond the Dnepr River to set up a new defense line, something he does not think the Ukrainians will be able to accomplish.Noting that he was told by his sources back in January to expect dramatic alterations to the battlefield map in May, Ritter predicts that Russia will capture significant territory in Kharkov and the Donbass this month, with Ukraines eventual capitulation a few months later.They say that the Ukrainian capacity to continue cohesive resistance will collapse this summer - thats the Russian assessment and I agree with it, Ritter said, noting that Russias operations arent driven by calendars and have already allocated the resources to continue the conflict until 2027 if necessary.The decision of what happens to Ukraine now rests solely in the hands of Russia, Ritter argued, noting that they had very favorable terms on the table in March and April 2022.Ritter added that the military aid package recently signed into law by US President Joe Biden has had zero impact on the battlefield. What weve seen, for instance, the desperately needed 155-millimeter artillery shells were brought in from Romania on a ship, offloaded in Odessa into a warehouse and struck by two Iskander missiles. Boom, there goes a couple of billion dollars right there.Also on Friday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the Ukrainian military suffered 3,300 losses in the Kharkov region and the Donetsk Peoples Republic alone during failed attempts to retake Novokalinovo, Kiselevka and Kotlyarovka over the past week. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240510/russia-strikes-ukraines-ammunition-depot-in-kharkov-suburbs-1118371869.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240510/ukraine-loses-some-3300-troops-in-fights-with-2-russian-groupings-of-forces-1118374587.html ukraine russia kharkov Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Ian DeMartino Ian DeMartino News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Ian DeMartino ukraine war, russian special military operation in ukraine, when will ukraine end, how long can ukraine hold out, scott ritter interview https://sputnikglobe.com/20240511/uae-rejects-israels-plan-to-take-part-in-post-war-gaza-administration-1118382987.html UAE Rejects Israel's Plan to Take Part in Post-War Gaza Administration UAE Rejects Israel's Plan to Take Part in Post-War Gaza Administration Sputnik International The United Arab Emirates rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal for possible participation of the country in the civil administration of the Gaza Strip, which is currently under Israeli occupation, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on Saturday. 2024-05-11T06:12+0000 2024-05-11T06:12+0000 2024-05-11T06:12+0000 world middle east uae israel gaza strip benjamin netanyahu hamas israeli-palestinian conflict palestine-israel conflict israel-gaza conflict https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/05/07/1118304358_0:160:3073:1889_1920x0_80_0_0_50e189773613c63de0be5f8f2d137c3d.jpg On Friday, Netanyahu told US broadcaster Merit Street Media that Israel was considering establishing a civilian administration as a post-war arrangement in Gaza with the support of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries that want stability in the region. He added that the UAE authorities are ready to provide any support to the Palestinian government that will be formed and meet the hopes and aspirations of the brotherly Palestinian people, and will have integrity, competence and independence. On October 7, 2023, 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 34,900 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/20240508/israel-doesnt-want-a-ceasefire-truce-talks-take-back-seat-as-rafah-attack-surges-1118323895.html uae israel gaza strip Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International gaza strip violence, gaza strip, palestine-israel conflict, mideast crisis, middle east conflict, uae gaza, netanyahu civil administration, israeli occupation Two $18,493 conditioned events, one on each gait, were the highlight races over a sloppy track on a cool and damp day at Harrahs Philadelphia on Friday, May 10. The top pacing contest was for fillies and mares, and the Always B Miki filly Direction made a successful seasonal debut in it, winning in 1:55 for her fifth triumph in but seven lifetime starts. Direction was last of seven behind the early fractions of :28.3 and :58, but then got into a lively cover flow behind E A Audit before the 1:26.4 three-quarters, continued to gain on the far turn, and ran down E A Audit by three parts of a length for trainer Brett Pelling and Diamond Creek Racing. Directions driver, Jack Pelling, was top pilot of the day at Philly with three visits to Victory Lane. In the marquee event for trotters, the Conway Hall mare Cantkeepmiasecret raced on an open lead for almost all of the mile, putting up splits of :28.1, :57.1, and 1:27 before easily keeping pocketsitter Wallandar at bay by 3-1/4 lengths in a 1:56.1 mile. Andrew McCarthy guided the winner to victory for trainer Nik Drennan and owners Robert Weinstein and Patrick OBrien. The racing week at Harrahs Philadelphia concludes on Sunday, May 12 with a 12:40 start. Jacks Shadow N will be looking for his second straight win in the featured $17,808 fast-class handicap pace, carded as Race 10, but he will have to overcome both strong opposition and the outermost starting slot in the field of six. Free Harrahs Philly program are or will be available at phha.org. (PHHA / Harrahs Philadelphia) A "Panda Train" departs from Guiyang railway station in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 8, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] The first train traveling from Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, to Lao capital Vientiane, arrived on Thursday, carrying over 200 Chinese tourists and making stronger links between Laos and China. The train marked an important step in the development of high-quality tourism between China and Laos, with the China-Laos Railway being a pivotal link in the process. The Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, in collaboration with the Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd. (LCRC), and the Lao National Art Troupe organized an impressive show to welcome the tourists arriving at the Lane Xang EMU train station, which the group enjoyed with some dancing to the music. After arriving in Vientiane, the visitors will take a tour of the capital, followed by a trip to Vangvieng district in Vientiane province, and then to northern Laos' Luang Prabang province and other places of interest. Initially, the tours on this route will be scheduled once a month. The LCRC and tourist authorities may increase the number of train trips depending on passenger demand. The China-Laos Railway is a landmark symbol of the friendship between Laos and China and has been a great boost to the success of Visit Laos Year 2024. Since the end of 2023, the LCRC and the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism have sought to bolster tourism in Laos through greater use of the railway. The number of tourists coming to Laos via the China-Laos Railway is increasing, helping to fulfill the Lao government's ambition to rejuvenate the economy through tourism. Silver Label joined the Fillies & Mares Preferred pacing ranks at Woodbine Mohawk Park to kick off her five-year-old campaign and collared the early season's dominant distaffer Tells On A Roll in an action-packed Friday, May 10 edition. Doug McNair worked out the winning trip in the $36,000 Friday feature aboard the Grand Circuit stakes-winning millionairess, who is trained by Nick Gallucci for owner/breeder Millar Farms of Stouffville, Ont. Silver Label, her season-debuting stablemate Prohibition Legal and the Jodie Cullen-trained Tells On A Roll, winner of her six Mares Preferred starts this year, were all handicapped with the outside posts in the eight-horse field and jockeyed for early position off the gate. From farthest out, Travis Cullen fired Tells On A Roll to the front first over Silver Label before the first turn with Prohibition Legal parked and pressing on for Louis-Philippe Roy through a :26.1 opening quarter. As Prohibition Legal worked to clear Tells On A Roll down the backstretch, another mare came to play as Dabarndawgswatchin and Tyler Borth swept up from fourth to take over the top spot through a contested :54.1 half. The action continued as Dabarndawgswatchin led to three-quarters in 1:22.1 with the favourites back out and rolling. A first-up Tells On A Roll took over command as they raced into the stretch with Silver Label chasing off her cover and closing in. Gaining ground with every stride through the final eighth of the mile, Silver Label got her nose to the wire first, defeating a game Tells On A Roll in 1:50.2. Angostura Hanover rallied off the winner's back to nab third prize a half length back for Trevor Henry while longshot Style For A Mile and Sylvain Filion closed widest of all from last to finish fourth just ahead of Prohibition Legal at the pylons with Dabarndawgswatchin in between. Silver Label paid $5.10 to win as the 3-2 slight favourite in her return race. The Bettors Delight-Hidden Gem mare is coming off a half-million campaign in which she won eight of 19 races including a Lady Liberty stakes record 1:47.3 mile at The Meadowlands. A winner of half of her 42 career starts, she now boasts a bankroll totalling $1,379,023. In the very next race, Prohibition Legal's sophomore sister This Magic Moment (Big Jim-Catch A Wish) lowered her lifetime mark to 1:52 with a post 10 start posing no problems for the back-to-back winner, driven by James MacDonald for Gallucci and Millar Farms. The Early Pick-5 on Saturday at Woodbine Mohawk Park will feature a carryover of $51,755.68. The carryover comes into play after there was no winning tickets on Friday nights Late Pick-5. The Early Pick-5 starts on Race 1 with a 20-cent minimum and 15 per cent takeout. To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park. (Standardbred Canada) Fade Out proved to be highly competitive in the first two legs of the TrackMaster Series for fillies and mares on the pace with a rating of 84 or less, but came up short on both occasions. On Friday, May 11 at The Meadowlands, in the $31,507 series final, a perfect trip for the Jeff Cullipher trainee led to a jaunt down victory lane. Good trips make for happiness, said winning driver Tim Tetrick. Shes been knocking on the door and finally got it done tonight. After finishing a close-up third and second in her attempts in the preliminaries, all went well in the final, as Fade Out sat fifth to the half while the top two choices 5-2 shots Pattycake Mooss and Annas Wish were at each others throats through a half of :55.4 over a track rated sloppy. Around the far turn, Tetrick had Fade Out, a five-year-old Sportswriter-Fade mare, in perfect second-over striking position following last weeks leg two upset winner Two Pistol Annie as Annas Wish hit three-quarters in 1:23.2. From there, Fade Out was tipped off her cover as they straightened up for the stretch drive and paced right by her foes to record a safe three-quarters of a length win in 1:51.1. Century Jamila, who blasted away from post 10 to lead at the quarter in :27.3, finished second, with leg one winner Dontkarenifido third. I think thats her best game, sit back and see what happens, said a mud-covered Tetrick in the post-race back paddock interview. Luckily, turning for home, we were second-over and got the right trip. Last week, I thought she would win and hung a little [when second]. When she gets on a roll, shes a pretty nice mare. Currently owned by Pollack Racing, Fade Out now has 20 wins from 69 lifetime starts, good for earnings of $434,168. As the 4-1 third choice in the wagering, she returned $10 to her backers. There will be a pair of carryovers for players to shoot for on the Saturday card. The key to the carryovers was Hurrymiki Hanover, who took the seventh race at odds of 48-1, topping a Trifecta that returned a whopping $12,236. There were no winning tickets sold in the 10-cent Hi-5 (Pentafecta), creating a carryover of $13,569 for Saturdays seventh race. The best players could do in the 20-cent Pick-6 was five winning selections, which was good for a payout of $24.82. The carryover for Saturdays fourth race Pick 6 is $3,087. Todd McCarthy followed up his four-winner night last Saturday with a three-bagger to lead the driver colony. He has nine wins over the last three race cards. Cullipher and Cory Stratton each had training doubles. All-source handle totalled $3,113,950 USD on the 14-race card, marking the 30th time in 2024 that wagering surpassed $3 million USD from a total of 36 programs. Racing resumes Saturday at 6:20 p.m. with early Hambletonian favourite Karl the featured attraction in New Jersey Sire Stakes action. (With files from Meadowlands Racetrack) With the date of the 2024 Pepsi North America Cup eliminations four weeks away, Trot Insider will profile some of the race's top contenders as horses ready to compete for one of Canadian harness racing's biggest prizes. Fresh off of a two-year-old campaign in which he took O'Brien Award honours, Legendary Hanover returns at three with sights set on the 2024 Pepsi North America Cup. Legendary Hanover got off to a fast start at two, winning his first six races which included victories in the Nassagaweya, Champlain and Metro elim before tasting defeat for the first time with a runner-up finish in the $970,000 Metro final. In all, Legendary Hanover hit the board in eight of nine at two, winning six on his way to banking $405,100 for owners Eric Good, West Wins Stable and Mark Dumain. Legendary Hanover begins his three-year-old season in the third race on Saturday, May 11 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Coming in at 9-2 odds, Legendary Hanover was ranked at No. 2 in TROT Magazine's 2024 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book. "We had an exceptional two-year-old year," said trainer Anthony Beaton. "He got of to a great start winning his first six and even though that first loss is always a tough pill to swallow, he raced tremendous in the Metro. Then in the Breeders Crown final, he was keyed up with the recall and cut his air off, it was a tough way to end a great season." Where did Legendary Hanover spend his winter and when did he start training back for his three-year-old campaign? "He was at Spring Station down in Kentucky at owner Eric Good's farm from after the Breeders Crown before we sent him down to Casie Coleman in Florida the first week of January to begin training back." Have you noticed any changes in the colt physically from two to three? "He looked tremendous when he came back to me. I've found that he's gotten taller and filled out quite a bit. He was a big horse last year, but he's a big boy." What does his tentative schedule look like leading up to the North America Cup? "We would like to get a start or two into him before the Somebeachsomewhere, which will take him to the elim from there." Beyond the North America Cup, what does the schedule hope to look like for Legendary Hanover? "He's paid into everything. He's got a full dance card for the year. In the past, we have typically not paid into the Meadowlands Pace, but he's paid into that along with races like the Adios and Max Hempt, we've just got to keep him sound and healthy all year." What is his biggest strengths on and off the racetrack? "He's a very mild-mannered and intelligent individual. Especially for a stud colt, he looks after himself and is very easy to get along with. He can get a little keyed up on race nights if anything, but you can do whatever you want with this horse." "On track, he's a horse that just never gets tired. Also, for such a big horse, he has a very quick turn of foot and is a very high-speed horse." Being a half-brother to Linedrive Hanover, how do the two compare to one another? "They are night and day. 'Linedrive' is much more of a firecracker on and off the track. They have some similarities in the sense that 'Linedrive' doesn't get tired and they are both high-speed horses, but 'Linedrive' is a smaller, stouter version as opposed to 'Legendary,' who is a taller animal and much calmer in the barn." Being a bigger horse, is the plan to keep Legendary Hanover on the bigger tracks? "I think that will mainly be the plan for the year. He is paid into the Little Brown Jug and the turns at Delaware are a little different than most half-mile tracks, but other than that I think the plan will be to keep him on the bigger tracks." Does stablemate Nijinsky have a similar schedule pointing towards the NA Cup? "Nijinsky has an Ontario Sires Stakes race at the end of May, we'd like to get a start in before that race (also in tonight at Mohawk, heading postward in the first race). Then he'll be headed towards the Somebeachsomewhere and North America Cup. His schedule will be a little bit different beyond that with the OSS schedule." Any other NA Cup eligibles in your barn you would like to share an update on? "Casie also paid Sinatra Hanover in this year (making his sophomore debut in the eighth dash tonight at Mohawk). He was a nice little colt last year and I think that he has matured as much as anyone has this year. We'll give him the chance, and you'd only be disappointed if you should have paid him in and didn't." Having been connected to past champions of the North America Cup, what would it be like for you to win this race as a trainer? "It would be fantastic, it was incredible to be a part of the race last year. Having been a part of a few champions with Casie and numerous elim winners, it would be incredible just to be in the race again this year." Previous Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book Profiles: (Standardbred Canada) The year 1900 marked the end of one century and the beginning of a new one. Jannie Clark and her husband William A. are living alone now on a farm they own and pay the mortgage on. She is listed as being 61 years old now having been born in 1839. Remember that her death certificate said she was born in 1823 so by that she should be 77. Of course, in the 1880 census they have her as being born in 1832. The 1900 census says Jannie is the mother of 12 children, eight of whom are still living. Jannies husband William A. Clark loses his right to vote in 1900, legally removing part of his rights as a citizen in the United States. Democratic party leaders took control of N.C. state government in 1898 and moved quickly to ensure their dominance in future elections by creating and passing a new voter law in N.C. that disenfranchised African American voters. The new law required voters to pay a poll tax and to pass a literacy test. Fearful that poor white voters would be affected by the law, legislators included what was called a Grandfather Clause. It stated that even if a voter was illiterate (in 1900, 30 percent of all voting-age males were illiterate) they could still vote if they or an ancestor had been a registered voter prior to 1867 provided he registered by 1908. Since African Americans did not get the right to vote until after 1867, they were automatically excluded. The new law also gave Democrats control of registering voters. A special election was held on Aug. 2, 1900, in which the state approved the amendment with Iredell voting 2,683 for and 2,373 opposed. This amendment would suppress and prevent African Americans from voting until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. For African Americans like Jannie and William Clark there is little they can do to protest what was basically a racist law aimed at legally discriminating against a group of Americans based on their race. Between 1898 through 1900 Jannie and Richard are living in dangerous times. The Democratic party has run a blatantly white supremacist campaign. Red Shirts at voting polls intimated Blacks from voting. The newspapers in N.C., led by Josephus Daniels, editor of the News and Observer in Raleigh, ran editorial cartoons depicting African American men as grotesque looking brutes or devils threatening innocent white women. Editorials challenged white men by asking if they were going to bow down to colored men. Lies, distortions, threats, the years between 1898 and the end of 1900 were as ugly as they can get in N.C. In 1900, Charles Brantley Aycock is elected governor and Wilfred D. Turner of Iredell County is elected lieutenant governor on a Democratic party white supremacy campaign. I cant help but wonder how they could have done such a thing. Daniels, Aycock, and the other party leaders are well educated and intelligent men. They were undoubtedly racists, but they knew what they were telling people was pure propaganda. I mean African Americans like Jannies husband William had been voting in N.C. since 1867. If civilization had not come to an end in N.C. in the last 33 years of Black voting, why was it going to end now? African Americans were freed after the war ended in 1865. Life in Statesville and N.C. continued peacefully for 35 years. Aycock and Daniels go on to become champions for better education and roads in N.C. Aycock would later be referred to as the Education Governor while Daniels would become the Ambassador to Mexico and Secretary of the Navy. Perhaps they thought that if they did good things for North Carolina it would make up for the injustice they did to African Americans. Over the next few years Jim Crow laws are passed in N.C. and soon in Statesville as elsewhere there are separate water fountains, bathrooms, hotels, and diners for each race. The schools are separated by race and balconies for African Americans are in the courthouse and movie theatres like the Playhouse in Statesville. On Feb. 23, 1912, The Landmark reports on The Carolina Merry Minstrels show at the Statesville Theater. Minstrel shows were basically white people acting like clowns in blackface. Life for African Americans like Jannie and her family and friends would have been hard. In 1901, a major flood hit Iredell County. In 1902 Jannies husband William A Clark passes away. His will was written in September of that year and the court handled his probate on Dec. 12, 1902. In it he refers to Jannie as, my beloved wife Martha Jane Clark. Following her death the home tract was to pass to their daughter Laura Jane Tatum. Their son William E. Clark was given a tract of land, and the remaining children were to divide another tract of land. In 1904 three innocent African American men are lynched in Salisbury. In 1907, six African American men are killed when a sewer ditch collapses in Statesville. Three of those men are buried in the Green Street Cemetery. In 1916, there is another major flood. In 1917, the United States enters World War I. The first man called is an African American man named Charles Masten. Eight African American men from Iredell County will die in the war. In 1918, the Spanish Influenza epidemic kills people across Iredell County and schools and churches are closed to stop spread of the disease. In 1921, the Tulsa Race Riot occurs in Oklahoma with Black citizens being killed by white mobs while their homes and businesses are burned. Epidemics of tuberculosis and diphtheria attack both white and Black in Iredell County. On Oct. 29, 1929, the stock market crashed and by 1932, the country is in the Great Depression. It was hard on white people, but just imagine how much harder it would have been on Jannie and her children and other African Americans in Statesville. During these years, Black people were denied the good jobs and paid less than white men doing the same menial jobs. In the 1920 census Jannie, now a widow, is still living in the Shiloh Township alone. In the 1930 census she is 100 years old, living with her son William E. Clark, 69, and his wife Francis, 65. On Jan. 6, 1933, Jannie Clark dies of heart disease. Her death certificate says she is 110 years old. Jannie never knew when she was born or how old she was. On her death certificate there is no father listed, but her mother is named as Rena Howard. Her son Will provides the information to her doctor and Rutledge & Bigham are the undertakers. She is buried in an unmarked grave in the Green Street Cemetery on Jan. 8, 1933. Someone asked me once why the Green Street Cemetery project was so important. I mean the plots are all sold by 1939 and the last person is buried in 1949. In fact, we have only been able to find a handful of photos of those buried there and there are few people living who remember seeing one of them. So why are they important to African Americans living in Statesville today or for any of us for that matter? You see these are the people who took the pain. Those 2,224 graves are of people who lived through it all. Being born enslaved, being freed, and then starting out with nothing. Theyre the ones who started the first African American schools, the first African American churches, the first African American businesses. They served their country in war even though they came back to a town where they were discriminated against. They survived the plagues, the poverty, the unfairness, and the mistreatment. They had their right to vote taken away. They suffered the humiliations, the indignities, and the insults to their humanity. They felt the stares from the white people looking at them. The looks of fear, of hatred, of contempt, and the worst look of all. The look when they dont even see you. When they stare in your direction, but still dont see you as if you just dont register as a person. In Ralph Ellisons novel, The Invisible Man, published in 1952, he describes what it is like to have people just look through you as if you are not even there. The people buried at Green Street survived. They took the pain and kept going. They didnt self-destruct or give into anger, rage, and hate. They kept moving forward, always hoping, praying, and believing that one day things would be better. Like all parents around the world, they dreamed that their children and grandchildren would have it better than they did. Those dreams came true and because of Jannie and the rest of them buried there all of us have a better society and country today. The Washington State Nurses Association has filed an unfair labor practice charge against PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center on behalf of the 1,465 nurses the union represents at the Vancouver hospital. The union filed the charge April 24, alleging PeaceHealth violated the National Labor Relations Act by interfering with employee rights and engaging in bad faith bargaining. A PeaceHealth official said the accusation lacks merit. The National Labor Relations Board will investigate the claim. The union also said PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center has disparaged the union and its members in communication and threatened employees who wear union T-shirts and insignia. WSNA regularly uses unfair labor practice charges to protect its members rights under federal law. (The) charges are one of the tools we use to hold employers accountable when we believe theyve violated the law or their contract with our nurses, Kelly Skahan, labor counsel for the Washington State Nurses Association, said in an email to The Columbian. Skahan said if the National Labor Relations Board finds merit in the unions complaint, the agency could try to negotiate a settlement with PeaceHealth or hold a hearing in front of an administrative law judge. Our pledge throughout these negotiations has been to bargain in good faith to reach a mutually acceptable agreement that is fair and competitive for our nurses and sustainable for the hospital, PeaceHealth spokeswoman Debra Carnes said in an email. Regarding the unions allegations, PeaceHealth does not believe they have any merit and looks forward to resolving them through the NLRBs established process. Recent picket Just three weeks ago, hundreds of PeaceHealth employees represented by the union engaged in an informational picket outside of the hospital. An informational picket differs from a strike. Nurses on the picket line April 18 were off-duty or joined the picket line during breaks. Nurses were joined at the rally by local officials, including Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, state Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, and state Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver. Bargaining between the union and PeaceHealth began four months ago after the nurses previous contract expired Feb. 28. The next bargaining session with a federal mediator is Monday. Skahan said the union is assessing all of its options as bargaining continues, including a strike, but that is not the goal. We would much rather see nurses on the job, safe and fairly paid than on strike, but we need management to do its part to keep these nurses at work in Vancouver, she said. According to a statement from the union, parties remain far apart on such issues as wages, sick leave and pay equity for home health and hospice nurses. Over the past year, PeaceHealth workers across the region have gone on strike amid contract negotiations In July, lab techs represented by the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals picketed over staffing and low wages outside PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview. In October, about 1,300 health care workers represented by the Oregon Federation of Nurse and Health Professionals at PeaceHealth Southwest and St. John went on strike. On Feb. 12, PeaceHealth Home Care and Hospice Nurses in Springfield, Ore., also went on strike, citing a decline in wages and benefits. We have taken great care to listen to and consider every proposal that has been submitted by WSNAs bargaining team, Carnes said. We look forward to making progress towards an agreement that respects our nurses and their profession and also meets the medical centers commitment of caring for our community. A severe geomagnetic storm directed at Earth could cause some problems for our planet this weekend. Howeveron more a positive noteit might also allow southern states, including Texas, to observe a brilliant display normally only visible from the North and South Poles. On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Associations (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a severe G4 geomagnetic storm watch the first the agency has issued since 2005. G4s are the second-strongest form of geomagnetic storms. Watches at this level are very rare, the SWPC said in a statement. This is an unusual event. The source is a sunspot cluster estimated to be 16 times the diameter of Earth. In fact, the group of sunspots is so big you might be able to see it with your own eyes using solar eclipse glasses. Solar flares and eruptions from the sunspots directed at Earth could trigger spectacular displays of aurora from Friday through the weekend. The northern lights, or aurora borealis, is a colorful display of lights created as energetic charged particles from the Sun during solar storms collide with Earths magnetic field at a high speed and interact with our planets upper atmosphere. The auroras are typically observed illuminating the night sky at high altitudes. However, during intense solar activity, they can be spotted further south. The SWPC said its possible the auroras Friday night could be seen as far south as Alabama and northern California. Under clear conditions, auroras can be best viewed from dark locations, away from the bright lights of the city. The ethereal lights were previously observed in the Texas Panhandle in December, tinting the night sky red. Travis Herzog, chief meteorologist of ABC 13 Houston, said there is technically a chance residents in Austin to just north of Houston could see the auroras low on the northern horizon. Herzog shared a map depicting a solid green line, which he indicated anyone north of could possibly see the aurora. I wouldnt get my hopes up too much here in Southeast Texas, he cautioned. That said, if you want to go outside and try to catch a glimpse of it, tonights aurora is predicted to peak in intensity between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Just look north! Unfortunately, solar flares could also unleash coronal mass ejections explosions of plasma and magnetic fields that when directed at Earth, could disrupt communications, GPS, and electric power grids on Earth. They can also interfere with space crafts and satellites. The SWPC said it has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action. The recent heightened solar activity is due to the Sun rapidly approaching the peak in its 11-year cycle. The 7th Digital China Summit is set for May 24-25 in Fuzhou, southeastern China's Fujian province, Liu Liehong, head of the National Data Administration, said Friday. This year's summit is themed on unleashing the value of data and developing new quality productive forces. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Friday said it deplored and opposed U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong Gregory May's biased remarks as well as slanders and smears about the HKSAR's work in safeguarding national security. An HKSAR government spokesperson said that the U.S. side has ignored the large-scale and incessant riots during the "color revolution" in Hong Kong that occurred in 2019, which devastated Hong Kong's society, livelihood and economy. The U.S. ignored the fact that it is an international practice and an inherent right and responsibility for sovereign states to enact laws safeguarding national security, and it blatantly attacked the HKSAR in safeguarding national security dutifully, faithfully and in accordance with the law, the spokesperson said. "Such positions fully exposed Washington's double standards," the spokesperson said, adding that the HKSAR government urges the United States to discern the fact that the national security law in Hong Kong has enabled the livelihood and economic activities of the Hong Kong community at large to resume as normal. The spokesperson noted that the laws safeguarding national security in the HKSAR including the national security law in Hong Kong and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance are precisely for safeguarding national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and the laws ensure the full and faithful implementation of the principle of "one country, two systems," under which the people of Hong Kong administer Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy. Regarding the economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between Hong Kong and the United States mentioned by May at a forum recently held by a U.S. think tank, the spokesperson said that the United States enjoys significant economic benefit in Hong Kong, with more than 1,200 U.S. companies having set up businesses in Hong Kong. It also enjoyed a trade surplus of 271.5 billion U.S. dollars with Hong Kong over the past decade, the largest among its global trading partners. The spokesperson urged Washington to take concrete actions to stop all wrongdoings that undermine economic and trade relations between the two places, and make efforts to foster mutual benefit in various areas, including promoting economic and trade relations and cultural exchanges. Hong Kong commands irreplaceable standing with the distinctive advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world. There lies a plethora of opportunities ahead, the spokesperson said. This is the first image of the moon taken by the cube satellite known as ICUBE-Q on May 8, 2024. [China National Space Administration/Handout via Xinhua] China on Friday delivered data provided by a cube satellite aboard its Chang'e-6 spacecraft to Pakistan, deepening cooperation on lunar exploration between the two countries. Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), handed a data carrier to Pakistani Ambassador to China Khalil-ur-Rahman Hashmi at a ceremony held in Beijing. The cube satellite, ICUBE-Q, was developed by Pakistan's Institute of Space Technology and China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The Chang'e-6 lunar probe was launched on May 3 and carried four international payloads, including ICUBE-Q. ICUBE-Q separated from the Chang'e-6 orbiter on May 8 to carry out exploration activities such as capturing images of the moon. The Chang'e-6 spacecraft, which successfully performed a near-moon braking procedure and entered the lunar orbit on May 8, is operating normally, with subsequent flight control work to be carried out as planned, said Ge Ping, deputy director of the CNSA's Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center. Both China and Pakistan attach great importance to this cooperation. During the development of the payload, government organs and scientific institutions in both countries made significant preparations, Ge said. "I believe that this cooperation is of great significance to promoting friendly relations between the two countries and enriching people's understanding of the moon," he added. Zhang Kejian (L), head of the China National Space Administration, hands the data the ICUBE-Q satellite carrier over to Pakistani Ambassador to China Khalil-ur-Rahman Hashmi at a handover ceremony held in Beijing, capital of China, May 10, 2024. [China National Space Administration/Handout via Xinhua] The ICUBE-Q satellite is the result of the first lunar exploration cooperation project between China and Pakistan. The project was guided by the principles of equality, mutual benefits, the peaceful utilization of space and inclusive development. It will also enhance the friendship between the two countries and expand diverse cooperation in the field of aerospace, Ge said. "We will share our scientific achievements to lay the foundation for future lunar exploration activities, which will be of great significance to promoting the construction of a global community with a shared future in outer space," he added. He noted that China and Pakistan have signed a cooperation agreement on the International Lunar Research Station. China has received Pakistan's application for payload cooperation on the Chang'e-8 mission, and its application to borrow lunar samples returned by the Chang'e-5 mission. Relevant work is progressing steadily. "We welcome Pakistan's participation in China's lunar and deep space exploration missions, and we will conduct extensive exchanges and cooperation related to space technology, space science and space applications to contribute to the peaceful use of outer space and serve civilization and global well-being," Ge said. The launch of the Chang'e-6 mission is a model example of international cooperation in action. It demonstrated that China acts on its word, and that it undertakes meaningful cooperation and extends meaningful assistance to developing countries, Khalil-ur-Rahman Hashmi said. Pakistan's involvement in ICUBE-Q is a testament to the fact that the country is also making progress in space exploration and technology, he said. This mission will open up opportunities for Pakistan to explore the deep space environment and study the dynamics and geography of the moon. It will also give impetus to higher education in the space sciences in Pakistan, said Syed Amer Ahsan Gilani, deputy director-general of the Satellite Manufacturing Department of the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission. "Space cooperation between China and Pakistan is a vital aspect of our bilateral relations," Khalil-ur-Rahman Hashmi said. The two countries have drawn a concrete roadmap for future collaboration on space exploration, knowledge and research exchange visits, and knowledge transfers and resource-sharing, he added. Hall County Commissioners on Tuesday saluted Jon Rosenlund for being named Nebraskas Emergency Manager of the Year. Hall County Commission President Ron Peterson nominated Rosenlund for the award, which he received at the Nebraska Association of Emergency Managements annual conference in Kearney April 2-5. Rosenlund, who is director of emergency management for Grand Island and Hall County, actually received two awards. The second was given by the Nebraska Preparedness Partnership for Partner of the Year. One of the joys of this job is once in a while we get a chance to recognize people that have done an outstanding job, Peterson said. Jon has done a wonderful job of keeping us informed on things that are going on in the county, Peterson said. After a recent train derailment, Rosenlund was on the phone with Peterson, letting him know what was going on. In addition, You are one that we consult when we decide whether were going to close the county offices because of weather, Peterson said. Nebraskans probably understand the importance of emergency responsibilities, Peterson said, referring to the tornadoes that hit the Omaha area two weeks ago. Even though property damage was substantial, Nebraskans were able to survive that catastrophe without a loss of life, Peterson said. That kind of success is due to people like Rosenlund doing their jobs, Peterson said. Commissioner Gary Quandt mentioned the Wood River explosion on March 2, and commended Rosenlund for what he does to inform people and make them safer. The board appreciates everything that youre doing. You do a great job, Quandt said. Rosenlund thanked the board for the nomination and for its vote of confidence. Nothing can be accomplished in emergency response without the assistance of partners, including all departments of the city and county, Rosenlund said. Praising community leadership, he said hes fortunate to work with the departments partners in keeping the area safe. Rosenlund thanked his wife Becky, who was present, for her unfailing support. And shes got a lot of patience with me. Weve never spent a tornado warning together. One day thatll happen, he said. But hes grateful for the support of his wife and their children. And I cant do anything good in this world without her help. Rosenlund thanked the dispatchers and everyone who works in the 911 office. Theyre dedicated to doing everything they can to keep the public safe and to protect our responders, he said. Hall County Courthouse plans Also at the meeting, Quandt urged board members to look at a scaled-down judicial building, which was smaller than one he discussed April 23. At that meeting, Quandt presented plans for a standalone structure that would total 75,000 square feet. This week, Quandt talked about a 55,000-square-foot standalone structure. Like his earlier plan, it would be a two-story building east of the courthouse. Most of the commissioners favor an addition to the courthouse. By Quandts figuring, a 55,000-square-foot building would cost $21 million to build. Parking and demolition might add another $2 million, Quandt said. But a $23 million pricetag is still $10 million cheaper than a courthouse addition, he said. The most recent estimates for a courthouse addition are $33 million, which does not include site work and demolition of surrounding buildings. Quandt said his standalone plan includes everything the court system needs, including three county and three district courtrooms. The standalone building could be completed by the end of next year, Quandt said. Quandt said hes not trying to slow the project down. Im trying to speed the project up with common sense, he said. Commissioner Pam Lancaster pointed out the similarity of the subject matter to the April 23 meeting. We had the same discussion two weeks ago, she said. Quandt made a motion to look at the possibility of building the standalone judicial building. The motion failed 4 to 2, with Quandt and Karen Bredthauer voting in favor of it. Jane Richardson was absent. For the second meeting in a row, Quandt referred to an action taken by the the board Aug. 1, 2023. At that meeting, Quandt said, the board voted to pursue options for a bond vote for a freestanding courthouse. But Peterson said the board voted that day to explore the idea, rather than to build it. A member of the public, who didnt give his name, spoke briefly about the judicial plans. The man said he didnt care if the cost was $22 million, $35 million or $40 million. He just wanted to know why taxpayers wont vote on the issue. Why is the decision being made by seven people, he said. Thats why we were elected, Peterson said. The system needs to be changed, the man said. On a related subject, the board approved a request for proposals for a construction manager at risk, who will play a significant role in the courthouse project. Board members asked if they might lose control of the project by going with the construction manager at risk model. But Steve Severson of Davis Design and Hall County Building and Grounds Department Director Loren Doone Humphrey endorsed the idea. Humphrey said going with a construction manager at risk wouldnt remove the boards voice. Its just important that the parties work together, he said. A construction manager at risk would have the expertise and construction knowledge to do the project the right way, Humphrey said. On a 4-2 vote, the board approved the motion to go ahead with the construction manager at risk RFP. Opposing the motion were Bredthauer and Quandt. State lawmakers are demanding accountability from South Carolinas largest charter school district in light of concerns about its management, operations and spending of taxpayer dollars. Bipartisan groups of lawmakers from both chambers this week asked state authorities to conduct audits of the Charter Institute at Erskine, a taxpayer-funded affiliate of Erskine College that oversees more than two dozen of the states charter schools, to determine whether its leaders have mishandled state funds or violated the law. We are in receipt of information about and allegations against (the Charter Institute at Erskine) which, if true, indicate a culture of mismanagement, waste, fraud and abuse at the agency, reads a letter signed by five state senators and sent to the governors office Tuesday requesting the inspector general investigate. It is of critical importance that public funds be guarded, particularly any appropriated for the benefit of our states most precious resource, its children. A separate letter, signed by six House members, including House Education Chair Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, asked the Legislative Audit Council, which conducts independent audits of state agencies, to investigate claims that the Charter Institute had entered into improper financial relationships with for-profit management companies that operate many of the schools it oversees. We are concerned that if transactions such as these have occurred, they may compromise the ability of Erskine to perform its duties under the Act with fidelity and/or may cause Erskine to apply inconsistent standards of accountability to different charter schools that it sponsors, the letter reads. The Charter Institute at Erskine did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the requested probes. Its CEO and Superintendent Cameron Runyan has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Multiple lawmakers said their appeal for an investigation was directly informed by The State Media Co.s Unchartered Territory series, which revealed several actions taken by Charter Institute leaders that raise ethical concerns, including their involvement in a plan to open three schools in Tennessee and their funding of a related nonprofit that provides fee-based services to Charter Institute schools. State Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, one of five senators who signed onto the inspector general audit request, said he supports the probe in order to get a clearer picture of the Charter Institutes finances and business entanglements. We just want to make sure that proper oversight is given to the charter school system and that this is not some big ploy to funnel business to people on their boards and that kind of thing, he said. In recent months, state lawmakers in both chambers have expressed concerns about the Charter Institutes spending and compliance with South Carolinas charter schools law. Both the House and Senate have added one-year measures to the state budget, known as provisos, that are intended to address some of those concerns. But lawmakers acknowledge that more needs to be done to shore up the decades-old Charter Schools Act, which does not address many of the complex issues that have emerged since colleges and universities were allowed to approve and regulate charter schools. These are areas the law is silent, Erickson told The State earlier this year. When we had this conception of how this works, it never entered our minds that we would need to have these particular safeguards in place. The issue came to a head on the Senate floor several weeks ago when Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington, proposed an amendment to cap the amount of taxpayer money college and university authorizers can retain for oversight of the schools they oversee. This is a first step for the people of South Carolina, said Setzler, who is retiring at the end of the year. Ill be gone, but I hope some of you will pick up this mantle and follow through and work on and understand and go to the trouble to dig into what is going on. Setzler, who sponsored the states 1996 charter schools law, spent about 30 minutes at the well that day sharing his growing concerns about charter school authorizer accountability and imploring his colleagues to seriously consider reforming the law when they return to Columbia next year. I hope that this Senate will pursue this issue in the next legislative session, he told his colleagues. And in the off-session, maybe have a task force to look at it and ask those probing questions. By the time Setzler finished, more than a half-dozen senators, including Senate Education Chair Greg Hembree, R-Horry, had signed on as cosponsors of his amendment. Get TheTandD.com for $1 for 3 months Support local journalism by becoming a member at www.TheTandD.com. View our latest offer at TheTandD.com/subscribe Hutto said Wednesday that he and the other senators who requested an inspector general audit of the Charter Institute aim to ensure that Setzlers wishes are carried out. Sen. Setzler doesnt chase red herrings, he said. If hes getting the whiff of something that might be amiss, thats important to us and were going to follow up on it. Attending the April 16 Orangeburg City Council meeting was of great importance to us because we dared to weigh in on Claflin University's request to close Goff Avenue from Clark Street to Magnolia. In reading the article written by The Times and Democrat's reporter, Gene Zaleski, dated April 18, 2024, we questioned whether we were at the same meeting. Of course the outcome was the same but it appeared that his version was sanitized and biased. We knew from reading past articles in the newspaper that their employees were standing in lock step with Claflin University and supported the closure. As citizens, our position was that every avenue needed to be explored before closing down a city street and denying access to the entire citizenry. We agreed that the issue of safety was at the forefront and the university wanted to find a way to keep the staff and students safe. We echoed those sentiments and questioned whether the citizens should be in fear of our safety, as well. As rational, thinking human beings, we began to look at local government procedures and how things should work. Claflin President Dwuan Warmack followed the proper process by informing Orangeburg City Council that safety was an issue. The Orangeburg Public Safety Department's sworn officers are the individuals who are paid to keep the public safe from all criminal activity in the City of Orangeburg. Warmack stated that the criminal activity was occurring on the city streets beyond the authority of campus security but within the authority of Public Safety. His solution to the problem was to close a portion of the street and give the university full control. As citizens, we were wondering why the city's Public Safety Department was NOT capable of protecting all of the citizens, which includes the students at Claflin. If the university's staff and students are afraid for their safety residing in the City of Orangeburg, then the citizens should also be afraid. Closing a portion of the city streets might solve the university's problem but what about the safety of the majority of the citizens? It is like putting a bandage on a wound that is bleeding out when you know that surgery is required. All of our citizens have a right to safety. It is a human right that applies to all citizens regardless of where you live in the city! city council goff closure Orangeburg City Council members listen to a presentation from Claflin University officials on Feb. 20, 2024. That brings us back to horses! We arrived at the location on April 16 at approximately 5:30 p.m. Attendees had already begun arriving and we walked in with a group of Claflin students who were easily identifiable by their Panther colors. It was crowded in the foyer with police officers screening and scanning everyone. Upon our arrival into the City Council Chambers, it appeared there was standing room only; but upon further observation, it was obvious that the room was filled with Claflin students, some sitting four to a bench, disallowing anyone else to be seated. I asked a young man if I could sit. He informed me that the seat belonged to his adviser and we remained standing along the wall. When the adviser entered the room, he began seating the Claflin students that walked in with us and the students that were sitting instantly made room for them. At this point, it was obvious that this show of force was staged and orchestrated to keep the citizens out who possibly might not be in favor of the closing. As we were getting closer to 6 p.m., the council members began trickling in along with other dignitaries. Mayor Michael Butler entered the room, all smiles, and came out into the audience shaking hands and welcoming the crowd. There was an older gentleman standing beside us that the mayor shook his hand and wished him a happy birthday. The gentleman responded that he was compelled to come to the meeting to support the university. The mayor mentioned the lack of seating and said that he would ask some of the men to give up their seats for the women. That never happened, but Claflin's chief of security was a kind gentleman who brought a chair for me to sit in. When the greetings were complete, the mayor took his place along with the other council members. Mayor Butler banged the gavel, welcomed the attendees and said, "There are going to be some rules. If your name is not on the agenda, you will not speak out. If you do, I will have one of the police officers remove you from the council chambers." Then he said, "Let us bow our heads in prayer," and he prayed that God would assist the council in making the right decisions. At that moment, we were appalled and in total disbelief. I worked for city government for several years performing duties directly for the chief administrative officer who worked for the mayor and city council. This man actually was in charge of the entire city operation. He met with the various department heads every week and monitored all activities. He hired them and he fired them if they failed to perform. The city administrator appears to be a "glorified secretary" guarding the door to keep people away. The mayor established office hours and had an "open door policy" and entertained all comers. The mayor wasn't in the office every day but he trusted the CAO to do his job. I attended every city council meeting and they were interesting and stimulating. Everyone knew their roles and the city ran like a well-oiled machine that gave the citizens a level of comfort knowing that competent people were looking out for their best interest. The mayor and city council members never showed their hand before a vote. They respected the integrity of the system and had a desire to be fair and unbiased. That is what our democratic process is all about. Never have I ever seen the mayor silence the citizens and threaten them. Never before or during a meeting was disrespect shown to any citizen who wanted to speak on any subject. In fact, at the end of the agenda was an item called "Oral Petitions" that allowed citizens to come before the city council to voice concerns that they may have. There was no clock on the wall that had a five-minute countdown to make a presentation and when it was at zero, your time was up. There was no order to pray by the mayor right after he threatened the citizens with police removal if they spoke out. A police officer came to the podium to speak to the mayor and referenced the citizens who were outside of the chambers wanting to come in and he smiled and waved a hand, obviously saying "no." What a hypocrite! Our first day on the job, we were told that we were paid to work for the citizens of the city, which included the mayor and city council. Without the citizens, we had NO JOBS. If Mayor Michael Butler has no time to listen to the citizens, why is he holding the elected and paid position of mayor? As citizens who voted for Butler, we are wondering if he is the right man for the job. We don't see leadership and transparency in the manner in which our city is operated. That brings us back to horses. The street closure item was called for the third and final reading before the vote. There were comments and statements from the city attorney, Claflin's chief of security, who showed a clip of a vehicle entering Goff from Magnolia Avenue that swerved around a bus that was ahead. The chief of security stated that this was an example of what they were dealing with. A councilman asked if there was any citizen input and the chief said "no." Claflins chief shows City Council Goff Ave. shooting footage Claflin University Public Safety Chief Melvin Williams showed Orangeburg City Council security footage of a Feb. 18th shooting on Goff Ave. as Claflin President Dwaun Warmack was next. He asked the crowd of Claflin students and faculty to stand and the entire room stood up in full force during his entire presentation. Warmack made an impassioned presentation regarding "keeping the babies safe." The most powerful statement that he made that resonated with us was he said to the mayor and city council, "If you can provide a way to keep the 375 students safe that is convincing to the parents of the students, I will take it under consideration." The room was silent and the mayor called for a vote. The vote passed 4 to 2. Warmack referenced "the babies" and we wondered if he was talking about the babies who showed up in force to fill the council chambers disallowing others to enter. These babies are 18-21, old enough to vote, join the armed forces and be trained to kill, drive vehicles, go to jail, get married, move out of their parents' homes, and various and sundry things according to the law. We want to keep them safe too, but we should never underestimate them because they are intelligent, thinking human beings making decisions independently and in tandem. We are so proud of the two dissenting voters, Councilman Jerry Hannah, who is our representative from District 3, and Councilwoman Sandra Knotts representing District 6. Not because they voted no to the closure but rather their concern that the city administration did not do their due diligence to turn over every rock, call meetings, speak to the citizens, listen to their concerns, turn it upside down and if closure is the only answer then do it with a clear conscience. We are inclined to agree with Councilman Hannah and Councilwoman Knox. We had the pleasure of walking the entire perimeter of the area in question the morning of the 16th before the council meeting to create a clear picture in our minds. We parked at the corner of Clark Street and Magnolia, walked down to Goff Avenue to Clark Street and walked down Clark Street heading back to our car and came to a house where two gentlemen were sitting on the porch. We greeted each other and began to have a conversation with Robert, who lives in the home, and his brother Curtis, who lives around the corner on Goff Avenue. Both are elderly and have lived in the area for decades. Curtis happens to be a retiree from Claflin. They had no idea that the city council was going to take a final vote on the closure that evening. Curtis spoke of being invited and having met once with Claflin representatives in which residents attended and voiced concerns about the street closure. They spoke of the late-night activities of students around their homes and interfering with their peaceful enjoyment, which is their right. They reported the noise levels of the students and how they threw trash in their yards and caused disturbances that made them very uneasy. Claflin opening student center with movie theater Claflin's $40 million, three-story student center is opening. A ribbon cutting is set for 12:30 p.m. Friday, March 22, at Magnolia Street and Claflin's representatives had no solutions for the citizens but asked them emphatically not to call the police on the students. The gentlemen talked about the vacant houses across the street from them that are owned by Claflin that are checked on at least once per day by Claflin security officers. They spoke of how Claflin aggressively approached the homeowners to purchase their homes, knocking on doors and asking if they wanted to sell. Robert and a few others declined to sell and sadly are the only ones left on the block. We guess, in hindsight, that the university administration believes that these human beings would be considered to be "collateral damage" and the price of doing business. Our hearts go out to them and we pray that they will find some peace and a soft place to fall when their "forever home" no matter how modest is taken away. We worry that the mayor and city council have set a dangerous precedent by closing a portion of a city street. The decision will come back to haunt them and future councils when a request is made to close portions or full city streets for one reason or another. These requests will come on a case-by-case basis with this case being the first example. The mayor and city council must be fair and treat everyone the same regardless of personal likes, dislikes, friendships, memberships, affiliations and outside interests that are tugging at your heart strings. The mayor and city council Members must never forget their total unwavering obligation and responsibility is to vote on behalf of the citizens of the City of Orangeburg. First Citizens has announced its continued sponsorship of the National Secondary Schools Entrepreneurship Competition (NSSEC). It is an initiative aimed at fostering innovation, leadership, and business acumen among young students outside the traditional school system, the bank said in a media release yesterday. Hasely Crawford and Keshorn Walcott are among the household names in Trinidad and Tobago who made an impact through success at elite-level sport. To date, Crawford and Walcott are the countrys only individual Olympic gold medallists. They serve as examples for young T&T athletes with big ambitions. Some will become world-beaters; others will not. And thats the reality of sport. Many participate, but a relative few reach the elite level. Even fewer get to the top of the podium in global competition. If a paramedic talks about giving you the trauma handshake, get up and run away If a man empties his purse into his head, said Ben Franklin, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. And this was a guy who knew what he was talking about. After all, he also said, In all your Amours, you should prefer old Women to young ones. Because as they have more Knowledge of the World and their Minds are better stored with Observations, their Conversation is more improving and more lastingly agreeable. So, if you want to invest in yourself, or date Ben Franklin, you need some more knowledge. Read on then, to learn how the Endangered Species Act made cars run worse, and to learn how Dumbledore was a troll right to the very end. 15 Social Anxiety When a hiker went missing in 2021 in Colorado, authorities started their search by repeatedly trying to call his phone. He saw their calls but neglected to answer them. He ignored them because he didnt recognize their number. 14 Mascot Horror What happens when an earthquake hits a zoo? It might break through enclosures, releasing wild animals. At Tobe Zoological Park in Japan, they prepare for this by running drills featuring an escaped lion. The lion is played by a man in a cartoonish lion costume. 13 Cloud of Fear During the Gulf War, a British commando sent the following message back to headquarters: Sir, the blokes have just nuked Kuwait! The blokes hadnt, but the U.S. had deliberately dropped some bombs so visibly huge that theyd scare people into thinking something like that had happened. 12 Jumpstart Paramedics checking patients reflexes employ something called the trauma handshake. This involves sticking two fingers up the patients butt, without warning. There is probably no need for this, say many doctors. Advertisement Advertisement 11 Chicken of the Sea If sea urchins make for great sushi, where are the land urchins? A land urchin (or rather just an urchin) was what people used to call hedgehogs. The sea urchin is named after them, since both are spiky. Its better than the other name sea urchins had: whores eggs. Frederic Ducarme That name just sounds painful for everyone. 10 The Power of Mushrooms An experiment in the 1960s gave prisoners psilocybin, based on the theory that it would permanently change their personalities and keep them from reoffending. Early results claimed the drug worked, though that may have been because the experimenters were all high. Advertisement Advertisement 9 Second Amendment Rights In 1991, the oldest person in the world was found to be living in a mental institution. Shed been there for 75 years. Staff there doubted that shed justly been confined there. One of the reasons for her 1909 committal was that shed been showing her arms inappropriately. 8 Grace, Space and Pace Britain used to have an automaker called SS Cars, whose logo was the initials SS in front of a birds wings. This iconography became distasteful thanks to Germany and World War II, so they switched to a new name: Jaguar. Advertisement Advertisement 7 My Debt Will Go On A couple weeks after the Titanic sank, the father of the bands violinist received a message. It was a bill from the White Star Line, charging him for his dead sons uniform. 6 Whats Up, Clark? Rabbits are no fans of carrots. This stereotype comes entirely from Bugs Bunny. Bugs Bunny, in turn, only eats carrots because the first Bugs cartoon did it as an homage to Clark Gable eating one in It Happened One Night. Columbia Pictures In 1934, eating a carrot was the definition of cool. Advertisement Advertisement 5 Frankenfood When you were young, Brussels sprouts had a reputation for being gross, but they dont anymore. Your tastes didnt change the sprouts did. Scientists bred a new version of the plant thats less bitter. 4 How to Guard a Life In 2012, Florida fired a lifeguard for saving a drowning victim who was outside the lifeguards allotted zone. Someone in his own zone might have needed help in the meantime, his employers argued. No one in his zone did, in fact, need help in the meantime. Advertisement Advertisement 3 The Well-Organized Mind Actor Richard Harris lived in Londons Savoy Hotel at the end of his life. When they carried him out of the hotel, to take him to the hospital where hed die, he made it a point to troll terrified diners in the hotel restaurant, by yelling at them, It was the food! 2 Secret Ingredient We used to get oil from whales, as you probably know. This practice lasted a lot longer than people realize. Car transmissions were lubricated with oil from sperm whales right into the 1970s. Then, when we switched to non-whale alternatives, transmissions started breaking down more often. Advertisement Advertisement The dangers facing migrants waiting south of the U.S.-Mexico border, trying to request asylum the right way, come to life in a new play that opens Saturday in Tucson. The U.S. administration does not know, or does not want to know, the real conditions of those who are aspiring to have their case considered, said Mexican playwright Hugo Salcedo, in WhatsApp messages written in Spanish. Salcedo wrote the play, 2 Nogales, after Teatro Dignidad and Coalicion de Derechos Humanos commissioned him to write a documentary-style piece depicting migrants in Nogales, Sonora, waiting for their chance to request asylum. Salcedo said he decided to embed himself at a Nogales, Sonora migrant-aid shelter, over the course of two week-long visits. The material he gathered, and the people he met, at Casa de la Misericordia shelter were indispensable to his play, Salcedo said. It was a very enriching experience without which I would not have been able to write 2 Nogales, he said. Teatro Dignidad co-founder and actor Alba Jaramillo said it was an honor to have Salcedo take on this project, funded by the University of Arizonas Confluence Center for Creative Inquiry. He is one of Mexicos most important playwrights, who has typically focused on writing about immigration, said Jaramillo, who is also co-director of the Immigration Law & Justice Network and provides legal services at Casa de la Misericordia. The play reframes the entire asylum narrative and gives a window of what is happening in our own borderland, at our own ports of entry, Jaramillo said. The plays opening coincides with the one-year anniversary of the Biden Administrations so-called "asylum ban," officially called the "Circumvention of Lawful Pathways" rule, which imposes punishments, such as bans on re-entry, for most asylum seekers who fail to use the CBP One application to secure an appointment to request asylum. The play seeks to highlight the on-the-ground consequences of the policy, which advocates say is discriminatory and forces asylum seekers to wait for an appointment for months, in dangerous conditions south of the border. Those who dont speak one of the apps three languages are excluded, and there are too few appointments to meet the massive demand, advocates say. Waiting migrants are easy targets for criminal groups, as well as for corrupt Mexican officials, and are increasingly victims of kidnapping, extortion, torture and rape, according to recent reports from multiple human rights organizations. Asylum seekers sometimes decide its not worth the wait and resort to crossing between ports of entry to reach U.S. soil, where they can legally request asylum. But to get there, migrants often must use smuggling routes controlled by organized crime, aid workers on the border say. The CBP One app that right now is pretty much the only way asylum seekers can get through, and it is impossible to get an appointment, Jaramillo said. What you will see in the play is that it shows all the dangers of the journey (to the border), but also the dangers at the border wall. The latest report on conditions for asylum seekers in northern Mexico, released Tuesday by Human Rights First, was based on interviews with more than 500 asylum seekers along the southern border, the majority of whom didnt know about the CBP One application. The report urges the Biden Administration to maximize access to asylum at U.S. ports of entry, whether or not migrants use the CBP One application. Salcedo won acclaim for his 1988 play, El Viaje de los Cantores known as The Crossing in English based on the true story of a group of migrants who suffocated in a train car while trying to reach Texas in 1987. In the decades since, migrants face even greater dangers, Salcedo says, with the rise in powerful organized crime groups profiting from cross-border trafficking and extorting migrants. Migrants used to be primarily young men seeking work but today, entire families are fleeing for their lives, Salcedo said. Hes concerned by the indifference of citizens in both the U.S. and Mexico to the plight of migrants, as well as the racist mark in the daily actions of ordinary people, on both sides of the border, who despise the migrant community with false suspicions, unfounded fears and growing hatred, he said. The play features a fictional troupe of actors, who are less characters in the play than vehicles for the narrative of the immigrants, said Eva Zorrilla Tessler, director of 2 Nogales. Its a testimonial play, she said. There is a direct contact with the audience because its like storytelling. Theres no fourth wall. Youre speaking directly to the audience, and the audience is part of the conversation. More Americans should be aware of the root causes of migration from Latin American countries and the United States historical role in destabilizing many of those countries, particularly El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Zorrilla Tessler said. Start asking questions about the countries where those people are coming from. How did they come to be in such a disarray that they produce migrants? she said. Zorrilla Tessler said she hopes audiences leave the play with a sense of the humanity of the migrants whom she says are too often dehumanized in the media or used as political pawns by legislators. I hope that they understand that these people are human beings, and that you could be very well in their shoes, she said. Salcedo believes theater can be a powerful tool to inspire action. While theater can lend visibility to critical political issues, he said, the change of course is not done by the theater; it is done by the people. Opening night is Saturday at the Temple of Music and Art in downtown Tucson, and the play will continue through May 26. Tickets can be purchased at brownpapertickets.com. TEMPE Culdesac aims to offer the convenience of city living with the warm feel of the suburbs. Located on the property is a corner market; a restaurant; several shops; a repair shop for bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters; and a night market held every Thursday to help residents connect with their community. Apartment residents can see storefronts from their balconies and easily run down for a new outfit from vintage shop Sew Used or a gift from any of the multiple small shops. Parking is for retail convenience, rather than resident use. Located on 17 acres in Tempe, Culdesac says that as a walkable mixed-use neighborhood, it is the first car-free community of its kind in the United States. Residents are not allowed to park cars in the retail lot, and other parking is not available on site. We focus on mobility, community and open space, and for each of those, we have amenities we can build because we dont have to have a big parking garage or asphalt parking lot, said Ryan Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Culdesac, which opened to residents last year. Studies have shown people are happier feeling like they are a part of their community and that they enjoy having a sense of connection. Social capital is the degree to which people feel connected and supported within their community. Individuals who reported higher levels of social capital have been found to report higher levels of wellbeing, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Planning Association. The way neighborhoods are planned and maintained matters for happiness, health and trust. Johnson began thinking of this concept while he was working at Opendoor, an online company that buys and sells residential real estate. We saw so much demand for walkable neighborhoods. People wouldnt always ask for it by name, the word we heard the most was cute, and when we would ask them what that means, that means they want to live by a coffee shop, they want to live somewhere with thoughtful architecture, where they know their neighbors and they want to be able to walk around, Johnson said. Though its new for the Valley, this concept has been in practice internationally, said Christoper Boone, a professor at Arizona State Universitys School of Sustainability. Culdesac was designed with the principle of whats sometimes called new urbanism, and its really despite the name drawing old lessons from cities that were built before cars became a dominant form of transportation, Boone said. It created cities that were built on whats sometimes called a human scale so you would be able to within half an hour walk and find what you need. Though this can prove effective to improve individuals overall mental and physical health by encouraging community interaction and staying active, it could also help the environment by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from cars. Cars are very expensive, as you know; they are expensive to insure, theyre expensive to run and they are also expensive for our health. Cars are a leading cause of injury and death in the United States, Boone said. They also pollute our air, they use up a huge amount of space in our cities, as well. So if you look at roads in most cities, they take up 30% of the area. What if we could use that 30% not for places to be driving 45 miles an hour, but for other kinds of uses, like for places to sit and eat and watch the world go by? To ensure the car-free community works in Tempe, residents have access to an unlimited public-transit pass. They can catch the light rail right outside of the property and get discounts for Lyfts and Waymos. The community opened in May 2023, with free e-bikes for the first 200 about 180 residents have moved in. Unlocking the model to more sustainable cities Johnson said the project is an ongoing effort to change how housing is perceived and built throughout the U.S. to give people the experience of living with more spatial awareness and sense of community. Arguably, the best thing we could be doing for climate is getting as many people living in walkable neighborhoods as possible, Johnson said. When you build like this, and you put more great amenities nearby, it changes patterns and this is part of unlocking us to build more sustainable cities. Part of our plan is not just to build more for ourselves, its to show other developers in the cities that this is a model. This has become the reference project for how to build walkable neighborhoods successfully in the U.S. in the 2020s, and we want everyone to copy it. Another factor Johnson and the team took into consideration for the project is the Arizona heat. When asked how Culdesac will work around the high summer temperatures, Johnson said, We dont have the heat island effect. This apartment complex is 15 degrees cooler than the apartment complex next door, and thats for three reasons: One is there is not a drop of asphalt on the site, second is the color of the buildings reflects heat, and the third is that the design creates lots of shade and so this is part of mitigating the heat effect. Boone said Culdesacs architecture is inspired from other dry, hot climates around the world. It is built with peoples necessities in mind and finds ways to combat heat, such as providing extra shade and more breeze. Theres alternative ways of living that are not so dependent on cars and single-family homes, but if we really wanted to make a dent in those issues, whether its the environment, physical and mental health or climate change, we need to see these kinds of ideas scale quickly, and they need to increase in magnitude much, much greater than they have today, Boone said. Theres more for Culdesac as only part one of three has been completed in Tempe. Though the completion timeline is not yet available, the final project is expected to host around 1,000 residents. Theres something about pigs. Their baby pink skin and curly tails have won over our hearts. Some live on a farm, befriending a barn spider who spins words about them in her webs. Some put on glamorous outfits, do karate and obsess over green frogs. Some even pop out at the end of a cartoon to tell us, Thats all folks! In a dirt lot on Broadway, there have been sightings of three new little pigs, wearing crowns as the self-proclaimed kings of carnitas. These new pigs come from Michoacan ... and they are delicious. Since 2022, Carnitas Los Reyes has been serving up the juiciest carnitas tacos, authentic to the ones seen in Michoacan, Mexico, which is famous for their mouthwatering take on the shredded pork dish. Karin Reyes was born in Tierra Caliente, Michoacan, making the move to Tucson when she was five years old. When she grew older, Reyes and her partner, Eleno Sanchez, began having conversations about starting a food truck. Soon after, they bought a Little Debbie delivery truck, transforming the vehicle that once carried Oatmeal Creme Pies and Cosmic Brownies into a functioning food truck. Reyes first learned how to cook from her aunt who showed her how to make birria. From there, Reyes added her own flair to the family recipe, making it similar to barbacoa. My birrias a little bit thicker than any place else, just because I don't use water to cook it, Reyes said. I do add a lot of other spices and veggies to make it a little bit thicker. I also use the actual dried chiles and not any powder. At Carnitas Los Reyes, parked at 5050 E. Broadway from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, you can get Reyes birria in the form of a quesabirria taco. Gooey cheese and a handful of birria are wrapped in a fresh corn tortilla for a spicy-yet-cheesy experience. Like other places in Mexico, birria is well loved in Michoacan, but nothing compares to their carnitas. It's probably the most famous dish to come from the Mexican state, with many people referring to it as the birthplace of carnitas. Reyes takes pride in their carnitas, saying they are as close to authentic Michoacan tacos you can get here. We have Sanchezs mother to thank for that. Growing up in Michoacan, Sanchezs mother had always been around pigs, Reyes said. They would raise and sell pigs, and she eventually learned how to make all the delicious food from them, including chorizo and carnitas. Just like his mom, Sanchez also grew up around the animals, mastering his moms carnitas recipe, adding on his own twists. It truly is a science. If you make one wrong move if the temperature is too hot or if the pork skin is added too early the dish can be ruined. Luckily, it seems like Sanchez has mastered the science of cooking carnitas. Every day for 4 hours, Sanchez is cooking up carnitas, making sure customers get a fresh helping when they stop by the truck. To make his authentic Michoacan carnitas, he cant just cook in a regular pan or pot he needs to use a cazo. Unlike a normal pot, a cazo has a smaller, flat bottom and gets wider on top. With the cazo, Sanchez cooks the pork with manteca, a type of lard used in lots of traditional Mexican dishes. After it cooks for a while, he adds in the buche, which is pork belly. Aside from the pork, Sanchez also adds other spices and ingredients that give it a flavorful taste. Some of the ingredients are the usual spices like garlic, but he also adds orange juice, Coca-Cola, sugar and a stick of cinnamon. While they may seem unconventional, its those elements that make them delicious and authentic to the ones you see in Mexico. For the last two hours of the process, Sanchez adds in the pig skin, mixing it all together to create the tender pork so tender in fact, it pulls apart easily. Their carnitas come in a homemade corn tortilla that is made inside the truck. From the first bite, youre hooked. The pork is soft and juicy, with a subtle sweetness from the sugar added. The slight fattiness and chewiness from the buche and pork skin elevate the tacos, making it more flavorful than simple shredded pork in a tortilla that you can get somewhere else. While I couldve just eaten the pork with a spoon, what really put the taco over the top was their fresh tomatillo salsa. Its citrus and lime flavors mixed with the pork made my tastebuds dance. One Yelper stated that as someone whose family grew up in Michoacan, shes picky about this particular dish. But she raved about the carnitas, saying they are the best shes had in the city. Though they are known for their carnitas, Michoacan has other dishes that are near and dear to Reyes heart. One of her favorites is morisqueta: a dish made where white rice is topped with chile, refried beans, cheese and your choice of meat. Another one of her favorites is uchepo. Similar to a green corn tamale, uchepo is a sweet corn dough that is garnished with sour cream and tomatillo salsa. Michoacan is also known for their crumbly cotija cheese. While it may seem like an odd combination, a go-to Michoacan dessert is gazpacho: a fruit cup where mangoes, pineapples and jicama are chopped up and mixed with orange and lime juice, topped with a sprinkle of cotija cheese. The next time youre craving carnitas, look for the truck with the three little pigs on it, where one bite of a taco will remind you why Michoacan is the king of carnitas. We try to make everything very authentic, Reyes said. We make everything fresh. That's why our orders take a little bit longer, because we're making everything handmade. We're taking a trip around our border country through the lens of Tucson restaurants El Tour de Mexico is a series that highlights local eateries who specialize in cuisine from different regions of Mexico. Its billboards and online ads tout the South32 Hermosa project as a different kind of mine for Southern Arizona. Federal regulators are now asking the public to weigh in on how best to evaluate that claim. On Friday, the U.S. Forest Service officially launched its environmental review of the multibillion-dollar zinc, lead and manganese mine in the Patagonia Mountains, about 75 miles southeast of Tucson. The process mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA for short begins with a 30-day public scoping period, during which the agency will collect comments on the projects potential impacts, possible alternatives and other information that could help shape the review, currently slated for completion in mid-2026. Already, though, those living closest to the mine are asking for more time. In a letter last month, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors urged the Forest Service to extend the scoping period to 60 days and hold at least four public meetings in English and Spanish. The mine will impact Santa Cruz County for the next 50 to 80 years, the supervisors wrote. Our stakeholders require sufficient time to fully understand the implications this mine will have on the ecosystem and the impacts mining operations may have on the public health. The town of Patagonias mayor, Andrea Wood, sent her own letter to the Forest Service in April asking for 90 days of public scoping. Thirty days is just a nightmare, said Carol Shafer, mission coordinator for the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance, a local nonprofit. Even the team of experienced people the alliance has recruited to help them navigate the NEPA process will struggle to meet that deadline, she said. Sixty days will allow our experts time to breathe. Ninety days will give the broader public a chance to engage in the process, Shafer said. Critical need Australia-based minerals giant South32 has already begun construction of the underground mine on private land it owns in the historic Harshaw mining district, about 9 miles from Patagonia. In February, the company announced plans to spend $2.16 billion on the Hermosa Project to develop what could be one of the worlds largest untapped zinc deposits. Thats on top of the roughly $400 million South32 has plowed into the property since acquiring it in 2018. Hermosa project president Pat Risner said the site also appears to contain enough battery-grade manganese to meet most of the domestic demand for what is a key ingredient in the electric-vehicle supply chain. Both zinc and manganese are designated as critical minerals by the U.S. Geological Survey, and President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to increase mining and processing of manganese in the U.S. The NEPA review will focus on South32s plans to mine beneath Coronado National Forest and build support facilities on public land surrounding its private tract. The proposed facilities on forest land include a second dry-stack tailings pile and at least two infiltration basins for returning treated groundwater back into the local aquifer. South32 also wants Forest Service approval to build a new 138-kilovolt transmission line to deliver power to the mine and an 8-mile road through Flux Canyon that would link the site to Arizona Route 82 near the turn-off for Patagonia Lake. Once the new road is completed, Risner said, it will serve as the primary access route for Hermosa, dramatically reducing mine-related traffic on the county-maintained Harshaw Road now used to reach the property. South32 is already building a new cutoff route to divert mine traffic around Patagonia to the north. The Forest Service has scheduled two public workshops in Santa Cruz County later this month, ahead of the June 10 deadline for comments on the scope of its review. How to comment The U.S. Forest Service is now accepting public input on the scope of its environmental review for South32s Hermosa mining project in the Patagonia Mountains. The agency will hold two public open-house meetings about the mine from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. May 20 at Patagonia Union High School, 200 Naugle Ave. in Patagonia, and May 21 at Hotel Americana, 639 N. Grand Ave. in Nogales. Supporting documents about the project are available at: www.fs.usda.gov/project/coronado/?project=65668. Comments can be submitted electronically using the online form at: tucne.ws/1pyx. Written comments can be mailed or hand-delivered to: Kerwin S. Dewberry, Forest Supervisor Coronado National Forest ATTN: Hermosa Critical Minerals Project 300 W. Congress St. Tucson, AZ, 85701 Input must be received by the agency by June 10 to be considered. Agency officials expect to release a draft environmental impact statement on Hermosa a year from now and the final version of the document in February 2026. An official record of decision on whether to allow the mine to expand its operation onto Forest Service land is currently slated for release in July 2026. Starting next year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers are also expected to review the project for compliance with the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act, respectively. If the necessary federal permits are granted and the current schedule holds, South32 hopes to begin producing zinc and lead in early 2027. After that, it should take about two years for the mine to ramp up to full production, Risner said. Incoming comments The Center for Biological Diversity is still working on its scoping comments, but the Tucson-based environmental group will no doubt have a lot to say. The center has already teamed up with seven other conservation groups to sue the Forest Service over exploratory drilling work it is allowing in the Patagonia Mountains by South32 and another mining company. When it comes to scoping, well cast a pretty wide net, said Russ McSpadden, southwest conservation advocate for the center. We have clean-air concerns. We have clean-water concerns. We have endangered species concerns. Its a terrible place to site a mine. McSpadden described the Patagonias as one of the most complex, diverse and ecologically sensitive areas in North America. The range is one of several sky islands in Arizona that form the northern boundary of a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot stretching through the mountains of Mexico, he said. The Hermosa site is basically surrounded on all sides by designated critical habitat for several endangered species, including jaguar, yellow-billed cuckoo and Mexican spotted owl, but round-the-clock construction activity, truck traffic, noise and light pollution are likely to drive such rare animals away, McSpadden said. If critical habitat is inhospitable, its sort of pointless. He isnt crazy about the Forest Service serving as the lead agency for the NEPA process, either. In the past, he said, the agency has tended to side with the polluter over the interests of the surrounding communities and the environment. McSpadden questions whether Coronado National Forest officials are up to the challenge of reviewing a project of this magnitude, when he said he cant even get them to respond to public records requests in a timely fashion. Its not clear whether well have a clear line of communication with the permitting agency, he said. And if a community doesnt have that, it can be truly terrifying. Starr Farrell, public affairs officer for Coronado National Forest, promised a review of the Hermosa project that strictly adheres to all applicable laws, regulations, and policies. The Coronado National Forest is committed to engaging in a robust NEPA analysis of project alternatives that are based on best-available science, a thorough accounting of natural and cultural resources, and focused outreach to and input from the public, tribes, local government, public-interest groups, and all stakeholders, Farrell said in an email. We have a history of successful environmental reviews and are consistently pioneering processes to ensure that decisions are made responsibly to meet the needs of present and future generations. Small footprints During a recent media tour of the Hermosa site, project officials focused on all the things they are doing to shrink the physical and environmental footprint of the mine. While a typical open-pit operation might disturb around 20,000 acres of land, Risner said, Hermosa will be confined to no more than about 750 acres. Roughly half of the tailings produced by the mine will be combined with concrete and pumped back underground to fill in mined-out chambers and keep the surface from subsiding. Risner said the rest of the tailings will be stacked dry on top of special liners designed to capture water and channel it to a state-of-the-art treatment plant already built and operating at the site. All told, he said, Hermosa will consume roughly 75% less water than a traditional mining operation. Risner said South32 is equally committed to reducing the mines carbon footprint. The transmission line they hope to build, for example, will enable Hermosa to shut down its diesel generators and power the operation with renewable energy instead. The mine also plans to use electric haul trucks and equipment wherever possible, as South32 works toward a company-wide, net-zero emissions goal by 2050. Brent Musslewhite, Hermosa project director of permitting and approvals, said their aim is to set a new standard for sustainable mining. Because we are building it from the ground up, it is being designed to minimize environmental impact, Musslewhite said. Shaping the scope Shafer, from the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance, dismisses all that with a single word: marketing. As far as she is concerned, 21st-century industrial mining simply isnt compatible with one of the most biologically diverse places in the country and the people who have built their lives around it. This is a nature-based economy, she said. We are sacrificing our future. Even so, Shafer seems resigned to the notion that they wont be able to prevent the Hermosa project altogether not with a promised investment of $2 billion-plus, and not in a nation so hungry for critical minerals. So the alliance and its partners will voice their concerns and suggest their changes before time runs out on the comment period, she said. They will ask for the transmission line to be buried instead of carried across the land on towers to reduce the risk of a devastating wildfire like the ones in California that were sparked by electrical equipment in recent years. They will demand intensive studies of groundwater flow and connectivity in hopes of preventing springs and seeps from drying up as a result of unexpected hydrologic changes caused when naturally fractured rock underground is replaced with mine tailings held together by concrete. They will lean into the process and count on federal regulators to regulate as required. Our goal isnt to stop mining. We have to be realistic about that, Shafer said. Our goal is to hold the state and federal agencies to the letter of the existing law. Randy Krehbiel Tulsa World Staff Writer Follow Randy Krehbiel Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Flood stage: U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin waded into the battle between the Grand River Dam Authority and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over the long-standing dispute over who, if anyone, is responsible for frequent flooding upstream of the Pensacola Dam and Grand Lake. The GRDA maintains its operation of the dam is not a factor in flooding, especially in Miami, and that if anyone is at fault it is the Army Corps of Engineers for not acquiring sufficient flowage easement when the dam was built in the late 1930s. Documentation exists indicating that officials knew at the time that some flooding was likely but decided against buying additional land. In January, for the first time, FERC ruled in Miamis favor and indicated that the GRDA was responsible for buying 13,000 additional acres in Ottawa County. The GRDA has appealed the ruling. In a letter echoing earlier GRDA objections, Mullin told FERC last week that its decision was a significant error that would place an undue burden on the GRDAs ratepayers, many of whom are rural, low-income, and Native American citizens. I understand the flooding in Miami must be fixed and want to ensure this problem is properly addressed, Mullin wrote. I am committed to working with all stakeholders involved to craft a solution. But the Commissions decision to potentially place this burden solely upon the Grand River Dam Authoritys (GRDA) ratepayers is unacceptable. Next step: The proposed Historic Greenwood District-Black Wall Street National Monument is one of about 25 items on the agenda of a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. Supporters of the designation, including U.S. Sen. James Lankford, seek National Park Service recognition for the entire historic Greenwood District. The effort began more than 25 years ago and has been hampered by a variety of obstacles, including the fact most of the neighborhood has been destroyed by the 1921 Race Massacre and later by urban renewal. Lankford and New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker are sponsoring the Greenwood designation and may speak to the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks. Counting heads: At least two members of Oklahomas congressional delegation support legislation to exclude noncitizens from being included in the 2030 Census for purposes of apportionment and redistricting. First District Congressman Kevin Hern and 2nd District Congressman Josh Brecheen spoke in favor of H.R. 7109, titled the Equal Representation Act. The measure, which has advanced from a House committee and is eligible for a vote, would require the 2030 Census to ask respondents if they are citizens and to exclude those who are not from reapportionment and redistricting data. The argument for doing so is that only citizens should be represented in the House of Representatives or the Electoral College. Many Republicans support the idea because they believe that non-citizens, and especially illegal immigrants, live disproportionately in Democrat states and congressional districts. Two of the three states with the largest immigrant populations Texas and Florida are Republican-led, but some think the GOP would have bigger majorities (if perhaps one or two fewer representatives) if non-citizens were excluded. The arguments for including all residents are that they are part of their communities, they pay taxes and the U.S. Constitution says to count them. Some dispute this last assertion, pointing to Article 1, Section 2, which says the Census shall be made in such Manner as (Congress) shall by Law direct. The 14th Amendment, adopted almost 80 years later, says: Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. Middle East: Mullin and Hern piled invective on President Joe Biden after the administration blocked delivery of some weapons to Israel. The U.S. said it did not want the weapons used in an attack on the Gazan city of Rahfah. Joe Bidens move to block crucial shipments to Israel is unthinkable, Hern said in a written statement. Israel is fighting for survival, attacked from multiple terrorist groups funded by Iran. Bidens hollow claims of ironclad support are really nothing more than lip service. This decision endangers not only Israels security, but also the lives of Americans still held hostage by Hamas. This idea of withholding a shipment is absurd, Mullin told Fox Business. Congress has oversight of this. I think there should be an investigation called immediately. Congress authorized this; (Biden) signed it into law. Its not up to your discretion. Democrats, Mullin said, are playing politics with the survival of Israel because theyre in an election year. As are Republicans. Not recommended: Some spending hardliners usually opposed to patchwork continuing resolutions now see them as a way to force cuts embedded in last years budget agreement. Fourth District Congressman Tom Cole, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, advised against such tactics. Thats a mistake, Cole told Politico. He said a similar ploy in 2016 backfired and would likely do so again. Whoever loses in the Senate will still have the filibuster, he said, referring to the results of this years elections. And so the idea that youre gonna get a dramatically better deal is not true. And if we win the presidency and I think we will I dont think President Trump should have to worry about the last Congress. Track meat: Mullin protested proposed Environmental Protection Agency rules for effluent from meat processing plants. By your own admittance, this is going to cause some plants to close, Mullin told EPA Administrator Michael Regan during a hearing. Is that good for the industry? You talked about wanting to have a more resilient meat and poultry supply chain. How is this positive for the cattle market? How is this positive for consumers when you see protein already spiking at higher prices than we have never seen in the history of the United States? How is this positive for the consumer, and how is it a positive move for the EPA to be making? The EPA estimates that the new rules could put 16-53 processors out of business but says the new rules are needed to protect water supplies from nitrogen, phosphorous and other processing biproducts. Meat processors complained that they were hit with the proposed rules on such short notice that they didnt have time to analyze them during the allotted comment period. They also said the processors most negatively impacted are likely to be the smaller ones the Biden administration says it wants to foster. Remember him? Randall Terry, a hardline opponent of abortion rights who entered Oklahomas 2012 Democratic presidential primary in an attempt to embarrass then-President Barack Obama, is the Constitution Partys 2024 presidential nominee. Terry received 18% of the vote in a five-way race in which the incumbent Obama finished first but with only 57%. He finished first in 12 rural counties but got no more than 40% in any of them. Dots n dashes: Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond testified at a Congressional hearing in opposition to a new Environmental Protection Agency rule on risk management. Lankford introduced legislation to eliminate tax incentives for electric vehicles and charging stations, saying they primarily benefit the wealthy. Hern sparred recently with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin over the attempts to implement a global minimum business tax and whether it will achieve the goal of minimizing corporate tax havens. Fifth District Congresswoman Stephanie Bice accused Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene of wanting to sow chaos and division within the Republican Party. The Tulsa World is where your story lives SYDNEY - Australia's government said on Saturday it would ban live sheep exports from the country by sea from May 2028, fulfilling a pledge to end a practice long opposed by animal welfare advocates. "We are giving certainty to sheep producers and the supply chain by legislating the date," Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said in a statement on Saturday. The announcement makes good a commitment from the Labor government to phase out the controversial practice, despite pushback from farm groups that say the move will put people out of work and destroy farming communities. Watt said A$107 million over five years would be offered as a transition package to support people, including sheep farmers, affected by the industry wind-down. "We are putting support on the table now so that people can start planning and acting now," the agriculture minister added. Legislation to enact the ban would be introduced in federal parliament's current term, Watt said. The phase out does not apply to other livestock export industries, such as live cattle exports, nor does it apply to live sheep exports by air. The national body representing farmers, the National Farmers' Federation (NFF), said its members were "left shocked" by the timeline for the phase-out. "Murray Watt has decided to book us on the express train to disaster," NFF CEO Tony Mahar said in a statement. Australias live sheep trade, centred in the country's vast Western Australia state, shipped about 5 million sheep a year in the 1990s and early 2000s, but that number has gradually declined. Last year, Australia exported 684,000 sheep, worth about $50 million, Australian trade data show. Most sheep are shipped to the Middle East, around two weeks sailing away. The main export destinations are Kuwait, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Animal rights groups have for years pushed to end those shipments from Australia, where public outcry in 2018 over the death of 2,400 sheep from heat stress prompted calls for stricter welfare standards. In January, a ship carrying about 14,000 sheep and 2,000 cattle bound for Israel became stranded off the coast of Australia in sweltering heat after it was forced to abandon a trip through the Red Sea, causing renewed outcry from people concerned about animal welfare in the industry. Humans have made our planet warmer, more polluted and ever less hospitable to many species, and these changes are driving the spread of infectious disease. Warmer, wetter climates can expand the range of vector species like mosquitos, while habitat loss can push disease-carrying animals into closer contact with humans. New research reveals how complex the effects are, with our impact on the climate and planet turbocharging some diseases and changing transmission patterns for others. Biodiversity loss appears to play an outsize role in increasing infectious disease, according to work published in the journal Nature this week. It analysed nearly 3,000 datasets from existing studies to see how biodiversity loss, climate change, chemical pollution, habitat loss or change, and species introduction affect infectious disease in humans, animals and plants. It found biodiversity loss was by far the biggest driver, followed by climate change and the introduction of novel species. Parasites target species that are more abundant and offer more potential hosts, explained senior author Jason Rohr, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame. And species with large populations are more likely to "be investing in growth, reproduction and dispersal, at the expense of defences against parasites", he told AFP. But rarer species with more resistance are vulnerable to biodiversity loss, leaving us with "more abundant, parasite-competent hosts". The warmer weather produced by climate change offers new habitats for disease vectors, as well as longer reproductive seasons. "If there are more generations of parasites or vectors, then there can be more disease," Rohr said. Shifting transmission Not all human adaptation of the planet increases infectious disease, however. Habitat loss or change was associated with a drop in infectious disease, largely because of the sanitary improvements that come with urbanisation, like running water and sewage systems. Climate change's effects on disease are also not uniform across the globe. In tropical climates, warmer, wetter weather is driving an explosion in dengue fever. But drier conditions in Africa may shrink the areas where malaria is transmitted in coming decades. Research published in the journal Science this week modelled the interaction between climate change, rainfall and hydrological processes like evaporation and how quickly water sinks into the ground. It predicts a larger decline in areas suitable for disease transmission than forecasts based on rainfall alone, with the decline starting from 2025. It also finds the malaria season in parts of Africa could be four months shorter than previously estimated. The findings are not necessarily all good news, cautioned lead author Mark Smith, an associate professor of water research at the University of Leeds. "The location of areas suitable for malaria will shift," he told AFP, with Ethiopia's highlands among the regions likely to be newly affected. People in those regions may be more vulnerable because they have not been exposed. And populations are forecast to grow rapidly in areas where malaria will remain or become transmissible, so the overall incidence of the disease could increase. Predicting and preparing Smith warned that conditions too harsh for malaria may also be too harsh for us. "The change in water availability for drinking or agriculture could be very serious indeed." The links between climate and infectious disease mean climate modelling can help predict outbreaks. Local temperature and rainfall forecasts are already used to predict dengue upticks, but they offer a short lead-time and can be unreliable. One alternative might be the Indian Ocean basin-wide index (IOBW), which measures the regional average of sea-surface temperature anomalies in the Indian Ocean. Research also published in Science this week looked at dengue data from 46 countries over three decades and found a close correlation between the IOBW's fluctuations and outbreaks in the northern and southern hemispheres. The study was retrospective, so the IOBW's predictive power has not yet been tested. But monitoring it could help officials better prepare for outbreaks of a disease that is a major public health concern. Ultimately, however, addressing increasing infectious disease means addressing climate change, said Rohr. Research suggests "that disease increases in response to climate change will be consistent and widespread, further stressing the need for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions", he said. Read what is in the news in Vietnam today: Society -- Temperatures in many parts of the country might drop on Saturday, while downpours, coupled with thunderstorms, are forecast to sweep through all the three regions late in the afternoon and evening, according to the national weather center. -- Police in Nha Trang City under the south-central province of Khanh Hoa announced on Friday night that they had detained a 28-year-old man as he hit at least five elderly women on their heads with a steel bar on a local street a few days ago. His attack led to the death of a 63-year-old woman. -- The Department of Public Security in Hau Giang Province, southern Vietnam has issued a decision to arrest and charge a married couple in the province for arranging the illegal entry of 18 Vietnamese people into South Korea. -- Border guards in Ha Tinh Province, north-central Vietnam on Thursday cracked down on a drug trafficking ring, apprehending two Lao suspects and seizing some 70 kilograms of narcotics. -- Vietnam reports more than 120,000 cancer deaths a year, heard a technical scientific conference held at the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital on Friday. Some 50 - 80 percent of patients visiting the hospital for treatment are diagnosed with third- or fourth-stage cancer. Business -- The Vietnam Motor Show 2024 will take place in Ho Chi Minh City from October 23 to 27, featuring the participation of multiple major international brands such as Ford, GAC, Honda, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Skoda, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo. Sports -- Nearly 3,000 triathletes from 52 countries and territories are competing in the 2024 triathlon race VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 Vietnam in Da Nang City, the capital of central Vietnam, until Friday. World News -- U.S. President Joe Biden is set to announce new China tariffs as soon as next week targeting strategic sectors, including a major hike in levies on electric vehicles, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the matter. -- Billionaire investor James Simons, the mathematician and Cold War code-breaker who founded one of the world's most prominent and profitable hedge funds, Renaissance Technologies, has died at 86, according to Reuters. -- Seven bus passengers died and several others were injured after their bus careered off a bridge and into the Moika river in the Russian city of St Petersburg on Friday, Reuters reported, citing the local department of the emergencies ministry. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A flash flood in Phi Nhu Commune, Dien Bien Dong District, Dien Bien Province, northern Vietnam resulted in 30 houses being engulfed by mud on Friday. A commune leader confirmed that heavy rain hit Phi Nhu around midnight, causing a flash flood on a local stream at about 1:00 am. The massive flash flood carried soil, rocks, and trees, sweeping through the petrol station area in Suoi Lu Village, the leader recounted. The flash flood occurred at midnight, but residents spotted it in time and warned each other to flee. Some individuals were swept away by the flood, but fortunately, they were not carried far and were rescued. A house collapses following a flash flood in Phi Nhu Commune, Dien Bien Dong District, Dien Bien Province, northern Vietnam on May 10, 2024. Photo: Dien Bien Dong The flash flood resulted in the complete collapse of a house and submerged approximately 30 houses under thick layers of rock and soil, ranging from 30 to 50cm deep, causing significant property damage. On Friday morning, Dien Bien Dong District mobilized around 200 individuals, including district police officers, military personnel, commune youth union members, and local residents, to assist with mud removal and address the aftermath of the flood. Mud and dirt inundate homes, causing property damage following a flash flood n Phi Nhu Commune, Dien Bien Dong District, Dien Bien Province, northern Vietnam on May 10, 2024. Photo: Dien Bien Dong The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting reported that the northern mountainous region experienced scattered showers and thunderstorms throughout Friday, with localized heavy rain concentrated during the night and morning, resulting in rainfall ranging from 10 to 30mm, and in some areas exceeding 70mm. Thunderstorms carried the risk of whirlwinds, lightning, hail, and strong winds. Localized heavy rain had the potential to trigger flash floods in small rivers and streams, cause landslides on slopes, and inundate low-lying areas. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Police in Hau Giang Province, southern Vietnam have arrested and launched legal proceedings against a married couple in the province for arranging the illegal entry of 18 Vietnamese people into South Korea. The Hau Giang Department of Public Security executed the arrest warrant for Hoang Dinh Tung, 32, and Tran Thi Hong Nga, 34 on a charge of organizing others to flee abroad on Friday. Preliminary investigations showed that between July and October 2023, Tung and Nga, having advertised on social media platforms, received applications from 18 individuals seeking employment in South Korea under the E8-2 visa category. This category is reserved for Vietnamese citizens with relatives who are Vietnamese women married to South Korean nationals. The married couple charged an agreed fee ranging from VND70 million (US$2,750) to VND100 million ($3,930) per person. Each prospective worker made deposits of VND20 million ($785) to VND40 million ($1,571) in advance. Upon successful entry, they were to transfer the remaining amount. In November 2023, Tung and Nga discussed establishing Mien Tay Visa Co. Ltd. in Thi Tu Hamlet, Bay Ngan Town, Chau Thanh A District of Hau Giang Province, with Nga appointed as director, to handle documentation and provide guidance for individuals seeking employment in South Korea. The 18 applicants, who collectively paid over VND499 million ($19,600) to Tung and Nga, were not linked to Vietnamese brides married to South Korean nationals and did not qualify for sponsorship for labor-related entry. Consequently, Tung and Nga arranged for these individuals to travel to South Korea under visa-exemption programs, intending to stay and work illegally after entry. Between January and February this year, Tung and Nga facilitated four attempts for the 18 individuals to enter South Korea, all of which were unsuccessful, leading to their deportation due to inappropriate stay status. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Kem Beach on the southern of Phu Quoc Island in southern Vietnam is a must-visit destination thanks to its enchanting white sands and stunning ocean backdrop. At one point, Canadian travel company Flight Network had Kem Beach listed amongst the 50 most beautiful beaches on the planet. Kem Beach boasts an average of 154 sunny days per year and an average temperature of 23 degrees Celsius. From above, the beach curves in a majestic crescent, wedged between the blue sea on one side and green hills on the other. Aside from basking under the shade of nearby coconut trees, visitors to Kem Beach can enjoy volleyball, kayaking, swimming, parasailing, and canoeing. The beach is also surrounded by a diverse array of restaurants, many of which are open from morning until night. I was wowed when I arrived at Kem Beach for the first time. It was splendid, said Charlie, a Canadian traveler. The sun, wind, fine sand, clean water, and rows of coconut trees make [the beach] perfect. Local visitors, like Phuong Trang from Hanoi, shared equal love for the beach, sharing that it brought them a feeling of peace. An aerial view of Kem Beach. Gorgeous sand and magnificent sunlight bring tourists to the beach. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Oracle expands its R&D capabilities in Morocco Software major Oracle has planned to expand its Research and Development (R&D) capabilities in Morocco by growing its local workforce to 1,000 Information Technology (IT) professionals. Saturday May 11, 2024 6:20 PM , ummid.com News Network Austin (Texas): Software major Oracle has planned to expand its Research and Development (R&D) capabilities in Morocco by growing its local workforce to 1,000 Information Technology (IT) professionals. "This investment will accelerate the development of Oracle's cutting-edge technologies that help solve customer challenges worldwide", Oracle said. Ghita Mezzour, Minister incharge of Digital Transition and Administration Reform of the Government of Morocco, Friday signed an agreement with Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, to formalize the partnership and commitment to innovation in Morocco. The ceremony was attended by Mohcine Jazouli, Minister in charge of Investment, Convergence and Evaluation of Public Policies, and Ali Seddiki, General Director of the Moroccan Agency for Investment and Export Development (AMDIE). "Oracle's R&D center in Casablanca has already played a critical role in creating technical breakthroughs, enhancing cybersecurity, and delivering impactful new AI capabilities," said Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle. "By expanding our R&D presence in Morocco, we can further tap its deep talent pool to accelerate development of solutions that help our global customers grow their businesses and win in their industries." "This ambitious project falls within the strategic and comprehensive Royal Vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI who called on encouraging Moroccan youth innovation and creativity," said Ghita Mezzour, Minister in charge of Digital Transition and Administration Reform of the Government of Morocco. "At this cutting-edge center, young Moroccans will be at the forefront of designing and developing innovative solutions, covering the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and cybersecurity. These solutions will be deployed on a global scale, thus strengthening Morocco's positioning as a regional digital hub." Oracle's expansion follows the opening of its Morocco Development Center facility at Casanearshore Park in Casablanca, where researchers use Oracle's cloud, AI, and machine learning technologies to tackle the most pressing challenges facing business, science, and the public sector. An estimated 40 percent of the new positions will be located outside the regions of greater Casablanca and Rabat-Sale-Kenitra to offer opportunities across the country including new Oracle offices in Agadir this year and Northern Morocco in the next two years. Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic. HA NOI Viet Nams automobile market seems to be on the way to recovery, particularly for domestically produced and assembled cars, according to industry insiders. Government policies, such as the reduction in registration fees, are expected to further stimulate this recovery which saw the output of domestically produced cars increase slightly in April 2024 compared to March 2024. The reduction in registration fees, expected to be implemented in July, is anticipated to be more significant this time due to the market's recent downturn and the gradual release of vehicle inventories. A report from the General Statistics Office indicates that in April 2024, the output of domestically produced and assembled cars in Viet Nam reached an estimated 25,700 vehicles, with the majority being passenger cars with less than nine seats. This represents a slight increase of nearly five per cent compared to the output in March 2024, which stood at 24,500 vehicles. However, it is important to note that despite this month-on-month increase, overall output still decreased by 12.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2023. The report suggests that in the first four months of 2024 it looks like the market is recovering in terms of automobile output production, new assemblies and automobile consumption. This shows that the industry is gradually recovering from previous declines, albeit not yet reaching the levels seen in 2023. The positive momentum in these areas suggests a potential turnaround and provides a hopeful outlook for the industry's future performance. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's directive and the forthcoming reduction in registration fees for domestically produced and assembled cars, thought to be coming in July, is being welcomed by industry experts. This measure, expected to be a 50 per cent reduction, could have a more significant impact than previous implementations due to the current state of the market. The timing appears strategic, as the market is showing signs of recovery after hitting a low point. In addition, the gradual release of inventory for vehicles from 2022 and 2023, along with attractive incentive programmes offered by manufacturers and distributors, is contributing to a more positive outlook. The surge in sales witnessed in March 2024, with many models experiencing substantial increases compared to the previous month, has further bolstered confidence within the auto industry. By implementing the registration fee reduction policy early, the Government aims to alleviate pressure on car manufacturers and dealers in the latter half of 2024. Car manufacturers, while cautiously optimistic, are still monitoring market developments closely, especially considering the market's collapse a year ago. However, some manufacturers are already making strategic decisions in terms of new models such as Toyota Vietnam, for example which has launched the upgraded Corolla Cross 2024 model, aiming to regain its position in the market. Honda Vietnam is focusing on key car lines like sedans and SUVs, with models such as the Honda City, CR-V, HR-V and Civic performing well. They are also promoting the clearance of the 2023 Honda CR-V models and planning to introduce electrified vehicles by 2025. Viet Nams electric car maker, VinFast, has been experiencing impressive growth since 2022. In the first quarter of 2024, VinFast delivered a significant number of electric cars, leading to a substantial increase in revenue and market share, surpassing Hyundai to become Viet Nam's largest automobile manufacturer. According to insiders, these developments indicate a positive trajectory for the Vietnamese automobile market, driven by both government policies and strategic initiatives from manufacturers. VNS KUALA LUMPUR There is plenty of room for Viet Nam and Malaysia to promote cooperation in new areas such as digital transformation, semiconductor, artificial intelligence and electric vehicle (EV) production thanks to their supplementary strengths, according to Trade Counsellor to Malaysia Le Phu Cuong. Viet Nam has great advantages in high-quality human resources, while Malaysia is strong in electrical and electronic production and semiconductors, but has a shortage of people due to limited population structure, Cuong told a Vietnam News Agency representative reporter based in Kuala Lumpur at Malaysias National Economic Forum 2024 on Thursday. The official said that if Viet Nam cooperates with Malaysia, it can reduce research costs and gain valuable experience from the host country which now has high-quality electrical and electronics manufacturing infrastructure after three decades of continuous development. Malaysia has the third largest auto industry in Southeast Asia after Indonesia and Thailand. This sector contributes about 4 per cent to Malaysia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021, he noted. Malaysia has offered incentives to attract investment to EV production and assembly, including income tax exemptions of 70-100 per cent in 5-10 years for EV manufacturers and assembling firms, income tax subsidies of 60-100 per cent for a period of 5-10 years and up to a 100 per cent exemption of import duty and excise tax for EV and up to 85 per cent exemption for plug-in hybrid EV. Major EV manufacturers such as Tesla, BYD, MINI, BMW, and GWM are already present in Malaysia, Cuong said, stressing that if Viet Nam takes advantage of the opportunity and cooperates with Malaysia in producing components or assembling charging stations, it can fast track development in the industry. Meanwhile, Raja Badrulnizam from the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) said that the Malaysian economy grew last year despite global tensions and geopolitical instability. He attributed this to the Malaysian Governments prompt reaction to support markets, especially those related to promoting export activities and attracting investment. He said that promoting trade activities will be the main focus of the country in the near future. Malaysia needs to seek new markets and strengthen promotion of its products, he said, adding that Viet Nam is one of the potential markets. VNS HA NOI Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) Central Committee and Head of its Commission for Publicity and Education, Nguyen Trong Nghia, requested greater efforts to create a favourable, transparent and fair business environment for the development of competent entrepreneurs. Nghia was speaking at the conference jointly organised together with the Central Committees Economic Commission and the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to implement the Poliburos Resolution No 41-NQ/TW dated on October 10, 2023 on promoting the roles of Vietnamese entrepreneurs. Nghia said that the Party and the Government always pay special attention to promoting the development of entrepreneurs and the business community. He said: Vietnamese entrepreneurs have developed strongly in both quantity and quality, inheriting patriotic traditions and upholding the national spirit." However, there are limitations, he added, noting that certain businessmen can violate laws, pursue personal interests and can cause damage to the State and the economy. To promote the role of entrepreneurs in this light, Nghia requested the focus be placed on improving policies to create a favourable, safe and fair business environment in which entrepreneurs are encouraged to develop ethically, respect the law and uphold business culture and the national spirit to promote the image of Viet Nam to the world. According to Nguyen uc Hien, Deputy Head of the Central Committees Economic Commission, the Politburos resolutions highlighted seven aspects for solutions to foster the influence of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the new era. They are enhancing awareness of their roles in realising development goals, improving the policies and legal systems to create favourable development for their development, building a contingent of competent entrepreneurs, building ethics and business culture, together with upholding the national spirit. Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy ong said that the Government has issued Resolution No 66/NQ-CP as an action programme to implement the Resolution 41-NQ/TW. To fit in with this new mindset, the Vietnamese Government has set the goal of having at least ten businesspeople listed in the global list of top US dollar billionaires by 2030. It also wants to see at least five people listed within the most powerful entrepreneurs in Asia. The country has set a target of having at least two million enterprises by 2030, more than double the number at present. Such enterprises will contribute 66-70 per cent of the countrys gross domestic product, 32-38 per cent of the total number of jobs and 98-99 per cent of the total export and export value. About 20-25 per cent of enterprises will be women-owned and 20-35 per cent will be headed up by a woman. The number of businesses ranked among those with the highest brand value by prestigious ranking organisations in the world will increase by ten per cent each year. By 2045, the country is aiming to form and develop a contingent of Vietnamese entrepreneurs with capacity and qualifications that meet national development goals. To that end, the Government requested more efforts to raise awareness of the position and role of businessmen in implementing the country's development goals, complete policies and laws and create a favourable and equal investment and business environment for entrepreneurs and enterprises. Attention will be paid to building ethical enterprises and business culture, promoting national spirit and inspiring the desire to develop a prosperous and happy country; and strengthening solidarity, cooperation, and connectivity between businessmen, workers, farmers and intellectuals. In addition, efforts will be made to promote the role of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Viet Nam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and intensify the Party's leadership and State management in building and promoting the role of the entrepreneur contingent. According to the worlds billionaires list compiled by Forbes in April, Viet Nam had six billionaires including Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietjet chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, Hoa Phat Group chairman Tran inh Long, Techcombank chairman Ho Hung Anh, Thaco chairman Tran Ba Duong and Masan chairman Nguyen ang Quang. Statistics of the Central Committees Economic Commission showed that there are about 920,000 enterprises in operation in Viet Nam (as of the end of March) together with nearly 30,000 cooperatives and 5.2 million individual non-agricultural economic establishments. The country aims to have at least one million enterprises by the end of this year and 1.5 million by 2025. As of 2022, Viet Nam had 172 enterprises and 325 products representing the national brand. VNS HAI PHONG Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang on May 11 attended a ground-breaking ceremony for a high-tech biodegradable materials factory, a trillion-VN project by Ecovance Co. Ltd under the Republic of Koreas SK Group, at the inh Vu Industrial Park in the northern port city of Hai Phong. The project has an initial investment of over VN2.3 trillion (US$90.3 million), and the figure is expected to increase to more than VN11.8 trillion by 2030. Construction is expected to be complete in June 2025, and the factory will be officially put into operation in September 2025 after a trial operation in July. The project has a capacity of 70,000 tonnes of PBAT biodegradable plastic products, 59,500 tonnes of PBS biodegradable plastic products, and 6,300 tonnes of THF solvent products (byproduct created during PBAT production) a year. Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Le Anh Quan said that the project, with its goal of producing biodegradable plastics, is of great significance in an era when plastic waste pollution is a burning global problem. Biodegradable materials not only provide a solution that contributes to reducing environmental pollution and protecting the ecosystem, but also opens up a new direction for the plastic industry towards a green and circular economy, stated Quan. Hai Phong commits to continue creating the most favourable conditions for businesses in industrial parks and economic zones in general and SK Group in particular to accelerate the progress of construction, he added. VNS HCM CITY The first National Theatre Festival for Children and Teenagers will open in the northern city of Hai Phong next week. The event, which is organised by the Viet Nam Theatre Association and its partners, will take place from May 13-20. It is part of the celebration of the 134th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minhs birthday on May 19. Private Sen Viet Theatre of HCM City is among 14 theatres and art troupes across the country to enter the festival. Highlighted troupes, which come from Ha Noi, Thanh Hoa and the host city, include the Viet Nam Youth Theatre, Thanh Hoa Traditional Theatre and Hai Phong Drama Troupe. Our festival will create a chance to bring Vietnamese theatre closer to children and teenagers. We hope it will support and encourage young artists to develop their career, said Nguyen ang Chuong, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Theatre Association. The festival encourages the genres of drama, musical, cheo (traditional opera), cai luong (reformed opera) and tuong (classical drama). Actors of Sen Viet Theatre will perform a new show of musical and Southern theatre featuring Vietnamese history. Their play, La Co Theu Sau Chu Vang (The Flag Embroidered with Six Golden Words), combines traditional songs, dances and musical pieces. It tells the story of young hero Tran Quoc Toan of the Tran Dynasty, who was 16 and well known for his active role in the war of resistance of ai Viet (now Viet Nam) against the Mongol invasion in 1282. Themes of monarchist loyalty and patriotism are highlighted. Our actors performance will be accompanied by Vietnamese folk instruments, such as an tranh (Vietnamese zither), an bau (Vietnamese monochord) and an nguyet (two-stringed long neck moon flute), said the shows director Le Nguyen at. at used young talents Thai Vinh, ang Khoa and Hoai Thanh to refresh his production. Our show will provide young fans with useful insights about their history and culture. We hope our art will leave a new impression on audiences in Hai Phong, said Meritorious Artist at, director of Sen Viet Theatre. VNS HCM CITY HCM City has been named the destination travelers spend the most time in on average in Viet Nam. This announcement was made by digital travel platform Agoda, amid slow travel being one of the most talked about travel trends. Famous for its bustling streets, Agoda said, HCM City pulses with vibrant energy thats best enjoyed when embraced fully. Step into the rhythm of the locals and experience the city slowing down by enjoying a traditional Ca Phe Sua a [iced coffee with milk], Vietnamese coffee, in the morning. Taste the culture of Viet Nam by indulging in the epic street food variety and then take a break from the buzz and seek solace among a collection of over a thousand trees in one of the city's oldest parks, Tao an Park. Sai Gon presents a diverse array of experiences to be discovered at a relaxed tempo, it said. Bac Ninh and Phu Quoc Island are the two other destinations rounding out the top three. When travelling internationally, travelers from Viet Nam spend the most time exploring Manila in the Philippines in a quest for a slow travel experience. Agoda also shared the top Asian destinations for slow travel for longer stays. Thailands Khao Lak takes the crown as the tourist destination where travelers spend the most time. Across eight Asian markets, the destinations with the highest average length of stay are Khao Lak in Thailand, Seoul in South Korea, Perhentian Islands in Malaysia, Tokyo in Japan, Siargao Island in the Philippines, Pekanbaru in Indonesia, HCM City, and Ahmedabad in India. Agoda analysed data from the first three months of 2024 to compile the ranking. Searches for slow travel have grown threefold in the past five years, according to Google Trends. Slow travel is an approach to travel that encourages travelers to stay longer at their destination, allowing them to create deeper connections with the local culture and people, resulting in meaningful travel experiences. Lam Vu, country director at Agoda shared, Its easy to understand why slow travel is one of the most fascinating travel trends right now. In todays fast-paced world, many travelers recognise the desire to use their holiday to disconnect from day-to-day life and form a deeper connection with the people and places they visit. Its something we love to see and encourage at Agoda, as we are passionate about bridging the world through travel. For travelers looking to fully submerge in a holiday destination, whether its lazing around in a beach villa or settling in a chic city hotel, the destinations on our slow travel ranking are great places to start. Some of the destinations on the list are also well-known favorites for shorter city breaks, but both the rural and urban destinations on the slow travel ranking are worth spending an extended amount of time in. From swimming amidst the rich reefs in the Perhentian Islands to having a feast in the streets in HCM City, travelers can gain a deeper local experience in these eight destinations. HCM City is always among the top destinations that visitors want to come to when travelling to Viet Nam. In the first four months of this year, over 1.8 million visitors came to HCM City, or 30 per cent of the annual target and a 32 per cent year-on-year increase. Director of the City Tourism Department Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa stated that in the future, the citys tourism industry will continue to implement 3D technology to promote tourism programmes. The city will use an interactive smart 3D/360 map, connecting HCM City with 62 provinces and municipalities using five languages. Up to now, the 3D/360 Map has received 450,000 interactions from visitors coming from 124 countries and territories. In addition, tourism promotion activities will be further intensified, such as implementing distinctive tourism products of Thu uc City and its districts, developing waterway tourism products for 2023-2025; developing cultural and historical tourism products; agricultural and eco-tourism; night tourism; and promoting the development of community tourism products in Thieng Lieng Commune of Can Gio District. In the second quarter, the tourism sector is focusing on effectively coordinating the organisation of tourism activities and events in the city, notably the 2nd Water Festival scheduled for 2024, expected to last for 10 days, from May 31 to June 9. The industry will continue to efficiently implement regional tourism linkages between HCM City and the provinces and municipalities according to the plan, with a particular emphasis on collaborative tourism development between the city and the 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta region. For the whole year, the city expect to welcome 6 million foreign visitors and 38 million domestic visitors. VNS HA NOI Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Cameron expressed their delight over the two countries strategic partnership which has been developed in a more effective and deeper manner, during their phone talks on May 10. The two ministers concurred that the two countries need to continue enhancing exchanges of delegations, particularly those at high level, make effective use of existing cooperative mechanisms such as strategic dialogue, defence policy dialogue, and Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO), building and implementing the Viet Nam-UK action plan during 2024-26, and supporting each other at regional and multilateral organisations and forums. Regarding economic cooperation, Son affirmed that Viet Nam backs the UKs accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTPP), believing that this is a new locomotive for the two countries to boost cooperation across trade and investment as well as regional economic connectivity. They agreed to continue fully and effectively carrying out the UK-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement, contributing to the economic development goals of each nation. Speaking highly of the cooperative outcomes over the past time, Cameron affirmed that the UK attaches much importance to enhancing the strategic partnership with Viet Nam. He went on to say that the UK will continue its support for Viet Nam in sustainable economic development, and suggested both nations strengthen bonds in immigration control and prevention of illegal immigration. Minister Son stressed that VIe tNam, as the coordinator of the ASEAN-UK relations during 2024-27, will work to promote practical collaboration between the two sides. Touching on the East Sea (known internationally as the South China Sea) issue, the two sides affirmed support for maintaining peace, stability, freedom of navigation and overflight, and handling disputes at the waters via peaceful means and based on international laws, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) adopted in 1982. VNS U.S. announces 400 mln USD in additional weapons aid to Ukraine Xinhua) 09:13, May 11, 2024 WASHINGTON, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Friday announced an additional package of weapons and equipment for Ukraine worth 400 million U.S. dollars. Capabilities included in the package were additional air munitions for Patriot and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems; Stinger anti-aircraft missiles; equipment to integrate Western launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine's systems; additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and ammunition, according to a statement by the State Department. Also to be provided to Ukraine were 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds; TOW and Javelin missiles and AT-4 anti-armor systems; Precision aerial munitions; High-speed Anti-radiation missiles; Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles; M113 Armored Personnel Carriers; Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles; coastal and riverine patrol boats; small arms ammunition and grenades; demolitions munitions; and spare parts, the statement said. The United States has committed more than 51.3 billion dollars in military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of President Joe Biden's administration, including more than 50.6 billion dollars since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Feb. 24, 2022, the Defense Department said in a news release. The new assistance from the United States came on the same day northern Ukraine was reportedly attacked by Russia in a new ground operation that began in the dawn. Targeting the border town of Vovchansk near Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv, the attack was the most serious cross-border ground offensive by Russia in nearly two years, according to a CNN report citing a Ukrainian military source. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who thanked the United States for the new package on X, was quoted by CNN as saying the assault was part of "a new wave of counteroffensive actions" by Russia, adding that a "fierce battle" was being fought in the area. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing) Flash UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis (L) strikes his gavel to signal the adoption of a resolution during the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 10, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday adopted a resolution supporting the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending that the Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." The resolution was adopted with 143 votes in favor and nine against, including the United States and Israel, while 25 countries abstained. China voted for the resolution. The resolution states, "The State of Palestine... should therefore be admitted to membership" and "recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably." The resolution "determines" that a State of Palestine is qualified for membership - dropping the original language that in the UN General Assembly's judgment it is "a peace-loving state." It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request "favorably." Saudi Arabia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Abdulaziz Alwasil, said that "the resolution presented today is fully in line with those resolutions. It seeks to implement the will of the international community and contribute to building true peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution." "It is high time for the international community to re-establish the truth because the world can no longer ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people that has lasted for decades," he said after the vote. Alwasil further noted that Israel, the occupying power, has perpetrated "all sorts of crimes" against the Palestinian people, scorning international law. "Israel is convinced that they are above these resolutions and that they enjoy a certain level of immunity...which explains their ongoing hostile and brutal policies," he said. UNGA President Dennis Francis opened the continuation of the 10th Emergency Special Session (ESS), which last convened on Dec. 12, 2023, against the backdrop of a worsening crisis in Gaza. Francis stated that peace has remained elusive, and the situation has become untenable, deteriorating "at an alarming speed." This crisis is "bringing countless innocent victims into its deadly fold and pushing the region further to the brink of full-scale catastrophe," he said. He urged the international community not to look away from the dire situation that has unfolded since the new round of conflict began on Oct. 7, leading to significant Israeli devastation in Gaza. The resolution, proposed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on behalf of 22 Arab countries and co-sponsored by about 65 states, asserts that "the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations in accordance with Article 4 of the Charter and should therefore be admitted." UAE's permanent representative to the United Nations, Mohamed Abushahab, addressed the General Assembly before the vote, emphasizing the broad recognition of the legitimacy of Palestine's bid. He stated, "The vast majority of countries in the General Assembly are fully aware of the legitimacy of the Palestinian bid and the justness of their cause, which faces fierce attempts to suppress it and render it meaningless today." He further noted that granting Palestine full membership would send a "powerful message" in support of the two-state solution, adding, "Fulfilling the UN's historic obligation towards the Palestinian people is long overdue, but it is never too late." Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations, Munir Akram, told the General Assembly that there will come a day when Israel will be held accountable for the crimes committed against Palestinians, especially in Gaza. The insults hurled today are "the arrogance of the aggressor" reflecting the impunity of the occupier, he said, explaining his delegation's position ahead of the vote on the draft resolution. He also expressed hope that the international community will appropriately respond in that regard. Akram underscored that the resolution's adoption will determine the widespread support for Palestine to be accorded full UN membership. Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, addresses the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 10, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Also, before the vote, Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, told the assembly that "no words can capture what such loss and trauma signifies for Palestinians, their families, communities and for our nation as a whole." He said Palestinians in Gaza "have been pushed to the very edge of the strip, to the very brink of life" with Israel besieging Rafah. "We want peace, we want freedom," Mansour said. "A yes vote is a vote for Palestinian existence, it is not against any state ... It is an investment in peace." "Voting yes is the right thing to do," he stated, receiving applause from the assembly. Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, accused the assembly, after the vote, of trampling on the UN Charter, and put the cover of the UN Charter into a mini portable electric document shredder. In the Security Council vote on April 18, the Palestinians received significant support for full UN membership, with 12 votes in favor. Britain and Switzerland abstained, while the United States voted no and vetoed the resolution. The 10th ESS convened for the first time in April 1997 following a request from Qatar. It followed a series of Security Council and General Assembly meetings regarding the Israeli decision to build a large housing project in an area of East Jerusalem. The General Assembly on May 1 announced that it would resume the 10th ESS, after Palestine's UN membership bid was blocked by the United States at the Security Council in April. Francis had informed member states that he would convene a plenary meeting of the ESS on May 10. According to the UN Charter, prospective members must be "peace-loving," and their admission requires a recommendation from the Security Council to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine has held the status of a UN non-member observer state since 2012. Danny Chavez, whose resume includes stops in McKinney, San Antonio and Charlotte, North Carolina, will become Wacos first chief economic development officer, having been personally recruited by City Manager Bradley Ford for the position that will pay $210,000 annually. Chavez, a Walton Beach, Florida, native, joins seemingly an impressive economic development team between the city and Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. Recent announcements include a new $1 billion paper mill courtesy of Graphic Packaging International, Walmarts $350 million milk processing plant and Amazons $250 million sorting center. But Ford, who worked with Chavez in Burleson, said he brings more to the table than reinforcements. He has created a niche for himself statewide. I expect Danny will be additive to our regions efforts, and he will also be leading economic development efforts related to Downtown Waco and mixed-use/quality of life oriented projects, Ford said by email. He will also lead strategy for our Tax Increment Financing districts. Appointed TIF boards allocate a portion of property tax money generated within a particular geographic area to benefit projects planned therein. Everything from Terry Blacks BBQ, the new AC Hotel by Marriott and the Magnolia conversion of the former Tribune-Herald space at Ninth Street and Franklin Avenue to its headquarters have benefited from TIF capitalization. He has established relationships with site selectors all around the country, and I expect that will be a value add to our regional economic development efforts, Ford wrote. He will be recruiting from outside the market, as well as supporting existing businesses. The city of Waco has involved itself in economic development for years, its staff frequently collaborating with the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerces Kris Collins, a senior vice president and chief industry recruiter. His relationship with Kris Collins will be as a peer, and I expect they will be very helpful to each other, Ford said. Kris is engaged on industrial recruitment and other types of economic development. She and the Chamber team do an outstanding job, and I am proud of how our team supports these efforts. I know Danny, Collins in an email response to questions about his arrival. Weve had the opportunity to travel together through the Texas Economic Development Corporation when he was in McKinney. Hes well-respected in the economic development profession, and we look forward to continuing the great relationship we have with the City of Wacos economic development team to expand the areas economy and offerings. Our work will continue to be collaborative and complimentary as we focus on new opportunities for growth and job creation. Waco and McLennan County often join forces in pursuing commercial and industrial prospects, each entity contributing annually to the Waco-McLennan County Economic Development Corp. fund. Local industry recruiters can pledge money from this fund, as well as business loans and tax breaks to industrial prospects as deal sweeteners. All expenditures from the Waco-McLennan County Economic Development Corp. must carry approval from Waco City Council and McLennan County commissioners. County Judge Scott Felton said he looks forward to meeting Chavez. The city always has good (economic development) people, and Im sure he will be there with the rest of them, Felton said by phone. Felton confirmed the county and city of Waco often pool resources to attract businesses, but not exclusively. The city of Robinson landed Walmarts $350 million commitment, and two weeks later confirmed Metal Finishing Solutions intent to spend $20 million on a facility nearby. When were competing with other entities (cities), thats when we consider incentives, Felton said. Even though contracts are separate, the efforts are the same, and led by Ms. Collins. The city has a little bit different responsibility, having to put in most infrastructure, utilities and right-of-way. Felton said he sees nothing to indicate Collins will see a reduced role in industry recruitment with Chavezs arrival. Chavez, reached while driving to Waco, said though he was born in Florida, his Texas roots go deep. He grew up near New Braunfels, lived in Dallas, worked for the San Antonio Economic Development Partnership and received his bachelors degree in political science from Angelo State University. Though most recently employed in Charlotte, North Carolina, Chavez said he could not escape the bullish sentiment emanating from Waco, with its growing population, economic development achievements and its prime location between Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio. Ive always been on the data side of economic development. It is becoming a data science practice, Chavez said. He said he strategically gathers and disseminates information to put a region top-of-mind with consultants and economic development decision makers. He was employed at the McKinney Texas Economic Development Corp., where his focus became high-tech manufacturing, development backed with venture capital and private equity, and master-planned development. Ford said hiring Chavez culminates a search he began several months ago, when Economic Development Director Kent George retired. Jeremy Pesina filled the position on an interim basis. I have very much enjoyed working directly with him and he has a bright future with the City of Waco, Ford said of Pesina. A city-issued press release says Chavez has a track record of over $2 billion in capital investment and the creation of more than 7,900 jobs. 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"In accordance with the point 'a' of Article 83 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, appoint Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin as the Chairman of the government of the Russian Federation," said the decree. The decree enters into effect since the day of signing. Earlier on Friday, Russia's State Duma had approved Putin's nomination of Mikhail Mishustin as the Prime Minister. Mishustin was first appointed as Prime Minister in 2020, after serving as the head of the Russian Federal Tax Service from 2010 to 2020. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday wrapped up his first trip to Europe in nearly five years by affirming to European leaders that China remains a committed partner and is ready to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides. Over the course of six days, Xi's travels took him through France, Serbia, and Hungary, where he consistently underscored the significance of the China-Europe relationship for fostering global peace and prosperity. The message, delivered amidst rising protectionism and mounting geopolitical tensions, symbolized China's latest endeavor to promote stability and cooperation on the global stage. Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a China-France-EU trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] In a trilateral meeting on Monday in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Xi said that the China-European Union (EU) cooperation is in essence complementary and mutually beneficial and China always views its relations with the EU from a strategic and long-term perspective. This relationship does not target any third party, nor should it be dependent on or dictated by any third party, Xi said. Macron, a prominent proponent of Europe's strategic autonomy, stressed that France and the EU need to strengthen cooperation with China, as this bears on the future of Europe. France hopes to enhance dialogue and cooperation with China, and strengthen mutual trust and friendship between France and China and also between the EU and China, he said. France has for long advocated strategic autonomy for Europe, said Eric Alauzet, president of the France-China Friendship Group of the French National Assembly. "That means not to fall back after the East-West confrontation ... so this multipolarity, this multipolar, multilateral world is what China and France want in common," said Alauzet. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, hold talks at Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, May 6, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Later in the day when holding talks with Macron, Xi urged both sides to uphold independence and jointly prevent a new Cold War or bloc confrontation. On many occasions during his stay in France, Xi referred to the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and France 60 years ago, a milestone event in China-Western relations. This significant historic event, dubbed a "diplomatic nuclear explosion" by Western media then, stirred public discourse in the West and had a tremendous impact on the international landscape. It happened eight years prior to former U.S. President Richard Nixon's groundbreaking 1972 trip to China. At that time, then French leader General Charles de Gaulle reportedly noted that France needed to listen to the voice of China directly and vice versa, and that those governments still holding a wait-and-see attitude would sooner or later follow the step of France. In a signed article published Sunday in French media Le Figaro, Xi said that "history is our best teacher" as the world now "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," Xi wrote. "There are so many crises that great countries like China and France must work together, and the work must be done in a spirit of multilateralism," said former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius. Given the gravity of major global challenges such as ending conflicts, enhancing economic development, addressing climate change and significant health crises, an effective resolution necessitates cooperation among all nations, he said. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban jointly meet the press after their talks in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] In his visits to Serbia and Hungary, respectively, Xi and leaders of the two Central and Eastern European (CEE) nations announced decisions to elevate bilateral ties. This enhancement coincided with China's robust, intensifying investment flows in the region. From January to March 2024 alone, China's investment in CEE surged by 36.35 percent compared to the previous year, reaching about 450 million U.S. dollars. As of March 2024, the cumulative total of Chinese investment in the CEE region soared to 5.2 billion dollars. Take Hungary as an example. In 2023, Hungary was able to attract a total of 13 billion euros (about 13.86 billion dollars) in foreign direct investment, of which about 8 billion euros (about 8.53 billion dollars) were from China, said Hungarian Minister for National Economy Marton Nagy in an interview with Xinhua. The Hungarian side is looking forward to further cooperating with China in the fields of foreign trade, capital investment, infrastructure, logistics, artificial intelligence, and new energy, among others, he said. Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Belgrade for a state visit to Serbia at the invitation of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, May 7, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] That is also the case for Serbia. "During the past two years, China has emerged as the largest foreign direct investor in Serbia, bringing numerous benefits to the country," said Jelena Grubor Stefanovic, director of representative office of Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China. "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," she said. Chen Fengying, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that China's enhanced cooperation with Serbia and Hungary has spurred local economic growth and uplifted living standards. This success is a compelling example of the tangible benefits obtained from forging partnerships with China and progressing collectively, said Chen. Such an achievement has also exerted a noteworthy inspirational and motivational influence on other CEE countries, she added. Xi's visit to Europe came as Washington is maneuvering to rally its allies in the West to "de-risk" and "decouple" from China, and slow down the country's high-tech progress, protectionist tactics rejected by European leaders. Speaking during the China-France-EU trilateral meeting, Macron reaffirmed that the EU refuses the logic of decoupling. The EU welcomes investment and cooperation by Chinese companies in Europe, said Macron during the China-France-EU trilateral meeting, noting that the EU hopes to step up cooperation with China and jointly safeguard the security and stability of value chains and supply chains in Europe. "I believe that the economic cooperation between Europe and China is something very important. China is strong, and that is why Europe has to develop itself and be strong also," Marc-Antoine Jamet, secretary general of the LVMH group, told Xinhua on Monday before the closing ceremony of the Sixth Meeting of the China-France Business Council. Amidst the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections, ABP News has unveiled an innovative show titled "Vote Bhavishya Ka With Chetan Bhagat" which promises viewers an unprecedented insight into the rapidly evolving political mindset of the country's youth. The show is set to debut today, May 11th, airing every Saturday at 6 PM on ABP News channel. This pioneering show is designed to empower India's youth by providing them with a significant platform to express their political views and shed light on their evolving preferences and priorities. With an astounding 22 crore voters below the age of 29, engaging the youth has become more crucial than ever in deciphering the nation's political landscape. "Vote Bhavishya Ka With Chetan Bhagat" will bring together politicians, policy experts like Vijai Trivedi (Senior Journalist) and Prof. (Dr.) Chandrachur Singh (Associate Professor of Politics at Hindu College), and student audiences from college campuses in Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, and Patna in separate events. The idea is to facilitate an open dialogue that authentically captures the evolving aspirations and concerns of India's youth. Renowned author and columnist, Chetan Bhagat, will serve as the host and moderator of the dynamic debates. The show's innovative format ensures high engagement and interactivity, with students from premier colleges actively participating in the discussions. Key topics to be explored during the discussions will include employment and education, women's empowerment, caste and religion, and corruption and administration. From entrepreneurial ambitions to gender equality and polarizing politics, the show aims to comprehensively grasp the multifaceted factors influencing the youth vote. ABP News Vote Bhavishya Ka With Chetan Bhagat presents an incredible opportunity to directly engage with and hear from the future leaders of our nation. Through its innovative format, ABP News seeks to establish a robust platform that could potentially reshape how political parties engage with and address the aspirations and concerns of the nation's youth in these pivotal elections. Flash The Israeli army on Saturday ordered further evacuation of Palestinian residents in eastern Rafah, citing upcoming military operations targeting Hamas militants in those areas. "The residents of the camps of Shaboura and the Al-Adari, Al-Jeneina, and Khirbet Al-Adas neighborhoods in Blocks 6-9, 17, 25-27, and 31 must leave their houses immediately," Avichai Adraee, spokesperson of the Israeli army, said in a press statement. Adraea claimed that Hamas militants used the mentioned areas for military activities against the Israeli people, which forced the army to expand its military operations there to eliminate the fighters of Hamas. Adraee told the residents to head to al-Mawasi, a zone between the west of Rafah and Khan Younis. Palestinian security sources said the evacuation means that the Israeli army "is gradually implementing its plan of evacuating the residents to prepare for a large-scale military operation and invasion in the city." Rafah, with more than 1 million displaced Palestinians seeking refuge from intensive Israeli strikes on Gaza elsewhere, has been facing a dire humanitarian crisis due to the lack of basic necessities, including water, food, electricity, and medical treatment. Riding high on success of the recently launched JioCinema Premium, the platform is poised to delight its subscribers yet again as it bolsters its content offerings with an all-new Anime slate, starting 12th May. JioCinema will be home to top Anime shows having cult fandom and the launch will be headlined by the global simulcast of Season 4 of Demon Slayer, the most-awaited Anime title. JioCinema Premium members will have unlimited access to the Anime Hub, with plans starting at Rs. 29 per month. Adding to the anime slate will be action-packed comedy Spy X Family and classroom chaos in Assassination Classroom. Fans can also enjoy supernatural action-comedy Mob Psycho 100 and time-traveling drama Tokyou Revengers, along with the fantasy adventure Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun and the psychological thriller Welcome to the Elite. Additionally, fantasy based That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and spine tickling mystery The Junji Ito Maniac will keep viewers on the edge of their seats. With an aim of growing the Otaku (anime fan) community in India, the offering will be home to a curated selection of hits and hidden gems, all available in an ultimate ad-free experience with offline viewing options. Animayhem will continue to thrill its fans with new content everyday across the month with hits like Bofuri: I Hate Getting Hurt, So I Put All My Skill Points Into Defense, dark comedy My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, magic driven The Familiar of Zero, goblin-hunting action Goblin Slayer, and supernatural mystery with In/Spectre, ensuring there's something for everyone. Speaking on the introduction of a dedicated hub for Anime, a JioCinema Spokesperson said, JioCinema Premiums consumer-first approach has opened access to high-quality and diverse content for audiences across India. Our latest offering, Anime Hub offers a world of content that will keep anime fans entertained. From simulcast real-time global releases to hundreds of hours of top Anime titles, we are confident that JioCinemas Anime Hub will grow to become a destination of choice for anime fans in India. In addition to the dedicated hub for anime entertainment, JioCinema Premium unlocks access to a plethora of top international content in local languages, wholesome Kids & Family entertainment, genre-defining originals, blockbuster movies, and exclusive before-TV premieres and live channels, in up to 4K quality, all at just Rs. 29/month for a single device or Rs. 89/month for up to 4 simultaneous screens. The leading learning company in the world, Pearson, has hosted an exclusive partner meet in Chandigarh and revealed its growth plans for the Pearson Test of English (PTE) in the state. Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal and more than 200 partners attended the event which brought together key partners, stakeholders, and industry leaders for discussing strategic partnerships. The focus was on the expansion of the partner ecosystem via extraordinary customer service, all-inclusive training programs, and increasing awareness about market opportunities and trends. This assembly intended at a significant stride towards the empowerment of partners for achieving greater success and growth. At the event, Pearson announced the launch of Premium Partner Support (PPS), the new customer support service for select partners in India for PTE to demonstrate its commitment to staying at the forefront and delivering value to its partners and customers. PPS will provide the best-in-class customer experience for PTEs high-volume partners and agents, providing them with a premium level of service tailored to their unique needs, focusing on first-time resolution and delivering quality and efficiency. Pearson Test of English (PTE) is gaining and growing fast as the preferred test of English proficiency in the state. Earlier this year, Pearson announced the bookings open for PTE Core, its newest English language proficiency test for Canada Economic Migration. Alongside this, PTE Academic was accepted from August 2023 by IRCC as an approved English proficiency test for all Canada Student Direct Stream (SDS) visa applications it is already recognized by more than 97 percent of universities and 95 percent of colleges in Canada. The UK, Australian, and New Zealand governments also accept PTE tests for all visa applications. PTE Academic is also accepted by 100 percent of Australian, New Zealand, and Irish Universities and 99 percent of UK universities. At Pearson, while we continue to innovate and build new synergies to strengthen the value proposition of PTE for test takers, we also understand that our partners in Punjab have a pivotal role in strengthening the preference and popularity of the test. We are committed to fostering and strengthening our collaboration with our partners to meet the increasing demand of their customers, for PTE across the state. said, Prabhul Ravindran, Director of English Language Learning at Pearson India. Pearson is dedicated to supporting students and working professionals on their journey to live or study abroad by collaborating with relevant stakeholders. Recently, the company joined forces with University Living (UL), an online global student accommodation marketplace, to facilitate foreign accommodation, financial services, and logistics support for study-abroad aspirants in India. Additionally, Pearson VUE division, opened a state-of-the-art, 90-seater company-owned test centre in Chandigarh. These initiatives have empowered partners to access the necessary capacities for their students, ensuring a seamless experience for both partners and test-takers alike. In a proud moment for India, music label Saregama's talented trio Pragati, Maahi, and Arjun are set to debut and perform at the Cannes Film Festival 2024. Their performances will be a marque highlight at Cannes this year, showcasing India's rich musical heritage on an international stage. The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, renowned for presenting the best in world cinema, is set to take place from May 14th to 25th in the legendary French Riviera. Amidst a handpicked line up of critically acclaimed films and glamorously dressed renowned personalities, this year's festival promises to be an extravaganza of talent and creativity. The vibrant Gen Z trios performances will begin at the prestigious Bharat Parv event on May 16th, hosted by the Official Indian Delegation from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and supported by Kamla Mills. Celebrities, senior officials, and esteemed film guests from the international & Indian Film industry, will be in attendance. Pragati, Maahi, and Arjun will enthral the audience with a set list that blends their originals, released earlier this year, with classic all-time favorites from Saregamas rich catalogue. Thats not all! On May 17th, Saregama Talent will also take center stage with another captivating performance at the Bharat Pavilion, solidifying their global presence. Adding to the star power, the legendary Shaan will grace the stage to introduce the trio and set the scene for a dynamic show that promises to be unforgettable. The event will be filmed and broadcasted on Saregama's YouTube page, reaching fans worldwide. Emphasizing on the importance and grandeur of Bharat Parv, Prithul Kumar, JS (Film) & MD NFDC said, Bharat Parv is a great platform to showcase the myraid creative opportunities and a rich bank of creative talent of India. We are immensely proud to showcase India on the global stage through the performances of Pragati, Maahi, and Arjun at the Cannes Film Festival 2024. This moment embodies our nation's cultural pride and artistic prowess, resonating with audiences worldwide. Siddharth Anand, Senior VP Films and Events shares, Seeing Pragati, Maahi, and Arjun represent India's vibrant talent at Cannes 2024 fills us with immense pride. As an artist-first company, it's our unwavering commitment to open doors of opportunities for our talent to shine on the global stage. This is just the beginning of their journey, and we're excited to witness their continued success. Nidarshana Gowani, Wife of Real Estate Visionary Ramesh Gowani & Owner of Kamala Mills quips, "It's truly exhilarating to witness the vibrant cultural representation at Cannes 2024, spearheaded by Maahi, Arjun, and Pragati. I am eagerly looking forward to the mesmerizing performances and the opportunity to showcase India's rich musical heritage with of course, a modern Gen Z touch." With their unique blend of Indian roots and Gen Z flair, Pragati, Maahi, and Arjun are ready to shine at Cannes, proving that the future of Indian music is brighter than ever. Most of this years priorities for Gov. Kay Ivey and Republican legislative leaders were passed by the time the annual session ended Thursday evening, with one big exception. A constitutional amendment to allow voters to decide whether to authorize a lottery, casinos, and statewide regulation of gambling never came up again after failing by a single vote on April 30. It was the closest legislators have come to putting the lottery question on the ballot for voters in 25 years. Ivey said Thursday she had no plans to call a special legislative session to force lawmakers to take another look at the plan, saying it would be a waste of time and money after lawmakers failed to reach a consensus during the regular session. The Legislature passed most other bills that the Republican governor and GOP lawmakers deemed important, including what Ivey said was her No. 1 priority, a school choice plan to allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to help pay for private school. HB129 by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, the CHOOSE Act, creates education savings accounts (ESAs), which provide eligible parents up to $7,000 a year for private school tuition and other education expenses. While our state has a strong public education system, all Alabama families will soon have the right to choose their childrens schools, Ivey said when the bill passed. Republicans, who hold about three-fourths of the seats in the State House, strongly supported the CHOOSE Act. Democrats opposed the bill, noting that the ESAs will be paid for with dollars that would otherwise go to public schools. Democrats said ESAs wont be much help to families in rural areas with limited options for schools and transportation. This is the new segregation, Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, said. Were just paying for it this time. Paying for it on the backs of poor children. Read more: Alabama school choice bill awaits Iveys signature: Monumental achievement to become law after heated debate Workforce bills A notable bipartisan effort was passage of the Working in Alabama legislative package, backed by the Business Council of Alabama and by the governor. The bills are intended to improve Alabamas workforce participation rate, one of the lowest in the country. Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth led a commission that developed ideas, and House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter appointed a labor shortage study group. The bills included a tax credit program to help fix what officials said is a shortage of quality, affordable child care that makes it harder for some people, especially single mothers, to work or return to work. The bill authorizes tax credits for employers who invest in childcare centers for their employees, tax credits to private childcare centers, and grants to centers to expand or make improvements. Another tax credit bill created the Alabama Workforce Housing Tax Credit. The credits are intended to be incentives for developers to build housing that would offer rents that would be affordable for people entering or returning to the workforce. Another bill in the package renames the Alabama Department of Labor as the Alabama Department of Workforce and consolidates responsibilities for workforce development under the agency. The package also includes legislation to establish a public corporation, the Alabama Growth Alliance, to create and maintain a long-range economic development strategy for the state. Another bill, the Alabama Workforce Pathways Act, establishes a category of high school diplomas for students who earn career and technical certifications aimed at helping them begin their work careers when they graduate high school. Read more: Ivey signs child care tax credit bill: What it means for Alabamas working families Restrictions on help with absentee voting, diversity programs Some Republican-backed bills passed over staunch opposition from the Democratic minority. One of those, SB1 by Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, established new criminal penalties for people who help another voter obtain or turn in an absentee ballot application, with exceptions. Republican supporters said the intent was to stop ballot harvesting, efforts by third parties to influence elections through the mass distribution and collection of absentee ballots. Democrats said the bill was unnecessary because supporters gave no evidence that ballot harvesting is happening. Civil rights and voter advocacy groups opposed the law and said it would block long-established efforts to help voters who need assistance, including elderly, homebound, and eligible voters who are incarcerated. The Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, Greater Birmingham Ministries, the League of Women Voters of Alabama and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program filed a federal lawsuit to block the law, which is scheduled to take effect with the general election in November. Republicans and Democrats also disagreed sharply over a bill to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at state colleges and within state agencies. SB129 by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Montgomery, also prohibits colleges from allowing individuals to use a restroom that is different from their sex as assigned at birth. Read more: Alabama colleges, students weigh options after Gov. Kay Ivey signs DEI bill into law New statewide high school for careers in health Another bipartisan effort was passage of a bill to establish an independent, residential high school to help students, especially those in rural areas, prepare for careers in health care. The Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences will be in Demopolis and could open in the fall of 2026. Ivey called for the establishment of the school during her State of the State address in February. Students will study courses focused on science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM). It will be the fourth statewide magnet school that is focused on a specialized area of study. The others are the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham, the Alabama School of Math and Sciences in Mobile, and the Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering in Huntsville. Other bills that passed Property taxes: HB73 by Rep. Phillip Pettus, R-Killen, caps increases in assessed values on residential and commercial property to 7% of the assessed value from the prior year. First-grade readiness: HB113 by Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, will require students who did not complete kindergarten to take a test to enter the first grade. Public records access: SB270 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, will require government agencies to respond to requests from residents to view and obtain copies of public records within certain timelines. Previously, Alabamas public records law did not require agencies to respond to records requests by any certain times, cited by the Alabama Press Association and others as a major weakness in the law. Seafood labeling: HB66 by Rep. Chip Brown, R-Mobile County, requires Alabama restaurants and grocery stores to disclose if their seafood is imported or domestic. Labor unions and tax incentives: SB231 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, prohibits a company that voluntarily recognizes a union or does not hold a secret ballot during union elections from receiving the tax incentives that Alabama uses to recruit industry. Clergy and sex with minors: HB125 by Rep. Leigh Hulsey, R-Helena, makes it a felony for clergy to have sexual interactions with anyone younger than 19 under certain circumstances, a law modeled after Alabamas law prohibiting teachers from having sexual relationships with students. Making false reports to police: HB82 by Rep. Mike Shaw, R-Vestavia Hills, increased the penalty for making a false police report from a misdemeanor to a felony if the report alleges imminent danger to a person or the public, a bill that came in response to the Carlee Russell hoax in Hoover last year, which caused a massive and expensive search effort. Child labor: SB119 by Sen. Robert Stewart, D-Selma, increases civil and criminal penalties for child labor violations. School security: SB98 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, sets up new requirements and standards for school safety inspections and creates a fund to award grants to local school boards to improve school security and safety. Gov. Ivey said the school security program was a priority. Presidential candidate certification: SB324 by Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, changed the deadline for political parties to certify their presidential candidates for the November election because the Democratic convention comes after the deadline this year. The Legislature has previously passed similar bills to accommodate both parties during presidential election years. Legal protections for IVF: SB159 by Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence. After an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos held in storage had the legal status of children for purposes of civil liability under Alabamas wrongful death of a minor law, the Legislature moved quickly to provide some legal immunity for in vitro fertilization clinics, although questions remain about the liability posed by the courts ruling. Read more: Alabama IVF ruling had significant and sweeping implications, should be reheard, dissenting justice argues Read more: Bill to criminalize Alabama librarians for obscene content fails in the Senate Birmingham Water Works (BWW) will not be able to repair the water main break that occurred Friday morning off Highway 78 in Pratt City until at least 2 p.m. today, according to a press release. During the repair process, the repair team discovered an additional complication with a broken valve, which has extended the timeline for restoring water service, the release reads. We understand the inconvenience this causes and wish to assure the public that our teams have been working tirelessly, around the clock, to replace the faulty valve and restore water service as swiftly as possible. This water main break in Pratt City has left many without water in Forestdale, Fultondale and more. This is off Highway 78. pic.twitter.com/LcCa0gvAsp Gillian Brooks (@GillianBNews) May 10, 2024 Once service is restored, the utility said these areas should bring all water to a rolling boil for three minutes before cooling: Forestdale Sandusky Pratt City Lewisburg Upper Coalburg Coalburg Mineral Springs Pinkney City Hayes Highland Greenleaf Heights Smithfield Estates Zion Heights Westwood Union Grove Hillview Adamsville Fultondale Highway 78 Cherry Avenue Tomahawk Drive The boil water alert was also issued for streets adjacent to: Pratt Highway Dugan Highway Hibernian Street Coalburg Road Upper Coalburg Road Heflin Avenue Walker Chapel Road Brookside Coalburg Road Graysville Mayor Clark Julio Davis also advised his residents to boil water, as previously reported by AL.coms Howard Koplowitz. Customers were advised to use bottled water if they do not want to boil water. Inadequately treated water may contain disease-causing organisms, BWW stated in a previous release announcing the boil alert. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites which can cause symptoms such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms. They may pose a special health risk for infants, young children, some of the elderly and people with severely compromised immune systems. All stored water, drinks, or ice made recently from this supply should be discarded. BWW said previously that they will update the alert on Monday, May 13. Thank you for your patience as we work to regain our normal capacity of service, they said. Alabama was struck by not one but two EF-3 tornadoes during Wednesdays round of severe weather. The National Weather Service in Huntsville was still doing storm surveys on Friday and added two tornadoes to the five confirmed already in Alabama. The Henagar tornado, which prompted a rarely-used tornado emergency warning for DeKalb County on Wednesday night, was given a preliminary rating of at least EF-2 in an early storm survey. But the weather service was later able to survey the entire track and raised the rating to EF-3 on Friday. The Henagar storm had top winds estimated at 140 mph. The tornado was 1.13 miles wide at its peak, according to the weather service. At least seven injuries were blamed on the storm, which was on the ground for more than 12 miles. The other EF-3 tornado was in Brigadoon in Limestone County. It had top winds estimated at 136 mph. Already confirmed by the weather service were three other tornadoes: * An EF-1 in the Five Points area of Huntsville in Madison County * An EF-2 in Gurley in Madison County * An EF-0 at Rainbow Mountain in Madison County Added to the tornado count on Friday was: * An EF-1 near Henagar in the Brooks Crossroad community in DeKalb County (it hit less than an hour after the EF-3 tornado) * An EF-0 in Scottsboro in Jackson County The Wednesday tornado count could still climb. The weather service said a storm survey is planned near Elkmont in Limestone County for Saturday. For the past five months, Hamza Abu-Hamdeh has watched from afar as videos showed bodies unearthed from gray rubble, as more bombs fell on Gaza. Abu-Hamdeh is a 24-year-old Palestinian American living in the suburbs outside Birmingham, in a state where most politicians support Israel, where public opinion tends to lean more conservative. Its a very isolating feeling, that our lives, our familys lives, are not seen as valuable enough to have a stance about, he said. But they still want our votes. For some first- and second-generation Palestinian Americans in the Birmingham metro, its felt impossible to turn away from the news since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages. In response, Israel launched a military siege of Gaza tanks and troops, airstrikes, blockades that kept out food, water and supplies. About 2.3 million Palestinians lived in Gaza prior to Oct. 7, more than half of them younger than 20. Starvation, bombings and snipers have killed more than 34,000 people. At least 10,000 more are lost under the gray rubble of bombed homes and buildings. Now, more than 1 million Palestinians are in Rafah, pushed into the regions southernmost city by Israel, deeming it as a safe zone. But Israeli troops have bombed Rafah, too. Some of Birminghams Palestinian families landed here after U.S. visa applications brought them to Gadsden. Their children grew up going to protests with their families, hearing stories about their ancestry, history and culture from their parents and grandparents. They proudly wear keffiyehs a black and white scarf thats a symbol of Palestinian identity. Roughly a week after the Oct. 7 attack, more than 400 people gathered near Birminghams Railroad Park in protest as Israel ramped up its bombing of northern Gaza. Local groups, including Arabama, Young Palestinians of Birmingham, Palestinian Christians of Alabama, Birmingham Democratic Socialists of America, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, have organized more protests, candlelight vigils, a film screening and an event celebrating Palestinian culture since then. Across the state, though, Alabamas politicians have overwhelmingly supported Israels response. Sen. Katie Britt traveled to Israel as part of a Senate delegation in late October. Only Rep. Terri Sewell who also condemned the attack by Hamas in early October has called for a ceasefire in Gaza. Here are stories from five young Palestinian Americans in the Birmingham metro, navigating grief and resilience: Laith Mekdad, 24, is a Birmingham resident.Hannah Denham Laith Mekdad, 24, Birmingham From his familys home in Birmingham, 24-year-old Laith Mekdad awoke around 4 a.m. to find his father speaking on the phone. Amid service blackouts, his great-uncle got through with news of his daughters death. Three months after the October 7 attacks, Mekdad said, more than 100 of his relatives back in Gaza had been killed. Its almost surreal, he said. Its so hard. I sympathize with them, but its so hard to imagine or fathom that this is actually happening to somebody my age, that couldve been me in another world. My family got lucky to have gotten out. Mekdad, who was born and raised in Alabama has never been able to visit his familys homeland. I never really got to have those connections with my cousins or uncles or anybody over there, he said. I feel like Im almost losing my Palestinian identity, just because Im not allowed to visit my homeland. Recently, Mekdad said, he was working out at a local gym when a woman approached him and harassed him, saying he was putting himself in danger for wearing a keffiyeh, telling staff that he had weapons and was a member of Hamas. Elizabeth Shahid, 33, is a Birmingham resident.Hannah Denham Elizabeth Shahid, 33, Birmingham Elizabeth Shahid can trace her mothers family roots all the way back to the original founders of the city of Ramallah, in the West Bank. Her ties to the city are grounded in her Christian faith. She said thats what she said gave her the courage to speak at recent protests in Birmingham. Her maternal grandparents moved to Alabama in the 1950s. After speaking about her experience as a Christian Palestinian American at a rally held near Railroad Park in early January, she reflected on how her mom had protested when she was a UAB student, too. Its a new wave of solidarity that has been there in every generation since 48, she said. But still, she said, some have warned her against jeopardizing her familys safety by being visible as a local activist. People are scared to speak up, she said. Im one of the loudest voices. But thats not going to stop me. Her family members in Ramallah call with reports of their neighbors rounded up in military raids, children arrested in the middle of the night. More of the usual, in a community where raids of citizens were common even before Oct. 7. Theres loss thats just tied to the experience of being Palestinian. Loss of, not just lives, but land, culture, she said. For me, I feel like its just this grieving of theft. Salam Qashou, 24, is a Homewood resident.Hannah Denham Salam Qashou, 24, Homewood Salam Qashou took a break from his contractor job at a work site in Huntsville in early February. It was time to pray. As he was kneeling on the ground, eyes closed, Qashou said, he heard a mans voice behind him say, Well, they ought to keep you in a cage if youre doing that. He said he became used to comments like this while growing up in Alabama. But he still cant imagine living anywhere other than the Birmingham metro, unless he could live in his familys Palestinian homeland. Since Oct. 7, Qashou has spoken with his relatives in Tulkarem nearly every day. He said they are experiencing psychological torture, soldiers entering their apartment buildings and sitting on the rooftops with guns pointed, ensuring people stay indoors. He said two of their neighbors have been killed. They just dont know if its ever going to end, he said. Theyre feeling really hopeless at this point. He stays connected to the Palestinian community locally in the Birmingham metro, but he said his experience with others outside the community have been largely positive and supportive. In my experience, if you have good character, then youll establish credibility with people, he said. If, at that point, they dont listen, then its almost a lost cause. Danah D., 22, lives in Hoover.Hannah Denham Danah D., 22, Hoover Danah D. felt disconnected as she saw a flurry of social media posts from friends and acquaintances about Nick Sabans retirement. She was spending her time watching as bombs fell on Gaza. A Montgomery native, she said she knows its possible for people in her community, in Alabamas government and from across the nation to tune in with whats going on, to speak out in support of communities they dont belong to. She saw it several years ago, with a public surge of support for Ukrainians amid the Russian invasion, with blue and yellow flags popping up in neighborhoods around Birmingham. I saw so much outcry whenever the whole war in Ukraine happened, she said. And that is well-deserved, that is needed. But you cant have this kind of selective activism where you only choose to care for these people because they look like you or sound like you. She feels betrayed by the friends who her family has prepared meals for, invited into their home, who now criticize Palestinians. Shes said shes been open about her familys roots, ever since moving to Birmingham in 2009. Sometimes being open about her cultural identity came at the expense of bullying, she said, comments like, Here comes ISIS or Osama Bin Ladens daughter. As the death toll rises in Gaza, she said she feels a level of guilt. You still feel like theyre your family that are dying, no matter where theyre in Palestine, because you feel theyre a part of you, she said. How am I, as a Palestinian, able to go on and live with all this privilege and comfort? Hamza Abu-Hamdeh, 24, is a Hoover resident.Hannah Denham Hamza Abu-Hamdeh, 24, Hoover Hamza Abu-Hamdeh said hes holding out hope for a solution in Palestine, a ceasefire and agreement for a one-state solution, one that provides equal rights for all people, free of oppression, where Arabs and Jews can live side by side with equal opportunity under the law. The 24-year-old was born and raised in the Birmingham metro. He said its been difficult to sleep since videos first surfaced, showing people who look like him, people with his first name, buried under the rubble left in the wake of a U.S.-made bomb dropped on Gaza by the Israeli military. It kind of does something to you, he said. The fact that our government is so complicit in the massive death toll in Gaza shows that, whats stopping them from doing it to us, simply because were located here? A bill allowing a lottery and casinos in Alabama was the most high-profile legislation that died during the annual session that ended Thursday, falling just one vote short of passing and going to the ballot for voters in an August special election. The Legislature passed many of the bills that leaders labeled as priorities. But, many other bills that received support also failed to make it to the finish line before the session ended Thursday evening. The Legislature is not scheduled to meet again until the 2025 session in February. Gov. Kay Ivey has said she will not call a special session for gambling legislation. Read more: Why the bloody battle of lottery and gambling is dead in 2024 and maybe for 2025 Here are some of the bills that failed to win final approval during the three-month long session. - Ethics Law: HB227 by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, to repeal and replace the Alabama ethics law, passed the House but died in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Simpson, who led public meetings for months to work on the legislation, said his aim was to clarify the law, as Alabamas appellate courts and a study commission have said is needed. But Attorney General Steve Marshall and the Ethics Commission said the bill would have weakened the law. - Librarians subject to arrest: HB385 by Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Shelby County, would have made librarians criminally liable for distributing sexual or gender oriented material to minors without parental consent. Librarians who did not remove a book that someone found obscene or harmful to minors within seven days of written notice could have faced a misdemeanor under the bill. The House passed the bill on a party line vote, with Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposed. But it did not come up for a vote in the Senate. - Glock switch ban: HB36 by Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, would have made Glock switches and other devices that convert semiautomatic handguns to automatic fire illegal under state law. The bill passed the House with some opposition from Republicans who said it could open the door for more gun restrictions. It did not come up for a vote in the Senate despite support from law enforcement. - Paid parental leave for teachers: SB305 by Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, would have given teachers and other education employees paid parental leave. It passed the Senate with three days left in the session but Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, R-Jasper, declined to transmit it to the House under a rule that requires unanimous consent for Senate bills to go the House in the final few days of the session. - Paid parental leave for state employees: HB309, by Rep. Ginny Shaver, R-Leesburg, would have provided paid parental leave for state employees. Shavers bill passed the House but did not come up for a vote in the Senate. - Dont Say Gay expansion: HB130 by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would have expanded a ban on teachers providing instruction or classroom discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. The bill passed the House but did not come up for a vote in the Senate. The ban, which first passed in 2022, now applies from kindergarten through fifth grade. Butlers bill would have extended it through 8th grade. It would also have prohibited teachers and other school employees from displaying a flag or insignia representing sexual orientation or gender identity in a classroom or on school property, such as a pride flag or rainbow flag. - A chance for freedom for some serving life in prison: HB29, by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, would have allowed about 150 people serving life without parole in prison whose crimes did not cause a physical injury to receive consideration for new sentences. Those eligible would have to have served at least 24 years in prison. Advocates for the legislation said it was fair because those who would be eligible to apply for new sentences would not receive life without parole sentences if they were sentenced under current law. But the bill failed in the House. - What is a woman? bill: HB111 by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, would have defined male and female based on biological sex and distinguished the definition from gender identity. The bill said inconsistencies in court rulings and policy initiatives on sex discrimination are a threat to womens rights and resources and put private, single-sex spaces, like locker rooms and restrooms, in jeopardy. The bill passed the House but did not come up for a vote in the Senate. - Ending sales tax on maternal health products: SB62 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, and HB236 by Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, would have removed the state sales tax from diapers, baby formula, baby bottles, baby wipes, breast pumps, maternity clothing, and menstrual hygiene products. Both bills passed one chamber but died in the other. - Video conferencing for parole hearings: SB312 by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Montgomery, would have allowed inmates to participate in parole hearings by videoconference, telephone conference, or similar means. Currently, inmates do not appear before the three-member parole board in Montgomery. Barfoot said it would be beneficial for inmates to have a chance to speak to the board directly and for the board to be able to ask inmates questions. The bill would also have allowed victims, victims families and advocates, prosecutors, and others to also attend by video or teleconference. It passed the Senate but did not come up for a vote in the House. - More local enforcement of federal immigration law: HB376 by Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, was intended to increase the involvement of local police and sheriffs in the enforcement of immigration laws through agreements with federal authorities. It passed a House committee but did not come up for a vote in the House. Opponents said it would lead to racial profiling. Yarbrough and supporters said the bill was needed because they said the federal government has abdicated its responsibility on controlling the southern border. - Changes to Alabama archives board: SB77 by Sen. Chris Elliott, a Republican from Baldwin County, would have removed the members of the board of trustees of the Alabama Department of Archives and History and changed the way the board is appointed. Friction between Republican lawmakers and the agency surfaced last year, when Elliott and some others opposed Archives and Historys hosting of a lecture on the history of LGBTQ people in Alabama. Elliott said his main concern is that under current law, the board is self-perpetuating and said the change in appointing authority will bring more accountability to the agency. The bill passed the Senate but did not come up for a vote in the House. - Religious exemption to vaccine requirements expansion: SB246 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would have made it easier for parents to receive religious exemptions from vaccination requirements for their children in public schools. The bill passed the Senate but did not come up for a vote in the House. - Cellphone porn blocking: HB167 by Rep. Chris Sells, R-Greenville, would have required makers of cellphones and tablets to equip the devices with a filter to block pornography that would be activated when the device is activated for use by a minor. It passed the House by a vote of 98-0 but did not come up for a vote in the Senate. The assistant principal at McAdory Middle School who turned himself in to the Jefferson County jail Wednesday was reportedly arrested earlier this week in Georgia in connection with a 2013 triple homicide there. Keante Harris, 45, was booked into the Jefferson County jail Wednesday on a charge of being a fugitive from justice, records showed. Keante Harris turned himself in to the Jefferson County Jail on a fugitive from justice warrant, said sheriffs office spokesman Henry Irby. There is nothing else for us to release. Harris, who was placed on leave by Jefferson County Schools, was among four men charged with malice murder in Georgia in connection with a 2013 triple homicide in Union City, Georgia, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. The homicide victims were found in a silver vehicle off I-85 in Fulton County, Georgia. Two of the victims died of asphyxiation while the third was found strangled in the trunk of the car, the Fulton County Medical Examiners Office told Fox 5. The victims were believed to have been killed in Clayton County, Georgia. A woman who answered the phone at the Clayton County Sheriffs Office told AL.com she could not confirm Harris arrest. A Jefferson County Schools spokesman referred questions on the circumstances of Harris arrest to the sheriffs office. We have been made aware that Mr. Keante Harris was arrested Wednesday afternoon, Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin said in a statement to AL.com. At this time we still are gathering facts about the specifics of this situation. However, early indications are that the charges are not related to this individuals employment with Jefferson County Schools. Per standard procedure, Mr. Harris has been placed on paid administrative leave. As more facts become available, we will act according to our districts policy. Harris is one of to assistant principals at the middle school in McCalla. Two people were killed and another was injured in a head-on wreck Sunday near Montgomery, authorities said Friday. Jerad E. Swartz, 32, of Roanoke, Virginia, was driving a 2006 Scion XB around 11:30 p.m. Sunday when the vehicle collided head-on with a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu on State Route 110, about five miles east of Montgomery, said Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Senior Trooper Joshua Thompson. Swartz and a passenger in the Malibu, 31-year-old Union Springs resident Jalisa L. Smart-Haynes, were pronounced dead at the scene, Thompson said. A third victim was injured and taken to Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery for treatment. Further information was unavailable as state troopers continued to investigate the wreck. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas characterized the criticism lobbed at him and his wife, Ginny Thomas, as nastiness and lies while addressing a judicial conference Friday in Alabama. Theres certainly been a lot of negativity for my wife and I in the last few years, Thomas told the 11th Circuit judicial conference in Point Clear, in Baldwin County, according to Bloomberg Law. Last year, Thomas acknowledged that he took three trips last year aboard a private plane owned by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. Its the first time in years that Thomas has reported receiving hospitality from Crow. In a filing posted on the federal judiciarys website, Thomas said he was complying with new guidelines from the federal judiciary for reporting travel, but did not include any earlier travel at Crows expense, including a 2019 trip in Indonesia aboard the yacht owned by the wealthy businessman and benefactor of conservative causes. The report came amid a heightened focus on ethics at the high court that stems from a series of reports revealing that Thomas has for years received undisclosed expensive gifts, including international travel, from Crow. At the Alabama conference, Thomas eschewed the culture of Washington, D.C., where he said people pride themselves in being awful, according to Bloomberg Law. It is a hideous place as far as Im concerned, Thomas said, according to the outlet. He said he and his wife enjoy RVing because you get to be around regular people who dont pride themselves in doing harmful things merely because they have the capacity to do it or because they disagree. Thomas has ignored calls from some progressive groups to step aside from cases involving Jan. 6 because his wife, Ginni, attended then-President Donald Trumps rally near the White House before protesters descended on the Capitol. Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist, also texted senior Trump administration officials in the weeks after the election offering support and reiterating her belief that there was widespread fraud in the election. According to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals website, the conference was convened by the judges of the 11th Circuit, who preside over federal appeals in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, to consider the business of the courts and to discuss means of improving the administration of justice within the circuit. Associated Press reporting was included in this story. The town of McIntosh, Ala., about 40 miles north of Mobile, has rallied to support Triston Harper, 15, as he competes to make the top three on American Idol, airing on ABC. Were on pins and needles right now, hoping hell make the top three, Mary Byrd, Harpers great-aunt who works at a grocery store in McIntosh, said. Harper is a native of McIntosh and a member of the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians. Hes had a celebrated run on American Idol and, this Sunday, will compete for a spot in the final three. If he makes it, there will be local celebrations, including a parade in McIntosh and a performance at The Grounds in Mobile, all filmed by the show. There are currently five remaining contestants on American Idol. Hes got his work cut out for him, as the youngest contestant remaining. However, McIntosh residents think hes going to win. I think hes going to be our American Idol, Byrd says. Town residentsincluding some of his relativesremember his fondness and talent for music, which they say started early, as well as his Christian faith. We went to elementary together, and used to play the guitar for us when we were in P.E., Kevonte Diamond, a sophomore at McIntosh High School, said. He used to preach to us, get the Word out. What the viewers have seen on television is how he is in real life, Erin Cooper, Indian Education Coordinator for Washington County Public Schools, says. Cooper has worked with Harper for most of his childhood. Hes always been funny, engaging, kind, helpful and respectful to his teachers. Triston Harper of McIntosh, Ala., performs during "Adele Night" in the 2024 season of "American Idol." (Eric McCandless/ABC/Disney)Eric McCandless/ABC/Disney He just has that light around him, where even on your worst day, if youre around Triston, it just automatically makes your day better, Cooper says. Hes just got that kind of personality. Beyond his own aspirations, McIntosh residents say Harper is an inspiration to the towns children. Though he currently attends Leroy High School outside of Jackson, Harper attended McIntosh Elementary School and McIntosh High School for a few years before transferring to Leroy. On Tuesday, Harper called Cooper at McIntosh Elementary and gave a speech that she played over the schools intercom system. In the speech, Harper looked back on his time at the school fondly and encouraged current students to stay out of trouble. You know that you can make dreams come true, like Im doing right now, Harper said from Disney World. I promise that, as quick as I get back to McIntosh, Alabama, Im coming to see yall, and Ill give you the biggest hug and Im going to give yall all the autographs and posters and clothes that yall want. Harpers run on Idol has brought the already tight-knit community even closer. Brittnay Davis, Harpers cousin and a member of the MOWA Choctaw, says that there have been watch parties for every episode. Everyones just so happy for him and eager to share in his success, she says. Its been great because its brought our people closer, Davis says. Everybodys coming in together, everybodys doing everything they can do to be supportive for each other. Were always here for each other, but its bigger, because of him. Cooper says that it goes beyond the MOWA band and the town of McIntosh: really, the whole county has rallied behind him, she argues. And his tenure on the show has brought some positive attention to McIntosh, which residents say the town needs. Its home to nine chemical plants, two of which have been designated as superfund sites. Most people dont know that the town exists. But now, residents say, people will know it as Triston Harpers hometown. Hes given the town some good publicity, Cindy Dunagan, a resident of the area, said. Hes like the towns goodwill ambassador. English News Bilingual school in Budapest nurtures envoys of China-Hungary friendship Alwihda Info | Par People's Daily - 8 Mai 2024 After nearly 20 years of development, the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school has become an important witness to the bilateral relations between Hungary and China, Erdelyi said, adding that Xi's first-ever state visit to Hungary will bring huge encouragement and inspiration to students of the school. By Yan Huan, Han Shuo, Liu Zhonghua, People's Daily The Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school was established in Budapest, capital of Hungary, in September 2004. It is the first full-time public school in Central and Eastern Europe that uses Chinese and the local language for instruction. Over the past nearly 20 years, the school has played a unique role in promoting cultural exchanges between China and Hungary over the past two decades. In early 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping replied to a letter from the students of the school, encouraging the Hungarian youths to learn more about China and become envoys of the China-Hungary friendship. When the school was just founded, it had around 100 students, and now the figure has surged to more than 500. More and more Hungarian students are embracing the Chinese language and culture, and many of them have been admitted to Chinese universities. "Our goal is to nurture a batch of 'builders of Hungary-China friendship,'" said Zsuzsanna Erdelyi, principal of Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school. She told People's Daily that apart from local students, the school also enrolls those from China, so that students from the two countries can learn and play together, which not only helps improve their academic performance, but also fosters profound friendship between them. When a class was over, eleventh-grade students Sanyi and Li Fulin started playing Chinese chess in a corridor. Sanyi once lived in China with his father. He was sent to the bilingual school by his parents after they saw the prospering development of China and the huge potential of Hungary-China cooperation. "It was so difficult for me to learn Chinese as a beginner," Sanyi said. However, as he gained more and more Chinese friends, he has gradually developed a passion in speaking Chinese. "Last year I had a study tour to China, during which I visited Nanjing University. I like it very much and hope I can be admitted to the university one day," Sanyi told People's Daily. To create a better learning atmosphere for the students, the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school holds rich and splendid cultural activities that invite parents and all sectors of Hungarian society. For instance, it has opened a Chinese language class for parents and hosts "Chinese open days" during traditional Chinese holidays, to encourage students and their parents to join fun cultural activities such as Chinese tea brewing, paper cutting and lantern making. Erdelyi said the Chinese culture is charming and joining these activities offers so much fun. Papp Nora and Papp Dora are a pair of twins who have been learning at the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school since they were very young. The two eighth-grade students consider the school their second home. "The teachers always help me with patience and answer my questions," Papp Dora said, adding that Chinese is a very beautiful language. According to her, she likes Chinese calligraphy while her sister loves traditional Chinese costumes. The two practice Chinese together every day. Educated by the school, the twins have developed carefulness, diligence and resilience, which are all important qualities in any stage of life, said Trippon Mariann, mother of the twins, and chief economist of a Hungarian bank. She's very optimistic about the potential of the Chinese economy, and believes that learning Chinese would gain her children more advantages for their future development. Li Elizabet Fanni studies at Fudan University, Shanghai. She is one of the earliest students of the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school to study in China. Recently, she served the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, as a volunteer, offering services for Chinese and Hungarian enterprises. "I hope more young Hungarians can visit China and see with their own eyes the development of the country," she said, adding that she and other students will work to contribute to and carry on the Hungary-China friendship. After nearly 20 years of development, the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school has become an important witness to the bilateral relations between Hungary and China, Erdelyi said, adding that Xi's first-ever state visit to Hungary will bring huge encouragement and inspiration to students of the school. 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 "French farm to Chinese dining table" mechanism constantly deepens China-France agricultural cooperation Alwihda Info | Par People's Daily - 9 Mai 2024 In today's Chinese market, wines from various regions of France can be found, covering many categories. "E-commerce platforms and social networks in China have made wine more mainstream, and wine appreciation courses have also accelerated the entry of wine culture into the lives of ordinary Chinese," he said. By Shang Kaiyuan, People's Daily According to China's General Administration of Customs, France is China's largest agricultural product import market and the second-largest agricultural product trading partner in the European Union. By mid-2023, over 200 types of French agricultural and food products were allowed to be exported to China. Besides, nearly 7,000 French agricultural and food product production companies have registered in China. When French President Emmanuel Macron visited China in April 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping conveyed to President Macron China's readiness to advance high-standard opening-up and share new opportunities in China's new development with countries around the world, and to work with France to build a "French farm to Chinese dining table" whole-chain rapid coordination mechanism. Over the past year, the "French farm to Chinese dining table" mechanism has become a new highlight of agricultural cooperation between China and France. More and more French agricultural products are entering the Chinese market, providing Chinese consumers with high-quality and diversified choices, creating more opportunities to French companies, and bringing greater benefits to French farmers. France is well-suited for the development of animal husbandry thanks to its climate. Statistics released by France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies showed that the country's live cattle herd exceeds 17 million heads. LACTINOV dairy group in France began direct export business in 2012, with the Chinese market as one of its main targets. "More than a decade ago, I went to an international food exhibition in Shanghai to seek business opportunities," Alexandre Zeitlin, LACTINOV's export director, told People's Daily. "From the very beginning, we identified China as one of our most valuable target markets." It is reported that as Chinese consumers' demand for high-quality dairy products grew rapidly, sales in the Chinese market accounted for 1/3 of the group's exports at its peak. During Xi's meeting with then French President Francois Hollande in Beijing in April 2013, the two heads of state exchanged views on enhancing China-France exchanges and cooperation in a comprehensive manner, deciding to forge new areas of cooperation in modern agriculture, farm produce processing, and food processing. In the next year, a Chinese delegation visited multiple French meat product companies, including Sacor, based in Aveyron, France, the first French company to export French-style dry-cured sausages to China. Soon, Sacor obtained approval to export its products to China, and its products officially entered the Chinese market in 2016. "For a small family business like us, it's a milestone in our development to become one of the first companies to export to the Chinese market," said Nicolas Tournois, general manager of Sacor. Over the years, he has devoted himself to understanding the Chinese market, actively participating in professional exhibitions, and continuously developing new clients. "Our exports to China are currently in a stable upward trajectory," he said. Today, the Bastides sausages of Sacor sold on Chinese e-commerce platforms are highly popular among Chinese consumers. Annual exports of the Bastides sausages to China have grown from 10 tons in 2019 to the current 60 tons, and they have frequently appeared at the China International Import Expo in recent years. Tournois hopes that with the "French farm to Chinese dining table" whole-chain rapid coordination mechanism, more distinctive French agricultural products can enter the Chinese market. Bordeaux is an important wine-producing region in France and even globally. In a winery in Bordeaux owned by Les Grands Chais de France (GCF Group), a renowned French wine producer, red wine bottles come with QR codes that show various information, including the centuries-old history of the winery, the characteristics of the production area, the colors, aroma, and flavor of the wine, as well as recommended drinking temperature and food pairing suggestions. "Chinese consumers have a much keener interest in wine culture than 10 years ago, so we intentionally designed the bottles this way," said Adrien de Vincenti, sales director of JIXIFU Caves & Domaines of GCF Group. Adrien has been working and living in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province for over a decade and has a good understanding of the demands in China's red wine market. In today's Chinese market, wines from various regions of France can be found, covering many categories. "E-commerce platforms and social networks in China have made wine more mainstream, and wine appreciation courses have also accelerated the entry of wine culture into the lives of ordinary Chinese," he said. During Macron's visit to China in April 2023, China and France issued a joint statement, in which the French side expressed its support for China's forthcoming application to join the International Organization of Vine and Wine, as well as its support for China hosting the International Conference on Grape and Wine Industries. Adrien told People's Daily that in recent years, wine producing regions in several Chinese provinces and municipalities such as Shandong, Ningxia, and Xinjiang have become increasingly mature, and the development of China's domestic wine industry will promote the prosperity of the entire wine market. 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) In the curious world of politics, alliances can be as surprising as they are concerning. Take, for instance, the case of Robert Weinroth, currently vying for a seat in the United States Congress in Floridas 23rd District. What makes Weinroths candidacy particularly eyebrow-raising is not just his abrupt switch from Democrat to Republican but also his troubling associations, including cozying up to individuals with ties to terrorism and bigotry against Jews. Weinroths political journey is rife with contradictions. A long-time Democrat, Weinroth is oddly running in the Republican Primary to replace one-term Democrat Jared Moskowitz, whom Weinroth enthusiastically endorsed in 2022. Also in 2022, Weinroth endorsed the current head of the Florida Democrat Party, Nikki Fried, when she ran for governor against Ron DeSantis. Weinroth has even posed for photos with Democrat icons such as Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. At the time, Weinroth showered Biden with praise, stating about Biden, He is so genuine and sincere. Bizarrely, the website that Weinroth is using to run as a Republican is the same one he used when he ran as a Democrat. On it, he wrote, Palm Beach County should be a global leader on the issue of climate change, and boasted that he would lead the charge on banning the sale and possession of assault weapons. Weinroth even spoke at and helped lead a rally against guns and President Trump. Signs at the rally called for outlawing firearms. Ironically for Weinroth, one sign read, The only thing easier to buy than a gun is a GOP candidate. Considering all of the above, one can easily surmise that Robert Weinroth is a plant for Jared Moskowitz and the Democrat Party. However, Weinroths opportunistic political maneuvering is overshadowed by something even more serious: His pandering to radical Muslims who are linked to terrorism and bigotry against Jews. In 2017 and 2018, Weinroth posed for photos on three separate occasions with Bassem Alhalabi. (See here, here, and here.) Weinroths friendliness with Alhalabi is questionable, to say the least, given that the latter is a former assistant to Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) co-founder Sami al-Arian. Al-Arian had created a PIJ network in the Tampa, Florida area. according to the U.S. Justice Department, the PIJ network was being used to finance suicide bombings in Israel. Alhalabi co-authored publications with al-Arian and even used al-Arian as a reference when he applied for a teaching job at Boca Ratons Florida Atlantic University (FAU). In March 2003, Alhalabi himself was charged by the U.S. Commerce Department with shipping a $13,000 military-grade thermal imaging device to Syria, a state sponsor of terrorism. One of Weinroths photos with Alhalabi was taken at the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR), a radical mosque that Alhalabi had co-founded. ICBR has several ties to Hamas, PIJ, and al-Qaeda, including receiving its seed money from an al-Qaeda financing charity, the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), which was shut down by the Bush Administration after 9/11. Another individual Weinroth with whom Weinroth was often photographed is Abdul Rauf Khan, the President of ICBR. Khan has made posts on Facebook targeting Jews and gays, including promoting several Louis Farrakhan videos. Following Hamass atrocities against Israel on October 7, which left 1200 Israeli civilians dead, Khan used his social media to glorify Hamas. Khan is also COO of ICNA Relief, the social services division of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), an organization with numerous ties to South Asian terror. ICNA partners with Al-Khidmat Foundation (AKF), a Pakistani charity that has been a proud financier for Hamas. For over three decades, ICNA has harbored Ashrafuzzaman Khan, a death squad leader from the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. In its materials and events, ICNA has promoted Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai massacre that left over 160 innocents dead, including Chabad Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his wife Rifka, and their unborn child. One of the photos Weinroth took with Khan depicts Weinroth posing with other ICNA operatives in front of large signs containing ICNA logos. Mingling with figures like Bassem Alhalabi, who has ties to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Abdul Rauf Khan, who has glorified Hamas following the October 7 massacre, paints a disturbing picture of Weinroth. It is especially troubling when you consider the radical Islamic Center of Boca Ratons terrorist ties, where at least one of these encounters took place. Robert Weinroth says he is a Republican, but it was only a short time ago that he posed for photos with top Democrat icons and advocated for Progressive stances such as the alleged climate crisis and banning firearms. In the same sense, Weinroth paints himself as a supporter of Israel and Jewish causes, while he rubs shoulders with Islamic extremists who would seek to destroy Israel and who target Jews with hate. Weinroths attempts to portray himself as a Republican and a supporter of Israel ring hollow in the face of his associations with individuals and organizations openly hostile to both. As questions about his true loyalties and the company he keeps continue to mount, Weinroths candidacy becomes increasingly controversial and deserving of denouncement and scrutiny. Image: Robert Weinroth. YouTube screen grab. Nothing in the balance of power has really changed since World War I. The West needs America for its survival as the free world. However, America for her part needs a leader dedicated to the cause of freedom, and prepared to take on the leadership of the West. Given what is at stake, isolationism is not an option. Politically, the European countries are divided, and individually too weak to take over responsibility from America. Although a giant with 447,007,596 citizens compared to the 331,900,000 of the United States (both 2021 figures) the European Union has rarely been able to formulate a common position on urgent foreign affairs, let alone enforce it with self-confidence and determination in economic-military terms. A division based on historical disagreements, rancor, and envy remains noticeable despite the continued efforts of Brussels bureaucrats at erasure of national identities and harmonization. In the face of imminent threats from outside, the European peoples show poor judgment and continue to rival their neighbors, behaving much like the self-centered city-states of ancient Greece when challenged by the Achaemenid Empire. As a result, salvation in the hour of need invariably depends on the Land of the Free. Nobody else could fill the void in her absence. The great powers of the post-war period have ceased to exist. Thus, France and Britain, engulfed by ethnic warfare in their cities, institutional collapse, and cultural self-denial, are long gone as world leaders. The epitome of Gallic self-conceit, Emmanuel Macron, who famously described NATO as braindead in 2019, later tried his hand at mediation between Russia and Ukraine. For some time to come, TV viewers around the world are unlikely to forget his negotiations (or whatever it was that took place) with the Russian president across an immeasurably long conference table in the Kremlin. In the equally pompous and cynical fashion of his predecessors, he aspired to a historic role in world politics and subsequently made an effort to ingratiate himself with the Chinese president. Like Charles de Gaulle, another narcissist, he distanced himself from America, because it suited his immediate ambitions, and let it be understood that neither France nor the other countries in the West (as if he were entitled to speak for them) were indebted to America; in his words, they were not vassals. However, neither the Chinese president nor his ambassador in Paris found it worthwhile to reward his sell-out. Instead, they gave him a lecture in ice-cold realpolitik. Boris Johnson appeared energetic and passionate for as long as circumstances allowed him to remain in the post of British prime minister. As a breath of fresh air and with an irresistible confidence, he won the hearts of the Britons. Accustomed to hand-wringing and vacillating, not to say wimpish leaders since Margaret Thatchers resignation, they enjoyed the experience of an irrepressible optimist. Time would show that they were woefully mistaken about his statesmanship. He was indeed the man who got Brexit done, bursting with slogans and gimmicks, but without having grasped, let alone properly prepared for, the economic consequences. Posterity will also remember him for his unwavering support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion, regularly posing for photography in the war-empty streets of Kyiv. Though witty, he was ultimately a clown a buffoon. And since his days as a newspaperman, he had frankly shown a worrying disdain for the truth. From a conservative point of view, both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak became synonymous with wasted opportunities. Great Britain used to be a stronghold of civilization whenever continental Europe fell victim to revolutionary psychoses, overthrew the social order, and resorted to indiscriminate murders against the backdrop of general anarchy. Something of critical importance to the nations self-understanding and will to endure has obviously been broken. An ominous sign of this development is the surrender of power over public space to triumphant enemies of civilization. In a general atmosphere of moral confusion and doom, (a) parliamentarians give up their seats due to personal threats (after the assassination of Sir David Amess), (b) judges hesitate to judge according to the laws for fear of after-hours reprisals, and (c) outnumbered police forces on the streets try to befriend rioters by acting as security guards at their marches, ordering people, whose visible identity might incite violence, to stay away. Obviously, the cultural disease cuts across the division of power. (If Brexit were ever meant to mark a break with Britains rampant immigration since 1997, a piece of irreversible social engineering on part of the Labor government, those in power, i.e. the Tories, subsequently failed to deliver on the promise to the people.) George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, a man dwarfed by his Republican predecessors, expedited the political decline of the West. As fate would have it, America suffered its deadliest attack since Pearl Harbor on his watch. Unlike his father, who was a distinguished war hero, though peculiarly absent-minded and indecisive towards the end of his administration, he himself was nothing but a privileged career politician, enjoying his connections, and escaping military service abroad during the Vietnam War. Addressing his nation from a New York mosque after 9/11, Bush famously exclaimed the following: Islam is peace. Those words, massively contradicted by reality before and after, live in infamy. Bush was in a frenzy, lacking an independent overview of the situation and proper guidance. His successor, Barack H. Obama, a lanky charmer with notorious speaking gifts, subtly promoted ethnic identity awareness and took America even closer to the abyss. So self-confident was he that he imagined he could appease Third World tyrants by expressing self-reproach on behalf of America. In the end, he failed his moral responsibility to the oppressed of the world, including gassed civilians and rebels in the Syrian civil war. During his tenure, Christianity lost ground to a branch of moral relativism that encouraged the absurdities of identity politics at home and signaled abroad that America renounced any monopoly on the truth and therefore any right to interfere in the conflicts of other nations. Then along came Donald J. Trump. An avowed critic of the Washington swamp, he won support from Americans because he had the guts to address the problems pointed out by others in a straightforward, intrepid fashion. Apparently, he perceived the long-term demographic and electoral implications of the migrant invasion from Mexico. Defying lawsuits and ridicule, he therefore made the decision to build a wall across America on the southern border. His successor, Joseph R. Biden Jr., reversed his immigration policies and invited millions of foreigners into the United States. It may be that Biden similar to Lyndon B. Johnson and other Democrat strategists expects to redeem the electoral dividend sometime in the future. However, the guarantee of Democrat election victories comes at a high cost. By allowing millions of Third-World migrants to invade the country, leading to formidable changes in American demographics, the Democrats are changing the face of America forever. With the breakdown of ethnic stability, the institutions of society, including democracy itself, are at risk of corruption. It is ultimately about deeply rooted traditions, social cohesion, and genuine loyalty to the ideals of the Founding Fathers. The delicate balance that has prevailed since the birth of the nation is nearly gone. Anthropological observers refer to the Brazilianization of North America, conveying an image of happy samba dancers and carnal brotherhood without borders. In line with the times, some of them congratulate the Americans on the increasing diversity. What is certain is that American culture is about to change. Adopting institutional habits from Latin America on a large scale, North America cannot remain America, as we have known her in the past, but must transform into something else. Whatever migrants provide by way of exotic cuisines and rites, experience largely contradicts a dependable relationship between their cultural heritage and an orderly society under the rule of law. So how can an American nation presently obsessed with muddy notions of equity, ethnic diversification, and abolition of biological constructs, having lapsed into moral relativism, lead the free world? How can it save the West from obliteration in the history books, given the resolve of anti-Western conspiracies around the world and the ever-increasing demographic pressure? Well, dare we believe that America is something truly special in history vibrant, strong-willed, and indomitable? If so, there may be a living person, a daughter or son of that great nation, waiting to turn the tide. Image: Public domain. In the 2022 mid-term elections in Michigan, voters handed control of the Michigan Legislature to the Democrats, giving them a majority in both the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate -- something that hasnt happened for forty years. Since then, theyve been working hand in glove with our notorious Democrat governor, Gretchen Whitmer, including passing a slew of bills that significantly transform election procedures in the State of Michigan and make it easier to commit election fraud, while at the same time making it harder to uncover it. A little background on Governor Whitmer for the uninitiated is in order. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Whitmer transferred Covid-stricken seniors to nursing homes and long-term care facilities and prevented the removal of Covid-infected patients from these facilities, thus exposing the most vulnerable segment of the population -- those over age 60 and with pre-existing medical conditions -- to the dangers of this disease. Thousands of seniors in these long-term housing and care facilities died, but clever manipulation of the statistics hid the magnitude of the deaths in these facilities -- until the Auditor Generals Report released in January of 2022. It documented that Whitmers administration underreported nursing home covid deaths by a whopping 42%. Whitmer imposed Covid-19 restrictions on the states population that she regularly disregarded. During the Covid lockdown, Whitmer took a $40,000 flight on a private jet to Florida. She told the media it was to visit her sick father, but there were no medical records to verify this. The duration of her trip was first reported as two days. Whitmer later admitted that her staff lied to the press; she was gone for four days. No one knows to this day who paid for the $40K flight or what she was doing in the Sunshine State. Back to the story at hand. In November of 2022, Michigan voters also passed Proposal 2, a proposal to amend the voting procedures previously authorized in the State of Michigans Constitution. While the proposal passed with (ostensibly) 60% of the vote, the recent batch of bills purportedly written to implement the changes of Proposal 2 goes significantly beyond what was authorized by the voters. The new legislation hands over verification of absentee ballots from an elected bipartisan board of inspectors to city or township clerks. They also significantly expand the powers of election clerks and the Secretary of State. For example, the Secretary of State can now dictate election procedures without going through the formal rule-making process. This greatly increases the potential for fraud and significantly reduces the safeguards against it. Senate Bill 367 allows clerks in municipalities with at least 5,000 people to process and count absentee ballots eight days before Election Day. The eight-day, pre-election day window will make it very difficult for poll watchers to observe the handling and counting of mail-in votes. (What could possibly go wrong there?) Municipalities will work closely with the SoS, to whom the bill assigns the task of unilaterally supervising the implementation and conduct of early voting for state and federal elections. (God forbid that the SoS has entrenched political biases.) According to Representative Ruth Johnson (R) Holly, MI, these bills remove every instance of the word fraud in the previous law and replace them with the word, error. Criminality of intent is thus effectively insulated from prosecution and the ability to address election fraud is stripped away. In fact, under Senate Bills 603 and 604, alleged fraud can no longer be used to request a recount. Perhaps thats the reason why Michigan Republican legislators were uniformly opposed to these bills. With a Democrat governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, might it not be wise to ask who stands to benefit from these bills that subtly, but significantly, change the states previous law and render voting fraud virtually immune from prosecution? Michigan is a critical swing state in the upcoming presidential election, along with Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada, and North Carolina. After watching the shenanigans that occurred in the 2020 elections in many of these states -- voting stopped for several hours; mathematically impossible vote swings that surfaced out of nowhere when vote counting resumed; windows covered up so observers couldnt watch ballot counters; boxes stuffed with ballots suddenly appearing from under tables and unloaded from the backs of vans; and much more -- its not unreasonable to expect that, with the outcome of the 2024 presidential election being even more critically important to the Obama-Biden-Radical Left machine, Democrats would be even more motivated to control the voting outcome than they were in 2020. I dont know whats going on currently in swing states other than Michigan. I do know that in 2020, Democrats in Arizona and Wisconsin attempted to change voting regulations in the final days before the election. In Maricopa County, the largest Democrat County in Arizona, Recorder Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, announced that he was mailing early ballots to every Democrat voter who had not cast a ballot, whether the voter had requested one or not. Kory Langhofer, a Phoenix-based lawyer with expertise in political and constitutional law, wrote: When courts or elections officials change voting procedures on the eve of an election, particularly in a manner that has disparate partisan impact, it has significant consequences. It creates widespread voter confusion -- most importantly among elderly voters, a vulnerable demographic that historically trends conservative -- and opportunities for fraud and voter disenfranchisement. According to the Washington Examiner, in 2020, 28 states changed their voting rules to boost mail-in ballots. In fact, for the first time in history, more people voted early by mail or in person than filled out a ballot at the polls on election day. If the Democrat Machine is determined enough to whip up specious and convoluted lawfare suits against President Trump to keep him from office again, dont think for a moment that theyre going to keep their hands off the voting process. Keep a sharp eye. Democrat voting shenanigans have already begun again in Michigan. "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything. (Attributed to Joseph Stalin.) Image: Public Domain Yesterday afternoon, the State Department issued a report in response to Bidens demand that it analyze whether foreign governments are appropriately using weapons they received from America. It was apparent from the beginning that this was a set-up to attack Israel, and attacking Israel is what the State Department did. Despite admitting that it has no data to back up its conclusions, it nevertheless concluded that Israel has failed to protect Gazas civilian populations while using American weapons. The New York Times went with the big headline: US Criticizes Israel for Failure to Protect Civilians in the Gaza Conflict: The Biden administration believes that Israel has most likely violated international standards in failing to protect civilians in Gaza... In the administrations most detailed assessment of Israels conduct in Gaza, the State Department said in a written report that Israel has the knowledge, experience and tools to implement best practices for mitigating civilian harm in its military operations. But it added that the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether the Israel Defense Forces are making sufficient use of those tools. Apparently, Israels unique approach to protecting enemy civilianswarning its enemy in advance of battle plans, warning civilians in advance of strikes, providing evacuation assistance to civilians in advance of battles, and providing millions of tons (and millions of dollars) worth of supplies, including food and medicine, to civilianssimply isnt good enough. Nor does it matter that Hamas has deliberately intertwined its military operations with civilians or that it continuously attacks Israeli civilians). If only one Gazan civilian dies, Israel is in the crosshairs. If you understand that overriding principlethat is, that Israel shouldnt be waging an offensive war at all against a genocidal military force embedded among a mostly supportive civilian populationyou begin to understand how the State Department generated its report. And the way it did was to rely on Hamas statistics that are so obviously fake that theyre easily debunked (indeed, the UN has debunked them) and on...guesses. In the report, the State Department explicitly concedes that it has no actual information about the facts on the ground in Gaza and is relying on Hamas propaganda. It also recognizes that Hamas uses civilians as shields: Given the nature of the conflict in Gaza, with Hamas seeking to hide behind civilian populations and infrastructure and expose them to Israeli military action, as well as the lack of USG personnel on the ground in Gaza, it is difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents. Nevertheless, says the State Department, it just feels deep in its bones that Israel has the kind of sophisticated weapons that should allow it to achieve a magical zero casualty rate for civilians: Nevertheless, given Israels significant reliance on U.S.-made defense articles, it is reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm. Scott Johnson has more about how the State Department acknowledges Israels heroic (and often self-destructive) efforts to protect civilians who want all Jews dead but nevertheless finds those Hamas mortality figures just too tempting to resist. Its obvious that this report is a purely political document intended to bolster Bidens decision to withhold from Israel the very weapons that would allow Israel to minimize civilian casualties. This will force Israel to use more destructive weapons, increasing the risk of civilian casualties. At that point, the Biden administration can say, We told you so! Israel must surely know that she cannot win. In the worlds eyes, shes damned if she does and damned if she doesnt. But still, she continues to do her best to save a people who despise her. Either Israels leaders are very stupid, or they understand that they answer to a higher moral standard than our broken, Islamist, socialist world leaders demand. Thats undoubtedly why, in the lead-up to the final showdown in Rafah, Israel has urged the evacuation of the civilian population, providing venues in which civilians will be safe, along with receiving shelter, food, water, and medical care. Israel does so knowing that, in getting civilians off the battlefield, shell probably be accused of setting up concentration camps. The world, including the Biden administration, may be evil, but Israel sets a higher standard. Image: Biden stabbing Israel in the back by Andrea Widburg Democrats believe that money in the form of government expenditures can perform miracles and cure any ill. What used to be Humboldt State University (HSU) in Arcata, California is now Cal Poly Humboldt (CPH). When I began teaching there in 1969 (and continued for ten more years), enrollment was about 6,000. That is about where it remains today. Over the past fifty years, the university has made numerous failed attempts to attract more students. The most recent and by far the costliest attempt occurred in 2021, when Governor Gavin Newsom strong-armed the Legislature to commit almost half a billion dollars to convert HSU to CPH, thinking enrollment would quickly double to 12,000. Thus far, enrollment has increased two percent. There are two previously existing state polytechnic universities in California, both of which have enrollments exceeding 20,000, but both are close to population centers (San Luis Obispo and Pomona). Arcata, the location of the new Cal Poly, is and always has been the most remote site of the twenty institutions in the California State University system. Throwing half a billion dollars at HSU/CPH will fail just as all the other attempts to make it grow have failed. This HSU to CPH conversion is not at all different from Jerry Browns bullet train to nowhere boondoggle, which is now a sensitive topic for Democrats. That train, the construction for which began in 2015, was supposed to link San Francisco and Los Angeles, but so far, it links only Merced and Bakersfield. Authorized in 2008, it was based on a projected cost of $24 billion, which has since ballooned to $106 billion. California is a one-party state governed by arrogant progressive Democrats. Will they learn anything from this HSU/CPH fiasco? They will not. Why should they? They have no incentive to do so. After all, that half a billion dollars theyve squandered is not their own money. Such waste never fazes Democrats no guilt, no embarrassment, no lessons learned. Money must really seem miraculous to Democrats. They confiscate it from their enemies, spend it on whatever suits their fancy, and never have to worry about being held accountable. The Golden Gate Bridge, the Hoover Dam, and the Empire State Building were each built in about three years, start to finish, during the depths of the Great Depression. Nowadays, government projects take seemingly forever and usually cost multiples of their original cost estimates. Remember Obamas shovel-ready jobs, which he later confessed did not exist? That was a classic Democrat fabrication designed to hoodwink taxpayers into supporting his 900-billion-dollar stimulus bill in 2009. Yes, it was a con job, but who cares? Certainly not Democrats. Simply spending the money is all that matters to them. Ron Ross, Ph.D. is a former economics professor and the author of The Unbeatable Market. He resides in Arcata, California and can be reached at rossecon@aol.com. His website is rossecon.com. Image: pasja1000 via Pixabay, Pixabay License. Senator Everett Dirksen said: A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon youre talking real money. Our federal government has been talking trillions for some time now, but the Mummified Meat Puppet Administrations (MMPA) push for electric vehicles has EV manufacturers talking, and losing, billions. MMPA mouthpieces like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm assure us EVs are the future and theyre pushing unconstitutional, unrealizable regulations to force that future down our throats. Unfortunately for them, economic reality is intruding, and Ford provides a disturbing example: Graphic: X screenshot. The recent figures are part of a trend of loss for Ford, with their Model e reporting a full-year EBIT loss of $4.7 billion on the sale of 116,000 units. This is an average loss of $40,525 per vehicle and even that is just a third of the per-vehicle loss seen in the first three months of 2024. Ford announced months ago it was cutting EV production in half. It took them well over a year, and a $4.7 billion dollar lossI suspect its moreto finally, barely, acknowledge their fiscal responsibilities to their shareholders. What company can afford to sustain those kinds of losses, regardless of their fealty to the MMPA and its socialist/communist policies? It would now seem likely Ford is going to have to do more than halve their EV production: Ford announced earlier this month [April] that the company will delay producing two new electric models, opting for hybrid vehicles instead. The old aphorism what cant go on wont go on applies. Ford has possibly, belatedly, realized EVs arent going to be the future. As the average EV costs more than $60,000, theyre too expensive for most Americans. The wealthy who buy EVs as greenie street cred have already bought all they want, depleting the market, and the EV charging doom loop is eternal. Without a massive charging network across the country, widespread EV ownership is impossible. But without widespread EV ownership theres no reason, financial or practical, to build chargers. Neither EVs nor chargers are profitable without huge government subsidies, in effect, forcing people who dont want and cant afford EVs to subsidize them for the virtue-signaling wealthy. Driving the doom loop are wind and solar mandates, which include forcing the closure of reliable coal and natural gas electric generation plants, with no plans to replace them with anything reliable. We dont have enough generation capacity now, and should the public be forced into EVs, that problem will dramatically, immediately worsen, forcing rolling blackouts across America. Even better, there arent enough rare earths and other necessary materials anywhere on the planet, and most of those that do exist are controlled by China, or China dominates processing. And of course, the MMPA wont let Americans mine or process those materials in America. Theyre also preparing to allow China to flood the American market with cheap, Chinese government-subsidized EVs, the better to force Americans to buy them, and the better to eliminate the American automobile industry, which is finally recognizing economic reality and fiduciary responsibility. The MMPA allocated billions for building EV chargers, but in a stunning display of federal government know how and efficiency, have, in a few years, built only a handful, and only on the East coast. But lets return to Ford and see how 2024 is shaping up: Ford Motor Company reported a whopping $132,000 loss on each electric vehicle (EV) sold during the first three months of 2024, amassing a $1.3 billion loss. Thats far more than the MSRP for those vehicles, and much, much more than Fords production costs. The revenue for Fords EV car, the Model e, plunged by 84 percent to about $100 million, which the company blamed on EV price cuts across the auto industry. That resulted in the $1.3 billion loss before interest and taxes (EBIT), and the massive per-vehicle loss in the Model e unit, the publication noted. Adding to the doom loop is customers realization that when Ford no longer produces any EV models, such as the electric Mustang or the electric F-150, parts supplies are going to dry up, and resale value will quickly drop into negative numbers. There will be no used EV market. Unfortunate EV owners will have to pay people to take their worthless EVs off their hands. But other than all that, sure. EVs are the futurein some other, self-imagined elite constructed, reality. Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor. Stormy Daniels, gushing about sex and turds, was one heck of a mistake to put on the witness stand in the New York hush-money case brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg against President Trump. Asked if she knew what the case was about, and well, she didn't. According to Victoria Taft, writing at PJMedia: The Washington Post captured most of the dialogue between Necheles and Daniels. Necheles asked Daniels if she had knowledge of Trumps involvement in the payment made to her in 2016 to ensure she would not go public about their alleged sexual encounter. Not directly, Daniels replied. No. Necheles followed up, You know nothing about what he does or does not know about the business records? I know nothing about his business records, Daniels said. No, why would I? Daniels drew some laughter when Necheles asked if she knew about what the criminal indictment against Trump entailed. Theres a lot of indictments, Daniels responded. Why would she know if Trump knew about the payments, indeed? She admitted she hadn't spoken with him since 2007. Taft then noted that the other thing that came out at trial was that she tried to extort him for cash, while the getting was good. A recorded phone exchange revealed this: Wow this transcript proves that Stormy and co were trying to EXTORT @realDonaldTrump. TRUMP DID NOTHING WRONG HE IS THE VICTIM! https://t.co/wyGXOE9hmr Alex Bruesewitz (@alexbruesewitz) May 9, 2024 "You better settle this God damn story. Because if he loses this election, and he is going to lose, if he loses this election we lose all fucking leverage this case is worth zero. And if that happens, I'm going to sue you because you lost this opportunity," said Stormy's lawyer Keith Davidson to Trump's then-fixer Michael Cohen, who then badly advised Trump to pay the extortion money. Sound like extortion? It does to anyone normal. And that contradicted her claim on the stand that she wasn't interested in money, only in telling her story. Lying comes easy to her, because it's what she does for a living. Her schtick, after all, is talking and acting dirty for cash. That's not just the view of us normal people watching the case far from New York City. Even leftists at the scene are saying she shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the witness stand. Fox News quoted a CNN legal analyst saying Daniels was a disaster for the prosecution: CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said that the cross-examination of adult film actress and Trump trial witness Stormy Daniels after her testimony against former President Trump was a disaster. While Honig said that Daniels' testimony about a sexual encounter with Trump in a hotel room in 2006 was "plausible," her responses under cross-examination by Trump's team called her credibility into question. "Her responses were disastrous," Honig said, referring to the moment when Daniels admitted that she hates Trump. "Thats a big deal," Honig said. ... "When the witness hates the person whose liberty is at stake, thats a big d--- deal!" Honig said. "And shes putting out tweets, fantasizing about him being in jail. That really undermines the credibility." Well, yeah. Whether it persuades the all-Democrat Trump-hating jury is another matter but for sure it will be out there for the rest of us. Another leftist who seemed to think Daniels was a disaster was the justice himself, Juan Merchan, who otherwise keeps threatening to throw Trump in jail any time he tries to defend himself. According to CNN, he chided Trump's lawyers for not objecting to Stormy Daniels's disgusting graphic testimony, which had nothing to do with the bookkeeping case. Judge Juan Merchan called out former President Donald Trumps defense team during their motion for a mistrial Thursday afternoon, telling them there were many times they could have objected to Stormy Daniels testimony, but did not. For the second time this week, Merchan expressed surprise that Trumps lawyers had not objected more when Daniels was on the stand. And for the second time this week, Merchan rejected their motion for a mistrial. Well, whose courtroom was it, Justice Merchan? The guy did object to some of the toilet talk himself in one instance but way too much got out, it was like Fani Willis babbling from the stand all over again. The prosecution put Stormy on the stand to embarrass Trump and damage his presidential run, of course, but didn't seem to understand that the audience in the courtroom and well beyond might just be onto him and his sleazy political game, which could render the legal case against him nil. We all know what party the justice donates to, whose side he's on, and what he would like to do to Trump. So the fact that Merchan complained about the Trump side not objecting enough, for example, on the matter of whether Trump used a condom, a sacred point to the left and a matter of no interest to most others, pretty well tells us that he could see that Daniels's recollections of porkings past was damaging to the prosecution, particularly as her contradictions and lies were exposed, one by one. That's at least two on the left who see the case starting to go down in flames, and there have been others. Many others. One hopes they are right, but there's no guessing what a Trump-hating jury might do. We all know what the O.J. jury did. The bottom line here is that Bragg is bringing out lascivious testimony from known liars not to pursue his court case but to harm Trump's campaign because he doesn't have much of a case in the first place. He made the decision to put the very unprepared Daniels on the stand, and now that she's spewed her spew, the case is in tatters. But no matter, because Stormy looks like Plan B. Bragg would like to harm Trump on the public relations front with the public through sex talk if he can't win his claimed case on the bookkeeping grounds, which isn't what prosecutions are for. Bragg campaigned on Getting Trump, and since he can't get him on authentic crimes, he's trying for the grossout factor from various prevaricators. Not even the left is fooled by this, and their consternation is now showing. Image: Screen shot from Inside Edition video, via YouTube Among the perennial controversies in the firearm world is whether concealed or open carry is best. Circa 2024, open carry is widely allowed: State laws regarding open carry fall into several categories: permissive, permissive with restrictions, licensed open carry states, and those in which open carry is prohibited. Permissive states allow non-prohibited citizens to open carry without requiring a permit or license. Most states fall into this category. There are also slight variations in regulations for handguns versus long guns. Thirty-six states are permissive and allow the open carrying of a handgun without a permit or license. Seven of these states have some restrictions on the open carrying of handguns. North Dakota, for example, allows for open carry of a firearm without a permit, provided the gun is unloaded. The state requires an individual to obtain a license to open carry a loaded weapon. Nine states require a permit to open carry a handgun, while four states, California, Florida, Illinois, and New York, prohibit it entirely. Open carry is also not permitted in the District of Columbia. Forty-four states allow open carry of long gunsrifles and shotgunswithout a license. The primary advantage of concealed carry is criminals cant know who is carrying and have to assume everyone is and act accordingly. This applies largely to red states. Of course, situational awareness plays a role. Anyone appearing to be an easy, unaware target is more likely, armed or unarmed, to be attacked. Obviously, the greater the number of honest people carrying concealed, the greater the potential deterrence. Many would argue there is no commensurate advantage to open carry, but for the sake of argument, Ill make a case. An openly carried handgun mightmightconvince criminals the person carrying it is prepared and situationally aware, someone with whom one does not trifleunless observation reveals otherwise. It cant be assumed an open carrier will therefore be less aware, relying on their exposed weapon to ward off evil, but it cant be discounted either. Graphic: Glock 19 in OWB holster. Author. Carrying openly also provides greater choice in handguns, which dont have to be chosen for concealment. Most people tend to be better shots with larger, duty or mid-sized handguns, Glock 17s or 19s as opposed to a Glock 43X. Those larger handguns also have substantially greater magazine capacity, 17, 15 and 10 rounds respectively (not counting a chambered round). Certainly, some can comfortably carry duty handguns concealed, but the entire market segment of easily concealed handguns makes clear theyre in the minority, even where men are concerned. One may, under most circumstances, draw an openly carried handgun faster than a concealed handgun, but again, situational awareness is ever vital. The ideal is being able to anticipate danger to thereby avoid ever having to draw ones handgun. Anyone carrying a handgun is also responsible for retaining it, which is obviously easier if that handgun is concealed, and bad guys dont know where it might be or how holstered. Open carry holstersusually outside the waistband (OTW) typestend not to have any retention or security mechanisms other than friction, making it easy to snatch a handgun from the unwary. Those carrying daily would certainly find police retention holsters unnecessarily bulky, expensive and cumbersome. The other primary issue to consider is stampeding the women and children and frightening the cattle. The mere sight of a firearm is sufficient to panic some people. However, there is nothing sane Americans can do, nor should they, to avoid aggrieving the perpetually aggrieved, particularly those of an anti-liberty/gun bent. Rational Americans arent responsible for the moment-to-moment mental health of the unbalanced, but one can make a reasonable case for doing whats reasonably necessary to avoid unnecessary confrontation of all kinds. When I see someone carrying openly, and thats actually less common than most imagine even in Flyover Country, I take a few moments to assess their actions and apparent emotional state, and to date, thats all it has taken to be comfortable with them. The lines Ive tentatively drawn here become blurrier when long guns are openly carried. Obviously, theyre difficult to impossible to carry concealed. One doesnt normally see this other than at Second Amendment demonstrations, and there is a substantial practical and legal difference between openly carrying and brandishing a firearm of any kind, brandishing being actions that indicate an imminent threat of using that firearm as opposed to merely carrying it. Generally, its best to go about ones business as unobtrusively as possible, relying on situational awareness and solid knowledge of use of force law to avoid ever having to draw or fire ones handgun. Arguably has the greatest chance of doing that while carrying concealed. Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor. Stop every press in America. A book has come out that praises President Nixon to the hilt. No resignation obsession. No rewinding the tapes ad nauseam. No wallowing in the gutter cartoons. This is a tome titled Richard Nixon: Californias Native Son, a sunny story about the onlypresident born in the Golden State the man who died 30 years ago this spring. The author is Paul Carter, a Southern California trial lawyer, just like his topic. And he unabashedly puts Nixon on the pedestal where he belongs, detailing his: Loving upbringing. Five decades of wedded bliss with Pat. Heroics in World War IIs Pacific theater. Gutsy congressional race in1946. Brilliant victory for the Senate in 1950. Backbone perseverance as vice presidential candidate in 1952. Rebound for the ages to win the presidency in 1968. He did this, all while maintaining lifelong friendships from his Whittier upbringing and college days. Nixon became an international star, but he never forgot his friends and his disposition especially shone among these fellow Californians. Carter wrote: Richard Milhous Nixon was shaped by a pioneer spirit, family-instilled tenacity, loyalty to friends and family, and a tireless work ethic, all founded on his devout faith. One of those California friends, George Argyros, lauded Nixon as hardly anyone does in history books: He was an amazing man. He was sensitive, accomplished, well versed, with a very realistic view of the world. Nixon carried his empathy beyond his home state. At the other end of the country was his hospital visit with Bud McFarlane, the President Reagan aide who tried to kill himself in 1987. After welcoming the former president to his hospital room, McFarlane said, I recall the warmth in his voice when he said, From now on, dont look back. Get busy, earn yourself some money. Youve done the right things in the past; now look to your future. You can do it. Coming from him, I cant tell you what a tonic the encouragement was. Nixon is a giant because of much more than his kind demeanor. The 37th president rocked at what he called nut-cuttin time. Lets count this prized poker players chips for America: Vietnam: Nixon had a winning hand in January 1973. He ended Americas longest war. South Vietnam looked like it would stay free the way South Korea did. Only when Congress pressured the president to resign the next year and surrendered in Southeast Asia did that hand fold. Air and water: Nixon started flushing the grime from Americas skies and rivers by opening the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. He was a true conservationist, not a weather hoax nutjob. Voting age: Nixon shuffled the law to let 18-year-olds vote just like they can fight in our wars. His signature on the bill in 1970 lowered the age limit from 21 in federal elections. The next year, the 26th Amendment to the Constitution made the age change for all elections. Desegregation: Nixon faced a weak hand when the courts ruled that schools had to bus children to achieve racial balance, an outrageous slap at families and communities. He forged through this political Cat 6 storm by calling for a pause on new busing orders and pushing voluntary integration plans. Bottom line, black child attendance at all-black schools plummeted to 8% in the South by his last year in office. All the while, Nixon displayed sober respect for Southern whites, whom liberals ripped as racists. Just like today. We dont poke our fingers in their eyes, the president said in Carters book. We dont rub their noses in it. We dont get our name in the newspapers but we do it. That touch turned Dixie his way in the 1972 landslide. Killing the draft: This is Nixons ace. He pledged in his 1968 campaign to end the draft, and he came through on July 1, 1973. Thus started the all-volunteer Army, his ultimate salute to freedom. With soldiers who want to fight for America and earn the solid money that comes with service, the Nixon-born military has grown into the most muscular in history. The moon: Nixon oversaw all six manned lunar landings from 1969 to 72. Each one came while America was in the heat of the Vietnam War. Did Nixon wring his hands and cut the space program? No. He stared at the cards he was dealt and raised the stakes. Israel: Man, could we use Nixons spine now as Israel looks for Americas help in the latest war on terror. He saw the Jews losing steam amid the Yom Kippur War in 1973, so he stepped on the gas. He shipped every aircraft in sight to Israels defense. It turned out to be a bigger airlift than the Berlin version of 1948-1949 and saved our ally in the desert. China: The red Chinese arent looking so hot these days. Still, Nixon was oceans ahead of his time. He saw the worlds biggest population in darkness and drew open the curtain. Since his 1972 drama, the Chinese have been performing an economic boom. Amid all that buying and selling of our goods, we can only hope for a long shot decades from now: China rejecting communism. That seminal visit to China at least paid off on a personal level. Carter reveals that while Nixon suffered in the hospital after leaving the White House in late 1974, he received a startling call. Mao Zedong was on the line. The communist told the Republican he met in Beijing two years before that he considered him one of the greatest statesmen in history. The bloodthirsty chairman at least spotted titans on the world stage. President Nixon did California right. So does Paul Carters book. Image: U.S. National Archives, via Picryl // no known restrictions Bucky Fox is an author and editor in Florida. The New York Times, looking at the irrefutable fact that the Democrat party has gone full Hitler, it pressed the damage control button. In a tour-de-farce, the Times employs one sleight of hand after another in a transparent effort to convince their Jewish readers of the canard that anti-semitism is a right-wing issue and that Trumps mean tweets are a greater threat to Jews than the evil progressives embrace of genocidal radical Islam. The Times is not subtle. The article is entitled How Republicans Echo Antisemitic Tropes Despite Declaring Support for Israel, and one of the authors summed it up for X: After Oct. 7, Trump and Republican members of Congress have portrayed themselves as protectors of the Jews. But theyve actually increasingly injected antisemitic messages into the mainstream. With @danielle_ivory @jenvalentino @alexlemonides https://t.co/cgxGquC3Ws Karen Yourish (@karenyourish) May 10, 2024 The essay works by using selective facts, playing the Jewish card, and dog whistles. The article begins with the appearance of objectivity: The Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, traveled to Columbia University two weeks ago to decry the virus of antisemitism that he said pro-Palestinian protesters were spreading across the country. They have chased down Jewish students. They have mocked them and reviled them, he said to jeers from protesters. They have shouted racial epithets. They have screamed at those who bear the Star of David. Former President Donald J. Trump chimed in. President Biden, he wrote on Truth Social, HATES Israel and Hates the Jewish people. Amid the widening protests and the unease, if not fear, among many Jews, Republicans have sought to seize the political advantage by portraying themselves as the true protectors of Israel and Jews under assault from the progressive left. Everything goes downhill from there. We see the return of the classic 2020s phrase mostly peaceful riots. The four (!) authors gloss over the call to cleanse Israel of Jews from the river to the sea by adopting a studied neutrality, stating that, while some Jews think this might be a call to genocide, pro-Palestine activists describe the chant as a rallying cry for Palestinian liberation. And while the NYT acknowledges that Christians strongly support Israel and Jews, they ignore the implications. I appreciate @Greta Van Susteren having me on tonight to discuss Holocaust Remembrance Day and the current resurgence of the evil of antisemitism we are seeing. Watch more pic.twitter.com/QMzt6j8wwy Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) May 6, 2024 Completely absent is any discussion of Donald Trump, who led the single most pro-Israel administration in Americas history. Unmentioned are the 100 Times President Trump Supported Israel, including creating the Abraham Accords to start towards peace in the Middle East and moving the US embassy to Jerusalem in defiance of the radical Islamists. Likewise, the NYT says nothing about how antisemitism is now in the mainstream of the Democrat party. Nor does it address Bidens support for Iran, attempts to oust Israels Prime Minister Netanyahu, and withholding munitions from Israel (while selling them to Qatar/Hamas and Lebanon/Hezbollah) to buy radical Islamist votes in Michigan. After the selective facts and omissions come the dog whistles. Inevitably, the Times raises George Soros, describing him in anodyne fashion as a Jewish American businessman and Holocaust survivor. Soros is none of those things. Soros is not Jewish in any religious sense; he is a megalomaniacal atheist. Further, to describe Soros as a Holocaust survivor is to stretch that term beyond credulity, when Soros and his family spent WWII posing as good Nazis. Regardless, the fact that Soros has Ashkenazi DNA is enough for the NYT to play the race card. Is that merited? To quote Rabbi Aryeh Spero, who addressed this same issue a few years ago, no: The charge [that someone] is anti-Semitic because he criticized George Soros is preposterous. No person is beyond criticism simply because he is a member of a minority community, stated Rabbi Spero. Mr. Soros actively and openly engages in politics and in influencing state and local governments and is, therefore, a legitimate object of criticism, especially concerning the leftwing policies hes tried to force on America through his massive underwritings. Thus, this accusation is just another dishonest attempt to win an election by playing the anti-Semitism card. It is specious chutzpah. Furthermore, those who point to Soros do so not because he is Jewish but because he is Soros, Soros being the most high profile and effective opponent today of American traditional values, added Rabbi Spero. As is well documented, he is by far the primary funder of radical leftist candidates and groups vowing to transform America into a transnational entity... While still in dog whistle mode, the NYT gets to its most ludicrous argument: Republicans are antisemitic because they use code wordsi.e., dog whistles that only skilled NYT writers and victim studies professors can hear. And boy, do they hear them, going straight from Stalin to Hitler to conservatives in two paragraphs: Across the centuries, the conspiracy theory of the manipulative, avaricious Jew has worn many faces . . . Under Stalin, accusations of rootless cosmopolitanism echoed Hitlers charges about a poison injected by the international and cosmopolitan Jew[s], to destroy the Aryan race. After the Cold War, the code words internationalist and cosmopolitan were largely replaced by globalist and Soros, according to Pamela Nadell, a professor of history and Jewish studies at American University. This argument becomes ever more ludicrous as it progresses, trying to establish antisemitism solely by reference to ambiguity in words, ignoring the deeds of blood and violence. Interestingly, the real conclusion of this NYT obscenity appears in the middle of the article. The NYT begins the conclusion by agreeing that Jews in America are right to be frightened. In this moment, many Jews in America feel that the most salient threats come from anti-Israel activity, even if in the long term they should not dismiss strains of antisemitism on the reactionary right and the illiberal left, said Alvin Rosenfeld, director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism at Indiana University, Bloomington. The obvious cannot be allowed to stand. As always, the Times goes to an academic expert to pronounce upon what should truly frighten Jews? Are the worst threats from progressives embracing genocidal Hamas or from Trumps mean tweets: If you were to ask me, where do I think the most serious threats today come from, he said, it wouldnt be first and foremost from some things that politicians have said. But as Americas presidential election draws nearer, he cautioned, that might change. Its turning very ugly, he said, adding that Mr. Trumps comments about Jews who vote for Democrats go beyond what I could have imagined, even. Its not just bad, its vile. So, Republican words that only the Times can interpret override both evil progressive deeds and the open support for Jews and Israel from Trump, conservatives, and Christians. Let us hope, for the sake of Jews and this nation, that there are few Jews who agree. Wolf Howling is an attorney and retired military officer who blogs at Bookworm Room. Image made using a public domain logo. Last month, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council bid to recognize a Palestinian state. Today, however, the full UN General Assembly backed that same bid, with 143 nations out of the 193 total voting in favor of the idea (25 abstained). Think about that: Seventy-five percent of the UN is in favor of granting nationhood to a people whose raison d'etre is to commit genocide against a UN nation. The worlds moral compass is broken and, as always, Jews are the canary in the coalmine. The rest of the civilized world will be next. Al Jazeera proudly touted the news: The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognising it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council reconsider the matter favourably. The vote by the 193-member UNGA on Friday was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member a move that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state after the United States vetoed it in the UN Security Council last month. The assembly adopted a resolution on Friday with 143 votes in favour and nine against including the US and Israel while 25 countries abstained. It does not give the Palestinians full UN membership, but simply recognises them as qualified to join. [snip] While the UNGA alone cannot grant full UN membership, the draft resolution on Friday will give the Palestinians some additional rights and privileges from September 2024 like a seat among the UN members in the assembly hall but it will not be granted a vote in the body. In addition, as this tweet notes, the Palestinian body will receive almost all rights of a full member state except the right to vote in the GA and to be a candidate for various UN groups: NOW: #UNGA adopts resolution enhancing #Palestine's rights and privileges at the United Nations with strong support. Resolution received 143 votes in favor, 9 against, 25 abstentions. @Palestine_UN retains observer state status but will receive almost all rights of a full member pic.twitter.com/ub460tHBMI Rami Ayari (@Raminho) May 10, 2024 Currently, the only thing stopping the UN from recognizing a State of Palestine is the U.S. veto. However, given Bidens increasingly open animosity toward Israel, its not entirely clear that Israel can rely on that veto. The UN vote seems to extend only to the West Bank (i.e., the Palestinian Authority), but its a little unclear. Therefore, the following discussion covers both the people in Gaza and the West Bank (which is called the West Bank because its on Jordans West Bank, reflecting that Jordan is, in fact, the Palestinian nation to the extent that there is one). For now, one can easily dismiss Gaza as a nation because its governed by a recognized terrorist group. However, the West Bank also isnt a nation by any metric. Its government is not democratic, as evidenced by the fact that its President, Mahmoud Abbas, is in the 19th year of his four-year term. Even China and Russia make a better pretense of democratic elections. The West Bank also lacks a viable economy, something even Wikipedia concedes. According to data at Macrotrends, in 2022, the West Bank and Gaza, which have a combined population of a little over 5.4 million people, exported goods valued at $3.54 billion, which is a pathetic output. Within the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority owns most of the means of production and prohibits competition. Meanwhile, in 2021/2022, the U.S. gave almost $600 million to Gaza and the West Bank, while the European Parliament boasts that, between 2014 and 2020, it handed over 2.2 billion to Gaza and the West Bank (somewhere around $3 billion in todays dollars). Its hard to tell how much foreign aid money the West Bank receives because it hides the ball. Of course, very little of that money goes to the people. Yasser Arafat was worth around $9 billion (around $14 billion in todays dollars) when he died. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abbas was alleged to have amassed $100 million in 2013, less than a decade into his four-year term. Hes surely a billionaire by now, as are all his Hamas peers. On top of the moral and financial corruption that characterizes a people without the will, desire, or need to sustain themselves, the Palestinians are also dedicated to Israels destruction and the death of its people. Hamas, as we know, is open about it, both in its charter and in statements from its leaders: Ahmad Bahr, former Deputy Speaker, Hamas Parliament: Kill them all without leaving a single one. (2012) Fathi Hamad, Senior Hamas official: You have Jews everywhere and we must attack every Jew on the globe by way of slaughter and killing. (2019) Sheikh Hamad al-Regeb: Bring annihilation upon the Jews. Paralyze them, destroy their entity. (2023) and, Yaya Sinwar, at this writing crawling through sewers in Gaza, announcing that Hamas is winning the war: Well take down the border and tear their hearts from their bodies. (2018) The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has been more subtle, but its goals are no less deadly. It granted honorary citizenship to those who slaughtered Jews (the more brutally, the better), celebrated Adolf Hitler, and has funded terrorists for decades (thats where some of your taxpayer dollars go). Abbas himself has denied the Holocaust. The chants of From the river to the sea ring as loudly in the West Bank as they do in Gaza, and they mean the same: The destruction of Israel and the death of its Jews. Ahed Tamimi is the living embodiment of the West Bank mindset. Following the October 7 massacre, she wrote, Come on settlers, we will slaughter you. We are waiting for you in all the cities of the West Bank. What Hitler did to you was a picnic. We will drink your blood and eat your skulls. In 2000, citizens in the West Bank slaughtered two IDF reservists and then engaged in a joyous blood ritual to celebrate. College students across America, knowingly or not, commemorate that moment today. If Gazans and West Bankians were already a nation, that nation would be characterized as a failed state. Nevertheless, because of the deep antisemitic hatred for Israel that guides the United Nations, an organization that is primarily comprised of Muslim and socialist nations, the UN is on the verge of granting official recognition to two non-productive, non-democratic entities that exist to eradicate the worlds only Jewish state. Hitler would be proud. Lets hope that, on this matter, at least, Joe Dont Destroy Hamas Biden can do the right thing. (For those wondering why I keep putting Palestinian in quotation marks, its because the motley conglomeration of Arabs who drifted into Syria-Palestinia beginning in the early 19th century were never considered Palestinians. That was a term that referred to the Jews who continued living on the land after Rome destroyed the Kingdom of Judea and renamed the land Palestine in honor of the Philistines. See here for more information. The term Palestinian was a 1960s construct to create a fake lineage to overcome the fact that the Jews had continuously occupied the same land for more than 3,700 years.) Image by Andrea Widburg We sit on stolen land said the speaker at the University of Minnesota graduation ceremony, asking everyone in the auditorium to acknowledge that fact. Racism is endemic, systemic in this country, said another presenter. We must make certain we are striving for equitable outcomes in the future. It is not enough for us in the nursing program to heal the human sick and wounded. We must also strive to heal the planet, said a third, referring to climate change. Diversity is our strength, said yet another. All the proud parents, friends, and family members were anxiously waiting to witness their loved ones graduate, but first they were asked to acknowledge that they were occupying stolen land. Those in control of the event, occupying the bully-pulpit as it were, thought it mandatory to attempt to coerce those of us in attendance into believing or at least acknowledging a preposterous piece of ideological drivel. It would not have felt out of place at that moment had we been asked to stand and swear our fealty to this notion and, by extension, to them -- by way of a Nazi-style salute. And then we were subjected to roughly an hour of various speakers, several from North African or Middle Eastern nations, berating America, and everything it once stood for. (As they stood there, living testaments to the benefits and opportunities that nation, in which they themselves are not native/indigenous, provided them! Talk about chutzpah!) A speaker lectured us on the genocide in Gaza. A voice or two chimed in with Free Palestine! We were similarly treated to a tutorial on womens reproductive care. We were told that the nation and the state was a sh*t-show for childrens health. The speaker asked, How are our kids doing? To which the proper reply would have been, You mean the ones we havent aborted? Diversity was mentioned incessantly. One speaker said of her success, Id like to thank myself. Diversity. Racism. Climate change. Diversity. Racism. Climate change. Rinse. Repeat. I have addressed racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, climate change, and Jew hatred on this site and others -- on multiple occasions in the past. Let me now say something about stolen land. I happen to be very fond of Native Americans in general, and several in specific, but the idea of stolen land is ridiculous. If we stole the land from, say, the Sioux, there is every likelihood that they stole it from, say, the Ojibwe who may have stolen it from someone else. Who may have stolen it from those who first crossed the land bridge from Russia to North America. Who would have stolen the land from wolves, caribou, and bison, among others. Who stole the land from more primitive animals who stole the land from multicellular creatures who stole the land from single-cell organisms. By this line of reasoning, mankind could never have made it out of the Cradle of Civilization. The first primitive man or clan to step outside the Fertile Crescent would have subsequently accused anyone else who followed or even attempted to pass through of stealing their land. If they wished to hang around in that area, they would have been branded colonizers. The rest of the planet would have been devoid of humans. There would be no one living in North or South America, Europe, or Australia. And I thought indigenous peoples didnt believe in ownership of land, anyway. I walked out on the speakers on three separate occasions. (No one else did, at least so far as I could tell.) At a graduation ceremony, that is supposed to be a celebration. But I could not walk out on my daughter. I made sure I was there to see her receive her graduate certificate. I walked out on the speakers because I cannot walk out on my country, or all those who sacrificed so much for it. The engraving on the granite facade of the building in which my daughter graduated read in part, DEVOTED TO THE INSTRUCTION OF YOUTH AND THE WELFARE OF THE STATE. Tragically, the school today is far more devoted to the indoctrination of youth and the advancement of the welfare state. Image: Alexius Horatius, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED Google Workspace is a service used and enjoyed by millions around the world. There are entire businesses built on Google Workspace. India Today reports that American Romance author, K. Renee has lost access to her Google Drive account which denied her access to her work on Google Docs. Renee lost access to over 200,000 words because Google found her content inappropriate. The romance author known for randy romance novels lost access to her content on March 24, 2024, after Google flagged it as inappropriate. Getting locked out of Google Drive is every authors worst fear Writing takes a lot of time and effort. Every authors worst fear is losing access to years of hard work because the platform the content is hosted on kicked you out. Wired reports that Google never told Renee which of the over 200,000 words broke the platforms rules. The Google Drive terms of service state that files containing violence, gore, and child sexual abuse material, are prohibited. Google says that users can always request an appeal if they believe their content was flagged in error. Renees case highlights the importance of not relying on a single cloud storage provider Renee is very likely not the only one who has lost access to her content on Google. In 2021, Google locked the co-creator of Terraria out of his Google account. He was locked out of services like Gmail, Play Store, and YouTube, leading to the cancellation of the release of Terraria on the now-defunct Stadia. It is a bit of common advice to not put all your eggs in one basket. Users should not rely solely on one cloud provider like Google, because they can get locked out at any time. If you have important files, make multiple backups on different cloud storage providers, and always keep a local copy with you. This should reduce the impact radius in case your account on any cloud provider gets nuked. Google is updating its Maps app to make it easier to locate EV charging stations. According to a recent report, the company is bringing even more features to appease users with an Electric Vehicle, seeing how their numbers grow exponentially with each passing day. This would be the second major update in the past two months addressing EV users. Users can now add a filter for Charging Stations on Google Maps The latest update for Google Maps on Android smartphones allows users to sift between Gas and Charging stations. The update is seemingly limited to Android users. Users must first change the vehicle type to Electric on the Google Maps app to see the change reflected on the app. By default, Maps identifies a users vehicle as a Gas vehicle. Users can change the same by tapping the profile icon on the Google Maps app and selecting Navigation settings from the following prompt. Once done, users will be presented with another screen featuring Route settings. In it, there will be an option to change the engine type from Gas to Electric. Google Mapss latest update comes hot on the heels of its AI-powered summaries feature. For those unfamiliar, the AI-summaries feature provides a detailed explanation of the location of an electric vehicle (EV) charger. This feature will be beneficial in situations where EV chargers are located inside parking lots and are not easily visible. Per Google, this feature has been made possible by the thousands of reviews left by users on the Maps app. Additionally, Google is also working to bring real-time updates about EV chargers when your car is running low on charge. The update, slated for a rollout in the coming months, will show a compatible charger inside a mini-map within the Maps app. Additionally, the mini-map will give insights into the real-time port availability and the chargers rated output. All these features combined should make it easier for users to spot EV charging stations using Google Maps. The EV space is no longer limited to auto manufacturers Interestingly, a lot of smartphone companies are looking to get a piece of the EV pie. Apple, for instance, is in talks with EV manufacturer Rivian for a possible tie-up. Similarly, Xiaomi recently unveiled its first electric cars, the SU7 and the SU7 Max with a recharge range of up to 800KM in China. Artists are facing a cost-of-touring crisis and venues are stopping live music or closing entirely at a rate of two per week, a report into grassroots music venues has found. Festivals, electronic music venues, academies and arenas are not insulated from the impacts of the crisis and promoters are less able to put on shows or make them financially viable, it said. The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committees recommendations state the Government should launch a comprehensive review of live and electronic music by the summer to fully examine the long-term challenges to the live music ecosystem. The committee said artists are facing a cost of touring crisis (William Conran/PA) The report, focusing on immediate solutions to support grassroots music, also calls for a temporary VAT cut based on venue capacity to stimulate grassroots music activity and help the sector through the current closure crisis. The committee has recommended a widespread voluntary levy to be in place no later than September, which should be followed with an effectiveness assessment by the Government. It said the levy on arena and stadium concert tickets, which would create a support fund for venues, artists and promoters, should not be passed on to music fans. The committee also said a trust led by a sector umbrella body, such as the Live Trust or Music Venues Trust (MVT), would be the best way to collect, manage and distribute the voluntary fund. The report added that if there is no agreement by September, or if it fails to collect enough income to support the sector, the Government should step in and introduce a statutory levy. Dame Caroline Dinenage, chairwoman of the committee, said: We are grateful to the many dedicated local venues who gave up their time to take part in our inquiry. They delivered the message loud and clear that grassroots music venues are in crisis. The ongoing wave of closures is not just a disaster for music, performers and supporters in local communities up and down the country, but also puts at risk the entire live music ecosystem. If the grassroots, where musicians, technicians, tour managers and promoters hone their craft, are allowed to wither and die, the UKs position as a music powerhouse faces a bleak future. To stem the overwhelming, ongoing tide of closures, we urgently need a levy on arena and stadium concert tickets to fund financial support for the sector, alongside a VAT cut to help get more shows into venues. The committee said the live music sector is a significant contributor to the success of the music industry as a whole (Ian West/PA) While the current focus is on the many grassroots music venues falling silent, those working in the live music sector across the board are also under extraordinary strain. It is time that the Government brought together everyone with a stake in the industrys success, including music fans, to address the long-term challenges and ensure live music can thrive into the future. Mark Davyd, chief executive and founder of the MVT, welcomed the findings and thanked the committee for its recommendations. He said: It has taken much longer than any of us would have liked to get the positive change we all wanted to see, but we could not have achieved this fantastic outcome without your continued support for your local live music venue. Jon Collins, chief executive of Live, also welcomed the knowledgeable and wide-ranging report. Its clear that the committee has recognised the many challenges faced by venues, promoters, events and artists at the grassroots level, and the steps required to address them, he said. Mr Collins added that Live is looking forward to working with the Government on the review of VAT. Irelands Eurovision Song Contest entry Bambie Thug has said they missed their dress rehearsal after a situation required urgent attention from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). On their Instagram story, they wrote: Dear Coven, There was a situation while we were waiting to go to stage for the flag parade rehearsal which I felt needed urgent attention from the EBU the EBU have taken this matter seriously and we have been in a discussion about what action needs to be taken. This means I have missed my dress rehearsal I am really sorry to the fans that have come to see me. Bambie Thug at the Kerrang! Awards 2022 (Suzan Moore/PA) I hope to see you on the stage tonight. In response, the organisers of Eurovision said: Bambie Thug did not perform in dress rehearsal three and the footage of their performance in dress rehearsal two was used in its place. They missed the dress rehearsal due to a situation that is currently being discussed with the EBU and song contest organisers. We hope that this will be resolved shortly and Bambie Thug will appear in the Grand Final show as planned. Irish broadcaster RTE has reported that the singer called on organisers to address commentary made on Israeli television before their performance in Tuesdays semi-final. This is not believed to be related to the situation Bambie has described in their social media post. They told the publication: Im angry with other teams breaching their rules of the EBU, and still being allowed in. So theres definitely a war drum sounding in my heart to push the performance even more than I have done before. Bambie has been critical of Israel competing in the contest and has called for a ceasefire in the Middle East. Good progress has been made on the first full day of the M25s weekend closure, National Highways has said, but drivers are being urged to stick to the official diversion route in a bid to keep traffic moving smoothly. The motorway which is Britains busiest closed in both directions between junctions 9 and 10 in Surrey from 9pm on Friday while concrete beams for a new bridge are installed. It will reopen at 6am on Monday. Diversion routes take cars on a 19-mile journey on A roads, crossing from Surrey into Londons Ulez area, though National Highways has assured drivers no enforcement action will be taken. Engineering works taking place at the A3 Wisley interchange at Junction 10 of the M25 as concrete beams for a new bridge are installed (Jordan Pettitt/PA) However, the highways authority said anyone who ignores official 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. On Saturday, National Highways said they had seen an increasing number of motorists choosing to ignore the diversion route, starting at junction 8, and instead continuing on the motorway to the next junction. We'll be closing the M25 J9-10 both ways from 9pm tonight to 6am on Mon 13 May. Only travel if your journey is essential. Diversions in place. For updates during the closure, follow @HighwaysSEAST. https://t.co/tLUfFssBaE pic.twitter.com/9Pa4fMxFAr National Highways: South-East (@HighwaysSEAST) May 10, 2024 Simon Elliott, National Highways senior project manager, said it was important that drivers follow the diversion route in place. He said in a statement to the PA news agency: It is the most effective way for people travelling clockwise along the M25 to reach their destination and will help keep traffic moving as well as possible during this weekends closure. Coming off at junction 9 means non-freight drivers will end up travelling behind or alongside HGVs which is something we are actively trying to avoid and is likely to have a negative impact on travel times, congestion and the communities they pass through. The route is expected to reopen at 6am on Monday (Jordan Pettitt/PA) The highways authority added that good progress had been made on Saturday, with a number of beams that will form the new bridge having been lifted into place. The 19-mile diversion route saw an unusually low volume of traffic, with residents and local businesses reporting quiet roads and reduced footfall in their towns and villages. Councillor Rod Ashford from the Reigate and Banstead Borough Council told the PA news agency that, at around 5pm, traffic around junction 8, where the diversion route starts, was free-flowing with an unusually low volume of traffic. A deserted M25 looking eastbound (Jordan Pettitt/PA) He added: Given the A217 would be a route to divert M25 traffic to Epsom and around (to the) M25 junction 9, traffic in my area is quiet. Meanwhile, in Epsom, a town on the diversion route, workers at Blacks Burgers told the PA news agency there had been a downturn in business and walk-in trade compared to last weekend and corresponding with the road closure, whilst the area in general seemed quieter. National Highways previously urged drivers to only travel the route if necessary, to avoid the closure and to complete their journeys in other ways if possible. The M25 closure is the second of five planned weekend closures which come as part of a 317 million project to improve junction 10. Dutch act Joost Klein has been disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest grand final following a Swedish police investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour, the European Broadcasting Union said. Entering with the song Europapa, a tribute to his late parents, the 26-year-old rapper and singer from the Netherlands had qualified for the grand final on Thursday evening at the Malmo Arena venue in Sweden. The official page of the Netherlands Songfestival, which sends acts to Eurovision, said it is shocked and finds the decision disproportionate. There will be one less contestant in the televised final on Saturday as the UKs Olly Alexander, Irelands Bambie Thug and Israels Eden Golan all compete along with 22 other countries. A statement from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said: The Dutch artist Joost Klein will not be competing in the grand final of this years Eurovision Song Contest. Statement on Dutch participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.https://t.co/EKagHwQKCZ Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) May 11, 2024 Swedish police have investigated a complaint made by a female member of the production crew after an incident following his performance in Thursday nights semi-final. While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the contest. We would like to make it clear that, contrary to some media reports and social media speculation, this incident did not involve any other performer or delegation member. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour at our event and are committed to providing a safe and secure working environment for all staff at the contest. In light of this, Joost Kleins behaviour towards a team member is deemed in breach of contest rules. The grand final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest will now proceed with 25 participating songs. As a result of no participation from the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final the following will take effect: All contestants keep their number in the official Running Order. There will be NO song in position number 5. The jury results, received after Dress Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) May 11, 2024 In a follow-up statement, the EBU said viewers from the Netherlands will still be allowed to vote in the grand final and added that the Dutch jury result is still valid. All contestants will keep their number in the official running order and there will be no song in position number five, the statement said. It added that the jury results received after dress rehearsal two on Friday May 10 have been recalculated so that the Netherlands will not receive any points. No points will be awarded to the Netherlands from the viewing public, the EBU said. The EBU will inform all telecommunications partners that the Netherlands is no longer participating and we will endeavour to block the lines for song five. Swedish and Dutch news outlets have reported that he is being investigated after an incident involving a television production worker. Joost Klein arrives on stage for the introducing of the artists at the dress rehearsal for the final on Friday (Martin Meissner/AP/PA) A spokeswoman for the Swedish Police Authority said in a statement to the PA news agency: A man is suspected of unlawful threats. The crime is said to have been committed at Malmo Arena on Thursday evening. The man is questioned by the police but not detained. The plaintiff is an employee at Eurovision. The police have taken all essential investigative measures and questioned the suspect, plaintiff and witnesses. The investigation has been completed by the police. The case follows the normal legal process. The police have used faster prosecution and the case will now go to the prosecutor within a few weeks. After his disqualification, Albanias entry, Besa Kokedhima, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: Please bring Joost back! The favourites to lift the trophy included Croatias Baby Lasagna with the infectious and wild Rim Tim Tagi Dim, Switzerlands Nemo with the emotional dance-opera mix The Code and Golan with the emotional Hurricane. Golan, 20, was first set to compete with a previous track called October Rain, which was thought to reference the Hamas attacks on Israel that sparked the conflict. Israel being in Eurovision has also been mired in controversy as protests have taken place across Sweden in the lead-up to the contest. On Thursday ahead of the semi-final where Golan qualified, Greta Thunberg joined pro-Palestinian protesters on the streets of Malmo. The 21-year-old Swedish activist claimed on social media that Israel is trying to artwash the contest, referencing the use of artistic performance to distract from perceived negative actions, and accusing the country of genocide in the Gaza strip. Israel has strongly denied any accusations of genocide and maintained it has the right to defend itself following the attacks launched by Hamas in October that saw more than 1,000 Israelis killed and kidnapped. Meanwhile, Bambie has been given an outside chance to win as the underdog has been regularly trending on social media with the hashtag crown the witch, a reference to their outspoken use of magical practices and the entrant song Doomsday Blue, which has lines about hexes. They have been critical of Israel competing in the contest and called for a ceasefire in the Middle East. Bambie also told reporters that they cried with their team following the news that Israel was in the final. On Saturdays last day of Eurovision there also expected to be a tribute to Abba as it is the 50-year anniversary of the Swedish group winning with their hit song Waterloo as well as a performance by 2023 Liverpool winner Loreen, who represented Sweden. The Eurovision Song Contest has kicked off in Malmo, Sweden as fans were shouted at by pro-Palestinian protesters going into the venue. The demonstrators, who are calling for a boycott of the competition due to Israels Eden Golan being in the contest, are on both sides of entrants queuing on Saturday to go into the Malmo Arena. Several protesters have also been detained and taken away by police. They said free Palestine and shame to those attending as Golan is set to perform alongside the UK entry Olly Alexander and Irelands Bambie Thug and 22 other countries. The Netherlands entry Joost Klein, was already disqualified following a threating movement from the singer towards a camerawoman, a Dutch radio and television broadcaster said. The statement from the Netherlands Songfestival X, formerly Twitter, page said Dutch radio and television broadcaster Avrotros found Joost Kleins disqualification by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) disproportionate and said it was very disappointed. In a statement on its official X page it said: An incident occurred after last Thursdays performance. Against clearly made agreements, Joost was filmed when he had just gotten off stage and had to rush to the greenroom. At that moment, Joost repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed. This wasnt respected. This led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera. Joost did not touch the camerawoman. This incident was reported, followed by an investigation by the EBU and police. Joost Klein at a press conference (Jessica Gow/AP) Yesterday and today we consulted extensively with the EBU and proposed several solutions. Nevertheless, the EBU has still decided to disqualify Joost Klein. AVROTROS finds the penalty very heavy and disproportionate. We stand for good manners let there be no misunderstanding about that but in our view, an exclusion order is not proportional to this incident. We are very disappointed and upset for the millions of fans who were so excited for tonight. What Joost brought to the Netherlands and Europe shouldnt have ended this way. As a result of no participation from the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final the following will take effect: All contestants keep their number in the official Running Order. There will be NO song in position number 5. The jury results, received after Dress Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) May 11, 2024 Klein, who entered with the song Europapa, was disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest grand final following a Swedish police investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour. The EBU said police were investigating a complaint made by a female member of the production crew after an incident following his performance in Thursday nights semi-final. While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the contest, it said in a statement. We would like to make it clear that, contrary to some media reports and social media speculation, this incident did not involve any other performer or delegation member. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour at our event and are committed to providing a safe and secure working environment for all staff at the contest. Joost Klein on stage (Martin Meissner/AP) In light of this, Joost Kleins behaviour towards a team member is deemed in breach of contest rules. A follow-up statement said Dutch viewers would still be allowed to vote in the grand final and added that the Dutch jury result is still valid. The union also said that it will inform all telecommunications partners that the Netherlands is no longer taking part and will endeavour to block the lines for song number five, which was Kleins performance slot. The EBU has been approached for comment. The Foreign Office is urgently seeking more information after Hamas on Saturday claimed that a British-Israeli hostage had died in Gaza. The Palestinian militant group released a video saying that Nadav Popplewell, who was taken hostage during its October 7 attack on Israel, died after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike a month ago. It provided no evidence for the claim and the Israeli military has not commented. A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: Were urgently seeking more information following the release of this video. Our thoughts are with his family at this extremely distressing time. The UK Government has been working with partners across the region to secure the release of hostages, including British nationals. We will continue to do all we can to secure the release of hostages. Earlier on Saturday, Hamas released undated footage of Mr Popplewell, 51, with a black eye confirming his name. The militants released a second video hours later in which they said he died of wounds sustained in a missile strike. Israel has previously denied accusations by Hamas that hostages were killed by Israeli fire. Mr Popplewell was captured with his mother from her home in Kibbutz Nirim, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. His brother was killed during the attack. His mother was released during a temporary ceasefire in November. The campaign group described him as generous and kind and an avid reader of science fiction novels. The Israel-Hamas war was triggered by Hamass October 7 attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw another 250 taken hostage. The group still holds around 100 captives, with more than 30 thought to be dead. Israels offensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,900 people, according to the local health ministry. Israels Eden Golan has performed at the Eurovision Song Contest final amid protests and loud shouts from the audience. The 20-year-old singer, whose emotional song Hurricane was reworked from a previous track called October Rain, which was thought to reference the Hamas attacks on Israel that sparked the current conflict, remained calm despite the noise. She faced loud jeers and boos from the audience, and people also shouting. There was also strong support for her, as claps and cheers were also heard. BBC One commentator Graham Norton described the crowd as giving a mixed reaction. He added: In some of the open rehearsals we heard more booing, but there was quite a lot of cheering tonight as well and I should tell you that that song is tipped to do very well tonight. Police tackle a man during a protest against the participation of Israeli contestant Eden Golan ahead of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP) Pro-Palestinian protesters walked across the streets of Malmo from Stortorget to Molleplatsen on Thursday, when Golan was in the semi-final, and on Saturday to show their support for Gaza and condemn Israel taking part in Eurovision. Golan has been surrounded by a convoy of security as she travels from the hotel to the contest venue, according to the Associated Press news agency. During the semi-final, Golan, dressed in a flowing sand-coloured dress, was applauded and cheered by the audience. That marked a change from her being booed during rehearsals on Wednesday, and reportedly facing shouts of free Palestine in the arena. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the competition, has encouraged the crowd to attend in the spirit of the contest, embracing its values of inclusivity, celebrating diversity and being united by music and said it will not censor the audience. The organisers, whose members approved Israeli broadcaster Kan, has taken a strong stance, as in previous years, against political messages at Eurovision and flags and symbols from non-competing countries. Despite the position, Tuesdays first semi-final saw former Swedish contestant and opening act Eric Saade wear a keffiyeh pattern material, commonly used by people who want to show they are pro-Palestinian, on his arm. The EBU said the body regrets the moment, while Saade said it was a way of showing a part of my origin and was a gift as a child from his father, who is of Palestinian origin. There have also been several incidents of fans waving Palestinian flags during rehearsals. The Netherlands entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, Joost Klein, was disqualified following a threatening movement from the singer towards a camerawoman, a Dutch radio and television broadcaster said. A statement from the Netherlands Songfestival, which sends acts to the Eurovision Song Contest, on X added that AVROTROS, the Dutch radio and television broadcaster, found the penalty very heavy and disproportionate and said it was very disappointed. On X, formerly Twitter, the statement said: An incident occurred after last Thursdays performance. Against clearly made agreements, Joost was filmed when he had just gotten off stage and had to rush to the green room. At that moment, Joost repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed. This wasnt respected. This led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera. Joost did not touch the camerawoman. This incident was reported, followed by an investigation by the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) and police. The statement said they had consulted extensively with the EBU and proposed several solutions, but that nevertheless, the EBU has still decided to disqualify Joost Klein. It added that AVROTROS finds the penalty very heavy and disproportionate, saying they stand for good manners let there be no misunderstanding about that but in our view, an exclusion order is not proportional to this incident. The statement ended saying: We are very disappointed and upset for the millions of fans who were so excited for tonight. What Joost brought to the Netherlands and Europe shouldnt have ended this way. Joost Klein at a press conference (Jessica Gow/AP) Singer and rapper Klein, 26, entered with the song Europapa, which is a tribute to his late parents. He was disqualified from Saturday nights grand final following a Swedish police investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour. The EBU said police were investigating a complaint made by a female member of the production crew after an incident following his performance in Thursday nights semi-final. While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the contest, it said in a statement. We would like to make it clear that, contrary to some media reports and social media speculation, this incident did not involve any other performer or delegation member. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour at our event and are committed to providing a safe and secure working environment for all staff at the contest. In light of this, Joost Kleins behaviour towards a team member is deemed in breach of contest rules. A follow-up statement said Dutch viewers would still be allowed to vote in the grand final and added that the Dutch jury result is still valid. As a result of no participation from the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final the following will take effect: All contestants keep their number in the official Running Order. There will be NO song in position number 5. The jury results, received after Dress Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) May 11, 2024 The EBU also said that it will inform all telecommunications partners that the Netherlands is no longer taking part and will endeavour to block the lines for song number five, which was Kleins performance slot. There will now be one less contestant in the televised final on Saturday which will see performances from the likes of UK entry Olly Alexander, Irelands Bambie Thug and Israels Eden Golan, who will compete alongside 22 other countries. This years contest has faced multiple calls to boycott the competition over Israels participation and the week has seen protests in the centre of Malmo, the host city. During the dress rehearsals, Palestinian flags which had been banned by the organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) had been seen in the audience. Also during the show, French contestant Slimane stopped singing his entry Mon Amour to call for peace amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Joost Klein on stage (Martin Meissner/AP) Meanwhile, Alessandra Mele withdrew from being Norways points spokesperson and said in an Instagram video that Eurovisions motto united by music were empty words. The broadcasting company NRK has said TV presenter Ingvild Helljesen will announce the jury votes from Norway instead. Kaarija, the jury spokesperson for Finland, and last years runner-up, also announced online that he had stepped down from his role as it does not feel right. Ahead of the grand final, Irelands entry Bambie Thug accused the Israeli broadcaster of a rule break and said they are waiting on an official update from the EBU after raising multiple complaints. It comes after the singer missed their dress rehearsal as they felt they needed to bring a situation to the urgent attention of the EBU. In a post to X Irish singer Cmat said they would not be watching the final and encouraged others to follow suit. Live online videos show a police presence in Malmo as protestors with Palestinian flags take to the city streets. Croatias Baby Lasagna, real name Marko Purisic, has been tipped as a favourite to win the content, with the song Rim Tim Tagi Dim. The EBU has been approached for comment. Kevin Spacey has alleged film bosses are blocking his acting career, in the face of public support. Last week, the Oscar-winning actor denied new allegations of inappropriate behaviour from men who featured in a two-part Channel 4 documentary titled Spacey Unmasked, which was released on Monday and Tuesday. The documentary came after he was acquitted of a number of sexual offences alleged by four men between 2001 and 2013 after a trial in London and won a US civil lawsuit after being accused of an unwanted sexual advance at a party in 1986. I will no longer be speechless. Thank you in advance to all of those who take the time to view this interview. https://t.co/OppjgctQuW Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) May 3, 2024 I do think the British public are more mature than Channel 4, and I believe every time I have come back to London we are stopped by so many people who are so kind and say such generous things. And if there was a theme to what they are talking about it is this: When are you going back to work? This has gone too far, Spacey told the Telegraph newspaper. The US star previously claimed he had repeatedly requested that Channel 4 give him more than seven days to respond to the allegations made about him in their documentary and said the broadcaster refused. It was alleged that a number of acting offers for Spacey could now be in jeopardy as a result of the documentary. There is no doubt this has been a challenging couple of weeks, but I am incredibly excited about a number of projects I would be so honoured to bring to life, Spacey told the Telegraph. Actor Kevin Spacey described the past few weeks as challenging (James Manning/PA) I have been so pleased directors, producers and fellow actors have absolutely said yes but someone in some office in some distribution company or network has said no, we cant buy a film with Kevin Spacey in it. An individual I have never met is deciding for the public except in a couple of cases that some people might be upset. You can Google anybodys name and somebody will have a problem with them, he said. Spacey also questioned why the the industry has not been more welcoming towards him since his acquittal. I find it confusing that I am in an industry in which a great number of its most celebrated individuals spend a tremendous amount of time talking about how important redemption is and extend a remarkable path for people who served in prison and did their time, the 64-year-old said. We see so many people talk with so much empathy about how these individuals should be given a path back, and isnt it ironic and strange that the same path doesnt seem available if you are in the industry itself. The US star said those with right-wing views have shown him an enormous amount of support and offered him a path, in stark comparison with those of left-wing views. Spacey was one of the most recognised faces in Hollywood when allegations of sexual misconduct were made in 2017, leading streaming giant Netflix to cut ties with the actor. A representative for Channel 4 has been contacted for comment. It's no secret that animal shelters and humane societies across the globe are busier than ever, but dogs and cats aren't the only animals who find themselves in need of a helping hand. Plenty of farm animals, like this Missouri sow and piglet, could use a little help, too. Fortunately for this piggy duo, a great escape is all it took to get them the lives they've always deserved. On May 5, the animal rescuers at The Gentle Barn's Missouri location welcomed Dottie-Ann and her baby, Jordan, to their sanctuary. The two had been spotted wandering around a nearby gas station when they were initially rescued and returned to their owners, but after a moving turn of events, the mom and son will live out their days as beloved residents of The Gentle Barn. OMG--how cute are these two? Watching Jordan poke his head out of the carrier made me smile instantly, and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. Thousands of viewers have enjoyed watching the pot-bellied pigs' first chapter at The Gentle Barn--and there will be so many more sweet videos to come! Before the farm animals found their Happily Ever After at the animal sanctuary, though, it sounds like they had owners who were well-meaning but perhaps unprepared. Fortunately, they decided to do what they thought was best for the animals by letting them live on the farm instead. Just like commenter @fullnestmama2 acknowledged, "that's a difficult decision" for any animal owner to make. But they had the mom and baby pigs' best interests at heart! Now, Jordan and Dottie-Ann are enjoying all kinds of pampering thanks to the animal rescuers who care for them every day. They settled in so quickly at The Gentle Barn, and they have so many happy years ahead of them. How cute are they? The rescue pigs are already so relaxed, which is a wonderful sign. Pot-Bellied Pigs as Pets Even though pigs have always been considered a livestock animal breed instead of a pet, more and more people are considering owning pigs as companions instead. It's easy to see why: pigs are smart, affectionate, and can have big personalities, but not everyone considers that everything else about pigs can get pretty big, too. Caring for pigs can be more overwhelming than you think! Pot-bellied pigs like Dottie-Ann and Jordan can grow to be about three feet long, with males measuring larger than females. They can weigh 200 pounds when fully grown, and they are not teacup pigs like some pet owners hope to find. These animals require plenty of space to sleep, eat, and do their business, too. It's easy to see why some pet pig owners aren't as prepared as they thought they were! Fortunately, for many pigs like this mom-and-son duo, animal sanctuaries and farm rescues like The Gentle Barn can provide loving homes for the animals who need them the most. Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips. 'Rich countries are losing some 15 per cent of potential GDP due to women's under-employment' says Anneliese Dodds - Rii Schroer for The Telegraph Many of us will have woken up to the soft Scottish burr of Anneliese Dodds the Labour Party chairman and shadow secretary of state for women and equality on the Today programme last week welcoming yet another defecting Tory MP. This time it was former Conservative Natalie Elphicke, the Member of Parliament for Dover and Deal, who stunned the political firmament with her defection to Labour. But while Dodds was positive about the news many of her colleagues were not. With many on Labours front benches condemning Elphickes support for her philandering husband Charlie, a Tory MP found guilty of sexually assaulting two women in 2020. (Elphicke had defended him saying he was an easy target for false allegations because he was attractive she apologised for those remarks this week.) Does Dodds regret being so warm about the defector? Elphicke is, of course, the third Conservative MP now to have decided that the Conservative Party cant deliver the kind of change she wants to see in her community, she says. Really? Natalie Elphickes statement was very clear about why shes taken that decision, obviously, on issues of migration and security and issues of housing She particularly talks about the situation for children in temporary accommodation in Dover. Rightly, sadly, theres been no improvement on this. Its gotten worse. But what about the pushback how can she be so sanguine when even Penny Mordaunt, the Conservative Leader of the House, is joking that she, Mordaunt, is too Left-wing to be a Labour member, in a jibe at Elphickes hard-Right credentials? I mean we know that Labour is trying to appeal to Tory voters, but surely there are limits to the partys broad church? Natalie is absolutely part of the Labour partys broad church, Dodds insists. She is taking a long hard look at the Tories and deciding they havent delivered on what they promised. So why are her own colleagues so incensed? Again the flat bat. My colleagues when they read her statement would find any qualms they have would be dispelled. This is classic Dodds. Sticking to the party line doggedly. She is not Labours most charismatic frontbencher but this quietly spoken, highly rigorous, former academic and MP for Oxford East is going to loom large in all of our lives if Starmer, as expected, wins the next election. Why? Because Dodds is in charge of a brief equalities which is at the heart of Labours plans for government. Dodds recently published a pamphlet for the Fabian Society entitled Equal Footing: Women, Race and Diversity. In it she writes: If Labour wins the next election, I will become the UKs first ever secretary of state for women and equalities. That means having a politician at the top table dedicated to advocating for equality and making sure fairness is embedded in every facet of government policymaking ... it is clear the political Right can never achieve this. Dodds hopes to become the first ever secretary of state for women and equality - Rii Schroer for The Telegraph We meet at a swanky womens business conference in Houndsditch in the heart of the City of London, organised by the Chartered Management Institute. The role of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is at the centre of the agenda. In America there has been recent judicial pushback on such schemes; US universities are no longer allowed to recruit students who are Black or poor, for example, just for those qualities. Many blame DEI for institutionalising so-called wokeness in global business and penalising those who dont subscribe to its tenets. But here in the heart of Londons business community, Dodds and Angela Rayner, Labours deputy leader, are putting it at the heart of their pitch to business. Rayner, in smart khaki trousers and floral silk shirt, kicks off the days proceedings by telling the assembled great and good (including Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh): I am privileged to be in a room of people who know how to make business a better place. Women at work are overlooked, undervalued and underestimated. Working women face barriers which stop them reaching their true potential. These barriers can be shattered only by cultural change driven by business and legal change driven by government. Smiling broadly at the 300 female (and male) leaders, from across the private and public sectors, she praises the diversity of the audience and continues: You are leading the way in creating diverse and creative workplaces. Business is leading the way with DEI and the Tories are failing to keep up. You say to me when I talk about things like menopause policies: Ange we get it, were already doing it. Business is light years ahead of this government. This cynical approach to equality During our interview later that morning, Dodds, as befits a woman with a first-class degree in PPE from Oxford and years as an academic studying government (as a former MEP she is obsessed by what we can learn from other countries) echoes Rayners call, but with more nuance. I think the vast majority of businesses understand the strong business case for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; for ensuring that they are valuing the talent in their organisation and that theyre open to new talent as well. In Equal Footing, she outlines how the Tory Governments approach to equality extends only so far as they can use equalities issues to stoke political division This cynical approach to equality is particularly surprising given the emerging consensus, based on the evidence that removing barriers to opportunity is critical to face up to arguably the UKs biggest challenge our low levels of economic growth. Closing the employment gap that Black, Asian and minority ethnic people face could add almost 36 million to our economy. In a similar vein, she tells me about a UN Women report that shows how all OECD countries could boost their GDP by over $6 trillion if they all matched Swedens high female employment rate adding that rich countries are losing some 15 per cent of potential GDP due to womens under-employment. So what is she going to do about it? In the UK labour market participation by women between 50 and 64 has actually gone down in recent years. Around 7 billion of additional economic output could be released to the UK economy if the 157,00 women in this cohort who have left work since the pandemic returned to the labour market. She takes a hurried bite of lunch, explaining she is tired, coming straight off the back of campaigning hard for the local elections. She tells me how getting companies to keep older women on rather than making them redundant as they hit 50 is one of her passions. About a year ago, I launched what I called a conversation with women in the 40s, 50s and 60s [Queenagers] about the workplace issues they are facing; so many different pressures, from being sandwich carers [looking after sick or elderly relatives, as well as their own children] there are half a million women in that situation and healthcare issues, with about a fifth of of these midlife women who have left the labour market on NHS waiting lists. These findings are a key part of Labours New Deal for Workers. Were focusing on implementation; well publish draft legislation on this within 100 days of being elected. Retaining midlife women is key to the economy and the labour market. Why does she think this cohort of midlife women have been ignored for so long but are now creeping up the agenda? Because finally we are seeing some women of this age coming into senior roles in business, in media and in politics. That is creating a strong push now for change. Its personal. Dodds is 46. She points to all the Queenagers in powerful positions in the Labour Party: Im working with Rachel Reeves [45] the shadow chancellor and Tulip Siddiq [41] on financial services issues, Liz Kendall [52] on work and pensions. And Rayner, of course, who is 44. Did you know that the gender pay gap for women in their 50s and 60s is nearly four times worse than for women in their 30s? This is finally receiving the focus thats required; now we need practical policy and implementation. Of course the reduced economic output is massive but its even broader than that. These women are the role models, theyre the ones who would be providing the support to younger colleagues. Dodds enthusiasm for business comes, she explains, from her father Keith. I come from a small business background. As I was growing up my dad grew his accountancy company. I learnt that business isnt separate from the community but a part of it. She explains how her father had forced her and her brother to dress up in Victorian costumes to support local charities and always did the accounts of Keith Lodge, a local care home for children with disabilities in our town and how she well understood the bravery and risk-taking mentality necessary to make a success of business because my dad had had several goes at business before he made a success of accounting. When she talks about her family, her guard lifts and I get a sense of a funny, warm and friendly woman underneath the sometimes robot-like political mask. I didnt grow up in a political household with a capital P but my dad always kicked against any authority he didnt agree with and voted for everyone over the years except for the SNP. She is on message as ever beating the SNP is key for Labours smooth ride into power; the SNPs collapse is all upside for Dodds and Starmer. Dodds grew up a country girl in Netherley, a rural village in Aberdeenshire and attended a private school, Robert Gordons College (the same school as Michael Gove). Her mother Ingrid was a nurse and a pillar of the community friends with everyone, chatty, sociable. Although she left Scotland to go up to St Hildas (returning for a masters degree at the University of Edinburgh before becoming a lecturer in public policy at Kings College London) she has kept her Scottish accent. And we mustnt forget about boys Her children, 10 and 8, love teasing me about it and doing impressions of it when they want to wind me up. They have Oxford accents as they have always lived there. We talk about how important it is to open the doors to opportunity through proper work experience which shouldnt just depend on who your mum knows or outdated thinking, we need modern career advice. She was the victim of that herself. When I was at primary school I remember saying I wanted to be a doctor and the teacher said: I dont think a doctor would be a good idea, maybe you should be a nurse. I remember being confused because my uncle was a doctor. We talk about how young gender stereotypes are set, how we need to praise girls for climbing trees or being leaders. Absolutely. And we mustnt forget boys and the challenges they are coming up against, about not feeling valued in society. Her husband Ed Turner is the deputy leader of Oxford Councils Labour group and sounds like a solid family anchor while she is away in Westminster. Her lifestyle is very down-to-earth; she cycles around her constituency people flag me down and we chat she takes the bus and is a great believer in politicians being approachable to people. When I ask if she has experienced any of the kind of abuse dealt with by other female MPs, such as Jess Phillips or Dr Lisa Cameron, she says: I dont think it is wise to talk about security issues. I wonder what lit the flame of political action within her. My first job was as a kitchen porter at my local pub restaurant, taking out bins filled with bones, which would rip from the inside. For me it was just a Saturday job for spending money [before she went to Oxford for university] but for others it was the only game in town. I was paid 2 an hour. I remember thinking how unfair it was, how hard it was to make ends meet and how for so many there was no way out. I also worked at a grain store collecting grain from local farmers which just sparked big questions in my mind about fairness about how these people were doing hard, exhausting work but struggling. They couldnt save up. I went into politics to find solutions. Being an MP is the best job in the world. You can make things better. Keir Starmer always wants to listen Dodds backed Starmer for the leadership and has been part of his inner circle since the beginning, he even appointed her shadow chancellor (the first woman ever to hold that role) in 2020. I say that to many voters he still feels opaque, a bit of a blank slate. How does he compare to Rishi Sunak? Starmer always wants to listen, to us as colleagues, to the public it is why I supported him as leader. He wants to hear directly from people, it comes naturally to Keir. I dont see that with Rishi. She explains that Keirs former life [as a lawyer and director of public prosecutions] gives him long-term strategic focus its not about next week, tomorrow or next month but about setting out long-term missions and sticking to them. We saw the changes he made to the Labour Party and he will take the same approach in government; he wont be blown off course. He is not about sound bites or Sunak boosterism, pretending everything is perfect. Are they busy war-gaming the big TV debates? She says not. At the moment we are talking about how we implement and hit the ground running. He is ambitious and excited about what we can do as a country. I went to visit a net zero engine factory with him in Wales and he was so enthused by what they were doing, he has an infectious ambition about what we can do here in the UK. So why do the electorate still have doubts? Ever the loyalist, she replies: They are realising he is committed, serious, comes from a working-class background, grew up with challenges around his mums poor health. They can empathise with him. That is not true of Rishi Sunak. As the MP for Oxford East, part of the university is in her constituency. I ask if she is worried about the student protests around Gaza there is a field of tents outside the Pitt Rivers Museum going the violent way of the American ones. She shakes her head. I am not worried that we will see the chaos in the UK weve seen on US campuses because we are more tolerant. But if there is any behaviour that is anti-Semitic then that must be dealt with. But the situation in Gaza, and Labours policy on it, cost them votes at the local elections; as party chairman, what is she doing about that? As the Labour Party its important we represent working people from every community. They have huge concerns around Rafah and I share that. The offensive cannot go ahead. Labour is calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Where do we draw the line on what is legitimate protest? There is the freedom to protest, but not the freedom to abuse. Threatening or unlawful behaviour falls the wrong side of the line. Is she confident about winning the next election? She grins. We can be very good at losing elections people thought we would win. Think of 1992. Is she fearful? No, but there is a strong determination to make sure we are staying in touch with peoples concerns. Some time ago, Keir Starmer set up a strategy around the cost of living, public services, opportunities for young people, crime and net zero and creating the green jobs of the future. The public finances are in a bad position, they have gone up 25 times under this Government, people are paying 800 a year more in tax plus their mortgages have rocketed because of Liz Truss and now the Tories want to spend 46 billion scrapping national insurance. Labour will cut taxes and put more police on the streets. Wow, I say, that sounds very Tory. She laughs. We need to open up opportunities for everybody. She returns to talking about the business conference we are at. How the business leaders all understand the case for widening inclusion, bringing in more talent to grow our economy. There are repeated McKinsey studies that show diversity drives better outcomes. This effect [of increased diversity in management and decision making] isnt dying out. Its becoming more important. Which makes sense as businesses need to become more agile, more flexible. She is passionate about widening access to employment and talent because businesses are very well aware of the challenges around retention and recruitment. Theyre trying to act on those concerns. But I feel they havent had a government that is as ambitious as they are on these issues. In her careful, academic way, Dodds is on the same page as Rayner. Labour stands full square behind Diversity, Equity and Inclusion particularly about getting midlife women back into the economy as a key driver in levelling up and creating economic growth. LNG tanker 'Arctic Lady' brings a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in to the Deutsche Ostsee terminal in Germany, April 2024 - Stefan Sauer/DPA Many experts have questioned the wisdom of the Biden White Houses ordering a pause in permitting new export infrastructure for liquefied natural gas (LNG) since it was put in place in late January. Citing the strategic leverage in global affairs provided by Americas leading position in the LNG export market, critics contend that the pause especially with its open-ended nature will only serve to diminish confidence among US trading partners and allies in their ability to continue to rely on the US gas industry to fill their needs. Those opposed to the policy also contend that the pause has opened the door for competing exporting nations, like Qatar, Australia, and even Russia to ramp up their own exports and permanently seize bigger shares of the global market. Such concerns have been confirmed in recent months with moves by both Qatar and Russia to raise their own export volumes and install new infrastructure as the Biden White House fiddles. A new study conducted by Berkeley Research Group (BRG) serves to confirm another criticism of the Biden pause, which is that US LNG exports result in lower greenhouse emissions than natural gas supplied by competing countries, and much lower compared with coal, the major competing fuel source in both Europe and Asia. BRG employed full life cycle methodologies and included the most recent publicly available methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) data to create results for eight European and five Asian countries for the year 2022. The top line finding from the BRG study concludes, GHG emissions intensity of US LNG in 2022 was less than 50 per cent of coal in both Europe and Asia and lower than pipeline gas imported from Algeria, Russia, and Turkmenistan. However the report did also find that US LNG emissions were higher than pipeline gas coming into central Europe from Azerbaijan and Norway. It should come as no surprise that US LNG emissions are less than half those of coal. The fact that US gas emissions are so dramatically lower than much of the pipeline gas coming into the European countries included in the study should raise concerns given the ongoing heavy reliance on Russian gas in central and northern Europe. One major bit of irony in all this is the fact that Biden officials justified their pause with a claimed need to fully study the scale of emissions being created by the rapidly growing US LNG industry. A similar specious rationale was in part used as justification for President Bidens Day 1 executive order cancelling the Keystone XL Pipeline expansion. The BRG report was commissioned by LNG Allies and the American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC), eliciting criticism from anti-oil and gas groups. Open-cast lignite (brown coal) mining near the Neurath coal-fired power station in Germany. Germany continues to make significant use of coal power - Ina Fassbender/AFP The LNG industry continues to put forward this false dichotomy between gas versus coal, while completely ignoring renewable energy in the equation, Cathy Collentine, director of the Sierra Clubs Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, said in a statement. To accurately assess the profound impacts of gas exports on the climate crisis, we must incorporate comparisons to rapidly increasing access to clean electricity. But that exercise in what about-ism ignores the continuing fact that, while deployment of wind and solar is accelerating, it still has not managed to satisfy even the pace of rising demand for energy. That reality leaves the countries included in the study little choice but to find ways to replace natural gas supplied by US LNG with the alternatives analyzed in BRGs study. Nations also need reliable supplies of dispatchable energy to cover the absence of renewable energy during sunless, windless periods. As quoted by E&E News, LNG Allies CEO Fred Hutchison defends the report against such attacks by pointing to facts on the ground. In 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and the gas got cut off, it wasnt more solar or wind used in those periods of time, Hutchinson said. If there were, they wouldve reduced the demand for US LNG. As it was, the world was desperate for LNG, and mostly Europe was desperate for LNG. At the CERAWeek conference held in Houston in March, Biden Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm assured attendees that the pause would be temporary, saying it will be well in the rearview mirror when the conference convenes in March, 2025. But the Houston Chronicle reported Granholms remarks received an icy reception from the audience, most of whom have learned from hard experience to distrust such statements specific to their business from this President and his appointees. Policy certainty and consistency has long been one of the fundamental factors that has made the United States one of the most attractive places for major capital investment on earth. Arbitrary decisions so clearly motivated by political considerations like this permitting pause seem almost designed to rob the country of that strategic edge. David Blackmon had a 40 year career in the US energy industry, the last 23 years of which were spent in the public policy arena, managing regulatory and legislative issues for various companies. He continues to write and podcast on energy matters Pro-Palestine students occupy the grounds outside King's College, Cambridge - Shutterstock/Penelope Barritt I am a third-year undergraduate student at Cambridge, and have been following the activities of a small number of my fellow students currently occupying the lawn outside Kings College and the official response of the university. I am writing to say that I am appalled by the response that the university has offered. Freedom of speech is critical to the wellbeing of any university. There must be space for us to express our views, disagree, and engage in dialogue to enrich our own understanding of the world. Yet what this does not mean is that this university may remain impartial and silent about the right of existence of a sovereign state, and the right of its inhabitants to have exactly the same rights as other sovereign peoples around the world: their own self-determination. The protesters in front of Kings College are openly calling for the destruction of the state of Israel. Their placards that are currently emblazoned around their encampment and calling for a Free Palestine from the river to the sea. The protesters know exactly what this means. It means that in their view a Jewish state should not exist. It means that the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea should not be home to the 7.2 million Jews who live there (as well as the two million Israeli Arabs, and the half-a-million Christians and others groups that consistently respond at a rate of about 70 per cent to independent polls saying they support the Israeli state). A Palestine from the river to the sea means no Israel, no Israelis, and no security for Jews in the Middle East. Where do the protesters propose the Jews and Israelis go if a Palestinian state were to exist from the river to the sea? Freedom of speech must be protected Again, I would like to reiterate that freedom of speech must be protected. Regardless of my own opinions on the matter, to call for a ceasefire, or to advocate for the quick removal of Benjamin Netanyahu, or to express the absolutely critical empathy that is deserved by all the inhabitants of Gaza should be encouraged. Yet the universitys statement fails to address the genocidal aims of Hamas. The latters 1988 Charter says: The day of judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. This could be an exact description of what happened on Oct 7 2023. When Israeli men and women had to hide in cars, under dead bodies, in bushes, and wherever else they could find so as to not be brutally murdered by militant Islamists. This is what Palestine from the river to the sea means. Because, according to this logic, any means are justified if you are fighting a colonial regime, and Hamas are simply freedom fighters for the Palestinian cause. Perhaps you think Im exaggerating? In an Oct 10 statement, publicly available on Instagram, the Cambridge University Palestine Society said the Israeli regime is entirely responsible for the violence seen on Oct 7. These are the words of actual students from the University of Cambridge. The universitys silence on the slogan from the river to the sea used in the occupation of Kings College lawn suggests that those hellbent on the destruction of Jews in the Middle East have a free pass to do so. Fair and justified criticism of Israeli foreign and internal policy should never be followed by the words Free Palestine from the river to the sea, and if we do hear this in Cambridge, it should be denounced while upholding the right to freedom of speech. The rhetoric in general that Israel and Zionism are Western constructs built exclusively on colonialism is at best a complete ignorance of Jewish history and at worst thinly-veiled anti-Semitism that the universitys weak response fails to address. This open appeal is an attempt to say that not everyone at the university will stay silent and feel forced to go along with the genocidal aims of Hamas, or the radicals occupying the lawn outside Kings. There are those of us at Cambridge who stand with Israel. For any Jewish friends, and supporters of Israel reading, I want to share my belief that the light of the Jewish people will continue to glow even in the darkest of times. It is understandable to feel discouraged in the face of such hatred and threat. But the many thousands of years history of Israel will not be extinguished by the radicals in our universities or by anti-Semites around the world. Devika Shah is an undergraduate at Selwyn College, Cambridge London had the lowest vaccination rate, with 86.2% of children having taken the three doses of the vaccine at 12 months compared with 95.6% in the north-east. Photograph: vgajic/Getty Images Public health officials are facing calls to improve whooping cough vaccine rates in Englands most deprived areas, with experts fearing the housing and cost of living crises may be contributing to low uptake. Rates of people having taken the six-in-one vaccine, which protects against whooping cough among other diseases, is at the lowest level in the 10% most deprived local authorities in England, according to a Guardian analysis of UK Health Security Agency data. This week it was revealed the UK may be experiencing its biggest outbreak of whooping cough in two decades, with five deaths reported among infants who developed the disease in England between January and March. The Guardians analysis shows that 87% of the children living in the most deprived local areas of England had been fully vaccinated at the age of one, as of December 2023. This compares with 94% of those living in the wealthiest parts of England. London had the lowest rate of vaccination, with 86.2% of children having taken the three doses of the vaccine at 12 months compared with 95.6% in the north-east. But even when London was excluded, the most deprived areas in England still had the worst coverage. The cost of living crisis, precarious and poor housing, and the current socioeconomic climate have all been cited by experts as reasons for poor vaccine uptake in the most deprived communities across England. Dr Ben Kasstan-Dabush, an assistant professor in global health and development at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the deaths of the five infants from whooping cough reflected the strain and limitations that the immunisation and public health systems are working under. The lower levels of vaccine uptake in deprived areas should not be dismissed as simply due to vaccine hesitancy, but rather due a wide range of factors, according to Kasstan-Dabush. If we look at urban settings like London, the populations are much more mobile, and diverse and living in extremes of inequality. We live in a context of an awful cost of living crisis which is putting parents under immense strain, and this is going to affect what theyre able to do with their priorities, Kasstan-Dabush said. Those in very financially precarious situations, their ability to get to the vaccination points might look different. He added that in a mobile population, people could fall through the cracks of the system, which can affect the vaccination services offered. Having vaccination centres embedded in community centres, such as Sure Start childrens centres, could be part of the solution to improving vaccine uptake in harder to reach communities, according to Kasstan-Dabush. I think the need for flexibility and creativity in immunisation services is most needed in these areas, he added. Prof Andrew Preston from the University of Baths Milner Centre for Evolution, said the need for vaccines to be primarily administered by GPs might contribute to lower uptake in deprived communities, and that widening access to vaccination could help. Looking at all the issues over access to GP appointments, its clear that those socioeconomically deprived areas, those that are most stretched for access to GP services, and of course our vaccinations tend to be given through healthcare centres predominantly, Preston said. We learned the lessons during the pandemic. We saw that we had improved vaccine uptake if we made it really, really easy for people to access the vaccine, so not just having to get an appointment with a healthcare professional. So whether we could think about doing it through pharmacists seems to be the solution at the moment, given how stretched GP surgeries and healthcare workers are. He added that people living in precarious housing and frequently having to move was also a factor in low uptake levels among more deprived communities. I think weve seen with the housing crisis that there are people moving around a lot more. And of course, if youre not registering with your local GP or youre struggling to do it, particularly with infant vaccinations [people] could slip through the cracks. Among the local areas with the lowest rates, 13 of the top 20 are in London. Other areas outside London with the lowest coverage are Rochdale, Salford, Liverpool, Knowsley and Blackburn with Darwen in the north-west and Birmingham. In terms of the UK, England has the lowest coverage of the vaccine protecting against whooping cough, with 91.3% of children having completed immunisation at 12 months compared with 94.8% in Scotland, 94.5% in Wales and 92% in Northern Ireland. Babies are given the six-in-one vaccine which includes protection against whooping cough and other five diseases at eight, 12 and 16 weeks. The four-in-one preschool booster vaccine, which is given at children at the age of three, also includes protection against whooping cough. The NHS also recommends that pregnant women are vaccinated against whooping cough to help protect their babies. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: Our sympathies are with the families of the children in these tragic cases. We are committed to improving vaccination uptake rates to fully protect the public from preventable diseases and are urging people to make sure they and their children have received all appropriate jabs. The vaccine is proven to be safe and effective. The UK Health Security Agency and NHS England have also been engaging local communities to highlight the importance of vaccination and make sure people know how to access the jabs as quickly as possible. The Doctor is in: Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Bright on a new adventure in space and time - BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/Natalie Seery After a Christmas episode of Doctor Who (BBC One/Disney+) properly introduced the new Time Lord Ncuti Gatwa, were down to business with a double-bill launching the new series. The first, Space Babies, will delight an audience of under-10s. The second, The Devils Chord, might bore you to tears whatever your age. Since Disney joined forces with the BBC to create the Whoniverse, the show has taken on a new tone: slick, expensive and nothing here to scare the horses. Mostly, theres nothing here to scare anyone who has recently graduated from Bluey and Peppa Pig. The Doctor Who episodes that linger in my memory from childhood do so because they were unsettling Logopolis, featuring the Watcher, terrified the life out of me. Now the show is so unthreatening that one of these episodes turns into a musical. First, Space Babies (three stars). The Doctor and his companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), visit a space station populated by babies who can talk, and who zoom around the place in their buggies. Its cuteness overload. The plot involves nappies and bogeys, which makes it fun for younger viewers but a bit cringe-worthy for adults. An entry-level episode in many ways, it has the Doctor explaining the basics to Ruby: he comes from Gallifrey, he has two hearts, the Tardis is a time-travelling machine based on the kind of police box we used to have on street corners, etc. (Indeed, Disney is marketing this series as Season One.) The talking babies make for a silly bit of storytelling, but I enjoyed it on my childrens behalf. Then its on to The Devils Chord (two stars), which is best appreciated by people old enough to be familiar with the Beatles. With the whole of history at her disposal, 19-year-old Ruby chooses to go to EMI Studios in 1963 to witness the Beatles recording their first album. But music has been stolen by a villain named Maestro, meaning that the Fab Four produce lyrics such as: Ive got a dog, hes called Fred / My dog is alive, hes not dead. Paul McCartney explains that he just wants to make a bit of money out of cheap old rhymes. John Lennon says sadly: Im no good at anything. In the next studio, Cilla Black is singing badly (albeit not as badly as the real thing). Discord: Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro in The Devil's Chord - BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/James Pardon The episode has a good opening scene but then goes on for what feels like forever, with drag queen Jinkx Monsoon chewing the scenery as Maestro. The Beatles idea is thrown away. And its logically inconsistent: if were in a world where no one whistles or hums or taps their feet, why is anyone recording an album in the first place? How have the Beatles lost the ability to write lyrics but not to sing in harmony? How can they play instruments properly but the orchestra cant? Writer Russell T Davies makes clunky attempts to be current. Ruby mentions Beyonce and Sam Fender. The Doctor claims to live in Shoreditch. And, of course, theres the politics. Were fighting the culture wars, not the Daleks, and Davies wants us to know which side hes on. So Space Babies references refugees and government cuts and restrictions on abortion (The planet refused to stop babies being born, but once theyre born they dont look after them? Its a very strange planet). Gender pronouns crop up continuing a theme begun in The Star Beast episode when Jinkx Monsoon arrives. Get away from him, a character warns. Them, retorts Maestro. Im them. The main asset of the new Doctor Who is Gatwa, who carries the series along with the force of his megawatt charisma. When the Doctor tells someone: Nobody grows up wrong. You are what you are, and that is magnificent, it may be another example of Davies hammering home a point, but in Gatwas delivery it becomes a joyful message of self-acceptance. Episodes one and two of series 14 of Doctor Who will be available on BBC iPlayer and Disney+ from Saturday 11 May; the episodes will be shown from 6.20pm on BBC One on the same day Drink spiking was thrown back into the national spotlight after Queensland MP Brittany Lauga claimed she was drugged and sexually assaulted in Yeppoon. Photograph: HEX/Getty Images When Queensland MP Brittany Lauga shared her claim of being drugged and sexually assaulted in Yeppoon last week, she threw the national spotlight back on a tool of sexual violence that simmers largely out of view. Drink spiking is underreported, underestimated and under-researched. The Australian government has not investigated the problem since 2004 and police say there is no typical example or pattern of the crime. Why do we know so little about it? What is drink spiking? Drink spiking is the act of adding alcohol or drugs to a persons drink without their knowledge or consent. It is crime in every jurisdiction in Australia, carrying heavy fines and up to five years imprisonment in the ACT and Queensland, three years in Western Australia and two years in New South Wales and Victoria. Using drink spiking as part of committing another indictable offence carries a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment in NSW. How prevalent is drink spiking? We simply dont know. Collecting data about drink spiking is hindered by a number of barriers, including victims unwillingness to come forward. This means police or emergency response staff cant paint an accurate picture of the problem. That said, we know it is probably relatively rare, according to Nicole Lee, adjunct professor at the National Drug Research Institute and chief executive officer of Hello Sunday Morning. The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research recorded 219 drink spiking incidents in 2022, up from 154 in 2021. The increase may be down to more reporting, or more spiking, we cant be sure. NSW police confirmed the force had seen an increase in reports of drink spiking. Related: A night out drinking should feel safe: here are a few simple steps you can take to help reduce risk | Nicole Lee The Australian government has not undertaken extensive research in the area since 2004. Then, the National Project on Drink Spiking investigation found that from 20022003, there were 3,0004,000 suspected incidents of drink spiking in Australia. One-third were associated with sexual assault and less than one-sixth of those assaults were reported to police. Global Drug Survey 2022 data showed 2% of respondents experienced spiking in the last 12 months, and 20% over their lifetimes. Almost 20% experienced sexual assault during the incident. Just 7.2% of drink spiking incidents were reported to police. What is stopping victims from reporting drink spiking? Theres a whole range of complex reasons for why people dont report it and why we dont capture the data as well as we would like, Eleanor Costello, of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, said. [Victims] are concerned initially because they are sometimes not really sure what happened. They might not report because they dont think people will believe them. There is a lot of stigma associated with it and a feeling of blame What did I do wrong to make this happen? she said. Those barriers are only compounded by, for example, not wanting authorities to detect drugs taken recreationally, and practical barriers around presenting to a police station and taking toxicology tests within the timeframe that the drug is still in the victims system. If youre not feeling good, you just want to go home, go to bed and have someone look after you, Costello said. What are drinks spiked with? The most up-to-date research we have on the topic is being undertaken by a team from La Trobe universitys reducing gender based violence network (ReGen) and is due to be published this year. ReGen senior lecturer, Jessica Ison, said alcohol seems to be the most common spiking substance, but a number of illicit drugs are commonly used. Rohypnol known as a date rape drug lingers in a body for a few weeks and so is not an obvious spiking choice. More common are GHB or ketamine, both of which act quickly and leave the system in a matter of hours. Benzodiazepines and their street form, benzos, are also used. An extremely large amount of alcohol that is not normal to ingest in a certain amount of time is picked up in toxicology reports too. But again, more data is needed. Often we think of it as being GHB, someones chucked a roofie in someones drink, benzos or ketamine. Sometimes its not as obvious or calculated as that, and it can be intentionally getting someone really drunk, said Costello. Why has the government not investigated drink spiking since 2004? Because the prevalence of it we think has been fairly low, theres not been a lot of research into it, said Lee. Data is collected across states but not in a systematic way, Costello said, although it is not for a lack of wanting to. To collect population-based data and back it up with toxicology reports is challenging; Its quite a complex process to get a national dataset on the actual numbers of reported and confirmed drink spikings, she said. She said that more national action is needed around the points at which drink spiking can be prevented including bar staff, first responders, crowd controllers and support systems. What does drink spiking look like? Often its passed off with, Theyve just had too much to drink, Costello said. But what former Newcastle student Marcie (not her real name) says she experienced when she was spiked five years ago was completely different. I bought an espresso martini and that is the last thing I remember, she said. She was later told she flew into an aggressive rage and acted completely out of character. Victims might feel dizzy, sleepy or nauseous. They might have slow reaction times, and their judgment and coordination may be more exaggerated than it would usually be. Any out-of-the-ordinary physical reaction or behaviour is a red flag. How do the police approach drink spiking? The problem is not in the laws, it is in the policing of them, Lee said. Drink spiking is notoriously hard to make convictions around, generally relying on victims to self-report and take a toxicology test within hours of the incident, before the process of proving the substance was not intentionally ingested and collecting enough evidence to pinpoint the perpetrator. The NSW police said all drink spiking reports are fully investigated. Assistant commissioner Brett McFadden said there is no single typical example of a drink spiking, nor a pattern to indicate how and when it may occur. Related: In a society where male violence seems inevitable we need much more than education and awareness | Michael Salter Access to a toxicology test is often at the polices discretion, regardless of state or territory, Ison said. Her research found victims generally encounter very poor response systems, with some recalling going to the hospital and being treated like a dumb drunk girl and not being believed. Do we know anything about the perpetrators? The very little research we do have suggests that most drink spiking is people pranking each other, most often men and most often with alcohol, said Lee. She thinks that is largely down to permissive and cavalier attitudes to alcohol. The rest is done, it is assumed, with nefarious intent, primarily theft and sexual assault. According to Ison, drink spiking must be considered within the broader cultural context of alcohol and mens entitlement to womens bodies, which bolsters the myth that young women are just making it up. Its a man problem, generally, said Lee. While everyone can take steps to make themselves less vulnerable to spiking, its really not [the victims] responsibility to make sure theyre safe, its societys responsibility to make sure the perpetrator is not able to commit those crimes. Is there a profile of a typical drink spiking victim? Young women appear to be particularly at high risk but there is no data regarding spiking among, for example, the LGBTQI+ community and older groups. Summer time, festival season and when people are out and about more, is probably a higher-risk time, said Costello. There is so little systematic data and so few people willing to talk about their experiences that Ison, who is soon to release a report on drink spiking in the Bendigo region, has turned to online forum Reddit, analysing 14,000 posts to learn more about the experiences of victim-survivors. She has learned that drink spiking is deeply traumatic. If [victims] werent sexually assaulted, they say they are really lucky but then they say they wont go to bars, wont go out alone, wont socialise. Its a huge impact on peoples lives, and thats before sexual assault is considered, she said. What are your rights? You have a right to be tested and be taken seriously, Costello said. Its important that we see this as an issue that can be reported to police, even if youre not sure. And to normalise seeking medical attention particularly in the first 24 hours, she said. The priority for anyone who suspects their drink had been spiked, according to NSW police, is to seek urgent medical assistance, and if in a life-threatening situation contact triple zero. Anyone who believes they have been the victim of a drink spiking incident are encouraged to report the matter to police as soon as possible, a police spokesperson said. It is vital for investigators to start gathering evidence quickly, so they can track down the person/s responsible before they harm someone else. Reports can be made by contacting or attending your local police station. Rev Dr Sue Parfitt, right, and Judith Bruce, left - JUST STOP OIL/PA Two elderly protesters have been charged with criminal damage after attacking the glass encasing the Magna Carta during a Just Stop Oil stunt. The Rev Dr Sue Parfitt, 82, a priest from Bristol, and Judith Bruce, 85, a retired biology teacher from Swansea, were arrested on Friday morning following the incident at the British Library in London, the Met Police said. The activists cracked the toughened glass casing around the historic document with a hammer and chisel and then held up a sign reading: The Government is breaking the law. The pair then glued themselves to the display and demanded an emergency plan to stop oil by 2030. A statement from the British Library said its security team intervened to prevent further damage to the case, which was minimal and the Magna Carta itself remains undamaged. The gallery that houses the display is closed until further notice, it added. The library holds two of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta, alongside Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. Issued in June 1215, the Magna Carta was the first written document stating the principle that the king and his government were not above the law. It aimed to prevent the monarch from exploiting his power and placed limits on royal authority by establishing law as its own power. During the protest, Dr Parfitt said: The Magna Carta is rightly revered, being of great importance to our history, to our freedoms and to our laws. But there will be no freedom, no lawfulness, no rights, if we allow climate breakdown to become the catastrophe that is now threatened. We must get things in proportion. The abundance of life on earth, the climate stability that allows civilization to continue is what must be revered and protected above all else, even above our most precious artefacts. Ms Bruce added: This week 400 respected scientists contributors to IPCC reports, are saying we are woefully unprepared for whats coming: 2.5 or more degrees of heating above pre industrial levels. Instead of acting, our dysfunctional Government is like the three monkeys: see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing- pretend weve got 25 years. We havent! We must get off our addiction to oil and gas by 2030 starting now. The pair were released on bail and are due to appear at Westminster magistrates court on June 20. Since the 2000s there have been up to 100,000 transplants every year in China - Joao Daniel Pereira/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstoc/Shutterstock The EU is potentially complicit in crimes against humanity in China involving illegal organ harvesting, human rights campaigners have warned. The blocs top foreign representative has been urged to end medical collaborations with China, given the impossibility of knowing whether Chinese doctors and institutions are complicit in the practice. Josep Borrell was also told to force health professionals in the EU to record when patients travel abroad for organs, in order to crack down on unethical transplants. The warning came in an open letter organised by the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC), which warned of rising cases of transplant abuse involving EU citizens. Josep Borrell has been urged to end medical collaborations with China - OLIVIER MATTHYS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Shutterstock They are among a growing number of international experts and organisations sounding the alarm over the practice of killing political prisoners for their organs. Researchers estimate that since the early 2000s there have been up to 100,000 transplants every year in China. Falun Gong practitioners, a heavily persecuted group, are believed to be the main source, with Uyghurs also falling victim. Lawyers have warned that the practice is so widespread throughout China that western institutions who collaborate with Chinese medics and hospitals for example by providing surgical training or equipment could be inadvertently complicit. In March, The Sunday Telegraph revealed that Oxford University had organised training programmes attended by Chinese transplant doctors facing allegations of illegally harvesting human organs. The Falun Gong are believed to be the main source of the organ harvesting - Seth Wenig/AP The programmes were endorsed by the European Society for Organ Transplantation. Oxford said its Centre for Evidence in Transplantation had provided webinars to raise standards in research practices, rather than direct transplant practice or surgery training. On May 1 the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China brought into force a new regulation that international observers had hoped would improve transparency in the practice of organ donation and transparency in the country. However, the details of the text fail to meet concerns and live up to international standards, they say. Susie Hughes, ETAC executive directors, said: In line with its human rights responsibilities, the EU must urgently investigate initiatives backed by institutional funding that are engaged with Chinas transplant sector for potential breaches of international law. Uyghurs, another persecuted group, at a Chinese detention centre At the same time, the EU and its member states must confront rising cases of transplant abuse involving EU citizens. The EU must introduce mandatory reporting requirements on the provenance of organs obtained overseas to ensure compliance with international law and ethical standards. Failure to act risks the EU, its institutions or citizens being complicit in egregious abuses of human life and in the commission of crimes against humanity. The open letter, which has been endorsed by 14 human rights groups, calls on the EU to introduce legislation to force health professionals to record when patients travel outside the bloc for organ transplantation. We remain troubled by the absence of mandatory reporting and transparency measures within the EU regarding EU citizens obtaining organs in other countries, it states. Transplant tourism Currently, citizens of the bloc could potentially travel to countries like China and obtain illicitly harvested organs and there are no reporting mechanisms to identify this is happening. According to a 2022 Global Rights Compliance report, instances of transplant tourism have increased two-fold in the last 20 years, now accounting for over 10 per cent of the worlds transplants. However, estimates regarding the number of EU citizens engaged in transplant tourism in China are unclear. For decades, Beijing claimed that its unusually large supply of organs came from legally executed prisoners. It said the practice ended in 2015 and that all organs have been supplied voluntarily since then. However, experts argue that death-row prisoners could never have accounted for the scale of Chinas organ transplantation programme. Mr Borrells office has been approached for comment. Portrait of JMW Turner', circa 1841 (1904) - The Print Collector/Getty Images A leading expert on JMW Turner has called for the Tate and National Gallery to explain why two of the paintings that the 19th-century British master bequeathed to the nation have not been seen for decades. Selby Whittingham, former curator of Manchester City Art Gallery, said that the gallery needs to come clean over Dido Directing the Equipment of the Fleet and Aeneas relating his Story to Dido. They were among four paintings from the story of Dido and Aeneas that the artist exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1850, before his death the following year, and which were described by one critic as gorgeous creations. Dr Whittingham told the Telegraph: It has never been explained how the first in the sequence of 1850 exhibits has disappeared. It is surely time that the Tate came clean and explained what actually happened. They were among about 300 paintings - and thousands of sketches - which Turner bequeathed on the understanding that they would be housed in a dedicated Turner Gallery. Dr Whittingham and Turners descendants have long argued that the artists wish that they should be shown constantly together was disregarded because the works were divided between the Tate and the National Gallery. Of Dido Directing the Equipment of the Fleet, he said: The only explanation I can think of is that the Tate - or National Gallery - embarked on restoring the four paintings, but the result with the first was disastrous. He added: Did the Tate keep records of its restorations of Turners 1910 to 1939? If not, why not? What about the National Gallery? He pointed to a 1964 Artforum essay by the late Jerrold Ziff, a Turner expert, who wrote: Turners four paintings of 1850 are virtually unknown to the public and generally ignored by the scholar. Now, largely as a result of the neglect, the Turner specialist can speak authoritatively about only three of the pictures, which are all in the Tate The fourth, once part of the Tate collection, has for the past decade been catalogued as destroyed. A hex seems to be on Turners Carthaginian paintings: his Dido Directing the Equipment of the Fleet (1827) is described funereally in the Tate catalogue (1953) as perished. A complete wreck Dr Whittingham noted that, in their study of Turners paintings, Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll had referred to it as a complete wreck after being transferred from its original canvas to plywood in 1917: It was then mislaid at the National Gallery and not rediscovered until 1968 when it was returned to the Tate. He added: Meanwhile the Tate - and now the National Gallery - risk endangering paintings by loaning them promiscuously all over the place, largely contrary to their earlier policies - though damage that thereby occurred [to other works] then had been mentioned in the debates on the National Gallery and Tate Gallery Bill in 1954. In that 1954 debate, there was reference to remarkable storieswhich are quite true, of the very sad things which sometimes happen to precious works of art They are loaned from one gallery to another, and sometimes they are destroyed by fire, or damaged by damp or water. Sometimes they have pieces of paint knocked off the canvas. The Tate has since faced severe criticism over its decision to lend two of Turners greatest masterpieces - Shade and Darkness and Light and Colours - to Frankfurts Schirn Kusthalle, from where they were stolen in 1994. The paintings subsequent return prompted questions over whether a ransom had been paid. The National Gallerys 2011 trustees minutes state: The Board asked how often the Gallerys paintings had suffered from one off incidents of major damage while on loan. It was confirmed that this had been very rare in the case of Gallery paintings, because of the stringent requirements which the Gallery imposed. We now hold it A Tate spokesman said: Dido Directing the Equipment of the Fleet became unexhibitable over a century ago. It suffered a long history of blistering in the 19th century, was relined in 1871, and was finally transferred from canvas to board in 1917. It was held at the National Gallery, but its whereabouts was unknown until it was rediscovered in 1968 and moved to Tate, where we now hold it. He added: Records show that Aeneas Relating his Story to Dido was removed from the national collection around 100 years ago and is no longer held by Tate. We do not have any details about the condition of the work at the time of its removal, but some of Turners late works were particularly vulnerable to degrading over time, especially as long ago as the 1920s when modern conservation techniques were not available to help preserve them as Tate does today. The far-right Identity and Democracy group, which is predicted to gain seats in Junes EU parliamentary elections, includes Marine Le Pens National Rally in France, Germanys Alternative fur Deutschland, Matteo Salvinis League in Italy and Austrias Freedom party. Photograph: Getty Images, EPA and Alamy Far-right gains in next months European elections will be hard, if not impossible, to parlay into more power in parliament, experts say, but they could boost nationalist parties in EU capitals with potentially greater consequences. Polling suggests far-right and hardline conservative parties could finish first in nine EU states, including Austria, France and the Netherlands, in the polls between 6 and 9 June, and second or third in another nine, including Germany, Spain, Portugal and Sweden. The predicted rise of the far- right Identity and Democracy (ID) group and the conservative-nationalist European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) has sparked speculation about a sharp right turn in the European parliament, potentially jeopardising key EU projects such as the green deal. ID, which includes Marine Le Pens National Rally (RN) in France, Matteo Salvinis League in Italy, Germanys Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), Austrias Freedom party (FPO) and Vlaams Belang in Belgium, are on track to be the big winners from 59 MEPs to perhaps 85. Related: What are the EU elections and why do they matter? The national-conservative ECR, which includes Giorgia Melonis Brothers of Italy, Polands Law and Justice (PiS) party, Spains Vox, the Finns party and the Sweden Democrats, is on course to return about 75 MEPs, a more modest advance. Analysts say, however, that such far and hard-right gains, while sizeable, may make little immediate difference to the workings of the parliament - one of the EUs three core institutions along with the council, which represents governments, and the commission, the blocs executive. First, said Luigi Scazzieri of the Centre for European Reform (CER)thinktank, the parties that make up the current grand coalition of conservatives, socialists and liberals are likely to lose a substantial number of seats, but maintain their overall majority. The mainstream centre-right European Peoples party (EPP) group, which includes the German Christian Democrats (CDU) of the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is set to stay the largest in the 720-seat parliament, with about 175 MEPs, while the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats parties such as Spains Socialist Workers party (PSOE) is heading for second with up to 145 MEPs. And though the liberal Renew group, including French president Emmanuel Macrons centrist Renaissance, may lose a dozen seats, possibly retaining as few as 80, that should still ensure that on the big decisions, the centre holds, said Nicolai von Ondarza of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Moreover, analysts say, ID and the ECR disagree on so much, and so bitterly, that it is difficult to see them working together. Im pretty sure we wont see a broad-church far-right group in the European parliament, von Ondarza said. Theyre too divided. The two groups may agree broadly on some issues such as migration (where their hardline stance has in any case become pretty much European mainstream) and postponing or even rolling back green legislation, but they are deeply split on others, including, critically, their line on Russia and backing for Kyiv. The parties that make up the ECR are mostly populist, nationalist and conservative, and many are, or have been, in government. They are EU-critical (sometimes strongly), but are ultimately part of what Von Ondarza described as the great EU compromise machine, and have frequently helped draft EU legislation. ID members, by contrast, are mostly far right, anti-EU and often seen as extreme in their national contexts. On the European stage, they are more disruptive than constructive: AfD talks favourably of a Dexit referendum, while RNs proposals for a French-first national preference in jobs and benefits are not compatible with staying in the single market. Nowhere is the divide between the groups clearer than over Russia. Since Moscows full-scale invasion of Ukraine, ECR members such as Melonis Brothers of Italy and Polands PiS have proved staunchly pro-Nato and pro-Kyiv. By contrast, many ID members particularly AfD remain more or less overtly pro-Russian. There are also internal tensions, analysts note. Within ID, Le Pen in particular has voiced criticisms of AfD after members attended a secret meeting to discuss a plan for the mass removal of foreigners from Germany, including those with German passports. The arrest last month of the parliamentary assistant to Maximilian Krah, the partys top candidate in the elections, on suspicion of spying for China, has fanned some partners doubts about AfD, elements of which are classified by Germanys domestic intelligence service as proven rightwing extremists. Some kind of reorganisation of the two hard-right groups is most likely after the election with the decision of Hungarys authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, whose Fidesz party left the EPP in 2021 and whose MEPs do not currently belong to any European parliamentary group, set to be key. Many observers see his projected 14 MEPs eventually joining the ECR but that, as von Ondarza noted, would almost certainly mean the Finns party and the Sweden Democrats would leave over, among other things, the Hungarian governments Kremlin-friendly stance on Ukraine. Whatever constellation emerges, predicted Mujtaba Rahman of the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, the populist right will be too disorganised to work together. They simply wont be able to cohere. Will they be able to hold joint meetings, vote strategically? I dont believe they will. Nonetheless, even if the parliaments grand coalition of centre-right, centre-left and liberals holds, its reduced majority could have consequences, particularly in policy areas where the conservative EPP may be tempted to slow progress. The far-right discourse has already won in the EU on immigration, von Ondarza said, and things are starting to move that way on climate policy: the EPP is already opposed to some parts of the green deal. It could be tempted to side with the ECR to block those, and also maybe on some family policy and security issues. Von der Leyen has already said that, depending on the parliaments composition and who is in each group, the EPP did not rule out working with the ECR (although an ECR that included Orban could complicate matters, with many EPP member parties reluctant to be associated with the illiberal Hungarian leader). The role of Italian prime minister Meloni, who has shown herself to be a surprisingly constructive EU player, could prove critical. Shes trying to convince Orban to move in her direction on Ukraine, on the EU, said Rahman. She has understood that her success is to do with her being constructive. Von Ondarza said Meloni faced a big choice. She can team up with Orban and move the ECR definitively away from the centre, or she can align herself with von der Leyen. If she opts for the former, she loses all shes gained so far. It is, however, outside Brussels and Strasbourg that these European parliament elections may have their biggest impact, analysts say. Far-right parties are already in coalition governments in Italy and Finland and lending another parliamentary support in Sweden. A far-right party is most likely to be a big part of the next Dutch government after Geert Wilderss Party for Freedom finished first in Novembers elections; Vlaams Belang is on track to finish first in Flemish-speaking Belgium in national elections there in June; the FPO is set to win Austrias elections later this year; and AfD may win three state elections in Germany. A strong electoral result for the far right is likely to lend them more momentum, said Scazzieri of the CER. A strong showing by the FPO could set it up for victory in the national vote. If its leader, Herbert Kickl, becomes chancellor, Orban and Slovakias Robert Fico would be joined by a third Ukraine-sceptic populist leader. In France, said Rahman, Le Pen looks set to humiliate Macron, with the RNs list scoring perhaps double the presidents. In Germany, the AfD may have shed three or four points in the polls after a succession of scandals but is still on course to finish second, behind the opposition CDU, but ahead of chancellor Olaf Scholzs centre-left Social Democratic party. What concerns me most is the impact of these elections on already weak leaders, he said. Macron and Scholz are already struggling. At the EU level, the biggest impact of these elections will be to weaken already weakened leaders yet further. For Scazzieri, the full influence of the European parliamentary elections of 2024 will be felt over time, with mainstream political forces coming under pressure to move right on issues such as climate policy and, potentially, the balance of power among national capitals shifting. On Tuesday 28 May at 7pm BST, join Jon Henley and a panel of experts for a livestreamed discussion on the rise of the far right in Europe. Tickets available here. The aurora borealis fills the sky over Skogafoss waterfall on the Skoga River in the south of Iceland in March. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA A ferocious solar storm powerful enough to knock out or disrupt satellite and communications systems, the power grid and radio signals was raging on Friday, space weather researchers warned. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) issued a rare warning for extreme G5 geomagnetic storm conditions when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. The last extreme G5 event was in 2003. Extreme (G5) geomagnetic conditions have been observed! pic.twitter.com/qLsC8GbWus NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 10, 2024 Noaa alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For most people here on planet Earth, they wont have to do anything, said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with the Space Weather Prediction Center. The severity of the geomagnetic storm that has propelled multiple solar flares towards Earth in recent days also brings a spectacular bonus for sky watchers: a rare but stunning view of the aurora borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights, in places they are rarely seen in the US. More commonly visible only in Alaska and Canada, the show could be visible overnight in states including California, Colorado, Missouri and Virginia, and perhaps as far south as Alabama. According to the Noaa, a large sunspot cluster has produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday morning. At least five coronal mass ejections (CMEs) of varying intensity, and consisting of electrified, magnetic gas, are expected to merge and arrive at Earth late on Friday or early Saturday, the agency said, prompting it to issue the first severe geomagnetic storm watch since January 2005. We have a very rare event on our hands, Shawn Dall, Noaas senior space weather specialist, told a Friday press briefing. A series of CMEs are directed right towards us, some are catching up with others. These severe levels are pretty extraordinary, and critical infrastructure operators have been notified. The solar storm is classified as G4, the equivalent of a category four hurricane, and emanates from a large and magnetically complex sunspot cluster 16 times the diameter of Earth, located in an area of the sun called Noaa region 3664. The worst situation would be, historically, from 1859 and the Carrington event, when a CME arrived at Earth and extraordinary things happened, Dall said. We are not anticipating that, but we cannot discount a G5. Dall said a better indication of possible effect could come later on Friday when the ejections reach the European Space Agencys L1 satellite at the first so-called Lagrange point in space. We wont know until the CMEs arrive 1m miles from Earth. If we reach G4 there could well be some infrastructure effects, he said. The most recent event of similar or greater magnitude was the October 2003 Halloween G5 solar storms, which produced a multitude of what Nasa described as ghostly looking auroras, but which wreaked havoc with the global power grid, notably in Sweden and South Africa. Like the 2003 storms, this weeks activity will produce a stunning celestial show of the northern lights in states as far south as Alabama. The sunspot is visible from Earth to those with telescopes and cameras with special solar filters, or who have retained their safety glasses from last months total solar eclipse that traversed Mexico, much of the US, and Canada. Despite its massive size, almost 125,000 miles across, the sunspot appears as a small dot on the suns surface. Brent Gordon, the head of the space weather prediction service, said the solar event would last at least through Sunday. Were not quite sure what to anticipate, although we do expect to see one shock arrival followed by possibly one or two others, he said. Associated Press contributed to this report Michael Gove is facing record homelessness - Paul Grover Michael Gove has said he has regret for the fact that a record number of children are living in temporary accommodation. The Housing Secretary blamed not enough houses being delivered, admitting that for years now we have not been building enough homes. Figures published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities last month showed that the number of children living in temporary accommodation had hit a record high. There were 145,800 children in temporary accommodation in December 2023 more than double the 70,090 in the first quarter of 2012. On the BBCs Today programme, Mr Gove said: I cant look at those figures with anything other than regret. But there are several interlocking issues and the biggest issue overall is that whether its in the private rented sector, the socially-rented sector or homes to buy, we still need to increase the supply of homes now. I think that the Government has done a huge amount, you know, we will have built a million homes in this Parliament, but we need to do even better in the future. Mr Gove blamed the increasing pressure on housing supply. The number of people who come to this country, the number of families that have grown have meant that for years now we have not been building enough homes. When it was put to him that the Government had missed the 2019 Conservative manifesto pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year, he said: Weve missed the 300,000 target, but weve hit the one million over the course of a Parliament target. With Mr Goves Renters (Reform) Bill currently passing through Parliament, he was also asked about the delay to plans to scrap so-called no fault section 21 evictions, which were first announced in 2019. The Government wants to delay full implementation of the ban until the courts are assessed as having the capacity to deal with new cases. Mr Gove said: I hope that the Bill that will ensure that we no longer have section 21 will receive Royal Assent, in other words, will be done and dusted by the summer. Then it will be, I hope, a matter of months after that that we will end section 21 for new tenants, and then shortly after that we will be in a position to end section 21 altogether. Nadav Popplewell was abducted along with his mother, Channah Peri, who was freed last November. Photograph: Facebook Hamas said in a statement on Saturday that the British-Israeli hostage Nadav Popplewell had died of wounds that he sustained in an Israeli airstrike more than a month ago. Popplewell, 51, was a captive taken from Nirim kibbutz and a video previously released by Hamass armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, showed him displaying visible signs of physical abuse. Popplewell and his mother, Channah Peri, 79, were abducted on 7 October from their residence in Nirim kibbutz, while his older brother, Roi, perished in the assault. Peri was freed on 24 November. In a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquarters, the family of Popplewell requested that the recently released Hamas video not be published or used. The forum stated: Every sign of life received from the hostages held by Hamas is another cry of distress to the Israeli government and its leaders. We dont have a moment to spare! You must strive to implement a deal that will bring them all back today the living to rehabilitation and the murdered to burial. Described by the campaign group as generous and compassionate, Popplewell was also known for his keen interest in science fiction literature. Related: Its like living in a nightmare: British relatives of Gaza hostages speak out A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told PA media that they are urgently seeking more information following the release of this video. Our thoughts are with his family at this extremely distressing time. The UK government has been working with partners across the region to secure the release of hostages, including British nationals. We will continue to do all we can to secure the release of hostages. The unprecedented abduction of approximately 250 individuals into the Gaza Strip occurred on 7 October during the assault by Hamas militants on southern Israel. According to Israeli authorities, 128 individuals are reported to remain in captivity within the Palestinian territory, with 36 confirmed as dead. The video was released on a day when a series of demonstrations are expected to take place across the country, with families of hostages demanding the release of their loved ones held by Hamas in Gaza and early elections. Israeli officials told the Ynet news site that hostage and ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas had not completely broken down. Indirect talks would resume if there are answers from Hamas that we can work with, the officials told the site. Hamas said on Friday that efforts to find a deal on a truce were back at square one after Israel rejected a plan from international mediators, while the White House expressed its commitment to try keeping the sides engaged if only virtually. Plasma centre in the Louisiana prison was run by inmates who were paid $3 per day and overlooked basic safety - GILES CLARKE/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA Inmates bribed their way onto a scheme to donate infected blood, documents seen by The Telegraph have revealed. Plasma used to create a medical treatment used on NHS patients was collected from US prisons. Donors used bribes to bypass checks that should have screened out those who tested positive for hepatitis, used intravenous drugs and had unsafe tattoos. The compromised plasma is at the heart of the infected blood scandal, in which thousands of people in Britain in the 1970s and 80s were given blood transfusions or blood products that were infected with viruses such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV. The high-risk plasma was used in a miracle treatment for the genetic blood-clotting disorder haemophilia, called Factor VIII. Prisoners at Louisiana State Penitentiary admitted to bribing fellow inmates to get a lucrative spot on a prison plasma scheme, which paid donors $15 (12), according to court documents first published in The Poison Line: Life and Death in the Infected Blood Scandal, which were later taken into evidence by the Infected Blood Inquiry. Richard Vincent, a former inmate at Louisiana State Penitentiary in a legal deposition, said: You can bleed twice a week, thats $30. Back then you could buy a carton of Camels for $6. And you could give that to one of the plasma workers... Then they didnt care what you had. Companies including Bayer, Baxter and Armour pooled tens of thousands of donations together. Only one donor needed to have a virus for the whole batch to be contaminated. Some 1,250 people with haemophilia in the UK contracted HIV from Factor VIII and up to 5,000 more with hepatitis C. In a parallel scandal, as many as 26,800 NHS patients were exposed to hepatitis C from blood transfusion; hundreds of whom could still be undiagnosed. Survivors and bereaved family members are seeking compensation and an apology from the UK government, which oversaw the imports, when the Infected Blood Inquiry delivers its final report on May 20. The plasma centre in the Louisiana prison was run by inmates who were paid $3 per day and overlooked basic safety. It wasnt nothing to see people having sex in the bathroom before they go on the table to bleed, said Vincent. They had oral sex and anal sex then five minutes later theyre on the table giving blood. Vincent said he had hepatitis B and C, which he could have contracted from tattoos in prison or drug use. Tom Mull, a retired lawyer who uncovered the plasma centre at Louisiana State Penitentiary and interviewed Vincent, said: It was so outrageously irresponsible that it was hard to believe they had actually done it. Lorraine Mull, Mr Mulls wife and legal partner, added: It changed my whole view on some pharmaceutical companies. The sheer greed of it, corporate profits above the safety of people with haemophilia. David Grillette, another prisoner, told Mr Mull: They knowingly let me donate blood plasma with hepatitis B. Grillette said staff knew about his drug use, which makes the plasma people that much more at fault. He added, If someone has become ill because of it, I feel awful. Vincent said he was told the plasma would be used for cosmetic products, not a medical treatment. The US Food and Drug Administration licensed plasma centres in prisons in Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Tennessee and Mississippi. Plasma collected at Louisiana State Penitentiary was used by Baxter Healthcare. A public inquiry in Canada in 1997 found Factor VIII made with plasma collected in Arkansas prison had infected more than 1,000 Canadian people with HIV. Cutter, a subsidiary of Bayer, paid inmates $12 per week to work in that plasma centre. In Britain, it is illegal to pay donors for plasma but as the country didnt produce enough of its own Factor VIII it relied on imports from the US, where people could sell their plasma twice a week. Financial reward encouraged donors at higher-risk of blood-borne diseases, including intravenous drug users and sex workers. Pharmaceutical companies also sourced plasma from nightclub districts and impoverished areas of US cities. Adverts from the early 1980s show pharma companies calling for gay men to donate plasma to help create an immune treatment for hepatitis B. Those men were at greater risk of contracting HIV and their plasma was also used to make Factor VIII. Worst epidemics in history Michael Baum, lawyer at Wisner Baum who worked with Mr Mull, said: It was as if all these haemophiliac kids were sharing needles with intravenous drug users and prisoners during one of the worst epidemics of blood borne diseases in history. That to my mind is a crime. Using evidence from Louisiana State Penitentiary and the advertisements for hepatitis B positive donors, the Mulls and Mr Baum won a $100 million settlement for 124 families from four pharmaceutical companies, Baxter, Bayer, Armour and Alpha. The lawyers proved Bayer and Armour knowingly sold Factor VIII that contained hepatitis and HIV. The Infected Blood Inquiry heard those two companies and Baxter maintained a cosy relationship with NHS doctors in the Aids crisis through monetary rebates and research grants. A spokesman for Bayer said it is cooperating with the Infected Blood Inquiry and it would be inappropriate to comment in detail before the report. They said: Bayer is truly sorry that this tragic situation occurred and that therapies that were developed by Bayer Group companies, and were prescribed by doctors to save and improve lives, in fact ended up causing so much suffering to so many. A spokesman for Baxter said: We sympathise with anyone impacted by infected blood in the 1970s and 1980s. Baxter is committed to providing the highest quality products to its patients and customers, and to conducting its business ethically and compliantly. An injured child receiving first aid - ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Live News Israel ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians to evacuate Rafah on Saturday, as it prepares to expand its military operation into the heavily populated centre. Rafah is considered the last refuge in Gaza, and is sheltering half of the population an estimated 1.4 million people. The United Nations has warned a full-scale invasion of the southern city would cause a disastrous level of civilian casualties, while US president Joe Biden has said he will not provide weapons to be used in the city. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has rejected pressure to resist attacking the city, saying that Hamas has based most of its top leaders and remaining forces there. The Israeli army said rockets were launched Saturday from Rafah in southern Gaza towards the Kerem Shalom crossing, which it has seized. Four launches were identified that crossed from the Rafah area, the military said in a statement. Egypt, meanwhile, has refused to coordinate with Israel on the entry of aid into Gaza from the Rafah crossing due to Israels unacceptable escalation, Egypts state-affiliated Alqahera News satellite TV reported. The Israeli army issued its first evacuation order for parts of eastern Rafah on Monday, saying it was in preparation for a widely anticipated ground assault. The evacuations are forcing people to move to areas largely destroyed in the north or expanded humanitarian zones. What should we do here? Do we wait until we all die on top of each other? So weve decided to leave. Its better, Hanan al-Satari, a Rafah resident, told the Associated Press. However, many people have already fled the humanitarian zones which have been designated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) due to horrific conditions, according to aid workers. We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the UN humanitarian agency in Rafah. The IDF said it was also moving into an area in northern Gaza, where it said Hamas had regrouped. Avichay Adraee, Israeli army spokesman, told Palestinians in Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and surrounding areas to leave their homes, warning that people were in a dangerous combat zone and that Israel would strike with great force. 10:03 AM BST Australia says Palestinian UN membership bid builds peace momentum Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said on Saturday the countrys support for a Palestinian bid to become a full United Nations member was part of building momentum to secure peace in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Australia voted on Friday with the overwhelming majority of the UN General Assembly in backing the resolution that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state. It recommended the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably. Much of our region and many of our partners also voted yes, Ms Wong told a press conference in Adelaide. We all know one vote on its own wont end this conflict - it has spanned our entire lifetimes - but we all have to do what we can to build momentum towards peace. 09:58 AM BST Leaflets ordering evacuation Israeli military drops leaflets ordering around hundreds of thousands of people to leave the city - IDF 09:30 AM BST UAE hits out at Netanyahu for saying Gulf state could help run Gaza The United Arab Emirateshas hit out at Benjamin Netanyahus after the Israeli leader said the Gulf state could be involved in aiding a future government in Gaza after the war. The prominent and influential Gulf state, is one of few Arab states with official diplomatic ties to Israel, which it has maintained through Israels more than six-month war in Gaza, although relations appear to have become frayed. Foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan rebukedMr Netanyahu in an early morning post on X, saying Abu Dhabi denounced the Israeli leaders comments. The UAE stresses that the Israeli prime minister does not have any legal capacity to take this step, and the UAE refuses to be drawn into any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip, he said in an Arabic post. Sheikh Abdullah said the UAE would be prepared to support a Palestinian government that met the hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people, which he said included independence. 09:27 AM BST Pictures from Rafah Palestinians transport their belongings on the back of a van as they flee Rafah - AFP via Getty Images Smoke rises above buildings during an early morning Israeli strike - AFP via Getty Images 09:25 AM BST UN assembly approves resolution granting Palestine new rights The UN General Assembly voted by a wide margin yesterday to grant new rights and privileges to Palestine and called on the Security Council to reconsider Palestines request to become the 194th member of the United Nations. The world body approved the Arab and Palestinian-sponsored resolution by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions. The United States voted against it, along with Israel, Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Papua New Guinea. The vote reflected the wide global support for full membership of Palestine in the United Nations, with many countries expressing outrage at the escalating death toll in Gaza and fears of a major Israeli offensive in Rafah, a southern city where about 1.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge. It also demonstrated growing support for the Palestinians. A General Assembly resolution on Oct 27 calling for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza was approved 120-14 with 45 abstentions. That was just weeks after Israel launched its military offensive in response to Hamas Oct 7 attack in southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people. 09:20 AM BST Israel may have violated humanitarian law with American weapons, US says Israel may have used American weapons in ways that violated international law, the US State Department has found. In a highly-critical report, it concluded it was reasonable to assess US arms had been used in Gaza in instances inconsistent with international humanitarian law. However, it stopped short of a specific finding on whether the Jewish state had broken international law which would justify Washington withholding military aid. A finding that Israel had violated international law would have enabled Joe Biden to restrict arms deliveries, since it would represent a breach of US laws governing arms transfers to foreign militaries. The conclusions are made in a State Department report which was ordered by Mr Biden in February, a declassified version of which was delivered to Congress and released late on Friday afternoon. It is unrelated to Mr Bidens decision to delay a delivery of heavy bombs and other weaponry to Israel amid a public rift between the US president and Benjamin Netanyahu over his planned ground invasion of Rafah. The Israeli Prime Minister has remained defiant in the face of Mr Bidens hardening stance, declaring: If Israel needs to stand alone, it will stand alone. Read more here Sheikh Meshal said he 'will not allow that democracy will be exploited to destroy the state' - NOUFAL IBRAHIM/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The Gulf state of Kuwait has been cast into political uncertainty after its ruler suspended the national parliament, saying that corruption had permeated every institution. Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Mishal Al Ahmed Al Sabah, said he would suspend the parliament for up to four years, declaring that he had made the move to save the country. Unfortunately, we have faced some unimaginable, unbearable difficulties and impediments, the 83-year-old said on Friday, according to the state news agency, a reference to the gridlock that has held back Kuwaits development. We were left with no option other than taking this hard decision to rescue the country and protect its higher national interests and resources of the nation, Sheikh Mishal added. I will not allow that democracy will be exploited to destroy the state. Kuwait, one of the few semi-democratic countries in the Middle East, had held elections to its national parliament in April. Members of Parliament at the National Assembly in Kuwait City on Jan 29 - YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP Parliament was set to meet for the first time on Monday but several parliamentarians had reportedly refused to attend. In a television broadcast, the countrys ruler said: The unhealthy atmosphere experienced by Kuwait in previous years has encouraged the spread of corruption to reach most state facilities, and unfortunately it reached the security and economic institutions. Al Sabah only became ruler in the countrys hereditary system last year and dissolved the parliament in favour of new elections shortly after. Kuwait has faced increasing conflict between its parliament and the hereditary rulership in recent years as it seeks to cut its reliance on oil revenues as its primary source of income. One of the few countries in the region that has a parliament with any substantial say over policy making, Kuwait last suspended sittings of its national assembly in the 1980s. Keir Starmer with new Labour MP Natalie Elphicke and the partys Dover and Deal candidate Mike Tapp. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA Voters are switching from the Tories to Labour in the most pro-leave parts of the country in such numbers that Keir Starmer may need a far lower overall swing from the Conservatives to win a parliamentary majority than was previously believed, election analysts have claimed. In their analysis of this months local elections, professors Robert Ford of Manchester University and John Curtice of Strathclyde University both noted that the bigger the 2016 vote was for leave in an area, the higher the swing was to Labour. Party strategists have also been encouraged by the way it has been winning back voters in the most pro-leave parts of the country. Labour sources said results of the recent elections showed that in the 10% of new parliamentary constituencies with the highest leave votes, the council election swing from Tory to Labour from 2021 to 2024 had been 11.3%. In the rest of the country the swing had been 6.5%. They cited Thurrock, where Labour took control of the council on 2 May, which had the fourth highest leave share in the country in 2016 (72.3%), and other one-time leave strongholds such as Cannock Chase, Staffordshire (68.9%), where it also took charge of the council, as examples. Research compiled by academics Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, published in January, found Labour would need a 12.7 point swing from the Conservatives to win an overall majority in the House of Commons under new parliamentary boundaries. That would be larger than the 10.2 point swing former prime minister Tony Blair achieved when he led Labour to power in 1997. Ford said that if Labours improving prospects in Scotland were also taken into account, it could be that the party would now need a far lower swing, as Labours vote was becoming more efficient and spread more evenly. Speaking to the Observer, Ford said: Labours vote in 2019 [at the general election] was very inefficient, with votes piled up in safe Labour seats in remain areas while there was a big swing against them in the leave areas, where they lost seats. Most Westminster constituencies lean to leave because the remain vote is concentrated, while the leave vote is more spread out. Hence the calculation that, on a uniform swing, Labour would need a huge swing to get a majority of one. But there is a way out. If Labour could change the distribution of its support, winning a bigger swing in leave areas than remain areas, and thus unwind (at least partially) the Brexit divide which opened up in 2019 then they could win a majority even with a smaller overall swing. And that is exactly what Labour have been doing since 2021. It is evident in polling. It is evident in the 2023 local election results. And it is evident once again in [this months] local election results. Related: Big Tory losses but no Labour landslide. What might happen at Westminster? a visual analysis Curtice said the Brexit factor meant that the situation was complex and many factors were at play. Although Labour has gained ground among those who voted leave in 2016, the wellspring of pro-EU support is constantly being refuelled by other sources. So [many of] the younger people who couldnt vote in 2019 who are voting Labour now are pro-EU. People who voted Labour in 2019 have swung against Brexit in exactly the same way as the general public. It isnt just a Labour/Tory thing.. The Labour party have picked up about one in three of those who voted Liberal Democrat in 2019, virtually all of them pro- Israeli soldiers stand next to military vehicles near the border with Gaza. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters Two elements are particularly striking about the latest evacuation warnings issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to residents and displaced people in central Rafah and a considerable part of northern Gaza. The first is that the warnings for Rafah were put at the bottom of leaflets and social media posts, almost as if the IDF was trying to downplay the coming offensive. This may be because Israeli military officials have told the media for much of the week that they were carrying out precise, limited and targeted operations in the city with the sole objective of seizing the key border crossing with Egypt. This is now clearly not the case, if it ever was. Such reluctance to highlight the opening of a new and potentially extremely bloody phase in the war in Gaza is unsurprising. For months, Israels most senior officials have threatened a full-scale assault into Rafah to eliminate Hamas forces and leaders based in or under the city, and to retrieve some of the Israeli hostages possibly held there. This is seen as essential to accomplishing Israels war aims of crushing Hamas and ending any threat from the organisation. Humanitarian officials have warned of a catastrophe if such an attack goes ahead, and Washington made clear it was opposed to any such action without Israel offering a credible plan to safeguard civilians. This, US officials say, they have yet to see. The diplomatic fallout of the new Israeli push is therefore likely to be significant and long lasting. The second takeaway from the warnings is that they call for the evacuation of areas in northern Gaza that have already been the site of repeated Israeli military operations. This is not the first time the IDF has been forced to return to parts of the territory where they have defeated Hamas forces. This underlines how hard it has been, and will be, for the IDF to eradicate Hamas in Gaza. Some of the vast tunnel network built by the Islamist militant organisation during its 16 or so years in power remains intact, there are still some residual stocks of rockets with enough manpower to fire them at Israel, and there is sufficient support or fear, or both, among the population to allow Hamas to operate almost everywhere the Israeli forces are absent. For political, diplomatic and economic reasons, Israel does not want to keep large numbers of boots on the ground in Gaza, and has failed to build any kind of functioning administration in areas from which it has supposedly expelled Hamas. These choices have helped its enemies, allowing Hamas to return to former strongholds, now often reduced to rubble. Israel is finding itself caught in the classic trap of counter-insurgent warfare, needing a definitive victory while its enemy needs only to survive. Those who suffer most, as ever, are those caught in the middle: the civilians. The human consequences of the new offensive are evident already, with up to a million people already on the move or likely to flee Rafah in the coming days. Their situation in the city had been relatively stable for months, with food supplies improving in recent weeks. Prices for some basics had even fallen to pre-war levels. Small quantities of that most precious of all commodities hope had even returned among the packed tents and shelters in the city. Now that entire population is being pushed into a new and terrifying precarity. Famine now exists in pockets of Gaza, even if food is relatively plentiful in parts of the territory. Doctors report losing patients who would otherwise survive injuries, often inflicted by airstrikes, because they are so weakened by months of malnutrition. This is especially true of children, they say. The supposed humanitarian zones designated by the IDF for evacuation offer pitiful provision for the huge numbers who are fleeing towards them this weekend following the instructions in the leaflets. Those who are packing up their fragile shelters in Rafah are all too aware of this but say, almost unanimously, that they have no choice. Amelia and April Maddison photographed on the Gold Coast this month. The twins, who make content for Instagram and OnlyFans, have had their images stolen to make a custom generative AI model. Photograph: Paul Harris/The Guardian Very creepy, was Aprils first thought when she saw her face on a generative AI website. April is one half of the Maddison twins. She and her sister Amelia make content for OnlyFans, Instagram and other platforms, but they also existed as a custom generative AI model made without their consent. Related: Australian government pledges almost $1bn to help women leave violent relationships It was really weird to see our faces, but not really our faces, she says. Its really disturbing. Deepfakes the creation of realistic but false imagery, video and audio using artificial intelligence is on the political agenda after the federal government announced last week it would introduce legislation to ban the creation and sharing of deepfake pornography as part of measures to combat violence against women. Sharing sexually explicit material using technology like artificial intelligence will be subject to serious criminal penalties, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said in a press conference. The AI model of April and Amelia was on a website called CivitAI, which allows open source AI image models to be uploaded based on a generator known as Stable Diffusion. The model based on the twins was clearly labelled with their names, and indicated it was trained on more than 900 of their images. Anyone could then download the program and generate images in the likeness of April and Amelia. These are real safety issues that surely deserve a more considered, comprehensive, and less reactive approach Amy Patterson Guardian Australia found creators responding to user requests for custom models of other Australian influencers and celebrities. The use of the platform to make sexual imagery, even of non-famous people, has been well documented. Resources trained to generate the likeness of a specific individual must be non-commercial and non-sexual and may be removed upon request from the person depicted, a CivitAI spokesperson said. While the government pushes ahead with new rules, deepfakes are already being tackled with existing laws but they are not always easily enforced. Test cases involving prominent Australians The distribution of deepfake pornography without the consent of the person it depicts would likely be a crime in most states and territories already, according to Dr Nicole Shackleton, lecturer in law at RMIT university. However, she says federal legislation could fill the gaps. There are already test cases under way. In October last year, Anthony Rotondo was arrested and charged for allegedly sending deepfake imagery to Brisbane schools and sporting associations. The eSafety commissioner separately launched proceedings against Rotondo over his failure to remove intimate images of several prominent Australians last year from a deepfake pornography website. He initially refused to comply with the order while he was based in the Philippines, the court heard, but the commissioner was able to launch the case once Rotondo returned to Australia. In December, he was fined for contempt of court, after admitting he breached court orders by not removing the imagery. He later shared his password so the commissioners officers could remove it. The eSafety case returns to court next week, while the state case is adjourned until 13 June. Image-based abuse, including deepfakes, can be reported to the eSafety commission, which claims a 90% success rate in getting this distressing material down. Related: Can AI image generators be policed to prevent explicit deepfakes of children? The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, last week acknowledged there were existing laws, but said the new legislation was about making it a clear offence. There are existing offences that criminalise the sharing of private sexual material online to menace, harass or offend others, he said. These reforms will create a new offence to make clear that those who seek to abuse or degrade women by creating and sharing sexually explicit material without consent, using technology like artificial intelligence, will be subject to serious criminal penalties. It is understood the legislation will be added into the existing criminal code, which already contains an offence for the distribution of private sexual material without consent with a six-year maximum penalty. People could ask for things that could be really disturbing April Maddison Amy Patterson, board member for Electronic Frontiers Australia, says the organisation is wary of whack-a-mole legislation to address new technology without addressing the underlying issues around why people may seek to create or distribute deepfakes. What we dont need is rushed new powers for authorities who arent making full use of the powers they already have, as a lazy substitute for the more difficult work of addressing the systemic and recurring issues that do need more than these ad-hoc symptomatic patches, she says. Patterson says more resources should also be devoted to digital literacy, so that people can learn to spot deepfakes. These are real safety issues that surely deserve a more considered, comprehensive, and less reactive approach, she says. We need to get better at taking these things down For the Maddison twins, there are also concerns an AI model producing their likeness could impact how they make a living. When their images are stolen and distributed without their consent, they can use copyright requests to get them removed but the law is less clear around the creation of deepfakes. Prof Kimberlee Weatherall, who specialises in intellectual property law at the University of Sydney, says copyright issues around deepfakes can be divided into two stages: the training stage and the output stage. AI models require many images to train on, and if those images are taken without consent, then that training itself may be copyright infringement because it involves making copies if it occurs in Australia. The existence of the model itself, on the other hand, is unlikely to be a copyright infringement. In scenarios where a deepfake is created by attaching someones face to an existing pornographic video, for example, the copyright owner of the original clip may have a copyright claim. But if a model is creating new images of someone, it may not be covered by existing law. Related: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recounts horror of seeing herself in deepfake porn If you are putting in a text prompt, generating images of a celebrity doing things that celebrity wouldnt have done its actually quite tricky to attack that with intellectual property law, Dr Weatherall says. Thats because I dont have copyright in my appearance. Amelia Maddison describes the CivitAI model as violating. Both women fear people could make images of them doing things they would not do in reality. People could ask for things that could be really disturbing, April says. If they can make an image of us thats harmless, then they can [also] do other things. The CivitAI model page warned: Due to the training data, this might produce nudity if not appropriately prompted. As well as new laws tackling non-consensual deepfakes, Shackleton says AI and tech companies must ensure their platforms are designed safely. In a statement, a CivitAI spokesperson directed Guardian Australia to its Real People Policy. While Civitai allows the generation and posting of AI-generated images of real people, its terms, conditions, and moderation filters do not allow these images to be suggestive, she said. However, the platforms filters to prevent explicit images of public figures must be individually created. Given that CivitAI is an American company operated by American staff and moderators, the integration of filters for non-western public figures can be delayed if the team does not previously know them, she said. The company also actively urges and relies on its users to report any models or images of real individuals that are suggestive or sexually explicit. Individuals can contact the company and revoke permissions for use of their likeness, which the twins management team did this week. The model has now been taken off the CivitAI website. But the onus remains on the people depicted by these models to police their own image. We need to find ways to get better at taking these things down, Amelia says. Its really unfair. Shackleton says new legislation may not have much impact if the underlying reasons for why people choose to create deepfake sexual imagery and distribute them online are not also addressed. It is vital that the government turn its attention to the larger picture when it comes to preventing the creation and distribution of deepfake sexual imagery and its use in silencing and intimidating women and girls online, she says. The Gray family adopted Patty and Betty (not pictured) in 2022. Photograph: Charity Burggraaf/Getty Images A family in Washington state says a mobile butcher mistakenly slaughtered their pet pigs recently after showing up to the wrong address. Security camera footage showed an unknown truck pulling up to the home of the family in question when they were not there on 1 May. One of the employees of the familys farm, who was sent to check on their home, informed them that someone had shot the pigs. Related: Connecticut rescue workers rappel into rock quarry to rescue missing dog Both Patty and Betty were laying in a big pool of blood, and a mess, and one of them had shackles on her, the pigs owner, Nathan Gray, told local news station KIRO 7. Gray and his wife, Natalie, adopted the pigs in 2022 to join their other pets, including cats, dogs, ducks and a chicken. They were adorable. They were so cute. They were the size of a small little dog, Natalie Gray told the local news station. We havent had them before. By not eating meat, I heard they were just like dogs and super fun to have, and I wanted my girls to have pigs. A Kitsap County family is outraged after they say their pet pigs were slaughtered after a butcher business got the wrong address. The changes theyre fighting for to make sure no other family will have to bury their beloved pets under these circumstances on @kiro7seattle at 5 pm. pic.twitter.com/0DC1YIgJnw Louie Tran (@louie_tran) May 10, 2024 The Grays said they reported the killings to the local sheriffs office. An attorney for the family told the BBC that the law treats Betty and Patty no differently than if they were golden retrievers or Norwegian forest cats, and it is a serious crime to intentionally injure an animal without legal justification. Some butcher companies offer mobile slaughtering services for farmers who dont want to haul their animals to a larger facility. Nathan Gray said the mobile butcher told him the GPS navigator used by the company screwed up. It also asked him if he wanted the pigs to be processed. Theyll be buried on this property, like the rest of our animals, Gray told the BBC. He said the butcher told him the employees were told to go to a house with nobody home. That seems to be the protocol for this sort of thing, he told KIRO 7, adding that the pigs were shot close to their neighbors fence, potentially endangering other animals close by. The Grays are advocating for more safety protocols for mobile butchers, saying that if they are bringing firearms on to someones property, the person should be home. There needs to be better protection for people like me and my family, Natalie Gray said. To not have this happen again. Someone needs to be home. There needs to be boxes checked instead of coming to your house and kill[ing] an animal without someone there. The stamping foot seen in Monty Python's Flying Circus opening credits was taken from a National Gallery painting It is possibly the most famous foot in modern screen history as it stamps down twice during the opening credits of Monty Pythons Flying Circus. Now it has been revealed that its inspiration is a 16th century painting in the National Gallery. In the late Sixties I would come to the gallery to steal ideas - some from paintings and through buying posters and souvenirs of characters I liked, says Python member Terry Gilliam. I then went home to create wonderfully silly animations. In a documentary film to celebrate the gallerys 200th anniversary, which falls this weekend, Gilliam tells how Bronzinos Allegory with Venus, Cupid and Folly led to his creation of the descending bare foot. Gilliam, who later directed films including Brazil and 12 Monkeys, had noticed Cupid and a dove in a bottom corner of the painting. Terry Gilliam and 'An Allegory with Venus and Cupid,' by Agnolo Bronzino (c.1540-50). The foot in question can be seen above the dove, in the bottom left of the painting - SeventhArt It seemed like his foot was about to crush the unsuspecting bird. I thought it would make a lovely punctuation - a sudden halt to what was going on. Cupids foot made it even better because what better than to be crushed by love, he told The Telegraph. Gilliam is one of 16 people - some celebrities, others gallery employees including director Gabriele Finaldi and retail assistant Joshua Pell, and the general public - who talk about their favourite painting in My National Gallery, which will be released in about 300 cinemas from the first week of June. Claudia Winkleman, presenter of Strictly Come Dancing, Traitors and The Piano, tells how as a youngster she was taken each weekend by her father, Barry, after his divorce from journalist Eve Pollard. So my love for art came from my brilliant dad. But we would only look at one painting each visit and for about 40 minutes. We would then come back next week, and so on, Winkleman said. She chooses Leonardos Virgin of the Rocks, not for its religious depiction but because its so humane. I also see it as a soother in a hectic life. Princess Eugenie, younger daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, has also gone for a religious work - Correggios Madonna of the Basket. She references the ethereal Madonna. Eugenie, another Art History graduate like Winkleman, and now working at a Mayfair gallery, relates to a mother looking after her young child, and struggling to put on its jacket. Ive recently had a second baby and know that feeling. Gilliams former Python colleague, Michael Palin, perhaps unsurprisingly for a railway enthusiast, chooses Turners Rain, Steam and Speed. Michael Palin's choice: Rain, Steam and Speed The Great Western Railway (1844) by JMW Turner - SeventhArt It shows the birth of the railways, says Palin, a presenter of the BBC TV series Great Railway Journeys. Yet Turner is also depicting the countryside, counterbalanced by the train. Its a real narrative, in which you feel the New World will win. For childrens writer Jacqueline Wilson it was the Impressionists who attracted her when first taken as a youngster by her father. Especially Renoirs The Umbrellas. Such a joyful work. Ive also long identified with one young woman in the painting, who seems rather working class and has red hair. Many years later I created Hetty Feather, who had a similar social status. The book was then turned into a hit TV series. Painting (by Pierre-August Renoir) of Umbrellas pulled out in the rain in a crowd of men, women and children, 1875 - Archive Photos Being taken as a youngster by a parent or grandparent is mentioned by six of the 16 interviewees. It is such a formative experience, says Ali Ray, the films co-director. All the more with so many secondary schools no longer taking their pupils, and far fewer able to study art history. For Peter Murphy however it was a visit to the National Gallery in his mid 50s which changed his life. Murphy, born in Liverpool and now a London-based piano teacher, suffered from a very serious drink and drugs problem in the 1990s and Noughties while working on Channel 4s Eurotrash. Dealers would come into the office with heroin and crack cocaine, says the now 69 year old. Matters got even worse after his mother died when he was 42 - a mother, who had given him away at birth to her sister though she took him back when he was four. I felt worthless. I went mad. It was also costing thousands a year. One day in 2009, after yet another visit to Narcotics Anonymous in Soho, Murphy popped into the National Gallery. Id been before but this time I found myself drawn to a blue coloured painting. It was Bellinis Madonna of the Meadow. Madonna of the Meadow by Giovanni Bellini (1505) - Corbis Historical/Fine Art Very quickly the serenity and calmness of this Virgin and child touched me. Im not religious though brought up by a very strict Catholic father. Seeing the Madonna made me think that Mummys home. It was a Damascene moment. Murphy then journeyed every day for more than 12 months to see the painting. It helped him off drink and drugs. Over subsequent years he went several times a week, and still does to this day, crediting the picture for remaining clean and sober. The painting gives me inner peace. And, thankfully, the gallery is free. I just feel I belong here. Its my club. Its my National Gallery. Joost Klein of the Netherlands has been banned from the final After Britains success hosting Eurovision on behalf of war-torn Ukraine last year, organisers of the musical jamboree adopted the BBCs United by Music slogan for all future song contests. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in February that the tagline would serve as a constant reminder of the contests central mission and its unmatched ability to unite people through the universal language of music The legacy of Liverpools good vibes lives on. That well-meaning sentiment disintegrated on contact with reality here in Swedens third-largest city. The EBU always says that Eurovision is above the fray of politics, even if that has never really been the case. But the political drama at this years edition has made it the most controversial since the competition launched in 1956. Events in Gaza, almost 2,000 miles from Malmo, cast a long shadow all week and tens of thousands of protesters loudly demanded that Israels Eden Golan be kicked out of the competition. The EBU largely weathered that storm, whipped up by the likes of Greta Thunberg, though it lost a lot of credibility among groups such as Queers for Palestine, who are fans of both Eurovision and the people of Gaza (but probably ought to examine how Hamas feels about homosexuality). A member of staff is booed after announcing Joost Klein won't be taking part in the final - ANDREAS HILLERGREN At the same time, another crisis emerged when the EBU disqualified Joost Klein of the Netherlands after a female member of staff complained about an incident after his performance in Thursdays semi-final. Swedish police are seeking to establish if he broke any laws, but it took the EBU almost 24 hours to ban him. Things started to become surreal on Thursday night, when Klein, 26, was seated next to Golan, 20, in a tetchy post-semi-final press conference. He was openly hostile to the Israeli as he answered questions wearing a Dutch flag on his head. Other acts publicly expressed their disapproval of Golans participation. Klein was suspended the following day and rumours swirled that it was because of his criticism of Israel, which sparked a further backlash and saw Golan heavily booed on stage. Unlike many large events, Eurovision is also covered by superfans and bloggers, who are given the same accreditation as, and work alongside, mainstream media outlets. Greta Thunberg attends an anti-Israel protest in Malmo - JOHAN NILSSON/TT During Fridays dress rehearsal, when the Grand Final is first performed as viewers see it on Saturday night, Israel was announced as having won nul points from the European voting public. Cue whoops and cheers from across the media centre, which has been notable for its anti-Israeli feeling. Two brave journalists defiantly wore the Star of David in one corner. Things got weirder when, on Friday night, Italian contestant Angelina Mango walked into the media centre unannounced and sang John Lennons Imagine in what was a transparent call for detente. Politics has long been a part of Eurovision, from years of needle between Russia and Ukraine to tactical voting based on geography (the Baltic and Scandinavian countries all voting for each other, say) and Britain coming dead last in the first post-Brexit contest in 2021. But after Malmo, the EBU may be left searching for a new slogan. In her everyday life shes quite impatient, but when shes in the kitchen she relishes the process: former Raja head chef Ahana Dutt (left) with her mother Sharmila Basu Thakur in 2023 Photograph: Supplied From our first breath we all look to our mothers for sustenance, so it makes sense that the bonds formed between mothers and their children around food run deep. But even from those earliest days, theres more to it than just filling our bellies. Nourishment might be the first language we understand, but as we grow up, a mothers stove-side manner and approach to cooking often begins to articulate more complex ideas and advice, inevitably influencing far more than what we cook for dinner. Its little surprise then that for those in the food and hospitality industries, those early lessons, be they philosophical or practical, hold particular resonance and continue to inspire them long after theyve cut the apron strings. Related: Lemon drizzle cake and date cookies: Yotam Ottolenghis Mothers Day bakes recipes From frugality and intuition to the value of preparation and efficiency (and a good rice cooker), five Australian chefs, cooks and restaurateurs share their mothers best advice in the kitchen and beyond. The most basic ingredients can be made into something special Julia Busuttil Nishimura, cookbook author, Melbourne My biggest takeaway from my mum in the kitchen is how she has always made people feel with her food. When I was little it was always about putting more chairs around the table the more people at the table, the better. Food was about a welcoming feeling; an act of generosity and love. She has always been a confident cook, but never takes it too seriously. And she really knows how to cook intuitively and frugally too. We didnt have a lot growing up, but she would still put on a Sunday lunch every week for at least 10 people. The menu was often the same: french onion soup, roast pork with all the trimmings and chocolate mousse. The smell of those onions and brandy cooking at 7.30am was like an alarm clock to me. She taught me how to make pantry staples and humble ingredients shine and this is something that has informed the way I now cook. The most simple and basic ingredients can be made into something special to share with others. She sees food as a way to communicate and connect Victor Liong, chef-owner of Lee Ho Fook, Melbourne Mum always says: If youre going to do something hard, eat first never go to battle hungry. My mum is an amazing homemaker and an incredible cook. She grew up in restaurants in Kuala Lumpur so she knows her way around a kitchen and her scope of cuisines is very broad. Shes a classic tiger mum with very high standards. According to her, a dumpling should have at least nine pleats and even this week my staff were joking about having to do 13, minimum, because Ive absorbed her love of finesse and technique and maybe even taken it up a notch. But more than being a stickler for details, what shes taught me is to always be learning and interested. When I was at school she was always trying other mums recipes and taking food to neighbours. She sees food as a way to communicate and connect and those are really the lessons that mean much more than what pan is best. Not everything can or should be a quick process Ahana Dutt, former head chef at Raja, Sydney I fell in love with cooking because of my mum. She worked a lot but on weekends we spent a lot of time together in the kitchen. Back in Kolkata we would go to the markets every Sunday and shop for the big weekend meal. It taught me the value in knowing your suppliers you get the best deals and the best product. Back in the kitchen much of what I learned from her wasnt through instruction but observation. Tempering spices for example is not something you can do with a timer, but it is an exacting task. You have to watch the signs of the fats to know when to add the spices and in what order. If you arent prepared or rush the process theres no coming back from that you will have to start all over again. Related: My mothers domain was the kitchen and kids were not welcome. Today mine is a flurry of activity My mother is a very busy woman and in her everyday life shes quite impatient, but when shes in the kitchen she relishes the process. Cooking with my mother taught me that not everything can or should be a quick process: preparation, staying relaxed and taking your time always gives the best results. An efficient meal can be just as full of love as the most elaborate dish Junda Khoo, chef-owner of Ho Jiak, Sydney My mum worked full-time and had three of us to look after. Back in Malaysia it was so cheap to eat out, she didnt even need to cook, but putting that effort in was a way to show us how much she cared. She had so many great one-pot wonders, which taught me that an efficient meal can be just as full of love as the most elaborate dish. She also loved equipment steamers, rice cookers, anything that made it easier and faster; and sharp knives were essential. Slicing ginger paper-thin, according to my mother, is the key to any dishs success. She learned that from her own mother who policed all our ginger slicing while I was growing up. I used to think this was just an old Asian lady thing, but of course they were right: the thinner you slice ginger the faster the oils and aroma are released and the less you need to use to get that flavour. Cooking together is a real love language Durkhanai Ayubi, co-owner of Parwana Afghan Kitchen, Adelaide We came to Australia as refugees in the mid-80s. Our food culture was something we could bring with us as we started our life again. Cooking and eating have always been a central part of family life for us; a way for us to come together. Dumplings are a huge thing in Afghan cuisine. I can remember from a young age my five sisters and I all sitting around my mum and having our own little jobs. My mother encouraged us to see collectivity and working together as a main ingredient of a good meal. We still cook like that as a family and its taught me that food, and especially the act of cooking together, is a real love language. My mum always said: Afghan food is a treasure and the knowledge of it is something Im going to pass on to you. As Ive gotten older Ive understood more and more what she meant. Dishes are a legacy and cooking together is a really powerful way to stay close to your heritage and your people. And that doesnt have to mean blood or cultural ties cooking together is a way to bond with and welcome anyone. It speaks to the very core of what it is to love and connect with others. Fighting chance: the endangered northern quoll is being genetically modified to give it resistance against the cane toads toxin. Photograph: Jason Edwards/Getty Images In a laboratory in the University of Melbourne earlier this year, PhD student Pierre Ibri was running an experiment that could prove to be a critical step in an audacious plan to save Australias endangered northern quoll. In plastic trays were groups of tissue cells of another Australian marsupial the common and mouse-like fat-tailed dunnart that he was subjecting to the toxin of the cane toad, an invasive amphibian that has cut a swathe through populations of native animals in Australias north. Except some of these cells were different. They had been genetically tweaked by a team of scientists at the University of Melbourne and Colossal Biosciences to have the same resistance to the toads bufotoxin that other mammals elsewhere in the world have managed to develop over millions of years of evolution. We were trying to demonstrate the cells had this resistance, says Dr Stephen Frankenberg, a synthetic biologist and Ibris supervisor. They did something in the order of 45 times more resistant. What happens next could, the team hopes, lead to a revolution for conservation the creation of a mammal genetically modified to deal with a threat that is now helping send it towards extinction. Frankenberg believes the technical barriers to creating a toad-resistant quoll are small and the team could have them living in captivity within five years. One native Australian species that can eat cane toads is the rakali or water rat and Frankenberg says even though the species is unique to Australia, it has probably retained some resistance to cane toads from its ancestors in other parts of the world. If the northern quoll were to live beside cane toads for many thousands of years, it is likely, he says, that they too would evolve to resist the toxin. That resistance would arise as it has for other species, he says, but the quolls just dont have enough time. Like most Australian native species, the carnivorous northern quoll has evolved in a landscape absent of the bufotoxin. That is, until the cane toad was introduced in 1935 in a futile attempt by Queenslands sugar cane industry to control bugs eating their crops. Since then, the toads have spread across the northern parts of Australia. Prof John Woinarski, a leading conservation biologist at Charles Darwin University, says cane toads have alongside feral cats and habitat clearing been a major factor in pushing the northern quoll to endangered status. Related: Tropical Queenslands spotted-tail quoll facing extinction Quolls are very effective predators, he says. Theyre the largest marsupial predator across much of the north of Australia. But when they try and kill a cane toad, they grab them by the back of the head just where the toxin glands are mostly concentrated. They die remarkably quickly and its an agonising death. Woinarski, who is not involved in the genetic research in Melbourne, says attempts to save species from cane toads have had only limited success. New blue-sky thinking are now possibly the only hope that weve got, he says. If this genetic engineering can be proven, then that is a great innovation, I think. Its unlikely that genetically engineering a quoll would have an effect on other species. Woinarski says because quolls have up to 10 young each year but only live for a couple of years, a theoretical release of toad-resistant quolls could quickly spread through the population. The team behind the quoll project is the same group, backed by US-based de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences, looking to genetic techniques to bring back the woolly mammoth and the thylacine Tasmanias dog-like marsupial predator that was hunted to extinction in the early 20th century. The next step for Frankenberg and the team will be to take a type of stem cell from the northern quoll and edit its genome to introduce the same resistance to the bufotoxin they successfully placed into the tissue cells of the dunnart. Next would come testing approaches of breeding a live animal with the cane toad-resistant traits, starting with a dunnart and then, hopefully, a northern quoll. One approach would be similar to that used in cloning the famous Dolly the sheep. Dunnarts are close relatives of the quoll and the thylacine. If they can then breed a quoll using those stem cells, the team says the offspring of those animals should also inherit the resistance. Related: Dinosaur data: can the bones of the deep past help predict extinctions of the future? Prof Andrew Pask, who is leading the Thylacine Integrated Genomic Restoration Research Laboratory at the University of Melbourne, says cloning has not been perfected yet for marsupials. But he is confident it could be done. This is a simple [genetic] edit that would have evolved naturally. Were adding a naturally occurring resistance and it gives the quoll a fighting chance, he says. Pask says a toad-resistant quoll could have a double-whammy effect. They can then use the toads as a viable food source. Not only does this save the quoll, but hopefully it could weaponise our native wildlife [against the cane toad]. In the future, the technique could be used to genetically engineer other Australian species like goannas, freshwater crocodiles and several snakes for whom cane toads can also be a deadly meal. Frankenberg says what could take longer than creating the super-quoll is gaining regulatory approval to release them into the wild. Prof Euan Ritchie, a wildlife ecologist at Deakin University, says: If northern quolls and other species could one day be resistant to toads, this could have a dramatic positive effect as it ripples through food webs and ecosystems. Innovation such as this is just whats needed to help turn around Australias dire conservation record and better protect threatened species. Pro-Palestinian students rally outside the office of George Washington University president in Washington DC on Thursday. Photograph: Allison Bailey/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock As Israel continues its military assault on Gaza, some Palestinians in the US say they have been heartened by the phenomenal support they have seen from student demonstrators around the country. Risking suspension, expulsion and even arrest, US students have spent the last few weeks protesting against Israels war on Gaza which has so far killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, and reduced homes, hospitals and schools to rubble and calling for their schools to financially divest from weapons manufacturing companies who supply the Israeli military. Related: Police raids are nothing new: student protesters from 1960s see history repeating itself The students show of occupying their campuses with tents and sleeping bags has struck a chord with many, with reports noting they had caused divisions among Democrats and unity among Republicans. A recent USA Today poll noted that two-thirds of voters (67%) have expressed concern that the demonstrations and subsequent police response could lead to more violence. Some Palestinian Americans talked to the Guardian about how the movement has made them feel. It has been absolutely awe-inspiring to see the level of awakening that has happened around Palestine, and realizing how collective our liberation is, said Colette Ghunim, a Chicago-based film-maker of Palestinian-Mexican heritage. The 32-year-old added that she did not expect all races and religions to come together to be able to rally around this. Its really phenomenal. The Gaza solidarity encampments, which began at Columbia University last month, have spread to more than 80 universities around the US and since gone global, with encampment protests in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico and beyond. A good deal of schools have pushed back against the student encampments and demonstrations, prompting local police to dismantle encampments to clear campuses and scatter protesters. There have already been more than 2,000 arrests made on US campuses in recent weeks. The Virginia Commonwealth University student activist Sereen Haddad, 19, who has had more than 100 family members killed in Israels military campaign in Gaza, said her schools encampment protest was met with brutal police force last week, which landed her in the hospital. I went to the hospital immediately. I had to get a couple of head scans because I got absolutely hit in the head multiple times, Haddad said. I had my arm very aggressively twisted behind my back, resulting in me being in a sling. Videos and photos shared by Haddad and seen by the Guardian show Haddad being thrown to the ground by Virginia state police and pepper-sprayed. Haddad said she also injured her knee and had scratches and bruises on various parts of her body. Despite the traumatic incident, Haddad said these demonstrations and encampments are insanely powerful, not just nationally, but globally, as a message [of] standing in solidarity with Palestine. Its also very apparent how meaningful these demonstrations are to our loved ones back in Gaza. Displaced Palestinians in Gaza expressed gratitude to the protesters in the US earlier this month, holding signs and banners thanking specific university student bodies. These protests and the solidarity have a great impact on the American government, the whole world, and the United Nations because students around the world rose up against injustice and against the oppression that the Palestinians are subjected to, Mowafaq Kafarna, a Palestinian man in Gaza, said in a video shot by the Associated Press. God willing, it will have a positive impact. Displaced people in Gaza held a demonstration on Wednesday to express their gratitude to U.S. college students for carrying out pro-Palestinian protests. It is so wonderful, remarked Abu Yusuf al-Habeel, who is displaced from Shati refugee camp. pic.twitter.com/RUYxiMjXWk The Associated Press (@AP) May 1, 2024 Police also raided an encampment protest at George Washington University in Washington DC on Wednesday under the cover of night. In response, Rashida Tlaib the only Palestinian American serving in Congress addressed the press at Capitol Hill the next day alongside GWU student protesters. All honor is to these amazing, incredible students, Tlaib said. I want all the Democrats and Republicans to know, they cannot arrest their way out of this growing dissent. Every corner of our country, people of different faiths, different color skins, ethnicities, backgrounds of different types are coming together and saying Palestinians deserve to live. Tlaib called the recent wave of police interventions on college campuses outrageous. Students are putting their bodies on the line to demand their universities divest from the same weapon manufacturers that are sending bombs to murder innocent children in Gaza, Tlaib said. We will not stop in defending these students until this end happens in regards to the genocide, until there is an immediate, permanent ceasefire that includes complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians. Ahmed Abdelmageed, a Palestinian American pharmacist, said he was appalled by the police presence in academic spaces. It has exposed the lip service many institutions and organizations pay to DEI work, hypocrisy of global consciousness slogans touted by such institutions, and the were a post-racial society lie we like to tell ourselves when we tout our progressive values, the 46-year-old said. Still, Abdelmageed thinks the protests have been successful in raising awareness about what is happening overseas. I think it certainly has renewed hope in a peaceful future for many. I also think politically, it has introduced another variable in the Biden administrations election winnability calculations, he said. And on a very personal level, as a Palestinian whose home town was ethnically cleansed in 1948, I am heartened to see how the future generations are able to see truth and seek justice. The police crackdown has been particularly heavy on campuses on the west coast. The Gaza solidarity encampment at UCLA was attacked by a violent mob while police looked on without interfering. USC announced that it was cancelling its 10 May graduation ceremony a day after more than 90 protesters were arrested on campus. Despite many protests being met with violence and arrests, a few universities have come to agreements with their students. Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, last week negotiated with student protesters and met eight out of 10 of their demands. The encampment protest there was subsequently taken down willingly by students in an attempt to avoid the scenes witnessed at other campuses like Columbia, UCLA and the University of Texas at Austin. In response to the protests, the Rutgers associate professor and prominent human rights attorney Noura Erakat said: As a Palestinian, and particularly as a Palestinian scholar-activist whos dedicated my adult life to this, I could not be more happy. Erakat, who has for years been a vocal critic of Israel and its occupation of Palestine, said the world is forever changed as a result of the recent campus protest movement. Im [of] a generation that also took over buildings and launched divestment [protests] on campus in 2001. I could not have anticipated this, Erakat said. Theres generations before me who laid groundwork that made our work possible and so to see the entire world catalyzed to understand that the cause of their time is the cause of Palestinian freedom, and to be able to articulate that with lucidity, clarity, analytical rigor is not just a performance but something that they have studied and understand, and that has metabolized in their political consciousness. Related: Why have student protests against Israels war in Gaza gone global? Sumaya Awad, a Palestinian American writer based in New York, commended the students and professors for showing great courage and moral clarity on the crisis in Gaza. For one, the protesters have given Palestinians in Gaza hope. Their message is being heard, letting Palestinians know that they havent been forgotten, Awad, 30, said. She added: And I do think Biden is feeling the heat. Ultimately, this is up to him. If he wanted to throw the USs weight behind stopping this genocide, he could. The student movement continues to reshape that political calculus. Ruwa Romman, a Democratic Georgia state house representative of Palestinian descent who is also the first Muslim woman elected to the state house, visited Emory University in Decatur shortly after the campus saw the mass arrests of students and professors. Part of me is worried because Im watching these movements be vilified by really, really bad-faith actors who are so intent on misunderstanding what is happening right now, Romman, 30, said. Its infuriating to me because it should not be controversial to say that it is not a solution to bomb children. But she continued: It definitely makes me feel very heartened to see that so many people understand on a fundamental level that Palestinians are human beings deserving of safety, too. Nicanor Boluarte is accused of leading a criminal organisation and influence peddling - Gerardo Marin/REUTERS The embattled Peruvian presidents brother and lawyer have been arrested, marking the latest twist in a corruption inquiry that has rocked the countrys highest echelons. Dina Boluarte, the president, has been embroiled in the Rolexgate scandal since March, after prosecutors began an investigation into how she was wearing jewellery worth at least 400,000 despite earning a monthly presidential salary of about 3,320. Ms Boluarte, 61, has denied any wrongdoing and said that she had been loaned the watches. Dina Boluarte has been embroiled in the 'Rolexgate' scandal since March - AFP/Getty Images Now Nicanor Boluarte, Ms Boluartes brother, has been placed under preliminary detention, accused of leading a criminal organisation and influence peddling, in an investigation called the brothers in the shadow. His Lima house was searched on Friday, along with more than 20 others. I am innocent... I deny absolutely everything, he said as he was transferred by the police to a judicial unit. Mateo Castaneda, Ms Boluartes lawyer, was also placed under preliminary detention on Friday and had his home raided. Six others were also detained. An anti-government protester shows her disapproval of Dina Boluarte - Martin Mejia/AP Photo Authorities also said they are investigating the president for disbanding a special police force that had been investigating her brother. A spokesman for the president told a press conference on Friday evening that the police unit had been dissolved for failure to comply with administrative norms and that the government respected the laws and judicial autonomy. Peruvian politics has been beset with political turmoil in recent years Ms Boularte is the sixth president since 2018. Since the millennium, almost all its presidents have ended up in jail, on the run, dead, or embroiled in corruption allegations. Ms Boulartes predecessor, Pedro Castillo, was dismissed in December 2022 and is imprisoned while being investigated for alleged corruption and rebellion. Ms Boularte suffers the lowest popularity rankings of all Latin American leaders, with 9 per cent citizen support. She has also been accused of presiding over the killings of 49 people by security forces during protests in 2023. Experts say the availability of cheaper and more reliable alternatives such as 5G internet is behind a swath of Australians disconnecting from the NBN. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images Tens of thousands of Australians are abandoning the national broadband network for 5G mobile and other ways of accessing the internet with experts saying three main factors are driving people away: price, speed and Elon Musk. Despite the NBN being only a few years past completion, between the end of June 2022 and the end of April 2024 the number of customers in the most common category of services declined by more than 65,000. Related: Could Labor use Australias fears over crime and online safety to power internet regulation? | Peter Lewis This category, also known as brownfields, covers 7.1m active NBN broadband services to homes and businesses that existed before the NBN was built and is a mix of fibre-to-the-premises-type connections as well as connections made under the Coalitions revised plan that used existing copper and cable connections (which predated the NBN and was used mostly for pay TV). The Coalitions communications spokesman, David Coleman, said this month the decline was a troubling sign for the company and the government had questions to answer. But others blame the Coalition itself. In February, the companys outgoing chief executive, Stephen Rue, told Guardian Australia those shifting away from the NBN were largely customers on fibre-to-the-node the Abbott-Turnbull-era technology that uses legacy copper phone lines, where speed and quality decreases the further away your home is from the node. The main reason for that is service and a desire for faster speed customers who are at the end of the FttN line ... they get 25 megabits per second, but they cant experience a faster speed and obviously there are some copper lines that have unreliability, he said. NBN has embarked on a massive full-fibre upgrade to premises in the fibre-to-the-node footprint effectively rebuilding most of the network to the type planned by the former Rudd Labor government in 2009 before changes made under the Coalition after 2013. The company has projected that 5m premises will be upgraded by the end of 2025. Over 200,000 premises have already been upgraded in these parts of the network to improve speeds and to keep customers on board, but the effort has not yet halted the decline in customers. Associate Prof Mark Gregory, of RMITs school of engineering, said the copper debacle was the cause of the companys woes but more attention needed to be paid into what the company is offering to keep customers and how. Cost seemed to be a major factor moving customers away, he said. The current NBN charges are too high and this means that customers are looking for alternatives. Aiding customers hunting to reduce their internet bill are cut-price 5G home internet plans, which some retailers market at a lower cost to their own NBN plans. They are able to do this due to the lower cost in supplying internet over mobile, compared with the wholesale prices NBN charges. This is reflected in recent financial statements from the two biggest retailers, Telstra and TPG. Both companies admit a customer decline in fixed-line services; TPG reported losing 109,000 NBN customers in its last financial results, while Telstra reported losing 58,000 in the first half of the 2023-2024 financial year. Both said the losses were offset in part by gains in fixed wireless, suggesting some of their customers are giving up the NBN for a 5G alternative. It is understood Vodafones parent company, TPG, has been steering customers who might otherwise choose a lower-speed NBN plan to its 5G home internet product because the margins are better using TPGs mobile network and customers can get more for less. For example, Vodafones 5G home internet plan is $55 a month for 100Mbps, while Vodafones NBN 25Mbps plan is $70 a month and the 100Mbps plan is $80 a month. In 2023, TPG grew its fixed wireless business by 56,000 customers, for a total of 227,000 on the technology. Dr Gareth Downing, acting CEO of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), said it wasnt surprising Australians were ditching the NBN for more affordable options. 4G and 5G wireless technologies can in some cases provide faster internet speeds than the NBN, particularly in areas with limited NBN infrastructure or where the NBN connection speeds are slow due to congestion or distance from the node, he said, adding that the mobile services could also be more affordable. Downing said ACCAN had long suggested a cheaper price plan for households receiving government financial support. The other factor is the arrival of Elon Musks Starlink low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite internet service in Australia. Although more expensive than the NBN options, the speeds are much faster and customers in regional and remote parts of Australia have taken to it in droves. The company posted on Musks social media platform X in March that it now had 200,000 customers in Australia. Starlink is now connecting more than 200K customers and counting across Australia! Thank you to all of our customers across the continent Whether youre at home or on the go, staying connected with high-speed internet is now possible even in the most remote locations on pic.twitter.com/OZNnSF7Pqo Starlink (@Starlink) March 5, 2024 The cost of LEO products such as Starlink is prohibitive for some consumers, Downing said. Competition may drive prices down as new offerings such as Amazons Project Kuiper enter the Australian market. Gregory said the trend to satellite alternatives could continue with retailers signing deals with LEO companies like Starlink and could make NBN an irrelevancy in regional and remote parts of the country. Related: Australias ageing Sky Muster satellites leave rural internet struggling to connect | Mark Gregory The large telcos have already reached agreements with one or more LEO provider and they will aggressively push LEO as an alternative to NBN. This will increase when mobile is added to the suite of offerings provided through LEO. NBN Cos own satellite customer base has dropped to 87,000, from a peak of 111,000 in 2021, partially driven by customer frustration at the service but also partially due to NBN Co moving some customers onto its fixed wireless service as upgrades have been made. NBN Co has also been offering improved speeds and download capacities on the satellite service in recent months. NBN Co has argued overall the number of connections on the NBN is going up 95,000 net gains in the same period, but this is largely due to close to 170,000 new connections to newly established premises (greenfields) in that time. The company has pointed to the upgrade plans for how it will manage customer retention. Our network upgrade program is supporting customers to meet their desired broadband internet speeds, performance and reliability needs, a spokesperson said. The reduction in brownfield sites represents only 0.76% of our base of 8.6m premises. We are pleased to see many NBN customers seeing the value in a full fibre connection with around 6,000 customers per week, on average, placing orders and receiving full fibre upgrades. Rue announced on Monday he would leave NBN Co to become the CEO of Optus in November and a replacement has not yet been announced. A group of schoolgirls, walking The number of children enrolling at private schools has fallen by the largest proportion in more than a decade, new figures show. Independent schools have seen a 2.7 per cent drop in enrolments this academic year, according to a report by the Independent Schools Council (ISC). It is the biggest annual decline since 2011, according to the annual data from ISCs census, which will be published next week. The body, which represents almost 1,400 private schools, said Labours plan to add VAT to school fees was acting as a deterrent for parents. It predicts the number will drop further this autumn. Julie Robinson, chief executive of ISC, said: You can see the change in our census already and new parents for this year are asking about VAT, you hear that from speaking to any head teacher. There is noticeable concern. Parents are under pressure from the cost of living and recovering from the impact of Covid. The majority of families are dual-income households who can afford fees but not comfortably. Were starting to see already the impact of VAT looming on the horizon. She warned that parents at smaller private schools could struggle to pay fees more than those at larger schools. Even really big wealthy secure schools will have a proportion of parents struggling to pay fees and small schools are likely to have a higher proportion of those parents, she said. Some schools are already surveying parents to ensure they have the right priorities in cuts, if it comes to it. Theyre preparing for the worst. Schools that have to cut budgets are likely to look at staffing which accounts for 70 per cent of the budget, but they want to keep offering the best quality. A government source told the Times: Labours schools tax is nothing more than a short-sighted, self-defeating gimmick. Independent analysis shows that not only could it cost taxpayers up to 1.6 billion, but it could also cause one in four private school children being pushed into state schools, too. But economist Tim Leunig, a former special adviser to Downing Street, defended Labours plan. He wrote in Schools Week: VAT on private schools is perfectly defensible. State schools did not want the Theresa May cuts in real-terms funding. Starting from much lower levels of funding, they managed to make ends meet. Good, valuable things were scrapped. Quite remarkably (at least until Covid) our schools and our children coped. Our state schools can be proud of what they have achieved in tough times. The interior of the dilapidated Sassoon Synagogue in Iraq's northern city of Mosul. outside of the autonomous Kurdistan region. Iraq's Jewish community was once one of the largest in the Middle East but has dwindled to a handful - ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP Urgent action is needed to help save one of Iraqs last remaining synagogues from crumbling beyond repair, an Iraqi-British Jewish philanthropist has warned. Mosuls Sassoon Synagogue, which dates back to 1902 and was once the heart of a 6,000-strong thriving local Jewish community, has become a rubbish dump, with its ritual bath - or mikveh - now a barn for horses, according to Edwin Shuker. Mr Shuker, who was born in Baghdad but fled to the UK to seek asylum in 1971, is campaigning to raise funds for the desperately needed conservation of Iraqs Jewish history. This synagogue is one of the few remaining landmarks which testifies to my communitys being in that country for 100 generations. Removing it is removing the history of the Jews in this part of the world, he told The Telegraph. It could be restored and preserved as a living symbol of over 2,500 years of Jewish presence in Mesopotamia. Sassoon Synagogue, located in the centre of what used to be the citys Jewish Quarter, has suffered a similar fate to the rest of Mosuls architectural heritage, 80 per cent of which Unesco says has been destroyed by successive wars over the past two decades. But it is also part of a pattern of purposeful neglect aimed at Jewish sites in the country, which was once home to some 150,000 Jews whose presence dates back 2,600 years. Today, less than a handful of Jews remain. Political deadlock The Swiss-based International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (Aliph), began a project in 2021 to reconstruct the Sassoon Synagogue, raising tens of thousands of dollars. But work ground to a halt in 2022 when the Iraqi parliament passed a law entitled Criminalising Normalisation and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity, referring to Israel, where most Iraqi Jews now live. The official central government response to the reconstruction efforts is that inevitably it will require contact and consultation with Israelis, which is forbidden, explained Mr Shuker, a senior member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. That means one of just three known remaining synagogues in the country is now facing irreversible decline. Just one remains in Baghdad - the Meir Twigg Synagogue - but it has been permanently locked up and is also crumbling, with not even enough Jews left in Iraq to make up the quorum of 10 men to conduct prayers. A third synagogue in the countys south has been turned into a warehouse. Over the last two decades there has been a relentless and systematic programme to misappropriate and eliminate all Jewish sites across Iraq, said Mr Shuker. But we are determined to do something to save the last remnants we have of our ancient past there. A critical part of Iraqi society Eli Barzani still remembers sitting on the windowsill of Sassoon Synagogue as a young child watching thousands of Iraqi Jews gather for festivals and high holidays. His father and grandfather, Yamin and Eilyahu, were rabbis at the synagogue. He and his family left in 1950 when he was just six. He now lives in Israel. We have to preserve the history of our past there, he said. I wish I could travel to Iraq. The Jews were a critical part of Iraqi society who built a lot of the infrastructure, the banking system, and we cannot forget our past there. Israeli Asaf Hovav, whose parents were both born in Baghdad, says the diaspora is helpless. Locals in Iraq are afraid to have any communication with us so even fundraising is not an option to support the conservation efforts, he said. There were once 54 synagogues in Baghdad alone and dozens more across Iraq to serve the countrys Jews. But in 1941 a Nazi-inspired pogrom known as the Farhud saw bombings and attacks target the community. Many had property confiscated and sold, while synagogues were turned into mosques. After the establishment of Israel in 1948, the situation worsened and the vast majority of the community fled - mainly to Israel but also to the UK, the US, Canada and Europe. Only 30 of roughly 300 Jewish sites have been confirmed as still existing, according to research by the London-based Foundation for Jewish Heritage and ASOR, the non-profit American Society of Overseas Research. Most are in a state of no return. UN expert condemns crackdown on freedom of expression in U.S. Xinhua) 09:15, May 11, 2024 GENEVA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations (UN) expert on education this week condemned a "violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators" in the United States (US). During a 10-day visit to the United States, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the right to education Farida Shaheed said she was "deeply troubled" by these events, which led to "arrests, detentions, police violence, surveillance and disciplinary measures and sanctions against members of the educational community exercising their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression." "I am particularly concerned about the unequal treatment of protesters based on their political stance, particularly targeting pro-Palestinian demonstrators," she said in a press release. A wave of anti-war protests has swept through universities across the U.S. in recent days, with students calling for a ceasefire in Palestine. They are also urging university administrations to reevaluate their investments in Israel, particularly amid escalating civilian casualties in the besieged Gaza Strip. Shaheed voiced her concern over a decline in intellectual freedom in educational environments, and called on the U.S. government to uphold its core value of freedom of speech. She also expressed her alarm over the 307 bills and policies imposing educational gag orders that have been introduced in the U.S. since January 2021. "These policies, manifested through book bans and restrictions on curricula, have instilled a pervasive 'chilling effect' that stifles the free exchange of ideas and silences marginalized voices," she said. Shaheed urged the U.S. to remove police from schools, and instead allocate resources towards hiring trained professionals such as counselors and social workers to establish a secure and supportive educational environment. The UN expert visited Washington, D.C. and the states of Indiana and Colorado during the tour, and is set to present a full report on her findings to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2025. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing) Former Wagner mercenaries are being recruited to attack the West - AFP via Getty Russia is recruiting far-Right extremists to carry out attacks in the UK and Nato countries, The Telegraph understands. Intelligence sources have said that terrorists recruited by Russian GRU agents have been responsible for a series of attacks in Western Europe and the US in the last six months. The Telegraph understands that extremists are being recruited by undercover officers of the GRU the Russian military intelligence service and members of the mercenary group Wagner. It comes after the expulsion of Col Elovik Maxim, the Russian defence attache to the UK, who is believed to be a GRU operative. An intelligence source said: The GRU are cultivating a network of Right-wing terrorists to deploy against Nato targets. These attacks are already happening and have been going on for a while in various Nato countries and the UK is definitely on the target list. Moscow's military parade on Victory Day saw Russians carrying Wagner flags - Yulia Morozova/Reuters Attacks may have taken place in the US and have occurred in Germany. Intelligence agencies are now actively warning their governments that the threat is very real. Right-wing extremists are being targeted because they are the group in the political spectrum who are pro-Russia, pro-Putin and very violent. There is also a lot of covert contact between Right-wing groups in different countries. The disclosures follow comments last month by Thomas Haldenwang, the head of German domestic intelligence, who told a security conference: We assess the risk of [Russian] state-controlled acts of sabotage to be significantly increased. He added that the attacks would come with a high potential for damage. Salisbury poisoning suspects Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov seen on CCTV - Metropolitan Police/PA After the Salisbury poisonings in 2018, dozens of Russian spies were expelled by the UK Government. It is now believed that the Kremlin has been forced to follow a tactic similar to that used by Iran in which organised crime gangs are used to carry out proxy terrorist attacks. Mark Galeotti, director of the London-based think tank Mayak Intelligence and author of Putins Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine, said that as the West continues to pile pressure on Russia, we should not be surprised by a pushback. Mr Galeotti added that the increase in sabotage operations also comes as Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russian soil and that they can be viewed as a sort of payback. Vladimir Putin sees the hands of the West in Ukraine's attacks on Russia - Getty As far as Putin is concerned, Ukraine does what it is told. When he sees Russian factories being attacked, he sees the hands of the CIA, of Nato. Not killing people and going after infrastructure facilities show they still have political limits, for the moment. Even if Putin speaks of a war against the West, in reality he doesnt want an open conflict. So Russia is using operations that remain just below the threshold. An embroidered angel on a chasuble from 1490 - St Mary's, Bourne Street Father Andrew Walker let me follow him up the steps hidden by the high altar of St Marys, Bourne Street. There he opened a wooden hatch below the life-sized crucifix on the east wall. A hand crank inside the hatch lowered a sort of blind before the crucifix and allowed the raising of a decorated wooden throne structure upon which a monstrance can be mounted for solemn benediction. Im a sucker for such old machinery. Ive written here about the baroque equipment that lowers children playing angels from the dome inside the church at Elche, near Alicante, and returns the Virgin Mary through the air during the annual Mystery Play put on since the 15th century. Fr Walker is the parish priest of an Anglican church looking for the reunion of the Church of England with the Roman Catholic Church and influenced by her in music, liturgy and aesthetics. There are few Roman Catholic churches, at least in England, with such profuse polychrome statuary in a small compass. Anyway the hundred or two little wooden chairs will be cleared from the nave and south aisle to make way for a display of flowers and liturgical vestments from May 21 to 25. That coincides with the Chelsea Flower Show and an event called Belgravia in Bloom. It also marks the 150 anniversary of St Marys consecration. Peter Jones, the department store in Sloane Square, is lending mannikins for the vestments not live ones. There is nothing feminine in my eyes about a chasuble (the coloured poncho or tabard that a priest wears to say Mass). Historically it derives from the outer coat worn in Roman antiquity. No one then wore trousers, apart from barbarians. St Marys has some stunning chasubles. One, made in 1490, has a thickly embroidered crucifix on the back, with other figures on the orphreys the richly worked textile panels that here form the pattern of a cross. On the red velvet ground are embroidered angels and vegetal forms. England was the most admired place in the Middle Ages for embroidery, called Opus Anglicanum. I was also taken by a chasuble decorated centuries ago with patterns made from tiny beads of coral. The historic origins of flowers and fronds on liturgical vestments go back to the earliest times. As a foundation textile, some vestments used brocade woven in large patterns. In that they followed the imperial habits of late antique Byzantium. But my attitude to vestments as masculine clothes of ancient pattern took a bit of a knock from a number of chasubles in St Marys collection with the word ballgown in their name. Huge skirts had gone out of fashion in the late 1870s, but material from them was often very colourful, with bold floral patterns. So some were turned into priestly vestments. One set at St Marys is of a purple jacquard-woven textile from about 1880 and another with pink blooms amid foliage. A set of vestments generally means a chasuble with similar vestments for the deacon (a dalmatic) and for the subdeacon (a tunicle). The clergy wear a matching stole (a narrow stiff scarf), and formerly a maniple, a short band looped over the forearm. A set of vestments also has a veil for the chalice and a burse, carried on the chalice, to house a plain linen corporal that is spread on the altar for the rites of the Eucharist. St Marys vestments, even the most precious, are in use at least once a year. By reference to the Eucharist, the central holy rite of Christianity, vestments acquire their sacred character. If you havent seen these highly worked objects close-up, St Marys gives an ideal chance. Mark Harper says 'our opposition to Sadiq Khan's Ulez expansion remains the same' - Paul Grover Mark Harper has said that Sadiq Khans mayoral victory will not stop him from fighting back against low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and the war on motorists. The London Mayor has been accused of pursuing a string of policies that are unpopular with drivers, such as expanding the ultra low emission zone (Ulez). More recently, it has emerged that drivers in London could face pay-per-mile charges by the end of the decade in order to achieve Mr Khans accelerated plan to hit net zero. In an official report, the London Mayor said that his ambitious plans for decarbonisation were only possible by charging drivers. Mr Khan recommitted to the plans, first published two years ago, last month. Transport Secretary Mr Harper told The Telegraph that Mr Khans re-election will not deter him from continuing to stand up for drivers. Our opposition to Sadiq Khans Ulez expansion remains the same, his own impact assessment said it would have a minor to negligible effect on air quality so it was clearly just an unfair tax on the poorest motorists, he said. The network of cameras required for his Ulez expansion lays the ground for the Labour mayors pay-per-mile road pricing plans, another tax on those for whom driving is a lifeline from the nurse, care worker or police officer driving into London for their night shift, to the small business owner or trader who needs their van to get from A to B. There has been opposition to LTNs on London streets - Jamie Lorriman Mr Harper added that the Government is sticking to our plan to back those who need to drive as part of their daily lives. Last year, the Department for Transport announced that LTNs will no longer be able to be created using government money. Ministers also stripped funding from all projects that involve the creation of car-free zones. Mr Harper said that a new set of statutory guidance will make clear that LTNs should only be enforced by councils when they have been given proper consideration by the people they impact. If LTNs are implemented without due consideration for the views of residents, they could see their funding cut by the Department of Transport. The current wave of LTNs began to be introduced during lockdown. Councils from across the country took advantage of empty streets to start blocking off roads with bollards and large flower boxes, claiming that the closures would help improve air quality and road safety. There has been significant opposition to the schemes, which have caused huge traffic congestion in some areas. Causing huge problems Earlier this year, Mr Khan admitted that a controversial LTN scheme in London was causing huge problems after buses were caught in hours-long traffic jams. The scheme, at Streatham Wells, was implemented last year as part of an 18-month trial that Labour-run Lambeth council says is meant to improve air quality. Meanwhile, paramedics have reported LTNs and pop-up cycle lanes for causing delays to life-saving 999 calls every other day in London. In just eight months to February this year, ambulance staff logged 159 occasions when their dashes to medical emergencies were thwarted by road closures introduced as part of the green transport revolution. Every 1.5 days or twice every three days a paramedic filed a report in the capital on a system that flags concerns the service is being compromised. Mr Harper said that Londonders have been at the sharp end of schemes such as Ulez that have ended up penalising those who drive. Drivers should not be seen as cash cows, which is why as part of our plan we have launched a call for evidence to assess how we could restrict the ability of councils to profit from the over-zealous use of traffic enforcement powers, he added. Cropwell Bishop produces up to 15% of all Stilton made in the UK. As the last family-owned and run Stilton maker, Cropwell Bishop Creamery has maintained a bastion of tradition in an age of private equity takeovers chasing short-term gains. Robin Skailes, managing director of the third-generation, family-run cheese business, followed his father and grandfather in working at the Vale of Belvoir-based creamery. His great, great, uncle had originally supplied cheese in 1847 before the company started producing it in the 1920s. The family first made Stilton over 80 years ago. Skailes joined the business in 2006, is vehemently protective of the heritage status and says outside investment would leave Cropwell Bishop which has a turnover nudging 12m as a generic cheese. Read More: Prodigy Snacks, the chocolate company 'fit for the modern day' Its hard for non-family people to add value to the cheese they are making as we care about our product, he says. Its not just a commodity, its something we have been making for generations and its important it tastes good and our customers like it. We are dealing with the premium end of the market and that means something. There are currently four Stilton makers left in the UK, with one mooted to close. Robin Skailes worked for Trailfinders before joining the third generation cheese producer. (GRAHAM FLACK 07747 015131) It's a tough market and it always has been for premium, good food in the UK as it doesnt value it, he adds. Whereas the French spend their disposable income on good food, in the UK the cheaper the better. Cropwell Bishop produces up to 15% of all Stilton, with Waitrose its largest customer and its award-winning blue cheese highly valued in France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Stilton was first handed trademark status in 1966, has protected origin status, which includes Gloucester Old Spot pigs and Jersey Royal potatoes and for the Stilton name to be used it must be made in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire or Derbyshire. Yet the sector which saw a 30% dip in sales as the pandemic hit still sees blue cheese copycats globally, with the Stilton Cheese Makers Association set up to protect the integrity and quality of the brand. One customer even came to Skailes' dairy and was shown the handmaking process of the cheese, only to attempt to copy the process, while the body aims to shut down imitators in Australia and the US. Cropwell Bishop's award-winning Stilton is one of the finest classic blue cheeses in the world. (GRAHAM FLACK 07747 015131) Brexit also created issues with shipment of products into Europe. Cropwell Bishop used to sell its cheese direct to consumer and now goes through a UK company that has warehouse space and a business in the Netherlands. It then invoices and distributes the product in Europe. Along with the extra paperwork, a baffling Brexit mandate also sees vets required to inspect every pallet order of cheese. A hindrance for the smaller cheesemakers, Stilton is now grouped together with other cheeses to ease the export burden. We are selling more cheese into Europe now, but it has nothing to do with Brexit, adds Skailes. Its just that our cheese is more in demand throughout Europe. Read More: Wild, the UK's leading refillable deodorant brand As a seasonal product, Cropwell Bishop is now looking to diversify its heritage business and not rely on its core product. As Nottingham Forest fans, the office also keep up with modern times by tuning into TalkSport, while Skailes says it would be a dream to feature their cheese logo on the Forest sleeve, or even on the wing mirror of an F1 car at the British Grand Prix. "It's not something for our brand, but it would be a fun thing to explore," he smiles. Despite this, Cropwell Bishops marketing spend is minimal, instead relying on word-of-mouth or by entering cheese awards. Skailes admits that if one dairy spends money on marketing it helps each producer. For now, their Cheesemakers Shop on an old part of the dairy has expanded into a cafe, while Skailes is trying to encourage people to eat cheese for breakfast, de rigeur on the continent. It is a healthy thing to eat, he admits. It fills you up and has loads of nutrition. Yes, it has fat but we all need a bit of that. Its not necessarily bad for you. The Stilton sector is made up of one large producer, Long Clawson Dairy, alongside Cropwell Bishop, which employs around 100 staff during its Christmas period, and Colston Bassett. Cropwell Bishop has expanded its retail offering in a bid to diversify the business. Not owning a dairy, Cropwell Bishop uses milk from one of eight family-owned farms in the Peak District National Park, around 40 miles away. The contract stipulates for the cows to be outside five months every year and predominantly grass fed, having moved away from soya. There is a chain through the business and it makes us a little bit different from larger dairies, admits Skailes. We can take a longer view of the business and not chase profit in a short-term environment. Read More: Meet Opply, the automated ingredient ordering service for SMEs Before joining the family firm and introducing its Beauvale blue cheese shortly afterwards, Skailes worked as a travel sales consultant at Trailfinders and says his children wont be forced into cheesemaking, despite the generational importance. You really need to work for someone else and understand what its like not to be important, adds Skailes. When youre seen as the boss son, you're viewed as the boss. We are a heritage brand, its all handmade even down to the cutting of the cheese. We don't mass produce, its not automated and what we do make we want to be the best in the market. It would be hard for it to leave the family and continue to be as successful as it is. A hanging offence fruit bats are often electrocuted when they land on power lines. Photograph: Brian Cassey/The Guardian Its an increasingly frequent occurrence on Australias east coast a fruit bat foraging for food lands on a power line to rest. The flying fox (as its also known), spreading its wings before taking flight, touches a second power line and is electrocuted. In Victoria, a power company says it has been experiencing one of the worst spates in decades of electrocutions of this threatened species, along with the consequent power outages. CitiPower & Powercor (one arm supplies Melbourne, the other regional Victoria) has now installed various warning devices including a strobe light in one regional area so that bats flying out at night in search of food can steer clear of the power lines. Large colonies of bats have been impacting the network mostly in and around the Tatura and Cobram areas, but also the Mooroopna and Numurkah areas, CitiPower & Powercor said in a social media post announcing the new measures last month. Theyve caused several flashovers, damaging insulators, and causing momentary and sustained outages. The power supplier said the measures helping reduce electrocutions included new insulator guards and visual warning devices on power poles. It also installed a pulsing strobe light in an orchard near Tatura, in Victorias Goulburn Valley, to help deter the bats. Increasing numbers of bats and electrocutions have been noticed elsewhere, including in Melbourne. South Australia is dealing with rising numbers of the mammals, as climate change-related food shortages drive the bats further south. SA Power Networks has introduced animal guards Frisbee-like plastic devices that are attached to poles in the areas most affected. Related: The megabats of Adelaide: SA adjusts to new and growing colonies of flying foxes Lisa Palma, the chief executive of Wildlife Victoria, said bat colonies had suffered an absolute crisis over the past summer. All across the east coast, from Queensland [to] New South Wales, down to Victoria, weve seen a huge number of flying foxes impacted, we think, through a decline in their habitat and food source, she told Guardian Australia. Weve seen an extraordinary number of pups that have been orphaned after their mothers milk has dried up. Palma said Wildlife Victoria last year recorded a 148% increase in bat rescues compared with the previous year, and half of the electrocution cases were flying foxes. Palma backed CitiPower & Powercors measures, saying visual aids helped to prevent bats landing on power lines. Melinda Brennan, president of Bat Conservation and Rescue Queensland, said the volunteer organisation was seeing bats in areas they had not been seen in before. As with other native animals, the biggest issue is the land clearing were clearing their native forest feed trees, were clearing their habitat, she said. Brennan said she hoped to work with energy companies in Queensland to replicate CitiPower & Powercors measures. A CitiPower & Powercor spokesperson said its devices, including insulated sleeves on power lines, were designed to help bats see the lines, reducing the risk of electrocution. We will continue to monitor bat activity in all parts of our networks and keep working closely with local councils and with customers to improve measures to safeguard our wildlife, the spokesperson said. The Victorian energy department warns people not to touch electrocuted bats because a small percentage of the animals carry diseases, including Australian bat lyssavirus and Hendra virus. Conservative MP for Monmouth David TC Davies. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images A Tory cabinet minister has been accused of a blatant breach of the ministerial code after using his government office in Whitehall to film an anti-Labour video that he then posted on social media. Welsh secretary David TC Davies put the short film on X (formerly Twitter) last week to attack Labour plans to expand the size of the Welsh Senedd and highlight the Conservative partys opposition to it. Sources close to Davies confirmed last night that the video had been filmed in his government office, the Wales Office in Whitehall, in direct contravention of the ministerial code, which states: Ministers are provided with facilities at government expense to enable them to carry out their official duties. These facilities should not generally be used for party or constituency activities. In the video Davies said the Welsh Labour government had to decide whether it wanted to spend 120m of taxpayers money on more Senedd members or increase the number of nurses, doctors, dentists and teachers, as the Conservatives would do. I know which side I am on, he added. The ministerial code states that exemptions apply only for official residences, such as the prime ministers at 10 Downing Street. A government source said the minister could not record the film outside his office for security reasons, without explaining what those were or why it could not have been made at Conservative party headquarters. Related: Tories delete social media post plugging Britain with a US jet, a Canadian car and a defeated football team Shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens said: This behaviour needs to be swept away along with this clapped-out Conservative government. Under Labour, the Wales Office will once again focus on and deliver for people across Wales. Last month Davies was criticised when he described the shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, as a disgrace in a clash over the Rwanda scheme on the BBCs Question Time programme. Phillipson had accused the secretary of state for Wales of talking complete garbage by claiming Labour had an open doors policy around immigration. Davies hit back by saying: Youre a disgrace, Bridget, and your policy is an absolute disgrace. The Labour frontbencher was heard saying: So much for standards in public life. Residents from Vovchansk and nearby villages wait for buses amid evacuation - Reuters/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy Ukrainian forces have evacuated more than 2,000 people from a border area near Kharkiv amid heavy fighting following a surprise Russian attack that threatens Ukraines second-biggest city. Russian soldiers have now advanced up to three miles into Ukraine in a two-pronged dawn attack launched on Friday that the Kremlin claims led to the capture of five villages. In the morning, the Russians resumed their assault operations near the settlement of Hlyboka in the north of the Kharkiv region. The Ukrainian Defence Forces are expecting an increase in enemy fire in this region, said Andriy Tsaplienko, a well-known Ukrainian military blogger. He posted video and photos of what he said were destroyed Russian armoured personnel carriers in the north Kharkiv region surrounded by dead Russian soldiers. Moscows attack has focused on the towns of Vovchansk and Lyptsi, roughly 20 miles north of Kharkiv. Russias Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that its forces had captured five villages around Lyptsi Borisovka, Ogurtsovo, Pletenevka, Pylnaya and Sterelchya. But Ukraine said they were contested and clashes were ongoing in all five villages. Firefighters finish extinguishing a fire at the site of a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv - Getty/Hnat Holyk Fighting was raging on Saturday for control of the villages, said Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkivs governor. As of now the enemy keeps pressing in the north of our region. Our forces have repelled nine attacks, he added. Mr Syniehubov said regional authorities had evacuated more than 2,500 people from the frontier area and that process continued. Ukrainian forces on Friday denied that they had lost any ground to Russian forces. But in his daily evening Telegram update, president Volodymr Zelensky said that fighting was fierce in the Kharkiv region and that resupplies had been sent. We are adding more forces to Kharkiv. Both along our state border and along the entire front line, we will invariably destroy the occupier in a way that will disrupt any Russian offensive intentions, he said. Russian military bloggers said that fighting was now focused on Vovchansk, which hadnt yet been captured. The work of small arms can be heard in the city, fragmentary information is received about the actions to capture the Vovchansk enemy group in a pincer movement, said the Two Majors Telegram channel. Ukrainian volunteers assist residents during the evacuation - Getty/Sergey Bobok Vovchansk had a pre-war population of 20,000 people and lies on the border with Russias Belgorod region. Online reports and video on the Telegram social messaging system showed what appeared to be increasingly fierce fighting in the area. Unverified drone footage claimed to show three Russian armoured personnel carriers, a tank and a military truck smashed and abandoned after apparently being ambushed. The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said that Russian forces had been ordered to create a buffer zone along the border and also to push towards Kharkiv. It said that if Russian forces advanced another eight miles towards the city of 1.8 million people, they would be able to fire artillery at residents. Routine indirect fire, in combination with continued glide bomb and missile strikes, would likely be intended to set conditions for a larger offensive effort against Kharkiv city at a later date, it said. Ukrainian officials and analysts have denied that the Russian attack could capture Kharkiv, even though Kremlin officials have described the city as a target for the first time since Russian soldiers were routed from its outskirts in September 2022. Many analysts have said that the attack from Belgorod into Ukraine could be a diversionary attack to pull Ukrainian forces away from the main thrust of Russian efforts in Donbas, the focus of fighting since Russian forces started an offensive in autumn. Russia currently enjoys a material advantage in weapons and soldiers along the front line, which it wants to exploit before US kit, promised in a 48 billion military aid package last month, resupplies Ukrainian forces. The Northern Lights might be visible in northern parts of the UK again on Saturday after the rare phenomenon was spotted across the country overnight. Also known as aurora borealis, the bands of pink and green light were seen across the UK and in parts of Europe after an extreme geomagnetic storm caused them to be more visible, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said there were sightings from top to tail across the country. He said: It is hard to fully predict what will happen in the Earths atmosphere, but there will still be enhanced solar activity tonight, so the lights could be visible again in northern parts of the UK, including Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England. Mr Snell said there were sightings in parts of Europe on Friday night as well, with the Met Office receiving pictures and information from locations including Prague and Barcelona. He advised those hoping to see the lights on Saturday to head to an area with low light pollution and to use a good camera, adding: The best chance you have of seeing the lights is if you are away from street lights and areas with lots of light pollution, as any type of light does have a big effect. The Northern Lights over Rushmere St Andrew in Suffolk (Joe Pickover/PA) Also, at this time of year, we are fighting the shorter length of nights, so it is unlikely that they will be visible until around 10.30pm or 11 oclock when it gets really dark. Sightings in southern parts of the UK are less likely on Saturday, although Mr Snell said the lights might be visible through a strong camera lens. Paul Norris, 47, from Allerton Bywater in West Yorkshire, said seeing the lights was not what wed expect on the outskirts of Leeds. The Forth Bridge at North Queensferry (Jane Barlow/PA) He added: My wife Emma and I woke our eldest daughter Phoebe (12) up to see them. It could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, its certainly the first time Ive seen them. We spent about an hour watching them move across the sky. In Thorngumbald, East Yorkshire, Sarah Sharpe said spotting the lights was a dream come true. She said: It was truly spectacular, probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. Ive waited to see the Northern Lights for a very long time. A dream come true to see such a fantastic display. The G5 geomagnetic storm, which is considered extreme and the strongest level of solar storm, hit Earth on Thursday. The cause of this storm was a large, complex sunspot cluster, 17 times the diameter of the Earth, according to the NOAA. The aurora borealis glow on the horizon at Another Place by Anthony Gormley at Crosby Beach, Liverpool (Peter Byrne/PA) The last storm with a G5 rating hit Earth more than 20 years ago in October 2003 and caused power outages in Sweden, Professor Carole Haswell told the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme on Saturday morning. Prof Haswell, head of astronomy at the Open University, said: A lot of the satellites communicate using radio signals and all of these charged particles speeding around disrupt radio signals, particularly GPS which is used by planes can be disrupted so it can cause navigation problems, it can cause outages with satellites, it can bring down power systems. The last big G5 storm caused a power outage in Sweden and I havent heard of anything happening this time yet, so hopefully people have designed in sort of redundancies into their systems so that they can actually weather this sort of space weather. The light show glows on the horizon over Basingstoke in Hampshire (Andrew Matthews/PA) A spokesperson for the Energy Networks Association told the PA news agency they had been monitoring the solar storm and said that the UKs electricity network continued to operate as normal on Saturday morning. Prof Haswell also explained how different colours within the aurora are formed and said: Green comes from oxygen which is about 80 to 250 miles above the earths surface. The purple, blue and pink comes from nitrogen and when you get a very strong aurora sometimes you see a sort of scarlet red, and that comes from oxygen which is higher in the earths atmosphere, at an altitude of about 180 miles. The Northern Lights in Great Horkesley, Essex (Kathleen Cunnea/PA) Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earths atmosphere around the magnetic poles. In the northern hemisphere, most of this activity takes place within a band known as the aurora oval, covering latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees. When activity is strong, this expands to cover a greater area which explains why displays can be occasionally seen as far south as the UK. It was smooth-sailing for the UKs Olly Alexander during the Eurovision Song Contest final after the singer spoke of having a wardrobe malfunction at the first semi-final on Tuesday. The Years and Years star, 33, was number 13 in Saturday nights running order at the Malmo Arena with the song Dizzy. His performance, which featured upside-down dressing room staging and cameras rotating to give a spinning feel to Alexander and the dancers, went smoothly after his mic pack fell off earlier in the week. Following the performance, Alexander told BBC Radio 2s Scott Mills programme: I did have a slight wardrobe malfunction in that my mic pack fell off in the second chorus, so I was confused and stressed by that. Speaking after Alexanders performance in the final, Graham Norton, who was leading coverage on BBC One, said: Wow what a great job. Olly Alexander (Suzan Moore/PA) Norton said there was clapping in the commentary booth, adding: Oh, the reaction in the arena is sensational, if only they could vote! Maybe they will later. He continued: That is terrific, we dont know how it will do because it is so different to everything else in the contest tonight. Alexander shared the voting numbers for his performance before taking to the stage. On social media, he said: Heres all the voting numbers for Dizzy if you feel so inclined to vote for me! Thank u !! dont forget i love u all. It comes as demonstrators gathered outside the venue in Malmo ahead of the event, calling for a boycott of the competition due to the participation of Israels Eden Golan. They shouted free Palestine and shame to those attending. Alexander, along with Irelands entry, Bambie Thug, and other Eurovision artists released a joint statement in March backing an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza but refused to boycott the event. 11 May 2024 at 3:57 am The Northern Lights has lit up the night sky with rare sightings across the country. The Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, has been spotted in Whitley Bay on the north east coast, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Wokingham in Berkshire. They were also spotted in Suffolk, Kent, Hampshire and Liverpool. The lights glow on the horizon at Another Place by Anthony Gormley, Crosby Beach, Liverpool , Merseyside (Peter Byrne/PA) The sightings have reached as far as Ireland, with the Irish weather service Met Eireann posting images of the lights in Dublin and at Shannon Airport in Co Clare. Kathleen Cunnea, in Great Horkesley, Essex, said: It was absolutely stunning to see. The visibility of the Northern Lights was increased on Friday because of an extreme geomagnetic storm, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The aurora borealis glow on the horizon in Great Horkesley, Essex (Kathleen Cunnea/PA) The NOAA said the G5 geomagnetic storm, which is considered extreme and is the strongest level of geomagnetic storm, hit earth on Thursday and could affect communications, GPS and power grids. The cause of this storm is a large, complex sunspot cluster and is 17 times the diameter of earth, with the last storm with a G5 rating hitting earth in October 2003, causing power outages in Sweden. The NOAA said the lights could be seen as far south as Alabama and southern California in the US. The lights in Basingstoke in Hampshire (Andrew Matthews/PA) Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said on Friday there was a good chance for the Northern Lights to be seen. He said: Although the shorter nights will limit the visibility window, theres a good chance to see the aurora, particularly on Friday night and especially in Scotland, Ireland and parts of northern England and Wales. There could even be visibility further south if you have the right equipment. Handout photo taken with permission from the social media site X, formerly Twitter, posted by @wineismysaviourof the aurora borealis just outside of Warboys in Cambridgeshire (Jan Ellis Huntingdon/PA) Those conditions could continue on Saturday night but we still have to work out some details on where exactly that will be. Mr Dixon said the combination of clear skies and enhanced activity from the sun reaching Earth would improve the chances of seeing the display. Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earths atmosphere around the magnetic poles. The aurora borealis at St Marys Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast (Owen Humphreys/PA) In the northern hemisphere, most of this activity takes place within a band known as the aurora oval, covering latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees. When activity is strong, this expands to cover a greater area which explains why displays can be occasionally seen as far south as the UK. This photo taken on May 10, 2024 shows a handover ceremony held at the Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. (Xinhua/Liu Fangqiang) ADDIS ABABA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. This came as senior Ethiopian and Djiboutian government officials, the Chinese diplomatic community in Ethiopia, and management contractor of the 752-km electrified transnational railway celebrated the historic milestone of "Turnkey Ceremony" at the Lebu Railway Station on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on Friday. Ethiopia's Minister of Transport and Logistics Alemu Sime said on the occasion that the railway, since it started operation back in January 2018, has been serving as a critical infrastructure, fostering connectivity between the two Horn of African nations. "Its establishment stands as a testament to the collaborative spirit and shared pursuit of progress between the two countries. The successful completion and operation of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway has significantly enhanced trade and fostered closer ties between the two nations," Sime said. He said the vital railway infrastructure has facilitated efficient transportation of goods under the Chinese management contractor, resulting in reduced costs and opening up new avenues for economic growth and development in both countries. Abdi Zenebe, the chief executive officer of the Ethio-Djibouti Railway Share Company (EDR), said the railway, as one manifestation of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is a mutually beneficial cooperation platform advancing socioeconomic development across the two connected countries. "Six years ago, we embarked on a journey that would connect our two great nations, Ethiopia and Djibouti. EDR was born out of a vision for progress, prosperity, and regional integration. Today, as we celebrate the successful operation and maintenance of this railway, we reflect on the remarkable achievements that have brought us here," he said. He further reaffirmed the EDR's continued efforts to enhance its capacity building program to emerge as a center of excellence that will nurture talent, enhance skills, and empower its workforce. Djibouti's Minister of Infrastructure and Equipment Hassan Houmed, on his part, commended the railway's role in terms of reducing transport time and cost, as well as its contribution in employment creation. He said the railway's fast and streamlined transport system has enabled the port nation of Djibouti with infrastructures to decongest its port, promote the comfort and safety of passengers without forgetting its commendable role in terms of environmental protection. Data from the Chinese management contractor show that the railway has operated over 2,500 passenger trains with a passenger volume of 680,000 in six years; it has operated over 7,700 freight trains, with cargo volume of 9.5 million tonnes in the same period. The electrified railway has cut the transportation time for freight goods between Ethiopia and Djibouti from more than three days to less than 20 hours, and reduced the cost by at least one-third. At the same time, the railway has created a large number of local employment opportunities and has fully localized its workforce, employing more than 3,000 local staff. "The Chinese team is making every effort to promote capacity building. A total of 2,840 people have been trained and certified, realizing the localization of all professions of the railway in the field of operation, maintenance and safety management," said Guo Chongfeng, chief executive of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ethiopian branch, which constructed this railway and maintained it with another company, China Railway Engineering Corporation. Guo said the management contractor, by focusing on the future development of the railway, has arranged leadership training for around 200 middle and senior management personnel, and further trained some 100 local managers in China. Ethiopia, as a land-locked country in the Horn of Africa, accesses international maritime trade through ports in neighboring countries. The Ethiopia-Djibouti trade corridor is the main gateway for Ethiopia, with about 90 percent of its import and export passing through it. Passengers chat in the dining cabin of a train in Ethiopia on Sept. 9, 2023. The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) Passengers buy tickets at the Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sept. 9, 2023. The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) Passengers board a train at the Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sept. 9, 2023. The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) A train attendant checks passengers' tickets in the cabin in Ethiopia, Sept. 9, 2023. The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) This photo taken on May 10, 2024 show an Ethiopian locomotive driver, trained by the Chinese counterpart, controls the train in the cab in Ethiopia. The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. (Xinhua/Liu Fangqiang) A local train driver receivs a notebook from his Chinese predecessor at the Adama station in Adama City, Ethiopia, Sept. 9, 2023. The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) This photo taken on Sept. 9, 2023 shows the Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) This aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 11, 2023 shows the Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) This photo taken on May 10, 2024 shows a train drives into the Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Chinese management contractors of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway on Friday officially handed over the railway's management and operation to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation. (Xinhua/Liu Fangqiang) Holidaymakers looking for a bargain city break may want to consider heading to Vilnius, a study suggests. The Lithuanian capital overtook last years winner, Lisbon, according to the Post Office, which compiles the city costs barometer. Typical costs in 37 European cities were analysed for the research. The Post Office said the strengthening of sterling over the past year helped to keep the cost of city breaks down in many of the countries it looked at. Its study is based on April exchange rates and it calculated the typical cost of two nights three star weekend accommodation, an evening meal for two, a range of drinks, sightseeing charges and city transport. The cost for a trip to Vilnius was put at 237. Amsterdam was the most expensive city in the research, with a typical cost of 669. The Post Office also found other locations where tourists may be able to find value. Laura Plunkett, head of travel money at Post Office said: Its important to remember that the cost of meals and drinks need to be added to the spending budget as city break holidays rarely include these items. Over the course of two or three days, these can make a big difference to holiday costs and the low prices we found for meals and drinks in Lisbon and Athens make these cities strong contenders for a bargain break. The typical cost of a city break in Cardiff was put at 409 by the Post Office (Ben Birchall/PA) For people looking for a break closer to home, Cardiff topped the UK capitals looked at by the Post Office, with a cost of 409. The cost of a Belfast break was put at 629, making it more expensive than Dublin (579) for the first time in the Post Offices 17th annual cost comparison. The price of a getaway in Edinburgh was calculated to be 602. In London, the price of a break was put at 524, with competitive accommodation charges helping to keep the price down, according to the Post Office. Here are the five cheapest cities, with the typical cost, according to the Post Office research: 1. Vilnius, 237 2. Lisbon, 264 3. Lille, 278 4. Krakow, 279 5. Athens, 289 And here are the five most expensive cities: 1. Amsterdam, 669 2. Belfast, 629 3. Edinburgh, 602 4. Helsinki, 587 5. Venice, 582 William Fox-Pitt turned back the clock with a vintage performance that put him in title contention on what could be his final Mars Badminton Horse Trials appearance. The 55-year-old Olympian collected just 2.4 time penalties with Grafennacht on a testing cross-country course that put him in second place ahead of Sundays showjumping finale. While reigning European champion and leader after dressage Ros Canter retired during her round, Fox-Pitt glided up the leaderboard in pursuit of a 117,500 top prize. Tim Price lead the way on Vitali (David Davies/PA). He is just 1.3 penalties behind New Zealander Tim Price, who leads aboard Vitali on a score of 31.7, with Irelands Badminton debutant Lucy Latta third and Emily King, whose mother Mary won Badminton twice, in fourth. Fox-Pitts stellar eventing career has harvested three Olympic, six world and 11 European medals, in addition to two Badminton crowns and six victories at Britains other elite five-star competition Burghley. I was trying very hard. She is an amazing mare, just fabulous, Dorset-based Fox-Pitt said. This will potentially be my last Badminton and I wanted to come home well. My boys would have certainly given me a rollicking if I hadnt! I am very lucky. I am 55 and Ive had an amazing time here at Badminton. I probably ought to grow up now and get a new habit. Fox-Pitt has an advantage of 4.2 penalties over Latta, who had the days fastest round on RCA Patron Saint. Zara Tindall rides Class Affair (David Davies/PA). Canters bid to win Badminton for a second successive year ended when she encountered problems at the lake complex with Izilot DHI, but she remains firmly on course for Paris Olympics selection with her top ride Lordships Graffalo. Further down the leaderboard, day one leader Bubby Upton, who underwent spinal surgery just nine months ago after a fall, lies 18th on Cola and 2006 world champion Zara Tindall is 21st aboard Class Affair. Upton said: My horse never fails to give me his absolute all. He is an absolute machine and he has proved it time and time again. The support and love I have felt over the last nine months has been unbelievably touching. The comments on my Instagram are enough to make me well up. Tindall added: I am blowing a lot, but when you get it done it feels such an achievement. If you fought for it, it was there (today). My horse hates people, so galloping around in front of those crowds is another aspect, but it is because hes quirky that he is good. Christopher Lloyd has been married to former real estate agent Lisa Loiacono since 2016 John Salangsang/Variety/Getty Christopher Lloyd and Lisa Loiacono at the premiere of 'Lucky Hank' on March 15, 2023 in West Hollywood, California. Great Scott! Doc is in love! Actor Christopher Lloyd is well-known thanks to his iconic role as Doc Brown in Back to the Future and his Emmy-winning portrayal of Jim Ignatowski in the series Taxi. But outside of the spotlight, he's been married to his wife, Lisa Loiacono, since 2016. Loiacono, a former real estate agent, met the actor in 2012. She keeps a relatively low profile and isnt active on social media, but she does regularly attend events and premieres with her husband and often pops up on his Instagram. Read on to find out more about Christopher Lloyds fifth wife, Lisa Loiacono. She is a former real estate agent Karwai Tang/WireImage Lisa Loiacono and Christopher Lloyd attend at The British Independent Film Awards on December 4, 2016 in London, England. Before marrying Lloyd, Loiacono was a high-profile real estate agent in Southern California. She often worked with celebrities and business moguls and has sold homes that have been featured in Architectural Digest and Town & Country. It's my job to really get a feel for a person, their lifestyle and needs, and open other possibilities that might not otherwise have been considered, Loiacono told Zillow. She met Lloyd when selling his home John Lamparski/WireImage Lisa Loiacono and Christopher Lloyd attend 'Back to the Future' New York special anniversary screening on October 21, 2015 in New York City. One of Loiaconos celebrity clients was Lloyd and his ex-wife, screenwriter Jane Walker Wood. In 2012, Lloyd and Wood sold the home they owned together, and Loiacono was their real estate agent. The house was listed for $6.45 million and had recently been rebuilt after being severely damaged in the 2008 Tea Fire which tore through the Santa Barbara area. Lloyd and Loiacono have never opened up about how their relationship blossomed after that, but they have said theyre both still good friends with Wood and her new husband. In a 2021 interview with The Guardian, Lloyd and Loiacono even said that during the COVID-19 pandemic they quarantined with Wood and her husband. I hike with your ex-wife every morning, Loiacono told Lloyd in the interview. Funny how life turns out, he responded. They got married in 2016 Presley Ann/Getty Lisa Loiacono and Christopher Lloyd attend 'Senior Moment' Screening and Q&A on May 01, 2021 in Palm Springs, California. Four years after meeting, Loiacono and Lloyd got married on Nov. 23, 2016. Loiacono is Lloyds fifth wife Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Christopher Lloyd and Lisa Loiacono attend the VIP Private Reception during the 32nd Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 4, 2017 in Santa Barbara. Loiacono is Lloyds fifth wife. His first marriage was to actress Catherine Boyd from 1959 to 1971. After their divorce, he married actress Kay Tornborg and they were together from 1974 to 1987. His third wife was Carol Vanek and their marriage lasted from 1988 to 1991. He was then married to Wood from 1992 to 2005. Lloyd jokingly said that Loiacono will be his final wife, telling The Guardian during a Zoom interview, Five is the last. Loiacono, who was sitting next to him off-camera during the interview, then said, Number five is sitting right here! She often accompanies Lloyd on the red carpet Arturo Holmes/FilmMagic Lisa Loiacono and Christopher Lloyd attend the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 27, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California. Loiacono regularly joins Lloyd on the red carpet. From film premieres including The Theory of Everything (2014), Welcome to Marwen (2018), and Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium (2023), to award shows like the Saturn Awards, the couple enjoy supporting each other. "Shes my best fan, Lloyd told The Guardian. In 2018, Loiacono even joined Lloyd at the charity event A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinsons, hosted by Michael J. Fox. The trio snapped a picture together, serving as a mini Back to the Future reunion for Fox and Lloyd. Lloyd often shows his love for his wife on Instagram Christopher Lloyd Instagram Christopher Lloyd and Lisa Loiacono Lloyd often shares photos of himself and Loiacono with his 1.2 million followers on Instagram. He posts yearly Valentines Day messages to his wife, and in 2019 he honored her on National Womens Day, calling her my everything. On her birthday in 2021, Lloyd shared a photo of them together, along with a quote from President Woodrow Wilson. You are more wonderful and lovely in my eyes than you ever were before, Lloyd wrote, and my pride and joy and gratitude that you should love me with such a perfect love are beyond all expression Happy Birthday my dear Lisayou are my whole world. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Dallas Mikha Sabu and a team of specialists patrol the busy terminals at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, picking up precious cargo left behind by passengers and bringing it back to the lost and found. "Once we find that item for them, they will be so happy," Sabu, who works in the airport's lost and found department, told CBS News. In a typical year at DFW, more than 18,000 items are reported lost by travelers. But with the help of artificial intelligence, about 90% of the lost items found are returned to their owners, the airport said. How does it work? A person needs to first report the item missing, and then include details about the missing object. The AI software then tries to match the item details with pictures and descriptions of things that were found. Once it's a confirmed match, the item is then shipped to the owner. The Lost and Found software, which is operated by Hallmark Aviation Services, is also used at 11 other airports. Shimaa Fadul, who runs daily operations at the DFW lost and found, explains that by looking for distinguishing marks, like stickers or serial numbers, AI can help find any item. So far this year, Fadul's team has found nearly 600 rings and more than 400 watches, including seven Rolexes that were all left behind by their owners. However, Fadul says one of the most valuable items that her team found was a wedding dress that was returned just 24 hours before the bride's big day. "And you cannot imagine that she doesn't have anything to wear on her wedding day," Fadul said, adding that the airport overnighted the dress to her, and it made it in time for the wedding. It marks a "real" problem that is being solved with "artificial" intelligence. New details emerge after series of resignations rock Miss USA organization Decade-long search for Texas mom's killer takes stunning turns Bodycam video released of deadly police shooting of U.S. airman in Florida Nadav Popplewell was kidnapped on Oct 7 by Hamas - Ayelet Svatitzky Hamas on Saturday claimed that a British-Israeli hostage had died in Gaza, shortly after releasing a video appearing to show him alive. A brief 11-second clip was posted by Hamass armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, on Saturday morning showing Nadav Popplewell, 51, confirming his name and his home in Kibbutz Nirim in southern Israel. Mr Popplewell was born in the town of Wakefield in Yorkshire but had lived in Israel for at least two decades. It was not clear when the video was taken or what state of health he was in. In it, he can be seen with a bruise on his right eye. The footage is superimposed with text in Arabic and Hebrew that reads: Time is running out. Your government is lying. The Telegraph is not showing the video or images from it as it was made under duress. Popplewell didnt receive intensive medical care It was originally interpreted as a first sign of life for the 51-year-old, who was kidnapped by the terror group on Oct 7 along with his mother, who was later released. But the group later said in a statement that he had died of wounds that he sustained in an Israeli air strike more than a month ago. Mr Popplewell was being detained with a female hostage when the place they were being held was targeted by an Israeli missile, Hamas claimed in a statement. He died because he didnt receive intensive medical care at medical facilities because of the enemys destruction of hospitals in Gaza, spokesman Abu Ubaida said. The Israeli military did not offer immediate comment on the latest video. It has referred to previous videos of hostages released by Hamas as psychological terror and has also denied some of the previous accusations by the terror group that hostages were killed by Israeli fire. Popplewell captured from safe room Described as an avid reader and a fan of science fiction, Mr Popplewell is a family man who liked playing bridge with friends in the kibbutz and enjoyed watching TV series, according to Bring Them Home Now, an Israeli organisation set up by hostages families. He was captured from a safe room at his home along with his mother, Hanna Peri, a dual South African citizen. She was later released during the first ceasefire pause in November. Mr Popplewells older brother, Roi, was killed in the attack. His sister, Ayelet Svalitzky, who has campaigned in London after the terror attacks for her familys release, has spoken of how she lost her whole family on Oct 7. The video is the third of a Hamas hostage released in less than a month. On April 27, the group released a video showing two people alive Keith Siegel and Omri Miran. Three days before that it broadcast another video showing hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin alive. In that footage, Mr Goldberg-Polin said that around half of the remaining Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas have been killed during the fighting in Gaza. He claimed at least 70 of the remaining 128 hostages had been killed in Gaza by Israeli bombings, likely repeating a line given to him by his captors. The official Israeli forensic committee has put the number at 36. It came as Joe Biden said there would be a ceasefire tomorrow if Hamas released the remaining Israeli hostages. Speaking at a fundraising event in Seattle, Mr Biden said its up to Hamas to halt the fighting in the region. There would be a ceasefire tomorrow if Hamas released the hostages, women, the elderly, and the wounded, he said. Israel said its up to Hamas if they wanted to do it, we could end it tomorrow. And the ceasefire would begin tomorrow, he added. A US intelligence assessment seen by the Wall Street Journal last month concluded that over half of the hostages may well now be dead. Some 252 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip on Oct 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel. The attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. In Israels retaliatory military campaign in Gaza, at least 34,971 people have been killed so far, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run territorys health ministry. 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. PARIS, FRANCE - MAY 07: Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain looks dejected as players of Paris Saint-Germain acknowledge the fans after defeat to Borussia Dortmund during the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund at Parc des Princes on May 07, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) Kylian Mbappe has announced on social media that he will be leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the summer, with his last game at Parc des Princes scheduled for Sunday against Toulouse. "I've always said that I would speak with you when the time comes, and so I wanted to announce to you all that it's my last year at Paris Saint-Germain," Mbappe said in French on an Instagram post. I will not extend, and the adventure will come to an end in a few weeks." Having established himself as one of the world's top players, Mbappe has left an indelible mark during his seven-year tenure at PSG, a journey that began with his signing in 2017. It seems that Mbappe's departure from PSG has opened the door for Real Madrid to finally secure the deal they have been pursuing for years to sign the French star. Although it remains uncertain what Real Madrid is willing to offer Mbappe, sources suggest that the Spanish club is prepared to pay him a salary that will be twice as much as what he currently earns at PSG. Kylian Mbappe's time with Paris Saint-Germain In 2017, Mbappe made history by signing a deal with Paris Saint-Germain worth a staggering 180 million euros, a record-breaking transfer fee for a teenage player at the time. During his time with PSG, Mbappe won six Ligue 1 titles and three Coupes de France titles and helped the club reach its first-ever UEFA Champions League final in 2020. Mbappe's illustrious career at PSG is marked by numerous accolades, including four Ligue 1 Player of the Year titles, the Golden Boot, the Silver Ball, and a finalist for the prestigious 2023 Ballon d'Or. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kylian Mbappe leaves PSG, deal with Real Madrid rumors The Maternal and Child Health team at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco were honored on Thursday for making a bride's dreams come true just hours before she gave birth. When Nora Regis Odland's water broke at 33 weeks, she and her groom-to-be Michael were told that she'd need an emergency c-section to deliver their baby. The expectant couple were planning to be married in early May. And staying on schedule was important they "wanted to be married before the baby arrived", a press release from Northern Westchester Hospital said. The couple asked if anyone was available to marry them. But a chaplain was not available because it was late at night. That didn't stop the Northern Westchester Hospital nursing staff. Newlyweds and new parents Michael and Nora stand with nurse Valerie Goodwin on their wedding day at Northern Westchester Hospital. With Nora's delivery time fast approaching, nurses tapped into their network of first responders, reaching out to Westchester County Police and Westchester Emergency Medical Services. The search paid off Michael "Rev" Revenson, an EMS paramedic, was also a non-denominational minister/officiant and could be at the hospital "within minutes". Soon, the nursing staff would make up a bouquet of flowers, a flowered tiara and a veil (made of gauze) for the bride. Night nurse Valerie Goodwin, who lead the way for the team, became Nora's matron of honor. "Needless to say the couple and the brides mother, who was also there, were extremely happy," Northern Westchester Hospital said in the press release. Newlyweds and new parents Michael and Nora cradle their newborn baby Reggie, born at 33 weeks at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, NY. Reggie was born hours after his parents were married in the Labor & Delivery unit. An announcement inviting the entire hospital staff rung through the halls: "If they wanted to come to a wedding, meet at (Labor and Delivery)." Nora and Michael's baby Reggie, born at 33 weeks, was in level III NICU as of May 5th and is "doing great", the hospital said. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester NY nurses plan hospital wedding hours before baby's birth Hundreds of Liberian refugees living in Ghana have been left destitute following the demolition of a section of a refugee camp, 45 kilometers outside of the countrys capital, Accra. The Buduburam refugee camp has been home to Liberians for 35 years after thousands fled two brutal civil wars between 1989 and 2003. Although the UN had ruled that the refugees were safe to return home in 2006, many Liberians living in Ghana say they have no connection or relations with their home country preferring to stay in Ghana. Speaking to Christian Daily International, the President of the Liberian Community Leadership at Buduburam Refugee camp, Dennis Yoko Gwion, said that the UN recommendation for an option of refugee integration within the Ghanaian society in 2010 has not worked as planned due to what he termed as restrictions by the government. The Ghana Refugee Board gave us Liberian passports with resident permits which restricted us from working and doing business. We were promised that housing would be provided and that we would be relocated from Buduburam but the Refugee Board has kept us here all this time, said Gwion. Gwion adds that 6,168 registered persons have been displaced as a result of the demolitions, which also included the destruction and looting of 65 churches. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Most people are unwillingly opting to go back home because they have nowhere to stay. People are living in congested school buildings with no food, water and poor sanitation, he said. The refugees, who have been camping in nearby schools following the February 27 demolition are now at risk of being pushed to the streets after the authorities gave notice to the affected refugees to vacate the schools. The demolition happened despite assurance from the Chair of the Ghana Refugee Board, Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah who said in comments at the UNHCR in Geneva in 2022 that the decommissioning of the refugee camp will be conducted in a safe, humane and efficient manner consistent with domestic and international law and Ghanas human rights obligations. The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Refugee Board, Tetteh Padie, was quoted last month as saying about 600 people were affected by the demolitions, including Liberians and Ghanians. Buduburam is no longer a refugee camp. We have several people living there who are not refugees. In fact, most of the people living there are not refugees, including the Liberians. Since the demolition, weve done some head counts and so far 268 persons who are refugees have come forward as having been affected, said Padie. The Board, added Padie, is making arrangements for 231 documented refugees to be moved to another camp in Western Region with the help of UNHCR. In his comments to CDI, Gwion refuted the refugee boards account, sharing photos and video recordings of displaced people who he said would be sleeping on the streets with little to no access to water and food. The International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) whose leadership recently visited the site announced an emergency webinar to highlight the plight of the refugees and mobilize the much needed aid in the face of what ISHR terms as a dire situation. As the situation deteriorates, the camp coordinator has issued a distressing message: our food reserves are rapidly depleting, and medical conditions are escalating. We cannot sit idly by as our fellow human beings suffer, the ISHR said in a statement. ISHR Secretary General Matthias Boehning emphasized the need for the people of Buduburam refugee camp to be successfully integrated into Ghanaian society. The Ghanaian government must follow up its words in Geneva with action. The ISHR will continue to work to ensure that the fate of the people in the Buduburam refugee camp is not forgotten and that real solutions are created, noted Boehning. Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai also weighed in on the demolition incident and suggested the eviction of the refugees was linked to a land ownership tussle. It is the understanding of the President that the current activities taking place under the auspices of the Gomoa-Fetteh Traditional Council, who are believed to be the owners of the land hosting the Buduburam Camp, said the President in a statement published on his social media. President Boakai urged the Ghanaian Government to intervene and ensure that the refugees living in the camp are safe, protected and treated humanely. A Virginia school board voted Friday to restore the names of Confederate military leaders to a high school and an elementary school, four years after the names were removed amid nationwide protests calling for a reckoning over racial injustice. In a reversal experts believe was the first of its kind, Shenandoah County's school board voted 5-1 to rename Mountain View High School as Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary as Ashby Lee Elementary. Friday's vote reversed a decision by the school board in 2020 when school systems across Virginia and the South were removing Confederate names from schools and other public locations in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, which maintains a database of more than 2,000 Confederate memorials nationwide, is not aware of another case of a school system restoring a Confederate name that was removed, said senior research analyst Rivka Maizlish. Overall, the trend toward removal of Confederate names and memorials has continued, even if it has slowed somewhat since 2020, she said, noting that the Army renamed nine installations named for Confederate leaders, and removed a Confederate memorial from Arlington National Cemetery. In Virginia, local governments had been banned from removing Confederate memorials and statues until the law was changed in 2020, though the statute did not apply to school names. 1632161329_8ydC16.jpeg In The LoopRemoving Confederate Monuments (VIDEO) 6:59 PM, Sep 20, 2021 On Friday, school board members who voted to restore the Confederate names said the previous board ignored popular sentiment and due process when the names were stripped. Elections in 2023 significantly changed the school board's makeup, with one board member writing in an op-ed for the Northern Virginia Daily that the results gave Shenandoah County "the first 100% conservative board since anyone can remember." That board member, Gloria Carlineo, said during the six-hour meeting that began Thursday night that opponents of the Confederate names should "stop bringing racism and prejudice into everything" because it "detracts from true cases of racism." The lone board member to vote against restoring the Confederate names, Kyle Gutshall, said he respected both sides of the debate but believed a majority of residents in his district wanted to leave the Mountain View and Honey Run names in place. "I don't judge anybody or look down on anybody for the decision they're making," he said. "It's a complex issue." During several hours of public comment, county residents spoke up on both sides of the issue. Beth Ogle, a longtime resident with children in the school system, said restoring the Confederate names is "a statement to the world that you do not value the dignity and respect of your minority students, faculty and staff." Kenny Wakeman, a lifelong county resident, said the Stonewall Jackson name "stood proudly for 60 years until 2020," when he said the "actions of a rogue police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota," prompted a move to change the name, a reference to the killing of Floyd that propelled nationwide protests and debate over racial injustice. Confederate memorial U.S. NewsConfederate memorial at Arlington Cemetery set to come down ... again AP via Scripps News 12:37 PM, Dec 20, 2023 Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was a Confederate general from Virginia who gained fame at the First Battle of Bull Run near Manassas in 1861 and died in 1863 after he was shot and had his arm amputated. Jackson's name was also removed from another high school in Virginia's Prince William County in 2020 that is now known as Unity Reed High School. Ashby Lee is named for both Gen. Robert E. Lee, a Virginia native who commanded Confederate forces, and for Turner Ashby, a Confederate cavalry officer who was killed in battle in 1862 near Harrisonburg, Virginia. A high school near Harrisonburg is also named for Ashby. The resolution approved by the school board states that private donations would be used to pay for the name changes. Shenandoah County, a largely rural jurisdiction with a population of about 45,000, roughly 100 miles west of the nation's capital, has long been politically conservative. In 2020, Republican Donald Trump won 70% of the presidential vote in Shenandoah, even as Biden won Virginia by 10 points. In Virginia, local governments were banned from removing Confederate memorials and statues until the 2020 law lifted those restrictions. Statues of Confederate leaders, including Lee, Jackson and Confederate President Jefferson Davis were removed from Richmond's famed Monument Avenue in 2020 and 2021 following protests and vandalizing of the statues. Maizlish, from the Southern Poverty Law Center, said it's unusual, though not unprecedented, that conservative jurisdictions like Shenandoah removed Confederate names in the first place. She said that while there's no evidence other jurisdictions have restored Confederate names or monuments, she is "always concerned about people who work to continue to promote Lost Cause propaganda." Russian forces have made two cross-border assaults inside northern Ukraine, according to information from Ukrainian sources and officials, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling a new wave of counteroffensive actions by Russia. In the first development, Russian soldiers penetrated at least one kilometer towards the town of Vovchansk, a Ukrainian military source told CNN. The aim, the source said, was to get 10 km deep and create a buffer zone at the border to secure Russian territory from feeling the war. In an official statement, Ukraines Defense Ministry said Russian soldiers supported by armored vehicles had moved across the border at about 5 a.m. Friday, following a day of stepped-up attacks on the border area with guided aerial bombs and artillery. The statement added that Ukrainian reserve units had been deployed to strengthen defenses in the area. On Saturday, local authorities said more than 20 air glide KAB bombs had been launched at the town and its surrounding settlements. The regions governor Oleh Syniehubov said two civilians were killed when the bombs hit private houses. A second Ukrainian source with direct knowledge of frontline developments told CNN that Russian forces had also penetrated 5 kilometers inside Ukraine towards the village of Krasne, which lies about 75 km along the border, west of Vovchansk. The source said the Russian ground assault towards Krasne was carried out by four Russian battalions - about 2,000 men. Ukrainian officials have not given much information about the second Russian push, though Ukraines General Staff, in its Friday evening update, did note Russian attacks in the area of Krasne and two neighboring villages. It is also noteworthy that DeepStateMap, a Ukrainian monitoring group which updates frontline developments daily, showed four villages next to each other - including Krasne - in the grey area, representing territory currently contested rather than under full Ukrainian control. DeepStateMap also noted on its Telegram channel that the number of Russian forces deployed in the two cross-border pushes was not enough for a deeper advance into Ukrainian territory, but it also drew attention to the fact Moscow has many more troops positioned along the border - estimated to be around 40,000. Asked about developments, Zelensky did not downplay their seriousness but said Ukraines military had been expecting such a move. Russia launched a new wave of counteroffensive actions in [northern Kharkiv region]. Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades and artillery, he told reporters early Friday afternoon. But our military and military command were aware of this and anticipated their forces to meet the enemy with fire. Now there is a fierce battle in this area [] I think as of now we have stopped the enemy with artillery fire, Zelensky said. In an address Saturday evening local time, Zelensky said Ukraine was strengthening our positions and adding forces to the Kharkiv region. Residents of border villages have been told to evacuate by authorities. National police posted photos and a video on social media showing officers helping people pack their belongings into police vehicles ahead of being driven to safer locations. A total of 1,775 people have so far been evacuated from Kharkiv region, a day after Russias surprise assault, the head of the regions military administration said Saturday. The developments mark the most serious cross-border ground assault by Russia since Ukraine re-captured the northern Kharkiv region in the late summer of 2022, after it was first taken by Russia in the opening weeks of its full-scale invasion. It also comes after several months of increased Russian air attacks on the city of Kharkiv, which have knocked out all the citys power-generating capacity, as well as its sub-stations. Governor Syniehubov insisted the latest Russian ground assaults did not put the city, which lies just 30 km south from the Russian border, under heightened risk. The enemy group does not pose a threat to Kharkiv city, its forces are only enough for provocations in the northern direction. However, analysts note that if Russian forces were able to push much further south, that could bring the northern edge of the city within range of Russian artillery, which can fire about 20 km. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Abortion rights supporters protest in Austin, Texas, on 24 June 2022. Photograph: Eric Gay/AP As soon as the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade two years ago, anti-abortion activists started debating if and how they could limit Americans ability to cross state lines for legal abortions. Now, a Texas man has asked a court to greenlight an investigation into the abortion his former partner allegedly received in a state where the procedure remains legal. The man, Collin Davis, said in court records that when he learned his former partner planned to get an abortion in February 2024, he hired an attorney who would pursue wrongful-death claims against anyone involved in the killing of his unborn child. According to the records, the woman proceeded to get an abortion in Colorado, a state that has become an abortion haven as laws banning the procedure have taken effect across much of the US midwest and south. Daviss petition, filed in March and first reported by the Washington Post last week, seeks to use a Texas law that allows people to request legal depositions before potentially filing a lawsuit, in order to ascertain who may have aided or abetted the womans abortion. Davis argues that, if the investigation uncovers wrongdoing, he can sue under Texass wrongful-death statute or under a state law that permits private individuals to sue one another on suspicion of aiding or abetting an abortion past six weeks of pregnancy. Davis does not intend to sue the woman who got the alleged abortion, but is evaluating whether to go after co-conspirators and accomplices a seemingly broad range of people that could include any individual involved in the murder of Mr Davis unborn child. It is legal for people to cross state lines for abortions in states that still permit the procedure. However, activists determined to end abortion nationwide have launched a series of legislative and legal volleys to undermine that right, often by targeting groups and individuals who may help patients travel. Idaho has passed a law banning people from helping minors leave the state for legal abortions an act that the state has labeled abortion trafficking unless they have parental consent. Small Texas localities have passed a series of ordinances to restrict peoples ability to transport others along local roads for out-of-state abortions. Alabamas attorney general has threatened to prosecute groups that help women leave the state for abortions a threat that a federal judge beat back forcefully earlier this week. 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, US district judge Myron Thompson wrote in a preliminary ruling in a lawsuit brought by Alabama abortion providers and their supporters. Davis is being represented by Jonathan Mitchell, a prominent anti-abortion attorney and architect of the Texas law that permits people to sue over suspected illegal abortions. Mitchell, who is also representing another Texas man who is currently suing his ex-wifes friends for allegedly helping her get an abortion, believes current law allows for holding people liable for helping procure out-of-state abortions. Fathers of aborted fetuses can sue for wrongful death in states with abortion bans, even if the abortion occurs out-of-state, Mitchell said in a statement. They can sue anyone who paid for the abortion, anyone who aided or abetted the travel, and anyone involved in the manufacture or distribution of abortion drugs. Molly Duane, a senior staff attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the woman, said abortion foes want to use Daviss filing to sow confusion and terror. It has never been the case that a state can prohibit its citizens from leaving the state. That would be absurd, Duane said. This is a coordinated fear campaign. If they cant prohibit them from traveling, well, then they want to scare them, and make them think that theyre doing something wrong. Since Roe fell, several states, including Colorado, have enacted so-called shield laws to generally protect people from being investigated or prosecuted by states that ban abortion. It is not yet clear what role, if any, Colorados shield law may play in Daviss case. Court records in Daviss case also repeatedly cite the Comstock Act, a 19th-century anti-vice law that, in the eyes of some abortion opponents, bans the mailing of abortion-related materials nationwide. Such an interpretation of the Comstock Act, which the Biden administration disagrees with, would result in a de facto national ban on abortions, because clinics rely on the mail to obtain the drugs and equipment they need to do their jobs. Davis is waiting for a ruling from the state district court, which the Center for Reproductive Rights may in turn appeal. If the case proceeds, Mitchell wants to depose the woman who had the alleged abortion and others connected to it, with questioning about all sources of financial support for the abortion, and to obtain records of any communications with abortion providers and funds. Mitchell has previously asked Texas abortion funds for information about recent abortions that they have assisted or facilitated in any way. Although Duane is steadfast in her belief that Texas law does not prohibit people from helping one another leave the state for abortions, she still fears for the future. Nothing is safe. No one is safe, she said. I cannot guarantee anyone, really, that they wont be pursued for harassing or frivolous legal actions. Jeff Fountain, a journalist by trade, is the founder and director of the The Schuman Centre for European Studies. Originally from New Zealand and now living in Holland, he led Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Europe for 20 years. He also helped create Hope for Europe, an umbrella initiative for evangelical groups on the continent. In a three-part series by Christian Daily International, Fountain shares his perspectives for evangelicals on the spiritual landscape driving Europe, both past, present and future. In this second of three articles, the former YWAM leader explains why Evangelicals need Bible-reading glasses to understand Europe. The gospels deep influence within the formation and politics of modern Europe needs to be better understood and reclaimed by evangelicals. That is the view of Jeff Fountain, director of the Schuman Centre for European Studies, who emphasizes that the Jesus story has shaped the European story. According to Fountain, European history is prejudiced towards nationalistic points of view. Yet historically, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which actually led to the creation of modern Europe. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up It is the coming of the story of Jesus brought by Paul to the Greeks and Romans, and then brought by Patrick to the Irish, and brought by Boniface to the Germans, and so on, said Fountain. The people hearing the gospel in the first millennium basically embraced a Christian understanding and worldview of one good Creator, a forgiving God and a human being created in his image. Human rights rooted in Christian understanding That is why, in Fountains perspective, the gospel value that every human being has dignity should be recognised as forming the background to the European Convention on Human Rights, the international treaty between nations within the Council of Europe, adopted on September 3, 1953. Human rights are totally rooted in a Christian understanding, said Fountain. Without that, there would not have been any concept of human rights because you cannot draw human rights from a godless understanding, a materialistic evolution where only the fittest survive. There's no basis for equality there. There's no basis for the rights of the poor. And so, we've got to recognize that the whole of Europe, the character of Europe, the culture, the values, the story of Europe has been shaped by the gospel. Fountain concedes some very dark chapters in the history of the Church in Europe at times, being a very bad representative of its founder. He sees a paradox in Europe as a continent most shaped by the gospel story at the same time as it rejects the gospel in postmodern society. This is seen in the sequences of some historical events: We get to the Enlightenment, we get to the autonomy of man separated from the creator, and out of this comes deism and then agnosticism, and then atheism. Freedom under God or freedom from God? Amsterdam, where Fountain has lived for many years, represents this paradox of the contrast between the dark and light. Its a city of a thousand contradictions, we often say. And that comes from the tension between two different kinds of freedom. Freedom under God or freedom from God, freedom to do what you ought to do or freedom to do what you want to do. That same tension is felt throughout Europe too, Fountain opines, but even so we cannot really understand Europe without understanding something about Christianity and the Bible. That is a direct quote from evolution biologist Richard Dawkins. That's why we need to tell the story. That's why we need to also insist that actually the lack of biblical knowledge is undermining our European culture. It undermines British culture, it undermines Dutch culture. And just on that basis alone, we should be having Bible courses in our schools and universities, not as evangelistic tools, but to explain: Where did these ideas come from? Where did these values come from? Where did these expressions come from? European literature, for example, draws heavily from the Bible, and so we need to tell that story, according to Fountain. Sitting in a 3D cinema without 3D glasses The problem is that it's like we're sitting in a 3D cinema theater waiting for the film to start. The manager comes in and says, We hope you enjoy the movie. Unfortunately, somebody stole all the 3D glasses, but enjoy the movie. In Fountains view, European leaders in education, politics, and media dont have the glasses on. They are biblically illiterate, he believes, adding: They are spiritually tone deaf, and therefore are giving two-dimensional education and politics and so forth. This leads to a proper challenge for the body of Christ to be able to put the glasses back on to help interpret history again. That means looking at the development of the European Union in a whole different light. Fountain points out this does not mean he says the EU is just a wonderful blessing. There's a battle going on for the soul of Europe. It's a tug of war, and we have abdicated in that battle. We, as evangelical Christians, have too often stood on the sideline. We are captive to a theology that is too small As highlighted in the earlier part of the article series, Fountain has spoken of the difficulty in finding evangelicals thinking about Europe. His surprise is finding that people who did think biblically about Europe came from a part of the church that I was always led to have suspicions about, and that was the Catholic church. Fountain did a research paper interviewing 20 evangelical leaders from different countries, mainly from Western Europe, about evangelical attitudes towards European integration. He also examined the curricular of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education. I could hardly find anything in that area [about Europe]. Now, I think what that says to me is that we evangelicals are very quick to say Jesus is Lord of all but very slow to even teach that to our potential pastors. We dont teach it to our theological seminaries, therefore I dont think we really believe it. Were still captive to a theology thats too small and thats a Lutheran theology of justification by faith, which is necessary. But we miss out on the Calvinistic emphasis of the sovereignty of God over every area of life. Full engagement rather than fear Fountain, in his questioning of evangelical leaders, also saw that the idea of Europe being the beast had become less popular with younger people, despite a boost from literature such as the Tim La Hayes Left Behind series about the End Times. But among the young, [these ideas] are not so popular anymore. They dont have so much traction. There are signs of more engagement: Fountain highlights an upcoming meeting in early May between Christian academics presenting papers at an academic event called Blueprints of Hope in Utrecht, Holland, showing how the Church engaged in Europe at the end of the First World War, with the formation of the League of Nations. People like William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury, were part of this whole process of thinking through what would lead to a just, peaceful Europe. A Europe that would reflect some of the four freedoms that U.S. President Roosevelt talked about. Summarizing the war aims of the U.S. entering the Second World War in his Annual Message to Congress (State of the Union Address) on January 6, 1941, Roosevelt spoke about the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear. Even so, Fountain pinpoints this lack of attention by some evangelicals as being the reason why they currently miss full engagement in the European situation. Theres lots of very good things happening in evangelical circles but we still have some serious blind spots. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS.On 10-11 May 2024 negotiations were held between Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, and Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the Ministers welcomed the progress on delimitation and agreements reached in this regard. The Ministers and their delegations continued discussions on the provisions of the draft bilateral Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The parties agreed to continue negotiations on the open issues where differences still exist. During the course of the visit, the Ministers met with Murat Nurtleu. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, both separately and in a bilateral format. Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has expressed appreciation to the Kazakhstan side for hosting the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. China this week released the recording of an alleged telephone conversation from January during which a high-ranking Philippine naval officer agrees to make concessions to Chinese officials. Yesterday the Philippines national security adviser stressed that such a leak constitutes a violation of Philippine laws. Manila (AsiaNews/Agencies) Tensions remain high between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea. General Eduardo Ano (ret), the Philippines National Security Adviser, called for the expulsion of Chinese diplomats after the release of an alleged phone conversation involving a Philippine naval officer. The Chinese Embassy's repeated acts of engaging in and dissemination of disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation now releasing spurious transcripts or recordings of purported conversations between officials of the host country should not be allowed to pass unsanctioned or without serious penalty, said yesterday General Ano in a statement. The alleged conversation, which ostensibly took place in January, was released this week. In the audio recording, a Chinese diplomat and a high-ranking Philippine naval officer, Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, discuss the dispute in the South China Sea, where Beijing has repeatedly invaded the territorial waters not only of the Philippines, but also of other Southeast Asian countries, to gain control over fisheries and other marine resources. The Philippine military has reportedly agreed to "deescalate tensions in Ayungin," a submerged reef (known internationally as Second Thomas Shoal) part of the Spratly Islands, where a small contingent of Philippine sailors live aboard a warship intentionally grounded in 1999 to further Philippine territorial claims. Today the military outpost is regularly resupplied. Vice Admiral Carlos reportedly promised to limit the number of Philippine ships going to the base and provide advance notice to China. China's Foreign Ministry immediately responded to Ano's statements on Friday, saying they "solemnly demand that the Philippines ensure Chinese diplomats perform their duties normally." Relations between the two countries are likely to remain strained, according to observers, despite promises made in January to improve communications and manage tensions. Since the start of the year, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Chinese Navy have reportedly clashed three times, Philippine authorities said. On several occasions, China has referred to an alleged "secret agreement" with former President Rodrigo Duterte, who was more pro-Chinese than his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Under the alleged agreement, Manila promised not to repair or build facilities at the Second Thomas Shoal, but the Philippine defence minister said he was not aware of any such deal. Don McLain Gill, an analyst and lecturer at De La Salle University in Manila, told Nikkei Asia that if the Philippines does expel Chinese diplomats, China is likely to respond in kind. At present, the issue remains without a real resolution. by Stefano Caprio On several occasions, Putin said that he had no intention of staying in power for life, but the matter was shelved long ago. During the latest presidential inauguration, Patriarch Kirill invoked upon him God's blessing until the end of your existence and until the end of time, as we say. The Patriarch of Moscow Kirill (Gundyayev) hailed President Vladimir Putin during his inauguration-coronation to yet another presidential term, which coincidentally fell close to the anniversary of the Victory over all enemies, wishing him to stay in power until the end of times ( , do skonchaniya veka), words from the liturgy like the Latin in saecula saeculorum. Perhaps the patriarch simply meant a life term for the tsar-president, who has exalted the solemnity of autocracy with carpets and Kremlin fanfares as never before; however, the excessive zeal was so plain to see that the patriarchate's press service removed the sentence from the communique that reported the patriarch's address. The undying blessing resounded on the evening of 7 May in the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Kremlin, the tsars private chapel in front of whose altar stand the splendid series of sacred images of the greatest iconographers in Russian history, Theophanes the Greek and Andrei Rublev, where the president attended the Moleben (), the litany of the patriarch's good wishes. Kirill's prayer called on the whole heavenly host, that the blessing of God, the protection of the Queen of Heaven be with you until the end of your existence and until the end of time, as we say, and I will boldly add that, God willing, the end of the century also means the end of your stay in power, for you have everything you need to successfully carry out your service to the Motherland for a long time. In the communique released by the press service, the sentence was reduced to the "end of existence" of the president, while the eschatological-presidential prophecy was also removed from the Moleben video on YouTube. In any case, Kirill addressed the president with the title of your eminence ( , vashe prevoskhodstvo) as is customary with members of the royal family, praising the great mercy of God that the head of the Russian state is an Orthodox man, who is not ashamed of his faith. According to the patriarch, many Russians see Putin as "a kind, intelligent, and warm-hearted person", and yet, he urged him "not only to be good, but also strict, since the head of state sometimes has to make fateful and formidable (, groznye) decisions", which might be translated as "sensational" or rather "threatening", reiterating the analogy between Putin and Ivan the terrible ( , Ivan Groznyy) or indeed the "threatening". He added that if they (decisions) are not made, the consequences can be extremely dangerous for the people and for the state. But these decisions always involve victims. In addition to the reference to the first 16th century tsar, the patriarchs address mentioned the heroic deeds of Prince Alexander Nevsky, who "did not spare his enemies and became famous as a saint", without any direct reference to the war in Ukraine. At this point, according to the new constitutional rules approved in a decidedly "unorthodox" way in 2020, Putin will be able to rule Russia until 2036, when he will turn 84, if another election is held in 2030. Most rulers in Russian history, princes, tsars, or party secretaries, remained in the saddle until the end of their existence, except for the last emperor, martyr Nicholas II, and general secretary Nikita Khrushchev, who was ousted by Brezhnev and his comrades to restore the Stalinist order. The end of the USSR and the post-Soviet era saw the fateful governments of Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991) and Boris Yeltsin (1992-1999), not to mention the "transitional" presidency of Dmitry Medvedev in 2008-2012, when Putin still ruled as prime minister, thus imitating Tsar Ivan the Terrible who "appointed" other people when he retired to his possessions near Moscow. Putin repeatedly stated in the past that he had no intention of staying in power for life, but this issue has long since been shelved. In fact, the notion of eternity has allowed the Russian president to feel totally in control of history, so much so that the first Ukaz he signed after his coronation was indeed "On the right determination and transmission of history", reducing every expression of historical science to pure propaganda. In all of the countrys schools, the images of the holy princes and the Orthodox tsars must be inculcated starting in kindergartens, even in the fairy tales parents tell their babies to put them to sleep, without neglecting Soviet heroism so often dismissed by Western barbarians, who do not want to give Stalin and Marshal Zhukov all the credit for freeing the world from Hitlers Nazism. This is in fact the great motivation for Victory Day on 9 May, to remember the armies that reached into the heart of Berlin a day after the Germans signed their capitulation to the Allies, without waiting for Russias triumph; for this reason, in the rest of Europe, 8 May is remembered, except in Italy, which marks its liberation on 25 April. In the rest of Europe and the world, this is certainly not a time for military parades in the streets, but rather one to light a candle to remember the millions of fallen, as the "loyal" subjects of Central Asia did this year, whose presidents stood around Putin and his generals looking at the tanks, while cancelling the grotesque parades in their own capitals. On the stage in front of the Lenin's mausoleum, alongside or behind Asian leaders, one could see the faces of some of the most monstrous protagonists of the attacks on Ukraine, that of General Vladislav Volodin for example, who stood next to Putin along with the young president of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdymukhamedov, "guest of honour, his first time in Red Square. Volodin was the commander who stormed Mariupol in March 2022, setting the record for the highest number of civilian casualties, followed by the triumphant Chechen commander Ramil Ibdatullin, who incited his soldiers to mark victory by raping women, setting a good example by personally raping a pregnant girl, who then lost her baby. The day after the parade of horrors, the supreme leader made a gesture to show Russia's "democratic superiority" over the entire world. He put before the Duma Mikhail Mishustin as his candidate for prime minister, already in office since January 2020, the year of the new eschatological constitution that gave lawmakers the power to approve the cabinet. Before that, the president picked the head of government. Today the sovereign addresses the "representatives of the people", because this is how "Orthodox democracy" works: all for one and one for all, in a mystical communion to defend the people from the deviations of minorities, which would drag Holy Russia into dependence on dark powers like in the derelict West. The new-old government will first have to deal with the implementation of the presidents May Decrees ( , Mayskiye ukazy), starting with the broad distribution of the correct version of history. As per tradition, these proclamations on the most solemn day indicate "the national goals of the development of the Russian Federation", in this case "for the period until 2030 and on a broader perspective, until 2036". The Kremlin's godfather promises to raise the minimum wage in Russia from 20,000 to 35,000 rubles (around US$ 380), as well as ensure that by 2030 Russia will rank at least fourth in the world in terms of gross domestic product. He also announced that Russians will not only get richer, but will also live longer, raising the average age to 78 by 2026 and 81 by 2036. Young people must therefore be grateful for the bright future that awaits them, and show it by "taking an ever more active interest in social and voluntary initiatives", naturally seasoning everything with an increasingly thick patriotic sauce dished out in thousands of initiatives in support of the Motherland. After all, everyone will also be rewarded with bigger homes, from 33 square metres in 2030 to 38 square metres in 2036, a promise Putin has been making since 2007 without a square inch being added. The empty rhetoric of the May Decrees echoes the bombastic five-year plans of Soviet memory, with seven main goals and 84 projects to be implemented, plus six major indicators for the new cabinet, including the inclusion of Russia among the 25 most advanced countries in the world in robotisation and the correct use of artificial intelligence", praising its "technological leadership" and its final abolition of poverty. For these providential plans, it is not necessary to set a date since they are now placed in the trust of the kingdom of eternity. RUSSIAN WORLD IS THE ASIANEWS NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO RUSSIA. TO RECEIVE A WEEKLY UPDATE EVERY SATURDAY, CLICK HERE. Hundreds of aid groups and NGOs are calling for help. So far, only US$ 435 million have been raised out of US$ 2.7 billion needed to meet basic needs. The EU is providing 125 million, but, in addition to life-saving assistance, what is really needed is a political solution. Sana'a (AsiaNews) Humanitarian groups have launched an appeal for funding and aid for the people of Yemen, a country at "a crossroads, devastated by war and at risk of catastrophic consequences if no action is taken. In a recent joint statement, 188 organisations, including United Nations agencies, report raising only US$ 435 million of US$ 2.7 billion needed to provide crucial assistance. This is reflected on the ground where, despite a lull in the fighting, food and water remain in short supply and serious diseases are a constant threat. For the humanitarian NGOs, funding shortfalls constitute "a challenge" to "humanitarian programming" and is causing delays, reductions and suspensions of lifesaving assistance programmes." At least 18.2 million people are affected by the emergency, a number that represents more than half of the population, in extreme need after nine years of war. Fighting broke out in Yemen in 2014 pitting pro-Iranian Houthi rebels against the Saudi-backed government. This eventually morphed into open warfare following Saudi Arabias decision to directly intervene in March 2015, at the head of an Arab coalition. Since then, almost 400,000 people have died in what the United Nations call the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with some 11,000 children killed or maimed who will suffer the consequences for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic made matters worse, with "devastating" effects on millions of people who remain on the verge of starvation. In fact, more than three million internally displaced live in abject poverty, hungry and vulnerable to disease, not the least cholera. With a shrinking economy, deteriorating public services, low-intensity violence and vulnerabilities related to climate change, the humanitarian situation is still highly critical, as NGOs can attest to. Nursing women, older people and children are particularly vulnerable to rising food shortages. The spread of cholera in this years rainy season and unexploded munitions, which have killed and maimed, are also a source of great concern. As a result, the country and its people are at a crossroads. With a population of 33 million, Yemen is among the poorest and most vulnerable in the world. According to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands of people have died from war as well as lack of food; two out of five children are not in school while 17 million people half of them children lack access to health care. The civilian population has suffered the most, often left to fend for themselves, with few means to meet their basic needs, like water, food, and medicines. Considering the many needs, the European Commission is contributing 125 million (US$ 135 million) in humanitarian aid following the sixth summit on Yemen held in Brussels, chaired by EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic. The money, provided through EU partners, which includes UN agencies and NGOs operating on the ground, will be used to fight malnutrition, make up for health deficiencies, and contribute to demining. While it is little more than a drop in the ocean, it will pursue specific educational projects for children. As the anniversary of a decade of devastating conflict approaches, it is yet again the innocent people of Yemen who continue to pay the most devastating price, lamented Commissioner Janez Lenarcic. Over half of its population continues to suffer the consequences of conflict, an economic collapse, natural hazards and disease outbreaks, he added. The situation calls for a "political solution, which is now more than ever "crucial", as well as life-saving assistance. (Photo: World Food Program USA) Nga mihi ki te hunga e whai ana i to ratou whainga (Greetings to everyone who is pursuing their purpose), The text for this month is 1 Corinthians 1:9-10 (NLT), God will (keep you strong and free from blame), for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into (koinonia) with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. Why? I believe Paul answered earlier in verse 6, (it) confirms that what I told you about Christ is true. Our koinonia with God in Christ and with one another in Christ is the primary witness to the power of the gospel, proving its truth. In saying this, Paul is setting the stage for his critique of the Corinthians internal divisions, appealing to them so that they do not spoil their witness to surrounding peoples. With their petty rivalries and lack of humility, they are diminishing the Good News. Let those with ears to hear There are obvious boundaries to our faith, both theological and ethical boundaries, but they may be wider than many of us care to accept. I have said before and I will never now stop emphasising the fact that unity does not require uniformity nor conformity. I believe the New Testament writers strongly promote the opposite. Diversity is welcome. A diversity held in communal tensionharmony. But lets not run too far with what we think diversity includes. There are obvious boundaries to our faith, both theological and ethical boundaries, but they may be wider than many of us care to accept. You may have heard the terms bounded sets and centred sets. In a very real sense, the Kingdom of God/New Creation is a large set or macro group centred on Jesus as the Messiah. Paul uses Lord Jesus Christ to emphasize this fact. A little like my nans use of my first, middle, and last names to let me know that I was acting, ahem, inappropriately (I used to hear my full name a lot!). Only Paul isnt chastising Jesus, he is using Lord Jesus Christ as the exemplar and giver of his authority to reprimand the Corinthians. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Our faith is centred on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith is centred on the Lord Jesus Christ. Belief in Christ, allegiance to Christ, and bearing the fruit of the Spirit of Christ is the first and last anchor of unity for the global Church. Do you believe and follow the biblical Jesus? OK, youre my sibling in Christ. Paul uses in Christ as shorthand for this. This echoes Johns theology of abiding and resonates with the indigenous worlds deeply spiritual consciousness of our connection with the Creator. All Jesus followers are intimately connected with Him and each other. A holy singularity. One. We are unified because we are centred on Christ, centripetally drawn in by the gravity that Jesus creates. Once the relationship is authentically established it would take an exorbitant amount of effort to break free of it, but it can be done. We get a sense of this in John 15s metaphor of the vine, and earlier in John 14:2 where Jesus promises to create many dwelling places for usa promise already fulfilled by the sending of the Spirit and made real to us in the diverse communities of faith that we call local churches. Again, in Matthew 28:20 and elsewhere, his presence (by the Spirit) with us to the end of the age is the unifying factor enabling ever more disciples to dwell together in Him, so long as we choose to do so. We are also a bounded set in Christ. Always get the latest news by following Christian Daily International on WhatsApp! But we are also a bounded set in Christ. His gravity may hold us, drawing us closer and maturing us into the full stature of Christ, but we must also remain aware of the boundary between who is or is not in. Contrary to the thinking of theological universalism, biblically faithful believers cannot agree that everyone will be granted eternal life automatically. The New Testament is clear on this fact. A conscious decision to believe, follow, and bear evidential fruit is required. Our faith must manifest in our societies as good works. We are called to be a blessing, to bring Gods life into dying spaces and light into hearts and minds darkened by wilful ignorance of Gods goodness. I am not talking about a form of political manipulation or propaganda, but real-world loving, bringing healing to hurting people. Protesting injustice afar is all well and good, so long as in our everyday lives we also do good: live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). Sometimes it is a little too easy to get caught up in condemning distant abuses and too easy to ignore doing local good, especially if it inconveniences us. Agape translated as love loses its potency and it is too easily interpreted in ways the Bible doesnt condone. The boundaries of our faith (in Christ vs in the world) are also well established in Scripture, especially the New Testament. Like other Epistle writers, John (especially in 1 John) encapsulates the entire ethic of God as love (agape)actively benevolent, socially-oriented compassion. The opposite is lust (epithymia)socially destructive selfish desire. The former is evidence of being in Christ, the latter in the world. Therein lies the border of the bounded set that is in-Christ. Agape is captured in te reo Maori (Maori language) by the word aroha (aloha in Hawaiian). Aroha is a better anchored word than the English love. Agape translated as love loses its potency and it is too easily interpreted in ways the Bible doesnt condone. Aroha on the other hand infers a strong social obligation and commitment to others as part of our belonging, dwelling, or abiding together. Drawing from spiritual realities, aroha encapsulates grace, mercy, and loving kindness towards others. It is dynamically equivalent to the Old Testaments (c)hesed and the New Testaments agape and charis. Encouraging unity in the midst of differing perspectives of the Christian life is no easy feat. In the age of democratised information, pastors can no longer guarantee that all of their congregation will agree with their message. Congregants are listening to many other voices as wellmany of them not so healthy. Scale that up to global Christian networks and the complexities multiply. Yet, in important ways things get simpler when working at a metaphorical 30,000ft. There is so much complexity across the board that network leaders are forced to consider what is essential to the faith. As the ancient saying goes, In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity. While the source of the saying is debated, the truth of it remains, and the unity of the global church depends on it. In the paragraphs above, I have laid out what I consider to be essential. Everything else is contextual. That our faith is a contextual faith is the prime reason for its spread across the face of the earth. That our faith is a contextual faith is the prime reason for its spread across the face of the earth, with freedom to be expressed in indigenous forms and meaning emerging from culturally determined realities. It is a missionary faith, ever inviting more people ingenerating new habitations for the Holy Spirit to dwell and Christ followers to abide as they co-create New Creation in their contexts. It is this exciting dynamic that draws me to serve at the intersections of difference within the global Church and to promote World Christianity as a whole. To satisfy my increasing sense of call to focus on World Christianity I have prayerfully felt the need to relinquish my local responsibilities. Therefore, I have tended my resignation from Missions Interlink (NZ) from 31 July 2024. I will continue to lead the Mission Commission (MC) of the World Evangelical Alliance in a 50% capacity and then contract my editorial services to the new Christian Daily International (CDI) online news service. My responsibility with CDI will be as Editor of the Opinions section with the aim of amplifying voices from the growing edges of World Christianity. A diverse variety of voices will find liberty on the CDI platform so long as their experience of God in context exhibits the essentials of our faith. In addition to ensuring that content remains factually correct, biblically faithful, and coherent, my job will be to make sure they also remain charitable in all things. In this I hope to nurture koinonia across the global Church and show that we really can be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. For now, kaua e waiho ma te kupu, ma te arero te aroha; engari ma te mahi, ma te pono (lets not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions), 1 John 3:18. In this way we can best #stayonmission. Arohanui ki a koutou e haere ana ki te ao(love to you all as you go into the world). 11 May 2024 08:30 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more In a significant move towards environmental stewardship, Azerbaijan has designated 2024 as the 'Year of Solidarity for the Green World,' aligning with its strategic vision for sustainable socio-economic development until 2030. One of the nation's five core priorities is now focused on becoming a 'Country of clean environment and green growth,' emphasizing initiatives aimed at enhancing environmental quality, bolstering greenery, and ensuring the responsible management of water resources and sustainable energy. Under this ambitious agenda, regions including liberated Garabagh, Eastern Zangazur, and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic have been designated as green energy zones. Amidst the ongoing restoration and reconstruction efforts in these areas, safeguarding the environment remains paramount, particularly in restoring forests ravaged by decades of enemy vandalism and destruction. Azerbaijan's commitment to environmental conservation extends to combating the rampant vandalism that has plagued its lands for three decades. From forests to national parks and nature reserves, valuable ecosystems have been ravaged, necessitating urgent action to preserve biodiversity and restore ecological balance. Embracing innovative solutions, Azerbaijan is pioneering projects like 'Smart Village' and 'Smart City' to address contemporary ecological challenges. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies, these initiatives aim to optimize energy distribution, streamline waste management, alleviate traffic congestion, and enhance air quality, particularly in the Karabakh region. Taking a crucial step towards green energy transition, Azerbaijan has enlisted the expertise of international consulting firms and companies like TEPSCO from Japan. Collaboratively, they've devised a comprehensive Concept document outlining strategies to harness the abundant renewable energy potential in liberated territories, promoting eco-friendly practices and energy-efficient technologies. Central to this vision is the establishment of Green Energy Zones, where renewable energy production, energy efficiency measures, and adoption of electric vehicles are prioritized. From solar panels adorning rooftops to solar-powered LED streetlights, Azerbaijan is poised to revolutionize energy consumption and waste management, paving the way for a sustainable future. Positioning itself at the forefront of climate action, Azerbaijan champions a circular economy model to maximize resource efficiency and minimize environmental impact. By promoting sustainable production and consumption patterns, the nation aims to meet UN's sustainable development goals while combating climate change and fostering innovation. The successful implementation of Azerbaijan's green initiatives in formerly occupied territories serves as a testament to its commitment to environmental resilience. As Azerbaijan strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35% by 2030 and 40% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels, it underscores its role as a trailblazer in the green energy economy. Beyond symbolic gestures, Azerbaijan's environmental endeavors reflect its unwavering dedication to fostering a greener, healthier future for generations to come. By translating strategic environmental decisions into tangible outcomes, Azerbaijan emerges as a beacon of sustainability, offering a blueprint for global environmental stewardship. Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur stand as veritable powerhouses of renewable energy, boasting a solar energy potential of 7200 megawatts and 2000 megawatts of wind energy. These regions are not only rich in renewable resources but also crucial for Azerbaijan's water supply, contributing approximately 25% of the country's internal water resources, totaling 2 billion 560 million cubic meters annually. Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Zangilan, and Gubadli showcase significant solar energy potential, while wind energy thrives in the mountainous terrains of Lachin and Kalbajar, where rivers like Tartarchay, Bazarchay, and Hekarichay hold immense hydropower potential. President Ilham Aliyev's vision for the entire Karabakh zone to become a 'green energy' hub underscores the strategic importance of harnessing renewable energy sources. Solar and wind energy emerge as central pillars of the 'green energy' concept, leveraging the vast potential of liberated territories to not only meet local energy demands but also facilitate energy transfer to neighboring regions. With solar radiation levels rivaled only by Nakhchivan MR, districts including Zangilan, Jabrayil, Gubadli, and Fuzuli boast an annual solar radiation of 1600-1700 kilowatt-hours per square meter. This translates to a solar energy potential ranging from 3000 to 4000 megawatts, paving the way for precision assessment through the deployment of measuring observation stations. Aghdam, renowned for its abundant sunshine, emerges as a focal point for solar energy utilization, with plans underway for extensive adoption of solar and other renewable energy sources. Meanwhile, the mountainous terrain of Karabakh presents favorable conditions for wind energy, with average annual wind speeds of 7-8 meters per second, reaching up to 10 meters per second in border areas like Kalbajar and Lachin. Preliminary estimates suggest a wind energy potential of up to 500 megawatts, capable of powering over 100,000 households. Collaboration with foreign entities in liberated territories holds strategic significance, fostering economic ties while expediting the comprehensive restoration of regions devastated by Armenian occupation. Furthermore, the presence of thermal water resources in Kalbajar and Shusha opens avenues for exploring their potential for energy generation. These abundant resources pave the way for transformative energy projects in formerly occupied regions, driving forward Azerbaijan's commitment to sustainable development. With meticulous planning and sequential implementation, Azerbaijan is poised to usher in a new era of energy independence and environmental resilience in its liberated territories. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 21:25 (UTC+04:00) Elnur Enveroglu Read more The gradual migration and settlement of Armenians in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan does not cover more than two centuries. During the Khanate period, it is known that Garabagh was one of the well-known corners of Azerbaijan and gained great fame in the world with its historical art and monuments. For example, Shusha was considered the land of Khans (Azerbaijani aristocrats, poets, and noble ones) at that time. The wonderful appearance of Shusha and the buildings belonging to the khans, which echo to the world through the Jidir plain, give reason to say that these were the ancestral lands of the ancient Azerbaijani Turks. Rich in greenery, Khankendi and its surrounding areas were grazing grounds for the horses and sheep of beys (nobles) and khans during the Khanate period. During those times, a small number of Armenians who started moving to Garabagh began to live in those areas, shepherding sheep and lambs and tending horses. However, this does not mean that all Armenians are residents of Garabagh. According to some historical data, it is also reported that they mixed with the local community and assimilated. Resettlement of Armenians from Iran to Russian Empire, 1828, Vladimir Dmitrievich Mashkov With the entry of Soviet Bolshevism into the Caucasus region, the Armenians seemed to get an opportunity and sharpened their appetite for Garabagh again and started territorial claims. Thus, a group of Armenians who took refuge under the umbrella of Soviet Bolshevism began to flock to Azerbaijans Garabagh. The First Garabagh War gave Armenia some opportunities. They started to bring migrants from Syria, Lebanon, and other countries to the occupied territories. Not knowing what would happen in 30 years, the previous government of Armenia in the 90s, which promised them a wonderful future in foreign lands, pushed the people to indulge in crude dreams - and thus time speaks for itself: Azerbaijan is returning to its ancestral lands. It is interesting that even though the Armenians left Garabagh willingly, they are trying to leave a false mark of theirs there. Today, the regions of Garabagh that were once occupied are filled with Armenian churches that were built later. This was a historical falsification attack that only Armenians could do. Thus, monuments built during the Armenian occupation are in no way an object of cultural heritage. Before the occupation of the Lachin region in May 1992, 90 percent of the population of this region of Azerbaijan were Muslim Azerbaijanis and there were no traces of any Armenian churches there. The attempts of the so-called Armenian experts and specialists to shout out to the whole world with information about the destruction of Armenian cultural monuments is just another attempt by the Armenian revanchists to prevent the achievement of reconciliation between the two neighbouring peoples of the South Caucasus. Everything that the Armenian occupation authorities illegally built and Armenianised during the occupation, relocating Armenian migrants from the countries of the Middle East and Armenia to the occupied territories must be dismantled, regardless of the purpose, since the settlement of the occupied territories by illegal migrants is contrary to international law and was carried out in violation of all conventions. Therefore, it is better for Armenian disinformers to keep quiet and shut up so as not to embarrass themselves. --- Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews Deputy Editor-in-Chief; follow him on @ElnurMammadli1 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 10:00 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijans Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev visited on Friday the headquarters of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) in the capital city of Islamabad, during his visit to Pakistan, Azernews reports, citing AZERTAC. Minister Mukhtar Babayev met with COMSATS Executive Director Mohammad Nafees Zakaria and other officials. Mukhtar Babayev planted a tree at the event also attended by Romina Khurshid Alam, Coordinator to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination. The discussions revolved around the COP29, including sustainable development and climate change. Minister Mukhtar Babayev also held discussions with the representatives of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority on the consequences of climate change. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 13:56 (UTC+04:00) Turkiye exported tobacco worth $11,586,000 to Azerbaijan in the first four months of this year, down 22.1% from the corresponding period of 2023, Azernews reports, citing Turkish Exporters' Assembly. In April alone, Azerbaijan imported tobacco worth $3,451,000 from Turkiye, which is 41% more than a year ago. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 09:00 (UTC+04:00) On the occasion of the 101st anniversary of the birth of national leader Heydar Aliyev, events were organized by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Romania and the Association of Friends of Azerbaijan in Romania, the bust of the great leader located in the "Tey" park in Bucharest was visited, wreaths and flowers were placed in front of the monument. Azernews reports, citing Azertag that later the event was continued at the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Romania. First, the participants of the event got acquainted with a rich photo exhibition organized in the lobby of the embassy, which includes various stages of the life of a genius. Speaking at the conference held at the embassy, Azerbaijan's ambassador to Romania, Qudsi Osmanov, spoke about the life and activities of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev and spoke about the results of his courageous policy with his wisdom and statesmanship experience. Noting the exceptional services of Heydar Aliyev in the history of the Azerbaijani people and solving the fateful issues, the ambassador emphasized that his political line was successfully continued by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in foreign policy as well as in all fields. Later, the chairman of the Association of Friends of Azerbaijan in Romania, Vagif Hasanov, spoke about the role of national leader Heydar Aliyev in establishing friendship and cooperation between Azerbaijan and Romania, and quoted the opinions expressed by the heads of state of Romania about the glorious son of the Azerbaijani people. The moderator of the conference, PhD student of Bucharest University, Salatyn Shamilova, mentioned the legacy of Heydar Aliyev and its influence on the education of the young generation, and in this context, the citizens of independent Azerbaijan, who opened their eyes to the world in the 90s of the last century, under the leadership of the victorious Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, won the victory of our state in the 44-day Patriotic War. and touched on ensuring the territorial integrity of our country. At the end of the event, a film dedicated to the life and activities of the world-famous political figure Heydar Aliyev, who dedicated his meaningful life to his people, the strengthening and development of Azerbaijan, was shown, and an outdoor tea party was organized. Employees of the embassies of Azerbaijan and Turkey in Romania, SOCAR Petroleum SA, Association of Friends of Azerbaijan in Romania, and Azerbaijanis living and studying in Romania took part in the ceremony. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 21:43 (UTC+04:00) The 7th Kharibulbul" International Music Festival, co-organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry of Culture, has commenced in Shusha. The festival, celebrating its 35th anniversary, will run until May 13 across the cities of Shusha and Lachin. Shusha is hosting this years event as the Cultural Capital of the Islamic World 2024. Last November, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an Order to host this prestigious event. The festival kicked off with a concert at the Jidir Duzu plain in Shusha, featuring artists and creative groups from ICESCO member countries. This grand cultural gathering also brought together participants from the UAE, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Guinea, Morocco, Uzbekistan, and Turkiye. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 11:15 (UTC+04:00) An event dedicated to the 101st anniversary of the birth of National Leader Heydar Aliyev was held at Heydar Aliyev school-gymnasium No. 20, located in Bishkek, under the organization of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Kyrgyzstan, Azernews reports. The event was attended by employees of the embassy, activists and diaspora members of "Birlik" Azerbaijani diaspora organization, teachers and students of school-gymnasium No. 20. First, bouquets of flowers were arranged in front of the bust of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, and his dear memory was commemorated with a minute of silence. At the beginning of the event, the anthems of both countries were played. The director of the school, Kanikey Alimkulova, who opened the event with an introductory speech, said that they feel proud that the name of the National Leader of the Azerbaijani people, Heydar Aliyev, was given to school-gymnasium number 20. He noted that against the backdrop of the expansion of relations between our countries, the educational institution named after Heydar Aliyev has a great responsibility. The personality of Heydar Aliyev has a very important role and influence in the education and upbringing of students, in the formation of patriotic people. After the opening speech, the participants of the event were shown a documentary film dedicated to Heydar Aliyev called "Azerbaijan is moving forward with great strides". The film was received with great sympathy and the students got a vivid idea of the glorious life path of Heydar Aliyev. Later, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Kyrgyzstan, Latif Gandilov, said that Heydar Aliyev played a very important role in establishing relations between the two brotherly countries. He reminded that Heydar Aliyev was the first among the state officials of Azerbaijan to visit Kyrgyzstan, and speaking at the event dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of "Manas", he said that the language of "Manas" is our common language. The ambassador said that President Ilham Aliyev continues the path of the Great Leader and further develops the relations between our countries. In recent years, the mutual visits of the heads of state, especially the last visit of the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadir Japarov to Azerbaijan in April, and the opening of the statue of Chingiz Aitmatov on Azadlig Avenue, one of the central avenues of Baku, within the framework of the visit, the budget of the Azerbaijan-Kyrgyz investment fund financed by our country has been increased by 4 times. Bringing it to 100 million dollars, the construction of a large 5-star hotel complex by Azerbaijan near Issyk-Kul lake is a clear example of the upward development of our cooperation. According to the instructions of President Ilham Aliyev, the STEAM center equipped in 6 rooms with high-tech equipment for the first time in Kyrgyzstan in school-gymnasium number 20 is an example of his love for children. Speaking about Heydar Aliyev, the ambassador noted that he taught us the secrets of public administration and advised us to treat people with care. In his speeches, Heydar Aliyev always stated that people with high culture and spirituality should work in state affairs, so that they can distinguish bad from good, treason from error. Those people should be at such a level that they can talk with poets, academicians and people like that. Then Kasimaliev Edil, a 9th-grade student of school-gymnasium No. 20, spoke and said that he visited Baku with his school friends at the invitation of President Ilham Aliyev. He said that he was impressed by the beauty of Baku during the visit, that he had great respect and love for the simple and hardworking people of the Azerbaijani people, and shared his good impressions after visiting the Heydar Aliyev Center. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 12:42 (UTC+04:00) Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov congratulated Mikhail Mishustin on his appointment as the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Azernews reports. The Prime Minister noted M. Mishustin's contribution to the strengthening of multifaceted relations between Azerbaijan and Russia based on the traditions of friendship, good neighborliness and mutual respect. Confidence was expressed that the activities of the government led by M. Mishustin will continue to contribute to the establishment of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries and the deepening of strategic partnership. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 14:25 (UTC+04:00) On May 11, a memorandum of cooperation between the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and ICESCO was signed in Shusha, Azernews reports. The memorandum envisages the exchange of experience in the field of culture, science and education, development of new technologies, as well as implementation of joint projects. At the meeting of Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Executive Director of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Anar Alakbarov, and Director General of ICESCO, Salim bin Muhammad Al-Malik, bilateral cooperation and existing relations between ICESCO and the Foundation were discussed. Foundation's President Mehriban Aliyeva's activities and services on rapprochement of civilizations and intercultural dialogue as goodwill ambassador of ICESCO were highlighted. At the meeting, the activities of the Foundation aimed at the development of education and culture, humanitarian projects in Azerbaijan and other countries, and inter-religious rapprochement were noted. It was stated that the signed memorandum will create a foundation for the future success of cooperation. In Shusha, which was chosen as the cultural capital of the Islamic world for 2024, the importance of the works carried out by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in the short term in the direction of the protection and restoration of historical, religious and cultural monuments after the occupation was noted in terms of preserving the cultural and historical heritage. Cooperation with ICESCO was also discussed in this field. Later, Director General of ICESCO Salim bin Muhammad Al-Malik visited the historical and religious monuments in Shusha, where he got acquainted with the facts about the Armenian vandalism committed during the occupation. It should be noted that since 1991, Azerbaijan has been a member of ICESCO, a prestigious international cultural and humanitarian organization, in which more than 50 Muslim countries are represented. These relations, which were established in 1991, were further expanded when Mehriban Aliyeva, the president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, was awarded the title of goodwill ambassador of ICESCO on November 24, 2006. The organization actively participates in a number of international events held in Azerbaijan. At the same time, effective cooperation was established between the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and ISESCO, headed by the First Lady. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 16:06 (UTC+04:00) The Azerbaijani Embassy in the USA arranged an event to mark the 101st anniversary of National Leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev, Azernews reports, citing AZERTAC. The embassy staff, as well as representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora living in the country attended the event. The event participants first honored memory of National Leader Heydar Aliyev by observing a minute of silence. Addressing the event, Azerbaijani Ambassador to the US Khazar Ibrahim highlighted the difficult and tumultuous path, as well as struggles of Heydar Aliyev during the extremely complicated periods of Azerbaijan's history. Noting that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the diplomat emphasized that the Foundation supports the education for the Azerbaijani youth and their participation in international competitions. Azerbaijani Military Attache to the US Rustam Gozalov informed the participants about National Leader Heydar Aliyevs outstanding role and tireless efforts in the preservation and strengthening of Azerbaijans independent and sovereign statehood, as well as emphasized his exceptional services in the field of army building. The event also featured the screening of a video made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan highlighting the foreign policy activities of National Leader Heydar Aliyev. The participants then viewed a photo exhibition depicting National Leader Heydar Aliyevs official and working visits to the US. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 17:33 (UTC+04:00) Fatima Latifova Read more The end of the Garabagh conflict was a real turning point for the entire Caucasus region. The start of the Great Return to the liberated territories already indicates great confidence and prospects for the future. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva participated in the inauguration of the first residential complex in Shusha and met the first residents who moved to the city. Note that, at one time Shusha and other Garabagh regions were once under Armenian occupation. As a result of the greatest challenge of the glorious Azerbaijani army and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, residents of Shusha are returning to their homeland today. In 2020, the foundation of a new era was laid in the history of Azerbaijan. Addressing the Azerbaijani nation on November 8 of the same year, President Ilham Aliyev said that Shusha would revive again, and regain its former beauty and grandeur. Today, restoration and repair works are being carried out in Shusha, roads are being built, and many infrastructure projects are being implemented. It should be noted that 2.2 billion manats were allocated for these purposes in the 2021 state budget. Undoubtedly, Azerbaijanis who have been separated from their homeland for many years are also happy to return to Garabagh and express their gratitude to the president and Azerbaijans triumphant army. It should be noted that the works carried out in Garabagh are not only related to restoration and construction. The ancient lands of Azerbaijan attract the interest of many countries, where many projects in the fields of green energy, education, agriculture, and culture are presented and implemented. Thus, to create electric power infrastructure in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan in 2021, a supply agreement in the field of mutual cooperation was signed between "Azerenerji" OJSC and the Italian company "Ansaldo Energia". According to the contract, the Italian company will provide equipment for four 110 kilovolt substations to be built in Agdam, Fuzuli, Kalbajar and Gubadli regions. According to the memorandum of "Cultural and Scientific Cooperation" signed between the "GOSB" technology park, which supports 130 technology companies operating in Turkiye, and the Azerbaijan Innovation Agency, a High Technologies Park is being created in Garabagh. The support shown by Western countries, especially Great Britain, to the demining issue in Garabagh is also undeniable. As a result of nearly 30 years of Armenian occupation, Azerbaijan is facing huge challenges such as mines and explosive remnants of war. Azerbaijan is among the countries most polluted by mines in the world. There are 1.5 million mines and explosive remnants in the country. It covers 12 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan. This poses a serious risk to civilians and hinders socio-economic development. It should be noted that from the end of the war in 2020 to April 27 of this year, 212 cases of mine explosions occurred, as a result of which 356 people, including children and women, became victims of these explosions. These incidents show that there is an urgent need to clear the areas of mines and provide assistance to the victims. In total, the number of mine victims in Azerbaijan during the last 30 years is 3435. The hard work and effort of Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) employees in this field are very important. It should be remembered that last year, ANAMA, the European Union, and UNDP launched a demining project to help save lives and enable internally displaced persons to return home. The project covered 20 villages and had 33,604 families as direct beneficiaries. The project also established the first female teams in Azerbaijan to carry out demining operations, which is traditionally considered a male occupation. Eighteen wholehearted and strong Azerbaijani female deminers received their accreditation certificates successfully. Through the theoretical and practical training, the teams of female deminers acquired the foundational knowledge, necessary skills, and the required code of conduct to recognize, detect, and mark mines and unexplosive ordnance, and to provide first aid. The training series was conducted by the international experts of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) non-governmental organization. All these processes show that Garabagh is the center of attention of the countries of the world in addition to Azerbaijan. The processes listed above are a very small part of the steps towards reconstruction and development. Undoubtedly, today Azerbaijan takes a leading position in the South Caucasus with its peace-oriented steps, projects, and global cooperation. Baku also strives to completely end the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict, as well as to promote the peace process that only promises the safest future for the South Caucasus. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Support Us Your Support will ensure EPWs financial viability and sustainability. The EPW produces independent and public-spirited scholarship and analyses of contemporary affairs every week. EPW is one of the few publications that keep alive the spirit of intellectual inquiry in the Indian media. Often described as a publication with a social conscience, EPW has never shied away from taking strong editorial positions. Our publication is free from political pressure, or commercial interests. Our editorial independence is our pride. We rely on your support to continue the endeavour of highlighting the challenges faced by the disadvantaged, writings from the margins, and scholarship on the most pertinent issues that concern contemporary Indian society. Every contribution is valuable for our future. 11 May 2024 16:11 (UTC+04:00) On May 10-11, talks were held between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Azernews reports. The ministers welcomed the progress on delimitation and the agreements reached in this regard. The ministers and their delegations continued the discussion of the provisions of the draft "Bilateral Agreement on the establishment of peace and interstate relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia". The parties agreed to continue negotiations on the outstanding issues on which there are still differences of opinion. Within the framework of the visit, the ministers met with the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan - Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu separately in a bilateral, including a tripartite format. Minister Jeyhun Bayramov expressed his gratitude to Kazakhstan for hosting the talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 08:00 (UTC+04:00) Turkiye and the United States need to adopt a "strategic approach" to address their differences for enhancing bilateral relations, Ankara's Ambassador to Washington has said, addressing the 39th American-Turkish Conference in Washington. "In spite of progressive development of our economic relations and steps towards structured political dialogue within the context of strategic mechanism, there is still room for improvement in various contentious issues in our bilateral relations," Sedat Onal said on Friday, the second day of the conference. The two-day conference is the premier venue for US and Turkish business leaders to engage in commercial diplomacy, and it showcases bilateral ties and collaboration across third-country markets in strategic sectors. "In order to address our differences in an effective and result-oriented manner, we need to adopt a strategic, rather than transactional approach," Onal told the attendees. Increased cooperation between the two countries could also help expand security, stability and prosperity in various regions, while also contributing to the fulfilment of sustainable development goals, he added. "Agreeing to disagree and meeting at the lowest common denominator could not and should not be sufficient for strategic allies," he stressed. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 22:10 (UTC+04:00) At least 267 people have been killed by flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains in Kenya since mid-March, Xinhua reported citing the government said on Friday, Azernews reports. According to the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, 188 people have been injured and 75 are missing. In addition, 281,835 people have been displaced, and 380,573 have been affected by persistent heavy rains and flooding. Hefty rains have been pounding several parts of the country, exacerbated by the 2023-24 El Nino climate phenomenon, highlighting the urgent need for humanitarian assistance. Nearly 10,000 livestock have been lost. Over 41,000 acres of cropland and dozens of roads have been damaged. Nearly 900 businesses and 2,000 schools along with water sources and health facilities have been damaged in 11 out of 42 counties affected by the floods, according to authorities and the Kenya Red Cross Society. According to the ministry, 30 public health officials have been deployed to assess the risk in all 167 internally displaced camps and evaluate nutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene points. The government has announced a package worth 7.5 million U.S. dollars to rehabilitate schools affected by the floods before they reopen on May 13. Heavy rainfall is forecasted to persist, possibly with decreased intensities, according to the Kenya Meteorological Department. Kenyan officials and humanitarian agencies have called on the population to avoid flooded areas, move to higher ground and avoid driving during heavy rain. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 21:56 (UTC+04:00) Tigran Urikhanyan, a former member of the Armenian parliament, leader of the Alliance party, was detained in Russia at the request of the Armenian side, Azernews reports. Previously, Urikhanyan was elected to the Yerevan Council of Elders. Then his powers were terminated, because in September 2023, a criminal case was opened against him under the article of calling for the violent overthrow of the constitutional structure in the country. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 19:40 (UTC+04:00) The fire that broke out in the administrative building of the Saint-Alban nuclear power plant (NPP) operating in the Isere department of France has been extinguished, according to the local firefighting service, Azernews reports. The fire occurred outside the nuclear zone, that is, in one of the offices of the administrative building. Meanwhile, in February, a fire broke out at the Chinon nuclear power plant in the center of France. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2024 20:45 (UTC+04:00) The Japanese authorities intend to destroy a large volume of previously purchased COVID-19 drugs totaling about 300 billion yen (1.93 billion), Azernews reports. These are drugs Xocova manufactured by Shionogi, Lagevrio manufactured by Merck, as well as Paxlovid tablets from Pfizer. These drugs would be enough for 5.6 million people. Most of the drugs remained unused and must be disposed of. Prior to this, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca began revoking approvals for the sale and use of its COVID-19 vaccine around the world amid a legal battle with victims of a rare side effect that it causes. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Rarely Documented on Oregon Coast: Baby Gray Whale Killed by Orcas Revives Tribal Tradition Published 5/10/24 at 3:55 p.m. By Andre' Hagestedt, Oregon Coast Beach Connection (Bandon, Oregon) Experts have assumed it's been going on for decades: a certain set of transient orcas (ones that don't regularly live off these waters) have been coming through in the spring and hunting baby gray whales. However, it was rarely seen and cases of them washing up dead after such attacks weren't really documented. (Photo Jim Rice, MMSN) Now, for the second time it's been thoroughly documented, a baby gray whale washed up at Bandon this week with all the signs of being hunted down by orcas. The incident created a happy ending for some local tribal members, however. The whale came ashore at night around May 26, with plenty of bite marks. Jim Rice, head of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, drove from Newport down to Bandon to examine it. He confirmed to Oregon Coast beach Connection: Yes - its a gray whale calf that recently died due to killer whale predation, Rice said. See the full story as it happened, including list of recent orca sightings Baby Gray Whale at Bandon Confirmed Killed by Orcas, Rarely Documented on Oregon Coast - No doubt now that orca season is in full swing Last year had a similar incident, where what is apparently the first time such a calf kill was documented (at least publicly), when a baby gray came ashore around Otter Rock near Depoe Bay. Photo Jim Rice, Marine Mammal Stranding Network That incident marked a startling first: numerous witnesses saw and filmed a pod of this special branch of transient orcas attacking a mother gray and that calf. The calf was eventually killed after hours of epic fighting on the mother's part. Dozens Watch and Document Orcas Attack, Kill Baby Whale on Oregon Coast: More Videos What was also revealed to the general public which disturbed many was that orcas don't always eat what they kill. Orcas often only consume a small amount of each carcass theyve killed, Rice said. Photo Jim Rice, Marine Mammal Stranding Network Many times, they're doing practice runs or teaching their young how to hunt. The baby calf in Bandon did go to good use, however, as the southern Oregon coast Coquille tribe was able to utilize it for a thousands-of-years-long tradition. Coquille Tribal culture holds that this is a blessing from the creator, and in a ceremony the tribe has not performed in some time, they ensured the blubber and bones would not go to waste. Oregon Coast Hotels in this area - South Coast Hotels - Oregon Coast Vacation Rentals - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours MORE PHOTOS BELOW Photo Jim Rice, Marine Mammal Stranding Network More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast. LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on Oregon Coast Beach Connection All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright Oregon Coast Beach Connection. Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted Unusually Heavy Solar Storm Good for Aurora Along Washington Coast, Possibly Oregon Published 5/10/24 at 6:15 p.m. By Andre' Hagestedt, Oregon Coast Beach Connection (Westport, Washington) The farther north you go, your chances of seeing the Northern Lights tonight and Saturday greatly improve, but Washington's coastline and quite possibly Oregon's coast should see a good glow in the skies. (Photo Spokane, courtesy Spokane office of National Weather Service, taken last year) Experts are saying the chances seem to be improving in this area, although for Oregon it may well mean you won't see it with the naked eye. Those with the right photographic skills and equipment have a much better chance. The forecast continues to depict a chance to view the aurora across all of northwest Oregon and southwest Washington, generally improving with northward extent, said the National Weather Service (NWS) in Portland. The best place to view the aurora will be a darker location away from the city lights, with a clear view of the northern sky. Coverage maps of the solar activity show the upper half of Washington in the thick of it. However, cloud cover is increasing in those coastal areas. Forecasts are clear for inland areas, so those from Seattle or Tacoma have the odds stacked in their favor. On the Oregon coast and most of Oregon, skies are looking quite clear. Already, the southern hemisphere got an extraordinary show today from what is an unusually strong solar storm, which came from some super-sized coronal mass ejections (CME) on the sun. More: Huge Sunspot / CME's May Bring Northern Lights to Washington, Oregon Coastlines Jim Todd, astronomy expert from Portland's OMSI, said things are looking up for the region. Predictions indicates KP index will be near 8 for Friday and Saturday, Todd told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. This means moderate chance of aurora sightings for Oregon and Washington (Kp index of 6 or higher). Keep in mind, the strongest levels could be during the day, so timing and strength determines the night time visibility. Todd said your best bets for those living in Oregon (Portland, Salem, Eugene, Newport, Bandon, Seaside, etc) are to take a digital camera that is a DSLR or advanced smartphone, mount it on a tripod, and then snap 3 to 5 seconds exposures looking northward. Those in bigger cities must get out into darker skies. If the picture shows some shades of green to red curtain-like images, chances are the auroras are active. Sometimes the auroras low and faint above the northern horizon, not visible to the naked eye. Auroras can last for few minutes or few hours. Move away from city lights and find clear northern horizon to improve your chances to see the northern lights. The super-charged particles from the sun are among the highest in years, and it's possible some parts of the world may experience electrical difficulties. Also see Space Station Will Put On A Show in May Above Oregon, Washington, Coastlines - ISS is going to have some pretty decent flyovers NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) said the first of the six CMEs hurled at Earth are coming from giant sunspot called AR3664. They are just now starting to hit our planet (May 10), and they've been an outstanding show with the aurora borealis. The number of CMEs heading for Earth keeps increasing, Todd said. The total is now six following this morning's X3.9-class flare from giant sunspot AR3664. According to a NOAA forecast model, the first three CMEs could merge to form a 'Cannibal CME.' Cannibal CMEs form when fast-moving CMEs overtake and gobble up slower CMEs in front of them. Internal shock waves created by such CME collisions do a good job sparking geomagnetic storms when they strike Earth's magnetic field. Where to go for Northern Lights? If you're in Eugene, Salem, Corvallis, Portland or Vancouver, get a ways out of town. Suggestions for the Coast: hit higher vantage points that have a clear shot downwards to the north, like Anderson's Viewpoint near Oceanside, Bandon's Face Rock Viewpoint, Cape Blanco (Port Orford), the gravel pullout just north of Neahkahnie (Manzanita) or the high pullout just south of Yachats. On the Washington coast, the majority is flat, so hit just about any beach that is clear to the north will work. MORE AURORA PHOTOS BELOW Oregon Coast Hotels for this event - South Coast Hotels - Oregon Coast Vacation Rentals - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours MORE PHOTOS BELOW Photos Oregon Coast Beach Connection More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast. LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on Oregon Coast Beach Connection All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright Oregon Coast Beach Connection. Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted Commentary: We obviously have a "person" in the White House who does not know how to fight and win a war. Hint: You don't give aid and encouragement to the enemy when you have thousands of your forces in the gunsites of the enemy. Even if you are not going to support what an ally is going to do, you don't argue the case on TV. How much of this stupidity are we going to take coming out of the White House? Here's the backstory from the Epoch Times: News that President Joe Bidens administration has paused a delivery of high-payload bombs and could withhold more weapons for Israel sparked outrage on Capitol Hill on May 9 among Republican senators. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed at a May 8 Senate hearing that the Biden administration had delayed delivery of a shipment of high-payload munitions to Israel, and said the administration was considering the risks that certain weapons could create a lot of collateral damage. Hours later, President Biden told CNN that civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of Israels use of 2,000-pound bombs. The president went on to reiterate his opposition to a large-scale Israeli combat operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, stating, If they go into Rafah, Im not supplying the weapons. Its outrageous, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told NTD News. Im sure Hamas is probably very happy with him. And it encourages them and actually makes it less likely that theyre going to do what needs to happen, which is surrender. Mr. Rubio, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and also sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said there could be a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if Hamas surrenders, lays down its arms, and hands over hostages they took on Oct. 7. I think when they hear news like that, and then they see these freaks out here on the streets calling for Israels destruction as well, it encourages them to keep fighting, to hang on and to not give an inch, whether its in negotiations, or in their continued use of human shields, where these cowards hide in tunnels while people die above them, the Florida Republican continued. Biden: Im Not Supplying the Weapons If Israel Invades Rafah 5/8/2024 Mr. Rubio suggested the decision to pause the delivery of certain munitions to Israel is to appeal to an element of his base that wantswants Israel destroyed and is pro-Hamas. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) also called the decision to pause some munitions deliveries ridiculous. The Alabama Republican said he has been entirely supportive of Israel since the beginning of the war, but said public opinion appears to be shifting against the effort. Everything kind of started to turn around on Israel, thinking that they, theyre the culprits here. The culprit was Hamas. Theyre the one that went in and killed several 1000 people in Israel and Ive been all behind Israel, not getting revenge, but taking back what iswhat is rightly theirs, Mr. Tuberville told NTD News. By Rev. Mark H. Creech Christian Action League May 10, 2024 Philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat, the late Michael Novak said nearly 50 years ago, We live in curious times. Choosing to have a family used to be routine. But so many, so varied and so aggressive are anti-family sentiments in our society today that choosing to have a family has become an act of courage. To love family life is to be marked today as a heretic. Novaks statement is no longer a curious matter but a deeply entrenched reality. The pinnacle of Gods creative endeavors was the creation of humankind. The framework God established for humanity to naturally flourish was a permanent union between husband and wife. The fathers role is crucial for sowing the seed and perpetuating humanity, while the mother nurtures the seed, births, and tenderly cares for the child. While the role of fathers is incredibly significant, the mothers role remains foundational to the structure of society. She is akin to a load-bearing pillar in a building. If the pillar is weak, the structure is at risk. Should the pillar fail, the entire edifice will collapse. Bad Moms is a 2016 comedy film directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The story centers on Amy Mitchell, a mother portrayed by Mila Kunis, who feels overworked, underappreciated, and as though shes missing out on life. Accompanying her are two other stressed-out mothers, played by Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Bell. Together, they decide to rebel against their conventional responsibilities, embarking on a riotous journey of self-indulgence and supposed self-discovery. If Aristotles poetics is true that art imitates life, then the movie, Bad Moms is not so funny. Instead, it suggests were living in a sad and tragic day for the institution of motherhood. Several of Americas most esteemed Presidents underscored the vital role of mothers to the nation. George Washington, revered as the father of our country, credited all his success to the moral and intellectual education imparted by his mother, whom he regarded as the most beautiful woman he ever saw. Abraham Lincoln famously declared, All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother. Ronald Reagan frequently spoke about the spiritual and moral guidance he received from his mother, emphasizing that everything happens for a purpose and is part of Gods plan. Barack Obama also celebrated the foundational role of mothers in families and communities, lauding their generous love, patient counsel, and lifelong support. However, it was Theodore Roosevelt who perhaps most poignantly captured the essence of motherhoods importance, stating, The mother is the one supreme asset of national life; she is more important by far than the successful statesman, businessman, artist, or scientist. Could it be said that in many respects the hope of this nation lies in a revival of traditional motherhood? Opinions on family roles are more than diverse these days. Some would argue that focusing solely on traditional roles doesnt capture the complexities of todays economic and social realities, which often require various family structures such as dual-income households and single-parent families. Recognizing the evolving roles of all caregivers including dads and non-parental guardians is argued to be crucial for meeting the broader needs of a modern nation. Moreover, debates around this subject typically intersect with even broader issues of gender roles, economic opportunities, and social support systems. Advocates for these more expansive viewpoints would argue the strength of society lies in policies and cultural attitudes that support varied and so-called inclusive forms of parenthood and family structures, ensuring access to essential resources like childcare, healthcare, education, and equal recognition. However, it seems truer that support for these kinds of changes has actually moved us further away from a time when family life was widely seen as successful, to today, when family dynamics are seriously struggling, and even on the skids. Although motherhood is constantly under substantial pressure to adapt to contemporary changes, the fact remains that the essence of the role necessarily remains constant. Motherhood is timeless. It transcends times boundaries not only because it is biologically essential for human continuation but also because of the profound influence mothers have on social structures, individual development, and cultural legacies. Without great mothers, there can be no great country. This is not an exaggeration of the importance of mothers. Great mothers lay the psychological and moral foundations upon which future leaders are built, nurturing the qualities that define successful societies. It is through their everyday acts of instruction, love, dedication, and sacrifice that the values central to a nations character are passed down through the generations, proving indispensable to national prosperity and cohesion. What makes a great mother? George Sweeting, the former chancellor of Moody Bible Institute, suggests that Mary, the mother of Jesus, set the standard for the role of mother. She was chosen by God to be the mother of the Son of God, notably because of her sexual purity, contends Sweeting. She was marked by her virginity. Scripture clearly states that before the birth of Christ, she and Joseph, her betrothed husband, had never been together sexually (Luke 1:34-37). This is not to say a woman who has committed sexual immorality is thenceforth disqualified from being a good mother. However, sexual impurity, has led to the birth of countless children who had to grow up in impoverished circumstances, and millions of which tragically died at the hands of the abortionists knife. God designed sexual relations to fortify the union between married couples a man and a woman and to enrich them with the unparalleled gift of children. Bearing children is the most sacred of lifes privileges, and therefore, it requires treating it with the utmost care and reverence. This sacred duty demands sexual activity be reserved for marriage only. The issue of abortion would not only be significantly reduced but nearly ended if society adhered to the divine principles of marriage and purity. Second, Sweeting says Mary exemplified submission. When an angel revealed she would give birth to the Messiah, her response was one of humble acceptance: I am the Lords servant. May everything you have said about me come true (Luke 1:38). Despite the potential personal costs, including the risk of being rejected by her betrothed husband, Joseph, for suspected adultery, and facing tremendous societal shame for her pregnancy, Marys commitment was one of faith. Her readiness to embrace the Lords plan, regardless of the implications for her own life, underscores her profound submission to Gods will. Marys example highlights the desperate need for modern women and mothers, who seemingly are in the worst of circumstances, to have faith, courage, and resilience. Additionally, Sweeting says Mary was well-acquainted with the Scriptures. Her lifes worldview was based on the Bible. In Luke 1:46-49, Mary expressed her joy and gratitude to God through a song of praise often referred to as the Magnificat. It is a remarkably beautiful passage of praise and adoration by Mary offered to God and based on passages from I Samuel, the Psalms, Micah, and Exodus. There is no specific statistic readily available that shows how many women today have a good working knowledge of whats in the Bible, but its probably safe to say the number is infinitesimal. Finally, Mary was an industrious woman, argues Sweeting. Mary wasnt afraid of hard work. In Proverbs 31:10-31, the Bible describes the inestimable value of an industrious woman. This Scripture extols the virtues of a woman who is diligent in managing her household, contributing to her familys welfare, and performing acts of kindness and charity toward her neighbors. Allow me to add one more quality, which is key to finding the necessary grace and empowerment for the four previously mentioned qualities. A mother needs to have the Lord in her heart. A mother burdened by the guilt of sin will find herself handicapped from inculcating what is most important in her childrens lives. She must experience life with a clear conscience and practice the freedom that comes from salvation through Jesus Christ. This spiritual liberation and the Spirit of God entered into her heart allows her to lead her children toward a life filled with purpose, meaning, and success with God ultimately to entry into Gods kingdom. A wise mother earnestly seeks this not only for herself but also for her entire family. Most anyone honest and thoughtful will acknowledge that a revival of traditional motherhood in America would be profoundly affirmative for the country. Yet, how might we get back to it? We need a movement toward this end. Perhaps a few suggestions might inspire and promote this needed cultural shift. Churches, specially formed non-profits, and womens groups, that accept the Bibles teaching on family could consider developing educational materials and campaigns that emphasize the value and superior benefits of traditional motherhood. This might involve workshops, seminars, and conferences that provide training and resources that focus on homemaking and child-rearing from a strong Christian worldview. Public policy initiatives that support stay-at-home Moms could prove helpful. This might include lobbying for proposed legislative measures that would provide tax benefits, subsidies, and other financial supports to help make it economically feasible for a mother to remain at home if she chooses. It could also include advocacy for workplace flexibility, allowing women in the workforce to maintain necessary careers and do so in a manner that assists in their primary role as caregivers for their children. This might comprise part-time work, telecommuting options, or flexible hours that accommodate the needs of families. Building communities that support and network for stay-at-home mothers. Homeschooling has had much success building these kinds of communities so that parents can teach their children at home rather than send them to public schools. Motherhood communities could offer emotional support, practical help, and a sense of belonging, which would be vital for sustaining choices to practice traditional motherhood. Raising attention through the media, especially social media and social media influencers, which focus on the positives regarding traditional motherhood could significantly help shift cultural perceptions and values. Organize local festivals or family days that celebrate traditional family values with activities for children and sessions for parents. Such events help to normalize and reinforce the value of traditional motherhood within the community. Invite people to be a part of these special events through the media and friendly word-of-mouth contacts. Think of the positively charged impact of restoring much of Americas lost greatness through reviving biblical motherhood. However, starting a movement of this nature would require a long-term outlook and commitment. Success in such an endeavor would be dependent on sustained efforts to gradually redirect culturally misguided attitudes and practices. Participants would have to take the long view, recognizing that meaningful change typically unfolds after generations rather than a short time. Nevertheless, the adage is as true as ever: The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. This image provided by Colorado State Patrol shows a Tesla Model 3 that crashed on May 16, 2022, in Clear Creek County, Colo. The widow of a man who died after his Tesla veered off the road and crashed into a tree while he was using its partially automated driving system in Colorado in 2022 is suing the carmaker, claiming its marketing of the technology is dangerously misleading. AP This image provided by Colorado State Patrol shows a Tesla Model 3 that crashed on May 16, 2022, in Clear Creek County, Colo. The widow of a man who died after his Tesla veered off the road and crashed into a tree while he was using its partially automated driving system in Colorado in 2022 is suing the carmaker, claiming its marketing of the technology is dangerously misleading. AP DENVER The widow of a man who died after his Tesla veered off the road and crashed into a tree while he was using its partially automated driving system is suing the Texas-based automaker, claiming its marketing of the technology is dangerously misleading. The Autopilot system prevented Hans Von Ohain from being able to keep his Model 3 Tesla on a Colorado road in 2022, according to the lawsuit filed May 3 by Nora Bass in state court. Von Ohain died after the car hit a tree and burst into flames, but a passenger was able to escape, the suit says. Von Ohain was intoxicated at the time of the crash, according to a Colorado State Patrol report. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Teslas communications department didnt respond Friday to an email seeking comment. Tesla offers two partially automated systems, Autopilot and a more sophisticated Full Self Driving, but the company says neither can drive itself, despite their names. The lawsuit, which was also filed on behalf of the only child of Von Ohain and Bass, alleges that Tesla, facing financial pressures, released its Autopilot system before it was ready to be used in the real world. It also claims the company has had a reckless disregard for consumer safety and truth, citing a 2016 promotional video. By showcasing a Tesla vehicle navigating traffic without any hands on the steering wheel, Tesla irresponsibly misled consumers into believing that their vehicles possessed capabilities far beyond reality, it said of the video. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Last month, Tesla paid an undisclosed amount of money to settle a separate lawsuit that made similar claims, brought by the family of a Silicon Valley engineer who died in a 2018 crash while using Autopilot. In that crash, Walter Huangs Model X veered out of its lane and began to accelerate before barreling into a concrete barrier at an intersection on a busy highway in Mountain View, California. Evidence indicated Huang was playing a video game on his iPhone when he crashed into the barrier March 23, 2018. But his family claimed Autopilot was promoted in a way that caused vehicle owners to believe they didnt have to remain vigilant while they were behind the wheel. U.S. auto safety regulators in December pressured Tesla into recalling more than 2 million vehicles to fix a defective system thats supposed to make sure drivers pay attention when using Autopilot. Advertisement Article continues below this ad By Peyton Majors Christian Action League May 10, 2024 A bipartisan coalition of North Carolina legislators adopted a new definition of antisemitism this week that supporters said is necessary to combat a wave of hatred against Jewish people that has spread across the nation and the Tar Heel State. By a vote of 105-4, North Carolinas House of Representatives adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances 2016 definition of antisemitism and said it was to be used for training, education, recognizing, and combating antisemitic hate crimes or discrimination and for tracking and reporting antisemitic incidents in this State, according to the bills language. It now goes to the North Carolina Senate. We must take a stand against antisemitism in a bipartisan, bicameral, unified voice, said House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican. Democratic Rep. Abe Jones supported the bill. If there is a chance that our body can say anything about any form of racism, thats a good thing, Jones said. I see in this action by this assembly a positive because were speaking out against one form of racism toward a group of people. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances definition of antisemitism is the following: Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities. Moore emphasized that the bill does not add any criminal penalties to current law. In fact, the North Carolina bill explicitly states that its text shall not be construed to diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or the Constitution of North Carolina. One of the bills purposes, Moore said, is that the definition may help prosecutors or judges who are dealing with hate crimes. Weve seen in recent weeks, just ridiculous conduct by some [people] engaging in hate speech, engaging in physical assaults, engaging in vandalism [and] other criminal acts simply targeting Jewish folks because of their faith, targeting Americans who happen to be Jewish, Moore said. While we need to strengthen the protections against ethnic intimidation in these acts, we also know we need to balance that with the First Amendment right to peacefully and lawfully protest. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances definition of antisemitism has been adopted by various NGOs around the globe and by a majority of U.S. states, Moore said. The bill also said contemporary examples of antisemitism listed by the Alliance would be antisemitic in North Carolina. Among them: Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion. Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions. Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews. Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust. Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations. Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel. Moore mentioned the now-infamous moment in late April when a group of protesters on the University of North Carolina campus replaced the American flag with the Palestinian flag. Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts was spat upon and had water thrown at him, Moore said. That, my friends, is not what the First Amendment is designed to protect, he said. We live in some times where we are seeing, on a daily basis, members of our community who are being systematically targeted, who are being systematically having acts of violence committed against them, who are having acts of vandalism, acts of intimidation against them because of their religion. That is wrong. Farmers in Poland have occupied parliament in their opposition to the European Union's green agenda and particularly its Green Deal. They are also circulating a petition, which already has 150,000 signatures to force a referendum by Polish voters to reject the EU Green Deal. The farmers point out that the draconian provisions of the Green Deal will not only wreck European agriculture but also European industry. https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/poland-standoff-as-farmers-occupy-parliament-protesting-green-deal/ https://rmx.news/article/farmers-begin-occupation-of-polish-parliament-demand-meeting-with-pm-tusk/ Meanwhile in southern Europe, opposition to the EU green agenda is part of the program of the newly formed coalition government of Croatia. The government is a coalition between the traditional conservative Croatian Democratic Union and the populist / nationalist anti-immigration Homeland Movement. The new government program also opposes illegal immigration and gender ideology and supports strong powers for national governments, rejecting EU overreach. https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/croatia-nationalists-set-out-sovereigntist-programme-after-coalition-deal/ In next door Macedonia (now officially known as North Macedonia to placate Greece) conservative nationalists just won a landslide for president and a dominant position in parliament, and their new government is expected to take positions similar to Croatia on the green agenda and immigration. In the presidential runoff, conservative Dr. Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova of the conservative nationalist VMRO-DPMNE won a blowout over the incumbent Social Democrat president, 69% to 31%. Her party won 58 seats (out of 120) in parliament, compared to just 18 for a coalition led by the Social Democrats. Although there are still three seats elected by Macedonians abroad still to be determined, VMRO-DPMNE is expected to form a coalition with a center-right party representing ethnic Albanians, which won 14 seats. https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/north-macedonia-socialist-government-swept-away-in-sovereigntist-landslide/ Deloitte has applied for planning permission to convert office space at The Ewart in Belfast city centre into a coffee shop Business advisory firm Deloitte has applied for planning permission to convert part of its space in one of Belfasts most desirable offices into a coffee shop. The firm one of the so-called Big Four accountancy practices is moving into new offices at The Ewart at Bedford Square, Bedford Street. The Ewart consists of a refurbished listed building at the historic Ewarts warehouse, with a newly built glass tower behind it. Deloitte has now submitted two planning applications for a change of use from offices to a coffee shop at the ground floor of 17A Bedford Street, which is part of the old warehouse. Deloitte will occupy that building as well as floors in the glass tower. A new coffee shop in Bedford Street could be a welcome addition as existing eatery Harlem may close to make way for a new hotel. Bedford Way submitted a planning application for the 88-bedroom The Dean hotel at 34-44 Bedford Street in March. A spokesperson for Deloitte said: We are excited about our new office space in the restored Ewart building at Bedford Square. In line with many of our Deloitte offices, the plans for the ground floor will include communal areas, cafe facilities, individual and collaboration workspaces, as well as event spaces. While Deloitte has itself submitted the planning applications, its understood it will appoint a separate operator to run the coffee shop. Social enterprise NOW Group, which runs Belfast City Halls Bobbin coffee shop, is understood to be in the running. The Ewart is an example of the higher-end offices which have become more common in Belfast in the past few years as companies give up dated offices in favour of plusher space. And in an era of hybrid working, companies have hoped that having high-end offices will encourage staff to come in. The 85m Ewart, which was built by Co Tyrone construction firm MRP, has set out to draw tenants by offering panoramic views and a top ranking for sustainability. There are also smaller lifestyle additions, such as a heated cubicle for drying wet outdoor clothes, along with showers and lockers. The Ewart involved the renovation of the old linen warehouse and the construction of the 17-storey, 180,000 sq ft tower block connected to the warehouse. Deloitte is taking 80,000 sq ft in total over five floors. Insurance company Axa, recruitment firm MCS Group and wealth manager Evelyn Partners occupy one floor each in the tower, while law firm Tughans has two after relocating from its old premises at Marlborough House. Its understood the building is now 80% occupied, with floors seven to nine still available to rent at 26-27 per square foot. Last year, restaurant Flame announced it was relocating to the The Ewart from its old premises on Howard Street. In January, CBRE NI warned that up to 75% of Belfasts office stock may become obsolete by 2030 due to new energy legislation. NI couple on their adoption journey: 'You have to be 100% committed or its not going to work' Dean Stephen Forde was in his role as the leader of Belfasts St Annes Cathedral for just over a year when he says that one of the two defining moments of his tenure to date took place: the heart-breaking funeral of Lyra McKee. The move has been widely welcomed by the teaching profession The teaching profession in Northern Ireland will no longer be able to discriminate on religious grounds when a new law comes into force this week. Until now teachers had been exempt from fair employment legislation, meaning a teacher could be employed by a school based on religion. Its been over two years since the Fair Employment (School Teachers) Bill was passed at Stormont. On May 12, the law finally comes into operation, meaning it will finally be unlawful to discriminate against teachers in respect of all aspects of the employment, including recruitment and selection for promotion. The move has been widely welcomed by the profession, bringing it into line with the rest of society, with teaching union NASUWT saying its a day to celebrate. The practical effect of this is that until now it was not unlawful to discriminate against someone in an appointment process on the basis of their religious belief, said Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary. Teachers should always have had the same legal protection as other workers. Discrimination is damaging to childrens education and to the wellbeing and careers of teachers. Removing the exemption will support efforts to tackle prejudice and hatred and will help schools to nurture and promote social inclusion. No teacher should be denied the opportunity to teach, or to lead schools, based on their religious belief. The unions national official in Northern Ireland, Justin McCamphill, added: The NASUWT have been campaigning for the removal of the exemption to the Fair Employment and Treatment Order for many years. [On May 12], we will celebrate that teachers are no longer second-class citizens in Northern Ireland and will have the same protections in law as all other employees. Employers have had two years to get their houses in order as regards the employment of teachers, he said. The NASUWT will be paying close attention to the long-standing practice of bringing teachers in without interview by misusing the NISTR register and the chronic level of nepotism in teacher appointments. Dr Matt Milliken, who has led research projects at Ulster Universitys School of Education, said the new law will be a welcome progression for the profession. The Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 outlawed discrimination on the grounds of religious belief and political opinion in a number of settings. Article 71 of the order, however, specifically exempts schoolteachers from employment protection under the legislation, in effect allowing boards of governors to discriminate between candidates on the basis of their faith and community identity. The exception also meant there was no requirement to monitor the community composition of the workforce. There were no official records of the community profile of teachers employed in controlled schools, non-denominational voluntary grammars, integrated schools, Irish medium schools, Catholic-maintained schools and voluntary grammar schools managed under the auspices of the Catholic authorities. This will have a significant impact on addressing this major, unequal treatment of teachers, compared to other areas of work in Northern Ireland, and ensure society values equality of opportunity and that we want our children to be educated by the best teacher not just the best available teacher of a particular faith. Archbishop John McDowell is challenged by members of the Burke family today. Martina and Josiah Burke protest at the Church of Ireland synod in Armagh. A religious conference in Co Armagh was briefly suspended on Saturday after a protest by relatives of the controversial Irish schoolteacher Enoch Burke. The incident happened during the second day of the Church of Ireland synod. Proceedings were halted for 45 minutes after Mr Burkes mother Martina and brother Josiah publicly challenged church leaders. All Ireland primate John McDowell and Bishop of Meath and Kildare Pat Storey were among the attendees at the event at the Armagh City Hotel. The PSNI confirmed officers attended a report of a disturbance but said no criminal offences had been detected. Enoch Burke has been at the centre of a long-running case in the Irish Republic which began two years ago after he refused to use a transgender student's chosen pronouns because of his Christian beliefs. He has since been jailed for repeatedly showing up at Wilson's Hospital School, a Church of Ireland boarding school in Westmeath, after being sacked. Video footage from Saturdays incident shows Martina Burke entering the room with a microphone in hand as Bishop Storey was speaking. She questions Archbishop McDowell directly on why Enoch Burke was suspended from Wilsons Hospital School for upholding the Church of Ireland ethos. Archbishop John McDowell is challenged by members of the Burke family today. The Archbishop immediately suspended business. Josiah Burke is seen unfolding a poster of his brother which states: "Enoch Burke 354 days in prison. As Ms Burke continues to address the room, some delegates can be seen leaving. At one point, one delegate appears to encourage her to leave the room. After several minutes, the Burkes left the room and held a demonstration at the hotel gates for over an hour. A Church of Ireland spokesperson said: Mrs Burke and members of her family entered the meeting of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland in Armagh. The business of the General Synod was suspended and resumed 45 minutes later to conclude the report that had been in progress at the time. A PSNI spokesperson said: Police received a report of a disturbance at a hotel in the Friary Road area of Armagh, shortly before 2.30pm on Saturday May 11. Officers provided advice to a number of people, but no criminal offences were detected. Officers remained in the area at a small peaceful protest, which passed without incident. Red and White carnations were handed out to Mom's during the Mother's Day Mass Sunday morning at the Lourdes Grotto at the Oblate Center. Robin Jerstad Before I understood this Mothers Day custom, I was among the children of St. Maria Goretti on the West Side who wore carnations on our lapels in honor of our mothers. Parishioners packed the chapel, long ago replaced with a parking lot and flea market. Everyone wore the under-appreciated flower. Some red, some white. Advertisement Article continues below this ad It was devastating when I found out the significance. Red meant your mother was still pushing you to get ready for Mass, still asking about your homework, still making a stack of tortillas. White meant your mother was gone, an aching absence that nevertheless allowed you to believe at first light that she could take a call, still looking forward to holding our newest babies. For as complicated and difficult as my relationship was with my mother, for as long as we argued about everything, including my disinclination for curtains, there was so much love. Advertisement Article continues below this ad And now, so much appreciation for the sacrifices she made. When I understood the difference between what each carnation represented, I couldnt stop looking around the church, at the old ushers and ladies wearing black mantillas on their heads and well-worn rosaries wrapped around their wrists. It was understandable that their carnations were white. But the children? It was too much to bear. Id soon experience such loss. We didnt know it yet, but my father had pancreatic cancer that would claim him when I was 12. A Google search shows that the tradition transcends cultures and time. Advertisement Article continues below this ad In the early 2000s, the mens magazine GQ cited a reader from the Deep South whose family followed a tradition of wearing red, pink or white boutonnieres. Men whose mothers have passed away wear white carnations in their lapels, and those with living mothers wear pink or red carnations, the reader wrote. Retired Catholic priest David Garcia recalled his early appointment at Immaculate Conception Church where members of the congregation wore lapel carnations. He estimated the tradition faded about two decades ago. Retired educator and writer J. Gilberto Quezada reached out with his own remembrance. The San Antonio author of the political biography Border Boss: Manuel B. Bravo and Zapata County and the novel Terror on the Border said Mexicans from all parts of that country brought the custom with them to the United States. Advertisement Article continues below this ad It took root for several generations. Quezada grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Laredos Barrio El Azteca. Around the corner, a neighbor operated a small loncheria and store inside his home. It sold taquitos, hamburgers, sandwiches and pan dulce delivered fresh every day. As a boy, Quezadas mother often sent him there for small purchases. One day close to Mothers Day, Quezada spotted red and white carnations behind the glass case. They were 10 cents each. He had a quarter. I asked the clerk about those carnations, then asked for two. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Her question startled him. Is your mother alive or dead? Alive, he answered, stunned by the bluntness. He left with two red carnations and still sounds overwhelmed by his mothers reaction. Over the years, he would follow the tradition, inching up to six red carnations sometimes. Mexico celebrates Mothers Day every May 10, regardless of the day on which it falls. Ill join my friend Martha Tijerina, first lady of U.S. Spanish-language television, at St. Matthews Church to remember our mothers today. For Tijerina, the white carnation is a sad reminder. For many years, she had a Mass said for Our Mothers in Heaven. Tijerina is determined to revive that tradition. I remember one of the first years, there were white carnations for all of us, she said. ELAINE AYALA: The biggest divorce in Texas is between historians Sunday is Mothers Day in the United States. People send loads of flowers to their mothers. Ask a florist. Theyre as busy now as on Valentines Day. People will fill cemeteries with color, too. There are various interpretations of what the colors mean, but I like Father Garcias. Red is a color associated with love and the heart. Its the color of blood and the life pumping through your veins, Garcia said. White is the color of purity. Its the color of birth and death, observed in a childs baptismal clothes and the funeral pall draped over a coffin. The main thing about Mothers Day is that its different than Fathers Day. Lets face it, Garcia said. Thats a connection that nothing can replace. He cited Pope Francis, too. He tells priests to remember what your mother and grandmother told you. Mothers traditionally pass on the faith and devote the most time to their children. My Mom is inside my head all the time, he said. He cant help citing the question people may ask themselves, whatever the holiday, What would Jesus do? A different question pops in his head. What would your mother tell you to do? The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, glow on the horizon at Another Place by Anthony Gormley, Crosby Beach, Liverpool. The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, glow on the horizon at St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast. Photo: PA Island Hill, Comber. Scrabo and Scrabo tower in the background. Photo by Stephen Foster. The Northern Lights over Crom Castle, Co Fermanagh. Photo: Simon Wiggins, Co Fermanagh. Grainne Duggan took this photo in Armagh, with the cathedral spires in the background. Green Party councillor Brian Smyth shared this image of the sky over Crumlin, Co Antrim. Photo: Brian Smyth/Twitter The Northern Lights visible over Banbridge, Co Down. Photo: Kevin Scott These are the stunning images which show the Northern Lights illuminating the night sky and there is another chance to see the dazzling display this evening. The lights, also known as aurora borealis, shone as darkness fell above Northern Ireland yesterday evening. They were visible across most of the UK overnight, also including Scotland, Wales and large parts of England. A meteorologist said the Northern Lights might be visible in northern parts of the UK again on Saturday evening. One picture taken by Belfast Telegraph visuals editor Kevin Scott showed the sky over Banbridge, Co Down, turned green and pink. Simon Wiggins from Co Fermanagh shared a photo of the Northern Lights over Crom Castle. He said: Its probably the best Ive seen yet. Irish weather service Met Eireann posted images of the lights in Dublin and at Shannon Airport in Co Clare. The lights were also spotted in Whitley Bay on the north east coast of England, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Wokingham in Berkshire. They were also spotted in Suffolk, Kent, Hampshire and Liverpool. Grainne Duggan took this photo in Armagh, with the cathedral spires in the background. The visibility of the Northern Lights was increased on Friday because of an "extreme" geomagnetic storm, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said there were sightings "from top to tail across the UK, and predicted further sightings on Saturday evening. Northern Lights in Cookstown taken by Padraig McAlister. He said: "It is hard to fully predict what will happen in the Earth's atmosphere, but there will still be enhanced solar activity tonight, so the lights could be visible again in northern parts of the UK, including Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England." Mr Snell said there were sightings in parts of Europe on Friday night as well, with the Met Office receiving pictures and information from locations including Prague and Barcelona. He advised those hoping to see the lights on Saturday to head to an area with low light pollution and to use a good camera, adding: "The best chance you have of seeing the lights is if you are away from street lights and areas with lots of light pollution, as any type of light does have a big effect." The Northern Lights visible over NI. Photo: Allison Morris "Also, at this time of year, we are fighting the shorter length of nights, so it is unlikely that they will be visible until around 10.30pm or 11 o'clock when it gets really dark." Sightings in southern parts of the UK are less likely on Saturday, although Mr Snell said the lights might be visible through a strong camera lens. Police made an arrest after a Glider worker was threatened with a knife in an abhorrent attack. The man was detained after the reported assault in the Divis Street area of west Belfast on Friday evening. He was later released on bail. The PSNI said: A report was received shortly after 9.30pm that a man who had been travelling on a Glider became aggressive towards a male staff member, before lunging at him with a Stanley knife, and threatening him. The suspect, who is aged in his 60s, was subsequently arrested by police on suspicion of common assault and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place. Police later said the suspect was released on bail to allow for further enquiries. The PSNI continued: Any assault is completely unacceptable, but an attack on a member of staff who is assisting the local community is absolutely abhorrent. Enquiries are continuing and we would appeal to anyone with any information in relation to the assault to contact police on 101, quoting reference number 1857 10/05/24. Luxury department store Fortnum & Mason is among the first organisations to be granted a royal warrant by the Queen, Buckingham Palace has announced. Camilla has appointed seven royal warrant holders which have also received the accolade from the King, including a Cornwall-based sparkling wine producer and Shane Connolly, florist for the couples 2005 wedding and their Westminster Abbey coronation. Companies holding a royal warrant, which is granted for up to five years, are recognised for providing goods or services to the monarchy, and are allowed to use the coat of arms of the royal they are associated with on packaging, as part of advertising or on stationery. The King at the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards (Jeff Spicer/PA) Tom Athron, chief executive of Fortnum & Mason, said the company was honoured to have been granted warrants as grocers and tea and provision merchants by the King and Queen. He added: We are particularly thrilled to have received these grants because of what we believe the warrants stand for. To receive a royal warrant in 2024 requires a rigorous focus on acting for a sustainable future, supporting the countrys rural and farming communities and protecting the arts and heritage crafts. These are all things that are very close to our hearts at Fortnums, and these grants are a hugely welcome recognition of the talents of the many skilled producers, artisans and crafts people who we work with every day to produce our products. The store based in Londons Piccadilly is renowned for its quality food, drinks and gifts, and has a long association with the monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Camilla and the Princess of Wales during a visit to Fortnum and Mason (Leon Neal/PA) It supplied produce to Queen Victoria, the Kings great grandparents George V and Queen Mary were loyal customers, George VI and the Queen Mother granted royal warrants to Fortnum and Queen Elizabeth II did her Christmas shopping at the store. It has even sold honey produced by Camillas bees, kept at her Wiltshire retreat of Raymill, with the funds raised donated to charity. The announcement follows a review of companies granted royal warrants by Charles when he was the Prince of Wales, with 138 again given the special status now he is King, and a further seven named as holders by the monarch and his wife. Among those who have retained warrant status are luxury jewellers Cartier, Garrard & Co and Mappin & Webb, champagne producer Laurent-Perrier, whisky distiller D Johnston & Co and high-end supermarket Waitrose. Camilla is greeted by florist Shane Connolly during a visit to Londons Garden Museum (Yui Mok/PA) Also in the group are fashion house Burberry, Saville Row tailors Anderson and Sheppard and Gieves and Hawkes, shirt makers Turnbull & Asser and car manufacturers Aston Martin Lagonda, Bentley, Audi and Jaguar Land Rover. Camillas list of warrant holders includes London wine merchants Corney & Barrow, chemist DR Harris & Co, stationery and office equipment supplier Frank Smythson and jeweller Wartski. Bob and Annie Lindo, who planted Camel Valley vineyard in Cornwall, in 1989, said: What an honour it is to have been granted new warrants by the King and also the Queen. Her Majesty has taken a keen interest in the development of English wines and as president of Wine GB, which represents the industry, she has been a terrific source of encouragement and enthusiasm. To now have been appointed as one of her first warrant holders is very special. The Queen has thanked nurses and praised their wonderful work on International Nurses Day. Camilla met patients, families, and medical staff involved with Roald Dahls Marvellous Childrens Charity, of which she has been a patron since 2017, at the Royal London Hospital to mark the event on Sunday. Addressing the nurses, she said: Thank you for the wonderful work you do. She also asked them about their roles, how long they had worked for the charity, and their goals, and praised the lovely organisation. Suzannah Goodchild and her foster son, Max, nine, have been supported by Lisa Smith, an epilepsy nurse from the charity. Ms Goodchild is also a charity trustee, and said meeting the Queen meant the absolute world. She told the PA news agency: The visit was a great honour, it was really lovely, and its really fantastic that the profile of the charity is being escalated even higher because the work that these nurses do needs to be shouted from the rooftops. If youve got Her Majesty present whos prepared to listen to us, invest in us, speak to the children, listen to our story and also be interested and empathetic, it means the absolute world. Ms Goodchild said Camilla was interested in her trustee role and asked how long she had been involved with the charity, and added: You could just feel she was really engaged. The Queen meets families helped by Roald Dahls Marvellous Childrens Charity (Aaron Chown/PA) She didnt rush through, she was going to give people the time she felt that she and they needed, and that was just wonderful. The Queen met the nurses, medical staff and patients in the Royal London Hospitals Healing Suite, a room decorated with oversized inflatable toys and games, which is used as a space for patients and their families to play and unwind. She met a four-year-old girl, whose family requested anonymity, who curtsied for the Queen and showed her a stuffed toy she had given to her sister, who is 16 months old and receives care from the charity. The Queen complimented the older sisters necklace and shoes, asked her if she loved her sister, and told her: Im sure youre very, very helpful, youve given her your very special toy. Camilla also spoke to the familys specialist paediatric nurse, Charlotte Duhig, who has cared for the family since December 2023. Camilla shakes hands with TV presenter Alex Jones (Aaron Chown/PA) When Ms Duhig said she had been in the nursing industry for seven years, the Queen replied: Youre much too young. Ms Duhig said meeting the Queen was a privilege and added: The Roald Dahl Charity is brilliant, we get really good support from them, which then filters through to our families and helps us to provide the best care for them. Camilla was joined on her visit by The One Show co-host Alex Jones, a supporter of the charity, who said: I was delighted to be invited to meet some of the Roald Dahl Nurses today, and to find out more about the amazing work they do caring for these children with very complex conditions. International Nurses Day is the perfect time to thank them and celebrate their work. Roald Dahls Marvellous Childrens Charity provides specialist nurses and care for children with complex health conditions. There are more than 150 Roald Dahl nurses supporting more than 36,000 seriously ill children across the UK. The Queen meets members of the air ambulance service during a visit to the Royal London Hospital (Aaron Chown/PA) As part of its Fund a Nurse Appeal, the charity is aiming to raise 1 million to establish more Roald Dahl nurses to care for children with complex medical needs. The Queen became patron of the charity in 2017, when she was Duchess of Cornwall. Each year, she invites families supported by the organisation to Clarence House to decorate the Christmas tree. Louise Griew, chief executive of the charity, confirmed it had been kept on by the Queen in the recent royal patronages review and said she was delighted. She added: Queen Camilla is really passionate about the Roald Dahl nurses and interested in how they help. Its wonderful to have her support. International Nurses Day is celebrated each year on May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingales birth. Roshni Vadher, a healthcare transition nurse specialist who has worked with the charity for two years, said: Its nice to be one, acknowledged on International Nurses Day, and also just to be acknowledged in general, and the Roald Dahl charity is very special. We get to tap into this amazing network of nurses who do a great job in providing direct support to patients, and also to each other. The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, glow on the horizon at St Marys Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast (Owen Humphreys/PA) The Northern Lights has lit up the night sky with rare sightings across the country. The Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, has been spotted in Whitley Bay on the north east coast, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Wokingham in Berkshire. They were also spotted in Suffolk, Kent, Hampshire and Liverpool. The lights glow on the horizon at Another Place by Anthony Gormley, Crosby Beach, Liverpool , Merseyside (Peter Byrne/PA) The sightings have reached as far as Ireland, with the Irish weather service Met Eireann posting images of the lights in Dublin and at Shannon Airport in Co Clare. Kathleen Cunnea, in Great Horkesley, Essex, said: It was absolutely stunning to see. The visibility of the Northern Lights was increased on Friday because of an extreme geomagnetic storm, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The aurora borealis glow on the horizon in Great Horkesley, Essex (Kathleen Cunnea/PA) The NOAA said the G5 geomagnetic storm, which is considered extreme and is the strongest level of geomagnetic storm, hit earth on Thursday and could affect communications, GPS and power grids. The cause of this storm is a large, complex sunspot cluster and is 17 times the diameter of earth, with the last storm with a G5 rating hitting earth in October 2003, causing power outages in Sweden. The NOAA said the lights could be seen as far south as Alabama and southern California in the US. The lights in Basingstoke in Hampshire (Andrew Matthews/PA) Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said on Friday there was a good chance for the Northern Lights to be seen. He said: Although the shorter nights will limit the visibility window, theres a good chance to see the aurora, particularly on Friday night and especially in Scotland, Ireland and parts of northern England and Wales. There could even be visibility further south if you have the right equipment. Handout photo taken with permission from the social media site X, formerly Twitter, posted by @wineismysaviourof the aurora borealis just outside of Warboys in Cambridgeshire (Jan Ellis Huntingdon/PA) Those conditions could continue on Saturday night but we still have to work out some details on where exactly that will be. Mr Dixon said the combination of clear skies and enhanced activity from the sun reaching Earth would improve the chances of seeing the display. Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earths atmosphere around the magnetic poles. The aurora borealis at St Marys Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast (Owen Humphreys/PA) In the northern hemisphere, most of this activity takes place within a band known as the aurora oval, covering latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees. When activity is strong, this expands to cover a greater area which explains why displays can be occasionally seen as far south as the UK. Israel has ordered new evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its operation. It came as Hamas said on Saturday that British Israeli hostage Nadav Popplewell had died after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike a month ago. Hamas provided no evidence for the claim. As pro-Palestinian protests continued against the war, Israels military also said it was moving into an area of devastated northern Gaza where it asserted that the Hamas militant group has regrouped after seven months of fighting. Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, and top military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said dozens of militants had been killed there as targeted operations continued. The United Nations has warned that the planned full-scale Rafah invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian casualties. The order comes in the face of heavy international opposition and criticism. US President Joe Biden has already said he will not provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah, and on Friday Washington said there was reasonable evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians in the way it conducted its war against Hamas the strongest statement the Biden administration has made on the matter. Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah (Ramez Habboub/AP) Hamas and other militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 250 hostage. They still hold some 100 captives and the remains of more than 30. The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties. More than 1.4 million Palestinians half of Gazas population have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israels offensives elsewhere. Considered the last refuge in the strip, the evacuations are forcing people to return north where areas have been devastated by previous Israeli attacks. Aid agencies estimate that 110,000 had done so before Saturdays order which adds a further 40,000 to that number. People have been displaced multiple times and there are few places left in the embattled territory to move to. Those fleeing fighting earlier this week erected new tent camps in the city of Khan Younis which was half destroyed in an earlier Israeli offensive and the city of Deir al-Balah, straining infrastructure. Do we wait until we all die on top of each other? So weve decided to leave. Its better, said Rafah resident Hanan al-Satari as people rushed to load mattresses, water tanks and other belongings onto vehicles. The Israeli army does not have a safe area in Gaza. They target everything, said Abu Yusuf al-Deiri, who was earlier displaced from Gaza City. Some Palestinians are being sent to what Israel has called humanitarian safe zones along the Muwasi coastal strip, which is already packed with about 450,000 people in squalid conditions. The rubbish-strewn camp lacks basic facilities. Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Rafah, said workers had no supplies to help them set up in new locations. A makeshift tent camp in Rafah (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system, he said. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, forcing it to shut down. Rafah was the main point of entry for fuel. Egypt has refused to co-ordinate with Israel the delivery of aid though the Rafah crossing point because of the unacceptable Israeli escalation, the state-owned Al Qahera News television channel reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed official. The channel has close ties with Egyptian security agencies. The World Food Programme has warned that it will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday, Mr Petropoulos said. Aid groups have said fuel will also be depleted soon, forcing hospitals to shut down critical operations and halting trucks delivering aid across south and central Gaza. Heavy fighting is also under way in northern Gaza, where Hamas appeared to have again regrouped in an area where Israel has already launched punishing assaults. Israeli Army spokesman Avichay Adraee told Palestinians in the cities of Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya and surrounding areas to leave their homes and head to shelters in the west of Gaza City, warning that people were in a dangerous combat zone and that Israel was going to strike with great force. Displaced Palestinians arrive at a makeshift tent camp west of Rafah (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) Battles erupted this week in the Zeitoun area on the outskirts of Gaza City. Northern Gaza was the first target of the ground offensive, and Israel said late last year that it had mostly dismantled Hamas in the area. The United Nations agency supporting people in Gaza, UNRWA, said 300,000 people have been affected by evacuation orders in Rafah and Jabaliya, and the numbers are likely to be higher as these are very built-up areas. Were extremely concerned that these evacuation orders have come both towards central Rafah and Jabaliya, Louise Wateridge, UNRWA spokesperson in Rafah, told the Associated Press. Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel acts in compliance with the laws of armed conflict and the army takes extensive measures to avert civilian casualties, including alerting people to forthcoming military operations using phone calls and text messages and providing maps to safe areas. Meanwhile, strikes are continuing across Gaza. At least 19 people, including eight women and eight children, were killed overnight in central Gaza in strikes that hit the areas of Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah and an Associated Press journalist. Israels bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Civil authorities in Gaza on Saturday gave more details of the mass graves that the Health Ministry announced earlier in the week at Shifa hospital, the largest hospital in northern Gaza and the target of an earlier Israeli offensive. Authorities said most of the 80 bodies had been patients who died from lack of care. The Israeli army said any attempt to blame Israel for burying civilians in mass graves is categorically false. Tens of thousands of people attended the latest anti-government protest in Israel on on Saturday evening. Another round of ceasefire talks in Cairo ended earlier this week without a breakthrough. A police officer runs in front on burning house destroyed by a Russian airstrike in Vovchansk, Ukraine (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) Russian forces have captured five villages as part of a renewed ground assault in Ukraines north east, the countrys Defence Ministry said. Ukrainian journalists reported on Friday that Russian troops had taken the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha, all of which are in a militarily contested grey zone on the border of Ukraines Kharkiv region and Russia. Russian officials said they had also captured another village, Pletenivka, in a renewed attack on the region that Ukrainian authorities said forced more than 1,700 civilians to flee. Police evacuate elderly people after the Russian attack (Ukrainian Police/AP) Russian forces continued to pummel the nearby city of Vovchansk with air strikes and grad rockets on Saturday as police and volunteers raced to evacuate residents. Associated Press journalists who accompanied an evacuation team described empty streets with multiple buildings destroyed and others on fire. The road was littered with newly made craters and the city was covered in dust and shrapnel with the smell of gunpowder in the air. Clouds of smoke rose across the skyline as Russian jets conducted multiple air strikes. During the short time the team were on the ground, they witnessed nine air attacks. Tetiana, 82, with her daughter as she is evacuated from Vovchansk on Saturday after her husband was killed in their house during a Russian airstrike (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) Authorities helped a group of around 20 people on to a bus to take them to a nearby village to safety. Police said they evacuated 900 people from the city on Friday. Artillery, mortar and aerial bombardments hit more than 30 towns and villages, killing at least three people and injuring five others, said Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov. Ukrainian authorities have not commented on Moscows claims that several villages in the Kharkiv region are under Russian control. On Telegram, Mr Syniehubov said heavy fighting continued in the areas around Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Oliinykove, but that the situation was under control and there was no threat of a ground assault on Kharkiv city. Ukraine rushed reinforcements to the Kharkiv region on Friday to hold off a Russian attempt to breach local defences, authorities said. Evacuees bade tearful goodbyes to their neighbours as they were taken away from their homes. You lie down and think whether they will kill you now, or in an hour, or in three, said resident Valentyna Hrevnova, 75. I hope that they (Russians) will not come, but ours (Ukrainians) will be here. Vera Rudko, 72, was among those who left. We drove through Vovchansk in the city centre, Ms Rudko said. I cant look at this without tears. Everything is trembling. We didnt sleep these two nights at all. Ukrainian forces also launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Saturday night, Russias Ministry of Defence said, with air defence systems downing 21 rockets and 16 drones over Russias Belgorod, Kursk and Volgograd regions. One person died in a drone strike in the Belgorod region, and another in the Kursk region, local officials said. Another strike set an oil depot on fire in Ukraines Russian-occupied Luhansk region, killing four people and injuring eight more, said Leonid Pasechnik, the regions Moscow-installed leader. Russian forces stepped up their bombardment of Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, in late March. Fridays attack signalled a tactical switch in the war by Moscow that Ukrainian officials had been expecting for weeks. Russian military bloggers said the assault could mark the start of an attempt to carve out a buffer zone that President Vladimir Putin vowed to create earlier this year to halt frequent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Friday evening that Russian forces were expanding their operations. He also called on the countrys western allies to ensure that promised deliveries of military aid would swiftly reach the front lines. It is critical that partners support our warriors and Ukrainian resilience with timely deliveries. Truly timely ones, he said in a video statement. A package that truly helps is the actual delivery of weapons to Ukraine, rather than just the announcement of a package. The Kremlins forces have repeatedly sought to exploit Ukraines shortages of ammunition and personnel as the flow of western military aid to Kyiv has tapered off in recent months, with promised new support yet to arrive. Ukraine previously said Russia was assembling thousands of troops along the north-eastern border, close to the Kharkiv and Sumy regions. Intelligence officials also said they had expected an attack there though Russias most recent ground offensive had been focused on parts of eastern Ukraine farther south. In the wars early days, Russia made a botched attempt to quickly storm Kharkiv but retreated from its outskirts after about a month. In the autumn of 2022, seven months later, Ukraines army pushed them out of Kharkiv. The counter-attack helped persuade western countries that Ukraine could defeat Russia on the battlefield and merited military support. Former US president Donald Trump may face a tax bill in excess of 100 million dollars (80 million) after a government audit indicates he double-dipped on tax losses tied to a Chicago skyscraper, according to a report by The New York Times and ProPublica. The report drew on a yearslong audit and public filings. The reports findings could put renewed focus on Mr Trumps business career as the presumptive Republican nominee tries to regain the White House after losing in 2020. Mr Trump used his cachet as a real estate developer and TV star to build a political movement, yet he has refused to release his tax filings as past presidential candidates have. The tax filings that the public does know about have come from past reporting by the Times and a public release of records by Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee in 2022. Mr Trumps presidential campaign provided a statement in son Eric Trumps name saying the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) inquiry was settled years ago, only to be brought back to life once my father ran for office. We are confident in our position. Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Freeland, Michigan earlier in May (Paul Sancya/AP) The tax records cited by the report indicate that Mr Trump twice deducted losses on the Trump International Hotel and Tower, which opened in 2009 near the banks of the Chicago River. The report said Mr Trump initially reported losses of 658 million dollars (525 million) in his 2008 filings under the premise that the property fit the IRS definition of being worthless because condominium sales were disappointing and retail space went unfilled amid a deep US recession. But in 2010, the published report said, Mr Trump transferred the ownership of the property to a different holding company that he also controlled, using the move to save money on taxes by reporting an additional 168 million dollars (134 million) in losses over the next decade on the same property. The report did not have any updates on the status of the IRS inquiry since December 2022, but said Mr Trump could owe more than 100 million dollars, including penalties, if he were to lose the audit battle. Mr Trump, meanwhile, is appealing against a New York judges ruling from February after a civil trial that Mr Trump, his company and top executives lied about his wealth on financial statements, conning bankers and insurers who did business with him. In early April, Mr Trump posted a 175 million-dollar (140 million) bond, halting collection of the more than 454 million dollars (362 million) he owes from the judgment and preventing the state from seizing his assets to satisfy the debt while he appeals. President Joe Biden has said that Mr Trump largely owes his fortune to an inheritance from his father, rather than through his own financial acumen. Mr Biden has gone after Mr Trump for not wanting to pay taxes, while his administration has increased IRS funding in order to increase audits of the ultra-wealthy and improve compliance with the federal tax code. The Trump campaign opposes the additional funding that Mr Biden and the Democrats provided to the IRS. At campaign rallies, Mr Trump has said the US would be destroyed as a country unless his 2017 tax cuts that are largely set to expire after 2025 are extended. Artist Scott LoBaido, right, looks on as crew members move his painting of former president Donald Trump before a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey on Saturday (Matt Rourke/AP) On Saturday Mr Trump was heading to New Jersey after a long week in court. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee expects to draw what his campaign is calling a mega crowd to a Saturday evening rally in the southern New Jersey resort town of Wildwood. It is 150 miles south of the New York City courthouse where he has been forced to spend most weekdays sitting quietly through his hush money trial. Pleasure Boys show picketed by Free Presbyterian church and branded filthy display Over 700 people flock to watch strip show which caused Devenish controversy, while a group of local ministers condemn the performance There was a picket by around two dozen members of Moneyslane Free Presbyterian Church at The Bannville Hotel in Banbridge Niamh Campbell Sat 11 May 2024 at 22:17 The return of The UK Pleasure Boys strip show to Northern Ireland tonight faced a Free Presbyterian protest.